WEBVTT 00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:06.400 We're going to start this morning in Genesis chapter 11, and I'm going to bring us into Genesis chapter 12. 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:11.740 I want to set the backdrop for Genesis chapter 12 through Genesis chapter 11. 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:17.160 And the reason is because Genesis 1011 and 12 tie together very beautifully. 00:00:17.360 --> 00:00:21.770 And I think one of the unfortunate things, sometimes we have the tendency to do as human beings. 00:00:21.860 --> 00:00:28.880 We read the stories of the Bible and we sort of read these as one off stories, kind of like someone just sits back with a pen and sort of tells you some 00:00:28.880 --> 00:00:32.140 stories about God, and it's just whatever comes to mind. 00:00:32.220 --> 00:00:39.400 And they kind of they kind of follow this in chronological order as stories come up, but they just share one story after another, and hopefully you get the picture 00:00:39.400 --> 00:00:40.820 that God wants for you. 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:47.150 But I think sometimes we fail to recognize these stories are intertwined to a greater theme in which God desires for us to know. 00:00:47.460 --> 00:00:52.040 I think it's especially important in the first 11 chapters of Genesis to see that. 00:00:52.340 --> 00:00:53.780 What leads us up to chapter 12? 00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:57.680 Because starting in chapter 12, the story of the Bible starts to slow down. 00:00:57.780 --> 00:01:05.120 In fact, I've told you in the most conservative of estimates, the first 11 chapters of the Bible has as much time 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.720 period taken place as the rest of the Bible. 00:01:07.720 --> 00:01:07.920 Right? 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:14.940 So when you look at these first 11 chapters, these are some pillars, stories that are being told for us as it relates to who God is and your 00:01:14.940 --> 00:01:16.350 relationship with him. 00:01:16.540 --> 00:01:22.550 And it's highly important that you not only see the stories for what they are, but how these stories interconnect to tell a greater story. 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:29.960 And what you're going to find in today's passage is not only is this a great story intertwining all of Scripture, but also how this story relates to 00:01:29.960 --> 00:01:31.350 you and me today. 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:32.920 What does this mean for you? 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:38.540 And if you remember in Genesis nine we ended with the Noahic flood and Genesis ten you get some genealogy. 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:39.000 Why? 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:40.080 Who cares, right? 00:01:40.080 --> 00:01:43.000 It tells the story of Noah's descendants. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:43.880 After they get off the boat. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.290 It talks about Shem, Ham and Japheth and all these kids that they had. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.950 And that's really all chapter ten is it kind of leaves you scratching your head. 00:01:51.300 --> 00:01:51.840 Why is this here? 00:01:51.900 --> 00:01:53.270 And what does this have to do with me? 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:59.140 And then when you get to chapter 11, it starts to tell about the story of the Tower of Babel. 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:04.660 And then it does genealogy again of Shem, like it just told you genealogy about Shem in chapter ten. 00:02:04.780 --> 00:02:07.060 But it's going to tell you genealogy again in chapter 11. 00:02:07.100 --> 00:02:12.220 It's like, did they think that we forgot after one chapter about genealogy, what does that have to do with anything? 00:02:12.600 --> 00:02:15.920 And then you get into chapter 12 with the life of Abraham. 00:02:16.020 --> 00:02:20.300 And all of this intertwines very beautifully in what Scripture says. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:27.480 And through this story, as we intertwine this, if I do a good enough job to intertwine this for you, we're also going to learn about how to make a great 00:02:27.480 --> 00:02:30.540 name, how to how to make a great name. 00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:37.920 But what we discover here in chapter 11 is that man once again starts to pursue a life apart from God. 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:41.150 And the interesting thing is they do it masked under religion. 00:02:42.020 --> 00:02:46.160 And in pursuing this life apart from God, it leads to this place of confusion. 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:53.160 And if you've been with us through this story of the book of Genesis by now, if you haven't caught that theme, then there's no helping, all right? 00:02:53.260 --> 00:03:00.360 Because it's been over and over again through Genesis where God, he comes in his grace, he brings deliverance to people who 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:01.440 have forsook him. 00:03:01.940 --> 00:03:06.770 And man, just a few steps out of that, leaves God behind again and starts living for his glory. 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:14.740 And here we are in Genesis chapter 11, and we find that story in the story of Babel, that mankind again is forsaking God. 00:03:15.140 --> 00:03:17.680 And the word Babel literally means confusion. 00:03:18.540 --> 00:03:22.000 And so any time we live life apart from God, that's what it ultimately leads to. 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:25.640 Is this place of confusion who we are, where we come from, where we're going. 00:03:25.640 --> 00:03:28.260 We have no idea apart from God, because we weren't made for us. 00:03:28.260 --> 00:03:29.630 We were made for him. 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:32.280 And unless we seek the Lord, we don't discover that. 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:39.380 Sure, you can live for something meaningful for just a while, but in the end, you find yourself ultimately bankrupt because the only thing that 00:03:39.380 --> 00:03:41.320 endures is what lasts in the Lord. 00:03:41.760 --> 00:03:44.990 Because he is eternal and you being created to live for eternity. 00:03:45.320 --> 00:03:49.780 The only way you find a life most meaningful and purposeful is to live for his glory in this world. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.220 Everything else ultimately will lead to chaos or confusion. 00:03:53.760 --> 00:03:54.780 And the Tower of Babel. 00:03:54.820 --> 00:03:55.620 That's what you discover. 00:03:56.180 --> 00:04:03.980 In fact, the Tower of Babel becomes a picture not just for the people of Babel, but into the people of Babylon, where 00:04:03.980 --> 00:04:11.040 the Tower of Babel is taking place is the region where Babylon comes to exist, and both Babel and Babylon find its root 00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:12.480 meaning in the idea of confusion. 00:04:13.480 --> 00:04:20.720 In fact, when you read throughout the Old Testament and New Testament, Babylon continues to be looked at as this place of ultimate confusion, 00:04:20.740 --> 00:04:22.800 a place of people building things. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.880 But they're building things apart from God. 00:04:25.080 --> 00:04:32.280 And what you discover at the end of revelation in chapter 18 and 19 is God brings judgment on Babylon, a place that's existing 00:04:32.280 --> 00:04:33.700 apart from him. 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:37.070 And without God we find ourselves in this confusion. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:43.060 So point number one in your notes, this is what we want to make this morning as we study, study this story is the problem. 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:50.160 We are lost in ourselves that God desires to make a great name in you through his great name being made known. 00:04:50.420 --> 00:04:54.620 But when we forsake God and we seek it in and of ourselves, we're lost in ourselves. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:57.650 And so point number one in your notes, we are we are lost in ourselves. 00:04:57.760 --> 00:04:59.900 And Genesis chapter 11, verse four. 00:04:59.900 --> 00:05:00.630 This is where it starts. 00:05:01.420 --> 00:05:08.240 And they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens. 00:05:08.340 --> 00:05:09.960 And let's make a name for ourselves. 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:13.320 Otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the earth. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:18.260 In Genesis chapter ten, Genesis chapter 11, something interesting happens here. 00:05:18.280 --> 00:05:22.380 Sometimes when we read the Bible, we just think we expect it to be this story written chronologically. 00:05:23.380 --> 00:05:27.100 And that's not some some cases the Bible unfolds itself chronologically. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:28.740 In other cases it doesn't. 00:05:28.780 --> 00:05:35.840 In fact, if you pick up the Book of Genesis and think you're going to read through the Bible and see it chronologically, you're at a mistake in reading 00:05:35.840 --> 00:05:36.920 God's Word. 00:05:37.020 --> 00:05:38.670 The Bible is not broken up chronologically. 00:05:38.980 --> 00:05:40.790 It's broken up according to literary genre. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:43.210 It's clumped together in literary genres. 00:05:43.460 --> 00:05:48.270 In the beginning, you have some some some history books, you have some poetic books, you have some prophetic books. 00:05:48.460 --> 00:05:50.140 In the Old Testament, you get to the New Testament. 00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:51.900 The first half is the Gospels. 00:05:52.460 --> 00:05:54.930 Then you have one history book in acts, and then you have the epistles. 00:05:55.280 --> 00:05:57.200 And in the end you get crazy revelation, right? 00:05:57.300 --> 00:05:58.980 So that's how that's kind of how the Bible unfolds. 00:05:59.220 --> 00:06:00.740 It's broken up in these literary genres. 00:06:01.500 --> 00:06:03.440 And in Genesis chapter ten and 11. 00:06:03.440 --> 00:06:06.500 Again, I would argue this is not necessarily in chronological order. 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:09.970 Then in chapter ten, it's laying out for us the genealogy of Noah. 00:06:10.340 --> 00:06:14.800 But chapter 11 happens within the context somewhere in chapter ten. 00:06:15.400 --> 00:06:18.160 And so in chapter 11, it's telling you about the story of Babel. 00:06:19.060 --> 00:06:21.620 And the people decide to build the city. 00:06:22.020 --> 00:06:29.020 And the problem with their lives in this moment isn't the idea of building a city some people might have disdain for the thought of city, but God, 00:06:29.200 --> 00:06:32.900 God's not has any hatred towards cities, right? 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:33.940 The problem is not a city. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.160 In fact, the life of Abraham. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:41.980 It tells us in Hebrews chapter 11, we're going to read about Abraham in a minute, but it says about the life of Abraham. 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:48.200 Abraham was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:55.980 Even in revelation 21 verse two, it tells us that God brings down the city of Jerusalem, this new city where things 00:06:55.980 --> 00:06:56.790 are perfected. 00:06:57.340 --> 00:06:59.080 So God is not anti city. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:02.280 God's not really either pro country or pro city. 00:07:02.440 --> 00:07:07.760 God's desire is that your heart would be given over to him and wherever you find yourself, you would be a blessing to people around you. 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:14.780 In fact, we could argue that God is maybe even pro city because in the end, he builds this new Jerusalem, this place for God's people. 00:07:15.200 --> 00:07:17.280 The city in itself isn't a problem. 00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:21.620 In fact, you could point to a lot of advantages for having a city. 00:07:22.260 --> 00:07:25.110 It becomes it could be a place of protection. 00:07:25.620 --> 00:07:27.240 Because where there's more people, there's power. 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:27.850 And you can be fortified. 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:33.980 Certainly in the book of Genesis when they talk about the word city, it's different than the way we often think about city. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:38.280 We think of a major metropolitan area with a large place of population. 00:07:38.840 --> 00:07:41.730 In Abraham's day, a city was a fortified place of protection. 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:43.340 It was a place that had walls. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:45.880 If you got attacked, you would run to the city for protection. 00:07:46.440 --> 00:07:47.900 There's power in numbers. 00:07:48.020 --> 00:07:50.970 The city can be a place of refuge and opportunity. 00:07:51.640 --> 00:07:58.940 In fact, I would say in most countries, if people emigrate from one country to another, they typically go to the city, not to rural areas, because 00:07:58.940 --> 00:08:04.840 within the city they can oftentimes find people of their own culture as they navigate a new culture. 00:08:05.340 --> 00:08:08.360 And so there's this place of comfort while they walk in a new place. 00:08:08.960 --> 00:08:16.060 And so the city can provide that place of refuge to depend on one another as you navigate a new part of the world, or the 00:08:16.060 --> 00:08:23.300 city can be a place that challenges us to get better as people and areas of technology and artistry. 00:08:24.440 --> 00:08:30.700 Even in the book of Genesis, chapter four, if you remember the story of Cain and Abel Cain, when he was cursed, he went out. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:35.320 And it tells us in Genesis chapter four, he builds the first city and out of the city. 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:41.580 In Genesis chapter four verse 21, there is technology that's growing, and they're even crafting new instruments for music. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:44.560 But the problem is not so much the city. 00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:46.080 It's what people do within it. 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:49.440 If a city is not a place of justice or mercy, it can lead to destruction. 00:08:50.560 --> 00:08:56.090 In fact, we looked in Genesis chapter four at this figure named Lamech, and Lamech was a terrible man in the city. 00:08:56.800 --> 00:09:04.300 And after it tells us technology and instruments are created, then Lamech uses the technology to harm other people. 00:09:04.420 --> 00:09:11.860 And he writes in the book of Genesis, the first song that we have written in a city, and the song that he writes is a war song. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:17.720 And so it's not necessarily the city that's the problem, but rather what people do within it. 00:09:18.780 --> 00:09:26.080 And here's what you discover in Genesis chapter 11, verse four, they're coming together to build a city and a tower whose top will reach the heavens. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:28.100 And let's make a name for ourselves. 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:31.280 Their desire is not about God's glory, but their own glory. 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:38.590 The problem becomes in what they're pursuing, it's not living their lives for God's glory to the blessing of others, but rather living life for their glory. 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:43.010 And any time we as people take our lives and live for our glory, it's to the destruction of other people. 00:09:43.520 --> 00:09:46.860 Because our tendency is to treat other people like tools to serve us. 00:09:47.260 --> 00:09:49.980 Us because the most important thing to us in this world is ourselves. 00:09:50.580 --> 00:09:57.920 And we've seen this repeated over and over again in the book of Genesis, that God has created us to know him and to walk with him. 00:09:58.020 --> 00:09:59.820 And in that relationship with the Lord, we. 00:09:59.820 --> 00:10:02.260 Find our identity and our security and who we are. 00:10:02.260 --> 00:10:03.780 We find our purpose and our meaning. 00:10:04.560 --> 00:10:10.620 And therefore, because we find our identity, identity satisfied in the Lord, we can live for his glory in this world. 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:12.420 And it's a blessing to the people around us. 00:10:12.880 --> 00:10:19.920 But any time we abandon that identity in the Lord, we look for our identity anywhere else, anywhere else that can satisfy us, 00:10:19.920 --> 00:10:24.060 give us meaning, something that we will worship in order to attribute to us worth. 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:29.180 And the result is we start using and abusing the things around us to make us feel more important. 00:10:30.140 --> 00:10:33.260 And this is what happens in Genesis chapter 11 verse four. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:41.120 They're pursuing their own name apart from God, and ultimately it leads to this place of confusion that they can't discover 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:47.130 the worth of who they are because they've disconnected them to the one who's created them in his image. 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:51.030 And so they come to this place of challenge. 00:10:51.060 --> 00:10:55.640 And the interesting thing about this passage is they're doing it masked under religion. 00:10:56.180 --> 00:11:01.760 When they're building this tower to make this great name the tower, historians will tell you, is ziggurats. 00:11:01.800 --> 00:11:03.360 And ziggurats is a place of worship. 00:11:04.040 --> 00:11:11.060 They're doing all this performance to show everyone how great they are, including God, to unveil God's love to them as if they can merit 00:11:11.060 --> 00:11:11.800 God's love. 00:11:12.980 --> 00:11:20.060 And yet, what you discover in this, in this chapter, and I'm not going to pull it up on the screen, but in Genesis chapter 11, verse seven, it's 00:11:20.060 --> 00:11:27.230 God that enters in and he says, let us go down and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another's speech. 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:31.260 So the Lord scattered them abroad from the from the face of the earth. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:32.800 And they stopped building the city. 00:11:33.260 --> 00:11:40.400 And then in verse nine he says, therefore its name is called Babel, because the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from 00:11:40.400 --> 00:11:43.300 the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the earth. 00:11:43.900 --> 00:11:45.560 So here's what you find in the context of the story. 00:11:46.580 --> 00:11:53.200 The people considered their greatest strength, their prideful unity independent of God. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:55.870 And so they were concerned. 00:11:56.220 --> 00:11:58.720 And in 11 verse four, let's not spread out. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:05.620 Let's just stay here together and let's show how amazing we are, which is the opposite of what God commanded them when they left the ark. 00:12:06.040 --> 00:12:10.950 In Genesis chapter nine, God said, go into this world and bless and flourish and multiply. 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:18.700 But rather they hunkered in one area and they concentrated on themselves, and they wanted to make everyone look at them and how great 00:12:18.700 --> 00:12:19.520 they were. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:26.580 And so they took pride in their identity of unity independent of God. 00:12:27.020 --> 00:12:28.160 But what does God do? 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:29.760 God brought him to their greatest fear. 00:12:30.860 --> 00:12:34.700 God led them to a place of scattering in order to obey what he said. 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:38.090 And in so doing, they end up making a name for themselves. 00:12:38.180 --> 00:12:44.150 But ironically, it's not the kind of name I don't think that they wanted, because the name they made for themselves is Babel, which means confusion. 00:12:45.400 --> 00:12:45.480 So? 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:48.000 So God steps in and he scatters them. 00:12:48.060 --> 00:12:52.220 And then in Genesis 11, starting in verse ten, it goes through genealogy again. 00:12:52.660 --> 00:12:53.910 And the question is why? 00:12:54.180 --> 00:12:55.260 Why is it talking about genealogy? 00:12:55.520 --> 00:12:59.900 And in this particular passage, it's simply focusing just on the line of Shem. 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:03.200 If you remember from Noah, there was Shem, Ham and Japheth. 00:13:03.920 --> 00:13:06.420 Well, in this particular passage, it's just focusing on Shem. 00:13:06.660 --> 00:13:11.600 And the reason it's focusing on Shem is because Shem was the one through which God's blessing would come. 00:13:12.040 --> 00:13:19.160 And Genesis chapter nine, it said through Noah's three sons that he would bring through Shem the promise. 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:22.550 The promise of a messiah would be a deliverer that was to be Shem. 00:13:23.260 --> 00:13:30.160 And so while the people found themselves in confusion and God dispersing them again, the question is, well, how is God's hand going to show up? 00:13:30.160 --> 00:13:31.500 Or what can happen for us? 00:13:31.560 --> 00:13:34.920 Because we're in this place of confusion, we're lost in ourselves. 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:39.860 And so it turns to the story of Shem expecting to see some sort of deliverance. 00:13:40.780 --> 00:13:45.130 But here's what you discover in verse ten when it begins to talk about the genealogy. 00:13:45.740 --> 00:13:48.540 It lists the lineage of Shem. 00:13:48.540 --> 00:13:54.360 But then in verse 26, it brings us to this place of a man named Terah, which is the father of Abraham. 00:13:55.240 --> 00:14:01.380 And it says, Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, which is Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. 00:14:02.380 --> 00:14:04.540 Now these are the records of the generations of Tara. 00:14:04.540 --> 00:14:07.740 Tara fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered lot. 00:14:07.900 --> 00:14:14.220 Haran died during the lifetime of his father Terah in the land of his birth in ur, the Chaldeans, which is modern day Iraq. 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:17.840 Abram, Abram, and Nahor took wives for themselves. 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:25.540 The name of Abraham's wife was Sarai, and the name of Noah's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milka 00:14:25.540 --> 00:14:30.860 and Iska, and Sarai was unable to conceive and she did not have a child. 00:14:31.660 --> 00:14:32.540 Now you'll know if you. 00:14:32.660 --> 00:14:38.680 If you're familiar with the story of Abram, his name later changes to Abraham and Sarah, later changes to Sarah, which means princess. 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:41.160 And we'll deal with that down the road. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:48.440 But it's interesting here in this passage, Abraham's name, it means the Father and God changes his 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:52.180 name to Abraham, which means more like Big Daddy. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:54.540 So it goes from like just daddy to Big Daddy. 00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:55.480 That's kind of the change. 00:14:56.040 --> 00:14:59.080 But the importance of his name change will highlight later. 00:14:59.260 --> 00:14:59.640 But. 00:14:59.780 --> 00:15:01.040 Here in this passage. 00:15:01.040 --> 00:15:08.160 It's bringing this place of looking at the lineage of Shem, and it's saying, okay, this is where God's hand wanted to work, but all of a sudden 00:15:08.160 --> 00:15:15.320 it brings you to this bleak predicament because it's following this lineage, and it's showing you in the life of Abraham and Sarah where 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:17.640 God is looking like he's going to work. 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:18.960 They can't conceive. 00:15:20.280 --> 00:15:24.030 And if they're bringing into this bleak passage is to say, well, where can we turn? 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:28.700 Because if there's not a lineage for the Messiah to come, what hope is there? 00:15:29.740 --> 00:15:36.740 And so you kind of get to this place where it's this place of humility, of brokenness, of emptiness, pausing, wondering what's 00:15:36.740 --> 00:15:37.220 going to happen. 00:15:37.300 --> 00:15:44.120 And not only not only do you get to this story, and it's sort of this place of confusion, now they're trying to figure out what step to take forward. 00:15:44.520 --> 00:15:51.520 But it goes on just a few more verses and it says, now Terah took his son Abram, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and his 00:15:51.520 --> 00:15:54.400 daughter in law Sarai, his son Abraham's wife. 00:15:54.400 --> 00:15:58.720 And they departed together from ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. 00:15:58.780 --> 00:16:01.940 So they have this destination where God is to lead them. 00:16:02.640 --> 00:16:05.000 And they went as far as Haran and settled there. 00:16:05.560 --> 00:16:08.760 The days of terror were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. 00:16:09.940 --> 00:16:17.040 So here's what it's saying is what not only do they not look, does not look like this family has a future, but 00:16:17.040 --> 00:16:24.180 even in what future they had, God called them to a certain place and they weren't even willing to follow the Lord completely 00:16:24.180 --> 00:16:24.280 there. 00:16:25.560 --> 00:16:26.460 They stopped halfway. 00:16:27.640 --> 00:16:31.550 God led him to the land of Canaan, and who knows why they didn't go the full distance? 00:16:31.660 --> 00:16:31.920 Maybe. 00:16:32.220 --> 00:16:33.900 Maybe, Tara thought, well, why do this? 00:16:33.920 --> 00:16:37.080 Because there's not a lineage to pass on here. 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:37.420 So? 00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:42.050 So he just stops short of pursuing what God had called them to. 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:45.320 And guys, I know it's the same struggle in our lives. 00:16:45.340 --> 00:16:52.360 Sometimes we get to this place of confusion, and we've completely been trusting in ourselves for a period of time, and we're 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:59.920 sort of lost in our walk with God, and we're looking for a place or a direction to go, and we start to maybe pursue the Lord, but 00:16:59.920 --> 00:17:01.300 we only go halfway in. 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:03.780 We don't really give him our full life. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:08.300 And so in so doing, we end up lost in the in this in-between land. 00:17:08.980 --> 00:17:14.550 And I tell you, as a, as a believer or as someone who might claim to know Christian, that's a claim to know Christ. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:16.200 That's a terrible place to be. 00:17:17.060 --> 00:17:22.930 The Bible tells you sin is fun for a season, but it certainly tells you not to be a lukewarm Christian. 00:17:23.180 --> 00:17:24.520 Rather, go all in for Jesus. 00:17:24.540 --> 00:17:31.620 I mean, if you're going to do something and make it to the full capacity like sin's fun for a season and following Jesus with your life, that is the fulfillment to 00:17:31.620 --> 00:17:32.220 the max. 00:17:32.540 --> 00:17:36.060 But living in this in-between world, there is no satisfaction in the life of a Christian there. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:40.010 And you find in this story, Tara is in that in that place. 00:17:41.060 --> 00:17:48.400 And so it's reminding us again and again in Genesis chapter 11, in this bleak story, that we are lost in and of ourselves 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:51.680 and apart from God, we don't really have hope. 00:17:52.920 --> 00:18:00.000 And so we need the Lord to intervene in our lives in order to direct us and to be willing to surrender to that and pursue after him. 00:18:01.500 --> 00:18:03.220 Which leads us to point number two in your notes. 00:18:04.580 --> 00:18:05.100 The hope. 00:18:06.320 --> 00:18:09.040 God gives grace. 00:18:10.520 --> 00:18:12.540 God gives grace. 00:18:13.120 --> 00:18:18.510 And in Genesis chapter 12, this is where we see finally God bringing his deliverance. 00:18:19.900 --> 00:18:21.770 In the midst of all the confusion of Babel. 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:24.150 It says, and now the Lord said to Abraham. 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:27.820 The Lord said to Abraham. 00:18:28.780 --> 00:18:30.400 Unless God intervenes. 00:18:30.540 --> 00:18:31.420 Man has no hope. 00:18:31.420 --> 00:18:33.800 And here in this story we find God is speaking. 00:18:35.280 --> 00:18:37.580 God says to Abraham. 00:18:38.540 --> 00:18:39.340 God spoke. 00:18:39.340 --> 00:18:46.480 And for us we should be thankful for this, because when you read the book of Genesis, there are certain verses that just stand out above other 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:47.330 passages. 00:18:48.260 --> 00:18:55.360 I told you when we looked in the first three chapters of Genesis, one of those pinnacle verses, Genesis 315, in the midst of Adam and Eve's sin, you see, 00:18:55.480 --> 00:19:01.120 God pursues Adam and Eve, and in Genesis 315 he gives the promise of a messiah that one will come and deliver us. 00:19:01.620 --> 00:19:05.500 And here again we're seeing the thread of God's hand working through a particular people group. 00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:10.280 And in Genesis chapter 12, verses one and three, God shows up again and he's giving us a promise. 00:19:10.840 --> 00:19:17.960 And so this is one of those passages that when we get done with the book of Genesis, if you just look back at a certain sections of verses, this is one of those sections that you 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:23.240 want to know about as a Christian, because this is a section full of extreme hope for God's people. 00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:30.300 And so God speaks, and we're to be thankful that God intervenes in this moment of chaos to deliver his grace. 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:37.320 And can I just encourage you today that as God has spoken to Abraham in the past, God still desires to speak today. 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:41.840 And if you want to hear God speak, can I tell you the best thing to do is read His Word? 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:43.920 Because that's where God speaks to you. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:47.240 And if you want to hear God speak out loud, read His word out loud. 00:19:47.320 --> 00:19:48.420 That's why God wrote His Word. 00:19:48.540 --> 00:19:56.020 And one of the powerful reasons God wrote His Word to you get this is because some people in this world represent God in a way that's just flat crazy. 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:04.570 Some people think and they might believe genuinely, but they can believe genuinely wrong and in who they think God is and what they think God says. 00:20:05.260 --> 00:20:12.340 And the way that, whether or not someone's speaking truth or a lie, or whether they're just confused, is to look at what they say and match it 00:20:12.340 --> 00:20:13.780 according to what God's Word has said. 00:20:14.780 --> 00:20:18.220 And if you want to hear what God has to say to you, it's important to read His Word. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:19.570 That's why it's so important. 00:20:19.740 --> 00:20:23.220 God's people gather under the teaching of His word to study it together. 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:24.540 Because who knows? 00:20:24.600 --> 00:20:29.040 I might tell you something crazy one day, and we can look at it at God's Word together, and you can be like, you know what? 00:20:29.460 --> 00:20:31.160 You're you've lost it. 00:20:31.580 --> 00:20:39.140 You know, that's the power of collectively gathering together under God's word and reading through it together and challenging ourselves in Scripture. 00:20:39.220 --> 00:20:43.660 And so in this passage, God speaks and he delivers his grace to Abraham. 00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:44.980 And here's what's important about Abraham. 00:20:45.360 --> 00:20:45.900 Nothing. 00:20:46.120 --> 00:20:48.100 Nothing apart from God's grace. 00:20:48.100 --> 00:20:48.460 Nothing. 00:20:48.820 --> 00:20:52.070 Because the life of Abraham is a life of pagan idolatry. 00:20:52.540 --> 00:20:58.300 In fact, in Joshua chapter 22 or 24, verse two, it says about Abraham. 00:20:58.360 --> 00:21:03.620 He grew up in a pagan land with a pagan family worshiping a pagan god. 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:05.800 And his name, Abram, is a pagan name. 00:21:07.160 --> 00:21:13.090 Abraham was pursuing idolatry with his family that pursued idolatry in a land of idolatry. 00:21:15.080 --> 00:21:18.240 And yet God in his grace shows up and brings deliverance. 00:21:19.580 --> 00:21:21.960 Well, God says to Abraham is not because Abraham is special. 00:21:23.080 --> 00:21:24.260 It's because God is special. 00:21:25.340 --> 00:21:26.600 God speaks the life of Abraham. 00:21:26.600 --> 00:21:28.630 And look what he says in this passage. 00:21:28.700 --> 00:21:34.500 He says, go from your country and from your relatives, and from your father's house to the land that I will show you. 00:21:35.280 --> 00:21:37.130 This idea of go is like, get going. 00:21:37.520 --> 00:21:39.500 Abraham said this to your dad. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:39.820 He didn't listen. 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:41.390 You need to get going. 00:21:41.700 --> 00:21:43.670 I've called you to so much more in this world. 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:44.400 What are you doing? 00:21:44.740 --> 00:21:47.300 Just sitting in this place that I didn't lead you to? 00:21:47.380 --> 00:21:49.000 I've got something better for your life. 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:49.320 You need to. 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:50.100 You need to go. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:51.000 You need to get out. 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:51.620 You got to get going. 00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:56.970 And then he says this the very interesting from your country and from your relatives. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:58.420 And here's what he's saying. 00:21:58.420 --> 00:22:01.620 If we relate it to our own lives, it's a place of familiarity and comfort. 00:22:03.020 --> 00:22:07.250 In Abraham's day you were born, lived and died all within a 50 mile radius. 00:22:07.860 --> 00:22:10.760 For someone to go beyond that is a little bit absurd. 00:22:11.460 --> 00:22:16.100 But this is what God wants to see within our lives is where does our faithfulness end with him? 00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:19.020 And all that you have in this world doesn't belong to you. 00:22:19.020 --> 00:22:19.940 It belongs to the Lord. 00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:21.620 You just happen to be a steward over it. 00:22:22.600 --> 00:22:24.120 And what do you put before God? 00:22:24.120 --> 00:22:27.990 I mean, there's a reason the Bible says it's easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle or. 00:22:28.740 --> 00:22:29.800 Excuse me, that didn't say it right. 00:22:29.800 --> 00:22:32.810 Camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven. 00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:33.820 Right. 00:22:33.860 --> 00:22:41.100 There's sometimes we have these treasures in life that we put before the Lord, and we just grab a hold of it with this death grip that we won't let go. 00:22:41.120 --> 00:22:43.340 Rather than say to God, God, I trust you. 00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:46.090 In this world of comfort and familiarity. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:49.680 What matters more than all of that is you. 00:22:50.560 --> 00:22:56.600 And so God is challenging Abraham in this place of familiarity, and he says this to the land that I will show you. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.700 From familiarity to the unfamiliar. 00:23:02.600 --> 00:23:03.790 This is where God is calling Abraham. 00:23:03.940 --> 00:23:06.180 I mean for us in our walk with the Lord. 00:23:06.520 --> 00:23:13.440 It's the same thing in your life that God enters into your life and you realize you might be holding on to things that are contrary to him. 00:23:13.560 --> 00:23:19.270 And you need to bring your life to a place where you completely surrender who you are before the Lord and say God wherever you want to go. 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:20.670 I'm willing to go. 00:23:21.120 --> 00:23:28.400 And for Abraham, it became this paradigm shift from not where you're going or what you find your identity in, but rather who you're following. 00:23:29.140 --> 00:23:33.000 Abraham is discovering it's not so much about the where or the what, but who. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:39.080 If you pursue the Lord, then you'll find not only who God is, but you start to discover who you are, and the Lord takes care of the rest. 00:23:40.460 --> 00:23:47.060 And so God is bringing Abraham to this place of delivering his grace, as he's calling Abraham to surrender his life. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:55.620 And then it goes on in the following verse, and I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and make your 00:23:55.620 --> 00:24:00.070 name great, and you shall be a blessing to Abraham. 00:24:00.340 --> 00:24:04.800 Abraham becomes the first Hebrew, the first of the Jewish descent. 00:24:05.620 --> 00:24:09.380 We don't really have Jews at this point because Jew comes from the line of Judah. 00:24:09.800 --> 00:24:16.900 But he becomes the first Hebrew and Abraham in that you have a nation, a people group that 00:24:16.900 --> 00:24:24.620 comes forth, an ethnic group that comes forth, and this becomes a people group through which God is going to deliver his promise that through Abraham, 00:24:24.620 --> 00:24:29.040 not only is this nation, this people group formulated, but all nations are going to be blessed. 00:24:30.040 --> 00:24:37.080 In fact, in Galatians chapter three, verse 26, this is exactly what Paul says, that it's not just specific to a people 00:24:37.080 --> 00:24:44.080 group, though we should be thankful that God worked through a people group to bring about his greater name and his salvation 00:24:44.080 --> 00:24:45.290 and his rescue. 00:24:45.600 --> 00:24:49.490 But it becomes not only just about the people group, but through that people group. 00:24:49.620 --> 00:24:51.020 All people groups get blessed. 00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:56.120 And in Galatians 326, for you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:24:56.840 --> 00:25:00.940 For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 00:25:01.020 --> 00:25:02.820 There is neither Jew nor Greek. 00:25:02.820 --> 00:25:04.480 There is neither slave nor free. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:06.140 There is neither male nor female. 00:25:06.140 --> 00:25:07.820 For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:25:08.380 --> 00:25:14.360 And verse 29, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise. 00:25:16.860 --> 00:25:24.140 So God is telling Abraham, not only will I bless you and your people group, but also all people groups will be blessed 00:25:24.140 --> 00:25:24.780 through you. 00:25:26.360 --> 00:25:27.400 An act of God's grace. 00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:32.640 Not because we've earned it, not because we've proven anything, but because of who he is. 00:25:33.380 --> 00:25:35.380 And God says, I will bless you. 00:25:36.300 --> 00:25:38.200 It doesn't mean there's not going to be hurdles in front of Abraham. 00:25:38.460 --> 00:25:39.960 In fact, we'll look at a few in just a minute. 00:25:41.460 --> 00:25:46.960 But rather Abraham has the security of knowing who is walking with him as he journeys through this life. 00:25:47.080 --> 00:25:49.260 And he says, and you will have a great name. 00:25:50.700 --> 00:25:52.160 Here's the interesting thing in this verse. 00:25:52.820 --> 00:25:56.120 And when you start in Genesis chapter 11, you see the pursuit of the people in verse four. 00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:58.610 We're going to make our name great by our power. 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:02.560 It's about what we do that demonstrates how great we are. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.640 But God teaches us something different in Genesis chapter 12. 00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:08.260 It's not about what you do. 00:26:08.260 --> 00:26:09.760 It's about what he does in you. 00:26:10.460 --> 00:26:11.640 That's what makes your name great. 00:26:12.580 --> 00:26:14.500 It's about the identity that you have in him. 00:26:15.180 --> 00:26:19.890 Name in the Bible has to do with identity, and it's different than a worldly identity. 00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:28.120 In Genesis chapter 11, they're pursuing an identity based on what they accumulate in life, the size of their bank account, the titles they 00:26:28.120 --> 00:26:28.760 receive. 00:26:29.360 --> 00:26:30.980 He's going to tell you when you get to heaven. 00:26:31.600 --> 00:26:32.650 God is not going to ask that question. 00:26:33.100 --> 00:26:34.950 How big, how much money did you have when you died? 00:26:35.020 --> 00:26:35.140 Right? 00:26:35.720 --> 00:26:37.900 How much education did you have? 00:26:37.900 --> 00:26:38.460 What kind of title? 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:40.400 I got to figure out where to put you. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:42.220 You know that's not that's not God's question. 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:43.440 God's question is where was your heart? 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:48.270 And when people have a funeral for you at the end of your life, they're not going to talk about the size of your bank account. 00:26:48.580 --> 00:26:50.060 They'll fight over it, but they're not going to talk about it. 00:26:50.100 --> 00:26:50.220 Right? 00:26:50.620 --> 00:26:51.670 They're going to talk about your titles. 00:26:52.620 --> 00:26:56.340 They're more interested in the relationship they experienced with you and what you meant to them. 00:26:57.660 --> 00:27:04.660 And when the idea of name in this passage is all about this thought of identity and God is saying this, don't focus on the 00:27:04.660 --> 00:27:05.460 where or the what. 00:27:05.460 --> 00:27:06.220 Focus on the who. 00:27:07.580 --> 00:27:13.960 Who you follow and in so doing, who God makes you to be because that will determine where you go and what you do. 00:27:15.020 --> 00:27:19.700 Now we get it backwards as people, because when we make life about ourselves, that's the inevitable end. 00:27:20.180 --> 00:27:22.440 We only find our worth based on what we do. 00:27:23.800 --> 00:27:23.900 But. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.760 But in the Lord we find our worth based on who we are in him. 00:27:27.660 --> 00:27:29.150 And this is what God is saying to Abraham. 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:31.300 Abraham, you don't have to focus on your name. 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:32.860 That that's my job. 00:27:34.080 --> 00:27:37.600 I'm going to build that in you as you pursue me. 00:27:38.360 --> 00:27:42.180 And the same thing is true with our lives and pursuing after the Lord. 00:27:42.340 --> 00:27:49.900 And the result of that is as we lean into God, trusting in him wherever he leads, not about where or what, but who God 00:27:49.900 --> 00:27:52.940 builds in you a name, a place, an identity. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:58.780 And in that identity you become a blessing to other people because you find who you are in Christ. 00:27:59.280 --> 00:28:01.120 And through that then others are blessed. 00:28:02.340 --> 00:28:09.400 And then he goes on in verse three he says, and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will 00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:09.940 curse. 00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:12.060 And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. 00:28:13.980 --> 00:28:18.420 And God is saying to Abraham, look, if you pursue me, I'm going to take care of you. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.080 I'll walk with you. 00:28:20.080 --> 00:28:21.210 I'll be with you. 00:28:21.360 --> 00:28:23.000 I'll navigate this for your people. 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:24.160 Just pursue me. 00:28:25.100 --> 00:28:28.240 You don't have to stress about tomorrow because you know who holds tomorrow. 00:28:29.580 --> 00:28:31.580 And guys for you as well. 00:28:32.180 --> 00:28:39.440 Sometimes one of the preventative reasons we fail to follow the Lord is we start to get concerned about all the things in front of us, rather 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:46.720 than the God who stands with us, who's already gone before us, and the overwhelming feeling of some of the mountains we 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:48.100 might have to climb in our lives. 00:28:48.340 --> 00:28:51.340 We fail to recognize the God who walks with us in those storms. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.460 And so he's reminding Abraham that he handles this. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:00.580 That's one of the most freeing things, I think, in all of Scripture and following after the Lord. 00:29:01.540 --> 00:29:02.720 You don't have to wear the Superman cape. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:05.600 God already does, and God cares about you. 00:29:06.840 --> 00:29:07.960 He knows where you are. 00:29:09.040 --> 00:29:11.460 He knows what you need and you want to. 00:29:11.520 --> 00:29:12.720 He wants to walk with you in life. 00:29:14.040 --> 00:29:21.280 And so this is what he's saying to Abraham, in fact, a like verse for us in Scripture as Romans chapter 12, verse nine, where God says, vengeance is mine, I 00:29:21.280 --> 00:29:22.820 will repay, says the Lord. 00:29:23.820 --> 00:29:27.060 You don't have to stress out about pouring out vengeance to other people who mistreat you. 00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:29.460 You certainly can use leverage law. 00:29:29.460 --> 00:29:30.940 That's why we have laws in our land. 00:29:30.940 --> 00:29:33.180 You can call the police if something bad happens to you. 00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:34.480 I'm not telling you not to do that. 00:29:34.800 --> 00:29:37.000 I think that's important for the protection of people. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:42.340 But what it is saying is it's not yours to pour out the vengeance, but rather let God handle it. 00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:46.580 Because what God is going to do is far greater than what you'll ever do in your own strength anyway. 00:29:47.660 --> 00:29:50.540 You get the opportunity to enjoy the journey with the Lord. 00:29:50.600 --> 00:29:50.640 So. 00:29:51.020 --> 00:29:53.900 So therefore, the next point the opportunity is to take a step of faith. 00:29:55.820 --> 00:29:56.400 Take a step of faith. 00:29:56.460 --> 00:29:57.750 This is exactly what Abraham does. 00:29:58.700 --> 00:29:59.220 Verse four. 00:29:59.220 --> 00:30:01.480 So Abraham went away as the Lord had spoken to him. 00:30:01.980 --> 00:30:02.820 And lot went with him. 00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:06.480 Now Abraham was 75 years old when he had departed from Haran. 00:30:07.040 --> 00:30:14.260 And Abraham took his wife Sarai, and his nephew lot, and they and all their possessions with which they had accumulated, and the people which they had acquired in 00:30:14.260 --> 00:30:16.880 Hebron, and they set out for the land of Canaan. 00:30:17.340 --> 00:30:18.460 So they came to the land of Canaan. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:23.630 Abraham passed through the land as far as the site of Shekem to the oak of Mora. 00:30:24.040 --> 00:30:26.460 Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. 00:30:27.100 --> 00:30:28.120 Let me just say this. 00:30:28.520 --> 00:30:30.880 If you if you didn't catch this in these three verses. 00:30:33.760 --> 00:30:35.960 Following after God isn't always easy. 00:30:37.560 --> 00:30:39.580 But you'll never regret it because it's always worth it. 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:42.320 And this is the lesson Abraham's learning. 00:30:43.300 --> 00:30:45.450 Verse 4 to 6, this is exactly what he's communicating. 00:30:45.560 --> 00:30:46.860 And here's how you see it. 00:30:47.300 --> 00:30:51.360 Abraham is 75 years old and he's not moving with a moving truck. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:56.140 Abraham is 75 years old and he's loading camels and he's not going ten miles. 00:30:56.140 --> 00:30:57.830 He's going hundreds of miles. 00:30:58.080 --> 00:30:59.700 And you talk about a big life change. 00:30:59.780 --> 00:31:02.580 This is a big life change at an age where it's not easy to make life change. 00:31:03.500 --> 00:31:10.700 But he wants to pursue a life in the Lord because he knows it's far more meaningful than to live life in pagan ideology for his own purposes. 00:31:11.500 --> 00:31:15.940 And so no matter where he's at in life, he's willing to surrender that, to follow the Lord. 00:31:16.380 --> 00:31:22.200 And can I tell you in your own journey with God, the best time to follow Jesus is right now. 00:31:22.740 --> 00:31:25.140 The best time to give your life to the Lord is right now. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:32.500 And it's not counting the troubles before you, but rather recognizing the goodness of who God is and the power of God over anything that might rest before you in life. 00:31:33.140 --> 00:31:35.850 In fact, that goes a little further and identifies it in the land of Canaan. 00:31:36.380 --> 00:31:38.980 God is saying, look, I'm going to send you to a land, Abraham. 00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:43.210 And when you get to the land, it's going to look overwhelming because there's lots of people here, but this is going to be your land. 00:31:44.040 --> 00:31:45.640 And so it is with the journey of the Lord. 00:31:45.700 --> 00:31:47.660 You start thinking, well, if I follow Jesus, what are the consequences? 00:31:48.220 --> 00:31:49.110 What are people going to say? 00:31:49.300 --> 00:31:53.720 Thinking of all the challenges and you fail to put your eyes on the God who conquers them. 00:31:55.660 --> 00:32:02.220 The challenges themselves become really the idolatry that we look towards rather than the God we're called to worship. 00:32:02.300 --> 00:32:03.520 It's not about where you're going. 00:32:04.800 --> 00:32:05.980 But who you're going with. 00:32:07.100 --> 00:32:10.330 Because if you focus on him, God takes care of the journey. 00:32:11.180 --> 00:32:12.760 In fact, I think he taught his disciples that. 00:32:12.760 --> 00:32:13.500 Do you remember the story? 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:19.450 And one of the stories that Jesus had in the Sea of Galilee, where he goes up to a mountain to pray by himself. 00:32:19.500 --> 00:32:21.040 He sends his disciples out into the sea. 00:32:21.080 --> 00:32:21.510 There's a storm. 00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:23.040 They're concerned. 00:32:23.040 --> 00:32:26.140 They start to look out and they see someone walking on the water to them. 00:32:26.140 --> 00:32:26.800 They panic. 00:32:26.800 --> 00:32:27.770 They think it's a ghost. 00:32:28.100 --> 00:32:29.740 And then Peter realizes it's Jesus. 00:32:29.760 --> 00:32:31.300 And Peter does what Peter does. 00:32:31.300 --> 00:32:32.350 He jumps out of the boat. 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:33.180 Jesus calls him. 00:32:33.180 --> 00:32:34.460 He starts walking on water. 00:32:34.580 --> 00:32:39.160 Then he starts to freak out because he's walking on water and he stops looking at Jesus and he starts to sink. 00:32:40.280 --> 00:32:41.360 And then Jesus rescues him. 00:32:42.220 --> 00:32:45.840 And it's a picture, really, of really what all of us face in life. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:53.820 God is not always interested in removing the storms from our lives, but rather becoming the God in the storm with us to 00:32:53.820 --> 00:32:56.630 help us understand what it means to follow after him in adversity. 00:32:56.840 --> 00:32:59.060 To see the greatness of who God is. 00:32:59.140 --> 00:33:00.980 In fact, this is what Abraham did. 00:33:01.400 --> 00:33:08.560 And Hebrews chapter 11, verse eight, listen to this by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive 00:33:08.560 --> 00:33:12.440 as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. 00:33:13.260 --> 00:33:20.600 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 00:33:21.260 --> 00:33:25.620 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 00:33:27.100 --> 00:33:28.360 Abraham didn't know where he was going. 00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:33.040 He went into this land of Canaan, but he knew God was building something great within him. 00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:37.300 If he would just focus on the one who desired to do it. 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:42.880 So let me just ask, what excuses do you make before following the Lord? 00:33:44.620 --> 00:33:45.540 What stops you. 00:33:46.860 --> 00:33:48.700 From giving your life completely over to him. 00:33:49.900 --> 00:33:51.220 Are you building a tower like Babel? 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:54.850 Are you in a place of confusion? 00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:57.840 What do you hold back from God? 00:33:57.840 --> 00:33:58.340 As if he. 00:33:58.600 --> 00:33:59.040 He's the. 00:33:59.260 --> 00:34:01.700 He's the God of terror, where you just follow him half way. 00:34:03.620 --> 00:34:06.680 Where are you reserved in your relationship with the Lord rather than understand man? 00:34:06.900 --> 00:34:08.440 God made you for him and him alone. 00:34:09.820 --> 00:34:13.040 Now the life of Abraham becomes that beautiful picture for all of us. 00:34:13.040 --> 00:34:18.860 In verse seven he goes on, and the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to your descendants, I will give this land. 00:34:19.460 --> 00:34:23.280 So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:26.219 I love that she's saying, Abraham. 00:34:26.580 --> 00:34:33.469 Look, Abraham, when you follow me with your life, not only is it a blessing to you, but it's a blessing to generations. 00:34:34.580 --> 00:34:36.100 It doesn't just make an impact in your life. 00:34:36.100 --> 00:34:37.880 It makes an impact in the lives around you. 00:34:39.040 --> 00:34:40.480 And God points it out to Abraham. 00:34:40.560 --> 00:34:41.860 This is not just about you. 00:34:42.100 --> 00:34:42.780 I've got more for you. 00:34:42.820 --> 00:34:43.610 And here's what's crazy. 00:34:44.159 --> 00:34:46.020 Abraham, remember, still can't have children. 00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:51.760 And so God is bringing Abraham to a place that looks utterly hopeless to him. 00:34:52.219 --> 00:34:53.199 A picture that looks bleak. 00:34:53.260 --> 00:34:55.199 And he's wondering, God, what can you do here? 00:34:55.940 --> 00:34:59.620 And if you're talking about blessing nations, how can that even happen? 00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:05.610 And God is a beautiful God that takes us from our brokenness, that does more than we can ever dream. 00:35:06.660 --> 00:35:13.820 And then he goes on and verse, verse eight, and he says, then he proceeded from there into the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent 00:35:13.820 --> 00:35:16.470 with Bethel on the west and AI on the east. 00:35:16.600 --> 00:35:19.660 And there he built an altar to the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. 00:35:19.880 --> 00:35:22.160 Then Abraham journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. 00:35:22.250 --> 00:35:23.130 Here's what I want you to realize. 00:35:24.720 --> 00:35:27.160 Abraham didn't just trust God once and go on this journey. 00:35:27.900 --> 00:35:30.720 What you see is Abraham again and again surrenders his life to the Lord. 00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:36.580 As he's going on this journey, he continues to stop and worship because how important it is for us. 00:35:36.940 --> 00:35:41.820 You can start the Christian journey and say, okay, I need, I need Jesus to save me, to rescue me. 00:35:41.900 --> 00:35:42.420 And you do that. 00:35:42.420 --> 00:35:44.840 You completely trust in the Lord, but you forget. 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.960 The gospel renews you every day, and eventually you can come to this place where you just stop worshiping. 00:35:51.020 --> 00:35:55.140 And so important for the life of every believer to wake up every day and say, God, this day is yours. 00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:56.600 You made it. 00:35:56.620 --> 00:35:58.090 And so may I live it for your glory. 00:35:58.380 --> 00:36:04.620 Everything that I have is yours, and may I walk with you and let you write the story of your great name. 00:36:04.660 --> 00:36:06.740 And in so doing, make a great name for me. 00:36:07.140 --> 00:36:12.180 Through you, God, all great things happen, and so every day becomes a day of surrender to the Lord. 00:36:12.240 --> 00:36:16.840 In fact, first Corinthians 1531 Paul says, I die daily. 00:36:18.020 --> 00:36:21.420 I die daily, meaning the gospel happens over and over in our lives. 00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:23.980 And so here it is then the final point the promise. 00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:26.880 God's grace is available for everyone. 00:36:28.260 --> 00:36:31.380 And here's how we tie really Abraham's story to all of us. 00:36:31.380 --> 00:36:33.980 You know, we read that story of Abraham, and I'm relating it to you. 00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:38.820 And you may be asking the question, well, how do I really know this has to do with my life, right? 00:36:38.880 --> 00:36:40.550 It's good for Abraham, but I'm not Abraham. 00:36:40.760 --> 00:36:42.210 How do I really know? 00:36:42.700 --> 00:36:44.940 My answer for you would be because of Genesis ten. 00:36:46.780 --> 00:36:47.900 Because of Genesis ten. 00:36:49.240 --> 00:36:50.180 In Genesis ten. 00:36:50.980 --> 00:36:58.560 You see, when Noah comes out of the boat with his kids Shem, Ham and Japheth, it lists for you the genealogy of Shem, Ham and Japheth, which for us just genealogy 00:36:58.560 --> 00:36:59.900 can sometimes get boring, right? 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:04.590 But then at the very end of chapter ten, it gives an important point. 00:37:05.260 --> 00:37:07.340 This passage is called the Table of Nations. 00:37:08.240 --> 00:37:13.450 And in verse 32 it says, these are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their descendants, by their nations. 00:37:13.980 --> 00:37:18.440 And out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood. 00:37:19.760 --> 00:37:27.040 If you read about the people groups that come from Shem, Ham and Japheth, some people go back and count these and there's over 70 names listed. 00:37:27.720 --> 00:37:34.560 So it carries the idea that there are over 70 nations that are birthed, or ethnic groups that are birthed right after the Noahic flood. 00:37:35.400 --> 00:37:37.700 And then they during that time. 00:37:37.720 --> 00:37:43.260 Sometime during that time, they decided this group stays together and they build the Tower of Babel, which is this place of confusion. 00:37:44.200 --> 00:37:51.380 But out of this place of confusion, God calls one people group as his representative to pursue him through which the Messiah 00:37:51.380 --> 00:37:55.600 would come, and in that Messiah would become the blessing to all people. 00:37:56.400 --> 00:37:58.910 That through Abraham we all become children of Abraham. 00:37:59.100 --> 00:38:01.780 In Galatians chapter three, verse 26 to 29. 00:38:02.360 --> 00:38:05.020 And here's how I know that here's where we see the story painted. 00:38:05.180 --> 00:38:08.400 It's a it's an incredible picture in Luke chapter nine. 00:38:09.420 --> 00:38:11.620 Luke chapter nine and ten is also in Matthew chapter ten. 00:38:11.980 --> 00:38:14.830 But in Luke chapter nine, this is where Jesus calls the 12 disciples. 00:38:15.780 --> 00:38:20.020 Luke nine he tells the 12 disciples, go out and proclaim the gospel and look at this. 00:38:20.080 --> 00:38:24.280 He tells them to proclaim the gospel in Matthew ten five, only two Jewish towns. 00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:26.780 That's what he says to them, only proclaim it two Jewish towns. 00:38:27.380 --> 00:38:30.200 And the reason Jesus picks 12 disciples is a picture. 00:38:30.200 --> 00:38:34.120 It's a representative, and the representation is for the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:38:34.920 --> 00:38:42.020 It's as if the Messiah is saying that he would bless the people group, Abraham's people group, and he sends out the 12 disciples to minister 00:38:42.020 --> 00:38:43.020 to the 12 tribes. 00:38:43.860 --> 00:38:46.440 But then when you get to Luke chapter ten, Jesus does something interesting. 00:38:46.440 --> 00:38:48.740 He says, the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. 00:38:48.740 --> 00:38:49.280 Go forth. 00:38:49.780 --> 00:38:55.460 And when Jesus calls him to go forth in Luke chapter ten, rather than call the 12 again, he now calls 70. 00:38:56.800 --> 00:38:57.980 Why does Jesus call 70? 00:38:59.320 --> 00:39:06.340 The reason Jesus calls 70 is because now he's speaking to all nations and people groups, and rather than just tell them only go to Jewish 00:39:06.340 --> 00:39:07.750 towns, he tells them to go everywhere. 00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:15.020 And so what Jesus is doing, he's tying the story in the gospel all the way back to the Noahic flood. 00:39:15.740 --> 00:39:22.900 And he's reminding us of the promise of Abraham and sang faithfully that from the beginning, God's hand has been with us, that God would come 00:39:22.900 --> 00:39:28.290 and minister to all people groups, that we could discover the same God in which Abraham followed. 00:39:29.100 --> 00:39:34.470 And so when you read the story of the Tower of Babel into the life of Abraham, it's painting this beautiful picture. 00:39:34.560 --> 00:39:38.520 It's saying to us, we all try to build things for our glory, Babel. 00:39:39.560 --> 00:39:41.460 And it leads to this place of confusion. 00:39:42.340 --> 00:39:49.800 But God steps into our hopeless story like Abraham, and he gives us a place to make a difference if we would by faith, 00:39:50.260 --> 00:39:54.840 trust in him, not knowing where we are going, but knowing who we are going with. 00:39:56.460 --> 00:39:59.640 Saying to us, don't look at the challenges before you. 00:40:00.220 --> 00:40:03.920 Like Abraham at 75 years old, going to the land of Canaan. 00:40:04.720 --> 00:40:07.020 But rather look to the Lord above you. 00:40:07.860 --> 00:40:14.900 And in this all the nations would be blessed because of the Lord who goes with 00:40:14.900 --> 00:40:15.000 you. 00:40:16.920 --> 00:40:24.500 God's calling on Abraham is a calling that all of us have in the Lord and pursuit of our relationship with him, 00:40:24.580 --> 00:40:27.160 not focused on making our name great, but his name. 00:40:27.840 --> 00:40:32.300 And in so doing, God blesses us, and through that we bless others. 00:40:33.240 --> 00:40:36.420 There was a missionary named David Livingston I often talk about. 00:40:36.420 --> 00:40:39.320 Was a missionary in Africa in the 1800s. 00:40:39.320 --> 00:40:43.660 He tracked all over Africa proclaiming the gospel when David Livingston died. 00:40:43.660 --> 00:40:49.660 I know I've told you this before, but when he died, his home country requested that his body be returned from Africa. 00:40:50.100 --> 00:40:55.380 But in Africa, before they returned his body, they actually cut out his heart and buried it under a tree. 00:40:55.880 --> 00:41:03.080 And they said when they shipped his body back to his home country, they said, you can have his body, but we're burying his heart because his heart belongs to Africa. 00:41:04.180 --> 00:41:07.360 David Livingston was a man much like Abraham of incredible faith. 00:41:08.160 --> 00:41:12.310 He didn't always know where he was going to end up, but he knew the God he followed and the God he wanted to proclaim. 00:41:12.980 --> 00:41:14.600 And David Livingston gave this prayer. 00:41:14.600 --> 00:41:16.240 And I think it's a beautiful ending to this story. 00:41:16.380 --> 00:41:19.150 He said, God, send me anywhere. 00:41:20.180 --> 00:41:20.960 Only go with me. 00:41:22.260 --> 00:41:24.380 Lay any burden on me. 00:41:25.340 --> 00:41:28.980 Only sustain me and sever any tie in my heart. 00:41:29.780 --> 00:41:33.100 Except the tie that binds my heart to yours.