Title: People with God/Genesis 12:1-9
"The LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country and your relatives and your father's house and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will be a blessing to those who bless you. And whoever curses you, I will curse, and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you." So Abram did as the LORD said, and Lot was with him, and Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. And Sarai his wife, Lot, his nephew, and all that they had gathered in Haran, they set out to go to the land of Canaan, and finally entered the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land and came to the oak of Moreh in the land of Shechem. At that time the Canaanites lived in the land. And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your descendants." And to the LORD who had appeared to him, he built an altar there and moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel and pitched his tent. Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. They built an altar and called on the name of the LORD, and gradually moved toward the south.”
Abraham is a great believer. The apostles Paul, David, Moses, and other leaders of faith all confessed that their faith came from their father Abraham.
1. Abraham was chosen by God
Genesis 17:4 describes Abraham as the father of the nations. Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans and came to Canaan, where he became the father of Israel. Abraham became the father of Israel through Isaac, and he became the father of Arabs because he gave birth to Ishmael. Also, Abraham is the father of all believers today.
God called Abraham of Ur of the Chaldeans. God's righteousness, which is the means of salvation, was first applied to Abraham (Gen. 15:6).
Abraham is also the father of the Messiah (Matthew 1:1, Luke 1:73). Christ came into this world as a response to the covenant God gave to Abraham.
There was never anything good about Abraham. It was God's total grace that God made him the father of faith. Abraham was born into an idolatrous family, and perhaps he himself was an idolater. God chose Abraham. And in the same way, we are called to be servants of God. God chose us in God's plan and providence before we were conceived in the mother's womb and already before the foundation of the world (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). This is God's saving grace and love.
God's grace came to Abraham in this way (Isaiah 51:2).
God's call precedes our faith (John 6:65). After God calls us, He gives us faith. When God calls you, as long as you answer Amen and come out, God will give you power and give you grace.
2. Abraham who believed and obeyed
When Abraham had no faith, God promised to call him and bless him. Finally, Abraham believed in God and was able to leave his hometown of Ur of the Chaldeans.
God called Abraham from Ur and Haran of the Chaldeans. When God first told Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldeans, he stayed in Haran. So God called him again and made him go to Canaan. This is Abraham's weakness and at the same time, it is all of us.
Faith is believing, not knowing. So, faith is something anyone can have. We must apply our faith in our daily lives. In other words, you must do what you believe. But when we pray, we know that God will hear us, but we do not pray. When God revealed Himself, Abraham believed in God. Those who believe in Jesus are simple people. Otherwise, the person who keeps asking questions will not be trusted. Faith is believing without hope and believing in the promises and character of God without seeing.
However, God gave Abraham the evidence that it was the land of Canaan and gave us the Old and New Testaments, the words of God. God is calling His children today as He called Abraham. God came to us when we had no knowledge of God and no hope. And when we are discouraged, He calls us a second time. In this way, God is calling us over and over again.
If we do not believe in people, we cannot live in this world, and the evidence of God is even greater (1 John 5:9). Faith is believing what God has said and what he has done. Abraham answered the call according to his faith. When we accept God's promises by faith, all his promises become ours.
3. God calls us back when we are weak
God calls us again when we are weak. Abraham, who was staying in Haran even after receiving God's call, was wasting time in God's sight. So God called him again. David, who was called by God, at one point committed adultery and murdered. However, God called him again through the prophet Nathan and made him the holy guru David. Jonah also did not obey God's command and ran away and went into the belly of a fish. There will be people among us who have been called by God ten or twenty times. God always calls those He chooses.
We, who have been called by God, must yield our all to God. It means putting God first. Only such people are true disciples of Christ. If there is a person who does not obey God's commands even after confirming God's call but does his own will, he is not God's people. If God calls us a second time, we will have to obey God and not rebel against Him.
I will conclude
When God calls us, we should say to God, “Send me.” You should say, “Send me as the village chief of the upper room, as an evangelist, as a witness of Christ.”