Title: The Day the Doors of Heaven Opened
The Lord spoke to Abram. “Leave the land where you live, the place where you were born, 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 I will make you famous. You will be a source of blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. All nations on earth will be blessed through you” (verses 1-3).
How have you been this week? What kind of country is God established? Ok. In Israel, the most frequently mentioned in the Bible, God chose Abraham, opened the gates of heaven, and built it. At that time Abraham was living in a place called Ur of the Chaldeans, which was a city of idols. Many people loved and liked other things more than God.
Then one day God came to Abraham. As the gates of heaven opened, God's voice was heard. “Abraham, Abraham!” When Abraham heard this, he was startled and answered. “Yes, God!”
“Abraham, I have chosen you. Now, leave your homeland and go to the land I teach you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.”
After hearing God's word, Abraham pondered for a moment, 'What should I do?' ‘This is the hometown where I have been living since my father’s days, and here is my home, family, and friends… . Will I ever be able to live well without leaving this place?’ But even after thinking about this for a while, Abraham believed God’s word and said, “Yes! God will go.” and answered. Abraham was ashamed of himself for trying to disobey God's word for a while.
Abraham, along with his family and the family of his nephew Lot, set out for the land promised by God. However, there were many difficulties while we were going to the land that God had told us to go. Each time, God reminded him of the promise he had made to Abraham, who was struggling.
“Abraham, look to the sky. If you can count, count those stars. Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Abraham, look at that desert sand. can you count I will make your descendants as great as the sand.”
Wait here! Ladies and gentlemen, among the many promises God made to Abraham, what is the most important promise? That is the promise: “You will be a source of blessings.”
In the end, as promised, God established the nation of Israel through Abraham and gave them many descendants to make a great nation. The names of the children of Israel who prospered, starting with Abraham, are well described in Matthew chapter 1. So, shall we take a brief look at the characters our friends know well?
“Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers… “Jesse begat King David.” David begat Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon begot Rehoboam,” and then “Matthan begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary.”
Wow~ Really, starting with Abraham, there have been many great people through generations. But looking at the last verse, it says, “Jacob bore Joseph, the husband of Mary.” If so, who will be born next? 1) That's right. It is Jesus. The teacher will read the next sentence.
“From Mary was born Jesus, who is called the Christ!”
Wow, after all, the Messiah, Jesus, was born from the descendants of Abraham.
Guys, what kind of person is Jesus to us? Ok. He is the one who grants salvation and eternal life to anyone who believes. Uh, then, Jesus becomes our ‘blessing’. Since Abraham was the beginning of the ‘blessing’, Abraham became the ‘source of blessing’ according to God’s promise. Wow~ After all, God is the one who always keeps His promises.
Dear children, as we learned from the history of Israel today, if you believe in and obey God's promises and words like Abraham did, God will give you great blessings that you can't even imagine.
As you learned in school, our country has been through many hardships and hardships, such as being invaded and ruled by other countries after the country was founded. However, as in the lyrics of the national anthem, ‘God protects our country, long live!’, whenever times were difficult, God protected and protected our country.
However, in order for our country to become a nation that is more blessed by God, we also have to work hard. It is our natural duty to love this country and the land we live in. There are many ways to love the country, but as children of God, above all else, we should pray for the country while keeping God's word well. If we do that, God will love our country even more.