In this lesson, we examine the call of Abram to leave his country and follow God. Specifically, we look to answer the following questions: Why did God call Abram? How did Abram respond? Why did Abram respond the way that he did? What ultimately motivated Abram? How ought we to be instructed by Abram’s example?
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and ready to go but I appreciate your being here today we begin talking about Abraham first called Abram and the title of our lesson is God calls Abram or moving along through the third quarter of this curriculum God is faithful seeing it emphasized in multiple ways before we get to today’s material though let’s review a little bit of last week’s material last week we talked about Joe when approximately two job live let’s give me the year but you can tell me you can describe job must have lived a long time ago to be sure between what and what it has to be after you asked me after the flood it has to be after Babel because of certain aspects of the of the texts like the tribal distinctions but it has to be before or at least around the same time as as you said Rob Abraham so job appears between Moses and babble probably right before or at the same time as the patriarchs now we’ve talked about job and his suffering in circumstances how did God arrange job circumstances to give testimony to God’s worth is something we talked about last week how was God going to give testimony to his own worth through job and why is that testimony to God’s worth that job doesn’t curse God well you remember that we talked about the idea that we talked to it we talked a little bit about this and I’ll say more about it now but we can give the short answer by saying this God was going to show that even if a righteous man loses all his temporal blessings even his own health the Lord will be enough for him a righteous man someone that God Himself is upholding the Lord will be enough for him that was the testimony that job’s suffering and job’s life was going to give about God now to clarify the side a little bit further it’s not as if job was going to prove or disprove God’s worth because God’s worth is objective right it doesn’t need man to prove it people when they sin or when they live without God they are denying God’s worth all the time but God is nonetheless completely worthy man’s rebellion does not prove God’s worth to be lacking and even if Jobe had abandoned God it would not have proven God to be less than he is it would have only proven job to be a desperately wicked sinner in need of rescue because that’s the way it is for all of us right As Romans 34 says let God be found true and every man although every man be found a liar so Joe was not going to prove or disprove God’s worth however God arranged special testimony of his own worth to come through job and that’s why God mentions job to Satan have you considered my servant job and that’s why he commended job as the most righteous man on earth Satan hoped for an opportunity opportunity to give negative testimony about God’s worth to defame God by causing even the most righteous person to abandon god but God instead designed for job to be a clear testimony of God’s worth of God’s sufficiency for the righteous God is enough when job’s friends arrived to comfort him the group soon got into a debate what was the debate about exactly why is this happening to you Joe but this debate was misguided from the start why okay well there’s certainly that job’s friends all come up with the same answer and that is this is happening to you because you’re in sin you’re an unrepentant sin you’ve been living in habits of sin patterns of sin and therefore God is judging you that is of course wrong but even if but even if we consider what job was saying no I haven’t been in patterns of sin I haven’t been unrepented of any sin I’m innocent therefore I want to know why this is happening even job’s response is misguided the whole idea of trying to understand why this was happening to Joe was misguided because there’s no way for them to know right unless God specifically revealed it to them there would be no way for them to figure it out they couldn’t figure it out just from job circumstances as we said last week god only communicates to us through his word we we are not supposed to nor can we look at our circumstances and say that must be what God is telling me God’s never promised to do that job did maintain his innocence and he was right in doing so he didn’t claim sinlessness but he confessed that his life was a pattern of righteousness and not a pattern of sin there was no unrepentant sins in his life that would warrant chase inning or judgment that he could see perhaps provoked into it by his friends job therefore became suspicious of the Justice the wisdom and the goodness of God and he expressed even a desire to meet with God and get an explanation well God does meet with Joe but what’s the explanation God gives he doesn’t give an explanation right what does he stay instead where were you when I made the earth or to paraphrase God’s barrage of questions job I’m god you’re not you have no right to question me God does not need to show us how he is being good just or wise in any of our life situations for us to know that he is being good just and wise as we explored the let the latter part of last week’s lesson God is always doing good to his people Romans 8 reinforces this for us specifically and God is always making us more like Christ and causing us to appreciate more of Christ and that is our greatest good and it is the source of our happiness and God knows how to reward the righteous we’re going to see more about that today but with job he showed us that or he magnificently blessed job at the end of jobs trial for jobs perseverance and in the same way he will magnificently reward us so we looked at Joe we look at his trial we look at his trust in God even though he slipped in certain ways his fundamental trust in God and we are encouraged persevere through our own trials that’s all I wanted to say about last week’s lesson any questions or comments on that okay now we switch back switch back to Genesis switch over to a man who lived at the same time or may come right after job and that’s Abram we’re going to spend the next four lessons on Abram later called Abraham this first lesson is simply on God’s calling Abraham to give you a little outline of a little indicator of what were going to be exploiting today how did Abram respond to God’s call what was God’s call how did they burn respond to it why did God call Abram to what did Abram ultimately look forward if he if Abram is responding to God what was it foremost in his mind that was motivating him and then how can a brooms response and thinking and struck us and how we ought to live I think you’re going to see today that they’re going to be some parallels between this lesson and last week’s lesson will mainly be exploring Genesis 11 27 to 12 9 in today’s lesson let’s pray before I go on god I pray that you would reveal yourself to us now through your word help me to be able to explain it would help us to be able to understand the same thing that job and Abram understood about you well that is your preciousness oh god I pray that that you would speak help us understand his name human let’s go ahead and read this historical account of God calling Abraham so turn in your Bibles to Genesis 11 you remember that we’ve been in this passage already the early part of this passage is the account of the Tower of Babel and the city of Babel the building event and then after that we get the genealogy that links shem to abram and the passage that we’re going to read picks up right after that kind of a long section because we’re reading from one chapter into the next so follow along with me starting in verse 27 in chapter 11 verse 27 now these are the records of the generations of Tara Tara became the father of Abram Nahor and Iran and Iran became the father of lot Iran died is the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth in ur of the Chaldeans Abram and nee hoor took wives from themselves the name of Abraham’s wife was Samurai and the name of nee wife was Milkha the daughter of her on the father of Milkha and iska sir I was barren she had no child Terah took Abram his son and lot the son of her on his grandson and Sarai his daughter-in-law his son Abrams wife and they went out together from irv the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan and they went as far as Iran and settled there the days of terror were two hundred and five years and Terah died in Iran now the Lord said Abram go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great and so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all of the families of the earth will be blessed so Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him and lot went with him now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Iran Abram took Sarah his wife and lot his nephew and all their possessions which they had accumulated and the persons which they had acquired in Haram and they sent out for the land of Canaan thus they came to the land of Canaan aben passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem to the oak of Mora now the Canaanite was then in the land the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your descendants I will give this land so he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and I on the east and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord Abram journeyed on continuing toward the negative ok we’ll stop there let’s make some observations on this long section of Scripture first who are the relatives of Abram mentioned in this passage there are a number of them so you can just give me one the guy’s father who’s his father Terah cherez father who else yeah danielle lot his nephew very good and la is his nephew through her on who’s his brother Ron however as you see there dies in earth so we’ve got terrorists father her on his brother lies nephew who else nee hoor also a brother who else Abraham’s wife we also learned later is his half-sister when he gets into one of those difficult situations I think it’s with a Abimelech king Abimelech and he says just stay here my sister and later he’s interrogated why did you tell me this he’s likable is she really is my sister we have the same father but a different mother so that’s his wife and his half-sister and one other person we have Milkha also Abraham’s relative she’s the wife of mejor so she’s the wife of his brother but she’s also the daughter of her on sochi Milkha is both his sister-in-law and his niece his a little family tree help make this a little more clear so you see some of those names Milkha over there on the right when they and run it may be noticing that these immediate relatives of Abram include married close relations this shouldn’t be too surprising to us because in the years following Babel as we said families and tribes separated from one another and often only married within themselves and we see that happening right here Tara’s descendants are marrying within their within their try anyways what little aside or be told about Sarah in this passage she was barren she had no child and that’s a big deal as we’ll see in later lessons it was a big deal at this time should be barren now Tara and his family going a little migration they intended to go from where to where according to the text from irv the chaldeans to Canaan I’ll show this to you with a map talk about these different locations that’s earlier in the bottom right Canaan would be there on the left now we’ve mentioned the city of Ur in this class before there was apparently a decently large city in Chaldea or southern Mesopotamia people have done archaeological investigations of this ancient city unearthing the base of a huge ziggurat there I’d actually shown you a picture of that in another class and archaeologists have discovered that religious worship in this city this earth there may have been another but this is probably the ER that we’re talking about the worship in this city centered on a moon god named an honest in not a sin so a little bit of information about Earth so they’re traveling from Eau de Canaan but they don’t make it all the way to Canaan they instead stop where Hara or her man now this would’ve been a journey of about 600 miles from Earth to her on to give you a rough estimate of about how far that is that’s about as far as New Jersey is from South Carolina so they’re walking they’re traveling there with their beasts and whatever they had now her on likely refers to what is later called her on with two R’s in Assyria a city whose ruins are now in southern Turkey archaeological excavations have not uncovered much about ancient life in Iran I’m do have some evil things that we’ve discovered but before that hard to tell it appears to have been a commercial hub on a trade route however don’t be confused though don’t try to link Abrams brother with this city because they’re actually spelled differently in Hebrew even though they are spelled the same in our english translation so they’re not related he also might be wondering why did they go up and not simply West anybody tell me why okay so they are following the river the Euphrates River likely as they’re traveling north but this seem like they’re traveling a lot more miles than they need to why not just go west desert right it it may also be that they’re following a trade route that goes along the river but there’s also a big desert right in between Mesopotamia and Canaan and so not only is that difficult to travel through and perhaps dangerous from oneself he has all his possessions with him too they have all their possessions with them so livestock might not make the might not survive the journey to go north and then go down now Terra dies in her on in Assyria at the age of 205 pretty good age and chapter 12 opens with a sudden command from God to Abram to travel again several aspects of the command as as God speaks to Abram several aspects of the command that might be difficult what are some of the things that God brings up right before or right when he’s calling Abram he says you’re going to have to do these things he doesn’t identify them as difficult but we think about them I think they can say that they could be difficult it’s one of the things that he tells Abram he’s going to have to do leave your relatives leave the people you know and the people that you’ve lived with for years the people who have been your support your friends and even your allies leave all of it what else leave your country leave the land you know that you settled in and that you’ve gotten used to what else yeah Danielle right go to the place that I will show you I won’t tell you now where you’re going just move in this certain direction in case you’re wondering wait is that exactly what God is saying well Hebrews 11 8 which will see a little bit later says explicitly that when Abram set out he did not know where he was going so this is another difficulty with the journey go to the linen that I will show you I can tell you what it is right now you don’t know exactly where it is right now but I will show it to you and then we also see there that he’s told to leave his father’s house that’s similar to saying to leave your relatives but it’s we see by comparing from the details about Abraham’s age and Tara’s age that Abram was not the oldest child so when Tara died one of his brothers then would be kind of would have become head of the tribe it would have been the leader but God is telling him leave your father’s house you’re no longer going to be following your father’s or your older brothers leadership you’re not going to be under their direction or protection you’re going to leave that and go to the place that i will show you those can be some difficulties but God attaches some promises also to his command to leave what are some of the promises I’ll make you a great nation what else I will bless you what else I’ll make your name great what else yes I am so right I’ll bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you in other words people will be blessed or cursed depending on how they treat you and then finally what’s the other promise that’s right you are going to be the cause for all families on the earth to be blessed in you will be a blessing that passes to everyone on earth those are some pretty big promises Abram obeys God and he leaves her on and how old is Abram when he does this I say 75 whom or what does Abram tape with him going to the text he takes his wife Sarai takes a lot his nephew and what else that’s right it took all the stuff that he had accumulated and the people that he had accumulated they had acquired a number of servants in her on this indicates they probably spent a good amount of time there because he had acquired possessions and servants in that city Abram travels to Canaan specifically to Shechem a Canaanite town about 30 miles north of Jerusalem you can see that there at the top of all those names on the map this would have been a track about 400 miles so 600 plus 400 almost about a thousand miles now 400 miles think between South Carolina and Florida be about the distance Abram arrives at Shechem and then the Lord appears to Abram what additional promise does God give Abram when he arrives in Shechem that’s right to your descendants I will give this land and we also got that little detail now the Canaanites was then in the land so we know that there are people already living there specifically the Canaanites who are going to be the enemies of Israel and says the Canaanites were already there and then God makes his promise to your descendants not the Canaanites I will give this land what does Abram do in response he builds an altar he built an altar there verse 8 says the Abram built another altar when he arrived near what would later be Beth a city seven miles north of Jerusalem so getting closer to where Jerusalem would be and there Abram also called upon the name of the Lord called upon the name of the Lord now we’ve encountered that phrase before what does that exactly mean well to give you a little bit of an idea it is used other places in the Old Testament even in the Psalms here are two places where we see that phrase Psalm 105 wun psalmist writes oh give thanks to the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the peoples psalm 116 324 says the cords of death encompassed me and the terrors of Sheol came upon me I found a stress and sorrow then I called upon the the Lord oh Lord I beseech you save my life so we see that that phrase is actually often connected with people literally calling upon the name of the Lord praying to God either in thanks or in supplication so Abram pitches his tent near Bethel but it doesn’t stay there where does he go where does it go next the very end of our passage not Nineveh the negative right so this would be the southern area of Palestine so you see it moving to where a little word- is there we also see he’s going to make it into Egypt but that’s not in our passage ok let’s ask some interpretive questions of this passage now why did Tara leave her with Abram to go to Canaan says terror left ear he was going to go to Canaan he took Abram and his family with him why did Tara leave tough question because the text doesn’t tell us right we don’t know why why Tara left however we do hear this in acts the book of Acts chapter 7 verses 22 for this is what Stephen is making his defense before the Sanhedrin and he’s reminding the religious leaders there of a little history and part of hit the reminder comes in these verses or Stephen says hear me brethren and fathers the god of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in her on and said to him leave your country in your relatives and come to the land that I will show you then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in her on from there after his father died god had to move to this country in which you are now living so according to Stephen when did God first call Abram or where rather for years in Iran that would be in ered when he was in Mesopotamia or the land of the Chaldeans whatever reason Tara might have had to move he probably was aware that his son wanted to go to Canaan needed to go to Canaan because God first called Abram actually inner now why do Tara and Abraham or Abram settled in her on then if God called him to to go and eventually we’re supposed to get to Canaan why do they stop in Iran again text doesn’t tell us it might be that Abraham was hesitant to depart from his family he was content to live with his family in Iran they didn’t want to go any farther so he didn’t want to go any farther and the call of Abraham does emphasize Abraham’s need to separate from his kin leave your relatives leave this country leave your father’s house but it might not be for a cowardly non faith believing reason that they stop in Iran maybe Tara fell ill and he wasn’t able to go any further and Abraham wanted to stay with him Tara does die in Iran or maybe God had not yet instructed Abram to go any further because after all the words of the command to leave say go to the land which I will show you perhaps God hadn’t given him any further direction at that point so we can’t say for sure why they stopped it and run that may not necessarily have been for a bad reason but they stay there for a little while then Abram woodlot does go to Canaan but even after arriving in Canaan Abram keeps moving around he goes to Shechem and bath all done to the Negev why why is he always moving we get some idea in answering this question why my abram be always moving was that our mana that’s right we’re aware especially because of what we see later in Genesis that Abraham’s particular wealth is his livestock use someone who’s taking care of lots of animals and animals if you’re if you’re taking care of a lots of livestock you have to keep finding pasture for them so people who have a lot of animals they often live in tents and they keep moving from place to place which is what we see Abram doing now there could be other reasons too maybe God was telling him to keep on moving that we don’t see that specifically in the text maybe it’s because of the famine that’s coming we’ll see then the end of chapter 12 maybe it’s because Abram wanted to see more of this land that God had promised to his descendants but certainly as a livestock owner he’s going to be paying attention to finding good pastures here’s another question was Abram a pagan idolaters called him or did he already believe in God yes these are you gonna answer that question yeah go ahead yes that’s a good observation Steve we can’t say for sure what Abram believed but likely he was a pagan when God first called him and that’s partly for the reason that Steve just mentioned certainly in this text we don’t hear from being a righteous man it’s not like and there was a righteous man named abram and God called him oh no we don’t have that we noted that uh where he first started out with Tara was a pagan City we know from archaeological X we’re serving a false god and just as Steve mentioned in Joshua Joshua says this the people thus says the Lord the God of Israel this is Joshua 22 23 by the way thus says the Lord of God of Israel from ancient times your father’s live beyond the river namely Tara the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor and they served other gods I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac so God through Joshua remind the people of Israel that their forefathers Terra included served foreign gods and God makes a distinction he says I called Abram out of that I called Abram and his descendants out from that way of living so Abram was likely an ID Oliver just like the rest before God called him so then why did God call him why did God choose Abram why should Abram receive such blessings from God and why should his descendants receive them what do you think Yeah right it’s got to be simply God’s grace it pleased God to do so God was not obligated God to not need to but it pleased God to show grace to Abraham it please God’s ultimate Abram did nothing to merit God’s call or God’s blessings Abram was a wicked idolaters like the rest of his family and just like all his neighbors probably but God decided to show undeserved favor to Abram and through him to all the world including us from Abram God was going to bring forth a special people a people for God’s own personal possession holy people a kingdom of priests witnessing to and interceding for all the peoples of the earth God was by no means obligated to do this but it pleased him to pour out undeserved love on some on some people and in this way to show forth his glory and you know this is just like us why does God love you why has gone seen fit why has God seen fit to bless you by revealing salvation to you was it because was because you had Meredith’s merited it somehow no of course not you and I were hopelessly in sin and darkness just like the rest whether we were obviously sinners or whether we were self-righteous but it pleased God to show grace to you to show love to you to show care for you to mark you out as his possession to show his glory we see that Abram Abram responds to God’s call in her on and even in her with obedience but why why did Abraham obey was I Steve faith right he believed God we haven’t heard the critical verse yet it’s coming in Genesis 15 Genesis 15 6 says then he abraham believed the Lord and He God reckoned it to him Abram as righteousness abraham believed the Lord and God reckoned it to Abram as righteousness by faith abraham believed God’s promises and therefore obeyed God’s commands this faith too was a gift from God to Abraham because abraham believed you obeyed but was it that Abram was simply excited about the these specific blessings that God had promised wow I’m gonna get many descendants a great name blessed life a land to call my own was that Abraham’s ultimate motivation was that was he ultimately looking toward unless we get confused the New Testament as something to say about this it’s actually turned over to the book of Hebrews Hebrews chapter 11 we’ll be looking at verses 8 to 16 we’re going to hear a decisive account of what really motivated Abram Hebrews 11 8 to 16 just some background here you may remember the book of Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians undergoing persecution many of them have or are thinking about renouncing faith in Jesus and simply returning to the old Jewish ways chapter 11 the Hall of faith is a call to persevere by looking to the examples of many Old Testament Saints who persevered by faith Abram called Abraham here is one of those Saints so let’s read what Hebrews says about him in these verses starting in verse 8 by faith Abraham when he was called obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going by faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise as in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob fellow heirs of the same promise for he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God by faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life since she considered him faithful who had promised therefore there was born even of one man in him as good as dead at at that as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore all these died in faith without receiving the promises but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth but those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own and indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they had went out they would have had opportunity to return but as it is they desire a better country that is heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them notice with me a few things about this new testament text which promise of God to Abraham is highlighted by the author and verses eight to nine it’s one of the props promises that we had seen in Genesis that’s right he was going to receive some physical land a promised land and inheritance but for what does verse 10 say Abraham was waiting yeah Danielle yeah so this is a unique city a city which has foundations he was promised land but what he was really waiting for was a city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God now this city is contrasted with some living conditions specifically mentioned in verse 9 what were Abraham’s living conditions in verse 9 out of City tense tense in a foreign land did Abraham received the promised land while he was alive no text says explicitly that he didn’t you see in verses 11 to 12 a reference to God’s promise to multiply Abraham’s descendants to make a great nation of him today brahim received this promise while he was alive no you only saw the very beginning of it with one child the child of promise instead look at verse 13 while Abram and his next descendants did not receive the specific promises those specific promises what did they do they did two things they welcomed them from a distance they say I know this is coming I don’t see it I might not even see it in my lifetime but I welcome it from a distance and what else they do died in faith what did they confess themselves to be strangers right exiles they welcomed the promises from a distance but they confess their themselves to be strangers they admit what they really are I’m a stranger in an exile on the earth and then verse 14 to 16 explains this further though Abraham was grateful for the earthly promises what was that that Abraham was really looking toward heavenly city– a heavenly country it’s called a couple different things in these last few verses but a country of his own he’s promised land but he wants a country of his own a better country a heavenly country that is the country where God dwells so this is an important point from the writer of Hebrews when we talk about why did Abraham obey God yes it’s because he had faith but what motivated his faith what was the chief object or what was the the great valuable treasure that he was looking towards was it just the promises of earthly blessing no it cannot merely be that since Abraham didn’t even receive many of those earthly blessings while he was alive but motivated Abram was the sweet prospect of going to God’s country God’s city or to say it another way the most exciting part of the promise that Abram gets in Genesis 12 is the one making the promise god has revealed himself to me he has set his undeserved favor on me there is a way that I can know God and one day be with him that’s what excited Abram most of all god did did give Abram great earthly blessings but Abram saw that there was much greater treasure ahead and as for that reason that he was obedient this two ought to be very instructive for us we need to take seriously the excitation of Hebrews 11 Abraham’s example and to borrow some questions from the activity section of the student guide book for our class you can look on page at 65 266 if you have those books once that consider some questions now I’m going to pause between these questions to give you some time to think but are you like Abraham are you like Abraham would you like to be are you afraid to leave the familiar country and family of the world do you see a better country before you the place of that where where God dwells Colossians 3 125 says this therefore if you have been raised up with Christ keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your mind on the things above not on the things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God when Christ who is our life is revealed then you also will be revealed with him in glory therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality impurity passion evil desire and greed which amounts to idolatry do you seek the things above as Abram did is your mind set on things above is it set on Christ or on what things of this world have you set your mind on what things of this would have you set your hope your happiness if you two if you were to embrace the lifestyle of one of these God inheriting heroes of faith becoming like an exile and a stranger on the earth what would change in your life if your lifestyle was to be an exile and a stranger how would it look different from the way it does now do you believe what God says about himself do you believe that God’s promises are true and that he is faithful do you believe that God has the best for you in mind when he forbids you from certain sins do you believe that all of God’s ways are sweet truly heaven mindedness eternity mindedness it ought to set us apart from the people of the world God has shown us by a spirit that there is another country a better one where he is our attitude while we’re on the earth must not be as everyone else have as much fun as you can before it’s all over no I attitude ought to be let’s prepare and look forward to the happiness that awaits us the much greater happiness Bibles over and over again telling us about this lay up treasure in heaven not treasure on earth pursue deeds that will result in your joy and your reward when Jesus judges all of your works not those things which will simply burn up and prove no profit to you when you see him believe God that the happiest life lived is the one given up for Christ’s sake and the Gospels the worst life lived is the one that sought to squeeze every ounce of happiness from the world and its passing pleasures if you really love your life if you really love and want to have the best life then you will give it up for Christ’s sake that’s the enjoyable life Abraham understood this though he slept at times he grew in his understanding just as we do but he understood fundamentally and we need to understand fundamentally that the heavenly country is the country that’s really the one we should get excited about so we should look forward to now we’ve got a lot more to say about a room but that’s the main message for today questions or comments yes Steve yeah that’s a really good observations to you just repeated a little bit shem was alive when Abram was alive Shem was still alive and yet you have so much the earth that had already moved away from God into idolatry introvert forgetting God into worshipping false gods and just as Steve said this is just another testimony demands great need for rescue man’s heart that is so rebellious against God and it’s got the pattern of Genesis right Cain Adams own descendant the abandons God and murders and so to his descendants so again more the sweetness of God’s grace and calling out Abram and calling out any of us any other questions or comments you let’s take a look at a few more application questions related to today’s lesson you can find these in your workbooks on pages 67 268 if you have those have five questions I want to look through with you first we know that God has promised to reward those who place their faith in him when can we expect to receive those rewards yes Carol that’s right that’s right will we be rewarded on earth maybe but not in full to be sure we saw that job was greatly rewarded for his perseverance right and that was while he was still alive and we do receive various rewards in small ways while we’re on the earth but as Carol said our great reward our ultimate reward our complete reward will not be received here it’s to come it will be realized when we go to be with God our inheritance is in heaven we are strangers and exiles on the earth therefore let’s prepare for that reward let’s look forward to it let’s increase it suffering and striving for Christ in this world will increase our heavenly reward what do that’s why we get those motivations from our Lord who says lay it for yourselves treasure in heaven we may receive some in this earth but our ultimate reward reward is to come number two have you heard the expression you are so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good it’s just a biblically grounded idea in light of what we’ve been studying today what do you think is it possible to be so heavenly minded that you become unprofitable while you’re living on the earth yeah exactly yeah that’s a great answer Paul this is a misguided statement those who claim to be heavenly minded but actually don’t do any good on earth or do a little good on earth they’re not actually heavenly minded apologists saying because heavenly minded meanest means that you love the Lord with all your heart and you love your neighbors yourself it’s essential that we all be heavenly minded super heavenly minded that’s what it is to be a believer we cannot be two heavenly minded we are rather our problem is that we’re not enough heavenly minded and we excuse not being heavenly minded by calling it spiritual by calling it heavenly minded and this is the problem that we see with some of the monastics right there in their pursuit of spirituality they they move themselves away from people in the world are ministering in the world that’s a false spirituality that’s not real spirituality it’s misguided as we understand more about the things of God we will be moved to respond to God’s call to serve him and those around us while we’re here on earth so no heavenly minds and this is earthly good number three why is it so important to understand God’s attribute of faithfulness as we seek to follow him in faith why is it so important that we understand God’s attribute of faithfulness if we’re going to obey Him yes Donna right we’re certainly are reliant on God for many things he’s the one who has to sustain us he has to empower us but why can we trust God to do those things and what if God says sorry I’m not going to help you today I’m not going to give you the things that you need are we going to be able to be beating if God is like that no of course not our obedience must believe in the faithful character of God if we can’t believe God’s character and then we can’t believe his promises and if we can’t believe his promises and how are we going to be motivated to obey it’s God who makes the reality of those promises so clear and also who shows us his own character scripture has been written to warn us and encourage us that we can and must believe God is faithful God is trustworthy God does keep his promises we’ve already seen two huge examples of that and Abram and Noah but also to some extent with Adam and Eve are we going to say Steve yeah that’s the ultimate thing right thanks for mentioning that Steve will talk about our needs even spiritual needs it’s God who is only God who can supply those things but God knows our needs better than we do I just had a thought and now it’s escaping me oh it’s simply there as Steve was saying our ultimate need is for gone right Jesus says I am the bread of life and he quotes scriptures to the devil man who does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God that’s your old mini and you can trust that that’s going to be sufficient for you because God is faithful to more questions how does the world react the idea of storing up treasures in heaven or rather than seeking to build fortunes and seek pleasures here on earth the world does think completely the opposite doesn’t it how else do they react yeah Danielle yeah they might see Christians is boring or no fun anything else yeah CheY yeah and it’s such a contrast to the way that the world thinks on the way that the world acts just to summarize your coffee or comment a little bit that we do see a theme throughout the Old Testament and I think throughout the Scriptures especially its explicit the New Testament just that you have many people who are waiting for promises or who are just living temporary temporary lives they haven’t received their ultimate inheritance they’re living in tents they’re moving around their wandering in the wilderness and that those are all proper metaphors to describe life as a believer I was going to say something else we think about the world’s okay your comment just a second Greg or think about the world’s response to this attitude of living they probably think it’s silly wishful thinking why not pay attention to your feelings and acknowledge reality for what it is this is all there is you believe in a fantasy and they may even be confused or offended by our attitudes first Peter 4125 says therefore since Christ suffered in the flesh arm yourself arm yourselves also with the same purpose because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so was to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men but for the will of God for the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles having pursued a course of sensuality lusts drunkenness carousing drinking parties and abominable idolatries basically you were living it up in all these ways with the Gentiles but not anymore verse 4 and all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation and they malign you but they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living in the dead so we are going to stick out if you live as the way the Scriptures tells you to live has an exiled a stranger you’re going to stick out from the world let me get to Greg first then I picture right yeah that’s a yeah it’s a good point quick just repeat your comment the idea your coworker we’re saying that oh it’s because of this otherworldly mindedness looking forward to the Eternity is that people commit terrorism is Lama fighters are blowing themselves up and you’re just like that that’s wrong multiple ways but yeah that’s the sentiment increasingly common oh yeah yeah it’s a really good point that the worldly sentiment comes into the church and it becomes a best-selling idea your best life now it’s all about the blessings that God can give you now and of course that’s just a false gospel it’s the health and wealth gospel yeah you’re totally right one more question as we finish today in what ways are you and I failing to set our minds on things above and how can we seek to change this attitude this is something for you to contemplate on your own but realize that the world is constantly trying to press you into its mold don’t think you’re not being influenced or you’re not prone to the influences of the world if you think you’re not influenced that’s just proof that you’ve been influenced that’s why we have to wash our minds with the word so in what ways are we not setting our minds on things above what ways are we setting our minds on things above and how can we do that more last thing I want to do in today’s class is closed with a few observations on our memory verse you know our memory verse acts 17 26 to 27 try and come up with different ways to help us remember this and one of the things I like to do is just make observations notice things about the verse because helps you remember it a little bit more and also helps you understand the verse a little bit more I’ve noticed and perhaps you had to that you can break this verse down into two different parts grammatically about five parts you have one subject who’s doing the actions in this verse that subject is God he he has made and God has done two actions and there are the first two parts of this verse God has made and he has determined he is made from one blood every nation of men to dwell in the old face the earth and he has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so God has done two things was the first two parts of this first but then we get the purpose of him doing those things that’s part 3 why have you done these things God well so so that they should seek the lord that was the purpose in God doing doing those actions making one blood determining their pre appointed times and boundaries it’s so that they should seek the Lord and the last two parts of this verse they are modifying phrases describing more about God’s purpose God set the boundaries in the hope that they might grope the people who have been setting these different places they might grow up for god and find him and this is not a useless hope because God truly is not far from each one of us so we’ve got one subject doing two actions have far-reaching implications for all of us and what was the purpose so that we should seek the Lord and the hope that we’ll find him because he’s not far from each one of us anyways just some things to help you think about that verse a little bit more memorize it with me please we’ll have a chance to memorize it until June twenty eighth that’s our last lesson of their quarter the third quarter let’s close in prayer Lord God we really do need you we need you in so many ways we need you to show yourself to us we need your spirit to work on us we need you to sanctify us grant us repentance because we see where your word calls us to go but unless you actually enable us to get there we are hopeless god I think it is the sentiment of everyone here we want to be heavenly minded we want God to set our minds and the things above but God unless you enable us to do that we cannot and Lord we know that you are sanctifying us you are empowering us to do this because you’ve already brought us to salvation if you’ve given us your spirit then you will sanctify us but God sanctify us completely remove those idols and those deceptions from our minds that cause us to only intellectually say that you are a treasure only intellectually say I hope in the next life but then in our actions God clearly show that we only hope in this life God please be gracious to me and to us so that we do truly live like exiles and strangers on the earth the most joyful life well this time is passing quickly but Lord we know that because you are so sweet and compassionate we are going to you thank you for pouring out your personal compassion on each one of us and you caring for us and you dying for us and thank you God that you’re bringing us to yourself let that be our heart drive in Jesus name Amen you