Genesis 12:1–3 (CSB)
1 The LORD said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
God’s Promise
Make a great nation – not just a family
PINE CONE – what do you see? A seed, God sees a forest
God’s Promise
Make a great nation
Bless you
Make famous
You will bless others
Genesis 12:4-5 (CSB)
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan…
Acts 7:2–4 (CSB)
2 “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.
4 “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living.
Hebrews 11:8 (CSB)
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going.
Sometimes “I’m waiting on God” becomes a spiritual explanation for avoiding something God has already made clear.
• We don’t need another sign to forgive.
• We don’t need perfect circumstances to practice generosity.
• We don’t need every answer before obeying what we already understand.
“You don’t need to know the whole road to take the next step God has shown you.”
Genesis 12:7 (CSB)
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.
Genesis 12:10 (CSB)
10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.
God’s promise
Make a great nation
Bless you
Make famous
You will be a blessing to others
Got the Promise, but now got a problem – Famine.
Genesis 12:11–13 (CSB)
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. 13 Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.”
God’s promise
Make a great nation
Bless you
Make famous
You will be a blessing to others
FEAR: Sarai is beautiful, they will kill me to get to you.
SELF-HELP: Say you’re my sister!
SELF-PRESERVATION
The consequences of self protection
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NASB95)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Genesis 15:1 (CSB)
1 After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.
God Reminds of Promise – Your reward will be great, but notice says 2 other things:
Don’t be afraid.
I am your shield.
Genesis 15:2-3 (CSB)
2 But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”
Genesis 15:4-5 (CSB)
4 Now the word of the LORD came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”
Genesis 15:6-8 (CSB)
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”
Genesis 16:1–3 (CSB)
1 Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, “Since the LORD has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So Abram’s wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years.
Delay creates discomfort. Discomfort creates pressure. Pressure tempts us to take control.
Genesis 16:4–5 (CSB)
4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the LORD judge between me and you.”
When we take control, we don’t get to control all the consequences.
“The promise was from God. The plan to make it happen was their own.”
“Self-help takes responsibility for producing what only God can provide.”
This is a perfect case of:
“Am I taking the next step of obedience, or am I trying to take control of the outcome?”
Discerning our next step
Has God already made my responsibility clear in Scripture? Where obedience is clear, take the step.
Would this require compromising what God has said? A desired outcome cannot justify disobedience.
Am I doing my part, or trying to guarantee the result? Faith accepts responsibility without claiming control.
Have I sought wisdom through prayer and mature counsel? Strong desire and urgency can distort judgment.
Can I take this step while surrendering the outcome to God? Dependence can accompany decisive action.
Neither fear nor a feeling of peace alone settles the question. Obedience can feel frightening, and an unwise decision can initially feel relieving.
Proverbs 9:10 (NLT)
10 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
God fulfills His promise
Genesis 22:1–14 (CSB)
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
2 “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.
7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together. 9 When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.” 12 Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” 13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide, so today it is said, “It will be provided on the LORD’s mountain.”
Hebrews 11:17–19 (CSB)
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.
Faith without control
1. Obey promptly
2. Do the work obedience requires
The question is: Am I doing what God has entrusted to me, or trying to control what I must entrust to Him?
3. Trust God when we cannot understand
Some of us have made our understanding a condition of our obedience. “God, explain it, and then I’ll trust You.” But there are seasons when you have enough light for the next step—and you have to trust God with everything beyond it.
4. Withhold nothing
Can I trust God with what He has given me?
5. Look to God for provision
When do we wait and when do we walk?
When God has made your responsibility clear, walk in obedience.
When the result lies beyond your responsibility and power, wait in trust.
And often, you will do both at the same time. Working faithfully while waiting prayerfully. Taking the next step while surrendering the final outcome.
Here is where we get into trouble: We stand still when God tells us to obey and take over when God asks us to trust.
We wait to forgive. Wait to confess. Wait to make things right. Then we rush to secure the future, fix every person, and force every outcome.
Walk in obedience. Wait in trust. Leave the outcome with God.
God provides what we cannot
And this brings us to Jesus. On that mountain, God provided a substitute, and Abraham’s son lived. At the cross, God gave His own Son so that we could live.
Romans 8:32a (ESV)
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all…
The deepest answer to our self-reliance is found there.
We could not rescue ourselves from sin.
We could not earn forgiveness.
We could not make ourselves righteous.
God provided what we could never provide.
The Christian life begins by trusting what Jesus has done for us—and continues as we depend on Him.
So where are you today? Is there an act of obedience you have been postponing? Or an outcome you have been trying to force? What are you afraid will fall apart unless you keep your hands on it?
Bring that to the Lord.
For some of us, surrender today will mean taking a step. For others, it will mean releasing our demand to control the result.
Abraham’s story gives us hope because we have watched him fail. We have watched him fear. We have watched him try to arrange the future himself. And now we see him trusting God on the mountain.
The God who met Abraham in his failures continued teaching him to trust. He can do that in us too.
You are responsible to obey God. You can trust God to be faithful.
COMMUNION – THE CROSS shows us God stepping in to do what we can’t do.
Communion we do regularly to remind us of our need for forgiveness, of our need of cleansing
We need to be reminded of the sacrifice
The longer I walk with Christ, the easier it is to think that I can do this walk with God.
But when I examine myself, my frailties, my folly, my faithlessness, I recognize I need Jesus!
SELF-HELP SAYS, “I’ll try harder. I’ll do better next time. I’ll try to work to make my good outweigh my bad”
EXAMINE YOURSELF AND RECOGNIZE YOUR NEED FOR JESUS
JESUS DEATH ON THE CROSS WAS ENOUGH TO PAY FOR ALL YOUR SINS NO MATTER HOW EVIL