Join Pastor Giancarlo de Miranda in this series on the life of Abraham, a four-part series from Abram’s call to the “sacrifice” of Isaac.

<p>Join Pastor Giancarlo de Miranda in this series on the life of Abraham, a four-part series from Abram’s call to the “sacrifice” of Isaac.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Warren Seventh Day Adventist Church

Abraham

Giancarlo De Miranda

Abraham: Guided By The Spirit

I remember when I was 18, driving with my dad to the airport from a city called Porto Velho, state of Rondônia in Brazil.

And I kind of felt like crying, getting emotional.

And my wife knows my dad, and my father said, Are you going to cry?

Come on, just move on, you know, like, lift up your head and go to the next phase of your life.

You know, my father is the kind of man that always looks forward.

But I remember leaving my father, my brother, my friends, leaving the country where I was born and grew up, leaving my culture, leaving also aunts and uncles, leaving even my language.

Until I was 18, I couldn't speak a sentence in English.

And going to a new place, even leaving The wonderful weather of Brazil.

My mother wouldn't agree with me, I just want to say this to you.

She lives in Canada and she loves the weather in Canada.

The winter she enjoys the most, more than the summer.

Hard to understand for me and for my wife.

But even though there were so many changes there, I was young, ready to, you know, face the world.

New friends, new language, new job, new culture, new country, and then after 4 years and a half I moved to the United States, but this time it wasn't with my mother and my sister that I was in Canada, but I went by myself, But I already knew how to speak the language.

But all this change would be so much harder if I was older in my life.

If I was maybe in my 50s, with family, with a career, you know, going to a new country, a new culture, a new everything, not knowing how the place is like and starting life again.

Would you agree with me that it's so much harder later in life?

And that's when we bring to this picture Abraham from the Bible.

When God called him to leave everything behind and go to the land that God had promised him.

Of course, back in those days, people lived twice as much, so he was probably considered to be, you know, in his 40s, but still a big change for a man in his 40s to make.

Dear Heavenly Father, I would like to thank you for being back here with my church family.

And Lord, we want to hear your voice speaking to our hearts, ministering to us, and we pray for a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit now.

I want to invite you to open up your Bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter 12.

So let's go there to Genesis, chapter 12.

And as I mentioned, we're going to talk about Abraham.

We're going to explore the life of this man.

I will actually do a series on the life of Abraham, the call of Abraham and different incidents in his life.

And today will be the first sermon of a series and we will talk specially about his call to be in a covenant with God.

So just so we can be in the same page in case you never heard about Abraham or you know very little about him, he is considered to be the father of the Hebrew nation, Israel.

He was chosen by God for a covenant that would reach its climax in the coming of Jesus Christ, bringing redemption to the world.

His name originally was Abram, which means the father is exalted, probably given by his family to represent the God that they worshipped.

His family was not pagan, although paganism had already crept into his family, and that was the reason we see later God calling him to depart even from his family.

Could there be any relevance in the life of someone that lived that long?

We will see that actually there are so many lessons we can learn for today's world and for our relationship with God from the life of Abraham.

So 4000 years ago we're talking about the Bronze Age.

He is originally from the city of Ur in Mesopotamia but moved to Haran and finally to Canaan as God had asked him to do.

Abram is especially known for having a child when he was already old, up in age, his wife was old, they couldn't have a child, but God through a miracle gave him a son, Isaac, and then he had to lay that son in an altar for a sacrifice to God, But God was testing his loyalty and he didn't have to finalize or consume the sacrifice.

So here in Genesis chapter 12 is when we see God asking Abraham to enter in a covenant relationship with Him.

So let's read what the verses says here from verse 1 to verse 3.

The Bible says, Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.

I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and you and in you how many families all the families of the earth shall be blessed wow what a privilege to a man to enter in such a relationship and covenant with the Creator of the universe.

I want you to see that in this covenant with God, you find 9 clauses.

We are going to go 1 by 1 and touch on them for a little bit.

But I want to read to you, let's go to the first 1 actually, let's go back to verse 1.

Abraham needed to leave behind what he knew, what he knew to be his safety and security.

And God is saying to him, come out of your country.

And then it says, number 2, from your family and from your father's house the influence of the family and friends at times may have a negative influence in our spiritual life.

Oh yes, I can see very clearly today why God took me out of Brazil when I gave my heart to Jesus at the age of 18.

I have so many friends in the world that would hinder the development of my faith.

I want to read a statement from the book Patriarchs and Prophets, which help us to understand the circumstances of Abraham for God to ask him to come out of his country and father's house.

On page 126 We read, in order that God might qualify him for his great work as a keeper of the sacred oracles.

So, God needed to qualify him, to prepare him.

Abraham must be separated from the associations of his early life.

The influence of kindred and friends would interfere with the training which the Lord purposed to give His servants.

Could that be true today in our personal life?

That some relationships that we have could actually be an hindrance to the development of our faith?

Could it be that God could ask us today as he asked Abraham to separate from family and friends, even family sometimes, so we can grow in our relationship and covenant with him, yes or no?

Tatiana and I, we see that even with our girls.

Oh yes, you tell them what to do, but they say, no, that's not my role.

It doesn't mean we don't see them anymore.

But it does allow Tatiana and I to try to figure out how to be a parent and to have that space to allow the influence of the home to begin to mold our children Could there be that friends also could be a hindrance to the development our faith?

Relationships yes or no make no mistake Abraham had a special called you have a special call as well would you say a man for that I have a special call and God needs to qualify us he needs to what everyone to qualify friends I feel the need of qualification every day.

You don't know, but sometimes I'm in my office and say, I don't know how I'm going to stand before the people to represent God and speak on behalf of God to the people.

And I said, Lord, only through your mercy, help me, forgive me, empower me.

And God is in the business of molding you and preparing you for a great work.

Oh yes, God had a land in mind for Abraham.

He had a plan to establish a nation, a people to represent him and he says go in faith and then another clause I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you and make your name, do you remember what it says there?

Do people want to have a great name today in our world?

Abraham: Turn Defeat Into Victory

So let's bow our heads 1 more time and ask the Lord's blessing upon the study of God's Word.

Dear Heavenly Father, we 1 more time invite a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit to teach us now what you would like us to learn.

Lord, as I speak, though I have prepared a message, but you have ways to speak to people individually.

Give us grace, forgive our sins, and give us power.

So let's turn our Bibles to Genesis chapter 12.

Last week we talked about how Abraham, after he had been called to go to Canaan, God had made promises for him.

So as he joined it, through Cana, he was building what everyone?

And we saw that those altars were a symbol of Abraham's commitment, devotion and faithfulness to the Creator God.

It was a contrast between his worship of the Creator and the worship of idols in the land.

He became a witness of his faith and faithfulness to the God of heaven.

But this week we're going to see that Abraham meets a crisis and brings him to a situation where his faith in God is tested even further because he had already been tested to leave his house, his household, his family going to a new country to inherit the land that God had promised him?

And that's exactly what we're going to see in the rest of chapter 12.

So with that I invite you to go to verse 10, Genesis chapter 12 and verse 10.

The Bible says, now there was a what everyone?

And Abraham, excuse me, notice the expression.

The Bible says that Abram went down to what country for refuge?

To dwell there for the famine was severe in the land.

Friends, I want to show you that the land of Egypt in the Bible has also a spiritual meaning.

And if you have a physical Bible, I encourage you to mark here in Genesis 12.

I want to take you to the book of Hebrews for a moment.

Let's go to the book of Hebrews chapter 11 and I want you to see what Egypt actually represents symbolically in the Bible.

Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24 and 26 is going to talk about Moses, not Abraham now, but Moses and that gives us a clue what Egypt actually represents.

In verse 24 of chapter 11, the Bible says there, by faith Moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather the suffering or to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing...

Pleasure of sin so his life in Egypt would equate with the life of sin.

And then it goes on to say here in the next verse in verse 26 steaming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he looked to the reward.

So Egypt is this land that where there is plenty and there is pleasure there is a sinful lifestyle and yet Abraham chose to seek for refuge in that land that exposed him to temptation.

Now notice in Deuteronomy, I'll just read that for you, you can go back to Genesis 12, but in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 12 it says there, then be aware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage From the house of what everyone?

Egypt is a land that if you dwell there for very long, you may be found in bondage.

So Egypt in the Bible, spiritually speaking, become a symbol of a land that will initially bring refuge but it will eventually bring you into bondage and oppression.

With that I want you to listen to this statement I wanna read from the book Abraham an obedient and fearless man on page 36 from Charles Swindoll He writes about the experience of Abraham going down to Egypt to flee that famine.

It says God does not use difficult circumstances to find out what we will do.

He does not test us to observe our response of faith.

He already knows us better than ourselves.

God uses trials, notice carefully, so that we reveal who we are to ourselves.

Friends, God uses trials to reveal what everyone?

He knows how we're going to respond but sometimes we don't know our own hearts and trials is a good way to reveal what is inside our hearts.

I want to read another statement now from the book Patriarchs and Prophets on page 129 it goes in the same line it says God permits trials to assail his people Are you going through trials today?

You don't need to raise your hand but think about that.

If you're going through trials, I think this message is an encouragement for you.

God permits trials to assail His people that by their constancy and obedience, they themselves may be spiritually enriched.

And that their example may be a source of strength to others.

The very trials that task our faith most severely and make it seem that God has forsaken us are to lead us closer to Christ.

Oh yes, friends, sometimes we go through crisis in life we pray to God like just take that away from me and we wonder why God is not answering but the truth is that very trial is what's going to bring us closer to God It's what is going to refine our characters.

I'm gonna read this again, the very trials that task our faith most severely and make it seem that God has forsaken us are to lead us closer to Christ that we may lay all our burdens at his feet and experience the peace which he will give us in exchange.

That it is in the most difficult times in life that we finally come to the point of laying all in the altar of God.

Now let's continue the story, go back to your Bible in Genesis 12 now from verse 11 through 13.

We're going to see what happens as Abram decides to seek refuge in the land of Egypt, in this land that initially provides security and refuge but can bring people to bondage.

In verse 11 the Bible says, and it came to pass when he was close to entering Egypt that he said to Sarai his wife, indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.

Therefore it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say this is his wife.

They will kill me, but they will let you live.

Verse 13, please say you are my what everyone?

By the way, if you read all the account on the life of Abraham and Sarai, she was in fact his half-sister.

That was not the whole truth of the matter his primary relationship with Sarai was that he was his spouse so notice carefully what Abraham is suggesting here friends please say you are my sister that it may be well with me for your sake that I may live because of you." Oh yes friends he suggested he put a plan between him and his wife to deceive the people in the land.

And if anybody inquired of her in regards to marriage, tell that you are my brother.

A brother back in those days in that culture was like the person who in the absence of the father was in charge of the sister so to speak.

If you wanted to marry my sister you needed to talk to me first and make arrangements and that would give Abraham time for him to say okay somebody wanna marry my wife they came to talk to me now I have time to have a way of escape so that was his rationale nobody could marry Sarai without asking permission to her brother he thought was a smart plan God had promised to protect him to make him a great nation He promised that through his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

He should have understood that he was indestructible until God fulfilled his promises to him.

But instead he began to question God's promises or didn't even think about it he devised his own plan to protect his own life and that plan included deception oh yes Abraham's concern about his wife already 65 years old.

Some people may wonder how could she be that beautiful to the point that he was concerned that they were going to kill him and so they would marry his wife remember people back in those days they lived twice as much so she was probably in her mid thirties for today's perspective but she was a foreigner and foreigners in those days it was not like America today and many other countries where you have people from all over foreigners they brought a unique beauty pharaohs in fact when you look into history were known to like foreigners And Abraham feared that they would kill him, but he didn't expect it would be Pharaoh himself.

Now, I want you to meditate upon a few verses with me.

Keep your Bibles marked here in Genesis 12.

And I want you to go with me to Exodus 20 if you will and I want you to see that Abraham's concealment of his real relationship with Sarai was a lack of faith in God and deceptive and a transgression of the ninth commandment what does it say the ninth commandment?

Notice with me in verse 16 Exodus 20 verse 16 the Bible says you shall not bear false, what everyone?

It's a commandment that prevent people from acting deceptively.

Notice in Proverbs chapter 12, let's just go to a few verses here in the Bible to see how God actually sees Deception, bearing false witness, lying.

So let's go to Proverbs chapter 12 for a moment.

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.

I want to make sure we put this decision of Abraham in the right perspective here in the sight of heaven and I want to do that because sometimes as Seventh-day Adventist Christians we emphasize the fourth commandment and we talk about the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy and in that emphasis it seems that we may forget the importance of all the other 9 commandments and as long as we are keeping the fourth we believe that God accepts if we break any of the other 9 But notice what we find in Psalms 101 in verse 7.

Abraham: Lot and Sodom

So I'd like to invite you to pray with me 1 more time.

Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, we are going to open up your Word and we invite the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We pray that he will enlighten our minds and guide us into all truth.

So let's turn our Bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter 13, and we are continuing with our series on the life of Abraham and those that were involved with Abraham.

And today, as you can see, the title of the message, Abraham, Lot, and Sodom.

And everything began after Abraham and his household came back from Egypt.

He went back to the place where he had built the altar to start over after making a mistake in Egypt.

But then a problem rose among Lot and Abraham and we're going to read about that in Genesis 13, both of them were becoming richer and richer.

And then we read in Genesis 13 verse 6 the following words, which it is an introduction I would say to a calamity that came upon Lot.

The Bible reads there, now the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

And then in verse 8, we see Abraham's response to the problem that arose between Abraham's and Lot's herdmen.

We read in verse 8, so Abraham said to Lot, please let there be no, what everyone?

No strife between you and me, and between my herdsman and your herdsman, for we are brothering." Even though he was the uncle and played the role of a father to him because Lot lost his father, Abraham's brother, and Lot had acquired riches and prosperity because of his association with his uncle and yet the Bible says that who initiated the reconciliation process?

The more spiritual 1 always initiates the reconciliation process.

That includes in the home, in the marriage relationship.

Oh, he could have reason, but Lord, He has no right to choose.

I am the 1 who God promised this land to.

But notice the proposal of Abraham in verse 9.

The Bible says there, it is not the whole land before you.

If you take the left, then I will go to the right.

Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.

He was preserving his relationship with his nephew.

He was preserving also his nephew relationship with God so he wouldn't have bitterness in his heart.

Because at this point the mind of Lot was not in the right place.

Notice in verse 10 the Bible says here, and Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah like the Garden of the Lord referring to Eden like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zohar.

So the mind of Lot was in something else and that was his own prosperity at the expense of his the respect to his uncle.

There was more involved that Lot did not consider, but I want you to consider for a moment 3 Bible verses.

You don't need to go there, just follow along in the slide.

Proverbs 23 verse 4, the Bible says, do not overwork to be what?

Do not overwork The Bible is here promoting temperance in all things And I have to confess.

I don't think I was temperance during camp pitch, 10 days of camp meeting and camp strike, And then I got a serious sinus infection that I'm just recovering from.

Make sure you don't neglect other priorities in life like God himself and family the Bible also says he who is greedy for gain what happens with his house travels his own house is working so much that he neglects the family.

He may place the family in the wrong place because of all the benefits that a certain job promises to give.

The Bible also says in 1st Timothy 6 verse 9, chapter 6 verse 9, but those who desire to be reached fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drawn man in destruction and perdition." Friends I hate to say But these words were fulfilled in the life of Lot.

Jesus says to pay attention on Lot's wife, but we must pay attention also in the life of lot.

Let's go back to Genesis 13 verses 11 and 12 now.

Notice Lot's decision as he beheld, he contemplated all that beautiful land toward Sodom.

The Bible reads, Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and Peach he stent even as far as where?

First he Peach he stent, Later we see that he built a house in the city.

But the men of Sodom were what kind of people?

They were not only wicked, they were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.

He already have some indication of the problem of Sodom.

He has a family, he has children, at least 4 daughters.

I know some say 2 but when you read carefully he has at least 4 daughters.

And he chooses to go as far as Sodom, very close.

I want to read what Charles Swindoll wrote about Lot's decision in contrast with Abraham's.

Truth be told, most of us resemble more with Lot than with who?

If we are honest in how we make decisions, major decisions in life, how we constitute a family, where we place our housing, how we educate our children, what kind of decisions are we making?

He considered spirituality and morality, the well-being of the family.

Convenience and prosperity was part of his decision-making process but it was below the priority list.

On the other hand we have Lot with greed.

He gave preference to his own inclination and convenience.

Used his own wisdom, did not consult God.

And then he thought of the well-being of the family, but his perspective of the well-being of the family was not framed by God's perspective.

Series

Abraham

Abraham: Guided By The Spirit

Transcript

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