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Bob Davis: Faith is written all over this call from God. How about your life and mine? For by grace are you saved. Ephesians 2:8 and 9. For by grace are you saved through faith. It's not something special about Abram. It's not something special about Bob. It's not something special about any one of us. It's all mercy and grace and love.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply His Word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. Beginning in Genesis chapter 12, we see God's call and promise to Abram. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Before I read 12:2, I'd like to ask you a question because I had to ask me this. Has your faith ever failed? Ever? Do this. Maybe quite often, maybe every other day. I don't know. But has your faith failed? Well, watch this. Makes you feel better about you.

"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, from thy kindred, from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show you. And I will make of thee a great nation, and will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Promise of Messiah right there. If you'd like to mark that down, promise of Messiah. That's the way that all families of the earth will be blessed.

Has your faith ever failed? Abram's did right here. We'll see it later in the chapter as well. Excuse me. Abram's faith failed. How do you know? They're still in Haran. God called him to go to Canaan and they're there. It looks like some Bible scholars believe that they were there almost 25 years. Now God called them almost 25 years ago, if those scholars are correct in their dates, approximately. And God said go to Canaan and Abram's right there hanging out with his dad in Haran.

The Lord God Almighty—now think about this and think about you and your family—think about this. The Lord God Almighty in His grace and in His kindness and in His mercy calls to Abram while he's there in Ur of the Chaldees. God specifically calls Abram to do a few things. Leave your country. But this is the land I love. It's the only land Abram's known. Leave your land, leave your country. Leave your relatives, your family. That's relatives. He's not talking about Abram's wife, he's talking about the extended family.

So leave your country, leave your relatives, leave your father's house. Leave your dad. And go, I'm going to take you to a place that I will show you. Abram does not know where it is, has never heard of it, doesn't know anything about it. He doesn't know where he's going. And God in His grace and kindness and mercy says, "Come on, let's go." Now Abram, we learned this before, but a reminder. Abram and his family worshipped false gods. He was not a worshipper of the one true God. Ur of the Chaldees was a major false god worship center. They worshipped the God of the moon.

Isn't that weird? Why did God call Abram? Your average garden-variety pervert, worshipping whatever everybody else is worshipping, just doing whatever everybody else is doing. Out of nowhere—well, metaphorically speaking—out of nowhere he calls Abram. Joshua chapter 24. Because people say, "How can you say they were worshipping false gods?" Because I got it out of the Bible. I tricked you. You've got to watch me. Joshua 24, verse 2. This is why we read the whole Bible.

This is why we go verse by verse through the whole—so you'll go, "I remember that. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I remember that, right?" Joshua 24:2. "And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods." That's how I can say they worshipped false gods. They weren't worshipping the true God. The Bible said so. I just sort of cheated and read ahead and then I can apply it to what's back here. See how easy this is? You can do this.

Now think about you and me. Abram. Think about you and think about me. Can you remember BC? Before Christ. Can you remember before you got saved? Some of you have been saved a long time, it takes a little bit of effort, but can you remember it? Isn't that what we're reading here in verse 12 so far, these first three verses? Isn't that the same thing that happened to us? The very same thing? Yeah, it's exactly what He has done for us and exactly what He's called us. Remember, out of nowhere, He called me. Why? Can't answer because He knows what He's doing and I don't.

Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9. Many of you have this memorized. "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." Why did He call Abram? Because He wanted to. Was it anything in Abram? No, nothing special. Garden-variety false worshipper. And God said, "You. Leave your family, your relatives, your country, your dad's house. And come with Me, I'm going to take you to a land, I'll show you when you get there."

What did God say to you? "Come to Me. Are you tired? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you just struggling and struggling and you can't seem to get anywhere? Do you feel lost and all alone and whatever? Come to Me. Just come on." Isn't that what He said to all of us? John 15:16. I'm using scriptures that you should probably be a little familiar with. John 15:16. "You," Jesus says to His disciples, "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you."

What did He just say to those guys? "I chose you." And people say, "Well, why doesn't God pick everybody?" The truth is, the message is out there, and you're delivering it. Remember, the message is out there. Come to Jesus. He's what matters. Come to the Lord. You're struggling, you're hurting, you're afraid, you're confused. You don't even know which way is up. Come to Jesus. Give your heart, surrender. What do I have to do? Nothing. Trust Him. Believe. Where am I going? You don't even know. I'm going to—I'll point it out to you. You don't know, you don't know a thing about it, you've never been there, and I'm going to take you there.

God called Abram just like He called me, just like He called you. What did He say? "I want you to follow Me now." He called Abram from following after and worshipping false gods of all kinds, and He called him to trust God instead. It's going to take a lot of faith. Why? Because I don't know where we're going, I don't know how far it is, and are we there yet? I don't know. We're walking with the Lord. I don't know. That's what faith is. "The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1.

That's what faith is. I put my faith in You, Lord, and I have—I'm clueless. I have no idea where I'm going. How did I end up in Idaho? I don't know. I can't explain it. How did I end up in Colorado Springs all those years ago? I can't explain that. There was some lady behind the counter and I had so much money and she said—I said, "I want to go anywhere on this much money." And she started to call security. I would, too. There's a strange man with long hair says he wants a ticket but he doesn't care where he goes.

I said, "Where can I go?" She—and I know there were other places, she just was afraid of me, I believe. And so she said, "You can go to Tucson or Colorado Springs." And in my mind, being brilliant, I thought if I go back to Tucson, which is my home area, I'll get back into the music scene. I'll start playing again and be back on the road in no time. And I think God called me out of it. So I said, "I'll go to Colorado Springs." Never been there, never seen the place, had—didn't know a soul there. Got on the plane, they said, "Where are you going?" "Colorado Springs." "You got friends there?" "No, I don't have friends anywhere."

But God had a plan. So I thought, well, maybe I'm going to live and die in Colorado Springs. No. Abraham. God called him from following after and worshipping false gods to follow after and worship the one true God. And God didn't ask Abraham for any commitment or promises. He made promises to Abraham. God hasn't asked anything from me except trust. True? Abram, come with Me and I promise to do this. I will make you a great nation. How many kids does Abram have, he and his wife Sarai? None. That was total.

None. Abraham is 75 years old now. His wife is young—he robbed the cradle, she was 65. They have no kids. They're going to drop everything they know, everything about everything about their lives, and they're going to walk away from it and never come back. Ever. "I'll make a great nation of you. I will bless you and make your name great." In other words, people are going to know Abraham. He's going to change his name from Abram to Abraham. We'll talk about that when we get there.

But, "I'll make a great nation of you." In other words, you're going to have lots of children and lots of children, it's going to be a whole nation from Abraham and Sarai. "I will bless you and make your name great, and I will make you a blessing to everybody else." Those are big promises. "And I will bless you, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse the one that curses you." None of those promises, everybody, in chapter 12 have been rescinded yet. Do you understand that? The people that are messing with Israel, if you're cursing Israel and attacking Israel, God says, "That's Mine."

So you are literally cursing Me and attacking Me. Whoever curses you, I will get them. Who blesses you, come on America, come on, keep—stick with Israel. They're not always right, but they are allies of ours. Stay with them because I will bless those who bless you. And I am really convinced in my own heart the only reason that America still exists is because we have befriended Israel as a nation and we've stuck by them since World War II, since they became a nation. 1948 they became a nation and America has stood with them all the way.

America is now backing away from them. Not this administration, but the American people slowly just because Israel's been under attack since the day they became a nation and a lot of people don't want to be their friends because you get attacked as well, right? What did God say? "I'll make you a great nation, I'll bless you and make your name great. I will make you a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." Faith is written all over these three verses, these first three verses. Isn't it? Without even being mentioned, faith is all—you can't ignore it.

Where are you going? Don't know. Think it's called Canaan. I don't know, I'm not even sure. He's just going to go and see where they land. And that's, but by the way, from where they're at right now, north in Haran, yeah, it's almost 450 miles to where they're going and they walk. You know, they didn't— the train wasn't working. There wasn't one. And they walk. And they head out. And they're following God.

So look at verse four. "So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him." All right, God said leave your relatives. The only one who should have been taken with him is his wife. Well, God had said earlier in his life, "Get going." And he stopped. Maybe—it looks like his dad may not have wanted to go any further. Maybe he was a little ill. We don't know any details except for his faith failed. He should have gone and he didn't go. It's kind of like in a holding pattern above the airport.

He just—he's not—it's a lack of faith. But he does finally in faith depart as the Lord had spoken to him. And Lot went with him. That's a mistake. That's—he's disobeying. You will see it's going to cost him. And that's how it works. "And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son," Lot his nephew, "and all their substance," what they had. He wasn't real rich but he had some stuff. "And the souls that they had gotten in Haran." So it looks like he's got a few, probably, servants, hired servants, to help with if he has a few sheep or a few goats.

Whatever he's got. Not much, but he's got something. He needs—he's 75. He needs a little bit of help taking care of stuff and keeping things moving and packing up and setting up tent, et cetera, right? "And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came." So that over 400-mile trip only took one comma and a few more words. That's how the Bible does it. If you're not paying close attention in the Bible, you'll see that 20 years have gone by between this chapter and that chapter.

Verse six says this. "Abram passed through the land." He's just walking, he's waiting for God to tell him where to stop for a minute. And he gets to the place of Shechem, to the plain of Moreh, and the Canaanite was in the land. Okay, that's bad news, Canaanite in the land. "And the Lord appeared"—what? appeared—"to Abram." Did you know that? God appeared to Abram. "And He said, Unto thy seed," that means your children, "I will give this land." "You mean You brought me here and I don't get it?" Right. Right.

Abraham will never have a place to call his own except for a little piece in the promised land that he buys for himself to bury his wife in. "I'll give you this land. Unto your seed I'll give you this land." "And there"—Abram built, and mark this—"he built an altar to the Lord who appeared to him." And he removed from there into a mountain east of Bethel and he pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar—second altar—unto the Lord and he called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.

Put it together. In faith, they made it to the, well, what He called the promised land, that's what God promised. And he's there, but he's just, "Okay, is this it?" "Yeah, this is it." And he just keeps walking, waiting for God to tell him to stop somewhere. I wish I had that kind of heart. Don't you wish you had that heart where you're just walking with God? You're not even worried about it. "I'm just going to keep going till You tell me to stop, God." Not us. "Where are we going? How far are we going? Can—I've got to go to the restroom, you know. We've got to stop here. What are we doing?" Stop. Walk. And love people on the way. Trust. Serve people on the way. Just love everybody and serve everybody and tell everybody that you have an opportunity to tell. That's what we're doing here. We're on our way to heaven, to the real promised land.

And so it looks like there is a little time, as you can see, spent in Haran after leaving Ur of the Chaldees. People fight over how many years. Some Bible teachers call the years that Abram spent in Haran, they call it the wasted years. But you and I know, I think, no year's wasted. Even though he should have left a long time ago, he was still in his heart the call was there and he was—I don't know what he was waiting for. But has your faith failed ever? Quite a few of us maybe would be—would have been somewhere sooner, but we're just doing our own thing. We don't know.

But Abram finally left Haran. He, his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, some servants and possessions. They journeyed almost 450 miles to a place he had never seen and knew nothing about. We call that faith. The world calls it crazy. I mean, when I got to Colorado Springs and met a few strangers, they said, "What are you doing here?" And I told them. "I don't know." And of course I hadn't eaten in a while and I looked—I had showers, I was pretty good. But long hair, nobody would hire me because I had long hair.

And so they just saw me as, there's something wrong with this kid. Kind of a nice guy, but there's something wrong with him. "What are you doing here?" I honestly believe that God sent me here. Better call the police. Some nut here thinking that God brought him here. I think He did and set me down and wouldn't let me find soup kitchens. In the land of Canaan, Abraham went down past the area of Shechem. If you've got Bible maps, you can see that when you get some time, to the plain of Moreh.

The Canaanites were living in the land. Okay, that's—you say that in a minor key. The Canaanites were not civilized. They burned their own children. A lot of abortions were taking place and if the babies were born they would burn them on the fire to Moloch. And they would murder their own children. They were living in the land, they were not civilized. They were very aggressive and very violent people. Now why would God take Abram into the middle of that? I'll tell you why. Because it's the land that God chose.

There it is. You've got the nut squad living in here. That's okay, you've got Abram too, and he came over from who knows where and he doesn't even know what he's doing here. It's a match made in heaven. Can we answer all the questions that people ask us about God? No. But we trust anyway, don't we? And it's not a blind faith. You've seen God move in your life, you've seen the changes He's done, you've seen the things He's doing in your country, you're seeing the things that God's doing around the planet. You know that God is alive and well and that Jesus Christ is Lord. You know it.

But the Canaanites are pretty vicious people. It's dangerous. And it was in that area that the Lord God appeared to Abram, where the Canaanites were at, and God appeared to Abram and God confirms His promise to Abram again. He didn't have to. That's grace, isn't it? He says, "I will give this land to your children." Abram pitched a tent and then set up an altar. Then he went further toward Bethel as we know it today, Bethel. Between Bethel and Ai and he pitched a tent and he built an altar and he worshipped the one true God. So see what we're learning here is faith and trust leads to blessings.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at northcountrychapel.com/studies. That's northcountrychapel.com/studies.

If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again: 1-800-572-8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the live stream of our services, or to find out more about church events. If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse by verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel.