Leading The Way

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Thank you for making Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef part of your listening day. In this audio episode, Dr. Youssef helps you get to know Abraham a little better. You'll hear how Abraham was called to leave family and homeland, following God by faith into an unknown future life. Dr. Youssef is calling his series "Counting Stars in an Empty Sky". So listen with me as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's Leading the Way.

Dr. Michael Youssef: As you look at Abraham's journey of faith, you're going to see it's not a smooth sailing. You're going to find that he faced all sorts of challenges. He faced difficulties. He faced doubt and fear in his life. He faced his own demons. He faced sin and failure. He faced opposition of all sorts and he faced many a temptation to stop counting stars when God said to him, "Count stars."

But in the long run, the reason Abraham is the central figure—make no mistake about it, Abraham is the central figure in the Old Testament—and the reason for that is because he kept on counting stars regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the discouragement. He kept on counting stars when he could see none. All he had basically is God's own word. The God of power and might spoke to him and he said, "That's it, that's enough for me."

So I want you to turn with me, please, to Genesis 12. God commands Abraham. He says, "Abraham, go out of your country. Leave your country and get out to a land that I'm going to show you." He did not go on Google Earth to check out and see what kind of land it is. He didn't have it. He said, "I'll make you a great nation. I'll bless you and through you, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed."

Now listen to me very carefully because I want you to see in Abraham's life a mirror for your life and my life, because it is. For like Abraham, God called every single believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to come out of the old country. He called every one of us who came from the country of sin because sin with which we are born, every one of us were in that country where we are born turning our back to God. That's the old country for all of us.

It's the country of sin. It's the country of rebellion. To come to the living God, it's the country of pre-Christian life. It's if you like, every one of us was born or came out of the Ur of Chaldees, just like Abraham. And then at some point, God said to every one of us, "I will forgive your sins through the blood of my son Jesus Christ. I will heal your wounded spirit and your wounded soul. I'm going to bind your broken heart. I will adopt you as my child. I'll give you a new identity."

"I will give you a heart that desires obedience to me. I will adopt you as a child of the King of Kings and you will become an heir inheritor of all that belongs to Jesus. You are no longer lost, but you belong to me. I will bless you as you trust me, as you obey me, as you walk with me, as you serve me. From now on, I want you to start counting stars." Here's the tragic situation, and in many ways that's what happened to Abraham.

After we come to Christ, after we surrender our life to Him, after the joy and the excitement of knowing that I am a child of the living God, that God forgave me all of my sins, that He saved me eternally, that now I have this assurance of eternal life, after all the excitement's worn off, we get bogged down in our Haran. You say, "What is that?" Haran is the spiritual Las Vegas. In that spiritual Haran, what happens in Haran does not stay in Haran.

And there are many believers who get to Haran, the land of compromise and the land of confusion, and they never move to greater heights, the very thing that God called you for, the very thing that God saved you for, the very thing that God redeemed you for. We never move to this greater land of promise and blessing what the Bible calls moving from one point of glory into another. We begin well and we start well when we say yes to Jesus.

But then before long, we begin to mix the old with the new. And when Abraham got halfway to Canaan, he decided to stay in Haran. Admittedly, some of the historians say it was his father's influence. In fact, right after his father died, he moved on and continued on the journey. But Haran is always a symbol of compromise. Compromise, compromise. And when God had to come and get him out of Haran, God was a zealous God and He wanted him to leave that life of halfheartedness.

Now, some Christian believers cannot take being falsely accused of all sorts of false things. They are all false. That we are unloving, that we are prejudiced, and that we don't believe in equality and all of these false accusations. I have known some pastors who because they could not stand these false accusations, they decided to compromise with the world in order to be accepted. Beloved, listen to me, we should not be surprised that the world hate us.

Jesus said it. He said, "The world will hate you because they hated me." The world hates our righteousness. The world hates our uprightness. The world hates our biblical standards. And that should not surprise us. In fact, we should be expecting it. Genesis 12, look at verses two and three. God made certain promises to Abraham. And God makes those promises to everyone when we repent of our sins and turn to the living God.

He makes those promises not only to forgive your sins, "I'm going to walk with you. You're my child, I love you. You'll never, ever be forgotten or forsaken." And here's what He said: "I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse those who curse you. I will make sure that the whole world be blessed through you." How many "I wills" did you count?

But also Satan says "I will". Did you know that? In Isaiah chapter 15, Satan said "I will" five times. In Isaiah 15, here's what he said: "I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne. I will sit in a throne on the Mount of Assembly. I will ascend above the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High." And for this boasting, he got kicked out of heaven. But in Genesis 12, there's also several "I wills". Don't miss them.

I know and many of you would testify to this, whenever I say "I will", I get into trouble. Whenever God says "I will" and I go along with God, I get blessed. In fact, here in Genesis 12, God promised Abraham seven things, to be exact, seven things. In return, all He asked Abraham to do is to walk away from his past. Walk away and leave behind the old country with all of its idols, with all of its idol worship, to a land that He will show him.

Let's look at these sevenfold blessings together. By the way, every one of those sevenfold blessings fulfilled in Jesus Christ. I'm going to show you from the scripture. Every one of them who according to the Book of Romans and Galatians, the seed in the singular of Abraham. Blessing number one: "I will show you a land." By the way, as you read those blessings, make a note. You're going to find a natural progression. You move from one point of glory into another.

You don't get stuck in the Christian life. There is a progression. The first blessing He says, "I'll show you a land." Go to the very last, the seventh, the last one He says, "I'll give you a land." Isn't that amazing? "I show you a land, but I'm going to give it to you." You go from seeing to receiving and that is why a total trust is a key. What is the started as "I show you a land" being you possess the land. God often works that way with you and me. He really does.

He begins by saying, "I'm going to show you great blessings that are all yours in stored for you as you walk with me, as you serve me, as you place me first and foremost in your life," all the way to saying you're going to possess, you're going to rule and reign with Him forever. That's always gets to me. It really does. Whenever I choose, my goodness, I get clobbered. But whenever God chooses and I follow His choice, I am totally blessed.

I know many of you would testify to that, too. But please, please, please be careful when you adamantly want your way. When you say, "I want this, I want this, I want this." You know, God might give it to you for a time, might let you have it for a time, but be careful because a blessing is not on the other end. But when He takes you by the hand and take you to where He wants you to go, you get blessed out of your socks.

Blessing number two: "I will make you a great nation." Now, this is the first of many unconditional promises that God made. And just as well as being unconditional, because if it was conditional, he would never have made it. If it was conditional on Abraham's perfection, if it was conditional on Abraham's performance, if it was conditional on the faithfulness of his descendants, they would never have made it. These folks, I'm talking about Abraham's descendant, they messed up royally.

Again and again and again in the scripture we see it clearly that there are conditional promises and there are unconditional promises. Here's the problem: many Christians confuse the two and they go and claim from God a conditional promise without meeting the condition. When God chose us in Christ, that was His pure grace. It is unconditional, had nothing to do with us. We had nothing that would endear us to Him. We had nothing to do with it.

But then in our Christian walk, there are number of conditional promises. And I want you to remember this: when God made that unconditional promise to Abraham, Abraham was 75 years old and Sarah, his wife, was 65. And that's not it, I mean the fun is still to come. It made no difference. When God says, "Start counting stars," they were retirement age. They were drawing Social Security, if there was such a thing over there.

Counting stars when you see none, that is faith in the biblical, pure biblical sense. "But God, I'm old." "Start counting stars, Abraham." "Oh, but God, what if I wander away from your will?" "Keep counting stars, Abraham." "Oh, but God, what if my descendants get away from you?" "Start counting stars." "Oh, but God, what if my descendants become idol worshippers? What if they worship Baal down the road?" "You keep on counting stars, Abraham."

"But God, what will happen if this takes place or that take?" "You keep counting stars." Why? Because the greatness of his descendants was a spiritual greatness because this unconditional promise is fulfilled in his one and only descendant, the seed of Abraham in the singular, not in the plural, Jesus Christ. And millions of people today around the world come to worship the living God because of Jesus and because all of these blessings are fulfilled in Jesus.

And everyone, Paul said, who is follower of Jesus is a descendant of Abraham. No wonder in John chapter 8, when Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am," they got so mad. I mean, they want to kill him. Blessing number three: "I will bless you, you personally." Did you get that? "I will bless you." That's another thing that gets to me. The promise of making him a great nation when he has no children, that in itself is mind-boggling. That in itself is absolutely mind-shattering.

But God says, "No, in addition to that, Abraham, I'm going to bless you personally." Now beloved, I can testify to the fact that in the last few decades—and I'm witnessing to the Lord, I'm not witnessing to me, I'm witnessing to Him—with all of my heart, I sought the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Every waking moment, I seek to serve and glorify Jesus. And to my utter, overwhelming amazement, I get blessed in the process.

I did not expect it, but that's the way God works. Hear me right, please: there is nothing wrong with you to ask God to bless you. Did you get that? There is nothing wrong with it. I just happened not to ask God for it. I just asked God to bless the ministry and the work of my hand. I spent my time praying for others and praying for the kingdom of God. I spent my every waking moment seeking first the kingdom, but in the process, I get blessed out of my socks.

Blessing number four: "I will make your name great and you will bless the world, or the world would be blessed by you." To be sure, for 4,000 years, Christians, Jews first, Christians, and Muslims, they all claim Abraham for their father. But what's the name of Abraham stands for? That name stands for immovable faith and trust in the living God. The name stands for what God promised. That name stands for what God had done. That name stands for God's faithfulness.

And so, God changed his name from Abram to Abraham, which means the father of many. Galatians chapter 3, verse 14 tells us that Abraham's greatest descendant by far is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the world is blessed by coming to Jesus. Today, the whole world is blessed by that one descendant of Abraham. People from every nation, from every tongue, from every tribe, they are saved and they are redeemed and they are rejoicing in their salvation even in the middle of persecution because of that one descendant of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessings five and six, I'm going to move very quickly. I have did not leave much time. But He says, "I will bless those who bless you." Then He said, "I will curse those who curse you." Throughout history, we see that in the Old Testament particularly. God fulfilled that promise again and again and again and again. I wish I had time to give you a lot of examples, but a couple of examples: when Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham was sold into slavery in Egypt, the Bible said that God blessed Egypt because of Joseph.

Rahab the prostitute, when they finally were turning, going into the promised land into Canaan, the Bible said that God blessed her and her family because of what she did for Israel and on and on and on I could go on. How God fulfilled this promise literally and spiritually and every other way. Now, as believers, and if you stand up in any way for your faith, they're going to be enemies. You don't make enemies. I can tell you, as the Lord my witness, I have no enemies. There's nobody who's my enemy from my point of view. It doesn't matter what they—they not my enemies.

But they set themselves as our enemies. We don't do it, but they do. They view themselves as our enemies. And we don't have to fight them in any way whatsoever. In fact, we stand still and He will fight the battles for us. For God promised if they continue in their enmity, He will take care of them and He does a far better job than any of us can. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I was talking to a young man, he was so angry of some injustice that had happened to him and he was angry and he wants to do something.

I said, "The blessing of living a little longer is I watch God do a much better job. Be patient." And sure enough, a few weeks later, God took care of that problem for him and proved His faithfulness. Blessing number seven: "I will give your offspring this land." At the time when this promise was given, Abraham had no offspring and he had no land. But that's not all. Abraham and Sarah died and they were buried without owning land. Isn't that amazing? And yet 400-plus years later, God fulfills His promise to the descendants of Abraham and they receive the land of promise.

God's promises, beloved, listen to me, God's promise, it will be fulfilled in the third and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth and the tenth generation. God's promises are more real than I'm standing right here in front of you. But let me tell you this as I conclude. Jesus made number of promises that you can literally take to the bank. In Matthew 11:28 and 29, He said, "Come unto me. Come unto me, all who are weary and burdened. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you will find rest for your souls."

And I don't know about you and I don't know where you are in your walk. You may be carrying a refrigerator on your back. You may be feeling so burdened and so weary and so tired, but this is a promise of God to you. You come to Him and He will unload that load on Himself, for He already has done that on the cross anyway. In Matthew 19:21, Jesus' word to the rich young man, He said, "If you want what is eternal, give up your idols. Give them away and come and follow me. And there, you're going to have untold treasures in heaven."

This, my beloved friends, is the principle of God's calling to Abraham. Leave behind your country. Leave behind your people. Leave behind your land. Leave behind your household and go to the land that you cannot see, but I will show you. And I'll make you a great nation. And I'll bless you. I'll make your name great. And I'll bless those who bless you. I'll curse those who curse you. And I will give you the land.

Guest (Male): Dr. Michael Youssef challenging you to experience God's blessing by walking in complete obedience. This is Leading the Way. Listen to and watch more content from Dr. Youssef at LTW.org. You can also use the Leading the Way app on all of your mobile devices. And when you use the app, make sure that you check out the newest feature, My Faith Assistant, a digital tool to help answer questions with biblical teaching and God's word as the source of truth.

Dr. Youssef understands that things today are uncertain. Many people are asking AI, "What's the meaning of life?" only to come up emptier than before. And that's why he challenged the Leading the Way team to develop a tool that's able to redeem the darkness creeping into AI when it's asked to provide answers about life. My Faith Assistant is ready to provide answers to life's toughest questions.

Leading the Way is leveraging cutting-edge technology with our gospel innovation, My Faith Assistant. This powerful digital tool allows seekers and believers alike to ask spiritual questions and receive clear, biblically sound answers. Try it out at LTW.org/faithassistant or on the mobile app. Carefully designed to provide responses rooted solely in the Bible and the trusted teaching of Dr. Michael Youssef, it is also a milestone in Leading the Way's Open Door campaign. My Faith Assistant, anytime, anywhere. Share it with someone you love who's searching for answers today. Experience My Faith Assistant today at LTW.org or on the Leading the Way app. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.