2. Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your
country and your kindred and your father’s
house to the land that I will show you. And I
will make of you a great nation, and I will
bless you and make your name great, so that
you will be a blessing. I will bless those who
bless you, and him who dishonors you I will
curse, and in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed."
3. So Abram went, as the LORD had told him,
and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-
five years old when he departed from Haran.
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his
brother’s son, and all their possessions that
they had gathered, and the people that they had
acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the
land of Canaan. When they came to the land of
Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the
place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that
time the Canaanites were in the land.
4. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said,
"To your offspring I will give this land." So he
built there an altar to the LORD, who had
appeared to him. From there he moved to the
hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched
his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the
east. And there he built an altar to the LORD
and called upon the name of the LORD.
Genesis 12:1-8 (ESV)
5. 1. We choose our own solution, instead of
trusting God.
6. After these things the word of the LORD came
to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am
your shield; your reward shall be very great.“
But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you
give me, for I continue childless, and the heir
of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?“ And
Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no
offspring, and a member of my household will
be my heir.“ And behold, the word of the
LORD came to him: "This man shall not be
your heir; your very own son shall be your
heir."
7. And he brought him outside and said, "Look
toward heaven, and number the stars, if you
are able to number them." Then he said to him,
"So shall your offspring be.“ And he believed
the LORD, and he counted it to him as
righteousness.
Genesis 15:1-6 (ESV)
8. 2. God clearly reveals the difference between
the FRUIT of His blessing, and the curse that
disobedience produces.
9. Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no
children. She had a female Egyptian servant
whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to
Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has
prevented me from bearing children. Go in to
my servant; it may be that I shall obtain
children by her." And Abram listened to the
voice of Sarai.
Genesis 16:1-2 (ESV)
10. They set out from Rameses in the first month,
on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the
day after the Passover, the people of Israel
went out triumphantly in the sight of all the
Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying
all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck
down among them. On their gods also the
LORD executed judgments.
Numbers 33:3-4 (ESV)
11. And because he loved your fathers and chose
their offspring after them and brought you out
of Egypt with his own presence, by his great
power, driving out before you nations greater
and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in,
to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is
this day, know therefore today, and lay it to
your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven
above and on the earth beneath; there is no
other.
12. Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his
commandments, which I command you today,
that it may go well with you and with your
children after you, and that you may prolong
your days in the land that the LORD your God
is giving you for all time.“
Deuteronomy 4:37-40 (ESV)
13. "Take care lest you forget the LORD your God
by not keeping his commandments and his
rules and his statutes, which I command you
today, lest, when you have eaten and are full
and have built good houses and live in them,
and when your herds and flocks multiply and
your silver and gold is multiplied and all that
you have is multiplied, then your heart be
lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of slavery,
14. who led you through the great and terrifying
wilderness, with its fiery serpents and
scorpions and thirsty ground where there was
no water, who brought you water out of the
flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with
manna that your fathers did not know, that he
might humble you and test you, to do you good
in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart,
'My power and the might of my hand have
gotten me this wealth.'
15. You shall remember the LORD your God, for
it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that
he may confirm his covenant that he swore to
your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget
the LORD your God and go after other gods
and serve them and worship them, I solemnly
warn you today that you shall surely perish.
Like the nations that the LORD makes to
perish before you, so shall you perish, because
you would not obey the voice of the LORD
your God.
Deuteronomy 8:11-20 (ESV)
16. 3. What does Ai & Bethel have to do with me,
here, TODAY?
17. "Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him
in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the
gods that your fathers served beyond the River
and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is
evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose
this day whom you will serve, whether the
gods your fathers served in the region beyond
the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose
land you dwell. But as for me and my house,
we will serve the LORD.“
Joshua 24:14-15 (ESV)
