Hello and welcome back to Cultivating Growth. I wanna thank everyone for joining us this week. We're beginning a new topic for this month. We're gonna be studying through the life of Abraham. So we're gonna do that by looking at three different aspects of his life. We're gonna talk about the promises that God makes to him.

Uh, some moments in his life where he demonstrated a lack of faith, and then ultimately the moments in his life where he demonstrated great faith. And so we're gonna start that conversation this week with, uh, talking about the promises that God makes to Abraham. So with that, let's get right to it.

Well, John, you may mention that this is a new month and a new topic, and our topic of choice is the life of Abraham. A couple of months ago we spent some time talking about David, and we made the point then. There's so much biblically about David, you know, we're, you know, spending a few minutes, you know, three or four different times, and so you're just, it's an impossibility to pick, you know, every, everything that happened in the life of David that we have biblically and, and Abraham is very similar to that.

We, we have biblically in the book of Genesis, uh, a massive chunk of his life. Yeah, I mean it certainly has. A his adult life, you know? For sure. And there are so many pieces where you could spend week after week after week after week, you know, talking about Abraham. And so certainly he is worth a study, but really what makes him in a lot of ways stand out, not just in the Old Testament with his actual story that plays out in the Book of Genesis, but the references that are made and the importance that he carries even through the pages of.

The New Testament, uh, not just with the, the Jewish nation. Uh, certainly there is a significance with that and, and with those people. But as we'll talk a little bit about today with, with us even today. And so he carries great significance and you made mention that, uh, we'll spend some time talking about his life and, and how he operated at times.

Not having the faith that he needed, but at times having incredible faith. Yeah. And there are lessons to be learned in both of those things, and that's what we'll talk about in the next two weeks. But we thought we would start in a lot of ways with pretty close to the very beginning of his story. Not the exact beginning, but really close to the beginning with I think can be argued.

Maybe the most important chapter in the Old Testament in Genesis chapter 12. Uh, a conversation that Abraham, Abraham then is going to have with God, and significant, three significant promises that God is going to make with Abraham. Three promises that he believes, mm-hmm. That he trusts him, that he himself will not see fulfilled any of them, right, but yet he trusts in them fully and the impact that these promises even have in his life and the decisions that he make.

That we will talk about, you know, a little bit in the next couple of weeks, but certainly promises that play a massive role pretty much in every page of the Bible. Mm-hmm. Moving forward and, and so, you know, I thought it would be good for us certainly to spend some time in Genesis chapter 12, and I think it's good for all followers of God, whether you've got Genesis 12, one through three memorized.

Yeah. You, you do have an understanding that the promises that God makes to Abraham are found in Genesis chapter 12. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think even they're so important. That's a good thing to have in your brain. Yeah. And I think you, you read through the Old Testament. God makes lots of promises a bunch, and, and all of those promises are important.

I don't wanna diminish, uh, the importance of any of those, but to your point, I mean, the, the reason why so much attention is given to these three promises is because they impact the world. From this point forward, you and I are benefiting from the promises that God made to Abraham. Thousands of years ago at this point, and you referenced the fact that we can see even in the Bible itself, the importance of these promises because while the entirety of Abraham's story is certainly contained to the book of Genesis.

Over 70 times he's mentioned in the New Testament. And so even the New Testament writers recognize the significance of Abraham and the role that he played and the promises that God made to him. And so, yes. All promises that God makes to us are important and deserve to be studied, but, but there is a significance to these three that stands out because of their long-term impact and benefit to mankind as a whole.

And so when you get to Genesis chapter 12, you, you see the. Three promises really that, that God makes and, and they're oftentimes broken up into the land promise, the nation promise, and then the promise that all families through Abraham will be blessed. And, and there's, there's so much within each of those.

And, and you know, we start with the Land promise. That's the first one that's being given here. But one of the things that I think is really important about this promise that God makes to him is that it comes with the directive that in order to receive this promise, you have to leave right? Your homeland, you have to leave the country that you're currently living in.

And something that has always been interesting to me about that is that as God makes this promise and gives Abraham this directive, he doesn't tell him where he is going. Right. And so Abraham truly is walking by faith as he follows God's lead moving towards this unknown land to him at the time. But, but it shows us the faith that Abraham had in God.

And God's plan to give Abraham this land that he's promising him. Yeah, I mean everything, especially the first two promises, but even the third as well. It is everything about family. I mean, it is everything about family. It is everything about comfort. It is everything about protection of God and his people.

And although in Genesis one through 11, I mean, we have seen God operate that way already. Sure. We've seen him operate that way with Adam and Eve and, and wanting to protect. Them and provide for them. Most certainly we saw that in, you see that in the story of Noah and the flood and, and although even up to this point, we've, we've been given biblically several genealogies already, uh, especially around Noah and his sons, but.

It really is here in Genesis chapter 12. It, it's really with Abraham and, and the genealogy that will kind of shoot off from him. That will become the significant player throughout the rest of, uh, you know, biblical history. It'll be, it'll be Abraham to his son, Isaac to his son, to his son. Mm-hmm. Down the line to David.

Yep. His son, his son. Son down the line to Jesus. Right. And, and so it, it really becomes a key component to biblical, you know, history kind of moving forward. And a lot of that, it kind of sits on these first two promises mm-hmm. That he, he, he's, he's gonna have a nation and it's going to be great. And that nation will be given a land.

And, and you made mention that faith is now playing a huge role and you're right. You're heading to a new place, and Abraham will be, well, you know, where, where, where are we going? And God's like, you just trust me and I'll show you. And, and he does. You're going to have many, many, many, many descendants. Well, wait a minute.

I'm an older fellow now, and I've got not many, many, many, not even one mini, I have zero. And now the faith that it takes to lean into even that promise. So we'll talk more. About that promise in the next couple of weeks. Mm-hmm. But it is an incredible amount of faith here, and it all centers around God for his people.

Comfort, protection, peace. Mm-hmm. All of those things was the idea, especially with the land as you continue to study throughout the Old Testament. Yeah. The, the second of promises that you were just talking about where he promises. You know, this great nation to Abraham. Not only does Abraham not have any children at this point in time, but it's still gonna be a while before he does.

It's, and he, the, the faith that it's going to take for Abraham to continue to trust in God and to trust in the promise that he made to him, really tells us a lot about Abraham and who he knows God to be. And that has always been a comforting aspect of Abraham's character for me to think about for myself.

God makes us promises and there are times where we see those more clearly, and there are times where we feel like anytime now, God, that'd be great and we have to trust in God's time that he's going to fulfill his promises. That is not in question. But he's gonna do it in his time and not mine and, and we have to be okay with that.

Abraham was generally okay with that. Now he had some moments mm-hmm. Where he struggled with that. And again, we'll talk about that next week specifically, but the fact that God made him wait. A little bit on that one in particular, and then when it comes to especially the third one, but even with the second promise as well.

He'll obviously have his children and et cetera from that point forward, but the great nation that's going to come from him, he's not going to see that with his own two eyes, and certainly the third promise about all nations being blessed through him, really pointing to Jesus in that moment. He's certainly not going to witness that with his own two eyes.

And that's even called out in Hebrews chapter 11, that he lived by faith and he didn't see the fulfillment of these promises. And it's just a reminder to us that, that that's the life that we're called to live. And these promises that God gives to Abraham and the way that he goes about fulfilling them are a really good reminder to us of that.

Yeah, I think sometimes, you know, biblically we, we may lose sight of. Historical timeline. Mm-hmm. You know, sometimes, especially in books that sit next to one another. So for instance, we're here in, you know, certainly the front half of the book of Genesis, but as you flip through your Bible and the book of Exodus is the very next book, and, and I know sometimes you're mentally like, well, you know, it comes and historically it happens right after the book of Genesis, but sometimes we lose sight of the time.

You know, that, you know, that falls. And so when you are here in Genesis chapter 12 and you get into Exodus chapter one. In Exodus three and four and you know the people, Abraham's people leaving Egypt to head towards this land that God has promised them. Hundreds of years have passed. Yeah. I mean, not, not a few or decades.

Yeah. Hundreds of years have passed. Mm-hmm. Abraham is long gone. Yeah. And you're right. Listen, he lives to see a, a, a couple of kids born, right? True. Yeah. But when we're in the book of Exodus and his descendants are at that time in the millions, yeah. We're hundreds of years removed from him, and so you're right.

The amount of faith that he is operating, even in these first two. Now when you get to this third one mm-hmm. That sinners around Jesus hundreds and hundreds more. Right. You know, even from where we are in the Book of Exodus, you know, Abraham is leaning in fully on his trust with God. And you're right, Hebrews 11 makes that point.

Mm-hmm. You know, clearly that he is, he's leaning on things unseen and unknown, and, and that's the incredible amount of faith that he operates with. Well, let's maybe talk about that last one a little bit as our time's gonna get away from us, but that the last promise that God makes to Abraham about all nations.

Being blessed through him. And we've, we've talked about how that points to Jesus. You go to a passage like Galatians chapter three and you see that the Paul is gonna make that abundantly clear. He talks about, uh, he said, I'll just read it in beginning in verse number 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free, and there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed. And heirs according to the promise. And so Paul makes the point.

Listen, if you are in Christ today, it it Jew or Greek, it doesn't matter. You don't have to share the bloodline. If you are in Christ, if you have been baptized into Christ. You are of Abraham's seed and you're an heir to the promise that God made to him. And so he, the New Testament writers make it abundantly clear that this promise was made for all who find Christ and follow him and give our lives to him.

We are heirs to that promise and so. Genesis chapter 12 speaks to you and me today just as much as it spoke to Abraham, maybe even more so when Abraham heard it in his time. We now get to see the fulfillment of that in our own lives. Yeah. I find it interesting. Listen, you don't have to wait very long when you get to the pages of the New Testament to see a reference made to this promise made to Abraham.

Mm-hmm. It literally is the very first thing that's talked about in, in the book of Matthew, which is the first of the four gospels. The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus. Yeah. Uh, alluding to this promise and that genealogy begins with Abraham. Yep. Matthew, chapter one, the verse one, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

And then in verse two, you have the beginning of that, those, you know, that genealogy and all of those hard names to read and all of the begats and begats, but it begins there in verse two. Abraham Begot Isaac. Yeah. And so you have at the very outset of the story of Jesus, the point being made that, listen, we are back to Genesis chapter 12.

Yeah. And Jesus, and the impact that he's gonna make, certainly on the family of Abraham, which is the Jewish nation at the time of Jesus. But the book of the new, the books of the New Testament is all about the impact that Jesus will have, not just on the Jewish nation, Abraham's family, but all peoples of the earth.

And you see that play out through the New Testament, and that's each and every one of us. Yep. And so that is the punch of that final promise made that through his seed. His family certainly will be blessed, but all nations will be blessed. Mm-hmm. I think it's, it's interesting as you go throughout the book of Genesis.

Specifically during Abraham's life, God's gonna reemphasize some of these promises. He's gonna remind him of these promises because as we mentioned, Abraham's gonna have to wait. He's gonna have to wait some time on, on these things. But you go to chapter 13, you go to chapter 15, you go to chapter 22 and others, God's going to reemphasize, restate these promises that he's making to Abraham.

'cause he wants him to remember them. Don't forget these, just because you haven't seen it all yet. Don't forget these promises. But again, as we've seen and talked about today, it's just as important for you and I to make sure we spend some time remembering those promises because those promises are made for us as much as they were made to Abraham.

And so as Christians today, they really are the backbone of, of our relationship with Christ because. Thousands of years ago, he had a plan and he made a promise that I would be blessed through Abraham's seed, and I'm getting to live out the fulfillment of that today. Well, let's close with this idea. You made mention that these are not the only three promises that God makes.

Biblically. God makes promises all the time, and he has made promises even to us today. And the key component to this whole idea is the promises that God makes. We can be assured of because God is who God is. And so if he makes a promise, his word will be kept. And you're right, he reiterates his promises.

Even these three throughout, uh, scripture and in Joshua chapter one, when Joshua's about to lead Abraham's family, the people of Israel into the land that God has reed to give to them. That's brought up. All the time in the book of Joshua, and we'll close with one of those examples in Joshua chapter one.

The very outset of that, he says this to Joshua in verse six, be strong and of good courage for this people. You shall divide as an inheritance the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.

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