Ep. 121 | "Let me introduce you." | Genesis

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring James 2:21-23. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

Ready to connect? You can send us a message through our website theorchardcc.org, or email Pastor Eddie Blalock at eddie@theorchardcc.org. You can also follow The Orchard Community Church on Facebook and Instagram to stay connected, and find more content on our YouTube channel.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Every one of us eventually reaches a place where we have to decide. Will I trust God even when I can't see where He's leading? That's not a new question. It's one of the oldest questions in the Bible. No one illustrates that journey better than Abraham. Welcome to Forms by the Word, where we open God's Word not just to study it, but to let it shape our hearts and transform our lives. Sometimes our journey of faith leads through familiar places. Other times it leads into the unknown. There are seasons of joy and seasons of waiting, moments of great faith and moments of painful failure. Genesis 11 through 25 tells the story of an ordinary man called to an extraordinary walk of faith, and in the process helps us discover that God still leads ordinary people, like us, into an extraordinary walk of faith. So whether you're driving, working, exercising, or simply enjoying a quiet moment with the Lord, I invite you to open your heart and let's learn to trust the God who always keeps his promises, one step of faith at a time.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Beth and I love the small group of young adults who meet at our home on Thursday nights. One of my favorite things to say to that group is, let me introduce you. When someone new comes to the group, I get to say that. Let me introduce you to our group. And of course, let the group introduce themselves to our guest. You see, I believe it helps to get to know a little bit about someone before the conversation goes deeper. So today I want to introduce you to a man named Abram. We know him better as Abraham, but he was born Abram. He answered to that name for the first ninety-nine of his 175 years of life. God later changed his name, nearing a hundred, to Abraham. There's a reason for that, and we'll talk about it later. In our last series, James said that as followers of Jesus, our faith should be visible, evidenced by our works. Well, Abraham's a perfect example of that. In fact, James cited Abraham, if you recall. He's sometimes called the father of faith because his great faith is seen over and over in his story. So starting today, we're going to go back to Genesis for section two of that great book of origins. Perhaps you recall we studied the first eleven chapters, which tell us about the origin of mankind. Now we proceed in this great book to the second division, chapters eleven through twenty five, the section of Genesis that tells us about the origin of the Hebrew nation. Why should we spend our time studying Abraham? Because God took an ordinary man and step by step taught him to trust him. He wants to do the same work in us today. Have you ever noticed someone who seemed to have incredible faith? And maybe you wondered, I could never be like that. We admire people whose trust in God seems unshakable, don't we? We assume that they were simply born with extraordinary faith. But what if faith isn't something you're born with? What if it's something God patiently develops one step at a time? That's exactly what we're going to discover in the life of Abraham. But before we dig in too deep, let's backtrack for a moment. Let's go back to James and see what the book of James says about Abraham. I think it'll help us to get to know him before we start tracing details of his faith journey a little bit more deeply. So in James chapter 2, verses 21 to 23, you may recall these words. Was it Abraham our father justified by works and offering Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works faith was made complete. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. Now James looks back on Abraham's life and says three remarkable things that I want you to notice. First, he said, Abraham believed God. That's a big deal. Think about a moment. Abraham believed God. When we dig deeper, we'll find that Abraham lived in a land of pagan idols before meeting God. Idolatry was entrenched deep into his soul. It was what he had grown up with. It's what his parents were engaged with. But when God revealed himself to Abraham, he believed him. He didn't just believe in God, he trusted him. Second, James says Abraham was declared righteous. Now Paul would say later that righteousness is imputed to us, and righteousness was imputed to him. That is, he didn't earn it. He certainly didn't deserve it, but God declared him righteous. More on that when we get there again. Third thing, James says, Abraham became known as the friend of God. Now this is the most striking thing to me at this moment. I'm thinking about that. A friend of God. What a remarkable comment. To be a friend of God meant that Abraham not only knew God, did he not only know of God, he had a personal relationship with God. Now, all those together is quite an endorsement. But how did he become that man? I think that's the question that drives me to make this next study of formed by the word. That question, how did he become that man? And can we learn from him so that we might become that man, that woman, that friend of God, declared righteous. So let me introduce you to Abraham, just briefly this morning. Three things I observe about Abraham that I think we should know before we dig into details. First, we learn that God chose him. When he was looking for someone to be the father of the Hebrew nation, God chose Abraham, an ordinary man. We don't know what the conversation was in heaven before that. We don't know what led God to choose Abraham. We really have no idea, but it doesn't matter. Because one thing we do know about Abraham is he is an ordinary man. As I just said, he wasn't raised in a godly home. He wasn't looking for God. Joshua tells us that his family worshipped idols, yet God came looking for Abraham. Now that's important because that's where every story of faith begins. Not with us seeking God, but with God seeking us. Not with spiritual superheroes, but with ordinary people. That's grace. Second, we notice that his faith grew over time. Now, this is important to know because that's how our faith will grow. It will grow slowly over a period of time, step by step. So over the next several weeks, we're going to watch Abraham's faith grow. We're going to see him as he is called to leave his comfortable home for an unknown destination and how he reacts. We'll see him learning how to recover from failure. That's a part of the growth process. And how to exercise faith while waiting for God to work. That might produce as much faith in us as anything. We will see Abraham believe in God in spite of unreasonable expectations and then worshiping God passionately and regularly. And we might add that he worships God from his heart. We'll also be invited into a moment where his faith was tested. One of the darkest moments of his life, and we'll learn from that experience how we react under pressure and how pressure affects and grows our faith. And finally, we'll see Abraham, the father of faith, finishing well. And there'll be a good ending to this story. So Abraham didn't become the friend of God overnight. God shaped him over a lifetime. Neither do you and I become a man or woman of faith overnight. We can learn from Abraham how to trust God, but it's going to be one step at a time. Which leads me to number three. I wanted to study Abraham because he represents how God wants to shape our faith today. First, note that the hero of this story isn't Abraham. I need to make that clear. It's the God who patiently formed Abraham in spite of Abraham. If God could transform an idol worshiping man into the father of faith, imagine what he can do in your life and mine. I think you're going to love these next weeks because Abraham's story is so compelling, so interesting, and so relatable. For instance, during the series, we'll leave home with Abraham. We'll stand beneath a sky full of stars and all of God's promise to him. We'll wait for a promised son, and we'll laugh with his wife Sarah and later climb Mount Moriah, one of his darkest moments in his life. We'll discover that every step of the journey was another lesson in trusting God. So maybe you're just beginning your walk with Christ, or maybe you've walked with him for decades. Either way, God isn't finished shaping your faith. Great faith isn't born in a moment. It's built one step at a time. I think that's our takeaway for today. Great faith isn't born in a moment, it's built one step at a time. In the following episodes, we're not simply going to learn about Abraham. We're going to walk beside him. We'll celebrate his victories. We'll learn from his failures. We'll wait through his long seasons of uncertainty, and we'll stand in awe of God as he patiently transforms an ordinary man into the father of faith. And somewhere along the way, I believe we'll discover that God is doing the very same work in like manner in us. So I hope you'll join us next time as we start our journey of this incredible friend of God, because I truly believe that the God who transformed Abraham is still transforming lives today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we embark on this journey with Abraham, we invite you to lead us through each episode. Help us to see how you built the faith of Abraham and how you do the same in us today. We're so excited, Lord, to begin this journey, not just for more information about the Bible, but Lord, that it might be truly effective in our lives, that our lives might be truly formed by your word into the image of our dear Savior Jesus. Amen and amen.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Thanks for joining us today on Formed by the Word. As we journey through the life of Abraham, we're learning together what it means to walk by faith and trust God one step at a time. Wherever you are on your own journey today, remember, the same God who called Abraham is still calling, leading, and faithfully keeping his promises to his people. Pastor Eddie would love to hear how God is using these devotions in your life. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Until next time, remember, God rarely shows us the whole journey, he simply asks us to trust him with the next step.