Leaving Ur - Genesis 12:1-4

Title: Leaving Ur
Date: March 2, 2008
Text: Genesis 12:1-4, Hebrews 11:8

INTRODUCTION
- When I was 12 I once read through the life of Abraham, in one sitting
- I found it an interesting read, it grabbed my attention
- In some way it spoke to my heart, and suddenly I knew that I wanted to be like Abraham
- I wanted to be obedient to God, I wanted to have that closeness of relationship with God, that I can speak to God and that he replies to me
- Today I am going to start a series about the life of Abraham, examining incidents in his life and showing their relevance to each of us

Abraham was faithful
- Gen 12:1-3 – Abraham had previously heard from God, to leave his father’s house and go to another land
- His father’s house was in Ur of the Chaldeas – that is where Abraham was born
- The bible does not say when God spoke this to Abram – reading the story it sounds as though this happened while they were still in Ur
- In response to this word to Abram, Terah, Abram’s dad, took Abram, his wife Sarah and his grandson Lot, to a place called Haran, a place where Lot had probably grown up
- This was on the way to the land of Canaan
- It seems that Nahor, Abram’s brother together with his wife milcah, later also followed them to go settle in Haran
- Haran was a nice town, at the middle of the Fertile Crescent
- There were family there – Haran had probably established this village, before he died while on a trip back to Ur – the town Haran was named after him
- There is a lesson in this – Haran left Ur and settled in Haran – then he turned back to Ur – he died there
- There is death in Ur
- Maybe the lesson for us is that when we embark on a journey with God that we do not turn back
- Hebrews 10:38
- But there came a point when Abraham realized that he had not yet completely fulfilled the word from God
- It was time to resume the journey
- This took a step of faith
- Heb 11:8-10

God is faithful
- God goes on our journey with us
- Heb 13:5 He promised never to leave or forsake us
- Numbers 23:19 He is not a man that he should lie
- Whatever he has promised will be done
- No matter if we go through hard time or smooth, he is there
- Psalm 23 – when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil because God is with us
- Phil 1:6 the work he has started in us he will complete
- He does not stop halfway, he completes the project

God expects us to be faithful
- Abraham got stuck in Haran
- He had left Ur in obedience and then settled down in Haran
- It was comfortable to be in Haran
- There was plenty of room, there was family around, no need to feel lonely
- But it was not the place where God had sent him
- When Terah died, Abraham realized it was time to move on, in obedience
- This was a step f faith
- Luke 19:17 God has called us to be faithful too
- Like Abraham, we have started on a journey
- When we accepted Jesus into our life, we took step one of the journey
- We have left all kinds of things behind us
- We have left behind our family of origin, the place where we may have learned a lot of our bad ways
- We have left behind our old way of life, and been raised a new creation
- It may be comfortable for us to rest there
- We have been saved and we are able to pray and communicate with God – awesome
- But God has called us on a journey
- We learn more about that journey in the coming weeks
- Step 2 is to continue the journey
- Not being satisfied with just being saved, but wanting to be the best we can be for God
- We have not yet reached the city that Abraham was looking for
- We too are on a pilgrimage, a journey
- But God is faithful, and as we follow him we will be living and walking with God
- We will have relationship with him, and he with us!
- One day he will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
- Because we have been faithful, we have stayed on the journey
- Now, that is awesome!