Black History Unmasked: Ep. 3: Abraham: Get The Out — Abram's Leap of Faith

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and this is Faith on the Go, where you take the word with you

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on your drive to work, while you're getting ready in the morning,

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or even in those quiet moments before prayer.

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Real life, real word, and real growth, all while you are on the go.

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Before we get into today's word, let's take a moment to center ourselves with a familiar prayer.

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The prayer of Jabez.

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Oh, that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory.

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Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

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Father God, we come before you this day asking that you would indeed bless us,

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not just with what we have, but in who we are becoming.

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Enlarge our territory, Lord. Expand our capacity, our mindset,

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and our ability to receive what you have for us.

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Let your hand be upon us, guiding us, covering us, and leading us in every decision we make.

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And Father, keep us from harm, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,

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that we may walk in peace and not in pain.

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And Lord, just as you heard Jabez when he cried out to you, hear us now.

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Your word says that you granted his request, and we believe that you are the same God today.

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So we come boldly before you, knowing that you hear us, knowing that you see

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us, and knowing that you respond to the prayers of your people.

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Have your way in this moment as we sit, listen, and receive your word.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Hello, welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and today we're on episode three of Abraham, the father of many nations.

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And this episode is titled, The Call of Abram, Get The Out.

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And we're going to cover in our primary scriptures, Genesis 12,

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Genesis 15, and Genesis 17.

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So if you have your Bible, let's start with those things.

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I hope you guys are enjoying the episodes. I know last episode was kind of a

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little dry because it dealt with genealogy, but some parts of our learning,

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our lessons and biblical stories can be a little dry, but it's very educational,

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something that most of you put in your heart

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so that when we go through the story, you're able to understand it,

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understand Abraham, understand what God was doing through Abraham,

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I understand even how Abraham arrived on the scene with Sarai and Lot.

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So let's go to Genesis 12.

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We'll be reading verses 12, verses 1 through 9.

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These are foundational scriptures for this episode. Canaan land promised to Abraham.

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Verse 12 reads, Now the Lord has said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country

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and from thy kindred and from thy father's house into a land that I will show you.

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And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,

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and I will make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.

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And I will bless them that bless thee.

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And I will curse them that curses thee, and in thee shall all my families of the earth be blessed.

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So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him.

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And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

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And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their substance

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that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran.

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And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.

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Abram passed through the land onto a place of Sishim, onto a plain of Mori,

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and the Canaanite was in the land.

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So those are familiar places if you remember them, Sishim and Mori.

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Verse 7 says, And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto thy seed, Will I give this land?

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And there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him.

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So we see here, and I want to read a side note, that Canaan land promised to

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Abraham, the great African Edenic patriarch of the children of Israel, Abraham.

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Abraham was commanded to leave the Ur-Shaldeans and journey to the land of Canaan,

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Israel, the land promised to him by God.

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The Shaldeans were an African people of Hamanic descent.

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So we see here that God told Abraham to get up and go.

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And Abraham did exactly what the Lord said.

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But he said, this is what I'm going to promise you. Not you just get up and

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go just because I said it.

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But when you do that thing, the verses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 tells us what God was going to do with his life.

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So he had a great expectation of what God was going to do.

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Let's go to verse chapter 15, Genesis verses 15, verses 1 through 6.

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And let's read about it. It says.

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Exceeding great reward. And Abraham said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me,

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seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is Eliezer?

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Of Damascus. And Abraham said, Behold to me, thou hast given no seed,

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and lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

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And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This should not be thine heir.

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But he said that thou should come forth out of thy own vows should be thine heir.

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Verse 5, And he brought forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven,

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and tell the stars if thou be able to number them.

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And he said unto him, so shall thy seed be.

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And he believed in the Lord and he counted it unto him as righteousness.

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Let's see what Abraham, God said, well, you're going to say that my seed is

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going to be great, but right now I don't have any kids.

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So God wasn't looking at his present. God was looking at his future and he gave

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him a vision. He said, Won't you look up into the sky, see all the stars?

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That is how your seed is going to be.

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And at the moment when God said that to him, Abraham says, and he believed in the Lord.

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And he counted it unto him as righteousness. So he said, once God said it, Abraham believed it.

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Well, he had to believe it because he loved Ur-Shaldes. We learned that Ur-Shaldes

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was not really a bad place. It was a nice place, but it was filled with idolatry.

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We see once he left, before he left, God says, I'm going to give you these things.

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We're going to cover those today.

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I'm going to give you these things. You will be blessed and you will be a blessing.

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So you're not going over here for a handout. You won't be homeless.

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You won't be hungry. I'm going to help you. I'm going to set you up.

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And he says, then one thing about that that bothered him, that he didn't have

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any seed. He said, I don't have any seed.

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But yes, you do. Look up into the sky. And that picture that God gave him sat in his heart.

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So when God speaks to us, he gives us a physical, sometimes he gives us a physical

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image of what he's talking about.

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And many times it's far more than what we can even ask, think, or even imagine.

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Let's go to Genesis 17, and I'm going to read verses 1 through 8.

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And when Abraham was 90 years old and 9, so he was 99 years old,

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the Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him, I am the Almighty God.

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Walk before me and be thou perfect, and I will make thy covenant between me

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and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

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And Abraham fell on his face, and God talked to him, saying,

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As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

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Neither shall thy name any more be Abram, but the name should be Abraham,

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for a father of many nations have I made thee.

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And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee.

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The king should come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me

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and thee, after thy seed between thee and their generation, for an everlasting

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covenant. to be a God unto thee, that thy seed after thee.

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And I will give unto thee, in verse 8, and to thy seed after thee,

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the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for everlasting possession.

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I will be their God. So we think in Canaan, in this passage meant Israel.

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And so we see here that God continually using his voice to speak over Abraham,

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to build him up so that he, to be a father of many nations, he has to be able.

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To carry that weight.

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And we see that God says, I will make a covenant with thee.

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In verses 9 through 14, it talks about that covenant and that circumcision.

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And we probably get with that at a later time, but I want to move on.

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So we learned 12, 15, and 17, it was God speaking to Abraham.

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How powerful is that? And Abraham wasn't just being a listener.

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He was being a doer of the word. How powerful is that?

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He was being a doer of the word. He's not sitting there just listening.

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He's saying, hey, God said it. I believe it.

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How good is that? How good is that? He didn't doubt it.

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And then God said, because you believe, I am going to call you righteous.

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And God picked the right person to speak over and so that he can have more seeds.

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God's plan is always to have more seed.

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So now that we have our scriptures as our foundation, I want to go right into our introduction.

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We understood that in the last episode, we traced Abram's family line from Noah

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through Shem and follow him and his family from the Ur of Shaldez to Haran.

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And so now the story changes.

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We're going to go back to Genesis 12.1. And now God is telling Abram to get

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thee out of thy country. It wasn't a polite way that he described it. He said, get thee out.

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God didn't say, it's time for you to go. It's time for you to remove because

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God was very gentle with the Israelites. You know, he's always giving them a

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heads up and really kind.

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But as we go through this, Israelites hasn't came up yet.

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And so we're talking about the call of Abram.

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And so it says, get thee out of thy country. Let's go to our scripture,

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Genesis 12. As I set us up to understand what it means to be Abraham seed.

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It says, now the Lord has said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country from

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thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show you.

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God tells Abram to leave.

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His country, to leave his kindred, to leave his father's house,

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and to go to a land where I will show thee.

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So this requires, if you think about it, I don't want to go through this too

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quick. I want you to understand like this whole dynamic. Abraham was probably

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minding his own business.

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He's probably, remember, he's in a land of idolatry.

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He had a heart and wanted to know, is there probably something,

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is there something else outside of this idolatry? You know, we have those random

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thoughts. I'm just thinking possibly.

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And then once you have that random thought, you hear this voice in your spirit,

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man, telling you it's time to get up and go.

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But he told Abraham, get thee up and out of thy country.

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So maybe he was sitting down, get thee up and out, not of your country,

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but get away from all this idolatry, all your family, all your friends,

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all your fault, even get out of your father's house.

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And he says, go to a land that I will show you. Think about this.

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How much faith does it require for you to know, not know where you're going,

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but to follow the voice of God? I want you to start moving. I'll tell you where to go.

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You know how much faith that builds in a person when you're trusting God for everything?

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You know, we're comfortable here. We won't move unless we know how we're going to get there.

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We want to plan ahead. We want to have a little bit of cushion just in case, but not Abram.

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Abram has a habit of hearing and obeying. He says, God says,

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I will take you to a land that I will show you.

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Remember this, this saying comes in again later because it comes a time where

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Abram had to get up and go to a place I will show you so you can sacrifice your son, your only son.

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So remember, God tests us with the simple things, and then he gives us the hard

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test, the test of obedience.

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So we see here that Abraham is being asked to move before he has the full picture.

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And so the promises begins first with obedience. So then as he's saying,

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get up and go, God doesn't stop there.

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God is continually to talk to Abraham. And I want to take us step by step,

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and this is coming from Genesis 12, on what God said to Abraham and what it means to him and how that.

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Sat in his heart throughout his whole life.

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When God speaks to you, when he gives you a dream, when he shows you a scripture

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that jumps off the page, it never, ever escapes you.

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It stays with you. It's embedded in your heart.

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It's embedded in your spiritual man, in your spiritual heart.

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So let's go through and see what God has promised.

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Abraham. And that same promise he has promised to us.

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So Genesis 12 verses 2 to 3 contains some of the most important words in Abraham's life.

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And he says in verse 2 and 3, And I will make thee a great nation,

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and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou should be a blessing.

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And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee.

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And in thee should all families of the earth be blessed.

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We know that Noah populated the earth.

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Now Noah, the word that Noah, the word that God gave Noah is still active in

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the earth and it's now passed on to Abraham.

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And so we see here that number one, I'll make you a great nation.

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And Abraham at the time had no children. Sarai was barren.

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Yet God says, I will make a nation from you.

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Think about this. The problem is already bigger than Abraham's present circumstances.

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I will make you a great nation. It will come out of you.

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But at the time, there is no you. There is no seed.

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And your wife can't even help out with the plan. But God still spoke life when he spoke to Abraham.

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Promise number two in verse number two, verse three.

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It says, I will bless thee. God does not only promise descendants, he promises blessings.

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That blessing will later include his descendants, the land, protection,

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covenant relationship, wealth, influence, and national development.

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But for now, Abraham must trust that the promise before he even see the results.

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God speaks to us in our present about our future. Our job is to obey.

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And God is a God. He's so powerful. He's so mighty.

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But he tells you where he wants you to go. You just have to pay attention.

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So we see here that Abraham has this seed in his heart.

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He has a seed that I will be a great nation, but yet I don't have any kids.

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He said, I'm going to bless you. But right now, I'm still on the move traveling

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to a place where you told me to go.

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I don't see what you're talking about, God. And promise three says,

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I will make thy name great. Understand that Abraham's giving up his family.

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He's giving up his country. He's getting out of his father's house.

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But yet you have a God that says, I'm going to make your name great.

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Now, we're not talking about being an influencer on the podcast, right?

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We're talking about God saying, I will make your name great.

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Not you making your name great.

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So Abraham comes from a family line. But God is about to give him a name that

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will become known across generations. Later, God will even change his name from Abram to Abraham.

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The greatest of Abraham's name will not come from self-promotion.

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It will come from God's covenant purposes.

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My question to you or my statement to you is, let God make your name great.

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Let him make your name great.

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It's not coming from all the work you do.

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It's coming from Him to you. And when God speaks it, you can consider it done.

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Promise 4 says, Thou should be a blessing.

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God does not bless Abram only for Abram's benefit. Abram is supposed to become a blessing to others.

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This is an important covenant principle.

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God's blessing is intended to move,

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outward. The covenant is personal, but it's not merely private.

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When God blesses you, he wants you to be a blessing to others.

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He doesn't want you to be a tightwad, a stingy person, a hoarder.

00:18:51.964 --> 00:18:54.513
He wants you to be able to be a blessing.

00:18:54.820 --> 00:18:59.460
So what he puts in your hands, he knows he can get it through you.

00:18:59.900 --> 00:19:04.750
Amen. Let's go to promise five, blessing and protection. Genesis 12,

00:19:04.750 --> 00:19:09.530
3 says, And I will bless them that bless thee. Let me read it.

00:19:09.530 --> 00:19:12.659
Bless him that bless thee and curse him that curses thee.

00:19:12.845 --> 00:19:17.669
And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

00:19:17.918 --> 00:19:23.340
We are of Abraham's seed and we are called to be a blessing to others.

00:19:23.538 --> 00:19:27.752
We are called to be blessed. And God said he'll make Abraham's name great.

00:19:28.106 --> 00:19:34.625
He will also make your name great. God promises to protect the covenant relationship.

00:19:34.794 --> 00:19:37.301
Those who bless Abraham will be blessed.

00:19:37.563 --> 00:19:40.609
Those who oppose him will face consequences.

00:19:40.893 --> 00:19:46.501
This establishes Abraham as someone operating under divine protection.

00:19:46.745 --> 00:19:51.370
So God gives us divine protection. And remember, it's covered throughout the

00:19:51.370 --> 00:19:55.104
whole Bible, not just in Psalms 91.

00:19:55.394 --> 00:19:59.750
God said, I want to bless you and I'm going to protect you. Promise 6 says,

00:19:59.750 --> 00:20:01.484
all families of the earth.

00:20:01.815 --> 00:20:05.681
Then comes one of the most important statements in the entire Abraham story.

00:20:05.901 --> 00:20:10.476
And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

00:20:10.766 --> 00:20:16.873
This is where the covenant becomes global in scope. God is not only saying, I will give you a family.

00:20:17.180 --> 00:20:22.475
He is saying your life will eventually affect other families and nations.

00:20:22.683 --> 00:20:29.370
This connect directly back to Noah. And Genesis 10 introduces the families and

00:20:29.370 --> 00:20:30.967
the nations of the earth.

00:20:31.205 --> 00:20:38.125
Now in Genesis 12 says one man from Shem's line will become a channel of blessing

00:20:38.425 --> 00:20:40.596
towards those families.

00:20:41.054 --> 00:20:45.100
Isn't it interesting that as you follow God, as you get to know Him,

00:20:45.321 --> 00:20:51.381
as you obey Him, He's not one to leave you begging or your seed begging for bread.

00:20:51.515 --> 00:20:55.323
He promised to take care of you and your family.

00:20:55.572 --> 00:20:59.705
Our job is to obey. Abraham does what? He obeys.

00:20:59.810 --> 00:21:07.252
Genesis 12, 4 says this, So Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him.

00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:15.081
And Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of harem. Why did God wait to

00:21:15.081 --> 00:21:18.409
Abram get to be 75 years old?

00:21:18.670 --> 00:21:22.551
Isn't that interesting? We get a certain age and we think our time is up.

00:21:22.551 --> 00:21:26.511
We start laying down our little retirement plan. I tried that.

00:21:27.411 --> 00:21:32.219
And I was like, I'm going to retire and I'm going to do ABC. And I was enjoying that.

00:21:32.492 --> 00:21:37.489
And then God says, no, I got you. I want you to do some more things. I'm like, okay.

00:21:37.813 --> 00:21:43.630
So just as that thought quickly ended about laying around and eating bonbons,

00:21:43.815 --> 00:21:48.231
he started to give me that plan way before I retired from my police career.

00:21:48.231 --> 00:21:50.515
And he says, I want you to go back to school.

00:21:50.996 --> 00:21:54.821
I'm like, okay. So I said, I can do a couple of years. I went back,

00:21:54.821 --> 00:21:55.954
got my bachelor's degree.

00:21:56.058 --> 00:22:00.691
And then some things were happening in the educational where God put on my heart

00:22:00.691 --> 00:22:05.351
that I need you to go a little bit higher so we can resolve this issue.

00:22:05.351 --> 00:22:07.489
And I went and got my master's degree.

00:22:07.709 --> 00:22:13.351
Isn't it interesting that once you follow God in that first step, there's always more.

00:22:13.525 --> 00:22:16.771
And so I believe that Abraham was in training. And, you know,

00:22:16.771 --> 00:22:20.840
he's like a family man taking care of his dad, taking care of his family.

00:22:21.089 --> 00:22:25.791
And then it came a time where I believe his father died. And that was it.

00:22:25.791 --> 00:22:30.051
His brother died first and his father, you know, died. And then now it's like,

00:22:30.051 --> 00:22:32.265
okay, now I need you to go.

00:22:32.427 --> 00:22:35.791
And many times God will wait to a certain time. I had to wait till my children

00:22:35.791 --> 00:22:39.252
got of age before he launched me out into the field.

00:22:39.787 --> 00:22:46.410
Either or, God wants obedience. So when Abraham heard that, he right away,

00:22:46.625 --> 00:22:49.591
he said, and Abraham departed. He didn't have a debate.

00:22:49.847 --> 00:22:53.173
He didn't ask where he was going. He needed a plan.

00:22:54.402 --> 00:22:59.019
How are we going to make it happen? He started his journey towards Canaan,

00:22:59.181 --> 00:23:03.744
which in that time, in this wording, it meant he started his journey towards

00:23:03.872 --> 00:23:06.356
Israel. So Abraham left.

00:23:06.548 --> 00:23:10.792
He departed. That matters because the covenant promise is not simply something

00:23:10.792 --> 00:23:13.224
that you hear. You have to obey it.

00:23:13.456 --> 00:23:17.572
It should produce movement in you. It should cause you to kind of say,

00:23:17.572 --> 00:23:19.847
what do I do next? What do I do next?

00:23:20.044 --> 00:23:23.556
What's next? What's next? You know, that's a test.

00:23:23.847 --> 00:23:26.128
Now, Abraham decided that he didn't want to go.

00:23:26.442 --> 00:23:30.762
Then he probably would not be part of the story. But Abraham didn't wait till

00:23:30.762 --> 00:23:33.813
he saw a sign and a wonder and he confirmed with his family.

00:23:33.981 --> 00:23:38.590
He departed once again. He left, But he loved Haran.

00:23:38.828 --> 00:23:44.642
He took his wife, Sarai, he took Lot, his possessions, and all the members of

00:23:44.642 --> 00:23:47.977
his household, and he traveled towards Canaan.

00:23:48.267 --> 00:23:52.296
Let's talk about what this looked like. I love to talk about the historical

00:23:52.580 --> 00:23:54.502
and geographic context here.

00:23:54.722 --> 00:23:59.906
Aram's journey moved him from Mesopotamian towards Canaan.

00:24:00.254 --> 00:24:06.373
This means he is traveling through ancient regions already populated by established people.

00:24:06.855 --> 00:24:09.867
He is not creating a nation in an empty world.

00:24:10.111 --> 00:24:15.352
He is moving among other nations. That matters because God has already told

00:24:15.352 --> 00:24:18.865
him his future will involve the families of the earth.

00:24:19.179 --> 00:24:24.403
So another visual that God gives at Abram, as he's on his journey,

00:24:24.647 --> 00:24:27.712
he's starting to see things. You know.

00:24:28.193 --> 00:24:33.271
If you stay where you are out of disobedience, you will never see the final picture.

00:24:33.538 --> 00:24:38.217
You will never see it. But if you follow God and you listen and you obey,

00:24:38.664 --> 00:24:41.677
remember, God loves to see. He created the whole world.

00:24:41.961 --> 00:24:49.380
It's in his hands. Amen. So he can show you things as you journey with him. Powerful.

00:24:49.624 --> 00:24:54.987
So Abraham enters Canaan, Genesis 12, 6. Abraham comes to Shechem.

00:24:55.266 --> 00:25:01.617
Then scripture gives us an important detail. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

00:25:01.889 --> 00:25:06.191
That means the land God is promising Abram is already inhabited.

00:25:06.406 --> 00:25:10.585
Abraham has not taken immediate possession of it.

00:25:10.945 --> 00:25:16.472
He is entering as a sojourner. The full promise will unfold over generations.

00:25:16.669 --> 00:25:21.467
So he has the vision God gave him. And then he walks through the land.

00:25:21.467 --> 00:25:24.361
He finds out there's other people there.

00:25:24.465 --> 00:25:28.859
Genesis 12, 7 says, unto thy seed will I give this land.

00:25:29.038 --> 00:25:32.126
Notice the wording. God says, thy seed.

00:25:32.539 --> 00:25:36.335
The land promise is connected to a future descendant.

00:25:36.527 --> 00:25:43.493
Again, Abraham does not yet have a child, yet God keeps speaking to him about his seed.

00:25:43.603 --> 00:25:46.667
This is faith before fulfillment.

00:25:47.167 --> 00:25:51.367
It pretty much reminds me of what the Bible says about faith comes by hearing

00:25:51.367 --> 00:25:52.734
and hearing by the word of God.

00:25:53.181 --> 00:25:58.800
So even though Abraham arrives at this land, this nation already occupied,

00:25:59.056 --> 00:26:01.662
he still had God speaking into him.

00:26:01.923 --> 00:26:04.431
Like, don't you worry, this is going to be your land.

00:26:04.727 --> 00:26:08.247
They're still encouraging him. And so when we read our Bible,

00:26:08.247 --> 00:26:14.886
when we listen to faithful preachers, we begin to fill our heart with what God has promised us.

00:26:15.072 --> 00:26:17.371
And that keeps Abraham moving forward.

00:26:17.684 --> 00:26:21.933
You got to understand, anytime Abraham could stop, but he didn't.

00:26:22.102 --> 00:26:27.608
And one thing Abraham is doing, he builds an altar that reminds us of what happened with Noah.

00:26:27.910 --> 00:26:30.615
Noah built an altar. Why?

00:26:31.138 --> 00:26:35.062
Because he want to honor God. After God appeared to Abraham,

00:26:35.207 --> 00:26:40.441
Abraham builds an altar. Then he travels towards the area between Bethel and

00:26:40.441 --> 00:26:43.926
Ai. Those sound familiar, they come from Joshua's story.

00:26:44.193 --> 00:26:49.540
He builds another altar and calls upon the name of the Lord, all capital letters.

00:26:49.812 --> 00:26:54.764
This shows that Abraham's journey is not merely geographical, it is spiritual.

00:26:54.961 --> 00:26:58.471
Every step is becoming part of a covenant formation.

00:26:58.831 --> 00:27:04.031
When God speaks to us and we hear him in our heart and we do something that

00:27:04.031 --> 00:27:08.708
he maybe has shown us in the physical physicality of the earth,

00:27:08.882 --> 00:27:10.629
that is considered spiritual.

00:27:10.873 --> 00:27:13.363
Abraham heard God. He departed.

00:27:13.624 --> 00:27:16.335
He gets to a place where God told him to go.

00:27:16.666 --> 00:27:20.901
He finally gets there and he builds an altar, altar out of worship.

00:27:20.901 --> 00:27:26.134
And the place he built to alter are familiar places that we learned regarding

00:27:26.482 --> 00:27:30.380
Joshua and his story. Powerful. We haven't got to Joshua yet.

00:27:30.994 --> 00:27:35.377
Remember, we got Abraham's here. We're not in Joshua. We're still in Genesis.

00:27:35.655 --> 00:27:39.851
So you see how these stories are connected. So the covenant connection is still

00:27:39.851 --> 00:27:47.335
found in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15. But the covenant promises begin here.

00:27:47.573 --> 00:27:49.866
The central elements are always present.

00:27:50.168 --> 00:27:53.848
There's land, there are descendants, there's blessings, there's protection,

00:27:54.156 --> 00:27:58.695
a great name, a great nation, blessings in the families of the earth.

00:27:58.997 --> 00:28:03.331
In the later chapters, we understand those promises. We read them in Genesis

00:28:03.331 --> 00:28:05.243
15, formalize the covenant.

00:28:05.516 --> 00:28:10.021
Genesis 17 deepens the covenant. And in Genesis 12, you know,

00:28:10.021 --> 00:28:11.716
gives us that foundation.

00:28:11.994 --> 00:28:13.771
God is a teacher.

00:28:14.091 --> 00:28:20.226
He gives us the story, and sometimes it goes backwards and forwards because God is God.

00:28:20.917 --> 00:28:26.024
He's the educator in this matter. So it says, the father of many nations.

00:28:26.157 --> 00:28:28.938
Wow, Abraham departed.

00:28:29.205 --> 00:28:34.315
And now in his heart, he's still imagining what God said, the father of many

00:28:34.315 --> 00:28:39.219
nations. At this stage, God says, I will make of thee a great nation.

00:28:39.905 --> 00:28:45.245
And he expands it in Genesis 17. Thou should be a father of many nations.

00:28:45.245 --> 00:28:47.340
That progression is very important.

00:28:47.694 --> 00:28:55.252
First a great nation, then a father of many nations. Their promises get larger as the story unfolds.

00:28:55.542 --> 00:28:59.524
This is why we cannot stop with Israel alone when studying Abraham.

00:28:59.687 --> 00:29:05.173
Israel is central to the covenant line, but Abraham's biological descendants

00:29:05.411 --> 00:29:10.734
spread through multiple branches. Let's talk about the Noah connection.

00:29:11.001 --> 00:29:13.996
Remember, we're all one blood. We're one family.

00:29:14.356 --> 00:29:17.990
So the Noah connection begins. We studied that last week.

00:29:18.292 --> 00:29:23.973
I can go into a lot of genealogy for you. I'm just going to give you just a refresher.

00:29:24.222 --> 00:29:29.737
And it says, Abraham comes through Shem, but the covenant promises reaches toward,

00:29:30.202 --> 00:29:31.670
all families in the earth.

00:29:32.053 --> 00:29:36.297
The language reminds us of the families descended from Noah.

00:29:36.848 --> 00:29:41.138
The story moves from one branch back towards the whole human family.

00:29:41.394 --> 00:29:46.966
That does not mean every nation becomes biologically descended from Abraham.

00:29:47.123 --> 00:29:53.271
It means Abraham's covenant has consequences beyond his immediate household.

00:29:53.822 --> 00:29:59.719
Just like when you are in a family, whatever you do in that family don't just

00:29:59.719 --> 00:30:04.689
affect you. It affects your family for generations on down.

00:30:04.997 --> 00:30:09.572
But it affects the people around you. And so we have to understand that Noah.

00:30:12.294 --> 00:30:17.759
Connection with God, connection with Abraham, tells the story of how the earth

00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:24.396
was repopulated and how God uses men to bring forth his promises in the earth.

00:30:24.994 --> 00:30:30.288
Let's talk about the African connection. So at this point, Abraham is not yet in Egypt.

00:30:30.653 --> 00:30:35.228
That happens next. So the direct African connection has not fully begun,

00:30:35.623 --> 00:30:39.159
but his route is opening. Abraham is now in Canaan.

00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:44.939
Soon famine will push him south onto Egypt. The journey will become his first

00:30:44.939 --> 00:30:47.359
direct encounter with Africa.

00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:52.219
What do we need to unmask? God keeps us moving. You ever notice that he said,

00:30:52.219 --> 00:30:55.301
I'm going to take you to a place I will show you. You end up in Canaan.

00:30:55.744 --> 00:30:58.546
And then we're going to hear about the story of when, you know,

00:30:58.546 --> 00:31:01.705
there was a famine in the land and God moves Abraham to Africa.

00:31:01.961 --> 00:31:05.896
And so we're going to continue that journey because when you're following God,

00:31:05.896 --> 00:31:07.516
you should not be stagnant.

00:31:07.772 --> 00:31:11.928
There should always be some type of movement with your faith.

00:31:12.218 --> 00:31:16.253
You know, it's something that God is always stirring in our hearts.

00:31:16.392 --> 00:31:18.991
So we're on Bible history unmasked.

00:31:19.264 --> 00:31:23.920
And I want to just take a moment just to unmask some things in this story.

00:31:24.297 --> 00:31:28.466
One misunderstanding is that Abraham's covenant begins only with the promise

00:31:28.466 --> 00:31:31.391
of Israel. Genesis 12 is broader than that.

00:31:31.652 --> 00:31:37.985
Yes, God promises a great nation. Yes, the covenant line will later go through Isaac and Jacob.

00:31:38.270 --> 00:31:44.086
But God also said all families of the earth will be blessed through Abraham.

00:31:44.348 --> 00:31:49.996
That means the covenant was always larger than just one household.

00:31:50.141 --> 00:31:55.592
Another thing I want to unmask is Abraham does not begin as a powerful nation builder.

00:31:55.859 --> 00:32:01.426
He begins as a man obeying a call. No army, no kingdom, no child,

00:32:01.786 --> 00:32:04.665
no land under his control, only a promise.

00:32:04.909 --> 00:32:07.115
That makes the covenant even more significant.

00:32:07.411 --> 00:32:10.871
God is creating a future that Abraham cannot see.

00:32:11.062 --> 00:32:16.836
I love this because God is always working behind the scenes of our story.

00:32:16.836 --> 00:32:20.936
And every now and then, he will show you a peek, or he will speak to you about

00:32:20.936 --> 00:32:25.922
what you need to do as he's working out the story of your life.

00:32:26.131 --> 00:32:30.806
So when we think about Abraham, some key scriptures I want you to remember is

00:32:30.806 --> 00:32:34.130
this. Genesis 12, 1, get thee out of thy country.

00:32:34.420 --> 00:32:37.990
Genesis 12, 2, I will make thee a great nation.

00:32:38.228 --> 00:32:44.173
Genesis 12, 3, in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. In Genesis 12, 7.

00:32:48.161 --> 00:32:50.111
What's our main takeaway for this story?

00:32:50.674 --> 00:32:55.558
God's covenant with Abraham begins with a call to leave what is familiar.

00:32:55.938 --> 00:32:59.863
When God gives his promises that seem impossible.

00:33:00.055 --> 00:33:05.024
So God will talk to you not about what you can do in your own strength,

00:33:05.436 --> 00:33:10.405
but what he's going to do through you. A childless man will become a nation.

00:33:10.626 --> 00:33:12.814
A migrant will receive land.

00:33:13.047 --> 00:33:19.278
Come on now. A man with great kingdom, with no kingdom, will receive a great name.

00:33:19.618 --> 00:33:24.945
A private family story will become a blessing to families across the earth.

00:33:25.252 --> 00:33:30.669
This is where Abraham's identity begins to change. He's no longer simply Tara's son.

00:33:30.919 --> 00:33:35.824
He is becoming the man through whom God will build covenant family.

00:33:36.068 --> 00:33:41.200
And that covenant family will eventually become many nations.

00:33:41.373 --> 00:33:45.965
How powerful is that? I want to go back to Genesis 3.

00:33:46.485 --> 00:33:52.082
12, I believe. I want to read that the blessing is over again before we close

00:33:52.082 --> 00:33:56.859
out. And it says, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,

00:33:57.114 --> 00:34:00.975
and from thy father's house, unto a land where I will show thee.

00:34:01.243 --> 00:34:04.957
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,

00:34:05.173 --> 00:34:08.608
and make thy name great. And thou should be a blessing.

00:34:08.882 --> 00:34:13.088
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.

00:34:13.332 --> 00:34:17.349
And in thee shall all families in the earth be blessed.

00:34:17.640 --> 00:34:22.156
God spoke that. Verse 4 says, So Abraham departed.

00:34:22.371 --> 00:34:27.218
And I want us to remember that because Abraham immediately obeyed.

00:34:27.421 --> 00:34:30.411
And I want to take you to Deuteronomy 28.

00:34:31.397 --> 00:34:36.523
We always quote this scripture, but I think sometimes we miss a little bit of

00:34:36.721 --> 00:34:39.333
what needs to happen before you can get all these blessings.

00:34:39.588 --> 00:34:43.812
And I'm going to read just a couple just to leave you on a note on what God

00:34:43.812 --> 00:34:49.898
has promised us. Not just the things that he told Abraham, everything in the Bible is ours.

00:34:50.043 --> 00:34:55.352
So verse 28, it says, And it should come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently

00:34:55.712 --> 00:35:00.637
unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments,

00:35:00.985 --> 00:35:06.532
which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above

00:35:06.532 --> 00:35:08.468
all nations of the earth.

00:35:08.816 --> 00:35:13.070
Verse 2, and all these things, first I want to take a pause. I'm moving too fast.

00:35:13.273 --> 00:35:21.203
When the Bible says hearken diligently, that means have a heart, a hear, a ear to obey.

00:35:21.453 --> 00:35:25.232
So when God says do this, that you will do it.

00:35:25.516 --> 00:35:31.602
You wouldn't hesitate. So he says this blessing comes to those who will hearken

00:35:31.602 --> 00:35:33.887
diligently to the voice of the Lord.

00:35:34.090 --> 00:35:39.349
Not every now and then, not every other day, but diligently. I mean, it's a habit.

00:35:39.698 --> 00:35:43.494
You're forming a habit. Whether you understand the promises or not,

00:35:43.819 --> 00:35:47.407
you are forming a habit to obey. Let me continue.

00:35:47.884 --> 00:35:51.082
And all these blessings should come on thee and overtake thee,

00:35:51.256 --> 00:35:54.432
if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

00:35:54.763 --> 00:35:59.093
So we see here that if you hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,

00:35:59.383 --> 00:36:02.332
that the blessings will what? Overtake thee.

00:36:02.634 --> 00:36:06.936
You're not chasing likes. You're not chasing fame and fortune.

00:36:07.243 --> 00:36:13.633
You're chasing after God. And he says that here in verse 2, that these blessings will overtake you.

00:36:13.941 --> 00:36:18.701
Verse 3, Blessed thou be in the city, and blessed thou be in the field.

00:36:18.957 --> 00:36:22.904
Blessed be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground,

00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:27.388
and the fruit of thy cattle, and the increase of thy kind, and the flocks of

00:36:27.388 --> 00:36:30.131
thy sheep. Don't that sound like Abraham's blessing?

00:36:30.410 --> 00:36:36.203
He's going to bless him in his body. His body could not, him and his wife could not produce.

00:36:36.464 --> 00:36:40.478
So I'm going to bless you first in your body. Look at that. I'm going to bless

00:36:40.478 --> 00:36:45.973
you to be the fruit of thy body, that we should walk in great health. and healing, right?

00:36:46.529 --> 00:36:49.101
And then he said, I'm going to bless the stuff that you own.

00:36:49.246 --> 00:36:52.618
I'm going to bless the fruit of the ground, the fruit of thy cattle.

00:36:52.618 --> 00:36:55.649
Your cattle are going to make you productive, right?

00:36:55.846 --> 00:36:58.697
Make you rich too. The increase of thy kind.

00:36:59.010 --> 00:37:03.120
What kind? Your family is your kind. And the flocks of your sheep.

00:37:03.404 --> 00:37:06.878
If you don't have any sheep, you don't have any cattle, everything that concerns

00:37:06.878 --> 00:37:12.331
you, your business will prosper because you hearken diligently to the Lord thy God.

00:37:12.488 --> 00:37:17.863
Five, it says, blessed should be thy basket and thy store. So your bank account is full.

00:37:18.113 --> 00:37:22.043
Your business is full. Blessed shall I be that cometh in.

00:37:22.298 --> 00:37:25.968
Blessed shall I be when I go is out. So when you leave, you're blessed.

00:37:25.968 --> 00:37:27.447
When you come in, you're blessed.

00:37:27.749 --> 00:37:32.643
You're blessed coming and you're blessed going. The Lord should cause thy enemies

00:37:32.916 --> 00:37:36.457
that rise up against thee to be spitting before thy face.

00:37:36.677 --> 00:37:41.089
They should come out against thee one way and flee before thee seven ways.

00:37:41.426 --> 00:37:44.636
Sound like the blessing that Abraham rolling over here in Deuteronomy,

00:37:44.961 --> 00:37:49.025
that you're blessed that your enemies can't mess with you.

00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:53.512
So nothing of your stuff will be stolen from the enemy. Why?

00:37:53.790 --> 00:38:01.383
Because the Lord should cause thy enemies that rise up against thee to be resmitten before thy face.

00:38:02.269 --> 00:38:06.546
They should come out before thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

00:38:06.830 --> 00:38:11.978
Verse 8, the Lord should command the blessings upon thee in thy storehouse,

00:38:12.130 --> 00:38:17.882
and all that thou settest thy hand unto, and he should bless thee in the land

00:38:17.882 --> 00:38:19.775
which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

00:38:20.007 --> 00:38:25.133
Verse 9, the Lord should establish thee and holy people unto themselves,

00:38:25.464 --> 00:38:28.994
and he hath sworn unto thee, if thou should keep the commandments,

00:38:29.237 --> 00:38:31.536
the Lord thy God, and walk in his way.

00:38:31.832 --> 00:38:34.950
I'm blessing you, I'm blessing you, I'm blessing you. And he gives us a reminder,

00:38:35.211 --> 00:38:41.302
and only going to be blessed if you would keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, your God.

00:38:41.302 --> 00:38:46.312
Verse 11, the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods in the fruit of thy body,

00:38:46.312 --> 00:38:50.002
in the fruit of thy cattle, in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the

00:38:50.002 --> 00:38:52.086
Lord swore unto the Father to give you.

00:38:52.347 --> 00:38:56.887
He repeats verse number four. I just want to remind you that if you hearken

00:38:57.177 --> 00:39:00.952
diligently, I'm going to do this thing. When God repeats it twice,

00:39:00.952 --> 00:39:02.477
It's going to be nice, right?

00:39:02.721 --> 00:39:08.102
Verse 12, And the Lord shall open up the good treasure in heaven to give thee

00:39:08.102 --> 00:39:13.028
rain into thy land in his season and to bless all the work of thy hand.

00:39:13.285 --> 00:39:17.871
And thou shall lend unto many nations and thou shall not borrow.

00:39:18.195 --> 00:39:22.372
What is God's blessing? His blessing, he says, the Lord shall open up a good

00:39:22.372 --> 00:39:25.794
treasure in heaven. It's like you're going to have a bank account in heaven.

00:39:26.015 --> 00:39:29.445
Not only would you be blessed on earth, which matters, right?

00:39:29.799 --> 00:39:33.148
But also blessed in heaven, right? I love it.

00:39:33.492 --> 00:39:38.271
And the Lord shall open thee a good treasure in heaven and give you rain unto

00:39:38.271 --> 00:39:41.612
the land and the season and bless all the work of thy hand.

00:39:41.868 --> 00:39:44.625
He also repeats that again from verse eight.

00:39:44.928 --> 00:39:49.652
Verse eight is verse 12. And the Lord shall make thee the head.

00:39:49.972 --> 00:39:53.257
And we always speak this, but you got to read all your scripture,

00:39:53.547 --> 00:39:55.075
not just your favorite verses.

00:39:55.300 --> 00:39:59.665
And it says, and the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail.

00:39:59.974 --> 00:40:03.879
And thou should be above only, and thou should not be beneath.

00:40:04.099 --> 00:40:09.161
If thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee

00:40:09.161 --> 00:40:12.661
this day, to observe and to do them all.

00:40:12.661 --> 00:40:17.751
And thou should not go aside from any of the words which I commanded thee this

00:40:17.751 --> 00:40:23.296
day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods and serve them.

00:40:23.569 --> 00:40:26.391
So do not make the blessings your God.

00:40:26.731 --> 00:40:30.872
Let God be front and foremost, center of your life.

00:40:31.197 --> 00:40:35.742
Verse 15, but it should come to pass. This is what, if 14 ends it,

00:40:36.061 --> 00:40:40.051
but I'm going to end it right here at verse 15, because we can take all the

00:40:40.051 --> 00:40:44.921
blessings, but God says, once you stop obeying, the blessings stop.

00:40:44.921 --> 00:40:50.321
It says, but if it should come to pass, if thou would not hearken unto the voice

00:40:50.321 --> 00:40:54.103
of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments

00:40:54.411 --> 00:40:59.301
and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses should

00:40:59.301 --> 00:41:02.258
come upon thee and overtake thee.

00:41:02.467 --> 00:41:06.914
And the first thing he cursed in verse 16 is curse shall thou be in the city

00:41:07.187 --> 00:41:08.783
and curse shall thou be in the field.

00:41:09.062 --> 00:41:13.721
He starts taking away the blessings from verse two. Remember these things are

00:41:13.721 --> 00:41:15.476
very, the Bible is very repetitive.

00:41:15.772 --> 00:41:20.306
He starts saying, you're not going to be blessed in the field anymore if you don't hearken to.

00:41:20.689 --> 00:41:25.761
Diligently to voice. Verse 17, curse should be thy basket in thy store.

00:41:25.761 --> 00:41:30.502
Remember, you were just filled with the basket, but now that is curse.

00:41:30.711 --> 00:41:35.191
18, curse should be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land and the

00:41:35.191 --> 00:41:37.944
increase of thy kind and the flocks of thy sheep.

00:41:38.205 --> 00:41:42.356
Curse, everything that was blessed in the first part is now cursed.

00:41:42.472 --> 00:41:46.281
And the curse should be will not go without. Everything that was blessed in

00:41:46.281 --> 00:41:47.906
the beginning is now cursed.

00:41:48.167 --> 00:41:51.185
Why? Because you stop listening to God.

00:41:51.371 --> 00:41:55.284
The Lord should sin upon thee, cursing, vexation, and rebuke,

00:41:55.516 --> 00:41:57.841
and all that thou settest thy hand unto.

00:41:58.301 --> 00:42:03.050
For to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly,

00:42:03.415 --> 00:42:08.297
because of the wickedness of thy doing, whereby thou hast forsaken thee.

00:42:08.611 --> 00:42:13.591
Verse 21, the Lord should make the pestilence cleave unto thee until it hath

00:42:13.591 --> 00:42:19.669
consumed thee from off the land, whether thou goeth to possess it.

00:42:20.018 --> 00:42:24.743
Verse 22, The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, with a fever,

00:42:25.021 --> 00:42:28.632
with inflammation, with an extreme burning, and with a sword,

00:42:28.905 --> 00:42:34.309
and with blasting, and with mildew, that thou shall pursue thee until thou perish.

00:42:34.501 --> 00:42:37.189
And I'm going to read this last, I'm going to read two more.

00:42:37.351 --> 00:42:44.712
And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee should be iron.

00:42:44.967 --> 00:42:50.161
The Lord should make the rain of thy land powder and dust from heaven until

00:42:50.161 --> 00:42:54.482
it comes down upon thee until thou is destroyed.

00:42:54.755 --> 00:42:58.166
And I only read that first because the Lord had me do it.

00:42:58.531 --> 00:43:00.371
But second of all, it also gives

00:43:00.371 --> 00:43:04.731
you an understanding of the difference between a blessing and a curse.

00:43:04.877 --> 00:43:12.488
And the only difference between a blessing and a curse is if you are obedient or are you disobedient.

00:43:12.707 --> 00:43:16.611
And you can see that the things that you were obedient in the beginning that

00:43:16.611 --> 00:43:19.848
God blessed you with, that if you stop listening to him.

00:43:20.249 --> 00:43:25.346
Those blessings will become a curse. And so we're talking about Abraham,

00:43:25.636 --> 00:43:31.401
but we also have to expand it onto how we can apply this to our daily life.

00:43:31.401 --> 00:43:33.664
How do we apply this to our daily life?

00:43:33.932 --> 00:43:40.050
And the scripture that I wanna close out with is gonna be in Malachi, Malachi chapter three.

00:43:40.236 --> 00:43:45.634
Let me find it, Malachi chapter three. Malachi chapter three is interesting

00:43:45.791 --> 00:43:49.034
because it's like he doesn't hold you up.

00:43:49.661 --> 00:43:54.121
God wants you to be blessed. He wants you to be blessed. But he's not going

00:43:54.121 --> 00:43:57.450
to give his blessings to children of disobedience.

00:43:57.839 --> 00:44:02.953
You know, verse 3. I want to go to Malachi 3, verse 8.

00:44:03.801 --> 00:44:09.161
And it says, Will a man rob God? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me,

00:44:09.161 --> 00:44:13.222
he says, wherein has we robbed thee in tithes and offering.

00:44:13.476 --> 00:44:18.638
Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

00:44:18.765 --> 00:44:24.054
Bring ye all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house.

00:44:24.199 --> 00:44:30.011
And prove me how herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows

00:44:30.011 --> 00:44:36.021
of heaven and pour out a blessing, that there should not be room enough to receive

00:44:36.021 --> 00:44:37.690
it. I'm going to read a commentary here.

00:44:38.160 --> 00:44:42.911
It says, Will a man rob God? God declares that he has been robbed by his own

00:44:42.911 --> 00:44:46.548
people who refuse to pay tithes and give their offerings.

00:44:46.786 --> 00:44:51.551
Through the payment of tithes and offering, the people were to acknowledge God's blessing.

00:44:51.788 --> 00:44:57.575
A tithe is a tenth part, especially as offered to God.

00:44:57.715 --> 00:45:03.183
A tenth of a man's blessing, such as his harvest, income, or herd, were to be given.

00:45:03.305 --> 00:45:08.024
Abraham presented a tithe of a war booty in the priest king of Jerusalem,

00:45:08.152 --> 00:45:09.888
Melchizedek. Jacob said.

00:45:10.363 --> 00:45:14.635
Pledged to offer God a tenth of his possession upon his safe return.

00:45:14.850 --> 00:45:20.516
Sacrifice and offering constitutes one of the most common acts of worship among African people.

00:45:20.736 --> 00:45:27.319
Sacrifices refer to cases where the animal life is killed in order to present the animal.

00:45:27.551 --> 00:45:32.486
In part or in whole, to God, supernatural beings, spirits of the living dead,

00:45:32.596 --> 00:45:35.406
offering do not involve the killing of an animal.

00:45:35.678 --> 00:45:40.916
In Africa, the making of sacrifice offering is also a psychological way to restore

00:45:40.916 --> 00:45:42.447
the ontological balance.

00:45:42.830 --> 00:45:47.876
It's also an act of occasion of making the renewing contact between God and

00:45:47.876 --> 00:45:52.541
man, the spirits and the man in the spiritual, physical world.

00:45:52.842 --> 00:45:57.976
God wants us to be a blessing, but he also doesn't want us to hold back our

00:45:57.976 --> 00:46:00.766
blessing. So will a man rob God?

00:46:01.080 --> 00:46:07.901
So Abraham's tithing, you tithe. God said, that's just part of the obedience of what I want to do.

00:46:08.144 --> 00:46:12.266
I want to do more with your 10% than you can do with your 10%.

00:46:12.556 --> 00:46:16.796
You get to keep 90%. And God says, I will bless you. I love that.

00:46:16.796 --> 00:46:23.104
He says, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house.

00:46:23.249 --> 00:46:28.286
And prove to me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the

00:46:28.286 --> 00:46:35.136
windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there would not be enough room to receive it.

00:46:35.476 --> 00:46:39.096
The last scripture I want to read, and these scriptures are not even in my notes.

00:46:39.096 --> 00:46:42.150
These are God speaking through me to you.

00:46:42.667 --> 00:46:48.338
3, 20. And it says here, now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly

00:46:48.645 --> 00:46:54.107
above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.

00:46:54.333 --> 00:46:58.865
God says, you are obedient and what you think is enough.

00:46:59.185 --> 00:47:04.701
I can do more than that. I can do more than you can ask, think, or imagine.

00:47:04.887 --> 00:47:08.997
And so God just says, I just want your obedience. It's not about the money.

00:47:09.252 --> 00:47:13.217
It's about your obedience. Will you do what I ask you to do.

00:47:13.380 --> 00:47:18.854
I want to read that scripture in the message, Ephesians 3.20 in the message Bible.

00:47:19.138 --> 00:47:24.485
Then I'm going to let you go find these scriptures. Meditate on those. You got a whole week.

00:47:24.798 --> 00:47:29.855
I only do a podcast on once a week, and this gives you time to listen,

00:47:29.855 --> 00:47:35.905
to re-listen, to get your life in order so that this Ephesians 3.20 can come to

00:47:36.265 --> 00:47:40.338
fruition in your life like it did in Abraham. God can do anything.

00:47:40.553 --> 00:47:44.204
This is Ephesians 3, 20 to 21 in the message.

00:47:44.436 --> 00:47:48.935
It says God can do anything, you know, far more than you can ever imagine or

00:47:48.935 --> 00:47:52.085
guess or request in your wildest dream.

00:47:52.445 --> 00:47:56.887
He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us.

00:47:57.206 --> 00:48:01.629
His spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church.

00:48:01.897 --> 00:48:04.898
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus.

00:48:05.176 --> 00:48:09.145
Glory down all the generations. Glory through all millennia.

00:48:09.485 --> 00:48:12.856
Yes. So I pray, Father, that you will bless us indeed.

00:48:13.216 --> 00:48:17.255
Far beyond what we can ask or think as we are obedient to you.

00:48:17.255 --> 00:48:21.024
I thank you, Lord God, for our next level is a level of obedience.

00:48:21.308 --> 00:48:25.865
Not knowing everything, but just hearing your voice and doing exactly what you

00:48:25.865 --> 00:48:29.605
have called us to do, asked us to do, commanded us to do.

00:48:30.085 --> 00:48:34.035
And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. This has been your host,

00:48:34.035 --> 00:48:38.085
Connie Morris, and this is the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:48:38.410 --> 00:48:40.915
And I'll see you on the next episode.

00:48:40.915 --> 00:48:44.968
Take time to study to show yourself approved. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:48:45.811 --> 00:48:49.461
Before we close today, I don't want to take for granted that everyone listening

00:48:49.735 --> 00:48:51.152
knows Jesus personally.

00:48:51.541 --> 00:48:55.958
If you have listened to this episode or any other episodes and felt something

00:48:55.958 --> 00:49:01.072
stirring in your heart, maybe you know about God, but you're not sure you truly know him.

00:49:01.246 --> 00:49:05.443
Maybe you grew up in church, walked away, got hurt, became tired,

00:49:05.832 --> 00:49:08.168
and never fully surrendered your life to Jesus.

00:49:08.568 --> 00:49:12.998
I want you to know this. God loves you. He has not forgotten you.

00:49:12.998 --> 00:49:14.939
He is not waiting to shame you.

00:49:15.103 --> 00:49:21.688
He is calling you home. The Bible says in Romans 10, 9, if you declare with

00:49:21.688 --> 00:49:27.338
your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from

00:49:27.338 --> 00:49:29.726
the dead, you will be saved.

00:49:29.928 --> 00:49:32.355
Salvation is not about being perfect.

00:49:32.622 --> 00:49:35.479
It's about surrendering to the one who is perfect.

00:49:35.798 --> 00:49:43.214
Jesus died for your sins, rose again, and made a way for you to be forgiven, restored, and made new.

00:49:43.429 --> 00:49:46.848
So right where you are, you can pray this prayer with me.

00:49:47.005 --> 00:49:52.171
Lord Jesus, I come to you today with an open heart. I believe you are the son of God.

00:49:52.555 --> 00:49:59.869
I believe you died on the cross for my sins. And I believe that God raised you from the dead today.

00:50:00.251 --> 00:50:04.877
I confess that I need you. I repent of my sins. I ask you to forgive me,

00:50:04.877 --> 00:50:07.977
cleanse me, and make me brand new.

00:50:08.181 --> 00:50:10.102
Jesus, come into my heart.

00:50:10.416 --> 00:50:15.959
Be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my King. I surrender my life to you.

00:50:16.151 --> 00:50:19.558
I give you my past, my present, and my future.

00:50:19.837 --> 00:50:23.761
Teach me how to walk with you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

00:50:24.040 --> 00:50:27.987
Lead me in truth, healing, obedience, and love.

00:50:28.307 --> 00:50:33.113
From this day forward, I belong to you. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:50:33.258 --> 00:50:37.717
If you pray that prayer from your heart, I want you to know that heaven has

00:50:37.717 --> 00:50:39.732
heard you. This is not the end.

00:50:40.067 --> 00:50:42.887
This is only the beginning of your walk with Jesus.

00:50:43.227 --> 00:50:46.962
Find a Bible-believing church, begin reading the word of God,

00:50:47.230 --> 00:50:50.300
pray daily, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow.

00:50:50.579 --> 00:50:55.327
God is not looking for perfection from you. He is inviting you into relationship,

00:50:55.641 --> 00:50:59.188
transformation, and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

00:50:59.379 --> 00:51:05.463
And remember, you are loved, you are not forgotten, and God still has a purpose for your life.

00:51:05.794 --> 00:51:08.691
Thank you for listening to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:51:08.894 --> 00:51:13.352
Until next time, keep walking in truth, faith, and freedom.

00:51:24.313 --> 00:51:27.483
Family, thank you for spending time with me today.

00:51:27.767 --> 00:51:31.430
To every woman listening who has ever felt hidden, overlooked,

00:51:31.430 --> 00:51:33.880
or pushed aside, hear me clearly.

00:51:34.153 --> 00:51:38.692
God has not forgotten you, and neither have I.

00:51:39.081 --> 00:51:43.847
Now let's go before the Lord and close this out with a word from God.

00:51:44.265 --> 00:51:48.694
Because someone out there needs this reminder today.

00:51:48.961 --> 00:51:52.949
Jeremiah 29, 11, verses 11 through 14.

00:51:53.385 --> 00:51:58.240
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

00:51:58.240 --> 00:52:02.139
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

00:52:02.429 --> 00:52:07.177
Then when you call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you,

00:52:07.439 --> 00:52:12.750
you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

00:52:12.750 --> 00:52:18.811
I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you back from captivity.

00:52:19.176 --> 00:52:25.154
Father God, we thank you for your word, that it is true, that it is living, that it is for us.

00:52:25.299 --> 00:52:30.340
You said you know the plans you have for us, plans to prosper us and not to

00:52:30.340 --> 00:52:33.258
harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.

00:52:33.542 --> 00:52:37.850
So today we receive that, not just in our minds, but in our hearts.

00:52:38.070 --> 00:52:41.780
When we feel overlooked, remind us you still see us.

00:52:42.076 --> 00:52:47.306
When we feel forgotten, remind us you still have a plan. And when we feel hidden,

00:52:47.631 --> 00:52:49.837
remind us you are still working.

00:52:50.098 --> 00:52:53.285
Your word says that when we call on you, you will listen.

00:52:53.622 --> 00:52:56.809
So we call on you now. Hear us. Strengthen us.

00:52:57.058 --> 00:53:01.412
Guide us. Help us to seek you with our whole heart, not halfway,

00:53:01.592 --> 00:53:03.560
not sometimes, but fully.

00:53:03.850 --> 00:53:08.221
And as we seek you, let us find you in every season, in every place.

00:53:08.745 --> 00:53:13.964
Even the hidden mind. Restore what was lost, renew what feels broken,

00:53:14.283 --> 00:53:18.695
and remind us that nothing in our lives is wasted in your hand.

00:53:19.101 --> 00:53:25.288
Lord, we trust you, we believe you, and we stand on your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:53:25.601 --> 00:53:29.671
This is Diary of a Black Woman podcast, and I'm your host, Connie Morris,

00:53:29.944 --> 00:53:32.689
and I'll see you on the next episode.