Call of Abram

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Call of Abram

Date: Jan. 20, 2025

Passage

Genesis 12:1-9 (ESV)

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 12:3b

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The last part of chapter 11 gives a brief history of Abram's family. His father Terah, from Chaldea, set out to go to Canaan with his sons and their wives. They settled mid-way at Harran.

Chapter 12 introduces God's calling of Abram, who did not have much significance until then. God commanded him to leave his father's house, the place of comfort, and follow God's guidance to the land of His promise. God's promise for Abram: to make him a source of blessing to all peoples on earth, and whoever curses Abram would bear God's curse (3). God was inviting Abram to leave his comfort zone and take a place on God's side under his protection (Isaiah 41:10).

Abram responded to the call by simply obeying. He took his household and traveled to Canaan as God showed him. Abram was not discouraged by the fact that people already occupied the land. He trusted God's presence (7) and believed the promise that his descendants would occupy the land. Moreover, he understood the weight of God's covenant and cherished the eternal kingdom God would bring to the whole earth, beginning with Abram himself (Heb 11:10).

Prayer: Father, thank you for calling Abram to be a blessing. I pray to respond to your call with my trust in your perfect and good plan.

One Word: So Abram went

“he Has Risen!”

Mark 16:1-20

Key Verse: 16:6

And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.

Today's Question

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