Good evening. Let's all turn
to Psalm 102. Read that together. Psalm 102. Hear my prayer, O
Lord, and let my cry come unto Thee. Hide not Thy face from
me in the day when I am in trouble. Incline Thine ear unto me in
the day when I call. Answer me speedily, for my days
are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as in hearth. My heart is smitten and withered
like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the
voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin. I am like
a pelican of the wilderness. I am like an owl of the desert.
I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. Mine enemies
reproach me all the day, and they that are mad against me
are sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread
and mingled my drink with weeping because of thine indignation
and thy wrath. For thou hast lifted me up and
cast me down. My days are like a shadow that
declineth, and I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord,
shalt endure forever in thy remembrance unto all generations. Thou shalt
arise and have mercy upon Zion. For the time to favor her, yea,
the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure
in her stones, and favor the dust thereof. So the heathen
shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth
thy glory. When the Lord shall build up
Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer
of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written
for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created
shall praise the Lord. For he hath looked down from
the height of his sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold
the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those
that are appointed to death. to declare the name of the Lord
in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem when the people are gathered
together in the kingdoms to serve the Lord. He weakened my strength
in the way. He shortened my days. I said,
O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. Thy years
are throughout all generations. Of old hast Thou laid the foundation
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They
shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall
wax old like a garment. As a vesture shalt thou change
them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall have no end. The children of thy servants
shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. Genesis 12. Genesis 12. Pick up where we left off last
week. Last week we talked about the call of Abraham. Call of
Abraham. Now we're going to talk a little
about Abraham's journey. Abraham's journey. We'll start
reading in verse 4 and read down to verse 9. So Abram departed
as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abraham
was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
And Abram took Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and
all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that
they had gotten in Haran. And they went forth to go into
the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.
And Abram passed through the land and the place of Sycam under
the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in
the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram
and said, unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded
he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him there. And
he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west, Hai on the east. And there he builded an altar
unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram
journeyed going on still toward the south. We know that Abraham is the father
of those who believe. He's the father of those who
believe, those who have justified by faith. And he had a righteousness
that God gave him, and he was the father of all who believe.
But he was also a man. He was just a man. And even the
best, even the best men, apart from God's grace and God's power,
is altogether vanity. At his best state, he's altogether
vanity. And here God had called him to
go out into the land of Canaan. But he had waited for five years
in Haran till his father died. Terah, his father died. But he
waited till his father died five years up there. He went out as
God had called him to do. And he started into the land
of Canaan. Look what it said back up in
verse 31 of chapter 11. And he started out. And Terah
took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and
Sarah his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went
forth to fulfill them the heir of Canaan to go into the land
of Canaan. That's where their destination
was. And they came under Haran and
they dwelt there. Abram was supposed to go right
on into the land of Canaan. That's where he told him to go.
Get out of your country and among your kin. But they got there
and he waited until his father died. And Abram was being led
by his father and not by the Lord. And I know this, God doesn't
drag His children as much as we'd like for Him to, but He
draws them. He draws them along. And He's
very patient and very long-suffering, very gracious to us. But He draws
them into His obedience, in His providence, in His blessed providence,
He works in us both to will and to do. And this is what He did. And then it says in verse four,
so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. When Terah
died, that's when Abram departed. Abram departed. Where did he
depart from? From Herod. He departed. It was
when his father died, that's when he said, well, it's time
to go on into Canaan. And so it is when we clearly,
he's seen clearly that he's supposed to go on into the land of Canaan.
And when we clearly see The Lord Jesus Christ's death for us.
We depart. We leave our fathers. We leave
our kindred. We leave everyone. And we leave
all and we walk by faith and we no longer walk by sight when
we see Christ clearly dying for us. We walk by faith. We don't
walk by sight. But I want to talk here about
Abram and his journey. Look what he says in verse five.
So Abram departed. Where did he depart from? Well,
he left the area of the Chaldees, stayed in Haran five years till
his father died. So Abram departed as the Lord
had spoken unto him. Remember in verse one, the Lord
had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country unto the land
that I show thee. So now he's going. And he took
Lot with him. God told him where to go and
Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he
departed out of Haran. And one of these days, we're
going to depart. We're going to depart because Christ died
for us. And look what Abram, and Abram took, here's where
I want to start at, and Abram took Sarah, his wife, and Lot,
his brother's son, his nephew, and all their substance that
they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten inherent,
and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into
the land of Canaan they went. And it says, they went forth
to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they
started. And it says, they went forth.
They went forth. There in the last part of the
verse, they went forth. What did they go forth from?
They went forth from idolatry. They went forth from sin. They
went forth from their past. They went forth from their failures.
They went forth from self-ease, from self-seeking. He went forth,
left everything behind. Now he's done what God told him
to do. And now he went forth. He's leave the Ur of the Chaldees.
He left his idols. He left his sin. He left his
past. He left his failures. He left
that place where his father was and he left self-seeking. And
then it says, and they went forth, not only from idolatry and sin
and their past and all their failures, But they went forth. What did He go forth for? He
went forth on the sure word of God's promise. God promised Him
a land. God promised Him an inheritance.
And so when He went forth, He leaned not on His own wisdom.
He didn't lean on His feelings. He didn't lean on to His understandings.
Hebrews said, He went out not knowing whither He was going,
but dwelt in tents with Isaac, and that's what he did. He dwelt
in tents with Jacob and with Isaac. And so he went forth. He went forth on God's promise.
God says, you go to a land that I'll show you, and I'll bless
you in that land, and I'll make you the father of many nations.
And he went forth on what God told him he was going to do for
him. Abraham, 75 years old, had no children, just had a wife,
had a nephew that he was watching over, and a lot of servants.
But he went out, and he went forth. How come you're going
out over there, Abraham? Because God promised to make
me a father of many nations. God promised to bless me. God
promised to bless me and bless them that bless me and go curse
them that curse me. So I'm gonna go if God said that
what he was gonna do for me. So he went out, not knowing where
he's going, but he went out knowing what God had promised him to
do. And beloved, look at his journey.
In verse six, and Abram passed through the land under the place
of Sychum. under the plain of Moreh, and
the Canaanite was then in the land. And Abraham passed through,
so they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. They ain't
got there yet. And his journey, when he started out, and he passed
through the land of the place of Sycamore. His journey took
him through the Syrian desert. And I tell you what, you talking
about some deserts, they got some deserts over there. And
when he went through this desert here, this is hard traveling,
hard traveling, hard on flesh, hard on the blood, hard on flesh
and blood. But there's no way to enter into
the promise, no way to receive the promise, no way to get the
promise. and into the promised land without trial. We're not
going to go into the promised land without trial, without going
on, without passing through desert places, rough places, weary places,
hard traveling. hard traveling. We're not going
to get to that promised land. He's not going to get into Canaan
unless he passed through a desert, unless he goes through some hard
traveling, unless he goes through some trials to get there. And
I tell you what, beloved, you and I are not going to go into
the promised land without some hard traveling. And that's why,
you know, he said, having your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. People that's got on the shod
with the gospel, they're gonna make it. They're gonna go whatever,
wherever God takes them, they're gonna go. Whatever journey he
takes them on, they're gonna face it and they're gonna deal
with it and they're gonna keep on going. And that's what Abraham
do. He passed through the desert,
hard on his flesh, hard on his blood. Why didn't he whirl? I
was living up there and I had it made. God made him a promise
and away he went. And I tell you what, beloved,
God made me a promise in Christ. He promised me that he would
be just to justify me. through faith in His blessed
Son. He promised me that I said this morning that He's gonna
come and get me. He promised me that I could be with Him where
He is. He promised me that He made an
end to my sin, would never deal with my sin ever again. He said
when He saw me, He said I was complete in His blessed Son.
I was perfect in His Son. So what in the world journeys,
what's this journey compared to what we've got at the end
when we get there? You know how long it is? He's 75 years old. And look at
the end of this journey. So I'll tell you what, they went
forth, that was the start. And the journey was Abraham passed
through. And the end of it, and it says,
and he came under the plain of Moreh and the Canaanite, and
the end of it was when he went into the land of Canaan, they
came. into the land of Canaan there in verse five, into the
land of Canaan they came. You know, they got where they
started. They got where they started. I don't know how long
it took them to get there. Don't tell us how long. But they
went forth to go into the land of Canaan and into the land of
Canaan they came. That's always the end of our
journey. Wherever God means for us to
go, we're gonna get there. We're gonna get there. Huh? And
I tell you there, some seem to stop short. Look in Hebrews 4,
1 with me. Look in Hebrews 4. Some seem
to stop short of getting into the promised land. But oh my,
some seem to come short of the promise of God, God's purpose
in Christ. God's purpose in Christ. If everyone
that I know that's passed through this place, at the old place,
and then since we've been here, if everyone that came in had
really, truly believed the gospel, this place would not hold them
right now, of all the folks that's come through. Stay for a few
weeks, stay for a few services, and oh, look what it says here. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into His rest. God made a promise
that we could enter into His rest, lest any of you should
seem to come short of it. And oh my, start out, start out
well. Our Lord says, you did run well,
what did hinder you? And oh, to start out and start
out on the journey and get so close and then come short. Stop up and say, oh, the journey's
too hard. The way is too tough, and oh
my, and then there are those who go without a promise. There
are lots of people that start without a promise. And they go
in the energy of the flesh. They join a church. They get
united with somebody somewhere, join a church, and they go without
ever hearing about a promise. And they go in the flesh, and
when they come, and when trials come, they fail. Look in Exodus
33. Look what Moses said here in
Exodus 33, in verse 15. Some people go, when they don't
even know that they've got a promise. But look what Moses said in Exodus
3.50. Some seem to come short of it.
Oh, my soul, I don't want to come short of it. Oh, I don't
want to miss Christ. I want to believe God's promise.
I believe God's promise. He promised us. He promised us. He told that thief in the cross
on the cross that day with him, today, today, today, you're gonna
be with me in paradise. And you know what the key was?
Not paradise, but today thou shall be with me. That's the
key to that verse scripture, not paradise. Is to be wherever
Christ is, that's what's gonna make everything worthwhile. And
I tell you what, to come short of that? To miss that? To hear the gospel and come short
of that? To hear the promise of God made
over and over and over and over and over? And to hear what God's
done for us in Christ? to hear that He put away our
sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and that His blood washed us
from our sins, and that God made us accepted in the Beloved, and
He did that to the praise of the glory of His grace, and hear
these blessed promises in Christ, in Christ Himself telling you,
telling you, speaking to us through His gospel, and then stop short. And you know, come short of it,
you know what that means? A day too late. You've heard
that old saying, I'm a day late and a dollar short? Well, this
one time, dollars don't amount to anything, but just being a
day short, just missed it by a day, by a day. Don't miss it. Don't come short of this. Oh,
my soul don't come short of this. Don't come short of this. Don't
let nothing, let nothing or no one keep you from Christ and
the promises that God gave us in him. And then look what Moses
said here. Now, some go without having a
promise, going into the energy of the flesh. And when trials
come, they fail. But look what Moses said here.
And he said unto him, in verse 15, Exodus 33, and he said unto
him, said unto the Lord, If thy presence go not with me, carry
us not up hence. If you don't carry us and if
you don't go with us, I ain't going, I ain't going. If you don't go, Lord, where
you ain't, I'm not gonna go. If you don't carry us up, I'm
not going, I'm not going. Then look whatever else it says
here in verse six. back over in Genesis 12. So into
the land of Canaan they come. They started out, they went forth.
They journeyed, they passed through Sychum, went through the desert,
hard traveling. And the end was at the end of
the land of Canaan they come. And then it says in the last
part of verse six, and the Canaanite was there then in the land, the
Canaanite. You know what the Canaanite was?
Canaanite is the enemy. He come into the land of Canaan,
and the Canaanite is the enemy. And becoming a believer, and
I tell you, when Abraham got into Canaan, That's when he started
facing an enemy, when he started having trials. And you know,
becoming a believer, that's when trials and wherefore starts. It starts after we become a believer.
I never had a fight with sin until I believed. I never had
a fight with my flesh until I believed. I didn't have anything going
off it, but until I believed. And when Abram got into Canaan,
he went into the enemy's territory. He went where the enemy dwelt.
Canaanites were his enemy, and they were God's enemies. And
you'll see after a while, but I want to look at two places,
if you'll look at it with me. Ephesians, Ephesians chapter
6, in verse 12. I know it's way over yonder,
but I tell you what, I believe it'll be worth it when you get
there. You know, When we get in the enemy's territory,
and we dwell, we dwell in the enemy's territory. This world
is not God's friend. He's a friend of the world, is
an enemy of God, is what God said. That's what He said, and
He went into Canaan, and He didn't, you know, and God said, this
is all going to be yours, which we'll see later. But I tell you
what, a believer, he don't become, becoming a believer, that's when
trials and warfare starts. Look what He said here in Ephesians
6.12. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood. If that flesh and blood is what
we was fighting and dealing with, we could do a pretty good job.
You know, if we're dealing with just flesh and blood, when people
think about flesh and blood, that's why so many people can
be talked into something. That's because they're just dealing
with the natural man. But we're not dealing with flesh
and blood. But we're not wrestling against them. Who are we fighting
against? Who are we wrestling against? Principalities. powers
against the rulers of the darkness of this world. All the things
that's in the air, these spirits that's in the air, the spiritual
darkness of this world. And this world is darkness. And
that's what he said, against the darkness of this world. Against
spiritual wickedness. Spiritual wickedness. Where they
at? In our places. I'll tell you
what, there's spiritual wickedness all over the place. And that's
what we're dealing with. We're not dealing with flesh
and blood. And look over in 2 Corinthians
10. 2 Corinthians 10, in verse 3. And that's what happens to
us. Oh, if we was just fighting flesh
and blood, man alive, you know, you could whip or get whipped.
But we're not fighting that. We're dealing with it. We're
in a spiritual warfare. We're in a spiritual warfare,
and every believer here knows what I'm talking about. Every
believer knows what it is to get up, and some days you feel
like you're in the awfulest battle that ever was, and other days,
and even when you have such a day when it feels like you don't
even feel the Lord's presence, that's a battle. Oh, that's a
battle. And then you know you have the
battle with your own flesh, and you have the battle with this
world, and you have the battle up at the back dealing with the
bank's battle to me. Man alive. There's just so much
stuff to go on in this world. and so much that we have to deal
with that we wish, oh my goodness, Lord, let this thing be done.
When we come into a service like this, there is spiritual wickedness
around us that's trying to take our minds, trying to take our
spirits, and trying to take our souls off of Christ for just
a little while. And he don't have to work very
hard at it sometimes. But every one of you know I'm
telling you the truth. I mean, there's this, you know,
something goes on that'll come and just... What is that? And man, we're
going to go into the land of Canaan one of these days. But
until we get there, we got an enemy we got to deal with. And
you know what? There's a... You know, used to
have these big castles and all these people dwell in these castles.
And to have these moats around them, they'd put up a drawbridge,
and the enemy couldn't get in unless there was an enemy inside
the castle that would find a way for him to get in. Well, I tell
you what, we got moats around us, we got drawbridge took it
up, But you know what? We got an enemy in the castle.
You know who he is? Us. Yeah, we got an enemy in
the castle. And oh, my soul, if we don't
watch. God, watch and pray, our Lord said. Let you enter into
temptation. And oh, look here in 2 Corinthians
10, in verse three. Oh, he said, oh, trials and warfare
is gonna start on Abram just in a little while. He says, for
though we walk in the flesh, we're walking in this body. We
live in this body. Though we're walking in this
flesh, in this world, in this body, we're not worn after the
flesh. That's not our war after the
flesh. For the weapons of our warfare, and we're in a warfare,
and there's no discharge in this world. They're not carnal. We're
not dealing with carnal things, fleshly things, natural things.
But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty.
Where does our weapons come from? Through God. God gives them to
us. And what does He do? He pulls
down strongholds. Strongholds. All these enemies
that's against us. He'll pull them down. And that's
what He does. He uses the Gospel and He uses His Word. And look
what He goes on to say. Casting down imaginations. Reasonings. And every high thing, everything
that comes along to exhaust itself against the knowledge of God
that's in our mind and comes through us, and he brings every
captivity, every thought to where? Brings us right back to the obedience
of Christ and what Christ did. He just keeps bringing us back,
getting these warfares, and he just keeps bringing us back to
what Christ did and what Christ accomplished. Now, back over
here. In Genesis 12. Now Abram, you know, he didn't
look at the Canaanite. Oh, the Canaanite was in the
land, but he didn't look at the Canaanite. You know what he did?
He kept his eye on the one who promised him the land for inheritance. You see, he was taken up with
the Lord, not the Canaanite. He kept his eye on the Lord,
not the enemy. And that's why we're looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher. Let us run with patience the
race set before us. Looking, looking, looking unto
Jesus, the author. He's the beginning of our faith. And look unto Him and He's the
end of our faith, the finisher. Oh my, just keep on looking.
Looking, looking, looking. Looking, looking, looking. Oh
my, I tell you what, you'll not get in trouble keeping your eyes
on him. Oh my. And then look at his unfailing
assurance. Look what happens here in verse seven. What an
unfailing assurance. And the Lord appeared unto Abram
and said, unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded
he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him there. And
he removed from this unto a mountain on the east, on the east of Bethlehem,
pitched his tent." Pitched his tent. Here's the first appearing
that we know since he called him to go out. This is the first
time God has spoke to him, but now he appears unto him. This
is the first appearing since he called him to go out. And
he says, this is going to be, this land is going to be for
your seed, your seed. And you know what? And the seed
that he's talking about is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's going
to come through. You can trace the lineage of
Christ all the way through the scriptures. And Abraham is the
father of the faithful. And he said, and through thy
seed, this land's going to belong to your seed, your seed. And oh, Abraham, I tell you what,
he said, Oh my, your seed. And that's what he said. And
when Stephen preached to them in Acts chapter 7, he says, And
our father appeared unto Abram when he dwelled in Mesopotamia,
called him to go out, he went out. And then when he got there,
God promised him this land for an inheritance to his seed forever,
forever. And we, you know what we do,
beloved? We have a promise. We inherit a promise that God
made to Abraham, and you know why I promise? We inherit the
promise that God made to Abraham. He said, I give this to your
seed, and we inherit the promise that God made to Abraham. God
made a promise to me, and that in his seed, in Abraham's seed,
through Christ, God made a covenant with him. And it was a covenant
made hundreds and hundreds of years before the law was ever
given. And I tell you what, He gave us this seed and this promise
and this inheritance is in Christ. And the scripture says that all
the promises are sure and amen in Christ. I mean, they're positive,
they're true and sure, and they're all amen. Oh listen, God can't
lie and always gave us a promise in Christ. All the promises of
God in Him are true and in Him are sure and they're amen. And
then look how Abraham responded. Look how he responded to God's
appearance. Oh my, oh there's, God said,
I'm gonna give this to your seed. And look what happened. And there
builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
And then it says in the middle of the verse there, he pitched
his tent. First thing it says, he built an altar to who? To the Lord. Huh? He built an
altar unto the Lord that appeared unto him. And then he pitched
his tent and built an altar. Now I tell you, the altar and
the tent gives us two great and blessed, blessed truths. and
gives us two features of Abraham's character, an ever true believer,
an altar and a tent, an altar and a tent. First of all, whenever
you see this altar, that tells us this, that he worshiped God. He worshiped God. He was a worshiper
of God. And beloved, we worship God.
We're at an altar. But it's an altar that God Himself
provided. Our altar, Jesus Christ, is our
altar. Right? He is a worshipper of
God, and then that tent tells us this, that He was a stranger
and He was a pilgrim. that he had no dwelling place,
that he lived in a tent. And you know what Paul called
this, our bodies? He called it a tent, this fleshly
tabernacle which shall be dissolved. He said when your tent is dissolved,
and beloved that tells us that we're strangers and pilgrims
in this world. There's an old song, I don't
know if we sang it, did we sing it the other day? A stranger,
a stranger and a pilgrim am I. That's what we are, we're strangers
and pilgrims. We are strangers to the world and the world is
strange to us. We are sometimes strange to ourselves, but we
are pilgrims. Do you know what a pilgrim is?
That is a fellow that is going from one place to another and
does not stop until he gets there. We are pilgrims. That is what
they called the first people that landed in America. Do you
know what they called them? Pilgrims. They left England and went through
great hardships, and when they landed in America, said, there's
some pilgrims. Pilgrims has got here. These
people that's journeying, these people that went through great
afflictions to get here. And beloved, we're pilgrims,
and we got a destination, and we're gonna journey on until
this tent is dissolved. And oh my, you know what, he
worshipped God at his altar and he was a stranger in a pilgrim's
world because of his tithes. And Abraham had God to enjoy
and that was enough for him. That was enough for him. And
this altar tells us also this, that his faith in God His faith
was in the reality of God Himself. God to him was a reality. He
wasn't some thing way out here, some supreme being or somebody
that just made me and somebody can... No, no. His faith was
a reality. His faith made God a reality
to him. God was real to him and he worshipped
God as a reality, not some thing way, way out there. Somebody
said, well, I believe God, and I believe in God. Well, Abraham
believed God, and God was real to him. And he erected this altar
in a hostile environment. Oh my, the Canaanite was in the
land. And the altar not only tells
us his faith in the reality of God, but Abraham, he believed
in the holiness and righteous character of God. How do you
know that? An altar's for sacrifice. Is
that not right? God's holy, God is righteous.
And without the shedding of blood, there will be no remission of
sins. And He built an altar and He offered a sacrifice. There
was blood shedding. And that bloodshedding was before
God, and God, before He can be approached, before He can be
worshipped, there has to be a bloodletting. There has to be a bloodshedding.
And beloved, that's why we can approach God, because Christ
shed His own blood. And God said, when they were
getting fixed to go out of the land of Canaan, He said, the
blood was before the Lord. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And on altars for sacrifice,
And he had his blood shedding. And he understood that God can
only be approached through sacrifice. And the third thing was he worshipped
God. He worshipped God. He yielded
up himself to God. He yielded his future into the
hands of God. He yielded up his present into
the hand of God. And he yielded up to him who
is faithful. He gave Himself up, His future. He said, God has told me I'm
going to have a seed in this land. So He yielded up His future
to Him. He yielded up His present to
Him. And He yielded up Himself. And
look where the place of this altar and tent was in verse 8. And He removed from thence unto
a mountain when the Lord appeared unto Him. on the east of Bethel,
and pitched his tent between, having Bethel on the west, and
Haile on the east. And there he built an altar unto
the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord." You see, there
he worshipped God. And it was in the place it was,
was between Bethel, and Bethel always means the house of God.
The house of God, that's what Bethel means, the house of God.
Abraham ended up coming all the way back to Bethel. Jacob stopped
at Bethel. And Hai, you know what it means? It means a heap of ruin. He was
there. Here's the world out here. Nothing
but a heap of ruin. The house of God over here. And
he's right between them. And there he's worshiping God.
Between the world, between God. Go worship him. Call on the Lord. And then look what happened here.
And this is what's such a blessing to me. I love this right here.
And it says in verse 9, And Abraham journeyed going on. Abraham journeyed
going on, all still toward the south. Oh, he just took his tent
down and said, I got to go on. He just kept on going. Just journeyed
on. Worshipped the Lord and journeyed.
Worshipped the Lord and journeyed. Worshipped the Lord and journeyed.
And that's what we're doing, ain't it, James? Just worshiping
the Lord and journeying. And I tell you what, if you go
on a journey, one of these days you'll get to the end of it. Amen. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of Christ our Lord, thank you for your precious word. Thank
you for the prayers that's been offered this evening, for the
word of God that's been read. For God that's been honored,
God that's been glorified. Thank you for the blessed hope
we have in Christ, and thank you, Lord, that you called us
out to go out. But Lord Abraham didn't know
where he was going, but Lord, we know where we're going. We
know where our journey ends. We know where it'll end up. And
we know our destination. But Lord, we've not got there
yet. So Lord, enable us to just keep journeying on. Just keep
on, keep looking, keep traveling, keep moving, keep trusting, keep
looking to our Lord Jesus Christ. Waiting for the fulfillment of
the promise. Waiting for the fulfillment of
the promise. God, we bless you. In our Lord Jesus Christ's name.
Amen.