God of Abraham - Part 2

By Odon Bulamba

Thank you so much for being among us this morning.  It’s a blessing to be alive and be among those that breathe and walk around.  It’s a privilege when you wake up and your whole body is working.  When we sleep we forget about ourselves and it’s a privilege to wake up and find yourself alive and all your senses are back. Praise God because He gives us all we need to start the day.

Abraham was a human being like you and me.  He wasn’t that special, taller, thin or green.  No, he was a human like you and me.  The only difference between Abraham and others is that he was ready to listen to God when He was talking to him while many aren’t ready to listen to God when He talks to them.

Children can come to their parents and talk without any shame but many adults before to talk to their bosses, they have to think about it, how to approach the boss.  I’ve seen those that freeze in front of their bosses.  Abraham was someone who considered God as his father, he would tell God freely what came into his mind.  

E.g. God came down on the earth with two other men by his side to Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham saw Him and with respect bowed down and spoke to Him, “come to my place, stay with me tonight”.  How often do you invite God to stay in your house?  “God you are not passing today, I insist you come in my house today, I want to see you in my life today, to see you in part of me”.

Exodus verse 15, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that is My name”.  Why didn’t He choose to be called God of Adam?  Or God of Jesus?  Or Enoch? 

Abraham was born in a family of four.  He was not the first born or second born but the third born; the third boy of the family.  God chose this one.  To be chosen by God is not a matter to be the first born or to be the oldest person.  God’s choice doesn’t look at that. 

You may see that you are saved while other family members are not.  This is just God’s choice.  What you have is not what others have.  Abraham had almost nothing.  Materially he wasn’t rich.  He wondered what to do with his life.  God told him, “I’m taking you from your father and I will show you where to go.  Stand up”. 

Church stand up.  If I say let’s go, you will wonder where are we going?  Walk around.  Let’s go.  Where are we going?  When you are going around you meet with people and you will see different things and you will start to see what you couldn’t see when you were sitting at just one place.

Abraham was sent on a journey and discovered new things.  If he didn’t move, he would not have seen those new things.  God was teaching us through Abraham that the first step to be a friend of God is to move, to make a step from place to another.  When things don’t work in your family, what is the first step you take?  To run away or to listen to God and ask Him where to go?  Where do you go?

Abraham being in the situation of sadness, being the poorest and lowest person in the family, he told God I am ready and he started to follow God’s instructions.  Do you follow God’s instructions in times of trouble?  God says forgive, do you forgive?  God says be kind, are you really kind?  Abraham did not leave by himself.  He took his nephew and wife and they journey started.

Very often God will send you blessings that you don’t know.  God maybe brings you a thought and you start to do it and God guides you to another place.  How often do we say no, I can’t just stand up and start a journey without knowing where we are going? 

Before birth we didn’t know where we were.  We don’t know the surprises God has for us.  Do you know where your life is going?  You may plan to go to Tauranga but is it really the direction that God is giving to you?  We need to pray to God and ask him to lead us.  “Show me the way God, what am I going to do today because I don’t understand what is happening”. 

Abraham came across tough situations, battles, temptations and wherever you go, you will find battles, even your own body and mind can fight against you.  It will push you to the limit to see how patient you can be.  You can even start to hate yourself.  This is the path that God has planned for you and you have to go through that.

God bless Abraham.  He went to Egypt and Pharaoh loved his wife.  Imagine someone telling you that they will take your loved one.  The first thing that Abraham did was to be quiet.  When someone is taking something from you, do you control yourself or do you jump and say you have to kill me?  Abraham didn’t want to die and he wanted to keep peace with everybody so he let him take his wife.  How often do you tell God you don’t want to die?

Sarah, please accept these.  What can you sacrifice in your life to keep your soul alive.  Sarah was of great value in Abraham’s life and he accepted to sacrifice her for his life.  Don’t accept to sacrifice your life before God’s plan is fulfilled.  When satan tempts you, feel that your soul is precious and don’t sacrifice your life.  Stay alive so you can serve God.  When you are alive it is the time to collect points and on the last day you will present to God what you have collected.  If you have mucked around, then you will have nothing to present to God.

Sarah must have thought, “Abraham, I know that this is a test”.  Maybe Abraham prayed, “Lord you are the one who has created me and you gave me this wife and someone wants to take my wife.  I know it’s a test.  I can’t fear human beings and I trust in you God and you will not allow Pharaoh to sleep with my wife”.  Big faith!  Give your wife away and tell God to intervene so that person can’t play with your wife.

That was the first test God gave Abraham.  How many tough situations have you faced in your life, you are losing your money, age, effort, everything.  This is the time to call for God, I trust in you God, don’t let this happen.

One time I took Levi to Te Rapa swimming pool and because I was in the water with him, he would jump into the water and knew that I would save him.  That was the case for Abraham.  Imagine if that was Trish and Beau said, “I will give you to that man for tonight”, Trish will find Beau crazy and won’t accept it.  Maybe Trish will say, “No you should respect me”.

Sarah’s reaction wasn’t like that.  It seems she was submissive and accepted to do it.  Maybe Abraham thought she would not accept and when she did maybe he thought, “oh, no what have I done.  Maybe Sarah will think that I don’t love her and blame me”.  How often do you fear what others will think of you because of your actions?  Pray at that time to ask God to intervene.  Pharaoh saw God and He said, “leave him alone”. 

Children will ask their parents to do a service for them from time to time, e.g. cook something else, not chicken tonight and the mother may change the program in order to satisfy the needs of the children.  When we remember that God is our Father, He can also change His program for us. 

Pharaoh gave Abraham a lot of things and Abraham became rich just like that because God’s eyes were upon him.  Whereever you go, even if it is in trouble, do you remember that God is with you or do you feel that you are alone and wonder how you will get out of the situation?  In every step you make, call upon the name of Jesus and tell him to be with you and you will see victory follow you but when you forget and you want to use your brain, effort and muscles, God will look at you and say that is not your role, that is mine, call upon me.

Abraham left.  Later there was a problem in Sodom.  There was a war that broke out and they kidnapped Lot and his wife and belongings.  One of the workers escaped and told Abraham, “your nephew and family and belongings have been taken away”.  Abraham stood up and took 380 workers.  Remember he only took his wife and nephew and now he has 380 workers.  Do you see how easily God can make you a boss?  God can open doors.  You are after $10 and he can give you $100,000. 

Abraham employed those people and trained them like an army which was a matter of preparation.  God prepared them and now they were supposed to fight for the first time.  God has given you an army too.  You have people around you and how many do you train for the spiritual battle in case something goes wrong?  E.g. Let’s pray for Jack.  Do you have a team of prayer in your family/friends that you can team up with in case of any battle to pray?

It’s a shame because many people do not have anyone trained or prepared for their prayers.  Praise the Lord because everyone here has prayer requests and we train each other, feed each other in case of problems and that makes us a small army. 

Abraham had that group and he split the group to share the tasks.  Many in churches do not want to share in the tasks today.  Someone else can do it.  If you don’t fight, who will fight?  How will we win the battle?  We have a role to play, what is your role in the church of God?

Whenever you go to the battle field, I prefer to be somewhere else, playing scrabble, reading and we give priority to our own things and leave others to perish.  In one church in Hamilton, I met this family that can only pray fervently when they pray for money, kneeling down, shouting and even fall down on the ground but when we ask to pray for the sick their prayers won’t last two seconds because it is not important.

Abraham redeemed Lot.  He didn’t say, Lot you were wrong somewhere but thought love must take the first place.  God of Abraham is asking you, even if things didn’t work well yesterday, please intervene to support that person and redeem their souls, their spirits, their minds.  You were not trained just for knowledge but to train others, the joy for others.  Are you the joy for yourself?  How often do you hate yourself or things around you or people God puts around you because they did something wrong 10 years ago, you don’t want to forgive them or hear them.

God was pleased.  God walked to Abraham’s house and met with him.  God can change his plan. The Bible says, “No one can see Me or they will die but God came down to visit him”.  When a stranger visits your house, what do you do?  In your mind do you might think, what are you doing here?  You may tell them you are not interested and not even allow them in the house.  I’ve seen that on several occasions when someone turns up to sell products or religious people come and you say, no I’m not interested. 

If you welcome them, you can give them an opportunity to train them.  Although they are wrong in their messages, they come to help you.  You can show them the mistakes and train them.  I’m here for Greenpeace, share the message with them.  Who created the trees? God.

God of Abraham is a God who looks at your actions.  When was the last time that God came to your house to eat or slept in your bed.  Maybe you have never invited God to sleep in your bed the night.  Welcome God in your prayers, come tonight and eat with me.  Invite God to eat, don’t be selfish, “send someone to share this meal with me and I will believe that person has been sent by You.  I’m sleeping now, I want you to be the watch man, protect me”.  If you are telling God to cover your house but you are not giving God the place to sleep in your bed, then invite God to sleep with you. 

God of Abraham means “God who wants his children to listen to him” and those who invite God with them every time are children who want to listen to their God.  “Be with me God, defend my causes, protect me, be my God”. 

What is the role of God in your life?  Many people think it is just to look after them, their provider to supply to them and others believe in God only when they are in trouble, that’s when they will call upon Him.  Believe me, the role of God in your life is to first of all be your father and after that, your friend.  Children will tell their parents everything and trust their parents more than anyone else.  When a father says be careful, children remember.  God is in you because you are the image of God so you should be with Him everywhere and remember His presence in your life.

God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Odon, Leah, the God of all generation.  Everything I have belongs to God.  Who am I to oppose God and His will?  God teach me how to walk with you and to understand my role as a child and how to live with my Father.