Genesis 12:1-13:4

Notes compiled with my BSF group

FOLLOW GOD WITH NO HESITATION (Genesis 12:1-3)

Abram (Abraham) did not immediately heed God's call
Genesis 11:26-32
Acts 7:2-8

From Stephan (Acts 7:2-8), we learn that God told Abraham to "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you" (Genesis 12:1) BEFORE his family moved to Haran (Acts 7:2). Yet, we see in Genesis 11:31, that instead of leaving his family as God had instructed him, Abraham moved with his father to settle in Haran. Abraham was 75 years-old when he finally left Haran. Since Abraham was married BEFORE they moved to Haran, and men usually got married when they were 30 years old back then, this suggests that it took Abraham more than 30 years to finally act on God’s command.

Even though Abraham did not immediately follow God’s command, God was still there waiting for Abraham when he eventually did move out of Haran. And although God is patient, this is not a good example of a disciple.

Below, we hear directly from Jesus just what it takes to be His disciple.

Being a disciple is more than just saying "yes" to salvation (Luke 14:28-32)
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, 'This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.' Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace."

Being a disciple is not easy. Here, Jesus is saying, “If you are going to follow me, you need to know the challenges ahead.” 

If we don’t think ahead, we will most likely fail.

If we want to be Jesus’ disciple, KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. It is not just saying, "Sure! I will follow you, Jesus!" And then, go right back living our sinful lives.

So, what does it meant to be a disciple of Jesus? In a nutshell, understand what it means to love God. Easier said then done, as we see below.

Do not love the world (1 John 2:15-17)
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them... The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever."

If we're not to love the world, who are we to love? God.


Love God so much that our liking of anything in this world appears insignificant, even to the point of hate (Luke 14:26)
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple."

Jesus is not telling us to hate our family or ourselves. We have confidence in knowing Jesus is using hyperbole here because Jesus' top two commandments are for us to love God and love others -- Nothing but love. Further, while Jesus walked as man on Earth, He exhibited nothing but love. 

Jesus is using hyperbole to make a very important point: We need to love God. Not just love God like we love a dog, or our friends, or our families -- not even ourselves!

God is to be our NUMBER ONE. We need to love God SOOOO MUCH, our love for our families and friends seem like "hate" in comparison. That is how great our love for God should be. Why? Because when we need to choose between following God and following man, our love dictates our decision. If we love man more than God, then when we are forced to choose between the two, we will steer away from Him. But, if we love God more than man, we will always be able to do not just the right thing. We will do the RIGHTEOUS thing.

Let the dead bury the dead (Matthew 8:21-22)
When one of the disciples said, "First let me go bury my father," Jesus responded, "Let the dead bury the dead."

Some people think Jesus is being insensitive here, but let us read this WITHIN the context of culture. Back in those days, when a person speaks about burying his father/mother, it didn’t mean his parent was dying. In fact, the parent could be perfectly healthy! It was part of the culture back then to stay live with the parents until they die, so that the children could bury their parents. Hence, when the disciple asked Jesus to wait, it could have been days; it could have been decades.

An alternative understanding of this statement, also read WITHIN the context of culture, is that ancient Jewish burial involved two phases: 1) Prepare the body; 2) A year later, when the body has decayed, collect the bones to place it in the family ossuary. Hence, this disciple's father may indeed had died and was waiting for that year to be up to bury his father's bones. That is, the disciple was already with his father at his death bed and had prepared his father's body for burial.

Regardless of the length of the waiting period, Jesus said, "Let the dead bury the dead." Jesus is not being insensitive. The disciple's father could have been still in great health or could have died already -- and even if the father was dying -- the point Jesus was getting across is still valid: Follow me now, so that you can lead others to follow as well.

Why?

In sin, we are all dead. Buried or not buried, we are all dead. Without Jesus, we are the walking dead. So, why are we waiting for death to come when we could readily receive ETERNAL life from Jesus? We should follow Jesus to receive ETERNAL life and guide loved ones to LIFE! Only the dead buries the dead. In Jesus, we rejoice in LIFE!


Be fishers of men (Matthew 4:18-22)
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."

Notice how Peter, Andrew, James, and John all immediately left their family and secure jobs to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:20, 22). This is not an easy thing to do -- How many of us are ready to just drop everything and go? Abraham wasn't. Yet, this is what is expected from a disciple. Why is commitment so important? 

Why is following God so important? Because as Jesus' disciples, we are sent out to fish for PEOPLE. Because our mission is to spread the Gospel and bring people to eternal life through Jesus. And when we are attached to this world, when we think our jobs are more important than doing God's work, when we think our mansions, cars, yachts -- THINGS! -- are more important than doing God's work, we are choosing sin over God; we are choosing death over life. If we are attached to the world, we will never be free to follow God.

Be the salt of the world (Luke 14:34-35)
"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out." 

Jesus is comparing disciples to salt. What is salt used for? 

Back before there was refrigeration, salt was used to preserve food. When salt is no longer salty, it gets thrown away. Why? Because it could no longer preserve food. It has become useless.

As Jesus’ disciples, we are to be the salt of the world. We are to PRESERVE the heart of God, the Word of God. When we no longer do that, we, too, have lost our saltiness and have become useless.

What is our soul worth? (Mark 8:34-37)
Jesus: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"

This is the same idea when God said to let the dead bury the dead and to "hate" our parents or even ourselves. We are not to love the world. We are to love the Father. The world is full of lust -- Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, lust driven by selfish pride. Lust is sin. Lust is death. This world is temporary. By loving the world, we put ourselves down the path of death. Love God, and we receive life. 

What is your soul worth? 

Choose to save your life now, so that you can go and save the ones you love. Do not bury the dead. Celebrate eternal life with family and friends!

Do not be ashamed (Mark 8:38)
Jesus: "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels."

Heed the warning of Jesus. If we are ashamed of Jesus, then Jesus will be ashamed of us.

So, what’s more important – pleasing people or pleasing God?


GOD'S PROMISE TO ABRAM (Genesis 12:1–3)
- I will make you into a great nation
- I will bless you
- I will make your name great
- you will be a blessing
- I will bless those who bless you
- Whoever curses you I will curse
- All peoples on earth will be blessed through you

Zondervan NIV footnote for Genesis 12:2-3
God's promise to Abraham has a sevenfold structure: (1) "I will make you into a great nation," (2) "I will bless you," (3) "I will make your name great," (4) "you will be a blessing," (5) "I will bless those who bless you," (6) "whoever curses you I will curse," and (7) "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." God's original blessing on the whole human race (Genesis 1:28) would be especially fulfilled in the lives of Abram and his offspring. In various ways and degrees, these promises were affirmed to Abram (Genesis 12:7, 15:5-21, 17:4-8, 18:18-19, 22:17-18), to Issac (Genesis 26:2-4), to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15, 35:11-12, 46:3) and to Moses (Ex. 3:6-8, 6:2-8). The seventh promise is quoted in Ac 3:25 with reference to Peter's Jewish listeners (see Ac 3:12) - Abram's physical descendants - and in Gal 3:8 with reference to Paul's Gentile listeners - Abram's spiritual descendants.

"I will make you into a great nation"
Throughout history, we can see how these promises have ALWAYS been kept. Israel is the longest existing people, who can trace their ancestry back to the birth of Jesus, back all the way to Adam. Through the one son Abram had (Isaac), God indeed bring forth a GREAT nation. In the Millennium, Israel will be given the full glory God has intended (Revelation).

"I will bless those who bless you; whoever curses you I will curse"
Nations that bless Israel are blessed. The US has always been a main supporter of Israel. The US is known as the Christian nation, because it was founded on Christian principles -- a foundation that we are actively denying today. Dangerous, dangerous choices by not just us as individuals but as a nation, led by our government!

Here is a brief excerpt of the Declaration of Independence:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

We enjoy the RIGHTS we have today not because the governmented grant them to us. We enjoy the rights because GOD endowed them to us. Our founding fathers recognized this and believed it to be so important, THEY WROTE IT INTO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE! From their perspective, it was not the government's job to grant its people rights. It was the government's job to PROTECT these rights -- NOT man-made rights; GOD'S RIGHTS. 

We forget our roots, we stray.

We don't believe what we have is because of God. We believe we have what we have because of ourselves. And so, we say, "Screw God's one man, one woman marriage. Let us redefine marriage." So, we say, "Screw God's command to not murder. Abortion, abortion, abortion!" Is this not Tower of Babel all over again?

As a nation, the US is abandoning its roots so deeply ground in God... and for what? To become more and more like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Many people have asked why God has not judged the US yet. Scholars, such as Dr. Chuck Missler and Pastor Perry Stone, believe this has been because the US has always supported Israel. After all, God promised, "I will bless those who bless you." Under Obama, the US has started to pull away from Israel. The US is now in major decline. The US is not mentioned at all in Revelation.

I am not trying to being abysmal. I want to encourage us all to study the Bible and UNDERSTAND God's plan. God is merciful, but He will not remain graceful at the cost of justice.

Jesus will not return until Israel, as a nation, petitions for His return.
Hosea 5:15
"Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me."

And Israel will not seek Jesus until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in
Romans 11:25
"Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in."

And when Jesus returns, he does not come as a Lamb; he returns as a Lion, as the King of kings (Revelation).
Honestly, I do not know what will happen to the US, and this frightens me. However, I know where I stand -- I stand with God. And I heed His teachings very seriously. Jesus taught us to know the signs, and with Israel becoming a nation in 1948, there is absolutely no doubt that we are very close to His second coming. Pray for our nation -- We, as a nation, are just not heading down the right path. But most importantly, right our heart.


GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO FOLLOW HIM

Ephesians 1:3
Blessing

Ephesians 1:18
God’s glorious inheritance

Ephesians 2:6–7
Seated with Christ

1 Corinthians 2:9-10
Revelation of God’s knowledge

Psalm 16:5-6, 11
Security



IN FAITH, ABRAM OBEYED GOD (Genesis 12:4-9)

Hebrews 11:8-9
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise."

Romans 10:11
"Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame."

Genesis 12:4-5
Lot, his nephew, and Sarai, his wife, and his servants went with Abram.

Genesis 12:6-7
When Abram arrived in Canaan, God gave him an additional promise: "The LORD appeared to Abram and said, 'To your offsprings I will give this land.'" And to thank God's provision,  Abram built an altar there to the LORD.

As Abram moved forward through Bethel, Ai, and Negev in God's name, so should we also move forward

Colossians 1:23
Continue in our faith. Be firm in our faith and move forward with the Gospel.

Colossians 2:6-7
Continue to live in Jesus. Be rooted in Jesus, and build our lives through Jesus.

Hebrews 6:1
Move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ. Mature. 

This is a very important concept. Understanding the Gospel is the first step in becoming a disciple of Jesus. It is not the only step, and it is not the last step. The Bible teaches us more than just about the Gospel. Understanding the WHOLE Word of God takes maturity and continuous studying of the Bible. 

In order to mature, in order to move forward, we cannot forget what we have already learned. For example, once we know Jesus died for our sins, we shouldn’t have to keep re-learning this. We need to truly understand what that means, so that we can allow that knowledge to change us, bringing us closer to God.

Hebrews 10:35-38
Persevere through hard times, so that when we see God, He can say to us, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

1 Peter 2:2
Crave for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that He may help us grow in our salvation. Accepting salvation from God is only the first step. What do we DO with that salvation? This is where our growth as Christians come in.


ABRAM WAS NOT PERFECT (Genesis 12:10-13:4)


Life Application Study Bible footnote for Genesis 12:10
When famine struck, Abram went to Egypt where there was food. Why would God allow a famine in the land where he had just called Abram? This was a test of Abram's faith, and Abram passed. He didn't question God's leading when facing this difficulty. Many believers find that when they determine to follow God, they immediately encounter great obstacles. The next time you face such a test, don't try to second-guess what God is doing. Use the intelligence God gave you, as Abram did when he temporarily moved to Egypt, and wait for new opportunities.

Zondervan NIV footnote for Genesis 12:10
Egypt's food supply was usually plentiful because the Nile's water supply was normally dependable. Abram's experience in this episode foreshadows Israel's later experience in Egypt, as the author of Genesis, writing after the exodus, was every much aware. The parallels are striking: a famine in the land (here; 47:4); affliction at the hands of the Egyptians (vv. 12-15; Ex. 1:11-14); God's plagues on the Egyptians (v. 17; Ex 8-11); the Egyptians sending the people away as a result (vv. 19-20, Ex 12:31-32); the Egyptians letting them take with them all their possessions (v. 20; Ex 12:32); the people obtaining wealth from the Egyptians (v. 16; Ex 12:36); return to Canaan by stages through the desert (13:1-3; Exodus; Numbers; Deuteronomy; Joshua); arrival back in Canaan, where they worship the Lord (13:4; Jos 5:10; 8:30-35; 24:1-27). Abram was truly the "father" of Israel.


Upon entering Egypt, Abram feared for his life. And instead of trusting that God will deliver him, he chose to lie.

Genesis 12:12-13
"When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."

Abram's choice has consequences
Abram’s fear: Death
His sin: Lie, instead of trusting in the Lord
Affect (Genesis 12:17, 20):
"But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai... Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had."

God disciplines His children (Hebrews 12:6; Micah 7:8-9)
Every sin is punished. Because Abram lied, he was forced to leave Egypt. However, God always looks out for his people. God punishes His children, but He also protects them from harm – very much like how human parents discipline and protect their children. God teaches us so that we may see the Truth and learn.

Abram goes to Bethel after God rescued him from Egypt (Genesis 13:3-4)