Overview
Abraham is called a spiritual pioneer because God gave him a promise he could not verify in advance, and he simply believed God and went. In this Faith 2020 conference teaching the speaker walks through Romans 4:11, Hebrews 11:8, Genesis 12 and Genesis 13 to show that God did not hand Abraham the whole journey at the forefront; He gave him what he needed to get moving, and filled in the details as needs arose. Abraham left everything familiar behind and travelled roughly 955 miles without trains, planes or automobiles, because faith is that which you do with God. The same promise, and the same partnership, is offered to every believer facing uncharted territory today.
Transcript
Abraham, A Spiritual Pioneer: Faith in Uncharted Territory
Bless your hearts. I was going to say top of the morning, but it’s going on 930 right now, so we’ve been up for a while. So very blessed to be with you this morning to share on this topic, Abraham, a spiritual pioneer.
Thinking about what Abraham means in the word, we’re going to take a look at some of what God promised him, how he partnered with God, how he believed God, and how that example of faith can impact us in this day, time, and hour. As we grow spiritually, we’re going to face new situations. We’re going to be in uncharted territory.
That would relate to jobs, children, moving, a new season of life, school, relationships. Some good. Some are going to have challenges in life.
They’re going to come up. The point is, we’re not always going to be doing the same thing in the same situation with the same people our entire lives. There’s going to be transitions.
Romans 4:11 — Abraham Is the Father of All Them That Believe
Now, Romans 4:11 says that Abraham is father of all them that believe. So think about that and consider that. The father of all them that believe.
Now, that doesn’t mean literally a father, but it’s more of a founder, an initiator, a pioneer. A definition of a pioneer can be a person who is among the first to explore or settle a new area, among the first to use or apply a new method, area of knowledge, or activity to break new ground. The faith that we’re going to go to Hebrews 11, by the way, so you can start turning there.
The faith that Abraham demonstrated can serve to us as an example for us to carry out God’s will, an example of faith for us. Abraham moved his family and everything that he had to a place he was unfamiliar with, to a place he didn’t know. He didn’t have the ability to go online and see pictures or look at a map or anything at the time.
God said go, and he went. Faith involves moving on what we know and what God shares with us. And as needs arise, as we go through the journey, God will fill in the details.
Hebrews 11:8 — By Faith Abraham Obeyed and Went Out Not Knowing
Because God didn’t give Abraham everything about this journey initially or at the forefront of the journey. Hebrews 11 and verse 8 says, by faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. Now this doesn’t mean, the word obeyed is not a blind obedience, but has an element of trust.
So he obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith, he sojourned. Sojourn means to dwell or to stay in your neighborhood, stay in your area, to take up residence.
By faith, he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country. Dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. Called to go, like it says in verse 8. Who called him to go? That’s right, God did.
Did God Give Abraham All the Details? He Gave Him What He Needed
Did God give Abraham all of the details? No. He gave him what he needed. And God will give each of us what we need.
And that varies by individual. What you need to get going, what I need, could be two different things. What new ground did Abraham break? Well, he accepted the promise of God and he believed God.
It was a specific mission for him at that time. He didn’t second guess what God said or focus on his own ability to carry out the situation. But rather, he simply believed God.
Genesis 12:1 — God Has to Give Us Something to Believe
We’re going to take a look at some of this record here. And if you take your Bibles, please, and turn to Genesis chapter 12. God has to give us something to believe.
And have you, a question for all of you, has any of you ever been in an unfamiliar situation? You don’t have to raise your hand or confess right now, but all of us, it’s a rhetorical question, but we all certainly have been in those situations. God will give us what we need for us to get moving. Again, doesn’t give us all the details, but as we begin to move, more will unfold.
God is all knowing. He knows the challenges and things are going to come up. And he supplies us with those details.
What we need to do is to trust him and believe him. Genesis chapter 12, verse 1. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram, Abram was his name initially from his parents. God later told him to change his name to Abraham.
Abram to Abraham: From High Father to Father of Many Nations
The distinction here is that Abram means father or high father. Abraham means father of many nations. Now, at this time, he had zero children.
So now the Lord said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless thee and make thy name great.
And thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Why the Lord Means Jehovah: A Covenant Relationship With Abraham
So Abraham departed. A really wonderful distinction here in this verse, in verse 1 of chapter 12, it says, and the Lord. Lord is the word Jehovah, which is indicative of a covenant or contractual relationship.
Lord or Jehovah indicates relationship. So Abraham respected God as the creator. But in this situation, this is dealing with the relationship that God had with Abraham.
God gave him something to believe, go into the promised land. But he didn’t leave him all by himself. He was with him the entire time.
And all of us, when we trust God, when we have faith, when we believe his word and what God shows us, we can have that faith because God is with us in every situation. Part of what Abraham looked towards also was the promise in the future, which was the land that God told him to go to. Keeping our eye on the big picture helps us navigate through situations.
Faith Is That Which You Do With God
And it was a personal and intimate venture just for Abraham. And like Abraham, we always want to make sure that we approach things with God. That is a great part of the definition of faith is that we partner with God and we do it with God.
Faith is that which you do with God. And I know we all want to do things with God. And challenges in the journey will come up.
But who knows all of the future? Who knows what’s going to come up? God does. So I imagine the conversation that Abraham had with Sarah when there was a cup of coffee and God says, go to the promised land. And he says, hey, Sarah, guess what? We’re going to go to this place called the promised land.
She goes, oh, OK. It’s a long ways away. We’re going to take all of our stuff.
Keep Your Personal Expectations Out of What God Promises
And so Sarah responded. She said, well, you know, you better go online and make sure the Starbucks in our neighborhood has a drive-thru. Otherwise, I’m not going.
So no, I don’t think that’s how it went down. My point is we have to make sure that we keep our personal expectations out of what God promises. Because let me tell you, what God promises each and every one of us is way better than what we could possibly anticipate or expect.
So let’s make sure that we keep our expectations out of it and keep our eyes focused on God. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He knows the end from the beginning.
And he knows everything. So notice also that he’s leaving almost everything familiar behind to him. And he had no modern means of communication to keep up with friends, family, groups, you know, anything that was happening back in the land that he came from.
955 Miles Without Trains, Planes or Automobiles
So everything that was familiar for him was left behind. And the journey was approximately 955 miles without trains, planes, or automobiles. So now I’ve got a trivia question for everybody here.
So what do these following cities have in common? Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Columbia, Missouri, Shreveport, Louisiana, Bangor, Maine, or as they would say, Bangor, Maine, which is way in the Northeast, and Key West, Florida. Anyone want to take a crack at it? I’ll give it a shot here. Yeah, they’re all approximately the same distance from where we are today in Raleigh, North Carolina, as Abraham from Ur all the way to the land of Canaan in the promised land.
And he did it without means of modern transportation like flights and all this stuff. So Abraham and Sarah, Abraham is going to have to believe God. God gave him what he needed to believe.
He promised him this promised land. He said, go. And you know what Abraham did? He went.
He trusted God. He wasn’t faint in how he trusted God or believed him. We partner with God in situations and allow him to work.
And we, too, can have a very familiar or similar faith that Abraham had. But it’s not a formula as much as it is simply believing God and trusting him. And it starts with a step in the right direction once we receive the promise of God or receive the word.
Genesis 13:14 — God Enlarges the Promise Along the Journey
So let’s take a look at some more of the record here in Genesis chapter 13. And this is after a period of time on the journey. And as I mentioned, challenges, yeah, some things came up.
It wasn’t like it was they went there and, you know, they transported. It was there were some things that happened along the way. God knew all this.
God was prepared all this. God was not caught off guard either. So if you’re going to trust somebody, I would highly recommend trusting God, who is the creator of the heaven and earth.
So Genesis 13 and verse 14, it says, And the Lord, again, the Lord, indicative of the relationship, covenant and contractual relationship. So God was in this with Abraham. And the Lord said unto Abram, After that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward.
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed for how long? Forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and the breadth of it, and I will give it unto thee.
That’s pretty awesome. Verse 18, And Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. This was part of the fulfillment that what God had promised him, yet additional elements.
God Gives Us What We Need, Not Everything at Once
God doesn’t always lay out everything in the beginning of a journey or at once, because a lot of times, frankly, we probably couldn’t handle it. We don’t need it. But God gives us what we need.
And again, that’s an individual thing. What you need and I need can be different things. But the point is, God is big, all-knowing.
He knows intimately and personally, each one of you, what you need. And remember that we are not interested in what we want, but we are interested in what He wants, what God wants. And He knows the outcome.
Nothing escapes Him. And nothing is going to catch God by surprise or off guard. Let’s go to Hebrews chapter 11, please.
Hebrews 11:10 — A City Whose Builder and Maker Is God
So this is really an inspiring record for us that we can, you know, look to as an example of someone who took the promise of God and saw it all the way through. Hebrews chapter 11. And it’s funny, I say, take your Bibles, but there’s people with electronic devices and electronic Bibles.
Hebrews 11, verse 10. For he looked, talking about Abraham, for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. It’s not enough just to believe in God, but we believe God and we take Him at His word with action.
And again, Abraham did this journey with God. Many things happened, but he stayed the course and didn’t lose sight of what God had told him. He kept it in mind, it was his sustenance, he thrived on it, and he carried it out without faltering.
Anytime God Offers Something, He Always Requires Something
God offered him something. What did God offer him? The promised land. God required something.
What did He require? You’re going to have to pack up all this stuff, and your wife, and, you know, he had cattle, or he had animals and stuff, things he brought with him, but you’re going to have to take all this stuff and travel to this land. It’s there waiting for you, but you have to go. Anytime God offers something, He always requires something.
Faith is that which we do with God, and He required Abraham to go take it, and it involved him uprooting his life, hometown, everything familiar, and his friends, but he did it together with God. At times, people can also get comfortable with their situations and their surroundings. Things can maybe after a while become easy for us to come by.
You know, job, family, finances, previous success. Maybe you rely on those things, but God wants to be intimately involved in every area of your life, and if God is involved in every area of your life, can He make it better? Yes. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth.
The Perfect Job I Had All Figured Out
There was a situation when, a number of years ago, when I was transitioning between jobs, and man, I had this all figured out. I had the perfect job in the perfect situation with the perfect company, the perfect territory. Everything was check, check, check, check.
I had it all figured out, and I was coming to the last stages of the hiring process, and they said, well, for the final interview process, we’re going to fly you to our headquarters, which is in Chicago, and this was a several hundred million dollar company with over a thousand employees, so pretty impressive company and headquarters. So they flew me to Chicago, and they picked me up in a car at the airport, took me out to a nice dinner. Now, the day before, I’d been in contact with the vice president of the company who was like the number two guy in the company, and the recruiter who helped put me in touch with this company.
And basically they said, yeah, this is a formality. You’re going to get the job. We think you’re a really good fit.
Your background is going to be really great for this. It was a sales type position. So I did my interview with the vice president of the company.
It went really well. So airport, went to lunch, interviewed the vice president. The next interview was with the CEO of the company, and went in there, and he was like, hey, you’re a little happy to see me, smiles, and the guy brought me in, the vice president brought me in.
The Interview That Went Wrong and the Job I Didn’t Get
Hey, this is Todd. Oh, yeah, I heard a lot about you, about your cans. He joked a little bit, and then he made a comment about my background, work history background, and it was actually inaccurate, and it was revolving around a gap in my employment history.
Employers don’t like to see that. They’re like, well, why would you? So he mentioned that, and it was incorrect. So I corrected him, which was negative for me, but I was just being honest.
So the rest of the hour interview kept coming back to that, and I still don’t understand about this, and I’m like, maybe I’m being honest. So it didn’t go well, and then I did an interview with the founder of the company. That went great, and I knew I wasn’t going to get this job, even though I had it all figured out.
I mean, it was like this. So I was really disappointed because, again, my expectations were that I’m going to get this job. It’s going to be perfect for me.
I’m going to be freed up to do this. I can do more stuff for God. My family will be blessed.
The Job I Never Would Have Pursued, Nine Years Later
Working from home, I had all this figured out. I didn’t get that job, and I was very disappointed. So fast forward about a year.
I’d worked a couple of these jobs in the meantime. About a little over a year later, I finally got a job that I never would have pursued in an industry I never would have gone after for a company I’d never even heard of before. And nine years later, the pay is better.
The freedom is better. The blessings are better. I’ve worked with some really fantastic people.
I’ve made some great friends. I’ve been able to share the word with people. They believe in me.
They want me to work for them. And now, looking back nine years later, I can’t imagine had I gotten that job for that company that was based out of Chicago working in Florida. So, again, my point here is that I never would have imagined, but God is bigger than this, and God has something for each one of you if you trust Him and believe Him, just like He did for old Abraham here.
Romans 4:3 — Abraham Believed God and It Was Counted for Righteousness
So I’d like you to take your Bibles and go to chapter 4, Romans chapter 4. And, again, God’s expectations are what we are after here. We are interested in His will and living for Him. Romans 4 and verse 3 says, For what saith the Scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Like when you work a job, you don’t get paid by grace. It’s a debt because you work and they owe you for that.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. So Abraham believed God, and this is what made him right before God. Not works, but we, like Abraham, simply accept what God is offering us and what He promises.
Believing isn’t a step-by-step process or formula. It’s you, at the core of your being, connecting with God by trusting Him, loving Him, and realizing His love for us. Don’t ever question that.
And whether we feel we deserve it or not, God loves us. God sent Jesus Christ for each one of you and for me, not as this group, you’re kind of in this group of this big, you personally and individually. Just like He did with Abraham, personally gave him a promise and was with him every step of the journey.
Romans 4:21 — Fully Persuaded That God Was Able to Perform
And that’s what made Abraham a spiritual pioneer. Verse 21, And being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform, and therefore, therefore it was imputed unto him for righteousness. Abraham believed God.
He accepted, trusted what God had promised and knew that He would back him up. So don’t waste time reasoning with what, or thinking through what God tells us or shows us. Accept it, trust in Him, believe Him, accept it, and know that you can actually believe Him just like Abraham did.
Are we going to face some unfamiliar situations and challenges that we didn’t expect? Yes. But who is all-knowing? God. Who are we trusting? God.
We Are Connected to God and Have His Seed in Us
So maybe we don’t have all the answers, but we certainly know who does. We all have a great connection. You know, like in those mob movies where they give the guys these connections.
We’re connected to God. We have His seed in us. And that’s even more than Abraham had.
But yet Abraham simply took this promise of God and believed. He had faith. Again, faith is that which you do with God.
God gave him something to believe, and he believed, and he carried it out. He didn’t waver. He was fully persuaded.
Abraham in the Hall of Fame of Believers
He didn’t second-guess. He didn’t look at himself and go, I’m a man of sin, I don’t know if I can do this or not. He took the promise of God and stood on it and walked and accomplished it.
955 miles, I don’t remember from the record how long it took him to get there, but it wasn’t a day, it wasn’t a week, it was a period of time. But yet he did it. What a great example for us to look at a man like Abraham, who is in what we call in Hebrews the hall of fame of believers or the great account of believers who had faith and who trusted him.
Remember that each one of us have the faith of Jesus Christ. God has given us so much, and he is ready to partner with you and me. What we need to do is trust him and have faith in him.
Bless your hearts.
Key Takeaways
- Romans 4:11 says Abraham is father of all them that believe. That doesn’t mean literally a father, but it’s more of a founder, an initiator, a pioneer, a person who is among the first to explore or settle a new area, to break new ground.
- God said go, and he went. Faith involves moving on what we know and what God shares with us. And as needs arise, as we go through the journey, God will fill in the details.
- The word obeyed in Hebrews 11:8 is not a blind obedience, but has an element of trust. He obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he went.
- In Genesis 12:1 the word Lord is Jehovah, which is indicative of a covenant or contractual relationship. God gave him something to believe, but he didn’t leave him all by himself. He was with him the entire time.
- Anytime God offers something, He always requires something. God offered the promised land, and He required Abraham to go take it, and it involved him uprooting his life, hometown, everything familiar, and his friends.
- Abraham believed God, and this is what made him right before God. Not works, but we, like Abraham, simply accept what God is offering us and what He promises.
Frequently Asked Questions
What made Abraham a spiritual pioneer?
He accepted the promise of God and he believed God. It was a specific mission for him at that time. He didn’t second guess what God said or focus on his own ability to carry out the situation. But rather, he simply believed God. He took the promise of God and stood on it and walked and accomplished it.
Did God give Abraham all the details of the journey before he left?
Did God give Abraham all of the details? No. He gave him what he needed. And God will give each of us what we need. God will give us what we need for us to get moving. Again, doesn’t give us all the details, but as we begin to move, more will unfold. God doesn’t always lay out everything in the beginning of a journey or at once, because a lot of times, frankly, we probably couldn’t handle it.
What does it mean that faith is that which you do with God?
That is a great part of the definition of faith is that we partner with God and we do it with God. It’s not enough just to believe in God, but we believe God and we take Him at His word with action. It’s not a formula as much as it is simply believing God and trusting him. And it starts with a step in the right direction once we receive the promise of God or receive the word.
Scripture References
Romans 4:11; Hebrews 11; Hebrews 11:8; Genesis 12:1; Genesis 13:14; Genesis 13:18; Hebrews 11:10; Romans 4:3; Romans 4:21
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
