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Pericope: Gen. 12:1-8 - The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your

country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show

you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will

make your name great, and you will be a blessing.[a] 3 I will bless those

who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on

earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told

him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set

out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the

possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in

Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of

Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The

Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”

So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From

there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with

Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord

and called on the name of the Lord.

Sermon title: The Power of Vision

Prerequisites to Spiritual Formation. Follow these steps:

1. Self-examine

2. Self-reflect

3. Self-motivate

4. Check your balance sheet

a. spiritual growth......secular growth

5. Look at your ledger - assets and debits

6. Assess your community 

7. Attach to community 

Point 1: God called Abraham out of one community and into another

community.

a) Leave cleave

b) Do life together

c) Vision always requires community

d) God had to develop

Point 2: Abraham values –(spiritual formation forms values) Gen. 12:17-19

- 17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household

because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What

have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?

19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife?

Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

Gen. 17: 17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a

son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the

age of ninety?”

Point 3: God had to develop Abraham’s faith – Genesis 22:5 He said to his

servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We

will worship and then we will come back to you.”

a) Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God,

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and

that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

b) Romans 12:3 NKJV For I say, through the grace given to me, to

everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than

he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a

measure of faith.

c) What you get from God will be by faith

Point 4: God had to develop Abraham leadership – Gen. 13:5-13 - 5 Now

Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and

tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for

their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7

And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites

and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. 8 So Abram said to

Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your

herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before

you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to

the right, I’ll go to the left.” 10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole

plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the

Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom

and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan

and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived

in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and

pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked

and were sinning greatly against the Lord.

Point 5: Abraham’s spiritual formation affected others

God’s Vision

a. Connects you

b. Grow you

c. Sends you

Point 6: God had to develop Abraham’s personal relationship with him.

Genesis 12:7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I

will give this land.” So, he built an altar there to the LORD, who had

appeared to him.

12:8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his

tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to

the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. Genesis 13:18 So Abram

went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his

tents. There he built an altar to the LORD. Genesis 22:9 When they

reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there

and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the

altar, on top of the wood.

Point 7: Abraham’s spiritual formation developed families

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