Prepare for More Pt. V
Tim Ross | October 11, 2020
“Your blessing is in your departure. Your blessing is in your leaving. Your blessing is in the face of stepping into the unknown. Your blessing is in the faith to say, I don’t know where God has taken me, but I do believe in the God that has taken me.”
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Transcription
Embassy City, what's up? I love you so much. I am so grateful that you decided to be with us this weekend. Today, I'm diving straight back into the word of God. Listen, I miss all of you all. I told you I will be making an announcement about when we're going to be coming back as a family, just not this weekend. Also, the same people that you heard in the background last week are back. Listen, now I know you're probably thinking to yourself how come I didn't get invited? Please don't be sensitive and hurt. Again, it's a control group that we got in here, because I just needed to hear some people back at me.
I had been preaching into an empty building, looking at a camera for five months, and I was over it. Thank you all so much for being here. You have no idea what it means to have the atmosphere sit with people that are hungry to hear the word of God. Thank you so much. If you have your Bibles, I want you to go to Genesis chapter 12. We are still in Genesis chapter 12. We are still talking about this prophetic word that we received on our fifth anniversary. Prepare for more. Last week, I talked prepare for more part four. Today, you guessed it, prepare for more part five. If you're taking notes, that's all I want you to write down, prepare for more part five. I have a little more to read to you today.
I know that I went through and only read verse one, verse two, verse three. Now, I got to read verses four through nine. There's a context that I want you to have as it relates to what Abraham did after he received these six promises from the Lord. Genesis chapter 12, starting at the fourth verse, it says this. Abraham departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarah, his nephew, Lot, and all his wealth. Remember I told you all last week that he has some wealth. His livestock and all the people, he had taken into his household at Haran, and headed for the land of Canaan.
When they arrived in Canaan, Abraham traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There, he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, that area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, "I will give this land to your descendants," and Abraham built an altar there, and dedicated it to the Lord who had appeared to him. After that, Abraham traveled south and set up camp in the hill country with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord and he worshiped the Lord.
Then Abraham continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev. This is really, really good. I really want to jump into it, but not before I pray. Bow your heads, just pray real quick, and let's jump into the word. Holy Spirit, thank you for preparing us for the more you have in store. Amen. You all ready for this word?
All right. Prepare for more part five. We've been talking about the life and story of Abraham, and that the fact that God is the one that started this conversation with Abraham. Now, in order for you to really appreciate this, you should take some time to go back and read Genesis 11. The chapter right before chapter 12, where God gives these promises to Abraham. If you go back and read Genesis chapter 11, you'll find something very, very remarkable as a comparative analysis, and it is this.
In Genesis chapter 11, all the people at that time that lived on the earth spoke the same language. They were unified. I want you to imagine if the entire world spoke one language. If you flew to China right now, you can understand them fluently. If you flew to Australia right now-- Australia is an English speaking country. We won't use that one. If you flew to Brazil right now, instead of them speaking Portuguese, you could understand them fluently. It would make the world more connected than it even is now. We wouldn't need Google translate, and everything else that we try to use to understand people when there's a language barrier.
In Genesis chapter 12, everybody spoke the same language, and they had all come into agreement that they were going to build a tower to the heavens. They were going to build a tower to the heavens, and they were going to make themselves famous, and make a name for themselves in the earth. God looked down from heaven, and he said, "What are these people doing? They are all united. They are all on one accord. With that type of agreement, nothing that comes to their mind will be beyond them to accomplish." What did God do? God comes down from heaven, and he confuses their language. This is the ant-Pentecost.
They were all in one place on one accord, and the spirit came down and confused them. Acts chapter 2, they were all in one place in one accord. He came down, and He gave them a language to bring them together. In Genesis chapter 11, He broke those languages up. Now, here's what's interesting. All of mankind was trying to build something up to God, not knowing that God had always designed for Him to come down to mankind. This is why we call Jesus "Emmanuel, God with us". It's not about you coming up here. It's about me coming down to where you are.
Literally, what happens is between Genesis chapter 11 and Genesis chapter 12 is all of mankind is trying to build something up to God and prove a point. God says, "No, I have to come down and bust that up." Then in the very next chapter, what a bunch of people try to do to make themselves famous, God does starting with one man. He says, "They all tried to make themselves famous by building something up to me. I'm coming down to you and I'm telling you right now, I will make you famous. I'm setting you apart from everybody else in the entire world, and starting with you, I will bring a fame that doesn't give glory to you. It will bring glory to me."
Abraham gets these six promises, and I love what verse 4 says. I want you to write it down. I only have three points for this message. I want you to write the first one down, and all of these points are like two word points. This first one, very, very succinct, very, very simple. Write it down. Abraham departed. Abraham actually departed. See, it's one thing to hear God say, "I want you to leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to a place that I will show you." It's one thing to hear God say it, but we have to take the time to appreciate the fact that Abraham actually did it. The dude actually did. He left.
He was like, "Oh, you want me to go? Say less. I'm out." Here's what it says in Genesis chapter 12:4. Abraham departed. I want to, "Ooh," I'm going to take my time. Abraham departed. Do you know his entire promise was locked up in him taking that first step? His entire promise. Those six promises were enacted, the moment he took the first step, not the 12th step, not the 15th step. The moment he said, "Oh, you want me to go this way?" The moment he stepped out and departed, God said, "I will do all six of those things." The fact that you were obedient to just go, and you don't even know where you're going, I promise I'm going to bless you.
I already told you what it was, but the fact that you did it, guarantees that you will see everything I said come to pass. Abraham departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran. I want you to imagine living in a place for 75 years, and then leaving it, going anywhere. Kentucky. New York. Billings, Montana. Reno, Nevada. I'm not picking no places that attractive that nobody wants to go. Destin, Florida. Maybe that make you feel better. Miami. LA. No it's to high there, and it's earthquake. New Orleans. I don't know there's hurricanes. Just somewhere.
If He named a city, at least you can be familiar with it. At least you could Google it, but can you imagine getting a word from God that's vague? Just go. Abraham got all his stuff, and he didn't know where he was going. It would be one thing if he just left by himself. When you can convince everybody your house to go with you, all from the word from God, you know you're hearing from the Lord. He took his wife, Sarah-- Can we just stop right there? I can hardly convince Juliet. Or what movie we want to watch on date night. Hey baby, I want to watch this. Too much killing. I want to watch this. Too loud. Obviously, all of the movies I picked, somebody is going to die. Point-blank, period, someone is going to die. If I'm watching a movie, somebody is dead.
You have a hard time agreeing with your spouse on where to eat. He looked at his wife while he was 75, and she was 65, and said, "I heard from a guy neither one of us know, and he said we should go." Sarah said, "Okay." You know this got to be God, because wives, usually act-- Men, let's be honest real quick, you know your wives are some kind of Holy Spirit junior. They have some kind of link with the Holy Spirit. When we don't know, He manifests in our wives, and then we get a dose of reality like, "Okay, well maybe I shouldn't have done that." When God has spoken to the man and a woman and they both go, you know something's up. He took his nephew, Lot.
Lot was like a son to him, because Lot is actually Abraham's brother's son. His brother died, so he raised Lot like he was his own son. This is where it gets very interesting. He took all his wealth, his livestock and this is where it gets very, very evangelistic. All the people he had taken into his household at Haran. Now, that's an evangelist right there. When you save your whole family, if the only thing you did is get your family saved. If only everybody, if the only thing you ever did in your whole life is to get everyone that is in your family that bears your last name, or some hyphenated variation thereof, because there's blended families too. They're going to be a party in heaven for you.
His servants could have literally said, "I don't want to go with you. We're from here. I liked working with you while you were here, but if you leave, then I'm going." Can you imagine? You already convinced your wife. Lot is being raised like a son, what is he going to say? I wish my kids would tell me, "I don't want to go." Nobody asked you nothing. You don't have rights at all yet. At 12 and 9, they're getting some. To look at those that work for you and say, "Hey, would you go with me?" Then they go, "Yes," that speaks to the character of the man Abraham was. All the people he had taken into his house at Haran, and headed for the land of Canaan. He didn't know where he was going on, but he headed there.
When they arrived in Canaan, Abraham traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There, he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. I just want to say, Abraham departed. Now I want to ask you, "What is God telling you to leave?" That's the question I want you to take the time right now. You don't have the answer right now, but I just want you to take the time right now. We'll wait. You can pause this. If you're watching on a weekend, you can literally pause this, and just reflect on this for a moment, what is God telling you to leave?
There will be no part of your life, walking as a believer, where you get through a season where God's not telling you to leave something. Even if it's your attitude, He's going to tell you to always be leaving something. Abraham departed, and with that departure, came the blessings. With that departure, and I just want to you all know, I like acting stuff out. I just want you to imagine, God gives you a word with six promises, and they sound great, but you don't know God. You don't even know what this relationship is about. You have had this polytheistic upbringing where you worship many gods, and now one God is telling you to leave all the other gods you know about, and follow Him. Where? We don't know.
Where are we all going? I have no clue. Where will we stay? I don't know. Where are we going to eat? I don't know. Can you imagine? Are we there yet? All from a word from God? I just recently drove with my sons from California back to Dallas. We rented an SUV and drove back from California to Dallas. I only got maybe four or five. In 20 hours, only got four or five "are we there yet?" At least I knew the next destination we were going to be at. Imagine being asked when you don't know. Now, imagine being asked when you don't know, and because of your faith, you're comfortable with saying, "I don't know."
There's going to come a time in your life as you are walking with the Lord where you don't know. There are going to be people that are depending on you for answers, and your response is going to be, "I don't know." People are going to be going, "Well, you have to have a plan, and you have to have life goal, and you have to have a five-year plan. You got to know what you're going to do next." Your response is going to be “yo no se.” For my Spanish people. Where are we going? I don't know. When we're going to be there? I don't know. I just have a word from the Lord, and I'm relying on that word to get me to the next place. As I walk, He will speak, but if I do not walk, He will not speak. Abraham departed.
Your blessing is in your departure. Your blessing is in your leaving. Your blessing is in the face of stepping into the unknown. Your blessing is in the faith to say, "I don't know where God has taken me, but I do believe in the God that has taken me, and I'm moving even though I don't know where I'm going." Abraham departed. Anybody in here beside me he got a departure story? Listen, I'd never been over here before, but I'm going. I've never been in a relationship with you like this, Lord, but I am going, he departed. As he was going, he knew.
I was talking to a friend yesterday, and he was telling me that in the marines, they test our soldiers on the decisions they make in the battlefield. If you make 100% correct decisions in the battlefield, they actually mark you with a lower grade than people that make mistakes, because they determined that the people that score 100 on the decision-making take too long to assess and survey what's going on. By the time they have all the intel, the enemy could have flanked them, and they could have blown them up already. Here's the rule for the marines as they're making decisions on the battlefield.
If you get 75% to 80% certainty, go. 75% to 80% certainty, that's enough for me, go. There's a 20% to 25% margin of error, but I got enough, I'm just going. God told me to go. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know why He told me to go, I'm out. How certain are you? I'm about 62% today. Anybody besides me? You could be honest. Sometimes God's telling you to do some stuff and you don't have 100% certainty. This is why it's called faith. You're not stepping out on trust. Trust has empirical data. You're stepping out on faith. Trust means, "I know because I've experienced this before." Faith says, "I have not experienced this before, therefore I don't know, and I'm doing it anyway."
Without faith, it's impossible to please him. Not without trust. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. He says, "I want you to step out." Even though you have some uncertainty, go. There are so many people that say, "I can't make a move until I get a clear word from God." I never know God's word is clear until afterwards. I step out, and I'd be like, "Oh, that worked." That must've been Jesus. Thank you, Lord, because the last two times it was me, so at least we got one right. Abraham departed. Point number two, please write this down. You're preparing for more, you depart.
Point number two, Abraham built. This is very, very important. Abraham built. If you're going to prepare for more, you have to have this in your makeup as a believer. Abraham built. Here's what it says, "Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, 'I will get--.'" Now remember, he just started walking. He walked over and got to the land of Canaan. When he got there, then God spoke. He didn't talk to him about Canaan before he got there. When he got there, then God spoke. Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, "I will give this land to your descendants." Good job, Abraham. You just walked up on your promise. You knew nowhere you were going, you just walked this direction, and now that you hear, God appears and says, "I will give this land to your descendants."
Abraham built an altar there, and dedicated it to the Lord who appeared to him. Abraham built an altar there. Would you all say that with me? Abraham built an altar there. Again, Abraham built an altar there. One more time, real loud.
[Abraham built an altar there.]
Abraham built an altar there. Now here's why it's so important about where he built this altar. He was in the Canaanite territory. The Canaanites worship many different gods, and then he winds up by this oak tree, by this tree called Moreh. Moreh, in the Canaanite language, literally meant teacher. They taught about these false gods in this grove of trees. I wish I could paint this visual better than this, but you're going to have to just use your imagination. In the middle of all of this false worship, in this grove of trees that have been dedicated to all these false gods, Abraham shows up, and goes and gets some stones. He was 75. When you build this up, you get tired.
Anything worth building is not going to be built fast. In the middle of all this false worship, that belongs to God. When you get to where you're going, you have to leave a reminder of who brought you there. Even if it's a temporary place that he brings you to, even if this is not your last stop, place a reminder to mark the fact that God at least brought me this far. I know He's not done taking me where He wants to take me, but as long as I'm here, there will be a reminder that God is the one that brought me here. I won't be in this secular society, I will not be in this secular territory, and have all the reminders of your gods, and have no reminder of my God. I'm going to put an altar right here, and as long as I'm here, I'm serving God.
As long as I'm here, I'm lifting up His name. As long as I'm here, I'm believing God for what He's going to give me. I'm not believing for what you're going to give me. I'm believing what God is going to give me. I put it up here. I build something here. What do you build? While you are here, you don't even have to like where you are, but have you built a reminder? Are the only things you are surrounded with are reminders of the negativity of where you are? Maybe the reason why this season of your life seems so bleak is because you have no reminders of who's in this season with you. I know I'm talking to somebody today. I'm going to take my time right here. It's just so bare and new. It's just so tough. Nothing is going right. Is anybody there with you?
Do you think God brought you here to leave you? Do you think God brought you here to die? You don't have a reminder. You've been so busy complaining. I know it's going to sound really tough. I'm sorry. Let me lovingly submit to you that maybe you've been so busy complaining that it took away the time that you could have been building a reminder that God has never brought you anywhere that he wasn't going to be present with you. I see the thing in my head. I'm trying to-- I'm so high, I'm stuttering. I'm trying to get it out. All right. I want you to think about this. He has a reminder because he built it. Where was God, when I was going through my sin? Right here. Where was God when my marriage was--. He was right here. I forgot I built that.
You've been here the whole time. Have you ever talk to somebody who was going through a bad season, and you share with them, or maybe they've shared with you, "Hey, you know what? God's present with you." "It don't feel like it." Maybe the reason why they can give you that encouragement is because they built an altar, and you didn't. The only reason why you're upset about it is because you don't have a reminder of it. Abraham took the time. Let me tell you the beautiful thing about these altars in the Old Testament. They were the most imperfect building that you've ever seen. Legos look better.
These were a bunch of uneven stones and rocks that were all brought together, that typify and speak to the brokenness that can be in our lives, but that when we all come together, we are a monument to declare His glory, His truth, His way, His word, His light. He wants us to build. As we build, we're reminded that I'm not here by myself. You're here with me. Point number two, Abraham built. I can't move on yet because somebody needs to build. I don't know who this is for, but you need to build a monument at your job to be remind-- "I have scriptures on the wall. That’s different than a monument." You need to do something with your hands. There's needs to be something that you do with your hands that gives you the reminder that God is with me here. You will not leave me here.
I went to a ceramic painting class with Juliet. Juliet loves to do painting with a twist in these ceramic classes. Juliet is cute, I just like to be wherever she is. She said, "I'm going to go do this." I said, "I want to come with you." They gave me a door to paint, and it's my first time painting. They say, "Here's your colors, and you got to paint the door." I'm trying. I've never done this before, but now I want to be an artist. I don't know. Anybody like me? You do something you never did before, and all of a sudden you like, "I'm about to be Picasso right now." I'm painting this thing, and as I'm painting it, the Lord starts talking to me about the doors he's opened.
I was like, "For real? Right now? I just came to this class because Juliet is cute. I want to try to, but now you're talking, and I'm getting weepy, and there's so much symbolism here, and I don't even know all this stuff." That thing is by my bed right now. Every time I look at it, I'm reminded that God is the one that opens doors for me. I probably just made some little business that does ceramics, some money, because now everybody's going to be like, "I'm going to go do mine." You're going to walk in there, "Give me the door." Whatever it is, I just want you to do something with your hands that gives you a reminder that God's with you. Point number three, please write this down, then we're done. Point number three. You all get anything out of this? Okay, good. Abraham departed. Abraham built. Abraham worshiped. Abraham built. Abraham worshipped.
Here's what it says. "After that, Abraham traveled south, and set up camp in the hill country." Thank you, Holy Spirit. Let me stop. All right, so in that little grove of trees, by that oak, Moreh, he built an altar. It says, "After that, Abraham traveled south." He left. He never took the altar down. He went to another place, but he never tore this down. He didn't take it with him. He left it there. Let me tell you something. He left it there. That way, if he ever came back there, he would be reminded there that God was with him there.
He made a monument every place he went. Not like, "I brought it here, and I took it with me, and I went somewhere else." No, he kept it there. Then he went to the next place. I just need to point that out. "Abraham traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built," there it is right there, "another altar, and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord." I'm not going to do the whole thing again. I already mimed the whole thing one time. He's in a new place. This is a new altar. We've left where we were. We're at a new place. He has a new altar.
In the last place, he just put something up that's different than the other place. In this place he's in, I don't know if this is his thought. This is my thought. I just want to make that disclaimer. I'm not trying to put something in the text that's not there. In the last place that he erected an altar, he just dedicated it to the Lord. "This is for you. This is not for these other gods. This is for you." He gets to this new place, he builds another altar, and he's like, "This is for you." Then he's like, "How are people going to notice this one's different?" Because the pagans make altars too. "How would they know that what I'm doing here is not to some other god? I should probably open up my mouth right here and worship the God I'm talking about. Instead of leaving it up to you to guess who I'm worshiping, I'll go open up my mouth because I can show you better than I can tell you."
He opens up his mouth, and this is the first time that we have recorded in the Scripture that Abraham worships the Lord. Here's what I know. He probably didn't know how to do it. "Thank you. Appreciate it. It means a lot. That promise you gave me means a lot. I'm 75. I was out here doing my own thing. All the gods I've ever worshipped, I've never heard them talk to me, but you talk to me. So I'm going to talk to you. I love you. I don't even know where I am. You've left me with sketchy details, but thank you. You are the true God. Yes, I said it. The rest of you all out here, worshipping whatever you're worshipping, even though I don't know much about this new relationship, I know enough to go public."
"Even though I don't have enough information to tell you all about this God I'm serving, I have enough to build an altar and worship God right here. I declare with my life that I worship the one true God. Deal with it." Do you know how much this changes the atmosphere, where you can step into any environment, whether it's home, job, school, you're in a family where nobody else is trying to worship the Lord like you are? It can change the atmosphere just simply by the way you worship. Now, some people might be aggravated with it, but you're not doing it to spite them. You're doing it because you have a connection in a relationship that you just cannot keep to yourself. He worshipped there.
He dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. You will not get more from God without departing, building, and worshiping. Now, I want to communicate something. Worship should be our default setting as believers in Jesus Christ. "Well, I'm not a worship person. I just really love the Word. I can take or leave the worship, but the Word, though." I love the Word, too. I love the Bible, but the Bible is where I go to understand God. Worship is where I go to adore God. I'm going to say that again. The Bible is where I go to understand God. That's what “theology” means. “Theo" means God, “ology,” study, the study of God.
Theology, I love that, but worship is where I go to adore God. I'm not trying to learn something in worship. I'm giving something in worship. I'm not trying to break down something in worship. I am broken down in worship. Maybe it's been hard for you to do online, and you're like, "I'm just kind of distracted. I'm just looking at them singing and all that kind of stuff." Listen, Ross family, we are turned up in worship. The five of us are in there. I'm laying on the couch, and Juliet, and Nathan's running around, and Noah is flexing because he's nine and he's full of testosterone. We are all declaring to the Lord that He is mighty, that He is good, that He is awesome. There is something I get by giving worship that I will never get reading the Word.
I'm not trying to compare like, "Worship more than you read the Word." No. You get revelation in the Word, but there's an elevation in worship. It's not of you, it's of Him. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make a boast of the Lord. The humble shall hear and then be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I can't make Him big without you. That's why we worship is because privately there's an adoration, but in community, there's a magnification. We make Him bigger than our problems in worship. You ever worshipped so long, all your stuff got small?
You're like, "I thought it was big, but I spent 25 minutes in worship, and now, I'm like, 'That little thing? I'm not going to let that bother me. Okay, they said that I got this amount of my time to pay. My God is faithful. He hasn't left me. That day hasn't come yet, and I'm not going to lose another day of sleep over it.'" Worship does that. You need to keep worship on in your home. It is baffling to me that people know more secular lyrics than they know spiritual ones, for believers. I'm not talking about somebody that has a different lifestyle.
If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you need to listen to stuff that's going to edify your spirit, and that's going to remind you it's one thing to build the altar. The altar is a reminder for everybody else. Worship is a reminder to yourself. I am doing this because I adore the God that gave me these promises. Listen, you all are getting so close to these promises. Put them hands out again. I want you to think about this. The more you apply what we've been talking about, the closer more it gets to you. Again, we're not responsible for the more, He is. We're just responsible for the preparation. Remember, prepare for more. Right? The preparation is our assignment, the more is His assignment. You hear me?
The preparation belongs to us, the more belongs to Him, and all we have to do is put our self in a position to receive it. That might mean you have to depart from some things. That might mean you have to build some things that are different. Maybe you build some bad stuff, and now you just need to build some good stuff. I just want to tell you, I don't want there to be any shame on anybody about maybe some bad stuff that you've built. Repent, and forget about it.
I built some bad stuff in the past, and I got reminders all around me, just go ahead and talk those bad things. Now, let's build something good, and let us worship the God of our salvation together. Is that good?
What do you need to worship? Where do you need to worship? How does your worship need to change? My prayer is that over the next seven days, some of the most extravagant playlist are compiled in your Spotify account, in your Apple music account, of the songs that might be near and dear to your heart from even years and years ago. I grew up as a young man in my 20s when I gave my life to Jesus. Scanning cars at CarMax, the auto superstore, at three o'clock in the morning, just singing worship songs. I can't sing, but I will be out there, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. [singing] Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and oh-- Outside open air. [singing] That is within me, bless His, boop, boop, boop, boop, [singing] Holy Name.
Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His Holy Name. He has done great things. He has done great things. He has done great things. Bless His Holy Name. It doesn't take much, but you can change the atmosphere from what you build and who you worship. Won't you bow your heads and close your eyes? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message? A lot of you, we're preparing for more. We're getting close. We're getting so close. I believe God is going to start putting some stuff in your hands that literally transforms your life.
My prayer is that if you're close to God, you've become closer, and if you are far from God, you've stepped in to part from your sinful ways. With your mouth, worship and confess the God of our salvation, by saying that I believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and that He is Lord over my life. I'm telling you, if you do that, what you build and what your worship will change. Holy Spirit, I thank you for the time that you have given us to prepare for the more that you want to do in and through us. That it will be all for Your glory, and none of our credit, in Jesus name. Amen. I love you guys so much. I'll see you next week.
