Notes
Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:1-3
Deliver, develop, deploy. That is our development as followers of Jesus: He delivers us, He develops us, and then He deploys us. Like Abram, whose name later changed to Abraham, we are called to leave the good familiar for the great unfamiliar. Abram lived in a nice city with a good family and lots of wealth to his name. But God called him out of that comfort and into something greater.
To follow Abram’s example and step into where God is taking us, we need to do these three things:
1) Discover Who we Belong to
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”
Genesis 12:1
We are created to be a part of God’s masterpiece, but we can’t understand that part without becoming new. God loves us immensely, and through Jesus we receive forgiveness. And He wants to invest in us so that we can walk in His power and understand who we are in Him. We belong to God, not to ourselves, the world, or our pasts.
2) Be Humble in Your Heart
“I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.”
Genesis 12:2
Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
1 Corinthians 12:1-7
But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.
1 Corinthians 14:19
Being humble means connecting with others and knowing where your part ends and theirs begins. We cannot do it alone; as the Church we are meant to work together, to lift each other up, and to encourage each other. We help each other accomplish what needs to be done so that we can fulfill God’s plan for us: permeating the earth with the Good News of Jesus.
3) Be About Multiplication
“I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:3
You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!”
Malachi 3:9-10
Multiply the investments God has poured into you. Multiply the Good News - make disciples of every nation. Don’t just say you trust God as your provider; show it by what you do with what He has given you in your time, talent, and resources.
God wants to move His people forward. Our part in that is knowing who we are in Him, staying humble as we work in the Kingdom, and being good stewards of what God has given us by being about multiplication.
Group Questions
- What can we learn from what God asked of Abram?
- How can we deepen our understanding of what it means to belong to God?
- What is humility?
- What has God given you to multiply?
Prayer
Thank you for rescuing us and giving us purpose. Bless us so that we can multiply those blessings and guide others to you.