Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries |
Abraham chooses God over family and friends.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
ROM 9:4 Who are Israelites, to whom is the adoption as sons and the glory [the Shekinah glory], and the covenants [the unconditional covenants,]
God had a plan for Abraham, but as long as Abraham stuck with his father he was delayed in fulfilling the will of God.
The king of Ur was a very well known worshipper of the moon God called Ur, and Ur was the great center of moon-god worship and other forms of idolatry.
Ur of the Chaldees was a great powerful empire; however it was destroyed after Abraham left.
Abraham’s spiritual life was very limited in Ur, and he needed to get to a place where he could learn doctrine without being distracted.
Geographical change or separation from certain members of your family is necessary for spiritual growth.
Separation “from” should be applied to both believers and unbelievers in the cosmic system.
It does not have to be physical separation.
1. Mental separation.
Your volition protects you from becoming antagonistic toward them by your use of impersonal unconditional love.
Mental separation emphasizes the integrity, honor, and doctrinal application of the believer residing inside the PPOG.
Impersonal unconditional love is not influenced by those loved ones who are residing in the cosmic system, who are apostate and antagonistic to doctrine.
Impersonal unconditional love functions on its own integrity and perpetuates its own priorities from the metabolization of doctrine.
Impersonal unconditional love emphasizes personal love for God while setting aside the functions of personal love for friends or loved ones.
Impersonal unconditional love does not compromise the believer’s status inside the PPOG.
Mental separation, in contrast to physical separation, avoids maligning, judging, hating, criticizing, seeking revenge, hurting those with whom you have been intimate in the past.
Mental separation not only emphasizes integrity and honor, but avoids destruction of the spiritual life.
2. Physical separation.
Getting false information in the local church.
Or when a woman is used as a punching bag by her husband, she should leave.
Physical separation means to avoid any personal contact with a person under any circumstances.
Physical separation is sometimes needed to maintain one’s priorities and to use one’s volition to remain inside the PPOG.
PRO 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but a companion of fools shall become corrupted
2TI 3:5 They [believers and unbelievers in the cosmic system] hold to external forms of spirituality, but have renounced the power of that same spirituality; you also be turning yourself away from these men.
ROM 16:17-18 -
“turn away from them” = physical separation from troublemakers.
ROM 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them.
Separation from unbelievers inside the cosmic system is taught in 2CO 6:14-17.
This is why you are given the order: “therefore come out from among them.”
Separation is important in social life, JER 15:16-17; 1PE 4:3-4.
1SA 8:7 For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.
MAT 12:36 “And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment.”
Abraham had to choose between his father whom he loved dearly and the will of God, and at the beginning he loved his father more than the will of God.
You must decide in your life whether you love the will of God and the word of God more than anything else in life.
1. Every pastor-teacher is assigned to a certain congregation, ACT 20:28.
2. Every believer is assigned to a certain pastor-teacher, 1PE 5:3.
3. That particular pastor-teacher is to equip the believer to execute the Christian way of life, EPH 4:12.
Gen 11 - Terah’s name means delayed, and he delayed the plan of God in the life of Abraham because family was more important to Abraham than doctrine.
If family is more important to you than doctrine you’re in trouble as long as you live, unless God does to you what he did to Abraham - God took Terah out of the world.
Abraham was told to separate from his father and his relatives and to leave Ur, GEN 12:1.
Sooner or later in your spiritual advance you are going to have to face the issue of members of the family who are not positive and, in fact, are aggressively negative.
The ones that are closest to you are often the ones that hinder you from taking in the Word and nothing is more important than the Word.
The king of Ur was a very well known worshipper of the moon God called Ur, and Ur was the great center of moon-god worship and other forms of idolatry.
But he turned right and never crossed the river, and when he finally does cross the river he will be called a “crosser of the river” = “Hebrew.”
Your parents, your family, your husband, your wife, your children, can cause you to go the wrong way and wind up in reversionism.
You will be under a curse until the Lord either comes back or until you die the sin unto death, 1CO 16:22.
1TI 2:4 He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The only way to know positively what the will of God is for your life is to understand Bible doctrine and metabolize it.
The will of God =
What does He want me to think?
What does He want me to do?
Where does He want me to go?
1. The Viewpoint Will of God. God wants you to think divine viewpoint, ISA 55:7-9; PRO 23:7; 2CO 10:5.
PRO 23:7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.
2CO 10:4-5 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
2. The Operational Will of God. What does God want me to do? This involves everything that a Christian should do to the glory of God.
3. The Geographical Will of God. Where does God want me to be? This category has to do with location.
If believers are DOING what God wants them to do, then they will eventually wind up in the PLACE where God wants them to be.