Genesis 12:1-5; 15:1-6 (NIV)

¹ 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.

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.

¹ After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

  I am your shield,

  your very great reward.”

² But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

The church is: the body of Christ, the people of God, the family of God

Because of God’s faithfulness, we are

1. Journeying together in faith.

Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5 (NIV)

How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? Psalm 137:4 (NIV)

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. Psalm 139:8 (NIV)

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! Psalm 84:1 (NIV)

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

2. Blessing the world as we are blessed.

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.

You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. Psalm 145:16 (NIV)

3. Envisioning the hope of God’s promises.

“Look up at the sky and count the stars…”

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. Hebrews 11:8–12 (NIV)