The Lord told Abraham to get out of his country, away from his family and from his father’s house, and go to a land that God would show him. Abraham was 75 years old when this happened and it must have been really hard and difficult for him to leave the land he had been attached to whilst living there until then. It is not easy for anyone to leave their homeland that they have been living in for a long time. Especially in the old days, people did not leave their homeland unless some kind of calamity like war took place. A homeland is not only a place one is born and raised in, but is also a place like a mother’s bosom that one’s heart rests upon. Thus, humans and even wild animals yearn to return back to their homeland when they are near death, and people even bury their dead with their heads facing towards their homeland when they are unable to return to their homeland.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

The Old Testament progresses from the period of Adam, to the period of Noah, to the period of Shem, and the period of Abraham comes after the period of Shem. Chapter twelve of the Book of Genesis describes the period of Abraham. God had thus appointed the leaders for His people and showed His will through its leaders. And when a leader was about to die, God appointed another leader for them and led them by faith as his predecessor had done.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Abraham took all his family including his nephew Lot, and all his possessions to the land of Canaan. But there were already other tribes living in this land, and these inhabitants were the descendants of Ham. Nonetheless, when Abraham reached Canaan, God appeared before him and said to him that He would give this land to him and all his descendants. Whenever Abraham arrived at a strange place, the first thing he did was to build an altar and offer up a sacrifice to God. He always offered up a sacrifice of faith first.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

In today’s Scripture passage we read how God speaks about the genuine faith over God’s Church. Abraham obeyed the Word of God and left his country with his wife and nephew Lot, away from his family and his father’s house. But while they were dwelling in the land of Canaan, they experienced a great famine in that land. So he came to a situation where he had no other alternative but to take his family and all his possessions and go down to the land of Egypt.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

People often think that the fathers of faith such as Abraham and Moses in the Old Testament, and the Apostles of Jesus in the New Testament were completely upright without any blemish. They think that these men of faith were very special people, very different from ordinary people, and therefore it was naturally not easy for them to walk in the same way of such a faith throughout their lives. When we read a biography of someone famous, it’s often filled with nothing but praise, saying that this person had no human shortcomings, made a lot of contributions, and was an extraordinary person. For instance, there is a biography of Admiral Yi Sunshin, who through his patriotic activities rescued Korea from the Japanese invasion of 1592. So his biographer wrote, “From his early childhood, Admiral Yi showed promise that he was going to be a great figure. He was skilled at sword fighting, a filial son to his parents, and loyal to his country. So later on when he became a great admiral, he delivered Korea from the hands of the Japanese invaders. He had all the hallmarks of a great man from his early childhood.” The point is that Admiral Yi was distinguished from ordinary people from his early childhood as a nearly perfect man. The same is true for other biographies.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

When Abraham and his nephew Lot eventually came out of Egypt and went down to the South, they took many possessions with them. However, these two men had clearly different points of view on the world. Lot, Abraham’s nephew had his eyes set on the current glories of wealth which could be seen with the naked eye. For this very reason, when he quarreled with his uncle and subsequently left for a different land, he chose the land of Sodom which appeared to him to be fertile and abundant.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

I know that all the Words written in the Bible is what God speaks to you and me today, and I believe it as such.In today’s Scripture reading we read, “Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold” (Genesis 13:1-2). After Abraham had left his homeland with his nephew Lot, he gained much wealth thanks to his wife Sarah. But because of this great wealth, a problem arose between him and his nephew. At this time these two men were stock breeders, and with the growth of the herd, the land on which to feed and breed cattle became scarce. Lot thinking that Abraham his uncle was taking up too much land said he will leave him. Then what did Abraham our father of faith say to Lot? He said, “Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left” (Genesis 13:9). Looking at what is written here, we can easily see what Abraham’s faith was like and what Lot’s faith was like. These two men’s faith differed from one another and as a result they could not dwell on the same land together. Their fate was such that they had no other choice but to go their separate ways.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

The story how he came to have this great wealth goes like this: When the Egyptian king wanted to take Sarah as his wife because of her beauty, Abraham began fearing for his very life and said, “She is not my wife, but my sister. You can take her.” So Abraham sold his wife to the Egyptian king. At Abraham’s approval the king took her to his palace with the intention to marry her, but God intervened becoming enraged and sent a plague onto Pharaoh and his house. God had probably brought onto Pharaoh tremendously great plagues. This puzzled Pharaoh then ran back to Abraham and said, “Why did you deceive me? Hurry up and take back your wife. We were really that close to being utterly destroyed through this situation.” And he let Abraham’s wife go. So Pharaoh gave Abraham many possessions all to appease God. In such a perilous situation like this, God kept Sarah safe and brought her back to Abraham. Eventually Abraham got his wife back untouched, and on top of all that he received many possessions along with his wife, thanks to the grace of God.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

As we read today’s Scripture passage let us think about what genuine faith is all about. Each one of us will also make a pledge to plant God’s Church in Busan. You may put your monetary offer on the pledge card, but you need not write your name. You should promise to do this before God. I believe some of you have never made such a pledge since you received the remission of your sins. Some of you may not realize that today is the day we have set aside to do this. Others may feel confused about whether or not we should do this. So it does not matter if you think you should participate in this at a later date. Our Church is nevertheless making this pledge for the first time this year. The two-year lease for this church building has been recently renewed. But today we will make this pledge for planting a Church in Busan.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

When Abraham entered Canaan there already were many kings in that land. In these ancient times there were many tribal kings, and the land of Canaan was inhabited by several tribes. Like the United States, various ethnic groups were cohabiting in that land. And amongst these various kings, Chedorlaomer was the most powerful king. So the other kings paid him tributes as his subjects, but a number of these tribes joined together and rebelled against Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam. War broke out amongst the kings in the land of Canaan as a result of this.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

A Korean holiday is around the corner. On this holiday, our ministers and workers also plan to get together at Inje Discipleship Training Center for a much needed break. We have always been busy serving the Lord, and so we should take advantage of these holidays to get some needed rest. On these occasions when families get together to worship their ancestors and foster family ties, traditional holidays in Korea are celebrated by pagans, but for the born-again Christians, these holidays mean no more than a few days of rest. Spiritually speaking, they are not to be celebrated. These pagan holidays are for worldly people to celebrate; but for the righteous they hold no significance at all other than as days of rest.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

Genesis chapter 14 describes Abraham waging war. The region where Abraham was living at that time had many kings. Of these kings, Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations had gone to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). So, four kings fought against five kings. This took place in the ancient tribal age. It was a time when the political system was decentralized into small tribes, each with its own king. So the small area of Sodom had its own king, and other nearby regions also had their own kings.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

We have just read Genesis 14:17 through 15:1 for today’s Scripture reading. At that time Lot was living in the land of Sodom. When war broke out amongst the various allied kingdoms in the land of Sodom, a certain king named Chedorlaomer attacked Sodom and plundered all its goods and took its inhabitants as captives. And amongst these captives was Abraham’s nephew Lot. One of the captives who escaped ran back to Abraham and told him the news saying to him, “Many kingdoms including Sodom were defeated. Lot was also taken captive, and he lost his everything including all his possessions and his family.” Abraham then took an army of 318 trained men who were raised in his house and pursued King Chedorlaomer all the way to Dan, attacked them and defeated his army, and brought back not only his nephew Lot but also his family and all the goods that he had lost.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

After going into war with 318 trained servants from his household, Abraham defeated his enemies and returned triumphantly. After the battle, when Abraham was returning like a victorious general with many people and the spoils of war, two men came out to receive him. They were the king of Sodom and the king of Salem. Although both these two kings went out to welcome Abraham, their attitudes were very different.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

You and I must lead our lives of faith for the purpose of preaching the gospel of the Lord. Our lives of faith are led to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Lord gave us. How should we live out our faith, now that we have been saved from all our sins thanks to the Lord? For what purpose should we live as those who have become righteous people? All of us should live for no other purpose than to spread the gospel throughout this whole world.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

As we can see in today’s Scripture reading, when Abraham looked up towards the stars in the heavens, God said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” God promised Abraham like this, and Abraham believed totally in this Word of God. Abraham believed in exactly what God had told him, that He will make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky. When God asks us if we believe in His Word, we must also be able to answer boldly, “Yes, I believe.” Only those who are able to give this answer can truly believe in this gospel Word of the water and the Spirit as well.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

In the Book of Genesis chapter 6 there is an account of the sons of God who were delighted with the beauty of the daughters of men and took them as their wives. It is both really easy and difficult to live out our faith in this world. Therefore, we must at times compare God with humans and think whom we must love the most. If we live with just one understanding that we do not have sin after receiving the remission of our sins, our spiritual life will in time turn into a meaningless one, being no different to the faith of the religions of this world. That is what happens when we just hold fast onto the fact that we do not have any sin. But those who know the righteousness of God properly and really revere this righteousness, can carry out their genuine spiritual life before the presence of God.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

In today’s Scripture reading God told Abraham to look up towards the heavens and see if he was able to count the number of stars in the sky. And then God said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” It is recorded in the Bible that Abraham believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.I am speaking here of the righteousness Abraham received from God. How did Abraham receive this righteousness? He received it by believing in the Words God had spoken to him. The righteousness Abraham received was by the faith of believing in the Word of God. Likewise, we also become righteous before the presence of God when we have the same faith as Abraham had.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

God said to Abraham, our ancestor of faith, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Today I want to share the Word with you about “What kind of faith should we have?” In other words, I want to share with you about faith that leads you to the blessing of God, and I want this faith to become your shield and your exceedingly great reward. I know that faith in God that becomes one’s shield and exceedingly great reward is a blessed and great faith. Let us now look in detail about how Abraham was able to attain such faith.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35 

In the Bible Abraham is the greatest father of faith who believed in God. We can say that he is the originator of faith and that he is the greatest father. For the Israelites, he is the ancestor of their nation, their greatest father of faith, and the ancestor of their nation. Of course, there were people of faith even before Abraham. However, after the Noah’s Flood, God spoke and showed and revealed to us what faith really is and took in the Israelites as His people through Abraham. For the Israelites as well as all the nations living in this world who are not Israelites, all those who believe in God, Abraham is their father of faith. If we could believe in God just like Abraham had believed, we will surely be able to meet God, receive blessings from Him and be able to follow Him. To us the Gentiles, Abraham might not seem so great and might only seem great in a spiritual sense. But to the Israelites he is the father of faith who is immeasurably great. Though he may not be the founding father of everyone, he is nevertheless one of the greatest fathers of faith.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/ https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35