(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

Today, I'm gonna continue to talk in the vein that Pastor Troy spoke from last weekend here about reaching our destiny and leaving a legacy, reaching our own destiny and leaving a legacy, leaving an impact in the world around us.

And so again, it's not only important for you to figure out who God says you are, that's a great thing to do, but when you can figure out who God says you are and participate in what God says we are to do as a church in the world, it goes to a different level.

The church is here to share the good news of Christ and leave a legacy generation after generation after generation, come on.

Because we want people to know who our great God is and what he does through our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus came to save people from their sin, but Jesus also came to give people an abundant and overflowing life to do great things in this world.

We don't meet this world without challenges, without difficult moments, but with God, all things are possible, come on.

And God can do amazing things in your life and through your life.

If you have your Bibles with you today, I'm gonna invite you to open it up to Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 12, and we're gonna start there reading verses one through five.

And again, God does have a calling on your life.

You may not have surrendered to that calling, that assignment yet, but God does have a calling on your life.

And when you walk in that calling, purpose begins to be fulfilled and peace begins to transcend all circumstances in your life and for your life.

God has a calling on your life, and not only does God have a calling on your life, God calls you and me to make a contribution to the world we live in.

The Bible says God created us in his image, in his likeness.

And he put us here on earth to permeate his presence throughout the earth, to make a difference, to make a contribution to this world, to bring light into darkness and do great and mighty things.

And though we live on the other side of the cross, the resurrection and the ascension of Christ and before the return of Christ, God is still the same God yesterday, today, and forever.

And God is the same God that spoke to Father Abram, Father Abraham, as we may know him, in Genesis chapter 12, when he called him out of a country to go into a land that he would show him.

And today we're gonna look at this passage, and again, we're gonna learn what it means to step into our destiny and then also leave a legacy to make a difference in the world around us.

Genesis chapter 12, verses one through five.

The Bible says this, the Lord had said to Abram, leave your native country, your mom and daddy, your relatives, and your family, and go to the land I will show you.

Leave the familiar and go to the unfamiliar.

Abram, I'm calling you just like I'm calling the people in 2024, I'm calling you to walk by faith and not by sight.

Step away from the familiar into the unfamiliar and watch what I'll do.

The Bible says this, he says, leave your father's family and go to the land I will show you.

I will make you into a great nation.

I will make you into a great nation, destiny.

I will bless you, destiny.

I will bless you, Abram, that's your destiny.

I will make you into a great nation, that is your destiny.

And I will make you famous, that's your destiny.

And you will be a blessing to others, that's your legacy.

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.

All the families on the earth will be blessed through you.

In other words, Abram, I'm going to bless you, I'm gonna help you reach your destiny as you step out by faith.

But not only am I gonna help you reach your destiny, I'm gonna work in you and work through you so you can leave a legacy to all the nations of the world.

So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed and Lot went with him.

Abram was 75 years old when he left Herod. 75 years old.

Some of you think you're too old for God to work his destiny into you and work his legacy through you.

But my Bible says God touched a man named Abram at 75 years old.

Turn to your neighbor and say, it's never too late.

Tell them it's never too late.

He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, pay close attention, and all his wealth, Abram was a very wealthy man, his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Herod.

So not only did Abram leave the familiar country he was in, God says, I want you to take some of the things that you have accumulated through your life and I'm going to take those things and I'm gonna bless you so that you can be a blessing.

I'm gonna begin to take you to a place in the world where I can bless you so that you can be a blessing.

Everybody say so that.

So that.

That's the purpose clause in God helping you reach your destiny.

God will always help you reach your destiny so that, everybody say so that.

So that.

That's the purpose clause so that you can leave a legacy.

But isn't it really easy to get stuck on our destiny and forget about the legacy?

You ever thought about that?

God, I just wanna reach my destiny.

I wanna be fulfilled in life.

I want your blessing on my life and I'm here to declare to you today that no matter who you are, the God of the universe wants to bestow his blessing on your life.

Come on, somebody.

Somebody wants to work that blessing through your life.

Like a river flowing.

And we live in a culture and we live in a world where we're all about receiving the blessing but we forget about sharing the blessing.

And again, it's not just financial, though it does include financial.

Come on, somebody.

It's not just financial, but it's the gifts that God gives us.

It's the resources God gives us.

It's the opportunity that God gives us.

And we have to step into that and make a difference in the world.

Remember, God doesn't only want you to reach your destiny, he wants you to also leave a legacy.

But oftentimes there's this gravitational pull against the blessing in our life, isn't there?

And we can't ever seem to surrender the blessing and be a blessing because of this gravitational pull.

And that gravitational pull on our life begins to thwart God's plan for our life.

And so today what I wanna do is I wanna give you some resources and some tools from Abraham's life to help against that gravitational pull on that blessing.

In other words, God doesn't wanna bless you and God wants to work that blessing through you.

But in order for God to work that blessing through you, your eyes has to be open to some realities about a gravitational pull that all of us deal with in our life.

In the book of 1 John, it talks about this gravitational pull in our life.

It talks about, we all wrestle with this gravitational pull.

It says it this way in 1 John chapter two, verse 16.

It says, for the world offers only craving for physical pleasure.

Come on, does anybody in here like some physical pleasure in their life?

Come on.

I do, come on.

I like to feel good.

Anybody else like to feel good?

The Bible says that's what the world can only offer you.

It says it will give you a craving for everything we see.

We like stuff, don't we?

Give us a craving for everything we see and pride in our achievements and our possessions.

This is what the world can give you, pride in our achievement.

We love certificates.

We love degrees.

We love educational hierarchy, don't we?

We love achieving great things.

We love for our team to throw touchdown passes, right?

We like to win.

The Bible says the world can give you these things, but these things are from the Father, but from the world.

Now that's simply amazing.

Is the world can begin to give us some satisfaction in life, but if we just give in to that satisfaction and we don't apply God's tools to our life and the blessings he bestows on us, we get stuck in this spot and we miss so much about what God wants to do in us and through us.

There's a gravitational pull on every single one of our lives that you sit there and act like it ain't one.

Come on.

There's a gravitational pull on this flesh.

There's a gravitational pull because you live in the same world I live in.

There's a gravitational pull in your life.

There's an enemy after your soul and your destiny and your legacy.

And the reality of it is if you recognize this gravitational pull, it's very, very important because you'll begin to recognize, you know what, that doesn't come from God, but I can hear from my Father in the midst of all of that, come on, and I can still receive the blessing and be the blessing with all of God's goodness in my life.

We're all struggling with this thing called lust, lust of the flesh, but you know, we all struggle with the greed of the world and the prizes that we see with our eye.

We all struggle with the pride in our achievements of hey, look at me, I'm a little bit better than you.

We live in a competitive society.

The reality of it is if we're not careful, we'll begin to let those things begin to tell us who we are instead of God tell us who we are.

And God says, though you're gonna struggle with these things, understand who I am.

I'm a God who will bless you in the midst of all of that and I will achieve great things in you and I will achieve great things through you if you'll submit to who I am and what I wanna do in you and do through you.

You know, the amazing thing about Genesis chapter 12 is it comes right after Genesis chapter 11.

And God speaks to a man named Abram and he calls him out to step out on faith.

Right after, he scatters the whole world because they were self-filled and they were building something called, we know as the Tower of Babel, to fulfill their own desires.

And the reality of it is is God says, no, no, no, that's not the way.

I'm gonna confuse your language.

That's why it's called Babel.

Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-Babel, you know what I'm saying?

He confused their language.

He scattered them because it wasn't God's plan for them to settle in one place and build a tower to heaven.

God's plan for them was to recognize who he was and permeate his presence throughout the earth.

The Bible says in Genesis 11, the people said, come, let us build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky.

This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.

It is what I like to refer to as about us four no more.

It wasn't about reaching the world with the good news of Christ.

It wasn't about sharing the blessing.

It wasn't about making a difference in the world.

It was about them building a tower to heaven and making a name for themselves.

And again, there's nothing wrong with having a name for yourself as long as the name of your creator and the name of your great God is the banner over your name and you're doing it for his glory and his greatness.

Come on, to help, help other people understand who he is.

He's an all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-at-one-time God.

And he cares about people.

He wants to reach into the lives of people.

And God's plan was to use Abram to bless the nations of the world.

And God's plan is to use you to bless the nations of the world.

And if we're gonna do that, we have to fight against these gravitational pulls, the lust of the flesh.

So how do we work against the lust of the flesh?

How do we fight against that?

God'll give you the tool, but you have to apply the tool.

I can put a hammer in your hand, but I can't drive the nail for you.

You've gotta use the hammer.

You gotta use the tool.

And the tool that God gives you to fight against the lust of the flesh is something called commitment.

It's called commitment.

You make a commitment before the challenge comes.

Your flesh wants something.

But you make a commitment that I'm gonna be committed to God and His plan before the temptation ever comes.

You remember Jesus?

He was tempted.

He was tempted in the wilderness, but He made a decision to be committed to go to the cross to defeat sin, to rise from a grave in spite of lusting with His flesh.

He made the commitment.

And the Bible says that the enemy comes and says, hey, He says, Jesus, ain't you hungry?

You've been out here in this desert for 40 days.

Don't you want something to eat?

And Jesus says in Matthew four, verse four, people do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

He had already made a commitment before His flesh started being like a dog chasing another dog in heat.

You ever seen that?

You know what I'm talking about.

Crazy.

And our commitments will keep us from doing crazy things.

And Abram was committed to what God called him.

It didn't come without challenges.

And Abraham, he did run into a situation where he got to be afraid of the enemy, but he never gave up on his commitment.

Let me show it to you.

Genesis 12, verses 10 through 13, the Bible says this.

After Abram went, there was a time, it was a severe famine that struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt where he lived as a foreigner.

As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarah, look, you're a very beautiful woman.

And when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife, let's kill him, let's have her.

So please tell them you're my sister.

And then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.

And yes, he did make some mistakes.

He become afraid that the Egyptians were gonna take him out.

He knew he had to go there because it was a severe famine in the land, but he didn't let the mistakes he made distrust what God had said about who he is and what he used to do.

He comes out of that, and the Bible says, in the very next passage there in Genesis 13, verses one through four, Abram, after all this was over, the king released Sarah and his wife and them to go back to the land.

The Bible says he left Egypt.

He traveled north into the Negev along with his wife and lot and all that they owned.

Abram was a very rich in livestock, silver and gold.

From the Negev, they continued traveling by stages towards Bethel.

And they pitched their tents between Bethel and Ai, where they had camped before.

This was the same place where Abram had built the altar, and there he worshiped the Lord again.

So what I gather from this is Abram was challenged on his journey about his commitment to go and receive the promise that God had said he used to receive to go into this land and birth a family, but when a famine came, when the challenge came, he runs to Egypt.

He goes to Egypt to feed his family, but he becomes scared of what the enemy says, and he makes a mistake because of the fear of the enemy.

And he tells the king that Sarah is his sister, not his wife, and the king takes her in, and then the later finds out that it's not really true, and eventually lets him go.

And so Abram made a mistake, just like I made some mistakes in my life.

But the reality of it is we can't let our mistakes and the challenges that come our way stand in the way of the commitment of following God into the promise that he's called us into.

And what some of us do sometimes is whenever we make a mistake and we give in, not because we distrust God, but we gave into the fear of the world around us, the fear of the enemy, the fear of the things around us.

We gave into that.

You know what?

Then the enemy says, look, you know what?

Since you gave in to fear to me, you ought to give up on the commitment that you made to the things of God and the purpose of God.

And I'm here to tell you today that you know what?

You can overcome your mistakes with the blood of the Lamb and the power of your testimony if you will continue to make a commitment to be who God has called you to be.

But how we begin to fight the lust of the flesh is to make a commitment beforehand, to make a commitment beforehand.

God, you know what?

I'm going to be committed to my wife, Kim, forever and ever and ever.

The moment I said, I do, I said, I do.

And though some things come into my marriage, difficult times, she says some crazy stuff, come on.

But I made a commitment.

In spite of the crazy stuff, I made a commitment.

You know, we've experienced famine before in our life.

Tough times.

But the reality of it is is we made a commitment that we would fight through those tough times together.

And the commitment and the covenant of marriage we made is a whole lot more important to us than, you know what?

The mistakes and the failures that we face in life.

Come on, and we keep on keeping on.

Pray for us.

I'm not saying we've arrived.

We face challenges every single week just like you face.

Every single month.

But whenever the enemy says quit, I'm like, no, I made a commitment.

You know, I'm so glad that she made a commitment to be with me in sickness and in health.

Come on, somebody.

These are challenging moments.

But the commitment is the way to fight the lust of the flesh.

I'm sure, you know, that either one of us could be lured away to something a little bit better, so to say, that the world could offer.

But the reality of it is we made a commitment and our purpose is to walk in this thing together, to pastor a church together, to be in it together.

We're all in together.

Come on, it's about being together.

Not about what she does and what I do, it's about what we do.

Together.

Make a commitment today to the promises of God in your life.

If God should call you to it, he will supply all the needs that you have if you'll make that commitment.

There's always a gravitational pull against the lust of the flesh.

But also, it lists here, the gravitational pull against, of greed.

And you know what the antidote to greed is?

Generosity.

If you struggle with being greedy, of feel like you don't ever have enough and you need more and more and more and more, if you struggle with that, I think we all have struggled with that somewhere in our life.

But the way away from that is through a heart of generosity.

Abram had a heart of generosity so he could stay committed to the purpose God called him.

It's amazing when you read through the passage there in Genesis 13 of how generous Abram was the whole entire time as God was working his plan in him, working his destiny, and working his legacy.

Look what the Bible says in Genesis 13, verses nine through 11, it says the whole countryside, or what happens, they go back and his nephew, Lot, they have a lot of stuff and there's not enough, there's not enough land for his nephew, Lot, and Abram.

And there's not enough land to hold everything.

And the Bible says the whole country, so Abram goes back and he offers, he offers up whatever Lot wants to give to Lot.

Look what it says, the whole countryside is open to you.

He tells Lot, take your choice of any section of the land you want and we will separate.

Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zor.

The whole area was well watered everywhere like a garden of the Lord or the beautiful land of Egypt.

This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them.

So Abram had the opportunity to choose the same property.

But he said to Lot, look, take whichever one you want and Lot took what, look greener on the other side of the fence, you know what I'm saying?

But Abram was blessed through this whole process and his heart wasn't like, hey, I've got to have that.

Lot, no, no, no, Lot, which one do you want?

I'll take the other because I know the God who blesses me and he's gonna continue to bless me so I can be a blessing.

In Genesis 14, the Bible says that eventually, Lot is attacked and Abram goes in to help him and then Abram wins a battle and then look at his generosity again, Genesis 14, verses 18 through 24.

And Mechizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of the God most high brought Abram some bread and wine.

Mechizedek blessed Abram with the blessing.

Bless me, Abram, by God most high, creator of heaven and earth.

And bless me, God most high, who has defeated your enemies for you.

And then Abram gave Mechizedek a 10th of all the goods he had recovered.

The king of Sodom said to Abram, give back my people who were captured, but you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered.

Abram replied to the king of Sodom, I solemnly swear to the Lord, God most high, creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you.

Otherwise, you might say, I'm the one who made Abram rich.

I will accept only what my young warriors have already eaten and I request that you give a fair share of goods to my allies.

Three times right here, we see the heart of Abram, generosity.

He consistently practices generosity throughout his life.

He understand God was the provider and he was to let the blessing flow in and the blessing flow out.

It never just become about Abram and his clan or his family.

God called him to reach a destiny, but God also called him to leave a legacy and be a blessing to the nations of the world around him, to help the nations of the world know who God is in the process.

And if we're gonna fight greed, we have to be a generous people.

It's easy for any of us to struggle with greed.

I don't have enough.

They don't, you know, I don't make as much as them.

I don't do as well as them.

And the reality of it is, when you take what you have right now and begin to be generous with it.

I've been pastoring now one church for over 20 years.

And I'll watch this over and over again.

People say, I'm gonna begin to bring a tithe when I get to this spot.

And what I've discovered is the people who begin to bring in a tithe, that's what a tithe is, to the storehouse of God, to the house of God, for the work of God.

When they start, when they're making $250 a week, they bring in $25 a week.

It's never, when they start with that, you know what, that God continues to increase their ability because they are consistent with the little and God begins to show up in a great and mighty way.

I've also saw people who say, when I get to this place, they're already making $750,000 a year and they say, when I get to this place, I'll start tithing.

The reality of it is, is you need to know, it's a lot harder to write a $75,000 check than it is a $200 check.

And if you'll start whenever it is small, come on, you'll keep doing it whenever you can write the church tens of thousands of dollars.

I've watched it over and over.

I've watched it over and over, but it's the consistency of generosity, even in the small things.

Man, I'm telling you right now, I'm watching teenagers.

Come on, Jared.

I'm watching teenagers, you know what, bring $10 a week into the tithe because they got $100.

Come on, somebody.

And I am, I am blessed by that.

I am blessed by that because they're trusting God with them with their resources.

They're trusting God to do what he says he will do.

They're fighting.

Yeah, they could go buy another Nintendo.

I get it.

But the reality of it is, is they're trusting God.

And if we're gonna fight greed, we have to be givers.

And I'm telling you right now, the antidote to greed is to continue to let it flow in and let it flow out.

Don't you become a damn with your resources because the reality of it is, we're gonna leave a legacy.

We gotta be willing to receive more.

In order to receive more, I have to be able to share more.

Again, it's a principle that God puts in his word.

And I'm inviting us to be a people that really trust God in this area of our life and step in to being who God called us to be.

The last one is this, is pride.

You know, pride will destroy our destiny and our legacy, but God has given us a tool to fight against this, and it's serving.

The reality of it is, is serving will give you a humble heart.

And serving will begin to help you be who God has created you to be.

The Bible says God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble, empowerment to the humble.

And when we serve, we remember the blessings are for a purpose and not because of just our position.

I wanna show you Abram's heart.

He had a heart of service.

And the Bible says in Genesis 18 in this story, as it unfolds and God begins to prepare to give him a son, that one day Abram was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day, Genesis 18.

He took up and he noticed three men standing nearby.

And when he saw them, he ran to meet them and he welcomed them bowing low to the ground.

My Lord, he said, if it pleases you, stop here for a while.

Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet.

And since you've honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey.

All right, they said, do as you have said.

So Abram ran back to the tent and he said to Sarah, he says, hurry, get three large measures of your best flour, knead it into dough and bake some bread.

And then Abram ran out to the herd.

He chose a tender calf and he gave it to his servants who quickly prepared it.

And when the food was ready, Abram took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat and he served, everybody say served.

He served it to the men that he didn't even know.

As they ate, Abram waited on them in the shade of the trees.

He served strangers' hospitality, spreading the heart of God instead of being prideful.

And again, he could have just let them walk on by.

The Bible says he took some of his best stuff, went to his wife and said, let's prepare a meal for these guys.

I wanna express a heart of being a servant to them.

I wanna create an environment for them and I wanna bless them.

The Bible says in return of that blessing is where this whole idea of being a blessing to the nations really begins in Sarah's life and in Abram's life.

Look what it says in Genesis 18, verse 10.

It says, then one of the men that they showed hospitality to said, I will return to you in about this time next year and your wife, Sarah, will have a sign.

Abram had been on a long journey.

It had been dry, it had been difficult, it had been challenging.

Now he sits out beside his tent, not knowing if God would ever fulfill the promise and give him the baby that he promised him he would have and make his descendants as numerous as the stars, but he never gave up on the promise.

And in the midst of that, he chose to serve three strangers.

And in those three strangers, God in return put the blessing back on Abraham, made his wife who was 99 years old, 100 years old, pregnant, and then she birthed the son who would eventually birth the nation, who would birth our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Come on, somebody, who is blessing the world around us.

And God started it right here with one act of service.

I wonder if God's calling you to an act of service, if he's calling you to participate with your gifts and your talents and show kindness and hospitality to somebody around you, in your neighborhood, down the hall, come on, over on another street, on another side of town.

What if God took the serving attitude in your heart and began to pour his blessing on you so you could begin to leave a legacy?

See, God is a God of commitment.

God is a God of generosity.

God is a God of service.

The Bible says Jesus himself demonstrated all three of those things, come on, to you and me, so we would operate in his likeness in this world and begin to bring the change.

See, I believe change starts with you and you and you and you and me, but we have to follow Jesus, be committed, be generous, and have a heart to serve humanity around us.

Let me pray for you today.

God, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak into the life of our church.

God, you challenge us each and every week with the good news of who Jesus is and how he wants to help us reach our destiny, but also he wants to pour into us so we can leave a legacy.

God, I pray you'd show every single person here today.

God, I know that the words from my mouth can't do what your spirit can do.

So God, I pray for your Holy Spirit to move on the hearts of men, women, boys, and girls today, and you nudge their heart and you show them what part they are supposed to play in your kingdom work.

God, may we be a church that brings up there, down here.

God, may we not only be focused on absorbing the blessing, but may we be a blessing to the nations and the goodness of Jesus to the world around us and be exactly who you called us to be.

God, if there's one here today that don't belong to your family, I pray somehow, someway you would touch their heart through our acts of service, through our kindness, through our hospitality, and through our gifts here at Valorous Church, that God, you would bring them into the family.

We partner with you, God, today so they can put their faith in you.

My friend, if you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I invite you to take that first step today.

Say, Jesus, today I repent of my sin.

I turn my heart towards you.

I trust you to be my Savior and my Lord.

And God, I want you to come into my life, guide and direct my life from this point forward.

Tell Jesus, thank you for the gift of salvation.

Tell Jesus for the power that you are excited to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit and see him do great and mighty things through you.

And God, I pray for all those who said that prayer today, that God, you do great and marvelous things in them and through them in Jesus' name, amen.

God bless you.

Amen.