Genesis 12-22 Abraham's Journey of Faith – The Bible Teaching Commentary
 The Seven Promises (Genesis 12:2-3)
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| Abraham's Journey of Faith Intro & Objectives A) The Call (Genesis 12:1) B) The Promises (Genesis 12:2-3) C) The Method (Genesis 15) D) The Testing (Genesis 22) Assignment |
Overview of Genesis 12:1-3
A) Blessings are from God (Gen 12:2a)
Not my blessing but His ... Dependent on Him (His blessing)
B) Blessings are to be shared (Gen 12:2b)
Not for me but for others ..Accountable to Him (His purpose).
C) Blessings are to be multiplied (Gen 12:3)
For greater purposes .... Grateful to Him (His abundance)
The Pattern - THE FLOW
We see a pattern from Genesis 1 and 2 being again repeated here. God’s goodness is being expressed. Where it goes, it wonderfully transforms and blesses. This of course is no different than the power of the Gospel - God’s grace. It is all the same.
God wants us to pay attention to His ways. As Abraham’s children of faith, God has destined that this great and glorious goodness of God to be 
poured through our lives. As Christians, we need not strive for blessing as much as open our lives to His blessings. We see the pattern called ‘THE FLOW’ ebb into our lives nonstop pouring out into the lives of others around us.
We will see that this goodness of God is never to end with our lives but meant to flow out. We need to make sure as individuals, families and churches that we all open our lives to God’s purpose of spreading His goodness through the world.
Caution!
If ‘THE FLOW’ is stopped, then it begins decaying. The word 'backsliding' well describes one of two problems.
1) Nothing going in
The lack of opening our lives to God’s goodness. This perhaps could be a bitter heart.
2) Nothing going out
The unwillingness to share the blessings that God has given to us. This could be because of worldliness or selfishness. We have not deliberately shared of our time, wealth, knowledge, possessions and spiritual gifts.
The solutions are easier than they might seem. We either humble ourselves and seek His face or repent from our selfishness and start looking for ways to share the many things God has given to us from wealth to time to spiritual gifts.
The Call from the World
– From Ur to Haran to Canaan (Justification & Sanctification)
Every Christian has been called out of the world.The question is whether he comes wholly out or still resides there at times. The Christian call is to belong to Him but it equally is the call to do His will. Christians around the world confuse the calling of God for salvation with the one for sanctification.
Salvation could be considered the ‘in.’ They want to stop there and enjoy the pleasures of God’s grace to themselves. God is never satisfied with those that take and not give. This is one reason we have the example of the Dead Sea right in Israel. No fish can live there. It is a place that receives but doesn't give. There are no outlets. God is not frustrated, however, He will never let His goodness dissipate to loss. Like water on the earth, He calls it back into the air to bring it down again where it will be better used. The backslider is like the Dead Sea –dead. He who tries to hold all will lose all.
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Sanctification is the making holy of what God has given; it is the 'through.' Every good thing stems from God's grace, and He wants this goodness to stream upon the earth like rays from the sun. When a Christian realizes this truth, or when the church rises up in the power of her call, then like Abraham we will see great things happen across the earth.
Just remember, God's calendar of events will often conflict with ours. Like Abraham, we will have a lot of time to learn our lessons!
People have often tried to make peace in the Middle East without really understanding the great friction that is at the heart of the problem. Islam is perhaps right in understanding that there will not be peace as long as Israel shall exist. On the other side, Israel will be with us to the end. This is essentially a spiritual problem rooted right back in Abraham's creation of a son through his own efforts.
True peace will come from Christ Jesus, not from these countries. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and all who believe in Christ will have this peace. The real land is not the physical Canaan, polluted with blood but heaven - the land of promise. Like Abraham, then, let us look "for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). There is a better country.