Higher Ways Part 2 | Dr. Jeff Jackson Sermon

Higher Ways, Part 2 – August 22, 2021
Intro: Repairing manufacturing plant
Cue for Map: “Last week, we saw Abraham leave Ur…..”
Genesis 12:5-7 (NIV2011) 

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. 
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Intimacy with God is found at the center of His will
Intimacy with God is found at the center of His will
Intimacy with God is life’s greatest pursuit 
Example: Jack and the Beanstalk
Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV2011)
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
But then something unexpected happened:
Genesis 12:10 (NIV2011)
10  Now there was a famine in the land…
Faith is built through testing
Example: Tests in school
Genesis 12:10 (NIV2011)
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
The path from God’s will is always downhill
Genesis 12:11-13 (NIV2011)
11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
Now, technically, Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister:
Genesis 20:12 (NIV2011)
12  Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.
Seems to work:
Genesis 12:15-16 (NIV2011)
15  And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 


• Genesis 12:17-20 (NIV2011)
  17  But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18  So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19  Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20  Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

The path from God’s will is always downhill
Blessing was replaced by judgment
Galatians 6:7 (NIV2011)
7  Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Genesis 16:1 (NIV2011)
1  Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;
The path away from God’s will is always downhill
Blessing was replaced by judgment
Destructive consequences endured