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[Silence] [Music] [Singing] I'll be here with you, oh treasured one. ♪ No tender voice ♪

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♪ Like thine ♪ ♪ Can weep ♪ ♪ Alone ♪ ♪ I need thee, Lord, I need thee ♪

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♪ Every hour I need thee ♪ Oh, bless me now. Oh, bless me now. Oh, bless me now.

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Bless me now. ♪ I come ♪ ♪ I come ♪ ♪ I come ♪

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♪ I come ♪ ♪ I come ♪ - All right. ♪ To ♪

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[Music] Let me now. Let me now. [Music]

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Let me now. Let me now. I say, I'm going to leave. Oh, bless me now.

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I know I'm blessed. Bless me now. Oh, bless me now. Bless me now.

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My Savior, my God. My Savior, my God. My Savior, my God. Bless me now.

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[music] Alright. Alright. [inaudible]

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We have been considering a series of messages

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based on the Apostle Paul's epistle to the Galatians. We continue today. Our message comes from from the focal passage of Scripture recorded in Galatians, the third chapter, the fifteenth through the eighteenth verses.

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Brethren, I speak after the manner of man, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disanulleth or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said not, "And to seeds of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ." And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years after,

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cannot disannul that it should make the promise of non-effect. And if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more a promise than God gave it to Abraham by promise. the subject of the message, Abraham's inheritance. Abraham's inheritance.

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Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are of the children of Abraham." Paul uses this analogy of Abraham's inheritance to explain the contrast between law and grace, bondage and freedom.

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Now an inheritance is passed from one individual to another, something that's passed on. Often it is from generation to generation. Oftentimes it is something we would like to stay in the family. In this case, God calls Abraham for the purpose of making a covenant with him.

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Abraham has been dwelling in Mesopotamia, dwelling among people who worship idols, who worship the sun, moon, and stars. In the midst of all of this, Abraham hears the voice of God speaking to him and saying, "Abraham, get thee out of thy country and from thy father's house into a land that I

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I will show you and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing And I will bless them that bless you and curse him that curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed. Now God's covenant with Abraham is altogether God's action.

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God himself is the initiator. Abraham was going about his own business, so to speak. Suddenly he is interrupted by God, who breaks in upon his regular course of action

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and engages in a dialogue, not only an encounter, but a dialogue by making what we call a will. During this month every year, I have sought to make us conscious by naming this month, January's Make Your Will Month. God himself engages in making this will, and he establishes the conditions of the will.

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He says to Abraham, "Go to a land that I will show you." Abraham is to engage in a journey which is guided by God. And that it is a journey that is in the wheel. And here we have some of the specifications of the wheel.

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In other words, the will is bequeathing to someone something that you consider of value, the will, the will. As we've grown older, my wife has decided that she wants to give to our children what she wants them to have while they're all alive. And she started unloading different precious possessions. So there'll be no discussion further down the road.

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She has already determined that. How think of God as making a will with you and me. What does He want us to have? What does he want us to carry on in this world?

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So he says to Abraham, "I will make your name great. I'll make of you a great nation. I will bless you." And one of the things those who expect to receive an inheritance focus on is the reading of the will.

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And we've had many scenes and drama on the stage and screen of someone who was left out of the will, who thought they should be included but somehow they were left out but this is a will where no one is left out

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because God says to Abraham I will make of you a great nation and through your seed All the nations of the world shall be blessed.

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So, there is the door open for us to get in on the promises of God through the inheritance of Abraham. I will make you a great nation. I will make your name great. I will. Notice that the will is in there. All these in there. I will. You're in the will. That's wonderful. Wonderful. Because so often you get left out.

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I have a stepfather, and when he died, even though I was his son, he didn't leave me in the will. But I have another father, who includes me in the will. and who has made it possible for me to have access to everything he has. So when after many years my stepfather came here and he saw what God had

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permitted me to do, he said, "How did you do that? Who told you?" And I said to him, "Oh, God, dead, guided, and blessed." Isn't that wonderful? But do you have a Heavenly Father who can bless you no matter, even if your earthly father doesn't bless you?

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Did you have a Heavenly Father who blessed you? I will, and I'm in His will. You are in His will. All of us have an inheritance that comes to us through Abraham. He says, "You will be a blessing. Through you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

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Now shall, when we say shall, that suggests we hope to do it, or we hope someone will do it. Maybe so, shall, maybe not. But God's will denotes divine determination.

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It's the determination of the Holy One. And we say, often when we're discussing, "Where there is a will, there is a way." God says, "When there is my way, I will. I am the will and I am the way." So, in the practical letter that James writes to the Christian community,

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He says, "We propose, but God disposes. We plan what we will to do on tomorrow, but tomorrow is something we are expecting that may not come for us. So we ought to say, says James, if the Lord will, we should live and do this or do that.

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So we focused here on Abraham's inheritance. What is our inheritance from Father Abraham? Paul discusses it. He says Abraham has equated to us

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special heritage through Jesus Christ. He engages, first of all, in a journey of faith. We're all on a journey, brothers and sisters. We're on a journey from here to eternity.

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Abraham went out not knowing where he was going. And we look at our lives, sometimes we fail to take advantage of this inheritance that is given us by Abraham.

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We want to be sure. We want to be very sure that we're placing our feet on solid ground. And many times we fail to trust God.

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But Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going. Some people don't want to make a pledge when we have pledging in the church. Well, I don't know whether I'm gonna make it

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or that's not the inheritance that Abraham gives. He went out, he ventured forth on faith. and faith involves taking risks. It's getting out there on the limb not really knowing what's gonna happen to the limb but just trusting God. Abraham went out

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not knowing where he is going. He heard the call of God and he heard that call and translated it into action. The heritage of Abraham. We have come this far we think by faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The heritage of Abraham. So can you imagine Abraham coming home one evening and saying to his wife,

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"Honey, we've got to get up and pack up and leave here." He's already into his retirement years. He said, "But where are we going? I don't know." I have heard the voice of God.

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So pack up and let's get going. So Abraham begins this journey and he starts, he sees him emerging in Mesopotamia, but he moves from Herod and then on into Canaan.

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And God has to call him again. He does call him again because he seems to have a parking place in heaven. A lot of us look for parking places. After we've heard the voice of God, and come to Helen,

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and we park, and rest, and many fail to get the education that they could have gotten. Parents had it prepared, in their inheritance, but they came to Helen,

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and they paused there and God called again Abraham you notice in the scripture many times God calls and he calls twice Abraham Abraham yes Lord walk before me in other words you're walking you're journeying with the mystery there's a certain mystery in your history whether you recognize it or not it's there it's gone he's always there

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walking talking with us sometimes we ignore him but he's there what about Abraham's faith. What about Abraham's journey? Well, in order

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to inherit it, you have to leave her leave her in Caledone in Kent Park, in Heron. You have to go on to Canaan.

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He does this just because he has heard the voice of God. Some of us are slow to learn, we're slow learners on this journey. But Abraham, after being called, again he goes on. And those who hear the voice of God are called to be obedient to his word.

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the heritage of Abraham. Hear the voice of God and then be obedient to his word. Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac and sacrifice him on a hill that I will show you. All this I will, it's in the will of God. Abraham is to follow God's will. That's what we're to do. Not the preacher, not the deacon, not the choir, but the will of God.

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And Abraham journeys forth into the unknown. He goes with his only son Isaac and sacrifices him on a hill. He comes up that hill and Isaac in the course of the journey says, "Father, I see the wood and the fire, where is the lamb?" And then he says, Abraham answers his son, "God Himself

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will provide." The heritage of Abraham is coming to know that God will provide. And No matter, no matter how scant maybe what your resources are, God will provide. He'll provide in every crisis to look to God, whatever may be the situation, however difficult it may be, God will provide.

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the heritage of Abraham. To engage in the journey into the unknown that's faith. To be obedient to the will of God no matter what. Some people have certain difficulties with certain parts of the Bible. It's all God's Word and we're to follow it. So the heritage of Abraham is all conditions and circumstances to be a friend of God. Friend of God.

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You know the story that Jesus tells about Diabes and Lazarus. How Diabes took refuge in the things of this world. He had clothes, the finest tailored clothes. He had the finest food. He had all these things.

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But he never saw that beggar that was at his gate. But the time came when they both died. And Diavese was carried to Abraham's bosom. Notice Abraham's bosom. That was his inheritance. Abraham's bosom. That's his refuge against all of the things that may happen in this world.

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He has placed Abraham's bosom in the end. Abraham's bosom. But daddy lifted up his eyes in hell. And he speaks, even in hell, saying, "Let me just have some water, just a drop of water from St. Abraham."

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You know, there's a gulf. We don't want a gulf between ourselves and God. We want to be close to him. We want him there at our call.

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We want him there when we fall. We want him there under every condition and circumstance. We want God there. And I want, and I'm certain that you want to be a friend of God,

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Friend of God, thou my everlasting potion, friend more than life to me all along this pilgrim's journey. Savior, let me walk with you. Friend, sticketh closer to us than a brother. Friend, what a friend, who sent forth Jesus Christ to die on Calvary's rugged brow.

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friend, be a friend of God, is to be prepared for life not only here, but life hereafter. So as we sing the hymn of invitation, we extend the privilege to accept this eternal friend who will walk with us, talk with us, comfort us, carry our loads, and invite you to come. [Music]

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Come. [ Music ] I hear the manger say, "Thy strength indeed is small, ♪ Crown of wisdom, heart and brain ♪

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♪ Find in me my loving home ♪ ♪ Jesus, take it all ♪ All to him I owe. In my left a friendship's gain,

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He lies with my past known. For now, in me I find, That now, as I alone, Have changed the lesson taught,

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I left the heart of stone. He took David home. Home to give my hope. Here's your brother.

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Come with me. [Chorus singing] Those celebrating birthdays, join us here at the River Sanctuary. ♪ When Jesus paid it all ♪

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♪ All to his own ♪ ♪ They had never heard him say ♪ ♪ He was ♪ ♪ His life ♪

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♪ And all ♪ - The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

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The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace now and forevermore. Amen. [ Silence ]