Following God Into the Unknown
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by PulpitAI (with edits)
Introduction
I heard this week online—I didn’t know this; I’m ashamed to say that. I guess the African impala can jump about ten feet high. And so that is quite impressive. But something that I did not realize is that if there’s even like a fence in front of it, even if that fence is about three feet high, it will not jump over it. And part of it is that it will not jump into a certain area or direction if it doesn’t have the vision of what is on the other side of that fence and when it can’t see there.
And this morning I want to talk to you about Genesis chapter 12. We’re gonna look at the life of Abraham. And so it’s a little bit on how God is calling us. I want to talk to you a little bit on where we are at in the process of this calling, and also for your life. And as we read this, we’re gonna see that God is asking Abraham to jump, right, and that he’s not able to quite see over the fence, and he’s not sure on exactly God’s calling. And so my title this morning is, “The Next Right Thing: Following God Into the Unknown.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t like that. I’m getting better at that because God has been so faithful over the years in our life as we’ve been obedient to his call, but it is still—although God has always been faithful and obedient as he called us into the unknown—it is not always comfortable. But it always is a blessing, and God is always faithful. Can I hear an amen?
Biblical Context
I want you to open up your Bible this morning to Genesis. We’re actually gonna look at Genesis chapter 12. But just kind of scan through—when you look at Genesis 11 and even some of the previous chapters, it is interesting when you look at like Genesis in the beginning, we see the fall of mankind. We also see the flood, right? And then when you look at Genesis chapter 11, you have another epic event, the Tower of Babel. And then kind of at the last part of chapter 11, it gives us a little bit of an introduction to Abram’s family. And then you have chapter 12. I want to encourage you—if you have a highlighter or pencil or something—you can kind of draw a bridge between chapter 11 and chapter 12, because it is a significant change that is happening. We see how sin impacts the world—some of those early chapters are kind of a global perspective. And now in chapter 12, we’re gonna see a significant change as we start to zoom into the life of Abraham and his family, and obviously generations to come. It is also now gonna be a little bit more clearer as the salvation plan of God is being revealed to us. So a big change from chapter 11 to chapter 12. Just kind of make a note for yourself there.
Another thing that you need to know as we read chapter 12: this event in chapter 12 actually happens when God is speaking to Abram in Haran. But when we read Acts chapter 7 (somebody can just fact check me later—I think it’s around Acts chapter 7), we actually see that the first time that God speaks to Abram, where God is calling him to jump, happens here in Ur. So this is the area that Abraham and his family is from. So God speaks to him here; he now travels; and in chapter 12, verse 1, this is kind of the area where God is speaking to him now. And so just kind of to have a picture of what is happening as we read this.
Main Passage
So let’s read chapter 12, verse 1.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
Now, again, just to kind of show you—so we know the first time God spoke to him was in Ur, all right? And they jumped, they started to travel, and they stayed in Haran. This is actually the area where Abraham’s dad passes away. And now God speaks to him, in a sense a second time to say, “Hey, time to wake up! Time to go! Time to jump! We’re not done yet.” Right?
And so through this process—this was actually, when you look at this whole journey of Abraham, probably (they’re estimating), let’s say somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 miles. That’s a long trip, right? No Uber. No American Airlines, right? And so you’re traveling; you’re traveling with some of your animals. I don’t even want to travel with my dog in the car, right? And so imagine traveling with all your family and some animals 1,200 miles. I don’t know, how far is Chicago? That’s probably like 800 miles or something like that, right? So it’s not even 1,200 miles. That’s a long journey per foot.
And so God is calling him now. And so kind of points that I want to share with you that’s been very meaningful in our lives and things that we’re wrestling with and that I hope that will challenge you individually and that I hope that will challenge you as a congregation as well.
God’s Call Is Personal and Can Be Challenging
The first thing that we see here this morning is that God’s call is personal and it can be challenging. Right? And so throughout scripture we see that God calls people into different ministries and for a different purpose, and most of the time we see people are obedient. Sometimes there is some resistance, but there is this personal call to say, “Go and work for me. Make an impact.” And that doesn’t always mean that it’s an easy challenge. A lot of times it is a hard challenge, a difficult challenge.
So when we look at this first verse, it says, “The Lord had said to Abram,” a personal call. And I know for us as a family, the Lord has called us several times over our life. Obviously the first call for me has been when God called me into full-time ministry. This year will be 25 years for me in full-time ministry. And then God said, “Okay now I’m calling you.” So God called us to Secunda, and then God called us to the U.S.
Yesterday I was able to go and ski with a family, and as I was on the lift and it was windy and stuff like that, at first I was like, “Why am I not in bed? Why am I on this lift?” Right? And it’s just, yeah, cold and stuff. And I was thinking to myself, “How amazing,” it’s like, “that we ended up in Minnesota from South Africa, from Welkom, from Secunda.” None of this really made sense that we ended up in Minnesota, and just kind of reflecting on God’s call and the places that he has taken us.
A Call to Go
And so now he calls Abraham and says, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”
Now, I appreciate the Hebrew word. I kind of took some time this week to just kind of Google and look at some of these Hebrew words. I’m gonna butcher the language, so if you’re an expert in Hebrew, I apologize. But the Hebrew here for “go” is lekh-lekha. And again, I might be totally off, but you don’t know any better, so just go with me.
And so it means “to move on,” but what I appreciate—not all of the scholars agree with this, but there is several scholars and several rabbis that makes this statement that when God is calling him, and with this “move on,” it is a calling also to say, “Go to yourself.” It is a divine invitation to embark on a journey of faith and transformation. And I really like that. And so in a sense, God is calling Abram to say, “I am moving you from one place to another place. It’s a physical move, but there’s also gonna be a transformation that happens in your life because of this move,” right?
And so I am not the same person that I was when I left South Africa. A lot of maturity that has happened, right? And things have shaped me and guided me. And so I matured in my faith in some areas. And so it has been an invitation and a challenge to transformation.
And so God is telling us, he says, “Hey, you will be transformed in your obedience.” And we actually see this. I mean, to actually look at Abraham’s life, right, and the transformation to actually be the father of faith, because when we look at the beginning, this wasn’t him. Right? He wasn’t the father of faith in the beginning. God had to bring some transformation and build some faith in his life because this whole relationship with God was all new to him. I mean, actually, we know that his father was not a believer; he was worshiping other gods. And so this is a whole new season for Abraham, and he’s got to learn now how to trust God. And by God calling him, God is gonna teach him, transform him, and teach him how to actually believe. And so it is a divine invitation to embark on a journey of faith and transformation.
Leave Behind
It is still a hard calling, right? And so God is calling him to leave his culture and his identity and his security behind, all of his relationships, those relational ties that grounded him, his inheritance, his legacy, and his provision.
Through my study this week—and something that we don’t always think about, even when we think about the parable of the prodigal son. When we read the prodigal son, we understand that that was a radical move for that son to leave his family. In the same way, this was actually a radical move for Abram to leave his entire family, because really in that culture, one of your main goals is to enhance the legacy of your father. You want to stay within your community. You want to do whatever you can to enhance the legacy of your parents, and that only changes after the death of your parents. And so this would have been an insane, radical, unheard of call for Abram. So don’t think for one minute here this morning that this was an easy call. This would have been very hard for somebody that doesn’t even really know God. They somehow—we don’t have a lot of details on exactly what that call looked like for Abram, but now he’s been called to leave everything, everything that he is familiar with, to follow this God.
God Is Calling You
Ephesians chapter 2:10 says:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I have some good news and I have some bad news for us this morning. The bad news for you this morning is that God is calling you too. God has got a plan and a purpose, exactly what Christo shared with you this morning as well. God has prepared you in advance for good works to do. And there’s a calling, not just on pastor’s life, not just on Abram’s life, but there’s a calling on all of our lives, all of your lives as well. And it is about being obedient. What are you gonna do with that calling? But I just want you to start to realize this morning that God might be calling you as well. Maybe he’s not calling you to leave Duluth or the U.S. Maybe he’s sending you to South Africa, or he’s maybe sending you to Asia. But it might be a calling to do a ministry. It might be a calling to leave your work. I don’t know what that might be. But all I’m saying is, when we look at scripture, God is constantly calling his people, because he has a plan and a purpose for your life.
And I want to just ask you this morning if you have been listening to that call. Have you been obedient? Don’t think it’s easy for me. It wasn’t easy for Abram, and it will surely not be easy for you as well. But it’s always this call to faith and to action. And the question is, are you gonna be obedient?
I love this quote by Oswald Chambers. It says:
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.
Right? And so Abraham in this moment is saying, “Okay, I don’t know exactly where I’m going.”
God is saying, “Go, trust me.”
And, you know, at least from our perspective, we’ve got kind of the full story. We see how that all plays out. And I don’t even know that Abraham understood all of God’s character and how much God really loved him. But we do. And so when God is calling us to go this morning, we might not have all of the information, but we know that we can follow the one that is calling us, because he loves us, and he cares for us. And it’s gonna be okay.
Faith Requires Action
Point number two this morning that I want to share with you in this story is this, that faith requires action. Faith requires action.
Again, I don’t like that. A lot of times, when God has called us to hard things and to take that first step, so many times in my life I have prayed when God has called us, and I said, “Okay God, please open up the path, show us the full picture, and then I will take that first step.” Most of the time that’s not the way it works in scripture. A lot of times God will ask you to first take that first step, and then he will kind of reveal to you what is next. But that doesn’t make it easy.
Now again, when we look at the Hebrew, arekka, with this word “I will show you” in Genesis 12:1, “… to the land that I will show you.” God intends to lead step-by-step rather than providing a detailed blueprint. If you’re gonna wait for the blueprint before you take the first step, good luck. You will wait for a very long time. And again, I have prayed; maybe God loves you more and he will give you that blueprint, but that’s not the way that he has been doing it in our lives, and it’s not the way that he’s doing this in Abram’s life.
God asked Abram not to rely on his own undertaking but on God’s ongoing revelation. God knew the plans for Abram. It would have been so easy for him to have said, “OK, here is all of your steps. Take this step; you’re gonna end up here, and then from there, you’re gonna end up in this place,” right? God knows the plan, but God doesn’t want to reveal this to him because he’s inviting him into this relationship to say, “I need for you to be in step with me. I need for you to walk with me daily. Don’t worry about this full picture. I will show it at the right time for you.” In the same way, God is calling us daily. Just because he’s not revealing this super big plan to you doesn’t mean he doesn’t know the big plan. He knows the big plan. But you don’t need all of the information right now because, in all reality is, you might mess that up if you know the full picture. And so instead, God is gonna walk with you. He is Emmanuel. He is the God that is gonna walk with you. And as long as you’re in step with him, he is gonna show you the next steps.
Now, again, this was huge. I am 48 today, and I don’t even want to drive to the car right now to the Cities. That seems like a lot of work. So imagine waking up one morning, and God is calling you when you are 75 years old, and he says, “Oh, guess what? You’re gonna walk 1,500 miles with your family.” And there’s not a Starbucks on every corner, right? This is gonna be hard. “And by the way, I’m not gonna give you all of the steps. I’m not gonna show you exactly where you’re gonna end up. But just trust me. Follow me.” Right? God doesn’t care about your age this morning. God cares about your obedience. Are you willing to go? Are you willing to say yes to God’s call?
Matthew 4:19–20 says:
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
It is a radical obedience. God calls, and they say, “Okay, we don’t know all the next step.”
Jesus is telling his disciples, he says, “Man, leave your nets, leave what you know, what you have been doing, right, your profession, and just follow me. We’re gonna catch fish for Jesus.” And they left their nets, and they went on this incredible journey. Is God calling you this morning maybe to leave your nets?
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with [his] faith.
It did not make sense to Noah to build that ark. It wasn’t raining at that time, and he had to be obedient year after year after year to build that in faith. If he waited for the rain and said, “Okay, now I’m gonna start to build,” it would have been too late. God is maybe calling you this morning right now to start to build, to leave your nets, to take that first step.
God Is Faithful Even When We’re Not
God is faithful even when we’re not. I am so grateful for this truth, because in our journeys a lot of times we’re just not faithful. We’re stubborn, sinful people and we mess up.
God calls Abram and he says, “Leave your family and your belongings,” and guess what? He takes his father. Just make a note there, not his mother-in-law. But he takes his father and his nephew. Did God say, “Take your father and your nephew?” No! He’s not obedient. And he takes his family, and then obviously we see that he is in Haran, and his father dies, and now God calls him again and say, “You are not in Canaan yet. You’re not done yet. It is time to get a move on.” So we don’t know exactly how long he was in this area and how long that took him to get moving again. But it is interesting, after some time they end up in Canaan, and then they visit these little towns, and we see that he builds places of worship and that he sets up a tent, right, as he’s traveling. And then in verse 10, there’s something interesting that happens. So let’s actually read verse 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. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.”
I can relate with that. So we’re not gonna go to Egypt.
So listen to this smart plan that he comes up with. Abram’s really a keeper. He says:
“When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
And we’re actually gonna see that this is gonna get him in trouble later on.
So now just pay attention. God calls Abraham, right, to Canaan. While he’s in Canaan, he’s exactly where God is calling him to. There’s some hardship, right? People are dying. There’s no food. As a husband, I get it. As a husband, you want to make a plan and say, “Well this is not good. I got to come up with a solution because people are dying all around me. We’re here in the middle of a desert; there is no food, so let’s go to Egypt because they have the Nile River. There’s always fish and always food.”
Did God call him to Egypt? No. God says, “Go to Canaan.” And again, we see that he is not obedient and that he’s coming up and trying to make his own plan.
And so he ends up in Egypt. And while in Egypt, he’s like, “Man, my wife is pretty.” Now, there’s an interesting teaching around this topic from Jewish rabbis. And they’re saying that there’s maybe a little bit more to the story, because what might be going through Abram’s mind is for him to say, “Okay, what if we’re in Egypt, and I’m gonna ask my wife to say that she’s my sister, because then people are gonna try and bribe me to find good favors, so they’re gonna say, ‘Okay, hey, we’re gonna give you ten sheep, five cows, whatever, so that we can maybe start to date his sister.’” And then, because again, there’s famine back home. So that’s maybe what is going on in his mind.
But he runs into trouble, that Pharaoh gets news. Now Pharaoh doesn’t ask permission. Pharaoh just takes. And so he sees his wife, he thinks it is his sister, Pharaoh takes her, and we have a problem, because there’s a promise about Abraham and future generations. He kind of needs his wife. He’s not in a good situation right now because he just lost his wife. So what now? How do you get out of this scenario? Well, God comes up with a solution, and there’s a curse and illness on Pharaoh’s wife and family. And so Pharaoh says, “Well take your wife, take all of the animals, and just go.”
Just by the way, this is a foreshadow of what? Exodus. This is a foreshadow of the story of Moses that we will read later about again. So it is just fascinating.
And so Abram actually purchased some land—not a big area, but he purchased a graveyard, in a sense, in Hebron, and where he buries his wife, and that’s actually where you have his site as well.
Several years ago, a mission team was able to go and visit Hebron and actually go and look at the grave site. And it is interesting and also sad right now is that you do not have any Christian churches in that area anymore. It is all Muslim areas. And it feels dark, and there was just kind of a heaviness and a weight there. And to think that this is the land and the area of Abram and Sarai. And now there is no Christian churches anymore. Fascinating.
So this morning, I want to just remind you that God’s faithfulness is not contingent on our perfection but on his character. So even if God has called you in the past to do hard things, and you have bombed, and you have failed, and you have said no, and maybe you sit here and you’re like, “Well, I’ve kind of canceled that all out,” it is not based on your perfection. God is still faithful.
If this was me, right, if I called Abraham and I said, “Hey, follow me. Go, leave your family. I want to bless you. I’m gonna give you land, and I’m gonna give you all of these blessings and a nation.” Right? So this is me, God, calling him. And then immediately he’s disobedient on several levels. If I was God, I would have said, “Just go back. You’ve messed up. I gave you opportunity. I wanted to bless you, but Abraham, you did not listen. Go back. I’m done. I’m gonna find somebody else.” But this is not who God is. Amen? He is faithful.
2 Timothy chapter 2:13,
… if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
God’s Promises Require Patience
Next point, second-to-last point. God’s promises requires patience.
This is a hard one for us, right? It takes time. This probably took them about two years to travel. And then, just think, as a 75-year-old for Abram, here’s the promise of a big nation. You don’t have any kids. It’s like, “Okay Lord, how is this all gonna work out?” And then we know that he was impatient, and he actually got himself in trouble, and he created an Ishmael. So be patient. Even though God’s picture might not be completely clear to you today, God is at work.
Faith Impacts Others
And then lastly—and this is important—faith impacts others.
Abram is blessed to be a blessing. God’s favor on Abram’s life is not an endpoint but a starting point for others to encounter God’s goodness. This blessing is not self-serving—it is meant to flow outward, impacting families, nations, and ultimately, the world.
God wants to bless you in your obedience. And it’s never to just bless you for the sake to say, “Oh, now you’re blessed. Get a nice car, nice house.” It is so that God can work through you. God is blessing you so that you can be a blessing. Everything that you have in your life today is not just to say, “Oh, look at how blessed I am.” It is part of that, but it is also to say, “Man, I am so blessed, I’m gonna bless other people.” Because that is the calling. And that is the calling for you as a church.
Pastor Steven’s Next Steps
So this morning, kind of looking at our next steps. I want to say about a year ago, probably just after maybe the sabbatical and stuff, I started to feel kind of God wrapping our season up at Salem. Now, I got to say, in the beginning, I tried to just kind of ignore that, right, because first of all, I don’t want to move again. Moving is hard, and we love you. And we have worked so hard at this church and amazing relationships. I mean, we have so many wonderful relationships here. All of you are family to us. We care for you deeply. And then we have staff here. We love our staff. We have amazing staff. We have amazing volunteers. And so in the natural, there’s no reason to be done. I’m not mad. I’m not angry at you. That might have made it easier, if I was just mad at Christo and I said, “Yeah, you know what? It’s time.” But I’m not mad at Christo. But just Sunday after Sunday, I would just have a sense that my season is done here.
And I knew kind of when I took the role as Lead Pastor in 2017 (we started here in 2011), God was calling us to help Salem to reach the next generation and to set you up to minister to the next generation. And so by God’s grace and by the work of so many of the staff and by the work of so many of you as volunteers, we are a healthy, godly, wonderful church. Amen?
And God is now calling us. And so there’s never a perfect time, so we’re trying to figure out, how do I do that? How do I share that with you, kind of the timing of that all? And so I was trying to put that off, the timing. But when you’re in ministry, there’s also always future dates. So there’s always another wedding. There’s always another commitment. And so I knew that I had to kind of put a date out there so that I know that there’s kind of an end date there. And so our last Sunday, the Lord willing, will be the last Sunday of June. And so I heard the staff is gonna have steaks and shrimps here, and so it’s gonna be a big party, so I’m excited to see that.
And so kind of next steps for us is, at this point, we really don’t know the next steps. Hailey is a junior at Denfeld, and that complicates things a little bit, because she is telling us we’re not moving, and she wants to finish, and we’re doing our best to honor that as long as we can. And so the hopes and dreams are that we stay in Duluth for a year. And so I don’t know. I don’t know if that means I end up at Costco for a year. Starbucks? No idea. Or maybe some other opportunities that the Lord might open up. But we’re just saying yes. We want to be obedient. And all I know today is that God will bless us. All I know is that God will be faithful because he has been over the years.
In the same way, I know that this is true for you as well. God will bless you, and God is gonna continue to be with you. And I’m excited. I’m praying that the Lord will send somebody that is gonna continue to lead you well and that this church can continue to grow and be a blessing. You are a wonderful church. I’m jealous, in a sense, to hand it over to the next pastor because you are such a blessing. And I’m so grateful. So the next pastor is really receiving a gift from God. You’re in a good place.
And so I want to just encourage you today and let you know you do not need to be concerned. We also have a wonderful, wonderful Council. This is a tremendous, wise, and gifted Council. And I know that they’re gonna take and make wonderful, godly decisions. So do not freak out. God is in control of this whole situation. He’s working in our lives. I think it’s a little scary on our end, maybe. Maybe it’s scary on your end, too. But we’re taking that step. We’re jumping. And I want to encourage you to just jump with. Let’s trust God. He’s gonna do amazing things.
And yeah, just, I don’t know if the Lord is maybe calling you this morning and maybe reminding you of a calling or a ministry, and he’s just saying, “Take some hard steps,” take that step. Don’t be comfortable. If God is calling, be obedient, even when it looks hard. Stay obedient. He will guide you through. He will lead you through.
God of the Impossible
This week, on Friday, I was driving in the car, and Life 97 was on, and they played a little clip, a video clip. I obviously didn’t see the clip, but it was about somebody that was excited about the snow, I think in Louisiana. And they kind of had a scripture, and it so ministered to me in that moment of just reminding me that God is the God of the impossible. And it stirred me up. So as soon as I got home, I emailed them. I messaged them, and I said, “Thank you for playing this. I really appreciate it.” I said, “Can you send me the link? Because it blessed me, and I think it fits well with this morning.” And so they did send that to me. I want to play that to you, and then we will stand and worship God.
In our worship this morning, I want to even encourage you to think about your calling. Where is God calling you to? Have you been obedient to that voice or are you just comfortable? And maybe God is shaking things up this morning in your life.
[Video Clip]
We have never seen snow like this here in New Orleans. I have never seen snow like this in my entire life. I’ve been asking God for a word for this year, and I think I just got it. This is the year of impossible things, to see things you have never seen before. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20, “Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or even imagine…” I pray this will be the year you see things you’ve never seen before. The year of impossible things.
