In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of obedience to God in order to receive blessings. The preacher uses the example of Abram, who only saw God appear to him after he obeyed and moved into the land of Canaan. Abram built altars to the Lord wherever he went, showing his devotion. However, the preacher points out that Abram initially disobeyed God by bringing his relatives with him, which was not what God had instructed. The preacher explains that God wanted to separate Abram from his idolatrous relatives in order to save humanity.

Now, God promised these three things to Abraham. What did Abram do? So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. Uh-oh, already he's disobeying. And may I say to you, he took relatives with him. He should not have done that. And he took his papa with him, Papa Tira. And God told him not to take them. Now, why did God want to get him out of the land, away from his relatives? Well, it's quite obvious when you go over to the book of Joshua, and I'll not turn to it today. But God said to Joshua, I called your fathers, Abraham, on the other side of the flood when they were serving other gods. Well, Abram was an idolater. You see, the world was pretty far gone at this time. God had to move like this if he's going to save humanity. Now, the other alternative is he could have blotted them all out and started over again. I'm glad he didn't. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have been here, because I arrived here a sinner. And the fact of the matter is, sinners would have been blotted out. But thank God, he's a God of mercy and grace, and he saves sinners. Now, what we have here is this man taking along his nephew, and he took his father along. And what happened? Well, Abram took Sarah, his wife, and that was all right, of course, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their substance that they'd gathered, and the souls that they'd gotten in Haran. And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. Now, we find this man spent in Haran a nice period of time patting his foot, marking time, and delayed the blessing of God. God never appeared to him until he moved into the land, until he got separated from at least the closer relatives and he only brought Lot with him. Now, will you notice, we have to come back and say this again in verse 6. He says at the end of verse 5, "...and into the land of Canaan they came." Now, verse 6, "...and Abram passed through the land, unto the place of Sychim, unto the plain of Morah, and the Canaanite was then in the land." Here is the fact, the Canaanite was then in the land. Now, may I add this right at this point because it's very important. You know, a great many people are going to say, well, this was the land of corn and wine, the land of milk and honey. Everything was lovely. Abraham left a terrible place, Ur of the Chaldees, and he came to a wonderful place. Don't you believe a word of it. That's not what the Bible says. This man, Abram, left a place we know today through archaeology, had a high civilization. I think maybe he might have had a bath in the house. He had a very wonderful civilization. He left that and he came into the land of Canaan, and the Canaanite was still in the land. Now, the Canaanite was not civilized. He was a barbarian and a heathen, if there ever was one. And Abraham did not better his lot by coming into this land. That's not the point. The point is, will he obey God? Now he has obeyed God, and what happens? Verse 7, "...and the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him." And you just have to pay attention to that. Abram built an altar unto the Lord, and God appears to him a second time. While he was in the land of Haran, a place of delay, God did not appear. You see, one of the reasons today many of us are not blessed in reading the Bible is because the Bible condemns us because we're not living up to the light we have. If we would obey God, then more blessing would come. God does not appear to Abram until Abram's ready to move out and obey God on the light he's had. Now God's ready to appear to him. He builds an altar, and Abram is a real altar builder, by the way, everywhere he goes. Notice verse 8, "...he removed from fence into a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east. And there he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD." Two things that he did now. He got into the land. He pitched his tent. He bought him a house in the new subdivision, and he moved in. He's going to retire in California, only it's going to be in the land of Canaan. He's arrived. He pitched his tent. That's what he lived in. Then he built an altar. That's his testimony to God. And everywhere Abram went, he left a testimony to God. What kind of testimony do you have? You don't have to put a track out in front of your house, and you don't have to write on the back end of your car, Jesus saves, and then drive like a maniac down the freeway, and there's some that do that. My friend, that's no testimony at all. May I say to you, this man quietly worshiped God, and the Canaanites soon caught on to that, by the way. And Abram, we're told, journeyed, going on still toward the south. That's a good direction to go. It's warm there, you see. Good weather. And so this man is moving south. He has itchy feet. He's a nomad. That was Abram.