01.21 Sermon Notes
January 20, 2024

Fast, Pray, and Give 2024

Giving: Pitch Your Tent

Genesis 12:1-8 NIV
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. 2 “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.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 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 Harran. 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. 8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you.

  • “To your offspring, I will give this Land. So he built an altar to the Lord.” v. 7
  • Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift.

God’s greatest blessings often come in the presence of your enemies!

  • “At that time the Canaanites were in the land.” v. 6
  • Not everything given is under perfect circumstances, it is about what you can make out of it!

Never be afraid to build an alter in the presence of your enemies!

  • “At that time the Canaanites were in the land…so he built an altar to the Lord.” vs. 6-7
  • God isn’t waiting for all of the conditions to line up in our life; He is asking us what can we do with what He has given us at this moment!
  • We musn’t fear worship in midst of less than desirable circumstances! Build your altar and bring your offering to the Lord!
  • “In the spiritual war, in which we are all engaged, the first and necessary step to victory is, to renounce all confidence in the wisdom and strength of nature and the world; and to remember, that we can do nothing, but in the name, by the merits, through the power, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and our God.” -Horne
  • “Alas, how many in our day who profess to be the Lords’ are as abjectly dependent upon their fellow-men or upon an arm of flesh in some shape or other, as if they had never known the name of Jehovah at all.” -Spurgeon

Where you pitch your tent matters!

  • “From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel (House of the Lord) on the west and Ai (Heap of ruins) on the east.” v. 8

  • BETHEL: “House of God”

  • AI: “Heap of ruins”

  • “…he moved towards the hills of Bethel…”

  • What are you moving towards in your life when it comes to giving?

    • If you’re not moving towards God, the only other possibility is towards ruin and rubble!
  • Please understand that we are all pitching tents every day, it is just a question of where?
    • “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. 3 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 he went on toward the hills east of Bethel (House of the Lord) and pitched his tent.” vs. 2, 3 & 8

With your finances:

  • Pitch your tent…ACTION
  • Build your altar…SACRIFICE
  • Call on the name of God…WORSHIP

Receive your God promised blessings! Fast, Pray, and Give!!!! (Matthew 6)