1. God Builds a Nation

2. 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

3. What God looks for is a man of faith.

4. Genesis 12:1 (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.

5. Genesis 12:2–3 (NIV)
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.”

6. Genesis 12:4–5 (NIV)
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.

8. Hebrews 11:8 (NIV)
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

9. Matthew 19:21 (NIV)
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

10. Matthew 19:23 (NIV)
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

11. Hebrews 11:9 (NIV)
9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

12. Hebrews 11:11 (NIV)
11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.

13. Genesis 15:6 (NIV)
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

14. Hebrews 11:12 (NIV)
12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

15. Romans 4:18–19 (NIV)
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

16. 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

17. Romans 4:20–21 (NIV)
20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

18. Romans 4:23–24 (NIV)
23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

19. We are all called by God, and we are all called to respond to God in faith.

20. Genesis 16:15–16 (NIV)
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

21. Genesis 16:12 (NIV)
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

22. Genesis 21:1–2 (NIV)
1 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.

23. Genesis 21:5 (NIV)
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

24. Genesis 21:6 (NIV)
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”

25. Genesis 21:7 (NIV)
7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

26. Genesis 21:8 (NIV)
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.

27. Genesis 21:9–10 (NIV)
9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

28. Genesis 21:11–12 (NIV)
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman.

29. Genesis 21:13 (NIV)
Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”

30. God Builds a Nation