One of the favorite genres of movie goers, when it’s done well, is the adventure movie, the quest movie.  Movies such as Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wards, the Neverending Story, Adventures in Babysitting… when these movies are done well, they are some of the most memorable movies for people of all ages.  In the adventure movie, a person or group of people is pulled out of their ordinary lives by a secret closet, or magic book, or mysterious stranger, and they set out on a journey full of twists and turns, fears and doubts, ups and downs, heroes and enemies.  There are times they want to give up, and times it seems like there is no hope.  But in the end, they are different people, forever changed for the better because of the amazing adventure they have just experienced.
  
For the next weeks that I am here, I want to look at such a story from the Bible – the story of Abraham.  The story of Abraham is the story of an ordinary man pulled out of his ordinary life by the call of God, leading him on to an amazing adventure full of twists and turns, fears and doubts, ups and downs, heroes and enemies.  There are times he seems to give up, and times when it feels like there is no hope.  But in the end, he and his family and the whole world are changed for the better because he was not afraid to step out on this amazing adventure.
 
Ultimately, the story of Abraham is our story, because it’s the story of what it means for you and me to live by faith in God, believing that even though we may not know or understand the direction in which we are going, we know that because we are following God, it’s the most secure place we can be.  So, ultimately, I really believe that this morning God wants to use the story of Abraham to awaken again in us and in our church the reality that the Christian life is meant to be a quest, an adventure, a life where we are pulled out of our ordinary lives by the call of God and led on an amazing adventure full of twists and turns, fears and doubts, ups and down, heroes and enemies. There will be times when we want to give up, and times it seems like there is no hope.  But in the end, we become radically different people, changed for the better because of this amazing adventure.  I pray that God may stir up in you a desire to recapture the adventure this morning.

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Genesis 11:27.

Genesis 11:27 - 12:9 - This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.  ²⁸ While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.  ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.  ³⁰ Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.  ³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.  ³² Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.  ¹ The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go 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 left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.  ⁵ 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.  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.  ⁹ Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

Hebrews 11:8-9 - 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 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.