When Abraham entered Canaan there already were many kings in that land. In these ancient times there were many tribal kings, and the land of Canaan was inhabited by several tribes. Like the United States, various ethnic groups were cohabiting in that land. And amongst these various kings, Chedorlaomer was the most powerful king. So the other kings paid him tributes as his subjects, but a number of these tribes joined together and rebelled against Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam. War broke out amongst the kings in the land of Canaan as a result of this.

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Genesis chapter 14 describes Abraham waging war. The region where Abraham was living at that time had many kings. Of these kings, Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations had gone to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). So, four kings fought against five kings. This took place in the ancient tribal age. It was a time when the political system was decentralized into small tribes, each with its own king. So the small area of Sodom had its own king, and other nearby regions also had their own kings.

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We have just read Genesis 14:17 through 15:1 for today’s Scripture reading.
At that time Lot was living in the land of Sodom. When war broke out amongst the various allied kingdoms in the land of Sodom, a certain king named Chedorlaomer attacked Sodom and plundered all its goods and took its inhabitants as captives. And amongst these captives was Abraham’s nephew Lot. One of the captives who escaped ran back to Abraham and told him the news saying to him, “Many kingdoms including Sodom were defeated. Lot was also taken captive, and he lost his everything including all his possessions and his family.” Abraham then took an army of 318 trained men who were raised in his house and pursued King Chedorlaomer all the way to Dan, attacked them and defeated his army, and brought back not only his nephew Lot but also his family and all the goods that he had lost.

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After going into war with 318 trained servants from his household, Abraham defeated his enemies and returned triumphantly. After the battle, when Abraham was returning like a victorious general with many people and the spoils of war, two men came out to receive him. They were the king of Sodom and the king of Salem. Although both these two kings went out to welcome Abraham, their attitudes were very different.

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You and I must lead our lives of faith for the purpose of preaching the gospel of the Lord. Our lives of faith are led to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit that the Lord gave us. How should we live out our faith, now that we have been saved from all our sins thanks to the Lord? For what purpose should we live as those who have become righteous people? All of us should live for no other purpose than to spread the gospel throughout this whole world.

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In the Book of Genesis chapter 6 there is an account of the sons of God who were delighted with the beauty of the daughters of men and took them as their wives. It is both really easy and difficult to live out our faith in this world. Therefore, we must at times compare God with humans and think whom we must love the most. If we live with just one understanding that we do not have sin after receiving the remission of our sins, our spiritual life will in time turn into a meaningless one, being no different to the faith of the religions of this world. That is what happens when we just hold fast onto the fact that we do not have any sin. But those who know the righteousness of God properly and really revere this righteousness, can carry out their genuine spiritual life before the presence of God.

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As we can see in today’s Scripture reading, when Abraham looked up towards the stars in the heavens, God said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” God promised Abraham like this, and Abraham believed totally in this Word of God. Abraham believed in exactly what God had told him, that He will make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky. When God asks us if we believe in His Word, we must also be able to answer boldly, “Yes, I believe.” Only those who are able to give this answer can truly believe in this gospel Word of the water and the Spirit as well.

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In today’s Scripture reading God told Abraham to look up towards the heavens and see if he was able to count the number of stars in the sky. And then God said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” It is recorded in the Bible that Abraham believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
I am speaking here of the righteousness Abraham received from God. How did Abraham receive this righteousness? He received it by believing in the Words God had spoken to him. The righteousness Abraham received was by the faith of believing in the Word of God. Likewise, we also become righteous before the presence of God when we have the same faith as Abraham had.

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God said to Abraham, our ancestor of faith, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Today I want to share the Word with you about “What kind of faith should we have?” In other words, I want to share with you about faith that leads you to the blessing of God, and I want this faith to become your shield and your exceedingly great reward. I know that faith in God that becomes one’s shield and exceedingly great reward is a blessed and great faith. Let us now look in detail about how Abraham was able to attain such faith.

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In the Bible Abraham is the greatest father of faith who believed in God. We can say that he is the originator of faith and that he is the greatest father. For the Israelites, he is the ancestor of their nation, their greatest father of faith, and the ancestor of their nation. Of course, there were people of faith even before Abraham. However, after the Noah’s Flood, God spoke and showed and revealed to us what faith really is and took in the Israelites as His people through Abraham. For the Israelites as well as all the nations living in this world who are not Israelites, all those who believe in God, Abraham is their father of faith. If we could believe in God just like Abraham had believed, we will surely be able to meet God, receive blessings from Him and be able to follow Him. To us the Gentiles, Abraham might not seem so great and might only seem great in a spiritual sense. But to the Israelites he is the father of faith who is immeasurably great. Though he may not be the founding father of everyone, he is nevertheless one of the greatest fathers of faith.

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