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Outline:

What makes a person famous? I’m not talking about a flavor-of-the-month or fireworks famous — not a fame specific to one scene, trend, or group of people… I’m not referring to a Kardashian level of celebrity nor am I alluding to a notoriety uniquely specific to Americana (Micheal, Elvis, Monroe, Jobs or Gates) — Instead, I’m talking about a multigenerational, cross-cultural, global type of fame that spans language, location, and time!

If you were to Google “Top 10 Famous People of All Time in the World” you will notice two things about the search-results… Aside from a couple of givens, almost every list varies mainly because there isn’t a uniform metric used to evaluate fame. And yet, while that may be the case, there does seem to be a commonality shared by everyone included.

You see to be truly famous you have to do something transcendent to yourself. To be famous in this global sense you have to accomplish something HUGE… For example…

Lead a political revolution like Alexander, Napoleon, Washington, or Mao…

Make a literary contribution to the world like Shakespeare, Twain, Dickens, or Poe…

Foster movements within the arts like Leonardo, Michelangelo, Beethoven, or Mozart…

Invent something important like Newton, Bell, Ford, or Edison…

Develop a ground-breaking scientific theory like Galileo, Darwin, Einstein, or Hawking…

Contribute a philosophical idea like Aristotle, Socrates, Paul, Marx, Nietzsche, or Freud…

Initiate radical social changes like Lincoln, Gandhi, Luther, Cromwell, Mandela, or MLK…

Create a religious movement like Jesus, Buddha, Muhammed, Confucius, or Moses.

Even doing something particularly infamous like Hitler or Stalin will still get you on this list.

My point is that, generally speaking, to achieve this type of fame you would have needed to lead, write, create, invent, or develop something so noteworthy and lasting that your name would be known by all - for all time. An aside… It should also be pointed out in order to make any of these lists you’d have to be so famous you could be known by only one name!

I bring this up to say there is one fascinating exception to the rule… There was a man who didn’t invent anything, wasn’t scientific, left behind no philosophical contribution to the world… A man who never wrote or created a lasting work, who wasn’t a revolutionary or agent of social change, who didn’t start a religion or discover a new land… A man who isn’t infamous and instead is universally held in high regard by almost every major religion (and that’s saying something)… And yes… He’s also known by one name… Abraham!

It’s amazing to consider a man who lived 4500 years ago, who didn’t possess a country, who’s entire life was spent as a nomad, who was a shepherd by trade, who wrote absolutely nothing down, and had no intention of starting a religious movement is beloved by cultures across the globe. According to ListVerse.com Abraham is the third most famous person of all time behind only Jesus and Muhammed — and directly in front of Moses and Buddha.

Because Abraham is revered by all three monotheistic religious (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), as well as being considered a prophet by Baha’i, there are an astounding 2 million books written about Abraham and over 9.1 million Google searches using his name any given month. ListVerse.com concludes, “Among well over 99% of the world’s cultures and societies, you will not have a problem when asking about the prophet called Abraham.”

As it pertains to the Old Testament, Abraham is mentioned 215 times. Additionally, he’s mentioned again in the New Testament another 74 times. And while we don’t consider the Koran to be Scripture — just for reference — Abraham again surfaces another 188 times.

As far as his contribution to Christianity is concerned, Abraham’s significance cannot be underestimated. In James 2:23 he’s called “the friend of God.” The Apostle Paul will also refer to him as “the father of all those who believe” and the “father of the faith” in Romans 4.

For our purposes this morning I want you to consider what made Abraham so significant (and the answer may surprise you)? Absolutely nothing! What’s even stranger is that the book of Genesis records more of Abraham’s failures than it does his triumphs!

Read the Rest at: http://www.c316.tv/sermons/344