Sermon Central
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Abraham: When Faith Gives Way To Fear Series
Contributed by Russ Barksdale on Apr 17, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: The life of Abraham and how his faith gave way to fear, but God does not give up on him. Our failure doesn't mean that God is finished with us.
Fail Forward?Abraham: When faith gives way to fear?
God’s call to Abraham.
Genesis 12:1?God’s promises to Abraham.
Genesis 12:2-3 Abraham’s faith resulted in obedience.
Genesis 12:4 ?Abraham’s faith resulted in worship.
Genesis 12:7-8??Abraham’s faith gave way to fear.
Our faith can give way to fear in moments of crisis.?
Our fear causes us to forget God’s promises and focus on our problems & limitations.
Our fear feeds our self-centeredness.
When our faith turns to fear, it results in failure.
??God doesn’t give up on Abraham.
Our failure doesn’t mean that God is finished.
Our failures should return us to the place our faith began.
Fear gives us an opportunity to exercise faith. ?
God accomplishes His perfect purpose through imperfect people.
I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
Abraham is arguably one of the most important figures in the Bible story.? Abraham is known for his great faith. When you look up the references about Abraham in Old and New Testaments, many times it references his faith.
He demonstrated great humility when his nephew Lot’s herdsmen began arguing with Abraham’s herdsmen and Abraham let Lot take the good ground for his herds, even though Abraham deserved to take the best land.
He demonstrated heroic bravery when later he rescued Lot when Lot was kidnapped and taken away by some foreign kings. It was a daring and brave rescue.
Most importantly, the genealogy of Jesus is traced all the way back to Abraham
But Abraham didn’t always get it right. In fact, he experienced some deep struggles and setbacks in his life.
God’s call to Abraham. “The LORD said to Abram: ‘Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you’.” Genesis 12:1? Abraham’s original name was Abram. But Later in the story, after God established a covenant between Himself and Abram, God changed his name to Abraham. You probably already know this, when a covenant is established, both parties give something to the other party. In a wedding covenant, rings are given. In a land deal, one gives money, the other gives land. So when this covenant was established between God and Abram, God gave Abram part of His name, the ‘ah’ Yahweh. And from that day foreward for the Hebrews, God became called the God of Abraham. So God said, ‘Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you’.” I want you to go to a place you don’t know about. So Abraham struck out, not knowing the way to go, not knowing the place to go, not knowing what it would look like when he got there.? Story of Sue/Me Albuquerque…phone call, closet. Sue had no idea, but God spoke to her and she went with me. ? There are those times in life where the Lord prompts you to step out in faith and do something even tho you don’t know how you’ll do it or what it will look like after you do it. I’ve heard so many testimonies of people during/after Unleashed where they prayed, sensed, stepped out not know how or exactly what it would look like afterward. But they did it by faith..??God’s Promises to Abraham. Genesis 12:2-3 ? (Rebecca can we highlight on screen? If so, please highlight “will” as seen below)?2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples[a] on earth will be blessed[b] through you.” Genesis 12:2-3? 7 Times God says to Abraham…. “I will” = When the creator of the universe says, “I will”, you can take that to the bank. Again, let me say that when God says He will bless us when we tithe, when we give sacrificially, when we offer a verbal witness to someone, when we take a stand for him in the office or at school—when He says He will bless us and be with us—you can count on it. God said to Abram, “I’m going to bless you and make your name great…and here the Name of Abraham is revered by 3 great religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.? More importantly, God says that He will bless the nations through Abraham. What’s He talking about there? The Messiah! Jesus!
Abraham’s Faith resulted in obedience. 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ?What do you call it when you do what God tells you to do? Obedience! He acted on the revealed will of God. That’s obedience and that is faith. Over and over again, faith and obedience are positioned as different sides of the same coin.? Deitrich Bonhoffer ““The truth is that so long as we hold both sides of the proposition together they contain nothing inconsistent with right belief, but as soon as one is divorced from the other, it is bound to prove a stumbling block. "Only those who believe obey" is what we say to that part of a believer's soul which obeys, and "only those who obey believe" is what we say to that part of the soul of the obedient which believes. If the first half of the proposition stands alone, the believer is exposed to the danger of cheap grace, which is another word for damnation. If the second half stands alone, the believer is exposed to the danger of salvation through works, which is also another word for damnation.”
