Stuck On Stupid! Series

Intro:

1. Matthew Henry, "There is no state on earth free from trials, nor any character free from blemishes...Perfect happiness and perfect purity dwell only in heaven...The grace Abram was most noted for, was faith; yet he fell through unbelief and distrust of the Divine providence, even after God had appeared to him twice.

Alas, if God did not deliver us, many a time, out of straits and distresses which we bring ourselves into, by our own sin and folly, we should be ruined."

2. Abraham is know as a man of faith, but no man has pure, uninterrupted faith.

3. Abraham's Folly.

Trans:We have seen his Flakey family; his Treaty and Journey.

Gen. 12:10-13:4

I. FIRST, THE PROBLEMS EVEN WHEN WAKING BY FAITH. 12:10

Now there was a famine in the land - Abram is in God will, this is the land that God commanded him to go to.

Often we assume that if we are in God's will we will be free from problems - that is a false assumption!

"Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness And has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD And rely upon his God." Isaiah 50:10 (NKJV)

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NKJV)

Ron Dunn, "Jesus was brutally honest. He never left His followers in doubt, as to what awaited them; He did not dazzle them with promises of riches, and honor, and power. Rather, He spoke of carrying a cross and denying self; of persecution and ridicule; of losing, in order to find; of dying, in order to live."

"For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake." Acts 9:16 (NKJV)

That is a foreign concept to this success orientated generation.

Butler, "Today, it seems that we judge just about everything on the basis of outward success. So we think that if a farmer does the will of God, he will have a better crop; if the salesman does the will of God, he will have more sales; if the pastor does the will of God, he will see his church grow in attendance...

And thus, if Abraham goes to Canaan, he will enjoy nothing but good times. But, if the farmer's crops fail; if the salesman loses sales; if the pastor sees church attendance fall - we tend to conclude that these folks have made a mistake and are out of the will of God.

But the will of God is not determined by outward success but by the Word of God. Remember there was no famine in Ur or Haran, yet God clearly commanded Abram to go to Canaan where there was a famine."

God's will does not eliminate suffer...

"3 that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know." 1 Thessalonians 3:3-4 (NKJV)

F.B. Meyers, "Had God pledged Himself to give His servants, an unbroken run of prosperity, how many more counterfiet Christians would there be! Do not be surprised, if a famine meets you. It is no proof of your Father's anger, but is permitted to come, to test you - to root you deeper, as the whirlwhind makes the tree roots go deeper into the soil.

Lynn Anderson had a song - I never promised you a rose garden.

"I beg your pardon,

I never promised you a rose garden

Along with the sunshine

There's gotta be a little rain sometime."

Lynn Rene Anderson was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1947 and raised in Sacramento, California. Lynn began performing as a singer and guitarist while in her teens.

In 1968, she became a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show, and in 1970 she recorded "Rose Garden," which became her biggest hit.

The point of the song is that there will inevitably be tough times.

The Bible never promises us a rose garden.

II. NEXT, NO ONE IS BEYOND BECOMING A PRODICAL.

Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there - what is missing? A word from God! He is now out of God's will...

How did this happen?

A. He got Scarred. 12:11-12

11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. 12 Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, 'This is his wife'; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you."