“The Story ~ Abraham’s Faith is Built ”

[ 5.04.14]

I love God’s Story & the people [ He chose to use to build] His kingdom; these people He chose didn’t match any traditional profiles you might have imagined. God has always chosen ORDINARY PEOPLE to do extraordinary work!

What the world normally discards ~ God redeems & uses for His glory! “Don’t let Satan convince you otherwise. He will try to convince you that you are too broken to be used by God. But the Bible tells us a different Story! Throughout history God has called ordinary people to TRUST HIM ü He chose a teenage shepherd boy named David to slay the giant

Goliath. ü God chose KING DAVID’S pleasure-seeking son Solomon to build His temple in Jerusalem. ü God chose Paul a violent persecutor to author (13) books of the N.T. ü God is many things BUT HE’S NOT PREDICTABLE!

Abraham was invited to be part of God’s story not b-c of his credentials or qualification, BUT B-C of his Faith = his Trust in God! If you could boil down the Story into one question = it would be this: DO YOU REALLY TRUST GOD even when life goes upside down on you? God uses ordinary people who are filled with doubts and fears ~ who aren’t perfect!

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People who believe that God has the power to do the impossible ~ Ordinary people who possess an unshakable faith = people who TRUST HIM!

Today is about HOW GOD BUILDS YOUR FAITH. It’s all about our 1 st Faith Movement = How God practically builds your Faith! Let’s look at how God built Abraham’s faith = God always starts with a…

I.

DREAM = nothing happens until there is a dream or vision

A. Genesis 12:1 – 2 ~ God promised Abraham: 1. God will make a great nation through His children & their descendants 2. God will make Abraham famous 3. God will bless those who bless you and will curse those who curse you 4. God promised to bless all the families [ Jews & Gentiles] on earth through Abraham High School Camp summer before my Sr. yr in H.S. God called me into ministry ~

I sincerely had no idea of what all that entailed BUT

God gave me the dream

that (1) day I could help others have a

better life in Jesus’ name! Faith always begins with this question: Do you TRUST GOD or not? The 2 nd step in building your faith involves a…

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II.

DECISION = Faith is a verb ~ putting your faith into action

A. (R) Genesis 12: 4 – 5b B. Abraham and Sarah were senior citizens. In all likelihood they were comfortable in life with no plans of moving, the idea of change had to be hard for them.

C. If your faith is going to grow ~ it always involves a decision to act. (1) great dangers that wars against your faith is COMFORT, not rocking the boat! After seminary ~ we said good bye to our youth group that we had served for (9 yrs) & headed to Tucson & was handed this scripture = (R) Hebrews 11: 8 – 10 or p. 926 By faith, Abraham took his family a distance of 775 miles on foot/camels. ( it is 755 miles from Noblesville to Sioux Falls, South Dakota) 1 st steps of faith are always the most difficult. ü “Faith begins where man’s power ends.” George Mueller ü 3 rd step in building your faith often involves a…

III.

DELAY – a delay is not God’s denial

A. (R) Genesis 12:10 –

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Once Abraham finally got to where God told him to go; there was a famine & they had to move again 300 more miles…. ü The waiting room of life often reveals what we believe about God. ü Psalm 27:14, “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” B. In Abraham’s story 10 years has now passed since God promise = still

no children. [ Please remember] God does the right thing even if it takes a long time. Ever had to wait on God? And waited? For something important to occur? I PRAYED for my dad’s salvation for 33 years! Maybe your situation is bad now, you think your prayers aren’t being heard… you’ve been trusting God to change your spouse, save your marriage, heal your addicted child… maybe everyone thinks you are crazy for hanging in there as long as you have.. You keep believing and keep your faith… delay is not God’s denial. C. (R) James 1: 6 - 8 or p. 930

4 th step God uses to build your faith is…

IV.

DIFFICULTY = more good news…

A. (R) Genesis 12: 11 – 20

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B. Do you ever take things into your own hands instead of trusting God I love these OT Stories ~ apparently God isn’t expecting perfection from us. ü Ever take matters into your own hands? ü [INSERT] After 11 years, we learned that we were going to be parents again. We had already given all of Emilee’s “baby stuff” away, so we knew we would have to buy a crib, stroller, high chair, car seat, and of course – we needed a new ride! This was a fast decision that we didn’t really pray about. Trust God that He would provide ~ we trusted in complete strangers who busted us at the dealership. ü Wanting to get the most out of our trade in, we took our 1984 300 zx to the shop and had new tires put on it, and then had it detailed inside and out. Never mind that it had at least 150k miles on it. Never mind that it had had the paint baked off of it in the desert sun. And never mind that the carpet had dry rotted – which essentially was sucked up into the vacuum cleaner (along with the knobs from the radio). We put about $500 into “fixing” this car, and after the salesman had declared, “Let me be honest, we don’t want that car on our lot.”, we got exactly $500 for it for as a trade-in. ü When it was all said and done, we walked out of the dealership having basically given them the new tires, the 300 zx, and our shirts – all for a much higher interest rate than you could ever dream possible. Had we taken our time to pray about it, seek God’s will for it, and then waited for an answer, the outcome would have been much different.

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5 th step God uses to build our faith is often a…

V.

DEAD END = if you are here, you are in good company

A. (R) Genesis 18: 7 – 14 B. Don’t be too hard on Sarah, she’s waited 24 years for God to answer her prayers. All of us face difficulties & struggle as part of the faith building process = it’s that time we see if we are going to trust God or not? ü Why does God let all this trouble & difficulty happen? That is how our faith & character is built. If things always go smooth and easy we will never know what we believe and what we are made of. We find out if our faith is real in tough times. ü 1 Peter 1:6 – 9 or p. 934 C. Faith is trusting God even when the story doesn’t make sense. a. Don’t GIVE UP = God always listens ~ generally never early J b. If you are at a dead end, where everything seems impossible, that is when God works best. Many of God’s heroes came to dead ends in their faith journey’s The 6 th step God uses to build our faith is…

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VI.

DELIVERANCE = best response to Dead Ends is to live by faith & expect

A. (R) Genesis 22: 1- 14 = beautiful parallel to John 3: 16 B. Some of us never get here because we step in and try to do it ourselves God made sure that Abraham trusted him completely by telling him to sacrifice His own son Parallel to God giving His only son JESUS! ü Moriah where they built the temple = where the Dome of the Rock is today! ü 300 meters away from Golgatha where Jesus was crucified Here is where we struggle = We want the dream today and deliverance tomorrow;

but then God can’t develop our faith and character.

ü Sarah and Abraham passed the only test that God cares about: the test of our faith and trust in Him.

Where are you in your faith journey? Do you trust God in all circumstances? Good and Bad? Do you trust that He loves you already…there is nothing you can do to make Him love so you don’t have to keep striving to be perfect to earn His love. All He wants is your love and your TRUST + your FAITH.

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