Father Abraham -Part 1

Introduction 

Today we’re starting a new series.  

• A character study focuses on a single biblical character and draws attention to qualities in that person’s life that model things we should emulate or avoid.

This Year’s Theme 

• Abraham’s story ties directly to this year’s theme, which is “Under Construction.” 
• 1 Peter 2:5 (ESV):5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ 
• This year, God is building your ministry. 

Brief Review of Esther 

Last series, Esther gave us an example of a believer whose natural abilities situated her to excel in her calling. 

Introduction to Abraham 

On the other hand, Abraham, someone also called to do a mighty work of God, had none of the natural capacities that would qualify him for the role. 

Understanding the Role of the Natural and the Supernatural in Ministry Life 

Some of us will be called into things that make natural sense, and others of us will be called into things that don’t make natural sense. 

• When we’re called into something that makes natural sense, our background, our education, our resources, and our connections all support what God is calling us to do
• When we’re called into something that doesn’t make natural sense, the opposite is true. 

We have to walk by faith.  

Faith must be at the root of our obedience 

Defining the Miraculous 

No matter how well we manage our natural affairs, we need to leave space in our hearts to believe God for a miracle. 

• Every form of divine influence is not miraculous.
• A miracle happens when the Lord suspends the natural steps–and at times the spiritual steps–normally required to fulfill a need.

The Ways We Receive Miracles 

1. Some miracles are a providential part of our pathway of obedience to God.
2. Some miracles are the result of the gifts of the Holy Spirit—
3. Some miracles happen because God has made them available when we choose to believe.

Abraham Was Not a Usual Suspect 

• Genesis 6:9 (ESV):9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 
• Genesis 5:24 (ESV):24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. 
• Genesis 4:26 (ESV):26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. 
• Genesis 11:26–31 (ESV):26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah’s fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 
• Job 1:1 (ESV):1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 

Abraham Is Eventually Remembered as Someone Great 

• Hebrews 11:17–19 (ESV):17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 
• Romans 4:19–22 (ESV):19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 

An Unlikely Faith Hurdle 

• Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV):1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 
• Genesis 12:4 (ESV):4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 
• Genesis 13:2 (ESV):2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 
• Genesis 17:15–21 (ESV): 15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” 

Great Faith Begins with Simple Obedience 

Genesis 12:4 (ESV): 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 

Hebrews 11:1–40 (ESV) 

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now, before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.  

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.