Series:
Running with the Giants
Part
3: ABRAHAM
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud
of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1
For
when you don’t understand God’s ways…
“GOD
ALWAYS DOES THE RIGHT THING .”
But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me
since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of
Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my
household will be my heir.” Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man
will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.”
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if
indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring
be.”
Genesis 15:2-6
GOD
ALWAYS DOES THE RIGHT THING…
1. Even
if it TAKES A LONG TIME .
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But
she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord
has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can
build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. Genesis
16:1-2
2.
Even if it SEEMS ABSURD .
Then the Lord said, "I will surely return to you
about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son. “Now Sarah was
listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah
were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of
childbearing.
So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I
am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?" Then the
Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a
child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to
you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son." Genesis
18:10-14
3.
Even if it DOESN’T SEEM RIGHT .
Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you
sweep away the righteous with the wicked? …Will not the Judge of all the earth do
right?" Genesis 18:23, 25
4. Even
if we DON’T UNDERSTAND .
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a
sacrifice. Even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring
will be reckoned’, Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead…” Hebrews 11:17-19
FINAL
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
“Don’t
make EARTH YOUR HOME .”
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a
stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were
heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with
foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:9-10
“Live with an ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE .”
And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on
the seashore. Hebrews 11:12
All these people were still living by faith when they
died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed
them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on
earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of
their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would
have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:13-16
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