Genesis 12 – Abram’s Lapse of Faith is a reminder that we all stumble in unbelief, but God’s blessings come to us by His grace and not our merit. Everyone knows and experiences that life is hard! It’s easy to blame God for suffering and hardship, but as a we grow in knowing God’s person we see that He is building our character and trust in Him through trials and pain. It’s temping to do what is right in our own eyes and according to our own ways, and like Abram God calls you to grow in faith. Pastor Dave’s message in Genesis 12 – Abram’s Lapse of Faith is an encouraging lesson teaching us that God loves you even when you fail.
LIFE IS HARD – GOD’S WAYS ARE PECULIAR
The Skeptic’s Say:
If God is good, He would wish to end all suffering and hardship. If God is Almighty, He would be able to do what he wished. But suffering and hardship exist. Therefore, God lacks either goodness, or power, or both.
The Anonymous POEM
When God wants to drill a man, And thrill a man,
And skill a man
When God wants to mold a man To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed, Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him, – Anonymous
And with mighty blows converts him Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands.
While his tortured heart is crying And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes.
How He uses whom He chooses, And which every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out-
God knows what He’s about.
And skill a man
When God wants to mold a man To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed, Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him, – Anonymous
And with mighty blows converts him Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands.
While his tortured heart is crying And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes.
How He uses whom He chooses, And which every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out-
God knows what He’s about.
UNDER TRIAL – ABRAM STUMBLED IN UNBELIEF
In the Book of Genesis Abram says: “But indeed, she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.”
Genesis 20:12, (NKJV) https://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/gen/20/12/s_20012
Genesis 20:12, (NKJV) https://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/gen/20/12/s_20012
OUR FAITH GROWS BY KNOWING GOD’S PERSON
The consequences of Abram’s sin: Sarai given to Pharaoh’s Harem
God Plagues Pharaoh’s house
God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.” And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore, I did not let you touch her.
Genesis 20:3-6, (NKJV) https://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/gen/20/3-6/s_20003
GOD’S BLESSINGS COME TO US BY GRACE – NOT BY OUR MERIT
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