Abraham

1
Abraham Father of Faith

• Part 4 God Makes a Covenant With Abraham

2
Abram Believes God

• Genesis 151-6 MKJV After these things the Word
  of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision, saying,
  Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your
  exceeding great reward. (2) And Abram said,
  Lord God, what will You give me, since I am going
  childless, and the steward of my house is this
  Eliezer of Damascus? (3) And Abram said,
  Behold, You have given no seed to me. And behold,
  one born in my house is my heir. (4) And
  behold, the Word of Jehovah came to him saying,
  This one shall not be your heir. But he that
  shall come forth out of your own body shall be
  your heir. (5) And He brought him outside and
  said, Look now toward the heavens and count the
  stars, if you are able to count them. And He said
  to him, So shall your seed be. (6) And he
  believed in Jehovah. And He counted it to him for
  righteousness.

3
Abrams Problem

• Abram had just fought a major battle and possibly
  felt vulnerable and unrewarded.
• Abram had no natural heir to his large estate.
• Asks God What will You give me?

4
Gods Solution

• God promised Abram a child from his own body, a
  natural heir.
• God gave Abram a visual picture of what the
  solution would look like the stars
• God gave Abram a clear promise of a great future.

5
Abrams Faith

• Abram believed God for an impossible outcome.
• Abram thought it was more impossible that God
  would lie.
• Abram believed that God is always truthful

6
Unwavering Faith

• Romans 416-22 MKJV but to that also which is
  of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us
  all (17) (as it has been written, "I have made
  you a father of many nations") --before God, whom
  he believed, who makes the dead live, and calls
  the things which do not exist as though they do
  exist. (18) For he who beyond hope believed on
  hope for him to become the father of many nations
  (according to that which was spoken, "So your
  seed shall be"). (19) And not being weak in
  faith, he did not consider his own body already
  dead (being about a hundred years old) or the
  deadening of Sarah's womb. (20) He did not
  stagger at the promise of God through unbelief,
  but was strong in faith, giving glory to God,
  (21) and being fully persuaded that what God had
  promised, He was also able to perform. (22) And
  therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

7
Solution-Focused Faith

• God shows us a positive and blessed solution to
  our problem
• God asks us to focus on His solution, not on our
  problem
• This solution often appears to be impossible
• When we trust God for this solution God is happy
  with us and blesses us.

8
Examples of SF-Faith

• Joshua and the walls of Jericho
• The feeding of the five thousand
• Moses at the Red Sea
• The raising of Lazarus
• Jesus Peter walking on water
• Jesus turning water into wine

9
Our Part

• To trust God
• To maintain focus on the solution (not on the
  problem)
• To put away anxiety
• To put away doubt
• To wait in hope
• To be positive solution-focused believers

10
The Two Reasons Why It Works

1. Focusing on the faith-solution connects us to God
   (who is light and love and always positive) and
   allows His mighty power to work in us and through
   us.
2. Focusing on the faith-solution pleases God and
   causes Him to bless us and to answer our prayers.

11
God Power Not Mind Power

• Your mind has no power in and of itself alone.
• Your mind is only able to help you connect to and
  focus on various spiritual sources e.g. God, the
  Devil, spirits, the world, your own lusts etc.
• Each of these spiritual sources has some power to
  bless you or to destroy you.
• Romans 85-6 ISV For those who live according to
  the flesh set their minds on the things of the
  flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit
  set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (6)
  To set our minds on the flesh leads to death,
  but to set our minds on the Spirit leads to life
  and peace.

12
You Are NOT God!

• You are NOT God, and you, on your own, cannot
  achieve the impossible.
• But you can connect to God, who created the
  Heavens and the Earth.
• Faith enables you to connect to the power of God
  and to achieve the impossible.
• It is not your power, but Gods power working in
  you, through you, and on your behalf.
• Mark 923 HCSB Then Jesus said to him, "'If You
  can?' Everything is possible to the one who
  believes."

13
Faith Calling

• Faith allows you to accomplish the impossible
  things that God has called you to accomplish for
  His glory.
• God sets us challenges for our faith to rise to.
• He is very pleased when we meet these challenges
• He is very disappointed when we fail to believe
  in Him.
• God works with us to increase our faith.

14
The Covenant of Pieces

• Genesis 157-12 MKJV And He said to him, I am
  Jehovah that brought you out of Ur of the
  Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.
  (8) And he said, Lord God, by what shall I know
  that I shall inherit it? (9) And He said to
  him, Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a
  she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three
  years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
  (10) And he took all these to himself, and
  divided them in the middle, and laid each piece
  against one another but he did not divide the
  birds. (11) And when the birds of prey came
  down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
  (12) And it happened as the sun was setting, and
  a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And, behold, a
  horror of great darkness fell upon him!

15
Transcendence

• God is not tame, but He is good!
• God comes to Abram in a blood-soaked covenant and
  a horror of great darkness
• There is a mystical side to faith
• God made a long-term relationship of spiritual
  blessing with Abram.
• God is totally in control
• God always takes the initiative

16
The Prophecy

• Genesis 1513-17 MKJV And He said to Abram, You
  must surely know that your seed shall be a
  stranger in a land not theirs, and shall serve
  them. And they shall afflict them four hundred
  years. (14) And also I will judge that nation
  whom they shall serve. And afterward they shall
  come out with great substance. (15) And you
  shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be
  buried in a good old age. (16) But in the
  fourth generation they shall come here again, for
  the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
  (17) And it happened, the sun went down, and it
  was dark and behold, a smoking furnace, and a
  burning lamp passed between those pieces.

17
The Future

• The only guarantee we have of the future is Gods
  Word
• No one except God can control or promise the
  future with any certainty
• Abram was told the future of himself and his
  family for hundreds of years
• Abram had zero control over this - it was Gods
  decision and Gods promise
• Gods promised future was not all roses but
  contained a promise of a good ending.

18
The Land

• Genesis 1518-21 MKJV In the same day Jehovah
  made a covenant with Abram, saying, I have given
  this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt
  to the great river, the river Euphrates, (19)
  the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the
  Kadmonites, (20) and the Hittites, and the
  Perizzites, and the giants, (21) and the
  Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the
  Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

19
The Promised Land
20
The Promise The Problem

• This land is now under the control of Abrams
  descendants mainly via Ishmael!
• The battle is between the line of descent under
  Isaac and the line of descent under Ishmael
• Israels unbelief has lead to the promise being
  (temporarily) usurped
• Unbelief creates BIG problems.