TNT - People Just Like Us
Week 1 - Abraham - Flawed but Faithful
Dale Satrum
October 5, 2021

Lesson 1

Why would we study stories about people who lived thousands of years ago? What relevancy do these people have on my life today?

I Cor. 10:11 “These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.” (NLT)

The bible is filled with examples of people who followed God and those who didn’t. Both examples are recorded for us to learn from. By studying the lives of those recorded for us in scripture, we learn what to do to follow God and what not to do.

Life of Abraham Summary:
• God called Abraham when he was 75 years old in the town Harran

• God made a promise to Abraham – This is called the Abrahamic covenant

• Gen 12
–Leave your country / relatives / father’s house
–Go to the land I will show you
–I will make you a great nation
–I will bless you and make your name great
–You will be a blessing
–I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you
–All the families of the earth will be blessed through you

• Abraham’s struggles trusting God

–Immediately after this promise Abraham leaves for what is today modern day Israel. There is a famine so they travel to Egypt. Abraham’s fears create a dilemma with Pharaoh.

–Gen 15, God promises Abraham a son. He and his wife Sarah get impatient and have a son through the servant girl Hagar. Ishmael is born.

–Gen. 20, they travel in to the land of King Abimelech. Again Abraham has difficulty trusting God in the situation and repeats the same mistake he made in Egypt years ago.

–Gen. 21 Isaac is born. Sarah is 99 and Abraham is 100.

–Gen 22, years later God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. This time, Abraham trusts God even though it didn’t make sense. Abraham’s faith is perfected through this experience.


Lessons from the life of Abraham

1. Faithfulness is about God using

to accomplish His purposes

A. God calls

• God did not call Abraham because he was the most righteous Chaldean at the time

• God’s calling upon our lives is not based upon our

We think God’s calling is like a professional sports draft pick

Eph. 4:1 “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” (NLT)

B. God

flawed people

• One of the beautiful realities about the bible is that the pages are filled with flawed people whom God used in miraculous ways. It’s one of the reasons for this class.

• Because we struggle believing God can use us despite our flaws we put ourselves on the

.

• We believe a lie that we can’t be useful to God until we are

.

• The reality is it is our calling that provides much of the motivation for allowing God to change us. We want to lead a life worthy of our calling.

C. God is

with flawed people

• Abraham made plenty of mistakes yet his calling was never changed or

.

• Even the impatience of waiting for the promised child that resulted in Ishmael, God still worked in.

• How many times have we tried to “

_” fulfilling His plan?

I Tim. 1:16 “But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.” (NLT)

• God uses our struggles, our flaws and even our imperfections as an example of His

.


2. Faithfulness is defined by a

rather than perfection

A. God is process oriented rather than

oriented

• Abraham could have concluded after his failure in Egypt that God made a mistake in calling him. This must have been a tough issue for Abraham because he made the same mistake years later.

• God sees our life as a

II Cor. 3:18 “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” (NLT)

II Cor. 4:16 “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.” (NLT)

• A failed attempt does not mean a

B. God is more concerned with

than perfection
• Abraham’s life is a great example of progress and growth over time rather than an example of perfection. The bible records the lives of imperfect people to encourage us.

Phil. 1:6 “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (NLT)

• We are here to

with God’s work not try to finish it ourselves.

• Progress is attainable – perfection is not. Progress gives hope – perfection robs us of hope. We can cooperate with progress – it is impossible to cooperate with perfection. Progress happens in this life – perfection happens in the next.


3. Faithfulness is developed by trusting God without

A. Abraham faced a faith versus

tests throughout his life
o Leave your relatives and homeland and go to a land I will show you.
o You will have a son
o You will be the father of many nations
o Through you all the world will be blessed
o Sacrifice your only son

• God develops faithfulness in us by giving us faith versus reason

• We must not make understanding a prerequisite for

WHY?
Is. 55:9 “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (NLT)


B. Abraham faced faith versus

tests

• Abraham’s feelings got in the way at least three times as we see from Scripture. He lied twice about his wife in regards to his own personal safety and once when he and Sarah got impatient waiting for a son.

Prov. 28:26 “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool…” (NASB)

• Our feelings are important yet they cannot dictate our faithfulness. Our feelings cannot be allowed to control whether or not we obey.

• Our feelings are not the ultimate

of what is true


C. Abraham faced faith versus

tests

• God promised Abraham a son and yet that promise was not fulfilled until 25 years later. No physical results for 25 years.

• Anyone can be faithful when we see God create instant results, but can we remain faithful even if we see no results whatsoever?

• I believe there are times God

in order to grow our faithfulness. Will we continue to follow even if we see no result?

II Cor. 4:18 “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (NLT)

Abraham is a great example that should give us encouragement in our own up and down journey with Jesus. Despite our ongoing struggle with our own limitation and flaws, God still uses us to accomplish His purposes. Always know that God believes in you more than you believe in yourself. We, like Abraham can be flawed yet faithful.