Thursday, May 4, 2006

By Faith... Abraham - Part I, Part 33 of 56

TEXT: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8).

IDEA: Great faith may start with weak faith.

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that God can take them where they are before he takes them where he wants them to be.

Do you know what a box score is in baseball?

Sportscasters can read a box score and tell you a great deal about the game. What they don't get is the shouting, the playing, the ups and downs of the game itself.

I. When we read the Bible, it sometimes resembles reading a box score.

We get the events in a person's life summed up for us. Yet we can overlook the messy business of living itself.

When we read the life of Abraham, that great example of faith, it can sound as though he never had any trouble believing in God.

Can that be discouraging when we read the Bible?

II. The game that Abraham played was not nearly as neat as the box score.

He was called to leave his family as well as his hometown to go with God to a place God would show him.

Hebrews 11 tells us that he went out, not knowing where he was going. That's the box score. What actually happened?

He went to Haran where they had a noted temple and a great deal of commerce.

He took his father and his nephew and their families along with him.

He settled there for 12 to 15 years.

He had enough faith to leave Ur but not quite enough faith to get him to go beyond Haran.

III. Does that resonate with your experience?

Are you surprised that God hardly mentions this as a mark against Abraham?

It's like a strikeout in the box score. It was part of the game, but it was not the whole game.