Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
Did you ever notice how many sayings we have against making mistakes?
3 strikes and you’re out
Fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice, shame on me
To make mistakes is life, to repeat mistakes is just stupid
How about this one:
Paulo Coelho: “A mistake repeated more than once is a decision.”
Society tells us repeated mistakes is a status of failure
We all know people that seem to do the same dumb stuff over and over
Our response is to distance ourselves from them
We believe they’re only capable of letting us down
It’s who they are, it’s what they do
Story of Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille O’Neal was a monster at 7’1” - 325 lbs.
8th all-time scorers - over 25,000 points
15th all-time rebounds - just under 14,000
8th all-time blocks - more than 2,700
Yet, he’s 3rd all-time in free throw attempts - 11,152
In fact, Shaq spent more than 25-hours of his life shooting regular season free throws!
That’s because they came up with “Hack-a-Shaq”
What is “Hack-a-Shaq”?
If you have a dominant player like Shaquille O’Neal who will dunk on you all day...
…but can’t shoot free throws if he gets fouled, why not foul him on purpose?
Shaq’s worst season he shot 42.2% from the line, averaging 52.7% career
Strategy is, intentionally exploit the fact that someone will make a mistake
In that case, it’s Shaq with free throws
To Shaq’s opponents, his failures became their weapons
Here’s the thing, mistakes are a part of life - unavoidable
We ask: Is our identity just a sum of our mistakes?
I’d rather ask a different question:
How does God feel about our mistakes, and what does He do about it?
YouVersion: She’s Your Wife!
We’re in Genesis 20:1-18
As we get into the text, we’re going to see Abraham make mistakes
Not just mistakes, but the same mistakes we’ve seen before
He’s going to slip into old, unhealthy patterns
The question is, is God going to write him off?
Is He going to reject him?
What we’re going to see is that God’s reaction is a reaction of grace
Even if he does the same wrong thing over and over again
Genesis 20:1–2 (ESV)
1 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.”
And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
If you’ll remember, Abraham is supposed to be around the area of Mamre
Up between Bethel and Ai
Show map
This is where God gave Abraham the important promise:
Genesis 13:15 (ESV)
15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
This is also where Abraham left from to rescue Lot and brought him back
This is where is gave a tenth of his stuff to Melchizedek
This is where he spoke with the Lord about saving Sodom
This is his home base...
But then he goes around to observe the damage to Sodom and Gomorrah
Show map
Now he’s headed towards the Negeb between Kadesh and Gerar
Show map
And he is living there - not just passing through
You might remember Abraham has been in this area before...
In first message, Abraham got to the Promised Land
Then there was a famine and he went down to Egypt and got into trouble...
Remember God said, “I will make you a great nation RIGHT HERE...”
And at the first sign of trouble, he went somewhere else
When Abraham got to Egypt he said exactly what he just said here: “she is my sister.”
The first time Pharaoh took her as a wife and God pulled them out of that situation
That’s a big deal because Sarah’s womb is where Israel was supposed to come from
I promise you, Pharaoh unknowingly had plans to defile that womb
The lesson we learned was that everything was almost ruined because he didn’t trust God
Abraham failed, bottom line
But there’s a good lesson:
God even forgives repeat offenders
This is the second time God forgives this very sin
We know, because Israel exists!
His relationship with God is still moving forward!
We will see, God not only protects Abraham, but gives him a purpose!
That’s good news for us too
Because if you’re like me, you keep making the same mistakes over and over again!
I need a God who forgives repeat offenders!
No matter what, God is willing to restore us and put us back on track
1 John 2:2 (ESV)
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
As Jesus hung on the cross, every mistake was handled right then and there
It didn’t matter that our sins were in the future or that some were in the past
God offered everyone reconciliation and payment for their mistakes
Jesus even taught us to do the same for our brothers!
Matthew 18:21–22 (ESV)
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?
As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Jesus teaches us that, but first He LIVED that
Not only while He walked the earth, but still today
So if you believe in Jesus today, which sin of yours did He not die for?
There isn’t a single one
You’re not powerful enough for your darkness to overcome the light of Christ
Genesis 20:3 (ESV)
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
That must have been a scary dream!
Imagine dreaming and God says, “You’re a dead man!”
That’s not something you’d want to hear...
BTW
If you try to handle sin alone, you’re a dead man!
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