Untitled Sermon (28)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Wrestling with Faith and Fear

Genesis 12:1–20

1. SERIES SETUP — “From Beginnings to Wrestling.”

We just walked through Genesis 1–11 in a series called Beginnings.

The foundation is set. Creation. Fall. Flood. Babel.

Now we move into Genesis 12–36…

And this is where things get personal.

Transition line:

This next section of Genesis is not about big global events—

It’s about people… and their struggles and challenges

I’m calling this series: Wrestling

2. THEME — WRESTLING

Genesis 12–36 is full of stories of wrestling.

Not clean, easy, put-together faith—

But real, raw, in-the-middle wrestling.

Ian Duguid:

“Ever been in a crisis of faith… where you ponder the reality gap between what God has promised and the circumstances in which you find yourself…Surely this isn’t what life should be like as a Christian, you think to yourself.””

Wrestling with the gap between what God says… and what life feels like.

Wrestling with faith and doubt

Wrestling with obedience and understanding

Wrestling with God’s promises and the waiting in between

Wrestling with fear when life feels uncertain

Wrestling with identity—who am I, really?

Wrestling with sin, consequences, and the past catching up

Wrestling with relationships, betrayal, comparison, and forgiveness

Wrestling with control—trying to take God’s plan into our own hands

Then your character list

Abraham wrestles with fear…

Sarah wrestles with unbelief…

Lot wrestles with compromise…

Hagar wrestles with rejection…

Rebekah wrestles with control…

Jacob wrestles with deception…

Rachel and Leah wrestle with comparison…

And eventually… Jacob wrestles with God Himself.

And that’s the thread running through every one of these stories—

Not perfect people… but people in process.

Because following God isn’t always neat and easy…

Sometimes it looks like wrestling.

And here’s the good news—

God is not afraid of your wrestling.

God in not ashamed by your past.

God is looking for you to trust and submit to him. To follow him.

Will you hold on and follow?

Will you turn back and let go?

And the first person we meet in this section…

is Abraham.

3. ABRAHAM — WHY HE MATTERS

A. His Influence

Likely the most influential person outside of Jesus Christ who ever lived…

B. His Reach Across Religions

All three major world religions trace their roots back to Abraham.

For Jews, he is Father Abraham.

For Christians, the line comes through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, David, and to Jesus.

For Muslims, through Ishmael.

Today, roughly 13 million Jews, 2.4 billion Christians, and 1.6 billion Muslims look to him as their patriarch. That is over half the world’s population.

Lennox quotes a rabbi who says, “And yet, Abraham performed no miracles, led no armies, and ruled no kingdom. Still, he stands as one of the most influential people who ever lived, (outside of Jesus Christ.)

Joseph (6 times) or Daniel (once). Abraham mentioned 60+ times in the New Testament. David (54 times)

C. The Surprise of His Story

Christopher Watkin: “Abraham is not always a good or wise man…. Clearly, Abraham is not right with God because he always trusts God perfectly, but because the foundation of Abraham’s story (though not every note in the melody) is that he acts on the belief that God fulfils promises.”

Abraham is not a hero because he is perfect…

He is a man who keeps trusting God… even when he struggles.

Much like Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord. He is blessed not because Jacob was the best, but because he refuses to let go of the promises of God.

TRANSITION

And Genesis 12 is where his story begins.

We move from the birds eye view of the beginnings… and we zoom in on one man. One person.

And right from the start…we see the tension.

Between: Faith… and Fear.

4. Read — GENESIS 12:1-9

I. Wrestling with Faith (Genesis 12:1–9)

A. The Call

God calls Abram— Go!

Bring in:

Background (Shem, Noah if you want—but keep it brief)

Babel contrast (this is strong)

Babel said: “Let us make a name for ourselves.”

God says to Abram: “I will make your name great.”

B. The Cost of Faith

Bring in:

Genesis 12:1 – Lech Lecha

Go… leave… walk away from what you know.

“Lech Lecha” is the Hebrew phrase in Genesis 12:1 where God calls Abram to leave everything familiar and go to the land He will show him. The same “leave and go” pattern appears in several other key passages.

Hebrew phrase: לֶךְ־לְךָ (Lech Lecha), usually translated “Go forth,” “Go from,” or “Go for yourself.”

Full verse: “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go [lech lecha] from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’”

Jewish tradition names the whole Torah portion (Gen 12:1–17:27) “Lech‑Lecha” after these words

Text could just read, Lech, GO, but it emphasizes the risky obedience of faith that he would have to undergo in order to answer this call of God.

Acts 7:2–3: Stephen retells this as a paradigm: “Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.”

Quote from FB Meyer: “As long as the bird lingers in the nest, it will not know the luxury of flight. As long as the trembling boy holds to the bank, or toes the bottom, he will not learn the ecstasy of battling the ocean wave. As long as men cling to the material, they cannot appreciate the reality of the promises of God. Abram could never have become Abraham, the father of the faithful, the mighty exemplar of faith, if he had always lived in Ur. No; he must quit his happy home, and journey forth into the untried and unknown, that faith may rise up to all its glorious proportion in his soul.”

For some of you here… This hits home. You are unwilling and unsure of letting go of the comforts of your way of life.

What’s God calling you to let go of in order to answer his calling??

Some of you still have yet to step out in faith and believe what you know to be true…

Some of you have yet to answer the call of God on your life because you’re afraid it will upset your current status quo…

God never calls us to stay the same…

He bids us to come and die… and you will find life everlasting.

He bids us to pick up our cross and follow him.

He tells us to GO THEREFORE, into all the world, and makes disciples of all nations.

He calls Abram, to GO and LEAVE… behind your comforts and I will show you an even better way!

A life of Faith…

C. Three Marks of Faith

Tents, Altars, Promise

1. TENTS (Following)

Abraham lived in tents…and lived by faith!

Hebrews 11:9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

Think of this way:

Abraham lived in tents because he was looking for the city with foundations built by God (Hebrews 11:9–10). He was willing to live as a nomad and die without receiving the promises in full, because his eyes were on what was still to come.

Unlike the builders of Babel, who settled to make a name for themselves and build their own city and tower, Abraham refused to build his own empire. He chose a temporary life in tents, trusting that God Himself was preparing a permanent city whose architect and foundation is God.

Main idea:

He lived like a stranger… because he trusted a future he couldn’t yet see.

2. ALTARS (Worship)

Abraham builds altars… not towers.

Contrast with Babel.

Pattern:

Abraham builds altars, not towers or cities. His focus is on offering his life and faith as worship to God, not gaining fame. The pattern: Abel offers a sacrifice from his flock; Seth's line calls upon the Lord, practicing prayer and worship; Noah walks with God and builds an altar after exiting the Ark (Gen. 8:20-21); Noah, Shem, Terah, Abram. Abraham travels and builds altars.

Pattern we see repeated.

Altar locations are significant… he built altars of worship at Shechem and Bethel—was repeated by Jacob upon his return from Haran, and this same pattern of traversing these three regions appears in Joshua’s conquest narratives, where altars are built at these same sacred sites

Altar at Shechem, the oak of Moreh.

Bethel — House of God

Ai — Heap of ruins

Abraham builds an altar between the house of God and the heap of ruins. He is in the tension between these two worlds.

We live there too.

Between ruin… and promise.

Between what is… and what will be.

Heaven & Earth - Chapter 3:

Winter makes way to spring. Mud season. An eternal summertime is waiting for us… But right now, we live in mud season. Melting is going on, but it’s not pretty all the time.

“What seems cold and dry, and dead will burst forth with new life. Like a crocus at the end of winter, our hope is renewed for the restoration of all things and the new creation. Mud season exemplifies our life of faith. There are signs of life but also muddy ruts and half-melted snowbanks.”

David Briones: “We live in a theological tension. By faith in Christ, all of these spiritual blessings are our already, but the full enjoyment of these blessings is not yet ours. This is the life of faith: “the assurance of things hoped for” in the future, and “the conviction of things not seen” in the present. This is life between the times.”

Do feel this?

Stuck in the in-between.

Between dwelling in the house of God and resisting the heap of ruins of your past.

Believing the promises of God but not reaping their harvest yet?

3. PROMISES (Trust)

God made promises…

And Abraham believed them—even when nothing around him confirmed them.

Cannanites and the people who dwelled in the land were already there and strong. But God promised this land to Abraham’s descendants.

TRANSITION

But faith is not the only thing in this story…

There’s something else.

FEAR.

II. Wrestling with Fear (Genesis 12:10–20)

A. The Test

A famine hits.

Famine = Fear

And famine always forces a decision—

Will you trust God… or trust yourself?

What does Abraham do?

He runs from the promise and goes to Egypt for help.

B. Abraham’s Failure

Notice the progression:

He doesn’t pray

He leans on his own understanding

He gives in to fear

He lies

He lies to the Egyptians, out of fear, that Sarah is his sister. “Hoping they will spare my life for your sake.”

He puts others at risk

Fear led him to try to save his own skin, but he ended up endangering others around him. Sin never just hurts you.

It never pays to fear man more than God.

C. God’s Grace

And yet… God intervenes.

God protects Sarah.

God rescues Abraham.

Through plagues on Pharaoh’s household.

In an interesting foreshadowing of the Exodus. Where Abraham’s people, thanks to joseph would be in Egypt, numerous, but this time the Pharaoh would not let them go, the plagues would come, but he would refuse and he would face God’s wrath, until he complies.

God even enriches Abraham at the beginning of the next chapter.

Abraham fails… but God is faithful and GRACIOUS.

E. Application — FEAR VS FAITH

Here is a clean, unified closing section that brings your application and ending together smoothly, keeps your language, and tightens the flow without losing depth or weight:

APPLICATION — FEAR VS FAITH

Abraham was afraid of the famine.

And who can blame him?

He was afraid of losing everything.

Afraid of what might happen to him.

Afraid of the people and powers around him.

And if we are honest… we understand that.

So let me ask you:

What are you afraid of?

What is your famine right now?

Is it the economy?

Your health?

Your family?

Your future?

And what are your “Egypts”?

Where do you run when fear starts to rise?

Where do you go for security instead of God?

Ian Duguid says it this way:

“Our idolatries rear their ugly heads whenever our backs are against the wall.”

Fear has a way of exposing what we really trust.

So the question is not whether you will face fear.

You will.

The question is what your fear will drive you to do.

Will you let your fears drive you away from the promises of God?

Or… will you let the famine do something deeper in you?

Will you let it drive your roots deeper into God?

Will you let it prune what is unnecessary?

Will you let it sharpen your focus?

Will you let it teach you dependence?

FINAL LANDING

Every one of us will wrestle…

between faith and fear.

Abraham had both.

And so do we.

There will be moments when the pressure is real.

The future is unclear.

And fear feels completely justified.

A famine hits.

Something you did not expect.

Something you did not plan for.

And in that moment… you have a choice.

Not between easy and hard.

But between faith and fear.

Will you trust God…

even when you cannot see what He is doing?

Or will you take control…

and try to save yourself?

Because Abraham did both.

In one moment, he trusted God, left everything, and followed Him into the unknown.

In the next moment, he gave in to fear, lied, and took matters into his own hands.

Faith… and fear.

And if we are honest… that is our story too.

GOSPEL HOPE

And here is the good news.

God is not looking for perfect faith.

If He was, Abraham would not be in the story.

God is looking for people who, even in the wrestling, keep coming back to Him.

Because even when Abraham was faithless…

God was still faithful.

God is not afraid of your wrestling.

He meets you in it.

He shapes you through it.

He grows your faith in it.

And sometimes…

it is in the wrestling…

that your faith actually becomes real.

FINAL CALL

So what are you afraid of?

What is your famine?

Where is fear tempting you to take control?

And what would it look like…

to trust God there?

Because you will wrestle.

The question is not if…

It is what will win—

fear… or faith?