Hero of the Faith Sarah

Me: I struggle at times in my ability to trust God more. There have been times in my life that I knew that God was trying to work in me and do something big but I failed to trust him to accomplish the impossible. When I was younger I felt inadequate in a lot of ways; inadequate in my abilities to learn, inadequate in my appearance, inadequate in many things. Inadequate means lacking the quality or quantity required; insufficient for a purpose. Growing up then I felt like everyone else was better than me because of my inadequate abilities.

Now I want to speak to the ladies here this morning.

In the Old Testament and for many centuries women were not considered equal by men and therefore not giving much authority or position in the community. The one aspect that was seen as important as a woman was her ability to bear a child. Second her ability to bear a son. To not be able to bear either was seen as embarrassment to her husband. In our culture it is not much different except we have found out that it’s not the lady’s responsibility. Through technology we have learned that it is the man responsibility in the sex of the child.

YOU: Now I am sure that if I felt this way growing up that many of you felt the same way. You have memories and experiences that due to some inadequate trait you felt insufficient to accomplish a challenge. Growing up we are often confronted for our inadequate traits than for our natural abilities. Confronted ridiculed, and mocked drives us to give up. Today’s Hero in the Faith is someone who had an inadequate ability, but faith and trust in God allowed her to overcome it.

Who is this hero of the faith found in the Bible?

says 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

This is the theme verse for this week. Three things in this verse to consider her as a Hero of the faith.

By Faith

Received Power

Trusted in the Promise

In and we are given the story of Sarah and God’s Promise to make Abraham a great nation through his Son Isaac children.

In and we are given the story of Sarah and God’s Promise to make Abraham a great nation through his Son Isaac children.

In each of these accounts God tells Abraham his promise that through him and his offspring with Sarah he will make a great nations. In both of these accounts there is one common thread. How is this possible given our age?

This brings me back to why Sarah is considered a hero. Her faith and trust in God. Last week I told you that you choose to answer the call from God. Abraham had answered his call. He trusted God he moved to a foreign land. Sarai his wife followed him. Therefore, she trusted as well. But here Sarai faith in God’s power to accomplish the promise is what is revealed to us.

This morning I am asking you to consider your faith in God as the foundation that makes all things possible. If you have no faith, then what brings you comfort? What can you hope in that will accomplish impossible things in you and around you. Sarah is a hero because she teaches us that through faith all things are possible with God.

Jesus taught this several times that all thing are possible for those who believes (, , ) God called upon Mary the mother of Jesus and conceived through her without the help of man the savior of the world. Jesus heals a man by tell the man’s father that through belief his child could be healed. And it was so. Our lack of faith and belief effects our ability to be real hero’s today. We are luke warm at best as a community of faith.

Who here this morning desires to have a faith that burns like a roaring fire? Then through you God desire to make the impossible possible. You will be increased because of your willingness to believe and not give up hope.

The next aspect of being a hero is to receive the power of God. Now in the Old Testament there are not many places that references the Holy Spirit but in order to be used by God you have to have the presence of the holy spirit. Sarah denied that she laughed out of fear that she would not bear child. Fear is the one thing that can destroy your faith. Fear destroys your faith because it allows doubt to enter in and question the power of God’s abilities.

What is you deepest fear? What causes you to question the one who hung the stars and created universe? Something that I have always found funny is that we will go to a doctor and never ask him to show us his grades from med school but place our faith in his abilities to solve our health problems because he has a degree. You will place you faith in the engineer that you never met and designed a bridge suspended thousands of feet in the air, but not trust a God because you cannot see him. Fear strikes us when we need faith more. You have to be able to overcome your fears and the only way is to receive God promised spirit.

If you are a person of faith but doubt then you are not seeking out the power of the holy spirit.

Hebrew 11:11 says: By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

Today I want us to understand three things so we can begin to be hero’s of the faith:

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

1. Faith

2. Power

3. Trust

Faith in God to overcome your inadequacies, the power in the holy spirit to accomplish in you the impossible, and trust in God as your foundation of hope.

Today, I want to speak to all the people in the room who have some inadequate abilities to be more like Sarah. In and we are given the story of Sarah and God’s Promise to make Abraham a great nation through his Son Isaac that will be given to him through Sarai who is 90 years old. Now on the surface we all know that this seems impossible even with today’s medical technologies. So I want to provide you with the current record of the oldest woman to give birth. Maria del Carmen Bousada is the oldest verified mother; she was aged 66 years 358 days when she gave birth to twins; she was 130 days older than Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth in 2005 to a baby girl. In both cases the children were conceived through IVF with donor eggs. A few years later a woman 70 years old gave birth to a child using IVF. However, this is not the oldest woman to give birth. Sarai was 90 years old. However, many would say that this does not count because you first have to believe in the bible as inerrant and inspired and today our worldview is that the Bible is just a good book of moral order. Therefore, our abilities to believe in God’s power is diminishing. We are becoming inadequate in our ability to have faith. We are not allowing God to work the impossible out because we lack the one thing that is required for that to happen. Faith.

Read

15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will [m]come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” 22 When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

Read

9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past [m]childbearing. 12 Sarah laughed [n]to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” 13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed [o]bear a child, when I am so old?’ 14 Is anything too [p]difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, [q]at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 15 Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”16 Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.

In both accounts in Genesis God tells Abraham his promise that through him and his offspring with Sarah he will become great nations. The one common thread is that it seems impossible because of their age.

YOU: What is the one thing that seems impossible in your life right now? I am not talking about wealth. What struggle are you facing? What emotional crisis are you confronting? What relationship challenge are you experiencing? Now ask yourself this question, have I talk with God about this inadequate feeling yet? Do I believe and have faith that God can accomplish the impossible in this circumstance?

If the answer is no then you are lacking the faith that through God all things are possible. If the answer is yes then you are receiving the power of God’s spirit each and every time you face this inadequate circumstance trusting God is still working. Do not lose hope, do not allow time and fear to bring about doubt. Trust and know that God is working it just is not on our schedule.

That the thing. We are a people that wants our inadequate situations fixed now. However, it is through our inadequate challenges and trust in God power that our faith will be confirmed. Sarah being remember for trusting God to accomplish this promise although it appears doubtful allows herself to be used by God so that the impossible can become possible. God told them through the men that this would happen in a year. So he gave them a time schedule. They just had to have faith in the power of God for this to happen. Can you image a year later when she gave birth well in we are told her response to given birth. It reads, 1 Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. 2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” 8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

When I read that her response is God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me. Who would of said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” She is in awe of God’s since of humor to use her an old lady to birth a nation to be used by God to establish a foundation upon which he could communicate his plan to save us. Wow.

WE: Image a church full of believers that had faith that God could accomplish what every he called his people to do in that church. If he called you to help solve the homeless problem in the community then God would make a way. If he called that church to solve the hungry problem in the community then God would make a way. If he called that church to solve the hate problem in the community then God would make a way. This morning do not ask God for anything. This morning ask God to use you in an impossible way to be a blessing to someone else’s impossible crisis. God took the imperfect situation in Sarah and Abraham and made it perfect because he can. If you have faith in God and believe that through God’s power he can use you to help the impossible in the community of faith. Then allow yourself to be call on by him trusting that he will work out the impossible through you helping others see the possibilities that with God anything can happen. Then you too can say that God has a real since of humor; when he takes the worst situation or person and makes his case that anything can happen when we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.