Stories to Live by--Abraham

If you could do things differently, what would it look like?

Think of three things in your life that you are not proud of, even jot them down.

-personally name of few

Confession

Tell them what we are reading next week

Read the stories without trying to figure it out.

Give yourself permission to wander & wonder, take a nap in the middle, find a comfy spot, listen to music, and just read.

What grasps your attention. Meditate on it, go back, and then ask God, what are you up to? What are you saying to me? What is redemptive about this story and where do I fit in? We fit in? The world fit in?

I got stuck calculating the dates.

Always been skeptical of the dates, especially after I went to seminary. Not anymore helpful.

Allow for doubt. Allow for tension. Trust God will one day speak thru the tension.

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Blessings.

Anyhow, I wandered thru other spots of the story, mainly trying to get the dates right. And I noticed something. I’ve been reading and interpreting this story wrong for years.

And this is embarrassing to admit. This is one of my go to stories. This has been a foundational text in my life. (Talk about story of bishop at ordination‚ briefly) (being called to go to an unknown land as an act of faith)

And I have been reading it wrong. (I had thought that Abraham didn’t leave until his father died). Yet in the midst of that realization something profound slapped me in the face. And it‚ is everywhere in this story. And if I hadn’t messed up I would never have noticed it.

-why I asked you to write about do overs and regret.

List the ways this story is chalked full of them (How God works through our do overs and regret)

Terah (not going to Canaan)

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Abraham going to Egypt

Lot captured

Hagar

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Yet in the midst of it all an over arching theme is subtly and not so subtly guiding the narrative and the characters along.

Yet in the midst of it all an over arching theme is subtly and not so subtly guiding the narrative and the characters along.

You may be living in a world that has been cursed (that‚ is the ugly uncomfortable fallout of sin), but God is laboring (in the birthing sense) to make you an agent of blessing.

What is the big deal of blessing?

Abram’s calling had a purpose: his obedience would bring great blessing.

Three promises were based on God’s call for Abram to leave his land: (a) a great nation, (b) a blessing for Abram, and (c) a great name (v. 2). These promises would enable him to “be a blessing” (the second imperative, v. 2). Based on this obedience were God’s three promises to: (a) bless those who blessed him, (b) curse anyone who would treat him lightly, and (c) bless the families of the earth through him (v. 3). To bless or curse Abram was to bless or curse Abram’s God. Unfortunately God often had to use other nations to discipline His people because, far from being a blessing to the world, they were usually disobedient. The third promise takes on its greatest fulfillment in the fact that Jesus Christ became the means of blessing to the world (, ; cf. ).

he was proclaiming the name & nature of God to the biggest & most powerful group of pagans. called on the name of the Lord (direct link to Seth)

speak words invoking divine favor, with the intent that the object will have favorable circumstances or state at a future time

(Depending on who is speaking, one who “curses” is either predicting, wishing or praying for, or causing great trouble on someone, or he is calling for an object to be a source of such trouble. As belonging to God and His people meant blessing, being cursed often meant separation from God and the community of faith. It thus involved the experience of insecurity and disaster.)

is widely understood as referring to “health-creating power”; someone who is בְּרוּךְ (berukh), “blessed,” is gifted with such power, while to bless someone is either to bestow such power on them (often by means of a verbal statement) or to declare that they have such power

it is actually a pronouncement of God’s gracious favor, to be given only by his ministers on the authority of Holy Scripture to faithful believers

Invoke God on blended knee to praise celebrate, to adore, to bless God.

Let your life, in relationship to God, be a gift to those that you come in contact with. You have the capacity to bring the blessing of God to a world that has been cursed. To overcome the acts of evil and the ways of evil.

God will be the author and initiator of this blessing, even when we revert to the ways of the curse of sin. Even when we break covenant and choose the way of death, not the way of the promise.

God will be the author and initiator of this blessing, even when we revert to the ways of the curse of sin. Even when we break covenant and choose the way of death, not the way of the promise.

God will keep bringing us back to the way of blessing.

Progression of blessing (wrapped around a child of promise, intimation of things to come, here but not yet. One day, but not now, even prophecies what things will look like for descendants.)

Blessing arrived in Gen 12, king of Salem, genesis 15, then the sleeping vision, and then the child (always about the child, Isaac, then others, and Jesus)

Notice the not child‚ (How does God speak to Hagar)

Birth & labor metaphors. Think fruitful & multiply. Steward, care for, nurture

-Think of your childhood, what went well, what do you celebrate, what do you grieve and regret?

Think of your childhood, what went well, what do you celebrate, what do you grieve and regret?

-Think of parenting. Ask same questions.

-Celebrate stories and memories. We even share them. Good & bad. This isn’t social media, it’s real life.

Celebrate stories and memories. We even share them. Good & bad. This isn’t social media, it’s real life.

God’s Redemptive activity

The sleepy story: covenant.

It is the pinnacle of the story. The embodiment of blessing. The vision of how God will work thru all of our redos and regrets. Of walking with us thru the curse of sin and Into the reality of being agents of blessing.

This passage encourages New Testament believers as well. God affirms solemnly that He will fulfill His promises concerning salvation and all the blessings that pertain to that life (cf. 2 Peter 1:3–4); despite opposition, suffering, and even death, He keeps His promises.

Let’s pray.

Side note: shem was the descendant of Abraham. He was returning to the land of his cursed ancestor, fulfilling (genesis 9:26)

Yet we live in that tension. (Use this for next week. Isaac & Jacob)

it is actually a pronouncement of God’s gracious favor, to be given only by his ministers on the authority of Holy Scripture to faithful believers

Invoke god on blended knee to praise celebrate, to adore, to bless God.

Let your life in relationship to God be a gift to those that you come in contact with. You have the capacity to bring the blessing of God to a world that has been cursed. To overcome the acts of evil and the ways of evil.

God will be the author and initiator of this blessing, even when we revert to the ways of the curse of sin. Even when we break covenant and choose the way of death, not the way of the promise.

God will keep bringing us back to the way of blessing.

Thinking about you all and praying for you this morning & felt I should invite you to church tomorrow. It’s at 1045

If you already have plans, no worries. Just know it’s an open invitation.

Blessings.