Sermon Notes from Sunday, 7.1.12

Here are the notes from Sunday, July 1st, from the series Fascinating Families, a family-oriented look at the book of Genesis.  To get these notes in PDF and the sermon audio, visit sermons.heritagepark.org.  They are typically available in the middle of the week (though this week, our webmaster extraordinaire is at youth camp, so it may be later).  You can also get the audio via our podcast on iTunes.

Fascinating Families

Part 5 – Family Struggles

Genesis 16-22

Addition (Genesis 16)

• God’s standard:  one man, one woman for one lifetime.
• This temptation shows up when impatience and bitterness rule.
• The consequences are dire and often generational.

Plan (Genesis 17-18) 

• God does not give up on His people or His promises.
• Abraham first met God’s promise with doubt.
• Abraham then met God’s promise with preference.
• Our focus is often on the what, when, and how of the promise instead of the Who.

Pattern (Genesis 20) 

• In a moment of insecurity, Abraham relapsed into an old pattern.
• Popular patterns:

o   Throw myself into work.

o   Retreat into myself.

o   Self-preservation tactics

Obedience

•  God almost always challenges us at the point of our treasure. 
• Abraham responded with faith-filled obedience. 
• In testing, God was showing Abraham what was in his character.
• In testing, God was showing Abraham what was not in God’s character.