Recovery And Abraham Part 1 Intro

Recovery And Abraham Part 1

Intro – Recovery and Abraham l l Try something – parallel recovery and the challenges of recovery with the life of Abraham – founder of Israel – “Patriarch” l l Lived 2200 B. C. Lived in Ur – modern day Kuwait – one of the most important cities in the world at that time, and considered to be one of the first cities inhabited Advanced city – university, library, wealthy Worshiped moon god, Nannar l Human sacrifice and sexual immorality

Genesis 12 – “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. ’” l 3 promises – land (unknown location), son/nation (no children), blessing to whole world (Make a huge impact on the world) l Promises included in 3 promises – guidance, protection, provision l

l l Don’t know what experience he had with God prior to this time – what caused him to believe what God said Leaves for Canaan – 500 mile trip – Age 75 l l Wealthy (servants and livestock), nephew Lot, wife Sarah The Parallel to Recovery 1. 2. 3. Great promises and blessings if one follows this new way of life – living healthy, following God’s design and plan Radical decision to step out on this journey – to change life and how you live it – many would laugh at you and criticize you Challenges and cost

l An honest salesman – “I want to give you something great – so great, it boggles your mind – but here is what it will cost” 1. Always elements of change and unknown 2. Times that will push you out of your comfort zone – when you will be stretched to the breaking point 3. Times of failure – and the failure may result in some painful consequences 4. Times of confusion 5. Times of doubt and discouragement 6. Times where you are asked to do stuff that feels dumb

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Times where you will need faith in God Times where God seems absent or that He doesn’t care There will have messy situations to deal with – life will not be black and white, with easy answers and solutions to the problems you’ve created, or find yourself in Times where people will disappoint you Times where things do not go as you thought they would Times where things get worse instead of better

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Times of conflict Times where old behaviours and wounds surface, when you thought they were behind you Times of mundane and boring – where you do the same stuff over and over, but you see no evidence that it’s making a difference Always being asked to live a life of deferred gratification – to keep doing the right thing even though you don’t see anything positive happening Always dealing with temptations to get off track

Times when you will have to stand all alone – when you follow God – His design and plan – when no one else is 19. There will be a few times that call for great sacrifice l Question – What’s the point? The cost seems to outweigh the benefits 1. Abraham – the “Friend of God” l Only person in the Bible who is referred to as a friend of God l Not talking about warm fuzzies l This is the greatest blessing anyone can experience l To know God intimately, to trust Him totally, which results in total surrender to Him. 18.

l l l Point - In order to give Abraham the greatest blessing – becoming an intimate friend with God - God had to teach Abraham the most important lesson one can learn – that God is motivated only by perfect love and wisdom, and He is totally reliable “Faith in a faithful God will stretch one to the limits of their physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual beings; but the stretching will serve only to expand their capacity to know God and in that knowledge to discover the vast potential of life lived by faith. ” Abraham was like us – he failed, struggled, had many frustrations, but he kept following

l 1. Two thoughts to consider Recovery usually begins by viewing God as a 911 Operator or a Repairman l l I call out to God only when I have a problem. Otherwise, I pretty much ignore Him. True recovery is a faith walk. But it is not just trusting that God’s design (“healthy”) is best; it must go beyond that - It is getting to know the person I am trusting – it is about a relationship True recovery means growing in a relationship with God where He becomes your friend This must be a real relationship – you express anger, confusion, desires, etc

2. If your goal in recovery is just to stay clean, or to get kids, or to get a wife, the cost of recovery will often outweigh the benefit l Another way to look at it – why bother doing all this work if I don’t end up getting my kids back or getting a healthy spouse? l Healthy Attitude – I will fight the good fight of faith for the rest of my life. I can’t guarantee that I will get some of the things I want, and that will hurt. But that’s OK because my greatest desire is that God become my best friend. I will trust Him with the other desires.