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Recovery And Abraham

Recovery And Abraham. Part 1. Intro – Recovery and Abraham. Try something – parallel recovery and the challenges of recovery with the life of Abraham Abraham – founder of Israel – “Patriarch” Lived 2200 B.C.

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Recovery And Abraham

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  1. Recovery And Abraham Part 1

  2. Intro – Recovery and Abraham • Try something – parallel recovery and the challenges of recovery with the life of Abraham • Abraham – founder of Israel – “Patriarch” • 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 • Human sacrifice and sexual immorality

  3. 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.’” • 3 promises – land (unknown location), son/nation (no children), blessing to whole world (Make a huge impact on the world) • Promises included in 3 promises – guidance, protection, provision

  4. 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 • Wealthy (servants and livestock), nephew Lot, wife Sarah • The Parallel to Recovery • 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

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

  6. 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

  7. 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

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

  9. 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

  10. Two thoughts to consider • Recovery usually begins by viewing God as a 911 Operator or a Repairman • 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

  11. 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 • 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? • 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.

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