“But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, ‘Behold You are a Dead Man.” Genesis 20:3 This week's message is called "Abraham's Very Bad Plan and Abraham's Very Good God." One of the realities for us as Christians is that we make bad decisions, and then we make things worse by attempting to justify those choices. Do you ever do that? In Genesis 20, Abraham and Sarah stick with the bad plan that Abraham concocted when they left Ur of the Chaldees to head to the land God was calling them to. That plan was that if someone ever asked if Sarah was Abrahams wife, she would say that she was his sister. Fear leads us to make bad decisions. Guilt leads us to make bad excuses. What we do after we get caught in a sinful choice is almost as critical as the decision we make in the first place. What Genesis 20 teaches us is that there is no ground of justification for any of our bad choices. There is no way out of our sin and guilt except in the righteousness of God that comes by faith. Martin Luther wrote, "Every week I preach justification by faith to my people because every week they forget it." Oh, isn't that true? Come this Sunday as we investigate why we need God to justify us when all our attempts at self-justification fail.

Scripture References: Genesis 20:1

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From Series: "From Brokenness to BLESSING: A Journey into the Heart of God"

The life of Abraham is a fascinating one because, as we will see, Abraham’s journey was not so much a journey to the land of Canaan but actually a journey towards heaven (see Hebrews 11:16). His destination is not so much an earthly one but a spiritual one. It’s a journey of a fatherless and heirless man into the presence and promise of God. It’s a journey into the very heart of God. God takes a broken family and a broken man and shows him that He will make him into a Father of many nations who reflects the very heart of God the Father Himself. This is an invitation to all of you to bring your brokenness and join us in our study of the life of Abraham. May the story of Abraham’s journey from brokenness to blessing become the story of all who find the hope of God by faith as he did.