I believe the Old Testament records commendable features in the lives of certain men and women in order to inspire us to imitate them in those areas. Now, on the one hand, I do think that approach is at least partially legitimate. The heroism we find in the Old Testament should inspire us to live for God today. Just as Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, we should likewise go wherever God leads us without letting any obstacle stand in our way. For example, just like David heroically defeated Goliath, we too should seek to defeat the giants in our lives. And the way these men were often presented is as larger-than-life heroes whose stories are recorded in the Bible so that we can be inspired by their faith and imitate what we see in their lives. Throughout most of my childhood, I remember hearing stories in Sunday School about Old Testament characters like Moses and David and Gideon and Daniel. Whether it’s a fictional character, like Superman or Batman, or someone who exists in real life, like a well-known athlete, children love having a hero.Īnd, many times, children who grow up in church learn to start viewing various characters in the Old Testament essentially as heroes who are the epitome of what we should seek to become. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.There’s something within us that’s drawn to the idea of a hero. So, please, help us to be that fertile soil this morning, so that the seed of your Word can take root and bear fruit in our lives. And it’s only when the seed falls on that last kind of soil that it actually produces fruit. Let’s pray : Father, we’re told that there are different kinds of soils on which the seed of your Word falls-thorny soil, rocky soil, soil on a path, and good fertile soil.

18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had. 17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

It says,ġ0 Now there was a famine in the land.

And the next passage we come to is Genesis 12:10-20. This morning, we’ll be returning to our passage-by-passage journey through the book of Genesis.

Audio sermon on genesis 12 10 20