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Romans 4:13-25 (MSG)

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¹³ That famous promise God gave Abraham--that he and his children would possess the earth--was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he beli ¹⁴ If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy pro ¹⁵ A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise--and God's promise at that--you can't break it. ¹⁶ This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God's promise arrives as pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the re ¹⁷ We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many ¹⁸ When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a ¹⁹ Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. ²⁰ He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, ²¹ sure that God would make good on what he had said. ²² That's why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right." ²³ But it's not just Abraham; ²⁴ it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. ²⁵ The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.


This passage relates to the following topic(s):
(v. 20) Believing / Unbelief - Abraham - did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God
(v. 20) Promises - Abraham - fully persuaded that God had power to do what he promised
(v. 20) Strength / Sovereignty / Power - Abraham - strengthened in his faith
(v. 20) Strength / Sovereignty / Power - Abraham - fully persuaded that God had power to do what he promised
(v. 21) Promises - Abraham - fully persuaded that God had power to do what he promised
(v. 21) Strength / Sovereignty / Power - Abraham - fully persuaded that God had power to do what he promised

This passage is referenced in the following quiet time(s):
(v. 13) Promises of God - Being Fully Persuaded (2009-02-28)
(v. 13) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 14) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 15) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 16) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 17) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 18) Power of Spiritual Thinking - Even though (2008-05-21)
(v. 18) Mind Change - Faith (2011-11-15)
(v. 18) Man of Hope (2015-06-06)
(v. 18) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 19) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 19) Mind Change - Faith (2011-11-15)
(v. 20) Mind Change - Faith (2011-11-15)
(v. 20) Promises of God - Being Fully Persuaded (2009-02-28)
(v. 20) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 21) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 21) Promises of God - Being Fully Persuaded (2009-02-28)
(v. 21) Mind Change - Faith (2011-11-15)
(v. 22) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 23) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 24) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)
(v. 25) Righteousness that comes from faith (2011-05-24)

Definition(s):
Abraham (Ab-ra-ham): father of a great multitude
Abraham (Ehb-ra-ham): father of a great multitude
Jesus (Jeez-us): savior; deliverer