Break Free, Part 3: Oops, I Did It Again

Brian Behrends, Creative Pastor

Genesis 20:1–6
¹ Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, ² and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
        ³ But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”

⁴ Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? ⁵ Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”

⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”

NOTES

Romans 7:15
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

NOTES

2 Corinthians 12:9–10
⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

NOTES

Psalm 63:1–4
¹ You, God, are my God, 
        earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
        my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
        where there is no water.
² I have seen you in the sanctuary
        and beheld your power and your glory.
³ Because your love is better than life,
        my lips will glorify you.
⁴ I will praise you as long as I live,
       and in your name I will lift up my hands.

NOTES

Romans 4:18–21
¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

NOTES

Journal Work

One Question: If God says I’m qualified, why do I keep disqualifying myself?
One Truth: It’s God’s kindness that leads to repentance.
One Step: 
One promise: God will never leave you or forsake you.

Small Group Questions

1. What’s something God brought you through that you could’ve never gotten through on your own?
2. Why do you think we’re so prone to repeating sin as humans?
3. What’s your first response when you find yourself stuck in a pattern of sin? Do you move toward God or away from him? Why?
4. How do you go about boasting in your weakness while still moving toward the wholeness and freedom Jesus invites us into?
5. If you’re brutally honest, how hungry are you for God’s presence in this season? What would it look like for you to take a step toward God?
6. How can we pray for you right now and throughout the week?