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1How does our tribal ancestor, Father of Many Nations (Abraham) , fit into this way of trusting? What can we learn from what he found?
2If Father of Many Nations (Abraham) found good standing with Creator because he earned it by hard work, then he would be able to boast. But not in the eyes of the Great Spirit.
3But what do the Sacred Teachings tell us? “Father of Many Nations (Abraham) put his trust in Creator. This is what gave him good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit.”[#4:3 Genesis 15:6]
4We know that what people gain from hard work is not a gift, but something earned.
5But when people do no work but simply trust in Creator to release them from their spiritual darkness, this kind of trusting gives them good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit.
6Chief Much Loved One (David) also speaks of the goodwill that is poured out on the ones who did no work to be in good standing in the eyes of Creator.
7He says, “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are released from their broken ways and those who have been set free from their wrongdoings.
8His blessing rests on the ones whose bad hearts and broken ways are not held against them by the Great Spirit.”[#4:8 Psalm 32:1-2]
9Is this blessing only for our Tribal Members who have the cutting of the flesh ceremony? Or is it also for the Outside Nations who do not have this ceremony?
Now we have already said that it was by trusting that Father of Many Nations (Abraham) had good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit.
10So when was it that he trusted Creator and was counted to be in good standing? Was it before or after he performed the cutting of the flesh ceremony? We all know it was before.
11He was given the cutting of the flesh ceremony to mark him as Creator’s own, as a sign that he had already put his trust in the Great Spirit and that he was in good standing even before he performed the ceremony.
This means Father of Many Nations (Abraham) , just as his name says , is the ancestor of all the Outside Nations who believe and trust in the Great Spirit. Even though they have never performed the ceremony, they are now in good standing with Creator.
12He is also the ancestor of all of our Tribal Members who not only have performed the cutting of the flesh ceremony but who also follow the trust-filled path that Father of Many Nations (Abraham) walked before he performed the ceremony.
13The promise to Father of Many Nations (Abraham) that all the nations of the world would belong to him and his descendants did not come to him because he kept our tribal law, but because of the good standing that comes from trusting in the Great Spirit’s promise.
14But if the promise depends on walking the path of the law, then trusting means nothing and the promise falls to the ground.
15The law produces only anger for those who fail to walk in it . Where there is no law, only a promise , then no one would be failing to keep a law.
16That is why the promise comes from trusting in the gift of Creator’s great kindness, so that all the descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) can be sure to receive it. This promise is not only for the ones who are under our tribal law, but for all who walk the same path of trust and faith that Father of Many Nations (Abraham) walked. For he is the father of us all!
17The Sacred Teachings tell us, “I have made you the father of many nations.” And in the eyes of the Great Spirit he is our father, for he put his trust in the Great Spirit, the one who gives life to the dead and speaks into being things that are not yet as if they already were.[#4:17 Genesis 17:5]
18When all hope seemed to be gone, he trusted in the promise that he would become the father of many nations. The Great Spirit had said to him, “Your descendants will be like the stars, too many to count .”[#4:18 Genesis 15:5]
19When Father of Many Nations (Abraham) was about one hundred winters old, he could see that his body was as good as dead and that the womb of Noble Woman (Sarah) was barren. Even so, his faith did not become weak,
20and he did not stumble from the path as he kept walking toward Creator’s promise. His trust grew even stronger as he gave honor to the Great Spirit.
21He knew deep down in his bones that whatever Creator had promised, he had the power to do.
22This is why he was counted as one in good standing with the Great Spirit.
23These words, “he was counted as one in good standing,” were not written down for him only,
24but also for us, whom the Great Spirit will count among those who are in good standing with him, the ones who trust in him who raised our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) from the dead.
25We are the ones who through our wrongdoings betrayed and killed him, but his rising from the dead proves we have good standing with the Great Spirit.