1 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,960 Thank you Danny and Kathy, what a blessing man, God is so good. 2 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,440 It's the one that we were made to worship, to know and love and 3 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,320 all our needs be met by. And I am praise God for that 4 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:23,600 reminder this morning. If you have your Bible, I hope 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,040 you do go and make your way to Genesis chapter 12, Genesis 12 6 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,520 as we continue in our series answering God's call. 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,520 If you remember, if you need some catching up, God said to 8 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:38,840 Abraham, go. And I Abraham went, right? 9 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:43,080 So he said, God said leave house, home, country and 10 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,160 kindred, go to the place. I'll show you. 11 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,800 I'm going to bless you so that you will be a blessing. 12 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,960 And he told Abraham, those who bless you I'm going to bless and 13 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:54,640 those who curse you, I'm going to curse. 14 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:59,880 God said go and Abram went. Then God shows up and appears to 15 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,040 Abraham and says, hey, Abraham, here's the land. 16 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:04,440 This is the land I'm going to give you. 17 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:10,000 Abraham builds an altar there. He calls on God's name and he 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,200 worships Abraham. It has made, I want you to think 19 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,920 about it like this. Abraham has made the greatest 20 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:23,680 decision of his life. He's answered God's call with a 21 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:28,400 yes and no doubt, not only what is what was it the greatest 22 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,240 decision of Abraham's life, but it was also no doubt the hardest 23 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,280 decision of Abraham's life to leave house, to leave home, to 24 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,720 leave country, to live, leave kindred your family to go to the 25 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:41,320 place. God says, hey, I'm going to show 26 00:01:41,320 --> 00:01:44,280 you he doesn't know yet. God just says go. 27 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,720 Abraham goes, it's the greatest decision of his life, but it's 28 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:49,880 also been the hardest decision of his life. 29 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,320 But so far things are going great. 30 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:56,760 Things are about to change. You ready? 31 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,680 I want you to watch chapter 12, verse 10. 32 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,840 Now there was a famine in the land. 33 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:12,000 So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine 34 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:19,040 was severe in the land. In these days, people lived, how 35 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,680 we like to say it, close to the land. 36 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,440 Now, if you're not familiar with that saying, it needs some 37 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,240 explanation of what does that exactly mean? 38 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,640 What does it mean to live close to the land? 39 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,840 It means to live in such a way where there's no middle man 40 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,200 between the land and the food on your table. 41 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:42,520 You are the farmer. You are the harvester, you are 42 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:44,800 the rancher, you are the butcher. 43 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,120 You follow me. You're the grocery store shelf 44 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,320 stalker, you're the cook. There's nobody between you and 45 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,480 the land. You're living your life directly 46 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:58,440 dependent, close to the land. This is, of course, how life 47 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:00,720 used to be. This is still how life is for 48 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,920 many people around the world. This is exactly how life is for 49 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:06,240 Abraham, right? So by the way, too, there's no 50 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,360 freezers to store next year's food and there's no 51 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,640 refrigerators to store yesterday's leftovers. 52 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:19,480 Any tiny disruption in the food chain, food supply chain means 53 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:23,880 immediate potential disaster. This is exactly what is 54 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,720 happening here. Famine means no food. 55 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:29,880 Famine means no food. Why no food? 56 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:34,440 Probably because of no rain and no rain on that year's crops for 57 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:36,840 those years. That year's animals means no 58 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,080 food on your table. Immediate impact, even for the 59 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:42,840 tiniest disruption in the food supply chain. 60 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:47,440 All right, now you got to think when Abraham obeyed God and left 61 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,880 house and home and country and kindred, you got to think 62 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,600 Abraham had in his mind, God's going to take care of me. 63 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:56,560 God's got me right? God is. 64 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,760 Abram is trusting God, putting himself in God's hands, and 65 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:03,640 believing God is going to be good to him and provide for him. 66 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,800 And God can be trusted. All right, He's thinking, God's 67 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:10,200 got me. But right now Abram is hungry, 68 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:13,640 and it appears, at least in the moment, that he might have been 69 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:21,320 better off had he never left. Now it's amazing how many, how 70 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,720 many little hints of the future to come we get as Genesis begins 71 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:27,560 to unfold. I want you to Fast forward with 72 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,240 me just a little bit to the offspring of Abram leaving the 73 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,040 land of Egypt into the wilderness. 74 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:39,680 They get what? Hungry and they get thirsty. 75 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:41,760 They left against God's got them. 76 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:43,400 God's got their back, trust in God. 77 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:45,120 But then they encounter difficulty. 78 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:47,480 They get a little hungry and get a little thirsty. 79 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,080 And wondering, had they been, would have they have been better 80 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,640 off if they'd have never left, right? 81 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:54,560 I mean. So this is a little 82 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:59,040 foreshadowing of what's to come. Write this down in your notes #1 83 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:03,680 answering God's call does not eliminate all difficulty. 84 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:09,960 Answering God's call does not eliminate all difficulty. 85 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,560 In fact, I can guarantee you that if you answer God's call, 86 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,880 it will lead to times of difficulty. 87 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,160 They won't put this on TV because it doesn't sell. 88 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:21,680 I'm going to tell you what the Bible says. 89 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:26,600 I can guarantee you that if you say yes to God's call, it will 90 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,720 lead to times of difficulty. Why in the world would I say 91 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:32,480 that? Because the Bible says it. 92 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,720 James chapter one verse 2 through 4 is just one place 93 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:38,160 among many. I could turn you listen to this. 94 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:44,120 Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of a 95 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:49,520 variety of kinds, various kinds here, you know that the testing 96 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:52,520 of your faith produces steadfastness. 97 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,240 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be 98 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,480 perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 99 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,360 You see, as a Christian, hear me. 100 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:06,600 As a child of God, God's will for you and for me includes 101 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,760 various trials. Now you may be thinking, do 102 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,040 what? Why, I'm not sure. 103 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:16,600 I showed up this morning for the right reason, right? 104 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,520 Maybe I'm in the wrong place. Why would why would choosing to 105 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,400 answer God's call on my life, your life, lead to various 106 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,680 trials? All right, Because the reason 107 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:33,240 why is God grows our faith by testing it. 108 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,520 God grows our faith by testing our faith. 109 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,680 You see, faith works just like a muscle, and a muscle only grows 110 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:45,200 stronger when it is put under what strain? 111 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,600 When you put a muscle under load or under a strain, what you 112 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,960 actually do is you're producing under that load or that strain, 113 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:57,440 tiny microscopic tears in the fibers of your muscle. 114 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,280 Your muscles are literally being torn under the strain, under the 115 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:05,000 load, so that they can grow back stronger, so they can be more 116 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,360 perfect or complete. This is exactly how God grows 117 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,360 our faith. He puts it under strain. 118 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,320 He puts it under load, He puts it under various trial so that 119 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,720 the fibers of our faith are torn, if you will, weakened, 120 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,640 perhaps momentarily or temporarily, so that they can 121 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:24,920 grow back more complete, fuller, even stronger. 122 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,040 Faith. Don't miss this. 123 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:35,400 Faith is the most important muscle in the Christian life and 124 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:38,320 God has committed himself to strengthen yours. 125 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,040 Faith is the most important muscle in the Christian life and 126 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:47,440 God has committed Himself to strengthening yours. 127 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:52,560 In fact, God is actually promised in His Word to complete 128 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,320 what He started in you. Philippians chapter one verse 6, 129 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,040 the Bible says I am sure of this. 130 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,200 Paul says that he who began a good work in you is going to do 131 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,880 what he's going to bring it to completion at the day of Jesus 132 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,280 Christ what God started in you. That all started by faith. 133 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,040 God has said I am going to complete that project that I 134 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,160 started in you and in me. It's a guarantee. 135 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:18,880 And if you just want to kind of zoom up for a second and I can 136 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:20,760 give you some fancy words for this, these are words you 137 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,680 actually ought to know because this is what God is interested 138 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:25,880 in doing in your life. You see, the moment you were 139 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:30,360 saved, God did something called justification in your life. 140 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,760 He justified you. He legally declared you 141 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,400 righteous in his sight by covering you and washing you by 142 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,760 the blood of Jesus Christ. You say, Kyle, what in the world 143 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,240 does that mean, especially maybe if you're a new here or not a 144 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:45,880 Christian here. Jesus Christ came and lived a 145 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,960 sinless life and he died on the cross where he shed his blood as 146 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,120 a sinless sacrifice for us. And then he went to the grave 147 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,520 dead, and three days later, on the third day, defeated death, 148 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,000 walked out a lot, life to offer forgiveness and life. 149 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,440 So though we've sinned, we've done wrong. 150 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,000 We've dishonored God, fallen short of the glory of God. 151 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,320 Jesus in our place, did for us what we could not do, what we 152 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,400 failed to do, and actually shed his blood, because God says he 153 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:12,640 doesn't forgive without the shedding of blood. 154 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:14,640 There has to be some death. There has to be a death. 155 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,560 There had to be the death of the perfect one, Jesus, to pay for 156 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:20,120 the sins of the world. So this is what I mean when we 157 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,360 actually realize Jesus is the one and only way of salvation 158 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,560 and forgiveness in life and we trust him as Savior in a very 159 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:31,160 real way, in a spiritual way, the blood of Jesus washes us, 160 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:35,160 our souls clean. And now God that looks at you 161 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,720 and me washed clean, declares us righteous, covered by the blood 162 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,400 of Jesus, and we stand in a right relationship with him. 163 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:45,400 So God is first interested in you being justified. 164 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:49,240 Have you been justified? Have you been saved, brought 165 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:50,760 into a right relationship with God? 166 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,760 If you have the second part, God's got you in the process of 167 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:56,080 right now. It's not justification, but 168 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,960 sanctification. The sanctifies to make holy. 169 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,400 So God has you positionally righteous in his sight. 170 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:04,640 Now God wants to make you practically righteous. 171 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:05,920 You know the problem. You know my problem. 172 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:07,720 I've been declared righteous in God's sight. 173 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:08,960 You know what one of my problems is? 174 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:10,880 I continue to do unrighteous things. 175 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:13,760 I continue to talk in unrighteous ways. 176 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:17,040 All right, so God is now interested in Kyle Walker 177 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,000 practically becoming more righteous than in what he says, 178 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:24,040 does, thinks, and feels. I am perfectly right in God's 179 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:25,840 sight, in the right relationship. 180 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:29,640 But now I need to be practically actually further transformed in 181 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,120 my behavior, in my thinking, in my living. 182 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,640 I'm positionally righteous. Now God wants to make me 183 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:36,000 practically righteous because guess what? 184 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:37,280 One day God's going to do with me and you. 185 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,760 If you know Jesus, he's going to do what we call glorification. 186 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:42,640 That means He's going to make you perfectly righteous. 187 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,520 The day you see Jesus face to face, you got justification, you 188 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:48,680 got sanctification, you got glorification. 189 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:50,920 It's all about our faith being made complete. 190 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,400 Our character conformed to the image of Christ and God has 191 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:56,080 committed himself. What he started, He is going to 192 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:57,720 complete. Listen, you need to know what 193 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,200 I've just described is God's number one will for your life. 194 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,320 It is God's number one goal for your life. 195 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,480 It is God's number one plan for your life. 196 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,280 God said he would do it. He said he'd use difficulty in 197 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,560 trials to do it. So what do you do when you're in 198 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:15,920 the middle of God's will and difficulty comes? 199 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:19,880 The Bible says you count it all joy. 200 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,840 Easier said than done, right? But how can you count it all 201 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:26,480 joy? Because you can say look at God 202 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:28,360 doing what he promised he would do. 203 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,880 Look at God being faithful to his number one plan for my life. 204 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:39,000 Look at God completing what He started that He said he would 205 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,640 complete. Look at God preparing me for all 206 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:43,920 eternity. Look at God getting me ready to 207 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:48,120 see Jesus face to face. Look at God being faithful to 208 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,440 me. Now that's not how we think, is 209 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,680 it? But this is how the Bible 210 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:58,040 instructs us to think, because this is exactly how God is 211 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:00,360 operating in the lives of believers. 212 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:04,360 Answering God's call does not eliminate all difficulty. 213 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:07,040 All right? How many times, how many 214 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,080 conversations have I had with many of you, right? 215 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,200 And maybe you made a big decision and your whole life 216 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:14,400 turned around and you chose to follow Jesus. 217 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,760 And next thing you know, Pastor Kyle, Oh my goodness, this has 218 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:18,920 happened. This has happened, this has 219 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:21,360 happened, and this has happened. How often, right? 220 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,000 Just because we answer God's call doesn't mean life 221 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,560 automatically gets easier. Oftentimes it gets more 222 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:30,840 difficult before it gets before it gets easier. 223 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:33,360 Now listen to verses 11 through 16. 224 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:38,880 The Bible says this. When he was about to enter 225 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:43,920 Egypt, he said to Sarah, his wife, I know that you are a 226 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,240 beautiful, that you are a woman, beautiful in appearance. 227 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:49,880 Now guys, if you missed Valentine's Day yesterday, this 228 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:51,240 is your moment right here. You ready? 229 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:53,600 If you got your spouse, you ought to turn to your wife and 230 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:55,680 says you are a woman, beautiful in appearance. 231 00:12:55,680 --> 00:12:57,840 All right, If you need to interrupt my sermon to do that, 232 00:12:57,840 --> 00:12:59,000 you go right ahead. All right. 233 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,280 Abraham says, I know that you're a woman, beautiful in 234 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:04,720 appearance, and when the Egyptians, but just don't say 235 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,720 this, when the Egyptians see you, they will say this is his 236 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,600 wife, Then they'll kill me, but they will let you live. 237 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:15,520 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of 238 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,400 you, and that my life may be spared for your sake. 239 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,600 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptian saw that the woman was 240 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,440 indeed very beautiful. And when the Princess of Pharaoh 241 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,200 saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. 242 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,240 And the woman was taking into taken into Pharaoh's house. 243 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,240 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram. 244 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:36,800 And he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female 245 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,440 servants, female donkeys, and camels. 246 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:44,280 Abraham hears that the grocery stores are open in Egypt and the 247 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,680 shelves aren't empty. All right, so there they make a 248 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:49,800 move. Now we, we don't know. 249 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,400 People speculate well, was this move right? 250 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,720 Was this the right decision? The Bible just doesn't comment. 251 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:58,200 We don't know. But obviously he's leaving the 252 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,400 land God showed him he would give him and go into a different 253 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:02,920 land where there's food for the sake of their survival. 254 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:05,560 We don't exactly know if this was right or not. 255 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:10,400 What we do know though is we can see a pattern even here as well. 256 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,240 Fast forward again, there's so many flash forwards we could do 257 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,160 in Genesis. Flash forward to the offspring 258 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,360 of Abram that would come, the ultimate one to whom the 259 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,040 blessing would come to all the families of the earth. 260 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,800 His name starts with AJ is oh come on young, do better than 261 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:26,760 that. Y'all with me. 262 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:28,560 His name is Jesus. He would come through the line 263 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,800 of Abram all right. Where would his mom and daddy 264 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:37,840 flee to temporarily in Egypt? All right, now let's kind of go 265 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:42,080 back to our earlier lesson. Mary and Joseph are smack dab in 266 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,320 the middle of God's will. They're in Egypt because 267 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,920 answering God's call on their lives did not eliminate all 268 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,680 difficulty. They said yes, and life got 269 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:54,920 harder before it got easier, right? 270 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:56,920 This is all throughout the Bible. 271 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:00,240 OK, They were smack dab in the middle of God's will, but it 272 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,360 wasn't easy. Now, before entering Egypt, 273 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:08,360 Abraham has this specific fear come over him due to the beauty 274 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:10,280 of his wife. I want to make all kind of jokes 275 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:12,120 here, but I just feel like we should just keep moving. 276 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,040 Sarah was obviously a very attractive, physically 277 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:21,720 attractive lady, which, by the way, Sarah is 65 years old. 278 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,280 All right, so I'm going to keep moving. 279 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:30,720 Abraham was afraid. Abraham was afraid that Sarah 280 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,680 was so beautiful that an Egyptian is going to kill him to 281 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:36,880 claim his wife. All right, I mean, this is 282 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:38,840 pretty. Yeah, I'm just going to keep 283 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,440 going. Abraham and Sarah are 284 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:46,600 anticipating difficulty, but this time, y'all fear is driving 285 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:51,040 their thinking and not faith. Do you see that before they even 286 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:54,400 even encounter the problem in anticipation of what they think 287 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:58,160 they're going to run into fear becomes the dominating force and 288 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:00,840 it's driving their thinking that's driving their planning. 289 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:04,640 It's driving their decision making rather than than faith. 290 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,480 But I want you to remember, what all has God promised them? 291 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:18,920 Name, offspring, nation, land, blessing, protection. 292 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:26,080 Is any of that going to come about if they take Abram out to 293 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,800 get his wife? Is any of that possible if Abram 294 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,680 dies? No, no, it's not right. 295 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:39,880 So what sense does it make to be afraid unless you don't believe 296 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:43,480 the promises of God? Let me ask that one more time. 297 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:49,360 What sense does it make to be afraid unless you don't actually 298 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:56,520 believe the promises of God? But this, this is exactly what 299 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:58,440 fear does. You know what fear does? 300 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:02,520 It makes us stupid. I don't use that word lightly 301 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:06,079 from the pulpit, all right? But it just does, right? 302 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:11,960 It makes us lose our mind. It makes us live illogically. 303 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:16,760 It makes us live irrationally. It causes us to lose our fate 304 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,599 because you can't live by fear and fate at the same time. 305 00:17:21,319 --> 00:17:24,760 You can't do it. It's one or the other. 306 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,200 All right. So Abrams in a jam and fear 307 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,480 which is leading to fear in the temporary lapse of his fate 308 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,000 because it's an either or thing. So what is Abrams fear driven 309 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,400 plan? Sarah, we're going to say you're 310 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,720 my sister, all right, instead of killing me, they're going to be 311 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:45,720 nice to me because you look so good. 312 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:50,440 All right, and the deal was Sarah actually was Abraham's 313 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,160 half sister. So this isn't a total lie. 314 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,000 The lie is not so much in what they're saying. 315 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,880 The lie is in what they're not saying, all right, And by what 316 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,760 they're not saying, the lie is actually in what they're 317 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,080 denying. So sure enough, it goes down 318 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:07,800 just like Abraham thought it would. 319 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:12,840 Everyone notices Sarah is gorgeous and the king could take 320 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,400 any woman he wanted in his domain and he never had enough. 321 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,760 So sure enough, he adds Sarah to his harem. 322 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,400 All right, so now one problem has led to another problem. 323 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,480 This is what fear driven living will get you. 324 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,280 You may get temporarily out of one jam, but just guess what? 325 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:33,440 It's going to lead you to a bigger one. 326 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,200 This is what happens when you make plans out of fear that get 327 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,360 you ahead of God. You get yourself between a rock 328 00:18:40,360 --> 00:18:43,760 and a hard place that now Abraham's going to be unable to 329 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:47,120 solve on his own. All right, so now Abram and 330 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:50,280 Sarah, they're not hungry. Temporary relief. 331 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,080 But guess what? Now the problem is his wife's 332 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:59,280 living in another man's house. That's way worse, all right. 333 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:03,840 Abram, out of fear for his own hide, has now exposed his wife 334 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:06,800 to the possibility of adultery. All right. 335 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,720 And now he's endangered all the promises God made to him, all 336 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:15,080 the promises God made to him. Abram is put in jeopardy because 337 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,480 he started making decisions out of fear rather than fate in the 338 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:21,120 promises of God. So without wife, no offspring, 339 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:23,600 no name, no nation, no land, no blessing. 340 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,680 Fear solved one problem but just created a bigger one. 341 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,400 Yes, it gave them temporary protection, but watch this, it's 342 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:38,360 endangering God's best #2 write this down if you're taking 343 00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:43,240 notes. Fear, Fear can forfeit the 344 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,120 blessings of God's call on your life. 345 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:52,360 Fear. Fear can forfeit so many of the 346 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:57,320 blessings of God's call on your life. 347 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,920 So Abram has said yes to God's call on his life. 348 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,160 Hallelujah. But now new difficulties have 349 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,560 come. Things have changed. 350 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,240 There are now new trials. There are now new dangers. 351 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,400 There's now new threats. And Abram, who said yes to God's 352 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:19,160 call, is now afraid. And when you and I are afraid, 353 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,760 we have a choice. Fear or faith. 354 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,400 The way I'd like to explain this. 355 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,040 Is the reality is choosing to follow Jesus. 356 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:35,360 Choosing to follow God is really not a one time 1 and done 357 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,640 decision in life. Now let me try to be very clear, 358 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,840 when you choose to follow Jesus and accept Jesus as your Savior 359 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,760 for salvation, which I pray that you've done, and if not, you can 360 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,760 actually do so right now because I explained earlier what Jesus 361 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,040 has done for you, living for you, dying for you, defeating 362 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,280 death for you so he could pay for your sin for you and offer 363 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,360 you life. You can actually call on Jesus 364 00:20:56,360 --> 00:20:58,400 right now. Make the decision to say, Lord, 365 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:00,800 I know that's what I need. You're the only way. 366 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:02,800 Would you save me, forgive me and be my Lord. 367 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,680 All right, that's a one time decision because you don't get 368 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,960 saved multiple times. You don't get made alive more 369 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:11,360 than once. You don't get born again more 370 00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:15,040 than once. OK, but once you choose to 371 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:19,200 follow Jesus, the reality is every single day you wake up, 372 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,160 you have a choice to make. You have a choice to make 373 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:27,040 whether or not you're going to follow Jesus as your King, as 374 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:31,120 your Lord, as your master. Quite honestly, every moment by 375 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:34,760 moment of the day you get to make this choice whether you're 376 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:38,080 going to die to yourself and what you want in life your way 377 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,160 or if you're going to say no. I got to remember I've been 378 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:42,200 bought with a price. I'm not my own. 379 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,920 The Holy Spirit lives within me, is claimed me, I belong to 380 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:46,840 Jesus. Then I'm going to walk by faith 381 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,560 instead of fear. So following Jesus really is a 382 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,360 day by day, moment by moment, not just once over and done 383 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:57,120 decision. All right, and it's fear or 384 00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:01,680 faith, but it cannot be both. Can I just ask you some 385 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,480 questions? How many fear driven decisions 386 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:10,960 have you made? How many fear driven versus 387 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,240 faith driven plans have you put together for your future? 388 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:22,160 How is or is anything in your life right now being driven by 389 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:27,760 fear instead of faith? Abram is falling for fear 390 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,560 instead of choosing faith in his fear. 391 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:35,160 His fear is actually ironically threatening to take out all that 392 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,720 God has promised him. Isn't that ironic that it was 393 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,960 out of fear that Abram's trying to preserve his life, but his 394 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,840 fear is endangering everything God had promised him? 395 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:52,160 This is how illogical, irrational fear is. 396 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:57,040 This is what it does. All right, so Abram has lost his 397 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:58,280 wife. Now the question is, will 398 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,680 Abraham lose it all? Will his fear cause him to lose 399 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,080 it all? In other words, let's put it 400 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,280 like this. If God's promises are going to 401 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,160 be true now to Abram, God's going to have to intervene. 402 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,200 He's in a rock and a hard space. If, if the promises of God are 403 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,400 going to get back on the railroad tracks, God is going to 404 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,760 have to intervene. Abram has put himself in a 405 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,040 situation where he can do nothing. 406 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,960 Why don't you listen to the Word of God, verse 17 through 20? 407 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:34,560 But the Lord, but the Lord. But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh 408 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,560 and his house with great plagues because of Sarah, Abram's wife. 409 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:43,160 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this you have done 410 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:47,160 to me? Why did you not tell me that she 411 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,080 was your wife? Why did you say she is my 412 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:52,120 sister? So that I took her from my wife. 413 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,040 Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go. 414 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,760 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent 415 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:02,840 him away with his wife and all that he had. 416 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,560 Y'all answering God's call does not eliminate all difficulty and 417 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:12,520 fear can ruin so many of God's blessings of God's call on our 418 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:14,240 life. But now what we're going to see 419 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:18,520 here in Genesis 12 is this phrase, but the Lord, but the 420 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:20,440 Lord. Now, I, I don't mean to 421 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,040 insinuate anything other than just trying to say this clearly 422 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,640 without getting distraction, but when you read the word, but in 423 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:31,120 the Bible, it is a big deal. All right, a big deal. 424 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,840 I have heard it described like this whenever there's a butt God 425 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,400 or a butt the Lord. What you're looking at is a 426 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,120 shift from human weakness to divine power. 427 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:43,720 Right there you are changing over. 428 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,920 There's an intervention of divine power in the midst of 429 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,760 human weakness. These are big deals in the 430 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,160 Bible. Without the but gods of the 431 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,320 Bible, we would all be lost in our sin without hope and 432 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,840 separated from God. All right, praise God for all 433 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:03,320 the but gods of the Bible. Every one of them is a 434 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,280 manifestation of the grace and the kindness and mercy and the 435 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:11,600 power of God in the midst of our fear, our unfaithfulness or our 436 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:13,240 failure. And let me just tell you this. 437 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,600 You ought to track all the but gods in your life, not just the 438 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,240 Bible. You ought to track and keep up 439 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,760 with all the but gods in in your life. 440 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:24,360 And there are they are everywhere. 441 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,560 Can I just share a few of mine with you to kind of brag on God 442 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:28,880 from? I just thought about this this 443 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:32,320 week, Kyle, if you had to sit in and and list out the but gods in 444 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,880 your life, those moments when it would transition from human 445 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,320 weakness to divine power, what would those be? 446 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:40,880 The doctors. This is a story for another day. 447 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:43,760 I've mentioned it here and there, but the doctors told my 448 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,680 parents when I was born that I would not survive but God. 449 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,360 But God, when I was a nine year old boy, I was lost in my sin, 450 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:57,200 but God, All right. When we left Americus, GA, where 451 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:01,360 I was born, we left a church where, unbeknownst to us, the 452 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:04,680 pastor was in an adulterous relationship with the children's 453 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:07,640 choir director. We moved to a church in 454 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,200 Mississippi where the senior pastor sacrificially dedicated 455 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,920 himself to training up young preachers. 456 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,520 But God, y'all following with me. 457 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,280 Y'all don't sound excited. This is exciting to me. 458 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,760 I was headed down my own career path that I thought would serve 459 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,160 me best, that I would like best, but God, all right, I was 460 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,440 selfish and immature. I still struggle with that at 461 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:29,920 times, all right, but I especially was in high school. 462 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,800 There's no way things should have worked out between Lauren 463 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,640 and myself. But God, when a new president 464 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,160 came to Southwestern Seminary and wanted to bring his own 465 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,320 team, I was going to be without a job, all right. 466 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,760 But God, they said, Kyle, nobody will ever hire you. 467 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:46,280 You have no pastoral ministry experience. 468 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,720 But God, have you ever named the butt gods in your life? 469 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,800 They are everywhere. The shifts from human weakness 470 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,040 to divine power. Listen, without the but gods of 471 00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,400 your life and mine in the Bible, we're without hope. 472 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:04,040 This is where God's faithfulness inserts himself on our behalf. 473 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:08,120 All right, it says, but the Lord, verse 17, afflicted 474 00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:12,360 Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarah, 475 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:15,080 Abraham's wife. Not one plague, ladies and 476 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,680 gentlemen, plagues. Can we do another little flash 477 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,800 forward for a moment? The Bible is crazy interesting, 478 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:24,360 right? We're going to get to these 479 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:29,200 again with Abraham's offspring. When God says, let my people go, 480 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:30,800 God's talking to Pharaoh again, God. 481 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,920 Pharaoh says, no, that's what God's going to do. 482 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:35,600 Human weakness to divine intervention. 483 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,280 But God in the form of 10 mighty plagues from Almighty God. 484 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:41,000 So the Pharaoh and all the Egyptians do. 485 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,600 There's a God in heaven who intervened, right? 486 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,680 So this is what God does here. Who knows what these plagues 487 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,640 were? Who knows how they find found 488 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:50,920 out? Maybe they started interviewing 489 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,840 and interrogating everybody and Sarah was the newest arrival. 490 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:55,400 It's got to be her. Who knows? 491 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:58,560 We don't know how it how they found out, but he did find out 492 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,560 that's because he had Abraham's wife in his house that these 493 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,680 plagues had come Pharaoh not because of I want you to watch 494 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,120 how this is so ironic things out of the Bible when you really 495 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:11,160 study look close, start jumping off the page. 496 00:28:11,360 --> 00:28:16,560 Pharaoh out of fear of God does the right thing instead of the 497 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,280 fear of man when it was Abraham's not fear of God, but 498 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,400 fear of man that caused the very situation. 499 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,840 But it's a Pagan who actually out of fear of God, does what 500 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:26,680 he's supposed to do when Abraham didn't. 501 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,120 Amazing, right? Abram was in a bind. 502 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:39,000 But God and Pharaoh, out of fear of God gives Abram's wife back. 503 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:43,000 Third thing to write down is God's call on your life 504 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:50,440 ultimately depends on but God, if God's call on your life is 505 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,480 going to be a reality, guess what? 506 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,040 I'm going to fail at it at times and you are too and for it to 507 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,480 continue into remain. I guarantee you it's going to 508 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:04,680 depend on more than one, but God a shift from your weakness to 509 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,040 his divine power. Let me explain it like this 510 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,040 Romans chapter 3 verse 4 makes a little statement that I love it 511 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,880 says this. Let God be true though everyone 512 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,160 a liar. And what in the world does that 513 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,280 mean? Paul is explaining the situation 514 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,880 and answering this question. His question is this, does the 515 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:30,080 unfaithfulness of the Israelites who were entrusted with the 516 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,920 promises of God mean that God is unfaithful? 517 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,680 Did the unfaithfulness of God's people mean that God is 518 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,480 unfaithful? Paul says by no means, by no 519 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,040 means. He says let everyone be a liar. 520 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:49,080 God will still be true, right? God will still be faithful. 521 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,800 God will still be fulfilling His promises. 522 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:53,880 He cannot lie. He cannot be unfaithful. 523 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:58,120 He cannot break his promises. Friends, that is good news. 524 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:02,920 Aren't you glad God remains faithful despite our lapses in 525 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:08,560 unfaithfulness to Him? I want to make a statement here, 526 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:09,760 and I don't want you to miss it. You ready? 527 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:17,920 Fear and unfaithfulness can cause you and me to forfeit many 528 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:23,320 of the blessings of God, but they can never cause God to 529 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:27,040 break His promises to you. I'm going to say that one more 530 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,400 time. Fear and unfaithfulness can 531 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,400 cause you and me to forfeit many of the blessings of God if we 532 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:35,960 choose to walk in fear versus faith. 533 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:40,880 But those things can never 'cause God to break His promises 534 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,680 to you. Somebody here this morning needs 535 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:46,960 to hear that. You want to know why? 536 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:50,440 Because perhaps you've lived in fear and you might be living in 537 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:54,640 fear right now because you've lapsed into unfaithfulness. 538 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,560 Maybe you failed. Maybe you know, and you could 539 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,320 count the blessings in your life you forfeited because of walking 540 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,160 in fear versus fate. Maybe you assume you might as 541 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,000 well give up. Maybe you think you might as 542 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,320 well walk away. God can no longer use you want 543 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,720 you or desire or God's will be done in your life and you are 544 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:14,680 wrong. God is always true, no matter 545 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,680 every man, a liar or unfaithful. God is always faithful to His 546 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:19,880 promises. And what has God promised you? 547 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:21,960 To start in you. What he started in you. 548 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,320 To bring to what? To completion. 549 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:26,440 To never leave you nor forsake you. 550 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:29,560 That nothing could snatch you out of his hands. 551 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,640 That he that he's going to complete, that he's going to see 552 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:38,560 through, that He's going to be with you and never give up. 553 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:43,040 But God, y'all just to review for a second, answering God's 554 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,080 call on your life does not eliminate all difficulty. 555 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:50,320 So let me say this, if you're in that spot right now where you're 556 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:55,000 in various trials, what you need to hear and remember is this 557 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:02,320 storm too shall pass, OK? And your faith will be stronger 558 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:07,560 if you trust God. Don't run to fear the storm. 559 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:09,520 I guarantee you will pass. All right. 560 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,760 God's plan involves temporary trial for the sake of your long 561 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,760 term, forever perfection. All right, this storm is going 562 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,560 to pass. Second, fear can cause you to 563 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:25,760 forfeit many of God's blessings. All right, when you are afraid, 564 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,360 you've got to choose to believe the promises of God. 565 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:33,440 The only reason you would walk in fear is if you actually don't 566 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,880 believe the promises of God. You got to choose to believe. 567 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:38,160 You got to go back to God's word. 568 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,440 You've got to hold on as an anchor for your soul. 569 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,880 All right. And God's promises are true no 570 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:44,560 matter what your circumstances are. 571 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:49,240 And God's call on your life ultimately depends on but God 572 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,200 when you mess up and you will hear me when you mess up and you 573 00:32:53,200 --> 00:33:01,400 will ask God for a but God say God, I've failed, I've walked in 574 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,000 fear, I've been unfaithful. But God, I need you now to shift 575 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,800 me from my human weakness to your divine power. 576 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:12,720 Without it, I won't make it. God, I need a but God final 577 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:14,280 thing in your notes, you can write these blanks in. 578 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:19,720 When you face difficulty in fear, walk by faith in the 579 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,080 faithfulness of God. When you face difficulty in 580 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:27,000 fear, walk by faith in the faithfulness of God. 581 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,000 John and praise team are going to come out and here's what I 582 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,160 want to invite you to do this morning. 583 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:36,720 You may be in the room and you've never taken that leap of 584 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,400 faith to trust Jesus as your Savior. 585 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,600 Would you do so today? Why wait? 586 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:44,800 Why wait? Today, the Bible says, is the 587 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,560 day of salvation. The promises of God are true. 588 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:50,000 Will you believe? Will you receive? 589 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,160 I'm going to stand right here so that if you need to step out and 590 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,560 speak to me, I'll wait to pray, to talk with you. 591 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:56,120 We'll have encouragers that'll be close. 592 00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:58,680 Maybe you're in a storm this morning. 593 00:33:59,960 --> 00:34:02,480 Maybe that storm's been going for a while and you want to come 594 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,600 and treat these steps like an altar before God, where you can 595 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,199 come, stand or kneel and say, God, I need help believing this 596 00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:11,360 storm's going to pass. God, I need help believing that 597 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,960 these trials are actually for my good, because God, I don't 598 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,120 understand why, but God, I'm going to. 599 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,280 I'm going to believe that you're using these for my good. 600 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:21,639 Maybe you just want to come and kneel before the Lord. 601 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:28,760 Maybe maybe you're walking in fear and you want to say, God, I 602 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,320 want to give you this fear and I'm going to ask you to give me 603 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,360 faith. God, I don't want to forfeit 604 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,159 your blessings on my life. Or maybe you're to that point. 605 00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:39,800 You say God, if I don't get a but God, I've got no hope and 606 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:42,000 you just want to come ask, come get on your knees. 607 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,320 Say God, would you intervene trade out my weakness for your 608 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,600 divine power? Father, I prayed that you would 609 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,639 give us a yes in our souls to you this morning in every way, 610 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:54,400 in Jesus name I pray, Amen. Would you stand with me, Church?