1 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,360 First Family, I am so proud of our students for a number of 2 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,080 things, but I just couldn't help but as I was, as we were 3 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:19,840 worshiping, remembering even just some of the things this 4 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,720 week that God's been reminding me of. 5 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,640 And I haven't had a chance to go to every FCA huddle in our city 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,360 and county schools, but I've been to been to several of them. 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,320 And I'll be honest, I've been here almost seven years this 8 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,960 July. I have never seen our FCA 9 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,720 huddles and what God's doing through those in our schools. 10 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,080 I'm talking about busting at the seams like they are now. 11 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,800 So I showed up and I happened to show up at Woodland High School 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,000 this past Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm losing track of my days. 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,280 I don't know. It's one of them for their FCA 14 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,240 huddle. And so I, the last time I'd been 15 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,880 was a couple years ago probably and there was 15 or 20 students 16 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:01,520 there. So I kind of expected the same. 17 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,480 I'll walk in if there wasn't 100 students in the gym. 18 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:06,680 I, I don't know how many there were. 19 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:08,880 I thought. Unbelievable, right? 20 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,760 Praise God. Some of you go to Carter's. 21 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:14,480 Well, how many do y'all have at FCA? 22 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:19,120 Because I know it's grown a ton, 80 to 100. 23 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:21,640 Last time I was there a couple three years ago, there may have 24 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:24,160 been 15 to 20. It's been growing. 25 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,880 God has been. And by the way, a lot of our 26 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,080 people are huddle leaders in these places, right? 27 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:32,480 So you got Chris and Natalie, Teddy. 28 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:33,920 Chris does the Woodland Middle School. 29 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,800 There's like 200 of them middle schoolers running around at FCA. 30 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,320 It's unbelievable. And then Blake Baxter was at 31 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:42,000 Woodland high School. Blake, are you in the room right 32 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,320 now? She may have been first service, 33 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:46,320 I'm not sure. She's leading at Woodland High 34 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:49,440 School. You got Donovan and Kenzie Tate 35 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,320 and others at Cartersville High School. 36 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,960 I can't name them all. I'm just telling you God's 37 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:55,800 moving. And let me let me tell you this, 38 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,640 and this may not encourage you older folks, but it should. 39 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,400 But God, when God starts moving, do you know who he starts moving 40 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,440 in whose lives? I'll tell you it ain't old 41 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,919 people. I'm sorry. 42 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,160 God's not done with it yet, I promise. 43 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:17,640 But I'm just telling you when he goes to do something special, 44 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,920 you watch any movement of God and you watch the young people 45 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:25,640 saying, God here we are, send us, use us, move in our lives 46 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,440 first every time. I'm just telling you, God's 47 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,440 moving in our young people. I've never seen so many from our 48 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,640 church associated with a with a merge weekend. 49 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:35,760 I've never seen so many gathering early mornings around 50 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:37,880 God's word. God is using our people. 51 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:39,600 God is doing this community wide. 52 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,520 Scott obviously leads FCA in Bartow County. 53 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:44,560 Brandon Barnett leads it in multiple counties. 54 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,920 It's amazing what God is doing among young people. 55 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:50,160 Praise God. Let's pray that God pours fire 56 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,040 on that, for it's a spread to be contagious. 57 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,080 All right, I'm getting away from my sermon, so here we go 58 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:57,760 answering the call of God out of Genesis. 59 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,840 All right, we started this last week and our question is, what's 60 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,800 God going to do to save sinners who keep striking out? 61 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:08,080 They keep stepping up to the plate to hit the ball of his 62 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,200 will and keep whiffing. What is God going to do? 63 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,600 God tells you what he's going to do beginning in a promise in 64 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,640 Genesis 315. The one is going to come born 65 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:19,480 the seed of the woman, one's going to be born of woman one 66 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,680 day. That is going to do for us what 67 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,080 we couldn't do for ourselves. He's going to crush the head of 68 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:26,160 the serpent, by the way. He's going to live a sinless 69 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,040 life. He's going to die as our 70 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,720 substitute on the cross. He's going to defeat death for 71 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:32,160 us. His name's going to be Jesus. 72 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:34,360 If you know the rest of the story and the Bible is all about 73 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,240 pointing to him and his story of how he came for us. 74 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:42,000 The Bible starts telling us how that promise of Genesis 315 75 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,320 starts to unfold in Genesis chapter 12. 76 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:50,000 And we saw that last week with the call of God on Abrams life. 77 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,240 How through one man, God's going to bring 1 nation to who's going 78 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,640 to bring 1 Savior of the whole world for all who would trust 79 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,400 him as the Lord and Savior. But what we're also seeing, in 80 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,280 addition to this call of God on Abraham's life and the 81 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,600 fulfillment of God's promises, is we're also seeing this 82 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,960 pattern of living that ought to be true of our lives. 83 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:14,280 We're talking about how God's called Abraham and invited him 84 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,000 into this pattern of responding to him. 85 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,800 That ought to be true of us as well. 86 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,880 So what is that pattern? Remember, God calls us and then 87 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,560 God calls us to bless us. That doesn't mean he prevents 88 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:30,040 all pain. It doesn't mean he prevents all 89 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,360 suffering. But God calls us because he has 90 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,520 good in store for us. And God calls us. 91 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,160 God calls us to bless us, and then God calls us to bless 92 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,480 others. He calls us to be a conduit for 93 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,720 that goodness to be passed on. This is a pattern for living we 94 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,440 are to embrace. And So what we're going to see 95 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:51,920 here is we pick up in Genesis 12, verses 4 through 9 is really 96 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,720 this pattern of living unfolding in Abraham's life and also for 97 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,600 our lives continue to unfold. So listen to the Word of God 98 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,960 beginning in verse 4 of chapter 12. 99 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:08,840 The Bible says so Abram went and the Lord, as the Lord had told 100 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:14,280 him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he 101 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:18,040 departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarah his wife, 102 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,120 and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they 103 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,040 had gathered and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and 104 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,040 they set out to go to the land of Canaan. 105 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,160 And when they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through 106 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:32,880 the land of Canaan. And Abram passed through the 107 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,680 land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moray. 108 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,440 And at that time the Canaanites were in the land. 109 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,320 And then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your 110 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,120 offspring, I will give this land. 111 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,920 So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to 112 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,280 him. And there he moved to the Hill 113 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:54,280 Country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel 114 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:58,120 on the West and AI on the east. And there he built an altar to 115 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,200 the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. 116 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,000 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. 117 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,560 Now if you remember what God said last week, what we just 118 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,640 read really ought to jump off the page to you, because God 119 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:11,360 said go. And Abram did what? 120 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:14,360 Abraham hung out for a little bit. 121 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:17,520 Abraham said, God, can you repeat yourself? 122 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,120 God said go. And Abram did what he went. 123 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,040 God said jump. And Abram said how high? 124 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:31,480 I mean Abram doesn't wait, Abram doesn't negotiate, he doesn't 125 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:36,160 hesitate. Abram obeys right away, all the 126 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:37,520 way. If we don't know this phrase is 127 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:38,880 a church yet, I hope we do right? 128 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,960 I say this a lot because it is life skill one O 1. 129 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:47,560 God desires from you and me obedience that is right away and 130 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:49,760 all the way. Right away and all the way. 131 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:54,120 This is what Abraham does. Parents, by the way, God tasks 132 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,560 you to teach this life skill to your children so that they can 133 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:01,200 put it into practice with him when it's game time. 134 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,200 I want you to know that if your children don't learn right away 135 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,600 all the way, obedience to godly authority in their lives, do you 136 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,440 think they're going to give it to God one day if they don't 137 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,840 give it to you? The answer's no. 138 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,240 The answer's no. You can actually study this. 139 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:21,280 And teenagers, you're a little late for this, but it's never 140 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:22,760 too late to make corrections. All right? 141 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:25,480 But parents, young parents, listen to me. 142 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,520 They say even people that are secular in their field but study 143 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:32,080 human growth and development. Talk about a window of time, 144 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,240 usually between the ages of two and four, two to five, two to 145 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,720 six, where there is a formative period in a child's life when 146 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,200 they choose how they're going to respond to authority. 147 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,840 And if they miss that moment, it's very difficult to 148 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:46,360 retroactively apply it to get them back on track. 149 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:51,040 Often the discipline that's biblical, that's corrective and 150 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,760 loving is needed in a window that's earlier than you think it 151 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:54,840 is. Which by the way, and I'm 152 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:56,480 getting off track right here, but I just got to say this. 153 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:00,120 Which in our day and time, the parenting pendulum is swung so 154 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:00,960 far. What you're going to hear is, 155 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:05,120 oh, they're just a kid, or they're tired, they need a nap 156 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,800 or they need a screen. I'm going to tell you what they 157 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:14,920 need. What did y'all think? 158 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:19,200 I was about to say, wow, maybe I shouldn't go there. 159 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:20,520 I think you already got my drift. 160 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:21,680 I'm going to get back to the sermon. 161 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,280 All right, praise God for that. All right, so y'all know some 162 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,960 stories in my own life, life skill, one-on-one parenting 163 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,080 before God right away all the way obedience and and by the 164 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,000 way, if God is going to get that in your life, let me just tell 165 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:38,120 you what's going to have to be true. 166 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:44,840 God is going to have to be your highest allegiance if there's 167 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,080 something higher or more important are first in your 168 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:51,440 life. If God is second, if God is 169 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,480 subordinate, if God's not number one, if God is VP in your life 170 00:08:55,480 --> 00:09:01,840 but not P for president and CEO, then guess what, you're never 171 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,120 going to give him obedience this right away all the way. 172 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,040 You want to know why? Because you got another boss to 173 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:11,440 run things by that maybe you yourself and I right, me myself. 174 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:12,640 And I think that's how that should go. 175 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,200 But you've always got something somewhere else, someone else you 176 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,720 want to actually run it by instead of actually just simply 177 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,080 giving God right away all the way obedience. 178 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:24,960 Listen to Jesus's words out of the New Testament that 179 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,120 reemphasize this. Matthew 1037 through 39. 180 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,560 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of 181 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:35,240 me. Whoever loves son or daughter 182 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:37,000 more than me is not worthy of me. 183 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:38,880 What is Jesus saying? That you can't love your parents 184 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,960 or can't love your kids? Of course not. 185 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,560 But what he's saying is, if you got a greater love in your life 186 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:49,360 than me, we've got a problem, because he's not. 187 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,800 Am I your highest allegiance, highest love, greatest 188 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,920 authority? If so, right, Jesus goes on to 189 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,000 say, who would? Whoever does not take up his 190 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,760 cross and follow me, He's not worthy of me. 191 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,280 Then he says something kind of strange sounding, but it's so 192 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:07,080 clear when you get it right. Whoever finds his life will lose 193 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,960 it. But however loses his life, for 194 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:12,520 my sake, we'll find it. What in the world does that 195 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:14,560 mean? That means if you go looking for 196 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:17,560 life in all the wrong places to give your first love and 1st 197 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:20,800 allegiance and 1st worship to anything else other than Jesus, 198 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:22,920 guess what? You might think you found life, 199 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:25,360 but it will let you down because you've not found life. 200 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:28,520 You will lose it. But Jesus says you let go of all 201 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,760 those other allegiances, and you place me first. 202 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,200 Let me be King, let me be Lord of your life. 203 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:35,920 Lead and let me lead as God in your life. 204 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:36,920 Guess what? That's where you're going to 205 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,200 find the abundant life that only He can supply. 206 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:43,240 And so right away, all the way, obedience is only going to 207 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:48,000 happen if Jesus is your highest allegiance in your life. 208 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,120 Can I just ask you this question, students? 209 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,280 Why don't you think about this? Can right away all the way 210 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,080 obedience happen in your life right now? 211 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:59,480 Because Jesus is your highest allegiance. 212 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:05,560 Moms and dads, parents, senior adults, is this even possible in 213 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:07,040 your life? Life skill one-on-one? 214 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,360 Because Jesus is your highest allegiance or something or 215 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:15,920 someone else, maybe yourself on the throne that only God is 216 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:19,480 designed to sit on. You see, God is driving 217 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,200 Abraham's life. God is guiding Abraham's life. 218 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,080 God is in charge and Abraham is following his direction and 219 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:28,000 letting him follow the shot, called the shots. 220 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,840 This is the pattern of the Christian life. 221 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:32,920 Number one. God desires obedience. 222 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:37,400 That's all the way and right away, but then the Bible goes on 223 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:39,200 to say something really interesting. 224 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:40,960 Look back at the text in verse 4. 225 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,840 It says here, So Abraham went as God had said, go as the Lord had 226 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:49,480 told him and then watch this next statement and Lot went with 227 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,240 him. Now at first glance, that sounds 228 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:59,120 really great like oh wow, the more the right it's a party. 229 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,720 Let's let's all go all right, That sounds like what could be 230 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:04,440 wrong with that. All right. 231 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,040 But as we keep reading it, it's going to become more and more 232 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:11,760 clear that this may not. And I'm using the word may 233 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:13,120 because I'm just, can I just be honest with you? 234 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,960 I, I may be wrong on this right here and God may correct me when 235 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:17,440 I get to heaven. All right, So I'm holding this 236 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,080 out humbly, all right. But I think sometimes the text 237 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,680 tells us things without having to actually tell us things if 238 00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:25,400 we're paying attention. And what's going to come clear 239 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,320 is that this decision for a lot to go with Abram may not have 240 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:34,200 actually been a great idea. In fact, I honestly, maybe more 241 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:39,000 realistically think this could have been a slight breach of 242 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,960 following God's command all the way. 243 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:47,920 He definitely went right away. But I wonder if this was not an 244 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:51,440 all the way instance of obedience in Abram's life. 245 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:56,560 What did God say to Abram? Leave your house, home country 246 00:12:56,560 --> 00:13:03,600 and and kindred, he said leave your extended family, not take 247 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:06,840 some of your extended family right when you get right down to 248 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,720 what God said. It seems that this may not have 249 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,880 actually technically supposed to include Lot, right? 250 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,680 But this is what Abram does and no pun intended, it's going to 251 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:26,000 cause him a lot of that's a dad joke right there, but it works, 252 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,760 right? It's going to cause him a lot of 253 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,840 problems and it's going to just start compounding on itself. 254 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,240 All right, I mean, let me, let me put it like this, whether or 255 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:36,160 not I'm right or wrong, this is true of us. 256 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:41,120 How many times do we know what God has said, but we put our own 257 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,960 spin to how we're going to obey. How many times do we know what 258 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:47,640 God has said, but we think we can customize it a little bit 259 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,600 and improve upon it? How many times do we know what 260 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,320 God is clearly revealed, but we're going to choose to obey 261 00:13:53,320 --> 00:14:00,080 our way rather than exactly all the way that God has said to 262 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,440 obey, right? Abram obviously thought this was 263 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:04,760 a great decision. He wouldn't be totally starting 264 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:06,400 over. He'd have some family with him, 265 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:08,960 a friend for the journey. He's old, right? 266 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:10,840 He's he. He's beyond and his wife's 267 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,040 beyond childbearing years. Lot was like a son to him. 268 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,040 Perhaps. Maybe he thought his offspring 269 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:18,680 would come through Lot. We don't know. 270 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,360 All we know is God's command doesn't mention Lot. 271 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,240 And then all of a sudden the Bible goes out of the way to 272 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:24,600 tell you, guess who's going along? 273 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,000 Lot is. That's interesting. 274 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,920 I want to be very honest with you for a moment. 275 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:36,000 If this is in fact what I think it is, whether or not it is, 276 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,600 here's what I know. We're all me included, a little 277 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,040 bit like Abraham. Here's what I mean. 278 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:47,360 Many if not most I'm choosing my language carefully here. 279 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,800 Follow me. Many if not most students, I 280 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:52,920 want you if you don't hear anything else I say, I want you 281 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,240 to listen real close to the next like 3 to 4 minutes. 282 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,160 Most if not all of our could have been avoided. 283 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:08,640 Problems are a result are a result of us not obeying clearly 284 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,240 the revealed will of God in our lives. 285 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,160 I'm not saying that there is not problems and pain that come into 286 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,160 our lives that we can't control. There certainly is so many 287 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,000 things we experience and walk through under God's Providence 288 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,480 and sovereignty happen that we're not responsible for. 289 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,840 But listen to me close. Many, if not most of our could 290 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,640 have been avoided. Problems and pain go back to the 291 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:35,960 not so wise decisions we make that we're outside the revealed 292 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:37,760 will of God. Let me just show you a picture 293 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,200 of that to try to make myself explicitly clear what that looks 294 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:41,160 like. Y'all check this out on the 295 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:49,280 screen. I, I mean, y'all know what's 296 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,440 coming for this guy, right? And it's not going to be pretty, 297 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:59,040 but he's doing it anyway, right? God has revealed his will so 298 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,600 clearly in our lives that oftentimes we do some things, 299 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:05,480 sometimes things so foolish, so outside the bounds, outside the 300 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:07,320 things that we think are a great idea. 301 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:09,200 You know why? Because everybody else is saw in 302 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,120 the limb, everybody else is doing. 303 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,840 This is normal. Pastor Kyle, are you kidding me 304 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:19,120 right, but most, if not all of our could have been avoided. 305 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:23,760 Parliaments and pain come from doing things outside the wisdom 306 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:25,040 and revealed will of God student system. 307 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:26,320 I'm going to get real specific with you. 308 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,280 You may not like me for this, but I'm just going to tell you 309 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:32,560 the truth, all right, Because listen, I long for you to 310 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,600 experience God's goodness in your life, but it's going to 311 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:39,040 take some sacrificial decisions to to obey the will of God. 312 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,120 And let me tell you some things that the world just says and by 313 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:45,320 honestly, the world just accepts as normal that it and then 314 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:47,680 perhaps you just think, well, maybe this is the way my life is 315 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:49,640 going to go too. They're going to put you saw and 316 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:53,960 on the limb you're sitting on physical intimacy before 317 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,720 marriage or outside of marriage. I get it. 318 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,320 Everybody else is doing it doesn't mean you need to walk 319 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,000 off the Cliff too. You'll save yourself 1000 320 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,119 heartaches if you'll wait. I realize that's so unpopular in 321 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:09,160 our culture today, but I'm just telling you, you're sawing the 322 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:12,760 limb you're sitting on. If you choose not to do that, if 323 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:18,680 you choose friends, your primary friends, and if they don't love 324 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:22,040 Jesus, you are sawing the limb you're sitting on. 325 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:27,200 It's going to fall one day and it's going to hurt if you 326 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,200 choose. Listen to me, please. 327 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:34,200 If you choose to marry somebody who does not love Jesus with all 328 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:40,520 their heart, you are sawing the limb out from under your life. 329 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:46,880 Do not, do not do it. If you choose persons, places, 330 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,680 or things. My grammar teacher in fifth 331 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:51,160 grade that stuck with me. That's a noun. 332 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:52,920 Y'all get that person, place, or thing. 333 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,880 She did her job. If you choose persons, places, 334 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:01,720 or things to be involved in, to hang around or to participate in 335 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:06,640 that are clearly not God's best, you're sawing the limb you're 336 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:08,080 sitting on. Now let me say this. 337 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,000 Lots of us have sawed limbs that we've been sitting on. 338 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,600 Praise God for God's grace and forgiveness. 339 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:16,200 Hallelujah. Can we all say Amen? 340 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,720 All right, praise God, but let's be honest with ourselves and 341 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:25,760 not, not not pretend, right, that we could avoid so many 342 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,680 things, so much of the pain, so many of the consequences if we 343 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,520 just set ourselves to say God, by your help and the Holy 344 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,120 Spirit, help me to obey what you've clearly said. 345 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:36,640 Praise God. If I mess up and get out of line 346 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,600 or find myself in the ditch, God, you're there to to RIP us 347 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:40,640 back out. Praise God. 348 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:43,880 And many of you have Hallelujah. All right, have been there as 349 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:45,840 soon as if you're there right now, God can pick you up from 350 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,680 where you are right now and set your feet right back on the path 351 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:50,320 that he wants you to walk. So don't give up. 352 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:52,160 Don't walk away if there's breath in your lungs. 353 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,080 Praise God for his forgiveness and grace. 354 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,960 But a lot of times I'm trying to give some preventative upstream 355 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,480 things before you get downstream of some things that could have 356 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:00,520 been avoided. Y'all with me? 357 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:05,080 All right, now, don't go to sleep. 358 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,160 But that was my main thing for students. 359 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,440 All right, y'all, It says here they set out for the land of 360 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,760 Canaan. When Abraham gets to the land of 361 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,800 Canaan and knocks on the door, he's expecting maybe nobody to 362 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:18,840 live there. But guess what? 363 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,480 It's full of people. God, you sure? 364 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:27,520 If you know your Bible pretty well, you're going to find out 365 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:28,600 too. Hey, God, these people pretty 366 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:32,160 big. These people are kind of 367 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,600 intimidating. They set out for the land of 368 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,920 Canaan. Abraham's got to be wondering, 369 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:39,480 God, this is the right direction, is this the right 370 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:41,560 place? Is this, is this the promise? 371 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:43,480 Abram's got to be having some questions. 372 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,280 And guess what God does for Abram right when Abram needs it, 373 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:51,920 Verse seven, look at it there. God graciously appears to Abram. 374 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:53,920 This is what we call. Can I give you some fancy words 375 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,520 for a moment? This is what we appear call a 376 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:57,720 theophany. All right. 377 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:01,600 That's an appearance of God in physical, temporary, visible 378 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,480 form. This is more specifically not 379 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,200 just a theophany appearance of God. 380 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,480 This is what I believe is specifically a christophany. 381 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,680 This is a physical, visible, temporary but very real 382 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:15,680 appearance of the second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, 383 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,320 who by the way, one day, years in the future, will take on 384 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,720 human flesh and His name will be called. 385 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,600 Oh, come on now, they need to be stronger than that Jesus, right? 386 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,640 This is Jesus before Jesus was born and named Jesus. 387 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,720 Now, in case you either didn't know or forgot that Jesus has 388 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,520 always existed, let me just remind you, John chapter one 389 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:40,200 verse one in the beginning was the and the word was with God 390 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,680 and the word was all right. And then it says in verse 3, 391 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,680 watch this, all things were made through him and without him, 392 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,200 that's Jesus was not anything made that was made. 393 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:52,880 You know what that means? That means Jesus was the one in 394 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,280 the six days of creation, speaking light into existence, 395 00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:01,200 speaking animals into existence, speaking all of creation into 396 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:02,920 existence. That was Jesus, the second 397 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,080 person of the Trinity, the Son of God, who's always been God 398 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,760 and always been with God from eternity past. 399 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,560 And then we know it's Jesus in John 1 because verse 14 it says 400 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,840 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we've seen 401 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:20,040 his glory. And so this is what this is what 402 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:25,880 Abram I believe is experiencing. This was I believe actually not 403 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,320 just Jesus being in the beginning creating all things. 404 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,040 I believe when God walked with man in the garden in the cool of 405 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,440 day, I think they were walking with Jesus. 406 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,360 I believe it was Jesus who was walking with Enoch. 407 00:21:36,360 --> 00:21:38,600 You can read about him students who walked with God. 408 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,240 And guess what God did. I love how one preacher put it. 409 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,280 He said, Enoch, we're closer to my house than we are to yours. 410 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:44,840 So why don't we just go on home with me today. 411 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:50,600 And God took him, right? This is appearing to Abraham. 412 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:52,960 How did it happen? What he looked like, we don't 413 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,040 know. We just, it's just very clear. 414 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,840 This is the Son of God. Now you may read this and say, 415 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,920 well, Kyle, my goodness, if I got a physical visible 416 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,120 appearance of Jesus to me, I could pick up and go and obey 417 00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:07,040 right away all the way too. But God hadn't done that for me. 418 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,280 Let me just remind you of a couple things #1 Abram did not 419 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:14,160 have this right here, and Abram did not have the Holy Spirit in 420 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:15,560 dwelling him on the inside either. 421 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,200 All right, guess what? You got two things even better. 422 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,040 Because if Abram was going to have any chance of obeying the 423 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,840 specific unique will of God for his life, God was going to have 424 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,960 to show up and speak up. God has shown up and spoken up 425 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,680 in His Word. And if you believed in Jesus as 426 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,360 your Savior, He's given you the Holy Spirit to guide you in 427 00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:39,160 every single specific, detailed decision of your life without 428 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,920 exception. Unbelievable, unbelievable. 429 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:44,600 What we have is Christ's followers. 430 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:46,560 All right. And then I just want to remind 431 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:50,120 you students too, that God still shows up when we need him. 432 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,680 Now, you may not physically see him, and it may not be a 433 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,760 Christophany, but when God knows you need him, God will show up 434 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:00,040 in your life in clear, unmistakable ways. 435 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,560 Listen to a story of a man by the name of Tyler Frazier most 436 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:06,040 recently. I love stories like this when 437 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,360 God shows up. But this, this gentleman was 438 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:11,240 interviewed on a podcast. He was a former gang member of 439 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,600 the motorcycle gang, the Iron Horseman. 440 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:15,680 I'd never even heard of them. Maybe I'm out of the loop, I'm 441 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:17,160 not sure. Anyway, they sounded pretty bad 442 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:22,040 when you listen to them. All right, so Tyler was raised 443 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:26,480 in a home by a father who claimed to be a Christian. 444 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:33,520 Tyler's father would raise his hands in worship at church and 445 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,160 then take his son home and beat him and even put him in a 55 446 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:43,800 gallon drum and leave him. The deception of the enemy who 447 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:48,640 was out to kill, steal and destroy is so depraved that what 448 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,640 he's willing to do in the level of deception. 449 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,960 Can you imagine what Tyler Frazier thought of Christianity 450 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,080 based on what he experienced at home and as his father did, that 451 00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:59,160 would often quote Bible verses as he did it? 452 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:08,280 Tyler Frazier was sitting in his shower after looking for life in 453 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,840 all the wrong places, ready to take his life. 454 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,760 And Tyler said, God, if you're real, if you're real, will you 455 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,800 show me? And all he said he could hear 456 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,800 was inaudible. It was internal, but it was all 457 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,240 he could hear. It was ringing in his ears. 458 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:27,280 All he could hear was call Craig. 459 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,200 Call Craig. That's not really what he was 460 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:33,680 looking for, but it's all that was resonating within his body 461 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,040 and his mind was called Craig and he waited a few days. 462 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,720 Finally he doesn't take his life and he calls Craig. 463 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,680 Well, guess who Craig is? A Christian. 464 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,440 Tyler and Craig taught. Guess what happens to Tyler? 465 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,760 Tyler gets saved. Why am I telling you that? 466 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:55,280 Because it was just two words, but it was God showing up. 467 00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:58,040 God may not show up in a Christophany. 468 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,800 He might not show where you can physically, visibly see him. 469 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,120 But when God knows that you need him to show up, I can guarantee 470 00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:06,720 you can mark it down. God's going to show up. 471 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:08,800 When you seek God with all you've got. 472 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:10,400 When you say God, you've all that I've got. 473 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,520 I've got no hope without you. I need you. 474 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,360 And here's the deal. What I want to remind you of is 475 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:18,880 most days of Abram's life weren't days of seeing the Son 476 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:24,240 of God. He had a few that were 477 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:29,280 interruptions or punctuations on long stretches of life that were 478 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,120 ordinary days of simply obeying what he had already heard God 479 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:36,400 tell him to do. Listen, just to testify for a 480 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:37,680 moment. I can tell you in my own life, 481 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,400 99.9% of my days have been ordinary days where I've just 482 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:45,960 simply by the Holy Spirit's help, tried to implement what I 483 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,320 know God has already said. Some days I do better than 484 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:53,520 others, all right. And yet I can name you four or 485 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,200 five times when God is interrupted and put punctuation 486 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:02,040 Marks and shown up so clearly, unmistakably, that it was in a 487 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,280 way He started, He showed up, and then that defined the whole 488 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:07,760 next set or season of days that were very ordinary. 489 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:10,440 But when he showed up, He changed things. 490 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,520 When God saved me as a nine year old boy, God showed up. 491 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,320 I remember the distinct feeling of the conviction of sin in my 492 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,680 heart, the the draw that I felt to trust Jesus, right? 493 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:23,120 This was God showing up. I didn't see him, but I could 494 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:25,960 sense it on the inside. I remember when God was calling 495 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:28,200 me to preach and it was like I could, all I could see on the 496 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,440 Bible was preach the word and it was as if it was resonating in 497 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,240 my mind and heart so loud. I could not, I couldn't, I 498 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:39,480 couldn't, I couldn't deny it. I remember when God called me to 499 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:42,240 serve at the seminary I served and y'all, I can remember where 500 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,600 I was and the passages I was reading when God called me to 501 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:50,320 serve CFBC, a senior pastor I can name on just just about one 502 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,640 hand at times. Now God has spoken to me in all 503 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,440 sorts of other ways and sometimes daily ways. 504 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,360 But I'm talking about when it's like this, unmistakable, I'm 505 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:00,360 talking about radical, like, Oh my goodness, this is undeniable. 506 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,400 God showed up. This is what Abraham's 507 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,440 experiencing. God will do the same for you 508 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,040 when he knows that's what you need, but the majority of your 509 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:12,200 days are going to be ordinary days of seeking to implement the 510 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,320 obedience to the word of God that you've already heard. 511 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:18,720 What does pre Incarnate Jesus say to Abraham? 512 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,440 He says to your offspring, I will give this land. 513 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,280 This is huge because remember when God said go, he didn't say 514 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,880 go where? Now God's fulfilling his promise 515 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,880 that he said, I will show you. Now He's showing him, this is 516 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,600 the land, Abraham. God is making good on his 517 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:35,960 promise. This is what God does. 518 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,200 So God desires obedience. That's right away all the way #2 519 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,200 if you're taking notes. God is faithful. 520 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,600 Despite our lack of faithfulness. 521 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,600 God remains faithful. Hallelujah. 522 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,280 Praise God despite our lack of faithfulness. 523 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:54,240 Abraham then does what you would expect him to do in response to 524 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,880 God's faithfulness. Notice Abraham worships. 525 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:58,440 He worships by building an altar. 526 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,440 In fact, he builds 2 here. If you remember, if you don't 527 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:06,040 know what an altar is, it would be like a square raised platform 528 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:10,480 on which to place animals for sacrifice to God. 529 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:12,280 All right, so this is what Abraham does. 530 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,680 He's building an altar in which to worship and call on the name 531 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,960 of the Lord. Remember, there's no sanctuary, 532 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:21,120 there's no temple, there's no Tabernacle. 533 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:24,000 There's no church building or designated place where God has 534 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,480 instructed people to worship at this point. 535 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,120 This is kind of helpful to remember that before sin entered 536 00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:33,120 the world, God and man walk together in perfect fellowship, 537 00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:35,160 and sin was not a barrier to man and God. 538 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,840 What a day that must have been. What a day that will be one day, 539 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,320 by the way, when that's fully taken away. 540 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,680 So sin was not a problem, but then Adam and Eve sin, and guess 541 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,600 who makes the first sacrifice? Because the Bible says without 542 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:51,760 the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sin. 543 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,520 Guess who makes the first sacrifice back in the garden? 544 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,520 God does provides animal skins as a sacrifice and a covering 545 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:01,600 for them. So now a man's having to live 546 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,800 with this sin issue and the sacrificial system comes in 547 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,720 right where Abraham starts making sacrifices to worship 548 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,000 God. This will lead to the Tabernacle 549 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,160 and the temple and the Old Testament sacrificial system 550 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,480 which Fast forward will lead to the final altar that is raised 551 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,440 on earth for the final ultimate full complete sacrifice for sin. 552 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:23,960 It was called starts with the CA. 553 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:33,240 What a cross where Jesus, the final Lamb of God, the perfect 554 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:39,040 Son of God, was placed on that altar of that cross for you and 555 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,040 for me, for my sin and for yours. 556 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:43,160 Why? Because an animal never could 557 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:47,200 quite cut it. One just like us, but without 558 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,280 sin, had to pay my sin debt and yours. 559 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:53,000 And this is what Jesus did on the cross for you and for me. 560 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,600 And this is where Jesus died for what you've done and what I've 561 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,000 done. And Jesus went to the grave 562 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,680 tasting death. And Jesus walked out alive so he 563 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,680 could offer you and me life forever, forgiveness forever. 564 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,200 I pray. And I just want to say right 565 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,040 now, if you've never trusted Jesus as your Lord and as your 566 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:16,240 Savior for life and forgiveness and hope and eternal life, you 567 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,560 can call on Jesus right now to do that. 568 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:21,840 He is the Lamb of God. The Bible says who takes away 569 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,480 the sin of the world. That includes your sin and mine. 570 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,520 And the Bible just says you have to ask for it in faith. 571 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:29,280 You have to ask. Call on Him to ask. 572 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:35,040 Say God, I'm yours, take my sin. He gives you his righteousness. 573 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:40,160 What in exchange, by the way, that means we no longer have a 574 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,520 need for animal sacrifices. You know, the kind of sacrifice 575 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:49,160 God ask of you every single day is not a dead animal, but it is 576 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:54,040 a living you. It is a living you, a living 577 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,560 sacrifice. Romans 12/1 Therefore, in view 578 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:58,640 of the mercies of God, in light of all God's done for you and 579 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:01,760 for me, He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, I'm getting 580 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,320 King James only because that's why I memorized it so. 581 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:08,800 All for your bodies as living sacrifices which are holy and 582 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:11,480 acceptable unto me, which is your spiritual act of worship. 583 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:13,680 So the students listen to me every day. 584 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,960 God wants you to wake up and the Bible puts it like this. 585 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:21,000 Take up your cross, that is put yourself on the altar, saying no 586 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,040 to you as the boss and no to you as your highest allegiance and 587 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,640 yes to God as your highest allegiance and offering your 588 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:30,480 right away all the way obedience as a pattern of life because of 589 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,320 God's faithfulness to his promises to you, especially his 590 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,240 Son Jesus, and saying, God, my life is to be lived for you 591 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,360 today by your help. Help me. 592 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:42,200 Let it be. Lord, I just want you to think 593 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:43,960 about for a moment when we gather for worship too, what 594 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,320 this looks like in the life of the church, because oftentimes 595 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,080 we might think of this as first and foremost a stage, but I 596 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,120 don't want you to think of it that way because there's no 597 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,080 human performance. This happening here when we 598 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,440 gather for worship. Oh, there's human activity, but 599 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:02,720 it's not a performance. So when our people stand here to 600 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,520 worship and lift their voices in song, they're standing here at a 601 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:10,160 place that we often refer to as an altar, if you will, to lead 602 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:14,200 us in offering what in worship to God, our songs and our 603 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,680 voices, we're lifting from this place as living sacrifices. 604 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,080 And then, yes, a man stands here most of the time. 605 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:24,800 Me to proclaim the word of God, which points us to who the 606 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:28,280 living word of God because he's the one that has been on the 607 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:31,600 altar for us and we are now seeking to live our lives on the 608 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:36,640 altar every day for for him. This is why in the invitation 609 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,680 and response time, I'll often say use these steps as an altar 610 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,880 to put yourself as a living sacrifice to say God, I'm here 611 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,960 to make a decision and worship and an obedience to you. 612 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:52,360 This is often the way we refer to it as God calls us to live as 613 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:53,680 a living sacrifice. So here's the deal. 614 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,560 God desires right away all the way obedience. 615 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,680 God is faithful despite our lack of faithfulness. 3rd and 616 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:03,760 finally, God made us watch this pattern to worship Him, depend 617 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:06,800 on Him, and follow him. God made us to worship him, 618 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,680 depend on him, and follow Him. You can't help but see here, as 619 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,400 you read this chapter of the Bible, that Abraham's on a 620 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:15,920 journey. He doesn't have all the details, 621 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,680 He doesn't have all the answers. He doesn't have every step, 622 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,320 right? He's got to be dealing. 623 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,360 I just want you to think about the level of uncertainty that 624 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:24,960 Abraham's got to be dealing with. 625 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:26,760 God, you've told me to move here. 626 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,440 You said this is the land. God, there's a lot of people 627 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:30,560 here. God, you said you're going to 628 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,640 give me biological offspring. God, I don't know if you 629 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:35,560 remember my age or the age of my wife specifically, but God, this 630 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:40,640 is not looking good, right? I mean, Abra's got to be 631 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,240 wondering. God, this isn't quite making 632 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:49,000 sense. Abram is daily facing all the 633 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,480 uncertainties of life. Every single day does that. 634 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:54,360 Does that not sound like life and living for us too? 635 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:59,280 Every single day you wake up and face uncertainties, unanswered 636 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,080 questions. You don't know all the steps. 637 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:03,120 But guess what? God gives you the next one that 638 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,640 you need. And maybe the next one seems 639 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,480 impossible. And maybe it totally is without 640 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:10,960 God's intervention. But that's exactly where Abraham 641 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,360 is. So what does God expect of us to 642 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,280 live out this pattern? We don't have all the answers. 643 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,600 We don't know the next step. When maybe life looks 644 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,800 impossible, what does God ask of us? 645 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,120 Well, look at Abram. What does he do #1 He worships 646 00:34:23,199 --> 00:34:26,880 God. God calls you and me, in the 647 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,239 face of all the uncertainties and unanswered questions of 648 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,440 life, to worship Him. You know how the Bible puts in 649 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:35,520 the New Testament? Seek first the Kingdom of God. 650 00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:37,199 Wait, you don't. You're not going to have all the 651 00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:38,960 answers. You're not going to always know 652 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:40,360 the next step. But you know what? 653 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,040 God calls you to do that cause you to worship. 654 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:48,480 God calls you to honor him that cause you to put your eyes on 655 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,239 Him and trust #2 Abram calls on God's name. 656 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:56,800 God calls us to call on his name to walk and talk in a personal 657 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,800 relationship with Him. Like second, Peter says to grow 658 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,400 in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ in that 659 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:06,160 relationship with him as our Lord and Savior, growing and 660 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,640 walking with him as we worship him and call on him. 661 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:13,920 And 3rd and finally, Abram followed God's lead and God 662 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:17,040 caused us to follow his lead. I love the way the New Testament 663 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,280 says it says walk by the Spirit. You know, the Bible couldn't say 664 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,440 walk by the Spirit to Abram because he didn't have the Holy 665 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:25,800 Spirit indwelling him. If you're a Christ follower, you 666 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,520 do. And so we walk in sensitivity to 667 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:30,440 the Holy Spirit. But guess what? 668 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,800 If you're not worshipping God, if you're not calling on the 669 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,520 name of God, you won't know how to recognize the voice of the 670 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,840 Holy Spirit of God. These three go together. 671 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:42,720 They're a pattern of life to embrace, a pattern of living 672 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,520 despite all of life's uncertainties, right? 673 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,600 God desires your worship, your dependence, and your obedience. 674 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:51,240 Finally, in your notes you see some blanks. 675 00:35:51,240 --> 00:35:52,120 Here I'm going to give them to you. 676 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:56,600 When you do life God's way, When you do life God's way, life is 677 00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:00,200 good because God is good. When you do life God's way, God, 678 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:02,640 life is good because God is good. 679 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,160 I didn't say life will be pain free. 680 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:08,240 I didn't say it'll be perfect, but I said it'll be good because 681 00:36:08,240 --> 00:36:12,200 God is good. John and praise team are about 682 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:16,280 to come out. And I was thinking about this 683 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:20,280 this week as I was processing this text and studying for 684 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,920 today, I remembered something my mother used to say often when I 685 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,800 was a kid. She would often when we'd run 686 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,680 errands, when we'd go to Walmart, we'd find our way back 687 00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:32,200 to the sewing section, you know, where they had like all the 688 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:33,720 fabric wrapped around those things. 689 00:36:33,720 --> 00:36:37,280 And my mom used to sew and she still does to some degree. 690 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,640 But I just hear my mother say I need to pick a pattern. 691 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,320 Any of y'all done that before? That took me a while to really 692 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:47,720 figure out what that meant because that was usually my 693 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:50,040 excuse to try to, you know, scoot over to the hunting 694 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,040 section or something in Walmart and then find her after she got 695 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:54,800 done with the cloth and the pattern picking. 696 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:00,840 You are picking a pattern that you're living right now. 697 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:05,960 You've picked a pattern. I don't know that pattern, but 698 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,560 but but God does. And you may know that pattern 699 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,200 real well. You may not really know that 700 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,040 pattern real well. You may be thinking, man, I need 701 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,960 to think about my pattern. But you've picked 1. 702 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:22,440 The question is, is it God's revealed one or have you 703 00:37:23,240 --> 00:37:29,080 customized it, retweaked it to your liking, You know, put your 704 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:32,800 spin on it, justified it. So oh God, this God certainly 705 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:34,560 wouldn't mind me doing it like this. 706 00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:39,440 You saw it on the limb you're sitting on at all. 707 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:42,720 Maybe you're like Kyle. I'm not sure. 708 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:45,000 Maybe maybe I need to ask God. And that's what I'd encourage 709 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:46,480 you to do. God, what pattern am I living? 710 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:49,720 Where am I sawing on the limb that I'm sitting on? 711 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:53,840 Students, what is it that maybe you're flirting with right now 712 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,200 that God's calling you back from to save you 1000 heartaches? 713 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:02,240 If you'll embrace this pattern, maybe you need to give your life 714 00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:05,040 to Christ. Maybe you need to lay something 715 00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:07,720 on the altar as a living sacrifice. 716 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,040 I don't know what it is, but I'm going to invite you to, I'm 717 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:12,440 going to invite you to say yes to Jesus by faith. 718 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,640 I'm going to pray that I'm going to invite you to stand and we're 719 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,400 going to respond. Heavenly Father, I want to pray 720 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,760 and I pray especially for these students and I pray for all of 721 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:23,080 us gathered with them today that you would have your way in their 722 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:24,360 lives. You would have your way in our 723 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:25,480 lives. God, I thank you for what you're 724 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:28,160 doing among them. I think they're boldly taking 725 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:30,960 steps of faith to live for Jesus, unlike I have seen in 726 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,120 generations. Lord, God, you're working. 727 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,040 God, I pray that you'd have your way in our lives in this next 728 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,560 few moments, that we give our lives and hearts to you as 729 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,320 living sacrifices for you to be honored, you to be worshipped, 730 00:38:42,720 --> 00:38:45,320 and us to walk in your goodness And Jesus, I pray, Amen.