1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:02,400 So hi everyone. I'm spare Drew. 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,600 I'm dropping in for Pastor Drew. I'm sure he is missing being 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,240 here this morning. So what we're going to do this 4 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:12,800 morning, I'm actually going to cover. 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,840 We're just going to jump right into where Pastor Drew was and 6 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:22,120 roll with it. So good luck believing loyalty. 7 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,080 That's the title. Good luck with that too. 8 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,360 What do these words mean and what do they mean when we put 9 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:31,640 them together? I've intentionally chosen this 10 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,240 title. It was a favorite phrase of one 11 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:36,120 of my favorite scholars, Doctor Michael Heizer. 12 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,640 To fully understand it, or at least get a good understanding, 13 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,600 we'll dig into today's passage and it really will make sense to 14 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,840 you. So super quick summary, we're 15 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:53,560 doing Genesis 15 and Genesis 15 recounts God's covenant with 16 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:59,480 Abram, emphasizing Abram's faith as he believes in God's promises 17 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:05,960 despite his circumstances and God's unwavering commitments to 18 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:09,520 fulfill those promises. And what promises are those? 19 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:14,320 Well, there's two. There's a child and there's 20 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,480 land, right? So there is a promised heir and 21 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:25,840 land for that heir to live. There is a people to be a legacy 22 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:31,240 and a land for that legacy to be created. 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,000 So if you are able, please stand with me, willing and able. 24 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:39,080 And we'll read just the first 6 verses of Genesis 15. 25 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,880 After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a 26 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,040 vision. Fear not Abram, I am your 27 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,080 shield. Your reward shall be very great. 28 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:55,120 But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me? 29 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,720 For I continue to be childless, and the heir of my house is 30 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,400 Eliezer of Damascus. And Abramson, behold, you have 31 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,680 given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be 32 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,600 my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord 33 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,680 came to him. This man shall not be your heir, 34 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,240 your very own son shall be your heir. 35 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:17,000 And he brought him outside and said, look towards the heaven 36 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,200 and Number the Stars. If you're able to number them, 37 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,480 Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. 38 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:28,960 And he believed the Lord and it counted to him as righteousness. 39 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:31,920 Take a seat. Thank you, let's pray. 40 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:38,000 Almighty God, we come before you today to honor you, to worship 41 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:43,600 you, to learn about you. I pray that as we dig into this 42 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:47,240 passage today that you would highlight to us who you are. 43 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,720 You would reveal to us something about who you are and how we can 44 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,480 respond to that in Jesus name, Amen. 45 00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:02,240 So at the start of this passages, we have promises and 46 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:07,280 we have problems, right? So first it seems that God 47 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,360 literally appeared to Abram and we should talk about that and 48 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,320 maybe we will because that's not our usual experience of God. 49 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:19,240 God appears with a promise and Abram gives a list of problems 50 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,520 like hey, yeah, right. So think about it. 51 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,200 Abram is 75. He's left his family, he's left 52 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,720 his land. He's even split away from his 53 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:33,280 nephew who came with him, right? So he still has his wife, He 54 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,560 still has his household, right? His servants, his donkeys, his 55 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:42,480 sheep, his cows, whatever. And God says to him, your reward 56 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:44,800 shall be very great. Thanks God. 57 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,520 I'm almost dead. But I love the thought, right? 58 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,600 Abram lists his limitations. I'm old. 59 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:56,840 I've got no kids, and really I'm just a gypsy, right? 60 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:58,400 I'm just cruising around this land. 61 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,080 I don't have a home, I don't have anything. 62 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,280 What reward could God give him that would be very great? 63 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:11,360 In his society, a big family was considered a blessing. 64 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,800 And Abraham's not doing so good here, right? 65 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:18,640 Some of us in Sunday school sung that silly little song. 66 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,360 Father Abraham had many sons. Well, he wasn't Father Abraham 67 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:27,400 just yet. So I have a side question. 68 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:32,080 Would you still be a Christian if there were no church? 69 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,200 I have a second side question. Why does our church not have a 70 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:39,480 view like this? That would be amazing. 71 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:44,960 Would you still be a Christian if the only way you could become 72 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,240 one was if the patriarch of your family was one and lived and 73 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:53,160 shared that in a good way? Look, not me anyway, right? 74 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:54,680 That's not how it would have worked. 75 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:59,080 So in our society today, especially in America, we're a 76 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,920 deeply religious country. We've churches on every second 77 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:04,800 corner. Side note, I think there should 78 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,560 be a battle for who gets to call themselves First Baptist. 79 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,760 Just saying, our politicians and our leaders. 80 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:14,480 Leaders, man, I cannot talk. What am I doing up here? 81 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:19,880 Use religious language and words, and we talk openly about 82 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:21,440 going to church or reading the Bible. 83 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:23,160 It's a common conversation on Monday morning. 84 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:24,520 What did you do on the weekend, Drew? 85 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:26,240 Well, I went to church on Sunday, hung out with some 86 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:28,120 people. We had a great time, right? 87 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:31,720 Want to go to church? There's plenty to choose from. 88 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,400 We've got a literal feast, right? 89 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,320 We can look online, we can listen to podcasts, we can talk 90 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,680 to people online. We can read those sketchy online 91 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,120 reviews about Pleasant View Baptist Church or wherever, 92 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:46,800 right? We can shop, we can search. 93 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,200 We have a feast of choices available to us. 94 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:54,080 When I grew up or where I grew up, I've never grown up. 95 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,840 So where I grew up, that was not the case, right? 96 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:02,760 So people accepted religion, but it wasn't an acceptable topic, 97 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,320 right? Politicians didn't talk about 98 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,200 God, whether well or poorly, right? 99 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,080 It just didn't happen. We didn't get either side. 100 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:12,800 We did have a Christian Prime Minister at one point. 101 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,320 I'm really not sure if that was beneficial or not. 102 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,120 Saying you went to church on the weekend created surprise and 103 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,360 even hostility. So I I looked up some numbers 104 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,480 just for the fun of it. So in America, 62% of Americans 105 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:27,520 say they are Christian. In the last survey that I saw, 106 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,320 20% of Americans go to church on a regular basis. 107 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:32,760 I don't know how they define regular. 108 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:34,520 Last time I looked it was like more than once a month. 109 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:40,760 Australia, 40% of people say they are Christians. 4% of 110 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,240 people go to church on a regular basis. 111 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,720 It's a different society, right? And it doesn't take much to 112 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:49,240 think of some other countries where it's worse. 113 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,040 But if you want to send some missionaries, I think Australia 114 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,280 could do with a couple. But there are other countries 115 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:58,640 that are worse, right? We could pick II. 116 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,600 Christianity is persecuted in some areas, right? 117 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:01,800 If you're not a Hindu, you're in trouble. 118 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,280 We can pick plenty of countries around the world where it is not 119 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:08,200 acceptable to be a Christian, mostly Muslim minority nations, 120 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:13,720 but there are plenty out there. And yet, all of that to say, 121 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,360 this is still miles away from Abram's time, right? 122 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,200 Would you like to worship the one true God, the creator of 123 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,760 heaven and earth? Well, there's no churches, 124 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:27,720 there's no houses of worship. There doesn't appear to be any 125 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,400 more than the occasional person who calls himself a priest. 126 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,360 The first one we hear of is Melchizedek, and he's also the 127 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:38,680 king of a city, right? There doesn't appear to be any 128 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,280 widespread scripture, though. Obviously some things are 129 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,080 carried along and there is oral tradition. 130 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:44,640 There's probably some things written down. 131 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,800 I don't know. There was no moral code. 132 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:51,640 So when we talk about the moral code and the law that we're also 133 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:53,560 used to talking about, that's 500 years away. 134 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,520 There's nothing, right? There is no example of how and 135 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,840 where to live. There's no information, no 136 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,800 building, no books, no podcasts, no advertising. 137 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:07,080 Amen. Sorry to everyone who works in 138 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:11,240 marketing. So if you know, you know, I 139 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,360 guess, right, that's about it. The best you can do is have a 140 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,360 great patriarch or for some of you, you can get married and 141 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,440 join a different family who might have a great patriarch. 142 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,840 That's literally it where it comes to religion in the time of 143 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:24,480 Abraham. So when we're talking about it, 144 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,200 it's a really weird place. So it's it's you know, it's the 145 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:29,640 world wide W people do what they do. 146 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,480 There are snippets of revelation around, but there's no formal 147 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,520 system. So, and this is going to get 148 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,600 into a side theme that I didn't mention, one of the main reasons 149 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:49,400 that God makes a covenant with Abram is actually to reveal what 150 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:53,800 he is really like to correct the fault of view of deity that 151 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:59,720 existed at that time. But this is projected to take 152 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:01,640 place in stages. We've heard of progressive 153 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,280 revelation, right? So we're starting with the 154 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:09,480 smallest little seed of God, correcting the view of who he 155 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:11,200 is. Maybe there was an early 156 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:13,560 attempt, right? We've got Adam, we've got Enoch, 157 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,800 we've got Noah, we've got other examples. 158 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:21,840 But we don't have any real view that at the time of Abram, God 159 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:23,840 was known. Some people clearly knew him, 160 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:25,480 right? But there's no formal system, 161 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:27,320 there's nothing written down, there's nothing going on. 162 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:33,240 So God is revealing himself. That's really what's happening 163 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:37,360 as we read this passage. So in our modern world, again, 164 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:39,640 we have 1000 ways to communicate with one another. 165 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,720 A day does not go by where I do not speak to someone on the 166 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,480 phone in person. Through 700 different apps, 167 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:48,720 especially those of us with friends and family in different 168 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:50,600 countries or different states or different places. 169 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:53,200 We talk about all sorts of things. 170 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:54,480 Sometimes they're deep and meaningful. 171 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:58,760 Sometimes they're practical. A few of us in this church have 172 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:01,640 a text group that's just full of pictures of kids, food, and 173 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:03,760 memes. You know? 174 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,440 We are constantly communicating and communication is open and 175 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,920 available to us. If I need advice, there's a 176 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:13,280 couple of you in this room who've heard from me at times 177 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:14,880 when I've needed a friend, right? 178 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,840 And I'm sure the same for you. We have easy access to 179 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:23,080 information. So question for the crowd who 180 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,000 would love God to just pop down and have a chat? 181 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,920 I got questions, right? We look at these passages in 182 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:36,120 Genesis and we see God just showing up and talking to people 183 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:37,680 and it's like, wow, that'd be cool. 184 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:45,240 Please sign me up, right? No, just half thoughts that 185 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:49,080 maybe God spoke to me, right? God shows up and speaks to Abram 186 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:53,840 and that's really why I'm, I'm sure I would love a good chat, 187 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:55,960 right? Sure, there are things I can 188 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,280 think of, except my brain would probably flood and I'd be like 189 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:00,520 everyone who gets to make an meet an Angel and I'd be on my 190 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:02,520 face on the floor. So let's be honest. 191 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,520 Abram, however, is privileged. Firstly, there is a part, right? 192 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:11,280 God is revealing himself and he has to choose a way to reveal 193 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,480 himself and so he chooses to work through Abram. 194 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:17,960 But this is the start of something new. 195 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:20,840 This is the start of something new for society as a whole. 196 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,960 This is the start of God revealing himself that will 197 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,880 culminate in Jesus, right? This is the beginning, if you 198 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:29,840 like, of that story. Obviously there are parts 199 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:31,800 before, but this is the beginning where God really 200 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:36,000 starts to speak and really starts to make himself known. 201 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,280 So before we get away from having God come down and say hi, 202 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,000 you know, again, please, anytime. 203 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,360 How old was Abram when God first came and said hi? 204 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:51,000 75 now I know some of you are closer to that than me. 205 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:52,480 None of you are past there. Fortunately. 206 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,200 That's half of my life away. I'm 50, right? 207 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,080 For those who don't know, I'm 5075. 208 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,040 That's half of my life away. I will have made pretty much 209 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,360 every consequential decision I'm going to make by the time I 210 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:10,600 reach 75 S OK, that's already, you know, not as good as it 211 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,400 sounds, right? If God's going to show up at 75. 212 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,880 Secondly, Abram, OK, lived a bit longer than some of us will. 213 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:24,000 He died at 175 S during those 100 years of his life from when 214 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,440 God first spoke to him, how many times did God pop down for a 215 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,640 chat, pop quiz? Any numbers? 216 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:37,440 No, No 8 in 100 years, God popped down 8 times. 217 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:39,800 Now that's still better than the count I've got, right? 218 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,040 I'm living on. I'm living on the big fat 0. 219 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:46,440 But what about the content of these conversations? 220 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:52,280 In this passage, Abram at least gets to state his fear. 221 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,400 I have no children. I have no land. 222 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:59,240 In some of these examples, he doesn't even get to do that. 223 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:00,560 It's not like Drew's Bible study. 224 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:02,240 Has anyone been to a Bible study with me? 225 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:04,440 I let you go anywhere. I love it. 226 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:06,600 I love to go down rabbit trails. I love to talk. 227 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,360 I love when people ask questions and we roll around like that, 228 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:11,080 right? That is not our conversation 229 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,160 with God. God doesn't show up and give a 230 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,880 rabbit trail Bible study, right? He doesn't show up and just have 231 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:18,240 a conversation over a cup of coffee. 232 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,640 He's showing up with a purpose. So, all right, even less 233 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:26,040 exciting than we thought. It's still be great, but don't 234 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:27,680 lose sight of that when you read that, right? 235 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:31,520 When we read these pictures of God showing up to people in the 236 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:36,360 Bible or an Angel showing up, it's extremely specific and 237 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:40,080 happens for a specific reason. What was that reason? 238 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:44,960 God is showing something about himself, and I think we'll learn 239 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:51,120 more about that as we dig in. So Genesis 15-6 And he believed 240 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:55,120 the Lord, and he counted to him as righteousness. 241 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,160 Now I could talk about this for ages, but it turns out this guy 242 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:01,680 called James talked about it in the New Testament. 243 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:07,240 So I'm just going to read 10 verses from James 2 verse 18 to 244 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,160 26. That's 8 verses for those who do 245 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:14,720 math better than I. All right, James 2 But someone 246 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,840 will say you have faith and I have works. 247 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,080 Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you 248 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,840 my faith by my works. You believe that God is 1. 249 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,040 You do well, even the demons believe in Shudder. 250 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,120 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart 251 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,840 from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father, 252 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:38,040 justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the 253 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,560 altar? You see that faith was active 254 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,920 along with his works, and faith was completed by his works, and 255 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:49,120 the Scripture was fulfilled. That says Abram believed God and 256 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,280 it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called 257 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,480 a friend of God. You see that a person is 258 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:58,960 justified by works and not by faith alone. 259 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:02,000 In the same way, was not also Rahab the prostitute justified 260 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,360 by works when she received the messages and sent them out 261 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:06,760 another way? For as the body apart from the 262 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:11,640 spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. 263 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:15,480 Ouch. We could rabbit trail here all 264 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,040 day and dive into how this has been interpreted, 265 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,560 misinterpreted, argued, whatever through the centuries. 266 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:26,400 There's some super interesting stuff, but the one meaning is 267 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:31,920 clear, all right. Faith requires action. 268 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:36,480 This is how we see Abram being declared righteous. 269 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:41,640 Faith requires action. Abram had faith. 270 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:44,080 His faith worked in his life and change it. 271 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:48,320 He really did leave his land and become a gypsy in this land that 272 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,360 God called him to. He really did believe God would 273 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,480 act. He was willing to raise his 274 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,760 concerns and see how they would be addressed. 275 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:02,520 His faith had action. He took God at His word. 276 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:04,960 And look, honestly, we could just close down here. 277 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:07,960 We could end here. Do we take God at His word? 278 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:10,920 Do we trust Him? How does that work out in our 279 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,000 lives when things are good, when things are hard, when terrible 280 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,560 things happen? Can we retain our faith, our 281 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,160 trust, and our belief in God through these times? 282 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,880 Now, most of you know I haven't had the most amazing couple of 283 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:26,560 years, right? We're not going there. 284 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:30,680 I'm not ready for that and I may never be, but we sure have asked 285 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:37,000 God, where are you? Even in the hardest times of my 286 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,000 life, I can look back and see God working. 287 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,840 I can look back and remember the pain and remember the hard time, 288 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,320 hard times. But I can also see that God is 289 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:50,080 doing something. I have no idea what He's doing. 290 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:56,640 You know, again, pop down and say hi anytime, but I have faith 291 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,600 that God is working. And so I continue to live out 292 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,400 that faith. So this ties into our theme and 293 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,280 title, Believing Loyalty. Hopefully it will begin to start 294 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:09,680 to make sense. What is believing? 295 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:15,000 It's trusting God, It's trusting in who God is, trusting his 296 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,319 promises, and trusting in his revelation of Himself. 297 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:23,160 Easy. So what is loyalty? 298 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:30,960 It's remaining faithful to Him as the exclusive object of our 299 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:32,760 worship. We believe in one God. 300 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,920 We're loyal to one God. Not any God we see, not any 301 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:39,640 opinions we have, not anything that looks good or great or 302 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,880 amazing in the world. We are loyal to that one God 303 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:45,240 that we believe. As part of that loyalty, we 304 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:49,960 listen to what He says, right? Because we are loyal to Him, we 305 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:51,960 take it to heart. We do the things that He says 306 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,120 and we don't do the things that He says not to do, right? 307 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,600 That's loyalty. So believing loyalty is a theme 308 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:03,640 that exists throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. 309 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,240 You can find this theme everywhere. 310 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:11,880 We are called to be loyal to the God we believe in because 311 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,800 believing loyalty is a relationship, right? 312 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:18,680 We not only believe, we respond with loyalty. 313 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,480 Our faith has action. We don't worship other gods or 314 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,000 no God at all. We return to God even when we've 315 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,680 failed or think we have right. We maintain our allegiance to 316 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,200 Him first and Him alone. There are other things in our 317 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:35,840 lives, right? But our allegiance is to God. 318 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,520 Our loyalty is to God above all and in all. 319 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,760 All other considerations fall under that first loyalty. 320 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:46,480 There's a lot we could unpack there. 321 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,280 Save that for another day. One thing, this is super 322 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:52,440 interesting and we won't go too far. 323 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,000 And it doesn't take a genius to find it, right? 324 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:55,720 I'm no genius. If you were just to read just a 325 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,760 little bit further and we'll leave that for Pastor Drew next 326 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:00,080 week. Congratulations, Pastor Drew. 327 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,720 Abram clearly has a promise. God has clearly shown up and 328 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:05,840 spoken to him. And Abram goes, I don't know how 329 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:07,280 this is going to work. I'll make it work myself. 330 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,360 It's fine, right? Isn't it amazing? 331 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:16,680 Apart from Jesus, all the heroes in the Bible are fallen. 332 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:20,280 All the heroes in the Bible have issues. 333 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:22,240 And that's the theme for another day. 334 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,400 We're not going to dig in. All right, Looks like Spare Drew 335 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:29,200 might need to come back someday. Let's finish out this week's 336 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,600 text. I'm just going to read 9 verses 337 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:33,520 this time. Look, I can do math from Genesis 338 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:37,280 15, seven to 16, and then we'll talk a little bit more about it. 339 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:42,960 And he said to him, I am the Lord who bought you out of ER of 340 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,200 the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. 341 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:49,480 But he said, Oh Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess 342 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:51,320 it? He said to him, Bring me a 343 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,560 heifer 3 years old, a female goat three years old, a ram 3 344 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:56,960 years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. 345 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,240 And he bought him all of these, cut them in half, and laid each 346 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,680 half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in 347 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,080 half. And when the birds of prey came 348 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,200 down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 349 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:13,520 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and 350 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:17,120 behold, A dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 351 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,840 Then the Lord said to Abram, No, for certain that your offspring 352 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,480 will be sojourners in the land that is not theirs, and will be 353 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:28,840 servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years. 354 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,480 But I will bring judgement on the nation that they serve, and 355 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:33,800 afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 356 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:36,600 As for you, you shall go to your father's in peace. 357 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,840 You shall be buried in a good old age, and they shall come 358 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,400 back here in the 4th generation. For the iniquity of the Amorites 359 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:47,120 is not yet complete. There's ton of stuff in there 360 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:48,720 too. But there's one thing I really 361 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,600 want to bring out. Abram says. 362 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,840 How am I to know? How am I to know? 363 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:58,400 God? You have made a promise. 364 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:00,680 How am I to know that you will fulfil it? 365 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,560 What a great question, right? How am I to know? 366 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:05,680 If I could only answer that every day of my life, I'd be a 367 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:07,360 genius, right? I'm not. 368 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,400 I see, you'll promise God, but how am I to know? 369 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:11,880 We've already discussed some of it, right? 370 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:17,560 This is a unique moment in God's revelation in how he's going to 371 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,960 receive, how he is going to reveal himself to the whole 372 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,120 world through Abram's offspring, again culminating in Jesus. 373 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,440 So we see a ceremony that we do also see in other non biblical 374 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:30,440 texts. It's normal. 375 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,800 We don't know all of the nuance anymore of this ceremony. 376 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,440 There's a few things we do know. It's formal, it's very specific. 377 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,720 It's solemn. It's expensive, right? 378 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,440 I've bought a cow before. They were expensive, right? 379 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:48,440 We're cutting up five animals, well, three animals and putting 380 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,840 two other birds at the front. It's an expensive ceremony in 381 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,200 passing between these animals that are cut in half. 382 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:58,040 The animals are laid out and the person giving the treaty walks 383 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,600 between them. In passing between them, they 384 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,880 are saying may I be like these animals if I fail in this 385 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,040 treaty, right? That's pretty serious. 386 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:13,400 May you cut me in half if I fail not signing any of those. 387 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:17,760 Sorry. Look, that's weird to us today. 388 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,920 We don't live in a even an agrarian farming society. 389 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,000 Most of us that have seen animals right, I can tell 390 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:25,080 stories there. We won't do that. 391 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:27,560 Everyone is a product of their own culture. 392 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:34,160 But the commitment is clear. God is saying I will fulfil this 393 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,440 promise and I'm enacting this sign that means something to 394 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,120 you, Abraham, in a way that you will understand. 395 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:47,320 So how are we to know? And this, I think, is the real 396 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:53,560 purpose of this passage. God has revealed something about 397 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,560 himself. God made a promise. 398 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,320 He made a vow that we would fulfil as people in the future 399 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:03,000 by just a few thousand years at least. 400 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,760 We can look back and say, Yep, it was fulfilled, right? 401 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:11,520 We can see that it's fulfilled. And so look, forget about Abram. 402 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:13,840 We just learned something about God. 403 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:20,960 So we've gone pretty far and wide. 404 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:22,160 We've talked about a lot of things. 405 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,560 I want to leave you with three points. 406 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:34,160 Nice and simple point #1 God is faithful. 407 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:39,000 The real point of this passage is to reveal that God is 408 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,760 faithful. He will do what He says. 409 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,880 One of the things that we do, and I'm sure we've learned it 410 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,920 somewhere, is we often look through these passages in the 411 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,640 Bible and we're like, be like Abraham, be like, be like, be 412 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,120 like. And we try and analogize the 413 00:23:56,120 --> 00:24:02,760 person that is the main character of the narrative, 414 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:04,160 right? We look at this and we're like, 415 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:06,920 be like Abram, have faith, be like Abram, have faith that has 416 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,240 action. Sure, I guess we can go there, 417 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,800 right? But sometimes that's useful and 418 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,800 sometimes it's not. The point in this passage is God 419 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,200 is revealing something about himself to the entire world. 420 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,640 He's revealing that He is worthy of our loyalty. 421 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,040 So do you believe that God is faithful? 422 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,880 Can you look back into your lives or the lives of the people 423 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,680 around you and say God has acted? 424 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,800 Have you told people about that and shared that? 425 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:37,600 So we can encourage one another, right? 426 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:39,440 God is faithful. We can look back. 427 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:50,760 We can see these things. Two, God is the main character. 428 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,200 So have you noticed something? As we've been talking through 429 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,520 it, we continue to talk about Abraham, and I've already talked 430 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,480 about this a little bit to start with, but the passage is 431 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:04,800 actually about God. It's about how God acts, how God 432 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,640 is faithful, what God is doing, how God is revealing himself. 433 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:11,480 So I want to leave you with an encouragement. 434 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,400 Next time you're reading the Bible, ask yourself this simple 435 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,200 question. What is God doing here? 436 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,400 How is God acting? What's the purpose of this 437 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,920 passage? You know, especially in the Old 438 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,960 Testament, right? We read these narratives, 439 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:31,480 stories of interesting things that happen, right? 440 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:33,240 And you're like, wow, that was cool. 441 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,800 Samson grew his hair out long. And we're like, OK, I'll grab my 442 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:39,400 hair out long. Don't shave my hair out, right? 443 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,880 No, that's a terrible application of reading that 444 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:46,200 scripture. What is God doing in this 445 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:48,400 narrative? Ask yourself that question next 446 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,000 time you're reading the Bible, right? 447 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:51,880 You might learn something, you might learn something 448 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:58,600 interesting, but God is the main character, all right. 449 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:03,040 And I guess as we bring out awesome music team back up and 450 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:05,040 they're not awesome just because my daughter and friends are on 451 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:08,920 it, but they are just awesome. Let's pivot to our response. 452 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:13,280 Believing loyalty. It's a theme we see from Genesis 453 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:17,880 to Revelation. First, I will ask, do you 454 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,760 believe? Key point, right? 455 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:22,520 You can't have loyalty to something you don't believe in 456 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:24,840 if you don't believe. Yeah, Let's have a conversation. 457 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:26,040 It might be something we can talk about. 458 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,680 Are you loyal to what you believe? 459 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,480 Do you respond? Can you respond? 460 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:39,000 Does your faith have action? Are you loyal to your belief? 461 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:40,840 Or do you just believe? Is it just head knowledge? 462 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:42,480 Right. Lives up here. 463 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,760 Wow, You're really smart, right? But you do nothing with it. 464 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,160 I don't think that's wisdom, right? 465 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:54,640 Does your allegiance to the God you have faith in define and 466 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,960 drive every other area of your life? 467 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,840 It's a hard question. I absolutely come up short. 468 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,960 There are areas of my life sometimes I look at and I'm 469 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:11,640 like, Drew, fix yourself, right? Sometimes we find those areas in 470 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,560 our life that we like that is not in line with the God that I 471 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:19,560 worship. So what can you do about that? 472 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:26,560 Interesting question. So you can say this part of my 473 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:28,080 life is out of balance. I know it. 474 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:30,840 I've now been revealed that the Holy Spirit has just given me a 475 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:36,400 swift kick and let me know my loyalty in this area, maybe not 476 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:40,760 to God, but to my children, my spouse, my work, my money, my 477 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,760 whatever, all right, whatever that thing that is out of area. 478 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:47,480 So we need to consider that once we've been revealed. 479 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:50,480 So when is the best time to fix that? 480 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,200 Now, right now. All right, let's pray. 481 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,480 And as we pray, I want you to, we're going to take 20 seconds. 482 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:07,000 I want you to think about your loyalty, your life, your God. 483 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:12,080 Where in your life do you need to make that change? 484 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:38,630 And do you need to make Almighty God, we come before you 485 00:28:40,150 --> 00:28:42,270 believing. We come before you humble. 486 00:28:42,270 --> 00:28:46,150 We come before you knowing that you are the main actor in this 487 00:28:46,150 --> 00:28:49,230 story and that you are revealing yourself to us. 488 00:28:49,270 --> 00:28:53,080 I pray, I pray for me, I pray for everyone around me that our 489 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:55,960 faith can become action, that our believing can be filled with 490 00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:00,520 loyalty, that we can respond to you and your revelation in such 491 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,720 a way that our life would reflect you and reflect what you 492 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:08,520 would have for it. Be with us, guide us, reveal to 493 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,320 us who you are in Jesus name, Amen.