Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.
We hope today's message is encouraging to you.
Stepping out is the opposite of being stuck.
Stepping out is the opposite of being in a rut.
Stepping out is the opposite of living in the land of fear.
Stepping out is the opposite of a dead end.
Stepping out, as it turns, is movement forward in your life
based on your faith and the promises that are backed by God
alone. And that's enough.
So maybe you're not sure if you need it right now, but I hope by
the end of the message you realize there's an error in your
life. God saying, hey, why don't you
step out with me? Why don't you believe on my
promises and move forward in this area of your life and for
everyone in this room, it could be something different.
Could be your finances, could be relationships, could be a new
career change, could be new mental state of mind, a new
level of faith. Maybe it's crossing over,
stepping out into the line of faith yourself and believing in
Jesus. But I'm praying and believing
God's got you here today because He wants you to step out.
Not tomorrow, but today. Amen.
We're in Genesis chapter 12. If you're brand new and you
haven't been along with us, we're in the book of Genesis in
this entire series called Faith Begins.
If you need a Bible, by the way, raise your hand and our ushers
will bring you a Bible. You can keep it.
I'd love for you to have the word of God in the book of
Genesis. We have the origination of
everything. First facts, faith I've, I've
been saying it throughout the entire series if you got
questions about anything. It's design, its purpose is
always found in Genesis, specifically Genesis one through
11. God's laying all of this
foundation. And now in Genesis chapter 12,
it's as if the Kingdom is stepping out.
It's no longer just going to be God with his people, but God
wants to impact the entirety of the of the world.
And so this movement is stepping out and it begins with a man
named Abram. Everyone say Abram in Genesis 12
we get what's called the Abrahamic covenant.
God making a promise with humanity and he makes it with
Abram. Genesis 12, verse one, the Lord
had said to Abram, go from your country, leave it.
Go from your people, leave them, go from your father's household,
leave him to this land. I will show you.
Then he makes the promise. Verses 2 and three, I will make
you into a great nation, and I will bless you.
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I
will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through
you. So Abram went as the Lord had
told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he
set out on his purpose in life from Haran.
He took with his, he took his wife Sarai, his, his nephew Lot,
excuse me, all the possessions they had accumulated and the
people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the
land of Canaan and they arrived there.
Verse 6. Abram traveled through the land
as far as the side of the great tree of Mora at Shechem.
At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
These are foreigners to him. The Lord appeared to Abram and
said, To your offspring, I will give this land.
So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who appeared to him.
From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched
his tent with Bethel on the West and AI on the east.
There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of
the Lord. Then Abram set out and continued
toward the Negev. In Genesis 12 we have the
beginning of Abram's story, the beginning of God's people
stepping out to fulfill the purpose on the earth.
I want to Fast forward all the way to 2026 and just begin to
look at how Abram's story is going now.
Are you with me to say yes, one word for you?
This is how Abram's story is going now in 2026.
Gird yourself as I show it to you.
It's called anti-Semitism. Now, please don't let your mind
go political here. Don't let your mind go to CNN or
Fox social media. I want to look biblically at
what's happening on our Earth. And there's a reason we're
looking at this. So nobody get tense.
Anyone tense who's going to say yes?
anti-Semitism in general is the hate throughout the world
against Abraham's descendants. And if you have eyes to see and
ears to hear, it is on the rise globally.
Let me just show you in the United States of America from
secular institutions that have nothing to do with faith or
religion whatsoever, the numbers that they have compiled and they
are startling. The latest numbers come from
2024 from the Anti Defamation League.
They note that 9354 anti-Semitic incidents have happened in the
United States of America. That's harassment, vandalism and
physical assault and verbal assault, a record high since
tracking began in 1979. The numbers for 2024 are 5%
higher than they were in 2023, when there was 8000 only 8873
incidences of anti-Semitism. Over the last five years it has
grown 344%. In the last 10 years it has
grown 893%. This is the Anti defamation
league. Just giving us the facts.
Then you have this other group called the FBI.
Anyone ever heard of them? Anyone ever had time with them?
OK they say from 2024 that anti Jewish hate crime incidents
account for 69% of all religion based hate crimes by far more
than any other group. Because the rest of the groups,
Christians and Islam and whatever other religion fit in
the rest of the 31%. And here the anti-Semitism
accounts for 69%. anti-Semitism hate for semites?
Who are the semites? Have you ever thought about it?
Like we say anti-Semitism Like what?
Why are people against semites? Who are the semites?
Well, let's look back to last week.
We met a man named Noah. Noah and only seven other people
were saved through the ark. They were saved from the flood,
from destruction. Three of those eight were the
sons of Noah. And in the Bible it lists them
like Ham, Japheth and Shem, though that's not actually
listen this way. Shem, Japheth and Ham.
Why does that matter? Well, Shem, you would think,
because he's listed first as the first born, but Shem is actually
the middle child. Can we put some respect on the
middle child in the world? Anybody.
I got issues. Now you know why Shem in some
languages is written SEM no H and it is from Shem that the
people called the Semites arise. The lineage of Noah to Shem, the
Shemites, the Semites. Shem has some genealogy.
After him you get our faxes, then you get Shayla.
Then you get to a man named Eber.
Everyone say Eber and maybe Eber.
Shem is the great grandfather of this man named Eber and it is
from Eber or Eber that we get the people called Hebrews.
Anyone ever heard that? You thinking about your barista?
You like Hebrews? OK, no, dad jokes there cost you
nothing because they're worth nothing.
Well, I have a lot more to say on Eber and the Hebrews later.
I just want you to remember Eber and the Hebrews for later.
And it has some more genealogy so everyone lock in.
Don't get lost here. And all these names.
Eber of course has genealogy behind it.
Peleg, Roo, Serig, Nahor, Tara, and then finally Abram.
Eber's great, great, great, great grandson is this man named
Abram. It is this man, the descendant
of Noah through Shem, through Eber, this Abram that will
become father Abraham, whose descendants will become the
nation of Israel. Abraham's grandson is a guy
named Jacob, and God changes Jacob's name from Jacob deceiver
to Israel, one who will prevail with God.
What a great name change, right? Deceiver, the one who from Jacob
to Israel are you? Are you still following?
Say yes. Keep your big brains on.
Now. The nation of Israel will be the
nation that blesses all other nations.
How? I'm glad you asked.
These are the people who will bring forth Messiah.
These are the people who will bring forth Jesus from Nazareth.
It is this Jesus who will claim his victory in the region of
Judea, in the city of Jerusalem. And it is the people from Judea
who are called the Jews. Do you see all the names now?
You putting us all together? The Semites become the Hebrews.
Who are the Israelites? Who are the Jews?
Are you following? It's an oversimplification, but
anti-Semitic. 8 is Semite Hebrew Israeli Jewish hate.
We talked about this two weeks ago, but why is there so much
enduring all throughout history hate for the people of Abraham's
descendants, the Semites, the Israelites, the Hebrews, the
Jews? I didn't do this in the right
order, but you got it. Remember something very specific
that happens in Genesis chapter 3 and we understand why there's
so much hate against the Semites.
Genesis chapter 3, the devil comes and deceives Adam and Eve,
and then God confronts the devil, saying to him in Genesis
chapter 3, verse 15, God speaking to the snake.
I will put enmity between you snake, and the woman, between
your offspring and her offspring.
The woman's offspring will crush your head and you will strike
your heel, his heel, meaning the devil will wound humanity.
But this one, this offspring that comes from this woman who
is an Israelite, he will destroy the devil.
Abram's family will be the family that fulfills the promise
of Genesis chapter 3. That's what's happening in
Genesis chapter 12. God's commencing the plan.
Abram's family will be the family of the woman whose seed
will crush the head of the enemy and give freedom to sinners and
eternal life to believers. And that's what happens through
the work of Jesus. We are returned to creation.
We are returned to our original intent that we talked about in
week 1, where God's entire desire to build the earth and to
fill it populated with humans was to dwell with us and us with
Him in this beautiful paradise. Genesis chapter 12 is the first
call for humanity to step out. Go and do what I've called you
to do to advance the Kingdom in Abraham.
We move from God just creating humans to creating people, and
now He's moving us to creating God's chosen people who have a
specific job and will do a great work based on the calling of God
to go and do it. It's affirmed in the New
Testament. Galatians chapter 3 look at this
verse 7, understanding that those who have faith, those who
have placed their trust in Jesus are children of Abraham.
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith
announced in the gospel in advance to Abraham.
With the writer here, Paul is referring all the way back to
Genesis chapter 12. All nations will be blessed
through you verse 9. So those who rely on faith are
blessed along with Abraham the man of faith and then look down
in verse 16. The promises were spoken to
Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say and to
seeds meaning many people but and to your seed meaning one
person who is Christ. What is promised in Genesis
chapter 3 gets activated in Genesis chapter 12 and now Paul
in Galatians is calling back to him and said God kept the plan,
the arrival of Christ, the one and only seed who would bring
salvation to the world. This is more than about land and
descendants. In other words, this covenant.
It's about a family that has a heavenly purpose and God has
given it to them. Therefore, putting this all
together, Abraham's family, according to the devil, must be
destroyed, for this family is the root of the one that will
bring the Messiah. So this family must be
destroyed. It's the root of anti-Semitism.
It all began in Genesis. It goes on to this day.
Are you here? Say yes, Yeah.
However, try as he may, this is good news.
The devil's plot against the people of God has not prevailed.
Did you hear what I said? Despite all of us trying to
snuff out the lineage that would bring Jesus, we know standing on
this side of Jesus that the devil's plan did not prevail.
Glory to God, Jesus arrives, brings with them his freedom.
The captives are set free. The devil has suffered
irreparable damage because of the victory of Jesus Christ,
which means that believers in Jesus are unshackled from sin
and await eternal glory with him.
The plan failed, Devil. Amen.
But how did it fail? That's the question we need to
answer today. How did the plot of the Enemy
fail? Why didn't the devil succeed?
2 things. The ability of God and the faith
of people. Write it down, some of you
taking notes. The rest of you, I'm glad you're
here. The ability of God and the faith
of people caused the devil's plan to fail.
Somebody stepped out in faith. And what happens when we step
out in faith is that we intersect with the ability of
God and the devil's plan fails and the God, the Lord's plan
goes forward. Let me say it over here.
When we step out in faith, we intersect with the ability of
God. And when we do that, the devil's
plan fails and the Lord's plan goes forward.
So maybe we should step out Genesis chapter 12.
Let's look at the covenant again.
Let's see the ability of God. Verse two and three, God says I
will make you into a great nation and I will bless you and
I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will
curse. And all the peoples on the earth
will be blessed through you. The I wills of God.
Did you see them? Did you note them in your
spirit? I put a little emphasis on them,
The I wills of God. Every I will is a promise of
God, which means that everything begins with God's ability.
Everything, even our stepping out, is based in faith, on God's
ability. And when we step out in faith,
we intersect with the power and the ability of God.
And the devil's plan fails over your marriage.
The devil's plans fail over your mental health, your physical
health, and the Lord's plan prevails.
Everything begins with the ability of God.
God is the beginning of this Abrahamic movement to redeem the
earth and all of it to happen. Inhabitants, The plans to
reverse the work of the enemy are here and now unfolding in
Abraham. And God is saying, I'm going to
make it so I will make it happen.
I will assure this. And praise be to God, He did it.
We live in the history, the testimony of the finished work
of Jesus Christ. God even proves to Abraham that
it will be him that does it in the way that they signed the
contract together over this covenant.
A covenant is a contract between people and in the days of old,
just as we do now, there was a signing of the contract, if you
will, a handshake between gentlemen, an agreement that
says I will do this and you will do this and together we'll go
forward. But God that in a specific way.
I think you've seen this before. If not, this will blow your
mind. It's so good.
Genesis chapter 15, the Abram story goes, goes on verse 7.
He also said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of UR
of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of
it. But everyone's got a question
for God. I don't know if God's ever given
you a promise like how's that going to work?
It doesn't make sense to me. Can you give me some more
information? That's what he does here verse
8. But everyone says, sovereign
Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of this land?
So this is what the Lord God said.
This is how this is how it's going to happen.
Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along
with dove and a young pigeon. Abram brought out all these to
him. Cut them into and arrange the
halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not
cut in half. Verse 11.
Then the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram
drove them away. We could do a whole message just
on verse 11. When God gives you a promise and
the distractions and the defeat tries to sit at your door, you
drive them away in faith. Resist the devil and he will
flee. Verse 12 As the sun was said and
Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful
darkness came over him. Verse 17 jumped down.
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking
fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the
pieces. On that day the Lord made a
covenant with Abram and said To your descendants, I will give
this land from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river the
Euphrates. I've taught here a few times on
this, so I will be brief. What we have here is an Old
Testament back in the day version of signing a contract
and they called it cutting a covenant.
Cutting a covenant, they would bring these animals and they
would line them up on a path on the left and the right, cutting
the animals in half, setting them here like this, and then
the birds down here like this. And then two people who were
coming into a very serious agreement saying like, I'm going
to be committed to this. How much this much?
Well, we're going to pass to these animals.
And the idea is if I break this covenant, may it be unto me as
it is to these animals, meaning I am putting my life on the line
to keep this covenant. That's how serious this is.
Are you, do you understand? Do you understand except and
maybe you saw this? In this case, since God already
told him in chapter 12, I will make you a great nation and I
will bless you and I will curse those against you, I'm going to
do the work. Instead of God and Abraham
walking between the pieces of animals together, it's God and
God, the smoking fire pot and a blazing torch.
I have kind of a rudimentary picture to show you.
The rest of the pictures were too grizzly.
So you have like, it looks like my 5 year old.
I don't even have a 5 year old, but looks like a 5 year old drew
this. The smoking firepot and the
blazing torch. What you don't see passing
between the animals is Abram. It's God and God.
Abram is asleep while this is happening.
You can call this moment the handshake between God and Abram.
Except when they went to shake hands, God didn't shake Abram's
hand. He shook his own hand.
Yeah, God alone will keep the covenant because God knows that
when man fails, he will not. So should be obvious, and I've
been saying a little bit, but stepping out requires God's
ability. We don't step into nothingness,
right? We step into the ability of
God's proven promise keeping nature over and over again.
The covenant is ratified by God alone.
Abram is passive in it, which means in no way that it depend
on Abram, but solely on the work and the character and the nature
of God. Verse 8, Abram says how I know a
game, possession of the land, what's going to happen?
What do I have to do? And God's answer is sacrifice
covenant. I'm going to take care of it.
I will assure it through the shedding of blood.
Later he will do this again in Jesus saying like how do we gain
possession of the promised land of heaven?
God says sacrifice covenant. I will assure it, I will take
care of it. Verse 12 we find Abram deep
asleep should sound familiar to you if you've been with us in
the series. God does a lot in the sleep
hours. Adam's asleep and Eve is
produced. Thank God for that.
Men and husbands, this is when you say yes.
Men, husbands, this is when you say yes.
I'll give you a second chance. I'm so glad God created my wife
in Jesus name. When Abram's asleep, God
produces the covenant, and when Jesus is asleep in death, God
produces the new covenant, the gateway to eternal life of the
Father. God does it all.
What God is doing in Abraham's time and our time cannot be
supported nor stopped by humanity.
The work of God, because He is God, will be fulfilled, in fact,
has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
Just stop here and have just a devotional moment for your
heart. What breakthrough are you
looking for in your life? I want to tell you it will only
be done by the ability of God. It's been that way since
Genesis. It was that way with Jesus.
If you're beginning with human ability, you're not beginning,
you're just staying where you are.
We're stuck in a rut. Let me just speak for ourselves.
I, I get stuck in a rut when I go on my own ability.
And when I speak of ability, I'm thinking mostly about my
thoughts. Like I'm thinking this way about
this situation. And when I think about it
through my own thoughts, there's no ability behind it because
they're not backed by the power of God is backed by the power of
Tim. And then I get you one Taco Bell
Taco. So what's our part?
If it's all God's ability, what's our part?
No surprise. It's a step of faith, a step of
faith. Abram's response to God is
amazing. Genesis 12 verses 2 and three
says go, I'm going to bless you. Do all this.
Verse 4. So Abram went, did you see it?
It happened so quick. Imagine if Abram said I'm not
going to go. There is no Abram went.
Abram didn't went, but Abram went as the Lord had told him he
took action based on the word of God.
And it's pretty strong faith here.
Abram is essentially leaving everything to start over based
solely on the Word of God. Here's a little picture.
You can see his journey, and it extends beyond what we're going
to be teaching today. But I want you to see he starts
over here in ER with his dad, Tara.
And in Genesis 11, they leave ER and go up to Haran and they live
there. And that's when the Lord speaks
to Abram here in Haran, and he crosses over the Euphrates River
and marches down into the land of the unknown.
He leaves everything he knows to go to the land of the unknown.
The only thing he does actually know is the Word of God.
And based only on the Word of God, he leaves down and arrives
in the promised land at Shechem, pitches, pitches his tent near
Bethel. This is his journey by faith,
leaving behind what he's known. Abram in this moment, therefore,
is led to a new people, a new purpose, and a new place.
This is what Abraham is receiving as he steps out in
faith. This is what Jesus has promised
to us today. He made this promise and said,
hey, John chapter 14, behold, I'm going to leave this place.
I go prepare another place for you.
And if I made a place for you, I'm going to come back and get
you to take you to be where I am.
I'm preparing a new place for you.
You got to step out in faith to receive it.
Stepping out leads from this place that you're currently
living, the place that you might be stuck in mentally,
relationally, physically, you name it, in a rut.
Stepping out leads you from that place to the new thing that God
has for you and for your situation.
We just got to be like Abram. We just need to step out based
on the word of God. See essential part be one thing
if Abram went, it's another thing that Abram goes because
it's the Lord has told them. So what stops us from stepping
out our old friend doubt? Everyone say doubt, Hallelujah,
doubt. When we're listening to doubt,
it means we're not listening to the words of God.
Doubt means we're listening to other words.
I will tell you this, if you're trying to step out on anything
other than the word of God, you're stepping in to a void.
There's nothing there to stand upon.
Everything else is sinking sand. Have you heard this before?
But the Word of God is the assurance of the rock of Jesus
Christ that when you stand upon it, you know what happened.
Stepping out based on the Word of God, not based on any other
words. Man, we have so many words, so
many modern day prophets peddling all sorts of beliefs
and then you weigh them against the word of God and they do not
stand. But we try to pin our whole life
on something other than the word of God and then we're shocked
when we're dismayed and we're broken.
And God said, build your life on the rock, on my word.
Well, even happens for our good friend Abram, we think of him so
highly because he has stepped out in faith, but he has some
doubt. He arrives in Israel.
Wasn't Israel at that time was the land of the Canaanites?
God promises it to him, it belongs to God and God gives it
to, He wants to. And God chose the Israelites to
give to. And he says, but there's a
famine here. There's a physical famine like
not enough food, water, and there's a spiritual famine.
So thanks for bringing me here, God, but I'm out.
And Abram, as we'll later see with the Israelites, and we even
see with Jesus and Mary and Joseph for a little bit, they
descend into Egypt. Abram leaves the promised land
where the Word of God has led him to seek rescue by his own
plan and his own wisdom. Can we be?
Can we have like real church and not just pretend church?
Usually I ask rhetorical questions that might be too
embarrassing for you to answer out loud.
But we're all going to answer this question out loud.
Well, not with our voices, with our hands together.
Have you ever? Don't raise your hand yet left
the promises of God because you had doubt in your mind that He
would fulfill them, and then enacted your own plan, thinking
that might go better on the count of three.
Anyone ever done that? 123 Now look around, look
around, you're not alone. You and me and Abram were all
the same. We start to doubt, which is the
beginning of the sin cycle. Remember, doubt leads to
deception, which leads to disobedience, which leads to
disgust, which leads to destruction.
And back we go again. And again it's happened for
Abram. Not only that, when Abram was
looking around, he's like, hey, I'm like getting near 90 and you
said I'm going to have offspring.
And me and Sarah, I have had no offspring.
So let me take the plan again in my own hand.
He has a child by his wife's maidservant, Hagar, and she's
named or the child's name is Ishmael.
Listen to what Genesis 16 says about Ishmael.
Ishmael will be a wild donkey of a man.
His hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand
against him, and he will live in hostility towards all his
brothers. History always proves what God
has told us before, and if you look in the Middle East, Arab
nations which contain many of the descendants of Ishmael,
they're still to this day at war with their brothers as was
prophesied. It's still true to this day.
Genesis 1612 is being played out on your newsreel, not just in
the Middle East, but all throughout the nations.
All this to say, it does not go well when we take things into
our own hands. Somebody say man, our job is to
be faithful and obedient to the word of God and when we step out
based on the word of God, it's when the ability of God
intersects and arrives in our lives.
Jesus fulfills this Matthew chapter 4 verse 19.
You still you'll see familiar language to Abram and he said to
them, follow me. Here's the language and I will
make you fishers of men. Same thing you said to Abram.
I'm going to do the work. I have the ability, I'm going
to. I will do it.
The disciples just had to follow, to step out, to obey.
And when they did, woo y'all, we're living, we're sitting,
we're commuting right now. In the evidence of their faith,
2000 years ago, they stepped out.
The church is born. They meet the miracle of God.
By the way, the church is a miracle.
So many times I should have died.
They're trying to kill it now. God keeps it alive.
His ability based on the faith of people to step out.
I remember the first time I ever preached to adults, a big group
of adults, in fact, right around 4000 adults.
I had been in ministry for 12 years, started student ministry
in 1995. And then in 2007, Christine and
I were called to another church, the Crossing Church.
And I left student ministry behind.
Very sad to leave that behind, by the way.
But God called us and we hadn't been there long.
And the lead pastor, Pastor Greg, who was here for men's
conference, any men you remember Pastor Greg?
I say, Yep, uh huh. He says, hey, I want you to
preach the weekend service. And I'm like me, like, I'm just
like a silly youth guy. Like no way, I said yes, it's
like October ish of 2007. Been at the church maybe three
or four months. I literally had preached 1000
messages roughly in my life to that point.
Preaching twice a week for 12 years.
Sunday night Senior High, Wednesday night middle school.
And in those groups roughly between 60 to a hundred 120 kids
each night. That was it.
That was my jam. I could own a room of 100 people
that didn't know nothing, right? Just like it was amazing.
So there I was in 2007. It's time to preach.
And I was behind a leg, which this curtain thing on the side
is called the leg. That's why they say break a leg
because you got to open it and close it so many times it breaks
for the anyway, who goes and I'm behind that can't.
Can you hear me? OK, I'm behind.
Stop looking. I'm behind the curtain and the
bumpers playing and I know it's got like 10 seconds left and
it's go time and I'm back here stalked to the ground like, Oh
my word. There are so many adults who
know the word of God really well, and they've been preached
to by Pastor Greg Dumas, who is an authoritative, biblically
incredible man. And who am I to go out there and
say anything? It's going to be terrible.
And the bumper ends and I'm still standing here.
The lights come up and I'm standing here.
It's, it felt like 45 minutes, but it was like one second.
Well, there was an elder back here with me.
His name is Paul Brooks and he just leans over and I could feel
his breath on my ear. He was that close.
And he says this. You are a mighty warrior.
And I just walked out, right? I didn't mean for that to be
silly, but there it is. Typical.
You can take the youth out of the pastor.
What a nude whatever. I stepped out and in that moment
I went from darkness to light. In that moment I went from being
terrified to stepping into my calling.
And it was a pivotal moment. Like God had matured me in some
way that He allowed me the privilege of preaching to those
people that day, but I could have stayed stuck behind the
curtain. I'm just looking around and
wondering if you're ready to move forward in your life, if
you're ready to step out in your situation, to step out in your
relationships, to step out in your job, to step out into your
calling, to step out into your spiritual health.
If you're ready to do that, then tell your neighbor I'm stepping
out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's kind of tepid. I'm not sure you you're there
yet. I just want to share with you
one last point because if you're breathing, you probably have a
situation where you're on one side of the river and on this
side of the river, if your life's like my life, and I'm not
saying it's got to be, but maybe it is on this side of the river,
There's such things as enemies, threats, depression, angst,
bitterness, rivalries, scarcity mindset.
We're never going to make it hopelessness on this side of the
river. And it's really ugly over here,
by the way. And then you look over there and
on the other side of the river is the Kingdom of God.
On the other side of the river is the Kingdom of God.
And the Kingdom according to the word of God is full of
righteousness, joy, and peace. The will of God according to the
Word of God is good, pleasing, and perfect.
On this side, Scarcity, nothing on that side.
Hope, joy and love flowing like milk and honey.
But I'm over here and I want to get over there in my
relationships, in my mental health, in my life, in my
spiritual life. I want to move from me existing
to God existing in me. I want to get there.
How do I move from the land of desolation to the land of my
destiny? How do I go?
How do I crossover? Well, it should be obvious now.
It's a step of faith, right? It's just a step of faith.
Which takes me back to our buddy Eber.
You remember him? Have you held on to that name
this whole time? Yeah.
Anyone OK. Good.
Ever. Hebrew means from Eber.
One who's from Eber. So these are people of Eber, the
Hebrew people. But what does Eber's name mean?
Check this out. Eber's name means from the other
side, or one who crosses over. The Hebrew people are the people
who crossover. Look at the record that's given
to us biblically. Abram crosses over the Euphrates
to get to the land of promise. Don't you know that Moses
crosses through over the Red Sea to get to the land of promise?
Don't you know that Joshua crosses over the Jordan River to
get to the land of promise? And Jesus literally crossed the
distance of sin so that you and I could enter the land of
promise now here. Amen.
Go ahead. When we enter by faith in Jesus
from the land of sin and scorn and shame and death and not
being in God's presence, into his presence by faith in Jesus,
we're actually entering into the family of Hebrews.
We are grafted in, the Bible says, into their family.
We keep trying to make Hebrews Christians, but actual
Christians are not Hebrews. People who believe in Jesus have
been grafted into Abraham's family.
Now, of course, we don't replace the Hebrews.
This isn't replacement theology where the church has become
Israel. We've been grafted into their
family, and by the graceful invitation of the Lord, we get
the opportunity to minister to everyone, including other
Hebrews who do not yet know him as Savior, Jesus, as Savior.
You follow me, say yes, but it's this crossover.
You have free will, and free will lets you decide.
You could say no, I'm not going to crossover, but you could also
say yes and crossover. So I just need to ask you today,
what is the word of the Lord speaking to you in your life?
That it's time for you to step out in faith and crossover where
you've been stuck dead end, fear, you name it in the rot and
believe on His word that His supernatural ability is going to
meet your obedience. And when you walk to that door,
you have no idea the goodness that's on the other side.
It just takes a step of faith. What is it for you?
Where is God asking you to step out of faith?
Leave behind something old and walk into something new.
Thanks for joining us today. We hope God is speaking to your
heart through this message. If you'd like to connect with
us, you can text connect to 407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate
dot church. Have a great week.