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Never-to-Be-Forgotten-Promises-Msg-3-22 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Unlike most individuals, governments, and institutions in the world, God
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Speaker 1: keeps his word. He doesn't forget his promises, and he
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Speaker 1: doesn't back out of agreements. He doesn't break contracts, he
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Speaker 1: doesn't renig on covenants. Though he may not fulfill his promises,
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Speaker 1: according to your and my timetable, we can always count
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Speaker 1: on this. God's character is marked by integrity and veracity.
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Speaker 1: When God promised to accomplish specific things for certain individuals
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Speaker 1: and people groups back in Biblical times, those promises remained unbreakable.
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Speaker 1: God's unconditional promises to a man named Abram stand to
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Speaker 1: this day as an enduring example of God's faithfulness to
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Speaker 1: his own word. Today, We're going to see an amazing
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Speaker 1: example of God's promise to a man fresh out of idolatry,
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Speaker 1: in a never to be forgotten promise that has affected
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Speaker 1: our entire world even to this day. So in preparation
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Speaker 1: for that, please open your bibles to Genesis chapter twelve,
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Speaker 1: and then put your finger over in chapter fifteen of Genesis.
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Speaker 1: I'll be reading six verses from each of these chapters,
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Speaker 1: and let's honor God and his word by standing as
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Speaker 1: I read these passages. First, Genesis twelve verses one through six.
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Speaker 1: Now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your
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Speaker 1: country and from your relatives, and from your father's house,
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Speaker 1: to the land which I will show you. And I
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Speaker 1: will make you a great nation, and I will bless
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Speaker 1: you and make your name great, and so you shall
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Speaker 1: be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you,
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Speaker 1: and the one who curses you, I will curse. And
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Speaker 1: in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.
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Speaker 1: So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him,
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Speaker 1: and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy five
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Speaker 1: years old when he departed from Heron. Abram took Sarah
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Speaker 1: his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions
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Speaker 1: which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had
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Speaker 1: acquired in Heron, and they set out for the land
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Speaker 1: of Canaan. Thus they came to the land of Canaan.
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Speaker 1: Abram passed through the land as far as the site
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Speaker 1: of Shechim to the Oak of More. Now the Canaanite
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Speaker 1: was then in the land, and then turned to Genesis
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Speaker 1: fifteen for the first six verses there, beginning at verse one.
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Speaker 1: After these things, the word of the Lord came to
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Speaker 1: Abram in a vision, saying, do not fear Abram. I
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Speaker 1: am a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great.
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Speaker 1: Abram said, O, Lord God, what will you give me?
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Speaker 1: Since I am childless and the heir of my house
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Speaker 1: is Eliezar of Damascus. And Abram said, since you have
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Speaker 1: given no offspring to me, one born in my house
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Speaker 1: is my heir. Then behold the word of the Lord
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Speaker 1: came to him, saying, this man will not be your heir,
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Speaker 1: but one who will come forth from your own body,
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Speaker 1: he shall be your heir. And he took him outside
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Speaker 1: and said, now look toward the heavens and count the stars.
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Speaker 1: If you were able to count them, And he said
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Speaker 1: to him, so shall your descendants be. Then he believed
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Speaker 1: in the Lord, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.
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Speaker 1: Our Father, you have heard our words, and you know
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Speaker 1: the thoughts in our minds and hearts, as we have
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Speaker 1: made our commitment to you regarding the work of this ministry.
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Speaker 1: You know motives as well as others, see actions. You
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Speaker 1: know where we come from the pit from which we
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Speaker 1: have been dug. We realize, our Father, that were it
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Speaker 1: not for your grace, we would in no way have
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Speaker 1: a place to stand. We thank you that you lifted
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Speaker 1: us from a horrible pit and placed our feet upon
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Speaker 1: a rock, and gave us a song even praise to
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Speaker 1: our God, which many would see and fear and trust
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Speaker 1: in Him and in you. How we thank you, How
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Speaker 1: grateful we are for the growth you have given, for
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Speaker 1: the lessons that have been learned, and many we are
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Speaker 1: still learning, for the tests that have driven us to
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Speaker 1: our knees, and reminded us that it does not matter
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Speaker 1: how great the pressure is, but where the pressure lies,
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Speaker 1: whether it comes between us and you or presses us
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Speaker 1: nearer your heart. We have been pressed to your heart
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Speaker 1: again and again, and our world today is in worse
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Speaker 1: condition than when we began as a ministry, all the
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Speaker 1: more reason for us to remember what we have promised
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Speaker 1: and to keep our word. By your grace and for
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Speaker 1: your glory. From these humble beginnings, we acknowledge that what
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Speaker 1: we enjoy today has come from your hand of grace,
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Speaker 1: amazing grace, and we exult in it. We stand filled
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Speaker 1: with gratitude for it. And now we give our gifts
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Speaker 1: that others may know of it. In the name of
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Speaker 1: the one who modeled grace. Mercy and peace better than
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Speaker 1: any who has ever lived. We pray everyone said. Very
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Speaker 1: few people keep their word. Now. I don't believe they
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Speaker 1: plan that. I just think it's part of being human.
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Speaker 1: And we make statements and then we, for whatever reason,
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Speaker 1: either forget them, or or rationalize around them, or just
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Speaker 1: ignore them altogether. We learned growing up that they're just
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Speaker 1: are some people we cannot trust. I remember the short
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Speaker 1: list that my father taught us when we were children
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Speaker 1: in our home. These are people that you just don't trust.
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Speaker 1: Fast talking say those people don't go there. Most use
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Speaker 1: car dealers, but that's another subject. People who come to
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Speaker 1: your door to sell you things, hitchhikers, folks on the
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Speaker 1: street that open their coat want to sell you watches.
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Speaker 1: I'll never forget the one I saw with a little
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Speaker 1: sign inside his coat, genuine fake Rolexis. Now there's a
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Speaker 1: guy you can trust. And for sure. Slick politicians. The
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Speaker 1: only way you know most of them are lying is
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Speaker 1: their mouth is moving. Now, not all, just many. And
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Speaker 1: let's face it, the words I promise are so easy
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Speaker 1: to say. Well, we've been doing it since we were kids,
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Speaker 1: and we've been breaking them ever since. There are, however,
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Speaker 1: some people we can trust. There are those who say
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Speaker 1: what they mean, and they mean what they say, and
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Speaker 1: regardless of what you think, and sometime you're a little offended.
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Speaker 1: They talked straight and they do exactly what they say
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Speaker 1: they will do. Syth and I enjoyed a few days
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Speaker 1: on the island of Kawaii, are favorite among the Hawaiian islands,
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Speaker 1: the Garden Island, it's called. And while we were there,
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Speaker 1: we were down a little area where there was a
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Speaker 1: hamburger joint and its name is what first attracted me,
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Speaker 1: Bubba's Burghers. I don't know about you, but I just
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Speaker 1: couldn't stay out of a place like that. And so
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Speaker 1: I walked up on the little wooden porch and before
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Speaker 1: I went in the front door of Bubba's, I noticed
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Speaker 1: there was a rack of T shirts hanging there, all
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Speaker 1: of them with the name Bubba's Burgers on the front.
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Speaker 1: And by the way, there's a big sign that says
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Speaker 1: the best burger on the island. Okay. Now, I was
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Speaker 1: so attracted to the T shirts that I decided I
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Speaker 1: would buy a couple of them. On the front, it
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Speaker 1: simply says Bubba Burgers, Kawaii, Hawaii. On the back, we
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Speaker 1: cheat tourists, drunks, and attorneys. So I bought a couple
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Speaker 1: of them for attorney friends of mine. No, not really.
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Speaker 1: Those attorneys I know tell the truth, but there are
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Speaker 1: a number of them that don't. In fact, I made
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Speaker 1: a comment to a friend of mine. He and I
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Speaker 1: know the same attorney who happens to live in California,
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Speaker 1: and I said, you know, if he comes to our
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Speaker 1: next conference, it'll be great to give him one of these,
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Speaker 1: one of these T shirts. I'd sent my buddy a
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Speaker 1: T shirt, and I happened to include in my email
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Speaker 1: our attorney friend. He wrote back, and he says, I'll
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Speaker 1: have you know I am. I am not a tourist
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Speaker 1: nor much of an attorney. And that kind of tied
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Speaker 1: in with what it says here about who they'll serve.
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Speaker 1: By the way, they've also got great chili if you're
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Speaker 1: ever on the island. In today's terms, I promise, I promise,
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Speaker 1: I promise. We hear it so much it's all over used.
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Speaker 1: In fact, it's misused. So I decided, if we're going
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Speaker 1: to do a serious study on something like promises, we
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Speaker 1: need to understand what the word means. You've discovered in
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Speaker 1: your life that thoughts are built around words, and therefore
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Speaker 1: words are important. Perhaps the best used book in my
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Speaker 1: diction in my library would be my Dictionary. I'm on
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Speaker 1: about my third copy, and I looked up in Websters
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Speaker 1: and found this definition for a promise. It's an assurance
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Speaker 1: that one will or will not do something. It is
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Speaker 1: a pledge. When you promise someone something, you offer assurance.
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Speaker 1: You provide a basis for expectation. Think about that, if
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Speaker 1: I make you a promise, you live in the expectation
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Speaker 1: of my keeping the promise, my fulfilling it. Among the
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Speaker 1: list of synonyms, interestingly, were words like covenant, guarantee, vowel.
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Speaker 1: A promise is a declaration that someone will or will
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Speaker 1: not do a certain thing. The financial world has promisory notes,
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Speaker 1: in which we sign our name to the document, and
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Speaker 1: in doing so we promise that we will keep the
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Speaker 1: words that are written in there. Regarding financial arrangement. Every
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Speaker 1: wedding I have done includes the most important part called
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Speaker 1: the vowels. The air promises where the bride and groom
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Speaker 1: promise to keep themselves faithful to one another as long
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Speaker 1: as both of them will live. It's a covenant. The
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Speaker 1: Biblical word for it is covenant. Interestingly, there are covenants
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Speaker 1: between people one another, and then there are covenants made
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Speaker 1: by God to people, and we find all of those
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Speaker 1: things in the Bible. For example, the people to people,
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Speaker 1: what we call human covenants, are found many of them
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Speaker 1: in the Old Testament. For Samuel eighteen three, Jonathan made
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Speaker 1: David a covenant that he would not turn against him,
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Speaker 1: he would be loyal regardless of what Jonathan's father, King Saul,
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Speaker 1: might do to David. For Samuel eighteen three states a covenant.
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Speaker 1: And then there are divine covenants. Some of them have titles.
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Speaker 1: One appears with the first couple in the Garden of Eden,
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Speaker 1: where God says to the people Adam and Eve, of
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Speaker 1: every tree you may freely eat, but of the tree
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Speaker 1: of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat
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Speaker 1: of it, for in the day you eat of it.
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Speaker 1: Here's the covenant, you will surely die. The Hebrew says,
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Speaker 1: dying you will die, which is another subject to get
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Speaker 1: into it another time. It's a divine covenant known among
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Speaker 1: theologians as the Adenic Covenant, named by the garden itself.
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Speaker 1: When you get to Noah's Day, you come across the
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Speaker 1: no a covenant. Interesting promise there you remember the times.
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Speaker 1: Times were so desperate and people were so depraved that
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Speaker 1: God regretted he had ever made man. And he told Noah,
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Speaker 1: the only righteous man he could find, to build an ark,
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Speaker 1: because he was going to send waters that would cover
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Speaker 1: the earth. This universal flood would kill all who were
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Speaker 1: not in the ark. And then he made Noah a promise,
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Speaker 1: I will never again flood the whole earth. And he
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Speaker 1: sealed the promise with what you remembered. Of course, a rainbow.
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Speaker 1: God doesn't call it a rainbow in Genesis nine. He
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Speaker 1: calls it a bow in the sky. By the way,
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Speaker 1: many people live and die and never realize that that
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Speaker 1: rainbow is simply a visible, tangible reminder of God's covenant,
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Speaker 1: a divine covenant he will never again flood the earth
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Speaker 1: with water. The Noe Covenant Second Samuel seven includes a
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Speaker 1: covenant with David. God makes to David regarding the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: It's called the Davidic Covenant. Jeremiah thirty one clues what
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Speaker 1: is called a new covenant between God and his followers,
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Speaker 1: the believers, and it relates to the peace between God
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Speaker 1: and his people. So we have human covenants and we
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Speaker 1: have divine covenants. We're not through. There are conditional covenants
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Speaker 1: and unconditional covenants. In conditional covenants, we play a part
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Speaker 1: in their being fulfilled. They usually include words like, if
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Speaker 1: you will do this, then God will do that. If
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Speaker 1: you keep your part of the agreement, God will keep
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Speaker 1: his part. If you don't, he will not. So it's
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Speaker 1: conditioned on the basis of obedience. It's called a conditional covenant.
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Speaker 1: If you will, then I will. However, those that are
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Speaker 1: most significant I believe in all the Bible are the
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Speaker 1: unconditional covenants. There are no ifs. There are simply I will,
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Speaker 1: I will, I will. I will never forsake you. That's
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Speaker 1: an unconditional promise. I will guard you, I will watch
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Speaker 1: over you, I will strengthen you. That's an unconditional covenant
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Speaker 1: that God makes with his people, unconditional meaning it will
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Speaker 1: come to pass regardless of the recipient's reaction. Now, what
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Speaker 1: makes all of this fall together is the fact that
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Speaker 1: people often think that when God promises something, he's going
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Speaker 1: to fulfill it right away. You've heard the American's favorite prayer, God,
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Speaker 1: I want this, and I want it right now. I
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Speaker 1: want it right now, Like the one who prays for
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Speaker 1: help financially, and then gets up from his knees and
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Speaker 1: goes to the mailbox to see if the envelope has come.
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Speaker 1: We want it right now. But God rarely acts right now.
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Speaker 1: Oh he does sometime. Matter of fact, I'm thinking of
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Speaker 1: one of those occasions where he says, believe on the Lord,
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. This is a promise from God. Believe on
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Speaker 1: the Lord, and you will be saved. It will be immediate.
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Speaker 1: As soon as you believe, you are rescued from your sins,
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Speaker 1: you are delivered. You are saved. More often than not,
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Speaker 1: there is a delay, a delay in the covenant that
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Speaker 1: God makes. Now, all of this brings us to the
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Speaker 1: twelfth chapter of Genesis, where God is speaking to Abraham, who,
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Speaker 1: by the way, is called Abram for a while and
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Speaker 1: the word means exalted Father, until later it's changed to
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Speaker 1: Abraham when Isaac is given and that word that name
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Speaker 1: means father of many nations, father of many people. But
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Speaker 1: he's now called Abram. And the Lord says to Abram,
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Speaker 1: he gives him a command or a call. Go forth
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Speaker 1: from your country and from your relatives, and from your
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Speaker 1: father's house to the land. I will show you. It's
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Speaker 1: a command go Abram, and I have a destination for you,
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Speaker 1: but I'm not going to reveal it to you. Remember,
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Speaker 1: Abraham's getting up in years. In fact, as best we
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Speaker 1: can figure, according to what verse four tells us, he
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Speaker 1: is at least in the early part of this section
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Speaker 1: a little before age seventy five, and by now he's
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Speaker 1: seventy five, so he's getting up in years. And the
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Speaker 1: Lord says, leave all of these familiar things and go
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Speaker 1: to where I will show you, and verse four tells
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Speaker 1: us he did exactly what he was told. Abraham went
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Speaker 1: forth as the Lord had spoken to him. The wonderful
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Speaker 1: thing about obeying commands is that there are rewards. The
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Speaker 1: sad part is when you don't, there are consequences. Do
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Speaker 1: this and this will happen. Don't do this, and this
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Speaker 1: will occur. Now, thankfully Abram heard the call, understood the command,
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Speaker 1: and he went exactly as God told him to do. However,
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Speaker 1: between the command verse one and his departing verse four,
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Speaker 1: even before the man has had time to start packing,
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Speaker 1: or to talk to his wife Sarah, or to work
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Speaker 1: through the details of getting unhooked from seventy five years
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Speaker 1: of living here and then being on his way to
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Speaker 1: wherever the Lord was sending him. God gave him several
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Speaker 1: unconditional promises. He brings them all together in a series
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Speaker 1: of statements. If you have your Bible in front of you,
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Speaker 1: please notice the repeated word and verse two. And I
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Speaker 1: will make you a great nation. And I will bless
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Speaker 1: you and make your name great, and so you shall
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Speaker 1: be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you,
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Speaker 1: and the one who who curses you, I will curse,
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Speaker 1: and in you all the families of the earth shall
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Speaker 1: be blessed. We could say God didn't even take a
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Speaker 1: breath as he unpacked all of those things he would
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Speaker 1: do for Abraham. And we know that it's unconditional because
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Speaker 1: there is nothing here, including the word if see verse two,
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Speaker 1: I will make you a great nation. I will bless you.
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Speaker 1: Verse three, I will bless those who bless you, continuing,
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Speaker 1: I will curse the one who curses you. So this
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Speaker 1: is a set of unconditional promises. This is called by
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Speaker 1: students of the scriptures the Abrahamic Covenant the Abrahamic Covenant
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Speaker 1: for obvious reasons. Now, there are three major areas of
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Speaker 1: blessing that form the covenant that God makes with Abram.
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Speaker 1: First is a national promise of blessing, second is a
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Speaker 1: personal promise of blessings plural, and third is an international
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Speaker 1: set of promises regarding his covenant with Abram. First, let's
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Speaker 1: take the national verse two, I will make you a
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Speaker 1: great nation. What an amazing revelation to a man in
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Speaker 1: his mid seventies wife in her mid sixties. They are
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Speaker 1: child less. He has never in his life been a
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Speaker 1: father of even one. And the Lord is not telling him,
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Speaker 1: I will make you a great nation. This is a reference,
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Speaker 1: of course, to the Jewish nation. These are the Hebrew
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Speaker 1: people that God has in mind. That's Whyham is called
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Speaker 1: the father of the Jews. The great nation comes because
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Speaker 1: of God's promise to Abram, and it is a guarantee.
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Speaker 1: I will do this, And it's reiterated. It's repeated again
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Speaker 1: and again. Now why would God repeat it? Why would
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Speaker 1: he tell him again and again? Because there's a long delay.
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Speaker 1: Best I can figure about twenty five years between God's
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Speaker 1: giving Abram the promise the first time and ultimately God's
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Speaker 1: fulfilling the promise twenty five years later. Abram begins at
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Speaker 1: age seventy five, which means by age one hundred he
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Speaker 1: has his first child. That's an interesting thought in itself.
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Speaker 1: I could have a little fun with that, but no need.
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Speaker 1: But you can imagine twenty five years of waiting. Now,
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Speaker 1: I would imagine most of you are waiting for something.
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Speaker 1: You have asked the Lord for a certain thing or
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Speaker 1: for things, and it hasn't come to pass. So you're waiting,
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Speaker 1: and you're waiting. It's doubtful, and you've been waiting twenty
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Speaker 1: five years, but you've been waiting a while. And interesting
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Speaker 1: thing about waiting is you begin to doubt. Your mind
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Speaker 1: starts to play tricks on you. You start thinking, I
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Speaker 1: really wonder if I understood correctly, or I really wonder
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Speaker 1: if God has heard me, or I wonder if this
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Speaker 1: is really what God plans to do rather than what
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Speaker 1: I was just asking for. Now, Abram no doubt, went
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Speaker 1: through the times of doubt, and so chapter thirteen turned there.
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Speaker 1: Verse fourteen, you see the Lord reassuring him. Lord said
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Speaker 1: to Abraham, after a lot had separated, lift up your
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Speaker 1: eyes from the place where you are. Understand Abram's older
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Speaker 1: time has passed, no son has been given, no child,
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Speaker 1: So he said, look up from the place where you
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Speaker 1: are northward southward, eastward, and westward. For all the land
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Speaker 1: which you see, I will give it to you and
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Speaker 1: to your descendants forever. Please observe the unconditional nature of
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Speaker 1: the promise I will. He doesn't say, Abraham, if you
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Speaker 1: pray every day I will do this, that would be
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Speaker 1: a conditional promise. He doesn't say, Abraham, if you and
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Speaker 1: Sarah regularly agree that what I'm telling you can be
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Speaker 1: relied on, then I will keep it. That would be conditional.
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Speaker 1: He simply says, Abram, look in each direction. This is
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Speaker 1: the land that the great Nation will occupy. Verse fifteen.
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Speaker 1: All the land which you see, I will give it
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Speaker 1: to you and to your descendants forever. I will make
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Speaker 1: your descendants as the dust of the earth. If anyone
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Speaker 1: can measure the dust of the earth, they can measure
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Speaker 1: the number of the people that will fill this great nation.
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Speaker 1: And he doesn't have one child, not one, And time passes.
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Speaker 1: When you get to chapter fifteen, he's older. In fact,
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Speaker 1: the beginning of chapter seventeen, he's ninety nine. But chapter fifteen,
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Speaker 1: the Lord breaks into the silence and says to him
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Speaker 1: verse one, don't fear, Abram, I'm your shield, and your
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Speaker 1: rewards shall be very great. Abram said, O, Lord God,
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Speaker 1: what will you give me? Since I'm childless? And the
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Speaker 1: air of my house is Eliezar of Damascus, one of
27:48
Speaker 1: his servants. And Abram said, oh, Lord God, what will
27:51
Speaker 1: you give me? And he ads, since you have given
27:54
Speaker 1: me no offspring, the one born in my house is
27:58
Speaker 1: my heir, meaning this servant. And behold, the Lord said
28:02
Speaker 1: to him, no, no, no, no, Now this man will
28:06
Speaker 1: not be the heir, but one who shall come forth
28:08
Speaker 1: from your own body. He shall be your heir. And
28:13
Speaker 1: he took him outside. Before he had him look to
28:17
Speaker 1: the north, southeast, and west. Now he takes him out,
28:20
Speaker 1: apparently it's night, and he says, I want you to
28:23
Speaker 1: look up and see the stars. Look toward the heavens,
28:27
Speaker 1: and count the stars. His point is not a literal counting.
28:31
Speaker 1: It's the point that there will be a multitude of
28:35
Speaker 1: people who will come from the fulfillment of my promise
28:40
Speaker 1: if you're able to count him. And he said, so
28:41
Speaker 1: shall your descendants be. And Abram believed God, and it
28:45
Speaker 1: was reckoned to him for righteousness. This is the very
28:48
Speaker 1: statement Paul claims in Romans chapter four when it says
28:53
Speaker 1: he staggered, not at the promise of God to unbelief,
28:55
Speaker 1: but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being
28:59
Speaker 1: fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able
29:02
Speaker 1: also to perform. He believed God, he believed. Without having
29:07
Speaker 1: one child. He believed, though he's getting up in years,
29:11
Speaker 1: because nothing will be impossible with God. Now back to
29:16
Speaker 1: chapter twelve. That's the national blessing, and there are other
29:20
Speaker 1: times that he repeats or reaffirms the promise. The next
29:25
Speaker 1: blessing is, I will bless you and make your name great,
29:29
Speaker 1: and so you shall be a blessing. Now Abraham is
29:34
Speaker 1: a nobody right now. He's living among his father and
29:40
Speaker 1: father's relatives in Haron. The best we can tell, his
29:45
Speaker 1: father is clearly an idolater, maybe even an idle. Carvers
29:50
Speaker 1: as one of my sources. He's been raised in this
29:54
Speaker 1: and he says, I'm going to make you famous. I'm
29:58
Speaker 1: going to bless you like I rarely bless anyone. And
30:03
Speaker 1: when you check the account, you find he has given
30:07
Speaker 1: great personal wealth in chapter thirteen Chapter twenty four, he
30:12
Speaker 1: has given divine protection for the rest of his life.
30:15
Speaker 1: He has given enormous fame, to the point where he
30:18
Speaker 1: is called the prince among Us Genesis twenty three six,
30:24
Speaker 1: and it says in twenty four to one the Lord
30:26
Speaker 1: blessed him in every way. He's even granted a title.
30:31
Speaker 1: No other person in the scriptures is granted friend of
30:35
Speaker 1: God Isaiah forty one, verse eight and James two, verse
30:40
Speaker 1: twenty three. He's a friend of God. You will be
30:45
Speaker 1: a blessing, even though right now he's not. Right now,
30:50
Speaker 1: he's just another idle worshiping individual in heron Now, on
30:56
Speaker 1: top of the national blessing and the personal blessing, look
31:01
Speaker 1: at the international very relevant in our day. Right about now.
31:06
Speaker 1: I will bless those who bless you, and the one
31:10
Speaker 1: who curses you, I will curse. Think about that those
31:22
Speaker 1: who bless Abraham and the nation that will come from him,
31:27
Speaker 1: the people of the Hebrews, God will bless. How wise
31:32
Speaker 1: is any nation to be an ally to Israel. He
31:37
Speaker 1: promises that blessing will fall on those who go in
31:42
Speaker 1: that direction. He also warns that there will be serious
31:47
Speaker 1: consequences on those who curse the nation. There are nations
31:52
Speaker 1: so antisemitic that they wish to exterminate the nations. The
31:59
Speaker 1: nation is happened in the days of Esther. You remember
32:04
Speaker 1: as Hayman led the group that was with plans to
32:07
Speaker 1: exterminate the people, had it not been for Ester's wonderful,
32:12
Speaker 1: courageous act. As recently as the nineteen thirty mid thirties
32:17
Speaker 1: to the nineteen mid nineteen forties, Hitler's Nazi Germany was
32:23
Speaker 1: determined to exterminate the nation, and we all know what
32:27
Speaker 1: has happened there. There are nations today known for their
32:32
Speaker 1: hatred of the land of Israel. A shudder to think
32:36
Speaker 1: about their future. In light of what God has stated
32:40
Speaker 1: here regarding cursing those who curse my people, all nations
32:48
Speaker 1: would do well to remember the Abrahamic Covenant. God, who
32:55
Speaker 1: is the authority overall, has made the statement and the
33:00
Speaker 1: and the promise needs to be heeded. Now so much
33:04
Speaker 1: for Abraham. How about you and me? You and I
33:07
Speaker 1: are sitting here today thinking about this, and we wonder
33:12
Speaker 1: what does this have to say to us. I've given
33:15
Speaker 1: you words on your outline that read I think or
33:19
Speaker 1: we thank our God, and then we trust our God,
33:24
Speaker 1: and then we wait on our God. Let's see how
33:29
Speaker 1: that unpacks unfolds. First, we thank our God for his
33:33
Speaker 1: promises to us. I don't know if you've ever made
33:40
Speaker 1: a study of the promises in the Bible. You certainly
33:42
Speaker 1: have a choice of many. Someone has taken the time
33:46
Speaker 1: to number them and has come up with a number
33:48
Speaker 1: that's more than seventy four hundred promises, And you probably think, my,
33:54
Speaker 1: what a treasure trove of things to remember. I recalled
34:00
Speaker 1: my mother as I was growing up, keeping little promise
34:04
Speaker 1: books where she would find a promise in her study
34:07
Speaker 1: of the Bible, and she would with her own handwriting
34:10
Speaker 1: write it in this little book, and it became what
34:13
Speaker 1: she called her promise book. And she would give those
34:16
Speaker 1: two people who were struggling, those who, many of whom
34:20
Speaker 1: had no idea that the Bible had anything to say
34:23
Speaker 1: to life as we live it today. She pulled those
34:28
Speaker 1: promises from the scriptures. Now I need to warn you
34:34
Speaker 1: that not all seventy four hundred are years to claim.
34:40
Speaker 1: Always remember the rule of interpretation is the context. Integrate
34:47
Speaker 1: your understanding of the Bible with the context. For example,
34:53
Speaker 1: I can imagine some childless couple struggling because they've been
34:58
Speaker 1: married twelve to fifteen years, they don't have have any child.
35:00
Speaker 1: They want to have a child, and the husband reads
35:04
Speaker 1: Genesis twelve and says honey, I found our promise. He's
35:10
Speaker 1: going to bless us and bring from us a blessing
35:14
Speaker 1: to others. Look at what he says. Wait, wait, wait,
35:18
Speaker 1: before you go down and buy a crib and start
35:22
Speaker 1: your plans for your family, understand that's to Abraham, that's
35:27
Speaker 1: not to you. This is not a promise to every
35:31
Speaker 1: childish couple that they can claim for themselves. You will
35:37
Speaker 1: find other promises that people pull out of context and
35:42
Speaker 1: then they apply it to their own life, or they'll
35:45
Speaker 1: take a portion of a promise, but they won't take
35:47
Speaker 1: the other part. Be very careful what you claim as
35:53
Speaker 1: a promise. I never did check out my mother and
35:57
Speaker 1: what she had put in her book. She was my mother,
36:00
Speaker 1: and so I chose not to do that. But who knows.
36:05
Speaker 1: She may have looked at everyone very carefully. There's a
36:09
Speaker 1: promise that says, fear not. I am with you, Be
36:11
Speaker 1: not dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you,
36:14
Speaker 1: I will help you. I will uphold you with the
36:17
Speaker 1: right hand of my righteousness Isaiah forty one ten. What
36:21
Speaker 1: a great promise. Paul writes that we can we can
36:27
Speaker 1: know the blessings of God just like he did and
36:31
Speaker 1: others in God's family where we were able to claim
36:35
Speaker 1: those those blessings that God has made available to all
36:40
Speaker 1: of his people, and you claim those and their year,
36:45
Speaker 1: he is able to give you a peace that would
36:48
Speaker 1: not normally come. That's a promise you can claim even
36:53
Speaker 1: though you don't know what the future brings. God promises
36:56
Speaker 1: you an inner sense of peace and tranquility, serenity. Okay,
37:04
Speaker 1: So that means we can trust God to keep his
37:08
Speaker 1: promises that for example, First Corinthians ten thirteen, no temptation
37:15
Speaker 1: has overtaken you, but such as is common to men
37:19
Speaker 1: and women. God is faithful. He will not allow you
37:23
Speaker 1: to be tempted above what you're able, but will with
37:26
Speaker 1: the temptation, give you a way of escape. You understand
37:30
Speaker 1: the value of memorizing the scriptures. You're able to claim
37:34
Speaker 1: them right when you need them at a time of
37:36
Speaker 1: being tempted, rather than saying, you know what, this is
37:39
Speaker 1: too much for me to withstand. I just don't wait
37:42
Speaker 1: a minute. The promise says he will give you the
37:44
Speaker 1: strength to endure. He will give you a way of escape.
37:48
Speaker 1: That's a promise you can claim. Satan the taxes and
37:53
Speaker 1: we forget the promise in James resists the devil, he
37:57
Speaker 1: will flee from you. Another one over in a Hvision six.
38:03
Speaker 1: To put on the whole armor of God, you will
38:06
Speaker 1: be able to stand against all of the attacks of
38:09
Speaker 1: the enemy. That's a promise you can claim, and so
38:13
Speaker 1: we trust God for that. In fact, there's a promise
38:16
Speaker 1: on prayer that we can come boldly to the Throne
38:21
Speaker 1: of Grace, knowing that He will hear us, and he
38:24
Speaker 1: will grant us our requests according to his will. We
38:29
Speaker 1: can count on that. There are many of you who
38:32
Speaker 1: serve Christ faithfully, and you can begin to wonder if
38:35
Speaker 1: God even notices. Hebrews six' ten Says god is not
38:39
Speaker 1: unrighteous to forget your work in labor of, love which
38:43
Speaker 1: you've shown Toward his, name and that you've ministered to the,
38:45
Speaker 1: saints and keep on. MINISTRING i love to put that
38:48
Speaker 1: verse at the end of a letter WHEN i write
38:51
Speaker 1: those who are involved in, ministry or WHEN i speak
38:54
Speaker 1: to those engaged in Serving. Christ and whatever, Capacity god doesn't.
38:59
Speaker 1: Forget he has, veracity he has. Integrity we can count.
39:05
Speaker 1: On that's What abraham. Believed he Believed god meant when he,
39:10
Speaker 1: said and he lived in light of. That. Promise what's
39:14
Speaker 1: interesting is When god finally did fulfill it and told
39:18
Speaker 1: him now's the Time i'm going to bring the. Baby
39:21
Speaker 1: Remember abrams one hundred and his wife's. Ninety abram, Laughs
39:26
Speaker 1: well you would have to at that, age. Surely and
39:30
Speaker 1: the Name isaac means. Laughter you laugh at this name your. Son.
39:34
Speaker 1: Laughter there's a lot of ways you can go with
39:38
Speaker 1: that which we won't. Go we also wait on Our
39:41
Speaker 1: god to fulfill his plan whenever he. Chooses we wait
39:46
Speaker 1: On god to fulfill his. Promise some of you are
39:50
Speaker 1: In god's waiting room right, NOW i said a few moments.
39:54
Speaker 1: Ago understand That god's. Timetable it's not our. Timetable he
39:58
Speaker 1: doesn't look at our, claw our calendar and, say, Whoop
40:01
Speaker 1: i'm getting. CLOSE i got to do this the years about. Up,
40:05
Speaker 1: nope he doesn't go that. Way god has a plan
40:09
Speaker 1: all his own that is free of. Time and you
40:11
Speaker 1: know what we're all familiar with. Waiting we wait for
40:16
Speaker 1: hours in the doctor's office for him to call our.
40:18
Speaker 1: Name we don't think much of. It we just take
40:21
Speaker 1: something to read and we expect. It we wait a
40:25
Speaker 1: long time to get a table at a restaurant where
40:28
Speaker 1: we want to eat sent in our familiar with a
40:31
Speaker 1: restaurant In, Brentwood. Tennessee it's a wonderful place to, eat
40:35
Speaker 1: and years ago it was a long. WAIT i understand
40:38
Speaker 1: they fixed the problem, now but back then you would
40:41
Speaker 1: get the little deeper that would tell you that it'll
40:44
Speaker 1: beep you when they're ready with your. Table and you
40:46
Speaker 1: go to a, movie and then while you were coming
40:50
Speaker 1: out of the movie about then you'd get the you'd
40:52
Speaker 1: get the table you. Want that is a long, wait
40:54
Speaker 1: AND i can tell you it wasn't that. Good it was,
40:57
Speaker 1: good but it wasn't that. Good we wait to be
40:59
Speaker 1: served our. Food it doesn't come right. Away we expect to.
41:04
Speaker 1: Wait we, Invest we wait for a dividend to. Come
41:08
Speaker 1: we wait for our car to be fixed when we
41:11
Speaker 1: take it. In we wait for our sick child to be.
41:16
Speaker 1: Healed we wait for our son or daughter to come
41:22
Speaker 1: back from the military after they've been. Deployed we expect to,
41:27
Speaker 1: wait and we wait with confidence in Our, god so
41:34
Speaker 1: we wait for him to fulfill his. Promise let me
41:39
Speaker 1: ask you for a. Moment don't lift your, hand but
41:44
Speaker 1: just think for a, moment what is it that you're
41:48
Speaker 1: waiting on? For? God to. Do if you were to ask,
41:55
Speaker 1: ME i would immediately answer two or three, things wouldn't
41:58
Speaker 1: take me ten s cants to name. Them for some of,
42:02
Speaker 1: Them i've been waiting eight, nine ten. Months for, Others
42:07
Speaker 1: i've been waiting a few, weeks and you're like that
42:15
Speaker 1: nothing has. Changed Has god heard? Me? Absolutely Does god
42:21
Speaker 1: understand what is on my heart AND i want it
42:24
Speaker 1: to be for his. Glory he surely. Does but he's
42:29
Speaker 1: not in a hurry Because i'm in a. Hurry he'll
42:33
Speaker 1: do it when he's. READY i also learned that by
42:38
Speaker 1: WAITING i. Change SOMETIME i discover that WHAT i was
42:45
Speaker 1: asking was a pretty selfish, request wasn't his plan at.
42:49
Speaker 1: All other TIMES i altered the, request thinking maybe it's.
42:54
Speaker 1: This often in the WAITING i gain patience because he
42:59
Speaker 1: is saying to, Me i'm not going to do this right,
43:02
Speaker 1: now AND i wait AND i wait AND i. Wait
43:08
Speaker 1: it makes the fulfillment of it all the better when
43:11
Speaker 1: you have waited over a period of. Time so if
43:16
Speaker 1: you're sitting In god's waiting, room the message of today
43:20
Speaker 1: is to trust, him wait on. Him those who wait
43:27
Speaker 1: on The lord shall renew their. Strength they shall mount
43:30
Speaker 1: up with wings as. Eagles they shall run and out be.
43:32
Speaker 1: Weary they shall walk and not. Faint that's a conditional.
43:36
Speaker 1: Promise why because we must. Wait that's our. Part And
43:42
Speaker 1: god will then do in his time what he. Pleases
43:48
Speaker 1: there's a great course of worship that says in his,
43:50
Speaker 1: time in his, time he makes all things beautiful in his. Time,
43:56
Speaker 1: lord please show me every day that you're teaching me your,
44:03
Speaker 1: way that you do just what you say in your.
44:08
Speaker 1: Time there once lived a man, who many years, ago
44:14
Speaker 1: was so distraught and depressed that he was convinced he
44:22
Speaker 1: would suffer eternal. Damnation he just, knew beyond the shadow
44:29
Speaker 1: of a. Doubt at least he thought this that he
44:32
Speaker 1: was abound for hell and nothing would change. That and
44:38
Speaker 1: he dropped it to a slew of, despond As bunyan
44:43
Speaker 1: would put, it and there he wallowed for a long
44:49
Speaker 1: number of, months during it which time he tried to
44:52
Speaker 1: take his life unsuccessfully three. Times, finally through a, friend
45:00
Speaker 1: he was led to spend time With John, newton the
45:04
Speaker 1: one who Wrote Amazing grace along with a number of,
45:07
Speaker 1: hymns in an area Called olney o l n E.
45:11
Speaker 1: Y there has come from that area an ancient, hymnal
45:16
Speaker 1: an old hymnal named The Olney, hymns and among them
45:21
Speaker 1: are the words Of William, cooper the MAN i referred to.
45:26
Speaker 1: Earlier god moves in a mysterious way his wonders to.
45:30
Speaker 1: Perform he plants his footstep in the sea and rides
45:36
Speaker 1: upon the, storm deep and unfathomable minds of never failing.
45:42
Speaker 1: Skill he treasures up his bright design and works his sovereign.
45:48
Speaker 1: WILL i love the last. Part judge not The lord
45:53
Speaker 1: by feeble, sense but trust him for his. Grace behind
46:00
Speaker 1: a frowning, providence he hides a smiling. Face what seems
46:11
Speaker 1: right now to be the frown Of god is simply
46:15
Speaker 1: his sovereign plan to make you wait and wait and.
46:23
Speaker 1: Wait you will discover as you do that willingly maturity
46:30
Speaker 1: begins to take place in your. Life you, wait you,
46:40
Speaker 1: Wait bow with? Me? Please will? You let's sit quietly
46:45
Speaker 1: before The lord for a few. Moments he moves in mysterious.
46:57
Speaker 1: Ways i've lived long enough to discover that his mysteries
47:05
Speaker 1: are filled with. VARIETY i rarely can explain fully Why
47:14
Speaker 1: god did what he did the way he did. It,
47:17
Speaker 1: rarely So i've stopped. TRYING i do know this that
47:25
Speaker 1: if there has never been a time in your life
47:27
Speaker 1: when you have genuinely given your heart To, CHRIST i
47:35
Speaker 1: can assure you of, this he will keep his. Word
47:40
Speaker 1: the moment you believe in him is the moment he
47:44
Speaker 1: will grant you the promise of eternal, life which is
47:50
Speaker 1: not simply a length of life, forever it's a quality
47:54
Speaker 1: of life for. Now you're surrounded by people who have done,
47:59
Speaker 1: that and right where you're sitting in the silence and
48:05
Speaker 1: secrecy of your own, heart you can offer up a simple. Prayer,
48:12
Speaker 1: LORD i understand today clearer than ever That i've lived
48:16
Speaker 1: my life for me AND i am obviously a person
48:21
Speaker 1: distant from, you AND i want to be. CLOSE i
48:26
Speaker 1: want to have a, relationship AND i know there's NOTHING
48:32
Speaker 1: i can bring to this to make it. Happen BUT
48:35
Speaker 1: i Believe jesus died for. Me he paid the penalty
48:40
Speaker 1: completely THAT i owed when he died on that, cross
48:45
Speaker 1: AND i trust. HIM i believe in. Him now you
48:51
Speaker 1: make that, decision it's a good thing to share it with.
48:54
Speaker 1: Someone we have people in our Soul care ministry at
48:58
Speaker 1: the exits to talk with. You we are happy to
49:03
Speaker 1: have you connect with us in our ministry and let
49:06
Speaker 1: us help you get under weigh and what is called
49:09
Speaker 1: The christian, life which is altogether different than the life
49:14
Speaker 1: you have. LIVED i assure you you will not be,
49:19
Speaker 1: judged you will not be made to look. Foolish we
49:24
Speaker 1: will respect, You we will answer your, Questions we will
49:28
Speaker 1: help you in your journey With. GOD i want to thank,
49:35
Speaker 1: You father for your grace in understanding, us in touching
49:45
Speaker 1: us deeply in areas where no one else has been
49:47
Speaker 1: able to. REACH i want to thank you for giving
49:51
Speaker 1: us the patience to. WAIT i pray for those right
49:55
Speaker 1: now in your waiting, room and there's some of them for,
50:01
Speaker 1: months a few for, years and they still. WAIT i
50:08
Speaker 1: pray that you would begin to do a real work
50:10
Speaker 1: in their hearts during this waiting, period and develop within
50:15
Speaker 1: them a, depth an, understanding even a peace in your sovereign.
50:25
Speaker 1: Will in the mystery of your. Plan we place ourselves
50:32
Speaker 1: at your disposal that you would sovereignly work within each
50:37
Speaker 1: one of us for your greater, glory and we will
50:42
Speaker 1: give you great. Praise whether the answer is to continue to,
50:46
Speaker 1: wait or yes or, no and not to him who
50:54
Speaker 1: is able to guard us from stumbling and present us
50:57
Speaker 1: faultless before the presence Of his, glory with exceeding great
51:01
Speaker 1: joy to the only Wise, god Our, savior be glory and,
51:06
Speaker 1: majesty dominion and, power both now and, forever in the
51:14
Speaker 1: name of the one we love and, Serve Jesus. Christ
51:18
Speaker 1: never once Said.
51:21
Speaker 2: Amen the preceding, message never to Be Forgotten, promises was
51:27
Speaker 2: copyrighted in twenty, twelve twenty, fourteen and twenty, seventeen and
51:32
Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty seventeen By CHARLES.
51:36
Speaker 2: R Swindall. Ink all rights are reserved. Worldwide duplication of
51:40
Speaker 2: copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly. Prohibited