Latest / Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st / Real Life

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Real Life · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, go and make your
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way to Genesis chapter 21, Genesis chapter 21.
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And as you make your way there, can we just thank Al and family
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for leading us in worship today. Praise God and so many talents
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in our church and just praise God when people are willing to
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put those into use for the sake of the good of the body.
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And I pray that's you. I pray that you know perhaps how
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God has gifted you or what your passions and interests are and
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that somehow our church is growing and maturing and being
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benefited because of your service in the life of our
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church. Somehow, someway.
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So grateful for Al and his family as John and them are away
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this week. As you make your way to Genesis
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21, I think you're going to agree with this statement.
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And that's simply this, that life is oftentimes a lot more
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real than we want it to be. You say, God, what in the world
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do you mean it's just never quite as simple as we think it
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should be. Why is it always that life seems
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to be a little more complex than we think it should be?
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Why is it never quite like the movie say?
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And they lived happily ever afterlife is a lot more real
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than we want it to be. The deal is in Genesis 21.
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Life is going to get real in this chapter.
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And as it gets real, we're going to learn some very real and
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valuable lessons about God along the way as we walk through this
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chapter of Genesis 21. So follow along either in your
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copy or on the screen and listen as we begin in verse one.
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The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah
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as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore
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Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken
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to him. Abraham called the name of his
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son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him Isaac.
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And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old
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as God had commanded him. Abraham was get this, 100 years
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old when his son Isaac was born to him.
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And Sarah said God has made laughter for me.
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Everyone who hears will laugh over me.
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And she said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would
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nurse children? And yet I have borne him a son
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in his old age. If you look very closely at
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verse one, you see a really clear example of when you choose
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to just read your Bible closely and look at what it says.
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It can be really hard to miss the main thing that God is
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saying and wants to say to you through His Word because it's so
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obvious, right? You look there at verse one, who
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is the one doing the action in verse one?
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It's the person that is doing the subject work of the
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sentence, a grammatical part of the sentence you learned in the
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3rd through 5th grade, right? It's the Lord.
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The Lord is the one that's the subject.
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He's the one that's acting here. He's the main idea and what is
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he doing? What action is he taking?
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Notice it says here the Lord visited Sarah.
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What does that mean? Here we see the difference
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between the Omni, that means always, everywhere presence of
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God. God is always everywhere
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present, but here we see the difference between the
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omnipresence of God and what we might call the manifest presence
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of God, like the clearly made tangible in a special way
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presence of God. God visited.
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It's not that God wasn't with her before, but God poured out
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his presence to her, his power to her in order to be gracious
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to her in a supernatural way. The way it puts it, next is God
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visited and that he did to Sarah, meaning God allowed this
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woman at 89 years of age to supernaturally believe God did
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what was only possible by the power of Almighty God.
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And it's not just that it happened y'all.
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It happened twice according to this repeated phrase, as he had
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said and then as he had promised.
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God is not acting on a whim. God did not wake up this day
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feeling extra generous. God is doing exactly what he
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said he would do and when He said He would do it.
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Verse 2 says at the time which God had spoken, they named the
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boy Isaac. That name actually literally
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means laughter. And Sarah explains in verse 6
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she's makes these statements. God has made laughter for me.
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Everyone who hears will laugh over me.
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That doesn't mean mock or make fun of.
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That means celebrate with. That means smile.
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That means laugh if you will. Look at what supernaturally is,
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and this is the very name Isaac. This is what it means, she says
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here, along these lines. Who would have said to Abraham
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in his old age that Sarah would nurse children?
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That's correct. English for who to thunk it?
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Who would have ever imagined that this would be in the realm
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of possibility? Absolutely no one would have
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ever thought this. Here's the first thing we
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learned out of this text. You can write this down in your
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notes. In the midst of our doubts, God
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keeps His word. Ladies and gentlemen, in the
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midst of our doubts, God keeps His word.
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Friends, mark it down. God cannot not keep His word.
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What God says, God does. The promises God makes, God
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keeps. In fact, the way you should
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think about it is like this. God's word is the surest thing
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in all the universe. Proverbs 30 verse 5 says every
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word of God proves true. Isaiah 40 verse 8 says the grass
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Withers and the flower fades, but what stands forever?
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The word of our God stands forever.
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Friends, if we did not have the sure and the reliable,
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absolutely and always true promises of God, let me just ask
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you to consider this question. What would we really have?
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If we didn't have the sure and rock solid foundational promises
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of God, what would we really have?
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I will never leave you nor forsake you.
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You know that one If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
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Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
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dead, you will be. Can you imagine if we didn't
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have that one? My God will supply all your
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needs according to his riches in glory.
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Can you imagine if we didn't have that one?
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If you confess your sin, He is faithful and just to forgive you
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of your sin and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
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Can you imagine if we didn't have that one?
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To be absent from the body is to be present with the Can you
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imagine if we didn't have that one?
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Ladies and gentlemen, the Christian life is nothing other
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than reacting to the promises of God as if they were true.
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That's it, and they are. The Christian life is none other
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than living like what God has said is true.
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You say, how do I live like that?
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How do I react like that? When #1 You got a daily remember
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the promises of God. How in the world do you remember
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them unless you first read them and then know them?
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See, a lot of times we live each day as if we don't need the
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promises of God. When we don't what, when we
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don't even read them, when we don't even re familiarize
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ourself with them, we live like we don't need the promises.
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We're not living by reacting to what God has said is actually
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true. So we got to remember the
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promises of God by getting in God's word every day.
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And then we need to rehearse them.
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You know what that means? That means we preach them to
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ourselves. You ever need to be preached to
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besides Sunday morning. I know I do.
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You know, I preached to myself when I'm not preaching to you,
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and I'm preaching to myself when I'm preaching to you.
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Amen. Kyle Walker needs to be preached
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to not because I don't know some things, there's a lot of things
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I don't know, but because I often don't believe and put into
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practice the things I do know. So you need to remember them,
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and you need to rehearse them, and then #3 you need to rely on
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them. When the rubber meets the road,
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and you want to be anxious, and you want to be angry, and you
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want to lose self-control, and you want to be prideful, and you
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want to not obey, guess what you need to do?
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Choose for yourself this day whom you're going to serve.
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Am I going to obey the Lord? Am I going to believe His
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promises? Or am I going to live like
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they're not true? But mark it down.
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Right in the midst of our doubts, God keeps His word.
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Let's keep going. Verse 8.
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And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great
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feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
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But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had born
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to Abraham. Laughing, she said to Abraham,
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cast out the slave woman with her son.
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For the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son
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Isaac. And the thing was very
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displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.
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But God said to Abraham, Be not displeased because of the boy
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and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do
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as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be
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named, and I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman
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also, because he is your offspring.
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So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a
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skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her
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shoulder along with the child, and sent her away.
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And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
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Isaac would have been approximately 3 years of age
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give or take when he was weaned. And Abraham throws those a
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massive all out family celebration for his son.
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This is not unlike, you know, those birthday parties we throw
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for our children, They turn one year of age, right?
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This is their first birthday party.
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They don't have a clue what's going on.
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They're not even happy half the time.
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They definitely don't even know what to do with the cake.
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And yet we put it in front of them all nice and neat and
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expect them to do what? Eat it and go crazy with it?
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Make a big mess? You know, that's like the one
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time in your life you get to make a mess with your cake and
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go first after that you get to lick the candles.
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That's about it. And everybody gets to have a
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piece, right? But when your age, massive
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family, you know, the family gets together and it's just as
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much about the family as it is the child.
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And so this is what you got going.
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You got a big family party going on now almost all the time.
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Parties are fun. But families remember life
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sometimes is real. Families and even parties and
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families are rarely what rarely perfect, rarely as simple as
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they should be, never quite like in the movies, sometimes as they
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as they should go, right. And so this party gets real.
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Where does it start getting real?
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It starts getting real when the 16 year old older half brother
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Ishmael starts laughing, starts mocking, has done something now
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to give his younger about 3 year old half brother Isaac a hard
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time. We don't know exactly what
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happened, but it's obvious Ishmael has done something.
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And you know, mom's keeping an eye on their kids.
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She sees, Sarah sees is exactly what's going on that has led to
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this. Laughing at her son Paul in the
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New Testament actually gives us a little insight into what may
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be happening here, at least from a spiritual perspective.
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He says in Galatians 429, he says, but just as at that time
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he, that's Ishmael, who was born according to the flesh, that is
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according to the thoughts and the plans that Abraham and Sarah
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engineered on their own, persecuted him, who was born
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according to the Spirit that is born according to the promise of
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God. That's Isaac.
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And so also it is now Paul says, let's put it this way.
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There were two people at this party who didn't want to be
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there and were unhappy before it ever started.
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Their names were Hagar and Ishmael.
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You say Kyle, I'm no, I don't follow.
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Now, let me try to understand. Let help us understand with the
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words of another. Listen to this.
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The prospects and expectations of Ishmael are suddenly
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shattered. He had grown almost to adulthood
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with the confident expectation, as the eldest son of his father,
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that he was to inherit great wealth, power, and possessions.
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Now the true heir appears and Ishmael is moved to mad hatred.
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Proud and impetuous, he does not conceal his anger on the
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occasion of a great feast. Given an honor of his half
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brother Isaac, he's guilty of insolence, mockery and insult.
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Sarah had probably anticipated. In fact, I bet Sarah went to bed
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the night before the party anticipating if Hagar does does
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this, if Ishmael does this, I'm going to do.
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Don't you know she's she knows what they're thinking.
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She knows perhaps where things are going to go wrong.
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She's probably pre rehearsed what she's going to say when it
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does. And sure enough, she's so swift
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and to the fact when it goes down the way she thinks it might
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go down. In verse 10, Abraham cast this
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woman out and her son. He's not going to be an heir
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with my son Abraham. Get these two out of here and
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get them out. Now just imagine how this scene
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went down at this party. Sarah witnesses what's
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happening, and I mean goes Mama Bear Ballistic right?
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Ready to burn the place down. Music stops, dancing stops.
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Sarah grabs Isaac, coddles him, goes One Direction, and Hagar
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grabs Ishmael and goes the other direction, and Abraham's left
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standing in the middle, and all eyes are on on Abraham.
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Party's over. You ever been to a party like
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this? Life's a little more
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complicated, not quite as ideal. Things sometimes don't go as
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perfectly as planned. You got a little drama in your
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family too, right? Abraham is tore up.
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That's Southern English for his hearts.
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Like hurting, torn between his oldest for 16 years is almost 16
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years his only child, and then the son of the promise that God
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said he would give him that actually eventually even came
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despite the fact he doubted he would ever have him right.
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Does not this sound like real life?
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Abraham goes to bed that night, probably had to sleep on the
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couch. God speaks to him that night
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while he couldn't sleep and says, Abraham, don't be upset.
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What Sarah has asked you to do, do Why?
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Because your offspring, God says, shall be named through
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Isaac. And because I am going to take
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care of Ishmael as I have promised as well.
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As soon as God speaks, Abraham does what he's done pretty well
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up until this point. He obeys right away all the way.
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You don't have those two phrases in your mind.
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I like to repeat right away all the way because that is biblical
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obedience. That is what we ought to teach
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our children, and that is what Abraham does in response to what
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God says right here. And the next morning, that
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obedience looks like rising and sending Hagar and Ishmael on
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their way. The second thing I want you to
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see is this. In the midst of our mistakes,
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friends, God can make a way. In the midst of our mistakes,
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and I'm talking about even our big ones, I'm talking about the
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biggest things in our lives we may regret.
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In the midst of our mistakes, God can make a way.
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You see, what you have to remember here is the fact that
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even though God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son, they
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both got impatient. After 10 years and no son, they
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started doubting the Word of God and doubting the word of God.
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They both engineered a plan to get ahead of God and to get what
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God had promised by going around God.
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Does that sound like a wise idea?
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But that's what they do in their own human wisdom.
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Big mistake. And yet the whole time, Here's
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what I don't want you to miss. This is unbelievable.
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The whole time that they do that, that they don't believe in
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God and His promises and go act and get ahead of God on there.
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God is still merciful. God is still gracious, God is
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still compassionate. God is still going to make a way
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in the mess of the disobedience of these two people.
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It's unbelievable, right? You say, pastor, how did he do
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that? Well, don't you remember when he
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made a way for Hagar, when Sarah ran her off the first time and
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God says don't be afraid and go back.
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God made a way for her. And by the way, when she did
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that, Ishmael got to be raised. God made a way for Ishmael, who?
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That was not God's plan for the promise.
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But God is gracious and merciful and kind.
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God makes a way for him in the household of Abraham to be
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raised as a son almost to adulthood.
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Here in the midst of mistakes, God's making a way.
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But in reality, there came a day, there came a day, y'all,
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when what God had promised to Abraham came to fruition.
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And on that day Abraham would have a choice.
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And this choice was this Abraham, as if God was saying to
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him, Abraham, are we going to do this my way?
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Are we going to do this your way?
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And if we're going to do this my way, then Ishmael has to go.
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No, Sarah's motives were not 100% pure.
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She was madder than a wet hen. She's ready to burn the place
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down. But if you heard the expression,
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God can hit a straight lick with a crooked stick.
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If not, you ought to know that you have to write that one down,
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right? I wish I could own the invention
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of that, but I didn't. But listen, there's no perfect
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preacher. There's only one perfect 1, and
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that's Jesus. But if anything comes out
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straight in our lives for the Kingdom of God, it's not because
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of us. It's because God can hit
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straight licks with crooked sticks.
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God uses in our words imperfect people, right?
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God's not waiting for you to be perfect to use you.
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God's waiting for you to be all in like that 16 year old that we
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just baptized. God's just waiting for you to be
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all in. Say God use me, send me.
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And so here's the deal. No Sarah's motives who are not
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100% perfect, but God is going to use this to say, I'm going to
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make a way, the way that Joseph is going to put this later or
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God's going to put this actually, Joseph is going to say
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it to his brothers. He's going to say what you meant
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for God, meant for God is that good God is so good he can use
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imperfect people to accomplish his perfect plan.
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So Abraham hears from God, Hey, no, Sarah may not be in the
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right here and yet I'm going to use what she's doing, what she's
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asking for to bring about what's right.
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And I'm going to I'm going to borrow some words here because I
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think this is helpful to be clear of what is going on here.
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It's been described like this. This is a delayed judgment of
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God. You say, Kyle, what is that?
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Well, Ishmael is 16 years old. Abraham had known from the
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beginning that Ishmael had not been God's choice.
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He had come from Abraham's deliberate disobedience.
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Since God had not chosen this boy, he would not be Abraham's
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heir. Yet God permitted him to stay,
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saying nothing to Abraham about it until Isaac came along.
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Follow me here. This is where it gets practical.
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When we come to a choice like this in the spirit of God who
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indwells us as believers, speaks to us about a matter, about an
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Ishmael in our lives, that must go.
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Something needs to be to be done, something we need to quit,
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something we need to walk away from.
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We often tend to think God is being mean, God is being harsh,
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God is being unjust, God is being cruel, God is being
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uncaring, hateful, demanding, When in reality, God all along
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has been what merciful, kind, patient and gracious to us,
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despite the fact we got around his will, got ahead of him,
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engineered our own circumstances.
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And yet God often makes the way. But there comes a point when God
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will come to us and say, if you want to move forward my way, the
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things that you brought about in your life by your flesh and your
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plan, that's not my plan. Those things got a they got to
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go. Sometimes when we say God, why
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hadn't you said something about this 16 years ago?
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Because I was making a way forward, even through
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circumstances that were not my perfect will.
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But I'm merciful, kind and compassionate.
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God makes a way. But at some point, what's not of
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God, What's not God's plan for our lives, what's not of the
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Holy Spirit? The way I've heard it put is
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this. Often times when God is ready to
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ripen a fruit of the Spirit in our lives, whatever other fruit
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that's in the way of that fruit coming to be ripe and ready in
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our lives, God may say time for it to go.
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You know when you first come to Christ, if you never accepted
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Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Jesus invites you to
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come just as you are. He doesn't invite you to put
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your Sunday clothes on. He doesn't invite you to go
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clean up your life. He invites you to come just as
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you are because that's the way He loves you just the way you
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are. He accepts you just the way you
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are and, and, and praise God. Aren't you glad God doesn't say?
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OK, day one boot camp, we're going to be perfect in 24 hours.
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Can you imagine how bacon that cake would go?
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That's not what God does. But one step at a time by the
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leadership of the Holy Spirit, we start to leave sin behind
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like a trail of a man or woman running after Jesus, throwing
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off sin that entangles. And you know what you'll throw
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off sin after running with Jesus for 30 years that Jesus never
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said anything to you about in 10 years.
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But as you walk with him more closely, you get to say, my
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goodness, I didn't realize, I never realized this didn't honor
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the Lord in my life. Why has he never said something
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to you? Because you weren't ready to let
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it go 20 years ago, but time is right to let it go now.
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God is going to complete what he started in you.
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This is what he promises. He was faithful, going to see it
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to completion. Your sanctification, all these
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things are in play here. I don't know what form Ishmael
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may be taking in your life right now, but if it's not God's way
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and God's speaking to you about it, the deal is it's got to go.
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If God's will is going to be accomplished in the midst of our
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mistakes, God can make a way, but Ishmael must go.
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Let's pick up in verse 15. When the water in the skin was
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gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.
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And then she went and sat down opposite him, a good way off
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about the distance of a bow shot.
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For she said, let me not look on the death of the child.
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And as she said opposite him, she lifted up her voice and
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wept. And God heard the voice of the
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boy. And the Angel of God called to
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Hagar from heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar?
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Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is up.
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Lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will
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make him into a great nation. And then God opened her eyes,
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and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the skin
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with water, and gave the boy a drink.
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And God was with the boy, and he grew up.
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He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.
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He lived in the wilderness of Puran, and his mother took a
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wife for him from the land of Egypt.
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The average human being can live just three days without water.
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What happens is, is our internal organs begin to rapidly fail
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without hydration. Hagar is in a difficult spot for
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sure. They know she knows they're in
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serious trouble. So much trouble that she
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actually doesn't want to witness what she believes is about to
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happen. She actually doesn't even want
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to hear what she believes is actually about to happen.
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So she instructs her son to go get under a Bush in the shade
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and stay there. And she goes about 100 yards,
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about a bow shot away so she doesn't have to see, hear or
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witness what she anticipates is about to happen.
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She doesn't want to see her boy die when she got away from him
24:54
that distance. She obviously cries out to God
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and weeps, the Bible says, as you would expect her to do.
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But she wasn't the only one crying out to God.
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Or verse 17 says something you actually would not expect the
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Bible to say right here because we don't even know this is what
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the boy is doing. But verse 17 says after it says
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Hagar cried out to God, verse 17 says God heard the voice of who?
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The boy. Now that's not what you'd have
25:25
expected it to say. You've been expected it to say
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God heard Hagar's voice, but that's not what it says.
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Can I just go and tell you whenever you read something, the
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Bible that catches you off guard?
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Like that's surprising. That's not the way I would have
25:38
expected it to read. That's like Rd. sign.
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Hey, zoom in right here. God's teaching something right
25:44
here. Don't miss this right here.
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I'm catching you by surprise because I don't want you to miss
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this. You say, Kyle, what is God
25:50
saying? It's as if God is saying this.
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Hagar. You distanced yourself so you
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couldn't hear. You couldn't see the boy and
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what's about to happen? But Hagar, even though you're
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only 100 yards away and can't hear him, I can hear him.
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Even though you can't hear him, Hagar, I can hear you, because
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I'm the God who's always everywhere, who's always
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faithful, who's always true. Hagar, I've heard your son even
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when you're trying not to hear him.
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And then the Angel of the Lord asks Hagar this question.
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What troubles you, Hagar? Now you know what they say,
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right? There's no such thing as a bad
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question. Can I be totally honest with you
26:36
right here? This strikes me as a bad right
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by God. Talk to me about this from your
26:46
perspective, because this looks pretty bad for mine.
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God, you see what spot I'm in? God, do you see the rock and the
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hard spot that I'm between God? Do these circumstances look good
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to you? Right?
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This strikes me as a bad question.
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But to be honest, we know God doesn't ask bad questions, does
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he? In fact, God can't ask bad
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questions because God can't ask a question he doesn't already
27:09
know the the answer to. So God doesn't ask questions for
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himself. Ladies and gentlemen, God ask
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questions for you know who. God ask questions for us,
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questions that we've forgotten the answer to.
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So this question is for Hagar. Let me translate the question to
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Hagar. He asked Hagar, what troubles
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you? Translation.
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Have you forgotten Hagar? The spot you were in 16 years
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earlier when guess who saw you, provided for you, rescued you,
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made a way for you, and that you called out to as the God who
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sees Elroy Hagar, have you forgotten who I am?
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Have you forgotten my name, Hagar?
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Have you forgotten that I'm faithful, Hagar?
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Have you forgotten my promises, Hagar?
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What could possibly trouble you if my promises are true?
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Hagar Did you think I lied to you?
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Because that's how you're acting.
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God doesn't ask questions for himself.
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God ask questions for us. And notice, here's the deal.
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If you read closely, God doesn't tell Hagar anything she doesn't
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already know. God tells Hagar what she needed
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to be reminded of when she started believing that her
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circumstances had negated the faithfulness of God.
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She started believing her circumstances more than she
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believed the word and promises of God, and she needed to be
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reminded of what she'd already known and heard was true.
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And then verse 19. Then God opens Hagar's eyes and
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she sees a well of water. Now I happen to believe, though
28:58
I may be wrong, that the well of water was there the whole time.
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She just hadn't seen it yet, that the provision was there,
29:08
she just hadn't realized it yet. The same physically was true.
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Spiritually, God was there. The what?
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One was there the whole time. The provision was there the
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whole time. She just hadn't seen it yet.
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In the midst of our distress #3 third thing we learned in the
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midst of our distress, God is with us.
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God is with us. Just because, ladies and
29:33
gentlemen, God feels far away doesn't mean that he is.
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And just because our the circumstances may make God's
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promises seem untrue does not mean that they are.
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What does David say? Yeah, though I walk through the
29:47
valley of the shadow of it doesn't get any worse than that
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yet I will What? I'm going to fear no evil.
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Why is that, God? Because your promises are true,
30:00
though my circumstances may try to convince me they're not.
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Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
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God's promises are true. So I will fear no evil.
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And your rod and your staff, God, your provision and your
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power and your protection. Well, what?
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They're going to comfort me when my circumstances preach to me
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Lies. God, I'm going to choose to
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believe your truth. This is the way we live life.
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This is the Christian. It is reacting to the promises
30:26
of God as if they are true, remembering them, rehearsing
30:30
them, and relying on them every single day no matter the
30:34
situation, just as he promised he would be.
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Verse 20, God was with the boy and Ishmael grows up to become a
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man, finds a home, a vocation, and a wife in the midst of our
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distress. Friends, God is with us now.
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Let's read the final portion of our chapter as we finish this
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morning, verse 22. At that time, Abimelech and
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Feikal, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, God is
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with you in all that you do. Now.
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Therefore swear to me here by God, that you will not deal
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falsely with me, or with my descendants or with my
31:11
posterity. But as I have dealt kindly with
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you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have
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sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear.
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When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that
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Abimelech servants had seized, Abimelech said, I do not know
31:30
who has done this thing. You did not tell me, and I've
31:34
not heard of it until today. So Abraham took sheep and oxen
31:37
and all and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made
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a covenant. Abraham set 7 U lambs of the
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flock apart. And Abimelech said to Abraham,
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What is the meaning of these seven U lambs that you have set
31:48
apart? He said, These seven U lambs,
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you will take from my hand that this may be a witness for me,
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that I dug this well. Therefore that place was called
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Beersheba, because they're both of them swore an oath.
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So they made a covenant at Beersheba.
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Then Abimelech and Faikal, the commander of the army, rose up
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and returned to the land of the Philistines.
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And Abraham planted A tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called
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there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.
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And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Bible says there's a couple
32:26
people doing intelligence operations in the vicinity.
32:31
The man that hits their radar is Abraham.
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And the reason why isn't such an amazing statement made about a
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man or a woman that you could ever make.
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Do you notice what they say here?
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Hey Abraham, verse 22, God is with you in what everything you
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do and may. What if that was true of you and
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me? What if somebody watching your
32:56
life and mine couldn't help but say the one thing they would say
32:59
is God is with that person in everything they do?
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Abraham We've been watching you, man.
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And supernaturally you've got prosperity, like supernaturally
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you've got protection. Supernaturally you seem to have
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power. Supernaturally you seem to have
33:15
peace. Abraham Everywhere you go and
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everything you touch and all that you do seems to be anointed
33:19
of God. But what?
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What is the deal? Abraham Hey, we want to make a
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treaty, dude. We want to be friends with you
33:26
and we want you to be friends with us.
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Charles Spurgeon said this. I love this quote.
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He says I think the greatest blessing God ever gives to a man
33:40
or a woman is his own presence. He says if I had my choice of
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all the blessings in life, I would certainly not ask for
33:51
wealth, for it can bring no ease.
33:57
And I should not ask for popularity, for there is no rest
34:01
to the man or woman upon whose words people constantly wait.
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And it's a hard task for one one has to perform in such a case as
34:10
that. But I should choose as my
34:13
highest honor to have God always with me.
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Can I just ask you, what are you chasing and pursuing as your
34:20
highest honor to answer that question, what is your highest
34:24
priority? Is it your God?
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Is it the King of kings and Lord of Lords?
34:28
Is it truly seeking him and knowing him and walking with him
34:31
and asking for his will, saying yes to the call of God, of his
34:34
call on your life? Is that your greatest pursuit or
34:37
is something else your highest pursuit and therefore the
34:41
highest honor you desire, The greatest of blessings come from
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the presence of God. They bring up Abraham rather
34:51
brings up one of the problems he's had with him.
34:53
He's like, hey man, you any of your guys have been stealing my
34:55
water. So they take care of business.
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Make an oath and get all that straightened out and Abimelech
35:01
and his commander go home. And then Abraham does something
35:04
interesting. It says here he plants a Tamaris
35:06
tree and that's a very slow growing tree.
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And like what in the world is that?
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What that is? Is Abraham marking a moment of
35:14
God's faithfulness in life in a physical way for future
35:17
generations to remember what God had done and who God is?
35:22
And by the way, who does he say God is in the very next
35:24
sentence? The what?
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The everlasting God. It's as if Abraham here is
35:33
realizing the character and the the faithfulness of God over 25
35:38
years now, of following the call of God on his life and seeing
35:42
God be faithful to him in big things and in small things.
35:45
Of seeing life get real. Like real even.
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Like water being stolen. Like neighbor dispute and family
35:52
blow UPS at a birthday party and a nephew that his staff members
35:57
couldn't get along with his staff members.
35:59
And yet when life got real for Abraham, life getting real
36:03
didn't drive Abraham further away from God.
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You know what it did? It drew Abraham closer to God.
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So much so that every neighbor looked at him and said, dude,
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you know what's true about you? God's with you.
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Was life always easy? Was life perfect for Abraham?
36:19
Did they're not? Did life not get real for him?
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Some days it absolutely did. But that allowed Abraham to
36:25
display to a watching world around him.
36:27
There was 1 secret to his life and one only, and it was the
36:32
presence of God, the one who was everlasting and unchanging the
36:36
same yesterday, today and forever.
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Who's always faithful. Y'all?
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If we had to put all of this together, final and fourth thing
36:44
is this in your notes, In the midst of all our troubles, the
36:47
way we could put it is God provides peace.
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In the midst of all of our troubles, God provides peace.
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Abraham continues to live in peace and prosper in the Lamb.
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You know about that. One of my favorite verses in
36:58
Proverbs is Proverbs 16 verse seven that says when a person's
37:02
ways please the Lord, watch this.
37:05
He makes even his enemies live at peace with him.
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That's a crazy verse when a person's ways please, God can
37:15
work out even the relationships and even the people, maybe even
37:18
family, maybe friends, maybe coworkers, it doesn't matter.
37:22
God can make a way of peace for you in His path if you say yes
37:26
to His call and trust Him. Even in the midst of trouble.
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God provides peace. Let's put all this in one
37:35
sentence so you're ready and your notes.
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If you want this, here it is. Sometimes life gets real.
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Sometimes it gets really real. But here's the deal.
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God always is. God always is real.
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God always is there. God always is true.
37:55
God always is faithful. God always is everlasting.
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God is always strong. God is always watching.
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God can always hear. He is the everlasting God.
38:10
Y'all as owl and family and Kathy and others come for our
38:14
invitation, let me let me put some questions to you.
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I want you to consider as we think about how we might respond
38:22
to God. Who's the everlasting God this
38:23
morning? Are you ready?
38:26
In the midst of our doubts, God keeps His word.
38:30
Let me ask you a question. Is there a promise of God that
38:34
you are doubting or choosing not to believe this morning?
38:40
Let me ask it like this, are you someone that has never placed
38:44
your faith in Jesus Christ? Maybe you watch those baptisms
38:48
and you're like, man, I really want what they found.
38:52
The one they found is Jesus. What they found is forgiveness
38:55
of their sin by confessing with their mouth Jesus is Lord and
38:59
believing in their heart that God raised him from the dead.
39:01
They realize they have sinned against the holy God, that they
39:04
deserve separation from God. But Jesus so loved them.
39:07
God the Father so loved them that Jesus came and lived a
39:09
sinless life in our shoes that he died as a sinless sacrifice
39:13
in our place and defeated the power of death rose from the
39:16
grave to offer us forgiveness and eternal life.
39:18
How do you get that Pastor Kyle? You call on the name of the Lord
39:21
to be said. You can in your heart, from your
39:23
gut right now, say, Jesus, would you forgive me and save me and
39:26
be the Lord of my life? Maybe you need to believe that
39:31
promise that if you call on Jesus, he'll save you today.
39:35
If you've done that, maybe there's another promise that
39:39
you're failing to believe. I'll never leave you nor forsake
39:41
you. Maybe to be absent from the body
39:45
is to be present with the Lord or all the ones in between.
39:48
Let me ask it like this. In the midst of our mistakes,
39:53
God can make a way. Do you have an Ishmael that
39:55
needs to go? Is God's way in your life being
40:00
blocked at all because you won't let go of your way?
40:05
In the midst of our distress, God is with us.
40:07
Can I ask you, what if God asked you insert your name for Hagar's
40:11
name? What troubles you?
40:15
Is anything troubling you that should not be troubling you if
40:19
God's promises were true? Finally, in the midst of our
40:24
troubles, God provides peace. Are you allowing, when life gets
40:28
real, to drive you away from Jesus and his peace, or to drive
40:32
you to Jesus and his peace? Because it's one or the other,
40:37
we have a choice. Are we going to rely on the
40:41
promises of God because we've remembered them, rehearsed them?
40:48
We're ready to rely on them. The Christian life is reacting
40:52
to the truth of the promises of God.
40:55
I don't know how you need to react to the everlasting God
40:58
this morning, but he is waiting for you to react in faith.
41:02
And as I pray, we're going to stand and then I'm going to ask
41:04
you to come. If you need to pray with me,
41:05
talk with me, kneel at this altar, talk with one of our
41:07
encouragers, make a decision to follow Christ.
41:09
You name it, you can come. I'm going to pray and then you
41:12
come. Heavenly Father, have your way
41:15
in us. We pray.
41:16
God help us respond to you, the one and only one who is always
41:20
and forever and perfectly true. God help us to follow you no
41:24
matter what, to believe you no matter what, and be with us as
41:28
you promised no matter what for the world to see.
41:30
In Jesus name, Amen. Would you stand and would you
41:33
come? As we sing, and as the Lord lead
41:35
you this morning, you come.