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Abraham and Sarah's New Life - The Book of Genesis · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And the Lord visited Sarah as he
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  Speaker 1: had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he
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  Speaker 1: had spoken. Genesis 21.1 My God, the Master of Time
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  Speaker 1: Through today's reading of Genesis 18, I now make the
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  Speaker 1: declaration that I will not become a victim of time.
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  Speaker 1: I will not go another moment believing that the best
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  Speaker 1: of my life is behind me. or that I missed
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  Speaker 1: my opportunity to become what you've called me to become. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: I will look to Abraham and Sarah and see your
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  Speaker 1: hand move outside the confinements of man and create something supernatural. Today,
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  Speaker 1: I declare that it's not too late. Today, I declare
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  Speaker 1: that I will give birth to my dreams. Today, I
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  Speaker 1: declare that God has the final say. I will not
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  Speaker 1: look to others or to my circumstance to determine if
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  Speaker 1: my breakthrough can occur. Through Christ, my answer is yes
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  Speaker 1: and amen. So if God said it, I choose to
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  Speaker 1: believe it, and that settles it. Thank you for my
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  Speaker 1: new season and for the birth of what's next. My
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  Speaker 1: new life is upon me, and I will not laugh
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  Speaker 1: but rejoice. in the impossible becoming possible. Time is on
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  Speaker 1: my side. In Jesus' name.
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  Speaker 2: Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for making prayer a priority in your day.
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  Speaker 1: To learn more about the Bible, stay tuned for today's story.
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  Speaker 1: Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Abraham and Sarah's New Life Before this story, we learned
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  Speaker 2: about Abram and Sarai's slow descent into madness from impatience
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  Speaker 2: with God's promises. Per Sarai's request, Abram slept with her
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  Speaker 2: servant to have a son, Ishmael. In doing so, they
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  Speaker 2: took the promises of God in their own hands and
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  Speaker 2: furthered their dysfunction and woes. Now, we will learn about
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  Speaker 2: how God still makes promises despite their disobedience. As God
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  Speaker 2: blessed them, He changes their names as inspired by the
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  Speaker 2: book of Genesis.
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  Speaker 3: Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. Yesterday, we learned that despite
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  Speaker 3: Abram and Sarah's impatience with God and lack of faith
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  Speaker 3: in His plans, God reaffirmed His promise to give them
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  Speaker 3: a child that would bless the nations. Their sin wasn't
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  Speaker 3: without consequence, of course, and as we join them in
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  Speaker 3: today's story, it has been over a decade since Hagar
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  Speaker 3: bore Ishmael. Throughout the Bible, we see examples of God
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  Speaker 3: giving people new names to signify a new start and
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  Speaker 3: a fresh identity. This is what we find here with
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  Speaker 3: God once again reassuring Abram and Sarah of His covenant
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  Speaker 3: and now giving them new names, Abraham and Sarah. So
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  Speaker 3: the theme of new beginnings is clear with the outset here,
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  Speaker 3: but there are other themes to pay attention to. You
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  Speaker 3: will see also how it is okay to question God
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  Speaker 3: in faith when we have doubts and even when we
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  Speaker 3: wonder out loud or if he is able to deliver
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  Speaker 3: on a promise. Faith and questions can exist in the
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  Speaker 3: same mind and hearts without nullifying each other. You will
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  Speaker 3: find this in today's story. We'll also see that God's
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  Speaker 3: blessings are not limited. They are often different in nature
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  Speaker 3: from one person to the next, but God has no
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  Speaker 3: shortage of blessing to give to those who trust in Him.
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  Speaker 3: And finally, today's story will mark an important step forward
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  Speaker 3: in enacting God's plan to save the world through the
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  Speaker 3: sacrifice of one of Abraham's descendants. Now, let's get to
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  Speaker 3: today's story of new life and reaffirmed covenant.
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  Speaker 2: Abram and Sarai following their shameful attempts to fulfill the
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  Speaker 2: will of God themselves, had waited thirteen years. They were
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  Speaker 2: both growing old, and their already small chances of being
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  Speaker 2: able to have children were all but lost. Abram was
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  Speaker 2: ninety-nine years old. Yet God is not a God to
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  Speaker 2: fail on his promises. God spoke again to Abram, saying,
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  Speaker 2: I am the Almighty. Walk with me. Be blameless, and
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  Speaker 2: I will make my covenant between us, and I will
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  Speaker 2: multiply you greatly. Abram, in prayer to God, prostrated himself
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  Speaker 2: in the dirt. Face down on the ground, Abram responded
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  Speaker 2: to God, broken and discouraged. God continued, saying, My covenant
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  Speaker 2: is with you, and you shall be the father of
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  Speaker 2: many nations. Behold, no longer shall your name be called Abram,
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  Speaker 2: but your name shall be Abraham, because I have made
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  Speaker 2: you a father of all nations. My promise to you
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  Speaker 2: will last for thousands of generations, an everlasting covenant. I
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  Speaker 2: will be God to you and all your offspring. Abraham
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  Speaker 2: looked to heaven. God had promised him again that he
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  Speaker 2: would provide him a namesake, and through him all nations.
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  Speaker 1: Would be blessed.
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  Speaker 2: God knowing that Abraham needed reassuring, spoke again. My promises
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  Speaker 2: are true, you will see. But first, your promise to
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  Speaker 2: me must be made. Go and circumcise yourself and all
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  Speaker 2: the men in your family. This will be a sign
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  Speaker 2: of our covenant, that you will be mine and I
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  Speaker 2: will be yours. From now on, when a baby boy
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  Speaker 2: is eight days old, you will circumcise him. Any male
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  Speaker 2: who is not circumcised will be estranged from the people
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  Speaker 2: of God, since he has broken my promise with you.
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  Speaker 2: God also spoke of Sarai, saying, As for your wife,
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  Speaker 2: you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah. I
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  Speaker 2: will bless her abundantly, and I will give you two
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  Speaker 2: a son, and you will call his name Isaac. I
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  Speaker 2: will bless her, and she shall the mother of nations
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  Speaker 2: to come. Abraham fell on his face again, but this
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  Speaker 2: time it was not in worship. Abraham laughed at the
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  Speaker 2: notion of his wife giving birth in her old age.
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  Speaker 2: He said to himself, Shall a child be born to
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  Speaker 2: a man who is a hundred years old? Is my
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  Speaker 2: ninety-year-old wife going to conceive? Abraham trusted God, but saw
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  Speaker 2: plenty of reasons to doubt before him. This is the
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  Speaker 2: struggle of man with God, trusting him despite all circumstances,
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  Speaker 2: saying the opposite. Abraham looked to God and said, What
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  Speaker 2: of my son Ishmael? Could you just bless him instead?
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  Speaker 2: I doubt we will be able to have children. No,
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  Speaker 2: God said. But Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son,
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  Speaker 2: and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish
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  Speaker 2: an everlasting covenant with him. I will bless him and
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  Speaker 2: all the children beyond him. As for Ishmael, I have
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  Speaker 2: heard you. I have already blessed him and will make
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  Speaker 2: him fruitful. He shall be the father of twelve princes,
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  Speaker 2: and I will build a great nation through him. But
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  Speaker 2: I will establish my covenant with Isaac, and Sarah will
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  Speaker 2: bear him to you at this time next year. Abraham
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  Speaker 2: believed in God, though he did not completely understand Abraham
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  Speaker 2: and Sarah were victim to the time they felt slipping away.
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  Speaker 2: Mankind was not built to endure the entropy of age. Abraham,
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  Speaker 2: in faith, did as he was told. He circumcised his family.
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  Speaker 2: The tearing away of the foreskin was a symbol that
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  Speaker 2: Abraham's seed belonged to the Lord. It was a strange
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  Speaker 2: sacrifice with eternal and metaphysical meaning. Abraham and Sarah's family
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  Speaker 2: was blessed by God forever, and he carried them through
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  Speaker 2: all the strife of living. The whole world would soon
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  Speaker 2: come to know intimately Abraham's blessing from God. One day,
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  Speaker 2: the sacrifice of a descendant of Abraham would shower the
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  Speaker 2: entire earth with blessing.
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  Speaker 1: Yet for now, they waited on the Lord.
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  Speaker 3: As a result of their impatience and attempt to control
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  Speaker 3: the working out of God's plan, Abram and Sarah have
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  Speaker 3: suffered 13 years of waiting as we open today's story.
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  Speaker 3: Hagar has long since given birth to Ishmael, and God
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  Speaker 3: has reaffirmed that it will not be through him that
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  Speaker 3: he will deliver the promised blessing to the world. But
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  Speaker 3: Sarah and Abram are now old, and though they are
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  Speaker 3: still trusting God, the promise of Sarah getting pregnant seems minuscule.
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  Speaker 3: Did you notice that once again God makes a covenant
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  Speaker 3: with Abram? But this time there is a big difference.
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  Speaker 3: With the covenant comes a new name, a name that
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  Speaker 3: further solidifies the promise. Listen to Genesis 10. 17 verses
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  Speaker 3: 4 and 5 as God records the promise and the
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  Speaker 3: new name Abram receives. As for me, behold, my covenant
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  Speaker 3: is with you, and you will be the father of
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  Speaker 3: a multitude of nations. No longer shall you be named Abram,
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  Speaker 3: but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made
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  Speaker 3: you the father of a multitude of nations. He also
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  Speaker 3: gives Sarah a new name, Sarah. God does not tire
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  Speaker 3: of reassuring those who trust in him. He knew Abraham
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  Speaker 3: and Sarah were weary. He knew they were holding onto
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  Speaker 3: something that from a human perspective seemed downright crazy, that
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  Speaker 3: an old man and an old woman would conceive and
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  Speaker 3: have a child. So God lovingly restated his promise and
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  Speaker 3: he gave them new names. and a visible new sign
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  Speaker 3: of the promise, circumcision. This would be a constant reminder
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  Speaker 3: that God has set Abraham and his descendants apart. And
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  Speaker 3: although in his heart Abraham believed God and had faith
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  Speaker 3: in him, this story shows that it is possible to
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  Speaker 3: question God and wonder, honestly, how a promise will come about.
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  Speaker 3: It's not as though God does not know of these doubts.
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  Speaker 3: God can handle your questions. He can take care of
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  Speaker 3: your doubts. even your laughter at the seeming impossibility of
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  Speaker 3: his plans. He is pleased by your honesty and will
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  Speaker 3: comfort you as he did Abraham, even in the moments
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  Speaker 3: of doubt. So Abraham falls on his face, laughing at
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  Speaker 3: the thought of him and Sarah having children. God is
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  Speaker 3: not upset or angry. He once again confirms that, indeed,
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  Speaker 3: they will be the parents of a child. We even
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  Speaker 3: see Abraham trying to offer another alternative. Just use Ishmael
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  Speaker 3: to fulfill it, he suggests. Again, making a suggestion or
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  Speaker 3: an offer isn't offensive to God. It was when Abraham
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  Speaker 3: took things into his own hands without consulting God that
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  Speaker 3: problems arose. But God told him, no, I will do
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  Speaker 3: what I said. We also see here that God's blessings
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  Speaker 3: are not limited. He promises to bless Ishmael just in
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  Speaker 3: a different way. So Abraham demonstrates his faith with action.
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  Speaker 3: He circumcises the males in his household. And so finally,
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  Speaker 3: God gives Sarah and Abraham a son, Isaac. It is
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  Speaker 3: through Isaac that God will bring about his great redemptive plan,
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  Speaker 3: a perfect sacrifice once for all time. Holy God, your
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  Speaker 3: timing and your plans are perfect. And we thank you
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  Speaker 3: for this powerful story today that shows us just how
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  Speaker 3: true this is, that you keep your promises. Just as
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  Speaker 3: you kept every promise to Abraham and his descendants, you
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  Speaker 3: are faithful to keep your promises to us through Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 3: And we praise you for this, and we thank you.
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  Speaker 3: Help us to honestly always come before you, even in
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  Speaker 3: times of doubts and questions and fears and anxiety, and
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  Speaker 3: that we would trust you and trust ourselves to your
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  Speaker 3: loving care and for your assurance every day of our lives.
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  Speaker 3: In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to today's
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas.
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  Speaker 3: Download the Pray.com app and make prayer a priority in
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  Speaker 3: make a difference in someone's life. And if you want
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  Speaker 3: more resources on how to tap into God's Word for
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  Speaker 3: power in living the Christian life, be sure to visit jackgraham.org.