1 00:00:00,650 --> 00:00:03,803 Genesis 17: 15 through 21 2 00:00:04,487 --> 00:00:08,124 And God said to Abraham, as for Sarai, your wife, 3 00:00:08,541 --> 00:00:11,961 you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 4 00:00:12,929 --> 00:00:16,166 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. 5 00:00:17,150 --> 00:00:20,103 I will bless her, and she shall become nations. 6 00:00:20,103 --> 00:00:23,089 Kings of peoples shall come from her. 7 00:00:23,089 --> 00:00:26,693 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, 8 00:00:27,377 --> 00:00:30,380 shall a child be born to a man who's 100 years old? 9 00:00:31,047 --> 00:00:34,050 Shall Sarah, who is nine years old, their child? 10 00:00:34,884 --> 00:00:36,870 And Abraham said to God, 11 00:00:36,870 --> 00:00:39,873 oh, that Ishmael might live before you. 12 00:00:40,373 --> 00:00:43,109 God said, no, but Sarah, 13 00:00:43,109 --> 00:00:47,130 your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. 14 00:00:47,997 --> 00:00:50,066 I will establish my covenant with him 15 00:00:50,066 --> 00:00:53,069 as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 16 00:00:53,970 --> 00:00:56,873 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. 17 00:00:56,873 --> 00:01:01,945 Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and multiply him greatly. 18 00:01:02,629 --> 00:01:07,016 He shall father 12 princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 19 00:01:07,700 --> 00:01:10,403 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, 20 00:01:10,403 --> 00:01:13,473 whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year. 21 00:01:17,911 --> 00:01:18,361 Everybody, good 22 00:01:18,361 --> 00:01:21,347 morning and welcome to Christ Community Chapel. 23 00:01:21,347 --> 00:01:22,682 I'm really glad you're here. Welcome. 24 00:01:22,682 --> 00:01:24,017 Those of you here in West 25 00:01:24,017 --> 00:01:27,504 and those of you over in the East service as you tuning in online. 26 00:01:28,037 --> 00:01:29,639 Welcome, everybody. 27 00:01:29,639 --> 00:01:31,107 This is the fifth week. 28 00:01:31,107 --> 00:01:34,410 We are right smack dab in the middle of our ten week series. 29 00:01:35,011 --> 00:01:38,181 In the Old Testament, we're looking at the life of Abraham, 30 00:01:38,598 --> 00:01:42,652 and we're calling this series Promises made, promises Kept. 31 00:01:43,503 --> 00:01:45,989 A promise, by definition, is something 32 00:01:45,989 --> 00:01:48,992 that's going to happen in the future. 33 00:01:49,159 --> 00:01:52,562 And one of the tricky things about a promise is the timeline. 34 00:01:53,213 --> 00:01:56,332 How long between when a promise is made 35 00:01:57,033 --> 00:02:00,053 is going to pass before the promise is kept? 36 00:02:00,053 --> 00:02:04,707 If you've ever made a promise to a child, you know how tricky that can be. 37 00:02:05,642 --> 00:02:08,161 Three weeks ago, Jimmy Cosey preached here 38 00:02:08,161 --> 00:02:11,631 in West, and then, Jamie Stewart preached in East. 39 00:02:11,631 --> 00:02:15,301 And in Jimmy's message, he used the illustration 40 00:02:15,301 --> 00:02:18,438 of how he and his wife, Carolyn, decided to, 41 00:02:19,038 --> 00:02:22,342 give surprise their kids with a trip to Disney. 42 00:02:23,243 --> 00:02:27,597 And they, we're going to take the trip later on in the year. 43 00:02:27,597 --> 00:02:31,618 But they wanted to give them this gift at Christmas, 44 00:02:31,618 --> 00:02:35,488 so that's when they made the promise, knowing that they were going to be 45 00:02:35,672 --> 00:02:37,490 taking the trip several months later. 46 00:02:38,575 --> 00:02:39,843 But if you put Mickey Mouse 47 00:02:39,843 --> 00:02:42,829 ears under a Christmas tree, 48 00:02:43,580 --> 00:02:46,833 with a promise to a five year old that you're going to take her 49 00:02:46,833 --> 00:02:51,321 to the happiest place on earth, she thinks you're leaving in minutes, not months. 50 00:02:51,988 --> 00:02:53,990 That's a problem. And timeline. 51 00:02:53,990 --> 00:02:57,861 That's what Abraham is experiencing in Genesis chapter 17. 52 00:02:58,311 --> 00:03:02,182 So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Genesis 17. 53 00:03:02,182 --> 00:03:05,185 If you want to use one of our Bibles, have something in your hand. 54 00:03:05,518 --> 00:03:08,004 It's on page 11. Page 11. 55 00:03:08,004 --> 00:03:08,838 Or you can just wait 56 00:03:08,838 --> 00:03:13,193 for the verses to come up on the screen that I'm going to highlight here. 57 00:03:13,193 --> 00:03:17,096 My my three points that I want to use to kind of guide our time 58 00:03:17,096 --> 00:03:21,201 together is a pretty simple, the first point is God delays. 59 00:03:21,918 --> 00:03:26,756 The second point is Abraham laughs and the third point is God responds. 60 00:03:27,140 --> 00:03:29,943 God delays. Abraham laughs, 61 00:03:31,010 --> 00:03:33,413 and then God responds. 62 00:03:33,413 --> 00:03:34,397 First. 63 00:03:34,397 --> 00:03:36,749 Abraham delays. 64 00:03:36,749 --> 00:03:41,237 There are a couple problems that people kind of have 65 00:03:41,871 --> 00:03:44,874 with God and his promises. 66 00:03:44,991 --> 00:03:47,994 The first problem that people can have is 67 00:03:48,628 --> 00:03:50,997 they assume that God has made 68 00:03:50,997 --> 00:03:54,300 a promise to them that he never really made. 69 00:03:55,068 --> 00:03:57,804 And that can kind of sneak up on you. 70 00:03:57,804 --> 00:04:00,740 It can happen without warning 71 00:04:00,740 --> 00:04:05,061 because it's almost a subconscious assumption of the promise. 72 00:04:05,695 --> 00:04:10,316 When my little brother was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 20, 73 00:04:10,883 --> 00:04:13,886 I got really angry, with God. 74 00:04:14,454 --> 00:04:16,856 And it was hard for me to even figure out 75 00:04:16,856 --> 00:04:19,859 why I was so angry. 76 00:04:20,043 --> 00:04:23,763 And, let me just have a sidebar here and talk to you as a pastor. 77 00:04:24,414 --> 00:04:27,600 I remember, counselor telling me that anger 78 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:31,220 was a secondary emotion, not a primary emotion. 79 00:04:31,788 --> 00:04:35,208 A primary emotion is is hurt or pain. 80 00:04:35,758 --> 00:04:38,394 And then the secondary emotion is anger. 81 00:04:38,394 --> 00:04:40,263 You don't have anger without pain. 82 00:04:40,263 --> 00:04:43,349 Like, if I were to walk up to you and kick you in your shin 83 00:04:43,583 --> 00:04:47,153 this morning, well, you'd probably leave the church, but 84 00:04:48,655 --> 00:04:49,939 you would feel pain. 85 00:04:49,939 --> 00:04:53,810 And then right after pain, you would feel anger, 86 00:04:54,527 --> 00:04:57,530 pain, primary, anger secondary. 87 00:04:58,348 --> 00:05:01,501 The problem with anger is that anger pushes people away. 88 00:05:02,368 --> 00:05:04,520 So I was so hurt 89 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:08,908 when my little brother was killed, but I couldn't bring that hurt to God. 90 00:05:08,908 --> 00:05:11,577 I couldn't be comforted by God. 91 00:05:11,577 --> 00:05:13,012 Now the psalmist says God 92 00:05:13,012 --> 00:05:16,316 is close to the brokenhearted, not God is close to the angry. 93 00:05:16,766 --> 00:05:21,587 Nobody can get close to somebody who's angry. But. 94 00:05:21,721 --> 00:05:24,691 But I finally started to figure out 95 00:05:24,691 --> 00:05:28,561 that I was assuming that God had made me a promise that he had never really made. 96 00:05:28,561 --> 00:05:33,182 And the subconscious assumption was that the promise would be that 97 00:05:33,483 --> 00:05:36,753 nothing really bad would happen to people that I loved. 98 00:05:38,004 --> 00:05:39,789 But of course, God never makes that promise. 99 00:05:39,789 --> 00:05:41,307 Do you read the Bible? 100 00:05:41,307 --> 00:05:43,593 God never says he will keep us from pain. 101 00:05:44,544 --> 00:05:47,130 He says that he will walk with us in pain. 102 00:05:47,130 --> 00:05:51,417 He says that one day he will overwhelm and redeem pain. 103 00:05:51,951 --> 00:05:55,922 In John chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus says this 104 00:05:56,039 --> 00:06:00,143 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. 105 00:06:00,143 --> 00:06:02,328 In the world you will have tribulation. 106 00:06:02,328 --> 00:06:03,930 But take heart. 107 00:06:03,930 --> 00:06:06,799 I have overcome the world. 108 00:06:06,799 --> 00:06:10,403 Well, that's a different promise than what I was assuming. 109 00:06:11,037 --> 00:06:14,123 And once I was able to see that and lay aside 110 00:06:14,574 --> 00:06:17,577 kind of that promise that I was assuming, 111 00:06:18,061 --> 00:06:22,248 then finally, in the anger subsided, I was able to take my hurt 112 00:06:22,248 --> 00:06:25,251 and my pain to God 113 00:06:25,284 --> 00:06:28,287 and be comforted and begin to heal. 114 00:06:28,921 --> 00:06:31,157 If you're here this morning 115 00:06:31,157 --> 00:06:34,160 and you are angry with God, 116 00:06:34,343 --> 00:06:38,398 what I've just said might be the most important thing you hear this morning. 117 00:06:39,332 --> 00:06:42,151 And it might be that you're angry with God because you're assuming he 118 00:06:42,151 --> 00:06:43,202 made a promise to you 119 00:06:44,303 --> 00:06:46,339 that he never really made. 120 00:06:46,339 --> 00:06:49,792 That's the first problem that people have with God and promises. 121 00:06:49,792 --> 00:06:52,161 The second thing is timeline. 122 00:06:52,161 --> 00:06:55,882 The time lapse between when God makes the promise and God keeps the promise. 123 00:06:55,882 --> 00:06:58,885 And that's what Abraham is experiencing 124 00:06:59,118 --> 00:07:03,873 in Genesis 17, because in Genesis chapter 12, God makes a promise to Abraham, 125 00:07:04,590 --> 00:07:06,859 and his promise is that he's going to make Abraham 126 00:07:06,859 --> 00:07:10,496 into a great nation, that he's going to have many, many descendants. 127 00:07:10,496 --> 00:07:14,600 And the problem in Genesis 12 is that Abraham didn't have any children 128 00:07:14,934 --> 00:07:18,471 yet, and Abraham was 75 years old. 129 00:07:19,021 --> 00:07:20,723 Let me ask you this 130 00:07:20,723 --> 00:07:24,827 if you were Abraham and God appeared to you when you're 75 131 00:07:24,827 --> 00:07:27,630 and told you you're going to have children, 132 00:07:27,630 --> 00:07:30,800 how long before you think your wife's going to give birth? 133 00:07:32,101 --> 00:07:34,587 I would guess right around nine months. 134 00:07:34,587 --> 00:07:38,958 But, you know, Abraham went home to Sarah and said, God appeared to me, great news. 135 00:07:39,091 --> 00:07:41,577 We're going to have a baby. Let's get started. 136 00:07:41,577 --> 00:07:45,264 Let's get let's get this thing going right now. 137 00:07:45,298 --> 00:07:47,717 Here's this. That's Genesis 12. 138 00:07:47,717 --> 00:07:52,588 Genesis 17 is 24 years later, 139 00:07:54,023 --> 00:07:56,726 24 years. 140 00:07:56,726 --> 00:07:58,794 And still Sarah 141 00:07:58,794 --> 00:08:01,797 has not become pregnant. 142 00:08:02,331 --> 00:08:05,334 Why? Why would God 143 00:08:05,518 --> 00:08:09,639 delay 24 years after making a promise? 144 00:08:09,655 --> 00:08:11,491 Why does God 145 00:08:11,491 --> 00:08:13,609 make any of us wait for what 146 00:08:13,609 --> 00:08:16,612 we are longing for God to do? 147 00:08:17,446 --> 00:08:21,951 There are at least three answers, I think for that least that I can think of. 148 00:08:22,318 --> 00:08:25,705 One I'll called the delayed flight reason. 149 00:08:26,522 --> 00:08:30,860 The second, the fullness of time reason, and the third, the Lazarus reason. 150 00:08:31,494 --> 00:08:34,313 All right, first, the delayed flight reason. 151 00:08:34,313 --> 00:08:36,349 I hate when my flight's delayed. 152 00:08:36,349 --> 00:08:37,800 I don't think I'm alone. 153 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:38,100 Right? 154 00:08:38,100 --> 00:08:41,187 I mean, it's just I remember sitting on the tarmac one time, 155 00:08:41,187 --> 00:08:44,090 and I was just so frustrated because we're just sitting there 156 00:08:44,090 --> 00:08:47,093 and I'm looking at my watch, and I'm just going, this is just silly. 157 00:08:47,193 --> 00:08:48,361 This is silly. 158 00:08:48,361 --> 00:08:51,948 So I, I grabbed one of the flight attendants and I just say, what? 159 00:08:52,081 --> 00:08:53,149 What's going on? 160 00:08:53,149 --> 00:08:55,818 Why are we sitting here waiting? 161 00:08:55,818 --> 00:08:59,071 And she said, well, well, sir, they're they're deicing the wings 162 00:08:59,455 --> 00:09:02,458 of the plane for the safety of our flight. 163 00:09:02,508 --> 00:09:05,177 And I suddenly felt a little sheepish, 164 00:09:05,177 --> 00:09:07,797 I because I went from being frustrated 165 00:09:07,797 --> 00:09:12,051 to being grateful because it seems like a pretty important thing 166 00:09:12,051 --> 00:09:15,271 to do to de-ice the wings of a plane in Cleveland. 167 00:09:15,421 --> 00:09:18,407 When you're leaving in the middle of winter, right? 168 00:09:18,708 --> 00:09:21,327 There is a good reason for the delay. 169 00:09:21,327 --> 00:09:22,161 I just didn't know it. 170 00:09:23,763 --> 00:09:25,548 There might be a good reason 171 00:09:25,548 --> 00:09:29,101 why God is not giving you what you long for. 172 00:09:30,269 --> 00:09:32,605 You just don't know it. 173 00:09:32,605 --> 00:09:35,825 The second reason is that the fullness of time is. 174 00:09:35,841 --> 00:09:38,477 And there's a verse in Galatians 175 00:09:38,477 --> 00:09:41,631 that says this in the fullness of time, God sent his Son, 176 00:09:42,715 --> 00:09:46,469 born of a woman, at just the right time. 177 00:09:46,469 --> 00:09:49,839 God sent his son, born of a woman. 178 00:09:49,855 --> 00:09:53,993 Every once in a while someone will ask me, why was Jesus born in the first century? 179 00:09:54,327 --> 00:09:56,062 Why not a couple of hundred years earlier? 180 00:09:56,062 --> 00:09:58,080 A couple hundred years later? 181 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,851 And historians and theologians point to three things 182 00:10:01,851 --> 00:10:04,770 that have kind of converged in the first century 183 00:10:04,770 --> 00:10:07,757 that had never happened before in the history of the world. 184 00:10:08,908 --> 00:10:13,229 The first was what was called Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, 185 00:10:13,429 --> 00:10:16,799 the Roman Empire was so powerful at that time 186 00:10:17,366 --> 00:10:20,870 that there was there were no skirmishes, no conflicts 187 00:10:20,870 --> 00:10:25,341 for about 180 years, right smack dab in the first century. 188 00:10:26,492 --> 00:10:27,360 The second thing 189 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:30,296 that had happened was that Greek had become 190 00:10:30,296 --> 00:10:33,683 the the language, the trade language of the entire empire, 191 00:10:34,250 --> 00:10:37,169 which means that everybody in the civilized world spoke the same 192 00:10:37,169 --> 00:10:40,172 language, understood the same language. 193 00:10:40,406 --> 00:10:44,126 And the third thing that had happened was that Rome had taken on it itself 194 00:10:44,126 --> 00:10:47,913 to build a road system that would connect the entire empire. 195 00:10:47,930 --> 00:10:51,767 That's where the saying says all roads lead to Rome. 196 00:10:52,918 --> 00:10:57,423 So when Jesus resurrected the news of his resurrection 197 00:10:57,423 --> 00:11:00,710 could and did spread like wildfire 198 00:11:01,193 --> 00:11:04,430 very quickly throughout the known world, because there was peace, 199 00:11:05,448 --> 00:11:07,667 there was a single language. 200 00:11:07,667 --> 00:11:10,803 And the roads, in the fullness of time, 201 00:11:11,937 --> 00:11:14,640 God sent his son, born of a woman. 202 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,626 Why would God wait 24 years 203 00:11:17,810 --> 00:11:20,696 to fulfill this promise to Abraham? 204 00:11:20,696 --> 00:11:22,765 Well, a lot can happen in 24 years. 205 00:11:23,899 --> 00:11:26,419 The world can can change in a day. 206 00:11:26,419 --> 00:11:29,672 We all know that there are a thousand variables 207 00:11:29,672 --> 00:11:33,843 that could happen just today, let alone 24 years. 208 00:11:33,843 --> 00:11:35,461 People change. The world changes. 209 00:11:35,461 --> 00:11:37,196 Maturity changes. 210 00:11:37,196 --> 00:11:38,881 In the fullness of time. 211 00:11:38,881 --> 00:11:41,250 God sent his Son 212 00:11:41,250 --> 00:11:43,169 to Abraham. 213 00:11:43,169 --> 00:11:44,220 All right, that's the second. 214 00:11:44,220 --> 00:11:47,223 The third reason, though, is the Lazarus reason. 215 00:11:47,273 --> 00:11:52,194 Like in John chapter 11, where we read the story of Lazarus and Jesus. 216 00:11:52,194 --> 00:11:54,563 Lazarus is a friend of Jesus. He's sick. 217 00:11:54,563 --> 00:11:56,849 His sister sent word to Jesus. 218 00:11:56,849 --> 00:11:59,485 Your friend Lazarus is sick. Come now. 219 00:11:59,485 --> 00:12:01,337 Jesus doesn't come for a while. 220 00:12:01,337 --> 00:12:05,157 By the time he gets to Bethany, where Lazarus was living, 221 00:12:05,541 --> 00:12:08,928 Lazarus has died and he's been dead for four days. 222 00:12:08,928 --> 00:12:12,898 When Jesus arrives in the movie The Princess Bride, 223 00:12:14,283 --> 00:12:15,267 miracle Max, 224 00:12:15,267 --> 00:12:19,038 played by Billy Crystal, said, there's a big difference between 225 00:12:19,038 --> 00:12:23,159 someone being mostly dead and being completely dead, right? 226 00:12:23,209 --> 00:12:26,212 If Lazarus had just been mostly dead, 227 00:12:26,362 --> 00:12:29,365 there might be some other reasons why he got better. 228 00:12:29,899 --> 00:12:32,485 His immune system finally kicked in the medicine 229 00:12:32,485 --> 00:12:33,903 his sisters have been giving him. 230 00:12:33,903 --> 00:12:36,889 Finally began to take effect. 231 00:12:37,039 --> 00:12:40,042 But with Lazarus being completely dead, 232 00:12:40,860 --> 00:12:43,646 well, that means it's only Jesus. 233 00:12:43,646 --> 00:12:46,682 It's got to be 100% Jesus. 234 00:12:47,583 --> 00:12:50,002 You know, with Abraham, 235 00:12:50,002 --> 00:12:54,290 why would God wait so long to fulfill the promise of Abraham? 236 00:12:54,290 --> 00:12:55,975 Well, Abraham says it. 237 00:12:55,975 --> 00:12:58,344 Can a man who's 100 and his wife, 238 00:12:58,344 --> 00:13:01,347 who's 90, have a baby? 239 00:13:02,398 --> 00:13:04,283 Well, now, now, 240 00:13:04,283 --> 00:13:06,569 now it has to be 100%. 241 00:13:06,569 --> 00:13:09,572 God, there are some things in your life 242 00:13:10,439 --> 00:13:13,442 where God waits until you know 243 00:13:13,793 --> 00:13:16,679 that it's unmistakably 100% him, 244 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:19,999 100% grace. 245 00:13:19,999 --> 00:13:21,567 And that's hard. 246 00:13:21,567 --> 00:13:23,819 And that brings me to the second point. 247 00:13:23,819 --> 00:13:25,788 Abraham laughs. 248 00:13:25,788 --> 00:13:28,791 So God makes this promise in Genesis chapter 12, 249 00:13:28,908 --> 00:13:33,829 24 years later, he restates the promise and Abraham responds two ways. 250 00:13:33,829 --> 00:13:36,632 The first thing is he laughs. 251 00:13:36,632 --> 00:13:37,800 He laughs. 252 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,853 Now what's interesting is that next week I'm going to speak on 253 00:13:41,303 --> 00:13:44,306 Genesis chapter 18, where Sarah laughs. 254 00:13:44,306 --> 00:13:48,410 But Sarah's laughter is more cynical than Abraham, I think. 255 00:13:48,627 --> 00:13:52,598 Abraham laughs because now he he knows that it's a promise 256 00:13:52,598 --> 00:13:56,452 that it's almost too wonderful for him to believe, because he knows 257 00:13:56,452 --> 00:14:00,272 he's aged out of participating in this promise. 258 00:14:00,272 --> 00:14:02,041 Now it has to be 100% God. 259 00:14:02,041 --> 00:14:05,010 It's got to be 100% grace 260 00:14:05,010 --> 00:14:07,997 and and laughter sometimes 261 00:14:08,030 --> 00:14:12,651 is the most appropriate response to grace. 262 00:14:13,769 --> 00:14:17,239 My wife, Karen and I went to a graduation this last week. 263 00:14:17,940 --> 00:14:20,426 It was a graduation that was held at, 264 00:14:20,426 --> 00:14:24,480 Restore Addiction Recovery kind of center. 265 00:14:25,548 --> 00:14:25,831 It's a 266 00:14:25,831 --> 00:14:29,301 residential place where we actually was. 267 00:14:29,518 --> 00:14:31,587 We helped start it. 268 00:14:31,587 --> 00:14:32,638 Right. It's what we're doing. 269 00:14:32,638 --> 00:14:36,926 The five k run to help fund restore all of that. 270 00:14:38,310 --> 00:14:40,129 But it's a program where 271 00:14:40,129 --> 00:14:43,132 men who are struggling with addiction going, 272 00:14:43,249 --> 00:14:46,518 and it's a year long program, which is a super long program. 273 00:14:47,570 --> 00:14:49,972 And if you go the whole year 274 00:14:49,972 --> 00:14:52,975 one, you are completely transformed. 275 00:14:53,008 --> 00:14:55,761 But two, they have a graduation for you. 276 00:14:55,761 --> 00:14:59,782 And there are two men who are graduating who had spent a whole year 277 00:15:00,416 --> 00:15:03,836 in the program, and their names were Jake and James. 278 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,907 And one of the things about addicts 279 00:15:08,607 --> 00:15:12,528 is that they realize they understand grace better than most, 280 00:15:13,195 --> 00:15:16,198 because they know they can't do it themselves. 281 00:15:16,765 --> 00:15:19,218 But they asked me to pray at the end of this graduation. 282 00:15:19,218 --> 00:15:22,488 So I was and, Jake and James were up with me. 283 00:15:22,488 --> 00:15:24,139 And so I was praying for them, 284 00:15:24,139 --> 00:15:28,110 and I was thinking, Jesus, I was just saying Jesus, I'm so grateful. 285 00:15:28,110 --> 00:15:32,181 You're the kind of God that leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one. 286 00:15:33,332 --> 00:15:36,502 Because you went after Jake, you went after James. 287 00:15:36,502 --> 00:15:39,655 And when I said you went after James, James was standing next to me 288 00:15:39,955 --> 00:15:41,507 and he said, Amen. 289 00:15:41,507 --> 00:15:43,909 And he kind of chuckled. 290 00:15:43,909 --> 00:15:46,979 And that was exactly the right response, because if I talked to James 291 00:15:46,979 --> 00:15:49,982 and I said, James, how is it that you're a Christian? 292 00:15:50,899 --> 00:15:53,552 He would say, yeah, it's crazy. 293 00:15:53,552 --> 00:15:57,723 And it it's crazy that Jesus would come after me. 294 00:15:58,140 --> 00:16:00,292 Come after me. Listen, I have news for you. 295 00:16:00,292 --> 00:16:04,496 If you are a follower of Jesus right now, you weren't part of the 99. 296 00:16:04,496 --> 00:16:06,649 You're the one. 297 00:16:06,649 --> 00:16:08,450 No one comes to Jesus. 298 00:16:08,450 --> 00:16:11,754 It's a 100% Jesus going after you. 299 00:16:11,754 --> 00:16:15,140 Every one smile, the sheer wonder of that. 300 00:16:16,108 --> 00:16:19,111 That Jesus knew you before you were you. 301 00:16:19,611 --> 00:16:22,348 And he called you by name and he went after you 302 00:16:23,432 --> 00:16:26,001 should make you just laugh. 303 00:16:26,001 --> 00:16:27,770 Just laugh. 304 00:16:27,770 --> 00:16:29,338 And that's the first thing. 305 00:16:29,338 --> 00:16:32,191 The second thing that Abraham does is the first thing is laugh. 306 00:16:32,191 --> 00:16:37,279 The second thing is he, he tells God that that he's covered 307 00:16:37,279 --> 00:16:41,934 God with plan B, that's what he this is what he says in verse 18. 308 00:16:42,768 --> 00:16:45,771 So God restates the promise, you're going to have a son. 309 00:16:46,138 --> 00:16:47,840 And then Abraham says this. 310 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:51,443 And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before you. 311 00:16:52,227 --> 00:16:55,347 Remember last week Zach preached on this, 312 00:16:55,347 --> 00:16:58,967 and and, if you haven't listened to that sermon, you should. 313 00:16:58,967 --> 00:17:01,437 It's a really good sermon. 314 00:17:01,437 --> 00:17:04,857 But plan B was just a mess all the way around. 315 00:17:04,857 --> 00:17:09,144 It was like God had promised Abraham and Sarah they were going to have a sign. 316 00:17:09,144 --> 00:17:10,946 He delays. They lose patience. 317 00:17:10,946 --> 00:17:13,048 They decide to hatch their own plan. 318 00:17:13,048 --> 00:17:17,820 And that involves Abraham sleeping with a slave girl named Hagar. 319 00:17:17,820 --> 00:17:21,140 And the result of that is a son named Ishmael, 320 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:24,510 and that's what Abraham says to God. 321 00:17:24,510 --> 00:17:25,878 I got you covered. 322 00:17:25,878 --> 00:17:27,963 Plan B is in effect right? 323 00:17:29,298 --> 00:17:32,301 And, what's interesting is that 324 00:17:32,601 --> 00:17:34,103 God, doesn't he? 325 00:17:34,103 --> 00:17:37,106 He blows right past that 326 00:17:37,790 --> 00:17:40,793 plan B, it doesn't throw him out of whack. 327 00:17:41,310 --> 00:17:45,197 What he's telling Abraham is, I have plans for you, Abraham. 328 00:17:46,081 --> 00:17:49,168 I have plans to absolutely change you, 329 00:17:50,069 --> 00:17:53,072 to transform you and through you, 330 00:17:53,372 --> 00:17:55,974 to change the whole world. 331 00:17:55,974 --> 00:17:58,977 And of course, that's the promise, 332 00:17:59,278 --> 00:18:03,382 the plan that he has for you to if you're a follower of Jesus. 333 00:18:04,199 --> 00:18:06,418 And that brings me to my third point, 334 00:18:06,418 --> 00:18:10,172 which is God's response that God responds, 335 00:18:11,790 --> 00:18:15,778 So God promises Abraham a son in Genesis 12. 336 00:18:15,778 --> 00:18:17,813 He waits 24 years. 337 00:18:17,813 --> 00:18:21,800 He restates the promise in Genesis chapter 17. 338 00:18:22,551 --> 00:18:26,071 Abraham laughs, and then he says to God, 339 00:18:26,271 --> 00:18:29,274 listen, I understand the promise. 340 00:18:29,308 --> 00:18:32,311 I just want you to know I've enacted plan B. 341 00:18:32,478 --> 00:18:34,763 You're welcome. Right. 342 00:18:34,763 --> 00:18:36,415 And this is God's response. 343 00:18:36,415 --> 00:18:38,117 This is verses 19 through 21. 344 00:18:39,301 --> 00:18:42,287 It says, God said, no, 345 00:18:42,354 --> 00:18:45,357 but Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son, 346 00:18:45,591 --> 00:18:48,260 and you shall call his name Isaac. 347 00:18:48,260 --> 00:18:51,563 I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant 348 00:18:51,947 --> 00:18:53,732 for his offspring after him. 349 00:18:53,732 --> 00:18:56,151 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, 350 00:18:56,151 --> 00:18:59,454 I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. 351 00:18:59,671 --> 00:19:00,022 He shall. 352 00:19:00,022 --> 00:19:01,607 Father 12 princes. 353 00:19:01,607 --> 00:19:03,892 I will make him into a great nation. 354 00:19:03,892 --> 00:19:06,712 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, 355 00:19:06,712 --> 00:19:10,532 whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year. 356 00:19:10,883 --> 00:19:13,168 A couple of things I want you to notice. 357 00:19:13,168 --> 00:19:17,039 One is God doesn't get mad at Abraham. 358 00:19:17,906 --> 00:19:22,261 He doesn't tell Abraham how disappointed he is that he hatched this plan 359 00:19:22,261 --> 00:19:26,782 because it's like God is says to Abraham, yeah, yeah, I saw plan B 360 00:19:28,083 --> 00:19:30,652 and it's a mess. 361 00:19:30,652 --> 00:19:32,905 But I want you to know I'm going to I'm going to help you 362 00:19:32,905 --> 00:19:35,908 with that mess. 363 00:19:35,941 --> 00:19:38,577 But the promise I made you 364 00:19:38,577 --> 00:19:41,547 is the promise I'm going to keep. 365 00:19:41,547 --> 00:19:44,666 Because when the God of the universe has a plan and makes a promise, 366 00:19:45,500 --> 00:19:48,587 there's absolutely nothing that can stop him. 367 00:19:50,005 --> 00:19:50,422 You've got. 368 00:19:50,422 --> 00:19:53,842 God has a plan for you, and he's made you a promise. 369 00:19:54,660 --> 00:19:55,527 This is the promise. 370 00:19:55,527 --> 00:19:58,881 This is from Philippians chapter one, verse six. 371 00:19:59,514 --> 00:20:02,000 It says this, and I am sure of this, 372 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,203 that he who began a good work in 373 00:20:04,203 --> 00:20:07,189 you will bring it to completion 374 00:20:07,489 --> 00:20:10,492 at the day of Jesus Christ, 375 00:20:10,525 --> 00:20:14,179 that God is going to complete what he started in you 376 00:20:15,113 --> 00:20:17,299 when you came to faith in Jesus. 377 00:20:18,417 --> 00:20:21,386 And what it means is that God is promising 378 00:20:21,386 --> 00:20:24,389 that he's going to make you into something you're not. 379 00:20:25,257 --> 00:20:28,493 He is in the process of making you like Jesus. 380 00:20:29,127 --> 00:20:32,281 His plan is to fill you with love 381 00:20:32,281 --> 00:20:36,201 and joy, peace, patience, goodness. 382 00:20:36,201 --> 00:20:40,589 He's going to make you good and gentle and patient and faithful. 383 00:20:41,390 --> 00:20:44,359 All the things that you're not. 384 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:46,128 I feel like I'm constantly coming up 385 00:20:46,128 --> 00:20:50,365 with Plan B's that will somehow make my life good. 386 00:20:50,365 --> 00:20:54,236 And God is saying, listen, I'm going to blow right past plan 387 00:20:54,236 --> 00:20:58,023 B, I, I can even incorporate some of what you've done. 388 00:20:58,040 --> 00:20:59,875 I will fix your messes. 389 00:20:59,875 --> 00:21:02,160 But I want you to know 390 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,130 that the promise I've made to you, 391 00:21:05,130 --> 00:21:07,382 I'm going to keep 392 00:21:07,382 --> 00:21:08,183 right now. 393 00:21:08,183 --> 00:21:11,253 I remember as a kid playing a game called risk, 394 00:21:11,753 --> 00:21:15,507 and if you ever played that board game, it looks something like this. 395 00:21:17,125 --> 00:21:18,410 The whole idea of the game is 396 00:21:18,410 --> 00:21:21,596 that somehow you you're going to slowly take over the world as a player. 397 00:21:21,596 --> 00:21:22,831 You're going to it. 398 00:21:22,831 --> 00:21:25,817 You go country by country, region by region. 399 00:21:26,184 --> 00:21:29,871 The game of risk is not a board game that you can play quickly. 400 00:21:30,689 --> 00:21:32,491 You can't play it an hour. 401 00:21:32,491 --> 00:21:35,027 It takes a day, sometimes two days, right. 402 00:21:35,027 --> 00:21:39,081 To actually and I think that's the way God works in our lives, 403 00:21:39,898 --> 00:21:42,200 at least in my life. 404 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,486 Like there's all kinds of things that I'm doing. 405 00:21:44,486 --> 00:21:47,489 But he is slowly moving, 406 00:21:47,522 --> 00:21:51,810 slowly taking them slowly, making me more like Jesus. 407 00:21:51,810 --> 00:21:55,280 Country by country, region by region. 408 00:21:56,431 --> 00:22:01,503 And there's no variable in my life, no experience that he cannot use 409 00:22:01,503 --> 00:22:07,292 to make me like there's no experience in your life, no plan B that will derail 410 00:22:08,543 --> 00:22:10,796 his promise to you, 411 00:22:10,796 --> 00:22:13,015 to make you like Jesus 412 00:22:13,015 --> 00:22:15,767 and in the fullness of time, 413 00:22:15,767 --> 00:22:19,921 when we finally realize that grace is seeping 414 00:22:19,921 --> 00:22:22,908 deeper and deeper into our souls, 415 00:22:24,109 --> 00:22:27,112 we will realize that our entire lives 416 00:22:27,896 --> 00:22:30,899 God has been working his plan 417 00:22:31,533 --> 00:22:33,418 and fulfilling his promise. 418 00:22:33,418 --> 00:22:36,772 So no matter how long you have been waiting for 419 00:22:36,772 --> 00:22:39,775 God to do something in your life, 420 00:22:40,292 --> 00:22:43,128 no matter how messed up your plan 421 00:22:43,128 --> 00:22:46,131 B has made, your life, 422 00:22:47,783 --> 00:22:49,951 I just want you to know 423 00:22:49,951 --> 00:22:52,521 that God has a plan and a promise for you. 424 00:22:52,521 --> 00:22:56,391 And when the God of the universe has a plan, it makes a promise. 425 00:22:57,709 --> 00:23:00,362 There's absolutely nothing 426 00:23:00,362 --> 00:23:02,931 that can stop him. 427 00:23:02,931 --> 00:23:04,883 Promises made 428 00:23:04,883 --> 00:23:07,052 and promises kept. 429 00:23:07,052 --> 00:23:10,038 Would you pray with me? 430 00:23:10,489 --> 00:23:11,790 Father in heaven, I come to you. 431 00:23:11,790 --> 00:23:13,408 And I am so grateful. 432 00:23:13,408 --> 00:23:15,977 First, I want to pray for anybody here. 433 00:23:15,977 --> 00:23:19,848 Anybody, listening or watching that, struggle 434 00:23:20,248 --> 00:23:22,551 or struggling with anger towards you. 435 00:23:22,551 --> 00:23:24,603 I pray that today might be a day, 436 00:23:26,004 --> 00:23:28,790 that they put aside the anger. 437 00:23:28,790 --> 00:23:32,177 Look at your real promises, the promises that you have made 438 00:23:32,911 --> 00:23:36,898 and that they would find comfort and healing with you. 439 00:23:38,066 --> 00:23:40,619 I pray for those of us 440 00:23:40,619 --> 00:23:45,056 who just need to be reassured that you are progressing, 441 00:23:45,056 --> 00:23:48,477 that you are fulfilling your promise to make us more like Jesus. 442 00:23:48,477 --> 00:23:51,930 I pray that we will be more like Jesus tomorrow than we are right now. 443 00:23:52,581 --> 00:23:56,251 I pray that you would fill us more with love and joy and peace. 444 00:23:57,052 --> 00:24:00,205 All of that make us into what we are not, 445 00:24:01,189 --> 00:24:03,775 so that one day we will praise you. 446 00:24:03,775 --> 00:24:05,727 And when we do, 447 00:24:05,727 --> 00:24:08,063 we will be like your Son Jesus. 448 00:24:08,063 --> 00:24:10,682 Thank you for giving us such a wonderful Savior. 449 00:24:10,682 --> 00:24:12,984 We pray this in his name. Amen.