WEBVTT 0 00:00:04.890 --> 00:00:07.322 Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast. 1 00:00:07.466 --> 00:00:11.150 This is where you can find audio from Sunday morning messages and more. 2 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:14.442 Make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss future episodes. 3 00:00:14.506 --> 00:00:15.950 And thanks for listening. 4 00:00:21.410 --> 00:00:27.986 If you've got your Bibles with you, and I hope you do, I want to invite invite you to open them up with me this morning to Genesis. 5 00:00:28.098 --> 00:00:31.846 Chapter twelve is where we are going to be. 6 00:00:32.028 --> 00:00:34.726 Great way to start off our morning. 7 00:00:34.908 --> 00:00:37.542 This past week, we had another great time. 8 00:00:37.596 --> 00:00:42.550 Our middle schoolers and high schoolers got together for our summer retreat. 9 00:00:42.970 --> 00:00:43.886 I had a blast. 10 00:00:43.938 --> 00:00:47.226 I was able to go, I'm still one of the old guys that they'll let come. 11 00:00:47.408 --> 00:00:50.090 My wife is one of the young ladies that they'll let come with us. 12 00:00:50.160 --> 00:00:53.626 I'm one of the old guys, and so I'm exhausted. 13 00:00:53.738 --> 00:00:56.350 Robin Fry stopped me in the hallway. 14 00:00:56.690 --> 00:00:58.286 I guess she could see it on me. 15 00:00:58.308 --> 00:00:59.680 She's like, how are you doing? 16 00:01:00.690 --> 00:01:01.840 Are you okay? 17 00:01:02.210 --> 00:01:03.380 No, I'm not. 18 00:01:04.470 --> 00:01:05.582 I hurt. 19 00:01:05.726 --> 00:01:07.410 Every part of me hurts. 20 00:01:08.390 --> 00:01:12.722 I was the body surfing guy out there this week, right? 21 00:01:12.856 --> 00:01:20.134 And what I tried to explain to the kids, I mean, typically I rode the waves a little bit farther than they did, right? 22 00:01:20.332 --> 00:01:24.354 And they're like, how do you do it, McDonald's? 23 00:01:24.482 --> 00:01:25.160 Right? 24 00:01:26.650 --> 00:01:28.614 You get this gravity on you, right? 25 00:01:28.652 --> 00:01:31.234 And then the wave just grabs you and pulls you. 26 00:01:31.292 --> 00:01:32.378 And it was really good. 27 00:01:32.464 --> 00:01:38.506 But what I realized is, man, doing nothing in the ocean is a lot now. 28 00:01:38.608 --> 00:01:39.674 That's where I am in life. 29 00:01:39.712 --> 00:01:45.670 But we had a great time, and Joel Van Ham and his team of adults did a wonderful, wonderful job. 30 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:49.514 The entire time that we were there, the kids had a great time, and it was just a blast. 31 00:01:49.562 --> 00:01:52.426 I do want to share with you kind of my highlight. 32 00:01:52.538 --> 00:02:05.666 There's a lot of cool things that happened spiritually, and I want to encourage all the parents who were here this morning, if you haven't already, please take the time to debrief with your kid about what they were taught, what they. 33 00:02:05.688 --> 00:02:06.670 Learned, what they process. 34 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:08.802 We had worship every evening. 35 00:02:08.946 --> 00:02:10.418 I spoke every evening. 36 00:02:10.514 --> 00:02:12.534 The kids had quiet times. 37 00:02:12.652 --> 00:02:18.002 One of the coolest things that I watched them do was high school students led small groups. 38 00:02:18.066 --> 00:02:20.822 So us as adults, we were just kind of there. 39 00:02:20.956 --> 00:02:24.186 But they kind of took that and led that, and then it was really cool. 40 00:02:24.208 --> 00:02:28.202 We started off each night's message by just talking about, what did you learn. 41 00:02:28.256 --> 00:02:29.338 In your quiet time? 42 00:02:29.424 --> 00:02:30.634 How did God speak to you? 43 00:02:30.672 --> 00:02:32.474 What did you learn in your small group? 44 00:02:32.592 --> 00:02:40.490 And to hear them challenge each other and speak truth to one another and listen to the Lord was just an extreme blessing. 45 00:02:40.570 --> 00:02:44.770 But when we take away all the spiritual stuff all right, my highlight. 46 00:02:45.590 --> 00:02:47.950 Joel and Joel. 47 00:02:48.110 --> 00:02:59.374 So Burger and Van Ham had the idea of doing a neon dance party with our kids, so they challenged them to come and bring neon. 48 00:02:59.422 --> 00:03:00.494 And so they brought neon. 49 00:03:00.542 --> 00:03:05.270 And then in the area where we had worship, there was blacklights and there was glow sticks and all this kind of stuff. 50 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:09.670 And then Joel Van Ham got to do, I think, what just blessed his heart extremely. 51 00:03:09.750 --> 00:03:11.980 He got to be the DJ for the night, right? 52 00:03:13.070 --> 00:03:17.462 And so there were songs that were played throughout and kids were dancing. 53 00:03:17.526 --> 00:03:20.720 And here's what I noticed that happened. 54 00:03:22.770 --> 00:03:25.710 The kids way outnumbered the adults. 55 00:03:26.690 --> 00:03:32.110 And as the night started off, you saw kids dancing. 56 00:03:33.250 --> 00:03:41.202 And then what progressed throughout the evening was the adults out there breaking it down like it was 1992 all over again. 57 00:03:41.256 --> 00:03:45.038 Right now I want to share and I'll call out a couple of people. 58 00:03:45.144 --> 00:03:54.166 You had people like me, Brent Hawkins and Tijuana Dennis, and we've mastered this one dance move. 59 00:03:54.348 --> 00:03:55.800 You want me show it to you? 60 00:04:00.330 --> 00:04:05.446 So for like 45 minutes, this is the three of us now. 61 00:04:05.468 --> 00:04:06.682 I knew where Tuana was. 62 00:04:06.736 --> 00:04:07.674 Brent drifted off. 63 00:04:07.712 --> 00:04:10.154 I think he might have had to go lay down and take a nap or something. 64 00:04:10.192 --> 00:04:10.750 I don't know. 65 00:04:10.820 --> 00:04:12.350 Music was too loud for him. 66 00:04:12.420 --> 00:04:14.880 But we had this motion going on. 67 00:04:16.370 --> 00:04:26.974 But I'm going to tell you all, that group of adults that got out there and boogied, all right, they were barely Baptist with how they were dancing. 68 00:04:27.022 --> 00:04:28.514 That's all I'm saying, right? 69 00:04:28.712 --> 00:04:33.246 They were just losing their mind out there and it was wonderful. 70 00:04:33.358 --> 00:04:36.982 And what we also found out, I'll share. 71 00:04:37.036 --> 00:04:40.470 This is our very own Leah Bush. 72 00:04:43.530 --> 00:04:44.214 Stop her. 73 00:04:44.252 --> 00:04:45.250 After church. 74 00:04:45.410 --> 00:04:48.620 When someone has a talent, they like to show it and bless you with it. 75 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:55.350 She can wrap every word of Crisscross jump. 76 00:04:55.430 --> 00:04:56.220 All right? 77 00:04:56.830 --> 00:05:04.106 So if that late 80s, early 90s was your season, leah is your entertainment at your next birthday party. 78 00:05:04.138 --> 00:05:04.974 All right? 79 00:05:05.172 --> 00:05:06.334 Just invite her. 80 00:05:06.372 --> 00:05:10.042 Give her a microphone, a karaoke machine, and turn her loose. 81 00:05:10.106 --> 00:05:11.326 My wife came up to me that night. 82 00:05:11.348 --> 00:05:15.698 She's like, you need to listen to Leah, all right? 83 00:05:15.864 --> 00:05:19.586 Next day, Leah's like, oh, yeah, watch this going over there, right? 84 00:05:19.688 --> 00:05:20.718 And she rapped. 85 00:05:20.734 --> 00:05:23.330 And I just went because that's what I do. 86 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:25.300 All right, here we go. 87 00:05:25.830 --> 00:05:30.774 I don't know how we get these places where we're going sometimes, but it's my fault, I admit that. 88 00:05:30.892 --> 00:05:40.882 All right, so we're in Genesis, chapter twelve, and last Sunday we were introduced to a man named Abram, who will become Abraham. 89 00:05:41.026 --> 00:05:44.666 And we're going to kind of hang a little bit back in the passage we looked at last week. 90 00:05:44.688 --> 00:05:47.450 We're going to look at a few verses ahead of that as well. 91 00:05:47.520 --> 00:06:02.750 But this is really important that we kind of lend on understanding who Abram is because he will become Abraham and he is a very significant individual in the Bible and still today. 92 00:06:02.900 --> 00:06:03.390 All right? 93 00:06:03.460 --> 00:06:09.758 So we've looked and we've seen significant people so far, and at most, maybe their life covers a couple of chapters. 94 00:06:09.854 --> 00:06:16.270 But for Abram, who will become Abraham, which, by the way, let me just where we are reading, he is Abram. 95 00:06:16.350 --> 00:06:19.638 But if I slip up and say Abraham, I'm talking about the same person. 96 00:06:19.724 --> 00:06:20.262 Okay? 97 00:06:20.396 --> 00:06:32.938 So Abram in the Bible, his life is going to be covered the details of him in Genesis from the end of Genesis eleven, where he's mentioned in the genealogy all the way to his death in Genesis chapter 25. 98 00:06:33.024 --> 00:06:35.642 So we're not talking about just a couple of chapters here. 99 00:06:35.696 --> 00:06:46.442 We're talking about a man of significance in this telling of the narrative in Genesis in Hebrews chapter eleven, which is commonly referred to as the hall of Faith. 100 00:06:46.506 --> 00:06:55.198 It's looking at these Old Testament men and women and their faithfulness to the Lord and that they were saved by their faith and belief of who God is. 101 00:06:55.284 --> 00:07:00.898 And so we see in this hall of Faith chapter, all right, noah, which we've talked about him, okay? 102 00:07:00.984 --> 00:07:02.514 He gets verse seven. 103 00:07:02.632 --> 00:07:06.402 That's what he gets, which is one more verse than you or I have gotten. 104 00:07:06.466 --> 00:07:08.322 So it's not a critique on Noah. 105 00:07:08.386 --> 00:07:13.778 Noah gets verse seven, abraham gets verses eight through 19. 106 00:07:13.954 --> 00:07:14.470 All right? 107 00:07:14.540 --> 00:07:21.014 So we're seeing that this man is important in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus. 108 00:07:21.142 --> 00:07:23.290 It begins with Abraham. 109 00:07:25.150 --> 00:07:30.010 We can't just go through and say, let's take a Sunday and look at Abraham. 110 00:07:30.530 --> 00:07:33.166 This is very important for us. 111 00:07:33.348 --> 00:07:35.600 He's significant in the world. 112 00:07:36.610 --> 00:07:38.574 He's significant then in the world. 113 00:07:38.612 --> 00:07:40.622 He's significant now in the world. 114 00:07:40.756 --> 00:07:50.530 Three major world religions trace their lineage back to Abraham christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 115 00:07:51.270 --> 00:07:58.578 So he's a name that's known as men and women of Christian faith gather. 116 00:07:58.754 --> 00:08:04.710 He's someone who's talked about as people of other false religions gather. 117 00:08:05.770 --> 00:08:07.160 He's talked about. 118 00:08:08.010 --> 00:08:15.106 He's a man of significance in, in the time we, we met Abram. 119 00:08:15.218 --> 00:08:19.178 The Bible gives us some some details and we're going to look at some of these more. 120 00:08:19.264 --> 00:08:28.030 But what I want to remind ourselves is this in the time that we meet him, the Bible tells us that he and his wife are without child. 121 00:08:28.100 --> 00:08:42.610 The Bible describes his wife Sarah as baron, and he's 75 years old, he's wealthy, he comes from a prominent family of resource and influence. 122 00:08:43.430 --> 00:08:45.780 And we'll talk about this in two, in just a moment. 123 00:08:46.310 --> 00:08:47.490 He's a pagan. 124 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:50.520 He's not a follower of God. 125 00:08:51.290 --> 00:08:52.918 He's not someone that as we would. 126 00:08:52.924 --> 00:08:56.406 Have looked through the genealogy, if God was revealing it in the way that. 127 00:08:56.428 --> 00:09:02.042 He did before with Enoch and with Noah, that we would not have seen during these pre. 128 00:09:02.176 --> 00:09:03.980 Genesis twelve. 129 00:09:04.670 --> 00:09:15.920 Moments in his life that are that are not recorded for us, that we can gather from scripture, would have been a man who was marked in those chapters as Abram walked with God. 130 00:09:16.450 --> 00:09:17.646 That's not what we have seen. 131 00:09:17.668 --> 00:09:20.480 So let's jump in Genesis twelve, one through three. 132 00:09:21.010 --> 00:09:32.206 Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your Father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation. 133 00:09:32.318 --> 00:09:38.258 And I will bless you, and I will make your name great so that you will be a blessing. 134 00:09:38.354 --> 00:09:43.410 I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse. 135 00:09:43.490 --> 00:09:48.862 And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 136 00:09:48.946 --> 00:09:53.126 And so what we get here is that God makes a covenant. 137 00:09:53.318 --> 00:09:54.970 God makes a covenant. 138 00:09:55.310 --> 00:10:09.870 It's easy for us as we go through, especially when we deal with individuals like Abraham in scripture to kind of draw and narrow down our lens and do this wonderful life study of him and learn so many things from his life. 139 00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:27.880 And we are going to do that and begin to think that in the narrative of scripture, at least in the narrative of these chapters from chapter eleven to chapter 25 of Genesis, that Abraham is the focus, that Abraham is the main character, that this story is the story of Abraham, but it's not. 140 00:10:28.970 --> 00:10:36.920 It's the story of God, just like every other page of this book is the story of God in God's name. 141 00:10:38.830 --> 00:10:42.620 And so Abraham doesn't come to God. 142 00:10:43.230 --> 00:10:45.610 And try to leverage a promise. 143 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:50.526 God comes to Abraham and makes a. 144 00:10:50.548 --> 00:10:53.310 Covenant, makes a promise. 145 00:10:54.210 --> 00:11:03.070 Now, Abram in this time, as we've previously stated, is a pagan man living in a pagan land, part of a pagan family we see later. 146 00:11:03.140 --> 00:11:05.246 I believe it is in Joshua. 147 00:11:05.358 --> 00:11:06.978 I think I could be wrong with that. 148 00:11:07.064 --> 00:11:08.242 I'll check and follow up later. 149 00:11:08.296 --> 00:11:17.670 But where it says that he followed, that he and his fathers followed pagan little g gods. 150 00:11:21.430 --> 00:11:28.578 Not seeking the Lord, but God calls him a little subpoint for us all. 151 00:11:28.744 --> 00:11:39.734 A little subpoint for that friend that, you know, a little sub point for that neighbor that you care for, a little subpoint for that family member that you're so desperately crying out for their. 152 00:11:39.772 --> 00:11:41.954 Salvation is this you're never too far. 153 00:11:42.012 --> 00:11:44.060 From God for God to decide to use you. 154 00:11:45.390 --> 00:11:50.380 Like you could argue you don't get farther than where Abram was. 155 00:11:52.270 --> 00:11:56.254 But yet God chose to use him. 156 00:11:56.452 --> 00:11:58.910 God decided to use him. 157 00:11:59.060 --> 00:12:04.298 And in that, what's important for us is God makes a covenant. 158 00:12:04.394 --> 00:12:13.490 God makes a promise that God will fulfill in his life and through the generations. 159 00:12:14.470 --> 00:12:19.570 God makes this covenant that God will fulfill. 160 00:12:20.150 --> 00:12:24.470 Now, Abraham's going to be Abram's, going to be called to obedience. 161 00:12:25.130 --> 00:12:30.290 But still, the story of God, he said that he's going to build a great nation. 162 00:12:30.370 --> 00:12:32.006 The story of God's people. 163 00:12:32.108 --> 00:12:36.678 He says that he's going to make a great name for Abram. 164 00:12:36.774 --> 00:12:40.698 Two thirds of the world claim their faith from him. 165 00:12:40.784 --> 00:12:43.850 He says that he's going to bless all the families through him. 166 00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:45.718 It's going to come from Jesus. 167 00:12:45.814 --> 00:12:48.090 That's the whole point of the genealogy. 168 00:12:48.170 --> 00:12:49.854 That's the blessing of the world. 169 00:12:49.972 --> 00:12:59.870 That's where it comes from, not because Abraham is something, but because God is something and Jesus is something and it's going to come through Abraham that we see. 170 00:12:59.940 --> 00:13:04.770 And we see this missionary heart of God that we don't have to wait the Matthew 28 to find out about. 171 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:15.510 But God right here, it says that you're going to be a blessing to all peoples, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 172 00:13:16.170 --> 00:13:18.198 And that's what we see from God. 173 00:13:18.284 --> 00:13:24.678 So God scattered the people at Babel that we talked about a few weeks ago and gave them languages in that moment. 174 00:13:24.764 --> 00:13:29.178 And he does that so that he can show his greatness and that his name can be known because he's going. 175 00:13:29.184 --> 00:13:33.894 To sin and he's going to multiply and he's going to allow us to go and we're going to scatter. 176 00:13:33.942 --> 00:13:37.054 But this time we're not going to scatter with the things that are different. 177 00:13:37.092 --> 00:13:42.430 But we're going to scatter with the gospel, to take the gospel to the nations. 178 00:13:43.810 --> 00:13:47.634 But also in God's covenant, in all. 179 00:13:47.672 --> 00:13:54.818 Of the work that God is going to do, in all of the work that God is doing, there is still. 180 00:13:54.984 --> 00:13:57.330 A call to obedience. 181 00:13:59.270 --> 00:14:00.790 God says to abram. 182 00:14:01.130 --> 00:14:07.286 Go from your country, go from your kindred, go from your Father's house, is. 183 00:14:07.308 --> 00:14:07.942 What he tells him. 184 00:14:07.996 --> 00:14:15.058 We talked about this last week, that obedience is costly, it cost things to follow the Lord. 185 00:14:15.154 --> 00:14:21.322 Yes, we leave behind our sin, we leave behind our shame, we leave behind the seeking of the evil that's there. 186 00:14:21.376 --> 00:14:25.306 But oftentimes God says, if you're going to walk with me, you've got to walk and you've got to leave the. 187 00:14:25.328 --> 00:14:27.266 Things or even you feel are comfortable. 188 00:14:27.318 --> 00:14:31.440 Good, or even the things that you believe are the blessings of your life. 189 00:14:32.210 --> 00:14:34.526 And so he calls Him to do that. 190 00:14:34.708 --> 00:14:50.566 In all that God is going to do, god is not dependent on Abrams obedience, but God calls Him to this in his promise with Him. 191 00:14:50.668 --> 00:14:53.142 And Jesus does the same with us. 192 00:14:53.276 --> 00:14:57.990 John 14 jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. 193 00:14:58.490 --> 00:15:02.618 There's this piece of who we are, of what God is doing. 194 00:15:02.704 --> 00:15:06.470 And because God is doing this, our response is obedience. 195 00:15:06.550 --> 00:15:07.130 Get this. 196 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:10.970 It's not that we obey so that God will do his promises. 197 00:15:12.990 --> 00:15:15.310 It's that God does his promises. 198 00:15:16.770 --> 00:15:25.390 And in response to his goodness, his greatness, his holiness, his kindness, his compassion, his mercy, we obey. 199 00:15:25.890 --> 00:15:33.746 And when we don't, God is still all of those things and all of those things to us. 200 00:15:33.928 --> 00:15:43.320 So the promises of God are not removed from the commandments of God, but the promises of God are fully dependent on the character of God. 201 00:15:43.770 --> 00:15:46.440 God does what he says he will do always. 202 00:15:47.210 --> 00:15:54.890 But God also calls us to live in obedience as we live in his faithfulness. 203 00:15:56.030 --> 00:15:57.900 This is our part. 204 00:15:58.430 --> 00:16:01.194 This is who he's called us to be. 205 00:16:01.312 --> 00:16:08.110 And we can have some misunderstandings as we approach this walk with God, god saves us. 206 00:16:08.260 --> 00:16:11.198 God gives us the promises of who we are, right? 207 00:16:11.284 --> 00:16:14.462 And then we respond to him in that. 208 00:16:14.596 --> 00:16:32.166 And the two things that we begin to fail in this in our mindset of who God is is we begin to elevate ourselves and and think too highly of ourselves in some aspect that God can only work if I'm on the team, that God can only get these things done if he has guys like me. 209 00:16:32.188 --> 00:16:34.600 That's there, right? 210 00:16:35.210 --> 00:16:38.870 Instead of no God's working and God's moving. 211 00:16:38.940 --> 00:16:41.318 And has God worked and moved in your life? 212 00:16:41.484 --> 00:16:42.386 Well, yes and amen. 213 00:16:42.418 --> 00:16:53.366 And then if God's worked and moved in your life, then what you have in you is the Holy Spirit of God that changes you and transforms you and causes you to look at life, to look at things, to look at situations differently. 214 00:16:53.398 --> 00:16:58.560 And our response to him is an ever growing momentum and tide of obedience to Him as a result of that. 215 00:16:59.810 --> 00:17:07.762 And not well, I get it, all right, so now God will promise not I get it, all right? 216 00:17:07.816 --> 00:17:10.500 So now God can work. 217 00:17:11.030 --> 00:17:16.610 But we also begin to live in this misunderstanding also. 218 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:43.820 That my obedience because God is this all powerful, all working, all knowing that my obedience can just simply be situational, that I get to pick and choose, that I get to check the box, that there's moments of my life that can be marked by God and then moments of life, my life that don't have to be. 219 00:17:44.930 --> 00:17:56.222 Instead of the command to go, right, our command to go is very similar. 220 00:17:56.356 --> 00:17:58.900 To abram's call to go. 221 00:17:59.350 --> 00:18:07.150 Now, we're not Abram, but it's not like, hey, go, put your head down, follow this map. 222 00:18:07.230 --> 00:18:10.180 And the going is getting from point A to point B. 223 00:18:11.030 --> 00:18:13.054 When God calls us to go and make disciples. 224 00:18:13.102 --> 00:18:13.654 That's not it. 225 00:18:13.692 --> 00:18:20.002 It's not go and journey through your life doing whatever you want to do and when you get the B, then you make disciples. 226 00:18:20.066 --> 00:18:23.754 It's this mindset of as you live your life. 227 00:18:23.872 --> 00:18:25.100 Follow me. 228 00:18:25.550 --> 00:18:28.518 And that's what we're going to see through these chapters. 229 00:18:28.614 --> 00:18:47.680 It's at this journey and journey we're not going to find chapter to chapter is not Abram jumping from worship service to worship service, mission project to mission project, small group to small group like it's Abram journeying on a Sunday through Saturday in his life following God. 230 00:18:50.310 --> 00:18:53.074 I told the kids this week and. 231 00:18:53.112 --> 00:18:58.766 I told them, parents, if you disagreed with this, if they shared this with you, that I would take the phone calls. 232 00:18:58.798 --> 00:19:01.186 All right, here's what we talked about. 233 00:19:01.208 --> 00:19:02.606 We talked about a little bit of this one. 234 00:19:02.648 --> 00:19:03.750 Let me flush it out. 235 00:19:03.900 --> 00:19:06.120 We talked about prioritizing god. 236 00:19:08.410 --> 00:19:10.600 Here's what I told him and then let me explain. 237 00:19:11.450 --> 00:19:14.250 I said, don't make God a priority. 238 00:19:17.310 --> 00:19:20.134 I said one of the most dangerous. 239 00:19:20.182 --> 00:19:22.886 Things that we can do as followers. 240 00:19:22.918 --> 00:19:28.046 Of Jesus is create a list of priorities and put God number one. 241 00:19:28.148 --> 00:19:30.000 I've heard this a thousand times. 242 00:19:31.090 --> 00:19:37.360 God number one, my spouse number two, my family, number three. 243 00:19:38.150 --> 00:19:39.780 My church, number four. 244 00:19:40.470 --> 00:19:44.500 My job, number five, my friends, number six. 245 00:19:44.950 --> 00:19:47.170 And then we continue on and on. 246 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:48.660 And on with the list. 247 00:19:49.590 --> 00:19:53.890 And I said to them, I said, please do not make God a priority. 248 00:19:53.970 --> 00:20:01.110 Because here's what happens when we make God our priority, a priority that God becomes situational. 249 00:20:02.250 --> 00:20:08.538 And so I can come and I can look at that list and I can say God number one. 250 00:20:08.704 --> 00:20:11.226 Well, on a Tuesday, here's what that looks like. 251 00:20:11.328 --> 00:20:12.874 Quiet time, check. 252 00:20:12.992 --> 00:20:14.620 Great thing, check. 253 00:20:15.070 --> 00:20:16.700 Prayer, check. 254 00:20:17.070 --> 00:20:18.022 Read my Bible. 255 00:20:18.086 --> 00:20:18.362 Check. 256 00:20:18.416 --> 00:20:19.870 Listen to a podcast, check. 257 00:20:19.940 --> 00:20:22.014 Listen to nothing but Christian music, check. 258 00:20:22.052 --> 00:20:30.206 Like I can check all of these boxes and then walk away from that and go, look how I prioritized God in the list of my priorities. 259 00:20:30.318 --> 00:20:35.380 But now what that says is that he is separate from all of these. 260 00:20:35.830 --> 00:20:40.906 So what I said to them was do not make God a priority. 261 00:20:41.038 --> 00:20:43.350 Make God the priority. 262 00:20:44.010 --> 00:20:48.434 And then here's what happens when God is the priority. 263 00:20:48.562 --> 00:20:56.486 Then what God brings in to who he is is my wife, my kids, my family, my church, my friends, my job. 264 00:20:56.588 --> 00:21:02.202 All of those things are brought in into this because my eyes and my focus are on Him. 265 00:21:02.256 --> 00:21:04.282 And I want to go and I want to follow Him. 266 00:21:04.336 --> 00:21:09.630 And now I don't check the box with Him, just like I don't check the box with my wife, just like I don't check the box with my kids. 267 00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:11.722 But he is the priority. 268 00:21:11.786 --> 00:21:12.878 And then he is good. 269 00:21:12.964 --> 00:21:21.346 He is gracious and what he allows and what he blesses because he is not a number on a list, but he is the list. 270 00:21:21.448 --> 00:21:23.154 Every part of the list is Him. 271 00:21:23.192 --> 00:21:27.620 And Him alone to the glory of his name. 272 00:21:29.910 --> 00:21:39.480 And then my obedience cannot be situational because every situation is filled with Christ. 273 00:21:41.610 --> 00:21:43.400 Let's keep reading verse four. 274 00:21:46.270 --> 00:21:52.700 So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. 275 00:21:53.790 --> 00:21:58.860 Abram was 75 years old when he departed from her on. 276 00:21:59.550 --> 00:22:03.786 So we see that God makes a covenant and Abram is going to make something here. 277 00:22:03.808 --> 00:22:08.514 And we looked at this verse last week and we see his obedience in this and we'll talk more. 278 00:22:08.552 --> 00:22:10.914 But there's also what happens here is. 279 00:22:10.952 --> 00:22:15.380 Abram makes a compromise here in verse four. 280 00:22:16.870 --> 00:22:27.350 I don't want to belittle what he does because he takes a step of faith, a huge step of faith. 281 00:22:27.930 --> 00:22:32.242 But in his step of faith, there's a compromise. 282 00:22:32.306 --> 00:22:33.080 All right? 283 00:22:33.470 --> 00:22:35.020 So let's look at it. 284 00:22:35.630 --> 00:22:37.580 Leave your country, check. 285 00:22:38.990 --> 00:22:41.180 Leave your home, check. 286 00:22:42.190 --> 00:22:43.402 Leave your family. 287 00:22:43.536 --> 00:22:44.554 Now, I'm going to take a lot. 288 00:22:44.592 --> 00:22:45.340 With me. 289 00:22:47.250 --> 00:22:53.920 Just this small little compromise that we find here. 290 00:22:54.850 --> 00:23:05.780 And what we're going to see as we continue to read through in the weeks to come is that taking Lot with Him will cause some problems for him. 291 00:23:06.550 --> 00:23:15.560 And what we begin to understand as we look at this obedience to the Lord is this that small compromises can create big problems. 292 00:23:16.570 --> 00:23:19.270 And this will be a theme of the life of Abram. 293 00:23:20.330 --> 00:23:32.154 These little small compromises from what God has called him to do will bring big conflict, big problems in his life. 294 00:23:32.272 --> 00:23:36.222 God says, do this and Abram will. 295 00:23:36.356 --> 00:23:40.800 But with just this little compromise, right? 296 00:23:41.810 --> 00:23:43.742 But God calls us to something different. 297 00:23:43.796 --> 00:23:45.482 God calls for a divide. 298 00:23:45.546 --> 00:23:46.942 We were old, now we're new. 299 00:23:46.996 --> 00:23:47.834 We were dead. 300 00:23:47.882 --> 00:23:52.020 Now that we are alive, we were of this world and now we're of him. 301 00:23:53.110 --> 00:23:55.374 And there's this divide that we flee. 302 00:23:55.422 --> 00:23:58.260 From what is evil and cling to what is good. 303 00:23:59.990 --> 00:24:04.600 Here's the part that I know I know I struggle with. 304 00:24:05.610 --> 00:24:07.026 And I feel like if I struggle. 305 00:24:07.058 --> 00:24:12.678 With it, I'm not the only person in the room who struggles with this as well is this. 306 00:24:12.844 --> 00:24:15.800 I understand flee from evil and cling to good. 307 00:24:16.590 --> 00:24:25.638 But here's what I wrestle with in my life, spiritually, in my obedience to him, is the surrender that God gets to decide what is evil and what is good. 308 00:24:25.824 --> 00:24:26.880 Not me. 309 00:24:27.490 --> 00:24:28.480 Not me. 310 00:24:29.330 --> 00:24:41.780 And when I begin to define what is evil and what is good, here are the things that begin to come from me. 311 00:24:42.550 --> 00:24:44.180 Is it really that bad? 312 00:24:45.990 --> 00:24:47.540 I mean, just this once. 313 00:24:49.110 --> 00:24:51.960 I mean, it hasn't really affected me before. 314 00:24:53.370 --> 00:24:58.840 And as much as we think adults in the room, this is only things that teenagers say. 315 00:24:59.930 --> 00:25:07.274 We may not vocalize this, but I'm going to tell you, you feel it and I feel it and we think it and it's this. 316 00:25:07.392 --> 00:25:10.860 Everyone else is doing it right? 317 00:25:11.790 --> 00:25:16.310 And that's the compromise that's you and I deciding. 318 00:25:16.390 --> 00:25:18.814 No, this is what is good and. 319 00:25:18.852 --> 00:25:20.350 These are the things that I can do. 320 00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:22.334 Now, these may not be the things. 321 00:25:22.372 --> 00:25:25.050 That we directly say, but these statements. 322 00:25:25.130 --> 00:25:28.820 Oftentimes describe the conditions of our obedience to God. 323 00:25:30.230 --> 00:25:35.410 And Lord, I'm going to obey you under my conditions. 324 00:25:36.070 --> 00:25:39.874 Lord, I'm going to obey you, but. 325 00:25:39.912 --> 00:25:42.070 When I do, it's going to be with compromise. 326 00:25:43.050 --> 00:25:58.694 And we see we don't miss the obedience of Abram, but we do begin to see these little pieces of rebellion. 327 00:25:58.822 --> 00:26:07.760 We begin to see these little pieces of this is what I'm going to do that just become more and more with him. 328 00:26:08.130 --> 00:26:10.880 Let's continue on verse four through nine. 329 00:26:12.930 --> 00:26:19.540 So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lott went with him. 330 00:26:20.390 --> 00:26:24.050 Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. 331 00:26:24.390 --> 00:26:34.594 And Abram took Sarah, his wife, and Lott his brother's son, and all their possessions they had gathered and the people that they had acquired in Haran. 332 00:26:34.642 --> 00:26:37.830 And they set out to go to the land of Canaan. 333 00:26:38.170 --> 00:26:46.490 And when they came to the land of Canaan, abram passed through the land to the place at Shahim, to the oak at Marie. 334 00:26:46.830 --> 00:26:49.242 At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. 335 00:26:49.296 --> 00:26:51.482 And this is a verse, verse seven. 336 00:26:51.536 --> 00:26:52.518 This is an underline. 337 00:26:52.614 --> 00:26:54.650 This is a highlight in in your Bible. 338 00:26:55.150 --> 00:26:57.562 Then the Lord, then the Lord appeared. 339 00:26:57.626 --> 00:27:05.280 To Abram and hence and said to your offspring, I will give this land. 340 00:27:06.130 --> 00:27:14.900 75 years old wife, baron is what the Bible tells us. 341 00:27:16.150 --> 00:27:18.254 And the Lord appeared to abram. 342 00:27:18.382 --> 00:27:27.160 This is such a big verse as we studied his life, to your offspring I will give this land. 343 00:27:27.610 --> 00:27:31.320 Let's pause, we're going to jump back here in the next verse in just a moment. 344 00:27:33.150 --> 00:27:45.100 I don't know that we understand what this means for Abram, that here in this, he begins to feel I'm not too old. 345 00:27:46.690 --> 00:28:02.020 The Lord is true, there will be generations from me, not because of what Abram can do, but because who God is. 346 00:28:03.270 --> 00:28:07.410 We talked with the kids this week at retreat about worship. 347 00:28:08.150 --> 00:28:13.954 In that worship, as we talked through, we looked at the mind, we looked at the heart, look at the spirit in worship. 348 00:28:14.082 --> 00:28:16.502 And we define worship as this. 349 00:28:16.636 --> 00:28:21.350 It's not just the outside doing things, it may feel that way. 350 00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:24.042 Sing outside, raise your hands outside. 351 00:28:24.176 --> 00:28:28.860 Clap a little bit outside if you're like me, I like this way a little bit right outside. 352 00:28:30.350 --> 00:28:40.142 But it's not just the outside, but it's what's in you, in your very soul, in your very being coming from you. 353 00:28:40.276 --> 00:28:44.560 Not because of who you are, but because of who God is. 354 00:28:45.570 --> 00:28:56.050 Not because of what you and I are capable of, but because of what God is doing and what God has promised and what we have our faith in that he is going to do. 355 00:28:56.120 --> 00:29:01.750 That's why so many things that we sing about are future events. 356 00:29:03.610 --> 00:29:07.110 Because we know, because of his faithfulness. 357 00:29:07.850 --> 00:29:09.480 So back verse seven. 358 00:29:10.250 --> 00:29:12.454 So he built there an altar to. 359 00:29:12.492 --> 00:29:16.780 The Lord who had appeared to him. 360 00:29:18.030 --> 00:29:33.310 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the east, on the west, I'm sorry, an Ae on the east. 361 00:29:34.050 --> 00:29:39.886 And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 362 00:29:40.078 --> 00:29:45.650 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. 363 00:29:45.990 --> 00:29:53.830 And what we see here as God speaks this to Abram is Abram makes a commitment. 364 00:29:54.810 --> 00:29:56.630 Abram makes a commitment. 365 00:29:57.210 --> 00:29:58.642 He's made a compromise. 366 00:29:58.706 --> 00:30:00.322 Yes, but he makes a commitment. 367 00:30:00.386 --> 00:30:01.558 And this is what I love. 368 00:30:01.644 --> 00:30:08.666 When we study the scripture and we read about men and women of faith, there's things they get wrong, there's things they get right. 369 00:30:08.768 --> 00:30:13.226 The only person in scripture that gets it all right is Jesus, right? 370 00:30:13.408 --> 00:30:16.362 And so we can identify, we can look from this. 371 00:30:16.416 --> 00:30:20.062 So here's a man who made a compromise, but God is still faithful, right? 372 00:30:20.116 --> 00:30:23.070 God didn't go, no, you messed it up. 373 00:30:23.140 --> 00:30:24.270 So now you're done. 374 00:30:24.340 --> 00:30:27.582 I'm just going to let you just hang out here and die in the wilderness, right? 375 00:30:27.636 --> 00:30:29.886 No, that's not what God does. 376 00:30:29.988 --> 00:30:33.118 God doesn't say, well, I'm going to forget my plans and my promises. 377 00:30:33.214 --> 00:30:38.162 The Lord appears to him in spite of his compromise and says, this is what I'm going to do. 378 00:30:38.216 --> 00:30:42.230 And Abram stops, and he makes a commitment to the Lord. 379 00:30:42.810 --> 00:30:48.550 And what he does in this commitment, he does three things literally in Scripture. 380 00:30:48.890 --> 00:30:52.886 The first thing he does is he goes to the land God has for him. 381 00:30:52.988 --> 00:30:54.860 He trusts God. 382 00:30:55.230 --> 00:31:01.340 He didn't jump on his phone and figure it out. 383 00:31:03.150 --> 00:31:04.890 We left Myrtle Beach. 384 00:31:05.250 --> 00:31:05.966 My family did. 385 00:31:05.988 --> 00:31:10.506 I had to stay a little bit longer for a meeting, and we didn't. 386 00:31:10.538 --> 00:31:11.760 Drive all the way home. 387 00:31:13.570 --> 00:31:14.960 Guess where we went? 388 00:31:15.650 --> 00:31:16.670 Buckies. 389 00:31:17.730 --> 00:31:22.450 I love now how you can say we were leaving Myrtle Beach and, like, where do you think we go? 390 00:31:22.520 --> 00:31:24.526 And no one said, like, the Pavilion. 391 00:31:24.638 --> 00:31:25.202 Right? 392 00:31:25.336 --> 00:31:27.426 Or like a wax theater or whatever. 393 00:31:27.528 --> 00:31:29.054 They're like, oh, man, you went to Buckies. 394 00:31:29.102 --> 00:31:29.934 You went to Florence. 395 00:31:29.982 --> 00:31:31.880 Yes, we did. 396 00:31:32.330 --> 00:31:36.262 I just put that thing in my phone, set it down, and it took me there. 397 00:31:36.316 --> 00:31:36.920 Right? 398 00:31:37.770 --> 00:31:40.120 That's not what Abram does. 399 00:31:40.970 --> 00:31:42.886 He follows God. 400 00:31:42.988 --> 00:31:45.500 He trusts God. 401 00:31:45.870 --> 00:31:48.838 And just like you and I, he doesn't. 402 00:31:48.934 --> 00:31:55.450 He hasn't and he will not do this perfectly, but he does it with a heart of surrender. 403 00:31:56.770 --> 00:32:02.160 What made David a man after God's own heart? 404 00:32:02.930 --> 00:32:07.982 David, who commits sins that you and. 405 00:32:08.036 --> 00:32:11.780 I cannot possibly imagine for most of us. 406 00:32:12.390 --> 00:32:16.386 But what makes him a man after God's own heart? 407 00:32:16.568 --> 00:32:20.020 It's his repentance and his surrender and his love. 408 00:32:20.630 --> 00:32:30.374 And this is what we see the willingness of obedience and the grace that God gives Abram and the grace that God gives us. 409 00:32:30.492 --> 00:32:36.218 God, in his goodness and his righteousness does not write him off because he brought lot with him. 410 00:32:36.304 --> 00:32:49.406 God will instead take Abram through a series of struggles that will sharpen abram because of his compromise, because he brought God with him. 411 00:32:49.508 --> 00:32:53.022 This is the God works all things for the good, for those who love Him. 412 00:32:53.076 --> 00:32:58.350 Oftentimes we cling to, and it's rightfully so in moments of suffering. 413 00:32:59.190 --> 00:33:02.994 But God uses all things, even our. 414 00:33:03.112 --> 00:33:08.020 Sin, as we seek to grow in Him. 415 00:33:09.510 --> 00:33:10.834 That makes no sense. 416 00:33:10.952 --> 00:33:12.326 Let me give you an example of this. 417 00:33:12.348 --> 00:33:16.918 I meet weekly with a group of men from our church, and one of. 418 00:33:16.924 --> 00:33:29.450 The things that I love, that we do in this group, and it's organically, it happens in conversation, but we confess our sins, we share our struggles. 419 00:33:29.870 --> 00:33:33.226 We talk about, these are the battles that I have. 420 00:33:33.328 --> 00:33:37.110 And then in doing that, we don't affirm one another's sins. 421 00:33:37.190 --> 00:33:37.642 All right? 422 00:33:37.696 --> 00:33:39.642 That's what the world wants us to do. 423 00:33:39.696 --> 00:33:41.098 That's what the world's all about. 424 00:33:41.184 --> 00:33:41.914 You got to sin. 425 00:33:41.962 --> 00:33:42.734 Let me affirm you. 426 00:33:42.772 --> 00:33:43.534 Let me affirm you. 427 00:33:43.572 --> 00:33:44.174 Nah, it's good. 428 00:33:44.212 --> 00:33:45.466 You got to make your own decisions. 429 00:33:45.498 --> 00:33:46.842 You got to get your bumps and bruises. 430 00:33:46.906 --> 00:33:48.500 No, that's from h***. 431 00:33:49.670 --> 00:33:51.666 We don't affirm one another. 432 00:33:51.848 --> 00:33:53.620 We challenge one another. 433 00:33:53.990 --> 00:33:56.430 We remind each other of God's grace. 434 00:33:56.510 --> 00:33:58.590 We talk about how we've seen victory. 435 00:33:58.670 --> 00:34:00.934 We've talked about how we've overcome and. 436 00:34:00.972 --> 00:34:11.880 In spite of our foolishness in our sin, time and time again, what we see is how God is faithful again and again and again. 437 00:34:13.310 --> 00:34:17.734 And so he goes, he goes and God's faithful. 438 00:34:17.782 --> 00:34:23.900 The second thing that he does, he claims the inheritance God has for him. 439 00:34:24.270 --> 00:34:26.380 God says, this is what I'm going to do. 440 00:34:27.310 --> 00:34:29.806 Abram says, I'm all in on it. 441 00:34:29.988 --> 00:34:31.150 I'm all in on it. 442 00:34:31.220 --> 00:34:38.420 He does two things that may seem strange for us, but they come with meaning here. 443 00:34:39.110 --> 00:34:46.900 Number one, what he does, as he claims this inheritance for himself, it says that he pitched his tent, okay? 444 00:34:48.630 --> 00:34:50.260 He didn't build a house. 445 00:34:52.090 --> 00:34:55.574 He didn't create a compound by now. 446 00:34:55.612 --> 00:35:00.098 It says that in Haran that they got those that they acquired in Haran. 447 00:35:00.114 --> 00:35:10.614 So there's this small to large community of people that are going with him, and instead, he doesn't say, like, let's cut down some trees. 448 00:35:10.662 --> 00:35:11.754 Like, let's figure this out. 449 00:35:11.792 --> 00:35:15.686 I don't know what it's like to build a house there, but that's not what he's doing. 450 00:35:15.808 --> 00:35:24.830 What he does is he pitches a tent there in this land, establishing that this tent is what nomads would use. 451 00:35:24.900 --> 00:35:27.818 He's saying, I'm still a stranger in this world. 452 00:35:27.924 --> 00:35:36.740 While he sees, while he has all that God has promised him, he knows that above all, what he truly has is God. 453 00:35:37.590 --> 00:35:38.660 It's God. 454 00:35:39.510 --> 00:35:43.990 God is the promise giver, and God is the promise in here. 455 00:35:44.060 --> 00:35:51.366 And that this world, that Abram is a stranger, that he's a sojourner in this world. 456 00:35:51.468 --> 00:36:04.374 First, Peter 211 shares with us that, beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. 457 00:36:04.422 --> 00:36:08.960 Peter's talking in this passage of scripture, and he's like, understand this. 458 00:36:09.810 --> 00:36:18.350 For however long you are here, for however long the Lord grants you days on this earth. 459 00:36:20.210 --> 00:36:21.790 You'Re a souljourner. 460 00:36:23.190 --> 00:36:26.740 You're a foreigner in a foreign land. 461 00:36:28.470 --> 00:36:44.810 What you need to display, what needs to be shown of you is who you are and where you're from, from the Lord. 462 00:36:45.870 --> 00:36:52.090 And so what Abram does the second thing here is he builds an altar. 463 00:36:53.310 --> 00:36:54.890 He builds an altar. 464 00:36:56.850 --> 00:36:58.350 I don't know if this was a thing. 465 00:36:58.420 --> 00:37:11.762 This will probably really date me, but remember, sometime in your life, if you're over the age of 35, okay, whether. 466 00:37:11.816 --> 00:37:13.794 It was carved into a tree or. 467 00:37:13.832 --> 00:37:19.860 Written on a textbook you wrote, your name. 468 00:37:21.770 --> 00:37:25.574 Was here, right? 469 00:37:25.772 --> 00:37:28.760 Raise your hand if you've ever done it. 470 00:37:29.930 --> 00:37:31.960 Raise your hand if you've never done that. 471 00:37:35.390 --> 00:37:36.300 All right? 472 00:37:37.310 --> 00:37:38.620 You're with me, right? 473 00:37:39.310 --> 00:37:45.194 And I can imagine, like, Abrams can't really jump on Instagram and, like, really cool venue, right? 474 00:37:45.232 --> 00:37:46.654 Look at where we're at. 475 00:37:46.852 --> 00:37:48.606 Look at this landscape, right? 476 00:37:48.708 --> 00:37:50.286 I just jumped from generations, right? 477 00:37:50.308 --> 00:37:51.440 See what we did there? 478 00:37:52.130 --> 00:37:55.840 So what does he do when he gets here? 479 00:37:57.410 --> 00:38:07.170 He builds an altar and says that this is about the devotion to the Lord, and that my inheritance. 480 00:38:07.830 --> 00:38:21.720 God says, a people god says a name, but Abrams says, but it's about the Lord, and it's what we're going to see. 481 00:38:22.410 --> 00:38:28.534 As from this nation, from these people, there will come a blessing. 482 00:38:28.662 --> 00:38:31.290 And the blessing is Jesus. 483 00:38:33.070 --> 00:38:34.300 The last thing. 484 00:38:35.810 --> 00:38:37.120 He keeps moving. 485 00:38:38.370 --> 00:38:39.680 He keeps moving. 486 00:38:40.770 --> 00:38:44.494 All right comes the Lord shows him. 487 00:38:44.532 --> 00:38:54.100 The Lord tells him, he builds a tent, he builds an altar, and then it says he keeps moving. 488 00:38:55.990 --> 00:38:56.898 I love this. 489 00:38:56.984 --> 00:39:03.400 As I read this this morning and thinking about this and here's just kind of the reminder that it gives me. 490 00:39:05.450 --> 00:39:14.890 Abraham Abram doesn't look at this step of obedience and the affirmation of God and think, I've arrived. 491 00:39:16.190 --> 00:39:16.940 Right. 492 00:39:18.670 --> 00:39:20.940 Taking steps of faith is huge. 493 00:39:22.510 --> 00:39:24.106 One of the things that if I. 494 00:39:24.128 --> 00:39:31.280 Could challenge you as a follower of Jesus, and if you were to ask me, like, like, bo, what do I need to do next? 495 00:39:32.130 --> 00:39:34.894 My answer to you would be, man. 496 00:39:34.932 --> 00:39:36.560 Just take another step. 497 00:39:38.070 --> 00:39:40.020 I haven't moved very far. 498 00:39:40.390 --> 00:39:42.180 I just go from here to here. 499 00:39:42.950 --> 00:39:44.660 I just go from here to here. 500 00:39:45.030 --> 00:39:50.914 And that's these small steps of obedience is what we see. 501 00:39:51.112 --> 00:40:05.378 And it can be common for us that when we make commitments, that when we take these steps of faith, at the end of that, to feel, man, like, I did all of these things, look at me, pat me on the back. 502 00:40:05.404 --> 00:40:06.406 I can't do anymore. 503 00:40:06.438 --> 00:40:06.874 I'm good. 504 00:40:06.912 --> 00:40:07.450 I'm done. 505 00:40:07.520 --> 00:40:09.100 I'm just going to hang here. 506 00:40:09.710 --> 00:40:19.642 And then what we notice is we've stayed in this same little circle of faith our entire life because we can have this feeling that we've arrived. 507 00:40:19.786 --> 00:40:21.562 But Abram doesn't arrive. 508 00:40:21.626 --> 00:40:23.002 He just keeps falling. 509 00:40:23.066 --> 00:40:27.120 God, it's not, nope, I'm good. 510 00:40:27.830 --> 00:40:30.766 I'm just going to stay right here and here's. 511 00:40:30.798 --> 00:40:37.826 The problem with the church, us, just as many fingers pointed at me as. 512 00:40:37.848 --> 00:40:47.670 You, is that we can have the tendency to hit a mark of spiritual maturity. 513 00:40:48.650 --> 00:40:55.930 Look at those around us and think, I've arrived and I don't need to grow anymore. 514 00:40:58.510 --> 00:41:01.930 But that's not what we see in commitment. 515 00:41:02.750 --> 00:41:08.058 So he's going to keep moving physically, literally. 516 00:41:08.154 --> 00:41:16.480 This man just continues to journey on, and he asks the question, and it's a question you need to ask God yourself. 517 00:41:17.170 --> 00:41:19.780 God, where do you want me to go? 518 00:41:20.630 --> 00:41:23.620 God, where do you want me to go? 519 00:41:23.990 --> 00:41:29.790 May I not be comfortable in anywhere that I'm at and in my comfort? 520 00:41:29.870 --> 00:41:32.840 Create an idol in the space where I find myself? 521 00:41:33.210 --> 00:41:35.782 But, God, where do you want me to go? 522 00:41:35.916 --> 00:41:45.450 So we literally need to keep moving physically and then second, to keep moving spiritually. 523 00:41:46.590 --> 00:41:55.820 God, as I go where you want me to go, god, the second piece of that is, who do you desire for me to become? 524 00:41:57.150 --> 00:42:02.318 What areas of my life do I need to begin to work at and work at and work at? 525 00:42:02.404 --> 00:42:06.846 What areas of my life do I need to continue to bathe in prayer for you? 526 00:42:06.948 --> 00:42:12.514 What areas of my life do I need to daily wake up and remind myself of that? 527 00:42:12.552 --> 00:42:23.960 You've given me victory in these even though I'm fighting the battle, Lord, and pray and plead with you that you would give me the strength to overcome even in this temptations that I face. 528 00:42:25.210 --> 00:42:31.750 So he keeps moving physically and spiritually. 529 00:42:32.750 --> 00:43:11.080 We got a long time that we're going to be with abram and God is so good and that you and I live in a reality physically and spiritually because God, in Genesis, chapter twelve, came to this man and from the lineage of this man, sent Jesus, who died on the cross to save us of our sins, and then mobilized a group of missionaries all over the world to make his name great. 530 00:43:11.770 --> 00:43:28.140 And so whether it was a preacher, a teacher, a parent or a friend, if you're a follower of Christ, somebody sat down with you and said, hey, let me tell you about Jesus, would you pray with me? 531 00:43:35.350 --> 00:43:41.800 Lord, we come to you this morning, Lord, just thanking You, Lord, for this past week that we had to be able to get away with these students. 532 00:43:42.330 --> 00:43:52.700 And Lord, I thank you so much for a church that prioritizes the generations that will come. 533 00:43:54.510 --> 00:44:03.420 And the pouring in financially into them, pouring in spiritually into them. 534 00:44:07.330 --> 00:44:09.440 So that we can continue on. 535 00:44:12.290 --> 00:44:22.930 Passing on and seeing generation after generation of faithfulness and faithfulness. 536 00:44:24.070 --> 00:44:32.070 Lord, I thank you for Your promises, I thank you for Your promise of us in Christ, for salvation. 537 00:44:32.810 --> 00:44:43.240 I thank you that you are the promise, you are the promise giver and you are the promise that in Christ we have you, a relationship with you. 538 00:44:44.350 --> 00:45:06.320 We are at ODS with you, we are at war with you, we are dead in our trespasses and sins we're now made alive in Christ or that's not what we've done, it's not what we're capable of, that's not what we can earn, but it's what You've done. 539 00:45:07.110 --> 00:45:19.800 And so Lord, we thank you that you and you alone are in this book and are the focus is the point. 540 00:45:21.770 --> 00:45:30.930 And, God, I pray that as we journey through this life, going after you and following you, that, Lord, we we do. 541 00:45:31.100 --> 00:45:33.370 I daily make compromises. 542 00:45:35.150 --> 00:45:40.300 And in my compromise, Lord, you not cast me to the side. 543 00:45:42.430 --> 00:45:54.382 But, Lord, in my compromise, you love me enough to use every part of who I am who you are, Lord, to mold me and shape me more and more to who you would have me to be. 544 00:45:54.436 --> 00:46:16.342 And so, Lord, I pray for us a commitment to you because we love you, Lord, that we desire to obey you because we love you, Lord we desire to see change in our lives because we love you, Lord we desire to have Your message on our tongues, to be able to share with those who we know and we love. 545 00:46:16.396 --> 00:46:22.300 And Lord, those who we don't know either, and that we will go. 546 00:46:23.790 --> 00:46:26.060 Whatever you take us, we will go. 547 00:46:27.230 --> 00:46:31.660 We will become whatever you've called us to become. 548 00:46:32.910 --> 00:46:43.850 Not for our name, not for our sake, not for our glory, but for your name, your sake and your glory. 549 00:46:44.430 --> 00:46:46.250 And it's in Jesus and we pray. 550 00:46:51.430 --> 00:46:55.934 Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode. 551 00:46:56.062 --> 00:47:04.290 In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willow Ridgechurch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.