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Well, good morning again.
Okay, you all got an extra hour of sleep, all right?
So I need better than that.
Good morning.
See, let's just do that the first time every time.
All right.
If you got your bibles, and I hope you do, please join me in genesis 21 and matthew five.
All right, so put a little mark of matthew five.
We're going to start off in genesis one.
As you turn there, I just heard in the announcements what my love language is.
Y'all are laughing because y'all know what it is.
Food.
Right?
Specifically cookies.
Right.
Dough night and jesus birthday.
We're going to mesh that together, and that sounds like an awesome time.
And I'm trying to figure out how we can have a men's ministry event that does the exact same thing.
Right.
So that was wonderful.
Looking forward to that.
So many things going on around our church as we get into this holiday season from now through the first of the year.
And so you want to make sure that you're with us for those.
I do want to reemphasize our missions night on november the 19th.
This is our mission sunday.
Several years ago, as god grew our mission strategy and our missions plan, we saw this wonderful opportunity to take a time during the year where we take that day and we focus in on what god is doing with our missions partners all over the world.
And every day it has grown and it has expanded.
This year we typically have one guest.
And this year, as we kind of look to set that date, what we end up finding out is we're going to have five different guests that we're going to be able to come and join us.
And so you're going to want to be with us that day.
Now, typically, our missions day has kind of been just in the evening, but this year it's going to be during our morning worship time and during our evening.
So you're going to be here for the whole day.
For a part of that, we're going to have sam john from india with his wife, susan.
Sam's going to be here preaching with us that morning, opening up god's word.
And then sam will be back with us, and susan will be working with our kids that evening.
And so you'll want to be a part of that.
We're going to have daryl cheeks from the philippines is going to be back with us that evening, we're going to have pastor walter valencia and his wife, veronica.
We have recently begun, or formalized, I should say, our partnership with them.
He pastors the church, iglesia bautista nueva vita, which is new life baptist church.
And that's who we've been working with for coats for the city.
And so instead of just going to new york and finding out what church we're going to work with, we've been excited to see that we can partner with them and then we can do multiple things throughout the year.
And so they are going to be with us as well.
Johnny rumbo is going to be with us.
Johnny doesn't have to travel very far.
Johnny works at lexington baptist association right across the street.
And so as we look at what god is doing all over the world, we don't want to forget what god is doing here in our hometown and that we come alongside a group of baptist churches in our area to partner growth for the sake of the gospel.
It's not just that we gather in our churches each week, but we have brothers and sisters in faith who gather together also each and every sunday.
And we partner with them.
We might not know their face, but we partner with them through our association, through our state, and through our national convention.
And one of the things that I love about johnny and what johnny has been doing is christianity in the united states is declining.
The average church member's age is getting older and not younger churches who ten years ago ran 100, 200, 300 people in their congregation.
Many of them are running less than 30, if not have already closed their doors.
And so what johnny and his ministry is doing is coming alongside and partnering with these churches to help them figure out a revitalization process.
And what we've seen over and over and over again in towns in our communities.
I know of two that I've recently talked to the pastors about in batesburg and in peelion who were walking through this.
And now within a year, their congregations have doubled and tripled in size.
And there was an instance where a church had not baptized a single person in ten years that after going through this revitalization process, had a sunday where they baptized five.
Right?
And so johnny's going to be here that evening also just to talk about what revitalization looks like and how we at willow ridge are coming alongside other churches to support that work all over our community.
And then we're going to have rodney ogle and his wife from black mountain children's home.
We know it's a place that a lot of us especially our youth have been at.
And they know rodney.
And you'll recognize rodney when I tell you when he walks in the door, because he's going to walk in here and by far be the tallest guy walking in.
Right.
And rodney's going to be with us that day as well.
Just to talk about black mountain children's home, all the things that they're a part of, all the things of how we've worked with them.
It'll be a wonderful opportunity for us to do that.
So here's what we need for you.
We want to make this day special.
All right?
Now, a few months ago, I shared the story that I went to mcdonald's.
I took some heat about that later, people making fun of me.
And I love for mcdonald's big mac value meal.
You know what it cost me?
$12, right?
No, $12.
That's expensive.
That means for my family of four to eat at mcdonald's be $48.
Now, if you go to chickfila, that's like going to hall's chop house.
It's getting expensive quick.
Well, here's what we want to do to help you out with your budget.
All right?
That night at 05:00 we're gonna have a dinner.
We're gonna have a dinner together as a church family, and we're going to, as a church, we're going to provide the food.
But here's what we'd like for you to do through going online and registering, we're going to ask that we're going to sell tickets to this for $5.
Way cheaper and way better than mcdonald's.
Right.
And I know this is offensive to some of you, but way cheaper and way better than chickfila.
All right, we're going to have dinner here that evening, and all of the money that we raise are going to go straight to our missions partners to.
Help them continuing and share the gospel.
We're going to gather together as a church family.
We're going to hear as a large group from several missionaries.
But then we're going to break into groups and go around and have individual times where we can talk to these missionaries as well and hear about the story and the work and all that god is doing.
And so we want to challenge you to be a part of that with us.
We are going to have a special thing for our kids ministry where they're going to go and they're going to have the opportunity to interact with missionaries and do some activities with them.
Our youth are going to be a part of that night as well.
So there is literally something that we are going to be providing that evening for every age in our church and would love for you to be a part of that.
We need you to go online.
We need you to register for that.
And if you've got any questions about that, you can see dave or myself at the end of the service.
Now, at the end of that night.
Right.
Speaking of desserts and love languages, we're going to have a dessert fellowship time where we'll gather together.
All the missionaries will be in here in the room.
We'll all be here in the room eating cookies and cheesecake and brownies and all those wonderful things, because we're going to ask that you bring some of those.
Just remember, chocolate chip cookies never are wrong, and neither is banana pudding.
All right?
I know that's typically a summertime thing, but that isn't really in god's word.
So we can have it in november as well.
All right.
And so we want to have that time together, and you'll be able to mingle.
And if you got any more questions, just a wonderful, wonderful time of being able to do that.
So want to provide you with that opportunity.
At the very end of the service, we will partake in the lord's supper together.
And so we hope that you will join us with that as well.
And we'll give instructions at the very end.
So our message will be a little brief this morning.
I had to cut the message a little short last week from what we'd prepared.
Next week, we're going to look at genesis chapter 22, where god calls abraham to sacrifice isaac.
But sandwiched in between this narrative of hagar and ishmael that we looked at in 21, and abraham and isaac in 22, there's an interaction that god gives us in his word between abraham, a man named abimelak, and fico.
Let's kind of get some understanding of what we're looking at right here.
Now, we had read about a man named abimelek in genesis chapter 20, but the name abimelek means king.
All right, so this may be the same abimelek in chapter 20.
Genesis chapter 20.
But it may not.
It may be the same king.
It may be a different king.
The name fico is the name that would be given to the lead officer or the general of an army.
So here's what I want us to kind of understand as we walk into genesis chapter 21, we have abraham meeting with a general and a king.
Now, I don't know if you've ever been in that kind of situation.
But I haven't.
But this is a big deal.
I feel like if it's the king and the general and they're calling someone to meet together, this is a meeting of high importance.
And this is what abraham gets called to.
And they're here to settle a dispute.
So let's read verses 22 through 34.
It says, at that time abimelek and fico, the commander of his army, said to abraham, god is with you in all that you do.
Now therefore swear to me here by god that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity.
But as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.
And abraham said, I will swear.
Verse 25.
When abraham reproved abimelek about a well of water that abimelek servants has seized, abimelek said, I do not know who has done this thing.
You did not tell me.
I have not heard of it until today.
You kind of feel that tension right there.
So abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to abimelech.
And the two men made a covenant.
Abraham set seven.
Ooh.
Lambs on the flock apart.
And abimelech said to abraham, what is the meaning of these seven lambs that you have set apart?
And he said, these seven lambs that taken from my hand that this may be a witness for me, that I dug this well.
Therefore, that place was called beersheba because there both of them swore an oath.
So they made a covenant at beersheba.
And when abimelech and fico, the commander of his army, rose up and returned to the land of the philistines.
And abraham planted a tamarisk tree in beersheba and called there on the name of the lord, the everlasting god.
And abraham sojourned many days in the land of the philistines.
So here we see this interaction.
We see abraham that we've been looking at for many chapters that has had these interactions, has had these conflicts both with people within his family.
We've seen the conflict within himself.
And then we see this conflict that abraham is having over this well with people who are outside of his people, with people who are outside of his faith.
And I think it's a very interesting interaction because I don't know about you, but I've never had an argument over a well, I don't know about you, but I've never settled an argument with lambs.
And I don't know about you, but I've never had an argument with a king or a general.
But in this, what we find is you and I, on a daily basis, engage with people who are not followers of jesus and how we walk through that matters.
But more importantly, who we are leading up to that matters.
And what we see in here in abraham, is the evidence of a relationship.
The evidence of a relationship.
I want to say this.
When people talk about religion in general, people who are christians and not christians, you'll hear something said often, that there's nothing more private or more personal than someone's religion and someone's politics.
Well, it's very easy to hear people talk about politics, right.
But we still have this mindset that we want to safeguard and that my faith is private.
Here's what I want to say with that this morning.
Your relationship with god is intended to be personal.
It's between you and him.
But it's never intended to be private.
In fact, just the opposite of what we're called to in our faith with jesus.
My relationship with jesus, it's a personal relationship.
Here's what that means.
I don't ride the coattails of my wife's relationship.
I don't ride the coattails of your relationship.
My relationship with jesus is between me and him, that he is my savior, my lord.
I understand what he has done and my response to him.
That is personal.
We talk, we commune, we grow a relationship together.
The challenge is that for you and for me in that, that our relationship, that god knows me.
He calls me by name.
He knows me better than you.
He knows me better than me.
My relationship with him is personal, but.
My relationship with him has never intended to be private.
Notice the first thing abimelech says to abraham.
He says, here's what I've noticed.
God is with you in all that you do.
Whether people know you or know of you, there is no greater information that they can know about you than your relationship with jesus.
And so what we're going to see is this conflict that's there.
But what we want to draw, that this truth of this foundation that's going to walk through this conflict is this, that abraham is a man of god.
It is seen, it is cleared, it is evident, and it is believed.
And what abimelech knows, that nothing in scripture points toward this man walking with god.
Abimelech.
But what he knows is that this man, abraham, has such a true relationship with god that it determines his character.
And his actions and that it's evident.
Abimelech has seen this in abraham, that.
He has this personal relationship with god that is clear and evident in who he is.
And so what we see, what we're going to draw from, and go ahead and you can kind of hold out there in genesis 21, but jump to.
Matthew five, as we can see that.
It'S a relationship that's seen by others.
The evidence of a relationship with christ.
Is a relationship that is seen by others.
Jesus on the sermon of the mount says in matthew 514, you are a light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Verse 16.
Look at this in the same way.
Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven.
I love this picture of what jesus gives.
In fact, when I talk with families as we're going through our baby steps, of what it looks like to raise up and have family discipleship in your home, this is the passage that I give of what it looks like to parents.
Like parents.
You want to see what your calling is?
Do you want to see what god has for you?
Then take verse 16 and live this out.
Let your light shine for christ in such a way that your kids see all of who you are, that your kids see all of what you do, that your kids see all of what you say, and that in that they see the goodness in you and give.
Glory to god in heaven because of it.
The question is this, we're all shining.
A light.
But what light are you shining?
We're all shining a light, but what light are you shining?
Jesus gives us a test here to.
Test our light, to examine ourselves, to see the evidence of a relationship with him.
He says, number one, when you're shining.
The light of christ, number one, people see your good works.
People see them.
It doesn't mean that you're telling others about them.
It doesn't mean that you're boasting in.
All the things that you do.
The people see who you are.
They notice who you are.
And then the second thing, because of the faithfulness of your testimony, what do.
They do with that?
What do they do with that?
They give glory to god, because who you are in the gospel doesn't conflict, because who I am in christ is evident, and I live a life of glory to him.
Benelek says to abraham, there's evidence of god in all that you do.
The second thing is that it's a relationship believed by others.
Believed by others.
We have been given truth, and we.
Are called to be people of truth.
Abimelech says to abraham, this is who I know you to be.
This is what I've seen.
This is what I've experienced.
Now say to me, let me hear the words.
Say to me that you will deal truthfully and kindly with me.
And abraham says, I will.
And here's what happens as they walk through the conflict, as they walk through the issues that's there.
Abimelech knows and trust in the character of abraham.
And then as they form this covenant together, this covenant that abraham would have understand the power of this as he's walked through the covenants that god has made with him.
Abimelech says, if you say this, I believe this.
And here's the pattern of what we're finding in abraham, that what he believes and has experienced in his relationship with god determines his character.
And this character provides the foundation for the truthfulness of his words.
Jesus says in matthew 533 through 37.
Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the lord what you have sworn.
But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of god, or by the earth, for it is the footstool, or by jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
And do not take an oath by.
Your head, for you cannot make one hair, white or black.
Let what you say simply be yes or no.
Anything more that comes from this is evil.
So really quickly, jesus is quoting the.
Mosaic law in the first verse in verse 33.
And then what jesus is going to do is he's going to move this from a character practice of what we do, but to who we are in our integrity.
See, the mosaic law forbid anyone to do irreverent oaths, specifically oaths that dealt with the lord's name, which would have been common.
Swear to me by the name of god.
Swear to me by this that this is true.
And then, because you will swear to this, then I'll believe it.
And then people would use this in irreverent manners, and they would bring these oaths into everyday conversations.
And so, as jesus builds on this, here's what jesus is saying.
There is no need for you to swear by an oath before you speak.
Why?
Why should this not be a concern for you?
Because what you say should match who you are.
That we are called to be people of truth in the gospel.
And so what we communicate and what we say.
We should be known as people of truth.
So if you say you're going to do something in the application of this, do it.
If you make a promise, keep it.
If you make a deal, fulfill it.
Let who we are determine our character.
And our words in christ.
Here's what I find, that we struggle with, that we let others determine who we are, what we say, how we respond, and not christ.
Abraham doesn't walk into this going, well, here's how a pagan king and a.
Pagan general take care of matters.
So that's going to set my standard.
Abraham says, no.
Here's how a man of god responds, and he does.
So we see abraham, a man of power, a man of influence, not a king, not a general, navigate through this, and then abraham's going to respond.
He's going to respond.
He doesn't run home and tell everybody.
Look what I've done.
He doesn't say to them as they leave, oh, I got you, and I.
Can'T wait to get you again.
What does he do?
He worships.
And so the last thing this morning about evidence of a relationship is relationship drives worship.
Relationship drives worship.
He does.
Two things we'll talk about in closing.
Number one, he plants a tree.
He plants a tree, which is interesting for us, right?
He plants a tree, and then he speaks to the name of god.
So why does he plant a tree?
He plants a tree.
And you'll see this.
In the old testament, planting a tree was showing devotion and recognition to someone who had done something for you that you could not do yourself.
And so in this act of worship, what abraham is doing as he plants the tree, is he shows devotion and recognition to god as the source of what took place that day.
In planting the tree, what abraham is acknowledging is that this goodness that just.
Happened, this prosperity that just took place, this blessing that I will receive, it does not come from my mind, from my will, from my intellect.
It comes from god.
And then the bible tells us he.
Calls on the name of the lord el olman.
The first time that we see this name of god in scripture, and this name is declaring that god is the eternal god, the source of his salvation, that it's not the well that will save, but it's god who will save.
And what we see in this moment as abraham drives forward, pushes forward, is that his relationship with god drives his worship.
I want to ask you this question.
What drives your worship?
For the worship team, I don't know if you all did that on purpose.
And I think you all know what I'm talking about.
But when you all started that second.
Song, I could hear you sing.
But what was resounding was I heard the men and women of this church as a 200 piece choir singing before the lord.
And what I believe was happening in that moment was not because we liked the song.
It wasn't because the right note was hit.
It's because what came from in that moment and what was driving us was men and women and children worshipping god.
Not out of an emotion, not out of a simple feeling, not out of a preference, but out of a relationship with him, a real personal relationship with him.
And what happened in that moment were the saints glorifying the king.
I say this to you as for the last five days, god has said this to me.
Sometimes I get in here, and a song just doesn't hit the way that I would like for it to.
Sometimes I get in here, believe it or not, and the message just don't work the way that I need it to.
And what god reminds me in those moments is the issue when the songs don't feel right, when the message just doesn't speak to me.
It's not the truth of the lyrics that we sing.
It's not the truth of god's word that we proclaim.
It's not the true and holy king.
The issue in that moment where it doesn't land the way that I need to and takes away from my worship is me, is me, is me.
And in that moment, the relationship is not driving my worship, my preferences.
And I look at this with abraham as he comes into an area, and he says, god, all of this, all of this is about you.
May our worship be evidence of.
Not our preference.
Would our worship be evidence of our relationship?
In just a minute, the band will come up on stage and we'll partake in the lord's supper after they lead us in a time of worship, in a time of response.
This is my favorite sunday of the month.
We get to celebrate all that god's done in the life of an individual.
Or individuals, but then we get to celebrate all that jesus has done for us.
We get to worship him by acknowledging.
The work that he did on the cross.
And we celebrate because the tomb is empty.
If you're a follower of jesus christ and you are here with us today, whether this is your church home or not, we want to invite you to partake in the lord's supper with us.
If you haven't grabbed some of the elements as you came in.
We want to invite you to.
During this response time there at the very back of the auditorium, we want to invite you to do that for all of us.
We would ask that this not be something that we do lightly.
This would not be something that we rush into, but that as we enter into worship, we ask, under the dependence of the holy spirit, if our hearts are ready to partake in this together.
We want to use this time to check our hearts for any unrepentant sin that we may have and to spend that time before the lord in repentance for our failures as we've disobeyed him.
But also we would ask that we check our hearts and our relationships, especially with other believers, and ask ourselves these two questions.
Number one, is there anyone that I need to forgive?
Am I holding a grudge, animosity towards someone?
And instead of waiting for them to ask for forgiveness between us and the lord, we release that and we forgive them.
Or we ask ourselves the question, is there anyone that we need to seek their forgiveness?
And if so, maybe we wait.
Maybe we pause on partaking today until we have the opportunity to confess before them how we've wronged them.
This isn't just something that we do, and this isn't something that we do lightly.
This is something that we do in the recognition of who god is and who he's called us to be.
Would you pray with me, god, we come to you today thanking you for who you are, lord, and for what you've done.
Lord, I pray that as we go into this time of partaking in the lord's supper together.
Lord, I pray through your power of your holy spirit, lord, that you would speak to us clearly, lord, you would bring us to a spot of repentance.
Lord, may we evaluate and may we look.
Do we line up with the man of character and integrity out of a relationship with god that we see in abraham?
And if not, lord, bring us to our knees of repentance before you.
Lord, as abraham worked to restore the relationship that was there to make the covenant that was there, lord, if there's someone that we need to forgive, if there's someone that we need to seek their forgiveness, lord, we pray that we.
Would seek to do that so that.
We could honor you in this act of worship that you've called us to.
And lastly, lord, if there's anyone here, they don't know you.
They don't know you as lord and savior.
Lord, today our prayer is that they would place their faith, hope, and trust in jesus christ, that they would admit that they're a sinner.
They would believe who christ is.
They would confess him as their lord and savior.
Lord, we'll give you all the praise.
And all the honor and all the glory.
In jesus name we pray.
Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode.
In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.Org or by searching for willowridge church on facebook, instagram and twitter.