WEBVTT 0 00:00:04.890 --> 00:00:07.354 Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast. 1 00:00:07.482 --> 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 --> 00:00:16.030 And thanks for listening. 4 00:00:19.810 --> 00:00:20.800 Good morning. 5 00:00:21.570 --> 00:00:27.094 If you've got your Bible, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join me in Genesis chapter 21. 6 00:00:27.132 --> 00:00:32.534 And here, in just a moment, we'll start reading in verse eight a couple of things really quickly. 7 00:00:32.652 --> 00:00:33.522 Come back tonight. 8 00:00:33.586 --> 00:00:35.174 We want to see all of you. 9 00:00:35.212 --> 00:00:38.834 We're going to hang out, have a wonderful time together for our harvest hangout. 10 00:00:38.882 --> 00:00:45.174 So please come and just spend some great time of fellowship with us, get signed up for our discipleship studies. 11 00:00:45.222 --> 00:00:46.106 We're excited about them. 12 00:00:46.128 --> 00:00:50.522 There's lots of topics that we're going to be covering over the next seven to eight weeks. 13 00:00:50.576 --> 00:00:54.974 And so I want to encourage you to be a part of that and then really looking forward to our missions night. 14 00:00:55.012 --> 00:01:01.822 And there's so many different ways that we can help and engage each other in thinking about missions and what God's doing. 15 00:01:01.876 --> 00:01:05.230 Excited about the team that's going to be going to New York and all that. 16 00:01:05.300 --> 00:01:06.670 The Lord is doing. 17 00:01:06.740 --> 00:01:15.122 Well, if you haven't been here over the last couple of weeks, maybe you're not aware, but we had a team that recently got back from India, and I was on that team. 18 00:01:15.176 --> 00:01:21.174 We went to Jpor to work alongside of our ministry partners that we have. 19 00:01:21.212 --> 00:01:24.566 And on November 19, Sam will be here. 20 00:01:24.588 --> 00:01:24.774 Dr. 21 00:01:24.812 --> 00:01:29.590 Sam will be here and to be able to share about the ministry and all the work that's happening there. 22 00:01:29.660 --> 00:01:36.086 And so one of the things that I want to begin to build in to the culture as we become more and more ascending church. 23 00:01:36.118 --> 00:01:55.870 I believe by the end of this calendar year, I may be wrong, but I believe we'll have mobilized five different teams onto the mission field outside of our community, headed places like North Carolina, Utah, New York, India, as well as supporting our missionaries that we partner with all over the world. 24 00:01:55.940 --> 00:02:09.718 But one of the things I want to do and kind of build into our culture is when a team gets back and maybe not taking a whole Sunday, but having a moment where we can, at the very beginning of the message, speak to the work of what God did during that. 25 00:02:09.884 --> 00:02:19.898 So I'd like to do that first, I want to publicly thank Pastor Dave and Adam Venters for speaking and for teaching from God's Word while I was gone. 26 00:02:20.064 --> 00:02:30.474 It's such a huge relief to know that there are those who value God's word and are willing to dive in and study and then share the truth of God's word. 27 00:02:30.512 --> 00:02:35.470 And so to have both of them come and do that was a great honor, and I thank them for that. 28 00:02:35.540 --> 00:02:41.390 I also want to thank you as a church, every time we mobilize a team onto the mission field. 29 00:02:41.540 --> 00:02:45.986 There is that call of the team that says, yes, I will go. 30 00:02:46.088 --> 00:02:48.050 And they have to take vacation. 31 00:02:48.790 --> 00:02:52.594 They pay for themselves or raise funds to go. 32 00:02:52.712 --> 00:03:05.302 But what you do as a congregation is you send us you give us that opportunity to go, and then with your tithes and your offerings that you give, you allow us to do the work that is there. 33 00:03:05.436 --> 00:03:14.282 There's not a single missionary that is sent from our church where 100% of the cost of their trip and the work that they do comes from them. 34 00:03:14.336 --> 00:03:15.642 It comes from you as well. 35 00:03:15.696 --> 00:03:30.974 And so I want to begin by thanking you for allowing us to be a church that says that our money needs to be spent on ministries that happen inside this wall, but also that we understand that our money needs to be spent on work that happens outside of this wall as well. 36 00:03:31.092 --> 00:03:35.166 And we seek the Lord and his guidance for what we do with that. 37 00:03:35.188 --> 00:03:42.562 And so I want to thank you as a church for giving to that mission that goes beyond you and your comforts in all of those things. 38 00:03:42.616 --> 00:03:44.660 And so thank you for that. 39 00:03:45.350 --> 00:03:51.174 I want to tell a couple of stories real quick, and as we go, we did some great work. 40 00:03:51.372 --> 00:03:59.362 God used us to do some great things that have never been done there before in the context of this ministry and in our church. 41 00:03:59.506 --> 00:04:19.626 And honestly, I could stand here for hours and talk about the work, talk about all the things, talk about people from our church and how proud I was of them to see them rise above what they thought they were going to do to do more, to do everything that God was calling them and commanding them to do to step out of their comfort zone. 42 00:04:19.818 --> 00:04:26.338 But as I prayed through this this week, where I kind of landed is I want to talk to you about two people that we met while we. 43 00:04:26.344 --> 00:04:29.234 Were over there, two people that we. 44 00:04:29.272 --> 00:04:36.180 Had the opportunity, one through ministry and, honestly, one through shopping as we were there. 45 00:04:36.630 --> 00:04:46.630 First person I want to tell you about is a man that we met, a man by the name of we were we were at our ministry site doing work. 46 00:04:46.780 --> 00:04:57.050 And if you haven't been to India, if you haven't been to Jaipur, maybe you don't know this, but one of the things that they're known for that you can go there and buy is jewelry. 47 00:04:58.190 --> 00:05:08.700 So about half of our team was ladies, and they were like, we want jewelry, right? 48 00:05:09.470 --> 00:05:23.810 And day one, we were supposed to go get jewelry, and then our schedule didn't work quite out, and I had to go up to some of these ladies and say, we can't go get jewelry. 49 00:05:24.230 --> 00:05:28.390 I'm even seeing some ladies in here that are shaking their head no at me, and they weren't even on the trip. 50 00:05:29.530 --> 00:05:34.920 And they smiled and said, okay, but you know, like when you don't really believe somebody? 51 00:05:35.450 --> 00:05:41.650 So I said, all right, tomorrow, I promise, we're gonna go and get some jewelry. 52 00:05:41.810 --> 00:05:47.062 And so the next day, we're there, and there was a man that we had met that I've met before, a guy by the name of Kenny. 53 00:05:47.126 --> 00:05:52.602 And Kenny and his family have moved from North Carolina they're in the process of moving from North Carolina to India. 54 00:05:52.746 --> 00:05:59.086 To set up an authentic pizza and Italian restaurant in India, right? 55 00:05:59.268 --> 00:06:00.480 It's going to be amazing. 56 00:06:01.730 --> 00:06:04.046 And so he said to me, he. 57 00:06:04.068 --> 00:06:04.926 Said, what are you doing today? 58 00:06:04.948 --> 00:06:06.198 I said, we're going to go jewelry shopping. 59 00:06:06.234 --> 00:06:07.762 And we've been jewelry shopping before. 60 00:06:07.896 --> 00:06:13.250 And he said, there's a shop that I know and an owner that I know actually know his family. 61 00:06:13.320 --> 00:06:14.770 They're like family to us. 62 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:16.210 They're Muslims. 63 00:06:16.550 --> 00:06:18.100 Would you go to his shop? 64 00:06:18.470 --> 00:06:19.766 I said sure. 65 00:06:19.948 --> 00:06:23.862 So he coordinated that, gave our driver where we're supposed to go, and so we head that way. 66 00:06:23.916 --> 00:06:27.654 Now, somebody asked me this morning, ross Laffade asked me this morning. 67 00:06:27.692 --> 00:06:28.834 He's like, how was traffic? 68 00:06:28.882 --> 00:06:31.370 So here's the best description I can give you traffic. 69 00:06:32.030 --> 00:06:32.986 I've gotten used to it. 70 00:06:33.008 --> 00:06:33.514 I love it. 71 00:06:33.552 --> 00:06:34.442 I love it. 72 00:06:34.576 --> 00:06:40.170 Americans, we spend thousands of dollars to go to theme parks and ride roller coasters. 73 00:06:40.910 --> 00:06:44.014 You just need to go experience Jpor traffic, right? 74 00:06:44.132 --> 00:06:45.194 And then you won't do it anymore. 75 00:06:45.242 --> 00:06:50.734 So it's about 10 miles, is where we is the distance that we have to drive. 76 00:06:50.932 --> 00:06:53.570 And an hour and 15 minutes later, we get there. 77 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:55.186 That's just the beauty of it. 78 00:06:55.288 --> 00:06:58.690 And so we walk in and we meet Oslam. 79 00:06:59.190 --> 00:07:00.500 We meet his kids. 80 00:07:01.910 --> 00:07:04.978 And we're talking, and people are asking. 81 00:07:05.064 --> 00:07:07.654 About prices and doing different things. 82 00:07:07.772 --> 00:07:13.318 Aaron found some things for Emma, and so we're making purchases, and he's cracking jokes with us. 83 00:07:13.404 --> 00:07:14.840 Man, I love this guy. 84 00:07:15.450 --> 00:07:17.538 Later on, his wife comes in. 85 00:07:17.724 --> 00:07:18.998 They're Muslim. 86 00:07:19.174 --> 00:07:21.206 This isn't uncommon in Jaipur. 87 00:07:21.238 --> 00:07:26.022 And she comes in, and she's wearing her full black burka. 88 00:07:26.166 --> 00:07:31.606 All we see is right here she goes, and she stands behind the counter. 89 00:07:31.798 --> 00:07:36.014 Now, I know Kenny's been witnessing to him and doing those different things and building that relationship. 90 00:07:36.132 --> 00:07:37.840 And so we were there. 91 00:07:38.210 --> 00:07:40.094 Credit cards may have been maxed out. 92 00:07:40.132 --> 00:07:44.820 From some know, and we're getting ready to go. 93 00:07:45.430 --> 00:07:46.562 And I said, awesome. 94 00:07:46.696 --> 00:07:49.780 Can we pray for you before we leave? 95 00:07:50.150 --> 00:07:51.730 This man's a Muslim. 96 00:07:52.310 --> 00:07:55.330 He knows that I'm a Christian. 97 00:07:55.930 --> 00:07:57.320 Can we pray for you? 98 00:07:57.930 --> 00:08:01.240 He says, Absolutely, which is common. 99 00:08:02.090 --> 00:08:03.800 That didn't surprise me. 100 00:08:04.570 --> 00:08:08.140 But what he said next surprised me. 101 00:08:09.550 --> 00:08:13.340 He said, Would you pray that God would bless me? 102 00:08:13.870 --> 00:08:15.260 And I said, sure. 103 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:17.660 And then he said this. 104 00:08:18.750 --> 00:08:22.270 He said, I'm not talking, though, about the blessing of finances. 105 00:08:23.330 --> 00:08:27.920 I'm talking about the blessing that can only come from God. 106 00:08:30.930 --> 00:08:33.070 Yes, we'll pray. 107 00:08:33.430 --> 00:08:48.550 So standing there in that shop, a group of Christians from the United States prayed over a Muslim family that they would receive the blessing that can only come from Christ and Christ alone. 108 00:08:49.290 --> 00:08:58.120 So I want to challenge you as you pray, to pray for the salvation of that family, to pray for us. 109 00:08:58.490 --> 00:09:00.778 And we believe that God is doing a work. 110 00:09:00.944 --> 00:09:03.322 The second individual that I want to talk about. 111 00:09:03.376 --> 00:09:09.514 And there's so many that we met, and I hate that I'm leaving some of these individuals out. 112 00:09:09.632 --> 00:09:10.650 But another one? 113 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:15.406 And this kind of shows us that the story will point to god always has more for us than what we. 114 00:09:15.428 --> 00:09:17.646 Can imagine is a guy by the. 115 00:09:17.668 --> 00:09:20.622 Name of Coach V is what we called him. 116 00:09:20.756 --> 00:09:25.060 We couldn't pronounce his name, so we left it at Coach V, right? 117 00:09:25.510 --> 00:09:34.562 And so my group that I was a part of, we were teaching basketball to a group of people that largely had never played basketball before. 118 00:09:34.696 --> 00:09:41.446 So it took my C to D plus level of basketball and made me feel like an all star for a week. 119 00:09:41.468 --> 00:09:42.198 You know what I mean? 120 00:09:42.284 --> 00:09:43.254 I'm like, watch this. 121 00:09:43.292 --> 00:09:45.720 I can do a layup and make it half the time. 122 00:09:46.890 --> 00:10:00.140 And so Brent Hawkins was leading our group, and Brent and Coach V formed this great and here's the part that I would tell you is so many times what's happening. 123 00:10:00.450 --> 00:10:03.098 I taught over there about the parable. 124 00:10:03.194 --> 00:10:08.830 Of the sower as you scatter seed, scatter seed, scatter seed. 125 00:10:10.450 --> 00:10:17.810 And one of the days that we were there doing our ministry, doing our work, we are there to do basketball. 126 00:10:18.710 --> 00:10:20.690 We're not teaching Bible studies. 127 00:10:21.110 --> 00:10:26.870 We're there to do basketball and to ask whether it's basketball, reading, nursing, music. 128 00:10:26.940 --> 00:10:32.230 God, how can you take this and use this for your name and for your glory? 129 00:10:33.210 --> 00:10:37.566 And so we'd get done with our time doing basketball. 130 00:10:37.618 --> 00:10:55.390 And I would sneak in to watch Aaron do teacher development, and Brent and Coach V would go to another spot of the school to discuss the day for honestly, Brent to kind of coach him on, this is what it looks like to be a basketball coach. 131 00:10:56.370 --> 00:10:57.950 Coach V is Hindu. 132 00:10:58.610 --> 00:11:00.110 He's not a Christian. 133 00:11:01.250 --> 00:11:09.300 And something happened in that conversation between Brent and Coach V. 134 00:11:10.630 --> 00:11:13.730 So that night, jump forward a few hours. 135 00:11:13.880 --> 00:11:17.854 We came, and Sam wanted us to do a concert at the church. 136 00:11:17.902 --> 00:11:20.838 And so we had three of our ladies that got up and they had. 137 00:11:20.924 --> 00:11:23.638 Practiced and they sang songs, and it. 138 00:11:23.644 --> 00:11:25.986 Was just a wonderful time of worship. 139 00:11:26.018 --> 00:11:29.482 And they had some people from their church that had some songs prepared, and. 140 00:11:29.536 --> 00:11:31.100 They did those as well. 141 00:11:32.190 --> 00:11:38.634 And I get ready to leave, and we're talking and shaking hands and doing all of that. 142 00:11:38.672 --> 00:11:47.166 And I look over to my right, and I see standing in the doorway, still in the clothes that he had. 143 00:11:47.188 --> 00:12:12.710 On to coach basketball that day was Coach V, a Hindu man who came to a church, who heard the gospel of Jesus Christ because he sat in a room with a believer who traveled halfway across the earth to teach basketball. 144 00:12:14.170 --> 00:12:18.890 But in that moment, God made it more than basketball. 145 00:12:20.830 --> 00:12:28.634 And so when we come back in the report of this trip, I would love to be able to say that. 146 00:12:28.672 --> 00:12:36.510 There were hundreds, thousands, even a couple of people that came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 147 00:12:37.010 --> 00:12:38.480 But I can't say that. 148 00:12:39.410 --> 00:12:42.622 But I can say that there were. 149 00:12:42.676 --> 00:12:47.054 Men and women that God allowed for. 150 00:12:47.092 --> 00:12:51.150 Us to meet that were able to. 151 00:12:51.220 --> 00:12:56.678 Hear about who Jesus is, were told. 152 00:12:56.764 --> 00:13:01.446 About who Jesus is, and whatever their thoughts were about. 153 00:13:01.548 --> 00:13:04.870 Christians were able to be loved. 154 00:13:05.690 --> 00:13:16.662 And God used silly things like basketball and music in reading. 155 00:13:16.806 --> 00:13:18.794 Not that that's silly, right? 156 00:13:18.992 --> 00:13:26.720 And nursing to allow us a platform to bring glory to his name. 157 00:13:28.370 --> 00:13:31.040 And so I just challenge you. 158 00:13:32.870 --> 00:13:47.000 To think differently about what God would have for you to look at what God has given passionately to you, right, and ask God what you can do with that. 159 00:13:47.770 --> 00:13:57.160 We took basketball basketball and had an opportunity to share the gospel with someone. 160 00:13:57.790 --> 00:13:59.466 Who, up until that day, may or. 161 00:13:59.488 --> 00:14:03.100 May not have had a clue who Jesus was. 162 00:14:03.630 --> 00:14:07.050 But now a seed has been planted. 163 00:14:07.630 --> 00:14:19.280 So I want to encourage you to pray for these relationships that were formed by our team that God brought us together for this. 164 00:14:19.730 --> 00:14:26.754 And this is the reason why we partner, so that as we continue to go, as we continue to do what. 165 00:14:26.792 --> 00:14:32.494 God has for us right, that there'll be more and more opportunities to sow. 166 00:14:32.542 --> 00:14:36.846 Seeds, more and more opportunities to build relationships. 167 00:14:37.038 --> 00:14:38.294 Not so that we can have more. 168 00:14:38.332 --> 00:14:47.858 Friends, but so that we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ and men and women and children can place their faith in Him and him alone. 169 00:14:47.954 --> 00:14:49.366 All right, let's pray. 170 00:14:49.398 --> 00:14:52.554 And then I'm going to jump into Genesis 21. 171 00:14:52.752 --> 00:14:54.780 God, thank you so much for this morning. 172 00:14:55.390 --> 00:14:57.434 God, I pray for all of those. 173 00:14:57.472 --> 00:14:59.834 Individuals that we met. 174 00:15:00.032 --> 00:15:01.170 I pray for Oslin. 175 00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:02.494 I pray for his family. 176 00:15:02.692 --> 00:15:04.720 I pray for Coach V. 177 00:15:06.210 --> 00:15:08.990 I pray for our driver, Babu. 178 00:15:09.890 --> 00:15:18.580 I pray for the many teachers and students whose names we learned, whose faces we will always remember. 179 00:15:19.510 --> 00:15:27.142 Lord, I thank you for the wonderful opportunity that you gave us to go and to engage into the work that. 180 00:15:27.196 --> 00:15:30.920 You'Re doing on the complete other side of the world. 181 00:15:32.410 --> 00:15:38.306 And Lord, I pray that as we sowed the seed that was there, lord. 182 00:15:38.338 --> 00:15:40.170 I pray for the harvest. 183 00:15:41.470 --> 00:15:44.410 Lord, I pray that there will be more conversations. 184 00:15:44.910 --> 00:15:47.786 Lord, I pray that your spirit would work and move. 185 00:15:47.968 --> 00:15:49.974 And I pray that these people would. 186 00:15:50.032 --> 00:15:54.138 Come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 187 00:15:54.314 --> 00:15:56.346 Lord, I thank you for this church. 188 00:15:56.538 --> 00:15:58.782 That acknowledges that we are called to. 189 00:15:58.836 --> 00:16:05.102 Go and that we will go for your name and for your glory. 190 00:16:05.246 --> 00:16:07.358 And it's in Jesus name we pray. 191 00:16:07.534 --> 00:16:08.190 Amen. 192 00:16:08.270 --> 00:16:09.070 Amen. 193 00:16:09.230 --> 00:16:10.466 So let's jump in. 194 00:16:10.568 --> 00:16:12.626 Genesis, chapter 21. 195 00:16:12.728 --> 00:16:16.210 This morning we're going to start reading here in verse eight. 196 00:16:16.360 --> 00:16:29.318 If you weren't here with us a couple of weeks ago, we've been navigating through we've been reading through, studying the life of Abraham, and we've been building up to this pivotal moment where God has promised him and his wife Sarah a son. 197 00:16:29.404 --> 00:16:37.574 And in the very beginning of Genesis, chapter 21 of what we read several weeks ago, we find out that this son Isaac, that he is born. 198 00:16:37.702 --> 00:16:44.778 Next week we'll look at Genesis, chapter 22, the Sacrifice of Isaac, one of my favorite passages in scripture. 199 00:16:44.874 --> 00:16:47.454 I'm excited about preaching that to you next week. 200 00:16:47.492 --> 00:16:52.014 More the more common of what most of us know of with here. 201 00:16:52.052 --> 00:16:56.514 But there's this other dialogue that's going to happen that I want us to look at before we get there. 202 00:16:56.552 --> 00:16:58.978 So let's start reading in verse eight. 203 00:16:59.144 --> 00:17:03.518 And God's word says, and the child grew and was weaned. 204 00:17:03.694 --> 00:17:08.354 And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 205 00:17:08.482 --> 00:17:15.190 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had born to Abraham, laughing. 206 00:17:15.530 --> 00:17:27.770 So she said to Abraham, cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. 207 00:17:28.350 --> 00:17:33.678 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 208 00:17:33.844 --> 00:17:42.074 But God said to Abraham, do not be displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. 209 00:17:42.202 --> 00:17:58.194 Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you for through Isaac shall your offspring be named, and I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also because he is your offspring. 210 00:17:58.322 --> 00:18:10.298 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder along with the child and sent her away. 211 00:18:10.464 --> 00:18:16.006 And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Bersheba. 212 00:18:16.198 --> 00:18:24.110 Verse 15 and when the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 213 00:18:24.450 --> 00:18:31.258 Then she went and sat down opposite him, a good way off about the distance of a bow shot. 214 00:18:31.354 --> 00:18:35.586 For she said, Let me not look on the death of the child. 215 00:18:35.768 --> 00:18:41.250 And as she sat opposite of him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 216 00:18:41.670 --> 00:18:44.722 And God heard the voice of the boy. 217 00:18:44.856 --> 00:18:51.410 And the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, what troubles you, Hagar? 218 00:18:51.490 --> 00:18:57.638 Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is up. 219 00:18:57.724 --> 00:19:04.970 Lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand for I will make him into a great nation. 220 00:19:05.470 --> 00:19:15.898 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the skin with the water and gave the boy a drink. 221 00:19:16.074 --> 00:19:18.910 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. 222 00:19:19.060 --> 00:19:22.694 He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 223 00:19:22.842 --> 00:19:29.682 He lived in the wilderness of Peran and his mother took a wife for. 224 00:19:29.736 --> 00:19:33.410 Him from the land of Egypt. 225 00:19:34.150 --> 00:19:36.040 There's a lot going on here. 226 00:19:37.130 --> 00:19:46.230 Jewish tradition and history says that Isaac was around three years old when he was weaned. 227 00:19:46.730 --> 00:19:52.890 And as was the custom, the dad, Abraham, throws him a party. 228 00:19:53.230 --> 00:19:56.534 And in this party, we see conflict. 229 00:19:56.662 --> 00:20:05.006 Now, if you've been reading through and you've been with us, you can see that this conflict is not a surprise to us, right? 230 00:20:05.108 --> 00:20:09.806 And if you haven't been, we don't have time to go all the way back and understand this. 231 00:20:09.908 --> 00:20:13.934 But we have to all agree this conflict was inevitable. 232 00:20:14.062 --> 00:20:18.930 Two moms, two sons, one dad. 233 00:20:20.070 --> 00:20:23.460 That's just an uncomfortable holiday moment, right? 234 00:20:24.550 --> 00:20:26.520 That just doesn't play out well. 235 00:20:26.890 --> 00:20:30.150 This is a recipe for conflict. 236 00:20:30.650 --> 00:20:34.566 And as we see this, just briefly the story, right? 237 00:20:34.668 --> 00:20:36.630 Sarah and Abraham, they want a son. 238 00:20:36.700 --> 00:20:38.602 God's promised them a son. 239 00:20:38.656 --> 00:20:41.642 This is what's going to happen, but it's not happening. 240 00:20:41.776 --> 00:20:49.610 And so Sarah gives Abraham her servant, Hagar because Sarah could not provide a child. 241 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:51.022 But Hagar does. 242 00:20:51.076 --> 00:20:54.030 And this is where we see the boy, Ishmael. 243 00:20:54.770 --> 00:21:06.386 And then later on, what God does is god remains true to his word and fulfills his promise and gives Sarah and Abraham a son. 244 00:21:06.488 --> 00:21:10.798 Isaac, 13 years after, Ishmael's born. 245 00:21:10.974 --> 00:21:14.958 So God is faithful to what he says he's going to do. 246 00:21:15.064 --> 00:21:38.090 But what's been happening, what's been brewing under the surface and sometimes outside of this comes to conflict here in verse nine, where Sarah, mama of Isaac, while at her son's party, sees her husband's other son from another woman laughing or scoffing at her son Isaac. 247 00:21:39.230 --> 00:21:44.320 And every mama bear in the room gets it right. 248 00:21:45.810 --> 00:21:47.840 Not on my kids day, right? 249 00:21:48.770 --> 00:21:50.542 And this is it. 250 00:21:50.596 --> 00:21:53.410 And this is this conflict. 251 00:21:58.540 --> 00:22:20.050 And in the situation that happened in Genesis 21, probably about 4000 years ago, we still live in the reality of this conflict today. 252 00:22:21.700 --> 00:22:33.670 What we see from scripture, what we know from history, the descendants of Ishmael will become the Arab people. 253 00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:39.510 God said he'd make a great nation, and he did. 254 00:22:40.600 --> 00:22:50.600 From these people will come the Islamic faith, the direct descendants of Ishmael. 255 00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:57.710 And what we see from the direct descendants of Isaac will be the Jewish people. 256 00:22:58.800 --> 00:23:04.936 And what we will see throughout the course of history in God's word, throughout. 257 00:23:04.968 --> 00:23:11.344 The course of history in our textbooks, throughout the course of history in our. 258 00:23:11.382 --> 00:23:17.280 News today is this source of conflict. 259 00:23:19.380 --> 00:23:21.170 We're going to see this play out. 260 00:23:22.040 --> 00:23:27.140 But in this moment, the conflict builds. 261 00:23:28.280 --> 00:23:31.780 And Sarah says something to Abraham. 262 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:36.490 She doesn't say, Tell them to stop. 263 00:23:37.820 --> 00:23:41.050 She doesn't say, Tell them to leave. 264 00:23:42.460 --> 00:23:45.930 She says cast them out. 265 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:50.750 Remove them from this place. 266 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.590 They're not welcome here. 267 00:23:56.800 --> 00:24:00.140 And Abraham is torn. 268 00:24:01.300 --> 00:24:04.320 Abraham is heartbroken. 269 00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:05.730 Why? 270 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:08.316 He loves Sarah. 271 00:24:08.508 --> 00:24:11.280 He's never not loved his wife. 272 00:24:14.040 --> 00:24:17.750 It's not about a second wife because that's not the situation. 273 00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:22.980 It's about a son whom he loves. 274 00:24:24.700 --> 00:24:29.850 And God tells Abraham so Abraham goes to God, what's he to do? 275 00:24:30.540 --> 00:24:34.648 And God tells him to do what Sarah tells him. 276 00:24:34.734 --> 00:24:35.944 Wes told him to. 277 00:24:36.062 --> 00:24:36.730 Why? 278 00:24:37.760 --> 00:24:38.510 Why? 279 00:24:39.280 --> 00:24:40.910 Because God has a plan. 280 00:24:41.760 --> 00:24:43.310 Because God has a plan. 281 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:46.396 I don't know that this is a. 282 00:24:46.418 --> 00:24:52.704 Thing anymore in worlds of technology, but growing up for me, there was a. 283 00:24:52.742 --> 00:24:55.280 Game called Connect the Dots. 284 00:24:56.340 --> 00:24:59.804 Does any of y'all remember playing, like, connect the dots? 285 00:24:59.852 --> 00:25:00.944 Did you do that? 286 00:25:01.142 --> 00:25:03.010 Most of the time in school. 287 00:25:03.620 --> 00:25:08.384 It was, like, in math class, and there would be numbers at the dots. 288 00:25:08.432 --> 00:25:10.950 And then we would have questions to answer. 289 00:25:11.320 --> 00:25:23.684 And as we would answer those questions, we could connect the dots, and you would go from the first answer to the second answer to all of those things, and at the end, it would form a cat, and then the teacher could check your drawing. 290 00:25:23.732 --> 00:25:27.660 This was the game that we played, but it was really a sneaky way to make us do a quiz. 291 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:31.180 Right now, I'm kind of not kind of. 292 00:25:31.250 --> 00:25:38.424 I'm an instant gratification guy at the deep part of my sinful nature. 293 00:25:38.552 --> 00:25:40.716 It's like, why wait when this is right here? 294 00:25:40.738 --> 00:25:41.810 You know what I mean? 295 00:25:42.580 --> 00:25:50.640 And so I'd get in trouble on connect the Dots, because I'd start the first answer, the second answer, the third answer. 296 00:25:50.790 --> 00:25:52.610 Now I figured it out. 297 00:25:53.540 --> 00:25:58.470 There's no reason to answer all the other questions because I know that it's a cat. 298 00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:04.970 And so I finished drawing the cat to realize this isn't a cat at all. 299 00:26:06.060 --> 00:26:08.890 But now the teacher's collecting my work, and it's a star. 300 00:26:09.260 --> 00:26:10.410 You know what I mean? 301 00:26:11.740 --> 00:26:20.380 What I find that what we do is this can kind of be how we walk out our faith with the Lord. 302 00:26:22.800 --> 00:26:26.910 Question number one cool step. 303 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:32.930 Question number two, god reveals cool step. 304 00:26:33.460 --> 00:26:38.290 But I don't have time to wait for 3456 and seven. 305 00:26:39.780 --> 00:26:43.396 And what I see in this is. 306 00:26:43.498 --> 00:26:48.390 God telling Abraham, trust me. 307 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:54.150 Stop trying to connect the dots yourself. 308 00:26:54.540 --> 00:26:55.690 Trust me. 309 00:26:56.620 --> 00:27:05.000 And so as we look at this, I think it's important to acknowledge that this is what it means to follow God's plan by faith. 310 00:27:06.060 --> 00:27:08.250 Here's the truth for so many of us. 311 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:11.996 And if I point the finger at you, I'm pointing the fingers back at. 312 00:27:12.018 --> 00:27:15.132 Me as well, is that so many. 313 00:27:15.186 --> 00:27:18.604 Of us with our mouth, we want. 314 00:27:18.642 --> 00:27:27.760 To follow God by faith, but our actions say, I want to follow God by faith and answers. 315 00:27:28.740 --> 00:27:30.976 God, tell me, what's the end of. 316 00:27:30.998 --> 00:27:37.988 The equal sign before I take the no, no, you've got to take the step. 317 00:27:38.074 --> 00:27:45.800 God told Abraham that he would provide a son through Sarah, and Abraham tried to connect the dots himself. 318 00:27:47.660 --> 00:27:55.960 God told him that he would provide and bless Ishmael, but that God's promise would be through Isaac. 319 00:27:56.540 --> 00:27:59.164 Yet we still see that Abraham was. 320 00:27:59.202 --> 00:28:01.580 Still trying to connect the dots himself. 321 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:07.964 Oftentimes, faith is lived out by the. 322 00:28:08.002 --> 00:28:11.890 Next step we take, not the miles that we run. 323 00:28:13.140 --> 00:28:18.704 We're going to run the race, as Paul describes it, that God has for us. 324 00:28:18.902 --> 00:28:24.000 The problem is we don't know if we're running a five K, a ten K, or a marathon. 325 00:28:24.660 --> 00:28:35.156 And we want to know the parameters and know the distance and know the rules and know all of the things that line it up so that we can go and we can go and we can go. 326 00:28:35.258 --> 00:28:40.456 But God says, no, this is what I'm going to do. 327 00:28:40.558 --> 00:28:47.448 And what I need you to do is to take step after step after step after step. 328 00:28:47.614 --> 00:28:52.888 The amazing part of all of this is we've read through this with Abraham. 329 00:28:52.984 --> 00:29:11.570 If there's one thing as in just a couple weeks, we're going to move out of talking about Abraham that we need to get that needs to penetrate our minds, in our hearts and in our lives is this every single time that God gives a promise, god fulfills what God says he's going to do. 330 00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:14.324 And that's what we can hold to. 331 00:29:14.442 --> 00:29:15.924 That's what we can trust. 332 00:29:16.042 --> 00:29:17.590 That's what we can see. 333 00:29:19.560 --> 00:29:26.996 And even in the areas where we're going to find in scripture that we're. 334 00:29:27.028 --> 00:29:31.530 Going to see conflict, god's still in control. 335 00:29:33.020 --> 00:29:34.570 God's still got a plan. 336 00:29:36.140 --> 00:29:46.670 So we can go home today and cut on the news and we can know that God's still in control and that God's got a plan. 337 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:59.330 And with whatever happens tomorrow, in the days, in the weeks moving forward and the years moving forward, god's got a plan. 338 00:30:00.020 --> 00:30:08.390 So Abraham doesn't desire to cast out Hagar in Ishmael, but he does. 339 00:30:09.080 --> 00:30:12.470 And so he gives them some food and water and sends them on their way. 340 00:30:13.080 --> 00:30:14.150 They leave. 341 00:30:14.540 --> 00:30:16.010 They run out of water. 342 00:30:16.620 --> 00:30:19.960 In this situation, it's bleak. 343 00:30:21.340 --> 00:30:26.200 Hagar prepares for them to die. 344 00:30:27.040 --> 00:30:28.350 That's what she does. 345 00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:45.810 She hides her son away so that she doesn't have to see it, and she cries out and ishmael under the bush, cries out as well. 346 00:30:47.140 --> 00:30:50.668 Charles Spurgeon said this about this passage of scripture. 347 00:30:50.764 --> 00:30:54.708 A lot of times I don't put quotes on our screen, but I wanted to make sure we had this one. 348 00:30:54.874 --> 00:30:56.230 Up for this morning. 349 00:30:57.160 --> 00:31:01.110 Here's what he says about this interaction with Hager and her son. 350 00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:09.640 He says, Behold the compassion of a mother for her child expiring with thirst. 351 00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:21.470 And remember that such a compassion ought all Christians feel towards souls that are perishing for lack of Christ. 352 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:29.980 Perishing eternally perishing without hope of salvation. 353 00:31:34.900 --> 00:31:36.400 And that landed. 354 00:31:39.220 --> 00:31:40.480 That landed. 355 00:31:41.540 --> 00:31:46.310 That is the compassion that she had for her own son. 356 00:31:48.120 --> 00:32:11.980 That ought to be the compassion that all Christians feel toward all souls that are perishing for lack of Christ, perishing eternally perishing without hope of salvation. 357 00:32:14.320 --> 00:32:19.420 What does it mean to be a person of compassion? 358 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:28.028 What does it mean if you and I embrace that we are going to be that we're going to be people of compassion? 359 00:32:28.204 --> 00:32:34.144 I think what we find is that when we follow God's plan by faith and not answers. 360 00:32:34.192 --> 00:32:38.580 What it provides us is deeper opportunities of growth. 361 00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:42.310 There's lots of questions that I have. 362 00:32:43.000 --> 00:33:09.230 There's lots of things that I don't understand of why God handles things the way that God handles, of why we see from this conflict here that we live in a world that is marked by this moment and the moments leading up to this why. 363 00:33:10.180 --> 00:33:23.620 And I find that in my questions, what God is creating in me is opportunities to trust Him more and opportunities to grow in my faith. 364 00:33:27.400 --> 00:33:30.436 My prayer for the team that went. 365 00:33:30.458 --> 00:33:33.444 With me to India, to go to. 366 00:33:33.482 --> 00:33:44.152 A foreign land, to a foreign people, my prayer for you, my prayer for me as well is that what God would build in us? 367 00:33:44.206 --> 00:34:05.760 As I read the story of His Word from Genesis to Revelation is this not only a growing love for the bride of Christ, the growing love for the church of Jesus, the growing love for one another in faith, but the growing love for those who do not have Jesus. 368 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.790 Jesus encountered a man like this. 369 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:14.620 He was a rich, young ruler. 370 00:34:15.460 --> 00:34:28.710 We're not going to jump and read the whole story of what's there, but it's a man who believed in his religious standing, that he was worthy before God. 371 00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:33.780 That's the mark of every world religion. 372 00:34:36.200 --> 00:34:48.490 They believe in their works, they believe in themselves, they believe in their own earned right standing before God. 373 00:34:49.980 --> 00:34:54.204 And this is this man and I love. 374 00:34:54.322 --> 00:35:01.196 In Mark 1021, how Mark describes the. 375 00:35:01.218 --> 00:35:10.210 Heart of Jesus says this and Jesus looking at him. 376 00:35:10.740 --> 00:35:11.490 What? 377 00:35:12.020 --> 00:35:15.410 Say it, say it. 378 00:35:16.920 --> 00:35:32.570 Jesus looking at someone who rejected Him, loved him, loved him, and said, you lack one thing, go and sell all that you have. 379 00:35:33.260 --> 00:35:34.680 Give it to the poor. 380 00:35:35.580 --> 00:35:37.640 You will have treasure in heaven. 381 00:35:38.380 --> 00:35:40.890 Come, follow me. 382 00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:46.270 Just those words, loved him. 383 00:35:47.520 --> 00:36:01.010 God, despite all ishmael, was and all he would become, showed him compassion and loved him. 384 00:36:03.940 --> 00:36:34.090 And as we feel the ramifications of this conflict still today, I want to ask you, does the love of Jesus Christ penetrate that for us in our home, in this situation that is there is difficult. 385 00:36:35.420 --> 00:36:36.490 It's hard. 386 00:36:38.460 --> 00:36:48.156 I've got a cousin right now, today who is on a warship right off. 387 00:36:48.178 --> 00:36:55.470 The coast of Israel waiting for the call to do what his country's called to do. 388 00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:58.430 And you know men and women like that as well. 389 00:37:13.450 --> 00:37:37.470 There's a couple, I can't say their names because we're live streaming, but who were dear friends of ours and who served as missionaries in Gaza for three years. 390 00:37:42.980 --> 00:38:10.170 And in their ministry, in their time there, god allowed them the opportunity to share their faith and see Muslim men and women and children step out of the lie that is Islam and step into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. 391 00:38:11.740 --> 00:38:16.120 Listen, I'm not here, I'm not here. 392 00:38:16.270 --> 00:38:21.804 Oh, I've prayed about the words to use I'm not. 393 00:38:21.842 --> 00:38:25.660 Here to influence your politics. 394 00:38:27.600 --> 00:38:35.600 I believe as the people of God we pray against evil and for Godliness. 395 00:38:37.220 --> 00:38:41.570 We pray to trust in the plan that God has. 396 00:38:42.740 --> 00:38:56.500 But my concern is that we live in a world we live in a reality that wants our hearts to hate. 397 00:38:58.300 --> 00:39:02.010 That's not what we see from God. 398 00:39:03.420 --> 00:39:14.204 And so our prayer in the midst of the tragedy, our prayer in the midst of the conflict, our prayer in. 399 00:39:14.242 --> 00:39:16.444 The midst of everything that is going. 400 00:39:16.482 --> 00:39:24.400 On is the peace of Jesus Christ would rule and reign in the Middle East. 401 00:39:28.170 --> 00:39:35.400 Just like we pray for the peace of Jesus Christ to rule and reign in this place. 402 00:39:38.440 --> 00:39:39.700 Don't hate. 403 00:39:40.920 --> 00:39:42.180 Don't hate. 404 00:39:46.120 --> 00:39:48.180 There's a terrorist in scripture. 405 00:39:49.480 --> 00:39:50.900 His name was Saul. 406 00:39:53.980 --> 00:39:55.690 Everybody hated him. 407 00:39:56.860 --> 00:39:58.570 Everybody hated him. 408 00:39:59.340 --> 00:40:13.500 And God captured his heart and he saved him and he sent him to the people whose families he would have killed. 409 00:40:15.040 --> 00:40:17.920 All for his name and for his glory. 410 00:40:19.220 --> 00:40:33.670 I don't have the answers of why God saved ishmael I don't have the answers of why things are happening today. 411 00:40:34.600 --> 00:40:39.860 I don't have the answers if what we're experiencing. 412 00:40:43.100 --> 00:40:48.760 Is a close telling of an impending end of times. 413 00:40:48.830 --> 00:40:54.780 But I do know this, that every day that passes we're one day closer to Jesus returning. 414 00:40:55.280 --> 00:40:56.350 Every day. 415 00:40:56.800 --> 00:40:57.870 Every day. 416 00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:03.260 Every day that passes is one day closer to Jesus. 417 00:41:04.720 --> 00:41:15.760 And when he returns my prayer is that your heart will be filled with love and not hate. 418 00:41:17.380 --> 00:41:22.580 Feel the difficulty in Abraham. 419 00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:27.350 I know who he is. 420 00:41:29.560 --> 00:41:34.760 But I love him and God's faithful. 421 00:41:39.580 --> 00:41:41.050 We're going to end here. 422 00:41:42.460 --> 00:41:43.770 I've got more. 423 00:41:47.100 --> 00:41:48.250 We're going to end. 424 00:41:50.380 --> 00:41:53.020 I'm invited our worship team to go ahead and come up on stage. 425 00:41:55.620 --> 00:41:59.010 Here's what I'm going to encourage us to do. 426 00:41:59.940 --> 00:42:02.400 We're going to go into a time of response. 427 00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:10.640 The prayer encouragers will be on either side of the auditorium. 428 00:42:11.940 --> 00:42:13.650 Down front is open. 429 00:42:18.580 --> 00:42:19.136 It. 430 00:42:19.238 --> 00:42:20.236 I'm looking at the clock. 431 00:42:20.268 --> 00:42:21.330 We're even early. 432 00:42:26.180 --> 00:42:28.310 Here's what I like for us to do. 433 00:42:29.720 --> 00:42:30.900 Let's pray. 434 00:42:32.360 --> 00:42:33.540 Let's pray. 435 00:42:35.740 --> 00:42:39.800 Let's pray for the people in the Middle East. 436 00:42:41.660 --> 00:42:43.880 Let's pray for the people in India. 437 00:42:45.180 --> 00:42:48.380 Let's pray for the people in our backyard. 438 00:42:49.520 --> 00:42:50.700 Let's pray. 439 00:42:53.040 --> 00:43:00.560 Appreciate mike and Tim came out and put we've got some little kneeling benches that we've purchased. 440 00:43:01.300 --> 00:43:03.008 So I just want to invite you. 441 00:43:03.094 --> 00:43:07.250 In just a moment the band is going to play. 442 00:43:07.780 --> 00:43:11.520 Our worship leaders are going to lead and let's pray. 443 00:43:12.660 --> 00:43:15.300 Let's pray for our soldiers. 444 00:43:16.360 --> 00:43:17.910 Let's pray for them. 445 00:43:19.080 --> 00:43:24.068 Who you and I are making plans of what we're going to eat for lunch and they don't know what's going. 446 00:43:24.074 --> 00:43:25.880 To happen in the next 5 seconds. 447 00:43:27.020 --> 00:43:29.400 Let's pray for the moms and dads. 448 00:43:33.820 --> 00:43:37.400 My aunt got a phone call from her grandson yesterday. 449 00:43:39.120 --> 00:43:40.590 Let's pray for them. 450 00:43:41.520 --> 00:43:42.990 Let's pray for them. 451 00:43:43.600 --> 00:43:46.110 Let's pray for comfort and peace of Jesus Christ. 452 00:43:47.600 --> 00:44:01.570 But above all of those things, above them all, can we pray that there would be a work of God that would happen and would move. 453 00:44:02.440 --> 00:44:13.220 Because the Bible tells us that every tribe, every nation, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus Christ is lord, can we pray? 454 00:44:14.120 --> 00:44:15.400 Could we pray? 455 00:44:16.380 --> 00:44:18.330 And I want to challenge you with this. 456 00:44:19.820 --> 00:44:25.432 If your heart is filled with hatred, let me say this. 457 00:44:25.486 --> 00:44:27.870 I get it, I understand. 458 00:44:29.760 --> 00:44:31.310 I've felt that. 459 00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:45.280 Could you confess it to the Lord and ask him to take that from you and to give a heart of love and a heart of compassion? 460 00:44:46.660 --> 00:44:48.000 Here's the truth. 461 00:44:49.620 --> 00:44:52.950 There is not a single lost person. 462 00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:58.500 In this world that deserves Jesus. 463 00:45:00.440 --> 00:45:04.310 But there's not a single saved person in this room who deserved him either. 464 00:45:05.260 --> 00:45:08.840 But God is good and he is faithful. 465 00:45:09.580 --> 00:45:11.400 Would you join me in prayer? 466 00:45:12.540 --> 00:45:14.570 God, I come to you this morning. 467 00:45:15.980 --> 00:45:25.870 God, I can't make heads or tails of why things are going the way that things are going. 468 00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:29.420 Lord, I know the sinfulness of man. 469 00:45:29.490 --> 00:45:31.344 In the pursuits of our heart. 470 00:45:31.542 --> 00:45:37.440 Lord, I pray against those who desire death and evil. 471 00:45:38.660 --> 00:45:46.100 Lord, I pray against those whose motives are driven by hate. 472 00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:50.950 Lord, I pray for your peace to ring true. 473 00:45:51.720 --> 00:45:58.740 Lord, I pray for the work of God to happen and to take place and Lord, to spread like a wildfire. 474 00:45:58.820 --> 00:46:09.144 Lord, I thank you that right now, today, that in the country of Iraq is the fastest growing church movement in the world. 475 00:46:09.342 --> 00:46:12.924 And I celebrate you for that because that's only what you can do. 476 00:46:13.042 --> 00:46:19.480 Lord, we live in a country that will pack megachurches full of people who claim to follow Jesus. 477 00:46:19.560 --> 00:46:27.708 But there will be a group of men and women who it could cost them their life to profess Christ as their Lord and savior. 478 00:46:27.804 --> 00:46:31.808 And Lord, they will do it over and over and over again. 479 00:46:31.894 --> 00:46:33.200 And I thank you for that. 480 00:46:33.270 --> 00:46:41.360 Lord, may the impact of that church may the impact of your global church, lord, reign and rule all over that region. 481 00:46:41.440 --> 00:47:00.910 Lord, I pray right now for the men and the women who are the believers in India, lord, who believers in China who are believers in North Korea, lord, who are believers in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Malaysia and Indonesia, lord, who simply by owning a bible, could cost them their life. 482 00:47:01.440 --> 00:47:06.440 Lord, I pray for their boldness of faith, lord, I pray for the believers in Israel. 483 00:47:06.520 --> 00:47:22.720 I pray for the believers in Gaza, lord, that the light of Jesus Christ would shine from them, that the message of the goodness of God would radiate from them, lord, and the hearts that we think are unsavable, lord, would be saved for your name and for your glory. 484 00:47:23.620 --> 00:47:27.252 Lord, we pray for the peace of. 485 00:47:27.306 --> 00:47:34.020 Jesus Christ or be with our soldiers, be with our leaders. 486 00:47:35.260 --> 00:47:47.530 May we make decisions as a people and as a country that bring praise and honor and glory to your name. 487 00:47:48.940 --> 00:47:50.708 It's in Jesus name we pray. 488 00:47:50.884 --> 00:47:51.800 Amen. 489 00:47:56.640 --> 00:48:01.144 Thanks again for listening and be sure to check back next week for another episode. 490 00:48:01.272 --> 00:48:08.920 In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willowridge Church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.