Introduction:
Romans 4:1-3 - What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)
When I Believe God's Promises (Hebrews 11:8-19):
- I don't need all the Details . (Heb 11:8)
John 10:27 - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
- I'm willing to Wait . (Heb 11:9-10)
- I'm focused on God's Ability , not mine. (Heb 11:11-12)
- I take the Long view. (Heb 11:13-16)
- I Obey even when it's hard. (Heb 11:17-19)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:49-00:51
Let's bow our heads and I'm gonna ask you pray for me.
00:53-00:54
I'll pray for you.
00:54-00:59
We're approaching the word of God and this is really serious, right?
01:00-01:09
And let's just pray that our hearts would be open to receive it and again, pray for me to be faithful to communicate it accurately.
01:10-01:10
Let's pray.
01:12-01:14
Father, we're approaching your word right now.
01:17-01:21
This is what you have given to us to reveal who you are.
01:23-01:27
What you've done and how you call us to respond.
01:29-01:33
So I pray, Father, that our hearts and minds would be tuned in.
01:33-01:38
I was gonna say I pray against any distractions, but there's always distractions.
01:41-01:42
We can't help that.
01:43-01:50
What we can help is what our heart and mind and eyes are focused on.
01:52-01:53
Let it be on you, Father.
01:54-01:55
We pray in Jesus' name.
01:55-01:58
And all of God's people said, amen.
01:58-02:03
All right, how many of you this past week have been practicing drawing the lion?
02:05-02:06
How many of you have?
02:07-02:07
Come on, don't be shy.
02:08-02:11
So I know some of you have because you told me, and now you don't want to admit it in the group.
02:12-02:13
So, all right, we'll do it again then.
02:14-02:16
All right, this is what we talked about last week.
02:17-02:20
To draw a line, you just gotta draw three diamonds, right?
02:20-02:22
And the more you do this, the better you get at it, right?
02:22-02:25
So you draw an X, right?
02:26-02:27
Are you doing this with me?
02:27-02:30
I know you're drawing your bulletin like during the sermon anyways.
02:31-02:32
So don't pretend that you don't.
02:33-02:35
And then another one here like that.
02:39-02:42
I've been working on this because Miss Debbie says I need art lessons.
02:44-02:47
OK, and then remember we draw the two circles here, right?
02:48-02:50
And then this little area here we fill in.
02:52-02:52
All right?
02:53-02:54
He's looking a little-- he's leaning.
02:55-02:56
You try to talk and draw.
02:57-02:58
It's not easy.
02:58-03:00
All right, then we draw that there.
03:00-03:01
All right?
03:01-03:03
Oh, then we got to finish the diamond up, right?
03:03-03:11
So there's this here, and there's this here, And then the top of these diamonds here, right?
03:13-03:22
And then this, the purpose of this is that it gives you perspective and it shows you where the ears and eyes are in proportion to each other.
03:22-03:27
His nose is a little crooked, but you know, it's scarf and the Lion King, right?
03:27-03:29
So, all right.
03:31-03:45
But that's what we've been studying here in Hebrews chapter 11 is I can tell you this is what a lion looks like, or I could show you here's how you draw one, right?
03:45-03:49
And in Hebrews 11, he tells us, he's talking about faith.
03:49-03:59
He says, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, "the conviction of things not seen." And we use that word around here all the time.
03:59-04:01
Have faith, have faith, you gotta have faith.
04:02-04:04
Faith is what matters, you gotta have faith.
04:04-04:07
And you're like, "Well, what does that even mean to have faith?
04:07-04:21
What does that mean?" And well, this is what the Hebrew writer is doing, is he's saying, "Let me show you what it looks like to actually have faith," right?
04:23-04:29
So what he does is he takes us back to the Old Testament and he gives us examples.
04:29-04:33
Here are people that had faith.
04:33-04:36
Look at what they did.
04:37-04:41
And that shows you what faith looks like.
04:41-04:50
Because again, review from last week, I could define faith for you, right?
04:51-04:58
And you could Google faith and get a million results, but that's not why you're here.
05:00-05:04
We're seeking the Lord, we're self-examining, we're asking, do I have faith?
05:05-05:05
Right?
05:08-05:23
And last week we talked about Abel, we talked about Enoch, we talked about Noah, we saw how faith, we saw faith rather worshiped, walked and worked.
05:24-05:35
So if you're going in your Old Testament, after Abel, after Enoch, after Noah, who's the next big character that shows up in the Old Testament?
05:37-05:38
It's Abraham, right?
05:39-05:40
And that's where we're going.
05:41-05:45
Genesis 12, we're talking about 2000 BC.
05:46-05:57
And this would have been really important to the Jews that were receiving this letter because Abraham was the father of Israel.
05:57-05:59
He was the first Jew.
05:59-06:04
Abraham, if you'll pardon the expression, he was sort of like their George Washington, right?
06:07-06:15
And the Hebrew right here is proving the point that salvation is by faith.
06:15-06:19
And that checks out even to father Abraham, right?
06:19-06:22
This is a New Testament example we see throughout.
06:22-06:26
Like look what Paul says in Romans four about Abraham.
06:28-06:29
Do we have those verses?
06:31-06:32
Oh, there they are.
06:32-06:33
I thought we did.
06:33-06:38
It says, "What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, "our forefather according to the flesh?
06:38-06:45
"For if Abraham was justified by works, "he has something to boast about, "but not before God.
06:48-06:53
For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
06:53-06:59
And then I added that citation, Eric Paul quoted Genesis 15, 6.
07:00-07:07
So the Hebrew writer here is showing how faith was demonstrated by Abraham.
07:08-07:10
And here's the word of the day, ready?
07:12-07:20
The word is promise, because as we go through this passage, you're going to see this word at least five times.
07:22-07:27
And here it is. This is the short version of the sermon.
07:31-07:38
You have real faith when your life revolves around God's promise.
07:41-07:43
I'm gonna say that again, this is the short version.
07:44-07:47
If you're like, I only want the short version of the sermon, here it is.
07:47-07:51
Your, oh, excuse me, you have real faith.
07:54-08:00
You have real faith when your life revolves around God's promises.
08:02-08:05
And if all you want is a short version, you can go, you're loved.
08:07-08:14
But if you're like, my Mother's Day lunch isn't for a little while, I have some time, I'd like to hear the rest of it, okay.
08:16-08:18
I'll unpack that a little bit for you.
08:19-08:22
You have real faith when your life revolves around God's promises.
08:24-08:27
You wanna talk about a real world example of life revolving around promises?
08:28-08:30
Look at an engaged woman.
08:33-08:36
An engaged woman has the ring, right?
08:37-08:44
An engaged woman gets on Facebook 70 times a day with the countdown.
08:46-08:51
You know, the wedding is in 281 days, five hours, 16 minutes, 30 seconds, right?
08:52-08:56
An engaged woman sends out the save the date.
08:56-08:59
And then right after that, she sends out the wedding invitation.
09:00-09:06
She lines up the venue, she lines up the caterer, she has to get the dress, and we're planning the honeymoon.
09:07-09:09
Why does she do all of this?
09:13-09:17
Because her life revolves around a promise.
09:18-09:19
Oh, she has to get a flower girl too, right?
09:20-09:21
She has to get a flower girl.
09:22-09:25
Her life revolves around a promise.
09:25-09:32
And the engaged woman obviously lives as if she believes the promise, right?
09:33-09:35
She's consumed by it.
09:35-09:37
Everything in her life is about this promise.
09:40-09:43
And that's what we're going to learn from Abraham today.
09:48-09:49
Do you believe God's promises?
09:52-09:54
Do you believe God's promises?
09:54-09:56
Do you believe God's word is true?
09:56-10:01
Do you believe God is actually going to do what he said he's going to do?
10:01-10:02
Do you believe that?
10:05-10:11
then your life is going to be shaped by how much you believe that.
10:13-10:13
Right?
10:13-10:24
So on your outline from the life of Abraham, when I believe God's promises, when I believe God's promises, number one, write this down, I don't need all the details.
10:26-10:29
When I believe God's promises, I don't need all the details.
10:31-10:42
Look at verse eight, it says, by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.
10:42-10:45
That's the promised land, Canaan, Israel.
10:48-10:49
Look at this, here it is.
10:49-10:53
And he went out not knowing where he was going.
10:55-11:00
He obeyed and went out not knowing where he was going.
11:02-11:05
And it didn't bother Abraham.
11:08-11:11
Your Bible just says that he went out regardless.
11:15-11:17
Like Abraham, where's God taking you?
11:17-11:20
And Abraham says, I don't know, but we'll find out when we get there, right?
11:21-11:22
We have to start here.
11:22-11:25
This is where the Hebrew writer starts with Abraham, because this is where we struggle.
11:27-11:30
I want all the information first, right?
11:31-11:32
How many people are with me on that?
11:33-11:34
I want all the information first.
11:35-11:40
Like for example, I was thinking this week about this building search that we're on.
11:40-11:43
We're trying to find a place of our own.
11:44-11:49
And you would be great as if the Lord just gave us all that information on the front end.
11:50-11:51
Wouldn't that be awesome?
11:52-11:57
If the Lord was just like, here you go, I got it all written out here, right here for you.
11:59-12:04
That the Lord was like, here, this is going to explain everything.
12:07-12:12
This is going to explain where you're going to go, the address of the place, here's a picture of it.
12:12-12:15
This explains where the money's going to come from and how the work's getting done.
12:20-12:26
I just, I wish God would just, I wish he would have told me that stuff like yesterday.
12:29-12:31
But you know God doesn't do that.
12:36-12:39
Why doesn't God front load the information?
12:40-12:42
You know, he could have just told Abraham, right?
12:43-12:46
Like here's a picture of the place and here's what it's gonna look like.
12:46-12:49
And he can do that for us.
12:49-12:50
Here's the building, here's the address.
12:51-12:52
Why doesn't he front load it?
12:55-12:55
Here's why.
12:59-13:10
If God gave us all of the information up front, we would plow ahead and think that we didn't need him.
13:11-13:14
That's why, right?
13:17-13:24
Hypothetically, like if God did say, okay, here's the address and here's where we're going And here's, and okay, God, you know what?
13:25-13:25
This sounds great.
13:27-13:30
We'll check back in with you when we move in, right?
13:35-13:40
We would lose the moment by moment dependence in the journey.
13:41-13:43
That's why God doesn't tell us everything up front.
13:44-13:47
We talked last week about Enoch walking with God.
13:47-13:48
It's step by step.
13:49-13:54
And God wants us to trust Him and seek Him with every step.
13:56-13:56
Right?
13:56-13:59
Jesus described our walk with God this way.
13:59-14:00
I love this.
14:00-14:16
John 10, 27 says, "My sheep hear my voice." This is Jesus saying, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me." You see, Jesus is the shepherd and we are the sheep.
14:16-14:17
And here's the thing about sheep.
14:19-14:20
Sheep don't get an itinerary.
14:23-14:28
Sheep literally have one job, and that is to follow the shepherd.
14:33-14:35
You know, we can sit around saying, "What's going to happen tomorrow?
14:35-14:36
What's going to happen next month?
14:37-14:43
What's going to happen next year?" And people say, "Pastor Jeff, what's your five-year plan?" And they're shocked when I tell them what my five-year plan is.
14:43-14:50
"I don't have one." Here's my plan, you ready?
14:51-14:55
My plan is to try to follow Jesus today, just today.
14:55-15:02
And if he gives me tomorrow, I have the same plan.
15:05-15:07
I'm gonna seek to follow him tomorrow too.
15:08-15:11
But like Abraham, you're not gonna get all the details.
15:12-15:14
And faith says, you know what?
15:16-15:18
I don't need to know all the details.
15:19-15:21
Just gonna follow the shepherd, right?
15:22-15:25
So when I believe God's promises, number two, I'm willing to wait.
15:28-15:28
I'm willing to wait.
15:28-15:30
Look at verses nine and 10.
15:31-15:50
It says, "By faith, he went to live in a land of promise "As in a foreign land, living in tents "with Isaac and Jacob, "heirs with him of the same promise.
15:53-16:02
"For he was looking forward to the city "that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." Do you see that?
16:03-16:04
He ended up in the land but living in tents.
16:04-16:05
How many people like camping?
16:06-16:07
Raise your hand if you like camping.
16:08-16:09
I hate camping.
16:10-16:10
Hate it.
16:11-16:12
I just hate camping.
16:14-16:16
All right, living in a little fabric house in the woods.
16:19-16:21
Eating outside like a raccoon.
16:23-16:23
Pass.
16:24-16:26
Hey, if that's your thing, I'm not judging you.
16:26-16:29
If that's your thing, go camp.
16:29-16:32
I'm just saying, it's just not mine.
16:33-16:34
It is just not my thing.
16:35-16:36
But that's how Abraham ended up.
16:37-16:37
Look at this.
16:38-16:42
He was in the land, but he didn't possess the land.
16:43-16:50
And maybe you're familiar with the story, but famine brought the Israelites to Egypt, remember, end of Genesis.
16:50-16:58
And then Egypt started, or I'm sorry, Israel started growing in Egypt and then they enslaved them and God raised up Moses to lead them out.
16:59-17:04
And then you get to the book of Joshua where Israel eventually enters the land that God promised to Abraham.
17:04-17:13
But for Abraham, he was given a promise that he didn't receive right away.
17:14-17:15
He had to wait.
17:17-17:22
Do you realize we right now, right this second, we are in the exact same boat as Abraham.
17:24-17:28
Because we are, you know the Bible says that we're going to inherit the earth?
17:30-17:33
That someday this world's going to be ours, but it's not yet.
17:34-17:36
Right now we're kind of like Abraham.
17:36-17:48
We've sort of pitched a tent in a place where we don't belong yet, but we will get someday.
17:50-17:51
So what did Abraham do?
17:52-17:52
What did he do?
17:52-17:53
What did he do?
17:54-17:54
What do we do?
17:56-17:57
We wait.
18:01-18:02
Waiting stinks, doesn't it?
18:04-18:06
Show of hands, how many people like waiting?
18:06-18:08
Nobody likes waiting.
18:09-18:10
Nobody likes waiting, right?
18:11-18:13
Tom Petty said it was the hardest part, right?
18:14-18:19
And especially for us Americans, look, we don't wait on anything, do we?
18:20-18:28
We are the people that stand in front of the microwave and go, "What's taking this thing so long?" Right?
18:28-18:36
We are the people that we order something from Amazon, click check out and then we go to our window to see if they're putting it on our front porch.
18:37-18:38
We don't wait.
18:39-18:41
We don't wait, right?
18:42-18:44
And everybody's got jokes about the DMV.
18:44-18:46
Why do people hate the DMV so much?
18:46-18:47
Tell me, why do people hate?
18:48-18:50
Because you go there and wait.
18:52-18:54
And they're really friendly while you wait, but you go there and wait.
18:56-18:58
But we hate waiting, don't we?
18:59-19:00
We hate it.
19:03-19:10
Do you know the Bible says to wait on the Lord something like 116 times?
19:15-19:26
And here's the thing that Abraham learned, and gosh, I'm still learning, but it's this, faith in God's promises includes trusting his schedule.
19:28-19:29
See that's the challenge.
19:30-19:31
What's the proving ground?
19:35-19:39
Is the proof of faith is really enduring, right?
19:46-19:48
Are you willing to be faithful while you wait?
19:49-19:51
That's the challenge.
19:53-19:55
Like, well, why does God make us wait?
19:56-19:57
It seems a little cruel, doesn't it?
19:59-20:02
I mean, could God just give me everything He's promised me right now?
20:03-20:04
Yeah, He could, He could.
20:05-20:06
Like, why doesn't He?
20:07-20:08
I'm gonna tell you, this is a whole nother sermon.
20:09-20:11
Ah, I'm just gonna say this though.
20:12-20:13
Do you know what He's doing right now?
20:15-20:20
In the waiting, He's preparing you for when He does give it to you.
20:22-20:23
That's why we wait.
20:26-20:27
There's so much more I wanna say about that.
20:29-20:31
That'll be another sermon though, someday.
20:32-20:32
Here's what I wanna say today.
20:33-20:34
God's promises happen on his timetable.
20:35-20:41
And when I believe God's promises, I'm willing to wait, right?
20:43-20:48
Number three, when I believe God's promises, I'm focused on God's ability, not mine.
20:49-20:49
Write that down.
20:50-20:51
I'm focused on God's ability, not mine.
20:52-20:54
Look at verses 11 and 12.
20:54-21:04
It says, "By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
21:06-21:19
Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants, as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
21:22-21:25
When I believe God's promises, I'm focused on God's ability, not mine.
21:27-21:28
I love this.
21:28-21:34
The Bible describes Abraham being old as being as good as dead.
21:36-21:37
Like, ouch.
21:38-21:40
Like, Abraham was old.
21:40-21:40
How old was he?
21:40-21:42
Yeah, he was as good as dead.
21:45-21:49
And this, I guess this is appropriate for Mother's Day, but you see how Sarah's described?
21:49-21:51
She's just past the age.
21:53-21:54
Oh, that sounds lovely.
21:54-21:55
(congregation laughing)
21:56-21:59
She wasn't old, she was past the age.
21:59-22:00
You can use that.
22:02-22:14
But here's the thing, God's promise to Abraham was land and people, and Abraham had no children because he was old.
22:14-22:16
How old is good as dead, right?
22:16-22:18
When Abraham was a kid, the Dead Sea was only sick.
22:18-22:21
That's how old Abraham was.
22:22-22:23
He had no kids.
22:25-22:27
But interestingly, this is so interesting.
22:27-22:35
I had to really study this a lot this week because it says that Sarah considered him faithful who had promised.
22:41-22:42
Sarah considered him faithful who had promised.
22:43-22:45
And I went back and reread that account in Genesis.
22:45-22:47
And I'm like, not at first, you did.
22:48-22:48
Not at first.
22:50-22:54
'Cause when you read the account, Remember the story, Sarah doubted.
22:54-22:58
In fact, when God said, you're gonna have a baby, the Bible says she laughed.
23:02-23:07
Here's the thing, God does fulfill his promise to those who believe, that's true.
23:09-23:13
But like us too often, Abraham and Sarah were slow to get this.
23:14-23:18
That God makes a promise, and we think that it's our job to help him out.
23:22-23:30
And if you study the account, do you see how desperate Sarah got to help God out?
23:32-23:37
She got so desperate, she had her husband make a baby with another woman.
23:39-23:41
That is like the ultimate in desperation.
23:48-23:55
You see, when God calls us to do something, we're just so tempted, like I am, to take that burden on ourselves.
24:00-24:09
And the world doesn't help, because the world's advice is, you need, if you want something, you gotta believe in yourself, right?
24:10-24:11
You gotta believe in yourself.
24:11-24:14
And that is such a huge fail, believe in yourself.
24:14-24:16
Like, what does that even mean?
24:17-24:18
Believe in yourself?
24:20-24:21
Such a fail.
24:22-24:23
You're right, Pastor Jeff.
24:23-24:29
I'm glad that kind of creeping doesn't, I'm glad that kind of thinking, excuse me, doesn't creep into the church.
24:30-24:32
I'm really thankful for that, that we don't think that way in the church.
24:34-24:34
Oh, we sure do.
24:36-24:38
Like the Word of Faith movement.
24:38-24:40
You familiar with the Word of Faith movement?
24:43-24:44
It's name it and claim it.
24:45-24:47
And if you speak it, it'll happen.
24:49-24:50
There's a problem with that.
24:51-24:53
There's a huge problem with that.
24:55-25:02
Many years ago, our family attended a very large church in this area.
25:03-25:04
You're like, which one?
25:05-25:05
You wanna know which one?
25:06-25:08
I'm not gonna tell you, but it was a very large church in this area.
25:09-25:13
And I remember the preacher got up, and this was the gist of the sermon.
25:14-25:18
He said, "Every prayer is answered yes.
25:18-25:21
Everything you ask God, the answer is yes, everything.
25:22-25:23
God answers every prayer yes.
25:24-25:33
The answer to every prayer is yes and amen." I'm like, "Well, I gotta hear this." And the text that he preached from was the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.
25:35-25:37
Do you know what the parable of the sower is about?
25:38-25:38
Not prayer.
25:40-25:41
(laughing)
25:43-25:47
but that certainly did not stop him from butchering the text.
25:48-26:00
But the sermon was, if for some reason you don't get exactly what you want, then maybe you're shallow hearted, maybe you're hard hearted, maybe your heart's full of weeds.
26:00-26:05
And the parable of the sower describes for us why prayer isn't answered.
26:09-26:18
So I remember while he's preaching, you know, Aaron looked over at me "You know, guys, when you're married long enough, "you can tell exactly what your wife's thinking "with a look, you know what I'm talking?
26:18-26:19
"Yeah, Dan, you know what I'm talking about.
26:19-26:23
"Your wife looks at you and you're like, "I know everything Alicia's thinking right now." That was me in that moment.
26:24-26:30
Aaron looked at me, and I'm like, "All right, get your stuff, we're out of here." And it really bothered me.
26:31-26:40
And what bothered me was the place was packed to the rafters, and all these people were hanging on this message of God's going to give me every single thing that I ask for.
26:41-26:42
Like, God, that just bothers me.
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So, I called the church.
26:46-27:06
I'm like, "Can I talk to the pastor?" And they're like, "Well, you can't just call and talk to...you can't just call and talk to the pastor." I'm like, "I can talk to the God of the universe anytime I want, but I can't talk to this guy?" Like, "Who is he?" They're like, "You can talk to one of our associate pastors." I'm like, "Fine.
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You know what associate pastors are."
27:09-27:11
(congregation laughing)
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You're laughing because it's true.
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So they put me on with some associate pastor and I said, "Hey, our family was at church Sunday." And I said, "I'm just really bothered by the message.
27:32-27:35
"God gives everything you ask for in prayer." Absolutely he does.
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"Everything I ask for, God's gonna give me." That's true.
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And I'm like, I struggle with that.
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He goes, why?
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I said, 2 Corinthians 12.
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I said, Paul had this thorn in the flesh.
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And he said, I asked the Lord three times to remove it.
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I said, do you remember what the answer was?
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I said, God said no.
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He says, my grace is sufficient for you for power is made perfect in weakness.
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I said, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, you know, the greatest missionary of all time.
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He didn't get a yes to his prayer.
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And I'll never forget what this pastor said to me.
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He said, "Oh," he said, "Paul had the power to remove that thorn, not God." And I'm like, wait, I'm like, you said that backwards.
28:26-28:27
(congregation laughing)
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Let me say that again.
28:28-28:29
Like, what?
28:29-28:49
He goes, "No, no, Paul had the power to remove the thorn, "not God." I said, "Huh." I said, "What kind of whacked out theology "teaches that God locks in the power to do anything?" And it turned into one of those, we get to agree to disagree kind of things.
28:49-28:55
And I'm like, (sighs) my point in that is you see the problem.
28:58-29:03
You see the problem with that kind of theology, where does the power lie?
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I mean, he just flat out said it.
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It's not in God.
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"and made." See the problem?
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You start to have faith in yourself.
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You start to think that you have some kind of power that you don't have.
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You know what you are?
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You're water and dirt.
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God put his spirit in you.
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God gave you the breath of life, yes.
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You do not have power.
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God has the power.
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And you see, Abraham and Sarah, I think at first they put their faith more in themselves, but they learned, and that's what he's talking about here.
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She considered him faithful and promised.
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They learned just as we need to be learning, as I need to be learning, we must consider God faithful.
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And that means not focusing on our ability, been focusing on God's ability.
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He made the promise, he's gonna make it happen, right?
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That's how faith works at the end of the day.
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God made the promise, God will fulfill the promise.
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He does not need my help, all right?
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Number four, when I believe God's promises, number four, I take the long view.
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Look at verse 13.
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It says, "These all died in faith, "Not having received the things promised." Stop there, these all died in faith.
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That's Abraham, that's Sarah, that's Isaac, that's Jacob.
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They all died in faith, but it says they didn't receive the things promised.
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Like, wouldn't that be a fail?
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If you've made a promise and it doesn't happen, isn't that a fail?
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Nope, because they knew the best was yet to come.
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again, because they were willing to wait.
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Look at, pick up there in verse 13.
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It says, "But having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, for people who speak thus, make it clear that they are seeking a homeland." If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return, But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.
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Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city.
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The Bible says they saw the promises from afar.
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And you're like, how afar were they?
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Like all the way to heaven afar, right?
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All the way to heaven.
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We just talked about waiting.
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This is the companion piece to that.
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We're able to wait when we take the long view.
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Like Abraham, like Isaac, like Jacob, taking the long view is what motivates me to wait faithfully.
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Because like Abraham, we have a promise.
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We have a promise of the long view, don't we?
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The greatest verse in the Bible, in my opinion, is Revelation 21 five.
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It says, "Then he who sat on the throne "said, 'Behold, I'm making all things new.' "Also he said, 'Write this down, "'for these words are trustworthy and true.'" That is a long view promise, And I get to tell you, church, I cling to that every day.
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I recite that out loud almost every single day, sometimes many times a day.
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Because that reminds me, the glorious promise that things will not always be as they are now.
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That's why it's hard to wait.
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Because sometimes it seems like things aren't changing.
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This is how it is.
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This is what my life is and it's never gonna change.
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I have it on really good authority that someday everything is going to be new.
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You know, I went to the eye doctor last week.
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First time in, I don't know what, Aaron, 10 years, 15 years.
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It's been so long, I could not tell you even what year it was.
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It's been forever.
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So I went to the eye doctor and she said, "I have a cataract." A cataract!
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Oh, you're laughing.
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Laughing at my pain.
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Well, do you know, last November, I went to my doctor.
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I have this ringing in my ears.
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It is so loud, and it is all the time.
34:26-34:33
It's like, weeeeee, all the time.
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Weeeeee, eeeeee, all-- you're like, dude, that's annoying.
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Yeah!
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Yes, it's annoying.
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I know.
34:47-34:49
I have a degenerated spine.
34:51-34:53
You're like, why are you telling us all this?
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Because I'm so excited.
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Things are not always going to be as they are now.
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Things are not always going to be as they are now, not for my health.
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And you know the struggles of health that I have in my family.
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Things are not always going to be as they are now.
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Because Jesus said, he's making all things new.
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Can I take the long view?
35:19-35:24
Can I take the long view and stop whining about my cataracts and spine and eee!
35:24-35:25
Can I take the long view?
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Can I take the long view and I'm tempted to lament at the health problems that my family has?
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Say things aren't always going to be as they are now.
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And then we turn on the TV and there's just, there's so much corruption.
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and there's people that are mocking God.
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And I'm reminded that things will not always be as they are now.
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There's violence on all scales, whether it's war in Ukraine or a shooting at a picnic in Pittsburgh.
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Things will not always be as they are now.
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You realize someday that's all gonna be history because Jesus promised that he's making all things new.
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That's why when people ask me, hey, how are you doing?
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I have the same answer.
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How are you doing?
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I always say, not as good as I'm gonna be.
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Especially if you're at a store, restaurant or whatever, that throws people off.
36:36-36:37
Like, hey, how are you doing today?
36:37-36:39
I'm like, not as good as I'm gonna be.
36:39-36:40
And they're like, why?
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And I tell them, I said, I'm going to heaven and it's gonna be awesome.
36:50-36:58
And there's gonna be a few bumps and bruises along the way, but I'm taking the long view, right?
36:59-37:08
And then finally, number five, when I believe God's promises, I obey even when it's hard.
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I obey even when it's hard.
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By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.
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And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said through Isaac, "Shall your offspring be named." He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
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Just stop there.
37:57-38:00
When I believe God's promises, I obey even when it's hard.
38:01-38:03
Now we're up at Genesis 22.
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Abraham was told to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
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That sort of begs the question, doesn't it?
38:14-38:15
Like, wait, wait, wait.
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How is Abraham supposed to receive this promise of God if the child through whom the promise was supposed to come is supposed to be sacrificed?
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I would have asked that.
38:31-38:34
I would have been like, "Hang on, hang on, back up, God.
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You want me to do what now?" But the Bible doesn't say that Abraham did that.
38:42-38:47
Again, I went back and I read these accounts as I'm studying, and you know what I saw?
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I saw Abraham didn't question God.
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He just obeyed.
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He just obeyed.
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God says, "You know that son I gave you?
39:03-39:18
Give him back." And Abraham said, "Okay." Okay. Well, if you don't know the story, Abraham had the knife up, he's about to sacrifice Isaac, and then he was stopped.
39:20-39:25
God stopped him and God provided a ram caught in the thicket by his horns to be sacrificed instead.
39:25-39:28
And he revealed that this was all a test of Abraham's faith.
39:28-39:30
And you're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, Pastor Jeff.
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You mean to tell me that God didn't know if Abraham had faith, So God had to have Abraham go through this test so God could learn if Abraham had faith.
39:44-39:45
No, no, no, no.
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The test wasn't for God.
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The test was for Abraham.
39:55-40:01
You see, God was saying to Abraham, "Once upon a time, you laid everything down to follow me.
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Are you willing to do it again?" And the proof of faith is obedience, right?
40:10-40:12
The proof of faith is obedience.
40:13-40:19
Obedience, it's no sweat when it's easy, right?
40:20-40:21
It's no sweat when it's easy.
40:22-40:36
Like if I say, "Finish your ice cream, "finish your ice cream." You're like, "All right, I'll finish my ice cream." Like obedience is no sweat then, And obedience is no sweat when it makes sense.
40:36-40:40
And I'm like, "Hey, you need to disciple your kids." You're like, "Well, yeah, I guess I do.
40:40-40:53
"That makes sense, 'cause if I don't, somebody else will." Here's the thing, if you only obeyed when it made sense or felt good or was easy, you wouldn't need faith.
40:55-40:58
The evidence of real faith is this.
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This is incredibly difficult, what God's calling me to do, but I trust Him, so I'm going to do it.
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That's evidence of real faith.
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I love this passage because it shows that Abraham had the best reasoning out of anybody in the Bible outside of Jesus himself.
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Just imagine for a second that you're Abraham.
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Can you kind of put yourself in his shoes for a second?
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That God says, yeah, the son that I gave you, now I want you to offer him to me as a burnt offering.
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I want you to sacrifice.
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I want you to kill your son.
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And you would be like, wait, wait, wait.
41:56-41:59
Sacrifice Isaac, that doesn't make any sense.
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So how would you reason that out?
42:07-42:08
How would you reason that out?
42:09-42:10
If you were like, okay, all right, all right.
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Let's just map this out here.
42:15-42:18
Like, okay, so God gave me this son, right?
42:20-42:24
And then now God says, kill the son.
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That's a knife, it's not a very sharp one.
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Therefore, okay, so God gave me a son.
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Now God says, kill the son.
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Okay, so now I have a son who's dead.
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How would you reason that out?
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Maybe, no, you know what?
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Maybe God lied.
42:57-43:00
Maybe this wasn't the son that the promises were gonna come through.
43:00-43:01
Maybe God lied.
43:01-43:04
Or, you know, maybe I don't wanna call God a liar.
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Maybe God was mistaken.
43:09-43:16
Maybe he said Ishmael and I heard Isaac, or how would you reason that out?
43:19-43:20
How would you reason that?
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Do you see what your Bible says?
43:31-43:32
Look at verse 19 again.
43:34-43:41
It says, "He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead." Do you see Abraham's reasoning?
43:42-43:44
Abraham's like, "Okay, let me map this out here.
43:44-43:54
Okay, God gave me a son." God says, "Now give him back, but this is the son that the promises are gonna come through.
43:54-44:03
So if this is the son the promises and I kill the son, oh, then that must mean that God's able to raise the dead.
44:03-44:07
Oh, that's the only thing that makes sense.
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And church, we need to reason like Abraham to say this.
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Look, God's calling me to obey him on something right now.
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And it is incredibly hard and it doesn't make sense.
44:24-44:32
We need to learn to say, hey, when that happens, Hey, let's get the popcorn because that means God's about to do something awesome.
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That was Abraham's reasoning.
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It needs to be ours.
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You see, faith obeys God.
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It proves that we love him because it shows that we trust him.
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Like, and why should I trust him?
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I'll tell you why.
44:57-45:21
Do you know, 2000 years after the Isaac incident, in the exact same spot that Abraham took Isaac, another son was brought to be sacrificed by his father.
45:25-45:28
But that time, you know, it wasn't called off at the last second.
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That time it wasn't a test.
45:36-45:38
That time there was no ram caught in the thicket.
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But that time a father did sacrifice his son so that your sins could be forgiven.
45:52-45:53
(congregation laughing)
45:57-45:58
Faith obeys God.
46:01-46:07
You know, many years ago, a very popular TV preacher came out with a book called Your Best Life Now.
46:08-46:12
And I was thinking about that this week as I was studying through this.
46:12-46:33
And I thought, you know, I imagine if Abraham was like at the bookstore and saw this book, I imagine he'd just kind of roll his eyes the title "Your Best Life Now," I think Abraham would be like, "Nah, how about, 'Your Best Life is Yet to Come'?" I don't need the details.
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I'll wait.
46:36-46:44
I'll keep my eyes on God, and I'm going to take the long view, and I'm going to obey, even when it's hard.
46:46-46:46
Let's pray.
46:48-47:05
in heaven. It's one thing to examine a life on a page, but God, I pray that this is moving us and motivating us to examine our own lives.
47:08-47:09
(congregation laughing)
47:16-47:41
My God, I'm sure every single person in this room and watching this stream and downloading the podcast or whatever later, I'm sure every single person would say, "I have faith." But Father, I pray that your spirit would drive this home, that we would ask ourselves, "Do I have faith like Abraham?" Because God, I confess to you, sometimes I don't.
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But I pray, Father, that you would increase our faith as the disciples said to Jesus.
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And in so doing, Father, as Dan prayed earlier, show us any area of our lives where we just need to obey, not get all the details, not figure everything out, I'll try to reason around it, but just clearly obey whatever it is you're calling us to do.
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And to trust you with whatever comes from it.
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Thank you, Father, for the example of Abraham.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 11:8-19
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why doesn’t God give us His whole plan for our lives up front (Heb 11:8)? What are the benefits of “not knowing where we are going”?
What does it mean to “wait on the Lord”? Why do you think we struggle with that? What should we actually be doing while we wait?
Tell of a time you’ve obeyed God when obeying was extremely difficult. What motivated you to obey God?
Breakout
Pray for one another.