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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you

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Speaker 2: listening with us. Today's topic is about believing the word

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Speaker 2: the Lord has spoken. We'll return with the devotional after

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Speaker 2: a brief message from our sponsors. Believe the Word the

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Speaker 2: Lord has Spoken, Written and read by Hannah Benson. Now,

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Speaker 2: the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and

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Speaker 2: your kindred and your father's house, to the land that

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Speaker 2: I will show you that will make of you a

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Speaker 2: great nation. And I will bless you and make your

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Speaker 2: name great, so that you will be a blessing. Bless

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Speaker 2: those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I

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Speaker 2: will curse, and and you all the families of the

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Speaker 2: earth shall be blessed. Genesis twelve one through three ESB.

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Speaker 2: Recently I reread Abraham's story through new eyes. Isn't it

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Speaker 2: amazing how we can read the same stories in scripture

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Speaker 2: again and again, Yet every time we read them, the

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Speaker 2: Lord will often reveal things we've never realized before. God

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Speaker 2: called Abraham. Then called Abram to leave his homeland and

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Speaker 2: everything he knew and was familiar with, to go to

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Speaker 2: a land that he would show him. How did Abraham

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Speaker 2: feel about that was he afraid at all, excited probably both,

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Speaker 2: but regardless of how he felt, Note that he stepped

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Speaker 2: forward in faith even though he didn't have all the answers.

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Speaker 2: Read that again. If God calls us to do something,

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Speaker 2: we must step forward in faith even if we don't

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Speaker 2: have all the answers. In fact, I have found that

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Speaker 2: God doesn't always give us the answers all at once.

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Speaker 2: He'll tell us the first step we need to take.

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Speaker 2: So many of us look at the long road ahead

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Speaker 2: of us and think we need all the answers before

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Speaker 2: we move forward. A friend pointed out to me recently

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Speaker 2: that in Exodus twenty four, Moses went into the fog

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Speaker 2: of the mountain. Clarity came through hearing God's voice, and

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Speaker 2: not from what he could see. I do want to

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Speaker 2: include a disclaimer here. Sometimes the Lord puts something on

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Speaker 2: our hearts, but it doesn't mean the time is now.

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Speaker 2: Just because something may be a God thing doesn't mean

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Speaker 2: it's always God's time for it. But when God calls

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Speaker 2: us to step forward in faith, even while we don't

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Speaker 2: see the path ahead, step forward. Go for it, even

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Speaker 2: if you aren't sure how take the next step. God

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Speaker 2: didn't just call Abraham he gave him a promise. He

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Speaker 2: promised he would make him a great nation, bless him,

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Speaker 2: and make his name great, so that he would be

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Speaker 2: a blessing Genesis twelve one through three. Imagine what it

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Speaker 2: meant for Abraham to believe that promise. He had to

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Speaker 2: leave everything familiar behind. He had to step forward in faith,

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Speaker 2: even though it was frightening. No matter what ran through

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Speaker 2: Abraham's mind, he chose to believe the promise God spoke,

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Speaker 2: not knowing how or when it would come to fruition.

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Speaker 2: He probably thought he would see the promise soon. If

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Speaker 2: God were to make him a great nation, then that

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Speaker 2: meant God would give him a child. At this point,

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Speaker 2: Abraham was seventy five years old and his wife Sarah

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Speaker 2: was sixty five. Perhaps he thought God would fulfill the

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Speaker 2: promise within the next couple of years, and after all,

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Speaker 2: that made logical sense. Already they were advanced in years

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Speaker 2: and past child bearing age. Now faith is the assurance

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Speaker 2: of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen

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Speaker 2: Hebrews eleven to one esb. In other words, God doesn't

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Speaker 2: always do what makes logical sense to us, and that's

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Speaker 2: what happened. The promise took time, and in that time

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Speaker 2: Abraham grew discouraged. He asked God questions. He wondered when

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Speaker 2: it would happen if the heir to his house would

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Speaker 2: be el easer Jenesis fifteen to two. God reassured Abraham

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Speaker 2: that your very own son shall be your heir Genesis fifteen,

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Speaker 2: four ESB. The Lord made a covenant with Abraham. Covenants

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Speaker 2: in those days were made when two parties sacrificed animals,

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Speaker 2: and the persons making the covenant pass between the split animals, or,

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Speaker 2: in the case of a king and his servants, the

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Speaker 2: servant would pass through by himself, symbolizing, may I be

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Speaker 2: torn apart like these animals if I don't keep my promise.

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Speaker 2: Sounds and tense, doesn't it. Usually the servant would walk

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Speaker 2: between the animals, but instead God put Abraham into a

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Speaker 2: deep sleep and passed through the animals himself. In other words,

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Speaker 2: he was saying that he would be the one to

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Speaker 2: pay the price if the covenant was broken Genesis fifteen.

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Speaker 2: Abraham didn't always remain perfectly faithful, because like the rest

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Speaker 2: of us, he's a sinner and unable to be perfect

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Speaker 2: before a holy God. And one day God fulfilled his

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Speaker 2: promise allowing Jesus, who is fully God and fully man,

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Speaker 2: to be broken in atonement for all the sins we've

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Speaker 2: committed in the broken promises we've ever made. Isn't that

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Speaker 2: such a beautiful picture? In Genesis sixteen, however, Abraham and

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Speaker 2: Sarah at the time still called Abram and SARAHI took

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Speaker 2: matters into their own hands. Sarah suggested to Abraham that

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Speaker 2: he go into my servant. It may be that I

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Speaker 2: shall obtain children by her Verse two. B Abraham listened

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Speaker 2: to his wife and had a child through Hagar. God

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Speaker 2: doesn't waste anything in Every child, no matter matter how

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Speaker 2: they are conceived, is a gift and a blessing. However,

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Speaker 2: that doesn't mean there isn't pain and conflict as a

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Speaker 2: result of our actions intersecting faith in life. When we

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Speaker 2: wait so long for something, we often begin to lose

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Speaker 2: hope and think we must take matters into our own hands.

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Speaker 2: Ten years after God made the promise that he would

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Speaker 2: make of Abraham a great nation, the man and his

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Speaker 2: wife still didn't have a child. Sometimes the Lord asks

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Speaker 2: us to knock move forward in faith and do something

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Speaker 2: Matthew seven seven. Other Times the Lord asks us to

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Speaker 2: quiet our hearts and be still before him, Psalm forty six'.

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Speaker 2: Ten In abraham And sarah's, Story god asked them to

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Speaker 2: Believe hebrews eleven, Eleven genesis fifteen, Six romans four. Eighteen

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Speaker 2: god called them to go from their country and kindred

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Speaker 2: to a land that he would show. Them but after

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Speaker 2: that he didn't have specific. Instructions no. Doubt it may

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Speaker 2: wonder if they were supposed to do, something which is

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Speaker 2: Why sarah Gave hagard To abraham as a. Wife perhaps

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Speaker 2: then she could bear a child through her. Servant but

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Speaker 2: that was not What god had. Meant No sarah herself

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Speaker 2: would bear a son The lord had spoken the. Word

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Speaker 2: no word from The lord will return. Empty it shall

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Speaker 2: accomplish that which he has, purposed and shall succeed in

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Speaker 2: the thing for which he sent It isaiah fifty five.

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Speaker 2: Eleven and for still the vision awaits disappointed. Time it

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Speaker 2: hastens to the. End it will not lie if it

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Speaker 2: seems slow weight for, it it will surely. Come it

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Speaker 2: will not delay a back two THREE.

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Speaker 1: Esb pray with, me.

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Speaker 2: Dear. FATHER i thank you that your word is a

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Speaker 2: lay up to my feet and a light to my.

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Speaker 2: Path so on one nineteen one oh, FIVE i CONFESS

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Speaker 2: i often doubt your word and what all, then rather

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Speaker 2: than trusting you to take the next step When i'm

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Speaker 2: in a season of fog Like, moses help me listen

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Speaker 2: for your voice When i'm in a season of waiting Like.

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Speaker 2: Abraham help me to trust your timing over my. Logic

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Speaker 2: protect me from taking matters into my own, hands and

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Speaker 2: give me the grace to be still when you say,

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Speaker 2: wait and the courage to move when you say. Go

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Speaker 2: thank you for keeping your promises even WHEN i am.

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Speaker 2: Weak In jesus's. Name.

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Speaker 1: Amen The Crosswalk devotional is a production Of Life audio

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