Speaker 1: It's another great day to be alive, and we are
Speaker 1: so blessed to be here with you today. Victoria my
Speaker 1: beautiful wife, and we're just praying for you guys to
Speaker 1: have a blessed summer.
Speaker 2: I sure hope you enjoy the podcast. I know I
Speaker 2: always enjoy these messages. They're so uplifting and encouraging and inspiring,
Speaker 2: So we hope you enjoy the message today.
Speaker 3: I know that He is pleased with us today.
Speaker 2: You know, if we're going to see the fullness of
Speaker 2: God's promises in our life, we're going to have to
Speaker 2: develop the ability to see beyond where we are right now.
Speaker 2: You see, God is always taking us to new levels,
Speaker 2: to greater places. He's always wanting us to stretch and grow.
Speaker 2: He's wanting to increase our faith. He's wanting to deepen
Speaker 2: our strength, and he's wanting us to see new victories
Speaker 2: in our life.
Speaker 3: So today I want you to know where you are right.
Speaker 2: Now, it's not your final destination. God's got amazing things in.
Speaker 3: Store for you.
Speaker 2: Think about the hero of faith, Abraham. He's the father
Speaker 2: of our faith and you can find his story in Genesis.
Speaker 2: And when you read his story, there's amazing things about
Speaker 2: his life. But there's something I want to point out today.
Speaker 2: And many of you know the story of Abraham and
Speaker 2: how he left his father's home to follow God, to
Speaker 2: go to a place that God would show him. And
Speaker 2: he declared over Abraham's life that he would be a blessing,
Speaker 2: that he would bless people all over this world, that
Speaker 2: he would be a great nation, that God would do
Speaker 2: amazing things in his life. So, as he was traveling
Speaker 2: with God, he had his nephew Lot with him. I
Speaker 2: know you know this story. So he and Lot took
Speaker 2: off to follow God. Scripture tells us that there was
Speaker 2: a point in time where he and Lot became too numerous.
Speaker 2: They had too much livestock between the two of them.
Speaker 2: Their families grew, their herds grew, and it became too
Speaker 2: much to support two families like this on one piece
Speaker 2: of land. There was some quarreling going on between their employees,
Speaker 2: the herdsman, and there was some strife that was taking
Speaker 2: place because there just wasn't enough land to sustain the
Speaker 2: wealth and the possessions that they had acquired through the
Speaker 2: blessings of God. So Abraham said, Lot, you know, let's
Speaker 2: don't ruin our relationship. For sake of a good relationship,
Speaker 2: let's make a decision that we're just gonna part ways
Speaker 2: right now, and Lot, you take the first choice.
Speaker 3: Where do you want to go? Lot?
Speaker 2: If you go to the right, I'll go to the left.
Speaker 2: If you go to the left, I'll go to the right.
Speaker 2: He said, whatever you want, Lot, you have first choice.
Speaker 2: So Lot looked around, and the Bible describes this one
Speaker 2: place eastward like a beautiful garden, just lush. I can
Speaker 2: only picture it looking like Hawaii or something. They called
Speaker 2: it the well watered garden of the Jordan. Well, Lot
Speaker 2: saw that and it looked great to him. He said, Abraham,
Speaker 2: I'm heading eastward. So Abraham turned the other direction and
Speaker 2: he went on his way. Now, Abraham, he didn't walk
Speaker 2: into a lush garden. The Bible says he walked into
Speaker 2: a lot of dirt and a lot of dust. And
Speaker 2: listen to what God said to Abraham when he was
Speaker 2: standing in the middle of this plain that looked like
Speaker 2: a bunch of dirt and dust. He said, Abraham, I
Speaker 2: want you to lift up your eyes from where you
Speaker 2: are right now. I want you to look beyond where
Speaker 2: you are right now. You see, God was saying, Abraham,
Speaker 2: don't get a picture of this dirt and dust, because
Speaker 2: it's not your destination. He said, Abraham, I want you
Speaker 2: to look past the dirt and the dust, and I
Speaker 2: want you to start meditating on what I.
Speaker 3: Have spoken over your life. You will be a great nation.
Speaker 2: People will be blessed all over the earth because of you, Abraham.
Speaker 3: He was saying, Abraham.
Speaker 2: Get a picture, get a vision of what I am
Speaker 2: saying about you. You see, when he said Abraham, lift
Speaker 2: your eyes, he was setting the tone for Abraham's life.
Speaker 2: He was literally saying, Abraham, what I've caused you to
Speaker 2: accomplish is only going to be accomplished by lifted eyes.
Speaker 3: See, you can't look at the dirt and dust, Abraham.
Speaker 2: You can't turn around and think maybe it wasn't such
Speaker 2: a great idea that I gave Lot the first choice. Well,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe I shouldn't have separated from Lot at all.
Speaker 3: No, don't get that in your mind. Don't look at
Speaker 3: the dust.
Speaker 2: But lift your eyes from where you are, because I'm
Speaker 2: taking you to great places. See, Abraham had to do
Speaker 2: something before he could take hold of that promise. You see,
Speaker 2: he could have looked at the dust. He could have
Speaker 2: looked at the dirt. He could have looked at the circumstances.
Speaker 2: But he had a choice to make. Am I going
Speaker 2: to believe God? Or am I going to stand here
Speaker 2: in my circumstances?
Speaker 3: And you know what his choice was. He chose to
Speaker 3: lift his eyes.
Speaker 2: He chose to look through his eyes of faith and
Speaker 2: see the promises of God.
Speaker 3: See.
Speaker 2: God is declaring great things over you today. But you're
Speaker 2: going to have to do exactly like Abraham. You're gonna
Speaker 2: have to make the choice. Am I gonna sit here
Speaker 2: and look at my circumstances, or am I gonna believe
Speaker 2: on the other side of my circumstances, on the other
Speaker 2: side of even.
Speaker 3: Where I am right now, whether.
Speaker 2: It's good or bad, God's got greater things in store
Speaker 2: for me. See, you may be in a good place
Speaker 2: right now, but God is saying, don't get comfortable.
Speaker 3: I made you for more.
Speaker 2: Do you know Abraham's father got comfortable. He set out
Speaker 2: on a journey, and he found a place that was comfortable,
Speaker 2: and he settled there. He settled there for a two
Speaker 2: hundred odd years, the Bible says, But not Abraham. Abraham
Speaker 2: accomplished what he accomplished by lifting his eyes and going
Speaker 2: on with God. You know, sometimes we can get so
Speaker 2: distracted by our circumstances that it begins to distort our vision.
Speaker 2: We can't see where we're going, we can't have that
Speaker 2: vision of victory.
Speaker 3: And so we have a tendency to just stop.
Speaker 2: We have a tendency to settle, or even look down
Speaker 2: and lose hope. I heard a story about a man
Speaker 2: and when he was a younger in his life, he
Speaker 2: was looking down walking one day, looking down at the ground,
Speaker 2: and he found a very valuable gold coin. He was
Speaker 2: so excited about that gold coin. He continued to look
Speaker 2: down on the ground. Do you know he spent his
Speaker 2: entire life with his face looking down for coins. And
Speaker 2: you know what, he did find some coins in his lifetime,
Speaker 2: But reality is, he didn't see the flowers and the trees,
Speaker 2: and the mountains and the skies and the view he
Speaker 2: was meant to enjoy because he let that event in
Speaker 2: his life, that one event where he found a gold coin,
Speaker 2: dictate his whole life.
Speaker 3: From then on, he kept looking down.
Speaker 2: We'd just to collect coins, but there was so much
Speaker 2: more in store for that man. And sometimes we allow
Speaker 2: an event in our life to define us, maybe a
Speaker 2: broken marriage, maybe a loss of a job, maybe family troubles,
Speaker 2: and we think, you know what, I'll never get out
Speaker 2: of this. But I want to tell you, just like Abraham,
Speaker 2: God has made some promises to you, and if you
Speaker 2: don't get good at looking beyond you where you are
Speaker 2: right now and lifting your eyes, you too will miss
Speaker 2: out on the great things that God has promised you.
Speaker 3: He's an awesome god. Do you know Jesus had to
Speaker 3: do this. The Bible says.
Speaker 2: When he was on the cross and he was in
Speaker 2: great agony and great pain, it says that he lifted
Speaker 2: his eyes. He lifted his eyes so that he could
Speaker 2: endure where he was at to where he was going.
Speaker 2: It said that he lifted his eyes and looked at
Speaker 2: the joy that was past the cross. That's how he
Speaker 2: endured it. He looked at the finished product. He said,
Speaker 2: I'm not staying here. This is not my destiny. I'm
Speaker 2: moving forward.
Speaker 3: God is going to do great things through this.
Speaker 2: There was a purpose for the cross, but Jesus didn't
Speaker 2: get stuck on that cross.
Speaker 3: He lifted his eyes.
Speaker 2: And you know what, you and I are going to
Speaker 2: have to lift our eyes if we're going to get
Speaker 2: to the places God wants us to be. Now, I
Speaker 2: said earlier that the theme of Abraham's life was lifted eyes,
Speaker 2: and I found this in the scriptures, and I thought
Speaker 2: it was very interesting. When Abraham went through the twists
Speaker 2: and turns of his life, he was waiting on this
Speaker 2: promised child.
Speaker 3: God was taking him to places.
Speaker 2: He didn't really know where he was going, but he
Speaker 2: was following God and trusting God. And one evening he
Speaker 2: was sitting outside his tent wondering, God, I am so old,
Speaker 2: when am I going to have this promised child? And
Speaker 2: the Bible says in Genesis eighteen twelve, it says when
Speaker 2: he was sitting outside his tent, questioning and looking to God,
Speaker 2: it says he lifted his eyes and he saw three
Speaker 2: men coming towards him. Those three men were sent by God,
Speaker 2: and they were there to tell him the exact time
Speaker 2: that Sarah would have the promised child.
Speaker 3: But I find it very interesting.
Speaker 2: That he wasn't sitting out inside his tent complaining, saying, God,
Speaker 2: this has taken too long.
Speaker 3: You're taking me places I don't like.
Speaker 2: I don't understand God, I can't I can't even think
Speaker 2: about or talk to you anymore.
Speaker 3: And look down. No, he always had the lifted eyes.
Speaker 3: He always looked to God.
Speaker 2: Even when he was reasoning and talking, he was talking
Speaker 2: to God. He wasn't talking to the dark, he wasn't
Speaker 2: talking to his circumstances.
Speaker 3: He was talking with lifted eyes.
Speaker 2: And when he had lifted eyes, he saw the promises
Speaker 2: of God.
Speaker 3: Another time, when he finally was able.
Speaker 2: To see the manifestation of this promise come to pass
Speaker 2: and he had his beautiful son, Isaac, God asked him
Speaker 2: to do something in obedience, something he certainly didn't understand.
Speaker 2: He said, Abraham, I want you to take your son Isaac,
Speaker 2: and I want you to take him up on the mountain,
Speaker 2: and I want you to sacrifice him. But he thought, God,
Speaker 2: I've been waiting for this child for so long. Why
Speaker 2: I don't understand. But I'm going to walk in obedience.
Speaker 2: He got the altar ready, he built the fire, he
Speaker 2: tied up Isaac, and he was, I'm sure the whole
Speaker 2: time asking God, God.
Speaker 3: Where are you? Where are you?
Speaker 2: Listen to what it says in Genesis twenty two thirteen,
Speaker 2: it says, right before he was about to sacrifice Isaac,
Speaker 2: he lifted his eyes and he saw a ram in
Speaker 2: the bush. That was the provision that God was giving
Speaker 2: him to replace his son Isaac. Abraham, when he lifted
Speaker 2: his eyes, always found the provision of God, always saw
Speaker 2: God's hand of miracles.
Speaker 3: He always knew if he would just.
Speaker 2: Lift his eyes, he would see God do great and
Speaker 2: mighty things.
Speaker 3: Palm one twenty one.
Speaker 2: Says, I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where
Speaker 2: does my help come from? It comes from the maker
Speaker 2: of heaven and earth, the maker of heaven and earth.
Speaker 2: See David knew when he looked at those mountains around Jerusalem.
Speaker 2: He knew the blessings of God were there. The provision
Speaker 2: of God, the healing, the protection, Everything he needed was up.
Speaker 3: I encourage every one of us. Can I get stuck
Speaker 3: in our circumstances.
Speaker 2: Do not look at the dirt in your life, but
Speaker 2: realize beyond that is greater heights, greater measures, greater victories,
Speaker 2: greater strength, greater and nointy. The only way you're going
Speaker 2: to find the greater thing is to look up. Through
Speaker 2: all the twists and turns of Abraham's life, when he
Speaker 2: looked up, God was always there. So remember we two
Speaker 2: are on a journey. The theme of the journey is
Speaker 2: lift up your eyes. Lift up your eyes, don't get stuck,
Speaker 2: don't look down, don't let one event define you.
Speaker 3: But lift your eyes and you will see the King
Speaker 3: of Glory come in. Amen.
Speaker 1: It's amazing what happens when you take a few moments
Speaker 1: throughout the day to connect with God. A moment to
Speaker 1: thank him for his goodness, a moment to declare his promises,
Speaker 1: a moment to remember that he's working now. I love
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Speaker 1: a fresh perspective knowing that God is ordering your steps.
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Speaker 1: a few minutes, you can turn your thoughts toward Him
Speaker 1: and be encouraged by his promises. As you make time
Speaker 1: for Him, you'll have greater peace and strength, and you'll
Speaker 1: step into the favor that belongs to you.
Speaker 4: Three Minute Moments with God is a powerful new devotional
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Speaker 4: a few focused minutes, you can quiet the noise, turn
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Speaker 2: Joel.
Speaker 1: Know today that God has you in the palm of
Speaker 1: his hand. As you take time to acknowledge Him throughout
Speaker 1: the day, He's going to fight your battles and get
Speaker 1: you to where you're supposed to be. Victoria and I
Speaker 1: are praying for you and your family every day. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your prayer and support. Your generosity
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Speaker 1: Make the Lord bless you and keep you.
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