WEBVTT - We Are We Label 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:08.400 Last week, the message was keep it one hundred. I 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.760 want to go even deeper this week. I want to 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:16.120 go even deeper this week. And in order to do that, 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.400 let's go right back to Romans chapter four. I'm excited 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.240 to teach God's word to you. God has been speaking 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:26.759 to me Romans chapter four. Let me turn off the 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.440 chat here so I won't be distracted, because boy, these 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.280 people really need prayer. You should see it. It's just wow. 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.720 I'm glad I did that because Wow, we really need it. 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.560 We really need it. Amen, you need prayer too, buddy, 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.720 Pray for you too, grow up and be a mighty 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:46.879 man or woman of God. I couldn't tell from your 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:53.080 cry which one whatever applies Romans chapter four, you already 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.960 thank you Jesus. Romans chapter four. Let's go to verse 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:10.720 number sixteen in the NIV translation of the Later Bible. Therefore, 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:15.240 the promise comes by, Oh y'all, stand up. Y'all too 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:17.880 sleepy sitting for the scripture. Stand up. I thought y'all 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.680 were mature enough to be enthusiastic sitting down, But I 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.360 was wrong. Stand up, Yeah, get up, Get up, Get up, 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:26.560 Get up, Get up, Get up, Get up, Get up, Therefore, 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:33.600 the promise comes by therefore, so we know what comes 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.680 and we know how it comes. The promise is what comes. 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.240 Faith is how it comes. We don't know when it comes. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.759 That's the hard part when we're waiting on God by 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.560 faith to do something that he promised by grace. And 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.440 we spoke about that last week from this passage how 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.600 Abraham was one hundred years old when he finally saw 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.920 everything that God had spoken to him. So it's not 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:03.400 too late shout that out. It's not too late. Therefore, 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:05.400 the promise comes by faith, so that it may be 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:11.639 by grace and maybe guarantee. If it's by human effort, 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:15.160 then it's going to depend on my behavior on any 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:19.480 given day. If it's by grace, then it is dependent 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.560 on God's character, which never changes. I like what you 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.560 said during the offering. That was good. He said, God's 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.720 not changing. So if you encounter him, you must change. 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.519 You need to preach that whole thing before before the 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.040 next time I see you. Now look at this, I 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.040 might preach it today. I might steal that on the 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:43.359 spot and act like I prayed about it. It said 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:44.919 that it may be by grace, may be guaranteed to 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:49.000 all Abraham's offspring, not only to those who are of 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:53.200 the law, but also to those who have the faith 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.480 of Abraham, which is a strange faith. He had to 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.840 set out on a word from God without God giving 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.800 him a map or a destination. All God said was 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:08.160 go to the land, then I'll show you. So the 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.600 faith of Abraham is the faith to keep going, not knowing. 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.880 How's this going to turn out? When's this going to 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.640 turn around? Is it gonna be all right? Is it 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.560 gonna lift? Am I ever gonna feel better? Is it 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:23.880 going to clear up this time? What's the doctor going 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:28.280 to say next Tuesday? The faith to keep going not knowing, 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.440 that's the faith of Abraham. It was also the faith 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.720 to put his son Isaac on the altar and believe 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.360 that God was able to raise the dead, the faith 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.480 of Abraham. It was also the faith to make a 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.680 mistake and still have God move him into the right position. 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:48.040 The faith of Abraham. It's a complicated, complicated faith, but 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.280 it's simple if we believe. Look what it says about Abraham. 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.000 He is the father of us all as it is written, 0:03:55.880 --> 0:04:00.960 I have made you a father of many nations. He 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:03.320 is our father in the sight of God in whom 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:07.400 he believed, the God who gives life to the dead 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:13.200 and calls into being things that were not against all hope. 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:19.279 Abraham in hope believed, and so became the father of 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.520 many nations, just as it had been said to him, 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.840 so shall your offspring be. Let's lift right there from 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:33.200 that verse. Abraham in hope believed, and so became. And 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.120 look at the person next to you and say, I'm 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:45.800 not done becoming. You may be seated. Whoo Hey, y'all 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.560 know what, in the spirit of keeping it a hundred, 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.000 I need to admit something to you. There was a time. 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.320 There was a time about five years ago that I 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:03.520 had gotten so upset with preaching sermons that I thought 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.960 were impressive that I lost my focus on preaching sermons 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:13.160 that would be impactful. And through a series of confirmations 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.320 and impressions that God gave me, I realized that I 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.920 needed to spend a little bit more time on preaching 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:24.760 from my heart, not just from my head, to really 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.680 flow with the Holy Spirit. I wanted to be a 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:33.960 preacher who was more spirit led than mentally dependent. That 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:35.920 doesn't mean I don't want to think through what I'm 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.920 going to say. God knows. I don't want to get 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:40.640 up here like I'm naked on the first day of 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:45.720 school talking about, Uh, what y'all want to preach about today? 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:50.919 Anybody got a scripture? What y'all think that means? I 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:57.120 don't know. Let's pray. But I want to be in 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:02.320 the flow, in the moment with the Lord, so that 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:06.800 whatever he speaks, that I agree with that because if 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.480 I come into agreement with what he speaks, his authority 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:14.880 will be behind it. If I say what I think, 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.080 I have no divine backing. So to be in the 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.960 flow with God means that He could give me something 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.080 to say in the moment that wasn't in my notes. 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.359 And that's why when I'm up here, I bring notes 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.479 and I don't look at him. I bring them like 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.680 what was the character that had the blanket? Was it Linus? 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.920 And I bring these messy little notes up here. And 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:41.400 when I tell you these notes are illegible and unusable, 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.720 I mean, I don't even know what I wrote when 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:48.200 I wrote it. It's just therapeutic to write something down. 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:54.000 But really, I'm just trusting in God. Can I keep 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.960 it a hundred with you? I need God. I need God. 0:06:58.000 --> 0:06:59.520 I mean I have a structure, I have outline, I 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.360 have a script sure, in fact, I have more scriptures 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:05.440 than I could preach. But I need God. Yeah, this 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.840 is what I want to tell you about that, because 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:11.360 I'm not trying to teach preaching seminar here today. How 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.960 many of you do not want to be a preacher? Right, 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.840 that's a lot of y'all that do. I was shocked 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:24.080 by that. Trust me, don't do that now. It's great, 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.560 It's the great privilege in the world. And it'll give 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:31.560 you a stomach ulcers. So there's that. But look, the 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.160 thing that I had to do to become what I 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.120 wanted to be, which is a more spirit led preacher, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.360 was the last thing that I do after all the study, 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:45.200 preparation and seeking God, whether go on a walk, or 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.240 take a cold shower, or lay on my face or 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.840 listen to Gira, you know, over and over until God 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.720 speaks or listen to Metallica, is Giro won't get the 0:07:55.800 --> 0:08:03.760 job done. Start preaching about wrath, whatever it takes, you know, 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.680 I want to say what God wanted me to say. 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:09.640 I really don't need you to feel good when I 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:11.880 get done. I just need to feel like I obey God. 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.040 Because even if you left and felt good and I 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.160 didn't obey God, I wouldn't feel good when you left. 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:21.640 And that's not fear that you feel good and I 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.240 feel bad because I didn't listen to what he told 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.360 me to say. So if we pray for Bobby, we 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.480 pray for Bobby. If I say something crazy, I say 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:34.199 something crazy. If they mean me, they mean me. You 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.480 remember Esther said, if I perish, I perish. If they 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.120 cancel me, they cancel me. It's got to be that 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:46.840 I stay in alignment with God so that I feel 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:53.600 good about myself when you're not around. And so, in 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.880 wanting to be a more spirit led preacher, there's something 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:58.560 that began to happen, and it was that I spent 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.440 more time praying and stuff ud, reflecting and meditating on 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:03.679 the word of God. And I'm going to show you 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:05.439 why this is important to your life in a moment. 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.000 But the last thing that I do before I preach 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.880 is decide what the title of the sermon will be. 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:14.720 It used to be the first thing I did. Okay, 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.600 I'm gonna preach about this. I'm gonna preach about grace, 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.880 and I'm gonna call it this and here's the notes 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.800 and here's the points. But as I wanted to be 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:27.119 more spirit led, I had to change certain procedures and processes. 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.280 And I'm not saying that you should do this, because, 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:34.120 like I said before, this isn't really even about preaching. 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.200 But this is the method that really helped me is 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:42.040 that I started deciding what to call it right before 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:46.040 I preach it. And here's the reason for that. The 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.880 moment I decide what the message is called, it determines 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.640 what the focus is going to be, and everything else 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.760 that I was gonna say doesn't apply anymore. So the 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:04.560 moment that I label it, I limit it. And I 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.640 don't want to limit it while God is still giving it. 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.720 You see where I'm going. If I decide too soon 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.960 this is what I think it is, I might miss 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:23.800 what God intends it to be as it is still unfolding. 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.920 So I don't give a title at Saturday at six pm. 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.480 I don't give all my scriptures Saturday at eight eight pm. 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.720 As a matter of fact, right before we preach. Sometimes 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:36.800 right as we're singing the Lord to give me one 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.840 more scripture, I'll run back, make sure everything's zipped up, 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:43.720 buttoned up, tidied up, pulled up, tightened up, everything's good. Boom, 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.240 and here's another scripture. But I don't want to cut 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:51.400 God off while he's still talking, lest I miss his 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:57.600 intention because I have my own agenda. I don't want 0:10:57.600 --> 0:10:59.840 to say too soon. Okay, God, this is what I'm 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.880 speak on. This is how I'm gonna speak on it. 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:06.200 And God's like, that's not even true. That's just what 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:10.640 you knew when you sat down to study. So what 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.280 if I want to show you something you don't know 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.000 when you sit down to study. What if I want 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.920 to show you something that you don't know why you're 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.360 reading your scripture to your congregation? What if I want 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.040 to speak something? What if I want to say something 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.680 to somebody's soul that you were too stupid to put 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.680 down in your notes. But see, the Spirit of God 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.560 is smarter than I am, So he can give me 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:38.000 stuff while I'm preaching if I'm open to it. But 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:42.800 if I'm close to it, if I label it, I 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.520 will limit it. And I have a system for this, 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.520 you ready, This is a real high tech system. I 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:52.320 have a black folder, and I have yellow notes, and 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.640 then I have how many of y'all love this? Right here. 0:11:54.880 --> 0:12:00.920 I got some post it notes. I got so many 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.640 of them, so it's cheap to change the title. I 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.040 don't want to put it on a parchment where it's expensive. 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:09.200 I don't want to make somebody design a title that 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:11.720 I'm going to change anyway. So I write it myself 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.120 and as soon as I get done, I stick it 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:18.320 on the folder boom, and I preach right there. That's 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.280 what I do so right before I came out today. 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.000 I do this every week. I know y'all care a 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.080 lot about this. This is really interesting stuff, man, it's fascinating. 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:32.600 The last thing I do is label it, because the 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.120 moment I label it, I limit it. Yeah. I might 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.760 have an idea, Yeah I might have a path. You 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:41.080 might have a hunch. Yeah I might have a lead. 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.679 But I don't know what it is until God is 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.760 ready for me to deliver it. That's what I want 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:55.640 to call this sermon today. Are we label? Are we label? 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.400 Put it in your notes? Don't y'all write down the 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:02.400 titles that I work so hard in agonize over to preach? Yeah, 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:06.160 look like so what nobody writing it down? Come on, Robert, 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:08.319 write it down, man, it's a good title. We are 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:11.960 we label. You got to call a sermon something what 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:16.280 he preached about today a Bible stuff. He was saying 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.600 about God and stuff up there and how God is 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.079 good and all that stuff up there. You got to 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:27.080 call it something. We are somebody say we are we label. 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:36.640 I think a lot of our labels God hates. And 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.720 when I say label, you probably think about a label 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.400 that's on some food or a label that's on some medicine. 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.520 Labels are great for products. Don't get me wrong. They 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.600 got ibuprofen in the bathroom and the way I know 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.640 it's not tic TACs is because of what it says 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.880 on the label. I appreciate label when it comes to 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:01.880 keeping me from taking the wrong medicine. I appreciate labels. 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.480 When Holly puts leftovers in the fridge, she'll often make 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.960 a little note and put a little post it on 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.680 the note with a little heart, and it will say 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:15.480 who the food is for. Elijah pays no attention when 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:20.080 that says for Dad. So now we specified do not touch, 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:22.920 do not move, do not look at this food. This 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:29.960 is for Stephen. The verdict. Now, when I say God 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:34.480 hates labels, I need to counteract that in balance it 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:39.240 by saying that as humans, we love to label. We 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:43.800 can't live without labels. We'll be popping tick tacks and 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:48.640 wondering why our head still hurts. This one girl, one 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.480 time she came on the van we're traveling with the 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.600 ministry team, and she was eating Friedo's. She said, I 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.640 hate the way these taste. Somebody said, why are you 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:02.160 eating them? She said, trying to be help. We tracked 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:06.080 that back. We tracked that back. We found out that 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:11.800 somebody sometimes told her that Fridos are healthier than Dorito's, 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:18.120 so she thought it was like the healthy alternative to 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:23.680 Dorito's was called Frito's. And when she was asked, how 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:27.680 long have you been substituting Dorito's, which you love, with Frido's, 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.200 which you don't like, thinking that it was better for 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:34.240 you than it really was, she says, since I was nine. 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.400 She was in college at the time. I thought that 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:41.960 was so sad that she forfeited ten years that she 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:46.200 could have been enjoying the nacho cheesy taste of her 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.960 beloved Doritos for the Freedo snack, which actually, when we 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:54.240 read the label, had a higher fat content than the 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.080 Doritos which she loved. So she could have just been 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:01.520 killing Doritos the whole time. Somebody he deprived this girl 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.400 of her doritos. And I pray you worked through it 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.200 once we told her the truth, because for me, I 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:11.480 would need therapy ten years, a decade without doritos, because 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.400 one person planted a seed of deception in your mind 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:17.480 and said this is better for you, and you never 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:21.640 checked it, and you never read the label. It was 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.840 on the label. It said on the back of Frito's, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:33.160 this will make you fat, really fat. It was on 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:38.400 the label. So I appreciate a label when it's by 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.320 the FDA or something like that. Please do not send 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:46.560 me messages about the FDA is a conspiracy of the 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:50.320 Illuminati and came from Star Wars. I don't want to 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:57.120 hear none of it. But I'm saying, like a lot 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:03.320 of the times in our life, we will label something 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:12.480 and limit someone while we are still figuring out what 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.400 it is. And a lot of what God speaks over 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:22.479 your life never happens, not because of your limits, but 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:27.520 because of your labels. There were those in the early 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:32.520 Church that wanted to limit salvation to those who were circumcised. 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:38.000 Paul says, I hate your labels, because in Christ there 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:42.080 is no longer slave, nor free, male nor female, gentile 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:46.159 non gentile. God doesn't run around labeling stuff like you 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.600 label stuff. And the difference between you and God is 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:55.320 you labeled things you didn't even make. You try to 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:59.080 label stuff that doesn't even belong to you. We try 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.600 to judge other people. So I'm real bothered about it, 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:03.359 and I don't want to talk about it much because 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:05.640 I get angry and I get unfiltered when I think 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.399 about it. I hate how our culture has become so 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.760 eager to believe the worst about anybody the first time 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:17.720 we hear it. I hate that so something somebody says 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.080 gets taken out of context. Oh, now they're a racist. 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.080 You didn't even see the whole sentence that they said. 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.400 You just read a headline, and now they're a racist. 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:29.200 You're kind of scared to say something to that. We 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.560 do it all the time, and that's not black people, 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:33.359 white people. That can go any way you want to 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.840 put it. We'll call somebody something because we heard a 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.439 rumor from somebody that we didn't even verify if that 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:40.439 person was the very thing that they were calling the 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:44.920 other And especially during political season, when you see how 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.040 they make these ads. They are praying on our prejudice, 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.240 trying to get us to believe a snapshot of somebody, 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.960 so we will go out and categorize ourselves as enemies 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.960 of something that we don't even understand. Paul said, don't 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.120 get this twisted. Don't get this twisted in Christ. It's 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.280 not about what it looks like on the outside. It 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.280 is not about what you can identify somebody by that 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:13.080 you can see and that you can understand. We love 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:17.840 labels because we have limitations on our understanding. So the 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:19.480 only way we can get through our life is to 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:23.320 safely categorize people, like we try to organize our pantry 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.119 so we can know which shelf to put somebody on. 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:37.480 Oh he's not qualified, she's not qualified. She's from this family. 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:41.560 Oh they are from that background. We love labels and 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:46.960 God hates them. Not telling you to go through and 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.439 peel off everything on your soup and your green beans 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:53.200 in your pantry, some superstitious thing like that. I'm saying 0:19:53.240 --> 0:20:00.240 that God hates when we label something in order to 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:04.560 limit something, Which is why I chose Romans four, or 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:06.560 why I believe the Holy Spirit chose Romans four to 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:10.640 talk to us about this today, because the greatest limitation 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.760 on your life right now is not your potential as 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:20.399 your belief. When we look at the Bible stories of 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:24.959 characters like Abraham, we get into this complicated story and 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.399 we see one example of his life, and he looks 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:30.320 like a man of great faith. But how many know. 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.639 We could have labeled him a lot of things. We 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.919 could have labeled him a liar because he lied. We 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:39.200 could have labeled him an adulter because he slept with 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.000 somebody who wasn't his wife, even though the cultural custom 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:42.440 of the time was very different than ours. We could 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:44.639 have labeled him a lot of things. We could have 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:46.360 labeled him by the fact that he laughed at God. 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.280 We could have labeled him by a lot of things. 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.480 But when God labels him, he calls him the father 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:55.600 of many nations. In fact, it says something that really 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:59.240 got my attention. You ready for this? It says, Abraham 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:05.840 be believed and so became. Let's look at that with 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.639 our own two eyeballs. I want you to believe it 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:09.919 because I said it. I want you to believe it 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:15.560 because God said it. He said in verse eighteen, Abraham 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:21.359 against all hope in hope believed, and so became. Say 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:27.080 that with me, he believed, and so became he believed, 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:33.080 and so became. I love that. I love it because 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:36.880 you would think he became it so he believed it. 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:41.000 Once he saw the evidence that God could do what 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:45.520 he promised, then he believed it. That's how human hope works. 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:48.760 You know, it needs to see something to believe it. 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.280 This is a very different kind of faith, this faith 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.600 of Abraham, the faith by which God justifies us, the 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.320 faith which has an ability to know that I can 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:01.720 stand in the middle of something that I don't understand, 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.359 waiting on a detail that I don't yet have, and 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:08.680 still believe in a God that I haven't figured out, 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:13.119 that I can produce a promise that is inside of 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:16.280 me that I can't even perceive with my senses. I 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:20.600 feel faith in my spirit right now because sometimes I 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:24.280 have to believe things that I can't see, that I 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:29.280 can't feel, but that God has called me to be now. 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.200 Often when we talk about believing, if you go by 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:35.919 culture's understanding of belief in faith, we are believing to 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:40.359 have something. I want to have a better job, I 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:44.200 want to have a better body. I want to have 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.560 a wife. I want to have a husband, I want 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:50.800 to have a child. And that's fine because God will 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:53.560 give you things. He will give you the desires of 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:55.879 your heart. So I'm thirty seven to four. And not 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:58.520 only will he put the desire in your heart, but 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:02.040 he will fulfill the desire. So He'll put the desire there, 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:05.199 and he will fulfill the desire. He will give you 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:08.520 things that you didn't even think you were worthy of having. 0:23:09.320 --> 0:23:11.359 Some of us are standing in a place in life 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:15.240 today that we honestly never knew to ask God to 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:18.320 bring us to. I mean, I didn't know to ask 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:21.320 God that I could pastor this church. I made myself 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:23.840 available to him and He did it. But that doesn't 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:25.720 mean that I knew that it was in me when 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:28.120 I asked God to use me. But here you are, 0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:33.080 and here I am, and here we are. Here we 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:41.520 are the greatest thing that God will give you. Faith 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:45.760 for though, is not something that He wants you to have, 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:55.000 someone that he wants you to be. Not what does 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:58.360 God want me to have? Although that is a very 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:01.560 important thing to your father. To you, Jesus said that 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:05.400 the birds store up, yet they're never far from the worm. 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:07.680 Because your father knows they need them, so he'll give 0:24:07.720 --> 0:24:12.920 you a worm. But he is more concerned, infinitely more 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:19.360 concerned about who you are becoming in the process of receiving. 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:24.000 I don't know who this is for. But if you 0:24:24.280 --> 0:24:30.520 get it and God doesn't get you, you will not 0:24:30.640 --> 0:24:37.280 be able to sustain what you obtain, because it's going 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:40.879 to take the same grace and the same faith to 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:44.280 keep it that it takes to come into it. I 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:46.320 want to lay this foundation. This is so important, This 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:49.560 is so important. In the passage I read, it said 0:24:49.920 --> 0:24:57.960 Abraham what believed, and so became against all hope, when 0:24:58.000 --> 0:25:02.439 it was so far past his time, when it seemed 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:05.120 like there was no way it would work, when there 0:25:05.200 --> 0:25:07.679 was nothing pointing to the fact that he had the 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:13.040 potential to bring forth this nation. He believed it, and 0:25:13.119 --> 0:25:18.600 so he became it. Certain scriptures are not prescriptive, meaning 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:20.600 that they don't tell us what to do. They tell 0:25:20.720 --> 0:25:25.120 us what the character did. That's called descriptive. Not all 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:28.760 Bible verses are telling you what to do. For instance, 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:32.000 Jonah ran from the Lord, So that don't mean you 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:33.520 go and run from the Lord because you read that 0:25:33.600 --> 0:25:36.000 jonah ran from the Lord is telling you what he did, 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:39.080 I get you a better one. Judas went and hanged himself. 0:25:39.440 --> 0:25:42.639