Speaker 1: How many of you are glad to be in the
Speaker 1: House of God? Hey, how many of you are glad
Speaker 1: to be connected to the anointing. I'm a holy girl online,
Speaker 1: say I'm connected, Help me in. I'm connected. Every campus,
Speaker 1: every location are e fam all over the world. And
Speaker 1: those of you on the West Coast, get your uh,
Speaker 1: get your really comfortable shoots, lace them up because Elevation
Speaker 1: Nights West Coast Fall twenty twenty two is only a
Speaker 1: few days away. Get your tickets please at Elevation Nights
Speaker 1: dot com. If you want to come to Glensdale, Glendale,
Speaker 1: not Glensdale, Walmart's the Book of Revelations and Glensdale, Arizona.
Speaker 1: Y'all know I'm from Monk's Corner when I start saying
Speaker 1: we're coming to Glensdale, Arizona out there on the West
Speaker 1: Coast with them liberals out there or eating tofu and
Speaker 1: gluten free. Here's the cities Glendale, Arizona, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Oakland, California,
Speaker 1: oaklandy'all gotta show some love. Y'all's ticket sales are way
Speaker 1: below all these other places, so I want to see
Speaker 1: in Oakland San Diego, California, and Los Angeles. Let's give
Speaker 1: God a praise. Elevation Nights dot Com starts October twenty fifth. Right,
Speaker 1: but touch somebody in and say right now, it starts
Speaker 1: in here. How many came asking God to speak to
Speaker 1: you today. But we've worshiped him, We've opened our hearts,
Speaker 1: We've sang about his goodness, and now it is time
Speaker 1: for us to receive from him what He has prepared
Speaker 1: for us. And I'm excited to share it with you.
Speaker 1: I love this scripture Romans chapter four. Just stand up
Speaker 1: wherever you are for the word of God. Jump up
Speaker 1: on your feet, put the devil right under your left
Speaker 1: heeled in your right heel, and stand up for the
Speaker 1: Word of God and be ready to receive this blessing.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your kindness and your expression of love
Speaker 1: shown for Pastor Appreciation Month. I'm going to have a
Speaker 1: Congregation appreciation month in return. I don't know what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do yet, but I got a heart to do it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be Congregation Appreciation Month. I got to meet
Speaker 1: with the Committee on Committees and figure out when, but
Speaker 1: make sure you come back because I think of our
Speaker 1: relationship as a partnership in the gospel. I think of
Speaker 1: it for all of you who give, serve and pray
Speaker 1: for us. You will never know what that means. And
Speaker 1: even just you coming after I had to preach with
Speaker 1: nobody in the room for a couple months, even those
Speaker 1: of you who I used to fuss at because all
Speaker 1: you did is come and you don't serve and you
Speaker 1: don't give. Now I'm like, well, that's something. Thanks for coming.
Speaker 1: You know, my whole frame of reverence got reset during
Speaker 1: the pandemic. But thank you, thank you, Thank you for
Speaker 1: allowing me and Holly to be your imperfect pastors. We
Speaker 1: appreciate the privilege to do ministry with you. You hear me,
Speaker 1: And to all of our campus pastors at every location,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you standing in the gap praying for people,
Speaker 1: visiting people, enlisting people, enrolling people. Let's thank God for
Speaker 1: all the leaders at all of our locations linking arms
Speaker 1: together for the cause of Christ. Oh yeah, you can't
Speaker 1: do it alone and you don't have to. And everything
Speaker 1: God gives me that I filter and find helpful, I
Speaker 1: will share it with you as long as He gives
Speaker 1: me strength. Do we have a deal, shake on it?
Speaker 1: And then what you got to do, You gotta take it,
Speaker 1: multiply it, teach it to others, put it into practice,
Speaker 1: share it. Evangeliza, Come get strong in the Lord. Do
Speaker 1: what he's called you to do. Go out and be
Speaker 1: a witness for him. Go out and do your ministry,
Speaker 1: because that's my ministry, to get you ready for your ministry.
Speaker 1: I'm not in the ministry. Oh yeah, you are. You
Speaker 1: remember this, God uses people. Remember the little boy at
Speaker 1: the Feeding of the five thousand. He wasn't in the ministry.
Speaker 1: Peter was, and Peter wanted to send the crowds away
Speaker 1: because he didn't have anything to give. It was somebody
Speaker 1: who wasn't in the ministry who created the ministry and
Speaker 1: the miracle. So don't ever ever underestimate how God can
Speaker 1: use you, okay, Romans Chapter four, You ready, Verse thirteen.
Speaker 1: It was not through the law that Abraham and his
Speaker 1: offspring received the promise. It was not through the law
Speaker 1: that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that would
Speaker 1: that he would be heir of the world. That's a
Speaker 1: big promise. But through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Speaker 1: For if those who depend on the law are heerrs.
Speaker 1: Faith means nothing, and the promise is worthless because the
Speaker 1: law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there
Speaker 1: is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so
Speaker 1: that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed
Speaker 1: to all Abraham's offspring, not only to those who are
Speaker 1: of the law, but also to those who have the
Speaker 1: faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all
Speaker 1: as it is written, I have made you a father
Speaker 1: of many nations. He is our father and the sight
Speaker 1: of God in whom he believed, the God who gives
Speaker 1: life to the dead and calls into being things that
Speaker 1: were not. Oh, fellow, vibration, just allo shiver just went
Speaker 1: through you, and we start talking about what God can
Speaker 1: do against all hope. Abraham in hope believed and so
Speaker 1: became the father of many nations, just as it had
Speaker 1: been said to him, so shall your offspring be. Without
Speaker 1: wavering in his faith. He faced the fact that his
Speaker 1: body was as good as dead since he was about
Speaker 1: one hundred years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
Speaker 1: Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise
Speaker 1: of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave
Speaker 1: glory to God, being last verse fully persuaded that God
Speaker 1: had power to do what he had promised. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: read that again before I ap preach this thing like
Speaker 1: I feel it, being fully persuaded that God had power
Speaker 1: to do what he had promised. Now shift up back
Speaker 1: to verse sixteen, key verse not only to those who
Speaker 1: are of the law, but also to those who have
Speaker 1: the faith of Abraham. I always have two titles for message,
Speaker 1: the one that I start with to study by it,
Speaker 1: and the one that I give you when I figure
Speaker 1: out what it's about. After I studied everything I thought
Speaker 1: it was about and found out it was about something
Speaker 1: different because God had to show me. I usually only
Speaker 1: give you the second one. I'm gonna give you both today,
Speaker 1: title number one the Faith of Abraham. The Faith of Abraham. Wow,
Speaker 1: that sounds like a whole book Sunday School lesson at
Speaker 1: least the Faith of Abraham. But then I want to
Speaker 1: give it a second title in case that's a little
Speaker 1: too academic, and I want to call this message keep
Speaker 1: it a hundred. Keep it a hundred, and just pick
Speaker 1: the title you like, But at least look at your
Speaker 1: neighbor for a moment. On your way to your seat
Speaker 1: and say please keep it a hundred. You may be
Speaker 1: seated needs you to keep it a hundred. Yah. When
Speaker 1: I'm getting ready to preach and my mind starts getting
Speaker 1: all conceptual, I don't remind myself why I'm preaching who
Speaker 1: I'm preaching to. Every once in a while, I remember
Speaker 1: one specific conversation that I had with the lady in
Speaker 1: our church who was a part of our Toronto campus.
Speaker 1: This was about five years ago. Her husband had died suddenly.
Speaker 1: I didn't know her, but I called her just to
Speaker 1: say I'm sorry that you lost your husband, and I'm
Speaker 1: praying for you and i'd like to pray for you
Speaker 1: right now. And I did, and she was emotional. The
Speaker 1: conversation was appropriately awkward, but I said, you don't need
Speaker 1: to say anything. I just want to pray for you.
Speaker 1: And right when I finished the prayer, before we hung up,
Speaker 1: she said, I need to tell you one thing. Now.
Speaker 1: English wasn't her first language. I'm not saying she spoke
Speaker 1: Canadian she was, because, but she goes, I need to
Speaker 1: tell you one thing. While I got you, my husband
Speaker 1: didn't consider himself a good person. He was abused as
Speaker 1: a boy and he struggled a lot as an adult.
Speaker 1: It took me two years to get him to come
Speaker 1: here you preach. But when I finally brought him, you
Speaker 1: told a story that Sunday a story about And then
Speaker 1: she reminded me of the story. I remember telling it.
Speaker 1: It was embarrassing. It was a story about me losing
Speaker 1: my temper, she said. When you told that story, he
Speaker 1: began to cry because he saw somebody who loved God
Speaker 1: but still had struggles. I want to thank you, she said,
Speaker 1: for keeping it real. I'm like, oh, I thought you
Speaker 1: were saying thank you for being deep, that you recognizing
Speaker 1: my preaching for its intelligence. You know, when you did
Speaker 1: that thing with Romans chapter four, and then you went
Speaker 1: over to the Book of Revelations after you went to
Speaker 1: Walmarts call back. But she said, she didn't say thank
Speaker 1: you for being funny. See, you could tell just right then,
Speaker 1: my humor is not that good. That was polite laughter.
Speaker 1: That was church laughter. That was an offering of like
Speaker 1: you've heard about, sacrifice of praise. That was the sacrifice
Speaker 1: of laugh that you gave me Because it wasn't funny,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate it, but I think about it often
Speaker 1: because when I hung up the phone. I was glad
Speaker 1: that God could use a broken vessel. But you know
Speaker 1: what else, deep down I hated it that that was
Speaker 1: the thing that she thanked me for, because that is
Speaker 1: the most costly thing to be is real. If she
Speaker 1: had said, thank you so much for your alliterated outlines,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for all your tweetable moments, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for the way that you dissect and
Speaker 1: parse Greek and Hebrew, I could go back to school
Speaker 1: and for the price of a few thousand dollars, I
Speaker 1: could brush up on the original languages of the Bible.
Speaker 1: The books don't cost that much. But when she said
Speaker 1: thank you for sharing the stuff that makes you embarrassed,
Speaker 1: I felt like she was saying, we need to see
Speaker 1: you struggle, and I rebuke you, devil. You know. It
Speaker 1: was a very tender moment for her, in a very
Speaker 1: revelatory moment for me. That we all need those moments
Speaker 1: if we if we really will admit it, where someone
Speaker 1: that we respect, someone that we think, hey, they're really
Speaker 1: trying to someone that we may even feel like men
Speaker 1: they're a little further along in this than me, but
Speaker 1: they still struggle. It was power for me for me
Speaker 1: to realize and at the same time terrifying for me
Speaker 1: to realize that the thing that connected with her husband,
Speaker 1: who was taken from this life without a warning, the
Speaker 1: thing that connected with him and brought him to a
Speaker 1: place where he eventually put his faith in Jesus was
Speaker 1: not my impressive side, but my imperfect side, which, to
Speaker 1: be honest with you, is the part that I want
Speaker 1: to hide from you the most, But it is the
Speaker 1: part that God uses in the greatest way. I think
Speaker 1: about that conversation a lot, you know, how I get
Speaker 1: in there and think, Ah, what could I say this
Speaker 1: week that would be really really, you know, profound, And
Speaker 1: what could I say this week that would be really
Speaker 1: memorable and sticky and all that's great. You know, you
Speaker 1: got to bring everything you got to it, and people
Speaker 1: are gonna come out to you preach. They deserve that
Speaker 1: you study. But it was that moment I told that
Speaker 1: story about the packing peanuts when they blew all over
Speaker 1: the yard and I was out there cussing, and Graham
Speaker 1: was listening, and I didn't know it and he was little,
Speaker 1: and I'm cussing its styrofoam packing peanuts. After preaching for
Speaker 1: thirteen Christmas services telling people about the incarnate Babe in
Speaker 1: the Manger who came down from heaven to show us
Speaker 1: a gentler kinder way, kinder way right. That dumb story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that dumb story. I bring it up because as much
Speaker 1: as I hate the feeling of being exposed, I'm recently
Speaker 1: learning some terms for this. One thing it can be
Speaker 1: called is recoil. When I share a lot with you
Speaker 1: and see, you don't have to tell me anything about you.
Speaker 1: You don't tell me anything about you. I meet, I meet,
Speaker 1: I meet your church version every week, and that's the
Speaker 1: only version of you that I really get close enough to.
Speaker 1: And uh, maybe it's better we keep it that way, Okay.
Speaker 1: But at the same time that I hate the expense
Speaker 1: of exposure, because after I share something with you, I
Speaker 1: go back home and I'm like, did I say that
Speaker 1: out loud? That's typically what I do for twelve hours
Speaker 1: after I preach. Did I say that? And that and that? Holly?
Speaker 1: I only thought that, right, I didn't say it. Hell,
Speaker 1: you said it. I said that. You said that. Can
Speaker 1: we still edit it out of the video? No, it's
Speaker 1: already online. Oh as much as I I hate the
Speaker 1: expense of exposure, there's something I hate much more, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you this. I hate fake. Hated hated.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's because a guy made me a custom suit
Speaker 1: one time and I found out it was fake, a
Speaker 1: custom suit off the rack. The way I found out
Speaker 1: was I looked at the belt and it said Kenneth
Speaker 1: Colch with a K. So if the belt is fake,
Speaker 1: I looked into the suit, what were you doing all
Speaker 1: that measuring for it was off the rack? I hate fake.
Speaker 1: That watch I bought in New York City. That thing
Speaker 1: broke in two weeks. I bought ten of them. I
Speaker 1: was gonna give them out that's Christmas gifts. Mine broke.
Speaker 1: I threw them all away. I hate fake, I hate you.
Speaker 1: Hate fake. I don't even really like small talk. Holly
Speaker 1: said to me the other day. You are so bad
Speaker 1: at small talk. You have got to get better at
Speaker 1: small talk. I'm like, teach me. I want to know
Speaker 1: how to do it. I want to know ID just
Speaker 1: something about me. I just want to connect with the
Speaker 1: deepest part of you. I want to know what you
Speaker 1: struggle with. I want to know what you dream about.
Speaker 1: I want to know what you're drifted by. I want
Speaker 1: to know what you think about when there's nobody but
Speaker 1: you and God and a pantry full of food. Let
Speaker 1: me in. I hate fake I hate fake friends. Just
Speaker 1: tell me you're my enemy, because the Bible says love
Speaker 1: your enemies. At least I know what to do with
Speaker 1: you if we could get the relationship established. I hate
Speaker 1: that you don't smile at me to flip me off.
Speaker 1: I turned the other cheek. Just slap me. Hate fake.
Speaker 1: In fact, my life can be divided. I'm getting the
Speaker 1: romans for I promise my life can be divided into
Speaker 1: the years before and after I found this out. I
Speaker 1: remember the day one of my family members told me,
Speaker 1: you know, professional wrestling is fake? Right? That ruined my childhood,
Speaker 1: That took my innocence. They ought to put people in
Speaker 1: jail who tell you stuff like that, too young. You mean,
Speaker 1: Hulk Hogan is fake, The Ultimate Warrior is fake, the
Speaker 1: Big Boss Man is fake. Dusty Rhoads dust, the American Dreams,
Speaker 1: Polka Dots feak too. She said, you know it's fake.
Speaker 1: And Gene Haynes took us to a wrestling match and
Speaker 1: he walked us up. I said, man, how are you
Speaker 1: ruining to go anymore? I found out it's fake, and
Speaker 1: He walked me up to the mat and he goes,
Speaker 1: stomp your foot on that and it was hard. And
Speaker 1: then he said, when you see them slamming each other
Speaker 1: on that hard floor, does that feel fake? Now? I
Speaker 1: don't know how I remember this, but he said something
Speaker 1: like this, and I've probably changed it a little bit.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep it a hundred. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you say exactly like this or I'm just morphing it
Speaker 1: to be the perfect sermon quote. Got that keep it real?
Speaker 1: He says something like, just because the ending is scripted
Speaker 1: doesn't mean the impact isn't real. So I took this
Speaker 1: from it. It's fixed, but it's not fake. You still
Speaker 1: got to pick up two hundred and eighty pounds over
Speaker 1: your shoulder. You still got to do the Boston Crab.
Speaker 1: You remember the Boston Crab book? You still have. Boston
Speaker 1: Crab still feels funny. But just because the ending is predetermined.
Speaker 1: I remember the day I found out it was fake.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the day that you found out that
Speaker 1: a lot of what happens in churches and faith circles
Speaker 1: is as fake as big men on steroids covered in oil,
Speaker 1: wearing spandex underwear and I'm just trying to make sure
Speaker 1: you're not hungry so you can listen to me. That's
Speaker 1: why I went into so much detail. I saw you
Speaker 1: get a little disgusted when I said that, because it is.
Speaker 1: It's something about finding out that a lot of the
Speaker 1: people who were telling you, oh, we've been happily married
Speaker 1: thirty five years, you don't know they've been married forty
Speaker 1: five years, happily married for thirty through to math. And
Speaker 1: I don't tell you about those ten, those hidden ten. Oh,
Speaker 1: we just trust God. And I never set out to
Speaker 1: be this real preacher telling embarrassing stories on myself, but
Speaker 1: I couldn't stand the fakeness that I sometimes experienced. I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, we all have moments where we aspire to
Speaker 1: one thing, we live another. That's not called hypocrisy, by
Speaker 1: the way, that's called humanity. Oh. I thought that preacher
Speaker 1: was a man of God. Then I found out they
Speaker 1: were a fake. Not necessarily they might have been really
Speaker 1: sincere in their faith, just weak in their humanity and flesh,
Speaker 1: just like you are. Let's keep it a hundred. We
Speaker 1: all need the grace of God. None of us want
Speaker 1: all of our business on the front page of anything. Ever,
Speaker 1: so part of me in reading Romans four was realizing
Speaker 1: that we are hearing about a hero of the Jewish
Speaker 1: faith and the Christian faith. He's an interesting guy and
Speaker 1: his name is Abraham. You've heard of him. You've heard
Speaker 1: of him. He is nicknamed if you had a WWF
Speaker 1: the Worldwide Worship Federation. This stuff just comes to me.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit gives it to me on the spot.
Speaker 1: I just say it. I put that on the list
Speaker 1: for Did I say that out loud? That was so corny.
Speaker 1: In the thing is said that Abraham is the father
Speaker 1: of many nations. Some call him the father of faith,
Speaker 1: not just for Jews speaking from a diasporic or a
Speaker 1: genetic or even a religious position, but everyone who believes
Speaker 1: in this God Yahweh revealed in the person of Jeshua
Speaker 1: Jesus can trace it back to Abraham's faith. That's what
Speaker 1: the passage is about. And one thing I want to
Speaker 1: show you in verse six, please write some of this
Speaker 1: down so you can revisit it later. He says that
Speaker 1: the promise, speaking of the promise that God gave to Abraham,
Speaker 1: what was the promise? The promise was, I'm gonna bless
Speaker 1: the whole earth through you. I'm gonna give you a boy.
Speaker 1: Your boy is gonna have boys. Those boys are gonna
Speaker 1: have boys. There's gonna be women that give birth to
Speaker 1: the boys, and it's all gonna result in a nation
Speaker 1: called Israel that will bless the earth. Right now, we
Speaker 1: find ourselves in Romans chapter four, where the apostle Paul
Speaker 1: is basically having to challenge these believers who want to
Speaker 1: be circumcised. You know what that is. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: keep it that reel to break that down all the way,
Speaker 1: you can google stuff, okay, and saying, all right, since
Speaker 1: God told Abraham when he was a hunter that he
Speaker 1: had to be circumcised as a sign of the Covenant,
Speaker 1: if you put your faith in Christ, you gotta go
Speaker 1: back and be so circumcized right now, keep it one hundred.
Speaker 1: If that was the membership protocol for this church and
Speaker 1: you weren't yet circumcised, all the men who would join
Speaker 1: the church at this stage in your life stand up.
Speaker 1: No anesthetics, right right, right, right, right right. But that's
Speaker 1: what was happening to the gentile believers. They're being told
Speaker 1: you have to do this to belong you have to
Speaker 1: look like this, It's a contrast you'll see over and
Speaker 1: over again in the scriptures, maybe the main contrast in
Speaker 1: the New Testament, of the external signs of salvation and
Speaker 1: the internal reality of the Kingdom of God. One comes
Speaker 1: from the works of the law or the works of
Speaker 1: the flesh. They're used interchangeably. One comes from the grace
Speaker 1: of God. And I love that. It says it so clearly.
Speaker 1: Follow me in verse sixteen, is so good? Is so good?
Speaker 1: Therefore the promise comes by faith? Repeat that the promise
Speaker 1: comes y'all gonna have to show y'all how to do
Speaker 1: call and response. Why so many dang white people in
Speaker 1: this church? I wouldn't have to teach this part? Repeat
Speaker 1: after me. The promise comes by faith. Who did I
Speaker 1: really say that out loud? The promise comes by faith? Shouted?
Speaker 1: The promise comes by faith? Oh, thank God. Because if
Speaker 1: it came by works, if it came by effort, if
Speaker 1: it came by gold star behavior, I don't think God
Speaker 1: get it. But the promise comes by faith. Settle down.
Speaker 1: That's not the good part. The promise comes by faith.
Speaker 1: Why so that you got it verse sixteen, So that
Speaker 1: it may be by grace? Ah gets better. It comes
Speaker 1: by faith. That's the vehicle, so that it may be
Speaker 1: by grace. That's the basis. Faith is the box that
Speaker 1: it comes in. Grace is the basis that it is
Speaker 1: built on in order. This is the part that got
Speaker 1: me that it may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring,
Speaker 1: not only to those who are of the law, the
Speaker 1: religious system for being right with God, but also those
Speaker 1: who have the faith of Abraham. So it comes through faith.
Speaker 1: What does the promise? I should clarify here. God keeps
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of his promises. Let me stand right
Speaker 1: here and say it. Even though people die too early,
Speaker 1: even though people get sick in their bodies, even though
Speaker 1: abuse that should never happen happens. I'm saying it like
Speaker 1: the Bible said it. God keeps one hundred percent of
Speaker 1: his promises. But God does not keep one hundred percent
Speaker 1: of our preferences, our plans, or our desired positive outcomes.
Speaker 1: I gotta keep it real. I gotta keep it real
Speaker 1: because I could make you shout over that first part.
Speaker 1: God keeps one hundred percent of his promises, and all
Speaker 1: you got to do to get the whole room to
Speaker 1: shout is substitute positive outcomes for promises, and people will
Speaker 1: shout because they'll be shouting over stuff that they think
Speaker 1: God is going to magically do because I said a
Speaker 1: word that hit a button called promise. And we don't
Speaker 1: know any better than to think that God promised us
Speaker 1: that everything in our life would be positive as it happens.
Speaker 1: So we start shouting about stuff that we want to
Speaker 1: happen without ever consulting whether God ever said it would happen.
Speaker 1: And then we blame God and walk out of his
Speaker 1: house and walk away from our faith, and walk away
Speaker 1: from the family of believers and stop praying and stop
Speaker 1: praising when we're asking God to keep a promise he
Speaker 1: never made. Y'all told me to keep it real. I'm
Speaker 1: keeping it real. God did not promise, you know, bumps
Speaker 1: and bruises. God did not promise you no beast things
Speaker 1: or break ups or broken hearts. It almost been too
Speaker 1: long here because I want to bring it down to negative.
Speaker 1: Let me keep it positive. This is a faith message,
Speaker 1: after all, But I want to point it out that
Speaker 1: the basis of Abraham's faith should be the basis of
Speaker 1: our faith, because he is the father of faith. And
Speaker 1: this is so profound that the basis of true faith
Speaker 1: is grace, and in order that it may be guaranteed.
Speaker 1: I love that it takes the same grace to save
Speaker 1: everybody in this room. You think grace is like a
Speaker 1: custom suit. No, no, no, Grace is one size fits all.
Speaker 1: You need God to cover all of you. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you how. I know that the Bible says that
Speaker 1: even our righteousness is as filthy rags to him, all
Speaker 1: have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Speaker 1: The faith of Abraham is enough to know that this
Speaker 1: has to be by grace, by faith, by grace, in
Speaker 1: order that it may be guaranteed. Because if the promise
Speaker 1: depends on me. Now this is what I believe. You
Speaker 1: have to come to your own conclusion. If the promise
Speaker 1: of what God wants to do through my life depends
Speaker 1: on me, we'll see maybe maybe not maybe Monday, maybe
Speaker 1: not Wednesday, if it depends on me. But if it's
Speaker 1: by grace, if it's by grace, if this whole thing
Speaker 1: called Stephen Ferdick started in the mind of God, if
Speaker 1: this whole thing called your life started in the heart
Speaker 1: of a father, if this whole thing was part of
Speaker 1: the blueprint that God created before the foundations of the earth.
Speaker 1: To be a blessing to the world, not just to
Speaker 1: be blessed yourself, but to be a blessing if it
Speaker 1: starts with grace is guaranteed. And that's why I praise
Speaker 1: God for the guaranteed that wherever I go, Grace will
Speaker 1: beat me back home. Wherever I go, Grace will beat
Speaker 1: me to the boardroom. Wherever I go, Grace will beat me.
Speaker 1: Grace will meet me in the mistake. We'll be out
Speaker 1: of the mistake, turn it around and make it a miracle.
Speaker 1: I've got a guarantee. If it's up to me, there's
Speaker 1: no guarantee. I want to caution you about this. A
Speaker 1: lot of people are out there trying to get you
Speaker 1: to put faith in faith, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: go broken, starving in la and Nashville because they were
Speaker 1: told you could be anything you want to be. Help me, God,
Speaker 1: because nobody's gonna like this part of the sermon. You
Speaker 1: can be what he calls you to be. I'm confused, now, Preacher,
Speaker 1: hold on now. It said that he is our father
Speaker 1: Abraham in the sight of God, and whom he believed,
Speaker 1: the God who gives life to the dead and calls
Speaker 1: into being for seventeen things that were not sound like
Speaker 1: on the surface of that, if we don't take this
Speaker 1: and keep it a one hundred, like really read it,
Speaker 1: it sounds like that God's job is to be your genie.
Speaker 1: It sounds like, you know, it sounds like in this
Speaker 1: verse that we could just get anything in our mind
Speaker 1: that we want to that we want God to do,
Speaker 1: and God's like, oh, dang it, I'm gonna be up
Speaker 1: all night working on this because I wasn't planning to
Speaker 1: do that, but they asked for it, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do it now. This is where I gotta keep it
Speaker 1: real with you. A lot of times in my life
Speaker 1: I was trying to get God's blessing on my blueprint.
Speaker 1: Spoiler alert. He doesn't feel what he didn't build. I
Speaker 1: love this stuff because right now we get to enter
Speaker 1: into the tension of the faith of Abraham. It's not
Speaker 1: as simple as it sounds. It never is. You read this,
Speaker 1: and Paul's like, and Abraham believe God. And Abraham had
Speaker 1: faith and he didn't waver, and he stayed strong, and
Speaker 1: he was persuaded, and he didn't doubt. And a part
Speaker 1: of me, y'all respectfully. I'm just saying this respectfully. Part
Speaker 1: of me wants to be like, come on, Paul, keep
Speaker 1: it a hundred. Because Abraham didn't always follow God in
Speaker 1: a straight line. That was confusing to me as I studied.
Speaker 1: The only reason it was confusing to me is because
Speaker 1: after Abraham was called by God to be the father
Speaker 1: of many nations, and God took him outside and showed
Speaker 1: him the stars the sky and sands the seashore and said,
Speaker 1: as many as you can count those, count those. That's
Speaker 1: how many your descendants are gonna be. You're gonna be
Speaker 1: the father of many nations. Because he's calling things that
Speaker 1: be not as though they are according to his purpose.
Speaker 1: It dawns on Abraham. I'm seventy five years old and
Speaker 1: I don't have a son. So God comes back to Abrahm.
Speaker 1: Not on his seventy sixth birthday, you ready, Not on
Speaker 1: seventy seven, not on seventy eight, not on seventy nine,
Speaker 1: not on eighty. Let's count by tens for the sake
Speaker 1: of time, not by ninety. When Abraham is ninety nine
Speaker 1: years old, I'll getting ready to preach. The Lord visits
Speaker 1: Abraham and he tells him I am God Almighty, I
Speaker 1: have given you this covenant, and this shall be the
Speaker 1: sign of the covenant, which a circumcision which we mentioned.
Speaker 1: But now look at this with Genesis chapter seventeen. Because
Speaker 1: in all of Paul's eloquence and all of his brilliance,
Speaker 1: the Book of Romans is the most logically organized, I
Speaker 1: believe document that has been written by human hands under
Speaker 1: the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That's my opinion. Maybe
Speaker 1: you could argue for something else, but Romans is a masterpiece.
Speaker 1: When he brings forward the example the exhibit of Abraham
Speaker 1: exhibit a exhibit Abraham for faith, he says he didn't
Speaker 1: waiver in his faith, but watch this when he was
Speaker 1: a hundred still waiting for a son. Now listen, he
Speaker 1: didn't just wait patiently. He waited impatiently. He got so
Speaker 1: impatient his wife was like, sleep with my maid and
Speaker 1: she'll give us a son, and maybe that'll be close enough.
Speaker 1: Have you ever tried to follow God close enough? Like,
Speaker 1: all right, God, I'm not gonna tithe exactly, but here's
Speaker 1: a twenty just just close enough. Right. You know, God,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna give it all to you. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna give everything to you. But I'm gonna just come
Speaker 1: over here and like I'm gonna wship you. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gona go to church this Sunday. I'm not gonna make
Speaker 1: it a priority or anything. Abraham did all of that too,
Speaker 1: trying to produce in human power what had been promised
Speaker 1: by God's purpose. I do it too. I try to
Speaker 1: write sermons with human ingenuity. I try to solve problems
Speaker 1: with human logic. I try to figure out situations by
Speaker 1: manipulating them. That's the faith of Abraham. Abraham slept with Hagar,
Speaker 1: had a baby called Ishmael. God said, uh, that's not
Speaker 1: what I want to give you. There's gonna be your son.
Speaker 1: Now watch the conversation because this is so enlightening. Genesis
Speaker 1: chapter seventeen. We're gonna cross reference to the apostle Paul
Speaker 1: and what he said. The Lord said. Go to verse fifteen.
Speaker 1: God said to Abraham, as for Sarah, your wife, you
Speaker 1: are no longer to call her SARAHI her name will
Speaker 1: be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give
Speaker 1: you a son by her, not Hagar, by her, not Hagar,
Speaker 1: by her not Hagar. God said, I'm gonna bless you
Speaker 1: the way that I'm supposed to bless you at the
Speaker 1: time I'm gonna suppose to bless you. Stop trying to
Speaker 1: help God do what he's already doing in his perfect time,
Speaker 1: and leave it to him. I didn't even print planned
Speaker 1: to preach that part, but that just stood out to me.
Speaker 1: By her, not Hagar, I'm aa bless her, and we'll
Speaker 1: give you some by her. I'll bless her so that
Speaker 1: she'll be the mother of nations, and kings of people
Speaker 1: will come from her. Now, get ready for Father Abraham.
Speaker 1: He had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham.
Speaker 1: I am one of them, and so are you so
Speaker 1: less just vacation, Bible school, make some noise. Get ready
Speaker 1: for Father Abraham. Right foot Father. Get ready for right
Speaker 1: foot Father Abraham. You're ready for Father Abraham. Watch his faith,
Speaker 1: Watch his faith. The faith of Abraham Abraham fell face down.
Speaker 1: He laughed and said to himself, will a son be
Speaker 1: born to a man one hundred years old? And even
Speaker 1: if I can, will Sarah at age ninety huh. He
Speaker 1: didn't waver in his faith. He just laughed in God's face.
Speaker 1: Can I keep it a hundred? Can I keep it
Speaker 1: a hundred? When Paul gets ready to share. He doesn't
Speaker 1: put this part in why I already told you like
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes ago. It's not based on Abraham's works. It's
Speaker 1: based on God's grace. You keep trying to build on
Speaker 1: the wrong foundation. Oh God, I'm fearful. Oh God, I'm anxious.
Speaker 1: Oh God, I'm depressed. Oh God, I'm messed up. Oh God,
Speaker 1: I'm not that smart. Oh God, I'm not prepared. Oh God,
Speaker 1: I'm not experienced. Oh God, I'm crazy. Oh God, I'm addicted.
Speaker 1: That is not the basis. I'm the faith of Abraham.
Speaker 1: God said, it's all bye grace. I brought you in
Speaker 1: this world by grace. I spoke you into existence by grace.
Speaker 1: I made you born in the time you were born,
Speaker 1: so that the promise would be by grace. Let's take
Speaker 1: twenty seconds in praise him for amazing grace. God, sweet
Speaker 1: the selms, grace, grace, God's grace, God's grace, and listen
Speaker 1: to me. If it's started with God's so now touch
Speaker 1: three people say, I gotta guarantee, I gotta guarantee, I
Speaker 1: gotta guarantee from the manufacturer that everything he intends to
Speaker 1: bring forth from my life shall come the past, and
Speaker 1: no mistake, no hay yard, no doubt. They'll laugh, can't stop.
Speaker 1: This is only good news if you need some grace.
Speaker 1: If you got it all right, see ya, go on home,
Speaker 1: keep getting it right. But for everybody who is here,
Speaker 1: by five, by grace. If you gave me a enough time,
Speaker 1: I can hit everybody in this room and show you
Speaker 1: why you need grace. Oh no, I don't drink, I
Speaker 1: don't do do drugs. I don't do any of that.
Speaker 1: But you know what you do, you control and what
Speaker 1: else you do. You judge just like I'm judging you
Speaker 1: for judging me. So don't stand there like you don't
Speaker 1: need grace. The ground is level at the foot of
Speaker 1: the cross. I'm not the one on the middle. I'm
Speaker 1: not these saying, remember me, Jesus, give me that grace,
Speaker 1: Give me that good news, gospel grace. The promise comes
Speaker 1: by faith. Faith in what not by faith? Cause I
Speaker 1: might fall face down and laugh. But God still say
Speaker 1: you gotta have the faith of Abraham. What's that the
Speaker 1: faith to fall down and get back up? I feel
Speaker 1: somebody getting up today, getting up in your spirit, getting up.
Speaker 1: You didn't just get up, get in your car, you
Speaker 1: got up and you walked into the promise of God.
Speaker 1: You're right smacked in the middle of the fulfillment of
Speaker 1: God's promise on your life. And the danger is you
Speaker 1: have got to stay in faith so God can do
Speaker 1: everything he wants to do through you. Abraham turns eighty three.
Speaker 1: It's a bad thing when you're having your eighty fifth
Speaker 1: birthday still talking about you know, I got potential that's
Speaker 1: supposed to be when you're eighteen, y'all, not eighty. You know,
Speaker 1: I still got more I'm gonna do. I don't think
Speaker 1: you do. And I love this verse. I love this verse.
Speaker 1: Did you ever hear me preach this back in the day,
Speaker 1: I did a whole thing on this verse nineteen? It
Speaker 1: said that he Romans four nineteen. Be more specific, that
Speaker 1: without weakening in his faith, all the pragmatic people are
Speaker 1: gonna love this. He faced the fact. I always love
Speaker 1: that because it gives room for the skeptic to get
Speaker 1: some grace too. I can almost see it when I
Speaker 1: preach some people, you say Romans, and they jump up
Speaker 1: and shout about Romans. I love Romans. Give me Romans.
Speaker 1: Some people. It doesn't matter how much faith you feel
Speaker 1: in the room. You could kind of see it. They
Speaker 1: sit back there like, that's good. But bills that's good.
Speaker 1: But Bresidas in my knee, that's good. But custody battle
Speaker 1: that's good. But I got some pills in the bathroom,
Speaker 1: I having flush. Yet he faced the fact. You think
Speaker 1: God gave you the faith of Abraham to escape reality.
Speaker 1: He gave you grace to empower you for reality. You're
Speaker 1: listen my spirit, so you could look at the scoreboard.
Speaker 1: Graham had a game the other night. They were down
Speaker 1: twenty football game, down twenty at halftime, came back won
Speaker 1: the game by two. I said, that must have been
Speaker 1: one heck of a halftime speech coach gave. I'm in
Speaker 1: the motivation business. So I asked him when he got home.
Speaker 1: I said, what did he say at halftime? He said,
Speaker 1: he only told us one thing, stay in it whoo whoo.
Speaker 1: Because you don't know yet. You don't know yet, You
Speaker 1: don't know yet, you don't know yet. You say, oh wow,
Speaker 1: I'm just keeping it real. I'm just being me, which
Speaker 1: me to me you see, or the me that God's
Speaker 1: folk from eternity path that is uncorrupted by this mortal body.
Speaker 1: W's me God speaks to the me that's gonna be
Speaker 1: if I stay in it. Come on, channel, you're in
Speaker 1: a football coach. You know you want to pretend like
Speaker 1: your coach Taylor. Come on, tell Tim Ricks staying it,
Speaker 1: stay in it, stay in it, stay in it, stay
Speaker 1: in it, stay in it, stay in it, stay in it,
Speaker 1: stay in it, stay in it. I'm gonna preach this
Speaker 1: until it breaks through that artifice at your heart and heart,
Speaker 1: stay in it. Abraham was given a promise when he
Speaker 1: was seventy five. How old was Abraham when God made
Speaker 1: the promise? Seventy five? Well, I just said try again
Speaker 1: do this online in the comments. How old was Abraham
Speaker 1: when God made the promise? How old was he when
Speaker 1: he saw God? Keep it? What is my message called
Speaker 1: keep it? Oh? You thought all I was talking about
Speaker 1: when I said keep it one hundred was just be real.
Speaker 1: Now I'm telling you what's real to you right now?
Speaker 1: Maybe a ceiling that God is trying to break you through.
Speaker 1: If you can believe by faith for the grace for
Speaker 1: the gaps in your life that caused you to laugh
Speaker 1: in the face of God when he shows you what's possible.
Speaker 1: I'm concerned that this phrase in our vernacular, keep it
Speaker 1: one hundred has become an excuse for us to never
Speaker 1: improve and to never grow. And so if all I
Speaker 1: do in church and say, hey, you're a drunk, I'm
Speaker 1: a drunk. Let's drink. Everybody gets a twenty house communion beer,
Speaker 1: let's go, then I have not appropriated the grace of
Speaker 1: God in your life as a preacher of the Gospel
Speaker 1: to show you that the me that you see right
Speaker 1: now is not the core of who you are. And
Speaker 1: God is not through with you yet. Some of the
Speaker 1: promises that He made you is gonna take you your
Speaker 1: whole life to seal them. But give it a hundred.
Speaker 1: If it texts me all night, if it takes me
Speaker 1: my thirties, if it texts me my forties, if it
Speaker 1: texts me going to meetings, if it takes me going
Speaker 1: to therapy, if it takes me changing my friends, if
Speaker 1: it takes me staying up late, reading my Bible, playing
Speaker 1: on the edge of the bed, if it takes it,
Speaker 1: I'm coming. I'm a kid at a hundred that I
Speaker 1: believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Come on, five ninety nine people, hot five. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell them keep it a hundred, give it a hundred.
Speaker 1: He's looking for you. God's looking for you. Gotta leave
Speaker 1: the ninety nine to buy the wood. Good That kid,
Speaker 1: that kid, that kid, that kid that you got a
Speaker 1: promise from God. Kid, that kid that that's word. He kid,
Speaker 1: that kid that you'll got Christ. You got said so
Speaker 1: on the outside working Ah, they outside God that oh
Speaker 1: go borry go nor. Abraham believed and so became. It
Speaker 1: didn't happen overnight. It didn't happen first year, it didn't
Speaker 1: happen second year. It's not going to happen as quick
Speaker 1: as you want to. But this is not a five
Speaker 1: minute faith. That's that hagar hook up, that five minute
Speaker 1: faith where you try something. This is the faith. Thank
Speaker 1: you Jesus of Abraham, and you already got the grace
Speaker 1: of God. Stay in it, Stay in it, stay in it,
Speaker 1: stay in it. For the three hundred of you who
Speaker 1: are receiving this message. At a deep level, you feel
Speaker 1: that faith, you feel right now in your heart, Stay
Speaker 1: in it, staying in when you don't feel it. Stay
Speaker 1: in faith when you can't prove it. Stay in faith
Speaker 1: when you look at your body. Like Abraham did, he
Speaker 1: faced the fact that his body wasn't doing too good,
Speaker 1: not as good as he once was. Can't do it
Speaker 1: like I used to do it. But he was fully
Speaker 1: persuaded because he had faith in God. What God? You know?
Speaker 1: You're so good at listing problems. But when I ask
Speaker 1: you what problems are you fighting? Why are you so
Speaker 1: much better at that than when I say what God?
Speaker 1: Or do you believe in? Now? Lord told me. When
Speaker 1: you preach this, make sure that the message they get
Speaker 1: is not what faith they have, but what God they have.
Speaker 1: And make sure that your faith isn't in what promise
Speaker 1: you think he made you, because you might have heard
Speaker 1: him wrong. I love what he said. Give me seventeen.
Speaker 1: I close with this. I know I could preach another
Speaker 1: two hours, but I know you want to go to
Speaker 1: a cracker barrel. Come on, keep it a hundred. Y'all
Speaker 1: are ready to leave. I keep it a hundred, You
Speaker 1: keep it one hundred. So give me my last verse.
Speaker 1: Stand up, Saints. I have made you stand up. I
Speaker 1: have made you a father of many nations, and he
Speaker 1: is our father. Preaching about the faith of Abraham today,
Speaker 1: preaching about the faith of Abraham, not whole Cogan, not Brutus,
Speaker 1: the barber, beefcake, Abraham, it's the father many nations. Isn't
Speaker 1: it crazy that it took him one hundred years to
Speaker 1: actually become what God called him All along? He said,
Speaker 1: I made you the Father. I gave you the seed.
Speaker 1: Nobody can do it but you. What God called you
Speaker 1: to bring into the earth. Nobody can bring it but you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: stop thinking. If you screw it up bad enough, God
Speaker 1: will let you off the hook. You know, you're just
Speaker 1: gonna have to go to summer school. Give me the
Speaker 1: verse again. I'm not done with it. He is our
Speaker 1: father in the side of God, in whom he believed.
Speaker 1: What God? Somebody say, what God? You know, you say, Oh,
Speaker 1: what problem? What Bill? What this? What that? What? God?
Speaker 1: The God who gives life to the dead. What God?
Speaker 1: The God who calls into being things that were not.
Speaker 1: So here's what happens, my beloved friend, my beloved brother,
Speaker 1: my beloved sister. Sometimes we are hooked up in a
Speaker 1: season where God is giving us a download. And do
Speaker 1: you remember when you used to hook your phone up
Speaker 1: to the computer and you'd be downloading something, but you
Speaker 1: didn't have time to wait for the whole thing, so
Speaker 1: you unplug it early guess what. You lost everything that
Speaker 1: got downloaded before it because you disconnected before the download
Speaker 1: was done. But God said, I want you to stay
Speaker 1: in it and believe it till you become it. If
Speaker 1: God says you're righteous and free, then believe that I'm
Speaker 1: free until you feel free. Believe until you become That's
Speaker 1: what Abraham did. The God who calls things that are
Speaker 1: not and so they are. The God who says to
Speaker 1: a valley of dry bones, get up, come together and
Speaker 1: start fighting like an army. The God who says to
Speaker 1: a sea, turn into a four eighty five. The God
Speaker 1: who does that has given you his promise. He ain't
Speaker 1: call you the father of many nations. Come on, I
Speaker 1: don't even want to have a fourth kid. I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to be the father of many nations. But I
Speaker 1: do want to be everything he called me to be.
Speaker 1: How about you? How about you? I want to be that.
Speaker 1: I want to be what you want me to be, God,
Speaker 1: not what my best friend is, not what this person
Speaker 1: I admire on Instagram is. I want to be what
Speaker 1: God calls me. I want to grow in his grace.
Speaker 1: I want to grow in the gifts He's given me.
Speaker 1: I want to bring him glory through my life. That's
Speaker 1: what I want. That's what I really want. That's what
Speaker 1: I really want. But you got to keep it one hundred.
Speaker 1: You gotta be honest about where you are and refuse
Speaker 1: to stay there. I will go, I shall go. I
Speaker 1: want to see what the end is gonna be. May
Speaker 1: take me my whole life to find out. I may
Speaker 1: not even live to see it, but I want to
Speaker 1: keep it. A hundred. God made a covenant with Abraham,
Speaker 1: and he said, I'll keep this covenant if you laugh,
Speaker 1: if you lie and say that Sarah is your sister
Speaker 1: and she's really your wife, y'all know about that. Paul
Speaker 1: didn't keep it one hundred diddy. He didn't put that
Speaker 1: in romans for it, but it happened, and yet he became.
Speaker 1: Nothing can stop you from becoming. Nothing can stop it. Nothing,
Speaker 1: no power of hell, no scheme of man, no devil,
Speaker 1: no death, no divorce, no debt, nothing nothing nothing. Because
Speaker 1: it did comes by grace is guarantee. Lift your hands
Speaker 1: receive the download from heaven Father right now. We're going
Speaker 1: to take just a minute, and as we worship you,
Speaker 1: we are going to refresh our minds with the promises
Speaker 1: of God. Hey, it's been a little while since I've
Speaker 1: done one of these little homemade videos after the message,
Speaker 1: but it felt like we needed one today, very very
Speaker 1: vocally tired. As you could tell, my hair is all
Speaker 1: over the place. In fact, keeping it one hundred. I
Speaker 1: had to make this video three times because my hair
Speaker 1: looks so bad in the first two. Just keeping it real.
Speaker 1: But I want to take a minute and pray with you,
Speaker 1: because the message that I spoke today, it needs to
Speaker 1: end with you coming into agreement with what God has
Speaker 1: spoken over your life. What God are you believing it?
Speaker 1: The one who raises the dead to life and calls
Speaker 1: things that are not into existence. Yeah, that God. He
Speaker 1: calls you his child. He calls you righteous, He calls
Speaker 1: you holy. Now, it calls you more than a conqueror.
Speaker 1: But you have to believe it by faith. And when
Speaker 1: you believe it by faith, you can receive the grace
Speaker 1: of God. I want you to put that right now
Speaker 1: in the chat say I believe it, I receive it.
Speaker 1: Put it in the chap I believe it, I receive it,
Speaker 1: And I want to pray with you right now. Father,
Speaker 1: Thank you for each person who heard this message today.
Speaker 1: I pray that it would be mixed with their faith,
Speaker 1: and that they would carry it with them, that it
Speaker 1: would go into good soil and produce one hundredfold return,
Speaker 1: that they would keep it a hundred Come in to
Speaker 1: you just as they are refusing to stay that way.
Speaker 1: As you change us by your spirit from grace to
Speaker 1: grace and glory to glory. I believe your promise will
Speaker 1: come to pass over their life in Jesus name. Amen.
Speaker 1: I love you, See you next time. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for being a part of this world wide ministry.
Speaker 1: God bless