WEBVTT - Keep It 100 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.040 How many of you are glad to be in the 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.200 House of God? Hey, how many of you are glad 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:13.240 to be connected to the anointing. I'm a holy girl online, 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:18.480 say I'm connected, Help me in. I'm connected. Every campus, 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:23.200 every location are e fam all over the world. And 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.600 those of you on the West Coast, get your uh, 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:32.160 get your really comfortable shoots, lace them up because Elevation 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.519 Nights West Coast Fall twenty twenty two is only a 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:41.479 few days away. Get your tickets please at Elevation Nights 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.600 dot com. If you want to come to Glensdale, Glendale, 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:51.400 not Glensdale, Walmart's the Book of Revelations and Glensdale, Arizona. 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:54.400 Y'all know I'm from Monk's Corner when I start saying 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:58.440 we're coming to Glensdale, Arizona out there on the West 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.080 Coast with them liberals out there or eating tofu and 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:14.960 gluten free. Here's the cities Glendale, Arizona, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Oakland, California, 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.280 oaklandy'all gotta show some love. Y'all's ticket sales are way 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.120 below all these other places, so I want to see 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.280 in Oakland San Diego, California, and Los Angeles. Let's give 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:30.360 God a praise. Elevation Nights dot Com starts October twenty fifth. Right, 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.720 but touch somebody in and say right now, it starts 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:41.720 in here. How many came asking God to speak to 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:46.800 you today. But we've worshiped him, We've opened our hearts, 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.800 We've sang about his goodness, and now it is time 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.400 for us to receive from him what He has prepared 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.720 for us. And I'm excited to share it with you. 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:04.280 I love this scripture Romans chapter four. Just stand up 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.720 wherever you are for the word of God. Jump up 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.320 on your feet, put the devil right under your left 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.240 heeled in your right heel, and stand up for the 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.600 Word of God and be ready to receive this blessing. 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.600 Thank you for your kindness and your expression of love 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.440 shown for Pastor Appreciation Month. I'm going to have a 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:29.440 Congregation appreciation month in return. I don't know what I'm 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:32.400 gonna do yet, but I got a heart to do it. 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.760 It's gonna be Congregation Appreciation Month. I got to meet 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.080 with the Committee on Committees and figure out when, but 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.480 make sure you come back because I think of our 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.120 relationship as a partnership in the gospel. I think of 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.320 it for all of you who give, serve and pray 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:55.320 for us. You will never know what that means. And 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.200 even just you coming after I had to preach with 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.480 nobody in the room for a couple months, even those 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.200 of you who I used to fuss at because all 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:04.800 you did is come and you don't serve and you 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.640 don't give. Now I'm like, well, that's something. Thanks for coming. 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.080 You know, my whole frame of reverence got reset during 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.920 the pandemic. But thank you, thank you, Thank you for 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:19.040 allowing me and Holly to be your imperfect pastors. We 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.000 appreciate the privilege to do ministry with you. You hear me, 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.680 And to all of our campus pastors at every location, 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.280 I appreciate you standing in the gap praying for people, 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.880 visiting people, enlisting people, enrolling people. Let's thank God for 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:38.840 all the leaders at all of our locations linking arms 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:44.040 together for the cause of Christ. Oh yeah, you can't 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:48.280 do it alone and you don't have to. And everything 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.920 God gives me that I filter and find helpful, I 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.320 will share it with you as long as He gives 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.640 me strength. Do we have a deal, shake on it? 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.000 And then what you got to do, You gotta take it, 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.560 multiply it, teach it to others, put it into practice, 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.040 share it. Evangeliza, Come get strong in the Lord. Do 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:09.960 what he's called you to do. Go out and be 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.720 a witness for him. Go out and do your ministry, 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.080 because that's my ministry, to get you ready for your ministry. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.760 I'm not in the ministry. Oh yeah, you are. You 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.160 remember this, God uses people. Remember the little boy at 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.000 the Feeding of the five thousand. He wasn't in the ministry. 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.640 Peter was, and Peter wanted to send the crowds away 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.520 because he didn't have anything to give. It was somebody 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:38.800 who wasn't in the ministry who created the ministry and 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.320 the miracle. So don't ever ever underestimate how God can 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:49.080 use you, okay, Romans Chapter four, You ready, Verse thirteen. 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:55.880 It was not through the law that Abraham and his 0:04:55.960 --> 0:05:01.880 offspring received the promise. It was not through the law 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.960 that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that would 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.520 that he would be heir of the world. That's a 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:17.440 big promise. But through the righteousness that comes by faith. 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.799 For if those who depend on the law are heerrs. 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:26.440 Faith means nothing, and the promise is worthless because the 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:31.360 law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:39.960 is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:43.279 that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.520 to all Abraham's offspring, not only to those who are 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.160 of the law, but also to those who have the 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.320 faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.279 as it is written, I have made you a father 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:00.360 of many nations. He is our father and the sight 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.599 of God in whom he believed, the God who gives 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:09.200 life to the dead and calls into being things that 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:13.560 were not. Oh, fellow, vibration, just allo shiver just went 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.040 through you, and we start talking about what God can 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:23.440 do against all hope. Abraham in hope believed and so 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.840 became the father of many nations, just as it had 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:32.440 been said to him, so shall your offspring be. Without 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.599 wavering in his faith. He faced the fact that his 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.440 body was as good as dead since he was about 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.839 one hundred years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:48.560 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:54.000 of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave 0:06:54.040 --> 0:07:00.960 glory to God, being last verse fully persuaded that God 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:08.520 had power to do what he had promised. I'm gonna 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.840 read that again before I ap preach this thing like 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:18.680 I feel it, being fully persuaded that God had power 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:23.280 to do what he had promised. Now shift up back 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.800 to verse sixteen, key verse not only to those who 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.920 are of the law, but also to those who have 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.360 the faith of Abraham. I always have two titles for message, 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.160 the one that I start with to study by it, 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:35.720 and the one that I give you when I figure 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:37.600 out what it's about. After I studied everything I thought 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:38.960 it was about and found out it was about something 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.760 different because God had to show me. I usually only 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:43.280 give you the second one. I'm gonna give you both today, 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:51.160 title number one the Faith of Abraham. The Faith of Abraham. Wow, 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.480 that sounds like a whole book Sunday School lesson at 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.160 least the Faith of Abraham. But then I want to 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.080 give it a second title in case that's a little 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.160 too academic, and I want to call this message keep 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:10.840 it a hundred. Keep it a hundred, and just pick 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.680 the title you like, But at least look at your 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:14.440 neighbor for a moment. On your way to your seat 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.560 and say please keep it a hundred. You may be 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:24.800 seated needs you to keep it a hundred. Yah. When 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:30.160 I'm getting ready to preach and my mind starts getting 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.800 all conceptual, I don't remind myself why I'm preaching who 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.520 I'm preaching to. Every once in a while, I remember 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.120 one specific conversation that I had with the lady in 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.080 our church who was a part of our Toronto campus. 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.640 This was about five years ago. Her husband had died suddenly. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.200 I didn't know her, but I called her just to 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.640 say I'm sorry that you lost your husband, and I'm 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.240 praying for you and i'd like to pray for you 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:59.839 right now. And I did, and she was emotional. The 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.880 conversation was appropriately awkward, but I said, you don't need 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:05.800 to say anything. I just want to pray for you. 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.680 And right when I finished the prayer, before we hung up, 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.800 she said, I need to tell you one thing. Now. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.439 English wasn't her first language. I'm not saying she spoke 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:20.720 Canadian she was, because, but she goes, I need to 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:26.720 tell you one thing. While I got you, my husband 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:32.240 didn't consider himself a good person. He was abused as 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.680 a boy and he struggled a lot as an adult. 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.200 It took me two years to get him to come 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.160 here you preach. But when I finally brought him, you 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:45.200 told a story that Sunday a story about And then 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.720 she reminded me of the story. I remember telling it. 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.800 It was embarrassing. It was a story about me losing 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:56.040 my temper, she said. When you told that story, he 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:00.320 began to cry because he saw somebody who loved God 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:05.520 but still had struggles. I want to thank you, she said, 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:14.400 for keeping it real. I'm like, oh, I thought you 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:20.640 were saying thank you for being deep, that you recognizing 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:24.680 my preaching for its intelligence. You know, when you did 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.920 that thing with Romans chapter four, and then you went 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.319 over to the Book of Revelations after you went to 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:36.520 Walmarts call back. But she said, she didn't say thank 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.280 you for being funny. See, you could tell just right then, 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.320 my humor is not that good. That was polite laughter. 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:44.599 That was church laughter. That was an offering of like 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:46.840 you've heard about, sacrifice of praise. That was the sacrifice 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:48.480 of laugh that you gave me Because it wasn't funny, 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.920 and I appreciate it, but I think about it often 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.600 because when I hung up the phone. I was glad 0:10:55.640 --> 0:11:00.520 that God could use a broken vessel. But you know 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:05.000 what else, deep down I hated it that that was 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:09.760 the thing that she thanked me for, because that is 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:18.080 the most costly thing to be is real. If she 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.359 had said, thank you so much for your alliterated outlines, 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:26.520 thank you so much for all your tweetable moments, thank 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.880 you so much for the way that you dissect and 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.000 parse Greek and Hebrew, I could go back to school 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:33.480 and for the price of a few thousand dollars, I 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:35.840 could brush up on the original languages of the Bible. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.199 The books don't cost that much. But when she said 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.880 thank you for sharing the stuff that makes you embarrassed, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.960 I felt like she was saying, we need to see 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:57.400 you struggle, and I rebuke you, devil. You know. It 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:01.200 was a very tender moment for her, in a very 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:06.640 revelatory moment for me. That we all need those moments 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:14.760 if we if we really will admit it, where someone 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:20.679 that we respect, someone that we think, hey, they're really 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:24.199 trying to someone that we may even feel like men 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:28.160 they're a little further along in this than me, but 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.520 they still struggle. It was power for me for me 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.520 to realize and at the same time terrifying for me 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:38.560 to realize that the thing that connected with her husband, 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.680 who was taken from this life without a warning, the 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.240 thing that connected with him and brought him to a 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:48.760 place where he eventually put his faith in Jesus was 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:56.080 not my impressive side, but my imperfect side, which, to 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.240 be honest with you, is the part that I want 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:01.840 to hide from you the most, But it is the 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:08.520 part that God uses in the greatest way. I think 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:10.959 about that conversation a lot, you know, how I get 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.880 in there and think, Ah, what could I say this 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.160 week that would be really really, you know, profound, And 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:18.400 what could I say this week that would be really 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:20.400 memorable and sticky and all that's great. You know, you 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.560 got to bring everything you got to it, and people 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.240 are gonna come out to you preach. They deserve that 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.680 you study. But it was that moment I told that 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.160 story about the packing peanuts when they blew all over 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.720 the yard and I was out there cussing, and Graham 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:34.760 was listening, and I didn't know it and he was little, 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.640 and I'm cussing its styrofoam packing peanuts. After preaching for 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.880 thirteen Christmas services telling people about the incarnate Babe in 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.400 the Manger who came down from heaven to show us 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:52.880 a gentler kinder way, kinder way right. That dumb story. Yeah, 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:58.800 that dumb story. I bring it up because as much 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.640 as I hate the feeling of being exposed, I'm recently 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.080 learning some terms for this. One thing it can be 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.600 called is recoil. When I share a lot with you 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.040 and see, you don't have to tell me anything about you. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:13.960 You don't tell me anything about you. I meet, I meet, 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:22.000 I meet your church version every week, and that's the 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.800 only version of you that I really get close enough to. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:32.680 And uh, maybe it's better we keep it that way, Okay. 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:37.440 But at the same time that I hate the expense 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.000 of exposure, because after I share something with you, I 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:41.920 go back home and I'm like, did I say that 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:46.120 out loud? That's typically what I do for twelve hours 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:49.040 after I preach. Did I say that? And that and that? Holly? 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:50.400 I only thought that, right, I didn't say it. Hell, 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.400 you said it. I said that. You said that. Can 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:55.040 we still edit it out of the video? No, it's 0:14:55.040 --> 0:15:00.840 already online. Oh as much as I I hate the 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:05.200 expense of exposure, there's something I hate much more, and 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:13.960 I'm gonna tell you this. I hate fake. Hated hated. 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.160 Maybe it's because a guy made me a custom suit 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:24.400 one time and I found out it was fake, a 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:27.120 custom suit off the rack. The way I found out 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:29.400 was I looked at the belt and it said Kenneth 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:34.000 Colch with a K. So if the belt is fake, 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.960 I looked into the suit, what were you doing all 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:44.440 that measuring for it was off the rack? I hate fake. 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.160 That watch I bought in New York City. That thing 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.240 broke in two weeks. I bought ten of them. I 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:56.200 was gonna give them out that's Christmas gifts. Mine broke. 0:15:56.280 --> 0:16:00.360 I threw them all away. I hate fake, I hate you. 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.840 Hate fake. I don't even really like small talk. Holly 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:06.280 said to me the other day. You are so bad 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.200 at small talk. You have got to get better at 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.720 small talk. I'm like, teach me. I want to know 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:12.280 how to do it. I want to know ID just 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.480 something about me. I just want to connect with the 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.480 deepest part of you. I want to know what you 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:18.400 struggle with. I want to know what you dream about. 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.520 I want to know what you're drifted by. I want 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:22.200 to know what you think about when there's nobody but 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.720 you and God and a pantry full of food. Let 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:38.320 me in. I hate fake I hate fake friends. Just 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.760 tell me you're my enemy, because the Bible says love 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.120 your enemies. At least I know what to do with 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.880 you if we could get the relationship established. I hate 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.480 that you don't smile at me to flip me off. 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:55.080 I turned the other cheek. Just slap me. Hate fake. 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.440 In fact, my life can be divided. I'm getting the 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.120 romans for I promise my life can be divided into 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.399 the years before and after I found this out. I 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.600 remember the day one of my family members told me, 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:19.840 you know, professional wrestling is fake? Right? That ruined my childhood, 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.480 That took my innocence. They ought to put people in 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.640 jail who tell you stuff like that, too young. You mean, 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.960 Hulk Hogan is fake, The Ultimate Warrior is fake, the 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:36.520 Big Boss Man is fake. Dusty Rhoads dust, the American Dreams, 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:43.440 Polka Dots feak too. She said, you know it's fake. 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:48.480 And Gene Haynes took us to a wrestling match and 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:49.879 he walked us up. I said, man, how are you 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.959 ruining to go anymore? I found out it's fake, and 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.480 He walked me up to the mat and he goes, 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.080 stomp your foot on that and it was hard. And 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.320 then he said, when you see them slamming each other 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:06.240 on that hard floor, does that feel fake? Now? I 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:10.479 don't know how I remember this, but he said something 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:12.600 like this, and I've probably changed it a little bit. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:13.919 I'm gonna keep it a hundred. I don't know if 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:15.760 you say exactly like this or I'm just morphing it 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.960 to be the perfect sermon quote. Got that keep it real? 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:25.760 He says something like, just because the ending is scripted 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:36.719 doesn't mean the impact isn't real. So I took this 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:43.200 from it. It's fixed, but it's not fake. You still 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.440 got to pick up two hundred and eighty pounds over 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.280 your shoulder. You still got to do the Boston Crab. 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:50.600 You remember the Boston Crab book? You still have. Boston 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:57.240 Crab still feels funny. But just because the ending is predetermined. 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.200 I remember the day I found out it was fake. 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:07.000 Do you remember the day that you found out that 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:12.040 a lot of what happens in churches and faith circles 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:19.280 is as fake as big men on steroids covered in oil, 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:29.200 wearing spandex underwear and I'm just trying to make sure 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:30.800 you're not hungry so you can listen to me. That's 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:32.439 why I went into so much detail. I saw you 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:36.600 get a little disgusted when I said that, because it is. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:40.639 It's something about finding out that a lot of the 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.439 people who were telling you, oh, we've been happily married 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.520 thirty five years, you don't know they've been married forty 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:55.920 five years, happily married for thirty through to math. And 0:19:56.000 --> 0:20:01.440 I don't tell you about those ten, those hidden ten. Oh, 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.600 we just trust God. And I never set out to 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.679 be this real preacher telling embarrassing stories on myself, but 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:15.280 I couldn't stand the fakeness that I sometimes experienced. I mean, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.040 come on, we all have moments where we aspire to 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.520 one thing, we live another. That's not called hypocrisy, by 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:26.120 the way, that's called humanity. Oh. I thought that preacher 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:27.600 was a man of God. Then I found out they 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.720 were a fake. Not necessarily they might have been really 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.960 sincere in their faith, just weak in their humanity and flesh, 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:43.520 just like you are. Let's keep it a hundred. We 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.880 all need the grace of God. None of us want 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.000 all of our business on the front page of anything. Ever, 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:58.680 so part of me in reading Romans four was realizing 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:02.240 that we are hearing about a hero of the Jewish 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.119 faith and the Christian faith. He's an interesting guy and 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.960 his name is Abraham. You've heard of him. You've heard 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.800 of him. He is nicknamed if you had a WWF 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:17.720 the Worldwide Worship Federation. This stuff just comes to me. 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:19.399 The Holy Spirit gives it to me on the spot. 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:23.320 I just say it. I put that on the list 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:25.240 for Did I say that out loud? That was so corny. 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.280 In the thing is said that Abraham is the father 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.720 of many nations. Some call him the father of faith, 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:40.720 not just for Jews speaking from a diasporic or a 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:45.280 genetic or even a religious position, but everyone who believes 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:49.400 in this God Yahweh revealed in the person of Jeshua 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:55.600 Jesus can trace it back to Abraham's faith. That's what 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.000 the passage is about. And one thing I want to 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:01.760 show you in verse six, please write some of this 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:04.400 down so you can revisit it later. He says that 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:08.040 the promise, speaking of the promise that God gave to Abraham, 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.320 what was the promise? The promise was, I'm gonna bless 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.440 the whole earth through you. I'm gonna give you a boy. 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:16.720 Your boy is gonna have boys. Those boys are gonna 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:19.800 have boys. There's gonna be women that give birth to 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:22.800 the boys, and it's all gonna result in a nation 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:27.040 called Israel that will bless the earth. Right now, we 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:31.480 find ourselves in Romans chapter four, where the apostle Paul 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:38.080 is basically having to challenge these believers who want to 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:42.760 be circumcised. You know what that is. I'm not gonna 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:45.400 keep it that reel to break that down all the way, 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:50.480 you can google stuff, okay, and saying, all right, since 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:53.480 God told Abraham when he was a hunter that he 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:56.800 had to be circumcised as a sign of the Covenant, 0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.320 if you put your faith in Christ, you gotta go 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:04.000 back and be so circumcized right now, keep it one hundred. 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:07.320 If that was the membership protocol for this church and 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:09.760 you weren't yet circumcised, all the men who would join 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:11.639 the church at this stage in your life stand up. 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:18.720 No anesthetics, right right, right, right, right right. But that's 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:22.520 what was happening to the gentile believers. They're being told 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.040 you have to do this to belong you have to 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:27.960 look like this, It's a contrast you'll see over and 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:30.240 over again in the scriptures, maybe the main contrast in 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:34.120 the New Testament, of the external signs of salvation and 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:39.000 the internal reality of the Kingdom of God. One comes 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:42.240 from the works of the law or the works of 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:45.879 the flesh. They're used interchangeably. One comes from the grace 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:49.520 of God. And I love that. It says it so clearly. 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:52.040 Follow me in verse sixteen, is so good? Is so good? 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:59.600 Therefore the promise comes by faith? Repeat that the promise 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:05.000 comes y'all gonna have to show y'all how to do 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:09.199 call and response. Why so many dang white people in 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:12.280 this church? I wouldn't have to teach this part? Repeat 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:22.399 after me. The promise comes by faith. Who did I 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:29.280 really say that out loud? The promise comes by faith? Shouted? 0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:36.320 The promise comes by faith? Oh, thank God. Because if 0:24:36.359 --> 0:24:41.480 it came by works, if it came by effort, if 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:44.840 it came by gold star behavior, I don't think God 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:50.080 get it. But the promise comes by faith. Settle down. 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:55.040 That's not the good part. The promise comes by faith. 0:24:55.240 --> 0:24:58.199 Why so that you got it verse sixteen, So that 0:24:58.640 --> 0:25:04.719 it may be by grace? Ah gets better. It comes 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:07.399 by faith. That's the vehicle, so that it may be 0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:13.639 by grace. That's the basis. Faith is the box that 0:25:13.720 --> 0:25:17.159 it comes in. Grace is the basis that it is 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:23.080 built on in order. This is the part that got 0:25:23.119 --> 0:25:28.920 me that it may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, 0:25:29.960 --> 0:25:32.520 not only to those who are of the law, the 0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:35.320 religious system for being right with God, but also those 0:25:35.320 --> 0:25:45.520 who have the faith of Abraham. So it comes through faith. 0:25:46.200 --> 0:25:53.480 What does the promise? I should clarify here. God keeps 0:25:54.400 --> 0:26:05.040 one hundred percent of his promises. Let me stand right 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:08.680 here and say it. Even though people die too early, 0:26:10.119 --> 0:26:14.400 even though people get sick in their bodies, even though 0:26:14.560 --> 0:26:21.280 abuse that should never happen happens. I'm saying it like 0:26:21.320 --> 0:26:27.200 the Bible said it. God keeps one hundred percent of 0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:36.240 his promises. But God does not keep one hundred percent 0:26:36.960 --> 0:26:45.480 of our preferences, our plans, or our desired positive outcomes. 0:26:47.480 --> 0:26:49.160 I gotta keep it real. I gotta keep it real 0:26:49.320 --> 0:26:52.000 because I could make you shout over that first part. 0:26:52.280 --> 0:26:55.240 God keeps one hundred percent of his promises, and all 0:26:55.280 --> 0:26:56.399 you got to do to get the whole room to 0:26:56.440 --> 0:27:02.000 shout is substitute positive outcomes for promises, and people will 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:06.080 shout because they'll be shouting over stuff that they think 0:27:06.160 --> 0:27:09.439 God is going to magically do because I said a 0:27:09.480 --> 0:27:12.280 word that hit a button called promise. And we don't 0:27:12.320 --> 0:27:15.480 know any better than to think that God promised us 0:27:15.640 --> 0:27:18.760 that everything in our life would be positive as it happens. 0:27:19.240 --> 0:27:22.040 So we start shouting about stuff that we want to 0:27:22.080 --> 0:27:25.959 happen without ever consulting whether God ever said it would happen. 0:27:26.240 --> 0:27:28.800 And then we blame God and walk out of his 0:27:28.920 --> 0:27:31.879