”Growing a Stronger Faith” // Genesis 15 // Lakeview Bible Church

Amen. Thank you, James. Um, this is the

Millennium Tower. It's in San Francisco.

58 stories of luxury condominiums,

retail, mixeduse, offices, and uh,

commercial um, space in here. And, uh,

it's a really great tower except for a

couple features. Since 2009, it has sunk

into the ground 18 in and started to

lean a bit.

Now, don't worry about that because the

engineers have come behind it and

instead of the I learned a lot about

building skyscrapers this week. Uh the

friction piles that it's now sitting on

that only go down 80 feet. Bedrock is

200 feet. You can do the math. They put

steel pylons around the perimeter of the

building and uh those do go down the

full 200 f feet. One problem is that

this has created a dishing effect where

the outside of the building is staying

put but the inside is still sagging just

a bit.

Um never fear though because officials

tell you that it's safe to occupy.

But they will tell you also that uh if

the sinking and leaning persist, they

have some concerns over things like the

elevators and the plumbing and the

electrical and other such things you

need to run a building like that. Now,

um

the other thing I found interesting

about the Millennium Tower is it's

become a bit of a tourist attraction in

San Francisco. So when people now go to

San Francisco and you'll likely do it if

you go is you're like Uber guy take me

to the Millennium Tower. You're going to

take a picture outside this which does

have some precedent of something we do

as global people of like oh leaning

tower. I'm going to go check that out.

which like as I sort of thought about

Pisa, I was like, man, I wonder why the

engineers didn't come up with the thing

that has been holding up this tower for

years and years is tourists. Like, I

still don't understand like what their

problem is. Obviously, their engineers

didn't go to&m or UT. Um, here's my

question. Would you, now that you know

about the Millennium Tower, would you

purchase property in the Millennium

Tower?

No.

Why? Because you're not an idiot. That's

why. Um,

here's the here's the thing. You

wouldn't because you do not trust the

strength of the building,

which gives us a very important faith

principle, which is this.

The strength of the object in which you

place your faith is the strength of the

faith you have in that object.

Meaning, if the object that you're

placing your faith in is strong, your

faith can be strong. But with the

millennium tower, where your faith is

weak, notice your faith is weak.

Question.

God, strong or weak?

Strong. Is he trustworthy?

Faithful 100%.

Strong God. Question just between us. No

one else is listening. Is your is your

faith in him always strong?

No. Why is that?

What we just said, the principle is if

the thing is strong, if the object's

strong, your faith can be strong. Why is

it that sometimes you like me, my fa

starts to waver. It starts to shake. It

starts to look more like Millennium

Tower kind of faith. I think it's also a

strength problem because what happens in

your life and in my life is something

comes up that seems stronger. It seems

more um difficult. It seems more like uh

oh, this could really cause some havoc

in my life if it goes sideways. Like

that comes up and it starts to go okay

which is stronger that I'm worried about

or God. And what we do is if we focus on

that, our faith goes

because I know like you, like me, I

worry. I get anxious. I worry about my

kids. I worry about my health. I worry

about my parents aging. I worry about

the stock market. I worry about tariffs.

I don't know why I worry about tariffs,

but apparently I have to worry about

tariffs. I'm worried about the next

election. I'm worried about the uh

direction of the country. I'm worried

about what's happening in my

neighborhood with that guy who doesn't

mow his lawn. I'm worried about

I'm worried about how much I worry.

And what happens is is if I focus on

these things, I don't know if you've

noticed this. I've noticed it, but

that's tends to be when my faith starts

to waver.

It starts to get shaky. Even though has

God changed? No. So, how do you fix the

delta?

How do you the gap between where your

faith is some days and where it can be

and should be with who our God is.

That's what I want to talk about in a

way that isn't millennium tower. Let's

try to shore this thing up so the

building stops leaning because sometimes

your faith leans

and God wants to bring it back. How do

you do that? How do you strengthen your

faith?

What does God have to say about that?

That's what I want to talk about. If you

have your Bibles, go ahead and start to

open them. Genesis chapter 15. And what

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

we're going to do is we're going to

unpack now the definition that we've

been leveraging these several weeks as

we've been looking at Abraham

that this is going to give us. It's it's

been embedded here the entire time. But

faith is believing the truth about one

who God is. What kind of God is this?

What kind of building is this? What kind

of strength does our God have? What kind

of character does he have? and what has

he said? What's he promised? What's he

committed himself to? Those are the two

pieces that if you and I lean in there,

if we focus there versus all the things

that have our attention that tend to

weaken our faith, that's how you grow

it. That's when you notice like getting

a little shaky. Where do you need to

look? How do you strengthen it? Who he

is and what he said.

Our faith grows stronger when we look at

God's character. When we remember that.

So this is Genesis 15 and we're going to

start in verse one.

After these things, the word of the Lord

came to Abram in a vision. Fear not,

Abram. I am your shield. Your reward

shall be very great.

If you remember chapter 14 last week, um

Abram gets off a huge military victory,

defeated a bunch of kings, successful

hostage rescue is what he just pulled

off. Turns out he's a pretty good

military leader, a tactician, organizer

of men in order to defeat an enemy. And

so I find it very interesting that the

very next story

is Abraham's afraid

God has to come and say, "Abram, fear

not." Why is that? He's on a high, man.

I JUST KICKED BUTT AND I took names. I'm

the man.

Well, I think a little clue is in what

he says. He says, "I'm your shield."

Same word that if you looked at a Roman

sold soldier of the day, what would they

have? They would have a shield.

And so, this is my guess. If I'm Abram,

I'm wondering after a little time has

passed, I'm like, "Huh, I wonder if all

those guys defeated are starting to

gather their forces again. I wonder if

they're regaining their strength. I

wonder if I'm going to wake up one

morning, I'm going to look across the

horizon and here they come.

I think he got afraid. The same thing

that happens with you and I when after a

nice victory, what are we worried about?

Losing whatever we got in the victory.

The other thing I want to point your

attention to is the word vision.

That this comes to Abram in a vision.

Interesting. This is the only You'll

find it in the first five books of your

Old Testament. No one else gets a

vision. Later on in your Old Testament,

guys like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,

they'll get a vision. It's the only time

it happens in the opening in the opening

pages of your Bible. It means this that

whatever God's about to do, whatever

he's about to say, whatever he's about

to reveal to Abram, this is special.

This is going to be a clarifying moment.

Pay attention, Abram. Pay attention,

Lake View, because what God's about to

is going to be helpful not only for him

but for us. And I don't know about you,

but if I'm Abram, I hear God show up and

he says, "Hey, Eric, man, fear not,

dude. Your reward shall be very great.

You know what I'm going to do? Heck

yeah, God. That's what I'm talking

about."

Man, I was struggling there for a

minute.

How does Abram respond?

But Abram said, "Oh Lord God, what you

will you give me? For I continue

childless, and the heir of my house is

Eleazar of Damascus."

And Abram said, "Behold, you've given me

no offspring, and a member of my

household will be my heir." Now, if you

remember back a few weeks ago, we were

in Genesis 12. How did the whole

relationship between Abram and God

begin? What promise did God give him

among a few? He said,"Abram, you're

going to be a great nation." Awesome.

Love that. Can't wait for that to

happen. How does a great nation begin?

You got to at least have to have son

number one.

What's happened for Abram?

Child hasn't shown up yet. Here's what

you don't see. Um, between chapters 12

and 15, 10 years have elapsed

over those chapters. Now question

friends,

how are you at waiting 10 years for

something? You're like, I can't wait 10

minutes.

Neither can I. So at some level you're

like, Abram, I get it.

Little anxious. God, you said,

where's the kid?

Like this guy picked up my servant

Eleazar. Like the way culture works,

he's going to be my heir. Why is that?

How does God respond?

And behold, the word of the Lord came to

him.

This man shall not be your heir. Your

very own son shall be your heir.

What kind of God does Abram have? What

kind of God do you have? Is he a God

who, like you might expect, like, "Hey,

Abram, enough with the questions. I told

you once. Would you just be Wait.

No.

He's He's a good dad. He's like, Abram,

I got you.

That No, don't worry. He's He's not that

guy. What you just told me. Notice

Abram, your way to figure out how to get

my promise done is not the way I'm going

to get my promise done. Did you notice

that?

Could you imagine someone trying to help

God out in getting a promise that he

made done?

Just me then.

And then in one of the most poignant

pictures, verse five,

and he brought him outside and said,

"Look toward heaven

and number the stars if you're able to

number them." Then he said to him, "So

shall your offspring be."

God's not there physically. This is a

vision. God's speaking to him in a

vision. But I imagine the way the text

reads, it's almost like if God was there

physically, he's like a dad with Abram

who kind of puts his arm around him. He

says, "Abram, you want to walk outside?

You want to look up at the night sky

with me? You see all those stars, Abram?

You see that amazing canopy?

If you can count all of those, that's

how many descendants you're going to

have."

And I imagine at some Abram's like,

"Whoa."

And what God is doing is he's

reaffirming for Abram. I promise you

that one son you're waiting for isn't

going to stay one son. He is going to

But here's the other thing I think God

is saying to Abram. Abram, as you look

up at that night sky and as you see all

those stars, I'm the God who made them.

I'm the God who can do that.

Abram, I promise you, I got your kids.

If I can do that, Abram, I can certainly

deliver a son to you. And again, notice

the kindness of God. He isn't like, I'm

tired of your belly aching, Abram, and

why can't you get it?

It's like a father and son looking up at

the night sky and his dad pointing stuff

out to him.

and Abram gets it.

Genesis chapter 15 and when we get there

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

on Easter, Genesis 22

are kind of the two peaks in the life

and the story of Abram. How do we know

he gets it? Look how he responds in

verse 6.

And he believed

and he believed the Lord and he counted

it to him as righteousness.

Here's what I want you to notice.

Abram, if he was focused on the promise,

it would have read

something like, "And Abram believed in

the promise of the Lord that he made to

him and then he counted it to him as

righteousness." That's not what your

Bible says. What your Bible says is he

believed the Lord.

If this was a movie, here's what I think

is happening. They're outside the tent.

God's there. He's got his arm around

Abram. The camera shot goes right in and

focuses on Abram's face as he looks up

at God and he goes, "Okay, I get it. I

trust you."

Do you see that?

What has flipped for Abram is he is not

worried. so much about the promise. Yes,

the promise is important. But where is

his faith now more firmly rooted

in the character of who his God is?

You're telling me you can do that, God?

All right. Doesn't matter what promise.

My answer is I believe you. You promised

me about kids. I believe you. You

promised me about land. We'll see that

in a second. I believe you. You promise

me about other things. You're going to

protect me from the guys I'm worried

about.

I believe you.

Doesn't matter what the promise is. The

character of your God is where your

faith rests.

Now, the thing I love

about this story is for me personally,

God did something very similar.

Let me explain.

In 2002,

April, May, I am in Bishquek,

Kyrgyzstan. I know you vacation there

almost every other year. You bought a

time share. So, you're like, Bishquek,

love some Bishkek. You're like, I've

never been to her of Bishkek. Um, if you

find Afghanistan, go about three stands

north and you'll find Kyrgyzstan. If you

hit Kazakhstan, you've gone too far.

just go back south. Uh we were based

there spring into the fall of 2002

doing missions in Afghanistan. And as

part of that time, uh you would end up

flying at night a lot. And so what would

happen is you get on the night page and

you would brief your flight at 1000 p.m.

You would take off at midnight and it's

about an hour flight from Bishquek to

the northern border of Afghanistan. You

would meet a tanker there. You'd get gas

and then you'd fly your 4hour mission

overhead in Afghanistan.

After your 4-hour mission, you would go

hit another tanker on the way out and

then make the one-hour trip home. What

was fun about that is all the awesome

sunrises as you're landing at 6:00 a.m.

And then as you look down, that's where

the Himalaya mountains begin on the west

side. And you can see how they just

stretch out as far as the eye can see.

Amazing. But here's the other thing I

noticed. For four hours flying on night

vision goggles, there's a lot you can

see that you can't see with the naked

eye. So like for you when you go outside

right in Steiner

Austin proper, can you see that many

stars? No. You're like, I can see two

stars. That's how many stars I can see.

But when you're at 30,000 ft on night

vision goggles overhead Afghanistan

where there's only really two cities uh

that have any real lighting avail the

rest of the it's just dark. It's just

dark. You can look up under NVGs

and there's more stars than you can see

on that slide right there.

I'm telling you, there are so many stars

up there that you can't It's just

amazing. Like, I would look under my

MVGs and I'd flip them up. I'd be like,

"Flip them down, flip them up." I was

like, "Oh, that's amazing." Here's the

other thing that you can see on NVGs.

How many of you have seen a shooting

star?

Yeah. Have you seen a bunch? I've seen

one or two, you know, on they're

happening all the time. Like you're

sitting there flying. He's likew

and I'm like this is amazing. Oh, I'm

flying. Where am I? Okay, there's my

wingman. I'm okay.

Every night for like two months.

It was just amazing.

And somewhere along the line, I felt

like the Lord tell me, "Hey, Eric,

if I figured out how to do all this, do

you think I can handle the challenges in

your life.

And I can't tell you how many times as

I've continued to walk with Jesus and

just like you, I get anxious. I get

fearful. I have no idea how this is

going to turn out. I'm scared.

Like God will say something like, "Hey,

Eric, I figured out how to speak the

world into existence.

Don't you think I can figure out that

problem you're so worried about?

This is not hyperbole. What I'm about to

say,

this issue is the root issue in all of

your problems.

In all of our problems, yours and mine,

this is the root issue. Who is your God?

Let me give you an example.

Why do you worry about about um your

future

because at a root level we all struggle

believing that God you really do have a

good plan for my life.

Why do we get worried that someone will

love us?

Because we ultimately struggle to

believe God do you really love me?

Why do we get worried about money and

the economy?

Because God, I really struggle to

believe that you're going to provide for

me no matter what.

Why do we get worried about our kids?

Because we struggle to believe that if

we're not there hovering over them,

making sure every decision they make is

in line with what we want them.

God, can you really handle my kids?

Can you really take care of them?

Why do we get worried about what other

people think of us when we leave the

room?

Because we struggle to believe what God

thinks about us.

Why do we get worried like when Abram we

have to wait for something?

Because we struggle to believe that is

God really going to come through for me.

Does your God lack any power or ability?

No.

Is he the kind of God who will hang you

out to dry?

that he'll forget about. Oh yeah, I

forgot about Eric again. How's he doing?

Holy Spirit, didn't you have him?

Will he do that?

Will he do it even one time?

Right? He is strong. When our faith is

wavering, what we remember is to look

back at him. Don't look at the thing

that's making our faith waver. Now,

please hear me. Please hear me. This

also isn't polyiana thinking. This isn't

rosecolored glasses, right? This isn't

like, oh, just do that and then all the

very real challenges and difficulties

and health scares that you have, poof,

go away.

No, what it does in the moment is it

puts steel beams under you

so that you by grace can move forward.

Notice regardless of what the future

holds. Why?

Because you know better who your God is.

And if he can do that and he just spoke

it,

whatever it is you are anxious about, I

promise you he has it. Yes.

The character of your God. That's the

first place where you go to strengthen

your faith. The second is to rest in his

promises. Get back to what he said. So

look at verse seven.

And he said to him, Is God speaking now?

I'm the Lord who brought you out from of

the Calaldanss to give you this land to

possess. But he said, "Oh Lord God, how

am I to know that I shall possess it?"

And what's going to happen next is God

is going to give him something to do

that on the face of it, you're just

going to scratch your head and be like,

"What in the world is going on?" N he

said to him, "Bring me a hepher, three

years old, a female goat, three years

old, a ram, three years old, a turtle

dove, and a young pigeon."

Verse 10, "And he brought him all these,

cut them in half, and laid each half

over against the other, but he did not

cut the birds in half." And then verse

11, and when the birds of prey came down

on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

You've probably done this this past

week. I'm guessing you're like, "Yeah,

this is what I do. I cut animals in half

and I lay them." No. Okay. What's going

on? Um ancient near east culture, how do

you ratify

um or codify or make firm an agreement

or a promise between two parties, right?

In our culture, we don't do what we just

read about here, right? Like, so just

think about when you if you've ever

bought a piece of property, right? You

go in, you buy a house, you buy some

real estate, you buy some land, and you

go into either the title company or the

um the lawyer, the real estate lawyer's

office, and they've got a stack of

papers like well, they're like this.

That's how much there. And you start to

sign, right? Because we are a largely

literate culture, and we document

things. And so when you agree, when you

get into contract, a contractual

relationship with someone, you have to

sign. So, they give you all the pages,

right? Here's the inspections on your

home that you're getting. Okay, great.

You sign as the buyer, the seller signs,

and then the bank shows up and they have

their piece of paper if you're borrowing

money to buy it, right? And they're

like, "This stack of paper." And they're

like, "Pay us back. Sign here." What's

this piece of paper? Really? Pay us

back. Okay, I'll sign there. What's the

next one? You got to give us your first

kid if you don't pay us back. Okay,

great. Thanks. Right. That's how we do

it. That's how we do it. You sign,

right?

This is how you do it in the first

century.

So basically, just notice something.

Abram knew what to do with the animals.

God didn't have to tell him. So here's

how it works. You and I are going to get

into a covenant. We're going to get into

an agreement where I promised to do some

things and you promised to do some

things. So there we are. We get some

animals. We cut them in two and we

separate them. You heard it. And they're

facing each other. And then it forms uh

like a walkway. And then what happens is

you and I as the two parties in the

covenant walk through the pieces.

And symbolically what we are saying is

if I do not uphold my end of the

promise, you can do to me what we just

did to these animals.

I have no idea what happened to the

birds. They didn't want to cut those in

pieces. Maybe they're small. Feathers

get everywhere. I don't know.

My best guess is with the birds, you

just kind of ring the neck and just put

them down dead. I know that's a lovely

thought.

And then the piece, a very interesting

detail in verse 11 about the birds of

prey coming down and Abram has to shoe

him away. Like that's the just the icing

on the covenant cake, so to speak.

Because what you're basically saying is,

uh, just so you know, if you do not

uphold your end of the bargain, I'm

going to leave your severed body out

here and let the birds have you.

Isn't that fun? You're like, I'll take

the title company.

God and Abram are going to get into a

covenantal

arrangement. It's a covenant enactment

ceremony.

Pieces are there. Everything's set up.

What happens? Verse 12.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep

fell on Abram. And behold, notice this,

dreadful and great darkness fell upon

him. We'll come back to that. And then

verse 13, God is going to reaffirm some

promises and expand them. So then the

Lord said to Abram, "Know for certain

that your offspring will be sojourers in

a land that is not theirs and will be

servants there, and they will be

afflicted for 400 years." Now remember,

who are the original readers of Genesis

15? The Israelites, remember, Moses is

the author. He's writing it to them

before they enter the promised land. Why

is that important? Because they're the

first readers and they're like, "Whoa,

that's us. We were the ones who were in

Egypt for 400 years and afflicted." Man,

God was talking to Abram about us. Yes.

Why do I say that? Because Genesis 15

was written to you.

I'll explain that as we go along.

Verse 14. But I will bring judgement on

the nation that they serve. God did

that.

And afterward they shall come out with

great possessions. God did that. Verse

15. As for you, you shall go out to your

fathers in peace. Now he shifts back to

a promise to Abraham specifically.

As for you, you shall go to your fathers

in peace and sh and you shall be buried

in a good old age, and they shall come

back here in the fourth generation for

the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet

complete.

What God is saying is, Abram, not only

are the promises that I've already made

to you firm, I'm actually doing a lot

more than you could even imagine through

what we're even doing here.

And then verse 17, here's the ceremony.

When the sun had gone down and it was

dark, behold,

a smoking firepot and a flaming torch

passed between the pieces.

On that day the Lord made a covenant. He

made a firm binding promise with Abram

saying to your offspring I give this

land. And then the rest of the chapter

is just the boundaries of the geography

from the river of Egypt to the great

river the river Euphrates to the land of

the Kennites, the Kennesites, the

Canadonites, the Hittites, the

Perizzites that wereame, the Amorites,

the Canaanites, the Gegosites, and the

Jebusites.

Two things, two truths I want you to

notice about the ceremony itself. The

first is smoking firepot,

flaming torch.

Those two words, the smoke and the flame

are going to get repeated throughout the

next books of the Bible where on Mount

Si, God will come down and he'll meet

with Moses. In what form? Smoke and

fire. Same words as Genesis 15. What

else will happen? God will have led by

this point as the Israelites are reading

it. They will have been led by what? How

does God show up in the wilderness? A

pillar of smoke and a pillar of fire.

Same exact words. Other thing you have

to notice,

who walked through the pieces?

God. Did Abram walk through the pieces?

No.

Genesis 15 is a huge paradigm moment for

your Bible. Why? Because what God is

saying as he walks through the pieces is

this covenant is 100% on my shoulders.

This is not up to you, Abram, to fulfill

all the promises that I'm making between

you and I. All of the responsibility

falls on me, Abram. And secondarily,

what God is also saying is, "And if you,

Abram, fail to uphold your part of the

covenant, I get torn to pieces."

Not you.

Does that begin to remind you of

anything

where God himself will be the one torn

apart in the place of someone who

actually committed the crime.

Here's what's

amazing about God's word.

How has Abram done so far in obedience

to God? Perfect.

>> No.

>> Remember the whole thing about lying

about his wife? She's my sister, my

wife. Sorry about that.

Will Abram be perfect going forward? No.

When you read the rest of his life and

you read the the guys who follow and the

families that follow on into the

Israelites, how do they do upholding

their end of the promise?

Failure. Failure. Failure. Big failure.

Failure.

And every place you see, God in his

grace upholds the promise.

So far in your Bible, God has already

made promises not just to Abram, but to

you.

Genesis chapter 3, after the fall, God

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

says, "I'm sending a seed of the woman

to do what? Crush the head of your

enemy."

Who has to do that? God does.

Genesis 12, God says to Abram, "Hey, I'm

actually through that great nation I'm

going to make for through you. I'm going

to bless the entire planet."

That was a promise to you

because there is a son who's going to

come who is going to be that blessing.

In Genesis 15, he makes another promise

to you and I,

and I'm going to hit that in a second.

What you're supposed to see in Genesis

15 is the cross.

And then when the sixth hour had come,

that's noon, there was darkness over the

whole land.

Do you remember verse 12? What happened

in verse 12 with Abram? A deep darkness

falls.

And then notice until the 9th hour,

that's 3 p.m. And at the 9th hour, Jesus

cried with a loud voice, "Eloyd,"

which means, "My God, my God, why have

you forsaken me? What is going on?" In

that moment,

Jesus is already on the cross, his flesh

torn apart.

Why did Why does he cry out?

He doesn't cry out and say, "I'm really

hurting physically."

No, he's being torn apart at a soul

level.

Why? Because as Jesus hangs there on the

cross, what is happening in that moment

is he is becoming your sin and my sin.

And God is placing all the sin, all the

failures to keep the covenant, all the

failures of you and I to measure up and

to live the life we should have lived.

And what God is doing in that moment is

he's judging his son. That Jesus in this

moment is becoming our sin. And what God

is doing in the only time that this ever

happened, God says, "I will now turn

and remove my presence from you." And

Jesus feels it and his soul is torn

apart.

The only time he ever cries out like

this, he's looking up at the heavens.

He's like, "Where are you? Where did you

go?"

So that you and I never will.

What makes heaven heaven and hell hell?

The presence and absence of God.

Why heaven is heaven is because God is

fully there. That's what makes it

amazing. What makes hell so horrific

that that Jesus himself would cry out,

"Please don't misunderstand me. Jesus

does not go to hell. He's feeling what

it would be like.

It's the absence.

It's the absence of God.

And so, back to Genesis 15, as God as

the smoking pot and the flaming torch

goes through the pieces, he knows

that he will be torn apart in his son.

Here's the question.

How does that help you?

Now, verse six.

and he

believed the Lord. And what the Lord did

is he counted that belief back to Abram

as righteousness.

Here's my question for you. Do you

believe?

Do you believe?

Do you believe yourself to be a sinner

in need of of a savior.

Do you believe that you have not lived

the life you know you should have lived?

Do you believe

that God in his mercy and grace to you

made a way where you don't get torn

apart for your sin? But Jesus does.

If you believe that, what God does in an

amazing grace is he credits you as being

righteous. How does that work? Because

as Jesus hangs there and becomes your

sin and my sin, what that enables God to

do is if you believe in that, then all

of Jesus righteousness gets credited to

you.

Do you believe it?

You and I were not able to go to the

covenant

enactment ceremony of Genesis 15.

But do you know what God did for us?

He gave us the covenant

enactment

ceremony.

So if you have your elements, please

grab them.

If you did not grab them as you came in,

some of our ushers are around. Just

raise your hand and then we'll get them

to you.

Because Genesis 15

was pointing ultimately

to a hill outside of Jerusalem where all

this got solved.

And if you were there in Genesis 15

and you saw Abram, you would have saw

like all the blood on him.

You would have seen these torn up

animals.

And if you were on the hill outside of

Jerusalem and you looked up at the

cross, you would have seen your savior

torn as well.

And you would have looked at Abram in

Genesis 15

and the blood would have been on his

hands. It would have been on his

clothes. It would have been on the

ground.

And if you had been on that hill outside

of Jerusalem, you would have seen

blood dripping from a cross.

And the night before

Jesus went there,

he sat with his friends

as he would have sat with you.

I love the brilliance of God. Jesus says

there's going to be a new what?

Covenant.

There's going to be a new covenant.

There's going to be a new promise.

of how we're going to do life.

And Jesus grabs a piece of bread and he

breaks it and he says, "This is my body

broken

for you." Why?

So your body isn't.

Why? Because God said, "I will bear

the ramifications of the promise on

myself."

And Abram had no way of knowing,

but you do.

And so what Jesus said, he said, "Do

this as often as you eat of it in

remembrance of me."

Bible says that after the supper, they

ate together.

Jesus took a cup

And he says in that moment that this is

the new covenant. No, we're not going to

cut up animals anymore. We're not doing

it that way.

From now on, it's going to be my blood

that was shed for you. Why?

So that your blood is not.

Jesus says, "Let it be mine in your

place."

And he said, "Every time you drink this,

do so in remembrance of me.

And so, Father, again, we thank you.

We thank you for your grace. We thank

you for your love. We thank you for your

kindness.

We thank you that you're a good father

who amazingly figured out how to crush

sin without crushing the sinner.

And Jesus, we thank you that you took

that crushing for us.

I pray for each of us that you'll

continue to help us as we remember who

you are and what you've done and what

you've promised,

that you are good.

And those things which rattle us today,

you are stronger than.

And would you lift our eyes

back to you and help us just a little

more

to take our faith

and root it in you,

Jesus, thank you for all that you've

done. Thank you for loving us.

We give you all the glory and praise.

and we prayed in your name and everyone

said,