MID WEEK MOTIVATION - April 8, 2026 (Grant Stegall)

You're listening to the Midweek Motivation Podcast from DeSoto Hills Baptist Church in Southeast David, Mississippi.

Here's your host, Mark Lewis, David Burgess, Laura Ulrich, and Pastor Grant Steagall.

Welcome to the Midweek Motivation Podcast for Wednesday, April the 8th, here at DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

I'm Mark Lewis sitting with Grant Steagall.

And this podcast may not be quite as saucy as last week's with uh the young adults.

But uh we do hope this programming can encourage folks throughout DeSoto County and beyond.

Be sure to subscribe and share our link on social media.

We did film this or record this prior to this morning, obviously.

And Grant has had a very full day.

He has just literally run into the office here 20 minutes ago on fumes.

You got to go and do something in Pontiot.

First Baptist Pontiot.

They do holy week services and have uh guys come in for lunch Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday they'll do a Good Friday service, like a communion at lunchtime for folks to come in.

I love it.

Not your stomping ground, man.

Oh yeah, man.

Clay, my brother Clay is the associate pastor there, so got to see him and got to go over and see mom too.

And so what'd they serve?

What'd they serve for lunch?

They served baked potatoes and chicken strips.

But um I they just said I you can eat before or after, and I said, let's do after, just it'd work better, and then it was gone.

So they took me to a place called Spuds, which is really good too, and so had a good hamburger.

So that's fun then.

You got to now Pontock, for people who don't know, it's it's a it's like stepping back in time a little bit.

And there's multiple cities in the state of Mississippi like that.

Right.

Uh so I'm assuming you probably had a decent amount of people because in small towns like that, yeah.

For a lunch.

It was a good crowd.

I think I heard them say, I don't know if this is what they were talking about, but they said about a maybe 110, something like that.

For a lunch service where people are coming from work to eat.

And listen, that's remarkably well.

It was good.

It was great, good time.

Saw a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a long time.

So all right, we're gonna get straight to the calendar because before we started recording, we were looking at it and our eyes were swimming all over the page, Grant, because there's so much coming up.

Now, what do we have this coming Sunday, the 12th?

This coming Sunday is gonna be a packed service.

You know, we think Easter is full service, and it is, uh, but the 12th, uh coming up this Sunday, we uh have another Impact Sunday.

Uh we're recognizing our last one for the spring.

We're recognizing the women's ministry uh on that.

And then uh we are all that is also to end Impact Month.

We're having a volunteer appreciation day.

We're gonna serve donuts in between uh service services to recognize our volunteers, all our volunteers.

So we are thankful for you if you are a volunteer.

And if you're not, come volunteer.

We'll be thankful for you too.

Um so then we also have some baptisms in that service, have a baby dedication in one of those services.

So it's gonna be a full Sunday.

I love it.

So, and then that next week on Tuesday, uh, Tuesday night is our TNT, our tried and true ministry.

TNT Ministry is our senior adult ministry.

If you don't know, it's for anyone 55 and older.

Um we uh sad note here, David Rice, who was kind of our ex officio leader of uh the TNT ministry, he passed away.

And so um just as an encouragement, um that that I met with that team earlier this week.

Uh they we're gonna keep going uh with our TNT ministry.

It's been a vital ministry of our church over the since I've been here.

And they love it.

It's been a great ministry, and so uh they are gonna do something on the 14th where they're gonna grill out at the pavilion, have hamburgers and hot dogs at the pavilion with chips and do kind of a game night.

They're encouraging people to bring, if you have outside games, cornhole, croquet, you remember old croquet?

Cornhole, croquet, horseshoes.

If you have some of those games that are outside games, bring those.

If you don't want to play those games but just want to do like dominoes or something like that, they're just gonna have a game night down at the pavilion with hot dogs and hamburgers.

Fantastic.

Um, so that should be a lot of fun.

Um, then you got the 19th.

Uh is gonna be another big Sunday.

Children's first to third grade choirs are singing on the 19th as part of that service.

Um, that afternoon is gonna be a Grand Prix work day.

Uh so the next Grand Prix baby.

The next week, the 26th is the actual Grand Prix.

But you have a work day on the on the 19th.

If you need help, if if you need some Legos or things like that to help build your car, that'll be on the 19th.

The 22nd that Wednesday night is our last spring class.

Um, the last Wednesday night spring class is the 22nd.

Um the 29th that Wednesday night, we will not have a meal.

Um, no Wednesday night services on the 29th.

And then we start our summer schedule on the first Wednesday night of May, which will be May the 6th.

And for our listeners, if you remember, we our summer schedule for Wednesday nights runs a little bit differently than other churches probably would do it.

But um we will start back with our next season in August once school gets started.

Well, and we changed that a little bit last year too, Mark.

We went back, we we we are gonna have small groups.

I'll I'll be teaching my class on the Bible recap.

The men will still have a group um that we have a ladies' class that will meet.

Um the youth will still have their full activities.

Uh but we do a set of summer studies.

Yes, we do a set of summer studies, correct.

And then we'll do a set of set of false lists.

Youth still meet, children meet, everything is the same, and we do a meal.

That's right.

Um, but it's just the climate is different as far as what studies that are offered.

And the timing will instead of being six to seven fifteen, it's six to seven.

Um we're not we won't do choirs in the summer, so that'll that'll shave that 15 minutes off.

But other than that, like we're still and it went full blow and it went remarkably well last year.

That's right.

And so we'll still have our meals, and so um that'll be that'll be good.

So man, that's coming quick.

It is.

The the 26th, that Sunday is a full Sunday.

There are the fourth through sixth grade choir, the preschool choir, and the youth choir are all singing in that service.

And then then you hit May, and the first Sunday of May, the third, that's Graduate Recognition Sunday, and then we have Mother's Day, um, the week after that.

And so it is gonna be a um and we have our uh salute to summer coming in May this year, too.

Salute to summer is coming in May, yes.

Lots of lots going on, man.

It's it's fun, it's fun though, right?

We're we're downhill at a very quick pace at this point.

So uh if anyone has any questions, obviously you can call the church office during uh business hours.

I don't know.

Do we have some of these calendars still available at the Welcome Center if they wanted some?

I don't know, but if you request one, Ms.

Vicky can get you one.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

We can get you any and all that information.

Of course, always hit our church website, DeSodahills.com.

Uh the scrolling banners at the very front of the website has uh all of the information you need for immediately upcoming events.

We keep all of our registration forms, all of that type of thing.

And parents, if you have children or youth and they're planning on doing summer camps, you need to be looking on the website right now because we have registrations that are open for all of that stuff.

And that stuff has got to close pretty soon because we have to get our numbers in for those camps before we can uh get rolling on that.

So uh with with without further ado, we're now going to shift to our devotion portion of the podcast that we call the midweek moment.

Hey, before we get there, I just got to tell you this.

In that opening thing, when it's going through like with Mark Lewis, with David Burgess, Laura, and Pastor Grant Steagall, it always throws me off.

I've been two and a half years, I've been the pastor.

Yes, but I'm still getting thrown off, even to the point you'll love this Sunday morning.

David normally in on Sunday morning does the welcome.

I did it this past Sunday morning, first service.

I stood up and nobody knew it, but my head said, Hey, I'm Grant Stiegel, the associate.

Did you say that?

No, it's just in your head.

I had to catch myself from saying it.

So nobody knew it, but I caught myself and went, Oh my stars.

I have done that once in the two and a half years, but uh I love it.

Yeah.

So anyway, we are been have been looking at covenants.

Uh last two weeks ago, we looked at the Adamic covenant, God's covenant with Adam, and how Jesus really fulfilled that covenant.

Today we are gonna look at God's covenant with Abraham.

We find the first thought of that covenant in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 through 3.

Genesis 12:1–3

Uh here's what it says.

Now the Lord said to Abram, we know him Abraham, he changes his name later.

Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation.

I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

So there's the covenant.

When we talked two weeks ago, and then this past Sunday, two or two Sundays ago, we talked about covenants.

Three different kinds.

There's the treaty, two unequal parties, where the the weaker party fulfills obligations for the stronger party.

The there was the contract where it's two equal parties, they both have obligations, and then there's the treaty, two unequal parties where the stronger party obligates himself for the betterment of the weaker party.

That's what we have here is a grant.

That's what this covenant is with Abraham.

Abraham has done nothing, Abraham doesn't have to do anything.

God says, Look, I'm picking you, you come on, I'm gonna give you a land, I'm gonna give you a bunch of descendants, and from you I am going to all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

And so that's the the covenant with Abraham.

When you come over to chapter 15 of Genesis, he uh he really solidifies that covenant.

You have a you have a ceremony, I guess, uh where God doesn't renew the covenant, but it is almost like a covenant ceremony where they go and um God says this is it, this is the covenant, and and and re-emphasizes that with Abraham.

So you go to to the Abraham covenant, that's the covenant.

I'm gonna do these things.

Abraham doesn't have to do anything else.

Now, as you go through and try to see fulfillment of this covenant, I mean we see it uh even before you get to to Moses, right?

Jacob, Abraham's grandson, takes his family to Egypt.

In Egypt, they're there about 400 years, but in Egypt, they grow to some would say a population of about two million people or more.

Whoa! Yeah.

I mean, it's uh 900 and something thousand men.

So if you count children, men of fighting age, so if you count children and wives and all those kind of things, estimates could be about two million.

Um and so there's people, right?

And then they they leave in Exodus, they leave the they leave Egypt, they wander in the wilderness through Numbers and Deuteronomy, and then in Joshua, they go into the promised land.

So now you see fulfillment of descendants, you see fulfillment of land.

So now the question is, how is he going to bless the earth?

And and and what is that going to look like?

And you see that happen according to New Testament and according to Paul, you really see that happening in Jesus.

So when Paul writes his his letter to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 3, uh he begins to he outlines what that looks like.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

He says, starting in verse 15, to give a human example, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.

So, Mark, if you and I make a covenant with each other, we shake hands on it and say, Here's the covenant.

Nothing can annul that, nothing can change that.

We've made the covenant.

So even in a man-made, nothing, nothing changes.

Verse 16.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.

It does not say to the offsprings, period, uh, plural, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ.

This is what I mean.

The law which came 430 years afterwards does not annul the covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void.

For if the inheritance comes by law, it no longer comes by promise, but God gave to Abraham a promise.

So what he's saying is the Mosaic Law, which we're going to talk about next time, the Mosaic Law was a different covenant, but it didn't annul the promise God made with Abraham.

So what they wanted to say is, you know, you had to keep the law, you had to keep the law, you had to keep the law.

And while the law was important, I'm not trying to demean that, the promise to Abraham was not you have to do something to be God's people.

The promise was, I'm gonna make you a great nation.

I'm gonna give you descendants, I'm going to bless the world and the people of the world through your descendants.

It's not I'm just because that's who I am, that's what I'm gonna do.

The Mosaic law does not annul that.

So then he says, why then the law?

It was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come and the promise be made, and it was put in place through angels and an immediate intermediary.

Now, an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

So he's given them the law, and what the law does then is points out that people are sinners.

I mean, that's that's what the law really does.

Paul says it in Romans.

I mean, what the raw law did, while there was sin before the law, now because of the law, people know that they're sin.

They know they've messed up that because they've broken the law.

Verse 21, he goes on and says, This the law then, is the law then contrary to the promises of God?

Certainly not.

For if the law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.

But the scripture imprisoned everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus might be given to those who believe.

So how did Scripture imprison us?

Because it made us aware of the law.

The Old Testament made us aware of the law.

What I know they had the Ten Commandments, but didn't they have a whole list of stuff that was a part of the law?

Mm-hmm.

There was a lot more to it.

I mean, if you just read Leviticus and Deuteronomy, there's the Ten Commandments, which were the premise, but I mean, if you read Leviticus and Deuteronomy, there's tons of other things.

Like if you have a if you have a skin infection, you have to do this, and if you have, you know, if your house has mold in it, you have to do this, and there's there's tons of laws that that they have to keep.

And none of those uh did away with God's promise to Abraham.

That was still going to go.

That was a a reminder to them of they are not a good person.

Yeah.

It pointed out that you that and he and he says it here, but the scripture imprisoned everything under sin because we knew our sins, so that pro the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

So the promise is when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, there's yet another covenant, the new covenant, for those who believe, where we receive Christ's righteousness.

And so it's not due to our own righteousness, because the law shows us we're not righteous, but Christ gives us his righteousness when we believe.

And so, and so it is through that then that we come to the blessings of the world by Abraham.

He goes on and says, Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until coming faith would be revealed.

So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

So the law showed us this is how you can be justified.

Nobody could do it though.

So now what the law did it says, since you can't do this, you need to be justified, but it only comes by faith in Jesus.

When we place our faith in him, again, he gives us his righteousness.

So now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

For in Christ, you are all, hear this, sons of God through faith.

For as many as you were baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

So here's how Christ fulfills the Abrahamic covenant.

One, you're gonna be given descendants.

Okay?

The Jewish people, Abraham's descendants.

But everyone who believes in Christ, who is the offspring of Abraham, everyone who believes in Christ is a descendant of Abraham.

Maybe not physically, but spiritually, we are descendants.

As Christians, we are descendants of Abraham.

So his dis the number of his descendants is, I mean, huge.

That's wild to think.

That's right.

Land.

Now the kingdom of God right now is not a geopolitical entity where we're gonna live, but that's coming.

We're still we're looking for that, but we know in Christ because he's promised it, it's really guaranteed.

That's going to happen.

And then the blessing the world, his offspring, as button, Jesus, bless the world because he offers justification to all who believe because we can't earn it ourselves.

So we when we believe in him, we are justified.

Whether you're Jew or Greek, male, female, slave, free, it doesn't matter.

If you believe in Jesus, you are justified, not because of our righteousness, but because of his righteousness that he gave to us by being the atoning sacrifice on the cross, which we just celebrated at Easter, that he is our atoning sacrifice, that he arose.

Man, Grant, thanks so much.

And thank you guys for listening.

If you don't have a church home, we'd love to see you here on Sunday morning.

You can catch our services online at Desotahills.com, our YouTube channel at DeSota Hills Baptist Church.

For all of our church family, we love you.

We will see you here bright and early next Wednesday morning.

God bless.

This has been your midweek motivation.

We'd love to have you join us in person on Sunday mornings.

Our services are at 9 and 10 30 a.m.