Genesis 23-24

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, good morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: How you doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great to be with you on this.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's up?

[SPEAKER_00]: When someone says hi, and you're speaking, you're like, oh, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Did I forget my shoe?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, what worries I have a book or somewhere?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man, that's online too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, it's pressing right along.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is Labor Day weekend.

[SPEAKER_00]: May your grills be lit, and may the aroma from them be pleasing to you and your family and all of years as we can.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I am one of the pastors that gets to teach her on Sunday, so it's a pleasure to get to share God's word with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as you know, we've been in a series going through the book of Genesis.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to go ahead and flip to chapter twenty three this morning, we'll be looking at chapters twenty three and twenty four.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that means there's eighty five verses.

[SPEAKER_00]: between these two chapters to kind of get through today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And man, I gotta tell you, I may not get to every single detail that everyone may want, but I can tell you this as I've kind of been studying and researching and preparing.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's some really, man, just some impactful things, God's been laying on my heart and on my mind and I'm praying and confident that he will do the same for you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, in and through this chapter, man, there's a couple things that we see and so,

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you can relate to some of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the things that we're going to see in these two chapters is the grief of earthly loss, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: God doesn't tell us that grief is bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: God tells us that we grieve about things that are good and things that hurt and that's not an evil thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to see the grief of earthly loss in that Abraham, the person whose life we've kind of been following for a bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to lose his lifelong spouse Sarah and his best I can guess they were married for at least a hundred years.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not sure anyone's beating that one.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll also get to see the joy that comes from promises that God fulfills, and that God takes care of.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's be honest, sometimes we might want those promises to be fulfilled a bit sooner, and sometimes God says later, but we're going to get to see some of that in the through the life of Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're also going to get to see an unnamed man who I believe, I know the name of, I'll tell you about that at the end, get sent by Abraham, provisioned for by God to go in a journey over five hundred miles to find Isaac O'Wye, who is Abraham's son.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a really cool backstory to that, we'll get to.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then by the end of chapter twenty four, what we begin to see is the passing off of the baton between

[SPEAKER_00]: the Abraham and Sarah who will pass in this chapter to the next covenant, the next covenant bears in Isaac and Rebecca.

[SPEAKER_00]: So lots of really good stuff that we'll get into.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you would go and go with me to chapter twenty three verse one.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what I'm going to do is just read a shorter or longer section at a time and then point out some details and some things I think will be really pertinent for us to hear this from you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, cool deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: There we go.

[SPEAKER_00]: When Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years old, she died at Curiaf, our Bob, now called Hebrew, in the land of Canaan, and there, Abraham mourned and wept for her.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm going to read a lot more than two verses at a time here in a bit, but I'm going to stop and pause at this one.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a few things that I want to point out here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah is actually the only person whose age we're told several times throughout Scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's one other guy named Abigail who we're told was about A.D.

[SPEAKER_00]: IV.

[SPEAKER_00]: So why do I mention that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Gentlemen in the room.

[SPEAKER_00]: This may be God's hint that we don't ask of woman how old she is because there's only one woman in Scripture whose age is ever mentioned and you know, maybe just a word for the wise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Moving on to the more sentimental.

[SPEAKER_00]: What just happened in these two verses is an earthquake of earthly grief for Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we know from the text that it says that he didn't just mourn, which is the word used in Hebrew, Bacaf, or the customary mourning rights of Alas.

[SPEAKER_00]: He web, he suffet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Suffet is this much heavier, weightier thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's expressionally

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just I'm sad and I'm grieving, it's that I'm beating my chest and agony of just the morning of what I've lost.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's in today's terms, it's the ugly cry, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Ladies, it's the Oda, I wear waterproof mascara, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because there's about to be some things flowing down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guys, this is that cry that you feel that comes and you're like, hmm, you know, together, man, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's heavy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's good reason for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah, as I didn't know this, there's a version Hebrew that Hebrew is actually talks about, Sarah, but just to put in reference, Sarah, throughout the old New Testament, she has spoken of as a woman of legacy at faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the book Isaiah reminds the people that as they're waiting for God's deliverance and they're facing all sorts of hardship, a lot of it is their own fault.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they're also living in a broken world.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, listen, as you're waiting for the Lord's deliverance, and as you're waiting for God to fulfill His promises, and who is going to bring it through the Messiah?

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, remember Abraham, and what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, he says, Abraham and Sarah.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, hey, remember both of them as you wait, and you seek to wait patiently, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because Sarah was this woman who was a legacy of faith and new testament,

[SPEAKER_00]: The Apostle Peter went right into Asia Minor and seeking to encourage Christian women to be faithful wives, points to the example of Sarah, who had an inner and outer beauty of character that made her what she was.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Hebrews chapter eleven, did you know this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah is one of the two women spoken of when the exemplars of the faith are described, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The other one is Ruth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah's place in Scripture that God inspired is an exemplar of what it means to live faithfully to live committed and to be a woman of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we look at who Sarah was as a wife, I mean, maybe some of you can relate with this a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have any of you ever had to leave?

[SPEAKER_00]: where was comfortable and plush, where your family was close, everything was good, we got a nice house, got a nice place, we know where everything is, and all of a sudden your husband says, hey, God's leading the somewhere else.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where are we going?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who's there?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's it gonna be like?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I just, I just know this is where we're being led right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was, that was some of Sarah's experience.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah also dealt with decades of infertility when seemingly those around her did not.

[SPEAKER_00]: She also had times in her husband's holy blood and she left very vulnerable and unprotected.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember those stories of when they're going through Egypt?

[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, hey Abram, who's that?

[SPEAKER_00]: She's my sister.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you scare they're gonna whack him because they want to get the herd.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of trusting the Lord, he lies.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't imagine what that must have felt like for her.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully, she got flowers afterwards.

[SPEAKER_00]: But she also was there with Abraham in the moments where they just couldn't believe the moments they were in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like it wasn't just a heartache and feeling vulnerable in the heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was also a gibulation and joy.

[SPEAKER_00]: When God told her that she was gonna give birth to a son in her old age.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as she passes away here, I wanted to mention this note,

[SPEAKER_00]: As she passes away here, she doesn't get to see her son Isaac.

[SPEAKER_00]: She doesn't get to see who his wife is going to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: She doesn't get to see who the grand babies are going to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: She gets to meet him.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's around him for a long while, decades.

[SPEAKER_00]: But she doesn't get to see the children, the grandchildren that she's probably home waiting for.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just for clarity, she wasn't perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: Her faith fluctuated at times.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes, big, big time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when her face fluctuated, sometimes versus trusting and staying committed to what God had said, she tried to craft her own plans, her own schemes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes, not even really owning that it was her idea.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then making the people that she had harmed already actually paid the price for her and all of the grief and pain she was dealing with her own choices.

[SPEAKER_00]: So she wasn't perfect, none of us are, but she is spoken of as an exemplar of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, yeah, I would say that when we look in these first two verses, and it says that Abraham didn't just mourn, he's such that he wept, kind of makes sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted to make sure that we got to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So now, I have to give a little bit of a disclaimer.

[SPEAKER_00]: Versus three through twenty, if you don't actually understand what's happening in the big picture of God's promises and what God is doing,

[SPEAKER_00]: You might wonder, okay, what's up with reading seventeen verses on an ancient area during real estate transit?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what's to do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's the significance?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's the deep stuff Kyle?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just stay with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know some of you already know what's going on, but let me just go ahead and read the rest of the chapter and then I'll explain.

[SPEAKER_00]: So then it says verse three, then leaving her body, he said to the hidden tight elders, here I am.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is Abraham talking.

[SPEAKER_00]: A stranger and foreigner among you, please tell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hiddoutites replied to Abraham, listen to my Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are an honor prince among us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her there.

[SPEAKER_00]: No one here will refuse you in this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then Abraham bowed low before the Hiddoutites.

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't like a worship thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a cultural custom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, since you are willing to help me in this way, be so kind as to ask Ephraim, son of Zor, to let me buy his cave in Mach Pila, down at the end of his field.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will pay the full price of the presence of witnesses.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, in the presence of witnesses, so that I will have a permanent burial place for my family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is he saying that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what he's saying is, hey, listen, I want everybody at the city gates to see what's happening here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's no funny business and someone doesn't try to say later, oh, that's not what happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was kind of a background deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, no, no, no, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want everybody around for this and by the way, go get F from.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got a specific place in mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it says, F from was sitting there amongst the others, and he answered Abraham in the other, as the others were listening.

[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking publicly before all the head-tie elders of the town, no, my Lord, he said to Abraham, please listen to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will give you this field and the cave.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here in the presence of my people, I will give it to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go and bury your dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, Abraham, again, bowed low before the citizens of the land.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he replied to Efron as everyone listens.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, listen to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will buy it from you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ephraim answered Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: My Lord, please listen to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: That land is worth four hundred pieces of silver.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what is that between friends?

[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead and bury your dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Abraham agreed to Ephraim's price and paid the amount he had suggested four hundred pieces of silver.

[SPEAKER_00]: Way to according to the market standard.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then, the Hennetyeilders witnessed the transaction.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Abraham blot, blot, blot, the plot of land belonging to Ephraim at Macpila on near memory.

[SPEAKER_00]: This included the field itself, the mechaiv that was in it, and all of the surrounding trees.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this isn't just like some little small.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is some acreage.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was transferred to Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is this permanent possession in the presence of the Hennetyeilders at the city gate.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Abraham buried his wife Sarah there in Canaan.

[SPEAKER_00]: in the cave of Machpila near memory, also called Hebrew.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the field in the cave were transferred from the hit a tights to Abraham as a permanent burial place.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now a few things I want to point out about what just happened in the significance of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: First thing to remember is that Abraham is a sugerner.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't actually own anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't have any land rights.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you were a sub-journer, you could stay outside the city.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'd likely stay somewhere near a water spring.

[SPEAKER_00]: You would say somewhere where maybe there's some shade, and that was cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: You could stay there.

[SPEAKER_00]: You could set up shop with your tents, your people, your livestock, all that good stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the way Abraham is rolling right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you have to remember, too, because he's a sub-journer,

[SPEAKER_00]: He's really, he's kind of dependent upon the hospitality that's there, and then that they're going to be cool with him and be merciful.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as we read through the text, what you can see is they recognize that Abraham's got a pretty big entourage.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a person of power, and they call him Prince, like Chiefton.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they recognize he's got some plow, he's got some resources, he's got some soldiers, he's got some men, he's got some stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so like, hey, hey, listen, Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, you're asking for something generous, for more than happy to do a blind.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything's cool between us and you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, hey, listen, you go ahead and you take your pick or the letter of whatever land you want.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what Abram says is that he has a very, very specific place in mind that he's had his eye on.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it's in this area of memory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now to explain this, is there a place, a location, a city, a town, a campsite, film the blank, whatever, that you and your family or your friends have?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just really, really safe.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like almost sacred to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's really special.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's a place you vacation to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's a spot where something really big or monumental happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, one of Michelle and I is like spots like that is forest park for a number of reasons.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so maybe your family has an area like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the reason Abraham says that is because in this region is in Genesis twelve or Abraham built an altar to worship God when he found out that God was going to bless him with the child and make him into a nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham built an altar in this region.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is also, and this also, memory is also a place in Genesis, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, and twenty-one, where I'm one way or another.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are really cool stories to go back and read from the series past.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where God reaffirms his covenant with Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: And let's see him know that he listened.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm steadfast.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not moving off of this promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: You may be doubting and you may be questioning, but I am coming through.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you just sit down for a hot minute and let me do what I'm gonna do.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's also in chapter twenty one where when God reaffirms this with Abraham, guess who laughs in hearing this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you know this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah, her response is laughter.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then God says, oh, hey, by the way,

[SPEAKER_00]: The son that I've promised is not born yet, that you're kind of wondering what's going to happen with.

[SPEAKER_00]: His name is going to be Isaac.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in Hebrew, that means laughter, or he laughs.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Sarah's like, I didn't laugh.

[SPEAKER_00]: There you did.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so to me, there's a lot that's happening here.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's all of the, of the, what do you want to call it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like the sacredness.

[SPEAKER_00]: the special place that memory kind of holds in Abraham's heart and the story that's taking place.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we can't miss this.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of God's promises to Abraham was that Abraham's descendants would eventually fill the land of where, Tainin.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll guess what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's memory?

[SPEAKER_00]: In Tainin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, hold on.

[SPEAKER_00]: So now Abraham is going from being a sejourner in the land and in the region where he has no land.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where God says that he's going to fill the land with Abraham's descendants to now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wait a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: He paid full price.

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't taggle.

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't try to use a discount code.

[SPEAKER_00]: No.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, hey, full price.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, everybody hear that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Four hundred?

[SPEAKER_00]: Four hundred?

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, wait.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, we're good.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I want this to be crystal clear that everything was above water.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the city elders and that's from like, yeah, we're good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cheers.

[SPEAKER_00]: Totally yours.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not just the burial site, but the whole of the trees, the boundaries, everything around the trees, bro.

[SPEAKER_00]: All good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so in this moment, whether or not Abraham realizes this or not, I think he probably did.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, Texas didn't really say.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a massive thing happening where God is fulfilling promise to Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: and his descendants.

[SPEAKER_00]: So on the heels of his heartache comes a reaffirmation of the hope that God is going to be exactly who he's always been and comes through time after time after time after time again.

[SPEAKER_00]: So before we jump into the chapter through twenty four through the eyes of Abraham, it's like, okay, so God's led me to this land.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's established me here.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's given me a spot.

[SPEAKER_00]: God didn't say that I was going to fill the land right away, but my descendants would.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: So check

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, God told me he was going to give Sarah, Sarah and I, a son in our old age.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, that was a journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: That took longer than I thought it would men.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wish she would have been here too of like seeing that we're going to get him a wife, but check, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: But wait a minute, hold on.

[SPEAKER_00]: A nation is supposed to come through me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have a son, but he doesn't have a wife to bear children with.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, public service announcement, pre-teen parents.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your kids don't know why, you need to have a wife to bring children to the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a reminder to have that talk at some point in time before someone else does.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so I'm just saying, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But he doesn't have a wife to bring children into the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Abraham's, he's recognizing what God is doing in some way, shape or form, but his eyes are also toward the future.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so chapter twenty four talks about how a wife is going to be brought to Isaac and how God's promise is going to continue to take place.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you would,

[SPEAKER_00]: Go with me to chapter twenty four.

[SPEAKER_00]: So now we're hitting fast forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham was now a very old man.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Lord have blessed him in every way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one day Abraham said to his oldest servant, this is the guy who I will say remains unnamed.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to pay attention as I'm reading these verses.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're looking at the screens, there's going to be certain words underlying.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, just take note of what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're reading your own Bible, don't worry about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he says, he blessed me every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, take a nose by putting your hand under my thigh and swear to the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of the local Canaanite women.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives and find a wife there for my son Isaac.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in the servant asked, but what if I can't find a young woman who is willing to travel so far from home?

[SPEAKER_00]: Should I then take Isaac to live among your relatives and the land you came from?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, Abraham responded.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be careful, never to take my son there.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the Lord, the God of heaven, you took me from my father's house and my native land saw me promised to give me this land to my descendants.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you guys just see the connection to twenty-three?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's big.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gotta get it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will then send his angel ahead of you and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.

[SPEAKER_00]: If she is unwilling to come with you, you are free from this oath of mine, but under no circumstances, or you to take my son there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is he not wanting to go back?

[SPEAKER_00]: Probably so that way, he doesn't say, hey, listen, I'm kind of a big deal out here.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit better.

[SPEAKER_00]: We go in a lot more land, things are sweet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, Dad, I'm good here.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just keep chilling over there.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, no, no, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not going there.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to stay here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it says the servant took an oath by putting his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: and sort of follow Abraham's instructions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is some ancient or Eastern covenantal oath stuff that I'm not gonna get into, but like, this is an awkward place for both of us dudes.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know how to make an oath between each other?

[SPEAKER_00]: But it was a sign of like, hey, we're both kind of vulnerable in this moment and we're committed to this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because we're both making ourselves vulnerable in this moment, we're both agreeing that like, hey,

[SPEAKER_00]: You've got to write to have a problem with me if I don't come through my end.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this is a very intense moment, and then servant doesn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: In verse ten, then he loaded up ten of Abraham's camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master.

[SPEAKER_00]: He traveled to the distant, arom Narahim.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is about five hundred miles away.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a one month journey, okay, on a camel.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's gonna be traveling for a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he made that, I'm sorry, and there he went to the town where Abraham's brother Nehor had settled.

[SPEAKER_00]: and he made the camel's kneel beside a well just outside the town.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was evening and the women were coming out to draw water.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh Lord, God of my master Abraham, he prayed.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the unnamed man.

[SPEAKER_00]: Please give me success today and show me unfailing love to my master Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, I am standing here beside the spring and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this is all happening like in real time.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is my request.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will ask one of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Please give me a drink from your jug.

[SPEAKER_00]: If she says, yes, have a drink and I will water your camels to let her be the one that you have selected as Isaac's wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.

[SPEAKER_00]: So a few things to recap here.

[SPEAKER_00]: First and foremost, it's really obvious that God has continued to bless Abraham into his old age.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's down at all there.

[SPEAKER_00]: However,

[SPEAKER_00]: It's also really clear that Abraham does not want a canonite girl, a canonite woman, to be his son, Isaac's wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might be wondering, what's up with that, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Local canonite girls like, did they only marry guys, did they toast food and nothing else?

[SPEAKER_00]: If you like toast food, I do too, just a joke.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what's, are they missing teeth?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because they open their water jars, you know what that all the time?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what's the story?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why, what's up with the canonite women?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like canonites men there?

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, he's also sending them to the land of Abraham's brother, which means if he's going there, isn't he going to wind up meeting a family relative and finding a daughter from that lineage?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is this going to wind up being like a once or twice removed cousin, spoiler alert?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, you have to have Genesis six in mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, oh, I taught that one too.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can go back to that one for months ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in my opinion, it's not just that he doesn't, it's not just that Abraham, once the Canaanite women avoided because of their debatuous religious practices, child sacrifice, and a whole list of other things that was going on in Canaanite.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was really bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's also because those people are descendants from Canaan back in Genesis six, Noah's one son that did the whatever thing we're not really sure about that was really bad really wicked Noah says man like wickedness and corruption is gonna come out of this line in my opinion and from what I could read from other scholars Abraham might be wanting to avoid Isaac's wife coming from that lineage and instead to come from Abraham's line because guess who's lying that was from?

[SPEAKER_00]: Shem.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Shem was the descendant of Noah that God's favor was going to rest upon to provide God worshipers to shed His light in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: So all that to say, there's a lot going on here.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Abraham's instructions are very specific.

[SPEAKER_00]: The servant has his orders.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the servant, man, I love verses nine through fourteen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because one, Abraham tells the server, hey, listen, the angel Lord's gonna go before he's gonna provide.

[SPEAKER_00]: But did you notice what the, what the servant does?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's like, all right, five or a mile journey, no problem, got it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he goes and, you know, he totally trust the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he still makes a plan, like so just a little break here.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you when you're facing a really, really big decision, you're like, all right, I'm just gonna play this fire and the Lord's just gonna show me what's gonna happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need to, I don't need to prepare, just, I'm just gonna go, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You people are so much fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: You also may not be the best person to put in charge of all logistics of a family vacation or moving a lot of people somewhere, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Cause we're just like, nah, we're just don't know what's gonna happen next.

[SPEAKER_00]: What are we doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, we're playing it by ear.

[SPEAKER_00]: Others even in the room are planners.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, you know what, the Lord honors good plans.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I have faith, and I also got a brain.

[SPEAKER_00]: They aren't competition with each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, honestly, he does honor those who trust.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we should also have a little bit of research done here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're not just gonna go to the first restaurant we see.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to yelp.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're checking reviews.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're seeing if that's a valid user.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're digging deep.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the servant, he says, hey, listen, he's like, Lord, I'm gonna go out in the evening when the young patrons who are eligible to be wed, when they're out in their drawing, water, he's like, you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not just looking for who looks good and who's from the right lineage.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's looking for character.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, did you see?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, hey, listen, when I go out and I ask, hey, would you give me a drink from your jar?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, Lord, let her say, yes, here, take from my jar and let me water your whole, let me water your camels too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because apparently, somewhere in other in the Lord's sovereignty, he related upon this servant that this woman needed to have character.

[SPEAKER_00]: What not just lineage, not just looks, character, tangent.

[SPEAKER_00]: For those of you who are single, if you're looking for someone to spend your life with, I get it, you know, you want to be attracted to them, you want to, they want to look at it, I get it, I get it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look for character.

[SPEAKER_00]: She were about to see is that the squirrel at Ray Rebecca, she's hospitable, she's compassionate, and she checks all the boxes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, as we read on, it says this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse fifteen, before he had finished praying, he saw a young woman named Rebecca coming out with water with her water jug on her shoulder.

[SPEAKER_00]: She was the daughter of Beth Ewell, who was the son of Abraham's brother, Nehor, and his wife, Milka.

[SPEAKER_00]: Rebecca was very beautiful and old enough to be married, but she was still a virgin.

[SPEAKER_00]: She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up again, running over to her.

[SPEAKER_00]: The servant said, please give me a little drink from your jug.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, Lord, she answered, have a drink.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, hmm, check, interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink.

[SPEAKER_00]: When she had given him a drink, she said, I'll draw a water for your camels too until they have had enough to drink.

[SPEAKER_00]: Interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: So she quickly emptied her jug into the watering trowel and ran back to the world of draw water for all his camels.

[SPEAKER_00]: The servant watched her in silence wondering whether or not the Lord had given success in his mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then at last, when the camels had finished drinking, he took a gold ring

[SPEAKER_00]: for her nose and two large bracelets.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who's daughter are you, she asked?

[SPEAKER_00]: And please tell me, would your father have any room to put up us up for the night?

[SPEAKER_00]: I am the daughter of Beth, you all she replied.

[SPEAKER_00]: My grandparents are in a horror and milk.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, check lineage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Got that?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's your character like?

[SPEAKER_00]: Check.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we have plenty of strong feet for the camels.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we have room for guests.

[SPEAKER_00]: The man, check out this next part.

[SPEAKER_00]: The man bowed low.

[SPEAKER_00]: And worship the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham he said.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord has shown unfailing love and steadfastness to my master.

[SPEAKER_00]: For he has led me straight to my master's relatives.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the young woman ran home to tell her family about everything that had happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: So one, he sees her character, two, he sees her lineage, but men, did you see the servants response?

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't glowed over his plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm the guy that plans.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, younger audience in the room will get this older, may not, but just stay with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like younger folks, he wasn't thinking of the diss track.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha, all my haters.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look what just happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: All you have been doubting me, no?

[SPEAKER_00]: No.

[SPEAKER_00]: His praise, his joy, was in the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of my favorite Old Testament scholars, Derek Kidner, says this about

[SPEAKER_00]: The unnamed servant in Genesis twenty four, he says success, which inflates the natural man humbles the man of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: This servant's first thought is for the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: His second is for his employer, and his final one is unaffected the light for himself as he thinks about how he was led straight to the house by God.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what he sees in this moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't just see a box to check.

[SPEAKER_00]: He saw a reason to humble himself into praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: So she runs back to her folks and I'm gonna go ahead and summarize a little bit of the next part of the story because we still got quite a bit to get through.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like what does she go back to her family and say hey, guess what?

[SPEAKER_00]: I ran to a stranger who happened to be

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Grandpa's brother, and he asked for a drink, and I said, sure, I got plenty, and you're animals near drink too, and then he hooked me up with some sweet bracelets and an necklace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Aren't they cute?

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't they go with my dress?

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at this nose ring, bracelets.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you read through the next many verses, what you find, there's a bigger conversation that Rebecca and this servant likely had.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she kind of really, she understands what's going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a cultural thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was the first step of a betrothal gift.

[SPEAKER_00]: She kind of gets the intentions of the servant.

[SPEAKER_00]: She runs back to her family thrilled.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as you can imagine, if you're a parent, you're like, wait a minute, what?

[SPEAKER_00]: But the person that actually winds up being the representative who talks the most is her brother, Laban.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when she walks in and she's got the nose ring and the bracelet, he's like, chah, ching.

[SPEAKER_00]: I approved that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so like that's his reaction.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dad says very little.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mom isn't present until the very end of the chapter.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the servant basically resites everything that we have just read for the first part of chapter, twenty four.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then at the tail end, if you would go ahead and

[SPEAKER_00]: Jump back in with me to the, to the text.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna go to verse forty eight.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, this is the servant speaking.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, then I bow down and worship the Lord, the part we just read.

[SPEAKER_00]: I praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, because he led me straight to my master's niece to be his wife's son.

[SPEAKER_00]: So tell me, will you or won't you show unfailing love and faithfulness to my master?

[SPEAKER_00]: Please tell me, yes or no.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I will know what to do next.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then Laban, and Beth, you will, Beth, you will, as her dad, says the Lord has obviously brought you here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there is nothing we can say.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here is Rebecca, take her and go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, let her be the wife of your master's son as the Lord has directed girls.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're like, wait a minute, does she get a voice?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, hold on.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when Abraham's servant heard their answer, he bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you noticing a trend here?

[SPEAKER_00]: This dude.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then he brought out the silver and gold jewelry and clothing and presented them to Rebecca.

[SPEAKER_00]: He also gave expensive presents to her brother and mother.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they ate their meal and the servant and the men with them stayed overnight.

[SPEAKER_00]: But early the next morning, Abraham's servant said, send me back to my master.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the parents will like, hold on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Already?

[SPEAKER_00]: But we want Rebecca to stay with us at least in days.

[SPEAKER_00]: Her brother and mother said, then she can go.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he said, don't delay me.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord has made my mission successful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, send me back so I can return to my master.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, they said, we'll call Rebecca and ask her what she thinks.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they call Rebecca and they said, are you willing to go with this man?

[SPEAKER_00]: They asked her and she replied, yes, I will go.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they said goodbye to Rebecca and send her away with Abraham's servant and his men.

[SPEAKER_00]: and the woman who had been Rebecca's childhood nurse when along with her and they gave her this blessing as she departed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our sister may you become the mother of many millions, she will.

[SPEAKER_00]: And may your descendants be strong and conquer the cities of their enemies.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Rebecca and her servant girls mounted their camels and followed the man.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Abraham took Rebecca and went on his way.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's kind of wild, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Here we have this, I mean,

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me if you've heard a story like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's think about this to the lens of Rebecca.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here you have a person who's being told to leave their homeland, where they're at, where they're set up, where their family is, where things are plush, things are good, I know where everything is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God says, hey, I'm gonna take you to another land though.

[SPEAKER_00]: This person's gonna lead you.

[SPEAKER_00]: What?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she finds out later that she's going to be the person that God's going to use to birth a nation that God is going to use to point other nations to who he is and what he's like.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you see any similarities between her story and Abraham and Sarah's story?

[SPEAKER_00]: Whether or not that's what we're supposed to see in the text, it doesn't exactly say.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, I think there's a lot of symmetry there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I read people that are way more educated than stuff so that that way, if I know I should maybe think that my hunch is maybe leading somewhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there is something there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you don't.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me do.

[SPEAKER_00]: But some scholars say that perhaps the reason Abraham, the last background check, if you will,

[SPEAKER_00]: For the girl coming back to the homeland was to see, hey, is this going to be a person who's willing to trust?

[SPEAKER_00]: And to let the Lord of heaven and earth lead them to places that may make them feel vulnerable, scared, uncertain, but that in time, he'll teach them to have steadfast faith, to where they'll walk with them, and they'll let him call the shots.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's an interesting thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so she leaves plenty more things for you to get to, but for the sake of time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in the meantime, verse sixty two says Isaac, who is in and again, that's a southern region, had returned from Bayer, La Hai, La Hai, Rowee.

[SPEAKER_00]: One evening, as he was walking and meditating in the fields, he looked up and saw the camel's coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just as a reminder, it's been a couple months since the servant left.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's he walking around the fields thinking about?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been a pretty wild last couple years for him and his dad and the fam.

[SPEAKER_00]: He also knows his serving is out getting a wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he'd probably lots of things he'd be thinking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it says when Rebecca looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who is that man?

[SPEAKER_00]: Walk him through the fields to meet us.

[SPEAKER_00]: She asked the servant.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he, the servant, replied, it's my master.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Rebecca covered her face with her veil and then the servant told Isaac everything that he had done.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Isaac brought Rebecca into his mother's service tent and she became his wife and he loved her deeply.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so in summary, they hit it off pretty well.

[SPEAKER_00]: She saw him and she's like, ooh that.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sees her and the servants like, let me explain.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for the first time since Genesis II, we see a marital covenant where there's like, oh, I'm feeling the feels romanticism, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just someone's spouse, it's someone's soulmate, their life partner, someone that God's gonna use to do some preosimid, awesome and amazing things.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not to say that marriages before them between that and the garden didn't happen or I'm sorry that

[SPEAKER_00]: that there was an infection between husband and wife, between Genesis two and here.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there is special language there used to kind of say, hey, this is a pretty good one.

[SPEAKER_00]: He loved her deeply.

[SPEAKER_00]: She brought special comfort.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, as a landing point from today, I just want to ask this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, what were you supposed to think from all this?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's the main point?

[SPEAKER_00]: Kyle, don't you usually do that at the front end?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: It feels very nerve-racking to do it at the end.

[SPEAKER_00]: Stay with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I'm keeping my nerves pretty good.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the thing I would say is this, for a main takeaway, is if I was away I was going to summarize these chapters, is that God and His steadfastness, it shapes those who trust.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you noticed from the screens, there was a certain word that was underlined numerous times throughout chapter twenty-four, and it was the word unfailing love, which is how the NLT translates this Hebrew word, has said,

[SPEAKER_00]: In the NIV, it's translated as kindness and the ESV, it's translated as steadfast love.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can guess by my main point, which one I lean towards, but that's not even really my point.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're all, they're all aiming at the same word.

[SPEAKER_00]: The word is used two hundred and forty-seven times to describe the way that God is just, he doesn't just have affection for his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has a loyalty to his promises for his people, and it's a deep, unyielding thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I would even say, and from some guys I've read, you could maybe even use the word covenantal loyalty.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like man, God has a covenantal loyalty that he just demonstrated in this past is because here's this thing that he told Abraham and his dissonance he was gonna do and made it's happening.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when you think about the people who we've been learning about for the last several weeks of life, Abraham, I mean, is it not God's steadfastness that shaped Abraham to be who he became in Genesis,

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, a guy that's lying about who his wife is, and it's my sister, because I don't want to die.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, all of a sudden, gets to Genesis, twenty-two, and he's willing to follow through on things where I, I mean, are you kidding me right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: What happened to that guy?

[SPEAKER_00]: God did.

[SPEAKER_00]: God steadfast in the shaped Abrams character.

[SPEAKER_00]: The shaped as hard as shaped as mine.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happened with Sarah?

[SPEAKER_00]: Was she perfect?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, she was just like her husband.

[SPEAKER_00]: She was in perfect too.

[SPEAKER_00]: But her life, her character, was so shaped by who God was, and what God does, and the way that God comes through, that she became a person who has listed as an exemplar of faith in the New Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there's like this unnamed servant, who's this guy?

[SPEAKER_00]: Personally, I think his name is Elias Art.

[SPEAKER_00]: from Genesis XVIII, who's that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that was Abraham's eldest servant, who all of his inheritance was gonna go to.

[SPEAKER_00]: If he died before he had a biological son, this is before even the Hagar initial situation, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the guy who was gonna go to.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Abraham was like, God, if you don't give me the son, you promise like, Mom, I'm just gonna go to this servant, the highest eldest servant, and he's trust, trust him, but like,

[SPEAKER_00]: What are we doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: And on the heels of that in Genesis, fifteen, four, three, seven, God says, I still got you man, I still got you Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna bring about this son.

[SPEAKER_00]: You may not understand how steadfast, how extremely loyal I am to my promises, my covenant, but I'm about to blow your mind right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's actually, that's who this guy is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so by the time you get to Genesis,

[SPEAKER_00]: And you read that it's his eldest servant.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's obviously a guy who he trusts.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, I think it's him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Did a bunch of research.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of other people feel that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the catch.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even if it's not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even if it's not.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this servant, he has a faith of, he has a relationship with God on his own.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not just living off the hotels of Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, do you see the way this guy carries himself?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not even mad that like he's not the main character of what's going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not even mad about what he might have missed out on or what was going to come to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's just like, you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a God of heaven and earth and I want to be faithful to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be faithful to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm going to serve this person, you know, who's my boss?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to do my best.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be thoughtful to my trust.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to be paralyzed.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to step forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in my opinion, this unnamed dude almost kind of becomes the hero alert of the story a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: He used a lot to teach me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so landing the plane and giving a takeaway for today is just what's to take away?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's something that we can apply?

[SPEAKER_00]: My question would just be this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm over time, which is impressive, because this was not, I really went long.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the takeaway.

[SPEAKER_00]: How do you need to let God steadfastness shape you this week?

[SPEAKER_00]: How do you let shape you?

[SPEAKER_00]: How does remembering the way that he is so loyal to his promises?

[SPEAKER_00]: How does he want to shape you in that this week?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because here's the thing I think when we're willing to let that happen,

[SPEAKER_00]: First and foremost, if you're a non-believer, you should know that the covenant you've been invited into is one where God saves you from yourself so that you aren't judged as yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, you're wickedness, you're punishment, all of your stuff, and you're broken, it's just placed upon Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the covenant that Jesus followed through on and the cross and the resurrection, it's the gift of grace to you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're here today and you don't know Jesus and you're like, well, how do I become more steadfast?

[SPEAKER_00]: You become more steadfast by getting saved first.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how it happens.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then God starts doing things, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what you need here, but if you're a believer, man, for you, for me, for all of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: If we trust that God's gonna come through and we're thankful for what is given us, I don't think we envy as much.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think we try to create schemes like some other folks in here do, like we wind up trusting.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not jealous.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not worried about what we are or aren't getting in when we're getting it or how we're getting it or who's getting more than I feel like shit was owed to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't get consumed with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're just, we're just worshiping and call up in the grace of the Lord of the heaven and earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so whatever thing, small, big or indifferent that he's given me to do, I just want to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Raising my kids, being a good friend, waiting in singleness, being a faithful person in the marketplace, you name it, whatever it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just ask God, how would you have me to be steadfast this week so that I look like you would have me to in the places where you have me?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's what God does.

[SPEAKER_00]: He changes people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like Andrew said, Jesus really is a difference.

[SPEAKER_00]: So something to think about, let me pray for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, we thank you for who you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you for who you have always been.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we thank you for who you will always be.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we thank you that you are that for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you that you have a steadfast loyalty to follow through in your promises that we really can't even understand.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Lord, we know that today we're being called to be shaped by it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So would you please just give us eyes to see ears to hear at hearts to trust, to step into whatever you've called us to today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you are our God who is with us and goes before us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we just want to trust you with that this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's in Jesus name, we pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.