Genesis 13-15

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great job.

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, that is awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is just a small taste of the energy that was here all week long every single day.

[SPEAKER_00]: For Casey Camp, it was incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're so glad you guys are here today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I had no idea they were going to interrupt me like that, obviously.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now, it really is time to get into the message for today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I want you to open your Bibles to Genesis chapter

[SPEAKER_00]: And we are going to make this a little bit more of a kid-friendly message, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because without having our kids ministry open a day and our youth ministry open a day, we wanted to make sure this was just a little bit more kid-friendly.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to start off the message time with some comics, all right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you guys okay with comics?

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys like comics?

[SPEAKER_00]: What about, have you guys ever heard of Goofison Gallant?

[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody ever heard of Goofison Gallant?

[SPEAKER_00]: Raise your hand if you've heard of Goofison Gallant.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's everybody over fifty, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So I liked you, Fissin Gallant, when I was growing up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And goof is in Gallant started in the nineteen fifties, and they actually continues today.

[SPEAKER_00]: The idea is, you've got this one guy, goof is, and this other guy, Gallant, and goof is always doing the wrong thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Gallant usually does the right thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the whole point is, you're supposed to learn from these two people making different choices, and who should you be like goof is or Gallant?

[SPEAKER_00]: Gallant, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who don't you want to be like?

[SPEAKER_00]: Goofus, although sometimes what Goofus did look like more fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, let me show you some examples of this, all right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So this week I brought up Goofus and Gal in our preachers meeting ahead of time, and our resident, twenty-something pastor said, Goofus and Galant, what is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I went, oh man, I guess I am old.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here is an example for all you guys that have never heard of this before of Goofus and Gal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's throw it up on the screen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what happens?

[SPEAKER_00]: Goofus leaves his chair in the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, Goofus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gallant puts his chair out of the way, like a good boy should, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who do you want to be like?

[SPEAKER_00]: Goofus or Gallant?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm hearing some of our sarcastic responses.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what I think about that, Jocelyn.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, next one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Goofus spreads his things all over.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gallant keeps his things from bothering others.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I just keep it to himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: What a great guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: What a great guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Next one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Goofus bounces on the couch.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even let's the dog on the couch with those dirty paws.

[SPEAKER_00]: Galant sits properly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who do you want to be like?

[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what you're going to say on that one.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, next one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Goof is tracks mud through the house, gallant leaves his muddy shoes by the door.

[SPEAKER_00]: What a good guy gallant is, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: These are the comics that were supposed to teach you good lessons based on the choices that these two made.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in our message today, we're actually going to see something really, really similar with two people who make different choices in life that have different outcomes in life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're recorded so that we can learn from them and learn from their experiences.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what I'm going to do is we're actually going to share three short stories about two people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And these three stories, we're going to see them respond and make different choices and try to learn from them along the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the two people we're going to talk about are called Abram and Lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody say Abram.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody say lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those are the two guys we're gonna be talking about today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they make different choices and we're gonna try to learn from those.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now Abraham lived about four thousand years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: He started out in an area that today we call the country of Iraq.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he moved to an area that today we call the country of Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we learned a lot about Abraham last week if you were here with us because our previous senior pastor, Pastor Bill, was here teaching about Abraham and we saw we learned a lot about his life that God took him.

[SPEAKER_00]: on a journey and he took his nephew with him, God promised to make Abrams descendants into a great multitude and to a great nation one day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Abram traveled around this land that God also promised he would give to him one day and give to his descendants.

[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually they ended up in Egypt for a little bit when there was a famine but then they went back to live in this land that we now call Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what we're going to start with today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Genesis chapter thirteen, we don't actually know a ton about lot yet, but you'll learn more as we go through these stories.

[SPEAKER_00]: Genesis thirteen, fourteen and fifteen have three different stories for us, but they're all written about these two guys and the choices they made and we can learn from them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it would be fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: If for this message, we represent each of these stories with a card, sort of like a collectible card.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so we're going to put three cards up on the screen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as we go throughout this message, we're going to flip over these cards

[SPEAKER_00]: but put the cards on screen.

[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to flip over these cards and we're going to see a different illustration of each of these stories.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to start with Genesis chapter thirteen.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you've got your Bible's open, look at verse one with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's read this together.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, Abram left Egypt and traveled north into the negative.

[SPEAKER_00]: Along with his wife and lot, that's his nephew and all that they own.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're gonna jump some verses ahead of verse five.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lot who was traveling with Abram had also become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and many tents.

[SPEAKER_00]: So these guys had a lot of stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the land could not support both Abram and Lat with all their flocks and herds living so close together.

[SPEAKER_00]: So disputes broke out between the herdsmen of Abram and Lat.

[SPEAKER_00]: At that time, Canaanites and Parasites were also living in the land.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, a few years ago,

[SPEAKER_00]: Two of my kids had to share a room together.

[SPEAKER_00]: And at first, it was great.

[SPEAKER_00]: They had a playmate.

[SPEAKER_00]: They could play with.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anytime they wanted.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they had all their toys.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're both their sets of toys were there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they each had their own bed and their own dresser and all their own things.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it was awesome for like first week.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you moved my toy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why did you play with my thing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why did you use my marker?

[SPEAKER_00]: Disputes broke out between the two kiddos because they were living in a smaller space than they felt they needed.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so there was friction between them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what that ended up leading to was me giving up my office, which was a bedroom, so that we could split up and have all the kids in their own room, and they could have all their own space to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they never argued or fought again.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It just solved everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this is the problem with Abram and a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're too close to each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're the living together.

[SPEAKER_00]: The herdsmen are not getting along with each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: These guys have lots of livestock and livestock and need land and they need grass to eat and they need water to drink and they're bumping into each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: This sheep is bumping into that sheep and they're like, why are you getting in my area and this is grass for my sheep?

[SPEAKER_00]: So they start fighting amongst themselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway.

[SPEAKER_00]: They needed their own rooms, Abram and Lot's, and their men.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, they decided to split up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what happens.

[SPEAKER_00]: Finally, Abram said to Lot, this is verse eight, let's not allow this conflict to come between us or our herdsmen.

[SPEAKER_00]: After all, we are close relatives.

[SPEAKER_00]: This whole country side is open to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Take your choice of any section of the land you want, and we will separate.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want the land to the left, then I'll take the land on the right.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you prefer the land on the right, then I'll go to the left.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's flip over the first card and see what happens here.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Abraham and Lot separate.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll see there's a little math symbol in the corner.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does that symbol represent?

[SPEAKER_00]: What is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Division, thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I heard something else, which I'm not sure what that meant.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that is a division symbol, because they're separate and they're dividing, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're going, they're separate ways.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Abram was really kind about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was very gracious.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, lot, you can have your pick what it happens.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if I walk up to you guys and bring out a nice big plate of cookies, and actually, I'm going to choose this row right here.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I were to bring you a big plate of cookies,

[SPEAKER_00]: And say, this is for you guys to have and to share, going through your mind, be honest with me, would it be which one's the biggest?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or which one has the most chocolate chips?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you're selfish.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're wicked and selfish.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you want the best stuff for yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know, because one of you's my kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I know this is true.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're naturally that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want the best stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what does Abraham do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham says, you get to pick a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: You get your choice of the land that is out there, whatever you want.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's very gracious.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now what did a lot do?

[SPEAKER_00]: What did a lot do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's see, verse ten.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lot took a long look.

[SPEAKER_00]: at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley and the direction of Zohar.

[SPEAKER_00]: The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord, or the beautiful land of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was before the Lord destroyed Sib and Gomorrah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it wasn't gonna look beautiful later, but it looked pretty beautiful right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lot shows for himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: He chose for himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: The whole Jordan valley to the east of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: He went there with his flocks and servants in part company

[SPEAKER_00]: with his uncle Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what Lot could have done?

[SPEAKER_00]: He could have said, hey, this land is beautiful.

[SPEAKER_00]: So why don't I take this whole portion and half of this beautiful land and you take that whole area and half of this beautiful land and we get to divide the best land but no.

[SPEAKER_00]: He took it all for himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: So verse twelve, Abraham settled in the land of Canaan and Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom and settled among the cities of the Plain.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now this is really important.

[SPEAKER_00]: He moves his tents near Sodom.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's the problem with Sodom?

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at verse thirteen.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: That means they were into some bad stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: That means they were stealing.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were hurting each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were murdering.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were doing all sorts of awful, awful things to each other to kids to everybody.

[SPEAKER_00]: These were just really, really bad evil people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot because he wanted this beautiful, great land decided to get close to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: He moved his tents close to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: So both Abram and Lot made choices in our first story.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abram chose to be gracious and kind and wise and saying, let's split up, but gracious and saying you get to choose the best and lot of course was selfish.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they actually moved in close to people who were very against God and did some awful things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think it's gonna work out good to move in close with people that did awful things?

[SPEAKER_00]: probably not.

[SPEAKER_00]: But those two things often go together, selfishness and increasing amounts of sin and doing wrong things and harming other people.

[SPEAKER_00]: They often go together because when we're selfish, we want what's best for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes what's best for me isn't what's best for you, isn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes what I think is best for me is actually going to hurt you or take away from you or remove opportunities for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I take the biggest cookie, then if Jackson takes the biggest cookie, Jed can't get it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So what if I brought the plate and Jackson said, Jed, you pick first.

[SPEAKER_00]: You picked the biggest cookie with the most chocolate chips.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wouldn't that be a nice, that's what Abram did.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was gracious and he was kind.

[SPEAKER_00]: So who you want to be like Abram or La?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, let's see.

[SPEAKER_00]: Story number two.

[SPEAKER_00]: Story number two.

[SPEAKER_00]: Genesis XIV.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse one says about this time, war broke out in the region.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now you're going to have to bear with me here because these names are a little bit tricky, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So you can see them.

[SPEAKER_00]: You try to pronounce them with me, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: King Amrathel of Babylonia, King Ariak of Alessar, King Ketterleumur of Elam, King Tidal of Goim.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those are some pretty crazy names, huh?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's keep going.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fat against King Barra of Sodom, King Bursha of Gamora, King Shinab of Adma, King Shemeber of Zavoim, and the King of Bala also called Zowar.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you are looking for baby names right now, I've got your list right here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody wants a unique name that nobody's ever thought of before.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right here, I guarantee your kid will be the first kid in kindergarten with that name.

[SPEAKER_00]: So now let's jump to verse eleven.

[SPEAKER_00]: These kings all went to war.

[SPEAKER_00]: They fought against Sodom and Gamora.

[SPEAKER_00]: And remember Sodom is where a lot had moved his tents near that kingdom that city.

[SPEAKER_00]: The victorious invaders, verse eleven, then plundered Sodom and Gamora and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies, but get this.

[SPEAKER_00]: They also captured Lot Abrams nephew who lived in Sodom and carried off everything he owned.

[SPEAKER_00]: Did you notice?

[SPEAKER_00]: in that chapter, lots change of address.

[SPEAKER_00]: His location moved, because if we go back to chapter thirteen, verse twelve, we read this.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and lot moved his tent to a place near Sodom, and settled among the cities of the Plain.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were five cities of the Plain Sodom was one, Gomorrah was one, there were three others that I don't know their names.

[SPEAKER_00]: But, a lot moved in near those days.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, in Sodom, Genesis XIV, they also captured a lot of Abrams, nephew, who lived in Sodom.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he had a change of address.

[SPEAKER_00]: He moved from being close to being within.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Bible tells us specifically, these were awful bad people that he was getting in close with.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens when he's starting to get in close to people that are doing all sorts of bad stuff that God doesn't want you to do?

[SPEAKER_00]: while you just might start doing it too, you get influenced by them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what happened for a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: He made a choice to move near saw.

[SPEAKER_00]: And at some point, he made a choice to move into the city of Sodom, inside its walls, inside its gates to be right around the people, his kids are going to school with these other kids, and they're all into bad stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the foul family's being influenced by this.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he makes a choice here, and he chooses to get in close with people who are told, now, here's the thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to love people who are far from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to introduce them to the good news about Jesus Christ and how it just transforms our lives and our hearts.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It just makes us into totally new and different people.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we want to be careful that we don't end up being in our efforts to influence those people and to be influenced to slip into some bad things and bad habits ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what Lot was doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was getting closer and closer to people that were totally opposed to and against God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were not willing to hear and listen to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was starting to hear and listen and be influenced by them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Proverbs twelve twenty six says the godly give good advice to their friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: The wicked lead them astray.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's great to have friends who are far from God if you're trying to reach them for God.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're trying to be a good positive influence on them, that's wonderful.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you've got to be careful that they're not actually leading you astray.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're closest friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: The people you get close to with should draw you closer to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They should be a good influence on your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: They should be encouraging you to do the right things and not the wrong things.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now a lot has allowed himself to get closer and closer and closer to a lot of sinful wicked people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it really has an impact on his family.

[SPEAKER_00]: We won't even see the full impact of that until later on a couple of weeks down the road when his story continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's for another time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right now he's been kidnapped by these other kings.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Abraham hears about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he cares about lots.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what do you think Abraham's gonna do?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's Abraham gonna do now?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's nephew Lasspin kidnapped.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think?

[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody know the story?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's flip the card and find out.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's Abraham gonna do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at that guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's fierce, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's mad.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's anger.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I'm gonna go get him back.

[SPEAKER_00]: He takes all of his fighting men, three hundred and eighteen of his employees were trained fighters.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he goes to the people around and he says, well, you come with me and be a part of this army.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna go rescue my nephew together.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they build this coalition and they sneak up behind the enemy armies and they divide their forces so they can attack from multiple directions and seem like they're a bigger force than they really are.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what those other armies did?

[SPEAKER_00]: They freaked out.

[SPEAKER_00]: They panicked and they ran.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Abrams forces continued to chase them and they recaptured all the things those enemy armies had stolen.

[SPEAKER_00]: All the things they had taken away the food and the money and the wealth and the people that they kidnapped and took away.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abrams and his guys got them back.

[SPEAKER_00]: How awesome is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: He was an awesome fighter and military leader.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he brought it all back.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as he brought it back, the king of Sodom came out to greet him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the king of Sodom said, hey, you can keep all the wealth, all the amazing things that you recovered, just give me back my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Abram said, not only can you have your people back, you can have all the wealth, I don't want any of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to take any of the good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham was not a selfish guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was not a greedy guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it's okay to have nice things.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's okay to have money.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham was a rich guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible tells us, but he didn't view as money as a god to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't an idol to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't the most important thing in life.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he was absolutely fine with saying, you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Lot you take the best land.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely fine with saying, you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I recovered this stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I actually have the right to keep it because I went back and fought off the people that were invading you and I recovered this stuff, funders keepers, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: But the king of Sodom, even though he would have let him had all those things Abrams said, nope, you take all your stuff back.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need or want any of it because he's a very gracious person.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what happens in story number three?

[SPEAKER_00]: And story number three, we're gonna learn more about Abram.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't actually get much more about Lot, but I do wanna tell you this one thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know what he did after he got rescued from being kidnapped?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know where he went to live?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right back in the autumn.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right back into the place he was before the place that was defeated that he got kidnapped from the place with all the really bad, awful terrible people that do horrible things to each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: He went right back to that city and lived there again.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was his choice that he made after he got rescued.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what happened with Abram?

[SPEAKER_00]: Abram?

[SPEAKER_00]: remained faithful to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, as Abraham was living in the land, he went around and set up places of worship all over the place to let people know, hey, I worship God.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is who I serve.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he built places to be able to worship God and to show to demonstrate that he was worshiping God and not all sorts of pagan false idols or money or wealth or power or anything like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then here is what God did for Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is story number three.

[SPEAKER_00]: Genesis fifteen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse one says, sometime later,

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord spoke to Abraham in a vision and said to him, do not be afraid, Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: For I will protect you and your reward will be great.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Abraham replied, oh, sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son?

[SPEAKER_00]: Since you've given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household will inherit all my wealth, you've given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember the two promises that God made to Abraham?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned it earlier and we learned about it last week.

[SPEAKER_00]: Two promises that God gave to Abram.

[SPEAKER_00]: One is, your descendants are going to be a great nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you're going to have so many descendants.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be a huge family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your children have lots of children.

[SPEAKER_00]: They'll have lots of children.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're going to become from this one person, a great nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Also, you are going to inherit this whole land that you're in, this whole territory.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to be yours and for your children and for their nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was the promise that God made.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Abraham is looking at this promise and thinking about it and saying, God, what good is that promise?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have any kids of my own.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got no kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: and he's confused by God's promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's not sure what to think about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he has faith in God, but at the same time, he struggles with some doubts.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what I love about this passage in the Bible?

[SPEAKER_00]: I love that the Bible does not shy away from showing us the doubts and the struggles of people of great faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: We remember Abraham as this father of the nation of Israel and this amazing man of faith that we can look up to, but he struggled too.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had doubt.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wrestled.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't always sure of what God was doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody here have doubt.

[SPEAKER_00]: He don't have to raise your hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll raise mine.

[SPEAKER_00]: We struggle with doubts.

[SPEAKER_00]: We wrestle with things and that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what God does?

[SPEAKER_00]: I love this.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's response to Abraham here after he says, how am I supposed to happen?

[SPEAKER_00]: You haven't given me any children.

[SPEAKER_00]: His response is not to say how dare you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it doesn't stop on him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't criticize him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't call him stupid.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what he does.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then the Lord said to him, no, your servant will not be your heir for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then the Lord took Abraham outside.

[SPEAKER_00]: He must have been in a tent and he said to him, look up into the sky and count the stars if you can.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how many descendants you will have.

[SPEAKER_00]: Many, many thousands of descendants.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Abraham, this is so cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of great stuff in the Old Testament, a lot of amazing verses, but for me, this is the most important verse in the whole Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: It really is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Genesis, fifteen, six.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people think that the way to be right with God is to do lots of good stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: If the way to be right with God is to do enough good stuff that outweighs your bad stuff, they're like, in the end, God's gonna have this giant scale out there, and he's gonna put all your bad stuff on this side of the scale, and all your good stuff on this side of the scale, and as long as you're good stuff outweighs the bad stuff, then you'll be okay, and he'll let you in to heaven, and you'll be part of his family.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Bible tells us over and over and over, that's not how it works.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is belief in God, not the good things that we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, a lot of people, a lot of Christians have a misunderstanding about how faith in God worked in the Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they think, well, in the Old Testament, they had to do the sacrifices and they had to bring offerings to the temple and they had to go through all these rituals and do the ritual bathing.

[SPEAKER_00]: All these other commands that are in the first five books of the Bible, the pen to two.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they had to do all of those things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what made them acceptable to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not it, either.

[SPEAKER_00]: They think that, well, it changed when Jesus came and now it's faith in God that saves us, but back then it was the things that they did.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't back then either.

[SPEAKER_00]: The things that they did demonstrated their faith in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith, not because of the good things that he did.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Abraham's not done questioning God, by the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even though God has given him this answer, there's another part of the promise that God hasn't touched on you.

[SPEAKER_00]: What about the land, God?

[SPEAKER_00]: What about the territory?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's all these other people that are living here who migrated into this place that you reserved for your people, but they're now living here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's some pretty bad wicked people.

[SPEAKER_00]: They do some awful stuff, really, really terrible.

[SPEAKER_00]: How am I supposed to inherit this land?

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got no kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what am I going to do about all these other people?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so here's what Abram says.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, sovereign Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: How can I be sure that I will actually possess it?

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the land that he is in that's currently overrun by all these wicked people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then God gave Abraham instructions.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're not going to read all of this because there's a lot of instructions here, but basically God tells Abraham, I want you to go get a bunch of animals and I want you to stay with me here, cut them in half and lay them out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sense?

[SPEAKER_00]: Something you might do later today?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe not?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why would they do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is for what's called a covenant.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a covenant is like a contract that is unbreakable.

[SPEAKER_00]: A covenant is the ultimate promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is to say, I will never ever go back on this thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it was two kings that decided they weren't gonna fight with each other and we're gonna have peace with each other from that on it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they'd make a covenant.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe it was somebody that wanted to sell some land as somebody else at a certain time, but he couldn't do it yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so they're gonna make a covenant that I'll give you this land at a certain time.

[SPEAKER_00]: A covenant was an un

[SPEAKER_00]: breakable promise and the way you did a covenant back then was to take some animals and you killed them humanely and they're sleep I don't know you cut them in half and you laid them out and the two parties of the covenant would walk through the halves of the animals together now why on earth would they do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's because they were saying

[SPEAKER_00]: This promise is so important and so unbreakable that if for some reason I were to break it, let me be cut in half like these animals.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the whole point of the covenant.

[SPEAKER_00]: So God tells Abraham to go do this, to go get the animals, to cut them in half, to lay it out like a covenant, and Abraham has no idea what's going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: But eventually, eventually.

[SPEAKER_00]: After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses of the animals.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, I have given this land to your descendants all the way from the border of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: to the great Euphrates river.

[SPEAKER_00]: So go ahead and flip, card number three, and you will see Abram sees this hovering, floating, smoking, passing through the animals.

[SPEAKER_00]: I left the animals off this for obvious reasons, but the smoking pot and the flaming torch, why would those pass through?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, because God is symbolizing here, I am entering this covenant with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God has often symbolized as smoke and fire.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a pillar of smoke and a pillar of fire.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's often what God has represented as.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's representing himself by those visuals passing through the animals and saying, this is crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is God, the awesome, ultimate creator of the universe saying, if I don't keep this promise with you, let me be cut in half, which obviously can't happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so it is unbreakable promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what the covenant is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why God shows up that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll see on that last card, there's a little math symbol up in the corner.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Multiplication nailed it, right off the bat.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am encouraged for how you guys will do in school.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is what God is going to do with His descendants.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to multiply His descendants into a load of people.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was still a lot that Abram didn't understand about God's promises.

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't know how it was all going to work out.

[SPEAKER_00]: After all, at this point, he's a very old man.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he has no kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's getting close to a hundred years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got no kids now, no descendants.

[SPEAKER_00]: He lives in a place with hostile people.

[SPEAKER_00]: God told Abram that he was going to have this big nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, he even told him something else which is really interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me share this with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And verse thirteen, the Lord said to Abram, you can be sure that you're a descendant, so we'll be many.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be strangers in a foreign land where they will be oppressed as slaves for four hundred years, but I will punish the nation and enslave them, and the end they will come away with great wealth.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is he talking about there?

[SPEAKER_00]: What land are they going to be enslaved in?

[SPEAKER_00]: For four hundred years, anybody know?

[SPEAKER_00]: In Egypt, that's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Congratulations, whoever got that right, good job.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is a prophecy where God is saying long before it takes place.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not only am I going to make you a great nation, but for a while things aren't going to look so good for them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're going to be enslaved for four hundred years, but then it's all going to turn around.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to come out of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's exactly what happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there was so much that Abraham did not understand about God's promises.

[SPEAKER_00]: But even with all of that, he trusted God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had faith that God would somehow make it all work out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the ways we know this is because of how the apostle Paul wrote about it in the New Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to jump ahead now in time and in the Bible to the Book of Romans.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because Paul explains all of this to us in Romans chapter four.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says clearly God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God's law, but a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, eventually God changed Abrams name to Abraham, so that's what you're going to see in this passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham, same guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham means exalted Father, and Abraham means Father of many nations, so you can see why God would change his name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse sixteenth says, so the promise is received by faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is given as a free gift, and we are all certain to receive it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham's, for Abraham is the father of all who believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, I have made you the father of many nations.

[SPEAKER_00]: If this is confusing, stay with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna explain it in a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping, believing that he would become the father of many nations.

[SPEAKER_00]: For God had said to him, that's how many descendants you will have.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Abraham's faith did not weaken.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even though at about a hundred years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead and so was Sarah's womb.

[SPEAKER_00]: They couldn't have kids, they were too old, but he still had faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, his faith grew stronger.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in this, he brought glory to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that it was a difficult road to get there, the fact that there was struggle along the way, the fact that it took a long time for God to fulfill this promise that he made, actually brought more glory to God, because as Abraham continued to have faith in those times, it showed his trust in God even more.

[SPEAKER_00]: in the difficult times and in the waiting.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was fully convinced verse twenty one that God is able to do whatever he promises and because of Abraham's faith, God counted him as righteous.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when God counted him as righteous,

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't just for Abraham's benefit.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was recorded, was written down, for our benefit too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Assuring us that God will also count us as righteous.

[SPEAKER_00]: That means sinless, perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like we've never done anything wrong, if we believe in Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: The one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was handed over to die because of our sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was.

[SPEAKER_00]: And He was raised to life to make us right with

[SPEAKER_00]: The Apostle Paul wanted everyone to know that there is a connection between the faith of Abraham, or a thousand years ago, and the faith of everyone who believes in Jesus and God today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, Paul is writing this two thousand years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: So two thousand years separated Abraham and Paul when he was explaining this, and two thousand years separates Paul and me today, as we talk about this together, and there is still this unbreakable connection of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: between Abraham and Paul and us today.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, there's even more than that in here, because Paul says that we actually become a part of Abraham's family spiritually, he says this is what Scripture was talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: When I said he'd become the father of many nations, it wasn't just one nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't just the nation of Israel that he physically became, became his descendants that grew into, but it was all the spiritual descendants as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what I mean by that.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you trust in Jesus,

[SPEAKER_00]: When you trust in what he did for you on the cross, is the sacrifice for your sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you say, God, I admit that I'm a sinner, I've thought bad stuff, I've done bad stuff, I've said bad stuff, that I know goes against what you want from me, and you're my creator.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have the right to say what I'm supposed to live like, and I haven't been living the way you want me to.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you do that, and you trust in Jesus, because I know Jesus died for my sins, he paid the penalty for me so that I can be a part of your family if I believe in him.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you do that,

[SPEAKER_00]: You become a part of God's family.

[SPEAKER_00]: But actually God says spiritually, you actually become a part of Abraham's family.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like a spiritual descendant of Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is what that prophecy meant when God said, I will make you a father of many nations when he gave him a new name that means father of many nations.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't just talking about his physical descendants.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was actually talking about you and me if we believe in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: How cool is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything we've been talking about today in these three stories

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, in order to trust in Jesus and be a part of His family, what do you have to do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you have to first of all admit that you're a sinner.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you do bad things.

[SPEAKER_00]: We all do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone has sinned.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone has done bad stuff in their life.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you have to admit it to God and say, God, I know this is wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know I shouldn't live this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to live this way anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: And some people think, well, all I gotta do is try really, really hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe if I'm good enough, that'll be a good enough for God.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's not how it works.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's not by falling the law.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not by doing a lot of good.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is it that makes us right with God?

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys know the answer?

[SPEAKER_00]: What is it?

[SPEAKER_00]: What makes us right with God?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you admit that you're a sinner.

[SPEAKER_00]: You confess that to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You believe in what Jesus did for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You trust Him in His promises just like Abraham did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then He makes you a part of His family forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you never sin again, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, the Bible says, anybody that says He doesn't have sin is foolish.

[SPEAKER_00]: We, of course, we sin again, but we have God in our lives at that point helping us to get better and better all the time in one day, one day when we die, we go to be with God and he does make us perfect at that time and will never experience sin or pain again.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the promise that God gives to the descendants of Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you trust in Jesus, you get to be a part of that group.

[SPEAKER_00]: How special is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so thankful.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a part of that group.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to be a part of that group too.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to make that decision today, you can pray, pray to God, do what I just mentioned earlier, confess your sin, believe in Jesus, ask Jesus to come into your life to change you from the inside out, make you into a new person, make you a part of his family.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you have questions, because a lot of people do, I want to make sure you get your questions answered today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you can see me after the service.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can see anybody with a lanyard.

[SPEAKER_00]: Any adult with a blue shirt on is a pretty good guess right now as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Talk to them, get your questions answered.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you know what it means to be a part of God's family, a part of Abraham's family, a part of all the promises that it gives to us because it is amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to ask you if you would just to bow your heads right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray together.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, we are so thankful for the stories that you've recorded for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: The things that you have shared so we can know how to live for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: The things that you've told us so we can know how to be a part of your family, how to be free from sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even free from the consequences of our own sins that we've already committed, the things we've done against you Lord, the fact that you were willing to take the payment for us and die on a cross so those could be wiped away so that we can be a part of your family and have this connection to Abraham even.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's amazing, it is healing, it's restoring, it changes our lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's hundreds of people in this room that have testimonies of how you have made a difference in their life because they believe in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, I pray that if there's anybody here who doesn't know you, that you would just show up in their life today, show them that you love them, that you care about them, that you want to be there God to, just like you were Abraham's God, that you want them to have the same faith in you, that he had, and that you have wonderful promises for them, that we've just touched on, they're all over the Bible, that we haven't even gone into today.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I pray that you would show up in a big way in their life today, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, for those of us that already know you as Savior, a part of your family, I pray that we would learn from Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: We would learn to have great faith, even in those difficult times of life, even in the struggles, even in the waiting to understand that sometimes a strong faith in you in the middle of a valley and in the middle of the waiting actually brings you more glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's when our faith is really tested and shown to be real.

[SPEAKER_00]: So help us to have that perspective in life, God, to always trust you no matter what is going on around us, we pray this in Jesus' name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.