The Last Laugh

You have your Bible going to make your way to Genesis chapter

Genesis 17 · chapter mention

17 and hold your place there. We'll be there in just a moment.

What I want to do is something that does a follow up from

several weeks ago. If you remember our Refocus

Sunday, it's the Sunday before Palm Sunday where we walk

through the presentation that we as a team, a Refocus team,

worked through for the last 6 to 8 months to prayerfully pursue

some very specific things about where we believe God is leading

us as a church family and how to fulfill specifically for CFBC to

fulfill the Great Commission of making disciples and being

faithful as a body of Christ. So we had a Refocus Sunday.

We distributed this Refocus launch guide.

We also took a discipleship survey where we asked 10

questions and asked you to respond.

So I'm about to walk you through the answers to this.

Now, just a little context here. I think it'd be helpful to know

that there's about 2000 ish people involved in the life of

our church. You say Kahawa, do you know

that? Well, because there's about 2000

members and about 2000 come on Easter.

All right, so that's about how we know on average about 1200

show up on any given Sunday and about 800 of that 1200 are in

small groups. All right, so you got less than

50% of our total participants in a small group, more than 50%

come on an average Sunday, about 2000 total 511 took this survey.

So you're only looking at a sample of 25%.

And I think you could probably say this is probably one of the

people who took this are closer to the core of the ones that are

here week in and week out, most likely.

All right, So that's it'll help as you interpret the answer.

So question number one is, do you daily engage the word of

God? Do you daily engage?

No is 36% and yes is 64%. Let me just remind you that the

number one thing you need spiritually is not my sermon.

I need an Amen. The number one thing you need is

the meal of the word of God. You feed yourself and the Bible.

The Bible is so is so it is It is such the primary Jesus says

you're not going to live by bread alone, but every word that

proceeds from the mouth of God. Studies show that unless you're

in the word of God for yourself at least four days a week that

it's really making no noticeable impact in your life unless you

get it the majority of the days. Unless you eat the majority of

the days of the week, you're going to be losing weight

instead of gaining, right? And I mean that in a good way.

All right, so all right #2 do you daily spend time in focused

prayer? It goes up 72% just shy of 3/4

of our Church of the Representative sample.

Spend daily time in focused prayer #3 do you attend Sunday

worship at CFC at least three times a month?

All right, no, 9%, yes, 91%. So at least of that sample of

511, those are again probably more of our frequent weekly

church attenders #4 are you active in a small group for

spiritual growth? No, 37%, yes, 63%.

Again, that's pretty representative that less overall

out of the 2000, less than half, but of that sample, a little

more than half. You can see the potential we

have in the life of our church for people to plug into that not

just gather on Sunday, big group, but to grow in the small

group dynamic in that community. Accountability, prayer, and more

focused Bible study and discussion #5 do you tie at

least 10% of your financial income to your local church?

This is interesting, right? I don't know who these people

are or who they're not. I can just know these numbers.

No, 42%, yes, 58%. And again, that's the frequent

Sunday attenders I think that we're talking about in the 511.

But it just goes to show you what if that number of yes were

to significantly increase? What would the financial

possibilities be for ministry and mission in the life of our

church if that number went up significantly, right?

Amazing. Number six, do you share the

gospel with a lost person at least once a month?

Look at the nose. And again, that's probably our

core. That's probably 5-11 that would

maybe most likely to say yes. So more than 3/4 of us don't

share the gospel once a month, 12 * a year with a lost person.

Now I just want you to think of the impact if that number

changed. Just think of just people at

CFBC started at least once a month sharing the life, the

death, the burial and resurrection of Jesus for the

forgiveness of sin and eternal life with somebody at least once

a month. Amazing the potential of what

impact we could have #7 are you in an active role of service at

CFBC? Basically almost split right

down the middle? No is the majority, 45% are in

an active service role in the life of our church.

Again, think of the potential if the Holy Spirit gifts were being

used in the life of our church to full capacity, what our

church would be like #8 Have you participated in regional,

national or international mission trip within the last

three years? Look at the no answer there

again. Think of the potential in our

church for people to be mobilized.

What I mean by that is to go for the sake of making disciples

beyond your normal Monday through Saturday and Sunday

routine. What if you went a little

further regionally or in our city or in our state or in our

nation or even internationally, just simply for the sake of

telling people about Jesus? Look at the Army that we have

waiting to be deployed if we were willing to go right #9 Are

you personally investing spiritually in anyone else?

Yes, 67%, No, 33% and #10 Have you ever been personally

discipled or mentored by another believer?

32% and yes, 68%. That's just a little insight.

The reason we did that was to try to get really a baseline for

where we are as a church so that we can see part of the reason

why we would walk through a process called refocus.

Why is it that we want to continue pushing on the

potential we have as a church to be faithful to the Great

Commission? Why is it that we want to

articulate our mission is to love people to life in Jesus

Christ? Because they need to see and and

hear and understand the love of Christ for them so they can see

the life and the salvation and forgiveness and hope that He

offers. And This is why we have in our

vision to see our growing community saturated with the

gospel. We can't force people to believe

it or receive it, but we can by all means and by God's help, see

that there's no place in our community where there's not

access to the truth that can change people's lives.

Where we work, where we play, where we live, and everywhere in

between. This is why we've talked about a

four fold rhythm of gathering, growing, giving, and going to

where a healthy disciple is going to embrace these four

things as a rhythm in their life.

Gathering for worship, growing in a small group community,

giving of their life sacrificially from time, talent,

treasure, and beyond. And even willingness to go, yes,

where you normally live and even beyond.

Because those things, if absent, are going to mean gaps in our

lives as disciples of Christ. If you remember on that

refocused Sunday, I gave you a card that said what's your next

step? Do you remember what yours is?

Or if you weren't there that Sunday, do you know maybe what

your next step is based on that survey or based on gather, grow,

give and go that God is calling you to as God is calling all of

us toward further faithfulness for the sake and glory of Christ

right here in our community and beyond.

And I pray that you hadn't forgotten about that step.

Some of you gave me a name and a number on your card and I

followed up with you. But if you didn't and you want

to consult with someone or talk to one of us, me or one of the

pastors about taking next steps, please do continue to pray about

that and boldly, courageously act on what God has shown you or

maybe even continuing to show you.

So I hope that is both a challenge and an encouragement

to you. Now, back to Genesis 17 and the

actual message for today. That all was just bonus.

All right, I know that took 8 minutes in my sermon time, but

I'm not really paying attention to that.

But we'll get out on time. All right, So, parents, can you

identify with me? Have you ever said where are

your shoes and what did you hear?

I don't know where. Where's your backpack?

I don't know where. Where's your jacket?

I don't know. Where's the library book?

I don't know. My wife says.

Where's your glove? Where's their back?

Where? Where?

Where is all the stuff? I don't know.

But how can you not know, right? Yeah, you get the picture,

right. As human beings, especially

young ones growing and still maturing, we tend to lose stuff.

We tend to misplace stuff. We tend to carelessly not know

what we've done with stuff. But of course, this tendency

does not completely disappear just because we turned 21 and

officially become an adult, does it?

I mean, we still struggle to locate what our phone, our keys,

our sunglasses, our watch, our wallet.

All right. I could name so many things that

I failed to keep up with. I was just, we were having

dinner with some folks Friday night and the guy was like, I've

invested in air tags. I've put them on everything and

everything I own's got 1. He pulled up his app on his

phone showing me where he's. I was like, dude, that is genius

right there. I ought to do that so we have

technology to help us keep up with our stuff.

Why? Why am I talking about all this?

Because one of the things that we often misplace, that we lose,

that we tend to struggle to keep up with, is not just our

physical things, but quite honestly, one of the things that

falls into this category is our faith.

The same thing that we could say trying to rush out of the house.

Has anyone seen my keys or whatever you fill in the blank?

There's a lot of days in our lives when if we were being

honest and saying it out loud, we'd say, has anyone seen my, my

faith? I don't remember where I put my,

my faith. I don't know where I've I don't

know where I've put it. Genesis 17 y'all is an example

of what God does for us as frail human beings who often struggle

to keep up with our faith. All right so I want you to watch

how this unfolds. Listen to the verse the 1st 8

verses of chapter 17. When Abram was 99 years old, the

Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty, walk

before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between

me and you, and may multiply you greatly.

And then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, Behold, my

covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a

multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be

called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham.

For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you

into nations, and kings shall come from you, and I will

establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after

you throughout their generations, for an everlasting

covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

And I will give to you into your offspring after you the land of

your sojournings and all the land of Canaan for an

everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

I realize that it might sound like God and Abram are having

coffee every Monday morning, but that's not exactly the way it's

going down as Genesis unfolds. What I mean here is that when we

started Genesis 12, do you remember how old Abraham was?

He was 75. Now Fast forward 5 chapters

later and Abraham is 99 years old. 25 years have passed since

Abram first heard God's promises of land, name, nation,

prosperity, blessing, and protection.

All right, so after 10 years of hearing the promise and still no

offspring, Sarah, if you remember, gets a little creative

to say the least. Genesis 16 is how that goes.

Now she takes maidservant Hagar gives to Abram as a wife, says

we can have a son this way. And Ishmael is born at Abram the

age of 86. Ishmael is now 13 years, 13

years old. All that's to say, much time has

passed and God's promises don't seem to be in a hurry.

And the that's why I know how to put it, is that Abram's faith is

on the Fritz. Abram's faith is wavering.

Abram has forgotten, if you will, where he's placed his

fate. It's weak.

And he's wondering, are the promises of God ever going to be

true? Abram's having days when, if his

faith were his keys, he'd be asking you, have you seen my You

ever been there? Ever woken up on a day or gone

to bed on a day? And quite honestly, if somebody

asked you where your faith was, you really wouldn't know what to

tell them. I think that's where Abram was

when it came to his faith in the promises of God.

You know, God knows exactly what we need right when we need it.

And so God shows up, calls a little time out and says to

Abram the exact thing Abram needs to hear.

Here's what he says. Abram, I am God Almighty.

Abram, I am El. Shaddai.

Now in the last chapter we learned the name of God when

Hagar was sitting beside a well of water in the middle of the

wilderness. She felt abandoned, she felt

lost, she felt forgotten. She felt surely left for dead.

And there God shows up. God saw her, God cared for her,

and God drew near to her to draw her back into his plan.

And she said, you are El Roy, the God who what?

The God who sees. You're the God who actually

cares for me. You're the God who actually

loves me. Like you've not forgotten about

me, little old me, somebody that I would have never have thought

God would care about. I realize you are Elroy.

So we learn a name of God and a truth about God there and here

again, at just the right moment when Abraham needs to hear a

word from God, God shows up and says, Abraham, I am El Shaddai,

I am God almighty. What is Abraham's faith been

weekend God's ability and power to fulfill the word he spoke to

him and God shows up and says, hey man, let me remind you of

who I am. I am the one who's omnipotent.

I am the one who's unlimited. I am the one that can do

anything. I am the one for whom nothing is

too difficult. I am the one that with me all

things are possible. You know the song my God is so

big, so strong and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do

for you. Y'all did so much better than

first service. I'm like, did y'all forget that

song or not learn that as a that's God.

That's how should I in a song, Abram, his faith is weak and

wavering in the fact that God is so big, so strong and so mighty

that there's nothing that God cannot do.

So God says to Abram because of here I am Abram, listen man, let

me try to get you back on track. Here's the two things you need

to be doing. By the way, this is as relevant

to me and you today as it was to Abram.

The number one walk before me, Abram.

Brother, I am with you always. I know you can't see me.

I know you can't hear me all the time.

I know you don't think that I'm there, but I am always with you.

Abram. I want you to walk before me and

honor me and all that you do. I want you to live like I'm with

you because I am and I am Almighty.

I can do anything. So walk.

Live your life as if I'm with you.

Do you sometimes forget to live your life as if God is with you,

especially when you misplace your faith?

Forget that God is all powerful. The second thing God tells to

Abraham is to be blameless. That one's a little more

intimidating, is it not? Because it kind of feels like,

oh goodness, God's asking me to be perfect.

God's saying, don't ever mess up.

God's saying if you do, watch out.

And that's not what God's saying by be blameless, God is saying,

Abram, be wholeheartedly, completely, totally, fully

surrendered and submitted to me. Abram, what I'm asking you, man,

I'm not asking you to be mistake less.

I'm asking you to be all in, totally committed, seeking me,

loving me first with all you've got.

I'm asking Abram for you to give me all of your heart.

So let me make it even more simple, Abram, I'm asking you to

live like I'm with you. And then, Abram, I'm asking you

to live like you're with me. This is the way this thing

works. This is the way walking by faith

works. This is the way the Christian

life works. This is not trying to work our

way into heaven. It's simply living like God is

actually with us and like we're actually with him.

And guess what? If God is with us and we're with

him, and he's almighty, what is impossible for us and God's plan

in our lives? Anything, Nothing.

So Abram, live like I'm with you and you're with me.

Why does God go out of His way to say this to Abraham?

Here's one God does not want. Let me even more clear.

The last thing that God wants is for lack of faith to be a

problem in God's plan for our lives coming to full fruition.

Let me say that again. The last thing that God wants is

a lack of faith in Him to be an obstacle, to be a problem to His

plan for our lives coming to full fruition.

Because, see, the limitation is not on God's part.

The only potential limitation could be on our part if lack of

faith in God's part is present. God doesn't want any lack of

faith in His part to be present. That could be a hindrance,

right? And God's going to hit replay on

His promises to Abram here. I'm just going to highlight one

of them. God changes Abram's name, right?

He's promised him offspring. Abram means exalted father, but

Abraham means father of a multitude like father, not just

of nation single, but a nation's plural kings, plural shall come

from you. You see what God is doing for

Abram and what God does for us who, just like Abram, struggle

to sometimes keep up with where we've placed our faith is #1 God

strengthens our faith by divine reminders.

God strengthens our faith by divine reminders.

This is a. Pattern in Scripture What did

God, as a reminder, give Noah when he stepped off the boat as

a promise he would never do what he just did again?

What did he give him rainbow, which is a reminder in the sky

to this day of God's covenant that he made never to destroy

the earth by flood again. What did God give Moses as signs

as he's calling in to go to Egypt to give him confirmation

that God would set his people free.

Do you remember the three things God gave Moses?

He allowed his rod to turn into a serpent and back.

He allowed his hand to go inside his cloak, pulled out leprous

put back, pulled back out again healed and he allowed him to

turn water into blood before he even showed up in Egypt.

What did God do for Gideon when God called Gideon to raise an

army, God gave him the fleece before that right?

He consumed the act, the sacrifice that Gideon put before

God with fire and then he took the fleece and Gideon is like,

OK God, let's make the fleece wet with dew and the ground dry.

God did that and Gideon said, God, I need to vice versa that

can you make the fleece dry and the ground wet?

And then Guinea said I need more than that.

God gave him a dream at night, right of the victory.

What did God do from Mary when the Angel came to her and said,

behold, you're going to be with child, It's going to be of the

Holy Spirit. And Mary asked, how can these

things be? What sign did God give?

He said, behold, your cousin Elizabeth is what is pregnant.

She makes a beeline to go visit. And sure enough, just like God

said, right with the forerunner, John the Baptist, she was with

child. God wants to strengthen your

faith with divine reminders. Say, Kyle, where in the world

should I look for such divine reminders?

Well, the quite honest answer is anywhere, everywhere and through

anything, but no place more than right here.

I cannot tell you how often I need specific direction.

I need a reminder, I need wisdom, or I need help.

And in just my daily back to question #1 timing, God's Word,

God allows me to read something that speaks specific,

specifically to exactly what I needed to hear.

Just like God gave Abram exactly what he needed to hear when he

needed to hear it. To give him the guidance he

needed to strengthen his faith so he can move forward in God's

plan for his life. Which is just one of 1001

reasons you ought to be in the Word of God every day and then

living life with eyes wide open. Did you realize there's no such

thing as luck? God is in control.

Life is not random. And if we'll open our eyes to

the God who cares, to God who's in control of the God who is

working all things according to his will for our good and his

glory, you're going to see God wanting to strengthen your faith

with divine reminders. Pick up in verse 9 with me, and

God said to Abraham, As for you, You shall keep my covenant, you

and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you

and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be

circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the

flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant

between me and you. He who is 8 days old among you

shall be circumcised every male throughout your generations,

whether born in your house or bought with your money from any

foreigner who is not of your offspring.

Both he who is born in your house and he who has bought with

your money shall surely be circumcised.

So shall my covenant be in your flesh as an everlasting

covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is

not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off

from his people. He has broken my covenant.

This is one of the reasons why you just preach through books of

the Bible and you don't randomly select text because there's

certain Bible passages you just never pick unless you just walk

in through the Bible. And yet all of them are

practical and relevant to our lives.

I had somebody asked me after the first service.

Kyle, does that get awkward for you?

Not really. I don't know if it's awkward for

you or not, but I'm good if you're good.

All right, so we're going to show just how practical God's

word is. Now, if I'm being honest, if I'm

99 years old and God comes to me, it says, hey, I got a sign

between me and you. This is going to be the symbol

of my covenant I'm making with you and yours with me.

And God said it was circumcision.

I think I'd look back in God and said, God, you got anything else

I'd gladly trade like Noah got a boat and a rainbow.

God, this does not seem fair. All right, But that's not what

God says, not what Abraham said. So to be serious about this for

a moment, right? God is giving Abraham and his

descendants a physical sign of the covenant God was making with

him, and the sign of God's covenant would be carved into

Abraham's body in order to be a continual reminder in the most

personal of ways in his life, in the life of his offspring.

Why does God choose this sign? The Bible does not explicitly

say, but I do think there's some insights we can draw to give us

clues as to why. Couple of the number one,

physically speaking, the essence of the covenant centered on

physical offspring to Abraham. Hence the sign.

I'll stop comments there. Ready #2 Spiritually speaking,

the sign involved a cutting away of flesh, symbolizing a greater

circumcision that God was seeking not physically but

spiritually of the heart, which is also the same surgery that

God wants to perform on a believer.

When we come to Christ and we offer our heart and he takes

away our sinful flesh, right? Fills us with the Holy Spirit

and says, don't walk according to the flesh, but walk according

to the Spirit. In other words, God wants to do

surgery in our hearts to cut away sin and assert his

righteousness by Christ so that we live with a new heart before

him. So in this way, physically and

spiritually y'all the sign of the covenant's not random.

It actually perfectly fits with the nature of the covenant God

was making with Abram and those that would be his offspring.

Now some have asked, hey, if this was so important back then,

does it save? Is it required for salvation

today? You can read your New Testament

and actually the discussion took place quite quite seriously.

Acts chapter 15 you can read the debate in the early church and

Acts 15 · chapter mention

then what Paul writes in Galatians chapter 6 verse 14 and

Galatians 6:14

15 makes it absolutely, unmistakably clear.

Listen to what He says, but far be it from me to boast except in

the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, let me never say anything could benefit me that I

could ever do, except what Christ has done for me in my

place on the cross. Do you follow Him by which the

world has been crucified to me, and I to the world?

For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision,

but a new creation. Let me tell you what counts,

Paul says, is you being made alive by faith in Jesus Christ.

Period. No work that you do or don't do.

It is faith and faith alone. For by grace you've been saved

through faith by grace. It is not a work.

It's not a thing that you can boast in.

It is a gift of God. The Bible says the circumcision

saved. The answer is, does faith in

Jesus save? Yes, this is what the New

Testament makes clear. It was a sign of the covenant.

It was not the fate that saved even Abraham and credited him

with righteousness. The second thing that I want you

to see and mark down here is that God strengthens our faith

by physical signs. God strengthens our faith with

divine reminders, but God also strengthens our faith by

physical signs. And that begs the question, what

physical science has God-given us as believers in the new

covenant to strengthen our faith?

Let me give you 2. Are you ready?

Baptism and the Lord's Supper, these are two physical signs

that God has given us as new covenant people of Christ to

observe and participate in that strengthen our faith.

These don't save. These don't wash away our sin.

These don't give us more grace. These don't give us more favor

in the eyes of God. But these strengthen our faith,

and these symbolize our faith and reinforce it #1 baptism.

I'm not going to read all the text, but you're going to see

the references on the screen. You can write them down and I'm

going to give you the principle. We take out of them baptism,

Roman 63 and four. We learned that baptism

symbolizes our fate in the life, death, burial, and resurrection

of Jesus. The reason why we get in the

water and lay somebody horizontal flat like a dead man

is because Jesus died tasting death, taking the wage of my sin

in yours was laid in the grave after dying on the cross.

But then we don't hold you underneath the water.

Praise God. All right, we bring you right

back up because Jesus on the third day was raised back up

symbolically in baptism. We're showing you've identified

yourself with the life, death and burial and resurrection of

Jesus Christ. It's a testimony physically

signing the gospel that you believe.

First Corinthians 12/13, we learned that baptism symbolizes

our union with the body of Christ.

The conversation we'll have with you when you go through our

membership class discover first, which is once a month is

eventually have you trusted in Jesus Christ and have you been

baptized? Have you done the declaration

publicly that says I join publicly the body and bride of

Jesus because there is a way that God has said you do that

and that's the public declaration through baptism,

which is why is one of the ways, the most clear way that you

actually truly, if you will say I am a part of the family of

God, which is also why it is public, not a private thing.

Acts 238. We learned that baptism

symbolizes our cleansing from sin and the reception of the

Holy Spirit. You receive the Holy Spirit of

God when you believed the gospel.

When you go through the water, Cartersville City water doesn't

wash away any of your sin. OK, but it does picture the fact

that if you believe the gospel, that is that Jesus lived a

sinless life for you, died as a substitute for you, and was

raised victorious over sin, death and the grave for you.

And there's been a moment that you surrendered your life to

that truth and called on Jesus to save you.

If you believe that the blood of Jesus spilled for you on the

cross, spiritually washed your soul before God, absolutely and

perfectly clean without spot. The water washing is a symbol of

that. It's also a symbol of the

receiving of the Holy Spirit that you received when you

believed. Now that doesn't mean you're

always walking by the Spirit or I'm always walking by the

Spirit, but you received him the the third person of the Trinity,

a he not an it when you believed.

Then there's the Lord's Supper, first Corinthians 11/25, the

Lord's Supper, the partaking of the bread and the cup sign for

us, the body and blood of Jesus given to us for our salvation.

It is a physical meal of bread and of the cup representing the

body and the blood of Jesus that we have entrusted, that we have

believed on, that we've received spiritually the significance of

the body of Christ in our place, his blood shed for the remission

and forgiveness of our sin. When we physically imbibe those

things, they are not doing to us something magical.

They are reminding us of what we believed and trusted in by

faith. It is a physical act.

It is a physical sign to reinforce our faith in the

actual body and blood of Jesus for our salvation.

Obviously, both signs can be empty and completely meaningless

if not done by faith. Now let's pick up verse 15

through 21. And God said to Abraham, As for

Sarah your wife, you shall not call her name Sarah, but Sarah

shall be your name. I will bless her, and moreover,

I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall

become nations. Kings of people shall come from

her. And then Abram fell on his face

and laughed, and said to himself, Shall a child be born

to a man who is 100 years old? Shall Sarah, who is 90 years

old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh,

that Ishmael might live before you.

And God said, no, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and

you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant

with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after

him. And As for Ishmael, I have heard

you. Behold, I have blessed him and

will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly.

He shall father 12, Princess, and I'll make him into a great

nation. But I will establish my covenant

with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you.

At this time next year, God changes Abraham's name to

Abraham. Now it's Sarah's turn for a name

change. She is a partner in this

covenant God is making with Abraham.

Sarai and Sarah both mean Princess or my Princess.

She will be the mother of a royal lion again.

Nations will come from her. Kings shall come from her.

So what does Abraham do in response to all this?

Let me be more clear. Does Abram fall down in faith

and worship God? What does he do?

The dude laughs. God, me plus her equal baby?

I don't think so. Abram laughs.

God says not so fast. I'm not laughing, I'm dead

serious. In fact, God gets the last laugh

because guess what? Isaac means laughter does this.

You want to laugh at me, Abram? Guess what?

I'm going to give you a son reminding you not to laugh at me

when I tell you I'm going to do what I'm going to do.

You ever laughed at God? You ever heard something led by

the Spirit of God in the direction?

Laughed at God out loud or underneath your breath?

God, that's not a good idea. God.

That's not possible. God, I don't think so.

God, you got to be kidding me. God, that's funny, right?

God says, I'm going to get the last slide.

We, we, we get an idea of where Abraham's heart is when he says,

oh, that Ishmael might live before you know what this is.

God, if you'd only bless my plan, it's a good one.

I've worked hard for this one. God, I've stayed up I don't know

how many nights. God, it's all written out in my

journal. If you would just bless this

plan like the God, this is what I want God, there's nothing

wrong with this. Surely this is an option.

You ever done that? Third thing I want you to write

down is that God strengthens our faith by answered and unanswered

prayers. God strengthens our faith

through divine reminders, through physical signs and

through answered and under answered.

You know when God let me ask you like this, do you know why God

doesn't answer prayers sometimes when God has a better plan, when

God has a better plan, Sometimes God's no to our ask is God

saying yes to a better plan, No to ours, yes to his.

God strengthens our faith by answered and unanswered prayers.

Now let's listen to the final part of the chapter.

When he had finished talking with him, God went up from

Abraham. Then Abraham took Ishmael, his

son, and all those born in his house or bought with his money.

Every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he

circumcised the flesh of their foreskins.

That very day is God had said to him.

Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of

his foreskin in Ishmael. His son was 13 years old and he

was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that very day.

Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised in all the men of

his house. Those born in the house and

those bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with

him. Abram sharpened his knife, grit

his teeth, and started cutting that very day.

Abram does surgery all day. That day, Abram obeyed right

away, all the way. We've heard that phrase before.

You'll see that principle over and over again in Scripture.

Mom and dad's. That's when to teach our

children. Why?

Because it's the right response to godly good authority.

And God starts that practice between parent and child.

All right, and Abraham puts it into practice here.

Disobedience, it was right away all the way was not easy.

It was not pain free. In fact it was bloody, but it

was worth it in the same way that Jesus is.

Obedience to his Father was also not pain free, was also costly,

was also bloody, but was what was worth it.

God strengthens #4 our faith for the sake of our obedience and

blessing. God strengthens our faith for

the sake of our obedience and blessing.

You see, when God gave Abraham the sign of the covenant, he had

a choice. Let's let's be real honest, He

could either start cutting or he could be cut off Why?

Because there was no halfway with God.

Abram, I want you to live as if I'm with you and as if you're

with me. I'm asking you to be all in

because I'm all in with you. There really is no halfway with

God. There's no such thing as half

safe. You're either loving God with

all you've got or you're not. There's no halfway.

God is asking for him to be all in, right?

And in so many ways, all in sometimes requires pain and

blood. Let's be a little more honest

though. As modern day American

Christians, most often what it means is sometimes obeying Jesus

or putting our faith into practice.

Sometimes means a little discomfort and a little

inconvenience. And maybe some minor cost and

oftentimes we as modern day Americans aren't even willing to

pay those three. And but I'll be honest with you,

I think when you read your Bible, you have to ask yourself

the question, if there's not a willingness to be a little

uncomfortable, to be a little inconvenience, to pay a little

price, you got to ask yourself, is that real genuine faith in

Jesus at all? Because there's really no

halfway with God. God calls us to be all in with

Him as He's all in with us. What's the point of this

chapter? Here's what I think it is in a

sentence. So you're ready, God Almighty

else should I want our faith to be mighty.

Why? Because the only obstacle

between His plan and power in your life is lack of faith in

His power. That's the only obstacle.

There's no obstacle with God. He said, oh, should I?

The question is, do we believe that?

Do we trust that? Do we have faith in who he is?

The only issue between God's plan and your life and mine is a

lack of faith. God wants our faith to be

mighty. God is building our faith, and

sometimes he'll build it in such a way He'll stretch us in such a

way. We want to say God, that's

funny, but guess what? God's going to get the last

laugh. He wants to do something that

only he can get the credit for. We've been seeing that over and

over and over again. And Abraham learned the hard way

not to laugh at God, but to laugh with him when God gave him

a son. Being true to his word, that

means laughter. John and praised him are going

to come out. I got a just a couple questions

I want you to respond to. Number one, is this, where is

God trying to strengthen your faith?

Where is there a potential lack of faith that is causing a block

in God's plan for your life? Let me put it like this.

This is maybe not how you thought about it, maybe not what

you're doing, but where? Where are you quote laughing at

God saying no or no way or God I just don't believe that's

possible or God I'm refusing to obey.

What do you, what do you need to do to realize God is with you

and for you to be all in with him?

Is that your next step on the refocus card that maybe you've

set aside or misplaced or know exactly where it is?

Is it saying, Lord Jesus, I'm choosing to trust you with my

heart and life today? I've heard the life, death,

burial and resurrection of your son, Father, but I've really

never surrendered my life to Jesus.

Today's the day. Or maybe you've done that, but

you know what? Your faith has kind of become

like your keys. You're just not really sure

where they are. And to get back on track, you

need to look at God and say, God, I believe you are El

Shaddai. I believe you are almighty.

And if you believe that, that has crazy practical implications

for how you live, if you really believe that.

So the question is, do you believe that?

Where are you not believing that?

Where do you need to say God? I'm choosing to believe today.

God, I don't want there to be any lack of faith causing any

problem in your plan for my life.

Heavenly Father, I pray the that as we worship and respond to you

in your word today, Father, that we truly believe you are God

Almighty God, if there's a place you're seeking to strengthen our

faith, I pray that you'd have our yes, Father, that we would

trust your plan. We wouldn't laugh at you in

unbelief, but we would lay our lives before you in worship and

faith saying God, have your way, your will, not ours.

God, do something that only you can get the glory.

Let there be no obstacle in your plan and your purpose for us.

God, if someone needs to trust you today, may they do it.

If they need to let something go today, let them let it go.

If they need to walk forward by faith to help them take the

step. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Would you stand with me? We're going to sing together.

I'm inviting you to come. As we sing and you respond to

God's call, you come.