Where Do I Sign?

I hope you've made your way to Genesis chapter 15, Genesis 15.

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

As we continue in our series, we've titled Answering God's

Call, following specifically Abram on this journey as he has

answered God's call on his life. I don't know if you've ever

noticed how much you have to sign your signature just to do

life. You ever noticed this?

You didn't make it out of the hospital you were born in until

someone did what Till someone signed?

You didn't live where you live or call your house home until

you or somebody signed. You didn't drive the car that

you drove here today until someone.

You didn't get a driver's license until someone signed,

right? You can't enroll in school

without someone's signature. You can't get married unless you

sign. You can't open a bank account

unless you sign. You can't book a vacation, play

Little League skydive, file your taxes, or take a job until you

and those are just the things I could think of off the top of my

head. There's a zillion more.

When we sign, what are we doing? We are stating with our

signature that we're agreeing to keep the terms and the

conditions of the what the agreement, whatever it is, be it

house, be it car, be it expenses or whatever it may be, we're

agreeing to the terms and conditions of the agreement.

I want you to just hang on to this question that we're going

to answer in the course of our time today in God's words, in a

simply this question and we're probably not going to answer it

in the traditional way, but here's the question, Are you

ready? When it comes to the Christian

life, where do you sign? When it comes to the Christian

life, where do you where do I, where do we sign?

We're going to answer that question as we go.

But first we're going to read God's word picking up in chapter

15, verse 7 and following listen to God's word.

And he that's God said to him, him as Abram, I am the Lord who

brought you out from ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land

to possess. But he that's Abram said, O Lord

God, I'm out to know that I shall possess it.

He God said to him, bring me a heifer 3 years old, a female

goat three years old, and a ram 3 years old, a turtle dove, and

a young pigeon. And he brought him all these,

cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other, but

he did not cut the birds in half.

But when birds of prey and when birds of prey came down on the

carcasses, Abram drove them away.

This text is not your normal text of Scripture, if you've not

noticed, but by the way, all Scripture is inspired by God and

profitable, the whole council of God, profitable for what?

Our instruction for our teaching right for training in reproof

and correction, all in righteousness that the man or

woman of God may be adequate and equipped for every good work.

I believe God was going to show you, I hope this morning just

how relevant this text is, as odd as it may sound.

So just hang in there with me. You know, Abraham has been

believing God. If you've been following this

journey, Abram has been believing God.

Abram believed God when he left house, when he left home, when

he left country, and when he left Kindred.

Abram's been believing God. But if you follow the

conversation between God and Abram, you notice that Abram's

fate isn't perfect. Dude struggles along the way.

And here again he's struggling and it's obvious in conversation

with God. In fact, in verses one through 6

of chapter 15 we looked at last week, God said, Abram, I'm going

to promise you again, the offspring in Abrams like God,

he's not singing kumbaya. I believe you saying God, I'm

not sure I believe you. Where is it at?

Where is it at? I've been waiting all this time.

Abraham's faith was struggling, was fighting to believe Abram

was a man as high as we think of him was not a man of perfect

faith. In fact, what I just want you to

be encouraged by is sometimes we read of the greats in the Bible,

Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and all the, all the

above. And we think, well, my faith

could never be like that or I could never be like that.

I, I struggle to believe too much.

I'm too weak in my faith. I've failed too much.

I have too much. I've got too many flaws, too

many weaknesses. Listen, you obviously hadn't

read your Bible. Like I'm serious.

Because if you do, you're going to really realize really quick,

wow, these people, far from perfect, These people are full

of flaws. These people who made the hall

of faith, Hebrews 11:10 and 11:00, they struggled mightily

Hebrews 11:10

at times with their with their faith.

This ought to be encouraging, right?

So here in verses 7 through 11, God is reaffirming another one

of his promises to Abram. This one's not about offspring.

It's about the land the God has promised to give Abram and his

offspring. And Abram's like God.

How can I be sure? How can I be 100%?

What evidence is there that I can trust you that I can believe

and not doubt because I'm doubting.

And of course, in our day and time, this is where the lawyers

would have pulled out the paper and handed each a pen and said,

you sign here and you sign here. But that's not what they did

back then, back when they came to agree to the terms of the

agreement or the covenant. When?

How do they know the house is mine, the land is mine, or the

car? The money we signed, they didn't

sign then. They didn't use pen and ink.

They used a knife and blood, not pen and ink.

Literally, as you're about to see, God says here, bring me

Abraham a heifer. Now, in case you don't know what

that is. All right, that's a female cow

who's yet to have a cab. Don't call anybody that.

The Bible uses it in context, right?

Guys says bring me a heifer, bring me a female goat, bring me

a ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon and pigeon.

Abram brings all of them. He knows exactly what to do,

because this is what they did back then, when they came to

commit themselves in the most serious and critical of ways.

Abram cuts each animal in half, and then he lays each half over

against the other side of the half he just made.

Again, it's not pen and ink. This is knife and this is blood.

In case you've never butchered an animal before, this is an

incredibly messy process. Had it only been deer season?

I actually thought about demonstrating for you.

I promise I didn't won't do that, but I promise you it

crossed my mind because most people are familiar with the

meat section of the grocery store.

They've just got no idea what it looks like before it lands right

there. And let me tell you, it ain't

pretty. Let me tell you as he would have

sliced open these animals and lay it half against half, blood

would have flowed everywhere. Abram would have been covered

himself. And this is incredibly labor

into animals when they're dead. Don't cooperate in the process.

This is labor intensive work. This is bloody, visceral work

that Abram was forced to do. Death was very real.

We're often so insulated from it in our modern day lives.

They were not, I guarantee you back then and literally by blood

and by knife. They were in the process of

making an agreement. Birds of prey.

The Bible says see the slaughter and wanted to do what they do

help come and clean up and yet that would have made these

animals prepared for the purpose of sacrifice unclean.

Abram had to act to protect what God had called him to collect

and cut to keep clean for the purpose of the covenant that

they were about to make. This is not in your notes, but I

just want to drop you something along the way here and I've

already kind of done it, but in case you want to write something

down in this first section here, I think this is what I would

write down. Again, all Scripture is inspired

by God and profitable for teaching.

Here's one of the things that it teaches us here in seven through

11. You ready.

Faith that's real is not perfect.

Faith that is real is not perfect.

Faith does not have to be perfect in order to be real.

We see Abraham's faith here. Even as God is about to make the

highest and greatest of commitments to him, Abraham's

faith is still struggling. I don't know where you are in

your faith or if you thought, man, I thought I'd be further

along by now. I thought I'd be here by now.

I thought I wouldn't be struggling with this still.

Now, faith is real doesn't mean that at times our faith doesn't

struggle. And God wants to fortify

Abraham's faith. He wants to fortify yours as

well. Let's pick up and keep reading.

In verse 12 through 16, as the sun was going down, a deep sleep

fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great

darkness fell upon him. And then the Lord said to Abram,

no, for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in

a land that is not theirs, and will be servants there, and they

will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the

nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out

with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your

father's in peace. You shall be buried in a good

old age, and they shall come back here in the 4th generation.

For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

No doubt it took Abram quite a while to collect all the animals

God commanded to slaughter them, to process them in the right

manner and way for the making of this covenant.

And it's labor intensive work. As I've already mentioned, Abram

now is at the end of the day is in a deep sleep.

God puts in the Bible, says in a deep sleep causes that deep

sleep to fall on him. And not only does sleep come

over him, but this mysterious supernatural deep darkness also

envelops him as well. I'm talking about a deeper

darkness than just when the sun goes down.

There is something supernatural type of darkness that is going

on here. And in this deep sleeping, great

darkness, God says some amazing things to Abram.

Now I just want you to think if you struggle to believe that the

Bible is true, well, just look at what God says hundreds of

years before it happens that you can verify in your history books

that happened. Look what God says.

Your offspring will be sojourners in a foreign land.

That foreign land is Egypt. They will serve as slaves for

400 years, which they did, but I'll judge the nation that

afflicts them. God certainly did with 10.

What 10 plagues. They will exit the nation with

great possessions. Why?

Because God says way hundreds of years before and you will

plunder the Egyptians. They're going to give you their

gold off their bodies and their backs for you to take with you

into the wilderness. You, Abram, will die in peace at

a good old age. Your offspring will enter the

land that I promised you after the 4th generation.

Why 4 generations? Why 400 years later?

Look at verse 16. Don't miss this little what

seems like random statement because the iniquity of the

Amorites is not yet complete. What in the world is going on?

God has given Abram a supernatural sedative, like

supernatural melatonin right here knocked him out.

God is acting as as an anesthesiologist, if you will,

here before he shows up. Why?

So that Abram doesn't die. You know why?

Because no unholy human can be in the full manifest presence of

a holy God and survive it. So God is protecting Abram by

putting him to sleep, and not just that, but putting him under

a supernatural cloak of this darkness to protect Abram from

the full exposure to the holiness of Almighty God.

And that's not strange. This is not a wicked sinister

darkness. This is a protective, veiling

Abram from the full holiness of God darkness, just like God did

when there was great darkness and clouds and smoke and rain

and lightning and Thunder on Mount Sinai.

The people from God who would come down to manifest himself.

By the way, God said also that in the temple that Solomon

built, when he said he would inhabit there, he speaks of

clouds and great darkness enveloping his presence there.

Why? To protect the people from the

manifest presence of God dwelling among them.

This is a protective darkness that God is putting around him

because God is about to show up. God doesn't want anybody to die,

but the animals already laying half off offset from each other.

Abram, he wants protected. The next thing God does is

speak, and what he says is again, overwhelming.

In case you're wondering, let me just give you the specifics on

this. 215 years in advance, God tells Abram his offspring will

move to Egypt. 286 years in advance, God tells Abram his

offspring will be enslaved in Egypt. 430 years in advance, God

tells Abram his offspring will exit Egypt with great

possessions. Meanwhile, Abram, you will live

long and die in peace. Ladies and gentlemen, this is

what we call the good, the bad, and the all.

Hear from God. God doesn't hold back, God just

gives it all while he's fortifying.

Abram said it's honestly quite rare that God so pulls back the

veil to reveal his plan. But again, Abrams asked for

confirmation. How can he know?

And God is graciously giving him long in advance confirmation of

his plan, even parts of the timeline.

And one of the reasons God gives Abram for the event and

especially don't know, misses the timeline of how he can

anticipate and when he can anticipate in the future is

because notice verse 16 for the iniquity of the Amorites is not

yet complete. What in the world is God saying?

Well, whether we first of all realize it or not, we need to

understand that God is God over every tribe, over every tongue,

over every language of every nation and every people group

from Amorites in ancient history to Americans in modern day.

God is sovereign above, and He's the one in charge of all

peoples. And whether that nation or those

peoples realize it or not, there is a King of kings who rules

over them, who is the one who establishes their kings and

deposes them, who raises up nations and overthrows them.

In fact, if you don't believe me, read this is the what the

Bible says. Psalm 47 Eight God reigns over

the nation's. Psalm 47 seven through 8.

For God is the king over all the earth.

Daniel 221 God removes kings, and God establishes them.

Psalm 2228 Dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the

nation's job, 12/23 He makes nations great and he destroys

them. He enlarges nations and he leads

them away. Finally, Psalm 3212 in light of

all that, no wonder the Bible says blessed is the nation who's

what God is the Lord. You mark it down.

Whether people realize it or not.

God is reigning and ruling from heaven and He is in charge of

the events of world history. He's in charge of the number of

breaths in your lungs. He knows the number of hairs on

your head and He's in charge and in control of who sits as king

and who doesn't anymore. That's who God is.

He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords.

And in verse 16, God gives us y'all some incredible insight

into how he deals with peoples and nations.

So who are the Amorites? Well, this is a name of a people

that inhabited the land of Canaan.

Now sometimes the Bible will use this word Amorites to describe

really all the people that lived in Canaan, or sometimes it can

refer to one of the specific groups of many diverse groups

that lived in the land of Canaan.

But the Amorites are descendants of one of the sons of Canaan.

And I actually told you a little bit about them.

Part of the Amorites included the Raphaim, and one of their

last kings was a king by the name of Ogg, whose bed was 13

feet 13 1/2 feet long, 6 feet wide.

This man was probably estimated 10 to 11 feet tall.

He was one of the last of the giants there that lived in the

land. They were tall and strong,

fierce warriors. But these people were idolaters.

They were rebels against the God of heaven and God list, the sin

list that he found so detestable multiple times in Scripture.

I'm not going to get into it again.

I've already shared it with you some.

But again, the sin, why is that? He's Speaking of the sin of the

Amorites. What was their sin that God was

Speaking of? Here it is you ready?

Idolatry, sexual immorality, violence, corruption, and child

sacrifice. The God who rules over every

nation says here that judgement is coming for the Amorites, but

not yet. Why not yet?

Why not yet? He says here that the limit, in

other words, of God's patience and God's mercy for their sin

had not yet been reached. What in the world does that

mean? Let me tell you a couple things.

It means number #1 it means this.

It means God is incredibly gracious and kind and merciful.

God is looking over as King of kings, a people group in total

rebellion against him. And he says, I'm going to

continue to give them hundreds of years to repent.

I'm going to give them hundreds of years more of my patients.

What they're doing is an abomination in my sight.

The mercy and the love and the graciousness of Almighty God

continuing to pour out year after year after year after year

of them to do otherwise. God's God is merciful.

God is kind. He is compassionate.

He is full of grace. And yet #2 this means that

they're in a very real time. There is a very real time when

God says enough is enough, when there's sin.

Many scholars have described this as the legal limit of sin.

When God says sin has come up before him to a degree that is

enough, that his judgment, it's time, His patience, his mercy,

his kindness has been extended. But God, who is holy, must judge

sin. So just judgment for their sin

is coming. God says it's just not coming

yet. It's going to come, and you know

how it's going to come. It's going to come when God

leads his people, Israel into the promised land to do what?

To dispossessed, to overthrow these nations, including the

Amorites, for their idolatry, for their corruption, for their

unrighteousness, for their child sacrifice, for all their

wickedness and oppression, for all that rebellion against God.

God says there's a time coming when I'm going to send in my

just judgment. I'm going to dispossessed 1

nation. I'm going to raise up another,

which is actually what happened, but only after hundreds of years

of God's patience. Y'all just to share a little bit

with you of what I processed as I process this text is I can't

help. Perhaps you can't help, or I

hope we can't help but draw some connections between ancient

Amorites and modern day Americans.

We would do the text injustice not to realize the connection.

For their sins for which God said judgement is coming but

just not yet. You can find in every

manifestation in the present modern day context of the

country in which we live, idolatry, sexual immorality,

violence, corruption, child sacrifice at about 100,000 kids

a month killed in the womb in our country.

I don't know how many of the Amorites did, but I bet it

wasn't that many. God gave them hundreds of years

of patience. You can't help if you're being

honest when you read the Bible and you look around, ask

yourself God, how long do we have?

How long do we have? Because there's a there's a

time. God says enough is is enough

people. Often, sometimes you'll hear

people argue about whether or not we're a Christian nation.

I actually think that discussion is quite honest at the end of

the day, unprofitable. Because I don't really think God

cares what we call ourselves. I think God cares what we are.

God doesn't so much want a name, a country in name only.

And by the way, there is absolutely no doubt that

judeo-christian values are in the DNA of our inception, and

it's one of the reasons God's hand has been on our nation.

But what God wants is a nation. Blessed is the nation whose God

is the Lord. That that's not just for

America, that's for any people, because what God wants is a

nation whose leaders and whose people acknowledge God is God,

know him personally, and dedicate themselves to honor him

in every area of their lives. That's what God wants.

Call it what you want. God wants us to know him and

live by honoring him. And so as those who do, our

quest beginning right here in Cartersville is to seek as the

people of God, to live as those who know Jesus and to obey him.

And then from sea to shining sea, to see that people from our

mouths hear about him so they can know him and obey him.

And then from the ends of the earth, we go right here from

Cartersville so the people can know him and obey him.

Because you know what happens when a leader group of leaders,

when a country, when a people know God and honor him as God,

you know what happens? Knowing and honoring Jesus

eliminates it's idolatry. Knowing and honoring Jesus leads

to sexual purity. Knowing and honoring Jesus stops

violence, drives out corruption, smothers greed and injustice,

and causes us to value and protect the sanctity and dignity

of human life, of those made in the image of God that we

sacrifice on the altar of worship to the God of our

convenience. Ladies and gentlemen, you can't

help but ask how much time do we have?

He said, Kyle, I need a little bit of hope right here.

Let me just tell you what God says.

God gives us a principle in Scripture, just how he deals

with sin. There he talks to us in the same

about how he deals when people are ready and willing to respond

in light of what they've seen. Second Chronicles 714 says this.

If my people who are called by my name, well, what humble

themselves and pray and do what seek my my face and turn from

their wicked ways, and God says, I'll hear, I'll hear from

heaven, I'll forgive their sin and I'll heal their land.

Listen, the God who is the King of kings and Lord of Lords is

looking and longing for people to humble themselves and pray

and repent of sin and come running back to him and saying,

Oh God, oh God forgive us. Oh God have mercy on us.

Do we deserve it? No.

Could we ever earn it? No.

Does God say He'll give it when we ask humbly to seek him?

Yes. If you're taking notes here, I

want you to write this down. I'm going to give you a lot of

words for God, but there's reasons why.

Number one, God is holy, sovereign, merciful and just.

God is holy, sovereign, merciful and just can I just give you a

little insight when you're reading your Bible and you're

reading a text like this and you don't have a fig Newton's idea

what in the world that means for your normal Monday morning life.

You ever been there? OK, you may be still be

wondering that about this sermon.

I'm not sure but listen, here's here's what you do.

You ask yourself, what is this text teaching about God?

Because anytime you ask that question, you'll start to see

clearly what is this text of the Bible teaching me about God?

And what is teaching you about God is that God is holy, that

God is sovereign, that God is merciful, and God is just.

He has all of those things and more at the same time.

And when you start seeing who God is clearly, because you can

see that through His word, then you can see clearly how one

ought to adjust one's life to live, to know and honor God, who

alone is God. And all the sudden that becomes

very relevant on Monday morning and Friday night when you get a

clear glimpse of who God is and who he is and how he operates.

And the Bible will always reveal that if you just ask that

question when you're reading it. So God is holy, sinful man

cannot be in his presence, completely exposed without his

protection or his forgiveness in the righteousness of Christ and

survive. God is sovereign.

He's in complete control of kings and kingdoms and peoples

and nations. He's merciful, right?

He's extending hundreds of years of patience and mercy to people

in complete rebellion against him.

He's finally just. He always judges sin at just the

right time and in just the right way.

Even if we don't understand God, who is infinite in his wisdom

and completely and compassionate beyond our understanding, also

holy, justly judges sin. All those things are true about

God. Final section beginning in verse

17. When the sun had gone down and

it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch

passed between these pieces. And on that day the Lord made a

covenant with Abram, saying To your offspring, I give this lamp

from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river

Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kinozites, the

Cadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Raphaim, the

Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

The sun has set. It's dark, but it's not just

dark, it's real dark. It's the kind of dark that's not

natural dark. It's darker than that because of

a supernatural darkness that God has brought.

Abram is fast asleep, but he's wide awake spiritually.

All Abram can see is this smoking fire pot in a flaming

torch. I want you to think about if

you've ever cooked with a Dutch oven or an ancient way.

They would have cooked before modern electricity or gas.

They would have used an oven flamed by fire to cook their

food. I want you to picture this

boiling pot, this ancient oven with fire and a flaming torch.

These two things represent, with fire, if you will, in purity the

very presence of Almighty God. That's what you're seeing here,

represented by these things. And Abram sees the smoking oven

in the flaming torch. Watch this pass between the

pieces of the carcasses that he split in half and then laid the

halves opposite each other. He watches the smoking pot in

the flaming torch pass through the middle through where the

blood had flowed, where the bodies were split, where they

were cut, where the blood was. That's where he sees the

presence of God go. Literally the Bible says here

when you read in English, your God made a covenant with Abram.

Literally the Hebrew language, God cut a covenant with Abram.

For that's how a covenant was made, not with pen and ink, but

with blood and a knife. And what's fascinating about

this is that during these days when agreements would have been

made like this or covenants would have been entered.

What we know from history is that when a king entered one

with a servant, often times the way this would have worked is

that the animals would be split open.

The blood would have flowed, A passageway would be between the

middle and the servant was required to walk between the

pieces. And by walking between the

pieces, what they're saying is this.

They're not signing their name. They're saying, let it be unto

me as these I walk between. Should I violate the terms of

the agreement between you and I? Let I be split open, Let my

blood be spilt, Let this happen to me.

Let the curse that fell on these animals fall on me.

Should I violate? But in what we know from history

is that the king didn't walk through, The servant would, but

it was assumed that the king would keep the terms of the

agreement without actually having to walk through the

blood. This is the only recorded one we

have in history where the servant doesn't walk through.

Who walks through? The king and only the king?

Say, Kyle, what in the world does that mean?

It means that God himself was walking through the pieces of

these animals saying let it be done to me.

Let what happened to them happened to me.

Let my blood be spilled if I were to violate Abram, the

covenant that I'm cutting with you.

But guess who doesn't walk through?

Abram doesn't walk through. Why doesn't Abram sign?

Because God signed for him by signing for him and for Abram

God walks through saying Abram, if I fail to keep, then let it

be done unto me. And Abram, if you fail to keep,

let it also be done to me. Do you see what God is doing

when God is committing himself by him being the one to walk

through the cutting of the covenant with it all falling on

him? God signs for both sides, for

both parties. When God cut this covenant, 2

didn't sign one sign for two. The covenant could not fail,

therefore, because God himself cannot fail, and he's the one

whose Son y'all. This is actually one of the

clearest pictures of Christ in the Old Testament.

Let me see if I can make it even more clear for you.

Watch this. Are you ready?

As Abram was in a deep sleep, so too you could say in a spiritual

way the New Testament says we are dead in a quote spiritual

deep blindness state of sleep. In our sin we are blinded to the

goodness and grace of God. In our natural state we can't do

anything to save ourselves. The Bible says.

The Gospels then tell us that when Christ died, a what

descended on Calvary in the middle of the day?

A darkness, Not a natural darkness.

A supernatural darkness where the sun refused to shine on the

crucifixion of the Christ Jesus's body was broken there on

a tree. No, it wasn't cut in two and

laid and laid one side of the but it was split with a spear

wide open where blood did flow. And his body was broken for

sinners, and there his blood flowed for sinners.

And just as it would have been quite a visceral scene when

Abraham slaughtered those animals, so it was for the Son

of Man who was marred beyond human recognition, Isaiah 53

says mangled by men to the point where one could not, they would

turn your face away from him. Was God dying?

Was the Son of God? Was Jesus, who is fully man and

fully God, dying because he, God, had not kept up his end of

the bargain? Was God dying because you and I

have not kept up our end of the bargain?

Was God dying because He's the one who signed?

He's the one who signed the covenant with Abram.

Abram, should you, should your offspring ever not keep this

covenant and fail the covenant we have?

Amen. Fail to keep up our end of the

deal, sinned and fallen short of the glory of God we all have.

But God signed for you and for me with the body and the blood

of His Son. In a way, God walked through the

pieces of the broken body of His Son to sign with His body and

His blood for sinners, including you and me, so that His

signature is what we would depend on for our salvation, not

ours. Amen.

Because guess what? If my salvation depended on my

John Hancock, I would have failed and failed over and over

again, and so would so would you.

But God signed in your place. And guess what?

What God starts God, what God completes.

Aren't you glad God signed for you #2 write it down.

God signed His covenant for you with the body and blood of His

Son. When it comes to the Christian

life, friends, where do you sign?

You don't, because God's already signed for you.

God makes a covenant with Abram, not Abram with God, and all

Abram has to do is trust in the covenant.

By what? By faith, for by grace you've

been saved through. It's not of your own doing.

It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should

boast, right. We don't make a covenant with

God. God makes one with us.

We don't sign. God signs for us.

We couldn't pay for our sin. God paid for our sin for us with

the body and blood of this. And the Christian life, friends,

is not so much Gods are our commitment to God.

The Christian life is far more God's commitment to us.

When it comes to the Christian life, where do you sign You

don't because God has already signed for you.

The question is, have you put your faith in God's signature

for you through His Son who bled and died for you?

In your place? John and praise team are going

to come out. I have a few different responses

I want you to consider. I think one of these three will

apply to everybody in the room. Number 1 is this, if you've

never by faith trusted in Jesus Christ, whose body was broken

and blood was shed to pay for your sin so that you can be

given forgiveness and life, y'all, today is the day.

God says He gave the amorite hundreds of years of his

patients. How many years?

How many days of God's patience has God-given you?

And you've yet though his arms are outstretched to you to trust

him to receive his Son, but you've refused it thus far and

God says today is the day. Why refuse it another day?

Why not call on God to save you, you who died for you?

That's why I'm going to stand right here when we respond in

our time of invitation, you can step out and say I need to trust

Christ. Pastor Kyle, today needs to be

my day. You come #2 you might be in the

room. And to go back to where we

started with Abraham, whose faith was real, but it was often

weak. Maybe you're there, Kyle.

My faith is real. I've been saved, but man, Satan

is all over me because I've been failing.

I've been walking in disobedience.

I've been struggling to believe, struggling to obey, struggling

to honor God and Kyle, right now, I quite honestly feel like

maybe God's giving up on me, or at least I feel that way.

Or I feel far from Him. And you need to be reminded, you

need to be encouraged that God didn't sign with His Son so that

His Son could let go of you. You've trusted in Christ.

You've received the salvation that Jesus offers.

I don't it it, it doesn't matter how you've messed up God saying,

would you trust and what I've done for you?

Would you let me pick you back up and put you back on the path?

Maybe you need to come and say, I need the Lord to just restore

me to the commitment that he's that I know he's made to me and

I've made to him and I need to, I need to ask him to renew my

fortify my faith #3 if God says if my people will humble

themselves and pray, I can't help but think these are days we

need to be praying. Amen.

How could we not as the people of God?

How could we not based on what we see in our day, in our

culture, on the forces of darkness that are at work and

pressing the evil agenda of the enemy all around.

How could we as the people of God not seek to humble ourselves

when we come? And perhaps you want to come

humble yourself, get on your knees or come stand or some come

and sat on the front row, the first service and just just

pleaded with God on behalf of our nation, just asking God for

mercy, saying God, open our eyes.

Let us live with boldness and kindness and courage in the face

of evil, in the face of the agenda of the enemy God, knowing

that there is a time when you say enough is enough.

Let us not be asleep at the wheel of life and eternity and

what God's doing and what he wants to do.

So I'm going to, I'm going to ask you to intercede for our I'm

going to ask you to intercede for America, for our leaders.

Who cares what we're called? God cares what we call him and

how we choose to obey him and honor him.

And that's what we need to pray is true in our lives, in our

county, our community, our state, and beyond.

Father God, I pray that this morning we'd respond to you

boldly, wholeheartedly, full of faith and trust in what you've

done. Have your way in these next

moments, I pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Would you stand? Would you come use this altar?

Come talk to me. Come, let us pray with you.

You come as the Lord leads.