Genesis Part 42 | Pastor Paul McGee

Can we stand tonight? Turn to Genesis chapter 23.

Genesis 23 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 23. Folks, listen, I was sick the

Genesis 23 · chapter mention

whole time. I was gone.

Like it started last Wednesday. I was gone the whole time.

It's like, OK, whatever. Yeah.

I preached, sang in a trio, played the drums, ran the sound

system, prayed for people. It was all good, though.

God's good. Amen.

Genesis 23 and verse #1 I'm just going to read the first 2

verses. I'll let you be seated.

All right, and then we'll continue on.

And Sarah was 107 and 20 years old.

That means she was 127. The Bible just does this type of

thing where it sounds weird. These were the years of the life

of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjath Arba,

and the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan.

And Abram came and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep

for her. You may be seated.

I want to talk tonight about faith that outlives the grave

faith that outlives the grave. Father, help us, Lord, guide us,

instruct us, help us to learn of your word find words, Lord

applicable Lord Jesus for life and will not fail to thank you

in Jesus name. I'm going to continue reading

the whole chapter just right here up front.

So if you didn't get your Bible reading in today, here we go.

You at least knock 1 chapter out today.

And Abraham stood up from this is verse 3.

And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake into the

sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with

you. Give me a possession of burying

place with you, that I may bury my dad out of my sight.

And the children of hath answered Abraham's into him.

Hear us, my Lord, Thou art a mighty Prince among us in the

choice of our sepulchers. Bury thy dead.

None of us shall withhold from thee this sepulchre, but that

thou mayest bury thy dead. And Abraham stood up and bowed

himself to the people of the land, even to the children of

heath. There's going to be several

verses here that's kind of tied up with negotiations.

OK. And he communed with them,

saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my

sight, hear me and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,

that he may give me The Cave of Mackpullah which he hath, which

is in the end of his field, for as much money as it is worth.

He shall give it me for possession of a burying place

amongst you. And Ephron dwelt among the

children of Hath, and Ephron the Hittite, and answer to Abraham

in the audience of the children of Hath, even all that went in

at the gate of his city, saying, Name, my Lord, hear me.

The field I give thee in The Cave that is there in, I give it

thee. In the presence of the sons of

my people, give I it thee. Bury thy dead.

Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land,

and he's spaken to Efron in the audience of the people of the

land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me, I

will give thee money for the field, take it of me, and I will

bury my dead there. And Efron answered Abraham,

saying to him, My Lord hearkened to me, and the land is worth 400

shekels of silver. What is that betwixt me and

thee? Bury therefore thy dad and

Abraham hearken to Efron, And Abraham way to Efron the silver

which he had named in the audience of the sons of hath 400

shekels of silver money with the merchant.

And the field of Ephron, which was Macklaw, which was before

Mamrie. The field in The Cave which was

there in and all the trees that were in the field that were in

all the borders roundabout were made sure that the Abraham for

possession in the presence of the children of heath before all

that went in at the gate of his city.

And after this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in The Cave of

the field of Mack to law before Mamrie the same as Hebron in the

land of Canaan. And the field in The Cave that

is there in were made sure into Abraham for possession of

burying place of a burying place by the sons of hath.

You can check off Genesis chapter #23 for your reading

program this year. All right.

God bless you in Jesus name this chapter.

We talked about this just a little bit at the end of last

week that there's coming a transition here in Scripture

where the focus has been on Abraham and switching over to

Isaac very shortly. Because now Isaac is born, has

grown some up in life and the the purpose for Abraham and

Sarah really has come to an end or to a close.

So this chapter in a certain degree is kind of tying up some

loose ends for our first patriarchal family of Abraham

and Sarah. And so and it's helping

transition is from that Abraham centric type of story now to the

Isaac centric more of a focus on Isaac.

But it does leave us a little longing for for something more

because as there have been promises has been spoken of

descendants plural and land. It feels as though that's kind

of left a little bit unfinished because we have a descendant

right, namely Isaac and we've not yet secured really any land,

so to speak, right as far as ownership.

As a matter of fact, we understand that these are the

purposes of people like Abraham and Sarah, even Isaac and Jacob

and many of the patriarchs, even Joseph and others.

They are all the sermon I priest years ago when I was just a

young lad and went behind the ears was talking about in

Hebrews Chapter 11. The Bible declares in verse 13.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

It speaks how all these died in faith, not having received the

promises, but they were links in the promise.

They were links in the promise. And so it was they, they, they

gave something, they offered something, they were a part of

something that was leading toward the full fulfillment of

the promise. For that matter, consider

Abraham. He has walked with God here now

for decades upon decades, and he has witnessed some things

concerning God. He has witnessed God's aid and

he has witnessed God's power in his life first hand, and he has

even entered into a covenant with God where promises has been

made to him by God. And those have been emphasized

till our eyes have bled with what God has said concerning his

promises and even got more detailed with Abraham over and

over. You'll become a great nation,

you'll have many descendants, you'll have a land, so on and so

forth. And yet when Sarah dies again,

she is only leaving Abraham one son, a promise, Isaac.

At this stage, Abraham owns no land.

He has no permanent home in the land of Canaan.

And so it seems quite far from what has been promised to him

and to Sarah. And so it's there that we start

to get a little grasp concerning the promises of this that

sometimes and for sure concerning these that have been

given to Abraham and Sarah, promises sometimes can span

generations. They can span generations and

what may begin and one generation as the start of the

fulfillment, total fulfillment might not take place even

generations from that first generation where it begins or

where it began. And so, but with that, then each

generation still has a play a role in moving the promise

forward right to its completion. And so Abraham and Sarah here in

Scripture have done their part. And Abraham is now standing, he

has it at now a dead wife, Sarah.

And he's bargaining for a burial site, notably for a burial site

in Canaan, in Canaan, in that thing that is to become the

promised land. He's he's bargaining for a

burial site there again, in doing so, he's just moving the

promise just a little further forward because Abraham's

descendants is going to be rooted in Canaan.

He knows that that's been promised by God.

But even right now before they have that in its totality, he's

putting a foot down. If I can just get a little more

so a little piece of land, even if it's for the barrel, my lot,

my wife, just a little piece that's moving the promise for

it. I know it's a land that will

totally inherit someday. And so the interesting thing

about the Bible, and we could be very morbid here with chapter

#23 because it's about death. I think there's spiritual

application. I think there's also very

practical applications of Genesis 23 because the Bible

doesn't just record. I'm thankful that it doesn't.

All the signs, miracles and wonders, and it just tells us

everything. That's great and wonderful

throughout the eons of time, but it also highlights very natural

occurrences of life as well, such as birth and death and

sickness and disease and so on and so forth because that allows

us to be able to relate, be able to relate to it.

And we live in a world today and I've different times than

different, different funerals and have ridden with funeral

director directors and corners and things of that nature.

And it seems to be the case that today death is often seen as an

eruption. It's an interruption on many

levels. People kind of get annoyed that

they got to miss work or change the routine in order to pay

respects to the dead. Just being real with you, what

I've heard from them. And so it's even clearer.

Just even ever wrote a lot of hearses and you've seen them

hearses coming down, lights are on, there's a procession.

And that you can tell even by the way that people are with

their vehicles or that they're not with their vehicles.

Very disrespectful. Very disrespectful toward the

dead. And so Abraham, though here in

Scripture, I think when we learned that Abraham, Abraham

pauses life, he pauses to pay his respects to his wife and to

plan her burial. No one ever wants to discuss

this aspect of life, right? It's not like a group of people

you ever see just sitting around talking about death.

We don't want to talk about death.

We want to talk about living. We want to talk about our

dreams, our aspirations. Nobody wants to discuss death,

but here's the not awesome. But here's the obvious thing.

It's an inevitable part of life. A matter of fact.

I think it'd do some of us a little better if we live life

with the end and view. But it's an inevitable part of

life. And they say that's probably why

only 50% of Americans even have a will made out, because they

want to entertain the thought of contending with death.

They don't want to think about it.

Someone once said this, and it's 100% true that life is 100%

fatal. Life is 100% fatal.

We will all die short of the rapture of the church unless

that happens and you're a part of the church, sure that we will

all die someday. And so the last we hear of

Abraham, you remember even the last chapter, the last we hear

of him, he is dwelling in Beersheba.

However, the Bible says that Sarah dies in Kirjeth Arba,

which it would be later known as Hebron.

So if he's in Beersheba, it seems like he came to where she

was. If that's the case, he has

travelled some 2628 miles to come to where his deceased wife

is. That's about a day's journey on

foot. He's pausing.

Whatever's going on, he's going the distance on a day's journey

on foot to mourn his wife. And for practical, practical

purposes tonight, I believe this is important because the Bible

says in verse 2 and the last phrasing there says that Abraham

came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

It's not saying the same thing. It's not parallelism, meaning

that mourning the weeping are the same thing.

They're two different words. What he is doing are two

different things. He's mourning for her and he's

weeping for her. To mourn means that he has some

type of public expression of grief, like a person would have,

like a funeral dirge or some type of ceremony, all right?

It involves some type of eulogy, a eulogy of the dead, some type

of thing that's taking place. But then it also says that he

weeps, which it's defined as something more personal, often

times even private, better represents a very genuine raw

emotional grief of shedding tears and of wailing.

I think it's important because very practical.

You need both of those in your your life with loss. 37 years

has the past. Isaac is 37 years old and now

Sarah dies she's dies at the ripo age of 127 years and Dennis

Prager said this he said Sarah, which is interesting is the only

woman in the Torah whose age at the time of her death is

recorded. You'll see that concern any

other woman but Sarah. Some say well that just points

indicates how how important that she was in Scripture.

Perhaps, but it's also vital because given her date or her

age at death along with the purchasing of this cave of Mac

Pulay. This burial place kind of gives

us time stamp for when some of the first land of Canaan came

under the hand of the Israelites.

If Abraham and the Bible says he didn't in Romans 4 says that

Abraham did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief

whenever he was 100 years old and learned that he and his wife

would conceive and have a son, he did not stagger.

And folks listen, if he didn't stagger then I'm telling you

he's not staggering now. The Bible said that he was

strong in faith then and I see in the actions that he's taken

here, he is strong in faith now. Romans 421 spoke at that time

when he learned that he would conceive said and being fully

persuaded. Romans 421 and being fully

persuaded that what he had promised Speaking of God, he was

people also to perform. Abraham is still channeling the

same type of determination. I believe right here in Genesis

Genesis 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23, because the reason why I say that is because it

would have been natural, acceptable and even culturally

appropriate for him to have taken Sarah back to err of child

ease, or at the very least taken her back to Haran to the

ancestral homes to bury her. But he didn't.

He buried her in what would become the promised land.

If I'd stated in these words, he didn't bury her where they came

from. He buried her in where they were

going. That was he believed so much in

the certainty of God's promise that he said, I'll put the the

body of my loved one in the land that we're going to inherit, not

the land that we came from. So sure of it.

He's staggering, not at the promise of God.

That's the reason why we see that over and over again in the

patriarchs and the matriarchs, Amen.

Through generations talking about links in the fulfillment

of a promise. That's the reason why whenever

Jacob is on his deathbed, he gathers those 12 tribes, those

12 boys together at his bedside and he's pronouncing blessing

upon each one of them. But he particularly asked

Joseph. He says, Joseph, whenever I die,

do not at that time they were in Egypt at that that time they

were in Egypt, He says, but whenever I die, don't bury me

here in Egypt. He says I want you to bury me in

Canaan. The Bible bears an hour and I

got a little bit of scripture. Genesis 49 verse 29.

Genesis 49:29

The Bible says and he Jacob charged them Speaking of the 12

tribes said to them, I am to be gathered into my people bury me

with my father's in The Cave. What cave?

The one, the one that Abraham purchased.

Look at this, bear me with my father's in The Cave that is in

the field of Ephron the Hittite. In The Cave is in the field of

Mac Pilla, which is before memory in the land of Canaan,

which Abraham bought and in which Abraham bought with the

field of Ephron the Hittite for possession of a varying place.

There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife.

There they buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife, and there I

buried Leah. Do you understand here?

So that wasn't just, that wasn't just Sarah's burying place, that

became Jacob's bearing place, Isaac's bearing place, Rebecca's

bearing place, Leah's bearing place.

He says bury me right there. What's happening with each time

they bury one of their loved ones there?

They are not having the fulfillment of the promise yet,

but they believe it's still going to happen with every new

body they lay in that tomb. They're saying I believe, I

still believe, I still believe verse 32 in the purchase of the

field of The Cave that is there in was from the children of

have. That's the reason why Jacob's

doing that. That's the reason why later

whenever Joseph he's dying again still in Egypt, he has his

brothers come in around them and he says, guys, the Lord's surely

going to visit us. He says, carry up my bones from

hence until you reach the promised land.

Genesis 50, verse 24 and 25. And Joseph said unto his

Genesis 50:24

brothers, I died, and God will surely visit you and do what?

And bring you out of this land. What land, Egypt to the land

which he swear to Abraham. What is that?

Canaan and what he swore to Isaac and to Jacob, all of

that's the land of promise. Canaan and Joseph took an oath

of the children of Israel saying God will surely visit you and ye

shall carry up my bones from hence.

Folks, that's amazing. Joseph was embalmed with the

best of the Egyptian embalming practices of that day for the

preservation of his body. But you know what?

Even with the best preservation, he was letting them know you're

not going to carry my body up. You're going to be carrying my

bones up. It's going to be a long time

before this happens, but God's going to visit us.

I'm sure of it. Man, I feel the Holy Ghost right

now. God's going to visit us, I'm

sure of it. You're not going to carry my

body. You're going to be carrying my

bones. Amen.

The the, the, the earth and the bugs of the earth, they're going

to have stripped me down just to bones, but you're going to carry

them over into Canaan and all on their journey.

Whenever they left Egypt with a high hand and God brought

deliverance by Moses, The Bible tells us Moses took up the bones

of Joseph. Why?

He wasn't to be buried Egypt. He was to be buried in Canaan

and for 40 years they're carrying around Joseph.

For 40 years, they're. Why are you doing that?

Can you imagine the children? I just feel the Holy Ghost.

Why are you doing that? Because God surely will visit

us. God has given us a promise

that's not totally fulfilled yet.

And this is a testament that we still believe God will do what

God said he will do for 40 years.

Can I tell you, you hear what I'm saying?

Not just 40 years, but all these years.

Then once they finally get there and go through the conquest in

the book of Joshua, until finally there's the dividing of

the allotment of land to all the different tribes.

And then Joseph is buried in Canaan and the fullness of the

fulfillment of the promise has come to pass after hundreds of

years from Abraham till now. But all along, every generation

saying, I believe, I still believe it's going to come to

pass, just like he said it would come to pass.

And every new body we put in that land is a testament to our

faith. It outlives.

Now lives the grave. Now lives the grave.

Promise drove them to do what they did with their dead

unfulfilled, maybe to the the greatest degree in the Abraham

and Isaac's generation. But it would be someday.

What that does then, for those generations like Isaac and

Jacob, has them living in the tension of the in between.

Sister Sheila, the tension of the in between is having the

promise of land and descendants, but not fully possessing the

descendants in the land yet. That's where most of us find

ourselves. It's not that you've not been

promised something, but you've not seen the full possession of

the promise in your life yet. You're in the tension of in

between, of it having been said and started, but not completely

fulfilled. That the Bible tells us that

they live by faith, and some of them, Hebrews said, died also in

faith. Abraham even approached the sons

of Hath and he told them how he still yet filled, felt like a

stranger and a sojourner among them.

What if he purchases this land? It was, it was in essence,

Bishop going to be like the earnest of his full promise, be

the earnest of his full promise. It was a strong statement when

he purchased that land. That was a strong statement to

reverberate through generations. Basically this.

We're not going back to Haran and we're not going back to her.

We're not going back to her. Who's made a statement by

purchasing that we're not going back there.

No. And that has been the mindset.

That's the mindset that later whenever we see in Genesis

Genesis 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24 and the whole seeking out a mate for Isaac type thing,

I believe that had a little touch upon the servant of

Abraham or Abraham even conveyed it.

Remember what he told him? He said whenever you go back and

you'd go to find a bride, he says you got to bring her to

Isaac. Don't take Isaac back there.

Abraham and all man who made the stance, I bought land here.

We're not going back. We we've already travelled this

road, we've already travelled this terrain, we've already went

through the testings and the trials of this path.

There's no reason to go back and do it all over.

No, you bring her to where he is.

I'm going back. And so we've seen this before.

Another other biblical passages, verse number six tells us that

the sons of Hath, which were the Hittites, they called Abraham a

mighty Prince among us. And if you're worried because

I'm just in verse number six, negotiations will go good.

OK. But in contrast to that, again,

Abraham referred to himself as a sojourner, a stranger.

Again, what we've seen another biblical passages even along the

way is that the way that you see yourself is not always the way

that other people see you. That's right, That's right.

Abraham enters into negotiations with the Hittites for a burial

place for Sarah and he's he's respectful.

We see a different modes that that he bows in his language is

very respectful. He's showing his humility in in

his request and their responses to his request at times.

But he's looking really what he's looking for.

I know there's a lot of the give language here in the

negotiations, but what Abraham is actually looking for is a

place to buy. But here's where here's where

the contrast is. He's looking for a place to buy

and they're suggesting and offering something that he can

borrow, They said. They said that a response to

verse 6 was basically there's nobody among us that would

refuse the choice sepulchers that we have in order for you to

bury your dead wife because this was the way it was with tombs at

that day, typically that they were carved out of stone.

Yes, And there was almost like carved, carved out shelving in

there. You put a body on there, it

would deteriorate the bones. They would push those aside or

they had something called a repository pit for bones that

they would put those in. And then that shelf was ready

for another body. So yes, you put your wife in

here. Whenever she the case, we'll

push that aside and he'll be ready for another body.

You can borrow if you will, but he wasn't looking to borrow.

He wanted to buy, wasn't satisfied with borrowing.

He wanted to buy because if he borrowed, he had no legal claim

to the land where his loved one was laid to rest if he borrowed.

Abraham is in this mode of just, well, if if you desire me to

bury my dead because it's looking like you're wanting to

work with me here because you're willing to let me borrow, you

know, one of your shelves and your tombs.

And if you're willing to do that, he says, then I want to

buy The Cave of Macpola at the end of Ephron's field for as

much. Look in verse 9, for as much

money as it's worth, like money's not an object, as much

money as it's worth. And so there's a negotiation

that's happening among them. You can look at verse #10 the

Bible says this negotiation between him and Efron is

happening among the, the, the children of the Hittite, among

the audience of the children of Heath, even at the gate of the

city. Because historically, the gate

of the city is where all legal transactions took place.

Whenever, whenever Boaz went to get Ruth's hand and, and let the

first Redeemer have his chance, it happened at the city gates.

That's the reason why you read in Matthew, the Bible says the

gates of hell shall not prevail because it's a place where

transactions take place, right? The gates of hell shall not

prevail against you. And so they're at the place

where transactions can happen. All this is happening in the

ears of the public so that what does happen #1 it'll be public

#2 it'll be legal #3 it'll be permanent.

And so the transaction was going to be public so that the

ownership of the burial place would be certain and sure for

Abraham. So Abraham, here he is.

He's contending really for more than just a burial place for his

wife. He is contending for a burial

place for his family. And he wants legal claim to this

little area that would become God's promise played out in his

life. It's just a small little

irreversible step forward. And so again, here's Efron and

all good majors and they're all being polite.

It's just the way that hit tight and all these type of deals,

they go back and forth. It's not you just walk in and

it's done though. It's kind of part of that.

It's just kind of part of the process.

You go back and forth. It's like being for cars.

So well, you give, how about that trade, all that garbage?

They're going back and forth. And so Efron's like, well,

Abraham, I'll give you the field.

Notice he throws in the field. Now I want to buy, I want to buy

The Cave. He says, well, you know, I'll

give you the field in The Cave as a burial place.

And Abraham says in verse 13, I just want to pay the price if I

got at least, at least The Cave. But if I got to buy the field,

then I'll buy the field again. And he's just insistent, though,

with Efron. I'm not here for a handout.

This got to cost me something. There must be some type of price

for this burial place. Amen.

Because if years go by and somebody can test whether or not

that's mine, he says, I want to have this price agreement that

underscores and everybody to witness that that belongs to

that name. Efron says 404 hundred shekels,

400 shekels of silver. Now listen folks, I know Efron

says, well, Abraham, what's 400 shekels of silver between you

and I? As though it's nothing but 400

shekels of silver was nothing to sneeze at.

In the book of Jeremiah, we see him buying a partial land for 17

shekels. SO400 shekels, nothing to sneeze

at. But what that makes though

between Abraham and Efron here is a hefty amount, maybe more

amount than what it should have been for him to get a cave and

to get a field. But at least he knows this.

There's no one that will later say I cheated or took advantage

of this man, but it was worth probably less than what I even

paid for it. But undoubtfully it belongs unto

Abraham. What are you doing Abraham?

Here's what Abrahams doing. That's going to become the

promised land. That's going to become what God

has promised us. And when this thing is all said

and done, I don't want my family's future to be tied to a

favor of man. I want them to always see it was

the hand of God. I don't want their promise to be

rooted in God. The only piece of land that

Abraham would ever own in Canaan was the burial place for his

family. Not much, you might say.

A cave and a field out of all the land of Canaan.

A cave and a field and a burial place, Mr. Sheila, on top of

that. Not some three story mud and

DOB, you know, Thatcher of place.

Not with all of his cattle, No, just a cave and a field.

But it's legal and it's his and it belongs to his family.

And so in Chapter 23, as we see, perhaps a funeral, really it is

in certain means of foundation because it would be this burial

place that would become the anchor point or the land of

promise until the day whenever Joshua's divvying up the land

that it would come to full fruition of being theirs.

I say all that tonight and I'm not going to hold you much

longer. I told you I keep track of your

time. Mr. McGee took 10 minutes.

I timed her probably a little bit more because I started my

timers late. If you look beyond the story of

Abraham for a moment, Abraham bought a tomb to claim land.

But I know of another covenant that was purchased that involved

the tomb as well. He purchased eternal life for

us, not with silver or gold. We were not redeemed with

corruptible things, as Peter said, such as silver and gold,

but with the precious blood, his own blood, he purchased the

church. So Sarah's grave is a reminder

to us that of course death cannot stop and death cannot

cancel God's promises. But the tomb that we have in our

life also proves to us that death's been conquered forever.

O grave, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?

And so Abraham has his hope anchored in a cave, but we also

have our hope anchored in a grave that happens to be empty,

not full. And So what we hope now we

understand that the inheritance for us someday, it is secure.

It is secure because of what we hold now.

And what we hold now in confidence and in trust is an

empty tomb of what Christ purchased then on a hill called

Mount Calvary. And so we grieve today.

Oftentimes we do with every funeral we have, even those of

Saints. But we do not grieve as those,

as the New Testament said, as those that are without hope.

Remember in the book of Thessalonians, he said, we

grieve, yes, but we don't grieve as those that without hope

because we're not, if I'd say it in this major, we're not

standing at a grave that's back in Haran.

We're not standing at a grave that's back in Earn.

No, we're standing at a grave that's pointing to a future

fulfillment of a promise. We do not stand here grieving

and and without hope because we have hope of the resurrection,

right, Because Christ resurrected.

Amen. And if that same spirit that

raised Christ from the dead dwell in you, it will quicken

your mortal body. And so every grave I stand at is

a earnest for the expectation of the promise of what Christ is

going to do. Everything we put in the ground

and we sing farther along, we'll learn all about it.

Is a testament who are promised still yet to come.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Every time we leave there and

say see you later rather than goodbye is a testament that we

believe his promise is still sure.

It's still. Yeah.

It's still like, Oh yes, someone say thank you, Jesus to the

Hittites. He might just seem to grieve

you. No man, purchasing some land.

But in Abraham's eyes, as kids, we used to do it, King of the

mountain or such like that. We did stuff like that.

We had flags. You planted your flag.

That's what's Abraham's doing with the purchase of this

burial. He's just planting a flag.

He's just planting a flag in the land of promise.

Our Kent Hughes said Abraham was so sure that his descendants

would get the land that he wanted Sarah's bones to be

buried there so they'd be there when they got there.

God's promise. I'm closing you and Stan.

God's promise was bigger than death.

His covenant that he made with them superseded Outlast the

Grave because Abraham's going to die, ISIS is going to die,

Rebecca's going to die, Jacob's going to die, Rachel's going to

die, Leah's going to die, Joseph's going to die.

And there are going to be a whole generation of deaths of

Israelites in the wilderness for a new generation to come along

with conquest. Very thing that God told Abraham

shall be yours. So you have an opportunity to.

Be a link in the fulfillment because I already have

generations before Maytag, right?

My grandma and grandpa. McGee, they're dead.

Grandma and Grandpa Weisenberger are dead.

My parents are going to die one of these days.

And I've not yet received the. Full fulfillment of the promise,

but. Though their bodies cold.

In a grave, there's still a testament that's saying they

died in faith. My grandma.

McGee as she her. Grandma Weisenberg, She's

leaving this world. There are many times she's

speaking in tongues as she's leaving.

She died in. Faith what was?

That, what was that a testament to me of you know what?

She believed she hadn't stopped. I think about I.

Think about Sister Ryan. Her her mother is is just ridden

with dimension and and Alzheimer's and there's a lot of

things that she has forgotten. I mean big, big, big, big time.

But you know what every night they pray and that Lady still

prays and mentions the name of Jesus.

She's not forgotten that you know what that a testament is to

me? She still believes that the

promise you can. I can forget my telephone.

Number. My Social Security number.

But I'm remembering Jesus. Why?

Because that's what I'm believing in.

That's where my hope is found it, and it goes beyond any cruel

grave. Amen.

Praise. God, it's a faith that.

Outlives the grave and we're going to pray tonight and next

week we'll get into a marriage. We went to a funeral, now we're

going to go to a wedding, or at least.

The seat, the the. The courting game.

And I feel the Holy Ghost here. We've our heads here tonight.

God, I love you Jesus, and I'm thankful, Lord, for your spirit.

I'm thankful, Lord, God, that in this life is not where I only

have hope. God, that if in this life is the

only place I have hope, then I am of all men most miserable.

But God, I have a hope beyond this life.

I have a hope beyond the here now and the 70 plus years that

we spend upon this earth. I have a hope beyond this life.

Oh God, today, help me Lord, to live with the end of view.

I pray, oh God, that there is something beyond.

I pray God, help us to live with the end of view.

I pray, O God, today, help us, Lord, not to stagger at the

promises of God and unbelief, but God, have faith.

God know, Lord, that you are faithful, the one who promised

this faithful. I pray, O God, today, let

people, Lord, find God, their faith inside of them.

God, if it's waxed weak, if it's waxed, Lord Jesus, O Lord, if if

doubt and unbelief has entered their hearts and minds and God

some may think about turning around or forsaking, I pray, O

God, help us to understand that the promise is still true.

It's still sure, and it'll still occur and it'll still happen.

I pray, O God, tonight, minister, Lord Jesus to us.

Lord, this week, help us how to keep our eyes, Lord, on what's

before us, our eyes, God, on what's ahead of us.

God, let us not to give to the allurements of the past, not to

the allurements of those things that are behind.

Help us to forgive those things that are behind and press toward

the mark of the high calling of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

Press toward that mark. I pray Father every day in the

name of Jesus Christ that I pray Hallelujah and Amen and the

church say Amen, Amen. God bless you tonight Jesus name

Amen. People go back and greet

Christian night. So good to see her Amen here

this evening. Greet her in Jesus name.

Hallelujah.