Genesis - Part 26 | Pastor Paul McGee

The name of Jesus. The name of Jesus.

Hallelujah. Wonderful Savior.

Wonderful Savior. Hallelujah.

What a good God. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Aren't you glad you have a freedom to worship?

Glad I live in a country that allows me the freedom, don't

have to scurry away into some private area room and be hidden

in the process of Amen worshiping the Lord.

Amen. Thank you is so good to us.

Amen. Just a few reminders here

tonight. Again, the month of March is

quickly coming to an end here. If you have mission commitments

from last year, please get those.

If you are in arrears or you haven't paid your total

commitment, please do so. If you're a little questionable

about what that is, Sister Mason has all that information and

she'd be glad to share that with you to help you get where you

need to be before your new commitment begins in the month

of April. Amen.

Also, we are still currently accepting votes for Volunteer of

the Quarter. Volunteer of the Quarter votes

can still be turned in up until and including March the 30th.

All right, So you can put a name of suggestion of who you may

think that would would be deserving of that.

The black box back by the Secretary's office and you can

just cast one vote standard, allow five for yourself.

OK, I don't think you might do that.

But nonetheless, even prison this weekend, we also have then

this weekend on Sunday as a fifth Sunday.

We just have AM service. But we are we're having what I'm

affectionately calling the Mac Graham service because this is

brother MacDonald and brother Graham.

So I'm kind of putting together, it's the Mac Graham, it's the

Mac Graham service. So they're both going to be here

on Sunday. Expect Sunday to be a little

longer than typical. All right?

They're both going to minister the word of the Lord.

Amen. And so all classes are going to

be out here. And so we're just going to have

a good time in the Lord on that Sunday, this coming Sunday,

rather, Again, for all those going to prison, the van is

leaving. If you're riding the van, the

van is leaving Friday at 10 AM. Hear from the property.

So if that is you, please be here early enough that your

luggage can get loaded and all those other things prior to

1010's. Not when we start loading 10's

when we start rolling, all right?

And so be here early enough to get that taken care of, if you

don't mind. As you stand in the night, you

turn to the Book of Genesis chapter #12 Also coming up in

the month of April, April the 6th, on a Sunday morning is

Ignite Focus Sunday. Our endeavour is to have

investment on that Sunday and to the funds of the Ignite Youth.

And maybe we can eliminate, eliminate some fundraisers, be

great to eliminate them all, but eliminate fundraising to the

degree that it was last year throughout the year.

Amen. And so we're looking forward to

that, what God's going to do. Genesis chapter #12 And I'm

going to overlap just a little bit with what I read last week.

I'm going to start with verse #5 of Genesis 12.

And I'm going to read a few verses of Scripture, and you can

be seated and we'll pick up on some others as we go along.

Bible says. And Abram to Sarai, his wife,

Lot, his brother, son, and all their substance that they had

gathered, the souls that they had gotten who ran, they went

forth to go into the land of Canaan.

And into the land of Canaan they came.

And Abram passed through the land, and to the place of

Psychum, and to the plain of Moray.

And the Canaanites was then in the land.

The Lord appeared into Abram, and said, And to thy seed will I

give this land. There builded he an altar into

the Lord, who appeared into him, and he removed from thence into

a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent,

having Bethel on the West and I on the east.

And there he builded an altar into the Lord, and called upon

the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on

steel toward the South for a little while today.

And of course, our focus here for a little while now for

several chapters will be Abram and his family.

And we read of him in the great chapter of Faith of Hebrews 11

and think about all these marvelous things.

But as with any character of Scripture, we know that it isn't

always just licking the paint off the ceiling and always being

perfect or flawless. And so tonight I want to talk

about a journey of faith and doubt.

A journey of faith and doubt. All right.

Amen. Let's ask the Lord to help us

right now. Father, I love you.

I'm asking, O Lord, for your anointing.

I'm asking, O Lord, for your blessing, God, upon us, Lord of

gathered together tonight, Lord, with the purpose of

acknowledging you, Lord, and drawing close, Lord, to your

word. I pray this evening, God, so

that we might know you better. God, I pray Jesus tonight, God,

let your word be alive as it already is, but let it be alive

unto us. I pray God in a very personal

way and will not fail to thank you God for what you

accomplished here in this place tonight.

In the lovely name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.

You may be seated this evening in Jesus name.

So whenever I think of Abram and I think of other characters in

the Bible like Abram, we talk about David.

A lot of people favor the character of David or Moses.

Some of those people that leave a large footprint in the

Scripture, we might be tempted to a certain degree to say from

our pulpits and even from the places where we teach Sunday

school to live like Abram or live like David or live like

Moses type of scenarios. And I'm certain that whenever we

say those type of things that we're talking about live like

the end of the aspects of the life that are positive and good

and meaningful and, and, and all of that, right?

All those aspects of the lives that scream obedience and, and

working in tandem with God, That's whenever we're saying

live like Moses or live like David or live like Abram.

Because if we were just to paint with the broadest brush, live

like Abram, then there are some other places in his life that

that would not necessarily be the best advice.

I mean, imagine living like David.

Let's think about the biggest flaw that he has in his life and

say, yeah, live like that. It wasn't necessarily be

something you want to mirror, reflect.

So I'm for sure that we are talking about those times when

they were the utmost obedient or they were the most consecrated,

that those are the times that we would wish others to mirror,

reflect or emulate and live like.

And so I believe also then that there, there are some very then

positive traits in their life, but there, there are also some

undercurrents, right, of fault and failure, mistake also that's

in their life. And the Bible does this for us.

And I'm glad that it does because it gives me comfort and

hope that whenever it takes a character in the Scripture and

it lays their mistakes right alongside some of their

successes, it lays some of their less reputable times right

alongside their mountaintop experiences.

And that's important to me because I see my life reflected

in those stories, right? Because I wish I could stand

here and tell you Pastor Mcgee's life is just success, success.

Always obedient, obedient, never fails, never falters, blah,

blah. Guess what?

If that's your picture of me, we need to have a talk because

that's not the way it is. I have my mistakes and my

failures and my moments of faux pals as well, right?

The Scripture paints everyone in Scripture without any filters.

All right, no filter. That's that's someone needs to

do that tomorrow. Take a Scripture that's of

someone where they made their mistake and just put no filter

as A tag at the bottom. This is Scripture, this is

gospel living. This is Christian living, no

filter. But there is a go that we should

have while, you know, the Lord can bring, you know, the

positive aspects of someone's life, say, yeah, I'll mirror

that. But ultimately in Scripture, the

life that we should be marrying and you all know this.

Our fundamental goal is to be like Jesus.

Rather than attempting to be like somebody else that's

striving to be like him, just cut up a middleman and try to be

like him. Try to be like Jesus.

Paul told the Romans that we were to be conformed to the

image of God's Son, Jesus Christ.

Peter wrote in his book that that he said that Christ left us

an example that we should follow in his his steps, right, his

steps. And so it's in our story here of

Genesis chapter 12 in particular that we're not just about ankle

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

deep in this story until we're blown away by by Abrams

obedience. I mean, the, the getting up,

pulling up stakes, the going, not knowing where he's going,

but trusting and having faith that he's being LED somewhere.

This, this what some would probably call blind obedience,

but he knew who and whom he trusts.

And so we see all that. We're just ankle deep in this

and we're seeing all that. But then just on the flip side,

right here in this chapter, we don't only see his obedience,

but we also can also take a few steps back and be equally as

disappointed by some of his doubts, some of his doubts.

And if we pause long enough here in the scripture and, and, and,

and without being too judgmental, I would dare to say

that we find that our story reflects having the same moments

of great strength, but also moments of great weakness.

Abram is on a journey, isn't he? He, he's left everything that

he's known from his past. He's left idolatry.

He is on the journey. He is on a progress, a growth

pattern in in many ways, Abram is on the growth pattern here

and he's trusting God for the direction of his life.

This new venture. Consequently, it has wins and it

has losses. Let's be real for a moment.

Remember when you turned your back on who you once was and

until today and you tell me, have you had some great

successes? But also, let's be honest, have

you just totally fell on your face at moments too?

We're on a growth journey here. We're on a growth pattern here.

As a matter of fact, Abram is the poster child of a believer

with doubts. Almost like those things

shouldn't be in the same sentence.

A believer with doubts, yes, but it's also that's quite possible

to take place and happen. It's very similar to the New

Testament story that's found in Mark chapter #9 the Bible

describes a father who has a son that has a dumb spirit.

Sometimes he throws himself in the water and sometimes in the

fire, and he's explaining all this and to the Lord.

And the Bible says that the father said with tears, Lord, I

believe but help my unbelief. A believer in essence, with some

doubts. We all face it.

Sometimes our faith are soaring strong and we are strong in

belief. But there's other times that it

comes in and we're still believer, but there's certain

portions and aspects of whatever may be going on, a circumstance

or a situation at that moment that our heart is also filled

with some doubt. We still believe, but we got

some doubts. That's really our growth

trajectory as a Christian being a believer that at times has

some doubts. We all have doubts at times in

our faith. When we think he won't come

through, when we think he won't heal, when we think the money

won't show up, when it needs to be there, when we think even

coming here really doesn't matter.

We walk this a real walk of belief that sometimes has we

have some doubts. And so as we stand here today, I

know we want to look through the Rose colored glasses, but there

may be some even that's struggling with this aspect of

Abraham because he's the patriarch of the Jews.

He's the father of the Jews, The great, you know, the great

herald or the starter of it all this, this man had faith in the

Lord. As a matter of fact, we'll look

later in Genesis 15, that his belief or his faith was credited

unto him as righteousness. I mean, this is a strong man of

faith. Victor P Hamilton stated this.

He said to label such individuals paradigms of faith

does not mean endorsement of their behavior in other areas of

their lives. He says, I know he was among the

Chapter 11 of the faithful, but just because we call him the

faithful doesn't mean he was always faithful.

Just because we said by faith he obeyed or by faith he did that

or by faith he did that doesn't mean there's times he didn't

have faith. I'm just highlighting everything

he accomplished through faith and what he did by faith doesn't

mean he didn't have faithless moments.

So the Bible does describe some very noteworthy things about

Abram that he did by faith. But we're also going to see some

actions that he took and that he reacted to circumstances through

doubt. Remember, if you will, I said

last week, just as a little review, but Abram's going to

leave. They went from Earth to Haram.

They're going to leave from Haram.

They're going to go to Canaan. From Haran to Canaan was about a

400 to 500 mile trip. Again, scholars say it'd take

about a month to travel because a caravan of people could only

go about 20 miles a day. So going to take them about a

month to go from Haran to Canaan.

And yet the last phrase of verse #5 in our reading tonight was

described like this. They went forth to go into the

land of Canaan and into the land of Canaan they came.

That's how it's summed up a 4 to 500 mile journey.

That's how it's summed up about a month's worth of time they

intended to go and they came. Now, folks, there's a whole lot

between those two statements that's not included in Scripture

because you take anybody of people, right?

You take a group of people that's travelling #1 not by car,

but even on foot and animals. And it's taken a month to get

there. Some of y'all was thinking about

some of your vacations you've had already.

You're already processing in your mind the are we there yet?

And the stuff that's spilled and the arguments that have

happened, the disagreements, I couldn't remember.

But somewhere the other day, I, I seen where people talked

about, yeah, let's go on vacation so we can argue about

things that we argue at home, just somewhere different.

You know, it's just so there's a lot of thing that, that, that,

that we're not informed about here.

Because I'm sure there were conversations.

I'm sure there were some challenges.

I'm sure, yes, there were some disagreements, perhaps some

victories, all of that. But the record here in Scripture

is blank. And yet we know the journey's

essential because the journey got them from point A to point

B. That's important.

That is powerful. But everything is lost in the

shadow of the destiny once you arrive. 500 miles one month.

But whenever you arrive, it's the capstone to the trip.

It's the capstone to the journey.

And so the last phrase of the story, yes, it's intention and

it's, it's achievement. We headed for Canaan and and to

Canaan we came because once they reach Canaan, how they got there

doesn't hold as much significance as having arrived.

Because see, we we while you're in the journey, you magnify

portions and aspects of the journey.

I can't believe you missed that turn, you know, 3 miles down the

road. Now recognizing it, you magnify

pieces and portions of the journey when you're in route.

But someday whenever we reached our bear where our bearings were

directing us and the trip is over and we've arrived, the

arrival, the trip on the way there, whatever happened on the

way there, all of that just pales in comparison to having

obtained and met the destiny. So it's just summed up as we

headed to Canaan to Canaan we got so Abram arrives at Canaan

and he now stands on land that he had left her of child, these

four and he had left her ran for he's now standing there and he

soon learns after standing here, I don't know how long that God

makes a promise to him and tells him, I'm going to give you this

land. I'm going to give your seed this

land. He's already told him about

being a great nation and being blessed and being blessed to be

a blessing. But he gets a little bit more

narrow here and lets him know the land that you're you're on

right now. You, you left not knowing where

and now you you've landed there and now I'm telling you where

your feet are. I'm going to give this land unto

your seed. And yet there's some other

things that that Abram observes as he's passing through the

land. His trip, if you're lookout on

the map, really starts in the northern part of Israel and he

coming down to the southern part of Israel and as he's passing

through the land, he understands this is a inhabited land.

The Bible says in verse 6 that the Canaanites, the Canaanites

are there. And so if God, you're telling me

you're going to give my seed this land, but there's

inhabitants in the land, then there's a few questions that I

have in mind, God, and a few of them are these, are you going to

give me this land with the inhabitants, or are you going to

give me this land without the inhabitants?

And if you're giving me this land with the inhabitants, how

do the Canaanites feel about what you're going to do if

you're giving it to me with the inhabitants And the habitants

are not supposed to stay in the land and you're not taking them

out of the land per SE. And I got to then do we get the

land by conquest? Do we get the land by fighting?

What's going on here, God? And we know folks, because we've

read beyond Genesis, right? I know it doesn't feel like we

have brother Reese, but we've went beyond Genesis in our own

personal lives and re on church, you know, and we know the

answers to these questions because when we read the other

passages beyond Genesis. We know the land is going to be

the seed of Abraham's and it will be theirs by conquest.

That's basically the whole book of Joshua, taking the land by

conquest and fighting. What does that mean?

God says I'm going to give it to you, but it's going to require

effort and obedience on your part.

It's God's gift, but it's our fight.

God spoke to Abram. Look at it again in verse one.

It's there that God spoke to Abram in verse #7 of chapter 12,

God appears to Abram. God's initial word to Abram in

in that verse one is, you know, go unto a land.

I will show you. I will show you the land.

In verse #7 God now appearing to Abram is saying, I'll give you

the land. So what separates, Brother Fred?

What, what, what's, what's the chasm here between God speaking

and God appearing between God saying, I'll show you the land

to God saying, I'll give you the land.

What, what, what, what separates these two dynamics?

Because it's actually different just hearing the word of God and

then seeing some type of manifestation of God, far

different. Just showing me the land and

saying now will give you the land.

I believe we know what it is. The difference is this

obedience. Obedience between all of this

speaking and then appearing and even the, the, the, the showing

and and the giving. There's a lot of obedience.

We see it in Abraham's actions. It's the departing, it's the

going, it's the journeying, the arriving.

Even in some of the verses that we read, the building and altar,

the calling upon the name of the Lord, it is obedience.

Abram proved, Listen to me clearly Abram proved he could

obey God's voice. So God says I'll manifest myself

to you. The trial of whether or not

you'll get the manifestation is how and whether or not you obey.

Just my voice. Oh, someone say Amen.

Can I say tonight that sometimes we want deeper encounters with

God without having a deeper relationship with God?

Whoo, hey man. Oh, I just want to see the

manifestation of the Lord, He says.

What have you done with my voice?

How have you responded and reacted to my voice?

If you want to see my manifestation, I'm just waiting

on this is the litmus test right here.

How do you interact with my voice?

Oh, someone say man, see Abram. Abram was trustworthy with God's

word. God said go get you out and he

departed. He was trustworthy with God's

word. And so God's like, OK, you were

trustworthy with my word. I'm going to step it up another

level now. Let's see what you do with my

manifest presence, huh? Because how we handle His

presence? How can we handle His presence

if we can't obey His voice? It changes everything from

showing to giving, from the voice to the manifestation.

Obedience prepared the way. And so Abraham comes to Psychum,

he comes to the plain of Moray, the Bible says, and it's here

that he he, he, he builds an altar there.

And then he goes a little further away, about 20, about 20

miles away from that position to somewhere between Bethel and I.

And the Bible says he builds an altar there as well.

And so the altar that Abraham may have built, even at the

first location may have been even twofold.

He may have built the altar to sacrifice on the altar, right?

He missed sacrificed on it. He may have built it as a

response to the presence, the appearance of the Lord.

He may have done that. He might have built the altar to

demark take or locate or X marks the spot, so to speak, where God

appeared to him. Altars were used, yes, for

worship and prayer and and sacrifice, but they were also

used to demark locations and places, almost like a memorial.

So it could have been either one of those.

It could have been both of those.

He he might have used the altar he had for worship and praise

and adoration and also to mark the spot where God first

appeared to him in the land of promise, where God first came

down. But there's something we know

for sure throughout Scripture as we begin to survey all of

Scripture altars are biblical images of worship throughout the

Scripture. They, they mark one's devotion

to gods, particularly in the Old Covenant of the Old Testament.

They mark an individual's devotion to God.

And altars are vital all throughout the Old Testament.

Yes, also in the New Testament. There seems to be a focus of

them throughout the Old, the Old Testament.

And so they're important, they're vital.

They're not, let's say like this.

Altars are not accidental. When the Bible speaks about the

construction of an altar in the Old Testament time, it uses

verbs like they made an altar, they built an altar, they

established an altar, set up, placed, arranged.

Altars are not accidental. Altars don't just like, oh look,

there's an altar. If that happens to you, it's

because somebody else built it. They don't just appear.

Altars are made. Altars are built.

And if they notice, and then this is kind of like maybe just

a little divergent, but notice if an altar is ever repaired,

the verbiage is a little different.

The altar is healed. Scripture uses or it's renewed

or it's purged. And it is according to verses 7

and 8, the altars that he built, they are altars unto the Lord,

an altar, an altar unto the Lord, Sacrifice, worship, words

are spoken from there to God. Sacrifice happens unto God, all

right, worship happens unto God. You remember the New Testament

scripture whenever Jesus had his intersection with the woman at

the well in John four and they're talking about things and

she's talking about our fathers worship in this mountain.

All this stuff is going along. Jesus, which was a Jew, told the

Samaritan woman. He said it's so we know what we

worship. Speaking of the Jews, he says we

know what we worship. Of course, I mean, worship for

the Jews stems all the way back to the Father of the Jews.

We have him already here in the land of promise.

He's erecting altars. His son's going to build altars.

His grandson is going to build altars.

They're going to litter the area in which they have went with

altars. Now, I've not checked this

personally yet, but from what I've read, from what scholars

have told me, from what I read, is that as you read throughout

the rest of Genesis and you start looking at every altar

that they build, that in the end there will be at least one altar

per territory that will later that later should have been

allotted to the 12 tribes of Israel.

The reason why I say should have is because Reuben and Gad and

have the trap of Manassas state on the other side of Jordan.

But they say there's an altar, at least one altar in each of

the regions where the children of Israel would have had their

division of land. That is awesome.

So there's one altar, verse number six.

It's built in Psychum, and then there's an altar, another altar

in verse #7 that's built around the Bethel High area.

The second altar Abram built, the Bible says he pitched his

tent. Do you see that in verse #7 that

he built an altar into the Lord who appeared unto him?

But then you go to verse 8 and he pitches his tent between

Bethel and between High, and there it says he builded an

altar unto the Lord. Abraham built an altar where he

had formerly just pitched his tent.

For that would be a great, great passage to pattern and mirror if

we all were building altars where we dwelt.

He's going to do this. He's where my family's going to

sleep, where they gather and where they're going to eat.

I'm going to build an altar right here.

Now, remember Abraham, Abraham's.

He's going to be nomadic, right? Going from place to place, dwelt

in tents. They're made for pulling up

steaks and putting them back in the ground.

He moves frequently. He has livestock.

He's going to avoid over grazing the area, right?

And only leave livestock in the place so long and there's

nothing else to eat. You got to move for the

provision of more food for whatever is around him.

So he's going to do that. So in one essence, him pitching

tents and he's not setting up the welding places with thatched

roofs and mud and brick or anything of that pitching

attempt for sure underscores the idea of what it says in Hebrews,

that he is a Pilgrim and a stranger.

Even the land that he's roaming through is a Pilgrim and

stranger. But there's something else to be

said, though, then about his altar.

His altar proves that he has a devotion.

Hallelujah. Remember?

Now go back to, oh, baby Babylon, Babylonia, all right,

that we looked at in in Genesis 11.

Remember at Babel, they wanted to make a name for themselves.

They're building a tower. Let us build us a tower that we

can make a name for ourselves. And you contrast that with

Abram. He's not tower building.

He's altar building. And it's unto the Lord so he can

call on the name. Woo, folks, really.

Your altar is not about you. Your altar is about him.

My altar is not about Paul McGee really showing up with his

Christmas list. If I need that, I want this,

this, this, this, this. Me, me, me, me.

No, it should be about him. Amen.

He declared the Lord's name there.

Abram. Abram wanted the Lord's name.

He declared it. It was unto the Lord.

He wanted the Lord's name to be known.

AR Kent Hughes said it like this.

I love this. He said how beautiful.

He said the only architecture that remained from Abraham's

life were altars. I mean, New Testament tells us

that he didn't even have a piece of the land even this so much so

to set his foot on the best that he had was a burial ground of

Mac Palais. Amen for him and his family.

But if there's any structure that's going to be spoken of, it

won't be a tower. It won't be a city, it'll be an

altar. Whoo man, I hope someday we

could stand at the casket and everyone of us to say there's

not really thing we can attribute to their name

structure wise. Except they had an altar.

Hallelujah. And so he pitched his tent and

built the altar. Bible says between Bethel and

high. Bethel on the West, High on the

east. I don't want to over emphasize

these, but I think it's neat sometimes to consider them.

But whenever we consider the names of these cities and we

understand the the word Bethel here, they're already they're

already applying to this city Bethel when we know later in

scripture said at first it was not called Bethel.

It was called was, but they're using this particular definition

or this particular word called in the city Bethel, which is

known as what the House of God and I ruined heap of ruins,

ruinous heap. It's right here in between.

There's the pause, there's the stopping.

If I could say it again, this is just Pastor McGee, but it's

indicative again of a man that's on the journey.

He's somewhere between God's house and ruin.

He's oh God, he's he's left one, but he's not quite achieved the

other. He's a man that's in between.

He is a man that is on a journey.

He is on a growth pattern, yet somewhere between ruined and the

House of God. He says this is the location I

build my altar. This is the location where I

sacrifice. This is the location where I

call out to God because folks, we'd be better off that in our

in between places, we likewise would be a place that we would

build altars. I'm not rude, but I'm not where

I need to ye be yet. But even though I'm in between,

I'm going to erect an alter. I'm going to make God's name

known. I'm going to call out to him.

I'm going to erect something that's dutiful to His name.

Sometimes we believe we can only do that once we arrive, but

Abraham says no in between. I'm going to do it on the

journey. I'm going to do it when I made a

mistake, I'm going to do it. When I've been successful, I'm

going to do it. Yes, Holy,

holy, holy, holy, holy. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Folks, we looked at it from the very beginning.

The Spirit of the Lord come down in the cool of the day and speak

with Adam and Eve, but whenever they make their mistake, they

hid from God. That's not when they didn't need

to have conversation with God. That's when they needed a

conversation with God. Don't allow your mistakes, your

failures, and your flub UPS that cause you to be absent from your

altar in the in between places. That's for sure.

When we did a conversation with Him, it called upon Him.

I feel the Holy Ghost here right now.

Look, if you will, great faith exemplified by our dear Abram

continuing with verse 10, and I'm going to read for a while.

So just listen to the story. There was a famine in the land.

Where is he? At Canaan.

There's a famine in the land and Abram went down into Egypt to

sojourn there for the famine was grievous in the land.

And it came to pass when he was come near to enter into Egypt

that he said and Sarah his wife. Behold, now I know that thou art

a fair woman to look upon. He's saying you're good looking

lady. Notice she's already in years by

estimation, but according to lifetime, I guess she's all

right. Probably more like middle age if

you take all things considered. He says therefore it should come

to pass when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say

this is his wife. They will kill me, but they will

save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my

sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul

shall live because of thee. And it came to pass that when

Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that

she was very fair. Abram.

That's right, they thought, check that chick out.

The Princess also of Pharaoh saw her and commended her before

Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to

Pharaoh's house, and he entreated Abraham.

Well, he's treated good for her sake.

And he had sheep and ox, and he asses and menservants and

maidservants, and she asses and camels.

Oh, lined his pockets, well, not his pockets, but lined his

pasture, you know. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and

his house with great plagues because of Sarah, Abraham's

wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and

said, What is this that thou has done?

And to me? Why did this thou not tell me

that she was thy wife? Why saidest thou?

She is my sister, so I might have taken her to me to wife.

Now therefore behold thy wife and take her, and go thy way.

And Pharaoh commended his men concerning him, and they sent

him, Speaking of Abram away, and his wife and all that he had.

I mean, we've seen this good streak of faith in the newborn

new convert Abram, Great streak of faith and obedience we've

seen. But now we got to pause and

consider the doubts. After Abraham's built his altar,

the Bible says he continues to travel South and he realizes

that the land where he's at is experiencing a famine.

We got to stop by the thread because this is not just any

land. This is the land that he's just

traveled like 1000 to 1200 lbs. This is the land he left home

for. This is the land he spent months

to get to. And when he gets there?

Yes, I'm exaggerating with all that, but do you understand?

It'd be like you looking up on the destination and I'm going to

travel to XYZ place, I'm going to stay at that hotel and you

traveled two days to get there several miles, A lot of meals

that were ate out and spent gas. Got that, only find out that

hotel's no longer in existence, It's closed.

I'm so glad we took the trip. Think it's this lamb that we're

talking about. It's the glam that God has just

got done telling him. I'm going to give it.

Abram, this land right here, I'm going to give to your seed.

And now Abram, just however much later finds out there's famine.

I'm not for sure there'll be any seed to give it to if I hang

around. Here's your land.

God says it was like it's defective.

So Abram going then further South to Egypt.

And I think this is important to denote Abram going further South

to Egypt. It's not in my estimation, a

rookie move, right, because he's just some fresh convert.

Get a new better. If he was older and more

experienced and matured. Let me just tell you right now,

mature Christians can just make exactly the same mistakes as new

converts. So this is not, this is not some

rookie move here. He's abandoned his past again,

not very long ago. He's going down to Egypt.

You know what going down to Egypt really is?

Let's get real human reasoning. It's a human decision.

I mean, I got livestock. Look at all the I got livestock.

How long are they going to survive?

How long am I going to survive amid A famine?

And so Abraham really has his doubts, right?

God said this is my land, this is what he called me to.

But can I really stay here? He's doubting, he's doubting

what he's been called to. He's doubting or not he'll

survive his plan. Of course, according to

Scripture. Look at it, you see in verse #10

Abraham's plan here. It's not to scratch the the land

of Canaan totally off the list and just forget about it and

throw it into the Mediterranean Sea.

No, no Bible says that Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn.

He he met just to go down to Egypt temporarily, you know,

once everything that was rough and everything got over, he'd

come back, come back to Canaan. He'll wait out the famine,

right. You know what's so interesting?

We say, oh, yeah, it's just a it's a it's a new convert rookie

move. Is it really, though?

Let's consider Abraham son Isaac.

Guess what? Famine his day as well.

And you know where he wants to go.

Second generation, say the day's language.

He's second generation Pentecost.

But you know what? You know what the answer to his

dilemma is? Let's go down to Egypt.

God spoke to him and said don't go.

So he didn't. But that was his first response.

Look then at his son Jacob. We know Joseph's already there

because he'd been sowed in the slavery and all these things.

But Jacob, there's famine in the land.

Third generation Pentecost and he's considering going down.

He even stops at Beersheba and talks to God about God.

Should I or should I go? And God says, yeah, you can go

on and go, but look, so don't tell me this is a rookie like

mistake or faux Paul. No, we see this through the

patriarchs. Abram goes down.

The difference is this, Abram goes down without any record

that he had a word from God that told him to go or told him to

stay. Isaac attempts to go but was

told to stay and he obeyed. Jacob asked if he could go.

God said he could go and he went.

Abram, we have no record whether God said go or don't go.

It seems as though it was just a human decision.

And verse 11 says, and I'm keeping track of time.

Verse 11 says as they got closer to Egypt or near to enter Egypt,

Abraham started to strategize. How can we best go into Egypt?

How can we go into here and conduct ourselves among the

Egyptians? How can we be smart about what

we're endeavoring to do here? Because he begins to reason

this. He says Sarah, she's she's my

wife. Is she good looking?

All right, She good looking. And then she going to turn some

heads. She's a head Turner.

And if we go in there and I am classified simply as Sarah's

husband, then I'm just the obstacle between whoever wants

her and her. I'm in the way and they'll do

whatever necessary to scratch me out of the way.

They'll kill me. But if I go in there and have

her tell them that she's my sister, which Genesis 20, as we

seen last week, does, she wasn't his half sister.

If I had to go in there and tell them she's her sister, that's a

different game. Because if there was a man who

who was the the the brother to to some lady and someone desired

his sister, he's going to do whatever he can monetarily gift

giving. Just log them with with all of

these great, great, you know, perks and stuff by means of them

getting that lady's hand going to my wife.

You go scratch me out. He has doubts going as my

sister, perhaps I'll live. He's got doubts.

Someone say Amen. So he has all these things going

in his mind. If I go, she's she's she's my

sister. I'm going to live.

It's all going to be well. I mean, I've been promised to be

a great nation. Think with me here for a moment.

Here's Abram going in. I've been promised to be a great

nation. But if they killed me, so then

if he has to, if he has to organize or flip around how

things are towed in order to protect that, then that's in his

hands, isn't it? Not God's.

He has doubts. He has doubts about the one who

said, I'll make you. How will this turn out?

How can this be? He has doubts.

Amen. So he's worried about the

Egyptians killing him. And look, Abraham, Abraham's

thoughts are really quite true. The Bible says here comes Sarai

in and the Egyptians are like, would you look at that something

than the other Egyptian woman? I'm telling you now, she's

swarthy. Her skin has a nice tone.

You hearing me? I don't know all that was going

on. Amen.

With Sarah. But she was turning heads.

And so Abram was right. They thought her to be a fair

woman. She's even commended by the

Princess of Pharaoh to Pharaoh. Pharaoh.

Check this gal out. And the Bible says he Pharaoh,

right? The king of Egypt takes her into

his house, and truthfully, Abraham Abram is treated well.

He's given men servants and maidservants and camels and she

asses and he asses and all of this stuff is coming to him.

Matter of fact, whenever he got female donkeys, I'll call him

that, that that was a sign, a man of, of a transportation of

the rich because they were easier to handle than the male

donkeys. And so that was a sign of, of,

of richness and wealth. And when you start talking about

camels, they for sure they were a sign of the very rich.

He was endowed with all of this from Pharaoh the king, a man of

Egypt. He's been well taken care of.

Sarai isn't in the house too long.

Plagues. Everybody say plagues.

Bible says plagues come upon his house due to Sarai being there.

Watch this now. And Pharaoh states it.

The plagues didn't come because of Abraham's sister.

That's not the way it's stated in the Bible.

Didn't come because of Abram's sister.

Verse 17 says Phaedra says they came because of Abram's wife,

because of Sarah, Abram's wife. So Pharaoh returns Sarah to

Abram and says this in verse 19. He knows.

He knows the deal. Now this ain't just your sister,

this is your wife. And he says, behold thy wife.

I can see him emphasizing that. Behold thy wife, your wife and

you and everything you got, everything you acquired in all

of your goods. Get out of here.

Let's stop for a moment. Abraham and all of this

considered what would happen to him, but he failed to think

about what may have happened to Sarah.

You need to tuck that in your pocket for some stories coming

up about how Abraham considered himself, but he didn't consider

his wife short. Listen, who brought the plagues?

The Bible tells us the Lord brought him short of God's

intervention. Sarah would have been made

Pharaoh's wife short of God's intervention with the plagues.

As a matter of fact, Phaedra asks Abraham, he has this

barrage of questions. He's basically why did you do

this to me? Why didn't you tell me?

Why did you only claim her as your sister?

Listen, you hear that? Crickets.

You don't hear no answer from Abraham, but we know the answer.

Doubts, doubts. Abram doubted about staying in

Canaan. He doubted about whether he

should or should not, what he should or should not share in

Egypt, concerning Sarai, his wife, sister.

And amid all these doubts, this is the powerful spot for me.

Amid all these doubts, his doubts, and lack of faith in the

moment, God steps in and saves the day.

We're on a growth journey until you.

Tonight I'm thankful for a God that when I'm in between His

house and being ruined, when I'm faithless, I'm thankful for the

moments that He steps in and His intervention changes the

outcome. His intervention changes what

could have been based upon what I thought might or should have

been. He steps in and in a sense, he

fixes my mistake. He, he, he, he comes in and he

gives direction in. In my aimlessness with my

doubts, he comes in. So we'll say glory because we

know that it must have not have been the best of choices because

some of the things that Abram gained in Egypt would be

problematic in the near future. Very soon in Chapter 13, there

will be conflict between Abrams herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen that

will demand the separation of the two and the choosing of

land. Do you know why?

Because they had too many herds that the land that they were

both at could support Abraham and Lot, according to Scripture,

was there in Egypt with them too.

Who knows how much their livestock grew from being in

Egypt? The question is, would there

have ever been a disagreement or a conflict with the herdsmen if

their herds hadn't increased In Egypt there's a whole if you

start playing that thing, there's a whole domino effect

then of lot choosing. Then the plains of Jordan

entering in finally pitching his tent towards Sodom, being a part

of Sodom, the magistrate of Sodom, the Angel saying let's go

and he's going to destroy. Not wanting to go, his wife

turning into a pillar assault him, sleeping with both of his

daughters, producing the Moabites and the Ammonites.

Could it be possible we could trace it all the way back to

increasing herds at Egypt? Had they never not only that we

get we get maidservants. The Bible says Abraham got

maidservants most I'm in agreement with them.

I stand arm in arm that later whenever we see that God spoke

to Abraham and Sarah that you're going to have a promise son,

you're going to have a promise seed.

But they're like 2015, twenty years in waiting for that coming

to pass. It's then that Sarah says hey,

why don't you take my handmaid Haggar and go into her and

there's a son born Ishmael that marks then later Isaac.

And even Haggard despises the Bible says her mistress despises

her. Sarah that came from the trip in

the beginning down into Egypt. Furthermore, some things caused

problematic. Furthermore, where the decision

was made and Abram saying Lot, you pick first what land you

want and then go. The Bible says Lot looked at the

plains of Jordan and he seemed that they were like Egypt.

Lot would have not had that standard of comparison.

Lot would have not had that standard of comparison had he

never went to Egypt himself and laid eyes on it.

He wouldn't be able to say the planes that you were going to

like Egypt. He wouldn't have had a reference

point. Someone say glory.

Furthermore, and I'm, oh God, I got to go.

Someone say go. I got to be like Abraham.

I got to be obedient. Another thing, just very quickly

you see this occurrence of Abraham, the whole occurrence of

Abraham really foreshadows what's going to happen to

Abraham as a nation later. Just look at in Scripture,

Israel's going to enter Egypt. Things are going to turn South.

They will spoil the Egyptians before they leave.

They'll get increase from them. Plagues will serve as the tool

of deliverance. Favor will tell Moses and Aaron.

Get your people, your families, and everything you got.

Is that not what was said to Abram right here?

His individual story is really foreshadowing the bigger nation

story later in the book of Exodus.

I can't end tonight until I read the first 4 verses of the next

chapter. Is everybody OK?

We'll wrap it up. I know this.

So all this is happening, right? Take your family and stuff.

Get out of here. Verse chapter 13, verse one.

And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he

had and lot with him into the South.

That sounds like they left Egypt and went S but the South being

referred to is the Negev, which is actually southern Palestine

or southern Israel. So they really went N.

It's just a statement, And Abram was very rich in cattle and

silver and goat, and he went on his journeys from the South,

even to Bethel and to the place where his tent had been at the

beginning, between Bethel and high, and to the place of the

altar which he had made there at 1st.

And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.

It's imperative to include these verses because we have circled

right back around where we started between Bethel and high,

where April Abram's tent had been pitched, where his altar

had been made. The Bible says in verse 2 he he

went on journeys, which is really meaning that by stages.

Listen to me by stages. He went from Egypt back full

circle to where he began. I say this people all the time,

people that go, people that fall away from God or whatever,

because you don't fall away from God just overnight.

You don't backslide on God. You don't quit on God overnight.

That's a journey. It happens by stages.

Many times it'll happen in your heart, sitting here before

you're no longer present here. It happens by stages.

But here's the other thing. Many times your Rd. back happens

by stages. I mean you can come back and

pray back through to the Holy Ghost, but the ground to be

gained happens by stages. But he returns to where he was

at first, between the House of God and ruined.

He returns to that familiar altar.

He calls on the name of the Lord.

So I got to say, this is exactly how I've written in my notes.

If you ever leave the place of your altar and go down into

Egypt, when you get out of there, make your journey back to

the altar. Because Abraham's journey is our

journey. It is a story of faith

intertwined with doubts He's pursuing a destiny that's all

times overshadowed by life'll challenges and life'll choices.

Yes, it is. But God through it all, thankful

that he does, He remains faithful and He's constant in

every step, whether a step of obedience or whether a step of

disobedience. And He is calling us to build

and worship at our altars, at those marks of devotion that we

can call upon the name of the Lord in those in between places.

You can stand with me in our moments of uncertainty.

Call on His name. Weaknessed out, call on His

name. Listen, ladies and gentlemen,

church people. For Christians, you don't have

to allow your doubts to define you and define your journey and

define your destiny, but let your faith, oh, but let me it

may any times is a imperfect faith, but let your faith lead

you to those deep encounters with God where you don't just

hear his voice, but you, you, you have some type of

manifestation. Amen of him in your life.

And if you ever wander into your Egypt, make your way back to the

altar, revisit that place of surrender.

Seek God's presence there. Seek God's mercy there.

Seek God's grace there. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost right

here. It's a journey of faith in

doubt. I open this all to tonight.

I open this all to tonight. That somebody that may be on

that journey right now. And you said, brother McGee,

I've had some high points. I've had some great victories.

But it seems like on the heels of those victories, brother

McGee, I'm facing some doubts right now.

I've got some turbulent waters right now.

I'm trying to I'm trying to feel my way through and I, I just

don't know really what to do and I'm afraid about making the

wrong choice or going the wrong way.

Listen, you, you, you just need to find an altar tonight.

Establish one, make one, build 1.

If you don't have one in between being ruined and the House of

God, whatever that in between spot is for you.

You need to erect an altar right there.

You need to worship God. You need to call upon God.

You need to cry out to God. And if you say, brother McGee,

it's already too, too, too much. I'm already in Egypt.

I'm already in the consequences of of a human choice and a human

decision. I'm telling you, cry out right

where you are and perchance your God who is faithful will

intervene on your behalf in the middle of your mess and send you

out of Egypt with the message. The Spirit of the Lord is in

this place tonight. I feel awareness of His Spirit

here. Messiah, if you got to circle

back, circle back to the altar. You got to circle back, circle

back to that place of consecration, Circle back to

that monument that demarched. This is where God appeared to

me. This is where God spoke to me.

This is where God promised me. It's a growth journey.

It's a growth pattern. There's obedience and there's

scouts, there's successes, and there's perplexions.

Help us God, give us the grace that we need for the journey.

You don't have to work out God's promise per SE.

God's promise for your life is on Him.

Yes, you need to work in tandem and be obedient with what He

asked of you. But if He's going to make you a

great nation, He's going to make you a great nation.

You don't have to figure out every turn in the road about how

that's going to happen. You just got to be faithful to

the steps He has you to take. Somebody cry out to the Lord

right now. Someone declare his name from

that old to right now. I try to be strong in myself.

I try to be strong in myself. I understand that.

The only thing I'm asking of you is, can you be?

Can you be weak in his strength? Can you be weak in his strength?

For his strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Depend on him, trust him, surrender to him.

I.