Keep It 100

0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.040 How many of you are glad to be in the 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.200 House of God? Hey, how many of you are glad 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:13.240 to be connected to the anointing. I'm a holy girl online, 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:18.480 say I'm connected, Help me in. I'm connected. Every campus, 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:23.200 every location are e fam all over the world. And 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.600 those of you on the West Coast, get your uh, 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:32.160 get your really comfortable shoots, lace them up because Elevation 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.519 Nights West Coast Fall twenty twenty two is only a 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:41.479 few days away. Get your tickets please at Elevation Nights 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.600 dot com. If you want to come to Glensdale, Glendale, 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:51.400 not Glensdale, Walmart's the Book of Revelations and Glensdale, Arizona. 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:54.400 Y'all know I'm from Monk's Corner when I start saying 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:58.440 we're coming to Glensdale, Arizona out there on the West 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.080 Coast with them liberals out there or eating tofu and 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:14.960 gluten free. Here's the cities Glendale, Arizona, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Oakland, California, 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.280 oaklandy'all gotta show some love. Y'all's ticket sales are way 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.120 below all these other places, so I want to see 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.280 in Oakland San Diego, California, and Los Angeles. Let's give 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:30.360 God a praise. Elevation Nights dot Com starts October twenty fifth. Right, 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.720 but touch somebody in and say right now, it starts 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:41.720 in here. How many came asking God to speak to 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:46.800 you today. But we've worshiped him, We've opened our hearts, 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.800 We've sang about his goodness, and now it is time 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.400 for us to receive from him what He has prepared 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.720 for us. And I'm excited to share it with you. 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:04.280 I love this scripture Romans chapter four. Just stand up 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.720 wherever you are for the word of God. Jump up 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.320 on your feet, put the devil right under your left 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.240 heeled in your right heel, and stand up for the 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.600 Word of God and be ready to receive this blessing. 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.600 Thank you for your kindness and your expression of love 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.440 shown for Pastor Appreciation Month. I'm going to have a 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:29.440 Congregation appreciation month in return. I don't know what I'm 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:32.400 gonna do yet, but I got a heart to do it. 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.760 It's gonna be Congregation Appreciation Month. I got to meet 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.080 with the Committee on Committees and figure out when, but 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.480 make sure you come back because I think of our 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.120 relationship as a partnership in the gospel. I think of 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.320 it for all of you who give, serve and pray 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:55.320 for us. You will never know what that means. And 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.200 even just you coming after I had to preach with 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.480 nobody in the room for a couple months, even those 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.200 of you who I used to fuss at because all 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:04.800 you did is come and you don't serve and you 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.640 don't give. Now I'm like, well, that's something. Thanks for coming. 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.080 You know, my whole frame of reverence got reset during 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.920 the pandemic. But thank you, thank you, Thank you for 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:19.040 allowing me and Holly to be your imperfect pastors. We 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.000 appreciate the privilege to do ministry with you. You hear me, 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.680 And to all of our campus pastors at every location, 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.280 I appreciate you standing in the gap praying for people, 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.880 visiting people, enlisting people, enrolling people. Let's thank God for 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:38.840 all the leaders at all of our locations linking arms 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:44.040 together for the cause of Christ. Oh yeah, you can't 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:48.280 do it alone and you don't have to. And everything 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.920 God gives me that I filter and find helpful, I 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.320 will share it with you as long as He gives 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.640 me strength. Do we have a deal, shake on it? 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.000 And then what you got to do, You gotta take it, 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.560 multiply it, teach it to others, put it into practice, 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.040 share it. Evangeliza, Come get strong in the Lord. Do 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:09.960 what he's called you to do. Go out and be 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.720 a witness for him. Go out and do your ministry, 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.080 because that's my ministry, to get you ready for your ministry. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.760 I'm not in the ministry. Oh yeah, you are. You 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.160 remember this, God uses people. Remember the little boy at 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.000 the Feeding of the five thousand. He wasn't in the ministry. 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.640 Peter was, and Peter wanted to send the crowds away 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.520 because he didn't have anything to give. It was somebody 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:38.800 who wasn't in the ministry who created the ministry and 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.320 the miracle. So don't ever ever underestimate how God can 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:49.080 use you, okay, Romans Chapter four, You ready, Verse thirteen. 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:55.880 It was not through the law that Abraham and his 0:04:55.960 --> 0:05:01.880 offspring received the promise. It was not through the law 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.960 that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that would 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.520 that he would be heir of the world. That's a 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:17.440 big promise. But through the righteousness that comes by faith. 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.799 For if those who depend on the law are heerrs. 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:26.440 Faith means nothing, and the promise is worthless because the 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:31.360 law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:39.960 is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:43.279 that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.520 to all Abraham's offspring, not only to those who are 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.160 of the law, but also to those who have the 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.320 faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.279 as it is written, I have made you a father 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:00.360 of many nations. He is our father and the sight 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.599 of God in whom he believed, the God who gives 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:09.200 life to the dead and calls into being things that 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:13.560 were not. Oh, fellow, vibration, just allo shiver just went 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.040 through you, and we start talking about what God can 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:23.440 do against all hope. Abraham in hope believed and so 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.840 became the father of many nations, just as it had 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:32.440 been said to him, so shall your offspring be. Without 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.599 wavering in his faith. He faced the fact that his 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.440 body was as good as dead since he was about 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.839 one hundred years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:48.560 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:54.000 of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave 0:06:54.040 --> 0:07:00.960 glory to God, being last verse fully persuaded that God 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:08.520 had power to do what he had promised. I'm gonna 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.840 read that again before I ap preach this thing like 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:18.680 I feel it, being fully persuaded that God had power 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:23.280 to do what he had promised. Now shift up back 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.800 to verse sixteen, key verse not only to those who 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.920 are of the law, but also to those who have 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.360 the faith of Abraham. I always have two titles for message, 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.160 the one that I start with to study by it, 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:35.720 and the one that I give you when I figure 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:37.600 out what it's about. After I studied everything I thought 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:38.960 it was about and found out it was about something 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.760 different because God had to show me. I usually only 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:43.280 give you the second one. I'm gonna give you both today, 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:51.160 title number one the Faith of Abraham. The Faith of Abraham. Wow, 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.480 that sounds like a whole book Sunday School lesson at 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.160 least the Faith of Abraham. But then I want to 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.080 give it a second title in case that's a little 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.160 too academic, and I want to call this message keep 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:10.840 it a hundred. Keep it a hundred, and just pick 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.680 the title you like, But at least look at your 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:14.440 neighbor for a moment. On your way to your seat 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.560 and say please keep it a hundred. You may be 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:24.800 seated needs you to keep it a hundred. Yah. When 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:30.160 I'm getting ready to preach and my mind starts getting 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.800 all conceptual, I don't remind myself why I'm preaching who 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.520 I'm preaching to. Every once in a while, I remember 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.120 one specific conversation that I had with the lady in 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.080 our church who was a part of our Toronto campus. 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.640 This was about five years ago. Her husband had died suddenly. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.200 I didn't know her, but I called her just to 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.640 say I'm sorry that you lost your husband, and I'm 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.240 praying for you and i'd like to pray for you 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:59.839 right now. And I did, and she was emotional. The 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.880 conversation was appropriately awkward, but I said, you don't need 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:05.800 to say anything. I just want to pray for you. 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.680 And right when I finished the prayer, before we hung up, 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.800 she said, I need to tell you one thing. Now. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.439 English wasn't her first language. I'm not saying she spoke 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:20.720 Canadian she was, because, but she goes, I need to 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:26.720 tell you one thing. While I got you, my husband 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:32.240 didn't consider himself a good person. He was abused as 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.680 a boy and he struggled a lot as an adult. 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.200 It took me two years to get him to come 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.160 here you preach. But when I finally brought him, you 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:45.200 told a story that Sunday a story about And then 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.720 she reminded me of the story. I remember telling it. 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.800 It was embarrassing. It was a story about me losing 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:56.040 my temper, she said. When you told that story, he 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:00.320 began to cry because he saw somebody who loved God 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:05.520 but still had struggles. I want to thank you, she said, 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:14.400 for keeping it real. I'm like, oh, I thought you 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:20.640 were saying thank you for being deep, that you recognizing 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:24.680 my preaching for its intelligence. You know, when you did 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.920 that thing with Romans chapter four, and then you went 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.319 over to the Book of Revelations after you went to 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:36.520 Walmarts call back. But she said, she didn't say thank 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.280 you for being funny. See, you could tell just right then, 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.320 my humor is not that good. That was polite laughter. 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:44.599 That was church laughter. That was an offering of like 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:46.840 you've heard about, sacrifice of praise. That was the sacrifice 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:48.480 of laugh that you gave me Because it wasn't funny, 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.920 and I appreciate it, but I think about it often 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.600 because when I hung up the phone. I was glad 0:10:55.640 --> 0:11:00.520 that God could use a broken vessel. But you know 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:05.000 what else, deep down I hated it that that was 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:09.760 the thing that she thanked me for, because that is 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:18.080 the most costly thing to be is real. If she 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.359 had said, thank you so much for your alliterated outlines, 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:26.520 thank you so much for all your tweetable moments, thank 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.880 you so much for the way that you dissect and 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.000 parse Greek and Hebrew, I could go back to school 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:33.480 and for the price of a few thousand dollars, I 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:35.840 could brush up on the original languages of the Bible. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.199 The books don't cost that much. But when she said 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.880 thank you for sharing the stuff that makes you embarrassed, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.960 I felt like she was saying, we need to see 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:57.400 you struggle, and I rebuke you, devil. You know. It 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:01.200 was a very tender moment for her, in a very 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:06.640 revelatory moment for me. That we all need those moments 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:14.760 if we if we really will admit it, where someone 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:20.679 that we respect, someone that we think, hey, they're really 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:24.199 trying to someone that we may even feel like men 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:28.160 they're a little further along in this than me, but 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.520 they still struggle. It was power for me for me 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.520 to realize and at the same time terrifying for me 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:38.560 to realize that the thing that connected with her husband, 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.680 who was taken from this life without a warning, the 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.240 thing that connected with him and brought him to a 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:48.760 place where he eventually put his faith in Jesus was 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:56.080 not my impressive side, but my imperfect side, which, to 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.240 be honest with you, is the part that I want 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:01.840 to hide from you the most, But it is the 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:08.520 part that God uses in the greatest way. I think 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:10.959 about that conversation a lot, you know, how I get 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.880 in there and think, Ah, what could I say this 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.160 week that would be really really, you know, profound, And 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:18.400 what could I say this week that would be really 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:20.400 memorable and sticky and all that's great. You know, you 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.560 got to bring everything you got to it, and people 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.240 are gonna come out to you preach. They deserve that 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.680 you study. But it was that moment I told that 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.160 story about the packing peanuts when they blew all over 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.720 the yard and I was out there cussing, and Graham 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:34.760 was listening, and I didn't know it and he was little, 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.640 and I'm cussing its styrofoam packing peanuts. After preaching for 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.880 thirteen Christmas services telling people about the incarnate Babe in 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.400 the Manger who came down from heaven to show us 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:52.880 a gentler kinder way, kinder way right. That dumb story. Yeah, 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:58.800 that dumb story. I bring it up because as much 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.640 as I hate the feeling of being exposed, I'm recently 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.080 learning some terms for this. One thing it can be 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.600 called is recoil. When I share a lot with you 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.040 and see, you don't have to tell me anything about you. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:13.960 You don't tell me anything about you. I meet, I meet, 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:22.000 I meet your church version every week, and that's the 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.800 only version of you that I really get close enough to. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:32.680 And uh, maybe it's better we keep it that way, Okay. 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:37.440 But at the same time that I hate the expense 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.000 of exposure, because after I share something with you, I 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:41.920 go back home and I'm like, did I say that 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:46.120 out loud? That's typically what I do for twelve hours 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:49.040 after I preach. Did I say that? And that and that? Holly? 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:50.400 I only thought that, right, I didn't say it. Hell, 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.400 you said it. I said that. You said that. Can 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:55.040 we still edit it out of the video? No, it's 0:14:55.040 --> 0:15:00.840 already online. Oh as much as I I hate the 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:05.200 expense of exposure, there's something I hate much more, and 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:13.960 I'm gonna tell you this. I hate fake. Hated hated. 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.160 Maybe it's because a guy made me a custom suit 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:24.400 one time and I found out it was fake, a 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:27.120 custom suit off the rack. The way I found out 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:29.400 was I looked at the belt and it said Kenneth 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:34.000 Colch with a K. So if the belt is fake, 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.960 I looked into the suit, what were you doing all 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:44.440 that measuring for it was off the rack? I hate fake. 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.160 That watch I bought in New York City. That thing 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.240 broke in two weeks. I bought ten of them. I 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:56.200 was gonna give them out that's Christmas gifts. Mine broke. 0:15:56.280 --> 0:16:00.360 I threw them all away. I hate fake, I hate you. 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.840 Hate fake. I don't even really like small talk. Holly 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:06.280 said to me the other day. You are so bad 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.200 at small talk. You have got to get better at 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.720 small talk. I'm like, teach me. I want to know 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:12.280 how to do it. I want to know ID just 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.480 something about me. I just want to connect with the 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.480 deepest part of you. I want to know what you 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:18.400 struggle with. I want to know what you dream about. 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.520 I want to know what you're drifted by. I want 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:22.200 to know what you think about when there's nobody but 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.720 you and God and a pantry full of food. Let 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:38.320 me in. I hate fake I hate fake friends. Just 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.760 tell me you're my enemy, because the Bible says love 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.120 your enemies. At least I know what to do with 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.880 you if we could get the relationship established. I hate 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.480 that you don't smile at me to flip me off. 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:55.080 I turned the other cheek. Just slap me. Hate fake. 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.440 In fact, my life can be divided. I'm getting the 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.120 romans for I promise my life can be divided into 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.399 the years before and after I found this out. I 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.600 remember the day one of my family members told me, 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:19.840 you know, professional wrestling is fake? Right? That ruined my childhood, 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.480 That took my innocence. They ought to put people in 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.640 jail who tell you stuff like that, too young. You mean, 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.960 Hulk Hogan is fake, The Ultimate Warrior is fake, the 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:36.520 Big Boss Man is fake. Dusty Rhoads dust, the American Dreams, 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:43.440 Polka Dots feak too. She said, you know it's fake. 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:48.480 And Gene Haynes took us to a wrestling match and 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:49.879 he walked us up. I said, man, how are you 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.959 ruining to go anymore? I found out it's fake, and 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.480 He walked me up to the mat and he goes, 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.080 stomp your foot on that and it was hard. And 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.320 then he said, when you see them slamming each other 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:06.240 on that hard floor, does that feel fake? Now? I 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:10.479 don't know how I remember this, but he said something 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:12.600 like this, and I've probably changed it a little bit. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:13.919 I'm gonna keep it a hundred. I don't know if 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:15.760 you say exactly like this or I'm just morphing it 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.960 to be the perfect sermon quote. Got that keep it real? 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:25.760 He says something like, just because the ending is scripted 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:36.719 doesn't mean the impact isn't real. So I took this 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:43.200 from it. It's fixed, but it's not fake. You still 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.440 got to pick up two hundred and eighty pounds over 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.280 your shoulder. You still got to do the Boston Crab. 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:50.600 You remember the Boston Crab book? You still have. Boston 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:57.240 Crab still feels funny. But just because the ending is predetermined. 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.200 I remember the day I found out it was fake. 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:07.000 Do you remember the day that you found out that 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:12.040 a lot of what happens in churches and faith circles 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:19.280 is as fake as big men on steroids covered in oil, 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:29.200 wearing spandex underwear and I'm just trying to make sure 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:30.800 you're not hungry so you can listen to me. That's 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:32.439 why I went into so much detail. I saw you 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:36.600 get a little disgusted when I said that, because it is. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:40.639 It's something about finding out that a lot of the 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.439 people who were telling you, oh, we've been happily married 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.520 thirty five years, you don't know they've been married forty 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:55.920 five years, happily married for thirty through to math. And 0:19:56.000 --> 0:20:01.440 I don't tell you about those ten, those hidden ten. Oh, 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.600 we just trust God. And I never set out to 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.679 be this real preacher telling embarrassing stories on myself, but 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:15.280 I couldn't stand the fakeness that I sometimes experienced. I mean, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.040 come on, we all have moments where we aspire to 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.520 one thing, we live another. That's not called hypocrisy, by 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:26.120 the way, that's called humanity. Oh. I thought that preacher 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:27.600 was a man of God. Then I found out they 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.720 were a fake. Not necessarily they might have been really 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.960 sincere in their faith, just weak in their humanity and flesh, 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:43.520 just like you are. Let's keep it a hundred. We 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.880 all need the grace of God. None of us want 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.000 all of our business on the front page of anything. Ever, 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:58.680 so part of me in reading Romans four was realizing 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:02.240 that we are hearing about a hero of the Jewish 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.119 faith and the Christian faith. He's an interesting guy and 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.960 his name is Abraham. You've heard of him. You've heard 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.800 of him. He is nicknamed if you had a WWF 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:17.720 the Worldwide Worship Federation. This stuff just comes to me. 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:19.399 The Holy Spirit gives it to me on the spot. 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:23.320 I just say it. I put that on the list 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:25.240 for Did I say that out loud? That was so corny. 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.280 In the thing is said that Abraham is the father 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.720 of many nations. Some call him the father of faith, 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:40.720 not just for Jews speaking from a diasporic or a 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:45.280 genetic or even a religious position, but everyone who believes 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:49.400 in this God Yahweh revealed in the person of Jeshua 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:55.600 Jesus can trace it back to Abraham's faith. That's what 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.000 the passage is about. And one thing I want to 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:01.760 show you in verse six, please write some of this 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:04.400 down so you can revisit it later. He says that 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:08.040 the promise, speaking of the promise that God gave to Abraham, 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.320 what was the promise? The promise was, I'm gonna bless 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.440 the whole earth through you. I'm gonna give you a boy. 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:16.720 Your boy is gonna have boys. Those boys are gonna 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:19.800 have boys. There's gonna be women that give birth to 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:22.800 the boys, and it's all gonna result in a nation 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:27.040 called Israel that will bless the earth. Right now, we 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:31.480 find ourselves in Romans chapter four, where the apostle Paul 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:38.080 is basically having to challenge these believers who want to 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:42.760 be circumcised. You know what that is. I'm not gonna 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:45.400 keep it that reel to break that down all the way, 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:50.480 you can google stuff, okay, and saying, all right, since 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:53.480 God told Abraham when he was a hunter that he 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:56.800 had to be circumcised as a sign of the Covenant, 0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.320 if you put your faith in Christ, you gotta go 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:04.000 back and be so circumcized right now, keep it one hundred. 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:07.320 If that was the membership protocol for this church and 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:09.760 you weren't yet circumcised, all the men who would join 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:11.639 the church at this stage in your life stand up. 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:18.720 No anesthetics, right right, right, right, right right. But that's 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:22.520 what was happening to the gentile believers. They're being told 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.040 you have to do this to belong you have to 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:27.960 look like this, It's a contrast you'll see over and 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:30.240 over again in the scriptures, maybe the main contrast in 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:34.120 the New Testament, of the external signs of salvation and 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:39.000 the internal reality of the Kingdom of God. One comes 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:42.240 from the works of the law or the works of 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:45.879 the flesh. They're used interchangeably. One comes from the grace 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:49.520 of God. And I love that. It says it so clearly. 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:52.040 Follow me in verse sixteen, is so good? Is so good? 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:59.600 Therefore the promise comes by faith? Repeat that the promise 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:05.000 comes y'all gonna have to show y'all how to do 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:09.199 call and response. Why so many dang white people in 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:12.280 this church? I wouldn't have to teach this part? Repeat 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:22.399 after me. The promise comes by faith. Who did I 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:29.280 really say that out loud? The promise comes by faith? Shouted? 0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:36.320 The promise comes by faith? Oh, thank God. Because if 0:24:36.359 --> 0:24:41.480 it came by works, if it came by effort, if 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:44.840 it came by gold star behavior, I don't think God 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:50.080 get it. But the promise comes by faith. Settle down. 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:55.040 That's not the good part. The promise comes by faith. 0:24:55.240 --> 0:24:58.199 Why so that you got it verse sixteen, So that 0:24:58.640 --> 0:25:04.719 it may be by grace? Ah gets better. It comes 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:07.399 by faith. That's the vehicle, so that it may be 0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:13.639 by grace. That's the basis. Faith is the box that 0:25:13.720 --> 0:25:17.159 it comes in. Grace is the basis that it is 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:23.080 built on in order. This is the part that got 0:25:23.119 --> 0:25:28.920 me that it may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, 0:25:29.960 --> 0:25:32.520 not only to those who are of the law, the 0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:35.320 religious system for being right with God, but also those 0:25:35.320 --> 0:25:45.520 who have the faith of Abraham. So it comes through faith. 0:25:46.200 --> 0:25:53.480 What does the promise? I should clarify here. God keeps 0:25:54.400 --> 0:26:05.040 one hundred percent of his promises. Let me stand right 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:08.680 here and say it. Even though people die too early, 0:26:10.119 --> 0:26:14.400 even though people get sick in their bodies, even though 0:26:14.560 --> 0:26:21.280 abuse that should never happen happens. I'm saying it like 0:26:21.320 --> 0:26:27.200 the Bible said it. God keeps one hundred percent of 0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:36.240 his promises. But God does not keep one hundred percent 0:26:36.960 --> 0:26:45.480 of our preferences, our plans, or our desired positive outcomes. 0:26:47.480 --> 0:26:49.160 I gotta keep it real. I gotta keep it real 0:26:49.320 --> 0:26:52.000 because I could make you shout over that first part. 0:26:52.280 --> 0:26:55.240 God keeps one hundred percent of his promises, and all 0:26:55.280 --> 0:26:56.399 you got to do to get the whole room to 0:26:56.440 --> 0:27:02.000 shout is substitute positive outcomes for promises, and people will 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:06.080 shout because they'll be shouting over stuff that they think 0:27:06.160 --> 0:27:09.439 God is going to magically do because I said a 0:27:09.480 --> 0:27:12.280 word that hit a button called promise. And we don't 0:27:12.320 --> 0:27:15.480 know any better than to think that God promised us 0:27:15.640 --> 0:27:18.760 that everything in our life would be positive as it happens. 0:27:19.240 --> 0:27:22.040 So we start shouting about stuff that we want to 0:27:22.080 --> 0:27:25.959 happen without ever consulting whether God ever said it would happen. 0:27:26.240 --> 0:27:28.800 And then we blame God and walk out of his 0:27:28.920 --> 0:27:31.879 house and walk away from our faith, and walk away 0:27:31.920 --> 0:27:35.280 from the family of believers and stop praying and stop 0:27:35.359 --> 0:27:38.879 praising when we're asking God to keep a promise he 0:27:39.040 --> 0:27:47.240 never made. Y'all told me to keep it real. I'm 0:27:47.320 --> 0:27:51.320 keeping it real. God did not promise, you know, bumps 0:27:51.359 --> 0:27:55.679 and bruises. God did not promise you no beast things 0:27:56.840 --> 0:28:02.040 or break ups or broken hearts. It almost been too 0:28:02.080 --> 0:28:04.000 long here because I want to bring it down to negative. 0:28:05.680 --> 0:28:07.520 Let me keep it positive. This is a faith message, 0:28:07.560 --> 0:28:11.960 after all, But I want to point it out that 0:28:12.000 --> 0:28:17.360 the basis of Abraham's faith should be the basis of 0:28:17.400 --> 0:28:21.359 our faith, because he is the father of faith. And 0:28:21.400 --> 0:28:27.600 this is so profound that the basis of true faith 0:28:29.080 --> 0:28:37.679 is grace, and in order that it may be guaranteed. 0:28:39.200 --> 0:28:43.160 I love that it takes the same grace to save 0:28:43.360 --> 0:28:50.280 everybody in this room. You think grace is like a 0:28:50.400 --> 0:28:54.480 custom suit. No, no, no, Grace is one size fits all. 0:28:56.760 --> 0:28:58.880 You need God to cover all of you. Let me 0:28:58.920 --> 0:29:00.600 tell you how. I know that the Bible says that 0:29:00.680 --> 0:29:05.960 even our righteousness is as filthy rags to him, all 0:29:06.000 --> 0:29:08.520 have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 0:29:09.360 --> 0:29:12.560 The faith of Abraham is enough to know that this 0:29:12.640 --> 0:29:19.719 has to be by grace, by faith, by grace, in 0:29:19.800 --> 0:29:23.160 order that it may be guaranteed. Because if the promise 0:29:23.280 --> 0:29:26.080 depends on me. Now this is what I believe. You 0:29:26.080 --> 0:29:28.360 have to come to your own conclusion. If the promise 0:29:28.440 --> 0:29:31.360 of what God wants to do through my life depends 0:29:31.400 --> 0:29:40.840 on me, we'll see maybe maybe not maybe Monday, maybe 0:29:40.880 --> 0:29:46.120 not Wednesday, if it depends on me. But if it's 0:29:46.160 --> 0:29:52.360 by grace, if it's by grace, if this whole thing 0:29:52.480 --> 0:29:55.920 called Stephen Ferdick started in the mind of God, if 0:29:55.960 --> 0:29:58.960 this whole thing called your life started in the heart 0:29:59.000 --> 0:30:01.959 of a father, if this whole thing was part of 0:30:02.000 --> 0:30:07.120 the blueprint that God created before the foundations of the earth. 0:30:07.440 --> 0:30:10.200 To be a blessing to the world, not just to 0:30:10.240 --> 0:30:13.600 be blessed yourself, but to be a blessing if it 0:30:13.880 --> 0:30:18.520 starts with grace is guaranteed. And that's why I praise 0:30:18.640 --> 0:30:23.400 God for the guaranteed that wherever I go, Grace will 0:30:23.520 --> 0:30:27.440 beat me back home. Wherever I go, Grace will beat 0:30:27.480 --> 0:30:31.360 me to the boardroom. Wherever I go, Grace will beat me. 0:30:31.760 --> 0:30:34.880 Grace will meet me in the mistake. We'll be out 0:30:34.880 --> 0:30:38.160 of the mistake, turn it around and make it a miracle. 0:30:43.160 --> 0:30:48.760 I've got a guarantee. If it's up to me, there's 0:30:48.800 --> 0:30:53.080 no guarantee. I want to caution you about this. A 0:30:53.120 --> 0:30:55.160 lot of people are out there trying to get you 0:30:55.200 --> 0:31:01.360 to put faith in faith, and a lot of people 0:31:01.600 --> 0:31:05.360 go broken, starving in la and Nashville because they were 0:31:05.400 --> 0:31:11.600 told you could be anything you want to be. Help me, God, 0:31:11.640 --> 0:31:14.400 because nobody's gonna like this part of the sermon. You 0:31:14.440 --> 0:31:24.840 can be what he calls you to be. I'm confused, now, Preacher, 0:31:26.120 --> 0:31:28.920 hold on now. It said that he is our father 0:31:29.000 --> 0:31:31.760 Abraham in the sight of God, and whom he believed, 0:31:32.640 --> 0:31:35.760 the God who gives life to the dead and calls 0:31:35.800 --> 0:31:41.120 into being for seventeen things that were not sound like 0:31:41.120 --> 0:31:44.160 on the surface of that, if we don't take this 0:31:44.280 --> 0:31:48.880 and keep it a one hundred, like really read it, 0:31:48.880 --> 0:31:58.200 it sounds like that God's job is to be your genie. 0:31:59.040 --> 0:32:03.880 It sounds like, you know, it sounds like in this 0:32:04.000 --> 0:32:07.280 verse that we could just get anything in our mind 0:32:07.320 --> 0:32:08.880 that we want to that we want God to do, 0:32:10.480 --> 0:32:13.240 and God's like, oh, dang it, I'm gonna be up 0:32:13.280 --> 0:32:16.160 all night working on this because I wasn't planning to 0:32:16.200 --> 0:32:17.800 do that, but they asked for it, and I'm gonna 0:32:17.840 --> 0:32:22.000 do it now. This is where I gotta keep it 0:32:22.040 --> 0:32:25.600 real with you. A lot of times in my life 0:32:26.080 --> 0:32:31.040 I was trying to get God's blessing on my blueprint. 0:32:32.880 --> 0:32:44.959 Spoiler alert. He doesn't feel what he didn't build. I 0:32:45.000 --> 0:32:49.280 love this stuff because right now we get to enter 0:32:49.400 --> 0:32:54.000 into the tension of the faith of Abraham. It's not 0:32:54.040 --> 0:32:57.440 as simple as it sounds. It never is. You read this, 0:32:57.640 --> 0:33:02.120 and Paul's like, and Abraham believe God. And Abraham had 0:33:02.200 --> 0:33:06.440 faith and he didn't waver, and he stayed strong, and 0:33:06.480 --> 0:33:09.960 he was persuaded, and he didn't doubt. And a part 0:33:09.960 --> 0:33:13.280 of me, y'all respectfully. I'm just saying this respectfully. Part 0:33:13.320 --> 0:33:16.640 of me wants to be like, come on, Paul, keep 0:33:16.640 --> 0:33:21.200 it a hundred. Because Abraham didn't always follow God in 0:33:21.240 --> 0:33:27.400 a straight line. That was confusing to me as I studied. 0:33:28.440 --> 0:33:30.959 The only reason it was confusing to me is because 0:33:31.040 --> 0:33:33.920 after Abraham was called by God to be the father 0:33:33.920 --> 0:33:35.640 of many nations, and God took him outside and showed 0:33:35.680 --> 0:33:37.600 him the stars the sky and sands the seashore and said, 0:33:37.600 --> 0:33:39.040 as many as you can count those, count those. That's 0:33:39.080 --> 0:33:40.640 how many your descendants are gonna be. You're gonna be 0:33:40.680 --> 0:33:43.400 the father of many nations. Because he's calling things that 0:33:43.440 --> 0:33:47.600 be not as though they are according to his purpose. 0:33:48.960 --> 0:33:53.440 It dawns on Abraham. I'm seventy five years old and 0:33:53.600 --> 0:34:00.000 I don't have a son. So God comes back to Abrahm. 0:34:01.440 --> 0:34:06.160 Not on his seventy sixth birthday, you ready, Not on 0:34:06.200 --> 0:34:11.719 seventy seven, not on seventy eight, not on seventy nine, 0:34:12.640 --> 0:34:16.279 not on eighty. Let's count by tens for the sake 0:34:16.320 --> 0:34:22.800 of time, not by ninety. When Abraham is ninety nine 0:34:22.960 --> 0:34:27.960 years old, I'll getting ready to preach. The Lord visits 0:34:28.000 --> 0:34:32.040 Abraham and he tells him I am God Almighty, I 0:34:32.080 --> 0:34:33.960 have given you this covenant, and this shall be the 0:34:34.000 --> 0:34:36.600 sign of the covenant, which a circumcision which we mentioned. 0:34:36.640 --> 0:34:40.120 But now look at this with Genesis chapter seventeen. Because 0:34:40.480 --> 0:34:42.920 in all of Paul's eloquence and all of his brilliance, 0:34:43.000 --> 0:34:46.400 the Book of Romans is the most logically organized, I 0:34:46.520 --> 0:34:49.640 believe document that has been written by human hands under 0:34:49.640 --> 0:34:52.040 the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That's my opinion. Maybe 0:34:52.080 --> 0:34:54.640 you could argue for something else, but Romans is a masterpiece. 0:34:55.080 --> 0:35:00.120 When he brings forward the example the exhibit of Abraham 0:35:00.120 --> 0:35:03.479 exhibit a exhibit Abraham for faith, he says he didn't 0:35:03.520 --> 0:35:06.120 waiver in his faith, but watch this when he was 0:35:06.160 --> 0:35:08.680 a hundred still waiting for a son. Now listen, he 0:35:08.760 --> 0:35:13.040 didn't just wait patiently. He waited impatiently. He got so 0:35:13.160 --> 0:35:16.160 impatient his wife was like, sleep with my maid and 0:35:16.200 --> 0:35:19.240 she'll give us a son, and maybe that'll be close enough. 0:35:19.360 --> 0:35:23.040 Have you ever tried to follow God close enough? Like, 0:35:23.120 --> 0:35:25.839 all right, God, I'm not gonna tithe exactly, but here's 0:35:25.880 --> 0:35:28.759 a twenty just just close enough. Right. You know, God, 0:35:28.760 --> 0:35:30.279 I'm not gonna give it all to you. I'm not 0:35:30.280 --> 0:35:32.440 gonna give everything to you. But I'm gonna just come 0:35:32.520 --> 0:35:34.319 over here and like I'm gonna wship you. I'm I'm 0:35:34.320 --> 0:35:35.759 gona go to church this Sunday. I'm not gonna make 0:35:35.760 --> 0:35:39.000 it a priority or anything. Abraham did all of that too, 0:35:39.560 --> 0:35:44.280 trying to produce in human power what had been promised 0:35:44.320 --> 0:35:49.920 by God's purpose. I do it too. I try to 0:35:49.960 --> 0:35:56.680 write sermons with human ingenuity. I try to solve problems 0:35:57.239 --> 0:36:02.399 with human logic. I try to figure out situations by 0:36:02.440 --> 0:36:12.480 manipulating them. That's the faith of Abraham. Abraham slept with Hagar, 0:36:12.560 --> 0:36:16.799 had a baby called Ishmael. God said, uh, that's not 0:36:16.840 --> 0:36:19.520 what I want to give you. There's gonna be your son. 0:36:20.000 --> 0:36:23.920 Now watch the conversation because this is so enlightening. Genesis 0:36:23.960 --> 0:36:27.640 chapter seventeen. We're gonna cross reference to the apostle Paul 0:36:27.640 --> 0:36:30.720 and what he said. The Lord said. Go to verse fifteen. 0:36:30.920 --> 0:36:34.279 God said to Abraham, as for Sarah, your wife, you 0:36:34.320 --> 0:36:37.799 are no longer to call her SARAHI her name will 0:36:37.800 --> 0:36:42.000 be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give 0:36:42.040 --> 0:36:47.360 you a son by her, not Hagar, by her, not Hagar, 0:36:48.360 --> 0:36:52.239 by her not Hagar. God said, I'm gonna bless you 0:36:52.640 --> 0:36:55.160 the way that I'm supposed to bless you at the 0:36:55.280 --> 0:36:58.880 time I'm gonna suppose to bless you. Stop trying to 0:36:59.040 --> 0:37:03.920 help God do what he's already doing in his perfect time, 0:37:04.200 --> 0:37:08.279 and leave it to him. I didn't even print planned 0:37:08.320 --> 0:37:10.200 to preach that part, but that just stood out to me. 0:37:11.000 --> 0:37:14.359 By her, not Hagar, I'm aa bless her, and we'll 0:37:14.400 --> 0:37:16.440 give you some by her. I'll bless her so that 0:37:16.520 --> 0:37:19.920 she'll be the mother of nations, and kings of people 0:37:20.440 --> 0:37:23.680 will come from her. Now, get ready for Father Abraham. 0:37:24.040 --> 0:37:27.839 He had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. 0:37:28.320 --> 0:37:30.520 I am one of them, and so are you so 0:37:30.760 --> 0:37:36.600 less just vacation, Bible school, make some noise. Get ready 0:37:36.600 --> 0:37:39.879 for Father Abraham. Right foot Father. Get ready for right 0:37:39.880 --> 0:37:43.000 foot Father Abraham. You're ready for Father Abraham. Watch his faith, 0:37:43.000 --> 0:37:46.400 Watch his faith. The faith of Abraham Abraham fell face down. 0:37:48.520 --> 0:37:56.960 He laughed and said to himself, will a son be 0:37:57.120 --> 0:38:05.560 born to a man one hundred years old? And even 0:38:05.600 --> 0:38:17.520 if I can, will Sarah at age ninety huh. He 0:38:17.560 --> 0:38:21.600 didn't waver in his faith. He just laughed in God's face. 0:38:25.440 --> 0:38:28.680 Can I keep it a hundred? Can I keep it 0:38:28.680 --> 0:38:31.680 a hundred? When Paul gets ready to share. He doesn't 0:38:31.680 --> 0:38:39.000 put this part in why I already told you like 0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:50.120 fifteen minutes ago. It's not based on Abraham's works. It's 0:38:50.320 --> 0:38:56.160 based on God's grace. You keep trying to build on 0:38:56.239 --> 0:39:01.080 the wrong foundation. Oh God, I'm fearful. Oh God, I'm anxious. 0:39:01.400 --> 0:39:05.600 Oh God, I'm depressed. Oh God, I'm messed up. Oh God, 0:39:05.640 --> 0:39:09.279 I'm not that smart. Oh God, I'm not prepared. Oh God, 0:39:09.320 --> 0:39:13.400 I'm not experienced. Oh God, I'm crazy. Oh God, I'm addicted. 0:39:13.719 --> 0:39:17.400 That is not the basis. I'm the faith of Abraham. 0:39:17.440 --> 0:39:21.880 God said, it's all bye grace. I brought you in 0:39:21.920 --> 0:39:25.800 this world by grace. I spoke you into existence by grace. 0:39:26.120 --> 0:39:29.360 I made you born in the time you were born, 0:39:29.719 --> 0:39:37.319 so that the promise would be by grace. Let's take 0:39:37.400 --> 0:39:43.279 twenty seconds in praise him for amazing grace. God, sweet 0:39:44.440 --> 0:39:56.720 the selms, grace, grace, God's grace, God's grace, and listen 0:39:56.760 --> 0:40:02.279 to me. If it's started with God's so now touch 0:40:02.320 --> 0:40:05.680 three people say, I gotta guarantee, I gotta guarantee, I 0:40:05.719 --> 0:40:10.440 gotta guarantee from the manufacturer that everything he intends to 0:40:10.440 --> 0:40:14.120 bring forth from my life shall come the past, and 0:40:14.320 --> 0:40:19.520 no mistake, no hay yard, no doubt. They'll laugh, can't stop. 0:40:23.960 --> 0:40:28.920 This is only good news if you need some grace. 0:40:30.560 --> 0:40:34.040 If you got it all right, see ya, go on home, 0:40:34.480 --> 0:40:38.080 keep getting it right. But for everybody who is here, 0:40:38.600 --> 0:40:50.960 by five, by grace. If you gave me a enough time, 0:40:51.160 --> 0:40:53.560 I can hit everybody in this room and show you 0:40:53.600 --> 0:40:57.640 why you need grace. Oh no, I don't drink, I 0:40:57.640 --> 0:40:59.239 don't do do drugs. I don't do any of that. 0:41:00.040 --> 0:41:06.480 But you know what you do, you control and what 0:41:06.520 --> 0:41:10.720 else you do. You judge just like I'm judging you 0:41:10.800 --> 0:41:14.520 for judging me. So don't stand there like you don't 0:41:14.560 --> 0:41:18.799 need grace. The ground is level at the foot of 0:41:18.920 --> 0:41:21.879 the cross. I'm not the one on the middle. I'm 0:41:21.920 --> 0:41:25.680 not these saying, remember me, Jesus, give me that grace, 0:41:26.040 --> 0:41:33.040 Give me that good news, gospel grace. The promise comes 0:41:33.400 --> 0:41:37.640 by faith. Faith in what not by faith? Cause I 0:41:37.719 --> 0:41:42.360 might fall face down and laugh. But God still say 0:41:43.120 --> 0:41:46.800 you gotta have the faith of Abraham. What's that the 0:41:46.920 --> 0:41:53.919 faith to fall down and get back up? I feel 0:41:53.960 --> 0:41:58.719 somebody getting up today, getting up in your spirit, getting up. 0:41:58.920 --> 0:42:01.480 You didn't just get up, get in your car, you 0:42:01.560 --> 0:42:04.280 got up and you walked into the promise of God. 0:42:04.560 --> 0:42:10.000 You're right smacked in the middle of the fulfillment of 0:42:10.040 --> 0:42:14.160 God's promise on your life. And the danger is you 0:42:14.239 --> 0:42:16.960 have got to stay in faith so God can do 0:42:17.000 --> 0:42:22.680 everything he wants to do through you. Abraham turns eighty three. 0:42:22.760 --> 0:42:24.719 It's a bad thing when you're having your eighty fifth 0:42:24.719 --> 0:42:29.960 birthday still talking about you know, I got potential that's 0:42:29.960 --> 0:42:33.960 supposed to be when you're eighteen, y'all, not eighty. You know, 0:42:34.040 --> 0:42:35.759 I still got more I'm gonna do. I don't think 0:42:35.800 --> 0:42:40.120 you do. And I love this verse. I love this verse. 0:42:40.160 --> 0:42:41.919 Did you ever hear me preach this back in the day, 0:42:42.080 --> 0:42:46.160 I did a whole thing on this verse nineteen? It 0:42:46.280 --> 0:42:52.560 said that he Romans four nineteen. Be more specific, that 0:42:52.640 --> 0:42:56.680 without weakening in his faith, all the pragmatic people are 0:42:56.680 --> 0:43:01.960 gonna love this. He faced the fact. I always love 0:43:02.040 --> 0:43:05.200 that because it gives room for the skeptic to get 0:43:05.239 --> 0:43:10.920 some grace too. I can almost see it when I 0:43:10.960 --> 0:43:14.759 preach some people, you say Romans, and they jump up 0:43:14.800 --> 0:43:20.480 and shout about Romans. I love Romans. Give me Romans. 0:43:20.760 --> 0:43:23.839 Some people. It doesn't matter how much faith you feel 0:43:23.880 --> 0:43:25.680 in the room. You could kind of see it. They 0:43:25.680 --> 0:43:32.760 sit back there like, that's good. But bills that's good. 0:43:33.320 --> 0:43:38.600 But Bresidas in my knee, that's good. But custody battle 0:43:40.320 --> 0:43:42.240 that's good. But I got some pills in the bathroom, 0:43:42.280 --> 0:43:48.719 I having flush. Yet he faced the fact. You think 0:43:48.760 --> 0:43:55.680 God gave you the faith of Abraham to escape reality. 0:43:56.520 --> 0:44:05.439 He gave you grace to empower you for reality. You're 0:44:05.440 --> 0:44:08.600 listen my spirit, so you could look at the scoreboard. 0:44:08.600 --> 0:44:10.800 Graham had a game the other night. They were down 0:44:10.840 --> 0:44:16.439 twenty football game, down twenty at halftime, came back won 0:44:16.480 --> 0:44:23.799 the game by two. I said, that must have been 0:44:23.880 --> 0:44:27.279 one heck of a halftime speech coach gave. I'm in 0:44:27.280 --> 0:44:29.040 the motivation business. So I asked him when he got home. 0:44:29.080 --> 0:44:32.439 I said, what did he say at halftime? He said, 0:44:32.480 --> 0:44:39.560 he only told us one thing, stay in it whoo whoo. 0:44:40.360 --> 0:44:45.000 Because you don't know yet. You don't know yet, You 0:44:45.040 --> 0:44:49.200 don't know yet, you don't know yet. You say, oh wow, 0:44:49.280 --> 0:44:52.720 I'm just keeping it real. I'm just being me, which 0:44:52.840 --> 0:44:58.800 me to me you see, or the me that God's 0:44:58.920 --> 0:45:04.640 folk from eternity path that is uncorrupted by this mortal body. 0:45:04.840 --> 0:45:10.400 W's me God speaks to the me that's gonna be 0:45:11.680 --> 0:45:14.440 if I stay in it. Come on, channel, you're in 0:45:14.520 --> 0:45:16.640 a football coach. You know you want to pretend like 0:45:16.640 --> 0:45:18.960 your coach Taylor. Come on, tell Tim Ricks staying it, 0:45:19.160 --> 0:45:21.640 stay in it, stay in it, stay in it, stay 0:45:21.640 --> 0:45:24.120 in it, stay in it, stay in it, stay in it, 0:45:24.320 --> 0:45:26.440 stay in it, stay in it. I'm gonna preach this 0:45:26.560 --> 0:45:29.439 until it breaks through that artifice at your heart and heart, 0:45:29.800 --> 0:45:40.759 stay in it. Abraham was given a promise when he 0:45:40.880 --> 0:45:49.640 was seventy five. How old was Abraham when God made 0:45:49.680 --> 0:45:57.080 the promise? Seventy five? Well, I just said try again 0:45:58.040 --> 0:46:01.520 do this online in the comments. How old was Abraham 0:46:01.920 --> 0:46:07.200 when God made the promise? How old was he when 0:46:07.200 --> 0:46:11.240 he saw God? Keep it? What is my message called 0:46:12.320 --> 0:46:23.600 keep it? Oh? You thought all I was talking about 0:46:23.600 --> 0:46:27.240 when I said keep it one hundred was just be real. 0:46:28.760 --> 0:46:31.760 Now I'm telling you what's real to you right now? 0:46:32.719 --> 0:46:37.440 Maybe a ceiling that God is trying to break you through. 0:46:39.200 --> 0:46:45.560 If you can believe by faith for the grace for 0:46:45.640 --> 0:46:48.920 the gaps in your life that caused you to laugh 0:46:48.960 --> 0:46:52.360 in the face of God when he shows you what's possible. 0:46:53.440 --> 0:46:56.799 I'm concerned that this phrase in our vernacular, keep it 0:46:56.840 --> 0:47:00.879 one hundred has become an excuse for us to never 0:47:00.960 --> 0:47:04.560 improve and to never grow. And so if all I 0:47:04.640 --> 0:47:07.279 do in church and say, hey, you're a drunk, I'm 0:47:07.320 --> 0:47:10.799 a drunk. Let's drink. Everybody gets a twenty house communion beer, 0:47:11.040 --> 0:47:15.560 let's go, then I have not appropriated the grace of 0:47:15.640 --> 0:47:18.440 God in your life as a preacher of the Gospel 0:47:18.520 --> 0:47:21.279 to show you that the me that you see right 0:47:21.360 --> 0:47:24.239 now is not the core of who you are. And 0:47:24.360 --> 0:47:31.759 God is not through with you yet. Some of the 0:47:31.800 --> 0:47:34.680 promises that He made you is gonna take you your 0:47:34.719 --> 0:47:37.520 whole life to seal them. But give it a hundred. 0:47:37.840 --> 0:47:40.480 If it texts me all night, if it takes me 0:47:40.560 --> 0:47:43.759 my thirties, if it texts me my forties, if it 0:47:43.800 --> 0:47:46.680 texts me going to meetings, if it takes me going 0:47:46.719 --> 0:47:50.080 to therapy, if it takes me changing my friends, if 0:47:50.120 --> 0:47:53.520 it takes me staying up late, reading my Bible, playing 0:47:53.600 --> 0:47:55.799 on the edge of the bed, if it takes it, 0:47:56.160 --> 0:48:01.600 I'm coming. I'm a kid at a hundred that I 0:48:01.760 --> 0:48:08.320 believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord. 0:48:13.080 --> 0:48:16.080 Come on, five ninety nine people, hot five. I'm gonna 0:48:16.080 --> 0:48:18.840 tell them keep it a hundred, give it a hundred. 0:48:19.040 --> 0:48:22.680 He's looking for you. God's looking for you. Gotta leave 0:48:22.760 --> 0:48:28.239 the ninety nine to buy the wood. Good That kid, 0:48:28.320 --> 0:48:35.640 that kid, that kid, that kid that you got a 0:48:35.719 --> 0:48:42.359 promise from God. Kid, that kid that that's word. He kid, 0:48:42.400 --> 0:48:48.400 that kid that you'll got Christ. You got said so 0:48:48.960 --> 0:49:00.279 on the outside working Ah, they outside God that oh 0:49:00.600 --> 0:49:09.600 go borry go nor. Abraham believed and so became. It 0:49:09.640 --> 0:49:14.360 didn't happen overnight. It didn't happen first year, it didn't 0:49:14.400 --> 0:49:17.239 happen second year. It's not going to happen as quick 0:49:17.239 --> 0:49:19.239 as you want to. But this is not a five 0:49:19.280 --> 0:49:24.960 minute faith. That's that hagar hook up, that five minute 0:49:25.000 --> 0:49:34.399 faith where you try something. This is the faith. Thank 0:49:34.440 --> 0:49:41.240 you Jesus of Abraham, and you already got the grace 0:49:41.280 --> 0:49:49.000 of God. Stay in it, Stay in it, stay in it, 0:49:50.160 --> 0:49:56.879 stay in it. For the three hundred of you who 0:49:56.880 --> 0:49:59.319 are receiving this message. At a deep level, you feel 0:49:59.320 --> 0:50:02.760 that faith, you feel right now in your heart, Stay 0:50:02.760 --> 0:50:07.000 in it, staying in when you don't feel it. Stay 0:50:07.000 --> 0:50:09.719 in faith when you can't prove it. Stay in faith 0:50:10.320 --> 0:50:12.319 when you look at your body. Like Abraham did, he 0:50:12.400 --> 0:50:17.200 faced the fact that his body wasn't doing too good, 0:50:20.880 --> 0:50:24.319 not as good as he once was. Can't do it 0:50:24.400 --> 0:50:28.000 like I used to do it. But he was fully 0:50:28.000 --> 0:50:36.160 persuaded because he had faith in God. What God? You know? 0:50:36.239 --> 0:50:41.040 You're so good at listing problems. But when I ask 0:50:41.080 --> 0:50:43.960 you what problems are you fighting? Why are you so 0:50:44.040 --> 0:50:46.399 much better at that than when I say what God? 0:50:46.480 --> 0:50:52.640 Or do you believe in? Now? Lord told me. When 0:50:52.680 --> 0:50:56.160 you preach this, make sure that the message they get 0:50:57.239 --> 0:51:02.880 is not what faith they have, but what God they have. 0:51:06.040 --> 0:51:10.160 And make sure that your faith isn't in what promise 0:51:10.200 --> 0:51:12.879 you think he made you, because you might have heard 0:51:12.920 --> 0:51:17.600 him wrong. I love what he said. Give me seventeen. 0:51:18.000 --> 0:51:21.720 I close with this. I know I could preach another 0:51:21.760 --> 0:51:25.239 two hours, but I know you want to go to 0:51:25.239 --> 0:51:27.680 a cracker barrel. Come on, keep it a hundred. Y'all 0:51:27.680 --> 0:51:29.840 are ready to leave. I keep it a hundred, You 0:51:29.960 --> 0:51:31.680 keep it one hundred. So give me my last verse. 0:51:32.320 --> 0:51:35.759 Stand up, Saints. I have made you stand up. I 0:51:35.800 --> 0:51:41.960 have made you a father of many nations, and he 0:51:42.160 --> 0:51:45.760 is our father. Preaching about the faith of Abraham today, 0:51:47.840 --> 0:51:52.560 preaching about the faith of Abraham, not whole Cogan, not Brutus, 0:51:52.560 --> 0:52:02.120 the barber, beefcake, Abraham, it's the father many nations. Isn't 0:52:02.120 --> 0:52:05.719 it crazy that it took him one hundred years to 0:52:05.800 --> 0:52:14.640 actually become what God called him All along? He said, 0:52:14.640 --> 0:52:17.319 I made you the Father. I gave you the seed. 0:52:17.360 --> 0:52:20.520 Nobody can do it but you. What God called you 0:52:20.560 --> 0:52:29.000 to bring into the earth. Nobody can bring it but you. Yeah, 0:52:29.480 --> 0:52:31.600 stop thinking. If you screw it up bad enough, God 0:52:31.640 --> 0:52:34.279 will let you off the hook. You know, you're just 0:52:34.320 --> 0:52:37.320 gonna have to go to summer school. Give me the 0:52:37.400 --> 0:52:40.640 verse again. I'm not done with it. He is our 0:52:40.640 --> 0:52:43.360 father in the side of God, in whom he believed. 0:52:43.520 --> 0:52:48.720 What God? Somebody say, what God? You know, you say, Oh, 0:52:48.760 --> 0:52:52.640 what problem? What Bill? What this? What that? What? God? 0:52:52.960 --> 0:52:59.120 The God who gives life to the dead. What God? 0:52:59.680 --> 0:53:04.400 The God who calls into being things that were not. 0:53:06.160 --> 0:53:09.959 So here's what happens, my beloved friend, my beloved brother, 0:53:10.040 --> 0:53:13.799 my beloved sister. Sometimes we are hooked up in a 0:53:13.880 --> 0:53:18.480 season where God is giving us a download. And do 0:53:18.520 --> 0:53:20.160 you remember when you used to hook your phone up 0:53:20.200 --> 0:53:22.880 to the computer and you'd be downloading something, but you 0:53:22.880 --> 0:53:25.520 didn't have time to wait for the whole thing, so 0:53:25.560 --> 0:53:29.040 you unplug it early guess what. You lost everything that 0:53:29.120 --> 0:53:34.080 got downloaded before it because you disconnected before the download 0:53:34.200 --> 0:53:41.760 was done. But God said, I want you to stay 0:53:41.800 --> 0:53:46.719 in it and believe it till you become it. If 0:53:46.760 --> 0:53:50.160 God says you're righteous and free, then believe that I'm 0:53:50.200 --> 0:53:58.520 free until you feel free. Believe until you become That's 0:53:58.520 --> 0:54:03.839 what Abraham did. The God who calls things that are 0:54:03.880 --> 0:54:05.799 not and so they are. The God who says to 0:54:05.880 --> 0:54:08.719 a valley of dry bones, get up, come together and 0:54:08.880 --> 0:54:12.000 start fighting like an army. The God who says to 0:54:12.120 --> 0:54:15.640 a sea, turn into a four eighty five. The God 0:54:15.680 --> 0:54:20.439 who does that has given you his promise. He ain't 0:54:20.440 --> 0:54:22.520 call you the father of many nations. Come on, I 0:54:22.560 --> 0:54:25.279 don't even want to have a fourth kid. I'm not 0:54:25.320 --> 0:54:27.360 trying to be the father of many nations. But I 0:54:27.400 --> 0:54:29.080 do want to be everything he called me to be. 0:54:29.360 --> 0:54:31.560 How about you? How about you? I want to be that. 0:54:32.000 --> 0:54:34.080 I want to be what you want me to be, God, 0:54:34.280 --> 0:54:37.360 not what my best friend is, not what this person 0:54:37.400 --> 0:54:40.840 I admire on Instagram is. I want to be what 0:54:41.400 --> 0:54:47.040 God calls me. I want to grow in his grace. 0:54:48.400 --> 0:54:50.080 I want to grow in the gifts He's given me. 0:54:50.800 --> 0:54:52.960 I want to bring him glory through my life. That's 0:54:53.000 --> 0:54:55.239 what I want. That's what I really want. That's what 0:54:55.280 --> 0:54:59.520 I really want. But you got to keep it one hundred. 0:55:00.760 --> 0:55:05.080 You gotta be honest about where you are and refuse 0:55:05.160 --> 0:55:13.440 to stay there. I will go, I shall go. I 0:55:13.480 --> 0:55:18.399 want to see what the end is gonna be. May 0:55:18.440 --> 0:55:20.640 take me my whole life to find out. I may 0:55:21.280 --> 0:55:24.200 not even live to see it, but I want to 0:55:24.280 --> 0:55:27.880 keep it. A hundred. God made a covenant with Abraham, 0:55:28.000 --> 0:55:31.320 and he said, I'll keep this covenant if you laugh, 0:55:32.160 --> 0:55:34.880 if you lie and say that Sarah is your sister 0:55:35.520 --> 0:55:38.879 and she's really your wife, y'all know about that. Paul 0:55:38.920 --> 0:55:40.920 didn't keep it one hundred diddy. He didn't put that 0:55:40.960 --> 0:55:44.800 in romans for it, but it happened, and yet he became. 0:55:46.120 --> 0:55:49.320 Nothing can stop you from becoming. Nothing can stop it. Nothing, 0:55:49.520 --> 0:55:52.520 no power of hell, no scheme of man, no devil, 0:55:52.560 --> 0:55:58.280 no death, no divorce, no debt, nothing nothing nothing. Because 0:55:58.320 --> 0:56:08.160 it did comes by grace is guarantee. Lift your hands 0:56:08.680 --> 0:56:13.960 receive the download from heaven Father right now. We're going 0:56:14.040 --> 0:56:17.640 to take just a minute, and as we worship you, 0:56:18.920 --> 0:56:23.160 we are going to refresh our minds with the promises 0:56:23.200 --> 0:56:28.120 of God. Hey, it's been a little while since I've 0:56:28.160 --> 0:56:31.320 done one of these little homemade videos after the message, 0:56:31.360 --> 0:56:37.120 but it felt like we needed one today, very very 0:56:37.239 --> 0:56:41.080 vocally tired. As you could tell, my hair is all 0:56:41.120 --> 0:56:43.960 over the place. In fact, keeping it one hundred. I 0:56:44.000 --> 0:56:46.919 had to make this video three times because my hair 0:56:47.000 --> 0:56:50.640 looks so bad in the first two. Just keeping it real. 0:56:50.840 --> 0:56:53.600 But I want to take a minute and pray with you, 0:56:53.680 --> 0:56:57.160 because the message that I spoke today, it needs to 0:56:57.280 --> 0:56:59.680 end with you coming into agreement with what God has 0:56:59.719 --> 0:57:04.480 spoken over your life. What God are you believing it? 0:57:05.200 --> 0:57:07.200 The one who raises the dead to life and calls 0:57:07.239 --> 0:57:11.799 things that are not into existence. Yeah, that God. He 0:57:11.840 --> 0:57:14.040 calls you his child. He calls you righteous, He calls 0:57:14.080 --> 0:57:17.440 you holy. Now, it calls you more than a conqueror. 0:57:17.520 --> 0:57:20.680 But you have to believe it by faith. And when 0:57:20.720 --> 0:57:23.600 you believe it by faith, you can receive the grace 0:57:23.640 --> 0:57:25.920 of God. I want you to put that right now 0:57:25.960 --> 0:57:29.200 in the chat say I believe it, I receive it. 0:57:30.480 --> 0:57:32.720 Put it in the chap I believe it, I receive it, 0:57:33.120 --> 0:57:34.760 And I want to pray with you right now. Father, 0:57:34.880 --> 0:57:38.120 Thank you for each person who heard this message today. 0:57:38.840 --> 0:57:40.840 I pray that it would be mixed with their faith, 0:57:41.400 --> 0:57:43.840 and that they would carry it with them, that it 0:57:43.840 --> 0:57:48.400 would go into good soil and produce one hundredfold return, 0:57:48.880 --> 0:57:51.240 that they would keep it a hundred Come in to 0:57:51.320 --> 0:57:53.960 you just as they are refusing to stay that way. 0:57:54.000 --> 0:57:56.600 As you change us by your spirit from grace to 0:57:56.600 --> 0:57:59.360 grace and glory to glory. I believe your promise will 0:57:59.360 --> 0:58:04.120 come to pass over their life in Jesus name. Amen. 0:58:04.880 --> 0:58:07.960 I love you, See you next time. Thank you so 0:58:08.040 --> 0:58:10.480 much for being a part of this world wide ministry. 0:58:11.000 --> 0:58:11.600 God bless