1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:17,000 Thank you Lord. Lord we just declare right now Lord in this house for your people your 2 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:27,200 excellence Lord you are excellent in power, excellent in majesty, excellence in glory. 3 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:34,080 Lord we just declare hallelujah. We declare hallelujah to name Lord. Praise be unto you Lord in this 4 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:39,760 house Lord. Every mind and heart Lord is fixed on you right now. Lord because of your goodness, 5 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,920 because of your mercy. Lord I thank you Lord as we heard in communion. Lord there was no hope 6 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:50,760 without you. Lord there was nothing for us Lord but in your great mercy and your love Lord you've 7 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:57,040 drawn us, you've brought us by the blood. Lord thank you for the blood. Lord thank you for all 8 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:03,160 that you've done. Thank you for all that you're doing here. Lord we bless you, we bless your name. 9 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:11,480 We lift you Lord Jesus, we lift you on high. Be glorified in this house Lord, be glorified. Be 10 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:19,480 glorified in our lives Lord. Use us Lord to glorify your name or to show those in a broken 11 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:34,800 and lost world who you are. Lord use us in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well good morning church and I 12 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:42,080 want to welcome those who are new. A couple of new faces we want to welcome you here today. 13 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:52,680 I want to look at in the book of Genesis to begin with. So if you could turn with me to 14 00:01:52,680 --> 00:02:08,000 Genesis, we're going to look at chapter 15. Lord I need your strength today and so bring your word, 15 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:15,440 I need your anointing. Everything Lord that I need to minister it comes from you Lord. So I'm asking 16 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:22,640 you Lord you would release the fullness of your spirit over me now to bring your word. Lord I 17 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:28,480 thank you it is Lord your word. It's your word that cleanses us Lord, it's your word that cleanses 18 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:35,640 the church. Lord do a cleansing work, Lord transform us here this morning through the power of your 19 00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:42,120 word. Lord lift people up Lord who are low deliver those Lord that need breakthrough all through 20 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:51,600 your word Lord. Anoint this message I pray in Jesus name. I'm going to read a little bit from 21 00:02:51,600 --> 00:03:04,760 chapter 15, 16, 17 and 18. So just follow with me beginning in verse 1 of Genesis chapter 15. This 22 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:12,840 is referring to the promise that God had given to Abraham. He gave him a number of promises but 23 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:21,480 particularly the promise of children. It's important to know. It says after these things, 24 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:26,680 the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, do not be afraid Abraham, I am your shield, 25 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:32,040 your exceedingly great reward. But Abraham said, Lord God what will you give me seeing I go 26 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:39,320 childless and the heir of my house is Elisa of Damascus. Then Abraham said, look you have given 27 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:44,840 me no offspring, indeed one born in my house is my heir. And behold the word of the Lord came to him 28 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:51,080 saying, this one shall not be your heir but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. 29 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,920 Then he brought him outside and said, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you're able 30 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:03,960 to number them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. And he believed in the Lord 31 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:15,080 and he accounted it to him for righteousness. Chapter 16 verse 1, now Sarai, Abraham's wife had 32 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:21,000 borne him no children and she had an Egyptian maid servant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to 33 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:26,840 Abraham, see now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children, please go into my maid, perhaps 34 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:32,440 I shall obtain children from her. And Abraham heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abraham's 35 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:38,600 wife took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife after Abram 36 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:44,920 had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan. So he went into Hagar and she conceived and when she saw 37 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:51,640 that she had conceived her mistress became despised in her eyes. Then Sarai said to Abram, my wrong be 38 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:57,560 upon you, I gave my maiden to your embrace and when she saw that she had conceived I became despised 39 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:06,120 in her eyes. The Lord judged between you and me. Chapter 17 verse 4, one verse, this is a promise 40 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:12,840 that is again reaffirmed to Abram, as for me, behold my covenant is with you, referring to Abraham, 41 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:22,440 and you shall be a father of many nations. And then chapter 18 verse 10 to 15, and he said, 42 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,920 that's God, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life and behold Sarah, 43 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:33,080 your wife shall have a son. Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham 44 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:38,120 said, now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age and Sarah had passed the age of child 45 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:43,000 bearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, after I have grown old shall I have 46 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:49,160 pleasure my Lord being old also. And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh saying, shall I 47 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:53,960 surely bear a child since I am old? Is there anything too hard for the Lord? At your point in 48 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:59,400 time I will return to you according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied 49 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:11,800 it saying, I did not laugh for she was afraid and he said, no but you did laugh. So we see the promise 50 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:20,760 that God had given initially to Abram that, look I'm going to give you a child, it's going to be 51 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:27,240 from your own person, it's going to come forth from you and Sarah. That was the promise of God and 52 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:33,800 Abram believed him and it said it was accounted to him for righteousness. But then later on, 53 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:45,240 after that promise was given in chapter 16, there was a doubt from Sarah. It said, see now the Lord 54 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:51,240 has restrained me from child bearing children, please go into my maid etc etc. So there's this 55 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:56,280 point in now Sarah's life, she's got the promise, it's Abraham's promise that they're going to have 56 00:06:56,280 --> 00:07:03,800 children. Now Sarah in her doubt and unbelief has said, well it's not going to happen, 57 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,760 I don't see this promise being fulfilled, let's just do something about it. Let's help God, 58 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:18,600 let's get a move on with this thing. You go into Hagar which was the servant, which was custom for 59 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:25,720 that day and we'll have a child that way and I'll take the child and we'll just call that the 60 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:32,600 promise of God. So to begin with, Sarah had already lied because she said, see now the Lord has 61 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:38,840 restrained me from bearing children. So that doubt became and it was established from a lie because 62 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:45,880 God had already said that you are going to bear children. So first thing, and I'm looking at Sarah 63 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:53,160 today to begin with, there was unbelief. Then in 17 verse 4, that was the promise reaffirmed, so 64 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:58,760 again God comes in His mercy even though Ishmael was born to Hagar with Abraham, 65 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:04,680 he reaffirms the promise that no, you are going to have children, it's going to be supernatural, 66 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:12,360 it's my promise to you Abraham and I will do it, just let me be God and trust in me. And then in 67 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:21,480 chapter 18 we see that God comes to Abraham and basically he reaffirms again what's going to 68 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:28,680 happen and Sarah now, again she's in doubt and she lies to God as well. You imagine that having a 69 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:38,760 conversation with God and basically lying to God. She says, God said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? 70 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:44,120 He's referring to the conversation that took place with Abraham that he's going to have these 71 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:49,800 children, this child and that the nation's going to be blessed through that. Sarah laughs saying, 72 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:54,200 shall I surely bear a child since I'm old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed 73 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:59,160 time I will return to you according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied 74 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:06,600 it saying, I did not laugh for she was afraid and he said no but you did laugh. So Sarah's life to 75 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:14,280 begin with, although she had the promises of God, there was still failings on her behalf, there was 76 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:23,800 still times where she was in unbelief, there was times where she was in doubt and there's an instance 77 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:31,960 there that I just read out that she actually lied straight to God's face. And my message today is 78 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:42,360 you're not a failure. See, Sarah had failed in a number of ways and you know, you and I, 79 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:49,160 we've made mistakes. Maybe it's before we were saved, maybe it's after we saved, but we've made 80 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:57,480 mistakes and we may go on to make mistakes in the future but how we deal with those mistakes is 81 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:05,880 actually going to be the determining factor whether we are paralysed in this life or not. 82 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:15,480 Because in Hebrews 12 and it's in verse 1, it says, Therefore we also, since we are surrounded 83 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:24,040 by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares 84 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:30,200 us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So these things, one of the things 85 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:37,000 that says that is sin but one of it is lay aside every weight and a weight is something that's 86 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:42,280 unnecessary, something that we don't actually need to carry, it's something that weighs us down in 87 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:47,800 this life and that could be a number of different things, that's broadly speaking, but one of them 88 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:55,720 is actually seeing our lives before God as a failure and that's one thing that will actually 89 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:01,560 stop us moving into God's will and it will stop us moving into God's plan in all that He has for us 90 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:08,040 because seeing our life as a failure and looking back at the mistakes that we've made will paralyse 91 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:20,920 us and we will stop moving forward. But you know, how you see yourself, how you see your past mistakes 92 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:29,960 is not how God sees us at all. See, He sees us completely different. In Hebrews 8-12, this 93 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:39,240 refers to the covenant in starting in verse 7, this is the new covenant that God was going to make 94 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:47,000 with the people from Jesus onwards. It was the new covenant, we know, we celebrate communion, 95 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,240 we celebrate the new covenant that God is going to save us, it's going to be through Jesus, 96 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:56,360 through His blood and sins are going to be forgiven and He says in verse 7 of Hebrews 8, 97 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:00,120 for if that first covenant, that's referring to the old covenant in the Old Testament, 98 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:05,480 had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second because finding fault with 99 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:10,120 them, He says, behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with 100 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:15,800 the house of Israel and with the house of Judah and that goes on for us as well. Not according 101 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,800 to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead 102 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:24,520 them out of the land of Egypt because they did not continue in my covenant and I disregarded them, 103 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:29,320 says the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, 104 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:34,600 says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts and I will be their 105 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:39,960 God and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother saying, 106 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:44,120 know the Lord for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. 107 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:49,960 Verse 12, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their 108 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:57,880 lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Hallelujah. That scripture, that passage is contrasting to 109 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:04,760 the Old Covenant. See the Old Covenant, when God gave that through Moses, it was basically you do. 110 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:12,440 If you, so forth, then God does. That was the old way, the old covenant before Jesus. 111 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:18,280 We are now in Christ and the new covenant that Jesus has made, that God's made with Jesus, 112 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:24,200 it's I will, He will. God says, I will do it. He says in verse 12, I will be merciful to their 113 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:30,360 unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. So if God, 114 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:36,120 says He remembers our sins no more, yes that's when we come to Christ and we're saved but I 115 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:42,360 believe that as we go on, He remembers our sins no more. He remembers our sins no more. 116 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:47,400 He says He's removed our sins as far as the east is from the west, the past, the present and the 117 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:55,240 future sins. So if God says there, I will remember their sins no more, maybe some of you, why are you 118 00:13:55,240 --> 00:14:01,000 remembering your past mistakes and failings in the past? Because God doesn't remember them. 119 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:08,840 He doesn't, He chooses not to remember them. It's not like He forgets but I believe He chooses not 120 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:12,760 to remember those sins. He doesn't hold them because of what Jesus has done and you're in Him. 121 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:21,400 He chooses not to remember them. He chooses not to see you in those mistakes because today, 122 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:27,640 you can be here today and you actually, you're bound and you're held by your past and you just 123 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:33,720 can't move forward because of maybe that thing that was done to you or the thing that you've done 124 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:40,680 yourself and maybe you've just carried condemnation and guilt and shame and you can't get past and you 125 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:45,480 can't move on to God where God wants you to be because you're stuck and you're paralysed in that 126 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:52,120 place. But I want to say that God doesn't see you. He doesn't see you as a failure. He sees Christ in 127 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:59,800 you. He sees you as a child, as His son or daughter. He sees you and loves you just as much as He sees 128 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:07,160 His only son, Jesus. And so it's important for us to know that because He chooses not to remember. 129 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:14,760 See the guilt that we may be facing over something that we've done in the past, Jesus has dealt with. 130 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:20,840 He's paid the price for our guilt. He's dealt with that. The shame maybe that you're facing today, 131 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:26,360 He's taken it upon Himself. We don't actually have to hold, we don't have to actually live in that 132 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:32,280 today because He's taken it. The condemnation, that's all been erased. Now we don't have to 133 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:37,000 no longer live in any condemnation like they did in the Old Testament because we are in the New. It 134 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:43,400 says in Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus 135 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:50,280 who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. See we can be in a 136 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:55,400 place sometimes where, you know, given maybe like I said something that's been done to us or 137 00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:01,240 particularly something that we've done in the past that's sort of haunting us and plaguing us, 138 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:08,440 which is sort of like this dark cloud over our lives that we walk under. It's something 139 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:13,880 sometimes the enemy does, it's sometimes something we do ourselves. Psalm 66 verse 18, it says, 140 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:21,880 it's an unknown author but the psalmist writes that, if I regard iniquity or sin, if I regard 141 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:26,840 iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. Now there's a couple of interpretations for that. The 142 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:33,880 first one is obvious, if I have sinned, unconfessed in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But the second 143 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:41,400 one is, the second interpretation is, if I've sinned, if I've done something in my past and I've 144 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:48,360 asked and I haven't received the forgiveness, then again the Lord will not hear. If I've actually 145 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:55,560 haven't come to the Lord and I haven't received the forgiveness that I can have, then the Lord also 146 00:16:55,560 --> 00:17:01,640 will not hear. Because see, everything we've done in the past can be given to the Lord, it can be 147 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:11,000 forgiven because God is merciful, because He is just and He's delights in showing mercy. He delights 148 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:18,680 in showing us mercy because in Micah 7 verse 18 to 19, He says, this is a prophet Micah, He says, 149 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:25,240 who is a God like you pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant 150 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:31,000 of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in showing mercy. 151 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:36,680 I want to ask you today, do you walk in the mercy of God? Do you know the mercy of God that He's 152 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:45,000 quick to forgive, that He wants to show mercy over judgment, that He doesn't want you living 153 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:50,120 in that place of guilt or shame or condemnation where you are living under that dark cloud 154 00:17:50,120 --> 00:17:54,280 because of maybe the things you've done in the past. He wants you to walk in the freedom because 155 00:17:54,280 --> 00:18:00,680 Christ has bought that freedom for you. He's purchased through His blood the liberty that 156 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:05,640 you can have and that you can walk in, that all that guilt and that shame, that can be completely 157 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:11,880 gone and healed because He's taken it on the cross. He's taken it on Himself so that we don't have to 158 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:19,080 carry it. He's delivered us from it because, you know, God's mercy and His faithfulness, 159 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:28,120 God's mercy means we don't get what we deserve. We deserve judgment but God shows mercy. 160 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:36,040 Jesus sent to pay for our debt of sin we owed but God, because of His mercy, He did that for us. 161 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:43,560 And you may, I'm speaking to you particularly today, if you're living in a place where 162 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:50,040 you're bound by your past, that the past is coming up and you're living in the past, 163 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:56,920 those past mistakes. Winston Churchill said this, he said, success is not a sin. 164 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:04,360 Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is courage to continue that counts. 165 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:14,360 It's courage that counts. In the book of Joshua, God repeatedly tells Joshua, you know, everything 166 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:20,200 He was going to face and if you read the book of Joshua, He faced challenges, 167 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:28,120 He made mistakes and God forewarns him almost. He keeps affirming to him in the first chapter. 168 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:33,800 I think it's like three times in the first chapter He says, be courageous, be strong and courageous. 169 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:41,560 Don't lose that courage because when we lose that actual courage, that's when we start falling, 170 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:46,200 that's when we start not wanting to move forward. We can't move forward because we've lost courage. 171 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:53,080 It's so important that in the face of whatever it is, the circumstances, that maybe go before us 172 00:19:53,080 --> 00:20:00,200 as time goes on, that we actually don't lose our courage because in Proverbs 24 verse 16, 173 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:08,680 and this is a great scripture, it says, for a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, 174 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:16,840 seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. So you and I, we are righteous 175 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:21,080 men and women, we're going to get back up. It's by the grace of God we can turn to Him for His mercy 176 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:25,880 and forgiveness. We no longer have to walk in those past mistakes. We can actually walk in the 177 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:30,120 freedom that Christ has bought for us. We can actually, yes, we might fall down in the future. 178 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:35,960 It says there that a righteous man may fall, so we may fall again, but you're going to, 179 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:39,320 God's going to pick you back up because that's what He wants to do. He wants to pick you up in 180 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,800 His mercy. He wants to pick you up in His faithfulness and He wants to deliver you and 181 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:49,160 He wants you to put you back on that treadmill so you start walking again. Amen? Amen. 182 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:55,240 And I want to tell you that God actually responds to faith. He responds to faith 183 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:04,760 in the midst of failures because I spoke about Sarah earlier and I explained, you know, everything 184 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:13,640 that she had gone through. She had doubt, she had unbelief, she lied. So all these things, they could 185 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:20,520 have held her. They could have held her bound and for us today, there's things that may now 186 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:25,880 are holding you or in the future. That's why I'm preaching this message so that don't hold you, 187 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:31,160 but there's things that can actually hold us bound and Sarah was in a place that she could 188 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:38,680 have been bound. She could have allowed those things to give her her identity like, I'm a failure, 189 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:43,480 I'm never going to succeed, but I want to tell you this is the beauty of the Scriptures. In Hebrews 11, 190 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,440 if you turn there, in Hebrews 11, actually if you're not there, don't turn there because I'm 191 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:55,160 going to read one Scripture. I want you to hear it. Hebrews 11, 11, by faith. This is the hall of faith. 192 00:21:55,160 --> 00:22:02,360 Chapter 11, Sarah's mentioned in there and it begins with, by faith. Sarah herself also receives 193 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:07,800 strength to conceive seed and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him 194 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:15,640 faithful who had promised. It begins with faith. After everything that she had done and encountered, 195 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:23,960 the author of Hebrews describes Sarah as a faithful woman. By faith, Sarah herself also 196 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,520 receives strength to conceive and it says, it goes on that when she was past the age because she 197 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:37,400 judged him faithful who had promised. So God sees the good. He chooses to see the good. He doesn't 198 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:46,040 choose to see the mistakes we've made. We shouldn't either. It's our faith that's going to hold us. 199 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:51,000 It's our faith that keeps us. It's the faith and our hope in Jesus that is going to keep us up. It's 200 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:57,000 going to keep us going and enduring to the end. That's what hope is. That's what faith is. 201 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:03,800 At such a blessed Scripture, by faith, Sarah herself also receives strength to conceive seed 202 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:08,440 and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised. 203 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:14,520 See, our lives, our lives, regardless of what happens from this point forward, 204 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:22,440 we're called again in Hebrews, how to live. In chapter 10 verse 38, it says, now the just, 205 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:28,920 that's you and I, we're just, we've been justified by Jesus. Now the just shall live by faith, 206 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:37,160 by faith. But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. See, we're going to live by 207 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:45,960 faith. Faith is not an event. It's a lifestyle. The just shall live by faith. The only way we 208 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:53,160 have life is when we live by faith. Faith in Jesus, faith in the promises, faith in God. 209 00:23:53,160 --> 00:24:01,160 If we just will allow God to be God and we just come to him by faith, he's going to do it. 210 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:07,080 That covenant that he made with Jesus, it's no longer if you do it, if you do it. He says, 211 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:14,120 I will. That covenant, the promise that God made with Jesus when he went to that cross, 212 00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:19,560 that the new covenant that was, that new contract that was written, from that point, God said, 213 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:25,000 I will do it. I will do it. All the promises are fulfilled in Jesus. There are inheritance. There 214 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:31,160 are us to receive. We don't have to walk in that condemnation or that guilt or that shame. We don't 215 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:37,880 have to walk according to whatever we've experienced in the past because God desires that we live 216 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:45,080 according to faith and by faith. And you know, sometimes that's going to be hard to do. Sometimes 217 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:53,240 that's not easy to do. But in one Kings, when Elijah, see God said to Elijah, 218 00:24:55,560 --> 00:25:03,400 go to Ahab, which was one of the Kings, and he said, basically, tell him there's no rain's 219 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:08,280 going to come. So he prayed and there's no rain. So the rain, it said, stopped for about three and 220 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:14,600 a half years or so. It stopped because he prayed. God gave him the word and he prayed and it stopped. 221 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:20,360 And then later on, he comes back to him three or so years later and he says to Ahab again, 222 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:26,760 all right, I'm going to pray now and it's going to rain. So he had the promise. He had the promise 223 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:34,360 of God and he's up there. It's in one Kings 18 verse 41. Elijah said to Ahab, go up and eat and 224 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:41,560 drink for there is a sound of abundance of rain. This is speaking to the King. So Ahab went up to 225 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:46,120 eat and drink and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. Then he bowed down on the ground and put 226 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:54,520 his face between his knees and said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea. So he went up and 227 00:25:54,520 --> 00:26:00,840 looked and said, there is nothing. So he's speaking to his servant. He's saying, Elijah's saying, 228 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:05,400 go up and tell me, what do you see? Is the rain coming? God's promised me I've prayed. I'm praying 229 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:12,280 right now. Is it coming? He comes back and he says, there is nothing. And then he says, and seven 230 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:20,520 times he said, go again. So he kept praying. He kept praying in faith. He remained in faith. He 231 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:27,640 said, go again. He saw nothing. And sometimes we need the faith and we need to rise up and go again. 232 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:32,760 Maybe you're in that place today where you need to pick yourself up, arise and go again. Just like 233 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,400 Elijah said to the servant, go again. We need that faith, that place where we remain in faith, that 234 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,720 God is faithful. And we need to pick ourselves up and actually declare that we're going to go again. 235 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:46,200 That we're actually not going to live according to the circumstances. We're not going to walk 236 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:50,520 according to what we see in the natural. We're actually going to stand on the faithfulness and 237 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:54,440 the mercy of God. We're going to pick ourselves up. We're going to declare of our lives, go again. 238 00:26:54,440 --> 00:27:01,000 We're going to remain and we're going to stay and keep ourselves in faith. Because sometimes 239 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:06,120 that's all we have. Things may not seem like they should. That cloud should have been there. God 240 00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:10,440 promised maybe first time he prayed, but it wasn't. The second time it wasn't there. The third time 241 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:17,320 it wasn't there. Fourth time it wasn't there. But I want to tell you, God's faithful. And it says, 242 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:24,760 the seventh time that he said, there is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea. So 243 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:29,560 he said, go up and say to her, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you. 244 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:34,280 So God was so faithful. God was so faithful to answer that man's prayer. And he's faithful for 245 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:42,040 us today because God's given us promises. Jesus, those promises through the covenant for us today 246 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:46,280 that we can actually lay hold of. That we can actually walk in the freedom that Christ 247 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:51,400 has bought for us. That he shed his blood for. That everything that he received, everything 248 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:58,120 that all the suffering he received for us, that is for us today to lay hold of. He was 249 00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:05,480 struck. He was beaten so we could be healed. Every provision has been made through Jesus. So 250 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:11,400 I want to close now, but I want to pray for anyone here who actually has not been walking 251 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:18,760 in the fullness of God. You've been walking with that cloud. That cloud, it's got that guilt in it. 252 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:24,120 It's got the shame. It's got the condemnation. It's the things that are coming up. They're rising up 253 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:30,520 and they're visiting us and we seem to be in that place where maybe we can't move and we feel like 254 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:36,280 I haven't confessed it enough. I need to confess more. Maybe God didn't hear me the first time. I 255 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:42,200 need to confess it again. And we go in the spiral and it's this spiral. We just do the same thing 256 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:46,680 over and over. Maybe that's you today. I want to pray that God actually lifts that off you today. 257 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:52,200 You actually come in that liberty that Christ has purchased. That he actually breaks through. 258 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:58,680 He lifts that cloud off your life and going forward that whatever is going to come our way, 259 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,760 that proverb I read out before, it says the righteous man might fall but he's going to get 260 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,920 up again. He's going to get up again because we've got the power of the Holy Spirit. That was part of 261 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:12,120 the new covenant. God said, I'll give you the Holy Spirit. I'm going to change you from the inside out. 262 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,600 That's what the Holy Spirit's going to do. So we have the grace but we also have the power of the 263 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:23,400 Holy Spirit. So Lord, I want to lift up every person right now. Lord, You've done it all. 264 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:29,160 Lord, we come before You. Lord, we were broken. We were broken and You healed us. Lord, in our sin 265 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,960 we came before You and You saved us. Lord, You gave us Your precious gift of faith. Lord, 266 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:38,600 You gave us Your grace, Your mercy, Your salvation. Lord, You gave us forgiveness. 267 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:45,800 Lord, and that wasn't in vain. Lord, You've done it so that we could be free, so that we could walk 268 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:50,600 in liberty, so that we could praise You, so we could worship You, so we could bear testimony of 269 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:55,080 Your goodness and Your mercy. And Lord, I want to lift up every person right now, Lord, that has 270 00:29:55,080 --> 00:30:00,680 struggled in the past. Lord, we're maybe the enemy or themselves. They've put themselves under guilt. 271 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:06,840 They've carried, Lord, guilt and shame. Lord, I'm asking right now by the power of Your Holy Spirit, 272 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:12,040 You would come and You would break through. You would lift off right now in the Name of Jesus Christ 273 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:17,720 all shame, all guilt, Lord. Where there's condemnation, I'm asking right now it'd 274 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:22,120 be completely destroyed. Lord, I'm asking today, Lord, You would give us a revelation, a greater 275 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:26,280 revelation of what You've done, Lord Jesus, through the cross, Lord, what You've done through Your 276 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,640 death and resurrection for us, Lord, through the shedding of blood, Lord, everything that You've 277 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,840 done for us, everything, Lord, You've done in the new covenant for us. I'm asking, Lord, You would 278 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:37,640 open up our eyes to see and give us great revelation of what You've done for us today, Lord. 279 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:43,640 Where we don't know Your love, I'm asking, Lord, that You would release, Lord, Your love to us, 280 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:48,360 Lord. It would be revelation, Lord. I thank You that You have released it to us. You've shed it 281 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:53,400 abroad in everyone's heart by the Holy Spirit. I'm asking, Lord, it would be real to us, Lord. I'm 282 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:59,480 asking for a greater revelation of our identity and a greater revelation of Your love for us. 283 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:03,640 Father, I'm asking right now, Lord, every person who's stuck in a pit, Lord, every person, Lord, 284 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:08,840 that has had their plan and their journey, Lord, aborted, I'm asking right now, Lord, that You would 285 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:12,760 come and You would lift them up, Lord. You would put them back on that track, Lord. You would put 286 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:17,240 them back in their place, Lord, in Your will, Lord. You would move them forward. Father, I ask right 287 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:21,400 now, I declare liberty over every life today, Lord, where people have been bound, where people 288 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,320 have been laid hostage by their thoughts, I'm asking right now, Lord, You would come and You 289 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:29,800 would renew them, Lord, renew them in the spirit of their mind. I'm asking right now, Lord, for 290 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:35,960 healing of hearts, healing of minds. I'm asking right now, Lord, that You would touch every person's 291 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:40,920 life here today, Lord afresh. As we go today, Lord, there would be a breakthrough in our thinking, 292 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:45,320 Lord. We would know, Lord Jesus, Lord, that You are high lifted up, that You have purchased 293 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,920 everything, Lord. You've done it. You've finished it. Lord, You said it is finished. You said the 294 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:53,960 work is done. Lord, I declare, Lord, You're perfect in finished work, Lord Jesus, over every person 295 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:59,480 here today as they go. Lord, I declare Your liberty be released over every life. Lord, I declare right 296 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:04,840 now breakthrough. I declare breakthrough. I declare healing, Lord, and I declare, Lord, they shall go 297 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:09,560 again. Lord, Your people, Lord, they shall arise today. Lord, they shall go again. They shall walk 298 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:13,560 by faith. They shall walk, Lord, trusting and knowing that You are good, that You are faithful, 299 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:20,920 that You are merciful. Lord, I commit every person here to You. Lord, we just declare we trust You 300 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:29,400 and Lord, You are all we need. You are all we need, Lord. Father, preserve us and sustain us by Your 301 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:51,400 grace in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.