WEBVTT 00:00:04.139 --> 00:00:05.780 Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House 00:00:05.780 --> 00:00:08.560 Seminar Podcast. This is a special series from 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:10.900 our Prescott Conference that just recently occurred. 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:13.599 The theme of the conference was Into the Unknown 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:17.100 and the scripture for the theme was Romans 15, 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:21.120 20 -21. I have made it my aim to preach the gospel 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:26.300 to whom he was not announced. So this is a powerful 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:29.829 series of... sermons from leaders in our fellowship 00:00:29.829 --> 00:00:32.429 to include Greg Mitchell, Joe Campbell, Richard 00:00:32.429 --> 00:00:36.369 Ruby, Sergei Golubev, and others along with that. 00:00:36.469 --> 00:00:39.670 So please enjoy and listen along these powerful 00:00:39.670 --> 00:00:45.509 sermons from leaders in our fellowship. Thank 00:00:45.509 --> 00:00:50.710 you for that welcome and I want to express my 00:00:50.710 --> 00:00:55.250 gratitude to Pastor Mitchell for affording me 00:00:55.250 --> 00:00:59.079 this opportunity after the quality of preaching 00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:03.000 from Monday night and through yesterday. I feel 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:05.260 like my name should be smitten from the roster, 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:12.719 but here we are. So we are going to preach from 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:21.700 a very unique text. They say you have to hear 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:23.920 something seven times before you can remember 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:29.109 it. And my take on it is God is really trying 00:01:29.109 --> 00:01:33.890 to speak to someone. And if he has to repeat 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:37.329 himself one more time, he'll probably just kill 00:01:37.329 --> 00:01:42.349 you. He'll just drag your body out and know that 00:01:42.349 --> 00:01:45.650 you were the one that God wanted to go into the 00:01:45.650 --> 00:01:52.010 unknown. We tend to dread the unknown. We prefer 00:01:52.010 --> 00:01:58.040 the predictable rut of life. My contention this 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:01.519 morning is that the idea of a predictable rut 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:06.219 is absurd and it's an illusion. Because there 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:10.379 is nothing predictable about life. Absolutely 00:02:10.379 --> 00:02:16.219 nothing. We are immersed in the unknown. We live 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:20.379 and breathe the unknown. It's the defining reality 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:24.560 of our lives. Even if that unnerves you, you 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:27.669 have to... understand that the unknown is the 00:02:27.669 --> 00:02:32.689 air we breathe and you have no idea everything 00:02:32.689 --> 00:02:36.750 from this moment forward is unknown to us we 00:02:36.750 --> 00:02:38.330 don't know if we're going to make it through 00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:44.509 this sermon we don't know you don't know jack 00:02:44.509 --> 00:02:52.909 so why are we so put off by the unknown why do 00:02:52.909 --> 00:02:55.849 we shy away from it It's like trying to avoid 00:02:55.849 --> 00:03:00.629 oxygen. You can't do it for long. You're going 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:04.689 to venture into the unknown. And I'm going to 00:03:04.689 --> 00:03:07.889 make a case this morning for doing so, for charging 00:03:07.889 --> 00:03:12.590 into the unknown. Grabbing it with both hands, 00:03:12.849 --> 00:03:20.229 taking the leap, venturing, risking all, and 00:03:20.229 --> 00:03:23.840 seeing what God will do. Because there is no 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:28.840 point in pursuing any other path. Because none 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:34.979 exists. So let's consider once more Abraham and 00:03:34.979 --> 00:03:40.099 the unknown. Genesis 12, 1 to 5. The Lord had 00:03:40.099 --> 00:03:43.740 said to Abraham, go from your country, your people 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:45.840 and your father's household to the land I will 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:49.000 show you. I will make you into a great nation 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:52.650 and I will bless you. And I will make your name 00:03:52.650 --> 00:03:56.750 great and you will be a blessing. I will bless 00:03:56.750 --> 00:03:59.030 those who bless you and whoever curses you I 00:03:59.030 --> 00:04:02.030 will curse. And all peoples on the earth will 00:04:02.030 --> 00:04:05.810 be blessed through you. So Abram went as the 00:04:05.810 --> 00:04:10.330 Lord had told him. And Lot went with him. Abram 00:04:10.330 --> 00:04:13.750 was 75 years old when he set out from Haran. 00:04:14.430 --> 00:04:20.180 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, All the 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:22.519 possessions they had accumulated and the people 00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:26.100 they had acquired in Iran. And they set out for 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:32.740 the land of Canaan. And they arrived there. Let's 00:04:32.740 --> 00:04:36.180 pray. Father, I ask you for grace, wisdom. I 00:04:36.180 --> 00:04:38.899 pray that you'll fill this pulpit. And you'll 00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:41.339 fill the hearts and the minds of your people. 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:44.620 Have your way this morning. I pray in Jesus' 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:52.000 name. Amen. We tend to view most of life through 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.379 our own experience. We assume to one degree or 00:04:56.379 --> 00:05:01.000 another that our take on reality is in fact closely 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:06.300 aligned to reality. The way we think is right. 00:05:06.379 --> 00:05:09.399 And I suppose it must be so or none of us would 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:12.379 dare say or do anything if we always thought 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:17.620 we were wrong. We have to assume a certain rightness. 00:05:18.569 --> 00:05:22.230 About our understanding of things. Especially 00:05:22.230 --> 00:05:28.689 we who are genuinely set on knowing God. Discerning 00:05:28.689 --> 00:05:33.870 his will. And we have spent our lives. Despite 00:05:33.870 --> 00:05:36.970 all the debate and dissent that litters church 00:05:36.970 --> 00:05:40.589 history. We have dug into the scripture. We have 00:05:40.589 --> 00:05:45.420 sought God. We have pursued revelation. And we 00:05:45.420 --> 00:05:49.480 have settled on our own convictions. We feel 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:58.019 that we rightly understand God. As I am sure 00:05:58.019 --> 00:06:04.660 Abraham had done. Make no mistake about it. Abraham 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:10.079 was a pagan. He was steeped in polytheism. He 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:13.360 was far removed from a revelation of God, but 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:21.699 he had his theology. He had his ideas of who 00:06:21.699 --> 00:06:32.279 God is or God's is. Joshua 24, 2. Joshua said 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:34.699 to all the people, this is what the Lord, the 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:38.790 God of Israel, says. Long ago. Your ancestors, 00:06:38.910 --> 00:06:42.389 including Tariq, the father of Abraham and Nahor, 00:06:42.550 --> 00:06:48.230 lived beyond the Euphrates and worshipped other 00:06:48.230 --> 00:06:54.550 gods. He wasn't dabbling in religion. It wasn't 00:06:54.550 --> 00:06:59.490 secondary to him. Ancient peoples ordered their 00:06:59.490 --> 00:07:04.509 lives around their gods. Pastor Campbell mentioned 00:07:04.509 --> 00:07:08.220 that by some accounts Tariq the father of Abraham, 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:13.060 carved idols. And other accounts suggest that 00:07:13.060 --> 00:07:16.779 he was a priest. So we're talking, we could say 00:07:16.779 --> 00:07:27.160 that Abraham was a PK. In the wrong faith. But 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:32.930 he was immersed in his theology of God. In Acts 00:07:32.930 --> 00:07:36.029 chapter 7, verses 2 to 4, we have recounted by 00:07:36.029 --> 00:07:41.629 Stephen an initial encounter, an apparent first 00:07:41.629 --> 00:07:45.870 call to Canaan, or perhaps with some grammatical 00:07:45.870 --> 00:07:49.009 leisure demand, we are able to say it's the same 00:07:49.009 --> 00:07:54.009 call. But one way or the other, we have this 00:07:54.009 --> 00:07:56.310 statement from Stephen. Brothers and fathers, 00:07:56.470 --> 00:08:00.939 listen to me. The God of glory. appeared to our 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:04.279 father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:11.160 before he lived in Haran leave your country and 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:16.120 your people God said and go to the land I will 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:19.839 show you so he left the land of the Chaldeans 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:24.579 and settled in Haran after the death of his father 00:08:24.579 --> 00:08:30.250 God sent him to this land Where you are now living. 00:08:33.149 --> 00:08:35.970 So we don't exactly know when. It's unknown. 00:08:37.409 --> 00:08:41.649 But at some point. Abraham. He's fully grown. 00:08:42.110 --> 00:08:45.570 He's already married. He's no doubt comfortably 00:08:45.570 --> 00:08:49.870 ensconced with his God and his theology. When 00:08:49.870 --> 00:08:58.169 out of nowhere. Unexpectedly. God shows up. We. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:05.779 are equally inclined to settle into our theological 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:11.620 rhythms, our settled expectations, our comfortable 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:15.059 levels of commitment and consecration. We look 00:09:15.059 --> 00:09:19.519 at our Christianity and we say, there, that's 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:31.259 God. Until God shows up. Amen. We really have 00:09:31.259 --> 00:09:35.559 no idea how God showed up to Abraham. All we 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:38.220 have to go on is the aforementioned Acts 7 to 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:43.700 account that says the God of glory appeared to 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:48.240 our father Abraham. Somehow God appeared to Abraham. 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:51.860 As Pastor Greg aptly pointed out, God spoke and 00:09:51.860 --> 00:09:55.059 the importance of hearing God. It is suggested 00:09:55.059 --> 00:09:58.720 by that statement that It involved his manifest 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:03.720 glory somehow. Whatever happened in that moment 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:08.659 in Abraham's life, he was willing to jettison 00:10:08.659 --> 00:10:17.179 years of religion as usual and decide to follow 00:10:17.179 --> 00:10:23.480 a God he knew nothing about. Like the Athenians, 00:10:23.539 --> 00:10:27.169 right? Amongst all their idols, they kept a slot 00:10:27.169 --> 00:10:30.110 open for the God they didn't know, the unknown 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:35.149 God. Even pagans are smart enough to know that 00:10:35.149 --> 00:10:39.110 we never have it all figured out. See, you think 00:10:39.110 --> 00:10:42.029 you've got it all figured out. You think you 00:10:42.029 --> 00:10:43.929 know what God wants. You know how your life's 00:10:43.929 --> 00:10:47.789 going to play. You got it all mapped out. I suggest 00:10:47.789 --> 00:10:52.409 pagans are smarter than you. They at least realize. 00:10:55.110 --> 00:10:59.370 There's a lot of mystery when it comes to God. 00:11:00.929 --> 00:11:03.450 You know, Saul was completely convinced of his 00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:07.090 theology. He was convinced that he was absolutely 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:10.129 right in killing everybody here. That was his 00:11:10.129 --> 00:11:13.929 theology. You all should die until God showed 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:19.529 up. All of a sudden, all of his ideas about God 00:11:19.529 --> 00:11:22.539 were... Completely blown out of the water. Can 00:11:22.539 --> 00:11:26.360 you imagine the internal chaos in Abraham when 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:29.600 everything he thought he knew about God was blown 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:36.639 apart? Then imagine Sarah when he came in the 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.940 door and said, Honey, I'm home. I've met God 00:11:39.940 --> 00:11:46.860 today. Pack your things. We're leaving. Imagine 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:50.799 when he had the talk. With his father, Torah. 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:56.340 You know the talk I'm talking about. Dad, you 00:11:56.340 --> 00:11:59.159 know, I'm leaving the family religion of the 00:11:59.159 --> 00:12:04.620 moon god to follow this new god. It's kind of 00:12:04.620 --> 00:12:06.620 like the talk you had when you told your parents 00:12:06.620 --> 00:12:08.799 that you were leaving the Catholic church to 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:22.059 join the potter's house. Then Nahor, his brother, 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:27.100 and Nahor's son Lot. And the rumor of Abraham 00:12:27.100 --> 00:12:29.779 becoming a Jesus freak is spreading through the 00:12:29.779 --> 00:12:34.639 tribe. And everything is getting shaken up and 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:38.700 everything's getting weird. And Abraham's world 00:12:38.700 --> 00:12:45.580 is turned upside down because God showed up and 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:52.399 interrupted his peaceful religion. Can God turn 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:56.840 your world upside down? I'm not asking if he 00:12:56.840 --> 00:12:59.919 has the ability to turn your world upside down. 00:12:59.980 --> 00:13:04.299 That's a given. I'm asking if he has your consent. 00:13:06.100 --> 00:13:14.139 Will you cooperate? Can he detonate your placid, 00:13:14.139 --> 00:13:22.679 docile, pseudo -Christianity? And show up in 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:27.759 unexpected glory. And bid you go into Canaan. 00:13:29.399 --> 00:13:34.559 Can God challenge your assumptions about who 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:39.639 he is? And his promises and his purposes in your 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:42.580 life? Can he shake you out of your obsession 00:13:42.580 --> 00:13:50.590 with the American dream? Can he disturb your 00:13:50.590 --> 00:13:54.809 theology that God, according to you, supports 00:13:54.809 --> 00:14:00.350 your blatant materialism? In fact, blesses it. 00:14:01.409 --> 00:14:06.809 And your rabid individualism. Can God blow your 00:14:06.809 --> 00:14:12.669 comfortable Christianity out of the water? Or 00:14:12.669 --> 00:14:17.590 are you too set up? Too ossified? Too settled? 00:14:18.570 --> 00:14:24.750 To be anything but religious. Can God challenge 00:14:24.750 --> 00:14:28.590 your personal moon God? He goes by the name of 00:14:28.590 --> 00:14:36.470 Mammon these days. Bling. Moolah. Can God knock 00:14:36.470 --> 00:14:41.509 Moolah off his perch like he did Dagon? Smash 00:14:41.509 --> 00:14:44.690 him at your feet. And say that's not the God 00:14:44.690 --> 00:14:52.759 that I am. Perhaps God wants to send you on an 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:56.139 adventure. I hate saying that. It sounds so Max 00:14:56.139 --> 00:15:02.279 Lucado -ish. God wants to send you on an adventure. 00:15:05.299 --> 00:15:09.740 But for lack of a better word, can God send you 00:15:09.740 --> 00:15:12.919 on an adventure? Somewhere you've never been. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:16.830 Somewhere you never thought you'd be. Perhaps 00:15:16.830 --> 00:15:21.289 as far away as the other side of the world. Or 00:15:21.289 --> 00:15:23.970 perhaps as close as the kingdom of God within 00:15:23.970 --> 00:15:27.409 you, which I guarantee you is a far distance 00:15:27.409 --> 00:15:34.149 from where you're living right now. Is it possible 00:15:34.149 --> 00:15:39.429 to encounter a completely different God than 00:15:39.429 --> 00:15:41.909 the one you have neatly wrapped up in your theological 00:15:41.909 --> 00:15:49.179 box? who has promised not to disturb you. Help 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:55.740 us, Lord. Don't you wish Glenn Cluck was here 00:15:55.740 --> 00:16:04.100 right now. He could diffuse the tension. Let's 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:09.940 keep going. Abraham has met the unknown and the 00:16:09.940 --> 00:16:14.789 unexpected God. What does God say to him? Leave 00:16:14.789 --> 00:16:19.690 everybody. Leave everything and go. How disruptive. 00:16:22.250 --> 00:16:27.450 Where? That's need to know. I'm not telling you. 00:16:27.549 --> 00:16:32.169 That's so unfair. God can be so unfair, can't 00:16:32.169 --> 00:16:37.570 he? It's so unfair. Remarkably, Abraham goes. 00:16:39.690 --> 00:16:42.850 He sets off for an unknown destination. But why? 00:16:43.850 --> 00:16:47.129 What did he really know about this unknown God 00:16:47.129 --> 00:16:51.450 who he met in the desert? He knew naked nothing 00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:55.549 about where he was going or how any of this would 00:16:55.549 --> 00:17:02.789 work out. It seems so irrational. How would you 00:17:02.789 --> 00:17:06.789 like to live your Christianity that way? Maybe, 00:17:06.829 --> 00:17:09.900 just maybe. That's how we're supposed to live 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:13.920 our Christianity. Maybe we're not supposed to 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.819 be quite so hyper -rational about it. Maybe you're 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:19.819 not supposed to have all your T's crossed and 00:17:19.819 --> 00:17:22.119 your I's dotted and everything in its proper 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:25.960 place. This is so antithetical to the way Western 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:30.859 people think. We think in formulas, legal guarantees. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:36.240 We're set about building a secure life for ourselves 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:39.220 and for our family. And we have this built -in 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:42.839 risk aversion. And that's good stewardship and 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:48.400 proper living. You know, is God only allowed 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:54.279 to upset Abraham's apple cart? As long as he 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:57.759 does that, that's okay. You know, he did mess 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:01.880 with Moses a little bit. Daniel had his moments. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:08.200 In fact, all the disciples. In fact, everybody 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:15.740 in the Bible had their life completely unsettled 00:18:15.740 --> 00:18:24.180 by a walk of faith. But that was then. God's 00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:30.420 caught up with us. He's a lot hipper now. He 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:35.380 gets us. Like that's what he really was trying 00:18:35.380 --> 00:18:45.140 to do all along. He gets us. Our God is so predictable. 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:56.099 He's nice. He's moral. He's so normal. If Jesus 00:18:56.099 --> 00:18:58.940 was sitting right next to you, he'd fit right 00:18:58.940 --> 00:19:07.549 in. You might even offer him a cigarette. We 00:19:07.549 --> 00:19:12.369 serve a much more subdued God who makes no radical 00:19:12.369 --> 00:19:16.529 demands of us, who wants us to be comfortable. 00:19:21.630 --> 00:19:26.210 Don't want to gruffle them sheep because them 00:19:26.210 --> 00:19:32.799 sheep have teeth. Don't want to upset them. I 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:34.579 don't know. You know, I've been at this for 51 00:19:34.579 --> 00:19:38.940 years. And I'm not convinced that God is this 00:19:38.940 --> 00:19:45.240 simplistic. Have you, like me, like Abraham, 00:19:45.579 --> 00:19:51.940 ever realized that you don't really know much 00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:57.950 about God? Have you ever stumbled? into some 00:19:57.950 --> 00:20:02.390 theological quandaries as you set Gailey off 00:20:02.390 --> 00:20:05.609 on your spiritual journey and run right into, 00:20:05.690 --> 00:20:12.130 what? That doesn't fit. Have you, like Abram, 00:20:12.230 --> 00:20:15.569 found yourself bringing your own metaphorical 00:20:15.569 --> 00:20:20.230 terach and lot along with you when God specifically 00:20:20.230 --> 00:20:24.730 told you to leave that at the door? Your terach 00:20:24.730 --> 00:20:28.849 might be anger. God said, don't bring that with 00:20:28.849 --> 00:20:32.130 you. Drugs, you know, there's some of you still 00:20:32.130 --> 00:20:38.130 smoking dope. Don't bring that with you. Don't 00:20:38.130 --> 00:20:40.690 bring that lust. Don't bring that greed. Don't 00:20:40.690 --> 00:20:45.109 bring that bitterness. But here you are. You 00:20:45.109 --> 00:20:48.569 got it in your backpack. You brought it along 00:20:48.569 --> 00:20:52.970 for the ride. And have you ever been mystified 00:20:52.970 --> 00:20:57.839 by the fact that you survived? your quasi -obedience. 00:20:59.819 --> 00:21:03.079 Have you ever pondered, why didn't God turn me 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:06.900 into a gerbil? If I was God, I'd have turned 00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:09.279 me into a gerbil just for the fun of it, and 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:17.299 then I'd kill him. How is it that God puts up 00:21:17.299 --> 00:21:22.180 with my flawed consecration? That is a theological 00:21:22.180 --> 00:21:27.589 quandary. We call it amazing grace. It's hard 00:21:27.589 --> 00:21:29.630 for us to get our heads around. It's hard for 00:21:29.630 --> 00:21:32.809 us to work it in, right? Because we don't want 00:21:32.809 --> 00:21:35.890 to be flippant about it. But we don't want to 00:21:35.890 --> 00:21:39.589 be pharisaical about it. How does it all work? 00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:43.329 All I know is if I was God, I'd have killed me 00:21:43.329 --> 00:21:49.730 a long time ago. Theological quandaries. Who 00:21:49.730 --> 00:21:53.230 is this God? Have you ever found yourself stalled 00:21:53.230 --> 00:21:57.240 in Haran? for years by what you brought along 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:02.200 with you? You just keep going around and around 00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:08.599 the mountain? God didn't say, bring Terach and 00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:15.559 Lot. God said, don't bring them. Apparently, 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:18.940 it was Terach's idea to stop in Haran. We have 00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:22.019 no idea how long they were there, but we know 00:22:22.019 --> 00:22:25.630 it was years. Some say five, some say 15. I don't 00:22:25.630 --> 00:22:28.809 know. You can't identify it specifically, but 00:22:28.809 --> 00:22:34.049 we know that Abraham stalled in Haran because 00:22:34.049 --> 00:22:38.589 they set out for Canaan, but they stopped in 00:22:38.589 --> 00:22:42.549 Haran. And they didn't leave until Terah died. 00:22:44.049 --> 00:22:47.569 Until what he brought along couldn't come along 00:22:47.569 --> 00:22:54.089 anymore. Something's got to die. Something's 00:22:54.089 --> 00:22:55.670 got to die or you're just going to stay stuck 00:22:55.670 --> 00:23:02.630 in Haran. That excess baggage cost Abraham some 00:23:02.630 --> 00:23:07.470 years. Have you ever pondered how many years 00:23:07.470 --> 00:23:12.630 your disobedience has cost you? What could you 00:23:12.630 --> 00:23:17.089 have done by now had you not just messed around? 00:23:20.309 --> 00:23:24.279 Have you ever found yourself finally obeying 00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:27.599 God, finally going to Canaan, only to run into 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:31.599 a drought? Wait, wait, wait. I'm obeying God 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:34.039 now. It's all supposed to be good. Yeah, here, 00:23:34.099 --> 00:23:39.539 have a drought. Did that drought detour you to 00:23:39.539 --> 00:23:44.200 Egypt, perhaps? Did that detour lead to some 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:47.779 rather serious marital problems? Has you handed 00:23:47.779 --> 00:23:52.150 your beautiful wife off to Pharaoh? In an act 00:23:52.150 --> 00:23:58.309 of naked cowardice and selfishness? I'm not talking 00:23:58.309 --> 00:23:59.910 to anybody here today. I'm just entertaining 00:23:59.910 --> 00:24:10.509 myself. Have you found yourself waiting and waiting 00:24:10.509 --> 00:24:18.009 and waiting and waiting for the promise, for 00:24:18.009 --> 00:24:25.440 the son? I just passed 100. Clock in the years, 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:29.519 God. Have you ever found yourself in a theological 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:32.900 quandary where you're wondering, did I miss God? 00:24:33.480 --> 00:24:38.720 Do I know God? Has your faith struggle ever produced 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:43.680 some Ishmaels along the way? We could go on drawing 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:47.759 parallels to our own experience at length, but 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:51.809 I don't want you to miss the point. Abraham, 00:24:51.809 --> 00:24:58.569 the father of faith, would be the obvious study 00:24:58.569 --> 00:25:04.369 in what faith looks like. And what we see very 00:25:04.369 --> 00:25:09.690 clearly in his narrative is that faith is a life 00:25:09.690 --> 00:25:17.529 lived in the unknown, following a God who's quite 00:25:17.529 --> 00:25:23.819 mysterious. The I am. To a place we don't know 00:25:23.819 --> 00:25:31.839 and often doesn't match our expectations. Doesn't 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:34.059 look like what I thought I was getting into. 00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:36.599 This doesn't look like what I thought I signed 00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:40.019 up for. This doesn't look like the revival I 00:25:40.019 --> 00:25:42.000 thought I was going to have as soon as I left 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:44.339 and started a church. This doesn't look like 00:25:44.339 --> 00:25:48.240 the ministry I was expecting from God. You know, 00:25:48.259 --> 00:25:52.960 the God who is, is not the God we want him to 00:25:52.960 --> 00:26:00.359 be. Nor is he the God we think he is. He is the 00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:06.940 willful God. He has a will. He has a plan. He 00:26:06.940 --> 00:26:12.579 has a purpose. And we, like Abraham, have to 00:26:12.579 --> 00:26:17.990 go with that wherever it leads. And it may not 00:26:17.990 --> 00:26:22.609 lead where you want to go. Like Jonah. I don't 00:26:22.609 --> 00:26:27.109 want to go there. I'm going there. That didn't 00:26:27.109 --> 00:26:30.289 work out well. There's no point in complaining 00:26:30.289 --> 00:26:33.930 about where you end up. Because none of us have 00:26:33.930 --> 00:26:36.390 a clue what our personal Canaan is supposed to 00:26:36.390 --> 00:26:42.009 look like until we get there. I know we have 00:26:42.009 --> 00:26:45.109 our ideas. That's the whole problem. Abraham 00:26:45.109 --> 00:26:48.470 had his ideas. about God, about life, about how 00:26:48.470 --> 00:26:54.589 it was going to play. And he was wrong. It should 00:26:54.589 --> 00:26:59.930 be self -evident that God being infinite means 00:26:59.930 --> 00:27:03.309 we can never exhaust the possibilities of discovery. 00:27:05.309 --> 00:27:07.829 You know, it almost feels blasphemous to say 00:27:07.829 --> 00:27:13.309 I know God. Right? No, you know a t -shirt version 00:27:13.309 --> 00:27:23.859 of God. Jesus makes me happy. Job 26, 14. Indeed, 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:28.000 these are the mere edges of his ways, and how 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:32.019 small a whisper we hear of him, but the thunder 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:37.500 of his power, who can understand? And God, in 00:27:37.500 --> 00:27:43.759 his incomprehensible glory, who dwells in unapproachable 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:48.160 light, can only show his hinder parts to a man 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:52.279 like Moses. And Moses was, you know, top level. 00:27:53.900 --> 00:27:58.400 And God said, no, you can't deal with the truth. 00:27:59.019 --> 00:28:03.160 I wonder if he said it like Jack Nicholson. You 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:07.140 can't deal with the truth. But I'll show you 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:12.740 my hinder parts. You figure that out. I'm not 00:28:12.740 --> 00:28:15.140 suggesting that we don't know God relationally. 00:28:16.320 --> 00:28:23.619 Or that we don't know anything about him. Oops. 00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:32.500 Where'd it go? See, I don't know. I want you 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:34.759 to listen carefully to this. That's why I wanted 00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:39.700 to find it and quote myself directly. You have 00:28:39.700 --> 00:28:42.220 to do that when you get to my age. If you want 00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:43.759 to remember what you said, you have to write 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:50.779 it down. What we don't know about God exceeds 00:28:50.779 --> 00:28:59.599 what we do. We know God. We know much about Him. 00:28:59.619 --> 00:29:01.839 We thankfully have the revelation of Christ walking 00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:06.220 the earth as a man, revealing the Father, helping 00:29:06.220 --> 00:29:09.559 us to comprehend. But what we don't know about 00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:13.839 God exceeds what we do, nor do we know where 00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:18.200 our story is going. And Deuteronomy 29, verse 00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:24.779 29, says the secret things belong to God. We 00:29:24.779 --> 00:29:28.240 could sum up Abraham's story with the terse statement. 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:34.099 Abraham followed a God he hardly knew to a place 00:29:34.099 --> 00:29:38.720 he didn't know at all, despite setbacks, failures, 00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:45.039 and delays. And that is what faith looks like. 00:29:47.809 --> 00:29:52.670 That is what a walk with God looks like. That's 00:29:52.670 --> 00:29:57.250 what your life should look like. Does your life 00:29:57.250 --> 00:30:01.049 look anything like that? Or do you drive a Tesla? 00:30:08.269 --> 00:30:11.890 And you know exactly where you're going. And 00:30:11.890 --> 00:30:20.359 so does your car. Ah, but we must not forget 00:30:20.359 --> 00:30:26.900 the end of the story. And they arrived there. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:33.940 Isn't that great? They did it. They made it. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:38.339 They made it to Canaan. And Stephen says in Acts 00:30:38.339 --> 00:30:43.279 7 verse 5, he gave him no inheritance here. Not 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:53.279 even enough ground to set his foot on. Brought 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:56.779 me from comfortable err. And you're not even 00:30:56.779 --> 00:31:03.180 giving me a pile of sand. But God promised him. 00:31:03.640 --> 00:31:06.960 That he and his descendants after him. Would 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:11.319 possess the land. Even though at that time. Abraham 00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:16.400 had no child. Or had no descendants. So wait 00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:21.420 a minute. This isn't working with my. Comfortable 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:25.789 theology. He works it all out. He gets where 00:31:25.789 --> 00:31:28.190 he's going. He enters the mystery. He braves 00:31:28.190 --> 00:31:30.769 the unknown. He gets to Canaan and he doesn't 00:31:30.769 --> 00:31:35.009 even have enough ground to set his foot on. And 00:31:35.009 --> 00:31:39.029 once again, our nice American happy ending theology 00:31:39.029 --> 00:31:45.329 is blown out of the water. Because we're confronted 00:31:45.329 --> 00:31:50.950 with the fact that Abraham's destiny was not 00:31:50.950 --> 00:31:56.630 at all. About him. God didn't have this plan 00:31:56.630 --> 00:32:03.789 for Abraham. He had a plan for the world. He 00:32:03.789 --> 00:32:08.009 had a plan for redemption. And destiny is so 00:32:08.009 --> 00:32:11.150 much bigger than some Middle Eastern real estate. 00:32:12.490 --> 00:32:15.690 And it's so much bigger than some success story. 00:32:17.670 --> 00:32:22.470 Go from your country. Your people and your father's 00:32:22.470 --> 00:32:25.670 household to the land I will show you. Oh, that's 00:32:25.670 --> 00:32:28.369 what we want. Show me the land. Bring me into 00:32:28.369 --> 00:32:30.769 the promise. But he doesn't stop there. I will 00:32:30.769 --> 00:32:33.029 make you into a great nation. Oh, it's only getting 00:32:33.029 --> 00:32:37.190 better. I will bless you. Yes. I will make your 00:32:37.190 --> 00:32:40.990 name great and you will be a blessing. And that's 00:32:40.990 --> 00:32:43.150 where we hope it stops. But he keeps going. I 00:32:43.150 --> 00:32:46.109 will bless those who bless you. And whoever curses 00:32:46.109 --> 00:32:49.589 you, I will curse in all. peoples on the earth 00:32:49.589 --> 00:32:55.990 will be blessed through you. Wait a minute. It's 00:32:55.990 --> 00:32:59.690 not just about Abraham. It's about all the people 00:32:59.690 --> 00:33:02.069 of the earth. One commentator writes these words. 00:33:02.390 --> 00:33:07.250 The land was Canaan. A place Abraham didn't even 00:33:07.250 --> 00:33:13.289 know existed. The great nation referred to is 00:33:13.289 --> 00:33:17.599 Israel. Something Abraham could not comprehend 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:22.500 at this moment and the blessing referred to the 00:33:22.500 --> 00:33:26.119 birth of Jesus Christ a great truth that would 00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:30.140 affect his own eternal destiny the destiny of 00:33:30.140 --> 00:33:33.680 his immediate family and eventually all the people 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:37.579 who would comprise the nation of Israel this 00:33:37.579 --> 00:33:42.019 blessing would then impact millions and millions 00:33:42.019 --> 00:33:45.740 of people on the earth for centuries to come 00:33:47.249 --> 00:33:53.490 including you and me. What an amazing thought. 00:33:53.630 --> 00:33:59.349 Can you imagine? The eternal plan of God is packaged 00:33:59.349 --> 00:34:04.309 into this journey, into the unknown, and it doesn't 00:34:04.309 --> 00:34:07.569 end with Abraham getting to Canaan. That's not 00:34:07.569 --> 00:34:12.590 what the story is about. It ends with, at this 00:34:12.590 --> 00:34:16.119 moment in history for us, It ends with a conference 00:34:16.119 --> 00:34:22.420 in Prescott. Through some convoluted process 00:34:22.420 --> 00:34:26.980 that God set in motion thousands of years ago, 00:34:27.079 --> 00:34:33.739 we are here today saved. Children of Abraham. 00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:38.760 Because of something he did. Because he said 00:34:38.760 --> 00:34:42.380 yes to the unknown. Because he said yes to a 00:34:42.380 --> 00:34:45.320 God he didn't quite understand. So much like 00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:47.360 my calling to ministry. I didn't have a clue. 00:34:47.619 --> 00:34:50.519 And I kept saying, no, no, that won't work. You 00:34:50.519 --> 00:34:55.159 don't know me. I said that to God. You don't 00:34:55.159 --> 00:35:03.780 know me. Oh, what a fool. You don't know me. 00:35:03.880 --> 00:35:06.039 You don't know what you're asking of me. And 00:35:06.039 --> 00:35:08.420 I don't know where this is going except towards 00:35:08.420 --> 00:35:13.719 disaster. Hebrews 11, verse 12. And so from this 00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:19.599 one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants 00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:24.460 as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless 00:35:24.460 --> 00:35:29.239 as the sand on the seashore. What destiny. And 00:35:29.239 --> 00:35:32.780 it comes from the unknown. What are the unknown 00:35:32.780 --> 00:35:36.519 possibilities of this gathering, of your individual 00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:42.559 life? What are the unknowns, the destinies that 00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:47.139 could come if you really lived this kind of life? 00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:53.119 Followed God into unpredictable outcomes, into 00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:56.800 unexpected detours. My wife and I were talking 00:35:56.800 --> 00:35:58.460 about it on the way over here. She said, yeah, 00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:02.840 Abraham had 17 detours trying to get to Canaan. 00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:07.139 He just kept missing the boat, man. Taxi goes 00:36:07.139 --> 00:36:12.719 zooming by. Go, wait, wait. Missed it again and 00:36:12.719 --> 00:36:17.219 again and again. Your life will never be what 00:36:17.219 --> 00:36:21.380 you expect it to be. Because you're not God. 00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:25.619 And you don't know. And you have your expectations. 00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:29.000 You have your hopes and your dreams. But they're 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:34.239 so small. They're so small. A little. real estate 00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:39.619 in the Middle East, I'd be happy. Well, how about 00:36:39.619 --> 00:36:44.340 affecting the entire world history with your 00:36:44.340 --> 00:36:49.599 life? Now, that's absurd. That can't happen. 00:36:50.659 --> 00:36:55.239 Apparently, it can. Apparently, that's how this 00:36:55.239 --> 00:37:00.960 God we serve works. Galatians 3, 7, understand 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:05.489 then that those who have faith, are children 00:37:05.489 --> 00:37:08.449 of Abraham. If you've been listening to me at 00:37:08.449 --> 00:37:11.090 all this morning, you may think that perhaps 00:37:11.090 --> 00:37:13.110 you need to take a second look at your faith. 00:37:15.030 --> 00:37:18.150 Maybe it's something you really shouldn't take 00:37:18.150 --> 00:37:24.750 for granted. Maybe it's not as simplistic as 00:37:24.750 --> 00:37:29.789 I believe in Jesus. Maybe it's not as casual 00:37:29.789 --> 00:37:37.360 as sedentary. As uneventful as you think it is. 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:43.780 Maybe we really should, as Paul suggested, examine 00:37:43.780 --> 00:37:47.440 ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. 00:37:49.380 --> 00:37:51.659 Are we actually living a life of faith? Does 00:37:51.659 --> 00:37:55.699 my life look anything like Abraham's? Is there 00:37:55.699 --> 00:37:59.599 any mystery? Is there any drop all and follow 00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:08.650 God? You don't understand, Pastor Lamb. If I 00:38:08.650 --> 00:38:14.010 dropped all, I'd lose a lot. Maybe your Christianity 00:38:14.010 --> 00:38:18.250 actually demands something of you. Something 00:38:18.250 --> 00:38:22.789 more radical than your comfortable 21st century 00:38:22.789 --> 00:38:25.929 American Sunday school felt board stories of 00:38:25.929 --> 00:38:33.210 God. Maybe you have to live the Sermon on the 00:38:33.210 --> 00:38:40.750 Mount. Did you hear me? No, I'm sorry. I put 00:38:40.750 --> 00:38:43.130 you all to sleep. You should have had more coffee. 00:38:43.190 --> 00:38:46.530 Maybe you have to live the Sermon on the Mount. 00:38:47.829 --> 00:38:55.650 Maybe you have to love your enemy. Oh, yeah. 00:38:56.590 --> 00:39:04.730 Check. Maybe you cannot serve God and mammon. 00:39:04.769 --> 00:39:11.519 Maybe that's true. Maybe it's impossible to serve 00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:17.900 God and mammon. Maybe you can't hide your light 00:39:17.900 --> 00:39:22.500 under a basket. Maybe you really have to be the 00:39:22.500 --> 00:39:31.460 salt of the earth. Wandering, destitute, wearing 00:39:31.460 --> 00:39:34.099 goat skins. This would be a weird conference 00:39:34.099 --> 00:39:41.110 if we all showed up in goat skins. But maybe 00:39:41.110 --> 00:39:45.989 that's in the Bible for a reason. Because I'm 00:39:45.989 --> 00:39:48.409 sure that all the guys that ran around goatskins, 00:39:48.510 --> 00:39:53.730 you know, could have dressed in, you know, boss. 00:39:55.510 --> 00:39:57.489 I don't know. I don't know any designer names. 00:39:58.130 --> 00:40:02.510 I'd like to sound clever, but I'm not. Maybe 00:40:02.510 --> 00:40:08.280 the life you're living, the one you know, needs 00:40:08.280 --> 00:40:10.219 an encounter with the God that you don't know. 00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:17.880 Maybe you really have to think about whether 00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:22.639 you personally are indeed a blessing to the nations. 00:40:24.039 --> 00:40:26.480 Maybe the nations across your street, have you 00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:30.099 noticed how international America has become? 00:40:33.539 --> 00:40:38.400 Maybe, maybe, You can evangelize the world without 00:40:38.400 --> 00:40:42.920 leaving Prescott or Phoenix. But you're going 00:40:42.920 --> 00:40:45.639 to have to evangelize the world. Which means 00:40:45.639 --> 00:40:48.360 you're going to have to talk to that nice black 00:40:48.360 --> 00:40:53.159 couple that moved in next door. And the Mexicans 00:40:53.159 --> 00:40:56.860 on the other side. I used to live in that situation 00:40:56.860 --> 00:40:59.059 in Prescott. It was quite unusual. Because back 00:40:59.059 --> 00:41:04.679 then, Prescott was absolutely white. I had a 00:41:04.679 --> 00:41:06.639 Mexican on one side, a black family on the other. 00:41:06.719 --> 00:41:09.300 It was so funny because I had listened and the 00:41:09.300 --> 00:41:11.320 black guys would all be cursing out the Mexicans 00:41:11.320 --> 00:41:12.719 and the Mexicans would all be cursing out the 00:41:12.719 --> 00:41:16.159 black guys. They were so, everybody was so racist 00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:18.380 in my neighborhood, in little white America. 00:41:20.539 --> 00:41:23.980 Well, maybe God brought these nations into our 00:41:23.980 --> 00:41:36.449 cities so that we would evangelize them. Or maybe 00:41:36.449 --> 00:41:41.449 you really have to go into the world and make 00:41:41.449 --> 00:41:43.230 disciples. Maybe you really have to do that. 00:41:43.710 --> 00:41:46.210 I don't want to do that. You say, I don't know. 00:41:46.630 --> 00:41:49.309 I don't know if I'm called. I don't know what 00:41:49.309 --> 00:41:55.889 to do. I don't know how to do it. And? Your point 00:41:55.889 --> 00:42:12.289 is? What you don't know is unknown. And God bids 00:42:12.289 --> 00:42:17.349 you come into the unknown. Because that's where 00:42:17.349 --> 00:42:20.469 I live. I don't live in your nice structured 00:42:20.469 --> 00:42:25.969 America. I live in a place you can't hope to 00:42:25.969 --> 00:42:30.670 comprehend. And you can't hope to put into your 00:42:30.670 --> 00:42:35.809 nice little Christian box. I am going to blow 00:42:35.809 --> 00:42:43.750 you out of the water if you'll let me. Nah. Nah. 00:42:44.849 --> 00:42:48.909 Nah. I like Christianity just the way it is. 00:42:50.590 --> 00:42:54.750 The father of faith had no idea what to do. He 00:42:54.750 --> 00:42:58.650 had no idea how to do it. And maybe we should 00:42:58.650 --> 00:43:04.289 take note. Hebrews 11, 8 to 10 in the NLT says, 00:43:04.369 --> 00:43:09.539 it was by faith that Abraham obeyed. When God 00:43:09.539 --> 00:43:12.059 called him to leave home and go to another land 00:43:12.059 --> 00:43:15.800 that God would give him as an inheritance, he 00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:21.179 went without knowing where he was going. And 00:43:21.179 --> 00:43:24.840 even when he reached the land God promised him, 00:43:25.019 --> 00:43:29.400 he lived there by faith. For he was like a foreigner 00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:32.579 living in tents, which means he was always ready 00:43:32.579 --> 00:43:36.519 to roll. He didn't build a nice house. He had 00:43:36.519 --> 00:43:40.369 a tent. And any time God said, let's go, come 00:43:40.369 --> 00:43:42.250 on, let's go, he'd just roll up his tent and 00:43:42.250 --> 00:43:49.829 go. No great loss. And so did Isaac. And Jacob, 00:43:49.869 --> 00:43:52.869 wait a minute, this is contagious. This seems 00:43:52.869 --> 00:43:54.630 to be the way God's people are supposed to live. 00:43:55.909 --> 00:43:59.190 Who inherited the same promise. Isn't that what 00:43:59.190 --> 00:44:02.889 we're talking about? Abraham was confidently 00:44:02.889 --> 00:44:08.050 looking forward to a city. With eternal foundations. 00:44:08.949 --> 00:44:15.829 A city and designed and built by God. Maybe we 00:44:15.829 --> 00:44:23.369 haven't arrived yet. Maybe God has something 00:44:23.369 --> 00:44:28.130 else for you. Maybe you need to meet with God 00:44:28.130 --> 00:44:43.690 this week. He might surprise you. PHSAA Potter's 00:44:43.690 --> 00:44:46.090 House Salmon Arm podcast. Be sure to follow us 00:44:46.090 --> 00:44:48.650 on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon 00:44:48.650 --> 00:44:50.650 arm to keep up to date on what we are doing. 00:44:50.690 --> 00:44:52.889 Join the conversation and discover how Jesus 00:44:52.889 --> 00:44:55.309 Christ can revolutionize your life.