1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,120 Good morning. We are here in the house of the Lord to worship him today and we're so 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,960 excited for that opportunity. For those of you that may be joining us here for the first 3 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:12,840 time in our sanctuary or if you're joining us online for the first time, we want to say 4 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:17,720 welcome to all of you. We're so glad you're here to worship with us here at Hosanna. I 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:24,100 am Pastor Nathan and today we are going to be looking at the biblical link between faith 6 00:00:24,100 --> 00:00:31,400 and righteousness. You know, if you study the book of Genesis and the book of Hebrews concurrently, 7 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:35,760 what you're going to see is that the link between faith and righteousness is not just 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:42,640 a New Testament concept, nor was it something born in the patriarchal era with Abram, but 9 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:48,080 it's a concept that started all the way back in the very, very beginning with Abel and 10 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:54,720 Enoch and Noah. For example, in Hebrews chapter 11, 4, it tells us that by faith, Abel offered 11 00:00:54,720 --> 00:01:01,360 to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith, he was approved as a righteous man 12 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:06,880 because God approved his gifts and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith. 13 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:12,440 And so right there in the very beginning, we see that righteousness coming by faith 14 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:18,640 was something that took place on the earth with the first family through their second son. 15 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:24,160 And then as history moved on through that area, we see Enoch was a man in Genesis 5, 16 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:30,740 24. It tells us that he walked with God and he was not for God took him. If you remember 17 00:01:30,740 --> 00:01:36,480 our study of Enoch, he was a man that was known as a righteous individual. That word 18 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:42,560 walked when he walked with God, it's a word that referenced the closest communion and 19 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:48,480 intimacy that a person could have with God. To say that another way is that Enoch had 20 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:56,720 a righteous life. And then Hebrews 11, 5 commentaries this by saying, by faith, Enoch was taken away. 21 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:01,160 So he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away for 22 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:08,160 before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. And then we have Noah 23 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:14,840 in Genesis 6, 9 where it just tells us very plainly Noah was a righteous man, blameless 24 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:20,720 among his contemporaries and Noah walked with God. So that word walked is the same one that 25 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:26,600 with Enoch describing Noah had this close intimate relationship with God. And then it 26 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:32,440 tells us in Hebrews 7 that his righteousness or him being considered righteous by God wasn't 27 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:37,160 something that came through him being a perfect individual, but it was because he believed 28 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:45,000 God. And it says this in Hebrews 11, 7, by faith, Noah after he was warned about what 29 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:51,720 was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith 30 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:57,240 he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 31 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:03,080 You know two of the most important doctrines in Christianity is the doctrine of justification 32 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:09,280 by faith and the doctrine of imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness means that it's righteousness 33 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:14,760 that is given to us, not something we earn, definitely not something we deserve. And this 34 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:22,080 idea that we are justified by our faith in God, not by our works, not by sacrifices, 35 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:29,920 not by rituals, but simply because we believe God is who he says he is and therefore everything 36 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:36,760 he says and promises is true and will happen because we have that type of faith we are 37 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:43,160 saved. This doctrine was established all the way back in the beginning before the flood 38 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,920 and it's an important thing to remember as we look at Genesis chapter 15 verses 1 through 39 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:54,520 6 today, which is a foundational verses when it comes to the relationship between faith 40 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:59,000 and righteousness and what that means for our walk with Jesus Christ today. But first 41 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,520 we're going to spend time worshipping God because you know that's just the funnest thing 42 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:08,120 to do. Singing songs to God, not for the sake of the songs, but so that we could express 43 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:13,600 our love and our gratitude and just our admiration and love for who he is. That's what we get 44 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:19,040 to do in worship. And so let's pray and then we'll praise God. Lord, we thank you so much 45 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:27,520 for who you are. And God, we're so grateful that Lord, our salvation doesn't come from 46 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:34,800 us doing anything because quite honestly, God, we're sinful people and we're selfish 47 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:42,960 people and we're wicked people. And Lord, you died for us because you loved us, not 48 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:48,760 because we were worthy. And yet God, it is that very doctrine that we are justified by 49 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:55,160 faith that is attacked by every cult in the world, that is attacked by the enemy, Lord. 50 00:04:55,160 --> 00:05:00,120 All who would say that we have to work and earn our salvation by Almighty God, Lord, 51 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:05,520 those that would stand against what your word clearly teaches about us being saved by our 52 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:11,240 belief. And so God, today I ask that you speak to us and encourage us, Lord. God, those of 53 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:17,880 us that may fall into the situations of doubt and thinking because we did a bad thing that 54 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,640 we're no longer right before you and because we did a good thing, that means we're right 55 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:26,520 before you. God, address those things today in your word that we would understand, Lord, 56 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:31,000 that through our faith in you, we are adopted as children in your family and then you are 57 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,880 forever our Father who loves us dearly. We thank you, God, for our salvation. We thank 58 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:40,640 you, God, for how we're saved. We thank you for you, God, because you are more than enough. 59 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:44,920 Lord, we want to worship you and praise you this morning. We ask, God, that you would 60 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:49,000 speak to us today through your word, that you would be blessed and that you would bless 61 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,560 us, Lord. We love you so much. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 62 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:59,600 We are in Genesis chapter 15. We're going to be looking at verses one through six today. 63 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:08,040 Just to kind of go back again and set the scene, the pre-flood era of earth's history 64 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:13,760 obviously ended with the flood, right? Because pre-flood ends with the flood and then we have 65 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:20,240 the era after that. After the flood era where we looked at, we saw that righteousness by 66 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:27,080 faith happened in Abel's life and Enoch's life and Noah's life. We had this brief post-flood 67 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:33,240 era where God was kind of just letting humanity spread out. That era kind of peaked with the 68 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,920 Tower of Babel where mankind again thought we're going to get to God on our own efforts 69 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:42,880 and our own power and they tried to build this tower up into the heavens and God confused 70 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:49,240 the languages of everybody and that caused humanity to spread out all over the planet. 71 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:54,680 Then we get to this era of history called the patriarchal era. This era really begins 72 00:06:54,680 --> 00:07:01,440 with Abram and his family. This is where the lens of history has gone from creation of 73 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:06,280 the universe zoomed in to Adam and Eve and zoomed in and zoomed in and now we're zoomed 74 00:07:06,280 --> 00:07:13,600 all the way into this man Abram who is going to become according to Romans 4.11, the father 75 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:20,840 of all who believe. With this man's life we've been studying just his growth and I think 76 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:25,000 you would agree as we've been looking at Abram's life we've seen that he has great spiritual 77 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:31,200 highs and some pretty significant spiritual lows. That as the graph of his faith it's 78 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:36,380 not just a linear like, oh he continues to mature to perfection. It's that he has what 79 00:07:36,380 --> 00:07:44,580 most of us have in our life which is this. It started with him hearing God in his hometown 80 00:07:44,580 --> 00:07:50,640 of Ur and at that point we're greatly encouraged by the fact that we see this man hear God 81 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:55,240 and hear this God say go to a place and I'm not going to tell you where it is just go 82 00:07:55,240 --> 00:08:01,480 and he leaves. Great faith. That's a pretty high of faith there and so he travels with 83 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:07,920 his family and his father and they go up to Haran where he stops and delays a little bit 84 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:12,520 and that's a little bit of delay of faith there where he decided to stop even though 85 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:17,600 God had said go all the way until I tell you to stop and then he finally leaves after his 86 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:22,180 father dies down to Canaan and when he gets to this promised land that God had told him 87 00:08:22,180 --> 00:08:28,040 he was going to have he travels the land, he builds altars, he worships God. It's this 88 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:33,880 really beautiful moment of his faith just elevating as he is stepping into what God 89 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:40,120 had promised him but then you have this dramatic dip in his faith when he goes down to Egypt 90 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:44,720 and tries to figure things out on his own power, lies about his wife, tells his wife 91 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:50,580 to lie and it's just a whole debacle there in Egypt. So then he comes back to the land 92 00:08:50,580 --> 00:08:56,080 of Canaan and we see his faith rise a little bit again because he's repentant at this point. 93 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:01,200 He's learning the lessons about don't try and one up God, don't try and take the reins 94 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:06,680 from God, let God lead you and guide you and then his faith goes up a little more when 95 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:12,560 he comes to the place of having to divide with his nephew Lot and Abram said Lot take 96 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:17,840 whatever part of the land you want because Abram was now building, his faith was growing 97 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:22,440 and he believed that he could give the land away a hundred thousand times and it would 98 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:28,560 still go to his descendants because God said so. And then of course after the army of the 99 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:34,000 four kings came into the land and took possession of all the people from Sodom and Gomorrah 100 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,000 and the other three cities including Lot who lived there, took him captive, took all the 101 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:45,480 spoils of war, we read that Abram was very selfless in going to rescue his nephew Lot, 102 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:51,020 risking his own life, the life of his men and yet he conquered this army, recovered 103 00:09:51,020 --> 00:09:56,000 all the people, recovered all the spoils and at that point just soaring high, right? He's 104 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:01,320 successful, his name is growing, people are like, woo, General Abram, look at what he 105 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:06,320 did, right? And then he comes back and he meets this very mysterious individual Melchizedek 106 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:12,200 who is a king and a priest of God most high. This Melchizedek blesses him in the name of 107 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:19,720 God. We see that in Abraham's soaring faith he recognizes who everything is from and gives 108 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:26,440 his offering to God and then we also see him very nobly and humbly refuse to take anything 109 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:32,240 from the king of Sodom. So we've seen this in Abram's life and that should be very familiar 110 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:38,600 to all of us, right? This is our faith walk as we walk with the Lord in this world but 111 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:44,920 we always look back to Abram's life and we say what a life to model after, what a life 112 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:50,400 of faith to live according to and if we're honest, yeah, we definitely live according 113 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:56,800 to that example. But the epilogue of all of this story of Abram so far is which is really 114 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:01,400 the prologue to the next phase of his life. We see that after he's riding high on this 115 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:08,240 victory, this success, this moment where he just risked everything to do the right thing 116 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:14,000 and he's been honored for that and blessed by that, we see another dip in his faith walk 117 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:19,600 where he dips into fear and worry and doubt and that's what the beginning of Genesis 118 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:24,920 15 is all about and that really is a common experience for God's people. Oftentimes after 119 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:32,080 we have massive, huge, lofty success, spiritual success, right? We have breakthroughs in issues 120 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:38,160 in our life, we're set free from addictions, our marriages and relationships are restored, 121 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:43,240 we have these big spiritual highs where we're just so elated with who God is and what he 122 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:50,680 can do. We often, right after that, drop into a valley, a time of difficulty, a time of 123 00:11:50,680 --> 00:11:57,200 doubt, a time of fear and worry and it's a common thing. It's not bad in that sense if 124 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:02,480 you have that experience because other biblical people have experienced the same thing. Elijah, 125 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:09,080 you guys remember Elijah who was the one on Mount Carmel who stood against the 450 prophets 126 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:16,000 of Baal and he was challenging them on their false god and I love it because he says in 127 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,960 one of those occasions, where's your god? What is he doing? Is he on the toilet? It's 128 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:25,580 what he says in their actual language because he's mocking their belief in these false gods 129 00:12:25,580 --> 00:12:30,680 and we see that as he stands strong and stands for the Lord, the fire come down from heaven 130 00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:36,500 and burns up the altar and licks up all the water and man, that's pretty amazing, right? 131 00:12:36,500 --> 00:12:40,800 Pretty amazing to see God move in that way and you would imagine he would feel pretty 132 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:47,740 empowered and strong and just not in himself but wow, God is so amazing. But in that story, 133 00:12:47,740 --> 00:12:53,440 we read right after that, he flees into the wilderness because he's afraid of Jezebel 134 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:58,120 and we read that after this great success, we find him in a cave saying, God, just let 135 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:04,440 me die. Just let me die because you did something and now everybody's going to come against 136 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:10,600 me and that's the high end in the valley. Well, Abram, he had just routed the armies 137 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:16,560 of four major kings from Mesopotamia and he did that with this little tiny group of 318 138 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:22,400 men plus whatever came from his neighbors and he took everything, took all the people 139 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:30,120 back, took all the spoils, right? Well, he had good reason to fear a response, especially 140 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:34,960 as news might have gotten back to wow, this little Abram, who's this guy with his little 141 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:40,400 force of men, wiped out the armies of the kings? It was natural for him to worry that 142 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:44,760 they were going to come back with an even bigger army to finish the job and to wipe 143 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:53,080 out everybody in the area but you have that contrasted with him having the experience 144 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:59,040 of just refusing all the spoils from the king of Sodom, right? As the king of Sodom was 145 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,720 like, hey, let me give you all the riches, you keep that, I'll keep the people and we 146 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:08,520 read how Abram said, no, I don't want anything from you because then you'll take the credit 147 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:14,000 for my success instead of giving that credit to God. And so where there's this worry and 148 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,520 there's this fear on one side, there's this sense of, yeah, I stood for God, I did the 149 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:22,960 right thing and so we have these two things contrasted and by the time we get to Genesis 150 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:31,160 15, what we see here is that Abram is now tired and he's fearful and he's worried and 151 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:37,720 so read with me starting in Genesis 15 verse 1. It says, after these events, everything 152 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:44,760 we just recapped, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram, 153 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:52,420 I am your shield, your reward will be very great. But Abram said, Lord God, what can 154 00:14:52,420 --> 00:14:58,880 you give me since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. Abram 155 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:06,920 continued, look, you have given me no offspring so a slave born in my house will be my heir. 156 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:11,520 Now the word of the Lord came to him, this one will not be your heir, instead one who 157 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:16,080 comes from your own body will be your heir. He took him outside and he said, look at the 158 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:22,240 sky and count the stars if you are able to count them. Then he said to him, your offspring 159 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:30,440 will be that numerous. Abram believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness. 160 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:35,560 So after all these monumentous events through Genesis 14 and all the stuff that took place 161 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:43,440 there, Abram had time to reflect on the big picture here. Right? He's had so much success 162 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:49,360 defeating armies, learning from Egypt, I mean all this stuff going on in his life, Melchizedek 163 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:54,760 blessing him in the name of God most high, how awesome is all that? But Abram here, we 164 00:15:54,760 --> 00:16:02,400 find that he is fearful and he is worried because the great victory he just had over 165 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:10,640 these four kings didn't bring him any closer to the promise that God had made to him. Remember 166 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:15,280 God said your name is going to be great, that was likely happening. He said you are going 167 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,400 to have a land that is going to belong to your descendants. He is in that land but it's 168 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:26,920 not necessarily his yet. But then he said you are going to be a great nation. That you 169 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:33,560 are going to be a great nation and yet his wife was barren. Sarai his wife, she couldn't 170 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:38,760 have children. So in the very beginning when he left Ur I imagine there was like, okay 171 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:44,400 wow this God just spoke to me, the real one true God, let's go. Then they get to Haran 172 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:49,000 and she is still barren. They get to Canaan and she is still barren. They go to Egypt 173 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:56,560 and come back and she is still barren. This shadow of barrenness had gone, remained over 174 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:03,240 their entire journey. Their journey started in barrenness but now it's still under that 175 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:08,520 shadow. This thousand plus mile journey from Ur all the way down to Canaan and all of that, 176 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:16,040 everything he has accomplished but my wife still can't have kids. So when he says, he 177 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:22,200 is like the heir of my house is going to be Eliezer of Damascus. He is saying to the Lord 178 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:30,600 there look my people, the people in my household, my servants, they are all having kids. But 179 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:37,360 I am not God, you promised this to me. I think I have been faithful. You just blessed me. 180 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:43,240 I mean obviously I believe you blessed me but what is going on with the promise? It's 181 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:49,560 as if Abram is saying what good is it if everybody from Mesopotamia all the way down to Egypt 182 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:56,000 knows who I am. What good is it if I am just rich and plundered everybody and all that. 183 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:05,780 What good is it if I have no children? I can't father many nations if I can't even father 184 00:18:05,780 --> 00:18:13,200 one child. Now God being omnipotent and knowing all things, he knows what Abram is thinking. 185 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:20,360 He knows what is behind his questions and his concerns and so he says do not be afraid. 186 00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:27,520 Why? Because he was afraid. God wouldn't say do not be afraid unless he was afraid. That's 187 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:32,160 how we know Abram was afraid here. He was afraid of something, afraid that the promise 188 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:37,860 wasn't coming true or might not come true. He says I am your shield. That word shield 189 00:18:37,860 --> 00:18:42,520 is a word referencing military equipment. It's actually talking about the shield that 190 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:47,300 a soldier would carry in battle. And so he says I am your shield. Why would he say that? 191 00:18:47,300 --> 00:18:53,320 Why would he say I am the shield to protect you in battle? Well the assumption is that 192 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:57,620 he was afraid of reprisals from the kings from the east. What if they come down and 193 00:18:57,620 --> 00:19:02,600 wipe us all out? I can't even have a kid. And then he says your reward will be very 194 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:08,840 great. This is after Abram had refused all the spoils from the king of Sodom and this 195 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:16,120 is after everything. But from Abram's position where he is at right now in Genesis 15 is 196 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:22,040 all he really got after all of the risk and after all of the learning and after all of 197 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:27,400 the humility and humbling himself, all the effort, all the work, all he got after all 198 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:40,120 of that was God. Now when we're in that position are we satisfied with that? All we got was 199 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:53,160 God. Isn't that how sometimes we say that? All I got was God. All I have is God. But 200 00:19:53,160 --> 00:20:00,520 are we satisfied with that? Do we consider God as greater value than anything we could 201 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:08,200 possibly have in this world? All the riches, all the fame, everything you could ever hope 202 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:17,040 and want, God is infinitely more valuable than all of that. If you had nothing but God 203 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:26,960 is your attitude all I have is God or I have everything? This is the position Abram is 204 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:36,120 in right now. You see Abram is being taught a very, very important lesson. Through all 205 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:42,000 the ups and downs and successes and everything don't ever forget to be satisfied with God 206 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:51,920 alone. Don't ever forget to be satisfied with God alone because it's not that God is enough. 207 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:59,360 The reality is God is more than enough. God is more above in abundance and beyond our 208 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:07,160 even comprehension. That's how much God is if all you have is God. And when we're truly 209 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,680 in that place of understanding that God is everything I need nothing else. If I have 210 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:18,160 God I have everything. I have more than everything. It's in that place where I see that God is 211 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:25,560 able to bless us with material things or position or all that because he knows that those things 212 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:32,000 aren't going to be the motivation to follow God. Does that make sense? Some people are 213 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,680 like, I'm obedient to God and then maybe they get a promotion and they go, wow, well I want 214 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:43,440 another promotion so I'm going to keep being obedient to God. That's the wrong motivation. 215 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:49,200 The motivation to be obedient to God is because he's God. Because he deserves it. Because 216 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:59,280 he's holy. Because he loves you. Because he's everything. And so he tells Abram your reward 217 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,760 will be great. You just gave away all these riches. You just did all this stuff. Your 218 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:11,520 reward is coming. Now Abram being called out by God here kind of exposed and vulnerable 219 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:17,160 he now responds with a verbal protest to that. And this is the first time incidentally we 220 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,760 have in scripture that Abram talks to God. He may have before but this is the first time 221 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:29,200 it's recorded and this is what's recorded. Verse 2. Abram said, Lord God, what can you 222 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:34,720 give me since I'm childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. Abram continued, 223 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:41,120 look you've given me no offspring so a slave born in my house will be my heir. How would 224 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:47,720 you like the first words you ever said to God Almighty to be your complaint? And yet 225 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:55,200 that's what we have from Abram. Now even though he's worried, even though he's obviously 226 00:22:55,200 --> 00:23:04,760 unhappy, he's fearful, he still addresses God with reverence. You notice there he said, 227 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:13,960 Lord God. This was the picture of God that he had learned from his encounter with Melchizedek. 228 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:19,320 Remember Abram had known the Lord as Yahweh, that personal intimate God, that close God 229 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:25,360 but then when he met Melchizedek, Melchizedek was priest of God Almighty, God Most High. 230 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:31,120 And then when Abram told the king of Sodom, I don't want your stuff, he essentially told 231 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:40,240 him I follow the Lord God, the Almighty creator of the universe who is personally, personally 232 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:46,480 in relationship with me. And so he responds to the Lord here with that same title. Abram 233 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:52,280 wouldn't let his distress and his fears and his worries compromise his respect for God. 234 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,720 And that's a challenge we all have. When things aren't going our way, when we don't understand, 235 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:01,120 when it's not coming fast enough, sometimes our prayers, our communication with God can 236 00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:07,920 start to get a little disrespectful. You know it goes from Lord God Almighty, my creator 237 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:16,440 to bro what's up? What's taking place? What's happening? Right? Now we need to always 238 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,720 stay in reverence to God because he is the Lord God no matter what. He's the Lord God 239 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,960 no matter what happens. He's the Lord God regardless of the circumstances. He is always 240 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:31,000 the Lord God. And so Abram is responding to him with the reverence and respect and I believe 241 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:36,600 that tells us that Abram's objections here weren't a lack of faith but rather a lack 242 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:44,360 of understanding. He still was God, you're God, you're the Lord God, I honor you but 243 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:49,520 I don't understand. I think that's what's behind what he's saying here. And obviously 244 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:53,440 as in verse 3 he goes look you've given me no offspring so a slave will be born in my 245 00:24:53,440 --> 00:25:03,480 house to be my heir. He had concluded that God's promise was not going to happen. You're 246 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:10,780 still God but I'm not so sure about what you said anymore. That what you promised me is 247 00:25:10,780 --> 00:25:18,280 not going to happen. You're still God but I'm doubting your promises now. He had concluded 248 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:23,800 that what God promised was not going to happen because it hadn't happened yet. Have you ever 249 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:29,040 been in that position? You feel like God's promised you something in his word or maybe 250 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:35,840 it was a personal revelation and you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting and 251 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:42,440 you're waiting and well in your mind here is the perfect timetable for that to be fulfilled 252 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:48,640 and that comes and goes and you're waiting and you're waiting and then you read the Bible 253 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,080 again and you read these promises and God says here's my promises for you and you're 254 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:59,940 like yeah I'm not so sure about that. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant and it means 255 00:25:59,940 --> 00:26:04,880 something else but there's this doubt that creeps into us. There's this doubt that comes 256 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:11,800 into our mindset going God I believe you're God but I don't know that I believe your promise 257 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:18,040 right now and it's really based on our pride and arrogance that we place too much value 258 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:24,960 on our limited understanding of everything. I mean how arrogant is it to say look God 259 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:29,500 I'm not omnipotent. I'm not all knowing. I'm not all powerful but here's how I think it 260 00:26:29,500 --> 00:26:34,840 should work and because you're not doing it that way wow God maybe your promises aren't 261 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:42,480 as true as we say they are. That's arrogance to be able to say that but still it's not 262 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:48,560 a lack of faith. I don't believe in you anymore. I believe in you but it's your word that I'm 263 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:55,360 having a problem with and so even knowing his word and his promises and assurances we 264 00:26:55,360 --> 00:27:00,640 could be so quick to doubt him in the face of our fears in the face of our valleys or 265 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:05,880 our difficulties. Even coming after a spiritual high and we're going wow look what God did 266 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:11,280 in this huge victory spiritually in my life then well then what about the other things 267 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:16,880 he's promised and we start to get into this mindset that Abram's in right now. Now I want 268 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:24,920 to encourage all of us because when the fear and the worry overtakes us we begin to doubt 269 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:30,720 God and there's a lot that can be said about like do you trust God or do you not trust 270 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:39,600 God but the Bible tells us very clearly that we are weak and God knows our weaknesses not 271 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:44,960 to excuse us being weak but so that when we know that when we struggle when we are having 272 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:50,200 these moments of lack of understanding and we're going God what's up that he still loves 273 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:56,280 us he's not going to strike us down for our for us daring to do that. Read with me in 274 00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:01,600 Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14. It says therefore since we have a great high priest who has 275 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:08,120 passed through the heavens Jesus the son of God let us hold fast to our confession for 276 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:12,280 we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one 277 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:17,600 who has been tempted in every way as we are yet without sin therefore let us approach 278 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:23,400 the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help 279 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:31,720 in our time of need. Abram's in a time of need right now and he's doubting the word 280 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:36,680 of God doubting the promises of God but what Hebrews tells us there what the writer of 281 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:41,640 Hebrews tells us that it's exactly in our time of need that we need to hold fast to 282 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:47,400 our confession. What is the confession? It said it right there that Jesus is the son 283 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:54,520 of God. We need to hold fast to that because when the doubts come in the very foundation 284 00:28:54,520 --> 00:29:01,560 to combat those doubts is he's God. Right holding fast to that confession because it's 285 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:08,680 the truth of who he is that stands against doubt. God can't lie the Bible tells us that 286 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:14,140 we're going to look at that in a second but it's in our time of need where we're doubting 287 00:29:14,140 --> 00:29:19,920 his word doubting his promises that we need grace and mercy because we're weak and in 288 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:24,720 our weakness we doubt even though it should be like oh no I should be able to trust God 289 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:31,200 perfectly we don't all the time and that's why we need God's grace and God's mercy to 290 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:35,920 be able to even come to his throne and say dad I got questions I don't understand I'm 291 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:40,560 a little worried or upset about this but we come to him with those things and even in 292 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:47,380 that God goes I know your weakness I lived as one of you so I'm going to extend grace 293 00:29:47,380 --> 00:29:51,700 and mercy to you. It's in our time of need we have to remember that he was tempted in 294 00:29:51,700 --> 00:29:57,760 every way we are yet without sin because that means he understands that means he doesn't 295 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:03,280 hold our weakness against us and it's because we've put our faith in him and trusted in 296 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:09,080 who he is and become children of God through faith it's because of those things that he 297 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:16,440 responds to us with the tenderness of a father that he responds to us with love and patience 298 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:21,720 that's exactly what we see him doing with Abram look at verse 4. Now the word of the 299 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:27,440 Lord came to him this one will not be your heir instead one who comes from your own body 300 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:36,720 will be your heir. There's no anger from the Lord here there's no exasperation right? Didn't 301 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:44,760 we deal with this already Abram come on. No none of that there's just a simple gentle 302 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:51,080 no your conclusion is wrong you've drawn the wrong conclusion and then there's this gentle 303 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:58,060 reiteration and a slight clarification of the promise. You see three times previously 304 00:30:58,060 --> 00:31:03,820 God had promised Abram offspring first time was an ur you're going to be a great nation 305 00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:08,920 second time was the first time he got to Canaan when he was in Shechem and he built the altar 306 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:13,440 there and called on the name of the Lord and then the third time was when God took him 307 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:18,720 to the highest spot in central the central Canaan the middle of the promised land this 308 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,840 was after he said Lot take whatever you want and Lot said hey that's a really good place 309 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,920 materially let me go over there and then God took Abram up on this mountain and he said 310 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:33,480 look at the whole promised land look at everything this is what I'm giving to you and your descendants 311 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:40,800 and it was in that moment where God told Abram your offspring will be as numerous as the 312 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:47,520 dust on the earth the greens of sand of dirt that exists that's how numerous your offspring 313 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:58,000 will be and so God is not saying anything new to Abram here he had already told Abram 314 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:04,520 you're going to have offspring and even though your wife is barren you're going to have a 315 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:10,480 great nation come from you so he's not telling anything new to Abram nor is he chastising 316 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:18,560 Abram for his lack of understanding he's just simply again repeating his word your conclusion 317 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:25,520 is wrong here is the word I've already given you here is what I've already told you the 318 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:34,680 idea in that is you believe I'm Lord God I've told you this you're having a season of doubt 319 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:38,920 okay I'll give you grace and mercy for that and all I'm going to do is give you my word 320 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:47,600 again what does that tell us that tells us that because he's God what he says is true 321 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:54,000 the foundation of dealing with doubt in his word is saying you are God you are Lord God 322 00:32:54,000 --> 00:33:01,120 so therefore your word is true if you've given me a promise if you've spoken something to 323 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:09,880 me I've read it in your word it's true and so he's he's telling Abram again you will 324 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:16,200 bear a child of your own body I've told you that now this is just a very simple yet profound 325 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:27,520 axiom to live our lives after since God is what he says and promises is period that's 326 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:36,800 faith incidentally it's the idea that that because he is God that the result of that 327 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:42,800 the effect of that is that when he makes a promise it's going to happen period there's 328 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:48,240 no reason to doubt there's no reason to worry there's no reason to second guess you see 329 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:53,800 numbers chapter 23 19 says God is not a man that he might lie or a son of man that he 330 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:59,440 might change his mind does he speak and not act or promise and not fulfill rhetorical 331 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:06,720 question no is the answer then Hebrews 6 18 is where it tells us it is impossible for 332 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:15,720 God to lie so for us to ever come to a place where we say well I believe you're God and 333 00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:21,480 you've said this in your word or something but I'm not so sure to doubt it is not a good 334 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:28,440 place to be because it's implying that you're entertaining the thought that maybe God lied 335 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:33,480 or maybe God spoke and is just not going to do it or maybe God's made a promise and he's 336 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:40,400 just simply not going to fulfill it but knowing Abrams weakness in this moment knowing his 337 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:46,160 weak frame I think this is an extension of grace and mercy verse 5 says he took him outside 338 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:51,280 and he said look at the sky and count the stars if you are able to count them then he 339 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:56,280 said to him your offspring will be that numerous he already told him it's going to be more 340 00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:01,520 numerous than the dirt but maybe you didn't understand that Abraham so let's go outside 341 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:07,400 let's look up at stars I think I would venture to say most of us have been camping at one 342 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,680 time or another in our lives right we've been out somewhere away from the city lights and 343 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:17,520 we look up and we're like wow all that is up there I've never seen that before right 344 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:23,920 as kids you look and you know and spend time looking at the stars trying to count them 345 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:29,560 trying to see the constellations whatever it is but when you do have the opportunity 346 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,000 to go out and look up at the night sky without all the light pollution that exists in the 347 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:41,480 cities it is pretty overwhelming it is pretty amazing how much is up there an entire universe 348 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:48,160 of galaxies and stars that we just gaze up and look and we're just like God made all 349 00:35:48,160 --> 00:36:01,840 that that's amazing that picture is is is sits in juxtaposition to Abram in Ur you see 350 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:08,120 remember when Abram was in Ur he was a moon worshiper the people in Ur worshipped Nana 351 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:13,720 the moon god right at the top of the ziggurat that was in Ur that has been discovered today 352 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:19,560 and partially restored at the top of that ziggurat was a temple to Nana the moon god 353 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,680 and a part of the worship up at that temple was they would go up and they would look up 354 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:28,720 into the sky and and worship Nana who was the god up there floating amongst all the 355 00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:35,720 other gods and so you have that picture of Abram standing there worshipping false gods 356 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:42,900 looking up at this this sky full of stars and now he's standing here with God Almighty 357 00:36:42,900 --> 00:36:50,240 looking up at that same sky likely familiar with planets and stars you know the twinkling 358 00:36:50,240 --> 00:36:56,760 ones the non-twinkling ones but now he's standing here gazing up into that sky as his God gently 359 00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:01,800 lovingly is saying look your conclusion is wrong here is the word I've already given 360 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:10,900 you but because you're weak let me let me show you this now Abram doesn't respond with 361 00:37:10,900 --> 00:37:16,040 words here but scripture tells us what is happening in his heart and in his mind verse 362 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:26,440 six Abram believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness that's it that verse 363 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:32,080 is the foundation of our entire faith that verse is the foundation of our entire understanding 364 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:39,880 of who God is in our salvation Abram believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness 365 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:47,320 that word believed there means that he believed and continued believing like this was a turning 366 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:51,320 point in his life maybe before he was like I believe you God well I'm not so sure anymore 367 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:56,040 I believe you God well I'm not so sure anymore but at this point is when all of that was 368 00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:01,440 done that he had grown in his faith his faith had evolved and enlarged to a point where 369 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:07,080 now he was just like oh something changed in his life something changed in his heart 370 00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:18,200 where he was now at this place where I believe you and I'm no longer questioning you you 371 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,840 see when it says he believed the Lord what it's telling us there is that Abram considered 372 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:27,200 the God who just made this promise reiterated this promise to him he was considering that 373 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:35,120 God absolutely reliable and fully capable of making it a reality period God you've given 374 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:44,920 me no kids you just said my reward will be great I don't understand you're God I believe 375 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:54,720 you're God but your promise is I'm struggling with and then God says I already gave it to 376 00:38:54,720 --> 00:39:04,200 you read it again read it again go look around at creation if you need to see my attributes 377 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:08,760 my invisible attributes that are clearly seen in everything think about what I've already 378 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:16,640 done in your life think about everything you believe about me and who I am and then reconsider 379 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:23,360 your question that are my promises true you used to gaze up at the sky Abram and stare 380 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:31,480 at the stars in the moon receiving nothing you've heard my voice you've heard my word 381 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:41,760 so think about it are my promises not true Abram is having this powerful moment here 382 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:48,480 considering God's promises now in this moment it was settled it finally settled in his heart 383 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:54,400 every possible objection right running through his head okay even objections he hadn't considered 384 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:58,400 yet that well what about no he was done with the what abouts he was done with all of it 385 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:06,760 here in this moment his conclusion is simply this he is the Lord so it will happen that's 386 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:13,400 what it's telling us there when he believed the Lord I don't need to understand how I 387 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:21,680 don't I need to understand why or when or where all I need to know is the who it is 388 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:28,280 God Almighty if God has told me this it doesn't matter that my wife is barren it doesn't matter 389 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:33,560 that I'm too old to have kids it doesn't matter it doesn't matter I don't even have to worry 390 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:37,280 about that I don't have to think about those things I don't have to consider those things 391 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:43,560 all I need to consider is he is God and if he said it it's gonna happen that's faith 392 00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:50,840 that's a faith that God is developing in all of us that is the the faith that is attacked 393 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:57,700 constantly where the devil constantly wants to come in and go yeah but did he really say 394 00:40:57,700 --> 00:41:05,920 are you sure he meant that for you and when we have situations where it's not happening 395 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:10,720 fast enough or it's not happening in the way we thought or God forbid it's not happening 396 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:17,800 at all because God's answer is no to that thing we're praying about or waiting for are 397 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:27,360 we gonna then step back and go oh maybe his word isn't true now maybe I misunderstand 398 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,880 that that's a fair place to be and that's why you go back to the word and you study 399 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:35,960 and you pray and you get counsel but the things that are in his word that are promises they 400 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:47,720 are non-negotiable they're irrefutable and yet we struggle so much with the with the 401 00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:52,200 the paradox of I believe you are Almighty God I believe you love me and you're my personal 402 00:41:52,200 --> 00:42:01,800 God yet I really don't know God if if you're gonna take care of my needs if I if I'm generous 403 00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:07,140 the way you call me to be generous God I I really don't know if you're gonna forgive 404 00:42:07,140 --> 00:42:13,600 me of this sin even though I your word says you've already forgiven me of all sin I don't 405 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:19,120 know God if if I could come to you boldly to the throne of grace and say God I messed 406 00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,480 up or I don't understand or I'm mad at you and trust that you're gonna love me enough 407 00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:30,800 to say okay let's talk about it God I don't believe that because and what is God's response 408 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:40,320 to us in those situations here's my word read it again think about it think about the implication 409 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:51,880 of your belief I am God Almighty I'm your father I said this there's no reason to doubt 410 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:58,360 and so Abram had come to this place interestingly enough the word believed in the Hebrew is 411 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:05,560 Amman it's the root of where we get our word amen from so so you could you could in a sense 412 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:11,720 say that when God said your reward will be great I told you you're gonna have a child 413 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:15,720 from your own body look at the stars that's how numerous your your offspring is gonna 414 00:43:15,720 --> 00:43:26,560 be it's like Abram said amen to the Lord now that word amen although it is used as such 415 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:34,320 and used sometimes this way by me amen doesn't mean I agree amen doesn't mean do you agree 416 00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,960 right I do that a lot and I'm trying to break the habit of that that that that amen question 417 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:46,320 mark right that's not what amen means what amen means is it's a declaration that it is 418 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:52,760 it will be so it is so that's what amen means so when we're praying together and we pray 419 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:58,760 God's word and we pray our our hopes in our heart on God and Lord we're seeking your will 420 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:09,640 and we go amen your will be so it will happen because you are God and you cannot lie this 421 00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:18,000 doesn't mean that we conjure our own realities with that Lord I want to win the lottery amen 422 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:23,760 probably not gonna win the lottery but the Lord is saying you're gonna have your own 423 00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:28,680 child and your offspring will be as numerous in the stars and and this is this is where 424 00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:33,520 Abram's at God shows him everything after he just said I don't understand Lord he shows 425 00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:45,880 him everything and Abram's response in his heart is okay that's it okay no question no 426 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:57,280 doubt okay I'm in let's go not the but but but what if but but no okay I believe you 427 00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:04,520 you're God you said so that's all I need and then it says it was credit to him is righteousness 428 00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:11,480 that word credited it means to be reckoned or imputed or counted as right now you'll 429 00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:16,000 notice here Abram didn't do anything that would be considered righteous right he didn't 430 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:21,800 make a sacrifice he didn't follow a ritual in a temple he didn't you know he didn't do 431 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:26,600 these these things that we say well I've got to do this in order for me to be right before 432 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:36,400 God he didn't do anything it just says he believed and it was credit to him as righteousness 433 00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:44,920 his belief was counted as righteousness do you guys understand that righteousness that 434 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:50,760 that means right living righteousness means being in a right standing in a right life 435 00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:55,720 before God what is the right life before God it's a life of perfection no sin right you 436 00:45:55,720 --> 00:46:01,120 haven't broken any law you haven't erred against him it is who Adam was in the beginning in 437 00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:08,320 the garden pure perfect spotless and what the word of God is telling us here is Abram's 438 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:21,440 belief was counted as righteousness you guys putting the dots together it wasn't Abram's 439 00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:27,880 work was counted as righteousness it wasn't Abram came to church every Sunday it wasn't 440 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:34,360 Abram's Bible was bigger than everybody else's Bible it wasn't Abram gave this much it wasn't 441 00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:39,400 he prayed this often it wasn't wow he sang worship songs so well it was none of that 442 00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:49,560 he believed God and then God looked at him and said hey you're sinless you're pure you're 443 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:57,000 spotless you are in a position where we can have fellowship together no more barrier we 444 00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:06,680 can have fellowship together I look at you saved forgiven wiped clean of all sin washed 445 00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:19,840 clean Paul's commentary on this in Romans chapter 4 verse 19 says this he speaking of 446 00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:24,640 Abram did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead since he was 447 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:30,740 about a hundred years old and also the deadness of Sarah's womb he did not waver in unbelief 448 00:47:30,740 --> 00:47:36,880 at God's promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God because he was 449 00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:42,800 fully convinced that what God had promised he was able to do therefore it was credited 450 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:53,280 to him as righteousness that's it do you believe God are you fully convinced that what God 451 00:47:53,280 --> 00:48:01,560 has promised he is able to do when you get there when you when you when your faith matures 452 00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:05,920 to that however you want to decide that or describe that when you're in that moment when 453 00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:13,800 you're fully convinced that what God has promised he is able to do there's peace there's joy 454 00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:23,400 there's contentment there's no more what about what about what about it's God is and so what 455 00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:29,920 he says is this verse is foundational to our understanding of faith there's no other verse 456 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:39,240 that has exercised influence in the New Testament like this verse has this verse is is in in 457 00:48:39,240 --> 00:48:45,000 alignment with what we read about Abel and Enoch and Noah it's been effect through primeval 458 00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:50,360 history patriarchal history it's been in effect through the entire Old Testament the Old Covenant 459 00:48:50,360 --> 00:49:01,160 area and it is the foundation of our New Testament covenant this verse is everything in our faith 460 00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:05,060 this verse stands against every cult that would say no you need to do this many works 461 00:49:05,060 --> 00:49:12,080 you need to go on this missions trip you need to hand out this many magazines no you don't 462 00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:22,360 because God will credit righteousness to you if you believe in him nothing else this this 463 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:28,440 verse Genesis 15 6 it's quoted in full in three different places in the New Testament 464 00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:34,580 Romans 4 Galatians 3 and James 2 in Romans 4 Paul is writing about the whole concept 465 00:49:34,580 --> 00:49:40,160 of that we are saved by faith right and so he starts out talking about Abraham is saved 466 00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:47,000 by faith and then he says David was saved by faith he quotes a psalm that David wrote 467 00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:50,720 and I don't have time to read through it all but the psalm that that he quotes is when 468 00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:57,280 David had sinned by sinned with Bathsheba right he had sinned with Bathsheba and in 469 00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:01,080 in that sin he had broke three of the Ten Commandments he had coveted another man's 470 00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:08,320 wife he committed adultery and he committed murder now in the Jewish law there was there 471 00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:16,000 was there was these aspects of certain egregious premeditated sin that there was there was 472 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:22,540 no no atonement for that like you did it you chose to do it was so bad so horrible so huge 473 00:50:22,540 --> 00:50:28,000 sorry there's no provision for that in the law and so in David's case with Bathsheba 474 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:31,760 his case was hopeless there was nothing he could do to atone for his sin and as he's 475 00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:37,360 writing it he knows that and he's stating that and then so what he essentially says 476 00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:42,140 and does is God I just throw myself on your mercy because there's no sacrifice I could 477 00:50:42,140 --> 00:50:51,600 make that'll pay for this and God forgave him and David's faith restored his right 478 00:50:51,600 --> 00:51:01,160 standing before God this is during the old covenant times Paul goes on in Romans 4 to 479 00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:05,200 say look Abram was circumcised or Abram was declared righteous before he was circumcised 480 00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:10,640 so you don't have to be a Jew to be to be saved through faith right and he says a bunch 481 00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:15,120 of other stuff through there but in Galatians 3 Paul's writing to the Galatians and this 482 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:21,320 is what he says concerning this verse verse he goes you foolish Galatians who has cast 483 00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:27,360 a spell on you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified I only 484 00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:33,960 want to learn this from you did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by believing 485 00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:41,520 what you heard are you so foolish after beginning in the spirit are you now finishing by the 486 00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:49,920 flesh did you experience so much for nothing if in fact it was for nothing so then does 487 00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:55,340 God give you the spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law 488 00:51:55,340 --> 00:52:02,280 or is it by believing what you heard just like Abraham who believed God and it was credit 489 00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:09,480 to him for righteousness you know then that those who have faith these are Abraham's sons 490 00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:14,360 now the scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed 491 00:52:14,360 --> 00:52:18,760 the gospel ahead of time to Abraham saying through you all nations will be blessed or 492 00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:24,200 all nations will be blessed through you consequently those who have faith are blessed with Abraham 493 00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:31,080 who had faith did you notice there twice in that thing he's like did you receive the spirit 494 00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:36,760 which is the seal the seal of salvation did you receive that by the works of the flesh 495 00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:47,040 or by believing in what you heard he says that twice how are you saved by believing 496 00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:57,480 the word of God how are you blessed by believing the word of God how do you get through times 497 00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:04,680 of doubt by believing the word of God how do you find peace and contentment by believing 498 00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:12,960 the word of God which tells us who God is who we are and what that relationship is all 499 00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:19,320 about and then James 2 we don't have time to go through that one either but James 2 500 00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:24,200 is is the one where he goes hey look yeah you're justified by faith but if you truly 501 00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:29,760 believe there will be works in your life to prove that right James is the one that deals 502 00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:37,320 with the people say oh all I have to say is I believe in Jesus and I'm fine no you can't 503 00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:41,200 just say you believe in Jesus and then live completely contrary to his word because then 504 00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:46,800 you're proving you just said words you don't believe right that's what James gets into 505 00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:54,240 but that's a different Bible study it's always been the same from the very beginning of time 506 00:53:54,240 --> 00:54:00,400 under the old covenant and the new covenant that faith brings righteousness belief brings 507 00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:05,760 salvation it was that way for Abel Hebrews 11 for he was approved as a righteous man 508 00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:11,200 it was that way for Enoch in Hebrews 11 5 by faith he was approved as one who pleased God 509 00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:17,280 it was that way for Noah in Hebrews 11 7 by faith he became an heir of the righteousness 510 00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:24,480 that comes by faith and so it was with Abraham as Hebrews 11 verse 8 says by faith Abraham when he 511 00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:29,840 was called obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance he went 512 00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:36,800 out even though he did not know where he was going it was by faith it was because Abraham believed 513 00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:45,600 that he was counted as righteous and so the question this morning for all of us really is 514 00:54:50,880 --> 00:54:52,480 theme song for the conclusion right 515 00:54:52,480 --> 00:55:00,720 what are you trusting in for your salvation what are you trusting in for your standing before God 516 00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:09,840 what is it you're trusting in what are you trusting in to make you right before God to 517 00:55:09,840 --> 00:55:13,440 to put you in that place where God says you're my child I love you you're in the family what 518 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:20,320 are you trusting in for that because the Bible says that you're my child I love you 519 00:55:20,320 --> 00:55:27,280 because the Bible says we've all sinned we've all broken the 10 commandments we've all lied 520 00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:32,480 steeled cheated coveted Jesus said if you've ever lusted against lusted for somebody you've 521 00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:37,040 committed adultery in your heart we've all used the name of God as a cuss word and blasphemed 522 00:55:37,040 --> 00:55:41,920 his name like and the Bible says you sin in one area you're guilty of breaking all of it 523 00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:48,000 so having begun in the spirit are you living a Christian life today where you're thinking 524 00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:54,560 if I do good God's happy with me if I do bad God's hating me are you now living as a Christian 525 00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:59,040 where you say well I'm saved today because I did good things but oh I'm not saved today because 526 00:55:59,040 --> 00:56:05,760 I had a bad day and I did some bad things that's the question Paul was asking the Galatians 527 00:56:06,720 --> 00:56:13,280 if you were saved by faith and your trust in Jesus Christ does the fact that you messed up 528 00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:17,920 and are trying to do things to make it right does that have any effect is that going to go wrong 529 00:56:17,920 --> 00:56:26,240 is that going to keep you saved and the answer is no it's our faith it's our belief I'm so grateful 530 00:56:26,240 --> 00:56:36,080 for that because if our faith if my faith was based on me doing right wow I'm done failed 531 00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:42,320 like it probably would have been like like Jesus I believe in you and then one second later boom oh 532 00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:49,200 I messed up already it's not based on us God knows our frame He knows our weakness He knows we're 533 00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:57,200 sinners He knows our flesh is fallen that is the whole reason why He came and lived as one of us 534 00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:05,280 without sin died on the cross to pay the price for all of us breaking God's law and then said 535 00:57:06,320 --> 00:57:11,280 believe in what I did for you believe I am God believe I am almighty believe I love you believe 536 00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:20,160 I can save you and when you believe that He can do that and you put your faith in that it happens 537 00:57:21,120 --> 00:57:30,240 you're saved and nothing changes that now you will see works in your life if you truly believed 538 00:57:31,440 --> 00:57:38,880 but you won't be a perfect person we try and live obedient to God in every way all day long but 539 00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:46,880 when we do stumble God doesn't hold it against us because it's our faith that saved us not our works 540 00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:55,840 when we look at every single one of His promises and we're in that place where we truly have fully 541 00:57:56,400 --> 00:58:03,680 internalized internalized that He is God and His promises are therefore true no matter what when 542 00:58:03,680 --> 00:58:09,120 when we get to that place where our faith has matured and is maturing to that place where we 543 00:58:09,120 --> 00:58:14,240 believe now without question without doubt without worry that is the place where when we look at God's 544 00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:21,600 word or God speaks to us about something we simply do what Abram did and go okay I'm in let's go 545 00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:28,240 but if you're not in that place as a believer today 546 00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:37,520 I would encourage you to do what Peter did Lord increase my faith Lord increase my faith 547 00:58:39,280 --> 00:58:44,960 because I believe you are God I believe you can even do that please increase my faith help me to 548 00:58:44,960 --> 00:58:50,160 be that person that's not constantly doubting and questioning and dealing with this well I believe 549 00:58:50,160 --> 00:58:53,920 you're God but then why am I doubting you God I'm done with that 550 00:58:53,920 --> 00:59:00,320 God I'm done with that now if you don't know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior this morning 551 00:59:00,320 --> 00:59:08,800 you've never entered into that relationship God is not your father as of this moment God is your judge 552 00:59:10,560 --> 00:59:15,920 and you stand before Him spiritually guilty of breaking His law sinning against Him 553 00:59:15,920 --> 00:59:24,160 and without the blood of Jesus Christ without putting faith in His work you are going to be 554 00:59:24,160 --> 00:59:30,640 judged based upon your own works and there's no possibility that you've done enough good things 555 00:59:30,640 --> 00:59:40,560 to outweigh the bad things you're guilty before God and the Bible is very clear that Jesus died 556 00:59:40,560 --> 00:59:47,760 to pay the penalty for every single sin you've committed and I tell you today God is real 557 00:59:48,880 --> 00:59:53,680 and one day you will stand before Him when you pass from this earth and without Jesus you will 558 00:59:53,680 --> 00:59:58,880 be found guilty fully deserving of judgment and punishment and you will be cast into hell forever 559 00:59:58,880 --> 01:00:06,400 but God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever that includes you would 560 01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:12,640 believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life unless you say Lord I believe 561 01:00:13,840 --> 01:00:23,840 I believe in you I believe in your word save me I believe in you I believe in you I believe in you 562 01:00:23,840 --> 01:00:31,760 I believe in you I believe in your word save me unless you make that profession you're lost 563 01:00:33,760 --> 01:00:39,280 and it doesn't matter how many works you do those will not lead to your salvation any more than 564 01:00:39,280 --> 01:00:47,280 they keep a Christian saved it is righteousness imputed by faith and so this morning I'm going 565 01:00:47,280 --> 01:00:52,000 to give you an opportunity to express that faith to cry out to Jesus and say I 566 01:00:52,000 --> 01:01:00,240 I please save me I've sinned and know that when you make that profession it says you believe in 567 01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:05,120 your heart and confess with your mouth you are saved let's pray father 568 01:01:08,880 --> 01:01:13,280 we're so grateful God that your plan from the very very beginning 569 01:01:13,280 --> 01:01:28,160 was to extend such an amazing massive thing to us salvation from our sin Lord from the very beginning 570 01:01:29,600 --> 01:01:34,160 your plan was to grant us all of that 571 01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:38,240 through our faith in you 572 01:01:38,240 --> 01:01:39,840 through our faith in you 573 01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:48,800 Lord we know that so much of the old covenant and the law Lord your word tells us that the law wasn't 574 01:01:48,800 --> 01:01:55,440 given to us to say hey follow these rules and you're in it was given to us to make us realize as 575 01:01:55,440 --> 01:02:02,880 humans we can't follow your law we are incapable we are irredeemably wicked sinful people 576 01:02:02,880 --> 01:02:12,480 and so God when you came and you lived that perfect life experiencing everything we experience Lord 577 01:02:12,480 --> 01:02:16,480 doubt worry fear 578 01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:23,520 but Lord you experienced all that without sin you went to the cross you died for us 579 01:02:24,480 --> 01:02:29,120 that your pure perfect spotless blood would wash us clean of our sin through faith 580 01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:32,800 and that God you would again through through our faith be able to look at us 581 01:02:33,920 --> 01:02:37,360 the way you saw Adam in the garden the way you saw Eve in the garden perfect 582 01:02:38,240 --> 01:02:44,080 spotless without sin innocent able to stand in your presence and have perfect fellowship with you 583 01:02:44,080 --> 01:02:52,000 forever God that's what you offer to us through our belief and so Lord I pray God that you would 584 01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:57,120 work in our hearts or those of us that believe that you are saved and that you are saved 585 01:02:57,120 --> 01:03:01,600 or those of us that believe that you are Lord God but we're struggling with your promises God I 586 01:03:01,600 --> 01:03:05,440 pray Lord that you would do a work in their hearts where they would come to that place 587 01:03:08,880 --> 01:03:14,000 realizing who you are reflecting on what that means and reading your word they would just say 588 01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:18,720 okay I'm in but Lord for those that may not know you this morning 589 01:03:22,080 --> 01:03:25,920 God those that may be in the room and they've never committed their life to you they've never 590 01:03:25,920 --> 01:03:30,400 made that confession of faith they've never said I believe Jesus is God I believe he came to this 591 01:03:30,400 --> 01:03:36,080 earth I believe he died for me I believe that I deserve the judgment but because I have faith in 592 01:03:36,080 --> 01:03:42,960 him I am spared Lord if if there's those here even watching online that have never made that 593 01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:47,920 profession God I pray right now your Holy Spirit would move upon them and so while we're praying 594 01:03:48,800 --> 01:03:54,560 everybody's heads bowed eyes closed if you're here in this room this morning and God has spoken to 595 01:03:54,560 --> 01:04:01,760 you about your need for salvation and maybe you've even been wrestling with the truth that all I have 596 01:04:01,760 --> 01:04:09,280 to do is believe and I'll be saved and God has spoken to you today that the answer to that 597 01:04:09,280 --> 01:04:15,440 question is yes and you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior if you're here 598 01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:18,880 in this room while we're praying just raise your hand where I could see it let me pray with you 599 01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:23,840 this morning God bless you on the side God bless you on the other side anybody else I see you in 600 01:04:23,840 --> 01:04:30,960 the back God is speaking to you today about your need for him how desperately he loves you how 601 01:04:30,960 --> 01:04:36,640 desperately he wants to forgive you and set you free from the control of sin anybody else in this 602 01:04:36,640 --> 01:04:41,280 room God is speaking to you raise your hand where I could see it I'm going to lead you in a prayer in 603 01:04:41,280 --> 01:04:46,960 a moment if you're watching online and God is speaking to you I want you to pray this prayer 604 01:04:46,960 --> 01:04:52,640 with me as well obviously I can't see you but if you're in the chat box please let us know in chat 605 01:04:52,640 --> 01:04:56,320 that you're receiving the Lord Jesus anybody else before we pray 606 01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:00,080 all right I see you on the side as well 607 01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:06,000 all right for those of you that are wanting to receive Christ this morning 608 01:05:06,000 --> 01:05:12,720 really for the first time I want you to pray this prayer with me say Lord God I believe in you 609 01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:17,440 I believe you are who you say you are 610 01:05:17,440 --> 01:05:21,840 I believe in your word 611 01:05:25,360 --> 01:05:30,560 I believe that you will save me through my faith 612 01:05:33,600 --> 01:05:35,360 and God I've sinned against you 613 01:05:38,080 --> 01:05:40,080 God I realize now 614 01:05:40,080 --> 01:05:47,600 that works good deeds none of that will ever atone for my sin 615 01:05:49,920 --> 01:05:55,120 and so Lord I need you I believe you came to die for me 616 01:05:57,200 --> 01:06:02,720 I believe you rose from the dead that you're alive forevermore 617 01:06:05,040 --> 01:06:07,520 and God even in the things I don't understand 618 01:06:07,520 --> 01:06:17,680 I choose to believe increase my faith as I grow in you show me your glory 619 01:06:19,520 --> 01:06:21,520 teach me how much you love me 620 01:06:21,520 --> 01:06:35,280 and be my Lord be my Savior thank you for loving me so much it's in Jesus name I pray amen 621 01:06:36,800 --> 01:06:40,400 well congratulations those of you that prayed that prayer today 622 01:06:44,080 --> 01:06:48,160 you didn't join a church you're welcome to come here we'd love to have you come here but you 623 01:06:48,160 --> 01:06:53,760 entered into a relationship with your God a relationship that is going to grow and continue 624 01:06:53,760 --> 01:06:58,800 to grow and we want to help you on that journey that's that's one of the things we love to do as 625 01:06:58,800 --> 01:07:03,040 a church and so those of you that gave your life to the Lord today for the first time we 626 01:07:03,040 --> 01:07:07,200 we have these little white envelopes on the front pew or out in the foyer as you leave today and 627 01:07:07,200 --> 01:07:11,120 we call them a new believers packet and there's just a lot of information in there that we want 628 01:07:11,120 --> 01:07:17,920 to put into your hand to help you start to develop a new faith and a new faith in your life 629 01:07:17,920 --> 01:07:23,280 develop this relationship with God and it's all wrapped around learning how to pray and how to 630 01:07:23,280 --> 01:07:28,800 worship God and how to study his Bible and and then as you're growing if you have questions 631 01:07:28,800 --> 01:07:34,320 we're here for you so many of us in this church have walked that same path that you're on and 632 01:07:34,320 --> 01:07:38,560 we're all at different places on that journey we're here together to encourage one another 633 01:07:39,440 --> 01:07:43,040 if you're online and you've confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior this morning 634 01:07:43,040 --> 01:07:48,400 congratulations please let us know in chat because we would love to send you one of our new believers 635 01:07:48,400 --> 01:07:54,160 packs to help you as well on this journey that you've just begun and for the rest of us never 636 01:07:54,160 --> 01:08:00,320 get caught up and you that just got saved never again get caught up in the idea that I have to 637 01:08:00,320 --> 01:08:09,040 perform for God to love me if you believe in him you believe he is capable of accomplishing everything 638 01:08:09,040 --> 01:08:17,040 he says he is you are saved now and forever more the rest of your life here is just growing to look 639 01:08:17,040 --> 01:08:23,360 like him more and more every single day are you going to stumble yes is the devil going to try 640 01:08:23,360 --> 01:08:31,760 and condemn you when you stumble yes is God going to condemn you no he says come to my throne boldly 641 01:08:31,760 --> 01:08:39,200 I have grace for you I have mercy for you confess your sin I've already forgiven you let's move on 642 01:08:39,200 --> 01:08:44,240 and all of us let's learn to to to be in that place to have that faith where we just say God 643 01:08:44,240 --> 01:08:52,960 you are so everything you say is and as a church as a body let's see what God's going to do 644 01:08:53,520 --> 01:08:57,840 let's together march forward into the glory of who he is and what he wants to do to affect the 645 01:08:57,840 --> 01:09:03,680 world around us because I believe God can do more greater above more abundant and beyond whatever 646 01:09:03,680 --> 01:09:31,680 we can think or imagine and I'm excited to see what that is with you guys God bless you