WEBVTT 00:00:00.380 --> 00:00:07.600 We're in a series on blessed together looking at the life of Abraham and what Abraham did in his pursuit with God, and as 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:14.700 God has called him, blessed how Abraham discovered that blessing and following after the Lord, noting in Genesis chapter 12 and verse one, when 00:00:14.700 --> 00:00:19.680 Abraham began his journey, it said, Abraham, I will bless you, and through you all nations will be blessed. 00:00:21.580 --> 00:00:28.540 And just as Abraham is blessed in his pursuit of God, so can we be blessed in our pursuit of the Lord. 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:30.700 But it's amazing. 00:00:31.100 --> 00:00:38.700 And knowing the reason that God has created us in his image and for his purpose, how quickly we as people can become content 00:00:38.700 --> 00:00:43.140 and settling in life for lower purposes than what God has created us for. 00:00:45.720 --> 00:00:52.820 Sometimes the choices that we make in life are simply about living life and have no ultimate desire or meaning, or drive towards 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:54.640 why we do what we do. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:03.900 In fact, in Genesis chapter four, just to show us how we live as people, sometimes in the choices that we make tells us a story about 00:01:03.900 --> 00:01:08.240 Cain and Abel and King killing his brother Abel. 00:01:08.240 --> 00:01:15.300 And after Cain killed Abel, rather than repenting and turning back to the Lord and pursuing his relationship with God, it tells us that Cain 00:01:15.300 --> 00:01:18.520 leaves from that land and he goes to the land of nod. 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:27.000 And the reason the Bible points for us, the specific place for which Cain is going is because the city in which Cain lives, the city 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:28.940 of nod, in which he builds. 00:01:30.240 --> 00:01:34.000 As a city of purposeless ness. 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:35.330 I got to find a better word than that. 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:36.680 A city with no meaning. 00:01:38.360 --> 00:01:44.400 Kane goes to nod, and the city of nod literally means a place of wandering. 00:01:46.600 --> 00:01:48.220 A place that really has no reason. 00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:55.480 A place where Cain just lived because he has tomorrow and he even builds a city without 00:01:56.360 --> 00:01:57.580 ultimate purpose or reasoning. 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:06.740 And I think as an American culture, that is the fallacy that and pitfall that we can often fall 00:02:06.740 --> 00:02:07.680 into as people. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:16.860 And we separate church from state, but make it taboo to even talk and discuss about God, who is the ultimate purpose 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:19.180 and reasoning behind everything that we should do. 00:02:21.540 --> 00:02:22.040 And instead. 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:25.080 Settle for the Land of Nod. 00:02:26.420 --> 00:02:29.740 Now, if you're here with me this morning, I'm going to I'm going to make an assumption about us. 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:32.360 And if it's wrong, forgive me, but I'm going to assume that. 00:02:32.580 --> 00:02:38.220 That none of us here this morning want to live life unintentionally, but rather we want to live life for purpose. 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:39.990 We don't want to live for the wrong reasons. 00:02:40.260 --> 00:02:42.080 We want to make our lives count. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:44.140 We don't want to lose. 00:02:44.140 --> 00:02:45.880 In fact, we'd be tired of losing. 00:02:45.880 --> 00:02:46.620 But we want to do is we? 00:02:47.100 --> 00:02:48.020 We want to win. 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:51.820 But the minute we start talking about God. 00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:55.340 There's something within our nature. 00:02:57.200 --> 00:02:59.880 That might reject the idea of coming to him rather. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.550 And living in him, rather than staying in the land of nod. 00:03:06.920 --> 00:03:08.920 You know, sometimes when we think about God. 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:16.240 God and the concept of him and pursuing him seems like a bigger burden to us than living a life that might be empty. 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:25.320 In fact, our picture about God might be of one who is this religious bully who just wants to beat me down into 00:03:25.340 --> 00:03:28.300 this particular way and really kill my. 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:33.160 At least the pleasure that I'm finding and the way that I'm pursuing life for my own purpose and gain. 00:03:36.220 --> 00:03:38.460 Jesus in Matthew chapter 11. 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:43.620 When he shows up and begins to share his message, he recognizes. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:46.780 All of us as people have that tendency. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:56.500 To get to some point in our life whether you know you know Jesus or not, whether you've trusted in Jesus or not, that when you think about God, there's something in you that just 00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:59.400 bucks against whatever he's calling you to. 00:04:00.860 --> 00:04:08.020 And for the time that Jesus walked on the earth when he confronted the Jewish people, the thing that overwhelmed people during that time 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:09.300 was this thought of religion. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:18.220 In fact, in Matthew chapter 11, as it describes the life of Jesus and the people around him, 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:24.800 it's as if he's saying that they're burdened down by all the 600 plus laws that they're trying to fulfill to make God happy. 00:04:26.940 --> 00:04:29.820 In fact, Jesus says in Matthew 11. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:32.980 Terry, click for me. 00:04:33.940 --> 00:04:34.700 We got some malfunction here. 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:41.320 Matthew 11 and verse 28, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:48.680 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:49.320 souls. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:54.120 Jesus is acknowledging. 00:04:55.340 --> 00:05:02.620 When we look at him in a world of religious mindset and thinking, and see him as just another to do list of 00:05:02.620 --> 00:05:07.200 a world that's just full of just endless things that can throw upon us. 00:05:07.200 --> 00:05:08.890 That, yeah, it looks overwhelming. 00:05:10.540 --> 00:05:14.410 In fact, Jesus describes that view as heavy laden. 00:05:15.940 --> 00:05:18.840 In the part that strikes me and Jesus's description of this. 00:05:18.840 --> 00:05:22.260 He says, come to me and you will find rest for your souls. 00:05:22.300 --> 00:05:27.360 The type of the type of stress that Jesus is talking about in pursuing him in this world. 00:05:27.420 --> 00:05:32.810 It's this stress that fatigues you so much that it's not it's not that you're just physically tired. 00:05:33.100 --> 00:05:36.580 It's that this feeling of tired goes deeper than the external. 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:40.620 It drives down to your very soul, in your heart who you are. 00:05:40.620 --> 00:05:41.780 You can't. 00:05:42.020 --> 00:05:43.760 You can't find rest. 00:05:46.830 --> 00:05:54.160 And to think that Jesus is coming on the scene about to preach a message to these people, how they might respond and thinking, man, God, one more thing. 00:05:56.180 --> 00:05:56.880 I can't take it. 00:06:00.380 --> 00:06:04.720 And Jesus in these moments, looking at the hearts of people, he says. 00:06:05.880 --> 00:06:07.140 Listen, I recognize. 00:06:09.080 --> 00:06:11.010 But what you're going through is stressful. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:13.850 And it's burdensome. 00:06:15.580 --> 00:06:16.100 But it's not me. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:21.920 Because if it were me, you would find rest for your souls. 00:06:23.760 --> 00:06:29.340 When I was a young kid, which I still look young, so take that for whatever it means. 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:34.790 But when I when I was little, I used to play baseball into my teenage years. 00:06:35.060 --> 00:06:38.340 And you can call me kid pastor, by the way, if I still look like that to you. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:45.600 But, I played, I played baseball, and I went through a period in Little League where it didn't matter how big the ball was, 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:47.100 I just I just couldn't hit it. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:50.490 And I was batting third in the lineup, and I started to get afraid. 00:06:50.880 --> 00:06:52.210 You know, third is a pretty good position. 00:06:52.500 --> 00:06:54.440 It shows that you're at least a decent hitter. 00:06:54.440 --> 00:07:00.500 And I started to get worried that the coach was going to move me around in the order, because I went so many games without without really a hit. 00:07:00.540 --> 00:07:05.520 And so I started to worry so much so that I was, I was a I became afraid to hit the ball. 00:07:05.520 --> 00:07:09.730 I didn't want to go up to the plate and swing, because I didn't want to fail and walk back to the, to the dugout. 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:17.230 And so I just was concerned, and I didn't want to go walk up from the dugout to the plate, didn't want to practice swing, didn't want to do anything. 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:25.240 And the funny thing was, I was afraid to hit the ball, but I wasn't afraid of the ball hitting me and batting 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:29.440 behind me was the kid who was always the best hitter in the league. 00:07:30.100 --> 00:07:33.980 We played on like eight teams together and I always batted in front of him. 00:07:33.980 --> 00:07:37.800 And his coach was our coach was his uncle. 00:07:38.280 --> 00:07:45.560 And one day he looks at me after my little streak of not hitting and he just says, listen, all you have to do 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:46.940 is get on base. 00:07:47.220 --> 00:07:49.460 He knew I was he knew I wasn't afraid of the ball. 00:07:49.460 --> 00:07:50.900 He said, listen, I don't care what it takes. 00:07:51.440 --> 00:07:52.280 Just get on base. 00:07:52.460 --> 00:07:54.440 And I knew wink, wink what my coach was saying. 00:07:54.440 --> 00:07:56.400 He's saying, son, take one for the team. 00:07:56.760 --> 00:08:00.200 If you got to hit one in the skull, get hit by the ball, just get on the base. 00:08:00.280 --> 00:08:05.830 Because if you can just get on base, the guy coming behind you, he is going to knock you in and we're going to score. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:08.180 Just get on base. 00:08:10.630 --> 00:08:13.360 The truth is for us and our relationship with Christ. 00:08:15.300 --> 00:08:16.650 And this is what Jesus is saying. 00:08:18.860 --> 00:08:19.200 Listen. 00:08:19.240 --> 00:08:24.020 There are things, images of God, this fatigue of the world. 00:08:24.700 --> 00:08:31.480 When you look at God and just think, one more thing added to your list, there is something, something in you that balks in your day, even if you're a believer in Christ. 00:08:31.940 --> 00:08:39.120 If you consider the busyness of your life and you think about time with Jesus and he quickly prioritizes lower and 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:43.070 lower on the things that you feel like you need to get done today because they're more important. 00:08:43.280 --> 00:08:44.380 Let me just say this. 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:47.790 If you can just get the first base. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:52.920 If you can just take the pitch. 00:08:54.780 --> 00:08:57.100 If you can just accept what Jesus is bringing to you. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.500 And God works it out as he moves in your heart. 00:09:04.660 --> 00:09:06.060 As we think within our lives. 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:08.180 We know God has called us to do something. 00:09:08.180 --> 00:09:11.560 Here's how we know if Jesus didn't call us to do things in this world. 00:09:11.580 --> 00:09:18.760 The moment you trusted in Christ as your Savior and you were redeemed and your ticket was paid and you were bound for heaven, the moment that 00:09:18.760 --> 00:09:21.320 happened, Jesus would have just taken you to heaven. 00:09:23.980 --> 00:09:25.010 But he left you here on Earth. 00:09:27.340 --> 00:09:29.700 Which says that God has created you for a purpose. 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:36.960 In fact, when the Bible tells us that God has made us in his image, maybe the thought within our head should be whatever that image is that God 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:41.380 has created me in him for is to be displayed in the way I live my life. 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:45.560 But man, I feel burdened. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:48.980 Encouragement. 00:09:51.560 --> 00:09:52.840 It's just a step to the plate. 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:54.860 And here's the joy. 00:09:56.580 --> 00:09:58.280 One baseball season. 00:09:59.040 --> 00:10:06.240 I had this particular kid in our league who had a hot head, and when you made him mad, he would just throw as fast as he could and 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:07.740 he wouldn't even aim for the catcher's mitt. 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:11.660 And I knew before the game started, if I go ahead and make this kid mad, I want to be on base every time I get up. 00:10:12.260 --> 00:10:18.220 So I'd make the kid mad and I would step up to base, and he would nail me in the face and I would get on base. 00:10:18.260 --> 00:10:21.490 I would walk home like I've been in some sort of fight, just whelps everywhere. 00:10:21.640 --> 00:10:22.200 I'd be like, what happened? 00:10:22.280 --> 00:10:22.880 My baby? 00:10:22.920 --> 00:10:24.730 Like, got a baseball ball, you know? 00:10:25.400 --> 00:10:26.780 Here's the good news about Jesus's pitch. 00:10:28.800 --> 00:10:29.570 Sperm is easy. 00:10:31.400 --> 00:10:32.230 This yoke is light. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:35.640 It's not intended to knock you down. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:39.930 But its design is to build you up. 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:42.980 Abraham's life. 00:10:44.640 --> 00:10:51.700 Is a picture, and especially in Genesis 18 of the way he connects to Jesus and Jesus fuels his passion living for him in 00:10:51.700 --> 00:10:52.590 this world. 00:10:54.680 --> 00:11:00.110 You're never going to do what God has called you to in this world without connecting to the one who empowers you to do it. 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:03.700 And so in Genesis chapter 18 and verse one, it says this. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:10.480 Now the Lord appeared to him, talking about Abraham by the oaks of Mamri while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:16.700 God comes and he appears to him with these two other angels that are accompanying him. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:21.850 And I just want to share with you this morning that what I believe this to be is the Pre-incarnate Christ. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:28.560 In the Old Testament, it often referred to the Pre-incarnate Christ as the angel of the Lord. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:30.360 The reason. 00:11:30.400 --> 00:11:37.520 One of the reasons I would say the angel of the Lord is the Pre-incarnate Christ is that once Jesus comes to earth in the New Testament, there is no mention of the angel of the Lord 00:11:37.520 --> 00:11:37.870 again. 00:11:39.760 --> 00:11:42.320 This angel of the Lord that comes and visits Abraham. 00:11:42.560 --> 00:11:45.840 He visited Hagar in chapter in Genesis 16 and 17. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:53.120 This angel of the Lord functions as God carries the characteristics of God, and is physically present in a form as Jesus 00:11:53.880 --> 00:11:55.100 became a form. 00:11:55.800 --> 00:11:56.100 A man. 00:11:57.560 --> 00:12:05.120 In fact, the Bible tells us in John one one through four and in verse 14 of chapter one, Jesus became flesh. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:08.040 No other part of the Trinitarian God was flesh. 00:12:08.040 --> 00:12:13.100 And Colossians two nine Jesus is the exact representation of God in physical form. 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:21.100 Hebrews 13 eight Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and all things were created through him, by him and for him. 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:23.210 And in him all things consist. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:30.540 Colossians 115 and 17 Jesus is the only one described to the Triune God who has physical form. 00:12:30.560 --> 00:12:32.480 In fact, the Bible says and related to the father. 00:12:32.560 --> 00:12:36.820 It says God is spirit in John 424 and a spirit has no flesh and bones. 00:12:37.260 --> 00:12:41.640 In Luke 2339 and Malachi three six, the Lord does not change. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:47.100 In Hosea 11 nine, God the Father was not a man in first Timothy 616. 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:54.640 In John 646, no one has ever seen the father in Exodus 3320, no 1st May look at the father and live. 00:12:56.920 --> 00:13:02.790 And so when I, the Lord, appears with Abraham in this passage, I think it's his relationship to Christ. 00:13:02.920 --> 00:13:05.380 Pre-incarnate Jesus being made known. 00:13:07.140 --> 00:13:14.360 Sometimes people pause before we get into the into the story of Abraham and ask the theological question, what do you do with passages of the Bible where it says, 00:13:14.800 --> 00:13:16.000 the father was there? 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:23.100 Like acts 755 as a popular passage it says, But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up into heaven and saw the 00:13:23.160 --> 00:13:27.080 glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:35.640 Now, if you're thinking in your head and challenging whether or not Abraham saw the father here or Jesus here, let me just encourage you to go back and look at the context 00:13:35.640 --> 00:13:41.240 of passages that you might be calling the father and you might be calling Jesus, such as acts, which is a popular one. 00:13:41.280 --> 00:13:42.380 Let me tell you how this works. 00:13:44.120 --> 00:13:46.540 Steven just preached a message to the nation of Israel. 00:13:46.540 --> 00:13:48.850 He's about to become the first martyr in Christian history. 00:13:49.140 --> 00:13:53.540 And so Steven preaches this message on who Jesus is and the reason they need to trust in him for salvation. 00:13:54.260 --> 00:13:58.540 Because Christ was the Messiah, come to take on the sins of the world, to die for you and I. 00:13:58.540 --> 00:14:01.580 That we may experience eternity with him as we place our faith in Christ. 00:14:01.920 --> 00:14:04.520 Steven just delivered this message to the nation of Israel. 00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:08.240 People of Israel rejected the message. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:11.140 And as Stevens getting ready to be stoned, he looks up into heaven. 00:14:11.140 --> 00:14:13.210 And this is the scene that he describes. 00:14:13.400 --> 00:14:18.050 He sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God or at the right hand of the father. 00:14:18.280 --> 00:14:25.300 What Stephen is saying, Stephen is not saying that Jesus and physical form is standing next to the father in physical form, because the Bible told 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:28.360 us God is spirit and the spirit has no flesh and bones. 00:14:28.680 --> 00:14:35.900 What Stephen is saying is that Jesus is standing in the place of honor, that he has been approved and what he has done, he is exactly who 00:14:36.020 --> 00:14:36.760 you need to trust in. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:38.340 Let me tell you why. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:45.750 During the time of Stephen's life, during the time of Christ's life, when a person would throw a dinner party. 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:49.600 At the dinner party, there was a seat that was for the guest of honor. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:55.460 The position of that seat for the guest of honor was at the right hand of the individual who was throwing the dinner party. 00:14:58.800 --> 00:14:59.900 When Stephen looks into heaven. 00:15:01.920 --> 00:15:02.680 He's acknowledging. 00:15:03.860 --> 00:15:07.740 That Jesus is in the position of favor. 00:15:09.520 --> 00:15:11.990 At the very reason the people are crucifying him. 00:15:13.980 --> 00:15:16.340 They are denying what God has approved. 00:15:18.020 --> 00:15:22.780 And Jesus sits in the hand of favor in heaven. 00:15:24.400 --> 00:15:25.820 Jesus. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:32.100 Isn't literally standing beside the father, but figuratively is acknowledging for us. 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:34.500 He is in that favored position. 00:15:34.620 --> 00:15:36.640 Continue to pursue him with your life. 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:45.060 And Abraham in Genesis 18 one has an encounter with the Lord and meets with him. 00:15:46.060 --> 00:15:53.120 It's important for us to recognize the significance of Jesus and the interaction that we have with him, because the Bible tells us not only does Jesus give us life, but 00:15:53.640 --> 00:15:54.740 Jesus is life. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:59.880 In John 14 six, I am the way, the truth, and the life is what Jesus says. 00:15:59.900 --> 00:16:03.160 Not that he just has life, but he is life itself. 00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:08.780 And through his life he transforms our own. 00:16:10.820 --> 00:16:17.940 In Second Corinthians, in chapter three and verse 18, it says, but we all with open face, beholding as in the glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 00:16:17.940 --> 00:16:24.400 into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:29.170 What Paul is saying here is God's desire for you. 00:16:29.880 --> 00:16:30.680 Is to look like Jesus. 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:33.520 God's plan for your life. 00:16:33.520 --> 00:16:38.800 God's will for your life is to look like Jesus and the way that you look like Jesus. 00:16:40.340 --> 00:16:41.160 Is meeting with Jesus. 00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:50.520 Taking the time that to allow God to reflect himself in your heart, that in that you reflect Jesus in 00:16:50.520 --> 00:16:51.340 this life. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:55.480 Listen, when you walk out of here on Sunday morning, you will live for something. 00:16:55.520 --> 00:17:00.940 You will reflect something in this world, and it's whatever you allow your heart to belong to. 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:06.339 And Jesus shows up. 00:17:06.339 --> 00:17:11.440 In Mark chapter seven, he looks at the Pharisees and the Sadducees that are living the law of the 600 and plus laws that they had to live. 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:17.720 And he just says, it's out of the heart that the wickedness comes in verse 21. 00:17:18.260 --> 00:17:24.460 Meaning their response was, if I do wrong, let's just let's just add another law and modify my behavior. 00:17:24.520 --> 00:17:30.760 But the problem with that is if you modify your behavior by laws, you will never address the issue, which is the heart. 00:17:33.600 --> 00:17:35.120 Just because you change what you do. 00:17:36.840 --> 00:17:39.640 Doesn't mean your heart will stop longing for idols. 00:17:42.180 --> 00:17:44.570 Rather than the modification on the outside. 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:47.820 Jesus's desire was to transform us from the inside. 00:17:50.080 --> 00:17:53.260 There's a difference in our lives and believing something is right. 00:17:55.300 --> 00:17:57.000 And believing that something is a way of life. 00:17:59.340 --> 00:18:00.560 And as you get next to Christ. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:09.100 And you learn what he teaches about life and the perspective that he gives, and you give him the opportunity to work on 00:18:09.100 --> 00:18:11.740 your life, not only does it become an idea that you believe. 00:18:13.840 --> 00:18:16.320 But it's a way of life in your heart. 00:18:19.020 --> 00:18:25.080 Embracing Christ, allowing by his power to transform you from the inside out. 00:18:27.180 --> 00:18:33.500 There was a man who went and visited a museum, and he gets to a particular exhibit within the museum, and it's a sculpture of a lion. 00:18:34.820 --> 00:18:38.360 And this man spends most of his time in the museum just walking around this lion. 00:18:38.380 --> 00:18:45.560 He was he was just taken back by the beauty of this figure and how detailed, meticulous and how much 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.940 effort the artist put into just making this lion look lifelike. 00:18:51.740 --> 00:18:55.920 It just so happened that the artist was within earshot of the statue. 00:18:56.020 --> 00:19:03.080 And as this man wandered around, this beautiful lion just talking about, the artist came over and he gave the man the opportunity to begin to ask the artist all kinds of questions about 00:19:03.080 --> 00:19:04.380 how this man did this. 00:19:04.380 --> 00:19:11.560 And so he just simply asked, I mean, how does one how does one go about sculpting this beautiful block into a more 00:19:11.560 --> 00:19:14.280 beautiful statue of a lion? 00:19:14.340 --> 00:19:15.820 How do you even begin on something like that? 00:19:15.840 --> 00:19:19.540 And the artist looked back and said, simple. 00:19:19.940 --> 00:19:20.710 I take the block. 00:19:21.860 --> 00:19:24.540 And I just chip away anything that doesn't look like a lion. 00:19:27.300 --> 00:19:28.760 All right oversimplifies it. 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:30.330 We couldn't do that if we left today. 00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:34.640 That's what Jesus desires to do in you. 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:42.120 Time with him gives him the opportunity. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:50.040 Prioritizing life to see the significance of what Christ is about and allowing God to chip away from us the things 00:19:50.040 --> 00:19:57.280 that don't reflect his beauty, that we may enjoy him and live for the purpose for which he has called us in this world. 00:19:59.560 --> 00:20:02.280 And sometimes we treat Jesus like he's. 00:20:04.580 --> 00:20:05.240 Get out of hell. 00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:05.720 Free card. 00:20:07.120 --> 00:20:07.820 And we gather on Sunday. 00:20:07.820 --> 00:20:10.020 We think, yeah, we're a group of people going to heaven, which is true. 00:20:10.040 --> 00:20:10.470 And we all cheer. 00:20:10.700 --> 00:20:11.530 Yeah, that's a good reason. 00:20:11.580 --> 00:20:11.740 Hope. 00:20:12.060 --> 00:20:13.020 Hope is something we need. 00:20:13.040 --> 00:20:13.300 Hope. 00:20:13.580 --> 00:20:15.300 That's people we live for. 00:20:15.300 --> 00:20:16.080 Hope as people. 00:20:17.540 --> 00:20:18.480 But God in reality. 00:20:20.440 --> 00:20:22.260 As he's preparing a place for you. 00:20:23.660 --> 00:20:26.120 He's also preparing you for his place. 00:20:28.780 --> 00:20:33.100 God is working within our hearts to accomplish his will in the world. 00:20:33.120 --> 00:20:35.420 And so it says in Genesis 18 and verse two. 00:20:35.580 --> 00:20:41.980 This is what Abraham does in the heat of the day in verse one and verse two, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing opposite him. 00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:45.260 And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them. 00:20:45.260 --> 00:20:51.680 And he bowed himself to the earth and said, my Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. 00:20:52.060 --> 00:20:59.010 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree, and I will bring a piece of bread, and you may refresh yourselves. 00:20:59.260 --> 00:21:02.160 After that you may go on, since you have visited your servant. 00:21:02.280 --> 00:21:05.120 And they said, so do as you have said. 00:21:06.060 --> 00:21:12.260 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread, cakes. 00:21:12.280 --> 00:21:19.110 And Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf, and gave it to the servant, and hurried to prepare it, and took curds and milk, and a calf. 00:21:19.280 --> 00:21:25.120 And he had prepared and placed it before them, and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate. 00:21:28.760 --> 00:21:32.240 Abraham knows how important this meeting is with the Lord. 00:21:34.300 --> 00:21:41.440 And so much so that he even experiences inconvenience of normal, ordinary things in the day to day living 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:44.520 of life just to be able to meet with Christ. 00:21:44.580 --> 00:21:49.260 It tells us in 1801 that it's in the hottest part of the day when you're supposed to siesta. 00:21:51.560 --> 00:21:57.260 Jesus intentionally comes during this portion of the day to reveal where Abraham's heart is and his pursuit after the Lord. 00:21:59.380 --> 00:22:04.120 Not only is it the hottest part of the day, but by this point Abraham is 99 years old. 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:12.470 He is 99 years old, and he has plenty of people under him to do everything that he is described as doing in Genesis. 00:22:12.800 --> 00:22:16.840 And yet Abraham is the one in his desire to meet and love and serve the Lord. 00:22:17.100 --> 00:22:23.900 He gets up at almost 100 years old just to find the ability and opportunity to meet with Christ. 00:22:26.600 --> 00:22:28.520 Tells us that Abraham had a hand in preparing the food. 00:22:31.080 --> 00:22:34.740 It tells us that as Abraham's preparing, Abraham is diligent in his pursuit. 00:22:34.760 --> 00:22:37.920 He is running in these tasks to meet with the Lord. 00:22:40.360 --> 00:22:41.380 And in verse eight. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:44.160 He just simply sat and waited. 00:22:46.220 --> 00:22:48.180 He was standing by them under the tree as they ate. 00:22:50.280 --> 00:22:53.780 Abraham's longing was just for the fellowship. 00:22:56.100 --> 00:22:59.510 You think of what God has called you into this world to do? 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:06.600 It requires time spent with him for the energy and idea and the will of to work out according to God's will. 00:23:07.260 --> 00:23:08.980 We need the mind of Christ within us. 00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:12.620 We need God to shape us and form us. 00:23:12.780 --> 00:23:20.060 In fact, psychologists say for anyone to live life for a purpose and to live life healthy, they say these five things 00:23:20.060 --> 00:23:21.260 are necessary within us. 00:23:21.260 --> 00:23:23.240 We need to feel loved in Christ or loved. 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:25.280 We need to feel a sense of purpose in Christ. 00:23:25.380 --> 00:23:25.910 You have purpose. 00:23:26.260 --> 00:23:27.140 We need to feel secure. 00:23:27.620 --> 00:23:28.970 In Christ there is security. 00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:31.320 You need to feel significance in Christ. 00:23:31.340 --> 00:23:32.380 You're important in his image. 00:23:32.380 --> 00:23:34.600 You need a place to belong in Jesus. 00:23:34.600 --> 00:23:35.990 You are a part of a family. 00:23:36.840 --> 00:23:39.720 You are created in this identity, in him. 00:23:42.740 --> 00:23:46.320 Paul said it this way in Galatians 220, for I am crucified with Christ. 00:23:46.340 --> 00:23:50.660 Nevertheless, it's not I who live, but Christ who lives within me. 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:54.590 Meaning said in the terms we use today. 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:59.200 I leaned into the pitch with my life and Jesus drove me home. 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:09.880 I love Christ is painting for us in this picture. 00:24:12.520 --> 00:24:20.000 Matthew 11, he looks at a world religiously worn out and says, I, I am the strength that you need. 00:24:22.120 --> 00:24:29.200 If you brought notes, the if you have notes in your bulletin this morning, you'll see that point number one is this life is about getting to Jesus. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:31.880 I am transformed by my relationship with Christ. 00:24:34.180 --> 00:24:41.240 Will not live as God has called us to live, without allowing ourselves to be molded in the image of Jesus, which all happens by the strength of Christ 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:43.050 as we trust in him. 00:24:45.340 --> 00:24:49.860 And the truth is, as Jesus works himself in you. 00:24:51.100 --> 00:24:52.780 You can't help but reflect him in this world. 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:56.240 Which is why base number two this morning is this. 00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:02.900 If my family is blessed by my relationship with Christ. 00:25:04.740 --> 00:25:10.600 when I was just getting married, I had the same conflict in my life as when I was about to have a kid. 00:25:11.020 --> 00:25:15.020 And that was I didn't feel exactly prepared to do what I was about to do. 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:17.820 And you all have been there, right? 00:25:18.420 --> 00:25:25.440 Making a move, big life change, whatever, whatever it is that you're deciding where you feel like you're on the edge of a cliff, about to step off into something that 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:28.820 you know is supposed to be joyful for you, but not knowing where it's going to lead. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:31.800 It's a gut check moment. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:35.740 And truthfully, you can read all the books you wanted to. 00:25:35.820 --> 00:25:36.600 I mean, I had done it. 00:25:36.600 --> 00:25:40.400 I read all the books on marriage and parenting and that meant I was perfect at it. 00:25:41.100 --> 00:25:42.440 All you have to do is read a book and you're an expert. 00:25:43.740 --> 00:25:44.280 According to Facebook. 00:25:47.780 --> 00:25:50.480 I remember when my son was born for the first time, and I. 00:25:50.660 --> 00:25:53.080 And for the first time, the only time my first son was born. 00:25:53.240 --> 00:25:53.910 I go to the hospital. 00:25:54.540 --> 00:25:55.000 I go to the hospital. 00:25:55.500 --> 00:25:59.540 I'm holding him thinking, okay, in two days I think they're going to let me walk out with this. 00:26:00.120 --> 00:26:00.300 And. 00:26:00.580 --> 00:26:02.300 And then the time came and I start walking out. 00:26:02.300 --> 00:26:04.820 I'm like looking over my shoulder thinking, are they going to come after me? 00:26:04.820 --> 00:26:05.800 I mean, why would you do this? 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.040 Where is the manual on how to raise this thing? 00:26:08.100 --> 00:26:09.620 I don't know, I don't know what I'm doing here. 00:26:09.900 --> 00:26:12.780 You know, it just feels weird the first time you change a diaper, you're like. 00:26:13.550 --> 00:26:14.930 Everyone's watching you like the nurse. 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:15.670 Make sure you do it right. 00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:16.980 You know, it's weird. 00:26:17.060 --> 00:26:17.920 It's weird doing that. 00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:19.680 And you're thinking, man, I'm in charge of a life. 00:26:19.780 --> 00:26:20.510 This is so crazy. 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:21.420 How am I going to do this? 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:27.200 I can remember I went home and took my son downstairs, and. 00:26:27.360 --> 00:26:28.350 And I'm rocking him in his crib. 00:26:28.500 --> 00:26:32.260 One of those nights where your eyes are all cracked out from being up so late you don't even know what's going on. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:34.000 And you're just thinking, worrying in your head. 00:26:34.520 --> 00:26:35.200 How am I going to be a parent? 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:35.620 How am I going to be a good parent? 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:36.400 I'm going to see this kid. 00:26:36.660 --> 00:26:41.440 There's so many things he could fall into in this world, so many problems he could face, so many hardships he could go through. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:42.520 I don't even know if I can do this. 00:26:42.940 --> 00:26:44.090 How am I going to control my child? 00:26:44.220 --> 00:26:47.310 How am I going to be there when I can't be there to tell him what he needs to do and help him make his decisions? 00:26:47.560 --> 00:26:50.560 God, how can I have his mind so he can't make his decisions? 00:26:50.560 --> 00:26:51.560 I can make them all for him. 00:26:51.560 --> 00:26:52.890 Lord, I don't want to know what he's going to decide. 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:54.820 I want, just stressing myself out. 00:26:57.080 --> 00:27:03.180 And then I started reading Ephesians and Philippians because I realized my stress level was too high for what it needed to be. 00:27:04.210 --> 00:27:04.460 And. 00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:11.900 This is what I began to realize is, as Paul began to unfold his prayers for the church of Ephesus, especially. 00:27:13.940 --> 00:27:19.480 I noticed his heart desire for the people of Ephesus was the same heart desire that I carried for my son, and what I wanted for his life. 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:24.180 And Paul's prayers and all the things he could be worried about. 00:27:24.280 --> 00:27:26.080 And Paul's prayer is the one thing that Paul said. 00:27:27.120 --> 00:27:30.860 One continued theme in his prayers was that the people of Ephesus would come to know Christ. 00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:34.700 Is in that moment. 00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:40.580 All the concern that I had for the steps of my life just became relieved. 00:27:42.780 --> 00:27:43.390 Because I realized. 00:27:45.020 --> 00:27:46.350 If my son knows Jesus. 00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:48.910 And he walks with Jesus. 00:27:50.580 --> 00:27:53.020 God shapes the path that he takes in this world. 00:27:56.180 --> 00:27:57.490 If I would just walk with Jesus. 00:28:00.180 --> 00:28:01.440 I will show my son Jesus. 00:28:03.520 --> 00:28:07.940 And God will shape the path that I take in this world. 00:28:10.320 --> 00:28:11.470 I'm going to reflect something. 00:28:13.580 --> 00:28:15.560 I'm going to live for something. 00:28:18.040 --> 00:28:19.100 Time with Christ. 00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:25.600 Just leaning into that pitch and allowing the power of the Lord to reflect himself in me. 00:28:27.020 --> 00:28:30.620 Allows God to reflect himself into my family. 00:28:32.810 --> 00:28:39.480 In fact, when it comes to the life of Abraham, it says this by faith when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place. 00:28:41.040 --> 00:28:42.840 And he went out not knowing where he was going. 00:28:42.860 --> 00:28:50.140 By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, dwelling in tents, for he was looking for the city which has its foundation, whose architect and builder is God. 00:28:50.140 --> 00:28:50.500 By faith. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:57.840 Even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive, and even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 00:28:58.520 --> 00:29:01.860 He goes on in Genesis chapter 18, talking about that life. 00:29:02.140 --> 00:29:05.260 Then they said to him, Where is Sarah, your wife, talking about the angels? 00:29:05.900 --> 00:29:07.360 And Abraham said, there in the tent. 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:10.600 And he said, I will surely return to you at this time next year. 00:29:10.800 --> 00:29:12.700 And behold, Sarah, your wife will have a son. 00:29:12.780 --> 00:29:16.080 And Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him. 00:29:16.460 --> 00:29:19.130 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age. 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:21.260 Sarah was past childbearing. 00:29:21.260 --> 00:29:26.660 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, after I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord? 00:29:26.820 --> 00:29:27.760 Being old also. 00:29:29.360 --> 00:29:31.240 Sarah was actually happy she was having a baby. 00:29:31.240 --> 00:29:31.880 Really old. 00:29:31.980 --> 00:29:32.680 All right, that's what it says. 00:29:33.080 --> 00:29:33.980 She's having pleasure and old. 00:29:34.300 --> 00:29:35.200 And having a child. 00:29:35.220 --> 00:29:35.500 Like. 00:29:35.560 --> 00:29:39.920 I know some of you would like your husband, 100 years old, to have a baby, and you guys go fisticuffs over each other. 00:29:40.280 --> 00:29:46.180 But in this, in the culture and what Sarah and Abraham's heart is and having a child, they're so thankful for what God's doing. 00:29:46.220 --> 00:29:53.420 And so as Abraham steps out in faith and pursuing the Lord, not only not only is Abraham blessed, but 00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:53.920 so is his family. 00:29:57.080 --> 00:29:57.810 Can I tell you this morning? 00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:01.360 God's plan for you is for your family. 00:30:01.420 --> 00:30:04.020 If you if you've started a family, you have a family. 00:30:04.020 --> 00:30:04.860 If you've got a wife, you've got a kids. 00:30:05.320 --> 00:30:08.960 When you make that covenant, God says his desires that two become one. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:12.360 And then God says as two become one. 00:30:12.360 --> 00:30:17.540 If God blesses with children, God's desire for that family is to be a blessing throughout the earth. 00:30:17.600 --> 00:30:18.750 It tells us in Genesis two. 00:30:20.260 --> 00:30:21.360 That through them all. 00:30:21.900 --> 00:30:27.330 God would multiply and subdue the earth in Genesis 127 and through them all of the earth will be blessed. 00:30:27.540 --> 00:30:30.580 And in Genesis chapter 12 and verses one in the life of Abraham. 00:30:33.260 --> 00:30:34.900 God's desire is to work in your family. 00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:42.020 But not only does he reorient your family, he reorients you with a church family whose pursuit and likeness is also found in the Lord 00:30:42.020 --> 00:30:43.960 and what he desires. 00:30:45.900 --> 00:30:51.830 In fact, Galatians chapter six and verse ten says, let's do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. 00:30:54.180 --> 00:31:01.200 And God's plan isn't to take your family and segregate yourself from the rest of the world and say, God called me to my family, but rather take your family into the world, that through you, not 00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:04.140 only are you a blessing to your family, but you're a blessing to all people. 00:31:07.340 --> 00:31:09.980 There's a story I heard of a young boy who stayed up late. 00:31:09.980 --> 00:31:10.910 He was really a young kid. 00:31:11.180 --> 00:31:13.260 He shouldn't be out of bed at this late at night. 00:31:13.280 --> 00:31:20.280 But his dad's coming home late from work, and he's sitting up waiting for his dad, and his dad walks in the door and he asks his father, dad, how much money 00:31:20.280 --> 00:31:20.640 do you make? 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:21.000 An hour. 00:31:22.280 --> 00:31:23.080 As that was offended. 00:31:23.280 --> 00:31:24.100 You want to know that answer? 00:31:25.860 --> 00:31:28.480 And he told his son, I make I make $20 an hour, son. 00:31:29.740 --> 00:31:35.800 His dad had been working overtime countless hours for a long period of time, and. 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:38.480 And the sun, then looks up at his dad and goes, okay, dad. 00:31:38.600 --> 00:31:39.600 Well, can I have $10? 00:31:40.940 --> 00:31:45.480 And his dad's just frustrated having just walked through the door and he sends us he sends his son to bed. 00:31:45.500 --> 00:31:46.800 He said, son, just go to bed. 00:31:46.820 --> 00:31:48.680 I can't believe you'd even ask me that question. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:54.100 Thinking the reason his son asked the question of how much he made is just so his son could turn around, ask him for a little bit of that money. 00:31:54.180 --> 00:31:55.130 So he tells his son to go to bed. 00:31:55.280 --> 00:31:57.140 He's frustrated and he goes and he sits down. 00:31:57.160 --> 00:32:00.100 He starts thinking about it, and he realizes he was a little rough with his son. 00:32:00.120 --> 00:32:00.770 So he goes downstairs. 00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:08.190 He walks into his son's room, he goes, son, I don't I don't know what you wanted this for, but I just want you to know, I responded, a little irritated. 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:10.600 And I'm sorry for that. 00:32:10.600 --> 00:32:14.240 And here's $10, by the way, what did what did you want to do with that son? 00:32:14.380 --> 00:32:17.400 And the young boy laying in his bed reaches under his pillow. 00:32:18.980 --> 00:32:22.300 And he starts to pull out all these wadded up dollars and he counts his money. 00:32:23.780 --> 00:32:27.840 And he looks at it and he hands it to his dad, and he said, dad, it's exactly enough. 00:32:27.840 --> 00:32:28.680 He said, what is this, son? 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:29.330 He says, it's $20. 00:32:32.060 --> 00:32:33.060 Can I have an hour of your time? 00:32:38.120 --> 00:32:40.600 God desires to shape his will in you. 00:32:43.020 --> 00:32:44.600 His purpose in you. 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:49.440 So that you have the opportunity and the blessing. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.600 Of reflecting the beauty of who he is in this world. 00:32:55.900 --> 00:33:02.320 I mean, you hear that story and it tugs at your heartstrings no matter where you are in life, because you look at that moment and you think, man, I want to live. 00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:03.780 I want to live for what it's all about. 00:33:03.840 --> 00:33:04.800 I don't want to lose in that situation. 00:33:05.380 --> 00:33:06.320 I want to win. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:09.080 And I'm telling you. 00:33:10.760 --> 00:33:11.920 Just lean into the pitch. 00:33:14.540 --> 00:33:17.260 And Jesus is on the same end with the same amount of money. 00:33:17.660 --> 00:33:24.620 Or more than that having, having, having bought your life with his own just so you would lean into that bitch. 00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:29.840 And reflect the beauty of who he is in this world. 00:33:33.260 --> 00:33:33.840 Not only. 00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:41.210 As our family relationships, both spiritual and physical, blessed by our walk with Christ, so is the world. 00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:47.320 Truth of the matter is, we think to ourselves, we can't afford to spend time with Christ. 00:33:47.380 --> 00:33:50.890 But the reality is you can't afford to not spend time with him. 00:33:54.260 --> 00:34:01.380 In Genesis 18 and verse 13 it says, I want to read that 18 and verse 18 it says that since Abraham will surely become a great and 00:34:01.380 --> 00:34:08.480 mighty nation, this is the Lord saying this, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed, for I have chosen him, so that he may command his 00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:15.580 children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what 00:34:15.580 --> 00:34:17.280 he has spoken about him. 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:22.840 And God has worked in Abraham to work in his family to bless all nations. 00:34:25.219 --> 00:34:25.900 And through the relationship. 00:34:26.440 --> 00:34:28.889 All people are blessed. 00:34:30.380 --> 00:34:31.179 Can I tell you more than anybody? 00:34:33.500 --> 00:34:35.000 Abraham knows what it means to be bankrupt. 00:34:36.380 --> 00:34:38.420 The Hebrews 11 and verse ten says, he was. 00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:39.340 He's tired of her. 00:34:39.580 --> 00:34:45.100 He was looking for God, who's who's his building, and his architect is forever. 00:34:46.580 --> 00:34:53.659 He wanted a life of purpose and meaning, if anyone understood, stands what it means to walk with God and see the beauty of God working in 00:34:53.659 --> 00:34:56.000 his life in this world, it's Abraham. 00:34:56.080 --> 00:34:57.600 Abraham was living in the land of ur. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:00.740 His name was Abram, named after a false god. 00:35:00.740 --> 00:35:05.940 He was in idol worship and God shows up and delivers him by his grace. 00:35:05.980 --> 00:35:12.380 When Abraham leaves the land of her, he stops short of God's call, not going into the Promised land, and His father passes away. 00:35:12.660 --> 00:35:16.890 And then when he gets to the Promised Land, there's a drought, and he decides to go beyond God's will in the land of Egypt. 00:35:16.960 --> 00:35:19.720 And he discovers that his wife is taken in Egypt. 00:35:19.780 --> 00:35:24.640 And God continues to show his grace, even after Abraham goes to war. 00:35:24.860 --> 00:35:29.270 When he's feeling vulnerable after that battle, realizing life, life is just so precious. 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:34.800 In Genesis 15, God shows up and communicates to him and gives him his grace. 00:35:34.860 --> 00:35:42.060 Even after Abraham takes the concubine Hagar and goes against the Lord and God's decision to bless 00:35:42.060 --> 00:35:47.080 He and Sarah through having a child and trying to produce a child on his own with Hagar. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:49.840 Apart from the Lord, God continues to forgive. 00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:56.940 In Genesis 18, God shows up again in his life, giving him an opportunity just to lean into the 00:35:57.240 --> 00:35:57.400 pitch. 00:36:00.700 --> 00:36:01.280 Through you. 00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:03.760 All nations are blessed. 00:36:06.060 --> 00:36:08.600 God gives us this picture about us in this world. 00:36:10.080 --> 00:36:16.860 He says in Second Corinthians 519, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. 00:36:18.140 --> 00:36:20.380 Not counting their trespasses against them. 00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:22.790 And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:26.900 And so the neighbor Paul says this about us, therefore. 00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:30.020 We are ambassadors for Christ. 00:36:31.300 --> 00:36:33.400 As though God were making an appeal through us. 00:36:33.420 --> 00:36:37.800 We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 00:36:38.560 --> 00:36:40.280 The story goes like this Jesus came. 00:36:40.280 --> 00:36:40.940 Jesus died. 00:36:40.940 --> 00:36:42.840 Jesus reconciles the world to him. 00:36:43.080 --> 00:36:45.570 How does Jesus move in this world with that message? 00:36:45.940 --> 00:36:50.620 To deliver us over to him, that we might find redemption in him? 00:36:50.620 --> 00:36:52.640 Well, it's through his people he created in his image. 00:36:52.900 --> 00:36:54.800 In fact, this passage calls you his ambassador. 00:36:57.300 --> 00:37:02.680 The job of an ambassador is to go to a foreign land to represent the leader of the country. 00:37:03.120 --> 00:37:04.700 He left. 00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:06.460 Or he's a part of. 00:37:06.460 --> 00:37:08.710 Still, I should say. 00:37:09.980 --> 00:37:12.500 You as an ambassador are placed on earth. 00:37:12.500 --> 00:37:15.660 God, if it was just about saving you, taking to heaven would have done that long ago. 00:37:15.740 --> 00:37:16.970 But he kept you here for a purpose. 00:37:17.180 --> 00:37:22.560 You are in a foreign land belonging to a home that this world is not your own. 00:37:22.600 --> 00:37:29.700 But God's desire as you're here is that as you connect to him in relationship with the beauty of what Christ has done, seeing his grace deliver you 00:37:29.700 --> 00:37:37.040 over and over and continue to come to him, no matter how many times you fall on your face and finding a God that embraces you, a God that desires to work in you, a God that continues 00:37:37.040 --> 00:37:39.640 to pitch to you just so that you can make it to first base. 00:37:39.740 --> 00:37:41.380 That he can deliver you home. 00:37:41.380 --> 00:37:47.460 You represent that as you spend time with him, you will represent something in this world. 00:37:49.720 --> 00:37:51.660 God has called you to represent Christ. 00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:55.720 Let me close with this story. 00:37:57.660 --> 00:37:59.360 There's a young lady. 00:38:00.500 --> 00:38:01.720 His name was Katie Davis. 00:38:02.140 --> 00:38:09.640 At 18, as she graduated high school, she decided she wanted to go to Uganda in 2006 for a missions trip, and so her 00:38:09.640 --> 00:38:11.830 church sent her on this mission trip to go to Uganda. 00:38:13.040 --> 00:38:14.520 And we think to ourselves sometimes, you know what? 00:38:14.700 --> 00:38:16.860 What am I capable of doing in the Lord? 00:38:16.860 --> 00:38:20.410 And maybe Katie thought the same thing, but in 2006, she went to Uganda. 00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:21.940 She loved the ministry there. 00:38:21.980 --> 00:38:22.140 She. 00:38:22.380 --> 00:38:28.920 She worked with young kids who were uneducated, living on the streets there in a very poor area in Uganda. 00:38:29.420 --> 00:38:30.300 And Uganda is poor to begin with. 00:38:30.580 --> 00:38:31.870 But this is extreme poverty. 00:38:32.500 --> 00:38:38.340 And the next year Katie goes back again and she spends a summer there and she works there throughout the summer at the age of 19. 00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:40.780 And she teaches these young kids in school. 00:38:40.940 --> 00:38:42.980 She brings them in, she teaches them. 00:38:42.980 --> 00:38:43.600 She loves on them. 00:38:43.600 --> 00:38:50.740 As the summer was over when Katie went back home in 2008 at the age of 20, she decided that she was going to find sponsors for these children that 00:38:50.780 --> 00:38:51.850 she met on the street. 00:38:51.860 --> 00:38:55.160 And she moved back that same year to the, to the country of Uganda. 00:38:55.860 --> 00:38:58.140 And she brought 150 kids off the street. 00:38:58.160 --> 00:39:01.330 She fed them, she taught them, and she discipled them in the Lord. 00:39:01.560 --> 00:39:05.640 Today, over 1500 children are a part of this ministry. 00:39:05.720 --> 00:39:12.880 She's adopted 13 of her own and it's called Amazima International Ministries, which in English means Truth 00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:14.810 International Ministries. 00:39:17.600 --> 00:39:18.960 Was it 26 years old? 00:39:20.920 --> 00:39:21.960 God's using her. 00:39:23.200 --> 00:39:24.560 To impact thousands of people. 00:39:26.380 --> 00:39:27.330 But you know how that journey begins. 00:39:30.820 --> 00:39:31.780 Lean into the pitch. 00:39:34.600 --> 00:39:36.100 Like you don't know what God wants to do in your life. 00:39:38.100 --> 00:39:40.660 We certainly know he wants to make an impact in this world through you. 00:39:43.260 --> 00:39:50.480 And the only way we see that impact, and the only way the burden of life gets light, is through the time we spend with Christ and His strengthening 00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:51.340 in our lives. 00:39:52.700 --> 00:39:56.240 As he forms his image in us and through us. 00:39:58.240 --> 00:39:59.830 So here's your encouraged this morning. 00:40:01.020 --> 00:40:01.650 Don't play baseball. 00:40:04.720 --> 00:40:05.980 But just get the first. 00:40:07.880 --> 00:40:09.400 Just get to first base. 00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:14.000 And God will send you the rest of the way home.