WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:02.630 I'm going to invite you to Romans chapter four. 00:00:03.500 --> 00:00:05.210 Romans four is where we're going to be today. 00:00:05.880 --> 00:00:11.960 As we study this place in this text, significant place in text, that's the Romans chapter four. 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.059 It's going to encourage us today when we think about Alpine Bible Church. 00:00:16.360 --> 00:00:23.360 One of the things that I like to say regularly, regularly to us as a church so it becomes a part of our DNA, is that we want to be a church that lives to give 00:00:23.360 --> 00:00:24.560 itself away for the glory of God. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:26.750 We're not here simply for us. 00:00:27.400 --> 00:00:32.600 If Christianity was simply just about you get saved and that's all you're intended to do in Jesus. 00:00:33.160 --> 00:00:36.480 Then as soon as you come to trust in Christ, God would have taken you on into glory. 00:00:36.620 --> 00:00:36.720 Right? 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:43.340 But the reason He has you here and the reason he created his church is because the church is called to live on mission, to advance for his glory. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.940 We're like a not a clubhouse, but we're like a battleship, right? 00:00:48.060 --> 00:00:52.200 We become strengthened in our walk with Jesus in order to live for his glory in this world. 00:00:52.220 --> 00:00:54.900 Now, when I say Battleship, I want you to know. 00:00:54.900 --> 00:00:57.320 And that kind of imagery, I'm not telling you to go out and fight against people. 00:00:57.800 --> 00:00:59.280 That's not what we're about as a church. 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:01.350 But rather God's called us on mission to fight for people. 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:09.000 God calls us on a rescue mission to rescue the hearts of people that are leading to death and destruction apart from the Lord, and to call them into relationship 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:13.390 with God that they can experience his goodness and glory for all of eternity. 00:01:14.520 --> 00:01:16.520 Living as a church for God's glory in this world. 00:01:16.520 --> 00:01:23.520 We recognize that the things of this world wage war against the things of God, and we're called to live as servants of 00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:29.820 Christ in this world that mimic the behavior of Jesus, just as Jesus became the servants of servants and gave His life for our glory. 00:01:29.940 --> 00:01:33.040 So we now serve to live for His glory to the benefit of others. 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:36.360 And sometimes when we live that way, it can cut us. 00:01:36.720 --> 00:01:43.180 But when we get cut for the glory of God, our heart is to continue to bleed for the Lord. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:50.810 But sometimes when you go through life and you have this mission to live for Him, sometimes life can lead to some disappointment. 00:01:51.720 --> 00:01:57.700 And in that we find discouragement and we get disoriented from what God calls us to. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.020 And sometimes we can get a little jaded. 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:08.520 And so the question we want to answer today or explore as we go through this text is how can we trust in God when all of the things in 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:10.220 life can fell us? 00:02:10.880 --> 00:02:17.920 Sometimes it's hard to trust when you get disappointed and when you come 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:18.660 to Romans. 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:25.920 Chapter four Remember Paul's approaching Romans Chapter four as if to say, And now I'm going to prove to you everything that 00:02:25.920 --> 00:02:33.220 I've just said right In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul tells really all people of that have ever existed 00:02:33.220 --> 00:02:37.940 throughout history that our condition, apart from God, is under the wrath of God. 00:02:38.760 --> 00:02:45.580 And we need hope to escape that and not just simply escape the wrath of God, but to find ourselves under the grace of God. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:51.800 And Paul tells us it's not based on our performance, but it's based on his performance on our behalf. 00:02:52.160 --> 00:02:59.420 And when you get to Romans chapter four, it's as if the crowd is saying to Paul, The church in Rome is saying to Paul, Look, Paul, prove it, prove it. 00:02:59.420 --> 00:03:06.600 Show us that this is really how we should live our lives in light of who got is that our trust needs to be in him And in Romans Chapter 00:03:06.600 --> 00:03:13.450 four is shaped that way, and it continues through the second half of Romans chapter four, which is where we're going to pick up today. 00:03:13.980 --> 00:03:15.740 We read the first 12 verses last week. 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:20.360 We're going to look at these last verses from verse 13 to 25 this week. 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:27.700 But we're going to we're going to point out three reasons why we're to keep the faith in the Lord when everything else 00:03:27.700 --> 00:03:29.300 in life might disappoint you. 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:31.750 And it has everything to do with who God is. 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:36.280 How we live our lives in light of him is based on who he is. 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:41.380 We need something healthy and good to trust him. 00:03:42.200 --> 00:03:43.550 And can I can I tell you one of the quickest ways? 00:03:45.220 --> 00:03:47.260 One of the quickest ways to earn people's trust. 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:51.640 Is to be willing to suffer with them. 00:03:53.500 --> 00:03:55.740 And this is exactly what God has done for you. 00:03:57.220 --> 00:04:02.280 And he has found us in our place of darkness and despair apart from him. 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:10.360 And he became flesh in that with us and willingly gave his life for us so 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:13.100 that we could live our lives for him. 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:18.089 God did this for you, and he did this for me. 00:04:18.700 --> 00:04:20.140 And you see his good hand there. 00:04:20.140 --> 00:04:20.240 And. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:27.700 And that's how you really begin to understand if leaders really care about you, if or if other people really care about you, not just the Lord is if they're willing 00:04:27.700 --> 00:04:31.960 to come alongside you and suffer with you and struggle with you and some of the things that you face in life. 00:04:32.300 --> 00:04:37.340 I think coincidentally, it's also some of the reason people might be reluctant to trust politicians. 00:04:37.440 --> 00:04:37.880 Right. 00:04:38.020 --> 00:04:42.200 They seem to want to take from you more than they give give to you. 00:04:42.200 --> 00:04:49.340 It's why I think it was Ronald Reagan that said some of the scariest words that you will ever hear in your life is and someone knocks on your door and says, I'm from the government and 00:04:49.340 --> 00:04:49.870 I'm here to help. 00:04:50.080 --> 00:04:50.600 Right? 00:04:50.660 --> 00:04:51.160 It's not. 00:04:51.580 --> 00:04:53.540 And I try and say all politicians are bad. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:05:01.020 I'm just saying there is this reluctance on behalf of people to trust political leaders no matter where you are, because it seems that they take more than they give. 00:05:01.020 --> 00:05:08.080 But when someone's willing to enter into that place of suffering with you in order to come alongside 00:05:08.080 --> 00:05:12.580 you, to aid you and to help you, it starts to give you this place of trust. 00:05:12.580 --> 00:05:15.720 And so point number one this morning is three reasons to keep the faith in the Lord. 00:05:15.820 --> 00:05:16.520 Number one is this. 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:18.310 He is he is reliable. 00:05:20.440 --> 00:05:27.340 He is reliable CT stud when he considered his life as a missionary in response to the Lord's somebody. 00:05:27.340 --> 00:05:33.240 Some people looked at CT stud and the kind of life that he gave up as a he was a world figure, really. 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:36.030 And he gives up that position to go serve God as a missionary. 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:38.580 And they talk about the sacrifice he made for that. 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:44.420 And he and he looked at his life and he said, when I consider what Christ has done for me, there is nothing that I can do for him. 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:47.350 That's really a sacrifice in comparison to what God has given me. 00:05:48.340 --> 00:05:51.660 And to understand that what God has given you the reliability of that so important. 00:05:51.660 --> 00:05:58.740 Look at this and in verse 13 says this for us, it says for the promise, and this would be chapter four, not Chapter six is wrong 00:05:58.740 --> 00:06:05.760 on the screen for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through 00:06:05.760 --> 00:06:12.390 the law, but through the righteousness of faith, for it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs. 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:17.080 Faith is null and the promise is void for the law brings wrath. 00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:19.960 But where there is no law, there is no transgression. 00:06:22.340 --> 00:06:22.580 So. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:25.620 So he's putting out something in verse 13, very important to us. 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:27.570 This is sort of the theme of this section of scripture. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:29.160 He talks about the key word here. 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:32.170 And we when we think about the reliability, God is the idea of promise. 00:06:32.660 --> 00:06:40.000 He uses this word promise in verse 13, verse 14, verse 16 and verse 20, he reiterates the idea of what 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:40.940 God has promised you. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:47.620 And then in verse 21, he uses it not as a noun, but then he uses it as a as a verb in verse 21. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:54.800 So he uses this idea of a promise five times within this section of the Scripture to understand the significance of what God has accomplished 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:55.940 for us. 00:06:55.940 --> 00:07:02.880 And in terms of the reliability, what He wants us to acknowledge in our heart is that this promise that God gives is unbreakable. 00:07:04.260 --> 00:07:11.440 So many times we in life have people that come to us and they might give us a promise, and we find that promise just falls apart and 00:07:11.440 --> 00:07:14.090 we get tired of those broken promises. 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:20.120 But the promise to Abraham, he reminds us in verse 13. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:24.440 Was not based on Abraham's behavior. 00:07:26.340 --> 00:07:27.680 But on God's character. 00:07:29.740 --> 00:07:33.140 The promise is dependable because the promise is not contingent. 00:07:33.140 --> 00:07:35.060 He's saying on what you do. 00:07:35.260 --> 00:07:39.080 The promise is contingent on who God is. 00:07:39.140 --> 00:07:46.200 I remember I shared with us last week the passage from Joshua, chapter 24, verse two, as the kind of person that Abraham was before God called him 00:07:46.200 --> 00:07:47.580 in Genesis chapter 12. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:50.780 Abraham was not this do gooder. 00:07:50.780 --> 00:07:52.420 Abraham was not this godly individual. 00:07:52.420 --> 00:07:57.090 Abraham wasn't the kind of person where God's looking over the world and thinking, who is the best person that exists? 00:07:57.580 --> 00:07:58.080 I know. 00:07:58.080 --> 00:07:58.400 I'll take Abraham. 00:07:59.260 --> 00:08:00.580 That's not Abraham's life at all. 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:05.290 Abraham was raised by a pagan father who pushed him towards idolatry. 00:08:05.520 --> 00:08:07.560 He lived in a idolatrous land. 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:08.780 They weren't pursuing God. 00:08:08.780 --> 00:08:10.720 God's not picking the best person in the bunch. 00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:13.060 He says he picks Abraham by his grace. 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:18.660 Joshua, 24 two, told us that Joshua said to all the people, thus say it The Lord, the God of Israel. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:25.880 Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates Terah, the Father of Abraham and of Niger, and they served 00:08:25.880 --> 00:08:27.040 other gods. 00:08:29.380 --> 00:08:31.960 This promise wasn't contingent upon our behavior. 00:08:34.340 --> 00:08:37.440 This promise is contingent upon his character. 00:08:38.760 --> 00:08:45.860 Which is why in Genesis 12, you see this repeated in the Book of Genesis, in the life of Abraham in chapter 12 and in chapter 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:52.860 15, verse five, in chapter 17, verse 4 to 6, God reminding Abraham over and over the promise he gives to Abraham, 00:08:52.880 --> 00:08:55.450 not contingent upon who Abraham is, but on who the Lord is. 00:08:55.620 --> 00:09:02.760 And the Lord said to Abraham, Leave your native country, your relatives and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you when 00:09:02.760 --> 00:09:03.220 he talks. 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:09.630 In terms of the promise that we're reading about this, is that promise I'm going to take you to a land and I'm going to make you a great nation. 00:09:09.800 --> 00:09:13.100 I will bless you and make you famous and you'll be a blessing to others. 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:16.890 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.470 All the families on the earth will be blessed through you. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:27.340 The reason that God gives Abraham this promise is that Abraham God uses Abraham to create a lineage through him. 00:09:27.900 --> 00:09:35.080 Land, seed and blessing is what's promised to Abraham, and God's reminding of us in this passage that 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:38.260 promise is not contingent upon us, but on him. 00:09:39.780 --> 00:09:40.740 Trust in the promises. 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:47.080 And he reminds us why in verse 14 It's not based on the law, meaning religious living. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:50.190 But it's my faith. 00:09:51.460 --> 00:09:59.240 Otherwise, he warns us in verse 14 that if we if we try to live this promise based on performance, 00:09:59.400 --> 00:10:02.920 that our faith is null and the promise is void. 00:10:04.920 --> 00:10:07.540 And that's the battle within our human nature. 00:10:07.560 --> 00:10:14.840 We try to revert back to our behavior as the basis for why we should receive anything. 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:18.600 But biblical faith. 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:25.840 He's reminding us in this passage by referring to faith, biblical faith is this expectation based 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:30.240 on the precedent that God has established through his character and conduct? 00:10:31.180 --> 00:10:33.870 Faith is this expectation of what is to come. 00:10:34.060 --> 00:10:41.340 Biblical faith is this expectation and what is to come based on the precedent of what God has established through his character and conduct. 00:10:41.400 --> 00:10:46.220 Meaning, when we talk in terms of faith, it's not just this at least biblically, it's not this blind ignorance. 00:10:46.340 --> 00:10:49.820 People can certainly use a faith establish on this blind ignorance. 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:51.860 I just I sort of hope it works out right. 00:10:52.180 --> 00:10:53.640 But that's not the way God is operated. 00:10:55.520 --> 00:11:02.620 God for us in this biblical sense, when he calls us to faith as he set a precedent for us in order to be able to trust in something that is durable, 00:11:02.800 --> 00:11:04.850 that is lasting, that will not disappoint. 00:11:06.920 --> 00:11:09.740 And it's established on his character and conduct. 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:12.700 People. 00:11:13.800 --> 00:11:14.560 Our tendency. 00:11:16.180 --> 00:11:17.080 Is to look for hope. 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:19.600 And to put faith. 00:11:21.160 --> 00:11:22.780 And unreliable places. 00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:26.600 And what that leads us to is disappointment. 00:11:28.880 --> 00:11:31.880 And he reminds us at the end of verse 15 four, the law brings wrath. 00:11:32.860 --> 00:11:36.260 But where there is no law, there is no transgression. 00:11:38.060 --> 00:11:42.880 And for us, Jesus becomes the fulfillment of the laws demand. 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:51.720 The law which holds us guilty, Christ becomes that substitute for us, and he bears on him the 00:11:51.720 --> 00:11:56.240 curse of sin so that we can find freedom in Christ. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:58.080 God is reliable. 00:11:58.180 --> 00:12:00.860 Point number two, then, is this God is available. 00:12:02.740 --> 00:12:03.670 God is available. 00:12:06.280 --> 00:12:11.620 Written in our Divine design by the Lord is a want to belong and be connected. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:17.080 We want to be a part of something and we want that something to have life to it. 00:12:17.580 --> 00:12:24.660 We're attracted to life as people, and we all want to feel significant by the support of things 00:12:24.660 --> 00:12:29.100 around us will gravitate towards anything that makes us feel significant and special. 00:12:29.280 --> 00:12:30.980 And sometimes those things are unhealthy. 00:12:31.020 --> 00:12:34.020 But my hope for you is that you find it in the Lord. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:40.420 And one of the important things that we discover in verse 1617, I'll read in just a minute, but God is available. 00:12:41.380 --> 00:12:48.720 This past week I had to fly to Atlanta to go to a conference, and on my flight to Atlanta, I was I was really happy 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:55.840 because I thought I was about to end my walk of shame because we all want to be connected and feel like we belong and find some 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:57.080 importance in who we are. 00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:04.120 And by Walk of Shame, I mean this how if I fly a particular airline and on that particular airline, I flew so much last year 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:11.380 going to Africa a few times and back that I was on the cusp of becoming a diamond member. 00:13:12.300 --> 00:13:15.340 I missed it by just like a couple bucks, man. 00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:17.610 And I thought I had it in the bag. 00:13:17.640 --> 00:13:20.690 And then I got I got to the I got to the airport and realized I am not diamond. 00:13:20.920 --> 00:13:22.140 I'm just I'm just silver. 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:25.100 And I find out what is what is silver get you? 00:13:25.580 --> 00:13:27.320 Well, it works like this. 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:29.660 They start to call you and the line to go up to the front. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:37.000 And then you realize like as you're waiting there, they call first class and military members and anyone 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:44.360 that needs special assistance getting on the airplane and then in front of silver comes comes diamond and anyone with priority 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:46.580 and anyone with comfort plus. 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:50.100 And then I swear, at one point they said, anyone not named Nathaniel, right? 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:54.000 Like everyone gets on the airplane and then and then it's your turn. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:57.440 And, by the time you get on, there's nowhere to put your luggage and you've got to do the walk of shame. 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:02.040 And the walk of shame is where you stare at everyone that's more important than you as you board the airplane. 00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:04.800 Last of all, scrubbing the back. 00:14:04.860 --> 00:14:06.140 That's how that works, right? 00:14:06.140 --> 00:14:08.620 Because all of us, we just we want to feel empowered. 00:14:08.820 --> 00:14:12.420 And I'm too cheap to ever buy a first class, so that'll never happen for me. 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:18.380 But to go through that, you just think to yourself, one day I want to be like them, right? 00:14:18.380 --> 00:14:20.500 Like you want to feel accepted. 00:14:20.740 --> 00:14:21.980 Like you belong. 00:14:24.160 --> 00:14:26.300 When you read the promises of God. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:34.820 The jaded ness of our culture is to ask the question like, or maybe even make the statement. 00:14:34.820 --> 00:14:37.660 If it's too good to be true, it must be. 00:14:39.020 --> 00:14:41.610 I hear what God says, but what's the catch? 00:14:42.800 --> 00:14:46.480 What's the one thing that's going to disqualify me, Right? 00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:49.440 How is it that I know everyone else gets it but me? 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:56.200 At one point in my life I want to get that email where the Prince of Nigeria is real. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:57.180 You know, the one that we're here. 00:14:57.180 --> 00:15:01.190 Like I've got a million gold bars, but it's stuck in customs. 00:15:01.880 --> 00:15:04.260 I'm the prince of Nigeria, and I really believe in you. 00:15:04.260 --> 00:15:04.600 Right. 00:15:04.820 --> 00:15:09.520 But if you just send me your Social Security number in 10,000, we can pay for that to get through customs. 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:11.460 And you get just one time in my life. 00:15:11.460 --> 00:15:13.870 I want to I want to be I want to be that person. 00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:14.880 Right. 00:15:15.060 --> 00:15:17.880 But to be a part and feel like you belong. 00:15:19.660 --> 00:15:21.760 To know what you have is special. 00:15:23.700 --> 00:15:27.180 And what you've received in Christ makes you special. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:33.450 And it's so important for us as a church that to get to that place, to realize, yes, the rest of the world will. 00:15:34.140 --> 00:15:36.360 It can fail you and it can disappoint you. 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:38.140 But not Christ. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:43.560 That Christ, the hope that you have in Christ never be taken away. 00:15:45.180 --> 00:15:49.220 It's so important that we rest our hope in there and we celebrate our hope in there. 00:15:49.340 --> 00:15:52.350 And the reason for that, guys, is because a cynical church. 00:15:53.680 --> 00:15:57.180 A cynical church can never live for the glory for which God has created them to live for. 00:15:58.780 --> 00:16:03.960 To understand this gospel message and the freedom that it brings to you and the hope that it gives to you. 00:16:04.140 --> 00:16:09.180 And he says it for us in these next verses verse 16, This is why it depends on faith. 00:16:11.400 --> 00:16:12.000 In order. 00:16:13.500 --> 00:16:14.020 That the promise. 00:16:14.520 --> 00:16:14.880 Look at this. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:22.200 The promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring 00:16:23.640 --> 00:16:31.020 that you would cling to this promise, not based on your performance, but resting in faith because of the grace of God and understanding of that grace gives 00:16:31.020 --> 00:16:34.430 you the guarantee of what God would give to his offspring. 00:16:34.880 --> 00:16:37.790 And so the important question is to ask the question, who is that offspring? 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:39.340 What excludes me from this? 00:16:39.340 --> 00:16:42.680 Am I excluded from that not only to the adherent of the law? 00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:45.780 He goes on and says, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham. 00:16:45.920 --> 00:16:52.520 So he's saying not to just the Jews who have the law, but also to the Gentiles who have been promised this through Abraham. 00:16:52.620 --> 00:16:57.720 And look who he's what it says, who is the offspring, who is the father of us all? 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:03.920 As it has written, I have made you the father of many nations. 00:17:05.060 --> 00:17:09.700 So promises is not an exclusion to you, but you belong if you are in Christ. 00:17:09.760 --> 00:17:16.980 And he says, then in the presence of God and whom he believed, whom gives life to the dead and calls 00:17:16.980 --> 00:17:21.359 into existence the things that do not exist. 00:17:24.270 --> 00:17:25.020 God. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.079 Who brings life to the dead. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.980 Who makes something from nothing. 00:17:32.980 --> 00:17:37.790 Says Paul's encouragement to say to you, Make sure you cling to this promise. 00:17:39.100 --> 00:17:44.160 Not based on who you are, but based on what he has accomplished for you. 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:47.020 What he's saying is there is no walk of shame. 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:50.240 You belong. 00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:52.820 Diamond member. 00:17:54.260 --> 00:17:55.020 First class. 00:17:56.460 --> 00:17:57.740 Reliable. 00:17:58.860 --> 00:17:59.420 Available. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:02.280 And point number three then, is this. 00:18:02.820 --> 00:18:03.560 And it's unstoppable. 00:18:04.120 --> 00:18:06.540 God is unstoppable. 00:18:07.940 --> 00:18:12.200 And in order to show us this, Paul does what I like to call crazy story time. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:19.240 And we read we read this a little bit last week, But he wants to reiterate this and then relate our life to this passage. 00:18:19.600 --> 00:18:27.180 But in verse verse 18, he gives us that crazy story of Abraham again and hope he believed against hope 00:18:27.760 --> 00:18:30.330 that he should become the father of many nations. 00:18:31.100 --> 00:18:38.200 And what he's saying is this When there was no earthly reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping because of who had promised to 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:40.370 him as he had been told. 00:18:41.560 --> 00:18:43.620 So shall your offspring be? 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:51.960 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, since he was about 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:56.850 100 years old, or when he was considered considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 00:18:57.020 --> 00:19:00.840 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promises of God. 00:19:01.160 --> 00:19:08.400 But he grew strong in his faith, and he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:13.380 That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. 00:19:16.060 --> 00:19:21.160 Here we are talking about Abraham again, 100 years old, having a baby. 00:19:22.340 --> 00:19:23.580 Having a baby now. 00:19:24.620 --> 00:19:28.550 I told you last week, a part of me gets a little concerned when I think about this possibility. 00:19:29.360 --> 00:19:29.780 So? 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:31.720 So I Googled this. 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:32.940 Can this happen? 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:35.410 And here's what I found out this week. 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:43.720 Dow Cowher, who is believed to be at least seven years old, she claimed to be 72, but they said in the 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:48.220 article she's at least 70 years old, gave birth to a son named Almond. 00:19:48.320 --> 00:19:54.240 This is the oldest lady, I think, on record who has given birth to a son, at least in our modern times named Almond. 00:19:54.660 --> 00:20:02.200 On April 19th, the baby was the first for her and her 79 year old husband, Mohinder 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:06.320 Singh Gill, after five decades of marriage. 00:20:06.600 --> 00:20:09.220 Do you want to see this family gender reveal here? 00:20:09.220 --> 00:20:10.440 Here we go. 00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:11.620 There they are, India. 00:20:11.700 --> 00:20:13.280 Leave it up to India to do this now. 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:16.780 Now, a little little assistance they had with this. 00:20:16.840 --> 00:20:22.340 They went through some some medical help in order to have this first child after five decades of marriage. 00:20:22.340 --> 00:20:28.540 So if that concerns you, just know there was some medical assistance involved with having this child. 00:20:28.540 --> 00:20:30.700 But she is now the oldest mother on record. 00:20:30.780 --> 00:20:31.720 She says 72. 00:20:31.740 --> 00:20:33.520 Some people say, well, she's at least 70. 00:20:33.820 --> 00:20:36.080 But that's decent age. 00:20:36.100 --> 00:20:36.520 Right. 00:20:36.520 --> 00:20:38.870 And I read this and I don't think I slept for a couple of days. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:40.390 And I told Stacey, do not touch me. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:44.640 Do not touch me as long as there's a possibility to touch me. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.880 But I went a little further and read just to help me find some comfort. 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:56.040 The US The CDC reports that about 600 women a year give birth in their fifties. 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:00.870 And in Germany last year, a 65 year old grandmother delivered quadruplets. 00:21:01.460 --> 00:21:01.560 So. 00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:02.520 So there you go. 00:21:02.520 --> 00:21:09.140 If you want to know if you want to know what's been medically possible, that's at least what Internet says through science and technology. 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:11.230 Some assistance there for this family. 00:21:11.780 --> 00:21:15.960 But they have Abraham and Sarah beat by a couple of decades. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:16.140 Right. 00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:18.740 The Abraham and Sarah, I should say, have them beat by a couple of decades. 00:21:18.780 --> 00:21:21.380 Here's a lady, 70 years old, guys, 79. 00:21:21.620 --> 00:21:26.060 And we're talking about Sarah, 90 years old, Abraham 100 years old. 00:21:26.100 --> 00:21:26.620 Right. 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:31.520 So when you read this story, it's pretty miraculous. 00:21:32.780 --> 00:21:33.660 What God did. 00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:41.660 But if you remember the promise God gave Abraham, the promise that he would have a child at 75 years old. 00:21:43.020 --> 00:21:44.300 75 years old. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:47.860 But it wasn't until Abraham was 100 years old. 00:21:49.260 --> 00:21:50.500 That this child was born. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.780 Why did God take 25 years? 00:21:55.800 --> 00:21:58.460 I mean, 75 years old would have already set the record. 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:00.220 Well, why? 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:05.440 Why wait till 100 years old in order to for God to have this child? 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:06.840 I think there's a there's a few reasons. 00:22:07.900 --> 00:22:10.620 Number one, verse 18, I think tells us with hope. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:11.560 Hope against hope. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:19.370 It became the place for Abraham to truly express faith in a God who will fulfill his promises. 00:22:21.460 --> 00:22:24.580 When God said it, he believed it and he continued to trust in it. 00:22:26.300 --> 00:22:30.790 Number two, God was showing us when everything seems impossible. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:34.160 He brings life from death. 00:22:35.100 --> 00:22:37.000 He can bring something from nothing. 00:22:38.620 --> 00:22:42.970 Verse 19 tells us that death and the womb of Sarah. 00:22:43.120 --> 00:22:49.320 Yet God brings life when it felt like all human possibilities were gone. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:52.440 The God of miracles comes through. 00:22:54.300 --> 00:22:57.980 And number three, I would say this, and it's in verse 23 and 24/4. 00:22:59.580 --> 00:23:01.320 Because you believe in the same God as Abraham. 00:23:03.280 --> 00:23:03.820 But the words. 00:23:05.320 --> 00:23:06.520 It was counted to him. 00:23:06.520 --> 00:23:07.400 It says in verse 23. 00:23:08.740 --> 00:23:10.980 We're not written for his sake alone. 00:23:12.900 --> 00:23:13.900 But for hours also. 00:23:18.580 --> 00:23:20.460 You believe in the same God? 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:25.640 A God who brings life from death. 00:23:27.040 --> 00:23:28.020 A God who brings something. 00:23:29.360 --> 00:23:29.720 From nothing. 00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:31.870 And it goes on. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:38.020 But it will be countered to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:39.360 Jesus, our Lord. 00:23:40.580 --> 00:23:48.520 Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. 00:23:49.580 --> 00:23:51.060 We need a resurrection. 00:23:51.260 --> 00:23:51.360 God. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:53.540 To have hope. 00:23:55.360 --> 00:23:58.360 A God who can bring life from death. 00:23:58.360 --> 00:24:05.240 And this is what he says to us at the end of verse 24 and 25, that same miraculous God who performed that miracle in Abraham and Sarah. 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:13.860 Is that same life giving God who wants to perform that miracle in your life and through your life into the lives of others? 00:24:14.700 --> 00:24:15.740 It's the same God. 00:24:16.740 --> 00:24:19.800 And you get the opportunity to express the same faith. 00:24:19.860 --> 00:24:24.950 And if you remember, just in the life of Abraham's day, what that meant to trust in a God like this. 00:24:25.300 --> 00:24:29.800 He's in a pagan society worshipping an idolatry. 00:24:29.840 --> 00:24:31.600 And God calls him out of that. 00:24:32.260 --> 00:24:39.400 And he trusts God to go on a journey in a time when people didn't travel more than 50 miles from the place that they were born, to a 00:24:39.400 --> 00:24:41.260 new land of which he knew nothing about. 00:24:42.380 --> 00:24:46.220 In order to live in a society that was probably even more pagan than the society he came from. 00:24:47.540 --> 00:24:49.700 To see God work a miracle. 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:58.400 Now you think about now, Paul writing this in first century Rome and a Roman society who have people pressed down by 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:05.160 their thumb in a city that had just expelled all the Jewish people in a place that's about to persecute rampantly Christians. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:12.460 And a society that's full of idolatry and worshiping all sorts of gods, but not the God of Christianity. 00:25:14.660 --> 00:25:17.280 Calling them by faith to trust in this God. 00:25:17.360 --> 00:25:21.980 Believing what God can do in a society when people are fully committed to Him. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:25.800 And then you think about our culture. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:29.640 Untethered from God. 00:25:31.800 --> 00:25:38.000 When you no longer have an authority over you that you give your life to, you become the authority. 00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:40.480 Which is exactly what we're seeing today. 00:25:41.520 --> 00:25:48.820 And in our culture, when we give no respect to authority over us, we see ourselves as the ultimate authority in order to get what we want, we realize might makes right. 00:25:48.860 --> 00:25:53.360 And so if I can look the strongest and scream the loudest, I get to dictate the direction of that culture. 00:25:56.560 --> 00:25:57.980 So there is a struggle for power. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:03.790 Reminds me of the passage or the story in The Lord of the Rings. 00:26:04.520 --> 00:26:11.620 When Gandalf goes before Frodo and Frodo shares with Gandalf the ring that he had discovered, and Gandalf throws it in 00:26:11.620 --> 00:26:16.730 the fire and pulls it out and won't even look at it and just throws it to Frodo and tells says, Tell me what it says. 00:26:17.080 --> 00:26:19.280 And Frodo looks at it and it's in Elvish. 00:26:19.460 --> 00:26:24.180 And he says, there is, there is a place where people can read this ring and you need to go there. 00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:25.380 He sends them on this journey. 00:26:25.380 --> 00:26:28.120 But before he sends them on this journey, he gives them this quote. 00:26:28.120 --> 00:26:30.280 He says one ring to rule them all. 00:26:31.040 --> 00:26:32.100 One ring to find them all. 00:26:32.820 --> 00:26:34.680 One ring to bring them all in. 00:26:35.900 --> 00:26:40.690 And in the darkness behind them, Saren is on the move. 00:26:42.320 --> 00:26:44.660 It's this place of struggle for power. 00:26:46.740 --> 00:26:49.320 Because might determines what happens. 00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:53.200 Because if we're not careful as Christians. 00:26:55.840 --> 00:26:59.340 We get caught up and responding the same way back. 00:27:01.180 --> 00:27:04.520 We see power being lost taken from us. 00:27:05.800 --> 00:27:10.680 And so in fear, we respond back and we want power, too. 00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:12.730 So we fight and retaliation. 00:27:15.120 --> 00:27:16.030 Things are changing. 00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:17.380 We don't like it, right? 00:27:18.460 --> 00:27:25.500 And here they scream for power and we want to respond with power and in return so that we can 00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:27.840 keep those things that are precious for us. 00:27:27.840 --> 00:27:29.460 But can I can I just encourage you this morning? 00:27:32.580 --> 00:27:34.660 God doesn't call us to operate from fear. 00:27:36.600 --> 00:27:38.220 God doesn't call us to be an anxious people. 00:27:40.780 --> 00:27:43.450 God calls us to be a people of faith. 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:47.170 The battles that we face as believers. 00:27:47.800 --> 00:27:49.860 They're not political battles. 00:27:51.540 --> 00:27:58.740 And can I just remind you, I know I'm leaning into the politics for a little bit because we just went through an election and some people 00:27:58.740 --> 00:28:06.280 get disoriented and worried and concerned and then they listen to all sorts of talk radio and news like it's going to rescue 00:28:06.280 --> 00:28:06.700 them. 00:28:06.900 --> 00:28:09.980 The battles that are being fought in politics were fought decades ago. 00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:13.860 And the hearts of people in what they would lean towards. 00:28:16.520 --> 00:28:18.140 Our problem is not a political problem. 00:28:20.820 --> 00:28:21.900 Our problem is a worship problem. 00:28:24.520 --> 00:28:26.850 It just plays itself out in different arenas. 00:28:28.320 --> 00:28:33.520 And to run out of fear as if it were after a power grab is not going to change the culture. 00:28:35.420 --> 00:28:37.080 I'm Jesus demonstrated for that. 00:28:37.300 --> 00:28:42.440 That to us, the way the God's people serve, the way up is the way down. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:46.080 Compassion. 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:53.740 Is what helps transform our culture as we surrender to Jesus and strive to reach hearts, not fight against them. 00:28:53.740 --> 00:28:55.080 We're not against people. 00:28:55.080 --> 00:28:55.940 We fight for them. 00:28:57.400 --> 00:29:03.600 One of the stories I love in Scripture that reminds us of this because we feel worried and concerned about the way things are going. 00:29:03.620 --> 00:29:07.970 Like Abraham was in his day or Paul in the first century. 00:29:07.980 --> 00:29:10.420 It's the story of Jesus when he sends his disciples out on the water. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:15.520 You know, the story goes, it's in Mark Chapter six, Matthew Chapter 14. 00:29:16.120 --> 00:29:17.040 John Chapter six. 00:29:17.040 --> 00:29:19.920 It's like they repeat it multiple times in the gospel, so we get it as a people. 00:29:21.820 --> 00:29:24.820 Jesus knowingly sends his disciples out into the storm. 00:29:26.580 --> 00:29:28.380 And the story goes all night long. 00:29:28.380 --> 00:29:29.660 They're rowing and they're getting nowhere. 00:29:29.860 --> 00:29:31.000 They don't even know where they are. 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:32.700 They're concerned for their life. 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:35.740 And all of a sudden here they see Jesus walking across on water. 00:29:37.140 --> 00:29:40.140 And they get scared because they think it's a ghost. 00:29:42.740 --> 00:29:45.520 But then it says this Mark Chapter six, verse 51. 00:29:48.380 --> 00:29:49.800 Then Jesus climbed in to the boat. 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:52.520 And the one stopped. 00:29:54.620 --> 00:29:55.660 And they were totally amazed. 00:29:58.040 --> 00:30:01.140 For they didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. 00:30:02.660 --> 00:30:05.240 And their hearts were too hard to take it in. 00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:08.780 Just before Jesus cinnamon to the boat. 00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:12.080 Jesus had just performed The Miracle, The Feeding of the 5000. 00:30:13.500 --> 00:30:20.660 When we get to the end of the feeding of the 5000 and they collect the baskets of loaves and they find in the baskets of loaves, they still have 12 full baskets 00:30:20.660 --> 00:30:21.360 of loaves. 00:30:23.460 --> 00:30:25.370 And what Jesus was teaching us people. 00:30:27.320 --> 00:30:28.720 He is more than enough. 00:30:31.060 --> 00:30:32.140 He has more than enough. 00:30:33.460 --> 00:30:35.980 12 baskets represent the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:30:35.980 --> 00:30:40.990 And here's Jesus showing up to feed the 5000, and they get to the end of that. 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:47.280 And not only is everyone fed, but the baskets are still full, 12 baskets full, as if to say to all of Israel. 00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:49.000 Jesus is more than enough. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:51.460 And they didn't understand the lesson. 00:30:52.340 --> 00:30:53.610 So Jesus sent them in the storm. 00:30:53.700 --> 00:30:54.160 And what do they do? 00:30:54.180 --> 00:31:01.300 They get all worked up and they get all anxious and they get full of fear and they start rowing and they start using all their power and all their strength, and they think 00:31:01.300 --> 00:31:02.360 it's all up to them. 00:31:04.500 --> 00:31:04.900 And what happens? 00:31:05.620 --> 00:31:05.880 Nothing. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:07.210 They get nowhere. 00:31:08.380 --> 00:31:08.840 They get nowhere. 00:31:09.180 --> 00:31:09.840 Relying on themselves. 00:31:11.980 --> 00:31:13.920 But the moment Jesus shows up. 00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:17.140 The wind stops. 00:31:18.460 --> 00:31:19.280 The waves come. 00:31:20.660 --> 00:31:21.680 And miraculously. 00:31:22.780 --> 00:31:23.880 They're on the shore to the other side. 00:31:27.560 --> 00:31:28.890 They thought it was a power grab. 00:31:31.060 --> 00:31:32.720 It's not about resting in their strength. 00:31:34.620 --> 00:31:38.860 That's about resting in his strength and what he desires to accomplish. 00:31:39.040 --> 00:31:46.160 If you were to read the story of Abraham and Genesis Chapter 12 to 2, Genesis 17, when Abraham 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:50.270 gives the promises of a child, do you know in those 25 years the only time. 00:31:50.440 --> 00:31:51.660 Abraham, when you read the story. 00:31:51.660 --> 00:31:54.500 Abraham messed up a couple of times, but the one time he really messed up. 00:31:55.880 --> 00:31:57.060 You know what Abraham did to mess up? 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:00.300 He relied on his strength. 00:32:01.780 --> 00:32:03.120 And the form of a lady named Hagar. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:06.460 Through the approval of his wife. 00:32:07.940 --> 00:32:12.750 And the story goes, God promises, Abraham, you're going to be a father of many nations through you. 00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:14.090 It's going to be a blessing to all people. 00:32:14.540 --> 00:32:19.740 And Abraham and Sarah are resting in faith, but all of a sudden they get to the place where they're thinking, we're getting older. 00:32:19.980 --> 00:32:20.850 Abraham, you still don't have a child. 00:32:23.080 --> 00:32:25.580 Maybe God needs us to make this child in our own strength. 00:32:26.340 --> 00:32:27.580 And so Sarah gets the bright idea. 00:32:27.940 --> 00:32:29.540 How about you have a girlfriend on the side? 00:32:29.540 --> 00:32:30.180 Here's Hagar. 00:32:31.320 --> 00:32:33.620 In case anyone in this room needs to hear this if you're married. 00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:36.600 No girlfriend on the side. 00:32:37.740 --> 00:32:39.720 All right, That is that is dumb, right? 00:32:40.200 --> 00:32:43.900 That's that is certainly not following after the Lord and Abraham does that. 00:32:44.700 --> 00:32:45.120 And what happens? 00:32:45.520 --> 00:32:46.120 Big mistake. 00:32:47.620 --> 00:32:48.460 Why? 00:32:49.760 --> 00:32:52.680 Because Abraham was resting in his strength. 00:32:56.020 --> 00:32:57.640 Not the promise of God. 00:32:59.760 --> 00:33:03.140 Sometimes we fall into the mistake of thinking that the solution. 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:05.040 As a power grab. 00:33:07.740 --> 00:33:08.640 We don't fight against people. 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:11.740 We fight for them. 00:33:14.300 --> 00:33:15.860 This world does not know how lost it is. 00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:20.380 But you have the truth. 00:33:23.160 --> 00:33:26.660 You have the one that brings life from death. 00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:30.300 Hope and darkness something. 00:33:32.080 --> 00:33:32.680 From nothing. 00:33:34.140 --> 00:33:39.480 I mean, Jesus said it like this in Revelation high in the Omega, the alpha and the Omega. 00:33:39.940 --> 00:33:40.910 The first and the last. 00:33:40.940 --> 00:33:42.340 The beginning and the end. 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:44.820 And here's what he's saying to you. 00:33:46.120 --> 00:33:48.980 This world may try to take things from you, but in Christ they take nothing. 00:33:50.700 --> 00:33:53.460 They can have nothing because what you have in Jesus endures forever. 00:33:54.560 --> 00:33:56.530 So the things of this world they may fight for. 00:33:56.620 --> 00:33:57.160 Let them have it. 00:33:57.220 --> 00:33:59.120 It's the best it gets for them. 00:34:00.660 --> 00:34:01.320 But for you. 00:34:02.580 --> 00:34:03.170 But for you. 00:34:03.180 --> 00:34:05.320 And nothing that you have in Jesus has ever gone. 00:34:07.060 --> 00:34:11.620 It's a facade to go for a power grab of the things of this world when the hope in Christ transcends it all. 00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:16.580 You have the one that brings death to life. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:19.820 And something for nothing. 00:34:21.460 --> 00:34:22.239 Let me close with this one. 00:34:23.520 --> 00:34:24.320 In California. 00:34:25.659 --> 00:34:27.100 There's this place called Death Valley. 00:34:28.300 --> 00:34:31.620 Jokingly, jokingly, maybe they call it that because it's in California. 00:34:32.340 --> 00:34:32.860 I don't know. 00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:33.639 Ha ha ha. 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:34.000 I'm just kidding. 00:34:34.620 --> 00:34:35.260 Just kidding. 00:34:35.510 --> 00:34:42.540 I think it's called Death Valley, because when the temperatures this summer in the summertime reach their max, like it gives Hel a run 00:34:42.540 --> 00:34:43.239 for its money. 00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:45.840 Like it's one of the hottest places on earth, right? 00:34:46.100 --> 00:34:47.199 Death Valley. 00:34:47.260 --> 00:34:48.400 Nothing survives there. 00:34:51.219 --> 00:34:51.900 Unless. 00:34:53.699 --> 00:34:54.800 Unless miraculously. 00:34:56.659 --> 00:35:00.340 Within just a short window of time, they can get about one half inch of rain. 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:03.780 So you look at Death Valley, you think this is a desolate place. 00:35:04.020 --> 00:35:05.280 Nothing can make it. 00:35:05.880 --> 00:35:07.260 But about every ten years. 00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:10.020 Death Valley gets just enough rain. 00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:14.740 And when just enough rain hits it. 00:35:15.940 --> 00:35:17.280 It turns into something called. 00:35:18.640 --> 00:35:18.960 A super blue. 00:35:21.460 --> 00:35:22.020 And in death. 00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:24.180 Comes live. 00:35:26.660 --> 00:35:28.060 Guys, can I encourage you this morning? 00:35:30.100 --> 00:35:31.320 What you have in Jesus. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:33.560 As a super bloom. 00:35:35.900 --> 00:35:41.900 It's far greater than putting your trust in any political or world leader to save you. 00:35:43.820 --> 00:35:47.400 What Jesus can do is something from nothing. 00:35:48.360 --> 00:35:48.700 Life. 00:35:49.640 --> 00:35:50.140 From death. 00:35:51.100 --> 00:35:58.280 And he has demonstrated it over and over again in Scripture so that you, by faith, can put your trust in 00:35:58.280 --> 00:36:03.420 him based on the conduct and character of a God who has performed all that. 00:36:03.440 --> 00:36:10.160 You read through the Old Testament and New Testament as you recognize that it is the same God that you trust in today. 00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:12.240 Stop rowing. 00:36:14.920 --> 00:36:15.980 Stop relying on you. 00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:21.250 And look to the one who can bring life from death.