Never Give Up

0 (1s): Good morning. Would you stand and worship with us? If you're out on the patio, would you stand there as well? If you're at home, would you stand and would you rate lift your hands as we worship you this morning? God, we thank 1 (12s): You, father. Praise you. 0 (15s): And we lift your name. Hi 1 (17s): . 1 (4m 33s): Hi, the phrase go up. 1 (12m 30s): 2 (14m 13s): Thank you, Lord. It's a good day. It's a good day to be in the house of the Lord. And we bless you today. Thank you for the opportunity to gather with friends and family. Lord, we are so, so thankful for church and so thankful for where we live and for what you're doing in our midst. Lord God, it's a new year. And with new year comes new opportunity and hopefully a refreshing renewing of our hearts and minds, Lord, and we pray God that 2022 would be amazing. And God that we just continue to be grateful for all that you're doing in our lives. 2 (14m 55s): Lord God, as we open up to Hebrews chapter six today, instead of your word, we just pray God that your word would penetrate our hearts and minds. Lord that you gave me the grace to communicate truth. When your hearts and with your mind Lord, at the end of the day, Lord God that we would have heard something from you, receive something from you and that we'd be encouraged by you, Lord God, because you're good. And so thank you for this time. Thank you for this day in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, turn to Greg grease. Somebody next. See you before you sit down. Good job. 1 (15m 35s): Beautiful water. Beautiful. Jesus. 1 (16m 1s): 2 (16m 29s): All righty. Come on in. We will be wrapping up Hebrews chapter six. I was told that before we get into the message, I was told that I should re-introduce myself cause I've been gone for a couple of weeks. So my name is pastor Steve. I was told that some new people have joined the church in the last couple of weeks and they don't know who you are. So I am pastor Steve, one of the pastors here at the church. And so it's a pleasure to be back I, so three weeks ago for each I wasn't feeling good, but I took a COVID test and it was came back negative. And so I preached, and then a couple of days before our Christmas Eve service, I was feeling pretty lousy, again, pretty gnarly. And so I took another COVID test and it came back positive. 2 (17m 9s): So I decided that I would stay home and get better. And so I called Ron pastor Ron D and said, Hey, you're on for Christmas Eve. And so he preached on Christmas Eve and then I think Jeremy priests the next day or on the 26th and then last week Ron was scheduled to preach. So he preached and anyway, so I'm, I'm happy. So happy to be back. It feels, it feels like a long time, right? You Ms. Church and family and friends for two weeks and it's just really, really good to be back and I'm feeling so, so, so much better this real quick, what a year 20 well, 20, 20 and 2021 just crazy last couple of years. 2 (17m 52s): And now we're already in 2022 and we posted something on social media, just about all of the things that God did in 2021. And so I just want to recap that and just as a way to be reminded all that God had done and to appreciate our, our, our church, our staff, our elders pressures, it just takes an army to do all of the stuff that God has called us to do. And we're so excited. And so I just kind of going through my, we, we baptized 36 people last year. I don't think we've ever baptized 36 people in the same year. So that was incredible. 2 (18m 33s): We tried something new and because of COVID, we decided to just to have our Easter service, we always do an outdoor Easter service. And so typically it's out in the park and we're going to be back out in the park by the way, this year 2022. So we'll be back at the heritage square park there. And, but we did our Easter service on the back lot and it doesn't seem very big, but we set it up with tons of chairs and lots of people showed up and it was just an incredible Easter celebration. So that was fun, good stuff going on there. We had something, we did something that we'd wanted to do for a long time, but just haven't been able to pull it off. We had youth led services. So we did two of those where the youth did announcements helped with preaching, did music worship and all that sort of thing, ushers and greeting and that sort of thing. 2 (19m 14s): So that was incredible. We began the journey over at 1 0 2 in may. So we thought we would done we'd be done already, but you know, that was just my inexperience and optimism. Thank you very much pre optimism there. I was trying to think of a more negative word, but that it's optimism. Thank you. So, but we have made great progress at 1 0 2. In fact, I took a little phone video and we've, can we show that video really quick just to kind of, we can show you, maybe you'd never been in there, but this is kind of where it's at right now as a Friday, It's really coming together. 2 (20m 7s): So yeah, that's the video. So, you know, we spent months and months waiting on a permit and months and months doing work. And then finally we were able to call the drywallers in and, and now they're, they've got it all hung and now they're taping and texturing. And so hopefully by the end of the month, we'll be done with, you know, all the drywall work. And then there's a little bit of finished work that needs to be done and then painting and then floors. And then we're pretty much ready to go. So hopefully I'll put this kind of out loosely, I guess I've, you know, I've mistakenly said, you know, we're going to be in anyway sometime maybe sometime, maybe let's all hold the solution, maybe March. 2 (20m 46s): So that's hope, but Marx is going to be here before we know it it's our January. So anyway, this is going to be good. So a lot of good stuff, including one or two, we hosted our very first harvest fall festival on October 31st and just tons of people came out and just had a wonderful time. And it was the first time doing it. And man, so many people made that possible was wonderful. We saw growth in attendance within the church as a whole, but mainly with our kids with our Sunday school department, but fifth and sixth grade, that ministry has exploded as well as the junior high and high school tons and tons of kids show up here every week just to be part of the Bible studies and groups that we have going on. So we're super excited about that. 2 (21m 27s): They show up and pull out the basketball hoop every week. We just know they show up, they just show up and they own the place and we just, we think it's great. And so a lot of really good stuff there. We had multiple, multiple Bible studies going throughout the year, 20 home groups happening last year. I knew young professionals group multiple, as I said, multiple teen Bible studies and several other groups meeting on our campus throughout the weeks. I could have done any of this without your help. It takes, like I said, it takes an army of people just to pull it all off and to keep the place, you know, presentable and you know, people teaching and leading and all that sort of stuff. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 2 (22m 8s): So we so appreciate it. Thank you to you that staff, the elders, mostly just thank God he's been so faithful. It's been incredible to see what God did in the midst of, you know, pandemic and all of this stuff. That's been happening in our culture, in our community, in our world. We've just watched God just be faithful. It took on this project, had our biggest giving year ever a million, 1,000,400 thousand came in to cover cover expenses at 1 0 2, as well as just regular operating expenses. And I think the first year, so we're this year we're celebrating our 19 year anniversary and we had our first service in March of 2003. And so March will be 19 years. And is that right? Is that the right math? 2 (22m 49s): I think it's the right math. And so our first year, I think we brought in like totally for the year, like less than a hundred thousand dollars and we didn't need a lot. We had 12 people in the chairs back in the day, so we didn't need it. We rented a school and you know, we didn't need a lot. I was working full-time and, but we've, we've just watched God grow our budget, grow the ministry. And the budget just means it's just an indication of that. The ministries, you know, expanding and that sort of thing. So we're just, we're grateful for what God is doing. So I'm excited about 2022, how many is excited? About 20, 22. You're like ready to have 20, 21, 20 20 and in the rear view mirror and just ready to move forward. I'm super excited. I think God's going to do great stuff. 1 0 2 and with continually with the outreach and mission stuff that we do. 2 (23m 30s): And so I'm super excited about that. And so I just wanted to give you a brief update on kind of what happened in 20. I probably missed a ton of stuff, but, but that's, that's the deal. So we're, we're back to Hebrews chapter six and a. So if you want to turn there, we're going to get through the rest of Hebrews chapter six today. And we're seeing that, you know, much like maybe in the current culture, there was this difficulty in their life and it was causing them to the Hebrew people back in the first century, there was difficulty in, they were having a hard time continuing to trust that Jesus is the Messiah embracing their decision to believe that Jesus is Messiah. 2 (24m 12s): And so there's this encouragement from the writer of Hebrews to not give up, like never give up. They were waffling. And as often we do as believers, as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ circumstances hit us. We begin to get a little unstable little waffling and our commitment and our faith. And God reminds us that we, we can trust him that we don't have to give up. We can move forward by his grace and in his strength. And so we've titled the message today. Never give up. It's just kind of the theme. As in the beginning, I think it was October, November. I started preaching and it was a similar title of messages for the first couple of weeks. You know, don't give up, Jesus can be trusted. 2 (24m 54s): And so we see the theme, you know, it's a theme, but it, it may be the theme. Like the biggest theme in all of Hebrews for all of Hebrews is never give up. And so we see the author continually encouraging the people, continually challenging the people. And so it's part of my job in the pulpit is just to continue to encourage and challenge and build us up, build people up in their most holy face that we can continue to March forward. Being the people that God has called us to be making the right decisions that God has called us to make. And so the challenge today never, never, never, ever give up. 2 (25m 35s): It's just one, never in the title, but you know, sprint is never give up, never give up. So revisiting Hebrews chapter six, verses 11 and 12, we covered this a few weeks ago. And last time I spoke, believers are encouraged to never give up. And so we, he, we read the Hebrews six, 11, and 12, and this is what it says. Our great desire is that you will keep on there. It is keep on loving others as long as life lasts in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. So in the Christianity, our, our hope is Jesus. And then God has given us a hope in this life and for eternity. 2 (26m 18s): So we put our faith and hope in Jesus. We hold on to this person who is Jesus, who is our, the, the, the source of our hope and who is our hope. And we hold onto him as we journey through the seasons of life, hoping that we will by God's grace never give up. And so it's interesting that the writer of Hebrews challenges, the people to love others, as long as life lasts, keep on loving others. As long as life lasts. I wonder why he focused his writing on challenging the people in the midst of their kind of waffling. Why did he challenge them to continue to love others? 2 (26m 59s): Well, that the Bible new Testament is the message. There is that we're to love God and love others. And so when we are loving others, we're not. So self-absorbed, I've noticed when we were self-absorbed. We, we think the world kind of revolves around us and we get easily frustrated because people aren't living up to our standards or whatever it may be. So the, the, the writer is encouraging the reader in the first century and all the way through the 21st century to love others. Again, loving others, keeps us from getting self-absorbed reminds us the world doesn't revolve around us, or reminds us of the plights of others when we stop. 2 (27m 42s): And just think about the plights of others, the things that people are going through and really begin to pray for people, loving them by praying for them. Boy, I don't know about you, but it changes my whole perspective. I'm like my, my problems though, they may be big at times they begin to come into perspective and I'm able to think about others' problems instead of my own problems. And, and I'm able to do what God has asked me to do as a follower of the Lord. Jesus Christ, not just as a pastor, but just as one of his kids. You know, just like if you're a believer in Christ, you're one of his kids and he's called you to love him and love others. And in doing so, you keep your perspective fresh. You're able to have a tender heart before the Lord. So we going to keep loving others. 2 (28m 23s): Otherwise we become self-absorbed. So maybe cynical, angry, maybe a little bit selfish and also spiritually dull and indifferent. We see that in verse 12, it says, then if you're loving others, you will not become spiritually dull and in different isn't that just a subtle trap where you become spiritually doled during this COVID couple of weeks off that I had, and my mind was just not where it should be in order to really read and enjoy the scripture. So I try to read, get through maybe a few verses and I'd be like, forget about it. I can't absorb any of this stuff, you know? And I was just so tired. I just didn't. So for like, I don't know, like 10 days, I didn't read the scripture much, you know, maybe tried a couple of times, but I was so ready when my mind was refreshed, you know, to open up the scripture. 2 (29m 14s): And I just started reading the scripture. I'm like, oh my goodness, I've so needed. This I've needed to be refreshed by the word of God. I had become probably spiritually Dole because I've not been in church. I had not been reading the word and I don't think I was indifferent. I wasn't indifferent, but that's the slippery slope, right? You become spiritually dull and you become indifferent. And you're like, I don't care about what God wants to do. I don't care what God's calling me to do that. I, whatever, you know, take it or leave it, Lord. I don't really care. So the goal is that we would love others, love God and not become spiritually Dole. And in different verse 12, then you will not become spiritually adult and indifference dad instead. 2 (29m 57s): And this is important and said, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and enduring. So how do we hang in there? How do we never give up? What do, how do we resist the urge to give up? We've all experienced it and felt it, number one, we must exercise faith. And in Durance, if you're just coasting in your walk with the Lord and not really exercising faith and endurance, you're going to, you're going to begin to get spiritually Dole and indifferent. It's just the way it works. God's called us into this active relationship whereby we're active participants in this relationship with God, we're talking to him, praying, reading the word, actively involved, doing the stuff that he's doing in the earth, involved in the kingdom, work in the earth. 2 (30m 46s): And so we must exercise faith and endurance. We've got to have a growing faith. And if, if you're walking with God at all, and if you're reading the scripture at all, you see that God's always calling his people to, into an active faith. Like, like he's not, he doesn't want us to just rest on what we've done in the past. In fact, he won't allow us to do that if we're really paying attention, but he wants us to have an act of faith. Like what has God wants to do in my life today? It's a new year. What does God wants to do in my life this year? I don't want to just rest on my past accomplishments or experiences. I want to figure out what God wants me to do this year, without faith it's in possible to please God. 2 (31m 27s): And so he gives us opportunity to step into areas in our lives that require a great deal of faith. And we must learn to endure temptation testing and hardship. That's part of everybody's experience, right? Testing, temptation hardship. We, so we have to figure out how to endure so that we don't give up when we're being tested, because we will be tested when we're being tempted, because we will get tempted whenever there's hardship, we've got to figure out how to navigate those things so that we don't give up. The apostle. Paul is a great example. When he writes to us from a Roman prison cell in Philippians chapter three, and he writes these things, he said, Philippians three 14, I press on like, I'm never giving up. 2 (32m 13s): It doesn't matter that my circumstances are dire. I press on what to what's he doing to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus is calling us. So this is faith and endurance and action. He's like in a prison, right? Like unjustly. So he's there. He's like, okay, God, I'm here. What what's next? Right. Do you want me to do while I'm here? And because of his faith and his endurance, he's like, all right, some prison abyssal. So I'm going to encourage people who are outside outside of these walls and encourage them in their faith with the Lord, Jesus Christ. 2 (32m 59s): God promises that if we remain faithful and persevere, we will receive the heavenly prize of salvation. But beyond that, a life here in the earth that is so wonderful and fulfilling, it's rich and good. Not without 17 temptation trials and difficulty, but a life that is worth living a satisfying, rich and satisfying life. We're going to read about Abraham and here just a moment in his, how he died, having lived a rich and satisfying life. So Paul had this heavenly vision, a part of that heavenly vision impacted the way that he lived his life day to day. 2 (33m 45s): And part of that meant that, Hey, I'm going to do, I'm going to be about my father's business. I'm going to write these letters, these epistles, and I'm going to get them out to the churches so that they might be encouraged. Paul chose to have faith. And he chose to endure in the result. He had a faith and he endured victoriously to the end. So we have to make some choices in our life about what we're going to do with this faith in Jesus Christ. Are we going to have faith all the way to the end? Are we going to endure all the way to then we have to make some choices. It says, okay, in the face of hardship, I'm not quitting. I'm not giving up. I'm moving forward. Maybe things are unfolding the way that I think they should unfold ball probably didn't expect to be spending some time in jail, but he did. 2 (34m 30s): And so, Hey, it doesn't matter. God knows. He just decided to move forward. And he had great joy. And he had a host of other things that went along with his faithful in Durance. He just had this incredible joy. In fact, we read about it in Philippians four, four, he says always be full of joy. Always. He said, always, always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again, rejoice. And so there was something brewing in him, something of revelation about this life and the eternal life that he was heading toward and moving, moving forward in, he just, he trusted Jesus. He, and, and that trust in Jesus meant that he had joy. It didn't matter what was happening externally around him, even internally with his body, he had joy, any challenged, the church, listen to everything that God asks us to do or requires of us requires that we're filled with his holy spirit. 2 (35m 21s): It's a supernatural work of God. Maybe you don't feel like having joy. Say, Lord, the word says here, always be full of joy. Well, how do I have joy in this circumstance and situation? Would you do a work in me? Maybe just make this your prayer. Lord, would you do a work in me that my joy might be restored? That I might rejoice in all things? Not that we can't grieve loss. He's disappointed about some things in life and, and walk through some hardship that way. But at the end of the day, we need to say, Lord, I need you to restore the joy of my salvation, the joy. I want the joy of the Lord to be my strength. I want to have just an incredible joy. As I go through this season of life, he had joy and he wasn't worried, worry will kill faith and endurance, right? 2 (36m 13s): We, we don't have to be fearful. We don't have to be worried. We can be filled with joy and trust the Lord, Philippians four six says this. Don't worry about what, say it with me. That's that seems very hard to me, right? I can find a thousand things to worry about, but in the Lord, if I'm trusting him, if I'm exercising, faith and endurance, and I really don't have anything to worry about, I can trust that his plans and purposes are unfolding in my life and my kids' lives and my marriage and the ministry that God has called us to. Don't worry about anything instead, pray. This is what, what do you do with your worry? You, you pray about it. You just turn it over to the Lord, pray about everything, tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. 2 (37m 0s): So we're worried about something and say, Lord, I don't want to be worried about this. I can't carry this. All the worry in the world's not going to change anything anyway. So Laura, what do you want me to do about it? I don't want to be worried. A warrior is going to kill my Juul. I just want to trust you have joy, not be worried about anything. And then Paul was grateful. He was grateful. Gratitude will stoke the fires of faith and will give you endurance. So we have to choose to be filled with gratitude, even in a life that's not perfect. It's filled with imperfections in fact. And so we need to choose to be grateful. Listen to Paul, his writing to the church there in Philippians four. He says how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. 2 (37m 42s): He could have been cynical, frustrated, upset, angry, because he's sitting in a jail cell and everybody else is out. You know, lollygagging around how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you've always been concerned. See the optimism. He's like optimistic, believing that the people of God love him, that he's not in this alone, believing that God hasn't forgotten about him. That God's with him in the midst of his difficulty. I know you've always been concerned about me, but you didn't have the chance to help me. So Paul chose gratitude over grumbling, faith and endurance. All of these things play right into our ability to exercise faith and have insurance. He was content. This is something that we all need to grow in, right? 2 (38m 24s): But he chose contentment, even though he didn't have anything really in the way of worldly goods, family, as far as we know, might've been married at one point, but wasn't married while he was following Jesus. So he didn't have a lot, but he just chose to be content. And we know that he learned contentment and that's really probably the path for most of us. Most of us, we have to learn, learn some things. He learned contentment. I think part of the deal is he wasn't living for this life only, but he was living for eternity. So he's like, Laura, it doesn't really matter what I have here. I got rewards and riches in the kingdom. So you know what I need Lord. 2 (39m 4s): So I'm going to just be content with what you do. Give me, and then move forward in my calling in my life as a follower of Jesus Christ, Philippians four, 11 and 12, not that I've ever was ever a needy. He tells them thrive. I have learned how to be content with whatever I have, how many he had needs, but he decided to look at it through a different lens and said, I might be hungry, but I'm not gonna worry about it. God knows. And we'll see that here. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything I've learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty with plenty or little I, you just decided, Hey, I'm going to be content. 2 (39m 46s): I'm not going to be anxious and be worried. I'm not going to let it kill my joy. I'm going to just be content. The Lord is my provider, Jehovah, Jerry. He knows what we need. He knows what I need. All of this was possible because we know from Philippians four 13, that he was, Paul was strengthened by Christ. And this is how all things are made possible through our strengthened life. As followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We're filled with his presence. The holy spirit takes up residency in our lives. And we're walking with God, Philippians four 13 says I can do all things. I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. So again, everything that we're reading about in the scripture and everything that I'll ever teach about or challenge you to, it requires that we rest in the Lord, that we're filled with the holy spirit, that we walk in an intimate, close relationship with Jesus. 2 (40m 38s): So he, that he can give us what we need. So Paul had any eternal prize, the promise of the promise of eternity in mind, but he experienced a supernatural ability in the meantime, to just rest, if anybody should have given up, I mean, it should have been him. You know, he was stoned and shipwrecked and beaten and all kinds of stuff. You know, all kinds of hardship, Peaky. If anybody had, you know, the ability to you should can throw Paul. Yeah, you can throw in the towel, but he didn't, he didn't. And, and the early church didn't and for 21 centuries, now people have not given up on Jesus. 2 (41m 19s): The church is expanding all over the globe. And even in persecution around the world, the church is expanding people, just refusing to give up all of God's people have a price to look forward to. So if you're in, if you've accepted the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, if you've accepted his message, his truth and welcomed dementia, you've got it. You've got a prize waiting for you. Something to look forward to you equally. True. All of God's people have a life of testing and trial. Just, just the reality. Nobody's surprised by that, right? Anybody surprised by that testing and trial and anybody gone like a day without testing a trial, maybe a day, right? 2 (42m 1s): But if you've gone a little bit without testing and trial, it's common. Just expect it. You know, don't be derailed by it. Just know that it's common and God will give you the grace for it and he'll help you through it. So, because that's true, all of God's people have the capacity in Christ to live above the fray and to never give up in this life. We have the power to press on and never give up as we grow in faith. And as we learn to endure hardship, so how do we never give up? We must exercise faith and in him and endure hardship and exercise, faith and endurance for number two, as we continue on our texts, let's look at, God's promised you Abraham, as we look at God's promise to Abraham, there's plenty of transferable principles to our life during the 21st century, things that we can learn from Abraham's experience. 2 (42m 58s): And so let's take a look at Abraham. Why? Because the writer of Hebrews points to Abraham as a great example of never giving up. So we already looked at Paul and now we're gonna look at Abraham Hebrews six, 13 through 20 says for example, there was God's promise to Abraham since there was no one greater to swear by God took an oath in his own name saying, I will certainly bless you. And I will multiply your to send this beyond number. Then Abraham waited patiently and he received what God had promised. So how do we never give up? Number one, we must exercise faith and endurance. 2 (43m 39s): And number two, we must wait on God patiently. That's never fun. I got called into the ministry at 18 years old and I thought, oh, I'm going to go right in. I'm going, I'm going, 12 years later, I finally entered into full-time vocational ministry. Got it. And it got so more to do in my soul and my spirit and my mind, everything. So it took, you know, 12 years, we, when we moved to this facility, we rented it and renovated it and poured all kinds of money into it. For 12 years, people would say, why are we pouring money into a building that we don't own? I said, we will own it. Just relax. And 12 years later, we bought it and own it. And then I'm now releasing one or two, and I'm pouring tons of money into that. 2 (44m 22s): And maybe we'll own that. I I'm hoping we will. I think the owner wants to sell it to us and someday maybe we'll get it. And we've been praying for years for this camp back that God would give us that as well. So yeah, we just have to wait patiently for God to unfold his plan and purpose in our lives. So Abraham or Abraham, as it was before he got his name change was 75 years old. When God first promised to bless him, Dennis is 12. So 75 years old, but you know, Abraham lived to be 175 years old. So it's got a middle middle-aged right? So maybe how many considered themselves middle-aged here? I don't answer that. But if you're middle-aged God, God's got some stuff you want us to do with you. 2 (45m 5s): If you're on the older end of things are on the younger end of things. God's got some stuff he wants to do with you. We're going to see that throughout the course of Abraham's life, God was working in him, giving him promise for providing for that promise, preparing him for that promise. So Genesis 25, 7 and eight tells us Abraham live for 175 years. And he died at a ripe old age. And I love this part. Having lived a long and satisfying life, but I want that on my appetite epitaph, he lived a long and satisfying life. I want to know that my life was purpose filled, that I honored my wife and my kids and my Lord in the ministry that God has called me to long and satisfying life. 2 (45m 51s): That's a great goal for all of us, no matter how young or old we are. We want to know that at the end of it all, whether we live to be 175 or 75 or somewhere in between that we lived along and satisfying life. He breathed his last enjoined, his ancestors in death, the versa has so Abraham middle-aged that 75 years old is given a promise, 75, the Lord promises to bless him. At this point, he and his wife are child lists. They don't have any kids. And then the angel, the Lord comes along and says, Hey, I'm going to bless you and give you descendants. So he's like, all right. So you know, and the Lord told them, Hey, leave your, everything is familiar and move to the land that I call you to. 2 (46m 34s): And he said he moves to cadence. So he's there with his wife for 10 years and 10 years in Abraham, Abraham and Sarah are both kind of like over it, 10 years in like, Lord, where's the promise. So they kind of take things into their own hands. And Sarah gives Abraham her servant and they have a baby together, Ishmael, but, but ish, my, he was not the son of promise, right? They thought he was a son of promise. They kind of took things into their own hands, but he was not the son of promise. And so 24 years after Abraham received the promise from the Lord, God shows up again. So now he's 99 years old. So now he's getting a little up there, right? He's still, he's still 80 years away from his earth, 76 years away from his end of his life. 2 (47m 17s): But he's getting up there. Genesis 17 when Abraham was 99 years old, God changed Abraham's name, Abram's name to Abraham. When he told him again of the promise to bless him. So he's 24 years in the waiting for this fulfillment. That's that's in everybody's calendar. That's that's a long time. Do you want me? I was talking with a guy after first service. He said, I've been waiting for this promise from the Lord for eight years. I said, well, that's not uncommon not to discourage you, but eight years, you know, just keep trusting the Lord and believing that God's going to do something. And you know, it's just, God's up to something in us. In our circumstances, he's growing us up, teaching us things, preparing us for whatever it is that he has for us. 2 (48m 3s): And so for Abraham, he had to wait 25 years, Genesis 17, one through six, when Abraham was 99 years old Lord appeared to him and said, I am El Shaddai. God almighty served me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants. So this guy's 99 years old now. And he's hearing this again. Like, God, the clock is ticking. What am I going to do here at this Abraham there, Abraham fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, this is my covenant with you. I will make you a father of a multitude of nations. 2 (48m 46s): What's more, I'm changing your name. It will no longer be Abraham, which means exalted father. Instead, you will be called Abraham, which means father of Manny for you will be the father of many nations, verse six. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations and Kings will be among them. So 24 years after the pop promise, God is back re communicating that promise God is God has spoken something to him and he's waited 24 years. But know this in the waiting. God is not been silent. He's not been absent. He's been at work in our lives. 2 (49m 25s): Preparing us when I got called the ministry at 18 and I had to wait 12 years. It was because there was a lot of work that needed to be done here before I was ready for full-time vocational ministry. So God is up to something. You got to believe that God is up to something in your circumstances in your life. And you can trust him. You can have faithful endurance and wait patiently for his timing. And so God is about to deliver on his promise to Abraham and Sarah. And, and so let's remind ourselves, what do we need to do to never give up. Number one, exercise, faith and endurance, exercise, faith, endures, exercise, faith, endurance, exercise, faith, and endurance, and then wait on God patiently. 2 (50m 6s): So what happened now that they've exercised faith and endures and waited patiently on God. What happened next? This is what happened next Genesis 21, 1 through five. The Lord kept his word. That's who God is. He keeps his word. The Lord kept word and did for Sarah. Exactly what he promised. That's the, that's the goodness of God. The perfection of God, the thoroughness of God, we can trust him. And we never, ever needed to give up. She became pregnant and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. 2 (50m 47s): This happened at get this just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son, Isaac eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham can circumcise him as God had commanded. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Hallelujah. Twenty-five years of waiting, waffling a little bit, trying to make the promise happen on, on the, in their own strength. God's gracious through all of that and the promise. So you think after all of that Abraham and Sarah would, they'd be like on easy street, like we've conquered where Victoria is. 2 (51m 30s): We've got the promise, right? At a hundred. God's not done with Abraham at a hundred, or she'd be 90, I guess. I think that's an app say God's not done with Sarah. So we see that God is at work with people all the days of their lives of you're feeling old and tossed aside. You're not, you're not tossed society. You might be getting older, but you're not tossed aside. We're all getting older day by day. So in Genesis 22, because God was not done with Abraham and his promise to him, God asked Abraham to do something, to sacrifice his son, to sacrifice his beloved son Genesis 22, 2 God said, take your son. 2 (52m 22s): Your only son. Yes, Isaac, whom you love so much and go to the land of Moriah, go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you. Hm God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are way above our thoughts. Something happened in that 25 years of waiting. I mean, God was obviously a priority to Abraham. He moved out of his land and into Canaan and trusted the Lord and waited on the Lord. But there was something being developed in him. As he, as he waited, as he faithfully endured, as he waited on God's timing, there was something being developed in Abraham that allowed him to listen to the Lord and to be obedient, to do this very heart wrenching thing. 2 (53m 14s): He'd waited 25 years for this promise. And now God's saying, go sacrifice him. What does that even mean? God, what, what does that mean? And so he gets, his son gets the fire and the firewood, and they begin to head to the place of sacrifice and there's no animal to sacrifice. And so Isaac's like, Hey dad, you know, we got the fire and the bundle of what he said, don't worry, God will provide you. As you read Genesis 22, all of the chapter, you see that Abraham had a SIG sincere confidence that even if he sacrificed his son, that God would resurrect him. 2 (53m 55s): He knew that he was coming back with his son. There was no doubt in his mind. He, he didn't question God, he didn't. He just did what God asked him to do, because he knew that God had resurrection power to bring his son back to life. He knew that God had promised the son. He knew that this would be the, the through the son that he would become, you know, the father of many nations. I mean, there was a lot happening. And yet he had to faithfully do what God had asked them to do. So Abraham took Isaac. And even when he was about to offer his son as a sacrifice, praise the Lord, the angel of the Lord appeared to him. So he's, he's bound his son. He's on the alter. And he's about to do the deed. 2 (54m 36s): And it says the angel of the Lord told him, lay down, the knife do not hurt the boy in any way for now. I know that you truly fear God, you have not withheld. Even your beloved son from me. I didn't even know. I don't even know where to go with this because maybe, maybe the Lord has called us to sacrifice something in our own lives. And we're like, Lord, I've been working my whole life for this. I've been building my whole life for this. This is, and the Lord just saying sacrifice it. I don't know what it is. Cause I don't have like a word for thus sayeth the Lord. But I, I, I know that if God's asking you to sacrifice something for his kingdom and for his will, that it's, it's going to be difficult, but it's going to be okay. 2 (55m 23s): After Abraham passed this test, God told them he reiterated Genesis 2217. I will certainly bless you. I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And so this promise comes so he's 75 years old. You're going to become the father of a great nation. Many nations tries, you know, 10 years later to kind of make things happen. It's not the right path. He thinks he's got the son of promise. When he's 99 years old, he speaks it again at a hundred. 2 (56m 5s): He finally sees the car. What are you, what are you waiting on the Lord to do in your life? What do you feel like the Lord has communicated to you? Don't give up never ever give up exercise, faith and endurance wait, and God's timing and just trust he will do. Let's get back to Hebrews chapter six. As we wrap up these last few verses and one final point, it says now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question, that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath. So that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure something about there's something, something of confidence that comes when we are faithfully enduring, waiting on God's timing, trusting him and believing in there's something about this surety that we can have that God wants us to have. 2 (56m 58s): The enemy wants to lie to us and tell us, oh, you're on your own. God has forgotten about the promise. He's not paying attention to your life. You're on your own. But the Bible and God communicate to us that he wants us to be perfectly sure and confident, perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence. We need to have great confidence in God, as we hold to the hope that lies before us, the hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor. And we need that in these difficulties of life, we needed something to anchor us to the truth, to the person of God. 2 (57m 44s): Something that won't allow us to drift too far or get too, too far away from what God has for us. We need to be anchored with that hope. And that happens through faith and Durance or just trusting God waiting on his timing. Therefore we who have fled to him for a refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain, into God's inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal Friess in the order of and number three, never give up. We must have great confidence in God. And I think where we fall short as human beings, myself included, is that we get our eyes on our selves. 2 (58m 28s): We get our eyes on our own capacity, our own ability, our own strengths, our own weaknesses. We get our eyes on ourselves. I know pretty much all the pastors in the area, just because we hang out together and that sort of thing. And every one of us is cut from a different cloth. Every one of us have different gifts, set, different strengths, different talents has different weaknesses. In fact, I went to high school with a couple of the guys at AIG, and if I look back at their lives and if they look back at my life and they say, there's no way that dude is cut out for, for, you know, pastoral ministry. And I'd say the same thing about them, but even more so about me is I look back at my life and my calling at 18 I'm like I was so ill prepared. 2 (59m 13s): And if I looked at my own weaknesses, I, I, I came from a broken family. I wasn't pure my early days as a young man, struggled academically until honestly halfway through college. When I finally figured out how to apply myself and I finished, you know, halfway strong. And, but you know, there were tons of, I had tons of insecurities, tons of insecurities. It was just, I was fearful of speaking in front of anybody. It was just not my thing. You know, I just, I didn't. So to imagine. So the problem is that we get our eyes on our own insecure, insecurities, our own insignificance, all our own problems, our own issues. 2 (1h 0m 0s): And we forget that God is the one who qualifies. God is one who calls people. God is the one who equips with spiritual gifts and empowers with strength and the holy spirit. God is one who does all of that stuff. And we're just vessels. We're like conduit, like, okay, Lord, just plug me in wherever you use me, wherever. And when, and then throughout the whole course of our life in ministry, we just continue to trust in the Lord. I was talking to a guy he's not a pastor in the area, but I talked to him a couple of weeks ago and he's like, I'm a great preacher. He told me I'm a great preacher. I'm thinking to myself, holy cow, I don't know any preacher would say that, but whatever, because I feel like I've been doing this for a long time. 2 (1h 0m 41s): And I feel like every time I get up in the pulpit, I'm like, Lord, you have to do something. Like, I feel like I'm prepared, but I don't want to do this in my own strength. You have to empower what I'm saying. You have to speak through me. You have to encourage the people. Am I, I can't imagine ever saying I'm a great, I would never, I just wouldn't do it. And, and I think there's a, there's a little bit of, there's probably a lot of danger around that statement because no matter what our position or what our gift sets or what we're called to, we just have to do everything with great humility, with great dependence on the holy spirit. We have to be filled with the love of God for God. And for people we have to just be, it's just a, it's a process where we just die constantly to our flesh, to our own capacity, to our own ability. 2 (1h 1m 30s): So, so we need to keep our confidence in God. And as we do that, then we will never give up. We will have faith to endure. We will trust God's timing that things are unfolding, where they should. And we will, we will have great confidence in God and not in us. As soon as we get our confidence in ourselves, we're just, we're doing worship rec problems are coming and it's not, not good. So, so with that, just take that all in and choose a fresh this year to not give up. What does God want to do in your life this year? And this in this new 20, 22 year, what does God want to do? 2 (1h 2m 11s): You're not too young. You're not too old. You're none of that. You're called and equipped by God. Do the specific thing that he's asked you to do. So what does he ask you to do? And then just begin to walk in that humbly depended on the Lord, knowing that you're not all that none of us are, none of us are, you know, perfect or without flaw. We all just move forward by God's grace doing the stuff that he's called us to do. So be prayerful. As we worship in this last song, let's get the worship team up. And as we wrap up, just be thinking, thinking about it, be thoughtful about that. In what area have you been tempted to give up? 2 (1h 2m 51s): Maybe it's your walk with the Lord, but just never, never give up Lord as we get ready to sing this last song and worship you. I thank you. That you've called us since you've adopted us and Lord, maybe there are people here who have just been kind of coming to church and hearing the preaching and part of things, but they, haven't never, they've never made that commitment to follow you Lord, and to become a child it's opposite child into your family. I pray that if there are people here today that have never accepted the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that they would do that today. And if you're here today and you want to do that just in the quietness of your own heart, if you're ready to come into the kingdom of God, into the family of God, you do that simply by asking God for his grace, his forgiveness, you recognize your humanity and your need for salvation. 2 (1h 3m 49s): And you say, Jesus, I am imperfect in every way. Bible calls it sin. I'm a center Lord, but I know God that you will forgive me if I ask and that she want to forgive me. And so Lord, I ask that you would forgive me and you just say, Lord, I want to be in your family. I want to be filled with your holy spirit, even though I don't even know what that means yet, Lord, I want it. I want to walk with you. And I want you to walk with me. I want to follow you all the days of my life. And as you make that, the cry of your heart and your prayer to the Lord, God hears you. And he welcomes you into his family. And you begin on this journey. That's lifelong and into eternity and you get to follow Jesus and he gets to lead you and save you and redeem your life. 2 (1h 4m 33s): And so that's you here today, do that in the quietness of your own heart. But then after the service, sometime today, tell somebody that you gave your life to Jesus. And that you're a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And then at the end of the month, we're doing a baptism and baptism is a public declaration saying Lord to the world, to my friends, family, and everybody. I'm a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ and get baptized and move forward with your life with Jesus. So Lord bless those who need salvation today. We've all been there, Lord and bless, bless those who are just discouraged and maybe feel like giving up for they wouldn't pray. They would be faithful by your power and during with your power, trusting your timing in their lives, Lord, and keeping eyes on you. 2 (1h 5m 18s): So thank you for this time. We bless you Lord, as we worship, help us to worship in spirit and in truth, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand and worship. 1 (1h 5m 44s): Ah 0 (1h 10m 10s): Thank you, Jesus. Thank you that every battle belongs to you. Thank you that we are going to see a victory. God, I pray that your word would penetrate our hearts today that something would stick and with sink and God, and that we would leave this service today in remembering that you are good and remembering that you want to do something, a fashion each and every single one of us this year. So we love you and Jesus name. We pray. Amen.