God Desires Deep Relationship with His People

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♪ Now He's just as holy ♪ ♪ Jesus, He's so worthy of it all ♪ ♪ Worthy of your praise, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ So in your song He loves to hear it ♪ ♪ And in every breath so weary ♪ ♪ Jesus, He's so worthy of it all ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ The One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come ♪ ♪ And the One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come and lift Him high ♪ ♪ The One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come and lift Him high ♪ ♪ The One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come and lift Him high ♪ ♪ The One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come and lift Him high ♪ ♪ The One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift ♪ The One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift him high and lift him high » ♪ The One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high and lift Him high Wow, sound good this morning Church on the Move. Hey sit down real quick we're gonna jump back into worship in just a second but a couple times a year we have a really special weekend this is Child Dedication Weekend and this is a great one because we usually have one on Saturday and one on Sunday we have to have one in every single service because that's how many new little ones we're welcoming into the church family this year. Yeah let's give it up for these families as they come and as they come just a reminder to us as a church like what this is about for us this isn't a moment of salvation this is a moment of consecration where these families are coming forward and saying hey we want to make a commitment a dedication that we consecrate these little ones to the Lord and what that really means is we're making a commitment these families moms dads grandmas grandpas they're saying we want to create an environment where this child can come to know who God is and follow Jesus and that's a that's a tall order and so the second part of this is that we as a church we're making a commitment to them we're saying we know

it's difficult to raise children so we'll give you our prayers we'll give you our support we'll give you our encouragement as you raise these little ones in the Lord and the last thing that's happening is what happened in Matthew the 19th chapter when parents just like this brought their kids to Jesus and the disciples said I get those kids out of here Jesus said no no let the children come to me and it says he laid his hands upon them and he blessed them and so that's what we're doing Heather is up here with me we enjoy getting to do this together there she is and she's gonna voice a prayer here in just a second as we bless these little ones and their families that you may look up here and say hey I know them or I recognize those people you could reach your hand out right from where you are and we together can bless them and when Heather's done each family is getting prayed over by one of our pastors and then they're gonna get to come up and introduce us to these new little ones who are a part of our family so Heather would you pray over these families absolutely Heavenly Father we thank you so much for the gift of children they bring so much joy and delight to our eyes they remind us of your goodness and innocence Lord I pray that we would always remember what a gift they are that they are not a nuisance or a hindrance but they are a picture of your goodness and Lord today Today, as a church body, we thank you for them. And Lord, we dedicate them to you. We ask your blessing upon each and every child, each and every family, that you would give wisdom and understanding to the parents as they raise them, that they would have insight into the unique gifts and talents that you have given each and every child, that they would be able to point them in a direction that would be honoring to you.

Lord, as these children grow, I pray that they would hear your voice. Lord, I pray that you would call them, call them by name, and that when they hear you call, they would respond and no one would hinder them from coming. Lord, we thank you for your goodness and your blessing. You are so faithful. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Daniel and Rowan Miller. Cameron Luzelle Simmons. Thank you. Juliette Oliver and Charlotte. Jackson Cruz Thomas. McClain Denise Dale. Thank you. Ilana and Abigail. Sonny Grant Harmon. Lincoln J. Guffey. Thank you. Titus Patrick Mather. Okay, church, come on, let's give it up one more time. How cool is that? To see not just these additions to these families, but this addition to our family, our church family. I'm so glad that God, when he decided he wanted a people, he described it as a family. And so we celebrate this

and be praying for these families. Some of them have their hands full, don't they? There's a lot of kids up here, right? Be praying for these families. That's what we do as a church. Well, let's do this. Stand back to your feet because we wanna go back into worship. But before we do, we're gonna do what we do every week, which is called our call to worship, where we read scripture together. This kind of centers us around the living word of God so that we can kind of worship and listen to the word preached in a more meaningful way. And it's a short Psalm, Psalm 134. And I'm gonna invite you to say this out loud with me as we read it. Can we do that? Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth. This is the word of the Lord. And we all said, thanks be to God. Oh. I love you, Lord. For your mercy never fails me. And all my days I've been held in your hands. For the moment that I wake up, until I lay my head.

Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. Let's sing it together, let's go. All my life you have been faithful. And all my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. ♪ And I love your voice ♪ ♪ You have led me through the fire ♪ ♪ And in darkest nights you are close like no other ♪ ♪ I've known you as a father ♪ ♪ And I've known you as a friend ♪ ♪ Oh, and now I have lived in the goodness of God ♪ If you know that to be true today, will you sing? ♪ And all my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ And I, with every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down to make it now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down to make it now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ Amen. ♪ And all my life you have been faithful ♪

♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ Thank you, Lord. ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ I will sing of the kindness of God ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been faithful ♪ Amen. ♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ I will sing of the kindness of God ♪ ♪ Oh, I will sing of the kindness of God ♪ ♪ Because all my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ Amen. Thank you. ♪ Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ Thank you. Sing. ♪ Where Jesus bled and died for me ♪ ♪ I see His wounds, His hands, His feet ♪ ♪ My Savior on that cursed tree ♪ ♪ His body bound in the cross for me ♪ ♪ Drenched in tears they laid him down ♪ ♪ And Joseph's tomb, the entrance healed by the stone ♪ ♪ Messiah's death and all alone ♪ Can we lift up our hands and our voices

as we sing this together today, come on. ♪ Sing oh praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ The morn of day, the wake of dawn ♪ ♪ The Son of heaven rose again ♪ ♪ Oh trampled day, where is your sting ♪ ♪ The angels roar for Christ the King ♪ ♪ The King, we lift Him high today ♪ ♪ Sing oh praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh praise His name forevermore for endless days ♪

♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ We will sing your praise oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God, oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God, oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all praise, can you sing church? ♪ ♪ And my heart will sing how great is our God ♪ You're the name above all names, we lift your voice today. ♪ See you're the name above all names ♪ To the God who was and is. ♪ You are worthy of praise, you are worthy of praise ♪ For there is no one like Him, in my heart we'll sing. ♪ In my heart we'll sing, our praise, our God ♪ ♪ You're the name above, name above it all ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names, you are worthy of praise ♪ ♪ In my heart we'll sing, our praise, our God ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names, you are worthy of praise ♪ ♪ Our praise is our God ♪ ♪ Our praise is our God, sing with me now ♪ ♪ Our praise is our God, it's all we'll sing, our praise ♪ ♪ Our praise is our God, it's all we'll sing, our praise ♪ ♪ Our praise is our God, sing with me now ♪ ♪ Our praise is our God, it's all we'll sing, our praise ♪ ♪ Our praise is our God, it's all we'll sing, our praise ♪ Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! To the creator of heaven and earth, the God who was and is and is to come. Lord, we as your people with the heart of expectation

look forward to the day you return to make right every wrong, to wipe every tear. But Lord, we remain the same. Our praise and our worship will not be dictated by the way of the world, but will always be dependent upon who you are. And so Lord, we worship you, we praise you, we lift you high in this place. One more time, church, can you clap your hands together this morning? God is good and worthy to be praised. Man, I love worshiping with each of you. Why don't you do this? Greet those you're next to. We'll keep things moving this morning, all right? Well, good morning, Church on the Move. So good to see everybody this morning. It's a beautiful spring morning here in Tulsa. My name's Lee. I don't know if I said that when I was up here the first time. And if I haven't had a chance to meet you yet, I'd love the chance to do that. I get to serve as one of the pastors around here. And we're in a series looking at the life of Abraham. What does it look like to just walk by faith with God, like into the adventure of life that he has for us? Pastor Gabe George will be out here in just a second to continue with us. But before he comes, just a couple quick things

that I want to mention to you. One, if you're new around here, do us a favor. Take your phone out. Send us a text message. Our number's 23101. Send us the word new. We want to send you a gift card to our new Fulfilled Coffee Lab right on the other side of that wall in our new lobby. Man, they've got great coffee. They've got a sourdough cinnamon roll and a cheese and bacon scone. They got all kinds of fresh baked goods out there. If you're new, we want that to be on us. We want to just offer that to you and say, but there are some of you who maybe you've been around for a little while and you're like, okay, I attend here, but I haven't really gotten involved. We've got a step for you. Just join us at a monthly gathering that we do called The Next Move. In fact, this weekend is when we're having it. It's on the other side of that wall in our new Next Steps room right after the 1130 service. So if you want to come back over and have lunch with us, you can do that. Just send the word next to 23101. And this lunch is just a chance for us to get to know you a little bit better.

And this lunch is just a chance for us to talk a little bit about who we are and how you can get connected here at Church on the Move, both for you and for your children, for your students. And so come and check that out. We hope that you'll take that step. A couple of dates that I want you to be aware of because as the spring kind of wraps up and school comes to an end and we start thinking about summer vacation, we get a little distracted. I don't want you to miss out on this. So May 1st opens up registration for COTMU. That's a nine-month training program we have around here to understand our Bible start to finish. It's a great program. I know a lot of you have been thinking about doing it. Don't miss that registration opening on May 1st. And then May 13th is a Wednesday night. And a lot is happening on this property. In fact, in this room, all of our churches, West, BA, Tulsa, will be here for a special night of worship, communion, and teaching from Pastor Matt Chandler, a pastor down in Dallas, a friend of Pastor Witt's that has a new book coming out. And he's a great teacher. We've had him here once before. So come be a part of that.

But up the hill... Call at 180, that's Uncommon Night Zero. That's the open of registration for our Summer Student Conference Uncommon. It's gonna be a blowout up there for junior high and high school students. You want your kids, your grandkids, your nieces and nephews to be a part of that and get that early bird registration for the Uncommon Conference. So just want both of those dates on your radar as we come to the end of spring. We take time in all of our services to honor God with our giving, so we're gonna do that right now. If you've never given with us before, you can just text the word give to 23101 and give you instructions on how to give there. There's a card in the seat back in front of you that says generosity on it. Talks a little bit about two other offerings we have, our compassion offering and our expansion campaign. It'll tell you what those are and how you can give to those if you're interested. I'd encourage you to have a look at that. And of course, if you came prepared to give the traditional way, cash or check, there's drop boxes at all of our exits. You could drop it in there as you exit. Thank you for however you choose to partner

and give around here. Well, Pastor Gabe's about to come out here, so get your Bible ready, get your notebook ready, but let's do this. Let's bow our heads together. Let's prepare our minds and our hearts to receive from the word of God. Heavenly Father, thank you for a beautiful morning that we could gather with family. And God, now we ask that you would help us focus, put out the distractions, turn the phone upside down, put it in the purse, and listen intently to your word preached because we know that the power of your word can change us from the inside out. As we look at the life of Abraham, teach us to be people who walk by faith. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, good morning, Church on the Move. It is so good to be with you. My name is Gabriel, and it is a privilege to be here continuing our series. If you're watching online, wherever you find yourself, welcome to Church on the Move. A special welcome to our men and women in prisons. If you've been here for any amount of time, you know that we have prisons in Eddie Warrior Church for our women, and Dick Conner Correctional Facility, a prison for our men, and a special welcome to our guys at Dick Conner.

I had the privilege of being with you last week, and I love you guys, and so it is an honor to have you watching online. Can we give our church families, wherever they're watching, a big hand? Yes. Yes. We're gonna be focusing primarily in Genesis 15, continuing this deep dive into the life of Abram, Abraham. So if you have your Bible, you can get it out. Turn to Genesis 15. While you're doing that, I wanna just draw your attention to the first few words of chapter 15, because a recap is required. After these things, what things? Well, we skipped a couple of chapters between last week and this week. Last week, Pastor Seth talked about Abram's doubt. There was a famine in the land. Abram took his wife Sarai. They went to Egypt to preserve themselves, but Abram was afraid that the Egyptian people would see his beautiful wife and kill him and take her, and so he had a plan. The plan was, let's pretend that we are siblings. They'll preserve my life. Some man will take you into his home. Maybe you end up in a harem somewhere. You know, hey, everybody wins. It seems like a risky proposition.

I am married, and I would rather die at the hands of an Egyptian than propose to my wife, like, hey, just pretend you're my sister, and we'll see where that takes us, you know? But this was the strategy. God intervened. He rescued Abram and Sarai from Egypt, and he blessed them. God was faithful, Genesis 12. Genesis 13, we have the separation of Abram and Lot, his nephew. They had grown in resources to the point where they could not cohabitate in the land that they were in, and so they needed to separate. Abram gave Lot, his nephew, first choice. Lot took, famously, the plains near Sodom, and so Abram gives Lot first choice. God speaks to Abram at that point, promising him a land. God is faithful. Genesis 14, Abram has to rescue Lot. There was a war amongst kingdoms, and in this war, Lot, his family, and many other people were taken. Abram grabbed the men of his household. They went into battle, and Abram rescued Lot and took the plunder of war. Abram came back, and he gave a tenth of all that he had plundered to the high priest, a man named Melchizedek, to honor God.

God is faithful to Abram. Now we pick up in Genesis 15. I'm gonna read 18 verses. It's a bit long, but really important, and so if you have your Bible, Open, we'll start, Genesis 15, verse one. After these things, and the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, fear not, Abram, I'm your shield, your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, oh Lord God, what will you give me for I continue childless and the heir of my house is the Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, you've given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, this man shall not be your heir, your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you're able to number them. Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. But he said, oh Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? He said to him, bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old and a ram three years old,

a turtle dove and a young pigeon. And he brought him all these, cut them in half and laid each half over against the other. And he did not cut the birds in half. And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram and behold dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and there will be servants there. And they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age and they shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your offspring, I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. This is the word of the Lord and we all said, thanks be to God. Genesis 15 is a lot more than just a continuation of the story. It's a lot more than just a straightforward narrative.

There are critical, profound theological implications found in Genesis 15. And I would like to propose a sort of shared perspective for us, a lens in which we hear and see this morning. A couple months ago, my wife, Summer, bought some blue light blocking glasses, apparently within our phones or digital devices. It gives off this light blue light that keeps the body from relaxing properly, specifically at night. And so she ordered these glasses. And when she ordered them, I thought, well, maybe I should order some too. It's healthy for me. And then these things came in the mail and then I quickly backtracked on that because they don't just block blue light, they provide a lot of red light because they're deeply tinted red. You put them on and you can't see blue. Honestly, I don't think you can see any color. It's just all red. It's like you're in a toaster. It's what it feels like in there. If you ever saw the Seinfeld where Kenny Rogers' roasters moved in next door, this is what it feels like, life on the red planet. She'll shop for clothes with this thing. And I'm like, I have no idea what's gonna come in the mail. I mean, you don't know either.

I mean, who knows? Is this a mixed match? You never know. It's just red. All you see is red. The lens in which I want us to hear and see this truth in Genesis 15 is this. God desires a deep relationship with us. Everything that we talk about, what's underneath it, the gray concrete we stand on this morning, God desires a deep relationship with us. This was the case in the beginning in the garden. God created us to commune with us, but sin separated us. The story will end with us communing with God, not just simply being in heaven, a place of peace without pain, but that we would be with God. That is the entire point of righteousness, of salvation, that we would be with God. You can see this in Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. This is where we end up. Everything in between these two gardens has been God's pursuance of humankind.

It's his consistent, faithful, constant invitation into deep relationship. But the question we need to ask ourselves this morning is, do we desire a deep relationship with God? At face value, I think most of us would say absolutely, but there's often a disconnect between what we would say flippantly and what's actually true. Do we desire a deep relationship with God? You don't really see the word relationship in Genesis 15. You see a stronger word, a more meaningful and powerful word named covenant. It is a covenant relationship that is introduced in Genesis chapter 15. It's this unbreakable commitment. The closest example that I can think of for us in our modern culture would be the covenant of marriage, although it is reduced in impact because marriages are not always final. There are people who move in and out of marriages. In this day, with Abram, people did not move in and out of marriage. Now, God's view of marriage is quite different in Genesis 2. It says that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. The two become one flesh. Jesus said, let not man separate what God has joined together. In God's eyes, it is an unbreakable commitment. It is a covenant relationship. And so, in Abram's day, you didn't move in and out of covenant easily. And there's a good reason for that. And see it here in verses 9 and 10, the Lord said, bring me a heifer, three years old, a female goat, a ram, turtle dove, young pigeon. And he brought him all these things and cut them in half. Abram knew what to do. When God specified the animals to be brought in, it doesn't say that Abram was just befuddled and didn't know. He knew because this was a tradition in the ancient Near East. He was well accustomed with the covenant ritual and ceremony.

And so, he brought him all these. He cut the larger animals in half and he laid each over across the other. The idea is that Abram would cut the animals in half and create two rows with a pathway in between. And the idea was that each party of the covenant would walk down the middle, reciting their end of the bargain. And the idea was that you walk through saying, this is what I will do. And if I break my promise, if I break my vow, may I be like these torn apart animals to my right and to my left. Very serious implication. You did not willy-nilly enter into this kind of relationship with someone. And Abram isn't the one who instigated this level of relationship. It was God who instituted and introduced this idea. Bring me these animals, I will enter into covenant with you. And there's a reason for that because covenant relationship always starts with God. And God always takes the first step. God is the one who begins this. Romans 5.8 says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God is the one who starts first. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It starts with God. The most famous verse in all scripture, for God so loved the world that he gave. He gave his only son that whoever would believe would not perish but have eternal life. It is God taking the first step into this relationship. Now, relationship, covenant relationship, and this relationship with God deepens like any relationship deepens at the speed of trust. Trust is built, obviously, when what you say and what you do match. And so God introduces this. You see it here. For God so loved the world.

But there's no period here. He continues, He loved us and He gave. I say and I do. You see this in Genesis 15. The chapter really breaks into two sections. And the beginning of each of these sections is God. It's a declaration of His promise and His character. You see it in Genesis 15.1, Fear not, Abram, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. This is who I am. This is what I do. He goes on in verse seven, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. This is who I am. This is what I will do. It starts with God and there's a reason for that. It starts with God because God is the only constant in the relationship. God is the only one in our relationship with Him who will not change. And there's a reason why people lack depth in relationship with God. Even Christians, even people who claim Christ, even people who consistently come in and out of the church. There's a reason why we lack a depth in relationship. We lack a depth because quite honestly, we lack trust. We lack trust because God is not the constant in the relationship.

What we do is we take our eyes off of the reality of God's constancy, His faithfulness, His character, who He claims to be, who He says He is. We divert our attention from that reality and we put it onto our own reality, our own circumstance and experience, our own struggle and difficulty become the constant in our life. And what that means is that God has to shape shift. God has to contort Himself so that our experiences and difficulties can make sense. But if God shape shifts, it makes God unstable and we fear what is unstable. We don't trust God because we're not locked in to who He is. But if we want depth in relationship, it must always start with and end with God and who He is because He is the only constant. Now, we're gonna shift gears and move over to Abram. Abram had depth in relationship, a developing depth of relationship with God. And there are things that we can see, things that we can point to. In fact, we're meant to look to Abram as an example. The scripture refers to Abram as the father of our faith. Now, we will frequently think of Abram and his faith, specifically his faith for a child. When you say Abraham, you automatically go to his faith for his son Isaac. And at 100 years, Isaac is born,

the fulfillment of a promise. So when you hear Abram, the father of our faith, we think Abraham had faith for Isaac. And many people have faith for things. We have faith for this thing that we want and that thing that we want. It doesn't mean that the things that we want are necessarily bad or not even good for us, but a lot of people put their faith in that thing. My faith is for this. But Abram is the father of our faith, not because he had faith for Isaac. He's the father of our faith because he had faith in God. There's a difference. The order is critical. My faith is in the constancy of God. Why? Because what I want, that coming to me, the schedule of when that comes to me, how it comes to me, that isn't constant. That moves around. I cannot predict that. And there are a lot of folks, we lose our faith in God and we begin to drift away from God. We lose trust in God because our faith is for the thing that we feel like we need and want the most and that doesn't happen the way we wanted it to. And so what happens is we move away from God and God becomes inconsistent. Abram is the father of our faith

because his faith was first and foremost in God. He is who he says he is and he does what he says he does. This is Hebrews 11, six, very well-known verse. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards. He exists, not just simply. that he's there, but that he is who he says he is. And he rewards, which means he does what he says he does. This is faith, and this is what Abram exemplifies. And he does it in three ways, and I wanna focus on these three things because these are the things that we can apply. This is what we can grab out of this. Again, remember, all centered and built on the reality of God deeply desiring relationship. This is all about relationship. So what three things did Abram do? The first thing that Abram did was he brought God his deepest desire. You can see it here in the first three verses. After these things, the word of the Lord came to him. Fear not, Abram, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. Now remember, what just happened in the previous chapter is Abram and the men of his household went in and defeated kingdoms. They rescued Lot and took the plunder. Then Abram honors God with a tenth of the plunder. God comes to Abram and says what I personally

would really love to hear in this instance. Fear not, I'm your shield. I would be thinking, I went in and I won, but is there going to be retribution? I mean, it isn't as if I can retreat into a city here. There are no walls. I'm just out here. I am a tent dweller. I can't go to the police. I'm out here alone. The Lord says I will protect you, and then the Lord says your reward shall be very great. Some translations say I am your reward. Abram had just taken all the plunder. He honored God with it, but resources weren't really Abram's problem. A need, yes, protection, a need, yes. These aren't small things God is presenting and offering to Abram, but Abram responds with what goes deeper than provision and protection. He says, oh Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is a liaison of Damascus. You've given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. He brings to God his deepest longing. Oftentimes what we do with our deep desires is we keep them at a safe distance from God. We may hit and run, cry out to God,

but we run because we're afraid. We fear because we aren't sure that God will give us the thing we desire the most, that if we bring it to the Lord, the Lord will say no, you don't need that actually, but we long for it so deeply that we feel I do not know how to be satisfied apart from what I long for. Another reason why we don't bring our deep desire to God is because we're not well acquainted with our deep desire. We're well acquainted with maybe surface level desires, but we're not exactly sure what rests underneath those desires. What is it that we really seek? Because it all distills down to something core. And we're so busy, and we move around so quickly, we rarely sit still, and so the water of our soul is often ripply, but whenever you sit still with God, the water will settle. What is it that's going on? I often do this. Whenever I feel just a tension, an angst in my chest, I will often sit and ask myself, what is wrong? What is it that's going on in me? And it reveals a desire like water calming. I can see down what lies beneath the surface. I bring those deep desires to God. This is what Abram did. He brought his deepest desire to God.

And look at this response. The Lord says to Abram, go outside. I wanna show you the stars. Count them if you can. This will be the number of your offspring. Number six says this, and Abram believed the Lord, and he, God, counted it to him as righteousness. Now this is the apex gift. Righteousness. This isn't righteousness given because a little side project of faith that Abram had. Why would God divvy out righteousness as a response to Abram believing God for a child because it's his deepest desire? In other words, Abram is coming to God wholeheartedly. He's giving God. his heart, he's trusting God with his deepest desire, which is who he is, this is who I am, this is what matters most to me, I give it to you. I trust you with what matters to me, I trust you with my heart. Now we know that Christ and his blood is how we receive righteousness, but what Jesus is looking for, the same thing the Father's looking for, wholeheartedness, not just a distant belief, but a submission, a surrender, I give you my heart. This is what's happening here. Abram trusted God with his deepest desire. The second thing that we see is that Abram trusted God

and brought God his deepest doubt. You can see in verses seven and eight, and he said to him, I'm the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. But he said, oh Lord, how am I to know? How do I know that I'm supposed to possess it? Now you could read this and think, man, Abram was just convinced by God that God was going to do what he said, and then the next verse, God says, I'm gonna give you the land also, and it's like Abram's already doubting. I mean, golly, why can't this guy figure it out? This is not a problem for Abram to come to God with his doubts. Abram brought God his doubts because quite honestly, God is the only appropriate person to bring them to. He's the one who can do something with it. Abram brings God what he doubts he's not sure. Why? Because there's a massive delay in the promise being fulfilled. God promises the land, and the land would not belong to his inheritance for 400 years. But Abram brings God his doubt, and God doesn't get mad at Abram and strike him down. How will I know? You won't, dead. This is not what happens. God cuts a covenant with Abram.

He makes a promise. He goes deeper into relationship because Abram brings him what is true within him. I bring you my doubt. God, you said this, but I don't see it, and I bring it to you because I trust you with it. It isn't just Abram's complaint, it's trust. It's depth of relationship. We bring God our desire, we bring God our doubt, and the last thing that Abram brings to God is his deepest deficit. Look at this in 17 and 18. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying to your offspring, I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passes between. This was written by Moses, and this would have drew the attention of the Israelites back to Abram because they followed God through the wilderness, a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. It's said that these were the legs of God walking, leading through the wilderness, and this is God walking through the torn pieces, Abram did not walk through because God put Abram in a deep sleep, why?

Because Abram could never fulfill the demand of this covenant. There's no way he could walk through and remain unscathed. The Lord knew this, the Lord knows this, and so the Lord shouldered the load himself, walking down through the broken pieces because what Abram lacked the most was the ability to live righteously before God, and so God fills the gap, and God pays the price, and he walks through on behalf of Abram, on behalf of himself in this moment because he is Abram's savior, but it's more than that. God is not just a savior, he is also our substitute. Look at this in Matthew 1.1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Jesus. Coming from Abraham, for Abraham, on behalf of Abraham, and the seed of Abraham would fulfill Abram's burden to walk through the broken pieces. He would walk through. May it be to me. May I be like these broken pieces if I do not fulfill my end of the covenant. And God fulfilled his part, but man failed to fulfill. And so Christ walks down through the middle. May I be like these torn apart animals, which is exactly what he did. He suffered being torn apart so that we could receive the demand and the benefit of the covenant. This righteousness. This is him. Why?

Because he pursues us for deep relationship. When we pray a prayer of salvation and receive Christ. We are making a commitment before God and many people make this commitment with God, but live in this reality of deficit. We believe we receive and then we begin to move and we move and completely and we know it. And so we're often riddled with the shame of our failing and we don't know how to get up. In fact, we feel because I received I know better and because I know better I should do better. And so I need to figure this out before I can truly move into depth and we keep a distance from God because he is a holy God and we feel very unholy. And so we stay apart consistently going back to the day of our commitment renewing it again and again and again. And I want you to think of it like a marriage. I got married May 14th 2000. I've been married almost 26 years and when I married summer, I thought I knew enough and that's true. I knew enough to stand there and make a commitment and my commitment was not faux. My commitment was the best and deepest commitment. I knew how to make in that day. I choose you. I do. And then I began to figure out all the things that I did not know the last 26 years have been the development of depth and relationship and the development and building of trust. Now I have learned I have grown I have stumbled I have failed I get back up. I do it again. She is not now.

She has been the constant right? Just like the Lord. I have had work to do. But what happens is I don't fail and fall and get up and do but I got to do better. I got to learn this. I got to figure this out and go, you know what hun every time let's renew our vows. I got to see if I can fit back into that tux. I doubt I can but I got to go. We got to let's go back. Let's do it again. Let's get married again. Let's get married again. Just keep getting married. Why because I'm not where I want to be. I'm not there yet. The trust is failing. I'm not doing great. And so we get it. We get to go back. We got to keep figuring it out again starting all over again and again and again and you'll see this with Abram and I'm not going to go ahead with where we're going but you'll see he still lacks trust. But in Genesis 15 God says you're righteous and God does not renege on his word to Abram because Abram begins to fall again. God makes a commitment on that day. God is constant said I do. And when we receive Christ, he looks you in the eye and he says I do. You are mine.

You belong to me. I will not abandon you. I will not move in and out of this marriage. I have made my commitment to you. I have given myself for you and I will give myself for you again and again and again. There's nothing I will not do for you and in his eyes it is done. It is completed and you say well, what do I do because I'm imperfect? Well, the reality is now you begin to learn what trust is like. The whole thing is relationship. It's not just that you got to get cleaned up all the time. I got to figure it out. I got to figure it out. If you will move into relationship with God, that's when you'll experience the transformation that you so desperately seek. But you won't do it in isolation. You'll only do it when you bring yourself wholeheartedly to him, the depth of who you are, your desire, your doubt, your deficit and you keep coming back to the Lord. You don't run. away, you don't run into the bushes, you don't make clothes for yourself out of fig leaves. You keep going back to the Lord and say, here I am. And the Lord does not divorce you. The Lord stands with you and He says, I'm here. Let's keep going. This is who we are. We're His. And it's what He desires. Us. May we desire Him more completely. Will you bow your heads please? Dear Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you falls so short. And the beautiful reality is we have an eternity to worship your name, to thank you for what you've done, to delight in your presence, to marvel at your goodness. I thank you so much for walking that path that we could not walk. I thank you for causing us to fall into a deep sleep, for sending Jesus Christ, your Son, to walk through the middle, to be torn apart

on that cross. You resurrected Him and gave Him life, and you have invited us to resurrection. May we receive far more than just simple, distant belief, but may we move into depth of relationship, bringing ourselves to you wholeheartedly. Thank you for your great love revealed through your truth. It's in Jesus' name we pray and everyone said amen. If you were in the room and you have had questions about your relationship with Jesus, we have a book that we would like to give you. If you say, I don't know where I'm at on this walk, journey with God. I have questions about my salvation. Am I saved? I would like to explore that reality. We'll have prayer partners down front. Whenever we dismiss, we have this book we want to give you. This is not about collecting you. This is about partnering with you, praying for you, and giving you a resource that will be invaluable to you to help you move towards relationship with Jesus. The prayer partners are also here to provide prayer for any need. If you find yourself in a place, a financial need, a health need, whatever's going on in your life, we would love to join our faith with yours. Prayer moves the hand of God. Come down and pray a prayer of faith with us. We would be honored to do this with you. Would you stand to your feet, please? What a privilege it's been to be with you this morning. I'll pronounce a blessing over you out of number six. Words on the screen, you can say it with me if you like, and then we'll dismiss. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you. You are dismissed. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

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