Not There Yet | Kyle Idleman

Well what's going on Pando family? My name is Lucas DeVries. I get to serve as the campus pastor here at the Blanca Baker campus and what an honor it is to be with you here this morning, this Mother's Day, and man we're just excited for what the Lord has in store. As always, we would encourage you to write in. You can find the address in the description. I actually was able to respond to several letters from you all over the past few weeks. It's just such a joy to be able to write back and forth to encourage one another and the Lord. So we would encourage you to do that right in. But then we also want to encourage you to click subscribe. It's just a really simple way for you to be cued with all of our content, our sermons, our Bible studies, our podcasts. We hope that that encourages you as you continue to journey with Jesus here at Southeast on Pando. I am so looking forward to this message today. We're going to be continuing in our series as we journey through the book of Genesis. We are going to be in Genesis chapter 18 and fitting for Mother's Day, we're going to be focusing on Sarah, how God made a promise. And for Sarah, she kind of felt like things were going a little bit, a lot slower than she anticipated. And maybe for you today, like there's just have been some things that you've been waiting for God to do, some things that you feel like he's been pretty slow on. But I think the encouragement that we can all find is that even though things may feel slow or behind or not on time, God is always in control and his word never returns void. And so we are so thankful this morning. You know, Mother's Day, that might be a day that you celebrate. It may be a day that brings grief. And we're also going to be able to hear a story from a family in our church that went through an incredible, difficult season as they lost a newborn child. And so I just, what I'm excited for us to hear is how they clung to the Lord and how God was near to them. And so no matter where you are, man, I just hope that this service encourages you. I hope that it builds your faith. And I just believe it's going to be really encouraging for us this morning. So I am excited to jump into service. Let's lean in. Let's take some notes. Let's head on in. This is the day you were made. So I'll rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in this.

Oh, this is where I believe. You are more than enough. More than enough for me. Sing, He's faithful. Come on, you sing. Oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His Name. All that is within me sing. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul, bless His Name. All that is within me sing. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. ♪ Really old ♪ Let's sing some faith together. Let it rise. ♪ Let it rise up like a river overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it rise up like a river overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it pour out with no limits overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it rise up like a river overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it rise up like a river overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it pour, let it pour out with no limits overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it pour, let it pour out with no limits overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ Yeah, let's put our hands together. Come on, if you've got the joy of the Lord, let's let it fill the room today. Come on. ♪ Within me say, oh my soul bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me say, the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength, oh ♪ I've got the joy, I've got the joy. Please let us thank you very much for joining us today.

I wanna say thank you to you Jesus. I just wanna say, thank you so much for joining us today, congratulations to you. You deserve it, God bless you. I have so much more to share with everyone today so please, if you dare ring the bell and you wanna learn that you can, hit that puzzle red, right at the top. Combine 90% of your purse with what we're about to share you will return to us in the middle of the Authority in prayer Come on, let's pray. I pray all over my heart and mind I am healed by your stripes Your blood declares that I am free In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I proclaim, every weapon formed again That's me, must break In the mighty name of Jesus I draw a permanent boundary line The enemy has no rights to come near my family No sheep could ever run to God's place No matter the circumstance The cross has sealed my destiny In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I proclaim, every weapon formed again That's me, must break In the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus

I know, all the power of fear and darkness Must know, is every key to every victory I hope, in the mighty name of Jesus I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ When the enemy comes near ♪ ♪ On the doorframe of my life ♪ ♪ Is the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides ♪ ♪ By the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ When the enemy comes near ♪ ♪ On the doorframe of my life ♪ ♪ Is the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides ♪ ♪ By the blood of Jesus Christ, oh ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I will not fear ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim ♪ ♪ Every weapon formed against me must break ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus, I know ♪ ♪ All the power of fear and darkness must go ♪ ♪ Cause every key to every victory, I hold ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus, I know ♪ ♪ All the power of fear and darkness must go ♪ ♪ Cause every key to every victory, I hold ♪

♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ Good morning. I love the song we just sang and I love the bridge so much, the part that goes the, ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear, when the enemy comes near ♪ I love that part because I think of two things when we sing that together. The first one is that I am protected by the blood of Christ, amen. Amen. And the second is that every day, the enemy is going to try to convince me that I'm not. Every day, the enemy will try to convince me that I'm not. And scripture is full of stories of people walking through pain, heartache, hurting, longing, and the Lord meets them with his presence and his promises. And the same can be true in our own lives. And we're gonna see a story here in just a second of a couple, an incredible story, Shana and Stephen, and how they were able to find hope in the midst of unimaginable grief. And as we move into communion right now, we can reflect on that. As we hold those elements in our hand, the bread that represents the body of Christ broken for you, the cup that represents the blood of Christ that was shed for you. How can we have hope in the midst of what was grief seen in the crucifixion? We have hope in Christ.

We have hope in the promise and the sacrifice that was made on the cross that we can have access to a God who loves us so much and wants to commune with us. And that was the price that Jesus paid on the cross for us. That's how we can have hope in the midst of grief. So let's prepare those elements right now. And if you don't know what to do in this moment, just thank him. Thank the Lord for all that he's done and all that he will do. You can take communion whenever you're ready. Amen. Amen. I love you. I remember when you got ready to ask us to be here. That's always been on a regular national program. It's always been on regular national program. Father, I could see you. I could see you. And we brought you here. Amen. Amen. Amen. ♪ Oh, peace be still, say the word and I will ♪ ♪ Set my feet upon the sea till I'm dancing in the deep ♪ ♪ Peace be still, you are here so it is well ♪ ♪ Even when my eyes can't see ♪ ♪ I will trust the voice that speaks ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna be afraid ♪

♪ Cause these waves are only waves ♪ ♪ No, I'm not gonna be afraid ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna be afraid ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna fear the storm ♪ ♪ You are greater than this road ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna fear the storm ♪ ♪ No, I'm not gonna fear it all, no ♪ ♪ Peace be still, say the word and I will ♪ ♪ Set my feet upon the sea till I'm dancing in the deep ♪ ♪ Oh, peace be still, you are here so it is well ♪ ♪ Even when my eyes can't see ♪ ♪ I will trust the voice that speaks ♪ ♪ Peace, peace over me, yeah ♪ Yes, Jesus, would you watch the sea appear? Jesus. And God, we honor you and we trust you. And God, that we thank you that you meet us right here, right where we are in grief and joy and good and in bad and in certain times you meet us where we are and you sustain us. And God, we thank you that because of you, Jesus, we have hope. We thank you for the cross and the sacrifice that you made. We love you. It's in Jesus' name, amen. You all can go ahead and grab a seat. As we continue worshiping, we are going to watch Shana's story and how God has carried her through. So we're Shana and Stephen Dwayne, and we met when we were really young, and I was 15 and he was 17. I've essentially been in love ever since. I always kind of knew I wanted to have children, but I kind of let her take the lead a little bit to know when it was right for our family.

It took a lot longer than we expected to start a family. We unfortunately had suffered through two miscarriages. When you feel like the Lord isn't answering you or he's silent, you can't help but to struggle with confidence and what is wrong with us and our family that it couldn't be a part of our story. Maybe three, four years into the process, and we ended up after multiple physician visits, injections and poking and prodding and just a lot of unknowns, the Lord is like, I'll show you what the world says is impossible and bless us with our son. Right after you have a kid, you're in this like fog for nine to 12 months, and it's almost like this fog lifts and that wasn't horrible. Let's just do that again. And so we kind of reached that point and we were like, yeah, let's we want to continue to grow our family. And we ended up getting pregnant again. Unfortunately, we had made it up to our. a 10-week scan and our baby had not made it. Even though it was really unfortunate, we didn't want to be walking through that, there was still just this grace that the Lord continued to provide to us. And we still felt this calling to be parents. And so we ended up finding out that we were pregnant again. I remember us asking Jack, do you want to have a brother or a sister? And he said, both, I'm going to have both. And we just were like, okay. But then actually we went for our first scan and I just remember sitting there looking and I saw two on there. We were in fact having a boy and a girl.

So Jack's prayer was answered, which is amazing. We reached delivery day. I literally delivered two babies in 20 minutes. We had a pretty uneventful hospitalization. We were ready to go home with our babies. And our son, Colin, ended up having a seizure and they took him and they rushed him down to the children's hospital. And I just remember feeling this like heavy weight as we were walking back to the room. And they just looked at us and said, we're really sorry to tell you that your son has a very rare genetic disorder. What we know is that it's untreatable and that you essentially are gonna watch him suffer and die. We would go on these periods of every two weeks where we would be at home for about week and a half, two weeks, and then we would be back in the hospital for about a week. When I made it through all the summer months and then got to the fall, his disease at that point had progressed so rapidly that he was probably the sickest that he had been the entire time. His body in complete paralysis and his lungs were failing at that point. So we were on oxygen. He had lost the ability to swallow. So we were on a feeding tube. Kind of knew at that point that we were getting close.

Steven took him in, it was a Sunday evening. I got a message from Steven that, hey, I think this might be it. I can't even describe the feeling that I felt at that point. I really felt like somebody had taken a baseball bat and literally just like hit me in the back of the legs. Like, I didn't know what else to do besides hit my knees. Crying out to the Lord. Like, I know that we're at this point and what the world's gonna tell me is that this is it. That you're ready to take him, but I know that you can work a miracle. I just pray that this is like that one amazing miracle that we get to talk about. We have a song that is Colin's song that we essentially listened to like 300 times during that whole experience. It's just about like going to be with Jesus and like the hope and promise that we have, like to go to heaven. But that's what he got to listen to, like in his last moments. That song still just means so much to our family. I had this like beautiful comfort and peace of knowing that he's no longer suffering. I felt like we were able to leave knowing that that was his body that was there, but his spirit was with Jesus. It was completely different than I ever expected it

to like sit next to a loved one while they're dying. But I always go back to understanding that like, Jesus also understands that when he was in Gethsemane, he literally said, like prayed to the Lord to like, to God to take that cup, right? And that's what we want isn't always the way that it works. I definitely think your perspective on God's timing changes a lot depending on what you experienced. And I think sometimes he leads you through things and you don't really have a choice. What is God's timing? We may find out on this side of heaven or we may not. All of it's about us just having a relationship with him. He will give you everything you need to sustain. This has been painful but I still trust in you and have this assurance that one day I know that I'm gonna be reunited with my son but I know that we have to wait. The faith, rise up, oh heart, believe. The faith, rise up in me. The faith, rise up, oh heart, believe. The faith, rise up in me. The faith, rise up, oh heart, believe. The faith, rise up in me. The faith, rise up, oh heart, believe. The faith, rise up in me. The faith, rise up, oh heart, believe. The faith, rise up in me. Peace, be still. Say the word and I will. Set my feet upon the sea. Till I'm dancing in the deep. Peace, be still. You are here so it is well. Even when my heart's messy. I will trust the voice that speaks. Peace, peace over me. Peace, peace over me. How I long to breathe the air of heaven. Where pain is gone and mercy fills the streets. To look upon the one who bled to save me. And walk with Him for all eternity. Arise. There will be a day when all will bow before You. There will be a day. Standing face to face. I feel dying and rose again. Holy, holy is the Lord. In every prayer, we prayed in desperation. The songs of pain, we sang through doubt and fear. But in the end, we'll see it all's worth it. When He returns to wipe away our tears. There will be a day when all will bow before Him. There will be a day.

♪ When death will be no more ♪ ♪ Standing face to face ♪ ♪ With you dying and rising again ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ And on that day, we'll join the rest ♪ ♪ And on that day, we'll join the resurrection ♪ ♪ And with one voice, a thousand generations ♪ Come on, just one, we sing. ♪ Sing, holy is the Lord, oh, we sing, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ And on that day, we'll join the resurrection ♪ ♪ Oh, stand beside all the heroes of the faith ♪ ♪ And with one voice, a thousand generations ♪ ♪ Sing, worthy is the Lamb who was slain ♪ ♪ Forever He shall reign, oh, we sing, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, you reign, so let it be today ♪ ♪ Oh, we shout the hymn of the heavens ♪ ♪ With angels in the space, we raise a mighty roar ♪ ♪ Sing, glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord, oh, we sing, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, let it be today, oh, we shout the hymn of the heavens ♪ ♪ With angels in the space, we raise a mighty roar ♪ ♪ Glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord, oh, we sing, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord, oh, we sing, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord, oh, we sing, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, let it be today, oh, we shout the hymn of the heavens ♪ Let's do this. If you are, stay standing. If you are a mother of any kind, stay standing. If you are not a mother, sit down.

And we are just gonna take a second. We're gonna pray for our moms and celebrate them. Would you just express your gratitude to them? If you are standing, mom, stay standing. Got somebody who's really excited about moms up there. Thank you. Hey, if you are a, if you're here and the mother who's close to you is somebody that you know and love, not just a random mother, but somebody you know and love, then you can place a hand on them or hold their hand. I just wanna lead this, lead us in a time of prayer. God, I thank you for each mom that is standing here today. Thank you for the calling that you put on their lives. Thank you for the grace that you've extended to them. Thank you for the strength that is theirs through you. I just wanna pray, especially God, for moms who I know are showing up today and some of them are exhausted in a way that they can't fully explain. They've given a lot. I pray that you would be their source, that you would be their strength. God, I pray today for moms who maybe are waiting. They've prayed the prayer so many times and they don't really have words left to speak. Would you remind them today that you see them, that you've not forgotten them? And God, we pray today for the mom whose child is maybe far from home or maybe far from faith

or far from you. I would pray, God, that you would draw near, not just that mother, but that child. I pray, God, that this weekend would be a weekend where you would renew hope in that mother about their child's faith story. Help them not to give up. God, for the woman in this room today who really loved to be standing, who longs to be a mom, just really proud of her for being here because I know it's hard and I know it's complicated, but she loves you and she's worshiping you today. I pray that you would let her know that you see her, that you'd meet her right where she's at. God, for the grandmothers in this room, some of whom are raising grandchildren that they didn't plan on raising. praise them. They need extra strength from you. They're tired. I pray that you would bless them and their efforts, that you would give them the grace they need, that you would let them have the grace for themselves that's needed. God, for the foster moms that are standing and the stepmoms and the aunts and the mentors, I just pray that you would let these ladies know that you are faithful, that you would give them a glimpse of the impact they're having, that you would place a vision on their hearts for what you've called them to, that today would be a day that they are strengthened, a day where they're encouraged and filled with courage for you and for your kingdom. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you moms. You can be seated. Mother's Day can be kind of a complicated weekend, honestly, at church. Because on one hand we want to really celebrate moms and we want it to be a very joyful weekend. And yet on the other hand, what we also know is that there are a lot of moms and people with moms that are struggling and hurting. The video we showed kind of captured that. When

I first watched that video I thought, OK, that's really heavy. That's a really heavy Mother's Day video. And yet what I just couldn't get away from when I watched that video is it really reflects what Scripture does when it talks to us about moms. Right? If you read through Genesis, which is what we're studying in church right now, what you find in the book of Genesis and really throughout the whole of Scripture is that it's hard and it's complicated and messy. And you read about these women in Scripture who are not like these picture perfect women. Instead you find them in one chapter doubting and in one chapter having faith, in one chapter they're laughing, in another they're crying, and it can be messy. And yet God keeps showing up within the story. And so if you just look through some of the Old Testament, I mean I could give you a lot of examples, but Eve, the very first mother in human history watches as one son murders another. And there's Leah who spent her entire marriage knowing that she was not the wife her husband wanted, and she's trying to fix her marriage by having children. She thinks this is the way for my marriage to get better, it doesn't work. There's Rachel, which was the wife he did want, and she died giving birth to their second son on the side of the road far from home. Naomi buried her husband and both of their — her sons in a foreign country. And she told people, don't call me Naomi anymore, I don't want that to be my name anymore, I want you to call me bitter. This is how angry I am at how my story has turned out. There's Hannah who wanted a child so badly that she wept so hard that she couldn't speak through the tears, and she prayed so intensely that a priest came in while she was praying and thought she was drunk. And I could keep going because the Bible keeps going, there's just one story after another. Scripture never gives us one example of a picture-perfect family. It's not one. Scripture never once suggests that faith makes motherhood painless. It has never told women to smile through the hard parts, and your role as a mom, especially in spiritual settings, is when somebody asks you if you're good, your role is to say, that's fine, even when it's not fine. The Bible does not teach that. It has never cleaned up the mess or softened the edges, it's never given us these, again, these tidy women that have it all together, and so I'm not going to do that today either. We're going to study and spend some time with a woman this morning who is strong and complicated and funny and fierce, and she's carrying something really heavy that she has no control over. Her name is Sarah, and we read about her in

Genesis 18. I want to give you just a moment with her before we study more about her life, because for those of you who grew up in church, chances are you've kind of grown up with the Sunday school version of Sarah, kind of the sweet elderly lady who got pregnant. Well, isn't that great? Well, why don't you ask some elderly ladies if they think that's great. That's the version, hey, sweet elderly lady got pregnant. It's just this beautiful, beautiful story with a happy ending, and yet if you study her life, like Sarah is not a woman who fades into the background. She is sharp, and she is decisive, and she is strong-willed. Listen, Abraham, largely considered one of the most significant leaders in human history, and for the most part, what we read in the Bible is him doing what his wife tells him to do, which tells you something about Sarah. She's a fixer. She is a natural leader. When she's a woman who sees a problem and she finds a solution, that's part of her identity, is when there's a problem, I got it. I can fix it. But motherhood has a way of humbling you when it comes to problems that are not yours to control. challenges that are not yours to fix, and one problem she cannot fix is for decades she's been unable to have a child. I just need you to understand what that meant for her and her culture. Like in her world, a woman's identity, her worth, her standing in the community, it's all tied directly to her ability to bear children. This isn't like a cultural preference, like this was everything at that time. It determined how you were treated, it determined the way you were spoken to, it determined where you sat in public gatherings. It was your worth. And so year after year for Sarah, lots of disappointment and disillusionment. Like year after year she's smiling

at the gender reveal equivalent during that time, like these naming ceremonies for these babies that would be born, and she's just feeling something quietly break inside her at each one of those, and she's prayed desperate prayers in the dark, and she's believed God made her this promise that she and her husband were gonna have a family, but it was really slow in happening. Last week we saw what happened when she decided to take matters into her own hands, it backfired badly. So don't miss this, Sarah is strong, but she's tired and worn out in a way that strength cannot fix. She is fierce, but she is exhausted in a way that no one can see, except for God. Genesis 18, first thing I want you to see as we jump into this passage, is God sees you even when you feel invisible. Maybe that's a word that some moms need today. Genesis 18, it's the middle of the day, it's the heat of the afternoon, Abraham is 99 years old, and he's sitting at the entrance of the tent. He's not doing anything particularly spiritual, but while he sits there, there are three visitors that appear, and when these three visitors show up, Abraham gets up, sees them in the distance, and he runs to them. Don't know if you've seen a 99-year-old run recently. It's not something you see every day.

And yet, 99-year-old Abraham gets up, he runs to them, and he bows low. It's hard to get up when you bow low at 99. He gets up, runs to them, bows low. Verse two, Abraham looked up, and he saw three men standing nearby, and when he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them, and he bowed low to the ground. This is a worship posture. Here's the question then, of course, who are these three visitors? Well, in some ways, the text is subtle about it, but it doesn't hide it either. Verse one opens with, the Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre. The Lord appeared, and as this chapter unfolds, it's clear that one of these three visitors is speaking as God. Now, there's different thoughts about who this is, if this is Jesus visiting with two angels. Scholars wrestle with this, but what seems clear is that when you read this story, that the Lord himself is present in this group, present in this moment, so this isn't an angel showing up with a message, this one's different. This is the God of the universe showing up in the heat of the day on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. So yeah, he ran, and you know what? You would have too. He ran, he bows down, he scrambles,

gets everything he can to be hospitable to them. Here's the question, where's Sarah in all of this? Where's Sarah? Abraham's outside the tent, he runs to them. Where's Sarah? He says she's inside the tent. So she's not introduced to the visitors, she's not at the table, where is she? She's in the background doing the work that makes the whole moment possible. And from inside the tent, she hears the conversation, but she's not addressed and she's not seen, at least not yet. And I don't want moms in this room to miss this moment, because there's an entire category of work that mothers do that makes everything possible, but can feel invisible. And it's not because people don't love them, it's just because the work they do doesn't always announce itself, but it's what holds everything together. School forms get filled out, doctor's appointments get scheduled, the emotional temperature of the home is monitored and managed, and you know it, things would fall apart if you weren't there. And I just think there's some moms who feel that way right now, like there's significant things happening outside the tent, but you're inside, you're inside the tent.

And that's where Sarah is, maybe wondering, does anybody see this, does it count if nobody notices? And here's what we're gonna see in this story. The God of the universe is sitting at the table, and before this conversation is over, he's gonna ask about the woman inside the tent by name and on purpose, because he knows exactly who she is and where she is and what she's carrying, and he sees her and he sees you. So don't miss this as we're studying the story, this is in your notes, God often shows up in most ordinary moments. That can make it hard for us to see him at times. There's not a spotlight, there's not a stage that gets set, just the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. Now listen. Sometimes it's dramatic. Last week, we met a woman named Hagar. If you remember this, you remember this? She's a foreign woman that had no power, no voice. She's pregnant. She finds herself running in the desert and who finds her in the desert? God finds her in the desert, but she's a foreign woman. She doesn't know Abraham's God. She doesn't know the Lord God. And so she gives him a name. Remember the name that she gives him? It's El Roy, it's the God who sees me. And God doesn't say, no, no, no, that's not my name.

God receives this name from Hagar, the God who sees me. And at the end of that message last week, I challenge you, go outside in the evening and look up at the stars and just talk to El Roy. Talk to the God who sees you and tell him what's hard and tell him what you're tired of waiting on and let the size of the sky remind you that the God who spoke it all into existence sees you. I got an email the next day. Just want to read it to you. She says, Kyle, I'm not sure if you will get this. I've never messaged you before. When I got back to the house after church, I thought about your message and how you said to go outside and look at the stars and talk to El Roy. And so I did. And I told God what I've been waiting on. And I told him what I've been patient about. I told him that I haven't heard from either of my sons in a couple of years and how hard that is and how I'm trying to be patient. 10 minutes after I prayed that prayer, I came inside and my phone rang and it was my youngest son. I went back outside to that same spot where I had talked to God under the stars and I talked to my son for 22 minutes. I don't know what to do with that story except share it with you and to make sure you know sometimes God sees you and you know it. And sometimes he sees you and you have to believe it.

But what I've learned about God and what I think we're learning in this text through Genesis is he doesn't just see you, but he sees his promise when he sees you. He sees if you're a follower of Jesus, he's entered into a covenant with you. And when he sees you, he sees the promise that's been made to you. Second thing here in the story is God remembers the promise, even if you've forgotten. Sarah's inside the tent, she's listening. You can picture this, right? She's inside the tent, hearing this conversation, maybe trying to figure out who these people are. Her hands are covered in flowers, she's trying to make bread. And then she hears something that just stops her cold. She hears her name mentioned by these three visitors. One of them says to Abraham, where's your wife, Sarah? Not where's your wife, Sarah, where's your wife, Sarah? And the stranger calls her by her new name, calls her by the name that God gave her. And then she's sitting in the tent and she hears her name and immediately gets her attention. They know my name. And then she listens as the stranger repeats the promise that by now she's heard multiple times that she and Abraham are gonna have a baby and they're gonna be the father of the, he's gonna be a father of this great nation.

And Sarah has been waiting on this. Like, it's not just been a season of waiting, y'all, it's been a lifetime. She's 89 years old, 89 years old. And she waited, I think, faithfully and patiently for a long time. But listen, you get in your mid 80s and you think maybe this isn't happening. Like, I think she still believed, but here's the question to wrestle with. Can you still believe without expecting? Can you still believe and stop expecting? I think that's where she was at. The title of this message is Not There Yet. And if you're a parent, you know exactly what that's a reference to. Those three words live in your body like a trauma response because there's no question that will put a parent on edge more than the question, are we there yet? Like, you haven't even pulled out of the driveway to leave for the destination. And you've got a kid in the back saying, are we there yet? And it continues once every three minutes, according to a study that I did out in the atrium. Like, every three minutes, are we there yet? And at some point, every parent realizes, I can't answer this question in the terms that this child will understand because if I say we'll be there in four hours, I might as well say we'll be there in 40 years.

Like, they have no grid for it. And so parents get creative. We use units of time that kids can measure. How much longer? Three episodes of Bluey. How much longer? 27 episodes of Paw Patrol and we'll be there. Like, we try to find a way to frame it up so they can understand it from their perspective, but they don't get it. And I think as we try to understand God's timing, we find ourselves in a similar position. But when a child's in the backseat asking that question, how are they asking, are we there yet? Well, they're asking it with a childlike anticipation. and a childlike expectation and excitement. And I think that was Sarah. Let's give her some credit. I think for decades, she sat in the backseat, excited about this promise God had made her. Are we there yet? But at some point, she stops asking. Not because I think she was angry, we don't see that. Not because she made a dramatic decision to stop believing, but she just stopped expecting it. Just finds herself staring out the window, and then God walks in in Genesis 18, and he essentially leans into the backseat and says,

ah, we're almost there. And maybe you've lost some faith. Maybe you've been praying and believing that God would move in the heart of a child that's far from him right now, and you're still praying that prayer, and you're desperate for it, but you've stopped expecting it. Can I call you to an expectant faith once again? I know it doesn't feel safe, and I know that there's a lot that feels out of your control, and you're tired of carrying that hope. But don't give up. Don't give up. Keep expecting it. Maybe it was a belief that your marriage would look different, and you prayed that prayer, and for a long time, you sat in the backseat like it was gonna happen. It hasn't happened. And you're married, but you feel really alone on days like today, honestly. Or maybe it's something that you're carrying, maybe your own healing, physical or emotional or healing for a child, and it's just heavy enough that you've prayed about it long enough that you've stopped expecting it.

It's not that you've rejected the promise. You just don't think it's gonna happen. I think that's where Sarah's at. Verse 10. God says, surely I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, will have a son. Same promise, but now there's a timeline to it. Hebrews 10.23 says, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who, why? Let us hold unswervingly. Why do we hold unswervingly? Because it's gonna happen really quickly. Now, let's notice this. Let's hold unswervingly because God's got a really good plan, and here's how it's gonna unfold. Here's what you can expect. Now, it says, because the one who promised is faithful. It's rooted in who God is. It's rooted in his character, and so here's the way I put this in your notes. A course correction doesn't change God's promise, but it changes your expectation, and that's what some of us need today. Sarah, you thought this window was closed. It's not closed. Numbers 23, verse 19. God is not human that he should lie.

He's not a human being that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and then not fulfill? God's not late. God's not confused. He didn't forget what he said. He didn't get distracted. He doesn't change his mind. He doesn't look at your situation and say, well, I don't know what to do with that. Like, maybe you've been reading the silence as cancellation, but the silence is preparation, and you just don't know it. Sarah knew her body, and she thought the window was closed, but here's the thing. God doesn't need a window. He can make a way where there is no way. He is not limited by your biology or by your age. He's not limited by your bank account or your background or your bad decisions. Stop grieving the end of a story that God's still writing. Number three, God knows what you're feeling, even when you won't say it. Stay in verse 10 here with me. The visitor says, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife will have a son. All right, feel the weight of this. You're Sarah in the tent,

just overhearing this conversation. And by the way, you're 89 years old, and this time next year, she's gonna have a son. Verse 11 tells us already, Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. The Hebrew in this is even more direct than our English translations. The phrase means, biologically, this is impossible. And so she stands on the other side of the tent, getting things ready for these guests, and she hears this promise, this time next year. Sarah will have a son. And something happens inside of her that she can't quite control. Look at verse 12. So Sarah, she laughs to herself. She laughs to herself, and she thought, after I'm worn out and my Lord is old, now will I have this pleasure? Seriously? I'm 90 years old. And her laughter is not a laugh of joy. It's a laugh of cynicism. It's a laugh of disbelief. It's a laugh of someone who's been hoping so long that to hope again feels like naive. It's a laugh of someone who thinks, I know how it works. I've been disappointed enough. I'm not gonna be disappointed again.

So her laugh wasn't joy, it was the sound of someone who had given up hope. My guess is some of you know this laugh, you've done this laugh. It's kind of this exhale through the nose. It's a laugh you do when someone suggests something that sounds nice, but you've been around long enough to know better. It's like when someone says to you in January, this is going to be our year. Okay, okay. It's when someone says in your home, let's just eat healthy this week. All week and you've got three kids under 10. Okay, yeah, let's do that. It sounds great. It's when your teenager says, I'll clean up my room this weekend. And you laugh. It's not a happy laugh. It's a laugh that you laugh when hope and reality have been in conflict long enough that you just know better because you know how life works. And she laughs to herself and she keeps it inside. Here's what we see next. Genesis 18. Then the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? And again, my understanding here as I read the scene is Sarah can't see it. She's listening to this conversation and she laughs. The Bible says to herself. I don't know if that meant that she laughed because there was nobody else in the room, but she laughs and maybe she realized that she laughed loud enough that the people outside the tent heard it. Or maybe it's just to herself and God knew that she laughed silently to herself. But God says to Abraham, why did your wife laugh? And then God asks this one question that will change everything.

And it has the power to change everything in your life. Listen, this one question that God asks can reframe everything. Here's the question. And maybe it's the most important question you'll answer. Is anything too hard for the Lord? I don't know if this is how it happened. Here's how I picture it. Sarah's inside the tent. The Lord is talking to Abraham. Why did your wife laugh? And he turns towards the tent. Is anything too hard for the Lord? And I don't think that's an accusation against Sarah. I think it's an invitation. An invitation to lift up her eyes. Lift up your eyes from the impossibility in front of you and look at the God who's sitting at your table in the heat of an afternoon. It's an invitation to believe again. If you've stopped believing, believe once again. And God doesn't shame her for her laughter. He doesn't cancel the promise because of her doubt. Instead, he just asks her this question that can reframe everything. Is anything too hard for me? So that's the question. Like if you're a mom and you're waiting on that prodigal child to come home, a child who's maybe walked away from you or from the faith, from family, and some days you wonder, you've stopped expecting. Is anything too hard for the Lord? For the woman who longs to become a mom and you've struggled through infertility and miscarriage and adoption doors that have been slammed shut.

And every year that passes, you get a little quieter in the back seat. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Your wife's marriage is not what you dreamed it would be. You're carrying a lot and you feel like you're doing it on your own. Is anything too hard for God? Is anything too hard for me? He is not asking Sarah to fake it. He's not saying, hey, can you fake a stronger faith? Can you just pretend like everything's okay even though it's not? He's not asking you to stop feeling the weight of what you're going through. Here's what he's doing. He's inviting you to bring the full weight of your doubt and your cynicism and your exhaustion and your fear and just lay it down next to his power and look at the two and ask a question. Is anything too hard for God? One last encouragement from this text. God isn't looking for perfect faith, just honest faith. Here's how the scene ends. I really love this. It says, Sarah was afraid so she lied and said, I didn't laugh. But he said, yes, you did laugh. Now here's what I wish I knew. I wish at this point if I knew if Sarah had like stepped outside of the tent and said, that's not true, I didn't laugh. Or if she's still inside the tent and she can't see them and she's like, I didn't laugh. Yes, you did laugh. And they're having this conversation with the tent wall separating them. I'm not sure, but she says, I didn't laugh. She panics. So she laughed at the promise. She lied about the laugh and then she was afraid she was getting trouble for the laugh

that she lied about and says, I didn't laugh. God says, yeah, you did. And I think he said it with a little bit of a smile because he doesn't withdraw the promise. He doesn't say, yeah, you did laugh. I'm going to let you think about what you've done for a while. I'm going to come back in another 10 years when you're 110 and we'll talk about this. Like he doesn't lecture her. He doesn't give her a long list of things that she needs to work on before he can show up. Instead, the promise stands. I sometimes get concerned that our cancel culture. has seeped into the church, the idea that if you fail badly enough, publicly enough, if you react the wrong way at the wrong time, that you're done, that yeah, God loves you and you can still go to heaven, but whatever plan he might have had that you were going to be a part of, nah, sorry. And Sarah, this 90-year-old woman who laughed about God's promise and lied about it, says, no, that's not how he works. God said to her, you're still getting a son. He doesn't cancel his plan because of how you responded in your weakest moment. That might be other people. That might be how they treat you, but that's not what God says. I want to stay here for a moment because I think there's some of you in the room, and I'll say this especially for some moms, you've canceled yourself. You know how you reacted when maybe your kids were young, where you were reactive? You think about maybe the way you yelled. You think about a mistake that you made, a sin that you committed some years ago, and in your mind, it means God is done with you. And let's be honest, that message for some of you was reinforced by a church you went to that made you think because of what you did or because of the story, the way your story is being written, that God doesn't have a plan for you anymore. That's not true.

God's not done with you. God's planned to meet you right where you are. Can I tell you something? Between services this morning, I did what I usually do on Mother's Day weekend. I went up and I met with a group of single moms in our church, and they all meet together every week, and we had breakfast together, and I prayed for them and just listened to them, some of the challenges they were facing. I have so much respect for the fact that they're here today. I so wanted them to understand, like, we love you. You're not just welcome at this church. Like, we're not who we're supposed to be without you. We want you, and that God's plan for this church includes you. And some of you just have had this voice inside of you that has made you say, it's too late for me. I know God loves me. I know I'm going to go to heaven, but His plan no longer applies. And there's this 90-year-old woman who says, that's a lie. That's a lie. He still has a plan for you. Hebrews 11 is called the Faith Hall of Fame. It's a list of men and women throughout the Old Testament who are kind of held up as heroes of the faith. You know who's on that list? Sarah, from this moment. Here's what Hebrews 11 says. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. This is the same Sarah who laughed and who lied, and God, in Hebrews 11, says, oh, don't forget to put Sarah on this list of heroes of the faith. Being a person of faith doesn't mean you never struggle.

It doesn't mean you never have a cynical moment in a tent where you think, there's no way. Jump ahead to Genesis 21. I love this. Now, the Lord was gracious to Sarah, as He said. And the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. And Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. At the fairy time, at the appointed time that God had promised. And she names her son Isaac, which means laughter. And I love what this says in Genesis 21, verse 6. Here's what Sarah says. God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. God has brought me laughter, and in 2026, there's going to be a church who hears this story about a 90-year-old woman giving birth, and they're going to laugh. Because of how far God goes to keep His promises. These past few months, I have been surrounded by expectant mothers. My three daughters and my daughter-in-law have all been pregnant at the same time. Which means I have had the unique experience of hearing the words, we're expecting, four times in a really short window of life. We also had a horse on the farm that is pregnant. So five times. I'm not comparing my daughters to horses. I'm trying to give you a picture of my life. I told my wife, I don't know what's going on. We need to be careful. There's something in the water. And here's what I've noticed. Every single time I receive this news, I'm never quite prepared for it. Like, by October, we will have seven grandkids under four years old, and yeah, you can laugh. I don't know what kind of laugh that is. But by now, you'd think I'd have a speech ready or some scripture ready, or I'd say

something semi-spiritually profound. But without fail, like every time I get this news, I don't know what to say. But you know what I do? Is I laugh. I laugh, cry. I have this weird thing where it's just this laughter and cry. It's not the cynical laughter, it's the other kind. It's the kind that comes before your brain is able to form a sentence. It's the kind that means something is happening that I wasn't fully prepared for, but it's so good. It's the kind that bypasses your carefully managed expectations, and it just comes out. And here's what I would say. This is the kind of laugh God is looking for in your life. The one that sounds like Sarah in Genesis 21 holding a baby she wasn't supposed to have, and so she laughs. He doesn't need your faith to be perfect, and he doesn't need you to clean up all the doubts. He doesn't need you to pretend that the cynical laugh never happens. He just wants you to answer one question. Is there anything too hard for me? I want to close with something that I'm still processing. Yesterday I was at a funeral in Missouri. I got back around 3 a.m. this morning. The man we buried was my uncle, David Eidelman. I'm Kyle David Eidelman. Here's a picture of me and my dad and my uncle. That's me in the middle with aggressively 1995 hair. I just walked into the salon, and I'm like, give me the Brandon Walsh. It's a 90210 reference. My uncle was 76 years old.

I just want to tell you part of his story, because his story is really a story about a God who keeps his promises to people who stopped expecting him to. As a boy, I would tell you the most common prayer that I remember praying through all my growing up years was for my uncle Dave. It's my dad's little brother. It's the most consistent prayer I remember praying. My uncle Dave had walked away from his faith, and his life had come apart in ways that I fully didn't understand as a child. But I understood enough based on listening to them pray, my dad and my mom pray, that he needed Jesus, and he really needed some help. And I prayed as a 10-year-old the way that kids pray. Are we there yet? Fully expectant, fully sure, complete sincerity, God's listening. When I was 10, he came to live with our family for a season. He was 35. His life had fallen apart. He lived in our basement. I kept praying those prayers with my parents at nighttime upstairs while he lived downstairs. And what I remember is nothing changing. The years went by, and I grew up, and I got busy, and the prayers for my uncle Dave became less frequent, meaning they all but stopped. It's not because I stopped caring, but because somewhere in the backseat of that long drive, I just stopped expecting that the destination would ever get there. But then he turned 55 years old, and something happened in him, and he started to get serious about his faith. And like, not perfectly, and not all at once, but he came home to Jesus, and the last 20 years of his life, my uncle, Dave Eidelman, followed Jesus. The last two years, especially, just completely dependent on him. Five weeks before he died, he was diagnosed with cancer. He kept following.

Days before he passed, here's the last words that he put on Facebook. I'm a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God and my Savior. If you don't believe this, please open your heart and mind to this possibility. It's the only thing that truly matters in this life. That's a man who spent a half a century far from God, but who came back, and he walked with Jesus for 20 years, stared death in the face, and wanted to make sure everybody knew God can be trusted. So, I stood at that funeral just a number of hours ago, and I thought about that little boy who prayed those prayers for his uncle, thought about those years of silence, thinking about how many times I quietly stopped expecting anything to change, thinking about God, who apparently wasn't on my timeline, but never once forgot. And I was a little undone by that. And then, at the end of the service, his stepdaughter, who was like a daughter to him, Bethany, got up to sing. I'll tell you about Bethany. Two years ago, Bethany's nine-year-old son, Ruben, my uncle's grandson, died in a boating accident. It was a horrible, sudden, makes-no-sense-where-is-God kind of accident. It's a kind of loss, I mean, some of you know, that does not have a category. It's the kind of loss that can take everything from you. And yesterday, Ruben's mom, Bethany, walked onto stage at the end of my uncle's funeral,

and she sang, and the song she sang was, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. I just want you to think about what it costs to sing that for that mom. After what she's been through, two years removed from bearing her son, standing up in front of a room full of people grieving, my uncle, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. And here's the thing, she didn't sing it gently. There is, if you don't know this, an appropriate way to sing in a funeral. Gently, quietly, not drawing a lot of attention to the song, or to the music. So usually when someone sings at a funeral, it's quieter. She did not sing quietly. She sang bravely. Because she wasn't singing, she was worshiping. Standing in front of a funeral, it wasn't just singing, she had her hands raised in worship. And I sat there thinking about this sermon, knowing that I would be preaching the sermon in a few hours, and I thought about Sarah in the tent, and what she'd say to Bethany. I thought about the decades of her silently waiting. I thought about a little boy praying prayers for his uncle, who decided they probably weren't going anywhere. I thought about this mom who lost her son, Reuben. I thought about Reuben meeting his grandpa in heaven,

grabbing him by the hand and showing him around. And then I thought about God, who apparently was paying attention the whole time. And in that room, the question God asked was Genesis 18, I sensed God gently smiling and asking, is there anything too hard for me? Let's pray. God, the question that you prayed, or you spoke into that room, I think is the question that you want to speak into this room. Is there anything too hard for you? Because sometimes from the back seat, it can feel like there is, and it doesn't make sense, and our timeline doesn't match up, and we don't see how you could possibly redeem things, and how you could possibly work for good in the midst of such disappointment or loss. And we've got our own expectations of what that looks like, and you're gently trying to reset our expectations, to put our confidence not in what we expect, but in who you are. So, God, Elroy, the one who sees us, I pray you'd see some folks in this room right now who are really struggling with this question. Is anything too hard for you? I pray God for some moms who are sitting here, and they feel like giving up on some prayers that they've prayed a long time for an adult child. A couple who've been praying some prayers for a marriage, and it feels like it's just not happening,

and they feel like quitting and giving up. Someone who's walking in here with heavy, heavy grief, the kind of grief that there's just no category for. Would you give us a faith that makes no sense? Would you give us a faith that is bold, a faith that is defiant, a faith that looks at the hard things and the challenging circumstances and says, I believe. I believe that nothing is too hard for you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. In a minute, we're gonna worship together. And as we do, we just wanna give some of you an opportunity to respond, to put your trust in Jesus. And if I could, I would just wanna say specifically a word to some of you who've not been in church for a while but you came because you love your mama. Can I just say thank you for coming? And really sweet that you would honor her by being here. Want you to know how glad we are that you are here. But I also want you to know we don't think that the reason you came is to make your mom happy. We think the reason that you're here today is because God is wanting to do something in your life. And he wants you to know that he sees you. We want you to know that he loves you. We want you to know that his plan for you is still intact and still available. We want you to know that he'll meet you right where you're at. And we wanna invite you to put your faith

and your trust in him. And so we would just be so privileged if we could have a chance to talk to you, to tell you a little bit more about Jesus, to pray for you. You can go to our next step room over here, first floor on your left. Some of you, if you're not a part of this church, I just say you need a church family. Like we are on this journey together. And if you're in the back seat and you're tired, sometimes what you need is somebody in the back seat with you. We'd love to travel with you on this journey of faith. We'd love to talk to you about becoming a part of this church. So in the next couple minutes, we're just gonna sing a song. We're gonna join Bethany and we're gonna sing with our whole selves our declaration, what we believe to be true. That God can be trusted. That he's been our fourth man in the fire, time after time. And even when it feels hard and heavy, he's the one we're gonna put our hope in. Stand with me. Let's worship together. Thank you. He's been my fourth man in the fire time after time. Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

And what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough. I trust in God, my Savior. I trust in God, my Savior. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. The perfect submission. All is at rest. All is at rest. I know the author of tomorrow has taught in my step. So this is my story. This is my song. I'm praising my risen King and Savior. I'm praising my risen King and Savior. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I just thank You, Lord ♪ ♪ That You never fail, You never fail ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord, He heard the answer ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and He heard the answer ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and He heard the answer ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, I'll let it rise, I saw it all ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And He heard my call, and He listened and He answered ♪ ♪ So that's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and He heard the answer ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and He heard the answer ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and He heard the answer ♪

♪ That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and He heard the answer ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him God ♪ ♪ I still here, You're the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, He will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, He will never fail, I just say God ♪ ♪ I still here, You're the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, He will never fail, I just say God ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord, I sought the Lord, and He heard, He answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord, and He heard, He answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him, I keep on trusting Him, hey ♪ ♪ Thank You, Lord, for all You've done, for how You've kept me safe ♪ ♪ Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ See, I trust in God ♪ Well, hey, what a powerful service. I hope that you were encouraged just as much as I am. You know, one of the things that I'm walking out of this service with is just the ability to hope again. I just believe that God is not done. And I just, I imagine for some of us, you know, we've just been waiting, like we've been trying to hold on in faith.

And I just think the encouragement for us this morning, it reminds me of the scripture that says, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has it even entered into our hearts the things that God has prepared for those who love Him. And so I just wanna encourage you, God is not done. You can hope again and continue to believe that His promises are good and that He is faithful. And so, man, what an incredible service. I was so encouraged as well. Something for you to be looking out for. Every Thursday, we drop a podcast specifically for our Pando community. I'm excited about this one because in honor of Mother's Day, we're gonna be interviewing two moms, specifically one mom who was incarcerated and then a mom whose sons were incarcerated. And so I just, I'm really looking forward to this. It is gonna be an opportunity to hear truth, to be reminded of hope and how God continues to move in our lives. And so tune in this Thursday. It's gonna be a great time. Hey, let me pray for you before you go. Let's pray together. Father, we love you. God, we are so grateful this morning as we heard from you. God, I pray that your word would take root in our hearts.

I pray that it would bear fruit. I pray that we would hope again. I pray that we would have faith that you are alive and well and you desire to work in our lives. And so God, thank you for our Pando community. We love you. We praise you. And we pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen.