Stuck In a Rut (Galatians Part 8)

I hope y'all came ready to praise, we got a reason to praise God is good, let's come to him this morning, acknowledging that we need him. Loving me on my weakest day, made my faith become sight, took the keys of both hell and grave, changing darkness to light. Amen, come on, let's praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, forever his truth we'll endure, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, his mercy and kindness assure, praise the Lord. He stepped out of glory and took on flesh, laid your life down for mine. There's no condemnation, no fear in death, for I am a crow that we've cried. There's coming a day when the trumpet will sound and we'll stand glorified, forever we'll stand with you in the sweet by and by. We praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, forever his truth we'll endure, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, his mercy and kindness assure. All people and all people and nations bow down before him, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, amen. Oh, you're worthy of our praise. We sing holy, holy, holy. Lay your crimes down for Christ, our King. Oh, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, forever his truth we'll endure, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, his mercy and kindness assure. All people and all people and nations. ♪ Bow down before Him, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ All people, and all people in nation ♪ ♪ Bow down before Him, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ And praise the, we praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Come on and praise the Lord, amen ♪ Come on, give the Lord some praise this morning. He's worthy of praise. There's so many reasons we have to praise, but one that I can think of this morning is for our salvation. Like God saved us, He rescued us from our sin and our shame and we can walk in freedom now and life eternally. Like that's something we can celebrate and praise Him for this morning, amen? We've said it time and time again, a little pop quiz,

but Jesus plus nothing is everything. Jesus plus nothing. We boast in Him and Him alone. Nothing we can bring to the equation. He saves us. We can't perform our way into it. We can't do anything to earn it or deserve it. And so we just lean on the promises of God this morning. We rest in the promises of God this morning as a church, as we worship, as we praise. And we sing a song a few weeks ago. The last time we shared a communion together, just in a time of reflection, it's a song that proclaims there's no other gospel. There's no other good news that we can find hope in. There's no other word, no other name, no other God, no other way but the way that Jesus made for us. The story of a God who isn't far off or hostile, but He made a way out of the darkness for us. So we're gonna sing that song again this morning. And as you catch on to it, I just wanna invite you to sing along or just let it kind of soak over you. Just rest in that promise this morning that God has redeemed you. He's given you a new identity. He's given you a hope and a future that can't be snatched away. So let me teach you the chorus of the song. I just wanna invite you again to put your trust

and your hope in what Jesus has done. Put your hope in His sacrifice and rest in it. Amen. Here's how the chorus goes. It goes like this. ♪ There's no other word ♪ ♪ There's no other way ♪ ♪ Jesus, the hope of my soul ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel ♪ ♪ There's no other God ♪ ♪ There's no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus or nothing at all ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel ♪ Amen. ♪ I could only climb so high ♪ ♪ Weighed down by the shame I carry ♪ ♪ Good enough was enough for me ♪ ♪ But it always left me empty ♪ ♪ You were there running after me ♪ ♪ On a path that I couldn't see ♪ ♪ And it was Your grace that found me ♪ ♪ Yes, it was Your grace that found me ♪ ♪ There's no other word ♪ ♪ No other way ♪ ♪ Jesus, the hope of my soul ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel ♪ ♪ There's no other God ♪ ♪ There's no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus or nothing at all ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel ♪

♪ Mmmmmm ♪ ♪ You came to redeem my soul ♪ ♪ On the cross where You bought my freedom ♪ ♪ Yes, You did, I will boast in Your name, oh Lord ♪ Oh, hallelujah, the song I'm singing, we sing hallelujah, hallelujah No one else who could take my place, no one else has the power to save Nothing higher than the name of Jesus Come on, do you believe that this morning? Nothing higher, nothing higher than the name of Jesus There's no other way, there's no other way Jesus, the hope of my soul, there is no other gospel There's no other God, no other name Jesus, or nothing at all, there is no other gospel There's nothing else, there's no one else, no other way Only you made a way for me, only you made a way And this is the good news, the gospel, the story of a God Who isn't far off or hostile, it's a Savior who stepped down And broke the chains of every captive, made a way out of the darkness There's no other word, no other way, no other God Come on, let's proclaim it This is the good news, the gospel, it's the story of a God Who isn't far off or hostile, it's a Savior who stepped down And broke the chains of every captive, made a way out of the darkness There's no other word, no other way, no other God There's no other name Oh, no other name but the name of Jesus, yes We sing no other, there's no other way There's no other way Jesus, the hope of my soul, there is no other gospel There's no other God, there's no other name

Jesus, or nothing at all, there is no other gospel Jesus, the hope of my soul, there is no other gospel Jesus, or nothing at all, there is no other gospel Oh, there's nothing else but You, Jesus Come on and just thank Him in this morning Oh, we thank You, we thank You, we thank You We thank You that You were enough Oh, Your blood was more than enough, yes it was Oh, we thank You Cause it's never been about performance, perfection Or striving for acceptance Let me tell you, come on No, it's never been about deserving or earning It's a gift that's freely given Let me tell you, it's only by the blood Yeah, it's never been about performance or perfection You can't strive for acceptance Let me tell you, it's only by the blood It's never been about deserving or earning It's a gift that's freely given Let me tell you, come on It's only by the blood Does anybody want to be holy and righteous Pure and fine and spotless Let me tell you, it's only by the blood Does anybody want to be worthy, forgiven Or justified or delivered Let me tell you, it's only by the blood ♪ I know it was a blight, it could have only been a blight ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪

♪ I know it was a blight, it could have only been a blight ♪ ♪ Oh we thank you, we thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh we thank you, we thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ All we need is Jesus, all we need is Jesus ♪ Come on in this house, let's lift up a holler again. Let's sing hallelujah. ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, I know it was a blight, it could have only been a blight ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was a blight, it could have only been a blight ♪ We sing hallelujah. ♪ Hallelujah, we sing hallelujah, nothing else, I know it was a blight ♪ ♪ I know it was a blight, it could have only been a blight ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was a blight, it could have only been a blight ♪ Come on, do you believe that this morning? We're thankful in this house, we're grateful in this house that the blood of Jesus was shed for us, amen. We can have salvation, we've been set free. Man, I take comfort and I find joy in the fact that his blood was enough for me and that he was the only one who could do it and he's the only one who did. He's the only one that cared enough and loved you enough to step down from heaven, to step down from glory, from perfection, to put on flesh, to walk among us, to show us what it looks like to have peace and joy and love and then die on a cross to save us so that we can be joint heirs in his righteousness so when God looks down at us, he doesn't see our sin and our shame,

but he sees the righteousness of Christ that we get to wear around and we get to spend forever in glory with him, amen. That is good news today, amen. And we've got more good news coming, it's just getting started. Well, thank you for worshiping with us. You guys can say hi to a new face around you before you have a seat. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Well, good morning, church. If you have a copy of God's Word, why don't you go ahead and find the book of Galatians chapter four is where we're gonna be at this morning. We are continuing our line-by-line study through the book of Galatians. And if you are just now joining us from Abundant Life, we are one church in many locations. And so we have people coming from church houses, from different campuses. And right now, I wanna share with you some really exciting news. We have set out to launch a campus in the Northland of Kansas City.

And this morning, our Northland campus launch team is beginning to prepare their launch this fall. And so right now, we have people gathering in the Northland. Let them hear you. Let's go ahead. We wanna celebrate you guys. We are praying for everybody that's a part of that team. And they had a power outage in the Northland because some of the weather in the Midwest. And I was talking with Stephen Summit, Pastor Stephen Summit, and he's like, man, the power's out. Pray that the power's on. I said, man, Jesus got lightning in his eyes, brother. You're gonna be just fine. And so power's back on, and they are ready to rock there with their launch team. And man, we're just so excited just to see what God is doing in this season of our church's life. And excited to get back into his word. Before we get to Galatians chapter four, I don't know if you've ever been stuck before, like in your truck or your car. You know, you got off the road. And you spinning the tires out and it's like, Oh, right. Uh, you know, when I was 17 years old, I borrowed my dad's one ton duly. It's those trucks with the bigger rear end on them. And, and I went out to a lake property. Some people wanted me to move some timbers for them. And I got a little close to the water.

And, and so I, you know, the ground was softer and then I load up the back of the truck full of timbers and then I start to try to leave and, and you guessed it. Right. I mean, trucks sinking and tires spinning and, you know, putting in a drive, putting it in reverse and doing kind of the rock method to get out and, and, you know, shoving wood underneath the tire to try to get some traction. And, and I, I exhausted my resources trying to get myself unstuck. And I just had to take a step back and say, man, I'm stuck. I'm stuck, stuck. You know what I'm saying? And just the more I effort I put into it, the more I tried to get myself out, the worse that it got. I don't know if you've ever been stuck before, but many of you that explains right where you are in life right now. And one of the things that I know to be true in a room like this and the rooms that we're gathered in is that there's a tendency for us to get stuck in a rut of various things. But what we're going to talk about this morning is getting stuck in the rut of religion. And what I mean by that is that you, you are just spinning your tires and your efforts, trying to make it happen to get traction and transformation in your life. And when you're stuck in religion, what you're saying is that, that I got Jesus, but now I need to add my efforts to the equation and really my efforts are going to help me get traction and see Jesus work in my life. And we have a big emphasis on, on, on our part to play. And oftentimes the more that we try and we add our works of religion, the worse it gets. You know, when you're stuck in the rut of religion, what you're saying is that Jesus, I understand your promises and, and I believe your promises, but I just feel like that you need me to make those promises come true.

You need me to make it happen. And this is when you believe that God wants you to go to heaven, but, but you feel like it's up to you to get you there. It's when you believe that God loves you and you, you know, the verse John three 16 and, but, but you feel like that somehow you've got to sustain that love and, and you've got to do all of these things in order to stay in the position of being loved by God or even to make yourself even more lovable to God. It's where you believe that God wants you to, wants to shape you into the likeness of his son, Jesus, but you feel like it's up to you to just conform yourself to the image of Christ. And it's all up to you. This is a rut. It's the rut of religion. And again, it just seems like the harder that you try, the deeper the rut gets. And, and I don't know if you know this or not, but there is an enemy that wants you to stay stuck in a rut for the rest of your life and just spinning your tires and a lot of religious doing, spinning your tires and all of your efforts and all of your energy and just making you more frustrated, more doubtful and digging deeper in your situation for the rest of your life. Like the devil has come to still kill and destroy. Like he, he wants you to spin out your tires until you just run out of gas. He wants you just to stay stuck for the rest of your life. But Jesus, like he's come to set you free y'all. Like the promise that we've been running after in this a life two year discipleship journey really hinges on John 10, 10. The devil has come to still kill and destroy. The thief has come to still kill and destroy Jesus says, but then he juxtaposes that with, I have come to give you life and life abundantly that Jesus has come to give you a promise and then give you liberty as you walk in a relationship with Jesus Christ. But if you're anything like me, like you, again, you know the promise, but sometimes

you can't deny the reality. I feel stuck. So what do you do when you're stuck in a rut? If you're taking notes, I've titled this message stuck in a rut, and we're going to talk about three things that you do when you are stuck. Things to think about, things to do. Now, if you're new to the book of Galatians, this is the oldest book in the New Testament. And so Paul, he wrote it to this church in Galatia and, and he's, and he's writing to help them course correct some things. Like they, they had received Christ, they had received Jesus as their Lord and their savior. And they understood it was by grace that they were saved through their faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. And, and Paul had shared that gospel that, you know, that good news that you can be set free in Christ. And they had received that, but then Paul left and then he got word that they were now trying to hold their relationship together or grow in Christ likeness and, and live loved by God, by their own efforts. And so he's writing to them. He's like, guys, guys, guys, this is not how this works. And he's, and he's reminding them that you are so loved. You know, we're just coming off of Galatians three where we're in for the first part where, where Paul saying you, you have been adopted by God where you, you, you, he's not just some father that's distant, some, some, you know, like divine, you know, like deity that's out there, but you can, you can talk to him like a, like a toddler talks to their father. You can say. a father. You can say, dad, daddy, you can have that type of relationship. And, and so he's saying, man, this is how I love you. Like a,

like a great father loves their child. That's how God loves you. And so much more. And again, many of them had received God's love, but they were living like it was up to them to sustain that love. They were stuck in a rut. They were stuck in the rut of religion. And so Paul, he leverages an iconic story in the Bible to illustrate the point that he's trying to make that you have been called to be free and to live free. Here's what he says in Galatians four, starting in verse 21. He says, tell me you desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? I love this because Paul's basically like, guys, y'all grew up in church. Don't, don't you know your Bible? You know, like he's, he's low key kind of insulting them, you know, like you're so hung up on all of this stuff, but you are missing like the main thing. You're missing the heart of the whole Bible. And I love that Paul would talk to them that way. It's just, it just, I don't know, maybe something in my mind anyway. And so he says this in verse 22, he's like, basically, don't you know your Bible? Let me remind you of this story. He says, Ford has written that Abraham had two sons, the one by bond woman, the other by free woman. Now at this point, like everyone that he's talking to, they would have been like, yeah, yeah, we all know that, you know, like they, they would have grown up in church. And for those of y'all that grew up in church, you probably know a lot about Abraham. Like, you know, we're just coming off of kids week at some of our campuses, starting kids week at others of our campuses. And maybe you went to kids week growing up or VBS and you learned the song father Abraham had many sons and you know, you got the point, right? And then for those of y'all that are like new to church, you're like,

we don't know who this is. And it, and so let me just kind of give you a little bit of a synopsis of what's going on because this would have to Paul's audience, they all would have been like nodding their head. They would have known exactly what was going on. But we're in 2026 and you know, Genesis isn't a part of our literature that we read in school. And so what is going on? Well, Genesis in the first book of the Bible really contains a lot of what Paul is, is using to illustrate this point in Galatians. And he's talking about this, this story of a guy named Abraham and God made a promise to Abraham. He said, you know what? I'm going to make you the father of a great nation and that nation will be a blessing to the entire world. And this is called the Abrahamic covenant. And so the problem with Abraham and the promise that God gave him was that Abraham was really old and he had a really old wife and they didn't have any kids. And so he's like given this promise by God. And then Abraham is just now in the waiting game of like, man, Sarah's his wife's name. He's like, you know, God gave me this promise and we're going to, we're going to be the father of a great nation. And she's like, newsflash, no kids. Right. And so you like read in Genesis where they're just kind of waiting for this promise to come into fruition. In Genesis chapter 15, Abraham begins to doubt the promise. And as you would too, you're like, God, what are you doing? You know? And, and so he goes out and God like reminds him, look at the stars and as many of the stars are, that's how many descendants you're going to have. And he's like, okay, okay. You know?

And then it says in Genesis 15 that Abraham believed at that point again, and it was credit to him righteousness. And so Paul's already used this Genesis 15 to make a point in Galatians. And then you read in Genesis 17, that's when God gave the promised son to Sarah Isaac. But Genesis 16 is where Abraham and Sarah are stuck in the rut of waiting. And so they think, you know what, we're going to take matters into our own hands. And so they can cock this plan where Sarah and Abraham, you know, they got this maid servant, Hagar, and she's an Egyptian woman. And, and Sarah's like, look, Abraham, why don't you sleep with Hagar and see if y'all can get pregnant. And you know, Abraham should have been like, no, you're my wife. I don't sleep with anyone else. But he didn't, you know? And he said, okay. And he slept with Hagar. They had a kid together named Ishmael. And then there's just a lot of dysfunction in their family, which sidebar is good news because you're here with your family and you probably got dysfunction in your family. Maybe not to this degree, but the good news is, is that at wherever you're joining us, man, y'all, everybody here looks good. Most of you smell good. You know, and there's this pretentiousness that like, we've got it all together. Me and my happy family. And listen, the good news of the Bible is that the Bible is chock full of people that had problems. And there's an extraordinary God that can work in the midst of your unfortunate circumstances and your familial dysfunction. That was for free. That was for somebody anyway. So, you know, Paul, he's, he's, he's, you know, got this backdrop. He's like, gosh, remember Abraham and the, you know, the two ladies that he, you know, he had kids with the bond servant or the bond woman and, and the free woman. And then, and he draws his point. He says this in verse 23, he says, but he,

he was of the bond woman was born according to the flesh and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. He says, for these are the two covenants. He says, One from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. Now, again, if you didn't grow up in church, you're probably like, what is going on? We're on mountains now, and what is happening? Because Paul, again, he's like masterfully, he knows his audience, and they would have been connecting the dots, but let me connect them for you real quick. He's now linking Genesis to Exodus. He's linking Abraham to Moses. These are MVPs in the Old Testament. And he's saying like Abraham in his performance had a child with Hagar named Ishmael, that represents the law that was given, the 10 commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. And all of that is symbolic for, you have to do the law, you have to do the rules, you have to obey the rules in order to be right before God. And it's all about your efforts and all about your performance. And so what Paul is saying, he's connecting these two, just like Abraham took matters into his own hands. And he thought he could appropriate the promise of God through his performance,

instead of waiting on God to deliver his promise. So it is when we take matters into our own hands and think that we can obey the rules perfectly or do the religious system perfectly in order to appropriate the promise of right standing with God Almighty. And he's saying, and when you get into the rut of religion, thinking that it's by your performance that you appropriate the promises of God in your life, it is exhausting and it is a form of slavery. And Paul's saying, that's not how it's supposed to be. And so he says this, he says that you are meant to be a child of promise. And he goes on in verse 26, he says, but the Jerusalem above is free. That's the invitation he's given us. He says, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, rejoice, O barren, you who not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. And so now Paul's quoting a song from Isaiah that was about Sarah. So if you don't know your Old Testament, it could be really, really dense this morning. But Paul, he's using these familiar things to his audience and the invitation is this in verse 28, the bottom line. He says, now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. The invitation that Paul's making

is that you would rely on the promise of God and trust that he is the one that will deliver on the promise. That you would reject the tendency to think that you've gotta take matters into your own hands and by your work and by your performance, appropriate the promises of God in your life. That you would wait on the Lord and you would not rush him when he has made a promise. Point number one, if you're taking notes, you can write this down. Don't rush the promise of God. Don't rush the promise of God. What I mean by that is don't force the promise to happen. Don't try to take matters into your own hands. Again, Paul's using a familiar drama to his audience to explain two ways that people approach God. One way, the children of the bond woman, the sons of Ishmael, performing, is you taking matters into your own hands and inevitably saying that I'm gonna put faith in myself. The other way to approach the promises of God is that you are children of the free woman and you say, you know what, I'm gonna let God handle it and I'm gonna put faith in God. The first child with the bond woman was Abraham and Sarah trying to force the promise of God. Like they're trying to control the situation, which is never a good idea. Like oftentimes when we grab the bull by the horns,

we make it worse. And so Abraham and Sarah, they're trying to control the situation. They got impatient and they took matters into their own hands and they really messed some things up. Now to their defense, I think sometimes we'll look at them and be like, what were they thinking? This is a terrible idea, you shouldn't have done that. But if you've ever been in a situation where you've been waiting for years, decades, the desperation of the situation will cause you to entertain just about anything and sometimes compromise and do just about anything. And so before we get all judgy on Abraham and Sarah and the situation, put yourself in their Birkenstocks for a second, right? And just try to imagine the scenario. We've been given a promise by God, undeniable. We've bet the farm on it. We've been moving towards it, but nothing is happening. And so you know what? I think maybe God needs our help. That's what they were thinking. Maybe he forgot, maybe he's busy. And that's the kind of things we'll say, you know, when we're in the waiting room, I think God maybe needs my help, maybe he needs our help. Or we'll say things like, you know, well, I'll fix it.

I got it, I'll fix it. Or we'll say things like, you know what? That's, you know, that's, Abraham's gonna sleep with Hagar. That's not a good idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah, not a good idea, but God'll understand. Oftentimes we'll even compromise thinking that God will somehow give us. you know, grace, and he'll understand when we sin. I wonder this morning, where are you trying to take matters into your own hands? Or to put it this way, where are you trying to help God? Where you've received a promise from God, like you're standing on a promise. Like there's somebody in your family that you're like, you know what, I'm believing that God is gonna save that person, that family member. Maybe there's a prodigal child that you have, an adult child, that you know that they, you know you were there when they surrendered their life to Christ. You've seen the fruit of Christ in their life, but now they're in a season of wondering, and they're in a prodigal season. And you're standing on the promise that God's gonna bring them back. Maybe it's a provision thing, and you're like, you know what, God is gonna provide this thing for me. He's gonna help, he's gonna take care of me. Maybe you're standing on the promise of a healing.

You know, you're like, God is gonna deliver me through this sickness, or whatever it is. And oftentimes, we're believing God for a good promise, but we're trying to rush God, and we're trying to help him, and we're taking matters into our own hands, and oftentimes, we compromise, and we make things worse. And listen, I've learned this. Our compromise is not a catalyst for the promise of God. And so, if you think, oh, well, God will understand. No, he won't. If you think, you know what, I'm gonna fix it. No, you won't. And so, sometimes, we'll take matters into our own hands, and we'll think, you know what, God, I know that God wants to save that person, or bring my prodigal son back home, and so, I'm just gonna help him by just judging them, and giving them Bible verses, and telling them how wrong they are. You're making things worse, all right? Sometimes, you think, you know what, I know that God's gonna provide for my needs. You know, I've got some bills, and it's just not coming in, and so, you know what, I'm gonna help God, and put some money on the Spurs last night. If you don't know, the Spurs lost. You know, and you're like, I'm gonna gamble, and then, you know, this'll be my moment, and God's gonna see my gambling, and he's gonna bless me, and help me win. And you're taking matters into your own hands.

That's what Abraham and Sarah were doing. They were taking matters into their own hands, and they rushed the promise of God. They trusted in their ability to bring about the promises of God, and it made things worse, like, way worse. They exploited a woman. Abraham had a son named Ishmael that became the father of the Islamic religion, and their decision to help, quote, unquote, God, has led to conflict that's still alive today. And so, what's the point? Well, the point that Paul's trying to illustrate is this is a striking story to teach us an important lesson that our performance does not appropriate the promise of God, and when we're stuck in a rut thinking that we're, by our efforts, gonna get us out of the situation, oftentimes, we just dig deeper into the situation, that we cannot appropriate the promises of God by our performance, that your performance and God's promises do not coexist. And if you're stuck in the rut of waiting on God, don't think that more work is gonna get you unstuck. You need to learn to trust and rest in his promise. Again, Paul would say this. This is the invitation, verse 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. This is what we're running after this morning. If you're wondering, like, why did I get up, come to church?

You got up and came to church to open up God's word, to be reminded that you are not a child of performance. You are a child of promise, that if you are in Christ, you can rest in your relationship with Christ. If you are stuck and you feel like you're spinning your tires in religious doing, you have to stop and trust that God is the one that is gonna fulfill his promise, and if he began a good work in you, he is faithful to complete it. But oftentimes, like, your pace and God's pace are different, and we have to learn how to trust the pace of God. Point number two, if you're taking notes, you can write this down, trust the pace of God. Trust the pace of God. All right, right now, I don't know if you're anything like me but I'll be where y'all are at, and like, somebody like me will say something like that, and I'm like, you want me to just trust the pace of God, bro? Like, really? This is so hard to do, right? Like, y'all ever feel like, you know, like your prayer life is this, like, Father? What are you doing, you know? Because if I were you, I think I would just already have saved him. I would have already delivered him. I would have already worked in this situation.

But you're up there, cattle 1,000 hills, you know, and you're just, like, and you just, all of this sacrilege in your heart because deep down inside, you're like, God, what's going on? Because if I were you, this is, you ever feel that way? Just wondering, God, what are you doing? And sometimes you think that you would know better how to do his job. Here's what I learned a long time ago that God is never late, God is never early, but he's right on time. There's a song we used to sing back in the day, it goes like this. He's an on-time God, yes he is. He's an on-time God, yes he is. He may not show up when you want him, but he'll be there right on time. He's an on-time God, yes he is. And we have to trust the pace of God. See, being a child of promise means you trust, you trust God to do what he said he's gonna do. When you're a child of promise, you're even moving at the pace of God in your own life. And sometimes harder for me is to move at the pace of God in someone else's life, because you just want them to be there. You want them to be finalized, you want them to be delivered or whatever,

but God, he's moving at a different pace than you and I. And I don't know if you know this or not, but our faith is rooted in God fulfilling his promises against all odds, God doing it. That's what we're standing on, that when there was no way, God made a way. And we're standing on that as our foundation, and Isaac is like the poster child of one of the greatest miracles in history. Again, if you don't know the story, Abraham and Sarah, when they get the promise that God's gonna make them into a great nation, they're in their 70s, and the promise doesn't come into fulfillment till they're in their 90s, okay? Think about that, not too long, but think about that, all right? Like there were no eggs in the coop, okay? And God, I mean, they came together, gets pregnant, and they have this son, and it's all God, okay? God brought life where there was a barren womb, and they had to trust the pace of God to fulfill the promise of God, and there was nothing they could do to expedite what God promised that he would do. And the miracle was God brought forth new life from a barren place, and Paul is saying, and this is how God works, rest in his promise. You can't be who God made you to be apart from God working in your life.

And so how do you do that? How do you trust the pace of God? Well, I told you earlier, I got stuck, several years ago, my dad's truck, and what I did is I got out, and I was like, man, this is not good, and I can't get myself out. I'd already wedged all the wood underneath and tried my best, and so I called a friend of mine, and he comes out, and he hooks up his truck to my truck. Not enough, I mean, I was stuck, stuck. And he's like, you know who we should call? I'm like, call him. He's like, we should call Woody. Woody was a mule trainer, and he's a guy who could just do anything. And so Woody comes out there, and he hooks up his truck to my friend's truck, to my truck, and he's starting to pull us out, you know, but one of the things that Woody didn't do is he didn't come out there and go, man, what were you thinking? You know, he didn't come out there and go, you should have known better. Woody just came out there, basically, and was like, you're stuck pretty good. I'm like, yes, sir. He's like, and then Woody's like, no problem. You know, Woody was good at getting people that were stuck, unstuck. So he hooks a truck up to a truck, to a truck.

Wasn't enough, he gets a come along. I don't know if you know what that is, but it's basically like a mechanical winch, and he anchors the come along to a tree. And so we were anchored to a tree, and I had to get power outside of what I had in my own ability to eventually get me unstuck. I had to admit I'm stuck. I had to call for help. I had to believe that the person that showed up had the capability to help me. I had to get connected to power that was greater than I had in myself, and I had to be anchored to a tree. And that's what got me unstuck. So how do you trust God when you're struggling with him and the pace that he's doing things? The same is true, that if you feel stuck in a rut, you have to, at first, say, I'm stuck. You have to recognize that. You have to go, more isn't working. More of my effort is not helping. It's making it worse. You have to admit I'm in a rut. You have to ask God for help, believe that he is good at getting people unstuck. And I love that the Bible teaches that when Jesus steps into our situation, he doesn't condemn us and chastise us and beat us down. There is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus just simply says, you're stuck. Yes, sir. All right, I'm good at getting people unstuck. Savior, it's in my job description. And then you've gotta get hooked up to a power that's greater than you. You have to be anchored to a tree called Calvary, amen. And you have to trust that God is the one that can help get you out of the situation that you may find yourself in. and you've got to do it in partnership with God Almighty. It's not you and your efforts, and God, I'll call you when I need you. It's God, would you help me? And I can't. And I need you to fulfill this thing, because I'm stuck. I wonder, this morning, where is the barren place in your life? To put it right on the nose, where are you having the hardest time trusting God? Is it a financial situation? Is it a family situation? God, I'm stuck, and I'm wondering what you're doing. Is it a health situation? Is it a future situation? You know, you're a senior in high school, or you're a senior in college, and people are asking you,

what are you gonna do for the rest of your life? And you're like, I don't know, you know? I'm stuck. I'm waiting for God to tell me. Is it just maybe something even deeper, where you're just, you feel like, you feel like you know God loves you, but you're not resting in that love? So there's this undercurrent of achievement and performance, trying to earn the promise of God's love. And let me just ask you, if you're stuck in those places, have you asked God for help? I know that may seem really bottom shelf, but if you're anything like me, for some reason, I don't know what it is, but I'll be spinning my tires, and then I'm like, I should ask God to help, you know? Spinning my tires in my marriage, spinning my tires in my dysfunction, spinning my tires in my family situation, spinning my tires at work, and then the Lord's like, hey, bro, just relax. Just tap me in, man, tap me in. I'm ready, I'm good at this, I can help you. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll let you know, until it gets really bad. And so if you're anything like me, like there's this tendency to delay inviting God Almighty into the situation. And so one of the things you do practically is you ask God for help.

Let me ask you this, are you compromising, trying to get out of the rut? Are you spinning your tires and telling yourself, you know what, I'm gonna sleep with this person, or I'm going to gamble here, or I'm going to yell at this person, thinking that that's somehow gonna make it better? And are you compromising your conviction, trying to get momentum, trying to get traction? And what would it look like for you to believe that God can help and get you hooked up to a greater power? What does it mean to get hooked up to a greater power? It may, in your situation, I don't know how desperate your situation is, but what I've learned is that, man, the more desperate the situation, the more dependent I become. And Jesus taught his guys that there are some things that only get movement when we fast and we pray. And so I'll talk to people and they're in desperate situations, and they're like, what should I do, preacher? What should I do, pastor? And I'll just say, well, have you fasted over this? And they look at me like I got a third eyeball, you know? They're like, you want me to abstain from food over this? I'm like, yes, fast, seek the Lord. Pray, ask him to move in your situation. What would it look like for you to fast and pray? Another thing you could do is seek godly advice.

And I think sometimes because of our arrogance is what it is, but it's our dignity or our, you know, men, I think we're this way that, you know, like we're lost, we're stuck, but we ain't asking for directions and we ain't asking for help, you know? And we're just, like, we're just making it worse. And, you know, you hear the story of somebody just fell off the cliff. Jim just fell off the cliff, you know? And you're like, man, why did he leave his family and blow everything up? It just seemed like yesterday everything was good. Well, Jim had been headed that way for quite some time, but he never opened up and said, hey, guys, I feel stuck. I feel stuck. And so you open up. Again, I had to call Woody that day, you know? This was like my Toy Story moment, right? He saved the day, right? And I had to call him into that situation and I say, would you help me? I don't know how to get out of this. I've tried everything. And so fast and pray. Ask the Lord. Seek godly counsel. And then there are times where you're in the middle of God fulfilling his promise, but you're not seeing anything.

And the invitation is to persevere in the midst of your pain. Trusting that God is up to something in the midst of the difficulty. Because he's sovereign, his ways are good, and he will deliver on his promises. You gotta move at the pace of God in your life. You gotta move at the pace of God while he fulfills his promise. in your life and in those people around you. And so Paul, he's inviting us to rest in the way that God works, that God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. And he continues to tease out this illustration a little bit more, he says this in verse 29. He says, but as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now. What Paul's saying is like, guys, we've been talking about this drama for thousands of years. So Genesis chapter 15 was when all this broke out. Eventually, Sarah is like, I can't keep living with Hagar and Ishmael. And so Abraham, he has to drive them out. Ishmael's about 17 years old and he takes care of his mama and then he becomes the father of Islam. And so even to this day, we have conflict between Islam, between Christianity, but really the conflict exists between any form of salvation that is based upon your performance

is going to oppress a gospel salvation that's based upon grace. And so Paul's saying like, this conflict is still even active to this day. He goes on in verse 30, he says, nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bond woman and her son, for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. They cannot coexist. He says, so then brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free. And he goes on in chapter five, he says, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. And do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. This is the glorious invitation that you would be free and be set free and you would live free and you would rest in the liberty that Christ has given you. The way I memorize this, it is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Do not go back to the bondage or the rut of religion. Do not be based in this performance mindset that I've got to earn and appropriate the promises of God in my life. You can't, it's bondage. And Paul's saying, you are saved by grace and you are sustained by grace and you will be glorified by grace. Be free, live in the freedom.

Point number three, and finally, if you're taking notes, you can write this down. Enjoy the freedom of God. Enjoy the freedom of God. Paul is calling us to live in the freedom that Jesus came to give us. But again, he tells us some things that you've got to do in order to stand fast in that liberty. You have to cast out, the way he put it, he says you gotta cast out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. What is Paul saying? He's saying in order for us to live free, we have to cast out, repent of, get rid of, our efforts to rush the work of God, to take matters into our own hands. We have to cast out our tendencies to self-salvation, thinking that our performance can usher in or appropriate the promises of God. We have to cast out our proclivity to compromise, our conviction or our holiness in order to make it happen. And God's promises cannot coexist with your performance. It is not Jesus plus your efforts that leads to something. It's Jesus who started the work and it's Jesus that will sustain the work and Jesus that will complete the work in your life. And if you put your faith in Christ's performance as your only hope for salvation, listen, you've been set free.

Christ has truly set you free by your faith in what he's done. So the invitation is to walk in that freedom and don't get tied up in slavery to performance again. You're free. You're free. And he who has set you free is free indeed. And it's for freedom you've been set free. Don't you wanna be free? Don't you wanna live light and rest in the promise of God? Don't you wanna be free from trying to earn God's love and earn his grace? I wanna be free. That day I got stuck. I was stuck and then I was free. Now here's what I didn't do. I didn't put it in reverse, Terry, and go back into the rut, all right? I didn't do that. You'd be like, why would you go right back to the place that you just got out of? When Woody showed up, again, I wasn't like, nah, bro, nah. Like I know you train mules and you are like, you know all the stuff and the come along, but nah, man, nah. I didn't sabotage Woody's salvation of me. I embraced the gift and the invitation and I was set free because if I didn't, I'm convinced that truck would still be there 20 years ago, you know, 20 years later.

And I'd be like, yeah, got stuck 20 years ago. Just been here ever since. And as obvious as it is, as obvious as it is, that you would not want to stay stuck, it should be that simple. It's obvious that God doesn't want you to live stuck. He has come to set you free. And so don't call him off. Don't go back into the same rut. Live free. Trust his promises. How do you do that practically? How do you trust the promises of God practically? Well, sidebar, I'm going somewhere with this, but if you're dating, let me give you some advice, okay? If you're dating somebody, girls, if you're dating a guy and he's making a lot of promises, okay, just be careful, all right? Not that he's a bad guy, but if he's making a lot of promises, don't fall for the promises, okay? Because here's what I've learned, is that promises are easy to make. And so you want to look at his patterns, not just his promises. And the past is really the best indicator of the future, because most people are just becoming more of who they are today. Now, what does that have to do

with what we're talking about right now? First of all, that's just free dating advice. That was for somebody, okay? When it comes to your relationship with God, it's no different. So how do you rest in the promises of God? How do you trust that he's going to fulfill his promises? Well, don't just look at God's promises. Don't just look at his patterns. The past is the best indicator of the future. And so one of the ways that I anchor myself in hope that I am going to see God deliver on the promises that he's given us, is that I just run back to the past and see what he's done. And the clearest thing that Jesus has done to give you great confidence that he is not only a promise maker, but a promise keeper, is that he laid down his life on the cross. So here in just a second, we're about to celebrate the Lord's Supper. And this is where we remember Jesus is body broken and his blood shed. And what are we doing when we do that? We are preaching the gospel to our heart. Because the reality is, is when you are spinning your tires, it is easy to doubt the goodness of God and the promise of God. And so you have to preach the gospel to yourself and remind yourself that he who did not spare his only son

will not withhold anything that he has in store for you. And so in a second, we're going to have a song sung over us, a reflection song. And then our campus pastors will come up and they'll lead us in the Lord's Supper. But before we get there, I want to invite you to bow your head and close your eyes. I want to ask you a couple of questions. And then we'll have a time to listen to this song and take the Lord's Supper. Question number one, are you having a hard time trusting God this morning? What is a promise that you're trying to rush or take matters into your own hands? How's it working out for you? Question number two, would you be willing to trust the pace of God? Believing that he is a promise maker and a promise keeper, would you be willing to trust that pace and allow him to fulfill the thing that he said he would do? Next question, would you live free? And if you're in a rut, would you walk in Christ's name? I'd love to hear from you. If you're in a rut, just admit that you're a sinner. And if you're in a rut, just admit that you're a sinner. If you're in a rut, admit you're a sinner.

Some of you, you can't live free because you've never trusted God to get you out of the rut of your sin. And it starts there, admitting you're a sinner, believing that Jesus is a savior, and if you're in a rut, just admit you're in a rut. Ask him to come get you out, believe that he can, and allow him to hook you up to a power that's greater than your own, to anchor you to a tree called Calvary, and to pull you out so that you can get back on the road, headed in the direction that he's called you to live. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for this opportunity just to be reminded that you have called us to live free and he who the son sets free is free indeed, and we thank you for that. Gonna pray that if somebody's here and they're spinning their tires, that you would help them to be pulled out by your power, Holy Spirit, and you would allow them to experience traction in their transformation, that they would begin to walk with you, resting in their relationship with you, and just trusting that you're at work in their own life, in their loved one's lives, and you'd help them to simply be obedient,

and they would walk at the pace that you're on. And God, I pray that you would remind our hearts of the gospel, and it would be a blessing. that would anchor our soul while we're in the waiting. In Christ's name, I pray, amen. ♪ And this is the good news, the gospel, the story of a God who isn't far off or hostile ♪ ♪ A Savior who stepped down and broke the chains of every captive, made a way out of the darkness ♪ ♪ There's no other word, no other way, no other God ♪ ♪ And this is the good news, the gospel, the story of a God who isn't far off or hostile ♪ ♪ A Savior who stepped down and broke the chains of every captive, made a way out of the darkness ♪ ♪ There's no other word, no other way, no other God, no other name, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ There's no other name but Yours, there's no other word, no other way, Jesus the hope of my soul ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel, there's no other God, no other name, Jesus or nothing at all ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel, there's no other word, there's no other way, Jesus the hope of my soul ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel, there's no other God, no other name, Jesus or nothing at all ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel, Jesus the hope of my soul, there is no other gospel, Jesus or nothing at all, there is no other gospel ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood ♪