There's More to Your Story

Moses asked God a question. He said, please show me your glory, glory being the manifestation of God's splendor and God's beauty and God's greatness. Glory is a revelation. So Moses wants to see something that God has to reveal. That's why he asked, please show me your glory. I just want to have the simplicity of a Samuel who says, Lord, first of all, the answer is yes. But for the request, because you are Lord, I'm servant and I'm going to do what you told me to do. Hey, church family, as you guys know, me and my family are out this month on sabbatical. So every single Sunday, we've got special people preaching. And this Sunday is no different. I'm so delighted and honored to introduce you to a dear, trusted friend of mine, Pastor Jason Doctoral of Gateway Church in, ready for it, Shelbyville, Tennessee. That's what they told me when I preached for him. That's how you have to pronounce Shelbyville. All right. Just one quick word. Shelbyville. All right. So we're going to make sure that he feels right at home today here at Legacy, even though he is not in Shelbyville with his church called Gateway. He and I are a part of a cohort together of a few pastors here in Middle Tennessee. And since the time that I met Pastor Jason, I always knew this is my spiritual family, man. And you've got to come preach for us at some point. So please, Legacy, stand to your feet and welcome this mighty man of God, Pastor of Gateway Church, Pastor Jason Doctoral. Come on, man of God. We love you. We bless you. Thank you for the word today. You can keep going. You keep going. It's good. I like it. Now you can be seated in the presence of the Lord. Amen. Thank you guys so much. Let me get this out of the way. Roll Tide. I just want to say that in front of everybody here in this place. Here we go. I've done lost about half the room right now. You know what's so funny is two years ago, I took my wife, I took her to her first Bama game. And I was like, I need to go to one I know will win. So I took her to Vanderbilt. We're going to talk about what happened that day. All right, we're going to talk about it. So, hey, if you have a Bible, we'll be in Genesis 12 in just a moment. Let me say this this morning. First of all, I'm jealous. Does everybody here have the ability to sing? John Wilds and this team leading us into the presence of God. I come on. Then Pastor Breon comes up here and I'm like, and I'm like, man, you can sing too. I'm like, I think it's auto tune. I was going to tell my man, you give me the key of G. Let's go with it, man. You ready? I'm going to sing something. I ain't going to sing anything, but I can't do it. But it's such an honor to be here. And I love your pastors. Pastors Lyle and Allison, can we let them know another watching stream right now? I know what they're doing right now. They're watching online and they're like, I know this guy.

I think I know this guy. I love this guy. Please don't mess it up, guy. That's what he's thinking right now, because when I watch online and I'm away, that's what I'm thinking, too. But so don't hold anything against Pastor Lyle that I say today that may offend you. But just know this. We're going to lean into the word of God and I believe God's going to do some incredible things. I do love your pastors. I prayed for a brother. I prayed for someone close that could understand the way to ministry in the area that I can spend time with. And God sent Lyle into my life and I love him like he's truly a brother in my life. And so very thankful. I want to introduce you to my family. This is my family up here. That is my dad, who is 80 years young and is the most godly man I have ever met in my life. He was an alcoholic until I was six, got baptized in the Holy Ghost, radically changed by the spirit of God and is the most humble godly man you will ever meet. That is Goose, the golden retriever, trying to eat my face. My wife, Rory, next to me. That is Bishop, the golden doodle that's staring at a cow in this. Which, don't ask why we had a random couch in the middle of the woods, but that's a whole other thing. That's my son, Trevin, at the top left. He's 22, in college, works at Lowe's and at the church doing media. and graphics, my son Samuel is 19, he's actually with me right here today. And he is studying pastoral ministries at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. Love him a whole lot. Now say this with me, say there's more to your story. I'm 44, Trevin's 22, Samuel's 19. Let's show you the more to my story. This is the more to my story. I am 44 with an eight month old. I need your prayers. I'm starting a ministry called Feed My Children if you wanna help me out with it. Like, it is challenging, it was a lot easier in my 20s, but I am thankful for my baby girl that I love so, so very much.

That is Emmy Grace, and she is a gift from heaven to me and to our family. I'm very grateful for her. If you would, again, turn to Genesis 12. We're gonna jump in in just a moment. But I kinda wanna set the stage here. Anybody ever had a bad day? Like, just a bad day? Like, your dog doesn't like you? Like, everything's going wrong? Guy's going slow in the left lane in front of you? Like, just a rough day. I was having one of those days, and it was one of those days, like, I don't know if you know this in pastoral ministry, but like, you always have to take the high road in situations. So like, people will blast you on Facebook, they'll talk about you, and they'll do whatever. And like, you never really get to say what you wanna say. Like, you're like, oh, the Lord bless you. I'm sorry you're feeling that way. I'm sorry, and I don't wanna say just shut up. That's what I wanna say. I just wanna just get it off my chest and let them know how I really feel. But you don't really get to do that. You take the high road, and you should take the high road. I don't want you to misunderstand me. You should take the high road.

But one day, I was having one of those days, and I do what I do when I'm having a bad day. I drown my sorrow in queso dip at the local Mexican restaurant. And so I was there getting me some queso dip, and I was eating by myself, and I was just like venting to God. And I'm like, God, I'm just gonna let the next person that mistreats me, I'm gonna let them know how rude it is, how I'm upset. And I get up to go pay, and I get to the cashier, and I'm about to give my card. And this lady pushes me out of the way, pushes me physically, pushes me out of the way. Steps in front of me and goes to pay. And I'm like, this is it. This is my moment. God, you have served this up on a silver platter. I'm gonna let Geraldine know here how I feel about her as soon as she turns around. Just wait a second, okay? And so I'm there, and I'm like, this is it. And I'm not cussing, but I'm making up words that ain't cussing, but it's almost cussing. In my mind, I'm about to let her know. And as soon as she turns around, the Holy Spirit goes, shh. So I sat there quiet. And then she speaks. She goes, Pastor Jason, I couldn't let you pay for your own meal.

I had to pay for it for you. I started coming to church three months ago, and your messages have changed my life. I was like, sister, I didn't know that. I thought that was you, but I wasn't sure. Man, if she only knew how close. That's why you take the high road, folks. That's why you take the high road. But the issue is this. The issue is this. There was more to the story. And I think sometimes if we're not careful, we see partial circumstances, and we think the totality of our judgment can be based on the perspective that we have instead of understanding there's a lot more to the story than what we're seeing. Now, the reality is this. I think a lot of us, we think life is lived linear. We think it's this is happening, then this is happening. How many of you know life is way more complex than that? Life isn't lived linear. It's lived in layers. So a lot of times you'll have this thing going on, but this thing's also going on while this thing's going on. And most of us, we only see kind of the surface level of what people show us. We don't see what's actually happening in their lives. So understanding the complexities of the human experience, I think we can dive into Genesis 12,

and we can see a story here that I believe really encapsulates this truth. Genesis chapter 12, beginning of verse one, we find the call narrative of Abraham. This is the pillar or the cornerstone of the great monotheistic religions of the world. All of them trace their way back to this faith. And obviously we believe that Christianity is the one that actually got it right, but nevertheless, they have the cornerstone of this story of Abraham as the foundation of their faith. Listen to what it says. It says, now the Lord said to Abram, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Would you guys pray with me this morning as we get in the word? Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for your anointing. I ask that you help me to preach this in a way that's clear, compelling, transformational. But above all, Jesus, make us like you. If what I say is of myself and not of you, guard their hearts.

But if it is from you, let it find good ground to bring forth a harvest in Jesus. mighty and strong name and everybody says amen and amen. So this is an inspiring story. This is a powerful story that many of us for thousands of years have been provoked to faith and trusting God and believing God. It's a story loaded with promise and promises that have not only impacted Abram but have ripple effects going down even to Jesus coming in the way that the seed of Abraham has blessed all the nations of the earth and all the families of the earth. This is a powerful story but I think if we're being honest sometimes we don't understand the context in which this promise comes. And I think a lot of times what we do is we take this inspiring story and we preach it in a way but we don't ever get the whole picture. And so this morning I wanna dive a little bit into that because most of us have heard it this way. Most of us have heard this story like this. And God spoke to Abram and said Abram, leave your father's house in Ur of the Chaldea, that's my God voice in case y'all don't know, and go to a land that I will show you. So we're like, and Abraham had to go before he would know. He had to step out in faith and go. And we preach it that way and it's inspiring, it fires people up.

But it's so much more complex and complicated than that. It is so much more was happening in that than just kind of what we think was happening in that. This is powerful, it's beautiful, it's poetic, but oftentimes the way we've preached it, even the way the movies, I watched a movie about Abraham and they didn't even show this in this context. And I think we miss, how many know it's powerful to actually read your Bible? And so I wanna encourage you, like I know you're hearing me preach today, but go home and read your Bible. Like read it for yourself so you can see what the truth of God's word is saying. Because while you're reading it, it will always read you. And so Genesis chapter 11 verse 27 paints the context. This is the context that often gets left out. Remember when the Bible was originally written, this book, there wasn't chapters and verses. So you have to continue the thought from chapter 11 over into chapter 12, because it paints the context in which we receive the promises for Abraham. Verse 27 says this, this is the genealogy of Terah. Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Somebody say Haran. Haran begot Lot, and Haran died before his father Terah in the native land in Ur of the Chaldeans. Then Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarah, the name of Nahor's wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran,

the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarah was barren and had no child. Listen to this. And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot. So the characters in this, Terah, father of Abraham, father of Haran, Haran, son of Terah, brother of Abram who died, Lot, the son of Haran, grandson of Terah, nephew of Abram. You got it? Good, let's go. It says, and then the son of Haran, his daughter-in-law Sarah, his son Abram's wife, and they went, listen, and they went out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. Track with me for a second. Who started the journey to Canaan? It wasn't Abraham. It was Terah. I'd never heard that, but listen to what it says. It says, and they came to Haran. What was the name of the son who died? Haran, and dwelt there. Somebody say dwelt there. So the days of Terah were 205 years. Then Terah died in Haran. You see, as you see this story unfolding, you see that Terah began this journey, and the text paints this powerful picture, this poetry in motion almost of this father that lost his son in Ur of the Chaldeans

left to go out to a new land, and on the way, he gets to a land that has the same name as his son. That is not coincidence. And so you see what happens is he gets in Haran, and this is a picture of a father that is paralyzed by his pain. It's a picture of someone that can't get past their grief. It's a picture of someone that tries to live in yesterday, that maybe started moving forward, but yesterday held on to him too much, and it says that he dwelt in Haran, and then it says he died in Haran. How many know our past is a launching pad? It's never a dwelling place. We should be able to look back, whether it's good or bad memories, we look back, and it should provoke us to faith in Jesus for today, not be a place we're always trying to recreate because God is doing something new in our lives, amen? And so we see that Terah stopped moving forward. You see, when you see this, we rightfully preach this amazing story about how Abram left and went to Canaan pursuing promise, but what we don't talk about is how Terah left going to Canaan, not chasing promise, but running from pain, and I think this is powerful for this reason because all of us have a motivating factor.

All of us have something inside of us that moves us. and motivates us, and for some of you, you're motivated by insecurities that you're trying to overcome. That's what, you don't work out because you wanna be healthy, you work out because you wanna look good, you know what I'm saying? Like some of you are motivated by fear, like you're worried about what the economy's gonna do, so you don't have a vision for your money, you just hoard your money. And so others of you, though, you have promise, and you have the word of the Lord, and you have the Holy Spirit that's leading and guiding you, giving you fresh vision. How many of the Bible says, where there is no vision, people perish, or they cast off restraint. Like you gotta have vision to know how to operate your life, and that should be the motivating factor, but I will confess to you, there has been seasons in my life where the kingdom and the heart of heaven was not my motivating factor. It was my insecurities. Because I grew up as a kid in Jasper, Alabama, small town, fat kid, big mullet, okay? Like just get this in your mind. Grew up in a holiness church, y'all.

Like when I got baptized in the river, I had to wear sweatpants, because we were so holiness. Because obviously this little chubby kid's calves are gonna make somebody stumble if we see them in this river, so we gotta make him wear that. Like it was old school holiness. Like our women, they had to wear dresses to their ankles, they couldn't wear makeup, they couldn't cut their hair. Like we didn't have to cast demons out, we just showed them the women and they left. But like that's a whole. I'm kidding, kidding. But the thing is this, is like I grew up poor, man. I was so insecure. And I thought one day like, okay, once I started pastoring, I went to a church that had 40 people. I was like, once we break 100, I'll be somebody. Once we hit 300, I'll be somebody. If I can get to 500, I'll feel like I'm enough. Okay, God, if I can just get to 600, if I can get to 1,000, okay, God, we got that. If I can get 1,500, okay, if I can get to 1,000, then I'll finally be somebody. We hit all those marks and all those metrics and the reality is this, I kept moving the goal line. I kept saying like, okay, once I do this, then I'll arrive in.

Because as long as you have these factors that are worldly carnal factors that are your motivating factors, they're never gonna be enough to sustain you in life so that you can endure whatever season you're facing. See, I wanted to get to where my perspective is heaven that God, if we have 1,000 people, 2,000 people, 5,000 people, we have 10 people, I'm gonna be fine. I'm gonna be fine. If we have 1,000 people, we have 10 people, I'm gonna be faithful to those 10 just like I would the 10,000 because everything I do is Colossians 3.23, as unto you, Lord. It's not for me, it's not for the audience, it's not for the likes, it's for you, Jesus. And when we get to that place, we get like Paul that he says, whether I've been in a season of abundance or a season of lack, I can count it all joy because it's all for Jesus. If you believe that, can you praise him today? Yes. But you see, Tara got to this place called Haran and Haran, in the original language, it means burnt or dry place. And I think when we're living, running from, I was trying to run from the poverty as a kid, the insecurity as a kid, I was trying to run from being sexually abused as a kid,

all those things that happened to me when I was a kid. I was always trying to run from that, trying to feel like I was enough for God. Trying to feel like he loved me enough. I wanna earn God's love. And this isn't a part of my notes or my message, but can I just tell somebody today, you cannot earn God's love. He has already given you his love. You don't live for his love, you live from his love because you are enough that he loves you so much right where you are today. But understanding that it was something, I was constantly in this dry place. There wasn't intimacy, it wasn't as unto the Lord. And some of you may be in that place today, you're just in a dry place. Maybe some of you are in a place that you're in a burnt place, either you're burnt out or somebody burnt you in a relationship or whatever it may be, you put walls up and you're calloused and you're cold. And I believe the Lord brought you into here today because I believe he's gonna touch your life and he's gonna heal your heart and he's gonna make you have a healthy soul when you leave this place today. I believe that with all of my heart. But the reason I love this story is I love the context of this story

because it expands it from like this superhero biblical figure called Abraham and it expands it to a family that's in disarray, that's in grief, that's in loss. And it brings the humanity into the story. And the reason that matters so much today is I find beauty in the layers of this story because I find that they connect so much with the layers of my story. Tell you a little bit about our story at Gateway. I moved there 15 years ago this year and I was 29 years old and I was going into a church in Shelbyville, Tennessee, I'd never heard of in my life. And I remember I got there and I'm like, God, why did you bring me to Shelbyville, Tennessee? Like, what am I doing here? You missed it a little bit. I should go to Nashville, I've got big vision. God, how are we gonna do this in a small town? I don't even like horses and it's like the walking horse capital of the world. There's like walking horses everywhere over there. It's like, it's one of those things. I can't say anything, actually. I love walking horses. For all of you that go to my church and are watching online right now, God bless you and your horses. But the reality, I was like, why am I here? And I remember the Lord spoke to me.

And he said this, he said, Jason, he says, John the Baptist preached the kingdom of God and people left the city of Jerusalem to listen to him in the wilderness. If you will preach my kingdom, I will bring people from all over the nation to Shelbyville, Tennessee to hear my gospel and be transformed. And we have folks that drive an hour and a half, people that have moved from out of state that felt like God called them there. We have the great California exodus happening and everybody's moving to Shelbyville, Tennessee for whatever reason. I'm like, keep coming. Like God is literally bringing people from all over the nation, just like he said he would do it. Can I tell you, God will do what he said he would do. So that was awesome, great promise. I love this. So we're in this small building and it's an old church building and it's got bright ocean blue carpet. We had more termites than we had people. And I was like, okay, God, we gotta do something here. And we started praying, the church started growing and we had a prayer meeting one Friday morning at 5 a.m. How many know you only get extra saved people to come at 5 a.m. on a Friday morning? And so we're in this prayer meeting

and this lady, her name's Jen, she comes over to me and she goes, pastor, I believe God's telling me we should buy the Walmart building next to us. Now let me give y'all some context. Our total annual budget for the year was less than $100,000. Let that sink in, for the year. And she says, buy Walmart. And you ever have those moments, I was like, bless her heart. I was like, bless her heart, she don't know, we're broke. Jen was married to a hospital CEO and I guess she just thought everybody had money and I went back and I was praying and I was down in the altar and the only way I know to describe it is like the gift of faith rose up. Anybody had that moment where you just feel faith rise up in your heart? And so I was like, I'm gonna call Ron, I know the guy who bought that building and owns it, I'm gonna call him and we're gonna buy that building. We're gonna do it, in Jesus' name, we're gonna do it. Somewhere between the altar and my car, I went from we're buying the whole thing to can we rent half of it? So I get in my car, I call, hey, can we rent half the building? He says, meet me there Tuesday. He said, share your vision.

So we're there on a Tuesday and I love this, I love how God works. My verse of the day, and I understand that like your verse of the day is not like a horoscope or anything, but how many of you know there's moments the Holy Spirit just anoints your verse of the day? And my verse of the day was Isaiah 61 7. Remember, I'm going to ask to rent half the building. The verse said this, instead of your shame, you shall have double honor. And instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore, in their land, they shall possess double. Everlasting joy shall be theirs. And I wish I could tell you, I read that, I'm like, today's the day you're doing double. And I just read it, I was like, thank you, God, for your word, and I just kinda went about my day. And let me show you the building. This is the building we were having a vision to buy. It's right there, it's a big Walmart building, like great parking, and we're actually, that's a laundromat, and we're right next to the laundromat. So I was like, this is gonna be great, like, do it, Lord, let us rent half the building. I shared the vision with Ron, and after we got through, he says, I'm not gonna rent you half the building. He said, I'm gonna sell you the whole thing for $800,000.

And I'm gonna pay 350,000 for your old building. And you don't have to go to a bank, I'm gonna loan you the money for the build out, all that you need. And by the way, if you and your family need a house, go pick one out, and I'm gonna loan you the money for that, too. Amen. I started crying like a middle school girl that just got asked to a dance. I was, I laid my, he's like 6'5", I laid my head on his chest and was crying. He looked down at me like, what are you doing? I said, just go with it, bro, just let me have my moment, just let me have my moment. And so I'm sitting there, I'm crying, and he's awkward, and like, it was great. And then I go get in my car, and I'm like, oh, I'm like shouting to the Lord, and I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I go get in my car, and I'm like, oh, I'm like shouting to the Lord, I'm singing like John Wilds, and like, it's great. And then I realized something, I can't afford $800,000. That's like I tell my wife, babe, just because it's on sale doesn't mean we can afford it. Okay?

How many know girl math is a thing? Like, they figure it out, they figure it out. They're like, we know, technically, if I pay $1,000 for this, I won't have to go buy this, and I was gonna go to Mexico, but I'm not gonna go to Mexico if you let me buy this, so, you know, I was like, I didn't know you were going to Mexico, what are you doing? So, this is gonna get me in so much debt, I have to go to Mexico, so it's one of those things. But anyway, like, I was like, I can't afford it. The next day, this man named Tom Henry calls me, and he was a Baptist pastor there in town, and he was older, he had ran for governor in the 80s in Tennessee, and he was like a John Grisham novel character. He had like suspenders, a real Memphis-y, like syrupy, like Southern voice, and he called me, he goes, Brother Jason, Tom Henry here. He goes, I hear you bought the Walmart, young man. I was like, yes, sir, I did. He goes, how are you gonna pay for that? I said, I have no clue. He said, well, somebody's gonna call you tomorrow. The owner of a trucking company called me and said, hey, we would like to rent about 30,000 of your 80,000 square feet, and we'll pay you X amount of dollars. It was about $1,000 more per month

than the mortgage was gonna be. And I was like, yes, you can do it. Let me just give y'all some advice. Ask them what they're gonna put in there next time. You know, like if somebody's gonna store something, say, what are you storing, okay? I didn't ask, okay? So anyway, I go on vacation. They move all their stuff in while I'm away. I get back, y'all, and it was Jack Daniels from one side to the other of our church. Communion was poppin' that year, y'all. It was great. We just give everybody shots right before taking up tithes. But it was awesome. And so, in all seriousness, I was like, I walked in, I was like, oh my Lord, and I was like, what are we gonna do? I called my bishop and my elders. They came by and they looked and my bishop said, hey, do their checks clear? I said, yes, he goes, praise the Lord. Like, this is what I love. God gave us a Walmart and let the devil pay for it for the first year. Like, isn't God so good? So all of this is great. All of these miracles are happening. And so, obviously, we go to social media. We're like, we bought the Walmart, this and that.

There's all of this buzz going around. And y'all know how we do social media, man. Like, we know how to get angles and everything. Like, we hide chins. Like, we put filters. Because now there's AI, y'all putting all y'all's photos in chat GPT, making it look better than it actually is. And when somebody actually sees you in person, they're like, huh. Huh. Who are you? And so, we know how to make things look good. Like, that's what we do. Like, some of y'all like, it's a pool day and you're taking a picture of your legs by the pool, you know, and you don't got a pool. You're at the rec center, man. Like, you're acting like you got a pool. You're presenting it to everybody. We know, church pastors, we're bad. We take an angle. It looks like 15,000 people are there and there's like 150. Like, we know how to do angles. Why? Because I'm afraid we have learned to settle for perception over actual purpose. And I believe God wants us to lean in to the meat of what life is actually about. Not just the impressions that we give to other people.

And the reason I say that is this. Is right in the midst of all of that, right in the midst of this building, the social media, the excitement, bought the Walmart, church is booming. Right in the middle of that, how many know there's more to the story? There's layers, remember? So, how many know, tell of two cities. It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. So, right in the middle of this build out, my dad calls me and says, son, I got bad news. We found out mom's got lung cancer. I am a mama's boy. Anybody here a mama's boy that will confess it? Like, I am 100% a mama's boy, okay? Proud mama's boy. So much so that I actually would sneak in and sleep in the bed with my mom until I was 18. I'm joking, I'm joking. Until I was eight. Let me tell you why I did it. I did it for this reason. Because I grew up and we watched all those old rapture movies. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Like, A Thief in the Night, A Distant Thunder. Like, so I thought Jesus was gonna come in the midnight hour.

So, I was gonna sleep in the bed with my mom. When she started going, I would grab her leg and hitch a ride all the way to heaven. That was my strategy. Jesus, he came later. But like, grabbing my mom was first option. And so, I'm such a mama's boy. Well, when I found out she had lung cancer, I'm devastated. We're in this, what it should be, the most exciting time, but it's also a hard time. Long story short, she died eight days after diagnosis. Suffocated in the hospital of Princeton Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Suffocated pulling on me in the hallway because of a medical error they had. And I passed out, hit my head, concussion, devastated. I don't often ask for a sign. But I said, God, I just need to know she's okay. I need to know my mom's all right. Now, again, all this good stuff's going, everybody's celebrating, but they don't see the pain that you're also walking through. And all this was happening at the same time, in real time. And so, I go to my parents' house and I'm flipping through old photo albums and I'm crying and I'm weeping. I said, God, I just need to know she's okay, please. And my phone dings. And I look down at my phone and it said I had a voicemail

and it was from my mom. And I'm thinking, okay, that's weird. But I looked and the voicemail had been left like three months earlier, but it hit my phone that night, the night she died. And to think about God, how good he is. When I said, I just need to know my mom's okay, this is the voicemail I heard that night. Hey, I just thought I'd let you know your mom was still living. I'll talk to you later. Y'all, you can't make that up. You can't make it up. I'm there crying, I need to know she's okay. This voicemail comes in and this is how good Jesus is. Jesus loves me so much that he was willing to suspend Verizon from my phone. I said, hold a voicemail out until the day she goes to heaven, and when she's in heaven, I get to hear from her voice, not somebody else, not just an encourager, but my mother say, hey, it's okay, I'm still living. I'll talk to you later. Can I tell somebody this morning, if you've got somebody you love that's going on, and they know Jesus, they're still living, they're living more than we're living right now. They're living the abundant, full life in the presence of God. You see, God loved me so much.

I'm thankful in the text, she said, I'll see you later, not I'll see you tomorrow. That would have been scary. But it's like one of those things where like God was present in my pain. Can I tell somebody he's present in your pain? He entered into my pain. And so again, notice the context of Abram's promise. The context was not everything was going great. The context of the promise was in the midst of the pain, and right in the midst of the pain, he says, I'll make you a great nation. I'll bless you, I'll make your name great. I'll make you a blessing. You'll bless those who bless you, I'll curse those who curse you. I will bless all the families because of you. But there's only one caveat, there's one stipulation. You have to let go of everything that's behind you. You gotta walk away from all you've ever known. You've gotta leave your family behind. You gotta walk away from everyone in the house of terror. You've gotta start over because you can't bring yesterday into your tomorrow. You've gotta let it go and you've gotta step into everything that I have for you. So the Lord has given him clear instructions. I want you to go with a fresh start because I'm about to do something brand new in your life. Can I tell some of y'all this morning,

some of y'all need to let go of some folks in your past, some people that have been trying to hang on and hold on and pull you down. And you need to move into the season that God has for you that Jesus is calling you to, that you'll never make it to while you're trying to live in your yesterday. See, so what happens is this. I love that he tells us, he says, get out of your country, get away from your family, away from your father's house. And then we get to verse four. And this is so interesting to me. Abraham's so excited, all this promise. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him and Lot went with him. I'm like, seriously? The Lord just said, get away from your father's house and you're taking Lot with you? Some scholars believe this because Abraham didn't have the faith at the moment that he would start a nation through him. He was without child at an old age and that Lot was his plan B. Some believe that. I also believe from the human side that he probably felt a level of responsibility. Now, mind you, Lot is not some little kid in this story. He's a grown man. But nevertheless, like,

Terah, the grandfather of Lot, is dead. Haran, the father of Lot, is dead. Abram is now a father figure in his life. I imagine he felt some level of responsibility that I have to take care of Lot. But that's not what God said. God said, I need you to move on. I need you to let go and trust me. And I think if we're all honest, some of us, we justify reasons to hold onto our yesterday. We even rationalize it. We emotionally appeal to it about why we still do what we're doing when God says, I want you to let go of the things I'm calling you to let go of. Now, the interesting thing as this unpacks even further is Lot's name means veil, a veil. Something you put in front of your face so you can't see something. His name means veil. How many of you know names in the Bible mean so much? And what's interesting is the fact that as Lot was with him while he was with Abram, Abram never saw or heard about the promise again while Lot was with him. Let me tell you what Abraham did see. Abram did see a famine that broke out. He did have to deal with a Pharaoh and living a life of lies, saying that his wife was his sister. No Alabama jokes, I promise y'all,

y'all better not do that. Number three is there was constant fighting between Lot's herdsmen and his. It was strife and division. So think about it. When he's living in subtle but significant compromise, all he has is famine, no bread, a Pharaoh, somebody lording over him, and strife and division breaking out all around him. And that's what life looks like when we're living in that place of compromise because the promise was veiled. But look what it goes on to say in chapter 13, verses 14 through 17. And the Lord said to Abram, when? After Lot had separated from him. Lift your eyes now. When is now? After Lot had separated from him. Now look, the veil's removed. Now look from the place where you are, north, south, east, west, for all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever, and I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if man could number the dust. to the earth, then your descendants could also be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length, its width, for I give it to you.

So notice, look up now. God was just waiting for Abram to get the compromise out. He was just waiting for him to let go of what he needed to let go of. And now he says, now it's time to look up. Can I tell somebody today it's time to look up again? Like it's time to let go of the compromise, it's time to let go of yesterday, it's time to let go of the past, it's time to let go of the pain. And listen, I have no doubt what happened to you was painful, I have no doubt that they did you wrong, they hurt you, I have no doubt that many of you are navigating pain that I can't even imagine. But I'm here to tell you today, your scars do not define you. His scars are what define you. And it's time that we stop living from our pain and we start living in his promises. So the veil was removed. But can I also tell you some good news? With God, nothing is wasted. The pain you've been through isn't wasted. The weapon the enemy used to wound you isn't wasted. Because when I read, there's this verse that I always heard growing up, and this was one of my favorite verses. It was Isaiah 54, 17. And it says, no weapon formed against you shall prosper. What does that mean?

It means it will not come to its expected end. So in other words, whatever the weapon was developed for is not gonna be the thing it actually has an outcome of. I love there's this verse in Isaiah that says that the Lord will beat our swords into plowshares. This picture of the weapon formed against you becoming the tool God uses to break up the soil for your harvest. And so what happens in this is you see that he says, I'm gonna turn around. How many know when David went and took a head off a giant? Whose sword did he use? Goliath's sword. The very sword that was crafted to kill David was the very weapon David held in his hand to take off the head of a Philistine giant. How many know Mordecai in the Bible? Mordecai in the book of Esther, he was conspired against by Haman. Haman was gonna kill Mordecai and the Jewish people, and he built gallows to hang them on. But how many know it wasn't Mordecai that went to the gallows it was Haman and his sons that went to the gallows because the weapon that was formed against them was turned on the enemy and used against the enemy. How many know it was the three Hebrew boys going into the fiery furnace, they weren't the ones consumed by the fire, it was the ones putting them in there that were consumed by the fire.

How many know Daniel and the lion's den? Daniel didn't get consumed by the lions, he took a nap with them in the lion's den. And then God brought him out and it was the ones conspiring against him that were thrown in, and before they could even hit the ground they were consumed by the lions. How many know it was Jesus, the devil thought he could kill the Son of God by putting him on a cross, but what he didn't know was that weapon to destroy the Son of God became a weapon of mass deliverance, a weapon that set captives free, a weapon that defeated death, hell, and the grave. Can we let Jesus know that we love him in this place today and that no weapon formed against us will prosper. Hallelujah. Go ahead and stand up, I'll quit. But I love how this ends. Genesis 13, 18, it says, after Abram, he's come through the pain, he's embraced the promise. So the promise came in the context of pain, but if we're not careful, we get into the place of promise and we lose our pursuit. I love what Abram did. When he got into the promise, he was like, okay, God, you got me here, I can take this on my own.

No, no, no. Verse 18 says, he gets into the promise, he sees the promise again, and it says he built an altar there to the Lord. He built an altar. Family, it's an honor to be here, but I'm gonna be honest, I'm just the mailman. I'm here to deliver the mail and get out of the way. I believe God wants to do something in this place. I believe he wants to heal some people. You've been hurt, you've been wronged, and you've been living with that weighing on you for years. And today in this place, the living Christ is going to heal your soul and make you whole in this place. I believe that with all of my heart. I'm gonna ask you to bow your heads for a moment. If you don't know Jesus and today you say, I wanna make it right with God, I need to make it right with God today, pastor. I don't wanna miss this moment. I will not embarrass you, but right now, would you just throw your hand up as a way to let heaven know that I wanna call on the name of the Lord. Is there anyone that would say, I would like to be saved right here, right now? My second question is this. If you would say today, there's some hurts I need healing from.

There's some trauma I'm having to navigate. Maybe there's some motivating factors that aren't healthy and whole in my life, and I need the Lord to sanctify those. If that's you, would you have the courage just to raise your hand right now? and say, Lord, heal my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you. We're gonna do this. I'm gonna ask you to step out of faith the same way that Abram built an altar. I'm gonna ask you to come to the altar of the Lord, to have that pursuit and that humility to seek the face of God. There's an incredible prayer team in this altar right now that would love to pray with you. I'm gonna pray over you when I say amen, if you would just step out and make your way. Father, I love you and I thank you for your word. I ask that you seal this in our hearts, that you would begin to heal hearts even right now. We love you, we trust you, we thank you in Jesus' name. And everybody says, amen, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. What a beautiful name it is.

What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ, my King. What a beautiful name it is. Nothing compares to this. What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a beautiful name it is. What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ, my King. The name of Jesus Christ, my King. What a beautiful name it is. Nothing compares to this. What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a beautiful name it is. What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ, my King. What a beautiful name it is. Nothing compares to this. What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus.