Entire

What a wonderful name it is. Nothing compares to this. What a wonderful name it is. The name of Jesus.

And I could not hold you.

Amen.

Good morning, family.

I didn't hear y'all.

Good morning, family.

Praise the Lord everybody.

He's worthy to be praised.

Thank you, Lord.

um welcome and thank you for coming out for being here at 10 30 so we can start at 10 32

um let's worship

our father all of heaven roars your name sing louder

let this place hear up with praise can you hear it the sound of heaven touching earth

the sound of heaven touching earth our father all of heaven roars your name sing louder

let this place hear up with praise can you hear it the sound of heaven touching earth

the sound of heaven touching earth our father

all of heaven roars your name sing louder

let this place hear up with praise can you hear it the sound of heaven touching earth

the sound of heaven touching earth

spirit break out

heaven come down

spirit break out

heaven come down

Lord

King Jesus

you're the name we're lifting high

your glory

you're can of heaven

the sign of the magic

holiness

you're living here

oh

we want to see

your kingdom

we want to see

Shaking up the earth and skies revival

We want to see your kingdom here

So spirit break out

Break our walls down

Spirit break out

Heaven come down

Spirit break out

Break our walls down

Spirit break out

Yeah

Heaven come down

King Jesus

You're the name we're lifting high

Your glory

Shaking up the earth and skies revival

We want to see your kingdom here

I need you to petition the Lord and I need you to join us right now as we petition the Lord. Glenda Williamson, Joe Williamson's mom, began her chemo and radiation this past week. She's having some, there's some, there's some issues. There's some issues. And she's asking that we would intercede for her right now. And so we're going to do that as a church family right now. Also, also,

Mr. Alfonso, Mr. Alfonso, will you raise your hand? My brother Alfonso, his nephew, supposed to be graduating. He's graduating Ware County High School. His name is Armin. He was just in a car accident. And he's been life flighted out and the young lady that was with him in the car did not make it. And so there's some grieving families right now. So we need to pray for our men.

And we need to pray for the family of this young lady who has just lost her daughter as well too. And we need to lift up Ms. Glenda Williamson as well too this morning. Ms. Luann, would you come and just lead us as we join you this morning in prayer.

Father God, we thank you that we can come over to the throne of grace, O God.

Cry out, Lord God, for our sisters and brothers, O Lord God, that need help.

You are faithful, God. We know that there's nothing impossible with you, O Lord.

Your name is above every name.

But we can call upon your name, God, in faith, believing and trusting because we have full confidence in who you are.

God, we've seen you do so many things.

But a miracle is needed today.

We're going to cry out, God, for Ms. Glenda, Lord, who's going through chemotherapy treatment, God.

Lord, we just ask, God, that you would be her radiation and chemotherapy.

You would be her chemotherapy, O Lord God.

And we just pray a hedge of protection over her, God.

With every dose of that medicine, that the blood of Jesus Christ would go in before.

But, Lord, we just thank you, Lord God, that you are a God of miracles, God.

And we just thank you, Lord God, that you're working in her life right now, God.

And we're standing on your word, God, that says that by your stripes we're healed.

And, God, we claim healing for Ms. Glenda right now in the name of Jesus,

in the mighty name of Jesus, O God.

And we thank you, Lord, for all that you have already done in her life

and walked her through a path, God.

That you're the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And that you, God, would move mightily upon her body right now in the name of Jesus.

We come against cancer.

We come against disease.

We come against these things in the name of Jesus, O God.

She is a child of the Most High God.

God, that no weapon formed against her will prosper.

Not even chemotherapy in the name of Jesus, O God.

We thank you, Lord God, as we lift her up, God.

We thank you, Lord God, for what you're doing in and through her life right now, God.

In the name of Jesus, God.

We ask you to turn this situation around.

Turn around, God, in the name of Jesus.

We declare that she is healed in Jesus' name.

Oh, God, we thank you, Lord God.

And I believe the name is Army.

Okay, God, we thank you, Lord God, for protecting him, O Lord God, through this accident, Lord.

We thank you, Lord God, that you would bring life to him, God.

You would restore his body in the name of Jesus, O Lord God.

We thank you, Lord, that you would bring a sense of peace upon his life, O God.

The peace that only you can give, O God.

So, Lord, I thank you, Lord God, that you're working a miracle in his life, God, in the name of Jesus.

And, God, we just pray for this family.

God, we thank you, Lord God.

God, to bring hope to them, God. Questions they would ask, O God, let them ask you, Lord God. You have answers for every situation, O Lord God. So, we just pray our heads of protection over this family, Lord God, through this grieving process, O Lord God, that everything that needs to be done will be done in the name of Jesus. And, God, we just give you glory and honor for this day. We thank you for all that you're doing in our lives and through our lives, God, and through this church, God.

We just thank you, Lord, for mothers that are here, God. Bless them, Lord God. Bless them, Lord Jesus, and their families, Father God. And, we just thank you, God, for all that you're doing. We give you praise and honor and glory for who you are in our lives. So, we pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus. And, the church said, Amen. Amen.

Good morning, everyone. I am so excited to tell you about Camp Rhema.

Camp Rhema is our summer kids Bible camp. It is for ages 3 through 5th grade. The dates are June 19th through the 21st from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Our theme this year is Yee-Haw. We're celebrating God's greatest gifts.

So, kids, start counting down the days. Get your cowboy hats, your cowboy boots, your lassos, and come join us for this epic Western adventure.

Parents, if you want more information, and to sign your kids up, visit the website, or stop by the check-in desk.

We are so excited. I hope you're as excited as I am. Start practicing your very best. Yee-haw!

See you there, guys.

Praise the Lord, everybody. God bless everybody.

I want to thank Ramer.

We want to thank our mothers for coming out today.

And I just wanted to read one little Proverbs 31.

One verse here for mothers.

Her children arise up and call her blessed, and her husband also, and he praises her.

Y'all mothers, take that to heart, because that's for you all.

And also, today, I want to remind everybody where our offerings are given, in the little houses at the front and at the back.

Also, behind every chair, there is a giver's card, not a giver's card, a welcome card for visitors to take out and fill out any prayer requests needed to be needed.

They can put those also in the little houses on the front and the back of the congregation.

We also have some announcements this morning.

We have the Baby Bottle Campaign going again.

That's where people can pick up a baby bottle at the information table or at the table near the exit.

They need to begin filling their bottles with loose change and bring them back to church on Father's Day.

So if everybody want to get the bottles there, back on the back there, you'll see them as you go out.

And on Friday night, Friday night fellowship is at his ministries.

Now, Rhema will be providing meals on the third Friday of each month for the next six months.

We've got set-up begins at 4.30.

Food is served at 5.00.

Clean-up begins at 6.00 p.m.

And we'll head out at 6.30.

We plan to feed 100 to 125 people.

And suggested meals are pizza, barbecue, hot dogs, subs, spaghetti, et cetera.

And our next date is to serve is on May the 17th.

That's Friday the 17th.

We already have a home group that's going to do that Friday.

So every third Friday of the month we'll be serving at his ministries.

We want you all to have a good time in the ministry today.

Is everybody happy today?

Amen.

Yeehaw.

Turn it back over to the choir.

Choir.

Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Choir. Ch

Oh, holy, we bow

Surrender in our dreams

We lay the down

Lord, Lord, Lord, you are dear

We turn our hearts to you

And we are waiting for you

So let your kingdom come

Let your kingdom come

Oh, no, there's an easy help

Let your will be done

Oh, every day's easy in heaven

Wherever you are

We will follow

We will follow you

Lord, we will see

Lord, you fill us

And send us high

We turn our hearts to you

And we are waiting for you

So let your kingdom come

Let your kingdom come

On earth as easy in heaven

Let your will be done

On earth as easy in heaven

Let your kingdom come

On earth as easy in heaven

Let your will be done

Let your kingdom come

We lift our praise To God our Father All the honor belongs to you All the honor and all the power All the honor belongs to you

We lift our praise To God our Holy Spirit And we lift our praise to you You gain the glory That you lift our praise to you You lean the glory of our holy Son-

Let your kingdom come Let your kingdom come Let your kingdom come

On earth there's an easy day

That you will be done

On earth there's an easy day

Let your kingdom come

On earth there's an easy day

That you will be done

On earth there's an easy day

That you will be done

Thank you.

My history rewritten

My past embraced

My sin forgiven

I'm blameless in your sight

My history rewritten

Because you delight in showing mercy

Mercy triumphs over judgment

You delight in showing mercy

Mercy triumphs over judgment

Oh, love, great love

Fear cannot be found in you

And there will never be a day

That you're certain of the ones you choose

Because you delight in showing mercy

Mercy triumphs over judgment

You delight in showing mercy

Judgment, using light and showing mercy, mercy triumphs for judgment.

So I'll await and spend my days loving the one who has raised me up.

From death to life, from wrong to right, you're making all things beautiful.

I'll await and spend my days loving the one who has raised me up.

From death to life, wrong to right, you're making all things beautiful.

I'll await and spend my days loving the one who has raised me up.

From death to life, from wrong to right, you're making all things beautiful.

I'll await and spend my days loving the one who has raised me up.

From death to life, from wrong to right, you're making all things beautiful.

Making all things beautiful.

Oh, making all things beautiful.

Lord, you delight in showing mercy

Your mercy triumphed over judgment

You delight in showing mercy

Mercy triumphed over judgment

You delight in showing mercy

Your mercy triumphed over judgment

You delight in showing mercy

How great the chasm that lay between us.

How high the mountain, like you and I.

In desperation, I turn to heaven.

And spoke your name into heaven.

Then through the darkness, my love and kindness tore through the shadows, O my soul.

The work is finished, the end is written.

Such boundless grace. The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sins and bear my shame. The cross has spoken. I am forgiven. The King of kings calls me.

Jesus Christ, my living Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah.

Father has lost His grace for me. He has lost His grace for me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in Your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope.

Father Jesus Christ, my living hope.

Let's hear the promise

Your very body

We get to hear

Out of the silence

Oh, I'm dying

Declare the prayer

As the grace

In the morning

Let's hear the promise

Your very body

We get to breathe

Out of the silence

The rolling fire

He can't obey

As the king of me

Oh, Jesus, you're yours

And the ring

I'm dying

Hallelujah

Praise the Lord

You set me free

Hallelujah

Death has lost its grip on me

We have broken

Every chain

There's salvation

In your name

Jesus Christ

My living word

Hallelujah

Praise the Lord

Who set me free

Hallelujah

Death has lost its grip on me

You have broken

Every chain

There's salvation

In your name

Jesus Christ

My living word

Jesus Christ

My living word

I've got a peace

For my living word

Father, we just ask you

For attentive minds

This morning

As we go with the word

Lord, just be with our church

Be with the ones

That are hurting right now

And we thank you, moms

For putting up with

All the

The things that you guys

Put up with

Everything that comes

With a mom

Just thank you, God

God

You

God

What

Thank you.

Thank you, God Thank you, God

I'm on, yes.

Good morning.

Again, happy Mother's Day.

It's good to see you guys this morning.

I think we covered enough of the announcements and everything.

Thank you, Ms. Pauline, for getting our choir going this morning.

That was awesome.

I want to go ahead and dismiss our children.

If you are K-5 through 5th grade, if you guys will follow Mr. Taylor out there

and slap his hand and say yeehaw on the way out.

There we go.

Yeehaw.

Now, how does Taylor expect him to listen when he gets them all excited and says walk?

Yeah.

You tell a small kid, now walk.

Don't have fun.

Don't have fun until I say so.

All right.

The rest of us, the rest of us, we are going to continue in our study of Genesis.

If you will grab your scriptures, let's turn to Genesis.

Genesis chapter 26.

We have made it through 30-something messages you have endured,

and we have made it to the halfway point.

Yay!

And this morning, in chapter 26, we are only going to get through a few verses, though,

because we have to tackle a few things in another part of the passage of scripture.

Morning, Mr. Gene.

Good to see you, brother.

What a blessing.

Amen.

Let's look at Genesis chapter 26.

Like father, like son.

How appropriate is that for Mother's Day, that we have like father, like son as our passage

of scripture, our title this morning.

That's the best I could come up with.

But we get into chapter 26, and we read about the man who comes behind Abraham.

And the man that comes behind Abraham is his son.

And his son's name is, come on, people, Isaac.

Isaac, three of you are awake this morning.

All right.

Thanks, Kevin.

Appreciate it, bro.

And so, it's going, we're going to, we're going to, unfortunately, we're going to see

that Isaac is following in his dad's footsteps, but he's following in the wrong footsteps.

He's going down the wrong path.

Abraham absolutely was a man of faith, and I suppose, you know, absolutely Isaac was as

well, because God speaks to Isaac and promised that he was going to bless Isaac.

But the footsteps that Isaac follows from Abraham were not the best choices that he could have

chosen.

You've heard of the old axiom, like father, like son.

We're going to see this morning how he was like his father in two aspects.

We're only going to get to one of them this morning.

But two aspects that he was like his dad.

Number one, he ran away at a time of famine to a place where he thought could better provide

for him than God could provide for him.

That's what Isaac does.

Okay.

And we saw that Abraham did that as well too, right?

We saw that Abraham does that twice.

The second thing we're not going to get to this morning, but Isaac also lies about his

wife, calls his wife his sister.

What the heck?

I mean, Abraham did this.

You would think somewhere along the line, somebody is going to learn, but, but, you

know, um, Abraham did it once in chapter 12, when there's a famine, they have to leave

and they go down to Egypt.

And also in chapter 20, when there's another famine, he goes down to Gerar where the Philistines

dwelt.

Okay.

And that's where his son goes.

That's where Isaac goes now.

And Isaac is following in the poor example of his father, the poor footsteps.

What I want to do this morning before we actually begin in this is I want to clear up an issue.

Okay.

Because it seems that to be an issue every few years that surfaces within, within the Christian

church.

a curse and it only takes some sort of some kind of incantational things to to break that curse

okay and maybe some of you have heard maybe even some of you have even said that and claimed that

but i really want i really want to deal with that this morning because that lies directly what we're

going to talk about this morning within genesis 26 but this this whole idea stems originally from

the second commandment i know we're in genesis 26 but i want you to turn to exodus chapter 20 with me

and if you've been with us for very long you know that just because we're in genesis doesn't mean

we're going to be just right there in genesis you're used to it by now exodus chapter 20 let's

begin with verse 4 you only have to move over a little bit to the right and you'll find it um

yeah let's start at verse 4 you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of

anything that is in heaven or above or that is in earth beneath or that is in the water underneath

the earth you shall not bow down uh to them or serve them for i the lord your god am a jealous god

visiting the iniquity of your fathers on on the children to the third and fourth generation

of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my

commandments now you need to notice something right away god when he says this he's referring

to unbelievers because he says to those who hate me is is is the curse promised to not to not to his

children who are believers a believer in god a follower of jesus christ could hardly be under the

category of those who hate god all right you with me so far on that all right and so it says to those

who hate me but in verse 6 it says showing steadfast love to thousands i'll reserve that for later but

of those who love me and keep my commandments all right let's deal with this just a little bit before

we get into genesis 26 certainly their their um children uh will feel the the the negative impact of

of of parents decisions okay there is there is a reality of that and that is but here in the context

of idolatry if a parent exposes the family to idolatry via his or her own practice of idolatry

whatever a child sees uh reinforced in the behavior or patterns of mom and dad that child is more likely

to commit the same kind of sin from one generation to the next because they were exposed to it all right

that makes logical sense but here's a greater lesser in in all of this we never sin in isolation

we never sin and i when abraham sinned okay when he failed to obey god when he failed uh to believe

god and a couple of those occasions by running away and and subsequently lying okay he didn't sin

in isolation he wasn't just sinning against god himself it affected his family all right it it

certainly affected sarah his wife but his kids would eventually talk about the shenanigans that pops

did you know at some point of line along the line those conversations would come up and how how dad who

was our hero but he had a lapse of faith and so this certainly certainly would have an impact on them

absolutely but simply put i want you to see this this morning that a disobedient believer is a menace

to everyone a disobedient believer is a menace to everyone uh as abraham was isaac is as well too

so there are certain things that your parents did that that that that they passed down to you and you are

affected by your parents choices and your parents behavior certainly absolutely could you have a propensity

to do some of the same kinds of things absolutely you could yes but do you but do you uh do you have

to do them because there's some generational curse absolutely not absolutely not that curse or that

that that that that pattern is broke in the power of god who gives you new life that's what the scripture

is all about let god break that pattern there there are certain there are certain behaviors that my

parents had all parents have absolutely and and and um they instill

came out and what that did is that instilled in all three of us kids heard it what that did was it instilled in us the belief and understanding that when you get mad you blow up and these are the words that follow okay and so as kids guess what we did when we got a certain age we mimicked what that's what you say when you get mad right and so but there came a point in time when i came to christ i watched how god dealt with me in my life in certain aspects and

and i didn't have to own that any longer that didn't have to define who i am or who i was and so i no longer got got frustrated or easily angered and and anymore and like i used to and when i do get easily angered and i do get frustrated because i do i don't choose to use that language i can choose differently amen because i am a new creator the behaviors of your parents or the environment in which you were raised

does not necessitate does not necessitate a stronghold upon your life i understand it has a bearing but it does not necessitate a stronghold on your life

if you are a if you are in christ you are a new creation behold all things that all things have passed away you are a new creation you have become new

but unfortunately we live in a culture that is enabling you with and labeling behaviors as such behaviors calling behaviors diseases and calling behaviors as codependency stuff

and and and and and and and we're we're really not helping anything so if you're the child of a left-handed cigar smoking golfer

then guess what you're going to grow up to be a left-handed cigar smoking golfer

how crazy is that but that's that's the mindset that some people have well you got no choice now

that's now your lot in life okay isaac isaac did not have to choose this as we're going to read in genesis 26

day he didn't have to 90 years had passed it wasn't like it was yesterday 90 years had passed

from abraham's foray into gerar and over a hundred years since abraham went down to egypt

and disobeyed god so a long time had passed and there was no excuse for isaac no excuse

because how many of you how many of you uh i know it's mother's day but how many of you dads in here

know that um who are fathers and have children that maybe early on

as you were raising your children you acted and reacted a whole lot differently than you do today

as you've grown in christ yeah and that is the track record that you continue those are the seeds of

righteousness that you continue to lay that's the track you continue to lay down before your children

because god is still in the business of redeeming and renewing right we have we all make mistakes

but your children your children see how you are growing in the lord and they see the change in

this in this person called my dad who's a man of faith and and admits son daughter i was wrong there

were times when my dad as he got older in life he came to me and wept like a three-year-old i'm so

sorry son and now i get to the point where i have to tell my dad dad you've told me 90 times you're

sorry it's okay it's okay it's okay you aren't the only one that i've ever heard use those words

i promise i'm okay i'm okay you know get into chapter 26 and we first of all we see uh isaac's

first failure in here it begins it says now there was a famine in the land and i i want you to know

that that the land being the promised land that god had promised to isaac to abraham and now to isaac

and afterwards he's going to promise it to jacob but there was a there was a famine in the land

um besides the former famine that was in the days of abraham and isaac went to gerar

to abimelech a king of the philistines now you'll you'll discover that uh in isaac

i've heard from the lord but i've never had the lord just appear to me and speak to me okay but twice he

appears to isaac once at the beginning of this chapter and once it towards the end of the chapter but to

abraham the lord appeared eight different times eight different on eight different occasions the lord

appears to abraham now there's something to make of that i want i want to note on isaac is one of the

great patriarchs okay of the faith we understand that but he's not a remarkable person now what i what i

mean by that is simply by the real estate that the bible gives him not a whole lot of real estate that

does the bible give isaac there's a lot about abraham 14 chapters there's a lot about jacob 11

chapters but as far as isaac goes everything you see is right here there's a little bit in chapter 25

but everything that we see is going to be right here in chapter 26 that's it and the rest of the

story is incidentally about the two children jacob and esau who are going to follow in chapter 27

so this is sort of a parenthetical statement to show you the two failures of one man's life right

here and and again uh it doesn't tell us everything about isaac it tells us a whole lot about abraham

14 chapters and 11 chapters about about jacob that we'll get to griffin thomas said that isaac was the

ordinary son of a great father and the ordinary father of a great son i always find that to be

interesting statement yet he is still to be respected and honored as one of the patriarchs i

get that again you know one of god's names is the god of abraham isaac and jacob all right but in

so i'm not saying he's a lightweight all right but i'm just saying in comparison to the others

he doesn't have a lot of real estate given to him but evidently isaac is on his way down to egypt

how do i know that because god says don't go down to egypt don't go okay which would indicate

that he's what he's on he's made up his mind he's on his way down to egypt and so he's on his way

down to egypt because there is a famine in the land just like abraham did in genesis 12 some hundred

years plus before this okay because there was a famine in land and he's and so he isaac must not

believe that god is able to take care of him in the land of canaan there has to be that belief in

there also have you ever wondered why do they why do they always choose to go down to egypt you ever

think about that why they go you know if if there's a famine in the in the region if there's a famine in

the land wouldn't there be a famine down in egypt just like there is in canaan yes there is but egypt

was better equipped egypt was seen as the bread basket of the ancient world and and here's the

difference egypt had the nile the nile river and the nile river emptied into the nile river delta

when which went into the ocean and created this lush agricultural area and that river did not

necessarily depend upon rainfall the nile did not as opposed to in the land of canaan almost almost

solely canaan almost solely depended upon rainfall even its lake the galilean and its river the jordan

needed to be replenished by the rain rain water and it still does today and that's why in

deuteronomy 11 god says to the children of israel the land that i'm taking to taking you into is not

like the land of egypt where you had plenty of water i.e the nile river all right but he's saying

but the land that i will bring you into is a land full of hills and valleys and and that drinks in the

water from the rain of heaven and if you obey me and if you trust me i will give you the early rain

as well as the latter rain all right that's what god says in deuteronomy 11 and this is the land of

promise so this whole winter season the early part and the latter part as the hebrews would call it you

get the early rain and the latter rain god says i will bless you with that so it's important for us to

no to be in the land of canaan was to be in a place of faith different from egypt to be in the

land of canaan was to be in a place of faith you couldn't just go down to the river and pump water

for your vegetable garden okay you had to trust that the lord was going to bring it from heaven

you had to completely and solely trust upon the lord well obviously it hadn't rained in a long time

there's a famine in the land so what do you do you do what dad did we're going to go down to egypt

we're going to go down to egypt and we're going to we're going to survive he survived

move in the bible egypt is always seen as a negative move within the scriptures it was sort of like being equating it to the world today for us going back to the world for your provision rather than trusting the lord in this new place in your life going back to the world you know this new life and unfortunately a lot of us believers begin the christian life with these unrealistic expectations and we think we're going to be a

man when i leave the prayer room when i leave the altar it's going to be happily ever after i made that prayer and i gave my life to jesus and everything is happily ever after ultimately that's true okay yes ultimately but in the meantime guess what there are hills there are valleys there are places of blessing but there are places of famine there are places of famine how many of you who have walked with the lord for any stretch of time do you have never ever experienced

a famine in your life a famine in your life a famine in your spiritual life there are famines there are dry spots in our lives

but so many of us think that we once we do this christian walk thing it's white picket fences and it's happily ever after for the rest of our days

and the first struggle that we ever get to guess what we say i gotta get back to egypt

i gotta go back to egypt man i i that that's this this this is hard this isn't what i expected

i thought when i gave my life to my lord all my friends at school would love me

they would think i was amazing i even prayed at the lunch table and they're not they're not blessing me

you know and and so things are hard and so because things became difficult for you that's a reason to lay

down this whole thing and go back to egypt which was a pathway to destruction a pathway to loneliness

a pathway to separation with god that's that's your decision that's your choice

but that's how a lot of us think we get scared we get scared

i think i'll choose egypt really

you know if but this does bring up a question

it brings as i read this if if there is famine

in the land of promise okay this is the promised land right

if there's famine in the land of promise why

why if this is the land that god says i will bless you in why would god allow there to be a famine

in the land that god told them god told them to go there god's telling them to stay and and here

god's telling them you know you go to this land he told abraham go to this land as soon as they go

there what famine then a little later on guess what more famine and now guess what even more famine

even more famine the answer is pretty easy because your faith in god really is worthless unless it's tested

your my faith in god really is i can i can give lip service to my faith in god all day long

but until it is tested it is worthless that's a tough pill to swallow but there's a reality to that

you know do you do you think you know how how how valuable would your would your faith really be

you know it how would you really know if it works or not if it was never tested

if if your faith what if your faith my faith only grows under a steady diet of blessing and blessing and

blessing my faith only grows when i'm under the spout where the glory comes out 24 7

that's the only that's the only time my faith will ever grow that's not faith that's that that's not

faith that that takes no faith what takes faith is when the cupboards are bare and you say yet i was

still trusting the lord what takes faith is when your child has been life flighted and you don't know

what the next not day the next moment's going to bring and yet you say i will trust in the lord

what takes faith is when you can get to the place where job says though he slay me yet will i praise

him what takes faith is when you look at your bank account and you not only don't have any money but

it's in the red

and that

you

famine so we will understand what it means to lean on him and trust in him

you know this old famine you see it in the old testament you see it even in the parables of jesus the parables of jesus listen famine doesn't change things morally it just brings out what's already there

you hear me on that it becomes a very interesting test you know this is also true in the prodigal son in luke chapter 15 and it's also true right here

the famine doesn't change the character of the people involved it reveals the character of the people involved

that's what happens to you and me when god allows us to go through a famine in our life it reveals our character

do you get scared and run back to jesus or do you run to the arms of egypt or you run to the arms of jesus

famine is not a pretty thing but it's a necessity in the growth of our faith now i'm not sitting here

saying well unless you're downtrodden and saying woe is me you're not a real no no no but it's not it's not

always if god's not blessing me then god's not using me if god's not blessing me then god's not

growing me that's not biblical either that's not biblical either all right let's look at verse 3

sojourn soldiering in this land and i will be with you and i will bless you for you and your offspring

and to your offspring i will give all these lands and i will establish my oath that i swore to abraham

your father so he's saying stay here in this land now he was in gerar and that's where god stopped him

and gerar is the is where the early philistine encampments are before it was known as philistia

later on when david comes into power okay but this is really this is still the land of canaan he's still

there but he's right on the border he's right on the border um right on the threshold as you go

into egypt and uh it just reminds me how many of us like to live right there on the on the border

i'm trusting you god but man i'm really close to egypt just in case

i mean can you not see that in our lives sometimes how we want to cheat towards the border

but god tells him to stay and he says that he's going to bless him but listen to how much this

sounds like the promise that god gave to abraham and he sort of reiterates this in verse 4

he said i will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and i will give you

to your offspring all these lands and in your offspring all the nations of the earth

shall be blessed man all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed isaac because

because you're such a wonderful man because you're such a man of great faith because i just

can't resist you isaac no no verse 5 says because abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge and my

commandments and my statutes and my and my laws guys this blows my mind when i read this and i gotta

tell you why here is a disobedient patriarch like father like son like father like son he's going

down to gara he's actually trying to go down to egypt god stops him and when god appears to him

and speaks to him notice what god doesn't say god god doesn't say he doesn't say you know what's the

deal with you idiotic patriarchs what is the deal with every time there's a famine you guys rush down

to egypt i'm sick of this now god pronounces a blessing upon him it's crazy it's a blessing this

disobedient patriarch god reiterates the grand blessing that he gave to abraham that my friends

is called mercy mercy mercy mercy grace that's the whole new testament message in a nutshell and how

we love this merciful great god did you not know that's what we sang about this morning

this merciful great god this merciful great god you know i know we're in genesis 26

to present time and it's all about how god dealt with him and and i and i want you to get this under your belt this morning because maybe there's someone here in this place this morning where you need to really experience the mercy and the favor and the grace of god you need to be reminded of the mercy and the favor and the grace of god you need to be reminded of the mercy and the favor and the grace of god and excuse me

and we'll get do we have the we're gonna have those scriptures on on the on the you know let's do this a little differently this morning because you guys are half asleep this morning so i don't know if it's me or whatever but we're gonna do this a little bit differently um we're gonna read we're gonna read this out loud uh there's 11 verses we're gonna we're gonna do psalm 103 the 11 i'm gonna read the odd number verses that means one three five seven okay those of you figuring this out and you guys are gonna read together the even the even we'll put the verses up here on the wall

okay and if you don't read them with like you mean it we'll keep reading it until uh sunny's closes and sunny's is is open till late okay here we go verse one bless the lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name you guys

oh man you almost sound like i believe you right there okay who forgives all your iniquity who heals all your diseases

oh that's so good let's do that one again on your mark get set go come on

who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like eagles

he made known his ways to moses he acts to the people of israel

yes yes he will not always chide nor will he keep his anger forever

man somebody should stand up and shout to jesus on that one wow how about that how about that

i katie got excited in the back she took her glasses off her head we're going somewhere now i think revival

just broke out in here how about them apples man oh my goodness for as high as the heavens are above the

earth so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him amen that is good stuff people

that is absolutely good stuff you know the point is in this is our faults our and we have lots of them

just to remind you this morning we got lots of faults lots of faults especially if we gather them up here

just in this little room right here lots of our faults are like a grain of sand

sand set down at the base of the mountain of mercy that god has

think about the biggest mountain you ever came to you've ever walked upon in your life and you're like

whoa you've seen per not not pictures but you that you've walked up to and you take a grain of sand

and you put it at the base of that mountain if i was a poet and i was going to be able to

to give you a poetic picture that's what i would draw a picture of you for you of

god's mercy is like that for you and for me that's exciting stuff the mountain of mercy

the mountain of god's mercy paul says in ephesians chapter 2 but god being rich in mercy right he just

doesn't have mercy he's rich in it i mean he'll dole it out and when you when you think he's he's

finished doling out no he's got more mercy for you more mercy for you jeremiah he's looking at the

destruction of of jerusalem uh save but a few people around in lamentations 3 he says

it's through the lord's mercies that we have not been consumed

consumed it's only by god's mercy that you and i are consumed by his mercy he goes on to say

that his his compassions fail not his compassions fail not and he said then he goes on to say and

they are new every what morning

you

they are new God's mercies are new every morning and he ends with great is your faithfulness

Great is your faithfulness

That's the God you serve

that's the God that we see that is relentlessly chasing Abraham

relentlessly chasing Isaac

relentlessly who will chase Jacob

and he relentlessly

chases you down the path

of life

you've seen it in your own life you've experienced

it

and again he does

this not because

of Isaac

not because of Isaac but because

God made

a promise to

Abraham

26.5 because Abraham obeyed

my voice he kept my

charge my commands

my statutes

and my laws

and so

what God does

is he blesses Isaac

why

for Abraham's sake

now we've

talked about a lot of foreshadowing in this

Genesis that we've seen

the foreshadowing

we see Isaac as a shadow of Christ

okay

we see

we see the ram as a

as a foreshadowing of Christ

that

that sacrifice

a substitutionary sacrifice

we see Rebecca

as a

as a shadowing of

the church

who gives the response

I will go

we see

the servant

the unnamed servant

be a shadowing of the Holy Spirit

but here we have another foreshadowing

because God

blesses Isaac

for Abraham's sake

and

and for

for us

for us today

that equates to us

he

blesses

he blesses

believers

today

for

Jesus

for the sake

of Jesus Christ

not because you deserved it

not because you earned it

but because of the finished

work of Jesus Christ

when you accept

Jesus Christ

God

blesses you

for his sake

for the sake

of Christ

we see this in

in the trial

you know

we talk about the trial

we're never gonna

we

we never successfully

run away from our trials

you know

God continues to allow

these trials

to come upon Isaac

because

you know

we see that

God sees to it

that his children learn

from the trials

and guess what

if you don't learn

from that trial

guess what God

he doesn't make you

but guess what

he allows you to do

repeat that thing

until you get it

we can never grow

in faith

by running

from difficulty

that's exactly

why Paul writes

in Romans 5

not only that

but we rejoice

in our sufferings

knowing that

suffering produces

endurance

and endurance

produces character

and character

produces hope

and hope

does not put us

to shame

because God's love

has been poured

into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit

who has been

given to us

you know

there's a point

where David says

in Psalm 55

oh that I would

have wings

like a dove

that I may fly

away and rest

you know

and a lot of us

wish that

for ourselves

when adversity

comes our way

when a trial

comes our way

when God allows us

to go through

a famine

we want to have

wings like doves

and fly away

I want to fly away

so that I can

I can find rest

you know

but if we

if we did that

we would

we would always

be doves

when God wants us

to mount up

on wings like eagles

as the prophet

Isaiah says

and when we mount

up on wings

like eagles

it doesn't change

the fact that

we have

we have troubles

it doesn't change

the fact that

we have famine

in our life

what the psalmist

is talking about

is when you

we allow God

and we mount up

on wings like eagles

it changes

our perspective

from the viewpoint

of an eagle

it changes

your perspective

on the famine

that God

is allowing

you know

I love

what the old

Supreme Court Justice

Oliver Wendell Holmes

said

he said

if I had a formula

for bypassing

trouble I would not pass it around trouble creates a capacity to handle it now listen to these wise words he says I don't embrace trouble that is as bad as treating it as an enemy but I do say meet it as a friend for you will see a lot of

of it and better to be on speaking terms with it many of you just blanked out it's like what I'm supposed to call trouble a friend you know there's a there's also an old saying that says a bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn you know there's there's a lot of us you know before before we get over finished with this thing called life there's gonna be a lot of bends in the road and adversity adversity adversity

comes famines come and famine famine gives us two important gifts okay it gives us the gift of profound growth okay and it gives us the gift of opportunity we get to grow and we have the opportunity to show the glory of God to show how we are trusting in the Lord and again it's not it's not you know what defines us is not what what people do okay I'm thoroughly convinced of that it's it it's not what happens to me it's

not what happens to you that actually defines you can it have an impact on your life absolutely but it doesn't have to have to define you there are contributing factors I get that but I I am the way I am because of the way I responded to that okay and what I'm saying is that you're not passive in your development

we're not called to be passive in our development okay definition belongs to you and it belongs to me it's kind of like what I would always try to keep teach Caitlin when she was younger you know you know sweetheart look people are going to say negative things about people are going to call you names but it's not what they call you it's what you answer to

in this life seriously how I respond with the Lord's help that's on me that's on me and so I want to encourage you this morning that we are we are all going to go through times of famine in our lives

and I want to do something a little bit uh a little bit different this morning I'm going to turn this microphone off for a second

there we go

Chuck will this thing come on

how do we get this thing come on come on up here worship team

I need your passcode Chuck

this morning

I'm sitting in my office

and I'm preparing

and uh

I'm uh

I'm going through the sermon

I'm preparing

and

I send a text message to uh

to the worship team

I said look I know we haven't prepared this or anything

but I want to end

differently this morning

and I want to end

I want to end with a celebration this morning

too many years

there's nothing wrong with just uh

you know it's a time of reflection in the Lord

and we've heard the word

we've heard we've had

a lot of prayer go out today

and we want to

definitely remember

uh Miss Glinda

remember Armin

as uh

we we are continuing

but this is a time of celebration for us

today because

Christ

brings about the definition

of who we are

and though we may walk through

and maybe you're going in a

in a time of famine

in your life right now

that does not define

who you are

and God is allowing you to go

through this

this time

in this place of famine

in order to grow

you

closer

to him

amen

and so we're just gonna

we're just gonna

sing

sing this song

it's a really old song

so you guys

amount of passion and Avery can you give us a one two three four

all right let's sing now come on

sing it now come on

we need to faithfulness oh god

you wrestle with the sinner's heart

you lead us fast through waters and to mercy

and nothing can keep us apart

so remember your people remember your children remember your promise oh god

come on

your grace is enough your grace is enough your grace is enough your grace is enough for me

yes

so

need is you

for me

me

you lead the strong

You lead us in the song of your salvation

And all your people sing along

Here we go, remember

To remember your people

Remember your children

Remember your promise, oh God

Your grace is none

Your grace is none for me

God, I see your grace is none

Your grace is none

Your grace is none for me

So remember, here we go

So remember your people

Let me hear you

Remember your promise, oh God

Sing it again, come on

So remember your people

Remember your children

Remember your promise to God

Cause your grace is none

Your grace is none

Your grace is none for me

Your grace is none

Ever reaching out to us

Your grace is none for me

God bless you, love you, happy Mother's Day Hug somebody's neck on the way out Tell them it's good to see you Let's give Jesus praise this morning! Come on!

Let's go!

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