And the rest of us, let's grab our Bibles, and we will get to Genesis chapter 21.

We continue our study in Genesis, our expository look of the book of Genesis.

We have been walking through here for quite some time, and we've got quite some time to go.

But we got through chapter 21 last week, and this week's message is entitled, Sojourner.

Sojourner. Does anybody know what the word sojourner means?

I heard a couple of whispers that were correct, but you said them so you didn't want to be wrong, right?

Traveler, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's part of it.

So, but this week is Sojourner, and we've kind of, we've reached a strategic point in Genesis chapter 1,

because we got to the birth of Isaac, okay, that we've been waiting for this.

The son of promise has finally come.

And one of the interesting things that I found out that I didn't know until I began to study,

and I thought to myself last week as we left off at the end of verse 21 last week in chapter 21,

I thought to myself as I was studying, I should have just went ahead and covered all of chapter 21,

because a lot of the biblical scholars and the commentaries that I like to read on and get some information from and study with,

they don't even address verses 22 through 34.

They skip it.

I thought that was interesting.

They just, they don't, they don't, because there's so much emphasis on Isaac,

that 22 through 34 aren't even, aren't even in some of them.

So I guess we could just say, it's in there, just read it on your own, and there you go,

and God be with you, and we'll just dismiss today.

Yeah.

So no, that's not what we're going to do.

So, what I have been able to do is through just some dialogue with the Lord and some studying going back and forth is,

again, we've reached a pinnacle point in chapter 21 with the birth of Isaac, okay?

And he's the son of promise.

And then the next huge passage that we're going to consider comes in chapter 22, obviously,

with the sacrifice of Isaac.

And that's going to be a pivotal passage,

just one of the most pivotal passages in all the book of Genesis, in chapter 22.

And it's one of those pivotal passages in chapter 22,

because it's one of those passages that you either teach and preach it,

or you just ignore it altogether, or you run from it.

But there's no neutrality with Genesis 22.

And the lesson of Genesis 22 finds its way all the way back around to the distilled truth

of having faith in God.

But faith in God in a particular way,

and that's faith in God that takes form,

the form of God's assurance for a substitutionary sacrifice.

But we're not there yet.

We're not there yet.

This morning we're going to be actually looking at a very interesting point

that I find in the book of Genesis in the covenantal history.

It's one of those things that we need to point,

that points us to the unfolding in the Genesis narrative here,

but also unfolds in the covenantal history.

And one of those interesting important aspects of the covenant,

and that is that the outsiders are witnesses to the covenant.

Outsiders.

And I say outside.

Those who are outside the faith,

and those who are even outside the covenant,

they are witnesses to the covenant.

And this is very important.

Abraham meets again Abimelech.

And if you remember, we met Abimelech in chapter 20.

All right?

And so I'm not going to rehash the entire sermon that I gave you in that portion,

but we do need to revisit a few things because it's very important for what we're going to look at this morning.

But look back in chapter 20.

It begins.

From there, Abraham journeyed toward the territory of Negev and lived between Kadesh and Sarah,

and he sojourned in Gerar.

And Abraham said of his wife Sarah,

She is my sister.

Okay?

Again, this is the second time that they've done this mess.

Okay?

And she is my sister.

And Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.

But, so this was common back in this point, this time of day.

Remember, if you were an authoritative person, you were ruling a territory,

and you came into someone else's territory,

and you didn't have the manpower to back it up, and someone else liked your wife,

they could take your wife and kill you.

So, early on, early on, Abraham and Sarah had this agreement.

Look, Abraham says, Look, you're a hot lady.

You're beautiful.

And so, this is our agreement.

Whenever we go someplace, if we go someplace other than our country,

you have to say that you're my sister and I'm your brother.

That's to protect my life, Abraham says.

Alright?

Alright?

a woman that you have taken. For she is a man's wife. Now Abimelech had not approached her. Meaning he hadn't been physical with her yet. He just took her. And she's waiting in line, probably with a lot of the others that this king has. So he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Just did he not say to me, she is my sister and she herself said he is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands, I've done this. And so, look, I didn't know. I didn't know. I was just being a

I was just being a Palestinian king.

I was just doing the king thing, you know, do what I want.

I didn't know.

I didn't know.

But here God comes and talks to this guy who's lost, as Hogan's goat is, okay?

But obviously he speaks to him in a dream and says, you're a dead man if you touch her.

You're a dead man if you lay a finger on her.

So all of this goes on and basically God says, yes, I see that, you know, you have integrity.

And that's why I didn't take your life.

That's why I didn't kill you, all right?

I only kept you alive.

Therefore, don't touch her and give her back and all this stuff.

And Abraham's a prophet.

He's going to pray for you, all these things.

And it sets all that aside.

So that's Abimelech's first meeting with Abraham.

And Abimelech even says, why did you do this to us, you know?

You're supposed to be a man of God.

And yet I'm not a man of God.

But yet I know right from wrong and what you did to me was where you set me up for failure.

And we talked a few weeks ago how it is that we should live our lives in such a way as a church, as believers in God, that we don't allow the world to point fingers at us.

Because the world knows right from wrong.

The world knows what's right from wrong.

And they want to, they're watching us as Christians and they want to be able to point fingers at us.

See, I told you they'd blow it.

See, I told you they'd drop it.

See, I told you.

They don't want to live up to these standards, but they, by God, are going to hold you to those standards, at least the ones they know of, right?

And so that's where we're called as believers to know that the world is watching us.

Like it or not, when you accept Jesus Christ, you walk in that faith, you get the big bullseye on your chest.

It comes with the territory.

It comes with the territory.

So, that was their first meeting, okay?

That was their, and we'll, we'll refer back to that in just a second.

But again, now Abimelech is going to meet with Abraham again.

Because Abraham, remember, he says, he says to Abraham, Abimelech says, you can live wherever you want in my territory.

So he's not in the land of promise.

He's still down in Negev.

He's not in the land of promise yet.

He says, you can have wherever you want.

Make yourself at home.

You make yourself at home.

And we'll see why he does that in just a few seconds.

Verse 22, chapter 21.

At the time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, God is with you in all that you do.

Now, therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity.

But as I have dealt with you kindly, so you will deal with me in the land where you have sojourned.

And Abraham said, I will swear when Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized.

Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this thing.

You did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.

So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave it to Abimelech.

And the two men made a covenant.

Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart.

And Abimelech said to Abraham, what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?

He said, these seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.

Therefore, the place was called Beersheba because there both of them swore an oath.

So they made a covenant at Beersheba.

And Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of the army, rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.

And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

So Abimelech appears again, and it's very interesting how he does.

Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army.

And Abraham has...

And Abraham has...

of Israel. The extent of the terrain hereafter in the scriptures is noted as Israel is ranging from Dan to Beersheba. Dan is in the very northern area, and Beersheba is in the bottom. At this point, it's not clear how important Beersheba is going to be. But again, it becomes the southernmost hallmark area of the territory of Israel. Now, after the birth of Isaac, where God fulfills his promise to Abraham, that it fulfills

fulfills the promise that he's going to have this boy, this child of promise. It begins in verse 22, it says, at that time. At that time. That's significant, because it's a biblical expression. It's a biblical expression that means sometime after.

It doesn't mean like a day or so later. It doesn't even mean that year. It just means in a season of time. In a season of time. And a lot of times we think, well, it's just that very next day. That's not the case whatsoever. Because that's going to become clear to us, because soon enough, Isaac's going to show up. And immediately, just in a few verses, he's 13 or 14 years old. Then a few sentences later, he's going to be a married man, okay?

So at that time means that some time has passed, okay? At that time is the time that Abraham sojourned in Negev, in this place where he's raising Isaac. He's living with his wife, Sarah.

And Abimelech and Phicol, they come to Abraham. And what they say is why it's so important that we look closely at this passage this morning.

They say to Abraham this, God is with you in all that you do.

God is with you in all that you do.

Just let that marinate for a second.

One of the important issues in the covenantal history of Scripture is that there are witnesses to the covenant.

Witnesses of it.

And often, those witnesses are outside the covenant.

Wasn't that just the very thing that Jill was praying for this morning?

As she's praying to have an impact on those students, an impact on their lives.

They don't even know why you love them that way.

They don't even know why their lives have been affected by you.

But because of the covenantal love that God has, the redemptive covenant, we haven't even got to that yet, okay?

The redemptive covenant, which gives us that unconditional love for others, because God has unconditionally loved us.

That is the very thing that has a witness on other people's lives.

Amen?

And so, the outsiders sometimes give confirmation.

And that's really important in this case.

Abimelech and Phicol, they neither know God or fear God in the greatest sense.

It's because, remember back in chapter 20, it was Abraham who said that the people have no fear of God whatsoever in this area.

But as you saw, Abimelech would fear God, okay?

Especially when God appeared to him in a dream and warned him, you're a dead man.

You're a dead man if you touch this woman.

You don't give her back.

But Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, they recognize what Abraham may not even recognize himself at this time.

They recognize it.

Abraham might not recognize what Abimelech and Phicol see, and that is this.

God is with you in all that you do.

God is with you.

God prospers you in everything that you...

And I always harken back to Jacob, you know?

Think about Jacob.

You know, here he is, he's trying to win a bride, okay?

And the father-in-law tricks him, and he takes the one.

He has to work for the other, okay?

His true love.

Again, another, what, 14 years or whatever.

Another 14 years.

But he keeps Jacob along.

Why?

Because he sees that everything that Jacob touches prospers.

God's hand is on him.

So guess what?

I want him around me.

I mean, do you not ever have a drawing to be around people?

You have the sense that God's hand is on them.

You see how their lives are being blessed.

You see how they're being touched.

How they handle adversity.

How they handle this.

Outsiders of the covenant. Complete outsiders. This Palestinian king sees the fact that Abraham is prospering. His herds are increasing. His flocks are increasing. Okay. Even as a sojourner. As a sojourner. And this is the most as a sojourner. It's the most vulnerable situation that you could ever imagine in the ancient world. And is it not sojourner? It's the most vulnerable situation that you could ever imagine in the ancient world.

It's something that you could ever imagine in the ancient world. It's something that you could ever imagine in the ancient world. It's something that's very vulnerable in today's world.

God's promised him. But God's promised him land. And God's promised his descendants land. But right now, he's a sojourner. He's in a very vulnerable position.

But it's a Bimelech who says, in spite of your very vulnerable position in terms of anyone else, you do not appear to be vulnerable, Abraham, because God is with you in all that you do.

i see this and it's such an important testimony even today even today people look at the survival

of the church they look at the survival of christianity and they look at the blessings

that come to christians and they say god is with you in all that you do and sometimes we christians

are like abraham we don't fully recognize that god is with us in all that we do we take for granted

so many of the blessings that god has blessed us with we sort of glaze over these things when we

forget how truly blessed we are right where we are but god is with you in all that you do

a lot of a lot of times we take these blessings that come to us and to our families and our job

situations or whatever and we sort of glaze over it while the world looks at us in wonder

how in the world that wow i wish i had i wish and we're over here with grumpy britches on

mad that we want a million dollars but we got to pay taxes on it that's how some of us would be

well i gotta pay taxes on now you didn't have it to begin with did you well no but now i gotta pay

taxes on it all right let's get through this verse 23 abimelech says now therefore swear to me

by god that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity but as i

dealt kindly with you and he did abimelech dealt very kindly with him okay so you will deal with me

in the land where you have sojourned so he underlines the fact that abraham is a sojourner okay

and it and but he's a very welcome sojourner all right abimelech welcomes abraham he welcomes

his people he welcomes his herds and his flocks and he welcomes his son isaac he's very welcome

because he sees that the lord is blessing him in everything that he's doing abraham is just following

i mean abimelech is just following the logic isn't he if god blesses you and all that you do

i want to keep you around i want to keep you around and you know and and obviously

and i've and i've seen that if god blesses those who are blessing you and and he's going to curse

those who are cursing you i'll just live through that i just had a dream i was about ready to curse

you because i was about ready to take your wife and guess what i'm going to bless this guy

i'm going to bless this guy until this little this little thing that i figured out proves itself not

to be uh worthwhile anymore but remember that's exactly what god said to abraham early on wasn't it

i'm going to bless those who bless you and those who curse you i will curse

and yet abraham doesn't really fully see it he's still trying to play tricks he's that's my sister

it's not my wife he's still not really fully walking in faith but here again

Abimelech understands that even if abraham doesn't see a full picture of it and it and at this point they just make an agreement but he says I want I you know I have an agreement I want an agreement with you he says swear to me by God that you will not deal deal falsely with me swear to me

so you you look at this and who is in the weak position and who's in the strong position here you know this is Abimelech he has a key he has a kingdom oh he has the you know he in a political sense he's the one coming from a position of strength is it not he has the the the commander of the army reporting to him all this all this stuff and and abraham is in the weak position but it it isn't abraham coming to Abimelech asking for this agreement it's Abimelech

asking for Abraham for this agreement because Abimelech understands this that the divine equation is far more important than the political equation that's a message that we need to hear today in this nation that the divine equation is far more important than the political equation we are called to grow the kingdom of God not your kingdom not my kingdom

not our senator or our governor or our president's kingdom and I'm getting political I'm just saying we're called to grow the kingdom of God

the divine equation is always greater than any political equation you and I are called to go and make disciples of all nations

make disciples that means we're willing to do life with them and and they will know that you love one another by the way you you love me by the way you love one another by the way that's on the table too what do we do with that we're going to get to a whole nother sermon we're not going to do that today

but Abimelech wants this because he's afraid that Abraham might make some sort of false accusation or something accuse him of something and he doesn't want God's wrath

I already had that one dream that woke me up it wasn't bad pizza it was God he woke me up and and even if Abraham is not fully confident that those who bless him will be blessed and those who curse him will be cursed

you know Abimelech knows I know I had the dream he woke me up

and we don't know how he knows but he knows it may just been that dream that was enough for him boom I got it you don't have to do it to me again

don't wake me up so 24 and Abraham said I will swear when Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servant had seized

and again so some time has passed some time has passed and we read about a well of water and we can't pass over this without recognizing that that's the most

most valuable commodity in the entire ancient world a well of water especially in Negev

you're in the desert if you live in the desert what do you think the most valuable commodity it would be

water a well a good well a good well and and and a good well is a sign of God's blessings too

don't just skim over that because you know what you can go out in the desert you can dig a lot of holes

and not get any water you can dig a whole lot of holes just because you're digging a hole doesn't mean you're going to get water

but that's God's blessing is this well and so um water is is a source of uh is a sacred commodity out there

okay and Abimelech says you know I don't know who's done this thing you know so Abimelech says he wants

this agreement and Abraham says to Abimelech hey man I want you to know that some some of your people

they've seized my well and I expect you to do something about it and he says wait a minute now

you just you're using past tense you're using past tense Abraham you didn't tell me about this

as a matter of fact I didn't know until just now until today Abimelech said I'm innocent of this

and you didn't say anything to me about this until today verse 26 and Abimelech said I do not know

who's done this you didn't say a thing to me about you didn't tell me about it I have not heard about

this until today now Abimelech is morally turning the tables on Abraham I'm holding you accountable dude

he now has a charge against Abraham um um Abimelech had secured from Abraham this sworn promise

that he wouldn't allow Abimelech to put

God says to Abraham you have wronged me you've wronged me by not telling me about the situation I didn't know about it until today now how do we know that Abraham understands this by his response the response he gets remember back in in chapter 20 I said we refer to this when it was Abimelech who had wronged Abraham this is what Abimelech does chapter 20 verse 14 then Abimelech does chapter 20 verse 14 then Abimelech does

Abimelech took sheep and oxen and gave his male servants and female servants and gave them to Abraham and returned Sarah his wife to him and also in verse 16 to Sarah behold I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver it is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you and before everyone you are vindicated so he pays a bride's price Abimelech pays a bride's price to give the guy's own wife back to him

okay he's saying look okay I've wronged you God woke me up in a dream I'm doing what's right I'm going to make things right I'm doing this I'm going to set it up so when

so when Abraham was in a position of moral superiority over Abimelech Abimelech's response was to

give Abraham gifts to make a public display of the fact that I am trying to right this wrong

I'm stepping out here and in effect that's what Abraham does

Abraham acknowledges by his act that he should have told Abimelech

about the seizing of the well so that Abimelech could have rectified the situation earlier

because every minute that's passed and it goes unresolved Abimelech's life is in is in danger

not by Abraham but by God by God Abimelech knows this coming against the judgment of God

verse 27 so Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them Abimelech and the two men made a covenant

covenant and this is this is uh Abraham uh saying man all's well with us man I know we had a sworn

promise but that sworn promise wasn't enough okay about God Abimelech just just the promise about God

Abimelech in a lot of trouble so what they're doing now is going beyond the sworn promise and they are

going to enact a covenant and this is different from an agreement because this covenant is a vow that's

made before God and it's a three-party pattern for this covenant and that's why um you know for instance

marriage in in a Christian understanding must be seen as a covenant okay it because it's not just about

a man and a woman that's exchanging vows it's a man and a woman that are exchanging vows before God

there's that third party in there you know the secular world sees marriage simply as a contract all right

but that's why in the in the church in the in the Christian scheme it is a covenant okay there's

always there's always that three parties in there verse 28

and Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart again there's the number seven you see a lot of

times in scripture the number of completion the number of perfection but these seven ewe lambs are

without spot or blemish and they are to be sacrificed all right verse 29 and Abimelech said

to Abraham what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you've set apart he recognizes that

Abraham's doing something that he doesn't know what it is verse 30 he said these seven ewe lambs you

will take from my hand that is uh that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well therefore

the place was called Beersheba because both the men swore an oath now you might say well it doesn't

say anything about sacrificing the lamb it's it just says they were given well the context of the

scripture here help us to understand that this is a sacrifice they're not just setting the lambs

apart they're setting them apart as a sign of the covenant all right again verse 30 says that

these seven ewe lambs you take from my hand this will be maybe a witness that I have dug this well

so Abraham is saying that this the precise nature of this covenant is going to cement with God as our

witness it's going to cement uh the uh the fact that we're not going to let anything come between

oath um Abraham names it Beersheba okay uh which uh in the hebrew it means uh the well of the land or it can mean the well of seven it depends on how you break the hebrew down both have both both are used and both are right you'll find that a lot in the hebrew uh a lot of times the hebrew has two meanings and both of them apply as you when you when you break these down both of them could work verse 32 so they made a covenant at Beersheba then Abimelech and Phicol the

commander's army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines so they're going back to their primary place where Abimelech is king and what does Abraham do you know here he does uh here's another sign of the covenant Abraham's done this before though 33 so Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God and Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines

so here is Abraham in in a mature part of his life and and this is Abraham the one whom God's hand of promise has been placed this is Abraham the one whom God has established the hopes by the means of a covenant the one who God has given and made all these promises through and so these two encounters with Abimelech are bookends to the birth of Isaac

Isaac and Isaac is the big event I the birth of Isaac is the big thing the promise of the fulfillment the covenantal child all of this but but you need to understand that right now Abraham is now set up in a way we didn't see before we we knew it was coming but he wasn't there yet he's now set up to be the father of a great nation now it can come through it's through Isaac we're told that that Asians that nation's going to come

but so so so we understand that so now Abraham's primary responsibility is going and concern is going to be to raise his son Isaac the son of the covenant the son of promise and and so he's going to be the one that all the covenants are going to come through and it's going to be fulfilled and but Abraham you know he has only one covenantal promised son all right so we understand so how's he going to be a father of a nation through Isaac there's going to be many and many many many many many many many sons and all those descendants and

generations more numerous more numerous than the sands of the sea more numerous than the stars in the sky but there has to be a place right now for Abraham to be there has to be a place for him to live he's not in the promised land he's uh you know somewhere between Ur the Chaldees and the promised land he's not you know he's not he's not he's he's not going to make it to the land flowing with milk and honey he's described in this

passage as a sojourner but as a sojourner he's the one whom God's covenantal promises are fulfilled through his son Isaac he has to have some place to live he has to have some place to continue on and now he's in Negev he's on someone else's land where he's a sojourner and God has made provision for him in this and we're given this elaborate dual

account of Abimelech just to know how God has made provision for Abraham in all of this and all of this he is he's not now in the land of promise he's on the threshold of the land of promise okay he's a sojourner in someone else's property he's digging wells he's tending his flocks he's raising his son Isaac's always close he's going to be there because Isaac has been born and now the focus is going to shift on Isaac

yes the son of promise that's why chapter 22 looms before us and this is going to be a crucial time where God's going to test Abraham's faith to sacrifice Isaac but we're not there yet and at this point it's very important for us to recognize that God's covenant promises are understood they are affirmed they are seen they are honored even by those who are outside

of the covenant of the covenant by those who are outside even a Philistine king the king that Abraham described as not knowing or fearing God he fears God now Abimelech fears God now you better believe it but he understands that Abraham is a prophet in God's

in a foreign territory.

He needs that peace.

Why?

So he can raise his son, Isaac.

Raise his son, Isaac.

And the last verse of chapter 1

tells us why and how all these things take place.

And Abraham sojourned many days

in the land of the Philistines.

He's a sojourner.

And here's the last thought.

And I say we're closing.

We really are closing, okay?

But here's the last thought in all of this.

The idea of being a sojourner, okay?

The idea of living in someone else's land

where you are living there.

Everything's there, but you're not exactly home.

He's living there.

He's not exactly home.

This becomes a picture of the church.

You see this?

How it becomes a picture of the church.

I mean, Peter, when he writes his epistle to the church,

okay, as inspired by the Holy Spirit,

he writes to the church dispersed,

those who are resident aliens,

those who are sojourners, okay?

And in this age, with all that's going on in our culture,

we are newly reminded all the time

that we are sojourners.

We are sojourners.

This world is not fully our home.

It's our home.

It's where we live.

Yeah, we're not getting on a rocket

and going to Jupiter or Mars or whatever.

If you do, good luck, whatever.

But we're here.

We're in the world,

but we're not of the world.

We are not fully home.

Abraham is a sojourner.

God is using this as a picture.

Here is someone who is a sojourner.

He is living in the land.

He is being blessed,

waiting on the promises of God,

but they haven't yet all been fulfilled.

Isn't that our lives?

Isn't that the church?

We are living here,

and God's hand is upon us.

He is blessing us.

Amen and hallelujah.

But we are not yet home.

That's why we are not to hold so tightly to this world,

because this world is not fully our home.

We are sojourners.

We are sojourners.

We were created for something else.

We were created for something more.

We were created for something better.

And day by day,

year by year,

moment by moment,

God's promises are being made alive in and through us.

And we reflect that as we live as brothers and sisters in the faith,

in a world that is not fully ours,

not fully our home.

I mean,

I don't know about you,

I'm still awaiting the kingdom promises.

I've seen a lot of them come my way,

but aren't you still waiting the kingdom promises?

Yes.

I don't want to see all the strife that's going on in the world today.

All the bitterness and just the,

gosh,

we could spend the next 40 minutes just talking about all the mess,

M-E-S-S mess that's going on.

But the problem is,

the problem,

half of the problem,

let's say three quarters,

let's go there,

okay?

Three quarters of the problem is the fact that people love this world too much.

man,

I'm convicted of that all the time.

But this is where Abraham is.

And this is where Abraham is going to raise Isaac.

And we're on the threshold of chapter 22.

But until we get to chapter 22,

which is next week,

I want you to reflect on this.

I mean,

just,

just,

just,

just reflect on this.

How is it that we can live,

thrive,

have jobs,

have families,

have,

have a,

a life.

I want a life.

You know,

we have really,

Americanized Christianity.

We really have.

And we've confused the American,

American.

where I lived. You know, I don't know, has anyone ever been on a mission trip outside of this country? You ever think about, I remember sitting in a little shack in Honduras in the middle of nowhere and thinking, how was it that I was born where I was born with this melanin and they had something different. And yet, for some reason, so many think lesser of these people, people who created in God's image.

somewhere along the line, we've gotten the Christian, the, the American dream mixed up with the Christian dream. So how do we, how do we continue to separate all these things? How do, how do I focus on being kingdom minded and a kingdom man, a kingdom woman, a kingdom child, okay, in this world? How do I, how do I do these things? How do I do these things?

Oh, you guys never thought about that? How about living your life in such a way, we're going to be really Andy Griffith here, okay? Just simple, S-I-M-P-L-E, simple. I'm just a simple guy anyway. How about living your life in such a way that all that's reflected about you is God is with you in all

all that you do. And in the Greek, you know what that all means? All. All that you do. God is with you in all that you do. God is with you in the way that you carry yourself in school. Violet, did you know that? God is with you in the way that you interact with your girlfriends at school.

God is with you in the way that you do. God is with you in the way that you do. God is with you when you're at the mill working. God is with you in all that you do as you pull someone over for a traffic violation.

And they've already got an attitude about you before you ever step out of the car.

Because somebody passed me a minute ago going faster than me, right?

It was probably Bobby.

And God is with you in all that you do.

I mean, we could go on and on on this.

But how about living our lives in such a way that that is what's seen and reflected in our lives.

And then the character of Christ will be the thing that shines through in us the most.

We don't always get it right.

We're not expected to always get it right.

That's why we have the New Testament.

Grace!

Grace!

Thank God for grace!

But God, being rich in mercy.

Okay, I'm going to stop because I'm going to get a whole other...

Come on up, worship team.

Somebody's alarm's going off.

There we go.

Yeah.

The angel set an alarm on me.

It's going off.

She's got to feed a bunch of people for a meeting.

You got food for your meeting?

Yeah, because now I'm sitting there because I heard your alarm going off.

I'm sending everybody over there to be part of the hospitality now.

God bless you.

Thank you for being here today.

You know, I meant to say this before we celebrated communion.

But if you're here this morning, and maybe your child is in the children's ministry back there right now.

And what a great time when we celebrate communion the first Sunday of every month for you to be able to speak into your child's life about maybe they haven't accepted Jesus and what that really means.

I meant to encourage you with that this morning.

And so I apologize about that, but it's a great teaching tool for you to be able to speak to them and let them know why we're going to wait.

Why you can walk up here with mom and dad, but we're not going to take it right now, and here's why.

And so in doing that as well, too, even in your household, it speaks volumes that God is with you in all that you do as you continue to honor the Lord.

I want to remind you this morning, if there's something on your heart you'd like to pray about,

I want to remind you this morning, if there's something on your heart.

Thank you so much that you offer us the opportunity to walk in your ways so that we can make the declaration to all those who are inside the covenant and outside the covenant, that the living God, the everlasting living God is with us in all that we do. And we understand the magnitude of all that means and all that holds. We understand the responsibility that comes with that as well, too. And we say, yes, Jesus, that is part of dying to ourselves, dying to ourselves.

So that you would be made much of, you would be magnified, and you would be glorified. In the name of Jesus, we give thanks and praise today. Thanks and praise today. And all of God's people said, Amen.