In this episode of the 'Journey of Faith' series, Dallas Kaauwai delves into the story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, and Ishmael, focusing on the themes of God's promises, purpose, and provision. He discusses the fulfillment of God's promise with the birth of Isaac, despite previous doubts, and explores the emerging sibling rivalry between Isaac and Ishmael. Dallas emphasizes the importance of trusting God's intentional timing and purpose over our own understanding. Through these biblical stories, he highlights the necessity of genuine faith, dependence on God, and enduring challenges as part of spiritual growth. The sermon concludes with practical advice on aligning our personal plans with God's will and embracing His gracious nature.

00:00 Introduction and Sermon Series Overview

01:38 Abraham's Journey and God's Promises

01:56 The Birth of Isaac

05:22 Sibling Rivalry: Isaac and Ishmael

07:10 Abraham's Distress and God's Assurance

10:57 Trusting God's Purpose Over Our Own

14:32 Struggling with Trust and Faith

15:13 Enduring Challenges and Seeking God

16:15 God's Higher Ways and Our Humility

17:44 The Story of Hagar and Ishmael

19:08 God's Provision and Purpose

20:43 Aligning Our Purpose with God's

25:45 The Cycle of Promise, Purpose, and Provision

28:06 Practical Steps to Trust God's Promises

30:05 Concluding Prayer and Reflections

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OC Church of Christ

Good morning, everyone.

2

Uh, my name is Dallas.

3

Like I said, I lead the campus

ministry up here in the north, and

4

we get to continue in our sermon

series today on the journey of faith.

5

And we're gonna be continuing

the story of Abraham.

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Um, I remember the last time I

preached, I was talking about Abram.

7

Now it's Abraham, so shouldn't be any

discrepancy there about who's who.

8

It's just Abraham now.

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And also, I will create another disclaimer

that now we have Ishmael and Isaac.

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And so, if I, if I, if the two I's

confuse me, please give me grace.

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I, I, I would appreciate that so much.

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But, uh, Dan talked about last week about

the lot, about lot and the compromises

13

that he had to, uh, go through and

endure during his time, um, during

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the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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And obviously, I'm up here this Sunday.

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So, me and Dan back to

back, that says something.

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And that means that USC lost twice.

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So, uh, In the last week.

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Therefore, Marcel is grieving right now,

so we need to give him some love, alright?

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Now, now my dad is USC alumni,

so I do grieve a part of it,

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but I feel for Marcel as well.

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But before we get into it, I'm gonna

pray, and we'll get started, amen?

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Alright, God, thank you so much for today.

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Uh, thank you for bringing us, uh,

just together this morning, God.

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We would not be here without you.

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God, we are so grateful that we get

to worship in a place that is free.

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Amen.

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Um, and that we live in

freedom, God, because of your

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son Jesus sacrifice for us.

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God, I pray that this lesson today is

just more of you speaking than I am, God.

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I pray that my words do not

carry a part heavier than yours.

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I pray that you and your spirit

just guide us in our hearts

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and lead us closer to you.

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God, we love you.

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for this time.

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In Jesus name, amen.

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Alright, guys.

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So, Journey of Faith.

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We're coming to the end here.

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So, you guys, you guys have

done a great job so far.

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The title of the lesson

today is Promises Kept.

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We'll We're gonna be in

Genesis chapter 21 today.

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So, with that, let's go

over and turn in there.

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Genesis chapter 21, verses 1 through 7.

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It says, Now the Lord was

gracious to Sarah, as he had said.

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And the Lord did for Sarah

what he had promised.

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Sarah became pregnant and bore a

son to Abraham in his old age, at

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the very time God had promised him.

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Abraham gave the name Isaac

to the son Sarah bore him.

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When his son Isaac was eight days old,

Abraham circumcised him as God commanded.

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Abraham was a hundred years old

when his son Isaac was born to him.

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Sarah said, God has brought me

laughter, and everyone who hears

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about this will laugh with me.

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And she added, Who would have said to

Abraham that Sarah would nourish children?

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Yet I have born him a son in his old age.

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So it's so encouraging, right?

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I mean, think about it.

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From where we started in Genesis

chapter 12 to where we are now

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in 21, 25 years have taken place

until this promise came through.

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I don't know what you've waited

for 25 years, but that's,

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it's been a while for me.

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I, I've only been in life for 23 years.

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I'm, that's, uh, I'm nowhere near that.

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But, but it's encouraging to

see that God keeps His promises.

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Amen?

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The fact that Abraham is a hundred

years old, Sarah is ninety years old.

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And why?

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Because God is the God of promise.

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I mean, think about what God had to go

through with these two, specifically.

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You had them leaving Canaan, the land that

God had promised Abraham, due to a famine.

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Them kind of not being really

faithful or really trusting God.

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Sure, like, the logistical move is

to move out of the land of famine.

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But why not have faith in God that God

could do something through the famine?

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But then there was Abraham

lying about Sarah being his

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sister, um, to Pharaoh in Egypt.

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Then we have, um, Abraham marrying

and having a child with Hagar.

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Um, expressing his doubt.

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It says in the scripture that

he actually laughed when God

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said that he would have a son.

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And then even lying again

about Sarah being his sister

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to Bimelech in chapter 20.

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So, you see all these moments, and

yet, who is consistent through it all?

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It is God because God

is a God of promises.

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And the fact that he makes

the promise is what makes it

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solidified and sustainable, right?

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It's not contingent on us.

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It's the fact that if he's the

one that reaches out and says

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this promise that he will keep it.

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There's no denying that you can look

at any any any store in the Bible guys.

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We have promised.

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Yes.

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He has kept it to his word.

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You know, God's continued faithfulness to

Abraham, despite these failures, reveals

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that God's promises are not dependent

on human perfection, but of grace.

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I mean, think, let's go

back to verse 1 here.

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If I can go back here.

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It says what?

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Now the Lord was what?

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Gracious to Sarah.

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Right?

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She didn't, like Amelia said, there's

certain decisions that she made or that

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Abraham made that were very unfaithful.

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That wasn't keeping to the

promise that God had given them.

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But what?

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God is gracious to her.

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He's still blessed and still

fulfills the promise despite her

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not, quote unquote, deserving.

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Because that's what grace is, right?

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Grace is giving, it's being given

a gift when you do not deserve it.

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And God knew, and God knew, and we

know as we read that Abraham and

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Sarah did not deserve this gift.

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But get what?

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God is gracious.

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Amen?

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So I want you to hold on

to that thought, though.

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Hold on to the thought that

God is gracious and that God

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honestly does uphold His promises.

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Amen?

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Alright, but let's continue, though.

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So let's go on to verse 8.

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It says, The child grew and was weaned.

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And on the day Isaac was weaned,

Abraham had held a great feast.

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But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar

and the Egyptian had born to him,

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uh, born to Abraham, was mocking.

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In other translations, it says scoffing.

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And she said to Abraham, get rid

of that slave woman and her son,

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for that woman's son will never

share the inheritance with my son.

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The matter distressed Abraham

greatly because it concerned his son.

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Alright, so we got conflict now.

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We got a good ol sibling rivalry.

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How many of you guys have siblings?

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Raise your hand, please.

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Keep your hand up if

you're the oldest sibling.

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Alright, I have a question for you.

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When the younger sibling

came along, how did you feel?

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Uh, I don't know about that one.

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For a while, right?

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And then after a while, you're like,

oh, the attention is not going to me.

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The amount of love is not going to me.

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My food is no longer going to me.

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Right?

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Now, if you're the youngest

sibling, raise your hand.

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Did you ever feel any animosity

from your older siblings?

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Any type of like tension you're

like, they're like bullying you a

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little bit or pestering you, right?

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So we've got a good old sibling

rivalry going on here, right?

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We've got the son of the flesh which

is ishmael and we got the son of the

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promise which is isaac Now when it says

isaac was weaned it was basically saying

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that he's going from breastfeeding

into not eating solid food So that's

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around about two to three years old.

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Okay, so at this point ishmael is like 16

or 17 years old and isaac Is two or three

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years old at this time So, that's it.

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One is a huge age gap.

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But either way, there's tension

now, gonna be coming in the house.

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And now for, and now once we get to this

point, it's like, Sarah sees it, and

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now is like, I don't want any of that.

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I want Ishmael and Hagar out.

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And what does it say?

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It distressed Abraham.

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And I always thought, like, you

know, like, I'm pretty sure, if you

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were in this situation, you'd be

distressed, but here are my reasons why

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I think Abraham would be distressed.

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One, in the text, it does say

because it concerns his son.

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Right?

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He loved his son, regardless of whether

it was from Sarah Wilson Haggard.

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It's his son and for 16 to 17 years.

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He's taking care of his son.

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So man, like now to be told by your

wife that you should get rid of your

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son is like wow, that would distress me.

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What about the fact that maybe this

could have been a backup plan to Isaac?

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What if something happened to Isaac?

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Now, I know that God promised him, but

like I said, we can be, we can doubt,

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we can question, we can be unfaithful

to God, even though He's made it clear

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that He's going to keep His promise.

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But, we're skeptical.

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We're humans.

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We doubt.

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We question things.

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And so, maybe he thought Ishmael

could be the backup plan to Isaac,

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just in case something happens.

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And this is my last reason

to not take this personally.

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I think it's just funny, but I think

also it could be kind of true, maybe.

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Is that he's recollecting the last

time what happened that he listened

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to Sarah about what to do with Hagar.

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Go back to chapter 16 when, uh,

Sarah's complaining that, I have

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borne you no children, so you

should go, um, marry Hagar, our

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slave, and then have a kid with her.

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And then when Abraham's like, Abraham's

like, okay cool, does it, comes back, and

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then Sarah's like, you are the cause of

my mourning and my pain and my suffering.

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So he's probably like, bro, like,

This whole operation was your idea.

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What did you what do you like?

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I'm like, don't get mad at me

for what you asked me to do, but

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I'm sure and I'm husband's and

this is some piece of advice.

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I'm not married, but I gave you

some advice and I don't think

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it's wise to bring up your

wife's faults in the past, right?

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Can we can we can we agree on that?

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Yeah, okay.

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But ultimately, right?

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But I mean, there's tension in that.

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Like, I don't think he's gonna,

he's like, okay, if I listen to

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her and something happens, she's

gonna get mad at me now too.

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Like, I'm not like saying, I'm not

saying that's what the text is, but

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I'm just trying to insert myself and

see, maybe that could be the case.

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But we have to, we have to remember

that God is a God of purpose.

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That these conversations that he has,

he's asking what he's, I mean, what

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he's, what he's going to ask Abraham to

do is something very, very, very hard.

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So let's continue reading here.

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It says, But God said to

them, Do not be distressed.

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I love that first, those first words.

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But God.

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Because whenever we feel like something

is going wrong, the moment it says,

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But God, it means God is stepping in.

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It means something great

is about to happen.

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But God said to them, Do not

be so distressed about the

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boy and your slave woman.

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Listen to whatever Sarah tells you.

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Because it,

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Because it is through Isaac that

your offspring will be reckoned.

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I will make the son of the slave into a

nation also, because he is your offspring.

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Early next morning, Abraham took some food

and a skin of water and gave them to Agar.

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He set them on her shoulders

and set her off with the boy.

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She went on her way and wandered

in the desert of Beersheba.

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You know, that's hard.

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Let's be honest.

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It's hard, what God is

asking Abraham to do, right?

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It's hard.

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Asking him to send his

son off into the desert.

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Along with Hagar as well.

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And he honestly leaves him with nothing.

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I mean, think about it.

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Abraham's a very wealthy man.

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A lot of resources that he's accumulated

over his time in his last 25 years.

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And all he gives him is a water skin

and some supplies and some food.

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But I think he knows because that

if God is a God of purpose, then he

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knows that God will provide for him.

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And he has to trust in

that, and it's hard.

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Because think about it like this.

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God is not aimless or

random in his timing, right?

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He's very intentional, very genuine,

very purposeful, if anything.

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You know, more often than we like

to admit, sometimes we feel like our

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purpose is greater than God's purpose.

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Or more important than God's purpose.

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We want to lean on our own understanding.

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We want to lean on our

own wisdom, at times.

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And think that our purpose is greater.

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You know, in Proverbs, uh, chapter

3, 6, it says, Trust in the Lord

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with all your heart, and lean

not on your own understanding.

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In all your ways, submit to Him, and

He will make your paths straight.

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You know, things start to get real

dicey, the moment that we start

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to lean on our own understanding.

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Right?

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I mean, Abraham and his family had a

lot of problems when they started to

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be on their own understanding, right?

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We have that list, right?

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That leaving Canaan, about Abraham

fearing that either Abimelech or,

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uh, the pharaoh in Egypt would kill

him because he had a beautiful wife.

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So he lies and tells him that, he lies

and tells him that, oh, this is my sister.

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Or when Abraham had a kid with,

uh, when Sarah tells Abraham to

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have a, uh, a kid with Hagar.

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Like.

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And the wisdom of her to think,

Okay, well, you know, I can't have a

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kiss, so maybe it's something else.

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Maybe it's outside of God's

promise that I have to do.

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My own understanding.

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I think in my own way, this might work.

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Right?

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So things start to get real dicey, very

dangerous in our walks with God the moment

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that we put our understanding above His.

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You know, the question that we have to

really ask is, and to be really honest

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with ourselves is, What areas of your life

has your purpose superseded God's purpose?

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Like, let's really be honest,

and I, and I'm not talking about

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just, like, sometimes, I think

I've been relating it to Daniel's

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lesson last week about compromise.

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You know, this idea that, oh, well, you

know, I'll make some small decisions

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here in my faith that, you know, that

may not have a giant impact right now.

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But what did Daniel say?

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He said, those small

compromises along the way, what?

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They lead up.

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The snowball effect, to the point

where eventually those small

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decisions become big decisions.

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And you're like, well, I've

made all these small decisions.

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So therefore I can make these

big decisions on my own.

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I don't need to have God's

purpose in the picture.

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And it's dangerous to be in that way.

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Why?

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Because it's assuming that we

know God's will, uh, we know God's

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will limits our understanding

and fosters pride and discourages

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genuine faith and dependence on him.

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You know, we begin to have

assumptions like this, that our

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desires are God's desires, right?

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I want this job.

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I want this career.

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I want this certain outcome.

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And you know what's especially dangerous?

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When, especially when it's

not quote unquote sinful.

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But it's not a decision between

being holy and being sinful.

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It's just, well, I want

this, God, and it's not bad.

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So therefore, if it's my desire,

it should be your desire.

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That is, that is an dangerous place to be.

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When we decide to have

an outcome like that.

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The second thing is, you know,

we have ease and comfort in life.

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And that's God's will.

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That if life is easy and life is

comfortable and we're peaceful and

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everything like that, And it's, for a

long time, oh yeah, this is God's will.

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I'm acting in God's will.

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But what does that lead to?

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It leads to us avoiding challenges.

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Avoiding discomfort.

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Avoiding stepping out on faith.

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And I think even the last one, I

think, is no immediate clarity.

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We're asking God, we're praying

to God sometimes, we're hoping

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that God will give us clarity in

a certain situation on how to move

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forward with certain things, right?

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But then if we don't see it, then we're

like, okay, I won't step out then.

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I'm just gonna, I'm gonna hang back here

and just wait, or I'm gonna go and do

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my own thing until God says otherwise.

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And you know what's dangerous

about that is that this is us.

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All these three things could be us,

and I think even for more, for more

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vulnerability on my part, it's me.

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I really, I resonate with

all these three things.

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That there are times when, like

I said, it's not a battle between

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sometimes being sinful and being holy.

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But sometimes it's just like,

I have certain plans in my life

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that I would like to see happen.

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And I think, well God, this, this is what

I want, and it's not quote unquote sinful,

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so why not, why not just bless me with it?

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Or that, why not give me some

ease and comfort in my life?

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I thought that was part of your will.

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But never does God ever guarantee

us that life is gonna be comfortable

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or peaceful all the time.

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That we will have challenges, right?

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It says in James, that we're gonna

have to endure certain things.

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And I think even in the last one in there,

it's such a big, big struggle for me.

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Is the fact that I like to know the plan.

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I like to have a blueprint.

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What's going on, what's going to

happen at this time and the next.

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But if I don't see it,

I will not step out.

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It's hard for me to trust.

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It's hard for me to really be able to

have faith that is unshakable in that way.

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And to trust that God is the one that

is purposeful in whatever he does.

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So we have to be honest with ourselves.

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What assumptions are

we making in our lives?

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You know, and I think one of the

things that I have to remember,

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is instead of assuming, we are

called to seek God continually.

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Why?

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Because we begin to trust in His timing,

remain open to His leading, and even

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when it challenges our assumptions,

we put our full faith in Him.

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You know, and it says in Isaiah

55, 9, it says, For my thoughts are

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not your thoughts, neither are your

ways my ways, declares the Lord.

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As the heavens are higher than the

earth, so are my ways higher than yours,

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and my thoughts than your thoughts.

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This scripture humbles me, man.

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Like I said, the moment that we start

to kind of compare with God and try

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to feel like we're on the same level

with God, it's not the case at all.

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Our ways are not His ways.

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Our thoughts are not His thoughts.

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And His ways are so much higher.

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Why?

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Because He is a God perfect.

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We are finite beings

serving an infinite God.

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God is all powerful, all

knowing, all present.

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And here we are, trying to contemplate

sometimes and compare ourselves and

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try to, uh, debate and negotiate

with God to meet with us in this way.

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When we should be the ones bowing down

and surrendering all that we have to

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Him because He sees all, knows all.

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If we can't do that, do we really

trust in the God that we serve?

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We have to be faithful, we have to

trust that God is the God of purpose.

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You know, God's purpose is grounded in

His love, in His wisdom, His sovereignty.

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You know, in guiding all things

towards the fulfillment of

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His good and perfect will.

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Well, let's continue reading then.

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Back to the story, in verse 15 it says,

When the water and the skin was gone,

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she put the boy under one of the bushes.

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Then she went off and sat down

about a bowshot away, for she

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thought, I cannot watch the boy die.

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And as she sat there, she began to sob.

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God heard the boy crying, and the angel

of God called to Hagar from heaven and

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said to her, What is the matter, Hagar?

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Do not be afraid.

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God has heard the boy

crying as he lies there.

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Lift the boy up and take him by the hand,

for I will make him into a great nation.

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Then God opened her eyes,

and she saw a well of water.

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So she went and filled the skin

with water and gave the boy a drink.

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God was with the boy as he grew up.

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He lived in the desert

and became an archer.

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Whew, man, sorry.

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It's some heavy stuff.

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Like I said, I'm not a parent,

but I'm sure this is every

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parent's worst nightmare.

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Knowing that you can't

provide for your kids.

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That you can't save them.

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Sometimes.

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I can't, I, I, I'm not a parent.

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I, I, I can only imagine.

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To the parents in the room, I'm sure

that's one of your biggest fears.

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You want to be able to

provide for your kids.

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But being in a situation like

this where you're helpless.

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But, praise be to God.

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That He intercedes.

400

And provides what we cannot provide.

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You know, like I said, they're in

the desert, they're out of water.

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You put two and two together, that's

never, that's never gonna come up.

403

Right?

404

But why?

405

But, we have to, but we are so grateful

that God is a God of provision.

406

And you're gonna be asking, that's a

big word, doc, what does that mean?

407

Well, let's break it down real quick.

408

It's the action of providing or

supplying something for a use.

409

God is a God that provides.

410

He's a God of provision.

411

Why?

412

Because, though God is

a provider, a provider.

413

His provision and what He provides

is always tied to His purpose.

414

And we, I mean, like I said, we just

talked about how His purpose may

415

not always be what we want it to be.

416

I mean, let's think, let's, let's

think about this real quick.

417

I want us, I want us all

to read this together.

418

One, two, three.

419

And we know that in all things God works

for the good of those who love Him, for

420

whom have been called according, what?

421

To whose purpose?

422

To His purpose.

423

His purpose.

424

You know what's funny?

425

I think some of the times we can, we

can stop right after the, uh, works

426

for the good of those who love him.

427

We stopped there.

428

Right?

429

God, you're supposed to work for me.

430

I love you.

431

I'm serving you.

432

I'm sacrificing for you.

433

But then I think sometimes we get

confused as that we put according to

434

our purpose instead of his purpose.

435

It's not saying that God

won't provide for you.

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It's just not according to your purpose.

437

It's just not according

to how you want it to be.

438

This isn't the, this isn't the

drive thru guys on a drive thru.

439

He's not going to say,

well, I don't want pickles.

440

No onions, extra ketchup.

441

Like, no, that's not how it is.

442

It's according to how he sees his purpose.

443

I mean, let's see.

444

I'm gonna think about analogy here.

445

There's been a lot of construction

around the Fullerton area lately,

446

whether that's through apartments or

buildings or even on the campus as well.

447

So it's been kind of cool to see

Sonality kind of come to life.

448

But think about we're all trying to build

something here, build a town, right?

449

We're trying to build a building

that requires certain elements

450

and certain materials, right?

451

It wouldn't make sense for me to go

out and grab, I don't know, a pool

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noodle to help build up this building.

453

Not a lot.

454

In the same way, if my purpose and my

goal is to help build a building up, I'm

455

gonna get things and provide things for

my builders and my team to be able to be

456

useful to build up the building, right?

457

But if I bring anything else,

either it's, it's, it's, it's

458

been useful, it's a distraction.

459

In the same way, God is trying to

help us build up our faith and build

460

up our life and our trust in Him.

461

And when He provides things for us that

are according to His purpose, It's things

462

that are helping us build towards that.

463

He's not going to give us

things that don't matter.

464

What's hard is that sometimes when we have

our purpose in mind, we're going to ask,

465

God gives us something that's essential in

His purpose, and we receive it, and we're

466

like, what am I supposed to do with this?

467

Right?

468

He gives us a hammer, He gives us

some wood, some metal, and we're like,

469

Yeah, I know we're trying to build

a building, God, but I don't know.

470

I don't think, I don't

think I need this right now.

471

Like our purpose and His purpose are

never going to be in alignment sometimes.

472

But we have to always lean into

His purpose because we have to

473

trust that what He provides is

leading towards His purpose.

474

Which is good, which is fulfilling,

it's complete, it's purposeful.

475

Right?

476

Let's relate this back

to the story real quick.

477

Look, we have the promises.

478

In Genesis chapter 16, the first

time that God spoke to Hagar when

479

she, when she was cast out, when

she ran away because of just all the

480

persecution and the hate that she got

from, um, being pregnant with Ishmael.

481

And then even, then God speaks the

promise to then Abraham in chapter 17.

482

And then God reminds him of

the promise in chapter 21.

483

And then the purpose to

fulfill is that he's, he's,

484

he, he, uh, he affirms Abraham.

485

He says, Hey, send out Hagar

and Ishmael to the desert.

486

It's okay, I'm going to take care of them.

487

His purpose, like I said, to Abraham

might have been wrestling with

488

the fact that, man, that's hard.

489

I don't want to give up my son.

490

But his purpose was that, no, because

I had to raise them up to be two

491

great nations as I promised, and

that can't happen in the same place.

492

Ishmael's descendants

become the Arabic people.

493

I don't know if you knew that.

494

And the fact that his provision to

provide that, even though his purpose

495

to Abraham and even to us did not make

sense at the time, in that moment.

496

Why am I casting out my son and

my, someone, a son that I love?

497

Why?

498

Because God is going to take care of him.

499

There's nothing that Abraham

probably could have given them that

500

honestly might have helped that

much if God was not in the picture.

501

And the fact that he provides a well

of water, whether that was created

502

spontaneously by a miracle or was just

revealed to Hagar, I'll leave that

503

up to your interpretation, but the

fact is that he provided nonetheless.

504

And then what?

505

In verse 20 says what?

506

God was with the boy as he grew up.

507

And what do we see?

508

We not only see in the beginning

of this chapter, God fulfilling

509

a promise to Isaac, but he

fulfills his promise to Ishmael.

510

That God does not forget promises.

511

I don't know where you're at in your

walk with him, but I feel, if you feel

512

like me, I feel like there's a promise

that God, that God has said that he would

513

give me in his word, and he's told me,

and I feel like he's forgotten about it.

514

I think if I was Haggard in this

situation, I would have felt like, God,

515

the promise that you told me years ago,

I I feel like you've forgotten about me.

516

This is what's happening right now.

517

But God does not forget promises.

518

Are you grateful that God

doesn't forget promises?

519

I mean, think about it.

520

Like we can make promises to

each other that we don't keep.

521

Hey, brother.

522

I'll call you.

523

I'll pray for you.

524

I promise.

525

I'll give you a ride.

526

I'll pay you back for that meal.

527

We forget our promises.

528

But God does not forget promises.

529

We are just, I'm so grateful, guys.

530

You have no idea.

531

Like, there are thousands

of promises in the Bible.

532

And it's not that what one

is that we make to him.

533

It's the ones that he makes to us.

534

And in that, what have we talked about?

535

He doesn't forget them.

536

He always fulfills them.

537

But what?

538

According to what?

539

His purpose.

540

Yes.

541

Come on.

542

I love that you guys get it.

543

That's good.

544

So let's kind of wrap

this up a little bit.

545

It's a cycle that we see.

546

God's promise reflects His purpose.

547

And His purpose guides us

to seeing His provision.

548

And the provision fulfills and affirms

His promises and His purpose in our lives.

549

Guys, like I said, there's over

a thousand promises in the Bible.

550

And each one of them is a cycle like this.

551

But you know sometimes

where we can get stuck?

552

It's here.

553

We get stuck there.

554

If we can't surrender our purpose

to God, we will never see this the

555

way that God intends us to see it.

556

His purpose is always in

line with His provision.

557

His purpose is always to fulfill

the will that He has given us, and

558

fulfill the promise that He gives us.

559

And it's so amazing to see that.

560

I think as we, as we read this, I

think when God makes a promise that

561

he's affirming his commitment to

his purpose and his people, us must

562

recognize that God's provision in our

lives, it reinforces our trust in him.

563

Like I said, this whole story of faith,

man, it's such a beautiful thing as

564

we've gotten to really kind of walk

through this life, this journey of

565

faith truly is that we see that.

566

Time and time again, God looks

and desires to reaffirm us and

567

to give us reasons to trust him.

568

But you know, what's crazy is

that he leaves it up to us.

569

He's like, I'm not just saying

this and then you're gonna

570

be like, yes sir, no sir.

571

Or it's like a, we're like robots

and we're programmed to obey him.

572

It's not how it works.

573

We can be rebellious, we

can be defiant, stubborn,

574

but the moment that we decide to

surrender, And to be humble before God

575

and let His purpose supersede our purpose.

576

Then we see the provision,

what He provides.

577

So like I said, in the ways that He

provides for us, we need to understand it.

578

If our purpose is not aligned with His.

579

If His purpose isn't superseding ours.

580

So can we get real practical real quick?

581

Is that cool with you guys?

582

Find one promise of God that

is hard for you to trust.

583

Or that you feel like

you have your doubts in.

584

In a certain season of your life

that you feel like, Man, I feel

585

like God made this promise and

I'm having a hard time seeing it.

586

But that we have to meditate on how

this promise reflects God's purpose.

587

Fight to see that your purpose

doesn't supersede God's.

588

Why?

589

Because then you can be able to

pray and watch for God's provision.

590

And that His promise, moving

forward, We hope to see that is

591

provided in our visa to move forward.

592

Like I said, you know, it's crazy.

593

It may not happen this week.

594

It may not happen next week.

595

For Abraham, it didn't

happen for 25 years.

596

We are so fickle.

597

You're so impatient sometimes,

598

but we have to trust that

God's purpose is for our good.

599

And the way He provides may

not be the way that we expect.

600

I'm not saying that you shouldn't

initially have to see it or want to see

601

it, but it is because it's according

to His good and filling purpose.

602

Amen?

603

Amen.

604

Understanding the inner connectedness

helps believers cultivate a deeper

605

faith than a reliance on God's

people, knowing that He is always

606

working for their good and His glory.

607

Imagine what our lives, our relationships,

God's church would look like if

608

we fully trusted And his promises

and his purpose and his provision.

609

Brothers and sisters, let our journeys

of faith be full of confidence and trust

610

that in God, who is a God of promises,

God of purpose and provision, We will

611

see promises fulfilled and promises kept.

612

Amen.

613

Let's pray before we have the worship

team come up for a final song.

614

And, uh, we'll dismiss

for the rest of Sunday.

615

Uh, God, thank you so much for today

and just the time to come before you.

616

God, we are so grateful and honored

to be able to know that you are

617

the God of promises, the God of

purpose, and the God of provision.

618

God, we are so grateful for the ways

that you've been gracious to us.

619

Even in our doubts, in our questioning,

in our unfaithfulness to you.

620

But God, we know that through you

and only you can we see the good

621

that we want to see in this world.

622

Sometimes we know that through your

purpose is only because the only one

623

that supersedes against the evil and

the darkness that is over our world.

624

God, we pray that we seek and desire

to trust in your promises and to see

625

that your purpose supersedes ours

and to see that you provide for us in

626

the ways according to your purpose.

627

And I pray that we have a journey

of faith that is one that is not

628

It's to tell and to bring you glory,

not for ourselves, but for you.

629

We love you guys.

630

Thank you for this time.

631

We pray in Jesus name.

632

Amen.