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00:00 Any hard heads in this room?
00:02 And Colossians 3 and 15 digs into this principle.
00:06 It says, "And let," meaning this is something you must allow to happen, meaning it doesn't
00:13 automatically happen.
00:14 You have to lean into this.
00:17 "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts."
00:24 What is the Bible saying?
00:26 Peace is not just to exist in your heart.
00:30 According to Scripture, it's to rule, it's to govern, and it's to direct.
00:36 We are under a better covenant.
00:39 And under this better covenant, God doesn't just come upon us, he lives within us.
00:54 Genesis 15, and verse 1, "After these things, Abraham had just defeated the confederacy
01:06 of four kings in the previous chapter, and he understood that retaliation was likely."
01:15 And you can't make major kingdom moves and think the devil's just going to sit back and
01:21 grin.
01:22 That's not the way it works.
01:24 So, Abraham understood the moment that he was living in, and in this moment God spoke
01:33 to him.
01:34 It says, "The word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision."
01:39 When I have a problem, I need to hear God more than anything else, more than any other
01:45 thing.
01:46 I need God.
01:48 And when you read the Bible, you'll see that God spoke through a donkey.
01:55 Another time, he spoke through handwriting that was on a wall.
02:01 He spoke to Joseph through dreams.
02:05 He spoke through David, and Isaiah, and Ezekiel, through prophecies.
02:10 He spoke through angels, wise counsel was given to David.
02:15 He spoke through preachers like Noah, authorities, impressions in people's spirit like he did
02:21 with the apostle Paul where he perceived that this voyage would not be hurt.
02:28 He also spoke through circumstances.
02:33 But here we have God speaking to Abraham through a vision.
02:40 Now in my life, God uses these things at times, but nine times out of ten after leading me
02:49 through the Scriptures, he leads me through my peace or lack of it.
02:57 We are under a better covenant, and under this better covenant, God doesn't just come
03:04 upon us, he lives within us.
03:08 And Colossians 3 and 15 digs into this principle.
03:12 It says, "And let," meaning this is something you must allow to happen, meaning it doesn't
03:19 automatically happen.
03:20 You have to lean into this.
03:22 "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts."
03:29 What is the Bible saying?
03:32 Peace is not just to exist in your heart.
03:36 Following the Scripture is to rule, it's to govern, and it's to direct.
03:43 Now if you're like me, you've probably had to learn the hard way.
03:46 Any hard heads in this room?
03:50 But I've learned that if I don't have peace about something, I must pause until I do,
03:56 or redirect until I do.
03:59 Isaiah 55 and verse 12 says, "For you shall go out with joy."
04:05 That's a great part of the verse, but it also says, "And be led out with," what?
04:13 Peace.
04:15 How are they led out with?
04:16 Peace.
04:18 So beyond the Scriptures, the primary way in which God leads his children and his people
04:27 is through either placing or lifting his peace from us.
04:33 If peace is not leading, needless pain and disappointment will follow.
04:43 The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, "Do not be afraid.
04:50 Life can be scary."
04:54 And Abram had good reason to fear.
04:57 This was not just someone with a sensitive imagination.
05:01 He understood that revenge is a powerful, powerful motivator, and no one wanted revenge
05:07 like the four kings he had just defeated.
05:10 And by the way, these kings had armies.
05:13 And God said to him, "I am your shield."
05:19 He needed a shield because he expected an attack.
05:23 And as great as Abraham's relationship with God was, he still had enemies.
05:33 You see, God not only measures us by the friends we're willing to make, he also measures us
05:41 by the enemies we're willing to make.
05:46 He said, "I am your shield."
05:52 And just as God is our redeemer, our healer, our alpha and our omega, he is a shield to
06:00 those who will trust him.
06:04 And then he added, because God watched what happened in the previous chapter, and he only
06:08 says certain things to certain people who've done certain things.
06:12 "And your exceedingly great reward."
06:17 Now this was due to the reward he walked away from after he defeated the four kings.
06:23 The pattern or the custom was when you defeat an army, you take all the booty.
06:27 You take, you know, the wealth and the spoils with you.
06:32 But instead of taking the spoils, Abraham said, "I will not let any man say that he
06:41 made me rich."
06:45 He didn't want to say that war made him, any person made him, a certain opportunity made
06:51 him.
06:52 But God gives him this incredible encouragement.
06:54 "I'm your shield.
06:56 I'll go with you.
06:57 I'm going to fight with you in this battle.
07:00 I'm going to be your shield.
07:02 I'm going to be your reward."
07:06 But Abraham's having real dialogue with God.
07:12 Abraham responds though, "Lord God, I hear you and I appreciate that, but what will you
07:22 give me seeing I go childless?"
07:26 You see, I love this verse and verses like this, because we see that the true men and
07:36 women of faith always keep it real with God.
07:42 God would rather honesty with tears than our lies with a smile.
07:49 And God, you know, you're my shield, you're my reward.
07:57 The heir of my house is Eliezer.
08:03 I got some issues in my house of Damascus.
08:06 Now the custom of the day was if you didn't have a son or a child, well son, sometimes
08:12 if you didn't have a son you actually go to the daughter.
08:15 But if you didn't have a child, the inheritance would pass to your oldest or favorite servant.
08:26 This is important.
08:27 I want you to pay attention to what the Scripture's telling us.
08:32 Even though Abraham did not yet have what was promised, he was still talking to God.
08:40 No that went over your head.
08:46 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, "Shut up Abraham.
08:55 Who do you think you're talking to?"
08:57 And that tone of voice, "Who do you think you are?"
08:59 None of that.
09:00 God said none of that.
09:02 All God did was repeat the promise to him for the umpteenth time.
09:10 God's been saying the same thing to him since chapter 12.
09:14 We meet Abraham in 12.
09:16 We're in 15.
09:18 And all he does is say the same thing over and over.
09:22 You see, when God really speaks, he is like a broken record.
09:28 Does anyone know what records still are?
09:29 Yeah.
09:30 Remember when you get a scratch?
09:33 You know, even with CDs, you get them scratched, they start to repeat.
09:38 And you've got to understand something about God.
09:44 Medicine, culture, technology, your circumstances may change.
09:53 But God says in his word, "For I am the Lord, and I do not change."
09:59 So what God said to you is still so.
10:04 Just because a little bit of time passed doesn't mean God's changed.
10:08 His purposes remain the same.
10:12 And God responds.
10:13 "I hear what you're saying, Abraham.
10:16 I think I get it.
10:18 But here, let me tell you.
10:21 This one shall not be your heir.
10:25 I know you think you're old and everything.
10:26 I got you.
10:28 But one who will come from your own body shall be your heir."
10:34 And what he was saying is, "Abraham, you heard me right the first time.
10:39 Despite how long it's been since I first said it, he who promised is faithful."
10:47 So God says sometimes all you need is a little change of environment.
10:51 So he said, "Abraham, come outside."
10:58 And he was saying, in effect, "If things are going to work out between you and I, I got
11:04 to get you out from under this small tent mentality.
11:10 I need to liberate you from this boxed-in thinking."
11:16 You won't change your life until you let God change your mind.
11:22 And he said to Abraham, "Look now."
11:26 Now meaning right now.
11:30 When God's really dealing with you, there's a bossiness about him.
11:33 Because last I checked, he's Lord.
11:36 He said, "Look now toward heaven."
11:40 You see, this was the real problem.
11:43 We look toward our past.
11:48 We look toward what other people are doing.
11:52 We look toward conventional wisdom.
11:56 But what we really need to look toward is heaven.
12:02 He said, "And count the stars if," a little sarcasm, "if you are able to number them."
12:13 And I'm told with the naked eye we could see about 4,000 to 5,000 stars on a crystal clear
12:20 night with no fog, et cetera.
12:23 I don't know though how many times Abraham started counting, but then lost count and
12:27 had to start again.
12:28 And it's one, two, and then oh my, the stars get blurry.
12:32 Did I count that star already?
12:33 I don't know how many times that happened all night.
12:37 But what I do know is Abraham couldn't do it.
12:41 And by the way, that was the big point.
12:46 You see, with God the sky is the limit.
12:49 It's like he was saying basically, "Listen, Abraham, you can't even count the stars, but
12:55 I call each star by name.
12:59 It's Altair, Antares, Canopus, Capella, Castor, Deneb, Fomalhaut, Polaris, Polux, Procyon,
13:11 Regulus, Rigel, Sirius, Spica, Vega, and thousands more."
13:19 And he said, watch this, he said, "I'm going to use this to explain that.
13:26 I'm going to use something beyond what was in your, the small tent you were in, the small
13:33 box.
13:34 Use that to explain this.
13:41 So shall your descendants be.
13:46 Just like the sky had too many stars for you to count.
13:55 You will have seed more than you could ever imagine."
14:01 He said, "So shall your descendants be."
14:03 But when he caught the picture, it says in verse six, "And he believed in the Lord."
14:12 After hearing God for, we're in the 15th, three chapters, he finally caught it in his
14:19 heart.
14:20 This was true for Abraham, but let's take a look at what Jesus taught us.
14:27 And he said, "The kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is a huge concept, but brilliance or
14:35 a good teacher has the ability to take the complicated and make it simple.
14:40 The kingdom of man, I'm sorry, the kingdom of God, forgive me, is as if a man or a farmer
14:46 should scatter seed on the ground."
14:50 Now if you're reading through chapter four, you'll see that Jesus has already said that
14:55 the seed represents God's word.
14:59 And then when you get to the end of the parable before, you also find out that the ground
15:04 represents our hearts.
15:08 So he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a farmer should scatter seed on the ground."
15:15 Now a farmer is just a person that works alongside seeds, but it's really the seed that does
15:24 all the work.
15:26 The farmer's only responsibility is to enrich the soil, get in the word, you know, fertilize,
15:38 rotate the crops.
15:41 You got to deal with the rabbits, you got to deal with the animals, you know, you put
15:45 a scarecrow up to keep the crows away.
15:49 You got to keep the pests away, because you're in this fallen world and stuff's going to
15:53 come to try to steal the seed, the word of God you placed in your heart.
15:58 And you got to be diligent, and you got to do your part of the work.
16:02 You also got to let the ground rest.
16:04 Every seven years, God told the Israelites to rest.
16:07 Every seven days, you need to turn off that doggone phone.
16:10 You need to find some rest and just relax in the presence of God so you have half your
16:16 brain to listen to Him the next day.
16:19 Also, a good farmer pulls weeds.
16:23 You got to get down in the dirt, and the cares of this world, the cares of this life that
16:27 comes to sap up your energy and strength, you got to pull that out.
16:32 You got to remove the rocks and the boundaries and just the hardness, the things that block.
16:38 You see, God is responsible for the growth, but we are responsible for managing the soil
16:45 or the conditions of our hearts.
16:50 You see, my repentance will not get me saved.
16:57 I'm responsible for my heart.
16:59 So I get in this word, God, help me to help me get the unforgiveness out, to help me get
17:05 the bitterness out, help me get some of the stupid out.
17:08 So that God's word can do its work.
17:12 He said the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.
17:16 Listen, you don't need an advanced degree to understand how God's kingdom works.
17:23 If you can understand agriculture, you can understand basically everything you need to
17:30 understand about God if you just understand the seed.
17:36 And in verse 27, Jesus goes on, "And if you plant the seed, and you should sleep by night
17:41 and rise by day."
17:44 See, all God wants us to do is get his word planted in our hearts and for us to go about
17:51 living and let the power of the seed, the power of God's word, do its own work in its
17:58 own time, because faith in God includes faith in its timing.
18:02 Let me use an example.
18:04 I just remember I was living in Long Island, New York at this time, and I think it was
18:09 Mr. Griffith, but I had him for two years.
18:10 I didn't repeat it, but I had him for two years.
18:16 But I'm guessing it was fourth grade.
18:20 But what he did, one of the school projects was, you know, we were to, you know, watch
18:26 seeds grow.
18:28 What we did is the whole class got clear cups, and we taped our names onto the cup.
18:36 And one said Derek, and I put my seed in.
18:39 The whole class put their seed in, and for I don't know how long it was.
18:43 It might have been a week or so.
18:45 We were watering these seeds.
18:48 And everyone else, you know, was lining up to go out for recess, but I hung around.
18:54 This is why I needed salvation, by the way, because I'm like, how do I know that my seed
19:04 is working?
19:05 So, I went in there, put my finger in there secretly to dig the seed up.
19:15 And I did see a little, you know, little roots and all the rest.
19:19 I put it back in, but in a week or so, when everyone else had their plant germinating,
19:33 I just had dirt.
19:37 I didn't tell the teacher, but I was like, what's wrong with the seed?
19:41 This ain't fair.
19:43 But see, the problem is we don't trust the process.
19:53 And the seed, the seed should sprout and grow.
20:01 He himself does not know how.
20:04 You see, it's just recently, thousands of years after Jesus spoke this parable that
20:09 we know anything about DNA.
20:11 Back then they had no idea how the seed did what the seed did.
20:17 And if God gives us another hundred years, man, we'll know stuff and be like, DNA?
20:21 I mean, that's so primitive.
20:22 I mean, you guys knew nothing.
20:26 We will never understand all the details about how God does things, but we've got to learn
20:32 to trust the process.
20:36 Just do your part and let the results take care of themselves.
20:43 This is the only thing I've really done my whole adult life since meeting Jesus.
20:48 It's the only—people ask me something like, what's the secret of your ministry?
20:51 This is all I've done my entire career is just do my part and let the results take care
20:58 of itself.
21:00 If I quit on the process, I quit on the results.
21:05 And there will be a season nobody will see anything.
21:08 It's all about the root.
21:11 And then there'll be another season.
21:13 You'll see a little something, but it's just a fragile sprout.
21:17 It don't look like a whole lot.
21:19 And then there'll be another season where you see the head of the corn, but it's still
21:24 not—the head of the wheat, but it's still not wheat that you can fully eat.
21:28 And then finally will come that season where you get the full head, but I got a head of
21:33 myself.
21:34 Let's take a look.
21:35 For the earth yields crops by itself if we would just stay plugged in.
21:41 Jesus said it this way, "If you abide in my word, and my word abides in you, you will
21:47 ask what you will."
21:48 Because you're going to want what I want if we stay that close together.
21:50 You hear what I'm saying?
21:53 First the blade.
21:56 This is how faith works.
21:57 The first takes root, but what you see is small.
22:00 What you see is fragile, and it doesn't look like much.
22:04 Somebody say we live on levels, but arrive on stages or in stages.
22:11 We must not—and this is part of the import of what I'm trying to say to you today.
22:17 We must not only have patience in God.
22:21 We must also have patience in ourselves.
22:25 You couldn't expect chapter 15 results with Abraham in chapter 12.
22:32 So first the blade, then the head, but the process is not over even when you have the
22:36 head.
22:37 After that the full grain in the head.
22:38 The grain ripens and matures, but you must stay in the soil and stick with the process.
22:42 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle because the harvest has
22:49 come.
22:50 Now listen, I'm going to need just probably three more minutes here.
22:53 After all the years of God speaking to Abraham, by this point I think he's at least 80, so
22:58 he's been talking to him at least 10 years.
23:03 Finally it was harvest time.
23:06 Up to this point it was hokey pokey.
23:10 And a lot of us, it's been hokey pokey.
23:13 But today God wants you to graduate to genuine faith.
23:19 Okay, I'm going to read Genesis 15, 6.
23:25 And if you get this, you understand everything that I have been teaching, and you already
23:31 understand most of the New Testament.
23:35 It says, "After he pulled him out of his tent, looked up to the sky, 'So shall your descendants
23:40 be.'"
23:41 It says, "And Abraham believed in the Lord."
23:46 No more in and out, shaking all about.
23:50 When God got him outside his tent, outside his mental box, things finally clicked in
23:56 his thinking, and Abraham received an assurance that he could not explain.
24:04 And he accounted it to him for righteousness.
24:08 This is big.
24:10 If Abraham was already righteous, why would God need to credit righteousness?
24:20 Why would God have to credit his account, something he already had?
24:26 He accounted it to him for, again, his faith made him righteous, not his righteousness.
24:36 Obeying the God who guarantees blessings to the deserving is different from believing
24:44 the God who promises blessing to the undeserving.
24:50 Abraham obeyed God and left earth a child of his.
24:53 So he believed in the righteousness of God, in that if I obey God, he will reward me because
25:01 God is just.
25:04 But finally, he got to the place of saving faith.
25:08 Not just faith that God is a certain way, but faith in a God that saves.
25:18 Because he recognized in himself he could not produce seed.
25:23 God promised that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through his seed.
25:29 The Messiah would come through his loins.
25:32 So, when he believed that the Messiah would come through his loins, God accounted that
25:39 to him for righteousness.
25:40 But here's the problem, he's too old and mama's too old.
25:45 He had no ability in himself.
25:48 All he could do was believe.
25:50 Let me say this again.
25:54 Obeying the God who guarantees blessing to the deserving is different.
26:01 Start where you are.
26:03 And many of you believe that we will give an account.
26:06 But that's not the same as believing a God who promises blessing to the undeserving.
26:15 Salvation is God blessing the undeserving.
26:22 Salvation is not you getting good enough, you finally make it in.
26:25 God doesn't grade on a curve.
26:29 Salvation is while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me.
26:34 When I was an enemy of God in my heart and in my mind, he loved me.
26:41 When I was on the garbage dump of life, as Ezekiel says, no one washed me, no one salted
26:48 me, no one cut my navel.
26:50 God walked by and said, "Boy, you will live."
26:52 Just like he called the stars by name, he called me by name.
26:56 Not based on my merit, not based on my ability, not based on my perfection, not based on me
27:01 getting everything right, but because he got everything right.
27:04 Because a good God, a loving God, a merciful God, my salvation does not depend on me.
27:12 If my salvation depends on me, I'm not sure I got it.
27:17 I mess up everything.
27:20 My salvation depends on Him.
27:25 You may have to listen to this piece over to get it in your heart.
27:30 But we will never know the righteousness of Christ until we have no righteousness of our
27:38 own.
27:43 But understanding this as it was with Abraham is a process.
27:49 So some of us have genuine faith that has sprung up, and you know, it's a blade.
28:00 But the faith God wants is the full kernel in the head, where you recognize your salvation
28:09 is not based on your tithing.
28:13 It's not based on your church attendance.
28:16 It's not based on what you did or didn't do last night.
28:19 It's based on what Jesus did at the cross.
28:26 Come on, give Him a hand clap.
28:27 I waved my palm.
28:28 I lost my palm, but dear God, thank You, Jesus, for going into Jerusalem, dying for my sins
28:34 on the cross, taking that beating.
28:36 Hallelujah!
28:37 They nailed you, they mocked you, they scorned you, they made fun of you, they wagged their
28:42 heads at you.
28:43 You bled, you let your head go down, and you died.
28:46 Then they pieced you in your side.
28:48 But it didn't stop there.
28:49 On the third day, you got back up again.
28:51 Why?
28:52 Because you were not worthy of death.
28:53 You bore our sin, you bore our punishment, you bore our shame.
28:57 And the empty tombs prove that God accepted your sacrifice.
29:00 And God, we are grateful for your goodness, loving us and keeping us while we were sinners.
29:06 Christ died, and we wave and give you all the honor and all the glory for what you have
29:11 done.
29:12 Hallelujah!
29:13 Hallelujah!
29:14 Hallelujah!
29:14 Hallelujah!
29:24 Hallelujah!
29:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]