Trust The Plan

If we are going to trust God for the outcome, we must trust the plan God has to get us there!

Transcript

Welcome And Reading Genesis 18

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Welcome to another episode of Beyond Sunday. I am your host, Pastor Lee Day, and I pastor Christ Family Outreach Church located in Amelia, Virginia. Just want to say thank you for tuning in to yet another episode. If you got your Bibles, go ahead and get them cracked open at Genesis chapter 18. We're going to begin with the first verse. I am so excited to present this episode to you today from the word of God. I believe it is going to encourage you just as it has encouraged myself. Genesis 18, verse 1. We're going to read a couple few verses. We're going to jump around a little bit, but man, I am super pumped to get rolling. Here we go. And the Lord God appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He, Abraham, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth. Jump over to the ninth verse. This is what it says. And the Lord God said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. In other words, my friends, she could no longer become pregnant, at least in uh by human standards, anyway, right? So verse 12. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I am worn out, maybe some of you out there, you know exactly what this sister is saying. She says, it says, so Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I am worn out and my Lord is old, in other words, her husband Abraham, Lord, lowercase L, after I'm worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? Let's stop right there for a moment. Sarah laughed. Let's talk about that. Sarah laughed because she was too old to have children. She hadn't been able to have any at all, not even in her prime. And at this point, she had given up simply because of her age. Maybe you've been there before. You give up on something just because physically you have believed that you cannot receive the miracle that you are in need of. But I want to let you know that when it comes to your miracle, God's not looking, God's not concentrated on the physical. And we see that in the text right here in Genesis chapter 18, right? So let's read the 10th verse again. It says, The Lord God said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son. So God says, Sarah, your wife, Abraham, she's gonna have a son. Now, who said Sarah was gonna have a son? God said it. God said that. And what God says always happens. Can I get a huge amen out there for that? Now, now listen to me, friends, listen to me. You got to learn to stand on the promises of God if you're not already. If you do not know any of God's promises towards his people, then you must get into his word so you know what he has in store for you. Not only for your future, but also for the victory that he has for you right now in your present day, right now, in what you're walking through and what you're going through. You got to know the promises of God for you right now. And when it came to pregnancy, Sarah had become so used to being in defeat that she had already lost all hope for victory. And maybe that's where you're finding yourself at today. You haven't seen the answer to your prayer for so long that you've lost all hope. But just because you haven't seen it yet doesn't mean it's not a yes. And so, as a Christian, we're not supposed to fight for victory. We are fighting from a position of victory. Because as a child of God, we are already supposed to be living in the victory because of what Jesus Christ did for you and I while he hung on that cross and defeated death. Now, Genesis 18 and the 13th verse, we're pressing on in the text. This is what it says. The Lord God said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh and say, Shall I shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. He said, No, but you did laugh. God said to Abraham, and I need you to listen to this part, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Sarah laughs. Now God's got a question. Abraham, is anything too hard for the Lord? And maybe that's a spiritual inventory question that we've got to ask ourselves on the constant. When we're beginning to get lured into temptation to sin, we need to ask ourselves, is anything too hard for the Lord? Because I can stop right now and God can get me out of this. Maybe we get a doctor's report we're not happy about. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Because I'm gonna go to God in prayer for healing. I'm gonna go to God in prayer for my miracle. No, nothing is too hard for our God. So we've probably all been there before, though. Let's just be honest. At some point in time, when we prayed for something and later wondered if we would see it, because what we asked for seemed to be so large. What we asked for seemed to be out of control. What we asked for seemed to be out of our hands. Can I tell you, in my opinion, that's the best way to have it. See, if it's out of my control, I can't go mess it up. If it's not in my hands, I can't take it into the wrong direction. Amen. And I don't know about you, but I've taken some things in the wrong direction before simply because I could control them and they could be in my hands. And I'm sure if everybody out there listening is honest, you can say the exact same thing for your own life. But I want to encourage you today, my brothers and sisters. My friends, I want to encourage you today. Philippians chapter 4, verse 13 says this. I can do all things through him, Christ. I can do all things through Christ, through him who strengthens me. So be encouraged in that today. And I want you to live in that. You don't have to have your hands on it in order to receive the blessing of the promise. You don't have to be in control in order to receive the blessing of the promise. But what we do know is that through Christ, hear that? Through Christ, through Christ, you and I can do all things. And so we just need to let God have his way in our lives through Christ. And Sarah was guilty of forgetting the plan. Write that down if you're taking notes. How many of us have been guilty of that before? I know I have. We become guilty of forgetting the plan. We have the plan right here in the Word of God Almighty. And yet we live our lives at times. We live our lives at times as if we forget what it says. Now, Abraham had already received a plan from God earlier on. And you know he's got to come home and tell his wife what God had said. And I want to show you that in scripture. If you've got your Bibles, look at Genesis chapter 15. We'll go back up just a touch. Genesis chapter 15, beginning with the first verse. And we're going to look at just four verses here in the 15th chapter, right off the bat. Genesis chapter 15, verse 1 says this. After these things, the word of the Lord God came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, Abraham, but Abram said, Oh Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord God came to him. Your very own son shall be your heir. That's so good. So God tells Abraham that he will have his own son. And Sarah is guilty of taking things into her own hands. I want to show you that. Flip in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 16 and look at the first verse. Genesis 16. Going to look at four verses again here. Genesis 16, 1 through 4 says this. Now Sarai, Sarah, Abram's, Abraham, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Let's just stop right there for a minute. I haven't, I hadn't planned on saying this, but I feel led by the Spirit to say this. She says, Behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Have you ever felt like God has stopped you from doing something? Maybe it wasn't for the totality of your life. Maybe it wasn't for all of your life, but maybe God had stopped something for a season. And if that's happened to you, you know exactly what I'm talking about. God had put the brakes on something, but it wasn't forever. It was just for a season. If you had had it too early, if you had had what you wanted too early, if that prayer had been answered and that that answer had come fulfilled, manifested, it would have been too early. It wouldn't have been on God's time. And it just simply would have messed everything up. But back to the text, uh Sarai said to Abram, verse 2: Behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go into my servant. It may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So after Abraham had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram, her husband, as a wife. And he went into Hagar and she conceived. In other words, they've had relation, she conceives, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. So Sarah had a plan, but at the end of the day, she ain't happy with this plan. We don't want to become guilty of taking things into our own hands just like Sarah did, simply because what God has placed on our hearts seems to be larger than life. Abraham and Sarah, they knew the plan. God said that Abraham would have a son. Sarah simply figured she wasn't part of that plan. So she tried to fix it herself. You see what happens when you take things into your own hands and out of God's. If we're going to trust God for the outcome, listen to this, my good friends. If we're going to trust God for the outcome, then we must trust the plan that God has chosen to get us there. If we're going to, I'm going to say it again. If we're going to trust God for the outcome, then we must trust the plan that God has chosen to get us there. It may not be the same route that you would take or even the same timing that you would have chosen, but if you trust God to provide the answer, you need to trust Him to get it to you at the appointed time. And write this down if you're taking notes, my friends. The appointed time is God's time. The fourth verse tells us that Sarah looked with contempt on her mistress, and it was Sarah's idea to begin with. She's upset because what she wanted to happen has happened. She's upset because the plan that she had has now gone into motion and there's been action. She's upset about it. Now, that means even if you do what you want to do to succeed in your life, listen, if you don't do it God's way, you're never going to have the true joy and the true satisfaction that he has called you to walk in because you stepped off the path that he's called you to walk on. Now, let me just say this. Abraham, Abraham, our brother Abraham, this this hey, he ain't innocent in all of this either. Genesis chapter 17 and the 15th verse, it says this. And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations. Kings of peoples shall come from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? Ooh, I'ma tell you, Abraham, he's not, he's not innocent. He's not innocent. He got some guilt in this as well. He also is laughing at the plan of God. If you got your Bibles, we're doing a lot of flipping. I love this. I love this. I love this. If you got your Bibles, let's flip to Genesis chapter 21, looking at one verse right here in the text, my good friends. Genesis 21:1 says this. The Lord God visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. Oh, that's so good. I'm gonna read it again. Listen close. The Lord God visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.

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Woo!

Prayer And Final Encouragement

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If you're listening with someone next to you, look at them and say, God showed up. God showed up. I'm just gonna tell you, God always shows up on time. Okay, God always shows up on time. And God always does what God's gonna say he's gonna do. He is always, look at someone next to you, say, God is always faithful. Or if ain't nobody next to you, just shout it out loud because the Holy Spirit's inside of you. He be a witness. He could be a witness. God is always faithful. Can we say amen? Praise God to that. Praise the Lord. Now we're gonna press on. We're getting ready to, we're getting ready to wrap this episode up. Time is flying by. Genesis chapter 21, verses 2 through 7. And the second verse says this, and Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him, and Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. And it's beautiful, it's wonderful. She has come to realize that God has provided for her just like he said he would. Just like with the birth of Isaac. When God says he's going to show up, he does. When God says he's gonna show up, he always does. And when God says he's gonna do something, he always does what he says he's going to do. All we have to do is be faithful to not forget the plan. We've got to be faithful to not forsake the plan of God. Let's pray. Father, I'm so grateful for every listener, and I pray in the name and the blood of Jesus that we would take what we have studied through your text today and we would apply it into our own lives. Father, forgive me. Forgive us. Forgive me when I sin, when we sin, and I fall short, we fall short of your glory. Forgive us when we step off the plan, off the pathway that you have called us to take. And we know it. We know the battle plan. We we know the plan that you've given us because, Father, truly, it is found in your word. It is your word. So, Father, forgive us when we fall short and we step off the path. Forgive us when we know the plan and we turn away from it. But God, we thank you that you are faithful even when we are not faithful. Your word tells us, Father, that you always remain faithful. We love you. Father God, we praise you. Hallelujah. You are worthy, we honor you, for you are God, Yahweh. Yahweh. Have your will be done in our lives. In the name and in the blood of Jesus Christ, all God's people said. Amen, amen, and amen.