WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.399 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.560 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:37.119 This morning, as we continue our series on the dysfunctional family of God, we have a special guest, a longtime friend personally and mentor and friend of awakening, actually been a friend of awakening before we launched as a church, all the way back in the young adult ministry's days. 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:38.240 We have Dr. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.600 Charlie Salt joining us this morning. 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:56.240 I'm really excited for you to get to hear from him because he kind of is like this rare kind of combination of both academic brilliance, pastoral presence, and just a generosity of spirit. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:06.079 I hope that you get to just interact with him after service a little bit to talk with them because you can't help it but be encouraged by him. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:07.920 A little bit of background on Dr. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:18.480 Stalf, if you're not familiar with him, he is a professor, a church leader, an author, and one of the great encouragers of church leaders across the country. 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:31.760 He holds a masters in systematic and philosophical theology from Berkeley, a masters in history, church, and cultural change in Latin America from UT to Santa Cruz, and a PhD in history from UT to Santa Cruz. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:33.439 Yeah, he's smart. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.840 And yet at the same time deeply approachable. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:41.359 I look forward to the word he has. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:47.599 I've already got a tit through that I know you're going to be uh both encouraged, challenged, and blessed. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:51.200 And so would you give a warm awakening welcome to our friend, Dr. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:52.239 Charlie Delphine? 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:54.719 Thank you so much. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:00.799 Good morning. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.359 Really grateful to be here. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:14.639 And um yes, I am a banana slug, but we want to honor the Spartans and the Cardinal and uh and Santa Clara, okay, so and the other schools that are part of here. 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:16.400 So give yourselves a hand here. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:24.719 And uh but um all four of the degrees were earned while I was married and working full-time. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:31.919 And I just want to honor just all of you who have who are in the midst of your studies at whatever stage and place. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:40.240 Um I just want to honor your hard work and and God will open amazing doors for you as you continue to learn and grow. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:47.360 And I think it I think it'd be right for us to also be grateful for the teaching team that's here, for Pastor Ryan and teaching. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:50.560 Can we give them a hand and just thank God for them? 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:55.840 Uh I have I have really enjoyed hearing the sermons in this series. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:05.039 And when when we were starting to arrange this visit and talk together, um when he gave me the title, I just burst out laughing. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:08.000 Uh, The Dysfunctional Family of God. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:12.240 Because I thought, yeah, that's kind of the whole Bible. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:19.120 But also so important to know the book of Genesis, so important that we're well rooted here. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:23.919 And uh then he uh gave me my assignment as part of the series that we'll jump into. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:30.319 Well, this morning I have to announce to you that today my wife had an orange for breakfast. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:32.479 Now that's profound. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:45.680 But actually, the fact that about 300 plus days a year that she can have an orange is the result of the hard work of someone most of us have never heard of named Liu Gim Gong. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:04:27.040 A Chinese immigrant, born in 1860, died a bachelor in 1925, and he came here as a young boy, came to San Francisco like so many, and um started just an early interest in plants and vegetables and fruit, but then he went back to China uh as he entered adolescence because his family had an arrangement for him for his marriage and his future, except he had become a Christian and didn't like the family arrangement, came back to the states, but by the time he tried to come back to the states, all kinds of barriers to immigration had been erected by the state and federal government at that point. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:32.319 But a woman named Lucy Burlingame, have you heard of a city called that? 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.519 Made a way for him to get to the states. 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:46.240 And he went to New England first and then for his health went down to a better climate down in Florida and spent decades cultivating fruits and vegetables. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:58.319 And he might have just been a faithful Christian doing that work, except he took an extra step and he figured out how to develop citrus fruit that could survive freezing temperatures. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:19.839 And we have fruit year-round, shipped from around the world now, but across the country as well, because this faithful Christian horticulturist decided, in his words, no one, he said, should live in this world for himself alone, but to do good for those who come after him. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:26.639 Few people heard about him or knew about him until just a few years ago, and now there's a few tributes to him. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:43.759 And as we look at the story of Isaac today, there's a similar kind of ethos here, as Isaac, sort of the one in between, the really well-known patriarch Abraham, and we'll do a little bit of review of some of the great teaching we've had on Abraham. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:52.480 And then Isaac's son, Jacob and Esau, but the chosen son Jacob is going to be the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:06:01.839 So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when when you hear all through the Bible the God of our father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Isaac's the in-between. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:14.399 And he's the story of all of us who sometimes struggles for significance, but we feel submerged by difficulties and even obscurity sometimes. 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:19.120 And so we're going to have fun kind of looking at his story and making some applications. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:33.680 And just a reminder: I always like to do this because we need to be reminded that the stories in Genesis and all through Scripture are part of a grand or big story or a grand narrative in four chapters. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:41.600 And I'd love you to write these words down just to remind ourselves that God's big story every day touches our life. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:48.160 The first chapters you've been well taught, but they're the story of God's design, creation. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:07:09.199 God designed humankind to know him in his image, to take care of the world that God created, and then he designed the male and female to do this wonderful work of dwelling with God and doing the work of God in the world. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:15.120 And God made the world that needed our touch, needed our cultivation. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.160 Well, then the second chapter affects us. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:22.160 How many of you know that beautiful world has changed just a little bit? 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:31.279 And we have the disaster of sin, the brokenness of our walk with God and our relationships with each other, and even our relationship to creation. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:34.959 But God didn't leave us there. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:40.399 From the very beginning, he starts the promise of divine deliverance and redemption. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:48.560 And we're in the middle of the story of God's heroic redemptive mission through very imperfect people. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:52.639 And then finally, the fourth chapter, I hope you're looking forward to it. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:57.360 One day there's a destiny of the new heavens and a new earth. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:03.279 As one British scholar says, where everything will be put right, everything will be as it should be. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:11.920 So these chapters are part of our story, and they're part of the story of God's dysfunctional family here in Genesis. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:25.120 So in Eden, as Adam and Eve fail, their test, we see God taking initiative, covering them, promising that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:28.240 The story of Cain and Abel that we've studied together. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:31.360 What a beautiful and difficult story. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:38.000 A beautiful story of a sacrifice pleasing to God, and a story of someone who wanted to go his own way. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:46.639 And then the story as Eli Weisell, the great humanitarian, said, Cain and Abel proved that even brothers can hate each other. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:48.559 What a challenging story. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:52.320 And yet God is still merciful to Cain. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:54.080 The story of Noah. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:59.120 Aren't you glad God redeemed the world through the family of Noah? 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:09.600 And yet that great promise God makes, as Noah faithfully carries it out, is continued through people with very imperfect futures. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:12.000 And then we come to Abraham. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:17.600 And I and by the way, if you if you've been busy and summertime, we tend to scatter a little bit. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:22.000 Boy, take a look at the two messages on Abraham that the team has preached. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:24.559 You will really get a lot out of them. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:34.240 But Abraham is chosen by God to be the one through he and his chosen lineage to inaugurate a global mission. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:36.240 Read Genesis 12 again. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:37.360 I love this. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:39.759 Help me out, those of you who know the story. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.120 Through you, Abraham, how many nations will be blessed? 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:45.440 Say it again, all. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:59.759 God does choose people to carry out his plan, but their chosenness is not for their superiority, but that through them God can carry out a plan to bless all the nations. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.399 And the story of Abraham's amazing. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:04.639 Oh, he makes some mistakes. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:06.879 He lies twice about his wife Sarah. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:08.879 You'd think he'd learn the first time. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:20.960 But he also gets a victory in battle and brings offerings to the high priest and King Melchizedek, who prefigures the beautiful ministry of our Jesus. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:29.200 God gives him the covenant of the covenant, renews the covenant again and again and gives him the sign of circumcision. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:36.799 God reminds Abraham that his righteousness isn't rooted in his perfection but in God's grace. 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:41.519 And God takes Abraham through so many trials, so many difficulties. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.919 But starting in Genesis 18, Isaac's gonna join Abraham in this story. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:54.639 And I'm excited about sharing with you some of the goodness of the story. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:01.039 By the way, have you have you discovered as we read read the Bible that God's the only perfect hero? 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:05.279 And he decides to use us and decides to use people. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:14.080 So Isaac is the child of promise, but he's going to be coming into a problematic family situation. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:26.480 And in Isaac, I just I was so aware as I studied and reflected and spoke with Pastor Ryan that Isaac's the in-between, and how often do we feel in-between? 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:29.200 Sometimes Isaac's overlooked. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:34.159 Am I the only one that's been in a room and you feel like you're kind of like cellophane? 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:38.080 Everybody's looking through you, but not at you. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:49.519 And sometimes Isaac falls into that a little bit, though important in the plan of God, he's kind of submerged, stifled by the noise around us. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.799 He's burdened by a family legacy at times. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:55.120 Sometimes feels the consequence. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:12:09.360 So what I'd like to do is I'd like to share four insights from Isaac's story and share a little more of Isaac's story with us that we can apply to our lives as we walk through this story and continue to see the goodness of God. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:18.080 The first insight is that we have to embrace the paradox of divine promise and broken family systems. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:22.240 Now, I'm really grateful for my natural parents. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:26.960 My first years up to about 15 or 16, I want to give them honor. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:34.639 Though we weren't a gospel-centered family at that time, I want to give them honor for loving me and instilling integrity and doing their very best. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:37.600 But it broke apart when I was 16. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:44.480 Mental illness, an addiction, divorce, a quick blended family that came into our lives. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:47.200 And can I just thank you, Awakening? 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:51.360 Because it was a church like us here this morning. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:55.519 I was a brand new Christian and you took me in. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:57.919 You prayed for me, you cared about me. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:09.840 I had great pastors and youth leaders, and they were important, but it was just everyday folks that said, Hey Charlie, you are more than your family system. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.000 Love your family, serve them. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.080 I had to be the adult sometimes. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:16.799 Love them and serve them. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.360 But God has more for you. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:23.840 And so Isaac is the child of laughter. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:25.600 I love Genesis 18. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:27.279 And take a little time and look at it. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:34.320 You know, God visits him with these three visitors, and God promises Sarah's gonna have a son. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:40.320 And Sarah's sitting here, she's old, Abraham's old. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:41.840 You gotta be kidding. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:43.120 And she laughs. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:45.039 And then she pretends she did. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:49.360 I mean, it's so silly, but it's so strange. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:55.519 And a year later, God blesses them with Isaac, the child of laughter. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:00.000 But what other child and family system is also present? 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:02.639 Hagar and Ishmael are present, aren't they? 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:06.639 How many of you are glad God cared about Hagar and Ishmael too? 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.639 Even with Sarah's mistakes and even with Abraham's mistakes. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:21.039 And Isaac's this child of laughter and promise, but born into a huge clan and a family system with rivals and people hostile to him. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:28.960 And he's a source of joy for his parents, but he's born into this family. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:38.399 And we can relate to Isaac great expectations, great promises, but challenged by the system that we're in. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:47.440 And from this first point, I just want us to glean something, and that is that God's at work in all of the difficulties around us. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:51.759 And not the and these aren't the difficulties we caused, but God's at work. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:59.919 And Isaac is growing up, and I hope you do know when you read the Bible, it's like the ESPN top 10 plays at the end of the day. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:02.080 We're getting some highlights. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:11.919 But folks, the in-between was years and even decades of everyday work, everyday supervision, everyday labor. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:19.440 And so we are born into a world with divine promise, even if we're in brokenness. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:24.480 And by the way, when we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, there's a reason St. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:34.240 John tells us in his gospel that we're born again from above, because God's not in the self-improvement business, he's in the new creation business. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:39.279 And we have a new identity, a new start, a new hope, a new future. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.519 We're not disconnected from our history, but we're not bound by it anymore. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:45.360 And I praise God for that. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:51.200 A second principle I find with Isaac is that we're tested by traumatic moments. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:57.919 In Genesis 22, the writer lets us know that Abraham's faith is being tested. 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:02.720 And we've had two really powerful messages on Abraham, especially last week. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:04.000 Please take a look. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:11.200 But his faith is being tested as the very child of promise he's told to offer to God. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:21.440 Contrary to everything he thinks about God, everything that he knows about God, he's asked to bring the very blessing of God as a sacrifice. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:24.639 Now, can we be can we be joyful here? 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:28.639 The narrative's redeemed when Abraham says to his servants, we'll be back. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:34.240 The writer of the Hebrews says Abraham believed God could even raise him from the dead. 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:37.360 But in the middle of it, it's a it's a trauma. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:41.679 But folks, I think sometimes we forget it's Isaac's trauma too. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:45.120 Abraham's being tested. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:51.120 But Isaac has to exercise trust in God and his father. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:53.840 He lets himself be bound. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:01.679 And of course, God intervenes with another offering and blesses Abraham again. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:06.160 But Isaac's experienced this moment of difficulty. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:14.720 Now we will all be tested by events that weren't our fault. 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:28.880 Now, just to give you a humorous example to try to make a serious point, um, back when I was in the youth group, I was a fairly new Christian, and we went up boating near Mantica on a lake, and I had never been water skiing. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:33.680 And of course, how many of you know just getting up on the skis is its own skill? 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:34.240 Okay? 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:35.599 But I was so excited. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:39.440 I'm gonna get up on the skis, I'm gonna be cool. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:51.920 And um, we get there, get the boat off the trailer in the water, we're all excited, and about ten of us on this boat is a good-sized boat, and just all good friends, because just a great moment. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:54.319 And the engine won't start. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:18:07.200 So my friend goes down and he gets his hands greasy, comes back up wiping his hands, and and meanwhile, while he's down doing all this, one of our friends starts praying against the demons in the engine. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:11.440 Now, I do believe there's real spiritual warfare. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:16.880 I do believe that we are in a world that's affected by serious spiritual powers. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:21.680 But folks, my friend came up from the engine bay and said, I have a revelation for you. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:23.440 It's broken. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:25.920 Plan B. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:30.960 And we we went to the water slide in Mantica and had a good time. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:40.640 I'm using a little humor to make a point that sometimes things happen that are not our fault, not the consequences of what we've done. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:46.640 And some are simple things, some are very profound, some are very difficult things that are hard to put into words. 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:49.279 God is still with us. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:19:00.160 The same way our Lord Jesus experienced this Genesis 22 moment when he went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:08.240 Jesus told his followers and tells us in the Gospels time and time again, I am going to die for your sins. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.079 I'm going to rise again. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.319 The kingdom of God is going to come in power in some wonderful ways. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:20.400 But when the moment comes, it's still hard. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:29.119 How many of you know when you're close to graduation, you know you're going to graduate and you still have to go through finals? 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:35.039 Um I'm saying that to try to make a profound point here. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:40.880 We can know that God's working, but it doesn't make the process easy sometimes. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:51.039 And so part of what we need to embrace is a mature theology that God is a God of glory who answers prayers and does amazing things. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:58.640 I am so grateful for every healing, every moment of liberation, every person coming to Christ, every answered prayer. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:10.880 Right now we have several testimonies of friends who have gone through cancer treatment and they're clean and they're doing well, and we have testimony of others that are still being challenged. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:24.720 We need a theology of glory to believe God can do amazing things, and we need a theology of suffering that until our Lord returns, there's going to be paradox, there's going to be mystery, there's going to be challenge. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:26.400 And so we see this. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.079 Um, we see life tested by trauma. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:35.359 And Isaac grows in his faith through this trauma. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:44.240 I want to give you a couple of Psalms to jot down, just before we get to point three here, that I hope will help you deal with the inexplicable and the difficult. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:47.920 These have really helped me, and I probably go to them weekly. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:53.839 Psalm 73, I go to the first 14 verses so I know how to complain to God. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:57.680 Come on, am I the only one that's complained? 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:02.160 And the writer starts off so beautifully, so poetically. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:06.160 Surely God is good to Israel, good to the pure in heart. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:08.880 And they said, But I almost lost my faith. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:19.759 I almost betrayed a generation because I looked at how well the wicked are doing and how difficult my life is, and I couldn't put it together. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:23.119 And let me put it in modern language. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:29.599 What are all those pagans doing living to a hundred years old with buffed bodies and big bank accounts? 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:34.799 And why are all the righteous being taken too soon and going through suffering? 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:36.799 That's what that's what the writer felt like. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.400 And so the writer pours out the heart. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:51.759 And then the shift happens until I entered the sanctuary of God, till I took a moment in God's presence and understood there's an eternal perspective I hadn't been seeing. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:58.079 I was looking at the immediate circumstances and not seeing the fullness of the divine plan. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.759 And then he said. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.599 Says, whom have I in heaven but you? 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.000 And having you I need nothing on earth. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:06.319 God, you will take me into glory. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.960 You're my strength, you're my song. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:16.160 Folks, he's the God who sees us in our most difficult moments, and he's the God who's with us through it all. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:17.279 Can you say amen? 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:24.480 By the way, Psalm 37, flip the digits, is how we need to live while we wait for the answers to prayer. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:26.799 Trust in the Lord and do good. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:28.960 Wait patiently for the Lord. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:31.200 The meek will inherit the earth. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:32.880 It's a beautiful psalm. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:35.519 Every couplet beginning with a new Hebrew letter. 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:37.039 It's just a beautiful psalm. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:42.640 So I always like to say when I when I'm really going through it, I start with 73 and I end on 37. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:45.200 I need that perspective. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:48.559 And God is with us and working in us. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:51.599 And again, the world doesn't always make sense. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:23:02.559 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great pastor and martyr in Nazi Germany, and Martin Luther King, our most profound civil rights leader, both died at age 39. 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:10.400 Pagans live to a hundred, and we've had family friends have sudden difficulties. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:17.359 But we can trust in the Lord and watch him do something beyond our expectations. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:22.000 I want to share one more story of about Sister Clara Brown. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:27.119 And you probably didn't wake up today saying, I wonder if he's going to share about Sister Clara Brown. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:40.720 But in the 1850s, she got liberated from her slavery, having lost her family to other masters 20 years earlier, and in her 50s, she's a free woman. 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:46.400 She makes her way out to the Colorado Gold Rush, which is about 10 years after the California Gold Rush. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:52.559 She's the first black resident in Denver, and then she made her way to Central City in the mining territory. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:24:01.359 And she started a kitchen and a laundry business, like so many of her peers, just trying to find work, enjoying their new freedom, finding their way. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:08.880 And she would be just one of the many anonymous saints that God honors and has a reward with the Lord. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:12.480 But Clara Brown took another step in her faith. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:23.519 As she was doing her work, she would take the overalls and jeans and shake all the dust out and got enough gold dust to buy her first piece of property. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:36.720 And over the next 25 years, she owned 30 pieces of real estate, four mines, planted the first Protestant church in the Rockies, and created the first old age home that was integrated. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:42.160 And in her 80s, the Colorado governor called her a treasure to the state. 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:47.200 And God brought a couple members of her family to her just before she passed away. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:52.319 There's even been an opera written about her, and she was just Sister Clara. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:25:03.200 But folks, we never know what God can do if we can look up beyond our immediate circumstances and see the possibilities that God brings before us. 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:10.160 Well, number three, we can break free from generational dysfunctions. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:14.160 We can break free from generational dysfunctions. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:26.559 Just to remind you, number one, number one is so important, and that's just a reminder, we need to embrace paradox of divine promise and broken family systems. 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:29.519 Number two, we're tested by traumatic moments. 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:35.279 And number three, we can break free from generational dysfunctions and patterns. 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:46.960 Now, Isaac made the same mistake as his dad one time, lying about his wife, but in general, he didn't repeat all of the same difficulties of his father. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:58.559 And in Genesis 24, God blesses the desire of Abraham to find a bride for his son, but blesses Isaac's longing for a great wife. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:02.400 And I hope you can read Genesis 24 a little bit more deeply. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:07.920 It's a love story, it's an arranged marriage that turns into a love story. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:11.680 I tried to arrange my kids' marriages, didn't work. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:13.599 Not that culture. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:15.680 And by the way, they they married really well. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.480 So I'm forever grateful to God. 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:28.319 But what was a providential activity for Abraham to continue the lineage was a personal blessing. 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:34.559 And Isaac and Rebecca's love story is a beautiful one that I hope you'll take some time. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:38.640 And we can break free from those dysfunctions. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:48.799 And you know, Rebecca struggles with having children and gives birth to Jacob and Esau, and that's going to be its own narrative, as we'll see, of their struggle. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.559 But they have a beautiful marriage, a beautiful relationship. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:57.759 Now, Rebecca is going to make the mistake of trying to help God out. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:07.440 By the way, as we break free from some of the dysfunctions and create our own future, um, am I the only one that's tried to help the Holy Spirit a little extra sometimes? 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:11.279 I've said, God, I really want you to bless this activity. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:16.319 And I want to be careful, those of you in clinical psychology, I don't hear voices. 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:22.640 Um, but I do, we do have the privilege of the Holy Spirit speaking deep within us, don't we? 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:27.839 Whispering to us those affirmations of God's word and truth and bearing witness to us. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:33.759 So I remember asking God to bless this situation and the Lord speaking to me in that place of prayer. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:40.960 Charlie, why don't you ask what I'm blessing and do it instead of asking me to bless what you've decided to do. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:43.759 Now, have I always followed that? 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:45.440 I wish, Pastor. 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:47.359 I still fall into that sometimes. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:49.440 God, can I kind of help you out a little bit? 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:53.920 The joke at the seminary is that God and Charlie have a wonderful plan for your life. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:58.160 And I'm joking a little because I really do want the will of God. 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:06.640 So even as we break free from some of these dysfunctions, Isaac and Rebecca had some of their own struggles as they tried to figure out the future. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:14.319 And later Rebecca's gonna think she needs to help her aging husband out with who he blesses to carry on the legacy. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:26.319 And uh, so there's still that humanness in the narrative, but I just want to really declare to us that we really can be free, we really can have a new future. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:32.799 And number four, where I want us to go into the scripture in detail, would you turn to Genesis 26? 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:34.799 I I love this passage. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:43.440 Number four, we must encounter the Lord for ourselves and pass on a legacy of faith. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:48.640 So, Genesis 2, 26, 2 to 5, and 23 to 25. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:49.920 Let me just read God's word. 00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:53.519 Best part of the message is the actual reading of Scripture. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:58.000 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, Do not go down to Egypt. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:00.240 Don't go back to the past. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.799 Live in the land where I tell you to live. 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:04.720 Stay in this land for a while. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:07.680 I will be with you and I will bless you. 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:13.680 For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:14.480 Let me pause there. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.759 Hey, Isaac, you're part of a bigger story than yourself. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:22.799 I promised Abraham this, but I'm here to bless you. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:24.480 Could you make note of that? 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:26.400 We're part of a bigger story. 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:33.119 Others might get more billing, but we're equally important to God in his story for our lives. 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:36.880 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:42.079 I'll give them all these lands, and through your offspring, how many nations will be blessed? 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:43.680 Say it loud. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:52.319 All nations on earth will be blessed because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees, my instructions. 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:54.799 And then from there he went up to Beersheba. 00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:58.960 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the God of your father Abraham. 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:00.240 Do not be afraid. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:01.359 I am with you. 00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:06.559 I will bless you, I will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham. 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:10.960 Isaac built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord. 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:16.000 He pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well. 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:18.000 Wow. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:32.640 We may not pitch tents and dig wells, although that's fun to do, but we need personally, continually, to call on the name of the Lord and have fresh encounters with him. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:51.680 And not rest on a previous history for others or even for ourselves, but know that God has fresh encounters, fresh assurance, sometimes fresh conviction, but in all cases, fresh experiences of his marvelous grace. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:54.000 You see, I'm now a grandfather. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:30:57.359 I know I look 39, but I'm 66. 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:00.480 And I'm a grandfather five times. 00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:04.640 And it's a it's a deep pleasure, it's a deep joy and delight. 00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:10.000 But my children had to meet Jesus personally. 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:16.240 They're introducing their young children, and they've said yes to Jesus as young children. 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:17.680 So thrilled about that. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:30.319 Each person, each generation has to say yes and have a fresh encounter with the Lord, and he's ready and willing to give that to us. 00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:39.759 You know, as you continue to read through the Bible, you're going to discover that the dysfunctions in Genesis don't end after Exodus. 00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:40.880 I wish they did. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:45.519 You would think after they were liberated from Egypt, everything would be wonderful. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:48.480 And a few weeks later they're complaining about the menu. 00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:53.599 That's just that's the human nature. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:55.039 I love, don't you? 00:31:55.119 --> 00:32:07.680 And by the way, if you're newer to the Bible, King David's a major figure who's going to establish the capital in Jerusalem for the nation of Israel about 1000 BC, 1,000 years before Christ. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:10.319 And he's going to make all kinds of mistakes. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:11.759 God's going to bless him. 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:17.680 But his family story after him could be an HBO miniseries. 00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:21.279 I mean, it's just full of drama. 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:25.519 It's punctuated with divine grace and judgment. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:27.920 And so the story continues. 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:30.160 But we have to meet God. 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:32.160 But can I give you the good news? 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:34.799 We are more than our history. 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:52.160 Later on in the New Testament, after our Lord and Savior has died for our sins and rose again and commissioned his people, that one of the biggest enemies of the early church named Saul of Tarsus is going to become the Apostle Paul when he encounters Jesus. 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:58.480 And God decided to use the most Jewish of Jews to reach non-Jews. 00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:12.079 It's like a friend I met 40 years ago named Tom Terrence, who was a KKK leader in Mississippi and in prison for attempted murder. 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:15.279 He met Jesus in prison. 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:21.920 And he joined with civil rights leader John Perkins for decades in racial reconciliation. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:26.960 God takes former enemies and makes them friends. 00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:33.279 God takes people with one kind of background and puts them on a brand new trajectory. 00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:37.440 We need to encounter the Lord for ourselves. 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:38.319 Amen? 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:41.920 And he has something new and fresh for each of us. 00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:45.440 And by the way, we've been talking about all the brokenness. 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:51.599 If if I hope that my kids will say they come from a great family, because Charlie and Kathy are pretty great. 00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:57.119 But no, we've had as a as a family, we've been intact and we've been whole. 00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:03.599 God's helped us be healthy, but we've gone through very difficult situations in ministry and job situations. 00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:07.039 We've packed boxes 17 times. 00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:09.840 And half of those weren't our choice. 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:15.199 My daughter occasionally says, I'm going to therapy for being in the military with you, Dad. 00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:25.840 And the point is, so no matter how well we may do and how different Kathy and are from our families, each family will have its challenges. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:31.039 And each one will have to encounter Jesus for themselves. 00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:38.320 I'm pretty confident my kids will tell you that I love them, that we've invested in them, that we cared for them deeply. 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:41.440 But they'll also tell you the ups and downs that we experienced. 00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:44.719 And we've experienced some of their ups and downs. 00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:52.880 And God has something fresh for us. 00:34:53.679 --> 00:35:01.360 As the worship team comes and we prepare for prayer today, I just want to pray in some applications with us. 00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:18.400 I want you to pray these in with me and um take a moment and allow the Holy Spirit to deepen our faith, mature our understanding, and grant us a fresh touch of his grace today. 00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:22.320 Would you bow your heads with me for a moment and let's pray together? 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:28.559 And then we're going to respond in song, and our pastor will come and grant a special blessing. 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:35.360 Gracious and loving God, we thank you that you are the God who sees and cares. 00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:40.320 You're the God who is near the brokenhearted and with the Christian spirit. 00:35:40.559 --> 00:35:45.440 You're the God who dwells in the highest of heavens and with the humble of heart. 00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:56.639 And as our brother shared earlier, Lord, with everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, we come and we say, Lord, give us a fresh experience of your grace today. 00:35:56.880 --> 00:36:02.559 Give us a fresh infusion of hope that we are more than our history. 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:06.239 And so, Lord, we choose today to agree with your word. 00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:17.760 We choose to embrace the paradox of your glory and suffering, the paradox of your power in our life, and the paradox of walking through challenges, Lord. 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:22.000 And we say, Lord, we want to learn to trust you ever more deeply. 00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:27.360 Lord, we choose today to receive healing from our traumatic events. 00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:44.719 And Lord, we believe you can heal us, that we don't have to be determined by that abuse or rejection, but rather with your help and a process of the Holy Spirit in the embrace of the body of Christ, Lord, that we can receive healing and hope. 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:56.880 Lord, today we thank you that we can break free of the dysfunctions and strongholds and habits of family systems or social systems that are contrary to the gospel. 00:36:57.199 --> 00:37:09.679 While honoring our families and cultures, Lord, for those things that are from your providence, we also want to break free from anything that keeps us from your best plan and your good work in our life. 00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:14.400 So, Lord, we just declare that who you set free is free indeed. 00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:28.880 And then, Lord, today, would you grant us right now in your presence, as we open our hearts and hands to worship you, would you grant us a fresh experience of just how much you love us, how much you care. 00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:41.360 You are the fear of Isaac, you're the God of Isaac, as well as the God of Abraham and Jacob and Moses and David and Paul and all the saints. 00:37:42.159 --> 00:37:46.079 And you are our God if we surrender to you. 00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:49.360 Praise your holy name. 00:37:49.920 --> 00:38:08.159 If you're newer to faith, this may be your day to take a step towards surrender to the love of Jesus Christ, who takes us as we are and then transforms us into all that God intends us to be in holiness and in love. 00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:11.679 So, Lord, we say thank you. 00:38:11.920 --> 00:38:13.760 Thank you for your grace. 00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:20.639 Thank you for your embrace, and thank you for the hope that your Holy Spirit brings us. 00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:23.519 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:25.199 Would you say amen? 00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:31.519 Stand with me and let's join with the worship team and respond to his grace and song together. 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:35.599 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:38:35.840 --> 00:38:40.239 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:42.480 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:48.559 Take the next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.