WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.640 This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.000 For more information on our church, please visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:06.559 Amen. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:07.360 You can have a seat. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:11.119 If you've got a Bible, I want to invite you to open it to Genesis chapter 12. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:13.919 If you don't have a Bible as well in your row, I'm on page eight. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:16.640 And uh, as you know, we're in a series about our core values. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.120 What do we value uh uh as a church? 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:25.359 And there are basically four things we value that kind of guide what we do around here and inform the process of how we do it. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:27.280 And our four core values are very simple. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.079 We've been talking about them one each Sunday in January. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:40.719 We started off talking about the gospel, and then we talked about community uh because the gospel produces a community of people that do life together and they stay in relationship to each other. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:44.079 We don't get our feelings hurt, pack up our marbles, and go home. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:49.200 No, as Lance said so beautifully, we stay woundable, we stay in proximity to other people. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:58.640 We want to have people in our lives that speak to us and help shape us and conform us and cause us to look and think and act more like Jesus. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:08.879 But gospel, and then secondly, community, and then thirdly, last week we talked about mission, which is being intentional and purposeful uh in everything we do towards everybody we do it around. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:13.280 And today we come to our last core value of blessing. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:17.200 Uh it in the Bible, this is comes out of Genesis 12. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:20.799 Uh now up to this point, God's created the heavens and the earth. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:27.680 He makes Adam and Eve, he puts them in the garden, he makes He makes Adam, and then he creates all the animals, brings them to Adam, and Adam names them. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:28.239 Remember that? 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:29.280 A little history here. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:33.120 Adam names them, whatever he called them, that was their name thereof. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:36.400 Uh and so God says, It's not good that man should be alone. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:38.560 I'll make a helper suitable for him. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:45.120 So God causes a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and Adam wakes up and there's a beautiful naked woman right there beside him. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:45.920 Remember that? 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:50.400 And Adam reaches for a pen and makes a note, memo to self, take more naps. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:52.480 Good stuff happens when you sleep. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:54.480 It's in the Bible. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.959 And then so, say, and God says to them, Be fruitful and multiply. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.959 And all the men in the world said, Amen. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:07.359 You're kind of like, right now you're like, oh, I love the Bible. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:08.639 Keep talking, dude. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:20.240 And so they go along there, and everything's hunky and dory, but they disobeyed, they don't trust God, and they disobey, sin enters into the world, and things begin to come off the rails right there. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:21.120 Imagine that. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:25.520 When you don't trust God and don't obey God, bad stuff happens. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:34.159 And so Cain kills his brother Abel, and then wickedness is just breaks out on the earth, and God says, Hey, I'm gonna kill everybody and start over. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:37.520 You're not even in Genesis chapter 6 yet. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.199 I mean, you're talking about reading the Bible, it's kind of like, hello. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:52.319 And so God wipes out everybody and floods the earth except Noah and his descendants, and so afterwards a little dove comes and Noah says, Land ho! And then to celebrate, Noah gets hammered drunk. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:56.560 Y'all are like, that sounds like my family reunion right there. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:59.520 And his sons walk in and they said, Don't look upon your father. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:02.560 They throw a blanket on him, like, here, Dad, get some clothes on. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:09.199 And then it's the descendants of Noah, and you get to chapter 11, and the people go, Come, let us build a tower to the heavens and make a name for ourselves. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:12.159 This can't be all about God, it's got to be about us. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:14.639 And we drop in on chapter 12. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:29.840 Genesis chapter 12, verse 1 says, Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and so that you will be a blessing. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:37.439 I will bless those that bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:39.120 And so Abram went. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:43.280 Just underline those three words in your Bible, if they're not underlined. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:49.680 So Abram, uh Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:54.240 Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.120 And we'll we'll we'll just stop right there. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:03.599 Abram, God spoke, and then God promised, and then and then and then Abram went. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.479 You say, well, what's this got to do with blessing? 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:25.519 If you looked up on our website, if you're checking out our church, and a lot of places that the first place people go is your website, and you clicked on about us, and then clicked on core values, it would come up, and under blessing would be this paragraph, and it would say, When God set his affection on his people, he rooted this relationship in blessing. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:33.199 His words to Abraham were, I will bless you, and you will be a blessing, and through you all the nations of the world will be blessed. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:37.199 Because God has faithfully demonstrated this reality in our lives. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:41.759 We are now empowered with the privilege of being to others what God has been to us. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:53.120 Whether through our efforts to alleviate poverty, to practice spirit-led generosity, or engage in international assistance, we take seriously the biblical mandate to be who the Bible says we are. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:05:02.639 All of these efforts are fueled by our desire to help others see God for who He really is and themselves for who they can be. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:05.439 You say, well, what that's a big long thing. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:06.240 That's on our website. 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:07.439 Yeah, you don't have to read it. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:08.480 I just read it to you. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:09.920 Why did you read it to us? 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:16.480 Because what what you just heard read about is rooted in what we're we're gonna look at this morning in the life of Abram. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:24.319 There's five things that we as a church and we as a people learn from the life of this man Abram, whose name would later become Abraham. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:29.360 And the first one is this right here a right knowledge of God is our highest priority. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:30.879 A right knowledge of God. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:36.879 And so for us as a church, if you're checking out our church and thinking, I might want to be a part of this church, I don't know. 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:54.399 Uh just let me just say up front that the thing we want most for you is for you to have a right knowledge of God, not based on hearsay or bad experiences with church or church people, but uh but but but a clear biblical understanding of who God is. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:55.439 You say, why? 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:58.720 Because Abram is 75 years old. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:02.240 And let me just read it again the way we probably should hear it. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:11.439 Verse 1, it says, Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house with all that free built-in babysitting. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:18.000 Marcy and I have friends that have family here in the city, and they're kind of like, Yeah, we dropped our kids off at the in-laws. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:21.519 And I hear this and I kind of go, Oh, good for you. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:25.759 You ever say something and outwardly you mean it, but inwardly you resent it? 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:31.199 Like someone said to me the other day, yeah, my in-laws came and got the kids and took them for the whole weekend. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:36.560 And then my thought was, I want to kill you. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.399 That's never, we've never lived around our family. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:53.759 So there's a downside to that too, because the people that say, hey, our in-laws came and they uh, you know, hey, my mother-in-law just showed up the other day for four hours. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.079 That's never happened in my life. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:02.160 But but this is what God says, leave everything that is familiar now. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:06.800 Now, by the way, let's don't miss the fact that he's 75 years old, okay? 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:09.040 And his wife is old too. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:13.199 I mean, she's got a vast collection of yadro figurines, okay? 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:14.639 Picture your grandma's house. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:16.399 The older you get, let's just face it. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:17.759 Let's get down to the get down. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.879 In America, by the time you're 75, you have earned the right to do what you want to do and not do what you don't want to do. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:30.079 That's why some of your grandpa's are rude and compelling all at the same time. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:33.519 If you want someone to deliver bad news, get grandpa. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:35.439 Who's gonna tell grandpa to shut up? 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:37.279 Grandpa is off the reservation. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.120 You can't rein that cat back in. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:41.680 I can't wait to be 75. 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:48.800 I can't wait to get around my grandkids and just tell them crazy stuff. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:56.399 And then take them home at about 10:30 at night and just open the door and go, go tell your mom, Big Poppy said hello. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:00.959 And they just drive off and leave them on the sidewalk. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:02.480 Whoa! Why? 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:05.680 Because I'm 75 and I do what I want. 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:09.120 Can you not wait for that? 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:10.639 Abram's there. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:11.759 And look at this. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:20.079 God says, leave the land of your kin, the country, leave your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:22.639 Translation, he didn't say this is where we're going. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:25.680 He doesn't say, hey, property values are kind of going up. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:26.959 Housers are selling. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:28.160 It's a selling market. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:30.959 Hey, consult your broker and see where you are. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.879 Are you strategically positioned where now's a good time to bow out of the market? 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:35.360 No. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:37.840 God says, hey, say goodbye. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:42.000 Hey, hey, leave the land of your forefathers and go to a land I will show you. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:46.639 And you say, what's that got to do with a right knowledge of God is our highest priority? 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:48.320 Here's what it's got to do with that. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:52.720 We don't need to know where we're going, we just need to know who's driving. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:58.559 And for many of you in this room, the wrong person is driving your life. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:04.480 And some of you are like, and done. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:06.879 We'll be visiting another church next week. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:07.840 That's okay. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:09.600 This will still be true. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:11.360 They may or may not tell you that. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:15.919 They may do a little monkey dance and say, hey, we got a gyrating slide for your kid to come down. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.559 And SpongeBob's gonna be a Sunday school teacher. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:19.519 Great. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:21.600 This is still true. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:23.759 This is the blessing. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:25.519 And you say, what's it got to do? 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:33.039 Because to have this right knowledge of God, there's no age at which God can't tell you anything that you don't just go, I'm for it. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:40.559 I mean, I just picture God saying, hey, leave the land of your forefather, and a 75-year-old man comes out with no shirt on, smoking with a cowboy hat. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:41.519 Let's go. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:45.440 And I just think, yes, that. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:46.159 Why? 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:47.759 You don't need to know where you're going. 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:48.320 J.I. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:50.320 Packer, you just need to know who's driving. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:50.799 J.I. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:52.159 Packer wrote a great book. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.679 If you want to read a good book sometime this year, read a book by J.I. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:57.759 Packard entitled Knowing God. 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:04.240 And in the book, he talks about the difference between knowledge about God and knowledge of God. 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:05.120 He says this. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:10.240 He says, How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.840 The rule for doing this is simple but demanding. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:23.679 It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into a matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:30.960 In other words, anytime we learn something about God, we think about it strategically and intentionally. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:32.399 We meditate upon it. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:37.200 We just keep thinking about it until it kind of works its way into our heart. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:39.759 And then it just kind of comes out of our lives. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:46.399 For example, this weekend I was in uh Burleson, which is south of Fort Worth, speaking at a gathering of students. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:58.080 We crammed 900 middle school and high school kids in a room, and I spoke to them Friday night, and I spoke to them Saturday morning, and I spoke to them last night, and then I drove home from Fort Worth after I was done. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:01.120 Y'all like, that explains a lot. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:02.240 That's right. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:07.120 I stopped two times and got coffee, and the guy's like, dude, it's just me and you up at this hour. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:08.799 And I said, I'm great with that. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:10.080 What are you doing now? 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:15.919 I just got done preaching to a bunch of kids in Fort Worth, and I'm gonna go home and preach to my church three times in the morning. 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:17.600 What time are you gonna get home? 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:19.759 Let's don't focus on that right now, okay? 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:23.120 You just bill me for this coffee and I'll get out of here. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.320 You say, Well, what what what's the deal? 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:43.919 I'm I'm sitting there at this thing, and you got 900 kids packed into this surround sound thing with a band and lights and swirly stuff going up on the walls, and I leaned against the wall, and the music was so loud the wall was vibrating, coming through my chest, and I was like, my heartbeat's getting off rhythm. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:49.360 And the band slowed down, and the guy started reading from the Bible, and it was great, by the way. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:52.240 I was like, I know I'm old because I was like, man, this is really loud. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:53.120 Are these kids deaf? 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:55.039 Are we just preparing them to be deaf? 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:03.600 Can we just, you know, and then the guy they kind of brought it down, he read from the Bible, and they started singing some song I'd never heard before. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:12.399 And out of my mouth, I kind of pushed off the wall, and I just went, whoa! And all the kids were like, oh my gosh, the old man's dying over here. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:14.960 Why? 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:26.559 Because these things that I'd just been thinking about, I've been reading in the Bible about God, all of a sudden I've been meditating on them, and all of a sudden, just just just this praise to God just kind of boom came out of me. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:29.360 And then I was like, oh, yeah. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:37.440 And you ever just you just focused on the words because I didn't know the song, and I didn't want to stand there like a kid in choir and going, banana, banana, banana, banana. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:45.840 And I just I didn't realize it, but I just started moving closer and closer to the stage while I was singing because I was like a moth to the flame. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:47.200 I was like, yes. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:48.240 Why? 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:53.600 Because there's a difference in knowing about knowledge about God and knowledge of God. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:13:00.240 When somebody gives you an opportunity to say something that you've been thinking about just in your head, and you're just like, yes. 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:17.360 That's what we mean when we say a right knowledge of God is our highest priority, because if you don't have a clear biblical understanding of who God is, everything God calls out to you to do is going to sound like an offense to your better ideas. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:24.480 Whether you're 75 or 25, or 45, or 55. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:29.840 Second thing we see from the life of Abram about this blessing. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.720 Secondly, the promise of God is our highest security. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:36.000 The promise of God is our highest security. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:39.440 By security, I don't mean secure, like safe. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:41.120 I mean currency. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:43.759 It's the greatest value. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:48.799 The promise of God is the best thing we have to bank and build our life on. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:51.840 Every relationship involves a currency. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:55.360 Your relationship with your kids has a currency. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:57.759 Uh, my kids like different things. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:02.000 I got two daughters, and and and they're alike in a lot of ways, and they're real different. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:12.240 Like last night I was driving home, and because I knew my 15-year-old slept till 2.30 yesterday afternoon, she would be up till 2.30 this morning. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:25.759 And so when I'm coming down the road and no one's out except some crazy people over here at Safari, Texas in the middle of the night are lighting these lantern, these paper lantern things that you light, like from the movie Tangled, and setting them off. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:38.000 I didn't know that, but when I cut through off of the Grand Parkway to come through here, there's like these eight balls of fire floating in the sky, and I stopped my truck and said, My God, the aliens are coming. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:42.399 And I'm standing out in the road just thinking, I'm gonna take one for the team. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:44.080 You ain't getting my kids. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.279 And I was just like, What in the world? 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:50.960 And then I got back in my truck thinking, I'm just tired. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:58.240 Because I thought, look at the airplanes, and I thought, those aren't airplanes, they're on fire. 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:00.240 No, I'm just hallucinating. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:04.559 And then I went a little further, and all of a sudden, two of them took up over the church. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:07.600 And I was like, they're looking for me. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:10.080 I better hurry. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:17.200 And then I got closer, and what and the two over the church are just hovering right over the building, and they were balls of fire. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:20.480 And y'all are like, sure they were. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:22.639 Go ahead, preacher. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:31.600 People over at Safari, Texas, that got married and then celebrated late into the night, and they were setting off those lanterns. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:32.960 And so I called my 15-year-old. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:35.200 I knew she'd be up and I said, Hey, go out in the front yard. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:39.200 You ever tell your kids to do something and they start asking you questions? 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.720 I'm just like, do I just want to whip you on the phone? 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:44.879 Shut your mouth and go outside. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:46.559 Well, in the front yard? 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:46.879 Yeah. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.960 What do you ask what I mean when I say go out in the front yard right now, right now, right now. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:52.799 Dad, well, what do you mean, the front yard? 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:55.440 How many front yards do we have, Madison? 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:05.039 Just like, man, am I getting dumber or are my kids getting smarter, or vice versa? 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:06.559 So she goes out in the front yard. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:09.200 By the time I'm whipping in the driveway, I said, I wanted you to see that. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:14.320 And she's like, oh my gosh, it's like the movie Tangled, only better. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:18.000 And then she ruined the moment by saying this. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:20.799 I want to have those at my wedding. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:27.919 Shut up and go back in the house. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:30.799 You're not getting married. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:32.480 I don't want to think about that right now. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:35.279 I just wanted you to see that because I know she'd appreciate that. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.840 It's just floating up there. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:40.639 Just there, there, there you go. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.200 You see, every relationship has its currency. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:44.720 I have a currency with my kids. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:49.279 One of them values some things, and my other one, my younger one, values some different things. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:49.840 Okay? 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.600 You have a currency in your relationship with your spouse. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:56.639 Like right now, everybody in my family's been sick. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:01.200 Like the past two weeks, it's been a cloud of sickness hovering over our house. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:09.599 First, it started with our youngest, and then my wife got it, and I got all mouthy last week if you were here, and I said, My wife's been kind of mouthing me, and the Lord has afflicted her with sickness. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:12.240 And then Tuesday night, wham. 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:15.359 I was in bed all day, Wednesday and Thursday. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:16.640 I went to the doctor and got some drugs. 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:18.960 They gave me some cough syrup with codeine in it. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:21.440 I didn't get out of bed from Wednesday till Friday morning. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:22.480 You think I'm kidding? 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:26.559 I would just get up, my wife brings it to me in little doses, and I was like, I don't need that little cap. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.720 I just put it there and just go, go, goom. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:29.680 I'd set it down. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.960 I'd wake up six hours later and get me another nip. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:34.480 I don't know what day it was. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:36.480 It was on Tuesday or Thursday one. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:38.559 I don't know if Wednesday happened last week. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:40.480 Could have been a black hole in the universe. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:41.519 I wasn't here. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:43.200 I was just passed out. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:48.400 And but I woke up Thursday and there were people in my bedroom and folding chairs in a circle. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:49.920 Hi, Neil. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:57.680 And I was like, and it was all my friends and family members, and they're like, we're here to talk to you about your codeine addiction. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:00.319 Hang on just a second. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:01.519 I'll be right with y'all. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:03.200 What time does the meeting start? 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:05.519 Hi, my name's Neil, and I'm a codeine addict. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:12.640 I I was dying, and so my wife's still getting over getting sick, and so she's just about there. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:22.000 And so the currency in our relationship, see, when I first got married, I thought what would bless my wife is that, oh, I want to take you to breakfast this week. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:22.880 I want to take you to lunch. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:23.920 You've had a hard week. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:25.440 And it will be that. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:26.559 Yes, indeed, this week. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:27.920 I need to take my wife to breakfast. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:35.440 I need to take my wife to lunch, spend some time with my because the fog is lifting, we're coming back out into the world, the sun does shine after all. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:36.880 Oh my gosh. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:41.279 But I also know this, because when I'm telling my wife that, I'm thinking this is blessing her. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:43.119 She's looking at me like, uh-huh. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:50.079 And what she's really thinking is, I need you to get these kids off of me. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:52.799 And I want you to get off of me too. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:54.720 I don't want you to need anything from me. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:04.079 Matter of fact, I want to disappear like about eight o'clock one morning, show up two days later after founding a Miranda Lambert concert somewhere that needs attending. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:08.799 And so I know that that's a currency of our relationship because I know what the currency is. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.279 I know how to relate to my wife, okay? 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.160 It's the same way in your relationship with God. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:17.839 You need to understand what the currency is, what the security is. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.720 The promises of God is our highest security. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:28.160 See, when God tells Abram, hey, leave the land of your uh of your fathers and go to a land that I will show you. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:29.119 Let me say this. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:31.039 I don't have time to preach this today. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:35.359 The command of God is rooted in the promise of God. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:38.480 Now think about that for a minute. 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:39.839 The command of God. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:44.079 When God tells you to do something, he's just not making you do calisthenics. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:47.039 Remember when you're in the sixth grade and you had gym coach? 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:56.319 Made you do all that stuff just because they were the coach and they could do it, and you were kind of like, Why do we gotta do 50 jumping jacks and the fat guy's got the whistle around his neck and he's not doing any? 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.279 Okay, so those are just my thoughts. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:02.400 You should be doing sit-ups, okay, coach? 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:04.160 Can we call you coach? 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:07.759 I mean, is that really a good word to use in reference to you, my man? 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.480 Mix in a salad, why don't you? 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:15.119 And by the way, when you say that as a sixth grader, you get whipped. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:18.640 Not that we know or anything. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:23.599 See, the command of God is rooted in the promise of God. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:26.240 God says, go to a land that I'll show you. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:33.119 And it sounds uh nebulous and fuzzy and unclear, but God says, Oh, and by the way, and he makes six promises. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.279 This is what we mean when we say the promise of God is our highest security. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:40.319 It's it's a thing that we can bank on. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:41.119 Six promises. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:43.680 The first one is, I'll make you a great nation. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:47.359 Now you're kind of like, yeah, who wouldn't like that? 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:51.039 God told Abram, I'll make you a great nation. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:53.599 Now you gotta understand the context. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.480 Abram and his wife have been wanting children for a long time. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:58.799 He is 75 years old. 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:01.599 And God says, I'll make you a great nation. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:04.000 And Abram's mind is just exploding. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:12.559 He's thinking, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay, you uh, oh, okay, I I mean, wow, I'm 75. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:18.160 Which means that most of us in this room should ask yourself, I know you're like, hey, we got two kids, we're done. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:19.839 You should ask yourself if you're done. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:21.440 You may not be done. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:27.839 That noise coming out of here, that was we're done. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:32.079 We've asked the Lord, and the Lord has said, you're done. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:37.680 You may be done having them, but you might not be done adopting them. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:42.480 Uh oh, did you feel that? 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:44.960 I think I need to say that again. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:46.720 Guys got somebody's name out in here. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.400 Some of you here's the deal. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:49.200 We want more of you. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:50.400 I know I know how you think, Close. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:52.880 You look at me like we want it. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:57.119 We just couldn't have that many. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.440 After we had our second one. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:04.400 She said, You should all right, have four or five more. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:07.440 And she wasn't joking. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:08.960 And she said, That's the problem with America. 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:11.279 The wrong kind of people have all the kids. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.319 People that can't even be a parent. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:16.880 Just having kids over and over and over. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.680 And people that are great parents don't have enough kids. 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:24.640 And so, hey, you may be done having them, but you may not be done adopting them. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:26.079 We done with that. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:26.880 We need to move on. 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:28.720 We beat all the soap out of that. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:31.200 Some of y'all are like, please don't get my wife going. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:34.000 Some of you men are like, There goes the afternoon right there. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:35.200 I'm gonna go home. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:40.559 As soon as it gets still, she's gonna come into my room and kind of go, Do you think the preacher was talking to us? 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:43.119 Maybe I am. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:45.920 Here's my point. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:50.960 You never get to a point where you've earned the right to say to God, Leave me alone. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:54.640 Your worst day is when God leaves you alone. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:56.160 That is hell. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:59.119 Hell begins the day God leaves you alone. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:01.599 He said to Abram, I'll make you a great nation. 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:04.400 Secondly, he said, I'll bless you and make your name great. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:10.960 This is right on the hills of the Tower of Babel, where the people said, Come let us build a tower into the heavens and make a name for ourselves. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:13.839 God says to Abram, You don't have to make a name for yourself. 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:15.920 I'll make your name great. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:17.599 You say, I don't get it. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:25.440 That's why you went to camp as a little kid or vacation Bible school, and they sang the little song, Father Abraham had many sons. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:26.160 Come on, singing. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:29.119 And many sons had Father Abraham. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:30.319 Keep singing. 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:31.759 And I am one. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:35.519 So let's. 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:40.079 That's enough. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:45.680 See, you didn't know this day would come when you were singing that song. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.640 You think they just sang that song because they just punished us. 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:53.359 I remember the first time I was at Day Camp Council, we sang that song, and I was thinking, what's the big deal with Abraham? 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:54.480 Can we not sing this song? 00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:56.640 We had to turn around, jump up, sit down. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.759 I was like, please don't sing Father Abraham. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:04.240 It is eight minutes of like aerobics at 7.30 in the morning. 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:13.359 And by the way, the camp that I worked at, if you were late to staff meeting, which happened at 7.30, you had to stand in front of God and everybody and sing Father Abraham all by yourself. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:19.359 Yeah, I had a little bit of resentment towards Abraham because I got to sing him a lot. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:24.720 Third promise God makes is you'll be a blessing. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:27.440 You're like, what? 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:30.160 God makes a promise to Abraham. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.359 And by the way, by extension to you and I, you'll be a blessing. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:35.519 You don't have to do anything. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:38.000 You don't have to stop doing this and start doing this. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:43.920 If you've got to make some major changes in your life to be a blessing, something's wrong with how you're living. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:53.279 Same thing as last week, when God said, I mean, when Jesus said, go and make disciples in the Greek language, it's literally, as you're going, make disciples. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:25:04.880 Remember, I said last week, I said, hey, if you've got to, if you've got to stop what you're doing or do something differently in order to make disciples, you're either doing the wrong thing or you're doing the right thing the wrong way. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:07.839 Same thing with, oh, and by the way, you'll be a blessing. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:09.680 That's one of the promises of God. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:15.359 You being who God created and fashioned you to be is a blessing. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:16.559 You don't have to be like me. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:18.160 You don't have to have my personality. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:27.839 You don't have to be like anybody else, but you do have to be you because there's people out there that are only going to be blessed by being around someone like you. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:31.920 And God says that, and you'll be a blessing. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.279 Fourthly, God says, I'll bless those who bless you. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:38.640 Fifthly, I will curse whoever dishonors you. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:41.759 You hadn't got always got to be looking for a fight, man. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:45.279 God says, I got your back. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:48.480 I will curse whoever dishonors you. 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:52.559 And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.559 Now that sounds like a, whoa, well, there's a to-do list right there. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:06.319 No, it's not a, hey, we're gonna go out and register voters and and teach them Alechites how to plant crops and teach their kids to do math. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:07.920 That's not what God has in mind. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:12.000 He has something bigger when he talks about it in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:18.559 The third thing we learn from the life of Abraham, or Abram, Abraham, about blessing is that obedience is our highest form of worship. 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:23.359 Obedience is our highest form of worship. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:36.960