WEBVTT 00:02.521 --> 00:03.922 [SPEAKER_00]: High Praise Podcasts. 00:03.942 --> 00:10.609 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Josh. 00:10.629 --> 00:15.633 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll leave Pastor here at High Praise and I want to thank you for downloading today's podcast. 00:16.134 --> 00:20.038 [SPEAKER_00]: We know that this message is going to encourage and bless you. 00:20.438 --> 00:24.342 [SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to open up your heart and receive with the Lord as for you today. 00:26.038 --> 00:30.762 [SPEAKER_00]: Grab your Bible, go to Isaiah chapter 55, and then after that, we're going to go to Genesis 15. 00:30.802 --> 00:34.205 [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to start in Isaiah 55, and then we're going to go to Genesis 15. 00:34.806 --> 00:36.447 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm really excited about this today. 00:36.507 --> 00:37.829 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe it's going to be a blessing to you. 00:37.849 --> 00:39.550 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe it's going to encourage you and uplift you. 00:39.911 --> 00:43.434 [SPEAKER_00]: As we kind of launch into this series beyond, and you're going to see what we're talking about. 00:44.134 --> 00:49.218 [SPEAKER_00]: As we get into this, we're going to start and I say chapter 55 verse 6, part of this is really familiar to people. 00:49.438 --> 00:58.704 [SPEAKER_00]: The second half, the second two verses we're going to read are very familiar, but we need to read the second two verses in light of the first two verses that we're going to read. 00:59.105 --> 01:03.748 [SPEAKER_00]: You know we always have to, you have to interpret scripture in light of scripture. 01:04.488 --> 01:10.953 [SPEAKER_00]: And scripture is meant to be read in context because people can take one verse of scripture from 01:13.094 --> 01:17.478 [SPEAKER_00]: And you can just about make any kind of wild argument that you want to make for anything in the world. 01:18.058 --> 01:25.625 [SPEAKER_00]: If you take one scripture out of context, pluck it and then build an entire world view and entire doctrine around it. 01:26.125 --> 01:35.333 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is one of the problems that we have in the modern church is and I know I harp on this a lot but this is one of our biggest issues we have is we are not familiar with scripture. 01:36.565 --> 01:42.691 [SPEAKER_00]: And because we're not familiar with Scripture, we are easily tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. 01:43.292 --> 01:56.624 [SPEAKER_00]: And we believe things about God, we believe things about our neighbors, we believe things about ourselves that are in absolute opposition to Scripture, because we don't really, our lives aren't really rooted and grounded in Scripture. 01:56.925 --> 02:00.168 [SPEAKER_00]: We're rooted and grounded in the inherited belief of what we've been told. 02:01.669 --> 02:04.474 [SPEAKER_00]: But we're not really rooted in grounded in what scripture actually says. 02:04.494 --> 02:06.799 [SPEAKER_00]: So Isaiah 55 verse 6, I promise this could be encouraging. 02:06.819 --> 02:07.340 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll just hang with me. 02:07.640 --> 02:09.864 [SPEAKER_00]: It says this, seek the Lord while he may be found. 02:10.937 --> 02:12.819 [SPEAKER_00]: Call upon him while he is near. 02:13.660 --> 02:17.364 [SPEAKER_00]: Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. 02:18.185 --> 02:28.536 [SPEAKER_00]: Let him return to the Lord and the Lord he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon him. 02:28.556 --> 02:32.681 [SPEAKER_00]: Now verse 7, the one we hear quoted, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. 02:33.870 --> 02:45.959 [SPEAKER_00]: nor are your ways my way says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 02:46.880 --> 02:52.804 [SPEAKER_00]: How many of you have heard somebody say, well, you know, his ways are higher than ours, and his thoughts are different and deeper than ours. 02:53.445 --> 03:00.190 [SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of times when we hear that said, we hear it said to explain away something awful that's happened. 03:01.761 --> 03:01.981 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 03:02.381 --> 03:03.522 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, his ways are higher. 03:04.623 --> 03:06.403 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, his thoughts aren't our thoughts. 03:07.504 --> 03:08.104 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 03:08.425 --> 03:19.470 [SPEAKER_00]: Or, just absolute, and I don't get too deep, but in all sorts of situations, when we want to explain it away, bad situations, being angry, things happening. 03:19.911 --> 03:22.572 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, God's thoughts are different, his ways are different. 03:23.393 --> 03:26.294 [SPEAKER_00]: And oftentimes when we hear verse eight, we hear it like this. 03:26.354 --> 03:27.715 [SPEAKER_00]: God's impossible to understand. 03:32.048 --> 03:34.973 [SPEAKER_00]: It just except whatever happens is what God wanted to happen. 03:35.934 --> 03:40.481 [SPEAKER_00]: But that is not the tone of the text in Isaiah chapter 55, right? 03:40.802 --> 03:41.603 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not the tone of the text. 03:41.904 --> 03:44.468 [SPEAKER_00]: This scripture is not about God's cruelty. 03:46.354 --> 03:47.555 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the exact opposite. 03:48.255 --> 03:49.956 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not about God's absence. 03:50.757 --> 03:53.278 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not about God just saying, watch what happens and whatever happens. 03:53.318 --> 03:54.158 [SPEAKER_00]: He's just going to happen. 03:54.579 --> 03:59.501 [SPEAKER_00]: That is not the tone or the revelation that is being revealed in this passage. 03:59.842 --> 04:02.823 [SPEAKER_00]: And Isaiah 55, it's not about the cruelty of God. 04:03.184 --> 04:05.325 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about the overwhelming goodness of God. 04:05.905 --> 04:08.166 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about how he is so much better than we are. 04:08.787 --> 04:16.071 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about how his ways and his mercy and his love are deeper and more unfathomable than what we can comprehend or what we can imagine. 04:16.331 --> 04:19.753 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what Isaiah 55 is talking about, right? 04:20.073 --> 04:22.895 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not Hurricane Michael, it's Bacon, he'll go, why don't happen? 04:22.955 --> 04:24.916 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, God's ways are higher and deeper than ours. 04:25.016 --> 04:25.296 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 04:26.637 --> 04:27.818 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not what it's about. 04:28.778 --> 04:31.700 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about his mercy and about his goodness, 04:35.538 --> 04:41.262 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse seven tells us that the wicked can forsake his way and the unrighteous man can forsake his thoughts. 04:41.503 --> 04:45.186 [SPEAKER_00]: And when he returns to Lord, God abundantly pardones him. 04:46.066 --> 04:50.249 [SPEAKER_00]: Why, four, my thoughts are not your thoughts. 04:51.390 --> 04:53.832 [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, you don't want to forgive them, but I will. 04:55.554 --> 04:55.814 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 04:56.554 --> 04:59.417 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't want to pardon them, but I'm better than you are. 05:00.796 --> 05:04.037 [SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah 55 is not about God being meaner than we are. 05:04.897 --> 05:16.200 [SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah 55 tells us this, the God is much more good than we can ever hope or imagine to be that he is much more merciful than we can ever fathom to be in our flesh. 05:17.380 --> 05:18.541 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't look at me in that tone of voice. 05:18.561 --> 05:19.261 [SPEAKER_00]: All I'm talking about. 05:19.941 --> 05:21.482 [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody's done you wrong before you blow your eyes. 05:21.502 --> 05:21.942 [SPEAKER_00]: That's it. 05:24.222 --> 05:24.882 [SPEAKER_00]: Straight to hell. 05:24.902 --> 05:26.783 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 05:28.796 --> 05:40.405 [SPEAKER_00]: There is no more forgiveness, the cup of an equity is full because I said so and now the wrath of God will be poured on them because His thoughts are not my thoughts. 05:42.327 --> 05:46.270 [SPEAKER_00]: The problem is, oftentimes, we want to make His thoughts our thoughts. 05:48.171 --> 05:52.474 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to make His ways our ways, our ways, our ways, our ways, our ways, right? 05:52.935 --> 05:55.557 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't want God to actually be good except to us. 05:57.720 --> 05:57.940 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 05:58.581 --> 06:06.428 [SPEAKER_00]: We want God to be merciful to us and we want everybody else to get what's coming to them. 06:06.448 --> 06:08.210 [SPEAKER_00]: Come on. 06:08.310 --> 06:09.971 [SPEAKER_00]: And let me just say this real quick. 06:10.412 --> 06:13.975 [SPEAKER_00]: Whenever I preach things like this, you have to understand, it's the old statement. 06:14.355 --> 06:16.577 [SPEAKER_00]: I got one finger pointed to you and three pointed back in me. 06:17.058 --> 06:22.123 [SPEAKER_00]: Because if you think people in pulpits haven't struggled and don't struggle with these things, I don't know what to tell you. 06:22.163 --> 06:23.424 [SPEAKER_00]: We're human beings too. 06:24.973 --> 06:27.594 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, we're the flesh that we have to crucify, too. 06:28.374 --> 06:32.516 [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't preach this to condemn you at all. 06:33.216 --> 06:40.478 [SPEAKER_00]: I preach this so we can shine the light on all of us in the room and say, the Lord wants to bring us up to a higher level, right? 06:41.118 --> 06:43.819 [SPEAKER_00]: And we don't just do this with other people, we do it with ourselves. 06:47.100 --> 06:49.361 [SPEAKER_00]: We look at our own lives and we say, failure is final. 06:50.822 --> 06:53.242 [SPEAKER_00]: We look at our own lives and we measure the mercy 06:55.533 --> 06:58.676 [SPEAKER_00]: We look at the situation that we're in and think that it's the end. 06:59.316 --> 07:04.160 [SPEAKER_00]: But the good news I have for you today is that his ways are higher, not because he's harsher. 07:05.221 --> 07:09.725 [SPEAKER_00]: His ways are higher because he is better, right? 07:10.206 --> 07:21.655 [SPEAKER_00]: His ways are higher because he is better, but I'm sorry, no, here, one of my biggest annoyances sometimes is when I've heard believers ascribe goodness as humanism, right? 07:22.216 --> 07:23.217 [SPEAKER_00]: Mercy as humanism. 07:24.244 --> 07:27.747 [SPEAKER_00]: If we describe mercy as humanism, that makes us better than God. 07:30.189 --> 07:32.310 [SPEAKER_00]: That makes us as fallen people better than God. 07:32.971 --> 07:36.233 [SPEAKER_00]: As people who are being conformed to His image better than Him, listen, you're not better than Him. 07:37.094 --> 07:39.616 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have the ability to be more merciful than Him. 07:40.256 --> 07:42.838 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have the ability to be better than Him. 07:43.339 --> 07:46.801 [SPEAKER_00]: God is better and more merciful than we could ever imagine. 07:47.201 --> 07:48.763 [SPEAKER_00]: Higher doesn't mean more cruel. 07:49.938 --> 07:51.519 [SPEAKER_00]: Higher doesn't mean careless. 07:52.159 --> 07:55.660 [SPEAKER_00]: Higher doesn't mean that God's playing games in your life and he's laughing about it. 07:56.140 --> 08:01.242 [SPEAKER_00]: His wisdom is higher, his mercy is higher and his goodness is beyond measure. 08:01.662 --> 08:09.945 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have time to read it today, but if you go finish reading Isaiah chapter 55, you'll see what his higher and better ways produce. 08:10.325 --> 08:11.225 [SPEAKER_00]: It produces life. 08:12.986 --> 08:16.227 [SPEAKER_00]: His word says his word is like rain on dry ground. 08:17.080 --> 08:19.221 [SPEAKER_00]: It says that his word doesn't return empty. 08:19.981 --> 08:23.862 [SPEAKER_00]: That's how his way is better, because all of us, our word has returned empty before. 08:24.763 --> 08:26.743 [SPEAKER_00]: How many of you ever said you're gonna do something and then didn't do it? 08:28.464 --> 08:30.745 [SPEAKER_00]: Every person in this room should be raising their hand right now. 08:31.585 --> 08:32.865 [SPEAKER_00]: I promise, I'm gonna take care of it. 08:32.905 --> 08:33.826 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't get taken care of. 08:34.986 --> 08:35.966 [SPEAKER_00]: God doesn't do that. 08:36.767 --> 08:38.407 [SPEAKER_00]: His word doesn't return void. 08:38.967 --> 08:41.988 [SPEAKER_00]: If he says he's going to do something, he's going to do it. 08:42.068 --> 08:43.589 [SPEAKER_00]: That's why he's better than us. 08:46.177 --> 08:48.498 [SPEAKER_00]: Because if the Lord says it, you can take it to the bank. 08:49.459 --> 08:50.499 [SPEAKER_00]: His mercy is higher. 08:51.260 --> 08:52.941 [SPEAKER_00]: His goodness is beyond measure. 08:53.281 --> 08:55.582 [SPEAKER_00]: His way always produces life. 08:55.622 --> 08:57.183 [SPEAKER_00]: His purpose is not fragile. 08:57.784 --> 08:59.525 [SPEAKER_00]: The purpose he has for your life is not fragile. 08:59.825 --> 09:02.286 [SPEAKER_00]: His plan is not threatened by what you can't see. 09:03.627 --> 09:05.928 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why I love Roman chapter 8 verse 28. 09:05.948 --> 09:11.972 [SPEAKER_00]: It says this, that all things, says this, we know that all things, somebody say all things. 09:13.109 --> 09:14.609 [SPEAKER_00]: Come on, say it like you mean all things. 09:15.229 --> 09:21.731 [SPEAKER_00]: That all things work together for the good of those who love God, to those who were called according to His purposes. 09:21.951 --> 09:24.271 [SPEAKER_00]: Notice it doesn't say that everything that happens is good. 09:26.231 --> 09:28.292 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't even say that everything that happens is God. 09:29.992 --> 09:34.293 [SPEAKER_00]: It just says he will make all things work for the good, right? 09:34.733 --> 09:37.593 [SPEAKER_00]: And once again, to go back to the hurricane, Michael situation. 09:37.934 --> 09:40.174 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, those are bad situations, right? 09:41.080 --> 09:45.902 [SPEAKER_00]: but I know for this church, God made all things work for good. 09:46.943 --> 09:49.924 [SPEAKER_00]: Now that doesn't mean God caused it for a good thing to happen. 09:50.645 --> 09:59.469 [SPEAKER_00]: It means that what God specializes in is taking what the enemy meant for evil and turning it around and working it for your good. 09:59.909 --> 10:08.334 [SPEAKER_00]: And when something bad does happen that what God wants to do is say, I know the enemy thought he had the last word, but just watch how I'm gonna take this and turn it 10:11.955 --> 10:12.737 [SPEAKER_00]: Come on, somebody. 10:13.819 --> 10:17.388 [SPEAKER_00]: How many ever been through a situation that looked like it was final, but on the other side it was better? 10:18.155 --> 10:30.218 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, that's God taking what the enemy meant for evil and turning it and working it for good That is God makes all things work together for the good of for the good of those who love God And are called in court according to his purposes. 10:30.518 --> 10:33.219 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean he makes bad things happen So there's a good outcome. 10:33.499 --> 10:44.201 [SPEAKER_00]: It means wind bad things happen because we live in a fallen world with people who are crazy and Whether patterns and issues and problems that what God does is he takes it and he goes, uh, you might see this much But I'm not done yet. 10:44.461 --> 10:47.882 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna zoom out a little bit and you're gonna come out on the other side better 10:50.524 --> 10:50.764 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 10:50.944 --> 10:52.865 [SPEAKER_00]: Because he's beyond what you can think. 10:53.826 --> 10:55.307 [SPEAKER_00]: He's beyond what you can hope. 10:55.928 --> 10:57.729 [SPEAKER_00]: He's beyond what you can imagine. 10:58.109 --> 11:00.831 [SPEAKER_00]: He is so much better. 11:00.851 --> 11:04.234 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me. 11:04.554 --> 11:08.797 [SPEAKER_00]: The cross looked like defeat, but resurrection revealed victory. 11:09.758 --> 11:10.698 [SPEAKER_00]: I may not understand. 11:10.718 --> 11:12.319 [SPEAKER_00]: You may not always understand the plan. 11:12.339 --> 11:14.921 [SPEAKER_00]: You may not understand what you're going through, but you have to come back to this. 11:15.021 --> 11:15.682 [SPEAKER_00]: I know the planer. 11:16.907 --> 11:28.650 [SPEAKER_00]: You may not understand what's going on right now, but you have to come back to this, all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes, and He will take with the enemy, meant for evil, and He will turn it around, and He will work it for my good. 11:28.850 --> 11:31.951 [SPEAKER_00]: And on the other side of this, I'm gonna be smelling like a rose, baby. 11:34.532 --> 11:38.153 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes if you feel like you can't trace His hand, you can at least trust His heart. 11:40.233 --> 11:43.514 [SPEAKER_00]: And you can know exactly how this thing's gonna end up and where He's gonna leave you. 11:44.414 --> 11:46.415 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, we have to understand. 11:47.451 --> 11:51.492 [SPEAKER_00]: The picture is bigger than what we see, right? 11:51.872 --> 11:55.414 [SPEAKER_00]: And oftentimes, our perspective is limited. 11:57.074 --> 11:59.175 [SPEAKER_00]: So we don't see the fullness of what he's doing. 11:59.215 --> 12:00.455 [SPEAKER_00]: He'll throw that frame up there for a second. 12:00.795 --> 12:06.357 [SPEAKER_00]: If you look at this, this looks like chaos, right? 12:07.318 --> 12:08.378 [SPEAKER_00]: This looks like a mess. 12:08.438 --> 12:09.298 [SPEAKER_00]: It looks like nothing. 12:09.358 --> 12:11.259 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a bunch of pixels, it's just a bunch of. 12:12.685 --> 12:13.866 [SPEAKER_00]: mess on the screen. 12:13.926 --> 12:18.668 [SPEAKER_00]: Hughes of blues and gray and black, that doesn't look like much of anything. 12:18.988 --> 12:23.591 [SPEAKER_00]: But you know what the problem is is you are looking at this from a certain angle. 12:25.052 --> 12:35.237 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you just back up a little bit, what you see is what we're really looking at is a beautiful night sky and this beautiful portrait of what God has made. 12:35.497 --> 12:40.820 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to hear me, some of you right now, you're looking at your image of what's going on in your life on super zoom. 12:43.918 --> 12:49.481 [SPEAKER_00]: We are hyper-focused on one certain perspective and thing that's going on, right? 12:49.702 --> 12:59.267 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's the issue with your kids, maybe it's the issue with your business, maybe it's your health, maybe it's something that's your going through, maybe it's something that you got a report that isn't looking your way, but here's what I wanna challenge you today. 12:59.588 --> 13:06.392 [SPEAKER_00]: Trust God, that the picture that he has is better than the view you're looking at right now. 13:07.428 --> 13:07.668 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 13:07.908 --> 13:10.749 [SPEAKER_00]: That we may be hyper focused and zoomed in on something. 13:11.009 --> 13:13.449 [SPEAKER_00]: But God's not looking at it from that perspective. 13:13.509 --> 13:16.890 [SPEAKER_00]: God is stepped back because He is beyond what we can see. 13:17.370 --> 13:19.511 [SPEAKER_00]: And the picture He's looking at is complete. 13:19.551 --> 13:20.871 [SPEAKER_00]: But we're just looking at a portion. 13:21.912 --> 13:25.212 [SPEAKER_00]: And what He wants to do is so much better. 13:25.252 --> 13:27.853 [SPEAKER_00]: We were looking at something beautiful the entire time. 13:28.513 --> 13:30.114 [SPEAKER_00]: We were just too close to recognizing it. 13:31.934 --> 13:33.514 [SPEAKER_00]: The problem wasn't the picture. 13:34.315 --> 13:36.115 [SPEAKER_00]: The problem was the frame of our vision. 13:38.846 --> 13:42.550 [SPEAKER_00]: What we saw was real, but it wasn't complete. 13:43.791 --> 13:48.616 [SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, I'm not saying that what you're looking at, the problem, the issue, the situation you're looking at, is it real? 13:49.457 --> 13:50.619 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying it's not complete. 13:52.180 --> 13:53.882 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying it's not the totality. 13:54.563 --> 13:56.845 [SPEAKER_00]: We see one chapter and we predict the ending. 13:58.087 --> 14:00.729 [SPEAKER_00]: We see one closed door and think there are no doors left. 14:01.661 --> 14:05.008 [SPEAKER_00]: We experience one failure and we turn it into a complete identity. 14:05.649 --> 14:07.532 [SPEAKER_00]: We endure one painful season. 14:07.572 --> 14:09.075 [SPEAKER_00]: We call it our entire future. 14:09.556 --> 14:12.221 [SPEAKER_00]: We make permanent conclusions from partial views. 14:14.398 --> 14:19.582 [SPEAKER_00]: You may be accurately describing what you see and still underestimating what God can do. 14:19.622 --> 14:24.527 [SPEAKER_00]: Genesis chapter 15, if you're not there already, you can follow us on the screen and says this. 14:24.687 --> 14:30.071 [SPEAKER_00]: After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham and evision saying, do not be afraid, Abram. 14:30.852 --> 14:31.833 [SPEAKER_00]: I am your shield. 14:32.553 --> 14:34.455 [SPEAKER_00]: You're exceedingly great reward. 14:35.316 --> 14:39.059 [SPEAKER_00]: But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me? 14:39.860 --> 14:42.562 [SPEAKER_00]: But if you don't hear the frustration in this, you need to read it right. 14:44.233 --> 14:49.235 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, if you think you're only the ever person who's been frustrated with God, read the Scriptures. 14:52.036 --> 14:53.637 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, what will you give me? 14:54.817 --> 14:59.179 [SPEAKER_00]: Sing is I go childless, and the air of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. 15:00.280 --> 15:02.101 [SPEAKER_00]: This is after God is promised Abraham. 15:02.141 --> 15:03.241 [SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna be the father of Abraham. 15:03.261 --> 15:05.382 [SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna be a father of me in nations that God's gonna multiply him. 15:05.842 --> 15:06.663 [SPEAKER_00]: And nothing's happened. 15:07.683 --> 15:09.984 [SPEAKER_00]: Then Abraham said, look, you've given me no offspring. 15:11.884 --> 15:14.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Indeed, one not even born in my house is my heir. 15:16.347 --> 15:21.130 [SPEAKER_00]: And behold, the word the Lord came to him saying, this one shall not be your heir. 15:22.551 --> 15:26.454 [SPEAKER_00]: But one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. 15:27.355 --> 15:37.862 [SPEAKER_00]: Then God brought him outside and said, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them, which is funny, because God knows Abraham, can't number them. 15:39.792 --> 15:42.513 [SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. 15:43.593 --> 15:51.355 [SPEAKER_00]: Get this, and he believed the Lord, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 15:52.015 --> 15:57.616 [SPEAKER_00]: And he believed the Lord, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 15:57.796 --> 16:02.978 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham in this text is living in this incredible tension between what God has said and what Abraham can see. 16:04.458 --> 16:05.918 [SPEAKER_00]: You ever been in that tension before? 16:06.699 --> 16:07.599 [SPEAKER_00]: I know what God said. 16:09.222 --> 16:11.323 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm also fully aware of what I see. 16:12.444 --> 16:16.366 [SPEAKER_00]: And what God said is not what I see. 16:16.986 --> 16:17.766 [SPEAKER_00]: And God, I'm mad. 16:20.067 --> 16:21.008 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, look at me, funny. 16:21.228 --> 16:22.689 [SPEAKER_00]: Like I'll never been mad at the Lord before. 16:22.709 --> 16:23.669 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 16:24.230 --> 16:25.970 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're too holy for that, fresh rated. 16:28.272 --> 16:36.936 [SPEAKER_00]: Fresh rated with God, fresh rated with the situation because God, you said, you ever had your kids say to before you, you said, 16:43.070 --> 16:44.230 [SPEAKER_00]: You said we were going to do this. 16:44.250 --> 16:46.691 [SPEAKER_00]: I said we were going to do that in two months, and you made it today. 16:51.213 --> 16:54.435 [SPEAKER_00]: You said that we were going to go to sweet frogs, right, none right now. 16:58.376 --> 17:04.238 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to your been frustrated when your kids have said you said, you're using my words against me. 17:05.899 --> 17:07.920 [SPEAKER_00]: Who's the parent here and who's the child? 17:10.175 --> 17:12.956 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, if you're not a parent, you may not understand. 17:12.976 --> 17:13.416 [SPEAKER_00]: It's all right. 17:13.456 --> 17:14.176 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll get it one day. 17:17.456 --> 17:18.597 [SPEAKER_00]: But we did the same thing to God. 17:18.757 --> 17:19.777 [SPEAKER_00]: God, you said! 17:22.057 --> 17:23.917 [SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted to happen now! 17:25.218 --> 17:29.679 [SPEAKER_00]: And right now, I'm not seeing what you said. 17:30.559 --> 17:37.460 [SPEAKER_00]: God's promised Abram, who goes on to become Abraham, a nation, a blessing, a worldwide impact. 17:38.400 --> 17:44.183 [SPEAKER_00]: God, you said, nation, I don't even have a single kid. 17:45.884 --> 17:52.687 [SPEAKER_00]: Let alone a nation, Lord, this is really frustrating because I think you might have missed it. 17:52.707 --> 17:56.369 [SPEAKER_00]: God, I think you meant to talk to somebody else. 17:57.589 --> 17:58.910 [SPEAKER_00]: I think you got the wrong apron. 17:59.990 --> 18:03.092 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think you know how old I am, how childless I am, my wife is old. 18:07.800 --> 18:08.741 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just gonna move past that. 18:12.163 --> 18:19.529 [SPEAKER_00]: The promise for Abram is enormous, but the visible evidence is completely non-existent, right? 18:19.970 --> 18:20.930 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham loves God. 18:20.950 --> 18:24.473 [SPEAKER_00]: He believes God, and he still says, Lord, look at my life. 18:26.034 --> 18:27.135 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at what's going on right now. 18:29.257 --> 18:30.758 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's not rebellion. 18:30.798 --> 18:34.101 [SPEAKER_00]: That's an honest faith bringing it before God and going, what's going on, Lord? 18:36.619 --> 18:38.901 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, some of you came this morning with that sentence. 18:39.061 --> 18:41.904 [SPEAKER_00]: God, I know what your word says, but look at what I'm facing. 18:43.525 --> 18:46.728 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what the prophetic promises are in my life, but have you seen what's going on? 18:47.689 --> 18:54.895 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I know what you said, but what you said in what I'm facing are at odds with each other. 18:54.915 --> 18:58.298 [SPEAKER_00]: The promise is big, but the evidence is really small. 18:59.110 --> 19:00.972 [SPEAKER_00]: But I've got good news for you today. 19:00.992 --> 19:04.855 [SPEAKER_00]: If you feel like you're in that place for the promise is big, but the evidence is small. 19:04.895 --> 19:09.198 [SPEAKER_00]: The good news is this, God is still faithful. 19:10.459 --> 19:15.103 [SPEAKER_00]: Even when the evidence is small, God is still faithful. 19:15.784 --> 19:16.724 [SPEAKER_00]: And notice what happens. 19:16.784 --> 19:18.886 [SPEAKER_00]: God doesn't zap a baby into Sarah. 19:20.868 --> 19:23.870 [SPEAKER_00]: God doesn't even immediately change Abraham's circumstances. 19:24.711 --> 19:27.213 [SPEAKER_00]: The first thing he does is he changes what Abraham's looking at. 19:29.593 --> 19:30.933 [SPEAKER_00]: He gives him a new perspective. 19:31.073 --> 19:33.414 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham says, I'm childless. 19:34.954 --> 19:36.295 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not imagining the lack. 19:36.335 --> 19:36.835 [SPEAKER_00]: It's real. 19:37.675 --> 19:41.276 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what I see, but what you see isn't all that God can do. 19:42.376 --> 19:44.557 [SPEAKER_00]: Because your view is not the whole view. 19:45.857 --> 19:48.438 [SPEAKER_00]: Israel saw a sea, but God saw a road. 19:49.998 --> 19:50.419 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you with me? 19:51.359 --> 19:55.800 [SPEAKER_00]: The disciples saw five lows and two fishes, but Jesus saw a feast. 19:57.200 --> 19:57.700 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you with me? 19:58.301 --> 20:02.523 [SPEAKER_00]: The women saw a seal too, but heaven saw resurrection morning. 20:03.543 --> 20:08.165 [SPEAKER_00]: Oftentimes, what we see in what God sees are not the same thing. 20:09.506 --> 20:13.208 [SPEAKER_00]: We see one thing, but God's plan is something entirely different. 20:13.228 --> 20:14.808 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why we have to always be praying. 20:14.848 --> 20:16.169 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I'm gonna preach about this in a month. 20:16.189 --> 20:16.949 [SPEAKER_00]: I've already got it now. 20:17.290 --> 20:18.790 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, open my eyes to see. 20:20.251 --> 20:22.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, open my eyes to see what you see. 20:22.812 --> 20:26.314 [SPEAKER_00]: Because we know our vision is limited, but his is unlimited. 20:27.393 --> 20:32.403 [SPEAKER_00]: And then we don't turn your current condition into a permanent conclusion. 20:33.184 --> 20:33.565 [SPEAKER_00]: You with me? 20:34.106 --> 20:37.413 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes God has to do this and he has to bring you outside to change your view. 20:38.510 --> 20:39.731 [SPEAKER_00]: It's exactly what he does with Abraham. 20:39.751 --> 20:41.431 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, can you put up first five for me? 20:41.511 --> 20:42.332 [SPEAKER_00]: Genesis 15, five. 20:42.892 --> 20:48.034 [SPEAKER_00]: He says this, then he brought him outside and said, look now toward heaven. 20:48.875 --> 20:50.435 [SPEAKER_00]: And count the stars if you're able to number them. 20:50.455 --> 20:52.896 [SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. 20:53.416 --> 20:55.797 [SPEAKER_00]: God changes what he's looking at. 20:56.278 --> 20:57.718 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want you to rush past this. 20:57.778 --> 20:58.999 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to see this, isn't God? 20:59.199 --> 21:01.300 [SPEAKER_00]: Just going, hey Abraham, look at the night sky. 21:01.540 --> 21:03.741 [SPEAKER_00]: The problem is Abraham had looked at a tent for too long. 21:07.190 --> 21:09.753 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham had looked at Sarah being childless for too long. 21:11.454 --> 21:15.779 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham had looked at Eliezer, who was his heir, and that, obviously, frustrated him. 21:16.880 --> 21:20.563 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's looked at all of these things for too long, and God says, Abraham, we got a change which we're looking at. 21:20.824 --> 21:21.624 [SPEAKER_00]: Come outside with me. 21:21.645 --> 21:23.967 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to give you a fresh vision. 21:25.689 --> 21:26.549 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham, come outside with me. 21:26.589 --> 21:28.191 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to change what you're looking at. 21:28.992 --> 21:30.854 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham, come outside, because I want you to see what I see. 21:31.849 --> 21:33.010 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanna give you my eyes. 21:33.650 --> 21:35.011 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanna give you my perspective. 21:35.271 --> 21:39.193 [SPEAKER_00]: You've been looking at your household, your age, your lack, your limitations, your backup plan. 21:39.473 --> 21:40.354 [SPEAKER_00]: God says, come outside. 21:40.374 --> 21:42.715 [SPEAKER_00]: All right? 21:42.935 --> 21:44.076 [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't say, catch me outside. 21:44.116 --> 21:44.916 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, come outside. 21:44.936 --> 21:46.897 [SPEAKER_00]: All right? 21:47.578 --> 21:49.319 [SPEAKER_00]: God's not here, rebuking Abram. 21:50.499 --> 21:53.141 [SPEAKER_00]: It's really interesting, because Abram is, let's just call it what it is. 21:53.221 --> 21:54.221 [SPEAKER_00]: He's complaining to God. 21:55.602 --> 21:57.603 [SPEAKER_00]: And God doesn't respond with rebuke. 21:57.683 --> 21:58.704 [SPEAKER_00]: God responds with hope. 22:00.267 --> 22:06.491 [SPEAKER_00]: This is once again why his ways are higher and deeper than ours, because a lot of times people complain to us, we want to respond with Rebuke. 22:07.692 --> 22:11.495 [SPEAKER_00]: But God doesn't respond with Rebuke, God responds with, hey, Abram, I'm about to encourage you. 22:12.235 --> 22:13.516 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm about to give you fresh eyes. 22:14.137 --> 22:16.318 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't give him a spread sheet, he says, look at the sky. 22:17.699 --> 22:21.422 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at the sky, count the stars, Abram, and no. 22:22.497 --> 22:27.543 [SPEAKER_00]: that the descendants I have for you are greater than even what you can count. 22:28.104 --> 22:30.467 [SPEAKER_00]: You've been looking at a ceiling, but I want to take the ceiling off. 22:31.488 --> 22:34.993 [SPEAKER_00]: You've been looking inside of a tent this, I want you to see this picture. 22:35.293 --> 22:36.555 [SPEAKER_00]: A tent is limiting. 22:37.876 --> 22:39.018 [SPEAKER_00]: The sky is endless. 22:40.820 --> 22:44.604 [SPEAKER_00]: You've been looking at a limitation, but I want to show you something that's endless. 22:45.305 --> 22:47.307 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want you to look at being boxed in. 22:47.628 --> 22:50.892 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to look at something that's bigger than you can comprehend or imagine. 22:51.112 --> 22:55.236 [SPEAKER_00]: And once again, in the ancient world, the sky is even this bigger deal than it is now. 22:55.517 --> 22:56.598 [SPEAKER_00]: We've gone to space. 22:58.360 --> 22:59.541 [SPEAKER_00]: They certainly had not. 23:00.550 --> 23:05.494 [SPEAKER_00]: The head and the skies weren't just, you know, some place you visited, it was the heavens. 23:06.355 --> 23:11.459 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a place that was untapped, it was a place that was unlimited, and he goes, go look at that. 23:11.539 --> 23:12.320 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what I have for you. 23:13.605 --> 23:15.767 [SPEAKER_00]: The plan I have for you isn't boxing you in. 23:16.107 --> 23:17.548 [SPEAKER_00]: The plan for you is unlimited. 23:17.588 --> 23:19.309 [SPEAKER_00]: The plan for you is more than you can count. 23:19.349 --> 23:20.390 [SPEAKER_00]: It's more than you can measure. 23:20.690 --> 23:22.012 [SPEAKER_00]: It's more than you can imagine. 23:22.252 --> 23:24.453 [SPEAKER_00]: And here may some of you have been in the tent for too long. 23:25.174 --> 23:26.635 [SPEAKER_00]: You've been in the tent of disappointment. 23:26.655 --> 23:27.816 [SPEAKER_00]: You've been in the tent of fear. 23:28.156 --> 23:29.737 [SPEAKER_00]: You've been in the tent of cynicism. 23:30.178 --> 23:31.599 [SPEAKER_00]: The tent of past failure. 23:31.919 --> 23:33.721 [SPEAKER_00]: The tent of somebody else's opinions. 23:34.081 --> 23:34.721 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's time. 23:35.402 --> 23:39.345 [SPEAKER_00]: And in this day, God is calling you to come out of the tent and to look at the sky. 23:41.415 --> 23:51.203 [SPEAKER_00]: to come out of the tent and to look at his promise, to come out of the cynicism and look at what he said, to come out of the fear and look at the promise that's bigger than you could ever hope dream or imagine. 23:51.543 --> 23:55.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes if you keep looking at the same thing, you're gonna end up in the same result. 23:55.766 --> 23:57.087 [SPEAKER_00]: You gotta change what you're looking at. 24:00.170 --> 24:01.651 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a sky beyond your tent. 24:03.372 --> 24:05.874 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a God beyond the problem you're facing right now. 24:06.955 --> 24:08.817 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a future beyond this moment. 24:09.836 --> 24:11.697 [SPEAKER_00]: And I could go around this room, I don't have time. 24:13.038 --> 24:14.778 [SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't clear it with anybody, so I'm not going to do it. 24:16.339 --> 24:20.801 [SPEAKER_00]: I could go around this room, and I could tell you story after story, after story, after story that I know. 24:21.902 --> 24:30.546 [SPEAKER_00]: And for every story I know, there's probably tin in this room that I don't know of people who faced issues that seem like they were final. 24:31.526 --> 24:32.287 [SPEAKER_00]: They look at the sky. 24:34.588 --> 24:36.469 [SPEAKER_00]: Of people who faced circumstances that 24:40.467 --> 24:43.548 [SPEAKER_00]: of people who face things that look like it was the end that looked like their world. 24:43.728 --> 24:44.968 [SPEAKER_00]: It looked apocalyptic. 24:46.289 --> 24:47.669 [SPEAKER_00]: Their world was over. 24:48.650 --> 24:51.731 [SPEAKER_00]: But God's plan is better than ours. 24:52.731 --> 24:54.171 [SPEAKER_00]: His ways are higher. 24:54.632 --> 24:56.192 [SPEAKER_00]: His thoughts are higher. 24:56.552 --> 24:58.213 [SPEAKER_00]: His thoughts are better. 24:59.053 --> 25:01.114 [SPEAKER_00]: God brought Abraham outside. 25:01.594 --> 25:08.056 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's calling you to come out of a cramped place where disappointment has kept your faith and to look up again. 25:09.719 --> 25:11.520 [SPEAKER_00]: Because this is the reality, this is the reality. 25:11.940 --> 25:15.222 [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever feels your vision will eventually shape your expectation. 25:17.344 --> 25:19.665 [SPEAKER_00]: But if your feel your vision will eventually shape your expectation. 25:20.386 --> 25:23.708 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is why I, and I know sometimes it can come off like a harp on these things. 25:24.228 --> 25:28.431 [SPEAKER_00]: But this is why what you listen to, watch, and you feel yourself with it so important. 25:29.431 --> 25:33.454 [SPEAKER_00]: Because what you allow in will shape your expectation. 25:34.332 --> 25:46.338 [SPEAKER_00]: and a lot of us live with a very negative expectation because we allow so much cynicism and so much fear and so much doubt and so much hate and I don't care if it's the truth or not. 25:46.658 --> 25:48.038 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't let it shape your vision. 25:48.599 --> 25:52.260 [SPEAKER_00]: The truth was, Abram didn't have a child. 25:52.961 --> 25:56.142 [SPEAKER_00]: But God says, you've got to start looking at that and you've got to look at the stars. 26:03.137 --> 26:08.060 [SPEAKER_00]: is looking at what's really going on, the truth, and calling it a lie, and calling God better. 26:11.262 --> 26:11.522 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 26:12.463 --> 26:17.846 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I know, if I'm Abram, I don't have a kid, but you know what happens when God takes him out and he says, look at the stars. 26:18.166 --> 26:22.488 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, this, that Abram believed God, right? 26:22.789 --> 26:24.870 [SPEAKER_00]: We have a hard time believing God when we see it. 26:27.202 --> 26:39.670 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture tells us that Abram believed that even when he didn't, that he believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, not even have time to dig into that this morning, but just let that think about settling on you for a moment. 26:40.451 --> 26:44.073 [SPEAKER_00]: His belief was accounted to him for righteousness. 26:44.453 --> 26:46.274 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got to once again look at his faithfulness. 26:46.294 --> 26:47.355 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got to look at his work. 26:47.375 --> 26:49.396 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got to look at what he's already carried you through. 26:49.657 --> 26:53.219 [SPEAKER_00]: You have to look to Jesus because I have to think about Abram. 26:54.418 --> 27:00.600 [SPEAKER_00]: And after this event, every night afterward, Abrams steps out of the tent and he sees the stars and he remembers. 27:02.780 --> 27:03.841 [SPEAKER_00]: God's not forgotten me. 27:05.981 --> 27:11.783 [SPEAKER_00]: When another day, another month, another year passes and Sarah's not pregnant, he looks at the stars, he goes, God, you said it. 27:13.763 --> 27:15.984 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not standing on the strength of my body. 27:17.364 --> 27:19.565 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not standing on the strength of her body. 27:20.563 --> 27:22.885 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm standing on your word and what you said. 27:23.525 --> 27:24.947 [SPEAKER_00]: This is one of our biggest issues. 27:24.987 --> 27:32.532 [SPEAKER_00]: As oftentimes, we put more faith in our inability than we put faith in his ability, right? 27:32.933 --> 27:37.777 [SPEAKER_00]: We've got to get to a point where we actually believe that he is bigger and he is greater. 27:38.337 --> 27:44.021 [SPEAKER_00]: People say, well, God is all powerful, but we don't really believe that half the time because we don't believe that God can actually do things. 27:44.962 --> 27:46.804 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what you're facing right now. 27:47.662 --> 27:48.663 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at the stars. 27:49.223 --> 27:52.204 [SPEAKER_00]: The stars didn't give him an explanation for why he was where he was at. 27:52.845 --> 27:54.245 [SPEAKER_00]: They gave him a hope to hold onto it. 27:55.426 --> 27:59.188 [SPEAKER_00]: It said, look beyond your current circumstances and look to the promise. 28:00.248 --> 28:01.229 [SPEAKER_00]: I found this about God. 28:03.030 --> 28:13.795 [SPEAKER_00]: In my 41 years on this planet and my 20 years of plus at this point of ministry, I found this, that God is always faithful. 28:15.516 --> 28:16.877 [SPEAKER_00]: He's, I mean, how do you believe that? 28:18.000 --> 28:24.043 [SPEAKER_00]: I said, God is always faithful, and he will always be true, and he will always be good in the end. 28:24.783 --> 28:27.285 [SPEAKER_00]: But on the journey, he's really sketchy on details. 28:29.966 --> 28:30.146 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 28:30.166 --> 28:30.426 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 28:31.347 --> 28:32.127 [SPEAKER_00]: Where are we going? 28:32.207 --> 28:33.167 [SPEAKER_00]: And I found this. 28:33.307 --> 28:37.349 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, I'm that guy, my family will make fun of me for this sometimes. 28:37.690 --> 28:39.551 [SPEAKER_00]: I set my GPS almost everywhere I go. 28:40.771 --> 28:41.351 [SPEAKER_00]: And you know why? 28:41.571 --> 28:44.273 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I want to find out what the quickest route to get there is. 28:45.597 --> 28:49.178 [SPEAKER_00]: And if there's some route that's quicker than I know, right? 28:49.858 --> 28:53.999 [SPEAKER_00]: That I'm almost set my GPS, and I'm gonna get there as quick as possible. 28:54.699 --> 28:57.079 [SPEAKER_00]: God is not interested in getting there as quickly as possible. 28:58.780 --> 29:00.180 [SPEAKER_00]: God likes the scenic route. 29:01.020 --> 29:02.400 [SPEAKER_00]: God likes the backwards. 29:03.421 --> 29:05.921 [SPEAKER_00]: God takes his time getting there, but you can be sure of this. 29:06.041 --> 29:06.681 [SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna get there. 29:08.422 --> 29:10.782 [SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna get there, and he's gonna take you there. 29:11.822 --> 29:14.203 [SPEAKER_00]: God chooses the heavens, that's the picture for Abraham. 29:16.736 --> 29:23.860 [SPEAKER_00]: And what's this, this is the same thing he says in Isaiah 55, for as the heavens are higher than the earth. 29:24.841 --> 29:28.263 [SPEAKER_00]: So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 29:29.084 --> 29:30.544 [SPEAKER_00]: This doesn't mean God is distant. 29:31.265 --> 29:34.047 [SPEAKER_00]: It means that God has a vantage point that you don't possess. 29:34.967 --> 29:36.809 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't read that as distance. 29:37.269 --> 29:38.590 [SPEAKER_00]: His ways being higher is not him. 29:38.730 --> 29:39.831 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm removed from you. 29:40.371 --> 29:42.132 [SPEAKER_00]: It's I'm looking at this differently than you are. 29:43.067 --> 29:44.608 [SPEAKER_00]: I've got a perspective that you don't. 29:45.188 --> 29:52.894 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, we need a God who starts her hire, whose ways are greater, whose love is deeper, whose mercy is wider, whose power has no rival. 29:52.914 --> 29:53.995 [SPEAKER_00]: Can I start showing on the mercy thing? 29:54.015 --> 29:55.756 [SPEAKER_00]: We really need a God, whose mercy is greater. 29:56.456 --> 30:00.539 [SPEAKER_00]: And just quick word of caution, don't be a Pharisee. 30:03.541 --> 30:06.924 [SPEAKER_00]: Come on somebody, who wants mercy for me, but not for thee. 30:09.745 --> 30:10.126 [SPEAKER_00]: All right? 30:10.746 --> 30:11.487 [SPEAKER_00]: We've all been guilty. 30:12.237 --> 30:13.077 [SPEAKER_00]: You've all done it at some point. 30:13.977 --> 30:15.098 [SPEAKER_00]: Mercy isn't just for you. 30:15.138 --> 30:15.938 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just for me. 30:17.038 --> 30:18.459 [SPEAKER_00]: It's for whoever calls upon it. 30:20.219 --> 30:20.659 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 30:22.140 --> 30:23.780 [SPEAKER_00]: This in God sees the door you can't see. 30:25.080 --> 30:26.421 [SPEAKER_00]: He knows the road you can't find. 30:27.321 --> 30:28.581 [SPEAKER_00]: He has power, you can't measure. 30:28.982 --> 30:31.342 [SPEAKER_00]: And I promise you this, he's not lost your address. 30:32.062 --> 30:36.944 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you, the enemy is trying to convince you that because you can't see movement God's not working. 30:39.164 --> 30:40.465 [SPEAKER_00]: But just because it's unseen, 30:42.888 --> 30:47.671 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, we see it, one of the most known worship songs over the past 10, 15 years. 30:48.352 --> 30:54.016 [SPEAKER_00]: Even when I don't see it to work, even when I don't feel it to work in, right? 30:54.296 --> 30:56.357 [SPEAKER_00]: We sing things all the time, but don't actually believe them. 30:57.658 --> 31:01.641 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, even when I don't see it, I know you're not doing anything. 31:04.003 --> 31:06.484 [SPEAKER_00]: And when I feel it, I'm just gonna have a pity party. 31:08.125 --> 31:10.347 [SPEAKER_00]: God, where'd you go and why'd you stop working? 31:11.961 --> 31:12.161 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 31:12.662 --> 31:15.724 [SPEAKER_00]: But that's not what Scripture testifies to. 31:16.285 --> 31:18.727 [SPEAKER_00]: That even when we don't see it, he's working. 31:19.288 --> 31:22.050 [SPEAKER_00]: That even when it's difficult, he's still setting things up. 31:22.410 --> 31:25.113 [SPEAKER_00]: I found this, God is a masterful chess player. 31:26.134 --> 31:28.736 [SPEAKER_00]: And he sets things up, and you may not see it. 31:29.016 --> 31:32.620 [SPEAKER_00]: But I promise you eventually what happens is he goes, checkmate, devil. 31:35.618 --> 31:36.558 [SPEAKER_00]: Checkmate, enemy. 31:37.499 --> 31:39.680 [SPEAKER_00]: I was moving things around that you didn't even see. 31:40.220 --> 31:41.720 [SPEAKER_00]: And you thought that you were advancing. 31:42.000 --> 31:44.601 [SPEAKER_00]: But what you were doing is you were playing right into my hand. 31:45.142 --> 31:48.163 [SPEAKER_00]: And what I'm done is in this entire situation. 31:48.603 --> 31:51.964 [SPEAKER_00]: Is I, at the moment you decided you were going to attack. 31:52.364 --> 31:54.125 [SPEAKER_00]: I started setting up a countermeasure. 31:54.485 --> 31:59.407 [SPEAKER_00]: So whenever you thought you had won, you didn't know you were playing right into my hand for me to bring people to victory. 31:59.727 --> 32:02.530 [SPEAKER_00]: You're playing right in the my hand for me to bring people into triumph. 32:02.750 --> 32:20.146 [SPEAKER_00]: You're playing right into my hand for turn around to be realized in lives because my ways are higher and my ways are deeper and my ways are better than any of us can ever hope think dream or imagine and he is still a good god and he is still faithful and he will still do it and he will still 32:20.446 --> 32:30.349 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, beauty, I asked his and turned him into beauty, and he will still turn your morning into dancing, and you're sorrowing to joy, and he will make good everything that he promised. 32:33.730 --> 32:39.952 [SPEAKER_00]: Because there came a day where it wasn't stars, but it was a crying baby. 32:41.463 --> 32:47.973 [SPEAKER_00]: There came a day where it wasn't just a promise, but there was a woman who was pregnant with a child. 32:48.513 --> 32:55.644 [SPEAKER_00]: There came a day where everything that he had said, it wasn't just stars to look at anymore, but it was a manifested reality. 32:55.904 --> 32:56.465 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to hear 32:56.545 --> 32:57.205 [SPEAKER_00]: me in your life. 32:57.406 --> 33:00.648 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at the stars now, but the stars eventually become reality. 33:00.888 --> 33:02.789 [SPEAKER_00]: The promise eventually is manifested. 33:03.029 --> 33:04.290 [SPEAKER_00]: The promise is faithful. 33:04.530 --> 33:16.737 [SPEAKER_00]: As long as you hold on to the word, as long as you hold on to the promise, as long as you refuse to quit, and every time you go out, you look at the promise, and even when everything else looks different, you say, God, you promise in your word is true. 33:18.318 --> 33:23.001 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why scripture say, let God be true, and every man alive. 33:23.021 --> 33:23.882 [SPEAKER_00]: That includes us. 33:26.013 --> 33:28.654 [SPEAKER_00]: Because we've all said things opposite of what God's promise. 33:29.014 --> 33:31.734 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, let me be a liar and let you be true. 33:32.295 --> 33:35.455 [SPEAKER_00]: Let my thoughts be false and let you be true, God. 33:38.376 --> 33:40.477 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, with me, I'm going to close with this. 33:40.757 --> 33:45.838 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, your faith has to believe before your sight changes. 33:47.558 --> 33:49.839 [SPEAKER_00]: Genesis 156 says, it's very clear, I've already said it. 33:50.119 --> 33:52.940 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, and after Abraham looks at the start says, 33:56.228 --> 34:00.849 [SPEAKER_00]: and he believed the Lord and it was accounted to Him for righteousness. 34:00.909 --> 34:01.730 [SPEAKER_00]: What changed? 34:02.210 --> 34:03.050 [SPEAKER_00]: Did Abraham have a son? 34:03.530 --> 34:03.810 [SPEAKER_00]: No? 34:04.791 --> 34:06.111 [SPEAKER_00]: Was Sarah pregnant? 34:06.131 --> 34:06.191 [SPEAKER_00]: No? 34:07.211 --> 34:09.332 [SPEAKER_00]: Has the visible circumstance moved? 34:09.352 --> 34:09.412 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 34:09.852 --> 34:10.752 [SPEAKER_00]: But Abraham changed. 34:12.493 --> 34:14.614 [SPEAKER_00]: Earlier, he was calculating why it wasn't true. 34:14.634 --> 34:16.474 [SPEAKER_00]: And now he says, it's by and of all of it, God, you're true. 34:17.635 --> 34:18.735 [SPEAKER_00]: God, your word is true. 34:19.395 --> 34:20.515 [SPEAKER_00]: God, what you said is good. 34:21.676 --> 34:23.596 [SPEAKER_00]: This is one of the first things about 34:27.245 --> 34:52.670 [SPEAKER_00]: and scriptures actually testify to this is this is from the time a word is given till the time it's fulfilled the word will test you so it says about Joseph the word of the Lord tested tried him right we all shout when we get words I think sometimes we should be called here we go right 34:53.924 --> 34:57.726 [SPEAKER_00]: because between the word and the fulfillment is the test. 34:59.167 --> 35:01.588 [SPEAKER_00]: Of when everything looks different, are you still gonna believe? 35:03.729 --> 35:03.929 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 35:04.389 --> 35:08.512 [SPEAKER_00]: When you get the word that God's gonna elevate you and you're thrown in prison, hopefully not literally. 35:10.713 --> 35:11.633 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you still gonna believe? 35:12.694 --> 35:16.516 [SPEAKER_00]: When you get the word that God's gonna exalt and you don't get the promotion, are you still gonna believe? 35:17.356 --> 35:21.758 [SPEAKER_00]: When you get the word that your sons and daughters are gonna prophesy and then you get a text with them cussing you out. 35:21.798 --> 35:22.779 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you still gonna believe? 35:24.425 --> 35:27.747 [SPEAKER_00]: When you get the word about healing and then you get a bad report, are you still gonna believe? 35:29.028 --> 35:31.109 [SPEAKER_00]: The word of the Lord tests us. 35:32.210 --> 35:32.990 [SPEAKER_00]: And you know what you have to do? 35:33.350 --> 35:33.911 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at the stars. 35:35.632 --> 35:36.212 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord I believe. 35:37.093 --> 35:37.693 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord I believe. 35:37.753 --> 35:48.920 [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, something's good to be like, like the man after the amount of transfiguration, Jesus comes down, and there's the boy, he meets the boy immediately who often throws himself in fire and water. 35:50.000 --> 35:52.562 [SPEAKER_00]: And before Jesus prays for healing for the boy, 35:53.912 --> 35:56.914 [SPEAKER_00]: The dad tells Jesus, it's really fascinating statement. 35:56.954 --> 36:00.355 [SPEAKER_00]: He goes, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. 36:03.017 --> 36:07.939 [SPEAKER_00]: He's saying, Lord, I believe you, but you're gonna have to help me because I'm struggling right now. 36:08.880 --> 36:12.482 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's not a bad place to be, but you have to keep saying, Lord, I believe. 36:13.365 --> 36:15.307 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, even when I'm not feeling it, I still believe. 36:15.347 --> 36:16.968 [SPEAKER_00]: Even when it's testing me, Lord, I still believe. 36:16.988 --> 36:17.809 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm still gonna stand. 36:18.129 --> 36:19.511 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm still gonna stand strong. 36:19.811 --> 36:23.615 [SPEAKER_00]: The text doesn't simply say that Abraham believed for a son. 36:23.635 --> 36:26.817 [SPEAKER_00]: It says that Abraham believed in the Lord. 36:28.959 --> 36:31.202 [SPEAKER_00]: Our faith is not in an outcome. 36:32.002 --> 36:34.745 [SPEAKER_00]: Our faith is in a God who is bigger than all of it. 36:36.380 --> 36:41.742 [SPEAKER_00]: It's why I said Corinthians five, seven, very familiar, says this, is we walk by faith and not by sight. 36:42.202 --> 36:44.003 [SPEAKER_00]: Sight reports what's in front of me. 36:44.923 --> 36:46.624 [SPEAKER_00]: Faith remembers who is with me. 36:48.064 --> 36:50.305 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't need every answer to take the next faithful step. 36:52.446 --> 36:53.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Faith's strongest in its is this. 36:55.327 --> 36:58.748 [SPEAKER_00]: I may not understand what's going on, but I know him. 37:00.569 --> 37:04.791 [SPEAKER_00]: I may not be able to explain every delay that I feel like I'm facing, but I know him. 37:05.947 --> 37:20.233 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't see how every piece is going to fit in this puzzle, but I know him, I may not be able to see beyond this season, but I know that he can, because we serve a God who is already beyond what we can see. 37:21.633 --> 37:24.335 [SPEAKER_00]: I already said it, but Israel saw water, but God made away. 37:27.316 --> 37:29.997 [SPEAKER_00]: David faced the giant, but the giant didn't have the final word. 37:33.072 --> 37:38.095 [SPEAKER_00]: At the end of the day, we can only see what we can see, but he sees beyond all of it. 37:38.975 --> 37:40.836 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's speaking to you, this isn't the end. 37:42.257 --> 37:43.138 [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't the end. 37:44.218 --> 37:45.459 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not done working yet. 37:46.680 --> 37:48.721 [SPEAKER_00]: Isaac eventually is born to Abraham. 37:50.542 --> 37:54.464 [SPEAKER_00]: But the first miracle is not what happens in Sarah's womb. 37:55.825 --> 37:57.646 [SPEAKER_00]: First miracle is what happens in Abraham's heart. 38:00.235 --> 38:03.277 [SPEAKER_00]: We're waiting for the manifestation of the natural miracle. 38:04.138 --> 38:08.160 [SPEAKER_00]: And the first miracle, sometimes it needs to happen, is in our hearts, we need the miracle to believe it. 38:09.801 --> 38:13.784 [SPEAKER_00]: We need the miracle of faith to rise up in us once again to stand and believe. 38:14.805 --> 38:20.688 [SPEAKER_00]: Before God changes Abrams circumstances, he changes his vision. 38:21.889 --> 38:24.571 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to remember, we don't need to despise the miracle of our new faith. 38:26.644 --> 38:29.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't think of that as small, the miracle of God renewing faith. 38:30.388 --> 38:33.491 [SPEAKER_00]: If the enemy cannot destroy you, he'll want to shrink your expectation. 38:35.093 --> 38:39.297 [SPEAKER_00]: But today, God is teaching your heart to look up again. 38:39.497 --> 38:40.959 [SPEAKER_00]: Your vision is coming back. 38:42.020 --> 38:43.922 [SPEAKER_00]: Your expectation is coming back. 38:44.262 --> 38:46.064 [SPEAKER_00]: For some of you, your praise is coming back. 38:46.894 --> 38:49.597 [SPEAKER_00]: Your shout is coming back, your prayer is coming back. 38:50.057 --> 38:55.722 [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna begin to believe God once again for everything that he promised. 38:55.742 --> 38:58.985 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanna close with this, come on, wherever you're at, if you're in here. 38:59.005 --> 39:01.488 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen, amen, amen over there. 39:01.928 --> 39:03.530 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to just picture this for a moment. 39:05.171 --> 39:07.453 [SPEAKER_00]: Abraham after God has taken him outside. 39:08.534 --> 39:09.795 [SPEAKER_00]: We're turning to his tent. 39:10.636 --> 39:12.478 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the passage doesn't describe that walk. 39:13.672 --> 39:16.594 [SPEAKER_00]: But let's just imagine the contrast for a moment. 39:16.995 --> 39:21.678 [SPEAKER_00]: He believes God, what it says is counted to him for righteousness. 39:22.979 --> 39:25.141 [SPEAKER_00]: But he walks back into the same household. 39:27.283 --> 39:29.304 [SPEAKER_00]: Abram didn't magically become younger. 39:30.746 --> 39:32.767 [SPEAKER_00]: He has the same physical limitations. 39:33.988 --> 39:38.952 [SPEAKER_00]: He has the same circumstances, but he's not the same Abraham who walked out of the tent. 39:40.533 --> 39:42.315 [SPEAKER_00]: Because now he's seen the stars, 39:43.567 --> 39:45.328 [SPEAKER_00]: And now, he's heard the voice of God. 39:45.949 --> 39:47.270 [SPEAKER_00]: The Tint didn't move. 39:47.950 --> 39:49.471 [SPEAKER_00]: The sky was there the whole time. 39:50.552 --> 39:54.075 [SPEAKER_00]: What changed was what had authority over Abrams' expectations. 39:55.456 --> 39:57.377 [SPEAKER_00]: The Tint no longer had authority. 39:58.578 --> 40:00.860 [SPEAKER_00]: The limitation no longer had authority. 40:01.640 --> 40:06.824 [SPEAKER_00]: What he could see with his natural eyes no longer had authority. 40:07.304 --> 40:09.706 [SPEAKER_00]: He walked back into the same Tint 40:13.385 --> 40:15.486 [SPEAKER_00]: caring a different view of the promise. 40:16.207 --> 40:18.308 [SPEAKER_00]: And some of you in this room, you've decided it was over. 40:18.328 --> 40:19.949 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no way for nothing's gonna change. 40:20.209 --> 40:22.490 [SPEAKER_00]: God can't use me my best days or behind me. 40:23.231 --> 40:26.573 [SPEAKER_00]: This mistake disqualify me and I'm just gonna be stuck here forever. 40:27.233 --> 40:28.073 [SPEAKER_00]: Who told you that? 40:30.835 --> 40:31.816 [SPEAKER_00]: Did God say that? 40:33.297 --> 40:35.778 [SPEAKER_00]: Or did you make a final conclusion from your partial view? 40:38.459 --> 40:41.041 [SPEAKER_00]: Stop giving the darkness permission to prophesy. 40:43.935 --> 40:46.737 [SPEAKER_00]: Stop letting your limitation prophesy. 40:47.797 --> 40:50.619 [SPEAKER_00]: Darkness doesn't mean the sun has ceased to exist. 40:52.440 --> 40:57.003 [SPEAKER_00]: It means the sun is currently beyond your horizon, but sunrise is coming. 40:58.144 --> 40:59.225 [SPEAKER_00]: A new day is coming. 40:59.865 --> 41:01.966 [SPEAKER_00]: Beyond the horizon, God is still working. 41:02.347 --> 41:04.428 [SPEAKER_00]: Beyond your sight, God is still faithful. 41:04.668 --> 41:06.689 [SPEAKER_00]: Beyond your limits, God is still good. 41:08.550 --> 41:10.632 [SPEAKER_00]: Because his way is high. 41:11.212 --> 41:12.473 [SPEAKER_00]: His way is deep. 41:14.128 --> 41:16.089 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for downloading this podcast. 41:16.169 --> 41:19.991 [SPEAKER_00]: We trusted this message has blessed and encouraged and identified you. 41:20.451 --> 41:24.153 [SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a message here from Highbraze. 41:24.633 --> 41:32.597 [SPEAKER_00]: Also, you can follow us on social media, on Facebook and on Instagram, and don't forget to go subscribe to our YouTube channel. 41:33.198 --> 41:35.459 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back soon with another incredible message. 41:35.579 --> 41:37.420 [SPEAKER_00]: God bless you and have a great week.