[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Alright, but glad to have you guys here. Tonight we are doing a study of different encounters with God. And our goal, every class is to answer the question, what does this encounter teach us about God and what can it teach us about ourselves? So the past few weeks we've talked about Adam and Eve, Hagar, and today we're going to talk about Abram and Abraham and Sarah. So we're going to get into that one here in just a second. Now, before we get into that out, as you know, I mentioned this in the first week, the way that we're doing the class is I'll prepare the material one week, then Jason will prepare it the next week and vice versa, and then we'll just kind of chime in together. Last week was his time to prepare everything, so today was my time to prepare the material. I was so excited to go upstairs and to share what I have been working on with Jason. So I go up to his office and there was this sign on the door, Jason is unavailable this week. In case of emergency, he can be reached by calling Sandals Jamaica, ask for J Money. And so that's what I did. And so anyway, I see him a text. I said, hey, I thought you told me you were going to Mobile Christian to speak, doing the analog faith stuff that we love to hear him speak on. And he said, no, I'm actually in Sandals, Jamaica at the resort. And I said, are you having fun? And he said, I'm feeling hot, hot, hot, and sent this picture. So that's all right. Anyway, all right, so let's get into the study. Genesis 15 is where we're going to start in just a second. I do want to give a little bit of background before we get into it. One of the things that's kind of been a common theme throughout all of these, but especially the Last one is facing difficult circumstances, disappointment, hurt, heartache, but handling it in a way where whatever the hurt is doesn't take over. Master us where we can, like, you know, not just grin and bear it, but actually go through it with the right perspective. This is one of those that has a lot of elements to it, but also what's really neat. You see some covenants that are being made in the middle of it that look exactly like what we see in the New Testament with Jesus. So there's a lot of gospel connections in tonight, and I can't wait to share those with you. So I want to give you a little bit of an illustration, because you all know I'm a sucker for one of those. All right. I asked Michelle about this and why this had to be the case a few minutes ago, but when I was learning how to ride a bike, we used to have training wheels. Now, one of the things Yalls kids have, my kids have them, too. They're pretty awesome, those balance bikes, you know, where you just get on it and you learn that way. Well, the way I used to learn is you had the training wheels, and then the training wheels came off, and then your dad or mom would do that thing where they would grab the seat, you know what I'm talking about, like, run behind you, and then just let you go. Well, we lived on Wares Ferry Road. And so where I got let go was. It was a busier street. And so when he let me go, I was doing okay. But according to them, I did like the. Yeah, I got it. And then bam. Ran into a light pole. And light poles, especially in the 90s, were filled with those little screws and nails that had been very rusted. And so it got dug into my leg. Dad took me right next door.
Family named the bodies that live right next door. Maybe that's why she became a nurse. But she was a retired nurse, took me over there, she looked at it and said, hey, you're going to have to go to the hospital.
This is something especially that the doctors are going to have to deal with because there is rust involved. So anyway, I go there and they bandage it up, look at it, and all those kind of things. I think even got a shot for that one. Anyway, one of the things that I had to do with it, Michelle told me why, is I had to unwrap the bandage and expose it to air every so often. Couldn't keep it closed. And so that was kind of a challenging thing. And so I would wrap it up, put some ointment on it. Open it up. And the reason was is that wound had to have oxygen in order for healing to take place. That happens a lot of times with burns. They have to have oxygen in order to heal.
But what's interesting about wounds and scars is that while a wound will lead to a scar, have you ever thought about how our approach to a wound and a scar is a little bit different? Have you all noticed how sometimes we will. Or most of the time, when it's a wound, we will cover it up? But what do we do with a scar? Usually we show it off sometimes. So I want to ask you this question. It does have to do with what we're going to talk about tonight. Why do we hide wounds sometimes but not scars? Why do we hide wounds but not scars? Even if you want to give the answer from a spiritual perspective, go for it. Scars. You've already gone through it. Yeah. You've already gone through it. Yeah. Okay.
[00:05:35] Speaker C: It might be too much to handle.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: The wound. Yeah, too much to handle. All right. You're not vulnerable if you're scarred. Oh, okay. That's true. That's true. Yeah. Because if it's a fresh wound and someone, like, bumps up against you, you know, like, then two months later, if it's become a scar, it's not as sensitive or vulnerable. That's a good point. All right, anybody else?
Well, two of the reasons that I thought of. One of them was kind of similar to what you guys mentioned is the thing about a wound and why we covered up. It's fresh, you know, and especially for us, like, spiritually speaking, if it's. If a spiritual wound, an emotional wound, we might be okay to talk about it. Just, like, not right now. I might need some time, maybe a month or two or whatever it is, or I need to talk with somebody through it. But the scar, kind of like Cam mentioned. Scars tell stories, don't they? I know, for me, like, I still have that scar on my leg from that light pole on Wears Ferry Road. I also have one here from a guy, and if he's watching this Peter Aiken. So I got to get my senior pictures, and we were playing basketball, and he loved his pointy elbows, and he used it right there and just gashed it wide open. And so my senior pictures, we went and got them, and I had a black eye, and so they did this thing where they photoshopped my eye from here to here for my senior pictures. So anyway. But I still love to tell that story and to point it out and all that kind of Stuff. What I'm getting at is that when we've had some time, sometimes our approach to hurt is a little bit different. And the reason I say that is what you're going to see in this text is the wound that we talked about last week that Abram and Sarah have. But let's even, yes, Abraham got the promise or heard it first, but still imagine what it would have been like for Sarah to have to see people all around her get their child, see their answer to prayer. And so when you think about what we talked about last week, and maybe the hurt she exhibited, her wound was still, what, very fresh. And when wounds are very fresh, it is very easy to kind of have that, maybe to recoil a little bit when we're hurt. And so here's what's neat about the text we're going to look at that sets up the text we're going to look at. Okay. And it's important to look at both because they connect. A covenant promise is my goal, is for us to kind of learn how to learn from Abram, Ham and Sarah about how God can make wounds scar to where it can be something that, yes, it might have hurt, but something that we can talk about and something that we can use to help even other people. That's my goal tonight as we go through this. So a little background before we get into Genesis 15. This is where we were. Genesis 12, if you remember. God gives Abraham that promise. He said, hey, you're going to be a great nation and you're going to have a lot of people. Your descendants are going to be numerous, you know, more than the sands and the seashore. That sounds great, right? And so he ends up going on this pilgrimage. He doesn't get the details. God's not like, hey, I'm going to tell you how everything's going to turn out. He just goes. And as he goes, he's revealed more all along the way. And, you know, we've been trying to connect this to the big picture of the Bible. That's a picture of us, right? God uses a particular people, right. He chooses us to go places, and we're invited on a journey as well. And we don't know all the details, right? It's to a land that we can't physically see, but we're going off of a what? A promise. Okay. That's where we were in Genesis 12. So what was the promise they received? They're going to receive. She's going to have a what?
A child, right? They're going to have a descendant that sounds great. Promises sound great. But over time, when you don't get that answer, sometimes talk feels cheap, right? I think at this point, when we're getting close to Genesis 15, it was more like 15 years. But eventually it was 25 years in waiting of trying to get an answer to that prayer. And we know we deal with this with all sorts of things. We can read the promise, but unless we can experience it in our, you know, two dimensional time, space, whatever it is, there's seats up here and just a few over here if y'all want to join.
I don't blame you.
It's hard to really believe it. Then we get to Genesis 15. So we carry into Genesis 15 some hurt. Okay. And I want us to read this together. Genesis 15, verses 1 through 6.
And it says this. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.
Fear not, Abram, I'm your shield. Your reward will be very great. So that's what God leads with. That sounds really good, right? But then verse two. But Abram said, o Lord, what will you give me? For I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him lotus, this detail outside and said, look towards heaven and number the stars, if you're even able to number them. Then he said, so shall be your offspring. And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. Now, isn't that quite the shift? And very quickly from going, lord, when you said all this, oh, now I believe he went from inside the tent to where outside the tent. Now, the reason I want to point out a few things here.
As you read this text, there's probably a lot of things that stick out, but one of the things that I didn't notice till someone pointed out, I think it was bibleproject talked about this in one of their podcasts, is that in the Hebrew, when Abram's in the tent, there is what is called, like, they called it, like an implied look that he tells God to look. He's saying, look, Lord, you know, I've been told I was going to have a kid, and I don't have a kid like you look, you know, as if God is not like the ultimate looker, right? You know, he has a good history of looking and, you know, you Think to yourself, like, what would you do in that situation? You know, I jokingly said, you know, I would probably be like, you know, take your little looker and you'll never look again. You know, but that's not what God does. He doesn't give him, as we're going to talk about in a second, a cosmic smackdown in the middle of him saying, look. It's interesting. God goes back to him and he says, look.
And that was very purposeful to him saying, look at my situation. God said, I'm going to raise you one here. I'm going to give you something to look at. And what he tells him to do is to look outside of the tent and look to the heavens inside the tent. Life often seems like that. A series of dead ends, forgotten promises, false expectations. Instead of God giving him that cosmic smackdown that I mentioned, God being rich in mercy. The Bible said God comes down into Abraham's world and meets his very limited context. Is that not interesting that he basically takes him by the hand as if it were. He's like, okay, I know you're hurt. Let's come outside for a second. And I want you to look. You see what happened with his wound. It's hitting that oxygen, right? He's trying to give him a bigger picture, something else to see. And so I want to ask you this because this is part of the encounter that he gets the first part. And think about this for a second. Would that not be an amazing encounter for the God of the universe to take you outside and say, hey, look at. Look up at the heavens.
And he does. And obviously it does something for him because quite the perspective shift very quickly. But why do you think God used the sky and that as the object lesson in this moment? Any thoughts?
For one, it's obviously so big and so fast to show the enormity of the promise and how many his descendants.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Are going to be.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: But also I feel like it's sort of a sense of like, look at this. Look at what all I've made. And don't you know that I'm God and I can do all of this and I can make this and trust in being.
Yeah, absolutely. If I can do that, it's almost. Yeah. Like he's saying, hey, did you put those stars up there? Did you make this? Okay? No. You just walked out here and it was already there. Anybody else?
[00:14:30] Speaker A: I think it's also infinite.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: You can't see the end of it. That's true.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: You can't see everything there is. You look up, he says, I don't even know if you can even count these stars. There's so many. But you also can't see what's you. You don't even know what's out there. And I'm telling you to trust me. All this, it's a metaphor for what I can see down the road. You can't see. Just like you can't see the end of the sky. You think you can see it. You can see what I've allowed you to see. But I can see well beyond that.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a great point. Because again, if it doesn't fit in our minds, time, space, and how we see that, then it can exist. Right. And even just wrapping your mind around the infinite, like you mentioned, part of God, you know, everything in our life, we, you know, like, we get a washing machine and it dies. You know, like things have a beginning and having an end, that the thought that God has always existed always will. Try to wrap your mind around that. I mean, even I'm still trying to process that. How can something have always been, yet have a beginning? Like, how does that happen? You know, so. And that's the beauty of it. That's what makes him so awesome, is you and I, we don't want to serve a God we can put in a box. We don't want to serve a God that we can make sense everything.
If we could, we would be like miniature gods. And I don't want to serve me. I don't want to serve a small version of God. I want to serve a God I can't understand. So I think that's what he is. He's trying to give him that infinite view. So here's the next thing. I don't really want you to answer it, but to think on it. I do want us to answer the third question. Is there a place where God takes you as if it were? Maybe a place, a piece of nature that has helped you to better see him? Do you have a place like that?
Okay, the church. And how does that help you? I mean, what you learn, what you hear, other people's perspectives. Yeah. Really helps you understand. Yeah, I love other people's perspectives. Being around. And y'all have probably experienced this, too. We all have. You know, where you wake up, even on a Sunday morning, maybe it's a Wednesday, or maybe even more so on a Wednesday night when you're pooped. It's been a hard day at work. You walk in here and you might even be frustrated by something, but you see somebody, you lock eyes with Them, and maybe, you know, they're going through something or you just have a conversation, it helps you. Like, you might not be in the mood, and they help get you more in the mood. You know, sometimes that happens. All right, what about this one? Why do those kind of things? Whether it's nature, whether it's church, whether it's something. Why do those places for us? Like, why does that shift a perspective that quickly?
Because it did for him.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: Well, like, so we just got a puppy. And, I mean, she's absolutely crazy, but when I feel myself spiraling out of control, and obviously she's doing the same thing because she's a puppy. Like, just taking her out, especially at night when I can see all the stars.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: Like, there's something about that moment that it just totally grounds me. Makes me realize I'm not the only one in the universe. You know, this is the same sky that you can see, you know, from different perspectives all around the world. But it also, like, it's a. It's a time for me to be. It's calm.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:44] Speaker C: It's constant. You know, like, you might hear an animal, like a coyote howl in the distance or whatever. But, you know, it's just somebody. The God who created all of this, created me, created all of these elements in my world. And even though it feels like it's spiraling out of control, it's not in his mind.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Lauren, is that why you tell me go outside and look up a lot? Okay, but I guess my encouragement to you is to find a place to do that.
It could be investing more. Like Dale mentioned in the church, it could be going on a hike by yourself. It could be, you know, going into the closet, praying, or being silent in the closet before praying. You know, find your place to look up. Okay.
So not only does he tell him hey to look up, and he feels a little bit better. Here's what's so awesome about God. He does this all throughout the Bible. This is a consistent theme, is he will give you a promise and give a promise. But here's what's different about our God is he gives a promise and a covenant.
And that is amazing. And so we're going to look at this covenant. Oh, before I do, this is what I wanted to kind of challenge you with. I forgot this. So let's go back a little bit.
I think part of the reason why he also brings him outside is really just to let him and us reading this know there's a world outside of the four walls you see all the time. I think we need to know that in a lot of areas of life, you know, when we just see what we're seeing on a daily basis, maybe it's our us, our activities, our kids activities, our jobs, our home. Or how about this one? Our perspective of how we see things.
You get outside that tent, you look outside your four walls, then guess what happens to your perspective. Like his, it begins to change. When you get outside of the four walls that you've been living in, whatever it is that you've made, walls that are your comfort, what you think, your perspective, whatever it is you get outside of those, I'm telling you, things will start to change. Genesis 15. So I'm not going to have time to read through all this because we're already.
Yeah, I'm going to skip through it. So basically what happens is. And I remember y'all remember those Living Way books that you got in Sunday school. Like, that was the things that we always used. And I can just visualize this one almost like it was on that felt board. But I don't know if they had felt board pieces that were animal parts cut in half. But he said, basically, what I want you to do is get these different animals. And we can't talk about right now what all those different animals symbolize. But they did have meaning for Galatians and other times. But he said, get all these different animals, and I want you to, what?
Break them apart. Split them. All right, and then you're going to split them. And then what's going to happen right down the middle.
You're going to walk down them and you're going to hold two things.
You're going to hold. What was it called?
Something with smoke, Something with fire.
Where is it? Yeah, the smoking oven and the burning torch. Now you're like, that is so random. You just took me outside, gave me a promise. Is that not enough? But what's awesome is he's saying, yes, I'll give you a promise. But a covenant is even better than a promise.
They tie close together. But it's even better in the fact that the covenant was a picture of two things. The burning oven, the smoke was a picture of the fact that, hey, I'm about to do something very soon. You're going to be wandering through the wilderness and need that cloud by day. I'm going to be that.
It's 1st Kings and 1st Kings 8. There was. That was Shekinah, the King's glory in the smoke. Mount Sinai had that smoke. He's saying, hey, I'm going To. I'm going to show myself. I'm going to help you through things. You got the fire, you know, the fire at night that was leading them. He's giving all these different pictures, but there's also even deeper meaning in it, in the fact that he's showing them that it's a picture of him walking through those bodies that are split apart. And a lot of theologians believe that it's also a picture of how God basically did that with Jesus. Jesus body was torn apart and he walked down the middle as if it were, and made a way for us.
And the other part that some other people believe too, is that the separation of those bodies that were laying there, of animal parts, is. If God's going to keep his end, we'll get to a unilateral covenant in just a second. But if we don't tie ourselves to that covenant, we're going to be like them. We're going to be like those dead animals if we don't. And there's a difference here. I'm trying to.
If there's a difference in us keeping our part of the covenant and us tying ourselves to the covenant. And the reason I say that is, if it's up to you and I to keep our part in the covenant, what we won't. Okay. That's the difference between, like we've talked about contracts and covenants. Contracts are. There's a stipulation. If you keep your end, then I'll keep my end.
This is what is called a unilateral covenant, where you're making a covenant with somebody even if they don't keep their end all the time and they're not perfect at it. That's what he's doing. So he's saying, tie yourself to this. Connect yourself with this. And that's pretty credible. So I wanted to point that out because I wanted to mention that the difference between a covenant and a promise is that while in a covenant, both parties have clear obligations and responsibilities. A promise is something you may not be able to see. So he gives him. He's like, listen, I know I gave you a promise that you couldn't see, but I'm going to also. Not just give you a promise, I'm going to give you a covenant. Think about that today. What in life do we have right now as New Testament Christians that is a promise and a covenant?
And do we have promises and covenants that we get to enjoy right now.
[00:23:49] Speaker C: Being married?
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. We make promises, but it's a covenant. Yeah. Awesome. And remember what it says that the whole reason, the whole point of marriage is to better understand who Christ and his church, to understand that covenant. Anybody else.
I mean, the promise, you know, that he when sending the Holy Spirit, Right. And the covenant that he brought to help seal that and seal us with the Spirit. We could go on and on. Now we get to Genesis 18. Okay. And Cam, if you don't mind reading this, now that we know all that God just did in that interaction. Now, keep in mind they're still waiting. They're still waiting for that child. They're waiting for the answer to that promise. He had a covenant. He walked through the covenant promise and he heard it from God. He had his perspective changed. But here we are still some time later. Nothing's happened until now.
And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. And he saw them through the rain.
Okay. Several things there.
Very important that he meets him here. Mamre was a very important place for Abraham. It was a place where he had bought a plot of land and had a cave there. It was a place where right after they were, you know, going to the promised land, one of the first places they resided. He made an altar to the Lord here. He was going to get buried here. He does get buried here eventually. And his son Isaac gets buried here. So a lot of very important things have happened and are happening here. And he also is still in a what, in a tent? The very place that he called him outside of. Okay. He was sitting at the door of it, but it says this. There was three men who were standing in front of him. Now this is one of the most talked about things. Who are these three men?
Well, there's several thoughts. Some people believe it could have been the Trinity showing up. Now, the way I read it described it would have been called what is a christophany, which would have been. Because we can't see God, but. And we wouldn't have been able to see the Spirit revealed yet. But it would have been a being with Jesus in like an angel form showing up to these men. That is a very highly mentioned idea. Which if you, you know, some people think, what's his name? Melchizedek? Wasn't that the guy that showed up and brought food out of nowhere and then he disappeared? Wasn't that him?
Yeah. What is it him? Yeah. King of. Thank you. Yeah. So that some people believe that could have been the pre incarnate Christ, because there's no record of him in, like, history that he just shows up out of note. We don't know. There's a lot of thoughts there. It could have been that. The other thought is, if it was a Christ, pre incarnate Christ showing up with the same two angels that were about to bring the smack down on Sodom and Gomorrah that were there, that's another thought. Who knows? We don't know. But it is fun to kind of study that kind of thing. But here's what we do know.
It was enough to get his attention. So that's what lends me to think that it was something different. It wasn't. I mean, he saw three men all the time. So for these three men, for him to, like, oh, I'm going to bow. You're not just going to bow to just any old three men. There must have been something different about this. We don't know what it is. And it says this. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth. And then it says, let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. So he's basically doing this, hey, you stay there, all right, while I bring a morsel of bread that you can refresh yourself. And after that you may pass on, since you have come to your servant. So they said, do as you have said. And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, quick, three, whatever that is of fine flour, knead it and make cakes. It's kind of a picture of today, right when, you know, companies coming. He's like, hey, y'all stay there if you need to go on. And he's like, no, we got to have them inside, get everything cleaned up, right. You know, it's kind of like when, you know, companies coming, you, like, get all the things cleaned up off the floor. And like, I told y'all what happened with us, when someone's like, man, I'm impressed with three kids, Yalls house is clean. And Cam said, oh, we just throw everything in the tub. You know, it's like one of those situations they're, you know, hurrying up, trying to get all the things ready, trying to make it clean. You know, Sarah's working in the kitchen. And, you know, this was a big deal then that the mills where a picture of fellowship, inviting someone into your home. This was a really big deal. And it says this, Cam, will you read this one?
Then he took curds and Milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, where is Sarah, your wife? And he said, she's in the tent. The Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year and say our wife shall have a son. Sarah was listening at the tent door behind me. All right, so this is kind of interesting.
Who were they asking for Sarah?
Now, why is that a big deal? Now, who had been asked for before or when? Who got the promise about the son first? Who was mentioned specifically? Abraham. Abraham, you will have a son.
Now it's saying Sarah, right? They're about to approach her. Oh, I kind of spoiled it. Sorry. They're about to ask Sarah and mention it to her. And I do think it's kind of a little bit humorous. She's in the tent.
And he said, I'll be back here this time next year, and Sarah, you know, your wife will have a son. And it says this. Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. It was kind of like, you know, her ear was, you know, to the canvas, listening to what was happening. And then it says this. Now, Abram and Sarah were old, comma, advanced in years. And I love when the Bible does that. If y'all remember John the Baptist's mom and daddy when they were, you know, approached by the angel, and he's like, hey, you know, she's going to have a baby. And he goes, how can that be? I'm old and she's advanced. So anyway, I've always loved that. So if anybody, you know, you're old guys, your wife is just advanced. Okay? So just remember that if you don't take anything from class tonight, your wife is advanced. All right, so this is where we get to the really interesting part that a lot of us remember and can maybe relate to or in a certain way, the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.
So. And we'll talk about what that means. I think you're going to be able to connect the dots. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, after I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? The Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old?
So a few funny things happening here.
She's not saying this out loud. She's saying it in her mind. And God's like, I heard that. Do you all remember when Jesus did this with the Pharisees?
Do you remember when? I think it was. What were the Pharisees thinking if he knew what this kind of woman or this is sinners, tax cutter. Right. And he's like, hey, I heard that.
It's a reminder. God hears everything. Right.
But part of the reason she's laughing is also because the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So this is saying, like, she was laughing at the idea of her having pleasure. This is talking sexually, even that she could even do this. So this shows us two things. And I never considered this to. One of the commentaries brought it up. It was mentioning that she's thinking that the promise is still connected to what she's going to have to do. Does that make sense?
What she's going to have to. Is going to be up to her to do something.
And thought that was kind of interesting. Never considered that before.
And then the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? I also think it's interesting that he could have said, sarah, why did you laugh? But he asked him, and part of my thought is maybe why he asked him is because do you remember with the whole thing with Hagar, when she was kind of, like, pitching the idea, what did he do with it?
I mean, sure, I guess that's fine. Like, he didn't take any leadership. I still think he's holding him accountable a little bit.
And so she laughs in response to God's promise. Why do you think that is? Why do you think she laughs?
It's been a long time since it was promised. Yeah. But do you think she heard about the covenant of walking down the middle of it?
Yeah, she's seen a lot. Yeah.
She didn't see how it was possible.
[00:32:56] Speaker C: Because she's thinking of what she can do.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:00] Speaker C: She's not thinking, you know, what he can do.
[00:33:03] Speaker B: Mm.
Any other thoughts? We all operate off what we think we know. Yeah. And so she's. She's limited by her physical ability. Yeah. And, well, what we're going to read about her, which is a faith that was incredible, yet we hear she was this. So we'll get to that in a second. So that's a good point. All right, next, anybody else? Like, you were talking about wounds and scars earlier. This, to her is already a scar. Well, that's a good point. Yeah. That time of her life. So now it's a scar and, you know, it's beyond her. Yeah. Yeah, I think. Yeah, that's a great point. Anybody else?
All right, how about this next one? What is your own response to Sarah's doubtful laugh? Like, have you, you know, you hear something and you Think. I mean, I have faith in God. It's kind of like we talked about Sunday with Jonah. Remember the difference in believing in God and believing God?
You know, we can believe in God's promises, but do we believe God's promises?
Those are two very different things.
So here's what I. Back to kind of what Brandon mentioned in Addison, too.
Someone read Hebrews 11, though this is known as Faith's what Hall of Fame. All right, read this.
[00:34:30] Speaker C: By faith, Sarah herself received power to.
[00:34:33] Speaker B: Conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful, who had promised. So. So if you just read that and didn't have Genesis like 12 through 18, what would you think about Sarah? She was full of faith. She was full of faith all the time. Right.
So kind of an odd question to ask is this. Can you laugh and have faith?
Okay. God, if you say so. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how it's going to happen. Yeah.
[00:35:01] Speaker C: I think that's an aspect of free will we can contemplate, we can consider, but in the end, we ultimately have faith, and that's, you know, how we make our decisions or the routes that we take.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Yeah. All right. I like the free will aspect.
I think when she's laughing, what she's really doing is she's doubting. And I think that's a really important.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: Thing, because if you look at Gideon.
[00:35:26] Speaker B: Who'S also mentioned in Hebrews 11, he also doubted. And if you look at Thomas, he also doubted.
[00:35:34] Speaker A: But all of them were faithful.
[00:35:36] Speaker B: And Thomas doubted before Jesus. You know, and it's kind of even like we, you know, I used to talk about this with our college students all the time is in the church at university, too, making our church an atmosphere where our kids, our college students, youth, will come to us with their doubts that it's. You are. We are a safe place to doubt that we want you to come, you know, and that may sound bizarre to somebody, but when you talk with them in that age and that stage of life, the doubts that they've had have never been addressed. And so suppress, suppress, suppress, suppress. And so in the meantime, it's impacting how they view God. In the meantime, it's impacting the fact that they really don't have a relationship. They're trying to, when one of the most important things that could have happened for them is to experience what a godly relationship would be looking like with handling those doubts and things. So, yeah, I do think that's a very important thing, Cindy. I think, too, I think it's Amazing.
[00:36:36] Speaker C: That God gave us so many examples of incredible people that show the humanity and the imperfect person too, to give us the example that, look, you can do this, you're going to struggle at times, David, and so many others that were mentioned before. Like, I think that's amazing because otherwise we would not have the hope that.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: When we fall all the.
[00:36:57] Speaker C: That we would not be able to get up and be that great.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: That's right. Yeah. And I think that's why people love Hebrews. I would love to know, like, Amazon Kindle statistics. There's the word on, like, what is the most highlighted phrase in, you know, their records? It's got to be somewhere up there. Hebrews 11. Because of that very reason, we get a lot of strength from that. Could it be possible that her, after hearing the voice of God herself and that promise brought true joy and laughter, not doubt? Yeah, could be. I hadn't thought about that until just now.
Good point.
[00:37:37] Speaker C: I can't help but picture myself in her shoes. And I gotta tell you, the first thing that goes through my mind is.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: How in the world, this age, am.
[00:37:48] Speaker C: I supposed to keep up with that little tooth?
[00:37:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yep.
An interesting aspect too is that Aram actually also laughs the chapter before. Oh, that's right. And by the way, what's Isaac's name mean? Do you remember Son of Laughter? Yeah. So Abraham presents with the same information. And this is just speculation on my part, but I wonder if part of the reason God's asking whoever was asking Abraham, why is your wife laughing? Is because, like, if Abraham had just gotten this information that Sarah was still gonna have a child, he would, maybe he would have disclosed that.
So maybe it wouldn't have been as shocking to her to receive that news. Oh, that's a good point. Oh, man. Okay, so Here we go. 14, 15. Is anything too hard for the Lord at the appointed time? I will return to you about this time next year. Another thing just I was going to talk about a little bit. Don't have time to. But instead of just fulfilling it right then they still said, like, you would think she's probably. Oh, good. At least you know I'm laughing. Oh, yeah, it's going to still be next year. Like really, like a whole nother year, you know, for her. Seriously think about that's, you know. Well, Hunter asked the question, when is menopause? Well, we'll let Hunter answer that. But no, like 12 more cycles. Am I going to have to go through that? Like, what is it? Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh for she was afraid. But then. This is so funny to me. I don't. I just. He said no, but you did laugh anyway. I just love that. A lot of humor in that. All right, what do these encounters teach us about God? I picked one. There's like 20 things I wanted to mention. I'm really going to pick just one tonight. Anything it teaches you? This encounter teaches you about God. Like, what makes you just feel good or challenged or reminded or maybe still have questions like, what is it that you feel? And does this teach you about God?
It's not about what we can do. It's about what he can do through us. Okay. Not what we can do, but what he can do through us. Anybody else?
[00:39:47] Speaker C: God's timing is perfect.
[00:39:49] Speaker B: God's timing is perfect. Even when he gives you, hey, I'm doing something. Oh, next year. And I know you've been waiting like 25 before that.
All right.
Very merciful. You could have gotten angry that she laughed and didn't have faith in him. That's true. Yes. He showed a lot of mercy here when, you know, he said, lord, look. And then he, you know, gives them even a covenant. Yeah. Anybody else? You don't have to have perfect faith or be perfect to be faithful. Yeah. And again, ties into the covenant. All right, what else? We talked about it a lot, but to mention again, there was so much that they both learned through these waiting periods that if it was granted immediately, they would have never encountered. They would have never had to reconcile and that growth would not have occurred. That's a good point.
[00:40:41] Speaker C: I think it's a further reminder that his plan is so complex, way more than we can even understand why it took so long or why he used the demonstrations or the, you know, the methods that he did. Why didn't he just ask Sarah? Why did he say, why did she laugh?
[00:41:01] Speaker B: Yeah. And why do I have to wait another year? Like, there's all these things. Yeah. Alright, well, here's the one. Because I'm wordy. Too wordy sometimes. Most of the time.
Here's the one that kind of stuck out to me about the meal that God enjoyed with Abraham. This passage helps us to see that three men came to the Patriarch's home primarily for the benefit of Sarah, which is a little bit, to me. Yes, it's for both of them. But if you'll notice, most of the interaction, most of the attention is drawn towards Sarah and, you know, kind of a reminder to us of. It's a picture of Galatians, and it's a picture here of what you're going to see in chapter 17 that we're not going to get to read.
And here's the lessons, since we only have like a minute, two minutes left. Obstacles and opportunities are almost the same thing, depending on your context.
Think about it was mentioned, maybe Cindy mentioned or someone did David earlier. You think about when he went to bring his brothers food while Goliath was taunting them. And they're like, man, y'all hear the way he's talking? And they're like, yeah, he's been doing that for, like, days. And you haven't done anything. Like, you gotta say something. And he's like, well, I'll fight them. Well, that's cute, David.
They're like, this is Goliath. And he's like, well, this is an opportunity. See, it's an obstacle and opportunity. But what was his context that was different than the brothers?
What was David's context? Well, his context was what a previous battle.
They didn't know he had fought a lion and a bear. Right?
So his context was a previous victory. Does that make sense?
So what if we. If we can. You know, I know I'm not good at remembering and celebrating the great things God did. My mind wants to go to things what God's not doing or what he needs to do now. But what if we could almost like, wake up and celebrate, like, think to celebrate the victories. And then if we start to learn to think and to train our minds and hearts to relish in the victories, to celebrate the victories and to thank God for them, that will frame the context of what could seem like an obstacle is also an opportunity. Number two, under doesn't mean over. I'm planted, not buried. Have that written down in one of my Bibles. And whoever preached it, I can't remember if it was Randy or not, but when they mentioned that the whole point was going back to, I think it was 2nd Corinthians 4, that the afflictions that we are going through are just momentary, they don't last forever. And it was the idea that we're not buried here, we're planted here. That's what the Bible talks about even in Psalm 92, that we are planted people.
And then here's the third thing I want us to encourage us with our wounds. Need oxygen. What hurt do you have about something, anything right now? It's going to have to get outside the four walls or it's just going to cycle.
It's got to get outside those four walls. If you get outside the four walls, you'll start to see what's out, but also to see how those wounds can turn into scars. All right. Thank you all so much for all you mentioned in class and sorry we had to hurry through the last part. Did want to mention about a few more things, but we didn't have time. Thank you all.
