Well, you have your bible with you, I
encourage you to go ahead and open up
to Genesis
chapter
15.
Then if you don't have a bible, feel
free to grab 1 out of the pew
or even open up an app on your
phone.
But this morning, we're gonna continue our journey
through Genesis,
and I'm not gonna go back and recap
everything we've talked about, but I'm gonna start
with
our our main character today, ab bra.
And how just a couple of chapters ago,
we meet Ab bra for the very first
time is
a member of a family from Her of
the Cal. And God calls this family while
specifically bra to, start heading west to
obey this call to him
and come toward Y way. To head west
toward your way to to trust God enough
to just do
without
anything else given.
He just took god for his word and
began to go out.
But we then kind of learned well, maybe
he didn't completely trust God. Because in chapter
12, we learned that God had promised this
entire land this possession, and it would be
possessed by
ab bro seed by his children, but his
wife was bearing a wife that he chose
in humility
so that his brother could benefit,
but he had the Barren wife where he
would never have offspring where his legacy in
his lineage would die with his family where
he would have no air.
To give an inheritance to.
And so what purpose would it be to
obtain a land
to whom he could give to nobody
but he took his nephew lot along with
him.
In lot was gonna be his, hope of
an air, this air that God had promised
because
Brown wasn't really sure how this was all
gonna happen. How is gonna come together and
so he started scheming in his own mind,
how it was possible he would have a
land for his own possession.
But then we learn is
ab bra and eye end up in Egypt
and...
Ab bra, again, 1... Is trying to take
things into his own hand. He's trying to
control his own outcomes. I think a lot
of us struggle with that. Right? We... We
have this desire in our hearts to
to have our own outcomes to be in
control of our own life, and ab bra,
not really sure of
what God was gonna do was just trying
to do what he could do.
And so trying to escape a famine and
ending up in Egypt and
lying about who his wife was, just simply
a sister and Ph taking his
wife to be his own into his house
and
a bra certainly benefited. I mean, he got
all kinds of servants and wealth and cattle
and all of this accumulated
stuff in his life,
made him a very wealthy,
rich man.
And then Y plagues
ph,
for taking ab bra wife.
And I was like, what have you done
to me?
And we talked about how this echoed the
sentiment
found in the fall.
Then Genesis chomp or 3.
What's going on? Why have you done these
things?
In this case,
Ph was the 1 that was deceived.
And so
Ab bra and sur I ended up leaving
Egypt with
all these
new amounts of wealth and
head back to the place where Ab bra
built
altar to the Lord.
And we talked about this necessity of God's
people to always be on the move to
not settle even when we are settled.
We might be called to be in certain
places. We might be called to live in
Griffin,
but we shouldn't settle in our own little
places of worship, our own structures that we've
designed for God as he calls us out
into the world because just as such God,
Abraham was blessed to be a blessing.
That promised to God was that
he would go out. It's the complete opposite
of the people of Ba who wouldn't wanted
to make a name for themselves.
But ab bra is being called not to
make a name for himself, but a name
for Y.
In this world that so desperately
needs
y way.
But we saw just last week that
my bra not perfect.
God might have called a certain kind of
man to
be the father of God's chosen people.
But he was not a perfect man
as nobody
is. And so we can still find ourselves
maybe
a little bit a part of this story.
And so as we turned to chapter 15,
what's happened up to this point that we
kinda skipped is
a Bra lot separate.
They go there separate ways.
Ab bra trusts
enough in Y way to say, well, maybe
he has a plan and law isn't it,
and it's
okay to let him go.
But then
a whole bunch of kings start making war
with 1 another and
lot is taken by these kings and enslaved
by them and that problem is like, I'll
have no part of this and like, I'm
gonna go rescue
lot, and So with his very meager
assembly of fighters,
which you really can't say as much of
an army because it's his household of...
Servants and
their children and all... It's like not people
that know how to fight well,
And they're the ones that are going to
take on these armies of armies
and ab bra overcomes them.
And rescues
his nephew.
But instead of taking his nephew back into
his household, which would be the safe thing
to do
A problem lets him go once again.
And they separate
And as we turn to our story today,
we see that Ab bra is still
struggling.
To trust
y.
And so let us read from the text
this morning starting in verse 1
After these things, the word of Y came
to Ab in a vision saying,
do not fear ab bra.
I am a shield to you and your
reward shall be very great.
And a bra said,
Oh, lord Y, what will you give me?
As I go on being childless
in the air of my house house, is
Eli of Damascus,
and problem said,
since you have given no seed to me,
behold, 1 born in my house is my
heir.
Then behold the word of Y came to
him saying,
This 1 will not be your heir, but
1 who will come forth from your own
body, he shall be your heir.
And he brought him outside and said now
look toward the Heavens and number the stars,
if you are able to number them.
And he said to him so shall your
seed be.
That he believed in Y way and counted
it to him is righteousness,
And he said to him, I am Y
who brought you out of
of the Cal
to give you this land to possess it.
And he said, oh, Lord Y, how may
I know that I will possess it.
And so he said to him.
Bring me a 3 year old he and
a 3 year old female goat and a
3 year old ram and a turtle dove
and a young pigeon.
Then he brought all these humans split them
into parts down the middle and laid each
part opposite the other, but he did not
split apart the birds.
Then the birds of prey came down upon
the car,
then Ab drove them away.
Now it happened that when the sun was
going down,
a deep sleep fell upon ab bra and
behold terror and great darkness fell upon him.
Then God said to Ab bra no. For
certain that your seed will be so earners
in a land that is not theirs.
And they will be enslaved and mistreated for
400
years
but I will also judge the nation to
whom they are enslaved. And afterward, they will
come out with many
possessions,
As for you, you shall go to your
father's in peace, you will be buried at
a good old age.
Then in the fourth generation, they will return
here for the ini of the Am is
not yet complete.
And now it happened that the sun hit
set and it was very
dark and behold there appeared a smoking oven
and a flaming torch which passed between these
pieces.
And on that day, Y cut a covenant
with a bra saying,
to your seed I have given this land.
From the river of Egypt as far as
the great river, the river Eu,
the can in the Ken
in the cat,
and the hit tie in the parasite and
the rough fame, and the Am and the
can and the gig ga site in the
J site.
Amen.
And so we open up this passage.
And remember,
those that are hearing this in context are
the Israelites as they wonder in the wilderness
that they had just been freed from
Egypt.
And the whole part of what I want
us to kinda take away from today, and
we're gonna circle back to it is this
single
idea that
God can take
somebody out of Egypt, but it's gonna be
it's a little bit more difficult to get
Egypt out of them.
God can move somebody
to any
location, but
what they acquired in that location might not
be so easy to uproot from their life.
Let me say that a different way.
God might remove you from a sin that
you have,
but you still might hunger to go back
to it. Because it was easier. It was
more comfortable.
Maybe gave you a moment of pleasure and
joy and
Maybe it accomplished something. Maybe it made you
wealthy.
Maybe it was some deception that you like
to live in.
And God might be taking you out of
that place, but
it still
resides within you to wanna return to it.
And so as we open our passage today,
I'm confronted by a phrase to that we've
probably heard
a hundred thousand times in
our church going,
We've heard that it's
recounted 365
times in scripture 1 for at each day
of the year.
And it is this phrase
do
not
fear.
Problem.
Do
not fear all ti in the hebrew, then
this is the very first time that it
actually appears in the scripture, and I'm always
curious when something appears for the first time,
why? The
especially a phrase this is often repeated as
this 1.
Do
not,
fear.
And so as I hear these words. My
question
is
what is god telling
a ab bra, not
to fear.
I think oftentimes my head goes to this
moment with a whole bunch of shepherd in
a field.
And an angel of the Lord appears to
them and says,
do not fear.
I bring
ti
of great joy.
So that's where my head initially goes is
this sphere must be 1 of terror because
an angel probably is a very frightening thing
to see.
Not as you might think of an angel
is something that looks like a human with
wings.
But as the bible describes an angel as
a creature with eyes all around it and
eyes on all sides and like 6 wings
and floating with horns and crowns and you're
kind of, like, if you saw that, you
might be terrified.
If you saw something that looked more like
you with wings,
maybe not so fear some.
And so I first think well God's telling
will do not be afraid because
God has appeared.
But that's not
what the text says.
It says after these things, the word of
Y,
came to Ab bra vision, saying.
So I don't know what he saw in
his vision
but it was a word
that Y was giving.
And he says to ab bra do not
fear.
And in order to
understand what it is that he is calling
him to not fear we have to continue.
For I am a shield to you to
you,
your reward
shall be very great.
And then we hear the words ab bra
in verse 2.
0 Lord Y,
what
will you give me?
And so when we hear the word do
not fear, the context
is 1 of
provision.
Ab bra is afraid that Y will not
provide?
How am I going to receive that which
you promised me?
How am I gonna get that thing that
you said back in chapter 12 verse 7
that
my seed would inherit this land. I don't
have kids.
In fact, right now, I'm so childless that
it's gonna be a servant in my household
that gets all my stuff.
Oh, Lord Y. What will you give me
as I go on being childless.
And the air of my houses
Eli of Damascus.
Not even 1 of my own culture,
but 1 that I acquired when I was
in Iran,
It is a is a do not fear.
Lebron because, I am going to provide for
you.
I'm gonna protect you.
You don't have to be afraid of how
you're gonna get through every situation that you
might face,
especially coming right out of Egypt and what
did Ab bro do is all about his
protection?
How are but protection for what purpose
that he might be provided for,
that he might
receive great amount of wealth because he used
his wife
as he went down into Egypt.
A bra has a sin problem as much
as you and me.
And God is trying to let Ab problem
know. You don't have to fear
about how
you're going to be provided for.
I am going
to provide.
But here's the thing.
Verse 2,
0 lord Y, what will you give me
as I go on being childless in the
air of my house?
Is Eli of damascus.
How does god respond
to ab bra in that moment.
As you look at your text,
what's the very next thing?
What does god say?
Nothing.
Silence.
Have you ever prayed a prayer that you
just like God, I need to know. I
have to have the answer to this. I
need you to show me what's next. I
need you to show me the way. Out
I I wanna trust you, but in order
for me to trust you
you have to tell me what's next. I've
gotta I've gotta see what's going on in
the future. I gotta know exactly how this
childless...
Father and this child, this mother are gonna
have a seed that's gonna inherit the entire
land, tell me because I'm not seeing it.
I don't I don't see the big picture
here. What's what is going on?
How are you gonna do it?
Silence.
No answer.
Nothing.
And then verse 3 shows up.
And
we kinda talked about this a little bit
before in valve, but if there's a break
in the text,
and then it says that the same person
that was just speaking,
and it says and they spoke again.
It means that time has passes a new
conversation.
This isn't something that's happening immediately. It's something
that that there's been some separation a little
bit of time, a little bit of lingering.
And so, Ab bra allowed himself to sit
in the silence for a moment
We don't know how much time it took.
Maybe it was an hour.
Maybe it was a week. Maybe it was
a year. Maybe it was 2 years, but
it some point, a bra has had enough
of the waiting. Enough of the silence from
God, and he's like, okay. I'm coming back.
Verse 3 and Abraham said, and I love
this. It's a little bit more frustrated. The
first time he was kind of respectful to
Y.
But how will you give me?
I have... I'm going on being childless
right now, my only heirs is el?
But now he's like, since you have given
me no seed,
hello,
behold, and born
and 1 born in my house is gonna
be
the air? Like,
no longer is it just a named servant.
It's just somebody born in my house that's
not mine, is going to inherit everything,
you have given me no seed. There is
no answer to the promise.
I have waited, and I have not seen.
Does that sound familiar?
Because it resonates in my heart?
Like, there are so many times. Where I'm
just like, God I am waiting. I know
that you've given a promise, but I don't
see
the answer. I don't see the outcome.
And you are being silent.
You
aren't speaking.
But this is exactly how it's supposed to
be.
This is exactly
how god
works.
Reminds me of David a lot.
Psalm 13 is 1 of my favorites
because I've prayed it a lot.
How long oh y way,
will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from
me? How long shall I take counsel in
my soul having sorrow in my heart all
the day? How long will my enemy be
exalted over me?
Look and answer me, oh, y my God,
give light to my eyes unless I sleep
of death, unless my enemy says I have
overcome him in my adversaries rejoice that I
am shaken.
You ever feel like you're just in that
moment of darkness. You ever feel that Y
has just completely forgotten that you exist. Have
you ever felt that he's just not answering
any of your prayers that and that nothing
is going as you thought. That God would
do it. And and as you have heard,
he promised he would in his word.
And he's just silent.
And fear sets in, and you're wondering where
is my provision going to come from?
But here's the thing,
God lets us sit in our silence.
For the purpose of
building
our faith and trust in him.
David finishes that song by saying, but.
Even in the midst of the darkness, even
in the midst of
Wondering where you are, but
I have trusted in your loving kindness. Even
when I don't feel it,
Even when I don't see it, I have
trusted
in your loving kindness.
In my heart shall rejoice in your
salvation, I will sing to Y because he
is dealt
bo flee
with me.
Remember he's...
These stories are being
listened to in the wilderness.
To a people that thought it would be
easier to go back into Egypt and slavery
than to push forward in the wilderness
toward the promised land.
Toward obtaining that that vary the land that
it was promised to ab bra the the
people of Israel wanna go back to slavery
because they're wandering
around in a place that they think is
filled with darkness,
they can't see 5 feet in front of
them, even when Y is appearing
by a cloud of smoke in the day
and fire by night.
They wonder where they're gonna get their next
meal even as mana is just coming up
from the ground.
In exodus is 16, it talks about how
God's gonna provide food for them, but don't
take more than a day's worth.
And what do they do?
Take more than a day's worth,
because they're afraid that it's not gonna be
provided for the next day,
as if God is just gonna stop being
their provider.
And then he's like, but take a double
portion,
the day before the sabbath because on Sabbath,
you should not work.
And then what do they do? They don't
take enough and so on. This sabbath that
go out into the field so look for
this man and it's not there.
And they're blaming god.
When God told them that it wasn't gonna
be there.
Or so
easy
to just
go faith list for a moment because we
don't see the way that God's providing
in the midst of our waiting for provision.
We've got not Egypt, but Egypt hasn't gotten
out of us.
And so this increased
frustration
of Ab bra is like,
you haven't fulfilled your promises to me.
And I have been waiting. And God's like,
fine. I'll tell you.
I'll just tell you. Look, alright. You wanna
know behold,
He's not gonna be... That one's not gonna
be your air. The air is going to
come from your own body, and he shall
be your air.
I'm not gonna get into the graphic of
that, but I'll let you assume what that
text means.
If it's coming from
Abraham own body,
then we know that it's his seed and
his child.
But if we looked a little bit of
ahead in the text,
who gets ahead of themselves again.
Sometimes God will tell us how it's gonna
happen,
and we still get start con contracting in
our brain,
what our role in making it happen is
going to be instead of just god letting
it happen.
This is probably why God wants you to
sit in your silence because if he told
you, you would get ahead of him.
I can't tell you how many times I've
gotten ahead of God.
I think about it all the time about
like, these things that I'm, like, so excited
about, like, in church ministry, like, I'm like,
oh, my goodness, God's gonna do some really
great things. I'm really excited about it.
What am I gonna do?
Oh, we're gonna create this program and in
this program in this program, and I'm I'm
gonna be in charge of that 1 and
that 1 and that 1 and before I
know it, I'm pulled in 16 different directions.
And I'm exhausted and I'm like, why isn't
anything happening the way that you said it
would God? I'm doing it.
And God's like,
No.
I told you I was going to do
it?
What makes you think that that's the many
different directions that you just went were the
way that I was gonna do it, that's
not how I was gonna do it.
But you got ahead of yourself because you
heard 1 thing and thought I meant different
thing.
Because I was so afraid that once I
knew where God wanted to take us different
I was like, well, I've gotta be the
provider.
I'm the pastor. It's my job.
And God's like, no. I'm the provider.
It's my job.
Not yours.
And so what ends up happening is a
ab bra and Sur get ahead of themselves,
and they're like, well, I'm Barren. So I
can't have a child, but guess what? I
have this Egyptian slave that we got when
we came out of Egypt,
you know,
maybe she can have your child.
That might be a great idea.
So
here's H.
And
what happens?
Ishmael is born
and
time passes
13 years.
And it rob's like, I've solved the problem.
And then y way shows up and it
says no. You haven't.
I'm not giving any of this to Ishmael.
I'll provide for him now,
but you weren't listening to me.
Sa Was always part of the plan.
But your vision
is so
small,
and my vision is so big.
God has plans that go far beyond what
we can even ask or imagine
Ephesians chapter 3. And so God is still
at work at providing even in the silence,
and maybe just allow yourself to sit in
that silence because the moment you might hear
from him might be the moment that you
take control back from God.
Let him take Egypt out of you by
waiting.
These had to wait 40 years in the
wilderness to get Egypt brought out of them.
I hope it doesn't take 40 years for
us.
I really do.
And so what ends up happening in versus
5 and 6?
As we continue on,
he always says, he brought him outside and
said now look toward the heavens
and number the stars.
If you are able to number them.
So shall be your seed.
And Ab believed in Y and it and
Y counted it to him as righteousness.
I love this passage, but
What I want to point out is that
the stars are not a sign.
Jesus was clear that
only the wicked seeks signs in wonders.
The stars are a visible word.
A metaphor
for what God is going to do for
Ab bra.
God wants to put
the word in front of you
in front of us,
that we would read it as it is
and believe in those promises
that he has put in front of us,
and I can guarantee you there's a lot
of promises
in his word.
He's given it to us. These are our
stars
can you count them?
Do you see them? Are you reading them?
Are they in front of you as the
stars were in front of Ab bra in
that moment where God
counted it to him
as righteousness.
Paul talks about it extensively.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews
talks about it extensively about how
ab bra faith was counted to him,
as
righteousness.
Romans 03:22, even the righteousness
of god through faith in Jesus Christ for
all those who leave
for there is no distinction. Let us not
forget that ab bra faith was counted to
him is righteousness,
and our faith
becomes counted us to as righteousness
because it is in Jesus.
Jesus is our righteousness.
We aren't trying to obtain any sort of
level of h on our own. We aren't
trying to create art... Create our own provision
in our lives
we are simply
seeking looking at and relying on the person
of Jesus Christ.
And then we go forward in 7 and
8.
And what happens?
And mask again.
Well, how you gonna do it? How are
you gonna give it to me?
It was just my faith was just counted
to me as righteousness, but god, I I
need some more.
I'm not really sure.
What's going on here. And so I wanna
just give you a little bit of encouragement.
If you've ever had a little bit of
disbelief in your belief,
So did Bra, and his faith was counted
to him his righteousness. And it's okay. And
it reminds me and I think I've said
this many times recently
of the story in
Mark right in this centurion and he's like,
Jesus, I believe, help my un belief.
I do I believe Jesus. I believe you
you can do anything, but
help me.
And I think this is a help me
moment for ab bra in the text. He's
like,
I do believe I really do
god help me help me believe more. This
God give me more faith
for this. Show show me what is it...
What is gonna happen
so that I can believe you.
What's the guarantee?
And Y in his goodness
guarantees it?
But in a very maybe
unexpected way.
And so this is where I wanna leave
us as we finish the text today.
Is
this covenant. This cutting of the covenant, and
we've talked a lot about covenants here
we had
entire disciples series where we talked about the
covenant
in the epic of Eden and the importance
of covenant cutting, and how covenants are often
between, a,
higher
power and a, weaker power, a stronger power
and a weaker power, and they can be
between
nations and little city states and they can
be between
kings and lords and they can be between,
They can be between equals, but they're not
as common, but there's always something involved and
we talked a lot about the covenant when
we talked about Noah.
And the rainbow being set in the sky
as a sign of this covenant and how
I had mentioned that the ones that are
normally supposed to keep the receipts of the
covenant is the weaker power, but god's like,
no. I'm I'm God. I'm I'm holding on
to this receipt for you. So not only
will you remember, but I will always remember.
I will never forget the covenant that I
made with you.
Because at the end of the day, in
covenant cutting back then, I you know, the
higher power didn't really care whether or not
they kept covenant.
They were stronger. It didn't matter to them.
So you as the weaker party had to
come and be like, no. I've got the
proof. Here it is.
Like, we agreed to this.
Keep it.
Right?
And then we started talking about how in
making covenants,
you cut an animal in half and
Essentially, what you're declaring is,
let this be to me if I fail
to keep my end of the bargain.
So that's just a quick rundown of what
it means to cut a covenant.
But as we read this text, this passage,
it's...
It's interesting.
And I say it's interesting because as we
read, we reread this past and says,
and so God further said to Abraham now
asked for you, you shall keep
My covenant,
you... Oh, whoops. That's the wrong passage.
Here we go.
Verse 9,
So he said to him, bring me, so
this is Y speaking Bra. Bring me a
3 year old he, a 3 year old
female goat and a 3 year old ram,
a turtle dove a young pigeon.
And so what does Bra do? He goes
out and he finds those things, and he
brings them
to him
and he immediately
splits them into parts down the middle and
laid each part opposite the other, but he
did not split apart the birds.
Ab bra knew what was about to happen.
God said, go get these things, but he
didn't say cut them, but ab bra knew
that he was
initiating a covenant, a contract with Y, Y
had given him the
necessary ingredients for that covenant pack to be
made. And so a bra went and got
them and went ahead and split them.
And what's interesting is actually as you look
at it, into, like, the history of this
specific covenant, it's a patrol covenant.
A patrol a patrol covenant that's supposed to
be made between
the father of the bride
and the groom.
And what's happening is the weaker party, the
groom
will walk first
And then
the stronger party, right, the father of the
bride will walk through second.
And
essentially, what's happening is this the groom walks
through, it's to say, I will do
all things in my power to protect to
love to care for
and to provide
for your daughter.
I will do those things. I will keep
it as such.
I will keep it so.
And then the father's promises,
and I am providing for you a virtuous
woman
who has, you know, by all rights is
pure and will provide children
and will allow you to flourish in your
household,
who And if either of us shall fail
in this covenant, let us be as all
of these animals, 1 of us is dead.
And what happens in this covenant is as
the animals are cut, all their blood essentially
is poured into the center.
And there is essentially a path of blood,
and that's what's happening. That's what they're saying
is not only am I being cut, but
as I walk through it in the blood
splashes upon me.
May my blood splash upon you if I
fail to keep the covenant.
So all that,
in graphic detail. You're welcome.
To say,
as we read this text, it gets really
interesting. So we brought them, he split them
And then verse 11, and then the birds
of prey came down upon the car and
ab bra drove them away.
Do you know how long
like a car kinda has to sit there
before all the birds of prey start swoop
down, trying to peck peck at it and
eat it. Like, it's not immediate.
Like time has
passed, like, they're
decaying.
It's probably hot,
like,
it's gross. It's sticky,
and all these birds of prey are starting
to come down
and
Ab lebron is just trying to drive them
away. Trying to get all these birds of
prey away and maybe we can read something
really spiritual into that. Like, Man, isn't the
enemy just gonna come against you when, like,
god is in the middle of making his
promises to you and he's just gonna... Try
to just,
drive it home and steal your joy. I
mean, he's such a thief that came to
steel killing and destroy and that is true.
Like that is a hundred percent true, but
what I find interesting is here's the thing.
Remember, this is a covenant between a weaker
party and a stronger party, and Ab problem
was so excited that this covenant was about
to be made between him and Y, he
went and got all the pieces he need
and he. Caught them in half and laid
them in the blood pouring out. And he's
like, yeah. And then he looked at and
he's like,
oh, no.
I have to walk first.
And I know what it means if I
have to keep my end of the covenant.
And so he's like,
I'm not walking. And so time is passing
and the bird start coming and Y hasn't
showed up yet because
Bra hasn't fulfilled his part of the covenant
of walking through
all the blood and
saying, yes, I'm the weaker party and you're
the stronger party.
And Bra is realizing,
I can't keep covenant with Y.
There's no way I could keep all the
things that are that I am supposed to
keep if I walk through
this blood path.
And so he waits.
And he waits,
and he waits
and god is silent.
Already talked about it. God is silent, not
showing up yet.
Just kinda seeing
what's he gonna do?
I don't know. Maybe maybe eventually he decides
to walk through. I don't know.
Any waits.
And this might be the best
moment
of a bra life.
As he finally allows himself to wait before
being hasty
and just saying, well, I'm gonna do it
myself.
I'm gonna go ahead and I'm just gonna
walk through and make it happen for myself.
Little bit later in scripture, we know somebody
that did it.
Saul, what happened to him, King saul, not
Paul saul.
That was his fall from Grace, and he
had to be cha eyes before David was
put over him.
Said the spirit of the Lord left him
because he was dis.
And so here in this passage,
Abraham is waiting and all of a sudden,
as he's been waiting,
Verse 12, and it happened when the sun
was going down a deep sleep fell upon
ab bra and the whole terror and great
darkness fell upon him, and then God said
Ab bra no for certain.
I love that because what was Ab bra
question, How am I gonna know? And God's
like, oh, you're gonna know. And you're now
gonna know for certain,
we're putting an end to these questions. No
more questions. Sometimes,
You do have to stop asking the question.
Like, I have learned that there are some
things. It's just like,
I have to stop asking God the question
because it's not helping me
grow in faith.
If you just stop asking the... Question, see
what God can do. But if you're always
allowing that question to reside on your heart,
you're never growing from it.
It reminds me of when Paul said, when
are you gonna let this thorn pass from
me 3 times I have asked?
And God said, my grace is sufficient,
stop asking.
Grow.
So what happens is
you will know for certain now.
That your seat will be so earners in
the land that is not yours, and they
will be enslaved then and mistreated for 400
years.
Egypt. Right?
Okay? And I will also be the judge
of that nation to whom they are enslaved.
And afterward, they will come out with many
possessions, they're gonna be enslaved, but I'm gonna
provide.
Trust, and I'm the judge not them. I'm
gonna do the work, not them.
Ab bra, listen to the story, trust who
I am. I am Y, You're gone.
And as for you're gonna go out to
your father's and peace and you will be
buried at a good old age. And in
the fourth generation, they will return here for
the ini of the am is not yet
complete.
And then it... Happened that the sun headset
and it was very
dark and behold there appeared a smoking oven
and a flaming torch which passed between these
pieces. Remember, a covenant is between 2 parties,
And what do we have?
2 parties, a smoking oven
and a fiery torch
Doesn't that sound familiar.
Who led the people in Egypt as a
pillar of smoke and a pillar of fire
a smoking oven
and a fiery torch passes
through the cut pieces takes the blood path
of the covenant.
Saying once again, I'm guaranteeing it on me.
Bra you have no responsibility here.
I've got you.
I'm the provider. You have to trust in
my provision. You have to trust that I'm
at work that I will do what I
said I will do and it's gonna take
time,
and you're gonna have to trust the process.
I'm gonna be silent at moments, and you're
gonna have to trust the process,
I'm not gonna tell you how I'm doing
all things, but you have to trust that
we're gonna get there and we're gonna get
there together, and I'm gonna hold you up
along the entire.
Way,
you let Egypt come out with you.
You've gotta let it go.
You've gotta let Egypt go.
You've gotta let the pass go. You've gotta
let the things that you're holding on to
go. You gotta let all the things that
are keeping you from God go. All the
idol that you take with you, all the
sin that you carry, your heart, all the
things that you wanna return to because it's
comfortable and good and easy.
You gotta let it go for god to
do the work that he wants to do.
You gotta let Egypt
out.
Let Y in in trust that he's gonna
provide when you don't see the path of
provision.
As much as this is a covenant of
promise,
it is a covenant
of
provision.
For Ab brown,
and for his people
and for us
God hasn't stopped
providing
And what I love about this
is I want us to notice.
This is a
covenant cut in darkness.
What happened when Jesus gave up his last
breath?
Darkness,
and the whole of shook,
and the veil was torn,
another
covenant of ultimate
provision was provided in darkness that we might
have light.
Jesus is the only way
in which we get to this place
of knowing and guaranteeing
all at the father their has.
But we got it turn to him.
We gotta turn to him and trust him
and believe in him.
Let's pray.
Good and gracious God as we hear about
the covenant that
Ab
cut,
but you walked through.
God, let us remember that you are
provider
God that you will let us sit in
silence
for our good lest we get ahead of
ourselves and try to take it back into
our own hands.
Because sometimes we get a piece of the
vision
and we run hard after it, but forget
who provided the vision,
and who is the provision to the vision
is you.
Let us
follow you and trust you wherever
you go.
It's in christ's name we pray.
Amen.