Abraham: A Model of Active Faith and Promise

"Faith was active Faith was completed the scripture was fulfilled okay so let's go back to Genesis let's go see this in the beginning go back to Genesis 11 look there at verse 30 Genesis 1130 since offering Isaac is being brought up by James in order to confront you and me about the quality of our own faith whether our own faith is real then it this definitely Bears consideration Brethren this is an inspired account that God is giving To Us by which to measure where our own faith is is it of the same quality is it of the same nature that Abraham's is was." [26:32]

"Brethren the church is supposed to be Supernatural based on a God who alone is capable of doing all the things he calls us to do that we don't have it in our own power to do that is the promise of promises is anything too hard for the Lord for our lord for Abraham's Lord for the Lord we have a part with in being a son of Abraham that question is a question about God's ability to create for himself a covenant people against impossible human odds who has babies at 90 years old anybody want to answer that." [44:02]

"Brethren the thing is it comes back where's Prince did he disappear remember Prince's dilemma he he was saying how I think it was during the prayer meeting he was saying how we're doing all this evangelism and how he was distressed over the fact that not not he just weren't seeing all these people saved Brethren isn't this the great evangelism question is anything too hard for the Lord this specifically has to do with god making a people making a promised people a promised son aren't we Children Of Promise Brethren this comes down to the very missionary question is anything too hard what's the answer nothing is too hard." [45:00]

"Brethren we are called to turn the world upside down we are called to be a light we are called to harvest the world to be Fishers of Men We are called to love like Christ we are told called to let our works be seen by the watching World we're called to love one another like Christ loved that the world might look at us and recognize that we're his disciples Brethren you're being called you you who are natively selfish and not loving we're being called to do all these things the the reality of which is is when we consider the human factors in all of this it's like there's no explanation for how all this can happen but he didn't weaken in faith when he considered the human factors." [54:08]

"Brethren just because we have failures a lot of times when we have failures we learn things we learn important things God is testing us the whole thing about this is these Works complete our faith you can't you got to get Beyond just a profession Brethren remember this here at the end the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God and we know that Jesus comes along and says I've called you friends brethren just remember this here at the end that God that calls us to trust him he speaks to us as a friend he says trust me Abraham was a friend of this God you you got to know that the friendship with God goes hand in hand with his giving God glory and trusting him that is a friendly thing to the Lord God of Abraham." [01:03:39]

"Brethren the reality is is this this promise that was given that God is going to be our God to Abraham and his offspring it is going to come through a multitude of Nations a multitude of the Gentiles we're going to take black and white and Hispanic and and they've all got to become these offspring of Abraham to have the blessings and the promises and and everything that to have God the father and God the son and God the Holy Spirit and all the inheritance that's here but and you know what Jesus comes along and you remember the dialogue he's having here's these Jews we're children of Abraham and you know what he said to them if you were oh he recognized and acknowledged they physically descended from him he admits that but then you know what he says if you were listen to how he says it if you were Abraham's children you would be doing the works Abraham did do you see what James is doing James is basically driving that truth right there home he's saying he's bringing up the work that Abraham did a and and he says this fulfilled the scripture that says he believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness he's tagging on this The Works he did you will do too and James's point is this if your faith is not like Abraham's Faith accompanied by the kinds of works that he did then it's not the same kind of faith that Abraham had and you've got to be connected to him you've got to be found through it this all comes through him and it comes through a faith like he has and so okay here's the thing that's this is what James is after what Abraham did I mean you got to do the things that Abraham does what did he do well we know this we know that in James 2:23 Abraham believed God we know that in James 221 what James did was he offered up Isaac okay we got that James is talking Works Jesus is talking works and so let's talk about that let's let's actually look we need what happens here is we need to kind of dissect the situation with Isaac and so you know what he says was not Abraham Our Father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar Faith was active Faith was completed the scripture was fulfilled okay so let's go back to Genesis let's go see this in the beginning go back to Genesis 11 look there at verse 30 Genesis 1130 since offering Isaac is being brought up by James in order to confront you and me about the quality of our own faith whether our own faith is real then it this definitely Bears consideration Brethren this is an inspired account that God is giving To Us by which to measure where our own faith is is it of the same quality is it of the same nature that Abraham's is was and so notice this you got this thing this this little thing that gets said Genesis 11:30 and and the thing is you might want to just notice that Tara took Abram his son and lot the son of haran his grandson and Sarah his daughter-in-law his son Abram's wife and they went forth to together from ER of the calans that's verse 31 in 30 before they leave even ER of the caldes Sarai was Barren she had no child you got to have that fact before they even left ER this is a reality this is she had no child she's barren the Lord doesn't pass over that fact and we shouldn't either and if you jump right over to Genesis 16:2 Sarai herself said to Abram notice Genesis 16:2 behold the Lord's prevented me from bearing children and that's exactly right God's involved in this that thing in 11:30 isn't just a fact somehow separated from God God's involved in this God's in control and she recognizes this isn't accidental the point is God's intentionally creating a situation you see that he's making he is going to give a promise which he hasn't given yet and the promise is going to be directly related to the fact that Sarai is Barren God setting this thing in order and Abraham knows it that she's Barren Sarah knows it and we know it that's the issue only then does God give his promise God's putting this plan in motion you know what he's doing and Brethren you can't get away from this when you come to Romans 9 when you come to Galatians 4 you're going to find this scripture says You and I are like Isaac we are children of promise and what you need to recognize is this God is putting a plan in motion by which he is going to show us that all the sons of Abraham are created supernaturally by promise not just Isaac but us too and that case is made in the New Testament that this isn't by the flesh this is something that God is going to do it's not by effort this this the reality is that creating a child in this situation is humanly impossible and okay notice like listen to this Galatians 4:28 now you Brothers like Isaac are children of Promise we're like him that's the point okay back to Genesis 13:16 god well go to 122 122 I will make of you a great nation now God promises we all know SAR Barren there's the promise God comes along in 1316 and he's going to reiterate it not only reiterate he's not going to just say I'm going to make you a great nation notice what he says in 13:16 I'll make your Offspring as the dust of the earth so that if one can count the dust of the earth your Offspring also can be counted Brethren what's happening inside Abraham's head he's he hears there's promises Brethren do you know where Faith happens it happens in the head oh we can involve the heart but that's a hard separation there but the fact is when people believe it's got to do with their thinking it's got to do with conviction it's got to do with what's happening inside what's happening inside Abraham's head he's been given these promises Sarah's Barren he has no children and you know what Paul comes along and says with regards to this exact account he says exactly this no unbelief made him waver he doesn't see how this can happen he's got eleazer a servant maybe that's how it's going to happen he's legal maybe adopted sometimes we could I mean we can think of adoption we can think of of having a family line through adoption if we can't have any of our own children perhaps perhaps that's there but the fact is that Paul says he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God he was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised now right at this point there's nothing about this promise thus far that would exclude the fact of an adoption son Eleazar could be the guy at this point that's possible at this point all he knows is that somehow there's going to be this this nation and there are going to be these children Offspring like the dust of the Earth but it says that he's not swayed Abraham examines the facts what's he got to work with look at Genesis 15:2 Abram says it Lord God what will you give me I continue childless the heir of my house is elazar of Damascus there's eleazer I mean he's my legal Heir that's what I've got Lord that's what I got to work with that's all I've got to offer look at Genesis 15:4 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 outside and said look toward heaven and Number the Stars if you're able to number them then he said to him so shall your Offspring be I mean you can imagine the Milky Way stretched across the sky in the Middle Eastern night it would have been staggering I mean you know what it's like when it's Crystal Clear and you're away from City Lights it's like that Milky Way looks like a cloud what is all that cloud cloud of light it's just an it is a number Beyond Reckoning of stars more stars than you can number that Abraham if you can okay Genesis 156 this is what gets quoted Romans 4 Galatians 3 James 2 he believed the Lord and he counted to it to him as righteousness Abraham you're very own son but nothing is said yet about Sarah go to Genesis 16:1 now Sarah Abram's wife had born him no children she had a fe we know the story Egyptian servant Hagar Sarah said to Abram behold now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children going to my servant maybe that I may obtain children by her you see there are ways in people's heads by which they think they can obtain children that are actually their children whether that's by adoption or here through a concubine Abram listened to the voice of Sarah and 1615 Hagar bore Abram a son Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore ishmail Abram was 86 years old we know that Sarai was 10 years younger she's 76 years old when Hagar bore ishmail to Abram but Brethren I'll tell you this God is in this business and one of the most loving things that God can ever do for us is put us in situations that go beyond our strength and go beyond our human ability and our human resources Brethren it is a great mercy of God when he makes us dependent on him and that's precisely what's happening Brethren don't you want to live a way that you you're constantly being married A Ware and recognizing just how how necessary God is to you and that's exactly where he's got him God's purpose in all this is to magnify his own power and His glory and his wisdom and show Abraham and us that not only our dependence on him but oh Brethren that our dependence is not misplaced it is a safe place and I'll tell you Abraham is thinking one thing ishmail is the answer to this 13 years go by and he's thinking ishmail is the answer to this he's just riding this thing oh we you know we're reading all these things boom boom boom boom you got to recognize years are years between these things go to Genesis 171 now 13 years later when Abraham was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him I am God God Almighty walk before me and be blameless that I may make my Covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly then Abraham fell on his face and God said to him behold my Covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of Nations and Brethren if you didn't realize this before the name Abram being change to Abraham reflects this reality no longer shall your name be called AB Abram which is father of Nations your name is now going to be called Abraham the father of many nations for I've made you the father of a multitude of Nations you see God explains what the name means I'll make you exceedingly fruitful I'll make you into Nations and Kings shall come from you and I will establish my Covenant between me brethen do you recognize that as he looked up at that night sky how many of us in this room were there you're part of it we're just lost in the vastness of the whole thing but this includes us we're right here in the midst of this whole thing and so and keep reading verse six I'll make you exceedingly fruitful I will make you into Nations King shall come from you seven and I will establish my Covenant between me and you and your Offspring after you throughout your Generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be God to you and to your Offspring after you Abraham he his mind is ishmail but the formation of a people of God for the sake of God's name from all the families of the earth and all the nations of the earth is not going to be of the flesh it is not going to be a human creation it's not going to happen that way that's why ishmail doesn't qualify he is a son of the flesh he is not a son of promise and that is the argument made in Galatians 4 that's why ishmail doesn't fit here symbolically he stands his mother is Hagar she's represents a whole Covenant of works is what Galatians 4 says and so here it is symbolically ishmail represents the flesh they they represent that a product of Abraham and Sarah's effort God's God's about to cut off Abraham's plan just making this thing humanly impossible look at 1715 a year later God Abraham's now 100 God said to Abraham as far as Sarai ah Here Comes Sarai your wife you should not call her oh he's changing her name too now it's going to be Sarah and I will bless her and moreover I will give her I will give you a son by her I will bless her she shall become Nations Kings of people shall come from her Sarai signifies my understanding is this my princess which is kind of like a my what I I read this is that her honor is confined to one family only with that name Sarah signifies a princess of of multitudes look at Genesis 17:17 then Abraham fell on his face and laughed said to himself shall a child be born to a man who's 100 years old shall Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child Abraham said to God oh that you see I wasn't making this up oh that ishmail might live before you 13 years that's what he's been thinking he he he thinks he's on the path to fulfillment of all this and God said nope nope Abraham you've been wrong for 13 years that is not my plan that is not it and Brethren the thing is what's Abraham pleading for Let It Be ishill he's pleading for God to fulfill his promise in the more carnal less spectacular way which is more spectacular I mean often times I ask people that when they're living their Christian Life well you know you could kind of uh save up all this retirement have all this exorbitant amounts of insurance and everything or he could just give it all away you give it to the orphans and give it to the widows and give it to every and then when you're in need watch God do a miracle it's like which would you want which would you rather have well it's easy to sit here right where we're all comfortable and we're not we're not being put to the task to say oh we like that we like the way that's all glorious and it's but you you see what he's wanting he's he's like he's wanting us he's wanting to opt for the for the less spectacular path just give us give us the carnal path that you know that Sarah Sarah and I were able to come up with this plan and just just cater to that and here Genesis 18:10 the Lord said I'll surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah your wife shall th have a son Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him now Abraham and Sarah were old advanced in years the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah so Sarah laughed to herself saying after I'm worn out my Lord is old shall I have pleasure so I mean what do we have we have Abraham laughing and Sarah laughing and I don't find anywhere where it says God laughed but but Brethren I'll tell you this in the midst of all of this remember Paul in Hope Abraham believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations as he had been told so shall your Offspring be he did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body which was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old and when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb and it's like all this culminates in these words remember what God Said is anything too hard for the Lord and in the end what are you going to say that put the pilings under his faith you want to stand on something Brethren the church is supposed to be Supernatural based on a God who alone is capable of doing all the things he calls us to do that we don't have it in our own power to do that is the promise of promises is anything too hard for the Lord for our lord for Abraham's Lord for the Lord we have a part with in being a son of Abraham that question is a question about God's ability to create for himself a covenant people against impossible human odds who has babies at 90 years old anybody want to answer that and Brethren the thing is it comes back where's Prince did he disappear remember Prince's dilemma he he was saying how I think it was during the prayer meeting he was saying how we're doing all this evangelism and how he was distressed over the fact that not not he just weren't seeing all these people saved Brethren isn't this the great evangelism question is anything too hard for the Lord this specifically has to do with god making a people making a promised people a promised son aren't we Children Of Promise Brethren this comes down to the very missionary question is anything too hard what's the answer nothing is too hard can God make children out of Syrian refugees he has been can God make children up in the Himalayas he has been can you take a guy like Raju do you recognize Raju it's been said but you need to see the video footage the pile of rock is like the altar you can imagine this is a massive pile of rock that they have outside the village for stoning people and Matt said lots of people have been stoned there and they were going to Stone Raju if he ever came back why he was a radical Hindu and what did he do he got exposed through the Flor ises to the book of John and now you go over there you got to meet this guy it's like he is on fire for the Lord he is fearless we're driving along in this bus and all of a sudden oh we got this group from Manchester and I mean the tires lock up if somebody would have been behind us I mean they locked they weren't they weren't turning and we're going along at highway speed well however fast you can go in Nepal and it's it's like okay we got to get out we got to jump in the back of this truck not Raju he was the driver he got the we got the van off the road we got it over to a guy that they're just God gave us a mechanic right there Raju had just jump on this bus and go all the way back to Catman de was like the long hours and hours maybe a day's ride all the way back to Catman de he's on this bus and he's preaching the gospel they got to the point where they begin to threaten him that they're going to kill him and he telling them I can't I I mean I need to I used to be like you guys and I need to tell you all about and then they got to the place where they were going to pay him to stop that's how this guy is and he just kept you got to meet this guy and the Manchester team was just up there in his village but Brethren this is the question it's this is a great evangelism question is anything too hard for the Lord and that specifically has to do with him making Covenant children children of promise we are like Isaac we are the children of promise there are no others that that is our connection it's this is our connection with the Covenant it's the abrahamic Covenant and this is what we see in all of this Romans says this I've made you Abraham the father of many nations in the presence of the god in whom he Abraham believed who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist Brethren I hope you can take that promise home you can look at a neighborhood where right now there's no child of God exists but God is in the business of calling children he can raise children of Abraham out of the Rocks folks and he's in the business of doing that any one of you want to raise your hand and say yeah I was one of those rocks I was a rockhead hard in my sin stupid and running from God and then there's this Genesis 21:1 the Lord visited Sarah as he had said and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised and Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him whom Sarah bore him Isaac and we know that in Hebrews 11:12 it says therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore God is bringing this to pass God saw to it that Sarah was Barren no adopted son is going to do no child of a slave girl is going to do and God makes sure that Abraham and Sarah are old so old hundred years old 90 years old so old you can't even think about them have and we're all watching Abraham's watching and God preserves it all so that we can watch it's there nothing is too hard that's the point but then the unthinkable happens it's like okay if you're Abraham now okay now all the pieces are in place and then Here Comes God and it says after these things Genesis 22:1 God tested Abraham said to him Abraham he said to him here I am he said take your son your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt offering is one of on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you so Abraham rose rose early in the morning no question no procrastination and you know what we know something about Abraham's thoughts again I faith is always a matter of thinking you're you're you're constantly thinking is God able is God able and you know what Hebrews tells us he was thinking during all of this by faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac he had received the promise was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your Offspring be named he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead now now think with me here he loved him God said that your only son whom you love okay you can think if you had to put together a close family member your own son it's like I don't want to do this why because of the affection I have for him because of the love I have for him but see that's not even what he's thinking he's thinking how is God going to be faithful to that Covenant how is God going to be faithful to the promises that he has made to me and you know what he figured God's able his faith wasn't swayed now that isn't the way God did it but he said to himself you know what I put a dagger in his heart God raises him from the dead it's going to happen through Isaac and if he's got me going up there and killing him there's only one way it's going to happen and that's as he comes back to life and God's able to do that and you see Brethren that's how we ought to be moving that's how we ought to be operating why because we're children of Abraham we need to think like him even if you don't have it figured out how it's going to work as Brethren I'll tell you this in the end of this you know what's really interesting James doesn't have any kind of expectation you're going to go out and kill your son he has this expectation you're going to go out and kill your time and kill your money by meeting the needs of needy people isn't that interesting that's the thing that's the thing that he recognizes fulfills our faith whereas Abraham's faith is fulfilled by taking his son and putting it on the altar he's recognizing the place for us and there may be many other ways but the example that he gives us is something is getting put on the Altar for us too what is it well your time your money your comfort I isn't that what it always comes down to this is a test of faith right a sister asked me last weekend she she was asking me um after I got done preaching last week about retirement and it's like Brethren liquidate it use it on present needs oh but what what happens if I go old what happens if I get get in a need what happens if this happens or that happens brethen I would just what I told her is this live according to where your faith is at right now and breth what we want is our faith becoming more like him where it's like well you know what if I give it all away you may have an idea about how God would provide for you just like he had an idea but you see it wasn't unbelief he was just figuring well God can do this God can do it this way and you know God is often in the he's often in the business of surprising us how he does it a lot of times it's not the way that we have figured out that old I I mean Brethren this this takes us to James 2 which you really have to ask yourself remember Jesus words if you you were Abraham's children you would be doing the works Abraham did I would say this are you a child of Abraham you obviously after everything we look at you would certainly at least say I hope so but one of the ways that we can test our faith is does our faith resonate with the same kind of thing that Abraham's Faith resonates with what Abraham did in J James 2:23 tells us as he believed God and listen again I want to remind you of this this is what Paul says about his faith Romans 4:18 in hope he believed against hope Romans 4:19 he did not weaken in faith when he considered and what was he considering he was considering the human factors that made this thing seem impossible brethren we are called to turn the world upside down we are called to be a light we are called to harvest the world to be Fishers of Men We are called to love like Christ we are told called to let our works be seen by the watching World we're called to love one another like Christ loved that the world might look at us and recognize that we're his disciples Brethren you're being called you you who are natively selfish and not loving we're being called to do all these things the the reality of which is is when we consider the human factors in all of this it's like there's no explanation for how all this can happen but he didn't weaken in faith when he considered the human factors 420 no unbelief made him waver 420 again he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God I'll tell you this the more we step out in faith the more we are going to bring glory to him the more we're calculated we have to think about everything and make sure all the human factors are in place the less you will glorify him that's a that you got to be able to derive that if you look at it and say well I'm 100 years old my wife is seven is 90 years old this this just makes this thing pretty I mean my Human Experience tells me and you know all probability and statistical analysis and all of this thing and you know that's not very like to happen and sometimes we get that way as people of God well you know what do the books say God's God's all the time what's God saying to us he says put me to the test don't we read something like that in Malachi put me to the test it's like this brings glory to God fully convinced that God was able able to do what he had said that's what we need to be convinced of God is able God wants us to believe he's able what is it about faith that gives glory to God I mean right here at the end listen what is it I mean isn't this crucial don't we exist to give glory to God isn't that the primary reason why God created us to display his glory and it says he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God Brethren if we're not all caught up in that then we've kind of lost the reason for why we exist if it's always to be safe and oh the people that walk around constantly we don't want to be presumptuous Brethren when you have a god that is able to do the impossible that the New Testament is just not full of all sorts of warnings against presumption it's full of warnings against unbelief over and over and over again Brethren we've abandoned our reason for existing if we get to the point where we can't step out in faith and trust the Lord and Brethren it's it's just like the glory of God it's just it's so lost to us I've s the guys yesterday in the preacher thing it's like you drive around the city you look at the Billboards that you just you can turn on the radio and it's like God is just absent people people fall short of the glory of God and we hardly think anything there is no greater reality in all the universe God loves this God that we have the god of Abraham is a God that loves to be trusted and Abraham brought him glory he loves to be trusted when things seem impossible put me to the test take situations that demand that your bank account can't handle take situations that are more than your logic can figure out take situations that go beyond what our spiritual gifts are collectively as a church over and over and over again God is saying put me to the test put me to the test and you I mean Brethren all you have to do is look in scripture where you got people that really put themselves stepped out went way out of the limb because they trusted in a great God you see God is so pleased with that shouldn't we attempt to do the impossible why because we serve The God Who told us I am the god who is is anything too hard for me I am the god of the impossible brethren we should not be quick to say that that God did this thing for Abraham oh but you know today it's we have to be so much more reserved than step out and and trust that and you know we can be quick to say this that certain things can't be done that's is over our head and that that thing is too big it's too out there it's too much it's too far it's too expens we're too small we're too our resources are too this is too impossible and hope Abraham believed against hope and I come back to this over and over that in hope he believed against hope it it was there was nothing humanly speaking that gave you any indication that this thing could be pulled off according to human power human logic it couldn't be and God loves us to be in those positions where we step out Brethren the thing is we don't always have to have everything figured out he certainly didn't but we need to trust him and he's called us to do certain things and if we step out in hope against hope no human possibility doesn't work on the basis rather than this whole thing of you know mathematical probability it's like I've said this before but I've heard this through the years people liken Faith to sitting in a chair no it isn't you don't sit in that chair with Beyond some inkling of hope that it's going to hold you up I mean do you recognize how scripture speaks it's it's in Hope Abraham believed against hope you sit in that chair because why you're all sitting in the chair and nobody's chair is breaking nobody's falling over this is not a test of faith when you sit in the chair you say well you know sit in the chair it's the same way you put your weight on Jesus Christ that is not a good comparison folks that is a horrible comparison why because my Human Experience tells me that 99,999 times out of 10,000 or 100,000 people sit in chairs and they don't collapse we don't you have no expectation that sitting in that chair it's going to collapse hope Beyond hope it's like when there was it's it you know what it'd be more like this you watch a thousand other people sit in the chair and it collapses every time now you go sit in it trusting the Lord because he's told you to go sit in it trusting the Lord is not going to cave in now that's more to the point folks what the thing is Brethren it's like in all there is a God in Israel there is a God of Abraham and he is our God this is the same one he is the one that gives a victory he's the one that gives success we need to be in positions bre where God's got to hold us up or we're going to fall flat on our faces we need to move forward with that kind of mindset and you can see what James says this you see that Faith was active along with his Works Faith was completed scripture was fulfilled Brethren his faith was that energizing force that compelled Abraham to action his actions are are the energetic and the forceful and the full of life response to his faith it's when when we have the god that we have we brethren we should hang our heads if we only attempt what seems easy and obvious that's that's not where we want to be Abraham's Faith didn't rest in mere profession it was operative and he stepped out brethen I love to see people step out even if in the end and you know what what we need to be very careful as it at church somebody steps out and it seems like they felt seems like they failed seems like the branch broke we don't want to immediately then kind of say well you know we better not ever try that again Brethren I find we heard about it from Prince you know these guys they were arguing about who's going to be greatest and these guys had flaws and these guys did that and the other thing and you can look at Peter doing this and that and the other thing and but Brethren just because we have failures a lot of times when we have failures we learn things we learn important things God is testing us the whole thing about this is these Works complete our faith you can't you got to get Beyond just a profession Brethren remember this here at the end the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God and we know that Jesus comes along and says I've called you friends brethren just remember this here at the end that God that calls us to trust him he speaks to us as a friend he says trust me Abraham was a friend of this God you you got to know that the friendship with God goes hand in hand with his giving God glory and trusting him that is a friendly thing to the Lord God of Abraham." [01:03:39]