Bank On God: He Always Keeps His Promises

God keeps his word. That's not to be taken for granted. It's not to just simply be bogged at or, you know, okay. That's fine. Let's move on to something else. He keeps his word. And all through the long years of of Abraham's life, God kept his word, and he brings that to the fullest expression as we've seen through Jesus. Jesus is how you and I know for sure that God keeps his word. [00:28:48] (30 seconds)  #GodKeepsHisWord

John Calvin says that of God that he never feeds men with empty promises. God never feeds men with empty promises. And so when we say he keeps his promises, they are good promises. It's not just empty words. It's not just, you know, the the power of positive thinking. Right? It's real. The promises that God makes to us are a feast of faith, hope, love, and joy. He keeps his promises to us. [00:11:18] (35 seconds)  #PromisesAreReal

But not so with the Lord. His character never changes. This is the experience of Hagar and Ishmael. He was the same God. He was the same God who met her in the wilderness before. He cared for her. He was the God who saw her. His character has always been that he will be compassionate towards us, that he will extend his saving power towards us. God is faithful to us even in our private suffering. [00:21:12] (39 seconds)  #GodSeesYou

He plants this tamarisk tree. He calls on the name of an everlasting God. I think it's noteworthy that Abraham plants this tree. Now Tamar's tree, in a sense, it it can be known for for fast growth, but in a sense of maturity, becoming a mature tree, it can take many years for that to happen. And so Abraham is planning this tree in the hope, in the sense that he's gonna be here, or at the very least, his descendants will be here and be able to benefit from this tree. He's been counting on, banking on the Lord's faithfulness. [00:27:25] (43 seconds)  #PlantingForPromise

Abimelech recognizes, as he says in verse 22, he says to Abraham, God is with you in everything that you do. And so Abimilev, who is, we could say, pagan, he's on the outside looking in, but he can recognize that God is certainly with Abraham. It's obvious to him. I think as a a side note, it's important for us to ask about ourselves as as individuals. Can people recognize that about me? [00:23:30] (33 seconds)  #VisibleFaith

Where else can we get that kind of assurance in life? Not from our doctor, unfortunately. Not from a financial adviser, unfortunately. Right? Sometimes they can't always see the things that that happen. Not from our elected representatives even, unfortunately. Not from our our neighbor down the street who traffics, you know, the latest conspiracy theories. Right? We can't always paint one what they say. Goodness. Right? But God God keeps his work. [00:29:37] (46 seconds)  #OnlyGodIsReliable

Right? We all experience that first, you know, couple days of drought and then go dig up, you know, what we planted. Right? We hang on, and we say, you know what? It's gonna turn out okay. There's gonna be this harvest. And if we can do that with growing things, if we can do that with farming, if we can do that with gardening, how much more so should we do that with the Lord and his promises and not give up on them when it seems like it's taking longer than we expected and not give up on them when we feel like it's a little harder than we expected. [00:10:38] (35 seconds)  #DontGiveUpOnPromises

As the weather has changed for us over the past few weeks, of course, living where we do, you may have noticed that there's a lot of farming activity now. A lot of places around here, they're preparing fields. I've noticed several places where things have actually finally been planted, and so there are many people our area who are essentially waiting on a promise. We plant seeds almost as if we're planting promises. [00:09:15] (32 seconds)  #SeedsOfHope