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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's Word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in. We're going to begin in Joshua chapter 24 and verse 2. And we're going to back into our place of emphasis in Genesis 12. And Scripture says, and Joshua said all the people. Thus says the Lord. We usually think of Joshua as simply a military leader, but when you read the scriptures, you'll discover he was also a man who regularly heard from God. And one of the most important things any leader can do, whether you're a military leader or whether you are a leader in your family on the job, one of the most important things you can do in life is hear from God. In fact, if you know me just a little bit, spend a little bit of time around me, you're gonna quickly discover that most of what I've accomplished in my life had little to do with talent and a whole lot to do with my never let go prayer life. I have learned when I'm weak, he's strong. I've learned, when I can't, he can. And I don't understand it all, but when I spend time with him, there's this great exchange where I give him, you know, my weaknesses. And he turns it just like the water into wine, he turns the water into wine, and all of a sudden, something marvelous and wonderful comes out of that moment. You see, real prayer is not supposed to be simply a monologue. It's designed to be a dialogue, meaning you and God ought to be going back and forth. So if we are praying correctly, we will leave our times with God with more clarity than confusion, more answers than questions, and more solutions than problems. So Joshua has a tremendous task of conquering everything, pretty much from Egypt or the border of Egypt, all the way to the Euphrates. And this task is intense. And with this, he becomes. He's already. Joshua, by the way, was number two to Moses. So Moses was up the mountain. He was the one guarding the steps up the mountain, lest other folks might distract Moses. But he had served Moses for years, and he watched Moses tremendous prayer life. Moses, his prayer life was so incredible that after his times with God, actually his face would shine. And it was just a remarkable man of prayer. So Joshua again had learned from his mentor, and he picked up the same spirit. And he said, thus, says the Lord God of Israel, your father, or your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor. Last week, we discovered that Abraham's brother Nahor had died. But watch this. Dwelt on the other side of the river. Now, he was speaking of the Euphrates. How many of you listening today are also from the other side? Yeah. How many of us in this room also have some residual other side hood tendencies? Yeah. So did Abraham. And a lot of his journey, you see him dealing with these other side tendencies. Abraham lied about his wife being his sister twice. Once would have been enough. He did it twice. And two kings put his wife in their harem. And Abraham was okay with that. When I get to heaven, one of the conversations I want to have is Abraham, what was going on in your mind? Also, he and Sarah got tired of waiting on God. Has anyone in here or has anyone in here ever gotten tired of waiting on God, on the Lord? So they got together and they decided to help God. How many of y' all tried to help God? Yeah, they decided to help God by having Abraham sleep with Hagar, which resulted in Ishmael, who later had to be sent away. The strife between the two women became so bad, actually, at one point, Sarah came to blows with Hagar. The big point I want to make is erbotic. Don't sound educated here. You're from D.C. right? Now get rid of the V and just say with me, erbody. No, no, tell your name. Y' all not commit Errybody. I know you're sophisticated. I recognize that you are level 16 and all that, but everybody has a past, everybody has a regret. But despite this, God kept writing new chapters with Abraham. And by Genesis 22, now he starts in chapter 12. But by the time he gets to Genesis 22, Abraham offers up Isaac. And his devotion to the Lord is unsurpassed in scripture. No one else was ever asked to do anything like Abraham was asked to do. But one of my big points today is I want to say to you, is it was a process. He didn't start out where he finished. God met him where he was and began his journey. You cannot judge every person's story by the particular chapter you happen to walk in on. Because. Because God may not be finished with them yet. Deuteronomy, chapter 7 and verse 7 tells us a little bit more about Father Abraham. It says, the Lord did not set his love on you speaking to the Israelites, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people. For in fact, you were the least all people. In other words, God didn't love you, doesn't love me because of anything I have to offer. In fact, the Bible goes on to say that not many of us were wise according to the standards of this world. Not many of us were powerful. Not many of us were of noble birth. All of us are really in one way or the other from the other side. But verse eight comes and it says that key word, but. But God. But God. But God. But because. Not because you were great, not because you had it all together, but because the Lord loves you. When we boil it all down, the only thing I got going for me is God's love. That's all I got going for me. How many of us have given God countless reasons not to love you, but no reason I've been able to come up with has been powerful enough to make him change his mind. Back to Joshua 24:3. Then I took your father, Abraham. Watch this. From the other side of the river. In old times, this was Joshua's last speech before his death. And because last words are so final, they tend to not only reveal the person's heart at that particular moment, it also tends to capture the most important message that that individual wants to leave behind in their lives. So here's the bigger picture. The children of Israel had finally fulfilled, or at least God had finally fulfilled his promise. And much of the promised land had been settled by the Israelites. Not everything, but much of it. And despite, you know, all the mind blowing victories that God had given to the children of Israel, I mean, at one point the sun stood still. I mean, God just did some incredible things. But out of all the things that he could be focusing on, the thing that was heaviest on Joshua's mind was that the Israelites would not forget where they came from. This is really, really important. No matter how high you climb, always remember where you started, Or in this case, the other side from which he came. We think of Abraham as this great man of faith and he became that. But as God tells his story, it says when he was on the other side of the river, he and his family, excuse me, served other gods. Now, Abraham became a great man, but he started out like all of us. He started out an idol worshiper. And you say, well, Bishop, I have never bowed down to a statue. An idol is anything we put in the place of God. Any person, place or thing that is more important to you than God's approval is an idol. So Joshua needed to remind God's people of what life was like before they got their teeth fixed, before they got that certification, before they got that degree, before they owned that business or walked around with that title, got that job before they could come to church with $500 pair of shoes. Somebody said, pride is a successful person's biggest enemy. And humility must be a successful person's greatest friend. He said, I did it. The great I am Abraham could not do it on his own. And you can't do it on your own. I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river. Now God will meet you wherever you are. He's that type of God, but. But he never intends for you to stay there. So I met him on the other side, but watch this. And I led him throughout all the land of Canaan. God seldomly leads us in a straight line to the place he wants to take us. Why? Because the journey is seldom about getting to the destination. It's often about building the character we need to stay there. Once we get there, It's a lot easier to make it to the top than to stay on top. And whatever the top happens to be for you, God wants to equip you not just to get there, but he wants to equip you to stay there. And then he continues, he said, and he multiplied Abraham's descendants and watch this. And gave him Isaac. Isaac had to be given to Abraham. Abraham did not have power in himself to get an isaac. So this 99 year old man and this barren older woman didn't have the strength to do what was pretty ordinary in that culture, to do what was most expected in that culture. They were in a situation where what they wanted had to be given. And you know, I can be a little bit proud and I would much rather be able to get it on my own than have to be given things. But this man and this woman were in such a situation that the only way they could get the thing they wanted most was by gift or by grace. But as you look at the scriptures and you read them regularly, you begin to understand that things like that are often by design. Why? So that when God gives you that thing, you can say only God. People can look at where you are and say that it had to be God to give a couple like that who try all their life they couldn't end themselves. And out of it comes a testimony that would not be had lest you had the difficulty or the weakness in yourself. You know, sometimes I get frustrated with my or by my inabilities. I have to remind myself of what the Bible said. The Bible teaches that God selects us not only because of what we can do, but also because of the things we cannot do without his help. Sometimes our helplessness is by design. No one was better to be the father of a multitude than an old man at a hundred and a barren woman. So that people would recognize it was the power and promise of God that brought it to pass. Now, if 25 year old Abraham had a baby, no one would be talking about their story. And there's some things that you wanted earlier and you're like, lord, why didn't I get it? Because God is working on a story. He's working on a narrative such that when you get it, you'll look at God said, only you, Lord, could do that. Now we're ready for Genesis 12 and verse one. We have a little bit of background. Now the Lord had said to Abram, now we covered the background so you could realize as flawed as Abraham was, God still spoke to him. And that should give us hope. Because as flawed as you are, God wants to speak to you. God's not looking for people who have arrived. He's just looking for people who want to grow. So the Lord said to him, I need you to make some changes. Get out of your country. Now we can look at this passage and we kind of see the ancients, as you know, unsophisticated kind of bumpkins, if you will, and, and we don't really think much of their lives. But what I need you to realize is that God did not ask Abraham to leave just any place. He asked him to leave the great Euphrates, the great Mesopotamia, the very birthplace of civilization. If you went to history 101 in a college course, they would immediately take you to Samaria and, and this area of Mesopotamia where all of civilization was birthed. This was the place that they discovered the wheel, the place where they began irrigation. This was the area in the world where walled cities were started and the first nation states were established. He was asked to leave a place of literature, he was asked to leave a place of mathematics, a place of astronomy, and he was to leave this place. And I can't prove it, but he probably lived in a house in this place and leave his house and began to get all of his stuff together and wander the desert like a nomad looking for the place that God had promised. So God said to Abraham, get out of your country from your family, meaning leave the people you know best, leave the culture you understand the most. And from your father's house, now, father's house here would include your aunts, your uncles, your cousins, your nieces and nephews. One way to confirm whether God wants you out of a relationship is whether that relationship is bringing you closer to God or pulling you away? One of the costliest mistakes you can make in life is paying attention to the wrong people. And he said, I want to take you to a land that I will show you. You see, Jesus said it this way. We must hate our mother and father. Now, hate is a Jewish idiom. It doesn't literally mean to hate. It means to love less than, just like God. Jesus didn't mean cut off your hand if it caused you a problem. He's speaking superlative and idiomatically. But in this, what he's saying is, there should be no relationship in your life more important than God nowadays. You know, back in the past, you know, people put their jobs first and all the rest, but the pendulum swings to extremes. Now, I find people that everything is about family, and they'll miss God, they'll miss church, they'll choose everything not based on what God's saying, but they'll make these decisions based on family. But Jesus said, anything you put in my place is your idol, is your God. And how many of y' all love your children? I love my children, but if I put them in the wrong place, I'm gonna be very disappointed. I'm gonna be very, very disappointed and frustrated. He said, go to a land that I will what? Show you. He was saying, listen, I know you love mom and dad, but you're grown now, and there's some things that. Listen, if making that phone call is going to pull you back into what you used to be into, don't make that phone call. And particularly when it's new now, when it gets a little bit older, you're a little bit older and mature, it's different. But remember what God delivered you for something brand new. I mean, you are free. And you had to draw major lines not to get back into the mess you were in. Now, 10 years later, you don't always need the same lines. You almost feel like you're backsliding to be in some of those places. But the reality is, back then, before God developed you. Listen, if you called her up on the phone, you were not gonna. Okay? You hear what I'm saying? So now you could be friends. Maybe. But the point is, some things, sometimes you have to leave them behind and go to a land that I will show you. The formula was go, and I will show. And often today, the formula remains, go and I will show. How many of you are old enough to remember Michael Jackson's Billie Jean video? Yeah. As he took a step, the ground lit up. And as we dare take steps in the direction of God's word. He adds, the light we need to keep on moving forward. And my prayer today is that this message is the light you need to keep moving forward. Sometimes these messages might go just a little bit over your head. But if you're really in a journey trying to walk with God, what I'm saying today is going to make a lot of sense. But then he said, and I will what make you. God does not want to just give you something. How many of y' all like to receive things? Yeah, I came to faith in the 80s, and at that time, it was the height of what the church calls the Charismatic movement. And one of the key verses at that time was, believe and you shall receive. That's the words of Jesus. There's nothing wrong with those words. But every Sunday, people would go to church to get stuff. And there's a place for God giving us stuff. We need to eat. We need to have homes to raise our children. But God wants not just to give you something. He wants to do more than give you something. He wants to make you into something. He said, I will make you. God's not just trying to build your portfolio, but build you into a person that God can trust, Build you into a person that people can trust. Build you into a person where people can feel safe around you. A person that will help the people around you know truth and know that they're loved. He said, I will make you a great. God's vision for you is not average. Most of us can do average on our own. God wants to make you into something great. And all greatness is is doing little things well. Diane, my executive assistant, she is great. It's the little things she does so well that makes all the difference. Sure, she handles my schedule and makes phone calls and all the rest, but she also plates food. Then she'll disappear to wash the dishes. She sets up rooms even before I enter them. And she reminds me of Valentine's Day a week out, how many y' all need help. Like, it's the small things that make you irreplaceable. We can look at a great masterpiece and enjoy it, but we can forget it's the little strokes that made the painting great, and it's the little choices we make, the little things we do that makes the difference in our lives. He said, and I will make you, even though you came from the other side, into a great nation. The Hebrew word translated great here means large, important, and mighty. And God wants his people to be a community that lives Large does things that are important and significant, that are far reaching and mighty. Now, Grace Church, and it's not my ambition for Grace Church to ever be the largest church in the world, but it can be great. Great is when we do small things well. Great is when our ushers smile at you when you come through the door. Great is when that person next to you shakes your hand and prays for you. Great is the small things we do to make a difference. Great is when someone notices you don't look like your normal self and they put their arm around you and say, hey, is there anything I can do for you? Can I pray for you? Is there anything you need? Do you need someone to talk to? Great is often the small things done well. So he said, I will make you into a great nation. But watch what he says. I will bless you. Now this is really the key. It wasn't Abe's moral or intellectual abilities that made him great, though all of these things grew in time. Please don't mishear me. We need to live right lives, we need to do right things. But also recognize you're in process. Only Jesus was born perfect. The rest of us are in process. So Abraham came to God from the other side of the river. And over time he grew into the father of our faith, the mighty Abraham. But the way he did that was through the blessing of God on his life. You see, my chief gold is not always bigger, better and brighter stuff, but God's blessing on whatever I have. You know, my wife and I had fewer arguments when we lived in our first little apartment in Alexandria. Fewer than we had when we moved into our first two story house. And by the way, that's why we had to move. No, no, it wasn't the house, it was us. But enjoy the little things because one day you realize those are really the big things in life. He said, I will bless you. And that's what I want. Blessing on me where my emotions and my mind and my body are living under the blessing of God. Where there's peace and there's a level of joy that has nothing to do with my circumstances, has little to do with the people in my life. But it's because God has blessed me. And God wants to bless you. He wants to bless your mind, your will, your emotions. He doesn't want you to live in that turmoil. He wants you to have clarity. He wants you to have freedom, physical strength. He wants to bless you and I will bless you and make your name great. We think if we only had more great things, we'd be happy, you know, if I only had a greater spouse. Some people are thinking if I only had a greater self image, a greater set of friends, greater resources, maybe if I only had a bigger job, a bigger house, everything would be fine. But I would rather live in a tent with Abraham with God's blessing than in the mansion without it. Anything, this is so important. Anything without God's blessing becomes a curse. And I want do single. If you are single, do single. God's blessing can be on you as a single and let his blessing just overflow where the married people start second guessing the decisions they made. Whatever your lot in life is, don't just say God bless my, bless me. And you can be blessed apart from blessed circumstances. Because I remember a time reading in the Bible where Paul and Silas were beaten. Their backs were bloody, they were beaten with rods or with sticks. They were run out of town, placed in the center prison where it smelled the worst and they were in stocks. But guess what? At midnight, the other prisoners could hear them praising and worshiping God. Their circumstance were not blessed. It was not a blessing to be beaten, it was not a blessing to be wounded. But they were blessed. And out of the abundance of the heart and the blessing, they knew that was still theirs. Nothing could happen to them that could break them. And we say, lord, I'll be happy when you get my stuff right, get my dollars right, get my job right, get my relationships right. And God's like, I'd rather you and I just get right so you can experience real joy and real peace. And this is a peace the world can't take away when you really get. He said, I will bless you. God wants to bless you and make your name great. Never sacrifice God's long term blessing for any short term benefits or goals. It's never worth it. But watch the next after I put my blessing on you. You shall be a blessing. God does not just bless you for you. He blesses you so you can bless others. I say this all the time. But what did Dr. Miles used to say? He said, if you don't know the purpose of a thing, you'll abuse it. And the example he used is he was somewhere in South Africa, I don't know. He was out there in the bush and he saw a television screen from a television and it was in the dirt and people were using it as a mirror. They had no idea the purpose of the television so they were using it as a reflection. If you don't know the purpose of a thing, you're bound to abuse it. God's blessing on our lives is not so we could get all puffed up and souped up and all the rest, but so we can lift others up and use that blessing. You hear what I'm saying? To add value to other people's lives. You know, a good person may receive a blessing. A righteous person will receive and can receive a blessing. But a great person becomes blessing. And what you want to do is become a blessing. Don't just come to church to get. Come to church to be. I want to add value to the room. I'm going to add my praise to their praise. Watch how God shows up. I'm going to pull on the bishop that he might speak clearly and break anointing. I mean, the anointing would break the yokes and set men free. I'm not just sitting there for mine. I'm praying for the person on my right and left that they get theirs and watch what God will do for you. And he says, and I will bless those who have become a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. As long as Abraham walked with the Lord, when people blessed him, by effect, they were blessing God. You say, I don't get that. Well, Jesus said it this way. He said, inasmuch, you did it to one of the least of these, you've done it to me. And the thing is, God has no needs. So I can't reach out to him and bless him. But I can't bless you. Every Sunday. What I try to do from behind this pulpit is preach a word to you as if you were Jesus with a problem, as if you were Jesus with a need. Because ultimately, as I bless you, I'm blessing him. You know, when my children were young and a neighbor would do something nice for them, I had to go over and say thank you. They didn't do it for me, but when they did it for the least of these that were connected to me, you hear what I'm saying? But then he continues, and I will curse those who curse you. God will not only bless you, he will protect you. When people attack you for doing the right thing, they're ultimately attacking God. And what I've learned is leave it in God's hands. He knows where everyone lives. He will address it in due time. But watch this. And this is the whole purpose of this, this morning. And in you, God does want to do things for you. Do not think I'm saying he doesn't want to do things for I love my wife. I want to do things for her. But With God, he doesn't just want to do things for you, he ultimately wants to do things in you. And when you catch that, there's a joy and a peace that comes. Because it's not always about the stuff you have or what you don't have. It's about the fact I'm a better man than I was 10 years ago. I'm a better father than I was six months ago. I'm a better husband, you're a better wife. You know, I'm a better uncle. I'm a better person because of the things God has done in me. And you know, all that other stuff will pass away, but the stuff God does in you is the stuff that makes a difference and God will ultimately reward. And he said in you in that busted up joker from the other side, the dude that lied twice about his wife. And like I said, I wonder what was going on in his head when he let his wife become part of somebody else's harem. Cause I'm like, you got to kill me before. You know, I don't understand what was going on in his thinking. And what was going on in her thinking when she was like, take my maidservant Hagar, have a baby and we gonna all be alright. But in this joker, God said, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Despite his mistakes, God wanted to use him to be a blessing that will have a ripple effect across time and space. Despite your mistakes, God wants to use you to be a ripple effect to impact things across time and space. You know, even today as you listen to my, my message, my prayer is your life gets just a little bit better. And because that little bit of wisdom, you parents is a little bit better. Because that little bit of wisdom, you're that much better as a friend because of just a little bit more scripture, you're just a little bit more closer to God. And because you were that better friend, because you were that better parent, guess what? Your kids turned out just a little bit better. And your friends turned out just a little bit more safe when they were in your presence. And we're always looking for this big revival. How about getting back to some of the small things that can have a ripple effect? You understand what I'm saying? The small things you see one of the people that get saved in this place, no, there's not 100 at the altar every Sunday. But in some of these people that come to this altar are churches. Some of them are evangelists, some of them are going to run corporate. They might even be the Next president of the United. I don't know. But their mom and dad dragged into church and they had to listen to me preach. And then one day they're making a major decision. I'm dead and gone. And they remember the voice of their bishop. You hear what I'm saying? Speaking the word of God. And it affects not only the nation, but the world. And in you, trifling you, I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to your neighbor. But trifling you, There's hope. A man who had a messed up family, Abraham, he thought he was slick. If you break, he thought he was slick. And God spent years trying to get some of that slickness out of him. But there was still, it might have been in him genetically because Jacob really picked it up, because Jacob's name was Trickster or, or Slickster, because he had that same gene going on and God had to deliver him. But the point I'm trying to make is despite their issues, all the families of the earth were blessed. What you do in life matters because you can make people's lives better out of this man. My simple point today, who failed over and over, over again. But at least he failed moving forward, it's really important. You know, on the football field, you get tackled, but you get back in the huddle. You get up and even if you lose some ground, you get back in that huddle and you go at it again. And Abraham had the guts to stay at it even though he wasn't perfect, even though at times he failed. And you know, we will disappoint other people, but it's worse when we disappoint ourselves. But despite all of that, this man that failed over and over again, and on top of that, this 90 year old barren woman. From these two came the prophets. From these two came the scriptures. From these two came the Messiah. Don't tell me what God can't do with a person who won't quit when they fail. Don't tell me what God can't do with someone who's willing to fail until they succeed. The issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again. The issue is, do you get back up now? Listen, don't mishear me. We don't make mistakes on purpose. But I make enough mistakes by accident. And the reality is there's only one man born perfect. Jesus the Christ. And last I looked in the mirror, I'm not him. I'm becoming more like him. My spirit's completely redeemed and my spirit looks like Jesus, but my soul's in process. The rest of me is still learning and growing. And the reality is if God could use this man messed up family, he had to send a kid off. Matter of fact, the way he sent off Hagar was kind of rude. It was just not nice. Sent her off with just a little bit of water and actually the boy fell down and thought he was going to die because his dad kicked him out. I mean, that's serious stuff. But God used that man to bless all the families of the earth. And how did Abraham bless all the families of the earth? Partly through this story, but mainly through the Messiah. And the point I'm making is God can still do stuff through you. God's plan can still come to pass in your life if you would just get up, stay at it, don't quit just because you fell short and you messed up. Does anyone hear what I'm saying today? Well, good. Give God a hallelujah and and I'm done. Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember, you have what it takes in Christ to live big. We also invite you to partner with Derek Greer Ministries in bringing the life changing and impactful teachings of God's Word to the world. Get started by visiting Derekrer.com by clicking the link in the description.