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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.
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Today we're gonna continue our series, God Wants to Bless yous and those of you who are with us for the first time. I'm gonna lay a foundation, as always, and then we're gonna get to our focus. So open your Bibles or your phone or whatever. Just follow the screens. We're gonna be in 24 and verse one. And normally we go backwards before we go forward, so that's what we're going to do. Verse 1. Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. This was the place that God told Abraham that he would give the promised land to his offspring. And this was also the place that Abraham built his first altar in the land. So Joshua called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, their officers. There's organization in God's camp. God did it that way back then and he does it now. And they presented themselves before the Lord. Now, this was Joshua's last speech before his death. And it was an opportunity for God's people to renew their covenant with their Lord. But they would only do that after Joshua reminded them for about eight verses where they came from and where the Lord had brought them through. He reminded them of how God helped them defeat the Amorites, the Hivites, the Hittites, the Moabites, the Perizzites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites. How many have ever faced some ites in your life? Yeah, I feel lonely. Ites the Lord, help me not kill my children or my spouse. Ites the doctor said I'll never get better. Ites that I can't pay my bills. Ites that I don't. Lord, don't make me lose my mind up in here. Ites y'all listen to the radio too. And Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord God of Israel. Now, we don't usually think of Joshua as a prophet, but he was. And one of the most important things that any really leader can do is hear from God. But in this next verse, I want you to notice how the Holy Spirit moved Joshua to tell Abraham's story. And in effect, God was saying to his people, no matter where life takes you, never forget where you came from. So Joshua said, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river in the old times. He reminded them that life had not always been as it had become. Yes, they had made it to the suburbs. Three bedrooms, two baths, two cars, better schools. But he cautioned them to remember that they too came from the other side of the tracks. You see, I can't speak for you, but I certainly can for me. Almost everything God has had for me in my life lived on the other side of some fear. And the only way I could get to it was through pressing through some stuff. Anyone in this room other than me have to press through some stuff? Yeah, in their life. But watch the next clause. And they served other gods. So what we see is Abraham came from an idol worshiping family. He didn't start with a spiritual silver spoon in his mouth. So when Israel came into the promised land, as humans they had this temptation over time to start looking down on other nations. But Joshua, very aware and he's about to go on to glory. He's like, slow your roll. I want to remind you of the time before you had your teeth fixed. I want to warn you of that period before you got your degree, before you got your certificate, before you owned that business, before you got that job, before you could walk into a room with red bottom shoes. I'm paying attention. Deuteronomy 7:7 tells us more. It says, the Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people. It wasn't because you were more, for you were the least of all people. So the Lord didn't set his affection on Israel because it was strong and mighty. The fact is they really had nothing going for them. You see, God's not looking for the strongest. He's not looking for the best looking, tallest, the most powerful, the bravest. He's just looking for the surrendered. Joshua 24 and 23. Then I took your father from the other side of the Euphrates River. How many of us like Abraham came from the other side? And how many like Abraham still deal with some other side like tendencies? Yeah, you see, you could take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy. You see, Abraham was God's man, but he lied twice to Sarah or about Sarah being his wife, resulting in other men actually attempting to take her. Then both he and Sarah, who by the way, she was also from the other side, they got tired of waiting on God. How many of you get tired sometimes? Yeah. And this great man of faith decided that he should sleep with another woman. Talk about entanglements. Entanglements. Entanglements. You see, everybody has a past, everybody has an ex. Everybody has some things in their life that they regret. But give old Abe a few chapters. By Genesis 22, his devotion and his passion to God was unequaled. You see, you can't judge people by the chapter of their story you happen to walk in on, because God may not be finished with them just yet. And this was the case with Abraham, and it very well may be the case with you. Thus says the Lord, I took your father Abram or Abraham from the other side of the river. God will meet you wherever you are, to take you wherever you need to go. That's the type of God he is. Then it says, and led him throughout the land of Canaan. God almost never leads people in a straight line because the journey is not just about getting to the destination, but building the character you will need to stay there when you get there. And he continues as he tells this story and multiplied Abraham's descendants and. And gave him. Watch this, Isaac. Abraham's situation was so frail, he couldn't even have a baby without a miracle. So God had to give him Isaac. What I want you to see here is as great as Abraham became. He started at the bottom. And like anyone else, he made mistakes along the way. I think some nights he'd wake up and he'd look at Sarah and he'd say, I may not be where I want to be, but at least I'm not where I used to be. But out of all the people of the earth that God could have chosen, he chose this man to be both Israel's and our father. Romans 4, 11 digs in. We're going to do this really quick. And Abraham received the sign of circumcision. Something first, though, happened on the inside before anything showed up on the outside. A seal of righteousness of faith, which he had, while still circumcised, that he might be the what? Father. Father. Father. The Greek word for father used here is patir or pat, or however you want to say it. And it's a little complicated. And I'm not going to get all deep here. And the ink is usually good enough. But this has helped me. This word patir was borrowed in the Latin, and then out of that word came the English word pattern. So whenever I see the word father in the Bible, I remember this word patter, and I think of the word pattern. And this definition has guided me as a dad over the years because it helped me understand that one of my Chief roles as a father is to watch my children's patterns. So watch behavior because you know it's going somewhere. But secondly, to display healthy patterns of my own. Why? Because kids don't do what you say. They do as they see or they do as you do, so that he, Abraham, might be the father. Watch this. Or pattern. Watch this. Of all that's you and me, those who believe, though they may be uncircumcised Gentile, that righteousness might be imputed to them. Real risk. But let's move on. My big point here from this scripture is Abraham was not only a pattern to the Jewish people, but he was a pattern for you and for me, the Gentiles. Genesis 12, verse 1. And I think you're ready. And we could dig in. Now, the Lord had said to Abram, we have enough background now to know that Abraham was as flawed as the rest of us or most of us. But the difference between him and many of us in this room, in live streaming is that when God spoke to his heart, he listened. And whenever you hear God's word, you have two choices, two options. Make progress or make excuses. And I've learned in my life, if you become too good at making excuses, you're never going to make any progress. Yeah, you. Yep, yep, yep, yep. That hurt a little bit, but it'll help. So the Lord said, abram, get out of your country. Now. All God asks of us, typically, at least at the outset today, is for us to ask him for mercy. Trust in what Christ accomplished at the cross. And a day like today, you know, perhaps come forward out of your seat, pray a prayer, pray it from your heart. Trust and believe. But what I want you to understand is Abraham didn't just leave his seat, but Abraham was asked to leave the great Mesopotamia, the birthplace of civilization. Abraham was asked to leave the place where they discovered the wheel. He had to leave the land where they discovered irrigation, started walled cities. The first nation states came out of this area in which Abram Abraham lived. Abraham. You know, people try to act like the ancients were ignorant and they weren't very sophisticated. But Abraham was no country bumpkin. He was exposed to the most prosperous, the most sophisticated culture of his particular time. Abraham experienced city life. He knew literature, mathematics, astronomy. And for Abraham, on the other side of the river, life was. But God said, get out of the country. And then he adds, from your family, not only leave your country, but I want you to leave the people you know best. Leave the people that you're most connected to, most comfortable with those who love you the most. And then it's like if you didn't understand it, let me say it another way. And from your father's house, not only your immediate family, but also your cousins, your aunties, your uncles. You see, at times, God has to even get you away from good people who happen to have bad influence. You see, one of the costliest mistakes you can make in life is to pay attention to the wrong people say, listen, I gotta do something new with you, and you can't take the old with you. So leave all that and go to a land that I will show you. So the pattern that God begins with Abraham is the same pattern he wants you and I to follow today. And basically what he was saying is, abraham, if you go, I will show. And God said to Abraham, son, I will. And this is important. God doesn't want to just give you. He wants to make you into something. Last week, we ended our message. We were talking about, you know, when the disciples caught that great ketch of fish that, you know, the boats were sinking and all the rest and Jesus used as an illustration. And, you know, the market was flooded and everybody had fish in the community. And of course, Peter sold that, and he was set, his family was set for him to go into ministry. We talked about that. But Jesus, Jesus, after he did that natural thing, he said, listen, let's use the natural to explain what I really want to do, meaning that the natural blessings in your life are just instruments and tools pointing to something else. So he said, I want to make you. He said, follow me and I will what make you. He gave them fish, but the real blessing is I want to make you. Okay, you follow fist and man. So he said, I will what make you into a what great nation? So God doesn't want to just give you, he wants to what, make you. God's vision for your life is not just to keep you or make you average. Most of us are doing that pretty good on our own. God wants to make you and everyone connected to you great. You see, greatness doesn't just come from the opportunities we get in life, but the small habits that make those opportunities possible. He said, abraham, I will make you a great nation. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob never wants to bless us in isolation. He wants to bless you in a way that impacts your children, your children's children, your Abraham, your Isaac, your Jacob. If he said it today, it might be, well, I want to bless you, Johnny, but I also want to bless your daughter Sally. And then I want to bless your grandchildren. God wants to bless everything that comes out of us. You understand what I'm saying? But that blessing comes after the molding and the making. He said, I will bless you. This is key. It wasn't Abraham. The reason I said all that I said today wasn't his intellectual or his moral abilities that made him great. Though all that grew in time, what really made Abraham great was the blessing of God on his life. You could take everything I have, but if I don't lose my blessing, I will get everything back stronger and better. And that's why you gotta guard against being bitter and not forgiving people and letting stuff go. Because you know what, you know, as bad as what you did is and all that, I am not gonna let what you did take the blessing and favor of God all my life. And you gotta hold on to that blessing. And you sometimes gotta fight the good fight to keep your heart sweet in the midst of the things we face. I will bless you and make your name great. And what he's saying is, if you bring honor to my name, I'll bring honor to your name. And he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's the same God. What he did for Abraham, he'll do for you. God wants to make each of us such a good steward of the blessings that he has placed in our lives that people will hear about it, will start getting a reputation, and then people will come for advice. And they look at you and say, I know your husband. How'd you keep that marriage together? Yeah, Yeah. I remembered your children back when. How'd you raise them to be such upstanding citizens and people? I know what life is. How did you live single for the last 30 years and still keep it holy? Not a lot of clapping there, right? We're all in process, but we do have a goal. But why does he do that? So when they come to us and say, how did you do it? Let me point you to the Book of Proverbs. Let me tell you what God promised me in Ephesians. And it's been the wisdom and the power of God that put me in the position I'm in today. And you shall be blessing. God doesn't just want us to be recipients of blessing, but channels of Blessing. My pastor, Dr. Miles Monroe, used to always say, if you don't know the purpose of a thing, you will abuse it. And for that reason, when some people get blessed, all I can do is shake my head because I know what they're about. To do. You see, a good man may receive a blessing, but a great man or woman becomes a blessing. And God wants to make you a blessing. And then he continues. He said, I will bless those who bless you. He's saying, abe, if you would just trust me, obey me, I'll make the people in your life want to bless you. I'll make the people in your life want to be on your team. People are going to love you just because of the results that they're getting for being rightly connected with you. But God didn't stop there. Then he continues on. He said, and I will curse him. Is that what it said? Oh, yeah. Okay. That's the Bible. And I will curse him who curses you. So God will not only bless you, but he will protect you in the place of blessing. How many of y'all remember celie? Speaking of Mr. In the Color Purple, until you do right by me, everything you think about is gonna crumble. Knife in her hand and everything. I'm reading this from the Old Testament, but the New Testament calls it sowing and reaping. In India, this principle is called karma. In the Middle east is kismet. Grandma called it comeuppance. Y'all have the same grandma. And on the block, we would say, while rocking, what comes around, goes around. Play if you want to, but watch this. And he said, abraham, and in you, God wants to do something in you, even you, all the families, the earth shall be blessed. You see, Israel came out of Abraham in Sarah's womb. And through that union, God gave us the prophets, God gave us the scriptures. But the biggest thing God gave us is through that line would come the Messiah. And in you, Abraham, all the families, not just the Jewish family, not just the Arabic family, but all the. The Johnson family, the Smith family, every family, all the families, the Greer family of the earth shall be blessed. You see, I want to just flip your theology a little bit. A lot of y'all act like God wants to take something from you, so you're running from him. But Jesus didn't come to condemn the world. We were already condemned. We were doing bad all by ourselves. He came to save the world and to bless the world. When you run from God, you're running from your blessing. You hear what I'm saying? You're running from your purpose, your destiny, and the best thing that God could ever plan for you. He didn't come to condemn the world. But let me read it one more time. And in you, speaking of Jesus and in Christ, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And what God was saying is even before Jesus appeared out of the womb of Mary and you know, the Word became flesh and all that, he's saying, there's room at the cross for everyone. I don't care what you look like, don't care where you came from. Jesus says come because God wants to do in you what only God can do. Thank God for what education can do. Thank God what a makeover, a facial, and maybe even a raise can do. But can't nobody do me like Jesus.
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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.