March 2, 2025, Message by P. Kevin Clancey
Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And besides you, I desire nothing on earth. My heart and my flesh may fail, but God, you’re the strength of my life and my portion forever.
We do proclaim it. Jesus Christ is Lord. He is God. He is risen, he is King, he is Savior. All to the glory of God, the Father Almighty. We thank you for your indwelling spirit that takes us to that place. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Hey, guys, we’re going to study the Bible. Romans, the famous book of Romans. Paul’s statement. Paul finally sat down. Most of Paul’s letters were written in response to a certain situation.
Whether it was to the Galatians or Corinthians, the church at Corinth, he was always addressing a situation. With pastoral insight, theology emerges. Paul’s understanding of God and Paul’s understanding of salvation and the history of Israel and their purpose.
But in Romans, he sits down, and his point is a letter of introduction to the church in Rome and basically saying, all right, we’ve got this new emerging movement. Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead.
We’ve got Gentiles now believing that he is the Jewish Messiah and Jews believing he’s the Jewish Messiah. And there’s a lot of confusion about what does that mean and how is it just that we are made right with God, if not by specifically being a Jew?
And so he addresses, in chapters one through three, he really addresses this point. And basically the point he’s made is that all have sinned in Romans 3:23 and fall short of the glory of God. There’s no difference, Jew and Gentile.
We all stand in the same place of need before God. And Jesus Christ is the answer to that need. And it’s by faith in Jesus Christ that we are made righteous before God.
In chapter four, Paul wants to make the point that faith was always God’s way. It was never an obedience to the law that earned you a right standing before God. Obedience to the law, as important as that is, was always meant to be the response of faith.
And it’s always been that people have been made right with God through faith, not through works of the law. And he shows that with his favorite Old Testament figure, and that’s Abraham. Paul writes a whole chapter about Abraham in Romans.
Obviously, when it was written, he didn’t see it as a chapter, but a whole section about Abraham in Romans. He does the same thing in Galatians. He takes Abraham as his example to show the Jews that God has always operated through faith. It hasn’t changed.
What’s changed is what was vague and foggy and hoped for in the Old Testament has now become clear and concrete and historical through Jesus of Nazareth. The object of our faith in the Old Testament, Yahweh and his plan for a Messiah, now has become clear through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
But even in the Old Testament, it was faith in the promise not yet received, whereas in the New Testament, it is faith in the promise revealed in Jesus. And so here Paul starts in Romans 4. I’m going to read the whole chapter to you.
What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.
Now, to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But the one who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.
Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness, apart from works. He says, blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.
Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. In what way then was it credited? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised.
And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also.
He became the father of the circumcised who are not only circumcised, but also he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but also follow in his footsteps of the faith, our Father Abraham, and had while he was still uncircumcised.
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise is nullified because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace to guarantee it to all the descendants, not only to the one who is of the law, but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all.
As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of God, in whom he believed. The one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. He believed, hoping against hope.
So he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken, so will your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead, since he was about 100 years old, and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.
Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him, who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
1 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. 4 Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness. 6 Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.
9 Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. 10 In what way, then, was it credited while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. 12 And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise nullified, 15 because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. 16 This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed,the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.
18 He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. 22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:1-25, CSB)
O Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer. And may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB)
Abraham is the father of the Hebrew nation, and he is the father of the faith. He is the first called by God, set apart by God. And he was given two incredible promises. The promises Abraham was given, both impossible, were that he would be the father of many descendants, more descendants than you could count, and that God would give him a land, not the land he was living in.
God comes to him and says, Abram, leave the land you’re in. Leave your comfort. Leave your secure retirement. All right. Those young people in here, I got to tell you, the older you get, the more addicted you get to comfort. The more you get to like things the way they are.
The more you don’t like change, you know, the more it’s like an adventure. I don’t know. It’s an adventure enough, you know, brushing my teeth these days. And so Abraham’s an old man. And God says, pack up. Leave your comfortable retirement in the Ur of the Chaldeans.
And go where? To a land. I’ll show you. Go somewhere, a strange land filled with strange people, perhaps hostile people back in those days, just like nowadays. People don’t like strange people coming into their land. They don’t know if they’re going to be a friend or a foe.
They’re suspicious. It’s dangerous. But he says, if you do this, if you believe me, I’ll give you incredible promises. I will bless you. Now, let me tell you something. When you sneeze and somebody says, God bless you, that’s a wonderful thing.
And what makes it wonderful is they’re saying, God bless you. You see, if Isaiah. If I sneezed and Isaiah said, Isaiah, bless you, I would say, well, that’s nice. But, you know, what do you got to offer, Isaiah? What blessings are you going to bestow upon me? I mean, I like your friendship.
I like your humor. I like your wit. I like your intelligence. I like all those things. you’re a blessing. But I don’t know if you’re a big enough blessing to leave my retirement and go someplace else.
It’s like, Kevin, move to North Dakota and I’ll still be your friend. Yeah, I’ll stick it out here, Isaiah. But God says, I’ll bless you. And Abraham believes that must be something. Then it grows. I’ll bless those who bless you. My blessing will be so big, it will spread out to all who bless you and those who curse you.
Your enemies I will set myself against, and I will curse. I will make your name great. Is Abraham’s name great? Three major theistic religions in the world all point back to the same starter: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.
Well, Abraham, we all go. Father Abraham, Father Abraham, I will make your name great. And then the biggest promise, God’s not one for small promises. Have you noticed? God’s not one for small promises. He makes these big promises. All the nations of the earth will be blessed through you.
In our day and age, we are close to the first generation to see that fulfilled. Literally. I mean, the Name of Jesus, the name of God, this one God has nearly reached all the nations of the earth.
And then nobody reads Genesis 12:4. But it’s my favorite, one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, this great promise, this overwhelming promise. But it starts with this, Abraham leave or Abraham go. Then Genesis 12:4. So he went. I love that verse. Okay, that is so cool. That is so cool. And Abraham went.
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. (Genesis 12:4, CSB)
And then Paul says this is why it was credited to him as righteousness, because he believed God. He only went because he believed that. Listen, if you didn’t believe that promise, you wouldn’t go. That’s the evidence of faith.
In other words, his leaving does not earn the promise. The promise was given. His leaving is the step it takes to receive the promise. It’s the step of faith. Everything hinges on that. And that’s what Paul writes. He says, if you do a job and think somebody is in your debt, then they owe you.
If you go to work and they say, I’m going to pay you this much an hour, and you work that many hours, and then the end of the week comes and you can’t collect your wages, that’s a crime. That’s wrong. You earned that.
But if somebody says, come on over to my house and I’m going to give you a million dollars, you didn’t earn that by going to their house. You just believed that they were telling the truth. And you showed up and they gave it to you and you received it. That’s faith.
Faith is you believe the promise and then you act on it. You don’t act on it to earn it. You act on it to step into it. You act on it to step into it.
David says that he was given something that he did not earn. Forgiveness. A man after God’s own heart, and yet a murderer and an adulterer. And yet he says, blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.
7 Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin. (Romans 4:7-8, CSB)
And so both Abraham and David are made right not by works, but by faith. And Paul is showing here that God is consistent in the Old Testament. There’s a theology out there that says that there’s two different, there’s an Old Testament salvation and New Testament salvation.
You’re saved in the Old Testament by obedience to the law, obedience to the sacrificial system, by fulfilling everything written in the Deuteronomy covenant. But Paul comes along and says, no, it’s always been by faith. The whole point of the law was not so you could earn God’s favor.
The whole point of the law is God had already given you his favor. He’d already delivered you from the land of Egypt. He had. He was bringing you into the promised land where he was going to deliver you from the enemies that were in the promised land.
And therefore, because God had done all this, here’s how you respond in covenant love and in faithfulness to that God. You didn’t initiate it, you didn’t earn it. You received it and responded to it. It’s always been that way with God.
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. God justifies the ungodly. Why does God justify the ungodly? Because if God’s going to have any eternal family, he’s got to justify the ungodly. Paul’s already made that clear. All have sinned. All are ungodly.
There is none who have righteousness. There’s none who by their works, by their obedience, by their goodness, by their purity, stand before God unblemished and holy. We are all ungodly. Are there some who are maybe less ungodly than others? Yes, But God doesn’t grade on the curve.
All right, everybody got an F? Some just got a bigger F. And big deal with that, right? Well, I got a 59 on the test. I got a 53. Well, hey, my F’s better than your F. Doesn’t matter. The guy with the 53 and the guy with the 59 both need the hundred that Jesus brings.
And God justifies the ungodly. As I said, he believed God, so he left his home. He trusted God for Isaac. Listen, we get a promise from God and it doesn’t happen in a week. We give up. 25 years.
He trusted for Isaac. Now Paul says his faith didn’t waver. Yeah, I’m not going to argue with the Bible too much, but he did the Hagar thing, right? His wife’s like, here, see that cute little slave girl I have? Go have intercourse with her and make a baby with her, Abraham. And then Sarah got jealous, mad, and angry about it. All right?
And I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again just to the men in the room. If your wife ever says to you, you see that cute little girl? See that cute little 20 year old over there? Go ahead and have sex with her and make a baby with her. It won’t bother me at all. It’s a trap. She doesn’t mean it. Don’t do it.
Didn’t work for Abraham. Did not work. All right. He wavered a little. Twice. He gave her away. You know, that’s something you don’t see in the movies. Do anything you want to the girl, but leave me alone. There’s a hero for you. I love the fact that biblical heroes are flawed. I love that they’re flawed.
When I first started reading the Bible, I thought the biblical heroes would be, you know, super spiritual people. And one of the most encouraging things that I discovered when I read the Bible is the biblical heroes are people like me.
They’re people whose courage fails at times, who doubt at times, but God. But Paul says his faith didn’t waver. What does that mean? He never quit. He never said, this isn’t going to work. And he went back to the Ur of the Chaldeans.
I’m going back, see if my retirement villa on the river is still in good shape. He cast his lot with the promises of Yahweh and he lived the rest of his life pursuing that promise. He waited for Isaac. He left the land.
And then, I’ll tell you, here’s where his faith shines. He was willing to kill Isaac, believing that God’s promise was so sure that he would raise him from the dead. David trusted God. David trusted that even though he sinned, all was not lost in his relationship with God. And he received profound forgiveness for his sins.
And then both David and Abraham, two very flawed men who trusted God and believed God, received two great covenants.
18 Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. (Genesis 18:18, CSB)
Abraham received the covenant we already talked about, that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through his faith. And David received the covenant that there would be a king on his throne forever and ever. An eternal messianic king who would bring, just like Abraham’s promise, would bring God’s blessing to the world.
God can bless a flawed man. God can bless a flawed woman. But his blessing flows through people of faith. Abraham was not made right by religious ritual circumcision. That’s not where he got his righteousness. So said Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteous. And he believed God before he was circumcised.
Righteousness by faith is for the circumcised, the Jew, and for the uncircumcised, the Gentile. Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. Therefore, he is considered the father of the Jews. And Paul declares him the father of the Gentiles. He is the father of all who have faith.
All who have faith are included in this covenant, are included in the righteousness of God. That comes by faith. Abraham received the promise by faith, not by the law. God promised Abraham. God gave Abraham. He gave Abraham descendants before the law was ever given.
He promised him descendants. He had descendants. He lived in the land and was partially inheriting the land before Israel went down to Egypt, but then came back into the land. His people came back into the land. Two million strong. He had descendants in a land.
Joshua says that the promise to Abraham was fulfilled in his generation. The promise of descendants and a land was fulfilled. And Abraham believed before he saw it. He believed to a land. I will show you.
1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1, CSB)
Hadn’t seen the land. He was married to a woman, and they’ve been trying to have kids for years and years and years. Can’t have kids now, past the age of childbearing.
11 Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. (Genesis 18:11, CSB)
You know, I’ve done. For years, I’ve preached this in church, and I’ve always said, women, Wouldn’t that be exciting if God gave you a child after menopause? And none of them have said, yes. They’ve all said, no, it’s all right. Give me grandchildren. At this point, fair enough. But it’s a huge blessing to Abraham and Sarah.
God promised Abraham. He gave Abraham, but Abraham believed before he received it. That’s what faith is. You believe it before you receive it. You believe it before it’s manifest. It’s not faith if you see it already. Right. I have strong faith that Steven’s here tonight. I also have faith that this room is filled with angels. One of those is real faith. The other one is not.
I see Steven. Steven’s so faithful. In fact, Steven’s the one person I would believe he was here even if he wasn’t here. He’s so faithful. Jamie, she’s kind of flighty. She’s here and there and everywhere, but. All right.
Grace gives, faith receives. Grace gives, faith receives. God is the God of grace. And he makes promises and he backs his promises. And faith is the mechanism that we step into those promises. Faith is how we receive those promises.
If somebody was going to give you an inheritance, and they said, you know, you have to go down to the lawyer’s office and sign these papers to receive your inheritance, and then the money will be transferred into your account, that’s faith.
Faith said, yeah, I believe that this is true. This is all legal. This is how it was set up. This is how that inheritance was set up. And now all I have to do is go down and sign the paper. Well, those papers, that’s a work. That’s not a work.
That’s simply responding to the promise. The work would have been earning those millions of dollars that your daddy earned or your aunt or uncle earned that’s coming into your account. Grace gives. God gives. God gives promises. God gives hope. God gives a future. God gives forgiveness. God gives salvation.
How do we appropriate it? By faith? How do we reject it? By unbelief. Listen, not every gift is received. People send gifts back. People don’t open gifts. People don’t use gifts. But that doesn’t nullify grace. It’s not given by the law. Grace makes promises and leads you.
The law demands and condemns you. The law demands and condemns you. And then when we stand under the law, when we disobey, we’re punished. We’re not forgiven, we receive wrath. Listen, the law was not given to us to make us righteous.
The law was given to us to reveal the heart of God and to show us our need for God. The law is not bad for what it was purposed for. It just doesn’t work outward. Stone doesn’t change a heart of stone. But the promise of God, the presence of God, the Spirit of God, when believed upon, gives us a heart of flesh and we change.
So Abraham was justified by faith. He believed before he saw. He believed in God’s power and that God was able to do what he promised. He believed in God’s faithfulness and that he would do what he promised.
Two parts to this, right? Some people believe in God’s power. God can do it. I just don’t know if it’s his will. They don’t know if he’s willing to do it.
That’s the man, that’s the leper who comes to Jesus, right? If you are willing. That’s his question. His question is, will you do it? He believes in the power, right? He has half faith. His half faith is, if you are willing, you can make me clean.
2 Right away a man with leprosy came up and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” (Matthew 8:2, CSB)
I know you can do it. I love Jesus’ answer. The Bible says Jesus, filled with compassion, reached out and touched a leper. Touched a leper and said, I am willing. And when Jesus said, I am willing, what’s he also saying? My Father in heaven is willing.
I think sometimes in the church today, our lack of faith is in one of those two areas. We’re not sure God can do it sometimes. And other times, I’m not sure God will do it. I stopped praying for years ago. I stopped praying when I pray for people, for healing.
I stopped praying. If it be your will, God. I know a lot of people think that’s the right way to pray because they’re not sure if God wants to heal or not. I’m just going on the assumption, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10, CSB)
I’m real sure that God’s will in heaven is that sickness, cancer, diabetes, disease, blindness, none of those things exist in heaven. It’d be a bummer if they did. I just. I don’t know any Christian who has that view of heaven.
It’s like, you know, well, you know, 10,000 years, that back’s not going to get much better, Kev. It’s like, oh, my gosh, 66 years. I’m already tilted over 10,000 years. No, I believe the minute that resurrection body comes, there’s no aches or pains. There’s no need for glasses. I still might wear them just as a fashion statement, because to look smart. I’ve always loved this move. I don’t want to lose that move. That’s a good move right there.
Alright? Somebody asks you a difficult question, just do this. And immediately they’ll think, huh, that’s a thoughtful person. That got me ordained with the Methodist Church. They’d ask me hard questions. I said, huh, good question. It’s a winning move right there. So I might.
If you see me with glasses in heaven, you could say, Kevin, why are you wearing glasses in heaven? And I’ll go, that’s a good question. But I won’t need them. I won’t need them. So I stopped praying. I stopped praying. If it be thy will. I don’t understand the mystery of why some get healed and some don’t. I just believe God is able, and I believe God is willing. And I just go with that and we’ll see what happens.
We had a lady in Bremerton last week who came in with walking pneumonia, and she was forking up a lung, man. She was saying, I’m not contagious, don’t worry, I’m not contagious. She was coughing and stuff.
Finally, after church, we were just talking to some people, and she was just coughing. I just turned to her and said, I pray Psalm 3:3 over you. You know, thou, Lord, be a shield about me, be my glory and the lifter of my head. And I pray that cough would go. Other people were around praying.
We pray that congestion will go. She came to church today, and it was one of those times. This happens. Doesn’t happen all the time. It shouldn’t happen all the time. Doesn’t happen all the time. But she came to church today, and she said, guess what happened.
She said, I stopped coughing when you guys prayed, and I haven’t coughed since. Got better. We got one. We got one. You know, it’s always the ones I’m not. It’s, you know, the ones that’s like, boy, I really want to see this one.
And I press in, and stuff like that didn’t happen. And then the ones that kind of like what Eleanor Mumford was talking about, she was giving this speaking at this conference. She said, I was just exhausted, and I was ready to go. And I’m trying to get out to my plane.
This lady comes up to me, and I’m walking out the door. It’s like, come on, you know, get somebody else to pray for you. I’m leaving. I got to catch a plane. But this lady said, you know, I got tumors in my stomach.
And she said, I should have been more compassionate. But, you know, it’s like there’s a whole team up there praying for people. Go up to them. And she says, I just reached out my hand and said, be healed in Jesus’ Name, and shot out the door.
Three months later, a lady comes over. All the tumors disappeared. It’s like I’m going to start praying less caring. I think that maybe that’s the key. I get better. I don’t care if you get better or worse, but I get better, all right? I don’t think that’s the key. Jesus filled with compassion. I think compassion has something to do with it.
Well, Abraham’s faith is for us. It’s not just for us, because he begins the lineage that brings the Savior into the world, who will bless all nations. But it’s a model for us. It’s a model for us.
Abraham believed he’d get descendants. Abraham believed he’d get a land. What do we believe? Jesus was delivered for our trespasses. We believe our sins will be forgiven. We believe our sins are forgiven. He was raised for our justification.
We believe we have been made right with God through what Jesus Christ, his life, death, and resurrection has done. We believe in more than that not mentioned in this passage. We believe that he has put his spirit, his very life in us, and that life grows in us.
Just like sin in the past grew in us and got worse and worse and worse, now his life is growing in us, and it’s killing that sin, it’s destroying that sin, and it’s growing in us, the character of Christ.
And as we walk in relationship with him through faith, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, these things start to grow in our lives. I had a man today, and he was praying.
He said, you know, I’m still trying to get rid of my triggers. He says, and I’ve prayed for him in the past, you know, some kind of inner healing, prayers and stuff. He says, and I’ve got rid of some and I’ve gotten better, but I’m not there yet. I still need to get better.
And I said, you know, here’s the deal. That passionate desire in you to be more Christlike and to get rid of those triggers, that is actually a sure sign. What? That the Holy Spirit is living in you. That’s a sure sign that the Holy Spirit is living in you.
I bet everybody in this room wants to be a better person. Right? You want to be a better person. That’s a sure sign that God’s living in you, that you’re not content with. Well, I’m better than so and so. That’s a lost person. That’s the Pharisee. I’m glad I’m not like him.
But the saved person is. I don’t know how good he is or that doesn’t matter. Lord, I want to be more like you. If you want to be more like Jesus, chances are real good you’re going to be. Isn’t that good news? That’s great news. God will perfect the work he has begun in us.
I mean, I don’t know how it’s going to happen, Iko, but you’re going to get even better. Like, you know, the women in this room are all, you know, such sterling examples of holiness and righteousness.
Karen and Jamie, Sophia, you know, you’re all going to get even better. And, guys, I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but someday you’ll be worthy of these women. you’ll be, you know, the women are kind of. Well, maybe, maybe. All right.
Abraham’s faith, ours is the same. We believe what we haven’t seen. I’m not perfect. I’m not perfected in Christ. What I see is a broken, stumbling man who still has issues and triggers. Right? You know, I sinned twice last week. I mean, I’ve struggled just once. Well, I always thought you were better than me. All right.
Not only does he give us a spirit to make us like Jesus in character, we believe he gives us a spirit to make us like Jesus in power. And we begin walking with this supernatural flow of heaven coming through our lives, able to touch the world in such a way that walking pneumonia goes away, that deathbed cancer disappears from a body, that the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see.
One of the first miracles I saw, probably told this story, but you’ve forgotten. I’m in prison doing prison ministry, and I’m with a bunch of guys, and I’m first. This is real young, and I’m just entering into this words of knowledge thing. And we’re preached through Romans, as a matter of fact. I’m doing a Bible study, and I start to pray.
Lord, would you be here for the Bible study and illuminate our hearts and all, yada, yada, you know, praying. A nice beginning to Bible study prayer. And this little voice goes off in my head: right ankle, right foot. I don’t know what that means. I try to keep my prayer going: right ankle, right foot. Try to keep my prayer going: right ankle, right foot.
All right, stop my prayer. Look around the table. Six guys. Anybody here got a problem with your right ankle, right foot? Six guys. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. All right, thanks. God made me look like a fool.
So I’m trying to say, well, I thought maybe I was sensing that in my prayer, but maybe not, and blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden, the door to our little Bible study opens, and a guy comes walking in like this.
Now these guys around the table who are looking at me like, what are you coming, a weirdo? Now they’re looking at me like, dude. So I say, hey, glad you came in. Why’d you come in? He goes, man, I was just out there and the. It was, you know, their free time.
These were the lovable junkies, so they didn’t always have to be locked down in their cells. Was just out there. And I just felt like, man, I need to come in here. I felt like I really needed to come in here.
And I go, great. I said, you mind telling me why you’re limping? He goes, yeah, man. Just before I got arrested, I was in a motorcycle accident and I crushed the bones in my right ankle and right foot. All right, well, we’re going to pray.
So I have him sit down and stick out his legs. Chiropractors do this, see if your legs are the same length, you know. And he looked through all those leg lengthy things. Well, you know, I don’t know. I just had him stick out his legs, and his right leg was about an inch and a half shorter and tilted like that.
I turn to the guys behind me and I say again, one of these non-prayer answered prayers. I turn to the guys behind me, I say, I’m going to pray for his leg to straighten out and even out with the other leg. I didn’t pray that because as I was saying that and I turned to look, his leg was doing this.
And so all I did was go, Amen. It didn’t get all the way. I wish it would have, but I mean, I literally saw it. Right ankle, right foot. God is good. He does stuff, blows me away, and he always surprises me.
I was like, oh, I prayed for three and four in a row, and they haven’t gotten better. And this is, you know, have you left me? God, has the anointing left me? And then I’ll pray for somebody or pray with a group of people for somebody, and boom, there it is.
There it is. So, dear ones, I don’t have all the answers, but I have this answer. Have faith in God. He is able, and he is willing. He is able and willing to save us from our sins and to make us like Jesus.
There you go. What else do you need? You want a bigger promise than that? Well, here’s a bigger promise than that. I mean, that’s as big a promise as you could hope for, right? He is willing and able to forgive us our sins and make us like Jesus.
And then he says this. And as we go, we’ll be contagious. And that will spill off onto other people. And we’ll be a part of his plan to bring other people into his family and to make disciples.
And these 70, 80-year lives that we spend on this planet making money, raising chickens and pigs and goats, maggots and bunnies. Whatever y’all raise, you guys got to start raising something.
We got a church full of. I don’t raise anything either. I’m good with it. Bunnies. You got bunnies? All right, all right. You have bunnies on your property? Do you give any attention to the bunnies, Isaiah? Not very often. All right, all right.
So everybody raises something but me, all right? I have a hard enough time raising Jill. She’s trouble. She’s trouble, I tell you. You want a Jill story? Woman is a hypocrite. Woman is a hypocrite. All right. Yes. We go to a basketball game yesterday. I should finish the sermon. All right. Have faith in God. All right.
So we go to this basketball game yesterday. We go out to lunch at this little lati da restaurant with Megan. Knew, too. She said, I really like this place. I didn’t think it’d be dad’s vibe. I’m like, you’re right, it’s not my vibe. But anyway, the food was good. I got bacon. It was good.
But we get there, and it’s in a city, so there’s no parking. I hate city restaurants. I hate no parking. You know, take me to a chain restaurant in the mall so I can park. It’s all I want. A chain restaurant in a mall so I can park. No parking. So I go across the street to Metropolitan Market. Their parking lot is not full. They have signs, parking for Metropolitan customers only. But I’m thinking, they’re not full. I’m not hurting anybody. So I start to pull in.
Oh, but no, little miss Law keeper, like, you can’t do that. We’re going to get towed. We’re not going to get towed. It’s going to take that tow truck five hours to get down here. We’ll be done with lunch before then.
But she raced. That’s how you know, like, oh, fine. So we park, you know, two miles down the street or something half a block away. But still I complained like it was two miles. So we have our lunch, we go home. We go down to the church.
Last night, she’s got a TV that we’re setting up in the Sunday school room for the firehouse church in Bremerton. So she’s driving. Well, where’s the closest place to the door to get that TV into the church? The handicap spot. Looks, little Miss Rule keeper just zips right in like it’s nobody’s business.
So why are you parking in the handicapped side? Oh, no handicapped person is going to come. Oh, there you go. If one of your game players would have been handicapped, I really could have busted her chops. Yeah, you should have limped in, buddy.
You could have helped me out. So I gave her grief about that. She didn’t buy it. She was like, all right, that has nothing to do with the sermon at all. But I just needed to get it off my chest.
It’s tough sometimes. It’s tough. All right. When I’m not with her and I park in one of those spots, I take extra delight in doing it. Like, ha, ha. Yeah, yeah. I go home and say I parked at a spot I shouldn’t have. Neener. Neeners scheme ers.
Alright. It’s getting away from me, folks. How do you transition from being obnoxious to your wife into communion? Isaiah, help me out here. All right? On the night that he was betrayed. He took bread and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples. And he said, this is my body, which is given for you.
In the same way, after supper he gave thanks to his Father in heaven. And he said, this is my blood which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. This is the blood of the New Covenant.
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”(1 Corinthians 11:23-25, CSB)
And when you gather together, come to my table and eat together and be refreshed. your sins are forgiven. You’re New Covenant people, you have the Spirit of promise. You have eternal life. Believe it.
And this meal is an act of faith, right? It’s receiving the gift. Eating is not a work, it’s receiving the gift. You don’t earn God’s grace by taking this meal, but you get to taste it. So come and taste and see that the Lord is good.
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