You are invited to step out in faith today, trusting that God's direction is better than your own logic. Start sharing the love of Jesus in your daily interactions, knowing that your faith is meant to be a public witness rather than a private secret. Embrace the freedom of forgiveness to love others boldly, wherever God places you.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
*Genesis-12*. Special place in my heart for that because I know what that's like. There's been multiple times in my life where god said just go. But, God, like, logically, it doesn't make sense to get out of the Navy. "Just go".
But, God, it logically doesn't make sense to move back home to Louisiana. Just go. But, God, it doesn't make sense logically to move to a city that you literally don't know where it was on the map when god told us to just go. But, god, logically, it doesn't make sense to make this choice in my life like I've always known. Just go.
But, god, it doesn't. *Genesis-12:1*. The Lord had said to Abraham, go. Everybody say go. Go.
Little louder. Everybody say go. Go. Dang. *Genesis-12:1*.
The Lord had said to Abraham, go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land that I will show you. Can you imagine what that was like? Like, this wasn't where you got YouTube videos that are helping you, encouraging you in faith. Like, they didn't have that. They didn't have the Bible.
You know? I don't know how many people were following in faith. Maybe none. And the Lord who is spirit spoke to Abraham. It yes.
He could've spoken in an audible voice, but probably he spoke to him how he usually speaks to us in that still small voice that is like a feeling or a deep sense, a deep knowing that comes into a thought and you're like, that wasn't me. Oh my gosh. That's something deeper. That was that was God. And and now he has to follow this voice.
Like, I'm sure initially, like us, we knew, like, we know when it's God speaking to us initially. But then there's always the doubt. There's always the question. There's always like Adam and Eve in the garden. Did God really say that?
That was just your imagination. That's not logical. That doesn't make sense. The culture doesn't do that. Everybody else doesn't do that.
That's so backwards. That's 2,000 ago. You shouldn't do that. And the whole time, God's just saying, just go. This is what I spoke.
This is what I said. This is what I'm doing. Like, this is all I know, God. Like, I've been hanging out here for a while now. I got my family.
I got my father's household. I got everything. And you're telling me to go where? To the land I'm gonna show you. You're not even telling me where to go, God.
Just follow me. Just go. "Follow me". I I hear Jesus say that all the time in the New Testament. Follow me.
Amen. That's this thing he still tells us every single day. Follow me. Where are we going, God? Where are going, Jesus?
Follow me. Just go. Man, would you go? Would you do it? It doesn't stop there.
God kept speaking. Verse 2, he says, I will make you into a great nation, and I will "bless you". I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. God doesn't just say go.
He also says, hey. This is going to be better for you. Following me is going to be better for you. As a matter of fact, I'm a bless you. There's greatness that's coming if you follow me, And I'm not just blessing you for you.
This ain't a selfish thing. I'm blessing you so that all nations will be blessed through you. I'm blessing you to be a blessing. Like and and that's what god wants to do in our life as well. He wants to bless us with all kinds of things, joy, peace, relationship, like, amazingness, hearing his voice, knowing him.
Not just for us, but so that we can be a blessing. Does he wanna bless us financially? Sure. He wants to bless you that way too. Why?
Not for you. He'll give to you what he can give through you. And we were talking about today in the dream team service. We're talking about discipleship and and and highlighting some people who, man, they they just gave their life to Jesus just seemed like a couple months ago, and they're already leading people to Jesus. I mean, it's amazing.
Why? Because god's entrusted them with a relationship with himself, and they're giving it out. And as they give it out, they grow. As we give out, we grow. There's a little analogy.
It's like god's this big big water tank, and we're a pipe. Right? And he gives us this fresh water. But if we're if we're not giving out what he's giving to us, the water gets stagnant. But as we give out what he gives to us, we get we continually get fresh water.
Right? But if we don't give it out, it's pressure. We might burst them. There's all kinds of stuff that could happen. Right?
The analogy could go multiple different ways. But we're created not to be a stop gap. We're pre we're created to give what we've been given, to freely give out what we've been freely given so that we can grow. We're created to be a blessing to others, not to live life for ourself, but to live for others. Okay?
Follow me so far? Wonderful. Alright. This you might be saying here. Wait a second.
This is what God was telling to Abraham. Like, this is Abraham's promise. This this has nothing to do. This is, like, 6, 7008 thousand years ago, whatever your Bible timeline is. This is a long time ago.
What does this have to do with me? I'm glad you asked. Let's go to Galatians-3. Verse 7 says, understand then that those who have faith everybody say, have faith. Have faith.
Those who have faith are "children of Abraham". Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles. Everybody say, I'm a Gentile. Justify the Gentiles by faith and announce the gospel in advance to Abraham. All nations will be blessed through you, So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
If you skip down in Galatians-3:29, excuse me, it says, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's seed, a child of Abraham, and you're heirs according to the promise. What's an heir? An heir, according to Webster's dictionary, is a person legally entitled to the property and rank of that person after their death. By faith, you then are a child of Abraham, and you're legally entitled to the blessing that God gave to Abraham.
You are blessed to be a blessing. Those who bless you will be blessed, and those who curse you will be cursed. And the whole world will be blessed through you. The world is around you is waiting on you to understand who you are in faith so that they can experience the goodness of God through you. By faith.
*Hebrews-11:6*. Without faith, it is impossible to please god. Right? So faith I would say faith is pretty important to this thing. Right?
Without *faith*, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Now let's just break that down a little bit. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists. Like, that's like a no brainer. Like, you're not gonna go to God if you don't believe he's there.
So in order to have faith, you have to at least believe that he's there. Right? Now the next part is what we have trouble with, and that he's a rewarder of those who earnestly or diligently seek him. That means, like, you're not gonna seek someone unless you believe that not only they're good, but also seeking them like it's better for you. What that's saying is you have to believe that not only is he there, but following his plan is better than following your plan.
That's *faith*. Faith is saying, I believe that your plan for my life in the area that you're telling me to go is better than what I've always thought about that area that you're telling me to go. So I'm going to follow you. That's faith. Because if you don't believe that what he's saying is better for you, you will follow your plan.
That's not faith. But if you believe that what he's saying is better, then you will follow his plan because you're trusting in him who is good. What area of our lives has he been telling us to go in that we've been trusting ourselves instead of him. You can trust him. He's a good God.
He is kind. He has a good plan for you, plan to prosper you, Plan to bless you, not just for you, but for everyone around you. We go back a second. Everything promised to Abraham is a promise to you in Christ. You are legally entitled in Christ.
I will is what God said. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Those are promises. I'm not preaching you're gonna be a millionaire and a movie star. Just stick with me. Okay? We are here because of what Abraham did next, and we must do what Abraham did next in our lives as well.
Whenever God speaks to us, when he leads us, we take him at his word. We reject doubt, and by faith, we believe and we act on his word. A lack of action in response to his word proves a lack of faith. So what do we do when we don't act? We say, Lord, help my unbelief.
Lord, I realize, dang it. I I didn't act when you asked me to act, and anything that doesn't proceed from faith is sin, and that's not of you. So wait a second. You said I'm forgiven. You said I'm in right standing with you.
So now I don't have to run-in shame when I realize I should have took a step when you said go, and I didn't. I don't have to run-in shame and hide myself anymore. I can say, father, I I'm I didn't have the belief enough to act when you said to act. Lord, I I realize I'm your son. I realize I'm your kid.
Thank you, Jesus, that I'm forgiven. Give me the grace. Help me to move forward. I'm falling forward into you, and I'm running forward. Instead of nonaction now, it's gonna be action with what you tell me to do.
It's relationship. It's not it's not this list of stuff. It's relationship. It's following him day in and day out with what he tells us day in and day out. It's relationship, relationship, relationship.
And if you're like, but I haven't been acting in relationship. Well, you can. Start today. It's awesome. God loves you.
His his his promise towards you is yes and amen. He paid the price for your forgiveness. Now you're clean. Now just believe it, receive it, and let's move forward in Jesus. Some of you are like, well, it's not that simple.
No. It really is. That's the good that's the "good news" of the gospel. Amen. Hey.
We can be done now. We're not but we could be. So, what did Abraham do? This is good, guys. This is really good.
*Genesis-12*. Let me get back there. I'm flipping all the page Bible. Most of you got your iPhones. Alright.
*Genesis-12*. In verse 1, god said, go. Verses 2 and 3, god said, I'm gonna bless you. It's gonna be awesome. Like, Trust me.
**My plan for you** is better than your plan for you. Trust me. "Make a step". Every single day is what he's telling us. Amen.
Every single day. My plan for you is better than your plan for you. Trust me. Make a step. I've already prepped away.
It's awesome. So verse 4, Abraham went. I want that to be my heart every single time. I really do. Whatever it takes, God, I want it to be my heart every single time.
Would you teach me if there's any way in me that's saying or anything that you're telling me to go in that is that I'm hesitating? Lord, root that out of me. Lord, I thank you that I'm forgiven. Thank you that I'm a new creation. I wanna go in every single direction that you say and challenge me and help me to grow in that way so that I can be more like you, so the world around me can be blessed by you through me.
So Abraham went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Now that's awesome because faith is contagious. Abraham see, it's it's countercultural countercultural to follow the kingdom culture. Meaning, when you follow Jesus, it's not gonna logically make sense to everyone around you, and they might feel abandoned by you. But you have to love what he says more than you love what they think about you.
And so when we begin to do that, those around us will see us following in the footsteps of Jesus walking after him, and they will say, man, some of them, some of them will run hardcore, some of them will persecute you, some of them will say all kinds of bad stuff about you. Some of them will wish they were the ones doing that but be feel ashamed that they're not doing that and then criticize you to everyone else. But some like Lot will follow in your footsteps. That's the Christian life. It's awesome.
So Abraham went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old when he went out from "Haran". Everybody say Haran. Haran. That's important.
Haran's important. He took his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they'd acquired in Haran. Everybody say Haran. Haran. That's important.
And they set out for the land of Canaan. Canaan. Canaan. That's important too. And they arrived there.
*God* said, go to the land I'm a show you. God was showing them the land of Canaan. Right? Very important. Canaan was the promised land.
*Canaan is the promised land. So god* was leading Abraham to the promised land. God said, go. They went. They trusted, and they arrived.
They arrived. They followed through. **Faith follows through**. Faith finishes. Faith keeps going.
*Hebrews-3:14*. We have come to share in *Christ* if indeed we hold our original *conviction* firmly to the end. *Faith* follows through. If it doesn't follow through, then it was not faith. Now, you might Does anybody remember the story of the the treasure that's I gotta retell the story.
Okay. Because I wanna make something clear, very important. Let's imagine that I have a 1,000,000,000,000 treasure right here. I have a or a good let's just say a good check because I can't hold 1000000000000 dollars. I have I have a good check right here, and it's 1000000000000 dollars.
I bury it in the ground right here, 8 feet down. 8 feet down, there's a treasure, $1,000,000,000,000. I put a red x on the spot. Alright? 100%.
John, Randy, and Brent, will you come here? You come up here? Right here. There's a red x. Alright.
Alright. Bren, John, and Randy. Now, I give each 1 of them shovels. Here. Now they don't know, but I buried the treasure 8 feet down.
I didn't tell them that. All I'm telling them is there's a treasure 8 feet down. It's 1000000000000 dollars. It'll take care of you for the rest of your life. All your families will be amazing.
It's wonderful. There's 1000000000000 dollars under this red x. That's all you know. K? Now I want you to dig, and if you dig enough or just just keep digging, you'll find it.
Okay? Period. Now problem is ground's pretty tough. Right? It's hot outside.
Right? But I told them it's 1000000000000 dollars. They have to trust me. If they trust me, if they believe my word, do you think they'll dig and find it? Yeah.
Right? Now, Bren sticks his shovel in the ground, and he realizes he realizes the ground is pretty hard. And he's like, you know what? The ground's hard. This guy, he's probably not telling the truth.
There's probably no, like, I believe he's there, but I don't believe it's beneficial for me to really dig down because I really don't think it's gonna happen. Nah. I'm done. You done? Yeah.
Alright. Go sit down. Is that faith? No. He believed I existed.
Right? But he didn't believe it was beneficial for him to follow my word. Right? So he didn't follow through. John, I tell him the same thing.
He starts digging. He's digging fast. Randy, I tell Randy the same thing. As John's digging, Randy starts digging. She notices it's tough dirt too.
She digs for about 30 minutes. John's digging. She gets tired. She says, you know what? This probably this he wants that trillion dollars.
She says, this this probably keep digging, John. She said, this probably isn't there. 30 minutes. She's tired. She broke a nail.
You know? That's not Randy's personality. But so she puts the trouble down, and she goes over here, takes a break. She says, I'm done. I ain't coming back.
John keeps digging. He gets a little tired. He takes a Gatorade. Don't you drink my water. And he just keeps digging.
He gets down 5 feet, 6 feet. Is this faith? Yes. 7 feet? Come on.
7 and a half feet? And then he quits. I dug and dug and dug. There's nothing there. It's nothing.
Go sit down. No. Was that faith? It looked like faith, didn't it? It really looked like faith.
Man, bro. But he stopped. Did he really believe it was there? He didn't really believe it was there because he quit. Randy.
Where'd Randy go? Randy, you're not done. You know I'm gonna make you the good 1. No. Everybody thought she was done.
Everybody thought she gave up, but she came back. She was like, wait. 2 weeks later, something in her head said, hold on. Go back. Go back.
I'm there. So she came back. She starts digging again. She digs. She gets about 2 feet down.
She gets tired. She goes back and quits. Go quit. About 3 years later, something's gnawing at her. Hey, there's 1000000000000 dollars down there.
So what does she do? She comes back. She starts digging again. She digs. She digs.
She digs. She gets 6 and a half feet. She gives up. She stops again. 10 years later, 15 years later, she stopped for a long time.
Everybody thought she really gave up. Was it faith? You don't know yet. Don't answer. 15 years later, man, she comes back.
She starts digging. This time, boom. She finds the treasure. She gets it. It's it's all hers.
Was it faith? Amen. Absolutely. The faithful. You can have a seat.
Do you get it? A lot of times, we think we see faith, but we don't really know if we see faith or not. **Faith keeps going**. Just because you put the shovel down doesn't mean that that it's not faith. Pick it back up.
Keep going. Keep moving forward. Trust what he said. Keep walking forward. You're forgiven.
You're a new creation. Believe it, receive it, and go. Yes. Amen. Thank you.
Hallelujah. Thank you. Okay. So what did Abraham do? He arrived in Canaan, in the promised land, and it was awesome.
Y'all remember haran? Everybody say haran. Haran. That's important. Why is it important?
Let's go to Genesis-11 verse 31. It says, Terah took his son Abram. Abram or Abraham. He was his name was later changed to Abraham. Terah is Abraham's father.
Terah took his son Abraham, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, a different Haran, not the place, and his daughter-in-law Sarah, the wife of his son Abraham, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. Now it's interesting. Abraham, or at the time, name was Abram, was going to the place that God had told him to go. And where was he going? To Canaan.
Why was Tara going to Canaan too? Could it be that the father told Tara to go to the promised land, and Terah was going to Canaan. He was on his way to the promised land. See, every word in the Bible matters. Every phrase in the Bible matters.
Why would it say in *Genesis-12:5* that Abraham went for the set out for the land of Canaan and arrived there, but just a few paragraphs before, it says that Terah set out for the land of Canaan. Verse 32, Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran. He settled in Haran. He settled in the wrong place. Now every word matters.
Everything is very *God* put everything in there on purpose. See, Abram, the word means the exalted father. When God changed Abram's name to Abraham, it means "father of many nations". What did God tell him he would do? He would bless him and he would be the father of many nations.
It would be a blessing to bless all the nations. Amen? So God changed his name so that when everybody else said his name, they were hearing faith. Abraham was hearing faith. Abraham was hearing, hey, father of many nations, come over here.
Help me with the woodpile. Hey, father of many nations, would you would you hey, father of many nations, what are you listening to? I wanna listen to those who are reminding me of my destiny in Jesus. Yes. Constantly.
So that I will finish the race that I started. I'm forgetting what's behind, and I'm pressing on to where he's called me. Tara, his name means wanderer, loiter, and wild goat. A loiterer the definition of a loiterer you know what a loiterer is? Someone who hangs around.
I'm actually gonna read the exact definition. It's very interesting. Everything matters. Okay. A loiterer is someone who remains in a place for no apparent purpose.
Oh 0, haran. Remember I told you that was important? Haran means 1 1, it means road. So Terah was on the road to the promise, to Canaan, but he got stuck in Haran. What was Haran known for?
Haran was known for its god, a god named sin, and it was called the "seat of sin". Her Haran got distracted or sorry. Terah got distracted on the road to the promised land in the seat of sin, and he loitered there with no purpose. And he died in sin, never making it to the promise. And he was a wild goat.
Jesus said he would separate in the end times the sheep from the goats. The goats would be thrown into hell, and the sheep would make it to heaven. The sheep would spend eternity with him, and the goats would spend eternity separated from him. By faith, I'm gonna follow, and I'm not gonna loiter where God hasn't called me to loiter. And if I've been there, I'm gonna pick the shovel back up and keep shoveling because that's who I am.
And guess what? That's who you are. *Hebrews-3:12*. See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage 1 another as long as it is called today.
Is it still called today? Yeah. Is tomorrow called today when we get there? Yeah. What are we supposed to do?
Encourage 1 another. Encourage 1 another. You are an encourager. What are you doing? You're encouraging 1 another so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
We have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold to our original conviction to the conviction to the very end. Hebrews I gotta share with with, this 1 with you as well. *Hebrews-10:38*. See, you are righteous because of Jesus. You are righteous not based on what you've done or based on what you haven't done, but based on what he's done for you.
So you're in right standing with him right now, and you can receive that by faith. Believe it. Receive it. Now walk in it. *Hebrews-10:38, and my righteous* 1 will live by faith, and I will take no pleasure in the 1 who shrinks back.
You and then he says in verse 39, but we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. You belong to those who have faith and are saved. If you're feeling worried right now, don't be. I'm saying you belong to those who have faith and are saved. Receive that, believe it, get back up, and let's keep walking.
Amen? With the band come on up Let's pray. Father, I thank you for who you are. Lord, I thank you that you love us. Lord, I thank you that you're good.
Lord, I thank you that your plan for us is better than our plan for us. Father, I thank you that you have been challenging us to go in multiple different areas of our lives. And, Lord, I pray that we would see that you are better than our plan in the areas of our lives that we haven't been going. Lord, and we would have the confidence in your plan to step out of our plan and to begin to follow you because you're good, because you're kind, because you have better for us than what we have planned. Father, I pray that people see that, that people rest in that, and people begin to follow you, Lord, in every aspect of their life so that those around them can see you in and through them, and others begin to follow you just like follow follow them towards you just like Lot did for Abraham.
Father, I thank you for what you're gonna do. I thank you for what you're doing. You're amazing. You're wonderful. Alright.
To close this out, it's gonna be a little bit different today than normal. Here's the gospel. *Jesus* died for you when you couldn't die for yourself. Jesus purchased you because you can't save yourself. Right?
That's the good news is Jesus did that, but then also he rose again so that you give him your life, he gives you his life. It's this great exchange. And now you live in relationship with God and follow him saying, not my will, but yours be done. I believe that your will for my life is better than my will for my life. And you receive that, like, confess that with your mouth, believe Jesus died and rose again, confess that with your mouth, you're my Lord, you will be saved.
You will be born again. You will be made new. That's the good news. That's the gospel. That's it.
What does it take? You saying, I receive it. I believe it. I'm gonna walk in it. That's it.
Really? Do you really have to pray a prayer? Not technically. We do that because it helps people, but I'm not gonna do that today. Now there's others of you, as I'm talking, you're like, man, like he prayed on his knees in the beginning of the message, father, help my unbelief.
I realize I'm forgiven. I realize I'm a son. Alright. I wanna follow you in every aspect of my life. There's many of you, maybe that's you.
We're gonna sing this song. If you need to receive Jesus for the first time, receive him right where you are. Do that. Believe in the gospel. Receive that he's he's good, and you can start a relationship with him and then tell somebody.
This is not a personal religion. It's a relationship that's public. And if you've always believed it was personal, you're wrong. You're just wrong. It's a "public thing".
Like, if once you have a relationship with him, you can't help but tell people. You just can't. So it's time to stop helping but telling people. And those who that's well, maybe that's part of the go thing. It's time for you to go.
It's time for you to go in your daily life. It's time for you to go at your job and tell your job tell the people at your job how much God loves them. It's time for you to go at Starbucks when you and and just buy the coffee for the person in front of them. Tell them, hey. I just believe God loves you lot a lot because he loved me.
Can I pray for you? What would it be like if you actually love people enough to not care what they think about you, but to love them where they were so that they experience his goodness in Walmart? What would it be like instead of railing back at your brother and sister when they rail at you to love them instead and to bless them? And when you screw up, ask them for your forgiveness for forgiveness. Say, I I screwed up.
I shouldn't have yelled at you. What would it be like? I'll tell you what it'd like. It'd be like following Jesus. That's what it'd be like.
That's what we're called to do. That's the life we live. Clearwater is waiting for us to follow Jesus. They're waiting to experience Jesus in and through us, in and through you. We're gonna sing this song, and I just want you to receive God's goodness, to receive his love, receive his forgiveness, sing it as a prayer.
Like, as we sing these songs, we're not just singing to make it sound good. Like, I'm I'm I close my eyes, and I imagine that my heavenly father is right before me because I know that he is. And I sing these songs as a prayer to him. What what if you were to do that with everything you have and believe it? And then as you walk out of here, continue not just at church, but have church in your home by yourself with Jesus.
Turn on the worship music by yourself, raise your hand, and sing it as a prayer to him by yourself. What are you doing? You're showing that you don't have to have other people around you to see you worshiping. You're worshiping your God who you believe exists, and you believe that you really believe that it's more beneficial for you to do that than to do what you had planned in that moment. That's called faith.
You're cultivating a relationship. Man, God's good, guys. And that's how much he loves you. You can do that. Why?
Because his blood has forgiven you. You won't do this if you think that you're not forgiven. You won't get alone with God if you think that God has has something against you. He's already paid the price for everything that you think is against you. Receive the forgiveness and walk into his presence as a child who's loved by him.
And you can do that as practice for tonight by yourself right here during this song.
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