The Measure of Faith | Rev Jacob Sullivan by Jacob Sullivan First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: Romans 12:3, Jude 1:20-21, Ephesians 4:11-14, Colossians 2:7, Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 11:8-10, Romans 4:18-22, Genesis 15:1, Genesis 15:4-8, Genesis 15:11-14, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Genesis 15:17, 1 Peter 1:6-9, Romans 8:28 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/jacob-sullivan--the-measure-of-faith Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ praise the lord church how many is thankful to be here on this wednesday afternoon amen no greater place in this world than i'd rather be right now than than in the house of god many places we could find ourself but thank god we have the opportunity to be tethered to this church the greatest church i know we can we're biased but this is the greatest church in all the world right we have the greatest pastoral family in all the world we're so blessed i want to give honor to pastor carpenter for extending the opportunity to speak to you all i never take this for granted i graced this this pulpit with the utmost reverence and respect from pastor carpenter pastor erickson pastor hammond pastor nolan we have the greatest pastoral team in all the world and they're they're they're better halves their wives they're they're all they they give us counsel they counsel us on on a continuous basis and i'm just thankful to just be a part of what god is doing here in maryvale man and it was a very beautiful description brother josh about how um you know the the the reason season in a lifetime that was that was a beautiful description of of i believe how we all feel about our pastoral team and and you know we've been blessed to be here for 14 years now and i i'll be honest with you i can't imagine my life without the voice of brother carpenter in my life i'm a better man because he's he speaks into my life and over the years he's given me wise counsel and i'm very thankful for him and his family we pray that they have a a blessed and much needed rest and as they have spent time with family vacation i give honor to my wife and my children my greatest blessings in all the world a house full of women and i love it my wife and i we will celebrate 19 years of marriage this month june the 28th my kids at school asked if if we got married when we were 12 no we didn't no we did not we did get married young but i love my wife she's definitely my better half and i love and appreciate her and her love i give honor to my church family i love each and every one of you all and and it's just it's an awesome thing to be a part of what god is doing here in maryville and i encourage every single person here to get plugged in find a ministry get attached because this church right here is being used in the kingdom of god this is a an end time church revival church amen we have the heartbeat of god lost souls going outside of these four walls and i'm just excited about what god is doing if you be so kind to turn to romans 12 and 3. romans 12 and 3 for i say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according has god as god hath dealt to every man the measure of faith everybody say the measure of faith tonight with the help of the lord i want to speak in our hearing on just that the measure of faith let's put our bibles down let's lift our voices and let's ask god to come in and speak a word to us lord lord we love you jesus mighty god we thank you lord for this opportunity that you've given us to be here tonight god on this this midweek bible study god i pray lord that this world would go forth god lord the unadulterated word of god let it go forth god and be mixed with faith god lord let our faith rise tonight lord lord i believe that the word lord it's going to increase our faith tonight god lord touch the hearer lord let the engrafted word get into our heart lord let it get into our mind and let it change us and transform us into your image and lord we love you and praise you in jesus mighty name everybody say amen one more time give the lord a hand clap for praise as you're seated i woke up this morning and it's almost like i envisioned myself with the yardstick the measure of faith you know faith does have a measurement as paul said he hath dealt each man accordingly a measure of faith if we were to get out heaven's yardstick today each and every person would be on the spectrum of faith every single person but see paul not only lets us know that every man has been dealt their measure of faith he talks about don't boast about it he talks about really you worry about your own measure of faith because my my level of faith in my walk my journey of faith is different than everyone else's amen we can't measure our level of faith by each other but god hath given every man a measure of faith the word faith is mentioned only twice in the old testament but in the new testament it is mentioned 229 times jesus describes people of his day as having little faith or others as having great faith jesus said oh ye of little faith he said if you would just have faith the size of a mustard seed he said of a roman centurion one day truly i tell you i have not found anyone in israel with such great faith the roman centurion took god at his word he believed in the power of delegated authority he said you speak it it's going to happen and jesus marveled man great faith i want us all to know tonight that the lord has placed in us our own measure of faith our own path god to not is not looking for perfect faith he's not looking for perfect faith he knows where each and every one of us are at right now on our faith journey amen each and every person here under the sound of my voice you are on a faith journey every single person his desire for us to tonight is to meet us where we are currently at wherever we're at brother cade he wants to meet us right there and then he wants to take us up he wants to build our faith he doesn't want us to look around and and compare ourselves among ourselves paul says it's very unwise but he wants to meet you where you're at right now and he wants to say come up higher increase our faith everybody say lord build my faith tonight jude 1 and verse 20 and 21 he says but ye beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith praying in the holy ghost keep yourselves in the love of god looking for the mercy of our lord jesus christ unto eternal life that is why coming to the house of god and gathering together with corporate worship is so essential when we gather together it edifies one another it builds each other up when we begin to listen to the testimonies of other people man if god healed healed that person then he can heal me coming together there's something special about building our faith and not only that he says praying in the holy ghost when we pray in the spirit it edifies that internal man and in god's divine way it builds our faith that's why jude says to build up on your most holy faith everybody has a foundation of faith in here tonight the world has a foundation of faith the difference is the object of their faith the atheist has faith they got faith in self the difference is the object of our faith the object of our faith the foundation of our faith deny is in who the lord jesus christ amen that's the difference there's many foundations of faith but we have to make sure that we have the right foundation paul says in ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 i love this passage and he gave some apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come in the unity of the faith in the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man there was only one man that lived in perfect faith and listen to this unto the measure the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ when we have our faith journey we don't compare our faith journey amongst one another our faith journey is to the fullness of christ to be like christ to to look at him he is the epitome of who we are to look to in our faith in the building up of our faith he says the stature of the fullness of christ what that means is maturity simply growing whether you have little faith wherever your faith journey is tonight he wants us to grow it's all about growing in the fullness of christ then he says that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slot of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive he wants us to be solid in what we know and what we believe there's a world out there that they don't know what they believe they don't even know what they are who they are our identity is in who in jesus christ the lord wants us to grow our faith so we can be as paul puts it in colossians 2 and 7. he says rooted and built up in him established in the faith as you have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving he says as you have been taught we know that faith cometh by what hearing and hearing by the by the word of god he says that the word of god is what is building to faith as you have been taught again god is shaking this world as we speak he's shaking every idol he's trying to shake it out of her life everything that we cling to every false idol everything that we put our trust in i feel in the last two plus years he's been doing the earth's been shaking so that which cannot be shaken what remains because he is getting ready to come back for his church he is coming back for a church jesus said this when the son of man cometh when he comes will he find faith upon this earth will he find faith it's the very foundation of who we are faith keeps us tethered to our purpose it keeps us tethered to the lord it keeps us tethered to his word it keeps our eyes looking towards heaven and for his soon return faith in jesus it alters our life doesn't it it changes our walk doesn't it it changes our talk when we come out of the world it changes us so what is faith it's mentioned 229 times in the new testament what is it hebrews 11 1 gives a perfect description of what faith is now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen see he does the writer of hebrews doesn't only say faith is right you notice that he put that little word in there now because the reality is it's easier for us to have faith in what happened yesterday it's easier for us to have faith that that calvary took place i don't think anybody in this room doubts that calvary took place so that's yesterday's faith right that's belief in what happened in the past it's easy right now they've we could all if we did a census we'd all believe that the lord is coming back i hope and pray to god that everybody believes that the lord is coming soon amen that's futuristic faith right but sometimes the hardest faith is now faith in that moment faith that times whenever we can't see our hand in front of our face right when it's dark when we don't see what in the world's going on we feel like life is upside down in that moment that's when it's the toughest to have faith faith is a sixth sense that god gives us it's lord if you said it then what i believe it even when i don't see it even when i don't understand the situation when knots are dark days are long lord my patience seems to be wearing thin yet faith says i'm going to trust you even when i don't understand you jump on to verse 6 hebrews 11 and 6 but without faith it is impossible to please him he says when the son of man cometh will he find faith without faith it's impossible to please him for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him this is one of the greatest verses i think in all the new testament because when you look at when when he comes to god he must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him he is what he doesn't finish it the reality is brother josh he's everything you need him to be every single thing that we need in this life he is if you need healing in your body tonight he's jehovah rapha he's the one that heals if you have if you have anxiety right now if you are dealing with fear and anxiety and you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders right now he will be jehovah shalom which is the god of peace right when you need something if you if you need something you don't have anything you'll be jehovah jobber right he'll turn something out of nothing right he is everything we need him to be we don't need anything else we don't need anything else but here's the thing it says he is a rewarder of them that diligently see he's not this just god that you he just gives out things like candy no that's not how god works god says that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him he doesn't reward the slothful and lazy he doesn't reward the faithless we see time and time again in scripture that he rewards those that diligently seek him that go after him the bible says to ask to seek and to knock you want something from god then you ask you seek and you knock amen jump on down to verse 8 and abraham is going to be my main protagonist of the rest of my message known by many around the world as the father of faith by faith abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance he obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with isaac and jacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is god what a powerful passage of scripture describing abraham the bible says that god is both the author and the finisher of our faith this passage right here it shows the beginning and the end of abraham's life see yet in between these two points the author and the finisher the beginning and the end of abraham's life was the process it was a process of valleys of trials and weaknesses of tribulations triumphs mountaintop experiences all to grow abraham into the man that he created him to be we see a man whose measure of faith caused him to say yes in genesis 12. yes god i'll leave i'll leave my town i'll leave my my country i don't know where i'm going but the answer is yes and then we witness his faith grow over the next 100 years of his life from leaving ur the chaldeans to climbing mount moriah to offer his most prized possession to god we see a man that had a measure of faith we see a man that grew in faith amen i believe that mount moriah years later was his greatest test to display faith in god it was all about the process you know pastor preached a powerful sermon sunday morning about when god speaks it was all focused on the life of abraham and how abraham again was called out and then he began his faith journey with god i believe that abraham's life gives us a blueprint on what true faith in god looks like well say what set abraham apart from the rest of humanity was that he always responded when god spoke he always responded there was always a response when god spoke from building altars into the lord to digging wells everywhere he went to dwelling in tents he believed the lord i don't believe abraham always understood his ways we can see when you go through the chapters of abraham's life one of the greatest people in all the world to study is the life of abraham we see that he didn't always understand it we seen that he tried to use human logic from time to time but through it all abraham remained faithful to god listen to what paul says about abraham in romans chapter four and verse 18. who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be and being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old neither yet the deadness of sarah's womb he staggered not at the promise of god that's a powerful scripture he staggered not at the promise of god through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to god and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was also able to perform and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness abraham's faith always backed up his actions it was more than a mental ascent the world today you know all you've got to do is believe that's it it's not biblical it's not biblical abraham shows us what true faith is like just like james says we show our faith by our works we allow faith to go to work amen that's what abraham did it wasn't perfect faith but it was growing faith how many wants growing faith i want to mature in my faith one of the last things that peter said was to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the lord jesus christ he fully well understood right simon and barjona it took him a while to become peter right it took him a while for his faith to mature that's one of the last things grow don't stay where you're at grow the kingdom of god it's all about advancing our life it's life's too short to live mediocrity it's too short to live a mundane life we got to grow and sometimes god comes out and he begins to push us all right all right you you've nestled in your your pew for far too long we're up amen we must understand the nature of god he's he's not a helicopter parent nor is he a snowplow parent anybody ever heard those terms he allows us to exercise our free will you know god comes down he don't he don't hover over us smack us on the head whenever we make the wrong decision he guides us doesn't he his word he's got his word right there we have access to god's word more than ever before his words there right his spirit leads us and guides us it's the great comforter right but he's not going to come down and force us to do anything he wants us to exercise our free will he leads us he guides us but see he allows us to make mistakes we see this in the life of abraham see in the same chapter that abraham was called out of his of his land and he says yes god i will go in the same chapter there's a famine that hits egypt okay that hits in the land and so abraham he goes down to egypt i don't think it was god's will for him to go down to egypt because not only did he go down to egypt he lied to tell sarah hey let them know that you're my sister because what happened was human logic kicked in self-preservation hey god's given me a promise and i'm going to do it my way to see that this promise comes about right he put his hands on it every time we put our hands on the promises of god we make a mess out of it that's what happened abraham tried to control the situation sarah you know she was a beautiful woman they're gonna kill me and take you right and we know we read the story that god came down and and he helped him out but what that was it was a learning moment it was a learning moment it wasn't failure it wasn't failure it was it was a learning moment in abraham to teach him hey i've got to rely on god he's the greatest example of a parent he loves us he shelters us god teaches us he encourages us he corrects us amen thankful for the chastening of god the lord chasteneth whom he loves right amen thankful for that but god doesn't go out and he doesn't give us everything on our wish list he doesn't prepare the road for us right he don't go out like snow plow you know just go out and and no bumps and bruises you know try to make sure that that that my child never fails we our kids if we don't teach them failure if we don't allow them to fail we them in life i will be honest with you god understands that if god gave us everything we wanted and asked for we'd be weak we'd be weak in faith that's what weak is water means right it takes the path of what least resistance god don't want a bunch of weak as water christians because weak as water christians is not going to endure to the end amen he wants to flex some muscle spiritually you know when you look at canaan think about it he gave them the land i'm going to give this to you but guess what he left what he left giants in there right he left giants in the land there was a whole generation that came up that didn't even know war and he left the giants in our purposely that that if you want something from god you've got to go after it remember he is a rewarder of them that what diligently seek him right we can't sit back and expect the promises of god to come to fruition in our life if we don't go after it we got to ask we got to seek we got to knock god purposely allows giants in our life he teaches us spiritually to be tough i'm thankful in a natural sense that my father taught me to be tough he taught me to be able to take one off the chin i told him to be tough i'm thankful for that in the natural but i'm thankful that that god he allows us to go through things how many has ever been through a thing that that when you was on the other side of it you become stronger spiritually how many things hopefully everybody you know that test became a testimony right i'm thankful for that how many is thankful for your testimony tonight i'm thankful for it we got to rehearse it all the time amen he wants us to learn okay when we get knocked down we get back up though a righteous man falls seven times he gets back up right it's about getting back up watch the progression of abraham's faith all right again the initial call in chapter 12 he responds what does he do when he when he responds he builds an altar unto the lord as pastor said sunday morning when the word goes forth and god speaks what there's a response right that's why we come up to the altar we're literally building altars up here we're building memorials up here how many remembers you know when you came up here and you hit your knees and you and you was crying and snotting and going on and the lord really touched you and become a memorial for you and and whenever you feel weak moments and you go back to that right lord you you gave me a touch right there and our mind goes back to it and we begin to rehearse things right that god said he would do for us and that he's going to do it builds our faith right it's all about building our faith abraham was on a faith journey same chapter he travels on a little bit further he builds another altar in bethel bethel happens to mean the house of god greatest place we can build an altar right here right amen in the house of god and in our home of course and as we already said a famine struck the land he goes down he uses human logic again it's a learning moment for abraham he's learning how he's learning how many still learning how many wants to be a lifelong learner i do okay i want to learn i don't want to have to repeat the same grade in in god's school every year okay i want to learn all right i want to learn i want to keep graduating i want to keep going on to the next grade all right so he goes back to bethel that altar that he built the second altar that he built after he left egypt i made a mistake god i didn't rely on you i didn't call out i didn't ask what like what i should do he just went down he used human logic he went down into egypt all right so he goes back to bethel back to the place of beginning and he reconsecrates his life back to god so what happens right when we fall when we mess up i've messed up plenty times in my life but see we're only a failure when we stop trying we have only failed when we stop see the enemy wants to come in and think like man you went too far and he tries to keep us from the very place that we need to come to listen when you fall if you have fallen today if you cross the boundaries of god you are in the greatest place that you can be right now because the mercies of god is right here the blood of jesus christ is right here there's an altar right here instead of falling backwards fall forward fall upon the altar fall upon your face humble yourself before the mighty hand of god amen let's move on he seeks to end the strife between he and lot as pastor talked about man so powerful it was never god's will for lot to be on the journey with abraham it was never god's will partial obedience it all it always cost us partial obedience see again abraham's what he's on a faith journey right his faith is what it's it's growing it's growing so once they become separated god looks at abram and says now lift up your eyes lot chose the well-watered plains of jordan he pitched his tent towards sodom abraham looks again like pastor said a bunch of mountains a bunch of dry desert god said look up lift up your eyes this is going to be the land that i give you his response he builds another altar that's what he was alter builder tent dweller well digger he was a very rich man but he never set up shop on this earth because as hebrews says he always looked for what a city whose builder and maker was god there was this eternity echo in his heart he just followed the voice of god nothing else will do god nothing else will do chapter 14 we see lot ends up in sodom and gomorrah foolishly again he thought he could pitch his tent towards the world and not find himself there nonetheless lot and his family are taken hostage by four kings abram then grabs an army of 300 plus men he goes and rescues lot and his family again all these moments increasing the faith of abram the lord gives him victory lot goes back to sodom and gomorrah and abraham is then met by king melchizedek very interesting person that shows up there out of the midst of seemed like nowhere we believe that this is a top and shadow of jesus christ we believe that that's who he represented he was both king and priest something interesting happens here abraham pays tithe to melchizedek this sheds light on the faith journey of man i believe there was this with all my heart but i don't believe we will fully trust god in his providential blessings until we learn to trust him with our earthly possessions that's one of the hardest things to release into the hands of god i believe abraham gives us a blueprint on full mature faith and right here in the midst of this whole story abraham pays tithe to melchizedek i believe he does give us the blueprint and i believe that when we pay our tithe i believe it is one of the greatest ways that we show god that we trust him i believe it's one of the greatest ways let's move on abraham then refuses to take riches from the pagan king of sodom he says no i trust in the providences of the lord i'm not going to take your your money pagan king i'm not going to take it the measurement of faith abram's faith is increasing ever so steady it's all about the measurement of faith right it's all about growing again when i woke up this morning i just i just feel like heaven's got this measuring stick for each and every one of us maybe when we were young you know where our faith level was maybe on a one i don't know you know and then hopefully as we get older you know it increases and increases and what does the bible say until we come to the measure of the full stature and the fullness of christ right that's what it's what it's all about it's about becoming more like jesus christ being complete in him that's what abraham again he's he's on a faith journey then chapter 15 opens up there's some speed bumps here but slow down let's see what he says genesis 15 1 it says after these things after he refused to to to the riches from the king after he met with melchizedek after all these things it says the word of the lord came unto abram in a vision saying fear not abram i am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward because you've rejected the riches of this world abraham i am going to be your exceeding reward abraham i'm going to give you everything that you need all the providential blessings everything is going to come through me and by me i am going to show myself strong abraham i'm going to be your shield why did why did god tell abram not to fear i believe it's because he had just went down and rescued lot and all his family from four kings and no doubt abraham probably feared retribution he probably feared to be hunted down and not only that he's on a journey and he refuses no doubt it could have been it could have been buggy loads of just gold and wealth and treasures and abraham said nope i'm not going to do it but god is reminding him when abraham when god saw that abraham put his trust in him in the moment right what is now faith right it's in the moment in that moment he showed faith in god sometimes it's in these moments of weaknesses that our our faith begins to falter and see god wants us to become strong in our faith amen i can't help but believe that that god looked down and and was well pleased with abraham and then after that there becomes this dialogue in chapter 15 between god and abraham we see human frailty come back out we all know the the the the colors test the green the orange the blue and the gold i believe abraham had a lot of green in him he's very analytical he says lord i want proof i want data what you're saying all the all the promises that you're giving me i want the proof i want to see the sign i want to know that it's going to come to pass abram's trying to make sense of god's promise and he begins to theorize that perhaps the chief of staff eliezer might be the heir that god had in mind see god had promised him your your your um descendants are going to be the the sands of the sea the numbers of the stars you ain't going to be able to number the amount of people that's going to come through you abraham and abraham's like you didn't give me a kid yet not to mention i'm an old man me and sarah we're way beyond the age of of reproducing abraham's just like lord i believe you but how in the world is this going to come to pass and he begins to theorize maybe it's eliezer the chief of staff no no abraham asked god two questions nobody ever ask god a question has anybody ever asked god am i the only one i've asked god i've had i've talked to him like he's right there god why in the world and you know there's been a few times that i feel like he answered me i'm like thank you increase my faith just by an answer and then there's other times i feel like you got the wrong spirit you're asking the wrong things and there's sometimes it's just dead silent you don't even get an answer right god ain't obligated to come down and give us an answer you look at the trial of job he wanted a court date with god and and god's like no you're not going to get it job never did get he never did get a why he don't have to explain himself he he works all things after the council of his what of his own will let's jump to verse 4 and behold the word of the lord came to him saying this shall not be thine air abraham this is not going to happen this way but he shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be down here it's not going to happen the way you think abraham so you're going to have to trust me anybody ever had confused expectations you felt like you had a promise of god you felt like you had a path and then because you have misconceptions or you have preconceived ideas of how it should go when it don't when when why when reality don't meet your preconceived ideas you just become a wreck i've been there i've done that right but what we have to learn to do is in the process we have to learn to wait and we have to learn to do things god's way and we see later on in abraham's life that that he ran ahead of god's timing right i'm not going to be able to get there to tonight but he ran ahead and then verse five he brought him forth abroad and said look now toward heaven and all the stars if they'll be able to number them he said unto him so shalt thou seek be and he believed in the lord and he counted it to him for righteousness he said unto him i am the lord that brought thee out of the earth of the counties to give thee the land of inheritance and then again abraham says lord god whereby shall i know that i shall inherit it again abraham wants tangible proof abraham is on a faith journey his faith is growing all right god said let's get to work you want to know you want an answer from me then let's get to work he says take me a heifer or three years old and as she go to three years old in a ram of three years ago then a turtle dove and a young pigeon and he took unto him all these divided them in the midst and laid each one peace against another but the birds he divided not abraham says you god says you want to you want an answer you got to roll your sleeves up it's time to sacrifice it's a very important truth that we've got to learn in life when we want to hear from god and we're desperate these little now laying me down to sleep prayers is not going to cut it you got to bombard heaven's gates you got to be like hannah right hannah wanted so desperately wanted a child and and her soul just cried out at the point of no doubt she looked like she was crazy but she was desperate right sometimes we got to go through desperate measures we got to sacrifice and more than anything i think it requires the sacrifice of what we want not what we want but it's what god wants we got to die out to self i think in his human flesh the man jesus christ we see in the garden of gethsemane he prayed that this cup would pass in his flesh but he said nevertheless lord not my will but yours be done when we can get to that point in our life then god can really begin to work and grow us in our faith because i believe sometimes we get stunned in our faith because we want things our own way and we will remain in that stunted condition until we yield our will over to god you may be 70 years old and if you have yet to relinquish your entire will to god you will still be in that in that same point age really doesn't have it's not a factor it's all about the condition of the heart and the mind god rewards those that diligently seek him verse 11 and when the fouls came down upon the carcasses abram drove them away he sacrificed and then the fouls came i believe that's a a a lesson for us that when we sacrifice we become very vulnerable the enemy wants to attack us because we're weak when we sacrifice and and we're in that weak moment and we want to hear from god it's just like when brother mark morgan preached about the transition about when we're when we're stepping we lose our balance it's like we're trying to build our faith we're trying to go to a next dimension and next level that's when we're vulnerable i can't even do it right now we become vulnerable right so when we're sacrificing and when we're desperate the enemy wants to come in because the enemy wants to do what he wants to steal kill and destroy he doesn't want our faith to grow he doesn't want you to mature he doesn't want us to grow he wants us to remain right there where we're at and stay there verse 12 trying my best to get through this and when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon abram and lo a horror of great darkness fell upon him and he said unto abram no of assurity that thou seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years and also that nation whom they shall serve will i judge and afterward listen to this afterward after the affliction after the trials after the tribulation right they shall come out with great substance affliction of the soul is what fire is to gold it purifies the affliction of the soul the trying of our faith builds our faith it produces patience which is endurance it produces steadfastness it allows us to be planted on even ground it makes our feet like con feet so whenever we we begin to travel those mountains of life we can tread right we won't slip but there's times to where it only comes through the trials and tribulations and the afflictions of life god understands that second corinthians 4 and 17 it says for our life affliction is but for a moment it worketh for us in far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory another translation says for our life and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory eternal think about it in terms of eternity the momentary afflictions that we go is but like a withering flower in terms of eternity but it's in those moments those weak moments that god is trying to what grow us that now faith right that in the moment faith not yesterday's faith not tomorrow's faith but in the moment he wants us to become strong so whenever we climb mount moriah we do it without hesitation when you come and you see abraham early on i don't think he would have been willing to pull out the knife and raise his hand to slay his most beloved son the promise the long-awaited promise but see it was a faith journey what abraham learned to do was was to give up his deepest desires to god the deepest the deepest essence of who we are abraham gave it to god and he trusted him he fully trusted him that's mature faith the passage it says that abraham you're not going to see this come to pass you're going to die in peace and it says that verse 17 when it came to pass the sun went down and it was dark behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces between that sacrifice i feel like god came down himself in the midst of that sacrifice and he cut a covenant with man abraham i will be with you abraham i am going to make sure this all comes to pass it echoes i will never leave you nor forsake you i am the very present help in the time of trouble abraham and no doubt it says that the the horror of darkness came upon him i'm coming to an end if the musicians want to come i want to just end tonight by way of of listening to god and a response let's all stand in this place god comes down in the midst of darkness no doubt the darkest time of abraham's life he sees that vision and god is there no matter where we find ourselves in our faith journey with the lord in this moment he wants to meet you where you're at if you've struggled with faith if you if that's come out of your mouth lord i just i just struggle he's not here to condemn you tonight he's not here to to cast judgment he is here right now to meet you where you're at in your struggle in your darkness if it's dark in your life right now he's there to meet you if you're troubled whatever the case is he's here tonight to meet us because he wants to grow us first peter 1 verse 6 this is my last passage for tonight and we'll end by way of altar wherein you greatly rejoice now through now for a season if need be you're in heaviness you feel heavy through manifold it means various temptations or trials that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing how many is looking for the appearing of jesus christ i'm looking for jesus christ i don't know about you but this world is not my home i'm looking for a city i'm going to do my very best to take my family with me that's the greatest thing we can do and whatever it takes god are we willing to say that tonight lord whatever it takes we sing the song but do we mean it lord whatever it takes god if it's got to take a trial tribulation to purify me god to get all the dross out of my life then lord bring it because at the end of the day i gotta be saved verse say whom having not seen you love we've never physically seen jesus christ but we love him amen that's faith that's your measure of faith if you love jesus tonight you have a measure of faith in whom now we see him not yet we believe you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory the last verse receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your soul when it's all said and done saints of god what will be said of us what will be said what will the author and the finisher of our faith route about us will he say you're receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls because that's what it's about at the end of the day that's what it's about the end journey of our faith whether we draw our last breath upon this earth and the lord takes us home a natural death or we're raptured up out of here what is the end of our faith the main goal tonight is the salvation of your soul i believe sometimes god allows things to come our way to purify us that can come no other way sometimes we bring things on ourself through weak moments but see god can turn a weak moment and and make it good right romans 8 28 right we know that all things work together for the good to them that love god to those who called according to not my purpose but his purpose see he can make all things beautiful in his time if we allow it what are we going to allow god to do in our life he can't do anything until we fully surrender that's what coming to the altar is about that's what abraham did he taught us he built altars he was a son god i i'm surrendering my life to you he was an altar builder his whole life this world was not his home and neither is it ours we got a heaven to gain and as i've heard it my whole life and i held a shine right that's what it's all about saints of god the altar is open god is here to meet you where you're at wherever you feel god is is wanting to build us up he wants to edify us he wants us to come if we're if we're heavy-laden if we're burning down he wants us to come he wants us to cast our cares he wants to grow our faith if we're going through a trial and tribulation we've got to just reach out and touch his hand and and refuse to let go we've got to learn to wait on god we cannot run ahead of god we've got to learn to wait we've got to learn to build our house and our foundation and our entire life upon the lord jesus christ amen let's end this altar in prayer