Prepare for More Pt. VI
Tim Ross | October 18, 2020
“Famines are quality assurance checks for your faith. Abraham hits this moment where he literally gets tried in his face because a famine hits.”
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Transcription
Embassy City family, I love you guys, I miss you. I'm so grateful that we have this opportunity to be with each other once again. I'm so grateful to step back into the word of God with some people in the building. I'm grateful that y'all are here and I am so excited that we get the opportunity to go into God's word together. Whether you're joining us from near or far, whether you're an ambassador that's a part of this local community or you've just taken on us as a family, you've adopted us into the family. Whether you are in Africa or Asia or the UK or Australia, Canada, down in South America, the Caribbean, wherever you're watching from, we're grateful that you decided to join us today.
If you have your Bibles, we're still in the book of Genesis and we're still in chapter 12. Who knew you could ring this much out of one chapter? I want to take you back to Genesis 12. There are some verses that I want to read because let me just say this to you guys up front, I've been talking for five weeks now, five parts to this message about Prepare for More. There's a lot to get excited about. All the stuff we've been talking about, there's a lot to get excited about, but now I have to give you the legalese.
I got to give you the fine print. I got to give you the stuff about preparing for more that you probably don't want to hear because you want to be like, that's right Lord. Just give it to me, give it to me all. Enlarge my territory, Jesus. It's all good, but if I don't give you this fine print, if I don't give you the precautions to take, you could disqualify yourself from having more. I want to read you something, Genesis 12, starting at the 10th verse.
Here's what it says, "At that time, a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt where he lived as a foreigner. As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, 'Look, you are a very beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife. Let's kill him, then we can have her'." Can I just pause? Do you know how fine Sarai has to be? That this is your first thought when you're coming to a city that you're going to be a foreigner in? He said, "Please tell them that you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you."
"Sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai's beauty. When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace." Let me pause again. Do you know how fine you got to be? You just walk through the city and they go home to Pharaoh singing, "We saw somebody sir, that you would love." "Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts." Y'all got to underline this. If you got a Bible, please underline this. If you're digital, please highlight this because this is going to be something that is going to blow your mind when I come back to it.
"Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her; sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. But the lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply, 'What have you done to me?' he demanded." "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and get out of here." "Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them and he sent Abram out of the country along with his wife and all his possessions." [laughs]
If you're taking notes, it's just Prepare for More Part six. That's right, I got a lot of parts to this one. Prepare for More Part six. Bow your heads, let's pray before we get into it. Shall we? Holy spirit, help us to steward what you want to give us, amen. I want to dive straight into these points because I think the faster I get into the points, the more I can unpack what I feel like God wants me to give you with them. Is that all right?
Point number one, please write this down. Famines test faith. Famines test faith. Here's what it says, "At that time, a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt where he lived as a foreigner." Famines test faith. It was all good a week ago-- Some people know that line, but it was all good when you were just taking in the promises of God. When you heard the prophecy and you cried your eyes out. When you were part of the presbytery, somebody gave you a word in due season and you were like, "Amen, I receive it. God you're going to do more than enough for me. You're going to bless me exceedingly, abundantly above all that I can ask or think," and then you get fired.
Then you get furloughed. Then COVID happens and you don't have any insurance. Then your industry that was reliant upon people coming to frequent your business, slows down. It's in those times that you find out what your faith is made of. We talk about Abram who would soon be known as Abraham, and the fact that he is the father of our faith, but we find out very early on in the same chapter, that he was given six promises by God. We find out his faith wasn't that strong.
Oh he stepped out on faith and he left everything that he had. Oh goodness, he was a man that God could trust, that it was good when things were good. Can I ask a question? How is your faith when things aren't so good? We're quick to post about God's blessings when everything's going well, but how do you express yourself when things are not going well? How do you position the posture of your heart when things are not going your way? How open are you about your faith when you feel like your faith has gotten you to a spot that isn't convenient for you?
Famines test faith. I'm not talking about a bump in the finances. I'm not talking about maybe a bad day or a bad week. I'm talking about when it gets down to a famine. You know what a famine means? Things dry up in a famine. You can hear your stomach growling in a famine. When my boys tell me, "I'm starving," I always say, "Do you want me to Google some picture images of some starving kids?" They say, "No daddy, I'm just hungry. My bad, I didn't mean that."
See, a lot of people think that you're going through a bad season, but it's not a bad season until everything dries up. You might have had a day, you might have had a bad week. Your kids might have thrown you a little attitude for a couple of days, but a famine means that everything is dried up and there's nothing else coming in. You pray for rain and there's no rain to be found. You pray for some peace and there's no peace to be found. What happens to your faith in those seasons?
Let me tell you something, you don't find out until those seasons. Do you know how many people look back into the Bible and as they read scripture say, "I'd have never done that. If that was me, I'd have never gave up on God." Come on now. Do I have to paint some scenarios for you? Do I got to give you some hypotheticals that if you got into, you might be shaky in your faith? If you've never experienced abject poverty, of course, you would think you would do well if you were ever in that situation, but can I just tell you? I've seen people lose their salvation in five o'clock traffic. I've seen faith go away on Thirty Five.
I don't know where y'all live, but out here in the States 35 or 635, between 5:00 and 7:00 PM can be a whole thing. If traffic could do that to you, don't let a relationship get complicated. y'all will lose your salvation for four months. "I don't understand, God, why I'm going through this." That's not even a famine. That's just miscommunication. That's just a lack of marital counseling. Not even a famine.
I just want you to imagine now, Abraham, who's already wealthy, he has hit a situation in his life where it's finally hitting his pockets because if your security is in your wealth, and in what you have, and what you have starts going away-- Thank you, Holy Spirit. If your security is looking in the bank account and you see five zeros, you feel better. Four zeros, you're like, "Okay, I'm all right." Three zeros, you're like, "We're not going to make it." One zero, "God's left me. He has completely despised and forsaken me. I don't know what I did wrong." It's just a famine. Thank you Holy Spirit.
Famines are quality assurance checks for your faith. That was him right there. Y'all need to write. That was good. Famines are quality assurance checks for your faith. Abraham hits this moment where he literally gets tried in his face because a famine hits.
Point number two, please write this down. No altar, no anchor. I'm going to say that again. No, altar, no anchor. Last week, in part five, I talked about the significance of having altars and worshipping. Now, we find out that Abram has gone down to Egypt. Here's what it says, "As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarah, 'Look, you are a very beautiful woman. When the Egyptian see you, they will say, 'This is his wife, let's kill him, then we can have her.' Please tell them you are my sister, then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you."'
What would make Abram device this? What would make Abram get down to Egypt, and all of a sudden, forget God's covenant promise that was just made to him a few verses earlier and now have to devise and scheme a plan to get through this season of his life. I'm going to tell you exactly why this whole thing happened. He didn't build an altar. From the time Abram had left, where he was, every place he had gone, he built an altar. The first place he decides not to build an altar is the first place he begins to not be anchored. Altars, anchor you in times of famine.
I remember when I was going to be a young adult pastor. I got hired May of 2006. I was 30 years old, and I was asked to be over the young adult ministry. 18 to 30 years old. At that time, there was single's ministry that was very popular at larger churches. There was college and career ministry, there was college ministry, but there really wasn't young adult ministry. They had all these specialized niches that they would do, but nothing that was just broader for just all young adults and I had never been a young adult pastor before, it was a relatively new, what am I looking for? Genre of ministry that they were providing for larger churches.
I went to the Lord, I said, "Lord, I don't know anything about young adults. I'm 30, but I got married when I was 23. I know nothing about no dating life through my 20s, and I've never been to college. I've never posted one thing to blackboard. I don't know what I'm going to saying these people. I cannot relate to them at all." I said, "Holy Spirit, what do young adults need?" Here was the Holy Spirit's response. He said, "Young adults need an anchor for their soul." I said, "You're right, Lord, because when the storms of life hit, and the winds are howling, and the waves are crashing, you wind up in the deep blue sea, and you could wind up shipwrecked."
You said amen to that, too. That's what I thought. That's what I said to the Lord. You know what His response was? No, Tim. He was like, no, sir. That was cute, but no. He said, and this thing He said to me was so profound, He said, "Tim, on a calm day with the clear sky, a boat with no anchor will still drift away." See, we think that it's only when storms hit that can take us outside of our space and grace, where we've placed our faith, but the truth is, there is a current that is always pulling at your character and your integrity, and when the enemy really wants to do a number on you, he's not going to do it when there's drama and chaos, he's going to do it when it's calm.
What I would see our young adults do is not have a watch set. There was no 18-year-olds with a watch set saying, "I've been in this youth ministry. I've been fully committed, but I can't wait till I turn 18 so I can go wallow. I'll go outside and sleep around and drink some alcohol and wake up in a place that I don't even remember how I got there and smoke some weed and do some drugs." No, no. It didn't start out like that. You would rebuke the devil if he came at you like that.
It was more passive. It was, "Girl Come on, you can come to the club Wednesday night, it's her birthday. I know you're used to being in church, but come on, you can't even come out for a birthday?" Now you get to the club and you're like, "Okay, I remember how to do a couple of moves. Cash money coming through for the 99. I do remember that. Okay." Then it's like, "Girl, it is a birthday. I may just have a drink." Always starts with one and before you know, it's just a current.
You went there and then four weeks later, they were like, "Hey, come back to the club again." "Is it a birthday?" "No, but you remember how much fun we had?" You go again. Instead of just one champagne drink, it's three shots and over time, you're out in the deep blue sea. No storm ever broke out, but because you don't have an altar, you don't have an anchor.
I don't know, I need to say this for some single people that are out there. Some of y'all are getting too comfortable hanging out at your girlfriend's house and your boyfriend's house. They both y'all are saved, y'all are saved. Y'all love the Lord. You look too comfortable on that couch, and you stay too late and because you love your boo, no, I don't want them to go home because they might crash and die, it's 12:30 at night, I care about your welfare of your body and your soul, you can't die. You're like, no, we probably shouldn't be spending the night. It's like, you sleep on the couch. I'll sleep in the room. I'll lock the door. We'll pray for each other and we're going to remain pure.
It starts off like that. Y'all made it through the first two nights like that. Then y'all slept on the couch together, and you made it through that, but all you were doing was desensitizing yourself to what the enemy ultimately wanted to do which was compromise your purity and your plan for the wedding that you had in your mind to honor God not to honor your own gratification. No altar, no anchor.
Listen, I want to take my time here because whatever season of life you find yourself in, you have to build an altar there. I used to work at CarMax, the auto Superstore, and I used to have my Bible on my desk and I would come in and when customers come in, I would be trying to help them with their auto transaction. Then one of the other employees came in and said, "Hey, I have an issue with you having your Bible on that desk." I said, "Well, I don't have an issue with you having your people magazine on your desk. As much as you might object to the stuff, that's in this Bible, I object to some of that stuff that's in people magazine". Then corporate said nothing could be on the desk.
That's fine. The Bible just went into the drawer, but my altar was still there. When you remove your altars, you remove your reminder. I am going to say that again. When you remove your alters, you remove the reminder of who has you in the season. The reason why Abraham came up with this plan because he removed his reminder of who had to be navigating him here.
God, didn't start Abram off over here and accidentally, he wound up in a famine-like, "Oh, Abraham I forgot to tell you to make a left, my bad. I didn't know you were going to go through this crisis." God knew exactly where Abram was going to be. He told them to go anyway. It was up to Abram to remind himself, I have a covenant with God. Even though I'm going down into a place as a stranger and my wife is fine, I got to trust God to keep us, not me. I have to trust God to keep us, not my own devices.
I have to trust God to keep us, not my own machinations, not my own schemes, not my own plans, not my own will, not my own way. I'm not responsible for taking care of me in this situation. The covenant God that told me to come here is responsible for that.
Point number three. Compromise brings complications.
I told y'all this is the fine print stuff. This week and next week, this is your fine print. Because I can't have you just hallelujah and ki-ki-ki-ing over the fact that all these promises are coming and then you lose them because you don't have these basic fundamentals. I think it's malpractice for any Pastor Tim to always talk about blessings, but not give the admonishments and the warnings on how you could lose those blessings. It's malpractice. Okay?
Point number three, compromise brings complications. Here's what it says and sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai's beauty. When the palace official saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king and Sarai was taken into his palace. Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants and camels.
All right, so let's deal with some history right now. Abram is in this land. He is thinking to himself, my wife's very, very beautiful. I can use a technicality here that could benefit me. Hey, Sarai, let's tell all these people if they ask, that you're my sister. This is actually deceit, more than it is a lie. A lie is when there's an absence of truth, deceit is when there is some truth in it, but it's wrapped around a disguise of a lie.
Now, Abram and Sarai, they are half brother and sister. We don't want to talk about all that. That's just the history of the Bible. They were trying to figure it out at that time. I don't know how that passed, but it did. The truth is, that it is his half-sister. Modern times, we would be like eew, but that was a long time ago. Don't try that now. Is what I'm saying.
For the two creeps out there, like what?. I just got to put that out there.
God had to work with what He had to work with back there. When he makes this statement, there's deception in it because there is some truth to it, but it's wrapped around in a lie, but here's a plan that Abraham had in his mind. Listen. If I tell them that you're my sister, then I become the negotiator of anybody that wants to actually marry you. Because as customs in the Middle East, if you want to marry somebody, you have to go to the father or the eldest brother to arrange the marriage.
Pharaoh is, of course, taking every beautiful woman he can and the more political power they have, and the more assets they have, it's better for his whole kingdom. Abram thought by the time they set up the negotiations for them coming to me, we will have navigated through Egypt and got out on the other side before we could ever do that and it will be fine. This is what happens when you do stuff for your own strength. You got to cover all the bases yourself. Like I'm going to do this and then we're going to do that. If they say that, then we're going to do this.
Except Pharaoh didn't want to negotiate. He just took her, which was never part of the plan that Abram expected. Without even negotiating, Pharaoh says, hey, I'm taking your sister. Here's a dowry that you can have. I'm just going to pay you for your sister. As part of the payment, Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her; sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants and camels. Now a pop quiz. All note takers, what's point number three?
Compromise brings complications. Let's go over this verse one more time. 16, slower. "Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her; sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants and camels." Now let me just slow down right here again. He gave these many gifts because of her, but he gave these many gifts because of a lie because of deception. Now these last one, two, three, four, five, six, six words, male and female servants and camels. Let's just isolate male and female servants. Do you know who one of these services were? Hagar. Because of deceit and lies, Hagar becomes a part of Abram's possessions and his wealth.
On the other side of this one deception, the only reason why Hagar is even considered as a plan B to what God said is because he didn't build an altar when he got to Egypt. Compromise brings complications. I don't want you to have the promises of God and the expectation of them, but-- thank you, Holy spirit. I can't put a prophetic promise on bad character. I can't put out a prophetic word to expect something great on poor integrity. Don't compromise in the middle of a famine. Don't allow yourself at any point in your life to get to a place where you think I can handle this one. I can deal with this one on my own.
It's not the way that it works. Abram winds up getting Hagar in the family because he tells a lie. If you track that all the way out, and there's no disrespect to the sons of Ishmael and all the people that are devout in the Muslim faith, but none of this would have been an issue if Abram doesn't compromise in this one place. Do you know how many complications have happened in people's life because they decided to compromise in a place where they were fearful, a place where they got scared, a place where they felt like, I just thought if I just did this it would help, and then it wound up hurting? Anybody beside me? Because I'm not saying this out of theory, I've done it. It hurt. Then the note to self was, "Hey bro, don't do this again."
Point number four. Hope y'all are getting this, I know this is not one of them big, "Yes, give it to me," I know this ain't one of them messages, all right. You got to deal with this. Some of y'all probably already turned me off. Turn it back on.
I'm going to still be here, wherever you unclick, I'll still be here. Point number four. I almost jumped out of my skin when the Lord gave me this point because this just-- Y'all ready for it?
But are you sure you're ready for it though?
She's saying, no, she like, "No, I'm good." After point three she was like, "Cut me off, I'm good." Point number four, please write this down. Don't make deliverance a habit.
Don't make deliverance a habit. I'm going to let that marinate real quick. Don't make deliverance a habit. You ready for this? "But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram's wife." God had to protect His own word. Even though Abram compromised, God had to protect His own word. Sarah wasn't in on this. Abram did this and said this out of fright, put Sarah in a bad situation. If Pharaoh would have had sexual relations with Sarai, the promise would have been over. God can't let this happen so He sends plagues to Pharaoh. Pharaoh has no idea what's going on.
All these plagues just started hitting Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh like, "Huh? Bro, I ain't do nothing. What is happening?" These plagues just keep hitting Pharaoh's house. So Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply "What have you done to me?" He demanded, "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say 'She is my sister', and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife." Take her man. About to get me killed, bro. I'm out here with COVID, SARS, H1N1, boils, sunburn, lice, mice and rats. Take her and get out of here. I love this part. Pharaoh ordered some of the men to escort them, he didn't even trust them.
"Hey man y'all go with them. Make sure they get out." Pharaoh ordered some of the men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country along with his wife and all his possessions. Now, let me just hit on this before I deal with this point, "All his possessions." He never asked for the dowry back. That's how Hagar goes with them. He never asked for the gift that he gave to get Sarai, he never asked for it back when he leaves. What looks like a blessing was amassed through deception. That's not a blessing, that's a curse.
It's just like lying on your taxes to get another $1,100. Whatever you lied about to get that extra $1,100, it's actually not a blessing, it's a curse because you got it through deception. It ain't going to do nothing for you. Even if you tithe on it, it ain't going to do nothing for you. I feel this today. I'm telling you man, I'm telling y'all, don't make deliverance a habit.
This point, I'd never seen this. I've been reading the Bible 24 years, I've never seen this until I studied for this message. There are some deliverances that you shouldn't be in for God to be trying to get you out of. Stop lying. Stop cheating. Stop making the wrong decisions. I know that sounds so basic, but I know it's easier said than done. Listen, I've had an addiction, y'all know about my testimony of having a porn addiction, I know what it is to have a area of your life that's hard to bring under control, but that's where you have to be honest enough to say I need some outside help, and not for a season, for a lifetime.
Because I'm weak in this area and if you ever get me in this area, nine and a half times out of ten, I might slip. Instead of keep playing myself over and over again like I'm getting strong in this area, let me just call a spade a spade, I'm terrible in this area and I need to keep myself submitted and accountable in this area because I don't want to make this type of deliverance a habit. I shouldn't keep over and over again putting myself in a position where God has to come bail me out because I did something dumb.
If you wind up in a situation that was outside of your control, God will deliver you, but you should not be in a situation where you're always asking God to bail you out but you're the one who put yourself in the situation. I have seen my homies, I'm from LA, I have seen some of them do the dumbest dirt I've ever seen in my life and then at their court hearing, "Pray for me. Pray that God show up and be a lawyer in the courtroom." No, bro. You need Johnnie Cochran, and he's dead. You want God to be a lawyer in the courtroom but you stole $7,000 from the bank. Now you want God to come through and be your deliverer. He might deliver you, but why would you keep putting yourself in this situation?
I'm so passionate about this right now. We have so many people-- I've been countless altar calls, come down to countless altar calls, and then facilitated countless altar calls. You get down there and you're talking to people, and they're bearing their soul. Then you realize, after they open their mouth and they talk about the situation, you're like, "You do that to you." "Please pray for me because I'm in this situation and I just need some help."
You saw through it, then you're like, "Okay, so you did this to you. I'm going to pray but you also need to make a decision to maybe not do this again because this is becoming a habit for you where you keep putting your own self in the same situation and then want God to come bail you out." It work once here, once here, right there. There's a whole bunch of other situations. Well, God's like, "I don't know what to tell you. You reap what you sow. There are consequences to your actions." I tell Nathan and Noah this all the time, you're not mad at us, you're mad at you.
It's not actually my fault you're not playing Fortnite today, it's actually your fault you're not playing Fortnite today. You're not mad at me, you're mad at your own actions and the consequences that they brought. So don't make deliverance a habit. If God has to come deliver you, let it be because the enemy got you. I'm talking about stole you, kidnapped you. You was walking down the street eating ice cream, they put the hoodie over your neck, threw you in the van, drove off, you woke up in Siberia. That's, I need God to be an extraction worker, but not because I keep putting myself in dumb situations and I'm just hoping God bails me out.
Tim, prepare for more. Where is the prepare for more part? That's the fine print y'all. Spoiler alert, part seven going to be the same thing. I know some of y'all just don't get it one time, and then you got to hit them with a different angle, then they be like, "He wasn't talking to me last week, but I guess he got me today."
I need you to have this because if you have the blessings and you don't have the warnings, you'll take it for granted, and you'll live with this spirit of entitlement that God is just supposed to take care of you regardless of however you're acting. God's made a covenant with you, He's never going to leave you, He's never going to forsake you, but there are certain stuff you can get yourself in.
You can ask any of my prison brothers and sisters that have come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior and they are on fire for the Lord, but they still have 11 years left on their sentence or you got guys that are doing life or some people that are even on death row, even though they're committed to Christ, it doesn't mean that they're going to automatically have everything go their way.
I need you to have this message and the one I'm going to give you next week because I just want there to be enough character and integrity in you to hold on to what God gives you. There is nothing worse in this life, in my opinion, than to only be able to hold on to God's promises temporarily. It would break my heart if all of the promises God chose to give you was in a highlight reel in your distant memory. I remember when God did this, I remember when God did that, I remember when God did this, where are all those-- I had it but I couldn't keep it because I refused to line up and live the way He told me to live so I can actually hold on to it. Again, this ain't what you wanted, it is what you need.
Bow your heads, let me pray for you. Holy Spirit, I'm so grateful that you love us enough to tell us the truth. I pray, Lord God, that this message would go down deep, deep into the hearts of my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters in a way that causes them to bring their heart to the forefront and allow you to examine it for what might be in their good, bad and ugly.
Holy Spirit, I'm praying that as you point out those things that are great in us and those things that are not so great in us, that we would just be humble enough to receive what you have to say and submit to what you would have us do so that we can walk in the character and integrity that you've called us to.
God, I pray for anybody out there that has never given their life to Jesus Christ. If they would open up their mouth, confess with their mouth, believe in their heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and God raised Him from the dead, that they would know that they are saved, that heaven's throwing a party on their behalf. As they turn from the way that they had been living their life to repent, I pray, Lord God, that they come into a relationship that they never thought they would have with you. In the mightiest name we pray, Jesus' name, amen. I love you guys. I'll see you next week with part seven, peace.
