Promise & Providence

And turn to Genesis chapter 24. We'll begin reading in verse 28 and finish this chapter, this narrative of finding a wife for Isaac. Beginning in verse 28, Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things. Rebecca had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out toward the man to the spring. As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms and heard the words of Rebecca, his sister, thus the man spoke to me, he went to the man.

And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. He said, Come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels. So the man came to the house and harnessed the camels and gave straw and fodder to the camels. And there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

Then food was set before him to eat, but he said, I will not eat until I have said what I have to say. He said, speak on. So he said, I am Abraham's servant. The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. And Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old.

And to him he has given all that he has. My master made me swear, saying, You shall not take a wife from my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, but you shall go to my father's house and to my clan and take a wife from my son. I said to my master, Perhaps the woman will not follow me. But he said to me, The Lord before whom I have walked will send his angel with you and prosper your way.

You shall take a wife from my son from my clan and from my father's house. then you will be free from my oath when you come to my clan and if they will not give her to you you will be free from your from my oath I came today to the spring and said oh lord the god of my master Abraham if now you're prospering the way that I go behold I am standing by the spring of water let the virgin who comes out to draw water to whom I shall say please give me a little water from your jar to drink and who will say to me drink and I will draw for your camels also let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master's son. Before I had finished speaking in my heart behold Rebecca came out with her water jar on her shoulder and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her please let me drink.

She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said drink and I will give your camel's drink also. So I drank and she gave the camel's drink also. Then I asked her whose daughter are you? She said the daughter of Bethuel nay her son who Milcah bore to him. So I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms. Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son.

Now then, if you're going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me, and if not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand or to the left. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, the thing has come from the Lord, we cannot speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebecca is before you. Take her and go and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has spoken.

When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold and garments and gave them to Rebecca. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. when they arose in the morning he said send me away to my master her brother and her mother said let the young woman remain with us a while at least 10 days that then after that she may go but he said to them do not delay me since the lord has prospered my way send me away that i may go to my master they said let us call the young woman and ask her and they called rebecca and said to her, will you go with this man?

She said, I will go. So they sent away Rebecca, their sister and her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebecca and said to her, oh sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him. Then Rebecca and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebecca and went his way.

Now Isaac had returned from Be'er Lehoi Roi and was dwelling in the Negev. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. He lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there was camels coming. There were camels coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes. And when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel and said to the servant, who is that man walking in the field to meet us?

Servant said, it is my master. So she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebecca and she became his wife and he loved her so Isaac was comforted after her mother's death let's pray father open the text of scripture to us now help us to learn of your faithfulness and of your providence help us father in doing this not just to learn the story of Isaac and a bride but of what's really important, your promises.

Grant that to us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. 1985, I began my ministry here at LaRue Baptist Church. The question, though, is how did God move me from a lakeside town of Winona Lake to a town in the middle of Ohio, this little village on the Scioto? What if I told you that I was eating lunch at Brock Manufacturing where I was working at the time and I was in my corner eating my lunch in my space and suddenly I got this vision of a native LaRuean by the name of Larry Haas and this vision said to me, come here, come to LaRue and help us.

You would think I was crazy. What really happened was that Lynn Sweeney who had been one of Becca college roommates saw a dual herbicide commercial which had been filmed in Creston Iowa Becca hometown which reminded her that her husband, me, was looking for a place of ministry. She was working with Dale Shaw, a deacon from this church, and told him about us.

That moved Dale to call me, and the rest is history, as they say. Now, how did God accomplish his purpose of providing a pastor for LaRue Baptist Church? He did it in his providence. Now, what is providence? Providence is how God works to accomplish his purposes by using normal means rather than using direct action. If, while eating my lunch at Brock, a vision appeared to me of Larry Haas standing saying, come to the room and help us, that would be God moving directly to accomplish his purposes.

But rather than acting directly, God acted providentially. He used normal means. He orchestrated things so that long, long, long ago, Becca and Lynn would be roommates in Maddox Hall. He orchestrated the filming of that commercial in Creston, Iowa. He arranged the events on that day. He arranged the events so that Lynn and Dale were teaching together.

He so orchestrated the events of that day that Lynn was watching television that night when the commercial came on. But rather it's directly or providentially it is God accomplishing his purpose. It is God who is working. Whether it's directly, whether it's providentially, it is God who is working. Now, the story before us this morning, the story of finding a bride for Isaac, is a story of God fulfilling his promise and accomplishing the fulfillment of that promise, but he does it providentially and not directly.

You see, when Adam needed a wife, God acted directly. created her out of his rib. But not with Rebecca. She just didn't appear out of the dust in the Negev for Isaac, did she? No, God used normal means to find a wife for Isaac. And once more in this narrative, God gives us an opportunity to see the faith of Abraham near the end of his life. Last week we saw that Abraham, believing God's promise of the land to him, purchased a burial site for his wife.

Instead of taking her back to his ancestral homeland, he purchased a piece of property, a field and a cave, in order, in actuality saying, this is the land that God has promised, this now is my homeland, and this will be the homeland of all my descendants. He acted in faith. In chapter 24 now, as we observe Abraham, now fully committed to the promises God made to him, we see God advancing the fulfillment of that promise through the actions of faithful people.

That is, he works providentially. Now here's the issue. God had promised Abraham innumerable descendants that would bless the whole earth. But the promised son has no wife. where will these descendants come from? He has to have a wife. And so this story of finding a wife for Isaac shows how the Lord begins to fulfill that very promise of descendants in the land.

It's a story of God fulfilling his promise by providential means. He uses the actions of faithful people to fulfill his promise. Now you have to see Abraham now at the end of his life. He's truly a man of faith. In light of that faith, he commissions his servant in the most solemn way to find a wife for Isaac. Now don't ask me, because nobody really knows what the significance of sticking your hand under somebody's thigh.

If another man stuck his hand under my thigh, I'd slug him. But Abraham, in that day, to swear an oath that was the most solemn way of swearing an oath. This is very important to Abraham. So he says to his servant, put your hand under my thigh and you swear this oath. And in the instructions to his servant, you see his single-minded commitment to God's promise of the land to his descendants.

He's committed to that promise. You can tell. How do you know? He rejects the corrupt Canaanites. as any possibility for a wife, for a son. Because you remember in chapter 15 that God had said, your people will be away from this land for four generations, and then they will come back. For the sin of the Canaanites then will be full, and they will take the land from them.

And so Abraham knew, because of what God had promised, that he couldn't take a wife from the Canaanites. And notice in this oath, and by the way, I'm not going to read the text over again. It's 67 verses, right? So we're not going to read these texts, but you look at the verses. You notice that he says to his servant, I want you to swear that you will never, ever take my son Isaac back to the old land.

Right? He belongs here. This is our ancestral land now. That no longer is our homeland. This is because God promised it to my descendants, and so Isaac is going to stay here. Isaac is going to stay here and he's going to raise up the seed of blessing in this land.

He believes the promises of God He is so confident that God wants his seed to possess this land that he says to the servant that God will orchestrate all the events so that you will be able to find a wife in that other land. He will send his angel before you. The Lord will prepare the way so that you will find a suitable wife. Now he says, if she's not willing to come, you're free from this oath.

Except what? do not take Isaac back to that land. Right? In essence, what he's saying to him is don't ever take Isaac back there. This is our land. I believe what God has said. And if you don't find a wife there, if God doesn't give you a wife, then we'll wait on God to bring him a wife in some other way.

He so trusts God. Isn't this interesting? And you've got to see this, because I think this is what Moses is trying to tell us. Abraham, who used to be the engineer of solutions, right? Who used to say, well, we better do something to help God. At this point, completely relies on God.

No engineering of solutions, he says. Go there, the Lord will find a wife, and if he doesn't there, he'll find her somewhere else. And by the way, look at verses 6 and 7. And I think this is important. verses 6 and 7 Abraham said to him see to it that you do not take my son back there the Lord the God of heaven who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred and who spoke to me and swore to me to your offspring I will give this land he will send his angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there but if the woman is not willing to follow you then you will be free from this oath of mine only you must not take my son back there.

These are the last recorded words of Abraham in the whole story of this man. And what are they? He defines his entire life in light of the promise of God. One writer says, Abraham enters and leaves history on the basis of the divine promise. this is a man of mature faith he is trusting God now in every way he can what's the point understand that God uses his people acting in faith to fulfill his promise God uses his people acting in faith to fulfill his promise Abraham acts on the basis of God's promise, but note, he does not presume upon those promises.

He does not presume upon those promises. Abraham could have said, God promised me descendants, so I'll wait for the right wife for Isaac to show up. That's not faith. That's presumption. Yet, he believed the promise, and so he acted on that promise. God promised descendants, so let's go find a wife.

He's acting by faith. God promised descendants, so let's go get a wife. He doesn't wait for God to miraculously bring this woman. Right? He believes the promise, and so he acts on it and says, let's go find Isaac a wife. You know, back in 1982, Beck and I left to Iowa.

We'd been living in Iowa for a year. It was crazy. Calvin was born out there. We moved out there when Beck was about eight months pregnant. We went to live with her folks. we said, ah, church will snap me up in a few more months and we'll be gone. Well, we ended up living there for a year and nobody wanted me.

And so back now pregnant with Levi, we thought we cannot live with parents and keep reproducing pasmas. So we better go home to Indiana. And so we went back home to Indiana. Now, those of you who are old enough know 1982 were horrible economic times. There were no jobs to be found. They just weren't there. and yet we believed God's promise that he would supply our needs if we sought his kingdom and for us the righteous thing to do was to go home wasn't to stay there and have more kids with parents just wasn't good you know what I did after we got settled in our house every day I'd get on my dress pants and my dress shirt in those days, there's only one of that and I had my corduroy coat that was my Sunday coat and every day I would get dressed and for at least six hours a day I would pound the pavement I went to every place of business I could find and I filled out applications for you young people, this is how you used to look for a job You would actually go into a place, and they would give you an application, and you would fill it out.

None of this online business. And so I would go to the industrial park, and I'd just walk up one side of the road, fill up applications on every place on that side, and fill in applications in every place on this side, and then go somewhere else and just go to every place I could find. I'd walk in, and I would say, I'm looking for a job. Do you have any jobs available?

Almost every time I heard, no, we don't, but if you want, you can fill out an application. Okay, I'll do that. Did that six hours a day. To do that was acting in faith. To sit home and wait for some miraculous phone call for a job would be presumption. But I believed that God would provide a job.

You know what? He did. In fact, He provided two. I worked at one sorry place for two weeks until I got an offer to work at Brock Manufacturing. And by the way, we started working 80 hours a week at that place. It was miserable.

It paid a lot of money, though. But the point is God by looking for a job I was acting in faith I believed God would provide a job but I didn wait for a phone call That presumption The point is God fulfilled his promise But he fulfills his promise with people acting in faith. So remember, God uses people acting in faith to fulfill his promise. Now, let's go on with the story.

This unnamed servant then, who by the way is almost the main character. We don't know who he is. He may be Eliezer that we met earlier, but we just don't know. He's an unnamed servant, but he's a faithful, faithful servant. He heads out for Mesopotamia with an entourage of men and ten camels, no doubt carrying the dowry for this future bride. He reaches Nahor and he camps out at the well, getting the camels to rest.

In the evening, the women come out to get the water. That was the custom. By the way, that's why Jesus met the woman at the well in Samaria at noon, because she was not reputable company. She couldn't come out with the rest of the women at the end of the day. She had to come out during the middle of the day. But that's neither here nor there.

That's just an interesting little factoid. So he knows the women are going to come out in the evening to get water, and he doesn't know what to do. How am I going to find a wife in this place? Do I go to the courthouse and find out who's related to Abraham? What am I going to do? So he prays and he says, notice in verse 12, God, I won't succeed apart from your help.

This is impossible unless you help me. Unless you do this, I will not make any progress. And notice as well in verse 12 that he says, grant success because you have made a promise to my master. You've made covenant promises to my master. Do it because of your covenant. That's what the word steadfast love. because of your steadfast love, because of your covenant love to Abraham, do this.

Again, he's acting with faith. And in verse 14, he prays for a woman of extraordinary character. He asks for a woman who will not only offer him a drink, but will give his camels a drink. now very quickly let me just say this this text is not teaching you to pray for signs ok let's not even go there because frankly if you want to say see God says pray for signs then I will say to you God also says hire somebody to find your son a wife and that you believe in arranged marriages ok so be careful where you go with that If you're going to take one, you better take it all.

I tend to like the latter, but that's just my opinion. But note what he asks for. Essentially, you know what he's praying for? He's praying for a woman of extraordinary character, the kind of character that God loves. That's what he's praying for. He says, Lord, give a woman who's like this.

All right? now before he even opens his eyes from praying just imagine he's sitting there praying well lord i'm asked for a drink have her give me and then he he opens his eyes and bang there's rebecca already she's right there with the with with her water jug on her shoulder and so he says um can i have a drink of water and she says yeah sure here have a drink oh by the way i will give water to your camels. Do you know that camels can drink 25 gallons of water at one shot? You think about that for a minute.

That girl must have been working pretty hard. And you just don't offer water to camels so they can suck up that much stuff. That's amazing. And you know what's interesting? In verse 20, it says that she quickly did it, and then she ran to get more water for the camels. Do you see that in verse 20?

She did it quickly and she ran to get more water. You know what? This is a woman who is hospitable, energetic, strong, industrious, and willing to help a stranger. And by the way, she's good looking. and that's the way the text puts it by the way it emphasizes the fact that she's all these things and just adds almost as a footnote she's attractive notice what it emphasizes now he watches in silence to make sure this is the lord working doesn't want to push anything then he finds out she's not only from the family but from the immediate family of abraham and when asked, she offers him a place to stay.

And then again he prays, thanking God for his kind providence to him. What's the point? Understand that God uses his people praying in faith to fulfill his promise. God uses his people praying in faith to fulfill his promise. Now this servant might have arrived at Mesopotamia and thought, well, I guess someone's here. God's promised a wife.

I'll just wait. Is that what he does? No. He recognizes that God must work and he asks him to do that very thing. Just waiting around would be presumption, not faith. His praying reveals that he believes that God can do, can fulfill his promise.

See God will fulfill his promise but he does it by his people praying. We talk here in this church about election, don't we? We spent a lot of time in our Sunday School class talking about that. You know what, you know what that means? It's like this, you say, God, you've promised to save all the people whom your son redeemed. You've promised to save all those whom you have chosen.

And so please, I'm praying, reach down and give my dad new birth. You see, if I believe God, and I believe the doctrine of election, and I just sit around saying, oh, God has his own, that's not faith, that's presumption. I'm going to pray that God fulfill his promises. You see, God fulfills his promises when people pray. God uses his people praying in faith to fulfill his promises.

Well, let's keep going. Scene three. All right, now we come on the third scene. Negotiations with Laban's household. Rebecca runs home to let everyone know about this extraordinary meeting and probably to help prepare for the guests that are coming the man and his men and ten camels now when you read this about Laban it appears that Laban now runs the household Bethuel the father has a minor point And he's only mentioned twice, and you kind of get the impression he's a tottering old man, and Laban's doing all the talking.

So it appears that Laban is the head of this household. And boy, do we ever get a glimpse of Laban's character in this chapter. Already we start seeing that Laban is kind of a slimy character. All right, how do I know that? Well, he hears about this meeting from his sister. And when he sees the ring nose and the expensive bracelets, that's when he runs to meet Abraham's servant.

That's when he takes off running. Now I think the narrator is building a contrast for us. He's already told us that Rebekah runs to serve this servant. laban runs because he's gripped with greed he gets a look at those bracelets and man he's all interested now in this guy and he says come in oh blessed are the lord why do you stand outside i tend to question this when i read that i'm thinking yeah i bet you don't really mean that i wonder whether you're really sincere whether you're seeing whether you can get something out this guy.

Well, the family provides lodging, care for the camels and a meal, but our servant asks for time to speak before he eats. Now notice this. In telling the story, he repacks the details of the story. He doesn't change them, but he puts them in such a way so that he shows great wisdom as he tries to persuade the family to let Rebecca go. How does he do that?

Well, how does he start out. He says, my master, who seeks a wife for his son, is really rich. He is incredibly wealthy. All this by the Lord's provision. Isaac, the potential bridegroom, is the sole heir. He's the only one.

So, Rebecca will be marrying into some good stuff here. But most importantly, or no, no, then he says no hometown girls for Isaac. You see the children of your daughter will be the sole inheritors of all that wealth. But most importantly, and he does do this, most importantly God is behind all this. And he relates to them about Abraham's faith. He tells them how he prayed and he tells them how God providentially brought Rebecca right smack to him And then in verse 49 he makes one appeal The last appeal he makes is this Be loyal to your family Your steadfast love for Abraham Be loyal to your family So he appeals to family loyalty.

What's the point? Understand that God uses people who employ wisdom in faith to fulfill his promises. You see him, wisdom in the service of faith in the promise. Wisdom in the service of faith. The servant knows, notice, he knows that Rebecca is God's choice. He knows that already.

So does he then arrive at the house and say to her family, obviously God wants Rebecca, I'm here to collect. Right? Is that what he does? No. No. Listen, he already knows this is the one that God has chosen for Isaac.

It's a given. Right? He knows that. But he doesn't then walk up and say, Hey, hi, I'm from Abraham. God has chosen Rebekah for Isaac. I'm here to take her home.

No. He's wise. He's going to persuade them. For him to do that, by the way, would be what? Presumption, not faith. He has to persuade them.

He has to be astute. So we need to understand that God uses His people employing wisdom in faith to fulfill His promises. You know what? God has promised to bless the preaching of His Word. He's promised that. So, does that mean I should just walk up here on Sunday morning and do whatever? say whatever God lays on my heart.

Why? Why do I struggle? Why do I struggle studying the text and really struggle? And this may come as a surprise to you because you probably don't think they're that good. But man, to me, writing a sermon is like giving birth. I mean, it is a painful, painful process.

I don't mean to insult you women, okay? I won't. I'll just say, just a metaphor? Why struggle over how to organize this thing and how to, you know, just write something down and do it? No, it's like, okay, now this fits here, but it doesn't fit there. Are you going to say this?

How many times are you going to say it? Are they going to get the point? No. Don't say it this way. Say it that way. Why do that if God's going to bless His Word?

Because to do anything else is presumption. I'm going to do my best. I'm going to use wisdom in proclaiming the Word of God. you know what God has his elect but you just don't walk up to people and say hey you a Christian if you're not you're going to hell what you don't know those people you know anything about them you don't know what they're going through at the moment you just blurt things out no you got to be wise by the way you notice that as he speaks with wisdom he produces some reactions the first is opposition the first is opposition Laban and Bethuel say all of this is certainly from God so take Rebekah so Abraham's servant thanks God again and he breaks out the dowry and he gives them all this expensive stuff that's the bride price and so the next morning he says hey it's time to go but then Laban and and Rebecca's mom say wait give us 10 more days with our daughter just give us 10 more days and he's going what's going on here what's this all about and he says no no no God's prospered my way you let us go now.

I've got to get back to my master. And then they say, wait a minute, let's ask Rebecca if she wants to go. Now the point is they should not have said that That an unethical thing to do because they already reached an agreement They already if you will signed the contract Here's Laban's character again. He's trying to renege on the deal. I got all the stuff.

I'll just let you go home. Let's ask Rebecca. So, just because God promises something and you're acting in faith doesn't mean there won't be opposition. There'll still be opposition. God's purposes does not eliminate opposition. He'll fulfill his purposes, but don't think it's smooth sailing.

It wasn't for this servant. Well, so they ask Rebecca. Here's the second thing that his speech and his wisdom brought about. It brought about faith. Don't miss this. Rebecca, against all family opposition, says that she's going to go.

Do you know what this is? this is the same faith as Abraham had. Out of faith, she's going to leave her homeland. Just like Abraham. It evokes faith from her. Well, they finally agree. They bless Rebecca as she leaves.

And then when you notice that blessing, you notice it sounds exactly like the blessing that God has given in Genesis chapter 17. about innumerable descendants and occupying the gates of their oppressors, their enemies. So, God uses his people, employing wisdom in faith to fulfill his promises. Last scene. Isaac and Rebekah finally meet. The scene now switches to Isaac, who's living in the Negev, in the south of Canaan. that's where Abraham was living until he went to bury his wife Sarah and evidently he stays in Hebron which is farther north and to the east Isaac is still back where they were the narrator recounts that he's out walking evidently living on his own when he looks up and he sees the caravan approaching Rebecca also looks up and their eyes meet that's kind of how the narrator is trying to get you to see the story.

He looks up and sees them. She looks up and sees him. And I don't know if it's love at first sight. We'd like to think so. If God's in it, it has to happen, right? No, no.

No, remember, God's promise does not mean there's no opposition. But anyway, so they meet. They meet. She veils her face. She says, who is that? And this is important because the narrator wants you to get that.

The servant says, that is my master, Isaac. The baton has now been passed to the next generation. Now the story is all about Isaac and Rebecca. Okay? It's my master, Isaac. No doubt he's reported to Abraham already. but now my master Isaac that's who it is, that's your husband and so Rebecca pulls the veil over all but her eyes indicating Isaac that she is his long awaited bride and they marry by the way he doesn't just hustle her into Sarah's tent, they get married first okay when you read that, that's what you think and don't tell me you didn't think that they get married alright, and notice what the text says, he loved her.

Right? He loved her and she comforted him. You know, I look at this and I say, I understand that God uses his people rejoicing in faith to fulfill his promises. What do you think comes from this bond of love and comfort? This joy with each other? Children come from it.

The fulfillment of God's promise. Now listen to me. God fulfills his promise by providential means When you look for God to be faithful don be looking for fireworks Okay? Listen to me. What's the greatest promise that God has made? If you're not listening for any of this sermon, please listen now.

What's the greatest promise that God has ever made? eternal life. He has promised that you will escape the wrath of God if you believe in Jesus. And that's all it is. Right? We all know John 3.16, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. That's a promise.

Is God going to remain faithful to that promise? If you believe in Jesus, He'll remain faithful to that promise. how is he going to accomplish that listen God sends people your way and they bring the gospel to you and they tell you Jesus some of you have been sitting here in this congregation some of you for years some of you for months some of you maybe just a few days but you've heard Jesus proclaimed here you haven't had a vision from the sky You haven't had some kind of lightning strike your house and you looked up and said, oh my, God must want me to be saved. No, it comes from people who gently, maybe sometimes wrongly, but they share Jesus with you.

That's how God fulfills His promise of eternal life. Reminds me of the guy who was in a flood. It's starting to flood, so he climbs up to the second floor. or no, it's a flood, and the police knock on the door, and they say, hey, you've got to evacuate. And he says, well, God's going to save me. And then the waters go higher, and he's on the second floor, and someone rolls by in a rowboat and says, you've got to get out.

And he says, I don't need your rowboat. God's going to save me. He gets up on the roof, right? And a helicopter comes, and they say, grab the rope! and he says, I don't need you. God's going to save me. And he drowns.

And he gets to heaven and he says to the Lord, why didn't you save me? And the Lord says, I sent you a policeman, I sent you a rowboat, and I sent you a helicopter. Right? God uses normal means. And he has told you about Jesus through the mouth of someone else. Maybe my mouth.

Maybe the mouth of someone else. But He's made a promise and He's going to fulfill that promise. If you believe. But don't wait for God to strike your house. Don't wait for something extraordinary to happen. Hear the message that's coming to you.

That's how God's going to fulfill that promise. You see, God accomplishes His purposes. He fulfills His promise, but not independently of any efforts. he fulfills his promises through faithful people people who act pray, proceed wisely and rejoice in faith look for God count on God to fulfill his promises but count on him in fulfilling them in normal ways Father thank you for your word we do thank you for the promise of eternal life in Jesus if we'd but believe but Lord help us to listen to the people you sent our way to the radio programs to the reading of the Bible that we've done you've told us about Christ in so many ways through so many means God help us to pay attention and to see that you will always be faithful to your promises thank you for your word this day.

In Jesus' name, Amen.