 Mother's Day, hopefully everybody's got a great afternoon planned of serving your moms and your wives and everything like that. And in honor of Mother's Day this morning, this is week number two of our Heroes series. We're gonna take a look at a woman that is a prolific figure out of the Old Testament. Her name is Sarah. So if you will turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11, we would love to have you look there. If you brought your Bible, if not it's gonna come up on the screens. Let me encourage you though throughout this series, bring your physical Bible if you have one. Now I'm not talking about your family Bible that's on the coffee table that takes like two family members to carry. I'm talking about getting your own personal paper copy of the Bible because you can underline some things, highlight some things, write some notes in there that will really encourage you. Look with me at Hebrews chapter 11 and we're gonna start reading in verse number eight. It says by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land living in tents with Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. Verse number 11, it says by faith Sarah, herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age since she considered him faithful who had promised. Verse number 12, therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the sea shore. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that there were strangers and foreigners that were exiled here on the earth. Hebrews chapter 11 is known as the hall of faith. Some of the greatest characters are the Old Testament, Abraham and Noah and Gideon and David and a whole bunch of others are listed there as some of the great patriarchs, heroes of the faith. What's interesting is Sarah, the wife of Abraham is the only woman who's listed by name. Now at the end of chapter 11, it says in general, it's talking about women who received back their sons, their husbands from the dead. They received them back from the dead but it doesn't list another woman specifically but it does Sarah. And that's not because there aren't some amazing female heroes in the Old Testament that were not worthy to be included in this chapter, there are. And in fact, over the next several weeks we're gonna look at several different women as well as look at different men as heroes of the faith. But one of the reasons why it was an imperative for the writer of Hebrews to put Sarah in the story is because if Abraham is the father of our faith, which he is, I mean if you look back, everything that you and I have in Jesus came through the line of Abraham. But if Abraham is the father of our faith, it's absolutely essential that we include Sarah in the story because that makes her the mother of our faith. And both of their faith stories and their faith journeys are important and significant for you and I to draw from. We don't just look at Sarah's life today because it's a message to women on Mother's Day. Oftentimes, and far too often really, we look at women out of the Bible to just give a message to women. In other words, kinda help them, okay, you're a woman, here's the story of a woman, be like her. But we don't do that with men. We look at all the men and we expect women to draw from the lessons of men like Abraham and Peter and Daniel and different things like that and we say look at that as an example. But it's kind of been looked down upon in the church to look at women as an example for men and we need to get over that because there are some powerful, powerful faith-filled women that God used in mighty, powerful ways. And as much as we're gonna celebrate Abraham as the father of our faith church, we're gonna realize that Sarah was the mother of our faith and there's some things for all of us to learn from out of her journey of faith and we're gonna look at her story today. Amen? Okay, you guys are way too quiet. Do not make me come down into those aisles and preach from the middle standing on your chairs because I will, I am that pastor. So I'm gonna need a little bit of feedback. Are we all in on that? Amen. Oh, thank you. All right, good. It's third service. I didn't have a red ball. Go need your help. But it's interesting where it says in verse number eight, it says, by faith Abraham, and it talks about him believing God and going on this journey, not knowing where he was going. How many know that's a lot of our stories? Guys, we think we know where we're going but we don't know where we're going and that's why God gave us a wife. Really? I mean, and then, you know, I think a lot of marriages have been saved by the GPS devices on our phones because now we just have another female voice telling us where to go but she's, we're not married to her so we'll listen to her voice. Abraham was married to Sarah and it says by faith he went on a journey but then when it gets to verse number 11 about Sarah it says that she also by faith. She also by faith went on a journey. Believing God that the one who promised was able to fulfill his promises and what we see in both Abraham and in Sarah is both of them were called out by God to go on a journey but in Sarah's case before she could become the mother of our faith God had to take her on a journey of faith and he had to deal with some issues that were on the inside of her so that she would be prepared to become the mother of faith. She would give birth to the child of promise which was Isaac and we know that from Isaac came Jacob and from Jacob came the 12 patriarchs that became Israel, the nation and through the line of Israel would come the Messiah, Jesus and as Galatians says he's the fulfillment of the promises that God made to Abraham and Sarah. You and I are literally here today in Richelon, Michigan worshiping the one true living God because a man and a woman named Abraham and Sarah believed God and went on a journey but along their journey God had to deal with some inconsistencies on the inside of them. He had to deal with their character. He had to deal with the issues of their faith because let me tell you, Abraham and Sarah did not start out as Christians. They didn't start off as God-fearers. Here's what we know about both Abraham and Sarah and their journey, that both of them had doubts, both of them had fears and both of them struggled with the central and the major issue of their marriage and of their life which was that they were barren. They weren't able to have children. And so history tells us and rabbinic tradition tells us about Abraham that while they lived in Ur of the Caldees which if you don't know where Ur is that's modern day Iraq, it's Babylon. They lived in this major city called Ur and rabbinic tradition tells us that Abraham's trade that he had learned from his father was making idols. He was an idol maker because you see Ur the Caldees was not a community or a culture that worshiped one God. They were a community that worshiped a whole bunch of gods. They worshiped the sun, they worshiped the moon, they worshiped agricultural gods. And so his profession was to make idols for other people to worship, household idols. And we don't know how old they were when they got married but they were probably very, very young when they got married. And like most young couples, they probably tried to have children. We know that they did because later on in their life they looked back on that and said we're not able to have children. And probably at some point along their marriage journey they came to a place where they realized we're just not going to have kids. You know in that culture that was a very, very stigmatic thing to happen in your life because today we realize why physiologically some people can't have a difficult time having children and conceiving and those kinds of things but back then they didn't believe that. They believed that when God was happy with you he gave you kids and when God was angry with you he took away the ability. So they grew up as idol makers. Think about the irony, making gods for other people but the very gods like the God of fertility that he would make for other people was the God that they believed was actually withholding children from them. And so for Abraham and Sarah the gods would have been a means to an end but there would not have been a close relationship with them and they're now in their 50s and they're 60s and on one particular day the God of Genesis chapter one who created the heavens and the earth the God who revealed himself to Noah is now the God, the one true, the living God the other ones were just idols he was the one true living God he speaks to Abraham his name was Abram at that time which means exalted father and he reveals himself to this man that he found an earth of the Caldees and he says to him, Abram, or it might sound more like Abraham I don't know how I'll sound it but it was probably a very God like voice, right? I mean Abraham and he tells him he says, I'm gonna bless you Abraham I'm gonna bless you and not only am I gonna bless you but I'm going to give you children more than the stars of the sky and more than the sand on the seashore and through your family and your descendants I'm going to bless all the other families of the earth what God was really saying if you listen closely was God was saying I'm about to use you to partner with me to change the course of history Abraham and in order for me to do that I need you to pack up everything that you own I need you to shut down your business I need you to say goodbye to your family for the last time and I need you to go on a journey I'll tell you when we get there but get your wife, get your family and go and imagine what that must have been like as an older man who's very wealthy he's established in his business never been able to have children and now not only does some God speak to you you've never been close to the gods but now the one true living creator God says your name and tells you that he's going to bless you and he's gonna give you children not just one or two we're talking like a fleet of buses we're not talking about 15 passenger van full of kids we're talking about fleet and fleet of Greyhound buses can you imagine everywhere that you go kids and children and a lineage that's following behind you and he says and I'm gonna use you and the family and the children that I give you is gonna change the course of history now that would have been amazing but how many know that Abraham's faith was great but I believe Sarah's faith was actually greater and here's why because Abraham had an encounter with God in hearing his voice how many think if God spoke to you the way that oftentimes we want God to speak to us how many think it would be easier to believe a little bit like if right now if we just has anybody in here ever prayed God if you're a real speak to me anybody ever prayed that before I mean you can raise your hands I have like God I would really like to hear that but here's the thing Abraham did have that Sarah didn't all Sarah God was Abraham walking in one day hey baby guess what happened at work today what what'd you do God spoke to me I heard God's voice which one no none of those an invisible God the God who is he says he's the one true living God that all these other things are idols and he's the one true living God really what did he say to you well he said well what he said was that he's gonna bless us oh that's great well and he's going to bless our children we don't have any Abraham well he that's the thing is he says we're gonna have a lot of kids and he's going to bless not only us but he's gonna bless our kids and our grandkids and our descendants after us and he's going to use our kids and our family to change the world all he asks us to do is to believe him and so we need to pack all our stuff up we're shutting the business down we're following him we're going on a road trip he says he's gonna give us a piece of land that's where he's gonna establish us where is this place I don't know I'll know it when we get there how many have heard that before I'll know it when we get there how many have ever gone on a camping trip we'll know it when we get there so imagine being Sarah that day when Abraham comes home and says God spoke to me we're gonna have kids pack the bags how many know it took amazing faith for Abraham to believe God but it took even greater faith for Sarah to believe Abraham but she did and so they packed up everything that they owned we have a map up here on the screen that they'll put up that will show you the journey that Abraham and Sarah took they started an era that called these and they began to work their way up to a city called Heron and Heron was actually the name of Abraham's brother who died in this city and then from Heron in response to the voice of God they went on a journey down into the Canaan land into the land that you and I now know is Israel that would become the nation of Israel but as they came into the land they're living in tents and they're living in transition and they're believing God that's what faith is they're believing God believing in the promises of God but they're actually on a journey of trying to discover the place that God was going to bless them but even greater than just the journey of finding the place they were on a journey to discover who God was because when they got down into Canaan things got bad they go into Egypt Egypt at that time was kind of like the New York City when they go in here's a little something I mean talk about the humanity of Abraham he says to Sarah he says, hey Sarah you're really good looking she's 65, 70 years old and what rabbis say looking back on Sarah the tradition is that Sarah was the most beautiful woman who ever lived besides Eve and so imagine she must have been good looking at 65, 70 years old because Abraham says hey if Pharaoh sees you he's going to want you for himself so if he asks I don't want him to kill me to get you so tell him you're my sister at that point most good wives would be like excuse me not going to do that but she goes along with it she lies Pharaoh takes her into the harem God threatens to kill Pharaoh Pharaoh wakes up and says I don't know why you lie to me take your wife back and he takes his wife and they send him out of Egypt and they go back on a journey back up into the promised land so they're on this journey their biggest issue in their marriage and now on their journey of faith is their inability to conceive but it's not what you think you see oftentimes we read the story of Abraham and Sarah and we think that the biggest issue that they had was their inability to conceive a child but the word conceive actually has a second definition and Webster says it like this conceive means to take into one's mind and to apprehend by reason imagination or understanding see some things that God speaks to us and calls us to believe by faith are inconceivable that's inconceivable it's inconceivable come on nobody watches movies the princess bride I don't think that means what you think it means it's inconceivable some things are that God speaks to us seem to be inconceivable and the word inconceivable means we don't have the ability to understand it to comprehend it to wrap our mind around it to grab it by reason our imagination's not big enough and our understanding about the how and the why and the why it's mind blowing and so while Abraham and Sarah struggled with having children their real issue was they had a really difficult time wrapping their mind around how God is going to fulfill his promise because after all we're way beyond the age of childbirth so now God takes them on a journey but it's not just a physical journey it's a journey of faith and a journey of faith what you need to know about a journey of faith is while they were traveling all these miles and living in tents a spiritual journey or a journey of faith is a journey not just of distance or of time but it's actually a journey of the soul and that was the greater journey it was a journey in which God was helping to reveal himself so that they could discover who God really was and who they were called to be beyond everything that was implausible beyond everything that was difficult to believe and didn't seem probable in their life God was like I want to show you that I'm the God of the impossible that I'm a God who fulfills my promises and you don't just have to live by the practical you don't just have to accept what's come your way I am the God that when God steps into a situation he changes everything he suspends laws he steps over boundaries because he's the maker and the crafter and everything that exists is held together by his words and one word from God can change all of the circumstances in our life you and I are followers of Jesus Christ we're on a journey of our own we're on a journey of faith our journey is different than Abraham and Sarah we're not traveling around in tents how many have ever gone camping before? like I'm talking about hands down camping in tents before raise your hand because campers don't count okay Jim Gaffigan the comedian says camping is God's gift to us to remind us of why we have homes and I believe that to be true you see Sarah and Abraham spent years decades traveling on this journey of faith trying to find the land that God was going to give them to establish them decades in tents in their 70s and 80s if you've ever gone camping in tents you know it's in my opinion it's the most miserable thing that you can do I am not a camper for me is the Marriott JW Marriott it's like I want room service I want plush pillow that's camping to me and if you say I've had people say to me oh Pastor Lee you just haven't tried camping you just got to go no I've tried camping Jane and I tried camping earlier in marriage it's like we need something to do family traditions that's cheap how many know when you're first married cheap is the criteria and it's like what's cheap I'll tell you what let's get thin pieces of nylon held together by string and wooden stakes let's go out into the woods and let's live like our ancestors did for a couple days and see if we like it we no longer camp we went out and we bought the tents we bought the sleeping bags the little air mattresses you know that inflate they're about this thin and really all they are is styrofoam out of thrown away refrigerator boxes and we had good friends the bets that said hey let's go camping together so all of our kids were little so we decided to go camping at this place just over the Indiana border I think it was like a yogi bear campground and so we let Ann Betts pick out the campground and she's like oh let's do it right next to the woods little did she know it was a a mosquito farm next to this it was a swamp where they like raised mosquito and I'm not talking about these little mosquitoes I'm talking about prehistoric pterodactyl knitting needle it was like right out of Lord of the Rings coming out of the swamp at us and so we drive down there we set up our tents we set up our kids tents air mattresses and ten minutes after we set everything up storm clouds start rolling I'm trying to cook under a screen you know little tent that's got screen doors and I'm trying to cook and I burn my hand on the thing I fling the stake across the campsite I'm mad here's how long ago it was I pull out my blackberry anybody remember those and I'm scrolling online to look at the Doppler radar and you know when it's red and a thunderstorm has red high winds and heavy rains that was coming right over us it was like bozos nose coming right over us and it just rained all night long it was just terrible our kids were like floating away on their air mattresses so early in the morning it's like let's go home we're an hour and a half away let's go home we packed everything up and we said we'll go home we'll dry off we'll come back so we got home by the time we got back to Kalamazoo it was sunny out I'm like oh okay so we decided to go to B&B discount we bought some tarps we're gonna go back we're gonna put tarps over our tent we had fans extension cords we're gonna plug them in we're gonna have fans and we got some extra food we dried off all our clothes and so about four o'clock we said alright let's go back so we go back to the camp and as we are pulling in to the campground I swear there was black clouds following us like oh you're back let's go alright so the clouds came and within ten minutes we began to deluge us again the guy at the campground oh it's been sunny all day I don't know what's going on and we put tarps over our tents I had a fan in there I was reading a book by an atheist called God is Not Good I almost became an atheist that night in the next morning we just we took everything we wadded we almost left it there we wadded it up threw it in our garage in the next garage sale I think I sold everything for like five dollars pass on my problems tents are not comfort and so we don't camp anymore that was two days imagine decades imagine Sarah looking at Abraham going when are we getting there you said and when are we gonna have children you said but before she could become the mother of faith she had to go on a journey of faith a journey of discovering who God was it was really a journey of the soul in Genesis 17 God shows up and he says something to Abraham about Sarah who's been struggling like any of us wadded in the early stages of this journey her name originally was Sarah not Sarah just like Abraham's name was originally Abram and now God shows up and he says to Abram I'm about to escalate things and so I'm gonna change your name it's no longer gonna be Abram which means exalted father but it's now going to be Abraham which means father of a multitude imagine that's your name and you have no children every time that you go into hey what's your name I'm a father of a multitude how many kids you have none and God shows up and he says to Abram I'm gonna change your name but then in verse 15 of Genesis 17 he also says to Abram as for Sarah your wife you shall not call her Sarah any longer but Sarah shall be her name I will bless her think about that God's saying I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her and I will bless her and listen to this next part she shall become nations wow because kings shall come from her because kings she's not just gonna have kids she's gonna have kings God says to Abram he says I want you to know and I want Sarah to know her name is no longer Sarah her name is not Sarah because Abram I changed your name your name meant exalted father but now it's father of a multitudes I'm ramping things up and in the same way your partner on this faith journey I want her to have a change in identity because you need to understand what her name originally meant Sarah meant argumentative and quarrelsome on a long road trip where the husband doesn't know where he's gonna go because he heard from God it's got a wife whose name is argumentative and quarrelsome it's funny to me but God says I'm changing her name and I'm changing it to Sarah well what does Sarah mean it means princess so here's what I want you to get Sarah quarrelsome argumentative became a limitation in her journey of faith because her quarrels and her arguments weren't with Abraham they were with God and God saying I'm now changing your identity because I no longer want you to be identified with your internal arguments and your quarrels with me I want you to now understand that your identity is shaped by what I think about you and even though I know that you don't understand my ways even though I know that it feels like it's been a journey even though I know you've experienced disappointment and fear and doubt and all of those arguments because by the way those are our same arguments God is saying that's not I don't see you I don't define you by your arguments I don't define you by your weakness that's not who you are you want to know who you are Sarah to me you're my princess you know that's what every little girl wants her dad to say you're my princess and it was God speaking softly to his daughter who was in the middle of a journey who had experienced internal battles arguments you don't think that she struggled with fear God where are you, you forgot me when her sisters and everybody else experienced conceiving and bringing forth a child she was left behind you don't think she experienced disappointment you don't think that there were fears or how about some doubts and some unbelief and to hear God say over her I know your battles I know your struggles but that's not who you are see it doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman it doesn't matter if you're named Sarah or not all of us in our faith journeys we have our arguments with God we have our quarrels with God's purposes in his plans we have our fears and we have our doubts but God has to step in we have to allow God to win the battle of our quarrels and our identity and actually get us to understand that how he sees us in spite of what we've experienced how he sees us is he doesn't see us through the lens of our weakness or our inability or any of those things he sees us as sons and daughters as princes and princesses every woman in this room you need to understand you're not just your dad's princess you're God the father is speaking over your life that you're his princess and he values you he treasures you he loves you every young man and every man in this room even every father and grandfather doesn't matter how old you are you need to hear that God the father says over you you're a prince you were made for more you were not see a prince from the moment he is born realizes that his role in life is to reign not to be conquered we live in a world that tries to use your internal battles against you to bring you into subjection and under the mastery of your appetites and culture and this world's viewpoint of manhood God says you weren't created to be dominated you were created to bend your knee to one name and that's the name of Jesus and then from that point to sit on thrones and reign and rule you were created to be a legacy builder every man and every woman in this room was a child of God you are a prince and a princess we can no longer surrender to the arguments that limit our ability to conceive the purposes that God has for us because if you're waiting for your logic and your rationalism to catch up with what you will allow God to do in your life you will live a pragmatic life of emptiness because you will never see the supernatural in your life the supernatural promises of God are always after an invitation for you and I to step into the realm of the improbable and the implausible that's how we receive things from God you were created to walk by faith just like Abraham and Sarah and it's in this arena that God deals with our arguments that's what God was doing all these years why did it take so long for Abraham and Sarah well it's because God had to deal with their hearts and he had to get them to the point where they would believe see there was this one day in Genesis 18 actually where God shows up and takes a theophonic form in other words God takes a physical form like a man and he comes in he sits and he has a conversation with Abraham and he says where's Sarah oh she's over there I think she's probably disappointed I think she's trying to figure things out the Lord says to Abraham he says well he says this time next year you're gonna have your son this time next year and here's what the Bible says it says Sarah was listening how many know every mom every woman has high level spider-man surveillance skills of listening they hear like through 14 floors of cement floors and CIA blocking devices they can hear Sarah's in the next tent over and she hears God say to Abraham about this time next year when I come back you will have a child and it says Sarah laughed and God says why did Sarah laugh and by the way when God asks questions it's not because he's looking for information why did Sarah laugh Sarah's answer I didn't laugh I didn't laugh and here was God's answer he says well about this time next year you will have a child you'll have a son Sarah you did laugh you laughed how many know you shouldn't lie to God I mean he's God oh I didn't laugh no you laughed it's like your kids saying I didn't eat the chocolate bar while they got melted chocolate all over their hands of course you did Sarah you laughed about this time next year you see that's what hope says Jesus is hope personified and what God says over you doesn't matter your disappointments doesn't matter your logic and your rationalism any of your arguments and your quarrels that's not what I see over you my purpose is going to come to pass because we need to understand that in the journey of faith listen the destination is not the destination the destination I'm going to say it again is not the destination well what does that mean why are we on a trip if we're not going someplace you and I live in a world where we are so captivated by three dimensions of time, space and matter and things that we can see around us we live in an achievement consumeristic culture and we are saturated with this and are thinking all of us it's all about succeeding it's all about achieving getting someplace climbing the corporate ladder you know whatever it is we want people to know us we want to be successful we want to buy something we want to gain something we're saving up for a trip and going someplace we want to go someplace in life so that at the end of it we feel like our life and a success we're so busy getting caught up and going someplace a destination that we don't realize that the destination isn't really the destination because they're God's eyes it's not about where you end up it's about who you end up as it's about who you are not what you hold it's about who he shapes you to become not where you're able to land that's the destination there's this part of this scripture that we just read earlier verse 13 of Hebrews 11 that has bothered me for years I've read the Bible I can't tell you how many times but every time I've read Hebrews 11 I love it until I get to verse 13 and it's because of what it says it says these all talking about all these heroes of the faith it says these all died in faith listen to this next part not having received the promises but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth these all died in faith not having received the promise that doesn't make sense to me because you see what we're taught is that if we have enough faith then we'll receive the promises if we have enough faith we can change things if our faith is true strong then we can use our faith to get what we want and that's an American version it's a faulty version of a relationship with God because Abraham and Sarah were people of great faith but they didn't inherit the promises well how can that be a great success it's because of two reasons number one it's because along the journey even though they never possessed the promised land their descendants did and the reason why their descendants did is because of the second reason is because they became who God designed them to be they became they were conformed into the patriarch the heroes Abraham and Sarah that here we are thousands of years later and you and I are their spiritual descendants you see because Abraham and Sarah about a year later because they didn't grow weary and because they didn't let down their guard and they kept their eyes entrusted the one who could build their lives and would build the city they actually gave birth to a son just like God had promised isn't that amazing and they named him Isaac people think well of course they named him Isaac they were so overjoyed that after all these years they actually had a son they just couldn't laugh it was like tears of joy and laughter well that's probably part of it but I think the reason why they named him Isaac it was God's way of saying I always get the last laugh tell me what I can't do is anything too difficult for me God could have given them a child on day one but he chose to allow them to go through the process so that at the end they would not only have the promise but they would have been conformed into the image that God had always designed for them you see there was another woman of faith whose husband was a trailblazer of leading people into the promised land and he never saw the promised land the way that he envisioned it his name was Martin Luther King Jr he said I've been on the mountain and I've seen the promised land I might not get into it and he didn't he was assassinated great mover, great thinker great prophetic leader in our nation for civil rights but his widow Coretta Scott King his Sarah said this about her life and her story listen to these words she said my story is a freedom song from within my soul my life has been a guide to discovery a vision of how even first pain and heart aches can actually be channeled into human monuments impenetrable and everlasting here's what she said she goes my journey has been a painful one but I've come to realize it's been a discovery of the power of God to use our journey to change the course of history and that's what God did with Abraham and Sarah because from Abraham and Sarah came Isaac and from Isaac came Jacob he had 12 the 12 one of the 12 was a man named Judah Judah had a family line and some 15 generations later his descendant was born to a carpenter and his betrothed virgin wife named Mary and the son's name was Jesus and Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise that God had made all the way back to Abraham and Sarah when it was impossible for them to have kids and when the Bible says that even though they received the promise they saw it from afar and they rejoiced I want you to know Abraham and Sarah knew that God ultimately was going to fulfill his promises and one day when Jesus Christ stepped on to the pavement of the temple mount the Lord suddenly returned to his temple and about 30 years later when his hands were nailed into the cross beams and he was elevated to heaven and earth dying for the sins of the world God in heaven had fulfilled his promise and Abraham and Sarah were there watching it and saying God you are so faithful you have changed the world and you did it through us and really all you asked us to do was to believe you can I just tell you God wants to change the world through you it's not about what you do it's not about where you end up it's about your ability to believe him Abraham is our father of faith Sarah is our mother of faith but you are called to be a father and a mother of faith to those that are around you as well would you stand up with me all of us are on a journey of faith all of us are on a journey of faith and my prayer this morning is that God would win the battle of our arguments that God would win the battle for our faith for our trust we would no longer begin to see ourselves through the lens of our fears, our doubts our disappointments even our own design and our own plans that says that Abraham was looking for the city whose designer and builder was God do you know that your life is a city and you can either design it or you can let God design it you can build your own life or you can let God build your life or you can let God design it and build it he will fulfill his promise every single time would you buy your heads with me all over the room I'm going to invite our prayer team care ministers if they would come and make their way up along the front today Father today we look at the example of Sarah and her husband Abraham we live in the aftermath and what was their faith has now become our sight I pray on the inside of everyone you would call forth you would call forth the man and the woman of faith so that someday our faith will become our children and our grandchildren sight that just like you blessed this infertile couple and gave them countless descendants in the spirit that each and every one of us would be used to impact the world because we believed you that we would become anything that you have called us to be help us to believe help us to overlook our limitations help us to have so much more trust in who you are beyond the things that we think we are and today before we dismiss I'm just going to invite you that you may be here today and you relate to this story maybe it's in a physical way just feel like maybe there's even some people that even physically are struggling with infertility I want you to know even on this mother's day that the father he loves you so much it's not because you've done anything wrong you've been on a journey just feel the tenderness of the Lord just wanting to say this you don't have to hide your heart from him and if there's been a physical struggle with infertility an inability to conceive we're just going to invite you to come just a moment when we dismiss and receive prayer because we believe God's a God of miracles we want to join our faith and just pray and release God's blessing over you you may be here today and it's not a physical ability to conceive but you've had a difficult time in your heart of conceiving and believing God believing God's word believing his promises over your life because you can't see it you can't test it or because you've been disappointed you've been waiting today I'm praying that God would just release greater faith in our hearts and after I pray and we dismiss if you need prayer for anything you're going through a battle you're going through an argument you're going through a wrestling match with God or you need God to move on your behalf today I want you to take a step of faith just like they did stepping over the city limits today I'm going to invite many of you to journey down to the front and to receive prayer with these prayer partners and believe God he's going to win the argument and win the quarrel and change our identities to see ourselves differently so that when we leave today we leave with the favor and the grace of God upon our lives Lord today bless us bless us indeed and expand our hearts to see how beautiful, how powerful how strong and how for us you truly are Lord help us to walk in our true identity meet us as we pray in Jesus name amen amen you're dismissed please come forward if you would like prayer this morning we'll see you next weekend