Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

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hello everyone this is dr tony evans

with the urban alternative

and i’m excited to welcome you to join

us on a journey

a journey through hebrews 11

it’s known as the hall of faith

where men and women

discovered what god can do

when

god’s people

learn

to live walk and act

by faith

the beautiful thing is it’s not just

about them

it’s about us

as the author of hebrews writes to new

testament believers

that’s who we are

about how

the lives of old testament saints who

learn to live by faith should challenge

and affect

our lives as we live by faith

so we’re excited to welcome you on this

journey it’s going to be an exciting

trip we’re going to learn a lot

most importantly we’re going to be

transformed by the truth

what it means to be a kingdom hero

who lives by faith

[Music]

far too many christians

are settling

for the ordinary when you were redeemed

for the extraordinary

but sadly

and at the heart of this settling is

the lack of faith

today

i want to talk to you about the power of

faith

and we’re introduced to our first our

first lady her name is sarah the wife of

abraham

hebrews chapter 11 verse 11 verses 11

and 12.

by faith even sarah herself received the

ability to re to conceive even beyond

the proper time of life

since she considered him faithful who

had promised

therefore

there was born even of one man and him

as good as dead at that

as many descendants as the stars of

heaven in number

and innumerable as the sand which is by

the

seashore

we’re introduced to a lady named sarah

the wife of abraham

god had made a promise that he repeated

five times

in the book of

genesis from chapters 12 through

chapters 21

that abraham and sarah were going to

have a baby

that would lead to the birth of a nation

that’s what god

said that was that was the word that

came out of his mouth

that was the promise

but the promise had a problem

the problem was number one

sarah was barren

her womb was not producing any eggs

and so she couldn’t get pregnant

but the promise was

you’re gonna have a baby

but the problem was

the ability to have a baby

she didn’t have

so the promise

didn’t match the problem

and the problem didn’t match the promise

not only are we told she was barren

she could not she didn’t have the

capacity to conceive

we’re told that she was

old

90 years old

so she had

even if she had the power to conceive

had long past

the timing of being able to conceive

there is a promise

but there are problems that contradict

the promise

i can’t conceive

i’m too old

so i have to question the promise

now there are some folks here who are

barren

there is

life’s not working for you

what you thought life should produce

what you hope life would produce is not

being produced

and you’re in a barren season of no life

and that’s after jesus promised i have

come to give you life

and to give it to you more abundantly

but right now you’re in a season of

barrenness you you’re not getting

pregnant that is

there there is nothing being birthed in

you there’s your passion is gone your

purpose is gone your

destiny seems dim your

your get up and go spiritually has

gotten up and gone and

and you’re barren

there are other people here who have

been waiting for god to do something for

a long time

and you’re past the age

there’s some ladies here who who feel

like that i should have been married by

now

there’s some men here who

are saying my career

is not producing what it should be

producing by now i’m stuck in the same

old job and i thought god had something

better for me you’re running out of time

that was her situation

don’t ever let

the facts

cancel out

the faith

but verse 11 says by faith she got the

ability to conceive

so even though

stay with me the facts are not in your

favor

the facts in fact look contradictory

to the faith the problem looks bigger

than the promise

that’s the reality

while not denying the fact

don’t let the fact

cancel

the faith

she is caught in a situation

of a major promise i’m gonna build a

whole nation from this one couple

so she decides

god has obviously made a mistake

so in genesis chapter 16 in order to

help god out

chapter 16 said now sarai abraham’s wife

had borne him no children

and she had an egyptian maid whose name

was hagar

so sarah said to abram now behold the

lord has prevented me from bearing

children

please go in to my maid perhaps i will

obtain children through her

and abraham listen to the voice of sarah

stay with me on that i’m coming back to

that

and abram had lived 10 years in the land

of canaan

abram’s wife sarah took hagar the

egyptian her maid gave her to her

husband abram as his wife he went into

hagar and she conceived and when she saw

that she had conceived her mistress was

despised in her eyes

the temptation

when you’ve been trusting god

for something and god hasn’t come

through is to retreat to the flesh

the flesh is a human approach

to solve a problem

different than the way god wants it done

sarah was trying to help god out she

says perhaps god’s promise is going to

come through me giving you to

our maid

so she goes to the flesh

to accomplish a work of the spirit

so

abraham goes into hagar

she has a baby named ishmael

and them two brothers have been fighting

ever since

because ishmael is the father of the

arabs of course isaac is the father of

the jews and everything you see in the

middle east

that’s going on today is because

sarah circumvented god

she did what the bible says don’t do and

that’s be double-minded

so god had made a promise

this principle of flesh and spirit

based on hagar

is brought up in the new testament by

the way

in the book of galatians chapter 4

because in galatians chapter 4

paul the apostle

writes in verse 21 tell me

you who are under the law do you not

listen to the law for it is written that

abraham had two sons one by the

bondwoman hagar and one by the free

woman sarah

but the son of the bondwoman was born

according to the flesh human approach

and the son of the free woman through

the promise

he goes on to say verse 27 for it is

written rejoice barren woman who does

not bear break forth and shout you who

are not in labor

for more numerous are the children of

the desolate than the one who has a

husband

and you brethren like isaac are children

of promise

but as at that time he who was born

according to the flesh persecuted him

who was born according to the spirit so

it now is also

but what does the scripture say cast out

the bondwoman and her son for the son of

the bondwoman shall not be an heir to

the son of the free woman so then

brethren you are not the children of the

bondwoman but of the free woman so he

takes abraham and he talks to the

galatian christians you and me and he

says

don’t be a bondwoman’s baby

don’t operate according to the flesh

because the flesh and the spirit can

never

operate together one of those kids and

their mama had to leave

hagar was put out

and he uses that to talk about law and

grace and he uses that to talk about uh

how we ought to live our christian life

according to the spirit god’s point of

view god’s promise not according to the

bond servant the flesh approach

so if you and i want to experience the

promises of god the decision you have to

make in order to experience that power

is to not go to the flesh to help out

the spirit

even when it looks like there’s no way

the spirit approach can ever work

because guess what

the problem is to

be

so sarah comes up with this brilliant

idea to help god out and all she did was

create a bigger mess anybody can testify

to that

you began leaning to your own

understanding

you tried to do this thing your way

thinking you were gonna help answer

god’s prayer for god even though you

were doing it in a way unprescribed by

god and now oh my god what did i do

okay

that was sarah’s situation and now

there’s chaos in the house chaos with

the kids

chaos with the with the woman chaos now

we got a single parent on our hands

who’s out there trying to make it as a

single mother

we got we got blended family chaos

that would become generational so that’s

our situation but in genesis 17

god comes back to sarah and abraham and

says

i told y’all he said y’all but you got

it

he said i told you

what we’re going to do verse 15. then

god said to abraham genesis 15 17 as for

sarah your wife

you shall call her not call her name

sarai but sarah shall be your name i

will bless her and indeed i will give

you a son by her then i will bless her

and you shall be a mother of nations

kings of people will come from her

then abraham fell on his face and

laughed

in his heart

so that’s good news for folk who’ve

messed up yesterday

and you’re still hearing god’s word

today

but the problem is

even though they messed up they had not

grown up in faith

because when god repeats his word

abraham says

you got to be kidding me

he laughs

it’s a joke

this is funny

she can’t have a baby

she’s old and he laughs

in god’s face

will a child verse 17 be born to a man

100 years old

and will sarah who is 90 years old bear

a child

oh that ishmael

he says

might live before you it’s about israel

now i just told you

that this is going to happen through

sarah and you you keep going back to the

flesh

you started with the flesh and now

you’re staying with the flesh and the

reason why you started with the flesh

and you’re staying with the flesh is

that the problem looks too big to be

resolved

you say i’m 100 years old now

my wife is 90 years old she’s barren she

can’t have a baby you what do you talk

god you tell this is a joke

okay but he’s not the only one laughing

chapter 18 verse 9.

then they said to him where is sarah

your wife and he said she’s in the tent

he said i will surely return to you this

time next year and behold sarah your

wife will have a son

and sarah was listening at the tent door

which was behind him

now abraham and sarah were oh we keep

being told how old these people are

sarah and abraham were old advanced in

years and sarah was past childbearing so

they want to get this point over the

girl is old

when she hears this verse 12 sarah

laughed to herself

saying after i have become o shall i

have pleasure my lord being old also

she said

it ain’t just about me

that two folk were problems in this

house

so god tells her you’re gonna have a

baby

and she breaks out laughing this is the

funniest thing she’s ever had in her

life she’s laughing in the face

of a promise

and the reason she’s laughing is the

problem looks too big

and so here we are

but when we started our sermon today

we started the sermon

in verse 11

of the book of hebrews which says

by faith

sarah gained the ability to conceive

didn’t we read that

but i don’t think we’ve seen any faith

yet

we’ve seen the flesh

okay

we’ve seen her laughing at god

not believing his word because his word

sounds too ridiculous to come true

but in hebrews 11

she gets pregnant

by faith

that means something has happened

between the time she’s laughing

and from the time she’s

had hagar has given birth to ishmael

and the time isaac is born in chapter 21

something has happened in these chapters

to spark faith in sarah that she did not

have

now watch this

the gap between god’s word and his

promises

and its fulfillment in your life

is always tied

to your development in faith

so here we are the question is what

happened

between chapters

7 16 17 and 18

from from hagar to ishmael to him

laughing to her laughing

to all of a sudden

she getting faith to conceive

something happened

the first event

is the destruction of sodom and gomorrah

god rained down

fire and brimstone from heaven

and abraham and sarah got to see

heaven open up

and they got to see the power of god

destroy

two cities at one

time they looked up and went whoa

while saving his nephew lot and his

family they saw the power of god

manifested from heaven

that’s the first thing happened but then

there’s a second thing to happen and

it’s even deeper

abraham is a fairly weak man

he goes to abimelech

and he tells abimelech

sarah is his sister

because he’s scared

he feared that they’re going to hurt him

because even at 90 years old sarah was a

very beautiful woman and he’s so

terrified of abimelech that he says

she’s my sister so abimelech thinking

that sarah is single

takes sarah into his harem

and he’s going to make him one of either

his wife or his concubines because he

thinks sarah is single because abraham

has said she’s my sister not my wife

while he’s sleeping

he has the dream verse 3 of chapter 20

god came to abimelech in a dream that

night and said behold you are a dead man

because of the woman which you have

taken for she is married

you’re a dead

man to make a long story joy

i been like saying i know

he ain’t telling me that he told me she

was a sister you can’t blame me i know

but i want to let you know how serious

this is

so don’t put your hands on him

okay

okay don’t touch her

and he says

i will deliver you

if you keep my word and don’t mess with

abraham’s wife who i know he told you is

the sister

but now what’s this all that’s got to do

with sarah getting pregnant

verses 17 and 18 of chapter 20.

abraham prayed to god and god healed

abimelech

and his wife and his maids

so that they bore children

now what’s sarah’s problem she can’t

have children

for the lord had closed fast all the

wombs of the household of abimelech

because of sarah abraham’s wife

okay watch this now you got see one of

the things you have to learn to make is

spiritual connections

you have to see how one thing connects

with another

when abimelech took sarah god clothed

all the wombs of abimelech’s house

and all the wounds of abimelech’s

kingdom

nobody getting pregnant

until sarah is out of here

when sarah is out of there

everybody getting pregnant

why is god including this story

to let sarah know i control who gets

pregnant and who doesn’t get pregnant

i control that

so he let abraham and sarah see

his power

in

sodom and gomorrah in the opening and

closing of wombs in abimelech’s kingdom

to increase their faith

and the lord did for sarah as he had

promised because his promises are good

so sarah conceived and bore a son to

abraham in his old age at the appointed

time of which god had spoken to him

abraham called the name of his son who

was born to him whom sarah bore to him

isaac guess what isaac means isaac means

he laughs

sarah couldn’t have children and it says

abraham couldn’t have children because

he had even gotten too old

both of them laughed at the face of god

so both of them needed to see god’s

power

so that both of them could come together

and have a baby

okay watch this now

the reason why hebrews 11 and 11 and 12

are put together

is because it would take the two of them

having faith

in order to produce the baby

because the baby is dependent upon the

two of them coming together

you say well that’s old testament well

no hebrews 11 is new testament and he’s

writing new testament christians but

something else is new testament stay

with me here

the bible says

that sarah called abraham lord

first peter 5 6.

she got a miracle

the birth of isaac when she called

abraham lord

and it says to the ladies

and you are her daughters if you do

likewise

now i know what you’re saying i ain’t

trying to have no more babies that’s not

the point

the point is she got a miracle

she got a miracle

when did she get the miracle when was

the miracle beginning to be put in

motion it says when she called abraham

lord

what was it about calling him lord

that that would trigger this thing

beginning to move okay remember

remember how ishmael came on the scene

ishmael came on the scene because she

took charge

she had become lord of the house

just like eve had become lord in the

garden of eden

and flipped the order but that doesn’t

get the men off the hook

because abraham went along with her

lordship

so she took over the role as lord he

went along with her lordship all hell

broke out in their family

first peter 3 6 says

like sarah

who called abraham lord the question is

when did she call abraham lloyd

she came she called abraham lord

in chapter 18. we just read it she said

shall i have pleasure again from my lord

that’s when she called him

lord when she took the position

that recognized his position

and therefore their family got back in

divine order

god was ready to reveal a miracle

i know some of you have been waiting for

god for a long time

you’ve been trusting god for a while

god is still developing your faith the

problem looks bigger than the promise

but the reason god gives us her age is

to let us know or let you and i know

that when god finally comes through

in giving his promise he gave her time

to enjoy it

he made a wait 90 years but he kept

sister girl rolling for 37 more years so

even though the weight was long she had

34 years with her baby boy

so once you get this faith thing right

and once you act in faith and once god

comes through if it’s a promise for you

he’ll give you enough time to maximize

your enjoyment and participation in it

but he won’t do it as long as you keep

going to the flesh

[Music]

so

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[Applause]

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there is power embedded in faith

when you and i learn to live and act and

walk and talk and move

by faith

we can see god go beyond the ordinary

and introduce us to the extraordinary

we can see the natural transformed into

the supernatural

because

faith brings power alongside of it

divine power god’s power that is not

limited to what your five senses

are aware of

don’t cut short the power of god

operating in your life

because you refuse to live by faith

[Music]

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so

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you