It's No Joke

Genesis 18:1–15 NIV84

1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. 3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread.” 7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. 9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. 10 Then the Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” 13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” 15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

1. God does not lie

Numbers 23:19 NIV84

19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

We have to learn to believe God

God speaks what He means

God means what He says

2. God’s promises are His Word

Romans 9:9 NIV84

9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

If God said it, He will fulfill it

His promises are yes and amen

God’s promises are unbreakable

Luke 1:37

Luke 1:37 NIV84

37 For nothing is impossible with God.”

3. Those who doubt the message doubt God

Luke 1:18–20 NIV84

18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”

4. Your generosity can provoke a miracle

Hebrews 13:2 NIV84

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

2 Kings 4:14–16 NIV84

14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked. Gehazi said, “Well, she has no son and her husband is old.” 15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she objected. “Don’t mislead your servant, O man of God!”

2 Kings 4

If you want to get out of your struggle, bless somebody

When you bless the children of God, God will bless you

When you give God takes notice

You will never outgive God

5. The message is true

Mark 10:27 NIV84

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Just cause you don’t see a way does not mean there is no way

God will make a way where there is no way

If He can raise the dead, your miracle is possible

6. You must be crazy enough to believe what you do not see

Jeremiah 32:26–27 NIV84

26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

Jeremiah 32:

God is able

Nothing is impossible with our God

When others laugh, it is a sign that God can do it

Don’t let the enemy mock you faith

By faith Abraham believed

By faith Sarah was enabled to have children even though she was old

It’s no Joke. God will do it

Hebrews 11:8–19 NIV84

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Hebrews 11: