August 30, church growth, God's way.

It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God,

but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Romans 9.8, picture the Old Testament Abraham as a pastor.

The Lord says, I will bless you and prosper your ministry.

But the church is barren and bears no children.

What does Abraham do?

He begins to despair of supernatural intervention.

He's getting old. His wife remains barren.

So he decides to bring about God's promised son

without supernatural intervention.

He has sex with haigar, his wife's handmade Genesis 164.

However, the result is not a child of promise, but a child of the flesh,

Ishmael. God stuns Abraham by saying, I will give you a son

by your wife Sarah, Genesis 1716.

So Abraham cries out to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you, Genesis 1718.

He wants the work of his own natural human effort to be the fulfillment of God's promise.

But God says, no, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, Genesis 1719.

But Sarah is 90 years old. She's been barren all her life,

and she has already passed through menopause, Genesis 1811.

Abraham is 100. The only hope for a child of promise is stunning supernatural intervention.

That is what it means to be a child of promise, to be born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh,

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