))
God of Fun 3: Punch Line – Redemption Church Plano, Tx
Archived series ("Inactive feed" status)
When?
This feed was archived on September 25, 2017 17:07 (
Why? Inactive feed status. Our servers were unable to retrieve a valid podcast feed for a sustained period.
What now? You might be able to find a more up-to-date version using the search function. This series will no longer be checked for updates. If you believe this to be in error, please check if the publisher's feed link below is valid and contact support to request the feed be restored or if you have any other concerns about this.
Manage episode 181893600 series 1081685
Content provided by Sermons – Redemption Church Plano Texas. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Sermons – Redemption Church Plano Texas or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
God’s Promise is not a Punch Line.
Every good joke has a good punch line. A Punch Line brings unknown & unexpected information that surprises us and causes us to laugh.
Sarah, the wife of Abraham once heard God make a promise that was completed unknown & unexpected to her. She heard the promise of God and laughed, but God’s promise is not a punch line.
God does offer us a funny punch line, but it is not what you might think it is. The God of fun offers us a truly unexpected punchline. Get ready to laugh.
God of Fun 3: Punch Line – Redemption Church Plano, Tx from Redemption Church on Vimeo.
God of Fun 6 – The Punch Line
Sermon notes by Chris Fluitt
Redemption Church Plano Tx
God of Fun
Laughter is great. Cheerfulness is good.
Proverbs 17:22 (NIV2011) A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
A crushed spirit will make you dried up like a zombie or a mummy.
As humans we enjoy laughing. The God of Fun created us for this.
We love jokes. What makes a good joke?
Punch line
The punch line is the final phrase or sentence of a joke or story, providing the humor. The punch line adds a crucial unknown and unexpected element to the story.
Unknown and unexpected info will make you laugh.
One day 3 travelers visited Abraham. These were not ordinary travelers. One of the travelers was God and the other 2 were angels.
It is kinda funny that God shows up as a traveler. God doesn’t show up by saying “Hello, it is me, God.” Instead God shows up as a passer-by. It is unknown & unexpected.
Genesis 18:9 (NIV2011) “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said.
Genesis 18:10 (NIV2011) Then one of them 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.
Genesis 18:11 (NIV2011) Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
Genesis 18:12 (NIV2011) So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
Sarah laughed (mocked) at the promise… why?
It was unknown & unexpected and she thought it was a punch line.
Sometimes God will speak to you about unknown and unexpected promise and you may think God is joking.
Someone probably laughed when…
- God told Joseph to March around Jericho.
- God gave Noah Ark instructions.
- A burning bush told Moses to go up to the Pharoah and say “let my people go.”
- An angel told Mary that she would have a virgin birth of the Messiah.
When God told you that He was going to use you someone may have laughed, but let me very clear to you.
God’s Promises are not Punch Lines
Sarah thought God’s promise was a punch line. Something to be laughed at.
Have you ever laughed at the wrong part of the joke? Look at how God responds to this perceived punch line.
Genesis 18:13 (NIV2011) Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’
God did not laugh. God doesn’t understand why Sarah is laughing at the improper time.
Sarah laughed. Sarah mocked the promise of God. She didn’t mean to insult God, she meant to laugh at herself. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
But God didn’t laugh at this either!
God’s Promises are not Punch Lines
You are not a Punch Line
Sarah was laughing at herself and her situation. She was laughing at your inability given the circumstance. This unknown & unexpected promise when juxtaposed to her current situation made her laugh like some sort of cheap joke.
When Sarah mocked herself, she was mocking God’s promise. The same is true of you.
There is a difference in a joyful uncontrollable laughter , and a mocking self-deprecating jab at one’s self. It is possible to laugh on the outside and feel sadness on the inside.
Don’t you think that although Sarah laughed on the outside she was experiencing disappointment on the inside. Sarah was feeling loss and she received the promise as a punch line. So she mocked God and His promise.
Sarah you are not the punch line. You are not the joke. Abraham will be the father of many nations and you will be the mother. Sarah from your womb will come kings. Sarah from your womb will come strong and might men of God. Sarah from you will come the lineage of the Messiah Jesus Christ.
Look at somebody and say “I ain’t playing.” That is what God would say to Sarah and that is what He wants you to hear today.
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV2011) But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
No one laughs at the fulfilled promise of God
Genesis 21:1 (NIV2011) Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.
Genesis 21:2 (NIV2011) Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
Genesis 21:3 (NIV2011) Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
The name Isaac means laughter.
Genesis 21:6 (NIV2011) Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
Notice she doesn’t say LAUGH AT ME… She was mocking herself and writing herself off, but then God fulfills the promise and now she and everyone who hears about it will be experiencing joy.
The God of Fun gives laughter.
Genesis 21:7 (NIV2011) And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
God’s fulfilled promise made her laugh with a real joy
Do you have a who would have thought story?
Who would have thought Genesis 21:7
Testify with joy, because you and everyone who hears is going to laugh with joy.
God wants to take you from mockery to true laughter.
God’s Promises are not Punch Lines
You are not a Punch Line
But where is the punch line?
Every good joke has a punch line. Where is it?
The punch line lands about 2000 years later.
Colossians 2:13 (NIV2011) When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
Colossians 2:14 (NIV2011) having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:15 (NIV2011) And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
The word for spectacle (deigmatizo) is the word used for “fool” or “jester.” Before the king would make his entry they would send in a spectacle, a fool, a jester, to make all the people laugh. The Jester would trip and fall. Nothing the Jester would try to do would work. Instead of the majestic king coming in, this buffoon would appear.
The jester would the punch line, and everyone would laugh.
The power of Satan, the power of sin, the power of death has been disarmed and is made a punch line.
Sarah you are not the joke. Your seed will give way to the messiah Jesus Christ and bring victory for everyone.
Your enemy is the joke.
The post God of Fun 3: Punch Line – Redemption Church Plano, Tx appeared first on Redemption Church Plano Texas.
7 episodes
Share
