Hebrews 11 ; Genesis 17

Well, good morning, Saylorville!  If you brought a copy of scripture with you this morning, you can find Hebrews, chapter 11, where we’ll continue in our series on God’s Hall of Faith. And if you want, you can find Genesis 17. We’ll be going back there as well.

And just before we do, I always appreciate when Curtis gives announcements. He’s so like 90% heart, you know. And he didn’t do it in this service, but in the last service, He literally broke down and wept while he prayed. And it made me weep. And it really captured my heart in this sermon. I don’t know if it’ll do it for you or not, but my heart is for you today in whatever you’re going through right now. Whatever you’re handling right now, whatever weight that you’re in right now and for whatever reason, my heart goes out to you. And I am praying for you.

And by the way, speaking of praying for one another, I wanna call out one of our former pastors on staff, Mark Vance, who is with his wife, Crystal, and their family who are here with us. He’s our former Ministries and Music pastor. Mark, would you just wave right there? Everybody say “hi” to Mark, all right? Good to have you back with us, Mark! Mark is the pastor of Cornerstone Church up in Ames, and he’s on sabbatical right now. So we’d call him up here to preach, but then he would be breaking his sabbatical commitment there, you know? He did come out to do one thing here recently, and that was to do the funeral of his father. And his dad was a good friend of mine. When I was in Bible college, we literally lived across the hall. I mean, literally, across the hall. I’d lean on my door and his dad would lean on his door and Mark and my Sarah would just run back and forth and play, and we talked. And his dad was a dear, dear friend of mine during our Bible college years. He was a real challenge to me, as well. Theologically, he was, like his son, he was a very intelligent man. And he was a true servant of Christ. And we were about same age, but he had a heart issue. And with that, God took him out suddenly here just about 10 days ago, give or take. And Mark did the funeral. God bless you, Vance family. We love you, and God’s kindness to you right now.

So let’s pray.

Lord, we thank you for those, even in this passage who are gone, but still speak to us, like former friends, and parents, and people that have loved us and we have loved, And they’re gone, but they’re not gone forever. And we look forward to the joys, the laughing joys, that we will experience in glory when we get to see them again like my friend Steve, Mark’s father, and kids’ grandpa, father-in-law to the Vance family,. Comfort them as you have been, and encourage them until they get to meet again. So Lord, bless us as we open up Your word and speak truth. May it be a word of encouragement to Your people and truth to all of us. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

All right, Hebrews, chapter 11. And as we get going here, I have to ask you a question. When’s the last time you had a really good laugh? —I mean, a really good laugh? I mean, mine was just the other day. When we were with our peeps, all of our community group was together, we were having a picnic, and I noticed something really unusual about one of our guys. I know it sounds like I was laughing at him. (I kind of was) but he was… he was good with it, and I I called him out on it. I’m telling you, for the next 20 minutes we couldn’t stop laughing! Our stomachs were hurting by the time we got done! And those are fun moments, aren’t they? Isn’t it good to laugh? I mean, some of you pay to laugh! You go watch comedians and whatnot.

You know, the great Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher of the 1800s, who is quoted oftentimes in this pulpit, he was a funny man! In fact, he was so funny… and this was in the day just post Puritan era where it wasn’t usual for people to cut jokes in the pulpit, — But he actually was called out by a woman for his humor. His response to her, he says,

“Ma’am, if you only knew what I was holding back!” Charles Spurgeon

His best friend wrote … of him once, he said,

“I have laughed more in Spurgeon’s company than during all the rest of my life besides.” Charles Spurgeon’s best friend

Don’t you love people like that? Don’t you love hanging out with someone who you just have a good laugh with? And laughing is a funny thing, isn’t it? Because nobody… scientists can’t really figure out what it is, what is the chemical thing in us that causes us to laugh, although all kinds of studies have been done. I mean, we do know there’s lots of health benefits from laughing.

But it’s very difficult to define the different kinds of laughs. And these are … the ones that I’ve written down. This isn’t exhaustive by any means, but I think of the fun laugh, that’s the one I just alluded to with the group I was with, where you just laugh and have fun with one another.

There’s the uncontrollable laugh. Has anybody here ever laughed uncontrollably? I can think of like twice in my whole life where it happened. Once was right here, right over there, back in the days with the pews. I wasn’t even the pastor. I was a student. And the pastor we had was a great man, godly man, bible expositor, but very monotone. He was kind of hard on a guy who just got off, you know, UPS and I was like on two hours sleep! But he was faithful and he was preaching one day, and like I said, I was right over here, and an L bracket, a big L bracket that holds roofs together, fell from the ceiling and landed right here with a “thud!” And it was almost comedic! I mean, the entire congregation in unison went, “Whoa!” — But the pastor did nothing! He acted like it never even happened! — And I don’t know how to explain it, but I was like… I just busted out laughing! I could not stop myself! My wife was going, “Stop!” I couldn’t… I mean, it was ridiculous! It was just an uncontrollable laugh!

And then there’s the ugly laugh, and I don’t mean ugly in a funny way. I mean ugly in a mockery way. That’s when you’re laughing at someone and at their expense. And I’ll be candid. I don’t appreciate the mockery that’s given to our president for his stumbles both physically and mentally. That is just mockery is what that is. I don’t know why you would laugh at that. There’s nothing funny about it to me.

And then there’s a hopeless laugh. And we’re getting closer now to what we’re talking about today. This is the… laughter when we laugh at something that we have dreamed of all of our lives, but we now know will never come to pass. It’s a hopeless kind of laugh.

And then the joyful laugh, that’s when the dream you never thought possible happens!

And I got my wife’s permission on this, so I remember the first time I kissed Marilyn. I won’t tell you what date it was. But we drove into a park and she’d been a widow for seven years. She had not kissed a man in seven years. And I asked her if I could kiss her… — And I did. I mean, a romantic kiss! And the first words out of her mouth were, “Pat, you are a dream come true!” And what was she saying? She was saying, ‘I died to all of this. I had died to all of this.’ And now she had a joyful laugh, and it was so much fun! I mean, it was a lot of fun, but that’s enough of that. But laughter is the sound of joy, isn’t it? At least it should be.

But it’s not joyful when it’s connected to ridicule, and doubt, and hopelessness, which brings us to our character in this series, Sarah. Hebrews 11 and verse 11, where we read;

Hebrews 11:11-12

11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.

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 seashore.”

Sarah? — She’s an example of faith? What did she do? She laughed! That is what she’s known for, laughing in the face of a promise. Right? So where is her faith? We’ll see, and it might surprise some of you. But let’s just ask, first of all, who was Sarah? Who was Sarah? She was the wife of Abram. Not Abraham. She’s the wife of Abram. Okay? Abram. What does Abram mean? Abram means, wait for it, “exalted father,” (Now think about this…) — And yet he’s 99 years old! He has no kids and his name means “exalted father!.” Just imagine…’Hey, exalted father. You keeping those kids in line? Haha!’ I wonder if he ever thought about changing his name like Naomi. Remember… ‘Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara. I’m bitter!’ Right? ‘Don’t call me Abram, you know, “exalted father.” Call me ‘yeh-toe-MEEM.’ That’s the Hebrew word for, “I’m fatherless.” But if you think about it and just look through the life of this man and all the promises that came his way, When he was 75 years old, God comes to him in Genesis chapter 12, and it’s a promise that is given to him. He’s promised that out of him will come so many descendants, it will be a great nation! And he’ll bless the world. And we know how he blessed the world ultimately… through the Lord Jesus Christ who would come from that lineage. Right? And then, like a dozen years later, he’s 86 in Genesis chapter 15. God takes him out, shows him the starry sky, says, ‘Can you count all those? — And by implication, he can’t. God says, ‘You won’t be able to count the number of descendants that’ll come from you!’ And that’s when we have the famous line,

Genesis 15:6 (ESV), “And he believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness.”

And then, so God who had given him a promise, then renews the promise through… in dramatic fashion! You know… puts him in this trance, this scary darkness comes over him, and He appears going through all these sacrifices and confirms or renews His promise to Abram. And then when he’s 99, another 13 years from now, a quarter of a century has taken place in chapter 17. (and that’s where I’ll be for a few moments) The promise is expanded, it’s given, it’s renewed, and then 25 nearly years later, it’s expanded. It includes land and a name change. ‘I’m gonna change your name, Abram.’ ‘Oh awesome! Is it gonna be like Doug or Jeff or something like that? — Anything but “exalted father!” Right?’ No, he takes Abram from “exalted father” to “Abraham,” “father of a multitude!” Talk about rubbing it in! And while we’re at it, we’re going to take Sarai’s (‘saw-rah’-ee’ – that’s how you pronounce her name formally) — And we’re going to call her “Sarah,” “Princess.” We really don’t know what Sarai means, and some think it means “barren.” It might. The etymology is hard to chase down. And then God tells Abraham for the very first time… Now, mind you, when he’s 75 God gives him a promise that out of him, there will be descendants innumerable. Right? He doubles down when he’s 86 years old in Genesis 15. Now in Genesis 17, he’s 99 years old, and God, for the very first time, tells Abraham that the descendants are gonna start with his wife, Sarah. Sarah is gonna have a son! And when Abraham hears this, it says,

Genesis 17:17, “Then Abraham fell on his face and (what, worshipped? No he) laughed…”

He laughed before Sarah laughed! And so if you go to Genesis chapter 17, if you’re looking there, we’ll put it up there, verse, (I’ve got to find it myself. I’m back over in Hebrews. Hold on, I’ll get there) So, Genesis 17 verse 18 says this,

Genesis 17:18, “And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

So Ishmael is the son he has from Sarah’s servant, Hagar. He’s several years old now, and he is genuinely Abraham’s flesh and blood son… But not from Sarah. Now get this. Get this. In all previous promises and renewals that God had given to Abram, Sarah is never mentioned. Want to know why? — Because Sarah is never there! She’s still not there! Until this very moment, Abraham believed that Ishmael was the son of promise! Why wouldn’t he believe that? And so he says, “Oh that Ishmael,” and God says, ‘No! No, it’s going to come from Sarah!‘ In verse 19, it says this.

Genesis 17:19, “God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name (after what you just did. “He laughs”) Isaac.”

And so with all of this, there’s still no promised son. You hasn’t shown up yet. Lots of promises… even more specific… gonna come through Sarah, gonna… here’s the kid’s name… Where is he? So then you have another first in this passage. God, for the first time, gives 99 year old Abraham, who’s been getting promises for a quarter of a century, a time stamp. Look at it… verse 21.

Genesis 17:21, “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you (when?) at this time next year.”

Now this is where it gets really for me, fascinating! I hope for you. A few days later, it had to be a few days later, if you make your way over to chapter 18. It had to be a few days later because the exact same verbiage is shared about one year from now. A few days later, three guys show up at Abraham’s tent. One of them is the Lord and a couple of angels. And, well, let’s just pick it up there in verse 9.

Genesis 18:9-15, “They said to him, (Abraham) “Where is Sarah your wife?” (By the way, she just got her name changed a couple of days earlier. How would these guys know that? So right away, Abraham realizes ‘Hey, these are unusual guys.’ And of course, the whole scene makes it look like he knows that) “And he said, “She is in the tent.”

10 The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” “And Sarah was listening at the tent behind him.” (This is all by design because they didn’t come here to let Abraham know this. They came here to let Sarah know)

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. (The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. She’s 90. So Sarah, what? What’d she do? She did what she’s known for)

12 “So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out,” (and the Hebrew word worn out, is what be like your shirt you guys have, that your wife been trying to throw away for five years and you won’t let her? That’s the idea here in this word.) “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have” (What was the word?) pleasure?” (Remember that.)

13 The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’

14 “Is anything too (what?) hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year and Sarah shall have a son.”

15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

So God repeats the promise intentionally so that Sarah can hear. That’s when she laughed. This is her hopeless laugh. I don’t know that it was a faithless laugh. It might have been, but it was certainly a hopeless laugh. Her dream was dead. She’s 90 years old! — And granted, she was still a catch at 65 because remember Abraham took her down to Egypt and the king wanted her and all that. So looked pretty good at 65… but 90? Whoa! (audience laughing) I forget… (audience laughing) with apologies to all of you that are 90. (audience laughing) Wow! I can’t believe I said that! But listen to this. This is the first time Sarah heard the promise. There is no record. There is no record that Abraham ever told Sarah before this. Now you say, ‘Well, yeah, he might have,’ — but we’re not told that. In fact, in chapter 16, it’s Sarah that initiates Abraham getting with Hagar that produces Ishmael and causes her to despise… and we know what happened there in the sovereignty of God. She’s 90 years old! Now listen to this…. And she has been barren her entire adult life. So, for Hebrews especially, barrenness was a disgrace. Sarah was a disgraced woman. She had a husband named “Exalted Father, “and there were no children. That’s why she took matters into her own hands. She is barren. She is disgraced, but her disgrace was more than just without having children. In verse 12, the word “pleasure” is there. You’re looking at it. You see, I underlined it. We think of pleasure. We think, well, the pleasure of having a child. That’s what… that’s probably what I thought as well.

About a decade ago, Tim Keller was addressing this and he had said that the word “pleasure” actually means “sexual pleasure.” And that changes this, doesn’t it? Abraham, probably out of disgust his wife wasn’t giving him a child, probably had not had sex with her in decades. And the pleasure that Sarah couldn’t conceive, (pun intended) was not just having children, the pleasure that brings about the conception! I mean, this is like another life ago to her. She has died to this. And I was thinking … in 1 Peter 3, we have instructions for husbands and wives and how they love each other, and to the wife, Peter reminds us of Abraham and Sarah, and he says,

[1 Peter 3:5-6, “For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.“]

Sarah called Abraham what? Yeah, called him “lord.” She didn’t call him sweetie, which reminds me…

One of my mentors, very early on when I was young and still having kids, was a guy by the name of Dallas. Dallas Campbell. And Dallas was an old man, but he was still pretty fit, but he was an old man. And we met together as other men on a Saturday and we were putzing around the church doing stuff. And Dallas and I went into my office. We had our sack lunches and we opened them up and Dallas prayed. And we got done praying, and I’m biting into my apple. He goes, “You know, my wife and I, we pray about everything. We even pray about our sex life.” I about spit the apple out! — Because he’s an old guy, and I went for it! ‘Okay, you go there!’ I’m going for it, because I’m young and I’m thinking, ‘You’re old and what’s it like? What’s it like? I mean, you guys really like, I mean, at your age…?’ (congregation laughing) I’ll never forget what he said to me. He said, “No, but I still love holding her naked body against me.” And I just thought that was so beautiful!

And I don’t think Abraham, would ever have said that of his wife. I know I’m destroying all these, you know… these images you have of this wonderful little couple. I don’t think it was like that. In fact, when God responds to Sarah …when she says “Can I have this pleasure?” — He responds by saying,

Genesis 18:14, “Is anything too (what?) hard for the LORD?”

I mean, when you read that, you think, ‘Yes. God is omnipotent!’ Jesus said,

[Mark 10:27, “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”]

…’Is anything impossible of God?’ Amen? That’s really not where he was going with it. The word “hard“, here literally means, it means “wonderful!” It means “wonderful.” And I think God was saying to Sarah, ‘I, the God of wonder, I’m about to bring wonder back into your life.’

So how is Sarah, who laughed, an example of faith? — Because she’s in there. I think her faith took her from hopelessness, the first laugh, the one we just saw, to hope filled, which is the second laugh. And yeah… she did laugh again! We’ll come back there.

Back to Hebrews. Go back to Hebrews, and this is where we’re gonna end the balance of our time. Three facts about Sarah’s faith; one, her faith resulted in her conception. Look at it.

[Hebrews 11:11-12,

11 “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

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 seashore.”]

By faith. Who’s faith? Sarah’s faith! He’s saying, I’ve read those stories in the Old [Testament] I don’t see her faith very active there. Where is it? And I would agree with you. It’s not very clear, but clearly it was there, because the text tells us, and I wanna remind you that Hebrews chapter 11 is written to Hebrews who already knew all those stories. And yet these little vignettes colorize the stories. They add commentary to it. For example, if you look down to verse 19, you have the continuation of the story of Abraham.

[Hebrews 11:19, “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”]

And so here’s Abraham, who you remember that story in Genesis 22, God tells him, take his son, his only son, Isaac, his “laughter” son — take him out to Mount Mariah, offer him as a burnt sacrifice. We know the story. He’s wielding a knife over him, ready to plunge it in him! God stops him! And you might read that story and think, what in the world was going through his mind? I can tell you exactly what was going through his mind, because the writer of Hebrews tells us what was going through his mind! He was thinking, ‘Oh, this is gonna be really gross, but hey, God, you’re gonna have to raise him up ’cause you told me it’s coming through his seed.’ And right here, we know that Sarah exercised faith!

A few years ago, my wife and I were in Columbus, Ohio doing a marriage conference. In the middle of the conference during break, there was this young couple, a beautiful young couple. They’d been married for several years and they were just a puddle of tears. And so we just engaged them and they opened up and they had had multiple miscarriages and they had no child and they so much wanted a child! And very instinctively, Marilyn and I just put our arms around this couple and we just poured our hearts out for them! God allowed Micheele, (that was her name) to become pregnant and bring this child to fruition! And that was it. We prayed for them. They thanked us. We hugged. We went on with the conference. And one year later, she sent me this! (Picture of their baby shown) Now, whose faith was that? Is that my faith? Was that Marilyn’s faith? Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking. That’s probably Marilyn’s faith! Whatever! Who cares whose faith it was? God answered the prayer!

And Sarah’s faith resulted in her conception. And at some point, maybe after the laughter, she believed and she conceived, which means they got together again. Right? This wasn’t a virgin birth.

Secondly, her faith revived her when she was powerless. Back to the text.

Hebrew 11:11, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.”

I was in a restaurant the other day, and there was an older lady, and she was pulling this stroller, and I said, “Grand kid?” What if she had said, ‘That’s my child!’ That would have been embarrassing! But you know, it’s one of those obvious things, like, ‘Okay, like you’re not going to have a kid  right now. Right?’ And she agreed. She said, “Yeah, that’s my grandchild.”

Sarah was 90 years old! She was powerless. She was hopeless… until God gave her hope! And that’s what God does, doesn’t He? God gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless! Amen? That’s what He does!

I just read this morning in my own personal devotions Psalm 136 where it says,

Psalm 136:23, “It is He who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever;”

‘God, you remembered me in my low estate.’ That’s where we’ve got to be, at the place where we recognize we are powerless to save ourselves, to do anything for ourselves. And her faith revived her when she was powerless.

Thirdly, her faith rested (I love this!) in God’s faithfulness. And that’s the next part of the verse.

[Hebrews 11:11, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.]

“Since she considered Him faithful, who had promised.” I love this! Sarah didn’t have faith in her faith. Her faith was in the faithful One! Amen? That’s what the text says.

And the other day, one of our guys is working with this couple, discipling them, evangelizing them. This couple (and the young lady was saved just the other day! Praise the Lord!) and he’s telling me, he said, “But I gotta tell you, Pastor, I’m so excited about her salvation, but I’ve been struggling with my own assurance of salvation!” I said, “No kidding?” “I just… I don’t really know how to explain it. I was just struggling with the assurance of my salvation. But I was having a study with this gal who had just come to Christ, and in the middle of the study, they came to John 10:27 and following…

[John 10:27-30

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

28 I give them eternal life, and they will (what?) never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

30 I and the Father are one.”]

As they went through this, and then using the booklet, He read this to her. He asked, “Does your security depend on your hanging on to God or upon God hanging on to you?” —To which she replied, “Well, God says He will hold on to me.” That is so awesome! — because in that moment, the new Christian gave the old Christian assurance of his salvation right there! He is faithful! Amen! That’s why Paul says even in 2 Timothy 2:13;

2 Timothy 2:13, “…if we are faithless, He remains faithful— for He cannot deny Himself.“

Hallelujah! And the result in verse 12 is a great nation from which comes a great Savior, the One some of you still need to know who superseded the nation of the Jews to save the world.

[Hebrews 11:12, “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 seashore.”]

{John 1:10-13

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.

11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.

12 But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right (the authority) to become children of God…”]

Have you believed? Have you received him?

One year later, one year later, true to form, true to his promise laughter, Isaac, is born to a 91-year-old woman. And what did she do? She gathered all of her friends. Did you know that? She gathered her friends and family. And here’s what she said. She said,

[Genesis 21:6] “And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will (what? Will glorify Him, will praise His name? They’ll laugh with me!) laugh over me.”

You might say that Sarah got the last laugh! She really did laugh again.

And this reminded me of when my wife died and all my children were around me at the committal, and they were lowering the casket, (I don’t know what was going on in your hearts, Vances, while the casket was going down) — it was a heavy moment for me, and I wasn’t hopeless, but I was really down! And the man who had mentored me, who had flown in for this to do the committal stood right over that hole and he said, “Nina will rise AGAIN!” It was like, Whoa! It was just like, “I knew this! I knew this!” But it was truth I needed to be told! — and it was like, hope filled my heart!

Child of God, follower of Jesus, no matter your trial, no matter your hurt, no matter your rejection, your loneliness, your dreams that are dead and gone, your weight, you will get the last laugh! You will get the last laugh, and the joy that that laughter reflects will never end! Hallelujah! It will never end! So until then, believe it! Your God of wonder is a wonderful God! He’s good! He’s really good at restoring the wonder to those of you who have lost it… by faith.

Will you pray with me?

Our Father, You are a wonderful God, and You have given us a wonderful Savior! And You did it through Your sovereign means, through Abraham and his wife, Sarah. And we thank you, Lord, for taking this woman from hopelessness to hope-filled. You are the fulfiller of all of Your promises, and we hold them dear to our hearts. And even as we wait, and some of us have waited a long time. We wait for better health. We wait to be married. We wait to have children. We wait for so many things, and it’s heavy on some of us right now. O God, take the hopeless laughter and turn it to joy. And remind us that whether You give us this joy in life, if we know You, it’s a laughter that will never end, and encourage us with that by Your Spirit and Your word. And I do pray for those, Lord, who have no hope. They have no hope beyond this life, because they’ve never met the Messiah Himself, the Lord Jesus, Your epitome of love who died and rose again for them. If that’s you dear friend, trust Him today and be filled with laughter that never ends. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let’s stand.

By the way, I’ve got a couple of leftovers here, I want to throw it at you real quick. If Abraham exemplifies those who lack power, Sarah exemplifies those who have no power. You’re not gonna come to Christ unless you realize you’ve got no power. Amen? If Abraham exemplifies those counted righteous by faith, Sarah exemplifies those counted blessed by God’s faithfulness! I love the fact that her faith was not in her faith. It was in the faithfulness of God! And if Abraham exemplifies those who laugh to themselves, Sarah exemplifies those who laugh with others. Laugh with me! If you have a relationship with the living God, your laughter will go on forever! And what joy it will be! Amen? God bless you on this Lord’s Day.