Gavin R. Hamms preaches on Genesis 12:10, where Abram faces famine and flees to Egypt. Hamms compares hardship to delayed-onset muscle soreness: pain arrives after the effort and tempts you to quit, but God's promises don't change and every famine has an expiration date. Don't panic and lie like Abram did. Endure, stay faithful, and trust.
Chapters
Genesis chapter number 12. I want to begin reading at verse number 10. Here's what the word of God reads: There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt. To stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe. You may be seated if you're not too scared. There was a famine in the land. I know that you might be frightened and fearful thinking that I'm speaking doom and gloom over you for this year, but allow me just a few few moments this morning to wrestle with us from the subject Don't Let the Famine Fool You. Don't let the famine fool you. Delayed onset muscle soreness, new terminology that I want to familiarize you with on this morning. There are going to be many people next days who have already started on their new fitness journey. Gyms all across the land going to be heavily populated because many people have made up in their mind that this is the year they gonna get snatched. People are going to feel good. They see the sweat. I'm gonna see a whole bunch of selfies, people in the gym, sweat coming off their forehead, because they're going to feel triumphant because they exercise in the gym.
But I wish everyone could hear this, sir. Because here is what a lot of people do not know, that when they exercise, that's one part, but in a few hours from that exercise, they are going to be plagued with delayed onset muscle soreness. Translated, delayed onset muscle soreness is a condition in which when someone uses muscles in which they have not used in a while, those muscle fibers tear. And after the fibers tear— pay attention, mind your business— they become sore. And the soreness sets in not during the workout, but the soreness sets in hours after the workout. So you have a lot of people who have made in their mind— made their minds up that they are going to go to a certain place. But those same people are going to quit because the place in which they're headed comes with famine. Child of God, here's the challenge in that. If those same people would not allow the soreness to stop them, and if they could endure the soreness on the journey they would then get the results in which they're looking for. And I wish that I can tell us this year that as we go on this journey, that the journey is not going to have some sore spots. I wish I can tell us this morning that the journey called 2026 would not have any pain in it. I wish I could tell us this morning that favor means that you're not going to have bad feelings. But I came to warn us this morning that if we come into moments this year in which things don't feel good Don't retreat in that feeling, but endure those moments of bad feeling because they only last for a little while. And if you can endure those moments of pain, God says that you will be able to realize all of the favor in the promise. Here we are this morning in Genesis chapter number 12.
It is a familiar chapter that really changes the trajectory of our faith.
It is the moment in which Abram, who later became Abraham, received the call from God to go in verse 1 to a land that I will show you. Abram had no idea where he was going. God simply told Abram to go to a land in which God would show him. Abram showed great faith by going to a place with no GPS. And that's us this morning, child of God. God allowed us to live and see this day, and we are welcome to a land in which we don't know what to we don't know what we're facing, but I don't know about you, but we all have made up in our minds that God, if you brought us here, we will trust you in the place in which you have brought us, because our record with you has been that you have always kept us, you've always protected us, you've always provided for us. And we can— are convinced this morning that we don't know what to expect, but we know who to expect. And we expect God to still move even though we don't have the details. I preach verses 1 and 2 because it is a testimony of how we should go with God to our promise. And we love to preach those earlier verses because it helps us and shouts us that God has a promised land for you. Go with God. And people think it's time for them to move locations, and people start searching for houses and new apartments and new jobs whenever they hear verses 1 and 2 because it's time to move. And it may be time to move, and we thank God this morning that God has allowed us to move to this new year. But here is where it gets tense. Abram has made it to a place called Canaan.
Hurry up, he's now in this promised land.
And verse 10 upsets me because in this place of promise and favor, the Bible tells us that a famine came. And many times, brothers and sisters, if you are not careful, you will be fooled by the famine, and it will make you think that you are no longer in the proper place and that you are no longer favored. But God sent me on assignment this morning to let the people know that yes, God has brought you to this point, and yes, you are favored. But the reality is that many of us may go through moments of pain, we may go through moments of famine, we may go through moments that are not comfortable. But here is the good news: the promise that he gave you in verse 1 It's the same promise that can keep you in verse 10. And I can see it right now because now we all came in the other night eating our meatballs and smokies and drinking whatever it is that you was grown enough to drink, and you said that this is going to be your year. But ever since that moment, you thought that there was going to be some type of magic wand that made it— there was going to be perfection in this year. And some of us have already experienced something that has made us mad. Is that anybody in the house this morning? Well, if you ain't come to it yet, some of you got to go to work in the morning, and it's going to be the same job with your same supervisor, just your same coworkers, and you are going to let them make you believe that God did not say good things about your year.
But I came to spoil the lie of the devil this morning.
God told—
is telling us this morning that he is raising a people who is making up in their mind that even if a famine comes, I will let God know that I know that I'm favored by him.
He still has called me He still has prospered me. He still has blessed me.
And I'm not gonna get to verse 10 and start trying to take things in my own hand.
I'm not going to get to verse 10 and make me forget verse 1.
I'm not going to get to verse 10 and make me doubt God, because by this point in our lives, we should understand that storms may go and storms may come and winds may blow and winds may come But through it all, we've learned how to trust in Jesus. Is there anybody in Pilgrim Rest this morning who has made up in their mind that I'm not gonna look at the famine to let me know I'm favored, but I am going to use my faith to let me know I'm favored? Anybody got faith enough to believe this morning? You still got some pain, you still got some famine right now, but you are going to tell the devil, devil, I'm still favored.
Devil, I still got a promise.
He did not bring me this far to leave me. I don't care who's changed on me. God, you have been the same, and my praise is going to get better this year even if my circumstances don't. I want to know who's going to turn it up for God this morning, that you made up today you're not long ago gonna be fooled by the family, but from this day forward you're gonna tell the devil and your family, I'm still faithful.
And just like those people in the gym, don't you let that pain make you quit.
But if you can go through the pain for a little while longer, when you look in that mirror, you're gonna say, where them biceps came from?
It's because you endured the pain.
If you endure the pain, you're gonna see my waistline getting smaller. If you endure the pain, if you endure the pain, you're gonna say, I'm a small size smaller. If you endure the pain, if you endure the pain, I can say I can climb them steps now and not be out of breath because I kept on pressing even when I was in my family.
My loaches, man. All right, y'all already know what my best sermon thus far in 2026 is going to be about.
Here it is: famines are not indicative of a loss of favor.
Instead, famines can fortify your faith. Wow, talk like you've been to school, Gavin. Say it again. Famines are not indicative of a loss of faith.
Instead, famines actually can fortify your faith. Say it a different way, Gabby.
In other words, just because you're going through don't mean you're not faithful. But if you go through, God will let you know that you still faithful through it all.
So in February, if the money ain't there God is going to use that famine there to let you know just how much of a provider he is.
The big hand is between them, 6 and 7.
I'm trying to preach all of this here, so now I think it's a good time for me to turn this corner, unpack my hermeneutic highlights, and make my trek up 167. Embedded in this text. Tony, I'm so happy to see you this morning. Thank you so much.
God teaches us that in the famine, the famine has an abbreviated tenure.
I'm starting to get happy. I feel it in my right calf muscle. Uh-oh, you know What blesses me in this text, Honorable Mayor, you never— I'm gonna sound so crazy, but you trust me, so I know you're gonna get it. The blessing in the text is that it was a famine that came to the land. It was not a flood or fire.
Instead, it was a famine. Still ain't quite got it yet.
A flood has been used to destroy the land. Fire can be used to destroy the land. God sent Abram to Canaan, and the blessing in the text is that Canaan may have been uncomfortable, but Canaan is still intact. Let's look at the definition and etymology of the word famine.
A famine is a prolonged period of time of lack.
It's a long time in which conditions are not conducive to stay. How many of us have ever been, or you may be today, in not just a moment, but a prolonged moment where not only were you going through, but it seemed like your moment of affliction and pain lasted longer than what you signed up for. You thought that it would have been over by now. You thought that your weeping that endureth for a night would have been over by now. And be honest, I know you're saved and God's not gonna revoke your salvation. Some of you have been— you're not going to admit it because you too good—
a little upset with God.
Shh, it's between me and you. You have been upset with God and want to give him a piece of your mind because you're not just in a season of shortage, you are in a famine, which is a prolonged period of time. But I told you, honorable, that that's a blessing, that it's a famine. And I told you about the etymology and definition of the word famine. Go back to it again. I tell them again, a famine is a prolonged period of pain.
But here's the blessing—
stay calm.
Even though it's prolonged, thank God it's not permanent.
And the blessing in the word famine is that yes, it's here right now, but if he keep waking me up in the morning, if he just keep putting food on my table, if he just keep a roof over my head, if he just keep putting breath in my body, if he just keep my heart beating, if he just keep me moving, I know that sooner or later the famine shall be over. And I want to let somebody know this morning— I feel good now— that don't you think that your famine is permanent, but you can thank God in the midst of your famine because every famine has an expiration date. It ain't gonna always be like this. You can lift your hands now and say, thank you, God, not for everything, but in all things I will give thanks because there is no tenure on my family.
Lord have mercy. Thanks be to God.
God, this don't make no sense.
You sent me to a land that you gonna show me.
I know good and well you ain't sent me here for no famine. God say I show land But a famine is a part of it.
But don't let you think a part of it is the whole of it, because if you just stay where I put you, God's going to make it better.
Oh, poor Abram, poor Abram and his family. Then the Bible says that Abram does something that makes sense, but we don't know if God said do Bible says that Abram then left Canaan, went to Egypt. Makes common sense, 'cause Egypt is prosperous. You got to eat.
I'm not just gonna stay here. I'll be done in a minute. Not just gonna stay here, but I'm gonna go to Egypt.
Yeah. Tents called the place of promise.
The place in which God sent him didn't seem to be conducive for God's blessings.
And not only when he got to Egypt, his character changed.
Go read it, it's good for your health.
Bible teaches us that Abram Father of faith, when he went to Egypt, devised a plan himself to tell his baddie Sarah. Sarah, hey baby, you look good this morning. So when we get to Egypt, let's tell them you my sister, because if they know you my old lady, I'm gonna be in the world of trouble.
Once again, God never told Abram to go to Egypt, and God sure didn't tell Abram to lie.
Here it is, here it is, here it is, here it is. The problem was not Abram going to Egypt. The problem is that Abram let the panic of Egypt change his character. That's why this message is important, because famine may come, but don't devise your own plans. And when you devise your own plans, don't panic and let it change your character. Many of us are in the trouble that we have been in, in our lives because we panicked when the famine came and we changed our character and did things that God did not ordain us to do. I'm going to warn you, when things get tight, don't let it change June.
It's coming.
It may be minor, it may be major, but you make up in your mind this year that I am not going to rely on myself, but I am going to rely on a God who sent me and is keeping me and providing for me.
Here it is, here it is.
I like the way this sounds, so I got both my hands up for the first time this year. You know what that means, you better like it. Don't change your alliance by changing your reliance. The Africans, they don't like it. Good enough for me. Don't change your alliance by changing your reliance. Say it again, Gavin.
In other words, don't sell out on God by relying on yourself with your smart grown self who grown enough and got wisdom. Now God says you will never have enough wisdom to to not trust me, but as you've been trusting me all this time, trust me now that you're in the family.
It was a family, uncomfortable, but it was not permanent.
And the blessing in the text is that God kept Abram even after Abram sold out on him. And many of us this morning, if you want a sign— how many of y'all looking for a sign that I'm favored? Let me tell you, let me tell you, this your sign that you favored, that even though you did not act right with God, God did not take the promise.
Y'all acting mighty funny with me this morning. I guess y'all left me in 2025 and don't want to fool with me no more. God said today that you know that your favorite is that I didn't cancel where I sent you because you messed up when I sent you there.
How many of you done made some crazy decisions?
How many of you done done some ignorant foolish stuff? How many of you got some things that you regret to this day, but God is still with you? He's still providing. He's still keeping his promise. He knew you were gonna do it before you did it, but God kept you anyway. He's forgiving you. He's shielding you, and he's not letting your own plans backfire against you.
Abram went and lied to them folks. Pharaoh found out about it, and Pharaoh said, you got to get out of here. You should have told me this was your wife. Why did you lie to me and tell me that this was your sister? But the Bible said that Pharaoh sent him back and did not kill him.
Y'all missing me this morning. His mistake didn't kill him. He's Pharaoh. He's the man that he was scared that was gonna kill him.
That's why he lied.
But even when Pharaoh found out he lied, Pharaoh did not kill him. And that's your testimony. You know that God is here with you. Because your mistakes did not mess you up. Here's my testimony. My testimony is I didn't taint it. I didn't mess it up. It, it's still special because I couldn't spoil it.
That's your prayer this morning.
God, don't let me spoil what you doing for me. Don't let me be my own worst enemy.
Don't let me mess up too bad to where I cancel everything. But if by the grace and mercy of God, God makes sure that you don't take your testimony—
the famine didn't take the promise. What was built was not tainted.
By the way, that's my word for you this morning. Don't let that take your perception of what God is doing in your life. You know that God got some good things in store for you. God has told you, you got some good things, he got some good things in store for you. Don't you let life make you think that it's tainted.
Bridge. God told me something else about that.
Drove over bridge this morning, and I discovered that when they build bridges, before they let people drive on, they put a bridge under weight that is more than it can never go through. And the testimony that the bridge is ready is that the bridge can go through the weight and still be kept. Y'all missing me this morning.
Abram went through the weight of Canaan, but the weight of Canaan kept Canaan, and God didn't let Canaan be destroyed for Abram because Abram went somewhere else. Who am I talking to this morning? You have put your promise under a lot of weight, but God kept you and he kept his promise for you.
You ready now? I'm taking too long. I already messed up. I let the big hand get between 9 and the 10. Let me see if I can cut across the field. Text teaches us, secondly and finally, about an assimilated tolerance. Assimilated tolerance. Are y'all anxious? Go read in chapter 20.
Pharaoh was upset and scared because Bible says that God made cause disruption in Pharaoh's house because he took a woman that wasn't his. Pharaoh's mad, and the Bible says that he sent Abram out.
Verse 1, chapter 13 tells us where Abram goes.
Go read the next chapter, you will find And Abram went to the Negev.
Guess where the Negev is located?
In Canaan.
All right, all right.
If you go read chapters 12 and 13, we see that in chapter 10—
this is about to bless me.
In verse 10, there's a famine in the land, a prolonged period of time of lack. Abram goes to Egypt, lies to Pharaoh. Pharaoh figures out it's a lie. Pharaoh sends Abram back. Abram goes to Canaan. He's now in the Negev.
Which is in Canaan.
The Bible says that not only did Abram leave, but he left with all that he had. Y'all know where Abram got something from.
God blessed Abram even in his mess up. When Abram was out of the will of God, God provided for Abram even when he was out of his will. This lets us know that even when I'm out of God's will, thanks God I'm not out of his way. And God is not wanting us to stay out of his will, but he blesses us even when we're out of his will. That way when he brings us back, we got something to go back with. Who am I talking to? That God blessed you when you was not thinking about him. That you, when you were lost in your sin, well, you didn't know where the church house was, God still paid your bills. And now that you're here, you need to thank God that you're blessing me now and you blessed me back then when I didn't know you. See, some of us owe God for how he blessed us when we wasn't thinking about it, but when we was acting a plump fool, God was blessing us.
And God doesn't bless us when we out of his will to stay out of his will, but God blesses us out of his— when we out of his will so that when we come back to his will, we got something really to shout about.
Then here's the trick. Do y'all notice what's missing from the text? Let me go back again because y'all didn't get it. Should have got it. God sent Abram to a land he will show. Abram go, ends up in this place called Canaan. I give you this first.
Ends up in a place called Canaan.
A famine comes to Canaan.
Abram goes with some Sarai to Egypt to avoid the famine. God didn't tell him to do it, but God kept him anyway. He's not— now has upset Pharaoh. Pharaoh sent him back to Canaan. Abram goes back to Canaan with what he had. He got the possession that he had in Egypt. Abram left Canaan because there was a famine. Hey, the Bible does not say that the famine ended.
Since God sent Abram to Canaan, the same God that's God enough to send you to Canaan when it's prosperous is the same God who can help you tolerate Canaan even when Canaan ain't changed. Y'all are missing Gavin R. Hamms PhD this morning. The famine didn't go away yet, but Abram was able to survive in a place that should have killed him. And the reason that he was able to survive is because he was sent by God. And I want to tell somebody this morning that God can keep you in places that were designed to get you. And that's how you know you've been sent by God. You can go to racist places because you've been sent by God. You can go to places where you don't have the right last name because you've been sent by God. There is no weapon formed against you that can prosper because you've been sent by God.
So I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that you don't need to be fooled by the devil.
Because even if the family don't change, guess what else ain't changed? God's promise ain't changing.
And I want to tell somebody that your conditions may not have changed yet, but God's unchanging hand ain't changed yet either.
I've done the best I can, and no matter what you say This still the best sermon I done preached this year.
Here it is.
The other day, uh, uh, uh, I, I was getting a, a pedicure.
Y'all know my grooming habits. I love to be groomed and manicured.
It's not easy to be this groomed When I went to get the pedicure, the lady put my feet in the water.
She asked me, is the water too hot?
Can't lie to you, the water was kind of hot. But the water whispered to me, he said, Gazi. I said, yes sir, Mr. Water. Tell the woman that the water is not too hot. I obeyed what the water told me and I kept my burning foot in the water. And when the woman asked me, was it too hot? I said, no ma'am, it's just right. The water told me, watch what happens.
A few minutes later, a few seconds later actually, the water that I originally thought was too hot got comfortable for me.
I said, water, what's the trick? He said, it's easy, Gavin. Go preach this Sunday. He said it's called sensory adaptation. Now y'all gotta know that I gotta tell you what sensory adaptation is. Sensory adaptation is the fact that our bodies are biologically designed that when conditions are uncomfortable, even when the conditions conditions don't change.
I change. And because I change, I can take the conditions. Good night, may the Lord God bless you real good. And that's my promise for you this morning, that things may not change, but you may have some spiritual adaptation where you still may be in a den of thieves, but you won't change. You still may be around crooked folks, but you won't change. You still may be in a chaotic environment, but you won't change. And sometimes the miracle is that even when it didn't change, God changed me. Is there anybody this morning who's looking for God to change them, to make you able to stand the heat, to make you able to stand the times? I can't control what happens in Washington, but there is a God in me that's greater than he in the world. I can't change my supervisor, but But I can have the Spirit of God walking and talking in me, and even when they don't change, I'll still get my paycheck. Is there anybody this morning who's thanking God that he can shut my mouth when it needs to shut? He can control my thoughts when they need to be controlled. He can keep me in God's midst. He can help my mind. He can keep my peace. He can keep my joy. That even when the doctor say the C-word, I will bless the Lord at all times. Because he's changing me. That even when I got the flu, I can still lift my hands because he's changing me. Even when they cuss me out, I only say one cuss word back because he's changing me. He has given me the ability to adapt even when things ain't changed.
We see no record that the famine changed, but Abram must have changed because that same place he just had to leave that God sent him, God sent him right back and say, I got some promises for you here that are—
that you got other lines attached to this.
And I want to let somebody know, don't you be fooled this year.
God's been too good to bring you to this year with all the hell you went through in December last year and January of last year, all the tears you cried last year, all the nights you stayed up last year. But God brought you to January the 4th, 2026. Don't you let a possible famine make you believe what God— God is calling you now.
He's still with you.
Only way, only way you can survive in the famine It's because there's a Jesus the Christ in your life. He died, bled, and suffered, got up the third day morning, sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you and I.
He intercedes during your failings. You're only gonna last for a little while. Well, thank God it was a famine, not a fire. Thank God it was a famine and not a flood, because a few chapters earlier he destroyed the world with the flood. And this is just a famine. It has an expiration date.
It's a tenure to it, which means it's only going to last for a certain amount of time.
All right, but he sent you to Gonna outlast the trouble. If I was a junior choir singer from the early '90s, I would say, trouble don't last always.
No, no, no, trouble don't last always.
It sure don't.
It does not last, but God does.
Come to him this morning.
