In episode 119 of the “No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe” podcast, host Greg Ryan opens with a Memorial Day tribute, thanking fallen service members and their families. He then moves into a biblical exposition on faith, focusing on Abraham (Abram) as a model of believing God’s spoken word. Ryan walks through Genesis 12, where God commands Abram to leave his country, and Genesis 15, where God promises countless descendants despite Abram’s childlessness. He emphasizes that Abram’s belief was “accounted to him for righteousness,” linking this to Romans 4 where Paul explains that righteousness comes through faith, not the law. Ryan notes the 13‑year silence between God’s promises, highlighting that God does not micromanage but expects persistent trust. Throughout, he urges listeners to hear, believe, and act on God’s word, encouraging perseverance, humility, and reliance on the Holy Spirit. The episode concludes with a prayer for wisdom, peace, and grace for the audience.
Welcome to episode 119, In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.
Welcome to episode 119. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And since I am making this episode on Memorial Day, I wanted to send out a thank you to the fallen men and women. I know that they can't hear me, but their effort and their lives speak loud in America, and we are so thankful for what you— the sacrifice that you have given. And I want to remember you, and I want to thank you for your service and your sacrifice. And to those families who have fallen loved ones, God bless you, and may his face shine upon you. Now, I know Memorial Day is a national holiday, and everyone takes the— it's a long weekend where you get 3 days off. And a lot of people go to the lake, and a lot of people go to the pool, and a lot of people barbecue and grill. And I'm not against any of that, but please remember why we are here, why America is free. And I know this is a biblical podcast, but we can still honor the fallen, and we can still honor those Americans that sacrificed it all. And I just want to say one more time, thank you, and God bless you. Now I want to continue on our talk about faith, and I want to talk about Father Abraham. And Abraham's story starts in Genesis 12. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now I want you to notice in Genesis 12:1, now the Lord had said to Abram, Now again, I don't want to make light. I don't know how God spoke this to Abram. I was not there, but he— Abram got the word of God. He heard from God, and it was the word of God. And that's exactly what the Bible is. And again, this is soapbox moment number 27. Get into the word, because the only way that you can know what the word of God is, is to be in the word of God. And Abram heard from God, and then notice in verse 4, so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Now I also want you to notice that Abram did not do everything perfect in this life of his, and we're going to run through some of his stuff. But right out the chute, right off the bat, God said, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house to a land I will show you. And who did he take but his nephew? Again, I'm going to say it for the umpteenth time: I don't think perfection is the goal. I think doing the word of God, making progress, taking action is what Abraham— or Abram at this point— was doing. He got up and he left. Now, Lot came with him. Lot was part of his father's house. I guess you could argue that that wasn't his father's house, that was his father's brother's house. But anyway, Abram left and Lot wanted to come. And Abram, I'm sure, was a good guy and said, well, come on, if you're going, I'm going. If you're coming, come on. And so Lot saw the writing on the wall, or may have been around, or he heard Abram talk and he got fired up. Maybe Abram was a motivational speaker, we don't know. Lot left with Abram. Let's move to Genesis 15. Now a lot had— a lot has happened from Genesis 12 to Genesis 15, but in 15:1, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward. And then Abram starts talking about him not having a child. And in Genesis 15:4, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, this one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then he brought him outside and said, look now toward heaven. And count the stars, if you are able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. And he believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him for righteousness. Now I want you to see what was accounted to Abram for righteousness. It was believing the word of the Lord. That's all Abram had. He had a word from God, and so what he did was just believe it. Now he got a word in 12— Genesis 12:1 that says, get out of the land your father— get out of that land. And notice what happened. Abram got up and left. He heard the word of God and acted on it. And in here, he believed God when God said, look, this is not going to be your heir, an heir from your own body. And then God said, look at the stars. If you can imagine, if you can number that, that's how many descendants you are going to have. And this is— God is speaking to a man that has not had a child yet, and he's getting up there in age. And notice it didn't say that Abram Googled it and tried to find out what the oldest man that ever had a child was. He didn't do anything. He didn't go searching. He probably didn't go talk to his neighbors, or he didn't go run chase down Lot and see what Lot thought. He believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He believed the word of the Lord, and that's what So, soapbox number 58 is that you have to believe what God's word says. We can't argue with it, we can't try to rewrite it. All our job— our only job is to believe it. It is to read it. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. We have to hear it and then we have to believe it. Abram heard the word of God and it was accounted to righteousness because he believed it. Now let's go to Romans 4. Now I'm tempted to read the whole chapter of Romans 4, but I'm going to spare you. I know you love my superior reading skills, but I'm going to spare you the reading, and I'm going to pick it up in Romans 4:13. And before I start reading 4:13 through about 18, I think, or 19, I just want to remind you of the lesson that I talked about the law and what the law was for and there's a difference between the law and grace and faith and all— there's a reason why we kind of went through all of this stuff, and it's not just for words. Because when you start listening to what Paul said in Romans 4:13-19, he starts talking about the law and about works and about if you do this or if you do it by faith. And I just want to pick that up. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath. For where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be accounted to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. I'm gonna stop right there. I think that's where Father Abraham gets the father of faith, because he— it began with him. He heard the word of God and he just believed it. And again, this whole— the whole Old Testament and the whole Bible, we're supposed to hear it and then use those examples to apply those truths to our lives. And then we're going to pick up in Romans 4:17 11. And as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of him whom he believed, God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 12. who contrary to hope in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken, So shall your descendants be.
13.
And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead, since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb, he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now there is a mouthful in those scriptures, and I know that's 4:13 through like 22, and that's a lot of scripture in the, the whole chapter. In fact, Romans, if you just want to just sit down and dig into Romans, I'm not gonna be upset at all. And I think the Holy Spirit can lead you into some incredible truths. This part right here is based on Abram just hearing from the word and God saying, "Look, I'm gonna make you the father of many nations." And this guy's about 100. This guy is about 100 years old and he's still believing. And he heard this back in his 70s. I think Abraham or Abram was 70, maybe 75, I don't know the exact number, but he was in his 70s, I think, when the word of God first told him he was gonna have a son. But either way, I know he was 86 when he had Ishmael. So he's 86 years old when he has Ishmael, and then 13 years later, God appears. And that's, I've already commented on this on previous episode, but it's amazing in the Bible how it just, God just goes silent for 13 years. After Hagar has Ishmael and Abram, there's just a little blank in my Bible from Genesis 16:16 to 17:1. There's like a quarter of an inch. It says Abram was 86 years old, and then in the next, in the next verse in 17:1, when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God. Walk before me and be blameless. So I just want to chase this little rabbit right here of you thinking God's going to micromanage your life. He goes silent. Probably Abram is out going, God, what, what's going on? What's happening here? He's 86 years old. He's got two women that he's married to. He's married to Sarai and he's married to Hagar, and he's got a baby, and it goes silent. God flips the microphone off. That I calls it kol mik. He goes silent. Abram is now 99 when God speaks to him again. I don't know what happened in those 13 years. Again, I wasn't there, but you know, life happened. And Abram still, when it says he did not waver at the promise, you know, perfection is not the goal, and lives happen and things happen in life. Well, you just keep moving and you keep going forward to the goal where God sets you. And I, you know, and I'm quite certain that I'm not perfect at this podcasting thing. I'm probably not even really good, but I am continuing to go forward, and I pray that God can use that. And so let's pray right now because I feel myself going to go for another 10 or 15 minutes. But God, I thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to speak to your people. Lord, I pray that you would continue to lead and guide and direct me, and I pray for the person listening to this episode that you would just pour out your wisdom, pour out your knowledge, pour out your peace and your grace. God, we thank you, we love you, we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
