What does Tribe teach about god's promises?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on God's promises starts with a distinction Brian returns to again and again: God's promises are always guaranteed, but they are not automatic. Brian says, "The promises of God are always guaranteed, but they are not automatic." What that means in practice is that God does not forget what he has said, but we can, and the pattern throughout Scripture is that God invites his people into the fulfillment of those promises rather than simply dropping them from outside. Receiving is not passive. Brian points to Abram and Sarah as the clearest example: God gave the promise and gave Abram the ability to act on it, but had Abram not acted, the child of promise would not have come.
The Hebrew behind Psalm 37:34 shapes a lot of how Pastor Brian frames this. The phrase usually translated "put your hope" carries the image of strands of rope being twisted together, an entwining of your life with God's rather than a passive waiting around. Brian also draws on the word picture of people who had arranged their lives to be on the shore when Jesus returned across the lake, not casual fans but people positioned on an intercept course. That is what it looks like to wait on God's promises well. At the same time, Brian is careful not to let that active posture tip into impatience. He quotes Bill Johnson, who says that sometimes it takes the Lord a long time to act suddenly. Zechariah prayed for a child for years and, by the time the angel showed up, had quietly given up. God had not forgotten the promise. Zechariah had.
Brian also anchors this teaching in Joshua's farewell address, where Joshua tells the people that deep in their hearts they know every promise God made has come true and not one has failed. Brian asks the congregation to let their own history be evidence, and he makes it concrete by asking people to raise their hands if they have ever panicked over a situation that God later resolved, then asking them to hold that raised hand as a testimony to themselves. The raised hands in the room are a record, and that record is worth holding onto when the next promise is still outstanding.
Taught from Psalm 37:34 · Hebrews 11:32-34 · Joshua 23:14 · 2 Peter 1:3-4 · Hosea 2:15
“When we remember the victories God has given us in the past, it arms us with strength for today's battles.”
From Pecky Day
The passage taught · Joshua 23
1 After many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,
2 Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, “I am old and well advanced in years.
3 You have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is Yahweh your God who has fought for you.
4 Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- November 21, 2023 Pecky Day Brian Hunter shares Pecky Day, a Hunter family tradition of remembering God's faithfulness, woven through Joshua 23 and an unlikely answer to prayer in Tulsa.
- June 25, 2023 Marked by His Word Brian Hunter walks through how God speaks through Scripture, why his promises are guaranteed but not automatic, and how to build the habit of hearing his voice.
- February 6, 2023 Travel Steady Along His Path Part 4 A Wyoming congregation works slowly through Psalm 37:34, exploring what it means to wait on God, grab hold of his promises, and let him separate us from what holds us back.
- January 16, 2023 Travel Steady Along His Path Brian Hunter walks Tribe through Psalm 37:34, exploring how God's promises are guaranteed but never automatic, and what it looks like to actively wait on the Lord.
Mentioned along the way
- January 18, 2026 Unbreakable: God's Commitment to Israel Brian Hunter opens a multi-week series on God's unbreakable covenant with Israel, exploring why this subject matters deeply for every believer's faith and understanding of God's heart.
- October 19, 2025 Mount Sinai in Arabia Brian Hunter preaches from Exodus 19 on why Mount Sinai matters, tracing four promises God made to Israel that he says still belong to followers of Jesus today.
- August 21, 2023 Pack Your Bags Brian Hunter opens a three-week journey into God's heart for Israel, reading Genesis, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Romans 11 together as a congregation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.