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The Test · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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You have your Bible. Go and make your way to Genesis
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chapter 22 as we continue in our series answering the call of
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God. We took the 1st 11:00-ish
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chapters of Genesis a couple years ago.
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We've been embarking upon the second chunk of about 12
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chapters now for a few months and we'll conclude this series
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here in the next Sunday or two is we're going to turn our
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attention if you're interested in where we're headed.
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So you can be praying for me and us as a church about this but
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special time of the year and after 250 years in the light
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life of our nation is coming up. And I'm going to be doing a
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series at the end of June and month of July called under God
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Biblical truths that have forged our nation.
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And I just believe this is a moment to take an opportunity as
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believers to look at the at the Scriptures of what God has done
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in the life of our nation. What has God called us to do as
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citizens of heaven and of earth, of this nation and one day
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ultimately now and forever the Kingdom of God?
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How do we steward biblical citizenship?
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How do we stand for the truths of Scripture as believers in our
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country and beyond? So there, there's a lot there
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and we're going to we're going to be there for five or six
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weeks and I'm just praying the Lord would use that in the life
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of our church as we celebrate even a very special time as a
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nation. Then we're going to be turning
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our attention. I'm praying about the book of
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Titus. If you want to read ahead, we're
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going to spend in the first six weeks of the fall in the book of
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Titus going back to the New Testament.
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So which is our typical, we typically work in the Old
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Testament back to the new as we seek to preach the whole counsel
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of God's word. We want a steady diet of all the
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different parts of Scripture is all in every part point to
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Jesus, preach the gospel and instruct us in life and in
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living. So that's a little foreshadowing
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of where we're going today. I want to start with a question.
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What if? What if all you had to do to
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make an A in a class was complete all the homework and
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then simply to the teacher when you had completed all the course
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content and simply report, I've mastered the course curriculum.
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I deserve an A. What if that's all you had to
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do? We'd all have straight As,
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wouldn't we? Glory Hallelujah.
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Yeah. And yet that's not the world we
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live in. That's not the kind of teachers
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we've had or have. That's not the kind of schools
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that we go to. Teachers don't take our word for
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it. They administer tests to see
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what is in fact true. And test can come in all shapes
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and sorts and sizes. There can be small tests like
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these little pop quizzes. I never did like those.
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There can be medium sized tests that come about once 1/4 that
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contribute a little more to our grade.
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Then there's bigger tests that really make up the majority of
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our grade, kind of like midterms and finals.
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Tests come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
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Genesis 22 is like a final exam in Abraham's life that doesn't
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come till almost the end of his life and is yet going to count
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for a lot of his final great. Genesis 22 is a test that's
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going to expose the deepest part of Abraham's heart.
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Now, if you cook it all, especially if you grill, you
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realize that you can see something that looks totally
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done on the outside, but yet be very undone on the on the
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inside. So unless you're a professional
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or just have lots of experience, of which I'm not a professional.
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In fact, I remember the days when I had the knife in hand and
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my hamburger, steak or chicken, especially chicken.
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What am I going to do before I take it off the grill, Cut into
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it, check and see? That's not what a professional
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does nowadays. There's things that have come
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along allowing me to think I'm a professional when I'm really
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not. But I don't have to have a knife
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in hand when I can have, if you have something like this called
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a thermopen. So this allows the amateurs to
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cheat. And what I can do is no matter
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what it looks like on the outside, I can instantly know
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what its exact condition is on the inside the moment I stick
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the needle in to the inside of my meat.
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And right now it's telling me the air is 70° right here where
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I stand. You know, if I was on a desert
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island and I can only have a few things, my Bible, a knife, a
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lighter, and maybe my thermapen, to know if the meat I just
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haunted and killed was ready for me to eat.
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All right, I wouldn't. I don't leave home without this
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thing. I camp with this thing.
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I live with this thing I love. I love this thing.
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You know, the deal is is Genesis 22 is going to be like God
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taking his spiritual thermapen and inserting it into Abraham's
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heart to test and see if his faith is rare, medium or well
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done, whether on the inside matches the maturity that it
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appears to have on the on the outside.
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And and then, just in case you're wondering, this test will
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not be easy. The test as as it as it looks is
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going to what it's going to hurt as God test his faith.
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Listen to Genesis 22 verses one through 8.
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After these things God tested Abraham and said to him Abraham
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he said here I am. He said take your son, your only
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son Isaac whom you love. Go to the land of Moriah, and
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offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains
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of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the
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morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with
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him and his son Isaac, and he cut the wood for the burnt
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offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told
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him. On the third day Abraham lifted
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up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
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And then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the
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donkey, I, and the boy will go over there and worship, and come
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again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the
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burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son.
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And he took in his hand the fire and the knife.
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And so they went, both of them together.
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And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father.
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And he said, Here I am my son. And he said, Behold the fire and
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the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
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Abraham said. God will provide for himself the
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lamb for a burnt offering, my son.
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So they went, both of them together.
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After all this time, after all this waiting, after all these
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years, after all the blessings and protection and provision and
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the fulfilling of the promises of God, most of all that finally
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a son would be born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age had
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come to pass. The Bible says God tested
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Abraham. The word Nisa in the Hebrew
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means here, tested it is. The idea here is to reveal the
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authenticity, the genuineness of something to reveal reality.
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Now what I want you to keep in mind here right out of the gate
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is that we know something that Abraham doesn't know.
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God didn't shake Abraham awake on this day and say, Abraham, by
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the way, today I'm going to test you.
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Now how nice would that have been had Abraham known all
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along? It was a Abraham does not know
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that you and I know that he doesn't know that.
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All he hears is God calls his name and gives him instructions,
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to which he says, here I am. And then Abraham hears God say
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something that sends chills down his spine, that makes his
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stomach rise to his throat and causes him to break out in a
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cold, adrenaline driven sweat. What is it that makes this test
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so difficult? Well, there's a few things.
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Let me just name them so we're clear.
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Number one, what makes this test so difficult is who it involves.
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We're talking about the son, the only son, the son of promise
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after years of waiting, son, the son born to the impossible
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situation, son Isaac, the son whom he loves more than anything
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else in life. This test is difficult number
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one, y'all, because it involves the most valuable thing in
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Abraham's life #2 it's difficult because of what it involves.
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God, are you asking me to worship you by killing my son?
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God? Are you asking me to worship you
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by offering a child sacrifice like all the pagans do?
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Because that's what it sounds like.
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Not only is this test difficult because it involves the most
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valuable thing in Abraham's life, but this test is difficult
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because it involves the most unthinkable thing that Abraham
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could ever do in life. This flies in the face of
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everything Abraham has ever considered, never heard or
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thought about God. It's who it involves, it's what
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it involves, and it's how it doesn't make sense #3 it's how
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it doesn't make sense. It contradicts everything he
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knows about the character and nature of God.
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This test, if you will, involves the most valuable thing in his
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life, the most unthinkable thing in his life, and thirdly, the
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most confusing thing in his life.
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Do you see now why this test is so difficult?
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What's even more shocking to me is what you don't hear Abraham
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say. Because if I got God on the line
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and I heard something like that, I think I would say God.
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Could you repeat that again? God, I think you broke up.
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God, I think I misunderstood you.
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God, for the third time, could you simply say what the
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instruction was? Again, you don't hear Abraham
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question at all. It's obvious Abraham knows
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exactly who has spoken and he knows exactly what God has said.
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So verse 3, Abraham arose early in the morning, saddled his
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donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac.
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Now I'm just guessing here, but personally, I don't think
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Abraham said a word to Sarah before he left.
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Mamas, can I get an Amen? What if over, you know, laying
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on the pillow that night right before bed.
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Abrams, like honey, God and I talked today and here's what he
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said. I don't think he said a word.
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I also think it's probably fair to conclude this was the last
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father son outing Isaac ever took Abraham up on.
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Hey, Abraham, after all this was done.
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Hey Isaac, man, you want to go fishing today?
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Dad about died last time we hung out.
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Think I'm good you go right ahead.
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All right, so probably lots going on here.
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It's a it's a three day journey. The location was Mount Moriah.
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And what's significant here is this is potentially the exact
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same mount or at least the exact same region where second
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Chronicles 31 says Solomon built his very temple where God would
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be worshipped. I want you to see how then
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pictures, big pieces of the puzzle of the Bible, are going
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to come together and be foreshadowed in this text.
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This is going to be the place where God in His temple is going
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to dwell and be worshipped. And furthermore, this is not far
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away. This is extremely close to
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another place, a hill called Calvary, where Jesus the Son of
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God would die, would not be speared for you and for me.
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When Abraham finally sees the place that what God had told
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him, notice what he says to his young men travelling with him
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and Isaac. Verse 5 Stay here with the
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donkey. I and the boy will go over there
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and do what? What are they going to go do?
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Worship, Abraham says. And come again to you #1 notice
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how Abraham describes what they're going to do.
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He says what they're about to do is worship, because a burnt
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offering was in fact an act of worship through sacrifice.
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And quite honestly, this reminds us of a truth we ought to always
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remember as believers, that any type of true worship will always
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cost us something. It's interesting talk to some
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people about Sunday and they say, well, I just need one day a
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week to sleep in Pastor as if worship wasn't going to cost
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them something. Well, we're we're really busy.
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Pastor got a lot going on. As if worship is not supposed to
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cost us something. Sometimes we forget this and we
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allow things come into play, take us out of rightly offering
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to God on the first day of the week when we wake up, an
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offering that's a sacrifice of praise when we could be doing
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1001 other things during this time.
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But you've chosen to be here as worship always, right?
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Worship will always cost us something.
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We don't come to worship primarily to get, but to give.
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Then notice what Abraham is thinking.
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He says here I and the boy will not only worship but come again
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to you. Now that's fascinating right
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there, right? Because Abraham is giving you
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insight into what he's thinking. He's saying here that I believe
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even if I'm called to follow through with what God has called
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me to do, He's saying right now in faith that I believe if I'm
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speaking for Abraham, he's saying I believe God is not
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going to break his promise to me.
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Remember what that promise was. Your offspring will be named
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through Isaac. And if that promise is going to
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come true, who's going to have to be alive?
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Isaac. So no matter what's about to
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happen, Abraham is committed to it and willing to do it.
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But he believes no matter what's going to happen, I and the boy,
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he says I'm going to, we're, we're going to, we're going to
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come back somehow, some way. Abraham is believing God that
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Isaac is going to live. You get even more specifics in
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the New Testament when you turn to Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 17
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through 19, which says this by faith.
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Abraham, when he was tested, there's that word again, offered
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up Isaac, and he and he who had received the promises was in the
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act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said through
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Isaac shall your offspring be named.
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And he watch this. He considered that God was able
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even to raise him from the dead. Let me just remind you, God's
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not done that yet in Scripture. Abraham's never seen God raise
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anybody from the dead. Abraham's never heard of God
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raising anybody from the dead. But what did Abraham believe?
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The promises of God which meant no matter what he believed his
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son would live even if God had to raise him from the dead.
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Verse 6 Abraham straps the wood on his son's back and I just
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stop and say I can't help but look forward to a picture when
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wood would be laid on another son's back.
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Literally a wooden cross by which the Savior would bear on
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his back as he headed towards Calvary, where He would be
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nailed to. To suffer for you and for me,
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paying to send debt for my sin and for yours.
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Abraham has the torch of fire in one hand and the knife in the
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other. It's then that Isaac asked the
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awkward elephant in the room question.
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Aren't kids great about asking those kind of questions?
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You know they're not socially aware enough to know what
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questions not to ask, or they just blurt them out loud.
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Don't you know that for the last three days Abraham has wondered
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how he would answer this question once Isaac asked it.
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God, what am I going to say? God, what do you want me to tell
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him? God, what do you want me to do?
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I know he's going to ask. It's going to become obvious at
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some point. God, what is it?
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What am I going to say? And sure enough, God provides
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Abraham with exactly what to say.
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And his answer was, God himself will provide the lamb.
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Literally, it could be rendered. The Lord will see to it is what
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it means. God's going to see the need
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Isaac and the Lord himself is going to provide, and Isaac
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trusted the answer from his earthly father and Abrahams
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trusting the answer of his heavenly Father to answer.
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Now, if we just zoomed out for a moment from this single story in
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the Bible and got to the whole story of the Bible, the question
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that Isaac asked his father is the question of the entire Bible
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that I see the fire and I see the knife.
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But the question of Isaac was, where's the lamb?
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That is the question of the Bible.
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Where is the Lamb that could possibly take away the sins of
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the where? And who could possibly be a
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sacrifice that could fully appease the wrath of Almighty
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God for the sins of the entire world?
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And what is the answer to that question?
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The Bible gives the Lord Himself will.
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What the Lord himself will provide is the answer.
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How so? In that God would so love the
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world that he would give his one and only Son, so that whosoever
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would believe in him should not have to perish for their sin,
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but be saved by faith in him and have eternal life.
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That's the message of the Bible. That's the message of the
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gospel, that Jesus loves you, has been sent for you, has lived
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a sinless life for you, has died for your sin and your place for
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you, so that if you by faith could call on His name now, even
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now as I speak, you can be saved and made alive, born again and
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rescued from what you deserve and given what you don't.
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Heaven forever. Have you called on Jesus to save
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you because God has answered the question himself.
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Where is the Lamb in his one and only Son, y'all?
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The first thing that we learn here from this story is this, if
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you're taking notes, is that God will test the faith of his
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followers. You can mark it down and bet
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your life on it. God will test the faith of his
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followers. You call?
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What do you mean? God test our faith often by
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calling us to obey him in ways that may not make sense.
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You see those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus, yes, we claim
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to obey God's word, or at least we agree that we're willing to
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obey God's word. But guess what God often test to
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see To what extent are we willing to obey God's word when
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the Lord commands us to make some costly sacrifice or to do
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some task that he's called us to that we don't want to do that
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doesn't make sense. It may be confusing this
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impossible seeming or unreasonable.
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How willing are we to obey? Passing the test y'all looks
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like holding nothing back from. God but in total full fate and
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surrender just like Abraham did, looking to God to provide and
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saying yes, whatever God ask of us, trusting the Lord will
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provide, but God will test the fate of his followers.
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Follow along with me as we pick up in verse 9.
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When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham
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built the altar there and laid the wood in order.
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And he bound Isaac his son, laid him on the altar on top of the
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wood. And then Abraham reached out his
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hand, and he took the knife to slaughter his son.
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But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said,
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Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am.
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He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy, or do anything to him,
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for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not
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withheld your son, your only son, from me.
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And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind
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him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.
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And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a
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burnt offering instead of his son.
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So Abraham called the name of that place.
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The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount
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of the Lord, it shall be provided.
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Can you imagine with me just for a moment?
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At that time, when the altar was completed by Abraham, the wood
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had been arranged, the fire was ready, the knife was in his
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hand, but there was no obvious sacrifice.
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Now the Bible doesn't tell us this, but it doesn't read like
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Isaac was watching and Abraham there had to be cunning and sly
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to lay the last piece of wood and make sure Isaac was real
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close so he could just snatch him before he ran.
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It doesn't seem like Abraham has to do any jiu jitsu moves to
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take down his son and cuff him to put him as an unwilling
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sacrifice. And it doesn't read that way,
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does it? Surely young man could have fled
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or fought old man had he wanted to.
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Abraham's old right here. It reads as if there was no
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struggle, reads as if there was no fight or flight.
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It reads just like another Son of God would offer himself
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willingly on a cross, saying not my will, but thy will,
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Understanding fully what he was about to face, having sweat
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drops of blood the night before, having asked father if this cup
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could pass from me, Let it pass, but not my will, but thy will.
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It seems Isaac was a willing vessel.
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So with Isaac bound and with knife in hand, it's the moment
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of truth. Three days have led up to this
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moment. Abraham.
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There with knife in hand and arm extended, just before the death
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blow falls a voice from heaven. Abraham, Abraham, here I am.
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Don't lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now.
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I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son,
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your only son, from me. From a human standpoint, Isaac
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was as good as dead. Zaca, what do you mean?
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What I mean is Abraham was absolutely and totally
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committed. The knife was milliseconds from
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dropping. Isaac was as good as dead.
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Abraham was all in, but from a divine standpoint, Isaac was
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protected from all harm. In fact, although he didn't
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suffer a scratch, he was essentially brought back from
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the dead by God's intervention. Abraham was completely obedient
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to God's command, even willing not to spare his own son in
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obedience to his heavenly Father, which his act
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highlights. The act of our heavenly Father,
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who was in fact not willing to spare his only son out of love
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for you. In fact, when Paul writes in
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Romans 832 is as if he writes it in light of Isaac being spared,
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but Jesus not being listen to what he says.
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He says he that's God the Father, who did not what spare
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his own son, but gave him up for who?
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Us all, including you and me. How will he not also with him
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graciously give us all things? You see, God spared Abraham's
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only son, but out of love for you and me, He did not spare his
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only son so that we could be sons and daughters of the King.
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That's what Paul means when and that's what he, John describes
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the depth of the love of God. Notice that as a result of his
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obedience to give God what was most precious to him.
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Notice what God says. He says, Abraham, now I know
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that you fear God. That's interesting, right?
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Because what I want to ask is, did Abraham not already fear
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God? Had he not been walking
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faithfully with God? What does it mean to fear God?
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Well, certainly it means to believe God, to have one's faith
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in God, to have one's loyalty and love and affection and
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surrender obedience and honor and respect and all the things
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right. It is to relate to God is God.
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That's what it means to fear God.
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And yes, certainly Abraham was a man who did fear God and was
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living according to that fear. But what does God mean when he
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says, now I know that you fear God, Let me tell you what he
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means. He means now I know because
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you've proven by your actions. And by the way, God already
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knows. So it's not so much just that
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God knows, it's that Abraham knows too.
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Now that I know, Abraham, by your actions.
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There's nothing truly higher, Abraham.
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There's nothing greater Abraham. There is nothing in your life
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you hold higher, bigger, better, more valuable than than me.
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In other words. Now, Abraham, I know you fear me
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and are more loyal to me. You love me.
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You value me more than you do anything else, more than what
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was most valuable to you. You've honored me, Abraham.
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You've passed the test. Friends, This is God's goal for
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every single one of us. What do I mean by that?
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I mean God's goal is for us to live at the point of absolute
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surrender to Him, that nothing higher, nothing greater, nothing
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more valuable in our lives than Him willing to follow at all
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costs. But can I be honest with you and
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you? And I know this is true.
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Unfortunately, many Christians don't live at that point, do
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they? Case in point reminded me, I was
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so encouraged by a young man that we baptized a week ago.
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Remember, if you were in that service, that young man's
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testimony was that he had been saved as an 8 year old boy.
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But it wasn't until he was 16, if I remember his age right, I
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think he's about 15 or 16. The December 22nd of 2025 is
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when he went all in with Jesus. So what does that mean?
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That means he went from just knowing Jesus as his Lord and
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Savior to saying, God, I'm going to live by holding nothing more
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valuable in my life than you, God.
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Everything in my life is going to be secondary to you, God.
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I'm going to Matthew 633. I'm going to seek first the
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Kingdom of God and your righteousness, and then I'm
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going to let everything else in life come secondary to that.
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That's what a lot of Christians don't do on the daily.
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And this is what God wanted to accomplish in Abraham's life.
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Abraham, you're fearing me, you're walking with me.
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We know each other. But guess what?
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I want you to know me more and I want you to prove through your
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actions to yourself and obviously to me.
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But I already know that you're a man who holds me as most
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valuable and most precious than anything else you could in life.
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Y'all sooner or later this type of test will come in your life.
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I can about guarantee it came for Abraham here.
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Do you remember when it came for Peter?
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Do you remember after Peter had denied Jesus three times and it
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was after the resurrection? And Jesus appears to the
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disciples on the beach after all night of fishing and Jesus walks
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up to Peter and they have a conversation in John 15, John 21
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verses 15 through 17. And he looks at Peter and says,
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Peter, do you love me more than all of these?
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Peter, are you going to be willing to walk away from
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everything and anyone else to do what I've called you to do?
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Peter, do you love me more than these three times?
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Peter, do you fear me more than you fear anything else in life?
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It came for me when I was a sophomore in college.
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For me, it involved my call to preach.
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It doesn't involve for everybody a call to preach, but it
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certainly did for me because again, I was a young man who had
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gotten saved at 9 years of age. I knew the Lord Jesus as my Lord
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and Savior. I was growing in my walk with
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Christ. But when God called me to give
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him my life's dreams and ambitions and goals, when God
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called me to entrust to him all the future that I could ever
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think, to hope and dream and pursue and have and say, God,
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I'm going to lay that secondary to your call on my life.
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Guess what I did not want to do is give God what was most
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valuable to me. In other words, I was living as
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a Christian, but holding on to something more valuable at the
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time, momentarily, than God's will in my life.
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That's where a lot of Christians get stuck.
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They know Jesus may be a sword and savior, but they're not
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willing to live like God is truly the most valuable thing on
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the planet. They're just not.
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And you could get stuck there and not pass this test, God told
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Abraham. Now I know that you fear me,
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Abraham. Now I know my will is being
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accomplished. Now I know what's on the inside
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is as mature and well done as what's on the outside.
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And let me just ask you, has this test come for you?
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How have you fared on the test? Do you realize that if you don't
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pass the test, God often will retest anybody?
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Like makeup test? I never liked makeup test.
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And God won't give other tests typically until we pass initial
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test number verse 13. Abraham lifted up his eyes and
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looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket
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by his horns. You could call it a coincidence,
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but you would be badly mistaken for there are no such things.
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I may be wrong, but I don't think the ram was there until
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the exact moment when Abraham needed it.
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And it's not like he had to get out.
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His binoculars had even had any of those in those days.
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He just had to look up and see. Just look up and notice he
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didn't have to go hunting for it.
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God's provision showed up right when he needed it.
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So Abraham takes the ram. God provided offers.
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Is it a burnt offering? Verse 14 he called the name of
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that place. Here it is.
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The Lord will provide as it is said to this day on the mount of
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the Lord shall be provided. Don't you remember how he
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answered his son's question when he asked, Hey, I see the fire, I
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see the wood. You got the knife, Dad, where's
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the lamb? God will provide himself the
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lamb, Abraham said. Abraham didn't know how God
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would provide, he just believed God would.
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And when he did, Abraham named the place Yahweh Yaira or as
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kind of transliterated a little bit more modern times, Jehovah
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Jireh, the word provide in the Hebrew literally to see perhaps
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best rendered literally like this.
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The Lord will see himself and provide himself.
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And then Abraham makes a statement that such a picture of
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the future on the mount of the Lord.
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It shall be provided on the mount called Calvary.
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God would provide for your greatest need and mine with His
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one and only Son whom He would not spare, for all who would
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believe and place their faith in Him.
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On that mount in Abraham's day, and on that mount when Christ
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gave His life for us. God has provided #2 in the midst
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of the test, God will always provide.
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In the midst of the test, friends, you can mark it down.
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God will always provide. Y'all.
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It's one thing to believe facts about God.
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Well, it is another thing to experience God first hand.
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This is really the reason why God test you say.
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Listen, it doesn't make sense to me.
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God doesn't need a Thermopen, does he, Kyle?
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No, but we do. So here's the deal.
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Like I could explain to you all the logical, rational reasons to
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believe in a creator. There's a lot of them.
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I mean, just being frank, I believe it takes far more faith
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to believe in a bang than it does in a Creator.
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I could explain to you the historicity of Jesus.
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Scholars don't argue that a man by the name of Jesus who
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impacted the world, walked this earth.
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That's not argued, changed history.
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I could talk to you about all the reasons why we ought to
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trust the reliability and the veracity and the authenticity of
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the Scripture. I I could, but you realize none
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of those reasons are the ultimate reason I call myself a
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Christian. Now all those have been
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instrumental. All those are vital.
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But the primary reason I call myself a Christian is not
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because of a set of facts, but because of a set of first hand
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experiences I've had with God himself calling me my by name.
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Not that I heard it audibly, but when he convicted me of my sin
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and I knew I needed a Savior. When I've seen Jesus be faithful
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to me and change me and make me somebody that I'm not naturally.
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When I've seen God provide for me and guide me and call me and
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all the things over 41 years, that's why I am who I am and why
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I believe what I believe. And so is your faith gone from a
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set of facts to first hand experience.
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This is why God will test you, not so that just He can know,
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but that you can know how good He is.
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In fact, let me just put it like this.
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This test was a test for Abraham, was it not?
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But consider this it was far more a test for God.
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Could God be trusted to provide? Could God be trusted not to
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break his promises when it looked like He was?
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Could God be trusted when life hurt When this was inserted in
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Abraham's heart? Could God be trusted that he was
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still good when he was undergoing pain a father
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probably could not express and didn't tell Mama about?
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Could God be trusted? God was the one ultimately on
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the line for the test. And this is often why God puts
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us in situations not so that we that he can so much know, but
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there's so we can experience how good he is even when
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circumstances want to appoint us or we want to be tempted to not
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believe or we want to be tempted to think God's God's, God's
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going AWOL, God's disappeared, God doesn't love me anymore,
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God's not really good. God's holding out on me.
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And we can find out just how good God is for ourselves.
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When God takes this and sticks it in our heart, it doesn't feel
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good, but we learn how good God is when he does and we see and
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realize that faith has been fully formed and who we truly
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fear in our lives. I'm going to read verses 15
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through 19. I'm going to make a couple
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comments and I'm going to be done.
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And the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from
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heaven, and said by myself, I have sworn, declares the Lord,
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Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your
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only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply
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your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is
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on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess
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the gate of his enemies. And in your offspring shall all
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the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed
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my voice. So Abraham returned to his young
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men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba.
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And Abraham lived in at beersheba #3.
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Obedience that passes the test brings blessing.
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Obedience that passes the test brings blessing.
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You see what God does here? Reaffirm all the promises that
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Abraham had already heard. And what's happening here is
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that Abraham's obedience by fate, there will no longer be,
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There won't be any obstacle to the full out pouring of God's
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promises and blessings in his life because he's simply chosen
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to trust God. Finally, in one sentence, here
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it is. God test our faith to prove our
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faith and his faithfulness. God test our faith to prove our
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faith and his faithfulness. Y'all.
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This passage in so many ways is like physical therapy.
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Nobody likes to show up for it. It hurts, but it's necessary,
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isn't it? This passage is a faith
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stretcher, one that may not feel good, but one that does US good.
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Tests from God are going to come in all shapes and sizes.
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When they do, listen instantly and fully obey.
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The longer we delay, the longer the test last.
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Let me let me say this. We often give God partial or
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delayed or no obedience and then we wonder why our relationship
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with God doesn't seem to be progressing.
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God's promises fulfilled in our lives flow as the obedience to
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God is given and they bring blessing.
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Let me finish like this. Often times in our lives when
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things from God are difficult or hard, they're confusing, maybe
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even unthinkable like Abraham experienced.
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And quite honestly, they don't feel good as God is inserting
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the needle of a spiritual thermopen in our hearts.
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What can happen to us whether we're new Christians or long
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time Christians? But especially I'll watch this
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with new Christians sometimes as they come to faith and find joy
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in life and forgiveness and hope in Jesus and you just watch them
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explode with the joy of salvation.
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But obviously what does eventually come in life, some
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trials, some hard things, and no matter where we are in our
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faith, we can wonder where God go.
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Is God as good as I thought he was?
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Is God really gracious? Is he really in control?
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Can I really trust God? Because right now I'm hurting.
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This thing's sticking in my heart and I don't even
40:05
understand why. It's in those moments that we
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learn where we stand in our faith with Him.
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But most of all, what we learn if we simply trust Him, is not
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so much about our faith, but about His goodness.
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Because in those moments when the test comes, God himself is
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putting him to the to himself to the test, because He wants you
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to know first hand how good He is, how much he can be trusted,
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how his grace never fails and his promises never ever fail.
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So even when you feel like God's got his thermal pen in your
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heart, keep trusting. The test is ultimately more
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about his faithfulness to you than yours to him.
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But instantly in Philly, obey. God wants you to read, look down
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and see, hey, where's your faith?
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Medium rare as it is done on the inside, as everybody thinks it
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is on the outside, but the test will show as God test our faith
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to grow our faith and prove His faithfulness as John and Praise
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team lead us in the song of invitation.
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Just a moment, here's what I want to ask you to consider.
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If God were to stick this in your heart this morning, what
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would it say? What would it say depending on
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what it says, How do you need to respond?
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Is there something you need to give God that you're holding to
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more valuable than you hold him? Is it your life?
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Is it to receive forgiveness in Jesus as your savior?
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Is it maybe the test that has come?
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But quite honestly, maybe you need to retake it, or maybe the
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test hasn't come, but you just want to come tell God.
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God, I want to be ready for wherever you lead.
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Whatever you say, I'll go. Here I am.
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Help me not to hold anything more valuable than you.
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Help me to realize and trust your goodness.
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No matter what I go through. I'm going to ask you to respond
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as the Lord leads you this morning.
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Heavenly Father, God, I pray this morning that you would
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speak to each and every heart. God, I pray that you would just
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allow us to realize where we are.
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God, that if we're holding anything more valuable than you
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that we would turn it loose. We cling to you and you would
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have your way that you would form our faith fully, you would
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prove your faithfulness to us and we would know by first hand
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experience truly how good, how great, now awesome you are.
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In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Would you stand?
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I'll be here. I encourage yours to be close.
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We're going to sing and worship together.
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You come and respond to the Lord as He leads you this morning.