When God Says Let Go

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.440 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:15.120 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:21.560 Hebrews eleven, Verses seventeen through nineteen. I'm continuing in my 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:32.840 series called you know what, God bless you. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.599 You're my best friend. Can you give me a hull? 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:38.840 I appreciate that. What's your name? 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:44.520 Man? Oh, that made me so happy? 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.560 You love it? I love you. What's your name? 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:51.159 Say it? 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.720 Toston Torston? 0:00:54.160 --> 0:01:02.760 Torsten Ah Torston the Usher? Now I ask you something, Torstan. 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.319 Do you feel like God has called you to be 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:05.800 an usher? 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:10.679 Definitely? Yeah, he said, definitely. I love it so much. 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:16.680 Do you have the calling of ushing? I hope? Okay, 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:18.119 so this you're going. 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.399 To love this tourist And I'm going to talk today 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.000 a little bit about how God calls us all to 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:24.880 do some things, and then he calls some to do 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:29.240 certain things. And in the theology of it, you have 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.679 the universal calling of God and then the particular calling 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.520 of God and there are some things that God has 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.600 not called us all to do right, and thank God 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.360 for that. Today we're going to talk about a man 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:46.720 named Abraham. God called him to have a baby at 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.200 age one hundred. How many thank God that God has 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:51.800 not called us all. 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:56.520 Tstan so so. 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:58.560 So we're going to talk about today how God has 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:02.520 called us all, and that includes you in the South. 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:07.279 We say God called y'all. God called y'all. 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.560 And in Hebrews chapter eleven, he's giving the whole hall 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.520 of faith to all these heroes, and he brings up Abraham. 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:16.480 And I'll show you in a few moments where God 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:23.359 called his name twice, because that's the theme of the series. Simon, Simon, Moses, Moses, Martha, Martha. 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:24.440 What other ones have I done? 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.680 Jacob, Jacob, I've been studying all seven of them, so 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:28.840 I'm mixed up. 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:29.480 Which ones I've done. 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.840 Saul, Saul, Paul, Paul, And this week is going to 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:34.919 be Abraham Abraham. But I want to go back through 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.520 the lens of Hebrews eleven. We're given a list of 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.919 all of these amazing things that God called people to do, 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.760 and they are particular things, so that we're not all 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.359 going to lead a nation like Moses did. I don't 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.320 want to who would want to be the president of 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:56.040 this country ever for any reason whatsoever. And you may say, well, 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.000 God doesn't call me the preacher to sing, I don't 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.000 want to do those things. Well, there are some things 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:04.960 that God has called us all to be kind. God 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.320 has called us all to be patient. God has called 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.680 us all to be forgiving. God has called us all 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:15.320 to be generous. God has called us all to have faith. 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.280 God has called us all to be more than conquerors. 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.200 God has called us all to be agents of healing, 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:23.000 the light of the world, the salt of the earth. 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:25.680 And we're given this example of Abraham to help us 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.519 with that. Look at Hebrews chapter eleven, verse seventeen. By 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:37.040 faith Abraham when God tested him, When God tested him, 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.440 I want you to remember that God tested him. When 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.400 God tested him, he offered Isaac as a sacrifice. That 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:46.960 was the son that he waited till he was one 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:47.640 hundred to half. 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:51.000 He who had embraced. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.320 The promises, was about to sacrifice his one and only 0:03:54.400 --> 0:04:00.400 son verse eighteen, even though God had said to him, 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:04.040 it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.240 Now that's really heavy, and I've. 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.520 Been saving the sermon because I was intimidated to preach 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:13.360 it because it's honestly a very disturbing story in the Bible, 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.200 where God told Abraham, take your son that you love 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.400 and offer him to me as a sacrifice, and moving 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.360 beyond the differences in that time period when child sacrifice 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:27.039 was acceptable in the culture, it is still a very 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.400 very difficult story for us to reader to talk about. 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:30.679 But we're going to talk about it today. 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.080 We're going to talk about it today through a certain 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.640 lens because look what it says in Hebrews, chapter eleven, 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:41.600 verse nineteen. It says Abraham reasoned that God could even 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:46.239 raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking, 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.479 he did receive Isaac back from death. And we know 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.800 that this is a shadow of another son thousands of 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:59.280 years later who would be sacrificed for our sin, and 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.560 Abo did not have to kill his son. Is a 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.400 prefigure of a father who would go through with it 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.400 but raise him from the dead. But Abraham didn't know 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.400 that story yet, and so sometimes we are having to 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.320 live in experiences that we have no frame of reference for. 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:17.240 And that's what I want to talk to you a 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.320 little bit about today. It's a simple message, but a 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:22.919 profound truth that the Lord showed me. This message is 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:25.920 about a certain moment in your life that you will 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.479 come to from time to time, not just once, but 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.320 many times. And I'm calling the message when God says 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:40.159 let go. When God says let go, because sometimes he will. 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:42.359 Sometimes he will. 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:46.440 Tell you you're holding it too tightly, and God will say 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:50.359 let go. Sometimes he'll tell you this is through and 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.360 you can't do anything about it, and he'll say let go. 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:55.760 And we want to talk today about what to do 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.719 when God says let go. 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.520 Father, your word with power and precision. 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.359 Right now, I thank you in advance for the clarity 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.080 that you will give me as I preach this word 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:13.640 to your children. In Jesus' name. Amen, you may be 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:22.120 seated when God says let go. Put that title in 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:28.240 the comments. Please on YouTube. When God says let go, 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:31.960 control freaks, buckle up. We're going to talk about when 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:37.479 God says let go. Helicopter parents bring it in for 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.360 a landing. For the next thirty forty forty five minutes. 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:45.760 You can talk about when God says let go. Now, 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:49.000 I need to go in very strongly from the beginning, 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.520 So let's skip the part of the sermon where you 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.120 fish your gum out of your purse and have to 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:57.080 listen to what I say while I tell you a 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:58.599 story that doesn't relate to anything. 0:06:58.640 --> 0:06:59.920 So you can get settled in. 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.400 And let me just give you a principle right off 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.919 the top, because I feel like there are some heavy 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:09.080 situations people are carrying today and God is saying let go. 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:12.920 When the Bible says in Hebrews chapter eleven, verse seventeen, 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:18.200 when Abraham was tested, the specific tints that the language 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.440 uses of the New Testament, which is quin A Greek, 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:25.320 is in present continual tints. So it doesn't mean that 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.200 Abraham had one moment where his faith was tested and 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:33.040 it was over. It's talking about how faith is tested 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.320 with every step of faith that he took. When the 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.640 Lord told him to go to a mountain and sacrifice 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.600 his son, he didn't know that God would provide a 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.840 ram in the bush and he wouldn't have to do it, 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.680 so he was tested. Now, this is something I would 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.040 love for you to write down. It's a little bit long, 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.400 but I think is powerful. When your faith is being tested, 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:01.560 there is something God has already taught taught you that 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:07.520 he is calling you to trust in when your faith, 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:13.800 not if, but when, when your faith is being tested, 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:20.080 there is something that God has already taught you that 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:24.480 he is calling you to trust in. God would not 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:26.920 be giving you this test if he had not given 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:33.120 you the lesson. He's a good teacher. He wouldn't put 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.440 something in front of you that he didn't prep you for. 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.800 So we learned to shift in these seasons of testing, 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.280 to try to remember, God, what is it that you've 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.599 already taught me that you are calling me to trust in? 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:51.559 In this moment, let me say the whole sentence one 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.520 more time. When your faith is being tested by a 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:59.480 medical diagnosis, when your faith is being tested by a 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.040 dry season in your own soul, when your faith is 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.240 being tested by the way somebody is acting towards you, 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.920 that's unfair, but you can't stop it. When your faith 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.280 is being tested by doubts that just seem to keep 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.920 coming and multiply in your mind. When not if your 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.600 faith is being tested, you're in good company. 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.960 The father of our faith, Abraham. 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.840 Was tested, and when he was tested, not just once, 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.679 but many times, there was something that God had already 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.240 taught him that he was calling him to trust in. 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:37.360 So if your faith is being tested, and it will 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.720 be tested, and if it is not being tested today, 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.880 let me see you at two PM when your faith 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:45.160 is being tested. 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:47.000 There is something that. 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.679 God has already taught you that he is calling you 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.000 to trust in. Because there's a big difference between him 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:58.360 teaching it and me trusting it. And so this moment 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.200 in your life is about asking, in God, what have 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.720 you already taught me that you are calling me to 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:05.360 trust in? 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:06.000 Abraham? 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:11.960 Abraham, Abraham and God have a track record. By the 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.600 time he calls him to give his son back to God, 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.640 that God, who gave him the son, says, give it 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:19.960 back to me, which he has the right to do. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:21.280 Everything comes from him. 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.840 But even in the midst of Abraham's confusion, there is 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:27.960 a sense of continuity. 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:28.400 For his calling. 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.160 The thing about trust when I said, God is calling 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:34.000 you to trust in something that he taught you. 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.680 The thing about trust is that trust is everything. 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:42.440 And the greatest way that I can exemplify this to 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.640 you is through Hebrews chapter eleven, verse eight. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:47.760 God gives a. 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.240 Little bit of a reminder about something that happened forty 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.920 years earlier in Abraham's life that prepared him for this moment. 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:55.479 Now. I want to look at you right now. 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:57.800 Just because you don't feel ready for this moment doesn't 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:03.319 mean you're not prepared for it. Just because you're surprised 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:05.760 by it doesn't mean that you don't have the supply 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:06.480 for it. 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:09.920 Now. When Abraham was first. 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.640 Getting started out in his journey of faith following Y'ahweh, 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:14.280 he was seventy five years old. 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.760 They lived a lot longer than by the way, you. 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:19.600 Could have called it a midlife crisis, because he lived 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.360 to be about one point fifty one sixty. And the 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.520 Bible says in Hebrews chapter eleven, verse eight, a reminder 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.640 of something that happened when Abraham first got started. It 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:33.280 says by faith, Abraham, when called to go to a 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:37.800 place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:43.000 went even though he did not know where he was going. 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:45.439 That's about the craziest thing I. 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.280 Ever read in my life, y'all just sitting there looking 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.200 at me like he went to the grocery store. I 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:55.439 just told you, this man uprooted his entire life because 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.880 of a god he had never heard from told him 0:11:57.880 --> 0:11:59.520 to go to a place that he wouldn't give him 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.600 any details about, and there was no ways at on 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:08.480 Abraham's iPhone negative thirty four. So we went and obeyed, 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.600 even though he didn't know somebody say, even though, even 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:16.439 though even though he didn't know where it was leading, 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.440 he set out in faith. And the thing about this 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.880 kind of trust in your life, my life, Abraham's life, 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.040 Simon's life, Martha's life, Mary's life, Moses's life. When we 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.360 go through all the people in the Bible, we get 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.160 a panoramic view of the patterns that apply to all 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:34.839 of us, kind of a sampler of what different people 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:36.760 went through that they had to trust God with and 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.800 steps that they took, and then we find ourselves following 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:44.880 in those footsteps. And trust is a funny thing because 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:49.520 the deeper the level of trust, the less the need 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:58.040 for details. The deeper the level of trust, the less 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:02.640 the need for details. Can I break it down. Holly 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:06.640 went to get her nails done yesterday. I trust her. 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.640 I didn't check my phone to see if she actually 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.480 went to get her nails done. I didn't ask her 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:14.840 how long she was going to be there. Who's going 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:19.560 to be doing your nails. What kind of acrylic are 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:21.880 you planning to get today? And are you going to 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:24.560 pay for the extra twenty dollars thing where they put 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:26.760 the little things on the things on top of the things. 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:27.840 Because I trust. 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:29.480 Her, she won't spend it if we don't have it, 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:31.319 and she won't lie to me about it. If she does, 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.000 she'd tell me I spent twenty I don't even have 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.360 to ask her. Just go get your nails done. I 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:41.520 trust her. This is not a marriage seminar. This is 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.040 not a parenting seminar, but let's pretend like it is 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.880 because it involves a father and a son with teenagers. 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:49.400 How many of you have teenagers? 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.880 When you trust your teenagers, you are delusional, just kidding. 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.720 When you trust your teenagers. 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.640 Because you know they can develop a t record, that 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.439 you trust them, right, And if you have a teenager 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.040 that you feel like you can trust as much as 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:07.120 you can trust. 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:11.040 Any person, including you, because some of. 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.200 Y'all can't even trust the teenager that's still living in you. 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.800 So how in the world would you completely trust your teenager? 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:23.160 But when they have exemplified trustworthy behavior, even though they 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.880 have a sinful nature, it changes things. 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:27.440 If you don't trust your teenager. 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:31.960 Every time they want to go somewhere, you need details. 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.920 So they will ask you, can I go to the movies, 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:40.840 and you will say I need some details. Somebody put 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.840 it in the chest, say details. Tell your neighbor I 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:44.640 need details. 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:46.160 Tell them. 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:50.880 If I don't trust you, I need details. So can 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:55.880 I go to the movie? What movie? What theater? Who 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:57.800 are some of the actors in the movies? So I 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.000 can see if you really plan on seeing this movie? 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.960 What time is it playing? Who else is going to 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:05.840 be on your role? What seat are you sitting in? 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.200 Show me a screenshot of those seats right now? Will 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.720 there be popcorn involved? How much butter do you plan 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.760 on pumping on that popcorn? Because the less I trust you, 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.960 the more I need details. If I trust you, can 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:22.000 I go to the movies? 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:23.240 Sure? 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:28.400 Be home at eleven thirty. We don't need the details if. 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:34.480 We have the trust, and the deeper the level of trust, 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:36.200 the less the need for details. 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:38.840 The guy who started the. 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.360 Church with me, he could walk up to me right 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:43.880 in the middle of preaching right now and put a 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.480 contract here and say I need you to sign this 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:48.720 while you're preaching, and I would keep preaching and sign 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:49.920 it and hand it back to him. 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:51.400 I wouldn't ask him what it was about. 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.680 Maybe you think I'm an idiot, but we've had experiences together. 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:56.640 It would not matter what. 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.720 That particular document said. It is through the now. The 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.080 first time I met him, I needed details. 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:04.480 Now, let me tell. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.800 Y'all something because I really want to set this frame 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.960 so that we don't get lost in an epic story 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.360 about killing your son or your daughter, which is not 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.880 what the text is about. It's about trust. God is 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.880 not calling you to kill your child, you might wish 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:25.440 from time to time, but using humor just to lighten 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.600 the mood so we don't get caught in something that 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.400 we can't understand and contextualize in our day. This is 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:34.240 about trust. The test that you're in right now is 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.920 about trust. When we started the church, I have eight 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.800 families who I asked to come with me. This was 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:44.160 twenty years ago. Twenty one years ago. I said, I'm 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:48.080 called to start a church, and I believe y'all are 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.680 called to come with me. But here's all I told him. 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.400 I said, we're going to start a church in a 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.600 big city somewhere in America. 0:16:57.760 --> 0:16:59.040 That was the whole pitch. 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.960 I had not read the sales books yet about how 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:05.840 to sell people on your vision. 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:08.960 And as a matter of fact, I didn't really. 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:10.760 Want them to know what city we were going to 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:12.520 because I didn't know yet. 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:14.000 And I believe that God knew. 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.359 And I didn't want them to make a commitment based 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.760 on a city. I wanted them to make a commitment 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:25.080 based on a calling. I didn't want them to commit 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.000 if we were going to Miami because they liked warm weather. 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.760 I wanted them to commit even if we went to Minnesota. 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:35.000 But I didn't want to tell the Minnesota so that 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:36.399 they would say yes and then they'd have to go 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:40.399 to Minnesota, because I wanted to trick them into trusting God, 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:40.960 not me. 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:45.840 Because I look back on that, I think, my goodness, how. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.520 Did they trust so much when they were told so little? 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.480 Somewhere in the United States of America. We couldn't have 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:56.920 known we would be in such a wonderful city as Charlotte, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:03.199 North Carolina. We couldn't have known. And I'm not comparing 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:07.000 y'all to Abraham. But even though they didn't know, they 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:12.040 decided to go. Let's go, let's go do it. They said, 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:16.840 we're young and dumb, let's go, might as well find 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:18.280 out if God can use us. 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:19.280 Let's go. 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:24.920 There's something invigorating even talking to you about me reliving those. 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:26.439 Let's go moments of our faith. 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.120 There's something exciting even just to remember, like, I don't 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.560 even know what it means to start a powerful church, 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:33.560 but I don't want to do it. 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:34.960 Lord, let's go. 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:40.960 And when God said to Abraham, let's go, Abraham didn't 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:42.960 say there are a few things I need to know, 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.479 which lets me now that trust is not only a 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:51.920 product of time, it is a product of character. This 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.520 was not Abraham's third time following God. 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:56.520 It was his first. 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.240 It's not like he had a list of things to 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.640 point back to where. Well, God, you led me there 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:03.119 and it worked out. You told me to take that 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:04.720 job and I got a raise, and you told me 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.119 to marry them and they turned out to be wonderful. No, 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:12.360 this is God saying it's me, God, let's go. And 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:17.119 when God says let's go, you can resist it, and 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.719 you'll get more and more miserable. 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:20.040 As you fight it. 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.679 When God says let's go, it's time for you to 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:28.159 leave this toxic state and forgive them and move on 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.760 from what you've been holding them hostage about. When God 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:35.000 says let let's go, and you won't move on past that. 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.399 You will feel stuck in yourself. 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.960 Until you obey the spoken word of the sovereign God. 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:46.199 When God says let's go, you might not even get 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:50.840 to ask him where. But if God can be trusted, 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.320 then the deeper the level of the trust, the less 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:58.480 the need for the details. So God says let's go, 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.359 and you don't ask him where. You just say which 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:05.240 shoes should I put on? Can I wear something with heels? 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:09.119 Or should I wear something flat? When God says let's go, 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:11.760 when he invites you into a new way of living, 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.520 when he tells you it's time to pursue growth and 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:17.760 stop staying stagnant in the grumblings of your past. 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.280 When God says let's. 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:23.760 Go, if you trust him enough, you won't even need 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:28.800 the details. And by the way, the more that I 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:32.960 trust you, the less details I need to give you too. 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:38.159 If I don't trust you, I gotta tell you everything. 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.680 But in my relationship with God, if I really trust him, 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:45.400 why would I need to get him all the details 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:46.439 of how he needs to leave me? 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.639 And I want to live in this for a minute. 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:56.240 I love y'all when y'all feel uncomfortable when I'm preaching. 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.199 That's how I know I heard from God because there 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.760 are some of you right now whose faith is being tested. 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:06.120 But when your faith is being tested, realized that there's 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:08.960 something that God already taught you that he is calling 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:09.800 you to trust him in. 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:14.040 And the deeper the level of trust. Notice I said deeper, 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:14.560 not higher. 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.800 The deeper the level of trust, the less the need 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:23.920 for the details. How did Abraham trust so much when 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.720 he was told so little? I'm gona close my eyes 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:28.240 so y'all won't feel like I'm judging you when you 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:30.320 answer this, raise your hand if you would have needed 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:32.600 a little more detail than Abraham received in order to 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.800 leave everything that you knew and set out, but he didn't. 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.360 I give you the scripture again, and I can't believe 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:42.840 those of you who did not raise your hand right there. 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:45.200 You won't even go to a party if you don't 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:50.679 see the entire guest list. Some of us won't even 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:52.399 leave the house unless we plot out where all the 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:54.240 bathrooms are going to be. You know, I got to 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:56.119 know where, though, And if you drive a tesla, you 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:57.960 got to know where every charging station is, or you 0:21:58.000 --> 0:21:58.600 can't drive that. 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:01.560 So now, why what Abraham did? 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:06.639 He obeyed and went, even though he did not know 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:10.080 where he was going. Verse eight, He obeyed and went 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:13.639 even though he did not know where he was going. 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:16.560 He obeyed and went even though he did not know. 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:21.760 Let's substitute something here. Let's say I must obey and 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:26.359 go even though I don't know, and where it says 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:27.359 where they are going. 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:29.679 Just put whatever needs to go in that blank. 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:32.840 If I don't know how God is going to do it, 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:36.240 I don't need the details because my trust in Him 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:40.200 is deeper than the details. So when God speaks to 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:41.920 you and he says I want you to give this 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:45.480 person some money, you don't need the details of why 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:48.720 God wants you to give it if you trust him deeply. 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:51.000 When you say, well, I can't trust them, I don't 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:52.400 know if they're going to spend it on the right thing. 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:56.280 It's not the depth of your trust in them that 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.160 determines your level of generosity. 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:00.000 You are called to be generous. 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:06.480 I think I'm really calling on somebody today who needs 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:12.000 to do it without the details. And I don't mean 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:14.680 get in your car and drive until an angel speaks 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:17.840 and then stop and get a motel room. I'm talking 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:22.879 about going forward in what God is speaking to you, 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:26.600 even though you don't know. A lot of times we 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.520 get trapped in all of the details that we don't know, 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:30.800 and we don't take. 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:33.640 The steps that God has called us to take. There 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:33.920 is a. 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:36.960 Distinction between God and the devil, though. See, the devil 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:41.520 doesn't test us, he tempts us. The devil tempts us 0:23:41.640 --> 0:23:44.840 outside of God's will. God tests us to bring us 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:48.600 deeper into His will. It occurs to me today that 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:54.359 the devil cannot test you. Only God can test you. 0:23:56.200 --> 0:23:59.240 The devil can tempt you not to trust God in 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:03.440 this test, but God is the only one who can test. 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:06.439 Can I preach a little while, Like we're preaching to 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:10.680 people over the age of five years old. We need 0:24:10.720 --> 0:24:14.080 to make that distinction because otherwise you will get stuck 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:17.119 in the even though and you'll never know. 0:24:17.200 --> 0:24:20.280 So there are amazing let's go moments that we have. 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:24.240 There are amazing setout in faith moments, And maybe not 0:24:24.440 --> 0:24:28.479 like Abraham to that dramatic extent, but we can surely 0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:31.679 see the disciples having a let's go moment. Write that 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:35.679 phrase down let's go. Moment they're exciting. Hey, follow me. 0:24:35.960 --> 0:24:38.359 I'll make you fishures of men. Well, what do we 0:24:38.359 --> 0:24:40.879 do about the boats? Just keep those and rent them 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:42.960 out for a little while. But for the next three 0:24:43.040 --> 0:24:45.160 years you're gonna see amazing things. 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:46.080 Let's go. 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:49.080 When God speaks to you and tells you to take 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:52.080 a step of faith, and really, this time, I'm gonna 0:24:52.080 --> 0:24:54.880 put myself into this job. I'm not just gonna work 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:57.320 here and take a check and quiet quit. I'm really 0:24:57.359 --> 0:25:00.400 gonna step up and lead in this job. When God says, 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:03.040 let's go. Sometimes he doesn't have to move you from 0:25:03.119 --> 0:25:05.439 the place that you are. He wants to use you 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:08.359 in the place that you are when you finally decide 0:25:08.880 --> 0:25:13.000 let's go. The disciples didn't move from Galilee when Jesus 0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:16.400 called them. They offered their boats so Jesus could use 0:25:16.440 --> 0:25:18.120 them in the place they already were. 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:19.240 Let's go. 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:22.480 Sometimes God will tell you it's time for you to 0:25:22.520 --> 0:25:24.640 step into your adulthood. 0:25:25.000 --> 0:25:25.800 You have been in a. 0:25:25.800 --> 0:25:31.080 Season of childishness. Not childlike faith, but childishness. Long enough, 0:25:31.440 --> 0:25:34.359 let's go. I'm calling you up. Now you need to 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:36.960 be a mentor. Now you need to be an example. 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:40.160 Now you need to trust me to move forward by faith. Now, 0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:42.760 and I wonder is there anybody in here who trusts 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:46.680 God enough that if he says, let's go, even though 0:25:46.680 --> 0:25:49.639 the arrows are flying, you've got the shield of faith. 0:25:49.920 --> 0:25:50.280 Now. 0:25:50.320 --> 0:25:53.560 Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the 0:25:53.640 --> 0:25:55.359 evidence of things not seen. 0:25:55.840 --> 0:25:59.439 Let's go. The weapon may be formed against me, but 0:25:59.520 --> 0:26:01.760 it will not prosper. Let's go. 0:26:02.600 --> 0:26:05.400 Take your stand in against the devil's schemes. 0:26:05.680 --> 0:26:07.840 You are not ignorant of his schemes. 0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:11.520 Let's go, devil. I don't want to smoke, but if 0:26:11.520 --> 0:26:14.840 you want to bring it, I know somebody who's gotta train. 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:16.479 Let's sail sex Temple. 0:26:17.000 --> 0:26:24.680 Let's go, let's show. I don't want to raise this 0:26:24.880 --> 0:26:28.200 kid by myself, but if God didn't give me somebody 0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:28.639 else to. 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:39.760 Race them with, he's my tactic partner. Let's go, and 0:26:39.880 --> 0:26:43.480 Abraham win fifteen hundred miles. 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:46.959 Can you imagine fifteen. 0:26:46.600 --> 0:26:50.560 Hundred miles without an APP, without an huber, without a 0:26:50.640 --> 0:26:54.200 GPS coordinate feels like that sometimes, But they is the 0:26:54.240 --> 0:26:58.639 voice of God saying let's go. Notice he said let's go, 0:26:59.600 --> 0:27:04.800 let us go. I'm gonna do this with you. While 0:27:04.800 --> 0:27:05.640 I need the details. 0:27:07.040 --> 0:27:07.560 Let me give you. 0:27:07.560 --> 0:27:09.600 Another example, so I can make this so practical that 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:11.480 but you will have no excuse either to obey it 0:27:11.560 --> 0:27:13.080 or disobey it when the Lord speaks it to you. 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:16.040 When I go on a trip for ministry, if I 0:27:16.119 --> 0:27:19.640 go alone, I need every detail. But if somebody comes 0:27:19.680 --> 0:27:21.920 from the staff to support me, I don't need to 0:27:22.040 --> 0:27:25.800 know the details because I've got somebody with me that 0:27:25.920 --> 0:27:28.720 I can depend on, and if I can depend on you, 0:27:28.840 --> 0:27:32.200 I don't need details. So the process of my life 0:27:32.640 --> 0:27:36.520 and getting closer with God should not be necessarily that 0:27:36.680 --> 0:27:39.080 I understand more and more of where He's taking me. 0:27:39.840 --> 0:27:40.800 That's why we get. 0:27:40.720 --> 0:27:42.880 Confused when we run up on seasons that we didn't 0:27:42.920 --> 0:27:46.119 see coming, because we think that the depth of our 0:27:46.359 --> 0:27:49.520 faith in God will bring clarity about the details of 0:27:49.560 --> 0:27:54.680 where He's leading. But the deeper the trust, I said, 0:27:54.720 --> 0:27:59.280 the deeper the trust. Trust isn't always tall. You can't 0:27:59.280 --> 0:28:03.560 always see it. Sometimes it runs deep where you need 0:28:03.600 --> 0:28:07.960 it the most. And I believe that's how Abraham was 0:28:08.040 --> 0:28:13.280 able to say let's go and then after God spoke 0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:17.359 to him at age seventy five, leaving a metropolitan culture 0:28:17.400 --> 0:28:19.800 for a nomadic one, everything about his life seems to 0:28:19.840 --> 0:28:21.760 be going backwards when he sets out to follow God. 0:28:23.000 --> 0:28:27.960 Abraham wasn't moving on up. Y'll never even seen a 0:28:28.040 --> 0:28:33.960 TV set. But he followed God what seemed to be down, 0:28:35.520 --> 0:28:37.600 and then God spoke the promise. Now, I want to 0:28:37.640 --> 0:28:40.080 show you a very pivotal phrase in Hebrews eleven, verse 0:28:40.120 --> 0:28:43.840 eighteen is talking about how Abraham was tested. But when 0:28:44.200 --> 0:28:47.040 your faith is being tested, there's something that God has 0:28:47.080 --> 0:28:49.720 already taught you that he is calling you to trust in. 0:28:49.760 --> 0:28:54.520 And it says by faith Abraham verse eighteen. Please, even 0:28:54.560 --> 0:28:56.200 though God had said to him, it is through Isaac 0:28:56.240 --> 0:29:02.080 that your offspring will be reckon. So there's another Even 0:29:02.120 --> 0:29:05.880 though go back to verse seven, I'm gonna put this 0:29:05.960 --> 0:29:06.680 thing together for you. 0:29:08.000 --> 0:29:09.880 I'm gonna put the baloney right in the middle of 0:29:09.920 --> 0:29:12.120 the buns and smash it down. 0:29:13.920 --> 0:29:17.960 By Babe Abraham when called to go verse eight to 0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:23.680 a place he would later receive. This is delayed gratification faith. 0:29:24.600 --> 0:29:26.240 Even in his lifetime. He wouldn't see all of it, 0:29:27.760 --> 0:29:29.880 but he obeyed and went, even though he did not 0:29:30.120 --> 0:29:32.800 know where he was going. Now give me verse eighteen. Again, 0:29:33.520 --> 0:29:36.760 he offered his son, even though God had said to him. 0:29:37.560 --> 0:29:39.240 But go back to the verse before that, because it 0:29:39.320 --> 0:29:42.120 calls Abraham something very interesting. You know, he's called the 0:29:42.200 --> 0:29:45.000 father of faith, and he is His name means father 0:29:45.120 --> 0:29:48.920 of many nations. His name started as Abram, which means 0:29:49.000 --> 0:29:53.080 exalted father. But God changed his name to prepare him 0:29:53.120 --> 0:29:56.440 for his assignment, and he was called according to what 0:29:56.640 --> 0:29:57.440 he would carry. 0:29:58.600 --> 0:30:01.600 But when abrahm him received the promise that you will 0:30:01.640 --> 0:30:03.800 have a son, there was a problem. 0:30:03.880 --> 0:30:06.560 It says by faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered 0:30:06.600 --> 0:30:11.880 Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced everybody say embraced. 0:30:13.160 --> 0:30:19.040 Justin please circle the word embraced. He embraced the promises. 0:30:19.760 --> 0:30:23.120 And that sounds so simple, right, Like God promises you 0:30:23.200 --> 0:30:24.920 you're gonna make it, and you embrace it, and you say, 0:30:24.920 --> 0:30:27.560 I'm gonna make it. God promises you this is going 0:30:27.640 --> 0:30:30.320 to work out for your good. You embrace it. It's 0:30:30.360 --> 0:30:33.080 going to work out. God promises you that he has 0:30:33.160 --> 0:30:36.000 someone for you, and you embrace the idea that God 0:30:36.080 --> 0:30:38.400 has someone from you. And the first thing we need 0:30:38.480 --> 0:30:41.480 to do before we embrace a promise from God is 0:30:41.560 --> 0:30:43.920 evaluate is it actually a promise from God? 0:30:46.280 --> 0:30:47.280 Or is it just a feeling? 0:30:47.360 --> 0:30:50.080 That we had, or an ideal that we had, but 0:30:50.160 --> 0:30:52.480 put it back up. It says he embraced the promise 0:30:53.360 --> 0:30:56.440 of God that you will have a son. Now, I 0:30:56.520 --> 0:30:59.400 want to point out to you that he embraced the 0:30:59.480 --> 0:31:04.960 promise not only for a nine month period, but for 0:31:05.120 --> 0:31:09.240 twenty five years between when God spoke it and when 0:31:09.280 --> 0:31:09.760 it happened. 0:31:10.960 --> 0:31:11.720 That's a long time. 0:31:13.240 --> 0:31:16.440 Twenty five years is certainly long enough to start questioning, 0:31:17.120 --> 0:31:20.760 did I really hear God right? Twenty five years was 0:31:20.840 --> 0:31:24.840 long enough for Abraham? Should I tell him the story 0:31:24.840 --> 0:31:30.400 about Hagar? Abraham's wife said, Hey, since our stuff isn't 0:31:30.520 --> 0:31:33.840 exactly coming together like we thought it would, here is 0:31:33.960 --> 0:31:36.560 my maid servant Hagar. Sleep with her and have a son. 0:31:37.400 --> 0:31:41.480 And Abraham said, hey, I'm the lord's servant. Whatever you 0:31:41.600 --> 0:31:43.000 need me to do, let's go. 0:31:44.640 --> 0:31:44.960 Let's go. 0:31:45.160 --> 0:31:47.320 Abraham is the let's go man. He said, let's go. 0:31:47.760 --> 0:31:50.360 They had a baby named Ishmael. It turned out to 0:31:50.400 --> 0:31:52.040 be a problem, had to throw him out. He became 0:31:52.080 --> 0:31:54.920 a nation to father of many nations. But even through 0:31:54.960 --> 0:31:58.000 the mistake, give it to me again, he embraced the promise. 0:32:00.000 --> 0:32:03.200 Bracing promises doesn't mean you won't make mistakes In the process. 0:32:04.720 --> 0:32:07.600 Embracing the promise doesn't mean you won't have days where 0:32:07.640 --> 0:32:09.080 you go, you know what, forget it. 0:32:09.120 --> 0:32:11.600 I don't even care anymore, nobody else does. Why should I. 0:32:12.840 --> 0:32:16.440 Embracing the promise doesn't mean that you never cry the tears. 0:32:17.640 --> 0:32:20.960 Embracing the promise doesn't mean you always understand the plan. 0:32:21.760 --> 0:32:29.000 He embraced the promise for twenty five years. He had 0:32:29.080 --> 0:32:34.520 to believe something that he couldn't see. For twenty five years, 0:32:35.040 --> 0:32:38.760 he held on to the promise. So now we've gone 0:32:38.800 --> 0:32:44.320 from let's go faith to hold on faith. And there 0:32:44.360 --> 0:32:46.160 are a few of you who are in this room 0:32:46.920 --> 0:32:51.080 who are in a season of hold on faith, holding. 0:32:50.840 --> 0:32:53.960 On to believe that you really could be free from 0:32:54.000 --> 0:32:54.760 this one day. 0:32:55.640 --> 0:32:59.760 Holding on to believe that it really could lift off 0:32:59.800 --> 0:33:02.560 of your family one day and it could get better, 0:33:02.840 --> 0:33:04.640 holding on to believe that. 0:33:04.720 --> 0:33:06.520 God is going to give you joy again. 0:33:07.440 --> 0:33:10.280 Abraham is a great model for us of this kind 0:33:10.360 --> 0:33:12.360 of faith, because no, we're not all going to be 0:33:12.440 --> 0:33:15.200 the father of many nations, and know we're not going 0:33:15.280 --> 0:33:17.960 to have babies at age one hundred, but there will 0:33:18.040 --> 0:33:20.560 be a season of your life where you will have 0:33:20.720 --> 0:33:25.400 to hold on to something God's folk. When everything you 0:33:25.640 --> 0:33:29.680 see and everything you feel is telling you a different story, 0:33:30.120 --> 0:33:32.760 you will point back to something God said and say, 0:33:33.240 --> 0:33:38.480 I still believe it. I still believe it. Somebody shout, 0:33:38.560 --> 0:33:42.520 I still believe it. Right now, my bank account is 0:33:42.560 --> 0:33:44.000 a liar, but God is true. 0:33:44.320 --> 0:33:46.480 I still believe He's a provider. 0:33:47.640 --> 0:33:50.120 Right now, there are things going through my mind that 0:33:50.240 --> 0:33:52.400 are telling me that it will never come. 0:33:52.360 --> 0:33:54.560 To pass, but I still believe it. 0:33:55.640 --> 0:33:57.360 There aren't a lot of people who believe in me 0:33:57.520 --> 0:33:59.800 right now, but God has called me, and. 0:33:59.800 --> 0:34:01.280 He is faithful to keep me. 0:34:01.760 --> 0:34:05.840 I still believe it in spite of everything I've gone through. 0:34:06.240 --> 0:34:08.719 Even because of some of the things I've gone through. 0:34:09.080 --> 0:34:11.719 I wouldn't be going through so much if I wasn't 0:34:11.840 --> 0:34:16.400 carrying so much. And I still believe it. Feel like 0:34:16.520 --> 0:34:19.920 preaching to three people who need to hold on. 0:34:21.560 --> 0:34:25.000 Somebody shout, hold on, Tell your neighbor. 0:34:25.040 --> 0:34:29.520 I'm holding on, sometimes barely by a fingernail, but I'm 0:34:29.560 --> 0:34:32.799 holding on. Sometimes I feel like free solo, like I'm 0:34:32.840 --> 0:34:35.560 about to plunge down to my bloody death, but I'm 0:34:35.640 --> 0:34:36.160 holding on. 0:34:36.719 --> 0:34:39.640 I'm climbing higher, I'm coming up, I'm. 0:34:39.600 --> 0:34:40.360 Moving through it. 0:34:40.760 --> 0:34:44.720 I'm progressing and advancing and the things of God. Even 0:34:44.800 --> 0:34:49.960 as my emotions are clawing at my feet, I still believing. 0:34:52.520 --> 0:34:55.759 But this message is not called when God says hold on, 0:34:58.640 --> 0:35:02.719 there are moments it's where you hold on. And then 0:35:02.800 --> 0:35:06.279 for Abraham, there was a season when God said, I 0:35:06.400 --> 0:35:08.200 know you're the one who said let's go when I 0:35:08.320 --> 0:35:11.080 told you to follow me fifteen hundred miles. I know 0:35:11.200 --> 0:35:14.480 you held on when you waited twenty five years for Isaac. 0:35:16.320 --> 0:35:19.480 And I know that this boy is the son that 0:35:19.560 --> 0:35:25.160 you love and you waited for. But the Bible says 0:35:25.200 --> 0:35:27.520 in Genesis twenty two, verse one, that God said to Abraham, 0:35:28.280 --> 0:35:31.320 take your son, your only son, Isaac, only son. I 0:35:31.400 --> 0:35:33.920 thought you had another one. Yeah, he threw that one out. 0:35:34.040 --> 0:35:36.880 This is the one that he had left. This is 0:35:36.960 --> 0:35:40.920 the one that God promised. And I would like to 0:35:40.960 --> 0:35:43.279 speak to you today about how sometimes we let go 0:35:43.400 --> 0:35:45.759 of things that are sins in our life. 0:35:46.960 --> 0:35:48.520 But that's not what this text is about. 0:35:50.280 --> 0:35:52.360 I would like to speak to you today about sometimes 0:35:52.440 --> 0:35:54.520 we need to let go of habits that are bad 0:35:54.600 --> 0:35:57.600 for us in our life. But this is not a 0:35:57.640 --> 0:36:13.560 text about quitting cigarettes and vapor. Don't worry, I'm not 0:36:13.640 --> 0:36:19.040 preaching about that today, I'm preaching about something deeper, because 0:36:19.080 --> 0:36:20.719 what do you do when God says I want my 0:36:20.840 --> 0:36:27.840 promise back, not because I don't intend to fulfill it, 0:36:29.480 --> 0:36:31.480 but because I'll fulfill it when I want to fulfill 0:36:31.520 --> 0:36:33.759 it how I want to fulfill it, And I need 0:36:33.840 --> 0:36:36.759 you to trust me. Now. If you don't have deep 0:36:36.800 --> 0:36:40.080 trust with God in this moment, you will need details. 0:36:41.920 --> 0:36:45.080 You start trying to control everything, You start trying to 0:36:45.120 --> 0:36:47.480 manipulate things. And that is why some of us are 0:36:47.560 --> 0:36:51.239 so stressed right now. Because there's a dream that you 0:36:51.360 --> 0:36:54.200 thought God gave you, and maybe he did, but there 0:36:54.239 --> 0:36:56.600 are details to that dream that are not being met 0:36:56.680 --> 0:37:01.480 on your deadline. You can't call him God and give 0:37:01.560 --> 0:37:11.360 him a deadline. The boss sets the deadline. I know 0:37:11.719 --> 0:37:15.360 what I thought I should have been by now, but 0:37:15.640 --> 0:37:20.320 it's not my deadline. Let me set you free with 0:37:20.440 --> 0:37:22.359 one sentence. I like to say one thing that makes 0:37:22.400 --> 0:37:24.239 it worth coming, even if you've been sleep the rest 0:37:24.280 --> 0:37:26.960 of the time I've been up here talking, it's not 0:37:27.239 --> 0:37:33.440 my deadline. If God waited until Abraham was one hundred 0:37:33.719 --> 0:37:36.239 to give him a baby, you think God's gonna do 0:37:36.400 --> 0:37:38.719 everything you want him to do within the first quarter 0:37:38.840 --> 0:37:45.040 of this year. What do you do when God says 0:37:45.480 --> 0:37:46.760 I want you to I want. 0:37:46.600 --> 0:37:47.200 You to hold on. 0:37:47.600 --> 0:37:48.759 I got I got I think it all. 0:37:48.760 --> 0:37:49.880 We kind of say this, I just got it. 0:37:50.120 --> 0:37:52.640 What do you do when he says, hold on to 0:37:52.760 --> 0:37:57.960 the promise, let go of the plan? What do you do? 0:37:59.560 --> 0:38:03.319 That's our question, right because some of us are really 0:38:03.360 --> 0:38:06.279 good at let's go, let's go. I'm a vision board 0:38:06.360 --> 0:38:07.360 let's go, got my goals. 0:38:07.239 --> 0:38:07.520 Let's go. 0:38:07.840 --> 0:38:09.880 So you're really good at let's go. But I was 0:38:09.960 --> 0:38:10.759 looking for a way to. 0:38:10.760 --> 0:38:14.120 Illustrate this yesterday and I thought, God, if I don't 0:38:14.160 --> 0:38:16.640 illustrate it right, they won't hear what they need to hear. 0:38:16.719 --> 0:38:19.640 And I really want to speak to the person who 0:38:19.800 --> 0:38:23.520 is holding on so tight to their idea of life. 0:38:23.800 --> 0:38:24.960 And I'm praying about this. 0:38:25.040 --> 0:38:28.640 I'm thinking about Abraham and Isaac in this crazy scene 0:38:28.880 --> 0:38:30.960 where he is about to take the life of his 0:38:31.160 --> 0:38:34.200 son because he doesn't know that God doesn't want to 0:38:34.280 --> 0:38:38.360 take Isaac. God wasn't taking Isaac. He was testing Abraham. 0:38:41.760 --> 0:38:44.480 And there's the let's go moment, there's the hold on moment. 0:38:44.520 --> 0:38:47.479 You will find yourself in both. But when God says 0:38:47.640 --> 0:38:51.120 let go, that can be hard. To hear, because this 0:38:51.280 --> 0:38:53.080 is something I think he wants me to have, but 0:38:53.200 --> 0:38:56.480 he's not doing it how I think he wants me 0:38:57.880 --> 0:38:58.279 to do it. 0:38:59.120 --> 0:38:59.759 What to pray for? 0:39:00.680 --> 0:39:01.320 Would ask for? 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:05.120 As I'm thinking praying about this illustration, I'm thinking I 0:39:05.239 --> 0:39:07.839 look in a book. But then bo runs over, our 0:39:07.920 --> 0:39:12.640 Boston Terrier runs over and he brings me a ball, 0:39:15.000 --> 0:39:17.759 and I first think, I don't have time to play 0:39:17.800 --> 0:39:18.480 fetch with you. Bo. 0:39:18.920 --> 0:39:21.799 I am working on a very important sermon for very 0:39:21.880 --> 0:39:25.480 important people about a very legendary Bible text, and it 0:39:25.600 --> 0:39:27.719 is a serious text, and I don't have time for 0:39:27.800 --> 0:39:30.040 this because I'm talking about let's go and let go 0:39:30.360 --> 0:39:30.759 and all of that. 0:39:31.040 --> 0:39:33.120 And he brings me the ball as if he is 0:39:33.160 --> 0:39:34.040 saying let's go. 0:39:35.960 --> 0:39:38.759 So I take the ball and I throw the ball, 0:39:39.560 --> 0:39:41.560 and as I'm throwing it, I remembered, Oh, this won't 0:39:41.600 --> 0:39:46.919 take long because bo is terrible at fetch. And I'll 0:39:46.960 --> 0:39:51.200 tell you why he's terrible at fetch, because he's really 0:39:51.280 --> 0:39:52.120 good at let's go. 0:39:53.600 --> 0:39:56.000 He'll run and get it real quick. 0:39:57.000 --> 0:40:00.320 But once he's got it, he did not hear my 0:40:00.480 --> 0:40:06.120 sermon today called when God says let go, and he 0:40:06.360 --> 0:40:11.120 is better at retrieving it than he is at releasing it. 0:40:12.239 --> 0:40:15.319 So I can't get him to understand that we could 0:40:15.360 --> 0:40:18.640 do a lot more if you would say, let's go 0:40:19.239 --> 0:40:22.600 and then let go and get in the rhythm of 0:40:22.800 --> 0:40:28.520 retrieving and then returning and retrieving and releasing and I. 0:40:28.719 --> 0:40:31.439 Give it and you bring it back, and I give 0:40:31.520 --> 0:40:33.000 it and you bring it back. 0:40:33.440 --> 0:40:38.000 And now I understand why God will sometimes call us 0:40:38.520 --> 0:40:42.200 to bring him something that we thought he promised, so 0:40:42.360 --> 0:40:46.279 that he can clarify what he actually promised, so that 0:40:46.440 --> 0:40:49.880 he can do what he said he would do, not 0:40:50.080 --> 0:40:53.120 what I thought he would do, not what I wanted 0:40:53.239 --> 0:40:57.200 him to do, not on my deadline, but on his 0:40:57.600 --> 0:41:02.160 destined schedule for the per turp for which he intends 0:41:02.280 --> 0:41:06.360 my life to be a small little peace. So I 0:41:06.480 --> 0:41:08.880 want to tell every bowe in the room, let go, 0:41:10.560 --> 0:41:15.200 Let go. How can you say that this is important 0:41:15.239 --> 0:41:17.480 to me? How can you tell me to let go? 0:41:17.920 --> 0:41:20.080 I have to make some plans, don't lie. Yeah, you 0:41:20.120 --> 0:41:22.320 gotta make them, but don't hold them too tight that 0:41:22.400 --> 0:41:23.000 you choke them. 0:41:26.280 --> 0:41:29.360 Is it possible, I'm asking the question, Is it possible 0:41:29.680 --> 0:41:31.560 that your problem isn't that you don't hold on to 0:41:31.640 --> 0:41:33.879 what you think God told you you hold it too tight, 0:41:37.239 --> 0:41:40.160 because sometimes his timing is different than yours. I don't 0:41:40.200 --> 0:41:42.719 know who this is for, but the Lord really wants 0:41:42.760 --> 0:41:45.360 you to get this today, because he's saying, let go, 0:41:47.560 --> 0:41:52.920 let go. What would that journey have been like to 0:41:53.000 --> 0:41:55.439 the mountain region named Mariah. This is the same region 0:41:55.480 --> 0:41:59.640 where Jesus would die thousands of years later, where God 0:41:59.680 --> 0:42:04.040 would give his sign, different mountains, same region. Abraham had 0:42:04.080 --> 0:42:07.120 no context for that. And so what do you do 0:42:07.280 --> 0:42:11.280 when your faith is being tested but you have no precedence, 0:42:13.120 --> 0:42:16.760 no precedence. I wanted to call this message a promise 0:42:16.920 --> 0:42:20.840 with no precedence. In other words, I've never seen this before. 0:42:22.600 --> 0:42:24.120 I've never seen this before. I don't know how to 0:42:24.160 --> 0:42:25.200 do this. I don't know how to be a father 0:42:25.239 --> 0:42:27.279 of many nations. I don't know how to do this. 0:42:29.000 --> 0:42:30.960 And you got to lead your son to Isaac is 0:42:31.040 --> 0:42:34.400 fifteen by this time. By the way, he's a teenager. 0:42:35.840 --> 0:42:39.080 He's a teenager. We talked a little bit about teenagers 0:42:39.120 --> 0:42:42.960 in trust earlier, and now this teenager and watch the journey. 0:42:42.960 --> 0:42:45.400 There's a conversation that happens because they go three days. 0:42:45.960 --> 0:42:48.480 Remember Abraham was tested not in a moment, but in 0:42:48.560 --> 0:42:51.719 a process. The test of your faith will be continual. 0:42:52.640 --> 0:42:56.759 You'll be good one moment the next. Why are y'all 0:42:56.840 --> 0:42:57.960 so fake? 0:42:58.080 --> 0:42:58.360 Today? 0:42:59.360 --> 0:43:02.279 I said, you'll be tested one moment and your faith 0:43:02.320 --> 0:43:04.759 will be really, really good, and then it'll tank the 0:43:04.880 --> 0:43:08.080 next You are only one text message away from your 0:43:08.120 --> 0:43:10.239 trust in God tanking to an all time level. 0:43:10.920 --> 0:43:11.600 And that's true. 0:43:14.880 --> 0:43:18.680 Need I go further, and they're talking about it, and 0:43:19.440 --> 0:43:22.040 the further they get, the more questions Isaac has, because 0:43:22.239 --> 0:43:24.360 this is not the dad touch trust in the teenager. 0:43:24.400 --> 0:43:26.520 This is the teenager trusting the This thing is flipped. 0:43:27.640 --> 0:43:29.840 And so now Isaac is walking with Abraham and he 0:43:29.880 --> 0:43:33.000 doesn't know either. I should do a parenting seminar on this. 0:43:33.800 --> 0:43:35.600 What do you do when you're leading somebody and you 0:43:35.640 --> 0:43:36.200 don't know either? 0:43:39.760 --> 0:43:40.120 I don't know. 0:43:41.920 --> 0:43:43.560 Abraham's like, let me tell you about me and God. 0:43:43.840 --> 0:43:48.760 He doesn't give me many details because when they start walking, 0:43:49.280 --> 0:43:51.960 and I'm not cheapening the text by lightening the tone, 0:43:52.120 --> 0:43:54.759 I'm trying to bring you into it so that you 0:43:54.800 --> 0:43:58.200 can understand that God doesn't call us all to sacrifice 0:43:58.239 --> 0:44:00.000 our sons. He sacrificed his son for all of us, 0:44:00.680 --> 0:44:02.920 but he does call us all to trust in Him 0:44:03.200 --> 0:44:07.240 at times times where we can't understand, and they're walking 0:44:07.880 --> 0:44:10.040 three days, and then comes the point where they can't 0:44:10.080 --> 0:44:12.680 take the servants any further, because there will come a 0:44:12.800 --> 0:44:16.279 place where you get to a point with God where 0:44:16.400 --> 0:44:18.040 no one else can help you figure it out. 0:44:19.120 --> 0:44:21.320 I mean to a point. People can give you advice 0:44:21.880 --> 0:44:22.440 to appoint. 0:44:22.480 --> 0:44:25.680 People will give you wisdom, but don't worship their wisdom 0:44:25.719 --> 0:44:28.080 because their wisdom is based on their experience. 0:44:30.200 --> 0:44:32.760 And God has to show you some things for your life. 0:44:34.120 --> 0:44:37.279 And Genesis twenty two six says that Abraham took the 0:44:37.360 --> 0:44:40.720 wood get the picture, the wood for the burnt offering. 0:44:40.560 --> 0:44:42.720 And placed it on his son Isaac. 0:44:43.640 --> 0:44:46.280 Do we not see Jesus all the way in Genesis 0:44:46.360 --> 0:44:49.279 twenty two that he took the wood and put it 0:44:49.400 --> 0:44:56.040 on his son, and he himself carried the fire and 0:44:56.160 --> 0:44:59.120 the knife. As the two of them went on together, 0:45:00.120 --> 0:45:03.480 Isaac started to wonder a little bit, and he spoke up, 0:45:03.520 --> 0:45:09.960 and he said to his father Abraham, Father, yes, my son, Abraham. 0:45:09.560 --> 0:45:12.000 Replied, the fire in the water. 0:45:12.120 --> 0:45:12.279 Here. 0:45:13.680 --> 0:45:16.280 I'm doing an inventory. We got everything we need except 0:45:16.320 --> 0:45:19.680 one thing. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? 0:45:21.200 --> 0:45:26.279 In other words, I need some details, and Abraham answered God, 0:45:26.480 --> 0:45:30.960 he only said one thing, one thing, one thing that 0:45:31.120 --> 0:45:35.080 he had found to be true over fifteen hundred miles 0:45:35.120 --> 0:45:38.080 of traveling, one thing that he had found to be 0:45:38.280 --> 0:45:41.440 true when he went to Egypt to survive for a 0:45:41.480 --> 0:45:44.200 little while, One thing that he knew to be true, 0:45:44.239 --> 0:45:46.759 even though he didn't know where this was leading. God 0:45:47.840 --> 0:45:54.200 himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering. And 0:45:54.320 --> 0:45:59.640 in this moment, we wonder was Abraham bluffing? Did he 0:45:59.680 --> 0:46:01.680 really know that that was going to happen, because that 0:46:01.800 --> 0:46:03.360 is what happens. It's not a lamb, but it's a 0:46:03.480 --> 0:46:05.480 ram because God isn't going to ever do it exactly 0:46:05.560 --> 0:46:09.480 like you think he is. But he says it like 0:46:09.560 --> 0:46:11.920 he knows that God himself will provide the lamb for 0:46:12.000 --> 0:46:16.040 the burnt offering, my son, And watch this. I get 0:46:16.120 --> 0:46:20.400 the picture here that Isaac has seen Abraham trust God before, 0:46:20.840 --> 0:46:24.440 he has seen his father trust God before. Why Because 0:46:24.520 --> 0:46:27.160 the deeper the trust, the less the need for details. 0:46:28.360 --> 0:46:31.040 Isaac told him God will provide, and the two of 0:46:31.160 --> 0:46:35.600 them went on together. He said, God will provide, and 0:46:35.760 --> 0:46:40.640 Isaac said, let's go. And so Isaac is saying, let's 0:46:40.719 --> 0:46:45.240 go while Abraham is letting him go, and the moment comes. 0:46:45.320 --> 0:46:48.280 Now, just lock in with me for a minute. 0:46:49.520 --> 0:46:52.760 When they reached the place God had told him about, 0:46:53.960 --> 0:46:56.160 not the place he knew in his mind, God showed him. 0:46:56.160 --> 0:46:59.600 When he got there, Abraham built an altar, which. 0:46:59.440 --> 0:47:01.520 Was a place of sacrifice, which was a place of death, 0:47:02.040 --> 0:47:05.359 which was a place of worship. He built an offer 0:47:05.440 --> 0:47:07.320 there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his 0:47:07.360 --> 0:47:08.880 son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top 0:47:08.920 --> 0:47:10.880 of what. I know how hard this is for us 0:47:10.920 --> 0:47:13.400 to get our minds around. That's why I was hesitant 0:47:13.440 --> 0:47:16.200 to preach it. But the one that I was most 0:47:16.239 --> 0:47:18.080 hesitant to preach in this whole series is the one 0:47:18.080 --> 0:47:21.200 that healed me the most, because what I saw in 0:47:21.360 --> 0:47:24.879 verse ten changed my life. He reached out his hand 0:47:24.960 --> 0:47:29.840 and he is he is reaching for the instrument, the knife, 0:47:30.760 --> 0:47:33.480 and he's wrapping his fingers around the knife, letting go 0:47:33.640 --> 0:47:36.440 of his son. And as he reached out his hand 0:47:36.480 --> 0:47:38.440 and took the knife to slay his son. 0:47:39.280 --> 0:47:39.360 But. 0:47:41.440 --> 0:47:51.360 The Angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham. 0:47:52.480 --> 0:47:56.440 He said it twice because he was holding the knife 0:47:57.520 --> 0:47:59.560 and he thought his son was about to die. 0:48:00.320 --> 0:48:02.040 And he didn't know what to make sense of it. 0:48:03.080 --> 0:48:05.960 But in the moment that he's holding the knife over 0:48:06.080 --> 0:48:12.759 his son, here comes the Angel at that moment saying, Abraham, Abraham, 0:48:14.000 --> 0:48:14.279 let go. 0:48:16.360 --> 0:48:23.840 God says, let go. At the very moment that Abraham Abraham. 0:48:23.360 --> 0:48:24.080 Thinks it's over. 0:48:25.719 --> 0:48:29.040 And when God said what he said, Abraham, Abraham, here 0:48:29.160 --> 0:48:33.240 I am, he replied verse twelve, do not lay a hand. 0:48:33.560 --> 0:48:34.080 On the boy. 0:48:34.200 --> 0:48:38.920 Somebody shout, let go, shout it again, let go, let go. 0:48:39.200 --> 0:48:41.400 I know you came this far thinking this was how 0:48:41.480 --> 0:48:42.200 it's gonna end. 0:48:43.120 --> 0:48:44.840 But the moment that the. 0:48:44.960 --> 0:48:48.279 Angel spoke, he said, don't lay a hand on the boy, 0:48:48.600 --> 0:48:49.879 don't do anything to him. 0:48:50.200 --> 0:48:52.320 Now I know that you fear God. And now that 0:48:52.440 --> 0:48:54.040 you've let him go, let go. 0:48:56.719 --> 0:49:00.480 Now that I know that I can trust you with 0:49:00.680 --> 0:49:04.000 what I taught you, that I can trust you that. 0:49:04.080 --> 0:49:06.040 You don't love it more than you love me. 0:49:06.719 --> 0:49:10.680 Now that I can trust you that you're embracing my promise, 0:49:10.840 --> 0:49:16.600 not your plan. Now that you have let go, because 0:49:16.719 --> 0:49:19.960 verse twelve, you have not withheld your son. 0:49:22.000 --> 0:49:25.320 You have let go of your son. Now let go 0:49:26.120 --> 0:49:26.760 of the knife. 0:49:27.320 --> 0:49:33.160 And God is so strategic that at the moment that 0:49:33.400 --> 0:49:36.840 Abraham was letting go of the knife, which is what 0:49:37.000 --> 0:49:39.920 he thought he had to do, at the moment that 0:49:40.120 --> 0:49:42.520 God said let go of the knife. 0:49:43.120 --> 0:49:46.440 Verse thirteen says he heard something other than the angel 0:49:46.800 --> 0:49:51.279 rustling in the background. Abraham looked up, and there in 0:49:51.400 --> 0:49:56.000 a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. 0:49:56.280 --> 0:50:00.000 And he went over and took the ram and sacrificed 0:50:00.560 --> 0:50:02.760 as a burnt offering instead. 0:50:02.400 --> 0:50:02.919 Of his son. 0:50:03.120 --> 0:50:07.879 Verse fourteen says, so Abraham called that place the place 0:50:07.920 --> 0:50:11.400 where he thought Isaac would die, that place, the place 0:50:11.440 --> 0:50:14.800 where he thought it was over, that place, the place 0:50:14.840 --> 0:50:17.600 he didn't even know he was going or what God 0:50:17.640 --> 0:50:20.600 would do, but he said he would provide, and he 0:50:20.800 --> 0:50:25.280 did provide, And he called that place the Lord will provide. 0:50:25.760 --> 0:50:29.080 It wasn't called the place where Isaac died. It was 0:50:29.200 --> 0:50:31.919 called the place where Jehovah. 0:50:31.440 --> 0:50:41.239 Provided Ben isa Claire, what glory to God. Let's rename 0:50:41.400 --> 0:50:42.040 this place. 0:50:43.640 --> 0:50:47.040 Now. This is for all of the people who are 0:50:47.120 --> 0:50:50.200 letting go of something that you thought would happen, letting 0:50:50.280 --> 0:50:51.080 go of the way. 0:50:50.960 --> 0:50:53.120 You thought somebody was supposed to change. 0:50:53.239 --> 0:50:56.680 Letting go of what you expected from yourself, letting go 0:50:56.960 --> 0:50:59.640 of what you thought God was like letting go of 0:50:59.719 --> 0:51:02.560 what you thought this season would include. This is for 0:51:02.760 --> 0:51:07.840 everybody who's letting go. At the moment that Abraham was 0:51:07.960 --> 0:51:11.800 letting go of the knife, the thicket was grabbing hold 0:51:12.160 --> 0:51:12.839 of the ram. 0:51:13.360 --> 0:51:14.879 What am I trying to say? 0:51:15.360 --> 0:51:16.239 God's got you. 0:51:16.360 --> 0:51:23.279 In this place. God's got you in this place. His 0:51:23.600 --> 0:51:28.279 name is Jehovah. He is Jehovah, Jirah. The Lord will 0:51:28.400 --> 0:51:29.239 provide for me. 0:51:29.800 --> 0:51:34.240 The Lord will provide for my family. The Lord will provide. 0:51:33.880 --> 0:51:34.760 For this church. 0:51:39.120 --> 0:51:40.400 Can't you see the angel. 0:51:40.800 --> 0:51:43.520 At the same moment that one angel is telling Abraham 0:51:43.840 --> 0:51:47.000 to let go of the knife, another angel is telling 0:51:47.080 --> 0:51:50.560 the thicket to grab a hold of the ram. Don't 0:51:50.600 --> 0:51:54.320 you see the timing of God what you call coincidence. 0:51:58.200 --> 0:52:02.080 But Abraham didn't know that. Abraham didn't know that he 0:52:02.200 --> 0:52:05.920 had to go not knowing, And so do you. But 0:52:06.000 --> 0:52:09.279 Hebrews chapter eleven, verse nineteen. Stay standing and hasten me 0:52:09.360 --> 0:52:12.120 to a close and rush me with pressure by standing up. 0:52:12.320 --> 0:52:14.440 If you stand up, I'll start rushing this sermon to 0:52:14.520 --> 0:52:17.239 a conclusion. And you can get the qdoba and sit 0:52:17.320 --> 0:52:19.400 around and eat something that ain't gonna last you for 0:52:19.480 --> 0:52:22.120 two hours of energy instead of getting this word from 0:52:22.160 --> 0:52:25.000 God that can save you from a decade of disappointment 0:52:25.239 --> 0:52:27.360 and break off generations of oppression. 0:52:27.680 --> 0:52:30.399 Walk of your family because my God is the home 0:52:30.480 --> 0:52:42.280 of Chira. When God is testing your faith, not the devil. 0:52:43.040 --> 0:52:46.120 When God is testing your faith, even if the devil 0:52:46.160 --> 0:52:48.359 brings the trial, the Lord will administer the test. 0:52:48.680 --> 0:52:51.840 When God is testing your faith, he already. 0:52:51.520 --> 0:52:52.320 Taught you something. 0:52:52.880 --> 0:52:56.920 Hebrews, Chapter eleven, verse nineteen, One more time. How did 0:52:56.960 --> 0:52:59.160 he make it up that mountain? How do I walk 0:52:59.239 --> 0:53:01.840 through this valley? How do I get through this season 0:53:01.880 --> 0:53:02.640 of uncertainty? 0:53:02.960 --> 0:53:05.319 How do I go not knowing? How do I show 0:53:05.400 --> 0:53:06.160 up not feeling it? 0:53:06.440 --> 0:53:08.680 How do I continue to embrace the promise while not 0:53:08.800 --> 0:53:12.200 holding it too tightly? The writer of Hebrews gives us 0:53:12.239 --> 0:53:14.279 a clue as to what to do when your faith 0:53:14.400 --> 0:53:17.200 is being tested and you know your God can be trusted. 0:53:17.520 --> 0:53:24.839 He said, Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead. 0:53:25.960 --> 0:53:29.000 Now I thought about that thing, and I thought about 0:53:29.040 --> 0:53:30.279 that thing, and. 0:53:30.400 --> 0:53:35.560 I thought about how he reasoned that God could even 0:53:35.719 --> 0:53:38.480 raise the dead, even if it ends, God can bring 0:53:38.560 --> 0:53:42.560 a new beginning. He reasoned that God could raise the 0:53:42.640 --> 0:53:45.880 dead and It made me ask the question, at this 0:53:46.080 --> 0:53:50.120 point in history, when Abraham reason that God would raise 0:53:50.200 --> 0:53:53.400 him from the dead, had there ever been a resurrection 0:53:53.600 --> 0:53:59.600 recorded in the scriptures? And the answer is no, there 0:53:59.680 --> 0:54:03.759 is no recorded resurrection in the scriptures. By Genesis twenty two. 0:54:04.719 --> 0:54:08.920 I could understand if it said Peter reasoned that God 0:54:08.960 --> 0:54:10.600 could raise him from the dead because he saw that 0:54:10.680 --> 0:54:13.880 happen to his boss, so he had seen it before. 0:54:14.960 --> 0:54:21.000 But verse nineteen does not say Abraham remembered that God 0:54:22.000 --> 0:54:26.279 could even raise the dead. For him to remember, he 0:54:26.320 --> 0:54:29.839 would have had to have a previous experience. He would 0:54:29.880 --> 0:54:33.000 have had to have a precedence for the promise. But 0:54:33.120 --> 0:54:36.480 it doesn't say he remembered because it wasn't anything he'd 0:54:36.520 --> 0:54:40.400 ever seen before. So I wondered to myself, what was 0:54:40.480 --> 0:54:43.960 the reason that he believed. It doesn't even say he believed. 0:54:44.320 --> 0:54:46.640 To believe could mean that you think it could happen, 0:54:46.719 --> 0:54:49.040 but you don't know it could happen. It doesn't say 0:54:49.120 --> 0:54:52.040 he remembered, he had never seen it before. It doesn't 0:54:52.080 --> 0:54:57.919 say he believed. It says he reasoned. And that made 0:54:57.960 --> 0:55:03.040 me remember what Paul, who we preached about last week, 0:55:03.840 --> 0:55:08.360 said about Abraham, who we're preaching about this week. Watch 0:55:08.520 --> 0:55:11.600 God put the ram in the thicket. Watch God drop 0:55:11.680 --> 0:55:14.799 the knife and stage the ram. Watch God work all 0:55:14.880 --> 0:55:16.520 things together for good in your life. 0:55:16.880 --> 0:55:19.840 Watch God put the right person at the right place, 0:55:20.120 --> 0:55:21.400 at the right time to. 0:55:21.480 --> 0:55:24.799 Do the right thing, to give you the right Watch God, 0:55:26.120 --> 0:55:33.840 watch God. He reasoned, and I wondered why the Bible 0:55:34.040 --> 0:55:39.000 used the word he reasoned, until I remembered that Romans 0:55:39.200 --> 0:55:44.200 four nineteen says that Abraham, without weakening in his faith, 0:55:44.640 --> 0:55:46.279 faced the fact that his. 0:55:46.520 --> 0:55:51.200 Body was as good as dead. Since he was one. 0:55:51.239 --> 0:55:55.560 Hundred, it only stands to reason that his body isn't 0:55:55.600 --> 0:55:56.719 going to get the job done. 0:55:57.520 --> 0:55:59.319 So he says, it's as good as dead. 0:55:59.440 --> 0:56:00.160 And guess what. 0:56:01.080 --> 0:56:04.680 Sarah's womb was also dead. 0:56:05.360 --> 0:56:09.080 So I realized that although he had never seen the 0:56:09.160 --> 0:56:13.840 dead raised, he had seen somebody born from a dead place. 0:56:16.560 --> 0:56:21.080 I realized that I might not have ever seen this before. 0:56:22.200 --> 0:56:25.520 I might not have seen it, But how many kids 0:56:25.560 --> 0:56:26.920 testify I. 0:56:27.080 --> 0:56:28.320 See something like it. 0:56:29.719 --> 0:56:32.880 If you do where he brought me from, if you 0:56:33.120 --> 0:56:36.759 do what he brought me through, you do not understand 0:56:37.440 --> 0:56:38.320 the reason. 0:56:38.960 --> 0:56:41.920 The reason? The reason. 0:56:43.160 --> 0:56:46.880 Hot five three people say I got a reason. I 0:56:47.000 --> 0:56:52.200 got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. 0:56:53.160 --> 0:56:56.120 I got a reason, I got a reason. 0:56:56.719 --> 0:57:02.680 I'm not foolish his faith, and I say, pad. 0:57:03.960 --> 0:57:04.600 Substance. 0:57:06.160 --> 0:57:09.680 The reason I believe is because I've seen him. Do 0:57:10.400 --> 0:57:14.719 watch this something kind of like it. You ever seen 0:57:14.760 --> 0:57:17.600 the dead rays? No, But I saw a dead wound 0:57:17.680 --> 0:57:22.120 bring forth the baby. I saw something kind of like it. 0:57:23.640 --> 0:57:25.680 I never been through this challenge before, but I've been 0:57:25.720 --> 0:57:29.240 through something kind of like it. I never been in 0:57:29.360 --> 0:57:32.440 this place before, but I've been in something kind of 0:57:32.600 --> 0:57:35.280 like it. I never dealt with bad news quite like 0:57:35.360 --> 0:57:37.240 this before, but I've been through bad news that was 0:57:37.960 --> 0:57:41.040 kind of like it. I never thought a goliath before, 0:57:41.160 --> 0:57:44.080 but I thought something kind of like it. I never 0:57:44.200 --> 0:57:47.200 crossed over a red sea before, but nothing but my staff. 0:57:47.280 --> 0:57:49.800 But I've been through something kind of like it. And 0:57:49.920 --> 0:57:52.240 I came to tell you today that if you're being 0:57:52.360 --> 0:57:56.240 tested in your faith, God is telling you to trust 0:57:56.320 --> 0:58:03.720 him in something he already taught you. If Isaac came 0:58:03.840 --> 0:58:08.760 from a dead place, Abraham said God a raisin from 0:58:08.840 --> 0:58:13.840 a dead place. If he wants to, he can do 0:58:13.960 --> 0:58:19.920 what he wants to. I don't need the details, because 0:58:19.960 --> 0:58:26.080 the deeper the level of the trust the less the 0:58:26.240 --> 0:58:27.960 need for details. 0:58:30.240 --> 0:58:31.640 I reckon God can raise him. 0:58:33.480 --> 0:58:36.800 I hear Abram holler him back to the servants. We'll 0:58:36.880 --> 0:58:38.000 be back in a little. 0:58:37.800 --> 0:58:38.360 While, y'all. 0:58:39.120 --> 0:58:40.080 Because I don't know. 0:58:40.200 --> 0:58:44.400 What God's gonna do, but I've seen him do too much. 0:58:45.640 --> 0:58:48.960 I see them do too much. I see them do 0:58:49.160 --> 0:58:58.160 too much. Hey, when God tells you to release something, 0:58:58.280 --> 0:59:01.560 to let go. When God says let go, he's already 0:59:01.600 --> 0:59:02.720 got the ram in the bush. 0:59:06.320 --> 0:59:08.480 I want to show you one more thing. I want 0:59:08.560 --> 0:59:11.600 to show you one more thing. This blue. 0:59:13.000 --> 0:59:15.960 My mind put a mind blow emoji in the chat 0:59:16.040 --> 0:59:19.600 by Faith that this is gonna blow your life. When 0:59:19.720 --> 0:59:23.880 it said that, Abraham said to God, Let's go, even 0:59:23.920 --> 0:59:26.080 though I don't know. Let's go, even though I don't know. 0:59:26.240 --> 0:59:28.000 Maybe that's where you are right now. Let's go, even 0:59:28.000 --> 0:59:29.360 though I don't know I'm gonna take the first step. 0:59:29.440 --> 0:59:30.880 Let's go, even though I don't know I'm gonna call 0:59:30.920 --> 0:59:32.560 a therapist. Let's go, even though I don't know I'm 0:59:32.600 --> 0:59:34.480 saying I sorry. Let's go, even though I don't know 0:59:34.520 --> 0:59:36.400 I'm going to church today. Let's go, even though I 0:59:36.440 --> 0:59:37.960 don't know I'm reading my Bible this morre. Let's go 0:59:38.000 --> 0:59:41.680 even though I don't know when you say that, and 0:59:41.760 --> 0:59:43.440 then you hold on even though you don't see it, 0:59:45.200 --> 0:59:46.680 and then God says, I want you to bring this 0:59:46.760 --> 0:59:47.320 thing back to me. 0:59:47.720 --> 0:59:50.200 This is the process man, for my life. 0:59:50.240 --> 0:59:53.240 I just have to keep walking through my life with 0:59:53.400 --> 0:59:56.040 my kids, my dreams, my goals, my ambitions, my hang ups, 0:59:56.240 --> 0:59:58.480 my flaws like Abraham's walking with Isaac, and just say 0:59:58.520 --> 1:00:01.520 the Lord will provide, and keep giving it back to God. 1:00:01.880 --> 1:00:07.320 And so here's a good prayer. It's yours Lord, it's yours. 1:00:07.360 --> 1:00:08.840 He gave it to me by grace, so I'm going 1:00:08.880 --> 1:00:22.520 to finish it by faith. It's yours Lord. When I 1:00:22.640 --> 1:00:24.280 told you all to start the church with me, and 1:00:24.360 --> 1:00:26.640 I didn't tell you what city, how did you trust 1:00:26.720 --> 1:00:29.440 so much when I told you so little? And I 1:00:29.520 --> 1:00:33.000 realized that although you had never seen this plan, you 1:00:33.080 --> 1:00:33.720 knew the person. 1:00:35.440 --> 1:00:36.600 You saw me do some stuff. 1:00:36.680 --> 1:00:38.640 You saw me start Acchoir in college, you saw me 1:00:38.720 --> 1:00:39.840 start Acquir in Shelby. 1:00:40.800 --> 1:00:42.240 You saw me say what I was going to do 1:00:42.920 --> 1:00:43.520 and then do it. 1:00:44.080 --> 1:00:46.800 I'm not comparing myself to God. I'm using it as 1:00:46.840 --> 1:00:51.600 an antithetical analogy. If they trusted me that much seeing 1:00:51.680 --> 1:00:55.240 me do so little. How could we have seen God 1:00:55.400 --> 1:00:59.800 do so much and trust him so little? It came, 1:01:00.000 --> 1:01:06.760 I'm a dead place, he reasoned. So when the thicket 1:01:06.840 --> 1:01:11.080 started wrestling, Abraham looked up and saw a ram. But 1:01:11.120 --> 1:01:13.240 if you look at this in the ESV, which gives 1:01:13.280 --> 1:01:15.440 the exact word that is used when it says that 1:01:15.560 --> 1:01:17.920 there was a ram in the thicket, it gives you 1:01:18.000 --> 1:01:19.560 one meaning that I want to send you back to 1:01:19.600 --> 1:01:20.080 your house with. 1:01:20.240 --> 1:01:27.200 Today. Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold 1:01:28.520 --> 1:01:33.080 behind him was a ram, caught in the thicket by 1:01:33.120 --> 1:01:38.160 his horns. Behind him what he needed was in a 1:01:38.200 --> 1:01:39.439 place he had already walked past. 1:01:45.440 --> 1:01:48.960 When your faith is being tested, there is something God 1:01:49.040 --> 1:01:53.040 has already taught you that he is calling you to 1:01:53.160 --> 1:01:55.120 trust him and take hold of. 1:01:56.400 --> 1:01:59.160 He took hold of it in the thicket when he 1:01:59.240 --> 1:01:59.959 walked by the thicket. 1:02:00.200 --> 1:02:03.640 Perhaps the ram wasn't there yet, But look back the 1:02:03.760 --> 1:02:06.880 moment that he let go, the bush took. 1:02:06.760 --> 1:02:09.600 Hold, and the ram was there. And he called that 1:02:09.720 --> 1:02:11.920 place the Lord will provide. 1:02:11.920 --> 1:02:15.680 Everyone's standing, heads bowed, eyes closed, no one moving. This 1:02:15.840 --> 1:02:19.120 place can be called the Lord will provide too. Please stand, 1:02:19.160 --> 1:02:21.400 if you're physically able it's our sign of respect to 1:02:21.480 --> 1:02:25.320 God that he is speaking, that this is holy ground. 1:02:26.840 --> 1:02:28.640 Turn your palms up to the Lord, like you're lifting 1:02:28.680 --> 1:02:33.520 your hands to receive from him. There's a ram in 1:02:33.560 --> 1:02:38.320 the thicket, there is honey in the rock, there is 1:02:38.400 --> 1:02:44.240 water in your wilderness. The Lord will provide. There's something 1:02:44.320 --> 1:02:46.760 God has already taught you, something you've already walked past, 1:02:47.480 --> 1:02:48.440 something you've already learned. 1:02:48.480 --> 1:02:50.560 And letting go in this season will not be easy, 1:02:51.760 --> 1:02:56.800 but oh it will be so so so relieving to you. 1:02:58.160 --> 1:03:00.560 Ball up your fist real tight, like your squeeze in something. 1:03:01.200 --> 1:03:03.560 Come on, real tight, like you're squeezing something, like you 1:03:03.640 --> 1:03:06.000 think it depends on you, like you gotta make it happen, 1:03:06.080 --> 1:03:07.520 like you got to figure everything out. 1:03:07.800 --> 1:03:07.920 Now. 1:03:07.960 --> 1:03:09.440 When I say three, I want you to do what 1:03:09.600 --> 1:03:15.560 my sermon says. When God says one, two, three, let go, 1:03:19.440 --> 1:03:27.479 Let go and hold what God told you. But hold 1:03:27.560 --> 1:03:34.680 it with open hands. Because if He dresses the lilies 1:03:38.120 --> 1:03:45.680 with beauty and splendor, come on, how much more will 1:03:45.720 --> 1:03:51.320 he clothe you? How much more will He clothe you? 1:03:53.440 --> 1:03:57.600 Faith does not make a fist. Faith holds on with 1:03:57.720 --> 1:04:04.560 open hands. It's yours, Lord, It's yours Lord, this place, 1:04:05.800 --> 1:04:12.280 the place of surrender Jehovah Jirah. If he watches over 1:04:13.760 --> 1:04:22.360 every sparow, how much more does he love you? If 1:04:22.440 --> 1:04:25.720 he did not spare his son, but gave him up 1:04:26.320 --> 1:04:30.080 freely for us, If he gave us Jesus, how much 1:04:30.320 --> 1:04:34.080 more will he not freely give us all things pertaining 1:04:34.680 --> 1:04:36.040 to life and godliness. 1:04:36.920 --> 1:04:37.680 There's a ram in. 1:04:37.760 --> 1:04:40.960 The thicket, there's forgiveness in the thicket. 1:04:40.760 --> 1:04:43.920 There's grace in the thicket. There's joy in the thicket, 1:04:44.520 --> 1:04:49.080 and it won't run out. Thank you for joining us. 1:04:49.440 --> 1:04:51.880 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:04:52.000 --> 1:04:55.440 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:04:55.920 --> 1:04:58.120 You can click the link in the description to give 1:04:58.200 --> 1:05:02.320 now or visit Elevation dot org slash podcast for more 1:05:02.360 --> 1:05:06.000 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:05:06.440 --> 1:05:07.720 You can share it with your friends. 1:05:08.080 --> 1:05:10.320 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:05:10.400 --> 1:05:12.440 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:05:12.520 --> 1:05:13.360 Elevation Church. 1:05:13.440 --> 1:05:15.080 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.