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- Good morning, Springhouse.

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Wow, okay.

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Good morning, Springhouse.

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There you are.

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I wondered if you were awake this morning.

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If you're joining us on live stream,

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thank you for joining us this morning.

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Hey, God is good.

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All the time.

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And he is the best gift giver, is he not?

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He is so, so faithful this morning.

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He's so faithful in our lives.

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As you guys are coming to give this morning,

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we have a group of youth who will be going to camp

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this next weekend.

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And so if you are joining that team,

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if you'll come down here,

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we wanna pray for you guys this morning.

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It's always good to pray over the groups

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going to camp and retreat.

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So y'all will come quickly.

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So I don't have to preach over time.

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You guys thankful for our youth group here at Springhouse?

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(congregation applauding)

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Guys will stand with me.

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And if you'll stretch your hands out this way.

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Father, I thank you so much for these incredible teens

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and youth leaders, Lord.

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I pray, Lord, that as they go to camp,

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or this retreat rather this next week.

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And God, I'm asking, Lord,

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that you would do extraordinary things.

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God, I'm asking, Lord, that you would reveal yourself

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in powerful ways, God.

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And Lord, I pray that they would grab a hold truly

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of what it is to be a peacemaker, God.

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And I ask, Lord, as you move and as you flow through

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the services, Lord, I pray, Lord,

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that their faith would increase in you.

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We love you today.

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Give them safe travels as they go

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and as they come back in Jesus' name.

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And everybody said, amen.

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Before you sit down, just look at your neighbor

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and think of one word to describe your God

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and let them know.

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One word to describe your God and say it to them.

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(congregation murmuring)

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And then give a great big hug to someone you don't like.

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(congregation murmuring)

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(clears throat)

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Just grateful nobody ran real fast up on this stage.

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How many know that God is the greatest gift giver there is?

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And you have a story, you are part of the greatest story

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ever told and some of the reason why you have such

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a wonderful story is because God has given

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such great gifts to you.

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He's given great promises and great things.

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And so in that, we are able to ascribe some real

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wonderful words about this gift giver.

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He is for some of us, no, for all of us,

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he is our provider, say provider.

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Okay, he is our security, say security.

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Anybody believe it this morning?

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How many God is your peace?

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Has he been faithful to you?

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Yeah, this gift giver, he is incredible

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and he has all these attributes assigned to him.

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Let's see, is he the truth?

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Is he your comfort?

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Amen, amen, this gift giver is true

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and he provides comfort to us.

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What else does he do?

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Is he good?

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Is he holy?

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Amen, amen, and so we have these attributes

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to this star breathing God who's just so incredible.

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And what else we have here?

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Is he worthy?

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And does he render strength to those who are weak?

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Absolutely, God is all of these things and so much more.

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I don't think we have a vast enough vocabulary

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to describe this gift giver, this God,

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but he is all of these things and so much more.

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And you are part of the greatest story ever told

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and this God is the centerpiece of this story.

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He is the centerpiece of this story

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and all of these attributes and all of the other attributes

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that we could come up with.

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Can I just say, this is totally bunny trail.

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Rob Major and Claudia, the Lord wanted me to tell you

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that you are a gift to Springhouse

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and you are a gift to the people around you.

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And I just want you to be encouraged

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that he has not forgotten you, that he sees you,

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that he loves you and he is using you

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and the best is yet to come.

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Can I just, do y'all agree with that, amen?

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I'm sorry, I know that was out here

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but I felt like the Lord told me to say that earlier.

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But that's what God does.

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He's a render of great promises.

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He's a render, he's a gift giver.

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He has the greatest things to give us

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and some of you are sitting next to

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one of the greatest gifts he's given you.

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Your spouse, your family.

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You're like, who them?

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No, no, truly, truly, he is so good, he's so faithful.

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Thursday nights have been incredible here at Springhouse.

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I wanna thank you guys for coming and being a part of that.

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This Thursday night, we're gonna continue our series,

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What Giants, and Pastor Barb is gonna be doing it.

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We'll be meeting in the Fellowship Hall

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because there's a show that's opening up here this weekend.

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Something about a play going wrong

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and so I want you to come and be a part of that as well.

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So there's some things for you to look forward to

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this week as well.

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But God has saved the very best for right now

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and so would you stand with me?

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We're gonna read from Genesis chapter 22.

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This is probably a very familiar story

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and so because it is, I want you

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to read as loud as you're gonna cheer

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for the football game tonight.

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Here we go.

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Then God said, "Take your son, your only son,

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"whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah.

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"Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering

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"on a mountain I will show you."

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Early the next morning, Abraham got up

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and loaded his donkey.

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He took with him two of his servants and his son, Isaac.

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When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering,

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he set out for the place God had told him about.

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On the third day, Abraham looked up

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and saw the place in the distance.

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He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey

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"while I and the boy go over there.

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"We will worship and then we will come back to you."

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Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering

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and placed it on his son, Isaac,

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and he himself carried the fire and the knife.

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As the two of them went on together,

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Isaac spoke up and said to his father, Abraham,

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"Father, yes, my son," Abraham replied.

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"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said,

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"but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

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Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb

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"for the burnt offering, my son."

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And the two of them went on together.

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When they reached the place God had told them about,

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Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.

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He bound his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar

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on top of the wood.

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Then he reached out his hand

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and took the knife to slay his son.

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But the angel of the Lord called out from heaven,

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"Abraham, Abraham."

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"Here I am," he replied.

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"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said.

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"Do not do anything to him.

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"Now that I know that you fear God

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"because you have not withheld me, your son,

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"your only son."

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Abraham looked up and there in the thicket

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he saw a ram caught by his horns.

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He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it

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as a burnt offering instead of his son.

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So Abraham called that place, the Lord will provide.

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And to this day it is said,

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"On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."

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I thank you for your great provision, God.

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I thank you that your word is truth.

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I pray, Lord, that it would be transformative

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in our lives today.

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In Jesus' name, and everybody said?

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Amen, you may be seated.

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Greatest story ever told, the center figure

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of the greatest story ever told is Jesus Christ.

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And we can just be so excited, we can be encouraged,

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we should be encouraged that we get to be a part

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of this story.

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Do you know that the center of the story is not you?

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The center of the story is not you, it's not your neighbor,

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but the center of this story is Christ Jesus

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and we get the privilege of being a part of it.

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Last week we talked about Abram and Sarai.

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Abram's name was turned to Abraham,

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Abram meeting exalted father,

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Abraham meeting father of nations.

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And Sarah, her name was turned to Sarah.

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And God made a covenantial promise, a covenantial promise,

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we talked about that last week, with Abraham.

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And he said, you are going to have a son through Sarah.

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You're gonna have a son through Sarah.

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Now, as so many of us do, Abraham and Sarah are there

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and they're kinda like, I don't see how this can happen.

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So let's kinda take things into our own hands.

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Let's figure this out on our own.

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And so Abraham, why don't you go and sleep with Hagar

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and have a baby and then God can get on with the show, right?

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And so many times in our life,

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we like to create our Ishmaels and we give them to God

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and say, now God, do with Ishmael whatever you want.

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Now I'm ready, now we're ready to rock and roll

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because we don't have the faith enough,

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the faith enough to believe that God can actually

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supernaturally do things that we can't see in the natural.

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But do you know that God will always keep his promises?

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What God says he will do, he most assuredly will do.

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Some of you have been rendered a word from the Lord.

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Somebody has come and given you a word from the Lord.

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And you have sat on that promise and you're like,

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Lord, I don't see how this can happen.

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In fact, some of you have been given a word

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and the opposite has started to happen.

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But let me just encourage you, if that word is from God,

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it will surely come to pass

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because everything God says will come to pass.

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Everything God says will come to pass.

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You can rest in that.

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And so if we know that everything will come to pass,

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if God's promises are yes and amen,

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and we know and believe God is who he says he is,

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no matter what, then it should render us able

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to walk in obedience to whatever he tells us to do.

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When I say whatever, I mean even those things

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that don't make much sense.

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Even those things that cause us to sacrifice the things

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that seem to be good, right, pleasurable,

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all of those things.

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God asks us to surrender sometimes those things.

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So let's look at Ishmael and Isaac for a second here.

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Ishmael is who or what you gave to yourself.

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Ishmael is who or what you gave to yourself.

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Isaac is who or what was given to you, was given to you.

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Do you understand the difference?

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The difference being if I fashioned it

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and I made it with my own hands, no matter how good it is,

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think about that painting I talked about last week

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with that little toddler, whatever you did,

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you gave that to yourself.

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Now God can bless those things

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and he does bless those things.

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Did the word tell us that he blessed Ishmael?

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He did bless Ishmael, but guess what?

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God is going to always keep his promise and his word.

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So as we surrender things, God can take the work

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of your hand and he'll do some things with it,

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but man, it's so much better when we surrender completely

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and allow him to do the work without us,

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without us trying to make it happen on our own,

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without us trying to make it happen on our own.

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And so here's the challenge.

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We will spend our lives working through an Ishmael,

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but God is calling us to lay down our Isaacs.

259
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We will spend our life focused on the Ishmael.

260
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We'll spend our life focused

261
00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,060
because we've put our hands to it.

262
00:11:52,060 --> 00:11:54,580
Our blood, sweat, and tears, our sacrifice has gone here

263
00:11:54,580 --> 00:11:57,600
and God has this Isaac over here that's a sure promise,

264
00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,580
but we'll focus on this over here

265
00:11:59,580 --> 00:12:01,800
and God's saying, I want your Isaac.

266
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,580
See, we will just contend with the benefit of the Isaac.

267
00:12:04,580 --> 00:12:07,800
We will oftentimes manipulate situations

268
00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,140
even in our Ishmaels because of our Isaacs,

269
00:12:10,140 --> 00:12:15,020
but God is saying, I want you to surrender to me the Isaacs.

270
00:12:15,020 --> 00:12:16,540
What are the Isaacs in your life?

271
00:12:16,540 --> 00:12:17,940
Well, let me think about some of these things.

272
00:12:17,940 --> 00:12:21,200
Isaac is, if Isaac is a blessing from God,

273
00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,500
a promise from God, I've got some Isaacs in my life.

274
00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:25,960
First one would be Sherri.

275
00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,660
Sherri is a promise from the Lord.

276
00:12:28,660 --> 00:12:29,620
She's a blessing to me.

277
00:12:29,620 --> 00:12:31,460
Is she a blessing to you guys?

278
00:12:31,460 --> 00:12:33,000
You better say yes.

279
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,020
(congregation laughing)

280
00:12:36,020 --> 00:12:40,800
My wife, she's a promise, she's a gift to me.

281
00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:45,680
I think right behind that would be my beautiful children.

282
00:12:45,680 --> 00:12:48,260
All four, five, six, seven, eight of them.

283
00:12:48,260 --> 00:12:50,900
Who knows?

284
00:12:50,900 --> 00:12:51,720
The Lord knows, right?

285
00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,900
Sherri's not in here.

286
00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:57,500
Nine, 10, 11 of them.

287
00:12:57,500 --> 00:13:04,420
Sherri, kids, I mean, it could be like Justin just overnight

288
00:13:04,420 --> 00:13:07,800
just, you know, multiplication.

289
00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:10,260
And one of my points later is he multiplies the blessing.

290
00:13:10,260 --> 00:13:12,100
So he did that in your life, brother.

291
00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:15,980
Another Isaac, another promise, another gift

292
00:13:15,980 --> 00:13:17,600
that it's good and right and wonderful

293
00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,500
is the ministry at the school.

294
00:13:20,500 --> 00:13:24,480
You know, the school, my place of employment, if you will,

295
00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:25,340
the ministry there.

296
00:13:25,340 --> 00:13:27,320
Or what about being the pastor here?

297
00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:29,400
Gosh, look at this ministry.

298
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,200
To be the lead pastor of Springhouse Church,

299
00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:34,940
that is a, man, that is a gift from the Lord.

300
00:13:34,940 --> 00:13:37,040
That's not something that I crafted with my own hands.

301
00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:39,440
That's something he gave to me.

302
00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:42,600
My gift of administration.

303
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:47,340
Some of you have gifts.

304
00:13:47,340 --> 00:13:49,080
You have a variety of gifts.

305
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,720
And that would be maybe an Isaac in your life,

306
00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:53,720
something, a promise God has given you.

307
00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:56,420
What about being a parent?

308
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,160
I wanna thank for my kids, but I'm also a parent.

309
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:06,000
I'm a parent in this life.

310
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,040
You know, God has blessed some of you

311
00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,760
with financial provision and stuff,

312
00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:14,460
houses and properties and investments

313
00:14:14,460 --> 00:14:15,680
and those types of things, yes?

314
00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:19,200
And so that's part of our Isaac.

315
00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,060
Those things that he's given us is really great.

316
00:14:21,060 --> 00:14:22,860
Right now, you may have worked for some of that,

317
00:14:22,860 --> 00:14:26,360
but some of you, how many of you all work for investments

318
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,020
in all of those things, but God came in

319
00:14:28,020 --> 00:14:30,260
and just like a tsunami, I supplied so much more

320
00:14:30,260 --> 00:14:31,280
than you could ever imagine.

321
00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:32,560
Anybody ever have that happen?

322
00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:34,560
Now that's God, that's the Lord, right?

323
00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:35,440
What else here?

324
00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,140
Health.

325
00:14:37,140 --> 00:14:39,980
Health.

326
00:14:39,980 --> 00:14:42,560
Having a long life, right?

327
00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,740
Thinking about the Lord taking care of us

328
00:14:44,740 --> 00:14:46,640
and protecting us from being sick

329
00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,960
and those types of things, health would be something.

330
00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:51,420
What about ideas?

331
00:14:51,420 --> 00:14:54,020
You ever met somebody that,

332
00:14:54,020 --> 00:14:56,720
they're just constantly coming up with the best ideas,

333
00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,680
the best, most innovative strategies

334
00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:01,080
and those types of things, but man,

335
00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:02,480
some of those things sometimes

336
00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:04,280
really come from the Lord, you know?

337
00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,100
What about your schedule?

338
00:15:07,100 --> 00:15:08,920
What about your calendar?

339
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:10,400
Some of you run your calendar

340
00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:12,360
and some of you allow the Lord to run your calendar.

341
00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:14,160
Do you know the difference?

342
00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:15,280
Right?

343
00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:16,960
When we allow the Lord to run our calendar,

344
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:18,640
we're more at peace, aren't we?

345
00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:20,400
But when we run our calendar,

346
00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,020
we can run ourselves into the ground, is that true?

347
00:15:23,020 --> 00:15:25,720
Because God's calendar rests in me.

348
00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,480
That's God's calendar, right?

349
00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:30,120
Our schedule.

350
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:32,700
I've got all these Isaacs in my life,

351
00:15:32,700 --> 00:15:35,100
these things that God has given me,

352
00:15:35,100 --> 00:15:37,740
things that I haven't necessarily built with my own hands,

353
00:15:37,740 --> 00:15:40,920
but I've been given the opportunity to steward.

354
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,220
I've been given the opportunity to work with them in my hands

355
00:15:44,220 --> 00:15:46,420
and so God always keeps his promises

356
00:15:46,420 --> 00:15:49,080
and God gives Abraham this great promise

357
00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:50,920
and he says, "I'm giving you the son

358
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,060
"that's coming through Sarah and guess what?

359
00:15:53,060 --> 00:15:56,360
"I'm going to allow through him, through his seed,

360
00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,160
"your descendants are going to be like

361
00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:01,380
"the countless sand on the seashore."

362
00:16:01,380 --> 00:16:02,860
Isn't that a wonderful promise?

363
00:16:02,860 --> 00:16:04,380
Isn't that a glorious thing?

364
00:16:04,380 --> 00:16:07,240
And so here is Abraham, he's got two sons now,

365
00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:09,020
Ishmael and Isaac, both are blessed

366
00:16:09,020 --> 00:16:11,400
and he's just gone along his merry life.

367
00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:12,940
Everything is just wonderful

368
00:16:12,940 --> 00:16:15,540
and then God says, "Hey, Abraham,

369
00:16:15,540 --> 00:16:18,420
"this is what I want you to do.

370
00:16:18,420 --> 00:16:22,720
"Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac,

371
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:24,500
"and go to the region of Moriah,

372
00:16:24,500 --> 00:16:27,760
"hey, I've got an idea, sacrifice him there

373
00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,480
"as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."

374
00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,440
Now, everybody look at your neighbor and say crazy.

375
00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:37,500
Okay, now here's the thing,

376
00:16:37,500 --> 00:16:40,420
you have the benefit of knowing how this story turns out,

377
00:16:40,420 --> 00:16:43,720
but I guarantee you, if you had no idea how this turned out,

378
00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:45,920
you would be like, that is crazy.

379
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,000
That's absolutely nuts.

380
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,600
That's absolutely, doesn't make sense.

381
00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,540
It doesn't line up with what has already been said.

382
00:16:54,540 --> 00:16:57,840
This is so wrong, but can I tell you something?

383
00:16:57,840 --> 00:16:59,700
Part of the reason why it's very important,

384
00:16:59,700 --> 00:17:01,740
we did a whole year on the Holy Spirit,

385
00:17:01,740 --> 00:17:04,420
part of the reason that it's so important for you

386
00:17:04,420 --> 00:17:07,020
to understand and learn the voice of the Holy Spirit

387
00:17:07,020 --> 00:17:08,740
is sometimes the Holy Spirit's gonna have you

388
00:17:08,740 --> 00:17:11,940
do some audacious things that don't make any sense to you

389
00:17:11,940 --> 00:17:15,580
and your response should always be obedience.

390
00:17:15,580 --> 00:17:18,220
But your response is always going to be a question

391
00:17:18,220 --> 00:17:20,460
if you don't know what the voice sounds like.

392
00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,760
If you don't know what his voice sounds like,

393
00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:27,600
there's a story of a girl who was blind

394
00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:30,800
and she was on the top of the apartment

395
00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,620
and she could get around the apartment, fair enough,

396
00:17:33,620 --> 00:17:36,000
and the father went to the grocery store

397
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,000
to go get some groceries and somehow something happened

398
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:40,320
in the apartment where it caught on fire.

399
00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:41,840
Well, she was on the top floor.

400
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:43,920
And so the firemen are coming and they're going

401
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,200
and they're yelling at this girl, "Jump, jump, come on down."

402
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:47,840
And they've got that big tarp and she's out there

403
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:49,640
and she's screaming on the ledge,

404
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:51,220
and they're yelling, "Jump," they're yelling, "Jump."

405
00:17:51,220 --> 00:17:53,160
Well, they called the dad and the dad rushes

406
00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:55,720
from the supermarket all the way to the apartment.

407
00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:58,660
When he jumps out of the car, he looks up and he says,

408
00:17:58,660 --> 00:18:02,180
"Jump," and the minute he said jump, she jumps.

409
00:18:02,180 --> 00:18:05,540
Why did she jump with his voice and not the others?

410
00:18:05,540 --> 00:18:07,800
Because she knew his voice.

411
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,680
She knew his voice and it saved her life.

412
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:12,080
Can I tell you that when you listen

413
00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,400
to the Holy Spirit's voice, it might just save your life?

414
00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:16,620
It might, and not only that,

415
00:18:16,620 --> 00:18:18,980
it might save the lives of others.

416
00:18:18,980 --> 00:18:20,780
Listening and hearing and understanding

417
00:18:20,780 --> 00:18:23,060
and knowing the Holy Spirit's voice is so important.

418
00:18:23,060 --> 00:18:26,340
So God said, and I believe Abraham knew the voice of God.

419
00:18:26,340 --> 00:18:28,420
He said, "Take your son," now here's the thing,

420
00:18:28,420 --> 00:18:30,980
Abraham is like us, he has the propensity

421
00:18:30,980 --> 00:18:32,340
to take what God says and says,

422
00:18:32,340 --> 00:18:33,840
"Now I'm gonna twist it into the version

423
00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,260
"that accommodates me best."

424
00:18:36,260 --> 00:18:37,720
So God is very specific here.

425
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,180
He says, "Take your son, your only son,"

426
00:18:41,180 --> 00:18:44,420
the one I provided actually through Sarah,

427
00:18:44,420 --> 00:18:47,900
and just in case you're not clear,

428
00:18:47,900 --> 00:18:50,260
Isaac is who I'm talking about, right?

429
00:18:50,260 --> 00:18:53,700
See, I need a God who will be very clear with me, right?

430
00:18:53,700 --> 00:18:55,900
Because I have a tendency to twist it up quite a bit,

431
00:18:55,900 --> 00:18:57,500
but no, he's very clear.

432
00:18:57,500 --> 00:19:01,460
Your son, the one you love, we're talking about Isaac.

433
00:19:01,460 --> 00:19:02,480
We're talking about Isaac,

434
00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:05,960
and I want you to sacrifice him as a burnt offering.

435
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:07,700
Now let me tell you about a burnt offering.

436
00:19:07,700 --> 00:19:10,300
There are different types of offerings listed in Scripture,

437
00:19:10,300 --> 00:19:12,500
but a burnt offering was an offering

438
00:19:12,500 --> 00:19:14,340
that was totally consumable,

439
00:19:14,340 --> 00:19:16,940
which meant when you were done offering whatever that was,

440
00:19:16,940 --> 00:19:18,900
it meant it was gone, it was no more.

441
00:19:18,900 --> 00:19:21,560
There was no more, nothing that you could take from it,

442
00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:23,820
nothing you could glean from it, it was completely gone.

443
00:19:23,820 --> 00:19:25,780
That's the type of offering

444
00:19:25,780 --> 00:19:30,460
Abraham's being requested to give with Isaac.

445
00:19:30,460 --> 00:19:32,420
I wonder how many of us would be willing

446
00:19:32,420 --> 00:19:35,720
to say yes, Lord, immediately to a request such as that.

447
00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:44,120
I believe that we can sometimes get into a place

448
00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:47,200
where we say, did God really say?

449
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,640
Would God really make me do that?

450
00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:52,500
Would God really tell me to do that?

451
00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:54,820
That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

452
00:19:54,820 --> 00:19:56,360
Would God really tell us to do that?

453
00:19:56,360 --> 00:20:00,320
But here's the thing, he did, and he does.

454
00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:02,940
He did, and he does.

455
00:20:02,940 --> 00:20:06,540
I want you to take your son, your only son,

456
00:20:06,540 --> 00:20:09,960
who you love, Isaac, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.

457
00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,040
But the other thing that we have to consider

458
00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:15,720
is that we actually believe that he, God Almighty,

459
00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:18,380
is a sovereign God, and when we believe that,

460
00:20:18,380 --> 00:20:20,000
his will will trump all else.

461
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,440
In other words, listen to this, friends,

462
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:26,520
God required the sacrifice of Isaac

463
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,760
regardless of Abraham's response.

464
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,100
I want you to understand that when God decrees

465
00:20:33,100 --> 00:20:35,560
something to be done, it will be done

466
00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:37,700
with or without your participation.

467
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,480
And Abraham had a choice, and the choice Abraham had

468
00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:47,320
was yes, to obey or disobey, but the choice Abraham had

469
00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,600
was you can be a participant in this blessing

470
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,160
or you may not be a participant in this blessing.

471
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,320
And the way that you get to participate

472
00:20:55,320 --> 00:21:00,320
in the blessing of God is obedience, is obedience,

473
00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,160
even when it doesn't make sense,

474
00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,480
even when it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

475
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:11,180
And so this is a very important point

476
00:21:11,180 --> 00:21:13,880
because God required Isaac regardless of whether or not

477
00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:15,320
Abraham was willing to do it.

478
00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:17,440
Guys, we serve a jealous God.

479
00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:19,800
We serve a jealous God.

480
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,180
We have the privilege of knowing the rest of the story,

481
00:21:22,180 --> 00:21:24,880
but can you imagine just being in Abraham's shoes?

482
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,900
I believe Isaac would have been sacrificed no matter what.

483
00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:30,480
Some way, some form, because God decreed it,

484
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:31,680
it would have been done.

485
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,060
And we see this reality as harsh as it seems

486
00:21:35,060 --> 00:21:36,240
throughout scripture.

487
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:38,560
Pharaoh would not release the Israelites,

488
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:39,600
so what happened?

489
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,380
God took the firstborn of Egypt.

490
00:21:41,380 --> 00:21:44,520
Saul would not release the kingdom,

491
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,080
so God removed him and established David as king.

492
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,640
Jonah would not go to Nineveh,

493
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:51,780
so God had a fish drag him there.

494
00:21:51,780 --> 00:21:56,280
God's will will always come to fruition.

495
00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:58,700
God's will will always come to fruition

496
00:21:58,700 --> 00:22:01,200
with or without your participation.

497
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,240
We will bow down one way or the other.

498
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:05,960
The only question is whether we bow down in willing faith

499
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:07,620
or stubborn resistance.

500
00:22:07,620 --> 00:22:09,660
(breathing deeply)

501
00:22:09,660 --> 00:22:12,140
Which side of the coin are you on?

502
00:22:12,140 --> 00:22:13,220
Why?

503
00:22:13,220 --> 00:22:15,020
Why, God, would you have me do this?

504
00:22:15,020 --> 00:22:16,060
Because God said it.

505
00:22:16,060 --> 00:22:17,220
What about the promise?

506
00:22:17,220 --> 00:22:18,820
How does this line up with the character of God?

507
00:22:18,820 --> 00:22:19,660
All questions.

508
00:22:19,660 --> 00:22:21,520
What about, what if God never said

509
00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:25,040
that our understanding was a prerequisite to our obedience?

510
00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:30,700
He graces us sometimes in understanding.

511
00:22:30,700 --> 00:22:33,140
He graces us in giving us explanation.

512
00:22:33,140 --> 00:22:35,380
He graces us a lot of times with giving us

513
00:22:35,380 --> 00:22:37,780
the bandwidth of time to get our act together

514
00:22:37,780 --> 00:22:39,780
and finally decide to obey.

515
00:22:39,780 --> 00:22:42,420
But at the end of the day,

516
00:22:42,420 --> 00:22:45,740
God's will is gonna be done all of the time,

517
00:22:45,740 --> 00:22:47,000
every single time.

518
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:48,780
Now, this seems so harsh,

519
00:22:48,780 --> 00:22:51,460
and it seems to paint God with kind of a broad stroke

520
00:22:51,460 --> 00:22:53,500
of man, this God doesn't really see us or hear us,

521
00:22:53,500 --> 00:22:55,320
but we just went through all of these things

522
00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,540
to say how great of a gift giver he is.

523
00:22:57,540 --> 00:22:59,180
And if he has all of these things,

524
00:22:59,180 --> 00:23:01,080
that means that when he requires things of us

525
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:03,380
that require sacrifice that we don't understand,

526
00:23:03,380 --> 00:23:06,220
we can trust him that he is a good God

527
00:23:06,220 --> 00:23:09,180
and that he is faithful and that he keeps his promises

528
00:23:09,180 --> 00:23:10,740
so if it doesn't feel good right now,

529
00:23:10,740 --> 00:23:12,300
I can trust God, you've got something better

530
00:23:12,300 --> 00:23:15,420
on the other side, I just don't know what it is right now.

531
00:23:15,420 --> 00:23:17,080
And so if I lean into obedience,

532
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:18,700
and if I look at the, guys,

533
00:23:18,700 --> 00:23:20,860
you're a part of the greatest story ever told.

534
00:23:20,860 --> 00:23:22,520
Why are we going through these stories?

535
00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,940
It's because if God did it then, he'll do it again now.

536
00:23:25,940 --> 00:23:29,140
He is the same God yesterday, today, and forevermore.

537
00:23:29,140 --> 00:23:30,580
We just sang that song.

538
00:23:30,580 --> 00:23:32,900
He is the same God.

539
00:23:32,900 --> 00:23:35,740
And so you may be in a moment where it doesn't feel good,

540
00:23:35,740 --> 00:23:37,060
that faith is being tested,

541
00:23:37,060 --> 00:23:38,560
you're being asked to do some things

542
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:40,520
or to walk through something that hurts,

543
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,640
that doesn't feel good, that you don't understand,

544
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:44,920
but guys, you stand up with the strength,

545
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:46,240
not that you have on your own,

546
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:47,940
but the strength that the Holy Spirit gives you

547
00:23:47,940 --> 00:23:50,700
and you say, God, I surrender all of it.

548
00:23:50,700 --> 00:23:52,660
I give it all to you because I believe

549
00:23:52,660 --> 00:23:54,180
that you are the star breather

550
00:23:54,180 --> 00:23:55,980
and you are the giver of good gifts

551
00:23:55,980 --> 00:23:58,380
and I will trust you no matter what else

552
00:23:58,380 --> 00:24:00,580
seems to be going on, I will trust you.

553
00:24:00,580 --> 00:24:02,620
I have faith to believe in you, amen?

554
00:24:02,620 --> 00:24:03,460
- Amen.

555
00:24:03,460 --> 00:24:06,140
- He is faithful.

556
00:24:06,140 --> 00:24:09,580
He is so faithful and so we learn in scripture,

557
00:24:09,580 --> 00:24:11,780
remember I talked about Saul,

558
00:24:11,780 --> 00:24:15,500
that it is better to obey than to sacrifice.

559
00:24:15,500 --> 00:24:17,340
Saul's kingdom was ripped from him

560
00:24:17,340 --> 00:24:19,660
because he was not willing to do that.

561
00:24:19,660 --> 00:24:26,100
And so we can run around trying to make everything happen.

562
00:24:26,100 --> 00:24:28,100
There's a story of a man who was on a boat

563
00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:30,520
and his one job, he had one job,

564
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,100
and it was to make sure that the rudder,

565
00:24:32,100 --> 00:24:33,780
a rudder is a small little piece on a boat

566
00:24:33,780 --> 00:24:37,140
that stirs a big deal, but a really small piece of the boat.

567
00:24:37,140 --> 00:24:38,400
And his whole job was just to make sure

568
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:39,500
that that was working.

569
00:24:39,500 --> 00:24:41,160
And he got in there and he was working,

570
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:42,460
he worked month after month after month,

571
00:24:42,460 --> 00:24:43,620
he's like, man, I'm not getting really

572
00:24:43,620 --> 00:24:45,060
a whole lot of notoriety,

573
00:24:45,060 --> 00:24:46,700
I'm not getting a whole lot of prestige,

574
00:24:46,700 --> 00:24:48,360
I'm not getting a whole lot of pat on the backs for this,

575
00:24:48,360 --> 00:24:50,580
so I'm gonna start helping other people with their jobs.

576
00:24:50,580 --> 00:24:52,220
And so he would leave for a few minutes,

577
00:24:52,220 --> 00:24:53,700
his job, and he would go sweep the floor

578
00:24:53,700 --> 00:24:55,400
and be like, good job, pat on the back.

579
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,100
And he started feeling good about all these things

580
00:24:57,100 --> 00:24:58,980
that he was doing, he would go upstairs

581
00:24:58,980 --> 00:25:01,460
and he started to help push some of the food carts

582
00:25:01,460 --> 00:25:02,860
and he would go up to the deck

583
00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:04,820
and he'd start mopping the deck and all of this stuff,

584
00:25:04,820 --> 00:25:06,060
he's getting all these accolades

585
00:25:06,060 --> 00:25:08,020
and people are coming around him and celebrating him,

586
00:25:08,020 --> 00:25:10,100
and man, guess what, he became famous.

587
00:25:10,100 --> 00:25:12,580
He became everybody, everybody's friend.

588
00:25:12,580 --> 00:25:14,780
He was really great, he was smiling,

589
00:25:14,780 --> 00:25:17,340
nobody, nobody disliked this guy.

590
00:25:17,340 --> 00:25:19,540
Well, guess what, the rudder stopped working.

591
00:25:19,540 --> 00:25:22,700
The boat crashed and everybody died.

592
00:25:22,700 --> 00:25:25,980
Now, that's probably not a true story,

593
00:25:25,980 --> 00:25:29,340
it's a story I heard, but the point is this.

594
00:25:31,220 --> 00:25:33,700
He sacrificed himself instead of doing

595
00:25:33,700 --> 00:25:35,260
the thing he was supposed to do.

596
00:25:35,260 --> 00:25:41,580
But the sacrifice was bathed in him getting edification

597
00:25:41,580 --> 00:25:44,820
that he didn't find in the place he needed to find it.

598
00:25:44,820 --> 00:25:48,060
Because he had stood in a position he was supposed to be,

599
00:25:48,060 --> 00:25:50,260
let me tell you, the greatest accolade

600
00:25:50,260 --> 00:25:52,140
would have been that you saved all their lives

601
00:25:52,140 --> 00:25:54,700
by doing what you were supposed to do.

602
00:25:54,700 --> 00:25:55,800
Does that make sense?

603
00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:00,060
To obey is better than sacrifice.

604
00:26:00,060 --> 00:26:02,400
I used to be the young adult pastor here at Springhouse.

605
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:03,380
That front guy right there,

606
00:26:03,380 --> 00:26:05,140
that's Kurt Bryson without glasses.

607
00:26:05,140 --> 00:26:09,480
And I was young adult pastor,

608
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:11,140
I actually started as a young adult leader,

609
00:26:11,140 --> 00:26:13,880
I guess I would say, at Chick-fil-A for four or five years

610
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,380
because we had a group of young adults

611
00:26:16,380 --> 00:26:19,140
from a variety of churches who wanted to meet for worship.

612
00:26:19,140 --> 00:26:20,860
And so I would open the store on Sunday night,

613
00:26:20,860 --> 00:26:21,700
I'd fry up the fryers,

614
00:26:21,700 --> 00:26:23,420
everybody likes free food and chicken, right?

615
00:26:23,420 --> 00:26:27,380
And so we'd do that and we'd worship on Sunday nights

616
00:26:27,380 --> 00:26:28,620
and it started to grow

617
00:26:28,620 --> 00:26:30,220
and it grew to like 80 young adults.

618
00:26:30,220 --> 00:26:32,900
It was fantastic, it was a glorious time,

619
00:26:32,900 --> 00:26:35,060
glorious season, still have some connections

620
00:26:35,060 --> 00:26:35,900
from that time period.

621
00:26:35,900 --> 00:26:37,260
It lasted for about three years.

622
00:26:37,260 --> 00:26:39,380
And at the end of the three years,

623
00:26:39,380 --> 00:26:40,620
toward the end of the three years,

624
00:26:40,620 --> 00:26:42,660
it was like literally in its prime.

625
00:26:42,660 --> 00:26:46,140
I mean, we had, like I said, we had like maybe 80 people,

626
00:26:46,140 --> 00:26:48,140
we had a worship team, we had a great setup.

627
00:26:48,140 --> 00:26:52,700
In fact, this church had just decided to put an umbrella over

628
00:26:52,700 --> 00:26:54,100
'cause I needed some authority in it

629
00:26:54,100 --> 00:26:55,720
'cause I mean, we were collecting money.

630
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,300
I mean, this thing was really taking off.

631
00:26:57,300 --> 00:26:58,480
And you know what the Lord said?

632
00:26:58,480 --> 00:26:59,780
I want you to lay it down.

633
00:26:59,780 --> 00:27:03,780
That doesn't make any sense, God.

634
00:27:03,780 --> 00:27:05,520
Things are thriving right now.

635
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:07,880
Things are going great right now.

636
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:09,560
Why would you ask me to lay this down?

637
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:10,980
That must not be the Lord.

638
00:27:10,980 --> 00:27:13,720
Now, here's the thing, I know the Lord's voice,

639
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,100
but I was trying to make it

640
00:27:16,100 --> 00:27:18,580
as if it wasn't the Lord's voice.

641
00:27:18,580 --> 00:27:20,580
And do you know that I basically said,

642
00:27:20,580 --> 00:27:22,880
not in my words, but I said in my actions, no,

643
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,240
I'm not laying this down.

644
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,840
And I went the next couple of weeks to that thing,

645
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:34,380
to the meeting, just knowing that it was gonna be great.

646
00:27:34,380 --> 00:27:36,620
And it was everything but.

647
00:27:36,620 --> 00:27:40,620
Numbers dropped, drama started, worship team disbanded,

648
00:27:40,620 --> 00:27:42,860
all types of things, people were stealing money from the,

649
00:27:42,860 --> 00:27:44,860
I mean, it was a mess.

650
00:27:44,860 --> 00:27:46,820
And we hadn't seen anything like that.

651
00:27:46,820 --> 00:27:52,380
I got to suffer the consequence of my disobedience.

652
00:27:53,460 --> 00:27:57,360
And more than that, I walked in bitterness for a year or two.

653
00:27:57,360 --> 00:27:58,820
And that whole season, I told the Lord,

654
00:27:58,820 --> 00:28:01,900
I will never be a young adult pastor again.

655
00:28:01,900 --> 00:28:04,700
Never will I be a young adult pastor again.

656
00:28:04,700 --> 00:28:06,080
Fast forward three years later,

657
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,740
as the Lord got a hold of my heart and he's maturing me,

658
00:28:08,740 --> 00:28:10,240
I go out in this foyer and I'm walking,

659
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:11,640
we used to have Wednesday night services,

660
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,200
and I see Brittany, then Sweeney,

661
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,500
and Chris and Sweeney, and they're gathering out there.

662
00:28:16,500 --> 00:28:17,500
And I'm like, what are you doing?

663
00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:18,840
I was working with kids at that time.

664
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,200
And they said, we're gonna go do a Bible study at Starbucks

665
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:23,700
'cause we don't have a young adult program here.

666
00:28:23,700 --> 00:28:27,260
I said, well, good riddance, go do that, it's fine.

667
00:28:27,260 --> 00:28:31,840
Next week, just happened to walk by, there they are again.

668
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,620
And God said, I want you to start leading them.

669
00:28:34,620 --> 00:28:36,500
No, sir, not doing that.

670
00:28:36,500 --> 00:28:43,520
And I mean, guys, I just can't tell you how crazy it was.

671
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:47,000
I would just happen upon them meeting,

672
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:48,460
happen upon week by week.

673
00:28:48,460 --> 00:28:50,180
I'm like, no, I'm not going to do it.

674
00:28:50,180 --> 00:28:51,500
And so then I made a deal with God.

675
00:28:51,500 --> 00:28:53,100
Anybody made a deal with God?

676
00:28:53,100 --> 00:28:53,940
Made a deal with God.

677
00:28:53,940 --> 00:28:56,680
I said, God, okay, I will put some organization to this

678
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,340
and do it for four or five weeks,

679
00:28:59,340 --> 00:29:00,880
but you're gonna raise somebody up to do this.

680
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:01,720
I'm not gonna do it.

681
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,480
And so I stepped in there,

682
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,140
and we got a little organization.

683
00:29:05,140 --> 00:29:07,520
I helped get them a room here, helped get them sanctioned.

684
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:09,240
And then I went to lunch with Ronnie Meek,

685
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:10,340
and he said, hey, Kevin,

686
00:29:10,340 --> 00:29:12,340
I want you to be our young adult pastor.

687
00:29:12,340 --> 00:29:15,560
And we grew a ministry.

688
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,780
Many of you have touch points,

689
00:29:18,780 --> 00:29:21,340
ripples from that ministry that flourished here.

690
00:29:21,340 --> 00:29:23,320
People from this place.

691
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,840
Can I tell you that had I not gone through that season

692
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,680
of learning, I would not be the lead pastor today?

693
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:31,920
Because there's no way that I could carry this position

694
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,120
any other way than like this.

695
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,320
I've been there and done that when I've held it like this,

696
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:37,620
and it did not go well.

697
00:29:37,620 --> 00:29:40,960
Can I tell you that sometimes that the Lord

698
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:42,840
will take things out of your life

699
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:44,000
because he wants to know

700
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,160
if he is the number one priority in your life?

701
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:47,600
Can I tell you that sometimes

702
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:49,820
that he will put authority in your life,

703
00:29:49,820 --> 00:29:51,640
that will come in the authority

704
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,560
will remove that thing from your life,

705
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:55,600
and it doesn't seem fair, it doesn't seem right,

706
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,000
it doesn't seem just.

707
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,060
But God is saying, do you trust me?

708
00:30:00,060 --> 00:30:01,880
Because if the word says that all authority

709
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:03,320
has been established by him,

710
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:04,840
then the authority he's put in your life

711
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:06,360
will be the one to make the decision.

712
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,840
And no matter how it affects you,

713
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,080
you can trust, if you trust God, you can trust,

714
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:12,560
he's gonna take care of you.

715
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,600
That his promises are yes and amen.

716
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:16,720
And that sometimes the leader comes and says,

717
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:17,560
I wanna go left.

718
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,020
When you so in your mind wanna go right,

719
00:30:20,020 --> 00:30:20,980
what are you gonna do?

720
00:30:20,980 --> 00:30:23,260
You can obey or disobey, that's the choice.

721
00:30:23,260 --> 00:30:25,140
And guess what, if the leader is wrong,

722
00:30:25,140 --> 00:30:26,000
guess who it's not on?

723
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:27,540
It's not on you, it's on the Lord

724
00:30:27,540 --> 00:30:29,900
because the Lord establishes all authority.

725
00:30:29,900 --> 00:30:31,060
When you walk in obedience,

726
00:30:31,060 --> 00:30:33,060
there's always gonna be a blessing.

727
00:30:33,060 --> 00:30:35,320
But where we find strife and where we find things

728
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,900
is whenever we step outside of the authority

729
00:30:37,900 --> 00:30:39,600
the Lord has placed in front of us

730
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:41,340
and we don't walk in obedience.

731
00:30:41,340 --> 00:30:44,220
God is so faithful, he is so faithful.

732
00:30:44,220 --> 00:30:45,540
And I'm wondering this morning

733
00:30:45,540 --> 00:30:50,540
if there are some Isaacs that some of us need to lay down.

734
00:30:50,540 --> 00:30:52,380
I believe that one of the questions

735
00:30:52,380 --> 00:30:54,000
that we need to ask ourselves,

736
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,740
we need to stop asking why is this happening to me?

737
00:30:56,740 --> 00:30:58,040
And we need to ask the Lord,

738
00:30:58,040 --> 00:30:59,540
what is he trying to teach me?

739
00:30:59,540 --> 00:31:02,160
What God are you trying to teach me?

740
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:03,720
I don't understand the situation,

741
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:05,860
they have hurt me, I am upset.

742
00:31:05,860 --> 00:31:08,020
This is my ministry, this is my thing,

743
00:31:08,020 --> 00:31:09,980
this is my relationship, this is my job,

744
00:31:09,980 --> 00:31:11,220
this is my assignment.

745
00:31:11,220 --> 00:31:15,540
And God wants to eliminate that my vocabulary word

746
00:31:15,540 --> 00:31:17,140
out of the sentence.

747
00:31:17,140 --> 00:31:19,540
Because it never was yours, it was always his.

748
00:31:19,540 --> 00:31:20,780
Because who is the giver?

749
00:31:20,780 --> 00:31:22,420
He's the gift giver.

750
00:31:22,420 --> 00:31:24,300
He's the one that gave it to you.

751
00:31:24,300 --> 00:31:25,660
And so God if it's yours

752
00:31:25,660 --> 00:31:27,180
and I was just supposed to steward it,

753
00:31:27,180 --> 00:31:28,660
seems like it's leaving my hand right now,

754
00:31:28,660 --> 00:31:30,980
it means that you have something better for me then,

755
00:31:30,980 --> 00:31:32,020
right now.

756
00:31:32,020 --> 00:31:33,420
Something that you see ahead of me

757
00:31:33,420 --> 00:31:35,460
that I don't see right now very clearly.

758
00:31:35,460 --> 00:31:37,900
So I'm gonna trust you.

759
00:31:37,900 --> 00:31:39,480
I'm going to trust you.

760
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,760
God, what is he trying to teach me?

761
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:45,020
He's always trying to teach us something.

762
00:31:45,020 --> 00:31:48,240
And this is where faith enters the picture.

763
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:50,080
Can I tell you it takes great faith

764
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,580
to surrender the thing you believe belongs to you.

765
00:31:52,580 --> 00:31:56,980
It takes great faith to surrender the thing

766
00:31:56,980 --> 00:32:00,320
that you believe belongs to you.

767
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,140
Because what you're saying whenever you surrender that thing

768
00:32:03,140 --> 00:32:05,960
is say God I place you above every person,

769
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:10,960
every ideology, every board, every emotion, every feeling,

770
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,300
I put you above all of that.

771
00:32:13,300 --> 00:32:17,180
And I trust you just as much as Abraham raises the knife

772
00:32:17,180 --> 00:32:19,300
ready to slay his own son.

773
00:32:19,300 --> 00:32:20,960
Great faith.

774
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:22,880
Great faith.

775
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:27,620
The real test of faith is not in sacrificing

776
00:32:27,620 --> 00:32:28,600
what we have created,

777
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,740
but in surrendering what God has provided.

778
00:32:31,740 --> 00:32:35,140
And so I just talked about all these Isaacs here.

779
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:40,700
My health, schedule, Sherry, my kids, all of these things.

780
00:32:40,700 --> 00:32:43,980
Can I tell you something about all these things right here?

781
00:32:43,980 --> 00:32:48,240
Guys, Sherry is like the most important person in my life.

782
00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:49,400
You understand that, right?

783
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,660
Like my kids are super important to me, right?

784
00:32:52,660 --> 00:32:55,280
My ministries that the Lord has allowed me to steward

785
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:58,720
and be a part of, they're important to me, okay?

786
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,000
But can I tell you what they look like

787
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:02,600
in comparison to the gift giver?

788
00:33:03,340 --> 00:33:06,500
(man whistles)

789
00:33:06,500 --> 00:33:08,420
Do you know how many of these gifts

790
00:33:08,420 --> 00:33:11,180
I would have to add up to add to this box?

791
00:33:11,180 --> 00:33:16,940
And some of us are holding on with clenched fists

792
00:33:16,940 --> 00:33:19,020
these promises that God has given us,

793
00:33:19,020 --> 00:33:22,120
and we are walking away from the gift giver

794
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:24,760
because we love the gifts so much.

795
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,980
In fact, we've fallen in love with the gifts so much

796
00:33:27,980 --> 00:33:31,100
that all of a sudden, it's not God that's my peace anymore,

797
00:33:31,100 --> 00:33:32,120
it's this gift.

798
00:33:33,100 --> 00:33:36,420
It's not God that's my provider anymore, it's my spouse.

799
00:33:36,420 --> 00:33:40,580
It's not God that's faithful anymore,

800
00:33:40,580 --> 00:33:43,380
it's that person or that job, that boss in my life.

801
00:33:43,380 --> 00:33:46,940
He's no longer my security, it's the gift God's put in my,

802
00:33:46,940 --> 00:33:49,740
it's the resource, my bank account, the crypto XRP,

803
00:33:49,740 --> 00:33:50,900
that's my security.

804
00:33:50,900 --> 00:33:55,120
The truth.

805
00:33:55,120 --> 00:34:01,240
I bought into a lie because I like how my gifts feel.

806
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,740
(man speaks faintly)

807
00:34:03,740 --> 00:34:05,740
My comfort is no longer found in the Lord,

808
00:34:05,740 --> 00:34:07,340
it's found in all of these things

809
00:34:07,340 --> 00:34:09,380
that I get to control my schedule, look what,

810
00:34:09,380 --> 00:34:12,300
and guess what, it's so deceiving

811
00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:14,840
because the gifts come from God.

812
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:16,000
I'm not talking about Ishmaels,

813
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:17,780
I'm talking about things from God.

814
00:34:17,780 --> 00:34:21,420
But here's the thing, look,

815
00:34:21,420 --> 00:34:23,980
I can't even get one of these signs to come,

816
00:34:23,980 --> 00:34:27,580
these affirmations overwhelm the gifts

817
00:34:27,580 --> 00:34:30,300
because they were never supposed to be assigned to the gifts,

818
00:34:30,300 --> 00:34:32,800
they're supposed to be assigned to the gift giver.

819
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,680
They're supposed to be assigned to the gift giver.

820
00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:39,520
But when we hold on to our resources

821
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,200
and the people he's put on our life

822
00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:44,460
and we place them above,

823
00:34:44,460 --> 00:34:47,800
we place all of that above him, there's a problem.

824
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:51,740
And you say to myself, well, God would never tell me,

825
00:34:51,740 --> 00:34:53,700
and when I say let go of our sacrifice,

826
00:34:53,700 --> 00:34:57,340
God's not, I don't believe God's saying get a knife out.

827
00:34:57,340 --> 00:35:00,820
But here's the thing, God is gonna ask you

828
00:35:00,820 --> 00:35:05,220
to surrender your spouse and make him the priority.

829
00:35:05,220 --> 00:35:07,740
He's gonna ask you to surrender your kids

830
00:35:07,740 --> 00:35:09,740
and make him the, he's gonna ask you

831
00:35:09,740 --> 00:35:13,360
to surrender that promise and make him the priority.

832
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:17,620
And here's the crazy thing,

833
00:35:17,620 --> 00:35:19,880
when he truly is the priority

834
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:22,980
and you're spending more time assigning these attributes

835
00:35:22,980 --> 00:35:26,300
to him, all of a sudden your relationship

836
00:35:26,300 --> 00:35:29,180
with your spouse is abundantly blessed.

837
00:35:29,180 --> 00:35:31,060
Your kids get an inheritance

838
00:35:31,060 --> 00:35:32,720
that is beyond anything you could imagine.

839
00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:36,180
Your job goes so much better than you could ever think

840
00:35:36,180 --> 00:35:38,060
of all these great and wonderful things

841
00:35:38,060 --> 00:35:39,820
that God has given you.

842
00:35:39,820 --> 00:35:43,320
They are immensely blessed because they are not your God.

843
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,060
He is, he is.

844
00:35:46,060 --> 00:35:49,940
What are you holding on to this morning?

845
00:35:49,940 --> 00:35:51,860
And I'm not talking about things you fashioned.

846
00:35:51,860 --> 00:35:54,600
What are you holding on to that God has given you?

847
00:35:55,980 --> 00:35:57,220
How's a barometer here?

848
00:35:57,220 --> 00:35:58,500
Here's a good question to ask.

849
00:35:58,500 --> 00:35:59,940
What do you fear the most?

850
00:35:59,940 --> 00:36:04,000
What do you fear the most?

851
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,320
Now I fear spiders, but no.

852
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:12,740
I ask you that question, I fear losing my ministry the most.

853
00:36:12,740 --> 00:36:14,180
That would be if somebody would say that.

854
00:36:14,180 --> 00:36:17,620
I fear losing my spouse.

855
00:36:17,620 --> 00:36:19,260
I fear losing my kids.

856
00:36:19,260 --> 00:36:21,740
Those are legitimate, those are legitimate,

857
00:36:21,740 --> 00:36:23,820
those are legitimate fears if you will

858
00:36:23,820 --> 00:36:25,300
that you could put there.

859
00:36:25,300 --> 00:36:26,800
But what about the fear that says,

860
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,860
you know what, I wrestled with this this week

861
00:36:29,860 --> 00:36:33,580
and I said, God, I believe that my number one fear

862
00:36:33,580 --> 00:36:35,940
is that I would live my life part from you.

863
00:36:35,940 --> 00:36:40,960
That I would live my life part from you.

864
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:45,260
If your number one fear is losing somebody close to you

865
00:36:45,260 --> 00:36:47,220
or your ministry or resources,

866
00:36:47,220 --> 00:36:49,740
then that's a clear indicator that you've got an Isaac

867
00:36:49,740 --> 00:36:51,300
that you're turning into a God.

868
00:36:54,340 --> 00:36:55,820
He is the giver of great gifts,

869
00:36:55,820 --> 00:36:58,980
but he will give and take away and he is still good.

870
00:36:58,980 --> 00:37:01,420
He will give and take away and he is still good,

871
00:37:01,420 --> 00:37:03,140
he's still God.

872
00:37:03,140 --> 00:37:05,900
Do you have an Isaac in your life

873
00:37:05,900 --> 00:37:09,380
that has taken, that you filter all your decisions through,

874
00:37:09,380 --> 00:37:13,420
that is the most important thing to you, that's not him?

875
00:37:13,420 --> 00:37:18,340
Your story builds faith.

876
00:37:18,340 --> 00:37:21,460
Your story builds faith and as you share about the Isaacs

877
00:37:21,460 --> 00:37:26,340
that you render and lay down, Abraham's story that we read

878
00:37:26,340 --> 00:37:29,580
builds our faith because God kept his promise

879
00:37:29,580 --> 00:37:32,160
even in a circumstance that we didn't understand.

880
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:37,600
And so he says, we will worship and then we will come back.

881
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:39,300
What great faith.

882
00:37:39,300 --> 00:37:41,940
What great faith to say, basically,

883
00:37:41,940 --> 00:37:45,100
I have no understanding Calvin of why the Lord

884
00:37:45,100 --> 00:37:46,000
is telling me to do this,

885
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:47,680
but I'm gonna walk in obedience to him.

886
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,260
But I'll tell you this much, the promise he gave me

887
00:37:50,260 --> 00:37:52,740
is the promise he gave me and I'd rest so assured

888
00:37:52,740 --> 00:37:55,560
that he's gonna make that promise come to pass.

889
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:59,060
We will worship and then we will come back.

890
00:37:59,060 --> 00:38:02,460
This is my wife Sherry, she's beautiful.

891
00:38:02,460 --> 00:38:07,300
And she was never gonna get married.

892
00:38:07,300 --> 00:38:10,780
She, back in 2008 and prior, she had made a commitment

893
00:38:10,780 --> 00:38:12,100
to the Lord really when she was 16, she said,

894
00:38:12,100 --> 00:38:13,340
"I'm never going to get married,

895
00:38:13,340 --> 00:38:14,380
"I'm never gonna get married."

896
00:38:14,380 --> 00:38:16,100
Then she met me, what can I say?

897
00:38:16,980 --> 00:38:20,500
No, she made a commitment to the Lord,

898
00:38:20,500 --> 00:38:22,640
said, "I'm never gonna get married."

899
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:27,640
And the Lord met her in 2008 and she said,

900
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,780
and the story on this side of it is,

901
00:38:29,780 --> 00:38:31,220
it really became a source of pride.

902
00:38:31,220 --> 00:38:34,600
It became a source of, look what I'm doing for the Lord.

903
00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,660
You see, we can get self-righteous

904
00:38:37,660 --> 00:38:39,780
about the things we're doing for God.

905
00:38:39,780 --> 00:38:41,860
And God's saying, I want you to surrender

906
00:38:41,860 --> 00:38:43,340
that thing to me as well.

907
00:38:43,340 --> 00:38:46,460
And so she was, she was praying, everybody was saying,

908
00:38:46,460 --> 00:38:48,500
oh, you'll get married, and she's like, no, I won't.

909
00:38:48,500 --> 00:38:50,700
Let me show you how stubborn I am.

910
00:38:50,700 --> 00:38:52,940
She's like, I will not get married.

911
00:38:52,940 --> 00:38:54,500
And the Lord said in 2008,

912
00:38:54,500 --> 00:38:58,300
if I tell you to marry somebody, would you do it?

913
00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:00,080
And she had to wrestle with it.

914
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:01,740
But God, I'm doing this for you.

915
00:39:01,740 --> 00:39:04,540
But God, I'm doing this for you.

916
00:39:04,540 --> 00:39:06,340
He said, okay.

917
00:39:06,340 --> 00:39:08,540
I'm not asking what you're doing for me,

918
00:39:08,540 --> 00:39:09,780
I'm asking will you obey?

919
00:39:09,780 --> 00:39:13,700
Will you obey?

920
00:39:15,820 --> 00:39:18,860
God requires us to sacrifice our greatest ideas

921
00:39:18,860 --> 00:39:20,500
and our best intentions.

922
00:39:20,500 --> 00:39:23,780
I believe that even this is where the enemy gets in,

923
00:39:23,780 --> 00:39:27,020
some of us will spend our life arguing

924
00:39:27,020 --> 00:39:29,940
about scripture and theology and all of the things

925
00:39:29,940 --> 00:39:31,900
of what you should believe and not believe

926
00:39:31,900 --> 00:39:34,020
and how it should go down and what this says

927
00:39:34,020 --> 00:39:36,380
and how church should operate and all of these things,

928
00:39:36,380 --> 00:39:38,500
and we will miss him altogether.

929
00:39:38,500 --> 00:39:40,340
We will miss Jesus altogether.

930
00:39:40,340 --> 00:39:41,500
Hey, it was a good thing.

931
00:39:41,500 --> 00:39:43,540
It was a great subject, great thing to talk about.

932
00:39:43,540 --> 00:39:44,380
It's about the Lord.

933
00:39:44,380 --> 00:39:46,140
And oh, I'm just doing this because I need to make sure

934
00:39:46,140 --> 00:39:47,780
that they know where they're going

935
00:39:47,780 --> 00:39:49,740
and how they're supposed to read this and discern this

936
00:39:49,740 --> 00:39:50,580
and all those things.

937
00:39:50,580 --> 00:39:53,140
And we can really make an idol out of the faith.

938
00:39:53,140 --> 00:39:55,700
This is the biggest deceit of the enemy

939
00:39:55,700 --> 00:39:57,500
is to take the things of the Lord

940
00:39:57,500 --> 00:40:00,140
and allow them to be right in front of us here

941
00:40:00,140 --> 00:40:02,140
to cloud our vision from the gift giver.

942
00:40:02,140 --> 00:40:08,780
How do we get to that place in scripture where he says,

943
00:40:08,780 --> 00:40:10,700
well, we worshiped in your name.

944
00:40:10,700 --> 00:40:13,060
We cast out demons in your name.

945
00:40:13,060 --> 00:40:15,740
I wore the shirt, I went to church, I tithed in your name.

946
00:40:15,740 --> 00:40:17,740
I ran that ministry in your name.

947
00:40:17,740 --> 00:40:19,180
I did all of these things in your name.

948
00:40:19,180 --> 00:40:20,060
I did that Bible study.

949
00:40:20,060 --> 00:40:24,580
I read all 365 days of that Bible study in your name.

950
00:40:24,580 --> 00:40:26,140
I don't know who you are.

951
00:40:26,140 --> 00:40:33,020
And it was because you took the gifts I gave you

952
00:40:33,020 --> 00:40:34,740
and you made them your gods.

953
00:40:34,740 --> 00:40:42,060
When we hold too tightly to the gift,

954
00:40:42,060 --> 00:40:44,020
we lose sight of the giver.

955
00:40:44,020 --> 00:40:48,140
And guys, this is a daily rendering.

956
00:40:48,140 --> 00:40:50,620
This is a daily surrender.

957
00:40:50,620 --> 00:40:52,620
For some it's moment by moment,

958
00:40:52,620 --> 00:40:54,220
but it's daily to wake up and say,

959
00:40:54,220 --> 00:40:58,940
God, I really need today to just be me and you.

960
00:40:58,940 --> 00:41:02,620
And I get to be a part of all these wonderful gifts

961
00:41:02,620 --> 00:41:03,700
that are around me.

962
00:41:03,700 --> 00:41:08,340
But man, God, I need it to be just me and you

963
00:41:08,340 --> 00:41:09,660
because here's the thing.

964
00:41:09,660 --> 00:41:11,460
When you get to the end of your day,

965
00:41:11,460 --> 00:41:12,940
you've picked up some things.

966
00:41:12,940 --> 00:41:15,340
You have started to fashion some things.

967
00:41:15,340 --> 00:41:16,300
And guess what?

968
00:41:16,300 --> 00:41:17,420
The next day you need to go up and say,

969
00:41:17,420 --> 00:41:19,020
I lay this all down again.

970
00:41:19,020 --> 00:41:20,780
I lay this all down again

971
00:41:20,780 --> 00:41:22,700
because we are creatures of habit.

972
00:41:22,700 --> 00:41:25,940
And we pick things up.

973
00:41:25,940 --> 00:41:27,220
We pick things up.

974
00:41:27,220 --> 00:41:30,300
We make priorities of things

975
00:41:30,300 --> 00:41:32,940
that should not be the priority.

976
00:41:32,940 --> 00:41:40,300
Isaac says, where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

977
00:41:40,300 --> 00:41:42,380
What an interesting question.

978
00:41:42,380 --> 00:41:46,820
When I read that, you know what that says to me?

979
00:41:46,820 --> 00:41:51,820
In life, some of these gifts, primarily the people,

980
00:41:51,820 --> 00:41:57,140
they can cause you confusion.

981
00:41:57,140 --> 00:42:01,460
Isaac was the burnt offering.

982
00:42:01,460 --> 00:42:04,060
And he's asking Abraham, where's the burnt offering?

983
00:42:04,060 --> 00:42:06,780
You can have your children look at you

984
00:42:06,780 --> 00:42:08,340
and question what you're doing.

985
00:42:09,660 --> 00:42:12,940
Your spouse, your family, people look at you,

986
00:42:12,940 --> 00:42:14,620
ministry workers, what are you talking about?

987
00:42:14,620 --> 00:42:15,980
Did God really say?

988
00:42:15,980 --> 00:42:20,020
You can say, I know the voice of the Lord.

989
00:42:20,020 --> 00:42:24,540
Wonderful response from Abraham.

990
00:42:24,540 --> 00:42:27,820
God is gonna provide the offering.

991
00:42:27,820 --> 00:42:31,340
God is gonna provide the offering.

992
00:42:31,340 --> 00:42:32,940
And so we live our life like this.

993
00:42:32,940 --> 00:42:35,100
I have been crucified with Christ.

994
00:42:35,100 --> 00:42:37,660
Every single day, I am dead.

995
00:42:37,660 --> 00:42:39,220
I am dead to the world.

996
00:42:39,220 --> 00:42:40,220
I am alive in Christ.

997
00:42:40,220 --> 00:42:42,060
I've been crucified with Christ.

998
00:42:42,060 --> 00:42:44,980
It's no longer me that lives, but Christ who lives in me.

999
00:42:44,980 --> 00:42:47,100
And the life that I now live in the flesh,

1000
00:42:47,100 --> 00:42:47,940
how do I live it?

1001
00:42:47,940 --> 00:42:50,620
I live by, everybody say faith.

1002
00:42:50,620 --> 00:42:53,580
I live by, say it again.

1003
00:42:53,580 --> 00:42:54,660
I live by faith.

1004
00:42:54,660 --> 00:42:56,060
I live by faith.

1005
00:42:56,060 --> 00:42:58,100
Are you living your life by faith?

1006
00:42:58,100 --> 00:43:00,940
Because boy, we sure grab some security in these, can we?

1007
00:43:00,940 --> 00:43:03,540
But God gave these to me.

1008
00:43:03,540 --> 00:43:04,940
He absolutely did.

1009
00:43:04,940 --> 00:43:08,780
But faith says, I surrender.

1010
00:43:09,780 --> 00:43:10,780
Hadassah, come up here.

1011
00:43:10,780 --> 00:43:23,780
This was a terribly hard message for me to construct

1012
00:43:23,780 --> 00:43:30,940
because I don't know that I could do what Abraham did

1013
00:43:30,940 --> 00:43:34,460
with her.

1014
00:43:36,460 --> 00:43:38,900
And you would look at me and you would say,

1015
00:43:38,900 --> 00:43:40,980
well, Kevin, God would never ask you.

1016
00:43:40,980 --> 00:43:46,700
God would never ask you to do what Abraham did to Isaac.

1017
00:43:46,700 --> 00:43:48,500
But guys, I disagree.

1018
00:43:48,500 --> 00:43:51,100
I disagree.

1019
00:43:51,100 --> 00:43:54,260
Because as much as I love, geez,

1020
00:43:54,260 --> 00:43:58,140
as much as I love my daughter, I have to love him more.

1021
00:43:58,140 --> 00:44:02,140
I have to love him above her.

1022
00:44:02,140 --> 00:44:04,260
I have to place him above her.

1023
00:44:04,260 --> 00:44:06,660
I have to place him above her.

1024
00:44:06,660 --> 00:44:08,740
No matter how much I want her to thrive and succeed

1025
00:44:08,740 --> 00:44:11,180
in my heart, I would lay down my life.

1026
00:44:11,180 --> 00:44:13,100
I was thinking this past week, there's my family

1027
00:44:13,100 --> 00:44:15,100
and about two other people, three other people

1028
00:44:15,100 --> 00:44:17,420
that I actually believe I would let them pull the cord

1029
00:44:17,420 --> 00:44:19,580
and I would go out of here and I'd go to heaven for.

1030
00:44:19,580 --> 00:44:23,580
But guess what?

1031
00:44:23,580 --> 00:44:27,980
He's not asking me to die for Hadassah

1032
00:44:27,980 --> 00:44:30,220
or for other people.

1033
00:44:30,220 --> 00:44:33,060
He's asking me to die for him.

1034
00:44:33,060 --> 00:44:36,020
To be crucified with Christ daily.

1035
00:44:36,020 --> 00:44:39,540
To lay my life down for him first and foremost.

1036
00:44:39,540 --> 00:44:43,980
And when I do that, I get to look at Hadassah

1037
00:44:43,980 --> 00:44:45,940
and say, God, thank you for another day

1038
00:44:45,940 --> 00:44:48,980
with this beautiful gift, this treasure.

1039
00:44:48,980 --> 00:44:53,460
And as I lay down her and I choose him,

1040
00:44:53,460 --> 00:44:58,100
then God will multiply what I'm willing to surrender.

1041
00:44:58,100 --> 00:45:01,020
He will bless what I'm willing to give up.

1042
00:45:02,220 --> 00:45:05,580
And so if I want her to have a fighting chance

1043
00:45:05,580 --> 00:45:07,740
out in this dark world to be blessed,

1044
00:45:07,740 --> 00:45:09,740
I gotta give her to the Lord.

1045
00:45:09,740 --> 00:45:11,300
I've gotta give her up and I've gotta make sure

1046
00:45:11,300 --> 00:45:13,060
my heart pops, you guys, there's a day

1047
00:45:13,060 --> 00:45:15,020
where he's gonna split the sky.

1048
00:45:15,020 --> 00:45:16,600
And guess what, it's not gonna be you

1049
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:17,980
and your spouse standing there.

1050
00:45:17,980 --> 00:45:20,300
It's not gonna be you and your kids standing there.

1051
00:45:20,300 --> 00:45:22,300
It's gonna be you and God Almighty.

1052
00:45:22,300 --> 00:45:28,320
And he'll say to you, oh, it's okay,

1053
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:30,620
I knew you really wanted to have more time with them

1054
00:45:30,620 --> 00:45:32,940
so it was okay that you didn't give me the time of day.

1055
00:45:32,940 --> 00:45:34,380
It's not what he's gonna say.

1056
00:45:34,380 --> 00:45:38,620
Honestly, I don't even know that he's gonna really consider

1057
00:45:38,620 --> 00:45:39,660
anything we didn't give him.

1058
00:45:39,660 --> 00:45:41,660
He's gonna look at what we did give him.

1059
00:45:41,660 --> 00:45:49,460
And man, God, my all in all, my everything,

1060
00:45:49,460 --> 00:45:52,740
we sang the song, is the lyric,

1061
00:45:52,740 --> 00:45:56,100
Jesus is the giver of life, is that the lyric?

1062
00:45:56,100 --> 00:45:58,820
Nobody's looking at me over here, is that the lyric?

1063
00:45:58,820 --> 00:46:00,500
When they're looking at the floor.

1064
00:46:01,220 --> 00:46:03,340
He's the giver of life.

1065
00:46:03,340 --> 00:46:07,020
I don't know anything more precious than life.

1066
00:46:07,020 --> 00:46:17,580
And so here's the deal.

1067
00:46:17,580 --> 00:46:21,220
We deserve the penalty of death.

1068
00:46:21,220 --> 00:46:23,940
And this was a precursor for the grand picture

1069
00:46:23,940 --> 00:46:26,660
of why we can even sit here and talk about this today.

1070
00:46:26,660 --> 00:46:28,780
While the gift giver would even have the ability

1071
00:46:28,780 --> 00:46:30,660
to give us gifts that we would receive

1072
00:46:30,660 --> 00:46:35,620
and that is because Jesus is the provided sacrifice.

1073
00:46:35,620 --> 00:46:40,540
Jesus Christ is the perfect unblemished lamb.

1074
00:46:40,540 --> 00:46:43,320
He is the one that we're gonna stand face to face

1075
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:44,620
with one on one.

1076
00:46:44,620 --> 00:46:48,180
And I wanna be one that is able to say,

1077
00:46:48,180 --> 00:46:49,940
God, I surrendered it all.

1078
00:46:49,940 --> 00:46:54,940
You gave me so many great gifts but I surrendered it all.

1079
00:46:54,940 --> 00:46:56,740
You were my one and only.

1080
00:46:56,740 --> 00:46:59,620
You were and are my one and only, God.

1081
00:46:59,620 --> 00:47:01,460
Nothing else trumps you.

1082
00:47:01,460 --> 00:47:05,260
Nothing else is more supreme in my life than you.

1083
00:47:05,260 --> 00:47:08,740
And out of the overflow of my relationship with you, God,

1084
00:47:08,740 --> 00:47:13,000
all of these Isaacs, these gifts are abundantly blessed.

1085
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,740
Guys, Isaac didn't, his life wasn't taken from him.

1086
00:47:15,740 --> 00:47:19,260
And he was blessed big time.

1087
00:47:19,260 --> 00:47:23,980
God kept his promise and he'll keep his promise for you

1088
00:47:25,260 --> 00:47:27,460
if you'll surrender your all.

1089
00:47:27,460 --> 00:47:29,700
Around you are some boxes.

1090
00:47:29,700 --> 00:47:32,100
And I wonder today, if today might be the day

1091
00:47:32,100 --> 00:47:34,380
where some of you might wanna take a box

1092
00:47:34,380 --> 00:47:36,660
and take a pen next to you and write on that box

1093
00:47:36,660 --> 00:47:39,660
something that maybe is an Isaac in your life.

1094
00:47:39,660 --> 00:47:43,800
This isn't you coming to the altar space and saying,

1095
00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:47,100
I need to nail this to the cross necessarily.

1096
00:47:47,100 --> 00:47:50,460
This is saying, God, I need a reminder

1097
00:47:50,460 --> 00:47:52,920
that no matter how much I love this person

1098
00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:56,280
or love this ministry or I'm secure in my resources,

1099
00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:58,380
none of that is more important than you.

1100
00:47:58,380 --> 00:48:01,160
And so I lay this down in surrender

1101
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:04,220
and in acknowledgement that you, God,

1102
00:48:04,220 --> 00:48:06,340
my personal savior, you, God,

1103
00:48:06,340 --> 00:48:08,520
are more important than any of it.

1104
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:12,820
And that means, God, if you choose to take it away from me,

1105
00:48:12,820 --> 00:48:18,000
I'm gonna say yes, sir, because I trust, Lord.

1106
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:20,880
If you take it away from me, you got something

1107
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:22,880
for my good on the other side of it.

1108
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:27,900
My greatest fear, God, is not being with you.

1109
00:48:27,900 --> 00:48:31,840
Let's surrender our Isaac's today.

1110
00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:33,560
Would you stand with me?

1111
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:34,680
You don't have to have a box.

1112
00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:39,060
This is just to put some semblance to it

1113
00:48:39,060 --> 00:48:40,300
because of our analogy here.

1114
00:48:40,300 --> 00:48:42,220
Because listen, there's something about coming here

1115
00:48:42,220 --> 00:48:44,700
and facing this giant box and saying,

1116
00:48:44,700 --> 00:48:47,440
wow, that is so small compared to that.

1117
00:48:49,980 --> 00:48:52,180
So if you've got a box and you wanna render it,

1118
00:48:52,180 --> 00:48:54,480
you come forward, spend some time in the altar space,

1119
00:48:54,480 --> 00:48:57,500
this time is not for you to be with your spouse

1120
00:48:57,500 --> 00:48:59,000
or a prayer partner.

1121
00:48:59,000 --> 00:48:59,840
Guess what?

1122
00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:01,400
We're gonna spend some time one on one

1123
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:03,240
with the star breather.

1124
00:49:03,240 --> 00:49:04,080
Let's worship.

1125
00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:06,660
(gentle music)

1126
00:49:06,660 --> 00:49:09,240
(gentle music)

1127
00:49:09,240 --> 00:49:11,820
(gentle music)

1128
00:49:11,820 --> 00:49:13,880
you