FROM HERE TO THERE: Bring It To The Altar

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

We are so glad you joined us, and we hope you are encouraged by today's message.

Who's excited to be in the house of God today?

That that sounds like maybe a B plus, but I'm looking for an A plus.

Who's excited to be in the House of God today?

Yes, yes, yes.

I'm so excited for us to go and close out this series.

Uh, you guys notice that we're we're gonna have some resources for you as you go out.

We have some some water rice and some other great things for for the family, but but I'm excited to kind of close out this series because we've been on this this faith journey, so to speak.

We've been looking at the life of of Abraham over the past couple of weeks, and and that we've been learning a lot about the varying things that we need in order for us to go from here to there.

We we understand that we're all on a journey of some sort, and so we've been looking at Abraham for us to understand what those ingredients are, and over the past couple of weeks, let me just give you a quick recap.

We've identified that it takes faith to go from here to there.

That's something that we need.

We need to have faith because there's gonna be times where I have to step out and we may not always see the way that it's gonna look out.

So we have to have faith.

But in addition to that, we also realize that the other thing that keeps that imbalance is trust.

Because it's possible to have faith, but not trust in God's ways.

And we see through the life of Abraham, it's when he lacked trust that they they took matters into their own hand.

But but first of all, can we can we give some love to Pastor Justin for preaching such an incredible message last week?

Such a good job, man.

Thank you so much.

So we we understand that trust is a is an important ingredient.

And and and I love the kind of the the prevailing thought that kind of emerged from that is simply was this the the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing.

We have to we have to trust, we have to trust God's timing.

And as we round out this idea of those things that's needed in order for us to go from here to there, I want us to look at Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

As you're turning there, and if you don't have your Bibles, that's okay, it'll be on in the Bible in the sky.

Um, but as as you're as you're turning there, I I want to kind of give you this this quick recap.

What's what's happening up to this point is that we know that for the past 25 plus years, Abraham has been holding on to this promise, this idea that that God is going to send you to have some land, and you're gonna have this generation, this legacy, these these these children that are gonna carry on your name.

So, so Abraham and his in his best effort, they made a mistake, which we learned last week.

They took matters into their own hands and and and they had a son, but it it wasn't the son through Sarah, it wasn't the promised son, so it created this tension in the household, and so now you have all this friction and and all this conflict.

All these things are kind of happening right now.

God says, man, like I'll cover that with my grace, but that still wasn't my plan.

So I still need for you to have this child through Sarah.

So Abram finally has the child with Sarah, and they they name him Isaac.

He's the child of promise, he's the one that God said that it's through him that your name will be blessed.

It's through him we're gonna do some incredible things.

So after 25 long years of of waiting and struggling and sacrifice, they finally get, they finally get the thing that they've been waiting for all this time.

It's with this understanding when we look at Genesis chapter 22, we can probably feel the tension that's happening here.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Here's what it says, starting at verse 1.

It says this after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am, and he said, Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I shall tell you.

So Abraham rose early in the morning, he saddled his donkey, and he took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac, and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and he arose and he went to the place which God had told him.

And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

Then Abraham said to the young men, Stay here with the donkey, and I and a boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he he took his hand, the fire into his hand and the knife.

So they went both of them together.

Isaac said to his father, Abraham, My father, and he said, Here I am, my son.

He said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb for the burnt offering?

Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.

So they went both of them together.

When they came to the place which God had told them, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! He said, Here I am.

He said, Do not lay your hand on a boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns.

And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide.

As it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.

What a what a complicated text.

What a what an emotional journey that Abraham had been on to finally be the recipient of the promises of God, only for God to say, I need you to bring it to the altar.

I think there are moments that we can identify with the versions of this where maybe, just maybe, we we we feel like we finally uh got the thing we've been looking for, and now we feel like there's this there's this pressing for us to let it go.

Over the next few moments, I want to unpack what I believe is the third ingredient that's needed in order for us to go from here to there, and that is the ingredient of sacrifice.

If you if you are writing this down, I want you to write this title down.

Bring it to the altar.

Let's pray.

God, I thank you so much for your word.

God, I thank you for this incredible community, God, and I thank you for what you're doing in this amazing church that I'm privileged to be a part of.

Lord, I pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes that we can see you.

God, I pray for open ears that we can hear you.

And God, I pray for open hearts that we can receive the truth of what it is that you want to speak to us today.

Father, we pray and declare all of this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And amen.

You know, when we when we examine the nuances of this this text, it it will naturally invoke some emotions.

Because all of us are familiar with the idea of sacrifice.

It's a it's a phrase that we we conceptually understand, but it has different expressions.

So for the sake of for the sake of establishing some common ground, I want to give you like a foundational definition of what I mean when we talk about sacrifice.

It's this.

Simply put, a sacrifice is to give up something of value for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.

It's it's to give up something of value.

It it ultimately means this.

When I say yes to something, I am also saying no to something.

It's understanding that the things that we're saying no to are often the places where we find sacrifice.

For all of my my Marvel Avenger fans, you understand this when I say it's like the soul stone.

You you gotta you gotta you gotta sacrifice something in order to get something back.

We we understand that.

And here's the thing most of us understand that we we do it every day in some form or another.

If you're if you're an athlete in here, you you make sacrifices.

You you you sacrifice by by going to bed early, by by stewarding your body in certain ways, the food that you decide to eat, like those are those are subtle sacrifices that you've decided to make.

If you're if you're a student in here, particularly college students, you're choosing to go to school, you're you're making a choice, and so you have to make some sacrifices in order to do it uh effectively.

I'm not I'm not gonna go out this night, it's a sacrifice, but but it's because I I have a greater vision for my life.

Parents and and families, we understand what sacrifice is all too well.

Like the whole idea of marriage, you come to the altar, the two shall become one.

You know what that is?

The reason why all that is laid out the way that it is?

The idea is that I'm sacrificing my selfishness so that the two of us can become one.

Because it's impossible for me to be effective as a husband, but still be self-centered.

That the two shall become one, and sometimes that requires sacrifice.

I can't act the same way that I did when I was single when I'm married because it creates unnecessary conflict.

Families understand this all too well.

We understand the dynamics of sacrifice.

We realize that we can't simultaneously save and spend recklessly.

It's just I I I I've gotta I gotta sacrifice in some way or or another.

So for me, me and my family, like we we we understand this all too well.

Much like many of you, when we when we decided that we were gonna save up for our house, we had to make some serious sacrifices.

Probably the greatest sacrifice that we had to make was like cutting off cable.

Um those who know me know that that's a big deal.

And in retrospect, it's not that big of a deal, but in real time, I felt like I was like losing out.

Like I like I had I had to sacrifice it.

Because here's the thing I knew that we could afford it, but I was I was choosing not to because there was a greater vision.

Like we we cut off not only cable, like we we cut off the internet.

Like that's that's that's a serious grind.

Like we were using my my neighbors' internet, they didn't know.

And if that's illegal, we really didn't.

Um, but but it you know, you you make these sacrifices.

I remember like taking my kids down to like the local coffee shop so they could use the Wi-Fi, but it was a sacrifice for a season.

We we were down to like one car.

And I'm not talking about like a nice car because that kind of makes it a little bit better, but I'm talking about like a like an old car.

Like it was like a 24-year-old Jeep Cherokee.

See, all these new fancy cars, when you get into them, they illuminate, they turn on, they say welcome.

I'm glad you're in the car today.

That's not what my Jeep was.

My Jeep was like, oh, why are you in here?

Like it was upset.

Every time that I got in a car was just mad.

It's just like, man, just let me die.

Like, I mean, that's the kind of car that we had, and we could have got a new one, but we were making that sacrifice because we had this we had this vision.

So all of us are familiar with this idea of sacrificing for the greater good.

But but here's the question what do you what do you do when you have to sacrifice the thing that you sacrifice to get?

I I sacrificed to get the house, and now God is asking me to let it go.

I I sacrificed to go to school and to get my degree, to build my portfolio, to establish a certain level of success.

And now that I finally am beginning to get some momentum, God is shifting my direction and and it doesn't feel comfortable.

What do you do when God shows up into your world and he begins to challenge you and say that I need you to let go of the very thing that you feel like he was giving you?

See, that's the that's the tension that we find ourselves in with this text.

See, Abraham, he was familiar with this idea of sacrifice, he had done it his whole life.

But but I honestly believe that he thought this time was going to be different because he got called out of a very paganistic culture.

And so what many believe is that he was exposed to child sacrifice.

That wasn't anything new, but up to this point, God had never shown himself to be that kind of God.

God had been a God that showed up, God had been a God who was very personal in his life.

But now this moment of child sacrifice begins to surface, and and Abraham had never been exposed to that with this God.

And if I can if I can take liberties with emotions for just a moment, I can imagine that Abraham begins to think like, man, I thought this was gonna be different.

Have you ever been at a place where you were entering into a new season, but you were still dealing with old drama, and you thought to yourself, man, I I thought this was gonna be different.

I I really I thought I thought that this, I really thought that this marriage was gonna be different.

The last one didn't work out, I get it, but I really thought that this one was gonna be different, and yet I still seem to be dealing with the same drama.

I thought it was gonna be different.

I I I thought that this job was gonna be different.

I I really did.

I belong, I really believed that God was leading me here.

I thought that it was gonna be different, but I'm still dealing with the same, with the same drama.

Have you have you ever been at that space where you feel like you're just dealing with the same thing?

This this year is gonna be different.

Man, like this year, I can't wait till we get to the next year because this is gonna be the year where I flipped the calendar and everything that the preacher's been talking about, my best year yet, yay.

Like that's gonna happen this year, and you get into the new year and you're dealing with the same stuff.

I thought I thought it was gonna be different.

See, this is where I believe Abraham finds himself.

But interestingly enough, he he continued to pursue on.

I I want to pause here for a moment because I believe that I'm talking to somebody in here.

There's somebody in here that's saying to themselves, yes, Keith, I I've I've I've given all that I have to give.

I've I've I've done all that I know to do.

And and I don't know if I have it in me to continue to with this idea of sacrifice.

Like I feel like I'm on E right now.

Let me encourage you.

Here's what the Bible says in in Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

In due season, you will you will reap if you faint not.

Listen to me, don't give up.

I I know that there may be some motions and some things inside of you that's saying, I don't have it in me to give, but listen to me, don't you dare give up.

Don't you allow the enemy to convince you to let go when you're so close to the promised land.

Don't, don't you give up.

The Bible tells us in 1 Kings chapter 17, there was a widowed woman, and she was at a point where she was prepared to die.

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

She only had enough food to feed her and her son.

But then the man of God shows up and he says, Hey, can you can you make me something to eat?

She's like, Listen, I don't have anything left to give.

I've I've lost my husband, I've lost my resources.

Bro, I don't have anything to give you.

He says, Listen, if you can just be obedient, if you can just sacrifice, I promise you this whole situation will turn around.

What the Bible says is that she trusted and she went ahead and gave him something to eat.

That's something that seems so minuscule, something that doesn't seem like a big deal.

But watch this.

Not only, not only did she have enough to feed the young man, her son, as well as the prophet, but the Bible says that she never lacked again.

You'd be amazed at what God does when you decide that I will not give up, I'm not going to give in, and I know that my resources are low.

I know that I may not have the energy, but I have made it up in my mind that I am not going to give up.

Listen to me, friend.

Don't you, don't you dare give up.

See, I believe that when we look at the life of Abraham, that he he lived this life of moving forward and God using him significantly.

But when he got to this place of sacrifice, I believe that it all began to work together.

Many of you may be asking me, like, okay, so how do I effectively sacrifice?

Like, what is that, what does that look like?

How do I how do I move through that?

I think there's three things that we can do that will help us to effectively live lives that are filled with with sacrifice.

Here's the first one sacrifice, it requires resolve.

It requires resolve.

Let me let me tell you what I mean.

Resolve simply means this.

You've made your mind up.

I've already made it up in my mind.

I've already I've already determined it.

It's already, it's already resolved.

Sacrifice requires resolve.

See, see, watch this.

See, in Genesis chapter 12, God comes into, he comes into Abraham's life and he calls him out from eradicalities.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

Like he's called out of a region.

From that moment right there, Abraham had made up in his mind, I'm gonna follow God.

He resolved it.

What Abraham didn't have to do is that he didn't have to make a decision daily on whether he was going to follow God.

He resolved that back in Genesis 12.

He simply had to make decisions to support the big decision that he already made.

I I believe if there's anything that that weakens our faith, the one challenge that I often see in the Western church, if I if I can be honest, is that we are we're still making decisions that we should have already made.

Let me let me let me be plain.

Am I going to go to church this week or not?

Yeah, you know what?

I I think I will.

Yeah, why not?

I I I got some rest.

I'll I'll go I'll go this week.

We're every day we're making decisions that should have already been made.

Abraham, he didn't live in that space.

Like he had this resolve of saying, no, I've I've already made my mind up.

I'm following God, and because I'm following God, these are the decisions I'm going to make to undergird the decision that I've already made.

Nothing will kill your momentum more than indifference in your faith.

Because watch this circumstantial faith isn't faith.

It's timeshare.

And unfortunately, what we've often done is that we have created like this spiritual Airbnb where we rent rooms to God depending on what season we're in.

Oh, we're going there.

I'm back.

Um this season is good for me, so yeah, I'll yeah, I'll I'll okay, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna serve, I'm gonna give, yeah, I'm gonna go to church.

Okay, you know this next season, God, I actually need that, I need to have time back.

You don't you don't have room in this particular season.

A good friend of mine, he went to um he went to medical school.

And I remember the sacrifices that he made.

Like he he couldn't work because obviously it's like all-consuming, all the energy, everything that it required of him.

Well, even through all of that stuff, he has such a strong, deep faith.

Well, when he we were at his graduation, I was sitting next to him and he leaned over to me almost with tears in his eyes, and he said to me, He said, Keith, can you pray for me?

I'm I'm concerned about my I'm concerned about my faith.

Now everything I known about this man is like he's a man of profound faith.

I said, like why why?

He said, Because I don't know what my faith is going to look like when I don't need God anymore.

Because he got to a place where after his graduation, he had recruiters coming to him.

He's not looking for jobs anymore.

Like he was at a place where he was being sought after.

So he was making money beyond imagination.

And he was really concerned because his walk with God was so dependent on God, he was so close to God, he had such a fellowship with God that now he was at a place that I'm concerned when I don't need to pray about those things anymore.

What does my faith look like?

I said, listen, man.

I said, listen, you you you can't have circumstantial faith.

The same energy, the same faith, the same commitment that you had then, you gotta you gotta sustain it.

He said, Man, you're absolutely right.

About eight months into his newfound success, I I noticed a shift in his dedication.

He he went from showing up and being involved to occasionally showing up.

And it's inevitable that, you know, you know how when people like are never there, but then when they see you and you know they weren't there and they know they weren't there, it is like that that uncomfortable moment.

So they kind of like just walk like, hey, what's going on, man?

Yeah, yeah, man.

So good to see you.

I'm gonna call you this week.

Just kept it moving.

Like, you know it's like that.

So I wanted to resolve that, man.

You don't gotta feel any guilt with me, man.

Like, I'm just I'm I'm I'm glad that you're here.

But he he began to talk to you.

He's like, hey man, like, I'm so sorry I haven't been around.

Like, man, life has been so busy, it's been crazy, man.

Like, man, like my family and I, man, we've been going on all these great vacations, man.

It's awesome.

I'm like, bro, that's that's amazing.

I wish I could go.

Like, that's that's dope, man.

I'm glad you're I'm glad you're doing all that.

That that was like in that eighth month mark.

Around the 10th month mark, he showed up maybe like once, once every two months.

Because the vacations got more elaborate, the opportunities to travel got more elaborate, and now the God that gave him the resources, those resources are now removing him away from God.

And it created this tension.

So then the final conversation that we had, he said, Hey man, like um, I want you to pray for me because I'm I'm in the process of moving.

I said, bro, that's amazing.

I said, like, where are you moving?

I may so I may know some churches in the area.

He's like, No, no, no, like I'm just moving.

My family's gonna stay here.

I said, unpack that for me.

He said, Oh no, no, like this is gonna be a great opportunity.

I'm gonna be able to make double the money.

My wife has a great job, my kids are really rooted in the school, we love it, so we're just gonna separate for this season, but it's gonna set us up for the future.

I said, bro, did you did you pray about that?

And he provided the cliche Christian response that nullifies any challenge.

He said, Yeah, I prayed about it and I have peace.

Do you?

You you may have peace, but it's not from God.

Because here's what I will tell you God will never give you something that is pulling you away from Him.

God will never give you something that will cause you to sacrifice your family.

I I was so deeply concerned within a year of that move, the family fell apart.

A family of such deep faith.

Here's what I'm saying.

This is a cautionary tale.

When you live a life where you don't have resolve, you're living at a place where you're perpetually trying to make a decision that you should have already decided.

Am I gonna be am I gonna follow God today or am I not?

Am I am I gonna am I going to serve God today or am I not?

Am I gonna give this week or am I not?

No, Abraham had a life where he said, I've already decided that back in Genesis 12.

So wherever God is leading me, I've resolved that I'm going to do it.

I don't need to make a decision about it.

I've made that decision 25 years ago.

I'm simply gonna go where God is leading me, and I'm gonna make decisions to steward what I've already decided.

Have you have you ever like tried to like binge watch a television show?

I may I know that may not be the best most healthy, but watch this.

Have you ever started watching a show?

You get like three or four episodes in, and then you like take a break for like two weeks, and then you come back and you try to watch it again, like you don't remember the characters, you don't know what's going on, you you lost momentum.

Because watch, you may have saved your progress, but you've lost your momentum.

See, grace will save your progress, but when we have this indifference in our faith, we lose momentum.

This is the exact same thing that I found in my health journey.

Man, like I I I want to get in shape, but every day I'm deciding whether or not I'm going to the gym.

Man, do I feel like going to the gym?

No.

Who does?

So, what I'm gonna do is um I'll cut back in some areas and and I'll still get the same results.

But imagine this if I've already decided.

That no, I'm going to live a healthy lifestyle and going to the gym is an expression of that.

Watching what I eat is an expression of that.

I'm not deciding on the day because I've already decided that I'm changing my life.

What I believe God wants from us is for us to resolve once and for all.

I've made it up in my mind that I'm following Jesus.

And because I'm following Jesus, I don't have to think about it anymore.

I will govern my life accordingly.

This is what I believe is so profound about Abraham is that he already had this deep, he had this deep resolve.

There's nothing that'll challenge our faith more than that.

James says it this way: a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.

You're not good at sinning and you're not good at being a Christian because you're trying to do both.

What God is saying, are you willing to resolve this?

Can we move past this week to week, paycheck to paycheck faith and simply say, My life is yours, God.

And I may not always have it perfect, but I'm going to be here.

I'm going to be committed to you every day.

I've already decided it.

This is what this is the life that we see with Abraham.

But I believe there's another thing that we that we see that's necessary for sacrifice.

Sacrifice requires surrender.

You can put a slash there.

Surrender slash letting go.

Sacrifice requires us to letting go.

Watch this.

So so Abraham he's he's he he packs up his stuff.

And he begins on his three-day journey.

And as he's on his three-day journey, the emotions of knowing that I'm going to a place where I have to sacrifice my son.

No one else knows this.

No, no one else is aware of any of this, but each day that passes, it's something that he had to walk with.

It's something he had to sit with.

It's something that he had to deal with and no one else knew.

But interestingly enough, when he gets to the third day, the Bible says that he looks up and he sees the mountain.

He sees the mountain that God said, Okay, that's the spot that I need you to go to.

And he does something interesting.

He he looks back at his servants and he says, I need you guys to stay here while me and the boy go to worship.

Watch this.

See, the mountaintop was often looked at as the meeting place with God.

All types of different religions believe that, and they would even see that expressed before the tabernacle was created that God would come down on a mountain and speak to Moses.

So the whole idea of the mountaintop was to say that I'm drawing closer to God.

Abraham intuitively somehow knew that I'm about to go and have an encounter with God and everybody's not going to be able to come with me.

Is it possible that as God is leading us into another dimension?

That as God is leading us to draw closer to Him.

That we haven't made it yet because we're still trying to drag people that God did not intend us to drag with us.

See, see, sacrifice requires us to let go, it requires us to surrender some things.

You see, when I got radically saved about 20 years ago, I remember I remember this all too well.

I was living in the world, I thought I was gonna be the next, I thought I was gonna be the next rapper, star, so I was living my life, doing my things.

So that makes sense for a lot of y'all because y'all can see my swagger.

Like, yeah, I can see that.

Um anyway, so that was that's what I thought.

That was my vision.

God radically saves me, my life gets changed, and so I thought it was my responsibility to see every single one of my friends saved.

My friends had every range of belief system you can imagine.

Muslims, Jehovah's Witness, everything you can think of.

Like it was just a wide spectrum.

But now I'm sitting in these spaces and I'm having these conversations, and and they got to the point where they were getting exhausting.

But we we had this routine as a crew.

We we had this routine where every Friday night, because my one friend he had a barber shop, we would all come to the barbershop, we would all get there, get our haircuts, man, sit up and talk about music and life.

Like it was a great vibe.

It was a great vibe.

I'm just I'm just inviting y'all into black culture.

It was a vibe.

So we were doing this, like this is what we do.

And so I would go there, hang out with the guys, we're talking, we're chatting, just laugh, laughing and living life.

But on this one fateful Friday, I remember just like it was yesterday, I'm sitting there and my hair is being cut, and my friend turns off the clippers.

And as I'm sitting there and I look up because I've, you know, he's paused a little bit too long.

All eight of my friends are staring at me intently.

I've watched enough TV.

I've established that.

Y'all know I watch TV.

I watched enough TV to realize that I was sitting smack dab in the middle of an intervention.

All of my friends were sitting there, and they just started firing off all these questions about things that I believed, things that I didn't know that I believed, assuming things that I believe.

And I remember like being taken aback because I didn't know how to respond to everything.

And honestly, it was it was good because it triggered me to pursue answers, but but I remember that I looked at it as a challenge.

Okay, I'll be back next week and I'm gonna have these answers.

So it became almost like a battle of sorts.

We're gonna have a battle of the gods, like like Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

Like it was like, okay, let's go.

But after we did this for about three months, every Friday for about three months, it got to a point where it was just exhausting.

I pulled up at the barbershop on this one Friday, and I just had like this long sigh, like, okay, I'm ready to go in.

And God said, like, why are you doing this?

I said, Lord, because I I know that you're real and and and I want all of my friends to get saved, man.

So I'm I'm gonna keep fighting this good fight.

Like I've read the Great Commission, like I know I gotta reach them, man.

Those are my that's my mission field.

He's like, I I never asked you to do that.

I just need you to, I just need you to live a life that they can inquire about.

I don't need you to debate with them.

See, Keith, you're you're so loyal to the past that it's coming at the expense of your future.

I I need you to trust that they are safe in my hands, but I need you to begin to move forward because where I'm taking you, you can't take everybody with you.

I I I realized then that I was trying to drag people that didn't want to go, and and unfortunately that can happen to us so many times.

We spend so much energy feeling like I gotta drag everybody with me, but maybe the place that God is telling you to go to is that maybe you gotta let go of some things.

You gotta let go of some people, you gotta let go of some behaviors that God is leading you to a place that if you want to draw closer to Him, it's gonna require you to have to let go.

But but here's the thing not only did Abraham say, like, I'm I'm not gonna bring these my help, I'm not gonna bring the systems, I'm not gonna bring the support, but that wasn't the only surrender that was there that day.

You know, you know the other surrender that was there?

Isaac.

Like, let's let's let's let's think about this for a moment.

Isaac is probably between the ages of 13 and 15 right now, young strapping boy.

His his dad, on the other hand, is probably about 115 years old-ish.

Give or take a year or two.

They're going up on this mountain, and and Isaac is a very intuitive young man.

And as they're walking, he says, Hey dad, I noticed that you said we're gonna go and offer a burnt sacrifice, right?

Like I heard you.

Um and I noticed that you have a knife.

I noticed that you have fire.

I even noticed that we have wood.

In fact, I'm carrying the wood.

I really believe that we should have let the donkey come and carry it, but that's fine.

I'm carrying the wood.

What I what I don't see is a sacrifice.

Where's the sacrifice, Dad?

And he gave like those powerful Christian responses the Lord will provide.

But you gotta think that Isaac is like, okay.

They get to the top of the mountain.

Isaac's looking around, like, but I don't see I don't see I don't see no lamb.

Hey, that'll I'll help you set this altar up, like everything's set up.

I'm still standing here in this altar.

But can you imagine a moment after it's all set?

And Abraham looks at his son with a rope and a knife and starts walking towards his son.

Can I be transparent?

He's 115 years old.

Here's what I'm doing.

I'm pushing Abraham off the mountain and telling everybody they trip.

Oh my gosh, Abraham, my dad fell.

Yo, that's so crazy.

Like, man, I can't believe he lost his balance, man.

That's wow, right?

Yo, that's crazy.

Um that means I'm in charge now, right?

Like, I would have I would have immediately just shifted.

But but there was something about Isaac that he was like, he just stood there.

The text doesn't insinuate that there was any resistance.

In fact, it's it says that he that he stood there as his father tied his legs together.

He just stood there.

He he he stood there as his as his father tied his arms together.

He just he just stood there.

He he he stood there as his dad lifted him up and put him on the altar, knowing knowing that it it it very well could be the end of his life.

He just he just stood there.

What what was it about Isaac that allowed him to stand there with such poise, to not fight, to not resist something that he knew that could lead to his imminent death?

I believe I believe Isaac had this perspective of as long as I am in the hands of my father, I know I'm gonna be okay.

It doesn't make sense.

I don't know why my dad has led me to the altar.

But I know him.

I know he loves me.

And if he's led me to the altar, then I then I know it's gonna be okay.

I wonder what it would look like if we truly fully surrendered our lives into the hands of our heavenly father, the same way that Isaac put his life in the hands of his earthly father.

If we said, God, I I I I don't know why you've led me to this point of pain, but but I'm fully surrendered.

Lord, I don't I don't know, I don't know why I'm going through this season, but Lord, I'm I'm I'm fully surrendered.

Isaac, he he he shows us this this imagery of what it looks like to be fully surrendered into the hands of the Father, and I believe it's meant to be an example for us.

God, I'm I'm I'm fully surrendered.

I I know that in order for me to go from here to there, I'm going to I'm gonna have to sacrifice, and so I'm putting my entire life into your hands.

Here's here's the third and final thing.

I'm gonna invite the the band to come back out and to join us as we prepare to go back into worship.

I believe that sacrifice requires faith and trust.

It requires faith and trust.

As you can see, we've we've almost come full circle because the first week we talked about faith that gets us from here to there.

Last week we talked about trust gets us from here to there.

And now sacrifice gets us from here to there, but the ingredients of sacrifice is faith and trust.

So if we can look at it this way, for me to get from here to there, I I I gotta step out into faith.

In order for me to get from here to there, I gotta trust in God's ways.

But what do you do when there is a place where I have to sacrifice?

See, faith and trust will lead you to sacrifice.

And it's impossible for us to sacrifice if we don't have faith and trust.

We we we just we just have to have it.

We have to have this ability in saying that no matter what, I have faith in God and I trust in his plan.

See, the book of Hebrews walks us exclusively through the the life of of Abraham and it has these passages that it that it highlights his faith and trust in God.

But I love what it says here at 11 verses 17 through 19.

It says this it was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him.

Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son Isaac, even though God had told him, Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.

Abraham responded that if Isaac died, God will bring him back to life again.

He he made up in his mind, even if if even if my son dies, I have such faith because I know what God spoke to me, I know that he's gonna bring it right back.

He had he had such trust that he said, no matter what, no matter where I may find myself, I have such faith and trusting God that no matter what he's requiring me to sacrifice, I know that he is going to provide for me.

No matter what he's asking me to give up, no matter what that looks like, I decided that I'm gonna have faith and trust him every step of the way.

What a what a powerful idea of seeing how faith, trust, and sacrifice all work together when it comes to going from here to there.

You know that the Bible says that that God interrupts.

He said, Man, like listen, stop, stop.

I now know that you have not withheld anything from me.

I want us to I want us to pause here for a moment because the passages of scripture that I read as it relates to the nature of God, he's all knowing.

He he knows everything.

This is one of the only passages in the entire Bible where it gives the impression that God gains knowledge.

He says, I now know, I now, not you know, I now know that you're not going to withhold anything from me.

What if when we lived a sacrificial life, it allowed us to gain access to an aspect of God that we didn't even know existed, and it's only revealed through sacrifice.

The Bible says that that Abraham had lifted up his eyes, and magically there was a lamb caught in a thicket.

I think that's like a biblical word for like bushes or something.

Like that sounds right.

Thicket.

Just ram caught caught in a thicket.

How did how did he not see it?

How did he not see this whole emotional journey and and not recognize that that this ram was there?

Is it is it possible that the sacrifice it wasn't, it was concealed.

The substitute was concealed until the sacrifice was revealed.

That that there's moments that maybe, just maybe, that as God is challenging us to sacrifice, that we're taking inventory to see, okay, God, how are you gonna provide it back?

But God's like, no, I I need you to fully sacrifice before I will reveal to you the replacement for it.

I think there's three things that we can expect to see.

I I know that um I gave you three points, another three points, that's six points, so next week I'll give you two.

Um, but but but watch this.

Watch this.

Here's the three things that I believe that God will provide for.

God will provide for the obedient.

The provision wasn't found in concept, it was only after they were obedient to what God had told them to do.

God provides where he guides.

The provision wasn't back at the camp, it wasn't at his house, it wasn't at the bottom of the mountain.

In fact, the provision was at the location that the sacrifice was to take place.

Here's what I'm saying: stop looking for the covering outside of the place that God has called you to go to.

Once you get there, then the provision will reveal itself.

But but here's the other one: God provides when it's time.

I like to think of it like every step that Abraham and Isaac took up the mountain, God was sending the sacrifice up on the other side.

And just at the right time, he lifted up his eyes, and this and the provision was there.

I think if we're not careful, we can spend so much energy trying to find the escape strategy.

Lord, I'll I'll I'll I'll give you this if I but I gotta see a little bit back of return.

And God's saying, Lo, I'll I'll provide when it's the right time, but I need you to fully, I need you to fully surrender to me.

You see, on on three different instances, throughout the course of this passage, we see this phrase pop up.

Here I am.

See, the first time God calls out to Abraham and He says, Here I am, Lord.

The second time we see Isaac talking to his dad, hey dad, like where's the sacrifice?

Here I am, son.

And then we see just before the sacrifice takes place, we see just before that Abraham is called again and he responds again, here I am.

So on three different instances, we see this phrase repeated.

Time doesn't allow me the the space to to unpack this, but let me give you this this breadcrumb.

Each time he said, Here I am, he was revealing a different aspect of where he was.

Watch where he was mentally, where he was spiritually, where he was physically.

Here I am.

It's interesting the contrast that we see with Abraham's response in this journey versus what Adam's response was when he sinned.

Because the Bible says about Adam when he sinned, that God was looking for him.

Adam, where are you?

And Adam actually ran and hid to cover himself up.

I was afraid of you, Lord, so I had to I had to cover some things up.

And if and if I could be honest with you, I think that there are moments where we're gonna respond one of two ways to God.

Lord, here I am.

Here's where I'm at mentally, here's where I'm at spiritually, here's where I'm at physically.

God, here here's where I'm at.

This is what I'm struggling with, this is what I'm doing great at, Lord, here I am.

Or we respond like Adam, Lord, I ran and hid from you and I had to cover it up myself.

I believe that God is speaking to some of us right now and He's asking that question: Where are you?

And we have the ability to respond and say, Here I am, Lord, here I am.

This this is where I'm at right now in my life.

My my marriage is good, but my money's not.

My money's good, but my marriage is not like my business is going well, but there's some gaps in my life.

Here's where I'm at, God.

I just want to lay it all out.

Or we cover it.

With with every head bowed and with every eye closed, I simply want to ask you a couple of questions.

If you're if you're in here with us today, and and and you would simply say this, Keith, there's an there's an area of my life that I know I need to put into the hands of God.

It it could it could be as powerful as my family.

God, I need to put my family in your hands.

Lord, I need to put my finances in your hands, God.

Lord, I need to put my career in your hands, God.

I need to put these things in your hand.

If there's an area of your life that you simply know that you want to put it into the hands of God, don't don't leave here caring of yourself.

Don't don't leave here trying to find provision for yourself.

I want to I want to pray for you right where you are.

If that's you, on account of three, I just want you to boldly lift your hands up saying, Yes, I have some areas I need to surrender to God.

One, two, three, you can boldly lift your hands up.

Amen.

Hands up, hands up everywhere, hands up everywhere.

You can go ahead and put those those hands down.

I want to pray for you in just a moment, but I I want to address another group of people that I believe is in here today.

Maybe you're in here today and and you're in that camp where God, like, if I say here I am, the location that I am is away from you.

I've I've I know that I need to surrender my life to you, God.

That's the first sacrifice that I gotta take.

And I know that it requires faith and trust, but but Lord, I'm gonna, I'm literally gonna put my life and my soul into your hands.

If you're in here today and you want to commit or recommit your life to Christ, simply saying, I need to put it into the hands of God.

I want you to boldly put your hands up on the count of three.

One, two, saying yes to God.

Three.

Hands up.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

Hands up, amen.

Come on, church, we could do better than that.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

I'm gonna ask us all to stand on our feet as we prepare to go back into worship.

While while we're while we're doing that, while we're doing that, you know, the I want to I want to hearken back to the whole premise of this of this series, of this, of this message.

Bring it to the altar.

Maybe you're one of the ones that that lifted your hands up earlier and said, like, yeah, I need to invite God in.

Will you will you bring it to the altar?

Maybe you're one of the ones that said, I want to say yes to God.

Will you will you bring it to the altar?

We're not gonna we're not gonna try to pull it out of you.

I just wanna see, are you are you willing to bring it to the altar?

We're gonna have our our staff, some of our care partner leaders that would love to simply touch in degree and pray with you.

I believe powerful things happen at the altar.

I believe at the altar, God alters us and he alters it.

God will meet you where you are, but I think it's a strong expression of faith when we can simply say, you know what, I'm gonna bring it to the altar.

Before we go back into this song, can we all repeat this prayer with me, helping along those who are praying for the first time?

Say this with me, Lord Jesus, I give you my life.

I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead.

And it's because of that belief that I am saved.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps.

In Jesus' name.

I'm gonna pray for the rest of us as we go into worship.

If you feel compelled, come to this altar.

I would love to pray with you, but let me pray for us.

God, I thank you.

Lord, I thank you for what you're doing in this place.

I thank you that this is an atmosphere of faith and trust, and we're willing to sacrifice to you, God.

So, Lord, we bring our we bring our minds to the altar, God, and we put it into your hands.

We bring our faith to the altar, God, and put it into your hands, God.

We bring our fears to the altar, God, and put it into your hands.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for healing to begin to manifest itself, God.

Father, I declare for things to be broken, God.

I declare the name of Jesus above every one of our situations, Father, that the enemy has no right in our family, God, we surrender it all that you've got.

Trust me, that you are going to provide about the power of your words in the name of Jesus.

We have resolved that we're going to live our lives for you.

We're not making this decision, that we've already made it you've got.

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