Welcome to City Reach Cumberland's weekly podcast. We hope this message blesses you. For more information about us, you can check us out on the web at cityreachcomberland.com. So I almost feel like, you know, the move of God that's happened already.
We don't even need to go into the service. I mean, God has already provided a full service for us. You know, Katie's song at Song Air, I've never going back. And I had already talked about it this morning, but I got reminded of myself.
And, you know, Pastor Fred said, this is kind of my graduation here of being up here today. And I looked back over the past five years. There used to be wooden piers here in the sanctuary. And I was a drug addict that sat in the back row, the very back pew.
And over the past almost five years, God has slowly brought me through the sanctuary, you know, and through the homes. And as a second phase, now a director, now he's putting me up here. And it's just amazing to think of that. But what I want to say with that, is that I told myself this morning, I'm never going back to that back row.
I'm always going to be up. Absolutely. So being my first time up here, I do want to let you know. I do pray in tongues, speaking tongues as you want.
I want to put it, but I want to let you know while I'm up here. If I start doing it, it's not praying in tongues. I'm not being blessed in the spirit. I'm having a stroke from the anxiety.
And I need you to call 911, okay? Yes, yes. Absolutely, absolutely. So before we go into God's word here, let's go ahead and pray for this message today.
Father God, we thank you for today. We thank you for this opportunity. And God, you are the father of all of us. And really this day is to you, God.
We bless you and we thank you that you've given us life today as our natural born fathers have. God, we ask that you bring the word today, allow us to be all of you that speak and none of me. God, I ask that the men and women that sit here in an online that they receive what they need to give them the ears to hear it and hard to receive it in the way that you need to speak to them. God, I ask that you take this time and just consume us all.
You're gonna be right. All right. So what we're gonna read from today, most people that are spending time in the world know this story have been over it. And I'm hoping to shine some type of new light on it today.
It is the story of Abraham and Isaac. It comes out of Genesis 22, and it's gonna be verses 1 through 14. There's two different ways that I've learned to study the Bible. And one is in a contextual way, which is the black and white of what's on the page, and it is for what it is.
And then the other way is the spiritual way. How can you place yourself in this? What can your heart take from it? How can it teach you?
And that's really the way that I want to read this today. And I'll tell you what, faith like Abraham, because that's what it takes for us to get through our walk with God, is faith. So Genesis 22, 1, now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. So I want you to remember that part of here I am and we'll discuss that towards the end.
But I want you to know he says it at that point in time. There's times that God will test us. He will never tempt us though. There's a difference between the two.
So know that when God is putting something in front of you, it's not a temptation. It is a test to see your faith and how willing you are to walk with him and how far you are willing to go for him. And that's what we're going to see of Abraham today. Verse 2, then he said, take now 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 of which I shall tell you.
We see Abraham here. He's been asked to do something by God, and it's something that most of us would never imagine even doing. But Abraham does something here that I think all of us need to learn in our Christian walk. And he doesn't get on his knees and say, why God?
Why do I have to do this? Or God, I need you to show me the exact place in the land of Moriah that I need you to take me to. I need you to show me the end result. No, let's look at what Abraham does.
So Abraham rose early in the morning. Rose early in the morning. So I depict this as Abraham got this message late at night. He's probably in a nice comfortable time, late next to his wife, in the luxury of his home.
But he doesn't hesitate. He doesn't do the OY me or pity party or anything like that. He rises early to take on the task that God has given him. And he took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son.
It's important to know that sometimes the Father will place people in your life to your journey with you. He'll put some people beside you to carry the load or to keep you comfortable to speak to you. So the Father will give us people in our lives that need to be there for us. He does with his son Isaac.
And he split the wood for the burnt offering and rose and went to the place of which God had told him. So he knows the general area that he's traveling to. What does he do? He rises early.
He prepares for it. And he takes on the task that God has given to him without questioning. The third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place of far off. When you get told by God to do something and you start traveling in that way, you get to the area of where he's giving you the generalization to go to, what do you do?
You look to God for your final destination. You lift your eyes to him and he will show you the spot of what you're supposed to do or go to or that. Also, it took him three days. He learned it took about 48 to 50 miles from where Abraham was to Moriah where he needs to go to.
He took two men with him, his son Isaac, to take this journey. I imagine that this was not an easy journey. It took a long time to walk this. They didn't have the nice cars that we have today.
They had a donkey with them. We all know that they can be stubborn sometimes along the way. And I can't imagine what Abraham was thinking this whole time. And I feel that I've learned in my own life and I feel that a lot of us experience this.
When we start traveling to where God wants us to go, we start thinking of all the negative stuff. God, I'm going to have to kill myself. I'm going. I'm turning around.
We start allowing the thoughts to consume us. But Abraham doesn't allow that to deter him. He keeps moving forward to the place where God has called him. He looks to see the final destination.
So Abraham, and Abraham said to the young men, stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship. And we will come back to you. Sometimes when the father has placed people in your life to walk out of time period with you, there's going to become a time where you're going to need to leave them.
That they're no longer going to be able to walk with you. But know this, exactly like Isaac, the father will continue that journey with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you is what he tells us. So Abraham took the wood of the barn offering and laid it on Isaac's son.
Along with the journey that you're going to take, there's going to be times in life that the father is going to allow you to carry your own load. There's going to be times that the burdens are on you. It's a depiction of picking up your cross and covering it as he just would want to Isaac. And he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together.
But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, my father, and he said, this is Abraham saying this, here I am. This is the second time he said this in a different situation. My son, then he said, look, this is Isaac speaking, look, the fire, the wood, but where is the lamb for the barn offering? This really shows you that this father has stood up and taught his son of how to make sacrifices, of how to carry a version.
Isaac is a young man and he knows what is needed for a sacrifice. So I ask you, fathers, that sit here today, are you depicting the right things for your kids? Are you allowing them to see what it takes to make a sacrifice to God as Abraham has done for Isaac and trained him correctly to make a sacrifice? Now, our sacrifices are not the same.
We don't slaughter animals and burn them. But our sacrifices are at this altar. Our sacrifices are at home. Our sacrifices are with the words that we speak to our children.
Do they see us daily in prayer? Do they see us daily in our word? Are we depicting the right sacrifice for the children that we are leading? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb for the barn offering.
Abraham is standing in faith. He said just a minute ago that we will return. His faith that my son is not going to be slaughtered. But also Abraham knows that if I do have to slaughter my son, if I do have to burn my son, there's one thing that I know.
My God will raise him from the dead and he will return with me. Just, this is the, this is where he gets into contextual. The same thing that God the Father did with his son, Jesus, of laid that wood on his back and allowed him to carry his own cross to his own slaughtering, his, his own... What's the word?
Chris Fictions. There we go. Thank you, Craig. To his own sacrifice.
That is the exact depiction that we're seeing here today. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. And he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
Abraham is a little over a hundred years old at this point in time. He's probably wore out tired from his 50 mile journey, three days. His mind is troublesome. Isaac is in his mid teens.
He could have easily overpowered his father and said, no way, no how are you bounding me up and putting me on that to do what I know you're about to do. He could have easily gotten away from it. Just like Jesus himself could have called down legions of angels to not allow him to be crucified, but he willingly took those nails. And he has his own eyes.
Just as Isaac willingly allows his father to bind him and place him on the wood for this. So he lays his son on it. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Where's time period?
In his mind he's about to slaughter his son. But an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham... Because Abraham replied with, here I am. That's the third time he said this.
In three different circumstances. So I ask you guys, are you speaking the same? No matter if you're at home in your bed, laying next to your wife, whether you're in a troublesome spot of traveling, or whether you're about to do the worst thing imaginable, is your heart the same and saying, here I am. Do you speak the words the same?
That you speak to the person to the left or the right of you? That's the same as you speak to your wife as you speak to your children. Your heart with God should always be the same. Love.
And he said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. God will provide. And he shows that to us.
Verse 13, then Abraham lifted his eyes. Where did he look to God? To God. And looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
He didn't look behind him. He didn't look to his past. He didn't say, God, look at what I came through. He looked to God and God provided.
And he will do the same for you. When you look to him, he will provide. Just as the two that you've seen up here today, they looked to God and he provided a new life for them. He provided a sacrifice for them.
So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, in the mouth of the Lord, it shall be provided. I tell you again that the Lord will provide.
When you look to him, he will provide. When your heart is the same, he will provide. When you speak the same to him as you do to your neighbor, he will provide. If the worst thing will go ahead and come back up please.
I don't want you to just take what I'm telling you on this. I want to look at what the Apostle Paul says. In Hebrews 11, 17, 19, he says 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 reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in this sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead, just as you will do. So I ask that if there's anybody in here that has never made that sacrifice or needs to remake a sacrifice in life to God, now is your time.
Don't look back as Abraham looked up and didn't look back. Do the same. Look up to God and provide him with a sacrifice of your heart today. Fathers, I'm calling you guys today to have that heart.
Show your children what a sacrifice looks like. Sacrifice yourself for your children to live. Please, others are open. Anyone who may not know God, anyone who needs to rededicate their life to God, we are here to pray with you and for you.
We want you guys to know that we love you. We will be your sacrifice anytime we can to help you in any way that we can. On a daily basis, to you guys in the homes. Remember, never go to the back row again.
Move forward. Move forward. We love you guys, and thank you.