"I'm Not Losing Anything”

Genesis 22

If you will just allow me to preach this message the way that I feel it. I need to start by saying that in spite of the economy, in spite of the possibility of war, in spite of what ever may be going on in your life right at this moment, God is still God, and he has it all in control! I want to strengthen your faith on today by saying just as the prophet Samuel said in 1 Samuel 3:18…. It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.

I know that we say it, but do we really believe that everything that comes to us as the children of God is orchestrated by the father for our good. I need to challenge us today. I know we are saved and we love the Lord that is not the issue. But I want to know are we in the faith. I’m not talking about any doctrinal or theological issues. I want you to evaluate the situation that you’re in right now that makes you feel as if you want it give up, that situation that causes you to wonder how and how long. Do you have the faith that we shout about in that situation. Are you really praying are have you almost given up.

But today God is going to help us in our faith, by using the story of Abraham. In our story we see Abraham receiving instructions from God. Think about what I’m saying, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Genesis 22:1-2 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham (some translations say tested), and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, [here] I [am]. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

God didn’t ask for Abraham to have and ox or a goat or a lamb. Abraham had plenty of animals.

We are in a time now were God is going to require more from you than just your coming to church, more than just your giving and offering, more than your ushering are any of the services that we normally do.

God wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. You know Isaac, whose name meant laughter, named that do to his mother Sara laughing at the promise of God to give her a son in her old age. You remember Isaac, the promise child that caused God to change Abraham’s name from Abram (Exalted father) to Abraham (Father of a multitude).

After all that it took to get the promise now God wants Abraham to sacrifice him.

I know that some of us like to be real deep and wonderful. But is there anyone in the building that will be honest with me and say that sometimes the demands of God try your faith. But the real problem is not the demand of God but our lack of willingness to Obey.

When God ask Abraham to offer up Isaac, Isaac was not the issue. God knew that the key to every promise He made to Abraham, was on the life of Isaac. What God wanted to do was use that situation to take Abraham to another place in his faith.

What we are going through right now as a church as a people as individuals has nothing to do with what is on the surface. Too many times we miss God looking at the situation.

1 Corinthians 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

We have to pray that God gives us his prospective on what we are in. Stop comparing your situation to that of people that are outside of the will of God. I don’t care what the other people on your job are saying or the people in your neighborhood, I’m not going to stand in the wisdom of man, but I can rest in the power of God.

Tell the person beside you, after I past this test I’ll still have what is mine.

Now allow me just for a few minutes to teach us how to keep what yours in the mist of testing.

In verse two God told Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

1. To keep what is yours in the mist of your testing, be willing to give it all up for Christ.

Abraham’s faith in God was so strong that he trusted what ever God said. The song writer picked in up and said “trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey”.