Have you ever waited or saved up for a long time for something that became so precious and valuable to you? For some of you, it might be motherhood or fatherhood. For some of you, it might be you you saved really well for something that you always wanted and you finally obtained it. I don't know what that is, but you know, I have found that in our culture, we're not good at waiting anymore. Not like we used to be. You know, that there used to be an anticipation, there's a buildup, and then there's a preciousness once you obtained something. And I can remember when I was younger, I was a teenager, and I wanted my I wanted my first guitar, and I couldn't afford it. And so I was telling my parents how bad I wanted this, and I just got a job, and I wanted it now. Like that was the attitude. Like, give it to me right this second. And I had to wait. And I had to save. And you know, those months of saving and waiting were agonizing. But then, like a kid on Christmas, I got what I had been waiting for. Now, as we think about Abraham today, imagine waiting decades for a promise that is now fulfilled. And the joy that accompanies waiting that promise, and then all of a sudden, you have in Abraham's case, you have this child born, and it's the future of your family. That's where Abraham was. And so, like, it's almost like, kid, we're counting on you. Like, like, don't hurt the kid. We got to keep him in bubble wrap, and we got to make sure that he's protected at all times because this is our future, is how maybe him and his wife Sarah thought about it. But if for those who don't know the story, after years of walking with God, waiting two decades for the miracle of his son Isaac, God issues a command as Isaac is growing up that makes no earthly sense. God says, take your son, your only son, whom you love, and sacrifice him. Wait, what? And the interesting thing about this is we develop and understand this story, God doesn't do this as a temptation to sin. It was God's test of Abraham. And so many know this story, and the text tells us the outcome, what we're gonna read today, but in the moment, Abraham, think about it, he didn't know. God's saying, go sacrifice your son. Wait, the the one that you promised me for two decades would happen that finally did, the one that you said that my my seed will multiply as numerous as the stars in the sky. That son, you want me to sacrifice him. But Abraham received this word from the Lord. He rose early, he obeyed, and then he had a three-day journey with this incredible weight at the command of God. And his response reveals something that's very profound. True fear of God and faith are inseparable. They're inseparable, they go together. Abraham would never have moved. Think about this way he would have never moved if he didn't fear God. But yet the test is framed as one of faith. And so today what we're gonna do is we're gonna see how fear and faith work together, how real fear is proven in action, and how fearing God leads to protect, to perfect provision, excuse me, even when the risk feels all lost. Right? Genesis 22, 1 through 18. Let's read. Says, sometime later, God tested Abraham's faith. Abraham, God called. Yes, he replied, here I am. Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you. The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and he took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Stay here with the donkey, Abraham told the servants. The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and when we come, and we will come right back. So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, And I can only imagine this right here. Isaac turned to Abraham and said, Father, yes, my son. Abraham replied, We have the fire in the wood, the boy said. But where's the sheep for the burnt offering? God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son. Abraham answered, and they both walked on together. And when they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham. Yes, Abraham replied, Here I am, don't lay a hand on the boy, the angel said. Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son. Then Abraham looked up and he saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he then took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh Yirah, which means the Lord will provide. To this day, people still use that name as a proverb on this mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. This is what the Lord says, because you have obeyed me and not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you, and will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies, and through though, and through your descendants, excuse me, all nations of the earth will be blessed, all because you have obeyed me. Let's pray. Father God, we just thank you for this day. And God, I just I just pray that you will bless this morning through your word. And God, we will consider what it means to walk in true faith and whether or not we really fear you, God. I praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Parents in the room who, when they heard God say, go sacrifice your child, there's some days where you're like, that sounds like a good idea. You know, like it sounds inviting. But let's be clear, that's that's not the will of the Lord. God was working through Abraham something very specific, and it's that our fear and our faith, they do walk together. They do walk together. And so this is the evidence we we say, oh, that's a man of faith, or that's a woman of faith. We say those things all the time, but I know that I want to see true faith represented when we're talking about people like that. And so in verse one, right when it opens up, it says, God tested Abraham's faith, and something else very cool. Later on, the angel of the Lord declared in verse 12, now I know that you fear God. Did you see that? Now I know that you fear God. And so I want to encourage you, these are not opposites. In fact, they fuel each other, they they work together. Listen to this fear of the Lord is the awe, the reverence, and trembling submission that says, You are God, I am not. Faith is the trust that steps forward anyway, because we can trust in the character of God. So it's saying, God, I am going to step forward regardless of what the circumstances feel like, they seem like. I am going to trust in your character. See, the test is important. I want to say this again, church, because we tend to not like God's tests. The test was important because even though Abraham, we read about him, he had trusted God before, he was still learning what it meant to trust. So, for instance, if I said, you know, Steve, trust me enough that it says, hey, we're gonna go out to lunch this week. I'm picking. Do you trust my pick? Where's it probably gonna be? Manhattan Delhi. We love Manhattan Delhi. Now, if I said, Steve, come up here, I'm going to catch you. Just fall backwards. Trust me. Steve's gonna probably go, I'm out. I'm out. I don't trust it. And so we can say we trust God, but do you fully trust him? Do you fully trust him? When God initiated their relationship with Abraham, God called him to leave his country and family. That's Genesis 12, 1. And we read on from there, Abraham went. So we can say, wow, he even had faith at that time. But he didn't always fear the Lord more than anything else. And that's something we really need to learn about ourselves because early in Abraham's journey, there was a famine that drove him into the land of Egypt. And as he's traveling through this foreign land, he feared for his life and he lied about his wife Sarah. He said that was his sister. Wives, who would appreciate that if their husbands did that? Probably not. Then again, years later, years later, Abraham does the same exact thing to King Abimelech. And that was in Gerar. And these moments, they proved, I fear man more than I fear God. That's what it proved. And he was protecting himself at the very expense of his wife, and that's where, ladies, you can understand and not appreciate maybe his decisions at that moment. And he didn't just fully trust God's promise. So here's God, knowing that faith still needs fully developed in Abraham. I don't have him all yet. And so he tests him in what he knows is most precious to him. And so this test clearly reveals things in us. When God tests us, it reveals things, it reveals exactly where we're at in God. And in our main text, what we learn is in this test, Abraham had changed. He had changed. He began to trust God because I don't know about you, but if God said, hey, I want you to go sacrifice your kid, I'm like, hold up.
SPEAKER_00I don't trust it.
SPEAKER_01Abraham, Abraham had the preparation, the three-day journey, the bringing along of the servants, until finally he got to the point where he said, Stay here, the boy and I will go, and we will worship and come again. Then he tells his son in verse 8, and I love this, God will provide for himself the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00He's trusting.
SPEAKER_01God, I don't know what you're up to, but I'll follow your voice. I'll follow your voice. And so Abraham proved every word, every action, that his heart was flowing from a place that now feared God enough to obey him when it makes zero worldly sense. I'm gonna just trust God through this. And so, so he he chooses to obey. And here's the thing, church. So often you and I, we get more caught up in what we believe God to be doing or believe the outcome is instead of what he might be just trying to develop in you through this. He's trying to make you stronger, men and women. And I believe in our lives, God tells us just enough to spring us to opportunity. Are you going to choose to obey my voice? Are you gonna step out and are you gonna follow me? Or are you gonna seize up and you're gonna weigh all the risks and you're gonna consider what might happen if you choose to obey? Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. And church, I want to tell you something. Trusting in God can't be a half-hearted decision. When you say, I'm gonna trust in God, that's saying, I'm all in. I'm pushing all the chips in. I'm just gonna fully trust him in everything that he's asking me to do. And I believe that if we genuinely trust that God is good and know that he has good things for us, then we're going to choose to be all in with what he is asking us to do. Hebrews 11, 17 through 19 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 already 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 a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. So when we allow ourselves to walk in this relationship of faith and fear, it is going to produce within us an obedience that trust God's plan is greater than our understanding. God has a plan, He's going to see it through. And I want to be on board with that plan. You know, you and I we're not blessed with being clairvoyant or having this idea of what the future looks like. And we know that there are ripple effects to our decisions, there are ripple effects to what we do, and how you and I choose to act in obedience today can send ripple effects to God's perfect future if we just say yes. But we have to be willing to say yes. And the problem is, our grip sometimes is so clenched to reality, not being willing to let go of the things that God has blessed us with. And so our actions display whether or not we're willing to let God use us. It's not by the words you say, it's by the actions. And so I believe that God wants, check this out, God wants what is most precious to you. He wants what's most precious to you, and he is asking you to hold it loosely. And my question for you is will you trust God with it? And it is in that test that reveals whether our true fear of God shows up and shapes our faith in who we are, or are we going to default to fearing man? That's what it comes down to. And church, I gotta tell you, one of the hardest things my wife and I have ever walked through is trusting God with our oldest two boys. For those of you that know them, you understand. For those of you that don't know that we've got two sons, one is severely autistic, and the other one, he's kind of moderate on the scale, and he's unpredictable. He's totally unpredictable. And as when we were young parents, we're trying to figure out how do we go out in public with them, protect them from the public, protect them from the fiery darts of the enemy and the things, the mean things people say. And so what I found is that we did not trust God fully enough with our kids that we found ourselves, we were we were becoming insular. We we were staying in our home, we were going out when we wanted to go to a restaurant, we'd get it to go. And we lived in the middle of nowhere, Illinois, and to go anywhere to a restaurant took about a half hour. So half hour later, we'd be eating once we got home. Who knows? That's no way to eat from a restaurant. And finally, God said, Are you going to trust me with your kids? I'm like, God, what are you talking about? Lord, I am raising them up as best as I can to fear you and to not be a part of the world. He's like, No, no, no. I'm going to use them to minister to the world. And I'm like, God, I don't understand. He's like, learn to let go. And so we had to learn to let go. And church, I am telling you, I don't know what God is asking of you, but you need to learn to hold it loosely. Don't hold it with that type grip. Because here's the thing true fear holds nothing back. True fear holds nothing back. It's to say that God, everything I have is yours. I wanted to make a joke right after Pastor Kelly did the offering call because you know, we always say, hey, if you're gonna give begrudgingly, don't give. I remember at my first church, there was a guy who was upset, probably because he lost his assigned seat or something like that. I have no idea. And, anyways, he comes up to me and he says, I'm gonna take my tithe and go elsewhere. And I thought, you know what your first mistake was? You use the word my. Everything we have belongs to God. And so, can we can we walk in that and truly believe that and that I'm not gonna hold anything back from God? And so God is all, I believe, asking every single one of us, he is asking something of us that's part of faith, that's part of trusting him. And are you going to follow through with what he asks? You know, Abraham, he he built the altar for his son to be sacrificed on, he arranged the wood, he bound his son. I cannot imagine going through the actual binding of your son. I'm sure as as a as a young young man, Isaac wasn't just like, okay, you know, yeah, dad, tie me up. And then he raised the knife. And that is the very climax of the test. Will he actually follow through with what is being asked of him? And verse 12, it captures it so well. It says, You have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. God knew the measure of the man's heart in that moment. And he's like, This guy is going to obey me no matter what. This is important. True fear doesn't bargain, nor does it hold back what is most precious to us. Don't bargain with God in it. Trust and know that he's got a great plan and it's going to be worth it. And so many of us who have this relationship with the Lord, we only want to follow him if it makes perfect sense. God, if you just line up everything for me, Lord, if you if you make sure the fleece is wet this day and then the next day, make sure the ground around it is wet, but not the fleece. We do those kind of things to say, God, I'll do it only if it makes perfect sense. And I want to tell you, that is only partial obedience. God wants total surrender. And when we have when we have believers that are full of total surrender and trusting and knowing that he has this perfect plan, so I'm just gonna say, yes. Do you know that the church would be unstoppable? The church would be absolutely unstoppable. But when we hesitate, when we question the plan, it reveals our level of trust. You know, there's a there's a phrase that appears in the book of James faith without works is dead. I'm gonna read that for you, James, James 2, 17 through 18. It says, so you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Actually, that that this follows that. It says, unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now, someone may argue some people have faith, others have good deeds. But I say, How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds. He goes on to say in verse 21 and 22, says, Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened, just as the scriptures say, Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. He was even called the friend of God. Church, our faith is demonstrated by our obedience. It's not how loud you worship, it's not how friendly you are to everybody. It's not saying, man, I follow, I follow these scriptures to a T. It is by being completely obedient to what God is asking of you. And church, I want you to know something. The first place we learn obedience is right here. It's right here. But then it God, God takes us even beyond that into specific things of what He is asking us to do. And so what we do, those works in our life, is the evidence of what we believe. And that's how it shows up. And so Abraham's fear to the Lord is visible in the action. We see that in the action. So from our perspective, we think what Abraham's doing, it looks like madness. It's risking his promised heir. It's Israel's future, it's everything. But Abraham had this fear-driven faith that trusted God's purpose. Even though it just completely outweighed the cost. God, it doesn't make sense, but I'll trust you. Now, church, here's the thing: this is a long road to developing our faith. Don't you just wish you could snap your fingers and like, God, I got perfect faith now? I'm gonna trust you through everything. Then hold on. Because here comes the test. And here's where it begins to get difficult. And so seldom do we understand what it means not to hold anything back until God asks it of you. And so this faith that we're on, it's a journey. You're not gonna get there right now. And God wants to take you and I to a place where we just implicitly trust Him with everything. It starts with our lives. You know, Abraham, he'd proved it before in the way he faltered in Egypt, and then again in Gerar by saying, no, no, no, that's my sister. But now, decades later, as he's walking in the fear of the Lord, and he's faced these repeated tests before. He's had those delays, and he's seen God's faithfulness. All of a sudden, that trust deepens to the point of, God, I'm gonna completely surrender. Whatever it is you're asking, I'll do it. Scripture shows us the progression of faith clearly. I want you to listen to James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. Says, dear brothers and sisters, when trouble, troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. Who loves when troubles come? Who's like, man, I'm happy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. So check this out. Through each trial and test, it's going to refine our faith and it builds this endurance that will lead to maturity. And so throughout Scripture, we find these stages of spiritual growth. Maybe you are in that like little children stage. That's the stage where there's you're a new believer, but you you you know your sins are forgiven, and you just trust God in that. God, thank you for the blood of your son that shed on the cross for me. And we can embrace that. Or maybe you're in the young men or young women stage that those you're you're strong in the word and and you can overcome the evil one, and you're willing to fight against anything, and you trust and know that God's on your side. Or maybe you're in the what we call the father's or mother's stage. You're a mature believer who deeply knows God and knows what he's asking. See, listen to this in 1 John chapter 2, verses 12 through 14. It says, I am writing to you who are God's children because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus. I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young in the faith because you have won the battle with the evil one. I have written to you who are God's children because you know the Father. I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ who existed from the beginning. I have written to you who are young in the faith because you are strong. God's word lives in your hearts, and you have won your battle with the evil one. We move in similar stages. Abraham was moving in these stages from this initial obedience of leaving the land of earth through failures and growth to this pinnacle of I'm not withholding anything from you, God, even my son. If you ask it of me, I'm gonna do it. I'll do whatever you ask.
SPEAKER_00Do you have the knife-raised kind of faith? I don't know. I don't know if I do. But it's proven in the test.
SPEAKER_01It's proven in the test. And church, here's the thing through your daily surrender, through the trials, what happens is there's a growing trust that you're gonna get there. But no, that the tests aren't easy. Whoever woke up and thought, ooh, there's a test today, I'm excited. Maybe Joyce, if Joyce is in the room. It sounds like something Joyce would say, but I don't know anyone else that's like, man, I love tests. But God can use the test, He can use it today. And so I want you to ask yourself, what am I withholding from God? Am I holding anything back? Maybe it's a dream you've held on to that He said, That's yours, that's not mine. Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe you're like, God, I really like my comfort. I don't want to do that, what you're asking me to do, because it seems like it's out of my character, it's out of my personality. God's saying you, but it's of my character. Trust me in it. Maybe it's your resources, maybe it's your lack thereof. And you're just sitting there going, God, I don't I don't know. I don't know if that's possible. See, true holy fear says, God, with you, nothing is off limits. Nothing is off limits. It's all yours. It's all yours anyway. So I'm just gonna do whatever you ask. I'm gonna trust in you. And guys, I know that it seems risky at first when God's saying, hey, I want you to give me this. I want you to give me your kids. Lord, I don't understand. I don't understand. Because it rarely makes worldly sense. But I'm telling you, church, this is a pathway to deeper intimacy with God, and God's going to honor the journey. Who trusts God as the outcome? So if we plant the blood of Jesus Christ over our lives and we trust and know that one day I'm going to die and I'm gonna be in eternity with Him, who knows that God can trust you with your job situation? Right? God can trust you with your lack of resources in your bank account. You can trust God through that. God can get you through anything. You just have to accept and know that if God is has the ability to create the heavens and the earth and he has the ability to breathe life into me, that he then he can walk me through my situation. Trust and know it. Because church, God is going to provide for you when you choose to fear him. He's gonna provide when we fear him. At the exact moment, at the greatest need, God intervened. God said, Abraham, don't lay a hand on that boy. We know that the ram was caught in the thicket as the substitute, and Abraham immediately named the place the Lord will provide. And Abraham's obedience and fear, it opens this door to God's timely provision. Imagine if Abraham never went on the journey. Imagine. And this creates this moment where only God can get the glory from the provision. And church, I can't say that enough because so often we're like, God, you know, like I hear what you're saying, but I'm just gonna do everything in my life to make sure that that happens. And so you begin to make all the preparations. Well, God said that this is gonna happen, so I need to do this, I need to do this, and I need to do this. And we start taking inventory, we start weighing the risks, and so we start doing what we can to minimize the risks in order to honor God. And so as we begin to do all these things, here's what happens. It's become, or it starts, God, what you're doing is great, it's awesome. And then it's like, God, you and me, we did this together.
SPEAKER_00Eventually, where it might become, God, look what I did.
SPEAKER_01And our resources and our options, it steals our attention from him, and all of a sudden we put it in our own hands and say, God, look what I can do. And church, we've talked about it before, God's not impressed by that. He's impressed by obedience, he's impressed by faith, he's impressed by your trust and your fear. And I think in our culture, we're too dependent on the systems in place. And you and I, we we we have like all the resources in the world. It seems like they're right at our fingertips. But sometimes God's calling us to just let it go. Trust his voice, trust where his spirit is leading and guiding, follow him and step out in those moments of faith, and you're gonna see God show up in amazing ways. You will. Because the blessing doesn't come until after the obedience. And I think we have to make sure our eyes are on target, not for the blessing, to just obey God because He is good and He knows what's best. Listen to our original verses in uh Genesis 22, 16 through 18. It says, This is what the Lord says, because you have obeyed, everyone say, because you have obeyed me and will not withheld and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name. Can't say I swear to God, he is God. I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies, and through your descendants, all nations of the earth will be blessed, all because you have obeyed me. Church, God always has a greater plan and purpose beyond what you can see, beyond your perspective. So for Abraham's obedience, it leads to life, it leads to provision and this multiplied blessing for you. Listen to Philippians 4.19. It says, and the same God, the same God who takes care of me, will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. So if you and I, if we focus on serving Christ, we have the opportunity to walk in that same blessing. Just serve him. But we have to be equipped with that faith that's accompanied by fear. Fear that doesn't want to face the consequences if we don't do it. Fear that says, God, I'm more concerned what might happen if I don't. I need to trust you in this. Psalm 34, 9 through 10, it says, Fear the Lord, you, his godly people. For those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing. You know, I know we as Pentecostals particularly, we hear this and we immediately think of full closets, full garages, full cupboards. But the closer you get to God, he's all you want. And he's all you need. And so, church, I I'm I want you to know that trusting God is also know that at the end of the day, he is everything that matters, nothing else does. And so, whatever God is asking, that's the most important thing. And what I love about this story that we didn't cover a whole lot of, this whole story points to the cross. My greatest fear in life, now that God has provided that perfect, spotless lamb for me, is that I am not going to be the living sacrifice that He is asking me to be. To where I say, God, I choose to lay my life down for you today. I choose to trust you with my life. It is all yours, and I'm going to follow in your plan. You know, God provided the Lamb for us just at the right time. Amen, church? He provided that just at the right time in his Son Jesus Christ. He has not withheld his only son from us. How much more? With the fearful expectation should we serve him because we know he's already provided everything we need. And what I'm scared of is a church that doesn't understand what it means to walk in the grace of God. A church that minimizes it and makes it cheap and says that God, well, you provided your son for me, he died for my sins. So I'm just gonna claim that every day and I'm gonna live my life and we're good, right? That's not what God's asking for us. I fear serving the Lord and taking his grace lightly because it's already been provided. And so now I I wake up each and every day, and God is speaking to me. And and Corey family, hear me out. Right after Ethan passed away, God kept speaking to me. He's like, Don't waste a minute. Don't waste a minute. My time is precious, and this time is so short, and you have but just a few breaths left, and you're gone. And God is saying, I do not want you to waste today. So I wake up, God, what do you want of me today? And I'm just gonna do it. I'm gonna obey your voice, I'm gonna follow your plan. Spirit, lead me wherever you want me today, and I'm gonna obey you. We need to trust him completely with our lives. We need to trust his perfect plan. You know, we serve a God that hasn't changed. He's the same God today as he was the God of Abraham. It's the same God. And I believe that he might be taking you through this test. He's placed this test right before you. What are you gonna do with it? Seriously, sit and think for just a moment. What might God be testing me in right now? What might he be testing me in right now? And how am I gonna respond to it? Am I gonna respond with the holy fear? And I know the risk feels so great from our perspective. But God's provision is greater. Church, God's provision is greater. Jake, forgive me, brother, because I know this faith is so new, but I want to speak to you right now. When you grabbed Cajanella, it's trusting and knowing that God's plan is greater. God is putting people in their lives that are going to come continue leading them the right way. Thank you for doing that. What is our Isaac? What is God asking of us? Will we surrender it when we say, God, I don't, I don't understand, but I'm gonna trust you, I'm gonna follow out after you. I know that your plan is perfect. And church, I don't know what he's asking of you, and sometimes it seems so great. But I'm just gonna encourage you, surrender your plan. Surrender your plan. And don't say, boy, like what the the God, the test that you took them through, I want that test. God has specific plans for you. Don't be looking to your left or your right. Keep your eyes fixed on the realities of heaven. Keep your eyes fixed on what God has for you. You know, this journey that God had Wendy and I on has us on still. At the age of 26, he was calling us to senior pastor. We were in this church's youth pastors. Life was comfortable. It was comfortable. And there were things that were so nice. We both had full-time jobs, we both we both were in management, so we were making good money. We were both youth pastors, so a house was provided. We were doing well. And all of a sudden, God says, I want you to go see your pastor. And and there were two churches open at the time, and the my regional director said, I want you to pray, and I only want you to apply for one. And so we apply for this church in Illinois in a town of 320 people, and the only other business in town was a nursing home. And you know, I hate the application process of becoming a pastor because it seems like the salary package is this big secret until they want you to say yes or no. And I knew God's calling, but I knew that we'd have to leave everything for this job. And so they asked me, they made the phone call. They're like, we would like you to be our next pastor. We want you to know that it's $14,000 a year to move our family of five. And I took a step back. I'm like, God, you better know what you're doing, because I don't. And I quickly discussed it with Wendy and uh within that phone call, said, Yes, we'll take it. And I think that's the whole point of what God wants to do in us. He wants us to respond immediately in faith and just start taking the steps saying, God, you asked me to go here, I'm gonna go. And we start taking the steps, and we're sitting there going, we have three kids, we don't know their school system that well, we don't know where we're gonna find other jobs. We move, I mean, we're pastoring in a town of 300 people. It's not like there's tons of jobs around there, and so we we uh just start praying saying, 'God, I trust you, just supply. I go into work and I notify them that I accepted a job pastoring out of state,' and I gave them a month's notice, and they said, You've been a great employee. Goodbye. Wendy worked at the same place, and she went in and she said, My husband's accepted a job, and I need to turn in my notice. And they said, How would you like to be the first person in our company to work from home? And so in 2007, when that was almost unheard of, God started just preparing the way. Because we said yes. And church, I want you to know, trust that your yes to God is going to be blessed. Don't do it for the blessing. Just know that God's got this, he's got a plan, and I'm gonna trust him in it, and I'm not gonna waste a moment. Would you bow your heads? God wants you to trust him with your whole life. He wants you to trust that his plan won't fail. And so, what I want to do right now is I just want to pray for those that say, Man, God is leading me down a path. I need to trust him more, and I just need support in it. I need encouraged in it. I've struggled in it, and I don't know where we're going, but I'm gonna trust. And if that's you in a declaration of faith today, saying, God, I'm gonna trust you, I just ask that you will stand right now where you're at.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01Where we're at, let's lift up both hands just humbly before God. Focused on Him. Lord, you see those who have responded. They're saying, Lord, I I need to trust you holy. I need to trust your plan. And God, I pray that Lord, by the by just your presence will come down, will bring comfort, Lord, and understanding, not in exactly what it is you're doing. Sometimes, God, that's that's just the way faith works, is we just need to trust. But God, you will deliver understanding into who you are and your character and how God, you want good things for your people, that you have a plan and a purpose. And Lord, we just need to keep stepping out and trusting and knowing that you are there with us. You have us, Lord. And Lord, as I referenced earlier, those those three stages of that spiritual maturity. God, I believe that a strong believer needs all three. We need to have that childlike faith. We need to have that strength that comes from being young and just trusting and knowing that, God, we are going to win this spiritual battle with you on our side. But Lord, we also just want to love you and know you deeply. And so, God, I pray that you will be raising up within this church men and women who will just trust and know to say yes, no matter what you ask of us, God. And the testimonies and the stories that are gonna come out of that, Lord, are just going to be otherworldly. True testimonies of eternity. God, I I thank you. I praise you for who you are. Lord, I declare you are good. Even in the midst of trials, Lord, you are good. I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.