Right on Time

Twinsburg, and online campuses. Welcome here in the room at Avon. Let's all together, all of our campuses. Put our hands together. What God did in worship today. Powerful. So be it God. Oh man, it's summer at Journey Church. And my name is Phil Curlin. I have the privilege to serve as one of the pastors on the team. And being that it's summer, we thought we'd kick off a new summer series at Journey Church. And I'm going to need your help today, Fairview Park. I'm going to need your help in the room and Twinsburg as well. You're going to have to preach with me today, all right? So the reason we did worship was to allow the Lord to enter into this place that we call Journey Church. But also, we wanted you to warm up your vocal cords, all right? Because I'm going to need you to talk at me as I talk to you. This is a conversation that we're going to have today about what it looks like to live a life of faith, all right? Now this series this summer is called Stories of Faith. Look at your neighbor, tell him. He said stories of faith. All right, don't pretty good. Pretty good warming up here at Avon. Stories of Faith. How may love a good story? Good story. I got a couple favorites, all right? Probably at the top of the list is Toy Story. Come on, testify, right? Any fans? New ones coming out this month, can't wait. The Lord of the Rings, hobbit, any fans? Any fans? Okay, yep, yep. Jack in the Beanstalk is one of my go-tos as a kid, right? Like, I always wanted to be Jack in the Beanstalk. I wanted to be Jack in that story of the Odyssey. Remember that one? Back in like English class, freshman year of high school. You maybe didn't enjoy the papers that you had to write, the books that you had to read on the Odyssey. Hey, listen, on the count of three, shout out your favorite story. I didn't count the three yet. Count of three. I'm giving you time to think. Yeah, sit with it. Now don't be all holy and be like the Bible. Don't. All right. What's your favorite story on the count of three? One, two, three. Yes, I love that 150 of them too. I'm not sure what you said over here. I don't think it was appropriate, but so be it God. All right? I'm totally kidding. I love a good story. See, the truth is like, stories don't just inform us. The stories of the Bible, they actually can teach us. Like, we can learn from the stories of the Bible about what it looks like to have faith in the midst of a man, upside down world. Anybody feel like the price of gas is evidence alone that we live in an upside down? The fact of the nicks, if you're a fan, I'm sorry. The fact that the nicks are up to, oh, is evidence that we live in an upside down world, all right? All my first fans, right? Testified. So be it God, right? We're going to look at this summer, look at stories of Moses and David and Paul and Daniel and Esther

and Noah, like the heroes of the faith stories I grew up learning about in Sunday school. Now, if you don't know what that is, if there's any young people in the room, Sunday school is when you go to school a sixth day during the week, right? And it was an hour long before church. Sometimes I had to go to Sunday school before church and after church because my dad was the pastor of the church and they needed to put me somewhere. So I had a lot of Sunday school. Now, today's church, we don't have as much Sunday school, right? So there's a little bit of biblical illiteracy, right? People don't know the word of God. We don't read the word of God and nobody, a journey, of course, but maybe that is you. Maybe you just haven't had exposure to some of these stories. And today, man, I'm so excited to teach on Abraham father. Abraham, if you were in a Sunday school kid, he had many sons and then his sons had. And I am one of them. And come on. So let's all the people that didn't go to Sunday school like, y'all are weird. Where's the exit? Yeah, you messed up too, just like the rest of us. Welcome to journey church. We're all saved by grace. Listen, these stories that we're going to look at today and this summer, what really matters is each of these Bible characters, including Abraham today, they face a decision on the regular that we face. Will we trust God or not? I mean, that's a bottom line. Will we trust God or not? See, here's the foundational statement of the entire Get your thumbs ready. It's not on the screen. You gotta activate your pen or your thumb. Here's the foundational statement for the summer. Faith is not about having all the answers. It's about trusting the one who does. I'll say it again. Faith is not about having all the answers. I'm seeing some nodding heads here at Avon. Faith is not about having all the answers. It's about trusting God, the one who does. So wherever you're at on your faith journey, we are all somewhere. Maybe you're strong in your faith, praise God.

Maybe you're struggling in your faith. That's okay. You're in the right place. Maybe you're just starting out your faith. If you're strong or struggling or starting, you're in the right place. This summer, we're gonna, you like all those essays, praise God. This summer, we're gonna talk about what it looks like to push forward and trust God in our faith. I'm excited for this summer. Now, we're gonna kick off, like I said, our first story of faith and the first book of the Bible. We're gonna go to Genesis chapter 12. As you're turning there, I gotta tell you a story. The craziest thing happened this past Wednesday. So last Tuesday, I sent my sermon notes to the production team with the sermon title and the slides and the scriptures. And so my dad, his birthday was this past Saturday, May 30th. And I had reached out and I wasn't able to connect with him. And that's a whole nother story. Sometimes it's difficult to connect with him. And so he called me back. We finally were able to sync up, train voicemails last Wednesday, right? And I was grilling and my wife's like, you gotta answer the phone, it's your dad. And so, hey dad, I know you're watching online. So glad that you are.

He tells me his story. He's like, son, I gotta tell you something. I've been wanting to tell you for a couple of months. I'm like, yeah, hit me with it, dad. He's like, so I was outside getting the mail and I saw some trash on the street by the mailbox in my yard, like right by the street. I don't like trash in my yard. And so I walked out to pick up this white piece of paper or trash from here. And when I bent down, I picked it up. It wasn't trash, it was an envelope. And it had my name on it. And it had your name on it in the return address label. Now, I know I like to tell jokes. This is a true story during the church, okay? True story. He picks up the envelope and it's addressed to him and it's from me. It's kind of worn down, kind of smudged and smeared. He says it was a little wet and tattered. And so he picked it up and I said, whoa, what was the card? My dad and I, we swapped cards. He likes to write letters and cards to my kids, to me, so on and so forth. He says it was a thank you card from Christmas. You wrote me a Christmas thank you card. I'm like, dad, I wrote that in January. My momma taught me to write thank you cards and mail them,

you know, soon thereafter. It's like April, you said. How's the card sitting? Was it lost at the post office? Was it stuck in the grass? Did it fall from heaven? I said, I'm sorry that it didn't get there on time. He said, son, listen to me. He said, son, I'm blessed to get a card from you any time. But this one came sermon title right on time. I was like, that's the title of my sermon, dad, I'm gonna tell that story. Dad, I'm so glad that card came right on time for you. And I wonder if there's something God's been working out in your life and it's been four months and you wonder if it's lost and transit. I wonder if you feel like it's beat up, tattered and smeared and smudged and externally it was unrecognizable, but come on, listen to me. There was a message on the inside of the card that my dad needed to read. And there's a message that God has for you today that he needs you to hear. Are you with me, Journey Church? I'm preaching better than you're a man. And let's warm up those vocal cords again. Give me an amen. Amen, amen. I am so excited because God shows up in Abraham's life right on.

All right, so this is your cue. When I do this, you tell me, we put it on the screen for you right on time, okay? So I might at random times just be like, see now you're with me, you're with me. So we're gonna turn to page 12 in our Bibles. Well, it's page 12 in my Bible. It's Genesis chapter 12, verse one. And we're gonna look at how God showed up right on time. Here we go, verse one. Now the Lord said to Abraham, go from your country and your kindred Go to the land I will show you. Where do you want me to go, God? To the land I will show you. Where's that? You'll find out when you get there. Okay. And he says, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you. I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Verse four blows my mind, so Abram went. As the Lord had told him, I could have called this sermon so Abram went. I wonder if you've done the thing God told you to do. I wonder if you went the place God told you to go.

Or did you just, like I often do, take matters into your own hands. Trust your own timing 'cause God wasn't showing up in the way and in the timeframe that you expected. The word of God says, so Abram went and the Lord, as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him. Abram was held. He was 75 years old. My man was 75 years old. This isn't just an unlikely scenario. This is an impossible scenario. God goes on to say that he's gonna make Abraham the father of many generations. Hence the song at the beginning of the message. He's gonna be the father of many generations. But Abraham is 75 years old. There's no baby in the picture. His wife is past the age of bearing children. It seemed impossible. I wonder if anybody at Journey Church today is looking at a situation that seems impossible. If you're holding on to a promise that feels impossible. Unless God shows up, Pezzerville, it's not going to work out. You're right. That's the point. Unless God shows up, it's not gonna work out. And when will God show up? (congregation laughing) Yeah, he's gonna show up right on time.

The first thing I wanna show you in this right on time message is that God, he starts when it feels too late. When it feels too late. When it feels, it feels, it feels to me, God, that it's too late. Listen, if I was God, I would have a different recipe to build faith in my people. I would answer their prayers more quickly in the way that they want so that they would trust me. Good thing I'm not God. Because we humans, me included, we want the product. God is more interested in the process. We want his help. He wants our hearts. We want an answer. He wants attachment. We worry because we wrestle with him and he says, ain't never been closer than when we were wrestling. If I gave you what you wanted, would you stay close to me or would you just go do your own thing till the next time you wanted something from me? You know, if we're honest, it's easy at times to trust God when we need to trust God. But it's hard to trust God when it feels like he's late. Anybody by show hands ever felt like God

started something when it was too late. Yeah. And some of us, we feel like God is too late. God is too late for my marriage. It's too late for my business. If you were gonna do it, you would have done it by now. And some of you, you feel like it's too late to discover your purpose because you've already pursued this career path. You've chased this dream and some of you, you feel like, well, I've messed up too much. Like, I know God can forgive me, but spiritually it's too late. He'll forgive me, but he can't use me 'cause I'm disqualified. I love Abraham's story because Abraham's story shows us that God steps in to moments that feel too late. And God says, I'm just getting started. That's a good place to say, man. I wonder if it feels too late, but it's really just God getting started. I wonder if what you feel isn't always true. I wonder if I believe that God's just getting started. I believe that June 7th, 2026 is the day for someone that God's just getting started. Just like God spoke to Abraham at age 75, he could speak to you right here, right now, through this message. What if the place, I've been wrestling through this all week, you guys.

to start working in? In your family, in your marriage, in your business, with your friends? See the truth is God's never late. He's always. He is. Now, don't miss this. I don't know if you read scripture like I do, but when I saw that verse that said Abraham was 75, that was an important detail because I'm 41 and I'm thinking, God, you could have called Abram at 40, right? 15. I know people called in the ministry when they were 10. I know people that God gave them a dream at 12 to start a business. I mean, okay, got 50 before he had his midlife crisis. You could have showed up to Abraham, saved him a lot of pain. Not granted, disclaimer, they lived a lot longer than we do now. That's a different sermon for reasons that I don't have time to get into today. But the point is, it was 75 years before Abraham heard from God. See when it feels impossible, the truth is sometimes it's just God waiting because when it happens, he's the only one that can get the credit for it because it's too late, right? It's too late to explain it any other way then by the grace of God. See, this story of faith makes me think and I want to ask you, what have you buried that God's not finished with yet? What friendship have you buried? I think there's somebody listening to me right now. It might be a week from now that you're watching this on YouTube. It might be a year from now. It might be right now in this room. I don't know. But I really do believe that there's somebody who had a silly argument with a sibling in a different season years ago and you forgot what the argument was about but you still

won't talk to him. And I wonder if God's going to go right on time and your application of today's message is to send a text, make a call and say, "Bro, sister, I'm so sorry, can we reconnect?" I know it's risky. I know it's hard. It might not work out how you want when you want. But your options are stay stuck in the pain that you have or try to see if maybe God might show up right on time. What have you labeled as too late that God is calling right on time? See, the truth is God, He shows up in impossible places at times that don't make sense because God operates outside of our understanding of time. He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. All things hold together by Him. And so the second thing I want to show you, not only does God start when it feels too late, but number two, God waits longer than you want. Amen? I mean, for real, God waits longer than you want. Psalm 75 in Genesis chapter 12, turn a few pages, go to Genesis chapter 21. Let's pick up the story. Seven verses here, it says this, Genesis 21, 1 through 7, "The Lord visited Sarah as He had said." Of course He did. God does what He says He will do. He's a promise keeper. And the Lord did to Sarah as He had promised, the translation she's pregnant with Abraham's son. Verse two, "And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time, right on time, that God has spoken to him." Abraham called the name of his son, who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. By the way, that name means God laughs.

Like what he does when I try to make a plan. In my own timeframe, he's like, "Ah, you're cute, Phil. I have something way better, way bigger, way bolder than you could have ever expected. My time, my way." See, God's ways are not like you and me in our ways. God's ways are higher and better than our ways. Amen? So Abraham has a Sunday night. as God commanded. Abraham was now a hundred years old. My man had a son at a hundred. That's pretty awesome. But do some math. When did God tell him it would happen? Age. How old is he when it happened? How long did he have to wait on what God promised him? 25 years. I don't know about you, but sometimes it's hard to wait 25 minutes for what God promised me. You know what I'm saying? We live in such a right now microwave culture. Abraham waited 25 years for what God had promised him. For six, Sarah said, God has made laughter from me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. And she said, who would have thought? Who would have thought, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet say yet. Yet I have born him a son in his old age.

I was playing basketball with my little guy Josiah yesterday, a little teenager. I beat him. Praise God. I feel good about myself. (congregation laughs) He's like Victor women. John, I'm like Jalen Brunson, let's go. He's taller than me, bigger than me, stronger than me. I beat him. And the cool thing is when we were playing ball, I realized that Josiah said, I can't do that. I said, put a yet on it. You can't do it yet. Oh, come on, put a yet on it. You just didn't learn it yet, one, two. See, that word yet in that scripture is Sarah saying, it looked like it wasn't gonna happen yet. God, he did it anyways. See God, he shows up right on time in ways and through people and in circumstances that we wouldn't expect. See, Abraham, he's wrestling, he's wondering, he's waiting, you wanna keep going? He's worrying for 25 years. He's watching probably other people get what they want while he's not getting what God promised him, ever been there? Listen to me, young man of God who's single, wherever you are under the sound of my voice,

stop praying for a wife and instead pray for the character that makes you worthy to be a husband, to the daughter of the Most High King. God will work out the wife, you work out you. Now, young woman of God, stop going from man to man to man, trying to play the process of elimination game and you wait on who God has for you. You wait and you trust that God would not just send you a man but a man of God to be a spiritual leader. Anybody married at Journey Church? See, sometimes my wife and my kids and I, we have somewhere to be and I'm ready to go. And sometimes I'm like, don't elbow your wife 'cause you'll be on the couch tonight. And sometimes I'm like, babe, are you ready? It's time to go. She's in the room at Avon, so I gotta preach to this side of the room. Okay, I said, are you ready? I was like, what are you doing? It's time to go. Like, we gotta go. Sometimes it's me, but I have the microphone. So sometimes, I'm like, babe, what are you, what are you doing? Men, a little raised hand, can you testify? Like, am I not okay, okay. Women, can you testify? Your man's the one causing you to be late?

You know, my wife says to me more times than not, she says some version, what are you doing? She says, I'm getting ready. So, what are you talking about getting ready? Why don't you don't get ready? So you don't have to get ready. And the Lord would say to you, you all in a hurry to get to your next thing, but the Lord would say, I'm getting ready 'cause you didn't get ready. If you would just get ready, then I wouldn't have to get ready. See what I'm trying to say is, God is getting it ready for you. He's trying to get it ready for you. And me and you weren't such a hurry to get to the next thing. God is like my wife getting ready. I'm just getting ready. I'm waiting 25 years. I'm getting ready. Abraham's like, I want to sun God. You told me God. God's like, I'm just getting ready. You know what I'm getting ready for says the Lord for you to be ready? 'Cause if I gave you, listen to me, listen to me, lean in, lean in. you wouldn't be ready to receive it, and it would be wasted."

(congregation applauding) You gotta get ready. You gotta get ready. You got, right? We gotta get, we're in such a hurry to rush when we should be getting ready. Stop rushing and start getting ready. Start getting ready. I wanna own a business and I keep trying. This is, man, keep studying. Don't quit. I wanna see it happen. I need a job. Man, stop sitting on your butt hoping for someone to knock on your door to give you a job and, like, put in the work. Get ready, get your resume ready. Get your interview skills ready. Get yourself ready. Come on, look at your neighbor, Tom. I'm getting ready. Come on, Tom, I'm getting ready. Listen, this 25 years that Abraham and Sarah waited, it wasn't a short delay. It was a long season of readiness that formed faith and trust in God. You know what happens when you're getting ready for 25 years? You go through this cycle, just like Abraham. He starts out hopeful.

God said it. I believe it. Let's go. Pastor Phil, I'll write on Tom, yeah. But then, like, year one happens and you're like, I'm confused. I mean, maybe I didn't hear God. Maybe that wasn't gonna happen. Like, maybe it's not gonna happen after. And then we start doubting. Maybe it's not gonna happen at all, ever. Maybe I didn't even hear from God. Like, maybe I saw my eight last night and done messed me up in that dream that I had. And then we start taking control. Read Abraham's story. He's waiting and he's not perfect. Neither am I. And neither are you. If you read the story, or if you know it, Abraham, while he's waiting, he's not waiting with worship. He's waiting with worry. And he actually sleeps with the servant girl Hagar and she has a son named Ishmael, but that's not the promise that God had. God said that Sarah would bear him as son. See, he tried to fix it himself. He tried to take matters into his own hands. Before you start judging Abe,

you and me we do it too, don't we? God, it hasn't happened yet. It's been 25 minutes. It's been 25 hours. It's been 25 weeks. It's been 25. It's coming up for me on almost 25 years that I've been waiting on God. I'm 41. Can anybody in the room build my faith? You've been waiting for God for something for 20 years. Maybe it's a spouse to turn their heart to the Lord, to have a baby, to start a business, to see a breakthrough. Ma'am, it's hard to wait 20 plus years. You know what you do when you wait? You don't worry, you worship. And you put your face in the Word, not the world. The more your face is in the Word while you wait, the less you'll try to take matters into your own hands. Can I be honest with you? See, God, He shows up 25 years later, but He shows up right on time. And what's so wild to me? What's so wild to me is when Sarah finally gets pregnant, has the baby, has Isaac, the problem has finally arrived. Point three, as I lay in this plane, something crazy happens. It's one thing to have to wait 75 years for a promise and another 25 for it to happen,

but then point three, God asks for what you waited for. Let me show it to you. Genesis chapter 22, it says, after these things, God tested Abraham, circle the word tested in your Bible. And He said to him, Abraham, and Abraham said, here am I. He said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, for God's a love, for God's a love of the world, He gave his one and only son. This is a biblical foreshadowing of what God would do for us with Jesus. He says, take your son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer Isaac there as a burnt offering on the mountains, verse three. So Abraham rose early in the morning. He didn't delay, He didn't make excuses, He didn't doubt, He woke up the next morning and He did the thing. Oh, Lord, may it be said of me and these people in front of me and at these campuses He saddle up his donkey. He took two of his young men with him and Isaac. They cut the wood for the burnt offering. They arose and they went to the place which God had told him, verse four, on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey.

Me and my son are going to go over there to that altar, but we'll come back. That's some kind of faith. If I have to do it, I will, but I don't want to have to do it. You ever heard that before? Jesus, Garda gets so many. I don't want to, but if I have to, God take this cup from me, but not my will, your will be done. See, the story of Abraham teaches us how to wait and it teaches us how to trust in God. Let me ask you. Do you trust God's timing even when you don't understand his ways? See, this wasn't just a test. This was the test. See, what I'm trying to say is that Isaac was the miracle. Isaac was the promise. Isaac was the proof. Isaac was the evidence of the goodness, of the faithfulness of God. Like, if this didn't go the right way, if God didn't operate in this story at the right time, it would have destroyed everything that Abraham and we now know to be true about the goodness and the faithfulness of God. And yet, Abraham's response is to wake up early in the morning. Verse six, go back to the story. He wakes up, he says, we're gonna go over here. And here's Abraham's response.

He takes the wood and the burnt offering and he says to his son Isaac, come on with me, he's got the fire, he's got the knife. They start walking together, verse seven. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father. He said, here I am, my son. He said, behold, the fire in the wood. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, come on, all the dads. I love y'all, ain't no way I'd give Caleb for not one of you. That's my son's name. What did Abraham say to his son? All the dads in the room with faith. He said, underline, read it with me. God will provide for himself the lamb. I know you think you're the man. You don't have to always be the man, you just need to be obedient to God. God will provide, God will make a way even where there doesn't seem to be a way. God is faithful, God shows up right on time. See this story shows us that Abraham, he learned something during those 25 years of waiting. He learned that God could be trusted. Are you wasting your waiting? Or are you learning from it? While you wait, ask the Lord, what do you want me to learn from this? I got a couple of young adult guys

in the front row here at Avon. They're like, oof, yeah. How about the rest of you? Are you just wasting your waiting? Or are you learning and growing because you have a resolve to believe that God will show up? When's he gonna show up? When? Not when you want. Not how you want. Right on time. Abraham builds the altar. He's about to raise his knife. And verse 11, Genesis 22, verse 11, let's read it. The angel of the Lord calls down to him. Genesis 22, 11. Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I am. You know how many times Abraham responded, here I am, five. And the story I've been telling you, five times. When his son called him, when God called him, when the angel called him, here I am. Are we making ourselves accessible and available to God? Or are we too distracted? What did Adam say in the garden when God said, where are you? He was hiding. He didn't say, here I am. He was hiding. Men, women of faith, we need to be people who say,

God here, I am. He, angel says, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know you fear God. Seeing as how you've not withheld your son, your only son from me. Abraham lifts up his eyes. The ram was there the whole time. Abraham just didn't know it. Can I tell you? It's there the whole time. You just don't see it yet. The ram was there. It was already prepared. God already put the provision that would be needed. God didn't want Isaac. He wanted Abraham's heart. God wants your heart. I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but I know God wants your heart. He wants you to surrender. He wants you to believe, Genesis 22, verse 14, that the Lord will provide. I want you to close your eyes. Every campus. I want you to close your eyes. I want you quietly to stay to yourself. Put your hand on your heart. Put your other hand on your head. I want you to stay to yourself.

Phil, say your name. The Lord. Come on. Will. Provide. The Lord. Tell your head. Tell your heart. The Lord. Will. Provide. The Lord. Will provide. With your eyes still closed. I believe some of us were in a testing moment right now. We are right now. We've been in. You showed up at church today. You are in the middle of a testing moment. God is asking you to forgive, but it's hard. He's asking you to give, but it's too risky to you. He wants you to surrender control. He's saying, "Come on. I need you to actually trust me with your life." See, faith says, "God, I could trust you more than what I'm holding on to." What is your Isaac? What's your Isaac? It's easy to receive the promise from God and to worship it more than God himself. I want you to open your eyes. I believe for some of us today.

I believe that we need to be reminded that if we can learn how to trust God in his timing, then we can trust him in the testing. Oh, come on. If you learn, if you and I learn how to trust God in his timing, then we can trust him when it's a hard season, when it's a testing season. See, I think some of us, I was praying for you late last night. I'm always up late when I had to preach. I'm like, "Lord, Lord, Lord, what do you want your people to know?" And he said, "Tell them to lay it down." I said, "What's it?" He said, "They'll know. You do your part and preach my word." They'll know what their "it" is. Lay it down. Lay it down. I'm going to challenge you. I wouldn't be me if I didn't. If you're new to Journey Church, welcome. I'm going to challenge you. Some of you, symbolically, you need to lay down your keys on this altar. This one's the key to my house. It's not mine. It's his. I just stewarded. This is the key to my car. I'm not driving my life anymore. He is. This one, this is the key to the church for real for real. You can have it, God. It's your church anyway.

It's your house anyway. It's your car anyway. You direct my life. Come on, where are you at, Fairview, Twinsburg, Avon? Somebody, I know you got keys in your pocket or your purse. If you drive one of those Teslas, it might be like a credit card-looking thing. I think. I don't have one. Right now. Come on. Come on. Lay it down. Out of your seat. It takes courage. We didn't preach for two months about boldness in the early church in the book of Acts for you to sit there. Somebody needs to come lay down their house. Somebody needs to lay down the key to their job, their workplace. Somebody needs to lay down the key to their boat. Somebody needs to lay down the key to their, thank you. You can have them back. It's just symbolic, right? Somebody needs to lay down their wallet or their purse. God owns it all. He doesn't need your money. He just knows your money and your heart. They go together. I'm laying mine down. You'll take it back. You might need to stay up here with it at your campus. Stay up here.

If you come forward, stay up here. Abraham built an altar for Isaac, and he surrendered. Lay it down and stay here at the front. Stay, come on, come on, stay. Build an altar. Maybe you're gonna kneel. Maybe you're gonna stand. I'm laying it down today. Some of you, this thing that causes too much distraction gives you too much access to things you shouldn't be seeing causes you not to be present with your spouse or your kids, lay it down. You can have it back. But symbolically, lay it down, fair view. Lay it down. And the Lord told me that some of you, symbolically, you need to lay down the timing of things. Either he's right on time or he's not. You get to choose to believe it. I don't know who I'm talking to, but the sermons call right on time. Because you're trying to control every minute, every moment. And you stopped trusting God when it took too long. It's been two years. It's been five years. Maybe it's been 25 years. God, you want my time? You can have it. You know the cool thing is I feel a little bit lighter

without all that baggage, without all that control. When you lay it down, he'll lift you up, won't he? When you lay it down, he'll lift you up. Abraham laid down his son on the altar. You know what he did when the angel showed up? He lifted him up. And you know what he did when he went down the mountain? He took his promise with him. See, the keys, the car, the wallet, the watch, it's not a problem. It's just anything that's prioritized over God can't be blessed. There's nothing wrong with a house, a car, a boat, or whatever, you name it. A phone, you just gotta put it in the right order. Just see, anything under God is blessed. It's when we put things over God. He wants to bless it, but he can. Lay it down, and watch God show up right on time. And watch God show up right on time. Time. [BLANK_AUDIO]