You Can’t Receive What God Has With Closed Fists

Hey, we're Todd and Julie Mullins, Senior Pastors here at Christ Fellowship Church, and we're so glad that you're tuning in for service today. Yeah, Christ Fellowship is one church that meets in lots of different locations, including right here with you. Yeah, and our prayer for you today is that you would sense God's love for you. See, I don't personally know all that you're going through today and what you're up against, but God does. And He hears your prayers, and He knows your name, and He's right here for you today as you call out to Him. Yeah, thanks again for joining with us today. We love you, and we're praying for you. Welcome home. Come on, church. It's time to praise the Lord. Let everything that has breath sing a new song to the Lord. Put your attention on Him today. Come on, we sing together. Come on, remember the power of God. Come on. This is our God, this is what He does. He saves us. He poured the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. We could barely pray, but He heard every word, every whisper. Yes, He did. Found those altars in the wilderness. Tell the story of His faithfulness. Never once did He fail, and He never will. Oh, He never will.

This is our God, this is who He is. He loves us. This is our God, this is what He does. He saves us. He poured the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. Who pulled me out of that pit? He did, He did. Who paid for all of our sin? Nobody but Jesus. Who pulled me out of that pit? He did. He did. Who paid for all of our sin? Nobody but Jesus. Who rescued me from that grave? Yahweh. Yahweh. Who gets the glory and praise? Nobody but Jesus. Who rescued me from that grave? Yahweh. Yahweh. Who gets the glory and praise? Nobody but Him. This is our God. This is who He is. He heard our prayers. This is our God. This is one God. King Jesus. He bore the cross. He did great. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God. King Jesus. He bore the cross. He did great. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God. King Jesus. Come on. Welcome home. Welcome to Christ Fellowship. And if you're joining us online or in the room, this is the gospel. And it is for you today. So let's sing and build up our faith.

He loves you today, man. Come on. A thousand miles you stay the same In valleys long you never change I believe that I will see The goodness of the Lord Confident as He sits Your faithfulness remains All confidence in Him that you remain You go, you go before me To prepare a blessing you make a way It's more than I could imagine More than I could have hoped Oh comprehend A thousand miles you stay the same In valleys long you never change I believe that I will see The goodness of the Lord Confident as He sits Your faithfulness remains God of my present God of my future You write my story You hold it all together God of my present God of my future You write my story You hold it all together God of my present God of my future You write my story

You hold it all together God of my present God of my future You write my story You hold it all together I believe that I will see ♪ Goodness of the Lord ♪ ♪ How confident I see the change ♪ ♪ Your faithfulness prevails ♪ ♪ God of my present, God of my future ♪ ♪ You write my story, You hold it all together ♪ ♪ God of my present, God of my future ♪ ♪ You write my story, You hold it all together ♪ ♪ Oh let it build you up, You hold it all together ♪ ♪ Oh let it bring strength to you today ♪ ♪ You hold it all together ♪ ♪ Oh let it bring you confidence today ♪ ♪ You hold it all together ♪ ♪ Oh in every season today ♪ ♪ You hold it all together ♪ ♪ Yes He does, You hold it all together ♪ Let me read the Word of God over you today. But then I recall all that You have done, O Lord. I remember Your awesome deeds of long ago. In fact, they are constantly in my thoughts. What is constantly in your thoughts? What is it today? We're singing, even right now, I'm confident in the Lord. I'm looking to the Lord,

but sometimes there's something that's constantly knocking at the door. I love that the worship leader in Psalm 77 says, God, I am constantly coming back. I recall, I remember Your work. I can't stop thinking about Your mighty works. Is there anyone as mighty as You? Oh, I am confident not in myself today, but I am confident in the one who has called me into marvelous life. Listen. ♪ You are the Alpha and the Omega ♪ ♪ You're in the middle, You hold it all ♪ One more time. ♪ You are the Alpha and the Omega ♪ ♪ You're in the middle, You hold it all together ♪ Come on, constantly think about the work and the wonder of the Lord. Thank You, Lord. Come on. We worship You. We worship You, Jesus. ♪ He's El Shaddai ♪ ♪ You're my Prince of Peace ♪ ♪ Emmanuel ♪ ♪ You're here with me, so I lift up Your Name ♪ Come on. ♪ Your Name is great and greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ Your Name is great and greatly to be praised ♪ Oh.

♪ Elohim ♪ ♪ You are Elohim ♪ ♪ Elohim ♪ ♪ He's the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Great I Am ♪ ♪ Thank You, Jesus, that You live in me ♪ ♪ Live in me ♪ ♪ He is El Shaddai ♪ ♪ El Shaddai ♪ ♪ You're my Prince of Peace ♪ ♪ Prince of Peace ♪ ♪ He is Emmanuel ♪ ♪ Emmanuel ♪ ♪ Thank You, Jesus, thank You, Jesus, You're here with me ♪ ♪ We're ready to meet, so we lift up Your Name ♪ ♪ Your Name is great and greatly to be praised ♪ Come on Church, sing it out. ♪ Your Name is great and greatly to be praised ♪ Jesus, Your Name. ♪ Your Name is great and greatly to be praised ♪ Oh, we lift up Your Name. ♪ We lift up Your Name, Your Name is great and greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ I have seen of Your goodness, O God, so I will testify, I will testify ♪ ♪ I will testify, worthy You were and worthy You are ♪ ♪ Worthy You will be forever, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Worthy You were, worthy You are ♪ ♪ Worthy You will be forever, Yahweh dados ♪ ♪ He's so great, He's so great ♪ ♪ Forever Yahweh, worthy You were, worthy You are ♪ ♪ Worthy You will be forever, Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh ♪

♪ Your Name, Your Name, Your Name, Your Name ♪ ♪ Your Name, Your Name, Your Name, Your Name ♪ ♪ Jesus, be lifted high, Jesus, be lifted high ♪ ♪ You're worthy, you are, worthy, you are ♪ ♪ Worthy You will be forever, Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ You're worthy, you are, worthy, you are ♪ ♪ Worthy You will be forever, Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ Thank you, Jesus. Yes, you are. Our victory. Yes. ♪ I'll never be more loved than I am right now ♪ ♪ Wasn't holding you up, so there's nothing I can do to let you down ♪ ♪ It doesn't take a trophy to make you proud ♪ ♪ I'll never be more loved than I am right now ♪ Thank you. ♪ I'm going through a storm, but I won't go down ♪ ♪ I hear your voice carried in the rhythm of the winds to call me out ♪ ♪ You would cross an ocean, so I wouldn't drown ♪ ♪ You've never been closer than you are right now, Jairus, Jairus ♪ ♪ Jairus, Jairus, you are enough, I know that you are Jairus, you are enough ♪ ♪ So I will be, so I will be content in every circumstance, you are Jairus, you are enough ♪ ♪ You'll always be enough, Jesus, I call upon your name and I will ever receive the answer, God, I will receive the answer, God, so we sing ♪ ♪ If he dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor, how much more will he clothe you, how much more will he clothe you? ♪ ♪ If He watches over every sparrow ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ If He dresses the living with beauty and splendor ♪ ♪ How much more will He adore you ♪ ♪ How much more will He adore you ♪

♪ If He watches over every sparrow ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ If He dresses the living with beauty and splendor ♪ ♪ How much more will He adore you ♪ ♪ How much more will He adore you ♪ ♪ If He watches over every sparrow ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ How much more does He love you ♪ ♪ How much more ♪ ♪ You are enough, you are enough ♪ ♪ I know that you are enough, you are enough ♪ ♪ So I will be content right now in every circumstance ♪ ♪ You are enough, you are enough ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ So I will be content in every circumstance ♪ ♪ Shira, you are enough ♪ Woo! Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that your God is more than enough? Everything you need, He's got it. Amen, you can be seated. I wanna welcome everybody joining us at all of our Christ Fellowship locations today, everybody joining us online. Good to have you with us as well. The Orlando Watch Party, all of our prison locations.

Shout out to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces joining with us every week. We are in our series, Who is God? Looking at the names of God to discover what they tell us about our God. And the reason this is so important is because the more you know God, your faith is gonna go stronger, your worship is gonna go deeper, and you're gonna be filled with this unshakable confidence because you know who your God is. Isaiah chapter 52, verse six, God says this, I will reveal my name to my people and they will know it's what? Power. Say it again. Power. There's power in the names of God, in who he is. And all throughout scripture, God reveals his name to his people, but there's a reason for the revelation. And the reason for the revelation is found in Psalm nine, verse 10. He says, those who know your name will put their trust in you. So the reason for the revelation of what we're studying is that we will trust God more because we know him more and our trust grows. So week one, we studied the very first name

that God declared of himself, Elohim. And that name means he's all powerful, all sufficient, creator of the universe. And that week we studied the first name that a person gave to God, which was El Roy, the God who sees me. So he's not just powerful, he's personal. Week two, if you missed week two, all I can say is you missed it. If you missed Coach Mullins teaching us about Jehovah Nissi the banner of victory, that no matter what battle you and I have to go through, no matter what we are gonna fight, that he's actually fighting the battle for us. He's our banner of victory. And today I wanna look at one of the most celebrated names of God. We just sang about it, Jehovah Jireh, God who provides, the God who is more than enough. And all throughout scripture, we see the truth of this name, Jireh. We see it when God would feed the Israelites every morning with manna that fell from heaven when they were in the wilderness. It'd be like Brooklyn bagels falling out in the sky every morning. Glory to God, wouldn't that be great? Or we see it when the widow's oil and flour never ran out during the famine, God provided. Or when Jesus broke the bread and the fishes

and fed the multitudes, the Lord provides. Even the way Jesus teaches us to pray, give us this day our daily bread, it is to teach us to trust in God for our daily provision and not ourselves. And do you know that God will actually allow things to come into your life that will force you to learn that lesson? That God is enough. That God is who you need to trust in, not your bank account, not your job, not your own abilities, but to trust in God. Remember week one, we mentioned that revelation usually comes from a place of desperation. That when God shows you something about himself, it doesn't usually come from the mountaintop. It's when you're in the valley. It's not in a moment of praise, although he can reveal things in moments of praise, he usually reveals the deepest secrets to us in the moments of pain because that's where he shows up, in our trials, in our troubles, in our place. Hagar, when she first learned about God who is El Roy, the God who sees me, it was from a place of, that revelation came in desperation. It came out of persecution. Moses learned that he was Jehovah-Nissi, the banner of victory, because he was in a battle. And they were losing the battle and God showed up. So don't be surprised when you end up in a place

that you're desperate for God. It's in those moments that he's actually gonna bring a revelation to your heart about some part of him. And that's what we see today in today's story. But before we get into this passage, let me ask you a question. Have you ever or often said to yourself, I just don't have enough, fill in the blank. I don't have enough time. There's not enough hours in the day. I don't have enough money to pay that bill that just came in. Or I don't have enough patience for these kids you gave me, God, oh God. Right? Well, psychologists actually have a term for that. It's called the scarcity mindset. And it is actually more than just a feeling. It's a belief that the resources that you have, time, money, opportunity, energy, is just always insufficient. It's never quite enough. It's more than a feeling. It's actually a cognitive pattern that we begin to play over and over in our head. One study found that 77% of Americans actually lose sleep over financial worries. Which means that while we're worrying about not having enough money, we ain't getting enough sleep.

We're poor and tired. But a scarcity mindset isn't just bad for your sleep, it's bad for your soul. Because we begin to believe that we don't have enough and we hoard what we have. We hold onto what we've got and we go through our life with our fists closed. And what we need to understand is you can't get what's in God's hands until you first open up yours. You gotta open up what's in your hands. Open up your hands. You can't receive anything from God like this. You can't receive anything you need when you're living life just holding onto what you got. You gotta live like this, open-handed before the Lord. Week one we started with Abraham and today I wanna go back to his story. Just a brief reminder, God promises Abraham in Genesis 12 that he's gonna bless the world through him, that he's gonna be a father of many nations, that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky or the sand on the beach, too numerous to count. The only problem is that he and Sarah were old and they didn't have a child, they were childless. And we talked about how Sarah tried to rush the process and help God out with the promise and offered her maidservant Hagar to sleep with Abraham, to have a child with him, through her. And Hagar has a baby named Ishmael, which brought about even more troubles and problems

that we are dealing with in the world this very week over in the Middle East, which by the way, any time you try to rush God's process, you're gonna birth an Ishmael. And you're gonna deal with the repercussions of you trying to take it out of God's control and putting it in your own control. So fast forward to chapter 21, Abraham and Sarah are now pregnant with their child, Isaac. And Isaac actually means laughter. And I think it's because Sarah laughed when the angel of the Lord said you're gonna have a baby. She was like, ha ha, because she was old, right? And if you were 90, you would laugh too. And then you'd cry, right? What? Because you're out buying diapers and you should be buying the pins. I mean, it's just like, that's wrong timing. So Isaac is born and he is the joy and passion of Abraham and Sarah in their older age. And now in Genesis 22, we read where God is asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on an altar back to him. Now I remember when I was a kid, my mom and dad, gave me this children's Bible storybook that told me the stories of the Bible and had the stories animated with like hand drawings. So on one page, I see Abraham and Sarah

and they're holding little Isaac. And the next page, I turn it over and I see Abraham, ah, you know, and Isaac's laid out and I'm like traumatized. Like I thought this dad's got some anger issues. My dad gets mad at me and spanks me, but I'm good. I'm like, come on, that's fine, right? Let's read the story to find out what this really is all about. Sometime later, Genesis 22, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Then God said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah, sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. So early the next morning, Abraham got up, saddled his donkey, he took with him two of his servants and his son, Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in a distance, and he said to his servants, stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there, we will worship, and then we will come back to you. By the way, this is the first time the word worship is ever used in the Bible. That's significant. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son, Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.

Let's stop there in the story. In the very first verse, it says that sometime later, God tested Abraham. I wanna be perfectly clear. Do not leave today thinking that God wanted Isaac to die. He didn't. Either Abraham was going to pass the test and God would end up doing what we're gonna see God do, or Abraham would fail the test and disobey God, but this was only a test. And when God tests you, it's not to trip you up, it's actually to teach you something, to trust him more. When God tests you, it's not to trip you up, it's actually to grow you up and help you grow up in your faith and understanding of God. Because if anybody could have had a scarcity mindset, it could have been Abraham. He only had one son with his Sarah, who was, they were old, just one, and they had waited decades for this one child. God didn't give him twins or triplets. There was no backup plan here, there was one. One son that was actually supposed to be the way which he would be the father of many nations. I mean, the math wasn't mathing, y'all, and we haven't even got to the place of sacrifice, and now God is saying, give me back Isaac. And by the way, God was super clear what he wanted Abraham to offer back to him. He didn't say, give me a son,

because Abraham had another son, Ishmael, right? He said, give me your son, Isaac. Because if he had said, give me a son, we know that Abraham loved Ishmael, but Ishmael wasn't the promised child, so Ishmael, come on, baby, we're going to the mountain, right? Ishmael would have been on the altar that day, not Isaac. But God was very, very specific. Have you ever noticed how clear God can get when it comes to giving? Like, he gets really specific when you pray about giving something, or he'll even, not even if you ain't praying about it, he'll just get real specific about, I want you to give that to that family. I want you to help this person out over here. I want you to give that to the impact offering. I want you to give this back to the church or through the church. I want to, he'll speak clearly. I mean, Julie and I have heard the voice of the Lord most clearly when it comes to giving. It is ridiculous. I mean, isn't it? Because you'll pray for direction about a decision you have to make, and you're kind of like, ah, I think that's what the Lord is saying. But then when it comes to giving, he's like,

okay, this is what you're supposed to give. I'm like, what? I mean, there has been times when Julie and I will be praying with somebody, a family in need or a single parent, and the Lord will just whisper in our hearts, give them this right now. I remember just a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting where I normally sit here at the Gardens Campus. And I saw a young man here in church who is here almost every Sunday. And when I saw him, the Lord said, give him $1,000 cash. And I was like, Lord, I don't, I don't have, I don't have, I don't have that on me. I don't carry that kind of cash. And the Lord whispered back, I bet he uses Apple Cash. I'm like, you know about Apple Cash? Sure enough, I asked him and he's like, yeah, I use Apple Cash. So I sent him a thousand bucks. Clear, him. One time, God told Julie and I to give a family some money in the church. And it was so much, more than a thousand bucks. And I'm like, you want me to give it or you want we to give it? Like you're looking, he says, I want you to give it. And I remember wrestling with God, why?

I don't know of any problem going on in their life. Like I know this family and I heard the voice of the Lord as clearly as I'm talking to you say, I want to bless them and I want to do it through you. Well, I got my checkbook out and wrote them a check as fast as I could. God is clear when it comes to giving. Why would God be so clear when it comes to giving of all the different things that he needs to communicate to us except that he knows that when you are giving, you are more like God, who is a giver. God so loved the world that he gave. Jesus so loved the world that he gave his life that when you are giving, you are more like God. You've heard me say before that this book is a book all about giving. There's about 500 verses in here about faith, how to have faith, about 500 scripture verses about prayer, what to pray about, how to keep on praying, 500 verses on love, but there are 2,300 verses on money, possessions, and giving, 2,300. Do you know that Jesus spent more time talking about money and possessions and giving than he did about heaven and hell? Like Jesus, don't you know which is more important? And yet he spent time talking about this. Why would God spend so much? Jesus, nearly 25% of all his lessons and teachings were around giving and money and possessions.

If I preached one out of every four sermons on giving, you'd be looking for a different church, and so would I, like, well, I just got here. But that's what Jesus did, so why would Jesus do that except that he knew something? He knew that our possessions have the power to possess us, that we would learn to trust in what we have instead of trust in him, and he doesn't want, he wants you trusting in him as his, he's the supplier, not you, not what you can gather and hold onto. God is your supply. See, it's not wrong that you got stuff. He just doesn't want our stuff to have us. And the best way that we know that they, we make sure that our stuff doesn't have us is we keep our hands open before God. So God tells Abraham, give me your only son, Isaac, whom you love, which, by the way, this is also the first time the word love is ever used in the Bible. Isn't that significant, that it's not introduced in the context of a romantic feeling, or emotion, or even a friendship, but in the context of a father, a beloved son, and a sacrifice, that the first biblical definition of love is not a sentiment, it is actually surrender, which actually points to another father, and a beloved son, and a sacrifice that we'll read about in the New Testament. In fact, this story that we're looking at today

is profoundly prophetic, because it just so happens to be that Abraham and Isaac are going up on the Mount Moriah, the mountain range of Moriah, which 2,000 years later would be the place where Jerusalem has been built, and Jesus would be crucified, a father, a beloved son, and a sacrifice, pointing to it from the very, the Bible's like full of all these amazing points to get our attention. This is important. Look again at verse three. It said, early the next morning, after Abraham got this word, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey, took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac, and he headed out. Early the next morning. I read that and I go, why would you go early the next morning? I would be delaying as long as I could, right? Like, oh, it looks like rain, we better stay home. Take Isaac on a fishing trip before I go down this road. I wanna, I would be figuring out, I would be doing anything I could to delay it. I would be, most of us would be trying to compromise with God, like God, how about instead of Isaac, I'll give you five sheep, two goats, and I'll throw in Sarah, because she's old. Like, she's lived a good life. How about that instead of Isaac? Part of what makes Abraham's obedience so radical is it was so immediate.

Don't miss that. Part of why this is, why it stands out so much is because he obeyed so quickly. I've been guilty of putting off things I know that God's been trying to speak to me about. I kind of delay it, I might even be in giving, I'm trying to figure out how to, how's that all gonna work out? But by the way, God has never called me to figure, he's called me to follow, to just trust him, to just obey quickly what he says. And when you think about it, delayed obedience is really disobedience. It's really you and me thinking that we know better than God. Because when we know he says to do something, whether it's something the spirit. has spoken to us or the word has spoken to us, when we delay, we're actually saying, no, no, I think I know how to control this better, handle this better, it's better if I stay in control. So what has God already told you to do that you've been delaying? Abraham obeyed immediately. Last point from this section and then we'll read the next part of the story. In verse five, he said to his servants, stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there, we will worship and then we will come back to you. The we, that pronoun should jump out at you.

Like what, Abraham, we, don't you know what you're gonna go do? What do you mean we will come back to you? Well, Hebrews 11 in the New Testament, which spells out a lot of the men and women of faith from the Old Testament, actually tells us about Abraham's faith. We get a little insight here. And in Hebrews 11, verse 17, it 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 a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. Do you see this holy exchange that's going on between Abraham and God? Abraham didn't have what he needed. So God gave him a son. And then God says, give me back what I've put in your hands. And so Abraham goes to give his son back, the most precious gift he has in life, give back to God, knowing that God will give it back to him, even if God has to raise him from the dead,

which is amazing faith. Because up to this point, Abraham had no point of reference for that kind of faith. None of the prophets, Elijah, Elisha, had not raised anybody from the dead. Jesus had not raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus himself had not raised from the dead, right? So today we're like, well, we know that because we know we celebrate Easter. Abraham, Easter hadn't happened yet, right? Abraham had no context for this kind of faith. But here's the point. When you know you're in good hands, you can live with open hands. Like when you know you're in good hands, you're in the hands of God, a good God, a good father, you can live your life like this. So when you know that God is Elohim, all-powerful, he can do anything. When you know that God is El Roy, who sees you, and he sees what you're going through, you can live your life with open hands. When you know that every good gift has come from God, then you can live your life open-handedly before God. Let's read on in the story, verse seven. So the two of them went on together. Isaac spoke up, said to his father, Abraham, father, yes, my son. Although fire and the wood are here, Isaac said, oh, I don't see the lamb for the burnt offering.

Abraham answered, again in faith, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on. 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, laid him on the altar on top of that wood. Gosh, can you imagine what was going through his, I can't. Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. And at that moment, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham. And I bet he was like, yes, oh, thank God, 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 saw a ram caught by the swans in the thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yira or Jehovah-Jira, which means the Lord will provide. And look at that last verse. To this day, people will use that name as a proverb on the mountain of the Lord, say that with me, on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. Okay, a couple of things that we pull out

because we're learning. What positions us for the provision? And what prevents the provision in our life? If we want to experience Jehovah-Jira in our life, what actually positions us to receive provision and what could prevent us from experiencing the provision of God? And notice the provision wasn't at the base of the mountain. The ram wasn't down at the base of the mountain. It wasn't anywhere even along the journey. It was found at the altar, at the place of obedience. See, the provision wasn't obvious until Abraham obeyed. The ram didn't show up until Abraham surrendered. Some of us are wondering, God, where's my provision? You're Jehovah-Jireh, why haven't you provided? Maybe because we haven't surrendered. Maybe because we haven't obeyed in an area that he's wanting to provide in. But we still have our hands closed on what we have that we haven't opened up to God. But when Abraham opened his hands, it opened up heaven. Look again at verse 11. It says, at that moment, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. At what moment? At what moment? When did God show up? He showed up when Abraham obeyed. It was at that moment when Abraham's gift was actually on the altar.

So your supply is at the place of your surrender. Abraham's place of obedience became his place of provision. So there are some things that actually position us for the provision, and that's just when we obey God with what we know he's told us to do. And there are some things that actually prevent the provision, and that would be when I disobey God or think I know better than God. Obedience actually positions us for God's provision. Abraham's place of obedience becomes his place of provision. What if he had stopped halfway up the mountain? Well, he would have missed out on the miracle. Not only is delayed obedience disobedience delays the provision. See, when you understand that Jehovah Jireh is just waiting on the other side of our obedience. He's just waiting right there on the other side of it. We're gonna be quick to obey. Even when we don't fully understand, Abraham did not fully understand how this was all gonna play out. He knew that God could raise Isaac up from the dead, but he wasn't sure what this all meant or how it was all gonna work out, which reminds us again that you don't have to understand completely in order to obey immediately. Too many of us wanna figure it all out before we actually follow in the things that God is teaching us in his word.

But in fact, your obedience unlocks your understanding. As you step out and obey, you begin to understand, oh, God, that's what you mean. In fact, there are some things about God and this word and about life that you and I will never understand until we step out and obey God and trust him. Like, why does God talk so much about sexual purity in the Bible? Well, it's because he doesn't want you carrying baggage with you into your marriage relationship when you eventually get married. So that's why he talks about that way, way all throughout the Bible. Why does he talk about forgiving people? Well, until you obey and actually forgive, then you go, oh, I'm the one that's actually released when I actually forgive the person that hurt me. Oh, well, you don't understand that until you actually obey that. See what I'm saying? And so until you open up your hands, when God says, live your life like this, you don't understand that he actually has things that he's gonna put in your hands, things he's gonna take out of your hands, and more things he's gonna put in your hands. But you never learn that lesson if you keep your fists closed. Remember the verse that we opened up with in Isaiah 52.6

where God says, I will reveal my name to my people and they will know its power. It was after this place of desperation that Abraham got the revelation, oh, you're Jireh. It didn't come before this moment. You're Jireh, you provide everything I need. So now that I've seen that and now that I've experienced that, then the next time you ask me to obey you in an area, I'm gonna be quick to do it because I see what you're doing. Like, I get it. Your obedience unlocks your understanding. When you're in good hands, you can live with open hands. And at the very end of this story in verse 14, we read this, it says, to this day, people still use that name as a proverb, on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. On the mountain of the Lord, that place of surrender, that place of obedience, that's where Jehovah Jireh shows up. One last thought from this story and then we're gonna pray. Verse 15 goes on to say, the angel of the Lord called out again. Now, remember we learned this in week one and some of you knew this, that anytime you see the term angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, theologians call this a theophany.

This is Jesus showing up in scripture before he shows up in Bethlehem, okay? So this is a pre-incarnate Christ. So just any angel, this is Jesus showing up. So the angel of the Lord called out to Abraham from heaven. This is what the Lord says, because you've obeyed me and not withheld, even your son, your only son, I swear. by my own name, name of Jesus, that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number like the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed all because, say it with me, you have obeyed me. Huge point here for us. Because he was willing to release what was in his hand and put it into God's hand, God was actually able to bless it and multiply it. He couldn't bless it when it was in Abraham's hand. It actually had to get out of Abraham's hand and get into his hand. And by the way, God didn't take Abraham's son. Instead, he gave him a nation of descendants. Think about it. Your God's not a taker. Your God is a giver. Every good and perfect gift in your life comes from God. So what if the very thing God is asking you to give

is the very thing he's wanting to bless? Abraham thought he was gonna take Isaac. No, he's like, you put it in my hands, I'm gonna bless Isaac. I'm gonna bless. What if the very thing that God has been talking to you about putting into his hands, whatever that might be in your life, is the very thing that he's wanting to bless, but in order for him to bless it, it has to get out of our hands and it has to get into his hands. And I believe that Abraham was able to take what was in his hands and open them up and put it into God's hands is because he had God in his heart. So the question is, is God in that first place in my heart, in your heart? And the best way we know if God is in the first place in our heart is we have to look at our hands. Are we living like this, holding on to things that might bring us security, that we think might bring us happiness, that might, or are we living our life going, God, my life is yours. Everything about it is all yours. See, here's the last point. When you withhold nothing, God is free to bless everything. When you withhold nothing, God can bless everything because you fast forward in this story

a few chapters to Genesis 24. Abraham's 140 years old. Isaac is getting married. And it says this in verse one of Genesis 24. Abraham is now old, getting on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in what? In what? Everything. And in the Hebrew, everything means everything. Every part of your life. God doesn't take, he blesses, but he can bless what we put in his hands. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord provides, don't miss this, though we see the principle in scripture, the only place it is ever used in the Bible is with sacrifice. One time, right here on Mount Moriah, directly connected to obedience and surrender. Your provision is found at the place of obedience. Your supply that you're looking for right now is found at the place of surrender. So I guess the question for us is what's your Isaac? What's your Isaac? What's that thing that you find security in and you hold on to and you think that, oh, if I just get a little bit more of that, then I'm gonna be okay. If I can hold on to that, then that's gonna be exactly what I need. For some of us, it's our career.

We, boy, we work it, baby. Because we find security in our career, or maybe being successful in our career. Like, oh, if I just, if I win, if I'm winning, then I'm winning and I've got what I need. Or maybe we find it in controlling our time. And we gotta, we actually need to put our days in the hands of God. God, I'm gonna give you my days and my time and my hours. For a lot of people, it might be we find security in collecting these little things. I wish it was full size, sorry. Toys, possessions, things that mark our significance. For most people, it's this right here. We hold, in fact, for a lot of Christians, this is the last area of surrender. Because we think this is actually gonna bring us security. If I keep enough of this in the bank and my retirement accounts, and ooh, then I'll be okay. But if I don't have enough, I'm not gonna be okay. Thinking that we can actually take care of ourselves and our future better than God can. A lot of things could be in Isaac. It could be your kids, right? That we actually need to put it in the hands of God. It could be the security of our home, place to live. We find security in other things than in God. But what is your Isaac? What is the thing that God has been telling you, if you'll just put it in my hands,

I'm not gonna take it. from you, actually gonna bless it, but in order to bless it, it's gotta get out of your hands and it needs to get into the Father's hands. I wanna pray two prayers for us today. And the first prayer is I'm just gonna give you a moment to respond to what the Holy Spirit's been speaking to you about. Maybe there's some area that he's already told you to obey him and you've been kind of rationalizing or compromising, but today you're gonna surrender that to God today. But the second prayer I wanna pray are for those of you that the most important thing that you can put into the hands of God is your life. And the most important thing that he wants to bless in this life and in the life to come is you and your soul. And the only way that happens is when you put Jesus in the first place in your life. And so if you need to do that today, you need to get your relationship with God right, then that second prayer is gonna be for you. Would you bow your heads with me as we pray today? And in a moment of just silent prayer, what's that one thing that God's been speaking to you about and saying, trust me in this area. Maybe it's with your time, with your career, with a relationship, with your finances. You haven't been trusting God in that area. Most Christians have the hardest time trusting God

in that area. What do you need to put into the hands of God today? And as we continue to pray with every head bowed, as I pray the second prayer about you turning your life over to Jesus, if you would say, Todd, today I need to give Jesus my life. I need to surrender everything to him. I'm gonna pray the second prayer. And if you would say, include me in that prayer, right where you are. Would you just raise your hand up all across the room? Yeah, hold it up high. You're not ashamed. You want Jesus to step into your life today. Yeah, I see hands going up all of our campuses. Pray this out loud with me. Those of you with your hands up, pray it a little louder. Just pray this, say, dear Lord Jesus, come into my life. Forgive me of all my sins. I put you in the first place. Take that place in my life. And I will follow you for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Come on, let's thank God today for all those that made that decision. Thank you.