You Have Arrived | Lucas DeVries

Well hey Pando family, thank you so much for worshipping with us here at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. My name is Derek, I am our campus pastor for SeOnline and again I am so grateful that out of all the places that you could have chosen to worship today, that you decided to worship with us here. And we would love over the course of the next few weeks for you to consider looking at the address to our church in the description of this video and reaching out and writing us a letter. We have a team of volunteers and staff that love to be able to read through those, pray about those and respond in encouragement to you. And we love getting to do that. It's a big part of this ministry and we hope that you'll take part in that as well. And there's already been over 32,000 of you together that have taken part in this ministry by subscribing to our Southeast Christian Church channel where there's different Bible studies and podcasts and weekly worship services just like this that you get to be a part of every single week. But y'all, today we are continuing on in our Journey of Faith sermon series. We're actually going to be wrapping it up here in week seven of it. You're going to hear from a guy named Lucas DeVries, who is the campus pastor here at our Blankenbaker campus of what you see behind us and behind me almost every single week. Lucas is going to be wrapping up the Journey of Faith sermon series, talking about Genesis 21 and how Abraham and Isaac are now on the scene together and God asks Abraham to do something that I would be willing to bet Abraham never thought that God would ask him. Y'all, but we hope that you are in a good place today because I think today is going to be a great time of worship. It is going to be a wonderful message, y'all. And thanks so much for being here. But for now, let's go worship together. We worship the God who was, we worship the God who was, we worship the God who was, we worship the God who wins, we worship the God who evermore will be.

He opened the prison doors, he parted the raging sea, by God he holds the victory. Oh, come on, you sing! Let's join the house of the Lord, let's join the house of the Lord today. So we won't be quiet. Shout! We shout out your praise. Let's join the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place. We won't be quiet. We shout out your praise. Oh, we shout out your praise. We sing. We sing to the God who heals. We sing to the God who saves. We sing to the God who always makes a way. Oh, come on. Because he hung up on that cross and he rose up from that grave. Oh, my God still rolling stones away. Let's join the house of the Lord, let's join the house of the Lord today. We won't be quiet. Oh! We shout out your praise. Let's join the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place. We won't be quiet. We shout out your praise. Yes, Lord. We shout your praise. Oh, come on, you sing it like you know it's true. We were the beggars, but now we're royalty.

We were the prisoners, and now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace. Let this house of the Lord sing his praise. Sing it again. We were the beggars, but now we're royalty. We were the prisoners, and now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace. Let the house of the Lord sing his praise. Oh, that's why we praise, y'all. Come on, you sing it. Let's join. Let's join the house of the Lord. Let's join the house of the Lord. ♪ We won't be quiet, we shout out Your praise ♪ ♪ Let's join the house of Lord ♪ ♪ Our God is surely in this place ♪ ♪ We won't be quiet, we shout out Your praise ♪ ♪ Let's join the house of Lord today ♪ ♪ We won't be quiet, we shout out Your praise ♪ ♪ Let's join the house of Lord ♪ ♪ Our God is surely in this place ♪ ♪ We won't be quiet, we shout out Your praise ♪ ♪ We shout Your praise ♪ Amen, church, we're gonna sing a new song together this morning. There is no one like our God, no one more faithful or more worthy to be praised. We sing this song together. ♪ When I look up at the heavens ♪ ♪ All the works Your hand has made ♪

♪ Who am I when You are loving me ♪ ♪ Let alone accept my praise ♪ ♪ Creation tells a story ♪ ♪ From the ashes back to grace ♪ ♪ Every breath is a beginning ♪ ♪ So I'll return it back with praise ♪ ♪ Let all the earth declare His name ♪ ♪ How great, how great is Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name deserves our praise ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name ♪ ♪ Every stronghold, every mountain ♪ ♪ Belts like wax before the King, oh ♪ ♪ If the rocks shun God's dominion ♪ ♪ How could I not stand and say ♪ ♪ Let all the earth declare His name ♪ ♪ How great, how great is Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name deserves our praise ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Faithful, holy, strong in mind ♪ ♪ All creation shout ♪ ♪ There's no one like our God, righteous, worthy ♪ ♪ None more deserving, all creation shout ♪ ♪ There's no one like our God, faithful, holy ♪ ♪ Strong in mind, all creation shout ♪ ♪ There's no one like our God, righteous, worthy ♪ ♪ None more deserving, all creation shout ♪ ♪ There's no one like our God, faithful, holy ♪ ♪ Strong in mind, all creation shout ♪

♪ There's no one like our God, righteous, worthy ♪ ♪ None more deserving, all creation shout ♪ ♪ There's no one like our God, there's no one like our God ♪ ♪ There's no one like our God ♪ ♪ Let all the earth declare His name ♪ ♪ How great, how great is Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name deserves our praise ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Let all the earth declare His name ♪ ♪ How great, how great is Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name deserves our praise ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ No other name but Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ Hallelujah. Across the barricades Look at the flowers and all of their beauty I don't have to wonder You know what You're doing So why would I worry at all? You're faithful to supply Everything I need Everything I need My Father has it My Father has it Every single time The Lord will provide My Father has it My Father has it

My Father has it But look at the sparrow Lacking for nothing No fear of tomorrow Or what it will bring I have You If I have You, I have enough Cause Your love will satisfy Everything I need Everything I need My Father has it My Father has it Every single time The Lord will provide My Father has it My Father has it Thank You, Lord For all You've given me Seek first the kingdom And its treasures Everything else that will be added All that I'm needing Come on, in faith Yes, I know the Lord will provide Come on, you sing, let's testify And I know my God's an empty-handed He gives us blessings Of all blessings I'm still believing And I know the Lord will provide

Seek first the kingdom And its treasures Everything else that will be added All that I'm needing I know the Lord will provide I know my God's an empty-handed He gives us blessings Of all blessings I'm still believing And I know the Lord will provide Everything I need Everything I need Everything I need My Father has it My Father has it Every single time The Lord will provide My Father has it My Father has it Everything I need Everything I need My Father has it My Father has it Every single time The Lord will provide My Father has it Seek first the kingdom And its treasures Everything else that will be added All that I'm needing

I know the Lord will provide I know my God's an empty-handed He gives us blessings Of all blessings I'm still believing ♪ Oh, I know that Lord will provide ♪ ♪ Yes, I know that Lord will provide ♪ ♪ Yes, I know that Lord will provide, yeah ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord ♪ Father, we just declare that you are the great provider. God, you are mindful of all of creation, yet at the very same time, you see us. God, you are mindful of the sparrow, which means that there's no thing that gets away from your eyesight. And so, Lord, we just come back to you and say, God, we need you. God, today, we are especially thankful for those who gave their lives for our country. God, on this Memorial Day weekend, we celebrate those, we honor those who gave the greatest sacrifice, who gave their lives for their friends so that we can worship here this morning. And so, Lord, we just, we say thank you, but our hearts turn to Jesus, who gave himself up for us so that we could have hope. The greatest sacrifice so that we could have the greatest hope. So, Lord, we say thank you for Jesus,

thank you for the cross. We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen. You can take a seat. You know, if I was to relive any moment in my life, my wedding day would be at the top of the list. It was truly an extraordinary day that we look back on with fondness. I was surrounded by my friends and family. I got to see my best friend walk down the aisle. It was one of those moments that you just wanted to freeze in time. I think I've got a picture of it here for us. On the count of three, say, aw. One, two, three. Aw. It was truly a moment to remember, but it didn't go off without any hiccups. There were a few things that went wrong, but I think the one that took the cake was, and I won't tell you who, but someone forgot to try on his pants before the day before the wedding. And in case you're wondering, not a great idea. And so I think the best way to describe it, I can't put a picture on the screen, but the best way to describe it was that the seams of my pants were holding on for dear life. And so my pockets were flaring. It was not good. Eventually we were able to,

the store opened up on that Saturday. We were able to get some pants crisis averted. Like we figured it out. But you know, there were some hiccups. There were some things that went wrong, but the day happened. And it really was such a beautiful time together. You know, I remember one of my friends, a mentor of mine told me, he said, Lucas, you need to make sure that you're not mistaking milestones for finish lines. And what he meant by that was that so oftentimes couples that are preparing for their wedding day, they get so focused on the moment that they completely forget the journey. And I think that that's such a great way to picture our faith. That so often we get so consumed with the destination and what we believe God has in front of us that when we arrive, oftentimes we settle for that. When in reality, God has so much more. And I just, I feel so strongly today to communicate to someone in this room. Like, I believe that as long as you have breath in your lungs, there's more. I believe that there's more for your marriage. I believe that God has so much more for your singleness. He has so much more for your job. He has so much more for your parenting. For some of us, God has so much more for your retirement.

God has more. And what we're gonna see today as we jump into our text is that God has more for Abraham. God has brought to pass the promise. Isaac is here, but the temptation is gonna be to sit down in his faith, but God's gonna tell him to stand up and to keep going. So if you have your Bible, I'd love for you to turn to Genesis chapter 21. Genesis chapter 21 and 22 is gonna be where we're at. God's not finished with Abraham, and he has more in store than Abraham could have ever imagined. And so the moment that we're getting ready to read is where God's promise to Abraham and Sarah finally arrive, where God does exactly what he said he would do. I'll start reading in verse one. It says the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised, and Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. And she said, who would have said to Abraham

that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age. You know, if I'm writing this story, this is where the story ends. Like this is the finish line. This is the moment that everything's been building towards the promise. Son has arrived. Cue the music, roll the credits. This feels like an appropriate finish line. But let me remind you, what looks like a finish line is oftentimes just a milestone. Look at what Genesis chapter 22, verse one says. It says, after these things, God, say it with me, tested Abraham. And so after the long journey, after the waiting, after God finally came through, you'd expect the line to say, Abraham lived happily ever after, or Abraham went golfing for the rest of his days, but that's not what it says. It says, after these things, God tested Abraham. And I don't know about you, but I feel like that is a life verse for me. Like right about the time I think that I've arrived, right about the moment that I try to sit down and coast a little, like that's usually when the test shows up. It shows up right when you thought life

was about to get easy, right after you received that ring that you've been waiting for. And when you get the call that you got the job, when the pregnancy test comes back positive, when you just get the kids out of diapers, when the last kid finally leaves the house, when retirement is right around the corner, it's never when you would choose it. But here's what I know. I think that this is worth writing down. Faith doesn't grow in comfort. Faith grows in testing. And if we're honest, this is the part we don't naturally sign up for. We love the promise, we celebrate the breakthrough, but the test, the test is where God does his deepest work. Because if we want a faith that's full and alive, a faith that doesn't sit down and go past tense, we don't just tolerate the test. The Bible says that we need to take joy in it. So here's what I want to do today. As we keep walking through this story, as we follow Abraham's journey of faith, I want to give you four things to hold on to. Four ways to make sure we don't confuse milestones with finish lines. Four ways to keep our faith moving forward. You know, when you enlist in the military, they do something really interesting.

Before you know where you're going to be deployed, before you know what will be asked of you, before you have any idea what's ahead, they pull you into a room. They ask you to raise your right hand and you recite an oath. You swear to serve and obey and to go wherever you're sent. And there's no briefing. There's no detail and no fine print to review, at least not for most of them. While that's a picture of incredible commitment to a country, I think it's exactly how we're supposed to live as we live by faith. And so here's the first thing I want you to write down. Number one, you need to give God your full availability. Genesis chapter 22, verse one. It says, after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and Abraham said, here I am. Now, I don't want you to breeze past that phrase, here I am. In Hebrew, it's the word Hanini, and it's so much deeper than giving God your location. Let me remind you, God does not need help knowing where you are. You don't need to drop him a pin. He's the sovereign Lord. What God, what Abraham is saying here is, God, you have all of me. Like whatever you need, God, I am at your disposal. You have my full attention and I'm ready.

Here's the piece that I want to emphasize. Abraham says yes before Abraham knows what yes will require. God hasn't told him anything. There's no explanation. There's no outline. There's no hint of where this is heading. He simply says, Abraham, and Abraham says, here I am. And I think if we're honest, that's not how we operate. We don't lead with yes, we lead with questions. How much is this gonna cost me? Is this gonna take away my comforts? What about my plans and my timeline? But God doesn't give Abraham any of that. He simply calls his name and he waits for an answer. You know, something that I'm really excited to share with our Blankenbaker family is that since Easter, we have seen roughly 403 people get baptized since Easter. I think that's worth celebrating. Thank you. Amen. When people come back to get baptized, in many more words than this, we tell them that baptism is their first yes of obedience, but it shouldn't be their last yes. Your first yes is saying Jesus, I am submitting myself underneath the lordship of Christ. I will go wherever you lead me. You are my Lord and Savior. But what those of us who have been baptized,

what we know is that following Jesus doesn't stop there. Baptism isn't a finish line, it's a starting point. And so what we tell them is that there will be moments where the Holy Spirit convicts you of things that you didn't even know were sin. And there'll be moments where God asks you to let go of things that you didn't even know had control on you. There'll be moments where obedience feels costly, where it's incredibly uncomfortable and maybe even confusing. You see the part of baptism that you're declaring is you're saying Jesus, here I am. You have all of me before I hear your instructions, you have my yes. And so if we really wanna avoid mistaking milestones for finish lines, if we wanna keep walking with God past the moment that he comes through, number one, we've gotta give God our full availability. But number two, you've gotta be willing to dethrone your Isaac. You know, a thermometer doesn't create the temperature in a room, it just reveals what's already there. And I think the testing of our faith works the same way. God has always used tests to reveal what's in us. Deuteronomy 8, two says this. It says, the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness that he might humble you, testing you to know what's in your heart. You see, tests don't produce what's inside of you,

they expose it. And sometimes the clearest way God reveals our hearts is by asking for what matters most to us. And that's exactly what happens here in Genesis chapter 22, verse two. God says to Abraham, he says, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Now, I don't want you to miss this. Up until this moment, the word love has never appeared in the Bible, not once. And the first time that it shows up, it's attached to the very person God is using to test Abraham's faith. And I hope you know that that's not an accident. Listen how God phrases this again. He says, take your son, your only son, whom you love. You see, the writer here is making it painfully clear. God is reaching directly into Abraham's chest. And he doesn't ask for something Abraham has plenty of. God is testing Abraham's deepest affection and is asking one question. He's asking Abraham, who do you love most? Do you love the promise? Or do you love the God of the promise? And he doesn't ask that because he's insecure. He's asking that because he knows that whatever sits on the throne of our hearts

will eventually lead our lives. And so let me ask us this question. What's your Isaac? What's the thing that you love so deeply that if God asked for it, everything inside you would begin to quake? Now, I remember the first time I really noticed God testing me. I had just landed my first job in ministry. I was a youth pastor slash associate pastor in Naples, Florida. And at 23 years old, I thought that I had arrived. What I didn't realize was that I had decided to move to a city during a time of year where retirees would come down south and take up all of the housing. And so for weeks, I drove around trying to find a place to live. I was filling out applications left and right, and there were no vacancies anywhere until eventually I ran out of options. And at the request of my senior pastor at the time, he said, what if you slept in the storage closet? but of the church. And I just thought to myself, I never thought that that was an option. And so I slept on a broken sectional with a microwave on a stool with an extension cord. And every night the mice would come out to play to remind me that I did not belong there.

I remember one Sunday morning, I got up early because I didn't want our volunteers to come in and see me sleeping there. And so I got up early. I went to the YMCA and I took a shower and I came back dressed as if I had been there for the first time. And that weekend I was preaching. And I just remember later in the afternoon, everyone was gone and I just was so wrestling with God. I was so struggling with the season that I felt like I was so out of control. My comfort was just completely gone. And I just, I didn't know how to make what I needed to have happen, happen. I just, I remember sitting in that little sanctuary. It was dimly lit. And I remember I looked up at the stage and I saw all the instruments and I saw the drums and the piano and the guitar and the mics. I don't know how to explain it to you, but it just felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me in that moment that I had seen worship all wrong. I had seen worship as something that we did on Sunday where we lifted our voices and where we sang. And that certainly is worship. But I think as we look at scripture, what we see true worship is,

is whatever you serve on the throne of your heart. And what God was dealing with me in that small little sanctuary is that I had allowed comfort, control, and affirmation be on the throne of my heart. And God was saying that could not sustain the weight of my life. The only person who could sit on the throne was God. There was a scripture that I held on to during that time. It was Romans 12, one. It says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. You know, I've never worshiped deeper than what happened in that little sanctuary that evening. Because true worship isn't just singing songs on Sunday. It's laying your life before God and saying, God, there is nothing that will sit on the throne of my life except for you. Now, for those of you who are wondering, eventually I did find a place to live. And that season did come to a close. But more than finding a place to live, I found a better way to live. And so the second thing that we see is we need to dethrone our Isaacs. But the third thing, I want you to write this down, we need to trust that God will provide. Verse three.

It says, so Abraham rose early in the morning. He saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. I love this part of the scripture because Abraham doesn't hesitate. He doesn't wait to understand. He simply starts moving and trusting that God will provide. But don't miss this. While Abraham's obedience is immediate, the test is not. The text says this. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place from afar. I want you to just imagine this for a second. God tells you to sacrifice your son. And then you go on a journey for three days with no new instructions, no clarification, just step after step after step, holding the tension between what God promised and what God was asking him to do. And what I found to be true in seasons like this is that the hardest part of trusting God's provision is the waiting. It's when you've obeyed what God said, but you don't understand what God's doing. It's moving out of the boyfriend or girlfriend's house because you've decided to save sex for marriage as God intended, and now you're waiting. You're wondering if obedience is worth it.

You're wondering if that relationship will continue or if you'll be able to find a relationship at all if you don't offer that. Choosing to forgive someone who hurt you and waiting for your heart to catch up with your obedience. It's loving your spouse like Christ loved the church, even when it's not being reciprocated and nothing seems to change. It's where the test feels long and all you have to hold on to is God's character. And what we see here is that Abraham keeps moving forward in faith, trusting that God. We'll provide, we'll pick back up in verse five. It says, then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come to you again. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. And he took in his hand, the fire and the knife. And so they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father. And he said, here I am, my son. He said, behold, the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went both of them together. And so Abraham has no lamb. He has zero plan.

He has no indication of how this ends. And yet he confidently says, God will provide. Now those words were far more prophetic than Abraham even realized in that moment. We'll come back to that in a minute. We'll pick back up in verse nine. It says, when they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built there the altar and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. I want you to notice, I mean, at this point, Isaac is no child. He is an adult man who could have easily overpowered his aging father, but he submits. He submits to his father's will, verse nine. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

So Abraham called the name of that place the Lord will provide. And as it said to this day on the Mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. And so what we see here is the most miraculous intervention. Abraham has faith. He follows what God says and God provided. And while I love how simple that sounds, I think the temptation in a story like this is to think that if I have enough faith, God will give me the miracle that I'm hoping for. And trust me, I know why that sounds so appealing, but I think it's important to realize that God's definition of provision is often different than ours. One of the most helpful passages in scripture regarding faith is Hebrews chapter 11. It's known as the hall of faith. And it just goes all the way down, listing this incredible run of people in the Bible who lived by faith. People like Noah, people like Moses, people like Enoch and Abel. And it goes all the way down even to verse 17. It mentions our story today. It mentions Abraham and Isaac and how Abraham lived by faith. But the piece that I want us to look at is verse 33. The writer of Hebrews gives this incredible list of what was accomplished through faith.

It says this. It says, who through faith, they conquered kingdoms, they enforced justice, they obtained promises, they stopped the mouths of lions, they quenched the power of fire, they escaped the edge of the sword. They were made strong out of weakness. And if you skip down, it says at the very end, it says women received back their dead by resurrection. I think that this is a great place to pause and simply say to some of us in the room, God still does miracles. He is not dead. God is still in the business of doing extraordinary things through faith. But I think that if we stop here, I think that we leave the door open to believe that enough faith will always produce the miracle that you're hoping for. And Scripture never makes that promise. Because right here, without any warning, the tone shifts completely. The writer goes from testimonies of miracles to testimonies of men and women who by that same faith endured tremendous suffering. It says this, it says that there were others, there were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging

and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning. They were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword, and the list goes on and on, but I don't want you to miss this. Some of them by faith experienced miracles, and others experienced suffering, and yet they were both called faith. You see, sometimes God's provision comes through intervention, but sometimes it comes through endurance. Sometimes God delivers you from it, and sometimes He walks you through it, but please hear me, either way, He is still providing. You see, faith is not a formula to get the outcome that you want. Faith is trust in the God who is worthy, no matter the outcome. And so as followers of Jesus, we don't put our faith in results. We don't put our faith in outcomes. We put our faith only in Jesus. We say by miracle or by suffering, may Christ be glorified. You know, as we close out this text, there's one last way to avoid confusing milestones with finished signs. Number four, we need to be a people who trust God's bigger story. Look at what God says to Abraham

after he obeys on that mountain. Genesis chapter 22, verse 17. It says, I will surely bless you. I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, as the sand that's on the seashore. And in your offspring shall all nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. You know, I think what's interesting about this closing text is that if we were to stop right before this passage, if we were to stop right here, we would miss the deeper point of this passage entirely. You see, Abraham's obedience on that mountain wasn't just about Abraham. It wasn't even just about Isaac. It was about something that was far greater than them. God was writing a story far bigger than any of them could have ever imagined, a story that would eventually bless all nations. Because nearly 2,000 years after Abraham and Isaac walked up that mountain, there was another story. There was another father and another son. I want you to see this as we put it on the screen. You see, in the Old Testament, God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, the one that he loved. But 2,000 years later, God the Father did the very same thing. He gave his son, his only son, the one that he loved. In the Old Testament, Abraham told his servant

to stay behind while he and the boy went up to worship. 2,000 years later, the promised son of God made his way up a hill, not to receive worship, but to be obedient to the Father's will all the way to death. In the Old Testament, Abraham placed the wood on Isaac's back, and Isaac carried it up Mount Moriah. Yet 2,000 years later, the son of God carried a wooden cross on his back up a hill called Golgotha. Isaac, though he was strong enough to overpower his aging father, he didn't resist. He trusted, he submitted, and he obeyed. 2,000 years later, the son of God, who at any moment could have decimated his captors, went quietly like a lamb being led to the slaughter. When Isaac asked where the lamb was, Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb. He had no idea how prophetic those words were. 2,000 years later, a man named John stood at the Jordan River. John saw Jesus walking toward him, and he said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When Abraham raised the knife over his son on that mountain, God stopped his hand, and Isaac walked off that mountain alive. But 2,000 years later on Golgotha, there was no ram, there was no intervention, there was no voice from heaven saying stop this time.

God did not spare his son because this time the lamb was the provision. John 3, 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. You see, Abraham obeyed on that mountain, but what he couldn't see was that God was writing a bigger story, a story that would one day lead to another son carrying wood up another hill in this time, there would be no ram in the thicket. From a human perspective, the cross looked like a finish line. The disciples thought it was over, the stone rolled in front of the tomb said it was over. but let me remind you what looks like a finish line is oftentimes just a milestone because Jesus was not just any man. He was the son of God. And three days later, that tomb was empty, which means death didn't get the last word. The grave didn't get the last word. God got the last word. And because of that, let me tell you this morning, your story isn't finished. God isn't done with you. The same God who provided a ram for Abraham, the same God who walked out of that tomb is the same God who is present in your story right now. And he can be trusted. He can be trusted with your salvation.

He can be trusted with your salvation and he can be trusted with your sanctification because the same God who did not spare his own son is the same God who is writing your story right now. And let me tell you, friend, he is not done. Church, what would happen if we decided that there's more? Like what would happen if we stopped coasting in our faith? What would happen if every person in this room simply said, here I am, Lord, all of me. I don't know exactly what God would do. I don't know what he would do in our church and I don't know what he would do in our community, but what I do know, what I do know is that God would provide and the reason I know that is because he already has and his name is Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. God, we thank you that we don't have to really do anything. God, it pierces our hearts. It discerns our souls. God, it shows us our thoughts and it reflects what truth is and so God, I just, I pray in Jesus' name that your word would speak to our hearts today. God, I pray for those who deeply need a miracle and God, I pray that faith would rise in their hearts and that they would believe that God is faithful to his promises and that he would provide. God, for some of us who your will is suffering, God, I pray that you would provide. I pray that you would rush in

and you'd give them the inner strength of the Holy Spirit and God, that you would show them that you are all that they need, that even though intervention isn't coming on this side of heaven, that resurrection is coming and we can have hope and that you are making all things new. So God, we put everything in your hands. God, we love you and we praise you and we pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen. You know, Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb. He had no idea how prophetic that statement was but for those of us on this side of the cross, we know exactly what he meant. We know that he meant that there would be a man. It wasn't just any man, he was the son of God and he would come, he would humble himself, he would come to earth and he would live a sinless life. He would die the death that you and I deserved but he didn't stay dead. He rose again and because he stands at the right hand of the Father, he gives you and I the opportunity to have new life. And so every week as a church, we come together and we take communion and we remember the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. I pray today that you would realize that you have been provided for. You have everything that you need according to life and godliness because of Jesus. But for those of us who have yet to say yes to him,

my prayer is is that you would yield your life, that you would drop your knee figuratively speaking and you would say, Jesus, I'm done being the son of God. I'm done being the God of my own life. I'm done trying to provide for myself. Jesus, would you provide for me? The good news is that the only thing Jesus requires is a repentant heart, a heart that says, you know what, I'm done trying to be my own God and so I'm gonna push away my sins and I'm gonna trust in Jesus as the son of God, my Lord and Savior. We believe that that's a really helpful conversation to have and so if you wanna head over to our next step room, on my right, your left, we'd be honored to have that conversation. We're gonna continue as we worship together and as we take communion. You can take a knee whenever you're ready. We're gonna continue as we worship together and as we take communion. You can take a knee whenever you're ready. Thanks for watching! Check out my other videos! If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel! Thank you for joining me today. If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing. If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing. Thank you! If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing.

Thank you! If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing. Thank you! If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing. Thank you! If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing. Thank you! If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing. Thank you! If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing. Thank you! If you are new to my channel, please consider subscribing. ♪ Now and forever ♪ Thank you! ♪ What a privilege to walk with Him ♪ ♪ What a privilege to walk with Him ♪ ♪ To walk with Him ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ I long to breathe the air of heaven ♪ ♪ Where pain is gone and mercy fills the streets ♪ ♪ To look upon the One who planned this evening ♪ ♪ And walk with Him for all eternity ♪ ♪ Let it rise ♪ ♪ There will be a day when all will bow down ♪ ♪ There will be a day when all will bow down ♪ ♪ Standing face to face we'll feel dine and rise again ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ In every prayer we prayed in desperation ♪ ♪ The songs of faith we sang through doubt and fear ♪

♪ But in the end we'll see it all was worth it ♪ ♪ When He returns to wipe away our tears ♪ ♪ There will be a day when all will bow before Him ♪ ♪ There will be a day when death will be no more ♪ ♪ Standing face to face we'll feel dine and rise again ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ On that day we'll join the resurrection ♪ ♪ We'll stand beside the heroes of the faith ♪ ♪ And then with one voice a thousand generations ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain ♪ ♪ On that day we'll join the resurrection ♪ ♪ We'll stand beside the heroes of the faith ♪ ♪ And then with one voice a thousand generations ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain ♪ ♪ Forever He shall reign ♪ ♪ Let it be today, we shout the hymn of heaven ♪ ♪ With angels in the saints, we raise a mighty roar ♪ ♪ Sing glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave ♪ ♪ Sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ So let it be today, we shout the hymn of heaven ♪ ♪ With angels in the saints, we raise a mighty roar ♪ ♪ Sing glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh you're holy, you're so holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord ♪ Come on, can we celebrate and honor Him this morning together? Amen! Well, welcome back, Pando family. I hope that you had a great time worshiping

with us here at Southeast and you enjoyed, much like I did, that message from our Blankenbaker campus pastor, Lucas DeVries. And I remember the first time, oh gosh, probably 10, 15 years ago that I really started wrestling through that story of Abraham and Isaac and what God asked Abraham to do with his son up on that hill. And I remember just being so kind of distraught like, do I have enough faith to make a decision like that? And it worried me for a long time of like, man, does this mean that I'm a bad Christian? And I don't think that's necessarily the point of the story. And I think Lucas reminded us of that, is that what it is pointing to is that God ultimately provided the sacrifice instead of Isaac. That it was this testing of faith for Abraham that as he walked up that mountain with his son, he had to trust that, you know what? Like if God's promise was gonna be true for my life, that he would make me a father of many nations and that all of these people would come from me and my body, right? And my son that God would provide, right? And so God not only provided there on that hill that day, you know, several hundreds years later, he provided Jesus on that hill for you and for me.

That as he talked to Abraham that, hey, now that I know that you would not even spare your only son for me. Y'all, we recognize that language because that's what we see in the gospel. We recognize that language because God wouldn't even spare his son Jesus for us. And why would he do that? He does that because he loves us. Y'all, despite the season we're in, despite the mistakes we've made, we can trust that God wouldn't even spare his own son that while we were still sinners, his son Jesus died on that hill for us. Y'all, but again, we're so grateful that you would decide to worship with us here at Southeast. But we not only have these worship services every single week, we also have a Pando exclusive Bible studies that are meant to help you grow in your faith. They get posted every single week as well. So those normally get posted around Wednesday or Thursday. And we love that so many people have engaged with those. You guys watch those. We hope that they're helpful. But not only that, we have something exciting that we announced on this last week's podcast. So if you haven't watched that yet, I would encourage you to go back and do that.

We met with someone from our recovery team. Her name is Jody. She talked about this thing called spiritual pathways. And it was this content and curriculum developed for people in our church community, which now includes you, that have been dealing with addiction and recovery and are in that process. And it is this whole curriculum based around helping you understand more about the Bible and what it means and what it says and about how we can take our big questions to God and hopefully have those answered. Y'all, so we hope that you'll engage with that. We already have some of that posted on the Pando app. We're gonna release that phase by phase over the next several months. And we hope that it is a blessing, not only to you, but to the people around you, that as we continue to become the people God wants us to be, that that'll impact our family and our friends and the people closest to us. Y'all, but before we head out, I would love just to say a prayer over you before we head into the rest of our week. Lord, I'm so grateful just for our Pando family. I know there are so many people that are watching this and are hurting.

They're missing family. They're missing friends. They're missing loved ones. There's a lot of regret and grief. God, and I pray that you just meet each and every person that's hearing the sound of my voice right now, that your presence would be so close to them, that they would feel your spirit in their life this week, that maybe there's this thing like Isaac in their life that they've been waiting on that we may think is this finish line. But really, it's another marker in our life that is gonna cause us to need to have more faith and more faith. But ultimately, God, that's not something we can provide in our personals. It's something that only your spirit can give us. God, so be with us. Lord, help us to be more like you so we can become the people that you want us to be. Pando family, we're grateful for you, and we hope that you have a great rest of your week. See you next time.