Sermon Notes 3/17/13

Delivered by Bishop Walker

Text:    Genesis 22:1-9

Abraham’s Faith Confirmed

1Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

2Then He said, “Take now 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.”

3So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

6So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

8And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

9Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

12And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

13Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

We all go through test. We should not view this as something negative, but instead  we should view this as something that God sees necessary for our next level. It is the place where we sacrifice. It is the place where God gives us a litmus test.

Mt Moriah; it is here, where God finds out what you are made of. The testimony of Mt Moriah is about what is on the other side of it. In Genesis 12, God called Abraham and assured him that he would make a great nation through him. Abraham’s faith at Mount Moriah resulted in many blessings. There are many of you, right now, who are experiencing many situations.

If you can relate to this, know :

I. This is a test of the father

God tested Abraham and every now and then, just like Abraham, God will impose his sovereign will upon your life.

God’s test will:

1. They are personal – Abraham would go through this test, because it was inevitable. God will tailor make your test. Many people will not understand your test, because it is a personal test.
2. This is a test of your priorities – Remember Ishmael, the child that Abraham had when he got ahead of God. It is at Mount Moriah, the place of ultimate sacrifice, where you will see God. God don’t want that which did not cost you anything.
3. If you are not careful, you will put your Isaac in a position that is greater than God. Ex: You got your car, but you hadn’t prayed since you got it. Is your career more important to you than God? God gives us tests to see if there is potential in us.
4. See if there potential in us? God gives us test to see if there is potential inside of us. We therefore won’t whine about the test. Lord test me until i walk right! Lord test me till I talk right! Lord test me till I live right!

Everything in Genesis 22 is symbolic. The father (Abraham) is going up the mountain sad, but he comes back joyous. This mountain is representative of Calvary. When Abraham went to the land that God instructed him to go, he could not worship for 3 days. This is representative of Jesus rising on the third day.

The enemy will fight you most when you are the closest to hat God has promised you, so you have to have:

II. Tenacious faith

Abraham didn’t question the sanctity of God. Abraham got up and responded.

How did Abraham respond?

1. Promptly– Abraham responded promptly to God. We have to move quickly when God says move. A delay could be detrimental to your destiny.
2. People – They have arrived at Mount Moriah (vs 5) and Abraham tells the young men to stay at the foot of the mountain so that he and his son could worship. Be careful who goes up the mountain with you. You don’t need folk speaking against what God promised you.
3. Prophecy– Come back to you. Abraham had the faith and his son came back to him. Just like this, you don’t know how this thing you are hoping for is going to, but know that it is going to happen.
4. Abraham’s wood represents his humanity. It represents our weakness, the thing that God delivered us from. Don’t make fun of my wood. The wood represents where we come from.
5. I bring my fire- Fire is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. When fire hits something, it changes its structure. Just like this, when you are hit by the Holy Ghost, you can’t be the same!
6. Ignite – The fire was in his hand. This means we must come preheated.
7. Come with a knife- The knife is used to cut away things. Sometimes we have to cut things away in order to get to our breakthrough.

III. We are coming back after worship

Abraham went up the mountain not knowing exactly how God was going to do it. Though he didn’t know how God was going to do it, he knew  enough about God to know that he was going to do it.

Moriah is the place of ultimate sacrifice. Verse 9 says Abraham reached back and prepared to slay his son.

In verse 11, God tells Abraham not to lay your hand on his son.  God is saying to Abraham, “Since the stuff I gave you (his son) is not more important than Him (God), God tells Abraham to look over his shoulder in verse 13. There was a sacrifice in the thicket. Abraham, called that place Jehovah Jireh? This was the place that The Lord provided.  Know that your next breakthrough will happen at the point of your next Abraham sacrifice!