God Will Provide!

Here is my sermon outline from Sunday 2/22/09:

Topic: Trusting the God Who Will Provide
Text: Genesis 22:1-14

Transitional Sentence: Abraham teaches us an important lesson in the text because Abraham made the decision to put God first. His decision provides a testimony to us today and for ages to come which is my sermon sentence summary for the day:

Thesis: God will meet your needs in the midst of the most difficult circumstances of life when you make Him a priority in your life.


So, let us look at this story of Abraham and gleam some truths to will help us endure difficult circumstances of life by putting our trust in the God who will provide all our needs. Here are four (4) principles to hold on to:

1. The Difficulty of Understanding God’s Purpose – v. 1

To understand the difference between test and trials we need to know how to distinguish between the two.

First, trials are sometimes self-inflicted. In other words, you are the reason for your troubles. You made the bad decision and didn’t need any help.

Secondly, trials are sometimes Satan-inflicted. The bible is clear that Satan goes about searching for who he can destroy.

Thirdly, trials are sometimes people-inflicted. Meaning there are some people you don’t need in your life because they are bad news.

The difference between trials and test is that trials are caused by people, Satan, and/or our own bad choices. However, God is the source of all testing. Job’s test came after God gave the devil permission to attack Job. God’s purpose was to prove to Satan that Job’s faith is strong and could not be broken.

Point: The purpose of test in our lives is to build our character. You may not like it but you need it.

2. The Decision to Obey God Under-Pressure – v. 2-3

This test seems unfair. Why would God want to take back from me what He’s given to me? Isaac is not Abraham’s only son. He also has Ishmael. Take him instead would have been my suggestion. Ishmael is my mistake but Isaac is Your fulfilled promise. Let me keep the promise but take my mistake.

Interesting, it’s easy to give away our mistakes but difficult giving back our blessing(s).

What can we learn about obedience?

- Obedience doesn’t procrastinate (“So Abraham rose early in the morning…”). Tension: We’ll try to negotiate with God to delay our act of obedience. Abraham wasted no time, but got himself up and gathered everything he needed to do what God had commanded. He left nothing out, but he took nothing extra! Procrastination has caused the death of many profound spiritual experiences. We confuse waiting with procrastination. We say we’re waiting for God but in reality God is waiting for you.

- Obedience is being prepared (“…and saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with, Isaac his son, split the wood, and went to the place of which God told him.”) Tension: We’ll try to leave some stuff behind to delay our obedience. Abraham was not only prepared in what he took but he was also prepared in his heart. Abraham knew what he was going to do. Isaac was the future but Abraham was prepared to give for today and all that was promised for tomorrow. Are you prepared to give today in order to let God provide for your tomorrow.

3. The Desire to Please God Sacrificially – v. 4-8

This verse is powerful for two reasons:

It’s a statement of Principle – “We’re going to worship” - Abraham declares in this verse that the sacrifice of Isaac is an act of worship. It’s hard to worship God when God has to compete for our attention. What has your attention more than God?

This worship was going to cost Abraham dearly. Genuine worship is costly because it requires us to make sacrifices. Sacrifices like time, talents, plans, pride, pleasures, secret sins, and some many more.

Here’s the principle to behold:

- God wants nothing less than everything

- God wants nothing less than your best

It’s a statement of Perspective – “We will come back to you” – Abraham believes that when he comes back Isaac is coming back with him. What a faith! Abraham doesn’t know what lies ahead for his son Isaac but he believes that God will provide for them both so that they can come back. It teaches us that faith is expectancy. As a child of God you should expect God to do some things in your life.


4. The Declaration to Acknowledge God Undeniably – v. 9-14

God saves Isaac life by providing a lamb caught thickets and Abraham declares the place; “LORD-WILL-PROVIDE”.

Point: If you take care of God’s business, God will take care of your business.