I quit #4

Northside Church

I quit #4

Jamey Mills

1/29/23

Good Morning Northside… My name is Jamey and I’m the lead pastor here at Northside…so good to be here with you today.

It’s a good day…

Today is our last message in a series that we are calling “ I quit”...

The idea is that the new year… for a lot of us brings with it new goals and resolutions…

1. Things we want to want to start

2. Things we want to quit

3. Things we want to do differently

The idea is… this desire to be a better version of myself…

It’s amazing how oblivious we can be.

I hope I’m not the only one… but sometimes I’ll hop in the car headed somewhere… and my mind is so busy with other things… that when I get there, I have no memory of the trip itself… like… did I obey the laws… did I stop at all the places…

Might be whenever I ride with people they are usually quick to say I’ll drive… lol

I’m sure you have had times like this too…

In the mid 90’s I was in college and working as a lubrication engineer at Q-lube… and one day I got off work, got in the ol’ 76 Buick Skylark and headed home like I’d done hundreds of times…

As you come out of Lynnwood and into Edmonds there’s this steep downhill road… and for whatever reason… But that day I looked up and saw it for the very first time…. In all the business… in all the chaos… I’d missed it hundreds of times…the sunsetting over the Sound with the mountains of Kingston in the distance (PIC. Please dont show early)… boats out on the water… it was one of those… how can you look at this and tell me there is no God kinds of moments… It was always there… I just didn't see it.

Today’s theme is… “I quit looking away”

Not sure if your friends have a nickname for you… or maybe you had a pet name with a spouse… sometimes they're full of meaning… and other times… not… Like… for a while I called Brandi Bevis… for no other reason than she’s cute when she’s frustrated… At one point, I had her work calling her that too… she got the better end of it.

In scripture one of the interesting things we see is that people would often attribute names to God… not to frustrate him… but with real purpose and out of their experience with Him… It's actually incredibly powerful. I’ve found God to be… this way by experience.

Names like…

The God who heals

The God who knows

The God who guides

The Lord is peace

The God who protects

One of my favorites is… The God who sees me…

Like in the middle of all my… oblivion… He is the one who sees me…

All the way back in Gen 12

God called Abram… set him apart… told him to leave his country and go to a land that God would show him…

God said that he would bless Abram… give him many descendants, land… that He’d go with him, bless Him, and that all people on earth would be blessed through what God was doing in and with Him…

I try to put myself in Abrams shoes… I can’t say that I understand it… It says that Abram believed the Lord… not in some easy… superficial way… but in the way that actually changed the direction of his life… that led him to pack it all up… his wife, his kids, some servants…

As you read… you realize that there is this issue… God promised many descendants… and oh how they wanted that… but they didn't have even one. The waiting was rough….

At one point, Sarahi wanted to jump start the process… and so she told Abram… take my servant (Hagar) and so Ishamel was born. And can you believe it… when they tried to fulfill what God said He would provide on their own… it didn’t go great. It was Hagar who was really treated pretty poorly… who had this interaction with God and right in the middle of those crappy circumstances, she was the one who began to know God as… “the one who sees me” (16:13)

Several times God reiterated that promise in different ways… I really do think they wanted to believe, but it was hard. He was 99 and she was 90… do the math… or however that works… it wasn’t adding up… so much so that at one point they both laughed at God…

Abraham even asked if God could fulfill the promise through Ishmael…

My point is… you can see the longing… the pain… struggle… and even them trying to make it work….

A lot happened along the way… Abraham struggled… cities were destroyed… God’s protection and provision were abundant…

In time…

Genesis 21:1–3 NLT

The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac.

(NLT)

The LORD did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. 2 She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. 3 And Abraham named their son Isaac.

God did exactly what He said… exactly when He said…

Can you imagine… 100 and 91… What would your response be to that?

Genesis 22:1–2 NLT

Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

(NLT)

Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.

“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”

2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

I struggle with this… and if you only read it for face value, I’m guessing you do too.

Stay with me.

It says that the next morning, Abraham got up and got everything ready… he, Isaac and his servants headed out to Mt. Moriah…

Leaving the servants to watch the Donkey… he and Isaac began the hike… when Issac realized a problem… it says that Isaac carried the wood…

Genesis 22:7–8 NLT

Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

(NLT)

7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”

8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

Was he trying to comfort Isaac? Personally… I believe it was because He knew God… knew His character…

It says they got to the spot and Abraham got everything ready, tied Isaac up and put him on the altar… when God intervened…

Genesis 22:12–14 NLT

“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 its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

(NLT)

12 “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.”

13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

Abraham by experience, came to know God as the one who provides.

Isn’t it interesting… that when humanity began to know God as the one who provides… it was in a situation that clearly foreshadowed God meeting our greatest need of humanity…

The sacrifice of a promised son… that meant life…

A couple quick things we learn about this…

Recognizing God's provision is a game changer.

It’s a pretty normal “thing” I think… but for the first 20 years of my life I was largely oblivious to the ways my parents provided… and I know not all of us had this…

But realizing their denying self for me, sacrifice for me, late night emergency room visits, food, house, clothes, patience (sometimes), forgiveness, standing with me… advocating for me… threatening to beat my MS principal up…

When God helped me step out of myself and opened my eyes to see the ways they provided… it changed my perspective a lot, still does in tons of ways…

It changes the way I see that relationship… the way I value it… the way I invest in it.

And the same is true with God.

When we come to this place of seeing Him as our provider… not one of them… but THE provider…

Any wealth, power, or strength we have originated with God. Any gift or talent we have – the same is true (James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11). Even our ability to give generously comes from God (Deuteronomy 8:18; 2 Corinthians 9:10-11). Everything we have, and everything else that exists, is all His.

ALL that you have and all that you are… come from Him. There is nothing around you, in you that does not come from Him… From the air that you breath to the food that you eat… to the heart that beats to the world we stand on… to the home you live in to the gifts that you have… to the quirkiness of your personality… to the very image of God that he created you with…

Joy… is found there…

Generosity is found there…

Peace is found there…

Those who have really soaked in God's provision… are thankful people.

There is this odd connection between recognizing His everything and all provision… and living a grateful… thankful… joyful life.

There is a strong connection between recognizing God’s all encompassing provision and living a grateful, selfless, and joy filled life.

Lastly… I’ll say this…

Within His provision, God clearly leaves room for humanity’s response.

Abraham did wait on God’s provision… but he still had to get off the couch.

There were steps to take… it required obedience and movement…

It was uncomfortable… and led to great growth.

What if He would have told God no… what if He would have never left? Abraham’s faith… became legendary.

There was room for his questions… God was patient with them…

God provided EVERYTHING… but left room for Abraham to move and respond…

I believe that's true today…

Have you come to this place of seeing God as your provider for and in all things?

How are you responding to that?

The deeper we go into seeing it… the deeper that response is.

The conclusion is basically…

I quit looking away from all of the ways that God has provided for me…

I want to start living… in light of knowing that he does.

Then Land ann

Then Jamey