You Promised!

ME

Pinky Promises

I always want a geruntee that someone will do what they’ve promised

Receipts

Tickets

Reports

Can you remember a time when someone broke a promise?

WE

We often doubt smones intensiones because why could they possibly be looking out for us right?

God has designed us to trust him to provide what we NEED, but because of sin our natural tenancy is to DOUBT. (First sin was doubting the goodness of God)

So how can we receive what God has for us, his blessings, if we don’t believe him.

GOD

Genesis 22:1–19 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.” The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 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. 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, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “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 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.” Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand 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 you have obeyed me.” Then they returned to the servants and traveled back to Beersheba, where Abraham continued to live.

YOU:

1. Trusting God always means you will need to sacrifice something

Abraham was asked to sacrifice the one thing that meant the most to him

Isaac was also the promise of God to Abraham

This was the ultimate test, but everyday we have similar tests, though They might appear to be insignificant

What is one thing you’ve had to trust God with this week?

What’s one thing you can trust God with next week?

2. God will always provide what you need

Sometimes we assume God will do what we want, but God knows exactly what we need

Are we missing God’s blessing because we don’t understand it?

3. God’s promises are greater than the greatest promises of men

Abraham had two options: A human promise and God’s promise

Option one: He could have kept Isaac for himself, but missed out on God’s full blessing and likely only had one son

Option two: He could give Isaac to God knowing that God could restore him, and therefore be under God’s blessing

What does it take to exercise faith like this? What can you do to grow in your faith?

This wasn’t step one for Abraham, his faith built to this moment

WE

What promise of God do you need to be holding on to. What will keep you trusting in God, when the world would cause you to doubt?