We get to Genesis chapter 22 today, and this has been a long time coming. We have been in our expository study, the book of Genesis, as we've gone verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Today's message is entitled, Where's the Lamb? Where's the Lamb? I wanted to show that clip to you today. I know it's not 100% biblically accurate,

but I wanted you to understand the emotion of what's taking place here today in the chapter. So many times we read over text and we just breeze over text and it just becomes something we've heard a thousand times or something we've talked about and we don't really understand the magnitude, but we get to chapter 22 today and this is one of those chapters in Genesis that compels and demand our very close attention in a way that's haunted the church for a long time. It's in many ways

it's troubled the church in a lot of ways. We'll talk about that this morning, but it's one of those chapters throughout scripture that's memorialized in the Christian church and it's also memorialized throughout Judaism in art. It's one of the most familiar stories in the entire Judeo-Christian history and in the modern world one of those stories that causes no end to difficulty and controversy as well too. There's a lot of controversy behind it too and we'll talk about it.

We'll talk about that this morning, what's said about this. But we come to the sacrifice of Isaac and we'll see that there are contemporary critics of the scriptures including the new atheist out there that refer to this chapter as the classic demonstration of divine child abuse. That's how they determine this chapter. This is one of those stories that require a great deal of explanation

It's not one of those stories that you find in your children's picture books, Bibles for good reason. It's not for children, but it is for the church to understand what's going on here. Remaining true to what we have studied so far in Genesis as we have gone chapter by chapter and verse by verse. The closer you look, the more the story, the more the narrative, the more the text demands our attention.

And at a deeper level than really a lot of Christians have ever really given it. This is one of those monumental texts in the flow of biblical history.

And it's known in Jewish history as the Akedah, A-K-E-D-A-H. Josh always likes to keep up with me on my Hebrew. But it's known as the Akedah, the binding of Isaac. And that's what it's called. It's the Hebrew word for binding.

And in the Hebrew imagination, and in the rabbinical teaching of this text, they teach it as the binding of Isaac. So that it's a euphemism in a way of not using the word sacrifice.

They don't want to use the word sacrifice in a tip to maybe try to minimize a little bit of the horror of this text. And at this point, we need to state something very straightforwardly.

And that is, this is one of those tests of biblical authority. It's one of those tests of whether or not we genuinely believe that this is the word of God.

This is the word of God. And it comes down to this. If this is merely a story, just a story, a literary story of ancient Israel, and that's how many represent this.

Many, many people will teach this this way. If this truly did not happen in time and in space and in history, if God did not do exactly what he said he did, and if Abraham did not do exactly what the text says he did,

if this is just a narrative, okay, it is a immoral, horrifying narrative.

However, if it's true, then we are saved. And we'll get to that in a little bit. That's what's at stake.

Scripture is literature, but it's never just merely literature, okay? You need to understand that.

There are narrative accounts, and it's never merely literature. This is salvation history that we're getting into today.

Salvation history. We are being told how it is that we are saved. And it's true, this is Israel's history, but this is salvation history.

The text begins in chapter 22. It says, after these things. After these things. After what? After what amount of time?

After these things is the Hebrew expression that means, after this, the next big thing is this. That's what it's saying.

It doesn't tell us, we're not given this specific amount of time between the birth of Isaac, and now we have the sacrifice of Isaac.

We're not given that. This is just the next big thing. That's what this passage means.

And it's a good thing that we're told this up front.

That's a divine gift that we're told this up front. All right? And so this immediately tells us that what's to follow, the story to follow, is a test. Just like when you're riding in your car, they always, before they put that stupid blaring noise on their radio, they tell you, this is a test of the emergency broadcast system. Don't freak out. This is only a test. This is a test. That's what they're telling us right off the bat.

The King James Version says that God tempted Abraham. And that's a very, very poor translation. Very poor translation. The tested is more exact. And a lot of people come up with the idea, well, is God tempting Abraham in this passage to kill his son? Scripture is very clear that God does not tempt us. God is not the author of temptation. All right?

But at the same time, the Lord himself told us to pray, Lord, lead us not into temptation. Okay? But this is not temptation. This is testing. There's a difference. And we're going to see this, that God is not tempting Abraham to take his son's life. He is testing Abraham by commanding Abraham to do the very thing that he would never, ever want to do. Never.

Verse 1. After these things, God tested Abraham and said, Abraham. And he said, here am I. Does that sound familiar to you guys? As we've been studying this, that should bring back to your mind. That parallels with chapter 12. The call of Abraham. Okay? It's precisely the same thing happens. God calls Abraham. Abraham says what? Here am I. Here am I. So we're being trained. We talked about this a lot.

How Genesis is training us. Genesis is training. The scripture is training us in a lot of different ways, a lot of different avenues. We're going to talk about that a little bit this morning.

But we're being trained by the scripture to anticipate that when we meet our father Abraham, he is going to hear from God and he is going to immediately respond positively. Here I am. I'll go. Now, he doesn't always follow everything perfectly in obedience. We've seen that.

But he responds immediately and he responds positively. Scripture is showing that. They're training us to know that.

Unlike Adam and Eve, who when they found themselves in a bad place, they hide themselves from God.

In no way is Abraham hiding himself from the Lord. But when God cries out to him, he issues an immediate, obedient, here I am. Here I am.

Okay. Now, notice the language beginning in the next verse, in verse 2. The language is a language of intimacy.

And in this language of intimacy, there's also no minimization as to what's at stake and what the Lord is speaking to Abraham to doing.

He says, take your son, your only son, Isaac. You need to understand the intimacy as he's speaking that.

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 that I shall tell you.

The son whom you love. The son whom you love. This is excruciating.

You can't just blow through these passages of Scripture and not understand the magnitude of what's going on.

It's almost impossible to believe that this text follows the preceding chapter.

Preceding chapter, we had the son of promise. He was given. It was a time of joy.

They name him Laughter. His name is Isaac. The fulfillment of all this.

And in the very next chapter, the Lord is testing Abraham by telling him to offer his son, his only son, whom you love, as a burnt offering.

Now, the Hebrew word here says that Isaac is still a lad, all right?

And many of the English versions will say later on in this chapter that I and the lad will return.

So he's a young boy, okay? He's a young boy.

He's old enough to carry wood, though. We need to understand that.

He's old enough to carry some wood on his back.

But according to the text and according to the context in here, he's probably around 12 to 13 years of age, we believe.

And again, this is parallel to chapter 12 because the Lord gives Abraham a command and Abraham immediately obeys.

Verse 3,

And Abraham rose early the next morning, saddled his donkey with 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 to which he was.

So it's not just no easy journey. There are three days traveling here. The third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.

There are a couple of huge questions that we need to ask at this point. What does Abraham know? What does he know? And also, what is Abraham thinking? You know, this is critical for us.

What does Abraham know of the God who's calling him to sacrifice his son, his only son, the son whom he loves, to offer him up as a burnt offering? What does he know of this God?

Not only does this text, upon closer reading, tell us in advance that we are to know that that the Lord is testing Abraham, but we are to rest assured that Isaac's life is not really in danger right now.

It's not really in danger because the Lord is testing Abraham. We get to see this on the back end. So we know this is reading.

But the second thing that we notice that's embedded in this text here is that Abraham is responding as the Lord called him, responding with an immediate obedience.

Abraham's also he's also tipping his hand a little bit as well, too, within the text.

Abraham's giving us a sign that he understands that there's more at stake than meets the eye.

There's more at stake than just what meets the ear.

And the way that he responds to his servants in verse five, Abraham said to his young man, you stay here with the donkey and I and the boy will go over there and worship and we will come again to you.

He doesn't say that we'll go over there and worship and one of us will come back.

We're going to go over.

We're going to worship and we will return.

We're going to return.

He knows something.

Abraham knows something.

And so the next the next verse is so poignant in Scripture, we really need to understand how it really just grabs our throat here.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and took in his hand the fire and the knife.

And so both of them went together.

As we have been reading Genesis, we have pointed out that Genesis is preparing us to read all of Scripture.

It really is.

Genesis is preparing even our instincts to know what we are looking for and at times to know what we are waiting for.

Okay, that's what Genesis has done as we've gotten up to this point.

This text makes it clear that we have already been trained.

We've already been trained to be waiting for the birth of a child.

As we've gone through Genesis, we knew that we were waiting for the birth of a child.

Sarah and Abraham were waiting and waiting and waiting for the birth of a child.

So why is that important?

Because when we come to the salvation, redemptive history,

we're going to know that the Scriptures have already been training us to wait for a child,

a child of promise that will come.

So it's already been training us in that aspect.

Then we've been trained, even as the first readers of Genesis maybe had no idea,

we've been trained to expect that the birth of the child that's going to matter

is going to be a miraculous birth.

Now how is it miraculous?

Sarah and Abraham, Abraham is 100 years old.

Sarah is 91.

That's pretty miraculous.

Do you see in the retirement homes people popping up pregnant all the time these days?

I don't think so.

That'd be kind of gross.

I just, yeah, I just got sick in my own mouth right there.

Yeah.

There's a point in time you need to tell them,

stop, mom and dad, right?

Okay, yeah.

I don't want to hear about that.

But yeah, it's going to be a miraculous birth.

So it's training us that there's going to be a miraculous birth.

So now we are being trained by Scripture to expect that when salvation history takes place,

the child of promise is going to be carrying wood for his own sacrifice.

Don't you see how God has knitted all this together?

None of this is by chance.

Understand, Scripture always validates Scripture.

The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.

The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.

God has a beautiful pattern as He shadows all these things.

So when we come to the child of promise, we can say,

yes and amen, I see that.

I went through that.

We saw how, why did God wait so long with Abraham and Sarah?

So we would know what to wait for.

We would know what to expect.

And we would learn to wait on the Lord.

Amen.

Now, it's important to also notice that Isaac doesn't start carrying the wood until they get to Mount Moriah. Now, the wood, to me, I'll just say, to me, is not a picture of the cross. Alright? Because Jesus doesn't carry his cross all the way to Calvary. Right? He couldn't bear it to carry it all the way to Calvary. Right? He couldn't bear it to carry it all the way to Calvary. Right? He couldn't bear it to carry it all the way to Calvary. Right? He couldn't bear it to carry it all the way to Calvary. Right? He couldn't bear it to carry it all the way to Calvary. Right? He couldn't bear it to carry it all the way to Calvary. Right?

the cross to calvary the wood to me it seems to be a picture of the burden of sin that jesus

bore for us because abraham takes the wood and he places it on isaac the father takes the burden of

the wood and places it on his son just as when jesus lays down his life the father takes us

isaiah 53 6 says the lord has laid the iniquity of us all upon him the father took the burden of sin

and put it on his son so when isaiah comes and he gives the prophecy of the redemptive child the

child of promise unto him a child will be born unto you a son will be given that's that son of

promise we're waiting for we'll understand that there's wood in that picture but that's the burden

of sin because we see in the in the sacrifice that's taking place the fire is always is always

symbol symbolic of the holiness of god right and so the fire consumes the wood as it is when jesus christ

is is sacrificed for our benefit he consumes this sin for us all we are we are free indeed

under the cross under the blood of jesus christ this is a beautiful shadowing that god does for us here

and the next verse is even more poignant

verse verse seven and isaac said to his father abraham my father and abraham here he here he goes

here i am my son here i am i'm your huckleberry you know i'm i'm jumping up i'm answering he said behold

the fire and the wood but where's the lamb for the offering isaac's old enough to understand the

sacrificial system he knows we're missing something and i begin to what does isaac think right here what

does he know what does isaac fear i mean is there any any part of him that through his mind he's

thinking am i the lamb does that even cross his mind do you guys ever read these things and think

about this you just go yeah yeah on on all this stuff but the next verse tells us even more what's

going on with abraham than just a superficial reading of the text because abraham listen responds

with a statement of faith a statement of faith verse eight abraham said god will provide for himself

the lamb for burnt offering my son so they went both of them together in the hebrew imagination

moriah these god has called them to moriah and moriah is itself is a land named for the fact that god

provides that's what moriah means the lord god provides and so you know makes it does abraham know

when god said to him to take him to moriah to sacrifice that even by the name of the place that

god was going to provide does you know it is does abraham even know that even when his son asked where is

the lamb and he says god will provide for himself a burnt offering my son god will provide this is an

incredible statement as we as we look at the text when we we uh we all all of a sudden understand that

abraham in this in the answer that he gives to isaac abraham is doing one of two things he's either

lying to his son where's the lamb well god will provide for himself this he's either lying to his son

or he's telling the truth

one one of two things later on we're going to see that abraham knew what he was he was speaking

the truth but again notice notice the specific way that he speaks here that abraham said god will

provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering my son not just god will provide listen listen friends

it's not just god will provide for himself and this text is ultimately fulfilled in romans 3

that's what it's getting into as paul writes and paul writes and he says what took place on the cross

was god both demanding and providing for the sacrifice himself god

okay

yeah

let's go

let's go

let's uh let's uh let's begin in uh verse 21

but now the righteousness of god has been manifested apart from the law although the law of the ferris of the law of the prophets bear witness to it the righteousness of god through faith in jesus christ for all who believe for there is no distinction for all of sin to fall short of the glory of god and we are justified by his grace as a gift

through the redemption through the redemption that is in christ jesus whom god here we go put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith that was to show god's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins

it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in jesus

bam right there he would be the one who both demands the sacrifice and he would be the one who provides the sacrifice for the lord will provide for himself

the lamb

but the question that isaac asks is horrifying where is the lamb

where is the lamb

when they came to the place verse 9

of which god had told him abraham built an altar there

and laid the wood on the altar and bound

akedah

his son

and laid him on the altar on top of the wood

then abraham reached out his hand and took a knife

to slaughter his son

now this text is written in such a manner

it's like accelerated

in the hebrew

it's like

we got to get through this quickly

they're writing it in

a little bit more accelerated pace

okay

but the text

it doesn't clean it up at all

what's going on here

okay

and what abraham was clearly prepared to do

he

having told isaac that

that god will provide for himself a land

having told his servants that the boy and i will go up here and worship

and we will return

he now holds out his hand

with a knife in it

and the word here is rightly translated

slaughter

slaughter

his son

abraham clearly intends to obey what god told him

to do

even as

he said to his son that

when his son asked where the lamb was

he says god will prepare for himself

and now he has

he has bound isaac

the binding of isaac

akedah

and now his father

is ready to obey by

as the word says

slaughter him

verse 11

but the angel of the lord came to him from heaven

and said abraham abraham

twice

usually it just speaks his name once

abraham

yes

but anytime the scripture mentions your name twice

that means god's really trying to get your attention

has god ever said your name twice

he said my name twice

three times five times

lots of times

curtis curtis curtis

i said stop

i still didn't listen

and he said here i am

here he is abraham

here i am

and he said do not lay a hand on your boy

or do anything to him

for now i know that you fear god

seeing that you have not withheld your son

your only son from me

so the lord through his messenger

immediately stops abraham

as he is poised to take his son's life

verse 13

and abraham lifted up his eyes

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

the lord

the lord has just provided

for the sacrifice that he demanded

he has just provided for the sacrifice

that he demanded

verse 14

so abraham called the name of the place

the lord will provide

as it as it uh

as it is said to this day

on the mount that the lord

it shall be provided

and the angel of the lord

called to abraham a second time from heaven

and said by myself

i have sworn declares the lord

because you have

you have done this

and have not withheld

your son

your only son

now here again

we're being trained

we're being trained as well

in exclusivity

you have done this

you have done this

Excellent.

I will surely bless you I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven as the sand of the shore again he's repeating the promises that he gave him earlier just validating these things and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies and in your offspring shall the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice so Abraham returned to his young men and they arose and went together to Beersheba and Abraham lived at Beersheba there is a

couple more text here that have to do with genealogy but that's not really where we're going today it doesn't really matter to us this morning this is God testing Abraham this is Abraham obeying this is Abraham demonstrating faith by doing exactly willing to do exactly what God has called him to do and this has troubled people throughout history throughout the history of Judaism throughout Christianity who try to come to terms with this text without actually coming to terms

the words of this text Richard Dawkins who's one of the four horsemen of the modern day new atheism refers to this as the classic example of theistic child abuse and bullying there are feminist interpreters of the scriptures that call this text a text of horror the problem is theological there are people who think that it isn't possible that we would believe in a God that is a jealous

God but the scripture is a jealous God but the scripture is very clear that God is a jealous God our God is a jealous God a God who will not tolerate the worship of other deities a God who will not tolerate disobedience a God who will not tolerate sin this is a God who demands a sacrifice that's who this God is and that's enough to render that God immoral and makes him immoral in the eyes of modern secular humanists today

that's what's what's being taught that's what's being taught out there that's what's being presented who believe that there's no human sin there's no law that you could ever break there's no human wrongdoing there's no transgression that should ever be of that kind of importance to God for him to act that way he doesn't have any right to act that way

the scripture definitely shows us differently God knew Abraham God knew Abraham and the sovereign Lord of the universe arranged all these things in order to make a profoundly important point that this is a test of biblical theology because we find out here what we actually believe not just about Genesis not just about the book first book of the Bible and the Old Testament but about the Bible as a whole

this is a whole this is why we do expository study we study the scriptures this way now very quickly very quickly this morning how does this fit in with the redemptive story with with the redemptive story okay if if it is true that this is just a just a story then it's a horrible story okay but if it's true then we're saved now if it's true and we're saved why is it that we're saved I'm glad you asked that question

turn with me turn with me okay you didn't ask that question I'm just gonna tell you anyway James chapter 2 James chapter 2

verse 21 was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar you see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled

that says Abraham that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone this is a tremendous this text tells us what you know what we're looking at here in Genesis 22 when we're looking at the sacrifice of Isaac as this chapter is often called we're looking at Abraham living out his faith in obedience

this is big for us even living out his faith by which he has already been justified he's already been justified so what kind of test is this for Abraham it says that he's being tested was this a test of whether or not Abraham was saved no not at all that's already been declared

word

Abraham that that that he was justified that that he was justified that he was justified because he believed God it was reckoned to him as righteousness Abraham has already been saved okay he has already demonstrated that that he's justified by faith alone he's he's he's already an obedient follower of God but his obedience is demonstrated here that's the difference it's not just lip work his obedience is dimmer this is this is this is not where his obedience originates

his origin his originate his originated chapters and chapters and chapters ago that's when it originated in the same way we are saved by faith and not by works but the faith that saves is a faith that will be demonstrated in obedience that's the difference that's what Genesis 22 is showing us right here now most importantly if you if you turn to James turn a couple pages to your left to Hebrews 11 and we're told the internal

story of what we are to understand about Genesis 22 Hebrews 11 verse 17 by faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he who had been received who had received I'm sorry the promises was in the act of offering up his only son whom it was said through Isaac shall your offspring be named so the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham was actually in the act

the act of obedience he was actually in the act of obedience he was actually in the act of obedience when he's offering up his son and verse 19 starts off by saying and he considered he considered okay so how could Abraham say to his son when his son says where's the lamb that God will provide for himself a sacrifice how could Abraham tell the lads that were with him you guys stay here and the boy and I will go up and we will worship and we're going to return we're told in Hebrews 11 that he knew this

he knew it verse 19 Hebrews 11 he considered that God was able God was able even to raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking he did receive him back so how how is it that Abraham was in the act of obedience and he stretches out his hand with a knife in it how is it that he told his son Isaac that God's going to provide a lamb how is it that he tells the servants you wait here

and God how could this be because Abraham trusted God knowing as the writer of Hebrews says that God is able even to raise him from the dead in other words Abraham knew that if he did what the Lord commanded him even if he took that knife and he slaughtered his son even if he offered him up as that burnt offering the Lord would bring him back

the Lord that that Yahweh we've gone through all the names so far that Yahweh that Elohim that Adonai that Jehovah Jireh the God of Israel was able to bring him back if that was what was that that what it took he was able to do this and the Lord declared him justified by the fact that he believed and he reckoned it to him as righteousness

and that God would be Abraham knew that God would be faithful to his promises

and his promises were that nations were going to be blessed through this child great nations were going to rise up through this child

and even if this boy was sacrificed even if he was burned even if all this took place Abraham knew Abraham knew

the lad and I will return I don't know how I'm not really sure how but God is able and someone needs to hear that this morning

someone needs to hear that God is calling you to sacrifice something in your life you know what it is that you need to put on the altar of your life

but if I do this and all this is going to change if I do this and this is going to happen if I do this

then people get no no no no God is saying sacrifice this and you need to know that God is able

God is able

to provide for

Bibles we just need to forget about it and not even not even talk about it but on the other hand if it's true then we're saved because we have learned in this text that God will indeed provide a lamb for himself and if that's true we're being we're being shown a model of faith once again with Abraham who demonstrates the faith by which he has been declared righteous that he obeys God in the in the moment knowing that God is

is going to be unconditionally faithful to all of his promises did you know that that God is unconditionally faithful to all his promises and all of his promises are what yes and amen yes and amen he is unconditionally faithful and God will do exactly what he says he's going to do and that God has God has ordered him to do this thing then then it's God God is going to be faithful he's going to be faithful and he knows he knows

that this God that he has been serving

that for this God

that he has been following

it is no big thing

it is no big thing for this God

to raise up a boy from the ashes

I've seen God do this, this and this and this

it would be no big thing

for him to raise up this boy from the ashes

so

what we are being trained to see

we are being trained now

to watch

for God to provide

for himself

a lamb

for God to provide a lamb

we are being trained to watch

for the birth of the child

who is going to be the fulfillment

of the redemptive covenant

we are being trained already

that this birth is going to be a miraculous birth

that this child is going to be a miraculous

we have been trained

that God is going to do this through a singular act

through a singular

the son

your only son

in whom you love

your only son

in whom you love

and we are being told

to look in advance

for the fact

that when God ultimately fulfills

this promise

there will be wood

there will be wood

there will be a sacrifice

there will be a lamb

but we are saved

we are saved

we are saved

because of the fulfillment

of the text

in Romans 8

we are going to end right here

this morning

Romans 8

this is why we are saved

Romans 8

verse 31

what then shall we say

to these things

for if God

is for us

who can be against us

he who did not

spare his own son

but gave him up for us all

how will he not also

with him graciously

give us all things

give us all things

for God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son

that whosoever would believe in him

would not perish

but have everlasting life

for God did not send his son

into the world

to condemn the world

but that the world

might be saved

through the lamb

through the lamb

where is the lamb

where is the lamb

we can't simply understand

this text

without it grabbing our hearts

and understanding

the question that Isaac asked

where is the lamb

and that's the question

that people all over the world

are asking

whether they know it or not

or they frame it that way

with the deepest hurting questions

when life has them strangled

right now

they may not

they may not phrase it this way

but they're asking

where's the lamb

this life is just

turning into a mess for me

my relationship

my marriage

my business

my this

everything is falling apart

they may not be asking it

but they're wanting to know

where the lamb is

and we get to tell the story

we get to tell the story

that's what these two young girls

did today

in baptism

they're telling the story

I've met the lamb

I've met him

he's alive

and well in me

and that's why Paul can say

come follow me

as I follow Christ

I'm not perfect

that's what

Aislin says

that's what Mallory says

today

follow me

as I follow Christ

that's the testimony

of the church

church

do you want me to know

from the hospital to my counseling office to Chick-fil-A and I know you do too and they're broken there's a lot of messed up stuff going on right now in this world people need

we need to know who the lamb of God is we take such painstaking time to show you the foreshadowing in Genesis 22 of the sacrificial lamb the obedience of Abraham but all of it points to Jesus Yeshua can you not see that how it points to Jesus well God is asking me to do a hard thing you don't think God was asking Abraham to do a hard thing

Brad I want you to take your son your I won't say only because you got to your oldest son

Brad's like not nothing I think I think I take a zero

time me out

God is able no matter what you're trying to push through

and maybe that's the problem maybe that's the problem come on up here worship team and let's let's let's let's close up because I'm going to go into another sermon if not

no matter what it is that you might be trying to push through

maybe that's the problem you're trying to push through it and you're not relying on the strength of the Holy Ghost

you're not relying on the power of the Lord Jesus

God is able and maybe maybe maybe you're like well I'm not really struggling with anything to be honest with you brother Curtis my life's just a mess

God is able to resurrect

even from the dead

and that's what he that's what he said the in effect that's what Hebrews is talking about in effect

that's what he did he's receiving him back to life because Abraham was saying he's as good as dead

I'm gonna do this

holy cow and that's the one thing I do love about the that the scriptures does it doesn't tell us but I do love about the little film

Sarah

man we're Sarah in all this you know you know they had to talk about it

Abraham please take a lamb with you just in case

that's what my wife be saying

just in case

just in case it was bad pizza and it wasn't really the Lord telling you that

let's be sure and certain

did Abraham no no ma'am he didn't tell you

I want to be a man of great faith

I know you want to be a man or woman of great faith

let's live our lives in such a way

that it points to the lamb

all that we do

all that we do

and we praise God for his word this morning

we praise God that there is just a knitting together

a foreshadowing

showing us a picture

of what to look for

what do we anticipate

and we anticipate the day when Jesus comes

and he makes all things new again

amen and hallelujah to that

and some days I pray for him to come right out

I'll be honest with you

but until that time comes

may that new life be the very thing that wells up inside of us

and draws others

draws others

to say I want to know the lamb

like you know the lamb

I want to know the lamb

I want to know the lamb

today if you have never made a profession of faith

in the Lord Jesus

boy I would be an honor and privilege

just to sit and talk with you a little bit

I'll be here and John and Pauline

will be back in the prayer room

as they go every Sunday

if there's a need you want to be prayed for specifically

there's a brother and sister that will cry out to the Lord

with you and on your behalf

know it's always open to you

just praise the Lord this morning for Aislinn and Mallory

and their statement of faith today

that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior

and Father I just pray that that is our heart's cry

we thank you very much data

and Lord and Father is my heart's power

we thank you for just a couple of командus

we thank you for your

house in the name of Jesus Christ again and my name of Jesus Christ and name of Jesus Christ and name of Jesus Christ