## God's Provision for the Future

## Genesis 22:6-8

Someone has said that change is inevitable, but often it is unwelcome. I found a cartoon that traces back our resistance to change. Funny - but not really. As I said last week, "We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are." Last week we looked at four challenges for our church that require faith but will dramatically affect our future if we would accept them.

Our Lord has a wonderful future for us. This church has tremendous potential and tremendous promises from God. Tonight we want to examine a great moment in the life of Abraham and learn some practical principles for believing God for the future.

This is another of those familiar passages of Scripture. We have read and heard it many times, but don't think that we cannot benefit from looking again and seeing what God has for us tonight from this account. Note:

- Abraham of course was the father of Israel.
- At the call of God, at the age of 75, he left his home in Ur of the Chaldees following the voice of God to a Promised Land, not knowing where he was going.
- He believed God's promise that he would be the father of a great nation.
- Isaac was born when he was "as good as dead" (Heb.11:12) or 100 years of age.
- God tested Abraham's faith by saying in v. 2 "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go… offer him there as a burnt offering."
- Trusting the provision of God, they set off for the distant mountains.
- When they drew near, he left his servants behind.
- He bound wood for the sacrifice on Isaac's back and took a torch and a knife in his own hand and started up the mountain.
- Isaac asks, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
- Abraham replied, "My son, God will provide for Himself a lamb."
- Just as Abraham was ready to plunge the knife into his promised son, God stopped him.
- As Abraham looked up, he saw "a ram caught in a thicket by its horns."
- He offered it instead and called the place Jehovah-Jireh.
- How could he do such a thing? Heb.11:19 says Abraham concluded that "God was able to raise him up, even from the dead."
- Abraham believed God more than anything
- In his obedience and faith in God's provision, he became a beautiful picture of God the Father who offered His "only begotten Son" for the sins of the world.
- The essence of faith is trusting the provision of God.

I. God Provides All our Needs.

A. God's People Have Always Had Needs.

1. Biblical examples.

a. Abraham needed a sacrifice.

b. Isaac needed a wife.

c. Jacob needed food.

d. Moses needed a parted sea.

e. Joshua needed a victory.

f. Samson needed great strength.

g. Ruth needed a home.

h. David needed a prophet.

i. Solomon needed wisdom.

j. Nehemiah needed workers.

k. Daniel needed protection.

l. Ezekiel needed a vision.

m. Peter needed faith.

n. Saul needed a blinding light.

o. John needed a revelation.

p. We needed a Savior!

2. We have other needs.

a. Some of us need money for the next rent or mortgage payment.

b. Some need a job, a mate, comfort in a time of grief, peace in uncertainty.

c. Some just need a break!

3. Our church has needs too.

a. We need workers!

b. We need finances.

c. We need to do more for missions.

d. We need to reach out.

B. God Is Certainly Aware Of Our Needs.

1. None of these needs surprise God.

a. He is still on the throne.

b. He is not wringing His divine hands in worry.

c. He is not overcome by anxiety.

d. On the contrary, God is absolutely in control.

Ps 115:2-3, "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased."

Mt 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

2. God knows our personal needs for money, rest, relief, and peace.

3. And God knows our needs as a church.

4. He is not distant, but is intimately involved in all our struggles.

C. God Is Faithful To Provide Our Needs.

1. Think back on your life since you have been saved.

a. Has there ever been a need God has not met?

b. Has there ever been a time when He was unfaithful?

c. No! He who was faithful then is faithful now.

d. As Abraham climbed Mt. Moriah, surely he remembered God's faithful provision.

e. He remembered how God gave him a land when he had no land.

f. He remembered when God gave him a son in his old age.

Ro 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

2. God is immutable = He does not change.

a. He who was faithful in the past will supply our needs today.

Php 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

b. He will open the storehouse of His riches to us!

c. Do we trust Him to meet our needs individually?

d. Do we trust Him to meet our needs as a church?

II. God Provides Through our Obedience.

A. God tests our Faith.

1. Look back to our text in Gen.22:1.

a. "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham…"

b. The word 'tempt' here means to be put to the test.

c. God tested the faith of Abraham.

Ps 11:5a The LORD trieth the righteous…

Ps 17:3a Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me…

Jer 17:10a I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins…

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

2. God tests our faith today.

3. However, we must understand that He does not test us because He does not know how strong our faith is.

4. He is omniscient.

5. He knows how we will respond before the test begins.

6. He tests our faith to show us how strong or weak we really are.

7. I think in the same way God tests individual believers, He tests churches.

B. We Pass God's Test through Obedience.

1. What did God want from Abraham? the faith to obey.

2. What does God want from us? the faith to obey.

3. God's test for us may be the obedience of witnessing to a lost co-worker.

4. It may be the test of giving up a bad habit.

5. It may be filling some position in the church.

6. It may be the test of trusting Him to provide as we give our tithes and offerings.

7. The more we obey, the more we trust, the more we step put by faith, the greater the blessing and provision of God!

C. We Need To Trust In The Abundant Provision Of God.

1. He provides ABUNDANT JOY.

Ps 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

2. He provides ABUNDANT LIFE.

Joh 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

3. He provides ABUNDANT GRACE.

2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

4. He provides ABUNDANT POWER.

Eph 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

5. He even will provide an ABUNDANT ENTRANCE to heaven.

2Pe 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

III. God Provides at Just the Right Time.

A. Our Timing is not always God's Timing.

1. Abraham told Isaac, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb."

2. Abraham trusted God's timing; that God would provide in His time.

3. Do we trust God's timing?

4. Too often we are anxious for God to act right now!

5. Lord, give me patience and give it to me NOW!

B. God's Timing is Perfect.

1. When the altar was built, the wood laid out and the son bound up, Abraham raised his knife in faith.

2. I have a vivid picture of that scene in my mind.

3. The man of faith so trusted God that he would have plunged that knife into his promised son's heart.

4. God wasn't early. He didn't stop him when they arrived at the top of the mountain.

5. He wasn't late. He didn't call to Abraham when the boy lay dying.

6. He was right on time for Abraham, and God's timing in our lives is perfect as well.

7. He sends a friend with the just the right word at just the right time.

8. He sends a check for just the right amount at just the right time.

9. He doesn't hit and miss. He is not a God of approximation, but a God of exactness!

C. We Need To Trust in the Timing of God.

1. We can trust God's exactness, His precision, and His perfect timing in our lives.

2. We can "be anxious for nothing" because God will provide just what we need, just when we need it, not a moment too soon, not a moment too late.

3. When it comes to our church, God's timing is perfect too.

4. He will provide the finances, the workers, and the opportunities for outreach if we will simply trust Him!

Worry indicates a failure to believe God. If we are worried over something, we are not trusting in God's provision.

- God Provides All our Needs.
- God Provides Through our Obedience.
- God Provides at Just the Right Time.