Scripture: Genesis 22: 1-19 (LSB)
Sermon Title: The Grace to Grow
Genesis 22:1-6 (LSB)
1 Now it happened after these things, that God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there; and we will worship, and we will return to you.” 6 Then Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and put it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
Galatians 4:29 (LSB)
29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh was persecuting him [who was born] according to the Spirit, so it is now also.
2 Chronicles 3:1 (LSB)
1 Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where [Yahweh] had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
The faith of Abraham had
to the point he didn’t
to trust God.
Hebrews 11:1-2 (LSB)
1 Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval.
John 19:17 (LSB)
17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
Genesis 22:7-8 (LSB)
7 Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
Hebrews 11:1-2 (LSB)
1 Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval.
Faith is
in the absence of
the whole plan.
Genesis 22:9-19 (LSB)
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, [there was] a ram after [it had been] caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide, as it is said this day, “In the mount of Yahweh it will be provided.” 15 Then the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. 18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and walked together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
1 Samuel 15:22 (LSB)
22 And Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, [And] to heed than the fat of rams.
John 1:29 (LSB)
29 On the next day, he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
God’s
comes after the step of
The Phases of Faith:
Faith Phase 1: Dream
How does God build your faith? He always starts with a dream. Nothing happens until you start dreaming. You have to get an idea, a vision, a goal, or a target. When God wants to work in your life, he gives you a dream about what he wants you to do and the impact he wants you to have in the world.
Faith Phase 2: Decision
You have to make the decision to go for it! Nothing will happen to your dream until you wake up and put it into action. For every ten dreamers in the world, there is only one decision maker. The only way to move forward in faith is to decide to take a risk.
Faith Phase 3: Delays
When you pursue your dream, there is always a waiting period. Why does God make you wait? Because God wants to work on you before he works on your project. The purpose of the delay phase is to teach you to trust God and to be patient with his timing. How you handle God’s waiting rooms of life is a clear measure of the strength of your faith.
Faith Phase 4: Difficulties
Not only will you have to wait, but you will also have problems while you’re waiting. There are problems even when your dream lines up with God’s dream, because God is working on your faith and character.
Finally, the difficulties become so bad that you come to your limit. You’ve tried everything, you’ve exhausted all your options … and now you’ve reached the fifth phase of faith.
Faith Phase 5: Dead Ends
In the dead-end phase, the situation deteriorates from difficult to impossible. If you are at this stage, congratulations! You are in good company. Even the apostle Paul experienced dead ends. He wrote, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (See 2 Corinthians 1:8-9.)
God not only can raise people from the dead physically but also can raise people from the dead emotionally. He can raise a dead marriage. He can resurrect a dead career. He can breathe new life where all hope has died.
Faith Phase 6: Deliverance
In the end, God delivers. He performs a miracle. He provides a solution. God loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections, hopelessness into victory, and dead ends into deliverance. Why? Because he gets the glory.
Life Group Questions:
Get to know you question (optional):
1. Discuss a time that you took a step of faith?
2. Read Genesis Chapter 22:1-19 (prior to life group): When you read through the scripture take note of anything interesting, unique, or questions that come to mind when reading. Take some time and dig in deeper in the following areas.
Read Gen 22:4 – List and discuss other places in the Bible where this same time frame (3 days) is used. What is being communicated in the pattern?
3. Why do you think that God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Is it wrong that God would ask this? Why or why not.