The LORD Will Provide

January 20, 2013

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” Genesis 22:14

This past weekend was so very inspiring as we in the Orlando church had our Winter Workshop entitled “EVEN GREATER THINGS” taken from John 14:12-14 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even great things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it”. It is humbling and inspiring to consider that Jesus believes we will do even greater things than he did! This is exactly what we believe! The Bible says it so we will simply take the Lord at His word! Helen and I were so inspired coming in from Los Angeles from being at their Winter Workshop entitled “GREAT AMONG THE NATIONS”! We were so fortunate to return to do our workshop right after being in Los Angeles where God prepared our hearts to get back home and kick off the New Year. We truly believe that 2013 will bring EVEN GREATER THINGS!

Now back to our text in Genesis. Many of us were humbled to think of 2013 as a year of even greater things since 2012 was so amazing! The LORD blessed us with 131% growth starting with the original remnant group of 29, adding the 16 mission team members, 3 who were restored, 3 who moved in besides the mission team and 27 who came to be baptized! We ended the year with 67 amazing disciples and many who were studying the Bible were close to baptism. With that kind of growth we could be tempted to feel overwhelmed as we strive to do even greater things. At that point God put on my heart through the reading of Genesis to have the heart of Abraham- knowing that our God is the God of the impossible and that He could raise the dead. The passage in Chapter 22 helped me be reminded that The Lord Will Provide…I need not be anxious or stressed but to simply walk with God as our forefathers have done.

Interestingly, all through the beginning of Genesis you can see the heart of men who had an incredible relationship with God. They never wanted for anything, they lived good lives among a totally evil generation, they promoted God’s honor over their own, they preached the Word in order to influence others and they walked with God. In Genesis 3 we see the LORD God walking in the garden where Adam was and we can imagine that He walked with Adam before the fall. Imagine literally walking with God! Adam sinned and lost this closeness and depth of relationship. Although his needs were met, he never again seems to have the intimacy with God he had before. His descendants are broken into two groups- sons of Cain and more sons of Adam. The sons of Cain seem separated and distant from God as the curse had foretold, while some of Adam’s sons walked with God! Genesis 4:26 Seth, Adam’s son had a son named Enosh and “At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD”. One of Seth’s descendants is Enoch who “walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”

After this Lamech has a son named Noah and at 500 Noah begins to have sons. His three sons are Shem, Ham and Japheth. Although Japheth is the oldest Shem becomes the prominent of the three. Ham is unrighteous after the flood and so Noah curses him and his children (Canaan being one of them) while he blessed Japheth who will “live in the tents of Shem” Genesis 9:24-27. Shem will be over them both. This curse and blessing becomes the reality as Ham’s descendants become some of the most evil rivals of the sons of Shem- the Canaanites, Hittites and Amorites for example. While the sons of Shem become known as “Semites” or those who would be the people of God (i.e. we often hear “anti-Semitic” jokes or racial slurs- this is “against the Semites or sons of Shem” or also a people known as the Semitic tribes). One of the most prominent sons of Shem’s descendants is Eber (also the name of two patriarchs and four Israelites) and the word Hebrew comes from his descendants. Eber or Heber giving us the Hebrews and also Eber is considered a place: eber (a region across especially east of the Jordan) and so this is why the “righteous line” of Adam leads us to the people of God- the Semites (sons of Shem) or Hebrews (sons of Eber). And much later the sons of Jacob who is renamed Israel therefore; the Israelites.

After getting baptized recently, Jose Pepin saw his wife Victoria stir the waters of baptism along with the West Sisters!

All of this history leads us to Abram who is later renamed Abraham- the father of faith. Abram is born to Terah (one of the great grand-kids of Shem) who went on a mission to arrive in the land of Canaan and yet he “settles” in Haran (far north of Canaan) rather than continuing to the spot many believe God put on his heart- the future “promised land”. Terah dies in Haran never fulfilling his destiny and so God calls Abram to go all the way to the land his father should have gone to. Genesis 12:1-2 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you…I will make you into a great nation…” This is the beginning of our LORD’s relationship with this incredible man. Abram’s response shows the heart of a man of God: So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

What separates the enemies of God from the chosen? The chosen obey and often come from a line of men who simply chose to obey God and so He blesses them. Able obeys and is blessed, Shem obeys and is blessed and here Abram obeys and is given the greatest covenant to date. The disobedient or complacent sons are cursed as well as their lineage. A covenant is given to Abram that will literally change the future of the planet! Obedience, I was taught, is not simply doing the right thing but it is doing what the authority in our lives tells us- the first time, completely and with a happy heart. This brings blessing from God. Abram was told to go away from everything he knew and was comfortable with and that God would bless him. The scripture simply says, “and they arrived there”. He did exactly what God commanded him and continued to do so. Is your life blessed or cursed? Are you following in the footsteps of the righteous men of God or those who were cursed? The challenge here is to “arrive there”…wherever God tells you to go. Are you willing?

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” Genesis 22:14

On the journey to his destiny God leads Abram through a few detours. Maybe now in your life you have been taken on a detour and you do not see how you are going to arrive at the destination you believe you were called to. Abram trusted and obeyed. Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. Genesis 12:10. Later he returns to the Negev, had to rescue Lot, fights five kings, gets to meet Jesus (Melchizedek) and gives him a tithe joyfully and finally has a son of the promise. So many detours happen along the way to Abram living his destiny and from time to time he takes things into his own hands- not trusting God’s plan for his life. Sadly, Ishmael (forefather to who many believe, the Muslims) is born due to Abram’s lack of trust. God still works powerfully and gets Abram and Sarai back on track but it takes years and suffering for them to finally truly trust God. God’s plan is always better!

The Eastside Brothers are fired-up to see Michael Sterling enter the Kingdom of God!

Are you in a detour right now? Are you trusting the LORD through it or fighting Him? When we take things into our own hands and do not obey the LORD we reap the consequences as Abram did. When there is repentance and trust again- God blesses just as He did with Abram. In 1985 my girlfriend was a student at LSU and she was invited to a Church of Christ with a Crossroads and Boston Movement influenced campus ministry. I went with her and this began me down the road to becoming a true disciple in San Francisco in 1988. I sadly fell away in 1990 for several months because I was lonely and far from God and tried to take things into my own hands. It failed horribly. Thankfully I was restored later that year! Five men I met became disciples that year; I became a Bible Talk leader and even met Helen “Floyd” who later became my wife! What a year…but I had to go down a detour to refine my character, my motives and my heart so that I could be used by God to fulfill His purpose and so that he could give me a great destiny.

Finally, we see Abraham tested by God after he has the son of the promise, Isaac, when he is 100 years old. Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey…he set out for the place God had told him about. Genesis 22:1-3 At this point we see the obedient heart of Abraham- he obeyed the first time, completely and he did it with a happy heart! Amazing the faith of this man in his God! This is the faith we are to have and the faith that pleases our God.

We know the story and it is an incredible example of why Abraham is the father of our faith! Right as he is about to sacrifice his ONLY SON (amazing foreshadowing here of God giving His only son) God’s angel calls out to stop him. He stops and in a sense receives Isaac back from the dead because he had the faith to trust God’s promises even when it seemed impossible. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” Genesis 22:13-14

Quite possibly you are in what seems to be an impossible situation and you are tempted to disobey, take things into your own hands and no longer trust the plans and promises of God. Don’t do it! Remember Abram’s father Terah didn’t follow through but Abram “arrived there” as he should have. Follow in the footsteps of your faithful forefathers and obey. He will surely provide and bless you. Althugh may seem to be a “detour”, remember that is how God will refine your character- hang on and obey. Know without a shadow of a doubt that our God is the God of the impossible and “The Lord will provide”.

Matt Sullivan