← ONE | A Potter's House Church
Loading summary
Transcript5 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
- [00:04]
B
Hey, good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you, and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our services from ONE in la. If you haven't been to one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to One the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
- [00:55]
A
We're gonna start in Genesis 12. I have a little journey today. We're gonna go through verses one through one through three. I'm trying to be brief because I just want y' all to shift and go now. The Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house to a land of. I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth. That's us. We're going to come back to that. That's us. Shall be blessed. Oh, I just caught that just now. Wait a minute. The blessing that is on you right now is a result of a promise that started here with a man named Abram. It's not because of how special we are. It's not because of our hookup. It's because God made a promise to one man for all of us that'll preach by itself. Spirit of the living God, we thank you that you've ordained this encounter with your word and with your presence. I thank you for the hearts that have been prepared. I thank you for the minds that are ready to receive what you have in store for us. Father, use me however you see fit that I may bring forth what you have for your people. Wring me dry that they may receive it in abundance and run with it and run to you in Jesus matchless name we pray. Amen. Y' all can be seated. Whew. Mmm. I'm gonna love this journey. I pray that you will, too. For my note takers, global family for my typists, I know you. Click, click, click. Doing that title for this message is on the way to Provision. I know that word provision brings some relief and comfort to quite a few. It's one of those words that universally brings a sigh of relief when we think about it or hear it. And I love that that takes place. But one of the things that the Lord really pressed upon me, especially in this season, in this time, specifically in this world system and how it works. As children of the Most High God, we cannot walk with an incomplete understanding of provision. If we're really going to be able to hear the word provision and receive it in our spirit and all that comes with it, there is a. There is a complete view that God wants us all to have. And so we're going to take this journey on the way to provision. And it starts with Abram. The beautiful part about it starting with Abram is once we get to the final portion where the version of God that we speak of, Jehovah Jireh, our provider, once Jehovah Jireh steps in, that is when we begin to call on the Lord as the one who provides. But that is not just a happenstance event. This was not just a spontaneous thing. Nothing that God does is spontaneous. There's a lead up to it, there's a journey to it. And so for some of us, global family, y', all coming for the ride right along with us. For those of us who are envisioning when I say the word provision, all manner of things, I want us to have this complete understanding that in order for us to truly encounter God in His form of Jehovah Jireh, our provider, just as Abram had to go on a journey, we also will have to go on a journey. Amen. So let's begin. One of the things that we notice very on is that Abram is minding his business. He's 75 years old. When the Lord approaches him with this promise, I'm prayerful. Just that alone has helped somebody's day because I know quite a few of us are waiting for not just an encounter, but the encounter. We want the Abraham encounter where God comes and he meets you while you are minding your business and he lays out the vision for your life and he tells you all he's going gonna do for you. And he makes everything make sense and he gives you all of the details and he tells you this is gonna happen and this is gonna happen and I'm gonna be with you. And he spells out his whole plan for you. Amen. We're all waiting and wishing and hoping for this Abraham encounter. Excuse me, Abram encounter. But I want you to understand. Abram was 75 years old when God showed up. And we're not talking about 75 out of Noah years. Noah was like in the nine hundreds. That's like barely a tenth. No big deal. Abraham lived in his fullness of years to 175. So for the first 75 years, no promise. So for some of us who are itchy, we're a little anxious. I don't feel that I've heard the promise of God all my life. He hasn't approached me yet. Slow down. You got time. You have plenty of time. So we see Abram and he is minding his business. And the first command that he receives is to get out of his country, from his family, and out of his father's house to a land that the Lord will show him. So God starts off this entire encounter with. With a promise. I'm going to go to verse 4 says so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him. Go ahead and write down obedience. That's going to be a factor. That's going to be a running theme. God says to do it. And we talked about this a few weeks ago. What is the lens of victory? God said it, I did it. Abraham departs as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old when he departed. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their possessions they had gathered and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. God is sending them to eventually the land that they will inherit. But let's be very clear. Abraham did not show up empty handed. For some of us who are waiting for the promise to then understand what it is we have, let me relieve you of that you already have. Abraham was not lacking when the Lord approached him and said, get out of your father's house. He already had. So for some of us, what will help in this encounter is just taking an understanding and an inventory of knowledge of what it is you already have. Some of us are calling on God to be a provider. And yet we have not taken account to what he has already provided. So I love these little tiny details. Going to verse six. Abram passed through the land. Oh, I'm going to go to a different version. It's okay. Media Team I have a different version on here. We're good. Abram passed through the land to the place called Shechem. And I'm going to skip down to verse seven. The Lord appeared to Abram and said to your descendants, I will give this land. Here it is. So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. When God shows up in your dream, in your time with him and speaks to you, please, please build an altar. This is something you need to remember. This is a moment that you need to commemorate. Because it tells not only you, but it also lets your father know that you take encounters with him seriously. That not only do you take them seriously, but you know that these are encounters. As you are making your way towards his provision, you will need to revisit. The last thing you want to do is receive a promise and have a moment and an encounter with God and forget it happened. Because you will need the memory of what he promised you in order for you to get to get to what he has promised you. It is what's going to fuel you, it's what's going to sustain you. It's what's going to remind you. Because the enemy will do everything in his power to try to get you to forget. He cannot take the promise away from you. He cannot take the covenant away from you. He cannot take the provision away from you. But he can take your recollection of what God said to you. So you build an altar, you commemorate that moment, you write it down, whether it is on your journal, you take a selfie of yourself, whatever it is you need to do so that you remember when God began this encounter and said this is where the promise that he gave me started. I also love that as Abram is continuing forward, he has encounters with God where there are so many, many questions. Do not be afraid to ask God questions. I'm skipping forward a little bit and I didn't put this down. Study Genesis 15. In fact, study all of Genesis. How about that? Let's make this easy on you. Just the whole book. Do that and then keep going to the book after that as well. You see in Genesis 15 a beautiful encounter where Abram questions God about what it is God has promised him. And it's not from a place of Ellen. It is because Abram cannot comprehend what it is God is saying to him. So I love that Abram does with God in the Old Testament what we see the disciples do with Jesus in the New Testament. Because Jesus continued to unfurl things that blew the disciples minds. And in their quiet time with him, they Asked questions, Abram says, well, how do I know this is going to happen? How do I know this is going to take place? How do I know that the promise you've given me is going to take place? And it is in answering those questions where details of the promise and the covenant that him and Abraham are going to have together are formed. Y' all want details. You want to see how it is God is going to do what it is he's able to do. And I understand that, and that's fine. God is going to give you what you need to perform the next thing on the way. Do not be afraid to ask questions, but do not expect God to always answer your questions the way you think the answer should go. This is what keeps us from asking God questions at all. But we see this beautiful, intimate encounter between Abram and God throughout this journey. And it is a 25 year journey from the time Abram gets the promise at 75 to when Isaac, the child that he has wanted and prayed for and desperately, desperately sought after, is born. 25 years. He was alive for 75 before the promise, and then he received the promise. And he still had to sit through 25 years until the promise came to pass. I'm going to move. I want to go to Genesis chapter 14. And this is actually right after the encounter that PDA just spoke of. I was so excited that we had talked about that. And this is the encounter where Abram meets with these two kings. And I wanted you guys to catch this. This is verse 21. Now, the king of Sodom said to Abram, give me the persons. Take the goods for yourself. But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have raised my hand to the Lord God most High, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing from a thread to a sandal strap and that I will not take anything that is yours. Lest you should say, I have made Abram rich. This is important because Abram is already setting the tone. Number one, my God has already made a promise to me. And along this way, when God fulfills his promise, there will be no other who will be able to receive any credit for what God did. One of the things that keeps us from really walking and making our way to the provision of God is that we get a blessing and we give someone or something else the credit. Oh, that was lucky. Oh, karma. We start naming all of these other things that are not the name of the most High God, the Creator, who actually embodied his promise to you. So what keeps our minds set and Straight is remembering when, not if. When. God fulfills the promise and covenant that he has for us. No one, nothing else gets the credit. Let me be plain. We need to be in a thank you, God mode 24 7. When you can thank God for literally everything that happens in your life. This is what allows you to walk with enthusiasm, strength and endurance to fulfill the covenant that he has in store for you. Thank you, God, for everything. Thank you for the water that runs in my bathroom. Thank you for the warm blanket that I have. Thank you for the umbrella that I don't even know I have yet. Some nice is about to give it to me and I didn't know I was gonna need it until it started raining. Thank you for sending somebody who, for whatever reason, had two umbrellas. Thank you because they gave me one. Come on, rainy day, folks. You know what I'm talking about. Thank you for the ground that I'm standing on, because it's stable. When you are in a thank you God mode, you can proceed and walk with the awareness not only of the promise of, but of the Promise Keeper in all that we do. So this starts off with a promise. And this promise has details. Each encounter that Abram has with God reveals a little more of the details. I want to go to Genesis 13. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, very quick background, Abram and Lot have a moment where they both are so abundant that they cannot coexist. That ought to be a word for somebody. There comes a point in time where the abundance God has given you and the abundance that God has given someone next to you exceeds the capacity of the place that you are both in. Do not be afraid to go where God tells you to go, knowing that as he has promised and provided for you, he will promise and provide for the other. Some of us hang too tough with the people we rolling with. And God is saying, I did not create space in that place for the both of you in this way. And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, because he actually, I love this. He gives Lot the opportunity to pick because at some point they're both standing there and he says, listen, my people, your people, my land, your land. I don't have time for all this. I got a Promise Keeper. Why don't you just pick where you want to go and I'll go wherever else. I love it when you trust God so much, you let the other person choose. Doesn't matter where the other person goes. God's with me. Lift up Your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, westward. All of the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth. So now we're speaking of inheritance and generations. This is another encounter that he is now having with God. And we're getting more details. Every encounter you have with God, God gives you more details. And if he does not give you more details, it's because you already have enough details. When God repeats himself, just as he does in his word, pay attention, because it means that's what I'm supposed to hold onto and use. But when God repeats himself, sometimes we get frustrated and we want God to say something different. We want God to say something new. But we didn't do anything with what God said before. Verse 15. For all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants could also could be numbered. This now he is not just saying that you are going to have the child that you so desperately want. He's now saying you're not only going to birth generations, you're going to birth so many, you will not be able to count them. In fact, no one will be able to count them. He's exposed, expanding the scope of the vision of the promise that he has been given. This is a fresh, new encounter. We have to be mindful of all the little things that will take place as we are on our way to his provision. I'm going to keep saying that because I don't want to lose anybody. We're on our way there. But this is a journey. Provision doesn't just fall out of nowhere. And it also isn't always what we think it's going to be. Then he tells Abram, arise, walk in the land. This is verse 17 through its length and width, for I give it to you. Then Abram moved his tent, dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron. Here we go again. And built an altar there to God. Another encounter, another altar. Some of us are losing track of God's promise in our lives because we don't have enough altars. We haven't built enough reminders for us to revisit so that we can keep the promise in our mind and spirit fresh. And so as we continue to move forward and advance experience after experience, we're forgetting what it is he's already told us. And when we forget what it is he told us, that's when it's easiest to get off track. Because as you journey, you always have to have that reminder. Wait a minute. God has a promise for me. Wait a minute. Me and God are in agreement. And so as I'm moving forward, even if what's in front of me doesn't make sense, I remember the promise I had before I revisit the altar. So with each place he goes, you see, he builds an altar. And this is all based on promise. Promise. This is what God promised to Abram while he was minding his business. Let's move forward. Genesis 17. When Abram was 99 years old, he started at 75. 24 more years. Go on. Abram is 99 years old. The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God. Walk before me and be blameless, and I will make my covenant between me and you. The promise has now turned into a covenant. It's one thing to have a promise. It's one thing to have God say, this is what I'm going to do in your life. This is how I'm going to utilize you. This is what's going to go through your life. It's another thing to have a covenant. Because a covenant is. Is when two parties come into agreement for what it is that's going to take place. The way a covenant is made in this time, when you look up the word, it speaks of having fire coming through the middle of something with flesh on each side. And so the idea is both sides have, for lack of better words, skin in the game. When God makes a covenant with Abraham, this is with Abram. This isn't just about Abram being blessed or Abram moving forward. God has a very specific purpose for Abram's lineage. Now, once we introduce not just the fact that he is the promise keeper, but that there is nothing God does for no reason, this means this lineage must come to pass. So whether Abraham likes it or not, he's along for the ride. However God chooses to birth his promise, that's how this is going to take place. Let me speak to you, plain global family. I'm going to talk to you as well. However God chooses to birth his promise through you is up to him. And once you're in covenant with him, you're along for the ride. You're not in control of the ride. You are along for it. Because Abram, now that he's 99, understands that this is a moment in time. Where I am now in covenant with God. Verse 3. I'm going to go forward, actually. Verse 2. And I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly. Then Abraham fell on his face and God talked to him, saying, as for me, I love this part. As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. And you shall be father of many nations. Here we go. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham. For I have made you a father of many nations. Abram means father. Remember, he was 75 when God approached him. Can you imagine having a name father? You're 75 years old with no kids. God gave you a name. God knows the meaning of this name. But the fulfillment of the meaning of the name has not come to pass yet. For 75 years, he has been walking with the name that screams the identity Father. With no children for us, we need to understand. We're waiting for our name to be made in the way God made for us to be. In five years, six years, seven years, 30 days, 60 days, two months, three months, 75 years, Abram walked with the name Father. With no kids. Some of us are frustrated because we've been in LA for six months. Some of us are frustrated because we've been on that job three weeks. Yes, God gave you a word. God spoke it to you. He told you what your position was going to be. And yes, you made an altar. But are you willing to have the payment? Patience to endure until the time when the name and the identity God has given you is manifest. So Abram is walking for 75 years. Year 99 is when he gets covenant and an upgrade because it's no longer you're just going to be father of one, you're going to be father of many nations. And because of the expanse of the promise, it's no longer suitable to just have a promise. Now we have to have covenant. There's a difference between promise and covenant, Abram. Now, Abraham has entered into covenant with God. For some of us who are looking to God to be our provider, here is the thing we need to be mindful of as we are making our way towards provision. Understand that the provision for Abraham was attached to his covenant, not to just a promise. This was not to make Abraham wealthy or rich or make Abraham's name great. God was in covenant with Abraham and that covenant involved the next phase of creation, which was the birthing of all nations. So not only does Abram now need to become Abraham, how they speak and what has kept them together has to evolve and change into a covenant. An agreement between the two of them. Of them. So that's why the language, when you study, give you this too. Genesis 17. The language shifts. Because in verse 4, you hear, ask for me. This is the Lord saying, this is what I'm going to do. It's no longer, this is what's going to happen. Now, I'm going to give you very specific instructions for whose role is what. This is what I'm going to do. So he speaks of how his covenant is going to be enacted with Abraham. Moving to verse 6. Genesis 17. Verse 6. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make nations of you. And kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations. It's beyond him. Now listen out for the part of your promise as it is being shaped and developed into a covenant relationship with God. Always have an ear for the part that is beyond you. I'll give you that one for free. You know it's God when it's beyond you. If the promise stops with you being blessed, we miss something. It's not complete. It's not whole. I'm moving forward. Verse 8 says, Also I give to you and your descendants after you, the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession. And I will be their God. So he not only establishes covenant with Abraham, he establishes covenant with his descendants. That's us. This covenant is expanding beyond him. Abram, Abraham. And that time when you come into covenant with God, please understand what he is going to birth through you. And your agreement with him will extend beyond you and your time. That's how you know it's him. Moving down, verse nine. And God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, and you and your descendants after you, through their generations. This is my covenant. Here we go. Which you shall keep between me and your generations and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised. Wait. That's painful. Hold on. I was with the promise. I love the covenant. I'm down. We agree. I agree. You agree? This is what you're going to do? I hear your side. You said you're going to keep me in covenant. You're going to bless my generations. That's great. And then the last clause. Oh, by the way, you're going to have to give up a piece of you now. It hurts. Literally and figuratively. This is the part of covenant that we run from. Because covenant requires us to give up a piece of us. If the Lord is going to dispense his power and the power of His Word into your life, there's something we're going to have to give up. There's something we're going to have to release. There's something that we're going to have to part ways with so that we can enter into covenant with him. And for Abraham in this time period, it was the circumcision. He had to lose a piece of his flesh. The first sacrifice involved animals while he was asleep. The second sacrifice involved him losing a piece of himself. And for some of us, we don't want to lose a piece of ourselves because we want to hold on to who we were before the covenant and drag who we were through God's covenant. Some of us are not willing to go through the name change. We want to be Abram with an Abrahamic covenant. Because Abram was wealthy, Abram was stable. Like I said, Abram was minding his business. And God showed up in his business and said, I need you to take everything you got before I gave you a promise and now be on the move. So in order for this to take place now he has to give up a piece of who he is. And it's painful for some of us who are struggling in a relationship with God where we want to see the fulfillment of His Word and His promise in our lives. The toughest thing is to give up the part of us that hurts. There is pride in an area that keeps us from giving up that one piece. I won't give up my habits. I like my habits the way they are. That's what gave me my former name. I don't want to give up my former name, and I don't want to give up my habits. But I do want the new thing that God has called for me to have. And then we find ourselves crying out for his provision. But we have missed out on his covenant. So Abram not only has to change his name to Abraham, he also has to give up a piece of himself. And you see all of these details. As for God, he's going to keep his covenant, fulfill his covenant through generations of Abraham's descendants. That's God's part of it. Abraham's part of it is, you gotta lose a piece of yourself. And there's even a place in it for Sarah. Kind of need that, because we need a baby born. And, well, Abram can't do that. So now you have verse 17, not verse 17, 19 through 22. Then God said, no, no, no, no. And this right before, as he's gotten the terms of this agreement, mind you, Abraham, Abram has this moment where he decides to enact God's plan for himself. And Sarai offers her maid up because they have not had this baby yet. They count in the years 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83. What is happening? Where is this promise? So they decide to try to enact the promise themselves. And they have a son by the name of Ishmael. And so when God is speaking of this promise coming to pass, finally Abram thinks that God is talking about Ishmael. And God says, no, that's what you did. I'm talking about what I'm going to do. You want me to bless what you did? I'm blessing what I'm about to do. Some of us want God to bless what we did in our strength and our idea and our imagination. And God is saying, that's not what I'm talking about. When I come to you with a promise and a covenant and a blessing, I'm gonna bless what I'm about to do. That's what his word and his promise is attached to. So when God says, no, he says, no, Sarah, your wife. And he gets real specific. Not your maid, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son. And then says, his name's gonna be Isaac. Now God is spelling it out plain. We don't have time for confusion. We don't have time to wonder how this is gonna happen. Your wife, I just gave her a new name. I don't care how old she is. This promise is going to come through her. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you watch this. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. The only reason Ishmael gets a blessing is because of his conn. Abraham, the only reason still moving, says, he will be yet 12 princes, and I will make him a great nation. One nation. Abrahamic promise, many nations, Ishmael, one nation. But my covenant, I will establish with Isaac. So there's a difference between blessing and covenant. Some of us are after blessing when we need to be after covenant. Blessing covers one nation. Covenant covers descendants multiple generations. So when it's time to look towards the Lord and what his provision means and how his provision works for us, and we look forward to covenant, we don't want to tie a blessing just to what he can do for us, because there's so much more to walking with God, and it's called being in covenant with him. And so now we have an identity shift that has taken place. The promise has become a covenant. His identity has changed. The terms have been laid out, and now we can move forward. We're still making our way. We have not gotten to Jehovah Jireh yet, but I promise you, we're going to get there. So God makes this very clear distinction between what he's going to bless and what he's in covenant with. And then I love how the change in Abraham is reflected. Now we see it in, in Genesis chapter 22. Now we have come to our penultimate encounter. So Isaac is born. The child, as the Lord says, comes to pass through Sarah, who we know was past childbearing age. She was, I think, 100, Abraham was 100. No idea how that happened. That's not my business. Leave grown folks business. We're grown folks. Now we get to Genesis 22, and this encounter is on the heels of Abraham being told to get up and make the ultimate sacrifice. We're going to skip down to verse nine. Study Genesis chapter 22 on your own as well. Says, then they came to the place of which God had told him, this is Abraham. And Abraham built an altar, placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son and left, laid him on the altar upon the wood, and Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. The order that he received from God was he had to sacrifice his son. So he acts. And the beautiful part about this is Isaac asks him, he says, abra. He asks his father, where is the sacrifice coming from? And Abraham says, the Lord will provide. In Genesis 15, Abraham asks God all the questions. Now, by the time we get to Genesis 22, Abraham is no longer asking God questions, He's now answering questions. He has developed such faith in his walk with God, being sustained with a promise for 25 years, a life that's expanded that. That has been at least 100 years. So now when the next generation asks him, father, where is the sacrifice going to come from? Instead of him having to ask God, he already knows the answer. When you walk with a promise with God and that promise evolves into a covenant, and your identity shifts and your name changes and you learn more about how God honors the world in your life, through your life, with your life. When the next generation, when the descendants come to you to ask how it is, what's going to take place, is going to take place, you say, God will provide because God's been providing for you. The whole time because you built altars and you revisited those altars. And you have a God has done it for me attitude and everything that you have in your life, you thank God, God for when the younger generation comes to you looking for wisdom, when they come to you with the same questions you used to have for God, you can answer and say, God will provide. And so that's exactly what God does. He lifts up his hand to do this. Verse 11. But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven, said, abraham, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do nothing or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear me. Wait a minute. Up until this point, Abraham's fear of God had not been clear yet. We know that Abraham, who is the father of our faith, we know that he can endure. We know that he can obey. We know that he can sacrifice. But we don't know for sure that he fears awes him. Some of us can obey, some of us can sacrifice. Some of us know how to endure. We can do all of the things. But when it comes down to the moment when we have to give the ultimate sacrifice and everything I just listed must come into play, what's necessary to finish the deal is awe, reverence, fear of God. That is what allows you to receive the lasting confirmation that you need of the covenant that you have with God. That's when God said, oh, wait a minute, he reveres me. He has an understanding of how much our relationship means, that he's willing to give up the one thing he has prayed for and wanted. This man fears me now. Now I can reveal myself in this next way. Verse 13. Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. Come on. We all know the ram in the bush. So Abraham went, took the ram, offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son, and here we are, our journey is just about complete. And Abraham called the name of the place. The Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, what I love about this, and this is Jehovah Jireh. This is where we find the first instance of the name Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. So Abraham is tasked with giving the ultimate sacrifice. Here's one of the great parts about this. He never actually had to give up Isaac. God just needed to know he had the heart to do it. The sacrifice was internal, not external. Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. So when he was called to sacrifice. God was looking, and he saw Abraham and he saw Isaac, and. And he led him up the path and he walked on over and he built the altar. And he's still waiting. And he's waiting, and he's looking right into Abraham's heart. And once the hand go up, he said, that's it. His heart is mine. For some of us who are looking to receive Jehovah Jireh, God as our provider, God is just waiting for the moment when you can know and say, my heart is yours. And that requires you being willing to give up the thing you least want to give up in your life, the thing that you prayed for to receive that God gave you. This is often the hardest thing in the world. To give up. Is the thing you prayed for that God gave you. It is confusing. Lord, I prayed for this. We're in covenant. I did the name change. I sacrificed. I gave up a part of who I was. You had a promise. You get made good on your promise, and then you show up and you say, give me what God is saying. Yes, show me your heart. Will you release the thing that means the most to you? Oh, thank you, Holy Spirit. Are you willing to release an old testimony to make room for a new one? Because when we limit ourselves to thinking, this is the best God can ever do for me, so I've got to hold on to it. I can't let it go. I wanted it for so long. I was 75, and then I was 100. And now I see him. I can see my Isaac. Look at him. He's handsome. He's amazing. He's my son. I've got him next to me. And I'm thanking God every day for the thing that God gave me. And I'm walking with the promise that he established for me. And I'm walking in the fulfillment of. Of the promise that he gave me. I'm thanking God he kept his word. Oh, he's so good. He's so amazing. And then God says, give it to me right in the middle of you, deep in love with that thing. Give it to me. That's when you know where your heart really is. Is my heart in receiving the blessing, or is my heart in staying in covenant? Because we established earlier there's a difference between blessing and covenant. And if we're honest with ourselves, there are seasons. I said ourselves. That includes me. We. There are seasons where we want the blessing more than the covenant, because the blessing feels good, and the covenant is really hard. And the blessing is comfort. And the Covenant is really hard because the blessing makes sense, because we prayed for. And the covenant makes no sense because God keeps giving me new terms when it's time for the fulfillment of covenant. Endurance, faith, obedience, promise, keeping, sacrifice, all leads up to that moment where God is looking right in our hearts and he says, give it to me. And Abraham, in his heart, was going to do it. And God could see it. He wasn't faking because some of us do that. Lord, I give it up. I give it all to you. Lord, I give it up. Give myself away. No, you don't. No, you don't. You like the song. You ain't giving yourself away. It's in your playlist. You ain't giving it up. Meanwhile, Abraham was willing. And because he was willing, he not only got to keep what he was willing to give up, he also got a revelation of who God is that no one had ever received before. He got to have the fullness of Jehovah Jireh revealed to him. And all of this required time. We're done. But I want to sow this into you. God has his own timing. And not only does he have his own timing, it's good that he does, because his timing is better than ours. His promises are bigger than ours. His covenant is bigger than whatever blessings we're praying for. And we have to be willing to endure, to go through all of this, to know as God, to know Jehovah Jireh, God as our provider. You know what the best part is? The best. One of the best, best, best, best parts is when we're done. God did not give him money that hurt. Cause some of y' all was like, y' all were ready to journey. Y' all on the journey on the way to provision. Then I said, it might not be money. Like, ooh. What did God give Abraham? He gave him the promise of multiplication of seed. Next to time, it is the greatest currency in the kingdom. Multiplication of. See, he said, your seed will be like dust in the air. There's going to be multiplication on a level we literally don't have a number for. He gives this to him. Jehovah Jireh provided multiplication. It wasn't just money. He gave him land because the land was necessary for the people that were going to be birthed through the promise, the covenant that he had for him. Provision is not always tied to wealth. All increase is not always wealth. Currency, monetary. He allowed Abraham to experience the full pinnacle of a generational blessing, which is all of us. And not only all of us, but according to The Word I just read, all of us get to partake in the same covenant too. He truly gave something for his children's children. This is provision. Jehovah Jireh is my provider. I love that term because I then have an understanding that it's not about what I need for me, it's about him providing what is necessary for his covenant to be enacted. And so if I want to be in on what God can really, really do, I need to be in his covenant. Because when I'm in his covenant, that's when everything, all access to the things of God, to the ways of God, to how God can move on this earth, are all attached to his covenant. Some of us have some homework because I've been praying for provision, but I don't have covenant. I've been praying for covenant. I don't even know his promises over my life yet. Guess what? You just got some prayer points. Hallelujah. And my prayer for each one of us is that we will allow for the time to God to reveal it, because there are some there. Why? Because he promised Abraham that there would be. That each one of us has a covenant with him. So we need to take the time. And for some of us who have gone running through life, just as Abram spent 75 years without a promise or covenant, some of us have already gotten the head jump. We've got 25, 35, 45, maybe 55 years or so. It is okay to make space for the time we say. Lord, what are your promises over my life? Lord, who are you calling me to be? What is the name change that is to come for me? Lord, what is your covenant with my life? What sacrifice am I going to have to make so that me and you can do business? So that you can know that I mean business. I stand on business when I say that my heart belongs to you. What is it? I'm giving y' all this for free. Hope y' all wrote some of this down. Because we will be a covenant keeping people. Victory is in the keeping of covenant. God provides where there is covenant and promise. So I need to find where the covenant and promise is. And that's where I need to live. Amen. Let's stand. God will break that off of us. God can provide far more than what the world believes he can and in as many different ways as possible. I want to do this very quickly. Speaking of promises that are being kept, one of the greatest promises was when God said, I will send one who will atone for the sins of all. That man is Jesus, I want to give an opportunity right now for someone who is willing and courageous enough to begin walking in covenant with God while holding Jesus hand. Because Jesus will walk with you in God's promises. Jesus will walk with you when you need to endure. Jesus will walk with you when it's time to sacrifice, because no one gave a greater sacrifice than him. So I can look to Jesus as my model as I'm searching for this thing called God's promises and covenant over my life. If you want to start a life where you walk with Jesus, where you can say, jesus is my Lord, he is my Savior, he is the one that is going to walk with me as I search out, seek all of what comes with covenant with his father. If you want to start a life with Jesus, raise your hand. I see you. I see both of you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. If you can come to. Come on down. Come on down. If you can, come on down. Would love to pray with you. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on, bros. Come on, Come on. Come on, Come on. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That's what I'm talking about. I'm a hugger. Come here. Come on, Come on. We got room. Yes. Global family, that same invitation extends to you. We got people in our chat who are going to give you the same love and give you the same presence of God to walk with you. Come on. Oh, hallelujah. All right, so this is going to be quick and simple. I'm going to ask you three questions, and we'll go from there. 1. Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Do you believe that he died most gruesome death we could ever know? That he died for your sins and put those to death as well? Okay. And do you believe that he came back to life to show you that all sin and all death was defeated? Congratulations. You're in. Welcome to Covenant Living, Covenant thinking, and all the things God has in store for y'. All. Oh, this is gonna be good. I've got prayer warriors and people right here to your right. I had to rethink that because I was about to say right, but I met my left. And not only do we want to, you know, get to walk with you, we'd also love to connect you with a whole bunch of us, a new family who will walk with you, too. Because none of us prayerfully will ever have to walk this thing called Covenant out alone. Amen. Kingdom fam. Let's celebrate. We got some more soldiers in Covenant and walking with Jesus Yep. Just follow her over. I gotta let y' all go. Let me send you with a blessing and an impetus to get into covenant and stay in covenant with him. Last piece. Promise. Really? The last piece. Abraham died at 175 years old. 75. No promise, no covenant. 25. Wrestling with the covenant. 75 in covenant. Walking out the fullness of God's promise. And when he died, it said he had been blessed like no one else had been blessed before. In fullness of years. My encouragement to you, for some of you think it's too late. You're just getting started. You're just getting started.
- [58:35]
B
Hey, family. Well, I pray that you were just, just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be a part of a dynamic community full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's been blessing people for over two decades, and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called the called it's right here on wherever you're listening to this. It's Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast, you can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself, Tere Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But, hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call. Much blessings to you. We'll catch you next time.
- [59:29]
A
Sa.