Elevation with Steven Furtick - When God Says Let Go

Episode Date: April 6, 2025

Is your faith being tested? If you’ve been waiting on the details of what God has next, remember that God doesn’t give a test without a lesson first, so if He’s calling you to let go of something, you can trust He’s already provided you with what you’ll need to take that step. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr Scripture References:Hebrews 11, verses 17-19Hebrews 11, verse 8Genesis 22, verses 1-2, 6-14Romans 4, verse 19See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Hebrews 11 verses 17 through 19. I'm continuing in my series, called. You know what? God bless you. You're my best friend. Can you give me a hug? I appreciate that.

What's your name, man? Oh, that made me so happy. You love it? I love you. What's your name? Torsten. Say it? Torsten.

Torsten. Torsten? I'm an usher right over there. Ah, Torsten, the usher! Do you feel like God has called you to be an usher? Definitely. Yeah. I love this so much.

I said, definitely, I love it so much. Do you have the calling of ushing? Okay. So you're going to love this, Tourston. I'm going to talk today a little bit about how God calls us all to do some things, and then he calls some to do certain things. And in the theology of it, you have the universal calling of God, and then the particular calling of God. And there are some things that God has not called us all to do. And thank God for that. Today we're going to talk about a man named Abraham. God called him to have a baby at age 100. How many thank God that God has not called us all? So we're going to talk about today how God has called us all, and that includes you. In the south, we say, God called y'all. God called y'all

and in Hebrews chapter 11 he's giving the whole hall of faith to all these heroes and he brings up Abraham and I'll show you in a few moments where God called his name twice because that's the theme of the series Simon Simon Moses Moses Martha Martha what other ones have I done

Jacob Jacob I've been studying all seven of them so I'm mixed up which ones I've done Saul Saul Paul Paul and this week is going to be Abraham Abraham But I want to go back through the lens of Hebrews 11 where we're given a list of all of these amazing things that God called people to do and they are particular things so that we're not all going to lead a nation like Moses did. I don't want to.

Who would want to be the president of this country ever for any reason whatsoever? And you may say, well, God doesn't call me to preach or to sing, I don't want to do those things. Well, there are some things that God has called us all to be. Kind. God has called us all to be patient. God has called us all to be forgiving. God has called us all to be generous. God has called us all to have faith. God has called us all to be more than conquerors. God has called us all to be agents of healing, the light of the world, the salt of the earth. And we're given this example of Abraham to help us with that. Look at Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17. By faith, Abraham, when God tested him, When God tested him. I want you to remember that God tested him. When God tested him, he offered Isaac as a sacrifice.

That was the son that he waited until he was 100 to half. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son. Verse 18, even though God had said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring, spring will be wrecking. Now that's really heavy. And I've been saving this sermon because I was intimidated to preach it because it's honestly a very disturbing story in the Bible where God told Abraham, take your son that you love and offer him to me as a sacrifice. And moving beyond the differences in that time period when child sacrifice was acceptable in the culture, it is still a very, very difficult story for us to read or to talk about. But we're going to talk

about it today. We're going to talk about it today through a certain lens. Because look what it says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19. It says, Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead. And so, in a manner of speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. And we know that this is a shadow of another son, thousands of years later, who would be sacrificed for our sin. And Abraham who did not have to kill his son is a pre-figure of a father who would go through with it, but raise him from the dead. But Abraham didn't know that story yet. And so sometimes we are having to live in experiences that we have no frame of reference for. And that's what I want to talk to you a little bit about today. It's a simple message, but a profound truth that the

Lord showed me. This message is about a certain moment in your life that you will come to from time to time, not just once, but many times. And I'm calling the message, when God says let go. When God says let go. Because sometimes he will. Sometimes he will tell you you're holding it too tightly and God will say let go. Sometimes he'll tell you this is through and you can't do anything about it and he'll say let go. And we want to talk today about what to do when God says let go. Father, release your word with power and precision. Right now, I thank you in advance for the clarity that you will give me as I preach this word to your children. In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated. When God says, let go. Put that title in the comments, please, on YouTube. When God says, let go. Control freaks, buckle. We're going to talk about when God says let go. Helicopter parents bring it in for a landing for the next 30, 45 minutes. We're going to talk about when God says let go.

Now I need to go in very strongly from the beginning, so let's skip the part of the sermon where you fish your gum out of your purse and half listen to what I say while I tell you a story that doesn't relate to anything so you can get settled in. And let me just give you a principle right off the top, because I feel like there are some heavy situations people are carrying today. And God is saying, let go. When the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17, when Abraham was tested, the specific tense that the language uses of the New Testament, which is Cuenay Greek, is in present continual tense. So it doesn't mean that Abraham had one moment where his faith was tested and it was over. it's talking about how faith is tested with every step of faith that he took.

When the Lord told him to go to a mountain and sacrifice his son, he didn't know that God would provide a ram in the bush and he wouldn't have to do it. So he was tested. Now, this is something I would love for you to write down. It's a little bit long, but I think it's powerful. When your faith is being tested, there is something God has already taught you that he is calling you to trust in. When your faith, not if, but when, when your faith is being tested,

there is something that God has already taught you that he is calling you to trust in. God would not be giving you this test if he had not given you. you the lesson. He's a good teacher. He wouldn't put something in front of you that he didn't prep you for. So we learned to shift in these seasons of testing to try to remember, God, what is it that you've already taught me that you are calling me to trust in in this moment? Let me say the whole sentence one more time. When your faith is being tested by a medical diagnosis, When your faith is being tested by a dry season in your own soul, when your faith is being tested, by the way somebody is acting toward you that's unfair, but you can't stop it. When your faith is being tested by doubts that just seem to keep coming and multiply in your mind, when, not if your faith is being tested, you're in good company.

The father of our faith, Abraham, was tested. And when he was tested, not just once but many times, there was something that God had already taught him that he was calling him to trust in. So if your faith is being tested and it will be tested, and if it is not being tested today, let me see you at 2 p.m. When your faith is being tested, there is something that God has already taught you that he is calling you to trust in because there's a big difference between him teaching it and me trusting it. And so this moment in your life is about asking God,

what have you already taught me that you are calling me to trust in? Abraham. Abraham and God have a track record. By the time he calls him to give his son back to God, the God who gave him, the son says give it back to me, which he has the right to do. Everything comes from him. But even in the midst of Abraham's confusion, there is a sense of continuity for his calling. The thing about trust when I said, God is calling you to trust in something that he taught

you. The thing about trust is that trust is everything. And the greatest way that I can exemplify this to you is through Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8. God gives a little bit of a reminder about something that happened 40 years earlier in Abraham's life that prepared him for this moment. And I want to look at you right now. Just because you don't feel ready for this moment doesn't mean you're not prepared for it. Just because you're surprised by it doesn't mean that you don't have the supply for it.

Now, when Abraham was first getting started out in his journey of faith following Yahweh, he was 75 years old. They lived a lot longer than, by the way. You could have called it a midlife crisis because he lived to be about 150, 160. And the Bible says in Hebrews 11, verse 8, a reminder of something that happened when Abraham first got started. It says, by faith Abraham, when called

to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. That's about the craziest thing I ever had in my life. Y'all just sitting there looking at me like he went to the grocery store.

I just told you this man uprooted his entire life because of a God he had never heard from, told him to go to a place that he wouldn't give him any details about, and there was no way's app on Abraham's iPhone negative 34. So he went and obeyed even though he didn't know. Somebody say even though? Even though. Even though he didn't know where it was leading, he set out in faith. And the thing about this kind of trust in your life, my life, Abraham's life, Simon's life, Martha's life, Mary's life, Moses's life. When we go through all the people in the Bible, we get a panoramic view of the patterns that apply to all of us, kind of a sampler of what different people went through that they had to trust God with and steps that they took. And then we find ourselves following in those footsteps. And trust is a funny thing. Because the deeper, the level of trust,

the less the need for details. The deeper, the level of trust, the less the need for details. Can I break it down? Holly went to get her nails done yesterday. I trust her. I didn't check my phone to see if she actually went to get her nails done. I didn't ask her how long she was going to be there. Who's going to be doing your nails? What kind of acrylic are you planning to get today? And are you going to pay for the extra $20 thing where they put the little things on the things on top of the things? Because I trust her. She won't spend it if we don't have it, and she won't lie to me about it if she does.

She'll tell me I spent 20. I don't even have to ask her. Just go get your nails done. I trust her. This is not a marriage seminar. This is not a parenting seminar, but let's pretend like it is because it involves a father and a son. With teenagers. How many of you have teenagers?

When you trust your teenagers, you are delusional. Just kidding. When you trust your teenagers, because they can develop a track record that you trust them, right? And if you have a teenager that you feel like you can trust, as much as you can trust any person, including you, because some of y'all can't even trust a teenager that's still living in you.

So how in the world would you completely trust your teenager? But when they have exemplified trustworthy behavior, even though they have a sinful nature, it changes things. If you don't trust your teenager, every time they want to go somewhere, you need details. So they will ask you, can I go to the movies? And you will say, I need some details. Somebody put it in the chat. Say details. Tell your neighbor, I need details.

Tell them, if I don't trust you, I need details. So can I go to the movie? What movie? What theater? Who are some of the actors in the movie so I can see if you really plan on seeing this movie? What time is it playing? Who else is going to be on your row? What seat are you sitting in?

Show me a screenshot of those seats right now. Will there be popcorn involved? How much butter do you plan on pumping on that popcorn? Because the less I trust you, the more I need details. If I trust you, can I go to the movies? Sure, be home at 1130. We don't need the details if we have the trust. And the deeper, the level of trust, the less the need for details.

The guy who started the church with me, he could walk up to me right in the middle of preaching right now and put a contract here and say, I need you to sign this while you're preaching. And I would keep preaching and sign it and hand it back to him. I wouldn't ask him what it was about. Maybe you think I'm an idiot, but we've had experiences together. It would not matter what that particular document said. It is through the... Now, the first time I met him, I needed details.

Now, let me tell you all something, because I really want to set this frame so that we don't get lost in an epic story about killing your son or your daughter. which is not what the text is about. It's about trust. God is not calling you to kill your child. You might wish from time to time. But using humor just to lighten the mood so we don't get caught in something that we can't understand and contextualize in our day. This is about trust. The test that you're in right now is about trust. When we started the church, I have eight families who I asked to come with me. This was 20 years ago. 21 years ago, I said, I'm called. to start a church. And I believe y'all are called to come with me. But here's all I told

them. I said, we're going to start a church in a big city somewhere in America. That was the whole pitch. I had not read the sales books yet about how to sell people on your vision. And as a matter of fact, I didn't really want them to know what city we were going to because I didn't know yet. And I believe that God knew, and I didn't want them to make a commitment based on a city. I wanted them to make a commitment based on a calling. I didn't want them to commit if we were going to Miami because they like warm weather. I wanted them to commit even if we went to Minnesota. But I didn't want to tell them Minnesota so that they would say yes, and then they'd have to go to Minnesota

because I wanted to trick them into trusting God, not me. Because I look back on that, and I think, my goodness, how did they trust so much when they were told so little? Somewhere in the United States of America, we couldn't have known we would be in such a wonderful city as Charlotte, North Carolina. We couldn't have known. And I'm not comparing y'all to Abraham, but even though they didn't know, they decided to go. Let's go. Let's go do it, they said. We're young and dumb.

Let's go. Might as well find out if God can use us. Let's go. There's something invigorating, even talking to you, about me reliving those let's go moments of our faith. There's something exciting even just to remember like, I don't even know what it means to start a powerful church, but I don't want to do it. Lord, let's go. And when God said to Abraham, let's go, Abraham didn't say, there are a few. things I need to know, which lets me know that trust is not only a product of time, it is a product

of character. This was not Abraham's third time following God. It was his first. It's not like he had a list of things to point back to where, well, God, you led me there, and it worked out. You told me to take that job, and I got a raise, and you told me to marry them, and they turned out to be wonderful. No, this is God saying, it's me, God, let's go. And when God says, let's go, you can resist it and you'll get more and more miserable as you fight it. When God says, let's go, it's time for you to leave this toxic state and forgive them and move on from what you've been holding them hostage about. When God says, let's go, and you won't move on past that, you will feel stuck in yourself until you obey the spoken word of the sovereign God. When God says, let's go, you might not even get to ask him where.

But if God can be trusted, then the deeper the level of the trust, the less the need for the details. So God says, let's go, and you don't ask him where, you just say, which shoes should I put on? Can I wear something with heels or should I wear something flat? When God says, let's go, when he invites you into a new way of living, When He tells you it's time to pursue growth and stop staying stagnant in the grumblings of your past, when God says, let's go. If you trust them enough, you won't even need the details. And by the way, the more that I trust you, the less details I need to give you, too. If I don't trust you, I've got to tell you everything.

But in my relationship with God, if I really trust him, why would I need to give him all the details of how he needs to leave me? and I want to live in this for a minute. I love y'all when y'all feel uncomfortable when I'm preaching. That's how I know I heard from God because there are some of you right now whose faith is being tested. But when your faith is being tested, realize that there's something that God already taught you that he is calling you to trust him in. And the deeper the level of trust.

Notice I said deeper, not higher. The deeper the level of trust, the less the need. for the details. How did Abraham trust so much when he was told so little? I'm close my eyes so y'all won't feel like I'm judging you when you answer this. Raise your hand if you would have needed a little more detail than Abraham received in order to leave everything that you knew and set out. But he didn't. I give you the scripture again. And I can't believe those of you who did not raise your hand right there. You won't even go to a party if you don't see the entire guest list. Some of us

won't even leave the house unless we plot out where all the bathrooms are going to be. I got to know where, though. And if you drive a Tesla, you got to know where every charging station is or you can't drive that. So now watch what Abraham did. He obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going. Verse 8. He obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going. He obeyed and went even though he did not know. Let's substitute something here. Let's say, I must obey and go even though I don't know. And where it says where they are going, just put whatever needs to go in that blank. If I don't know how God is going to do it, I don't need the details because my trust

in him is deeper than the details. So when God speaks to you and he says, I want you to give this person some money, you don't need the details of why God wants you to give it if you trust him deeply. And you say, well, I can't trust them. I don't know if they're going to spend it on the right thing. It's not the depth of your trust in them that determines your level of generosity. You are called to be generous. I think I'm really calling on somebody today who needs to do it without the details.

And I don't mean get in your car and drive until an angel speaks and then stop and get a motel room. I'm talking about going forward in what God is speaking to you, even though you. don't know. A lot of times we get trapped in all of the details that we don't know and we don't take the steps that God has called us to take. There is a distinction between God and the devil though. See, the devil doesn't test us, he tempts us. The devil tempts us outside of God's will. God tests us to bring us deeper into his will. It occurs to me today that the devil cannot test you. Only God can test you. The devil can tempt you not to trust God in this test, but God is the only one who can test.

Can I preach a little while like we're preaching to people over the age of five years old? We need to make that distinction because otherwise you will get stuck in the even though and you'll never know. So there are amazing let's go moments that we have. There are amazing set out in faith moments and maybe not like Abraham to that dramatic extent, but we can surely see the disciples having a let's go moment. Write that phrase down, let's go moment. They're exciting. Hey, follow me.

I'll make you fishers of men. Well, what do we do about the boats? Just keep those and rent them out for a little while. But for the next three years, you're going to see amazing things. Let's go. When God speaks to you and tells you to take a step of faith, and really this time I'm going to put myself into this job, I'm not just going to work here and take a check and quiet quit.

I'm really going to step up and lead in this job. When God says, let's go. Sometimes he doesn't have to move you from the place that you are. He wants to use you in the place that you are when you finally decide, let's go. The disciples didn't move from Galilee when Jesus called them. They offered their boats so Jesus could use them in the place they already were. Let's go. Sometimes God will tell you, it's time for you to step into your job.

adulthood. You have been in a season of childishness, not childlike faith, but childishness long enough. Let's go. I'm calling you up now. You need to be a mentor now. You need to be an example now. You need to trust me to move forward by faith now. And I wonder, is there anybody in here who trusts God enough that if he says, let's go, even though the arrows are flying, you've got the shield of faith. Now faith is the substance of things hope for, and the Evidence of things not seen. Let's go. The weapon may be formed against me, but it will not prosper.

Let's go. Take your stand in against the devil's schemes. You are not ignorant of his schemes. Let's go. Devil, I don't want the smoke, but if you want to bring it, I know somebody who's got a train that fills the temple. Let's go. Let's go. I want to raise this kid by myself.

But if God didn't give me somebody else to raise them with, he's my tag team partner. Let's go! And Abraham went 1,500 miles. Can you imagine? 1,500 miles without an app, without an Uber, without a GPS coordinate? Feels like that sometimes, but there is the voice of God saying, let's go. Notice, he said, let's go. Let us go.

I'm going to do this with you. I need the details. Let me give you another example so I can make this so practical, but you will have no excuse, either to obey it or disobey it when the Lord speaks it to you. When I go on a trip for ministry, if I go alone, I need every detail. But if somebody comes from the staff to support me, I don't need to know the details because I've got somebody with me that I can depend on. And if I can depend on you, I don't need details.

So the process of my life and getting closer with God should not be necessarily that I understand more and more of where he's taking me. That's why we get confused when we run up on seasons that we didn't see coming, because we think that the depth of our faith in God will bring clarity about the details of where he's leading. But the deeper the trust. I said the deeper the trust. Trust isn't always tall. you can't always see it. Sometimes it runs deep where you need it the most. And I believe that's how Abraham was able to say, let's go. And then, after God spoke to him at age 75, leaving a metropolitan

culture for a nomadic one, everything about his life seems to be going backwards when he sets out to follow God. Abraham wasn't moving on up. Y'all never even seen a TV set. But he followed God. what seemed to be down. And then God spoke the promise. Now, I want to show you a very pivotal phrase in Hebrews 11, verse 18. It's talking about how Abraham was tested, but when your faith is being tested, there's something that God has already taught you that he is calling you to trust in. And it says, by faith, Abraham, verse 18, please.

Even though God had said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. So there's another even though. Go back to verse 7. I'm going to put this thing together for you. I'm going to put the bologna right in the middle of the buns and smash it down. By faith, Abraham, when called to go, verse 8, to a place he would later receive. This is delayed gratification, faith. Even in his lifetime, he wouldn't see all of it.

But he obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going. Now give me verse 18 again. He offered his son even though God had said to him. But go back to the verse before that because it calls Abraham something very interesting. You know, he's called the father of faith, and he is. His name means father of many nations. His name started as Abram, which means exalted father, but God changed his name to prepare him for his assignment.

And he was called according to what he would carry. But when Abraham received the promise that you will have a son, There was a problem. It says, by faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced, everybody say embraced. Justin, please circle the word embraced. He embraced the promises. And that sounds so simple, right? Like, God promises you, you're going to make it and you embrace it and you say, I'm going to make it. God promises you this is going to work out for your good. You embrace it. It's going to work out. God promises you that he's going to work out. God promises you that he's going to make it. God promises you that he's going to make it. God promises you that. He has someone for you and you embrace the idea that God has someone from you. And the first thing we need to do before we embrace a promise from God is evaluate, is it actually a promise from God? Or is it just a feeling that we had or an ideal that we had? But put it back up, it says, he embraced the promise of God that you will have a son. And I want to point out to you that he embraced the promise not only for a nine-month period.

but for 25 years between when God spoke it and when it happened. That's a long time. 25 years is certainly long enough to start questioning, did I really hear God right? 25 years was long enough for Abraham. Should I tell him the story about Hagar? Abraham's wife said, hey, since our stuff isn't exactly coming together like we thought it would,

here is my maid-servant, Hagar, sleep with her and have a son. And Abraham said, hey, I'm the Lord's servant. Whatever you need me to do, let's go. Let's go. Abraham is the less go man. He said, let's go. They had a baby named Ishmael. It turned out to be a problem, had to throw them out. He became a nation two, father of many nations. But even through the mistake, give it to me again, he embraced the promises. Embracing promises doesn't mean you won't make mistakes in the process. Embracing the promise doesn't mean you won't have days where you go, you know what, forget it, I don't even care anymore. Nobody else does. Why should I? Embracing the promise doesn't mean that you never cry the tears. Embracing the promise

doesn't mean you always understand the plan. He embraced the promise for 25 years. He had to believe something that he couldn't see. For 25 years, he held on to the promise. So now we've gone from Let's Go Faith to hold on faith. And there are a few of you who are in this room, who are in a season of hold on faith. Holding on to believe that you really could be free from this one day. Holding on to believe that it really could live. That it really could lift off of your family one day and it could get better. Holding on to believe that God is going to give you joy again. Abraham is a great model for us of this kind of faith because no, we're not all going to be the father of many nations, and no, we're not going to have babies at age 100,

but there will be a season of your life where you will have to hold on to something God spoke When everything you see and everything you feel is telling you a different story, you will point back to something God said and say, I still believe it. I still believe it. Somebody shout, I still believe it. Right now my bank account is a liar, but God is true. I still believe he's a provider. Right now, there are things going through my mind that are telling me that it will never come to pass. But I still believe in.

There aren't a lot of people who believe in me right now, but God has called me and he is faithful to keep me. I still believe in spite of everything I've gone through. Even because of some of the things I've gone through, I wouldn't be going through so much if I wasn't carrying so much. And I still believe it. Feel like preaching to three people who need to hold on. Somebody shout, hold on. Tell your neighbor, I'm holding on. Sometimes barely by a fingernail, but I'm holding on.

Sometimes I feel like free solo, like I'm about to plunge down to my bloody death, but I'm holding on. I'm climbing higher. I'm coming up. I'm moving through it. I'm progressing and advancing in the things of God, even as my emotions are clawing at my feet. I still believe it, but this message is not called when God says. says, hold on. There are moments, seasons where you hold on. And then for Abraham, there was a season when God said, I know you're the one who said, let's go when I told you

to follow me 1,500 miles. I know you held on when you waited 25 years for Isaac. And I know that this boy is the son that you love and you waited for. But the Bible says in Genesis 22, verse 1, that God said to Abraham, take your son. son, your only son, Isaac. Only son, I thought you had another one. Yeah, he threw that one out. This is the one that he had left. This is the one that God promised. And I would like to speak to you today about how sometimes we let go of things that are sins in our life, but that's not what this text is about. I would like to speak to you today about sometimes we need to let go of habits that are bad for us in our life, but this is not a text about quitting cigarettes and vaping.

Don't worry, I'm not preaching about that today. I'm preaching about something deeper. Because what do you do when God says I want my promise back? Not because I don't intend to fulfill it, but because I'll fulfill it when I want to fulfill it, how I want to fulfill it, and I need you to trust me. Now, if you don't have deep trust with God, in this moment, you will need details.

You start trying to control everything. You start trying to manipulate things. And that is why some of us are so stressed right now. Because there is a dream that you thought God gave you, and maybe he did. But there are details to that dream that are not being met on your deadline. You can't call him God and give him a deadline. The boss sets the deadline. I know what I thought.

should have been by now, but it's not my deadline. Let me set you free with one sentence. I like to say one thing that makes it worth coming, even if you've been asleep the rest of the time I've been up here talking. It's not my deadline. If God waited until Abraham was 100 to give him a baby, you think God's going to do everything you want him to do within the first quarter of this year? What do you do when God says, I want you to...

I want you to hold on. I've been thinking all week how to say this. I've just got it. What do you do when he says? Hold on to the promise. Let go of the plan. What do you do? That's our question, right?

Because some of us are really good at let's go. Let's go. Got my vision board. Let's go. Got my goals. Let's go. So you're really good at let's go. But I was looking for a way to illustrate this yesterday.

And I thought, God, if I don't illustrate it, right, they won't hear what they need to hear. and I really want to speak to the person who is holding on so tight to their idea of life. And I'm praying about this. I'm thinking about Abraham and Isaac in this crazy scene where he is about to take the life of his son because he doesn't know that God doesn't want to take Isaac. God wasn't taking Isaac. He was testing Abraham. And there's the let's go moment.

There's the hold on moment. You will find yourself in both. But when God says let go, that can be hard to. hear. Because this is something I think he wants me to have, but he's not doing it, how I think he wants me to do it. Or to pray for, or to ask for as I'm thinking, praying about this illustration. I'm thinking I'll look in a book, but then Bo runs over. Our Boston Terrier runs over. And he brings me a ball. And I first think, I don't have time to play fetch with you, Bo. I am working on a very important sermon for very important people about a very

legendary Bible text, and it is a serious text, and I don't have time for this, because I'm talking about let's go and let go and all of that, and he brings me the ball as if he is saying, let's go. So I take the ball and I throw the ball. And as I'm throwing it, I remembered, oh, this won't take long because Bo is terrible at fetch. And I'll tell you why. I'll He's terrible at Fetch because he's really good at let's go. He'll run and get it real quick, but once he's got it, he did not hear my sermon today called when God says let go. And he is better at retrieving it than he is at releasing it.

So I can't get him to understand that we could do a lot more if you would say, Let's go and then let go and get in the rhythm of retrieving and then returning and retrieving and releasing. And I give it and you bring it back. And I give it and you bring it back. And now I understand why God will sometimes call us to bring him something that we thought he promised so that he can clarify what he actually promised, so that he can do what he actually promised, so that he can do. what he said he would do, not what I thought he would do, not what I wanted him to do, not on my deadline, but on his destined schedule for the purpose for which he intends my life to be a small little piece.

So I want to tell every beau in the room, let go. Let go. How can you say that? This is important to me. How can you tell me to let go? I have to make some plans, don't I? Yeah, you got to make them, but don't hold them too tight that you choke them. Is it possible?

I'm asking the question. Is it possible that your problem isn't that you don't hold on to what you think God told you? You hold it too tight because sometimes his timing is different than yours. I don't know who this is for, but the Lord really wants you to get this today because he's saying, let go. Let go. What would that journey have been like? to the mountain region named Mariah. This is the same region where Jesus would die thousands of years later, where God would give his son. Different mountain, same region.

Abraham had no context for that. And so what do you do when your faith is being tested? You have no precedence. No precedence. I wanted to call this message a promise with no precedence. In other words, I've never seen this before. I've never seen this before. I've never seen this before. I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to be a father of many nations. I don't know how to do this. And you've got to lead your son to. Isaac is 15 by this time, by the way. He's a teenager. He's a teenager. We talked a little bit about teenagers in trust earlier. And now this teenager, now watch the journey. There's a conversation that happens because they go three days. Remember, Abraham was tested not in a moment, but in a process. The test of your faith will be continual.

You'll be good one moment, the next. Why are y'all so fake today? I said you'll be tested one moment and your faith will be really, really good and then it'll tank the next. You are only one text message away from your trust in God tanking to an all-time level. And that's true. Need I go further? And they're talking about it and the further they get, the more questions Isaac has, because

this is not the dad trust in the teenager. the teenager trust in the dad. This thing is flipped. And so now Isaac is walking with Abraham, and he doesn't know either. I should do a parenting seminar on this. What do you do when you're leading somebody and you don't know either? I don't know. Abraham's like, let me tell you about me and God. He doesn't give me many details. Because when they start walking, and I'm not cheapening the text by lightening the tone, I'm trying to bring you into it so that you can understand that God doesn't call us all to sacrifice our sons. He sacrificed his son for all of us, but he does call us all to trust in him at times. Times where we can't understand, and they're walking three days,

and then comes to the point where they can't take the servants any further, because there will come a place where you get to a point with God where no one else can help you figure it out. I mean, to a point people can give you advice, to a point people will give you wisdom, but don't worship their wisdom because their wisdom is based on their experience. And God has to show you some things for your life. In Genesis 22, 6 says that Abraham took the wood, get the picture, the wood for the burnt offering, and placed it on his son, Isaac. Do we not see Jesus all the way in Genesis 22, that he took the wood and put it on his son?

And he himself carried the fire. And the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac started to wonder a little bit, and he spoke up, and he said to his father, Abraham. Father, yes, my son, Abraham replied, the fire in the wood are here. I'm doing an inventory. We got everything we need except one thing. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? In other words, I need some details.

And Abraham answered God, he only said one thing, one thing, one thing that he had found to be true over 1,500 miles of traveling. One thing that he had found to be true when he went to Egypt to survive for a little while. One thing that he knew to be true, even though he didn't know where this was leading. God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering. And in this moment, we wonder, was Abraham bluffing? Did he really know that that was going to happen? Because that is what happens. It's not a lamb, but it's a ram, because God isn't going to ever do it exactly like you think he is.

But he says it like he knows that God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering. My son, and watch this. I get the picture here that Isaac has seen Abraham trust God before. He has seen his father trust God before. Why? Why? Because the deeper the trust, the less the need for details. Isaac told him God will provide, and the two of them went on together. He said, God will provide, and Isaac said, let's go.

And so Isaac is saying, let's go while Abraham is letting him go. And the moment comes. Now, just lock in with me for a minute. When they reached a place, God had told him about it. Not the place he knew in his mind. God showed him when he got there. Abraham built an altar, which was a place of sacrifice, which was a place of death, which was a place of worship. He built an offer there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

I know how hard this is for us to get our minds around. That's why I was hesitant to preach it. But the one that I was most hesitant to preach in this whole series is the one that healed me the most. Because what I saw in verse 10 changed my life. He reached out his hand and he is reaching for the instrument, the knife, and he's wrapping his fingers around the knife, letting go of his son. And as he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son, but the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham. He said it twice because he was holding the knife and he thought his son was about to die and he didn't know what to make sense of it.

But in the moment that he's holding the knife over his son, here comes the angel. At that moment saying, Abraham, Abraham, let go. God says let go at the very moment that Abraham, Abraham thinks it's over. And when God said what he said, Abraham, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Verse 12, do not lay a hand on the boy. Somebody shout, let go. Shout it again, let go.

Let go. I know you came this far thinking this was how it's going to end. But the moment that the angel spoke, he said, don't lay a hand on the boy, don't do anything to him. I know that you fear God and now that you've let him go, let go. Now that I know that I can trust you with what I taught you, that I can trust you that you don't love it more than you love me. Now that I can trust you that you're embracing my promise, not your plan.

Now that you have let go, because verse 12, you have not withheld your son. You have let go of your son. Now let go of the knife. And God is so strategic that at the moment that Abraham was letting go of the knife, which is what he thought he had to do. At the moment that God said, let go of the knife, verse 13 says he heard something other than the angel rustling in the background. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket He saw a ram caught by its horns and he went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. Verse 14 says, so Abraham called that place, the place where he thought Isaac would die. That place, the place where he thought it was over, that place, the place he didn't even know he was going or what God would do. But he said he would provide. And he did provide.

And he called that place the Lord will provide. It wasn't called the place where Isaac died. It was called the place where Jehovah provided. And I declare, free to God. Let's rename this place. Now, this is for all of the people who are letting go of something that you thought would happen. Letting go of the way you thought somebody was supposed to change. Letting go of what you expected from yourself.

Letting go of what you thought God was like. Letting go of what you thought this season would include. This is for everybody who's letting go. At the moment that Abraham was letting go of the knife, the thicket was grabbing hold of the ram. What am I trying to say? God's got you in this place. God's got you in this place.

His name is Jehovah. He is Jehovah Gira. The Lord will provide for me. The Lord will provide for my family. The Lord will provide for this church. Can't you see the angel at the same moment that one angel is telling Abraham to let go with a knife? Another angel is telling the thicket to grab a hold of the ram? Don't you see the timing of God what you call coincidence?

But Abraham didn't know that. Abraham didn't know that. He had to go not knowing, and so do you. But Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19, stay standing and hasten me to a close and rush me with pressure by standing up. If you stand up, I'll start rushing this sermon to a conclusion, and you can get to Kudoba and sit around and eat something that ain't going to last you but two hours of energy

instead of getting this word from God that can save you from a decade of disappointment and break off generations of depression off of your family. When God is Jehovah, Zira, when God is testing your faith, not the devil. When God is testing your faith, even if the devil brings the trial, the Lord will administer the test. When God is testing your faith, he already taught you something. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19, one more time. How did he make it up that mountain?

How do I walk through this valley? How do I get through this season of uncertainty? How do I go not knowing? How do I show up not feeling it? How do I continue to embrace the promise while not holding it too tightly? The writer of Hebrews gives us a clue as to what to do when your faith is being tested, and you know your God can be trusted. He said, Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead.

Now I thought about that thing, and I thought about that thing. And I thought about how he reasoned that God could even raise the dead. Even if it ends, God can bring a new beginning. He reasoned that God could raise the dead. And it made me ask the question at this point in history when Abraham reasoned that God would raise him from the dead, had there ever been a resurrection recorded in the scriptures? And the answer is, no. There is no recorded resurrection in the scriptures by Genesis 22.

I could understand if it said Peter reasoned that God could raise him from the dead because he saw that happen to his boss. So he had seen it before. But verse 19 does not say Abraham remembered that God could even raise the dead. For him to remember, he would have had to have a previous experience. He would have had to have a precedence for the promise. But it doesn't say he remembered because it wasn't anything he'd ever seen before. So I wondered to myself, what was the reason that he believed?

It doesn't even say he believed. To believe could mean that you think it could happen, but you don't know it could happen. It doesn't say he remembered. He had never seen it before. It doesn't say he believed. It says he reasoned. And that made me remember what Paul, who we preached about last week, said, about Abraham, who we're preaching about this week, watch God put the ram in the thicket.

Watch God drop the knife and stage the ram. Watch God work all things together for good in your life. Watch God put the right person at the right place, at the right time to do the right thing, to give you the right... Watch God. Watch God. He reasoned. And I wondered why the Bible use the word, he reasoned until I remembered that Romans 4.19 says that Abraham, without weakening in his faith, faced the fact that his body was as good as dead. Since he was 100, it only stands to reason that his body isn't going to get the job done. So he says it's as good is dead. And guess what? Sarah's womb was also dead. So I realized that although he had never seen the dead raised, he had seen somebody born from a dead place. I realized that I might not

have ever seen this before. I might not have seen it. But how many can testify? I've seen something like it. If you knew where he brought me from, if you knew what he brought me through, you'd understand the reason, the reason, the reason. High five, three people say, I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I got a reason. I've not My faith is faith and my faith has substance. The reason I believe is because I've seen him do. Watch this. Something kind of like it.

You ever seen the dead raise? No. But I saw a dead womb bring forth the baby. I saw something kind of like it. I never been through this challenge before, but I've been through something kind of like I've never been in this place before, but I've been in something kind of like it. I never dealt with bad news quite like this before, but I've been through bad news that was kind of like it.

I never fought a Goliath before, but I fought something kind of like it. I never crossed over a Red Sea before, but nothing about my staff, but I've been through something kind of like it. And I came to tell you today that if you're being tested in your faith, God is telling you to trust him in something he already taught you. If Isaac came from a dead place, Abraham said, God will raise him from a dead place. If he wants to, he can do what he wants to. I don't need the details because the deeper, the level of the trust, the less for details. I reckon God can raise him. I hear Abram hollering back to the servants.

We'll be back in a little while, y'all, because I don't know what God's going to do, but I've seen him do too much. I've seen him do too much. I've seen him do too much. Hey, when God tells you to release something to let go, when God says let go, he's already got the ram in the bush. One more thing. I want to show you one more thing. This put a mind-blow emoji in the chat by faith that this is going to blow your mind to.

When it said that Abraham said to God, let's go even though I don't know, let's go even though I don't know. Maybe that's where you are right now. Let's go even though I don't know. I'm going to take the first step. Let's go even though I don't know. I'm going to call a therapist. Let's go even though I don't know. I'm going to church today.

Let's go even though I don't know. I'm reading my Bible this morning. Let's go even though I don't know. When you say that and then you hold on even though. know you don't see it. And then God says, I want you to bring this thing back to me. This is the process, man. From my life, I just have to keep walking through my life with my kids, my dreams, my goals, my ambitions, my hang-ups, my flaws like Abraham's walking with Isaac, and just say the Lord will provide and keep giving it back to God. And so here's a good prayer. It's yours, Lord. It's yours. You

gave it to me by grace, so I'm going to finish it by faith. It's yours, Lord. And I told you all to start the church with me, and I didn't tell you what. How did you trust so much when I told you so little? And I realized that although you had never seen this plan, you knew the person. You saw me do some stuff. You saw me start a choir in college. You saw me start a choir in Shelby. You saw me say what I was going to do and then do it.

I'm not comparing myself to God. I'm using it as an antithetical analogy. If they trusted me that much, seeing me do so little, how could we have seen God do so much and trust him so little. It came from a dead place. He reasoned. So when the thicket started rustling, Abraham looked up and saw a ram. If you look at this in the ESV, which gives the exact word that is used when it says that

there was a ram in the thicket, it gives you one meaning that I want to send you back to your house with today. Abraham lifted up his eyes and look and behold. Hold behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Behind him. What he needed was in a place he had already walked past. When your faith is being tested, there is something God has already taught you that he is calling you to trust him in and take hold of.

He took hold of it in the thicket. When he walked by the thicket, perhaps the ram wasn't there yet, but look back. The moment that he let go, the bush took hold and the ram was there. And he called that place, the Lord will provide. Everyone standing, heads about eyes closed, no one moving. This place can be called the Lord will provide too. Please stand if you're physically able. It's our sign of respect to God that he is speaking and that this is holy ground.

Turn your palms up to the Lord like you're lifting your hands to receive from him. There's a ram in the thicket. There is honey in the rock. There is water in your wilderness. The Lord will provide. There's something God has already taught you, something you've already walked past, something you've already learning. Letting go in this season will not be easy.

But oh, it will be so, so, so relieving to you. Ball up your fist real tight like you're squeezing something. Come on real tight like you're squeezing something. Like you think it depends on you. Like you've got to make it happen. You've got to figure everything out. Now when I say three, I want you to do what my sermon says when God says one Two three let go Let go and hold what God told you

But hold it with open hands as if he dresses the lilies with beauty and Splendor come on how much more will he clothe you How much more will he clothe you? How much much more will he clothe you? Faith does not make a fist. Faith holds on with open hands. It's yours, Lord. It's yours, Lord. This place, the place of surrender, Jehovah, Jira. If he watches over, every sparrow, how much more Does He love you? If he did not spare his son but gave him up freely for us, if he gave us Jesus,

how much more will he not freely give us all things pertaining to life and godliness? There's a ram in the thicket. There's forgiveness in the thicket. There's grace in the thicket. There's joy in the thicket. And it won't run out. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give genera.

to this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button. Take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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