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Good morning. 
So for those of you that don't 

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know me, I am Claire Mulroney 
and I get to be part of our 

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wonderful church here at Verso 
St. 

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Albans and and you have the joy 
of hearing my voice this 

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morning. 
And for those of you who haven't

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been around, we've been in a 
series on hope and Mark has been

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doing a phenomenal job, hasn't 
he, Of laying the foundation for

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us on what biblical hope is and 
how we walk in it and why we 

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should have hope and all that 
good stuff. 

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So I encourage you, if you're 
online this morning or if you're

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in the room for the first time, 
to go back and have a little 

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listen to his talks, because I 
promise you they will bless you 

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and they will help just unravel 
this whole topic in a better 

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way. 
So I have the privilege of being

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a mum to four teenagers and I 
say privilege because it is, 

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it's a privilege. 
But my youngest son, Trey, who 

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actually is technically not a 
teenager, he's six months off, 

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but he likes to think he is. 
He has always had this 

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entrepreneurial kind of spirit. 
He's always been my kid who will

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find the best deal, the way to 
find a good giveaway. 

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He's always coming to me. 
Mum, have you seen this? 

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If we did this, if we entered 
this, we could get this much 

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money. 
And he's always kind of, yeah, 

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he's just always had that about 
him. 

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He's always had this incredible,
optimistic view on life, and 

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about a year ago he nudged past 
the screen that he placed his 

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Xbox on and the screen fell and 
it cracked. 

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And as you might imagine, in a 
teenage boy's world, that was 

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devastating. 
It was even more devastating 

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when he learned that his mum and
dad were not going to buy him a 

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new one without him having to 
work a little bit to earn some 

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money to replace this screen. 
And he walks into the kitchen 

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one day and he's like, Mum, I've
found this thing. 

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If I do this for this company, 
they're going to send me a brand

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new monitor. 
I was like, dude, how many times

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have we had this conversation? 
They're not going to send the 

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monitor. 
They just say that they just 

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want you to do the hard work for
them and they're not going to 

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give you a monitor. 
I've lived a lot of life. 

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I know how this works. 
Lo and behold, he did it anyway.

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And a week later this three £400
monitor arrived on our doorstep 

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and he was like I told you so 
Mum, I told you, nothing more 

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delightful in a teenager's world
than to tell their parent that 

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they knew better than them. 
But it got me thinking, because 

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you know what? 
I think that we approach God's 

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provision a little bit like our 
eye approach that situation. 

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I think out of wanting to 
protect Trey's heart, I was 

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going to give him this guarded 
expectation of the promise. 

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And I think that I approached 
God like that, despite him being

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the God that says in Philippians
419 that I will meet all of your

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needs according to the riches of
his glory in Christ Jesus. 

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I treat him a bit like a finicky
company and I've built a guarded

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expectation around those 
promises and that's what I want 

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us to dig into. 
That's why I felt like the Lord 

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put on my heart for us to dig 
into here this morning. 

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So we're going to look at who 
walks in confident expectation, 

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because that's what hope is. 
Confident expectation in the 

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promises of God's provision this
morning. 

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So I want you to turn with me to
Genesis 22 and we're going to 

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look at the story and if you are
brand new to the Bible, I just 

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want to give you a pre warning. 
This passage can seem a bit odd,

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but if you're brand new to the 
Bible, come and talk to me 

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afterwards. 
It's never a good idea to take a

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passage without reading the 
whole thing, and there's some 

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great stuff online to help us 
unravel that, but bear with me 

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as we stick into Genesis 22 and 
it says this. 

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After these things God tested 
Abraham and said to him, 

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Abraham. 
And he said, Here am I. 

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He said, Take your son, your 
only son Isaac, whom you love, 

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and go to the land of Moriah, 
and offer him there as a burnt 

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offering. 
On one of the mountains of which

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I shall tell you so Abraham rose
early in the morning, saddled 

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his donkey, and took two of his 
young men with him and his son 

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Isaac. 
And he cut the word for the 

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burnt offering, and rose and 
went to the place of which God 

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had told him. 
And on the third day Abraham 

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lifted his eyes and saw the 
place from afar. 

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Then Abraham said to his young 
man, stay here with the donkey. 

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I and the boy will go over there
and worship, and we will come 

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back to you again. 
And Abraham took the word of the

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burnt offering, laid it on his 
son Isaac, and he took his hand,

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and in his hand he took the fire
and the knife. 

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And they went both of them 
together. 

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And Isaac said to his father, 
Abraham my father. 

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And he said, Here am I my son, 
He said, Behold the fire and the

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wood. 
But where is the lamb for the 

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burnt offering? 
Then Abraham said, God will 

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provide for himself the lamb for
a burnt offering, my son. 

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So they went both of them 
together. 

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And when they came to the place 
of which God had told him, 

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Abraham built the altar there, 
and laid the wood in order, and 

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in order, and bound Isaac his 
son, and laid him on the altar 

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on top of the wood. 
And then Abraham reached out his

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hand, and he took the knife to 
sacrifice his son. 

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But the Angel of the Lord called
to him from heaven, and said, 

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Abraham, Abraham. 
And he said, Here am I. 

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And he said, do not lay your 
hand on the boy, or do anything.

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For now I know that you fear 
God, seeing that you have not 

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withheld your son, your only 
son, from me. 

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And Abraham lifted up his eyes, 
and he looked, and behold, 

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behind him was a ram caught in 
the thicket by his thorns. 

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And Abraham went and took the 
ram, and offered it up as a 

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burnt offering instead of his 
son. 

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And Abraham called the name of 
that place the Lord will 

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provide. 
And as it is said to this day on

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the mount of the Lord, it shall 
be provided. 

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So what is going on here in this
story? 

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It's a bit odd, isn't it? 
But essentially, God is asking 

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Abraham to walk a road that 
makes no sense. 

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God is asking him to take his 
son Isaac, who was given to him 

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as provision in response to a 
promise that God had made on 

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Abraham to make him the father 
of many nations, which meant he 

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needed Isaac, that son, that 
heir, to carry out the promise. 

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And after her. 
In this moment here, he's saying

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take the thing I've given you 
and give it back to me. 

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It seems crazy because if he 
gives it back to him and he 

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kills his son, surely this whole
promise can't be fulfilled. 

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And what's more crazy is that 
Abraham actually does it. 

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He walks up this road on Mount 
Moriah. 

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But we see in Abraham a man who 
has confident hope in God's 

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provision and we see it in verse
5 and verse 8, verse five. 

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It says stay here with the 
donkeys talking to a servants. 

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I and the boy will go over there
and worship and come back to you

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again. 
And we noticed that he says it's

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not. 
I will come back to you. 

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He says we will come back to 
you. 

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He's got this confident 
expectation that God is going to

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provide. 
And verse eight, it's the same 

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Isaac. 
They're further into this 

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journey and logically Isaac 
starts to see, well, hold on a 

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minute. 
What? 

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What's going on here? 
Like the questions arising. 

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And he's saying, Dad, like we 
don't have anything for the 

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sacrifice. 
And Abraham again speaks out 

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this confident hope. 
Don't worry, Isaac. 

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God's got this. 
He's going to provide. 

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It's intriguing. 
And it got me thinking, what's 

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led to this moment? 
And you have to kind of 

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understand a little bit of 
Abraham's life. 

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If you look back to Chapter 12, 
where he enters the Bible, we 

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see that God commissioned him 
right to leave his home country,

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and he gives him this promise to
make him a great nation and to 

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be a blessing to the nations 
around him. 

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But what we noticed in Abraham's
story, if you take time to read 

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it, is that this is a man who 
navigates relationships, spousal

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relationships, relationships in 
community, relationships in 

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politics, relationships in 
leadership. 

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He navigates the tension of 
wealth. 

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He navigates the tension of 
waiting, of being given a 

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promise and not seeing it to be 
fulfilled immediately. 

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He navigates what it looks like 
when he thinks God's been too 

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slow and taking the promise into
his own hands and trying to make

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it happen. 
And he watched God's 

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faithfulness stick with him and 
patiently walk with him. 

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And we watch as this promise of 
a son is fulfilled. 

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And he's given Isaac his first 
born son. 

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And so, as he walks into Chapter
22, God calls his name, and what

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do we see? 
Abraham responds. 

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Here am I. 
He knows the sound of God's 

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voice. 
And as we look at the reality of

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what it means to walk in the 
promise of God's provision, we 

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need to take note. 
There's something about being 

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familiar with who God is. 
There's something about walking 

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with God growing in 
relationship, something about 

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being fuelled by testimony. 
Abraham had so many testimonies 

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of God being with him, but no 
doubt when he was walking up 

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that mountain, they were running
in his head, right? 

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There's power in our testimony. 
We know this. 

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There's something about speaking
out the truth. 

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Abraham speaks it out, and what 
happens is he speaks it out. 

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Even with Isaac, he the truth 
becomes the ground that Isaac 

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walks on, right? 
He brings the truth before the 

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feelings of the moment, and the 
truth transforms the ground on 

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which he's walking. 
But I also want us to notice 

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that in the 11th hour, Abraham 
is not walking in defeat. 

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OK? 
He is at the 11th hour staying 

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obedient to what God has said to
him, and he is interruptible. 

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He knows the sound of God's 
voice, and he knows what God 

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shows up like, and he's 
interruptible, and he allows God

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to shift his perspective and 
show him the provision for the 

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moment. 
This is challenging, right? 

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But actually, as we see this 
picture building, I don't think 

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it comes as a surprise if we've 
been in church a while. 

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We know power of testimony. 
We know this good stuff, right? 

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We we know this. 
It's not much of a surprise. 

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You know, my question for this 
story, the thing that I've been 

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grappling with as I've looked at
this how does Abraham actually 

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put one foot in front of the 
other and keep walking up that 

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mountain? 
Like, what is going on inside of

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him that enables him to put one 
step in front of the other? 

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Knowing that if God doesn't come
through in this moment, in the 

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way that he would like him to 
come through, he's going to 

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experience one of the most 
painful and heartbreaking 

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impossibilities of surrendering 
the most precious thing in his 

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hands. 
What is going on inside of him? 

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That he can walk in these 
seeming contradictory realities 

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of a promise, but the road 
before him looks like nothing. 

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Anything's going to happen but 
the promise. 

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Because it's this in between 
part of the journey that for me 

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is the most relatable, because 
I've known what it's like for 

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God to give me something and say
Clara, I want you to give it 

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back to me, and I don't know how
it's going to work out. 

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I know what it's like to be 
thrown into circumstances where 

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I'm not sure how the story's 
going to end, or into 

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circumstances where the story 
doesn't end the way that I want 

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it to end. 
And somehow God tells us that we

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can walk in confident hope of 
His provision anyways. 

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And I think to understand this 
fully, we've got to start with 

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what is it that God promises us?
So let's do a quick scan through

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God promises, as we wrote at the
beginning in Philippians, to 

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provide all of our needs. 
Not some of them, all of them. 

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He provides for our physical 
needs. 

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Matthew 626 Look at the birds of
the air. 

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They neither sow, nor reap, nor 
gather into barns. 

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And yet your Heavenly Father 
feeds them. 

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Are you not more valuable than 
they? 

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Therefore do not be anxious, 
saying, What shall we eat, Or 

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what shall we drink? 
Or what shall we wear? 

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For the Gentiles seek these 
things, and your heavenly Father

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knows that you need them all. 
He knows all of your needs and 

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He promises to provide for them.
He knows our spiritual needs to 

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Peter 1/3 His divine power has 
given everything we need for a 

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godly life through our knowledge
of Him who has called us by his 

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own glory and goodness, not some
of the things that we need, 

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everything that we need to 
Corinthians 98. 

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God is able to make all grace 
abound to you so that in all 

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things at all times, having all 
that you need, you will abound 

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in all that you set your hand to
all things. 

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Are we hearing it? 
What an amazing promise. 

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Not some all promises to provide
for our emotional needs, Paul 

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writes in Philippians 412 to 13.
I know how it is to be brought 

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low, and I know how it is to 
abound. 

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And in any and every 
circumstance I have learned the 

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secret of facing plenty and 
hunger, abundance and need. 

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How? 
Because I can do all things. 

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Through him who strengthens me, 
God promises to strengthen us in

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all things. 
He promises us Rest. 

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Matthew 1129 Take my yoke upon 
you and learn from me, for I am 

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gentle and lowly and hot, and 
you will find rest for your 

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souls. 
For my yoke is easy and my 

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burden is light. 
If we take on Jesus way of doing

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things, we find rest. 
Not if God feels like it. 

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He's not a finicky company. 
He's true to His word and the 

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promises in the Bible. 
Literally, it is like, rammed. 

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I could have just sat here and 
read promises to you all morning

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and it would have been wonderful
because they're true. 

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This is true, right? 
There's no way around it. 

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It's true. 
Let's be real and we walk out of

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here and we get that phone call 
to tell us that we lost our job.

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00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:33,040
And despite months later not 
having a job, we naturally start

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to question like, where is your 
provision? 

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God, you said all of my needs, 
my bank balance needs you. 

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It needs money. 
We endure long health journeys 

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00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,800
and we're like, if if I could 
just be, well, I could do this 

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for you, God. 
And we don't see His provision 

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00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,040
in the way that we want to see 
His provision. 

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00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:01,640
We watch as a church is 
persecuted around the world, and

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there's injustice. 
And we wonder, where are you 

259
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,800
God? 
We grieve as we walk through 

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00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:11,840
dreams dashed and weighed in 
disappointment, and we wonder if

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00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:17,160
God actually does see my needs. 
Maybe you've turned up on that 

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00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,720
playground for the 15,000,000 
time to try to tell a teacher 

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00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,560
why your child needs this 
provision at school and it's not

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00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:28,520
coming, or you've worked 
faithfully being promised for a 

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00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,400
promotion at work and yet it 
just never seems to come 

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00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:34,040
through. 
But if you could have it, God, 

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00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,240
I'd be generous. 
I would pour into the care 

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00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:37,440
centre. 
I would do this. 

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00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,640
I'd do this for you if you just 
could see this need. 

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00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:45,200
Sometimes it's even more 
granular. 

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00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,280
I know there are people in this 
room who this week will have 

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00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:51,280
gone round a supermarket and 
decided they need to take food 

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00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:54,880
out of their trolley because 
there's not enough in the bank 

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00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:57,640
balance to put everything in it 
that you want. 

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00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:06,040
It can feel like we're living in
the reality of two polar worlds,

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00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:13,319
and these words sound wonderful 
until the rubber hits the road 

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00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:19,720
in my life, in the path I have 
to walk, where sometimes, if I'm

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00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:25,200
honest, it feels like God's 
promises are teasing me and I'm 

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00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:29,240
wondering if he's actually blind
to what is needed in this 

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00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,000
moment. 
And it's this mystery, guys. 

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00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:40,000
It's this point that we become 
prey, that guarded expectation, 

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00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:46,200
to become the director of our 
understanding of who God is, and

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00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:54,400
we package it as wisdom. 
And I want to ask myself, and I 

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00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,920
want to invite you to ask 
yourself where this morning is 

285
00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,880
your guard up on your 
understanding of God's 

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00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,520
provision? 
Because guarded expectation 

287
00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,240
looks a lot like I was trying to
work out how we're going to 

288
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:11,200
solve this on our own, how we're
going to meet our needs. 

289
00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:15,200
And it sneaks in the form of 
independency, and it looks like 

290
00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,040
God's not working fast enough. 
So I need to solve it. 

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00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:23,960
And we start to shift ourselves 
back into that lordship position

292
00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:26,480
of our lives where we say, 
actually I know better than God,

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00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,960
I know exactly what I need. 
And if he can't see it, then I 

294
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:31,600
guess I have to take it into my 
own hands. 

295
00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,240
And I think that some of us in 
this room this morning need to 

296
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,640
dare to believe that God is who 
he says He is. 

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00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:43,280
Again, dare to believe, like 
Abraham, that God really is who 

298
00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,680
He says He is, even when our 
circumstances want to cause us 

299
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:51,600
to question it. 
And we need to see in Abraham 

300
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,240
that he was doing something. 
Each step of that journey with 

301
00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,680
what he saw, what he felt, what 
he was thinking, what he was 

302
00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:04,120
longing for, what was holding 
precious, what was he doing 

303
00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:09,640
internally. 
He was surrendering. 

304
00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:19,040
And I believe it's the only way 
forward to fully experience what

305
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,600
it's like to live in the 
confident expectation of God's 

306
00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:26,480
provision. 
One step at a time is found in 

307
00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,200
surrender. 
And here is why. 

308
00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,720
Because this passage in Genesis 
22 at the start of the 

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00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:38,080
Scriptures is the foretelling of
what God Himself works out when 

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00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,360
we get into the New Testament, 
where we see that God did not 

311
00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:45,800
ask Abraham to do something that
he wasn't willing to do himself 

312
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:48,320
right. 
Just as Abraham walked in 

313
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,600
willing obedience to give his 
only Son the Son whom he loved 

314
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,520
and treasured the precious thing
that God had provided, God 

315
00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:59,600
looked on our world, and He saw 
what was needed right now, here 

316
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:04,320
in 2024, and he was willing to 
give his one and only much loved

317
00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,680
treasure to Son. 
And just as Abraham called that 

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00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:12,120
mount that he walked on Jehovah 
dera the Lord provided. 

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00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,760
And we see the fulfilment of 
that second part of the verse on

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00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,880
the mount of the Lord. 
It shall be seen and provided 

321
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,680
when Jesus walked up the hill of
Calvary. 

322
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,720
And there's that much loved 
precious sun carrying the wood 

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00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:30,760
of cross on his back that he 
put, then laid on to become the 

324
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:35,600
ultimate sacrifice of provision 
that is readily available for us

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00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:40,440
in this moment. 
And get this, Jesus endured the 

326
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:44,080
moment when God turned his face 
and the darkness care of the 

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00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,760
earth wise so that you and I 
never have to endure God turning

328
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,200
his face on us. 
We never have to experience what

329
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:55,840
it's like to have God turn his 
face on us through any path that

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00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,720
we have to walk. 
Jesus eradicated the 

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00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,280
separateness and made us join 
heirs so that we could have 

332
00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,920
access to the fullness of the 
person of God. 

333
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,600
Our inheritance, like Jesus 
right now, right here, and as 

334
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:17,640
Abraham calls that place on 
Mount Moriah, Jehovah Jireh, I 

335
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,720
want us to see what he was doing
when he cried Jehovah. 

336
00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:25,400
What he was saying is bored. 
What is he also saying? 

337
00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:28,440
If he's calling him Lord, I am 
not Lord. 

338
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:34,520
And when he calls out Jihad 
Jira, he's saying it's the Lord 

339
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:39,000
who sees and provided. 
And So what he's also saying is 

340
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:43,440
that I am not the Lord and I 
don't fully see and I don't 

341
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,680
fully know what is needed. 
But I surrender to you. 

342
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:50,200
Jehovah Jireh is a declaration 
of surrender. 

343
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:56,080
It's a declaration of our 
surrender. 

344
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,920
And so I want us to see that 
hope in God's provision isn't 

345
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,600
something we conjure up. 
It's not something that we have 

346
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,560
to stiffen up our backs and be 
like let's go. 

347
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:12,120
Yes, God's going to provide 
because it's not based on you 

348
00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:15,720
and me and how good we are. 
It is based on the goodness and 

349
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,360
the kindness and the love of a 
Father in heaven who sees you, 

350
00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:22,040
and he loves to pour out His 
good gifts upon you. 

351
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:28,560
And God's provision was made a 
reality for Abraham when he 

352
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:34,560
surrendered over and over and 
over again, giving God access to

353
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:39,200
the most precious part of who he
was to the truth and the person 

354
00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:42,560
of God. 
Provider hope came alive when 

355
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,360
God sent Jesus into the world. 
But it was made a reality when 

356
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,840
Jesus surrendered to the will of
his father, and he cried in that

357
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:52,520
garden of Gethsemane. 
ABBA. 

358
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:57,040
Father, everything is possible 
for you, But would you take this

359
00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,680
cup from me? 
Don't make me walk in this 

360
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,600
moment. 
But he says, but not my will, 

361
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:07,200
but what you will and I will go.
And he walks that road of 

362
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:12,040
obedience, trusting his father, 
saw what was needed and provided

363
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:19,520
provision made a reality. 
Our confident expectation comes 

364
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,800
alive in you and me every time 
we choose to bring our whole 

365
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:29,680
lives in surrender to God. 
Each step the good, the hard, 

366
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:36,120
the ordinary. 
Giving God back our questions, 

367
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,280
giving him back our lack of 
understanding. 

368
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,280
And when we do, our lives become
the place that we can call 

369
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:52,240
Jehovah jireh. 
And we then get the opportunity 

370
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:56,800
to be a demonstration of who God
is to every person that we 

371
00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:04,640
encounter around us. 
And I've come to understand this

372
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:09,720
not honestly, just by reading 
the Bible or by amazing 

373
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,960
testimonies of his provision. 
I could have stood here and I 

374
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,040
could tell you some miraculous, 
crazy stories of provision, 

375
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:18,680
right? 
Because we've seen that. 

376
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,640
We've spent years in on the 
mission field, and we have seen 

377
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:29,680
God do crazy stuff. 
But most of the stories of my 

378
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:34,840
life have been like this story 
on Mount Moriah, of having to 

379
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:43,840
learn the beauty of surrender 
that has led to a confident hope

380
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:49,480
in the provision of God in the 
nitty gritty of Monday, Tuesday,

381
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,640
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. 
And those testimonies help. 

382
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:59,920
They fueled my faith. 
For these moments, the word has 

383
00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:02,880
fueled my faith. 
But the end of the day, the 

384
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,760
place where the confident hope 
has come alive in me has been 

385
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:14,520
when I've said God have it all. 
And I've learned that surrender 

386
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,240
is not holy chitchat. 
Let's be Let's be clear, OK? 

387
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:19,920
It's not this like, nice. 
I pray this and I get this. 

388
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:24,880
Surrender is a wrestle, right? 
Sometimes it's ugly. 

389
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,000
It's not like ugly crying in my 
car yelling at God. 

390
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:32,280
Like, what are you thinking? 
What is going on? 

391
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,920
Even as our family in the last 
eight months, we got that phone 

392
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:41,160
call 8 months ago to say that 
because of the financial crisis 

393
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:42,840
my husband was being made 
redundant. 

394
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,960
We were like, what is happening?
We are in the most expensive 

395
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:49,680
season of family life. 
God, where are you? 

396
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,080
We're eight months into this 
journey and guess what? 

397
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:58,240
The provision of a job, which to
me is like the most obvious form

398
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:03,360
of provision. 
It's not a made a reality yet, 

399
00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:12,560
and in this season I have learnt
about the beauty and the power 

400
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:24,360
and the truthfulness of 
surrender, and God has been 

401
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,560
reminding me in the days that 
it's hard. 

402
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,720
In the days when I read his 
promises and they just don't, 

403
00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:31,640
they feel a little bit like he's
teasing me. 

404
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,720
He here reminded me of Psalm 23,
where he says, You know what, 

405
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,080
Claire? 
If I'm your shepherd, you lack 

406
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:46,200
for nothing, and that even in 
the valley of the shadow of 

407
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:50,440
death and in the presence of our
enemies, I prepare a table for 

408
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:56,400
you to feast on even now. 
But what do I have to do to 

409
00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,560
feast at that table? 
I have to receive his invitation

410
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:05,800
to come and take a seat at the 
table, and I can't sit at his 

411
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,080
table. 
If I'm too distracted by where 

412
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,480
I'm going to get to you, or if 
I'm trying to wrestle to get 

413
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,920
through this valley, or if I'm 
trying to figure out how it's 

414
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,480
going to work out, you say no. 
Clara, will you come take a 

415
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,960
seat? 
So I've got what you need for 

416
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:25,320
this moment. 
I'm not going to force it on 

417
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:26,600
you. 
I'm not going to throw it in 

418
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,920
your face. 
But I'd love to hear how you're 

419
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,080
feeling today. 
And I'd love to meet you there 

420
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:36,200
and provide for you. 
And the beauty of his provision 

421
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:39,720
as a reality has not looked like
that job coming through, but it 

422
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,200
has looked like me. 
So learning to surrender my 

423
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:46,800
pride and my independence, to 
say thank you to the radical 

424
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:50,520
generosity of friends who've 
walked in this road with us. 

425
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:56,520
It's beautiful. 
It's beautiful. 

426
00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:02,600
God's provision is beautiful. 
This looked like surrendering, 

427
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:08,200
the tiredness. 
Why? 

428
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,800
Because God wants to give grace.
He wants us to give us the bread

429
00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:14,440
of grace, so that we'd give 
grace to ourselves. 

430
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,800
It's looking like a million 
things, but it's been in the 

431
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,560
car, it's been at that 
playground, it's been in the 

432
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,080
nitty gritty of Monday to Friday
and this is what I have learnt 

433
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:26,160
and this is where we're going to
end. 

434
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:35,120
Hope in God's provision does not
need to be guarded because hope 

435
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,960
in His provision and never puts 
us to shame. 

436
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,640
Why? 
Because God never puts you to 

437
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:46,240
shame and your expectation can 
be confident in His provision. 

438
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,720
Because we are confident in the 
goodness and the kindness and 

439
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:55,280
the love of a God who sees your 
every need and he promises, as 

440
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,920
you give Him access to show you 
His provision for this moment, 

441
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:07,520
He will never put you to shame. 
So stand with me.