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Study on The Call and testing of Abraham Genesis 22:1-8 and 14

Evangelist Steve Livingston
Oct 28, 2017
7 min read

Updated: May 23, 2021

Sermon Outline: The Call and testing of Abraham Genesis 22:1-8 and 14

We as believers have a distinct responsibility to answer the call of Christ on our lives for service and we are to go forth and preach the Gospel…Matthew 28:18-20…Acts 1:8

When we look closely at the call and testing of Abraham in Genesis 22:1-14, we can see some distinct co-relations between him and the modern day believers’ call and testing as well. Perhaps the most interesting note in all of this may be found in his life is the fact that If your called to serve you serve. In every other line of work, there seems to be an unending supply of candidates, yet the work of God is suffering from a lack of men and women who want to serve their savior.

These verses of scripture were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by Moses and can be summed up easily as follows…..

Verses 1-2 The place…Mt Moriah and the traveling it took to get there.

Verses 3-5 The plan….God always directs us in to the exact place where he intends us to be.

Verses 5-8 The provision that God promised Abraham was based upon Abrahams faith in Gods promise to Him found earlier in chapter 17.

Verse 13-14 The offering was supplied by God…a pure offering without spot or blemish though it was caught in the thorns.

Verse 1: And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and He said, Behold, here I am.

Do you recognize Gods voice so distinctly that you are able to respond?

To be honest and sincere, I’ve never heard a booming and thundering voice from God telling me to do this and not do that. I’ve never had a small sweet encounter where the Spirit of the Lord whispered to me. Yet I’ve been confronted by the man of God much like Nathan confronted David. I’ve had the Holy Spirit tug on my heart during a sermon and point out through the reading of Gods’ Word where I personally need to improve in my life.

I’ve also found the answers to many of my prayer requests in the Word of God. Yet first I needed to be able to listen. I often tell folks on the verge of making a decision for Christ…Talk to God in Prayer, listen to Him through His Word. Remember….listen has the same letters as the word silent.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Roman 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Verses 2-3 And he said, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place which God had told him.

Abraham was ready to go.

How many times do we sense God directing our steps, yet we are often held back because we are unprepared? How many believers have you come across that will admit that they know they are called of God to serve in the ministry, yet they sit idly by because of a lack of proper planning?

Nothing should be holding the child of God back from going forward in their call to service if the Lord has called them to serve. Yet more often than not, we set up lives for ourselves that are contradictory to serving full time in the ministry. Debt, poor health, lack of biblical knowledge and poor spiritual discernment all wreak havoc in a believers’ life, and the work of the lord suffers.

Ultimately what you are doing in life is based on two things. You are either setting up a life where you serve yourself, or where you serve God. Which is it?

Verses 4-5 Then on the third day Abraham lift up His eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto the young men, Abide you here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

Abraham separated himself from the others.

There are those who will walk by your side in the ministry and in life and be willing to help you go as far as you need them too. Yet just as Christ only took Peter James and John onto the Mount of Transfiguration, Abraham only went up to Mount Moriah with his son Isaac.

The key point I want to make, is that sometimes we need to get away from those who are with us, even if they aren’t hindering us, because we can only draw closer to fulfilling Gods promises to us by ourselves. If you want to get on a whole new level in your Christian life, you are going to need to make the decision to rely on Gods promises, and walk the rest of the way up the mountain the way God intends you to walk.

Verses 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went, both of them together.

What made Abraham so great is the simple fact that he had 100% confidence in Gods plan.

It's easy for us to say we walk by faith, yet how many of us actually do? I’ll never understand how we can come to God in complete faith and submission for salvation, yet not for sustenance during our daily walk along the calling for our life. I know many pastors who have small congregations and blame the lack of interest in the gospel, the hardness of hearts of people and the overall wickedness of the world as a reason why they are not seeing growth in their church. Yet these same men will work a full time secular job and ignore the calling of the ministry.

In every place we’ve been called to fill the pulpit as a interim, we’ve seen congregations double in size and have seen the baptism waters flow. It’s never been anything that I or my wife did that was so great. We just trusted in Gods plan for our life.

One of the most interesting things I’ve learned in regards to the ministry of full time evangelism is that God has supplied me with what I need for each step of the journey. It has been easy to commit too because God is the one who called me, God is the one who directs me, and so it is God who must supply all my needs. Work the plan and the plan will work itself out.

Verses 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Abraham's faith was evident in the faith of His son Isaac being willing to go.

I do not doubt the sincerity of Isaac's question and perhaps some of the fear that may have been in the sound of his voice. Many of our children live in fear on a daily basis because their father has never re- assured them that God himself will provide for them. They’ve seen mom and dad go off fo

r to work and how they have purchased every item in the household and how they’ve placed their own protective covering around their home. And all of this is good if not great that a parent will set up a comfortable life for a child.

Yet more often than not we allow the ease at which we can find comfort in this world keep us from conforming to what God wants us to be, do and have. Give your children the opportunity to see God move!!!

Verses 13-14 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the place Jehovah Jireh: as it is said to this da, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

Of all the names in which we can call out to the father, I tend to use Jehovah Jireh the most. I’m not trying to be super spiritual when I do it, but as that title/ name means, The Lord will provide. Abraham knew an expected end because of his unshakable faith in the God he served.

One quick question I have often ask people I’ve counseled is how can we as believers trust God for salvation, yet mot trust Him for our provision? The reply is almost always a blank stare.

Jeremiah 33:3- Call unto m, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things thou knowest not.

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Living by faith is rather simple. It is the proper execution of faith that is hard. In order to do so, we need an unending trust and resolve believing wholly that God will provide according to his plan when we get into the right place with the Him in our walk.

For more information of to book a meeting, conference, or revivals contact me at 812-844-5802.