All In - Pastor Carlos Cage

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
That's a good place to worship him.
I say that's a good place toworship him.
You know, there's been sometrials, there's been some things
that I had to go through, somesituations that I had to deal
with in life, and I tried tocall on my mama.
My mama couldn't help.
I tried calling on my dad,y'all, my dad couldn't help.

(00:24):
But oh, there is a name.
There's a name, I hope, thename Jesus, and I come to tell
you that there's power in hisname, there's healing in his
name, there's deliverance in hisname.
So I think it just works forhim, for the power that's going
to be manifested in this place,for the healing that's going to

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be manifested in this place.
Come on and give God a hand,clap and pray for this place.
God, we thank you, jesus, ourLord, we thank you that we can
call on your name.
And not only can we call onyour name, but when we call on

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your name, you can find us, ohGod, and you answer, and you
respond to us.
God, we realize that there'spower in your name, power that
will heal this morning, powerthat will deliver and power that
will set free.
So we thank you that we havethe opportunity to speak the

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name of Jesus and God.
I pray now that you will justspeak a word in this place that
will touch the heart of yourpeople.
God, we thank you for whatyou're doing.
We thank you for what you'regoing to do in the lives of
these, your people.
We give you praise and we giveyou glory In Jesus name.
Amen.
Come on and give God a hand,clap and pray, Amen, amen.

(01:49):
You may take your seats thismorning.
Good morning, community church.
If this is your first timevisiting with us, whether you're
in person or online, we so gladthat you decided to come and
worship here with communitychurch.
If this is your first time, weask that you text the word hello
.
Text the word hello to985-260-8411 and stop by the

(02:14):
welcome center in the lobby.
They have a gift for you.
Come on, community church.
Can we welcome all of our firsttime guests this morning?
Amen, amen.
Also, I want to thank ourpastor, my pastor, our senior
pastor, pastor Nate, for thisopportunity this morning to
share with you all.

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Our pastor really wanted to behere this morning, especially to
celebrate all that's going totake place within this service,
but he is currently under theweather, so let's keep him
lifted this morning, that theLord will heal his body.
So you get me instead.
Amen, thank you all.

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Thank you all for those fivehead claps, thank you.
Thank you Today.
Today we continue in a seriesfor this month which called All
In a series that challenged usto live a life hold heartily for
God.
And I don't know about you, butthis sermon series and going

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into this, 21 days of prayer,fasting, have really been
blessing me and having me dosome self reflection, and I've
just decided that this year ismy year to go all in for God.
I just decided that I'm gonnagive them everything I have and
I'm gonna trust them in allthings.
Now, I didn't know that, someof those things, when you tell

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them, yes, that you gonna becalled at 8 in the morning, that
you got to go and do thecircuit, but I'm going all in
this morning, amen.
Our focus today in this seriesis all in sacrifice.
Everybody say sacrifice.
James Allen wrote these words.

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He said he who would accomplishlittle must sacrifice little,
and he who would achieve muchmust sacrifice much, and he who
would attain highly mustsacrifice greatly.
I'll say that again he whowould, who would accomplish

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little, all you got to do issacrifice a little, he would
achieve much, much sacrifice.
You have to sacrifice much, andhe who would attain highly
great must be your sacrifice.
That sounds good, james, but,pastor, what is he trying to say
?
In other words, james wassaying to us the only thing that

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guarantees greatness in life issacrifice.
Everybody say sacrifice.
Listen to me.
In your own life, you need topractice sacrifice For the
kingdom of God.
You need to practice sacrifice.
Why, pastor?
Because your sacrifice todaywill determine what your
tomorrow looks like.

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I'll say that for the back rowagain your sacrifice today will
determine what your tomorrowlooks like.
I'll give you this one for free.
People who have messed up todayare most likely the people that
have not sacrificed yesterdayPeople.

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People who messed up today arethe people who didn't sacrifice
yesterday.
God has given you wisdom, theskills and everything you need
to make your tomorrow betterthan your today, but you have to
do the hard work now so thatyou can have a better tomorrow,
because your sacrifice today,yeah, it will determine what

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your tomorrow looks like.
That's not me talking, that'sthe Bible.
The Bible says.
The Bible say it better in thisway.
He says you shall reap what you.
Alright, there's a few Biblereaders.
You shall reap what you sow,and if you aren't reaping

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anything, it's because, myfriend, you hadn't sown anything
.
Can I ask you a question whatare you sacrificing today so
that you can have a bettertomorrow In your family?
What are you sowing In yourministry?
What are you sowing In yourcareer?

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What are you sowing In God'skingdom?
What are you sowing?
Because you reap what you sow.
Many of us have a way ofprocrastinating and think we're
going to avoid the sacrifice.
I didn't let you in onsomething.
There's no such thing inavoiding sacrifice.
You just put it off, and longeryou put it off, the more it

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costs you when you force to faceit, my friend's, anything worth
having in life is going toinvolve some level of sacrifice.
Some of you want to be ahomeowner.
You have to sacrifice to get it, and even once you get it, you
have to sacrifice to keep it.

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You want to take your marriageto the next level.
How do I do it?
You have to find ways to putyour spouse ahead of your own
desire.
You want to raise kids who areproductive and well-rounded.
Sacrifice and make aninvestment of your time to get
them there, even building yourrelationship with God is no

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difference.
Sacrifice is required.
Want to do great things for thekingdom of God?
You have to be willing tosacrifice.
Let's take a look at it inHebrew 12, 1 and 2.
Help me read it.
Can y'all help me read it?
Let's go 1, 2, 3.
Therefore, let us also layaside every income and the sin

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which so easily entangles us,and let us run with the doings,
the race that is set before us.
Verse 2 says fixing our eyes onJesus, the Arthur and Perfecter
of faith, who, for the George,set before him and adored the
cross, despising the shame, andhe sat down at the right hand of

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God.
Now, verse 2 says that's very.
Are we ready at all?
All right, well, all right,thank you.
Now that the Bible doesn'tminimize.
Notice that the Bible don'tminimize Jesus suffering.
God didn't say, since you're myson, that you won't have to

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suffer much.
He didn't say that, sinceyou're doing such a good thing,
you won't have to go throughmuch.
No, because the thing thatChrist was doing was so big, the
sacrifice had to be that muchbigger.
See, we want a good Christianpast when it comes to sacrifice.
We want God to wave thesacrifice because we're doing

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something good.
But God says no.
The greater the thing you'redoing, the bigger the sacrifice
is going to take.
And just like Jesus didn't getan easy route because of what he
was doing, we won't either.
I need to talk to somebody inthis room this morning.
I come by here to let you knowthat God wants you, that what

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God wants to do in your life isbig.
Somebody say big.
What God wants to do in yourfamily is big.
What God wants to do in yourministry is big.
What God wants to do in thischurch is big, and that's why
the sacrifice he's requiring youto make is so big.

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That's why the sacrifice he'srequiring us to make is big.
But just like with Jesus, godsaid if you pay the price, I'll
bless your life.
It'll be worth it after a while.
It'll be worth the pain.
It'll be worth what you have togo without.
It'll be worth what you have togo through.
A little pain won't hurt you,because the scripture says you

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got jar set before you.
Now watch what happens inAbraham.
Watch what happens with Abrahamin Genesis 22, 1 to 2.
Genesis 22, 1, come on, help meread.
It says now it came about afterthese things that God tested
Abraham and said to AbrahamAbraham, and he said here I am.

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He said take now your son, youronly son, whom you love, isaac,
and go to the land of Moriahand offer him there as a birth
and one of the mountains ofwhich I will tell you.
Wait a minute, wait one minute,god.
Now you tell me that you wantme to sacrifice my son, and then

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you reiterate it my only son,who I love, and you tell me you
want me to sacrifice him.
God had promised Abram that,among other things, he will make
his descendants as numerous asthe sand of the sea.
Then, in Genesis 17 and 19, hepromised him that his promise
will come true through Isaac.

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Abraham and Sarah were old whenGod promised them Isaac, and
even older when he was finallyborn.
They were both pastchildbearing age.
So think about how crazy it wasfor God to now come back and
say I'm going to need you tosacrifice Isaac.
Wait a minute, god, I'll go allin for you, but I don't know

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about sacrificing my son now.
Isaac, my only son, thecovenant that's rested upon him.
Isaac, you're talking aboutIsaac, the miracle child, the
gift of God to Abraham and Sarahin response to our faith.
Not Isaac.
Not the Isaac that I love verymuch and I'm built the whole

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future around him.
Yes, that Isaac.
Now, based on what I just said,let me tell you what sacrifice
really is.
You see, sacrifice happens whenGod asks us to bear what seems
unbearable, do what seemsunreasonable and expect what
seems impossible.

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I'll say that again sacrifice,it happens when God asks us to
bear what seems unbearable, dowhat seems unreasonable and
expect what seems impossible.
So can I ask you a question,matter of fact?
Y'all not talking to me much,so talk to your neighbor.
Say neighbor, what's your Isaac?

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That person didn't say nothingto you, so turn to the next
person.
Say neighbor, what's your Isaac?
Your Isaac is something thatGod allowed you to have, that
God allowed you to have,something that he blessed you
with.
And here's the deal make surethat you don't love your Isaac

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more than you love the one whogave it to you.
If God asks you for a sacrifice, would you give it up?
And no, I'm not talking aboutyour kids either.
Some of y'all like God.
Which one, pick which one youwant.
This one, I'll set them up no,not your kids when you have to

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choose to worship your God orkeep your Isaac.
Which one do you choose?
If God demanded that yourelease your Isaac as an act of
worship, could you do it?
Through this fast, god showedme that I have some Isaacs in my
life.
I have some stuff that he'sgiven me that I'm falling in
love with, and God doesn't havea problem with you loving your

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Isaac, but he does have aproblem with you loving it more
than you love him.
God asked Abraham to sacrificethe one thing that he had an
opportunity to become anotherGod in his life.
For Abraham, that was Isaac.
But what's your Isaac?
Maybe now I'm not messy likeyour pastor, amen but maybe it's

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a relationship that he's beentelling you to sacrifice as an
act of worship, but you keepgoing back to him.
It's cheaper to keep him.
Whatever that church song gives, maybe, maybe, maybe it's that
ministry he's telling you togive more time to and be a part

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of as a sacrifice, but you keeptelling him about all the other
stuff that you got going on.
Maybe it's that group thatyou're supposed to be a part of,
or even host, as your sacrifice, but you keep telling him now,
lord, you know, I don't evenlike people like that.
I don't even roll with peoplelike that.
What's your Isaac?

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Most of the time when we'reasked to sacrifice our Isaac,
you know what we do.
We rationalize with God.
We come up with all kinds ofreasons of why that sacrifice
just doesn't make any sense.
Abraham could have done thesame thing.
God has specifically said thatit was through Isaac that God's
promise to Abraham will befulfilled.

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So it didn't make any sense forGod to command him to kill the
son of the promise.
If most of us was Abraham, wewould be saying I must have
heard God wrong.
Clearly he couldn't tell methat.
I need to go back and fast so Ican hear him.
Clearly.
See, one of Satan's oldest andbest tools is getting us to

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doubt God's command, especiallywhen those commands just don't
make any sense.
You see, reason is not bad,reasoning is not a bad thing.
It's actually a good thing.
But when your reason and faithcomes into conflict, you got to
let your faith win.
I'll say that again when yourreason and your faith comes into

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conflict with each other, yougot to let your faith win,
because when faith wins, godwins, and when God wins, ms
Paulette, we all win.
Verse three says verse three.
It says read it with me.
So Abraham rose early.

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Now look at it.
This verse begins by sayingthat Abraham got up early the

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next morning to take his son onthis journey.
See, some of us, when God callsus to sacrifice, we don't
refuse.
We won't tell him no, we justprocrastinate.
Abraham could have reason andsaid well, god, you didn't give
me no timeframe?
They don't make sense of mewaking up early to sacrifice my
son.
You didn't tell me no time.

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Some of us will say well, lord,I'm gonna get to it, but I
gotta wait till my next birthday.
On my next birthday.
Oh, I promise you I'm gonna doit, lord, I just gotta wait till
I get my income tax.
I got you.
Abraham acted quickly in thisobedience to God.
Whenever you get a call fromGod, don't drag your feet.

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The more time you allow to gobetween God's command of a
sacrifice and you're offering it, the less likely it will be
that you will give it and themore miserable you will be as
you fight with God.
Can I tell y'all something?
God is a good fighter.
Oh, he's a good fighter.
You don't wanna get in the ringwith him?
Don't drag your feet.

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Do the things that he calledyou to sacrifice.
Let's look at Genesis four.
Genesis four says help me readit.
On the third day, abrahamraised his eyes All the way from
the distance.
Keep going Four through five.
Abraham said to this young manstay here with the donkey.

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Abraham was put in a positionwhere he had to depend on God
and God alone.
I want you to write this down,if you take your notes Sacrifice
brings dependence.
Sacrifice brings dependence.
Why?

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Because no one else understoodwhat he was doing.
He didn't tell anyone what Godhad told him to do.
He didn't even tell his wifewhat was going on.
She wouldn't understand.
Y'all know they wouldn'tunderstand.
If I would have just imagined,if I would have told Shaman
Shaman, we're gonna take, I'mgonna take Jacob up to the

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mountain and I'm gonna sacrificehim, shaman would tell me babe,
you go up to the mountain, youbetter make sure you don't come
back down.
You better stay.
Whatever you gonna do with ourson, you better do it to
yourself too.
Don't come back down.
They wouldn't understand.
He didn't even tell the peoplewho were with him.

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They might try to stop him.
And then, when he got to acertain place in the journey
going up the mountain.
It was just him, his sacrificeand God.
See, don't be surprised whenGod puts you in a place where
your sacrifice puts you in aposition where the only person
you could depend on is him.
Nobody else understand whatyou're doing, nobody else

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support what you're doing,nobody else can see what you see
.
But God has given you a visionand if you choose to live a life
of sacrifice, you will findthat life can be very lonely.
Back it up, because last night Iwas reading this verse and it's
something that just jumped outat me On last night.
Look at the verse.
Let's go back to Genesis, versefour.

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He says on the third dayAbraham raised his eyes to saw
the place from a distance.
And then verse five saysAbraham said to this young man
he says stay here with thedonkey and I and the lad will go

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over there and we will worship.
But then Abraham have enoughnerves to say and we'll return
to you.
And I started thinking for one.
God never told you when hespoke to you that you had to
worship.
He never put that in the text.

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You won't see that in the text.
But Abraham decided that theygo go and they go worship and
then he have enough audacity tosay then I'll return to you.
Wait a minute, you're going upthe mountain to sacrifice your
son.
In other words, you're going upthe mountain, you're gonna cut
his throat and he's dead.

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He's dead as dead can come.
He gone out of here.
Peace, see you R-I-P.
He's dead.
So if you're going up themountain, I just wanted y'all to
understand what dead means.
So you tell him he's going upthe mountain to sacrifice his
son, but then he tells hisservants that.

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But I'll return back to, but wewill return back to you.
Abraham must have knew this wasan Abraham first time that he
understood that there's power inworship, that there's something
about sacrificial worship.
When you come and you fall downand worship God.
This wasn't nothing new.

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How you know it?
One because Sarah waschildbearing.
That's the first miracle.
Sarah couldn't have no baby,but still she became a baby mama
.
The second thing I mean Abrahamwas old.
Even if she wasn't childbearing, the likeness of Abraham having

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a child was slim to none.
That's your second miracle.
Can I tell you something?
There's something about whenyou worship God.
Something begins to happen.
He makes the impossiblepossible with your worship, the
way that you sacrificial worship, the way that you're going all

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in, not because of who he is,because all of us can praise him
.
All of us can praise him forthe things that he's done.
But when you worship him, theBible says you must worship him
in spirit and in truth.
We worship him because of whohe is.
Something happens when youworship, you see, the problem is
most people don't live a lifeof sacrifice and they don't mean

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any harm.
But it's difficult for peopleto have empathy for what you got
going on if they ain't goingthrough it, if they hadn't been
through it and can't understandit.
And they might listen to whatyou're going through.
But they don't always mean thatthey understand it and some
folks you gotta be real theyjust listening so they can run

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and tell it anyway.
That's why, when you sacrifice,you have to make up in your
mind that, even if it's just meand God where he's taking me,
it's worth it.
And the thing you have toremember is that wherever God
leads you, he will be there whenyou get there.
I'll say that for somebody thatjust bless me.
Preach Carlos.

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Oh, you preach him, boy.
Wherever he takes you, he'll bethere when you get there.
What he showed me is is worthit.
So what you're gonna do, I'mgonna saddle up and I'm going up
this mountain.
Even in means I have to go bymyself.
Can I tell you something else?

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This not in my notes, but can Ishare something else with you?
Sometimes you gotta be carefulwho you're trying to take with
you anyway, not everybody can gowhere God's trying to take you.
Some people you gotta tell him.
You know what.
You stay here and let me gothere.
Matter of fact, jesus had to doit.
You know what.
You stay here and you praywhile I go over there.
You can't take everybody withyou anyway, because he's calling

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me up.
Sometimes, where God is takingus, it requires that we have no
distractions.
Sometimes God wants to kill thedistractions and drown out the
voice of God in our lives.
That's why sacrifice throughfasting is so good, because it

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kills the distraction and itdrowns out the voice of God in
our lives.
For me, it's social media.
That's why I do it.
It's 21 days after I'vedisconnected and I've limited my
time so I can hear clearer fromthe Lord.
If this fast have blessed you,this is a commercial break.
If this fast have blessed youdo me a favor.

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If you've seen God show up inyour life in a special way as a
result of this fast, you need totell your story.
Somebody say tell your story,tell your story.
You can simply go tocommunitychcom and click on tell
your story and it will godirectly to pastor Nate.
That's the commercial break.
Commercial break is over.
All right, see, fasting is aform of sacrifice and anytime

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you sacrifice you gain theattention of God and it kills
the distractions in your lifeand puts attention on God.
Let's look at it in verse nine.
In verse nine it says then theycame to the place of which God
had told him, and Abraham builtthe altar there and arranged the
wood and bound his son Isaacand laid them on the altar on

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top of the wood.
He says here I am.
And he said don't lay your handon the ladder, do anything to
him, for now I know that youfear God, since you have not
withheld your son, your only sonfor me.
Verse 13 says in Abraham liftedhis eyes and looked and there

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behind him was a ram caught upin the bushes by his horns.
So Abraham went and took theram and he offered it up for a
burnt offering instead of hishands.
And verse 14 says in Abrahamcalled the name of the place.
The Lord will provide.
And it is said to this day inthe mountain the Lord is the

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Lord, it shall be provided.
This is the next thing you needto write down.
Sacrifice brings God's provision.
Sacrifice, it brings God'sprovision.
Can you imagine the joy thatAbraham must have felt when he
caught the sight of a ram caughtin the bushes?
The only people who knew whatthat's like are the people who

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sacrifice.
The only people who know whatit's like to stand on the word
of God and see God's promisesfulfilled are the people who
sacrifice.
There was still a sacrifice onthat day, but it wasn't Isaac.
God provided the sacrifice.
See, when you trust God enoughto give him everything, god

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would always replace whateveryou're holding on to with a
better alternative.
Abraham got to know God as theGod who provides.
Jehovah Jireh.
God provision was found afterAbraham went where God told him
to go and sacrificially did whathe told him to do.
The provision of God happens ona mountain called sacrifice.

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You can't know God's provisionuntil you've reached this part.
You have to get to a placewhere you say, like Abraham,
lord, nothing is off limits.
Provision is a promise of God,but it's not a promise without
permits.
Until you get to the placewhere you're willing to
sacrifice, you will never get tothe place where you know God as

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a provider.
Can I tell you this morningcommunity, fair family oh, I
know him to be a provider.
I know what it's like to haveto try to have control over it
all and do it yourself.
But can I ask you a questionhow that's been working out for
you?
But when you sacrifice to givethem your all, god will provide.
But I need to tell you that Godcan't give you back what you

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refuse to give up.
I'll say that again God can'tgive you back what you refuse to
give up.
What's the delay, pastor?
What's the hold up why I'm notreceiving it?
I see him do it for others.
Why not me?
It's because you're not willingto sacrifice it first.
That's why I've decided thatthis year I'm going all in, that

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I'm going all the way withJesus, wherever he leads me.
I've decided I'm going tofollow because everything I have
is because God gave it to meanyway, everything that I am, it
belongs to him anyway.
My time is yours, lord, I'mgoing all in my treasure, my
money.
It belongs to you, lord.

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I'm going all in my talent.
Whatever I can do for you isyours.
Lord, I'm all in.
I dare you to make up your mindthis morning that, whatever the
sacrifice is, if you give it tohim, he'll give it back to you

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because of your sacrifice.
Come on, let's buy our heads.
Heavenly Father, we come to youwith our hearts full of
gratitude for the opportunity togather as community believers.
We thank you for reminding usof the power of sacrifice and

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the blessing that comes fromgoing all in for you.
Lord, as we reflect, werecognize the ultimate sacrifice
that was made on the cross byyour Son, jesus Christ, and we
thank you for this selfless actthat opened the way for us to be
reconciled with you.
Today, we surrender our livesto you, acknowledging that

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everything we have is a giftfrom your hand.
We pray for the strength to letgo of anything that hinders us
from fully following you.
Just as Abraham offered hisIsaac, we offer our time, our
talent and treasure to you,trusting that your plans for us
are greater than we can imagineWith all, heads bowed and eyes

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closed for some of you today,the sacrifice you need to make
is with your life.
He's asking you to sacrificeyour life for him.
You need to surrender you tothe Lord and if that's you this
morning, I pray that you praythis prayer behind me.

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Say, jesus, I invite you to myheart and my life.
I acknowledge you as my Lordand Savior and desire to walk
closely with you on this journeyof faith.
May your Holy Spirit guide meas I strive to live
wholeheartedly for you, makingthe necessary sacrifices to

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align my life with your perfectwill, with all, heads bowed and
eyes closed.
If you prayed that prayer withme not going to call you down,
not going to embarrass you andif you're on line, if you prayed
that prayer in the comment box,if you will just put that's me
and the moderators are going totell you what's the next step
and if you're in this room thismorning, if you prayed that

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prayer with me, what I'm goingto ask is that you lift your
hands and when you lift yourhands, the people of God in this
room is going to celebratebecause you made the greatest
decision of your life.
If you prayed that prayer behindme, can I see your hand?
I see your hand.
I see your hand, lord.

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For anyone here today who maybe feeling the call to surrender
their life to you or make aspecific sacrifice, I pray that
your presence will be feltstrongly in the heart.
May they experience your love,your grace and the joy that
comes from following youcoldheartedly.
We thank you, lord, for yourprovisions, for being Jehovah

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Jireh, the God who provides.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Come on, let's celebrate thismorning.