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Gen 22

In this chapter, we read the account of Abraham and Isaac. And Abraham’s deep commitment to the Lord, His willingness to go “all in,” no matter what God may ask of him. Even to sacrifice his own son…

But God supplies a sacrifice!

And in this amazing encounter we see a beautiful picture of the heart and plan of God in sending Jesus, a sacrifice for us!

Just as Abraham was deeply committed, so is God the Father to us, His Creation. In fact, He has gone all in! There is no ‘Plan B’ in the heart of God!

“Obedience is better than sacrifice”

Obedience.
We tend to think of obedience in terms of slavery… The way a slave is obedient to his master.
But our obedience is not out of slavery. There is a higher obedience that comes out of personal choice, not obligation. An obedience that comes from trust.

When we see the picture of Jesus, the revelation of who He is, we often respond by going “all in.”
But sometimes as we continue to live life, we discover things/behaviours in our life that reveal that we may not be all in.

How do you know if you’ve gone ‘all in’?

*The word of God is the plumb line of your heart.

Sometimes we read the beatitudes… Or the love chapter… And we discover “I may not be as ‘all in’ as I thought.”

Our intention is to be all in. Our heart is to be all in!
But we can pull some chips out of the pile, hold some chips back.

There are times when the Holy Spirit comes to test what’s really in our heart. What our response will be.

Matt 26

Peter went all in. In fact, he said he would go with Jesus to death. And he meant it. There is no criticism toward Peter, he meant it, he was sincere in his intention!

But the test, the trial came. And it revealed the level of his commitment.

And the beautiful part of this story is to see Jesus’ response to the state of Peter’s heart; total grace and forgiveness.
Peter was not a failure in the Lord’s eyes.

Don’t be afraid of failure.

If you’re going to be afraid of anything, be afraid of giving up and quitting.
But do not be afraid of failure. God is not intimidated by our failure or mistakes.

1) What could bring God to go all in?
You and me! Because He created us! We are His children. When he saw the separation that happened in the garden, our distance from Him, He responded with a plan to come to earth Himself and pay the price for our relationship with Him to be restored.
WE are the reason that He went all in!

2) We are His motivation. But what is your motivation?
It’s because He went all in first! if your heart is cold, go back to the cross and resurrection. To the greatest expression of love this world has seen. You will be motivated when you go back to His sacrifice, back to His motivation.

He is our source for obedience.
Our source for motivation.

There are things holding us back. Things in our lives that we may not even be aware of.

Renew your commitment to Him.

Doesn’t mean we promise to be perfect. But let’s commit to being real.
Let’s go ALL IN!

[Spoken by: James Maclaren]