The Kingdom Exchange | Student Pastor Zach Hammond

come on clap your hands to the Lord could we just worship Him for another moment God we love you all we thank you for your presence that we already feel in this place come on first Apostolic Church can we lift up a shout of praise and let God know that we thanked him for his presence coming down once again in this house law we lift you up we thank you that your presence has filled this house you get your Bibles out we're gonna go to the Book of Proverbs such an honor and a privilege to always stand before you in such an amazing church amen if you're a part of it you know if you're a guest it won't take you long to find out and I'm so thankful as pastor said to see just a great number of guests that are here proverbs chapter 11 and verse number one I give honor to pastor and sister carpenter pastor sister Erickson a happy birthday to our first lady her birthday weekend Amen give her a big hand she's so deserving of so much and I'm thankful we got to spend some time with her celebrating her life this weekend proverbs chapter 11 and verse number 1 the wise man writes a false balance is an abomination somebody say an abomination that's a strong word he says he's a false balance as an abomination to the Lord but a just weight as his delight to turned the page over proverbs chapter 16 he refers to the concept again he says a just weight and balance are the Lord's all the weights of the bag are his works all the weights of the bag are his works I want to preach Steve in just a few minutes this morning and I promise to try to be within the timeframe and to get you to lunch amen I know some of you might have a grill hot and ready on this weekend and so I will try to get you to lunch here in just a little bit but I believe the Lord wants to speak to us and I believe without any doubt that you're here for a specific reason and that God and through pastors asked me to speak a word to you today and God wants to show you your worth today so I want you to lay your Bible down I wish you lift your hands to heaven and ask the Lord to speak to us God I ask you today Lord that you would anoint your word God that it's not by my might not by my power but by your spirit Oh God Lord I ask that you would anoint me today Lord but I ask that you would ask that you would touch every heart god that you would God the the ground oh god of every heart God would be would be broad god to the to the surface to where you could speak God to where you could work Oh God and the sea would fall on good ground this this morning God we ask Oh God that your spirit would lead us guide us and you would teach us through your grace through your mercy draw us O God today though we ask all these things today in the mighty name of Jesus somebody shot in Jesus name and Jesus name you can be seated a man a false balance is an abomination brother Noland taught me a long time ago if you're not a good preacher you have to use props so here's my prop this morning you know I don't preach very often without one most people especially living in the area that we live in here in the Bible Belt if you say the word sacrifice you're pretty quickly going to understand what that means if you've read the book of Genesis 2 The Book of Revelations you see very quickly that the word sacrifice has followed the relationship between God and man from the very first few books of the Bible and we see that this term sacrifice is a well-founded scriptural thing it's this fundamental foundation of our relationship with God it is a principle that's all throughout scripture and it shows us many different things about God that there is a pain and there is cost when it comes to sacrifice that demands us to make a choice there's pain and there's cost and there's a choice on man behalf you come to realize that you cannot have both a relationship with God and not sacrifice you cannot be in a relationship with God without sacrifice we must start there this morning it demands sacrifice if we're going to live for God you've got to give up something sacrifice demands there be a victim there will be a momentary loss something must suffer something must be slain there's something going to lose its life and blood will be shed there must always be a casualty and sacrifice there's Mary many different definitions that I could give you today of the word sacrifice but my opinion the most broadest definition I could give you it's just simply this the giving of a value thing for something of greater value the giving of a valued thing for something of greater value I believe the Word of God validates this concept of sacrifice but there is a problem inherent in the very idea of sacrifice that if sacrifices to be accomplished in our relationship with God its purpose is to offer us offer something of value for something of greater value that I have to give something so it goes back to then another foundational issue if I'm going to be right in my sacrifice to God I have to have what the right values if it's an exchange of value is if it's a kingdom exchange of values then I've got to have the right value system in order to see sacrifice to the right lens and most of all have a relationship with God so values what is suitable what is equivalent of worth to regard highly to appreciate respect to estimate the worth there must be a proper estimation of value value will establish principles and it will establish standards if you find something valuable some of you men probably have a safe in your house you're gonna put your valuable things in there you know I was I was very very ignorant on this concept you know growing up I had I say I had I hated him but my sister had a horse and I had a few dogs and we had a chain-link fence on the back of just about an acre and a half and I gotta say I hate it I got kicked by the horse quite a few times and so we did not have a friendly relationship but I had a couple dogs and this this horse would chase the dogs around trying to to kick them and they were always in a fight so as always this horse and dog thing between me and my sister but long story short we had a chain-link fence there in the backyard and sometimes we had a situation where the horse would get out and it would me and her off somewhere and we would go have to go find it and chase it and that was always a thing that my sister and I would get in trouble for and so when I think of horses and my definition of horses growing out was just a little bit different than when you drive up through if you've ever been up when I 75 north and you get up there about Lexington and you start seeing these really nice fences and these barns that are bigger than some some of them bigger than maybe this church I mean they're huge there it is nice as they can be but but brother keno it's not just one fence there's another fence about ten foot and there's a another fence about ten foot and I was educated a few years ago that in order for them to insure those horses that run on those tracks and people you know gamble and pay thousands of dollars and those horses are supposedly worse thirty five forty fifty I mean it's crazy the amount of money they pay for this animal in order for them to insure that horse they have to have not just one fence of a certain height but brother name me they have to have another fence it's ten foot further back and another fence ensuring that that horse if he gets out of one that he's he's not going to get out of the next one if he gets out out there's three lines of defense because they find and they deem those horses very valuable and you'll see that same concept in our relationship with God just how valuable do you deem your relationship with God will determine the standards and the principles you put around it you say why is it that you build a hedge of Prayer why is it that you come to church so many times a week why is it you do these things it's because I value my relationship with God proverbs 20 and verse number 23 we've seen that a false imbalance is an abomination and he says in our opening text that the weight and the balance is the Lord's and the weights of the bag are his works he works from the weights but proverbs 20 says that divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord and a false balance is not good he keeps referring to this balance and let me explain to you that that the balance is not going to be false the weights are the works of God the weights the values will determine the balance it was a chamber of measure used to when you walked up you wouldn't use Apple pay or you wouldn't slide a card you would walk up and there would be a scale and if you're going to purchase that bag of potatoes or whatever it is that you're going to purchase they would pull out a weight that would be equivalent to a measurement that you're supposed to pay them so they would pull out a certain weight and they would put it in this side and it would say that's a $5 weight therefore this is going to cost you five dollars but what happened in the chambers of commerce they began that the the merchants would take this bag of weights and he would shave them down or he would weight them up he would go get his own bag of weights and he would determine it's like gas prices you know he would just to determine whatever it is that he when I'm just kidding he would determine just whatever it is that he wants to charge right so all of a sudden you walk in and the potatoes used to be a dollar seventy five and now they're five seventy five what happened is is it referring to here in the scripture the Wiseman Solomon says that the just weights are his delight because we want there to be a sure balance but when you begin to change the value system when you begin to change the value system what it costs to you is based upon the exchange right well we live in a society that more than ever before is calling good evil and evil good as the scripture says he says the weights of his bag or what he works with so in essence what you value is what God has to work with the balance of your life is based on the values of your life so therefore if we come to God and we've allowed a our selves to to maybe watch something maybe stroll through something and civilization and the culture we live in has redefined our values on what we watch what we listen to it changes the meanings and the definitions of the reality of the world that we live in from the way God created it the order that he created it and you've altered and moved the measurements of morality of right and wrong and you've conformed them and so all of a sudden we desire certain things and we don't desire the things of God and we don't truly value the things of God and all of a sudden our life is a living breathing walking talking about nation under God it's a false balance no it's just not a little off off here or off there no when the values get off the balance get off and we are nothing more than abomination on to God it's very straightforward it's as simple it's the simple book that we send the students to hey read a proverb a day we're not in Revelations we're not in something that you need any kind of decipher and he says that you have to have a balanced life in other words we're going to put the book in one side that's what's going to happen when it's all said and done right the world that we live is traded its values we call abortion birth control huh the world is calling good evil Andy I mean we've got a world that's so turned upside down it is a mess right now we have conscious issues all throughout our government we we have a a a youth youthful generation that now I say it used to be youth but we were more concerned about our our cell phones battery life than our prayer life if we're honest about it we're more concerned about so many menial things we're more worried about how many followers we have on social media that whether or not we're truly following God in a balanced relationship with him if we're honest we don't take for just a few minutes of watching something all of a sudden that cuss words come across or that that shows come across our you stroll through that and you stroll back up young man or you scroll back through father it is a world that is this tainted our value just now caused you to look at things through a different lens and you're a little bit more acceptable of an unjust weight but if we're not careful today I come to warn you then we become cane in the story of Cain and Abel it's not that you don't bring anything it's that you brought nothing of no value he didn't ask for fruits and vegetables he didn't ask for you to bring something that's meaningless he asked for you to sacrifice what was wrong with Cain he brought the wrong bag he brought the wrong he's just like that guy on the other side of the counter that says that's gonna cost you this much Cain just brought something where he'd shaved a little bit of the weight and what does it cost it cost mankind a domino effect of values it's a powerful thing when you begin to look at our lives we can't come to God with the things and call them sacrifice and I know I know I'm kind of just plowing right in here but oh I see I see youth groups that are posting all over social media that we're we're gonna do a week fast for the Perry and we're fasting week Monday is soft drinks Tuesday's secular music come again that's like fast and fornication I'm pretty sure you mean flee right we're not going fast sin that's what's supposed to happen but that's what's happening in our world today we're just justifying sacrifices just our mere presence Oh God good to see you today that's not sacrifice we're supposed to stop sinning when he calls us out of darkness into this marvelous light and set my feet on a path toward him I put away the old things I put away the old god forbid we call sin sacrifice it's impossible we are we are asking a youth group we're asking young people were asking fathers and mothers to do something impossible if we're going to let them put our pods in their ears they glorify sex and drugs and fornication and expect them not to begin to the beat of their heart begin to move to the beat of the music and all of a sudden it manifests itself in the lives of our next generation we must become serious about the valuable things in our lives because Deuteronomy 15 says if there be any blemish therein if it's lame if it's blind if it has ill blemish there shalt not be a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God you can't bring that which is messed up they were of little value he said you can't bring the worst sheep you can't bring that one that's all spotted up or all messed up or it's got only three legs and it's messed up in here and it's bad and they've done tore it apart well this is a good one to bring her I'm gonna bring this of Al you I want to challenge you today to investigate your lives exchange with God look at this with me imagine here let's just say down off Morganton road there was a treasure hidden in a field it was worth a hundred times somebody say a hundred times a hundred times the value of everything you own everything you own if you could put it together and times it by a hundred that's the amount of worth of the treasure in the field but the field was for sale and the asking price was equal to everything that you owned so you sell all you have and purchase the field so now the treasure is yours if I ask you today by a show of hands or just to simply answer how much did it cost you to buy the treasure some of you would say it costs me all that I had but some would say it cost me nothing because you have paid for the field and not for the treasure the treasure was beyond your ability to ever possess because you could not afford it you could not pay for it you didn't have enough to your own name to even purchase the priceless but this is the same parable told by Jesus in the Gospels if you want the treasure you've got to go all-in but it's impossible to possess the priceless without buying the field it's impossible for you to accomplish that which is beyond accomplishable without the presence of God if you found the treasure and I know that you've been in this room long enough to feel the treasure of God to feel the power of God it's beyond priceless but I'm here to tell somebody today under the sound of my voice from the Word of God that it's freely given and I'm asking you to live that which is up most invaluable of your greatest verb greatest worth and do so freely but you can do so and possess that which is priceless in the view of a treasure being freely given we must pay the price of the priceless we must give all we have we must give all of that which is valuable we see this concept over and over and over again Genesis chapter 2 look at this woman in verse number 16 and the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that you eat they'll surely die chapter 3 and verse number 21 unto Adam also and his wife did the Lord make coats of skin and clothed them in the garden see this for me there was no death there was no suffering there was no bloodshed there was no pain there was no pandemic there was no death rate there was no lion even chasing the lamb there was no Fox after the rabbit it was just the most pleasant paradise you've ever seen and then Adam and Eve ate of the fruit that was forbidden and at the introduction of sin everything changed predator and prey all of a sudden the whole nature of the beasts the fish the fowl everything changed and God looked at Adam and Eve they were sinners they had rebelled they were disobedient they resisted authority that was stubborn submissive God looked across and saw a lamb God looked across and saw a living creature innocent yielding obedient submissive compliant meek never rebelled never done anything just as God had created it these two were far apart in their action and spirit you had Adam and Eve and you had an innocent lamb which one do you suppose that they should have died obviously right but that day I want you to see this you and I every single breathing person in this room was in Adam and Eve every single one of us was in Adam and Eve that day and we were supposed to die but God sacrificed the creature as a substitute for Adam he decided that he was going to give of a value thing because he wouldn't have made it if he didn't see value in it he would give a value thing for something of greater value he saw something in you and I an hour worse that was more valuable than the innocence and obedience of a lamb this sacrifice then from that very few first chapters of Genesis begins to symbolize worship and adoration and Thanksgiving and prayer it was a sacrifice that expressed restoration and relationship it was a substitute for the offeror it was the blood atone for sin it brought you and I near to God all the way up into this very moment and will continue into our future it expressed repentance it expressed gratitude it was a sweet sweet smell the scripture says that speaks to God on our behalf sacrifice Isaiah says that surely he hath borne our griefs because he thought you were a value surely he has carried our sorrows because he thought you were worth saving surely he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of peace was upon him and by His stripes we are healed because he saw value in you oh we like sheep have gone astray all of us like Adam and Eve have gone astray all of us have turned our own way isaiah says the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of every single person no matter how wicked you may feel no matter how far you may feel from God this morning no matter how dirty you felt when you walked in there just hoping that God would speak to you Hebrews 12 and 2 for he endured the cross he despised the shame for you for the joy why did he feel joy because he thought you were worth saving he thought you were of other greater value that his only Son I don't know about you but if you could wrap your mind around that simple concept I wouldn't have to say another word this morning then he thought you were worth saving he endured the cross the preaching of the Cross is one thing that we must get our our minds wrapped around because ultimately when everything else screams the the opposite when the weights of the bag come at us and the value systems come at us the cross is what's going to keep us if you if you can't get excited about the cross if you can't get the cross in the middle of your mind you'll never realize how much God loves you you'll never realize that there's hope in a hopeless situation you'll never see light at the end of the tunnel you'll never follow God through faith you're gonna forget and you're gonna want to change the values and slip out the side door the cross is what keeps us Satan understands the power of sacrifice Satan understands the impact that sacrifice has on God and man therefore he will continually ask you to question the value of it is it really worth it there's some of you that sit in here today and say is it really worth it how do I have to why do I have to keep doing this why do I have to keep going there you're telling me I've got to do this and do that in order to please God you will see God as a burden if you don't have the right value system if you don't value him you're not going to put the fences up if you don't value him you're not going to pray it's it's just it's just that simple but Satan understands it so therefore Satan fights it stop paying your ties stop teaching that class stop getting to church early stop working and then doing this and stop stop helping and stop playing that instrument stop singing in the choir whatever the thing is that God's trying trying to to use you and use your time and try out talents and treasures and in the devil consistently is fighting and pushing against you stop doing this you know you're getting criticized at work you know you're getting criticized at school you know people are making fun of this and they're keep asking you questions and they ask me questions I don't know the answers to and and it just it just makes me embarrassed and it's just do you really value him some would say it's not worth it I just can't believe you do all that you do for the kingdom of God I'm asking someone today to check your values because your values will determine what you look like in God's eyes job 1 I won't read this whole chapter here but we quickly see that job he was a perfect and upright man that feared God and eschewed evil the scripture says that he had the right and value system he loved God he hated evil he had hundreds of cattle and he owned all these things had a huge family and they said the scripture even says they feasted in their house and they had great times and and verse number five says and so it was in the days of their feasting they were gone about a job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all in other words he offered sacrifice for every single person in his family he didn't just go for it didn't just go and offer up something for CEL father he went offered up something for every single person in his family now look at this with me because job said it may be that my sons have sinned it may be that my sons have sinned in other words job went to God and didn't just sacrifice for himself but sacrifice for every person in his family on a maybe not on a must but on a maybe not you have to go but just maybe there's some sin oh if I could speak to a parent today that if you even feel that if you even feel the right values for your students my god go build an altar go build an altar for that young man is struggling whether he's struggling or not go to God on a maybe don't go to God because you have to go to God because he's brought you through don't go to God because there's a problem go to God Oh hear me today hear me today if we're gonna make it there's got to be some sacrifice I don't have to I get to Chris I don't have to do this I get to serve Him come on somebody I wish you'd feel what I feel the value of the God in our lives the scripture says and in the curse God in their hearts thus did Joe continually he sacrificed God not just once not just one day but he had a well-worn path of sacrifice because he felt oh I've got to cover my family I've got to cover my life I've got to make sure that there's not sin anywhere it wasn't so just some knee-jerk reaction it was just something he decided one day he was gonna go out and do but Jobe had a path worn out to sacrifice which Satan got ready to try job he didn't take sons daughters home he didn't take cattle I mean he didn't take his his wife or any other things he took his cattle he took his oxen in verse number 14 he took his hit all the donkeys he took the sheep he took everything that was an animal because he knew that was Joe's way of sacrifice what's the first thing God's gonna cut out he's gonna start messing with your value system he gonna start messing with your sacrifice you say oh well well I know I didn't make it to church on Wednesday night or I know I didn't make it here I know it's just that one service I know it's just that one prayer time you let Satan begin to mess with your sacrifice and before you know it your value system will be so messed up you'll be calling good evil and evil good god help us that we see Satan's attack to try to break the contact between you and God the first thing he wants to remove is your sacrifice Oh nobody can see that I didn't put my tithes and offering in nobody can see that I didn't pray today I just slipped in the back door and I made it into the prayer life there's no petition there's no intercession you've got no relationship therefore you've got no power your opt earth are empty there's no petition there's no covenant there's no worship so therefore I can miss and it not affect me I cannot do and all of a sudden my conscience is seared sitting said I'll make job go alone I'll make him go alone brother well early I won't be he won't be able to give that sweet smell to heaven his altar will be empty his pathway he'll get all grown up with weeds and he won't be able to find his way because he won't have a pathway to God there was only one option left for job and I believe without a doubt he wasn't just an option it was a manifestation it was prophesying speaking to the book of Romans where Paul writes we see here he says in in the book of Exodus it tells us about an altar of Earth make unto me sacrifice unto thee the burnt offerings died peace offerings a sheep and nine oxen in places where I record my name and I will come upon thee and I will bless thee well job don't have oxen and job don't have sheep the devil's taking every one of them so job he arose and verse number 20 of chapter 1 if you look at this it says here in his mantle he shaved his head and he fell down upon the ground and worshiped him look at Romans chapter 12 avert in the next scripture right here look at the prophecy I beseech you therefore brother look at this with me Romans chapter 12 and verse number 1 obviously I want you to see it I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your body a living sacrifice before Paul spoke it to the church at Rome Joe became it because you could cut my oh you could take my cattle you can take my sheep but there's been a living sacrifice for me so that I can become a living sacrifice unto Him which is my reasonable acceptable service unto God yes he said reasonable because that's the least we can do for all that he's done for us when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he's done for me my soul my soul begins to oh I wish there's somebody that would begin to let their soul cry out when you think of just how good god has been sayako yael abouhalkah I feel the power of the Holy Ghost I know some of you that this is a little heavy for you but I challenge you to lift your hands right now present your body what's Joe say he says naked I came and naked I'll go the Lord gives and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord is there somebody in this house and say blessed blessed be the name of the home I know you may not have it exactly like you think you should or things haven't always gone your way but I challenge your young person today I challenge you may be a senior Saint that you're in your life and you thought I'd be somewhere different at this moment and the Lord's taken away but the Lord I wish you could see it today has put some very valuable things in your life and then we could just say blessed be the name of the Lord blessed be the name of the Lord you can be seated now look at this with me because this is powerful here we go right back to it what's job's whole story been about sacrifice cut off his sacrifice job says that's all right I'll present my body a living sacrifice well what's job 31 and verse number 6 say we were in verse number 1 chapter number 1 we go to JoVE 31 job 31 says let me be weighed not in any balance oh I wish you could see this with me I hope you do I don't want to be weighed in the world's balance because it's not even I want to be weighed in an even balance that God may know what my integrity who I am my character my integrity is based upon me being put in an even balance Who I am is based upon the value system your sacrifice is so powerful today because Joe he shows us that sacrifice may not have any value to somebody else but it has intrinsic value to me why why why because I'm like a diamond in the rough that nothing outside of me gives me value nothing outside of that diamond gives value to that diamond that diamonds priceless priceless because of its true nature just simply because of the nature of what it is I'm going to give you top dollar for that diamond because it's true nature it nothing outside of it there's nothing that you could come and say Oh with that that diamond is valuable because know it's valuable because of its nature you know why you're valuable Riley because you were created in the image of God because there's a power that wakes you up every day and gives breath in your body and breath in your lungs therefore you have value because your nature you're not some cattle in the field you're not someone you're not some robot just walking around you have value he thought you were worth saving it makes me think it makes me think there's a glass box in my office it holds a piece of wood if I was to bring it in here take it out of that box you would probably think it has some value because it's in a glass box but if I brought it out here just in its mere form you'd probably think what in the world been if you saw in the yard you'd probably run over it with a lawn mower you don't want to mess a lot more up you'd probably throw it in the neighbor's yard you know we see we know that log means a lot to me because it's a very young man my great-great-grandfather J Frank Wilson took me down to that piece of wood that laid and then laid in the forest or in the woods and he knelt down and began to pray he's long gone but those prayers still live and it's just like that log that he knelt down and began to pray that day and he I wasn't young enough to truly understand what was going on old enough I say but that log knew his voice I knew that by looking at the path that looked like job's path that was so warned it was frequented by his footsteps and I'd like to present to you the day that you're a lot like that log is to me to God it may not have value to anybody else Tyler other people don't look at you like God looks at you because that log has intrinsic value to me it's priceless therefore God looks at your life he says Paul writes 2nd Corinthians 4 and 7 but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us that they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts when I make up my jewels because you were worth saving not simply because of anything you could do not simply by your attendance chart but simply by the fact that he made you and he created you and he redeemed you by his blood and he bought you with a price for God so loved the world hear this this morning for God so loved you he gave His only Son he gave his greatest treasure he gave that of great value for what for something of greater value he gave his greatest value for you so don't tell me that you're not valuable don't tell me that you're trash don't tell me that you're not worthy don't tell me that you're not good enough he thought you know not just anybody the king of Qi and the Lord of lords my Savior and Redeemer and friend the creator of the universe the Alpha the Omega the everything in the I am thought you will worth saving he not only saved you from sin but he went away to prepare a place for you you know scientists say that there's four kingdoms they said that there's a mineral kingdom a plant kingdom an animal kingdom and man's kingdom mineral plant animal man you could find other ones you could go google and look and there's Kingdom Kingdom Kingdom but the main four kingdoms signs his claim this mineral plant man mineral plant animal man and I'd like to add a fifth because we're Christians and I'd say God's kingdom right so I want you to look at this with me if you study this out in order for the mineral to exchange kingdoms it must die and give itself to the plant in order for the plant to go anywhere it must die to go forward into the animal kingdom in order for you to have your hamburger this evening the animal had to die to go into the man's kingdom because a man from the very beginning has dominion over so if you look at this the mineral gives itself to the plant the plant gives itself to the animal the animal gives itself demand it would only make sense that nature does teach us that you're not going to make a kingdom exchange into God's kingdom without a death because from what I can see even in the kingdoms that are we could see on this world that the mineral will give no more than the man you simply just give your life if you want to make a kingdom exchange it's a it's a powerful thing when we look at our life and the musicians make their way you've got to give all you have to possess the priceless I want to convert everything I have into the currency of forever the currency of eternity anything that's not converted is lost and is waste so what's your life look like - god I wish you'd hear me if you if you you can hear anything I've got to say I wish you'd hear this last few bit what is it what is it your life looks like to God based upon your investment based upon your kingdom exchange I'm reminded of the story of Abraham as he brings Isaac have waited so long for this gift in Isaac you have to say it was I lives Abraham's most valuable thing that God asked for it he said father's could you could you picture what Abraham's going through that not only do you have a son but you've waited and finally you have a son and he says I need you to sacrifice him and he should bring him to the mountain and give him back to me yeah we know the end of the story we know that God puts a ram in the thick and angel grabs his hand we know that but Abraham didn't and Isaac didn't what a generational walk have faith that not just one generation walked in faith not knowing but another generation that stand at the bottom of a hill and ask questions but walked with his father because he trusted him and he walked in faith to the top of the hill and there's a powerful statement there that God says now I know thou love me why because he brought that which is of greatest value he said you can have him why why because he saw his relationship with God to be number one what does that tell me what does it tell me you say God didn't know yes absolutely God knows the end from the beginning but you have to make a choice between heaven and hell there's a narrow path there's a broad path and your sacrifice tells God which one you're on he says now I know oh what a powerful statement it would be when he says Department of me I never knew you know what what I thought you numbered the hairs on my head I thought you created me and my what mother's womb I thought that you loved me I thought I was worth saving and you don't know me this whole time you've been telling me that I'm a value but you don't know me and you're gonna put me in eternal torment that's exactly right because some of us wake up one day and we want to be an Abraham but some days we wake up but we want to be a Cain and when you leave God and instead of it being a balance your life looks like a seesaw of sacrifice one day where Abraham one day we're Cain one day we're Joe I don't know you because I only can know you by your sacrifice you'd stand to your feet Isaiah 66 and 1 thus saith the Lord this is not Zach right now thus saith the Lord hear me heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool where is the house that you build unto me and where is the place of my rest see this with me for all those things have now made and all the things have been saith the Lord but to this man will I look even to him which is poor and of a contrite spirit and shrivel it that my word he kills an ox as if he slew a man he sacrificed as a lamb as if he cuts off a dog's neck and he offers an ablation and he's offered swine and blood and incense and bless it and idle you see this with me when he starts talking about for heaven is my throne but the earth is my footstool you can see this with me those who miss you sacrifice and don't understand sacrifice will never be able to bear anything more than just a footstool god that's all the weight you can handle because you've got a false balance all you can handle is the footstool of his glory which is just simply his mercy all I could handle is just a little bit of his weight no don't put too much in here God oh he can get into God God God wants to stand up God wants to jump God wants to put his presence all around you God wants to teach you through His grace God wants to shower you with his love God wants to do things God wants to anoint you God wants to challenge you God wants you to change your family God wants you to do all these mighty and powerful things but he can only do it if you're sacrificing right you can't be bringing swine you can't be bringing the unclean you can't be bringing the things of no value you've got to bring the value to God if you want something of greater value I wonder if there's somebody in this house it would say God I want your presence God I want you to get up off your throne and I want you to stand up today God I want you to stand up in this house Oh God I guarantee you / it doesn't matter how old you are it doesn't matter your situation today if you'll get up and walk out of your seat God wants to touch you today because he thought you were worth saving he thought you were worth dying for come on come on senior come on senior say come on cease insane of Gihon yeah he's gonna know you by your sacrifice come on young person he's gonna know you by your sacrifice I challenge you to get on your face before God and check the weights in the bag the weights of the bag are his works he can't work outside of your value system he can't work outside of that which you give him oh I feel his presence sweep into this place today come on if you're a guest let God love you thank God wrap his arms around you may God touch you today you're of such great value today to him