Cultivate | Part 7 – Cultivating Faithfulness!

To cultivate faithfulness we have to…

1. Embrace

Genesis 22:1 NLT

22 Sometime later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.

“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”

Genesis 22:2 NLT

² “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

Genesis 22:3 NLT

³ The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.

Why Obedience Matters…

• 1 John 5:2-3- Demonstrates our love & faithfulness to God
• 1 John 3:24- Keeps us in fellowship with God
• John 15:10-11- Is the pathway to love and joy
• Psalm 119:9- Is the pathway to purity
• Psalm 119:10- Is a defense against sin
• 1 Samuel 15:22- Touches the heart of God

QUESTION: Where in your life right now is God asking you to walk in obedience?

2. Embrace

Embracing uncertainty is…

“Trusting that God is in control of what’s out of our control”

Genesis 22:4-8 NLT

⁴ On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”

⁶ So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, ⁷ Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”

⁸ “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

QUESTION: What’s out of your control right now that you need to trust God with?

3. Embrace

Genesis 22:9-12 NLT

⁹ When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. ¹¹ At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”

¹² “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

Genesis 22:13-14 NLT

¹³ Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴ Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Genesis 22:18 NLT

¹⁸ And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

QUESTION: What’s in front of you right now that needs your consistency?

“There’s consistency between what you say and what you do, what you believe and how you behave, what you promise and what you (deliver).”

John Bloom

To cultivate faithfulness…

1. Embrace

2. Embrace

3. Embrace