What’s up everybody and Happy Father's Day? Come on. Can we make some crazy noise for all the dads that are out there? Dads, we love you fathers, we are so appreciative of you. You mean a lot to your family and we want to celebrate you today. And so today is our third week of our collection that we're calling voices. For the last two weeks, we've had guest speakers, but today I get to introduce somebody that is no stranger to this house. In fact, he is in this house and you've seen him a lot. You've seen him play in the organ, you've seen him hosting a service, you've seen him greeting, you've seen him praying over people. And today we get to hear him deposit something special to us that the Lord's given him. And this man is a phenomenal father. He's a great dad, and he's a great man of God. And so would you stand to your feet and put your hands together and welcome to this platform, none other than Mike Pittman. Come on man. Preach the word

Hey. Hey, lemme tell you something. The 11:00 AM is awake, okay? Hey, if you happen to be in the house of Lord at this moment, lemme hear big whoop whoop. And if you are a dad, can I hear a nice whoop, whoop, happy Father's Day to all the dads. You all can take your seat. I also want to acknowledge a couple of people. First, my two dads, my father-in-law and my father. I want to give it up for you guys.

You know, could choose a lot of things in this world, but you can't choose who you're born to. And so I, I'm super grateful for you, dad. I love you so much. I love you as well, dad. These are two men who I am very grateful that I could say, oh, I like this, I like that. I want to emulate this, I want to emulate that. And so I love you guys both so much. Speaking of fathers and how they steward the household, I want to acknowledge Pastor Tim and his wife Janice, can we give it up for them? They steward the spiritual house and the spiritual family so well, and Pastor Tim, if you're watching, thank you guys so much for who you are, for what you do. You lead with such grace and humility. And I've been a part of embassy now for the last couple of years, and while the past has been amazing, I believe that the best is yet to come. So thank you guys for who you are and what you be the one here. Let's give it up for again one more time.

Good. Well, well listen guys, we got a lot of ground to cover and a little bit of time. We are going to be in Genesis 22 in the NIV translation, and we are going to be going line by line verse by verse through the scripture. Anybody else excited to study the Bible for the next three and a half hours or so, huh? Anybody? Very good, very good. Let me set the stage for what's happened up until this point. Up until this point, God has made a promise to Abraham and Sarah. The promise is that they would have a son named Isaac, and it is through Isaac's descendants that nations and generations would be blessed. So God makes this promise, he gives them the son. But then in Genesis 22, he asks Abraham to do something interesting. He says, sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham, here I am.

He replied. Then God said, take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Mariah, sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain. I will show you. Now, plot twist at this time, Isaac has no descendants. So on one hand God is saying it is through Isaac that your descendants will be blessed. And on the other hand, he's saying to sacrifice Isaac on a mountain before he has descendants. Right? Well, does anybody else see a problem with that? It doesn't seem to make much sense, and that's what we are going to talk about today. If you're taking notes, the title of today's messages, when God doesn't make sense, let's pray. Lord, help us to understand what we need to do when you lead us to do something that doesn't make sense. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. When you read a word that doesn't make sense, you go to the dictionary. When you encounter a legal issue that doesn't make sense, you go to an attorney. If you experience something in your body that doesn't make sense, you go to the doctor or chat g p t. But where do you go when God doesn't make sense? What do you do? Then Allow for me a moment to take a survey of the room by a show of hands, who in here has ever felt led by God or is being led by God now to do something that don't make no sense? I mean, you were unprepared, unmotivated, unequipped, underfunded,

And yet God's like, yep, yep, yep. That right there, that is what I want you to do. When this happens, the common response is that we will ask questions. God, are you sure? God, why me, God, where I'm going to get this money from? Yes, God, is this you or my conscience? Right? Y'all know how we are, but I believe you can tell a lot about what someone knows based on the questions they ask. One of my favorite sports to watch is football. I love football. And sometimes my lovely wife will watch the games with me and I can tell a lot about what she knows based on the questions she asks. Hey, babe, what's up? First down, down, who's a linebacker? Which team is the white team? I can tell a lot about what she knows based on the questions she asked. But if I were talking to a homie who had played the game before, who knew the game, that questions would be different. Mike, did you see that formation? Why do you think they ran a dime package with an extra DB in the red zone on 30 and one from the 10?

You can tell a lot about what people know based on the questions they ask. And so our conversation today, we'll be focusing on questions, specifically three questions you should ask when God leads you to do something that doesn't make sense. And we will draw inspiration this morning from the story on this Father's day of Father Abraham and his son Isaac. And so by the way, I know that that last statement triggered some nostalgia and some of you guys from your vbs, your Sunday school, your today. So you know what? Let's go ahead. Scratch the itch now before we jump into the text. Here we go. If you know it thing on the kind thing, here we go. 1, 2, 3. Father Abraham have Manny sons and Manny sons have Father Abraham. I am one of them. And so let's just praise the Lord are doing that for yourselves. The Embassy City Mass Choir, everybody. Genesis 22 verse one. Sometime later, God tested Abraham. Let's stop right there. God will often call us to do something that doesn't make sense to serve as a spiritual test. You want to know what? I'm really grateful for that we live in a world of testing.

I'm serious. Whenever I go to DFW airport and I board my flight to American Airlines and I sit down in my seat, I find great comfort in knowing that every part of that plane has been tested. Yes, the seat has been tested, the seat belts have been tested, the wings have been tested, the engine has been tested, the pilot has been tested and has a license to fly plane. Everything on that plane yes has been tested. Yes. Whenever I go to a restaurant and I walk up to the counter, what brings me great comfort is seeing the food inspection certificate on the wall. Yes, I know that that restaurant has gone through testing any married folk in the audience. Can I see your hands? Can I see your hands? Can I see your hands? Now, some of you may have gone on your first date on a Monday, and by Wednesday you had eloped at the courthouse and by Thursday you were in Vegas. If that's you, God bless you, that's awesome and courageous. But most of us who are married went through a season of testing called dating in which we ask the other person tough questions, discern the spirit, observe the fruit in their lives to determine is this the type of crazy I want to deal with for the rest of my life?

A surgeon cannot perform surgery without a test. Yes, a lawyer cannot practice law without a test. I'm personally grateful for testing. Recently there was someone close to me who felt a lump in their body, and so they went to the doctor to get a biopsy, to get it tested. And by God's grace, everything came back clear. But it proved that a world of testing is a world of assurance. A world of testing is a world of safety. Isn't it good that we live in a world of testing? Because if not, then we'll be in a world full of plane crashes, food poisoning, and avoidable medical diseases. But ain't it interesting that when testing is used to serve us, we see it as good, but when it's used to sanctify us, we don't. The moment we go through a test, oh Lord, I mean I'm just so discombobulated and confused and our conclusion is that God doesn't make sense. Remember this, that which cannot be tested, cannot be trusted. If you can't test it, you can't trust it. And what's great about the testing of the Lord is that the trust goes both ways. So once you get on the other side of your test, not only will you know that you can trust God, but God knows he can trust you. Yes. And so verse one of Genesis 22, God decides to test Abraham.

Now we all know that in our English language there are different types of testing, right? There is academic testing and there is medical testing. So academic testing is used to determine if you are ready by the end of it to go to the next stage, to the next level of your education. Medical testing is different. Medical testing is used to determine if there is something within you that shouldn't be there, something that could cause serious hurt, harm, danger, or could even be fatal if it remains unaddressed. So academic testing has one purpose, which is to evaluate. Medical testing has another purpose, which is to diagnose. Spiritual testing does both.

By the end of your spiritual test, you'll know if you have learned what is necessary to progress to the next level of what God has called you to do, just like an academic exam, but similar to a medical test, once you go through a spiritual test, you'll be able to identify things within you, things that could cause hurt, harm, danger, even be fatal, pride, envy, entitlement if it remains unaddressed, right? So God decide to test Abraham and also know here with Genesis 21 that God doesn't tell Abraham he's being tested. Like that's something we get the chance to know as the reader. But Abraham don't even know until after the test. It's over that he was even being tested to begin with. And so it's important for us to recognize how God works because it plays out the same way in our lives as well.

Okay? Verse two, sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham, here I am. He replied. Then God said, take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Mariah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain. I will show you. So God speaks to Abraham and says, sacrifice your son on the mountain in the region of Mariah. Where is Mariah? Mariah is in Jerusalem. Everybody on the count of three say Jerusalem. 1, 2, 3, Jerusalem. And so God tells Abraham says, sacrifice his son on the mountain. And when people read this, oftentimes they think to themselves, oh God, how cruel He asked Abraham to sacrifice another human being. But we have to understand that we can't read the Bible as Westerners in 2023. Historical scholars know that during this time, child sacrifice unfortunately was very common. And the reason was because all Gods at this time required a sacrifice.

And so if you wanted to give your best to a God and offer your highest devotion, you would give your best, which was often your child. This is even in our Bibles. One example is in two Kings 21 6 to where the Bible says King Manassah sacrificed his own son in the fire. So the idea of God not making sense to Abraham on the premise of cruelty that's not there. What may have thrown Abraham for a loop though is that five chapters ago, God was like, Hey, through this son, you're going to have descendants. Yes, yes. And he don't have descendants yet. And I want you to kill him before he has descendants, right? And so how does Abraham respond when God doesn't make sense? We'll look at it in the next verse, but before we even move forward, there's one last golden nugget here that I want to point out, and it is a little nerdy, but it's called the law of thirst.

There's a theological principle in the Bible of interpretation called the law of first mention. And what does the law of first mention say? The law of first mention says the first time you see a word or a concept in the Bible, pay attention to it because it sets the stage, establishes the context for what that word may mean moving forward. Why do I mention that? Because up until Genesis 22, we've had a lot of stories. We've had Adam and Eve, we've had Can and Abel, we've had Noah's Ark, we've had a lot of Abraham story. And yet in Genesis 22 verse two, it is the first time in the Bible that we see the word love and what is the context of love in this scripture, A father sacrificing his one and only son as an act of total and complete devotion.

And so what does the law enforcement say? It says, Hey, pay attention to that. Because in a world where love can have so many different meanings, yes, God sets the tone for what love should mean, which is sacrifice. And so as we continue dissecting the scripture, let's look at it as love through sacrifice. Okay? Now, verse two, sacrifice him there on the vert mountain as a burnt offering on a mountain. I will show you early the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. Notice this here, that God told Abraham to go to the mountain. I will show you. Yes. Not that I have shown you yes, not where you were next week, last week. He said, go to the mountain. I will show you, which means you'll find out when you get there. When I tell you, you get there. Yes. Yes. Why is this important? Because it shows that Abraham was willing to obey God before he had all the answers. If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. Incomplete information doesn't justify the late obedience. Run it back. Incomplete information does not justify delayed obedience. A common theme with testing, academic testing, medical testing, spiritual testing, is that you don't have all the answers before you take the test. That's the purpose of the test, right? Like imagine if you were in school and the teacher handed you a paper to take the test. He said, no, I'm going to wait until I get the answer key to take the test. Sounds comical.

And yet many of us are doing this spiritually.

We know what God has called us to do. We may even know our next step. And yet we are waiting until God totally makes sense for us to move forward. Amen. Notice in the scripture that not once does God ask Abraham to understand him. He only asked him to obey, right? God has not asked you to understand him. He has only asked you to obey him. Understanding happens in hindsight, not foresight. Understanding happens when you look back on something, you're like, oh, now I can make sense of it. It's not going to happen before you walk through it. That's the purpose of the test. On no uncertain terms, it is understanding a prerequisite for obedience. Yes, I believe that we often overestimate how much we would obey if we knew more, and we underestimate how much we can obey based off of what we know now.

This leads us to the first of three questions we should ask. When God asks us to do something that doesn't make sense, am I willing to obey God? Am I willing to obey God? Obedience is not simply just lip service. Like, oh yeah, sure God, I got you. I'll do it. Obedience is action. Obedience means putting behavior behind your belief.

I'll say it again. Obedience is putting behavior behind your belief. So on this Wednesday, my wife and I will be celebrating nine years of marriage. And one of the things that we are constantly growing in is communicating to one another in our love languages. Her love language. Her love language is words of affirmation. Any words of affirmation folks in the audience? Lemme see. Lemme see. Lemme see. Lemme see y'all. It has been a thorn in my side for the last 10 years. And it's not. Cause my wife isn't amazing. It's not that she's not beautiful, it's not that she's not awesome, it's not that she's not incredible, it's just that mushy gushy words are not my default. Okay? But after 10 years, she says, I'm getting a little better. Praise the Lord. Now my love language, acts of service. Any acts of service folks here, lemme see your hands. Lemme see your hands. Very good. See, acts of service is awesome because someone could tell me how much they love me, but lemme see you prove it. Show me. There's an old average that says actions speak louder than word y'all preaching. And so even though someone may not be mushy, gushy with their words, I can often tell how committed they are to the relationship based on the actions they take.

Amen?

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It's why I really appreciate Abraham here and his obedience to God. Because in verse three, there are five action verbs in verse three alone. Let's take a look early the next morning, which means Abraham didn't wait till next week, next month, next year, early the next morning, Abraham one got up and loaded action. Verb number two, his donkey. And he took action word number three with him, two of his servants and his son Isaac, when he had cut action word number four, enough word for the burnt offering. He five set out for the place that God told him about. Abraham proved his obedience by behaving in a way that showed he believed that's what obedience is. And then another thing that I notice within this story is that not once does the Bible in this passage mention Abraham's feelings.

I mean, we can presume we can make assumptions, but I believe that the absence of that information is significant because if you're taking notes and you wrote down the first question, I want you to add a little caveat to it. Am I willing to obey God regardless of how I feel? Or if you're more of the analytical type, regardless of what I think? Did you know that God can do more with your obedience than he can with your opinion? Did you also know that you don't have to feel like it to do it?

I have friends who work out, I mean, they're jacked. They got biceps, triceps, quadriceps, all the stepss. And I would ask myself, man, what is it that they have that I don't have other than the muscles? Is it some type of special pre-workout powder? Is it some magical protein mix? Do they have a genetic predisposition to motivation and hitting it hard in a gym? Why is it? And I realized after further investigation that I was asking the wrong question and you know could tell a lot about what someone knows based on the questions they ask. I was asking what do they have that I don't have? What I should have been asking was what do I have that they don't have? It turns out that I have a feelings oriented workout regiment. If I feel like doing it, I do. If I don't, I feel like knocking back a couple of crmb brules before bed I do. If I don't, I feel like staying up late and watching espn, I do. If I don't, I feel like drinking more coffee in that day than water than I do. But if I don't, I realize that I have a feelings oriented workout and nutrition regimen that they don't have and speaking to them, you know what I realized? That those who inspire me don't feel any different feelings than I feel.

They just don't live life based on their feelings. And so what Abraham shows us here is that we don't know what his feelings are, but they don't matter because he was willing to obey God.

Let me pause right here though and be very clear. What I am not saying is that your feelings are invalid. What I am not saying is that you should disregard, ignore, or even suppress your feelings. That is not what the story is saying. That is not biblical, that is not wise, that is not what I'm saying. But what I am saying is that if you are experiencing feelings that are antithetical to what God wants you to do, then you can acknowledge your feelings and still move forward in obedience. Amen. Verse four, on the third day, Abraham looked up and saw a place in the distance. He said to his servants, come here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and we will come back to you. Now, isn't that interesting? Look at the pronouns in here. We will worship and we will come back to you. I would've thought Abraham would've said, we will worship and I will come back to you because he's about to kill his son.

Is this some type of ploy between him and the servants? Is he keeping this a secret between him and God? Is he framing everything so that the killing of his son looks like a little coincidence? What is really happening here? Well, Abraham is actually doing what we should do when God is leading us to do something that doesn't make sense, but in order to see it, we actually have to go to the New Testament in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, by faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about the His one and only son. Even though God has said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Here it is. Verse 19, Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead.

So God told Abraham nations would come through Isaac, Abraham believed this promise. God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and so therefore Abraham was just like, oh, God will just raise the dent leads to the second question that we should ask when God leads us to do something that doesn't make sense. How can I think bigger about God, not smaller? When God asked Abraham to do something that didn't make sense, he thought bigger about God, not smaller. He thought more of God, not less of God. And isn't it interesting that as humanity we oftentimes do the exact opposite? Yes, yes. We'll say, God is just, God is good. God is loving, but we put him in this little box and when he doesn't fit in our box of goodness and justice and love, then now God doesn't make sense. I don't know if there is a God, I'm more spiritual than religious just, but what if we flip the script? What if we said, Hey, you know when God doesn't make sense to me, I'm going to think bigger about him, not smaller. You're thinking maybe to yourself, okay, Michael, that sounds good, but how do you practically do that? The way you practically do that is by understanding who God is regardless of what he does or what he allows, right?

So if God did nothing else, he is uncared. He's the only entity whose reason for existence is within him himself. God is immutable. He does not change. God is indestructible. He cannot be harmed or destroyed. God is omniscience. He knows everything. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. God is omnipotent. He has all power and authority in his hands. And so could it be that when God doesn't make sense that our perception is limited and that all we see isn't all there?

Is it plausible to assume that when God doesn't make sense, we can acknowledge that he is uncalled, immutable in the structural omnia, omni the present and omnipotent, and that he has a plan and purpose for our lives regardless?

If his love for us surpasses our understanding, then couldn't His plans for us be beyond our comprehension?

One of the things that makes Christianity special is that we serve a God who loves us. Yes. What does this mean? That not only is he infinite, he's intimate. Yes. Not only is he powerful, but he's personal. Yes, he gave his best for you while knowing the worst about you. Yes, he had it all and he gave it all for you and for me. And so if for nothing else, if he does nothing else, he's willing to be worshiped. If he does nothing else, he's worth to be acknowledged. If he does nothing else, he's worth to be praised. If he does nothing else, he's worth to be worshiped. If you are grateful for not just what God has done but for who he is, why don't you give him some praise in the building? If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. You must know who God is before you judge what God does, and when you get this down in your gut, here's what's going to happen. Here's the cheat code. Your view of God will affect your view of life instead of your view of life affecting your view of God.

That's what Abraham shows us here in verse five, and that's how you think bigger about God, not smaller. Verse six, Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. Notice here that Isaac is strong enough to carry the wood for his own sacrifice. I would imagine that amount of wood would be pretty substantial. And here's the thing. I remember a few weeks ago, I was in Houston with my family on vacation and I took my six year old and my four year old to the Houston Zoo, God as my witness, my four year old asked me to pick her up and carry her because her legs were too tired and we had not even made it to the ticket counter at the entrance. This was still in the parking lot. Why is this important? Because if Isaac was strong enough to carry the word for his own sacrifice for three days up a mountain, then that shows that Isaac wasn't some like elementary school age kid just tagging along with his dad oblivious. No, no. Many scholars actually say that Isaac was as young as 13, but maybe as old as 30.

Why is this important? Because if he's strong enough to carry the word for his own sacrifice, that means that as soon as he sees things going south, I mean he could duke it out with Abraham. He could run away, and yet he doesn't. What verse six shows us is that not only was Abraham willing to obey, yes, Isaac was willing to obey as well. Don't miss this. Isaac was a willing sacrifice.

As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father, Abraham father, yes, my son Abraham replied the fire in the wooder here. Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering questions that need answers.

Abraham answered. God himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. My son and the two of them went on together. Everybody on the count of three say lamb, 1, 2, 3, lamb. That will be important for later when they reached the place that God had told them about Abraham. Look at these action words once again. Built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand, took the knife to slay his son, but the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven. Abraham, Abraham, here I am. He replied, do not lay your hand on the boy. He said, do not do anything to him. Now, I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me. Your son, your only son. Abraham looked up and they're in the thicket. He saw a ram caught by its horns. Everybody on the counter, three say Ram, 1, 2, 3, Ram.

He went over and took the Raymond, sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the place the Lord will provide. And to this day, it is said on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. So that is the end of the story. A few interesting points here as we land the plane. When Isaac asked Abraham, where is the burnt offering? Where is the lamb or where is the burnt offering for the sacrifice? What did Abraham say that God would provide lamb a lamb, but what did God actually provide?

Lamb?

But does God ever provide the lamb? Of course he does. The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and you may be thinking, ah, Michael, I feel like you're reaching. I feel like you're taking some theological liberties. I don't think so because this same lamb of God walk up a hill. Yes, and Jerusalem, everybody say Jerusalem. Jerusalem just like Isaac did. He was carrying the wood for his own sacrifice of that mountain, just like Isaac did. He was under the direction of his father just like Isaac was, and he was willing to obey just like Isaac was. It's clear here. Isaac is a foreshadowing of Jesus and his sacrifice for you and for I, but you want to know something really interesting about this is that Isaac actually transitions because in the beginning it's clear that he represents Jesus, but then when God intervenes, he represents us. Notice here that even though God called out from heaven, he didn't call off the sacrifice.

I was thinking if I were, God, congratulations. You passed the test. Well done. Go home, peace with your family. That's not what happened. God said, no, I still require a sacrifice because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. All

Right?

However, I will accept the substitutionary sacrifice. In fact, not only will I accept the substitutionary sacrifice for Isaac, I'll be the one to provide it.

In the Old Testament, there was the ram in the New Testament, it was the lamb.

It's why here, one of the golden nuggets in this scripture is that you'll notice that the ram was caught in a thicket. What's a thicket? A thorny bush.

Throughout scripture, thorns are symbolic of our sin and shame toward even when Jesus was hanging on the cross. Yes. He had a crown of thorns on his head. Yes. Wearing our sin and shame. It's a beautiful foreshadowing of the gospel. Now, you may be wonder there, okay, I'll go with you there, Michael, but what's the point? Is this just a fun Sunday school vbs narrative of an Old Testament story? I believe that there are some real tangible takeaways that we can gather from this scripture. And if you're here in the room, I want you to raise your hand if you believe that God has called you to do something big and you don't know how you're going to do it, you don't know. You're like, God, this doesn't make sense. I'm going to speak a word over you. The third question that I have in relation to this story with Isaac is, could this point back to Jesus when God leads you to do something that doesn't make sense? Three questions you should ask. Am I willing to obey God? Am I willing to think bigger about God, not smaller? And could this point back to Jesus because the story of Abraham and Isaac did? Yes, but I believe that your story can as well.

I believe that one of the biggest lies of the enemy is that he will make you think that your dreams and what God has called you to do is insignificant. He'll make you believe that. Whether you do it or not, it doesn't matter. And oftentimes we get intimidated or like, God, I don't know how I'm going to do this. Lemme speak this word of encouragement of you. The first is that God can provide and he will. When God was with Abraham, he provided a ram in the bush. Yes. Yes. When God was looking down 2000 years ago, he provided Jesus on the cross. What's interesting is in this scripture, Abraham calls that place the Lord will provide. But if you look at it in the Hebrew, it's Jehovah Jireh. Yes. Our provider. Yes. And if you know God is provider, really know him. That revelation probably didn't come when your bank account was full. Your Roth IRAs were maxed out. You had 12 rental properties in your portfolio. No, no, no. You learn that God is a provider. When you're in the valley, you learn that God is provided when you say, when there was no way He made a way.

And so God will provide, and then the other thing too is that you can trust the will of God. There's an old gospel song by Karen Clark shared that says, the safest place in the whole wide world is in the will of God. You need to understand your responsibilities and God's responsibilities. You are responsible for obedience. God is responsible for outcome. You handle the faithfulness. He will handle the fruitfulness. You do the input. He'll put out the increase. You put in the hustle, he'll put out the harvest, and when you do that and you get to the other side of your test, you'll be developed and not destroyed. You'll be better and not broken. I believe God's words to his children and Babylon apply to his children today, who I know, the plans that I have for you says the Lord, plans that are for good and not for evil. Plans to give you a hope and the future.

The last thing I'll say too is that God can provide and will provide, but be careful because it may be in a way that's different than you expect. Yes. Notice in the scripture, the Bible says that Abraham expected God to resurrect Isaac. Instead, God provided a ram. God came through. It was just in a way that was different than he expected, and it reminds me of a season my wife and I find ourselves in. Last year, and I'll close with this, we're fresh off of a pandemic, and in 2021, God gives my wife a vision to lead an in-person women's conference. We didn't know the first thing about women's conferences, I had never hosted an in-person women's conference before, and it was keeping me up at night, y'all, because this conference would cost us $130,000 that we didn't have American dollars.

And so man, I was up late at night. I was spending a lot of money on a therapist so I could vent to her and not my wife. It was very, very nerve wracking. We go to a birthday party and at this birthday party for our kids' friend, we meet up with another friend who we hadn't seen in years, and it turns out that this person helped people get sponsorships for conferences, and so we're thinking, oh, cool. This will be the way that God will provide. That's what we expected. So we meet with her and I honestly goes, great. She shows us some email templates to send out to prospective sponsors, and when I look at the email templates, I'm like, Hey, these are some pretty good emails for a profession. I own a financial literacy company that provides services to high schools, colleges, and universities. So I'm like, oh, I can send this to this university and that college and that school. And so I started implementing her email templates in my business, because it was my wife's first conference, we didn't get a single sponsor because sponsors want to know your track record. It's kind of like that whole resume thing in corporate America. How do I get the experience without the job and you want the experience with, and so we didn't get a single sponsor, but here, here's what did happen. I saw the implementing that those emails in my business, and within the first 30 days, the revenue from my company had doubled.

Another 30 days passed, and it doubled again from the month before. Yes. And when it was all said and done, we were able to pay for that conference without a single sponsor, without a penny of interest paid on the credit card. It was miraculous, and it made me say, wow, I need to start thinking bigger about God, not smaller.

God provided. We wouldn't have had that meeting with the friend if we wouldn't have moved forward in obedience. Yes. And so expect it. Yes. And that's not even the biggest way that God did provide because we also had a friend of ours who wasn't a Christian, and because her friend Amanda was hosting a conference, she decided she would go. She almost didn't because she said, I'm not spiritual enough for stuff like that. And yet, on the second day of the conference, she experiences God in a real way, and she gives her life to Jesus. She is walking with the Lord to this day. She comes to Embassy City all the time, and she's being discipled, and that's the real win.

I was like, oh yeah, the miracle will be paying for the conference. No. The miracle is that soul, as I said before, the devil will make you believe that what you are doing is not important. That whether you do it or not, it doesn't matter. I'm here to hopefully be a witness to you and an encouragement that that is not the case. There is somebody, maybe even somebody you love on the other side of your obedience, and they are trusting you to listen to and to obey God even when he doesn't make sense.