In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of Abram and the Abrahamic covenant. He highlights how Abram's faith wavered for 13 years after receiving the covenant promise. The preacher emphasizes that God uses crises and difficult times in our lives to reveal Himself and His power. He encourages the congregation to have faith and trust in God's timing, even when it seems like He is not acting swiftly. The sermon concludes with a call for those in need of prayer to come forward and receive a touch from heaven.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, P.O. Box 260, Lindell, Texas 75771, or calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. Again, welcome all of our visitors, and we trust you've had an encounter with Jesus already, and that as we go into the Word, you will be enriched and changed and healed, spirit, mind, and body. Praise God. If you're visiting New York City, and this is your first time, and you've been on these streets and looked around, you see the challenge that we face here in this city, and God has been good to help us. We appreciate your prayers, and we're delighted to have you. Don't forget to go to the visitors' rooms, hospitality room in the annex, and also here in the main auditorium, because we do have one of my books and ministry tape, and also refreshments. But best of all, some New Yorkers who would like to answer your questions about the church, or as much as they can about the city, and just be welcome. God bless you. Delighted to have you in our service this morning. Call this this morning Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Jireh. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this Word, how we love the Word of God in this church, how we love, Lord, to go into your Word and find your heart. Now, Lord Jesus, you have been opening up the new covenant to us in this congregation, and now, Lord, you want to show us your covenant names. This is where we get our faith. That is what this Word is all about. You'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free, and this is truth that frees us from bondage, and fear, and guilt, and shame. Oh God, sanctify your Word this morning, sanctify me to deliver it. I thank you for what you're saying to my heart, and Lord, I want everyone in this place that is in this house today to hear with a hearing ear. Holy Spirit, give us a hearing ear, I pray. Amen. Jehovah-Jireh. In the 14th chapter of Genesis, we have an account of the first war in human history, the first war ever mentioned in the Bible. There was a confederate army that came against Sodom and Gomorrah, declared war on Sodom and Gomorrah, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah went out to the Valley of Sidon and waged war against this confederacy, and they lost. In fact, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled to the hills, and the battle was lost. The scripture says, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, and they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the food supply, and fled, and they took a lot. It means that as soon as this confederate army came, defeated the armies of Sodom and Gomorrah, they moved into the cities, the twin cities, and just took everything, out of their treasures, their gold, silver, their diamonds, their food supply, everything. They just took it all, and they took a lot in his family. Abraham had 318 in his army. These were his own servants, and evidently trained for warfare to protect the interest of Abraham and his clan. And they marched 140 miles, caught up with the army, going back triumphantly to its place, and suddenly Abraham comes upon it, this army, and soundly defeats them. Soundly defeats this army, and recaptures Lot. And now he's heading back over the north ridge, just north of Jerusalem, which was then called Jabez, which is later Jerusalem. And he's on his way back, and what a scene this was. He's got Lot and his family, and he's got all the spoils. Not only the spoils of Sodom and Gomorrah, but the spoils of all the confederated armies that had come against Sodom and Gomorrah. And he's heading them back, he's going to take them all back to Sodom. I often wonder why God didn't let these Sodomites just be taken to captivity, and rid Sodom of it, at least go, just get Lot out of the bunch, and let the armies take the Sodomites. But you see, that's not what, God was not going to let the devil preempt him. Judgment had been declared on Sodom and Gomorrah, and God intended to quarantine Sodom and Gomorrah, and burn it down so there'd be no spread of this virus of sodomy. But the devil's plan was to preempt, and he brought this army in, captured these so that the Sodomite virus and disease of homosexuality, and impospitality, and all of the diseases, moral decay, would be spread through all of the known world. And God stopped the devil in his tracks, and brought them back, and quarantined them just before judgment. Amazing work of God. On his victorious return now, the battle's been won, and he needs two kings on his way back. These are the two kings you're going to meet. Once you give your heart to Jesus, and you're just rejoicing in the victory you've won, and by the way, when you come to Jesus Christ and surrender, you've won a great victory over the devil. I mean, you have robbed him of his spoil. And so, two kings meet him, the king of Salem, and the king of Sodom. Meet him on the way back. These two kings are going to meet you as soon as you get right with God. You're going to meet these two kings, and we'll talk about it here now. Every one of us face them, sooner or later. Now, Abram is now heading back, and as he comes to the north side, he's just passing Jabez, which was later Jerusalem, and the king of Jabez comes out to meet him. His name is Melchizedek. He is king, and he's also the priest of the city. Now, this is a very mysterious man, and there are only three verses here in this context that describe who this man is. Very mysterious man. He's king, and he's priest. Of course, a type of Christ. And he comes out to meet Abram, and the Bible says that he blessed him, and he served communion to him. In fact, he served him bread and wine. He had a covenant meal with Abram, an amazing visitation. He's called king of Salem. Salem is peace, and the earliest name of Jerusalem was Jeru, and Salem was added later. I mean, city of peace, Jerusalem. He's the king of Salem, or Jabez, and he's also a priest. There's only two mentions later of this mysterious man. In Psalms 110, this is a thousand years after this episode. Psalms 110 says, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then a hundred or a thousand years later than that, in Hebrews, we read in Hebrews 7, 11, speaking of Christ. Thou art a priest forever after the kind or order of Melchizedek. King and priest, Melchizedek. Mysterious man. I don't want to get into that. I don't have time. That's a message in itself. But he is a type of Christ. No question about it. Abram goes on his way after he meets king of Salem after they have communion. And Abram pays ties to this king priest. Further down the road, he meets the king of Sodom. The king of Sodom was enraged. No doubt. He's he represents Satan himself. And you see, this man has fled the battle. And Abram is now the hero of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah because he has delivered them. He is their deliverer now. And the devil had to be enraged because the king of Sodom knew that he had just visited this holy priest and king of Melchizedek. And his mind must have thought, I know what's happening now. They're going to convert the whole bunch. They're going to convert my whole nation. They're going to convert them. And the devil was enraged. And so the king of Sodom comes to Abram and he says, look, you can have all the spoils. Give me the people. Give me back the persons. You can have all that we possess. Now, folks, we're not talking about a couple of wagon loads of groceries. We're talking about the spoils of armies and nations. There had to be donkeys. There had to be a line. There had to be thousands of sheep and donkeys and camels. And, you know, a camel today is like a Cadillac in those days or a Mercedes Benz. We're talking about wealth beyond imagination. And he says to Abram, look, you can have it all. I want my people back. That's the devil speaking. You can have everything you have, but don't take their souls. I want their bodies. They belong to me. Abram didn't even blink. He said, I made a covenant with God. I swore that I would not take a shoelace from you. There is nothing that you have that I want. I won't touch anything you have. He said, you can have the people. You can have the spoils. I'm keeping Lot. Of course, Lot, by his own decision, went back to Sodom. But I want to show you something here. Where did Abram get this tremendous authority? Where did he get this power over temptation? This was no mere temptation. This is a temptation as strong as anything we've ever met in the spiritual realm. Where did this man get this spirit of independence from materialism, the things of this world? He was already a wealthy man, the Bible says, but he was detached from it all. But now it's placed before him the greatest temptation he's ever had in the physical realm. And immediately, he doesn't even have to think twice. Where did he get that power? He got it from his visit with Melchizedek. Because Melchizedek had given him a discovery of who God was, a new discovery. Now, he knew him. In one way, he knew him. But he did not know him in this way. There was a new discovery that was going to give him power and faith to face the temptation. I want you to follow me very closely now. He said, I have sworn to the Lord, I will not take from you a thread or shoelace. I will not take anything of yours unless you boast you made me rich. The Bible says when he met with the king of Salem, he met with Melchizedek, the Bible said Melchizedek blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High. Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. He introduced a new name of God. And that name was El Elyon, God Most High, creator, possessor of heaven and earth. Now, this man is about to face the king of Sodom. He's about to face a great temptation to take on fame, to take on materialism, to take on riches, and take on, he could have been, he could have cast aside the king of Sodom, he could have been master of it all. Where did he get this mighty authority that could cause him to turn away from everything in this world? He said, I want nothing of it, because he's just had a revelation from Melchizedek, a wonderful revelation, a new name of God. Now, see, those societies, especially the Hebrews, named their children with magnificent names, and they actually believed that naming their child with a glorious name gave them power to become what they were named. They really believed that it endued them with power to become what they had named their children. And there's a new name of God just now introduced. He lays his hands, no doubt, on Abram. Abram is paid in tithes, and he says, Abram, child of the Most High God, child of El Elyon. New name, a new revelation, a new discovery of who God is, possessor of heaven and earth, who owns everything, the cattle on a thousand hills, everything belongs to him. No wonder he could look at the king of Sodom and all of his stuff and say, that's trivia. My father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, why would I let you enrich me when my God owns it all anyhow? He had a revelation. Glory be to God. Possessor of all things. Abram leaves Melchizedek convinced and persuaded, God has everything under control. If God is possessor of heaven and earth, possess me. Abram became God-possessed. His faith had been wavering up to that time, but now he begins, his faith starts rising. His faith becomes increased in the Lord. Hallelujah. Have you discovered El Elyon in your life yet, that God has everything under control? Abram could laugh now. The devil, you offer me trinkets. When I know in my heart that I have a revelation now that the God that I serve, he owns the universe. He's the creator. It means the creator, the possessor of all things. Everything was created by him and for him. Speaking of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Jehovah, God, everything is in his hands. Everything he possesses, he owns it all. All we talk about the great armies of the United States, the greatest power on the earth. All folks, that is nothing. God just has to blow and it's all over. He just has to hop or pop and it's all gone. He's the possessor. He's the owner of it all. El Elyon, are you able to face your storms in life and your problems in your crisis, knowing that God owns it all, that God is possessor of it all? Do you understand that what El Elyon really means is God is boss? In actual, plain American language, God is boss. There are no accidents in my life. There's no such thing as fate. There's no such thing as luck, good or bad. All you people that are still playing the numbers, you think your pastor doesn't know? Well, I may not know it all, but I know my heavenly father does. And every time you do that, you think that you're going to have a streak of luck. There's no such thing as a streak of luck with God's people. There are no accidents. God is boss. He is in control. God has everything under control. El Elyon. God, or Abram, uses this new revelation to challenge God now. He said, I believe you possess, you create all things. You're the creator. You created us all. Where's my son? Where's my promised child? You're the creator. I believe that. But father, where is my son that you promised? You said to be the father of many nations. I am childless. And Abram said, behold, to me, thou has given me no seed. And no one born in my house is my heir. See, once again, Abram's faith is wavering. A crisis strikes down and he begins to take matters in his own hands. And you know the whole story. He goes into his wife's concubine or made pager by name and has what I would say is illegitimate child, because it's illegitimate that it does not serve God's fulfilled promise. And the Lord said to Abram, one shall come out of your own bowels and he shall be thine heir. And so God, to strengthen his faith, goes into covenant with Abram. This is when the covenant, the Abrahamic covenant was made with Abram. But for the next 13 years, even though he has the covenant promise, nothing happens. And Abram's faith begins to waver once again. So God decides to give him another fresh revelation of himself. And it came at the age of 99. Now, folks, the purpose of my message this morning is to show you the whole point of what I'm trying to get to now is that God uses crises. He uses the most difficult times in our lives to give us fresh revelations of who he is, of his power, of his might and how he delivers. He uses crises. He's in another crisis now. He's taking matters in his own hands. He really doesn't believe that he's going to get this child. So he does it himself and he produces an Ishmael. Now, 13 years go by, Ishmael is 13 years old, he's 99 years old, and he's totally lost confidence and faith in this promise. And when Abram was 99 years old, the scripture says the Lord appeared to him and said, And here's another revelation of who God is. These are like new sparks, new beans coming out of a diamond and looking at it from different ways. And God is showing his nature, who he is, so that he can have confidence that his faith would be encouraged and put upon a firm foundation, that he'd be fully persuaded of God's faithfulness. The only reason God is speaking this word to you and I this morning is to encourage our faith, to put a rock-solid foundation under your confidence in him, that you'll be fully persuaded that God is everything he says he is and will do everything he's promised to do. And when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the almighty God. Walk before me. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Here's the revelation. I am the almighty God. The true, I mean, the actual pronunciation in Hebrew is El Shaddai. In our modern language, it's El Shaddai. But the proper pronunciation is El Shaddai. And God was speaking personally now. This was God's own voice. God's speaking mouth to mouth, face to face with Abram. And he's saying, Abram, I'm going to tell you something else about my nature. I've told you that I'm in control of all things, that there are no accidents in your life, no fate, no luck. I am head, I'm chief, I'm boss of all things. My word is eternal. Now I'm going to tell you something else about me, about my nature, that you have to understand if you're going to continue in faith, because everything depended on faith. All of the plan of God was dependent on faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please him. They that come, they must believe that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And he says now, I want you to know, Abram, I am your El Shaddai. Now keep this in mind, Abram, I am the God who removes all obstacles. I'm not just boss of all creation, I'm not just the creator. I'm the one who removes every obstacle in the way. I am not bound by nature, I'm not fettered by man or beast, I'm not fettered by anybody. I can do anything at any time. Nothing binds me. I can't be saying none can compare. Who can compare? I am your El Shaddai, God all-sufficient. I am the God who keeps his word and no obstacle can stop it. There are no mountains too high, no valleys too low, no waters, no oceans, no rivers, nothing. No floods can hinder it. When I say it, it's going to be done. Nothing can stop my promise. All-powerful, all-sufficient. And it also means keeper of my word. I am the keeper, I guarantee my word. You see, God saw Abram wavering in his faith. And Abram now is looking at all the impossibilities. I'm 99, I'm a dry tree, my wife's womb is dead. My time is up. And now, there's no hope, he's losing hope. But you see, God uses every crisis. You understand what I'm saying? He uses every crisis that we go through as believers to build our faith and to hold us, to face the ever-increasing intensity of our crises and troubles in life because we're going through a wilderness. And this is the very hour, the moment this revelation comes, that's when the Scripture said he waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able to do, he was able to form. That came at this moment, this revelation of God all-sufficient. This was a revelation of God's name and he knew that God cannot lie. God had sworn to him, this is who I am. If you get your eyes off of your impossibilities, get your eyes off of those things on your job, get your eyes off your family problems, get your eyes off of everything, I'm your El Shaddai. I made you a promise. I'm sufficient. Glory to his name. Now, he'd say, he's made me a father of nations. What he said he's going to do, he's going to do it. This newfound faith that he has now, this all-sufficiency of Almighty God enabled him also to get his new name. He is now called, after this revelation, he's called Abraham. God added his name to Abram's name and now they're united in a special realm of faith. I want us, this morning, God help us to understand the secret of walking uprightly before God because this is when he truly began to walk uprightly before God because he had this revelation and he absorbed it in his being. There is no doubt, folks, this is how you walk uprightly before God. He sends the revelation of who he is, of his keeping power. You don't walk uprightly because you've got willpower. You don't walk uprightly because you have got it all figured out. You don't have the strength, the power to walk uprightly before God. That's what the new covenant is all about, how God sends the Holy Ghost and empowers you. He empowers you to live every promise that God's demanded of you. And the secret of living an overcoming life is to have a full revelation, be fully persuaded that the promises that God has made to his church, he will keep. It is not my promise to him, I promise to do it no more, Lord, I promise I'll never do it again. You've made a thousand of them broken, every one of them. Your word is no good to anybody. Your word's not even good to me, my word's not good to you. Without the Holy Ghost, without him, there is no good word. My handshake, my promise to you is going to be broken somehow. I would not intend it to be that way, but flesh will always be flesh. God doesn't accept it. It has to be crucified and put aside. This El Shaddai, you see, it's not enough to just have a covenant promise. You have to be fully persuaded that your El Shaddai will keep the promise. There has to be a full persuasion. I know a lot of people say, I have the promise. Yeah, but do you really? Are you fully persuaded that God's going to do what he said he would do? Is that going to be at rest? The evidence of faith is rest. If you're not at rest, you're not in faith. If you really have faith in who he says he is and what he's promised to do, you don't have a worry in the world this morning. Because all things work together for good to love God, they're called according to his purpose. You're at rest this morning because you're trusting in him, because he said he'll not let the devil have you, he'll not let anything happen to you that's such as common to all men, and even in your temptation he'll make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Hallelujah. You see, God had made a promise to Abraham, I will be your shield and your exceeding great reward. Those were covenant promises. We call it the Abrahamic covenant. What he's saying, no enemy's going to hurt you. I'm going to deliver you. I'll be your reward. I'm going to maintain you, is what it means. I'm going to maintain you. Folks, a lot of you believe God saved you soundly, but you really don't believe he's going to maintain you properly. I believe God saved me to maintain me. Oh, come on, say amen about that. You see, Abraham lived in a very wicked society. All those in the lower Jordan vicinity where he had finally settled and had a season of rest, very wicked and wild generation. In fact, the Lord himself said their cup of iniquity was being filled and they were going to come under judgment. But still, Abraham was enabled to live a holy life. In the midst of abounding iniquities on every side, he lived a holy life. Why? How can we live a holy, godly life as this nation spins out of control and this world becomes increasingly wicked and vile, contemptuous against God? How can his church grow in holiness and righteousness and walk uprightly before the Lord? It has to do with this revelation that's about to come now, the greatest revelation of all to this wonderful man of God, Abraham, the father of all nations. In the 22nd chapter of Genesis, if you'll turn there, please, Genesis 22, we come to Abraham's supreme test. Genesis, the 22nd chapter. Sorry to read verse one. And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, he said, behold, here I am. He said, take now thy son, thy only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the mountain Moriah and offer him there for burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I shall tell you of. Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son, and claimed the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went unto the place which God had told him. The third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place far off. Abraham said unto his young man, abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Now stop right there and look this way, if you will, please. We're coming now to the greatest revelation and also the greatest test that Abraham ever had. Now, folks, I want to tell you something. This story, this whole episode that I've been reading to you and talking about with Abraham, has no meaning to me other than a wonderful story of God's provision in the Old Testament. But that's all it means unless it has some application for me today. My problems, my life, my struggle. If it's just a Bible story, it's just another Bible story. But that's not what it is. My Bible tells me, and you know it well, that all these things are written for our sakes upon whom the ends of the world have come and are given to us as our examples, the Bible says. And here is where we learn the truth about our God whom we serve today. In this great crisis, now get this in mind, Abraham is 125 to 130 years old now. Isaac is at least 30 years of age. All these pictures of the little boy, forget it. He's a young man. He's at least 30 years of age. The Lord comes to him and says, Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son. It means your only begotten son. And I want you to take that boy to Moriah, and I'm going to show you a mountain. And I want you to go to that mountain. I want you to sacrifice your only son, your loved son. I want you to lay him on the altar, and I want you to sacrifice him. So without question, the next morning, you have to take your own fire, because how do you build a fire out there? In those days, they carried censers and carried the fire wherever they went. Two young lads go along with the donkey, and they have their censer. They have split the wood and piled it on the donkey's back. And with these two young men and Isaac, they had a three-day trip. Can you understand that on that three-day trip, it had to be the most trying time of Abraham's life? In fact, in his mind, Isaac was dead. Isaac, because the Scripture says in Hebrews that he received him in form as from the dead. He was a dead man. He had given up everything, even though he knew that this was the promised seed, that nations were supposed to come out of this land, that the Messiah... In fact, the Bible says Abraham, speaking of Jesus, Jesus said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced in it. He knew the coming Messiah would come through this seed. Can you imagine what it took? Can you imagine the faith this man had? Where did he get it? He was a human man, like passers, like you and me. He was not a super saint. This man made compromises I'd never think. I'd never think of trading my wife off and putting her in a harem. She'd kill me first. I'd be a dead man. This man's a man of like passions. This man had faith. Where did he get it? In a heathen land, surrounded by heathen. Where did he get it? From the revelation of the name of God. The names of God. He has a revelation. He told me that he's the creator. If he's the creator and I kill him, God's going to raise him up. I believe in a resurrection is what he's saying. So, to get to this Mount Moriah, which is later... We know Mount Moriah is where Jerusalem is. And most scholars believe that where the sacrifice is made is the exact spot where Jesus was crucified. And you remember, Jesus carried some wood up the hill also. Abraham piles the wood on his son and his son carried... They're up on the way up Mount Moriah. And Isaac looks at the wood in his hand and he sees the big knife strapped around his father's waist. And he sees him carrying a censer and he says, Father, here's the wood. There's the knife. Where's the sacrifice? They get on top of that. I want to tell you something. He said, God will provide a sacrifice. Now, this all prefigures Jesus Christ. There's no question about it. I could stop and talk to you right now how that prefigures Christ himself. Remember the three-day trip where really he's dead in his mind. Remember, Hebrews says he's received as from the dead back to his father. It's all prefigures Christ. I could stop and I could talk about that. I could talk to you about human sacrifice, how God hated human sacrifice. I could tell you about how the Bible says obedience is better than sacrifice. I could tell you how that that was a heathen custom. And yet God was building a church of faith. He was going to be the father of the church of faith. Those were saved by faith. And God was telling every forthcoming generation that one day there has to be more than an animal sacrifice. There has to be one pure. There has to be one holy that comes and lays down his life. He was prefiguring the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. It was all there. But that's not where I want to abide. I want I want to go in a different direction. I want us to focus on this new discovery of the name of God that was given to Abraham because it has everything to do with our living and overcoming life. Listen to me closely. If you've been having a struggle, you've been living in guilt and shame and fear because you say, I can't overcome my besetting sin. I want you to listen close now because there is a freedom for you this morning. You can walk out of this church shouting the praises of God, even though yet you don't have the victory if you lay hold of this revelation that God gave to Abraham, this revelation not only to him but to the church of Jesus Christ. He'll deliver you and set you free. Now, I know Isaac willingly laid on the altar because his dad, his father is 130 years old and he's 30. What kind of a contest would that be? 130-year-old man trying to wrestle his son, big muscle guy, muscle him onto the altar. No, no, no, no, no. He willingly, Isaac had faith. He had been taught the covenant. He had heard the revelation his father had given to him of the names of God. He too was also, he believed in the all-sufficient God. He too knew that if he died, he could be raised again. But if not, he would lay it down. This also prefigures Christ willingly offering himself as a lamb, as a sacrifice for mankind. Abraham lifts the knife. He's about to thrust it through the heart of his beloved son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon this lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not withheld thy son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, a ram caught in the thicket of his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him as a burnt offering in the stead of his son. I want you to listen. You talk about God being a provider. He provides long before you were born. He was setting up circumstances in your life. Get this, please. Here comes Abraham up one side of the mountain. A lamb is coming up the other side. A ram. Can you imagine? A ram's coming up here and the Holy Ghost is just leading him. And just as soon as the knife is about to come, God suddenly puts an appetite in that ram to get something under that bush. And he gets in there and gets his ram, his horn stuck. Who stuck him there? Do you remember when Moses, they come to the waters of Mar and it's bitter? And God shows him a tree? They tell me in that section it took thirty to fifty years to grow those kind of tree, any kind of tree in that area because the other side of the Red Sea and the Nile. Do you understand this? Moses is still out in the wilderness. This beginning is up there for forty years alone with God. God was planting the tree. And he says, little tree, one of these days, forty years from now, I've got a man going to come by here and I've got an army of my people coming by here and I'm going to need you. No storm can touch it. No worm can eat it. God said, I'm going to need you. Forty years from now, I'll tell you before I was born, God picked me a wife before she was born. If you don't believe that in 22nd chapter, chapter 22, at the very time that he's sacrificing here, the scripture says that his brother, that you will beget Rebecca. The moment he's lifting his knife, his brother bears Isaac's wife. What a God we serve. After the sacrifice, after this is all over, he said, oh, by the way, your brother's just had some children. And one of them is named Rebecca. And it's going to be years down the line before they meet. What a God. Before we call, he answers. So now let's go back to the sacrifice. He sacrificed his lamb, this ram. Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh. Jehovah-Jireh. Now, here's a new discovery. The greatest discovery God ever gave to this man of humankind. It means the Lord who sees. In our language, it means God will see to it. It also includes provision. Now, folks, we have so misinterpreted this scripture. And if you think all it is, is God giving you houses and land. I heard a preacher, once he pointed to a beautiful new card, said, look, Jehovah-Jireh. Look what God provided me. Folks, we don't... The scripture says God's promised to supply all our needs. All our needs to be supplied in Christ Jesus, the Bible says. This is a revelation. You'll miss it if you think Jehovah-Jireh is just to put food on your table. He's your father. He does that out of his fatherhood. He does that out of his love. But Jehovah-Jireh here is something else. God is saying, look down to all these promises I've made to you, who I am. And I am all sufficient. I have given you covenant promises. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I've given you this promise that I'll send you the Holy Ghost. I'll put my fear in your heart. All the covenant promises. I'll be a shield to you. No enemy is overcoming you. He's talking about spiritual enemies. He's talking about demons and devils and temptation. He said, I'm going to fill you with the Holy Ghost, and I'm going to cause you to walk in my ways. God has given us all these promises. He says, now, I have them. I've given them to you. I've revealed them to you. Now I'm going to reveal myself to you as Jehovah-Jireh. I'm going to see to it. I'm going to see to it that you have all the power you need in the moment of temptation. I'm going to see to it that you have everything you need, all the provisions to keep my word. And, folks, I want you to know something. Over every commandment, every demand that God makes of us regarding holiness, righteousness, and walking uprightly over above every demand, he has written Jehovah-Jireh. I will see to it. I will see to it. Glory to God in the highest. What if Abraham had doubted? What if he'd say, well, God, this is too much. I can't handle it. You mean all you want of me is my faith, my confidence? I don't have to make you a bunch of promises. When he said to Abraham, I want you to walk perfectly, means uprightly before me. I want you to walk uprightly before me. I want to tell you something. God has no plan B. There was no chance of failure. None. I was praying over this. I said, Lord, if it all depended on faith, what if he'd failed? What would your plan? Messiah would come from this. What if he failed? Would Isaac have died and that's it? He would have gone out into the wilderness and just died in bitterness and confusion. Lord made it clear. Holy Ghost made it clear. Well, there's no plan B. There was no possibility of failure because the faith he needed, I was going to supply him. I said, I'd see to it. That's who I am. I'm Jehovah-Jireh. Everything I demanded of him, I'm giving all the resources. There were no chance of failure. It was a test. That's all. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee. The name of Jehovah is a strong power. The righteous run into that name and is set on high. You run into the name. You run into the security of the name of God, the names of God. You run into the security. Now, in close, let me tell you how strongly it is. In the Hebrew, it all infers this very strongly. Listen closely, please. When God has revealed his names to us, we're to run into the security of those names. Be fully persuaded of them and risk our very life at it. And the Bible said he pledges his very existence on fulfilling these promises. He said, I'm Jehovah-Jireh, and the word really is all hidden here, but it totally infers in all of these covenant promises and in the new covenant itself. If I don't keep my word, if I don't seek to it, then my throne collapses. The universe dissolves and everything is ended. It's all over. He risks his throne. He risks everything. He chains himself, literally chains himself, saying there will be no more existence of God. God could no longer exist. There would be no throne. There would be no universe, no cosmos, no heaven, no earth, no hell. It's all over. That's how strong it is. God says, I have committed all that I am, all that I have to keep you by my grace. And when I'm finished with all, we go through all these names in the weeks ahead. Next Sunday, we go to Lord willing, Jehovah-Rapha, God that healeth thee. But as we go through these, God says, I want you to lay hold of this so that you don't have to walk with guilt. Stand with me for just a moment. If you tell me this morning that you're truly a believer, you love Jesus, and you've asked God to put a hatred for sin in your heart, you may not yet have the victory. But I tell you now, this is God's living word. You lay hold of it. If you can't figure, if you can't remember all of these Hebrew names, Elion, just say he's the boss. Number one, right? El Shaddai, no matter how you pronounce it. Maybe you have a hard time with remembering El Shaddai. He's promised to be all sufficient. Just say, he's everything I need. He's everything I need. He's every provision I'll ever need. And number three, Jehovah-Jireh, God said he'd see to it. My wife tells me to do so. I say, well, I'll see to it. Sometimes I put it off. I don't see to it. But when God says, I told you I'll see to it, he's going to do it right in his time. In Holy Ghost time, he's going to see to it. He made a promise to keep you from falling. He's made you a promise that the devil can't have you. He's going to see to it. I don't live with guilt. I don't live with fear. I live at rest. I'm not perfect. I've got a long way to go. Just ask my wife. I've got a long, long way to go. Man, I still get provoked. I do stupid, dumb things. But I go back to the covenant names of God. Lord, I'm not there yet, but you promise you're going to get me there. You're going to get me there. Hallelujah. Glory to God. I'm going to open these altars. In the annex, you feel the Holy Spirit moving in your heart? I want you to just move forward between the screens. And Pastor Rhodes will be there. And he'll take you into another room. I want to pray for you first and with you. And then you'll go into one of the prayer rooms. And we have some wonderful saints of God there to minister to you and pray with you. And here in the main auditorium, the balcony, here in the main floor. And open this altar. I'm going to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to make this word alive to you. Truly alive to you. You came in here this morning carrying some kind of a burden. God says, I want you to come now. Lay that down. And I want you to trust in who I am, who I said I am. I want to be everything that I've said I am. I want to be to you. Folks, I believe what I preached this morning. I've risked my life on it. And it's by peace and rest to my soul like I've never known in all my ministry. And he wants to bring the whole church. There should be no guilt in this place. If you're willing to say, Lord, here's my sin. Here's my lust. Here's my problem. Here's my bitterness. I want to tell you something. If you're here this morning, you've got bitterness in your heart at this Christmas season. If you have any bitterness toward anybody. In fact, that's the title of my message next week. The world's deadliest sin. Not a disease, rather. The world's deadliest disease is unbelief. I've got a lot of bitterness. It's bitterness. If you've got any bitterness in your heart toward anybody. Don't you dare walk out of this church. That'll send you to hell quicker than anything. But God says, if you've got bitterness in your heart. What happened? The bitter waters of Mara. The tree. You come to the cross. You come to the cross of Jesus and say, Lord, I laid this down. Pluck it out of my heart. Sweeten the bitterness. Sweeten my heart. Some of you need to be sweetened up this morning. I mean it. I mean, you need to be sweetened up. Some of you wives are saying amen. Well, same to some of you husbands. Christmas wasn't as smooth as it should be for some of you. It wasn't as loving as it should have been. Some of the words that have been said and spoken. Because of all the hurts of the past. Let's deal with it this morning. If you're not right with God. If you don't know Jesus. If you've been running from him. And there's been fear in your heart. Because there's been trouble in your family. Bring it to Jesus this morning. And come to Jehovah Jireh. And let him bring his word into your heart and heal you this morning. Father, in Jesus' name, find every hungry heart in this place. Those in the balcony and here on the main floor. And those in the annexes and the overflow rooms. Lord Jesus, change our hearts this morning. Let us rise in faith and hope on the covenant names of our Jehovah God. Yahweh. Yahweh, we thank you. We thank you for the revelation of who you are. And we rest. We rest in that. Lord, heal every hurting heart in this place this morning. Heal every hurting heart. Up in the balcony, just go to the stairs on the other side and come down any aisle. That's it. In the annex, just move forward. Now, just step forward right in between the screens. And you'll be given directions. But I want to pray for you first, along with those that are here in this auditorium. I'm going to have our choir ministry one song as we wait for those that are coming. I see people coming from all the aisles. Please move close to make room for those that are coming, if you will, please. Father, I pray for a miracle this morning of grace, comfort, revelation. That everyone who's responded will have a touch from heaven. Oh, God, ignite our faith. Put fire under our faith. Lord, for those that are wavering in their faith and some who feel that God has forgotten them or God has not been acting as swiftly as they think he should. Oh, Holy Spirit, help us to rest in who you are. Our great Jehovah Jireh. Our El Shaddai. Our El Ayaan. We thank you for the revelation of who you are. You're going to keep us from falling. You're not going to let the enemy take advantage of us. Oh, God, you're going to come just in time. Just in time and see to it that we not only are maintained, but we're maintained in great grace. Exceeding great promises of God. Hallelujah. Not just conquerors, but more than conquerors. I know that you that came forward are kind, with a sincere heart. I want you to pray this prayer with me right now. Wherever you're at in the annex in here, the main floor. And some of you that didn't come forward, you pray this right in your seat where you're standing. Pray this prayer with me right from your heart. Dear Jesus, I thank you that you're beginning to reveal yourself to me. And I'm seeing something. I'm seeing that you're not mad at me. That you're not trying to get to me with wrath and judgment. You're showing me mercy and great love, compassion and patience and mercy. Oh, God, I thank you for all of these promises and help me to believe now. Give me faith to trust that you're going to supply all I need to resist all the temptations. Everything the devil throws at me, by your spirit, you'll give me power. And I will stand and not fall. Cleanse me, Jesus. Forgive me, Jesus, for my unbelief. My sins are settled and they're gone at the cross of Jesus. Thank you. Just lift up your hands and thank you. In your own words, just thank you. I give you thanks, Lord. I give you my thanks. I give you my thanks. Thank you, Jesus. Those in the annex, you follow Pastor Rhodes. And here in the main auditorium, where do we go? Room 204, is it? 206. Now, if you would like to have prayer, listen close enough. If you're not really sure, if you say, I still have doubts and I still have confusion in my life. If you're giving your heart to Jesus for the first time or you come back to the Lord, I want you to just go right out the back and there are ushers there. They'll show you up into the annex. You go into room 204. We have a New Testament. We have a Gospel of John for you. We've got somebody, a person who would like to just pray with you. That's all. You can talk to them. They'll minister to you. If you'd like to have that, just turn right now, right to the crowd. Just walk back into the lobby there and ask for the ushers. Just go up the stairs into the annex, into room 204. There are plenty of ushers back there to show you where to go. Just ask an usher, where's room 204? The program contained in this audio cassette is for private use only. Any other use, copying, reproduction, or performance in public, in whole or in part, is prohibited. CCL license number 1624795. All other songs used by permission.