III.
SEPARATION
v. 4-5
* At a certain point in the journey Abraham left his servants behind,
a separation took place. He said, "... unto his young men, Abide
here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come
again to you." Those two young men were not part of the worship
experience. They would have hindered Abraham from doing what the
Lord had called him to do. Therefore, they had to be left behind. The only
two elements allowed in the place of worship was Abraham and the
treasure of his heart.
* There is a lesson here for the person who would worship God today. There
are many things in life that would hinder our worship. Like those two
young men, things would intrude themselves into our worship that have
no business being there. We must say to those things, Abide ye here,
while I go yonder and worship."
* We are all aware of the things that compete for our attention when we
seek to worship the Lord. We need to separate ourselves from anything
that would draw our attention away from God. I'm not talking about
sinful things. I'm talking about the natural and normal things of life.
Things like work, family, and finances can all distract us from the worship
of God. These are not things that we can simply eliminate from our lives.
But we do need to put them out of our minds so that we can be free to
focus on God. We can even allow the elements of the worship service
itself to distract us from worship. You must not allow the preacher, the
music, the praise team, the ushers, or the people around you to distract
you from worshiping your God.
* For Abraham, the place of worship was not "here" in the valley with the
young men, it was "yonder" on the mountain with the Lord. If I am going
to worship, the I too must move from "here' to "yonder". The only way I
can do that is separate my mind from anything that would hinder it from
being totally given over to God.
IV.
DEDICATION
v. 6-10
* Abraham dedicated his son Isaac to God. It wasn't like he had twelve
sons. Isaac was his only son. Isaac was the son God had promised to him
years earlier. Isaac was the son that was to carry on the family line and
grow into a great nation. Abraham also dedicated himself completely to
God. As Abraham stood holding the knife above his head ready to plunge
it into his son he was completely dead to self. He had dedicated all he
was and all he had to God. True worship is always costly. True worship
always requires us to give up our best for God's best.
* I am simply reminding us that worship is never about us. We can't worship
as long as we are focused on self. If we would worship the Lord, we must
cease to exalt self and we must focus on exalting Him. Real worship occurs
when we dedicate ourselves totally to God.
V.
PROCLAMATION
v. 11-14
* Abraham called the place "The Lord Will Provide" -- Jehovah Jireh. By
doing so he was proclaiming the nature and work of God. He was declaring
who God is and what God does. That is praise and worship. Praise is
proclaiming what God has done. Worship is proclaiming who God is
* When was the last time you told someone what God has done for you?
We all like to share good news so why don't we share the Good News? In
the game of football following a big victory the players usually douse the
coach with a bucket of Gatorade. It is their way of proclaiming that they
love their coach and that he has done an excellent job. That is what we
do when we tell others about God. That is why we need to brag on God.
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