Join Sharon Knotts as she explores the concept of offering oneself wholly to God, a journey marked by trials, divine promises, and the unyielding spirit of faith. As she recounts stories of spiritual giants who have declared ‘Hineni’ in the most challenging times, prepare to be inspired by the notion that true commitment to God may require sacrifice, but promises abundance and fulfillment beyond measure.
SPEAKER 01 :
Greetings, friends and new listeners, and welcome to this program of the R.G. Hardy Ministries. I’m Sharon Knotts, and I’m happy you have joined us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I think you’re really going to enjoy today’s message, which the Lord first gave to me in my own personal times of devotion. It’s entitled, Hineni, which is from Hebrew. The English translation is simply, Here am I, or Here I am. but its implications are profoundly transforming and rewarding. Hineni. I can look back like Shirley sings. My soul does look back in wonder. I wonder how the Lord brought me over sometimes. My God, there have been some very low valleys. And there have been some very high mountains. But my Lord is up for it all. Amen. It doesn’t matter. Everything I bring to God in prayer, it’s nothing too small. It’s not too trivial. It’s not too silly for God. And neither is it too great or impossible. My God is a God who loves His people. He cares about our very desires of our heart. And He’s there for us. And you know, I made up my mind. I’m going to give God all I have. I’m 100% His. Amen. I’m going to serve Him with all my heart. I’m going to serve Him with all my might and all my strength to my last day on this earth by the grace of God. I know it’s by God’s grace. But somebody said I’m not studying about looking back. Because my eyes have seen the king. I’m like John said in the book of… He declared, he said, the Hebrews talks about him. He said that when John was out there on the Isle of Patmos, this is the way I see it. Moses said it, but I bring it up to date in the New Testament to John. But the Bible says that Moses was able to endure the sufferings that he endured. He was able to endure the reproach that he suffered. How was he able to… Counting the reproaches of Christ. Joyful. And counting that it was greater than pleasure of sin for a season. And all of this he was able to do. Because he had seen him who was invisible. He saw the invisible God. Amen. He spoke to God lip to lip and face to face. Moses had seen the almighty God. And so it didn’t matter. What the grueling test was, and believe me, if you were the pastor of the first church of the wilderness, you would need a lot of grace. Amen. You’d feel like quitting a lot of times. In fact, one time God felt like quitting. One time God said, I quit. I’m done with them. Moses, I’m going to kill all of these, your people. I’m going to start all over with, I’m going to start from scratch and raise up a new people through you. And that time, God needed Moses to say, God, you know you don’t mean that. you know you’re not going to do that because God you can’t lie because you swore to Abraham and you swore to Isaac and you swore to Jacob and in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established and you’re not going to go back on your covenant because the Bible says his covenant he’ll not break neither will he alter the word that’s going out of his mouth And Moses said, God, you don’t mean that and you can’t do it. If you were to do that, then your enemies would rise up and say, God killed them because he didn’t have the power to keep them. He had to kill them lest he be embarrassed when he couldn’t feed them. He had to kill them lest he be ashamed when he couldn’t give them water to drink. Your adversaries will rise up and say, that God, Jehovah, he’s no better than our gods. And that’s what God wanted to hear. That’s exactly what God wanted to hear. Amen. That’s why he chose Moses. Because he knew that Moses could intercede for the people on God’s behalf. Amen. And he could intercede for God. He could say, God, you know you didn’t mean that. You know what you said. Amen. You said 400 years ago to Abraham, your people will be in bondage. They will be under affliction for 400 years and they will suffer greatly. But after that… I’ll bring them out. And I’ll bring them into a land that I have promised for them. And God didn’t bring them out not to take them in. He didn’t bring them out to let them not go into the promised land. And although there were millions of them that died in the wilderness… God raised up their seed. And God said, I’ll take everyone that’s 20 years and younger into the promised land. Because God is not a man that he should lie. And he’s not the son of man that he should repent. If God said it, you can count on it. Amen. If God said, I’m Jehovah Jireh, then he said, I am your provider. You don’t have to look anywhere else. You don’t have to look to anyone else. I’m God all by myself. Just look to me. Amen. Just look to me. I will supply all your need. I’ve already supplied them from the foundation of the world. And everything that you will ever need that pertains to your life and your godliness, He’s already given it to you in Christ Jesus. Do you think now that he spared not his own son? But when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That God raised him, gave him over, raised him on that tree. How shall he not also now freely give us all things when he spared not his own son? The devil is a liar. Amen. The devil is a liar and let God’s word be true. I’m going to trust in him tonight. Amen. And I want the Lord to know that I’m 100% his. I want him to know I’m going all the way with you. This is not a part-time thing with me. You know, it’s not a part-time thing I go to church because that’s part of my culture. No, I’m 100% for the Lord. My mind has stayed on Jesus. Even when we’re doing other things that we have to do, and though we’re in this world, you know, we have to partake of the world because we’re a three-part being, and God made us that way. And so, you know, we have world consciousness with our body, and we have to interact with people. We have self-consciousness with our soul and we interact with ourself and with other people. But that part that was dead, that part of me that was dead when I was born on November 27th, 1951, there was a part of me that was dead. I was born in sin, in trespasses, in sin and in death. But one day Jesus quickened me and made me alive. And in my spirit I now have fellowship with God Almighty, with my Father. Amen? And my spirit is in love with God. And I want to say, Lord, all that I have and all that I am, it’s yours. You know, there’s a phrase in the Bible, in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew. It’s a phrase that’s very common, and the Hebrew people have even put it into songs and such. It’s hineni. It’s very easy to say. Three syllables. Hineni. Try it. And what it simply means is… Here I am. Or I am here. But don’t think that it just means like something so casual as when you were in school and they took roll call and they begin to call out the names and you’d say present. You know, they called your name Sharon Hardy. Present means I’m here and accounted for. That’s not what it means. It’s not that superficial. It’s not that casual. It is so much deeper. It is so much more profound. Because what those three little syllables really mean, it really means all that I am and all that I have, here I am. I give it to you. It means total commitment. It means 100% commitment. Anything that I have and all that I am, I give it to you. It’s what you should say and mean when you stand up here at the altar and you get married and you say, and they said, will you do this? And will you do that? And will you do this? And will you do that? And you say, I will. I do. I will. I do. You could say hineni, hineni, hineni. It would mean the same thing and probably deeper. All that I have, I’m holding nothing back. I’m not going to have some compartments that I hold back. But all that I have and all that I am, I commit to you 100%. And we can see a few examples of it in the word of God. The first one that I’m aware of is Abraham. And you know that God called Abraham because he knew he could trust him. Because he knew that Abraham was a man of faith. And he knew he said, I chose him because I know he will teach his children. He will teach them my ways. I can count on Abraham to pass down the legacy. So when God called Abraham, he called him out of all of his brethren and all of his family. And he made him travel for a thousand miles away and go to a land, a brand new place. So he could get him away from all the influences and all the gods and all the idols from his birthplace. Amen. And he began a journey with God. And you know God told him, I’m going to make you the father of a great nation. And we all know it took over 25 years for that miracle to happen. We know that that was a long time of great turmoil. And there were some side turns and there were some things that happened. And you know there were some things they did they should not have done. But nevertheless, I’m so glad that when God makes a promise, he won’t take it back. Amen. Amen. When God makes a promise, and in this case, this promise was unilateral. That means it was one-sided. God said, I’m going to make you the father of many nations. Amen. He said, in your seed. And so even though they messed up, you know, and they tried to help God out, God stuck to his plan. Amen. It meant they had to suffer consequences God didn’t mean for them to suffer. How many know we’ve all done that? It caused them to have heartache God didn’t want them to have. But the thing of it is, is Abraham stuck with God and God stuck with Abraham. And by and by after 25 years, finally that child of promise, Isaac, laughter was born. And oh, you talk about joy. You talk about your mouth being full of laughter. Amen. And Sarah said, God has caused me to laugh in my old age. You know, a lot of people, when they get old, they get cranky and crabby and mean. Amen. And they’re just grouchy all the time and nothing pleases them and they’re not happy about anything. But I believe if you’re in Jesus, you won’t get cranky. You’ll get sweeter and sweeter and God will make you laugh in your old age. He’ll give you joy. He’ll give you things to make you laugh. Amen. And so they were blessed. And now after all those years of struggle, they had joy unspeakable and full of glory. And time went on and Isaac grew. And you can just imagine every day life revolved around that little kid. Their lives revolved around that son. And one day God came and upset the apple cart. Because the Bible says after these things, it was a long period of time. We’re not exactly sure how old Isaac was. But God came and said to Abraham, Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son whom thou lovest. And I want you to take him up to a mountain that I will show you in Moriah. And I want you to offer him and sacrifice him to me. Now, I’m not going to go into all the ins and outs. I preached it in the message on abortion. Why that God does not believe in child sacrifice. And why God would even ask Abraham this. I’m not going to go there tonight. You can get that message. It was in the magazine. You can read it yourself in case that puts a stumbling block in your mind. Why would God ask him to do such a thing? But here’s the point we want to look at. And that is the fact that Abraham didn’t argue. He didn’t dispute God. He took his son and he took some servants. I know he kept it from Sarah. I know for sure he didn’t tell her. There’s no way he would have told her. She would have been holding on to that boy. She would have had that boy. She would have taken that child and nailed him down somewhere. Amen? But Abraham had an appointment with God. And I know he had to have a heavy heart. And it took three days. Three days to get to that place. Do you know how long three days can be? Have you ever been waiting for some news or a report or something and it took three days or a week and it was the longest week of your life? The longest three days of your life waiting to try to get that answer back? What way was it going to go for you or against you? It might have been a health report. It might have been a legal report. It might have been something in your family. It can seem like three years. And I can imagine as Abraham made his way with that boy. And you know how kids are. He was probably yakety yak. And well, father this and father that. And Abraham had to act like everything was all right. Have you ever had to act like everything was alright when inside your heart was broken and everything was all wrong? When you didn’t like what you were going through, you didn’t understand why you were going there, but on the outside you had to smile and make it seem like everything was alright and do what you have to do because you do it. Have you ever stood up there on that choir and sang because you know that was your post, but inside your heart was broken? Amen. There have been many times I’ve had to preach and there were things in my heart, but I had to put that on the side and minister to the people of God. But I can imagine that’s how Abraham felt as he was trying to be lighthearted with his son. And as he was trying to hide the true mission that they were on. And finally they reached the place. And Abraham, but still with full faith in his God, he turned to the servants and he said, You wait here. I and the lad will go further. And we will return unto you. He was speaking words of faith. He didn’t know what was going to happen up on that mountain. But he was fully prepared. He was fully committed to do what God said. And he said, we will return. Because he knew that if God had given him that son out of Sarah’s dead womb and his dead loins, no longer able to beget children, if God gave them that son when she was 89 and he was 99, then he knew that God could bring him back from the dead. And so they went up on that mountain. And here’s Isaac carrying the wood on his back. And they get to the place. And Isaac in his innocence says, Father. We have the wood, but where is the sacrifice? And Abraham in faith said, God will supply himself a lamb. Amen. But he continued on the mission. And then you can imagine that Isaac began to get the picture as Abraham took the wood off and put it up there. And then he took his son and bound him and laid him up on that wood. Amen. And the Bible doesn’t say anything about Isaac protesting. We don’t know if anything was said or not. It’s not recorded. We can imagine at the very least what was going on in his mind. What many times he had seen his father sacrifice lambs and rams. And the Bible says that Abraham lifted up that dagger so that he could take his son’s life before he burned it. Amen. And as he raised his hand, he heard a voice speak out of heaven. Abraham, Abraham. And it was the voice he knew. He had heard God call him many times. And you know what Abraham said? He named me. Abraham said, he said, here am I. In other words, he said, God, whatever you want from me, whatever you ask of me, all that I am and all that I have, here am I. It’s easy to say that when the blessings are coming down on the left and the right. It’s easy to say that when you’ve got your shouting shoes on. But when you have the son of your love lying there. And you’re thinking that God is requiring you to do this. And again I won’t go into the ins and outs. Why Abraham would even think that God would expect that. When you don’t understand. But he was willing. Are you willing to say he nanny? When God says I want that thing. That’s what I want. I want this thing that you love so much. I want it. If you will say Hineni, I say to you, the chances are God will never take that thing. But he wants to know, are you willing? Will you say he, nanny? And Abraham said, here am I. Everything I’ve got, it’s yours, God. Whatever you want, you can have it. I don’t understand what I’m doing up here. I don’t understand why my son is lying on this altar. I don’t understand, Lord, why after all these years you brought me this way, this three-day journey. It’s been the hardest three days of my life. I don’t understand it. But I want you to know that whatever you ask of me, he may need. And then we find it again in the book of Isaiah. And Isaiah says in the sixth chapter, he said in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. And his train filled the temple. And he tells us of what he saw. He saw the seraphim, a special kind of angel that has six wings. And they stood by the altar in the throne of God. And night and day and day and night they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. And when they cry, the Bible says that the doorposts of the doors move up and down. You talk about power. You talk about glory. And Isaiah was seeing all this. He saw the glory and then he got to listen in and eavesdrop. On a conversation between the Godhead. And he heard them speaking. And he heard God say. Whom shall we send? And who will go for us? But before this happened, Isaiah said when he stood there in the presence of God, he all of the sudden, and this will happen to every one of us. This will happen to every one of us. When you get into the real presence of God, all of the sudden you become acutely aware of all of your sinfulness. You say, well, I’m not a sinner. I’m saving. I’m washing the blood of Jesus. I’m serving God. I know that. I’m not talking about coming out of the world a sinner. I’m talking about standing in the presence of him who was high and lifted up. In the presence of perfect holiness. And becoming aware of all of your. Like a sermon I preached one time. That God had me pray. And I didn’t know what it meant. But I prayed it. I obeyed the Holy Ghost. And I felt. I don’t even know what this word means. I feel like a jerk saying this. But I’m going to say it. And Lord cleanse me from all my peccadilloes. I thought, peccadillo, what is that? I think it means little odd things about a person, idiosyncrasies, quirks or something. I wasn’t sure. But as I was walking in prayer, the Holy Ghost kept saying, and pray, cleanse me from all my peccadillos. And I wouldn’t listen. I thought, that’s dumb. Thinking it’s my own head. But then I realized, I wouldn’t tell myself to pray that because I don’t really know what that word is. I wouldn’t do that. Sharon wouldn’t say that. And as soon as I prayed it, as soon as I said, and Lord cleanse me from all my peccadilloes, I felt this overwhelming sense of approval. I felt such a love of God. I thought, wow. What else do you want me to say? And I ran and got the dictionary. I thought, I want to know what this word means. Because that felt pretty good. And I went and read it. And it means a… A character flaw, a trifling character flaw. We’re not talking about someone who was a habitual liar or something or a thief, but a trifling character flaw. We all got that. We figure we just got to put up with that. You know, this is the way God made me. Don’t blame the one God. Don’t blame him. Amen. He said, if you’re born again, you’re a new creation. That’s why we have to have our spirit renewed. And so it said a trifling fault, a character flaw, You know, comma, a foible. A foible? Well, what’s a foible? Well, I’ve got to hurry up and get over to the F’s and find out what a foible is. And a foible is those little, little sins. You know, those little foxes that spoil the vine. Those little indiscretions that we just smooth over and don’t think so much of. Amen. What a revelatory and impactful message. This is a very common Hebrew phrase in the Old Testament, which translated into English simply means, here am I or here I am. But it’s not at all casual, like when we were in school and the teacher took roll call and we would say present, which means I’m here, when our names were called. The profound indication is, all that I am and all that I have, here am I, I give it to you. it signifies total commitment without reservation or qualification it’s like when two people stand at the altar to exchange wedding vows and they say i do they could say hineni all that i am and all that i have is yours the greatest old testament example of someone who made such a vow to god was abraham the father of the faith after twenty-five long tumultuous years he and sarah received their son of promise isaac and life was perfect until the day god asked abraham to give him back and to sacrifice him upon the altar abraham could not know god would never condone human sacrifice that it was a test of his love with a broken heart he laid isaac upon the altar and raised his knife to slay him when he heard a voice speak out of heaven abraham abraham and he knew it was god’s voice he had heard it many times before what did abraham answer hineni he said here am i it’s easy to say hineni when blessings surround you but when the son of your love is lying on the altar and you don’t understand why god requires such a hard thing of you can you say hineni all that i am and all that i have is yours god did not want abraham’s son he wanted to know if he was willing Are you willing to say Hineni when you face your times of severe testing? If you can say Hineni, here am I, to God, then He will say Hineni, here I am, to you. And when God says here I am, He means I am Jehovah, the covenant God, who will be what you need when you need it. Hineni can be ordered on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request offer SK165. Mail to Archie Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or go online to archiehardy.org. Once again, to order Hineni SK-165, send your love gift of $10 or more to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Until next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.
