Genesis - Part 29 | Pastor Paul McGee

Hallelujah, Jesus. Oh yes, Job said.

He looked to his left and to his right in front of him.

Behind him, he couldn't discern where the Lord was, but only be

later. The Bible says that he heard him

speak to him out of the middle of the whirlwind, Amen.

He was there. Maybe not where he thought he

should be or ought to be, but he was there.

Amen. Just a few announcements here

tonight, April the 27th, which is this coming Sunday.

It's been deemed by our district all in Camp Focus Sunday.

What that means is we're going to take up a special offering

for camp to help cover the cost of camp registration does not do

that in and of itself. All right, So we're just taking

a special offering. Amen.

For camp. We used to every year have to

send in a camp offering. They don't require that of us

anymore as far as a designated amount.

So we're just going to take up a camp offering and also ask that

we pray. And so I'm just, we want to do

that pray that God's will would be done at the Indiana District

camp this year. Amen of our speakers, Amen.

The Lord would move up on them. Pastor Jonathan Vasquez be in

the evening. Brother David Ivy be in the

mornings. And so we'll have a good, good

time. Also in the month of May, just

hitting the tops of the trees. The 11th will be Mother's Day.

Camp registration has been moved back to May the 12th Camp

registration been moved back to May the 12th.

Also, we will have in the month of like May, June, and July,

we're going to do some game nights on Friday nights.

So our first one will be made the 23rd, kind of taking

advantage of the summer. May, the 23rd on that Friday

will be a game night starting at 7:00.

The 25th of that month will be a summer kicked off that's

Memorial Day weekend. We'll have only one service in

the morning. After that service, we'll have a

summer kicked off kind of to the flavor of what our annual chili

supper and hayride is in the fall.

This will be in the spring. OK, kind of getting started for

everybody with spring fever, summer fever, school will be,

you know, right there on the cusp of being let out and so on

and so forth. And also mark on your calendars

again, Fast forward and we keep calendars up on the bulletin

board. This information is out there

for your perusal. Matter of fact, there is on one

of the metal of things on the bulletin board right now, like

the high, the the big rocks of the church for the rest of the

year and you can go out and see. All right.

And so in June, June the 1st through the 4th, that's a Sunday

through Wednesday will be in revival right here with brother

Andrea. Adrian Sanford will be

preaching. That would be a Sunday through a

Wednesday. No off nights in those four

days. OK, Sunday through Wednesday,

that's only two extra. Let me explain this to you.

I think I did this before. That's only two extra days that

you would typically be here. And if we had a Friday through a

Sunday, guess what, You only come two extra days to be here.

So it gives you your weekend, your Saturday, still intact.

You still got your weekend. Try to be very mindful of this,

All right, trying to find the best combination, doing the

reboots cube, seeing if I can get all the colors on the same

side. I don't know if it'll work, but

it's a try. All right.

And so that's June the 1st through the 4th.

Amen. With Adrian Sander, turn to

Genesis. Thank you for standing.

I'll be standing longer than you are and I bet I'm in more pain

than you are right now. So Genesis chapter number that

doesn't mean I'm going to be quick.

Pain makes me go longer because I'm stubborn.

Genesis chapter 15 verses one through 6.

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

The Bible states these words after these things and remember

what happened last week. But after these things the word

of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram,

I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.

And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me sin?

I go childless. And the steward of my house is

this Eliezer a Damascus. And Abram said, Behold to me

thou has given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine

heir. Behold, the word of the Lord

came to him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that

shall come forth out of thine own vows shall be thine heir.

And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward

heaven, tell the stars without be able to number them.

He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for

righteousness. Amen.

With the help of the Lord this evening, our subject for the

next of the while will be this and I'm between the word

between. I've had in the past several

titles. I maybe this should have been

called the between series here, I don't know, but I want to talk

to you about between the promise and the pieces, between the

promise and the pieces. And then we're going to ask the

Lord to help us here in the next little while.

Father, I love you. I thank you Lord Jesus God, who

once again to come and center my life around your word.

God, they are the words of life and I pray God that they're

applicable to us even in this generation of us to find that

application and help us to Lord to apply it.

God, as you would have open our mind and understanding spirit

revelation Lord, upon our hearts and minds.

God will not fail to thank you and praise you Lord for what you

do through your word and the lovely name of Jesus Christ that

I pray Amen. And you may be seated tonight in

Jesus name after the events of chapter #14 of being victorious

in a battle over 4 kings and getting his nephew Lot back and

also being able to stand his ground and make the right

decision between the two kings that were posed to him of Sodom

and Melchizedek. One would think chapter 15 would

just be the celebration song. Chapter 15 would just be where

we kick up our heels, and that Abram would be on or at the top

of his game after having such a military victory and after

having the fortitude to refuse Sodom's reward.

But it seems as though here in Scripture, he isn't.

The Word of the Lord comes to Abram in a vision.

In a vision, the word of the Lord comes.

And that Word of the Lord is offering some personal

reassurance to Abram after he's had this grand victory.

As a matter of fact, the first words out of the Lord's mouth to

Abram is this Fear not. And it's amazing throughout the

panorama of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, how many

times God shows up in people's lives with those simple words of

fear. Not so.

This is the first time it's mentioned in Scripture, but it's

by far the last time that it's mentioned in Scripture.

As a matter of fact, we have what seems to be like somewhat

of a theme or reoccurrence in Scripture, and that is this is

that throughout Scripture, it appears that victory makes

people vulnerable to emotional and spiritual attack.

It's almost a precedent that is set in Scripture.

And if I would stated a little differently, I would say it like

this. Victory makes you a target.

Victory makes you a target. When when you have made the

greatest of strides in your life for God, then the adversary gets

anxious about you and where you're going, the mountains

you're climbing and the success that you're having.

You, you don't even show up on his radar until victory starts

happening in your life. Because when victory starts

happening in your life, beep, beep, beep, you show up on the

radar and now you're a target. And so if you're not making any

ways for him, you're not an issue.

But when you do, you suddenly become an issue.

We see the president, even Scripture, you remember the

story. Elijah's on Mount Carmel.

It's like one man against many. He's asking those of Israel even

why they're halting between two opinions.

And he's also battling the prophets of the bail and the

prophets of the Grove. He calls fire down from heaven,

man. He, he makes his sacrifice.

God answers by fire. He destroys the prophets of

bail. He, like Abram should have went

away from that day just with at the top of his game.

I mean VVV it wasn't shall be his.

It was his and he should have been at the top of his game.

Yet the Bible tells us after this miraculous victory that he

has on Mount Carmel that he flees in fear from one woman by

the name of Jezebel that says tomorrow by this time I'll make

you as you have made these prophets of Baal.

And he goes into a wilderness place, even a mountainous place.

He's very deeply discouraged, Bible tells us, even to the

point that he is requesting God, why don't you just go on and

take my life? That's on the heels of victory

that he is asking God that he stood very firm in public, but

now he's essentially collapsing in private because his victory

made him a target Jesus in his earthly ministry baptized of

John the Baptist. Heaven opens up, there's a

there's a dove that that spirit in the likeness of a dove that

descends upon him. And the Bible says a voice from

heaven gives a affirmation concerning who he was and his

ministry. And immediately after that, the

Bible says he's LED into the wilderness to be tested or

tempted of Satan. Because all of the spiritual

affirmation that was given to the Lord was followed then by a

spiritual attack. The victory, the focus brought

the target. Abram has just won a war.

He's refused earthly riches, according as we read and talked

about last week. And so someone might think, man,

you know, not to make a reverend, but this, this is the

you can't touch this man. You know what I'm saying?

You, you can't touch this guy. He, he, he is it.

But he wasn't. The Bible tells us that

evidently the Lord seemed to the depths of his mind and his soul

and recognized the fear that was there coming with those words to

him. Fear not he feared.

He had somewhat of a fear for even the future, although he had

been given these various promises of God, and they've

been reiterated to him again and again.

Here is Abram fearing, as we see in these open verses, because he

lacked an air and he needed some insurance.

In this moment, victory made him vulnerable, but God showed up

even in that vulnerability and met him there.

In his vulnerability, God met him.

Yes, the chapter before in that great crisis with the battle,

but in this quiet uncertainty when the the dust of battle had

subside and it seems just to be Abram, God met him there by

himself too. And I am, I'm telling you, I'm

glad that God meets me in my private moments as much as my

public moments. All right, in my moments of

crisis that everybody can no doubt see in the crisis that

only I know about that he meets me right there.

And I'm glad that he does. I mean, the king of Sodom again,

he had sought to reward Abram with with goods, if you will.

But God again told Abram in these verses, he said, I am your

shield and you're exceeding great reward.

I am your protection and I am your portion.

And so there's a great contrast from chapter 14 to chapter 15

because Sodom, Sodom wants to offer him spoils, but God wants

to offer him himself. Amen.

And so he says, I am thy shield. I am your protector.

And think of it for a moment. I am.

This is a present protection #1 the battle that he had just won.

Genesis 14 and verse #20 tells us.

Melchizedek even brings it up that he had just won this

battle. But that that winning of the

battle, the doing of that was God's hand.

The doing of that, if you will, was the protection of the Lord.

God did that. And so God's declaration in this

moment then is confronted running some of Abrams new fears

right of the moment and even for the future.

And also in that though God is forecasting a little bit some

challenges that are still yet to come and Abrams life and the

life of his descendants. Because I am your shield.

And if you need protection, it's not just that you needed it.

You need it and you will need it.

That tells me that there is some other battles on the horizon.

It's very similar to whenever Jesus after his testing in the

wilderness, the Bible says that the enemy left him for a season

and the angels of the Lord came ministering unto Christ.

But notice it says the enemy left him for a season.

Seasons change. They come and go.

There would be another season, the adversary would come again.

And so you're going to need the Lord as your shield, as your

protector. And so some of the possible

fears that Abram may have been entertaining #1 yes, he just

conquered 4 kings. But what about if they regroup

and want to come fight again? Huh?

That wasn't uncommon in biblical times.

Someone get whipped, said, you know what?

We'll just join forces, get a few more people.

We'll go back and show them who's boss.

Then again you think about, well maybe he was thinking maybe I

should have taken some of the spoils.

I'm living a nomadic life. At any moment in time things can

become scarce and lack. And here I didn't even take any

spoils. Maybe had some self doubt about

what he did. Although what he did was right.

Don't tell me you ever did the right thing and second guess

yourself about whether or not you should have done, huh?

Because when other things start coming after you did what was

right, you start thinking, man, I would really be benefited now

and what I am and facing right now if I did differently.

Don't you ever tell me cuz I know I've been there.

It's like those moments of time. We have great offerings around

here at the church, right? God moves and you give a big old

chunk of money and then less than a week later, something

happens, blindsides you in life and you wish you had that money

to pay for what happened. All right, nobody help me right

now. Nobody live my life right now.

I mean, huh, You understand what I'm talking about.

So maybe there was some fear, maybe there's some self doubt

going with that. But then God is my exceeding

great reward. And I understand that God, but

even if there are things, actual things, items, if if you're

actually going to reward me with something, if there's other

things that's coming to me as being associated with you.

Here's my dilemma. I don't have, I don't have an

error. So you can, you can load me down

with all kinds of things. But when my incomes it comes to

all of that because I don't have anybody to pass it on to.

I don't have anyone to inherit it.

So Abraham, he's concerned really in the essence about

legacy, about legacy. He says the Lord emphatically.

I don't have a child. I know what you've promised.

It's like, let me be, you know, whatever ghetto Abram here for a

moment. I know what you promised, but

talk is cheap. I don't have a child.

And there's some we must understand about the culture

that Abram is in, the culture, especially of the early writings

of the Scripture, this whole belief system of, of the

afterlife and what happens like, you know, today, everybody,

everybody, everybody across America today dies and goes to

heaven. The whole mentality even just of

afterlife of something beyond the grave knowledge and

understanding of that was very limited of Abram's day.

So the concept of dying, going to heaven is somewhat stranger,

foreign to them to a certain degree.

They believed in, as I made mention a few Sunday mornings

ago of show, the place of the grave where all the dead,

whether they're righteous or unrighteous, go to yes.

But whenever they talked about their life and they were talking

about their life and legacy, that happened through

descendants, that happened through children, right?

The the only way that a man could really continue his life

was through his children, through his descendants.

If he wanted his name to go on, it would have to happen through

the children. And it was more than just his

name. They truly had this sense of

belief that a man or a woman and what they had lived on through

their their biological errors. And so that's is what Abrams

fearing here. You give me these things, my

life doesn't carry on right? All the blessings and promises

that you bestow. They really don't carry on

unless I I have an error because and if I don't have it, then

everything is lost if I don't have a blood relative to inherit

it. And right now I got is this

Stewart right? He speaks of Eleazar that's in

his house because it was known that if a man or woman didn't

have a child, and Abram and Sarah is already up in years

here, all right, That if they didn't have a child, it was

common for them to kind of adopt an individual that would take

care of them in their elderly age as they slip off into

eternity. So he's saying, Oh my God, is

this steward of the house, Elie Azar.

All right. But verse 3 is a very special

moment for Abram because God specifies, right?

God gets in the details and he says, Abram, it's not the air

that's in your house, right? It's not Elie Azar, that adopted

heir that's going to be yours. It's going to be one from your

own bowels, meaning this. It's going to be someone of your

own. Body and your own blood.

What does that mean then? That means you're going to have

a kid. That means you're going to have

a child. And then God goes just a little

further, right? God uses these analogies and

stuff. He's already used some when he's

talked about this, this legacy of, of land and of people and of

being a great nation. But God goes and informs and

talks to Abram a little bit more, but not just about, not

just about quantity numbers, but also about quality.

Not just the quantity of his descendants, but the quality of

his descendants. Look at the old analogy in

Genesis 1316. This is what the Lord had said

unto Abram. And I will make thy seed as the

dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the

earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

In Genesis 15 and verse 5 that we read in your hearing tonight,

he said this. He brought him, Speaking of

Abram, forth abroad and said, Look now toward the heaven and

tell the stars that they'll be able to number them.

And he said to him, so shall thy seed be.

Well, Brother McGee, you know potato, potato, you know dust

stars. Look into the earth, look into

the heavens. It's still some type of

relationship to numbers. Yes, but we must remember where

Abram came from. Abram came from the earth of the

Chaldees. He came from the center of

Mesopotamia religion where they worship stars and moon and sun.

Remember we talked about how they worship the moon God Nana,

you remember that, Amen. How they worship the moon God

and it was refeared. Go get me tickled here now,

Amen. Stars in earth that Abram

remember his father. They worship Pagan gods when he

was brought up to stars were to believe to be divine beings,

they were believed to be manifestations of gods and they

these stars would hold the very faith and influence the lives of

those that worship them. So whenever God reference

Abraham's descendants as the stars, his sea being as the

stars, this is going to strike Abram on a multiple levels as he

hears this because number one, God isn't just promising

quantity, but God is promising quality.

As a matter of fact, God is redefining identity and

allegiance that Abram used to have.

God is transforming all the imagery of the stars, objects

that Abraham and his family once worshipped in his culture.

He's transferring all that now to symbols of inheritance.

It's not idultery now, it's inheritance.

It's not bondage, it's blessing. It's it's not the fate from the

stars, it's a destiny now that his family has in God.

In other words, it's almost as though if God says you once

bowed to these, Abram, but now your descendants will outshine

these. You don't follow the stars,

Abram, you produce them. It's kind of a gospel inversion

that we often have in Scripture where God reclaims the symbol.

He reclaims the symbol of idolatry now, and He expresses

it as His glory and His plan. Look at this, if you will,

Daniel chapter 12 and verse 3. Daniel has just spoken in in

Daniel 12 · chapter mention

verse #2 about the resurrection, how some would resurrect unto a

life and some would resurrect unto contempt.

And he goes on in verse 3. And they that be wise shall

shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn

many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

He says those that be wise or those that the interpretation is

those that would serve God and be obedient and and and adhere

to his commandments. He said, and those that will

help convert or may turn some to righteousness help convert,

Amen. Others.

He said those are them that are recognized as the stars forever.

You remember Abram what was promised to him by God.

He said in thee shall all the families of the earth be

blessed. He said these are the stars.

It's those that are obedient to God.

It's those that are operating as if you Incognito or even boldly

as converting those to the gospel.

Even in the New Testament of Philippians 215, the writer Paul

said to the Philippians, he described the sons of God or

believers as shining as lights in the world.

Some translation say it like this.

They are seen as bright lights or bright stars.

Another translation says ye shine like stars in the world.

Amen. God is telling Abram something

is happening here, Abram. You're not only going to have

them as the dust of the earth, a very natural, a very literal

descendancy of people from your loins, but as you cast your eyes

toward the heavens, toward the stars, we're not just talking

about people, we're also talking about believers.

We're this thing goes beyond just the natural, Amen.

There's going to because from your loins that will be people

that will be for the conversion of others.

There will be people that will adhere to my law.

There will be people, Amen, that will be wise in service.

And to me, your descendants will be as the dust of the earth and

as the stars of the sky, Amen. It's going to be earthly and it

is going to be spiritual and there's going to be overlap with

some of them. Some of them there earthly are

also going to be those that will become believers and converts.

Amen forevermore, Amen. But ultimately they're going to

be used for the transformation of humanity by my hand.

And in all of this, we see God work in a work because God's

grace has been in place ever since Eden.

We've seen his grace in the flood.

We've seen his grace in the transgression, the first

transgression. We've seen his grace Amen in in

various episodes, the Tower of Babel.

God's grace has been there, Amen.

But there's going to be this goal that he has for Abraham and

his seed ultimately. And remember Abraham's on the

growth pattern himself. But he's wanting his descendants

to be on that similar growth pattern, what?

To become like Him in nature and in character and in holiness,

That as Peter said, that by his divine power we can be made

partakers of his divine nature. Amen.

That the people could, if you will, become transformed to

reflect the light and the glory really, of who he is.

So God calls him in Abram. Leave her and I'll give you

descendants like the stars. I'll reclaim the symbol, I'll

redefined it. I'll give it meaning.

You'll leave behind the false lights so that your descendants

can be bearers of the true light.

Because ultimately Paul says the New Testament that in Christ,

Abram's seed becomes people who reflect the divine light.

Verse #6 is a defining moment. I'm not going to spend a whole

lot of time here. I believe a good amount of time

could be spent if you study in Romans 4IN Galatians 3 where the

apostle Paul references back to this verse.

That would be a good placement where you'd settle down for a

while. So I'm not going to do that

here, but it's a defining moment because the Bible says that

Abram believed God or he trusted in the Lord, and it's not

believed God in the sense that he believed in God's existence

#1 Scripture. How can I say this gingerly and

not be mistaken or miskewed? Scripture never really tries to

have proof or try to explain or try to validate God's existence.

Or in the beginning would have been a good place, but it just

starts in the beginning. God.

Matter of fact, the Tor you read through the Torah, it's not that

they are trying to get people to believe in a God.

It's not the problem. He believed God, not so much so

that there was an existence of God.

He already had that. He already had that covered.

He believed in God, but now he's trusting his, his word and he

it's given him hope, hope of an heir.

And if he has an heir, then this is going to transform.

This is going to transform Abraham's faith his life because

if he has an heir, the way that Abram lives might be adjusted

somewhat because faith has that power.

Faith transforms how you live said properly would probably be

faith should transform how you live said again is true faith

really does transform how you live.

He said, he credited that that trust that belief to him as

righteousness. And we've already, we've already

went some ground here. But let's continue.

Verse #7 So I'm going to read a few verses, then go skip down to

verse 17. So let me read the verse 11,

then we'll skip the verse 17. I'm trying to just keep some

things together here. And he said unto him, I am the

Lord that brought thee out of earth, the child ease to give

thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby

shall I know that I shall inherit it?

And he said unto him, Take me, and Heffer of three years old,

and the she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years

old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.

And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst,

and laid each piece one against another, But the birds divided

he not. And when the fowls came down

upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

The verse #17 And it came to pass that when the sun went down

and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace in the burning

lamp that passed between those pieces.

So Abram believed. And verse 7, the Lord responds

to Abram by using covenant language, by saying, I am the

Lord that brought thee out of ur a Choudis.

That's covenant language. That's the same language that we

see at Sinai in Exodus 20, that prior to Moses relaying the 10

commandments that the Lord said in Exodus 20, I am the Lord thy

God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.

You see the similarity between the two, and it was at Sinai

that God, through Moses, would make a covenant with his people.

In both cases, following this language comes a covenant.

As a matter of fact, this was known to the culture of that

time that that type of language is how covenants began.

That's how they started with that formal declaration.

There was a declaration of identity.

There was a declaration of the past action of whoever in the

sovereign was, and the sovereign here was God.

That's how it always started. And then it was followed by the

stipulations or the promises of the covenant.

That's the pattern of a covenant.

And so since that's the case, Abram is familiar with this

legal, if you want to call it legal, terminology of the

covenant. And the reason why I know he's

familiar with that because we read in verse #9 that God's

telling him, you know, 3 year old bull, 3 year old that grab

these animals. And the Bible says that Abram

grabs these animals and he divides them.

God never told him to divide them.

Abram does because he's already been clued in by the 1st words.

This is covenant making stuff. And you divide the animals, you

butterfly them. Whenever it comes to covenant,

he's doing it before God even asked it because he knows what's

going down. We're about ready to enter

covenant right here. All right.

And so he, he, he does these things and he divides it.

Amen. As a matter of fact, whenever

you talk to the Old Testament Scripture about making the

covenant you always talked about, you're talking about

cutting the covenant. Hence the dividing, hence the

slicing of the animal, the cutting of a covenant.

It's a life binding agreement. In the Old Testament there is a

slaughter, a sacrifice, there is a division of the animals.

All of that is underscoring the seriousness of the covenant

that's being entered into. As a matter of fact, the parties

that were involved in the agreement typically, all right,

we have these divided pieces, the parties that are involved,

the sovereign, the superior and and the lesser.

I was going to say inferior, but that sounded mean.

Maybe lesser wasn't very good, but these parties then would

walk between the pieces in a way symbolically saying that may may

this, this division, this lottery, may this happen to me

if I break the terms of the covenant that's being made.

And so the party then that would have violated the covenant.

They had the curse of death that was invoked upon their life.

Here's what the Bible says. Genesis 1517.

It came to pass when the sun went down, it was dark.

Behold a smoking furnace and the burning lamp that passed between

those pieces. Most and I'm agreement with him,

most people who describe this smoking furnace and burning lamp

as God himself. It's the manifestations that God

chose to manifest himself by. We see him as smoke and fire on

Mount Sinai and other places in Scripture, the burning Bush.

He reveals himself through these means.

Hebrew says no, you're not that your God is a consuming fire.

All these revelatory things that only God though here in the

Scripture we don't have no other record.

God's the only one that passes between the pieces.

Abraham does not, which means that this covenant is a

unilateral covenant, that God is binding himself to fulfill the

promises of this covenant independent of what Abraham

does. That don't seem like much, but

folks, that rule bolsters the the surety of the oath because

God can't die. But wouldn't you know, even with

such a covenant that the Israel's didn't quote UN quote

still keep their part, although they didn't sign the agreement,

so to speak, because they didn't keep the commands of the Lord,

they were honorable to the Lord. And you know what happened?

They didn't stay in the land of promise as a result of it.

So we got a dilemma on our side. We got dilemma here.

He's promised them land that they would inherit and they

would stay in, but they didn't stay in it because of their own

iniquity. We got a problem by all means as

a result of that. They should have been suffering

for the unkept covenant. But Abram didn't walk.

God, what are you going to do to fix the situation?

Someone's got to die. There's been a covenant breach.

God says I've been the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the

world. I'll make myself a body.

I'll take on flesh and blood. I'll go come in the likeness of

an Angel. I'll come in the likeness of the

seed of Abraham, is what the New Testament says.

I'll go to a cross. I'll allow myself to be killed.

Why? Because the covenant has to be

answered for. Hallelujah, their covenant has

to be answered for. And so Jesus took the dying.

Jesus took the curse of death of the covenant upon himself.

He said in Galatians, the Bible says that Christ has redeemed us

from the curse. For it said curses every man

that hang up on the tree. God says, I'll come down the

likeness of humanity, I'll take the curse.

The Bible tells us he took the violation of the old covenant.

And Hebrew said that Jesus Christ was the mediator of a

better covenant, which was established upon better

promises. Hey, man, it was a unilateral

covenant, and God took care of every side, each side, in spite

of Abraham, in spite of his descendants, all by himself.

I feel my help coming and my back's feeling a little better

here. Don't worry, I've been there

before. Animals that are used in this,

all of those animals are clean animals.

And this, whenever I seen them this week again, it caused me to

pause and want to trample the ground that I trampled last week

just one more time. Because all these animals that

are used in this covenant sacrifice were clean animals.

They're clean animals. They're clean animals that later

by the Law of Moses, would be defined in the Levitical law as

clean animals proper for sacrifice and for worship.

When I start thinking about this for the Mason and I begin to

review the lists from creation that were spoken to about a

Sabbath before, there's the law. We're spoken to about the use of

clean animals and sacrifice. Even with Noah now Abram before

the law, we're talk. We see sacrifices and offerings

taking place before there was a law telling anybody to do it.

Last week we talked about the tithe before the law said

anything about doing it. We'll see later in Genesis

Joseph doesn't commit adultery with Potiphar's wife without a

law telling him not to do it. All of that without the letter

of the law, because even before there was a letter of the law,

there was always the spirit of the law.

Paul said in Second Corinthians, Second Corinthian St.

For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

So before there was even the law directing their actions, they

had a God consciousness that was guiding them.

Let me say this, I believe in the New Testament.

He's trying to get us back to a God mindfulness that the Spirit

says and the Spirit says yes and the Spirit says no, and the

Spirit leads in paths of righteousness.

He wants for what does what does Roman say?

For as many are led by the Bishop Spirit of God, they are

the he says many are led by the law of God.

For as many are led by the Spirit.

Oh, brother Miguel, you're doing away from law.

No, because Christ fulfilled the law, but I have his Spirit.

Amen. So Abram, Abram waited for God

begin to walk, walk between the pieces of this covenant.

It appears right? Because in this interim of time

between when everything has been divided and then the lamp and

the smoking furnace going in between the pieces, Bible says

there were some fowls that came, fowls that came upon the

carcass. And the Bible describes that

Abram drove them. However, by means drove them.

I don't know if he had an extra robe to do in the air, if it was

just his hands or what he did, but he drove them away.

He was fighting off what was threatening the symbol of his

covenant because God's covenant to Abram didn't mean this.

We said, well, he didn't walk through it, no, but neither was

he a idle bystander to what was taking place.

He might not have walked through the pieces, but that also didn't

mean he just allowed anything to interfere.

What was with what was going on this covenant material?

What's the Bible tells the New Testament, the verse we love to

quote of first Peter 5/8 Be sober, be vigilant, because your

adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walketh about

seeking whom may I enter, interject what he may devour.

I might not be walking through the pieces, but I believe as a

Abram in my generation, I have a responsibility to guard the

terms of my covenant, to protect the space, if you will, between

the moment the promises starting to be made into the moment that

it's fulfilled. Everything was ready.

But God and the flaming, the flaming lamp and the smoking

furnace had not walked through it as of yet.

Is there anybody that's still keeping the vultures from your

covenant 'cause I yeah, 'cause I guarantee you there are some

things that they would just like to pick at.

Happens all the time. Pick at doctrines of your

covenant. Pick at wholeness and holiness

of your covenant. Let's even say pick at the

purity of your covenant. Because a bird of prey typically

was unclean if it touches the clean.

Cleanliness isn't conveyed, uncleanliness is, right.

Yeah, right, right. Let's go on.

We got to go, right? Run Genesis 15 and verse 12.

And so I'm going to read verses 12 through 16 and 18 through 21,

and we'll finish up chapter 15. OK, so I'm jumping back up verse

12. And when the sun was going down,

the deep sleep fell up on Abram, and lo, and horror of great

darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of

a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not

theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400

years. And also that nation whom they

shall serve will I judge. And afterwards shall they come

out with a great substance. And thou shalt go to thy

father's in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good

old age, but in the 4th generation they shall come hit

her again. For the iniquity of the Amorites

is not yet fools. Giving down to verse 18.

In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, And

to thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt and

to the great river, the river of the Euphrates, and the Kinites

and the Kinnisites and the Cadmanites and the Hittites and

the Hittites and the Hittites and the Hittites and the

Parasites and the Rifaeens, and the Amorites and the Canaanites,

the Gagashites and the Jebusites.

So Abram's drifting off to sleep in verse verse 12 and there's

this very weighty and dreadful, you could call it a revelation

that comes to him that this whole idea of the promise of the

land, it's going to come through him, but it's going to be more

for his descendants than it will be for him.

It's kind of like a happy, sad moment for Abram, right?

So this thing's really going to be by for my descendants.

But thank God, I'm going to have some descendants, you know, So

it's it's kind of a a happy, sad moment for him.

It's the brother Mason even this whole land coming to fruition

thing. It's not denied it's just

delayed scenario Acts 7 verse 5 as Stephen speech and he relays

Acts 7:5

this time of Abram and I've I've quoted this before, but I give

you the reference tonight Acts 75 and he God gave him Abram

none inheritance in it. Speaking of Canaan No, not so

much as to set his foot on yet he promised that he would give

it to him for a possession and to his seat after him when as

yet he had no such child. So again, it wasn't necessarily

that it was going to be his as much as his descendants.

And so God speaks to him. So in this moment that God has

given Abram promise, he's also given him prophecy.

He speaks to him about the future, about his descendants,

how they're going to be in bondage.

They're going to be in the land that's strange to them, not

their own. They're going to be there for

400 years thereabouts. Bible says later 4 generations,

which the word generations actually is interpreted as a

lifespan or a lifetime. And around 100 years was

lifespan lifetime of these these patriarchs.

And so about 400 years. And he tells them that Egypt is

going to be judged. And he tells them even, I mean,

you want to talk about God and prophecy in some detail.

He basically tells them they're going to leave there with great

substance, right? But they're going to spoil

Egypt. That's the word.

When you go to Exodus 12 and verse 3436, whenever Israel was

coming out of Egypt and the Lord gave the people favor in the

sight of the Egyptians so that they lent to them such thing as

they required, and they spoiled prophecy fulfilled, and they

spoiled the Egyptians. So the rest of my little chapter

here is kind of scrambled eggs. OK, What's that mean?

It's a hodgepodge of this and that.

All right, so verse 16, the Bible says that this, this is

this, they're not going to come back except until in the 4th

generation. And it says this phrase for the

iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

And it's like, what in the world?

Well, the Amorites were synonymous with Canaanites.

Sometimes the Canaanites were called Amorite, sometimes vice

versa. They were synonymous.

All right. And again, this shows God's

grace because God wasn't just going to destroy a people just

to destroy a people and have his people move in, because these

Canaanites or Amorites, we're doing some horrific things that

would be horrific in the sight of God.

And so God has given time even for that nation, a space of

grace. God.

God does this, folks. We see this so many times that

before God comes down with his hammer of judgment, he almost

always gives time of grace for a change.

That's the time we're living in right now, a space of grace

judgments coming from from Nineveh backward from Nineveh

forward there came by that suffered at the hand of the

judgment of God that didn't have a time for repentance or making

things right before judgment. That's the reason why we'll be

without excuse on and yes, I'm off my nose.

This right would be without excuse on judgment day because

we the church ages had an awful long time and an awful lot of

information and living in the dispensation where we can

receive the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.

Right? The Bible says the Queen of

Sheba will rise up in judgment with those of our day.

Uh huh. Why?

Because all they had baptism under repentance.

Oh, they had they didn't have the spirit, but we got that.

We have on board teacher. We have written word, not just

spoken word. We have all this material.

It almost be like someone today. You know what I'm saying is we

have more things available to us now to make us aware of where we

need to stand then generations before us.

So if we don't get it right, and they got it right to the degree

that they could with the knowledge that they had, what

type of shadow does that cast on us?

And that's my little sidetrack. So Goddess Jess, so he said he's

not doing anything to the iniquity of the Amorites is full

whenever whenever they reach the breaking point that it can no

longer be ignored and they won't take advantage of the reprieve

I've given it. I'll come in that generation,

we'll knock them out. My children will inherit the

land. But in light of all this, in

light of the disbanding of them, in light of the suffering of the

children of Israel in all that God let's Abraham know, he said

I'm going to let you die. You're going to die in peace.

You're going to die in an old age.

In all of Abram's faith, what that did was enable him to trust

God for a timeline that he knew that he would not live to see

fully fulfilled in his lifetime. Hebrews says it over and over.

Those people of faith, they died in faith, not receiving the

promises, but just the, the, the, the, the confidence and

consolation. Knowing they were there.

They could lay down their head and say it may not be in my

generation. Do you not know that that is

still happening yet today? My grandma and grandpa died in

faith. Rapture didn't happen in their

generation, but they died with the reassurance there is a day

every generation. Amen.

From time the Bible says, and I hit on that Scripture already.

But when we looked in at the last few verses again, this is

just scrambled eggs here at the end.

OK, these territories that are mentioned from the river of

Egypt into the great river Euphrates, he's talking about.

He's talking about the land that he will give unto Abram.

And we really don't see the fulfillment of this until

somewhere around the David Solomon Kingdom time frame of

these these areas in particular that it speaks of.

And he speaks about 10 different nations that are currently

possessing this land, which again is note for Abram and his

descendants that the land is this acquisition is not going to

come hands free. You're still going to have some

challenges in opposite opposition.

But I am your shield, all right, So stand for me tonight.

I'll come to a close. So what we learned this evening,

we learned this that victory doesn't make us invincible.

If anything, victory makes you visible.

Victory makes you visible. And after the triumph, off times

comes the testing It does. I'm telling you, I've lived it

my own life. Some of the highest high marks,

moments of my life for God have been followed with bouts of

depression, bouts of attack. I can tell you in the years of

Ministry of my life that that is it's almost makes you afraid to

want to even have victory because the feeling and the

prominence of the targeted defeat afterwards is so

overwhelming. He has, you know, these

spiritual, spiritual taxes following these high moments.

But in that vulnerable place, God comes alongside him.

God, I love the mercy of God. God doesn't rebuke Abram, but he

reassures him, right? I'm, I'm, I'm your, I'm your

shield. It's, it's not, it's not the

spoils, it's, I'm the exceeding great reward.

It's not the applause of men, it's me.

And so our faith isn't just about believing again in God's

existence. It's trusting His word when our

eyes don't see any evidence. Now, faith is the substance of

things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

So what we've been called to do as Abram is this.

God didn't ask him to walk between the pieces, but he did

invite him to walk between the promise and its fulfillment.

Guard that covenant space, whatever may try to devour it.

Because in the end, yeah, God through Scripture, he is writing

history, but God is also writing legacy through his Word, through

us until he makes us as the stars.

So we're somewhere between, somewhere between if we embow

our heads tonight. Father, I come to you this

evening. God, I thank you, Lord, for that

covenant Lord that was made with Abram.

God. And if we are, Lord Jesus, a

part of this thing called the body of Christ, then we are,

according to New Testament Scripture, a part of the seed of

Abram. I pray, O God, tonight, I'm

thankful, Lord, for the covenant, Lord, that's been

made. Then, Lord, the covenants

throughout the journey. Lord, I even knew and better

covenant that you've made in the New Testament.

I'm thankful, God, in each one that you have been the keeper,

Lord Jesus, of them all. God, you have taken upon your

shoulders as the superior Lord to keep all sides of it, Lord,

all sides of it. God, in spite of my inadequacy,

Lord, in my faults and my failures, I pray, O Lord, today,

God, be with your people. Lord, tonight, God, as they go

their separate ways, help them to be guardians.

The Lord of the materials, the Lord God of this covenant.

I pray Jesus that you continue to help us, convict us, help us

have a God consciousness about us that would be easily

impressed by the Spirit of the Lord and be truly sons and

daughters of God. I pray, O Lord, be few peoples,

they go their separate ways, God and their jobs.

I pray God be with them, help them to be a witness God to the

world that we live in. In the name of Jesus Christ that

I pray Hallelujah in the church, say Amen, Amen.

This coming Sunday is the 4th, the 4th Sunday, Yep, the 4th

Sunday in this month. Amen.

Me in the AM, brother Alex Mason and the PM Amen will have a good

time, Amen. The Lord on Sunday.

Shake hands with one another, hug a neck, encourage somebody

in the Lord. Amen.

Before you leave here tonight and you're dismissed in Jesus

name this.