02-20-2022 Sermon - Genesis 15:1-18

 

Genesis 15:1-18 (NLT)

The Lord’s Covenant Promise to Abram

^15:1 Sometime later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”

² But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all Your Blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since You’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. ³ You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” ⁵ Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”

⁶ And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

⁷ Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”

⁸ But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I

will actually possess it?”

⁹ The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ So Abram presented all these to Him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. ¹¹ Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.

¹² As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end, they will come away with great wealth. ¹⁵ (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) ¹⁶ After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”

¹⁷ After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. ¹⁸ So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—

 

 

Prep – Jumping Around – Marriage – Follow the Theme

 

 

Allow me to start off with

Giving You a question

Which we will return to

Later on, in our lesson.

 

The Question is:

“WHAT WOULD YOU SAY

IS THE MAIN PRINCIPAL,

THE LEADING REASON FOR MAN?

 

Have You Heard

The Winter Olympics are Going On?

 

So – What Would You Say

That It Takes

To Compete in the Olympics – At that LEVEL?

 

On the average,

·     Train up to 8 Years before They even Try Out.

·     They Train for over 10,000 Hours Before the Games.

·     It is also Very Important that they Get their SLEEP.

·     They Also must Stay on top of their diet.

·     And then there is the Mental Preparation.

·     Now one can say that the athletes,

o Practice as many hours

§ As we work when we have a full-time job.

 

 

·     However, when they are training for the Olympics

o But really,

§ When they’re training for the Olympics,

§ Their Mind Is on That Goal

·     All-Of-The-Time.

 

I Always Find it Helpful For Me

     IF I understand the Basics

           Before I Get into the Specifics!

 

 

Here – We find a Chart

       With the Counting of the Years

Beginning at Creation

                     Rather than Normal which was

Around the Year

When Jesus was about 5 or so.

 

 

So, Who Is Abraham?

 

Well - We Just Heard Scripture Talk About Him

And He Is Known as being

Father Abraham

 

 

Father Abraham had many sons

Many sons had Father Abraham

I am one of them and so are you

So, let's just praise the Lord …

 

 

And NOTE Here – We See the Time of the FLOOD!

 

And We See the Man who is known for

       Being the Closest to God’s Own Heart

              A Man who Never Died.

                     ENOCH! (Check out your Bulletins)

 

But Let Us Once Again, Refocus upon Abraham.

 

Verse 1 says:

^15:1 Sometime later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram,

For I will protect you,

And your reward will be great.”

 

 

Now – Isn’t this Fantastic about God?

You know - For Me,

This Says So Much

About How Well - God knows Each One of Us!

“Do not be afraid”

 

 

 

² But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord,

What good are All Your Blessings

When I Don’t Even Have a Son?

 

Since You’ve given me no children,

Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. 

 

³ You have given me NO Descendants of my own,

so, one of my servants will be my heir.”

 

 

 

 

You Know - Within These Words from Abraham,

I hear in the same Type of TONE –

Which Someone Else

Once Spoke to God –

Way Back at the Beginning.

I would like for us to go back to Genesis, Chapter 3.

 

 

First, I am going to read versus 1 – 19.

 

And Then - I am going to ask for us all

To watch a short clip of these same versus.

 

The reason for doing this,

I would like for you

To listen to the words in both,

       Listen to see how the WORDS Speak to you –

              And Which way gives you more Life?

 

 

You see – What I Hope that We Will All Find

       That there is a Difference

              Between Just Reading

                     And Reading with the Ability to Hear

                           And Maybe Even –

Living Within What We Hear.

 

God’s Word is a Narrative of

What Happened and Of What Was Said.

But We Must Allow the SPIRIT

To Breathe Life into These Same Words

So That – We Can Understand

And to Grow Within Them.

 

Genesis 3:1-19

 

The Man and Woman Sin

^3:1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made.

 

One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

 

² “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.

³ “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

 

⁴ “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.

 

⁵ “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

 

⁶ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful, and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.

 

So, she took some of the fruit and ate it.

Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

 

⁷ At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So, they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

⁸ When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.

So, they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

 

⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

 

¹⁰ He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.

I was afraid because I was naked.”

 

¹¹ “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked.

 

“Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

 

¹² The man replied, “It was the woman You gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

 

¹³ Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, you are cursed

    more than all animals, domestic and wild.

 

You will crawl on your belly,

    groveling in the dust as long as you live.

 

¹⁵ And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and her offspring.

 

He will strike your head,

    and you will strike his heel.”

 

¹⁶ Then he said to the woman,

 

“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,

    and in pain you will give birth.

 

And you will desire to control your husband,

    but he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ And to the man he said,

 

“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree

    whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,

the ground is cursed because of you.

 

    All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.

 

¹⁸ It will grow thorns and thistles for you,

    though you will eat of its grains.

 

¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow

    will you have food to eat

until you return to the ground

    from which you were made.

 

For you were made from dust,

    and to dust you will return.”

 

 

 

I asked you a question

Back when I first began this message

And that Question was:

 

“WHAT WOULD YOU SAY

IS THE MAIN PRINCIPAL,

THE LEADING REASON FOR MAN?

 

In Other words –

WHY DID GOD CREATE YOU?

 

 

IF Your Answer is:

My Main Principal Reason of WHY I am Here

IS To Glorify God and To Enjoy Him Forever.

 

FANTASTIC

 

And the ONLY Way to do this is to:

       Have A True

          Have A Real

              RELATIONSHIP With Him!

 

 

Allow me to come at this by another angle –

 

       Why Do We Get Married?

       Why Do We Have such a thing as Marriage?

       And Who Came Up With this Crazy Idea Anyways

Allow be to answer them in Reverse Order.

      

1.                        Who came up with the “Idea” of Marriage?

              God did!

      

2.                        Why Do we have such a thing as Marriage?

              So, we can further understand the Type of

Relationship which God wants with us.

 

3.                        Why do we get married?

So, we can learn to have a better and more intimate Relationship with Him.

 

So – Right Now –

The Bottom Question IS

How Good would You

Say your Marriage is?

 

So – How Is Your Marriage? 1 to 10?

 

You know - At the beginning,

We talked about what it takes

To be an Olympic Athlete.

 

How Many Hours Devoted to your one sport?

The Discipline – (Hours – Training – Diet – Sleep – and Mental Drainage)

That is Being Spent – From Their Lives – All For this ONE Purpose.

 

 

Now I am asking Of Those of Us Who Are Married,

How Many Hours Are You Devoting to it?

What is the Cost from Your Life for this Union?

And Is It Successful?

Are You a Champion?

Or Are You a Benchwarmer?

And Would Your Spouse Agree?

 

 

And Now – I am Asking All of Us Who Believe,

       Those Of Us Who Are of Faith,

How Many Hours Are You Devoting to It?

What Is the Cost from Your Life for this Union?

And Is It Successful?

Are You a Champion?

Or Are You a Benchwarmer?

And Even a BIGGER Question

Would God Agree?

 

You See – This Whole Lesson

And All the Articles in the Bulletin

It ALL Comes Down to this!

 

 

There is a HUGE Difference

     There Is World of Difference

              Between – Thinking We Are OK

                     That We Are SAFE

                           That We Have This Thing with God

 

BETWEEN – BEING OK

       And Actually - Having It!

GOD IS PURSUING US –

BUT ARE WE

Are YOU

- PURSUING HIM?

 

And to tell you the truth –

       There are NO

Benchwarmers In Heaven.

 

There Are Only Champions!

 

 

 

So – Allow me to ask You This:

           What Type of Relationship

Do YOU have with God?

 

AND JUST MAYBE –

The Real Truth of It

Lies Within Just Exactly

How Much Time

And Energy

And Effort

Do You Really Spend

In This Pursuit Of,

This Hunt For,

That Special Bound Between,

That Loving Relationship,

And That Oneness –

That Closeness

That Courtship Within Him?

 

God's Promise to Abraham

Even Goes with Us Into Our Today.

 

 

"Fear Not”

“I Am Your Shield”

“Your Reward Shall Be Very Great"

(Genesis 15:1)