Summer Baggage - Fear
Notes
Transcript
The Abrahamic Covenant
The Abrahamic Covenant
God tells Abraham Your offspring will be as numerous as the stars.
1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
1 After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.
2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”
4 Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”
5 He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
8 But he said, “Lord God, how can I know that I will possess it?”
Abraham has one small hangup: He’s currently childless!
He believes, but struggles to see how. v6
Faith: Ongoing belief in the promises of God despite the disparity between what God has promised and our current circumstances. We continue to believe despite the disparity of our reality.
Certainty of knowledge has been placed before faith, or reason before revelation.
This is a man with faith, seeking understanding.
Abraham is not saying he is certain, but that he believes.
HOW?
Covenant: A promise in which God obligates Himself; His character is on the line if He doesn’t fulfill this promise He’s making. A divine initiative
9 He said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 So he brought all these to him, cut them in half, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half.
11 Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, a deep sleep came over Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed.
14 However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions.
15 But you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River:
19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hethites, Perizzites, Rephaim,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Covenants were not weird in this culture.
What is the significance here?
God said it would happen! It’s going to happen!
-> The author: Moses
-> Original audience: Getting ready to go into the promise land
God’s name is on the line here. He alone walks through the blood of the animals. If He or Abraham do not make good on the covenant, the penalty will be on God.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need.
2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.
Breathe, trust God. He is for you. He is for His glory.
31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration.
33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
God knows all things. He knew that we would fall, He knew we would make mistakes. He loves us and sent His Son for us anyway.
Sometimes we allow fear to freeze us.
We think at our core we’re not capable enough. So we gather for ourselves resources so we have everything we need.
Breathe, and trust God. He gives us exactly what we need. Manna from heaven!
Sometimes fear manifests in worry. Maybe I don’t belong here or anywhere. Maybe something happened in my past and what I’ve told myself is if I can anticipate every possible scenario, then I’ll be safe and that will never happen again.
Breathe, and trust God. He holds our future, He knows all things.
4 Where were you when I established the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.