Latest / More Than Medicine / DWDP-Gen 17: 1-8 Abram becomes Abraham

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DWDP-Gen 17: 1-8 Abram becomes Abraham · More Than Medicine

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hosted by author and physician, Dr.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Robert Jackson.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Papa, can you tell me a story?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Do you really want me to tell you a story?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you go get your brother and your sisters, and I will tell you a story.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Devotions with Dr.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Papa.
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  SPEAKER_01: Gather around, grab your Bibles, and let's look into the written word, which reveals to us the living word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_01: Today we're in Genesis 17.
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  SPEAKER_01: We're going to read through and teach through verses 1 through 8.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through a verse or two at a time rather than reading all eight verses to start with.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now when Abram was ninety nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God almighty.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Walk before me and be blameless.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now God appears to Abram at age ninety-nine and speaks to him.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is now the fourth time that God speaks to Abram.
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  SPEAKER_01: He speaks to him in chapter twelve, chapter thirteen, chapter fourteen, chapter fifteen.
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  SPEAKER_01: One, two, three, four.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well now we're in chapter seventeenth, so really it's the fifth time that God has spoken to Abram, each time with basically the same message, which is I will bless you, your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the dust of the earth, and they will possess the land of Canaan, get this forever.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever blesses you and your descendants I will bless.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever curses you and your descendants I will curse.
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  SPEAKER_01: Abram believed God, and the Bible says it was credited to him and to his spiritual account as righteousness.
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  SPEAKER_01: The same as you and I.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: When you and I trust in Jesus, it is credited to us as righteousness both then and now.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Salvation is by grace through faith.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Are you beginning to get the idea that Abram was one special guy in God's plan?
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  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how many times has God appeared personally to you?
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  SPEAKER_01: So God says to Abram, walk before me and be blameless.
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  SPEAKER_01: But first he identifies himself as El Shaddai, which means God Almighty.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now when I was in high school, I had a friend who was older than me, and he was a Bible instructor.
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  SPEAKER_01: And he used to get worked up at times, and when he did, he would say, Gosh almighty.
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  SPEAKER_01: Well, he was my friend, and I and I hate to say this and I hate to admit it, but eventually I started doing the same thing.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And when things happened that got me excited, I would say, Gosh almighty.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, when I got to college, I was involved with a group of Christian friends, and I was in a Bible study, and I said that one time in front of a of a God fearing Christian young lady who was probably three years older than me.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And she immediately looked at me and she said, Robert Jackson, you just took the Lord's name in vain.
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  SPEAKER_01: Well, she said it in front of several other Christian friends of mine, and I was mortified.
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  SPEAKER_01: My face flushed red, and I I felt like I should just fall through the floor.
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  SPEAKER_01: And I knew she was right.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know that was the last time I ever said that.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was the last time I ever took the Lord's name in vain by saying that.
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  SPEAKER_01: She called me on the carpet, embarrassed me really, and I was rebuked by an older Christian college girl.
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  SPEAKER_01: Only God, the true and living God, can appropriately use that designation.
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  SPEAKER_01: And he alone can challenge, can challenge you and command us to walk before him in perfection, in holiness, as he is holy, which is exactly what he did with Abram when he said walk before me and be blameless.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what he did with Abram, and he expected him and he expects you and me to be blameless.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: In first Peter chapter one and fifth verse fifteen, he says but you like the holy one who has called you, be ye holy in all your conduct.
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  SPEAKER_01: Did you get that?
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  SPEAKER_01: Like the holy one who has called you, be ye holy in all your conduct.
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  SPEAKER_01: God Almighty, the Holy One of Israel, is the only one who can command and expect such blameless perfection.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, can you and I really walk in blameless perfection?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you see there's two things going on at the same time in your life and mine.
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  SPEAKER_01: One is as Christian folks, we have Holy Spirit living within us.
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  SPEAKER_01: We are the temple of Holy Ghost, whom we have from God, and we are not our own.
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  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, there is within us an old sin nature.
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  SPEAKER_01: And the two are at war within us.
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  SPEAKER_01: Which one wins?
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  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's the one to whom you give the authority.
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  SPEAKER_01: You choose every day who wins that daily ongoing battle.
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  SPEAKER_01: Do you give authority to Holy Spirit or do you give authority to the old sin nature?
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  SPEAKER_01: And the two are constantly in conflict.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now, in verse two, he reminds Abram that he intends to establish a covenant with him and will multiply him exceedingly.
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  SPEAKER_01: Then get this in verse three, Abram fell on his face and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
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  SPEAKER_01: No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now back up to verse three.
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  SPEAKER_01: Abram does the only appropriate thing.
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  SPEAKER_01: He falls on his face before El Shaddai, the almighty God, maker and possessor of heaven and earth, the holy one, the true and living God before whose face the heavens and the earth flee away.
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  SPEAKER_01: And God talked to him face to face.
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  SPEAKER_01: I want you to understand that this is one of the most extraordinary things about holy scripture.
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  SPEAKER_01: It casually records that El Shaddai, the almighty God, talks face to face with ordinary men.
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  SPEAKER_01: That is not a mundane natural or daily occurrence.
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  SPEAKER_01: Truly it is supernatural and spectacular, yet Scripture treats it as no big deal.
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  SPEAKER_01: Well it's not a big deal for God, for whom nothing is impossible, for whom nothing is too difficult making an appearance from heaven to earth and speaking to a man or causing a virgin to conceive and give birth, or raising a dead man or feeding five thousand people with a few fish and loaves, well not a big deal to El Shedi.
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  SPEAKER_01: To you and me, well, it leaves us totally perplexed.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now in verse four and five, God reiterates that the covenant is with Abram, and that he will be the father of a multitude of nations.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now I remind you, Abram is ninety nine and childless.
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  SPEAKER_01: He and Sarai are beyond the age of child bearing.
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  SPEAKER_01: Abram is understandably perplexed by the repetition of this promise.
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  SPEAKER_01: Then in verse five God changes his name from Abram meaning exalted father to Abraham meaning father of a multitude, saying, I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now let's read verse six and seven.
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  SPEAKER_01: I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.
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  SPEAKER_01: I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
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  SPEAKER_01: I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know about you, but if the eternal God of heaven and earth said that to me, I would be pretty excited and probably all puffed up, except Abram was ninety nine years old.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Humanly speaking, the fulfillment of this promise was impossible, and Abram knew it, yet God went on to talk about his covenant with his descendants throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Then in verse eight he says He plans to give his descendants the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.
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  SPEAKER_01: There's only one problem.
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  SPEAKER_01: He's ninety nine, and Sarah's eighty nine and both of them are past the age of childbearing.
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  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Of course right.
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  SPEAKER_01: For today's lesson, let's leave Abram, whose name is now Abraham, the father of a multitude in a confused and perplexed state.
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  SPEAKER_01: A perplexed state of mind.
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  SPEAKER_01: I want to point out to you that there was no condition whatsoever upon Abraham's descendants for the land of Canaan to be their everlasting possession.
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  SPEAKER_01: Did you catch that?
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  SPEAKER_01: No conditions whatsoever.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: There is no doubt that at times Abraham's descendants did not remain faithful to the covenant and even were removed from the promised land temporarily because of their unfaithfulness.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, the land of Canaan remains their everlasting possession.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: This is the fifth time God has repeated that promise to Abram, who is now called Abraham.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: It does not matter what the surrounding Arab nations may claim or the international courts may claim.
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  SPEAKER_01: This divine document predates and supersedes all of their claims.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And this document has God for its author.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: He states plainly and repeatedly that the land belongs to Abraham's son Isaac, not Ishmael, as we will see in next week's lesson.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: God promises Abraham a son, he gives his son his name in advance, he kicks Ishmael to the curb, but promises to bless Ishmael and make of him a great nation, but tells Abraham that his posterity will be through Isaac.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: But before all that God institutes a very peculiar covenant that sets every Hebrew apart from every other pagan idol worshiping nation.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: We'll hear about that next week.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Don't touch that dial.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be back in one week to discuss that very peculiar covenant that God establishes for the Hebrew people.
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  SPEAKER_01: You're listening to devotions with doctor Papa.
• 14:58
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• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be back next week.
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  SPEAKER_01: Until then, I trust that the Lord will bless you real good.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, Jesus loves you and your doctor loves you.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: God bless you.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, Instagram, or webpage at Jackson Family Ministry.com.
• 15:29
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• 15:35
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• 15:39
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