Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Equipped 2026: "God's Promises and Circumcision" by Bud Woodall

Transcript

Equipped 2026: "God's Promises and Circumcision" by Bud Woodall · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Good afternoon. It is a joy to be able to be part of this equipped lectureship or workshop.
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And it is a joy to be with my brothers and sisters in Christ here to be able to gather
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together to open God's Word, to learn from it, to learn practical lessons that help us
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all and to look at the book of Genesis for this particular lectureship, something that
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is so foundational for our life, no matter how much time there may be until the Lord
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comes again to take his people home, the very idea that we can open the Bible to Genesis
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to see how things began and to know what that means for us because these lessons still impact
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us today.
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One Saturday afternoon, a man saw his seven-year-old daughter sitting in a chair with her Bible
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storybook propped up in her lap and she had a pen in her hand and was writing in her book.
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And her dad was sort of horrified that she was writing in that book and he looked over
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her shoulder to see what she was doing and he noticed what she was doing was she was
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circling the word God every time it appeared in her Bible storybook.
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And her dad did the thing that bads do, we ask that question and that question is, what
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are you doing?
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Young men who have children understand you're going to ask that question a lot.
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What are you doing?
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And the little girl replied, I'm circling God's name so I know where to find him when
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I need him.
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We understand that, don't we?
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When we open the pages of the Bible, we see those things that God has promised to us,
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salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ, comfort and strength for us in those struggles
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that we have in this world, the peace that passes understanding.
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We know that God hears when we cry out to him, when we pray, the idea that we can turn
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to Jesus for the rest that we so desperately need and ultimately realizing the presence
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of our Lord now and to be with him in eternity, promises are in front of us all over the Bible.
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In fact, in the book of 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 4, Peter making reference to God's
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promises makes this statement, he writes about the exceedingly great and precious promises
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that we have.
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And I'm always reminded when I read this passage of Brother Wendell Winkler when I was in college,
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as he would look at this passage, he would point out that we have promises, but not just
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promises, we have precious promises.
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But not just precious promises, we have great and precious promises, but not just great
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and precious promises, we have exceedingly great and precious promises.
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And when you want to know where to find God when you need him, when you need to lean on
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those exceedingly great and precious promises of God, I want one of the passages that comes
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to your mind to be these three chapters that we are looking at right now in the book of
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Genesis, Genesis chapter 15, chapter 16, and chapter 17, because that is exactly what we
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find in these words.
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We see what these promises of God mean to us, certainly the things that were written
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before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures
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might have hope.
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We live under Christ, we look to the law of Moses, we look to patriarchal law, and we
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learn things, we appreciate things, that's not the law under which we live, but when
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we read those things in Genesis, we are finding messages, we are finding God's Word and his
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revelation of himself for me and for you today that we desperately need.
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So let us look at these three chapters to learn about the great promises of God.
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And number one, we start in Genesis chapter 15 to see God's promises can propel me through
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my deepest fears.
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God's promises propel me through my deepest fears.
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Here in Genesis chapter 15, we see this broken down into two parts.
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It begins with Abram's concern.
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Now I'm going to try to say Abram here in chapter 15 and 16, we'll see how well that
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works out.
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We'll get to Abraham and the name change in chapter 17.
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But we start with the concerns in verses 1 through 6, going on to God's assurance in
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verses 7 through 21.
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Notice what we find.
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Genesis 15 verses 1 through 6, Abram's concern.
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Genesis 15 verse 1, we read, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision
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saying, do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.
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God is telling Abram, I know time has passed, I know you haven't seen things come about
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as you perhaps thought they would have by this point, but I want you to know I'm not
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finished.
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I'm still with you.
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I am your shield, your reward.
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Verse 2, but Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me?
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Seeing I go childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.
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Abram said, look, you have given me no children, indeed, one born in my house is my heir.
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Abram's concern is, Lord, you promised me a great seed, you promised a nation that would
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come from me.
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I don't have any children.
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This isn't going the way that I thought.
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In fact, Abram is saying, I've had to name someone who isn't even truly related to me
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as my heir.
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Verses 4 and 5, God told Abram, Eliezer will not be your heir.
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Eliezer is not going to be the one who I promised to you.
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Your own child is going to be your heir.
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In fact, this is where we find that great statement from God, telling Abram to look
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up to the stars in the sky and telling him his descendants would be as numerous as those
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stars in the sky.
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And in Genesis 15, verse 6, we read, he, Abram, believed the Lord and it was, notice
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the term here, accounted to him for righteousness.
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This is an interesting passage quoted in the New Testament by both Paul and James to point
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out how Abram is such a model to us of faith and the vitality of faith in our life.
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Abram's concern, verses 1 through 6, but then we see God's assurance, verses 7 through 21.
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God told Abram that he would, in fact, inherit the land where he was living.
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God tells Abram, if you want to know how this is going to happen, I'm going to not
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just give you a group of descendants, but as I told you before, and this backs up to
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chapter 12, as I told you before, you are going to have descendants living in this land
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where you are simply a sojourner.
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And Abram says, Lord, how shall I know that I will inherit it?
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And God had Abram bring several animals and divide those animals down the middle and place
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them on the ground opposite one another.
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And when the evening came, a deep sleep fell upon Abram and the Lord spoke to Abram and
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God told Abram that his descendants would serve in a strange land, but only for a time,
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that they would return to this place, God said, in the fourth generation, there would
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be a long period of time when they were out of this land.
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But God said, I will bring them into this land, Genesis 15, verse 17, and it came to
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pass when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven
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and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.
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Maybe you're like me and you read that and you scratch your head and you say, what is
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that?
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That the animals separated, put on either side and as Abram is seeing this, this dream
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that he has and God speaking with him, dealing with him, Abram sees this smoking oven and
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burning torch walking between those animals that had been separated into two pieces.
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It's a picture and it's a picture telling that God walked between those animals to confirm
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his covenant with Abram.
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Perhaps we even look at the smoking oven and the fire of that torch, the smoke and the
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fire and you and I had the benefit of thinking about what happened when Israel would ultimately
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leave Egyptian slavery and there was that pillar of cloud or smoke and fire that they
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had and it's telling us of the presence of God with Abram.
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And so Genesis chapter 15 begins with God telling Abram, I am your shield and your reward
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and it ends with God cutting a covenant with Abram to say, I'm telling you, I will follow
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through.
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Friends, this is not a chapter for us to overlook.
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This is not something for us to look at and think, well, that's a very interesting piece
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of history.
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Thank you very much.
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Let's move on to something else.
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Listen, God knew Abram.
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He knew what he felt.
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He knew what lay upon his heart.
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God knows you and me.
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He knows what we feel.
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He knows the burdens that lay on our heart.
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You don't have to live your life in fear of what could or what might or even what will
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happen.
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God said to Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.
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He's promising his presence.
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I thought about Joshua chapter 1 as I considered the presence of God.
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In Joshua chapter 1, verses 6 through 9, God told Joshua, he wanted him to be strong
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and courageous.
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In fact, he said so three times in these four verses of Joshua chapter 1, verses 6 through
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9.
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And in verse 9, we see the reason for it.
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Joshua chapter 1 and verse 9, God said, have I not commanded you?
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Be strong and of good courage.
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Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
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In the book of Revelation chapter 1, John sets for us an interesting scene.
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He tells us simply what he saw and those pictures sometimes are what our minds struggle with
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in the book of Revelation.
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But this time we have an explanation, which is wonderful.
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What John saw in Revelation chapter 1 was seven lampstands and the Lord was walking
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in the midst of those seven lampstands.
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But Revelation chapter 1 does not close without telling me and you at the end of the chapter
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that what that is, what those lampstands are, are the seven churches of Asia.
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Let the figure sink into your mind.
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The Lord walking in the midst of those lampstands, the lampstands are the seven churches in what
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they were facing and what they were going through.
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Those Christians, the Lord's church had the presence of the Lord and so do we.
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It is the Lord's presence that we need.
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When your heart is aching with loneliness or sorrow or grief, he is with you.
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When you don't know what to do, you can lean on him, opening his word to see what he has
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revealed of himself and what he wants us to do.
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He is with you.
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When the obstacles in front of you are stacking up like the walls of Jericho, an insurmountable
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barrier in front of you, he is with you.
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Someone says that's a wonderful statement, but how do we know he's going to follow through?
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That's what Abram asked him.
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How do I know that God will follow through?
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How do I know that I can have the assurance that what God says he will do, he will keep
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his promises?
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Someone says, can I have the assurance that Abram had?
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Friends, we can have assurance far beyond what Abram had.
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So much more.
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Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, the promise was made that the seed of woman would crush or
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bruise the head of the serpent of Satan.
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Christ came into the world and did just that.
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In Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 15, Moses said that there would be a prophet who would
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come after him and he said to him, you shall listen.
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Jesus is that one who came.
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In Isaiah chapter 53 verses 3 through 5, going on into verse 6, we get this promise that
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the Lord's servant is coming, that he would be wounded for us by his stripes.
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We are healed.
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Notice what happened at the cross when Jesus went there for us.
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Micah chapter 5 verse 2 pinpoints the place of the birth of our Lord, that he would be
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born in Bethlehem.
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But don't forget what we also find, that the one who was to come who would be born in Bethlehem
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is from everlasting.
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He has always been, yet he came to the earth and he did it for me and you and that's the
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short list.
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Do you want to know how you and I have the assurance that God follows through?
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It's because one thing after another he has, especially in giving his son, that Jesus came
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to the earth for me and for you.
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And so when we open our Bible and we read in Romans chapter 5 verses 6 through 8, and
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we find that message that when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died
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for the ungodly, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man
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someone would even dare to die.
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But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ
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died for us.
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How do we have assurance that there is forgiveness for sin, that there is strength to carry us
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through our trials, that one day we're going to be with our Lord in eternity?
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Well look at what he has done for us.
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See how God has already kept his word and that tells us those promises that are still
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sitting in front of us are things on which we can depend.
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He has kept his promises and he will continue to do so.
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God's promises can propel me through my deepest fears.
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That is Genesis chapter 15.
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But then we come to Genesis chapter 16.
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We find a second lesson about the promises of God and that is simply this.
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God's promises do not need my feeble adjustments.
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You think about this.
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In Genesis 16 we find what happened when Sarai and Abram decided that God's promise needed
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some help.
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We start with Sarai's plan, verses 1 through 4.
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We see Hagar's flight, verses 5 through 10, and Ishmael's future, verses 11 through 16.
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Notice these in turn.
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Sarai's plan, Genesis 16 beginning with verse 1, Abram's wife, Sarai, had an idea that she's
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going to move God's plan along and that plan involved her handmaid, Hagar, Genesis 16 verse
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2.
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Sarai said to Abram, see now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children.
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Please go in to my maid.
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Perhaps I shall obtain children by her.
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And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
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From purely the human perspective, looking at this simply as a plan made by a human being.
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From the human perspective, it worked.
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A child was conceived and Hagar, the handmaid, began to look at her mistress, Sarai, with
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disdain.
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Sarai was despised in her eyes.
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We start with Sarai's plan, but it takes us then to Hagar's flight in Genesis 16, verses
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5 through 10.
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Sarai blamed Abram for the situation and Abram said, do what you think is best.
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Do what you would like and Sarai dealt harshly with Hagar.
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Hagar fled.
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She removed herself from the situation and Hagar had gone out into the wilderness.
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There she was with child and she was met by the angel of the Lord.
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First time in the Bible that we run into this individual who is called the angel of
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the Lord.
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This angel of the Lord in the Old Testament speaks at times as being the Lord himself.
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Not a created angel, but with that authority that he would be a member of the Godhead.
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He is divine based on Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1, the promise of the messenger of
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the covenant and the fact that that messenger of the covenant is seen in the New Testament
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as being Jesus, that John would prepare the way for this one, for this messenger of the
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covenant and that's Jesus.
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Many have noted and I believe it bears a great deal of weight that the angel of the Lord,
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the angel of Yahweh in the Old Testament is pre-incarnate Christ who was dealing with
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the creation and so Hagar is dealing with the angel of the Lord and the angel of the
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Lord told Hagar, go back to your mistress.
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Go back to Sarai.
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He said, I will multiply your descendants exceedingly.
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They will not be counted for multitude, Genesis chapter 16 and verse 10.
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So there we see Hagar's flight, but then notice with me also here in Genesis 16, Ishmael's
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future, Genesis 16 verses 11 and following, the angel of the Lord told Hagar that she
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would name her son Ishmael and that Ishmael would be some translations say a wild donkey
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of a man, his hand against everyone, everyone's hand against him, Ishmael's descendants are
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connected to some of the Arabic tribes who dwelled east of Israel and so Hagar went back
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to Sarai and she bore Ishmael to Abram and she gave him that name that she was told Ishmael
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and Abram was at this time 86 years old.
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It's been 11 years since that promise that was made back in Genesis chapter 12, 11 years
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have passed and Sarai and Abram still haven't seen a child born to them.
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That's why they started working to try to make things come about on their own way.
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And these 11 years that have passed have not dulled the promise of God.
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And so as we look here in Genesis chapter 16, I suppose the powerful lesson that comes
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our way is the danger of planning for God.
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Now in this, there are a couple of things I want us to consider.
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First is simply this, the arrangement regarding Hagar was never part of God's plan.
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It was not what God had intended.
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It was not what God wanted.
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In fact, if we look back to creation, God's plan was one husband, one wife.
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That's what God wanted.
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And as we look to the Bible, we find over and over and over when we decide we're going
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to tinker with God's plan for marriage, we make a mess of things.
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That's what happened here, even with Abram and Sarai.
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But not only that in the second place, think with me about Sarai's suggestion to Abram
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and Abram's acceptance of what she said.
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It all came about because, well, because they thought they could help God out of a
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fix.
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Essentially, what Sarai is saying is, well, God said that we would have a great number
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of descendants.
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That means we're going to have a child.
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Obviously, I can't have a child.
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And so let's jump ahead of God and help him out a little bit.
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Folks, rest assured, anytime you and I start to think that God is in a fix and you and
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I can somehow get him out of that fix, we have gotten far off track.
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We don't see God for who he is, and we aren't seeing ourselves for who we are.
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As we look at this situation, Sarai and Abram trying to plan for God, three things to keep
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in mind.
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This is worthy of a devotion or preaching if you wanted to do something with this.
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Planning for God, number one, in its beginning, there is a lack of faith.
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Genesis chapter 16, verses 1 and 2, they thought God was unable to do what he said, so we've
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got to fix it.
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We've got to do something about this.
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In its beginning, a lack of faith.
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Planning for God, number two, in its working, there is a lack of satisfaction.
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Genesis chapter 16, verses 3 through 6, a child was conceived, but the situation was
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not the sunshine and roses that Sarai somehow thought it was going to be.
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There was a lack of satisfaction.
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And number three, planning for God, in its ending, there is a lack of success.
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Genesis chapter 16 and the next chapter, chapter 17, tell us beyond any shadow of a doubt,
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this child born to Hagar, Ishmael, is not the son of promise.
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He is not the one who God said.
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When we decide God's plan doesn't work, his word is broken, it doesn't fit our life as
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it is, we're going to have to change what he said to do what we think is going to work
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better.
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In its beginning, it's a lack of faith.
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In its working, a lack of satisfaction.
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In its ending, it will always be a lack of success.
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God doesn't need our help to make his truth work out, whether it's marriage or sexuality
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or gender or gossip or modest clothing or worship or even how to become a Christian.
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God doesn't need us to adjust and change and tinker with what he has said to make things
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work out in the world in which you and I find ourselves.
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Genesis chapter 16 tells us God's promises don't need my feeble adjustments.
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But then number three, as we continue in these chapters, notice Genesis chapter 17 telling
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us that God's promises provide me with a bright new future.
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This is broken down into four parts.
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We see God's covenant.
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We see God's command.
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We see God's promise and ultimately Abraham's obedience.
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Notice how this goes, God's covenant, Genesis chapter 17 verses 1 through 8.
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Abraham is now 99 years old.
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Thirteen years have passed since Ishmael was born.
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We've got a time jump between the end of Genesis 16 and the beginning of Genesis chapter 17.
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Thirteen years have passed.
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More years have gone by.
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I cannot imagine what it was like watching the seasons change and one day, one week,
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one month, one year, a decade and more go by.
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And Abram is still not seeing a son coming into his family.
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But these years have passed and in the opening verses, God begins to confirm his covenant
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with Abram.
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It's the covenant he's already made.
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But we find God coming back to it to confirm it over and over again and God here changes
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Abram's name to Abraham and I'm so glad because it's hard to say Abram and perhaps now I can
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say Abraham every time.
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But God changes the name to Abraham from Abram, which means exalted father, to Abraham, which
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is a word play on the phrase father of nations.
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And God said he would establish his covenant with Abraham and Abraham's descendants.
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And again, God promised that this land where Abram or Abraham, there I go, where Abraham
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is living and sojourning, that it would be the place that his descendants would inherit
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and would be their home.
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And that brings us then to God's command, Genesis chapter 17, verses 9 through 14.
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The sign of this covenant that God is making, what the people needed to do in Abraham's
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family.
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Genesis 17, verse 12, God said, he who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised.
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Every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money
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from any foreigner who is not your descendant.
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God said the males will be circumcised.
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Quick side note.
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In an article entitled Scientific Foreknowledge and Medical Acumen of the Bible, Kyle Butt
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from Apologetics Press, the article is available on the website along with a wealth of other
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material.
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But Kyle points out something very interesting about this command of circumcision and not
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just circumcision, but circumcision on the eighth day.
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He points out that the early days of an infant's life carry an increased risk of that infant
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suffering severe blood loss if they are cut, if they are injured, because their blood doesn't
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clot very well.
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They don't naturally have sufficient quantities of vitamin K and therefore they don't have
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enough prothrombin, a protein made by the liver, for efficient blood clotting.
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It's very dangerous in those first days of an infant's life for them to be cut.
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They could bleed to death because the blood just doesn't clot properly.
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But on day eight of that infant's life, the amount of available prothrombin, there's a
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word we won't use more this week, but the amount of available prothrombin in that infant's
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blood rises above 100% of what it's going to be for the rest of that individual's life.
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And on that eighth day, their blood is going to have the best opportunity to clot and so
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the child would not have some complication from bleeding.
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In the ancient world, it would have been the perfect day for some sort of surgery on
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a child as God commanded it.
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So tell me please, which science teacher told Abraham about prothrombin and vitamin K?
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He didn't know.
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What about Moses, who by inspiration recorded these things?
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Someone says, well, you know, he was raised in Egypt.
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They didn't know about prothrombin and vitamin K.
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God did.
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God gave that command to Abraham.
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Moses later would record this so you and I could read it and realize, among other things,
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this book is God's inspired word because it contains things that man on his own simply
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could not have known.
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What an interesting thing for us to find in the midst of all of this history in Genesis
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chapter 17.
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As we look at God's command that the males would be circumcised, but then we find number
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three, God's promise, Genesis chapter 17 verses 15 through 22.
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God did not just change the name Abram to Abraham.
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He changed Sarai's name, meaning princess or my princess to Sarah, princess.
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Someone says that's not much of a change.
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God changed her name because he was doing something significant.
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He wanted it understood and seen.
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And as we look at this, Genesis chapter 17 verse 18, God said, I will bless her and will
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give you a son by her.
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Notice God's getting specific.
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You're going to have a great nation.
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Abram and Sarah said, well, maybe it's Eliezer of Damascus.
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God says, no, no, your own child.
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They say, well, maybe through Hagar, Abram could have a child.
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God says, no, through Sarah, you're going to have this child who I have promised.
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She shall be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be from her.
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And Abram fell on his, Abraham fell on his face and he laughed.
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Can a man who is a hundred years old bear a child?
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Can Sarah who is 90 bear this child?
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And then Abraham said, oh, that Ishmael may live before you.
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It looks like Abraham is still having trouble with how this is going to come about.
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And he's saying, can't we fix this with Ishmael?
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Genesis 17, verse 19, then God said, no, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son and
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you will call his name Isaac.
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The word Isaac means laughter or he laughs.
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And we often connect it and rightly so to Sarah in Genesis chapter 18, where she laughed
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hearing that she would bear a child, but Abraham laughed also.
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So it's good to see him named laughter or he laughs.
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God is giving them this.
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He says, I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant and with his
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descendants after him.
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And God said that he would also bless Ishmael.
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God wanted Abraham to know, yes, Ishmael is still within my sight, but Isaac.
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Isaac is the child of promise.
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He is the one through whom the covenant would be established.
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And so as we look to this, we then see Abraham's obedience.
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Genesis 17, beginning with verse 23, going through verse 27, Abraham followed through
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with what God said, by the way, notice he did it that very day.
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When you study Abraham and you see how he did God's will, pay attention to how closely
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he obeyed and very often how quickly he obeyed.
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And I can learn a lot from Abraham and his obedience.
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And so Abraham obeyed God that very day.
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All of the males of his household were circumcised.
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And as we see these three chapters, Genesis 15 and 16 and 17 now coming together, what
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we find are God's promises on full display.
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It's all about what God had promised to Abraham years before.
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And the reality that God will keep his promises.
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And that's why that little girl was circling God's name in her Bible storybook.
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Because she wants to know where to find God when she needs him.
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Abraham waited 25 years from the promise that God had made in Genesis chapter 12 before
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he finally saw the son of promise, the son who God said was coming.
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And Abraham did not live on this earth to see his descendants go into that land and
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possess that land and live in that land.
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He never saw the nation of Israel.
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He did not see all of the earth being blessed through his family except through the eyes
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of faith.
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But he shows us God keeps his promises.
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In Hebrews chapter 6 beginning with verse 13, the writer of Hebrews begins to continue
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a thought process that those who were discouraged, who were beginning to let go of following
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Christ needed to get a new appreciation for the promises of God.
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And he looks to Abraham and he quotes some from Genesis chapter 22, but really what he
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is saying here encompasses everything that God has promised to Abraham.
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Genesis, or rather Hebrews chapter 6 beginning with verse 13, for when God made a promise
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to Abraham because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself saying, surely
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blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you.
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And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
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For men indeed swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of
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all dispute.
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Thus God determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise, the immutability
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of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it is impossible
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for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the
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hope that is set before us.
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Two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.
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What are they?
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God's promise and God's oath.
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God will keep his promises.
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And when you and I are struggling, when our heart is heavy, when we just don't understand
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why certain things are happening or why they're happening the way they are, we look up and
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we say, where are you, God?
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I want to know where to find God when I need him.
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But here in Genesis, we find out when we want to find God, he's keeping his promises, not
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according to my plans, but according to his plans, not according to my perspective, but
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according to his perspective, not according to my time schedule, but according to his
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own. God keeps his promises.