GOD HAS PLANNED A BLESSED LIFE FOR YOU
Genesis 15:1-17
ASK FOR YOUR BLESSING
V:1-3. After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
2 But Abram said, "O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
A. After Abram was successful in battle against four kings who had
taken Lot, his family and all the goods from Sodom. Abram restored
the goods taken from the King of Sodom.
1. Abram gave God the credit for his success in battle.
2. God visited Abram in a dream with a promise for his future and
his descendants.
3. God will reward those who put their trust Him.
B. If you are for God, He will be for you.
1. God is our protector and the reason for our being.
2. God promises to be our guide and the reason for our success.
3. Notice, in the vision, it was a two way conversation,
4. What was on Abram mind was the desire to have a son.
a. He had given up on God and reasoned that his estate
would be inherited by someone outside his family.
b. God’s silent is not always no, but wait.
c. Abram recognized that children were a gift from God.
BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD
V:4-6. Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
A. The word of the Lord filled with promises for His elect.
1. If you want to know what God says about our future, we need to
look no further than His Word.
2. God keeps His promises.
3. In different time and different places, God will confirm His promises
to us.
a. God promised descendants to Abram in Genesis 12:7 and 13:14.
b. Abram had a “wait” problem.
c. Those who learn to wait on God receive His blessing.
4. Sometimes God will give us a visual picture of His plan for us.
a. God showed Abram his future in the counting of stars.
b. They are two numerous to count, therefore nations would be
his descendants.
5. We have to learn to never get discouraged while waiting on God.
6. We may not understand it, but God’s timing is the right time.
B. Notice, God gave us a definition for faith.
1. Believing God is counted as righteousness.
2. Abram had no children, but he believed that he would.
3. Studying the Word will convict you of it’s truth.
REMEMBER WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE
V:7-8. He also said to him, "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."
8 But Abram said, "O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"
A. Sometimes, God has to remind us of what He has already done and
what He is currently doing to stir up our spirit.
1. It is ok to ask God questions on that we do not understand.
2. We have to believe that what is impossible for us is possible for
God.
B. We have to give God credit for being God.
1. How we address God is a response of how we see him as Lord.
2. Abram recognized that God is the ultimate authority,
3. Regardless of how we feel about things, God is still the authority.
4. Any request we have need to be directed to Him.
FOLLOW GOD’S DIRECTIONS
V:9-10. So the Lord said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
A. Three is a divine number.
1. Jonah stayed in the belly of a fish for three days
2. Jesus took three disciple with him on the mount of transfiguration;
Peter, James, John.
3. Jesus stayed in the grave for three days.
4. It was on the third day that Jesus got up with all power.
5. It was the third day of the week when Jesus did His first miracle
at a wedding.
6. There are three in the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit.
B. Each of the animals God told Abram to get make have a spiritual
significance,
1. The heifer speaks of Christ as a willing servant of God and man
2. The goat represents the sins of man
3. the ram represents Christ as High Priest
4. The dove portrays Christ as the heavenly one
5. The young pigeon portrays Christ as the heavenly one
C. There are spiritual reasons for the splitting of animals in half.
1. Those who follow Christ must die to self to be born again.
2. The splitting of the animals expose their inward parts is
symbolic to the declaration of truth that God sees the heart of
man devoted to Christ.
3. The arrangement of the animals represents in halves represent that
Christ died for the Glory of God and the sins of man who would be
brought into His glory.
GOD MADE A COVENANT WITH HIMSELF FOR US
V:12-14. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
A. The custom of the time to ratify a covenant or contract between two
parties was to cut animal in half and two agreeing parties would
walk between the two halves.
1. God put Abram to sleep so that he would have no part in the
covenant He was making with him.
2. God keeps His promises. It is us that don’t keep promises.
B. The covenant God made with Abram had three parts.
1. There is a land promise, called here the country
2. There would be four hundred years of slavery in a foreign land,
while being mistreated.
3. As a nation, they would be released from slavery with
great possessions.
C. To realize God’s promises we may have to go through trials
and tribulation.
1. We may be abused and mistreated on the way to the
promise.
2. We can be certain that God will keep his promises.
GOD PROMISES SALVATION
V:15-17. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces
A. Abram would not see slavery, but would die in peace.
1. God again confirmed His promise to Abram that nation of
his descendants would come back to the promise land.
2. God allowed the Amorites to inhabit the land until He
their sins totally corrupted them.
B. The smoking pot and the blazing torch represented the
present of God walking through the pieces of the animals.
1. The smoking pot represented the suffering of Christ
2. The blazing torch represented the victory of Christ over sin
The torch represented His Word in that all believers would have
salvation.
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
5510 West Sam Houston Parkway North
Houston, Texas 77041.
For more lessons follow me on face book and visit my blogs;
revmmitchell.com and goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com.
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