Jan.6 - Genesis 16 - 18

Why is Israel so significant? Why should America defend her? In Genesis, you begin to understand and grasp the reality of "why" she is so important!
- Israel had her beginnings with Abram! And God strictly told Abram of his heartfelt attitude and reaction towards those who bless or curse his descendants! Remember, God said in Genesis 12:3 - "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." From the historical record of Scripture, we've seen this to be true time and time again!

In case you've forgotten, God offered Abram 3 hard challenges. Which, if he accomplished, He would offer him 6 Incredible Promises!
- Here are the 3 Hard Challenges: (Gen.12:1)
Leave your country / Leave your family / Dwell in a different country
I'm not sure many people would do this, are you?
- Here are the 6 Incredible Promises:
- I'll make you a great nation
- I'll bless you
- I'll make you famous
- I'll make you a blessing to others
- I'll bless or curse those who bless or curse you
- Everyone now and in the future will be blessed because of you!

Now, as we approach Genesis 16 - 18, we see the details of how the nation of Israel is given birth!

Power Point Thoughts:

1) Man often tries to help God with His Promises! There are two Greek words for "time" in the Bible "koinos" and "chronos". Chronos is where we get the word "chronology." It is specific to man. In other words, we often pray expecting God to work in "chronos" time - "Please God, I need this job before the end of the month or I'm dead!" But, God OFTEN works on "koinos" time! This reference to time means "in God's own time" or "in God's perfect time." You can see this happening with the case of Abram & Sarah. Abram is 85 years old and Sarah is 75 years old. Time and old age is passing them by quickly. Being impatient and not understanding how they could possibly have "a descendant", they decide to help God out. Sarah comes up with a "humanly brilliant" idea - to give her servant girl, Hagar, to Abraham! Abraham, as human as all the rest of us, thinks it's a good idea - he can't figure out how God's going to pull this off either! Rather than waiting on God's "koinos" time, they try to intervene. As a result, they screw things up as difficult tension and problems erupt between Hagar and Sarah. God eventually intervenes as Hagar flees into the desert, and orders her back to submit to Sarah.

2) Hagar and Abram learn to NEW ASPECTS OF GOD'S CHARACTER:
- Hagar learned that God hears and sees what all of us are doing! She also learns that God knows our name and our future! Genesis 16:7-14
- Abram learned that God is Almighty! Genesis 17:1 - God unfolds a new aspect of His person to Abram by telling him that He is "El Shaddai - God Almighty."

3) God gives Abram "The Terms Of The Covenant Contract:"
Abram's part:
- 17:1 - "Serve me faithfully" - In other words - "Obey & Worship Me"
- 17:1 - "Live a blameless life" - In other words - "Live a Holy Life."
- 17:5 - "I am changing your name" - It goes from Abram to "Abraham" (father of many nations)
- 17:11 - "Each male...must be circumcised" - This was the "mark" of the covenant between Abram and God.
- 17:15 - Sarai's name is changed to "Sarah"
God's part:
17:7 - "I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you from generation to generation." In other words, God will remind his descendants of this great contract between he and God.
17:8 - "I will give the entire land of Canaan...to you and your descendants."

4) Jesus and 2 Angels visit with Abraham! Remember in the New Testament when Jesus was talking about Abraham and the religious leaders viciously complained that he wasn't old enough to even know about Abraham? What did Jesus say to them? "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Wow! Jesus and the two angels have a meal with Abraham just prior to their arrival to destroy Sodom & Gomorrah. They appear as men, but Abraham recognizes the fact that Jesus is God by saying in Genesis 18:25 - "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

5) Abraham gets to negotiate with God face to face! How many times have you wished you could do this too? Abraham negotiates and renegotiates several times over God's design to destroy the city where his nephew Lot (and his family) lives! What's sad is...there weren't even 10 righteous people in Sodom in order to prevent the destruction of this wicked city. Only Lot and his 2 daughters escaped - remember, his wife looked back and was consumed by a fireball of hot-burning sulfur and salt

May God's countenance be upon you today and be merciful to you in all that you accomplish for His glory!