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| Scott Law - fineartamerica |
Genesis 12
14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; 15 for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your [l]descendants forever. 16 I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your]descendants can also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”
Genesis 15
Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “[e]Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
THINGS TO NOTICE
God arrests us with a Word we can take....Gen.12....natural descendants....sands of the sea
The ante is upped somewhat when Sarah cannot bear.
Now compare this with when you were baptised in the Spirit.
When you came to Christ it was enough for you to make that momentous decision to follow the Lord. Peter's Word from Jesus was "I will make you a fisher of men". Peter was pinned to the wall with that one long enough for God to really move in his life. But Peter, like Abraham to begin with, fixed his eyes on a natural land. Canaan, now Israel.
Peter's last question to Jesus was, "shall the rule be given back to Israel?" Jesus answered in a kind of fuzzy way, because the Father alone knows the times and seasons. But the IMPORTANT answer for Peter was
Go up to Jerusalem and WAIT for the Holy Spirit to be outpoured.
Genesis 15, and the kind of prayer meeting that began on the seashore of Galilee, with Jesus looking straight into Peter, now a broken man, are very very similar in the Spirit.
Abraham is broken by God's Word, surrounded by carcasses split in two, with the burning torch of fire hovering between all the pieces.
NOW GOD REALLY SPEAKS WHAT HE IS UP TO.....
-Comment: We are already in agony over something not working. In our babyish reasoning we want our "superman" God to come back to us.....to "kiss it and make it better"
But God on the other hand , sees the huge gash in our "independent selfdom" and now speaks into us His real Word.
We are kind of too powerless to resist.
For Abraham it was "Count the Stars"
For Peter it was INSIDE Peter's own sermon. His sermon was already the fulfilment of his first Word from God, to become a fisher of men.....and now the Spirit in and upon Peter speaks the REAL WORD.....
"but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind;
Think about this in relation to Genesis 12 and 15.
The initial earthly promise according to bloodlines was made according to the sands of the sea....
But in the middle of the GASH OF GENESIS 15, THE BROKENNESS OF PETER THE ROCK,
THE VERY FAILURE OF ISRAEL THE NATION AND SPECIFICALLY THE FAILURE OF THE 3000 TO STOP cHRIST GOD'S OWN SON FROM BEING CRUCIFIED....
RIGHT INSIDE THAT GASH MOMENT
THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES AND UPPPPPS THE ANTE....
NOW IT'S ABOUT STARS OF HEAVEN
PEOPLE TWICE BORN
AND ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH BEING SQUEEZED INTO THE GASH..
“Iwill call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’
And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’”
26 “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
First Moses says,
“I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation,
By a nation without understanding will I anger you.”
20 And Isaiah is very bold and says,
“I was found by those who did not seek Me,
I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
Romans 11:11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. 12 Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their [f]fulfillment be! 13 But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I might move to jealousy my [g]fellow countrymen and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the [h]rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved;.......
THIS HAS NEVER BEEN ABOUT OUR NATURAL ABILITY TO ACHIEVE ANYTHING!!!
EVEN OUR GOSPEL PREACHING IS NOT LEFTBRAIN SPEECH. WE PRAY FOR A GIFT OF UTTERANCE. WE ARE SPEAKING FORTH THE DIVINE WORD OF GOD.
God announces quite emphatically....I am laying in Zion a STUMBLING Stone
IT is there to trip up the natural flesh.
The Plan of God has never been limited to blood inheritance. It has always been about the supernatural bringing forth of His Word, even with Abraham.
Listen to this Protestants.
Luther had a revelation , yes, about Abraham's faith being reckoned as righteousness.
Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
But guess what? This was reckoned to him NOT on his initial believing and calling in Genesis 12.
No, but when Abraham was pooped. When the promise looked further away than ever because now he knew neither he nor his wife could conceive a child.
This is the nature of our faith.
Firstly to be brought to a place where we realise our phony self-independence, commonly called in churches "our own strength".....but isn't actually....
And God may have initially attracted our attention with one word of promise. But really He has had quite a different Word for us from the beginning. It is His Son Jesus Christ inside us with whom He makes His actual promise, for it will require the FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST to bring it to pass.
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