Genesis 2/25/17

GENESIS

February 25, 2017

 By Pastor Kim Hickcox

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Genesis chapter 16 holds a rather difficult eternal Truth or God ordinance, if you will. In fact, the whole chapter is a bit odd by today’s standards. The first three verses give us the jist: “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children, but she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, who name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, ‘Look now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing. Please, go in to my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her.’ And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. ³And Abram’s wife took Hagar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelled ten years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” (Genesis16:1-3)

Now I ask you in all seriousness, what does that sound like to you – us trying to figure out how God is going to do what He promised to do, or a Holy Spirit revelation? Let’

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Subject: This week's message. And it's on WOW's facebook page too. Thanks Pastor Sam!!

GENESIS

February 25, 2017

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Genesis chapter 16 holds a rather difficult eternal Truth or God ordinance, if you will. In fact, the whole chapter is a bit odd by today’s standards. The first three verses give us the jist: “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children, but she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, who name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, ‘Look now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing. Please, go in to my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her.’ And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. ³And Abram’s wife took Hagar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelled ten years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” (Genesis16:1-3)

Now I ask you in all seriousness, what does that sound like to you – us trying to figure out how God is going to do what He promised to do, or a Holy Spirit revelation? Let’s just give this idea a gigantic OOPS and move on. But as with all our brilliant I know what I’ll do ideas that had no business being carried out in the first place, it carried major consequences.

LESSON #1: NEVER try to figure out how God is going to fulfill a promise in your life. Because the minute you do – I guarantee you with everything that I hold sacred and 27 years of experience to back it up – you’re wrong! First of all, if we have figured something out then it makes sense, and if it makes sense then God doesn’t get the glory. And even when we swear and believe with all our heart that He did it, the unbelieving world just says, ‘Yea, yea, yea – whatever blows you hair back’ and rolls their eyes at you. Because it made sense. Why would anyone [who didn’t believe] be tempted to bring Divine Intervention into play when whatever was done made perfectly good sense in the first place?

You’re absolutely right – they wouldn’t. So what do we do?

We pray. We wait. We worship. We stay obedient. And remember: the lack of hearing no doesn’t mean yes and vice versa. Wait – Pray – Worship – Stay obedient – Do what you know you should do and He will do what you can’t! All I can tell you is that if you wait and listen, you will eventually [in His time, not yours] hear His voice. You will just know in your heart what the next move is. “I AM the Good Shepherd and I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.” (John 10:14)

So let’s see what happened next: “And he went in to Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. ⁵And Sarai said to Abram, ‘My wrong is upon you, It’s your fault! I have given my maid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The LORD judge between me and you.’ ⁶But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold your maid is in your hand. Do with her as it pleases you.’ And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her face.” (Genesis 16:4-6)

So she leaves and who can blame her? While on the run, “the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘I shall multiply your seed exceedingly, that it will not be numbered for multitude.’ ¹¹And the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Behold, you are with child and will bear a son, and will call his name Ishmael because the LORD has heard your affliction. ¹²And Ishmael will be a wild man. His hand will be against every man and every man’s hand against him, and he will dwell in the presence of all his brothers.’” (Genesis 16:10-12)

Now this doesn’t sound like a prophecy that I’d get all excited about, but at least she knew that they would survive and be blessed with more descendants. Genesis 25:12-18 gives you the descendants of Ishmael: “…twelve princes according to their tribes. ¹⁷And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred thirty-seven years, and he expired and died and was gathered to his people. And they dwelled from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria: he died in the presence of all his brothers.” (vss 16b-18)

And Ishmael is the father of the Arabic people, who are now the national source of the Muslim religion, which is why, from its inception to today, Islam feels the land Israel holds is rightly theirs because Ishmael was Abram’s first born and he of course is ascribed as the father of their people also. And THIS is why the conflict over the land of Israel will never be resolved until Messiah returns! (BIG oops Sarai! And Abram – you should have prayed first!)

Aside from being Abram’s son, why do you suppose he and Hagar were so blessed? The answer lies in Genesis 16:7-9 & 13-16, “And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur. ⁸And he said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from? And where will you go?’ And she said, ‘I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.’ ⁹And the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her.’…¹³And she called the name of the LORD that spoke to her, ‘You are El-Ro’i’ for she said, ‘Have I also here looked to Him Who sees me?’ ¹⁴Therefore the well was called ‘Beer-Lakhai-Ro’i.’ Behold it is between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called his son’s name that Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ismael to Abram.”

So when Hagar decided that the LORD was with her, she called Him El-Ro’i which in Hebrew means God Sees Me. Then she named the well she was at (a very common practice at the time), Beer-Lakhai-Ro’i, which in Hebrew means The Well of The Living One Who Sees Me. She and Ishmael started off on the right spiritual path. It wasn’t until thousands of years later that one of his descendants went awry.

But the reason for their blessings is found in her obedience to verse 9: “And the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her.’”

2^nd John 8, “You must watch out for yourselves, that you would not lose what we all worked for, but that you would receive a full reward.” How do we make sure of that?

LESSON #2: 1^st Peter 2:13-17, “You must now be subordinate to every human institution in creation for the sake of the Lord, whether to a king as in authority, ¹⁴or to governors who are sent by him for punishment of evildoers and for praise of those who do good: ¹⁵because so is the will of God that by doing good you muzzle ignorant talk of foolish people, ¹⁶as free people and, since you have freedom, do not use it as a pretext for evil things, but as servants of God. ¹⁷You must now honor all people, you must constantly love the brotherhood, you must continually fear God, honor the king.”

Let’s combine 2^nd John 8 with 1^st Peter 2:17. “You must watch out for yourselves, that you would not lose what we all worked for, but that you would receive a full reward.” “You must now honor all people, you must constantly love the brotherhood, you must continually fear God, honor the king.”

Do you want your FULL REWARD? Not just in heaven, but do you want ALL that God has for you? Your FULL destiny? Your FULL healing? Your FULL Spiritual inheritance – here on earth? I honestly believe, through deep conviction this morning by the Lord, that this is what most of us don’t take serious enough: You must now honor all people.

Check out Hannah and Eli in 1^st Samuel 1:9-20

Check out David and King Saul in 1st Samuel 24:9-16

Check out Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3.

“You must now honor all people, you must constantly love the brotherhood, you must continually fear God, honor the king.” And WATCH what the Lord will do with you, for you and through you!

SHALOM!!

Genesis 2/18/17

GENESIS

February 18, 2017

By Pastor Kim Hickcox

 

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted.)

 

As promised last week, today we are going to study Covenants. A covenant is a promise or pact between two parties which says Everything I have is yours! Marriage is the most common covenant we still practice today.

 

There are three types of Covenants: Conditional, Unconditional and the third one which actually just reinforces whichever of the other two is already in place and is called a Renewing Covenant.

 

A conditional covenant is one that has been cut; which is to say that both parties must hold up to the conditions that have been set or it can legally be declared null and void. As all of the covenants we are going to look at today are between Almighty God and His people, guess which party needs to do the holding up.

 

 And unconditional covenant is one that has been given or simply established. This of course means that that is no responsibility on our part, but is just a gift from God period.

 

And of course a renewed covenant is just what it says – renewed. Which would imply that it was a conditional one that had somehow lapsed and was now being re-invoked.

 

It is very important for us to understand that the LORD operates through covenants, which is pretty amazing considering the exchange rate! When accepting Y’shua as our Lord and Savior, placing the responsibility of our forgiveness on Him, we give Him everything we have: our pain, guilt, shame, etc. and of course our love to the best of our ability. And HE gives us all His love, power and eternal life! And He never feels gypped! I find that amazing!

 

Each time we take Communion we are renewing our Covenant with our Savior. Luke recorded Y’shua stating that He would not be drinking “from this product of the vine until the Kingdom of God would come.” And then He continued with the lines that we are so familiar with as they are reverently repeated in churches around the world at the time of Communion: “Then having taken the bread, after He gave thanks, He broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘This is My Body which is being given on your behalf: you must continually do this in My remembrance.’ ²⁰Then likewise the cup after they ate, saying, ‘This is the cup of the ReNewed Covenant in My Blood which is being poured out on your behalf.’”   (Luke 22:18-20, bold is in original text)

 

Please note that He said this was a ReNewed Covenant. And it was renewed in His Blood. This was familiar to His Disciples due to Jeremiah 31:30-33 “‘Behold the days are coming,’ says the LORD ‘that I will cut a renewed covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah, ³¹not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant, which they broke, although I AM husbanding them,’ says the LORD. But this will be the covenant I shall make with the House of Israel. After those days,’ says the LORD, ‘I will out My Torah (Teaching) in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they will be My people. ³³And each person will no longer teach his neighbor and each person his brother saying, “Know the LORD”, for they will all know Me from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ says the LORD, ‘for I shall forgive their iniquity and I shall no longer remember their sin.’” (The 4 word phrase in bold mine for emphasis.)

 

So ours in not a New Covenant, but a ReNewed one! God’s grace and mercy have been from the beginning. Notice that it is conditional. Does that surprise you? It is NOT conditional as far as what we have to do to STAY in covenant, what is conditional is how we come to ACCEPT the covenant in the first place. “Because if you would confess with your mouth the Lord Y’shua and you would believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved: ¹⁰for he believes for himself in his heart into righteousness, and confesses for himself with his mouth into salvation.” Romans 10:9-10

Once we do, it is eternal, as Y’shua Himself assured us. “My sheep know My voice and I know them and they are following Me, ²⁸and I am giving them eternal life, and they would not ever die and no one is able to seize them from My hand. ²⁹My Father Who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to seize them from the hand of the Father. ³⁰We, the Father and I, are One.” John 10:27-30 (Bold is in original text.)

 

So, from last week, we will start with the question Abram left us with last week, which was “Adonai, LORD, how will I know that I shall inherit it?”

 

If you remember last week we talked about promising Abram heirs more numerous than the stars. I find it extremely interesting that he never questioned that – at over 75 years old, but at the end of the conversation just asked how he would know that he would inherit the land. And the answer was this, which seemed to quell all further questions:

 

“And He said to him, ‘Take a heifer for Me, three years old, and a three year old she-goat, and a three year old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.’  ¹⁰And he took all these to Him, and divided them down the middle, and laid each piece one opposite another, by he did not divide the bird.

 

“¹¹And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ¹²And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. ¹³And He said to Abram, ‘Know of a surety that your seed will be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴And also that I AM will judge that nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵And you will go to your fathers in peace: you will be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶But in the fourth generation they will return here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.’

 

“¹⁷And when the sun went down and it was dark, there was a smoking furnace and a burning flame that passes between those pieces. ¹⁸On the same day the LORD cut a covenant with Abram saying, ‘To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹the Kenite, the Kenizite, the Kadmonite, ²⁰the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Gergashite, and the Jebusite.’” Genesis 15:9-2

 

Note that the Lord waited until Abram was asleep so he would stop interfering as He walked through as “a smoking furnace and a burning flame that passes between those pieces.” Abram didn’t question his inheritance again. The cutting of a covenant was the ancient universal sign of a done deal, which we all need to rest as securely in with ours in Christ Jesus: He everything that was required by us and for us. Believe it, accept it and rest in it – it’s a done deal.

 

Here are all [the other] Covenants listed in Scripture for your interest or study (as they are way too numerous to dissect individually):   

 

1.     Noah – Unconditional

Preservation during the Flood – Genesis 6:18-20

2.     Noah – Unconditional

Never again will all life be cut off by flood – Genesis 9:1-17

3.     Abram – Conditional

Land – Genesis 15:9-21

4.     Abraham – Unconditional

Descendants and Prosperity – Genesis 17:2-21

5.     House of Jacob – Reinforcing

Priesthood for all – Exodus 19:5-6

6.     Israel – Reinforcing

Spiritual Blessings and the Torah – Exodus 24:4-8

7.     Israel – Conditional

Mosiac Covenant – Exodus 34:10-26

8.     Israel – Unconditional

Salt Covenant, the symbol of permanence and reservation –   

                        Leviticus 2:13 and Numbers 18:19

9.     Israel – Conditional

Peace and Deliverance – Leviticus 26:1-13

 

10.                       Phineas – Unconditional

Peace and Everlasting Priesthood – Numbers 25:11-13  

                                    (Reward for Zeal)

11.                        Israel – Conditional

Warning and Reward – Deuteronomy 29:9-14

12.                       Joshua – Conditional

Serve and Obey: Reward of Inheritance – Joshua 24:24-28

13.                       All people – Unconditional

Messiah and Deliverance – Isaiah 42:1-9

14.                       All people – Conditional

God’s Covenant expanded to all people – Isaiah 55:1-6

15.                       Zion – Reinforcing

The Promised Redeemer – Isaiah 59:20-21

16.                       Israel – Conditional

Descendants – Isaiah 61:8-9

17.                       Israel – Conditional  

Renewed Covenant – Jeremiah 31:30-34

18.                       Israel – Conditional

Restoration – Jeremiah 32:40-42

19.                       Israel – Reinforcing

Discipline and Obedience – Ezekiel 20:37-43

(This reinforces the Conditional Covenants)

20.                       Flock of Messiah – Conditional

Messiah, Peace, Blessings, Deliverance, Prosperity –

Ezekiel 34:23-31

21.                       Children of Israel, including us – Conditional

Restoration, Messiah, Peace, Permanence –

Ezekiel 37:21-27

22.                       The Bride – Conditional

Eternal Life – Hosea 2:20-22

                        The Marriage Covenant is of course available to all!

 

SHALOM!

Genesis 2/11/17

Genesis

February 11, 2017

By Pastor Kim Hickcox

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Chapter 15 of Genesis gives Abram a promise and the first evidence of a covenant being drawn. The promise was an heir. The covenant was the ancient evidence that this promise would be kept.

If we go back and review, we will remember that Abram had just denied the king of Sodom’s reward and had pledged his loyalty to the Most High God, the Possessor of Heaven and Earth, as well as tithing to His priest Melchizedek.

And so we start with: “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be in awe, Abram! I AM your Shield! Your reward will be exceedingly great.’ ²And Abram said, ‘Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?’ ³And Abram ‘Behold, to me You have given no seed, and one born in my house is my heir.’ ⁴And, behold, the word of the LORD came to him saying, ‘This one will not be your heir, but he that will come out of your own being will be your heir.’ ⁵And He brought him outside, and said, ‘Look now toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So will your seed be.’ ⁶And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him for acts of loving kindness. ⁷And He said to him, ‘I AM the LORD Who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it. ⁸And he said, ‘Adonai, LORD, how will I know that I shall inherit it?’” (Genesis 15:1-8)

This first paragraph is loaded! First let’s look at the first two sentences of this chapter which are written in bold because that is how they appear in the One New Man Bible:

Do not be in awe, Abram!

Do not be in awe! Is a common command throughout God’s Word and is usually translated Do not be afraid! But there is no actual English translation that can express the magnitude of this very strong command! This tells us that we are absolutely forbidden to entertain even the least speck of fear. And why would that be? Because fear is the opposite of Faith!

And because of that truth, when we take this literally and lose all the sugar-coating bringing it into the stark light of spiritual reality: Giving in to fear is turning our back on our God and worshipping our enemy instead.

However, that being said, it is also my firm belief that the instant we decide to NOT give in and take our first step toward facing our fear instead of away from it, we are instantaneously forgiven and it is counted as repentance and obedience. And I back that up with the fact that we can’t control an emotion or thought that just pops up, but once it arrives we have full control over what we do with it – which is a heart decision that instantly shows our decision to trust in our God and not our fear to determine our next action/decision.

AND I back it up with Scripture of course (but you need to ultimately decide for yourself):

1^st Samuel 16:7 “…For the LORD does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, desperately sick. Who can know it? ¹⁰I, the LORD, search the heart, I try the heart, even to give each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

And Paul goes through dilemmas that could very much include being fearful (just read the Book of Acts) and wraps it up like this: “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate…²²I love God’s Law with all my heart. ²³But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴…Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind, I really want to obey God’s Law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin. ^8:1So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ²And because you belong to Him, the power of the Life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” Romans 7:15-8:2 (NLT) Now, I know that all that sounded like a contradiction, but Paul was just explaining that we never arrive at perfection. No matter how long we live, or how hard we try, we will still sometimes fail to live up to our standards. And what we have to remember is that God knew exactly what He was getting when He called us! We are the only ones who are shocked and disappointed with our failures. He saw them before we were even born! And saved us anyway!

So CHIN UP family! If Apostle Paul still struggled that late in his walk, I certainly know that I’m going to and you probably will too! But it all ends well as we saw in Romans 8:1 “…because the One Who is in you is greater than the one who is on the world.” (1^st John 4:4) So “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) And the PK (Pastor Kim) version adds And who cares if they are?  

I AM your Shield!

The first two words used here is the name the Lord gave to Moses when he asked for His name in Exodus 3:14, “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM!’ And He said, ‘Thus will you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.”

The translation I AM is as close as we can come to the very powerful name Anokhi. It is used when the Lord needs to express an incredibly deliberate and intense purpose or action. It is used over 100 times in Hebrew Scriptures, and you will note in our present passage, was combined with the order to not be afraid because the LORD Himself was Abram’s Shield! Which we all remember by now, that this means He is ours too!

Here are a few more promises we can grab hold of as adopted heirs in Messiah:

Isaiah 43:11 “I AM, I AM the LORD: and besides Me there is no Deliverer/Savior.”

Isaiah 43:25 “I AM, I AM He Who erases your transgressions for My own sake, and will not remember your sins.”

Isaiah 44:24 “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and He Who formed you from the womb, I AM the LORD Who makes all things: Who alone stretches forth the heavens: Who spreads abroad the earth Myself.”

Isaiah 51:12 “I AM, I AM He Who comforts you!...”

Jeremiah 29:11 “‘For I AM knows the thoughts, plans, and intentions that I AM thinking toward you,’ says the LORD, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and hope.’”

Doesn’t the determined purpose of the name He used to make these declarations to you solidify their personal attention to you even more than before? I found it very encouraging.

Next week we will examine Covenants. But today, let’s just rest in His promises and love! It is purposely directed toward you! And there’s absolutely nothing you can ever do to diminish it!

“The LORD will bless you and He will keep you. ²⁵The LORD will make His face to shine upon you and He will be gracious to you. ²⁶The LORD will lift His countenance to you and He will establish Shalom for you.” Numbers 6:24-26

“Now to the One Who is able to keep you without stumbling and to stand before His glory blameless in extreme joy, ²⁵to the only God, our Savior through our Lord Y’shua Messiah, be glory, majesty, strength, and power before every age, both now and forever, amen.” Jude 24-25

SHALOM!