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!