SOUTHERN HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH
February 21, 2021
NEW
Abraham: The Journey, part 7
Hess Hester, Senior Pastor
Weekly Sunday Morning Worship Service, 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Revelation 21:5a, He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
A new revelation…Genesis 17: 1a, When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty…”
17:1b-2,“I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
God’s promise is good because He is El-Shaddai, God Almighty!
God meets with us every time we open His Living Word… the Bible.
“I prayed for faith and thought that someday it would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith didn’t seem to come. One day I read in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” I had, up to this time, closed my Bible and prayed for faith. Now I opened my Bible and began to study ---and faith has been growing ever since.” - D.L. Moody
1 Corinthians 3:18 (NAS), But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
A new requirement…Genesis 17:1, …walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
“blameless” = “completeness”
God is asking Abram for complete, unqualified surrender and commitment to Him.
A new name… Gen. 17: 3-5; Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
God gave someone a new name as a sign of renewed purpose.
Abram = “exalted father” Abraham = “father of many nations”
John 1:42 NIV
If God changed your name to reflect His purpose for you, what would it be?
A new expanded covenant…
Genesis 17: 6-8; I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
Gen. 17:9, Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
A new sign…Gen. 17:10-14; This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Circumcision is a physical sign of Abraham’s full commitment to keep God’s covenant.
Jeremiah 4:4, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts…”
We enter into a covenant relationship with God by the Holy Spirit’s work in our heart.
The act of baptism is an outward sign of the inward spiritual circumcision of our hearts.
Another new name…Genesis 17:15-16; God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
A new assurance…Genesis 17: 17-22; Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
With such assurance, God restored Abraham’s heart.
2 Cor. 5:17 (NAS), Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
A new obedience…Genesis 17:23-27; On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. 27 And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
Abraham’s obedience was evidence of his whole-heartedly commitment to God.
2 Chronicles 16:9a (NAS), For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
THANK YOU! Many of you have asked how to continue supporting our church during this time. Here are three ways to continue your giving:
1.On-line through CHURCH CENTER APP - Download the app, find our church name (with our green tree logo) and follow the prompts - once downloaded - us the giving tab at the bottom of the home screen.
2.Set up free on-line bill pay through your bank.
[questions to Al: 918-743-8897 (8:00 a.m – 2:00 p.m., M-F)]
3.US Mail (.55 cent stamp)
SHBC, 2218 E. 56th Place, 74105
