Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

A Covenant is a promise that you pledge with YOURSELF. That is, your personal bodily integrity. If the promise is broken, somebody dies.

Abram and Sarai, surrounding the conception of Ismael,  are anything but All-Stars. Nobody does their job well before God. They serve to remind us to Entrust in the HARD STUFF. Fortunately the middle of the story is not the end of their story.  

God is a great covenant keeper.  He pays the penalty toward our failures to keep up our end of the bargain.  Go be an All-Star today. 
 

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God "cuts a covenant" with Abram. Though Abram doesn't know it, God knows that in cutting this covenant, the Lord will have to CUT HIMSELF.  To keep covenant with mankind, extraordinary measures will have to be employed.  Eventually, He'll have to sacrifice HIMSELF.  

Watch 7 minutes here:
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God tells Abram some pretty unpleasant things.  His descendants will be sojourners in a foreign land, servants x 400 years. Ouch. He might have paused to ask, "WHY IS THERE EVIL?"

God also tells Abram that He is doing some sovereign work regarding the punishment for EVIL in another people group.  The reason Abram's people are seeing "evil" is because of stuff they do not see. The good news is that God sees; He is sovereign.

"If God knew my sin, He'd never want me." If that is your thought, GOOD! You are ½ there.  We all wear filthy rags to a splendor party. In fact, ONLY sinners are invited. He tells us that by belief, we are credited with some stuff that we just don't deserve.  

What happens to Abram must happen to us. Heaven by works is unobtainable.  We too must follow in his footsteps and in his knee-steps.  It is the hurdle we jump on our knees. 

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How do sinners go to heaven? Specifically, how do UNholy people enjoy fellowship with a HOLY God forever?  How can these 2 unequal things co-exist? God has got to do some generous heavenly math on our behalf.

He CREDITS us. He COUNTS us as RIGHTEOUS.  He chooses to SEE US as righteous by our faith.  Abram, and us, believe the Lord, and it is counted to us as righteousness.  Listen to this favorable news x 7 minutes! or watch: 
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Imagine if your $100 contribution to your 401K was "matched" by your employer to the tune of $1,000,000,000. This is similar to the spiritual math that Abram sees in his spiritual account: He believes. Then God credits him with RIGHTEOUSNESS.  God makes Abram spiritually acceptable before him.

Here's the kicker: We should care about this because WE MUST DO THE SAME as Abram, and GOD MUST DO THE SAME for us in grace.  Listen. Better yet: watch this one here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNijvDWAn2Wv2KFun2AnvCA

You are either listening or watching a podcast called BE WITH ME.  The title is rooted in today's passage from Gen 15:1  “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” It is one of the Bible's great themes. 

God wishes to give to us HIMSELF.  A relationship with the Lord God Himself is the ultimate and ultimately ONLY real prize.  HE is the reward. The seed of this podcast is rooted  in the reality of that ultimate prize: a relationship with God.

Many of my most faithful listeners/watchers are not yet believers. You guys are my favorites. This is the one thing I pray for you: that He would give you the prize of Himself. Watch 7 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNijvDWAn2Wv2KFun2AnvCA

What do we do when we receive a windfall of blessing? Abram, for one, GIVES BACK.  He gives a tenth. 10%. A tithe. Real stuff. Real money that represents a genuine heart.

He also makes a vow before the Lord. He commits to his pathway of FAITH in the Lord.

Our world needs those who both GIVE MORE and those who VOW MORE.

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Abram is faced with an unbearable, unreasonable, and impossible military situation exacerbated by the bad decisions of his knuckle headed nephew Lot. It is a tense moment of "What will Abram do next".  He responds FAITHFULLY with "boots on and sword drawn".  Somehow, he STAYS FAITHFUL, even though situationally it looks very bad.  Somehow, he wins militarily. Abram redeems the unworthy Lot. God redeems the unworthy Abram.  There is lots for us to learn.

Watch the 7 minute video of this great story: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNijvDWAn2Wv2KFun2AnvCA

The Assyrian Kings were the first mid-eastern world power. They were serious about the tribute that had to be paid from their subjugated regions. Suddenly, Sodom and Gomorrah STOPPED PAYING THEIR TAXES.  Assyria's response? INVASION. World War ONE.

Being the world power, (eventually an EMPIRE) they were undefeated in EVERY BATTLE recorded in Genesis 14.  They knock off 12 armies and assume their might.  BUT, Abram hears that they have captured LOT, his nephew.  What's a good uncle to do? Listen 7 minutes to almost find out. 

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