Genesis 15:6–18 (NLT) 6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. 7 Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.” 8 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?” 9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. 11 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away. 12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. 15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) 16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.” 17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River.
Covenants
In response to what Christ did, we live sacrificially, offering ourselves to God. Romans 12:1 (NIV) I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
Romans 12:1 (TPT) Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.
2 Corinthians 5:15 (NLT) He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
“Victory is not found in what we can keep but in what we joyfully let go of.”
Genesis 15:11(NIV) Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
Vultures 1. Vultures are attracted to dead things. 2. Vultures are sneaky. 3. Vultures attract other vultures.
Vultures are the things that come in and rob you of your offering to God. Thoughts and emotions:
Vultures are not cute.
Distractions Habits/ patterns
Driving away the vultures: 1. Expect Opposition.
2. See your offering as valuable “If it’s not valuable, it’s not sacrificial.” John 12:24 (NIV) Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
3. Be watchful /responsible.
Matthew 26:41 (NIV) Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Leviticus 6:12–13 (NLT) 12 Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it. He will then burn the fat of the peace offerings on it. 13 Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.
4. Keep Moving “Vultures are only strong when you are still.”
Close: Ministry
Galatians 6:7–9 (NIV) 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
John 19:30 (NLT) WHe said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Matthew 27:50–51 (NLT) 50 Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart.
Hebrews 10:19–22 (NLT) 19 Dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean…
1 Peter 3:18 (NLT) Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
Matthew 28:1–9 (NLT) Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. 5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” 8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him.
A New and living way: Romans 8:11 (NLT) 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
1. A connected life. Ephesians 2:12–13 (NLT) …You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
2. A different life. “Jesus didn’t come to improve your life he came to transform it.” Romans 8:37 (NLT) Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
3. An overflowing life
John 7:38 (NLT) Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”
--------- Ephesians 2:4–6 (NLT) 4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
Before Christ died on the cross, he died in the garden.
1. Emotional + Mental Torment Mark 14:32–36 (NIV) 32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch. 35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.
Mark 14:36 (NIV) “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Take comfort, beloved even Jesus wanted to quit.
Gethsemane: The olive press.
“Following Jesus means we must be willing to get in the press & deal with the tension of yielding to the will of The Father.”
Romans 5:3-4(NIV) 3 We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
“We are tuned in the tension.”
2. Physical Torment Isaiah 52:14 (NIV) His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.
Matthew 27:27-31 (NLT) 27 Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire regiment. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. 31 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.
“Beloved, Our victorious Christ has broken the curse!”
Galatians 3:13 (NLT) When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.
The Crucifixion Matthew 27:31 (NLT)When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.
3. Spiritual Torment Mark 15:34 (NIV) “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Isaiah 53:3-5 (NIV) 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Victory mindsets over torment: 1. I am loved and valued by Him. 1 John 4:9–10 (NLT) 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins
“The cross speaks of our value more than it speaks of our sin.”
2. He is better than I think. Psalms 119:68(NIV) You are good and do only good.
3. His plan is greater than my pain
Hebrews 12:2–3 (NIV) 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
John 13:1 (NIV) It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
Hebrews 4:14–15 (NLT) 14 Since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
Jesus, fully God, restricted his divine privilege and overcame sin as a man.
Luke 4:1–13 (NIV) 4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
Trials/Temptations
Trials are seasons that we travel through.
Temptations are moments meant to derail us.
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
1 John 2:15–17 (NLT) 15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for lip everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
Temptation #1: The cravings of the flesh.
Pleasure outside of the will of God.
Luke 4:3-4(NIV) The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
Matthew 4:4 (NIV) ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Natural desires need proper parameters.
Romans 13:14 (NIV) Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. “You have to nurture your new nature.”
Temptation #2. Power in exchange for allegiance. Luke 4:5-7(NIV) The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
Temptation #3: Purpose without proper process. Luke 4:9-12(NIV) The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
“Satan will attempt to get you to bypass God’s process.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Satan can manipulate the word.
Psalm 36:9 (NIV) In your light we see light.
Remember in trials: 1. Stay rooted in the word. “Even Jesus had to use the word to have victory in temptation.” Every time Jesus used the word. Every time it was an attack on his identity.
Psalm 119:9–11 (NIV) 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
James 4:7 (NIV) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
2. This too shall pass James 4:7 (NIV) … Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
3. This isn’t the last test. Luke 4:13(NIV) When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
If you want to grow, you are going to be tested.
Close: Hebrews 4:15–16 (NLT) 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
