Victory: Victory over vultures | Overflow Church Grand Prairie, Tx | Notes
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Victory: Victory over vultures






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.