0471 Following The Hope Of Abraham

Vs. 12 Strangers From The Covenant - God never enters into a relationship with any human being apart from covenant. He is the covenant-making and the covenant- keeping God. He keeps covenant AND mercy!

Vs. 12 - Covenants Of PROMISE

Vs. 12 Without hope, and without God, in the world - To be without hope is to be without God. To be without God is to be without hope, in the world. This is Gods’ description of the lost.

Two Kinds Of Hope

Worldly Hope

There is a “worldly” or a “natural hope” in the world.

Natural hope is EXTREMELY LIMITED because it is limited to the worlds’ capacity to solve its’ own problems WITHOUT GOD!

And when the world is facing a problem that they cannot beg, borrow, steal, or medicate to fix, THEY’RE DONE!

Natural hope CANNOT go beyond mans’ natural knowledge or ability!

The limitation of ALL NATURAL HOPE IS DEATH! When death comes in, the hope of the world is gone!

Heavenly, Supernatural Hope

This Heavenly supernatural hope is available to EVERY SINGLE BELIEVER!

Our hope in God is what separates us from the world, especially in times of crises BECAUSE:

Our Hope is a CONNECTOR!

Our Hope goes beyond death limit and connects us to the eternal realm of God!

Our Hope goes beyond the death limit connects to the supernatural of God!

Our Hope goes beyond the death limit and connects us to God, Himself, who raises the dead!

Bible Hope Defined

Bible Hope is the ability to SEE beyond the death limit of this world into the heart and mind of God based on what God has PROMISED IN HIS WORD!

When you see into the heart and mind of God, you will see that God is NOT DEATH ORIENTED AT ALL!

When you see into the heart and mind of God, you will see that God is NOT IMPOSSIBILITY ORIENTED AT All!

EX - Stumping God with problems. (Mat 19:26; Mk 9:23)

Hope aligns us with Gods’ perspective and view of our situation so that we can overcome it!

Following The Hope Of Abraham

[Rom 4:16-22}

Vs. 16 - Abraham is the father of our faith! He was the FIRST man to believe God with no other evidence other than what God promised and see the manifestation of that promise.

Vs. 17 - ALL hope begins with the promises of God

(Tit 1:1-2) - Lit. In hope, eternal life - the hope you have now, as a believer, that comes out of the life of God in your spirit.

WHO CANNOT LIE PROMISED! - HIS PROMISES ARE SURE AND CERTAIN!

EX - Rich Man of Integrity - Seeing into what a million dollars can do in your life - Based on a Promise

The promises Of God are a glimpse into what God CAN and WILL DO!

I have made thee (past tense - promised before the foundation of the world).

Every promise of God was made in eternity so that by those promises, we can see beyond the natural into eternal things!

Every promise of God was made in eternity because Satan cannot stop eternal things!

Who quickens (makes alive) the dead. - Why was resurrection mentioned here?

As far as being able to have a child was concerned, they were as incapable of reproduction as dead people.

They were old.

Abraham’s body was now sexually dead.

Sarah had been barren her whole life - reproductive issue!

They needed RESURRECTION POWER working in their bodies!. And it began with HOPE!

Vss. 17-18 - The priority of hope. The Timeline of Abraham

Gen 12:4 When God called Abraham to leave his family and go to the land, he was 75 years old (in 2091 BC)

Gen 15:1-6; God made promise to Abram, it was in 2082 BC. Abraham was 84 years old.

Gen 17:1-5; - When Abraham was 99 years old (2076 BC) His name was changed from Abram - “Exalted Father” to Abraham” - “Father of A Multitude” - That was when he began to “call those things which be not as they were”.

It took 15 years for Abraham to develop in hope to the point that death was no longer a factor in his thinking processes. It took one year to call Isaac into being by faith! Which was the most important?

It took Abraham fifteen years to override a death mentality and conform his heart and mind to God way of thinking and doing (Rom 12:2).

It took him that long because he was the first to do it!

We have the advantage of developing in hope in a tremendously short period of time if we will use and walk in what God has provided over the past 6,000 years!

BUT THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE MUST BE LAID!

Vs. 17-18 - Resurrection power in the physical body.

When we consider these two verses, we realize that Abraham and Sarah need strength and healing in their physical bodies in order for the promise of God to come to pass. They were believing God for resurrection power to work in their physical bodies IN THIS LIFETIME (Rm 8:10-11; 15:13)!

Divine healing is spiritual.

ALL HEALING BEGINS IN THE SPIRIT (1Pe 2:24)!

ALL HEALING BEGINS WITH HOPE!

ALL HEALING IS A MANIFESTATION OF GODS’ RESURRECTION IN THE PHYSICAL BODY!

Vss. 18-22 - To the one whose heart and mind is governed by HOPE, as Abrahams’ was, DEATH, DEFEAT, AND FAILURE IS NEVER FACTORED INTO THE EQUATION!!

HIS HEART AND MIND ARE TOTALLY FOCUSED ON THE PROMISE OF GOD!

The heart and mind CAN NEVER be ruled by hope and death at the same time!

Vss. 21-22 - Righteousness is equated with the heart and mind agreeing with God. This is the result of hope.

Give Place To Hope

[Mat 9:16-28]

Vs. 23 - In this verse, we have the weepers and mourners and musicians who are doing all they can to stir up the spirit of grief and sorrow. The spirit of grief and sorrow is what the world calls hopelessness.

These are not Gentiles. These are the covenant people of all-mighty God! But they are acting like Gentiles - without hope, without God, in the world!

Cf. (Mk 5:38) - tumulting - (Gr.) - turmoil, uproar, and confusion;

In the midst of weeping, wailing, mourning, sad music, turmoil, uproar, and confusion, in walks Jesus - THE HOPE OF ISRAEL!

Vs. 24 - (KjV)

“Give place!”

We have seen MUCH grief and sorrow. We have witnessed loss of family and friends that didn’t make it! But in the midst of the tumult, we MUST GIVE PLACE TO HOPE!

Because we must GIVE PLACE to hope, that indicates that we must, DELIBERATELY set our focus on the promises of God and GIVE PLACE to HOPE!

Lit. Gk. - “Get Out!” Hope and grief CANNOT cohabit in the same place! They This will be the essence of spiritual warfare in the last days (Mat 24:6-8; Lk 21:25-26).

And they laughed Him to scorn.

Hope looks foolish in the eyes of the world

Grief and sorrow look foolish to those filled with hope

Much of what is coming into the earth in the last days (Mat 24:8; Lk 21:26) in Satanic strategy has a twofold objective

To destroy the hope of the believer - That is our connection to God!

To promote grief and sorrow

Because of what the enemy is going to bring about in the last days, the great battle will be between hope and hopelessness in the hearts and minds of believers. If hope and grief cannot cohabit in the same room, they certainly cannot cohabit in the same mind (2Cor 10:3-5)!

We must set the boundaries (1Th 4:13).

if you are in grief and sorrow for any reason, as legitimate as it may be, you must be on your guard because grief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. It comes to disconnect you from God and His blessing! But you can be free for two reasons

Isa 53:1-5 Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (Gal 3:13). Grief and sorrow is under the curse and opens the door to the curse in our life. Don’t fight for the right to keep the curse.

If you are dealing with grief and sorrow, Jesus is anointed to heal the brokenhearted (Lk 4:18)

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