A FUTURE AND A HOPE (III)

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Text: Jer.29:11-14; 31:17

PROVOKING THE PROMISE

Deut 11:26-28
26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today;
28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

1. Obedience –Has so much to do with the realization of our glorious future & hope
§ Obedience sheds light on the hidden things of God and our future is hidden with God.
1 Cor 2:9-12
9 But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

§ God created man all by Himself, but He can’t help or save man without man’s consent or obedience.
Isa 1:19
19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;

§ Your obedience to God today, determines what you’ll be for God tomorrow.
Ps 78:70-72
70 He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From following the ewes that had young He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

§ May mean having to give up something

Gen 22:3
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

CASE STUDY

(1)Abraham
1st Called: Gen.11:31,(Acts 7:2-4) – Gen.12:4 – Barnes Commentary speculates that it took Him 5years.
Result – the 7fold promise of blessing –Gen 12:1-4.
2nd Gen.15 –The encounter with God on the issue of an heir
V10- He did as he was commanded
V12-18- He got a glimpse into a future of
Ø Nationhood
Ø Egypt
Ø Exodus
Ø Peace for him and a good old age.
3rd Between 16:16 and 17:1 – a wrong move cost him 12yres of divine silence. He was more or less stagnated within this period.

§ Don’t put your life on hold by choosing not to trust God and taking laws into your hands
– V10-14 – Covenant/Command of circumcision
– V19 – A son is promised again
– V23 – circumcision is done
– V21 – the promised son is Named
4th – 21:1-3 – Isaac is born
21:8-12- Sent away Ishmael & Hagar though painful but had to obey God.
Result: 21:32 – Everyone said & knew that God was with him and began seeking his favour instead of fighting him.
5th – 22:1-2 –God made a demand for the life of Isaac
V3-10 – Abraham obeyed and was set to sacrifice Isaac but for divine intervention.
Result – V15-18 –He provoked again the promise he was to transmit to his generation and earned the title of God’s friend.

He provoked God to keep promising and thereby kept adding layers into his future for Abraham to become who he is today known for.

Contrasting Saul and David
(i) Saul lost out because of disobedience – 1Sam.13:13-14; 15:22-23, 28.
(ii) David succeeded because of his love and heart for God. 2Sam.7:1-3.
Each of them provoked a promise
– Saul to condemnation and loss of a future of kings –

1 Sam 13:13-14
13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
– 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
1 Sam 15:28
28 So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
– David to establish an ancestry of kings and national blessing 2Sam.7:5-17.
– Note all came by what words they provoked God to say! What are you provoking God to speak concerning you?
2. SACRIFICE: –
This is a very important matter with God, but please know and be very clear about it that you cannot get by sacrifice what you lost though disobedience.
Gen 8:20-22
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
1 Chron. 21:24-25

24 Then King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.”

§ The word sacrifice implies giving something that cost the giver in terms of self, time or money or of value.
§ Sacrifice can be deemed as a channel for the expression of heartfelt worship.
§ It is vitally connected with the spirit of the worshipper
A sacrifice that is not accompanied with the heart is promptly rejected by God.
Isa 1:11, 13
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats.
13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
Gen 4:4-5
Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
Your sacrifice can secure a word for you and your generation.

CASE SUDY

1. NOAH- Gen.8:20-22

– 1st act after disembarkation was to present his family (humanity) in worship and gratitude to God.
– He built and altar and sacrificed some clean animals to God. Remember his total stock was very few then
Result: God smelled a pleasant Aroma and promised this:
– V21a – No new curse shall be pronounced on the earth.
– V21b – No more universal floods for destruction.
– V22- Guaranteed seasons and cycles for the earth.
God has been faithful to these commitments; now for thousands and thousands of years and He still gives the rainbow today.

2. Hannah –

1 Sam 1:5-6

5 But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.
6 And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb.
1 Sam 1:11
11 Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”

§ Hannah vowed and fulfilled her vow by giving her long awaited only child to God – V26-28
1 Sam 1:26-28
26 And she said, “O my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord.
27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him.
28 Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.

Result: God made her a mother of plenty

Dr. Udoh
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