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Rod Thompson:
Good morning, everyone.
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Welcome to the Granite Bay
Hilltop Church "Sabbath School
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Study Hour."
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I want to welcome you whether
you're here in the sanctuary
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with us, whether
you're watching online at home
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or across the
country or around the world.
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We are continuing our study in
"The Promise," and today's topic
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is "The Everlasting Covenant."
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That's study number 4, and
Pastor Luccas Rodor is going
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to lead us in that, but before
he comes out I want to point out
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our free offering for today.
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It's called "The Name of God,"
and you can get that by going to
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866-788-3966 and ask
for free offer number 779.
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Again, that's 866-Study-More, or
you can text the number "SH145"
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to number 40544.
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Again, that is
"The Name of God."
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That's our free
offering for today.
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I hope you'll
take advantage of that,
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but before Pastor Rodor comes
out why don't we have a word
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of prayer.
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O loving Father, we want
to thank You for the Sabbath.
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We want to thank You for
the opportunity to open up Your
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Word and study, and, Lord,
we want to connect with You.
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We want to learn,
and we want to grow.
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And Lord, we are asking
that You will work powerfully in
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our lives today.
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We pray that You would
speak through Pastor Rodor,
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that You would show us, Lord,
what You would have us do in
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these last days.
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And Lord, as we study
the everlasting covenant, use
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it to draw us closer to You and
may You be glorified through us.
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That's our desire,
and that's our prayer,
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in Jesus's name, amen.
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Luccas Rodor:
Thank you, Pastor Rod.
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It's such a blessing to be here.
Thank you for being with us.
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As Pastor Rod said,
wherever you are in the world,
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we are praying here and
hoping that you are blessed
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by today's study.
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We have so much to talk
about, and this subject,
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friends, is one of the
core contents of the Bible,
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of Scripture, and as we study
this, I'm very sure that God
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will be blessing us.
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He will be guiding us.
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There's a lot to learn
not only in today's lesson
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but in the study
throughout the whole quarter.
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This subject is one
that has to be understood.
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It is one of those cornerstone,
foundational subjects.
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So, thank you so
much for being with us,
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and thank you also
for the local community,
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for spending this time with us.
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The title of this
lesson, of lesson 4,
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is "An Everlasting Covenant,"
and I love the title itself,
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because all the way from the
title we understand that this
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isn't something just
for a specific moment.
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This was not something designed
just for one person or for one
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group of people.
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This is a broad subject.
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"The Everlasting Covenant."
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What does the word "everlasting"
mean if not forever?
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Everlasting. Forever.
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The memory verse for
this week's lesson comes from
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Genesis chapter 17,
verse 7, and it says,
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"I," God, "will establish My
covenant between Me and you,"
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Abraham, "and your descendants
after you throughout their
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generations, for an
everlasting covenant,
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to be God to you and to
your descendants after you."
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Friends, when it
comes to the covenant,
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when it comes to
the subject right here,
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we have to begin
at the very beginning,
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and that's actually what we've
been doing all the way here in
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the study of the
first three lessons.
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We've been talking
about what the covenant is,
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what are the
terms of the covenant.
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On broad strokes we've
seen what "covenant" means.
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It's a deal, right,
between God and humanity,
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and so throughout
the next few weeks,
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and starting last week, we're
going to be analyzing what the
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covenant is for different
people and in different
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moments throughout the Bible.
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So, really, that's the topic,
that's the subject, here that
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we're going to be
talking about today.
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We're going to be talking
about the covenant according
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to Abraham, the
Abrahamic covenant.
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But before we do
actually get into the meat,
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into the content,
of what that means,
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we're going to talk about a
little few things that really
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contextualize and really help us
understand a little bit better
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what this whole
covenant with Abraham was.
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Friends, regarding humankind,
one of the first lessons that
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we learn in Scripture,
if not the first lesson,
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is that humans
are created beings.
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We were created by God.
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We were created in His image.
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Truly, when you look at the
first 11 chapters of the Bible,
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there are three basic lessons
that, really, go out to the rest
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of Scripture and that we extract
from these first 11 chapters.
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In truth, if you want to
summarize the entire Bible,
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the entirety of Scripture,
in three subjects, you could.
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You could do
that. You could do that.
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The first subject, the first
great category, of Scripture is
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that God is a creator.
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God made everything.
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Everything that we see--
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the heaven, the earth,
the animals, all of creation--
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comes from this omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent being
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that is a being of love
and of power and of glory
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and of majesty.
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That's the first great lesson.
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So, we find
creation, we find conflict,
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and the next and last
great lesson--and this really--
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this is interwoven throughout
the rest of Scripture.
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We find covenant.
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Creation,
conflict, and covenant.
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God is a God of covenant.
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Not only did God create us,
not only did He make us perfect,
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not only did a battle, a war,
a conflict, enter our planet,
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but God reacted to that.
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God decided that He
wanted to do something,
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that He wanted to provide a
cure to that disease called sin,
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and that's where we find
the covenant, the agreement.
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It's God reaching
out, extending His hand,
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and saying, "Look, I
want to fix this problem.
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I want to fix this mess."
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And so, that's what we
find here in Scripture.
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We find, really, in the
first 3 chapters of the Bible--
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in the first 11
chapters of the Bible--
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in the first 3 you'll
find the first great problem,
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which is a broken
relationship with God, right?
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We find that sin--
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it altered our
relationship with God,
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and as a consequence of that, we
also find that that sin altered
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our
relationship with each other.
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So, the broken relationship with
God appears in Genesis chapter
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3, and a broken relationship
with each other appears in its
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biggest form, all right?
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And you see the traces from this
all the way from chapter 3 of
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Genesis, but you'll see it
coming to a climax in chapter 11
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with the Tower
of Babel, where God,
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in a preemptive
strike, He comes down.
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He confuses the languages,
and people that at that time saw
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themselves as one, in that one
coalition building that tower,
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then they become
divided and separate, right?
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And so, this is all the backdrop
and the context of what's going
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on in the beginning of
this whole subject of covenant.
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Now, so, the first lesson that
we are going to talk about here
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is that humans
are created beings.
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We were created by
God uniquely, beautifully.
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However, the second lesson that
we find regarding humanity is
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that this creature
became enslaved to sin.
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We fell into the bondage of sin,
and from that point onward our
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primary, natural
orientation without God--
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our primary nature without
Him is to be against His will.
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That's one of the
core elements of sin.
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Sin is this
rebellion against God's will,
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against God's personality.
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Just like a ship whose
rudder is tied in a wrong angle,
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that is the human
nature without God.
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We're crooked.
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Sin is just this
state of rebellion.
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It means to belong
to the enemy's camp.
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It is the spiritual inclination
that makes it impossible--
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again, devoid of God's grace
and His strength it makes it
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impossible for humans to see
correctly, to feel correctly,
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to think correctly,
to behave correctly,
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and to act correctly.
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Sin became, in itself, a
pandemic, and I really believe
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that now more than any point, at
least in the last hundred years,
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we can truly relate to what it
means to be caught in the midst
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of a pandemic.
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Sin became a
pandemic affecting all of us,
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affecting every aspect
of natural human nature.
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People became
centralized in themselves.
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According to the Bible,
human nature became debased,
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became blinded, futile,
alienated, dark, and ignorant.
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It became a wicked enemy.
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It became
deceitful, vain, puffed up.
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And friends, the prognosis
of this disease is haunting.
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It's terrifying.
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The Bible provides at least 12
words that define and describe
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sin as this disease, and
none of them are synonyms.
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All of them describe a different
aspect of what this disease is.
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Each of these terms emphasize
a certain aspect of this malady
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that has infected and infected--
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affected and infected all of us.
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Sin is a leprosy that according
to Isaiah 16 has disfigured
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God's beautiful creation,
but what we find and what I find
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marvelous in the Bible, that
in the middle of this chaos,
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in the middle of this conflict,
God was never taken by surprise.
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God wasn't caught by surprise.
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You can never
catch God by surprise.
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You can never surprise Him.
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God is never overwhelmed.
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From the first day of the
Fall all the way up to today,
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history is the story of divine
intervention in rescuing the
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fallen race, in rescuing us, and
in the final resolution of this
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whole problem created by sin.
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And so, friends, this divine
plan initially involved the
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choice of one man, of one
family, and of one nation:
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Abraham, the
patriarchs, and Israel,
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who were the depositories
of God's revelation,
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from whose very
lineage the Messiah,
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the Anointed One, would come,
the one who would ultimately fix
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the problem of
sin, the Redeemer.
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And so, what we
find in the Bible--
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and this is
really the introduction
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to this week's
lesson-- God called Abram.
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He planned to establish, through
this man, a people to whom He
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could trust the revelation
of Himself and of His plans,
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because God is
a transparent God.
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I hope you know that by now.
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God is a transparent God.
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Friends, God could have
created our world like this,
00:11:08.83\00:11:11.97
in a snap of His fingers.
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God could have done that easily.
00:11:13.44\00:11:15.17
Why didn't He?
00:11:15.20\00:11:16.71
Why did He create
the world in six days,
00:11:16.74\00:11:18.41
resting on the seventh?
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Why did He
decide to go that route?
00:11:19.77\00:11:21.88
Because He wants us to
understand His process.
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God wants us to know Him.
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He wants us to relate to Him.
00:11:26.25\00:11:28.22
He wants to be transparent,
and so in the act of saving
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and redeeming us from this
disease, from this horrible
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situation, God decided to
be transparent and to teach us.
00:11:35.76\00:11:40.56
And so, this way God entered
into a covenant with Abram and
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with his posterity--
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a covenant that
emphasized the divine plan
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to save humanity from
the very results of sin.
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And so, this week's lesson,
"An Everlasting Covenant,"
00:11:51.37\00:11:55.01
emphasizes and focuses on the
development of the promises of
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this covenant to Abraham, right?
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And that's what
we're going to talk about.
00:12:01.35\00:12:02.78
So, when we enter
the lesson and we start,
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you know, from the true content,
the first day there with Sunday,
00:12:04.92\00:12:08.96
the title here is "Yahweh
and the Abrahamic Covenant."
00:12:08.99\00:12:12.19
And the main verse that
we're analyzing is Genesis 15,
00:12:12.23\00:12:15.76
verse 7, that says,
"And He said unto him,
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I am the Lord that brought
thee out of Ur of the Chaldees,
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to give thee this
land to inherit it."
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You know, usually the first
piece of information that we
00:12:25.94\00:12:29.24
have on any
person is their name.
00:12:29.28\00:12:32.75
That's how we
introduce ourselves.
00:12:32.78\00:12:34.08
You'll come up to someone,
"Hi, my name is--" right?
00:12:34.12\00:12:38.45
I lived in Brazil
for a very long time.
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My family is from Brazil and,
you know, in Brazil, at school,
00:12:40.29\00:12:46.16
the school teaches the
students English, right?
00:12:46.19\00:12:48.10
It's the second language
that they'll teach you in--
00:12:48.13\00:12:50.90
at school, and the first
thing that every child learns
00:12:50.93\00:12:53.87
all the way from when they start
English classes is "my name is."
00:12:53.90\00:12:58.07
"Hi, my name is--"
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And so, that just
reveals that names,
00:12:59.44\00:13:01.88
for us, have this
context of identity.
00:13:01.91\00:13:05.08
When we tell people our
name, we're just telling them,
00:13:05.11\00:13:07.48
you know, how they can
address us, who we are.
00:13:07.52\00:13:10.55
In Western
culture, names are sort of
00:13:10.59\00:13:13.36
a cultural etiquette, right?
00:13:13.39\00:13:15.06
You'll be polite.
00:13:15.09\00:13:16.39
You'll tell someone
your name, and so they'll be
00:13:16.42\00:13:18.43
able to address you in that way,
and it's used to distinguish one
00:13:18.46\00:13:20.76
person from another.
00:13:20.80\00:13:22.10
However, in the biblical
times we find a completely
00:13:22.13\00:13:25.63
different mentality.
00:13:25.67\00:13:26.97
Names represent details
that reveal personality,
00:13:27.00\00:13:30.37
that reveal expectations, or
part of the history of either
00:13:30.41\00:13:34.14
the person receiving the name or
what the expectations for their
00:13:34.18\00:13:37.08
life is, or the history of the
person that is giving the name.
00:13:37.11\00:13:41.92
In the book--there's a
very interesting book called
00:13:41.95\00:13:43.99
"The Names of God."
00:13:44.02\00:13:45.65
The author is a man
called Ken Hemphill.
00:13:45.69\00:13:47.99
He lists 19 names that are
frequently used to describe
00:13:48.02\00:13:52.19
God in the Old Testament.
00:13:52.23\00:13:53.93
Now, these names,
they're more than designations.
00:13:53.96\00:13:56.03
This is what's beautiful
about God in Scripture.
00:13:56.06\00:13:58.07
You'll find that in
the Bible God is absolutely
00:13:58.10\00:14:01.57
multichromatic, and what that
means is that whichever way that
00:14:01.60\00:14:05.64
you look and you see God, you'll
see Him in a different way.
00:14:05.67\00:14:08.64
I remember when my
family and I, we went--
00:14:08.68\00:14:12.11
I was a lot younger.
00:14:12.15\00:14:13.45
We went to the Smithsonian
Museum of Natural History in
00:14:13.48\00:14:17.55
Washington, D.C, and I
got to see the Hope Diamond.
00:14:17.59\00:14:20.49
At the time, it was the
largest diamond in the world.
00:14:20.52\00:14:22.22
I don't know what it is
now, but it's this big diamond.
00:14:22.26\00:14:25.66
And they had many lights
shone into that diamond, right?
00:14:25.69\00:14:29.76
They were just shining in,
and from whichever way that you
00:14:29.80\00:14:32.73
looked, the prism
made it seem as though--
00:14:32.77\00:14:34.67
you know, you looked in
one angle and it was yellow.
00:14:34.70\00:14:36.40
In another angle it was blue
and purple and red and orange.
00:14:36.44\00:14:39.51
It was beautiful.
00:14:39.54\00:14:41.24
God is the same way, and His
names describe these different
00:14:41.28\00:14:45.45
aspects of who He is.
00:14:45.48\00:14:46.78
I'll give you
an example of this.
00:14:46.82\00:14:48.12
In the Bible, we find that Jesus
is described as the Lamb that
00:14:48.15\00:14:50.59
takes away the sin of the world.
00:14:50.62\00:14:51.99
Jesus is described as the
Lion of the tribe of Judah,
00:14:52.02\00:14:54.69
and He's also
described as the Good Shepherd.
00:14:54.72\00:14:56.59
So, which is it?
00:14:56.62\00:14:57.93
Is He the Lion, is He the
Lamb, or is He the Shepherd?
00:14:57.96\00:15:00.96
He's all three of
those, and so much more,
00:15:01.00\00:15:03.30
so you see that in Scripture,
God is multichromatic.
00:15:03.33\00:15:06.43
You can see Him in
so many different ways,
00:15:06.47\00:15:08.94
and these names
are a description
00:15:08.97\00:15:11.04
of God's personality.
00:15:11.07\00:15:12.51
God's names in the Bible
are sermons about who He is.
00:15:12.54\00:15:17.35
They're
messages about who He is.
00:15:17.38\00:15:20.88
The names of God are, in fact,
00:15:20.92\00:15:23.12
complete sermons
about His personality.
00:15:23.15\00:15:26.89
Now, during
these biblical times,
00:15:26.92\00:15:28.59
people in the Near East, they
attached a great importance to
00:15:28.62\00:15:32.09
the meaning of names.
00:15:32.13\00:15:33.43
The Hebrews always
thought that a name--
00:15:33.46\00:15:36.36
they always thought of a name
as something special, something
00:15:36.40\00:15:38.60
that indicated either
the personal characteristics
00:15:38.63\00:15:41.40
of the person being named
or the person giving the name,
00:15:41.44\00:15:44.44
the emotions of the one
giving the name at the time.
00:15:44.47\00:15:48.14
When God enters into
this covenant with Abram,
00:15:48.18\00:15:50.55
He introduces
Himself as, "I am the Lord."
00:15:50.58\00:15:53.98
He introduces Himself as Yahweh.
00:15:54.02\00:15:56.05
"I am the Lord,
the self-existent one."
00:15:56.08\00:16:00.92
That's powerful.
00:16:00.96\00:16:03.43
When translated to English, the
word "LORD," we'll find it in
00:16:03.46\00:16:07.46
the English versions
printed all in capitals.
00:16:07.50\00:16:09.63
When you see that in the Bible--
00:16:09.66\00:16:10.97
all in capital letters,
know that in the manuscript,
00:16:11.00\00:16:14.24
in Hebrew, the word
appearing there is "Yahweh."
00:16:14.27\00:16:16.94
It's God's personal name.
00:16:16.97\00:16:19.07
Another very common
name for God is Elohim,
00:16:19.11\00:16:21.81
and that's normally translated
in English as "God," and this is
00:16:21.84\00:16:25.05
more of a generic
name for God in contrast
00:16:25.08\00:16:28.32
to the personal name Yahweh.
00:16:28.35\00:16:30.69
The meaning of Yahweh--
00:16:30.72\00:16:32.02
and this is the holy
tetragram as they call it in--
00:16:32.05\00:16:34.66
called the sacred,
like, YWHW, and it usually
00:16:34.69\00:16:44.17
is understood as
"the self-existent one."
00:16:44.20\00:16:46.47
As it appears
here in this verse,
00:16:46.50\00:16:49.14
we understand it as the one
who brought Abraham out of Ur.
00:16:49.17\00:16:52.44
That's verse 7, and it refers
back to the beginning of God's
00:16:52.47\00:16:55.44
covenant with Abraham.
00:16:55.48\00:16:56.78
It's the beginning of God's
relationship with Abraham in
00:16:56.81\00:16:59.38
Genesis chapter
12, verse 1 through 3.
00:16:59.41\00:17:01.28
What we find is that God, He
kind of segments His covenant
00:17:01.32\00:17:04.62
with Abraham throughout
different chapters, right?
00:17:04.65\00:17:06.82
So, you have chapter 12.
00:17:06.86\00:17:08.16
You have the
beginning of that covenant.
00:17:08.19\00:17:09.49
Chapter 15, you'll find the
continuation, the middle part.
00:17:09.52\00:17:11.73
And then, in chapter 17 you'll
find another part of this,
00:17:11.76\00:17:14.10
and so God is truly trying
to help Abraham understand what
00:17:14.13\00:17:17.97
His plan is, because look.
00:17:18.00\00:17:19.30
It's really easy--
00:17:19.33\00:17:20.84
actually, let
me say it this way.
00:17:20.87\00:17:22.17
Hindsight is
always 20/20, right?
00:17:22.20\00:17:23.81
That's what we say.
00:17:23.84\00:17:25.14
So, as we look at Scripture
through the lens of time,
00:17:25.17\00:17:28.48
it's easier for
us to understand,
00:17:28.51\00:17:30.05
but for Abraham
living in the moment,
00:17:30.08\00:17:32.28
it was hard.
00:17:32.31\00:17:33.72
Sometimes understanding God's
plans for us in the moment,
00:17:33.75\00:17:37.42
it's difficult.
00:17:37.45\00:17:38.75
It's a matter of faith, of
sometimes even blind trust.
00:17:38.79\00:17:42.66
Later on, when we see
the development of the story,
00:17:42.69\00:17:45.69
then we understand
a little bit better.
00:17:45.73\00:17:47.73
I'm sure that anyone here
can relate to that reality,
00:17:47.76\00:17:51.67
but in this case the meaning
of Yahweh as the one who brought
00:17:51.70\00:17:55.17
Abraham out of Ur, it refers
back to God's relationship
00:17:55.20\00:17:59.24
with Abraham.
00:17:59.27\00:18:00.58
And so, Genesis 15,
verse 7, it literally means,
00:18:00.61\00:18:03.04
"I am Yahweh, the one who
brought you out of," right?
00:18:03.08\00:18:06.55
The lesson tells us here--
and this is on Sunday's lesson--
00:18:06.58\00:18:09.15
there's a few sentences
here that are extremely
00:18:09.18\00:18:12.39
interesting, and they
say that the name "Yahweh,"
00:18:12.42\00:18:16.39
though appearing 6,828
times in the Old Testament,
00:18:16.42\00:18:19.96
is somewhat shrouded in mystery.
00:18:20.00\00:18:22.03
It seems to be a form
of the verb "hayah," to be,
00:18:22.06\00:18:26.00
in which case it would mean "the
eternal one," the existent one,
00:18:26.03\00:18:30.54
the self-existing one,
the self-sufficient one,
00:18:30.57\00:18:33.41
or the one who lives eternally.
00:18:33.44\00:18:35.51
And so, the divine attribute
seems to be emphasized by the
00:18:35.54\00:18:39.98
title, and those are
of the self-existence and
00:18:40.02\00:18:43.79
the faithfulness of God.
00:18:43.82\00:18:45.12
And continuing
here in this paragraph,
00:18:45.15\00:18:46.45
it says, "They point to
the Lord as the living God,
00:18:46.49\00:18:49.56
the source of life, in contrast
with the gods of the heathen,
00:18:49.59\00:18:52.99
which had no existence
apart from the imagination,
00:18:53.03\00:18:56.80
the imagination
of their worshipers."
00:18:56.83\00:18:59.10
And God Himself, He explains
the meaning of Yahweh in Exodus
00:18:59.13\00:19:02.40
3:14, when God says,
"I am, I am who I am."
00:19:02.44\00:19:07.68
And so, this meaning
expresses the reality
00:19:07.71\00:19:09.51
of God's unconditional
existence, while it also
00:19:09.54\00:19:12.75
suggests His rule over the past,
the present, and the future.
00:19:12.78\00:19:16.42
Friends, when we
understands God's--
00:19:16.45\00:19:18.32
when we understand
God's personal name as Yahweh,
00:19:18.35\00:19:21.29
we are understanding God
as the self-existent being.
00:19:21.32\00:19:25.13
God is far
removed from this reality
00:19:25.16\00:19:27.30
of time and space that we--
00:19:27.36\00:19:29.00
as we know it, because
God created time and space
00:19:29.03\00:19:31.83
as we know it.
00:19:31.87\00:19:33.17
And so, in that sense,
God is the self-existing one.
00:19:33.20\00:19:37.14
Here, God's call
for Abraham to leave Ur,
00:19:37.17\00:19:40.28
one of the oldest
civilizations of the world,
00:19:40.31\00:19:42.61
it's really interesting.
00:19:42.64\00:19:43.95
When you really go down and look
at the details of what the--
00:19:43.98\00:19:46.41
of what Scripture is presenting
here and compare it to the
00:19:46.45\00:19:48.88
history of what's happening,
it's extremely interesting,
00:19:48.92\00:19:51.75
because by calling
Abraham, or Abram at this point,
00:19:51.79\00:19:55.06
to leave Ur, God did not
only fulfill His promise that he
00:19:55.09\00:19:58.83
would be the
father of many nations,
00:19:58.86\00:20:00.46
but He also placed him in a
location in which this nation
00:20:00.50\00:20:04.40
would have the most
impact and influence.
00:20:04.43\00:20:07.67
So, Canaan was this land
bridge between many empires.
00:20:07.70\00:20:13.31
Canaan was the natural
geographical choice for
00:20:13.34\00:20:16.41
the people of God.
00:20:16.44\00:20:17.75
From Canaan, they would
interact with the Egyptians.
00:20:17.78\00:20:19.98
They would interact with various
Canaanite nations such as Amnon
00:20:20.02\00:20:23.12
and Moab and Edom.
00:20:23.15\00:20:25.72
They would interact with
the Mesopotamian kingdoms to the
00:20:25.75\00:20:29.42
east, with the
Assyrians to the north,
00:20:29.46\00:20:31.53
and so here we
see that God put them
00:20:31.56\00:20:33.46
kind of in the
middle of everything.
00:20:33.50\00:20:36.73
They were in the middle
of all the drama and the wars
00:20:36.77\00:20:40.60
happening, and God just placed
them there so that they could
00:20:40.64\00:20:43.57
impact and influence these
nations to a greater extent.
00:20:43.61\00:20:48.94
But what I find really
interesting is that there
00:20:48.98\00:20:52.15
is perhaps here an
even deeper reason,
00:20:52.18\00:20:55.45
a more personal reason as to
why God called Abraham and his
00:20:55.48\00:20:58.72
family to leave Ur at the end
here of the 3rd millennium B.C.
00:20:58.75\00:21:02.82
At the time,
Abraham didn't know this,
00:21:02.86\00:21:05.03
but he didn't know that
this flourishing kingdom,
00:21:05.06\00:21:08.16
this flourishing city
of Ur would have a very
00:21:08.20\00:21:11.17
short-lived existence.
00:21:11.20\00:21:13.80
Ur's third period came to an
end in around 2004 or 2003 B.C.,
00:21:13.84\00:21:18.87
when the city was
completely destroyed
00:21:18.91\00:21:21.31
by the Elamites.
00:21:21.34\00:21:24.21
It appears that not only did God
want to establish a great nation
00:21:24.25\00:21:27.82
through the seed of Abraham,
but He also personally sought
00:21:27.85\00:21:30.89
to bring him out of
a city that was going
00:21:30.92\00:21:33.29
to be destroyed very shortly.
00:21:33.32\00:21:35.56
There's no way that that--
00:21:35.59\00:21:36.89
that the family would flourish
there, because the city would be
00:21:36.93\00:21:40.30
destroyed, and that's other
than being a very heathen--
00:21:40.33\00:21:43.63
a very vile city.
00:21:43.67\00:21:46.80
And here we find, friends--
00:21:46.84\00:21:48.30
and I found this
resonance in the Bible.
00:21:48.34\00:21:51.34
So beautiful, because right here
we find an echo of the call that
00:21:51.37\00:21:56.14
is found in Revelation
to come out of Babylon,
00:21:56.18\00:21:59.51
the condemned city.
00:21:59.55\00:22:00.85
Here, we find God calling
Abraham to come out of Ur,
00:22:00.88\00:22:05.05
to follow His will, to
hear His call, and we find--
00:22:05.09\00:22:08.79
in a similar fashion
we find the same call in
00:22:08.82\00:22:11.43
Revelation, when God calls His
people to come out of Babylon,
00:22:11.46\00:22:14.76
the condemned city.
00:22:14.83\00:22:16.73
Ur, the city where Abraham
was ordered to leave, which is--
00:22:16.77\00:22:19.53
and that you'll find that
in Genesis chapter 12, verse 1.
00:22:19.57\00:22:21.84
It was located in what
would become a Babylon,
00:22:21.87\00:22:25.54
whereby the
testimony of Joshua chapter 24,
00:22:25.57\00:22:28.11
verse 2, Abraham's very
forefathers served other gods.
00:22:28.14\00:22:32.48
And so, this
idolatrous Babylonians,
00:22:32.51\00:22:35.68
these idolatrous Babylonians,
they worshiped fire.
00:22:35.72\00:22:38.25
They worshiped the sun.
00:22:38.29\00:22:39.59
They worshiped the
moon and the stars,
00:22:39.62\00:22:41.12
the forces of nature.
00:22:41.16\00:22:42.46
They worshiped metals.
00:22:42.49\00:22:43.79
From ancient times, the
Babylonian pantheon of gods
00:22:43.83\00:22:47.83
included an incredible
quantity of divinities,
00:22:47.86\00:22:51.63
many, many, many gods.
00:22:51.67\00:22:53.67
Nimrod, for example, that
we find in the Bible in Genesis
00:22:53.70\00:22:57.37
chapter 10, verse 9, that
exalted himself against God
00:22:57.41\00:23:00.81
and to whom the project of the
Tower of Babel is attributed to,
00:23:00.84\00:23:04.48
he later on
became known as Marduk,
00:23:04.51\00:23:07.05
the main Babylonian divinity.
00:23:07.08\00:23:10.55
Shin, the god of light, was the
most important divinity in Ur,
00:23:10.59\00:23:15.76
the city of Abraham.
00:23:15.79\00:23:17.43
His wife, Shin's
wife called Ishtar,
00:23:17.46\00:23:21.53
was the
deification of sexual passion,
00:23:21.56\00:23:24.80
the patron of
sacral prostitution,
00:23:24.83\00:23:27.67
and she was promoted in
her temples by priestesses.
00:23:27.70\00:23:33.38
It's no surprise that God called
Abraham to leave the city,
00:23:33.41\00:23:36.98
as it is no surprise that God
calls His people in the end time
00:23:37.01\00:23:40.68
to leave Babylon.
00:23:40.72\00:23:43.18
Throughout Scripture, friends,
and culminating with the book of
00:23:43.22\00:23:46.45
Revelation, Babylon is described
as this force that opposes God,
00:23:46.49\00:23:51.76
that opposes the God of heaven.
00:23:51.79\00:23:53.09
In the context of the final
collapse of spiritual Babylon
00:23:53.13\00:23:56.87
in the very end, just as it was
in the beginning when God called
00:23:56.90\00:24:01.97
Abraham to leave Ur, God has
called His followers to leave
00:24:02.00\00:24:08.18
the spiritual Babylon.
00:24:08.21\00:24:09.94
Just as it was in the times
of the exile that God asked His
00:24:09.98\00:24:15.58
people to leave
the literal Babylon,
00:24:15.62\00:24:20.36
He's calling us today, because
there are many of God's people
00:24:20.39\00:24:24.03
that are found in spiritual
Babylon, a great multitude.
00:24:24.06\00:24:30.30
And God's call us
to come out of her,
00:24:30.33\00:24:31.87
lest they share in her sins
00:24:31.90\00:24:34.60
and lest they
receive of her plagues.
00:24:34.64\00:24:38.11
Those that literally
left Babylon at that time,
00:24:38.14\00:24:40.28
at the time--
00:24:40.31\00:24:41.61
at the postexilic moment, they
came out in the direction of the
00:24:41.64\00:24:45.41
Promised Land and of Jerusalem.
00:24:45.45\00:24:49.25
And now, friends, what is
at stake is our entrance to the
00:24:49.28\00:24:51.99
New Jerusalem.
00:24:52.02\00:24:54.46
Babylon will find herself
before the divine court of
00:24:54.49\00:24:58.99
the universe, accused
of pride, of arrogance,
00:24:59.03\00:25:02.10
of lust, of spiritual
adultery, of deceitfulness,
00:25:02.13\00:25:04.80
of violence, of
corruption, of idolatry,
00:25:04.83\00:25:07.37
of blasphemy, and a
plethora of more of accusations.
00:25:07.40\00:25:10.64
And so, my dear friend, if you
still find yourself in spiritual
00:25:10.67\00:25:14.44
Babylon hear God's call.
00:25:14.48\00:25:16.48
Just as He called Abraham,
just as He called his people,
00:25:16.51\00:25:20.05
hear God's call.
00:25:20.08\00:25:21.38
Come out of her.
00:25:21.42\00:25:23.72
Come out of her.
00:25:23.75\00:25:26.19
The lesson continues
with another beautiful segment
00:25:26.22\00:25:30.03
of this study with
Monday's lesson, and the title's
00:25:30.06\00:25:32.79
"El Shaddai,"
one of God's names.
00:25:32.83\00:25:35.80
This focus is on
Genesis chapter 17, verse 1,
00:25:35.83\00:25:39.30
where we read, "And Abram was--
00:25:39.33\00:25:40.94
Abram was ninety
years old and nine.
00:25:40.97\00:25:45.01
The Lord
appeared to him, and said,
00:25:45.04\00:25:46.88
"I am the Lord--
00:25:46.91\00:25:48.48
I am the Almighty God; walk
before me, and be thou perfect."
00:25:48.51\00:25:52.71
Friends, when
Abraham was 99 years old,
00:25:52.75\00:25:55.62
Yahweh appeared to him
and identified Him as--
00:25:55.65\00:25:58.29
Himself as the Almighty God.
00:25:58.32\00:26:00.36
And this
identification is found--
00:26:00.39\00:26:01.99
you'll find that this word, this
term for God, this name for God,
00:26:02.02\00:26:05.09
the Almighty God, El Shaddai, it
appears mainly in two biblical
00:26:05.13\00:26:09.36
books, in two
books of the Bible.
00:26:09.40\00:26:11.53
You'll find this in
the book of Genesis,
00:26:11.57\00:26:13.30
and you'll find this a
lot in the book of Job.
00:26:13.34\00:26:16.07
This
designation, the Almighty God,
00:26:16.10\00:26:18.37
it's translated into
English from El Shaddai,
00:26:18.41\00:26:21.94
from the Hebrew El Shaddai.
00:26:21.98\00:26:23.31
El is a--it's a generic Semite
name that is used for deity,
00:26:23.35\00:26:29.08
and it's used in the majority of
the Old Testament as a synonym
00:26:29.12\00:26:31.75
for Yah, for Yahweh, right?
00:26:31.79\00:26:33.59
For the personal name of God.
00:26:33.62\00:26:35.39
And there are
multitudes of examples of this.
00:26:35.42\00:26:36.96
If you were to look, you
would find this in the book
00:26:36.99\00:26:39.13
of Numbers, in
Psalms, in Isaiah.
00:26:39.16\00:26:40.83
You'll find this
in multiple places,
00:26:40.86\00:26:42.43
this definition of "el"
signifying and meaning Yahweh.
00:26:42.46\00:26:49.60
The exact
origin, on the other hand
00:26:49.64\00:26:51.07
of Shaddai,
that's more of a mystery.
00:26:51.11\00:26:53.98
It's kind of uncertain.
00:26:54.01\00:26:55.38
However, the translation that--
00:26:55.41\00:26:56.88
for Almighty that we find
in the King James Version,
00:26:56.91\00:26:59.21
it's very appropriate.
00:26:59.25\00:27:00.48
It appears to be the very
best translation for Shaddai,
00:27:00.52\00:27:02.95
for Almighty.
00:27:02.98\00:27:04.29
The emphasis, friends,
here is placed on God's might in
00:27:04.32\00:27:06.45
contrast to Abraham.
00:27:06.49\00:27:07.79
God appears to
Abraham, and He says,
00:27:07.82\00:27:09.36
"Look, Abraham. I am
the Lord God Almighty."
00:27:09.39\00:27:13.19
Who is He talking to?
He's talking to Abraham.
00:27:13.23\00:27:16.06
Ninety-nine
years old, an old man,
00:27:16.10\00:27:19.97
still awaiting a promise, so
it's very significant that God
00:27:20.00\00:27:23.54
says, "I am the Almighty God,"
because at this point, Abraham
00:27:23.57\00:27:27.14
needed an Almighty God.
00:27:27.18\00:27:29.24
To fulfill that promise,
Abraham needed an Almighty God.
00:27:29.28\00:27:35.08
God had promised
Abraham a son almost a quarter
00:27:35.12\00:27:37.99
of a century before.
00:27:38.02\00:27:39.92
It was already ridiculous then,
00:27:39.95\00:27:42.29
a quarter of a
century before 99, 74 years.
00:27:42.32\00:27:46.19
I don't know a lot of people
that at 74 are thinking of
00:27:46.23\00:27:49.00
having a child.
00:27:49.03\00:27:51.70
Maybe someone here
does and there's nothing--
00:27:51.73\00:27:54.27
I won't be against that,
but it's not something normal.
00:27:54.30\00:27:57.24
And so, that was
already something strange,
00:27:57.27\00:28:01.21
but 25 years later, at 99,
Abraham needed an Almighty God.
00:28:01.24\00:28:08.78
At this point,
Sarah and Abraham,
00:28:08.82\00:28:11.65
they still found
themselves without a child,
00:28:11.69\00:28:14.86
and so they decided to take
matters into their own hands,
00:28:14.89\00:28:17.83
and so Ishmael was born.
00:28:17.86\00:28:20.73
Almost a decade
and a half after that,
00:28:20.76\00:28:23.83
when Abraham now at 99,
00:28:23.87\00:28:25.60
God appears to him to
reaffirm His covenant.
00:28:25.63\00:28:28.17
He appears to Abraham.
00:28:28.20\00:28:29.50
"Let's do it. Come on.
00:28:29.54\00:28:30.84
Let's fulfill this promise.
00:28:30.87\00:28:33.54
In one year, you
will have a son."
00:28:33.58\00:28:36.68
But think about it.
What did Abraham do?
00:28:36.71\00:28:39.31
At this point, Abraham,
he's, "O Lord, all right?
00:28:39.35\00:28:42.12
Here's the son. Here's Ishmael."
00:28:42.15\00:28:44.92
I can imagine God,
in that context, going,
00:28:44.95\00:28:46.96
"Wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:28:46.99\00:28:49.12
That's not what
we talked about here.
00:28:49.16\00:28:51.86
This is not what
we talked about."
00:28:51.89\00:28:53.56
And here we find that Abraham--
00:28:53.60\00:28:57.07
Abraham here, he manifested--
00:28:57.10\00:28:59.93
he revealed a very
human emotion, the emotion of
00:29:00.04\00:29:02.30
wanting to be in control.
00:29:02.34\00:29:05.07
Humans want to be
in control, don't we?
00:29:05.11\00:29:07.94
We don't like
being out of control,
00:29:07.98\00:29:11.05
but when it
comes to God, friends,
00:29:11.08\00:29:12.51
God is not a tame God.
00:29:12.55\00:29:15.55
God isn't this little
lamb that we can just guide.
00:29:15.58\00:29:18.75
God is a ferocious God, and here
Abraham had to understand that
00:29:18.79\00:29:23.76
this God would not be coerced,
would not be controlled,
00:29:23.79\00:29:26.59
would not be commanded.
00:29:26.63\00:29:27.93
However much he
wanted to be in control,
00:29:27.96\00:29:29.80
God is always in control.
00:29:29.83\00:29:32.30
God is always in command and at
that crucial point is when God
00:29:32.33\00:29:37.31
introduces Himself
as the Almighty God,
00:29:37.34\00:29:39.97
to whom nothing is impossible.
00:29:40.01\00:29:44.11
Friends, hard-pressed men
and women wavering in faith--
00:29:44.15\00:29:47.62
just as did Abraham--
00:29:47.65\00:29:49.28
you know, I find it the greatest
irony that Abraham is called the
00:29:49.32\00:29:52.25
father of faith, but in
many points of Abraham's life we
00:29:52.29\00:29:56.32
find him failing with faith.
00:29:56.36\00:29:58.53
This is one of those moments.
00:29:58.56\00:29:59.86
He wavered.
00:29:59.89\00:30:01.23
He questioned. He doubted.
00:30:01.26\00:30:02.96
He tried to take
matters into his own hands,
00:30:03.00\00:30:06.47
and this just reassures me that
the covenant God is truly an
00:30:06.50\00:30:09.97
Almighty God, Who brings about
the fulfillment of His covenant,
00:30:10.01\00:30:13.64
of His promises in His own
time without human assistance.
00:30:13.68\00:30:17.98
God doesn't need us, friends.
00:30:18.01\00:30:20.65
God doesn't need us,
but we have the privilege.
00:30:20.68\00:30:24.75
Because of His love we have the
privilege of participating in
00:30:24.79\00:30:27.82
this journey, in
the spiritual journey.
00:30:27.86\00:30:32.49
What God has promised to do, He
can perform at any time through
00:30:32.53\00:30:36.90
whichever means of divine
providence that He sees fit.
00:30:36.93\00:30:39.77
In the New
Testament, the apostle Paul,
00:30:39.80\00:30:41.44
he quotes this moment
here of Abraham and Sarah,
00:30:41.47\00:30:44.37
and he says that they were
already dead in their flesh,
00:30:44.41\00:30:48.04
since he was about a
hundred years old, 99,
00:30:48.08\00:30:50.15
and Sarah was 90 years old.
00:30:50.18\00:30:53.11
It's interesting that Sarah
laughed when she heard this.
00:30:53.15\00:30:56.18
And to be very honest, I
would probably laugh too.
00:30:56.22\00:30:59.59
It's comical.
00:30:59.62\00:31:00.92
Who had ever heard of a lady at
90 years of age giving birth to
00:31:00.96\00:31:04.09
a child?
00:31:04.13\00:31:06.06
What this means here is that
they were beyond any biological
00:31:06.09\00:31:09.13
possibility of bearing a child.
00:31:09.16\00:31:11.17
However, friends, the
promise was not based on human
00:31:11.20\00:31:14.30
possibilities, and this
is something that we have
00:31:14.34\00:31:16.30
to understand.
00:31:16.34\00:31:17.64
God's logic is not illogical.
00:31:17.67\00:31:20.14
It's merely supralogical.
00:31:20.18\00:31:22.64
It's above our
powers of observation,
00:31:22.68\00:31:25.81
or our powers of logic.
00:31:25.85\00:31:28.18
God is supralogic,
00:31:28.22\00:31:29.98
not illogical but supra-, above.
00:31:30.02\00:31:34.39
Other texts in the Bible with
similar promises are found in
00:31:34.42\00:31:37.36
Genesis 35, Genesis 43, 49.
00:31:37.39\00:31:40.03
You could see here that God, He
makes some ridiculous promises.
00:31:40.06\00:31:43.33
Ridiculous, at
least for us humans.
00:31:43.37\00:31:46.53
You see, friends, God is just--
00:31:46.57\00:31:48.80
the Almighty God
that we're seeing here,
00:31:48.84\00:31:50.91
this is a God that--
00:31:50.94\00:31:53.21
think of the children of Israel
leaving Egypt after 400 years in
00:31:53.24\00:31:58.51
Egypt, 200 years
in bondage as slaves.
00:31:58.55\00:32:01.62
They're leaving, the Exodus.
00:32:01.65\00:32:03.42
There's an army, the most
powerful army of the known
00:32:03.45\00:32:06.92
world, behind them,
mountains surrounding them,
00:32:06.96\00:32:11.66
and a sea dead ahead.
00:32:11.69\00:32:15.93
What could they do?
What was their escape?
00:32:15.96\00:32:19.53
What options
did they have? None.
00:32:19.57\00:32:23.64
But who could have guessed
that the sea parting ways
00:32:23.67\00:32:27.64
was an option?
00:32:27.68\00:32:30.88
I find this kind of comical.
00:32:30.91\00:32:32.21
Who could ever have imagined
that the sea opening up and
00:32:32.25\00:32:35.52
having a dry
walkway, a dry path for them,
00:32:35.55\00:32:38.45
who could ever have imagined
that that was a possibility,
00:32:38.49\00:32:41.19
that that was an option?
00:32:41.22\00:32:43.43
Joshua fighting, warring
for the children of Israel,
00:32:43.46\00:32:47.46
he needs more time.
00:32:47.50\00:32:48.76
He cries out to God.
00:32:48.80\00:32:50.10
Who could ever have
imagined that the sun
00:32:50.13\00:32:51.93
stopping was an option?
00:32:51.97\00:32:55.20
That is our God, friends.
00:32:55.24\00:32:57.67
That's what and that's
who the Almighty God is,
00:32:57.71\00:33:01.88
the God of the options
that we could never imagine,
00:33:01.91\00:33:06.01
options that we
could never imagine.
00:33:06.05\00:33:10.32
El, the God of
power and authority;
00:33:10.35\00:33:14.22
and Shaddai, God of
inexhaustible riches
00:33:14.26\00:33:17.43
is willing to bestow upon
those who seek Him in faith
00:33:17.46\00:33:20.16
and obedience the
limitless bounties of His power.
00:33:20.20\00:33:26.23
The next portion here of the
lesson on Tuesday we find from
00:33:26.27\00:33:29.20
Abram to Abraham.
00:33:29.24\00:33:31.84
You know, the concept of names,
as we've already mentioned,
00:33:31.87\00:33:34.28
with theological
and spiritual meanings,
00:33:34.31\00:33:37.15
it's not something
limited only to God.
00:33:37.18\00:33:38.95
We don't only find God having
various names in the Bible.
00:33:38.98\00:33:43.05
The names of various
people are often changed
00:33:43.08\00:33:45.02
throughout Scripture.
00:33:45.05\00:33:46.76
Nowadays, names don't really
mean all that much, right?
00:33:46.79\00:33:49.22
"I mean, oh, I think the
name Mary is a beautiful name.
00:33:49.26\00:33:51.43
I think the name
Luccas-- my name is--
00:33:51.46\00:33:53.50
you know, it's a
great name, so--"
00:33:53.53\00:33:54.96
but it doesn't-- I
mean, my name was almost--
00:33:55.00\00:33:57.00
I think it was Samuel
that my parents told me
00:33:57.03\00:33:58.80
or something like that.
00:33:58.83\00:34:00.14
Or Daniel, I
don't know, but names,
00:34:00.17\00:34:02.40
they're kind of
chosen on that basis,
00:34:02.44\00:34:04.74
but in biblical times
it was very different.
00:34:04.77\00:34:09.18
Names were full of meaning.
00:34:09.21\00:34:10.81
The lesson says that all Semitic
names of people have meaning and
00:34:10.85\00:34:14.62
usually consist of a phrase
or short sentence comprised of a
00:34:14.65\00:34:18.79
wish or an expression
of gratitude on the part
00:34:18.82\00:34:22.12
of the parent.
00:34:22.16\00:34:23.46
For example, Daniel
means "God is my judge."
00:34:23.49\00:34:25.43
Joel means "Yahweh is God."
00:34:25.46\00:34:27.23
Nathan means "gift of God."
00:34:27.23\00:34:29.36
And so, since these names
were frequently tied to meaning,
00:34:29.40\00:34:32.97
they were subject to change, in
reflection to radical changes on
00:34:33.00\00:34:37.04
the lives of people.
00:34:37.07\00:34:38.37
Do you remember Naomi?
00:34:38.41\00:34:40.98
She changed her name to
what? Do you guys remember?
00:34:41.01\00:34:43.31
Mara, bitter, because of
the circumstances of her life.
00:34:43.35\00:34:48.32
This is something normal
in the biblical narrative.
00:34:48.35\00:34:51.52
Remember, also, another example,
the new name promised to those
00:34:51.55\00:34:55.56
who persevere in Revelation.
00:34:55.59\00:34:59.03
It's not difficult to understand
why God changed the name of
00:34:59.06\00:35:01.16
Abraham, Abram, which
means "father is exalted."
00:35:01.20\00:35:06.17
God changes to Abraham,
the father of a great nation,
00:35:06.20\00:35:09.34
or the father of a multitude.
00:35:09.37\00:35:11.97
You know, at a first glance, to
Abraham this might have sounded
00:35:12.01\00:35:16.11
as a joke.
00:35:16.14\00:35:20.15
Imagine Abraham 99
years old; Sarah, 90.
00:35:20.18\00:35:25.99
They have one son
that's not really the son,
00:35:26.02\00:35:31.29
and God comes
about, and He says,
00:35:31.33\00:35:32.79
"Your name now will be
father of a multitude."
00:35:32.83\00:35:35.00
It sounds like a bad joke.
00:35:35.03\00:35:37.57
Little did Abraham know,
00:35:37.60\00:35:41.07
God promised Abraham
that he would be the father
00:35:41.10\00:35:44.44
of many nations.
00:35:44.47\00:35:45.97
Chapter 17:6, "I
will make nations of you,
00:35:46.01\00:35:49.34
and kings shall
come forth from you."
00:35:49.38\00:35:51.21
And this is where we enter
00:35:51.25\00:35:52.55
the covenant aspect
of the lesson--right?--
00:35:52.58\00:35:54.32
the Abrahamic covenant.
00:35:54.35\00:35:56.12
We find that God, He makes a
covenant with Abraham in three
00:35:56.15\00:35:58.92
individual stages.
00:35:58.95\00:36:00.26
We find the first in
Genesis 12:1 through 3,
00:36:00.29\00:36:02.96
the second stage
Genesis 15:1 through 21,
00:36:02.99\00:36:06.19
and the third in
Genesis 17:1 through 4.
00:36:06.23\00:36:08.60
And
unfortunately, because of time,
00:36:08.63\00:36:10.00
we can't go into
each one of them,
00:36:10.03\00:36:12.33
although each one of
these stages are rich in details
00:36:12.37\00:36:15.90
and nuances, that if we were
to really dive deep into them,
00:36:15.94\00:36:19.64
our understanding of who God is
and what His plan for our life,
00:36:19.67\00:36:24.08
for our world is,
we would be amazed.
00:36:24.11\00:36:27.28
But we can go into a few things.
00:36:27.32\00:36:28.65
You know, chronological
information in the narrative
00:36:28.68\00:36:31.89
reveals that God engaged in this
three-part covenant throughout a
00:36:31.92\00:36:35.16
period of about 24
years, and these stages,
00:36:35.19\00:36:38.59
as the lesson tells us,
it can be summarized into
00:36:38.63\00:36:40.73
three different subjects, right?
00:36:40.76\00:36:44.93
The first is the
approach of God to man.
00:36:44.97\00:36:46.80
God appears to
Abraham. He approaches him.
00:36:46.84\00:36:49.24
I can just imagine
Abraham at that moment.
00:36:49.27\00:36:51.47
He's not a young man anymore.
00:36:51.51\00:36:55.04
God appears to
him and says, "Look,
00:36:55.08\00:36:56.38
you got to leave your
land, leave your family,
00:36:56.41\00:36:57.71
leave your people."
00:36:57.75\00:36:58.98
If it were me and I were, like,
70 years old and I was listening
00:36:59.01\00:37:01.48
to a voice telling me that
I got to leave everything that
00:37:01.52\00:37:03.52
I already know, I'd be thinking,
00:37:03.55\00:37:05.35
"Well, it's
time. I'm going crazy."
00:37:05.39\00:37:09.46
Maybe Abraham thought that.
00:37:09.49\00:37:10.79
Look, I'll tell you, if I
hear a voice today tell me,
00:37:10.83\00:37:14.36
at 30 years tell me,
"You got to leave everything,
00:37:14.36\00:37:17.70
leave your family behind
and leave your--all your--
00:37:17.73\00:37:20.17
everything you know," if
I heard a voice saying that,
00:37:20.20\00:37:22.04
I would think
that'd be going nuts.
00:37:22.07\00:37:25.07
But here you see
something different in Abraham.
00:37:25.11\00:37:29.38
This is where you see
the greatness of this man,
00:37:29.41\00:37:31.15
at least the beginning of it,
because while anyone else would
00:37:31.18\00:37:33.92
have looked for
some help, Abraham,
00:37:33.95\00:37:36.85
he says, "Yes, I will go."
00:37:36.89\00:37:41.79
"Leave your land.
Leave your family."
00:37:41.82\00:37:44.79
The second stage is the
call for human obedience,
00:37:44.83\00:37:47.60
and the third is
the divine promise.
00:37:47.66\00:37:49.96
The second stage is particularly
interesting, important.
00:37:50.00\00:37:54.40
We find a very solemn ritual,
where God appears to Abraham
00:37:54.44\00:37:57.34
and He hovers between these
carefully placed animal parts.
00:37:57.37\00:38:03.65
Now, I will admit that the
first time that I read this--
00:38:03.68\00:38:10.09
this sequence of events, I'll
tell you that I was a little
00:38:10.12\00:38:13.22
bit confused, because it
seems a bit arbitrary to me.
00:38:13.25\00:38:16.42
God appears--so,
because this is what happens.
00:38:16.46\00:38:18.53
If you read there in Genesis
15, I believe it's verse 8,
00:38:18.56\00:38:22.40
Abraham, he's hearing God
promise all these great things.
00:38:22.43\00:38:26.37
"I will do this.
00:38:26.40\00:38:27.70
I will do this. I will do this.
00:38:27.74\00:38:29.04
I will make you a great nation.
Kings will come from you."
00:38:29.07\00:38:31.11
And God is promising
all these marvelous things,
00:38:31.14\00:38:34.71
but years had gone by.
00:38:34.74\00:38:37.15
And in verse 8,
Abraham, he comes out,
00:38:37.18\00:38:38.75
and he says, "Lord, how
do I know that these things
00:38:38.78\00:38:42.18
are going to happen?
00:38:42.22\00:38:44.32
How do I know?"
00:38:44.35\00:38:47.26
But instead of answering him,
instead of saying something,
00:38:47.29\00:38:51.73
God tells Abraham
to get a few animals,
00:38:51.76\00:38:54.46
cut them in half, why?
00:38:54.50\00:38:58.30
And then, Abraham
falls into a deep sleep,
00:38:58.33\00:39:00.17
and he has this dream
about that right there,
00:39:00.20\00:39:03.27
and God is hovering
in between these animals.
00:39:03.30\00:39:06.51
I'll admit that the
first times that I read this,
00:39:06.54\00:39:08.54
this is one of those texts that
you read in the Bible that when
00:39:08.58\00:39:10.55
you've read the
Bible enough times,
00:39:10.58\00:39:12.11
you kind of skip
over automatically,
00:39:12.15\00:39:13.92
because you're like,
00:39:13.95\00:39:15.25
"Well, I have no idea
what's going on here."
00:39:15.28\00:39:16.58
I don't know if
that's what it is with you,
00:39:16.62\00:39:18.32
but I know that that
was-- it was that way with me.
00:39:18.35\00:39:20.49
But this is a
very beautiful symbol.
00:39:20.52\00:39:22.82
So, basically, what
this means right here,
00:39:22.86\00:39:25.33
in those ancient times
this was like a handshake.
00:39:25.36\00:39:28.50
This was normal, right?
This wasn't something strange.
00:39:28.53\00:39:30.83
This was, like, a normal
handshake when two parties
00:39:30.87\00:39:32.93
came together and
they made a covenant.
00:39:32.97\00:39:34.97
They made a deal, a
bargain. They would do this.
00:39:35.00\00:39:37.44
They would get these animals,
they would split them in half,
00:39:37.47\00:39:40.98
and both parties would
walk between those animals.
00:39:41.01\00:39:43.61
And basically,
what they're saying is,
00:39:43.65\00:39:46.18
"If I do not fulfill
the terms of my covenant,
00:39:46.21\00:39:49.32
the terms of my deal
with you, let what happened to
00:39:49.35\00:39:52.35
these animals happen to me."
00:39:52.39\00:39:54.89
You understand?
00:39:54.92\00:39:56.29
That's what that symbol means.
00:39:56.32\00:39:57.89
"If the terms of my covenant
with you don't come to pass,
00:39:57.93\00:40:01.60
then may what happened to
these animals happen to me."
00:40:01.63\00:40:04.60
Now, what's
interesting in this whole story
00:40:04.63\00:40:07.90
is that God hovers between--
00:40:07.94\00:40:10.84
He goes between the
animals, but Abraham does not.
00:40:10.87\00:40:16.61
And what's even more
interesting is that later on,
00:40:16.64\00:40:18.95
throughout the
development of Scripture,
00:40:18.98\00:40:21.42
we find that God did suffer
the consequences of a broken
00:40:21.45\00:40:25.99
covenant, although
He broke no covenants.
00:40:26.02\00:40:30.06
And those who broke the
covenant were substituted.
00:40:30.09\00:40:35.83
Do you see the
beauty in this symbolism?
00:40:35.86\00:40:38.80
God goes through, God
doesn't break covenant,
00:40:38.83\00:40:43.94
and yet God is the one
who pays the consequence.
00:40:43.97\00:40:48.88
What all this means is
that the covenant is all about
00:40:48.91\00:40:52.81
God's promises that
are made through His grace.
00:40:52.85\00:40:56.42
Friends, sometimes
we have this expectation
00:40:56.45\00:40:58.52
that "you know, I'm going
to promise God this, and I will
00:40:58.55\00:41:00.42
make this deal with God."
00:41:00.46\00:41:01.96
It's not about us.
00:41:01.99\00:41:04.56
We have this mania sometimes
of making all of this about us,
00:41:04.59\00:41:08.16
about me.
00:41:08.20\00:41:09.50
"I need to do
this. I need to do that.
00:41:09.53\00:41:10.83
I need to do this."
00:41:10.87\00:41:12.17
That is such a
big misunderstanding,
00:41:12.20\00:41:13.74
because what you see in
Scripture is God fulfilling
00:41:13.77\00:41:16.54
His promises in spite of
our inability of fulfilling
00:41:16.57\00:41:19.54
our promises.
00:41:19.57\00:41:23.35
I'm not saying that we shouldn't
keep our promises to God.
00:41:23.38\00:41:26.51
I'm just saying that we
have a really hard time,
00:41:26.55\00:41:28.78
and God understands that.
00:41:28.82\00:41:30.05
God did not make Abraham walk
through that path of animals.
00:41:30.09\00:41:33.99
I find that beautiful.
00:41:34.02\00:41:36.12
It was God, who has a smoking
oven and a burning torch,
00:41:36.16\00:41:39.49
that passed
between those pieces.
00:41:39.53\00:41:41.23
It was God, who guaranteed the
execution of the promise that
00:41:41.26\00:41:44.87
was made, and today we know that
the covenant of grace is today
00:41:44.90\00:41:49.50
fulfilled with all those
who have the faith of Abraham,
00:41:49.54\00:41:54.04
those who trust
in the mercies of--
00:41:54.08\00:41:56.11
and the promises of God.
00:41:56.14\00:41:58.05
Galatians
chapter 3, verse 7 says,
00:41:58.08\00:41:59.88
"Therefore know that
only those who are of faith
00:41:59.91\00:42:02.98
are sons of Abraham."
00:42:03.02\00:42:04.32
Only those who are of
faith are sons of Abraham,
00:42:04.35\00:42:06.96
but a few verses
later, in verse 29,
00:42:06.99\00:42:11.09
we read, "And if you are of
Christ," or if you are Christ's,
00:42:11.13\00:42:14.36
"then you are Abraham's
seed, and heirs according
00:42:14.36\00:42:17.30
to the promise."
00:42:17.33\00:42:19.67
So, we can claim these promises
not because we are of Abraham's
00:42:19.70\00:42:22.87
physical seed, but
because we are of Christ.
00:42:22.90\00:42:27.14
And because we are of Christ
we partake in the promises
00:42:27.18\00:42:31.18
that were made to
Abraham and his seed.
00:42:31.21\00:42:33.78
These are no longer
his physical descendants.
00:42:33.82\00:42:35.78
We are no longer the
physical descendants,
00:42:35.82\00:42:38.05
but the people of the Messiah
that have the faith of Abraham.
00:42:38.09\00:42:42.89
An important part here of
covenants are the covenant
00:42:42.92\00:42:45.39
obligations, and
that appears on Thursday.
00:42:45.43\00:42:48.50
One important thing
for us to understand here,
00:42:48.53\00:42:49.86
friends, is that from God's side
the covenant is unconditional.
00:42:49.90\00:42:54.74
The covenant on God's
side is unconditional,
00:42:54.77\00:42:56.87
because what was promised
will happen, will come to pass.
00:42:56.91\00:43:01.71
What was God's ultimate promise
in the context of the covenant,
00:43:01.74\00:43:04.85
God's ultimate promise?
00:43:04.88\00:43:06.65
That one day someone would come.
00:43:06.68\00:43:09.68
Someday, a messiah would come,
because God was extending from
00:43:09.72\00:43:14.76
the beginning to
Adam, to Noah, to Abraham,
00:43:14.79\00:43:16.09
to Isaac, to Jacob, to
the children of Israel,
00:43:16.12\00:43:18.49
to the kings, to the
patriarchs, to the prophets,
00:43:18.53\00:43:20.30
God was extending His
hand, the covenant of grace.
00:43:20.33\00:43:25.17
But the problem is that on the
other side, on the human side,
00:43:25.20\00:43:27.94
no human was able to
latch on to the divine hand.
00:43:27.97\00:43:31.14
You'll see that
Adam failed. Noah failed.
00:43:31.17\00:43:33.81
Abraham, to an extent, failed.
00:43:33.84\00:43:35.64
Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs,
Israel, the kings, they all--
00:43:35.68\00:43:40.18
none of them were able to
really latch on to God's hand.
00:43:40.22\00:43:43.95
And so, the beauty of
the story is that God,
00:43:43.99\00:43:45.79
He divests Himself, and that's--
00:43:45.82\00:43:48.22
and this is the point where,
really, theologians, pastors,
00:43:48.26\00:43:50.86
we just--it's really
like a blah-blah-blah because
00:43:50.89\00:43:53.13
we cannot describe this.
00:43:53.16\00:43:55.60
This is truly a
mystery, how the God,
00:43:55.63\00:43:58.50
the Almighty El
Shaddai, He divests Himself.
00:43:58.53\00:44:02.47
He steps around
this curtain of glory,
00:44:02.50\00:44:07.11
and He appears on
a manger, helpless,
00:44:07.14\00:44:15.48
and Jesus keeps covenant.
00:44:15.52\00:44:18.85
From the moment He's
born, Jesus keeps covenant.
00:44:18.89\00:44:22.16
And so, here we have the
divine hand reaching out,
00:44:22.19\00:44:26.43
the human counterpart
never able to fully latch on,
00:44:26.46\00:44:30.47
but here comes one who does
latch on from the human side
00:44:30.50\00:44:35.07
for the human side.
00:44:35.10\00:44:38.67
However, from the human side,
from the human point of view
00:44:38.71\00:44:43.28
of Abraham's physical
descendants, the covenant
00:44:43.31\00:44:45.98
is, or was, conditional.
00:44:46.01\00:44:49.55
God fulfilled what He
promised, but the object
00:44:49.58\00:44:52.92
of the fulfillment is not with
Abraham's physical seed anymore
00:44:52.95\00:44:56.32
but with those that belong
to the people of the Messiah,
00:44:56.36\00:44:59.43
those who have
the faith of Abraham.
00:44:59.46\00:45:03.40
The covenant, friends,
is based on God's grace,
00:45:03.43\00:45:06.94
where He does for us what we
could never do for ourselves.
00:45:06.97\00:45:10.41
We could never do any
of this for ourselves.
00:45:10.44\00:45:13.11
In His grace, God chose Abraham,
who appears in the biblical
00:45:13.14\00:45:16.54
narrative without any merits,
without any qualifications
00:45:16.58\00:45:19.45
for this choice.
00:45:19.48\00:45:20.78
God's choice of Abraham--
00:45:20.82\00:45:23.82
and I find this
absolutely astonishing.
00:45:23.85\00:45:26.09
God's choice of Abraham
was not based on any inherent
00:45:26.12\00:45:29.12
superiority that
called for a reward.
00:45:29.16\00:45:33.63
Of course, Abraham
was a faithful man,
00:45:33.66\00:45:36.43
uncorrupted by the
prevailing apostasy,
00:45:36.46\00:45:39.83
one who steadfastly adhered to
the worship of the one true God.
00:45:39.87\00:45:43.37
You'll find that in "Patriarchs
and Prophets," page 125.
00:45:43.41\00:45:46.04
However, his faithfulness cannot
be construed as any kind of
00:45:46.07\00:45:49.91
merit that earned him the
right to be chosen by God.
00:45:49.94\00:45:53.01
God's choice is always
grounded in divine grace,
00:45:53.05\00:45:56.35
always in His
love and in His mercy.
00:45:56.38\00:46:01.76
Deuteronomy 7:6 through 8, "For
you are a holy people to the
00:46:01.79\00:46:04.89
Lord your God; the Lord your God
has chosen you to be a people
00:46:04.93\00:46:08.06
for Himself, a special treasure
above all peoples on the face of
00:46:08.10\00:46:11.23
the earth.
00:46:11.27\00:46:12.57
The Lord did not set His love on
you nor choose you because you
00:46:12.60\00:46:15.80
were more in number
than any other people,
00:46:15.84\00:46:18.17
for you were the
least of all peoples;
00:46:18.21\00:46:20.31
but because the Lord loves you,
and because He would keep the
00:46:20.34\00:46:22.94
oath which He
swore to your fathers."
00:46:22.98\00:46:24.71
Then verse 9, "Therefore
know that the Lord your God,
00:46:24.75\00:46:27.38
He is God, the faithful God, who
keeps covenant and mercy for a
00:46:27.42\00:46:33.56
thousand generations with
those who love Him and keep
00:46:33.59\00:46:36.52
His commandments."
00:46:36.56\00:46:37.86
Unfortunately,
the Jewish nation,
00:46:37.89\00:46:39.29
they began to commit idolatry
by worshiping their own virtues.
00:46:39.33\00:46:43.83
According to the
rabbinical tradition,
00:46:43.87\00:46:46.13
Abraham was so
important that God,
00:46:46.17\00:46:47.94
when He went to
create the world,
00:46:47.97\00:46:50.47
He first consulted Abraham.
00:46:50.51\00:46:52.31
Imagine that.
00:46:52.34\00:46:56.61
The biblical record of Abraham's
experience reveals a number of
00:46:56.64\00:46:59.71
actions totally unworthy
of someone chosen to become
00:46:59.75\00:47:03.22
God's counterpart
of God's covenant.
00:47:03.25\00:47:08.06
Here, at the conclusion of God's
covenant making with Abraham,
00:47:08.09\00:47:10.93
God gave him a new name.
00:47:10.96\00:47:14.63
The new name changed
from "father is exalted"
00:47:14.66\00:47:17.43
to "father of multitudes."
00:47:17.47\00:47:19.47
He is the first person in
the Bible to receive a new name
00:47:19.50\00:47:22.17
coming from God, and this new
name indicated the new covenant
00:47:22.20\00:47:26.24
relationship that was sealed
with a divine promise that was
00:47:26.27\00:47:29.91
made certain, "No longer
shall your name be Abraham--
00:47:29.94\00:47:32.71
Abram, but your name shall
be Abraham, for I have made
00:47:32.75\00:47:36.62
you a father of many nations."
00:47:36.65\00:47:38.25
And here we find a biblical
example of spiritual maturity.
00:47:38.29\00:47:41.82
Do you want to know in the Bible
what is spiritual maturity,
00:47:41.86\00:47:44.63
what is wholeness, what it means
to be blameless and upright?
00:47:44.66\00:47:48.06
It's this: observe the people
in Scripture that are called
00:47:48.10\00:47:50.97
blameless and upright, like
Abraham, like Noah, like Job.
00:47:51.00\00:47:57.71
We don't find these people with
this presumption of arrogance,
00:47:57.74\00:48:00.94
or of being fine
just as they are,
00:48:00.98\00:48:02.98
or of having reached
this position where they don't
00:48:03.01\00:48:06.82
need Jesus anymore.
00:48:06.85\00:48:08.38
You don't find
that in these people.
00:48:08.42\00:48:11.45
In Job 9:28, we see that even
the patriarch of pain and of
00:48:11.49\00:48:14.86
suffering, he didn't dare
consider himself righteous.
00:48:14.89\00:48:17.73
He says that "I know that God
would not hold me innocent if
00:48:17.76\00:48:22.13
I did such a thing."
00:48:22.16\00:48:23.53
No, friends, true
spiritual maturity,
00:48:23.57\00:48:25.20
as we see in Abraham, true
blamelessness is an attitude
00:48:25.23\00:48:32.11
of integrity, not of arrogance.
00:48:32.14\00:48:35.48
Otherwise, in this
sense, this maturity,
00:48:35.51\00:48:38.45
this blamelessness would
have the same effect as sin,
00:48:38.48\00:48:41.95
which is removing us
and separating us from God.
00:48:41.98\00:48:46.39
We will always need God.
00:48:46.42\00:48:51.96
You know, to finish this lesson,
throughout the history of the
00:48:51.99\00:48:59.00
children of Israel, you will see
God reaching out and extending
00:48:59.03\00:49:02.94
His hand.
00:49:02.97\00:49:05.54
And like I said, no human
counterpart was fully able
00:49:05.57\00:49:08.41
to ever do that.
00:49:08.44\00:49:10.31
Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
00:49:10.35\00:49:16.12
the children of Israel,
they just got worse and worse as
00:49:16.15\00:49:18.09
the kings came.
00:49:18.12\00:49:20.02
And finally, throughout
this period of history,
00:49:20.06\00:49:22.02
we find that they
find themselves in Babylon,
00:49:22.06\00:49:24.89
and I'm sure we're
going to get to this point.
00:49:24.93\00:49:26.16
I'm not going to talk too much
about it because we're out of
00:49:26.19\00:49:28.20
time and because someone will
talk about it in the future,
00:49:28.23\00:49:30.57
but I just can't
not mention this.
00:49:30.60\00:49:32.17
We find them in
Babylon, and Daniel,
00:49:32.20\00:49:37.34
Daniel chapter 9, one of those
beautiful chapters in Scripture,
00:49:37.37\00:49:41.21
Daniel falls before the Lord.
00:49:41.24\00:49:42.78
And if there's a man that the
Bible doesn't attribute to him
00:49:42.81\00:49:45.85
any sin or unrighteousness--
he was a man just like us,
00:49:45.88\00:49:51.09
human, but the Bible doesn't
attribute to him any blame,
00:49:51.12\00:49:55.26
any actions of sin.
00:49:55.29\00:49:57.53
He falls before
God in sackcloth,
00:49:57.56\00:50:01.70
and he says, "O my God,
O my Lord, we have broken
00:50:01.73\00:50:06.40
your covenant; we have sinned."
00:50:06.43\00:50:10.07
But then, Daniel, he
said something that is truly
00:50:10.11\00:50:12.41
beautiful, and you'll
find this in Daniel chapter 9.
00:50:12.44\00:50:18.65
Daniel chapter
9, verse 1 through--
00:50:18.68\00:50:23.39
look at what it says.
00:50:23.42\00:50:25.35
Verse 2 onward.
00:50:25.39\00:50:26.76
"In the first year
of his reign I, Daniel,
00:50:26.79\00:50:28.62
understood by the books the
number of years specified by
00:50:28.66\00:50:31.53
the Word of the Lord through
Jeremiah the prophet, that
00:50:31.56\00:50:34.36
He would accomplish
seventy years in the
00:50:34.36\00:50:36.26
desolations of Jerusalem.
00:50:36.30\00:50:37.60
Then I set my face toward
the Lord God to make request by
00:50:37.63\00:50:40.17
prayer and supplications, with
fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
00:50:40.20\00:50:43.74
And I prayed to the Lord
my God, and made confession,
00:50:43.77\00:50:45.74
and said, 'O Lord, great and
awesome God, who keeps,'" what?
00:50:45.77\00:50:51.45
Who keeps His covenant.
00:50:51.48\00:50:55.22
"Who keeps His covenant and
mercy with those who love Him,
00:50:55.25\00:50:57.89
and with those who
keep His commandments,
00:50:57.92\00:50:59.72
we have sinned and
committed iniquity,
00:50:59.75\00:51:02.19
we have done
wickedly and rebelled,
00:51:02.22\00:51:04.06
even by departing from Your
precepts and Your judgments."
00:51:04.09\00:51:08.56
And then, he starts in
one of the most beautiful
00:51:08.60\00:51:10.57
prayers of Scripture.
00:51:10.60\00:51:11.97
Friend, this here
resonates with Abraham,
00:51:12.00\00:51:15.20
who through a multitude of
hard knocks of life came to
00:51:15.24\00:51:19.14
understand that the
God of the covenant,
00:51:19.17\00:51:23.01
He is the one who
fulfills the promises.
00:51:23.04\00:51:26.68
I don't know how
your life has been going.
00:51:26.72\00:51:28.38
I know that it has
not been an easy year,
00:51:28.42\00:51:33.66
and sometimes it might
seem as though the promises that
00:51:33.69\00:51:36.79
we claim from God,
they're not panning out,
00:51:36.83\00:51:41.56
but, friend, understand that God
always fulfills His promises.
00:51:41.60\00:51:45.93
Perhaps not the way
that we would expect,
00:51:45.97\00:51:49.04
but the way that God fulfills
His promises are always better
00:51:49.07\00:51:52.91
than what we would ever expect.
00:51:52.94\00:51:55.38
I hope that God may bless you.
00:51:55.41\00:51:56.71
I loved studying the
lesson with you this week,
00:51:56.75\00:51:58.58
and I hope that you have
a blessed study of lesson 5.
00:51:58.61\00:52:03.08
Join us again
next week for another
00:52:03.12\00:52:05.02
"Sabbath School Study Hour."
00:52:05.05\00:52:06.82
Understand that God is
the God of the promises,
00:52:06.86\00:52:08.56
and I'd like to close this
moment with a word of prayer.
00:52:08.59\00:52:11.36
Dear Lord God, thank You so much
because in your Word we know
00:52:11.39\00:52:13.80
that You are
the God of promises.
00:52:13.83\00:52:15.33
You are the God that
fulfills His promises.
00:52:15.36\00:52:18.03
Lord, as we face a new week,
help us implement this reality
00:52:18.07\00:52:22.04
in our life, that You
are the God of promises.
00:52:22.07\00:52:24.87
Help us not only keep our
promises to you but keep our
00:52:24.91\00:52:27.91
promises to everyone around us,
because that is a reflection of
00:52:27.94\00:52:32.15
our children, of us
being the children of God.
00:52:32.18\00:52:35.38
Please give us a great
day, a great rest of this week,
00:52:35.42\00:52:38.12
and I ask in
Jesus's name, amen and amen.
00:52:38.15\00:52:40.46
May God bless you
and may He bless you.
00:52:40.49\00:52:42.39
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It's now easier than ever
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Amazing Facts
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and most important,
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い
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い
00:53:27.67\00:53:29.97
Heather Shurtliff: We
can do nothing without God,
00:53:30.01\00:53:31.77
and sometimes He lets you get
to that place where you realize
00:53:31.81\00:53:35.64
there is nothing left, and
you're just wondering if you
00:53:35.68\00:53:38.75
want to live because
it hurts and life is dark.
00:53:38.78\00:53:42.22
When He lets you
get to that place,
00:53:42.25\00:53:43.55
then that's when He can break
through to you and let you know
00:53:43.59\00:53:45.95
He's there, and then He can work
with you to bring beauty out of
00:53:45.99\00:53:50.99
ashes and hope out of darkness.
00:53:51.03\00:53:53.13
My mom, when she
was pregnant with me,
00:53:53.16\00:53:56.50
was diagnosed with bipolar, and
the times when my mom would be
00:53:56.53\00:54:00.54
struggling, they might be trying
her on different medications to
00:54:00.57\00:54:05.64
help her with the mood swings.
00:54:05.67\00:54:07.98
I kind of had a
savior complex and had,
00:54:08.01\00:54:10.15
like, a guilt complex that
somehow that all my family's
00:54:10.18\00:54:13.42
problems were my own fault, or
I'm the one that was supposed to
00:54:13.45\00:54:16.65
try to help or fix it, which is
impossible for any human to do.
00:54:16.69\00:54:20.32
Only Jesus can do that.
00:54:20.36\00:54:21.66
But I believe all--
00:54:21.69\00:54:22.92
stuffing all of those emotions
and for so long, my world just
00:54:22.96\00:54:26.03
started to crumble around me.
00:54:26.06\00:54:27.36
I started having
a nervous breakdown.
00:54:27.40\00:54:28.66
I could not stuff any
longer everything that I'd grown
00:54:28.70\00:54:30.27
up with.
00:54:30.30\00:54:31.60
I just slowly but surely just
started to withdraw completely,
00:54:31.63\00:54:34.70
and it got to the extent where
I was like a prisoner of my own
00:54:34.74\00:54:38.74
house, of my own fears.
00:54:38.77\00:54:40.08
And if it wasn't for my
mom making me come out of the
00:54:40.11\00:54:42.08
basement and
sometimes, you know,
00:54:42.11\00:54:44.35
making me eat, I would just stay
down in my room in the basement,
00:54:44.38\00:54:47.02
and I remember how awful the
darkness was and how terrible
00:54:47.05\00:54:53.82
it is to live without hope.
00:54:53.86\00:54:55.79
I can still feel that in,
like, my throat, in my heart.
00:54:55.82\00:54:58.99
I remember what that feels like.
00:54:59.03\00:55:03.10
I had been still contemplating
suicide on and off for several
00:55:03.13\00:55:06.57
months, and I knew that it
was getting worse and that I was
00:55:06.60\00:55:10.07
going to be successful
unless something happened.
00:55:10.11\00:55:13.01
And you know, just trying to
talk to yourself out of it every
00:55:13.04\00:55:15.74
day, but still just it
just always being there,
00:55:15.78\00:55:18.08
haunting me, and I just
went to bed feeling really,
00:55:18.11\00:55:20.72
really sick, and
just told myself,
00:55:20.75\00:55:24.39
"In counseling
they'll tell you, you know,
00:55:24.42\00:55:26.19
to always--don't do--make
any impulsive decisions.
00:55:26.22\00:55:29.66
It will always be
brighter in the morning.
00:55:29.69\00:55:31.59
You know, just see
it through the night."
00:55:31.63\00:55:33.40
Sometimes the
night are the longest,
00:55:33.43\00:55:34.73
darkest hours, and I just went
to sleep telling myself that
00:55:34.73\00:55:38.97
and when I woke up in the
morning there was no relief.
00:55:39.00\00:55:41.97
It was worse than it was.
00:55:42.00\00:55:43.24
It was just like knew what was
waiting for me when I woke up
00:55:43.27\00:55:45.71
in the morning.
00:55:45.74\00:55:47.04
And so, then I went to class,
and as soon as the class was
00:55:47.08\00:55:51.41
getting going I asked
the teacher if I could go get
00:55:51.45\00:55:53.38
a drink of water, and I went
into the kitchen and I started
00:55:53.42\00:55:57.25
drinking some of
the different cleaners.
00:55:57.29\00:55:58.99
And as I was there
drinking the cleaners,
00:55:59.02\00:56:01.42
choking on the cleaners, just
such an awful place to be in.
00:56:01.46\00:56:09.10
The chaplain, we
have a very kind chaplain.
00:56:09.13\00:56:10.77
He flipped on
the kitchen lights,
00:56:10.80\00:56:12.17
and he comes in
with his bright smile,
00:56:12.20\00:56:14.54
and he's like,
"Heather," he's like,
00:56:14.57\00:56:15.87
"how are you doing today?"
00:56:15.90\00:56:17.21
And I'm like, "You
know, I'm killing myself."
00:56:17.24\00:56:22.04
And I look at his face,
and I cannot lie to him.
00:56:22.08\00:56:25.01
He's such a kind man.
00:56:25.05\00:56:26.35
I just look at him,
and I just start sobbing.
00:56:26.38\00:56:28.02
And he just-- he
doesn't make a big deal.
00:56:28.05\00:56:31.62
He just kindly and sweetly helps
pick me up off the floor and
00:56:31.65\00:56:35.22
walks me to his
office, and so he just--
00:56:35.26\00:56:37.83
he talked to me.
00:56:37.86\00:56:39.16
I told him what I had
drank, and he got the ambulance.
00:56:39.19\00:56:42.10
After that
hospital stay, you know,
00:56:42.13\00:56:43.43
everybody was so scared for me,
00:56:43.47\00:56:44.77
because it's
not expected at all.
00:56:44.80\00:56:46.37
But after that, somehow, I knew
that suicide was not an option
00:56:46.40\00:56:50.57
anymore, that
I'd closed that door.
00:56:50.61\00:56:52.17
Even though I still had that
same pain and fear and I had
00:56:52.21\00:56:54.61
no idea how God was going to
pick up the pieces and I still
00:56:54.64\00:56:57.01
had to be honest
with God, I was like,
00:56:57.05\00:56:58.41
"Okay, God, obviously You care.
00:56:58.45\00:56:59.95
Obviously, I know
that You spared my life,
00:57:00.05\00:57:02.92
and I don't have any idea how
You're going to help me fix this
00:57:02.95\00:57:06.05
mess in my life."
00:57:06.09\00:57:07.39
But it was the beginning of
me trusting Him again and just
00:57:07.42\00:57:10.63
shutting that door to suicide.
00:57:10.66\00:57:12.66
It's not ever
being an option again.
00:57:12.69\00:57:15.16
God used Amazing Facts
and Pastor Doug in a powerful
00:57:15.20\00:57:19.80
way to make His love for
me, He's soon coming for me,
00:57:19.83\00:57:24.64
and that He was calling me
to share that with others real.
00:57:24.67\00:57:28.61
And it was making it
personal, God's love for me,
00:57:28.64\00:57:31.78
and that was, really--
that's a seed that I will--
00:57:31.81\00:57:34.52
I'll never forget.
00:57:34.55\00:57:35.78
And that I'm so grateful that my
family didn't have to go through
00:57:35.82\00:57:38.55
the pain and the
tragedy of me taking my life
00:57:38.59\00:57:41.56
and that I have the joy of being
able to encourage other people
00:57:41.59\00:57:44.56
that there's always hope.
00:57:44.59\00:57:47.20
Amazing Facts changed my life.
00:57:47.23\00:57:49.60
I'm so grateful
for their ministry.
00:57:49.63\00:57:53.10
It's a precious blessing.
00:57:53.13\00:57:56.14
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