The evidence of God’s promise
Genesis 17
1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
2peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(Whole Chapter: 2 Peter 3 In context: 2 Peter 3:8-10)
The Evidence of God’s Promise
As I was preparing this sermon, I didn’t even realize it at the time, but God was already confirming what he would have his people to hear on tonight. The more I got into God’s word, the more he began to show me all of the promises that he has made, and that these promises are so evident and so obvious, but we’ve missed them because we’re looking for our answers in all the wrong places.
The scripture tells us in the book of Genesis the story of Abraham and some of the promises that God made manifest through him. In around the 17 Chapter, when God was speaking with Abram, he told him he was going to change his name. He told Abram that he would no longer be called Abram but Abraham. See there’s one thing that we overlook as Christians, that once we come into the presence of God, we will never be the same again. (Hallelujah!)
2 Corinthians 5:17 says
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
This is what God does for us…he takes us and makes us new. So he told Abram, that he would no longer be called Abram, but Abraham, meaning Father of Many Nations! See, God was already getting Abraham ready for the promises that he was about to release on him. God was already showing the evidence of his promise and Abraham didn’t even realize it! Whew!
But something was going on here as God was speaking to Abraham, now you’ve got to realize this point…God always had a relationship with Abraham…as we see back in Genesis, about the 12th chapter, where God was telling him, I want you to move out of this land that you’re in, and to get away from your kindred, and even out of your father’s house, because I’m about to make a mighty move on you. He was already talking with Abraham, and telling him that he was his own, and I believe Abraham understood this, just as we do today. Because I’m sure that I’m not the only one of us that knows for a fact that God has been dealing with us and talking with us from a young age. But watch this thing, as God is preparing us, we have to be obedient. We ask God to order our steps, but when he tells us to do something, we say, we don’t want to do it that way. God already has mapped out the plan for us and even wrote the directions out to a T, but because it’s going to totally upset everything that was around us, and totally take us out of our comfort zone, we begin to compromise what he has told us to do.
My mother shared with me some major mistakes that she’s made in her life, and it was all because she didn’t obey God’s commandment. A situation came up in her life, that was to effect her whole being, and she questioned God on whether to go or not to go, but because God gave her the answer the night before she was to make the move, she went the way her mind led her. She tells me this from time to time, because she remembers, oh so well, how God had already warned her to go in the other direction. So she realized that after she decided to take matters in her own hands, that the promises that God had laid out for her would come much later in life than if she had just done what God told her.
But Abraham feared God to the point that he knew to go the direction that God had instructed him to go. Here is a lesson learned for you saints, if you want God to bless you, be obedient! If you want God to stand on his promises that he made for you, be obedient! So fast forwarding to when God had appeared and was talking with Abraham, notice the bible says here that Abraham was 99 years old at this time. God told him, I’m going to bless you, just like I said I would! He told him that all the promises I’ve made for you are about to be manifested, and you will have a son born of your wife, Sarah within a year’s span.
Now let me interject here, that God had told Abraham that he was going to bless him to be father over many nations years ago, when his name was Abram…but it was taking so long for God to work, that his wife, Sarah convinced her husband that God must have meant he was going to bless his seed through their maid-servant, since Sarah was barren. And she convinced him to sleep with his maid-servant and so Abraham did sleep with her and they had a child. But let me tell you something…sometimes, we can be so mislead by the very people who are our companions or our mates, or even, a trusted friend…you know what I’m talking about, they come over trying to help with their thoughts about what God really meant when he said what he said, but listen at this…
Isaiah 55:8 says
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. Even the smartest, wisest, most knowledge person in this world fall short to the thoughts of God!
He said in 1 Corinthians 1:27
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; so you can’t tell me that you know which direction God is going to move in my life!
That’s why I am so amazed that someone can go to someone else for advise about what they think God is going to do for them! Like you don’t have a relationship with God! Quit running to people asking them what do you think God meant about this or that! If you don’t know what he meant, ask God! He’ll make it plain for you! You can’t tell me the plan that God has for my life, not if what you say is conflicting with what God has already showed me. I’ve told you before, people has your life already figured out…they have a limited set of achievements for you and your life! They only see you going so far in life---or as far as they perceive you to go, they only see you being a baby in Christ, and they don’t expect any more from you than what they want to see. Some people just won’t see how God is going to bless you and not them, did you hear what I said! This is why God told Abraham to leave his country and the people he knew. Because just maybe his people would have held him back from receiving his promise. The wouldn’t have stopped the promise that God made, but they could have held him back.
But I’m amazed at what God told Abraham, he was speaking to him, and he was telling him of all the promises he was about to follow through on. Now look at this for me if you will…I’m gonna break this down to you right quick, because this is how God moves in our life too…Have you ever had an encounter with God, way early in the wee hours of the day, I mean, you were worshipping God so greatly, that you could feel his presence all in the room with you… and God began to tell you how much he loved you and how he was going to do good things in your life.
And the next day, you’re on cloud 9 because you were in the presence of God, and it felt so good, and you began to tell people how good God is, and how God is about to bless you, and then days go by, then months, then years, and still you don’t have those promises that God had told you that he was going to give you…Some, God may have promised you material things, some, spiritual things, but what ever it was, you felt like those promises had not been made yet.
But you stay faithful to God, and you keep on serving him, and you keep on trusting him, because in all of your going through, you begin to minister to your Spirit and say, I know the Lord will make a way some how, and then the enemy comes in, by way of your friends or family, you know the ones that you’ve shared how God was going to bless you and they begin to question when are you going to get those things that God promised you…and you reply by saying I know the Lord will make a way Somehow!
And then all of a sudden, while you’re in your secret closet, you begin to worship God, and all of a sudden, you begin to feel his presence like never before, this is the place that Abraham was at when God spoke with him…because the bible tells me that Abraham had fallen to his face as God was speaking to him! I can imagine, that Abraham was getting so full in his belly from all of the good things that God had said that he was going to do for him. And God began to tell him all of the things that he had promised him from when he was so young!
I can just imagine (I wish I could show you this thing!) how tears must have started streaming from his face, and he was probably saying in his mind, You haven’t forgotten about me, he still remembered, all of those things, that I had pushed in the back of my mind, all of those things that I had canceled out because I said well, maybe I’m just not worthy of those things, and God began to tell him, I remember what I told you and guess what Abraham, I’m going to bless you!
I’m going to bless your seed through your wife Sarah, and she will bear a son within a years span, and guess what? She did just that! Just as God had promised he would. Issaic was the Evidence of God’s promise! See, the answer is already there, all we have to do is stand on the promises of God! God keeps his promises, and like the song says, he may not come when you want him to but he’s always right on time!
So God kept his promise and blessed Abraham with a son, who, through him, came the 12 tribes of Israel, and the EVIDENCE OF GOD’S PROMISE was clear. But let me give you a little more encouraging news, because he didn’t stop there. There are promises that God has left for me and you to encourage us and to give us strength.
He promised us in Heb. 13: 5
for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
He promised us in Psalm 32:8
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
He promised us in Joshua 1:5
as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
He promised us in Isaiah 46:4
I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
He promised us in Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
He promised us in Genesis 28:15
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,
He promised us in Leviticus 26:12
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
But he also promised us in Isaiah 19:20
And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
Not only was Jesus the evidence of God’s promise, but it was the one thing that we needed to gain eternal life.
But he didn’t stop there, because I am the Evidence of God’s promise! God made some promises to me that he would be there for me in the time of need and he’s done just that! God promised me that he would protect me, and he’s done just that! God promised that he would send a saviour that would save the world from sin and he did just that! He promised that he dispatch his angels to protect me, and he’s done just that!
This is just a fraction of God’s promises!
Listen, the enemy is out there waiting and watching our every move. God said he’s keeping his promise! He said he’s been keeping them and you just haven’t been keeping up. He said those little things that’s just so happening, is the evidence of his promise too, and you’ve been overlooking them, because you’re awaiting the big promise that he’s made to you. But God wants you to be watchful and recognize every promise that he has given you--he said, yeah, that was me and you need to begin to recognize these things so that when the enemy tries to inflict your mind, telling you that God has not fulfilled his promises, you can remind him that it’s already started.
The scripture tells us here that God is not slack concerning his promise, and I’m here to tell you on today, that you are the evidence of his promise. Listen, God has promised you so many things, he’s talked to you, he’s showed you visions, he’s taken you to the promise land, just to prove to you that you are the evidence of his promise. God said he has made you some promises and he’s fulfilling those promises now. All we have to do is stand on his word and wait and know that in God’s perfect will and timing, will those promises be manifested.
Now turn to your neighbor and say I am the evidence of God’s promise! Now give God a praise for his faithfulness.
But there’s one promise that I’ve yet to see, the day when I can spend eternal life with my Lord and savior, and I know without a doubt that I’ll be right there with him, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For surely when that great day comes, I will be able to say, just as you will, that this is the Evidence of God’s Promise!
