How Do You Pray for the Impossible!
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Reverend Larry Deering
Genesis 17:1-2
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty Hebrew [El-Shaddai]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.
Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"
Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. [Isaac] means [he laughs.] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 12:1-2
The Lord had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you.
"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. Or [be seen as blessed]
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are.
When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live.
Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."
When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.
And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.
So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?
Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!"
Genesis 15:1-2
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, Or [sovereign] your very great reward. Or [shield; / your reward will be very great]"
But Abram said, "Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi Or [river] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Genesis 17:17
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
Genesis 18:12
So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
2 Peter 1:4
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
John 14:2-3
My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
"All this I have spoken while still with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Lamentations 3:22-23
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
Genesis 18:14
Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son."
Jeremiah 32:17
"Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Luke 1:37
For no word from God will ever fail."
Romans 4:18-20
If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
