Creflo Dollar - The Covenant of Promise
Let's go back and look at Abraham but, before he was Abraham, he was Abram. Genesis chapter 15. Before he was Abraham he was Abram. Let's see what Abram did to move him from being Abram to Abraham. Almost like if I take you back to see what Crefelo did to move him from Crefelo to Creflo. Shut your mouth. I'm fully persuaded, my God. All right, now, look at this. Let's read it. Let's see what happened. Watch this. Verse 1. Are you ready? Everybody there? Whatever happened to him and if we can get it to happen to us we can walk out of here fully persuaded. Co-workers gonna think something wrong with you, family gonna think something wrong with you, 'cause you're gonna start thanking God for what hadn't happened yet. My God. All right, ready?
Now, "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward". Now he's making promise to Abram. Verse 2: "And Abram said, Lord God, what will thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus"? Verse 3: "And Abram said, Behold, to me thou has given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is my heir". So I don't have a seed to have an heir, the one who's born in my house is gonna be my heir. "And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir," oh boy, "but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir".
Next verse: "And he bought him forth abroad, and he said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be". And to remind you of that, every time you look up and see the stars remember what I promised. "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness". So just 'cause he believed, God said, "You're righteous". Not 'cause of what he did; but how he believed. "And he said unto him, I am the Lord that bought thee out of Ur in Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it". There's another promise. He's promised him a seed, he's promised him you're gonna have a seed out of your own loins. He promised he was gonna bless you. And now he promises you land.
So finally, Abraham says, "All right, hold up, God. I got a question". Verse 8: "And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it"? It is no different as if I were to take you into an office and I said, "I'm gonna give you two new houses, I'm gonna make you rich, I'm gonna make sure all your debt is gone, and I'm gonna give you 500 acres of land". No, no, don't thank me 'cause you don't know me. I could be a crook. I could be wasting your time. You don't know me. What in your mind makes you think that somebody gonna do that for you? That's what's wrong with a lot of people. They so desperate they just hope, "It gotta be better than what I'm going through right now".
What makes you think somebody's gonna do that for you? That's just like the old things, you know, guys from--I'm not gonna call the name of the country. The country would call and say, "If you send me $1000, then I can make sure you get $300 million". Why would you think that anybody is interested in doing that for you? You have nothing to hold onto. You don't have a contract, and even with a contract, they'll break it. You have nothing to hold onto except what they said. Why do you think you can trust that? And you wouldn't believe the number of people who have lost $1000 believing that somebody gonna make them a millionaire if they give $1000. What makes you think in your head?
So here's a situation where he said, "How do I know that what you're saying, what you're promising..." How many of you had people that's promised you stuff and it didn't happen? "Whereby shall I know that this is going to happen? I need something to hold onto. And I need something that's airtight. And I need something I'm familiar with". So God said, "Obviously, now, I need to come down on his level". And look what he said. Here's how he answered that promise, "How do I know I'm gonna get what you just said"? "And he said unto him, Okay, take me a heifer of three years old, go get a she goat of three years old, a ram of three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon".
Pause. What that got to do with this promise? I ask you to help me to know how I'm gon' get this and you said, "Go get some animals". Watch carefully. "And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not".
Verse 11: "And when the fowls came down upon the carcass, Abraham drove them away".
12: "And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram," so God could talk to him, "and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him".
13: "And he said unto Abram," he said unto Abram. He said unto Abram. While some of you asleep, you need to pay attention to what God say. "He said unto Abram, Know of surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them 400 years".
14: "And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance". He was talking about Israel in bondage to Egypt.
15: "And thou shall go to thy fathers in peace; and thou shall be buried in a good old age". Oh my God.
16: "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full".
17: "And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces". What is he doing?
18: "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the rivers of Egypt unto the great river, the river of Euphrates".
So God says all of this stuff that he was talking about, the animals, dividing the animals, making the promises to one another, he said and described all of that and concluded that this is God making a covenant with a man. Let me bring this to your attention. It was God who said, "Let me make a covenant with man". He said, "I'm gonna come down on a level that you can understand". Now, was this a level that he understood? Absolutely. Covenants were made all the time.
Now, a covenant is designed to eliminate weaknesses. I wanna do a little illustration here if guys could come out and move that thing back. Some of you who have been here for years, you can recall this. We were just kind of laughing at the number of times that we did this and illustrated this so that people could understand and I realize it's been years that some of you folks have come and become a part of this fellowship and have never understood what you've understood. Okay, you can leave it there.
All right, so I wanna introduce you to the family. Now, remember, families, this is the Williams family and this is the Burg family. You all remember that? How you feel sitting there, knowing where I'm getting ready to go? The Williams family and the Burg family. Now, the Burg family, they are a family of farmers. They can grow food, okay? The Williams family, they are a family of warriors. They can fight. But the problem is, they can fight but they can't grow food so they're starving to death. These guys can grow food but they can't fight so people come and kill 'em and take their food once harvest time comes.
So what they need to do is they need to come together and discuss how they can cut a covenant agreement with one another to exchange strengths where they are weak to eliminate the weaknesses. So what happens is, as a family, they come together and they talk about how we can eliminate the weaknesses of one another. So a covenant is designed to eliminate weaknesses, okay? And so they decided, "Well, we know what we're gonna do. If we cut a covenant together, we'll resolve our weaknesses. We can fight but now we have food to eat. We can grow food but now we have somebody to fight for us".
Now, when they finished their discussion... are you all in discussing? So as I talk, you discuss. Okay, yeah, you work it out. Now, they're discussing it and, in this discussion, they choose what is called a covenant representative and this is usually the strongest farmer and the strongest warrior. And they discuss the place where they're gonna have the covenant ceremony like you do a wedding, and they send invitations out to the rest of the family to come and they say, "The wedding's gonna be at this particular place". Now, they choose those two covenant representatives, and those two covenant representatives come to the front. Now, these are the guys who will represent the families. Just like Jesus was our covenant representative in the new covenant when he represented all of us before God when they cut the new covenant, there are covenant representatives in this covenant.
Now, the first thing these two representatives do is they go out into the field and they find some covenant animals, sacrifices that can be used in this covenant ceremony. They bring the covenant animals back to the site where the covenant is going to be established and they take the animal and they divide it from the top all the way down to the bottom into two perfect halves. They set the halves opposite of one another where the blood can flow in between those two halves. Now, they're prepared because it creates an alley of blood and they're gonna walk in the blood because this is a blood covenant agreement.
Now, they're ready. Now, as they begin to do the walk in blood, they're gonna walk in blood opposite... okay, so you stop. You stay. And then y'all gonna come like this and you're gonna stop in the middle and you're gonna go like that, stop, and then keep going, keep coming this way, all right. Then turn around and go again, stopping in the middle, okay. And then you're gonna keep going. So somebody says, "Why do you stop in the middle"? You stop in the middle, ha, ha, you stop in the middle because once you get in the middle that's when you start quoting the terms of the covenant. In the middle you stop and the farmer says: "You'll eat my flesh before I let you starve".
And you're walking in the blood to secure it. And then you turn around and the warrior says, "I'll die before I let somebody kill you". And you walk in the blood and you're making your vows, like in a wedding. You're making your vows but you're doing it while you're walking in blood. Oh my goodness. So now, they finally get to the middle and they stay there in the middle. And they now cut their hands or around their wrist area where the blood can begin to flow, the blood of a warrior and the blood of a farmer. And then they combine their hands together, mingling the blood, and they hold it up high so that everybody there can see that the blood of a farmer is now mingled with the blood of a warrior. The blood of the Williams family is now mingled with the blood of the Burg family, and now these two families are becoming blood family, family that are in covenant, established in the blood.
Now, there's a part of this covenant where now you have an exchange of things. To demonstrate this to the rest of the world, that scar, anytime it's held up is gonna let people know, "Be careful. We're in covenant with somebody". And there's an exchange of things, representing authority being exchanged. The warrior takes his coat off and gives it to the farmer. The farmer takes his coat off and gives it to the warrior so that now, when you see a farmer, you also see the authority of a warrior. And when you see a warrior, you see the authority of somebody who can grow food.
After they change coats and begin to put that authority on... you might have to just lay it on his shoulder. We've had some issues with that over the years. Okay, then there's an exchange of tools or weapons. The warrior gives his sword to the farmer; the farmer gives his tool to the warrior. Again, representing that there's no more weakness in this area again. And then, once that has been done, there is a name change. There is no longer the Williams family; there's no longer the Burg family. It is now the Williamsburg family. They are now one family in covenant relationship with one another.
And now they say this to one another: "And if you violate this covenant we will hunt you down from generations to generations until we find you and kill you because the only way out of this blood covenant is by death". That is what Abraham had on his mind when God said, "I'll cut the covenant with you". He knew that if God was willing to cut the covenant with him, there is no way out. There's no way you can break it. There's no way that God can back up off of it. And it was God that cut the covenant with a man, amen. Give these guys a big hand. Thank you.
Now, back up to verse 10. Now that you see what he was talking about here, now look at what God was doing: "And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not".
11: "And when the fowls came down on the carcass, Abram drove them away".
12: "And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him".
13: "And he said unto Abram," the vows, "Know of surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them 400 years". Watch this. "And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterwards I will bring them out," check this out, "with great substance".
He didn't bring 'em out broke, busted, and disgusted. They were broke, busted, and disgusted when they were there, but when he bought 'em out, there was no feeble person amongst their tribe. He healed every last one of 'em and he put great substance in their hand. They didn't come out broke, busted, and disgusted; they came out with the very treasures of Egypt in their hands. That's what a God in your life can do. Everywhere they were weak, he strengthened. All right now, watch this. This is the part. "And thou shall go to thy father in peace; and thou shall be buried in a good old age".
16: "But in the fourth generation they shall..."
17: all right now: "And it came to pass," this is amazing, "that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace".
There's that covenant. "A smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces". What was walking between those pieces? That same fire was gonna show up in Moses's day in a bush. That was God walking in the blood with a man. God didn't send an angel. He didn't send a representative. God came down in his very essence and walked in between the two pieces with a man and declared his vow with a man and established a covenant with a man. God was walking the blood with a man. Whoo. That was God who cannot lie. That was God who will not break his promise. And he marked his mind in saying, "From this day forward you'll never be weak again. I am your God".
Now, there was a name change. You don't say it properly but the name change had to include God's name and Abram's name. He was no longer known as Abram but he was known as Abraham. Not just Abram but Abraham. Now, let's see what this did. Go to Genesis 22. Let's see what this did, ha, ha. 'Cause what it did to him, it's gonna do to you. 'Cause this covenant is between God and Abraham and Abraham's seed. And if you be in Christ then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
Now, watch this. So now we look at a different man here. Now we look at Abram with God, Abraham: "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am". Verse 2: "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou loveth, and get thee in the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I'll tell thee of". And I'll tell you right now the very place Abraham ended up sacrificing his son was the exact place where God would sacrifice his Son on the cross. Turn to your neighbor and say, "He workin' on something".
"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and he saddled his ass, and he took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he clave the wood for the burnt offering, and he rose up, and he went unto a place which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and thy lad will go yonder," and look what he said. "And worship, and come again".
Now, were they gonna go and sing some songs? No, they were gonna go and do what God told him to do. God said, "Take your son up for a sacrifice. Your only son, and sacrifice him". And to worship here means go and do what you were told to do. Worship is living a life of flowing and doing what has been instructed. "And Abraham took the burnt offering, laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hands, and he took a knife; and they went both of them together".
Now how many of you know Abraham weren't the only one that had faith? Isaac had some faith too. He had to have some faith that my old man is not losing it. "And they both of them went together". But notice the faith of Abraham. He said, "The lad and I gonna go and worship but we're coming back". Now he knew God said, "Go kill him". But he said, "We're gonna go and do this thing but we're coming back".
How can you say, "We coming back"? He says, "'Cause I got a covenant and the covenant is I'm gonna have a seed that outnumbers the stars. But if I kill my son, I mean, how is my seed gonna come, so God gonna have to do something". And he says, "I don't know what he gonna do but I know he gotta do something because I got a covenant with him. So I'm not gonna worry about this. I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna do exactly what God said. Maybe he gonna raise him up, maybe he gonna do, but I know I got to come back with him. I don't know how but I got a promise 'cause I got a covenant on my mind".