Pastor Samuel Sharing

Brother William Sharing

Introduction

Today we are studying Genesis chapter 15. This is one of my favorite chapters. Because in this chapter, God established a covenant with this great man, Abram. The covenant between Abram and God covered many good things.

After Abram defeated the four kings, he had fear that they would return and attack him in the future. That fear was especially real when it was at night, in case the four kings regained their strength and returned to kill the whole family. Then God told Abram that

>"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." (Genesis 15:1 NIV)

God is our reward

God reads our minds even though our faith goes up and down. He told us not to be afraid because God said He is our shield, our very great reward. Therefore, we can go to bed to have a good sleep and have some sweet dreams. As God is our shield, our very great reward. That is so wonderful!

The Bible tells us that the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, and Abram firmly believed it. Many other people will think it is just a vision that might have been heard incorrectly. It is very easy and common for us to have doubts and not to believe in the word of God. It is very difficult to have faith and belief, especially when it relates to good things.

God is always good

I have met many people and keep telling them that God heals. But most of them don't believe it at all.

God has told us that he is our shield, our protection, and our great reward, but how many people have faith and believe that? A lot of people don't believe it. Abram is a great man because he believed in the Lord. Therefore God said Abram was righteous in his eyes.

When someone falls sick, I tell him that God will heal them. However, I usually get two very different responses. Some people think that is impossible; some people will respond with a joyful "Yes! Amen!".

What kind of people are you? If you want to establish the covenant with God, you have to be a person who has strong faith and trust in the Lord. If you read through the whole Bible, you will never find people saying Amen when God put them into the hands of their enemies. Because this group of people is under the curse. When you establish a covenant with God, it always comes with good things such as healing and possession of protection.

God answers our questions

Having faith does not mean we cannot ask questions, or we don't have faith when we ask questions. For example, Abram got away from the fear but the real concern arose.

>Abram said, "Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."(Genesis 15:2-3 NIV)

This sounds like a great concern to Abram.
Then the Lord took him outside and said,

>"Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (Genesis 15:5 NIV)

Can anyone count the stars in the sky? Probably not! Even if you are an astronaut, you won't be able to count the number of stars in the sky. This is a good thing! If you are a man like Abram, you will definitely say "Yes! Amen!". If your concern is childless, then God will tell you to look up at the sky and count the stars, your descendants will be as many as the stars in the sky. No one can count your descendants, just like no one can count the number of stars. That's prosperity!

God wants us to prosper

If God tells me that I will have land, He is my great reward, my protection, and my descendants will be as numerous as the stars, I will say yes! I want this Lord! However, someone may turn to me and ask if that is prosperity theology. I will challenge and ask them if they prefer a gospel of poverty, or if they enjoy sickness and suffering.

Many people are talking about suffering, but this is not something recorded in the covenant. In the covenant, it states all the great things that we want. I can't believe people are following the gospel of suffering, the gospel of poverty, or the gospel of sickness.

I believe in the gospel of protection and the great reward that God will make my name great and that He will form a great nation through me. Don't ever believe in the type of gospel that is not mentioned in the covenant. In the covenant, God is very rich. Today, if you are poor and sick, don't have the protection, or you have not been rewarded, then you will need the covenant. The covenant was established by faith.

Covenant is established by faith

I am a man of faith! Many years ago, I told God that I wanted to form a church of my own. I knew many people were going to church, but they were not staying in the church. Because the church did not provide a good service. Hence why I want to build a good church. Although my approach was wrong, my intention pleased God and He led me all the way.

I established a new church and went through many tough challenges and difficulties. But I held onto my faith, our God is good, He wants to make us prosper, He wants to bless people through the church. It doesn't matter how many difficulties or challenges we went through, I chose to hold onto the faith in the Lord and walk with him. I just walked one step at a time and continued to move forward.

Seeking the Destiny

Abram had been searching for the meaning of life, he witnessed a lot of things, seeing people parted and dying as if they were like an animal. He did not want that kind of life, but a meaningful life instead. So he started to seek God. Right after Abram started seeking God as stated in Genesis chapter 2, we found out that God gave Abram all kinds of promises.

>"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. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."(Genesis 12:2-3 NIV)

That's so wonderful. I will tell God that I want it and the more the merrier! As that is always my dream.

God blesses people through you

Now, my dream has come true, it is happening, and I have become a blessing to many people. When I pray for the sick, they get healed; when I pray for people who are under bondage, they all set free, the demons will be cast out. I hold on to the authority and power that was given by God and become a blessing for many people. When I pray for people, I never wish to give them more bondages, curse them more, or give them more sickness. I always pray to set them free, and in the name of Jesus, I order their body to return to normal.

It happened exactly how I believe. We are praying for the sick, whether it is cancer or stubborn disease, I pray with faith. Even before I start praying, I believe that person will be healed and it happened. Sometimes people get healed within a minute; sometimes it takes a couple of hours; sometimes it takes a few months, a year, or even longer. That doesn't really matter as I will hold on to the faith in the Lord as long as I can. The Lord has a covenant with me, He will bless these people through me, He will bless whoever bless me, and those who follow me. In the covenant, you can only find good things, you won't be able to find anything bad.

You might ask that I'm childless, and what am I going to do with it? God tells you, your descendants will be as numerous as stars in the sky. That is so wonderful, but is it happening right now? We need to know that it takes years to fulfill God's promises.

Being a channel of God's blessing

The promise of God can only yield by faith. Therefore, you need to make sure you are a man of faith, a woman of faith. Then when you are put on this course, God will say:'' I'm a faithful God and I'm sure that my promises will be fulfilled in your lifetime. I will also make you a blessing for many people and the people on the earth will be blessed through you."

Do you want to have such a conversation with our God? Of course. Our God's promises never fail. I'm sure you want to be that kind of person.

Today a lot of people use different payment platforms all over the world, such as Visa, MasterCard, PayPal. These companies handle billions of transactions every single day. They charge a small percentage as a transaction service fee. The transaction is done through such payment processing companies, as they created the payment channel for people. Chinese people use AliPay which is also called "zhi Fu bao". "Bao" means treasure in Chinese. Can you imagine how many transactions go through it every day? That's one of the reasons why AliExpress has become dominant in the payments market by simply being a platform, a channel for payment.

If you become a channel of God's blessings, what will happen? You can pass God's blessings to others. Before you pass blessings to others, you will receive blessings first. Our Lord will make sure that you take a share of it.

The Lord's Blessing passing through us is not because we aim for the blessing. Because serving our Lord and being God's channel to make our life meaningful. That is the meaning of our lives. Our life will then be colorful, full of excitement and prosperity. This is what the Bible is trying to reveal to us. I never preach a gospel of sickness; I never preach the Gospel of poverty; I preach the gospel of prosperity instead. Do you want to live in prosperity, or do you want to live in poverty? If you want to live in poverty, then may the Lord bless you with poverty. I think that's a horrible choice to choose to live in poverty.

Follow the footsteps of Abram and live in eternity

Abram believed the LORD , and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6 NIV)

Isn't that a wonderful compliment when God considers you as a righteous man? God gave Abram, this righteous man, to take possession of this land.

He also said to him, "I am the LORD , who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." (Genesis 15:7 NIV)

Apparently, God gave him property. I believe you also want to have a similar thing given by our God. Everyone knows that taking possession of a piece of land is extremely expensive in the San Francisco area, in Metro Vancouver, in New York City, in London UK, in Singapore, in Tokyo, etc. A small plot is worth a lot of money in those cities. In Singapore, a plot about 3000 square feet is worth approximately 500 million Singapore dollars, which is about 300 million USD.

Do you want to take possession of this land, or do you want to take possession of nothing? Many Christians may say: "God, I thought you want to teach me that life on earth is meaningless; and taking possession of the land is also meaningless. How can you ask me to take possession of the land?"

In the eyes of God, life alone on Earth is meaningless. Life will only become meaningful if we make a covenant with God. If we live in eternity, not the nitty-gritty, life will become a lot more colorful, delightful, miraculous, and a lot more meaningful and exciting.

Do you want to have an exciting and miraculous life? If you do, you should follow in the footsteps of Abraham and God will establish the covenant with you just as God did with Abram. God is looking for you, not because you are looking for him.

God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. (Psalm 53:2 NIV)

Our Lord is always looking for the people who have faith similar to Abraham's. If you believe God is a good God, you will get all the good things from Him. If you believe God is a bad God, you get bad things consequently. Which one would you choose? Obviously, you choose to believe that our God is a good God and God will give me the possession, even though I'm looking for a meaningful life.

Many Christian think these earthly-bound prosperities, such as taking possession of the land, are meaningless, as life itself is meaningless, and I'm searching for the meaning of life, therefore, all of these are meaningless. No! My dear brothers and sisters! It is meaningful! If you read the Bible carefully, especially from Genesis chapter 1 to chapter 15, you will see God is a faithful God. Why do we need to take possession of the land? Because the initial creation of human beings by our Almighty God was to govern the land and manage all the things on the land. Human beings were not created to do things or manage things in heaven. In heaven, God manages everything very well, He does not need us to go up to heaven to help him.

God created us and put us on earth to do the job. This job is assigned by God and the job is to manage the earth. Now let's ask ourselves some questions. Are we able to manage our small piece of land? Are we able to manage our family? Are we able to manage the small piece of possession of our job? Are we a person who always gets our duty done and fulfilled with responsibility? Or a person who only wants to do the minimum on the job? Or have you developed a habit of finishing every job lousily? I hope not.

I hope you are eager to convert your meaningless life to a meaningful one.
I hope you want to be a blessing for many people. Not only can you manage daily life well, but also manage your job well. Most importantly, I hope you want to follow in the footsteps of Abraham and inherit the covenant.

Do you think that is the best covenant? Do you want to have that covenant? I think you do, and I also think **it will be wise to follow in the footsteps of Abraham and to have trust in the Lord. Because our God is the best God. Our God is the God who will pour out His Spirit and blessing to people who believe Him like Abraham.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:3 NIV)

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:2 NIV)

For me, everywhere I go, I say God is with me and miracles follow.

I encourage all of you to read the Book of Ecclesiastes, which talks about meaningless life on earth. However, we are the people who turn meaningless life into a meaningful one. Our life will be meaningless if we leave God and do not believe Him. **Being a living creature has no covenant with God, life is just the same as animals, and what is the point of living? **Nevertheless, we live a life with the covenant with God and then life is full of meaning.

Also, we will do all our due diligence in our daily life. Hence, meaningless things become meaningful as we want to be a blessing for other people.

Many Christians would think that seeking eternal life means we should forgo all the possessions on earth. Is that what the Bible teaches us? The answer is no. This is not part of the gospel. Christians should never live for earthly possessions, money will not put us in bondage, and real estate property cannot put us in bondage. However, we should manage them all. We should manage the money in our hands, the possession in our name, and exercise our due diligence. **I believe that when Lord Jesus comes again, we should still
us. Why do you still bother taking possessions of a piece of land? Because taking possession of the piece of land is not just about this earthly life, it goes all the way to eternity.

Bring your questions to God and do not stop seeking HIM

If you found yourself doubting God, you should ask God. Here, Abraham asked God:

>"Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?" (Genesis 15:8)

This is a good question. Interestingly, a lot of people thought this kind of question reveals Abram as a man of no faith. But I don't agree. Bringing questions to God doesn't mean you have no faith. How do I know I will take possession of it? I think you should ask this kind of question. What does the word "sovereign" mean? Is our Lord the Sovereign Lord? Yes, our Lord is sovereign, he has supreme power and authority. Abraham was thinking: what can you give me since I still remain childless? How can Abraham know he will gain possession of this? Similarly, how do you know if your offering and your sacrifice will be accepted by the Lord?

So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." (Genesis 15:9 NIV)

When you read this verse 9, do you think God wants to have all these animals, or our God likes to eat all the meat? Offering to the Lord will reveal whether you believe God with your heart. Then Abraham prepared all these for God. What happened afterward?

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 of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— (Genesis 15:17-18 NIV)

You'd better ask questions and God will respond to you. Our God will never ignore your questions. Pretending you know something that you don't is not wise. I like asking questions. When I study the Bible, I find myself not understanding many things. Besides the Bible, I still have a lot of things that I don't understand. I ask God and He really responds.

Sometimes, God's response comes in a day, sometimes in a week, or even in a month. It doesn't matter because I know I will get the answer from God. I choose to believe that our Lord is a good God. God will respond to my questions and God will answer my questions when I tell Him that I don't understand. How do I know I will take possession of the land? You pray and make an offering. Then, you will see the fire come upon your offering. Nowadays, I believe all people who come to our church will be healed and it does happen. It really happened.

Have a covenant with God

Why does it happen? Why do all the things happen amongst us? I believe all of you have received healing from the Lord. You owed me a favor through the faith I have in God. Because this is the place where everyone has a covenant with God. You have a covenant with God, I have a convent with God. You and I will work together to build a glorious church. And this church is the church of covenant. A Church that establishes a covenant with Almighty God. In this church, every one of us will follow in the footsteps of Abraham. How wonderful will that be? And I will march on. We'll march on. We'll take possession over the place which is occupied by the devil. The promised land belongs to us. All the promises of Almighty God will be fulfilled in this place.

In this place, God's glory will be visible. Why? There is an Abraham here. There is not only one, two or three Abrahams here. There are many Abrahams in this place. That is exactly why I'm saying you owed me a favor and I owe a favor to Abraham. Because I followed in Abraham's footsteps, who established a covenant with God. I want that too! You do as well. Is it too difficult to understand? Not really. Now you see God says not all are a good thing.

>"Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for hundred years."(Genesis 15:13, NIV)

All are good things in God's eyes

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? But Abraham was the man with faith, who still believed that was a good thing. You and I may face challenges here and there, and sometimes something has happened which is not what we want in our life, but they are all good things. Do you believe that? Do you believe the sovereign Lord is handling everything and is fulfilling his promise? Even the descendants of Abraham would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Let me tell you something. Even Joseph, in the latter part of Genesis, was enslaved in Egypt. Is that a good thing? He became a slave in Egypt. Is that a good thing? To Joseph, he believed that was a good thing.

>"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."(Genesis 50:20, NIV)

Eventually, Joseph became the Prime Minister, second-in-command of the king. He managed everything for the king. If you and I are men with faith, after we have read the Bible, we will think this is so good. God is doing something wonderful, He wants to make the descendants of Abraham as numerous as the stars in the sky, like the dust on the earth, that's what God is doing. Probably you and I don't understand. But even if we do not, we go by faith and still believe in God. God is a good God.

Man of faith lives in eternal

I lost my job, a well-paid job. God is a good God. God is my protection. God is my shield. God is my great reward. What happened? He was, He is and He will be forever a good God. Never think anything that happened in your life is a bad thing. If you see all good things, you are a man of faith. You have the eyes of Almighty God. For 400 years, you may think you have already become dust on the earth. Is that what you think? No, Abraham is the man who lived in the eternal.

To Abraham, 400 years is very short, as he believed in God. Abraham is no longer living this life.**Abraham is living in the eternal.**Four hundred years later, I'm still taking possession of the land. After 4000 years, then What? I'm living in the eternal. I am living with the Lord and I will see with my own eyes. Although I may pass away in this life on earth, this is still happening. I know I will possess all of this, and it's still meaningful.

A lot of people don't know that meaningless is a wonderful word. But actually meaningless is talking about a totally different kind of understanding. Once meaningless applies to eternality, it will become meaningful. Abraham, who lives in eternal life, 400 years or 4000 years, makes no difference to him as he will possess this piece of land.

God's plan is the best

When I study the Bible, I ask questions. As you know the Doctrine of Destiny came from all kinds of questions. I asked questions such as God, I thought you wanted to give this piece of land to Abraham, then why did you need Moses and Joshua to go in with the weapons in hand? Fight the battle and take over the land? I said to God: this is not a good idea, I have a better one. Just let them dress up in golf outfits, put on golf shoes, golf pants, and a golf shirt, carry a bag, then walk in, just like taking a summer holiday. That is wonderful. Just walk straight in. Why did they take weapons, march on and fight the battle? It is very bloody. That is not good. Or God, why didn't you use your mouth to blow all the people into the sea? Why didn't you do that? So I can just walk in, wearing a slipper, right? The matter is that I thought my idea was good. I thought my idea was so wonderful. God, why not do this?

Fight the battle to get the promise of God

God said that is no good. If you're not fighting the battle, you will not gain the promise of God. You see what people will do. They are not going to fight the battle and there is no faith. If a man has no faith, they cannot gain access to the promise of God, not even taking possession of good things. So let's go in and fight the battle.

This is how the Doctrine of Destiny came about, from some very easy questions. Then I realized my idea was lousy right now. If everybody walks in with slippers and golfing outfits, you can't tell who has the faith, who doesn't. Can you tell? I cannot tell.

So, today you are a man of faith coming with me to take possession of the promise. All the promise of Almighty God in Jesus Christ is real and will be fulfilled amongst all of us. Do you want that? Tell God that you want to fight the battle. I will chase all the demons and the evil spirits, and cast out all of them.

I like the kingdom of Almighty God coming upon the people. God's kingdom will come upon us, and it happens. Do you want to be Abraham, you will live in eternal life. So what even after they were enslaved and mistreated for 400 years? I will pay the price. Do you know what the result will be afterward? They will come up with a great position and it is wonderful.

Nothing can stop you from seeing the glory of Almighty God

I have walked through a long tunnel of darkness. I only saw a dim light at the end of the tunnel. And a prophet, whom I do not know, laid hands on me and gave me a prophecy. He said that at the end of the long tunnel of darkness, the Glory of Almighty God is there for me. And I see it. I say to God "you are a faithful God who helped me go through the darkest days of my life!" The darkness could not stop me from seeing the glory of Almighty God.

No matter what kind of challenges you face, or how difficult the problems are, you will need to know that nothing can stop you from seeing the glory of Almighty God. And that's the hope leading me through all the dark days. Are you encouraged? I don't know what kind of situation you are in, but I know I have a covenant with God. you may wonder how I know that. Because my prayer was answered, even way back in those darkest days of my life.

Joseph was enslaved in Egypt and God was with him. When he was put in prison, God was with him because he was a man of faith. And I want to follow in his footsteps. I am a man of faith. Can you tell yourself that I want to be a man of faith? I want to be a woman of faith! I want to be Abraham on this earth? I will be Abraham and even if I'm not Abraham today, I will be Abraham one day! And that is my decision. I'm sure I will see the glory of Almighty God and God is waiting for me to establish that covenant.

Become a blessing to many people in this age

Thank you very much as you have responded that " I want to be a woman of faith. I want to be a man of faith. I want to follow in the footsteps of Abraham". You and I will work all together to build a church that is full of glory, follow in the footsteps of Abraham, becoming a blessing for many people. I believe what I believe, even with my broken English. Sometimes I can't even pronounce words very well. But that doesn't matter! We are Abraham of this era. I look up into the sky and say: "God, yes! You will make my descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Yes, I would take possession of the whole Earth. And I will become a blessing for many people, whether they are in Europe, in North America, in Australia, in China, in Asia, even in Africa. The Lord will make me become a blessing for them".

God is the faithful God. May the Lord bless you all!

Amen!