God's Covenant With Families - Part 3
Heirs of Promise
The apostle Paul said, “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” So if we are Abraham’s seed, then whose family are we? We are the family of faith, aren’t we? We’re the family of the faith. We’re the family of the King. The Word says of Jesus, “That he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” We’re the family of God. We’re the redeemed of the Lord.
He said, “I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,” not “I was the God of Abraham,” because all are alive to Him. He’s the God of Abraham. He’s the God of Isaac. He’s the God of Jacob. Isn’t He? Well then, don’t Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob represent a family?
Twelve Tribes
The twelve tribes are literally twelve families. (You will notice that some of the brothers didn’t get along with other brothers, but we’re not majoring on the discrepancies that meet you along the way in order to overcome His perfection. We’re focusing on His perfection, which is able to lead you through and help you through any of your discrepancies.) The twelve tribes are actually from twelve offspring of the same family. From those offspring come the tribes, and to the tribes come the promise God makes with His people as He brings them out of Egypt. The powerful thing about that promise is the Passover.
This Passover is the same one that would later be delivered to you and me, not only in a type or a shadow—looking forward to when the Messiah would come—but also in having the Messiah available: living in us, on us, with us, for us, and through us!
God speaks about this promise and releases the Passover. Now, in that Passover, the children of Israel identify that under the leadership of a general, General Moses, they can come out of being in slavery to the ‘Pharaohs’ of this world and come into the divine inheritance that God has in store for them. Every family has a head. When the heads of families get along, they become one big family, without losing their identities or individuality.
Every one of you comes from a different background and a different level or walk of life, but none of you is exempt from being my brother or my sister. You’re stuck with me through all eternity. I got you.
When the Lord releases the Passover and the children of Israel acknowledge the Passover, the first thing that happens is the angel of destruction has to pass over, meaning that although your address may seem to be very near everyone else’s and just like everyone else’s, there shall no plague come nigh your dwelling.
We will not fail to have to raise up a generation. We will not fail to raise up an army of International Miracle Institute disciples and First Century Believers that rise and take the world with the sound of victory.
The second thing that is very important to recognize is the corporate experience. “Corporate” means everybody. The Bible clearly says, “Let the whole house of Israel know.” The term “house of Israel” is constantly used. This “house” is the Israel of God. What is a house other than where the family meets? At that time, there was no reason—neither is there now—for any of us to think that any of the tribes ceased to go by its name. Every one of the tribes maintained its identity. Also, the tribes maintained an understanding of the prophetic Word that God had spoken over them that would reach years into the future. Yet, they were not “houses” of Israel: they were the house of Israel. Are you listening? They didn’t lose their identities or their individual missions, but they never fragmented in division under God’s perfect will.
God’s will is never to fragment what He’s building in your life. I want to tell you what God has seeded you with what will be heard from the mountaintops of testimony and victory all the days of your life.
The Corporate Experience
“The corporate experience.” Say that out loud. Shout it like an army! What was that experience? It was a miracle in which millions of people, because of one Passover, celebrated in individual houses as the house of Israel and brought the synchronization of the Word to fruition in their lives! They had no reason to have anyone afflicted or anyone feeble or weak! They came out with the power of that Passover.
It’s sub-rational for any of us to doubt the power of our New Testament connection with Christ and, at the same time, claim we believe the power of His covenant with the children of Israel.
Does God call families? What about the house of Jesse? Did God called David? From David, did God call Solomon? Did the Lord Christ Jesus through His evangelists and New Testament writers give His own lineage all the way back to Adam and also all the way back to Abraham? Oh, absolutely! Did that lineage not deal with families?
I’m trying to get you in agreement with the economy of God’s house. Let me tell you that God’s house is not a hospital. I thank God for hospitals, but if you look at the original word for “hospital,” it is a house of rest, or it is a guest house. God’s house is not a guest house. It is not temporary. It abides forever. It’s a place of deliverance. It’s a place of health. It’s a place where nothing is impossible with Him.
It’s a place where even if the bankers are confused, your provision is infused. It’s a place where even if the world rocks and reels, you stand upon an unshakeable foundation. It is a family that has no fear, a family that that has no lack, a family that has no doubt, a family that has no weakness, and it is a family that has the power of the resident King and Lord.
This truth is powerful because within the people of God, there is an expression of the promise. Individually, every one of us has an individual promise, and every one of us is going to give an account to the Lord. Isn’t that right? But then also, “with our whole house” is a powerful truth that the apostles reveal in the New Testament. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
You will be delivered. You will be set free. You will prosper. You will be healthy. You will serve God. You will be used in ministry—you and your entire house. When you say, “Come and let us go to the house of the Lord,” there will be a trail of family members following you and friends following you and students following you.
Now is the the best time of your life so far. It’s your next phase of your call, the next phase of your ministry, the next phase of your victory!
Now say this, “I attentively hear and actively receive the assurance of victory, the joy of salvation, the experience of breakthrough, and the elevation to my next phase of service. I will hear, receive, be healed, be strengthened, be blessed, rejoice, and allow the redemption of the Lord to be all over my stuff.”
