Name It and Claim It – Part 3

Review

• For the last two weeks we’ve been providing an overview and biblical of the Word of Faith Movement.
• We are examining the merits of the doctrine of the prosperity message.

The Significance of Abraham

• For the last two weeks, we’ve discussed that one of the most important biblical figures in the Word of Faith movement is .
• We learned that Abraham is the of faith and that those who have faith like him are his children (Galatians 3:7).
• Abraham heard the preached to Him from God Himself, centuries before Christ’s birth, death and resurrection.
• Abraham’s version of the gospel message was this: that through him all nations would be .
• How is the the gospel? Because when God told Abraham “through him,” he meant through his sperm.
• That is, the Messiah, , would be his biological descendent and Christ’s birth
• death, burial and resurrection would bless the entire world (Galatians 3:8).
• As a biological descendant of Abraham, Jesus inherited Abraham’s (Galatians 3:16).
• As believers, we are Christ.
• In Christ, we what Christ has.
• This includes Abraham’s (Galatians 3:14).

What We Inherit in Christ

• God’s blessings come to us through , which is a legal concept.
• What this means is that the blessings are not based on or what we deserve morally.
• They are based on a legal qualification, which, in this case, is .
• Even Ishmael, a biological child conceived out of Abraham and Sarah’s doubt and disbelief, was .
• Ishmael was not the promised child; Isaac was. But because Ishmael was a child of Abraham, God was to bless him:
• • Genesis 16:7-13
  • Genesis 21:8-20
• Notice the presence assigned to Ishmael; this is because he was an heir.
• One of the roles of angels is to minister to heirs of (Hebrews 1:13-14).
• This begs the question: What is salvation? And what is the blessing of Abraham ? Is the blessing of salvation only spiritual or does it also refer to things?

The Blessed Life

• In the end, the question is not whether or not we’re , but what those blessings mean.
• The Scripture is clear: our heavenly father us with blessing (Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 1:7-8; Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 1:13-14).
• Ephesians gives us more insight about the nature of this inheritance: we’ve not acquired full of it yet.
• Instead of the full inheritance, we have what the English Standard Version calls “guarantee” and the King James Version calls “.”
• They both refer to the Greek word “arrabon,” which means .
• II Corinthians discuss the same concept (II Corinthians 1:20-22).
• The is the down payment on our inheritance.
• When you receive a down payment, you are receiving a of what was promised to you.
• However, the down payment only has value if it is enough to convince you that the one who promised it will eventually give you the rest what was promised.
• The down payment has value in the .
• If someone has given you a down payment, it has today.
• It today.
• The Holy Spirit is our down payment and has today; His “spends” today.
• When you spend money, it takes on the of whatever it was used to buy.

The power of the Holy Spirit takes on the form of whatever it has changed in the world:

• Creation (Genesis 1:1-3)
• Arts and Construction (Exodus 31:1-6)
• Physical strength (Judges 13:24-25; Judges 14:6-7; Judges 15:14-15)
• Ministry Gift (I Samuel 10:10-11)
• A repository of power (Acts 1:8)
• Insight, Speech and Material Power (I Corinthians 12:4-10)

Spiritual Blessings Affect Natural Realities

• God is concerned about our needs (Matthew 6:25-33).
• He responds to our material needs by the power of His .

Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2020