Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Genesis 17 ... 1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
This was the promise to Abraham ... God spoke of the promised seed that was to come through Abraham ...
Abraham had a child by his wife's handmaid. But the seed was not through Ishmael. Ishmael was a child of Abraham by his own flesh and by the will of the flesh. But Ishmael was not the the child of the promise. Ishmael would be a great nation also but Ishmael was not the promised child.
Isaac (through Sarah) was the promised child.
Genesis 17 ... 15And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
Paul writes about this promised seed in Romans 9 ...they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Paul goes on in Romans 9 to speak of the elect of God. Paul explains as follows:
Romans 9 ... 9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. 10And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Many go forward at their churches and are baptized in water wanting to be a member of the church. This they do by their own flesh but not by the Spirit of God. This does not cause them to be born again for that is by the will of God and the Spirit of God.
They who are called by God to salvation are baptized in the Holy Spirit by Jesus ... changed by HIM ... born again. These are the children of the promise and not by the will of man as the flesh creates children.
Lk. 3 ... 16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose:
HE shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
I went forward at a church service when I was about 15 and was baptized by my own will and by man. Nothing at all changed it my life. I went forward because I didn't want to go to hell.
When I was about 37 years old, God spoke to me by HIS Spirit and after that everything changed. I had been baptized with the "Holy Ghost" and it was very different. This was by the will of God.
Then weeks after that, God, by his Spirit told me: "Be baptized" ... and I was baptized again in water, this time under the command of God by the Spirit of God ...
When the minister lowered me into the water, the Holy Spirit said to me by a thought brought to my mind, "This is like being buried with Christ." When I came out of the water,the Holy Spirit said to me by a thought brought to my mind, "This is like being raised with Christ."
Romans 6 tells of this concept.