ARE YOU IN COVENANT?
Genesis 6.18 - 22 is God’s promise to Noah and mankind.
Gen 6:18 But I will establish My covenant (promise, pledge) with you, and you shall come into the ark--you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
Gen 6:19 And of every living thing of all flesh [found on land], you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
Gen 6:20 Of fowls and birds according to their kinds, of beasts according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind--two of every sort shall come in with you, that they may be kept alive.
Gen 6:21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and you shall collect and store it up, and it shall serve as food for you and for them.
Gen 6:22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
My wife Elizabeth and I entered into a COVENANT before a preacher and God and a number of witnesses almost 40 years ago in Ireland, we have both been faithful to each other and God in that marriage covenant.
A COVENANT is the strongest promise two people can make, like the marriage covenant and the word COVENANT means to bind together.
In Bible days when a covenant was made between two parties or two kings, the weaker would always look for someone stronger so they could enter into a COVENANT because of the protection it gave them against their enemies.
Sometimes people word exchange swords showing they would defend each other.
Other times they would exchange sandals pledging to go to any distance for each other.
Then they would make an annual sacrifice of an animal and split it down the middle and walk between the two halves showing that they were one and that they were incomplete without the other.
Listen to me today, God has entered into a covenant to BLESS YOU.
Deuteronomy 12.6-13
Deu 12:6 And there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering of your hands, and your vows and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock.
Deu 12:7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
Deu 12:8 You shall not do according to all we do here [in the camp] this day, every man doing whatever looks right in his own eyes.
Deu 12:9 For you have not yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God gives you.
Deu 12:10 But when you go over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God causes you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about so that you dwell in safety,
Deu 12:11 Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His Name [and His Presence] to dwell there; to it you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes and what the hand presents [as a first gift from the fruits of the ground], and all your choicest offerings which you vow to the Lord.
Deu 12:12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your menservants and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no part or inheritance with you.
Deu 12:13 Be watchful not to offer your burnt offerings in every place you see.
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If you read through the promises of your covenant you will find they include, health, safety, prosperity, guidance, victory, IF you obey the rules God has set down.
God put all these rules into the Ark of the Covenant, and when Israel went to war the Ark went before them and nobody was able to defeat them.
The Covenant was their source of POWER, God Himself was their ally in the battle and you have to know He is your ally too, in every battle you could face in this life.
The COVENANT SWORD is God’s promise to fight your battles for you.
The COVENANT SANDAL means no matter how far you stray HE will come to your side when you need Him.
The COVENANT SACRIFICE means that you are heir to all that He promised and that you are 'complete in Him' [Col 2:10]. He'll keep His covenant with you. The question really is - Will you keep your covenant with Him?
Are you ready to take your place as a Covenant child of the Living God?
2 SAMUEL 9:7 "I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake."
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan and the grandson of King Saul, was lame in both feet because a palace nursemaid had dropped him soon after he was born.
When David finally took the throne after Saul's death, he asked 2 Sam 9:1-3 READ
Vs 3 'Is there no-one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness?’
That's when they discovered Mephibosheth, living on a rubbish dump, hiding in fear down in Lo Debar. He was living but lame, living in obscurity; he was forgotten just like a dead man out of sight and out of mind.
But because of a covenant of love between David and Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan, the death sentence he was living under was lifted and he was brought to the palace to be part of the Royal Family.
What a tremendous testimony!
Lifted from the fall, saved because of another and accepted as a child of the King!
Does that sound familiar to you, do you recognize yourself in the picture.
But there's one problem - Mephibosheth still sees himself as worthless.
2 Sam 9:8 'He bowed himself and said, 'What is thy servant that thou shouldst look on a dead dog such as I?''
A ‘dead dog’ meant a person of no value at all.
He thought of himself as a dog, so he lay on the floor like one. Not only were his feet lame, his he was lame in his thinking was too.
If that's how you feel today, you need to understand that God sees you
(1) In Christ
(2) Through the blood
(3) Not as you are, but as you will be when grace completes its work in you HE sees you as Col 2.10 says “Complete in Christ”
Read what King David says in 2 Sam 9 vs. 9-11
2 Sa 9:9 Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, I have given your master's son [grandson] all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.
2 Sa 9:10 And you shall till the land for him, you, your sons, and your servants, and you shall bring in the produce, that your master's heir may have food to eat; but Mephibosheth, your master's son [grandson], shall eat always at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
2 Sa 9:11 Then Ziba said to the king, Your servant will do according to all my lord the king commands. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons.
It's time for a resurrection and it must begin in your thinking!
Just because you've been treated like a dog doesn't make you one.
Get up off the floor and take your place at the King's table, for He has made you worthy!
You are in Covenant with the King because of Calvary!
Now not only are you entitled to sit at the King’s table but you must also be mindful of your responsibility as a child of the king to help others also who have needs.
1 Peter 3.9 Living Bible “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it.”
A covenant works both ways
