Notes for
Receiving Your Promise in 2024-2
Understanding Covenants
I John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
I Samuel 17:36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
Joshua 1:3-5 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life.
Hebrews 8:6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
After the flood of Noah, God made three major covenants with people and each new covenant included the promises of the past covenants and new promises.
A covenant is the only kind of relationship that God makes with us.
A contract is used between two parties to protect rights and limit responsibilities, but a covenant does the opposite-it gives away rights and assumes great responsibilities.
A covenant made with God has these characteristics:
1) Something is sacrificed.
2) Conditions are given that we must obey for the covenant to remain in effect.
3) The reason covenants are so powerful is that when we live under them, they give God the legal right to bless us.
The word bless in the Bible means “a favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness.”
Exodus 15:26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
God told Abraham the conditions to that covenant:
1. Walk before me.
2. Be blameless.
Genesis 12:2-3 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.
Psalm 91:16 With long life I will satisfy him…
Genesis 24:1, 35 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way…The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
God’s blessing to Abraham was financial and physical: long life, strength and everything Abraham touched grew and multiplied.
Genesis 39:2-5 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
God blesses us in a physical and financial way because He wants to use your life as an advertisement to His goodness so that the people around you will want what you have.
Job 1:8 So the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth…
Galatians 3:26 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Deuteronomy 29:9 Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.
Deuteronomy 26:1-2 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples
Deuteronomy 26:3-13 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.
The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
The covenant blessings are your birthright when you received Christ.
Hebrews 8:6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
The problem with the covenant has always been in the conditions.
Exodus 24:7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
Exodus 20:1-17 And God spoke all these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below… “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name… “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Hosea 6:7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.
Romans 3:11-12 sums it up like this: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
God decided to make a new covenant, where there were two big changes: the first change is that the conditions of the covenant wouldn’t just be written in stone like the ten commandments, but written on our hearts.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
The second change God decided to make was to get rid of our sin nature by placing His own Spirit inside us.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Hebrews 7:19 a better hope is introduced…
Hebrews 7:22 Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant
Hebrews 8:6 the new covenant is established on better promises.
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Romans 8: 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,
Ephesians 1:3 He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ.
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Matthew 28:20 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Romans 8:34 Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
There are around 7,000 promises given to us in the covenant that God made through the blood of Jesus.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
2 Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life… He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature
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