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An invitation into Covenant · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:35
  Welcome to Faith is and happy new year.
• 0:39
  We are on the edge of celebrating a new calendar year, and I want to wish you a happy new year, although we already did that, remember, because we've started the new year, the church new year with the beginning of Advent.
• 0:53
  But nonetheless, it's a happy new year.
• 0:55
  We get new calendars.
• 0:57
  We feel like we're starting life with a fresh outlook, a blank page, so to speak.
• 1:02
  And I just want to wish you the happiest of new years.
• 1:06
  But more than that, I want to invite you, and we're going to do that today, into a fresh understanding of what it means to follow Christ in this new year.
• 1:17
  Perhaps this will help you get your year started off right, because foundationally, our lives are the result of our spiritual understandings and our alignment with God.
• 1:31
  I was reminded of that recently by someone from our church, and I was asking about a situation that took place in our community, and uh explaining what I was thinking about it, and this person said, Well, it's really more than that.
• 1:44
  It's deeply spiritual.
• 1:46
  And the person involved, and they committed a serious offense.
• 1:51
  The person involved needs to understand that the root of this is spiritual.
• 1:57
  And you know that's true for our lives as well.
• 1:59
  The root of our lives comes down to the spiritual.
• 2:02
  And we're going to talk about that today on faith is because faith is absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of God, and that is a spiritual realization, and it's a realization that we get to by grace.
• 2:16
  So we're going to do several things.
• 2:18
  We're going to start off with a little Christmas afterglow.
• 2:20
  I want to make sure you heard about uh an incident, an event, I guess I should say not an incident.
• 2:25
  That sounds kind of ominous, an event that took place.
• 2:29
  And I want to look at the scriptures and begin to get us started in this idea of faith.
• 2:34
  But really, what we're going to talk about mostly is the idea of covenant and what covenant teaches us, helps us understand about our faithfulness to God, and then we're going to participate in as best we can in a covenant service, like what we do at our church at the beginning of the year.
• 2:56
  We usually do it either the last Sunday of the year, that's what we're doing.
• 3:00
  We're doing it this weekend, or we have a covenant service on the first Sunday of the new year.
• 3:07
  So let's begin with a little Christmas afterglow.
• 3:10
  I don't know if you saw this, I don't know if you missed it, but I want to refresh our memory in case you didn't see it, that there are some things that happen in the world that we should be delighted by, but often go unreported.
• 3:26
  And so I found this article.
• 3:28
  I saw it some other places as well, but this article from an online publication called The Lion.
• 3:33
  You can find it at Read Lion.com.
• 3:36
  It's a publication of the Herzog Foundation, foundation that works real hard to encourage Christian education, particularly K through 12 Christian education.
• 3:48
  But anyway, they they reported, and I'll read a little bit about this from their article.
• 3:53
  The article was was well done.
• 3:55
  It's not long, but I want to make sure you understand what's going on.
• 3:59
  So the article opens this way.
• 4:08
  Well, that is quite an opening sentence, don't you think?
• 4:11
  The Department of War.
• 4:13
  Now you put that side by side with peace on earth, goodwill toward men, and you begin to ask some serious questions.
• 4:18
  Well, you remember that the Department of Defense was renamed recently, the Department of War, a historic name in this country.
• 4:26
  And I'm not quibbling over names.
• 4:28
  I mean, really, I'm not going to get too excited about what name it's called.
• 4:33
  But I was really struck by this reality.
• 4:38
  The department, this is a department of the United States government, hosted a Christmas prayer service at the Pentagon.
• 4:46
  And the point was to celebrate the birth of Christ.
• 4:49
  Now let that sink in.
• 4:52
  That should not go unnoticed.
• 4:54
  Now, some people are going to immediately start asking all kinds of questions.
• 4:58
  Okay, I understand that.
• 5:00
  What did they do?
• 5:01
  What was the point of it?
• 5:03
  Did they coerce people into going?
• 5:05
  On and on and on.
• 5:06
  We could ask questions.
• 5:07
  Okay.
• 5:07
  Ask your questions, that's fine.
• 5:09
  You might say, well, I don't agree with what the Department of War does.
• 5:13
  Okay, fine.
• 5:13
  Nobody's asking you to agree with all of that.
• 5:16
  All I'm saying is, we who are followers of Christ should pay attention and give thanks that a department of our government, and by the way, I understand it wasn't the only department of our government that's been involved in holding prayer services.
• 5:31
  But here's a department of our government, one of the largest, publicly conducted a prayer service to celebrate the birth of Christ.
• 5:41
  That is something we who are followers of Jesus ought to celebrate and support.
• 5:48
  Again, I'm not asking you to bless everything that everybody in government does.
• 5:53
  Far from it.
• 5:54
  We have those robust discussions, and that's fine.
• 5:57
  But when they do something this good, and we can't celebrate it, that says something different about us.
• 6:06
  So I'm suggesting that no matter your opinion, your beliefs, your convictions relative to the United States government, toward the president, toward the Secretary of War, toward any of that.
• 6:21
  Can we not come to the realization that a prayer service, a Christmas prayer service, to celebrate the birth of Jesus matters.
• 6:32
  Now I know you're all thinking, well, Christmas is past.
• 6:35
  Move on, move on.
• 6:44
  We're moving on, believe me.
• 6:46
  But we're also living in the afterglow that there was a prayer service at the Pentagon to celebrate the birth of Christ.
• 6:56
  Let me go to the next paragraph of this article, the opening.
• 7:01
  That was one sentence now, the paragraph, and it's a quote.
• 7:03
  John chapter one, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
• 7:09
  End of quote.
• 7:10
  U.S.
• 7:10
  Secretary of War Pete Hag Seth said at the gathering.
• 7:14
  Quote continues, born in Bethlehem, 2,000 years ago, the greatest story ever told, and the best part about it is it's true.
• 7:25
  It's a true story.
• 7:27
  End of quote.
• 7:28
  The article continues.
• 7:29
  Hag Seth, who has just come from the dignified transfer ceremony of two fallen National Guardsmen, said his department gathered, quote, to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
• 7:41
  End of quote.
• 7:42
  Article continues.
• 7:43
  Keynote speaker Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, preached the gospel, emphasizing how Jesus Christ was born to die on a cross and endure God's wrath against sin.
• 7:58
  Quote, and I think of the sins of our country, and I pray that God will forgive the sins of our country, Graham said.
• 8:08
  He went on to say, pray that God will heal our land, and that America will once again turn to the God of our fathers and serve him.
• 8:17
  End of quote.
• 8:19
  The article continues.
• 8:20
  Hag Seth began holding monthly prayer services at the Pentagon in May, according to CNN.
• 8:26
  Now hold on, we got to stop right there.
• 8:27
  Did you get that?
• 8:28
  Monthly prayer service starting back in May.
• 8:32
  Wow.
• 8:33
  Can we all say Amen and Hallelujah?
• 8:36
  And praise be to God.
• 8:37
  The article continues with a quote.
• 8:40
  Isaiah 9 6 reads, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
• 8:55
  End of quote, read Heg Seth's wife, Jennifer at the ceremony.
• 9:00
  Article continues.
• 9:01
  She welcomed attendees saying, quote, the gospel is alive and well in DC.
• 9:07
  End of quote, referencing other government departments that began monthly prayer services, including the Department of Labor.
• 9:15
  The article goes on.
• 9:16
  Also at the worship service, musical artists Matthew West and Ann Wilson led the audience in classic Christmas hymns and perform some originals.
• 9:26
  West went on to say, I know every single day you face unthinkable and maybe even seemingly impossible obstacles as you protect the freedoms that we enjoy.
• 9:36
  And I just want to know that there are so many people lifting you up in prayer and committing to pray for each and every one of you daily.
• 9:45
  End of quote.
• 9:46
  End of the article.
• 9:47
  Well, if you want to read that article, it's available on the website, Read Lion.com.
• 9:52
  And I would encourage you to go check that out and follow their other articles as well.
• 9:56
  You might learn some things that are going on in the world.
• 9:58
  You wouldn't see any other place because.
• 10:00
  At the Lion, as they call it, read Lion.com, you will find other types of news that are not typically reported in other places.
• 10:10
  Some things are, some things aren't.
• 10:12
  But I think that's great.
• 10:13
  We should give thanks that we have people in government that are holding prayer services.
• 10:21
  Now, it doesn't say the government's perfect.
• 10:26
  You don't have to agree with what they do in their prayer services.
• 10:31
  I think sometimes we Christians get too caught up in the do they do exactly what I think they should do.
• 10:37
  Well, I I have a real revelation for you in case you haven't come to this yet.
• 10:42
  It was kind of a kind of a shock to me when I first heard it.
• 10:47
  But everybody in a public position of one kind or another, another, will sometime disappoint you.
• 10:55
  Everyone you elect to office will sometime, somehow, some way disappoint you.
• 11:03
  Well, why is that a problem?
• 11:06
  Well, it's kind of a surprise because we want people to be perfect, the way we think of perfect, but what makes us think our opinion is perfect?
• 11:14
  No, we have to allow that God's grace helps all of us, and we have to have confidence that God will work things out.
• 11:22
  And when something good happens, particularly in government that we love to criticize, we Christians need to step up and give thanks.
• 11:31
  And I, for one, give thanks for Pete Heggseth and the others in our government who are willing to step up to step out and to proclaim that prayer matters and they're going to have a prayer service.
• 11:45
  And by the way, it's not just the federal government where you see some of this happening.
• 11:49
  You see it in state governments too.
• 11:51
  And we see it in Florida, and I think it's going to increase in Florida.
• 11:54
  I have some ideas from some of the things that I've heard, not ready for public disclosure by any means, and I'm not trying to be overly mysterious.
• 12:02
  I'm just saying some things are beginning to happen in Florida that I believe we're going to see a greater influence by the church in Florida, and hopefully in other states as well.
• 12:11
  We we like to hope that Florida will lead the nation on this kind of thing, and by the grace of God we will.
• 12:17
  And if you want to pray for us that that'll work out, then please do.
• 12:21
  I'm really happy to see it beginning to take place.
• 12:24
  All right, let's turn our attention to Galatians.
• 12:27
  Now I was reading this the other day, and it just jumped out at me, and I thought, well, we should we should take some time to to consider this here.
• 12:37
  And I hardly know where to start in Galatians chapter three.
• 12:41
  I'm reading from the message, and that's what I was reading from when this first jumped out at me in the way that it did.
• 12:48
  Now it may or may not occur to you the same way it did to me.
• 12:54
  I I don't necessarily require that or expect that.
• 12:59
  But it certainly, as this English translation presents the material, it certainly causes us to think about what it means to have absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of God.
• 13:12
  So I guess we'll pick it up here in verse five in the message.
• 13:18
  It's as good a place to start as any, I suppose.
• 13:21
  But the writer starts with a question.
• 13:26
  Answer this question.
• 13:27
  Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves?
• 13:38
  Does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving, or because you trust him to do them in you?
• 13:49
  Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham?
• 13:54
  He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.
• 14:03
  Pause the reading to say, didn't Abraham's absolute confidence and the trustworthiness of God make the difference?
• 14:12
  Yeah, it surely did.
• 14:14
  Verse 7, continuing from Galatians chapter 3.
• 14:19
  Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ, not persons who put their trust in the law, are like Abraham, children of faith.
• 14:31
  It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith.
• 14:38
  Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham.
• 14:42
  All nations will be blessed in you.
• 14:45
  So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham who lived by faith.
• 14:51
  This is no new doctrine.
• 14:53
  And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure.
• 15:01
  Scripture backs this up.
• 15:03
  Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the book of the law.
• 15:10
  The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way.
• 15:20
  The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him.
• 15:27
  Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you.
• 15:32
  Habakkuk had it right.
• 15:40
  Rule keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule keeping.
• 15:49
  A fact observed in Scripture.
• 15:51
  The one who does these things, rule keeping, continues to live by them.
• 15:57
  Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself.
• 16:05
  Do you remember the scripture that says, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree?
• 16:10
  That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross.
• 16:14
  He became a curse.
• 16:17
  And at the same time, dissolved the curse.
• 16:22
  And now, because of that, the air is cleared, and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews too.
• 16:31
  We are all able to receive God's life, his spirit, in and with us by believing, just the way Abraham received it.
• 16:43
  Now there is a lot there to unpack, and we are not going to unpack all of it.
• 16:47
  But here's what I want us to notice here.
• 16:50
  How much it talks about having absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of God, how much it talks about living into a life with God, not dependent upon, not striving to keep all of the rules, but trusting that Christ will make a life for us.
• 17:10
  Now notice that it said, said in verse 13, Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating cursed life.
• 17:18
  What's what does that mean?
• 17:20
  The life that thinks to live by all the rules.
• 17:22
  Some people reject God because they say there's too many rules, I can't follow them.
• 17:26
  And here the Bible is telling us that it's not about that kind of self-defeating cursed life, but what Christ did was he absorbed it completely into himself.
• 17:38
  He became sin for us.
• 17:41
  That's what happened at the cross.
• 17:43
  He absorbed all of that into himself.
• 17:48
  And now, a few verses later it says the air is cleared, and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews too.
• 17:57
  We are all able to receive God's life, his spirit in and with us by believing, just the way Abraham received it.
• 18:07
  So what we're talking about here is a life that doesn't build itself on following rules, but builds itself on demonstrating love for God and neighbor.
• 18:22
  Remember, Jesus said all of the rule keeping is tied up in two things.
• 18:27
  Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
• 18:33
  When we live lives that are characterized by love for God and love for neighbor, that's what God is expecting of us.
• 18:42
  That's the rule of life if you need a rule to live by.
• 18:52
  Now, to be sure, it means we don't steal because when you steal, that's not showing love for neighbor.
• 18:59
  It means we don't lie, not because we have to keep that rule, but because when we lie, we are showing love for our neighbor.
• 19:08
  And of course, if we lie and steal, we aren't showing love for God either, because he's the one that says, hey, knock that stuff off.
• 19:15
  So my question for you is as you consider the new year, will you consider embracing a life with God that doesn't major on rule keeping, but instead focuses on love for God and neighbor?
• 19:36
  Can you do that?
• 19:37
  Yes.
• 19:38
  Question is will you?
• 19:40
  See, that's the heart of what goes on.
• 19:43
  And I have I have seen relationship with God and heard you have to described in a lot of ways.
• 19:50
  And yes, we do sometimes talk about that God gave us the Ten Commandments so we would know how to love Him and our neighbors.
• 20:00
  Didn't give them to us because he wanted to keep score on us.
• 20:04
  He can handle the score.
• 20:06
  We can't because the rule keeping is self-defeating, as Galatians and other places in the Bible explain it.
• 20:12
  But but it gives us a framework to know what God means when he says we need to love him with heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• 20:20
  When we need to love our neighbor as ourselves, begin to think if you don't think this way, begin to think, what does love look like?
• 20:29
  And how can I live a life of love?
• 20:32
  Not some soupy, syrupy, romanticized ideal, but a real solid foundation that says I want to, with all of my being, demonstrate love for God and love for neighbor.
• 20:48
  And how do I do that?
• 20:51
  That is a huge challenge, but it is a challenge the Bible encourages us, encourages us to embrace.
• 21:00
  And I believe we can do that.
• 21:02
  Now, I want to talk today and draw our attention to the concept in the Bible that I think best describes this idea of relationship with God.
• 21:12
  Now I've been around the church all my life as long as I can remember.
• 21:15
  And so I've heard relationship with God described in different ways.
• 21:19
  One of the most popular, it seems like as I was growing up, was to say it's a personal relationship.
• 21:24
  It's not rules, it's relationship.
• 21:27
  Well, okay.
• 21:29
  Fine.
• 21:31
  Can I be honest with you?
• 21:32
  That idea of calling it a personal relationship never really resonated with me.
• 21:36
  I just didn't quite get it.
• 21:39
  Maybe that's just me.
• 21:41
  I'm not saying you don't benefit from it or somebody else doesn't.
• 21:44
  I'm just trying to be honest, and maybe you need to be honest with what resonates with you.
• 21:49
  I've also heard relationship with God and being part of God's community of faith as family.
• 21:56
  And that's to be sure mentioned in the in the scriptures.
• 22:00
  There's no question there are references to being a child of God.
• 22:03
  Many Christian songs reference that idea.
• 22:06
  There was one popular many years ago.
• 22:08
  I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God.
• 22:11
  So I understand the family dynamic.
• 22:15
  Sometimes people think about Christianity as more of an identity than a personal relationship or a family connection.
• 22:23
  This just they need a way to identify so they think of themselves as a Christian.
• 22:28
  I don't know how you think about it, but the only description of the ones that I've heard that makes sense to me and doesn't break down over time in some way, like the family connection idea.
• 22:41
  So I've heard people say, well, once you're a part of the family of God, you're never not part of the family because you're once you're born into a family, your brothers and sisters, your parents, your aunts and uncles, they're your family forever.
• 22:54
  Well, yes, but how many times have we heard about people, maybe even known some people who reject their family?
• 23:03
  Family doesn't reject them, but they pull away, and so essentially aren't a part of the family.
• 23:08
  And the Bible tells us we can reject God.
• 23:11
  And so that begins to break down in some ways.
• 23:13
  But the covenant idea, as I understand it, doesn't break down.
• 23:19
  It endures.
• 23:21
  And so I want us to think about what that means for our relationship with God going forward in the new year.
• 23:29
  Now, to be sure, it's not about rule keeping, but to be sure, and and you'll get this idea as we go on today in the program.
• 23:39
  To be sure there are there are guidelines or there are requirements of a covenant relationship.
• 23:47
  Almost everything in life has some requirements for behavior.
• 23:51
  So we shouldn't, we shouldn't be so allergic to that kind of stuff.
• 23:56
  The good thing about covenant with God is he explains to us what that means.
• 24:00
  And we're going to try to understand that better for ourselves as we go forward.
• 24:05
  And I want you to really think about this.
• 24:07
  If you've struggled with faith, with with trusting God with absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of God, I want you to think about this in terms of covenant.
• 24:18
  Could you embrace God in terms of covenant?
• 24:23
  Well, I hope you can, and I hope you will.
• 24:26
  And we're going to talk about that.
• 24:27
  We're going to look at Abraham a little bit and what that meant when God said to Abraham, it was Abram at the time, became Abraham because of covenant.
• 24:37
  When God said, I want to be your covenant partner.
• 24:40
  You see, God says the same things to us, to you, to me.
• 24:44
  I want to be your covenant partner.
• 24:47
  Now, we often think about that in curious ways because we hear it described in different ways, and and I'm not trying to devalue those ways if they resonate with people.
• 24:59
  I think that's why God uses lots of different descriptions.
• 25:02
  But I'm gonna I'm gonna focus on covenant, and I'm gonna ask you.
• 25:07
  I think God is asking you.
• 25:14
  Will you embrace the covenant?
• 25:16
  Will you walk in faithfulness as a covenant partner to God?
• 25:22
  And start the new year in a way you maybe never imagined.
• 25:27
  Well, stay tuned.
• 25:28
  We're gonna get into it.
• 25:29
  I'm Pastor Rick, and I hope you'll be here in just a moment.
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  The American experiment was a stroke of genius in a world of oppressors.
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  July 4th, 2026 marks 250 years since the sign of the Declaration of Independence.
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  America outloud.
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  Is that place to awaken your heart, soul, and mind to the Alpha.
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  Welcome back.
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  So glad you're here talking with us, thinking with us, embracing this idea of covenant with God.
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  And we're getting into it more and more.
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  Hang on.
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  I encourage you to let some of these ideas sink in.
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  They're going to be different for some of us.
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  Every time I talk about covenant, I think people maybe wonder because it's a new concept to them.
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  But it's new because we haven't really thought about it in these terms.
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  I just think it's helpful.
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  So I want to invite you into that idea.
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  Maybe you'll think it's helpful as well.
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  Now we talk about covenant a lot, except we don't connect what we mean by covenant.
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  We just kind of use the word.
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  And we don't really delve into the reality of it.
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  For example, we talk about the Ark of the Covenant.
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  And that was the wooden chest that God had his people make.
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  And it was very sacred object.
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  It was the representation of the presence of God when it was placed in the Holy of Holies, the presence of God among his people in the Ark of the Covenant, where the stone tablets of covenant law, we tend to think of them as Ten Commandments, that they represent what God had told his people.
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  Here's how to love me, and here's how to love people.
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  It was not about even from the beginning, about keeping every last little bit of the law, as much as it was about saying, here's how to love me, here's how to love people.
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  Jesus made that clear.
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  It's just one of those things that's difficult for humans.
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  We just kind of scramble things sometimes.
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  But anyway, so we talk about covenant in those senses, and we talk about the New Testament, what we call the New Testament or uh or the Second Testament, if we call the Old Testament the First Testament, sometimes we call the New Testament the Second Testament.
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  I kind of like that idea of first Testament and Second Testament, but sometimes we even call them Old Covenant and New Covenant.
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  But do we really understand that other than that's just a word the Bible uses, and so we talk about it.
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  So we're gonna get into it a little bit.
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  Now, the idea of covenant that I want us to focus on is the idea that comes from Genesis chapter 15, when God comes to Abram and says, I want to be your covenant partner.
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  And this is what we call a blood covenant.
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  It involved a sacrifice, a covenant between two heads of a tribe in those days would have been very similar to this.
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  So Abraham, Abram was not surprised by it.
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  He understood that sometimes in these blood covenants between heads of tribes, they would actually mingle their blood, make a mark, cut their wrist, and join them together, mingle their blood as a symbolic statement that we are now joined together as one people.
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  And that's the idea that God wants to join with us as one.
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  He wants us to be.
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  God put Abram aside, and Abram was not able to participate in this part of the covenant, but he was able to watch what happened.
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  So when it came time to walk between what we call the walls of death and make serious covenant commitments, the commitment says, I'm going to keep this covenant, and if I violate the terms of the covenant, I'm worthy of death the same as these animals were sacrificed for us to make this covenant.
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  But instead of Abram participating, God participated in the form of flaming torch and a smoking firepot.
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  Two participants, but both of them from God's side of the covenant.
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  Really quite fascinating, isn't it?
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  And so the covenant was begun, and Abram began to live into and to live out the covenant, and God began to keep his promises, including the gift of a son.
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  And then we began to understand that Abraham's heirs became heirs of the covenant, and they became participants in the covenant.
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  And then as Galatians explained, we read earlier, God makes it possible for us who are not physical heirs of Abraham, who are not Jewish, who are not part of his chosen people.
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  We too now can participate in the covenant.
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  And so to remind ourselves and to recommit ourselves, we at our church, we have a covenant service every year, either on the last Sunday of the year, the Sunday after Christmas, or sometimes the first Sunday of the new year.
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  We're doing it this weekend, the last Sunday of 2025 this year.
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  It started with a man named John Wesley.
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  Our heritage is from John Wesley and the movement he started in England, called the Methodist Movement, not to be only linked to the United Methodist Church, which it often has been, but that church has made serious errors in its faithfulness to God.
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  Not going to get into that.
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  But John Wesley was a faithful, serious minister who called people to covenant faithfulness.
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  And in 1755, now, by the way, that's before the beginning of this country.
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  In 1755, he started this idea of a covenant service and suggested that it take place at the beginning of the year, like we do it either at the end of the last Sunday or the first Sunday of the new year.
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  And so we have started having conducting, sharing together at our church, the John Wesley Covenant Service.
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  Now, to be sure, the way I have crafted it is far different than what Mr.
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  Wesley did.
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  His was much different, longer.
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  The language was different.
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  I've tried to use contemporary language so it's understandable.
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  It's not quite as um long or involved, but it by every intention adheres to the same principles.
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  And I would invite you, as best we can here on this program to share together in the John Wesley Covenant service.
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  I'm going to go through exactly what we do on Sunday morning and what we're doing this weekend on Sunday morning, and inviting you into covenant with God.
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  Let us pray.
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  Almighty God, you know our hearts, our desires, and all our secrets.
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  Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts that we may perfectly love you.
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  And worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.
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  Amen.
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  Fix these three principles in your hearts.
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  Things eternal are much more substantial than things temporal.
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  Things not seen are as certain as the things that are seen.
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  Your choice determines your eternal destiny.
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  Choose Christ and His ways, and you are blessed forever.
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  Refuse, and you are undone forever.
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  Will you now trust Christ?
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  If so, he gives you these assurances.
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  First, you have the assurance that God sent Christ into the world to save sinners, redeeming and reconciling the world to himself.
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  Second, you have the assurance that God commands us to give allegiance to his Son Jesus Christ.
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  Third, you have the assurance that Jesus is the foundation that can be trusted.
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  God says in his word, I'm setting a stone in Zion, a cornerstone in the place of honor.
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  Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it.
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  Now we move to the commitment part of the service, where God challenges us to commit ourselves to him.
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  The minister begins, give yourselves now to the Lord, let him run your life.
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  From Romans 6 13, also from the message, throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full time into God's way of doing things.
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  Then from Romans 6, verse 16, New Living Translation, don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?
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  You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
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  With the psalmist we say, and here we make our commitment, and I invite you, Lord, we are yours, we reverence you, we dedicate ourselves to your service.
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  Then we get to the heart of the covenant, and the minister continues, now let us confirm our commitment by a solemn covenant.
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  Search your hearts.
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  Have you already or can you now freely make these commitments to God in Christ?
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  First, give up all known sin.
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  And by the way, before I continue with the declaration that we need to make, this is a serious serious thought, all known sin.
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  God challenges many of us in this regard.
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  It's a tough challenge sometimes.
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  So first, can you make this commitment to give up all known sin?
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  And the response of all of us needs to be, in your power, we will watch for any temptation that will lead us away from you.
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  Second, take this covenant seriously.
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  We acknowledge you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as our Lord and God.
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  And third, embrace this covenant with God and depend upon his promise of grace and strength to enable you to keep your commitments.
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  Do not trust your own strength.
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  Rely on his strength.
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  Let's pause to think about this.
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  God gives us grace to keep our commitments.
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  That's the point of do not trust your own strength or rely on your own strength, rely on his strength.
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  So we respond, we are ever in need of grace to make us whole and holy.
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  Fourth, the minister continues, resolve to be faithful, steadfastly determined that by grace you will never turn away from the Lord.
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  And we respond, we will fulfill our duty to love God generously and people graciously.
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  And that statement in there is meant to reflect the command of Jesus to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.
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  Then we conclude with the covenant prayer.
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  O God, you know that we have made this covenant today in sincerity, without deceit or reluctance.
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  If you find anything false in us, guide us and help us to set it right.
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  Now, glory be to you, God the Father.
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  From this day forward we shall look upon you as our God and Father.
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  Glory be to you, God the Son.
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  You have loved us and washed us from our sins.
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  From this day forward we shall look upon you as our Savior and Redeemer.
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  Glory be to you, O God the Holy Spirit.
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  By your almighty power, you have turned our hearts from sin to God.
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  From this day forward we shall look upon you as our comforter and guide.
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  O mighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you have now become our covenant friend.
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  And we, through your infinite grace, have become your covenant servants.
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  You are ours, and we are yours.
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  May this covenant that we have made here on earth be ratified in heaven.
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  Amen.
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  And in ancient times, all covenant ceremonies were concluded with a great feast with the participating people.
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  It's similar to the way we conduct a reception following a wedding.
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  All the families get together, and now the two becoming one, the two groups becoming joined together, celebrate with a great feast.
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  Or sometimes it's with cake.
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  In the same way, we conclude our covenant making time with a celebration called Holy Communion.
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  It is the covenant celebration that Jesus gave us.
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  From Luke chapter 22, verses 14 through 20 from the New Revised Standard Version, updated edition.
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  When the hour came, he, Jesus, took his place at the table, and the apostles with him.
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  He said to them, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer for you.
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  For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
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  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves.
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  For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.
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  Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you.
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  Do this in remembrance of me.
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  And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
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  So several things that we ought to think about when we come to this sacred time of holy communion.
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  And by the way, this is why I encourage you to go to church.
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  Find a church that serves, that shares around the Lord's table regularly.
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  I think it should be weekly.
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  Other people disagree with me, and I'm perfectly content to allow them to have their own convictions.
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  But I believe that it's beneficial to us to gather at the Lord's table at least weekly.
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  And so we have here is Jesus and his disciples celebrating Passover.
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  Passover celebration had been part of the experience of God's people since the first Passover when God got them out of Egypt.
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  And you remember the Passover idea word came from that they marked their doors with the blood of the Passover Lamb, and when God, the angel of death moved through Egypt, he saw that, and that door was protected, protected the family inside from death, and they did not experience the death of the firstborn.
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  So God's people celebrated Passover, this great salvation from slavery that God provided for them every year.
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  And that's what Jesus was doing with his disciples.
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  Interestingly, when you visit Israel, you may have the opportunity, and I'm not sure it happens on every tour.
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  We were fortunate this time, we got to visit the upper room, or at least the place that is close to where this Passover celebration with Jesus and His followers occurred.
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  But they celebrated together, and he explained to them something very important that was taking place.
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  Not only was this celebration.
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  Of salvation, it was pointing to the salvation that was taking place in just ours with his death on the cross.
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  Now notice that it says in the last verse that I read, this cup, and then it was a cup part of the Passover celebration that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
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  And we often talk about the New Testament as being the document that is the new covenant.
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  Well, I think there's a little more here that we sometimes miss, and I want to suggest that this makes all the difference at least on one level of our understanding of covenant.
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  So you remember that when God invited Abram into covenant partnership, when it came time for them to walk through and make their final covenant commitments, walk through the walls of death and make their final once and for all covenant commitments.
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  God put Abram aside.
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  And as much as said, Abram, you watch, I'll handle this.
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  The chilling part to me is not that Abram was put aside.
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  That's pretty amazing.
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  Because God had asked him, Do you want to be my covenant partner?
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  And Abram has said yes.
• 51:15
  And now when it came time for Abram to say, I'm in, God says, You stay over here.
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  And some people have said God didn't want Abram to mess it up, maybe.
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  I think there may be more to it than that.
• 51:28
  But God had two representatives walk through the walls of death and make those covenant commitments, flaming torch, and a smoking firepot.
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  Seems to me that what God was showing to Abram and to us is that he was saying, Abram, this is a serious business.
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  I do want to be your covenant partner, but you're going to mess this up, and I'm going to take responsibility for it.
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  It's not that Abram was going to mess up the ceremony as much as God realized that as sincerely as Abram might commit to keeping all of the covenant requirements, and every covenant had requirements.
• 52:15
  As much as Abram would have meant to do it, God realized Abram's not going to be able to do this.
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  It's just not possible.
• 52:24
  He's human.
• 52:28
  So from the very beginning, and we can trace this even before the covenant, but from the beginning beginning of this covenant relationship between God and his people, God said, I know the pervasiveness, I know the seriousness, I know the deadly consequences of sin.
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  And I know you're going to need help.
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  That's what he says to you.
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  That's what he says to me.
• 52:58
  And so God from the beginning took the responsibility by representing his participation and Abram's participation with a flaming torch and a smoking firepot.
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  History unfolded.
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  God revealed more and more of himself, and it became more and more apparent that we humans could not keep the righteous requirements of the law.
• 53:31
  And so when Jesus says, this is the new covenant in my blood, he was saying, I stepped out of heaven and I became human.
• 53:45
  I became fully God and fully man, so that I could step into the covenant and atone for the sins of people.
• 53:59
  So Jesus was saying, This is the new covenant in my blood.
• 54:03
  What Jesus was saying is, I am giving my life, my blood, to atone for the sins of the world.
• 54:14
  When the Bible says he became sin for us, it is a huge statement.
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  And he went to the cross, and he paid the covenant price, death.
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  Because a covenant commitment, like Abram was willing to make with God said, if I violate the terms, I am worthy of death.
• 54:33
  And God knew from the beginning that we would violate the terms.
• 54:39
  And so now Jesus has entered into life, become our covenant representative, the same way as God had a representative for us in the beginning, and he goes to the cross, having committed no sin, but willingly taking on the responsibility for our sin and paying the covenant penalty.
• 55:03
  The wages of sin is death, the scripture says.