Covenant Conscious
FOUNDATION
STATEMENT: As believers we must be ever mindful of the blood covenant
that we have with God. A
consciousness of covenant will produce a boldness of faith in the day of battle
and will cause us to rise up and take what God has provided for us. – Ephesians 2:12
I.
You can be born again and
the covenant can be a strange/foreign thing to you (Ephesians 2:12)
A. 4-Rich in Mercy (Eleos)
– kindness, it assumes need on the part of him who receives it, and
resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows it
B. 4-His great love Great
(polus) – Many, much, great Love (agape) unconditional, never ending,
never failing
1.
Agape occurs when an individual sees, recognizes,
understands, or appreciates the value of an object or a person, causing the
viewer to behold this object or person in great esteem, awe, admiration,
wonder, and sincere appreciation.
You see, agape is a love that loves so profoundly that it knows no limits
or boundaries in how far, wide, high, and deep it will go to show that love to
its recipient. If necessary, agape,
will even sacrifice itself for the sake of that object or person it so deeply
cherishes. Agape is the highest
form of love – a self-sacrificial type of love that moves the lover to
action.
C. We got the same life in
us that he got in him (5-6 AMP)
1. What he gets we get when
we receive him
2. (AMP) – We have
joint seating with Him in the heavenly sphere by virtue of our being in Christ
Jesus
a. Romans 8:17 – We
are joint-heirs with Christ
b. Ephesians 1:20 –
Where is he seated
c. 1 John 4:17 – As he
is so am I in this world
1)
We’re
one through covenant
D. Agape raised us together
and made us sit together with him (6)
1. I sit there because God
is rich in hesed/agape/loving-kindness and tender mercy
E. He is showing to us the
excessively-overflowing-abundance of his goodness and loving-kindness (7)
1. Ages to come – This
was written ages ago
2. Exceeding riches –
The excessive, overflowing, abundance
3. Grace (charis) –
favor, benefit
4. Kindness (chrestotes)
– Gentleness, goodness, kindness
F. Saved (sozo) -We are kept
sound by favor and benefit through faith (8)
G. Remember in times past
you had no covenant with God to get a deeper revelation of just how much God
loves you (11)
1. That’s the point of
looking at v 1-3, to see where you came from
H. As a born-again child of
God you need to develop a covenant consciousness – REMEMBER YOUR COVENANT
(12)
1. Being covenant-conscious
will produce a fearless attitude in the face of the attack and it will produce
a singleness of mind and unwavering bold faith
I.
You
are made near because of the blood covenant (13)
1. The blood of Jesus washed
your sins away and sealed the New covenant and now you can stand in the
presence of the Father because you’ve been totally cleansed from all sin
2. 18-You have access to the
Father
J. You are of the household
of God – You’re kin to God (19)
1. Household (okeios)
– of one’s own household , kindred
2. Romans 8:14 – I’ve
got a Father, I’ve got a Daddy!
II.
As believers we need to
be covenant conscious (1 Samuel 17:23)
A. The men of Israel were
more conscious of the size of that giant than they were of their covenant
1. People who covenant
conscious will always operate in fear (24)
2. All of those men were in
covenant with God, but weren’t conscious of it and fled in fear
3. How many times has Satan
said something to you and you ran in fear because you weren’t conscious of your
covenant?
B. They tried to talk that
fear into David (25)
1. They only thing that they
were fully persuaded about was that Goliath came to defy Israel – The
should have been sure about their covenant
C. David’s more conscious of
his covenant than the size of the problem (26)
1. The only word that David
used to describe the Philistine was uncircumcised
– No Covenant Having
a. He didn’t talk about how
big he was, how strong he was, what a great warrior he was; he talked about how
he didn’t have covenant with God
b. How’s your conversation
when there’s a problem?
2. I believe David gawked at
this like who does this no-covenant having fool think he is and why are you
guys running from him
D. People who are covenant
conscious don’t blink, don’t bat an eye, don’t flinch, and don’t waiver in the
face of the attack (32)
1. He’s just a 17 year old
boy who’s conscious of his covenant
2. Saul thought David was
going in the power of his might, but David was going in the power of the Lord’s
might (33)
E. David is covenant
conscious (36)
1. That lion was big and
strong, but didn’t have covenant with God and that’s what got him whooped
2. That bear was big and
strong, but didn’t have covenant with God and that’s what got him whooped
3. And this no
covenant-having Philistine may be big and strong, but he’s going to get whooped
just like them because he has come against the armies of the living God and he
has no covenant
F. The Lord-Jehovah-The
unchangeable God (37)
1. God hasn’t changed and
His covenant hasn’t changed
2. The enemies who chose to
come against me are coming against God
G. Saul tried to give David
his armor and make covenant with him (38-39)
1. This covenant with you
has not been exercised or proven by me in the day of battle
a. David took to battle what
had been proven and tried
2. David had been out there
in the fields shepherding the flock of those sheep daily exercising in his
covenant with God
a. You should be exercising
in your covenant daily
H. I come to you IN THE NAME
of the Lord of hosts (45)
1. You’re coming at me with
natural, carnal weapons, but I’m coming at you in the power and the authority
of the Lord of battle and he is our covenant God
a. In the name – I
stand before you in the power and authority of the almighty God and it’s as if
God himself were standing here (Acts 4:7)
2. The Lord of Hosts
(Jehovah Tsabbaoth) – Hosts can refer to human armies or angelic
armies. God of battles. This title is best understood as a
reference the dominion of God over all powers in the universe.
I.
David’s
boldness of faith (46)
1. This kind of boldness of
faith only comes through a consciousness of covenant
J. The battle is the Lord’s
(47)
1. At the exchange of the
belt weapons they said, “Your enemies are
mine. Even if I die, I stand with
you and lend you my sword.”
2. Because of my covenant
with God my enemies are His enemies and he will stand with me and lend me his
sword even till death.
K. David was so
covenant-minded and so focused on his covenant with almighty God that he didn’t
even come close to doubting or wavering
1. Covenant minded people
are single minded, unwavering individuals
2. Covenant-minded people
are not moved by impossible circumstances
3. Covenant-minded people
will accomplish what others say is impossible
4. Covenant-minded people
don’t operate in fear, doubt, or unbelief
L. We have to develop a
covenant-consciousness
1. David was so focused on
his covenant with God that it was like he didn’t even see the size of the
Philistine (problem)
a. He never acknowledge the
size of the philistine
2. In every battle, ever
test, and every attack we should be so covenant minded that we just gawk at
that thing and say, “Who is this no-covenant having thing that’s try to prosper
and defeat a covenant child of God?”
III.
Abraham walked in faith
that was fully persuaded because he was conscious of his covenant (Romans
4:16-21)
A. Abraham was in covenant
with God and he was the guy that saw God himself walk through that blood
(Genesis 15)
B. Abraham stood calling
those things that be not as though they were (17)
1. Hebrews 4:14, 10:23
– He’s not holding fast to the circumstances, his feelings, or what makes
sense
C. With no natural reason to
expect that what God said was ever going to come to pass, Abraham expected in
faith with a white-hot, neck stretched out, expectation (18)
1. According to the covenant
words that God stood in blood and spoke to him
D. He didn’t consider his or
Sarah’s age, and he didn’t consider his body or Sarah’s body (19)
1. The covenant that had
been cut with God said that he was the Father of many nations so that is the
end of all discussions
2. He was considering his
covenant
E. He didn’t waver or doubt
the promise of God (20)
1. Covenant minded people
don’t stagger
F. 21-He was fully persuaded
that what God said was coming to pass
1. That covenant that he cut
with God effected his remembrance
a. The smell of the blood of
that heifer and the digested hay in her bowels was flowing through is nostrils
b. He could still feel the
warmth of the blood that ran up to his ankles and between his toes
c. That light walking down
the way of the blood replays in his mind over and over again
d. And God’s foot prints in
that blood has been tattooed in his thinking
e. The words, “I am El
Shaddi, the Almighty God. I will make covenant with you, and multiply you
exceedingly. As for me my covenant
is with you Abram. I have made you the Father of many nations.
2. The remembrance of that
covenant was so strong in his mind that there was a strong conviction to
believe – I have to believe
IV.
Staying covenant
conscious in times of pressure
A. David was fleeing from Saul
and wrote this Psalm in one of the most dangerous and discouraging times of his
life (Psalm 23)
1. He was in a forest called
Hareth and it was parched and dry like baked earthenware.
B. David is so conscious of
his covenant that this famed Psalm comes pouring out of him
1. The Lord is MY shepherd
or MY provider
a. Always personalize
covenant
2. God is with me –
I’m in covenant with him
a. David says, “Even though
death is staring me in the face God is with me and I’m in covenant with him and
I fear no evil.”
3. God preparing the
covenant table before him in the presence of his enemies and letting all his
enemies know that David is in covenant with almighty God
4. Goodnes/hesed/agape/loving-kindness
follows me all the days of my life
a. Surely (Ak) - certainly,
surety, truly, verily,
b. Goodness (Tob) –
kindness, loving, prosperity, wealth
c. Mercy (Chesed) –
Kindness, loving kindness, goodness, favor
d. Follow (Radaph) –
chase, hunt, pursue, to put to flight
5. House of the Lord
a. Ephesians 2:19 –
I’m kin to God
b. Romans 8:14-17 – I got
a Father I got a Daddy
C. They lost consciousness
of covenant and it caused to retreat in the day of battle (Psalm 78:9-16)
1. They were armed with
weapons and a covenant, yet the turned back in the day of battle
a. The got a covenant with
almighty God and in the middle of the attack they are retreating
2. They didn’t guard, watch,
observe, or cling to that covenant
a. They forgot the power of
that covenant and they awesome thing it did in their lives
1)
David
remembered the lion and the bear while they forgot everything that came through
their covenant
3. They weren’t steadfast in
their covenant and that’s why they turned back and when they turned back they
limited God(Psalm 78:36-42)
a. Not being steadfast in
this covenant will cause you to turn back
b. Turning back/compromising
limits God
c. They remembered not his
hand – the power of his covenant
V.
Consider your covenant
A. Consider the coat of
that God presented to you
B. Consider the belt
of weapons God presented you to
C. Consider the truth that
your enemies are his enemies
D. Consider God taking your
head and walking up and down that blood with you
E. Consider God stopping
in the middle of that blood pointing his finger right in your face saying I
stand in blood making promises to you that cannot be broken
F. Consider God swearing
by himself that what he has said about you is so and is true
G. Consider the cut of
the covenant Jesus’ back, brow, feet, and hands
H. Consider that scar
that runs across your spirit that signifies that you’re in covenant with
almighty God
I.
Consider
the name that you have that carries power from the pit of hell to the
throne of God
J. Consider that God
calls you friend and you’re always in his thinking and always on his mind
K. Consider the covenant
meal of the bread and the wine that by those two things it is impossible
for God to lie
L. Consider Jesus feeding
you that bread and serving you that wine saying all that I am is yours eat of
me, drink my life’s blood for my life is now your life
M. Consider that total
giving of himself that God gave to you