1. God’s People: Being in a COVENANT with Almighty God
Agree
Disagree
When we become an official employee of a company or member of a team or unit we enter an agreement.
-You wash these dishes in a dress shirt and bow tie between 11 and 7 and we give you $3 an hour.
-Do the job…get the paycheck.
-fail to do your part and of course, no paycheck.
Examples of Covenants would be things like legal contracts, marriage unions, rental leases.
The word covenant simply means agreement, accord, pledge or promise. (Saying the Pledge of Allegiance).
Binary in nature (do or don’t)
Entering a covenant is not nearly as difficult as keeping one…
As Christians we are more than casual acquaintances with God. We are part of a covenant. To tell this story we go back to the book of Genesis.

2. Genesis 12:1-4 Genesis 15:1-6 & 18 Genesis 17:1-13 and 23 Genesis 21:5
Abram is called and obeys.
God proposes a covenant.
God defines the covenant.
Abraham keeps the covenant.
For starters God makes an offer. It has a cost (leaving what he knew) and it has a promised reward (Become a great nation and blessing to all the nations).
-ACF/GI Bill…give us yrs of your physical prime…we help pay for college (easy to enter…tougher to keep)
Terms explained: “walk before me and be blameless”. Wear the permanent sign of the agreement (circumcision…talk about making it personal).
Abraham was a man under covenant. He held up his end.
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3. Circumcision Sign of a pledge
Sign of binding oath for the participant and offspring
Removed barrier between God’s will and its fulfillment.
Circumcision may seem a strange way to mark a covenant. However, it has it’s purposes.
It is a daily physical reminder of a the agreement.
The location was not arbitrary. The part of a person used to make offspring served to remind that this agreement was for the individual and for the product of their loin.
There was a metaphorical meaning as well. God’ agreement was to make those people in the covenant multiply into great nations. The male reproductive organ was going to have a significant place in that. The removal of the foreskin was the removal of an unneeded obstacle in the way to fulfillment.

4. Romans 4:3-5 and 9-18
The connection between the covenant God made with Abraham and the covenant we share in is important to understand. It is a covenant not of simple requirements it is an agreement of faith.
Abraham entered the agreement and was “credited” (spendable) when he believed. It was entered by faith. The circumcision was gladly and promptly done because Abraham was proud to be in covenant with God.
John 8:31-39…Jesus explains the connection between obedient faith and the covenant God made with Abraham.
James 2:20-26…the connection between our actions and our faith validates our place in the covenant.
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5. 1 Peter 2:9-15 “There is no right way to do
Living in covenant with God ABSOLUTELY affects how we live.
Covenant people/God’s people do right.
“There is no right way to do
the wrong thing.”-Modern Proverb
Simply put God’s people act right…according to God—not society, not self.
God’s people pay taxes like they should. God’s people are honest. God’s people are sexually pure. God’s people help the poor. God’s people love one another…
To opt not to do right is to not be a part of the “holy nation” (the difference between lifestyle sin and a mistake)
Covenant people are not busy looking for loopholes or ways to get around God’s ways (scripture) i.e. The Bible says be pure but how far can I go? God wants me to forgive but do I really have to? I know Jesus said “love your enemies”, can I just not be mean instead?
Being a radical doer of right is profoundly powerful…it shines undeniable light. Being an avoider of what is right is painfully hypocritical…it dims what could have been brilliant.
1 Peter 1:13-22
-to put it simply, BE HOLY

6. In a contract there is an agreement.
This just makes sense.
In a marriage you vow.
In a contract there is an agreement.
On a team there is an expectation.
Living in covenant with God ABOVE ALL of these is especially sacred. God’s people need to be seriously devoted to being holy.
Perhaps the most harmful heresy of all isn’t the notion that there is no God, but that there is a God and it doesn’t matter.
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7. In Christ = In Covenant Galatians 3:24-29
Luke 22:20—Jesus states that there is a covenant in his blood.
As we enter into Christ and become clothed/covered/cloaked we, like God’s people from Abraham’s line become God’s people too.
I leave us with an important question not to simply consider but to resolve…is your life that of a covenant relationship with the Almighty? If it isn’t why wait? Today is a great day to be like Abraham and in faith believe in God’s promise, get up from the place we’ve been and go where he has called us (Study series).