The Church Covenant

Sermon - The church Covenant

- Today’s message is geared towards our tendency to lean on grace so much that it

cripples us from being what God has intended.

- If you look in your bulletin I typed up our church covenant.

Church Covenant

Having been led, as we believe by The Spirit of God, to receive The Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and, on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in The Name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence of God, and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another, as one body in Christ.

We engage, therefore, by the aid of The Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations.

We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagement, and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from sale of, and use of, destructive drugs, intoxicating drinks as a beverage; to shun pornography; to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.

We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and Christian courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offence, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.

We moreover engage that, when we remove from this place, we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and principles of God's Word.

- This Covenant calls for us to strive to uplift the Kingdom of God & put away

the carnality of the world, the flesh, & the devil.

- There’s a commitment, & a work we have to do for this covenant.

- This isn’t far off from the new covenant we, the church, have all entered into.

- Yes, I plan to clarify that as we get into this message.

- Let’s open our Bibles to Hebrews 8:6-9 this morning, & read about this new

covenant.

Hebrews 8:6-9

6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

- Prayer

> True commitment (www.jokes.christiansunite.com)

A journalist was assigned to the Jerusalem bureau of his newspaper. He gets an apartment overlooking the Wailing Wall. After several weeks he realizes that whenever he looks at the wall he sees an old Jewish man praying vigorously.

The journalist wondered whether there was a publishable story here. He goes down to the wall, introduces himself and says: "You come every day to the wall. What are you praying for?"

The old man replies: "What am I praying for? In the morning I pray for world peace, then I pray for the brotherhood of man. I go home, have a glass of tea, and I come back to the wall to pray for the eradication of illness and disease from the earth."

The journalist is taken by the old man's sincerity and persistence. "You mean you have been coming to the wall to pray every day for these things?"

The old man nods.

"How long have you been coming to the wall to pray for these things?"

The old man becomes reflective and then replies: "How long? Maybe twenty, twenty-five years."

The amazed journalist finally asks: "How does it feel to come and pray every day for over 20 years for these things?"

"How does it feel?" the old man replies. "It feels like I'm talking to a wall."