Sermon Central
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The Powerful Old Covenant (Part 1)
Contributed by Neal Gray on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: God loves His people. We are His creation. And He desires that we live in right relationship with Him. God knows that He will have to make the "first moves," and He has done so.
God doesn’t stop there. True to "making covenant," GOD TAKES ABRAHAM’S NAME, too. From this point on, He calls Himself "the God of Abraham."
CONCLUSION
God and Abraham are Now Eternally Inseparable
The blood covenant is almost complete. When it is complete, then these two--God and Abraham--will be eternally inseparable.
ONLY ONE MORE STEP TO GO, one more thing for Abraham to do.
Step 10: In the Next Sermon
That tenth step in "making covenant" is A VERY IMPORTANT ONE. It is such a big step, that you will have to hear about it in another sermon message!
Stay tuned!
Come back next Sunday morning!
Details at eleven!
For now, you are dismissed!
Credits
Adapted from information found in a very good little book titled, "The Covenant," by James L. Garlow.
AMEN.
SOME EXTRA NOTES
Introduction
Here are just a few more interesting notes to look at.
God Also Recognized Sarah
When God enters into a covenant, He does it all the way; with excellence, with completeness. So, recognizing the marriage covenant between Abram and Sarai--that the two become one--God also exchanged names with Sarai. He put the "H" from His name into Abraham’s name and also changed Sarai’s name to "Sarah."
God is the Breath of Life
The Hebrew letter "H" is the sound of breath, generally signifying the breath or presence of God!
In Genesis chapter one, we read about the creation of man and woman. When God made Adam from the dust, the first man was merely a body. What made Adam live? The breath of God.
We see the same concept in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is called the "Holy Pneuma" in Greek. Pneuma means wind. Literally it means "the Holy puff of breath of God."
We can see the significance of the letter that symbolizes breath being put in the middle of Abram’s name as a symbol that God is his covenant partner. Abram becomes AbrAHam. In fact, the relationship is so meaningful that the author of 2 Chronicles, when talking to God, calls this man, "Abraham Thy friend," (2 Chronicles 20:7). God refers to Abraham as "My friend" in Isaiah 41:8, and James calls him "the friend of God" (James 2:23).
AMEN.
SERMON NOTES
1. Step One: The _________ of ______ . This represented an exchange of __________ .
2. Step Two: The _________ of ______ . This represented an exchange of __________ .
3. Step Three: The _________ of ________ . This represented an exchange of __________ .
4. Step Four: The _________ sacrifice.
5. Step Five: The ______ of death.
6. Step Six: The "striking" of _______ , which is a mark on the body. This is probably the origin of our shaking _______ today.
7. Step Seven: The pronouncements of _______ and _______ . They signify your _______ .
8. Step Eight: The covenant ______ ; your _____________ of acceptance.
9. Step Nine: The _________ of ______ .
* God’s "name" is Yahweh, spelled YHWH.
* Abram became _ _ _ AH _ _ .
* Sarai became _ _ _ _ H .
* They took part of God’s name, and God is now known as, "the God of Abraham."
* The Hebrew letter, "H", is the sound of _______ .
1 0. Step Ten: Next ________ !
AMEN.
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