COVENANTING W GOD – or – The Holy Spirit version of an Eternal New Year’s Resolution.
Great to be here tonight.
My wife and I got saved the SAME MOMENT (during an offering song) at a Jesus-Movement hippie-church revival wedding service 1973.
We’ve been in the church community in the South Bay throughout the past 42 years – we’ve seen and experienced the good and the bad and the ugly, and we can tell you that
A. God is good and He is the only perfect One worth worshipping, and
B. He is incredibly patient and fair w His people, and
C. If ANYONE is stubborn enough to continue moving forward in God no matter what goes on around them, they are good to go and they can walk in the joy of the Lord.
I can also tell you that
• God is relentless in His intentions,
• That His word is perfect and will surely come to pass and that
• We are invited to tremble at that word, obey it, and
• We will be surely be judged by it.
• The word of God is both dangerously sharp, so we must handle it carefully, but also the safest place to live.
I’ve been teaching the word of God for about 30 years now, and I can say that I am overwhelmed by what the Lord has revealed to me, and in some ways even more overwhelmed by how much I do not know.
The more I understand, the more I realize how much more there is to learn of God. It is amazing.
I was never one to study much in school, and my report cards typically had words in them like “if he would apply himself”. And meanwhile, God has called me to do just that – apply myself to study the word of God. And I admit to being a little crazy about the word of God.
And here’s ONE PRIMARY REASON WHY I AM NUTS OVER THE WORD OF GOD:
(be careful of any nut who comes to a church and immediately opens the book of Revelation…)
THE END BOOK – THE CONCLUSION OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE – The revelation of old-man John – The REVELATION HE RECEIVED regarding THE REVELATION of Jesus Christ:
Rev 19:11-16
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.
(BUT THEN WE’RE PRESENTED W SOMEWHAT OF A MYSTERY
THE NEXT VERSE TELLS US HIS NAME: THE WORD OF GOD:
13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
SO WE’RE PRESENTED W THE QUES – ARE THERE TWO NAMES – A Secret, Personal Name that ONLY JESUS KNOWS, OR is He the only One who fully understands the fullness of the meaning of HIS NAME BEING “THE WORD OF GOD”?
And then we see His appearance is marked by Him being AT WAR, coming w all the armies of heaven, and we’re told a SWORD proceeds out of His mouth, w which OUR LORD WILLS STRIKE THE NATIONS.
14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
AND HERE’S YET ANOTHER NAME:
16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
WITHOUT QUESTION: A NAME that God WANTS US TO KNOW JESUS by is THE WORD OF GOD.
Do you see how profound that is? Can you imagine the FEAR instilled into our enemy when he sees a saint equipped w the ONE OFFENSIVE WEAPON of the Ephesians armor?
THIS IS WHY there is so much warfare and NOISE against sound doctrine, by way of false doctrines coming into churches.
JESUS is not simply IN PERFECT ALIGNMENT w the word of God (which He is), or the FULFILLMENT of the word of God (which He is) – He IS the word of God.
Earlier, in his epistle, John tells us that Jesus IS THE WORD OF GOD made manifest in the flesh.
THAT is why I have become obsessed w the word of God – because even though it is a double-edged, sharp and dangerous word – although there is a huge accountability to functioning in the role of “teacher” – knowing and understanding the word in truth and humility is a huge part of knowing JESUS.
This is why our enemy would want to so undermine EVEN OUR ATTITUDE towards the word of God – from:
Intimidation – I can’t and will never understand it; TO
Disinterest – I want something livelier and more exciting than A BOOK; TO
Not For Me – I never was much of a student – leave it to the readers in the group, the intellectuals; TO
It’s A Good Guideline – But let’s not get hung up on an ancient book.
Peter THE FISHERMAN told us that people can even twist it to their own destruction.
I believe it the word of God is in fact purposely booby-trapped by God so that its potential power and authority is reserved for only one group – those who will study in humility, and who will, over time and as they grow in their understanding, tremble at it.
SMITH WIGGLESWORTH – the old English plumber whose wife Polly taught him to read, advised us about where his power and authority came from, and how to get there:
“CONSUME THE WORD OF GOD UNTIL IT CONSUMES YOU”
He was saying – SPEND so much of your life in the word (along w prayer, of course) so that YOUR THOUGHT PROCESSES are OVER-RUN W THE PLANS AND INTENTS AND TRUTHS OF SCRIPTURE.
That is so good!
ISAIAH is an amazing book – in many ways a model of the entire bible – w its 66 chapters in many ways paralleling the 66 books of the bible.
The very last chapter of Isaiah tells us much that we would do well to recognize and embrace – the final chapters pointing clearly to the return of the Lord – THE FINAL CHAPTERS OF THIS AGE – which I personally believe we are in:
Pastor Daniel asked me to perhaps speak sometime about how to study and how to read your bible to get as much out of its as possible, and I think this very first look-see is a great place to demonstrate something that has surely blessed me in my own studies:
1. PRAYING BEFORE I READ – that the Lord would open the scriptures to me/us/whoever’s around; AND
2. READING VERSES IN THEIR CONTEXT – I’ve spoken many times on “PULLING SCRIPTURES DOWN”, in obedience to the Spirit and as appropriate to a situation, BUT FIRST AND FOREMOST I believe you will be MOST BLESSED when you SPEND THE TIME to study the CONTEXT of a VERSE or VERSES that you might be walking into.
SEE WHERE A REVELATION WAS FIRST BROUGHT TO LIGHT, AND WHY.
I believe part of the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR OF THE WORD is YOU YOURSELF discovering how God woos us into “SCRIPTURE-LAND” by carefully and often planting roses of promise among some necessary thorns of truth. It is for our COMPLETENESS that He does that. It is marvelous when you read scripture that way.
READING THE WORD is an ACT OF FAITH – it says YOU BELIEVE that God will open up the scriptures TO YOU as you apply yourself and STUDY yourself.
A GOOD TEACHER can teach you GOOD THINGS. But you are getting them second-hand. That is OK.
Problem is: A FAULTY TEACHER can teach you FAULTY THINGS – and if you have no revelational defense against those false teachers, you will build a wall out of what Ezekiel refers to as “UNTEMPERED MORTAR”. That term is actually related to UNFOUNDED PROPHECY, but it also applies to UNFOUNDED DOCTRINE. It will eventually crumble.
SLIDE: S.T.U.D.Y.
EXAMPLE OF INVITATION TO REVELATION:
Isaiah 9 – “Unto us a Child is born, and unto us a Son is given, and the govt shall be upon His shoulders….” great stuff.
But have you studied the fullness of that whole chapter to see what it tells you?
It’s so powerfully prophetic – and even timely NOW, w the pertinence of Isaiah 9:11 as it applies to the Sept 11, 2001. It is so obviously prophetically charged w judgment of God on proud nations, and yet our govt, in its blindness QUOTED THOSE VERY SCRIPTURES as if they were a PROMISE OF STRENGTH AND REBUILDING. Well, duh.
We’re not going into those verses tonight – but I invite you to read the whole chapter 11 of Isaiah and see what you come up w in the way of how God tells us He HAS DEALT, IS DEALING, and WILL DEAL w the people of earth.
OK – let’s look at a big chunk of Isaiah 66
Isa 66:1-18
(THIS FIRST VERSE WE ALL KNOW FROM Stephen quoting it in Acts 7)
1 Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?
MEANWHILE – God is finishing His statement of “no place on earth that man builds is truly suitable for my dwelling, but there IS A PLACE I WANT TO DWELL IN” – that place is INSIDE a man or woman who LIVES a certain way and DOES a certain thing:
2 For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the LORD. “But on this one will I look: on him who (THIS IS HOW THIS PERSON IS MARKED) is poor and of a contrite spirit, and (THIS IS HOW THIS MAN RESPONDS TO THE WORD OF GOD) who trembles at My word.
God has always had the desire to dwell IN MAN. We were destined to BECOME HIS TABERNACLE. EMMANUEL. THAT is the Christmas message.
God is fine w ritual and liturgy and ceremony, BUT through Isaiah God clearly goes on to tell us that ritual, ceremony and liturgy – EVEN WHAT HE PRESCRIBED AS ACCEPTABLE, without the VERSE 2 lifestyle of TREMBLING, is unacceptable religiosity to Him, and in fact will provoke judgment:
3 “He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood; he who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. (HERE’S THE JEOPARDY): Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations,
4 So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.”
THEN HE DISTINGUISHES the ones who are acceptable to Him and tells them something:
5 Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.”
6 The sound of noise from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD, who fully repays His enemies!
7 “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child.
(A VERSE COMMONLY AND ACCURATELY APPLIED TO THE MIRACULOUS 1948 BIRTH OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL – A true end-times-start-the-eschatological-clock marker)
8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.
9 Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;
11 That you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”
12 For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; on her sides shall you be carried, and be dandled on her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (WHICH IS WHAT JESUS SAID HE WANTED TO DO, ALL ALONG – Matt 23:37)
14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants, and His indignation to His enemies.
(AND SOME END-TIMES ACCURATE PROPHETIC IMAGERY)
15 For behold, the LORD will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by His sword the LORD will judge all flesh; and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
Feel free to finish the chapter, and the book of Isaiah yourself. It just gets heavier, and we don’t have time to go there tonight.
Isn’t 1-16 great? THAT IS WHAT IS AVAILABLE when we dig into the word for its some of its fullness, as opposed to SHALLOW-DIVING to find a verse that fits our purpose for a lecture.
We’re promised it’s all going to come out in the wash.
It’s all going to get straightened out.
We’re promised that we will see the goodness of the hand of the Lord, while the wicked will see His indignation, big time.
All this is what I refer to as HHY – Hasn’t Happened Yet – but surely will, because our Jesus told us not to think ANYTHING in the law and the prophets is NOT going to happen. ALL is going to be FULLY FILLED, and we are the rest in those un-negotiable truths and promises, and even in the warnings.
OK – now for my message.
LATE WARNING – Lots of Scripture, always- but
1. THAT IS A SAFE PLACE and A TRUE PLACE; AND
2. Because I know this is how the Lord would have ME to minister, I promise you it will be alive w His presence. He’s assured me of that. I get that when I prepare according to His purposes.
2015 – WHAT (DO I THINK) THE SCRIPTURES AS WELL AS THE SPIRIT – in perfect harmony w the SCRIPTURES tell us LIES AHEAD – and what would be our response?
PERSONALLY – I believe we will see more shaking, more judgment in the church as well as in the world. I believe we will see economies MAYBE rebound a little, but eventually crumble. I believe we will see people crying out more for truth than for fiction – IN CHURCH.
I believe we will see the true church of God THRIVE as people focus more on JESUS than on anything else in their lives. I AM TALKING ABOUT SAINTS FOCUSING MORE ON JESUS – even than on their ministries, their giftings, their anything. It is all about JESUS, knowing/loving/serving/walking w/being led by/and if called even dying for the only One worthy.
I think men and women who determine to live and worship truthfully will be more and more lifted up by God but often more and more ostracized from fellowship as well as from society – by ones in church who want CHURCH more than TRUTH.
I think light will shine brighter as the world gets darker.
I think the “WHOLE CREATION GROANING, WAITING FOR THE REVELATION OF THE SONS (AND DAUGHTERS) OF GOD” (Romans 8) will be realized as the sons and daughters of God come into their callings – as God MAKES A WAY for the true saints of God to make more and more costly choices to follow a God who gave all so we could then choose to give all back to Him. HE IS WORTHY, and that worthiness will be made more manifest as we are put into positions and situations that will cause us to recognize Him as our everything.
I believe we will learn the GREATER RICHES OF WORSHIP AND PRAYER AND THE WORD.
I believe are being brought into a season where CHURCHIANITY will become more and more distinguishable from biblical CHRISTIANITY.
I believe God is beginning to LIGHT HIS LAMP – Trembling at the word – I am going to “pull down” a verse from Zephaniah (THE DANCE PARTY BOOK) which I believe was never in the past FULLY-FILLED – so I am of the mind that the entire LITTLE BOOK of Zephaniah contains a BIG MESSAGE regarding END-TIMES FULFILLMENT – so this one verse has to travel forward into that season – pregnant for fulfillment:
Zeph 1:12
12 “And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will He do evil.’
I believe God is going to go after all of the “believers” – all of the “citizens of the “Jerusalem of faith” – which would be you and me and our brethren – who would dare to try to take the teeth out of the word of God and proclaim God as passive, and not intending to fulfill the COMPLETENESS OF HIS WORD. THAT is NOT who He is.
QANA –Jealous = Zealous in Hebrew..
THAT would deemed refusing to tremble at the word.
SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW?
I believe it is a time for COVENANT RENEWAL WITH OUR GOD – so that we can move forward into deeper places in Him. He wants to be intimate w those wanting to be intimate w Him.
God takes COVENANT very seriously, and always honors His end of the deal – and always calls His saints to honor their end.
(WE GET THE TERM “CUTTING A DEAL” from the Hebraic terminology of “COVENANT”).
That is why CIRCUMCISION is so, Jewish. A CUT COVENANT.
Strong on my heart is our nation having made multiple covenants with THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA countless times in the past – starting w the pilgrims at Jamestown, and running through the Constitution fathers, and forward.
The church left standing at the base of the Word Trade Center (9/11, again, like Isaiah 9:11) was ONE place where our nation covenanted w God that we, as a corporate body, would serve Him.
I believe we’ve been blessed, in large part, because of our IMPERFECT forefathers having reached out to God in covenant relationship.
I believe that as we get closer to the return of the Lord, as the signs of His appearing show up not only in SCRIPTURAL REVELATION but in dreams and visions, and on youtube and foxnews,
It would be good and appropriate for us, as the people of God to:
1. HUMBLY REMIND HIM OF THE PAST COVENANTS OF OUR FOREFATHERS; AND
2. CONSIDER COVENANTING (or RE-covenanting) W HIM AS we move forward into a NEW YEAR – declaring that
A. WE ARE HIS – “The property of Jesus” and because of that:
B. HE HAS FULL OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF US, and we commit to that ownership.
SLIDE – SHIN/SPOCK/SABBATH
SPOCK GOT IT – here’s how you LIVE LONG AND PROSPER….
COVENANT was typically entered into by the making of a VOW or OATH or PROMISE – a statement that
SHOULD NEVER BE MADE LIGHTLY,
THAT IS BINDING, and that is
NOT BROKEN WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES.
(ABBREVIATED TEACHING): The SHIN is the ROOT LETTER for
SHABA
SABBATH (rest) and
SHALOM (peace).
The prophetic implication is what the writer of Hebrews tells the Jewish believers – who understand Hebrew and the holy magic of the language can thus be appreciated – there is a SUPERNATURAL PLACE OF SABBATH as we enter into God- in covenant-obedience:
Heb 4:8-10
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
COVENANT LIFE – This will be the place of our SABBATH (rest) and of our SHALOM (peace) as we cease from OUR OWN WORKS, come into COVENANT w God, in THAT PLACE, the place of SPIRIT-LED time-redemptive obedience…
That word is often translated as SHABA
Eccl tells us better to not make a covenant rather than to make one and break it (A SLIDE Ecc 5:4-6 – which Solomon sadly lived out in his own life as his kingdom collapsed after his death, in large part because HE HIMSELF knew and promised to serve God, and then lived in error).
MEANWHILE Asaph the psalmist sets the higher bar, and tells us this:
Ps 76:11-12
11 Make vows to the LORD your God, and pay them; let all who are around Him bring presents to Him who ought to be feared.
12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes; he is awesome to the kings of the earth.
I believe the Lord is pleased w such pro-activity by the saints, and I thought that would be a great way for us to start looking ahead to 2015 – declaring our position as kings and priests, sons and daughters of the King, AND at the same time declaring that we are THE SHEEP OF HIS PASTURE and the PROPERTY OF JESUS.
COVENANTS AND VOWS are NOT only OT activity.
Jesus not only made a COVENANT in the NEW TESTAMENT – He commanded that all would enter it:
Matt 26:27-28
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. (I am inclined to read that as “ALL” meaning all the saints from that time forward)
28 “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
PAUL obviously respected the solemnity of the NEW TESTAMENT COVENANT, even going so far as to put a WARNING LABEL on the COMMUNION – attributing even death to those who purposely and intentionally took lightly this one covenant of Jesus:
1 Cor 11:28-32
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
OK?
So I would like to invite us to COMMUNE W GOD right now, as a corporate group.
I would invite us to EXAMINE OURSELVES, and then from that place of self-examination, without bread and wine, but w humble hearts, tell God, corporately, that we are HIS going into this NEW YEAR – that this new year is THE YEAR OF THE LORD, and that we will come into alignment w all of His purposes as He might reveal to us.
THE WRITER OF HEBREWS, looking to the end of the age, definitely confirms the fact that what Zechariah had prophesied to Zerubbabel HAD NOT HAPPENED YET, but was definitely going to happen, told us this:
THE BAR HAS BEEN RAISED IN JESUS, NOT LOWERED. W the intimacy of Holy Spirit indwelling life comes a new level of INTIMACY and also a new level of ACCOUNTABILITY.
Heb 12:25-29
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,
26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
If you are out of sorts w God, NOW would be a great time to be IN SORTS w Him.
CALL UPON WHILE HE IS NEAR.
He is near right now.
Shall we pray?
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