Covenant Relationships

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Covenant Relationships

• Covenant Foundations

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Covenant Foundations

• After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram
  in a vision "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your
  shield, your very great reward

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Covenant Foundations

• But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you
  give me since I remain childless and the one who
  will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
  And Abram said, "You have given me no children
  so a servant in my household will be my heir"-
  Genesis 151-3

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Covenant Foundations

• Abram realizes that having material possessions
  is not enough
• We were made for family relationships

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Covenant Foundations

• Then the word of the LORD came to him This man
  will not be your heir, but a son coming from your
  own body will be your heir

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Covenant Foundations

• He took him outside and said, "Look up at the
  heavens and count the starsif indeed you can
  count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your
  offspring be

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Covenant Foundations

• Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to
  him as righteousness- vs. 4-6

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Covenant Foundations

• What did Abraham do to become righteous?

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Covenant Foundations

• He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought
  you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this
  land to take possession of it." But Abram said,
  "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will
  gain possession of it?"- vs. 7-8

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Covenant Foundations

• Where are we going in this relationship?
• How can I know???

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Covenant Foundations

• So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a
  goat and a ram, each three years old, along with
  a dove and a young pigeon." Abram brought all
  these to him, cut them in two and arranged the
  halves opposite each other the birds, however,
  he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came
  down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away

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Covenant Foundations

• Covenant Berit often used with karat to denote
  cutting a covenant
• May this happen to me if I break this covenant

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Covenant Foundations

• As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep
  sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came
  over him. Then the LORD said to him, "Know for
  certain that your descendants will be strangers
  in a country not their own, and they will be
  enslaved and mistreated four hundred years

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Covenant Foundations

• NOTE It wont always go well for Gods people.
  That doesnt mean Gods not in it
• How does this apply to Marriage???

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Covenant Foundations

• But I will punish the nation they serve as
  slaves, and afterward they will come out with
  great possessions. You, however, will go to your
  fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age

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Covenant Foundations

• In the fourth generation your descendants will
  come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has
  not yet reached its full measure"- vs. 9-16

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In Response to How Can I Know?(What does it
tell me about God?)

• God knows the future in exact detail
• God doesnt promise comfort or ease
• God does promise justice

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Covenant Foundations

• When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a
  smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and
  passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD
  made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your
  descendants I give this land, from the river of
  Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates"- vs.
  17-19

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Covenant Foundations

• Did Abram promise anything in this covenant?

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Covenant Foundations

• Gods covenant is not conditioned upon Abrahams
  actions
• Gods covenant is one of action, not expectation

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Contract vs. Covenant
Contract Covenant
End date Permanent
Conditional Unconditional
Involves PART of a Person Whole Being
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Covenants of God

• Adamic Conditional
• Noahic Unconditional
• Abrahamic Unconditional
• Palestinian Semi-conditional
• Mosaic Conditional
• Davidic Unconditional
• New Unconditional

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Covenant Foundations

• Covenants need to be reconfirmed, but not
  renegotiated

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Covenant Foundations

• Abram and Sarai- names change due to covenant
• Abram- exalted father
• Abraham- father of multitudes
• Sarai- my princess
• Sarah- mother of nations

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Covenant Foundations

• We dont meet, know or marry static individuals

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Genesis 15-24

• Abrahams faith in the Covenant is tested in
  every conceivable way
• No kids for 15 years or so
• God rejects Abrahams attempts to fulfill the
  promise on his own
• His wife is laughing at God
• He is called to slaughter his son

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Genesis 15-24

• Abrahams faith in the Covenant is tested in
  every conceivable way
• Gods covenant remains intact

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Covenant Foundations

• By calling this covenant "new," he has made the
  first one obsolete and what is obsolete and
  aging will soon disappear- Hebrews 813

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Covenant Foundations

• Every other relationship of commitment is
  obsolete compared to marriage

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Takeaways

• Its good and natural to want family
  relationships. The place I start is God

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Takeaways

• It wont always go well in the marriage covenant.
  But that doesnt mean Gods not in it
• Dont short-circuit what God may want to do

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Takeaways

• Have I allowed for change within the other
  person, whether I like the change or not? Is my
  love conditional or covenant?

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Takeaways

• Do I regularly reconfirm my covenant?
• Which relationships have precedence over my
  marriage relationship? Am I willing to confess
  that as sin and repent?