The genealogy of Jesus helps to remind us that God is a God of covenants. We should have our faith anchored in the God of covenants. Our marriage will be stronger when each of us understand how to operate within the marriage covenant.
It has helped me tremendously in my walk with God and to put my faith in God’s character. The Christian walk with God is having a close and intimate friendship with God. Contrary to many critics who questioned the love of God, the study of covenant will help you to appreciate how God has used covenant to bind himself to us as an expression of His deep love for us from time passed to eternity. We do not have a part time or convenient lover in God but a God who committed himself to us for eternity.
2 Samuel 21:1-7 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites…. Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?”…. But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
When did the children of Israel swear to protect the Gibeonites? It was during the time when Joshua was bringing the people to conquer the land when they were deceived into cutting a covenant with the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites deceived Joshua by claiming that they were from a land far away. When Joshua realized that they were tricked by them, he promised to make them be servants and never to kill them. It was this covenant that he established with them that prevented Joshua from killing them. Therefore, Saul violated the covenant when he killed the Gibeonites, because one should never attack his covenant partners. Likewise, King David was very kind to Mephibosheth because of the covenant that he had with Jonathan. The wonderful thing about covenant agreement and relationship is it is honored through the generations.
God expects His people to honor their covenant too.
Everything that God does is based on covenant relationship and the Bible is the recording of all his covenants. We need to learn from it, live in the covenant relationship with God and believe God for the covenant rights. Once we understand covenant then we will truly be able to feel secure in God’s love, provision and protection. We will also become a man or woman who will honor the commitment in the covenant and will never take the declaration lightly.
Sermon Series: Christmas 2019
认识神的约
耶稣的家谱提醒我们，神是盟约的神。我们的信心锚定在神是盟约的神之上。当我们每个人都懂得在婚姻盟约中如何做时，我们的婚姻就会更牢固。
这一信心极大地帮助我与神同行，并使我相信神的品格。基督徒与神同行就是与神建立亲密的友谊。与许多质疑神之爱的批评家相反，盟约的研究将帮助你理解神是如何使用盟约把祂自己与我们联系在一起，来表达祂从亘古到永远对我们深深的爱。在神里面我们拥有的不是一位兼职或便利的爱人，而是一位永远将自己交托给我们的神。
撒母耳记下21:1-7大卫年间有饥荒，一连三年；大卫就求问耶和华。耶和华说:“这是因扫罗和他流人血之家杀死基遍人……” 大卫就对基遍人说：“我当为你们怎样行呢？我当用什么赎罪，使你们为耶和华的产业祝福呢?”王因为曾与扫罗的儿子约拿单指着耶和华起誓，就爱惜扫罗的孙子约拿单的儿子米非波设，不把他交出来。
以色列人是何时起誓保护基遍人的呢? 当约书亚领百姓去征服那地的时候，他们被欺骗与基遍人立了约。基遍人欺哄约书亚，说他们是从远方来的。当约书亚意识到被他们欺骗了的时候，他就答应让他们做仆人，永远不杀他们。就是他与他们所立的约，使约书亚没有杀他们。所以扫罗杀基遍人时背了约，因为人不可攻击他的盟约伙伴。大卫王又因他与约拿单所立的约、就厚待米非波设。盟约关系的奇妙之处在于它是世世代代被信守的。
神也希望祂的子民信守他们的约。
神所做的每一件事都是基于盟约的关系，圣经是祂所有约的记录。我们需要从中学习，生活在与神的盟约关系中，相信神在盟约所赋予的权利。一旦我们理解了约，我们就能真正地在神的爱、供应和保护中感到安全。我们也将成为一个信守盟约，永远不会轻看宣告的男人或女人。
讲章系列：圣诞节2019