Christ Covenant Church

The consequence of claiming life is too difficult God’s way is that God makes things more difficult in an effort to wake us up (2:1-5 w/11-15, 20-23; Pro 11:31, 13:15, 15:10; What it means if life gets easier = Heb 12:5-8). The prior generations’ faithfulness to God does not guarantee the faithfulness of the next generation (2:6-10 – “know” = Trust; e.g. Jug 2:22; Psa 140:12). Each new generation...

Joshua 22-24 Receiving God’s blessing and an inheritance of great wealth and real estate (22:6-9) is the result of: 1) not forsaking the covenant community (22:1-3a), 2) obeying God’s commands (22:3b). Continuing to be faithful in the present and future is necessary to keeping the promises and blessings afforded through our faithfulness in the past (22:1-5; 23:1-16; Eze 18:24; Heb 10:36-39). Selec...

Following Christ requires that you daily submit every single area of your life (your mind or heart, your decisions and desires, your worries and cares, your past, present and future) to His Lordship (His Word, will and way) and justice (His penalty for sin), so that it will count for His Kingdom (Mat 16:21-24; Luk 14:25-35; Luk 9:23 and 62). In short, you choose to only be concerned with gaining C...

To be united w/God and receive His forgiveness (justification/salvation) we must go to His house (18:1 “tent of meeting” = Literally, “tent of reunion” Deu 12:11; Jer 7:12; Joh 4:21 = God’s house of salvation/reunion wb all over the Gentile world). “Let no man deceive himself. Outside of this house, that is, outside of the Church no one is saved.” – Origen (184 -253 A.D.) What God has promised to...

Following Christ requires that you daily submit every single area of your life (your mind or heart, your decisions and desires, your worries and cares, your past, present and future) to His Lordship (His Word, will and way) and justice (His penalty for sin), so that it will count for His Kingdom (Mat 16:21-24; Luk 14:25-35; Luk 9:32 and 62). In short, you choose to only be concerned with gaining C...

As discussed (in Part 1), following Christ requires that you daily submit every single area of your life (your mind or heart, your decisions and desires, your worries and cares, your past, present and future) to His Lordship (His Word, will and way) and justice (His penalty for sin), so that it will count for His Kingdom. Anything less than that is not following Christ according to how He defines...

Following Christ requires that you daily submit every single area of your life (your mind or heart, your decisions and desires, your worries and cares, your past, present and future) to His Lordship (His Word, will and way) and the justice He requires for your sin, so that it will count for His Kingdom (Mat 16:24 -“deny himself” = The removal of ourselves as the authority/boss over our lives ;“tak...

Coveting happens whenever we choose to indulge the temptation to pleasure our minds with thoughts of possessing or experiencing what God says is presently prohibited or forever forbidden (Jos 7:21 = pleasured/afflicting himself thinking about the forbidden fame and fortune, power and prestige of those things could bring; e.g. Exo 20:17/Deu 5:21 = pleasuring/afflicting ourselves thinking about us l...

God-ordained and effective strategies for defeating our enemies include: 1) psychological warfare (6:1-16 w/20; 4-5 -“march around the city…blow the trumpets” = Sign that battle is beginning; 10-11 – “you shall not shout or make your voice heard…spent the night in the camp” = Sign that they are withdrawing from battle; 14-16, 20 – “marched around the city once…so they did for six days…on the seven...

Civil disobedience to protect the innocent among God’s people from being destroyed by the evil governments of this world wb: 1) viewed as faithfulness/loyalty to God/covenant community (2:1-16, 12 – “dealt kindly” = Literally, acted w/ faithfulness/loyalty [Heb. hesed]; Pro 24:11), 2) rewarded – even if that person is a pagan (2:17-21; Mar 9:41; See also Mat 1:5 = Rahab was welcomed into the coven...

Deuteronomy 32-34 It is important that we “ascribe greatness to our God” (32:1-3) thru “words” that affirm His “perfection”, “justice”, “faithfulness” and sinlessness (32:4), and attribute any failure to our own propensity to act “corruptly”, be “blemished”, or “crooked and twisted”, or “foolish and senseless” (32:5-6). IOW: God is not the One to blame. We are no longer God’s children when we are...

Paul’s words in 1Corinthians fifteen make it clear that how we understand Christ’s death directly affects whether the “gospel” we believe is “in accordance with the Scriptures” (and saving) – or false (and damning). It is therefore (as Paul states) of “first importance”; a doctrine the Church cannot afford to get wrong. This unfortunately has been the plight of many within Evangelical or Reformed...

Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians fifteen make it clear that how we understand Christ’s death directly affects whether the “gospel” we believe is “in accordance with the Scriptures” (and saving) – or false (and damning). It is therefore (as Paul states) of “first importance”; a doctrine the Church cannot afford to get wrong. This unfortunately has been the plight of many within Evangelical or Reformed...

Faithful and “careful” obedience – not perfection, is: 1) what God expects in relation to His commands (28:1), 2) a condition of our salvation (28:1 – “If you faithfully obey…”; Evangelical view = There are no conditions other than faith). If we “faithfully obey the voice of the LORD (our) God” and are “careful to do all His commandments” then He promises to cause “all these blessings to overtake...

Condescension (i.e. allowing divorce for “indecency” – things other than sexual immorality – Deu 22:1-24; e.g. Gen 21:10-12) – versus Holy Spirit possession, was God’s way of helping His people obey Him under the OC. Hence the reason divorce under the NC [the covenant providing the HS as helper] is only permissible where there has been a breach of the covenant – i.e. sexual immorality/adultery (24...

When contemplating “war” against the enemies of the church we must remember that victory : 1) is not determined by our opponent’s size or power since it is God who promises to fight w/ and for us (20:1-4), 2) mandates we fight (versus leaving it all up to God) and are ready to receive (the possibility of) pain/suffering (20:3 -“drawing near for battle” = we must still fight; 20:5-7 – “lest he die...

Acceptable worship requires more than good intentions (i.e. it also requires careful observance of God’s instructions)(16:1-17, 12). The Lord’s Table (NC Passover) is to be observed only in the place where God’s Name dwells (i.e. the covenant community w/her anointed priests) (16:5-6). Though the “works of the law” (which included the three Sabbath holidays) have been superseded through faith in C...

Included in those “statutes and rules” that we are to “be careful to do” (or “obey”) “all the days that (we) live on the earth” that it may “go well w/(us) and (our) children after (us) forever” (12:1, 28) are: 1) the eradication of any and all traces of false religion/theology from our church/homes/lives (“the land the Lord has given us to possess”) (12:2-3, 28-31; e.g. worship songs w/wrong theo...

Abundant life is the result of careful and complete obedience to God’s commands (8:1). God humbles us – i.e. tests us w/difficult situations to: 1) reveal the genuineness of our loyalty (love and obedience) to Him (8:2 – “to know what was in your heart”), 2) reinforce the fact that our physical bread/provision in life is fully dependent on our receiving of God’s spiritual bread/provision (i.e. His...