Bible

New Covenant

There are things that we wear or do on the outside that can communicate about who we are on the inside. A common example is marriage. It’s not the ring that makes someone married. A wedding ring worn by someone who is single does not make them married. The ring is simply a outward symbol of a commitment, a covenant, that two people have made together. In the first week of this series, Pastor Sean talks about the new covenant that God has made with man and how baptism, just like the wedding ring, is the first step in a follower of Jesus making their faith public.

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MESSAGE NOTES

  • Abraham is called in Gen 12 but its in Gen 15:6 that he has faith.

    • That first covenant was confirmed by the blood of a sacrifice.
    • After God counts him as righteous, he gives him a way to mark himself as a person who belongs to God. (Gen 17:9-13).
    • The covenant agreement was that God was going to send the “rescuer” to the world through their family.

    Jesus tells us why he came in the Sermon on the Mount.

    • Came to fullfill the first covenant (Mt 5:17
    • He tells Nicodemus that he needs a different birth (Jn 3:1-3)
    • He had a physical birth into the first covenant confirmed by a sacrifice and marked by the cutting away of flesh.
    • Now he needs a spiritual birth, confirmed with a permanent sacrifice and marked by putting away of the flesh.

    Jesus told us what that was at the last supper. (Luke 22:20)

    • Paul makes the connection to baptism in Rm 6:1-4
    • He says that in baptism we declare ourselves dead to the old way of life and are set free from sin’s mastery. (Rm 6:12-14
    • Paul reaffirms this in col 2:11-12

    All of this makes Jesus’ final instructions crystal clear

    • Jesus gave this directive in Matthew 28:18-20
    • Make disciples, baptize them, then teach them.

There are things that we wear or do on the outside that can communicate about who we are on the inside. A common example is marriage. It’s not the ring that makes someone married. A wedding ring worn by someone who is single does not make them married. The ring is simply a outward symbol of a commitment, a covenant, that two people have made together. In the first week of this series, Pastor Sean talks about the new covenant that God has made with man and how baptism, just like the wedding ring, is the first step in a follower of Jesus making their faith public.

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