The ninth in a series of 24 sermons on the book of Genesis
Series Theme
Relationship is so much more than academic belief. We talk of the journey from the head to the heart.
In this series of sermon we trace the life of the patriarchs and learn how God desires a living personal relationship. A relationship which through Christ brings us into the family of God as His adopted children.
Within this series of sermons there is a mini series on the COVENANT. It is in the Covenant God makes with us that this relationship He desires is realized.
Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Readings
Ephesians 1:1–14 (NIV84)
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Text
Leviticus 26:1–13 (NIV84)
1“ ‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.
2“ ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
3“ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,
4I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit.
5Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
6“ ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.
7You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.
8Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
9“ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.
10You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.
11I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you.
12I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.
13I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
Leviticus 26:40–46 (NIV84)
40“ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me,
41which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,
42I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
43For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees.
44Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God.
45But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’ ”
46These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.
