The topic given to me was about Commitment. At first, i had difficulty in preparing this sermonette becuase i do not have any passage to preach on. However when the topic was given to me, the first thing that came into my mind was to preach about the covenant, more in particular the Abrahamic Covenant. I choose to preach on the covenant becuase it is through the covenant that we can see God's commitment, God's truhtful word, God's faithfulness.
At first i had reservations about it, but when i talked about it with my girl friend that i was having difficulty in choosing a passage to preach on about the topic Commitment, she suddenly mentioned the Abrahamic Covenant. Thus i opted to preach on the Abrahamic Covenant.
So below is the outline that served as my sermonette manuscript. i hope that all of you may be bless.
I PROMISE:
Short discourse about God’s Covenantal Commitment and Our Act of Gratitude
Text: Gen. 15-17; Gal 3:16-17; Matt 5:33-37
Objective: To teach children to be men and women of their words as their proper act of gratitude towards God’s commitment in His plan of salvation.
Intro:
How many of you had made you new year’s resolution?
For how many years? Have you been consistent?
What is commitment?
My working definition: sticking to one’s own word or promise; performing once oath or promise.
Body:
In order for us to have a better understanding of God’s commitment, we have to understand first what is a covenant. It is through the context of a covenant that we can have a better grasp of God’s commitment.
What is a covenant?
It is a bond in blood sovereignly administered.[1] (in short it is a serious relationship that would involve the shedding of blood)
A covenant is a relationship of “oaths and bonds” and involves mutual, though not necessarily equal, commitments.[2]
· The idea in a covenant is that animals are cut into half and both parties in a bond/relationship would pass through those pieces, and take a curse upon themselves that they would end up like those pieces of animals if they would break their promise.
Genesis 15
V1-3 Abram’s situation
v.4-7 God’s covenant promise
v.8-10; 17 Covenant cutting.
Now we go to the nation of Israel.
Where the nation of Israel faithful to God? No,The nation of Israel was unfaithful and worshipped other God’s
Did their faithlessness cause God to revoke His promises?
No. their unfaithfulness did not cause the Lord to renege His promise to Abraham.
But it seems right this present day that God seemed to fail to fulfill his promise. Did God abandoned His promises?
No. God did not abandoned His promises but instead already fulfilled it in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Gal 3:16-17 we read:
(Gal 3:16 [ESV])
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
(Gal 3:17 [ESV])
This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
With regard to the Land promise the book of Hebrews says,
(Heb 11:8 [ESV])
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
(Heb 11:9 [ESV])
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
(Heb 11:10 [ESV])
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
We can see that despite man’s unfaithfulness, God remained faithful to His promises
Implications:
1. Salvation is also by grace through faith in the OT as seen in the case of Abraham (Romans 4)
2. As God’s children we ought to be faithful to our Lord and Savior.
3. God can be trusted, so we can trust God. We may not see things the way we want it to be but we can trust Him that every circumstance in our life is under His control and it is for our good. Trust Him, pray to Him
Application:
1. We should be committed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to obey his word. (Luke 14 and Genesis 17:1)
2. We have to be men and women of our word (Read Matt 5:33-37)
Negative consequence of being untrue to our words: Lost of Trust and Confidence from other people. If we lose the trust and confidence of our friends or parents, it would be difficult for us to be trusted. Secondly, it would be difficult for us to be good testimonies for Christ.
