Beyond Sunday: Covenant Relationship
Catch up: this week’s Sunday morning message.
Guided Journey: Trusting the Leader. We can trust God to guide us on this journey. His goodness awaits our presence. Will we choose to trust God, who calls us into intimate covenant relationship?
Catch up: this week’s Sunday morning message.
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00:00:00 [Music] hey guys welcome back to beyond Sunday where we desire to take the conversation beyond Sunday a deeper and looking at the text and what we're hearing from God and this morning we' got Shay Shay how you doing this morning I'm good good how are you I'm great actually nice a good way to be on a sure I'm going to name it and claim it okay okay okay no I'm great I'm great before we dive into our conversation take a look at this video [Music] [Music] all right welcome back what's sh as
00:01:33 we get into this for this week what was the big idea from this week as we're into the Second Sunday of Lent yeah so in this in this series we're we're looking at character traits characteristics who who is this guide on this journey and so this week we're talking about Covenant this is a god of Covenant and so yeah so for us we were in mostly in Genesis 15 and then using Psalm 27 kind of as an application piece so I don't know I think you were similar I mean I touched on Genesis 15
00:02:14 mostly [Music] just the the looking at covenants through scripture and then Landing with Jesus in the New Covenant but utilizing Psalm 27 that especially there at the as you had had noted the the chiastic structure within the that Psalm that in the middle of that in seven and8 is there's a there's something to be to stop and to recognize something to to focus in on and so seven being here my voice when I call Lord be merciful to me and answer me and then verse eight my
00:02:59 heart says to you seek his face your face Lord I will seek and so and and really this idea that the New Covenant with Jesus offers us the opportunity to do that and with confidence and I certainty is probably not the right word but confidence and like I I can I can seek the face of God yeah yeah I'm coming into your presence I desire to seek your face and and to see you and to be known by you yeah yeah that's and that was kind of where we that's where I went or or that's where I landed with the
00:03:38 application because what Genesis 15 shows us or reminds us is that not only is God a covenant making and Covenant keeping God but he's he keeps both sides of the Covenant which we spent a lot of time diving into covenants in that context in that hisorical cultural context because we don't really have an understanding for what that looks like for us now in the same way but this recognition of God's like hey I'm going to actually I'm going to cover both of these parts and that's what we see Jesus do right
00:04:15 Jesus in the New Covenant does that for us but in a in a really like specific way we see that in the story of Abraham and so for me that was the that was the piece of like okay so actually God's going to handle both of that so what what is my role in this relationship then if if God's going to take care of both sides of this this Covenant relationship what's my role and that's where Psalm 27 that that treasure in the middle of the kaym was like just seek me and there and there's Echoes I think David's echoing
00:04:47 Deuteronomy 4 in that which ties seek my face all like I will hold this Covenant that was made by Oaths but seek my face and so for me that was the that was the like my role in the relationship in this Covenant relationship that I'm in with God my role is to seek Him and actually even like then okay so then what does that mean and where do we seek Him and where how do we seek him and so we talked about some of that practical stuff but even like I love the I'm just looking at right now the new living
00:05:22 Psalm 27 and the New Living Translation verse 8 says my heart has heard you say come and talk with with me and my heart responds Lord I am coming so even just that there's something in that language that's so it's just so relational like just yeah and Invitational come and sit down and talk with me and that that response like that heart response of like yes I'm coming I'm on my way it's like that when you know you're going to go see a friend and like I'm coming I'm on my way and I know it's going to I know it's
00:05:59 going to be good I don't know what we're going to talk about I don't know what we're going to do necessarily but I know there's going to be good and joy and Delight in that and I'm on my way I'm coming yeah yeah to the how David ends that Psalm in verse 13 and 14 and really I was holding on to this and that's probably I guess the piece that's still like sticking with me I didn't necessarily touch on this on Sunday but when when he says in verse 13 I'm still confident of this I will see the
00:06:31 goodness of the Lord in the land of the living wait for the Lord be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord this this hope that I I read in that verse of I'm G to see the the goodness of God in the land of living before you know I enter and approach the throne room of heaven and and have you know redeemed and and new all of that face to face with Jesus that this this hope that exists here in verse 13 and then the 14 like okay wait wait wait for the Lord be strong and
00:07:12 take heart and wait for the Lord yeah that that piece of Like There's Hope here there's we're going to see it we're gonna my eyes will my eyes will will perceive and see the goodness of God yeah yeah it's good which if if some 27 does has this kostic sort of shaping then the other the flip side of that not the flip side of that but how it kicks in there is the Lord is the light of my salvation and Whom Shall I Fear right this question Whom Shall I Fear if the Lord is the light of my salvation the
00:07:44 Lord is my stronghold of my life and whom shall I be afraid this repeated like who who Who Shall I Fear Whom Shall I be afraid if this is true about God it is the light of my salvation that he's the Lord of my of the stronghold in my life very strong truths about who God is his character his nature if we're holding on to these truths then like where he finishes there in 13 I'm confident of this I'll see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living yeah because that chastic structure the
00:08:18 the beginning and the end of this Psalm one of the one of the things I was reading somebody labeled it or categorized it the beginning and the end of this psalm talk about life and and living so how are we living living in like the light and the Salvation so why am I afraid and that idea of yeah confidence in in his goodness and then it moves in as we're moving towards the center right so then it moves in talking about enemies and these things that are that are threatening to us maybe to the way
00:08:53 that we live and then all of that pointing towards this middle of like all you actually have to do is just be with me just seek me and and maybe it's not just be I mean that's part of it I guess and I again that the way that it's even worded here of like just come and come and sit and talk with me and so be with me is part of it but even I wonder that word seek and I don't I don't know I didn't look so I don't know what the the Hebrew is but I wonder if some of that too is like look look for me in the places that
00:09:25 maybe you don't even expect me like in in the struggle with the enemies in your everyday life in those places while you're here in the land of the living seek me and look for like I'm Not absent I'm not missing in those places so look for me there well too also it calls out verse four right this one thing I ask of the Lord is that that is what I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in in his Temple for in the
00:09:57 day of trouble I will he will keep me Safe in His dwelling he will hide me in the shelter of the Tabernacle and set me high upon a rock this this call back to like it's safe in in the presence of God he he protects us we we find a you know dwelling in his house right so the David is calling back to in whatever situation he's currently navigating when he's writing this Psalm whether he's running for his life or from from King Saul or from his own son or or whoever that calling back to finding
00:10:38 safety security just in the presence of God in the Tabernacle in the tent where they would meet with God in his presence and and that calling back to that the being with with him and dwelling with with God abiding with God yeah well and that's the I guess that's the other echo of of 27 into the story of well all of the people in all of the people that God made covenants with throughout the Old Testament but in the story of Abram that idea of like yeah you you have gone through some things you're going to go through some
00:11:16 things and even we read like I think we read 18 verses yesterday and even in those 18 verses we watch Abram like Wrestled a trust and then it's like Abram believed him and God counted him righteous for his faith and then in the very next moment he's wrestling to trust again and so it's this in andout that that we just watch take place and so there's some Echoes of that where I I don't know I I wonder if some of that Abram's like I just I I think I'm getting this but but then there's that
00:11:47 wrestle to trust the enemies are around and it's whether it's external or internal those things you know well because not too often in scripture does God give his people or a person this much Clarity of what's going to take place even when they're gone I mean he gives him like they're going to be in you know your people are going to be enslaved he just he lays out this history of this of this people that that he's going to it's going to come from Abraham's line and he's like well I don't have anybody my all my inheritance
00:12:26 is going to go to my servant of my household and then God lays out like and here's right right well and that's one of the things I that's one of the things that that sticks out because and probably don't have time to unpack all of this but essentially the way that this is written in the Hebrew and and all of my knowledge here comes from Marty so shout out to Marty for this but the way it's laid out in the Hebrew suggests that a Abram so God's like hey I'm going to give you a great reward and
00:13:02 Abram's like that's so cool you keep heing blessings on me but I still don't have the one thing I want I still don't have a son where's all this good stuff going right and and the way that it's written out indicates that Abram responds to God that way like cool but I don't have a son for inheritance all my stuff is going to go to this specific servant and then God's just quiet and he doesn't respond and we don't know how long that's for but for whatever length of time minutes days weeks years
00:13:33 even we don't know but it but then Abram comes back to God and reiterates like maybe you didn't hear me but I don't have a son and I know you love to talk about tone and don't not reading tone into things but the way that are you reading tone in that I hear tone from Abram and maybe it's just because I would have Tone If I was saying this if I'm Abram okay because initially his words like he even says initially he's like oh Sovereign Lord yes like I mean his response is very different like how
00:14:07 can I know how can I know that I will gain possession of it well even okay so even before that yes but even before that in verse two oh Sovereign Lord what good are your blessings when I don't have even have a son he's very he's very wordy he like explains out who this servant is the and then it's almost like God doesn't speak and the next thing Abram say is like you have given me notice desendants of my own one of my servants is going to be my Heir so it's almost like he's like hey remember you
00:14:35 made me a promise with the the backstory right God makes this promise and Abram asses like okay probably I guess it's going to be lot then it's going to be at least my relative but then he's faithful to let lot like go do your thing and then he's like now it's going to a servant and so what Marty talks about is that he he wonders like if God's like you actually can't handle all the details of this story because if I tell you what's coming you're going to screw this up and that's exactly what we see happen right so
00:15:04 Abram comes back God I don't know if you remember but I still have a this still hasn't happened for me and then God's like no you are going to have an air you're going to have an air directly through your line but then what we know of the rest of the story is that Abram's like okay very next chapter right for right well that's what I mean he's like Okay cool so I believe you God but you must mean yeah like my wife is still Barren so you must mean I should take her servant her Egyptian servant and and
00:15:32 have a son that way and I wonder if God's like and there's the like you didn't trust the story and so even in all of that as as God is like okay look into the sky Abram's like he's like you're G to have this land but but your people are going to be enslaved for 400 years I I wonder if God was like actually wasn't going to give you all that information yeah that's what I mean like there in 13 right 13- 16 right that's a huge here's what's coming Strangers In A Country not their own enslaved and mistreated for
00:16:09 400 years you know God's going to punish that Nation that they were enslaved in but afterward they'll come out and be with a great possession you however will go to your fathers in peace and be buried in a good old age in the fourth generation your descendants will come back here for the sin of the amorites has not yet reached its full measure like there's a the the amount of time that God just offered to to AB Abram here of this is the promise I'm making with you a covenant I'm making with you and here's
00:16:47 some of what's coming and still Abram like okay so we go he goes from this Covenant promise with God to than trying to make it happen with Hagar well trying to make it yeah yep so yeah Marty would say only because I just spent so much time listening to this he would say that this is because of what took place in Genesis like 12 1314 where all along Abram is struggling to trust the story in that he there's a famine in the land do you trust me no I'm going to go into Egypt the the whole thing with lot
00:17:33 and then not only that but he comes out of Egypt and he gets all sorts of things wealth riches all of that but he also gets people he also gets his wife gets a specific Egyptian slave and so and that is who Abram's going to choose like Abram Sarai however you whoever does this but ultimately it's through this it's through this woman this Egyptian woman who that that Abram's going to mess up the story a little bit that God's like that's not actually what I meant and so Marty was talking about how
00:18:05 the the point here is like God's God's struggle with hanity is not actually to get us out of Egypt it's to get Egypt out of us and it's that idea where where God's speaking this like you're going to your people like you are what I have promised you is going to be true but they're going to spend 400 years here and the the wrestle will continue will you trust me will you trust the story and then in the very next chapter Abram's like yes but this is probably what you meant this is what you meant I'm sure of it I'm sure of it
00:18:36 certain I'm certain and even though but but then here so getting back to this Covenant piece even with all of that all of that stuff and God knowing all of that to be true God walks the path and says I I will cover both sides of this country yes yes that's what I was like that even proves more of the the glory of the New Covenant through Jesus that now he will carry both the the promise of God and the the the peace that Hanity is supposed to carry but cannot right and so through Jesus he carries that other Covenant
00:19:13 peace and comes together and now this New Covenant we live into and is fulfilled through Jesus that that that even the walking these covenants out whether you just look at one like with Abram and Abraham or Moses or David all the way through that like makes this New Covenant even greater of a of a covenant promise of a what God is Desiring to do with Hanity yeah yeah well and I also think I guess the other thing for me and I'm I'm even maybe I'm this is clicking for me right now but if we're looking at
00:19:49 this in light of trying to get to know God better so so yes the the Covenant peace there's a lot in that for me and there's some application and and thank God for the New Covenant and Jesus but if I look through this if I look at this through the lens of like God I want to understand you better like take myself out of it I want to know you more the other thing that this shows is that God was it wasn't just in the New Covenant that we see this compassionate pursuing God like that because sometimes and I don't know I
00:20:22 think sometimes we paint this like this is the god of the Old Testament and then he he breaks and he gives us Jesus and now he's this good God that that's loving and kind but when we like look at this every single Covenant all along the way is evidence of a God who is like has compassion who desires relationship who's in purs who who's in pursuit of his people and we see it even in the story of of Abraham because even before this is before Jesus and the New Covenant so things are not as good as
00:20:51 they're going to be yeah but God is still like I'm going to handle this for you Abraham I'm going to handle it and we see it in the with the Israelites we see it all through and so there's something about that maybe what it is for me is it's a reminder that his character hasn't changed the the story of hanity that that's been wo woven throughout history it that we have changed and the way that he the way that he offers us Redemption and the the access that we now get to have that's changed but his
00:21:24 character and nature hasn't changed he's not a God who who looked different in the Old Testament than he does in the New Testament or to us today yeah and even more of that connection too of the Psalm 27 of like and seek my face and and then like yeah your face Lord I will seek I'm coming I'm coming I'm coming to you to be in your presence to know you more more you know again is even as I walk this out more and more in in my life with God more and more God has revealed his nature and character and
00:22:02 it's so good it's it's so beautiful it's so good it's so full and filling and in awe and wonder and like okay God I I I really want more I I I really want more of your presence I I want to I want to come to to a place to know you in a way that I read in Psalms when David writes and he's as honest as maybe I hope to be about his relationship with God and the things that they have walked through together and what God has been so faithful to David in the in in in areas of sin and God has been there in areas of of
00:22:48 Triph and king of Israel God has been there and in areas of running for his life because people want to kill him his own son even like God is there with him and as I read these Psalms I was like I I hope to have that my my my connection to you because I'm so I'm I'm I'm so enveloped by your presence I'm so sheltered by it that I'm so cared in in that space that I just want to be there more I'm coming I'm seeking your face I'm coming God iing yeah yeah yeah and I I wonder if there's not that that resonates because that I we
00:23:37 just had a conversation earlier well I guess this is Monday last week I guess where we were talking about even the difference between in in han relationships in in friendships or whatever like there's like no relationship which is terrible and then there's like texting and then there's phone calls or Zoom or whatever and then there's being in person and we know with anybody that we have relationship with I think most most of us would say like being together in person is the best that's the best way to be able
00:24:11 to be those other things are good for in the meantime but that's the best and I wonder if that's some of even like even as David's talking right one thing I I Ask Of The Lord the thing I seek most to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life delighting meditating in the temple and that's like the the Lord I'm coming I want to just be with you but also knowing that that I don't that no contact never has to be on the table with God I guess that's what I'm I'm thinking and there's
00:24:41 moments there's moments and there's seasons and there's spaces where I can I can abide in a way that is like I'm just sitting on the couch with Jesus and I just get to like I get to fully be be there and that's what that's what my my heart desires like Lord I'm coming come and talk with me I'm coming but also knowing that there's also there there's Seasons or there's moments where where things are getting done and and I can be on the phone with him or or there's you know like whatever that analogy wants to
00:25:11 look like but I wonder if that's some of even this like this the the now and the not yet so there will be a day where where we we experience God's fullness constantly and that just is what is and now knowing that I don't ever have to live outside of his presence I don't ever have to live because of the New Covenant I don't ever have to live away from him but also recognizing that that I don't know maybe just sometimes it looks different or or there's an in and out of that I don't know well or a recognition that
00:25:52 as as Isaiah says like our God reminding us our my thoughts are are not your thoughts my ways are not your ways we don't always perceive what God is doing or maybe where God is in those moments not that we have to live outside of his presence but we may not be aware of it and there's for different reasons and circstances and whatever but like we may not always be aware of that and and that's where I sense even in David's in his words here like in verse seven hear my voice when I call
00:26:29 Lord be merciful to me and answer me like this this real desire to be in connection with God and and then we've already read eight but then he continues on in verse 9 do not hide your face from me don't turn your Ser do not turn your servant away in Anger you have been my helper do not reject me or forsake me oh God my savior though my father and mother forsake me the Lord will receive me I I just I sense this really this this call out to God of like receive me take me and be merciful to me
00:27:00 hear my voice and wherever David happens to be right when he's writing this Psalm we yeah I just sense a a real call in David's words here and his communing with god with his conversation with god with this talking to God this so desire to be in his presence yeah and to know where that is like I'm I'm seek your face like I'm coming where are you yeah yeah yeah hear my voice and I think that's one of the things that that CH was reminded this morning like if that's my heart cry Lord hear my voice don't turn your
00:27:51 don't turn away from me I see I'm coming to I'm seeking your face that that's the protocal that's the father welcoming the son back into his arms and like like going out to meet him and where the prodal the son feels like I don't even deserve to be a servant in my father's household now and instead the father takes his robe and clothes them with his robe takes his ring and puts it on his finger finger symbolizing you are now you are a part of this household we've been far off but now you're here and you're and
00:28:30 and the father runs out to meet him and to embrace him and then it's like robe ring Feast yeah yeah that's the god who's a covenant making Covenant keeping God and here's the thing about that that's the most powerful for me is that the father was watching and waiting and so when I'm in the seasons where I'm not seeking well God is God is watching like God and I think was it it might have even been on the podcast last week that we talked about this idea of as a parent in a room if I can't see my kid I'm
00:29:09 repositioning myself so that I can see my kid in a busy crowd or whatever and that idea of of God watching and waiting the there's a song by oh man I can't believe I can't remember who it's by that's silly it's if I could cut I could have anything and we've been that has been a a powerful refrain for me but the chorus says every time I catch your gaze my world starts changing and I wonder if some of that too is even in that God's like I'm gonna hold both ends of the Covenant I'm gonna do all these things
00:29:49 all you have to do is seek me and when you don't you're going to sometimes you're going to catch my gaze and I'm going to change your world in a way that that adjusts you that catches your attention that reminds you to look for me like I mean that God's like I'll just do every part of it just every part yeah and I don't I don't know I have felt that in those in I have been been there in Seasons where I don't know I just I I'm not I'm not seeking or or I'm busy or I'm whatever and then in the in
00:30:24 whatever moment in his grace and his Mercy he's like Taps you on the shoulder and is like let me remind you yeah I'm right here and I'm like I wasn't even looking and I wonder how much I've missed yeah and our world starts changing yeah transforming yeah yeah thank the Lord so as we as we wrap this up Jay what would you say is a chyros for you from this week and what are you hearing from God and how are you invited to respond well I kind of feel like that was a chyros so I need to sit with that for
00:31:05 a minute there's something about I could start if you wanted to if you want to Noodle on that for a second okay go ahead okay so mine would be in in this this idea of seeking God's face and and the the the Covenant that God now through Jesus holds both sides that I don't I don't want to come at that with the the Blas sort of attitude like well now I have no responsibility right but actually it's the the way that I can best I suppose articulate this as a kairos for me is God is a covenant making Covenant
00:31:47 keeping God he he speaks identity into me I've been created in in the image of God we talked about that U last week and and well hopefully forever but I am I am created the image of God and so I'm created in such a way that I would reflect the glory of God by just how he's created me I struggle sometimes to receive that and know that to be true that my identity is firmly from God Alone and then there are times that I'll I'll intentionally or unintentionally be formed by something else or identity will something will
00:32:27 attach to identity that is not from God and it's the reminder that my identity first and only comes from God and out of my identity I so desire to be obedient to the to within that call right to reflect God's glory and that I don't want to attach anything else to that identity but the the way that I walk this out way that I'm obedient to what who God is and who who I I am because of him I desire for those things to match up with like this is this is who God says I am this is my identity in him and here's how he's
00:33:07 called me to walk and to live and to be and I I I want those I desire for those to match I don't I don't want to skew it in a way where I'm like I'm supposed to do this so that God would love me now or I'm supposed to practice this or walk this out or serve these people so that God would see me and I and I suppose that visual if even like you said God is already looking waiting and when we approach him he's running he's running at us he's running to us and yeah I desire for for it to flow
00:33:52 that direction and not the other way yeah yeah that's good there's something powerful in the reminder of maybe I'd say it like he's a God who seeks it I I desire to seek God but he's also a God who seeks who watches who's pursuing I guess but in that and this is funny because I don't I don't know that I how I didn't connect that dot before there has been an echo for me of of God sees like God sees me and this has been for the last nber of weeks consistently in all places like God like
00:34:37 feeling seen by God God you see me God sees me a God who sees is a God who seeks so that I I don't know why that I don't know why I didn't connect that before but even in this and and the thing about that is that being seen by God helps me trust God and that I guess that's what I would that's what I was going to say coming out of Sunday that kairos for me is is yeah I have felt for for not an insignificant amount of time I have felt just an unsettling in in some different places and areas and the reminder in
00:35:19 Abram's story the reminder from Marty in Abram's story of God like you actually I'm I'm not going to give you everything you need to know because you're going to mess this up and I know that to be true of myself I have no there's no I have no like idea that that I could handle things better than God can and yet sometimes I struggle with that but I know that to be true so yeah God like help me trust that you you've shown me exactly what I need to see and that because you're
00:35:54 a God who sees and maybe that's what that connecting piece is is that maybe in in some of that unsettling it's like okay God I trust you but do you see do you see what I'm sitting in right here do you see where I'm at and so that reminder that God's like yeah I do I do see you and I I I see you and I seek good for you right he even says to Abram like I'm going to give you a great reward so in all of that trusting that not only like not only can God handle it and and whatever but it just I don't know there's it speaks to
00:36:31 his character and the more I understand about like what's ingrained in his character not just the things he does he does he makes covenants he rescues his people whatever but that comes because of who he is and that can that does not change so I don't know there's something in that like yeah I guess that I guess the kairos boiled down is like God do you see do you I I'm trying to trust you but do you see and he's like yeah I see I see yeah still trust me yes I see fully and and when when we come to that like who
00:37:08 doesn't want to follow who doesn't want to follow that leader in on this journey who isn't like I'm all in God if if that's who you [Music] are I just don't want to be anywhere else which then I'll just I'll just stop with this I guess because this hit yesterday as we were wrestling through some scripture in F 1 Corinthians 2 where Paul's actually quoting from Isaiah I think this is so the scriptures say no eye has seen no ear has heard and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those
00:37:43 who love him and I wonder if he's like as I'm here like yeah but do you see he's like you don't see you have no idea you have no idea and you would mess it up if I told you you would mess it up so just yeah I don't know trust him the God who sees it's a good word to end with good well guys thanks for joining us and it's been good to just wrestle with what we're hearing from God in the text and how we're going to walk this out this week we we pray that this too is the conversations you're able to
00:38:20 have as well beyond Sunday so we'll see you next week take care
