Thy Kingdom Come

New Covenant/ Thy Kingdom Come. (1 hour)

Meaning of Covenant
1. We are in a covenant relationship with God.
2. A covenant is a type of relationship where two people give themselves to each other. A marriage is a covenant,
3. In a marriage, a husband gives himself to his wife, and vice versa. With God, He has given himself to us by being our God, by loving us, forgiving us, answering our prayers, etc.
4. We give ourselves to God by trusting Him, living our lives for him, praying, acknowledging him in public, etc.
Description of Old Covenant
1. The Old Testament is a description of the Old Covenant. It was very legalistic. The deal was this.
1. God would give the Jews special priveledges among humans, and let them live in Israel, and make them wealthy.
2. The Jews would obey everything God said, andbe different from the rest of humans by being circumsized, not marrying non Jews (Gentiles), never working on Saturday, not worshiping idols, and keeping a very particular diet.
1. This diet is known as “Kosher”. It means no pork or pig meat, ll blood must be drained from meat before it can be eaten, you can't have meat and dairy in the same meal (No cheese burgers), etc.
3. The Jews did not live up to their end of the bargain.
4. God allowed their country to be invaded and them to be deported, and did not defend them.
Promise of a new Era
1. Prophets promissed that one day a new covenant would be made- where God would include people of every race, and give them power to heal the crippled and the blind, and there would be peace.
2. A new Jewish King would rule the whole world.
3. Everyone in the new covenant would be prophets.
4. A Messiah would come who would start this new Era.
Establishment of new covenant, Messianic age.
1. This new Covenant was established by Jesus.
1. Jesus is the Messiah. The Greek word for Messiah is “Christ.”
2. Instead of being slaves like we were in the Old Covenant, in the New Covenant we are made children of God.
3. God loves us as a father. Like a perfect father, he forgives us when we screw up, but he wants us to keep trying.
4.
“Thy Kingdom Come”
1. Jesus taught us to pray, calling God 'Father'- something which had never been done before, and was considered blasphemy.
2. He said we should pray “Thy Kingdom Come.”
3. As messiah, Jesus is the Jewish King who would rule over everybody.
1. In ancient days, years would be counted from the beginning of a kings reign, so people would say “It was the 25th year of King David, or whatever.
2. This year is 2009 AD- AD stands for Anno Domine, or “year of our Lord.” Jesus' kingdom was established 2009 years ago!
4. As Christians, we are citizens in his kingdom.
5. This means that all the things that were promissed- that we could heal people and even raise people from the dead- applies to us!
6. If all the Christians in the world really lived out our faith, then we would eliminate poverty and hunger, and there would be peace.
7. Eventually everyone would realize that Christianity is true, and so the whole world would be part of the kingdom.