-6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
– 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
-10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
-13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
OPENING REMARK
Praise the Lord! I’m going to say happy new year to you as if you are the only one reading this. The Lord smoothen your way this new year. All rough edges will be straightened out, and all tears of the past will be dried up, all anxiety will be taken away in Jesus name. New strength, power, life, progress, moving up, up, up from the old to the new. We will forget the past because a new thing will come up in your life, ministry, and the church in Jesus name! Once again, brother, sister, daughter, son, mama, and papa, happy new year!
INTRODUCTION
As we begin the year with our Covenant month, today, we are looking at MOVING UP FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW COVENANT.
A. YEAR: YEARNING EARNESTLY AFTER RENEWAL – An exciting year in the new covenant (Hebrews 8:6,10)
Remember that every moment of this year, you are yearning after renewal because it makes the year very exciting.
Y YEARNING for the Promise of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Psalm 89:34)
There are three words you need to hold dear this year – yearn, earn and learn.
° YEARN – desire, long for, focus on that thing. Let your heart and mind be there.
° LEARN – To achieve and succeed where you failed before, you have to learn.
° EARN – What you earn depends on what you have learned. What you learn depends on what you yearned for. These three words must never leave you. You want to earn higher, yearn and learn more. You want to go to a new level, yearn and learn more. This year, you are yearning for the promise of the new covenant.
Jeremiah 31:31-33. God promised to be our Father, Helper, Provider, Lifter of our heads. This is the promise in the new Covenant.
Psalm 89:34 “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.”. God will never break the Covenant He has made with us. He has promised good things concerning us and He will fulfill them.
#E – EARNEST in the Practice of the New Commandment (John 13:34-35; 1 John 2:6,8-10)
John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” The same kind of mind, heart and affection that Jesus have we must have.
1 John 2:6 “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” How did Jesus walk? In love. The Father sent Him to love the people, that was why He loved and healed the sick, loved and saved the sinner. God gave us Jesus to save us, and we should be like Him, and live as He lived and walk as He walked. We must be earnest in the practice of the new covenant.
1 John 2:10 “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.”
#A – ACTIVE in the Pursuit of New Creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 6:14-16)
Who are the new creatures? 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Old lifestyle, language, grumbling, negative behaviors, attitude to people, problems and personalities are gone and all things have become new.
vs 18-19. We reconcile people to God and help them to make peace between themselves, we don’t scatter people, projects, or people’s brains, or family.
We are active in the pursuit of new creatures. We reconcile sinners to the holy God, violent, tribal people, and those who are separated among themselves. As we do this, their sins and trespasses will not be imputed to them. God is willing to forgive every iniquity and transgressions. This is what we should do – to forgive and forget people’s offenses. Though some people say this is not possible, but we know that it is possible by the grace and power of God. It is not an emotional thing. Remember that God forgave your iniquities and cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. This should be your pursuit too.
Say: I FORGIVE! I FORGET! because you have a ministry of reconciliation.
Galatians 6:14-15. The world refused to accept Christ as Saviour, Lord and Shepherd, it is marred by rejection and violence in which they shouted, “crucify him, crucify him!” even when He opened the eyes of their blind and healed their sick ones. The spirit of jealousy, violence and wickedness of the world are crucified unto us and we unto the world. We are separate and different. Neither Jew circumcision, men and women from my tribe, etc. nor Gentiles – the uncircumcised, people from other tribes, etc. When we are born again, we are active in the pursuit of peace, not minding the tribe of the people we have dealings with. No tribalism, segregation, we are all cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.
For all those seeking for the will of God in marriage, your answer will come this year. But if you are a Yoruba person to the core, from dressing to food, and God gives you an Efik person and you shake your head, and planned to forget about marriage if she is not a Yoruba – this year, being Yoruba, Efik, Igbo, Hausa does not matter, only being new creatures. This should be your concern from now on.
vs 16. Peace be unto us, and mercy upon us who are the Israel of God.
#R – Being RESOLUTE in the Performance of the New Consecration (John 5:30; Philippians 2:4,5,14–16,21-22)
John 5:30 “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” It is good to give, but the consecration as Christ demonstrated it is not doing our own will, not speaking our words, not going our own way, but God’s in every aspect of life. This is the new consecration we are being called to from the pattern, model and example of Christ.
Everything of self will be buried this year – my idea, opinion, knowledge, expectations, preferences. No passenger can know the car or the route more than the driver, God is the One driving us to our destinations, He knows what He is doing, even the end from the beginning and you should let Him drive on. He will drive you to the right destination. Don’t struggle with Him – He is the Driver, Light and Guide. Be resolute in the performance of the new consecration. Jesus did not seek own, but the will of the Father who sent Him.
Philippians 2:4 “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Jesus did not look at His own things. He came not to be ministered to, but to minister to others.
vs 5. Have the mind of Christ, give up all that is necessary for the salvation of your neighbours, others in the community, and in your country and beyond.
B. YEAR: YESTERDAY’S EXCUSES ABANDONED RESOLUTELY – The expired
year in the old covenant (Proverbs 26:13-16)
Don’t dwell on excuses this year, they have all expired. For us to climb to higher ground of achievement and spirituality, we must jettison, forget and abandon yesterday’s excuses.
Proverbs 26:13 “The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.” The lazy man is scared that a lion on the way will crush his bones even when he has never been out of his house. Some people are afraid of competitors who will blow them off, and decide not to do business, they make excuses of all sort. What spoilt last year? Excuses. They have expired and will not come your way again.
vs 14 “As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.” The alarm rang and the slothful man turns it off, and continues to sleep. A little more sleep and poverty comes upon him.
vs 15 “The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.” the slothful keeps analyzing the situations in the nation and jump into conclusion that no one can make it here and things will be forever tough. No, drop all that to make the year really new.
vs 16-17. He is set in his way, and meddles in affairs that do not concern him. He is just like someone going for an interview, and begins to interfere with the case of the bus conductor and another passenger. Someone hears some noise from another house and stops praying, forgets the important things he is doing and focuses on what will not contribute to his progress.
You must understand – what excuses did you focus on last year? What are those things you thought you could not do?
C. YEAR: YIELDING ENTIRELY AS REQUESTED – An exciting and excelling year in the new covenant (Joel 2:25-27,32)
In the new Covenant the Lord is making with His people this year, your life will be exciting and excellent. Some people don’t take note of what they buy to eat and they pay dearly for it because it has expired. The Lord is telling us that we need to be careful and look very well at what we do or say this year, and all all excuses of the previous year is removed. The idea of saying that you can’t do this and that must be stopped this year, it has expired already.
