Infinite Fellowship Ministries

Walking In Covenant Relationship With God: Sermon By Deaconess Sheila Kemboi

The kingdom of heaven is like something precious buried in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a dealer in search of fine and precious pearls, Who, on finding a single pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:44-46 (AMPC)

Covenant is the standard and framework for every relationship on earth. 

God lives in a perpetual state of satisfaction. This is His constant state of existence.

God is not lonely. He is whole. There is a state of fullness in fellowship with Himself.

God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth.

Genesis 1:26 (AMPC)

We are the ones that need God and not the other way round. Whereas Greek mythology says that the power of a deity depends on the value of worship we give him, God’s existence does not depend on man.

We will only be whole to the extent we are in communion with Him. 

We were not created broken and lacking. We are only broken and lacking because we stepped out of relationship with God. 

God interacts with man through covenant. It is the context of interaction with the Divine. 

After the fall of man, humanity embraced covenant devoid of love and relationship. We came up with contracts to protect our own interests.

Contract is the antithesis of covenant. This is the context of legalism. Interests are centre stage where people take advantage of each other in a fallen world.

Jesus came to bridge the gap. He was able to fulfil the law in its fullness because of His relationship with God.

God invites humanity to relationship with Him just like He invited the Israelites to ascend Mount Sinai. And the same way they refused to go up the mountain because they were afraid, we are also afraid and do not want to relate with God as a friend. 

Relationship is the centre of every covenant.

That you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into His oath which He makes with you today, That He may establish you this day as a people for Himself, and that He may be to you a God as He said to you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is not with you only that I make this sworn covenant But with future Israelites who do not stand here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are here with us this day. 

Deuteronomy 29:12-15 (AMPC)

Even all the nations shall say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean? Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt. For they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they knew not and that He had not given to them. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses that are written in this book.

Deuteronomy 29:24-27 (AMPC)

God called humanity to worship. Idolatry is replacing God as the focus of worship.

What idols need to be undone in your life that have been forged by the heart of fear?

God is jealous to protect His worship. The heart of every covenant is having God at the centre of your worship.

Covenant relationships never started with humanity. God the Father walks in covenant relationship with God the Son and God the Spirit. He commands us to be Holy even as He is Holy.

Whatever God demands of humanity, He has provided. 

God created beings that will reflect His glory.

The standard of submission in the Godhead is such that They are equal in glory and power yet They submit One to another. 

A return to covenant is what will restore us.

The make-up of God as a triune being is the pattern of relationship in covenant. It is the centre of love and submission. Because of His essential makeup as a triune God, we are able to know love, fellowship and common purpose, hierarchy and responsibility.

God is the initiator of covenant. This is because it’s His purpose. He knows everything about us. He has the right to tell us how to function because He created us.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. 

Jeremiah 1:5 (AMPC)

God is a good investor. Whatever He chooses for you, know it is the best. He has done His best risk analysis against projected yield. This is how we can have lasting fruit.

Covenant relationship is a spiritual bond and affair. It needs one mind and heart. God is Spirit and we are spiritual beings in a physical body.

When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own life. Saul took David that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own life. 

1 Samuel 18:1-3 (AMPC)

The knitting of souls is the correct soul-tie.

Jonathan was supposed to be king after his father, Saul, but he discerned David as God’s choice for the next king and made a covenant to partner with him.

There are two primary covenants in Scripture. We have the old covenant and the new covenant.

The old covenant was the covenant of the law. The Israelites were unable to fulfil it.

The new covenant is a covenant of grace. It justifies us and empowers us to walk with God and obey Him. We are judiciously declared righteous because of the vicarious work of Christ on the Cross.

The new covenant of grace follows a Kingdom constitution. Personal covenants are statutory in nature.

There are covenants you will only enter into because God is Lord over your life.

When God speaks specifically to you or gives you a personal word, it is an invitation to enter into covenant with Him.

We give counter-offers to God but we don’t understand that God will reject them because He’s the One Who initiates covenant. Trying to one-up Him is wrong order in the Kingdom.

God will never impose His will upon us more so in the context of covenant. Acceptance is the final unqualified expression of taking up the offer.

There are people who disobey or refuse to enter a covenant with God because they want to be convinced before they obey.

There are those who procrastinate because they want it to be convenient for them. This is a form of disobedience.

Abraham obeyed immediately when he was told to leave the Ur of the Chaldeans to a land God would show him. This was faith at work.

Obedience is not a way to arm twist God. It is a vehicle to stay in relationship with God.

We easily mistrust God. There is a place of mistrust in us about God. May we never depart from the secret place of fellowship with God because of disappointments. Whether we believe it or not, God is faithful to fulfill His word.

The Lord gave them rest round about, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies withstood them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands. There failed no part of any good thing which the Lord had promised to the house of Israel; all came to pass. 

Joshua 21:44-45 (AMPC)

Some people don’t enter into a covenant with God because they haven’t sought the treasure in the things God thinks and says of them.

The words God specifically speaks to you uncover the hidden treasures in you.

God wants to change how we see what He says. Rebekah wasn’t told that there were two children within her. God said there were two nations within her. God may have promised you a job but see beyond the job and see the souls God is sending you to.

When you understand the treasure within a covenant, you will give and serve with all your heart.

Abraham set an altar (something permanent) everywhere he went while he himself lived in tents.

Is your relationship with God more important than the things He can and will give you?

God wants us to start seeing ourselves the way He sees us.