 Right, good morning everyone. Welcome to a new week of classes. Let's begin this time with the word of prayer. Let's pray. Father we want to thank you Lord for this wonderful opportunity that you've given us. Just come together and study your word. I pray God even as we look at this course and the topic for today, the covenants and understanding more about you, about the covenants that you have kept for us of God. Lord we want to thank you and praise you that you are a God who keeps this covenant. Lord be as your children, we pray God that we will not walk in your ways, that we will hear you and Lord we just surrender each one of us into your hands of God. We pray God for wisdom, for clarity. I pray God that even as we study this that you will bring things to remembrance, that the Holy Spirit will enable us to understand and to and to Lord to really understand that you alone are a covenant keeping God and Lord we thank you for this time. We submit these two hours of study into your hands Lord. We give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright as usual what we normally do is before we start the session let's look at a quick review of what we did last week. Last week we started off with chapter one. We looked at understanding covenants that you know we laid the foundation saying that God is a God who keeps this covenant. Whether we keep it or not God keeps us covenant right and we looked at the word the Greek word itself covenant which which is used as Barrett that that means a God who will keep covenant a God who is who who wants to have a covenant relationship with us. We looked at aspects of how God is a relational God right all through the Old Testament. There were many covenants that were you know set up by the Lord and and we looked at a few of them as well. We looked at the Abrahamic covenant. We saw how God called Noah as well and then the Davidic covenant and also the in the New Testament we are part of the Messianic covenant. So there were also points wherein we saw the nature of God's covenant with man. God is the initiator it's not like we say okay God can I make a covenant now. God initiates the covenant and he's the keeper of the covenant right. Man on the other hand our part is to when we believe in God when we believe in the Lord Jesus we are entering we're saying yes God I believe and I enter into the covenant which you have for me right and very importantly we looked at Eutronomy 28 just a few portions we saw last week how God is telling the people of Israel come out of Egypt and the word and he's reminding them he's reminding the people of Israel look I'm a God who keeps the covenant but if you there are blessings when you keep the covenant but if you don't keep the covenant there are curses and so Deutronomy 28 very beautifully writes about what happens when we you know our followers of the covenant we obey the covenant and what happens when we don't right it's not like you know God is putting off that curses what happens is we are coming out or not aligned meaning ourselves to what God wants for us and so we open ourselves to the work of the enemy and so that's when curses come in God does not allow dual commitments and we looked at that where you know we can't say you know money to Friday I'll be this Saturday and Sunday I'll be this person we can't be two different people or we can't say I'll do part of this covenant and part of the you know the other covenant as well meaning do things that is holy and do things that are unholy now God is not pleased with that right that's a settled fact God says I am a jealous God and and and so today even as we move on we'll go on to chapter 2 and we look at some of the covenant names right let me just project the notes that we can all follow along just a minute please sorry just tried it but it's not showing up again to me okay everyone able to see the screen now yes okay sorry every time I tried and when I think when people enter the enter the call it you know it doesn't show on the other tabs okay let me just get to chapter 2 chapter 2 God's covenant names right now we settle the fact that God of the Bible is a covenant God he's a God who makes a covenant and this is his nature you know it's not like God makes it and he says I've changed my mind no in his nature he's a God who keeps it let's read Exodus chapter 6 verse 3 to 5 let's go ahead any one of you can read I appear to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty but my name Lord I was not known him known to them I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land of canon the land of the pilgrimage in which they were strangers and I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage and I have remembered my covenant thank you John right now when we look at this Exodus chapter 6 God is talking to Moses and he's he has a you know he has a plan for Moses he's got a thing for Moses to do where he has to go bring the people out of Egypt but what does he tell Moses he says to Moses I appear to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty right he's saying now this is not something that I am coming up with right now right this is a covenant that I've made earlier on and as God Almighty I will keep my part of the covenant right now we must understand that when God makes a covenant to his people all through the Old Testament and we also see it now there will be times when God will use different people to fulfill the covenant that he has promised he made a covenant to Abraham that I will bring them to the land a land that is flowing with milk and honey their own land and God is telling Moses look I've made this covenant with Abraham and to his his son and his his generation that you will go into the promised plan but now it's many years and you're all in bondage in Egypt so Moses gear up this is what you got to do you got to go and bring the people the children of Israel out of Egypt into the promised land why verse 5 I love that last part verse 5 I have remembered my covenant so wonderful right now the word Lord in Petra Grammaton is is now you do see that right it's why HWH now the way we pronounce it the actual pronunciation is Yadhe Wadhe right now this is the highest form of adoration the four letter Hebrew word is highest form of adoration that you can give God it is said that the scribes who you know during the Old Testament they would sit and make copies of scriptures right and the scribes every time the word would come Yadhe Wadhe there was the sense of awe there was the sense of you know how minute we are and the holiness of God the the Lord is God right and and then there are different forms accepted there's Jehovah Jehovah and Java but but the original Hebrew is Yadhe Wadhe which means the Lord Almighty the great God right now interestingly this is the name that God chose for himself and by which he revealed himself to people right when when we see this when he brought the people out of Israel as well sorry out of Egypt God revealed himself as the Lord the the God of Israel the the one who is you know Almighty the Lord God and not only to the to Moses but after that later on he goes on you know revealing himself with these aspects right that he is the God he is the Lord Almighty right and Jehovah that is or Jehovah is the God who is eternal right sometimes we say who created God no no God is beyond time beyond matter beyond space if God is created he's not eternal because you know there if somebody something has created it has to end as well God is eternal he's he's telling the people when he's revealing himself when he says I'm Yadhe Wadhe he's saying I'm eternal I'm self-existent nobody created me nor do nobody can stop me from doing the things that I want to do self-existent and I love that verse in Romans 3 17 where it says he calls things that are not there as if they are there self-existent right so picture this the God the the Lord God Yahweh and he's revealing himself to the people of Israel all through the Old Testament and he's saying I'm eternal I'm self-existent right nobody can change who I am and what I can do it's up to me and he again says I'm immutable which means unchangeable absolute indisputable nobody can do anything about it right unchangeable I am the same yesterday today forever more the one who keeps his covenant now when we look at the New Testament the Lord Jesus when he was you know ministering to the people remember they came they asked him you know Jesus said I'll this temple will destroy this temple and and raise it up in three days and then he says you know our forefathers Abraham did this and that what did Jesus say before Abraham was I am that was a powerful revelation of who he was he was revealing himself as his covenant name he's saying hey I was existent even before time I was there with the father when even the Apostle Paul says Christ crucified before the foundation of the world it was God revealing himself saying hey I'm a God who keeps the covenant but I made the covenant in the Garden of Eden and I said my seed will crush the serpent's head and it did so Christ crucified before the foundation of the world so through time God revealed himself with many names and as all these different aspects of God more and more of his presence of his of who he is is revealed in our lives what he does to his people what he bestows upon each one of us I'm sure all of us have testimonies of what God has done for us but now let's look at a few covenant names of God now even as we look at these names I want to encourage each one of you right it's not about you know by hearting all the names that are there and say okay I know all the names no it is about experiencing it let it become a revelation in our hearts right that's when you know the word of God will mean you know it will be much stronger in our lives right so so don't look at it as a you know these 10 or 12 names I need to note by heart and but it should be more of a revelation inside us right so let's look at a few names here Jehovah Elohim the eternal creator eternal creator adonai Jehovah the Lord are sovereign and master Lord you know adonai Jehovah the word sovereign means somebody who is in complete control nobody can change his plans or purposes he's sovereign right like for example right now we look at the pandemic we look at 22 we never knew that you know we have these new variants and all these things coming up but you and I as believers we can say God you are a covenant keeping God and you are adonai Jehovah which means Lord you are sovereign over this entire situation you are sovereign right so God is going to keep his side of the covenant because that's in his name that's in his nature and we are to believe it right a very common one Jehovah Jairah the Lord will see and provide I'm sure the Lord has been our Jehovah Jairah many a times sometimes we knowingly see it sometimes he has given it to us but we have not realized it at all but he's a Jehovah Jairah he's a Jehovah Nisi the Lord our banner also some translation says the Lord our victory banner right he grants us victory now when we look in the Old Testament the people of Israel have come out it was not an easy task you know we study that you know it's not like they came out of Egypt and just walked into the Promised Land no there were battles that had to be fought there were some battles that were easy some battles were difficult if you picture how they came into you know when they came to Jericho this whole wall ahead of them but Jehovah says I am Jehovah Nisi I am the Lord your banner and I will grant you victory and the same thing happened in the New Testament in the New Covenant the Lord Jesus you know he wherever he went there was victory right imagine this Jesus is on the cross he's dying over it's the end of his life what does he say it is finished now he said it is finished not because okay my you know he's not saying physically it is finished but he's saying it is done victory is ours it is finished it is accomplished the work that I have come here for is accomplished as victory when we look at the cross it looks as a failure it looks like you know there was so much of hate and and all these you know the Romans what they did to the Lord Jesus but when we look at it naturally it looks like a failure but in the spiritual the Lord is Jehovah Nisi he's a victory banner then he goes on to say Jehovah Rafa the Lord Ahila he did that in the Old Testament he brought healing upon so many people and then in the New Testament the Lord Jesus did so wonderfully began to reveal himself as the Jehovah Rafa the Lord Ahila you know people thronged to the Lord Jesus because why he was healing people it is in his nature to heal people right it's his nature he's Jehovah Rafa you can't change it Jehovah Shalom the Lord our peace right when the people of Israel entered into the promised land God gave them another covenant he says listen I'll be Jehovah Shalom to you 40 years you've been you know wandering this desert your children and your generation some of them don't even know what happened in the desert but you've gone through a difficult time gone through different seasons now I will be your Jehovah Shalom the Lord is our peace you know peace is something so wonderful and I always use this example because it makes so much sense when we you know go to a beautiful place maybe a beach or a very beautiful looking location we go there maybe at the beach you're looking at the sunset and you feel so much at peace there's quietness there's breeze it's a beautiful place but that's not what peace is God is saying I am the Jehovah Shalom because the peace that I give you will pass all understanding which means now we may be sitting in the beach enjoying the peace but when you come back to the city and go through go go back to work and all the other things that we have to do we may not find peace in all that but the peace that the Lord gives us is a peace in the midst of the storm and he says I am the Jehovah Shalom the Lord our peace then he says I'm the Jehovah Rohi the Lord our Shepherd now it's reading this book called the Shepherd Staff now I encourage you those who are going to become pastors or are in pastoral care already to read this book the Shepherd Staff it's a powerful powerful declarations powerful words of encouragement for pastoral ministry especially and in this book the writer writes here and he says what is the role of the Shepherd and says the Shepherd you know when the when it's probably early morning the Shepherd takes the sheep and he looks after the sheep he takes them through the waters he takes them through mountains now I'm sure you've if you see let me put a little context here if you see the in the old covenant during the earlier times there were fields there were mountains everywhere it's not like there was grass growing everywhere and so the shepherds could just take the sheep and you know like what we see now good grass growing they go they graze and they come back no when the shepherds had to take the sheep it was a whole you know it was probably a whole day's work the whole long task ahead you know because they had to go take the sheep and find the grass because a lot of the you know a lot of those places were had no you know it was more of deserts right and so they had to find grass and so they would the Shepherd will lead them take them to the probably the mountain areas you'll find some grass there or they'll go back go near the valleys sometimes there's grass there so the Shepherd knows where to take the sheep and when to take the sheep now it is said that either in the rainy seasons you know the Shepherd takes the sheep way up on the mountain why because you get fresh green grass there the waters would have really soaked in into that mountain and you know you get good grass to feed on and good food to feed on for the for the sheep and so what are we trying to bring out here the Lord is our shepherd he knows where to take us he knows when to lead us how to lead us and he knows what's best for us right yes we all have questions we may all wonder why is this happening to us why why is it that I'm here and you know when everyone else are going ahead listen the Lord is our shepherd as long as we keep our side of the covenant the Lord will keep his side of the covenant right Jehovah Sid Keno the Lord our righteousness what a powerful was the Lord our righteousness the word righteousness also refers to right standing with God we are the righteousness of God in the new covenant the God is saying hey Jehovah Sid Keno that's what I am I'm a righteous God now through the cross I have made you righteous he has kept his covenant Jehovah Shama the Lord is present Jehovah subod the Lord of hosts and when we say the Lord of hosts it's it's more of in terms of his you know his power his his might very his his his authority that's what it reveals Jehovah Mekadisham the Lord our sanctifier what a wonderful covenant this is the Lord is our sanctifier and when we look in the New Testament he has sanctified us by his word and his truth what is the meaning of sanctified sanctified means to be set apart in the old covenant the Lord the God the Lord what he did was he he chose people he chose high priests and he said sanctify them for the use of God sanctify the the elements or the cups and the things that are being used in the temple sanctify them set them apart right they're all holy and so now in the New Testament God is saying the Lord is saying I have sanctified you I've already set you apart you are already clean how are you sanctified by the word of and by your his truth so there will be times when the enemy may come and say you know what yeah you're living a sinful life he may just expose things in our life and we may feel ashamed but that's not the time to fall into the trap of the enemy but we can stand up and say hey enemy Jehovah is my Jehovah Mekadisham the Lord my sanctifier he will sanctify me he will wash me he will make me clean because that's his part of the covenant yes I have failed yes I have sinned yes I've fallen short but I'm part of a covenant God will restore the Lord is our sanctifier Jehovah Eleon the Lord Most High Jehovah Hussino the Lord our maker Jehovah Elohim the Lord our God Jehovah Eloheki the Lord thy God Jehovah Elohim the Lord my God now these last four aspects or natures of God pretty similar but it's just declare declaring who God is for the people of Israel who God is for their nation who God is for their personal lives the God of the Bible has not changed through time that's this wonderful wonderful promise that we can hold on to he has not changed right all through time he has remained the same all the covenant names given by God in the Old Testament still holds for us today it's not like we can say you know after the cross things have changed no the covenant name still holds for us it has all the power it has all the authority even now when we look at the Old Testament we get some of the most powerful verses than I would say in the New Testament both are powerful but there's some really wonderful passages in the Old Testament why because God has not changed his working has not changed I love Isaiah 65 where he goes and he says to people of Israel listen you people are living in darkness there is there is a there's a hole there is darkness there is there's just sin everywhere around you there's hatred that is you have broken your part of the covenant you're living in Babylon and living in sin worshipping their idols but what did what did God say God told Isaiah and he says the glory of the Lord has risen upon you though darkness covers the earth and deep darkness the skies the Lord will arise upon you what a wonderful passage that is we go on and we read other chapters Psalms and when we read Jeremiah powerful verses of declaration God saying I'm gonna keep my covenant right I have plans for you plans to prosper you that holds is right now it holds to it holds strong for us as well Malachi chapter 3 verse 6 says for I am the Lord that is Yahweh or Yadhe Wadhe I do not change he is still Yahweh the God of covenant he is in covenant with us but we as his children must understand how to live as covenant people maybe some of us are in a season where we maybe we don't know what is ahead or confusion fear I would encourage you see these names this is who God is this is his nature now sometimes we think okay God is holy God is just God is you know forgiving I know he's so much more there are so many aspects of his nature that we can claim and the most beautiful part is that God has initiated these covenants we are not making up things right we're not saying you know this is what I feel God is no no God is saying this about himself and and that's what he is and that's what he plans to do any questions any thoughts share anything any questions thoughts everything okay is are you able to understand right should we go ahead okay maybe what we can do is probably is it okay if one or two of us just maybe share how you know what nature of you know I'm sure there are many aspects that God has revealed in our life but any testimony of maybe one of these you know the names that we saw of how God revealed himself to you in in a particular season or maybe your own life anything that had happened maybe one or two of us can share how God revealed his nature to you is that okay maybe one or two of us anybody would like to share maybe it was an impossible situation all of a sudden God came through and made it possible or could be a healing that you have experienced being God being Jehovah Rafa so I just want to hear from you how you know God revealed himself his nature through the names that we studied this morning anyone would like to share okay it's not a exam it's not a test it's just to learn together I'll share one incident just go ahead John last year so glass was my wife flat working in kitchen and she cut her hand and there was a big scar with and she had an exam the next day so she had to write the exam with that same hand itself so we prayed and we declared Jehovah as a Rafa God as a healer and to our surprise next day morning we couldn't even see this car and the she was able to write the exam. Amen wow praise God for that wonderful testimony. Amen yes Jehovah Rafa the God of Heals wonderful anybody else would like to share anyone else let's go ahead Zillatoli go ahead okay you know like I just want to share regarding how the Lord provided our family you know like Jehovah Jairah he's our Jehovah Jairah like for several years like our family we were in debt you know and we don't see the breakthrough but you know we used to pray and we used to declare in our family pray everything that he is our Jehovah Jairah and you know supernaturally you know like God provided our needs and you know all those money you know like you know we were able to clear all the debts and you know it's just God's supernatural favor that you know the debt you know like people cancel our debt also and it's just so amazing how God works when we declare all those things you know so I'm so thankful to God. Amen Amen praise God thank you for sharing Zillatoli I just thought since you brought this out Jehovah Jairah I remember reading this a couple of years ago but it's it's just imprinted in me in my in my thoughts and I always use this example because it's a wonderful example. Goto Abraham Abraham I'm going to make you the father of many nations get ready that's a big task ahead of you and he has Isaac Abraham's probably very happy the child is growing all of a sudden God says take this child go up that mountain and sacrifice him as a burnt offering to me. Now that would have been one of the most painful things to hear as a father probably Abraham was thinking firstly God you made a covenant with me saying that my generation will be blessed now he's the only one in my generation if I kill him what am I do I have to wait another 20 years for the second son or probably he had all those thoughts and secondly said this is my son how can I how can I just kill my son as it may give him as a burnt offering and the writer very beautifully illustrates how faith and God's covenant goes together it's just an illustration it's just a picture that the writer had but it made a lot of sense it was as if the day Abraham took Isaac and he began to walk up the mountain from one end taking Isaac God saw that faith and he sent another you know ram from the other side of the mountain right now it's just the writer's illustration the way he put it across right and God saw the faith of Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain God sent a ram from the other side of the mountain now Abraham could not see the ram that was on the other side as he was expressing faith and walking up that mountain the ram was walking up it also and we know that rams don't go up so high up the mountain and at the right time God says I am Jehovah Jairah look at the ram take it sacrifice it so sometimes we may be looking for our miracle but we may not be able to see it it's on the other side God is sending it across we just have to walk in faith Jehovah Jairah God who provides a man anybody else would like to share go ahead Nicholson yes go ahead yeah so I'll quickly share two things about Joe Rafa and Jehovah Jairah where one is my wife had the problem and the doc the doctors technically said we can't have any children and she was at a meeting and she just was like declared that Lord you are my healer and she claimed her healing in faith and of course now we have one boy with us and apart from that the other time was we just had got married and we decided to leave our parents please that was my first job and it wasn't probably the best salary as such but we still decided to step out in faith and more than half of my earnings was going towards the rent and all the expenses and whatnot and God showed and me being young that I was very concerned about money and God showed that he can provide money is his he's our provider money is just the tool he uses but like the months we ate like things we ate so well but there was no money in the bank but we ate so well throughout and the day that we stopped getting invited to people's houses for whatever meals or whatnot my salary doubled because my boss decided okay we're doing a good job so he doubled my salary we were doing well after that so I just wanted to share that with you amen amen thank you Nicholson what a wonderful testimony yes I like to emphasize one thing that Nicholson shared you know we have the covenant names we have the power to declare we have the authority to declare God has given us the authority he's saying okay you're part of the covenant now it does not mean that I'm sure all of us know this but that's not mean that things will go smooth right yes we keep declaring we keep you know declaring it over our lives there will be seasons that God will take us through right like Nicholson was saying we went through that season so all of us we probably have gone through the season or going through the season right maybe people in ministry especially they have tough times right but through those seasons God begins to reveal himself the way that he reveals himself the through what attribute he reveals himself God will do it in his own way and so I want to encourage each one of us maybe we are going through a difficult time right now thinking what is what is ahead maybe some of us are thinking what is my future ahead got this different variants of viruses and these pandemics and things this happening around what is ahead of me listen remember that God is sovereign right and let him take you and me through seasons it is beautiful to go through seasons because God is the one who created those seasons he allows us to go through seasons right so don't let those seasons break you and feel discouraged yes we may fall but stand up again because his covenant he will always hold firm a covenant that is unbreakable a covenant that is eternal so we can call upon those you know the wonderful names of God all right what we'll do is we'll take a break take a probably a 15 minute break we'll come back at 11 and we continue with our second session see you in 15 minutes yes thank you pastor