I Promise, Part 1

When two people come together and say “I promise” to each other and then make it their life’s project to fulfill those promises to each other, they can become one. And if two can become one, it gives us an even greater hope: that perhaps heaven and earth were made for each other, and still more, that human beings were made for union with God. And that’s what our brand new series, “I Promise,” is all about.

Open Up the Heavens
Vertical Worship

God of the Promise
Elevation Worship

The Greatest Victory
Seven Marks Worship

You Keep Your Promises
Charity Gayle

Genesis 2:24
For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

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Ray Ortland
“Marriage is “the wraparound concept for the entire Bible…the eternal love story is why God created the universe and why God gave us marriage in Eden and why couples fall in love and get married in the world today. Every time a bride and groom stand there and tease their vows, they are reenacting the biblical love story, whether they realize it or not.”

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Alistair Wilson
“The idea of covenant is fundamental to the Bible’s story. At its most basic, covenant presents God’s desire to enter into a relationship with men and women created in his image…covenant is all about the relationship between the Creator and his creation.”

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The Covenant with Creation (Adamic)
The Covenant with Noah
The Covenant with Abraham
The Covenant with Israel (at Sinai + Moab)
The Covenant with David
The New Covenant

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Luke 24:13-24
That very day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, which lay about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were discussing with each other all the various things that had taken place. As they were discussing, and arguing with each other, Jesus himself approached and walked with them. Their eyes, though, were prevented from recognizing him. “You’re obviously having a very important discussion on your walk,” he said; “what’s it all about?” They stood still, a picture of gloom. Then one of them, Cleopas by name, answered him. “You must be the only person around Jerusalem,” he said, “who doesn’t know what’s been going on there these last few days.” “What things?” he asked. “To do with Jesus of Nazareth,” they said to him. “He was a prophet. He acted with power and he spoke with power, before God and all the people. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. But we were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel! “And now, what with all this, it’s the third day since it happened. But some women from our group have astonished us. They went to his tomb very early this morning, and didn’t find his body. They came back saying they’d seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Some of the folk with us went off to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”

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Luke 24:25-27
“You are so senseless!” he said to them. “So slow in your hearts to believe all the things the prophets said to you! Don’t you see? This is what had to happen: the Messiah had to suffer, and then come into his glory!” So he began with Moses, and with all the prophets, and explained to them the things about himself throughout the whole Bible.

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Luke 24:28-31
They drew near to the village where they were heading. Jesus gave the impression that he was going further, but they urged him strongly not to. “Stay with us,” they said. “It’s nearly evening; the day is almost gone.” And he went in to stay with them. As he was sitting at table with them he took the bread and gave thanks. He broke it and gave it to them. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

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Luke 24:32
Then they said to each other, “Do you remember how our hearts were burning inside us, as he talked to us on the road, as he opened up the Bible for us?”

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Luke 24:33-53
And they got up then and there and went back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven, and the people with them, gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord really has been raised! He’s appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said, “Peace be with you.” (Josh talked about this last week) They were terrified and alarmed, and thought they were seeing a ghost. “Why are you so disturbed?” he said. “Why do these questionings come up in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet; it really is me, myself. Touch me and see! Ghosts don’t have flesh and bones like you can see I have.” With these words, he showed them his hands and feet. While they were still in disbelief and amazement from sheer joy, he said to them, “Have you got something here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish, which he took and ate in front of them. Then he said to them, “This is what I was talking to you about when I was still with you. Everything written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and the Psalms, had to be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Bible. “This is what is written,” he said. “The Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and in his name repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, must be announced to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are the witnesses for all this. Now look: I’m sending upon you what my father has promised. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then he took them out as far as Bethany, and lifted up his hands and blessed them. As he was blessing them, he was separated from them and carried into heaven. They worshiped him, and went back to Jerusalem in great joy. They spent all their time in the Temple, praising God.

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Luke 24:44
“This is what I was talking to you about when I was still with you.”

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Luke 24:44-45
“Everything written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and the Psalms, had to be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Bible.

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Luke 24:46-47
This is what is written,” he said. “The Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and in his name repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, must be announced to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

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Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum
“The progression of the covenants forms the backbone of Scripture’s metanarrative, the relational reality that moves history forward according to God’s design and final plan for humanity and all creation, and unless we ‘put together’ the covenants correctly, we will not discern the whole counsel of God.”

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2 Corinthians 1:20
”For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

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1. Covenant is rooted in the character and nature of God
2. Covenant clearly communicates connection between people.
3. Covenant is the foundation and fuel of mission.

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David Brooks
“A [covenant] isn’t just love and a promise…it is love and promise put under law. In living out a commitment, each party understands the fickleness of feelings, so they bind their future selves to specific obligations. Thus the most complete definition of a commitment is this: falling in love with something and then building a structure of behavior around it for those moments when love falters.A thick life is defined by commitments and obligations. The life well lived is a journey from open options to sweet compulsions.”

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