Blood & Fire- The Abrahamic Covenant

Hebrews 10:23 (NLT) 
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm,
 for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

Tower of Babel: (Genesis 11)
Disobedience
Pride
Independence

Abraham:
Genesis 12:1–2 (NLT) The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.
The Abrahamic Covenant:
1. Dominion 
Abraham would have to leave comfort.

2. Descendants 

3. Blessing 
Blessing gets on you as it goes through you.

Abraham is a prototype of promise.
Galatians 3:29 (NLT)You belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Elements of a Blood Covenant:
1. Parties involved. 

2. The terms of agreement
Faith & Friendship.
James 2:23 (NLT) "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." He was even called the friend of God.

3. Ceremony
Genesis 15:9–11(NLT) 9 The Lord told him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. 11 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
Genesis 15:9–17-18 (NLT)
17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants…

Jesus the Lamb
Hebrews 13:20 (NLT) Now may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood.

4. A Symbol/Seal
In the New Covenant: communion as a point of remembrance.
There is a second reminder.
Hebrews 10:15–16 (NLT) 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says, 16 "This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, 
and I will write them on their minds." (Ezekiel 36: 27)
 ➡The Holy Spirit is the fire that is passed through the covenant!
"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11)

Acts 1:4–5 (NLT) He commanded them, "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

Pentecost:
Pentecost empowers us with a person so that we can fulfill our part of the partnership!

We Start seeing what Yahweh promised Abraham
1. Dominion
2. Descendants
Acts 1:8 (NLT) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  
3. Blessing
Acts 2:1–6 (NIV) 2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.

-At Babel they were working, at Pentecost they were waiting.
-At Babel language was confused, At Pentecost language was understood.
-At Babel the people were scattered in judgment, at Pentecost the people were sent to spread the good news.
-At Babel it was for the fame of man, At Pentecost it was for the the glory of God.

Unity: They were together
 "Unity is the catalyst and the product of revival." 
Upper room: Pursuing the same thing. 


"Our greatest weapon is coming together, going after the same thing. The presence of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit."

We need a modern Pentecost!
Acts 19:2 (NIV) "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"