This is “The Secrets of the Covenant”.
♪ ♪
>> Welcome to
Kingdom Connection.
Thank you for joining us.
I really believe you’re
gonna be blessed today.
I don’t think it’s by chance
that you’ve tuned in
because I believe God
is going to speak to you.
The question is,
are we listening?
And I hope that you will
just let the Holy Spirit
open your ears,
open your heart,
lean in to today’s message.
It was preached right here
at our church, Free Chapel.
Let’s go into the service today
and let’s believe that
God’s gonna speak to you.
♪ ♪
>> Look with me
in 1 Samuel 18:3,
“Then Jonathan and David
made a covenant,
because he loved him
as his own soul.
And Jonathan took off the robe
that was on him,
and gave it to David,
and he gave him his armor,
even to his sword
and his bow and his belt.
And David went out
wherever Saul sent him,
and behaved wisely,
and set him over the men of war,
and he was accepted
in the sight of all the people,
also in the sight
of Saul’s servants.”
There are several covenants,
but perhaps the most
powerful covenant
of all in the Bible is what
is known as the Blood Covenant.
The word covenant in Hebrew
means to cut.
It means to cut, to shed blood.
Isn’t that interesting that
the word covenant means to cut?
The blood is the main
subject of the Bible.
The Old and the New Testament
are really the Old Covenant
and the New Covenant,
and they were provided,
both of them by blood.
The Old Covenant
by the blood of animals.
The New Covenant
or New Testament was provided
by the Blood of Jesus Christ.
The story that E.W. Kenyon
tells is one of David Livingston
who was a missionary,
very famous
in Christian history,
and how that he went to Africa,
and he wanted to reach people
who had never heard the Gospel.
And in order to go into regions
that were dangerous
and have protection,
he had to make an agreement
with the main chief
over those regions.
He was a very powerful man.
He went to him,
and he said through
an interpreter,
“I want to make
an agreement with you,”
and the chief took a knife,
true story, and cut his wrist.
And then, David Livingston,
whose body is buried
in Westminster Chapel
in England,
he, in order to reach souls,
cut himself and blood began
to pour from his vein,
and they mixed the two together,
and the people started rejoicing
and screaming, the natives,
and a celebration broke out,
and then before
David Livingston left,
there was the second part
of the blood covenant.
First was the cutting,
the shedding of blood,
the mixing of the blood;
they became blood brothers.
And then, there would
be the exchange of gifts.
And the chief looked down,
and he looked through all
the possessions that
David Livingston had,
and he had one thing that
the chief wanted.
He wanted his goat.
He had a pet goat.
That was all he cared about.
He could care less if he took
his tent or his gun
or something else.
He just wanted that goat.
And the very thing that he loved
the most was the thing,
according to Livingston,
that the chief demanded,
and he handed over that goat.
And then the chief reached
in and took a staff that had
his emblem carved in it
and handed it
to David Livingston,
and he then set out with his
guides into treacherous
jungles of Africa.
And to this day, the miracles.
You know, just a quick thing
it’s interesting that
when David Livingston died,
England sent a whole force
over to retrieve his body
and bring it back to be buried
in West minister
but when they got there,
his heart had been cut out
and the natives said,
“You can have his body, but his
heart belong to Africa.”
And they buried his heart
in the dirt of Africa because
he had such a heart for
the souls of the Nation
of Africa.
And what was amazing
is when this man,
David Livingston,
got out into the deep, thick
of the jungle, and at one place
he tells of being surrounded
by hostile people who were ready
with bows pulled and spears
ready to throw.
And suddenly, he reached in
and he held up that staff that
had the emblem of the king
and when he did,
they saw that wound,
that scar that was forever
there on his wrist where he had
cut a covenant with the king,
and they knew if we harm him,
we’re harming the king.
If we attack him,
we’re attacking the king
and all of his mighty forces.
And so they instantly,
when they saw the mark,
the scar, and they saw
the emblem of the king,
they dropped to their knees,
dropped their weapons
and let him got through,
and he changed the Nation
of Africa with the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
What a beautiful picture
of a Blood Covenant.
Jesus said when he entered
into the Upper Room with His
disciples for the Last Supper,
he said in Luke 23, He said,
“This cup is the cup
of the new covenant
of my blood which
is shed for you.”
Do you understand what
He was saying?
He was saying we’re entering
into a Blood Covenant,
and the Old Covenant
is the Old Testament,
and it’s been all about
the keeping of the law
and the rituals and legalism,
and you had to earn it,
and you had to work for it,
and you had to deserve it,
and if you messed up,
you could take the blood
of an animal,
and the blood of an animal would
never take away your failure.
It would just roll
it over to a new year.
But Jesus said this time
on this cross, this day,
this is the cup of the new
covenant in my Blood
which is shed for you.
And we just read over that,
and we don’t understand.
He was saying to them.
They fully understood
blood covenants,
and He said, “I’m entering in.
This cup is my Blood,
this bread is my Body,
and I’m entering to this.”
And what I want you to see
is simply this.
In this story there’s something
remarkable that I read.
I chose the fact to tell you
today and start out in 1 Samuel
because we see something
beautiful and powerful
in the covenant that Jonathan,
the king’s son, made with David.
The Bible said that Jonathan
said to David
and David said to Jonathan,
“Let’s make a covenant.”
And they entered into a blood
covenant and when they did,
’cause the word covenant
means cut, watch this,
Jonathan does something strange.
He takes his robe off,
and he hands it to David
and then he takes his garment
off it says in another
place if you keep reading.
It says he took his garment off
and he handed it to David.
Possessions.
And in another place it said
he took his sword, his weapons,
and he gave them to David.
It’s really a powerful thing
when you understand
what that really is about
because the robe spoke.
It was not just a garment,
regular clothing.
It identified Jonathan
as the king’s son.
It was one that wherever he went
people would look and see that
particular robe
and it meant royalty
and it spoke of his position.
It spoke of who he was.
It spoke of the power
and authority that he had,
and really, what Jonathan
was saying is,
“I am the rightful heir.
My father soul is king
of Israel, but I want you
to take my position.
I want you to take the authority
and the position that I have.
I’m giving you my robe.”
And that came through
a blood covenant.
That’s what Jesus Christ
has done for you and me.
He says when the King’s Son,
the King of King’s Son,
Jesus Christ, went to the cross
the first thing He did
is He traded positions
and he said,
“I’m giving you this place
of position so that you
don’t come before the throne
as a beggar,
but you come as a child
of the King.
You come as a daughter
of the King,
a son of the King.
You come clothed
in my righteousness.
You come with boldness
and authority because
of what the Blood has done.
Not only that, but he said
I’m giving you my garment,
and that speaks of possessions.
That speaks of meeting
the needs.
The Blood Covenant not
only changes your position,
the Blood Covenant
not only gives you authority
to walk boldly into the throne
of grace because
of the shed Blood,
but it also says that
He will supply your needs,
that the possessions that
I have through the cross —
what are those possessions?
Through the cross,
through the Blood Covenant
there is healing.
Through the Blood Covenant there
is deliverance for the mind.
There is peace.
There is joy.
There is healing for broken
places in our life.
All of these possessions,
they come through
the riches of the cross.
They come because Jesus gives
us His righteousness
and gives us a position that
we can receive freely,
the grace and the forgiveness
and the healing
and the miracle of God.
He gives us all
of His possessions.
“In my name you
can heal the sick.
In my name you can recover.
In my name you can
see miracles.”
And then, as if that
wasn’t enough,
He takes his sword,
Jonathan did,
and he gave it to David
making the Blood Covenant.
What a picture.
What a picture.
What he was really saying was,
“From this day forward,
since we’ve entered into
this sacred Blood Covenant,
I give you my sword.”
It means this:
that whoever fights you,
fights me.
Whoever comes against you
and tries to destroy you,
they’re trying to destroy me.
And just like they attack you,
I will come,
and I will fight with you,
and I will fight for you because
the battle is not yours alone,
but I’m gonna fight it with you.
And the Blood Covenant says
I not only give you position,
I not only give you royal
position and possessions.
I supply all of your needs:
healing, health, blessings,
success, goodness, joy,
all that you need,
but the Blood Covenant says
through the giving of the sword,
it simply says I give
you my power.
I give you my name.
I give you the Holy Spirit.
I give you the Blood,
and I give you my sword.
I give you my word.
And when you speak it
and when you enforce it,
the Blood Covenant
stands behind it.
And if that’s not enough,
there’s the personhood
that the Blood Covenant
not only says, see,
the devil want you to fight
in your own position,
in your own righteousness,
in your own possessions
and what you have.
He wants you to fight
and use that,
that if you get in a battle
you have to fight with
your possessions and your sword
and all of your positioning
that you can earn,
but that’s not want
a blood covenant is.
The Blood Covenant says
you don’t earn any of this;
I freely give it to you.
I freely give it to you.
So, David,
David becomes king.
Saul dies.
Jonathan tragically dies,
but he made a covenant.
He made a Blood Covenant
with David.
And now David is sitting
on the throne,
and as David is sitting
on the throne,
he asks a question.
I don’t what made him
think about it,
but he was just sitting
there probably in the palace
thinking of the faithfulness
and goodness of God,
and one day,
he reaches to grab his cup
and when he does,
he sees that scar.
He remembers that he made
a blood covenant with
the king’s son,
and he asks a powerful,
powerful question.
2 Samuel 9, “Is there anyone
in the house of Saul that
I might show kindness to Him,”
listen to these words,
“for Jonathan’s sake?”
He said is there any family
left of King Saul that
I can show kindness.
Listen.
That’s a covenant word,
show kindness to for
Jonathan’s sake.
Who is Jonathan?
The one he made
a blood covenant with.
Really, what all the people
in the palace thought
is this is revenge time
because in Bible days,
the first thing a king would do
if he had an overthrow
and took over a kingdom,
is he would hunt out anyone
who would be the rightful heir,
and he would kill all the seed,
royal.
He would kill all the children.
He would kill all the sons
who could potentially down
the road cause him a problem.
He’d just go kill them all.
And so, when he asked this
question is there anyone
in the house of Saul that
I might show kindness
to for Jonathan’s sake,
they’re all like, yeah, right.
Here comes the purge.
This is gonna be like those
shows on National Geographic
when the new lion comes in
and kills the old lion.
Y’all know what
I’m talking about,
and y’all know what he does?
He then goes and kills all
the little cubs because
he didn’t want any problems.
That’s what they think
is about to happen.
Listen now, and somebody
spoke up and said there’s only
one left of Jonathan’s house,
and his name is Mephibosheth.
It’s a tragic story.
When Saul was killed
and you were crowned
and the people were bringing
you back to the throne,
the nurse picked Mephibosheth,
the baby up,
and was running out
of the nursery for her life
knowing the child was in danger,
and she tripped and fell
on the baby and crushed it,
and the child is crippled.
And now, he lives in a place
called Lo Debar which means
barren, dry pastures.
He’s out in the middle
of the nowhere,
and it’s fruitless.
It’s a barren place.
It’s dark and gray,
and he lives in a shack,
and he eats out of a tin can,
and it’s pitiful.
He crawls around all day
in the dirt hut
that he lives in.
And David says to his mighty men
take chariots and horses
and go and fetch him out.
I like that word, fetch him out.
And here comes, here comes
the mighty men rolling up
in chariots and horses
and power and strength,
and I could see.
I could see Mephibosheth,
poor thing,
crawling on that dirt floor,
that old hut,
and pulls himself up
to the windowpane and looks out,
and he sees these
mighty soldiers,
and he thinks to himself because
all he had ever been told
was be afraid of David.
Hate David.
He’s your enemy.
He’s gonna hurt you.
He’s gonna get you.
One of these days,
He’s gonna try to wipe you out
and give you what you deserve.
So he was trembling
and he thought, this is it.
They take him and put him
in the chariot and bring
him back, but when he gets
there they don’t take him
to a prison;
they take him to a palace.
He walks in, and they say,
“Your highness, would you like
your bath hot or lukewarm?
We have all of your
new clothes laid out:
Versace, Gucci,
whatever you want.
We have it all here.
And by the way,
dinner will be served
in the main dining room
of the presidential palace,
and you are the honored guest
at the king’s table.
And they bathe him
and they clothe him
and they help him
and carry him down
and they sit him
at the table right
beside the king.
And he’s sitting there
wondering why, “Why am I here?
Look at this food.
I’ve never seen such food.
Oh, my God, look at this place.”
And the king says,
“Do you like your new home,
son?”
“I love it.
I love it,” he says.
“You know, you’re never
gonna leave here.
You’ll eat here continually
at my table.
You know you belong here.”
And he’s thinking,
“Why, why, why?”
And all of a sudden,
Mephibosheth sees it.
He sees the scar,
and he realizes,
“The only reason I’m here
is because dad,
my father Jonathan,
made a blood covenant,
and that’s why I’m here.
And Jesus says
to every person here,
“I know you.
I know your name,
and I give you a new position.
I give you
the possessions you need.
I give you the power
and the weapons that you need,
and I give you my personhood
through the power
of the Holy Spirit,
and I make a covenant with you:
the Blood Covenant.
And the secret of the Lord
is with them that fear the Lord,
and He will show
them His covenant.”
♪ ♪
>> ♪ It reaches ♪
♪ To the highest mountain ♪
♪ Oh, and it flows ♪
♪ To the lowest valley ♪
♪ The blood ♪
♪ That gives me strength ♪
♪ From day to day ♪
♪ It will never lose its power ♪
♪ ♪
>> Sing it just one more time.
♪ It reaches ♪
♪ To the highest mountain ♪
>> Lord, we thank you
for the Blood Covenant today.
♪ It flows ♪
♪ To the lowest valley ♪
♪ The blood ♪
♪ That gives me strength ♪
♪ From day to day ♪
♪ It will never lose its power ♪
♪ It will never lose its power ♪
♪ It will never lose its power ♪
♪ ♪
>> It never ceases to amaze
me how the Holy Spirit
can speak to each one of us.
I can preach a message
and we’ll get letters
and we’ll get emails and people,
you know, I may be preaching
and thinking one way
when I’m communicating it,
but the Holy Spirit knows
exactly how to take that point
and drive it home to somebody
right where they’re speaking.
That’s when you know
the Lord is speaking.
And if you heard his voice
speaking to you today like that,
and you wanna make Jesus
Lord of your life,
the Bible says in Romans 10,
this is God’s word,
“whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.”
You’re the whosoever!
That’s all you have to do.
Simply call on the name
of Jesus.
Do it right now.
Say Jesus, save me.
Jesus, cleanse me.
Jesus, help me.
Jesus, set me free.
Jesus, I’ve come to an end
of myself.
I need a change.
I need a turnaround.
I need help.
I need mercy.
I need grace.
Jesus, save me.
You know he’s never turned
one person away who
said that sincerely from
their heart in faith to Him?
He heard you.
I can guarantee you,
wherever His name is mentioned,
all of Heaven stands
at attention.
What an amazing gift you
have just received from God,
his grace, his mercy.
When you really meet
and encounter Jesus,
you’ve gotta tell somebody.
So call somebody in your family,
call us.
You can go online,
there’s a number on the screen.
We absolutely are here
to encourage you.
And it is the sole reason
we do this broadcast,
to reach people with the gospel,
the good news
and the love of Jesus Christ.
We really look forward
to hearing from you.
I’m sure that many of you,
like me, have been watching
the news and the images
from the Ukraine are desperate.
I’ve actually been to several
cities that you see in the news.
Many times I’ve preached
the gospel in those cities
of the Ukraine.
I’ve preached there
on multiple occasions.
And that’s why when
this war began,
we immediately went to work
to help those in need.
Through a ministry partner,
we were able to send $300,000
in immediate supplies for
food, water, emergency supplies
and first aid.
We established
the Central Warehouse Ukraine
to distribute right away
to those in harms ways.
We’ve also sent an additional
support to over 80 Christian
churches in the Ukraine.
These are people that I know,
these are friends, pastors,
some of them I know,
some of them I don’t.
But I have had
the opportunity to preach
to them through the years.
So there is an affiliation.
80 churches in the Ukraine
that are helping
refugees right now.
We’ve been seeing
an overwhelming response
from around the world
and thank you for praying.
Thank you for holding
up the people of Ukraine.
But they need our help
beyond our prayers.
We need your help
to fulfill these commitments
and even try to do more.
Will you send a special one-time
gift to support families
and children in the Ukraine?
Our pledge is to continue
to preach the gospel,
produce inspirational resources
to build your faith,
to reach out to those
in need like we’re seeing
in the Ukraine,
and make a difference
in their lives for
the glory of God.
In some cases, literally,
save peoples lives,
be a miracle in someone’s life.
Your gift will
go to work immediately.
Please pray about
what you can do.
Some of you can do
something amazing right now.
You know we do what we say.
We can be trusted.
We are a member
of the Evangelical Council
of Financial Accountability.
It is the most strict
non-profit for ministries.
They audit, they come in,
they make sure everything goes
where it’s supposed to go.
We submit ourselves to that
process so you can have
confidence that we’ll
do what we say.
God bless you.
Thank you for joining
us on Kingdom Connection.
♪ ♪
>> God, I need your help.
>> Are you the old pro?
>> I am old.
How do you see yourself?
Not just in God,
but your whole existence,
your life.
>> I have a son who hates me
and my wife and I have been
separated for about 5 years.
>> Sounds like your game
could use a mulligan.
Sometimes God uses bad
things for good.
>> Ladies and gentlemen,
make your tee time.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
>> We hope you’ve enjoyed this
teaching by Jentezen Franklin
and thank you for your
continued support
of this ministry.
For more information
about this message
and other ministry resources,
visit us online at
JentezenFranklin.tv.
♪ ♪
Hey there! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading through your posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same topics? Thank you!