THE CHURCH OF GOD OF PROPHECY

47 Pine Hill

Centreville, AL 35042

PASTOR: Leonard Chance

www.thegreatspeckledbird.org

(205) 926-7706

COVENANT

All those who become members of the Church accept the following covenant:

“Will you sincerely promise in the presence of God and these witnesses that you will accept this Bible as the Word of God – believe and practice its teachings rightly divided – the New Testament as your rule of faith and practice, government and discipline, and walk in the light to the best of your knowledge and ability? This is the perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten”.

The Covenant

HEBREWS 7:1-4—For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

I want to help you understand the Covenant. Did you ever know who confirmed the Covenant? How important is the Covenant? Why is it that The Church Of God Of Prophecy only was given the Covenant? All the others Birds (Denominations), He did not give a Covenant. There is only one Bride of Christ and She only married Him by Covenant.

Melchisedec was a God. He was a Priest. He had no Father, no Mother, no beginning of days and no end of days but He had a Form, a bodily Form. He was not flesh but He was made liken to the Son of God who was flesh. Jesus, also being a High Priest, was born and was flesh. Now consider how great this man was. How great was Melchisedec? He was a God. He had a form like flesh but He was not born flesh. He came to set the groundwork for the whole House of Israel. Even Abraham the Patriarch paid tithes to Him. He came during the days of the foundations for the House of Israel. He is in that foundation, Israel. A Priest of God and for His duration upon the earth, He did the work that He came to do.

LUKE 16:16-18—The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

The Law and the Prophets was until John, John the Baptist. Since that time every man presseth into it, EVERYBODY. Notice the way that Luke wrote this from the mouth of the Saviour. “The Law and the Prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth unto it.” This is how profound the Word of God is. You can divide it, quarter it, denounce it and you can even try to forget it but the Word will not be forgotten. What has this got to do with the Covenant? You’ll soon find out.

Jesus said; “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail,” to change, or to be cast out. Then He begins to tell you what the Law was. All of a sudden up pops adultery! Isn’t that amazing? I’ve heard people say, “Why did He put that there?” Because He wanted you to understand how not one tittle of this Commandment will fail! Get use to the ideal. Whosoever puts away his Wife, and marries another, committeth Adultery and whosoever marries her that is put away, committeth Adultery.

You have no loophole or “I had a right or a reason because I caught him or her with somebody else. God don’t want me to keep him.” You’re going to pass Heaven and earth away? God said that would have to happen for this one Law or any Law to fail. Get use to sin. That’s what the world has to find. It isn’t excusable, neither is the Commandment. For it is any Law that is given here, not just Adultery. Stealing, that’s Law!

The Covenant. The one thing the world seems to be ignorant about is the Covenant. How important is the Covenant? You’re going to find out how important it is. If a man has to marry to make a woman his wife, then the Saints of God have to marry Christ in order for them to be His Wife. How important is the Covenant? If you notice, Melchisedec did not die for Israel. He shed no blood for them. But for the Bride of Christ, He gave Blood! He gave Life!

You’ll hear today how much more Jesus Himself gave to this old world who don’t even know He gave it to them and at this moment you don’t know either. He never stopped giving. For all that He has given we give Him very little. The people that married Him must be a Chaste people. We must be a Perfect people for He was a Perfect Sacrifice. He was a Perfect God. All of His Words are Perfect and all of His ways are Perfect. If we’re going to be with Him, when the Marriage of the Lamb is fulfilled, we must be as Perfect as He is or we will not be there.

Given to you, the Bride of Christ, is the day that we will sit down and eat the Marriage Supper with Him, IF, we’ve taken the Covenant. It’s a man’s Covenant. It’s a man’s Covenant that married Christ to His Wife. It’s a man’s Covenant that married you to your wife or husband. That’s what made you man and wife, bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. It’s a man’s Covenant. So is the Covenant that married Christ and His Wife. It is a man’s Covenant yet it had to be witnessed for it to be Confirm. Somebody had to witness it and somebody did! And when He witnessed it for your sake, not for the Lord sake, it was Confirmed. When it is Confirmed it cannot be disannul or it cannot be added to.

ISAIAH 62:5—For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

“For as a young man marry a virgin”, you have to go a long way to find one of them today. “So shall thy sons marry thee, and as the Bridegroom rejoice over the Bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee”. The Covenant that made you the Bride of Jesus Christ is a man’s Covenant accepted by God Himself. You have been made bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and you are Commanded to bare Him Children. You are told or Commanded to be a Chaste Wife. Not running over to some other denomination but upholding the High Standard of the Teachings and Doctrines of The Church Of God Of Prophecy. I don’t have time to run over and build up somebody else’s work. My time is spent Working for the man I married.

My Steadfastness to Him and His service must be as loyal as the Wife is to her natural husband. She was to keep herself from all others and so are we who have married the Saviour.

GALATIANS 3:15—Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

Paul said; “Brethren, I speak as a man, though it be a man’s Covenant, it cannot be disannul, or added to”. You can’t take it away, you can’t redo it for modern times or “I just don’t like the way the Covenant reads”. Did you not know that when Brother A. J. Tomlinson, the first man to take the Covenant, you say the same words he said? Nothing has been changed since June 13, 1903, for over a hundred years. The Words of the Covenant are as exact as they were when first spoken. It has not changed and is not going to change. The same Words those five people made that Sunday morning in the Fields of the Wood are the same Words you said, the same Covenant, the same Saviour, and the same Body of Christ.

Jesus is coming for the Body of Christ, the Church of the Living God. He is the Chief Counselor, the Chief Sheppard, only Saviour, and the Husband of the Bride, which is the Church of the Living God. I like the Living God. God isn’t dead! Though people think He must be since He doesn’t seem to see the errors they’re making and the life they’re living.

God is not dead! He is still a Living God and a Living God He will always be! Melchisedec never had an end of days. He never saw death. He is still alive and one of the Seven Spirits of God! Paul is preaching to the Church in Corinth; “Brethren, I speak as a man.” You may say; “That’s why I don’t like it, that’s man made, a man dreamed it up.” What do you want God to do, come down here write it and hand it to you and say, I’m going to stand here and see you marry? Paul said; “Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.” How do I know its Confirmed? You will find out how and who Confirmed it.

GALATIANS 3:16—Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

“Now to Abraham and his Seed”, isn’t there an “S” on Seed? No S, that means one Abraham, one Isaac, one Jacob, and one seed of Abraham. God made His Covenant with one man and made that man a Nation. They are all under that one Covenant. Abraham wasn’t a spirit; he was a man. God didn’t bring all the Tribes under His Covenant. He made it with Abraham and his seed. Though ole Melchisedec received tithes from Abraham and Melchisedec was the God at the time, He didn’t go and say, “Now Abraham, you can run over yonder and get the Philistines and the Egyptians and bring them in here”. They all came from the loins of Abraham.

Levi came out of the loins of Abraham and he received tithes from the rest of his brothers. They all paid Levi tithes because of the Ministry. God took out of that Tribe the Prophets and the Ministers. He took what He wanted out of that Tribe. He blessed the rest of them because they kept the Words of the Covenant God made with them.

Now let me help you understand who confirms our Covenant. Our Covenant is the same Covenant of the Early Church. God only made one Covenant to one Seed. Though the Last Days Church Of God Of Prophecy is the finishing of the Early Church we’re all the same Mountain. We’re all under the same Covenant and we’re all married to the same Christ. All have to live by the same Commandment or Law. The Covenant that God has given to The Church Of God Of Prophecy must be protected with Honest and True living of Salvation. Leave alone the things that will destroy your Soul and the Seed.

This Word will not fail. Only the True people will hear it, believe it, and stay with it. Too many people today are trying to be everything they want to be. They can be anything they want to be but if they married the Lord remember, the Covenant will not be forgotten. Everybody that ever made the Covenant even if they backslide, they always knew, “One time I was in that Church, one time I was married to the Lord. I made that Covenant.” They won’t forget. Why? Because when you married your Wife or your Husband and you left him, you won’t ever forget you married him. You won’t ever forget that she married you. You will remember, “That’s my first wife.”

How are you going to marry a church that has no covenant? You’re out there and you’re going to join yourself up with some bird that doesn’t even have the Covenant. How are you going to do that? If you live with a woman for six or seven years and she becomes your wife by common law, common law isn’t the Covenant. Common law doesn’t make her your wife. You’re still in sin with her without the Marriage Vows. If you make the Vows and your wife or husband is still living that makes you a fornicator. Because the Covenant made you a fornicator, you married somebody else’s wife or husband and you didn’t have one but they did.

You need to understand the depth of what fornication is. It’s not simply adultery. Somebody called me all the way from Ohio and said, “Well, if you had a right to get rid of her”, I said, what right! The Word said, not one tittle of the Law shall fail! “Whosoever shall put away his wife for any cause and marry another committee adultery and whosoever marry her that is put away”, what cause, what right?

When you joined The Church Of God Of Prophecy you joined the Body of Christ. Here is the man that witnessed this Covenant and it cannot fade or fail. I spent much time on this Sermon. I wanted to know who confirmed it. I wanted to know who He gave it to, how many other birds, how many other denominations He gave it to, none but one! Here’s the man that confirmed it. God said it. The Holy Ghost is the man that confirmed it!

HEBREWS 10:15-17—Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

If you want to know if it’s been confirmed, it’s been confirmed because the Holy Ghost heard God say it! The Holy Ghost witnessed, He confirmed it. “Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness unto us.” He witnessed it to us, not them in Heaven but down here on earth. He said it happened down here. God’s Covenant was confirmed by the Holy Ghost to you. God knew He said it but the Holy Ghost witnessed it and confirmed it to you in the flesh. That’s who confirmed it and Paul said; “Yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.”