I you witnessed all that say “I do”.
If he cuts me down the middle of my hand, and it heals, then a scar will be left. The sign of covenant is a scar in the palm of the hand!
The bible says that when you get saved - He writes His name on your Heart; but He writes your name on His Hand.
When the accuser comes to Jesus about you, he says: let me at Shane! No - his name's written on My hand. Yeah - but do You know what he did! Yes, I do - but his name is written on My hand. I'm in covenant with him - I have to stand with him. Y
But he put you on the cross! Still, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. The sin of all mankind is: we don't know what we're doing - we really don't know!
Anybody besides me ever fall in love in high school? Anybody got their heart broken in high school? I did - very sad; yeah. And I loved God in high school, I was a youth pastor; and these teenagers would come to me and say: “oh Shane, I love her”; or “oh Shane, I love him - and my heart's broken”.
Why would God do this to me? Oh why God? Then you go to your 20-year reunion, and you're like: Thank You God!
We don't know what we're doing. God's written our name on His hand, so when the accuser comes to Jesus about you - Jesus tells him to ‘talk to the hand’.
If you witnessed the hand-thing say “I do”.
Next we would trade surnames. So ‘Neil Clow’ would become ‘Neil Cloe-Willard’; and I would become Shane Willard-Cloe.
That gave me Power of Attorney on his name - so now I can write cheques on his bank account; and he can write cheques on mine. I can sell his house; he can sell mine. I could sell his children; he can sell mine. This was a major act of trust - complete Power of Attorney.
That's why Jesus said: “Anything you pray in My name...” You have the power to use Jesus' name - invoke His name.
The stipulation is: “Don't use His name in vain” - don't put His name on things that He wouldn't put His name on. Don't forge His name.
In covenant we've been given: his life; his coat; his belt; the sign in the palm of the hand; the new start with the figure eight; and we've been given his name.
If you witnessed that say: “I do”.
The last thing kind of offends ‘western masculinity’ a bit! The Bible says: “Greet each other with a holy... hug? Men in western culture - we are very serious about our masculinity - we beat each other when we hug; and it's always three pats. There's this whole subliminal thing going on: I'm not gay. Me either. I'm glad. Whoo-hoo! We men are strange creatures.
Actually, they would feed each other bread. I would take bread from my house; and he would take bread from his house. At weddings here - do you guys feed each other wedding cake? That's something we do in America - it's kind of similar to that.
I would take a piece of bread from my house; he would take a piece of bread from his house - and I would actually feed it to him - which is a bit feminine too...
This was the imagery: Now my life is not just on him; my weapons are not just around him; my name is not just with him; my mark is not just on him - but my life is actually now in him.
God had a problem. It says: the Old Testament was perfect. It was - God came up with it – and it was perfect. The Old Testament was perfect; but at the end of the day God - still found fault with man; and here's the problem with a covenant...
If he breaks his side of the deal - it's gone; if I break my side of the deal - it's gone. That's why they had to renew their covenant all the time. They had to bring an animal and re-sacrifice an animal all the time - because man couldn't keep their side of the deal - they couldn't do it!