Love, Mercy, Compassion

Hebrews 8:8-13: 8But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when i will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when i took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and i turned away from them, declares the Lord. 10This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For i will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." 13By calling this covenant "new", he has made thr first one obsolete; and what is osolete and aging will soon disappear.

OBSERVATION:
- The author here is trying to make a point....Gods Word is true and refreshed
-Refreshed in the sense that everything God has said, whether in the OT or NT has power and authority
-What God said in the OT still has power today, but if you read the NT and there is something that overrules it, than follow the new
-In the OT there were stories of people killing others with Gods permission...eye for an eye, but in the NT Jesus talks about love, mercy, and compassion for your neighbor
-Gods word is not wrong in the OT it is just different now. There was a specific way of living and surviving in the OT that if it wasnt that way, than all those people would not have lived as long as they did
-God was testing the waters in the OT, He wanted to make a good world, with good people but that failed, not because God failed, but because humans failed
-human nature is stronger if we allow it to be....God is stronger in our lives if we allow HIm to be
-God made a covenant with the people of Israel and they failed and trashed it
-God made a new covenant with us which overules the other one, so we are to live by the new one with the law in our minds and hearts...God will be our God and we will be His people!

Application:
-Sometimes going through the Bible its hard to know what to live by
- But having the NT in hand is definately a God send because i can only imagine those people that were living through the NT times without having those stories in hand
-I know that the NT doesn't discredit the OT but it just changes the way of living...a better way of living a loving way of living
-Gods covenant in my life is about love, mercy, and compassion
-He has written that in my mind and heart and has called that "new"
-I am to be a "new" person, with a new covenant and a new life
-God made me new because in v.12 says "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more" - God sent Jesus to wash all my sins...i don't have to sacrifice an animal anymore, because Jesus did that for me!

Prayer:
Father,
I thank you for making me new. You changed my life and made me into a different person. My life will be based on love, mercy, and compassion because you planted that in me, and decided that i will live in this generation. My generation needs to change, forgive them for they do not know they are living like the Israelites. Give them a new heart and allow me to be used for your glory and honor. Lord, I ask that you keep molding me as a better person because i cannot go on without you.
I love you. Amen.