Why the Old Testament still matters for Christians

And I really want you to think about that. Do you have, and this stretches all of us, so don't think you're ever going to arrive with absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of God. It's a continual stretch. That's called growth. That's called spiritual maturity.

But we strive for, stretch toward, and aim to have absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of God. Now I got a number of things I want to talk about before we get into the kind of the heart of what I want to talk about, but I want to talk about a movie that's coming out. Yes, that's correct. You heard me. I said a movie.

Can you imagine that? We're talking about a movie on this program. But I want to give you a heads up about it and encourage you to attend it. I want to talk some more about Christians and elections and how we view the people we elect. How we kind of come to grips with who they are and what they do, and it's something we need to revisit from time to time.

But this was the best perspective or way of explaining it, I should say, that I've received for a long time, and I want to revisit that. And then I want to talk about the increasing awareness that many of us have that this is a decisive moment in human history. Not just our country, but in human history. So hang on, we got a lot of things to talk about, and then we want to get into the importance of the Old Testament and some things related to that, because we see increasingly, much to many of our dismay, Christian leaders, ministers of the gospel, pastors, saying that we don't need to bother with the Old Testament. And I'm thinking, you've got to be kidding me, and I want to talk about why that's important and remind us that God gave us the entire Bible.

As some people say, Genesis through maps, well, really, it's Genesis through revelation, so that we would know what we need to know and understand what we need to understand so that God could reveal Himself to us. And He didn't tell us any place that we should discard His Word to us. He didn't go to so much trouble to provide the Holy Scriptures for us, the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, and the New Testament, so we could discard it because we want to. That's just not flying around here, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't fly with many of us. Well, back to this idea of a movie, I want you to mark August 23rd on your calendar.

August 23rd. Simply because I live in southwest Florida, I'm the pastor at Diplomat Wesleyan Church in Cape Coral, Florida. We call this whole area up and down the coastline here, probably from Sarasota South, we call it southwest Florida. And just because I live in southwest Florida, and specifically the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area, I have some opportunities now and then that don't come to other cities. Our city, for many years now, has been one of the most supportive, I should say our area, not, our city, has been one of the most supportive areas for the increasing release of and appreciation for and attendance at the Christian movies that have come along.

We consistently rank in the top of the people who support those, and, as a consequence, we regularly have the opportunity to go to pre-screenings of these movies. So, as a pastor, and many pastors are invited, it's not just me, there's a whole bunch of us there, probably 500 people easily at the screening. So it's not like they exclusively came to town so I could see it, that would not be the case at all, ever. But I was able to go and watch a pre-screening of this movie that comes out. What was the date I gave you?

Did you get that? August 23rd. Don't miss that. August 23rd. I think that's a Friday, isn't it?

August 23rd. Check it out. So they gave us the opportunity to attend this pre-screening of a new movie called The Forge. Now, that's kind of an interesting title, and it's a well-titled movie based on the story of that. You may remember some people named the Kendrick Brothers, who have done other movies that have been popular.

War Room was one of them. You may remember that movie that they produced. You may remember Overcomer. May remember Courageous. They've done a number of movies, and they're getting better every time, it seems to me.

But that's just me. I'm not a great movie critic. But this one absolutely is a must-see. And it's a must-see for several reasons. One, we already touched on this idea of stretching in God's direction.

We do that all the time, don't we? We already mentioned that this idea of being able to absolutely trust God, to have absolute confidence in Him, is something that we continually grow toward. It's called spiritual growth. Well, that, at the heart, is what this movie illustrates and inspires and encourages. And I believe that if you will go, you will easily catch on to what we're talking about.

And you will easily, easily realize the importance of spiritual growth and the importance of spiritual maturity.

So, I want to make sure that we all understand what we're talking about when we talk about spiritual maturity. In the context of the movie, the spiritual maturity that is illustrated is when a young man comes face-to-face with who he is, and he begins to talk about, think about, and take action toward eliminating the things that get between him and God. It's really quite remarkable the way that was framed in the movie. The things that get between him and God. And I want to encourage you to notice that in the movie.

The other thing that, I don't want to give it away, okay, but it really does center around this young man. He's the main character. And he's a young man who is struggling to enter, shall we say, adulthood. He's graduated from high school, he doesn't really know what he's going to do. He's spending his time at home, lives with his single mother, and she's struggling with how to help him.

And the movie unfolds, the story unfolds with how he meets another guy who helps him stretch in God's direction. It actually helps him come face-to-face with God for the very first time. It's called The Forge. It's a great movie. Now, one of the things, and are you sitting down for this, because people kind of get annoyed when I say these kind of things.

So if your annoyance detector is really high, you might want to turn it down a little bit. Or if you just love it when somebody says something that's annoying, then you're about to love it, okay? But I want to say something straight up to all of you men out there, okay?

Just between us. men, a lot of these Christian movies that I've noticed in the previous several years, and make sure you understand, I'm not against them, I'm not bashing them, I'm describing them, okay? But men, just between us, I don't know if you've noticed, but a lot of times in these Christian movies, the men are portrayed as the people with the problem. And the problem is solved when the men get straightened out. Now, I know, there you go.

See, I told you, all of you who like to get all riled up, I told you you'd have your chance, and now you've had it. But hang on there just a minute. It is a mistake, in my judgment, my understanding of the Bible, my understanding of the times around us, it is a mistake to regularly assume that men are the problem. We men, we know, we have enough problems. I don't even need to ask the guys if they agree with that.

We all know that. It's not about that recognition. What has bothered me, and here you go, get annoyed again, are you ready? What has bothered me has been that so many times, the solution to a problem has been the fixing of a man. Okay, men, when we mess up, we need to own that.

But, ladies, can I be so bold as to say, you need to own your own stuff too? And let's not be taking sides one against the other. And sadly, I think too many of these Christian films have tended to buy into that perspective that men are the problem. This one does not. The main character is a man, young man.

The other main character, I don't know how you decide main characters from other characters, is a mature man who helps him grow. There are other men involved. In fact, I didn't do a count of the cast. I guess I should have gone back and looked. You can go to the website, theforgemovie.com, and see all about this.

You can check, see if I'm right about this. But it seemed to me, sitting there watching it, and, believe me, I went not so much to analyze as to enjoy, but also to know what I feel comfortable recommending the movie to you, and I do. That's why I'm doing it. Okay, so I would guess, based upon my recollection, that there were more men characters in the movie than women. Now, I don't know what you do with that, take it or leave it.

It's no big deal one way or the other. There are several key characters that are women, and I thought they did a great job. I was happy for them, and enjoyed their performance, enjoyed their part in the movie. All of that. But the real thing that got my attention, that this is a movie about men, and that makes men the heroes.

Yes, the young man has a problem with life, and he grows through it. Yes, that's fairly normal. That's not identifying a man as the problem. That's identifying a life stage, if you will. That's identifying an example of how we just got to help our young men and women get through some things, and that's what happened here, and the heroes were the men that got this young man through it, and how he rose to the occasion, rose to the challenge, led the way at the end in accomplishing a very big task.

Well, I'm not going to give it away, but I want to encourage you, and I'll probably be reminding you until you're tired of hearing it. August 23rd, The Forge, F-O-R-G-E, you can go to the website, theforgemovie.com, and check it out. I'm not saying this because I get anything out of it. They didn't ask me to say this. I'm not their puppets or anything like that.

I'm not their mouthpiece. I'm telling you this as a pastor who wants to see people find examples of good, both entertainment and good substance. It's a good illustration, as I said earlier, an excellent illustration, of what it means to grow spiritually and what it takes sometimes, well, most of the time, to grow spiritually, and it's a real challenge for us, and I want to encourage you to check it out and go. When were you going to go to that movie? August 23rd.

Oh, and by the way, in case I don't say this often enough, make sure you remember this when you write your notes down about August 23rd and The Forge. Go on opening weekend and take all your friends with you. Opening weekend, whether you like it or not, I don't particularly like it, but it doesn't matter whether I like it. It doesn't matter a lick, whether I like it, or you like it, or anybody else likes it, but opening weekend is always the most important for these movies, because the people who produce movies for no other reason than to make money, that's when they notice what's going on. So please, if you're planning to go, see this, and I really urge you to, go on opening weekend, August 23rd.

You can start looking for a place that will be shown near you. Even if you have to drive a little ways, go ahead and take the effort. Believe me, you'll be glad you did. It was so well received by the audience that we, the audience, gave the film a standing ovation, and it was a great testimony to the Kendrick brothers who produced the film, because they were there at the screening and they spoke a little bit about it, but I was stunned at the end because I looked around and people were standing up all over the auditorium giving this movie a standing ovation. That just doesn't happen very much, but it did.

In fact, in all the pre-screenings I've gone to, I don't know if it's ever happened. It might have, I don't keep track of that kind of stuff, but I don't think it has. This was stunning and powerful and moving, and I want to encourage you to go see The Forge. It will help you stretch in God's direction. It will give you concrete examples and help you know how to stretch in God's direction.

All right, so let's shift gears a little bit and let's stretch in God's direction. on another subject, and it's been much in the news and it will be much in the news for the next hundred days or so. That's the election coming up in November, and we Christians, we have a responsibility to participate in public life. God has given us that opportunity. Most followers of Jesus down through human history have not had that opportunity.

But we have it, God has given it to us, and we need to live up to what God has given us and be good stewards of the liberty God has given us. So, Christians and elections is something we need to talk about. In fact, I think Christians need to be much more involved in the public discourse than just elections. But if you haven't done anything, at least start with voting, all right? Primary elections coming up, the date for registering for the primary may have passed.

where you live. I don't know. It has here in Florida. It was earlier this week. But you can still register to vote in the general election.

It's better to do something than nothing. Don't say, well, I missed the primary, I may as well miss the other. No. No. A thousand times.

no. We've got to participate. So now, what do we think about this idea of Christians and elections? And I know I'm going to say the same thing I've heard for a long time because I keep hearing it. People get really frustrated, really disappointed, really kind of bummed out on this idea that they say, and it seems like it's said consistently, it doesn't matter the election, it doesn't matter the office.

People will always seem to come back to, well, I'm tired of having to choose between the lesser of two evils. I don't know what they're expecting. I don't know what Christians expect when it comes to elections. I mean we Christians, we disagree amongst ourselves about things. Why would we not expect to disagree with people who are running for office, some of whom are Christians and some of them are not.

So we should not tie our hands or our ideological mindset up in knots because we think we only can choose between the lesser of two evils. Well, the more I get to know some candidates and the more I'm acquainted with people, I find out that a lot of them are pretty good hearted. I don't always know where they come from on everything. I don't always know if they're sincere followers of Jesus. I just don't.

That's not the kind of conversation that I've had with them typically. But I have discovered that a lot of them are good hearted. But that only matters in that we need to look at elections differently. We need to start examining the candidates, carefully, evaluating their positions, listen to what they say, examine what they've done, look at their website. Their website will always try to tell you what you want to hear.

so you have to look at that very carefully and you have to think what did they leave out, not just what they include, because sometimes they deliberately leave some important things out. You need to think about it all the way around and then you need to ask yourself and pray about it. Ask the Lord. Ask somebody who knows better. I've gotten a couple of people who have reached out to me recently and asked for help on the election coming up, because I know a little bit more about what's going on in some of those cases than they do.

Well, I'm happy to help. I don't tell them who they have to vote for. I just tell them my perspective. And my perspective is guided by this. I don't want to have to vote for the lesser of two evils.

I want to vote for the candidate that I believe will lessen evil by the decisions they make and the positions they take. as an elected official. I want to choose the one who will lessen evil. And I think you can do that too. So don't be discouraged.

Don't be put off by the whole thing. Embrace the challenge. I mean God has given us this opportunity. Why wouldn't we embrace it? It's not always easy.

There's a couple of elections that I've reached out to people trying to get some help on. Still waiting to hear back because I just don't know in those situations. But there are a lot of people that will help us. There are a lot of people that will tell us who to vote because they have a dog in this fight, so to speak. You've got to kind of be careful about that.

But you've got to find a way to figure out who the lesser of two evils in your community is, and vote for the lesser of, not the lesser of two evils, the one who will lessen evil. Usually, the one who will lessen evil is the lesser of two evils. But vote for the one who will lessen evil. We can do that. Can't we?

All right. I want to touch a little bit upon the disappointment people sometimes have with candidates. And this is part of what you'll have to think about when you evaluate this and try to vote for the candidate that will lessen evil.

We, most of us who are Christians, we believe and try to take principled positions on the issues. We understand that there are things that are right and there are things that are wrong. And to us, when we're clear about that, when the Bible is clear about that, it's easy to say this is right and this is wrong. It's easy to say it sometimes than it is to want to have to say it, because sometimes we're torn by who knows what other impact of things. But nonetheless, most of us who believe the Bible believe that the Bible tells us what is right and what is wrong.

And so we can take a principled position based upon that. We can therefore say this is right and this is wrong. Because we're principled people and because we can take those principled positions, we say things like, why won't they just do the right thing? I've had people say that to me. And well, I don't have an easy answer for that, but I do try to help them understand some perspective on that.

And that's where I came to this idea that I first heard from a guy named Osganess. I've mentioned him before on the program. That's why we're circling back, because this election season really matters. It matters where you are. It matters where I am.

It matters for your state and your city, your county. It matters for the nation.

And Osganess explained this difference is that we are principled people, but often the people we vote for think of things from a transactional perspective. They don't necessarily evaluate first based upon right and wrong, but they evaluate based on how it's going to affect them or the things that they care about. In other words, it's all transactional, not based on principle. Whenever you vote for someone and you think they are principled, and I have, and you have, and they do something, then that you think violates some of the principle that you had confidence in that they would follow, then it leads to a great deal of disappointment. I had somebody years ago say to me, they will always disappoint you.

I was irritated and mean to no end when that person said that. But it turns out they're right, and I think I understand why. I've observed, as I've talked to members of the Florida House and Senate, that they'll listen to us talk about a principled position on something, but then they're always, as they evaluate what's going on, they're always thinking about how it will affect other things, them and other things they care about. And so it becomes very quickly a transactional conversation. And I don't say it never happens.

I will say it seems rare that we talk to somebody in the Florida legislature that takes a hundred percent principled approach to things. I think it does happen. I think our governor has done that sometimes. But I also think there's much more transactional thinking goes on when it comes to these kinds of issues, and elected officials. They're always thinking, how will that affect this?

Or they're asking this kind of a question. This is an example of transactional. They'll start thinking about, well, what are the politics of this? See, now that, to you and I, we say, but what about the principle? Well, they're always thinking about the politics of it because they're navigating how to maintain their elected office, and for the good ones, they need to, because we want them to stay in office.

And so there's an element of that that just kind of rubs some of us the wrong way. That's transactional thinking. And I've heard one person say, I was kind of stunned that they said it out loud. They said, well, you know, that's right, but it's terrible politics. And I thought, hmm, isn't that something?

Well, I knew the issue that was going on and what they were thinking, and I knew why they were saying that. And I knew what they were thinking is, people are not going to understand this as a principled position. They're much more pragmatic out there, and so it will become transactional to them. So that's just a good way to help us kind of keep some perspective on this. You and I need to be principled, and we don't need to compromise our principles, okay?

We just don't. But we have to understand that we live in a world where people disagree with us. We live in a world where the people we elect, they have all these things going on, and often they're evaluating things from a transactional perspective. And when I begin to understand that's what they're doing, that helps. It's not always that they're betraying the principles involved.

Some of them might be. I'm not prepared to give them a pass, and I'm not prepared to say I'm happy about them being transactional. Don't hear me saying that. But I do understand it better. And what it does for me, it helps me understand where they're coming from and why they're making the decisions they make, why they're saying the things they're saying.

And then it helps me think, okay, now how can I answer that in a way that will persuade them or move them closer to a principled position? So that's a little bit of not exactly inside baseball on politics and principle and the transactional nature of the whole thing, but it's meant to be a little bit of perspective for us. Sometimes we, as Christians, we don't think past the obvious stuff in our face and we say, well, it's a principle, and it is, and we should hold true to that. Now, I'm not trying to get you to cave in on your principles, but we need to understand that. other people think differently about that, and sometimes it results in transactional thinking and behavior.

Well, anyway, that was a long time. I didn't even get to one of the important things I want to talk about. Maybe I'll touch on that a little bit when we come back. But we're going to come back and we're going to talk about Old Testament and New Testament and what's going on and how we should stay in there and keep the Old Testament, because it's not going away and it shouldn't. I'm Pastor Rick.

Everyone should take daily spike support so you can feel your best. America. Out Loud listeners can go to outloudcare.com today and use code OUTLOUD for 25% off your first order. Lean. Pure.

With premium ingredients, Global Healing's Pure Plant Protein offers 20 grams of protein per scoop, and it's the perfect way to maintain and build lean muscle while indulging yourself. It combines enzymes and probiotics to maximize nutrient absorption, improving digestion, and your gut health. Available in vanilla and chocolate flavors, elevate your protein consumption while supporting your overall wellness with Pure Plant Protein. Go to americaoutloud.shop and get 15% off using the code OUTLOUD. Global Healing.

Giving you the power to take control of your health. naturally. I'm Dr. James Bragman. Do you suffer from allergies, sinus problems, or just seem to be getting sick more often?

You're not alone. Many of my patients are finding relief with COFIX Rx nasal spray. I've relied on the sanitizing power of povidone iodine for years. COFIX Rx has harness that power to help cleanse germs, allergens, and viruses in your nasal cavity. You brush your teeth and wash your hands daily?

Stay healthy by using COFIX Rx to wash and cleanse your nose daily. Get COFIX Rx today. Go to americaoutloud.shop and click on the COFIX Rx banner or type in cofixrx.com forward. slash out loud. Buy now and receive a 20% discount with a 30-day money back guarantee.

Got gastrointestinal issues? We created a three-step, doctor-formulated, completely natural gut reboot system that takes less than two minutes a day to start working for you. Step one, gut detox formula, a gentle way to clean the intestines and balance the body. Step two, nano silver solution, a safe way to restore gut bacteria balance and protect us from pathogens. Step three, green 85 juice formula, a simple way to replace the 85% of nutrition farmed out of our soil so our body can repair itself and increase energy levels.

Go to chemicalfreebody.com forward. slash outloud today. Get the Malcolm Healthy Gut Bundle. Reboot your gut and your energy and save 20% on your first order. We wouldn't go a day without washing our hands, brushing our teeth, and washing our nose.

Whoa, wait. We wash our nose? Yes. The number one place where bacteria, viruses, and pollen enter the body is through the nose. So the average person breathes over 23,000 times a day.

That's 23,000 opportunities for bacteria, viruses, and irritants to get into your nose and make you sick. For an extra layer of protection, wash your nose with Clear. That is Clear, X-L-E-A-R. Clear's drug-free nasal spray features xylitol, an ingredient proven to block adhesion of many nasty bacteria and viruses and effectively clean, not just rinse like a saline, but wash your nose. Clear nasal spray quickly alleviates congestion, opens your airway, and ensures your body's natural defenses are strong.

Read the research studies for yourself at Clear.com. That's X-L-E-A-R.com. Protect yourself from the pathogens and junk you breathe. Pick up a bottle for you and your family. today.

Fifty-eight million people suffer from joint aches and stiffness in the U.S. every day. Ignoring chronic joint discomfort can affect mobility and your quality of life. Advanced Nutrition Company, HealthyCell, created joint health and mobility to support connective tissue, joint lubrication, and reduce joint irritation, with curcumin, omega-3, chondroitin, glucosamine, and hyaluronic acid for joint comfort and flexible range of motion. And HealthyCell's not a pill.

It's a patent-pending gel you swallow with clinically proven ultra-absorption of science-backed ingredients. You would need to take 11 pills to get the same amount of nutrients in each gel pack. And these great-tasting gels come in a small packet. Tear off the top, shoot it down, or mix it in water. It's 100% drug-free joint support.

Go to HealthyCell.com and use code OUTLOUD for 25% off your first order. HealthyCell.com. Code OUTLOUD for 25% off.

A suppression of truth in a world of darkness and void of any soul requires that we are rightly informed, properly equipped, and strongly motivated to fight the corruption.

AmericaOutloud.news is that place to awaken your heart, soul, and mind to the outloud truth.

Now is our time. America. Outloud talk, radio. Liberty and justice for all.

Always. That's true. But I have found that that simple description really helps us grow in God's direction, because we want to develop the kind of faith that has absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of God. That is a real mark of faith and spiritual maturity. Well, we talked about a lot of things and I got carried away and I didn't get to the third thing that I wanted to talk about, so I have to save that for next week, I guess.

I want to talk about this pivotal time in history that you and I are living through and what it means to us and what we need to think about and what we need to concentrate on and to realize the important opportunity God has given us. And some people wring their hands about these days. and, oh, believe me, I understand that. Lot to be concerned about. But think about it this way.

God has put us here now for such a time as this, and we need to rise to that occasion. Well, talk about that a little bit more next week. I want to get back to this series that we've been doing at our church. called You Asked For It. And people have asked different questions and brought up different topics.

And one of the questions that came to me was about the idea of the Old and New Testament and about the idea of all of the commandments that are in the Bible boiled down to two, because Jesus gave us just two commandments. So how do we go from all of the at least ten, well, there's a lot more than that, we'll get to that in the Old Testament, down to two that Jesus gives us in the New Testament. Well, let's plunge into that and see if we can kind of sort that out for ourselves, because there are answers to those questions. There are good perspectives on that. And we need to think about that, because too many people are dismissing the Old Testament and what it means and what it says.

And we don't want to do that. We want to accept the whole Bible that God has given to us. We don't want to just accept part of it. We want to accept all of it. We want to realize that God has given this to us at great effort and cost so that we could benefit from it.

We could live better lives because we could be part of His kingdom come and His will being done. All of those things we talk about flow from our understanding of the Scriptures. All of the Scriptures, all the way through the Bible, not just part of it. So the first question that people ask, and I'm going to have to hasten through this because there's a lot we can talk about, and you'll forgive me if I skip over some things and press on through, but the first thing that comes to mind is, are we really to leave the Old behind? Because that's what we're hearing.

some people say. The Old Testament, we don't need to worry about that, just concentrate on Jesus and the New Testament. The short answer to that is, no, we aren't to leave the Old Testament behind. For many of us, maybe most of us, we never even thought to ask that question, and maybe wouldn't. It's an important question.

I'm glad somebody brought it up, because I'm glad we talk about important questions. I'm glad we're not afraid to talk about them, and we should keep asking and answering important questions. I hear there are some churches, some pastors, that discourage people from asking questions, but not us. We don't do that. God is big enough for our questions, and we're happy to do that.

So the short answer is, no, we don't leave the Old Testament behind. I don't even think we would be asking that question if it hadn't been for some prominent Christian leaders, and I didn't go back to look to make a list of who said what or anything like that. I'm not here to expose people in that way. I am here to say that if there's any person who puts themselves forth as a minister of the gospel and tells you that you don't have to worry about the Old Testament, run to a different place, that person is not giving you the straight story from the Bible. But we're at this point to have to talk about this question because some people have raised the issue, and it puts doubt in people's minds, and it's really too bad that they do.

Okay? It was interesting, I was listening to an interview, or actually, I guess it was another presentation by a person, I don't think it was an interview at this particular time, and they were talking about at their church, and I don't know which church it was, I have no real idea, I know what part of the country this person is from, but I don't know what church they go to. But the person was saying that at their church, every sermon ends with Jesus. I thought that's really interesting, that's an interesting observation, that's an interesting decision that someone has made. I'm not finding fault with that, it's just interesting that they do that, and the suggestion was that the reason that's so is because the whole Bible points to Jesus.

Well, there's a lot of sense to that, and we at our church, every week, we gather at the Lord's table for what we call Holy Communion, other people call it by other names, the Lord's Supper, Eucharist, those kinds of things, it's all the same. And so I said to our church, I said, you know, we really end every service with Jesus too, because we gather at his table, and we share in that sacred meal. Now, one of the things that's interesting to me is that we have tended to think of the Old Testament as old and outdated, and the New Testament as new and up to date. And many of us have heard over our lifetimes that everything changed immensely, there's a huge difference between the before Jesus and the after Jesus. Well, that's true, in a certain way of looking at it, that's true because Jesus did change everything, because he fulfilled the Old Testament.

So if you want to call that a change and changing everything, okay, I understand what you mean by that. But I prefer to say, not so much did Jesus change everything, so that implies getting rid of what happened before, as much as he fulfilled what God was up to from the beginning, from the early pages of Genesis, Jesus was thought about, put forth, for our thinking, described, and we began to anticipate that God was sending us help in a way we could not have imagined. So I encourage you to think of the coming of Jesus not so much as a huge break with the past, as much as a fulfillment of what God had been doing all along. And speaking of Jesus, one of the most interesting things that happened after his resurrection happened as people were taking a walk. Now they walked everywhere.

in those days, they didn't have nice cars like you do, they took a walk. And so two guys were walking along the road headed to a town named Emmaus, and Jesus joined them. Now, when he joined them, they didn't know it was him, he just joined in and heard them talking, and they were absolutely confused, concerned, they couldn't quite make sense of the events that had just happened in Jerusalem, and that meant the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. They didn't quite know how to process that, that's the way we probably would say it. And so Jesus walked along with them, and he began to explain what had happened, and the coming of Messiah, and what that meant.

And if you look in Luke chapter 24, you will discover that Jesus used the Scriptures to explain that. Now you might say, Scriptures, what are you talking about? Scriptures, well, what was that? What we call the Old Testament, the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, all of the things, and they called them by different names. They called the Torah, meaning instruction, that was a different name for it.

Maybe if we called the Old Testament instruction, instead of testament, we would not be so confused. In fact, one of the things that I think has contributed to our confusion is the use of that word testament. And in the translating years ago, they used the word, where they would have been better off, it seems to me, and I'm not a language expert, I just looked into this a little bit, if they had said covenant, Old Covenant and New Covenant, we could have understood, oh so, that was one way of thinking about our relationship with God, now there's a new way of thinking about it. In other words, God has brought to fulfillment what he started with the Old Covenant, and now a New Covenant. So Jesus was talking to these guys, and using what we call the Old Testament, the Old Covenant description, and helping them understand what had happened in Jerusalem.

Well, they got to a stopping place, and they sat down to have a meal, and Jesus joined them for the meal, and as he blessed and broke the bread, their eyes were opened, and they realized that it was Jesus himself that had been talking to them this whole time. And, of course, Jesus disappeared from their sight. You can read the story in Luke chapter 24.. But don't miss this, among all of the things we might get out of that story, don't miss this, Jesus explained himself to these men, using what we call the Old Testament. So I say, if it's good enough for Jesus to use to explain himself, it's good enough for us, and we're not throwing it away.

Now I know that some of the reasons people want to throw it away is they don't like the God of the Old Testament. You'll hear that occasionally. They'll say, well, that's a warrior. God, is one expression you might hear. And I like the good shepherd view of Jesus in the New Testament.

Well, I want to remind you that the Bible says, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. A little bit more on that in a minute. The Lord is one. So the same God that you read in the New Testament, read about in the New Testament, is the same God you read about in the Old Testament. And we need to understand him as he's revealed himself, not judge him.

Ouch, did I just say we shouldn't judge God? Yes, I said that. God is God and we are not. And we need to accept him on the terms he reveals himself. And let me tell you, straight up, I read in the book of Revelation, and there is a warrior God in the book of Revelation.

I mean, he takes no prisoners. And I'm glad. You're glad? Yes, I'm glad because God takes care of evil. You know what evil has done to people down through human history?

You know what it's doing to people now? Yeah, you know. And God took care of business. in the book of Revelation. He's reminding us how he will take care of business one day.

And I take a lot of encouragement from that. And I don't want to overlook that or miss that at all. All right, so now that's one place that Jesus clearly used the Old Testament to explain himself. Now, there's another place in the New Testament that I want to point to, and that's in First Corinthians, chapter 15.. And I've referred to this before on the program, and you may remember that, but I keep reminding myself.

to come back to it. I'm not exactly sure why I keep reminding myself, but for some reason, God has put that in my brain. And one of the reasons I keep coming back to it is because it says something about the words in this verse being of first importance. And anytime something is of first importance, that's pretty high on the list to consider, don't you think? First importance.

So, First Corinthians 15, chapter 15, verse 3, from the New Revised, Standard Version, Updated Edition, the writer is speaking, For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received. So there's the first importance. I passed on to you what I received, the stuff that's of first importance. Then he goes on to say what that stuff of first importance was, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. Now, I don't think you missed that repeated phrase.

Jesus was crucified, he died, buried, and resurrected according to the Scriptures. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. What Scriptures is the writer talking about? He's talking about what we call the Old Testament. So if it's of first importance that the Gospel of Jesus is explained in terms of the Scriptures that they had, which would have been what we call the Old Testament, then I say, not going to get rid of the Old Testament.

I hope that makes sense. I hope that kind of connects things. Now that's only a little bit of what we could talk about. I suppose we could spend a lot more time. But there was another part of the question that was asked, and I kind of put a couple of questions together to think about this.

When somebody asked me about the Old Testament, then they also brought up, another person, brought up, the idea of how do we go from a bunch of laws in the Old Testament to just two in the New? Well, how many commandments were there in the Old Testament? Well, that's a good question. The best number I've come up with, and best numbers are kind of a difficult way to describe it, it's just the one that I found and that I'm using today. You may find another best number someplace.

I'm not sure that we have such exactness to this. But I came up with the statement that there are 613 rules in Judaism, or in the Old Testament. Six hundred and thirteen. That's a lot of rules, okay? And so people say, well, how do we go from 613 down to two?

Because Jesus was asked about that. He was asked about the greatest commandment. And we usually take that greatest commandment statement from Mark, or I usually do, Mark, chapter 12, and it's a good statement of it. It's a good place. But in Matthew, Jesus also talks about the same idea.

And in Matthew, he makes reference to the fact that these two commandments, love God and love your neighbor, those are the two commandments, those two commandments fulfill the law and the prophets. So, in other words, they fulfill what we call the Old Testament. So 613 down to two. That's pretty good. I mean, I can get my mind around two, can't you?

I don't have to work very hard to remember love God and love neighbor. There's a little bit more to it than that, but I can get that part pretty well. Now, where did that come from? I mean, 613, the iconic Ten Commandments, all the way down to two. Well, you probably are remembering, as I'm talking about this, that a faithful Jewish follower of God, down through history, every day, at least twice a day, would recite what was called the Shema.

It came from Deuteronomy, chapter six, starting at verse four. Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. So they would pray that at least twice a day. It's very interesting in a context that we think of as being characterized by law, 613 laws, this prayer that they prayed emphasized love the Lord, your God.

It didn't emphasize keep the laws that the Lord, your God, gave you. It said love the Lord, your God, with all that you've got, with all your soul, with all your might. Of course, we know Mark says heart, soul, mind, and strength. Everything you've got, that's the idea. Not so much concern with each specific thing, although you can talk about those, but the general summation of that, it means with the totality of our being, we are to love God.

Very insightful. So Jesus, when he was asked by the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, Sadducees, about the greatest commandment, he answered, well, and this has been something they had wrestled with. It wasn't the first time this question had ever come up in that period of time. But Jesus replied, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.

All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments, and that's the Matthew excerpt that I mentioned earlier. How about that? All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Well, Jesus is giving us a very good way to look at all of this, and a helpful way to look at it. Now, you remember, earlier I said the Shema, and it talks about loving God, and that they prayed it twice a day, Jesus, as far as we know, was the first person to connect the Deuteronomy statement with a statement in Leviticus that talks about love your neighbor as yourself.

So both statements that Jesus had summarized what God expects of us come from what we call the Old Testament. Now the light's coming on again, isn't it? Yeah, you're right. So if Jesus summed up the law of the Old Testament, then we ought to pay heed to what we call the Old Testament. We shouldn't throw it away, because Jesus seems to think it matters, and of course, it does matter.

So people still take that a step farther and say, okay, well, that's good conceptually. How does that work itself out in the real world, so to speak? Well, how about if we do a little thought experiment? Now, Jesus said that the law is summed up by two things. that he really said are one thing, but you know what we mean here.

We say there are two aspects of the one thing. Jesus said, love God and love your neighbor. All right, and he said that all, well, what was the verse from Matthew, what was it that Jesus said? All the law and the prophets. hang on these two commandments.

All the law and the prophets, all, all, all the law and the prophets. Hmm. Okay, so let's take a look at that. Let's start with 10 and see how that might work itself out. What do we mean by that?

And I thought this was a very helpful idea. It wasn't original with me. I picked it up some years ago, and the idea was it's possible to fit all of the laws in the old Testament into either loving God or loving neighbor. Now we're talking about the moral law, not the ceremonial law, the idea of sacrifice. there.

Again, see Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial system. He didn't call for us to continue to make sacrifices. He was the final sacrifice, so he fulfilled that. That's again, the idea of thinking of the new Testament as fulfillment helps on a great deal. So let's take the 10 commandments.

The first commandment is, is that we shouldn't have any other gods before us. Well, that sounds like it fits in the category of loving God. What do you think? Yeah, I think so. So we'll put that there.

And then, second commandment talks about that we shouldn't make any idols. The old King James said graven images, good, solid description there. And that sounds like that fits under the love God category too, no idols. The third commandment is what? Pretty simple.

Do not take the Lord's name in vain. In other words, reverence God's name. That sounds like a love God category too. What do you think? So we've got three.

First three fit in the love God idea. The next one is remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And God has said to us that we need a day set aside for rest and recovery, recreation, worship. It's a gift that he's given us. And he says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

That sounds like a God thing again, because we're to reverence a day set aside for him. That's how we show love for God. So commandment number five then talks about honoring father and mother. And that sounds like a neighbor category. Do not murder.

Well, that's for sure. You don't need to be out there killing your neighbors. I guess that's a love your neighbor category. Do not murder. Number seven, do not commit adultery.

Same idea. Leave your neighbors alone. Don't go after them. in a way you should not. That's a love for neighbor.

Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Well, there you go again. Don't take your neighbor's stuff. Doesn't belong to you.

Leave it alone. Love for neighbor. And then he goes on. Number nine, do not bear false witness against your neighbor. In other words, don't make up tales about your neighbor.

Don't stand up and say things that aren't true about your neighbor. Don't be a false witness. That falls into the category of love. One way we love our neighbors is to not be a false witness. One way we love our neighbors is to not steal their stuff.

One way we love our neighbors is to not commit adultery and not kill them. So those are love, neighbor. And finally, number 10, do not covet. Well, that's again, that's a love of neighbor idea. Don't think that what your neighbor has ought to be yours.

Don't covet it. In other words, God is saying to us, all of the law and the prophets can be summed up by loving God and loving neighbor. It's a high bar. And it's meant to be intentional, not just a state of being. We sometimes think about, well, I'm in love.

There's a state of being. Or I love pizza. It's just a preference that I have. But when you look at what God is talking about in terms of love, and when you look at these commandments, these are specific things that govern our behavior. And I wonder if we have perhaps fallen into the same trap that I think I fell into years ago of thinking that faithfulness to God was about avoiding what God called sin.

And we spend a lot of time trying to make sure we don't do something wrong, when maybe what God is trying to get us to do is to concentrate more on doing right things. If all we do is spend our time trying to avoid doing something wrong, we kind of tie ourselves up in knots. And how much different would your life be, would all of our lives be, if we intentionally took steps to love God? So when I urge you, and I haven't for a while, but here I go, go to church every weekend. Don't miss a single one.

You see, that is demonstrating love for God. And when you, can, I say it plainly? When you blow a church off to go play golf or do something else, that is not demonstrating love for God. All right, plain enough, okay. So what if we intentionally show love for God?

What about if we intentionally read a little bit from the Bible every day? Show love for God. We set aside some time, doesn't have to be hours, might be longer some days than others, but we deliberately think about the things of God. We spend time doing that, that's showing love for God. What about neighbor?

Well, you do kind things for your neighbors already, don't you? What about that sorry rascal at work that you just can't hardly get along with? You mean I've got to show love for him or her? What if you did a kindness for them? Might take everything you think you've got, but if God is asking you to do it, he'll give you everything you need to love him and your neighbors, even the sorry rascal.

So the challenge is to intentionally, purposefully do the things that show love to God and neighbor. Not the mushy cultural love. No, I mean solid, rock, solid commitment to the neighbor's well-being and a desire to help them and point them in the right direction. That's love for God, love for neighbor. Well, we're running out of time and I'm going to be back next week, so we'll pick up some more interesting things then.

I hope you'll join us. I'm Pastor, Rick.