Pre - The Ark

janells phone, if she tried to combine her phones, what if she tried to take her old screen and put it on her new phone so that she tried to use her new phone through the lens of the old screen

have you ever heard a preacher do this with the bible, if i have done this i apologize, that has never been my intent or what i wanted to come across

now heres what im talking about

i believe the old testament was and is inspired by God, it is a part of the bible and there are unlimited things that we can learn about God in the old testament, but the old testament rules and regulations are now over and finished and there is now a better covenant, better promises in place.

old covenant, the law, old testament, all mean the same thing

Hebrews 8:6–13 ESV

6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Galatians 1:6–7 ESV

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

and see the problem is is that when we mix and match the old testament with the new we get jesus plus.. and anything that is ‘jesus plus’ will ruin what ever it touches, its what started every major christian war, its what creates stuck up christian jerks, it creates dpressed, shame and guilt ridden people, it creates people that try and get a s close to sin without sinning, it makes

and see the problem is is that when we mix and match the old testament with the new we get jesus plus.. and anything that is ‘jesus plus’ will destroy relationships

Leviticus 26:3–4 ESV

3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

Leviticus 26:14–22 ESV

14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. 18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, 19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit. 21 “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22 And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.

Deuteronomy 27:26 ESV

26 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

and see the problem is this, is that when we mix and match the old testament with the new we get jesus plus..

and anything that is ‘jesus plus’ will ruin what ever it touches, its what started every major christian war, its what creates stuck up christian jerks, it creates depressed, shame and guilt ridden people, it creates people that try and get as close to sin without sinning, it creates people that separate themselves from everybody cause everybody else is a sinner, it creates statements that go like this, ‘i need to get closer to god’ or ‘that persons a backslider’ or ‘you just need to pray harder’ or ‘you just need to read the bible more and you’ll get better’ or ‘you just need to be at church every time the door opens and you’ll see things change’ or ‘God hates sinners’ or ‘you need to do this for god’ or ‘god is going to punish you because of what you did’ or ‘if you just didn’t do ________________’ on and on these types of statements can go

and what do all these have in common? you doing something for God to earn something from God because you were so good that now God should do something for you.

that is garbage religion, and that is a miserable way to live life

mixing the old and the new says Jesus died for you but you need to pray in order for God to speak to you a lot, or jesus died for you but you need to give your tithes or god wont help you financially, or you’ll see tv preachers say that if you just give a hundred dollars as a seed offering you will see your miracle within the year’(dont make me puke) or Jesus died for you but if you don’t go to church every week and hear the preacher your going to miss what God is saying and you wont get all that god has for you, and the rules begin to take over, and its no longer about what jesus has done but what i’ve done for god or what i’ve not done for god

bad religion mixes and matches old and new and what ends up happening is that the little bit of wrong believing ends up ruining everything

Galatians 5:9 ESV

9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

check this out

i believe really good things about what god has done for me, but i start believing in the law or old covenant as well, just a wee little tiny bit, eventually what will end up happening is that it will bleed over into every part of your life, and the external part of your life and what people see becomes more important than the internal and what God has done for you and is doing in you

lets be honest, pastors can fall into this trap super easy with themselves, if i just prayed more for that person, that bad thing wouldn’t have happened, or if i just prayed more or trusted god more we would have had enough to cover those bills, see it could be real easy to transfer that type of thinking on to the people, you know if you would just _________________, then you have people leaving the church feeling like what they did caused what the enemy actually did, and they leave feeling guilty or ashamed or the opposite, self righteous, because they were just told what they did will help them with God.. to an extreme thats where you get the preachers that take an old testament verse ‘don’t touch gods anointed’ to an extreme of saying dont criticize the pastor or be critical or correct the pastor because if you do God will kill you or ruin your life or whatever they would say,

but

what if im doing something stupid and I’ve cut off all avenues of correction, im not talking about being disrespectful but if i cant handle someone trying to help or disagree im prob in the wrong vocation.

I need help, i need a lot of it. many of you are way smarter than me and you choose to still be here and that is humbling, and i love it. because we can do way more together than individually

this whole religion in mixing and matching paul talks about

That’s what we call the old testament or old covenant or the old promises

and what y

read a small section and skip ahead to get the point across

Galatians 1:6–7 ESV

Galatians 3:1–3 ESV

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Galatians 3:10 ESV

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

Galatians 4:30–31 ESV

30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

it continues on

Galatians 5:1–6 ESV

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

Complete Jewish Bible Chapter 5

What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom

not to go back to the old way of doing things

if you accept the tiniest part of the law jesus is of no advantage because you just made it about what youve done instead of what hes done

Galatians 5:4 CJB

4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by God through legalism have severed yourselves from the Messiah! You have fallen away from God’s grace!

vs 5

Galatians 5:5 NLT

5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.

circumcision aka the law is no good for you any more

so then what else does the new testament say about all of this, thats part of what the whole new testament is about, but but this is just one small part

1 John 3:21–24 ESV

21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

if there is a rule

1 John 3:21–22 ESV

21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

1 John 3:23–24 ESV

23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

why am i talking about all of this now?

because i want to be a new testament church, not an old testament church

i want us to be a new covenant family not a mix and match old and new/what we think is best for us family

and i believe that by his grace and love we can be

we can be a family that is more about grace than about rules, more about love than about fear, more about what God is doing, than what we think he should do, more about seeing the broken restored, and the lost found, more about being salt and light, more about life and joy and peace and the fruits of the spirit not the fruits of our labors, more about jesus than anything else

Hilmar family church

being the family of God to each other and the world

making jesus the very center

close your eyes with me

(go to piano)

jesus at the center

before we get into the ark i wanted to make sure we understand the old was for a certain time and place that is no longer applicable to us. and that we have a better covenant with better promises now, and certain parts of the old testament reveal this in a really cool way. and thats where the ark comes in.