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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
A Lens Of Fulfillment
What if reading the Bible was more about uncovering what's been fulfilled rather than forecasting the future? Join us as we transform traditional interpretations by exploring scripture through a "lens of fulfillment." By focusing on how both the Old and New Testaments point to Jesus, we invite you to see the Bible as a powerful testament to God's covenant and redemption. With insights from key scriptures like Luke 24:27, we aim to shift your focus from future condemnation to the grace-filled present.
Embrace a Christ-centered lens as we uncover the Bible's central theme: Jesus and God's redemptive plan. We illustrate how ancient promises and systems, such as those given to Abraham and David, find their ultimate realization in Christ. By re-evaluating traditional teachings through scriptures like John 1:29 and Hebrews 8:13, discover how the kingdom of God was inaugurated during Jesus' ministry. This episode challenges you to reconsider long-held interpretations and embrace the new covenant marked by grace and internal transformation.
Finally, unravel the mystique of Revelation by considering its symbolic nature and historical context. Understand its apocalyptic language as a reflection of early Christian struggles under Roman rule, and reconsider common misconceptions that arise from a literal interpretation. From the transition of covenants to the significance of the temple's destruction in 70 AD, we highlight how these divine shifts invite us to live fully in the present. Let this episode inspire you to unlock spiritual truths today, instead of deferring them to an uncertain future.
let me go ahead. I normally don't do this, but I'll tell you the title of it up front. I want you to think about this. It's a lens, like a lens that you're looking through, a lens of fulfillment. A lens of fulfillment. I want you to think as we go through this. What does that actually represent? What does that mean? To look at the Bible and look at the Word of God through a lens of fulfillment and not always through a lens of hopefulness of one day. I'm hoping this is going to happen one day, or I'm expecting this to happen one day. I kind of call it that futurist mindset Somewhere out there in the future. We don't know when, but something's going to happen. Then there's two different mindsets we can look at, and one of them is that futurist mindset, and one of them is looking through this lens of fulfillment, saying that Jesus said what he said in the Word. We believe what he said in the Word and I'm going to take you to His Scripture. I'm going to take Jesus said what he said in the Word. We believe what he said in the Word and I'm going to take you to His Scripture. I'm going to take you to what he said to show you that we do have an opportunity to look at this through a lens of fulfillment.
Speaker 1:I want to start off with one verse this morning, to just kind of go from here Luke 24, verse 27. I want you to look at what it says. And beginning at Moses and all through the prophet, he expounded to them in all the Scripture Now, this is Jesus talking to them. He expounded to them, through all the Scriptures, the things concerning the future Himself. He didn't tell them about things concerning the future himself. He didn't tell him about things concerning the future. He told everything, all through the Scriptures, from Moses all the way through the prophets. He told them stories and everything pointed to him. Every single Scripture, I mean everything he talked about, pointed to him. Every single scripture, I mean everything he talked about, pointed to Jesus, pointed to himself.
Speaker 1:How we approach the Bible determines how we understand its message. Okay, there's a lot of different interpretations. There's a lot of different understandings of the Word. You look at one person and ask them what something means in the Bible. You look at somebody else and ask them. They'll give you something totally different. It's not that one is right or wrong per se, but it's different interpretations.
Speaker 1:Because of what? Because how we approach the Bible, if we approach it with a futuristic mindset versus a fulfilled mindset, then when I read a scripture, I'm going to get something different out of it. Okay, somebody who's awaiting everything to happen in the future is going to get a different reading of that scripture than what I'm going to get if I'm reading it from a mindset of Jesus done what he said he'm going to get. If I'm reading it from a mindset of Jesus done what he said he was going to do, I just got to take him at his word and that's as simple as you can. Some people say well, I hear you, but how do you explain that to people? I'm going to take him at his word. Jesus said this here's the scripture. I'm going to take him at his word. This is what he said. I can't question that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so many Christians again, they view the Bible as prophecies about future events, particularly regarding the end times. That's a subject that so many people are getting into right now. But there's some of us who do look at it through a different lens, and that is things are fulfilled, especially when you're looking at the life, the burial, the resurrection, the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in AD 70. We talk a lot about that. We've been comparing these two different views for several weeks now. Everything's kind of building on top of it, and really the reason why is because the more I study on something, the more information comes out about it and the more I get a better understanding of it. So I want to share it with you. Here's a question for you Do you know what happens when we read the Bible in context? In context, we begin recognizing the fulfillment of prophecy and where our focus now is on covenant and on the redemptive message.
Speaker 1:Okay, if you read the Bible in context and those words are key in context your message that you get out of it will begin to shift. It really will. That's why we can honestly say, when me and Bam was last night talking about this at the park, and I can honestly say I don't try to force this what I believe on somebody else. I don't look at them and say you're wrong and you need to believe what I'm believing. I just simply say, if you read it in context, I believe the word says what the word says, without me changing it around, and I believe that you're going to come to an understanding and you're going to see the redemptive message in there and not the condemning message in there. And that's what a lot of people see. And they're seeing a condemning, a beat down message that this is going to happen one day and we got to get everything right right now because we're awaiting all these things in the future. But if you read it in context, it changes that message. It goes back to the redemptive message, it goes back to grace and it goes back to a loving father, not an angry father that's out to whip us one day when we, when we, stand before him. So it's not that we're trying to force this mindset or this view of theology onto anybody else. I'm just saying that when you read it in context, you're going to come to this specific type of view.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing I look at what if we just stripped away everything that we've ever been taught to believe and just tried to understand the Bible's central theme? Now you might be saying what in the world is that? And that's a good question, because what the central theme of the Bible in my opinion versus what the central theme of the Bible is in somebody else's opinion could be totally different. Now I believe the central theme of the Bible is, in somebody else's opinion, could be totally different. Now I believe the central theme of the Bible is already set. So it's not like you're right and I'm wrong or I'm right and you're wrong. The theme of the Bible is already there. It's a matter of coming into an understanding of what it is Okay.
Speaker 1:So if we stripped away everything that you've ever been taught and I've listened to a lot of pastors over the years, some of them I still listen to, I still enjoy their stuff Some of them I don't listen to anymore because I just don't their teaching just don't mesh with what I teach anymore, so I don't listen to them as much. So we go through those stages and we're learning and we're getting different information from different ones. But take all that and strip it away and ask yourself you've got to answer this out loud, but ask yourself, in my understanding, not mine in your understanding to yourself what is the Bible's central theme? What is the Bible's main point, purpose, intent, what is it to you? What does the Bible actually say? I think we would come to the conclusion that the theme is very simple Jesus and his kingdom Strip everything else away that we've been taught All the other stuff, not saying it's not important, but just strip it away right now and say what is the main intent and purpose, and I believe it's Jesus and his kingdom Period.
Speaker 1:That's the gospel, because gospel is good news. Hellfire, brimstone is not good news to me. All this other stuff that we teach. Some of it is not good news to a Christian. Therefore, it may be good teaching, it may be useful. It may be good teaching, it may be useful, it may be applicable for your life At the time. But we can't take it Because it sounds good and all of a sudden say it's the gospel, because the gospel is good news. The gospel is always as Jesus said In that verse we just read it is always pointing back to Him, always coming back to Him and His kingdom, always he is the central theme of the Scripture, of the good news, of the gospel.
Speaker 1:And anything that takes me away from that, anything that changes that, I have to question it. I don't automatically shoot it down and say he's wrong or they're wrong. I just question it, I study it. It's okay to question things. I say stuff up here that I hope to God that you question. I want you to question it because I want you to go study it. I want you to get revelation on your own and not say well, pastor Brian said this yes, maybe I do believe it, but that's not saying you need to believe it because I do. I want you to get your own revelation of it.
Speaker 1:I told you last week when I hear something from a pastor pastors I listen to I don't. I believe they have truly have an understanding of what they're teaching and I believe if they're quoting a verse, they have studied that verse out and they are not mistaken on their teaching. But I still go back because their understanding is not my understanding. So I still go back and I look it up and I check behind them. And I even called, like Tommy before, and said where are you getting this from? I don't understand it. You're saying this and you're giving this definition, but I'm not seeing it nowhere. And then when he took me a little deeper and said go here and go here and look at this, I said what? Now it makes sense. I just didn't have an understanding of it at the time. I knew he had it, I knew he wasn't standing up in his pulpit telling a lie, but I just didn't have the knowledge that he had on it at the time Got to go a little deeper. Okay, so what if we just did not worry anymore about Brian's interpretation or Pastor So-and-So's interpretation or anybody else you listed? And what if you just focused on a Christ-centered interpretation? Because, again, the theme of it, the theme of the Bible, is Jesus and His kingdom. That's it. So if we just focused on a Christ-centered interpretation, what would that look like?
Speaker 1:Now, this right here may be a shock to some of you, but the Bible is not primarily about you. It's not. I know we try to make it. We try to take every single verse in that Bible and turn it around. You know they've even got Bibles out now that you can get your name printed in it. Everywhere where it says me or you, it puts your name in it. I don't like that, simply because every verse does not refer to me, every verse is not giving me instruction, and I can prove that to you with a lot of Old Testament verses and I can insert your name in there and you would not want to do it Because it's Old Covenant law. So you can't take every scripture and just say, boom, that is mine, it's not yours. You will not want to do it. So we have to pay attention, we have to read in context. But the Bible's not about you. Primarily it's about Jesus. It's about God's redemptive plan, which was through Jesus and through the kingdom. It all comes back to Jesus and the kingdom.
Speaker 1:As Luke 24 and 27 that we read a while ago shows, jesus himself interpreted all Scripture as pointing to himself Everything he talked about. He's the only one that can turn that finger around and keep pointing at himself. I can't do that, he can. Okay, in the Old Testament there was a lot of foreshadowing that pointed to Jesus. There was a lot of stories that they would tell and if you don't read it in context, you don't know what they're talking about. But if you come from a Christ-centered interpretation, a Christ-centered lens, a Christ-centered lens, you start to see, even in the Old Testament, that a story that may be being told is foreshadowing something that's going to happen one day. And it was foreshadowing Jesus, it was talking about Him. So even Old Testament, you can go back and look at that.
Speaker 1:The sacrificial system that was used in the Old Covenant, where they actually literally had to take an animal and sacrifice that animal, it was a sacrificial system. Even that system pointed to Jesus. I'm just showing you because I want you to see that it's okay and it is biblical to have a Christ-centered interpretation. If you look at John 1 and 29, and we're talking about this sacrificial system, look at what John 1 and 29 says. The next day, john saw Jesus coming toward him and said Behold, look at this, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus coming toward him and said behold, look at this, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So I don't even have to when he gets here and he does his thing. I don't have to go slay a lamb anymore. I don't have to raise my little lamb up and then take it to the altar and have it sacrificed so that my sins can be forgiven, like they do every year. Now there's a guy coming and behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is here. So even that the old sacrificial system turned around and was pointed back to Jesus.
Speaker 1:The promise to Abraham, to David and the prophets. They find fulfillment in Christ. You can go back through and read all of those. Their fulfillment is in Christ. They point everything they're saying back to Christ. Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God during his ministry In Mark 1 and 15. Look at what it says, because it talks about this. When we talk about kingdom and saying the time is fulfilled, it's fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Speaker 1:Repent and believe in what the gospel, the good news, this other stuff you hear these Pharisees and Sadducees spitting out of their mouth. It ain't nothing but lies. Because now I'm bringing the gospel, I'm bringing the kingdom it is fulfilled, the kingdom's at hand and believe the good. It is fulfilled, the kingdom's at hand. Believe the good news. Repent, change the way you think. Get your mind off of those lies. Repent, change your thinking and believe in the gospel. I want to go back to him. His death and resurrection fulfilled the requirements of the old covenant and established the new covenant. You can see this in Hebrews 8 and 13. I'm just giving you a scriptural look at to back up what we're saying here. And it says in that he says a new covenant.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we talk about this covenant stuff and people don't understand it. They're like you know you're talking about some new thing and people don't understand it. They're like you're talking about some new thing that we don't even understand. No, the Bible talks about a new covenant. He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. He said the new covenant cannot begin until the old covenant has passed away. Once the old covenant passes away, it's obsolete, it's no longer useful, it's no longer in place. We step into a new covenant. Okay, a new age. I told that the other day to somebody you know. I know we have a different definition for new age. We start thinking about science and all that, but we are. This teaching is new age because we're not in an old age anymore. We're not in an old covenant that passed away. We stepped into a new age, a new covenant. So what we're saying is it's not new, it's going back to the original, but we're teaching it in a new covenant, a new age that we're in right now. So it's it's different.
Speaker 1:You really got to look at these scriptures and pay attention to them. The kingdom is present right now and it's growing on in this earth right now. He said thy kingdom come. That will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So if Jesus, I said all that, showed y'all these verses to ask you this question If Jesus already established his kingdom and we can see that he did, that's his word. If he didn't, it wasn't Brian that lied, it was Jesus that lied, because that was his words. He's already I don't think there's a doubt about it he's already established his kingdom, which is advancing through the church, through the people, not the buildings, but the people, us. If this is true, then why are we waiting on a distant millennium when we're living right now in the age of Christ's reign, and we keep waiting on something that's going to appear one day? Look at this verse here Matthew 28. Two verses here I want you to see, or three verses 18 through 20. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Again, this is Jesus talking here.
Speaker 1:As we discussed last week, context matters. It really does, especially the historical context. We talked about the different types of context, but I really want to narrow down on the historical. What does it mean? Because that's when you've got to take it and you've got to look back and you really have to say and you've got to, you really have to say what was going on. Who was he talking to? What time period was he talking in? What was going on during that period? Different things like that we have to ask ourselves when reading a scripture. Who was the original audience? Guess what? John wasn't talking to me. I might can pull something out of it that's useful for me now, but he was not talking to me. Some of the other verses in there they were not talking directly to you in 2024. They were talking to people who lived in the first century church.
Speaker 1:The Bible was written to real people in a real time, in a very specific historical context, which means there was something going on. That's the way I do when I read a scripture. I don't just say who was writing it, what was he saying, who was he talking to? I even go a little further and say why did he say this? What was going on during that period of time that made him have to write this? Was he correcting somebody? Was he encouraging somebody? What was he doing? If he's correcting somebody, then what happened that they needed correction? If he was encouraging somebody, why was they down to begin with? It's just simple questions that you can ask yourself to do what, to put yourself in the historical context of what was really going on. So so the Bible was written to real people in real times and you have to take the historical context into consideration.
Speaker 1:When Jesus prophesied about the events in Matthew 24, and I hope some of y'all study Matthew 24. Just go through the whole book. It's going to change your world. It really is. If you're in a Bible study right now, stop your Bible study and go through Matthew 24 and begin your Bible study there, because that's where we're at right now. That's what we're talking about. And those other things are great. I'm glad you're studying them, but I want you to get into a place to where you're understanding what we're saying right now, so it makes more sense to you. You're understanding what we're saying right now, so it makes more sense to you.
Speaker 1:In matthew 24 he was addressing his disciples. Jesus was talking to his followers. He wasn't talking to me and you. He was talking to them, not a distance or distant audience. You know, 2,000 years from then. He was addressing real people during a real time, and they were sitting down. Jesus was sitting in front of them and he was speaking directly to every one of them.
Speaker 1:Revelation was written to seven first century churches, that was, in the Asia Minor Seven very specific churches. That's who it was written to To instruct them and to encourage them and to give them guidance. It was not written to predict future events or even modern day events. I mean, every time an earthquake happens and the Lord's fixing to come back, look what he's doing. I mean no, we can't predict modern events from Revelation. If it's in context, you can. If you're not reading it in context, I can make a verse, say anything I want it to say, and if you're gullible enough I'll make you believe it. But if we read it in context, we cannot pull a verse out of Revelation to explain how Hurricane Helene just happened. Can't do it.
Speaker 1:Revelation has been taught to be very scary. It scares a lot of people. Most people tell you I don't even want to read Revelation because I don't want to know what's going to happen in the end time. I want to read you one verse right here, and I wrote this down when I was in my office a while ago I wasn't planning on looking at it, but Revelation 1 and 1. Very first verse In most of your bibles.
Speaker 1:If you look at your bible it's going to say an introduction to revelation, an introduction to this scary book that's telling you what's going to happen to you if you ain't born again. The revelation of Jesus Christ, not of the Antichrist, not of the tribulation, not of burning in hell forever. The revelation, the revealing Revelation, means to be revealed. The revealing of Jesus Christ. The scariest book in the Bible is revealing Jesus, not so scary anymore if you look from that lens. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show who His servant. Now we can take stuff from it, because why I'm his servant, you're his servant. But here's the other catch to it Everything can't be taken literal. Why? Because to show his service, things which must shortly take place. Either Because to show His service, things which must shortly take place, either God didn't understand time or we have just badly misinterpreted this. Shortly, jesus says within I mean like now, not 2,000 years. I mean like now, not 2,000 years. And he sent and signified it by His angel to His servant, john.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to read that one verse because Revelation has been so misunderstood and scares people and gets people thinking on the end of times and what's going to happen if I'm not ready and all this kind of stuff, and it's really, really scary. It causes a lot of anxiety with people. But the very first verse in that book tells you it's about Jesus Christ. That's what the book's about. So think about the historical context. We're going to just do a real quick thing. It's not even going to be long, but I'm going to change your whole mindset on Revelation.
Speaker 1:Okay, revelation number one is hard to read because we're trying to read it from a mindset of literal stuff. Revelation is not a literal book. If you try to read it and take everything literal, you are going to be so confused and you're going to close and say I don't even want to read Revelation. And I would agree with you. Please don't read Revelation from a literal standpoint because you're going to mess it up so much. And since it is originally about the revealing of Jesus Christ, you know what's going to happen. We're going to get a wrong interpretation of Jesus Christ, why he was here, what he was here for and what was accomplished on His behalf. We're going to mess that whole gospel message, the good news. We're going to mess that whole thing up because we're trying to read a book that is not literal, from a literal mindset. It's not going to work like that.
Speaker 1:But here's the historical. It's going to be brief, the historical context of Revelation, the churches that it talked about. I told you it talked about seven churches. They lived under Roman law, roman rule, where emperor worship was increasingly enforced. They wanted all the emperors you bow down to, you worship these emperors. Okay, christians who refused to bow down to the emperor faced persecution, economic exclusion and even death. Many churches were struggling with false teachings, moral compromise and lukewarm faith. Push you back in that time. Now you get to kind of see what was going on. Remember I said a while ago, when I read this, I say why did John feel the need to write this? He wrote it to the seven churches. So my next question is why? Why did the seven churches need it? Historical context tells you why they needed it Because they were going through a lot of stuff right here. Okay, the book addresses their immediate circumstances, not 2,000 years from then. Their immediate circumstances, offering encouragement, correction and hope, while doing one thing Pointing to Christ. He always pointed it back to Christ.
Speaker 1:Also, understanding apocalyptic language, I know when we say words like that, some people say, oh, you don't hear it. Apocalyptic simply means imagery, symbol, symbol, symbolism. There's a lot of symbolism in the Bible. Specifically, there's two books in the Bible. If you look at Daniel and the book of Revelation, it's apocalyptic book, apocalyptic Think of the word apocalypse, talking about the end of time, the last days. That's where that comes from. So when you think about apocalyptic language, it's talking about the end of it. The end, okay, but there's a lot of symbolism in it and imagery to describe spiritual realities and historical events. Just a couple of examples I wrote right here, just want you to see them.
Speaker 1:If you look at Revelation 13, it talks about the beast. Now we don't have to be told about the beast, because we've been told about the beast all the time in church. You've been warned the mark of the beast will come If you take this mark. Y'all know the story. You've been scared with it too. You've been worried about are you going to have to take the mark of the beast? The beast in Revelation 13 refers to the Roman Empire and Caesar, whose name when you go back and study it out. Numerically aligns with 666. But we're all afraid that one day we're going to have to get the mark of the beast, or some of our friends are, because they're not born again.
Speaker 1:If we're going to look at the Word through a lens of fulfillment, we have to take into consideration certain key prophecies. We have to make sure we're reading things in context. Another example is the abomination of desolation. It uses those words in Matthew 24. The abomination of desolation he uses those words in Matthew 24. The abomination of desolation that even sounds scary. It refers to the destruction of the temple. But most people will take this and I even done this a while ago. I don't want to pull it up because I'll lose my notes, but I typed it in. I wrote abomination of desolation meaning Just to see what it in. I wrote abomination of desolation meaning Just to see what it said. And it talks about the end of time. It talks about the time frame right before the Antichrist is coming. Nothing to do with that, but that's the meaning that Google's going to give you on it. Why? Because that is what's taught and it scares people. That was literally talking about the time of the destruction of the temple. So we have to look at certain prophecies and the fulfillment of the prophecies. We have to look at the destruction of the temple and say why was it destroyed? And we have to take those passages from the Old Testament that talked about the temple being destroyed, read them and then go to where it was torn apart at and realize and put that together and say you know, everything that was prophesied over here it happened. It wasn't a lie, it actually happened. So how do you explain that Jesus' warnings in Matthew 24 were fulfilled when the Roman army destroyed the temple? So everything he said it come to pass and it ended that old covenant system. I got a couple of things I wrote here just because I want you to see them.
Speaker 1:The day of the Lord, I would love to just go around and do a poll and say what does the day of the Lord mean to you? What does the day of the Lord mean to you? What does the day of the Lord mean to you? And everybody would probably come up with something different. What does the day of the Lord mean to you? What does the day of the Lord mean to you? What does the day of the Lord mean to you and everybody would probably come up with something different. Google it what does the day of the Lord mean? And you're going to get a very different interpretation than what I'm about to tell you. You're going to get a different meaning of it. The day of the Lord in many cases refers to God's judgment. We're going to stand before God one day. That's a sticky subject that I'm not going to teach on that day, so I hate to even get into it, but I'm just telling you that's the meaning that a lot of people are going to take from it.
Speaker 1:Look in Isaiah 13. It talks about Babylon and all. You can go in there and look at different verses, but it's not talking about the end of the world. It's talking about judgment on nations, the nations that were in that time period. It wasn't talking about you, unless you lived in one of those nations back in that time period in the first century. It wasn't referring to you. This is challenging Because we've always been told that.
Speaker 1:Have you ever thought about the Bible as a covenant story? And I mean the whole Bible, all through the Bible? It tells the story of God's covenant, and this is one thing that really helped me to be able to see things in a different way. I started out looking at the creation covenant and I ain't going to read the verse, but I'll give you the verse if you want to look at it In Genesis 1, 26 and 28. It explains God's purpose for humanity to rule and reflect on the earth All through Genesis. It talks about creation covenant. In Genesis 12, it talks about the Abrahamic covenant God's promise to bless all nations, all nations Through Abraham's descendants. Okay, you can go in there and you can see this covenant. Then you can see the Abrahamic covenant.
Speaker 1:And then we get down to the Mosaic covenant Moses, the law of Moses. This is in Matthew 5. You can see that the law given to Israel, fulfilled by Christ. He said I did not come to destroy the law, I've come to fulfill the law. And in Matthew 5, he shows you where he fulfilled the Mosaic covenant. And then we move. Remember we said a while ago, where the old covenant is obsolete, there has to be a new. So we see in Matthew 5 as well, where the Mosaic covenant. I'm sorry, where the Mosaic covenant was in Matthew 5 and 17,. And then it was passed away, it was made obsolete and then a new covenant was ushered in. It is the ultimate fulfillment of God's plan for humanity, established through the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:All of those things matter. We're not doing away with any of those. We're not saying, oh, that's not important, what he done there. No, it's all important. It's very, very important. It's a covenant of grace. They didn't have that in the Mosaic covenant. It's a covenant of transforming us from the inside out.
Speaker 1:Mosaic covenant was everything on the outside Rules, regulations, how you done things, how you look, how you talk, how you dress. You couldn't go before God. You got to have somebody else go before God for you All these kind of rules and regulations. He done away with that and said I'm going to give you a covenant of grace. I'm going to give you a covenant of transformation. I'm going to give you this covenant that you can be a part of and you can change from the inside out and you can be reconciled to God. Thank you, father. You can be reconciled to God through my finished work. All of this stuff starts making. We've talked about reconciliation, we've talked about finished work we've talked about. Now all this stuff starts coming together and you start seeing in the new covenant how this works. Now. It don't make sense in old covenant because there is no grace. Okay, it don't make sense in the old covenant, because there is no grace. Okay. It don't make sense in all that stuff because it's a new covenant. It only makes sense in a new covenant. So why was the old covenant? Why did it end? Destruction of the temple in 78 A marked the definitive end of the covenant, as sacrifices were no longer needed.
Speaker 1:That's as narrowing it down to as simple as you can get it. Why did it end? Because there was no need for sacrifices anymore. He came, he paid the ultimate sacrifice. There was no longer. He opened the door for us to come in now and be with him, be one with him and not have to send somebody else to him on my behalf. He opened that door up, so there was no longer a need for a priest to have to go in and pray for me, because he says now I'll come and live in you, I'll be with you, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you.
Speaker 1:I died for you. I died and you died with me. I was buried and you were buried with me. I rose and you died with me. I was buried and you was buried with me. I rose and you rose with me. I'm seated and you're seated with me. All when he died, all died. This is a redemptive story. He redeemed. Everything that was lost through Adam was redeemed through Jesus. You want to know what Jesus gave you. Go back and do a deep dive study on what Adam lost. You want to know what Jesus gave you. Find out what was lost, because it's a redemptive story. Hebrews 8 and 13 declares the old covenant obsolete because Jesus fulfilled the requirement, so it's no longer needed anymore.
Speaker 1:Avoiding misinterpretations and common errors in the Bible takes looking at it from a different mindset. Taking passages out of context happens so often In prophecies again, like Matthew 24, 6 and 7, it talks about wars and rumors of wars. Man, we have taken that passage and I mean there's four to part and it's often misapplied to modern day events. That's what we use it for. These warnings were specific to the disciples' generation. We can't take those verses and turn them around and blame the hurricanes and the earthquakes and the floods on that. We can't do it and we're taking it out of context.
Speaker 1:Revelation's imagery is frequently misinterpreted as futuristic, despite the clear time markers that's in it. Let me give you an example, in Revelation 1 and 3, it says the time is near. That's a pretty descriptive time marker. Time is near, it's at hand. Time is near, it's at hand, it is now. Those are words that's in there that we can't now take and apply a new definition to those words. Why? Because he was talking back then. He was telling them back then. It is now, it is near, it is soon.
Speaker 1:We can't change those words because we want them to fit here. It don't work like that. We can't change the Bible around and change the definitions of the words. Because we're going through stuff here on the earth and we want the Bible to fit. We got to find a verse to support it. That's the way we feel we have to find a verse to support this. That's the way we feel we have to find a verse to support this. So we just go in there and start digging and we take something that sounds good and we attribute it to that event.
Speaker 1:I can tell you why a lot of stuff's happening on earth. That'll be another sermon, but there's a reason for it. The earth is groaning, groaning, groaning, hurting, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, not just the believers. The son, a big difference and I believe there's things that happen. I believe earthquakes and I believe floods, and I believe things happen and I believe there's reasons that they happen. It's not just atmospheric thing, I mean. I believe it's spiritual too. That's another subject. Let me get down to the end right here, ignoring the fulfilled nature of prophecy. This happens all the time.
Speaker 1:Many Christians view the Bible as a book of unfulfilled prophecies. The problem with that view is that it shifts the focus away from Jesus' completed work. If we believe in the finished work of Christ and we believe that Jesus said what he said, he meant what he said and he fulfilled like he said, then we cannot take that and apply it to the future, can't do it, it just don't work. So if we read the Bible with a Christ-centered approach and ask how does this passage point to Jesus and his kingdom? Because everything comes back to him, how does this passage point to Jesus and his kingdom Recognize that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God's promises? In 2 Corinthians 1 and 20, it talks about that. Everything has to come back to him. We've taken scripture so far out of context. It has nothing to even do with the Bible anymore. Some of them there's a lot of examples we could use. We also have to avoid applying ancient prophecies to modern day events, unless the context clearly supports it and there's very few that it does Understand that the Bible story is about God fulfilling His promise to redeem His people through Christ.
Speaker 1:I've said most of this. I've got some little bullets here. I just want to make sure I hear it, but I've said them. It's a redemptive plan of God through Christ on the earth. We have to celebrate that. We live in the age of the new covenant, where God's presence dwells with us through the Holy Spirit. We don't have to seek His presence. We don't have to go to a certain place and get somebody to and pay somebody in a sense to go in for me and touch God for me anymore. We have access to Him. His presence is here. He lives on the inside of me.
Speaker 1:The Bible is a book about Jesus. It's a book about His kingdom and it's a book about His fulfilled promises. As we read the Bible, let's remember Christ has already conquered sin. Christ has already conquered sin. Christ has already conquered death and he's already conquered Satan. He's been defeated. The kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God is now and we are called to live as ambassadors to that kingdom. We don't have to live in fear. We don't have to be scared of what's going to happen one day.
Speaker 1:I know who I am and I kind of look at it like this. Some people may not like this opinion, but kind of look at it like this. Some people may not like this opinion, but I just look at it like this If I'm wrong, I still know who I am, so it still ain't going to bother me. I mean, I really still know who I am. I still believe in who I am. So even if I was wrong on what I'm teaching, it still ain't going to make a difference because I still know who I am in Christ. Maybe I'm wrong and we all going to float away one day into the sky Okay, no big deal, because I still know who I am. Maybe I'm wrong and there is going to be that seven years tribulation. Okay, I'm cool with it because I know who I am.
Speaker 1:But also, by knowing who I am, there's so much more that I can get out of kingdom now, rather than just waiting until one day to get my prize in heaven. You know, I think Jesus waiting until one day to get my prize in heaven. I think Jesus and God are sitting there waiting on us to manifest this thing on earth. Sometimes I have a vivid imagination and I picture God looking down at us. He loves you now, don't get me wrong, but I'm just telling you my us. He loves you now, don't get me wrong, but I'm just telling you my opinion.
Speaker 1:He's just frustrated. You got it. Why don't you do something with it? You're waiting to come here. No, I want you to bring this there, you know, and just look at us like come on, do this thing, show the earth who I am, show those people what's on the inside of you. You're holding it in, just waiting to die. No, let it go Live. Quit waiting to die, live. That's just the way I picture God. He's not angry. He just wants more out of me than I see in myself, because it's there and he wants me to see it and he wants me to use it. He wants me to manifest things here on earth that I have access to, things that I'm waiting for one day, and he says, no, I'm giving it to you now. I that I'm waiting for one day and he says, no, I'm giving it to you now. I love you. You're my child. I'm giving it to you now. You don't have to wait. I'm not going to make you wait, I want you to have it now. That's the difference. People are not teaching this and they're teaching futuristic. They are not teaching this and they're teaching futuristic. They're not wrong. It's just a difference in what I have access to now and what I have access to later. We have an opportunity now to share this message. We can pray for whoever they're going after. Right now. You can stand to your feet, go ahead.
Speaker 1:I think the one thing that has really changed my perspective to is taking that mindset of saying how does this point back to Jesus, whatever I'm reading? How does it point back to Jesus? Whatever I'm reading, how does it point back to Jesus and the kingdom? Because it should, and realizing too that the Bible's theme was not me. I mean I really want to take a pat on my back and say but it wasn't about me, it was about Him. And when I change my perspective on that and begin to read through that lens of Christ-centered and not me-centered, it changes the way I understand the Scripture and I no longer begin to take them out of context as often Because it was not written to me. It was written for me. Maybe that makes more sense now. I preached that several months ago. Maybe that makes more sense. It was not written to me, but it was for me. I can't take something from it.