The Journey Vol. 2, Ordination Service, Clarification on the Old Covenant (Pastoral Emphasis for 4/2)

Mark your calendars for our next Theological Seminar on 4/22 starting at 9am. We have Professor Walter Strickland from SEBTS returning to give us the History of the Black Church. You will not want to miss it! Please register here.

On Wednesday, we start volume 2 of our Discipleship Journey in Bible Study. Our first session will look at who is Jesus. When we have a proper understanding of who Jesus is, we'll see that He is worth following. You can purchase your volume 2 book for $4 from Deacon Johnson.

Sunday at 4pm, we had an ordination service for Elder Roderick Harrison, Ministers Matt Darby, Rasheeda Oliver, and Evangelist Barry Singleton. Pastor Larry Snead preached the ordination message from Ephesians 4:1-6 on "Walk Worthy of Your Calling". We praise God for these individuals God has called to serve His church.

After today, we're going to take a little break from the book of Mark. We'll resume in May. Also, I want to clarify something about the Old Covenant from last week's sermon, Everything is New with Jesus. In Hebrews, it says that if the first covenant had been sufficient there would have been no need for a second. This might lead to the impression that the Old Covenant was bad or fell short of its purpose. The Old Covenant was good but it was never intended to provide salvation for people. In that sense, it was inadequate. The purpose of the Law in the Old Covenant was to point out our need for a Savior.

Paul writes in Galatians 3:21-26 (NLT):

Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 

The Law under the Old Covenant was like a babysitter watching over us until the parents come home. Once the parents come home, the babysitter goes home because their job is done. Jesus has come and He fulfilled the Law so that we are now under the New Covenant.

There was a brief Zone meeting after the service for all members. Deacon David Bowser reviewed our Zone strategy and discussed activities and service opportunities within the church.