Ep. 34| God Didn't Hire You to Run His Labels Department

 Note: This episode was recorded live at a church gathering, so audio quality varies.

God doesn't show favoritism. But the church still does.

Peter had a vision that shattered everything he believed about who God accepts. In Acts 10, God breaks down the barriers between clean and unclean, worthy and unworthy, insider and outsider.

The lesson isn't just historical—it's a message for today's church.

• The Old Covenant vs. the New Covenant: What Jesus actually fulfilled
• How to distinguish God's laws from man's rules (Torah vs. Talmud)
• The "God or Man?" game that exposes false doctrine
• Why church traditions aren't God's commandments
• Being a "door," not a gatekeeper—and what that means for your faith
• The Gentile Pentecost: When God made clean what man called unclean

If you've been hurt by church, confused by religious rules, or reconstructing your faith—this episode is essential.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:14

All right, guys, thank you so much. Really excited to share today's lesson with you. As Eric said, my name is Josiah. I'm actually one of the organizers here. I'm super excited to talk about this because we're going to be picking up in Acts 10. And so I have a question for the room before I even started off here. Has anyone talked to God and did he hire you to run his labels department? Nobody, really? Because sometimes we as Christians can act that way. But today that's what we're going to be addressing in Acts 10. Okay, so last week we covered Saul Paul's conversion, and this week we're going to be talking about a conversion of a different kind. Paul's conversion was when he went from a Jewish believer to a believer in Christ. Peter's conversion that we're going to be talking about today is a conversion of prejudice. See, what we're going to find out is that God changed Peter's heart towards people, and he actually set up his church and foundation for the church in the process of those. And so there's a lesson for all of us in this, and I just feel blessed that I get to share it and super excited to jump in. So before we jump into this, the first thing I want to talk about is the Torah, aka the Law of Moses, as Jesus refers to it oftentimes. Sometimes he just calls it the law. But what is this? This is really going to help us to understand today's lesson, so let's talk about it. So 2,000 years ago, Jewish people lived under what was called the Torah. In Hebrew, that stands again for the law, that whole thing that I'll just explain. But the Torah comes from the first five books of the Bible. It's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It applied to everything. So if you were a Jewish person that lived 2,000 years ago, it wasn't just like a book of rules that you have to do. It was an entire system of everything. It was the food that you ate, the clothing that you wore, the uh you know, the people that you spoke with, that you were allowed to speak with, the people that you weren't allowed to speak with. It was what you should do on certain days. It was hygiene. It basically encompassed the entire, like every single aspect of life for the Jewish people. They lived under this, this was called the Torah, and it was commanded by God. Everything had a category under the Torah. It basically had clean or unclean. Clean meant permitted, unclean meant it was not permitted. There was no gray area under the Torah. Everything was written down and everybody followed it. Here's the thing, though. As you guys can imagine, when God gives us commandments and, you know, he gives us rules and some of this kind of stuff, and I say invitations, okay, God invites us to live in a new way. This is why he gives us these commandments, okay? But here's the thing. While God gave us these laws and these rules to protect us and call them separate people and follow him, over time rabbis, scribes, and religious leaders built extra rules on top of God's rules with the effort to, well, protect the Torah, protect the law. That's why we find out about Pharisees and all that kind of stuff. And man's law, in addition to God's law, was called the Talmud. And I know some people in this room have studied the Talmud, and it's very interesting. Let's put it that way. Anyhow, that was man's rules. That wasn't God's rules, okay? So this went on for so long that eventually people forgot which rules were God's rules and which rules were man's rules. And so as we read on, this is gonna be really handy to understand. So with that being said, let's go ahead and let's actually start our first group reading. Um, if somebody could please read, let's just read Acts 10, 1 and 2, please. Acts 10, 3 through 4.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Cornelius stared at him in fear.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

What is it, Lord? He asked. The angel answered, your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Awesome. Thank you, Joe. Appreciate it, buddy. Okay, so let's meet Cornelius, the God-fearing Roman officer. Okay, so Cornelius, he was a Roman officer, he was a centurion, he was a Roman soldier. He, to the Jewish people during this time, he would have been the occupier. If you can imagine, in the eyes of a Jewish person 2,000 years ago for a Star Wars reference, basically the Empire, you know, he would have represented the Empire while the Jews thought of themselves as a way to kind of look at you know what's going on at that time. And here we are, this man, as representing the empire in this crazy uniform and all this stuff, he prays constantly, he gives generously, and he fears God and genuinely worships the God of Israel. This isn't a casual thing for him, it he takes it very seriously as the scripture tells us. But in the eyes of the Jewish religious establishment, he would still be considered on the outside looking in. So when we think about, you know, some of us are familiar with the story of Ruth, uh Ruth in the Old Testament. She was a Moabite woman, she wasn't actually Jewish, but she did say, Your God will be my God. That's her quote. She believed before she was formally part of the Jewish religion and the nation of Israel. You see, the Jewish nation and the religious system, they were kind of two in one. So Cornelius was kind of in the same spot as Ruth at that time. He had a real faith, he had a real relationship with God, but he never formally joined the covenant community through circumcision. Okay, if we're not familiar with circumcision, this was a very special way that God in the Old Testament, in the Old Covenant, we're gonna talk about this of the Old and the New Covenant. Um, but this was a very special way that somebody would signify that they were separate than the world. And what it involved with was actually cutting off the tip of your wheel. That's what happened. That's that's what it says. And so that's uh so basically he believed in God and all that stuff, but he didn't want to formally follow through with the circumcision, and so as a result, Jewish religious leaders would basically look at him as still an outside. Alright, let's keep going. If we could, if someone could read Acts 10, 9 through 11, please.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

About noon the following day, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He felt hungry and wanted something to eat. And while Neo was being fell into a trend, you saw heaven open, something like large sheet being let down to the earth by its horrible.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Thank you, Lou, appreciate that, buddy. Okay, if someone could read Acts 10, 12 through 13, please.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Thank you very much, Colleen. Okay, and if somebody could just uh finish up this passage here with uh reading Acts 10 14 through 16 not for either reading.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Okay, thank you guys for reading.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Okay, all right, this is some bizarre, weird, crazy stuff, man. What the heck is going on with this freaking vision? We got animals, the sheep, what the heck? It's nuts. So we just read that God showed Peter a full sheet of animals, and he said, Go, kill, and eat. Peter said, No way am I doing that. I think that's kind of hilarious. If I, you know, I'm just kind of reminded of Peter, like this personality type with how many times, how often he said no. You know, one of the ones I'm reminded of is when Jesus insisted on washing his feet, and Peter said, Yeah, right, no way am I doing that, Lord, forget it. And then Jesus told him, Well, I have to do this to fulfill scripture. And then after that, Peter was all in, and he said, Heck yeah, okay, well, if that's the case, then wash my head, wash my body, wash my feet, wash the whole thing. So Peter kind of has a history of saying, Yeah, right, I am doing that. And then once he understands the message, then he's like the most entire all-in kind of person. I think it's cool because we see that his personality in this deck. Um, here's why this is a way bigger deal than what it sounds with all this crazy stuff with the sheets and all that. But according to the Torah, God's actual law specifically said that certain animals were off-limit, certain things like pigs, shellfish, so there was a whole much bigger list than that. And Peter had kept these rules as a Jewish guy his entire life. It wasn't necessarily just he didn't care for the taste of you know pork or something along these lines. This was the rule. This is what the Jews called it. And so this was obedience to what he believed was a direct command from God at the time. Again, we're gonna talk about the old covenant and the new covenant. This was a command at that time. Jesus filled the covenant, which we will talk about again towards the end. So this is basically what it would be like, okay? Imagine if somebody walks up to you and they hand you a plate and they say, Here, eat this. And on that plate, it's full of cockroaches in maggots. Yeah, that's right. It's disgusting. In the mind of a two, you know, a Jewish person from 2,000 years ago, that's basically what this vision would have looked like. It would have totally affected. And then it became a combo, right? So here's where it gets interesting. All right, God is using something that Peter already would have understood. It would be so shocking that it would get his attention. And later, what we find out is that this vision has little to do with food, very little to do with food, has way more to do with everything about the new covenant that Jesus came to do. Okay, so let's go ahead. Somebody could uh read that next passage. Uh Acts 10, 17. That one. While Peter was wondering about the reading of the vision, man, the men sent by Cornelius, found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. They call it out as Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Thank you, McKenzie. I appreciate that. Okay, if we could read, uh, let's do 19 and 20. Uh, while Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit said to him, Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them. Or I had to mention them. Awesome. All right. Okay, and if anyone would like to read, and McKenzie, thank you for reading both those. I appreciate it. I didn't make it clear. Um, and if anyone would like to read Acts 10, 21 through 23.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

What are you looking for? Why didn't you know?

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Thank you, Chuck. Appreciate it, bud.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Okay, so this is real interesting, you guys. Peter has now become a door. He is not a gatekeeper. Think about it. He let the people in, the Gentiles, right? Gentile just means a non-Jewish person. Hanging out with a Jewish person, we're gonna talk about this, so let's just unpack, right? Oh, one of the things also before I jump into kind of that note is that I find this part fascinating where the spirit calls Peter, and he refers to him by his birth name, if we look at this. Alright, he calls him Simon. Now remember, Jesus already changed Simon's name to Peter. He said, Peter means rock, this is a rock on which I'll build my church. What he meant is that Peter was the first confessing believer, and then the church was going to grow through the believers. That's what Jesus was saying at that time. So when the Spirit now calls Peter, he calls him Simon. Now, this is my personal interpretation. I want to make this very clear, but when I was reading this and I was doing my research, it just jumped off the page. I kind of look at this as God calling out Peter. He was acting in his old ways, and we had a new thing coming. Okay, that's the new covenant, and we're gonna talk about that. So then the three Gentile strangers show up right as the vision ends, and Peter's still trying to figure out what it meant, and the spirit says, Go with them, do not hesitate. This is why it's a big deal. Kind of what I was alluding to. He's hanging out with Gentiles, all right? He was hanging out with non-Jewish people. Okay, he invited them, and not only that, but he invited them into the house and he let them sleep there. Now, there was a Torah principle that God gave the people at this time. That was you do not adopt pagan practices. On the flip side, man made the rule in the Talmud that you aren't even supposed to be hanging out with these guys in the same house. So God's law was don't adapt practices. Man's law, don't even hang out with these guys, shut them up completely. When Peter saw this and he had this vision, he didn't argue, he went with it. And I think there's another lesson in that is that faith isn't understanding every single piece of the process before you start taking action. Faith is just stepping through whatever that thing is and trusting that God's gonna show up. That's faith, you guys. And Peter, here we go. First, he didn't understand it. Took him three times to get the lesson, kind of a repeating thing there, right? And then he gets the lesson, but once he has that faith, man, does he start walking? So let's go ahead and just read Acts 24 through 26.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Peter made him get up stand up and only have myself.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

That's right. Thank you, Colleen. All right, if we could read uh Acts 10, 27 through 29.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Um aware against our law so we have our visit.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Heck yeah. Thank you very much, Lou. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

All right, so this is what I personally see. I gotta be careful. This is what I personally see with this. Very interesting. When I personally read this, I just think of what a rigmarole, what uh crazy thing. Why is this? So here's a little bit of context of what's going on. Peter was 35 miles away, he was in a city of Japan. Then the Spirit told him to go with these three men. They had to travel 35 miles, and they were gonna go meet Cornelius, who is the Roman centurion. We're gonna find out later that centurion was actually having a big party so that the gospel can be preached to all his friends during this time. But what's with all the rigmarole? You know, Cornelius had an angel. The Holy Spirit's alive and moving. The Holy Spirit could have just showed up, could have had an angel just declare the gospel to the whole room of Cornelius and his friends, and that could have been it. Why all this rigmarole? Why does Peter have, you know, it wasn't like he could get in a car and just drive 45 minutes up to St. Peter, something like that. You know what I'm saying? This was a multiple-day journey. There was a lot of work and everything else. Personal interpretation of this is that this was a lesson for Peter that would set the foundation of the future of the church. This is a big deal. And then something amazing happens. I really truly think the lesson was for Peter first, and God was cracking his heart open to accomplish a much bigger mission that would not stop with Peter. This very moment, as we're gonna find out in just a moment, changed the entire direction of the church all the way to today. And what God taught in one man's vision became the foundation for everyone who came after him. We're gonna find that out. It's pretty cool. Okay, let's go ahead. We got a little bit of reading to do. Let's go ahead, let's make it happen. If we can have someone read Acts 10, 34, you can say thirty-six, yeah. Hey, man. All right. Awesome. Thank you very much, Greg. I appreciate that. Okay, if someone can read thirty-nine through forty-one. Appreciate that, Everett. Okay, and if somebody could just read thirty-nine oh, I'm sorry, uh forty-two and forty-three.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

He commanded us to preach to testify. All the prophets testify by him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sin through his name.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

Man, you know it's funny. I just caught this. Spent like all week working on this, and I just caught this. All the prophets testify. How neat. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

We're gonna we're gonna circle back to that. It's gonna be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Before we do, however, let's talk about this. God shows no favoritism. One of my favorite lines right here in this is that Peter opens his mouth, his mouth, and he says it himself. He says, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism. This is awesome. He says, I now realize in his words, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism. And what's really neat about this is now Peter is in the room, he's with a bunch of Gentiles, not Jews. And what we know is that I think it's like Acts chapter 4, maybe Jack, I don't know. Pentecost, do you know what chapter the anybody know what chapter is? Okay, that's fine. That's when you had the flaming tongues, and everybody started speaking different languages and interpretating, and 3,000 men and their families for say lente, all that kind of stuff. So, what's amazing about that is that in his message, when Peter was preaching to the Jews, he went to the Old Testament and he actually pulled out all this really amazing stuff. All the prophets testify to the Messiah, right? And he goes through this big theological kind of a conversation that the Jewish people at that under time really would have understood that this is proof that Jesus really was the Messiah. What's awesome about this is now Peter's in a room with a bunch of Gentiles. They don't really know anything about the Torah or the law or Judaism or any of that kind of stuff. And so Peter preaches a message, he keeps the gospel really, really simple. Hey, Jesus died for you, he's the Messiah, believe him. That's the gospel, and he kept it real, real to the point. And I think that's cool too, is because we as believers can kind of gain from that playbook. When we're sharing, when we're witnessing, we have to be very cognizant of the audience that we're speaking to. It's really easy just to walk somebody down the Romans road, if you guys are familiar with that, and just tell them that they're a sinner and they knew Jesus. They say, Oh, I believe in God, and now they think they're saved for the rest of their life, and that's it. No, Jesus said that you have to become born again. He said that you have to have a relationship with the Father, right? And so when we're sharing our testimonies, when we're sharing witnessing with Don and all these things, we just want to be, you know, cognizant of who we're speaking to because it can be really tempting to use a bunch of big church words, scare the crap out of people, and act like we're, I'll say, act like we're the shit because we're freaking, you know, we know all these big church words that we learned. We don't want to do that, man. Peter could have done that. He could have blown them away. He could have totally blown them away. No. Peter was there to open the door to be the door, invite the Gentiles in. That was true for the Jews back then, it's true for Romans, the Romans, and it's true today. Okay, let's go ahead, let's do this. Let's uh finish out our readings today, and then we're gonna have some fun with this game. And I can't wait for that and all that stuff, Setham. Okay, let's read Acts 10, 44 through 46, please. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate that. Okay, who wants to close us out with the 47 and the 48? Peter.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Peter says surely no one can stand in the way of their being. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So we ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

unknown 22:20

Then they ask Peter to stay with them for a few days.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Awesome. Thank you, Lou.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Dude, this is sweet. This is so cool. Okay. I'm calling this slide an inheritance for all. All right. While Peter was still mid-sentence, the Holy Spirit falls on home. Okay, now we have almost like this now Pentecost 2.0 with the Gentiles this time. This is actually what scholars call the Gentile Pentecost. Alright. One of the amazing things is that the Jewish believers who came with Peter, they're standing there basically with their mouths open, completely in shock. They're watching this whole thing happen, as you can imagine, it'd just be mind-blowing, right? It'd be so cool. So that was again, that was the Gentile Pentecost. We already talked about X2. There's the same Holy Spirit is now doing the same thing for people who Jewish people at the time would be considered unworthy of this thing. And think of it this way: it's kind of like a family inheritance. Can you guys imagine if you you know you're part of the family, you know, every person who's gonna be in the will and all this stuff, you know, somebody passes away and you're gonna go to the meeting and you're gonna have a lawyer read all that stuff. Then all of a sudden, as the lawyer is reading the will, there's a bunch of people that you don't even know about. And you're like, what the heck? This is my inheritance. What is this trash? Like, who are these people, right? Well, that's how the Jewish people would have felt at that time. But that's exactly what's happening here. God has made clean what man is called unclean, and God is saying, we ain't doing that. That's the old day, okay? We're in the new days, we're in the new time of the new covenant, which we're gonna wrap up in just a moment. It's so cool, man. You know, that's basically what's happening. One thing before I forget, because it's really neat, is that we really have to point this out. God wasn't picking and choosing who gets the inheritance. God shows us that this is a free gift for all who want it. And Jesus said it this way if anyone's thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He didn't say, if anyone's thirsty, let him come to me and drink. But oh, that person, oh no, no, I'm not gonna serve that person. I don't like that. No, he doesn't say that. Anyone. Anyone, if you're thirsty, come, let him come to me and drink, and I'll give you rest for his souls. He goes on to stay after that. He says that many times throughout his ministry. Can anyone stand in the way? So then Peter looks around and he says, Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. You guys, we are supposed to celebrate when people come to the kingdom of God with us. We're not supposed to say, Oh, what? Jesus accepted that Satanist, oh, that's MPS. No, that's not what we do. Oh, Jesus accepted that pedophile? Yeah, right. I can't, I don't want that, right? You guys, we cannot call unclain what God has called plain. If God is in the process of doing a redemptive work, we're going to stand in his way. Well, uh, okay, I don't I don't know if that's what Jesus did, but at the same time, we can we can have that conversation at a different time. So it's rhetorical though, okay? Nobody can stand in the way of these people being baptized. And we've met the same Jesus, they have the same Holy Spirit that we have, nobody can stand in the way. Let's get some water, let's get these guys baptized, let's walk them into the family.

unknown 25:41

That's what we were saying.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

So, and that's pretty much the end of the chapter here. So, now we have a fun game, and some people in this room have already said some of the things that we're gonna talk about in the game. I can't wait to say that's happening. All right, I'm going to say something, and I want you guys to yell out. I want some participation, okay? Yell out who said it, God or man, okay? So when I say a prompt, you guys tell me who said it, God or man. Ready? Let's do any as you want to start off. Love your neighbor as yourself. Everybody yelling out. What do you think? Who said that? God or man? Amen. Oh amen. I like that distinction in the side. Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said this directly in Matthew 22, 39. Here's one. Church buildings, Father, House of God. Who said that? That's right. Uh Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4 23, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. In spirit, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Honor your father and mother. Who said that one? Amen. Ten commandments. Um, don't commit adultery. Okay, that's an obvious one. I hope so.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

I hope that one's obvious. Thank you for being here. This one, okay. God will not give you more than you can handle. Everybody say it. Man, God, man, what do you guys think? Man, okay. You guys are smart, okay. Well, that's the truth. In Matthew 11, 28. Chris, this is exactly what you said, dude. I love it. In Matthew 11, verse 28, Jesus says, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. What do you need the rest for? Because you're getting beat up. This life is going to throw crap at you that you cannot shoulder on your own. I don't care how hard, how tough you think you are. Life is tougher than you, man. It is. It's more bad than you think you are. It really is. You need somebody to help you through this life. Life will give you things that you cannot damn. But that's what Jesus is for. He'll walk with you and he'll shoulder that leg with you. So I love that one. Thank you guys for sharing that.

unknown 27:59

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Um, oh, here's one. Somebody passes away, and then they say, Heaven needed another angel today. Have you guys ever heard that? Who said that? You guys are smart. Okay, I thought I'd give more some mixed reactions, but you guys are good. So you're right. People don't become angels. There's nothing biblical about that. Certain religious denominations and things that follow maybe some man's rules will teach you that they do, but they don't. Um here's a good one. Uh, in order to pray effectively, you need to close your eyes and bow your head. Who said that?

unknown 28:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Yep, that's right. You know, Jesus actually looks up to heaven oftentimes anyway. Um, money is the root of all evil. What do you guys think? Man. Okay. This one. Hey man. You're nailing it. I know, I mean, um yeah, money is the love of money.

unknown 28:53

It's the root of all evil.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

Because if you love money and you create is thank you, all kinds of evil. Is that great?

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

So, yeah, and and well, what happens with the love of money, right? I mean, I'll be admitted, I used to, as a younger guy, I used to love money, man. I used to do a bunch of stupid stuff for it. I thought I was way cooler than what I actually was. Well, that's true. But it didn't make me not a jackass because I was kind of a jackass. It's because I love money. And it's because, you know, I what happens in there? Well, you start getting semantically, you start becoming successful, you become a young guy, everybody thinks you're cool, whatever. And you start thinking that again, you're the shit, and you're really not. So I love that. Thank you for sharing that. Totally. Yep.

unknown 30:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

Amen. Amen. It's the truth.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

Yep. Um, okay, so I really want to get to the next slide, but uh let me let's do two more.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

I want to pick out some good ones. Okay. I got so many good ones. I have like 20 of them more and she's going okay. Okay, all right. You need to get you need to be baptized in order to be saved. Okay, got a man. Got a man, you gotta be baptized in order to get saved. What are you gonna say? Man, okay, what about the people that cross, right? Jesus told them today you're gonna be in birth. Wow, I didn't know that. That'll be something to look into. That's very interesting. Yep, amen. That that one I did know. Wow. Okay, I got one phrase. Having a beer at church is a grave sin that will send you straight to hell. No, man said that. Okay, God didn't say that. Man said that. Let's talk about the old covenant and the new covenant real quick before. Um, we don't offend anybody, right? I mean, look, all it's easy to fall into a position. What's that? It's easy to fall into a position where some people start thinking crazy stuff. Okay. All right, I just want to point it out for I mean as far as fear, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Does it affect your body? Does it make you sick? I don't know. But I that's what the understanding why I got alcohol. Oh, interesting. I think fear is good to response with it.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

You know, and it's not even I love that you brought that up. It's not even about being that you're responsible. God, yeah, no, I love that. God wants us to live in perfect freedom with him. And this is where, you know, I actually have this listen on another thing, but when Paul talks about, I, Paul, do not want to be mastered by anything. Well, when you read that, it really reads like pastoral advice, and it is, it does make sense. You don't want to live in a position where you're dependent on something. Now, if you have medication or something and it saves your life and you are physically dependent on that, well, some people will say, well, because you know, Paul wrote that, you know, you don't want to be mastered by anything, that's a sin. Some people truly believe that. But if you really look at the heart and the context of that message, God just wants us to be free. He doesn't want us to be, you know, addicted to drugs or alcohol or really anything. He wants us to be happy and joyful and able to share the blessings that He's given us. So I want to wrap up with this. So before we take it home, you know, before we land this thing, I really want to talk about the old covenant and the new covenant. The old covenant was God's agreement. This is with Israel through Moses. This was the Torah, this was the law, all that clean and unclean, all that kind of stuff, right? And here's the wild part is that the Lord Jesus came, the Messiah, and this is all the prophets testified to him. I want to read something from Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. Maybe my favorite Bible passage of maybe all time. So it talks about the coming and the promise of what Jesus fulfilled by being the Messiah, and it's so freaking cool. This is what it says The days are coming, declare the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel. That's all believers, it's not the nation of Israel, don't think of the country, don't think of the Jews. Israel is all believers. Everybody who follows God, who has a relationship with Jesus the Messiah. Okay. Days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like a covenant I have made with their ancestors, and I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant. So I was a husband to them, neighbor, or say to one another, know the Lord. In order to know the Lord back then, you'd have to follow the Torah. That's what they believed. Okay? So here's what God is saying. No longer will he teach their neighbor the Torah, or say to one another, Know the Lord, because they will all know me from the least to the greatest, declares the Lord. But I will forgive their wickedness and I will remember their sins no more. Then Jesus, amen, right? That's right. Then Jesus came and he said in himself in Matthew 5, 17, okay? He says, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, I came to fulfill them. Do you guys see that Jesus fulfilled Jeremiah 31 in that prophecy? And that's only Jeremiah, man. Get into Zechariah, get into Isaiah, get in. It's really, really, really, really, really exciting. This particular verse in Jeremiah was written somewhere around like 600 years before Jesus reading it. It's very interesting. So, anyhow, here's what I want you guys to think of it as basically the old covenant was the roadmap pointing to a destination. Okay, if you're trying to get somewhere, it's your GPS, right? Trying to get somewhere. Jesus was that destination. Once you get to your destination, you don't keep navigating because you're already there. God always promised us that the Messiah would come, he would write righteousness, the laws of righteousness, the law of Torah on our hearts. Let me tell you something. Before I got saved, I had a big time drinking problem, I had a big-time porn problem. And that's the I have more problems than that too. Jesus came and he set me free from these things. And today I don't want to participate in that stuff simply because he gave me a gift of this Holy Spirit and it makes me thirst for righteousness. The laws of God are written on my heart at this point, purely as a gift, and he promised us that anyone who calls upon him will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and righteousness will start to grow in you. And Chris, we were talking about this over time. You start to realize there's areas that the Holy Spirit will convict us and clean us up on. That's how it works. You don't have to be perfect to come to God. God wants to know you exactly where you are today. He will walk with you and he will be gentle, kind, and loving because his yoke is easy, you guys. Come on, this is cool stuff, right? Amen. Amen stuff, you know, moral stuff about don't murder, don't steal, other neighbor, honors, parents, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. Obviously, this laws of righteousness is. But ceremonial stuff, the food laws, you know, we didn't get a chance to talk about tattoos, but this falls under the new covenant. Clean and unclean categories, those who those, all that stuff, you guys, Jesus fulfilled it. We don't have to live that way anymore. God said, you know what? The law is so freaking hard that it was designed to destroy you and just show you that you needed me. But you know what? Jesus is the fulfillment of that. No longer do we have to follow all these 600-plus rules. We get a direct relationship with God. And that's what Jesus came for was to open that door so that we could walk through it and have that relationship with God. Okay. That's it. I'm just gonna end it there. All right, fine. I'm just gonna pray for everybody in this room. Father God, we love you. We thank you. Man, we want to know you deeper. God, we ask that your Holy Spirit comes into our lives and transforms us from the inside out. Teach us to be doors, teach us to be ushers. God, teach us to invite all of the people that you're working on. And God, teach us not to call unclean that you have made clean. Father, we love you. In your name, Jesus, we pray these thanks. Amen. Cool. All right, thank you, guys.