2. MOST FREQUENT COMMENTS:
“This is wonderful! It’s such a blessing!
Why haven’t we done this before?”
THE ANSER IS:
“We’ve been ROBBED!”
Satan has stolen many of the blessing God
intended us to have!
3. SATAN IS A LIAR AND A THIEF!
Satan’s strategy is to weaken the church by
STEALING our resources.
His method: He STEALS by LYING to us!
“Healing is not for today”- the church stays sick
“Spiritual gifts ceased” - we abandon weapons
“Women can’t minister” - half army sits down
His most effective attacks has been to steal away the
WORD OF GOD (Mark 4:15)
And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when
they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the
word that was sown in their hearts.
4. Satan has persuaded many to IGNORE most
of their Bible!
One of first things a new Christian learns:
Bible is divide into 2 parts: OT and NT
OLD TESTAMENT (Hebrew Bible, Torah)
• The ¾ of the Bible originally written in Hebrew
• Describes 2000 years of preparation for the
coming of Jesus
NEW TESTAMENT
• The ¼ of the Bible originally written in Greek
• Describes the coming of Jesus and its results
5. It is often explained like this . . .
“The Old Testament is written to Jews,
the New Testament is to Christians.”
“OT has some good Sunday school stories, but most
of it is hard to understand and you shouldn’t spend
much time there because it’s not for us.”
ATTITUDE: something inferior, substandard,
or unchristian about Old Testament
Primary reason most Christians don’t
understand appointed times: When subject
is mentioned . . .
“That’s OLD Testament”
6. ASSUMPTION: If it’s Old Testament, it’s
wrong, out of date, and harmful!
“If you are really a Christian you would never
want to do something from the OT!”
“BEING DISLOYAL TO JESUS!”
If you think that . . . You’re not just rejecting OT,
… You’re also rejecting the New Testament!
Surprising Truth: The NT VALUES THE OT!
“I thought we were New Testament Church!”
“We ARE . . . But the BIBLE of the NT Church
was the Old Testament!
7. New Testament Church Used OT as BIBLE!
Imagine you were 25 years old on the day of
Pentecost and got saved when Peter spoke.
If you listened to the apostles, teaching every
day of your life . . .
Almost 60 years old before you heard your first
sermon from the New Testament!
For 30 years, EVERY sermon was from the
OT!
It’s a “New Testament” thing to STUDY the OT!
It’s a “New Testament” thing to PRACTICE OT!
For 3 centuries . . . Common to observe the
8. Many Christians have allowed the devil to steal
away ¾ of their BIBLE.
They don’t read it, teach it, or know it!
IT’S BEEN STOLEN FROM THEM!
God put a SWORD in our hands . . .
All some have left is a dagger!
God wants you to have a full sword . . .
A COMPLETE BIBLE
9. TAKING BACK
WHAT SATAN HAS
STOLEN
To do that, we want to get a
NEW Testament View of the OLD Testament
Jesus and the apostles did not view the Old
Testament as inferior, rejected, or out of
date.
They embraced it as THE WORD OF GOD!
10. TAKING BACK
WHAT SATAN HAS
STOLENWhat the New Testament CALLED
the OLD Testament
• It NEVER calls it the OLD Testament!
• It just called it SCRIPTURE!
First to call Hebrew Bible “Old Testament”
Melito of Sardis – AD 180
First to call the Greek Bible “New Testament”
Irenaeus – AD 190
That distinction: 150 years after Pentecost!
120 years after most of the NT were written!
11. TAKING BACK
WHAT SATAN HAS
STOLENJesus and the OLD Testament
Jesus embraced the Old Testament as God’s
Word. He Continually quoted it!
• Jesus in the wilderness – 3 times He
resisted the devil by quoting Deuteronomy.
• John 10:35, Jesus: “the SCRIPTURE
cannot be broken.”
• Matt 5:18 “until heaven and earth pass
away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall
pass away from the Torah.”
12. TAKING BACK
WHAT SATAN HAS
STOLEN“But the OT is Hard to Understand!”
BOTH testaments have hard things!
Both OT and NT have MEAT and MILK!
• In both is MILK to nourish young believers!
• In both there is enough MEAT to keep a mature
Christian studying for a lifetime!
GOSPEL OF JOHN
• First thing for New Christians! “easy read”
• Yet there are profound and deep things we still
need to grasp and more years of study.
13. TAKING BACK
WHAT SATAN HAS
STOLENPaul and the OLD Testament
1 Cor. 10:11 “Now these things (Old
Testament Accounts) happened to them as
an example, and were written for OUR
instruction, upon whom the ends of the
ages have come.”
The Old Testament was written for our
benefit! Don’t accept the lie that the Old
Testament was just for Jews.
14. TAKING BACK
WHAT SATAN HAS
STOLENPaul and the OLD Testament
2 Cor 3:16-18 (Describes what it’s like when a
Christian studies the Old testament)
“with unveiled face (we are ) beholding as in a
mirror the glory of the Lord . . .”
Paul says when Christians study OT . . . It’s like
viewing the glory of God in a mirror!
OT is reflection of God’s glory . . . And through it we
are transformed from glory to glory!
15. TAKING BACK
WHAT SATAN HAS
STOLENPaul and the OLD Testament
II Tim 3:14-17 – Value of OT for Christians:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned .
. . How from infancy you have known the holy
Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for
teaching, rebuking correcting and training in
righteousness, so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work.
16. TAKING BACK
WHAT SATAN HAS
STOLENPaul and the OLD Testament
“…continue in what you have learned . . . How from
infancy you have known the holy Scriptures,
which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Jewish children began their study of TORAH at age
3! “From Infancy” Timothy’s Jewish mother and
grandmother would have taught him the OT
Scriptures.
Paul is saying, “What Timothy has learned will be
of GREAT value to him as a Christian!"
17. WHY IS THE OLD
TESTAMENT
IMPORTANT?
1. You can’t understand NT without the Old!
If you reject the OT you also miss out on NT!
Studying the NT . . . Need to reference the
OT!
John the Baptist – “behold the Lamb of God!
“Trying to understand the Bible without studying the
Old Testament is like reading the last fourth part
of a good novel! You may be reading the best
parts of the book, but there will be a great deal
you don’t understand!”
18. WHY IS THE OLD
TESTAMENT
IMPORTANT?
2. The NT INSTRUCTS us to learn the OT!
If we don’t teach the OT, we are disobeying
NT!
1 Cor 10:11 “These things (things recorded in the
OT) happened to them as an example, and
were written for our instruction, upon whom the
ends of the ages have come.
Rom 15:4 “What was written in earlier times was
written for our instruction, that through
perseverance and the encouragement of the
19. WHY IS THE OLD
TESTAMENT
IMPORTANT?
3. RICH TREASURES waiting to be
revealed
Through much of it’s history, church has
neglected the OT! In the last 50 years . . .
BIBLICAL PRAISE AND WORSHIP
COVENANT RELATIONSHIPS
TABERNACLE OF DAVID
Many areas of truth are mentioned in the
New, but clearly explained in the Old!
20. WHY IS THE OLD
TESTAMENT
IMPORTANT?
4. MORE TREASURES waiting to be
revealed
TORAH = “Teaching of God” = foundational
Presence of God, Holiness, Intercession . . .
God doesn’t repeat everything, assumes you have
OT!
5. OT is full of God’s Promises, thousands!
2 Cor 1 – all “YES” in Jesus! What God wants for
you.
6. In the OT, the Church is REDISCOVERING it’s
21. WHY IS THE OLD
TESTAMENT
IMPORTANT?
Relating to the OLD Testament
2 Tim 3:16 “… profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction
and instruction in righteousness.”
- DOCTRINE (Teaching) give us understanding of the
character and nature of God - FAITH
- REPROOF - warn us when we are getting off track
- CORRECTION - Help get us back on track
- INSTRUCTION in RIGHTEOUSNESS - shows us
the ways of God and how to please Him
OLD TESTAMENT Scriptures = precious GIFT from God!
22. WHY IS THE OLD
TESTAMENT
IMPORTANT?
We are NOT under OT Rituals and Laws
But OT is far MORE than book of commandments
The OT is a WINDOW into the Heart of God!
• Torah - (5 books) foundational teaching on God
• Historical books - definitive book on praise and
worship.
• Proverbs - teaches to walk in God’s wisdom
• Prophets - greatest teaching on God ever given
(Isaiah = “gospel” clearer teaching on Jesus than NT)
To REJECT the OT is to live in self-imposed POVERTY,
missing out on blessings God intended us to enjoy!
23. WHY IS THE OLD
TESTAMENT
IMPORTANT?
Paul to Ephesians elders: Goal was to
communicate “Whole Counsel of God!”
WE NEED IT ALL!
WE NEED THE NEW TESTAMENT
WE NEED THE OLD TESTAMENT
It’s ALL one Book!
It’s ALL God’s Word!
It’s ALL of eternal value!
It’s ALL profitable . . . And it’s ALL for us!
24. HOW WE BROKE OUT OF
GOD’S CYCLE
GOD GAVE US A CYCLE OF BLESSING!
It’s a CYCLE of “appointed times” designed
to bring us into ever greater blessing!
• to draw us ever closer to God
• to lead us into restoration and revival
• and keep us secure from the enemy
God gave these as perpetual ordinances to be
observed through all generations (Lev 23:31)
But the church has abandoned them and forfeited
the blessing God intended.
HOW DID WE LOSE THEM?
25. HOW WE BROKE OUT OF
GOD’S CYCLE
THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
LIFE DEATH RESURRECTION
Early Church
Dark Ages
325
500 150
0
26. HOW WE BROKE OUT OF
GOD’S CYCLE
The LIFE of the EARLY CHURCH
The Early Church was the most powerful
institution the world had ever seen
IT EXPLODED ONTO THE WORLD STAGE
IN ACTS 2, AND NOTHING HAD THE
POWER TO STAND AGAINST IT!
Pagan religions could not compete with it.
Greek philosophy could not comprehend it.
Persecution only purified it and made it grow
more rapidly!
27. HOW WE BROKE OUT OF
GOD’S CYCLE
On the day of
Pentecost the Holy
Spirit fell on 120
people
ACTS 2 ACTS 4 ACTS 7
120 3,000 10,000 20,000 100,000
By the end of that day, God added more than 3,000 men
and women to the church.
Within a year, the Jerusalem church tripled in size
numbering more than 10,000
Some estimate by time Stephen was killed (Acts 6-7) the
church had grown to 20,000
CHURCH MADE UP ½ OF POPULATION OF
28. HOW WE BROKE OUT OF
GOD’S CYCLE
Explosive growth was experienced in every city.
ACTS 19 – The Church in Ephesus
•The Entire City Evangelized
•All the Cities in the Surrounding Province Reached
•The Church Grows so RAPIDLY the Economy is effected
•Ultimately HALF the CITY saved and in the Church
By the Year A.D. 112 . . . “in the province of Asia Minor,
temples to heathen gods are almost totally forsaken and
Christians are everywhere a multitude.” - Pliny
T W O Y E A R S
29. HOW WE BROKE OUT OF
GOD’S CYCLE
MOST OF US HAVE NEVER IMAGINED A
CHURCH LIKE THE EARLY CHURCH
They had an entirely different picture of “CHURCH”
No one in the early church had ever seen:
a church building
a stained glass
window
a hymnal
a steeple
a pulpit or pew
a church bulletin
They didn’t even have a video projector!
WHAT WAS THE EARLY CHURCH LIKE?
30. HOW WE BROKE OUT OF
GOD’S CYCLE
IT WAS A CHURCH FILLED WITH LOVE!
Every time they gathered, they had a love feast!
They loved each other as family.
Even their enemies cried out in frustration, “Behold
how they love one another.”
31. THE SPREAD OF THE CHURCH
INDIA
GERMAN
Y
ENGLAND
AFRICA
120
Within the first 67 years, Christian missionaries like
Paul took the Gospel to THE ENTIRE KNOWN
WORLD.
Wherever the Gospel went, the church took hold and
grew rapidly. It was not unusual for a church to be
planted in a city and quickly grow to 20,000 or
30,000 members.
The church literally CONQUERED the Roman
“You have filled Jerusalem with your
teaching” Acts 5:28
“These who have turned the world upside
down have come here too.” – Acts 17:6
32. Tartullian: “We have filled every place belonging to
you – cities, islands, castles, towns, assemblies,
your very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate,
forum! We leave you your temples only. We can
count your armies; our numbers in a single province
will be grater.”
Philip Shaff: “It may be fairly asserted, that by the
end of the 3rd century the name of Christ was known,
revered, and persecuted in every province and every
city of the empire. . . In all probability at the close of
the 3rd century the church numbered ten million
souls.”
Some estimate by the end of the 3rd century half the
population of the Empire had converted to
Christianity.
33. THE DEATH OF THE CHURCH
32
5
50
0
EARLY CHURCH BUT, in the year
325, something
happened that
caused the church
to DIE!
By the year 500,
the early church
had ceased to
exist!
WHAT
HAPPENED?
34. The death of the church was
caused by something that
seemed at first, like a great
blessing!
It was the “Conversion” of the
Roman Emperor
CONSTANTINE!
It was the year A.D. 312
… a time of great turmoil in the Roman Empire.
Two rivals, Constantine and Maxentius were
struggling to seize the imperial throne.
As he prepared for battle, Constantine prayed to his
god, Mithras (Persian sun god). Constantine saw a
vision.
35. He saw a vision:
“CONQUER by THIS”
Constantine came to the
throne with the
announcement that he
was now a follower of
Christ.
36. PROBLEM:
Constantine not only LEGALIZED Christianity, he
tried to IMPROVE it.
In return for his favor, Constantine demanded
CONTROL
“PONTIFEX MAXIMUS” (HIGH PRIEST)
In the year 325 Constantine called, and presided
over, the first general council of the church,
The Council of NICEA
Purpose:
To reorganize the church and give it a new image.
38. The Emperor’s New Church
1. Death of House Church
St. John Lateran . . . A basilica.
Pattern: Imperial Palace
Basilica-type churches were
built all over the empire.
Constantine then enacted a law that “houses of
prayer” must be abolished, and forbidding
Christians from holding church in private
homes. Worded “to strike terror into the minds
of his subjects.”
39. The Emperor’s New Church
2. A Change in Worship
Constantine decided to improve ways church
worshipped.
Less than one year after his conversion: “I am going
to make plain to them what kind of worship is to
be offered to God. . . What higher duty have I as
emperor than to cause all to offer God true
religion and due worship.”
To Constantine’s Roman mind, the highest
expression of worship was found in the solemn
rituals of the Roman Imperial Court:
Solemn ceremonies with fixed written forms of
40. The Emperor’s New Church
3. Rejection of the Church’s Jewish (Hebraic)
Roots
Like many Romans, Constantine hated Jews.
“A Conquered People. Hostile to Rome”
Constantine decided to purge church of Jewish
elements
Commanded the church to avoid following customs of
the Jews . . . Outlawed biblical feasts and
Sabbaths.
His Decree at NICEA (325) “Let us have nothing in
common with the Jews, who are our adversaries
. . . This irregularity (observing Passover) must
be corrected.”
41. The Emperor’s New Church
Bernard Lazare describes changes resultling from
NICEA
“(before Nicea) Christians attended the synagogues,
(and) celebrated the Jewish holidays . . . It
required the action of the Nicean Council to free
Christianity of this last bond by which it had still
been tied to its cradle.”
Those who observed biblical feasts were marked
“ANATHEMA” (cut off or accursed). This
eventually became a crime against the state
punishable by death.
42. The Emperor’s New Church
Church’s Attempt to Enforce NICEA’s Decree
THE COUNCIL OF ANTIOCH (A.D.365) – “If any
bishop, presbyter or deacon will dare, after this
decree, to celebrate Passover with the Jews, the
council judges them to be anathema from the
church. This council not only deposes them from
ministry, but also any others who dare to
communicate with them.”
THE COUNCIL OF LAODICEA (A.D.365) – “It is not
permitted to receive festivals which are by Jews,
nor to hold a festival together with them.
Christians must not Judaize by resting on the
Sabbath, but must work on that day. . . But if any
be found to be Judaizers let them be
43. The Emperor’s New Church
Church’s Attempt to Enforce NICEA’s Decree
THE COUNCIL OF AGDE, FRANCE (506) – “Clerics
must not take part in Jewish festivals.”
THE COUNCIL OF NICEA 2 (787) – “(Those who)
openly or secretly keep the Sabbath and follow
other practices in the manner of the Jews are not
to be received into communion, nor into prayer,
nor into the church.”
CONSTANTINE DIVORCED THE CHURCH FROM
JUDAISM (Jews, Hebraic Roots)
But more than that . . . HE MARRIED THE CHURCH
TO PAGANISM
44. The Emperor’s New Church
In 321 Constantine honored his newfound faith
by making SUNDAY a state holiday.
. . . But in his decree, Constantine designated
this new holiday:
“The Venerable Day of the SUN”
Constantine claimed to be a Christian, but did not
seem to understand who JESUS was!
Constantine was devoted follower of MITHRAS,
The Persian sun god . . . “The Unconquered Sun!”
45. The Emperor’s New Church
When Constantine saw
his vision of the cross in
the sky next to the sun,
he evidently assumed
JESUS was
manifestation of
MITHRAS!
46. The Emperor’s New Church
Constantine put a
picture of Mithras on his
coins.
Coin dated 2 years after
conversion
On his triumphal arch, built to celebrate his
victory over Maxentius, he put a picture of
Mithras
47. The Emperor’s New Church
Constantine’s confusion over the identity of
Jesus seems to have infected many of the
unconverted pagans now crowding into the
church.
Early Century depictions of Jesus as sun god.
By the 5th Century, it became a common practice for
worshippers to turn and bow down to the rising sun
before entering the basilica in Rome
Influx of pagan thinking affected the church in many
ways
48. CHURCH GAINED A NEW SET OF
HOLIDAYS
Before Constantine, the holidays of the church
were the BIBLICAL FEASTS.
The Church never had a celebration for the
BIRTH of JESUS
But the Romans celebrated Dec 25 as the
birth of MITHRAS. (In 274 emperor Aurelian
had made it a state holiday)
The unconverted pagans rushing into the
church didn’t want to give up their holiday.
They declared December 25 to be the
birthday of Christ, and gave the Church a new
holiday: CHRISTMAS
49. Another New Holiday: Spring Fertility
Festival
Pagans held feast in spring to
honor the goddess of fertility.
Canaanites: ASHERAH
Persians: AESTARTE
Babylonians: ISHTAR
Europe: EASTRE
Constantine outlawed Passover and ordered Christians to
celebrate Christ’s resurrection of the time of the spring
fertility festival.
Christ’s resurrection was taken out of its biblical context
and celebrated in the context of pagan feast.
In English-speaking world, did not even change the
50. BY THE END OF 4TH CENTURY PAGAN
SACRIFICE WAS OUTLAWED AND PAGAN
TEMPLES TURNED INTO CHURCHES
Pagan shrines were changed into Christian
shrines. Some pagan priests even became
Christian priest.
Pagans were told that they lived in a Christian
empire and it was their responsibility to live as
Christians.
The trouble is, they didn’t know Jesus!
They were still PAGANS. Beliefs had not
changed!
They responded to the official decrees by giving
51. By the year 600, paganism had inundated the
church.
Many of the church’s leaders were unbelievers.
Those resisting were persecuted as enemies of
the empire
By the middle ages, Bibles were written in a
language people couldn’t understand and
chained to the pulpit.
Superstition and idolatry were rampant. Salvation
was by good works, pilgrimages, and financial
contribution.
Church became powerful and wealthy political
organization.
The Emperor’s New Church
52. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND
THESE THINGS?
MOST CHRISTIANS ASSUME IT WAS GOD’S
WILL FOR CHURCH TO ABANDON GOD’S
APPOINTED TIMES.
THEY THINK THE APOSTLES REJECTED
BIBLICAL FEASTS AS SOMEHOW
UNCHRISTIAN.
BECAUSE OF THAT, MANY MISS OUT ON
CYCLE OF BLESSING GOD WANTED THEM
TO HAVE.
God wants us to know: We have Lost something
He intended us to have!
53. Jn. 2:19,21 Jesus answered . . . “Destroy this
temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
Early Church
Dark Ages
325
500 150
0
