Old Fashioned

Today is Old Fashioned Day at our church. There will be a few costumes, some wonderful food for a fellowship dinner after morning services, and preaching that really isn’t different except the messenger. On this day each year we ask an elderly minister to give the message. His age would be the only difference between this and any other Sunday, for the sermons we hear are the gospel.

The good news that God so loved the world that He created it Himself (Genesis 1:1), for His own pleasure (Revelations 4:11) and His own purpose (I Timothy 1:9), to the extent that a sacrifice was provided able to encompass all mankind (John 3:15.)

There are so many things to say about Him that if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. (John 21:25 KJV)

Beside the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine (John 21:12 KJV) and today we shall do that as a congregation, in a hall built for fellowship. Each Sunday we gather to celebrate His resurrection of our Lord.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3 KJV)

The sermons we hear speak from the Bible, though they may echo some headlines. The sermons we hear tell us of the eternal God, His Son, our salvation and the commandments He gave. They do not change from year to year nor century to century. Truth is as it was at creation, as it is now. The message is God’s:

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; (Deuteronomy 7:9 KJV)

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 KJV)

How hard is that to comprehend? Is there any loss by doing so? Yet, mankind rebels.

Gamaliel is quoted in Acts as cautioning those who would speak against the apostles preaching the resurrection. He closed with:

But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. (Acts 5:39 KJV)