Bending the Rules - Jeremy Duncan

We are going to try to explore the major themes and movements in this book, and in that we’ll try to understand what God was teaching this ancient culture about himself. As we do that, sometimes we’re going to see how God was preparing the story of Jesus and the connection is going to make a lot sense to us. Other times we’re going to see how just how completely Jesus upends these ancient assumptions about God, and we’re going to see just how incredibly revolutionary the Christian story was in bringing God’s character closer to his people. However, in the midst of all the rules and the regulations, all the blood and the sacrifice and rituals that seem archaic, there is still present this gracious invitation. The welcoming presence of God that says “bring what you have and it will be enough.“ Series Outline: Be honest, when was the last time you looked forward to hearing about Leviticus? In fact, be really honest, when was the last time you cringed when someone quoted this book out of context? It’s true much of this book is anachronistic. At the same time it is part of the foundational scripture (Torah) from which all Judaism and indeed Christianity flows. And as such, we owe it to ourselves to understand what was happening then, so that we might better understand what God is doing now. Let’s make Leviticus interesting.