Deus Misereatur

  If I’ve heard it said once, I’ve heard it said hundreds of times, “Nothing in the Old Testament applies to us Christians, except what is specifically restated in the New.” Therefore, I was excited to see the recently published 400-page softback “The Old Testament Law for the Life of the Church: Reading the Torah in the Light of Christ”. This manual was put together by Richard E. Averbeck, professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. It is an easily readable work that takes Christians, step-by-step, into the ongoing value of the Hebrew Scriptures for New Covenant people. Rightly does Averbeck state that to “ignore the Old Testament is to misunderstand the New Testament” (5). Thus, the author sticks to his purpose throughout the book, and that purpose is to show how “ the whole law was and still is good and profitable for the Christian and applies to the life of the Christian today in a new covenant way” (21).   Averbeck builds a whole, s

  O Lord, you know what we have need of even before we ask. Therefore, we pray with greater confidence that you hear our words and what we cannot even express in words. We pray for the troubled and tormented peoples in our world, suffering from floods, droughts, hurricanes, unemployment, military threats and fears – especially impacted by hurricane Fiona and Ian, and Typhoon Noru. And we pray for the leaders of the nations. Please establish peace, judicial integrity, economic stability, and healthy recovery in all lands, for the good of all, so that the Gospel of Jesus may spread unchecked, and that your Church may dwell in peace and quietness. Guide our own national and State leaders away from envy, greed, power-mongering, and injustice toward legitimate fairness, moral integrity, and contentment with what is good in your sight. Give ear to our concerns as we pray for those who are still in their unbelief and for those who have deserted the Christian Faith (…). May they turn around an