Welcome to New Day Christian Church of Las Vegas! Every week our children’s church leader, Michael Townsend, shares a special message that we want to share with you. New Day meets every Sunday at 10AM, Children’s church meets upstairs and you can drop your child off at 9:45. After church join us for coffee and donuts upstair after you pick up your children.

Greetings, brothers and sisters in Christ and children of God,

Are you a Second Testament reader? By Second Testament, I mean the New Testament. Is the New Testament the section of the bible you read most? Many disregard the First Testament, or the Old Testament, because they believe it is outdated or has been replaced by the New Testament. Many believe that the Old Testament is the old law, and because Jesus came, the old law is no longer valid. Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17). Therefore, those who say the new replaced the old would be wrong, for the New Testament did not replace the Old Testament but added to it.

Let us take the “Old” and the “New” out of the description of the Testaments and call them “First” and “Second”. The word Testament is a testimony, or witness, and therefore it is the first witness and the second witness, or should we say First Testament and Second Testament. By law, it is required to have two witnesses (Deut 19:15; Matt 18:16). Notice that this law is mentioned in both the First Testimony and the Second Testimony. This may be the reason that Jesus sent the twelve disciples out in pairs (Mark 6:7).

These two witnesses are the testimonies of Christ from the beginning to the end and how He came to spare us from eternal death and free us from our bondage of sin so that we can have eternal life with Him and the Father. Jesus is the foundation on which these testimonies stand and are covered by God, who is the Father of Christ Jesus. You cannot have one Testament without the other; hence the reason you read much of the First Testament in the Second Testament and why Jesus and the disciples quote it so often when they speak. 

Another way to look at the First and Second Testaments is to see them as physical and spiritual. Much of the First Testament was in the physical sense, and the majority of the Second Testament is in the Spiritual. For instance, in the First Testament, after Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they complained they had no food. God heard their cries and sent manna down from the sky. Manna was their daily “bread” they received every morning, and as the morning progressed, it would disappear. God also instructed them on how to gather the manna and how much to gather, and He commanded them not to keep it beyond that day. They had fresh manna every morning, and this meant they had to trust God (Exod 16).

 In the Second Testament, when Jesus was celebrating the Passover Seder with his disciples, he took the bread and blessed it, then broke it and shared it with each one and said it was his body. He meant, of course, that it was a symbol of his body (1 Cor 11:23-24). By partaking of the bread and inserting it into their body, they are signaling that Jesus was in them (John 14:20).

Jesus would later pay the ultimate sacrifice and die for us, and then leave us, but would send a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to dwell in us and lead us (John 14:16; 14:26; 15:26). The disciples encountered the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, which is written in Acts 2. Throughout Acts and the letters of Paul and other epistles, we read how the Spirit leads and heals.

These two testaments are the testimonies of Christ. You cannot have one without the other. Just as God became the physical being in Christ, He is also the Spiritual being, the Holy Spirit. When we read both testimonies, we can see how God was present in the physical and in the Spirit.

Last week we did not have children’s church because the pastor shared a special message. This week, the little lambs will be investigating the story of Naomi, a loving and caring mother, and Ruth, a devoted and trusting daughter-in-law. Her devotion led her into the faith, which led her to love, and she became the mother of Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David. Being faithful means trusting God. You never know how God will use you when you simply have faith in Him.

I look forward to worshiping with you and praising the Lord through songs of joy and dancing before the One who provided our daily Bread. If for whatever reason I do not see you, may the Lord bless you with joy, peace, and abundant love, and may He comfort you, guide you, and heal you when you are in need.

God bless you,

Your brother in Christ,

Michael (Mr. Michael)