When the law was written on tablets of stone, there was a significant weakness. The weakness of the Old Covenant was not in the law. The weakness of the Old Covenant was the people’s hearts. They couldn’t keep the law because they lacked two basic ingredients. Both of them interestingly were mentioned in the Old Testament when God used His prophets to speak while under the Old Covenant of the coming New Covenant. First, as God said through Jeremiah, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it” (Jer. 31:34). The writing of the law went from tablets of stone to tablets of human hearts (2 Cor. 3:3). And second, as God said through Ezekiel, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Eze. 36:27). We by far have greater power to obey the law with the fullness of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us as God says, “causing” us to obey. So there should be a radical difference between us and Israel. It’s not in the God we serve. It’s not in the desire to obey Him. It’s not in the faith of a Messiah to take away our sins. It’s not in a law that is given from God to be obeyed. It’s not even in a delight in that law. The difference is simply this. The Old Covenant is characterized by people who were stiff-necked and rebellious (Dt. 9:6; 10:16; 31:27), whereas the New Covenant is characterized by people who have soft hearts and the ability to obey.

Randy Smith

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Meats		Poultry, Cathe	1	Batch

INGREDIENTS

3		Chicken breasts, boned
3	tb	Flour
1	tb	Salt
4	tb	Olive oil
1	md	Onion, chopped
3	sl	Ham, cooked (or more), diced
2		Garlic cloves, minced
1	c	Beer (not dark)
1/2	lb	Shrimp, large
1/2	ts	Paprika
1	tb	Parsley, dried
1/2	ts	Tabasco sauce (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix flour and salt; dredge chicken breasts.  In large skillet, brown
chicken in olive oil and remove.
Combine onion, ham and garlic and saute in same skillet over low heat until
onion is soft.  (Don't let garlic stick to skillet.) Remove. Drain all but
1 T of the oil and pour in flour left from dredging chicken; stir a lot to
make sure flour is well-blended. Return ham mixture.
Clean and devein shrimp.  To ham, add beer, shrimp, parsley, paprika and
tabasco; mix well.  Add chicken; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve
with rice or garlic bread.
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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