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Act 17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews:
Act 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Act 17:3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

Paul, doing what he does best, went to the local synagogue and preached Jesus. He “reasoned with them out of the scripture.” What scriptures do you suppose he “reasoned” with? So many of us assume that he opened up his King James Version and preached Jesus, right? When Acts 17:2 took place, the New Testament had not been written. The only scriptures that Paul could have used were from the Old Testament. So Paul preached Jesus from the Old Testament and people were added to the Kingdom of God. Therefore the Old Testament must have relevance for us today.
For many, the Old Testament is a collection of books, anointed by God (we do believe that the Bible is the absolute Word of God) but difficult to understand. Therefore, more often than not, we choose to ignore it or we pick and choose the parts we want to use, i.e. the Ten Commandments, the deliverance from bondage, the lineage of Jesus, to name a few. These are great sections of the Bible but what about the rest? Could it be that if we were to take the time to understand the Jewish people and their customs mentioned in the Old Testament that we could come into a better understanding of what was happening in the New Testament?
Allow me to take you on a journey doing just that!