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Post by pastor on Feb 6, 2023 4:34:53 GMT
February 6, 2023 Leviticus 21-23
God set a pretty high standard for the priest as they were to be the visible representatives of God. They could not care for the dead except their closest family. He could not be with his wife during his time serving at the temple. He could only marry a virgin. Even today 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 lay out guidelines for pastor’s and elders. Though we may fail these are qualities that every elder and pastor should strive for.
It seems unfair to us that God forbid the lame, the blemished to serve Him at the temple. But we must remember the priesthood back then served a different function than it does today. Then it was to teach the holiness of God, and the importance of purity in everything. Today Christ has already made us pure so we can serve God without limit.
Again in Chapter 22 the layman could not touch the things of the priest. There was a gulf between God and the people, a gulf that only the blood of God’s own son could fill. When the temple curtain tore at Jesus’s death, it showed that there was no more gulf between man and God, that all men and women laymen, priest, pastors, stood equally before God and had equal access to Him.
Chapter 23 The festivals are always interesting, I don’t have space or time but if you take time to look them up and study them, you will learn a lot about the goodness of God.
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Post by Poet Maybe on Feb 6, 2023 14:18:23 GMT
Day 36 (LEVITICUS 19-20) Sundy was a busy day for me… I got behind in my reading. Soooo Here’s for yesterday…LOL
In Chapter 19 God speaks of His laws and decrees and reminds the people that He is the Lord and He is holy. If you will notice most, if not all, tie back into the ten commandments. We are quick to think of the ten commandments as restrictions. But they are actually blessings for a full and happy life.
Chapter 20 reminds us that God is not playing games, He means what He says. In verses 7 & 8 God gives strict instructions. 7 “‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy. I also noticed that most of the sins mentioned in chapter 20 were concerning sexual sins. It seems that man hasn’t changed much sex is still at the forefront of his thinking. I also wondered about verse 17. 17“‘If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible. If memory serves, didn't Abram marry his ½ sister Sarai? 2/5/23
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Post by Poet Maybe on Feb 6, 2023 14:37:20 GMT
Day 37 (LEVITICUS 21-23)
In these chapters God sets the standards high. He set them high because He is the MOST High and the priests are to be His representative to the people. Even to this day the standards for pastors and elders are high. They are held high because they are the ones bringing the word of God and displaying God love and mercy. In my thinking every Christian should strive to hold themselves to these high standards. The reason I see it this way is because each of us is to be priests to our family and to be a reflection of God's grace to all.
2/07/23
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Post by Poet Maybe on Feb 7, 2023 13:09:07 GMT
Day 38 (LEVITICUS 24-25)
The Sabbath year I can understand. It gives the land time to renew itself. Notice that God said He would give them a bountiful harvest in the sixth year, which would carry them over to the harvest of the ninth year. God does provide.
For some reason the year of jubilee has always impressed me. It would have been a joyous time. A time to redeem what was lost. I know it is fifty years, but it does make provisions for early redemption of property based on the number of years left. It also deals with how to conduct dealings between each other. To treat them fairly.
Psalm 39… please read. As we meditate on it we find it holds much to bless your soul.
2/07/23
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Post by pastor on Feb 7, 2023 14:10:03 GMT
February 7, 2023 Leviticus 24-25
Lamps – Notice there would always be a lighted lamp in the presence of God. We carry that on even to today. We have hanging in the Sanctuary a candle (in the red globe) that we keep lit continually. We call it the eternal light representing that God is eternal. Now on Good Friday the light is removed from the church (not put out) and left out until Easter Sunday reminding us that the light of the world was in the ground for three days.
How holy is God’s name – they stoned to death anyone who misused it? How holy is God’s name in your life today?
God takes care of the land with the jubilee, letting the land go rest one year out of 7. We know today this is important for growing the same crops each year on the land will deplete the soil and destroy the ground. God always has a reason for why He commands things. We may not know all the reasons but God does.
Isn’t it fascinating that the land could only be sold for 7 years and then it had to go back to the family whose it was by inheritance. You could only be a slave or hired man for 7 years. Every 50 years everything was reset and the lands and people were to go back to the land that they had been given by the Lord. God’s laws took good care of His people.
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Post by Poet Maybe on Feb 8, 2023 17:52:58 GMT
Day 39 (LEVITICUS 26-27)
As good and pleasing as chapter 26 starts out, the second part should give us cause to pause. The Lord said: “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,” Then it will go well with us.
“But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,”...
This is where God warns us that He will turn His wrath on us. He spells it out for us so there is no misunderstanding.
We all want the blessings of God. But we are sometimes a little slow to follow His commands. And then we wonder why we God doesn’t “do something”.
2/08/23
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Post by pastor on Feb 8, 2023 18:01:16 GMT
February 8, 2023 Leviticus 26-27
Yea the end of Leviticus – You made it!!
These last two chapters are filled with important lessons for us today.
Chapter 26 begins with the prohibition again against making idols and the importance of the Sabbath. You know when you read the Old Testament, it seems like these two sins were the most important to God. He never said anything about the polygamy, the mistreatment of so many, or even much about sexual sins, but God always spoke about idolatry and Sabbath. It makes me wonder today when we let work, pleasure, and so many things come before God in our lives, when Sabbath and church are secondary for so many what God really thinks of “His” church? Doesn’t it?
I love verses 11-13. God has brought us out of slavery, and He has through His Holy Spirit made His dwelling among us and in us (1 Corinthians 6:19, Matthew 18:20). He has freed us from bondage to Satan that we may walk tall, free from our yokes, free to be children of God.
The list of curses are scary and yet everything that God said would happen to the Israelites if they turned away from Him happened. Even to the eating of their children in verse 29 (this actually happened three times. The first under the siege of Samaria (2 Kings 6:28-29), second under the attack by Nebuchadnezzar (Lamentations 2:20, 4:10), third recorded by the historian Josephus when Titus attacked Jerusalem and destroyed it in 70 AD. How scary is that, and God had warned them and they would not listen.
Finally 40-45 God will always forgiven when we humble ourselves and He will never forget the covenant that He has made with you in your baptism.
Chapter 27 verses 16 and following talk about what Christ calls “corban” in Mark 7:11. This was something dedicated to God. Now if you dedicated it you were to give it immediately to God, and you could buy it back later if you wanted. By Christ time the practice was to dedicate it to God but keep it for yourself as long as you were alive, use it for yourself, but nobody could take it away from you because it had been “dedicated” to God. People did this to get out of the obligation to their parents, their debtors, or others. How we use God for our own advantage.
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Post by Poet Maybe on Feb 9, 2023 14:40:58 GMT
Day 40 (Numbers 1-4)
The book of Numbers starts with a census. Thus forming the twelve tribes. As He broke down each clan, He named the leader of each. First they counted the young men old enough to serve in the army. From the conception God knew that the Israelites would need to have a show of force. God instructed the tribes exactly how they were to encamp. Three tribes on each of the four sides. This was probably for optimal protection. But the Levites were not counted in the original count for they were sat aside for the Lord. They were to work of the tent of meetings and tabernacle. They were to encamp around the tabernacle one tribe of combined clans on each side. They were to do the work of breaking down the tabernacle and setting it up as they moved. Each clan would be assigned a certain task, by the priests.
For some reason the following stuck out as I was reading it. Chapter 3:11-13 11The Lord also said to Moses, 12 “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord.” The first born, the first fruit; to me means we give to the Lord before anything else is done. We give Him the first, the best of what He has given to us.
2/09/23
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Post by pastor on Feb 9, 2023 21:28:25 GMT
February 9, 2023 Numbers 1-4
We see God assembling the tribes of Jacob and organizing them. Joseph’s tribe is divided into Ephraim and Manasseh, but the tribe of Levi is not counted so you still end up with 12 tribes. The Levites are separated unto God, their entire life would be centered around the sacrifices and caring for the Tabernacle.
God arranges the camp, the place where each tribe will camp and the order that they will go out when it is time to move. Notice in the exact center with every tribe facing it is the Tabernacle. Morning or night it did not matter every family of every tribe faced the presence of God.
Aaron’s son and all the tribe of the Levites is divided up and each given a specific job to do in the Tabernacle and also each is given a specific part of the Tabernacle to carry when they moved.
All the sons of Levi were considered God’s, they were the possession of God, they served God with their lives, everything surrounded God. This is what Peter means when he says “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. You and I are the new Levities. Our lives belong to God, our service is God’s our purpose and goal is to serve God, and each of us has been give a part and ministry to serve God with our lives. That is what you have been called to. That is what we live for.
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Post by pastor on Feb 10, 2023 14:19:50 GMT
February 10, 2023 Numbers 5-7
God here is teaching the people of God how to live with Him. Anyone who was unclean had to stay outside the camp until they were clean. Maybe it was like a “tent city” right outside where everybody else was camped. God wanted them to have a visual picture of what uncleanliness brings, it takes us away from God. Today we tend to have such a low view of sin, that we don’t even think about the consequences with God, and while we know we can repent and be clean again through Jesus, I wonder how hard it is to really repent to be truly sorry and to be convinced of God’s wrath when we take sin so lightly.
I have had many people ask about the test for adultery, and honestly I don’t really understand it at all, what was the bitter water, and what does it mean that her womb would swell and thighs shrink or fall off, I don’t know. We too often want a scientific answer for how this would work, because we have been taught that there is factual reasons behind everything, maybe this one is just God doing a supernatural judgement upon the woman if she had sinned,
Notice a Nazirite vow, this would be what Sampson and John the Baptist were. They were to be under that vow for their entire lives, but a person could take such a vow and consecrate themselves to God for a length of time, (Paul does this in Acts 18:18)
The blessing God gave Aaron is still used to this day, think about that.
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Post by Poet Maybe on Feb 10, 2023 15:00:38 GMT
Day 41 (Numbers 5-7)
Chapter 5 Restitution of wrong; “Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord is guilty and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged” WOW!! What a novel idea! Confess that you have done wrong and make full restitution for it and add a fifth to the amount. (I wonder if this would work today.) (I fear not too many do not fear and love God.) Now about verses 11-15: The test for an unfaithful wife. I see this only pertains to the wife. But verse 14 “and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— “ The last part just because the man is jealous even though the wife has done nothing wrong, she must endure this?? Chapter 6 The Nazirite: This shows how serious your vow is to be taken. If someone took a vow of the Nazirite they were to keep themselves holy and follow all of God decrees and instructions. God did not and does not play games with vows. If they messed up and broke their vow they had to start all over. The vow of the Nazirite was usually for a limited time after which they were allowed to drink wine and live as normal. Verse 21 “‘This is the law of the Nazirite who vows offerings to the Lord in accordance with their dedication, in addition to whatever else they can afford. They must fulfill the vows they have made, according to the law of the Nazirite.’”
2/10/23
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Post by pastor on Feb 11, 2023 9:08:59 GMT
February 11, 2023 Numbers 8-10
At first God consecrated and anointed Aaron and his sons to be the priest of the Tabernacle, not the entire Levite population (all the men between 25-50) were appointed and consecrated to the Lord. This really is a foretaste of what is to come, for we were consecrated to God in our Baptism, and our work is to come and serve at the Tabernacle of the Lord (the church). We have become Holy for God has not only set us apart like He did the Levites but He has made us His tabernacles we are the temple of God, and we serve Him in this temple.
This was the first Passover after they had come out of Egypt. How much had changed for them in a year. Last year they were slaves, beaten down and abused. This year they are free. Last year they lived in cities, now they lived in tents. Last year they had only heard about God, this year they see His presence with them every day.
Then they followed the cloud – where it went they went. I would love a cloud today. I would love to have God lead me every day, tell me when to move and when to stop. Yet we have that every day the Holy Spirit guides us, and if we are set on doing God’s will each day we can trust that God is leading us, through His Spirit. You see like the Israelites we are living for a new country, a new land, and God is guiding us through this wilderness of sin, pain, and death until we get there.
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Post by Poet Maybe on Feb 11, 2023 15:30:27 GMT
Day 42 (Numbers 8-10)
The Levites had to be cleansed and purified before they could be offered to the Lord. (It is Christ that cleans and purifies us that we may serve the Lord.) for we too and called to be set apart. Passover was to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month. This is a most holy celebration with specific instructions to be done. However those who could not celebrate at that time, (due to uncleanness or travel) must celebrate Passover on the fourteenth day of the following month. In verse 8 of chapter 9: Moses was unsure so he told the people to; “Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you.” How often when we are not sure do we go to the Lord for the answer instead of just guessing what we should do?
2/11/23
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Post by pastor on Feb 12, 2023 0:29:22 GMT
February 12, 2023 Numbers 11-13
The people now complain again. The had been given Manna but now it was not enough. So they complained that the Lord was not giving them enough. Sound familiar? How many times have we not thought what God had given us was enough. Enough money, enough talent, enough health, enough, enough, enough. God was sustaining them in the wilderness, walking with them, caring for them. Instead of asking for meat they complained. It reminds me of what James writes “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3 How we also need to understand that we have a God who loves to care for us and provide for us, and if we ask and He says no we know that it is always for our best.
Moses is worn out and tired of taking care of the people, he ask God just to kill him, to take this burden off of him, so God has him call 70 elders who will help with the people. Today we still have elder’s whose job it is to assist the pastor to care for the people. (Thank your elder this week they have a hard job.)
Even Moses did not believe that God could provide meat for all the people even after what he had seen God do. God’s answer is great, “Is the Lord’s hand too short”. How about us do we believe that God’s hand is long enough, and God is strong enough to take care of our problems when we turn them over to Him?
Even Aaron and Miriam rebelled against Moses. God taught them a lesson about going against the one that He has anointed as leader. David knew this story and he would not go against Saul even when Saul was out to kill him. Even when God’s anointed fails, we never dare go against them.
The story of the spies is a familiar one. 10 saw through the eyes of man, 2 saw through the eyes of faith. What do you look at life through?
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Post by pastor on Feb 13, 2023 14:05:37 GMT
February 13, 2023 Numbers 14-16
The people once again rebel against God’s plan and once again say they want to go back to Egypt. God has to save Moses from being stoned by showing His glory. Once again Moses pleads for His people and God does not destroy them.
Moses teaches us a lesson on praying the Word of God. In Exodus 34:6 God says to Moses that Hi is slow to anger and abounding in love, and now Moses reminds God of that when He prays for the people. So we also can use the Word of God in prayer to proclaim the promises of God for our lives.
When the Israelites find out that they are going to have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years then they want to go fight, so once again against Moses and God they go to fight only to be soundly defeated. If only they had been obedient in the beginning.
In 16 we have another rebellion and once again Moses and Aaron are accused of misusing their position, God literally opens up the earth and swallows those who rebell and Aaron must run in between the people and the plague that God sends in order to save the people. When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn.
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