Tuesday 10-27-09

Leviticus 20:23-24

23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.

24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.

God is telling the Israelites that they are to be set apart for him. That they are not to defile themselves with the things that the nations of this world do.

God commands them to not walk in the manners of the nation which had cast out of the land. He says that they had committed evil, and that he abhorred them for it, and cast them out of the land because of it.

However he also makes it clear that he expects them to be different from the other nations. He is giving them this land flowing with milk and honey and he is their Lord God.

As I read this I was convicted, I've been bought with Christ's blood, I am no longer enslaved to sin, I am not to entangle myself with the cares of this world, yet I find myself play the harlot with this world.

This question burned in my heart and so I ask it to you:

If you are saved then Christ is your bridegroom, when he comes will he find you completely set apart for him? or will he find you playing the harlot with this world and sin?

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Father forgive me for the uncountable ways I have fallen short today of your glory. Please father draw me to yourself... Lord please grant me repentance that I would not follow after my sin but after you...

Seek first the kingdom of God!

Thursday 10-22-09

Sorry I forgot that I hadn't sent this out until now.

Exodus 32

In chapter 32 we see the children of Israel using the blessings that God gave them for evil. They took the some of the gold that they had plundered from Egypt and melted it down a made a golden calf to worship. We can do the same things with the blessings that God has given us, we can use them to either glorify him or we can use them to do evil.

Am I using what God has given me for him? or am I using them for evil?

God Bless,

Wednesday 10-21-09

Exodus 25:1-4

1 ¶ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution.

3 "This is the contribution which you are to raise from them: gold, silver and bronze,

4 blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair,

Remember back a few chapters when God told Moses to tell the children of Israel to borrow as much jewels, gold, silver and raiment as they could carry? Well God had a plan for them doing that, I don't believe that he had them plunder Egypt like that just to make the themselves rich and well dressed. I do believe that God did want to bless them and show to them how he could provide, but he didn't give them all that stuff just so they could horde it to themselves, he gave it so that they might give it back to him.

God has given me so much a car, a computer, the word of God in my mother tongue, the ability to speak, think and talk, he has given me resources such as commentaries, dictionaries, and concordances so that I can study his word, the list is endless. However the point is the same, God didn't so richly bless me so that I could horde all that I have to myself, he has given these things to me so that I can use them for his glory.

God Bless,

Tuesday 10-20-09

Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.

Exodus 14:16-18

16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

When I've read this story before I always just sort of imagined that God got the Israelites out of a jam. However God had beautifully orchestrated this crisis and solution so that he would be brought glory. God hadn't messed up or miss calculated, he knew exactly what was going to happen.

I'm not sure how to phrase what these verse taught me, the least I can say is that they definitely attest to the complete sovereignty of God!

Please pray for the Holt family, they are missionaries to Chile. Just recently the church found out they they had to vacate their current facility, they are asking us to pray along with them that God would provide the money to build a building of their own. Pray and ask God to provide for the needs there, so that God's work in Chile would be able to continue, that souls would be saved and that God would be glorified.

May God be glorified through you,

Sunday 10-18-09

Exodus 3

Exodus 3:11 ¶ And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

I don't believe that this was Moses realizing that he was incapable of accoplishing the tasks that God set before him on his own, this wasn't Moses realizing that it must be God to speak through him and do the work. This is Moses looking for a way out, this is Moses afraid of getting embarrased.

As I was reading in Exodus it made me start to realize how much I really do need God in all that he has called me to. You see if Moses had just trusted that God would work through him I don't think he would have been worried about what to say or if the people would have believed him.

Am I relying on God to work through me to bring himself glory? or am I to caught up my fleshly worries?

Ask God to awaken the Christians in America to the great need for Evangelism and Missions.

May God grant you peace,

Saturday 10-17-09

Genesis 39

Genesis 39:2-3

2 And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

Notice here how the Lord is with Joseph, and it is the Lord who makes him prosper. Also it was so evident that is was God who made Joseph prosper that Potiphar the master of the house noticed it.

Now not long after God blessed Joseph's work and everything was going well, Potiphars' wife lies and accuses Joseph of attempted rape, well Potiphar throws Joseph in prison.

Genesis 39:21 But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

As I just reread this verse this really struck me. That is that Joseph was shown mercy, he was a sinner he didn't deserve God to prosper everything he did, he didn't deserve to work for a high ranking official, he didn't deserve anything but hell. Yet God showed mercy on him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. I act like I deserve so much, I do not deserve anything but eternity in the lake of fire, I don't deserve salvation, I don't deserve the word of God in my language, I don't deserve to have God work in my heart, the list goes on and on and on... I have been the undeserving recipient of God's grace and mercy (not to mention love!), and yet I am so unthankful...

I love this story it is such a beautiful example of God's sovereignty. Joseph almost was murdered but God used Ruben to keep Joseph alive, then Joseph gets sold into slavery, and God works it so that he gets sold to this high ranking official, then Joseph gets thrown into jail for a crime he didn't commit, while in jail Joseph basically does the 'wardens' job for him. I am looking forward to finishing the story hopefully tomorrow and seeing how else God is going to work mightily in Joseph's life.

Grace through Jehovah Jireh (The Lord who provides)

Friday 10-16-09

Genesis 25

You probably remember the story of Esau selling his birthright, I'll help refresh your memory though. Esau goes out into the field because he was a "cunning hunter" he spends all day out there looking for something to kill he walks all over looking for some fresh tracks or something to give him an indication that there is some game out there. Well evening comes and he is so tired from walking all day in the heat and he walks in the door just beat, I mean he's whooped, well anyway he walks in the front door and smells something really good, as he walks into the kitchen he sees his brother Jacob stirring some red stew. Well to help make a long story short Jacob being the wheeler-dealer he was ends up selling that stew he was fixing for Esau's birthright, no big deal right? wrong if I remember right the birthright contained 70% - 90% of what the father had, and the remaining 30-10% was divided up among the rest of the sons.

If Esau had spent time investing in what he was going to inherit I doubt that he would have made the hasty decision he did to sell it. Think about it if he had laboured and put time into caring for the sheep, cattle, and the family affairs do you think he would have sold it all for a big bowl of stew?

Right about now you start wondering: wheres the personal application? Well it's this am I a Esau or a Jacob and I don't mean am I hairy, or am I a swindler I mean am I pouring myself into God's business, am I seeking to further his kingdom, am I doing everything I can to 'grow my inheritence' since I am a co-heir with Christ? Or am I an Esau who is content with the things of this world, and would throw away my inheritance for temporary pleasures?

It says in Genesis 25:24 that "Esau despised his birthright." By no means can we lose our salvation, however I do think that we can waste it. Am I comfortably saved in Sodom? or am I seeking salvation for Sodom?

Please pray for the Sunday school class God has allowed me to teach at Macedonia. I believe that God wants to use us to be witnesses of him here in our Jerusalem. Ask that God would truly burden our hearts with the souls of the lost, and that we would seek opportunities to share Jesus with others.

Fight the good fight of faith!

Thursday 10-15-09

Even as I am writing this the power is out (Thank the Lord for laptops!), and my battery is dying, so it is going to be a little brief.

Genesis 14:19-23

19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

21 ¶ And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

A couple quick observations.

1. It was obvious that it was God who had delivered Abrams enemies into his hand.

2. Bera the king of Sodom was only intrested in himself and his reputation.

3. Abram knew that it was only God who could grant him the victory, and promised to give God the glory that was rightfully his.

4. Abram had already made up his mind to give God glory, before the temptation to take the glory for himself was ever presented.

There is more that I was hoping to get into with this story, but we'll just have to save it for another time.

The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you,