Leviticus!!!!!!

If you are reading alonging in the One Year Bible... Keep on!!!!

I know Leviticus can be one of the most challenging books... believe me, it is VERY challenging to me too! But if we keep Jesus in mind and dedicate ourselves to understanding, God WILL reveal many wonderful treasures. As Jesus Himself said, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given" (Mark 4:24).

Let's briefly cover the first 5 Chapters you should have completed by today:

The first 3 Offerings (Burnt, Grain and Peace) were voluntary...
Essentially, freewill offerings of worship. The Burnt symbolizes complete dedication and consecration. We complete this by offering our lives in complete dedication to God. The Grain Offering was an offering of complete praise the flour being our sustainence, frankensence a fragrence of praise, the oil a symbol of the spirit. We complete this offering when we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth! The third offering was the peace offering. This was an offering of thanksgiving. We fulfill this when we constantly pray and thank God for all things, just as Paul said to the Church at Thessalonica, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in all things give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess 5:16-18).

The Last 2 Offerings (Sin and Trespass) were necessary...
This was something that had to be done. The Sin offering was for the sins that were done in ignorance. Before Jesus we live a life of sin and we are ignorant to it. When we experience the conviction of the Holy Spirit who is the witness of such sin, He reveals to us this sin we come to realize it's sin! The Trespass is the thing that we do, knowing its against God! The amazing thing is God's grace!!! In such case he still gives the witness of the Holy Spirit Who sees all things and testifies even of these things to us, bringing us to that place of conviction and confession. The good news is that these offerings for our sin were fulfilled by Jesus on the Cross!!! As Paul said of concerning Jesus, ...who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Thank God for making Jesus our Sin and Trespass offering!!!

I hope that this encourages you to keep reading through this wonderful book!!!!

Serve and Give

"... the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28)

To serve others and give give your life is to go in the way of the Master.

In the Words (of Satan)

Here is the video you all have been requesting!

The Richness of His Grace!

"Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. When Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abram" (Gen 16:16-17:1)

Abram made a huge mistake by trying to take matters into His own hands, and for 13 years he lived with that mistake and did not hear from the Lord the entire time! So when God did appear again the scripture says, "Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him..." How broken and humble Abram must have felt, to perhaps feel as though he had blown it so bad that he would ever hear from the Lord, or feel as though God may have given up on him! So often our mistakes play on our emotions so that we feel somehow we have let God down so bad that He has deserted us. But the truth is God is full of mercy and grace. God did not scold Abram for his mistake, but talked with him, offering Abram a new start. To live a life of repentance and faith in the promises that He had given Abram. O the richness of the grace of God!

The God Who can Relate!

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil" (Matthew 4:1)

The text states that Jesus was "led up," which in the Greek can translate: Navigated and Launched to Sea. The Maiden Voyage of our Lord, Jesus' first launch into ministry was not to immediate preaching and teaching what we humans should do... On the contrary, Jesus' first launch into ministry was temptation in a hot, lonely, desolate wilderness. Before any sermon, before any preaching, Jesus felt first hand what it was like to be "tempted in all points that we are tempted daily, yet He went without sin" (Heb 2:18). Jesus did all this so that he could aid us, relate to us, and grant us the grace and mercy we need in our time of need! (Heb 4:15-16). It is so comforting to know that I serve a God Who knows where I am at, to be in my shoes, to understand first hand what it is really like to be human, all so that he can give me the help I need and extend the grace and mercy necessary to enter His presence without shame.

One out of the Archives

This was a film that was filmed and directed for our "Night at the Oscars" event that we had a couple years ago... I found it and thought I would share it!

A Refuge and Strength

"The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; and He know those who trust Him" (Nahum 1:7)

I remember being at the British Museum in London a couple years back and seeing engraved stones actually recovered from Ancient Nineveh and it was brutal! The Assyrians prided themselves in their brutality and you could see it in their decorations filled with Assyrian soldiers chopping off heads with knives, spears sticking through victims as the army was depicted on horses trampling over the dead. The book of Nahum is a proclamation to the Ancient Assyrian Empire concerning the severe judgment of God that was to come... The severity of God is very obvious in the text yet we still see God's love and grace as He warns them through the prophet, "The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked" (Nahum 1:3). So we see clearly the truth that God is a just Judge, but not only that, but we see opportunity for repentance. "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust Him." Although He was going to (and has) make Assyria a heap of ruins, He promised to be a refuge to anyone who would simply put their trust in Him! And yes that includes people, who were so far from Him that they made furniture of human leather!!! God truly is good, repent from sin and put your trust in Him!