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FEBRUARY 23 “HAD A LONG DAY?”

   Have you had a long day for Jesus? Has he spent you for all the energy that you had? If He has, then He will say to you, “I have not asked of you what I myself have not given”. Jesus had such a large crowd of people around him that He and his disciples cannot even sit down to eat. And so they endure, they get through and finally Jesus suggests that they climb into the boat and get to a place where they can get some food in their stomachs and get some well over due rest. We know that when we are being exhausted physically and deprived of food at the same time, it’s a bad combination. It can make the most pleasant among us to be quite mean, moody and ill tempered. Well, at least we can say, there’s an end to the madness, they will get to their remote location, eat and maybe laugh about the whole, crazy event. However that’s not the case, our text says, they crowd saw them in the boat and ran along the shoreline to “meet them” on the other side. Can you imagine the anger ...
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FEBRUARY 22 "WOULD YOU CRY OUT ' I AM UNCLEAN' ? "

   How interesting...or perhaps uninteresting this reading on boils, leprosy and every other manner of disease. What's the point?! Well, there's a very practical application especially considering they did not have doctors back then, I'm sure the Israelites' loved this instruction, it would save many lives. Hmmmm, the saving of many lives...by separating the clean people from the unclean people, lives could be saved. The clean people would not be infected and the unclean people could be healed. Yes this instruction from God was very practical but it was also very spiritual. Notice it was the Priest who "pronounced" if you were unclean. This was not left to the individual to determine for obvious reasons. "Pronounce" is a big word, it describes a definitive statement, it is judgmental in a sense. So let's put all this together now, we have a God who separates the clean from the unclean, he pronounces those that are unclean and commands them to be ...
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FEBRUARY 21 "SHE ONLY GOT WORSE"

   Our text says as she went and spent a great deal on the Dr.'s not only did she not get better, she grew worse. It's hard to believe that that was written a couple of thousand years ago and not just last week. "Spending more and more money at the Dr.s, but yet getting worse". I guess that's been happening for quite a long time. I can relate to this, can you? And this is not a slam against Dr.s either. I am very glad for Doctors, where would we be without Doctors. We know even one of Jesus' disciples was a Doctor, Dr. Luke. Yes doctors have their place, but as believers in Christ, surely Jesus has His place too; when it comes to healing. Where do we find the balance? We know that good hearted, but misguided people have died, refusing professional, medical treatment. However this woman has not only, not refused, but she has paid large sums of money to be healed and still no healing; but yet in one simple act of faith and touch of Jesus she is healed instantane...
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FEBRUARY 20 "DON'T FORGET ABOUT YOUR SIN OFFERING"

    Moses, as directed by God of course, instructs Aaron to bring his sin offering too! " Oh yeah, that's right, I have sin also....I almost forgot!"  It's easy as a Priest/Pastor to become focused on other people's sins, as that is what we often have to deal with. The danger is we become focused on other people's sins and can forget that we also have sin. This can create two problems. The first problem is it can create a frustration in us and lack of empathy towards those that are sinning. Secondly it can cause us to be out of touch with our own sin. The more we concentrate on other people's sins, the less we are aware of our own sins. Moses, wisely instructs Aaron to bring an offering for his own sins. Aaron is the Leader, he is the Priest, he is the Holy one being used by God, but he must also be reminded that he too has sin. This is not just an issue that can cause the demise of leaders, but also that of a churches, marriages and ministries. The more w...
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FEBRUARY 19 "YOU'RE GONNA EAT MY SACRIFICE?"

  This is a transition stage for the Israelite's as it is for a congregation that is transitioning to support it's Priest/Pastor. Moses is trying to explain to the Israelites that "The Lord" wants them to make a sacrifice. A sacrifice that will cost them financially. "Well, I guess if it's for The Lord". Imagine their response when Moses says, "well it's for The Lord, but The Lord told me to give the breast and the thigh to Aaron and his sons". "Oh I see what's going on here, this is a scam, you say, The Lord, wants....but then coincidentally the offering goes straight to your brother, how convenient! We give and he and his sons just feed off of our sacrificial giving, why he might as well not even work!" That's when Moses has to break the news to them..."ughhhh, actually, that's the plan, that your offerings support Aaron and his sons, they are going to be Priests". We can read over this quickly and not thin...
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FEBRUARY 18 "DON'T LET THE FIRE GO OUT"

   We can get very deep an analytic about all the requirements of the altar and rightly so, or we can completely ignore them, BUT there is even one that I can figure out, that speaks loud and clear and that is... "The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out." God ignited the fire and it was up to the people to now tend to that fire and it was their responsibility to keep the fire going and NEVER to let it go out? I wonder what would have happened if they had? This is obviously a foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit being born in us, Jesus said, "John has come to baptize with water but I will baptize in the Holy Ghost and FIRE! God will ignite the life of Christ in us by the Holy Spirit and we must keep the fire burning and never let it go out. The priests were to tend to the fire daily, add wood as needed and maintain the fire. God could have made it not only that he would supernaturally ignite the fire but also that it would be self perpetuat...
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FEBRUARY 17 "I'LL GIVE WHAT I FEEL LED TO GIVE"

    God makes sure to tell Moses, "make sure for the offering, they give a Ram without defect and of proper value".  We want to be quite spiritual about our giving, "I will give as the Lord leads" but it's interesting how The Lord so often leads us to give such skimpy amounts".  I can't tell you what "The Lord is leading you to give" in your deceitful, I mean, pure heart, but I can tell you what His written Word tells us to give and it is never just "whatever".  God, who knows people, makes it a point to warn Moses about what people will try to do in their offering, and that is, they will try to give something in the offering that will not cost them and God tells Moses, "don't accept it!".  It needs to be a Ram without defect and it ALSO needs to be the right value. Practically speaking, it would be a good idea to bring a defected Ram, after all, the Ram is just going to get sacrificed, why bring a healthy one? However,...
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