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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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FEBRUARY 16 "AS A RESULT OF YOUR DISOBEDIENCE..."

   AS A RESULT, "Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places". Imagine, this man's disobedience actually put an an end to what Jesus had previously been able to do; not only that but it forced Jesus to remain outside in lonely places. I wonder what is the result of our disobedience? What have we stopped Jesus from doing? What have we hindered? Often we can get caught on the idea that God is sovereign therefore I can do whatever I want and God will make it work out. Of course this releases me of all responsibility of having to "listen" and puts everything on God. We like this false theology....BUT read this passage, Jesus gave this man specific instructions for a reason, AS A RESULT of this man not listening, no longer could Jesus enter a city, "way to go dufus", we might say, but how often have we done the same? What will you say today, what will you do, where will you go, how will you react, even after the Holy Spirit...
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FEBRUARY 15 "SO GLAD I DON'T HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS"

     WOW, imagine having to live like this??? I'm so glad we don't have to live like this anymore....imagine having to wait on God to move.  In our text we read that  "...in all the travels of the Israelite s whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out-until the day if lifted" .  I mean, how restrictive is that?  Well that was the Old Testament and now we are in the New Testament and I can come and go as I please, I can go here and there and God will just follow me around like a lost puppy dog, so glad "I am free in Christ" and not under oppressive legalism of the Old Testament. Of course that was all just facetious talk...The principles of God are forever enduring.  Jesus himself reiterated in the Gospels, "do not say tomorrow I will go here and do thus....". This principle is very, very applicable to the Christian life today. Wait on God, do...
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FEBRUARY 14 "HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, WOMEN!"

    It's in interesting that Jesus first appears, as the resurrected Jesus, to ladies. Jesus always had a unique place and purpose for women in His ministry; just one more aspect of the uniqueness of Jesus' movement, ie: Christianity. They were 2nd class citizens and still are, in the Middle East. Yet He came accepting them, ministering to them, even Samaritan women. Jesus saw the unique qualities of women that He had put in them when He created them. The greatest event that ever happened for the rights of women, was Christianity. Nobody understood the value of women more than Jesus and no movement has fought for woman's rights more than Christianity. No, not supreme rights over her own body, ie: Abortion, but neither man or woman has supreme rights over their own body. My question is, when we see that Christianity was and is and has always been at the forefront of Woman's Rights and Liberation; why is it that today's Feminist would not be caught dead in a CHRISTIAN...
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