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| Mt. Celo Church is located in the South Toe River Valley near the NC Blue Ridge Parkway - one of the most popular areas in America for outdoor sports and recreation |
Gleanings from the Readings - My Lessons and Applications
Demonizing Certain Sins / Letting Others Slide - The Levitical laws continue in chapter 19-20 readings. These encompass 3 main areas - work, worship, and sexual intimacy - all necessary for maintaining holiness, separateness to God. Most of these are along the lines of the 10 Commandments, but a few drew my attention closely. I hope you will look at these closely. We tend to demonize certain sins and let others go with much less castigation, depending on our own affinities. There seems to be no hierarchy of sin in these Levitical commands. Most have a penalty of death. Lev. 19:37 "Therefore you shall observe all My statues and all My judgments, and perform them. I am the Lord." How eternally blessed we are to be under the New Covenant - atoned by the blood of Jesus - for the remission of all our sins. Romans 8:1-4 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
The Reward of Seeking God...dwelling in the house of the LORD all the days of my life...beholding His beauty...inquiring in His temple...being hidden by God in the time of trouble in His pavilion, in the secret place of His tabernacle...being set upon a high rock by God...having my head lifted up above my enemies all around me...offering sacrifices of joy in His temple...singing praises to the LORD...never being forsaken by Him...being cared for by the LORD. (Psalm 27:4-10)
The Power of Words - again... (see Post for Day 48) - the Bible says so much about this. Proverbs 10:10-12 ...a prating fool will fall...the mouth of the righteous is a well of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. Hatred stirs up strife (and this is almost always with words), but love covers all sin.
Even the Demons Believe in Jesus (Mark 5:1-20) Note the words and actions of the unclean spirit (who controlled the man)...when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran....and worshipped Him. He cried out...with a loud voice...and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me...my name is Legion, for we are many...also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send him out of the country." The demon recognized Jesus as God's Son...recognized Jesus as having power over him. This power over evil is within all believers through the Holy Spirit that indwells us: 1 John 4:4 "Greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world."
What Will We Do With Jesus? Will we invite Him into our hearts - to be the Lord and Savior of our lives? Or, like the people of the Gadarenes, will we fear the power He will have on our lives (the changes we will have to make) and plead with Him to depart from us? Will we be like the healed man - released from our own unclean spirits - to follow Jesus's command to tell what great things the Lord has done for us and how He has had compassion on us? This is our Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20). Are we fulfilling it?
Someone asked, Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we — who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not — can be saved. - Charles Spurgeon
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