Old Testament Review – Deuteronomy Part 1

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Deuteronomy is Moses’ address to the 2nd generation of Israelites coming out of their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness due to the rebellion of their parents.

It contains Moses’ retelling of the laws and judgments given by God, the rebellions of the 1st generation of Israelites, the lands conquered, the lands already allotted to others which were therefore off limits to Israel, the spying out of the land and its results including the 40 years of wandering, the blessings and curses evoked upon this 2nd generation at Mount Ebal and Gerizim, the reading of the law to this 2nd generation, Moses’ prayer, intercession, inauguration of Joshua as his successor and his death before Joshua led the 2nd generation of Israelites into the Land promised to them.

In this installment, we are looking primarily at three things of great importance:
1. The Judgment and Mercy of God
2. The Who and an additional “why” regarding those God called Israel to completely destroy
3. The superiority of the Law given to the Jews

Other topics are brushed up against, but these three took the greatest part of our time together due to their importance and the impact they have on the understanding of many other things throughout the Bible.

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To My children in Laodicea, I stand at the door

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As we are wrapping up our study of Jesus letters to the churches in Revelation 3, we are reading His 7th and final letter which was addressed to the believers in Laodicea.

He addressed this church as the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness & as the Originator of God’s creation.

The Laodicean believers had fallen into the trap of complacency due to the deceptiveness of wealth and possessions. Their view was that they were in need of nothing, which included deeper intimacy with Christ. They were content, assuming heaven was their home & satisfied with life since they possessed every natural thing the heart could wish. In short, they were in terrible & imminent danger, leading to complete spiritual bankruptcy.

They were the 3rd heart in Jesus’ parable of the heart soils which shares heart real estate with the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches & the desire for things other than Christ entering in & choking out the voice of His word.

Jesus, as the true & faithful witness, Who understands the value of all things created counseled them to focus on the acquisition of approved character (gold) & righteous acts (clothing) to cover the shame of their spiritual condition.

He told them that He was currently outside of their hearts, knocking on the door to be let in. Jesus will NOT share our hearts with the world! If they would open up, He would come in and dine with them. This was significant, especially in the middle east. Such was a commitment – and one otherwise counseled in scripture NOT to be done even with a brother if they are living in known sin.

If these saints overcame, they would sit with Him on His throne EVEN AS He had overcome and was sitting with His Father on His throne.

Jesus ended His letter with His typical statement of, “Whoever has ears to hear, had better listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

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Philadelphia Revelation Jesus letter

Saints in Philadelphia don’t lose your Crown

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This morning we opened the letter of Jesus our Lord to the saints in Philadelphia.

This was a good church. In fact, in joins the rare ranks of unrebuked churches with Smyrna.

Jesus began, as He always does with the phrase, “I know you works”

After all, He is the One Who walks in the midst of the 7 gold lampstands – that is to say, among the 7 churches.

He addresses their faithfulness to keep His word and not deny His name.

This city of Philadelphia does not seem as hostile as that of Smyrna, but it had it’s own issues. It also had a very established Jewish presence which had been there since the mid 2nd century B.C.. It follows therefore, that this church was opposed and very likely mistreated, slandered and marginalized by the established Jewish people in that city.

By the words spoke by Jesus it appears they may have verbally pestered these saints with accusations of not being God’s people and that they, as Jews were the true people of God. Jesus addresses this lie by telling the these saints that these Jews are not true Jews at all, but are of the synagogue of satan since they have rejected the Holy One and True One of Israel, their Messiah.

Jesus introduces Himself in connection with Eliakim mentioned in Isaiah 22 who possesses the keys (authority) to the house of David… Who opens doors that no one can shut and Who shuts and no one can open.

Since Jesus’ introductions of Himself are always the biggest key to each letter, we spent time with this passage in Isaiah 22 as well as the 3 other references to Isaiah’s prophecies.

In the end, Jesus’ words were of praise for faithfulness, encouragement to keep His words regarding steadfast endurance so that no one would be able to steal their crown.

We also addressed what “door” Jesus had likely opened to them as well as which of the 5 crowns mentioned in the New Testament as rewards to the people of God, Jesus was likely referring to and what they represented.

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Fear of the Lord

Training our hearts in the Fear of the Lord

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And this morning we sang a song together which I believe captures what many in the body of Christ desire regarding the Fear of the Lord and yet more often than not, they find themselves failing to live in the reality of it.

But if a request FOR these things is all we possess, then THAT is why it never goes further than a desire and a prayer.

But thank God – we can change that!

This morning we are going to define the Fear of the Lord again, and then look at things the scriptures actually tell us helps to facilitate the development and growth of the fear of the Lord in our hearts and lives.

I truly hope you possess the kind of heart that will find delight in the fact that God has made this easy for us, by clearly spelling out some very practical ways we can cause the Fear of the Lord to increase in our lives.

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Old Testament Review Exodus through Numbers

Old Testament Review – Exodus 32 – Numbers

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This week we really picked up the pace.

We had to begin by circling back to Exodus 32 to cover something of import which I had overlooked, and then moved on into Leviticus and Numbers. These books are very themed and easy to outline what the chapters were about without the need for very much commentary.

There were a few points of importance which have a substantial impact on the rest of scripture so we bore down on those, but otherwise, just offered a pretty basic overview.

Even still this is worth your time if you are wanting to familiarize yourself with these Old Testament books and some of the more impactful portions of them.

Key points:
• God choosing the Levites for Himself out of all of Israel
• Moses’ encounter with God
• The clearly stated reason for the inhabitants of the Promised Land being destroyed.
• The construction of the Temple
• The priesthood
• The Levites – their divisions and jobs
• God giving the Levites to the Priests as a gift
• The 5 sacrifices of Israel and their purposes
• The sin of Nadab and Abihu
• The sin of Moses and Aaron which kept them from entering the Promised Land and what that sin symbolized
• The Silver Trumpets
• The transfer of authority to Joshua from Moses
• The deaths of Miriam, Aaron & Moses
• The important provision for the daughters of Zelophehad

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