Here are some interesting highlights for Numbers 15.
Numbers 15:15-16
The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD : The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.' "
This scripture says to me that God heart has not changed in the New Testament, that God has always judged people who wanted to be part of his community the same even if they are not Jews or Israelites.
Numbers 15:30-31
" 'But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the LORD, and that person must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the LORD's word and broken his commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him.' "
This scripture reminds me that there is a difference between unintentional sin and repeated intentional sin. The latter blasphemes the Lord.
Numbers 15:38-40
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.
I like this concept of article of clothing that reminds you to live a Holy life.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Numbers 14
41 But Moses said, "Why are you disobeying the LORD's command? This will not succeed! 42 Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, 43 for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword."
44 Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD's covenant moved from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Belief = Obedience
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. John 3:36 NASB
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. John 3:36 NKJV
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. John 3:26 NIV
I was reading the NRSV which is similar to the NASB and I came across John 3:36 and as you can see it says that he who does not obey the Son will not see life. Which seem to me to say that believeing is the same as obeying. Though it seems that it is not always the case but obeying is not always believeing but since you can't simply believe a command you need to obey a command to show that you believe it that belief in the commands of Jesus is obeying.
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. John 3:36 NKJV
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. John 3:26 NIV
I was reading the NRSV which is similar to the NASB and I came across John 3:36 and as you can see it says that he who does not obey the Son will not see life. Which seem to me to say that believeing is the same as obeying. Though it seems that it is not always the case but obeying is not always believeing but since you can't simply believe a command you need to obey a command to show that you believe it that belief in the commands of Jesus is obeying.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
John 3:16-21
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Deny Yourself
Leviticus 23:26-29
The LORD said to Moses, "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people.
Luke 9:23-25 23
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
The LORD said to Moses, "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people.
Luke 9:23-25 23
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
Leviticus 20:23-26
You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations.
" 'You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those which I have set apart as unclean for you. You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Leviticus 20:7-8
Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
Consecrate is to give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause. wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Holiness is the state of being holy, that is, set apart for the worship or service of God or gods. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy
Consecrate is to give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause. wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Holiness is the state of being holy, that is, set apart for the worship or service of God or gods. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy
Monday, November 26, 2007
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and discipline.
This is an amazing scripture to me. Every time I read it, I am impacted by it. This morning it hit me that there will be times when a fool is to foolish to understand that they are being given wisdom. Plus I am always cut by the fact that the Bible says I am a fool becuase I don't like discipline.
fools despise wisdom and discipline.
This is an amazing scripture to me. Every time I read it, I am impacted by it. This morning it hit me that there will be times when a fool is to foolish to understand that they are being given wisdom. Plus I am always cut by the fact that the Bible says I am a fool becuase I don't like discipline.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Leviticus 18
The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'I am the LORD your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.
Leviticus 18:1-5
I really liked this verse. It is a message of how the Israelites needed to be set apart from the customs of the cultures around them. I think this can be a problem that I face that I want to be accepted by society and have the things that other people value. Though what is especially interesting is the line, "Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them." I know that on one hand it says that obeying Gods commands will enable you to live. But I also think it is saying that it is not just a matter of obeying specific commands but also having the commands guide your life.
Leviticus 18:1-5
I really liked this verse. It is a message of how the Israelites needed to be set apart from the customs of the cultures around them. I think this can be a problem that I face that I want to be accepted by society and have the things that other people value. Though what is especially interesting is the line, "Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them." I know that on one hand it says that obeying Gods commands will enable you to live. But I also think it is saying that it is not just a matter of obeying specific commands but also having the commands guide your life.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Leviticus 10
"This is what the LORD spoke of when he said:
" 'Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.' " Aaron remained silent.
This scripture speaks so deeply to me. The first thing that I thought of was how this relates to our example as Christians and how we must honor him in all we do. It also caused me to think about going out on a date as a Christian. My belief is that Christians should only date Christians with similar belief about Gods word. Which can be very hard because there are people who go to my Church that have very different beliefs than I do.
It also made me think about how the scripture doesn't command us to show God as holy or honor God. The scriptures says that regardless of whether you want to honor God or not he will be honored.
" 'Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.' " Aaron remained silent.
This scripture speaks so deeply to me. The first thing that I thought of was how this relates to our example as Christians and how we must honor him in all we do. It also caused me to think about going out on a date as a Christian. My belief is that Christians should only date Christians with similar belief about Gods word. Which can be very hard because there are people who go to my Church that have very different beliefs than I do.
It also made me think about how the scripture doesn't command us to show God as holy or honor God. The scriptures says that regardless of whether you want to honor God or not he will be honored.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Trouble In the Book Of Exodus
I intended to write this blog daily as I went through the Bible, but since my time has been limited I have not been able to do that. With my second job and all my other commitments I have was moving right along with reading but as you might have noticed never really blogging. But lately I have been having trouble staying motivated.
Every one claims that people stop when they get to Leviticus, though I think that might be an overstatement. I am having trouble reading about the Tabernacle in the book of Exodus. I must redouble my efforts! So I don't go off track completely. I will also make every effort to write more.
Every one claims that people stop when they get to Leviticus, though I think that might be an overstatement. I am having trouble reading about the Tabernacle in the book of Exodus. I must redouble my efforts! So I don't go off track completely. I will also make every effort to write more.
1 Peter 1:3-9
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Friday, September 28, 2007
The Account of Terah
Genesis 11:27-31
This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
I have read this passage several times over the last few years. Each time I read it, I ponder if God had called Terah to go to Canaan. Going to Canaan is one of the things Hebrews 11 commends Abraham for. Verse 8 says that "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
So it was an unknown place but this is where Terah was headed before he got comfortable in Haran.
This whole passage emphasizes James 2:17 and 19"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead... You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." It seems like Terah knew God because even though Canaan was an unknown place to him and Abraham, they both wanted to go their. It seems that Terah did not accompany his belief in God with the action to do what God said. It seems like every one except for (Nahor Terah"s other son) had a belief in God but Abraham was the one that really put his faith into action.
Though this is all theory because the Bible doesn't really speak about why Terah wanted to go to Canaan or why Nahor didn't go with the rest of the family.
This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
I have read this passage several times over the last few years. Each time I read it, I ponder if God had called Terah to go to Canaan. Going to Canaan is one of the things Hebrews 11 commends Abraham for. Verse 8 says that "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
So it was an unknown place but this is where Terah was headed before he got comfortable in Haran.
This whole passage emphasizes James 2:17 and 19"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead... You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." It seems like Terah knew God because even though Canaan was an unknown place to him and Abraham, they both wanted to go their. It seems that Terah did not accompany his belief in God with the action to do what God said. It seems like every one except for (Nahor Terah"s other son) had a belief in God but Abraham was the one that really put his faith into action.
Though this is all theory because the Bible doesn't really speak about why Terah wanted to go to Canaan or why Nahor didn't go with the rest of the family.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Genesis 1
I find Genesis chapter one to be the hardest chapter in the Bible for me to read. I have read it so many times through out my life that it can seem boring. This seems weird as I am writing it because it is such an action packed event that it should just completely leave me in awe. It kind of feels like that is a rudimentary teaching that I should be able to move beyond. But every time I want to read Genesis I need to read Genesis 1.
Another thing weird for me about Genesis 1 is that is challenges my logic. I believe in creation and not in Evolution for 2 reasons. One being that creation seems to make more since and the second and more important reason is that I believe everything else in the Bible is absolute truth so how can I say that Genesis one is not. Though when I read Genesis 1:2-5 "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day." It leaves me wondering why was there already water? How did God separate the light from the darkness?
Some other passage that seem troublesome are Genesis 1:6-8 "And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day." in combination with Genesis 1:14-18 "And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.'"
What is weird about these two passages to me is that God defines sky as an expanse between two waters so when God puts the stars and the Sun in this expanse it seems weird. Once again it doesn't make sense. So part of me wants to deny that it really happened. Though I have seen God do many thing that defy explanation. I have read about other things in the Bible that the only way to explain them is to say that God can do anything. So even though it seems that this explanation in Genesis 1 of how God created the world seems off. I trust that God can do it in any way he wants. Plus I have no clue how to create the universe so to claim that it seems wrong would be similar to me telling a heart surgeon or a nuclear scientist that the way they are explaining things doesn't make sense.
Another thing weird for me about Genesis 1 is that is challenges my logic. I believe in creation and not in Evolution for 2 reasons. One being that creation seems to make more since and the second and more important reason is that I believe everything else in the Bible is absolute truth so how can I say that Genesis one is not. Though when I read Genesis 1:2-5 "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day." It leaves me wondering why was there already water? How did God separate the light from the darkness?
Some other passage that seem troublesome are Genesis 1:6-8 "And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day." in combination with Genesis 1:14-18 "And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.'"
What is weird about these two passages to me is that God defines sky as an expanse between two waters so when God puts the stars and the Sun in this expanse it seems weird. Once again it doesn't make sense. So part of me wants to deny that it really happened. Though I have seen God do many thing that defy explanation. I have read about other things in the Bible that the only way to explain them is to say that God can do anything. So even though it seems that this explanation in Genesis 1 of how God created the world seems off. I trust that God can do it in any way he wants. Plus I have no clue how to create the universe so to claim that it seems wrong would be similar to me telling a heart surgeon or a nuclear scientist that the way they are explaining things doesn't make sense.
My Reading Plan
I have decided that I want to read the Bible in it entirety twice by May 31 2010. It is part of this 1001 Day Project I am working on. Since I have started the 1001 day project I can't seem to do anything with out writing a blog about it. So here it goes...
I searched the internet to find a reading plan and I found one written by them great people at Bible Gateway. So below is the plan I am going to use. My sub goal to the 1001 day project is for the first time I read the Bible to be within 365 days. So if I don't read the assigned passages one day I will have to catch up.
I searched the internet to find a reading plan and I found one written by them great people at Bible Gateway. So below is the plan I am going to use. My sub goal to the 1001 day project is for the first time I read the Bible to be within 365 days. So if I don't read the assigned passages one day I will have to catch up.
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