Courageously Advance the Lord's Kingdom

Scripture: Leviticus 26:6-8

'I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. 'But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.

Insights: Today´s verses specifically deal with the Lord´s blessing on the children of Israel as it relates to advancing the geographical territory of their land.  As I preached it Sunday, however, was from a spiritual perspective.  I want you to understand I recognize this passage is not speaking about a spiritual advancement of God´s kingdom, but a literal land conquest for Israel.  In regards to the spiritual, we, as born again Christians, are to be about the business of reproduction.  In other words, we are to be about advancing the Lord´s kingdom courageously.  In the physical sense God told the children of Israel that five would chase a hundred and a hundred would chase ten thousand.  In the same way we ought to be about sharing the love of Jesus.  Could you imagine what the church could accomplish, under the power of the Holy Spirit, if five people were intentionally sharing the gospel with people every week?  Visualize what would happen to a community if one hundred people said, “I am going to share Jesus with at least one person this week.”  How many of those conversations would lead to a genuine conversion experience.  Imagine even further if we were really courageous and each of those one hundred said, “I am going to share with at least five people this week.”  The impact of such a resolve would be incredible.  Beloved, let me challenge you this week to intentionally look for opportunities to share the gospel with lost people.  Intentionally start up conversations with people you don’t know and start building relationships with them.  Step outside of your comfort zone and began allowing the Holy Spirit to be your strength, guide and the One who empowers you for the advancement of Christ Jesus’ kingdom.  May God be brought glory as we obey Him!

Questions:

1. Have you shared your faith this week with anyone?
2. In what ways are you strategically looking and seeking to spread the gospel for the advancement of Jesus´ kingdom?

Prayer: Father, forgive me for those times in which I have failed to boldly share Your love with a lost world.  Increase my burden for the lost and grant me a passionate heart to share the love of Jesus with all I meet.  Amen.

Offer Your First-fruits to the Lord

Scripture: Leviticus 26:3-5

'If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. 'Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.

Insights: In today’s verses we see the Lord promising to bless the people in their agricultural or financial realm.  On Sunday I used this as a spring board to express our side of this equation and our blessing the Lord with our finances.  In other words, God requires we give Him the first-fruit of the produce we receive from His blessing of abundant crops.  A first-fruit starts at ten percent of our gross income.  Now I emphasis that it starts here, because the reality is we are living under the age of grace and ought to regularly seek the Father out and ask Him if we ought to give more.  In fact, we ought to get to the place where we are living on the minimal amount and giving the majority of our income to the Lord for the advancement of His kingdom.  The Lord expects these first-fruits as a test on our obedience to Him, as well as, a reflection of our trust in Him.  There are going to be times, Beloved, when it makes no sense whatsoever to tithe to the Lord, but it is what the Lord requires.  Your actions, in that situation, are going to prove whether or not you believe the Lord is going to be faithful.  If you obediently give, then you are proving your faith.  If you say, things are too tight, I can’t afford to give, then you are still proving your faith.  In this later case, you are proving your lack of faith.  Beloved, let me challenge you to be a blessing to the Lord and faithfully give your first-fruit tithe to the Master.  You will be better off for it in the long run, even if it does not make sense right now.

Questions:

1. Are you withholding your first-fruits from the Lord?
2. Do you understand the requirement of tithing is actually a testing of your faith?

Prayer: Father, all that I have belongs to You.  Help me Lord to live my life in complete and total obedience to You.  May my financial stewardship show this kind of faithfulness to You.  Amen.

Worship the Lord ONLY

Scripture: Leviticus 26:1-2

'You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God. 'You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the LORD.

Insights: In our world there are a lot of things that fight for our worship.  Family, careers, possessions, hobbies and the list could go on and on regarding things that fight for our worship.  Yet, in today’s verses we see that our worship is to be given to the Lord ONLY.  He is the only One worthy of our worship and we ought to give it to Him in our private life, as well as, in our corporate life.  I state the private life because in verse one it is focusing on the land of a singular individual and the conduct of such a person.  I then mentioned verse two because it is focusing on the communities worship in the sanctuary, which is the corporate meeting location for the body of believers.  Beloved, here is the point: every moment of our lives ought to be centered and focused on the Lord.  He ought to be the first thing we are thinking about when we wake up and He ought to be the last thing we are thinking about before we go to sleep.  He also ought to be the focus of our thoughts throughout the day and whatever task the Lord has given us to accomplish throughout that day ought to be done as an offering to the Lord.  If we are living our lives in such union and worship to the Lord, then there ought to be an incessant desire to meet with the rest of the body of believers and worship the Lord together.  Yet, we allow all of those things previously mentioned to grab our attention and before we realize it, days and weeks have gone by and we have not even thought about the Lord, let alone worship Him.  Beloved, let me encourage you to begin right now to reorient your focus on Jesus.  Let Him be your all consuming passion and desire.  It is, after all, what He commanded of you because He is the LORD.

Questions:

1. Have you awoken this day ready to offer worship to the Lord in your private life?
2. After the joy of corporate worship yesterday, are you already longing for Wednesday?

Prayer: Father, let my life be consumed with worship for You.  Transform my heart and make it sensitive to Your presence and conform my life to Your will and desires. As I walk in such obedience may it be a pleasing offering of worship to You.  Amen.

The Lord Evaluates Offerings

Scripture: Leviticus 10:2

And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

Insights: This week we have been learning an overall theme of: Offerings ARE to be Pleasurable to the Lord.  So far we have seen:

·         The Lord Anticipates Offerings

·         The Lord Regulates Offerings

·         The Lord Evaluates Offerings (is what we are going to examine today)

When the Lord evaluated Nadab and Abihu’s offering He found it to be less than satisfactory and as a result he consumed them with fire.  Whenever God has started something new He has disciplined more severely on the front end of the time line.  This sentence does not mean God’s standards become lacks or withdrawn.  What it means is God’s exacting of punishment is held off by His mercy until a later date, but judgment is still the same end result for offering strange fire to the Lord.  The reason the Lord responds on the front end of new things in a harsher manner (from a human perspective) is because God is showing us how seriously these matters really are.  Think about a few individuals in the history of the Scriptures.  Uzzah died when he touched the Ark of the Covenant when David was attempting to bring it to Jerusalem and establish a new place of central worship for Israel.  Ananias and Sapphira died after lying to the Holy Spirit about their financial offering to the Lord.  They told everyone they were going to give the entire amount, but they kept some back for themselves, but told everyone it was the entire asking amount.  When the Lord’s Supper first was initiated several died because they took it in an inappropriate manner.  They were getting drunk on the Lord’s drink and gorging themselves with the Lord’s food and not honoring and remembering the Lord Jesus’ death on the Cross of Calvary.  John warns us there is a sin that does lead to death (1 John 5:16).  In other words, the Lord is not going to allow His children, if they are truly His, to continue to make the Lord and His holiness become a mockery.  In those situations the Lord literally takes a life of one of His children early.  Beloved, I have shared all of these examples with you to help you understand how serious our offerings to the Lord need to be.  We need to let the Lord examine our hearts and if He reveals anything inappropriate, we must repent!

Questions:

1. Does the realization that the Lord is the One who evaluates your offerings bring you comfort or anxiety?
2. Are you in danger of the Lord exacting punishment on you for inappropriate offerings to Him?

Prayer: Father, forgive me for offering strange fire to you.  I truly desire to have my heart and life reflect Your glory.  I want my offerings to be pleasing to You.  Help mold and grow me to understand how I might better serve and obey You.  Amen.

The Lord Regulates Offerings

Scripture: Leviticus 10:3

Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

Insights: Let me give you the first two definitions of the word regulate.  The first definition of regulate is: to govern or direct according to rule.  The second definition of regulate is: to bring order, method, or uniformity to something.  The reason I give you these definitions is for you to understand that God is the ONE, and let me emphasize, THE ONLY ONE, who gets to determine what is an appropriate offering of worship to Himself.  In church history, and unfortunately in some places, presently, we experienced worship wars.  For most people reading these Thoughts by Scott you know what I mean by that statement.  Just in case you don’t, however, let me briefly explain.  There have been, and still are, those who think hymn singing and southern gospel styles are the only appropriate and acceptable kinds of music sung in a church.  They believe anything new or modern is irreverent and not appropriate to present to the Lord.  On the other side of the fence were those who thought anything but contemporary music was not relevant for modern worshippers, and therefore, old hymns ought never to be sung.  The problem with both of these thoughts is that man became the arbiter as to what is acceptable to the Lord.  Let me tell you, God likes and enjoys them both.  We have done the same thing with our clothing preferences.  There was a day in which men wore suits and ties and ladies wore dresses and nice hats.  Over time, however, these forms of reverence have shifted and to place an arbitrary external demand on dress is a personal preference issue and not the commands of the Lord.  We need to hear the words of David, “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17).”  What David was teaching us in his confession of repentance was the Lord looks at the heart of the worshipper, not the external performance.  Beloved, you do not regulate the standard, the Lord does!

Questions:

1. Do you allow your personal preferences to dictate what you think are acceptable offerings of worship?
2. Have you come to the place where you understand that the Lord is the only One who is qualified to regulate what are acceptable offerings of worship?

Prayer: Father, forgive me for the times I have dictated the standard of worship.  Help my heart to be pure and blameless before You and offer You the kinds of offerings You desire.  As David told us, You desire a broken and contrite spirit over external forms or expressions of worship.  Amen.

The Lord Anticipates Offerings, Part 2

Scripture: Leviticus 10:1

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.

Insights: Today we give some examples of God’s anticipation of our offerings.  The Westminster Catechism’s first principle is: Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and TO fully enjoy him forever.  Let us look to the book of Revelation and observe the offerings of worship that are presented to God in glory for His pleasure.  The scene is found in the fourth and fifth chapters.  The first bringers of offerings to the Lord are the Four Living Creatures (4:8) - day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME."  The next group is the Twenty-four Elders (4:11) - "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."  The third example of worship comes from both the Living Creatures and the Elders (5:9-10) - And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.  The third group discovered is the Angels (5:12) - saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."  Then the final group is EVERY ONE (5:13) - And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever."  In Madeleine L’Engle’s book Many Waters she describes the voice of God’s creation speaking to humanity during the time of Moses.  Those characters closest to God could still hear creations voice just like we will hear their voice in eternity.  The point is we were created to worship and the Lord God anticipates it.  Beloved, WORSHIP!

Questions:

1. Are you longing for the day in which you will be able to worship the Lord ceaselessly?
2. Until that day, how pleasurable do you think your worship is to the Lord?

Prayer: Father, I so desire to be pleasurable to You.  Receive my worship this day as an offering to You and may it bring you joy, pleasure and satisfaction.  Thank You for such a gift to be able to commune with You and to adore You.  Praise to Your holy Name!  Amen.

The Lord Anticipates Offerings, Part 1

Scripture: Leviticus 10:1

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.

Insights: Today and tomorrow we are going to hang out on verse one of this tenth chapter.  Today we are going to lay out the foundation and tomorrow we are going to display some examples.  The imperative part of this verse is the last section, “which He had not commanded them.”  Nadab and Abihu offered what was not commanded by the Lord and by the mere fact they offered what was not commanded gives implication to the fact that something was commanded.  In other words, the Lord did, and let me add, still does, anticipate offerings.  Nadab and Abihu did right in offering to the Lord, but the Lord knows the heart of men.  These two offered something that was in contradiction to the Lord’s heart desire.  Another implication to this statement is they knew what they were doing was not going to please the Lord, but they did it anyway.  Beloved, we must be very careful in regards to our heart.  We must continually come to the Father and ask Him to search the depth of our hearts and to reveal to us specific sins of which we need to repent.  After this repentance, we are then able to offer a pleasing sacrifice to the Lord.  Let me emphasis again, He, the Lord, is anticipating your offering.  May you throughout this day seek His face and serve Him faithfully.  May your offerings bring Him pleasure as He receives Your offering of praise to Him.

Questions:

1. What kind of offering are you bring to the Lord?
2. Have you ever thought about the fact that the Lord is anticipating you bringing Him an offering?

Prayer: Father, may my offering to You be pleasing.  May You be exalted and lifted up on high because of the sweet aroma of my gift of praise to You.  Let everything in me this day bring You honor and glory.  Amen.