Thurs.’s Devo - The Kingdom of God -

Read: Leviticus 9:7-10:20; Mark 4:26-5:20; Psalm 37:30-4-; Proverbs 10:6-7 Moses told Aaron to come to the altar and offer the sin offering and burnt offering to cleanse themselves and the people. He performed the act just like the Lord had told them, first for themselves and then for the people. He also offered the grain offering and the peace offering. When he was done, Aaron raised his hands and blessed the people and stepped down from the altar. *** Together, Aaron and Moses went into the tabernacle and when they came back out, they blessed the people again and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community. Fire from the presence of the Lord appeared and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. The people shouted with joy and fell on their face. *** Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu put coals from the altar into their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. This was not anything God had told them to do and the fire they were seeing from the Lord consumed Aaron’s sons. Moses told Aaron, that this was what God meant when he said he would display his holiness and his glory before the people. Aaron didn’t say a thing. *** Moses had Aaron’s cousins Mishael and Elzaphan carry the bodies of Nadab and Abidu out of the camp. Moses told Aaron that he could show no outward signs of mourning for their disobedience or they would die also. They were to stay at the entrance of the Tabernacle or they would die. *** Moses gave Aaron another command that he and his descendants must never drink wine or alcohol before they went into the Tabernacle or they would die. They must be able to distinguish what is unclean and what is unholy. *** Moses told Aaron to have his remaining two sons to eat the grain offering and to offer up the breast and the thigh as a special offering to the Lord. *** Moses found out that Aaron and his sons didn’t eat the sin offering of the people and was very upset until he heard Aaron’s answer. Aaron didn’t think the Lord would have been pleased if they ate it in light of what had happened. Moses was fine with his answer. *** In Mark, Jesus gave many parables about the mysteries of the kingdom of God. May times they were about seed because seed was the beginning. It was the truth that went into the soil of a person’s heart and produced his salvation. No one knows which heart will receive the seed and produce the fruit of life. Sometimes it was the smallest truth in the most unlikely soil that would produce the most efficient tree. *** Jesus never taught the masses without using parables, but he would explain them to his disciples - those who walked with him and wanted to be like him. *** Jesus told his disciples they were going across the lake. Jesus went with them in the boat and other boats followed them. *** A storm rose up and the boat was beginning to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of his boat when they woke him up shouting they were drowning. Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind and told hit to be still. At once, it was calm. He asked his disciples why they didn’t have faith and why they had no faith. *** The disciples were amazed that the wind and the waves obeyed him. The storm had been a precursor to what was waiting for them on the other shore. The principality of the region met them in the form of a demon-possessed man. The people of the town had tried to control him with shackles but he broke them. He lived in the caves and howled like an animal. He also cut himself with stones. *** This uncontrollable man came and fell at the feet of Jesus begging not to be tortured by him. He knew who Jesus was and called him by name. Jesus asked him his name and he said, “Legion” because he was filled with a regimen of demons. The demons begged him not to send them to a distant place. There was a large herd of pigs feeding and the spirits begged to go into them. Jesus sent them to the pigs and the pigs, all 2,000, jumped over the cliff and drowned in the water. Their shepherds ran to the town telling the people what had happened. The pep came out and begged Jesus to leave them. The man who had been delivered of the legion of demons begged to go with Jesus, but Jesus told him he needed to go home and let his family see what God had done for him. He became the mustard seed that was the most unlikely to produce good seed. *** Lord, may we never give up on anyone or any situation, no matter how impossible it seems. May we see everyone as seeds that may sprout into great oaks for the Lord. Help us to water and tend the garden you have given us.