Sun.’s Devo - The Spirit of the Word Brings Life

Read: Leviticus 24:1-25:46; Mark 10:13-31; Psalm 44:9-26; Proverbs 10:20-21 God commanded that the lamp stand in the Holy Place would always be kept burning. This was the light of God’s Spirit. Twelve loaves were to be set out on the table of shewbread. They were to be replaced every Sabbath. Every day we are to eat God’s Word. *** An incident happened in the camp where a man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian fought with another Israelite man. The first man cursed and blasphemed the name of the Lord. They brought him to Moses to find out what the Lord wanted done. The man’s mother’s names mean “My word will bring peace.” Moses sought the Lord to find out what His word was. He told Moses to have everyone who heard what the man said take him outside the camp and stone him. *** This is the picture of a person who has Christian parents but have chosen not to follow after God. Their father is the world and Satan. Those who witness his confession are to take him aside and tell him the truth. It is up to the person to decide for himself what he will believe. If he continues to believe the lie, he will die in his sin. *** The law of murder was if you took a human life, you would have to give yours. If you took the life of someone's animal, you must give that person the same animal to replace it. Spiritually, it means if you lead someone down the path to hell, you will end up there also. The reverse of that is that if you give your life up to the Lord, your testimony will probably save many. *** The land was to rest every seventh year. God would make sure that the land provided food for them during that year. *** Every 50 years they were to celebrate the Day of Jubilee. It was to begin on the Day of Atonement. A trumpet would sound throughout the land proclaiming a liberty to all the people. In this year, they were to return to their property. They could redeem any property that belonged to others at a fair price. The price is determined by how much fruit the land produces in a year. They were to be fair and just in their exchanges. *** They were not to worry about what they would eat in the seventh year because God would so prosper their sixth year so that they wouldn’t lack anything for three years. *** If land was sold inside a walled city, the original owner had a year to buy it back. If he didn’t, it was not returned to him at the Jubilee. The exception was the Levites whose land was always theirs. *** I think this law is going to make more sense to us in the future when God’s people possess the land. ***We are always to treat other Christians as brothers and sisters and not commodities. *** In Mark, Jesus showed his great love to the children because we are all his children and must come to him like children. *** A man approached Jesus calling him “good.”He wanted to know what he could “do” to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him why he called him good since no one was good except God. He told him to do the commandments. The man told him he did. 
 *** Since he claimed he could do that, Jesus told him lovingly that he lacked one thing. He didn’t have any treasure in heaven. He needed to learn to give. He told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor. The man went away sadly because he had great possessions. *** The sad thing about that man was that he wanted to live by the law so he would be judged by the law. Jesus was trying to give him a way to live by the Spirit and he was not ready to do that. *** Jesus then said it will be difficult for those who trust in their wealth to enter God’s kingdom. Then Jesus added that with man it is impossible, but with God it is not. All things are possible with God. *** Every sacrifice done for the kingdom of God will receive a hundred fold in a set time in the future. In the age to come they will live eternally. May who are most important now will be the least important and vice versa. *** Lord, help us to comprehend our part in your story and be faithful. Thank you for caring for us and preserving us through the trials of our day. May we look to you for our daily bread.