Monthly Archives: February 2018

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AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU’RE NOT PERFECT?

 Leviticus 21:21 “‘No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God.’”

 BUT WE ARE FORGIVEN

 I understand why God said this, but I can’t help but feel sorry for the Levite who wanted to serve but couldn’t due to some defect.  Perhaps they were born blind or with a club foot.  That would take them out of service to offer the sacrifices or to enter the veil.  I am sure there were those who faced this.

Aren’t you glad that through Christ we can all serve?  It doesn’t matter if we are deaf or blind or crippled or missing a limb.  We can serve the Lord in whatever way He calls us.  Jesus has fulfilled all our limitations through the cross.  His death freed us permanently from the demands of the Law.  Hallelujah!

TEACHING MOMENT

You may have a child who has some sort of disability or you may know someone who does.  We need to reinforce God’s calling on their life despite that disability.  God doesn’t make any junk.  Every child is created in His image, which does not refer to physical characteristics.

The only limit on how your child can be used by God is your child’s surrender to Him.  God will not use an unwilling vessel.  He won’t force us to submit.  But when we do, He is ready to use us to do mighty things.

How many times have you told yourself (and God) that you can’t do something?  That’s good.  Now you are at the point where He can use you.  When you realize you can’t, He can.

Creator of all, thank You for making me in Your image.  Thank You for giving me the limitations You have.  Even those were Your plan for my life, so I can depend more on You.

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GOD, DON’T YOU SEE ME?

 Psalm 38:21-22 “21 Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, do not be far from me! 22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!”

 CRYING FOR HELP

 How many times have you felt like this?  You feel like God is a million miles away.  You feel like He has forsaken you.  All your prayers seem to hit the ceiling.  You cry out, and there is no response.  What is wrong?  Where is He?

We are not sure when David wrote this Psalm.  It may have been after the affair with Bathsheba.  It may have been while fleeing Saul.  We just don’t know, but the fact remains, he felt abandoned.  Sometimes we feel that way due to our unconfessed sin and other times it is just a result of God allowing us to be tested and tried for some future victory.

TEACHING MOMENT

Your kids are going to have some hard times.  They are going to question why God doesn’t intervene and solve all their problems.  How do you answer these questions?  How do you explain God’s silence?  By being there for them.  There is no other way.  You pray with them through it.  You keep them focused on His Word.

What causes these silent times in your child’s life?  God allows circumstances in our lives and in our kids’ lives for a purpose.  There is always a purpose.  They need to know that.  You should reinforce all the truths you have taught them and wait with them for God to reveal Himself.  He will!

Are you waiting for God right now?  Is He silent?  Or is He answering, and you just haven’t been listening?  God’s silence is an opportunity to listen.  Be quiet and listen closely.

Father, speak to me!  I want to hear Your voice.  Help me listen to You and You only.

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TAKING THE BLAME

 Leviticus 16:10 “‘But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.’”

 CRUCIFY HIM!

 I have always been puzzled by the concept of the scapegoat in the Old Testament.  There were two goats.  One was killed and sacrificed on the altar.  The other one was labeled the scapegoat.  The High Priest would lay his hands on it and symbolically put the sins of the nation on it.  Then it would be released into the wilderness.  If you ask me, the scapegoat got off much better than the other one.  Lol.

Jesus was our scapegoat.  He took the sins, not just of one nation, but of the entire world on Himself.  He paid the ultimate price so that we could walk free.  And the beauty of His sacrifice is that it was done once for all time.  No annual sacrifice is necessary.  No repeat!  One time deal.

TEACHING MOMENT

I bet your kids are always complaining that they get blamed for stuff they didn’t do.  Am I right?  They never do anything wrong.  It’s always someone else’s fault.  Been there – done that!  But we, as parents, know better.  Why?  Because we were, or maybe still are, just like them.

The next time your little Gertrude or Elrod blames their sibling or a neighbor kid for something, tell them this story of the scapegoat.  Explain to them how Jesus died for their sins.  He was the sacrifice and the scapegoat.  Because of that we have no fear of confession of our sins.  As believers, they are under the blood.

Who are you blaming today?  Maybe it’s your spouse’s fault, right?  Maybe you are still blaming your parents for your childhood issues?  Stop casting the blame on others.  Stop looking for a scapegoat.  Accept your faults and ask the Lord to heal your heart. He will.

Lord Jesus, thank You for being the scapegoat for the world.  Thank You for shedding Your blood on the Father’s altar of the cross.  Help me be more honest with You about my own sins so I can walk free and clean.

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KEEP IT CLEAN

 Leviticus 15:31 “‘Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.'”

 IT’S A HOLY THING

Leviticus is not the easiest book in the Bible to read.  Some chapters seemingly have no context for today.  But oh, how we miss it.  Look at today’s reading in chapter 15.  This is a chapter on the importance of cleansing unhealthiness.  God gave them guidelines to get checked out and cleansed.  Remember, this is God talking, not just some person.  And if God says it, it must be important.

But look at why they are to keep from uncleanness – “so that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.”  God’s place of dwelling with them, the tabernacle, was a holy place.  He demanded cleanness.  What is His tabernacle today?  He dwells IN us through the Holy Spirit.

TEACHING MOMENT

Our children can be taught this truth at an early age.  As believers, our bodies are God’s dwelling place, His tabernacle, here on earth.  The Holy Spirit lives within us.  So, we need to make sure that everything we do to our bodies is done with that in mind.  Keeping oneself clean and healthy is important.

Without sounding too simplistic, your children need to know that once they accept Christ as their Savior, their bodies no longer belong to them.  They are responsible to God how they treat it.  Why is that important.  Because the world sees your body, and nothing you do to it should take away from Christ in you.  Even our bodies should not give a message that points them in any other direction.

Can I get personal for a moment?  “By all means, Carl.”  Thanks!  Stop treating your body as your own personal billboard for YOUR personality. As a believer, you represent Christ.  Advertise Him, not yourself.  This doesn’t mean you have to wear high collars and long skirts ladies.  This doesn’t mean men have to wear suits and ties all the times.  But let your physical appearance NOT be a deterrent to someone seeing Christ in you.

Creator of all things, You made me in Your image.  Let me reflect You in every single thing I do.  Let Your presence be seen through me today.

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BE WHAT?

 Leviticus 11:45 “‘For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

 BE HOLY

Can you believe that?  God told us to be holy!  Doesn’t He know that isn’t possible? There is no way I can be holy.  I have too much flesh in me to be holy.  Surely, He doesn’t expect me to be holy!

Oh, but He does.  How?  Because He sent us the means by which we can be.  You see, back in Leviticus the law proved to them they could not be.  All the sacrifices and all the rules couldn’t make them holy.  So, God sent His only Son to be our holiness!  We are holy because He is holy.

TEACHING MOMENT

Teaching holiness to children is tricky.  We don’t want to teach them that it means something so high and mighty that they feel they cannot achieve it.  “Holy” essentially means something that is set apart for a special purpose.  Now that we can teach.

Do they have a special possession that they take extra care of?  They may have a toy they bring out only rarely.  It could be a special dress or shirt they only wear on special occasions.  Point out to them that, as believers, God sees us as special all the time.  He has a special purpose for us – each of us.  Everything we do and say is preparation to be used by Him.  Our lifestyle of surrender to Him helps us live holy lives.  There really is no other way than surrender to Him.

Are you surrendered today?  Are there things in your life that distract you from holy living?  You know what they are.  It could be a hobby or a habit.  Whatever it is, surrender it today to the One who can handle it.  He is holy.  You be holy, too.

Holy God, there is no way I can be holy of myself.  My holiness comes from You.  Pour out Your holiness on me through the power of Your Holy Spirit in my life.

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IT’S YOUR FORGIVENESS

 Leviticus 7:30a “His own hands are to bring offerings by fire to the Lord.

 YOU HAVE TO ASK

 This short phrase struck me as a I read through the instructions for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the sacrifice of peace offerings.  Even though it was the job of the priests to do the sacrifices and accept the offerings, each person had to present their own offerings.

There are just some things that you have to do for yourself.  You can’t expect someone else to live righteously for you.  You can’t get into heaven because of your great grandma’s faith.  You can’t just add on to your friend’s prayers by saying, “Ditto.”

TEACHING MOMENT

How do you show your children to live their own faith?  Easy – show them how.  Teach them to pray.  Teach them to read the Word.  We teach them everything else, but we expect them to figure out faith on their own.

I have heard parents say, “Well, I don’t want to force little Johnny to believe.  He has to make up his own mind about religion.”  Really?  The most important decision in their lives which will determine their eternal destiny and we let them “figure it out.”  Why not just give them the keys to the car at 16 and say, “Figure it out”?

We must show them how to use “His own hands…to bring offerings by fire to the Lord.”  Now, we don’t need offerings.  We have Jesus. But we must show them how to come to Him.  Everything we do with them should point them towards Jesus.

Father in Heaven, accept my offering of praise today.  I come to You with outstretched hands, giving You my all.  May I be the example to my children and others.

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YOU’RE GUILTY

 Leviticus 5:17 “Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.” 

 BUT WE HAVE A SAVIOR

 Wow!  That verse sounds kind of hopeless.  Even if they were unaware of sinning, they were guilty.  Not very encouraging.  But, then again, they didn’t have Jesus.  We do!

However, even today this verse holds true.  If someone sins against God, they are guilty.  They may not even believe in God.  That doesn’t matter.  They are still guilty.  They will find out one day just how guilty they are.  And there is NOTHING they can do to justify their actions or to get rid of the guilt.  Only Jesus can cleanse them.

TEACHING MOMENT

Have you ever caught your children in the midst of disobedience?  Have you caught them doing something, but they are totally oblivious to your presence?  Sometimes they don’t even realize they are doing it.  They are still guilty of breaking that rule.  There is nothing they can say to you.  You saw it.  You know they did it.

In the same way, the Lord observes our every action. He knows exactly what we are doing.  Heck, He even knows what we are thinking.  All we can say is, “Forgive me, Lord.”

Do you have things you need to confess?  I bet you do.  Go to the Father.  Tell Him just how sorry you are.  Let Him know you need forgiveness.  Then share that mercy with others.  As He forgives us, He sends us out to be a pillar of hope.

O Lord, there is nothing I can do to save myself.  I desperately ask You to forgive me and lead me down the path of holiness.  Help me show my children how to live in repentance.

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BE A BLESSING

 Leviticus 2:3 “The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons: a thing most holy, of the offerings to the Lord by fire.”

 THE LORD’S PART

Verses 3 and 10 in Leviticus 2 are identical.  God repeats the same instructions regarding the grain sacrifices.  But these instructions in these verses aren’t about Him.  They are about Aaron and his sons.  The Lord was insistent that the people take care of them.  These men and their families were set aside by the Lord to be the spiritual leaders.  Therefore, God had special provisions for them.

I have been in ministry a long time.  I am so fortunate that almost everywhere I have served took care very good care of its employees.  The churches and other ministries knew the importance of “not muzzling the ox” or providing for those who served.  That’s not the case in some places.

TEACHING MOMENT

“Okay Carl, how are you going to apply this to my children?”  I am glad you asked.  Lol.  Our children listen to everything you say, especially when they are small.  How you talk about your Pastor(s) will stick with them.  Do not criticize or talk badly about the Lord’s servants in front of them.

Hopefully, when they grow up they will be a leader in the church they attend.  Who knows, they may even be called into the ministry themselves.  Respect for God’s servants is important.  Taking care of them is important.  May your children learn that from you.

Are you doing that?  Have you thanked your Pastor(s) lately for their sacrifice to serve you and the Lord?  Have you advocated for them to be well compensated, so they don’t have to be concerned how they are taking care of their family?  Now, listen to me.  This is NOT about the Pastors.  This is about you obeying our verse today.  Bless the Lord by blessing them.

Father, I am thankful for those who serve You and me.  Show me ways in which I can be a blessing to them.  Help me teach my children how to do the same.

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