Josh1Eight

Scripture: Leviticus 26:3, 9-12, 15-16, 23-24, 27-28, 40-44 3 “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands...I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear...I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you. 10 You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest! 11 I will live among you, and I will not despise you. 12 I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people...However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands, 15 and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands, 16 I will punish you...And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins...23 And if you fail to learn the lesson and continue your hostility toward me, 24 then I myself...

Scripture: Leviticus 25:2-6, 19-20 "When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the Lord every seventh year. 3 For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, 4 but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year. 5 And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest. 6 But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath...19 Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. 20 But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ 21 Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for t...

Scripture: Mark 7:5-8,21-22 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” 6 Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ 8 For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition...For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Observations: The Pharisees were expert Bible students who had at least the entire first five books of the Old Testament memorized since they were 12!! They were not the guys to argue with about God's Word because ...

Scripture: Leviticus 19:9-10, 18 “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you...love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." Observations: Mixed into God's laundry list of the many ways how God commanded the Israelites to be holy and set apart from the world around them are two verses that provide a glimpse into the nature of God. Each person was commanded not to exhaustively harvest their fields but rather to leave some left over for those less fortunate to eat. In this way God built into society a mandated system that would provide for the needs of the poor. But there was a catch- the only way this would work was if each family intentionally chose to consume less and ...

Scripture: Mark 6:19-20 "John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod’s approval she was powerless, 20 for Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him." Observations: The stories of Jesus' life often include many examples of people who responded to the truth as well as those who didn't. King Herod was a powerful leader who was openly confronted with his adulterous affair by a prophet named John the Baptist whom Herod respected as a "good and holy man" because deep down he knew John spoke the truth of God. What's strange is that when he was confronted by John with the truth of God's Word, Herod was "greatly disturbed" on the inside but just not to the point that he was ready t...