This one should have a sign over it that says “The Party Is Here!” I am so grateful that God loves a good party. He wanted His people to keep their eyes on Him and know His goodness, faithfulness, and provision. He wanted them to feast and rejoice because He was taking care of them. Each festival involved giving a gift to the Lord as well as ceasing from labor for a short time. Both refocused the laborer on who gave them their freedom and everyday provisions and who they could count on. They did not need to work that day because their Heavenly Father was providing. What a great reminder to us as well. Each Sunday as we take our rest and give our tithe we are reminded of His provision and sufficiency. You aren’t giving or resting? You are missing the blessing of the party God has for you. You probably are worn out trying to make ends meet and figure out how to work out all things in your life. Choose the celebration my friend. His strength is sufficient for your need. Give to Him first and know His faithfulness even when it doesn’t look like things will work. See His hand in your life. Give Him your struggles and allow Him to work and fight for you. In the New Testament He says, “Cast all of your cares on me for I care for you.” What a great reminder and a great reason to party on!

Set apart… That is what God wanted for his people then and for us today. He did not want His people to be like those in the land who had been ungodly whether they were sacrificing their children to Molech or having sex with someone or something other than their wife or husband. This is where so many point to saying same sex is wrong, but God lists many more than just same sex as being wrong. God’s purpose was that His people would follow Him and He said don’t have sex with family, animals, as well as someone of the same gender. Leviticus 18:24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.” Does it mean that God doesn’t love these people or can’t forgive them. NO. It just means God knows what is best and he has commanded us to not chase after our own lusts but to follow His way. So God’s plan is for a man and woman to be united and the two become One. Anyone who chooses to go outside his or her marriage vows chooses disobedience to God. To go outside will cause trouble in the home, trouble in the community and even trouble in the land. I wonder if that is part of what is wrong with America because we have chosen our own path and trouble has come our way. I pray the land will not vomit us up, but the darker our society becomes with evil the more likely it is to happen. Sorry to be such a downer, but sin is sad and as the bible tells us it makes us unclean. We have a separation from God. BUT Jesus paid for our sin and longs for us to ask for forgiveness, turn back to what we know He longs for us to do, and be right with God again.

Dietary restrictions highlighted todays’ reading. I have always thought maybe a reason God told them certain animals were clean and others not clean was due to preservation ability. bacteria they might have and for their general health. Yet in the New Testament all of a sudden God told Peter that everything was clean for him to eat. Wow what a departure! The more I thought and prayed about why God would all of a sudden do an about face the thought came to me that maybe the people were making the laws their religion instead of the Creator. Israel had begun to be known not by who they worshiped but by what they would not do. Then I thought about the church today. We are guilty of the same thing at times. The bible tells us that people will know us by our love not by what we do or do not eat or drink. I think sometimes the church today is identified more with the Thou Shalt Nots than our love for God and others. What a great reminder to show the love of Christ often and to a greater degree than condemning people because they don’t do things the way I think they should be done. May all know we are Christians by our love!

It doesn’t take long for humans to learn the concept of “I can do it myself.” My children all learned it early in life and whether it was putting on socks and shoes or turning out lights they were determined that they could and would do it themselves. (much to my frustration at times!) Today’s scripture describes an event where Aaron’s sons decided they too could do it themselves and offered incense that was not done the way God had told them to do it. Their impatience and independence cost them their lives. God was meticulous about how the priests were to make sacrifices and doing it improperly was not an option. Aaron and his sons were anointed for ministry they were to stay in the temple for 7 days. I pondered what they probably did in those 7 days. I believe they were continuing education days for each of the young men to learn what to sacrifice, when, and how. God was very specific in each of these areas and the priests were to carry it out as instructed. 2 of Aaron’s sons paid a heavy cost for choosing not to listen and obey. What made it even more difficult was that God told Aaron and the remaining sons not to mourn. As a parent I can’t imagine how that must have affected all of the priests. God knew the hearts of each of the priests and they represented Him. There was no room for “I can do it myself” attitudes.
In our lives God does want to us learn some independence but not be independent from Him. He wants us to trust and obey doing things His way for our good and His glory.

The scriptures we read today reminded me of the seriousness of sin whether it is known or unknowns. The people had to offer a sacrifice even if they had not been aware of the sin they committed at the time. Our sin whether we realize it or not always puts a barrier between us and God. He is Holy and no sin can exist in His presence. When sin enters the picture it becomes a barrier between us and Him. That is why confession is such a big part of our prayer time. It is not to make us feel bad, guilty, or unworthy. It is a time of cleansing to open fresh the passage way between us and God. With no sin blocking our path, there is open and clear communication not just to God but also from Him. In Leviticus once the offering for sin was made the path was clear to hear from God and He would forgive their sin.
One last thought. I wondered as I was reading how many sacrifices daily must have been offered because I know my own heart and I would have had to have a lot of animals to offer. In the latter part of the reading it answered my question because they fire for the offerings never went out. I am thankful my prayer connection with God never “goes out” as well. He is listening for me day and night. I am so grateful for what Jesus did for me on the cross that I may be forgiven and made right once for all.

If you are reading your bible through with us I am so proud of you for getting to this point. You are doing well. Keep up the great work. The next few days may be the most challenging yet because Leviticus is filled with laws, offerings, and things that make little sense to us now, but they were for the best of those Moses was trying to lead. Many will deal with health issues, cleanliness, and proper treatment of each individual. The different kind of offering like we studied today are all gruesome sounding, but before Jesus came there had to be a blood sacrifice for the sins of the people. Today some things about those sacrifices that stood out to me was that each time hands were laid on the head of the sacrifice acknowledging the sin that had been committed. It makes me very thankful that I don’t have to go to a certain person, place or thing and place my hands on it as I confess. My confessions are to be made to my heavenly Father and He hears and forgives me of my sin, but that is only done because of what Jesus did for me. The other thing that jumped out to me was that each time an animal sacrifice is mentioned one of the things that God reserved for himself was the animal’s fat. I wonder why? I know when I am grilling the fat makes the fire burn more intensely I wondered if that was it. Many way also that putting fat into meat makes it taste better. I am not sure about that I know God reserved it for a reason even if I don’t understand. Which brings me back to my original point, there are going to be many things in Leviticus we will not understand, but God placed it in the bible for a reason, so lets journey thought this together and each day look for something God is teaching us.

I can’t imagine the excited meant that vibrated through the camp as the Tent of Meeting was finally put together. Every piece had been constructed just as God has said. Every bar covered in gold, every tapestry, every hook and base were all in place. I wonder if their excitement was even greater because they had given. Their charms, bracelets, yarn, and wood had been used for the construction. They had been a part from the beginning and now they were about to see the whole thing put together. When the last clasp was drawn and Moses pronounced it complete the thrill of seeing the cloud descend upon the place and fill the tent must have been chilling. The only thing I can even begin to compare it to was when we built a new campus at Westwood and we met in a tent in the parking lot the Sunday before we filled the building. As we sang “Thou Oh Lord” I can still remember tears of joy filling my eyes and running down my cheeks. We knew God’s presence was there! Even though you may not be going into a new building this morning, the presence of the Lord can and should be in the place you worship today. Pray before you even go that God would meet you there. God expecting to hear a word from Him. Look to see where He is at work and join Him there. It is not about a building but it is about us being His temple now. He longs to fill us. The bible tells us in Jeremiah if we seek Him we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts. Today will be a great day to worship Him!

I wonder sometimes is Moses was so focused on God and his calling that he missed the people around him. In today’s passage we are told Joshua was there at the tent of meeting when Moses was meeting with God. Joshua even stayed late when Moses left. 33:11 “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.” The impression is that Joshua was longing to hear God as well and to be a good disciple. And yet in the next verse Moses was asking God who He would send with him. I wonder if God wanted to say, “He is right there under your nose. Look around.”
12″Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.”
Are we like Moses? Who have we overlooked when God is saying I have sent you who and what you need. God may have set someone in your field of influence to train to take your place one day. Look to see who has a heart for God. Open your eyes to anyone who is walking the same path but just a few steps behind. Then pour into them. Give them opportunities to serve and grow. Teach them when the opportunities are given to sharpen their skills. Take them along with you to see how you do your job.
Joshua was already a leader in training even though Moses did not acknowledge him as such. God has leaders in training around all of us as well. May God open our eyes and we seize the opportunity to pour into tomorrow’s leaders.

Moses was up on the mountain listening to the Lord and satan was stirring up a mess in the valley below. Isn’t that just like our lives? We can be having a great time in the Lord just to come down the mountain and see the mess that was made. In my flesh I would have wanted to turn to Aaron and say “seriously! God was just telling me how to set you apart as holy and I come down to find you making an idol to replace Him…” I would have struck out at Aaron, but Moses may have had mercy on him because he knew how crazy the people drove him. To know God knew all along what was happening and what would happen and still chose Aaron and his sons blows my mind.
I am so grateful that we have a forgiving God who does know what is going on in the valley even when we are meeting with Him. He knows who is behind it and reminds us daily that flesh and blood is not our enemy but the one who is evil behind it. Lord, Help me to have more mountaintop experiences with you than valley struggles. When I do come to the valley and find a mess help me to have your heart to forgive (even though at first God wanted to destroy them) Please help me to lead like Moses with a love for the people even when they made him angry. Help me to love and respect you even when I don’t have all of the answers.

In chapter 25 God goes into detail of how to build the Ark of the Covenant. Many might be more familiar with it because of a Harrison Ford movie where he went in search of the Ark. That ark described here in the bible was precious to Israel because it was the place where the priests met with God and heard from Him. 25:21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 22There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
As I read the description the word testimony stood out to me. The testimony would be put in it but the ark itself was called the ark of the testimony. The testimony that was put into it was a the stone commandments written by Moses after he dropped the ones God had forged. The staff of Aaron was in it defining for Israel who God chose to lead. A jar of manna was placed in it as a reminder of God’s provision for Israel during their wilderness travels. Each of these things testified to God’s authority, His provision and His commands for Israel. He promised to bless Israel if they followed and obeyed. This the covenant was given to the people. Then the ark itself was a testimony to Israel of God’s desire to be among them and have relationship.
The more I pondered these things God reminded me that we no longer need a box to represent His presence with us. When Jesus ascended into Heaven He sent the Holy Spirit within each believer to testify to His presence in us. He is our authority. He is our provision. He leads us in the way we should go. He speaks to us in a still small voice that is within us. The book of John tells us the Spirit convicts us of wrong, leads us into truth, guides us, and is our Helper. The great thing is that He can never be lost. So there is no need for Harrison Ford or anyone else to come and find the Holy Spirit. He is within us and if we listen and obey His voice is very clear. What a great testimony to us, but as we obey and walk in Him we are a testimony of His presence to all who are around!