Brothers and sisters,
Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: “This is what the Lord commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.(Numbers 30)
Some people today believe that breaking an oath or vow is trivial, but before God breaking a vow may lead to consequences. Therefore perform all vows carefully.
Please read Numbers 28-30. And listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
Moses was a true leader of the people of Israel because he loved them dearly. When it was time for him to die, his main concern was the well being of the people.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)
Moses said to the Lord, 16 “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community 17 to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” (Numbers 27)
Please read Numbers 25 - 27. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
19 God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
Please read Numbers 22 - 24. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
Because of one moment of anger, Moses and Aaron were not allowed to enter the Promise land. "But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” (Numbers 20:12)"
Please read Numbers 19 - 21. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
In any of our decision the main point to ponder is wether the Lord is with us or not.
41 But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! 42 Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, 43 for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”
44 Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah. (Numbers 14)
Please read Numbers 13 - 15. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
Are you aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? Moses had wished that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29). Why is that necessary? In Exodus 18, Moses after having listened to the advice of his father-in-law, Jethro, "chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens." But his problem stayed as we see him complaining to the Lord in Numbers 11:15.
It is great to have capable men as leaders, but when it comes to spiritual matters, capable men is not enough. Moses needed men with the Spirit on them. 16 The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.(Numbers 11)
Please read Numbers 8 - 12. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
24 “‘“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
Please read Numbers 5 - 7. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
Why was God kept on counting the people of Israel in the book of Numbers? I don't know for sure, but I think he kept on counting them because they were valuable to him. So, everything that is valuable to us we should count.
Please read Numbers 2 - 4. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
Please read Leviticus 26 - Numbers 1. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
7 “‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy. (Leviticus 20)
What we focus on, we become. A while back, a brother that I respect a lot in the church kept praying, "Lord, make me hate sin." I thought that was very cool, I started to pray the same prayer, "Lord, make me hate sin." It did not take long before I became fixated on sin, I even started to detect sin in other people's lives and disliking them. Slowly, I corrected my mistake by changing my prayer, "Lord, me make love holiness and sanctification." It worked out better for me, I even started loving myself and others more.
It seems to me that the repetition of the idea of holiness in the book of Leviticus is a reminder for us to focus on the positive of holiness instead of the negative of sin.
Please read Leviticus 20 - 22. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
By this time, most people or groups who have set at the beginning og the year the goal of reading the whole Bible in a year have given up. The book of Leviticus is a test of our serious commitment to read the Bible. This is a difficult book to read through, but it is one of the key books to understand and appreciate God's plan of salvation for humanity. "The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19).
Please read Leviticus 17 - 19. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
45 “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt,cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp. (Leviticus 13)
Some of us reading those verses may feel indignant, but this drastic measure had two goals. Spiritually, it was to show sin’s destructive power, God is a Holy God, people with sin cannot enter his presence. Naturally, those measures were to protect the community. By example, for the past two weeks China has quarantined a whole city of 25 million people to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Please read Leviticus 12 - 16. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!
Brothers and Sisters,
Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke of when he said:
“‘Among those who approach me
I will be proved holy;
in the sight of all the people
I will be honored.’”
Aaron remained silent. ( Leviticus 10)
Please read Leviticus 8 - 11. And Listen.
May the Lord richly bless you!