February 26, 2021 – I'm Following Jesus

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Friday, February 26, 2021
Chapters: Numbers 7
Message: Worthy Of Your Hire

Hello My Friend,

When you stop to think about how we are saved by grace, through our faith alone in Christ, and not of our own works, it makes sense that we would want to do something for the Lord, even though we are not obligated to do so. Unfortunately, the harvest is plenteous and laborers are few when it comes to serving God. Even faithful Christians who serve Him get so caught up in the works of life that the works for God’s tend to take a backseat, leaving us too tired and weary to do everything that God intends for us to do. That s when Jesus reminds us, [John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.]

There is nothing that we could ever do to earn or keep our salvation as we are sealed with the blood of Christ through our faith alone in Him. God still needs willing vessels to help Him in His ministry, in fact, He chooses us, and actually employs us to do the work He calls us to do. The Levites were not given a choice, God had already hired them to serve Him in the services of the Tabernacle. After the priests had been consecrated and anointed, and the Tabernacle anointed, and sanctified, it was time to begin performing the services, which all started with a dedication. Each tribe was to bring an offering for the dedication.

[Numbers 7:1-6 And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified them; 2 That the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over them that were numbered, offered: 3 And they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for two of the princes, and for each one an ox: and they brought them before the tabernacle. 4 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 5 Take it of them, that they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service. 6 And Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them unto the Levites.]

[and thou shalt give them unto the Levites,] This was done for two reasons, to make sure that everything needed for the service was available, and to give provisions for their service. Believe it or not, God always compensates us for our work, [Luke 10:6-7 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. 7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.]

There were a certain number of items given to each of the three families of Levites for their service, except for the Kohathites, this was due to the fact that they were the ones responsible for transporting the holy things. [Numbers 7:7-12 Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service: 8 And four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 9 But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders. 10 And the princes offered for dedicating of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes offered their offering before the altar. 11 And the LORD said unto Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedicating of the altar. 12 And he that offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah:]

[They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day,] Every day for twelve days one price, meaning the head of each family, this would be the oldest man or head of the entire house of each tribe. Every tribe was to bring the exact offering as the rest, and in the exact order. [Numbers 7:13-17 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight thereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them were full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering: 14 One spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense: 15 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering: 16 One kid of the goats for a sin offering: 17 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.]

[one silver charger, one silver bowl of seventy shekels,] These were used to hold the meat offering [bread], which belonged to the priest: [One spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense:] This was for the Altar of Incense, the priests would take one spoon full of incense and throw it upon the fire on the altar of incense every morning and evening, [Exodus 30:7-10 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. 10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.]

The sweet smell of the incense was a reminder to God that a sacrifice was made, a life was given in exchange for the sinner, and an atonement was made for the sinner. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the blood of the atonement was poured upon the Altar of Incense to make an atonement for the people. Christ, is not only our atonement, He is our continual, sweet smelling fire that God finds great comfort in, for it is the savor of blood of His only begotten Son standing in the place of what was once our tainted blood, [II Corinthians 2:15-16 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?]

[And for a sacrifice of peace offerings,] Notice that the peace offerings were much more than the sin offering. It only takes one sacrifice to save our soul, and that sacrifice is the same for each and every one of us, no matter how few or many our sins are. As for the peace offerings being five times more, even after we are saved we fail God, and while we will never lose our salvation, we still need to make peace with God when sin against Him. The peace offerings are what God uses to prove our faith, and it is the same sacrifice required for each and every one of us as well, [Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.]

You see, when our spirit is broken, that is when we seek Christ to mend it, when our heart is broken, that is when we seek Christ to repair it. When our heart is contrite, meaning worn or bruised, that is when we come to Christ to heal it. It often takes for us to be broken before we can be of greater use for God. In fact, it is God who will break us. Why? So that we can get back to serving Him as He intends, [I Peter 5:6-10 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.]

You see, no one is better than anyone else, no one can give more or less for their salvation, the same offering is required, and that is Jesus Christ. No one has more of God’s favor than anyone one else, the same mercy, grace, and forgiveness is granted to all who come to Him through Christ. Remember, God is no respecter of persons, the same is required no matter who are are. The reason it may seem as though some have more than others is not in the amount of time they spend doing His work, it is whether or not the time they are spending is done with all their heart and dedication to Him. Now, an account is made of all that was dedicated to God for the service of the Tabernacle.

[Numbers 7:84-89 This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the princes of Israel: twelve chargers of silver, twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of gold: 85 Each charger of silver weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, each bowl seventy: all the silver vessels weighed two thousand and four hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: 86 The golden spoons were twelve, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, after the shekel of the sanctuary: all the gold of the spoons was an hundred and twenty shekels. 87 All the oxen for the burnt offering were twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the lambs of the first year twelve, with their meat offering: and the kids of the goats for sin offering twelve. 88 And all the oxen for the sacrifice of the peace offerings were twenty and four bullocks, the rams sixty, the he goats sixty, the lambs of the first year sixty. This was the dedication of the altar, after that it was anointed. 89 And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.]

[then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat] It should be without saying that we need God’s mercy every day. There is a reason why that seat, which was laid atop the Ark of the Covenant, was called mercy, it was God’s way of saying that His mercy rests upon His Word. Let me tell you, God does not have mercy on just anyone, it only rests upon those who believe in who He is and in who His Son is, without Christ there is no mercy for us, [I Timothy 1:14-17 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Numbers 7:9 But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders.]

Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for the One and only sacrifice ever needed to not only seek forgiveness of my sin, but atonement and peace with You. Thank You, Jesus, for giving Your life so that we no longer need to give offering upon offering to make peace with our Father, You settled our debt once and for all, and for that I will be forever grateful. I do not want to live a life that is wasted on fulfilling every lust of the flesh for the sake of my salvation being given to me without works, I want to live a life that glorifies You, and gives honor to You. I know I mess up daily, and thank You for Your mercies and grace to keep Your promise of eternal life through my faith alone. Lord, Lead us and guide us, give us Your mercy, grace, and peace. All that I have is Yours, I give it all freely to You, whatever it is that You want me to do or give, let my actions be of faith and obedience to Your Word so that I my spirit, and heart will always be seeking You. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/imfollowingjesus