February 27, 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: Saturday, February 27, 2021
Chapters: Numbers 8-10
Message: Follow God’s GPS

Hello My Friend,

[Charles Spurgeon, The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow; he may be sickly to-day and well to-morrow; he may be in happiness to-day, to-morrow he may be distressed-but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God. If he loved me yesterday, he loves me to-day. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord. Let prospects be blighted; let hopes be blasted; let joy be withered; let mildews destroy everything; I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is “my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort.” I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation.]

What a great reminder, that while this is not our home, it is God who guides and protects us through the deserts, the valleys, and up and down the hills. Until we get home, we are right at home with our Saviour no matter where we dwell here on earth. This kind of reminds me of how many homes I have lived in since I dedicated my life to Christ, for a while I was moving every three years, once it was only for a year. There is a reason why God does not want us to get too comfortable in one spot, we tend to get complacent and forget that this is not our home, we have the promised land to reach, until then, we must follow where Christ leads us as we await He return or brings us home, [Mark 13:32-34 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.]

[For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey,] It is so crazy that God led me to this passage of Scripture to begin the study. While Jesus is at the right hand of our Father, making intercession for His people, He calls on a group of people to work in His ministry. This does not mean that the rest of those saved will not be used of Him nor does it mean they are more important, it does mean that He has given them the burden of making sure that His sheep are taken care of and ministered to. God first chose the Levites for the service of His ministry, they too had to be cleansed in order to even carry one pillar used to set up the Tabernacle.

[Numbers 8:6-11 Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. 7 And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. 8 Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering. 9 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: 10 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites: 11 And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD.]

[And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD] It is Jesus who chooses us to serve Him, He is the one who offers us up to God to minister to His people. We are not all preachers or teachers, we are an assembly of vessels, used in whatever it is that He calls us to do, whether it is landscaping, cleaning, building, or cooking, we are given the skills and talents to execute the service of the LORD, [Ephesians 4:11-12 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:]

Think about what the congregation was doing here, there were offering the Levites to God as living sacrifices so they could perform the services of the Tabernacle. We need to have a great amount of gratitude for those who serve in the Church, think about what they give up so that we can worship God and fellowship with each other. Serving God is truly a labor of love, and while there are pastors, and staff who get a paycheck for their service, the majority of them do so of their own freewill. A testimony is given of the Israelites giving the Levites to God.

[Numbers 8:16-19 For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. 17 For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. 18 And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel. 19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.]

[and to make an atonement for the children of Israel:] This all makes sense when we realize that even though every soul belongs to God, He sent His Son to set one group apart from the rest. They are our Father’s gift to Jesus that enables the work of the Church to be done. These are those who are not only saved, but serve God in His Church, they are set apart from the rest of the congregation, which also means there are standards that God has for them that are different from the rest of the congregation. [Titus 1:7-9 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; 8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; 9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.]

[For a bishop must be blameless,] While this passage is directed to pastors, it also applies to all who have prominent positions in the church, teachers, deacons, elders. Why? A church is a hospital, while Christ is our Physician, His ministers are the nurses and orderlies who assist the patient. We are not judges or critics, we are ministers who tend to those who need help understanding why all Christians are to live by certain standards. And we are to never deny anyone the help the need if they have something in their lives that defiles them. The Passover was to be a reminder of the day that the death angel passed through Egypt and saved the first born of every family, man or beast, if it had the blood of a lamb struck upon the doorpost of their house. According to the Law, any person who touched dead flesh, was deemed unclean and had to distance himself from everyone for seven days until he was cleansed. During the Passover, there were some men who were defiled themselves when they buried someone.

[Numbers 9:7-10,13-14 And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel? 8 And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you. 9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD. 13 But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. 14 And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.]

[Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.] Before we make any judgment we need to stand still and hear what God has to say about it. While we are to abstain from the appearance of evil, not everything that appears as defilement is. We are the ministers that the congregation needs to get the proper care for their treatment, we are to actually give righteous judgment, not falsely accuse or be critical of them if the defilement is prominent. This is why God chooses those who endured some of the most tragic moments, who overcame the most vilest of sin with Him to minister to those who are right struggling now, [II Timothy 1:15-16 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.]

Again, when chose to serve Christ He has chosen us first, and by doing so we become one of His servants. Let me tell you, we are not perfect, we are going to mess up, we are going to get ourselves into trouble sometimes, and yet He longsuffering to get us right back up and moving forward. This is why He often sends us packing and moving forward, not backward. God was about to send Israel back on their journey to the promised land, but in addition to the pillar that led them, a cloud or fire would appear over the Tabernacle, when it died they were to set up camp, and stay put, but as soon as it disappeared they needed to pack up immediately, and head wherever ever it was that the pillar led them to.

[Numbers 9:15-17,21-22 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. 16 So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17 And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. 21 And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. 22 Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.]

[two days, or a month, or a year,] We need to move when and where God tells us to, if it makes no sense to us, there is a reason behind it. There was a time when I only lived in a house for six months, that was before I was even saved, but believe it or not, even before we are saved, God is directing our path for the day that we come to Him. Israel was not the only people following God to their journey to the promised land, there were Egyptians and other Gentiles (strangers), among them was Moses’ father-in-law, he was a Midianite and dwelt with them for a while after he brought his wife and children to him. Hobab tells Moses that he was going to go back to Midian as they were about to move camp, but Moses encourages him to come with them.

[Numbers 10:29-34 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel. 30 And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred. 31 And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. 32 And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the LORD shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. 33 And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. 34 And the cloud of the LORD was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp.]

[that what goodness the LORD shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee.] You see, God is always with us, and He truly does bless us when we are faithful to Him, even if we mess up. The Holy Spirit was their guide on the entire journey, when He walked, they walked, when He stood, they stood. When they were threatened with war, He was their protection and victory, that is, as long as they let Him lead them. When we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, He will steer us in the right direction all the time, now, we may have to take a detour or rest along the way, but thanks to God’s GPS, He will always take us where He wants us to be will give us the skills we need to do whatever He calls us to do, [I Corinthians 7:20-23 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. 21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. 22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. 23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Numbers 8:19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.]

Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for the Holy Spirit, our true GPS, You have called us to serve You in many ways, some of us directly in Your ministry. We do not choose the positions we hold, You do, and in order to fulfill them we need to live by Your standards and follow You wherever You lead us. Lord, give us Your power, mercy, grace, and guidance to be faithful and honorable servants, to represent You in and out of the church as honorable servants, and to encourage all we come in contact with to follow us to the promised land. Whether we are ministers to assist You or laymen, let us live our lives in a way that glorifies You, be repentant when we fail you, not quick to judge, but quick to assist those You place before us. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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