April 2nd One Year Bible Readings

Deuteronomy 21:1-22:30 + Luke 9:51-10:12 + Psalm 74:1-23 + Proverbs 12:11
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Old Testament - It is interesting to read about the cleansing for an unsolved murder in Deuteronomy chapter 21.  I think God makes it crystal clear here that murder is such a horrible crime that affects the entire land and community.  The Ten Commandments are obviously clear on "do not murder."  These verses in Deuteronomy go into a bit of what happens to the land when one is murdered.  Interesting to think about these verses on murder - and then realize that Jesus, whose blood was wholly innocent, was murdered on a cross.  Was Jesus' murder unsolved?  Who is guilty for this murder of Jesus?  Whose sins put Jesus on the cross?  Thankfully, whose sins does Jesus' blood cover?  Who does Jesus rescue and redeem through His innocent blood shed on a cross?

Deuteronomy chapter 22 has various rules & regs, including sexual purity.  It makes sense that there needed to be rules & regs for 1 million+ Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years - and for them as they are now about to enter the Promised Land.  Essentially, these rules & regs kept the peace.  But, hopefully more than that, they kept the Israelites minds & hearts focused on God and not on sin.  I think the rules & regs for sexual purity are obviously still so needed today.  Our culture can take us quickly into the depths of sexual impurity.  Depths that are so dark - even though the culture doesn't tell you about the darkness of sexual impurity as it is selling you the shiny lie.  Sexual sin unchecked is incredibly dangerous.  If you are struggling with it, please flee.  Run to God and Jesus.  Humble yourself in confession & repentance.  And allow Jesus to heal & transform you.  Sexual purity is something we must pursue diligently each and every day.  Don't start to go down any slippery slopes.  It gets dark quickly....

New Testament - Luke chapter 9 has a couple of challenging teachings for us from Jesus in verses 60 & 62 - "Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead. Your duty is to go and preach the coming of the Kingdom of God... Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God." How do these verses speak to you?  Today verse 62 is standing out to me - once we start our Christian journey we should not look back toward the life we left behind.  At least not in a way where we wish we were back in that old life.  Once Jesus rescues us, we are now His forever.  We have put our hand to the plow.  We will preach the coming of the Kingdom of God in the way we live our lives.  We should not look back longingly toward our old life.  It is behind us.  Have you set your hand to the plow?  And are you looking straight ahead joyfully?

Continuing this agricultural / farming theme - in Luke chapter 10 verse 2 today we read this teaching from Jesus to the disciples - "These were his instructions to them: "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, and ask him to send out more workers for his fields."

Bible.org's commentary on Luke chapter 9 readings titled "Conflicting Commitments" is at this link and commentary on chapter 10 readings titled "When Personal Evangelism is Inadequate" is at this link.

Psalms - Psalm 74 dates from the time of the exile when the Promised Land was in shambles and the temple destroyed by neighboring nations.  This is very evident by the verses we read in this Psalm.  In light of this, I absolutely love the plea in verse 22 - "Arise, O God, and defend your cause.  Remember how these fools insult you all day long."  And as we will read later in the Bible this year, God indeed will arise to defend his cause!

Below is an image for verses 13 & 14 of this Psalm: "You split the sea by your strength and smashed the sea monster's heads. You crushed the heads of Leviathan and let the desert animals eat him."

Proverbs - Proverbs 12 verse 11 is so true on quite a few levels - "Hard work means prosperity; only fools idle away their time."  I have been thinking about this "idling away time" issue recently.  I know that I idle away and waste a lot of time in my life.  And I know the Enemy wants us to waste time.  The Enemy wants us to be distracted.  The Enemy does not want us to work hard on things that are pleasing to God.  The Enemy does not want the Kingdom of God to be prosperous.  And if we buy into all of this that the Enemy tries to sell us each and every day, then indeed we are fools.  Don't buy into the Enemy's Fool's Gold!

Worship Video:  Today's reading in Luke about the harvest being plentiful but the workers few reminded me of MercyMe’s song "Here Am I (Send Me):” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfU5ys2O7gA

Where are you? Click here to get Sent!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: "He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Luke 10:2 NIV

Prayer Point: Pray that you will ask Jesus to send you out into His harvest field. Pray that you won't sit out the Great Commission that Jesus is calling you to in this life.

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  Back to Luke Chapter 10 verse 2 above - Do you believe that the harvest is great?  Do you pray to God to send out more workers for his fields?  Are you one of those workers?  How are you participating in the harvest?  If you're not participating in the harvest in some way, will you pray to God to show you where He would have you participate in the harvest?  Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. Download our monthly Small Group study notes for our One Year Bible readings at this link.

p.s. #2 - Download a schedule of our One Year Bible readings for the year in PDF format at this link.

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Comments

[Ramona]

Deuteronomy 21-22:30

21 Then all the men of the town must stone him to death. In this way, you will cleanse this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. …23 …Do not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession.

The idea that the land under our feet is affected by our sins was first introduced in Genesis when Cain killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:10), and God told Cain that the voice of his brother, whom he killed, cried out from the ground. No fewer than nine verses speak about the effects of sin upon the earth eight in the Old Testament and one in the New (Numbers 35:33,34; Psalms 106:38; Isaiah 24:5; Jeremiah 2:7; 16:18 Ezekiel 36:17,18 Romans 8:22). In Leviticus we came across three verses that speak about the land vomiting out its inhabitants because of sin and wickedness (Leviticus 18:25,28 & 20:22)

My question is how much, if any, are the climatic changes, drought, torrential rain, earthquakes caused by our sin? Geologist and meteorologist may point to shifting plates under the earth and changing air currents above the earth, sun spot activity and such like but are our sins, the sins we allow to happen the true cause? I have wrestled with asking God’s forgiveness for someone who has sinned against a family, a community and country never fully understanding why this was something God commanded; but, I think I have been given understanding of why. Their sins, my sins effect and affect the earth. The earth cries out for justice and desires to be cleansed for filth that we, humans, God’s folks commit upon the land that God created.

Forgiveness; repentance, even for the sins of others; restoration and the activity we do to obtain, release and confer it on others is a gift that we are to give freely because forgiveness is what we need to do because it effects and affects the very ground we walk on.

Thank you Mike for your comments they helped me to further understand and see the power of forgiveness and repentance of and from sin.

I’ve been thinking that every law God gave, every decree to not do something is not given because God doesn’t want us to have fun, but it is because he wants us to enjoy life and have fun that He gives us these laws. We sin because we lack godly Wisdom to see further down the road of our sinning toward sins consequences. And because we don’t want to see the effects we pretend they are 1) none or 2) we disconnect the effects from the cause taking on the role of children who have not learned how to think abstractly. So when the consequences come to fruition we scratch our heads and say, “How did that get there!” or we try to blame it on something or someone else. We must, I must learn to look down that road because truthfully sin is pleasurable, for a season and only for a season, but the payment extracts a payment that we can never pay off. Once we move from hating the consequences of sin to hating sin itself then we will stop.

Luke 9:51-10:12

54 When James and John heard about it, they said to Jesus, "Lord, should we order down fire from heaven to burn them up?"

I love this passage because it shows me that Jesus loves the loud mouths too, we have a purpose. Yes, we need to control ourselves. But Jesus loved them and even gave them a nickname, “Sons of Thunder.” (Mark 3:17). Let’s hear it for the “big mouth” folks.

Following Jesus costs us something (Luke 9:57-62). Free doesn’t mean cheap, inexpensive may not mean value and expensive doesn’t mean quality.

Proverbs 23:23 (Amp)
Buy the truth and sell it not; not only that, but also get discernment and judgment, instruction and understanding.

John 14:16 (NIV)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the Pearl of Great Price that once found we should sell everything we have to obtain Him.

Psalm 74:1-23

1 O God, why have you rejected us forever?
Why is your anger so intense against the sheep of your own pasture?

I’m don’t know what the literary style of writing that is used in the Psalm is called but I do know that it seems to remind God of what the enemy has done and what He has promised to do to Israel’s enemy. Yet although it appears to be reminding a forgetful God, in reality it is reminding the writer and reader of the adversities of the past and how God intervened and delivered. What God has done in the past He will continue to do because He doesn’t change.

It is good to rehearse in our memory and in our own hearing our past trials and troubles to remind us of the outcome. Since God doesn’t change we know that what He did in the past He will do in the future.

Proverbs 12:11

Idling away ones time may not mean one is just sitting around doing nothing. It can also mean one is doing something that is outside of their God given purpose. We can be busy but ineffective because we are doing things outside of our assignment. Kind of like a athlete who has been ability and training of a golfer but decides to take that training and do the job of a Quarterback. He is idling his time on the wrong field and in the wrong sport, and he may get killed by the defense line.

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[Jeffrey]

April 2nd

Jesus sends out 72 disciples to go ahead of him to the towns that Jesus wants to visit. The 72 can pronounce a blessing on the towns or a curse. The curse is definitely something you don’t want laid upon you… Jesus said that it would be more bearable for Sodom than the city that rejects Jesus and his disciples!

Luke 10:9–12

Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (ESV)

Back in our reading today, there was a town of the Samaritans that did reject Jesus:
Luke 9:52–53
And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. (ESV)

It must not have gone well for the citizens of that town or at least will not go well during the Judgment.

We can have differing theologies in some ways, but not when it comes to Jesus… we must believe in him as he commands. This town utterly rejected him. Not good. The disciples wanted to call down fire upon it, but Jesus closed that line of thought down. Some definitely interesting reading in today’s NT selection.

Maranatha! IC -|- XC

Prayer for Today:
Lord, as you warned, your disciples today experience rejection. Sustain our persecuted Christian family and heal their hearts. Help them stand strong for you no matter the cost. Amen.

[Dd]

I'm at this point in my life. The harvest is plentiful, workers are few. God is calling me into ministry. I am getting ready to step up and have a ministry through my home. I have become ordained recently. God has blessed me in many ways. Several have blessed with words, monetary and blessings and prayer. The next step of to Get up and Get started! Amen