Matthew 10 - 8.6.24

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew 10:1  "Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness."

OBSERVATION:  From the hundreds of people who followed Jesus, He called twelve to be His apostles.  Apostle means messenger or authorized representative.  Jesus didn't choose them because of their faith, talents or abilities, and they didn't have any more leadership potential than those who weren't chosen. The one characteristic they all shared was their willingness to follow and obey Jesus. 

After Jesus' rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit Who empowered them to carry out special roles in the growth of the early church.  (Footnotes from Mark 3:14 NIV).

APPLICATION:  God calls us to faith in Jesus.  To those who say yes to following Jesus, God gives us authority in Jesus' name to serve and minister in His power and His love.  Being called by God is the highest calling anyone can receive, and the rewards and blessings are endless!  But... there is a cost for following Jesus.  Just like the disciples experienced hardships and opposition from the government and their family and friends, we will too!  As our society gets further and further away from God, we have the responsibility as Christ followers to pray that the Word of the Lord spreads rapidly and will be held in honor, and be glorified.  We are the body of Christ, and when Jesus rose from the dead, He transferred His authority on earth to His body, the Church.  We are His heir, and everything that is His, including His authority belongs to us.  When adversity arises, we are able to use our authority in Jesus' name by speaking out His Word, and God's Word is backed by all the power in heaven!  And His Word NEVER returns void!  "...So is My Word that goes out from My mouth:  It will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  (Isaiah 55:11).

PRAYER:  Lord, just like You called and gave authority to Your disciples, You have called and given us the same authority in Jesus' name.  We are living in a very dark time in history, but thank You that we don't have to fear because You are with us, and You have given us power over the enemy that is backed by all Your power!   Help us always to remember to use the power, the strength, and the authority that You have given us in Jesus' name. 

- Robin Orefice

Psalm 18 - 8.5.24

Scripture

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Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT

“The Lord rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence. For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not turned from my God to follow evil.”

Observation

This is a psalm of David. He sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD rescued him from Saul, and all of his enemies. It’s a testament of God’s faithfulness to David, and David’s faithfulness to God. Even during life’s struggles, David didn’t blame God. Instead he remained faithful to keep God’s ways, and God blessed him and rescued him from his enemies.

Application

What kind of person will I be when times get tough? 🤔

It’s a great question to ask ourselves. Are we the type to fold under pressure? Or is that the time we dig deep, stand firm on our beliefs, and fight on!

We’ve all been through tough times in life. We’ve all felt the pressure, the stress, and may have even felt like the world was going to cave in on us. Now if you haven’t experienced these things yet, I’m happy for you. But trust me, it will eventually happen at some point in all our lives. But the question is, how will we handle those situations when they arise? Will we go off the deep end and “go postal” on the world? I sure hope not! Will we unleash our tongues and speak words of vulgarity and slander? Will we turn to substances to try to forget about our problems? 🤔 Or will we be like David, turning to God, and crying out for His Help? You see, there is a reason why David has the reputation, and is known as the man after God’s own heart. Because David, even though he was going through tough times in life, was faithful to the LORD, trusting in God’s goodness and faithfulness. David loved God with all his heart. He did his best to keep God’s ways. And even when David did mess up, (which he did later in life), he was repentant from his sinful ways, and turned back to God. And it was this type of relationship David had with God…complete trust, and complete submission, that pleased God. God in return blessed David, and rescued him from all his enemies.-(Read Psalms 23)

So knowing life won’t always be “peachy clean” for me, and knowing troubles will sometimes find my way, I want to remember David here. How he didn’t shake his fist at God and blame him for the troubles he was experiencing. Instead, David chose to seek and trust God. He asked God for help. He made sure to continue to honor God by keeping God’s ways. When God delivered him from his troubles, he chose to give God all the glory and honor by singing songs of praise and worship!

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your goodness and faithfulness. Please forgive me whenever I go off the “deep end” in life whenever troubles come my way. Forgive me whenever I let my frustration and anger turn into sinful behavior. Forgive me for those words that may slip from my mouth or even run through my mind. Help me to remember to turn to You first, for Your guidance, help, and strength. Help me to fight the good fight so that I may always keep Your ways. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 🙏🏽

-Moses Gaddi

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Numbers 19 - 8.2.2024

Scripture - Pick one verse that stood out to you.

Numbers 19:1-10

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.  While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.

Observation - What about this verse stands out to you?

As I was reading numbers and reading about the requirements for purification I was partly startled by the sheer amount of detail that went into the process of pre-Christ cleansing of sin. The water that is created from Numbers 19 is to be used by the Israelite community for “the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin”.

Application - How will you apply this to your life?

What also struck me as odd was this verse in Numbers 19: The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening.

The water of cleansing itself caused “uncleanness”.

So understanding the above, how much do I really understand about what is happening when Jesus is brought a paralyzed man on a mat  in Matthew 9 and responds with, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” 

In light of the unclean cleansing-water,  when Jesus would eventually take on the penalty for all of our sins, cleansing all of us, what mind-boggling astro-physical-spiritual thing was actually going on??

My mind is so blown right now.

Prayer - Write out a prayer.

Father God, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit. I am just so in awe right now. And I am so grateful. I feel like today you showed me a depth to your sacrifice that I wasn’t aware of. Please, teach me if I am thinking in error. Please guide me to grow further in my understanding of your love for me. Help me to grow in my love and understanding of You as You always do. Thank you for humbling me further today, Lord Jesus. I fear I will never understand all that you have done for us, but I am so grateful for You. I thank you Lord. I love you Lord. In the name of Jesus do I pray, Amen.

-kenneth lee