Do Not Do As Egypt Or Canaan

It is easy to imitate the ways of this world but God wants his people to be like him.

Leviticus 18:1-5  Then the LORD said to Moses,  2  “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the LORD your God.  3  So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.

4  You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the LORD your God.  5  If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 18:30 So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:1-2 The LORD also said to Moses, 2 "Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Leviticus 20:7-8 So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8 Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the LORD who makes you holy.

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The good news is our holy God loves us so much that he wants to have a close intimate relationship with us. But the bad news is because he is holy we cannot have an intimate relationship with him. But we don't have to live in the reality of the bad news!

Holiness is the most important truth that you must comprehend about God, it is a huge kindness on God's part to give us his instructions on how to safely draw near to him. The book of Leviticus is the first record that we have on how to live to please God. 

I have to wonder how God's people knew what God's standards are before the exodus from Egypt when he began teaching them at Mount Sinai. It seems that somehow people knew about God and what he expects from mankind before the law was revealed. 

How did:

• Abel please God and how did Cain know what was right and yet he chose the wrong way?
• Enoch have close fellowship with God so that he would be taken directly to Heaven? 
• Noah know how to have God's favor when everyone around him missed the boat?

God's people today have the luxury of looking back at thousands of years of history that God has preserved for us in the Bible to give us a clear picture of how to have his favor. 

The Old Testament shows us a very clear picture of the difficulty mankind has in living up to God's standards. By the end of the book of Genesis (Genesis 46:1-34, 47:1-12) we see that God's people wound up in Egypt for their own good so they would escape the famine in Canaan, but later on we see that while they were in Egypt they started to live like Egyptians.

God's people are conformed to the world when they leave Egypt, their character was proven very quickly and with great repetition. After 400 years of Egyptian influence, God's people didn't look much like God's people, Israel needed to get out of Egypt but God knew that he needed to get Egypt out of Israel.

Deuteronomy 18:9  “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there.

Perhaps that is the reason God did not take them directly to the Promised Land. (Psalm 106:35, Ezekiel 20:7-8, 23:8) God used the wilderness to get his people away from everyone else so that they could be taught how to live by his rules so that they could live long, prosper and be a blessing to the other nations. 

God's people need to be transformed, this goes way beyond nonconformity to the world, this is way more than withdrawing from the world or living by a list, this is a rebirth that comes from a new nature.

Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

A change of character is exactly what God requires for his people but don't be confused, the change is not a requirement to have a relationship with him but rather it is proof that you do have a relationship. Your obedience will be a natural outcome of the transformation of your character.

God is perfect in holiness to the point that all of his divine attributes are holy attributes, because he loves us and wants the best for us, God wants us to also be holy. This is a condition that mankind doesn't long to achieve, our carnal minds are more concerned about happiness and pleasure, we want ease and comfort.

Everybody has a choice to make, we can behave like Egypt or Canaan or we can be renewed with a new nature by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we will be a reflection of God for the world to see. We struggle with this decision because we want God to solve our problems and carry our burdens, we want our best life now and that doesn't include a God that demands control our lives and a huge change in our character.

Ephesians 4:17, 23-24  With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God-truly righteous and holy.

Paul repeats the warning from Leviticus in his letter to the Ephesian church, it was still an issue hundreds of years later, as long as we are in this world we will struggle with this decision. God's people still need the encouragement to make the right choice:

• Will we allow the Holy Spirit to renew our thoughts and attitudes? (Ephesians 4:23)
• Will we desire to put on our new nature which was given to us to make us like God? (Ephesians 4:23)

Instead of saying "don't do as the..." it's still a good idea to ask yourself, WWJD? Jesus is the only man that God fully approved so that makes him the perfect example for us to follow. (Matthew 3:17)

We will mess up as we continue to grow, the Bible makes it clear that God's people will not automatically or perfectly implement the practice of being like God, it takes time to change our minds about the ways of Egypt and Canaan. We must remember that God is just as patient with us as we wonder around in our wilderness on the way to our Promised Land.

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Living The Good Life

Loving what the world has to offer is contrary to being in love with God.

1 Peter 3:8-12  Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it.  

10 For the Scriptures say, "If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.  11  Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.  12  The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and His ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns His face against those who do evil."

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Just about everybody that you know is trying to live the good life, some people like to say that they are "living the dream," there is a lot of effort made everyday to make the day that you have the best it can be. Too bad that effort isn't being put into something that will last.

This world is full of ideas about what the good life looks like and how to achieve it. Everywhere you look you see plenty of ideas on how to make it happen. The television, magazines, radio are full of programs that want to help you know what the good life looks like and the advertisers are ready to sell you all of the stuff that is required to make it happen. They feel like they are doing you a favor by letting you know how to be happy.

Let's be honest, the world has some pretty cool toys but loving what the world has to offer is contrary to being in love with God. If anybody should have been happy with the world's toys it should have been King Solomon. At first he was so in love with God that he didn't desire the world and all of it's riches and toys and so it was very commendable when he asked God for wisdom instead of riches. Too bad he left his first love and allowed the things that the world has to offer to get in the way.

1 Peter 4:1-5 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. 2 You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. 3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. 4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. 5 But remember that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead.

The people that Peter is writing to do not have any of those good things that the world has to offer. They are poor and they are being persecuted and harassed for their departure from Judaism to follow Christ. Don't think that this is a problem for the rich and famous, we can all get caught up in the deception that the world has something meaningful to offer.

Loving what the world has to offer is contrary to being in love with God and loving God means that I need to love what he loves. I should be anxious to do what pleases him. I am finished with the lust of the old sinful life that I once lived, I have figured out that there isn't any long term enjoyment in those things, they only lead to heartache and sorrow.

Satan never shows you the discontentment and the eternal consequences that his plan has to offer. He tries so hard to keep it upbeat and positive but despite all of the spin the discontentment of living by the world's standards shows up when we loose our joy and get angry, bitterness and resentment creep in and we overindulge.

1 Peter 2:11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.

This is not my home and the philosophies of this world are not acceptable to me as a follower of Christ. My happiness is not found in the places that this world is telling everybody to look. My happiness is found in living for the one that changed my life and gave me the riches of eternity spend with him.

Thank you Lord for changing my life here on earth and for changing my eternal destiny!

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Stirred But Not Changed

Lord, give me a burden that's so strong, that it will last when my tears are gone.

Matthew 9:36-38 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

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Just wanted to share a song, I have never heard this song, I just heard about it last night at choir practice when my minister of music spoke about his trip to Africa.

This song by Lanny Wolfe says a lot about the way that we live and the attitude that we have toward the work that Jesus gave us to do. We hear about the work that the believer is to be doing and we vow to do more but then life gets in the way.

Our main work is the continuation of Jesus Christ’s mission while he was here on earth. His people are empowered by the Holy Spirit  to give a  witness for him, to preach, teach, baptize and make disciples of all peoples.

Stirred But Not Changed

Often times my heart has been stirred by the things that I have heard,
About so many who have never heard God's word,
And though tears would fill my eyes all to soon
I'd realize though my hearts been stirred my life has not been changed.

Chorus:
I'm so tired of being stirred about the lost who need to hear.
I'm so tired of being stirred that His coming is so near;
I'm so tired of being stirred till I cry bitter tears.
I'm so tired of being stirred but not being changed.

Have I heard it for so long that He's just another song?
Has the story lost its thrill that I once knew?
Lord, give me a burden that's so strong,
That it will last when my tears are gone.
I'm tired of what I've been. Lord, make me over again.

Chorus

But this time Lord change me let the work begin just now,
This time Lord change me please change me some how,
This time Lord change me let my life be rearranged,
For I'm so tired of being stirred but not being changed

Each time that I return from a mission trip I feel very strange going about the normal routines of life, the stuff that seems to get in the way of the really important work that needs to be done, there appears to be no time to follow your heart.

Lord change me so that I live mission minded everyday; keep me from being calloused to the needs around me.

I Am Dying To Have A New Life

Death is a beautiful thing in God's eyes.

Colossians 2:12  For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

Colossians 3:1-4  Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand.  2  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.  

3  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  4  And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.

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Most of us like babies, seeing a new life is exciting, it doesn't matter if it is a new addition to the human race or if it is a new addition to the animal kingdom, we all like a new life. We usually get anxious as the due date gets closer and we try and see the baby as soon as possible.

There is so much potential with new life but as the years go by the new wears off and we see how imperfect the new creation turned out to be, this could make us wish for a do over so that we could change some things. You may feel like you are stuck with a life that isn't much to celebrate. There is a solution to the problem, it is so simple, the Bible tells us that all we have to do is die.

We see death as such an ugly thing, it brings sadness and heartbreak, but God sees death from a different point of view. God asked his Son to die and he also wants us to die. The biggest game changer ever came about because of death, God used something so ugly to make something so beautiful for our benefit.

Jesus died to give me a new life

2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 17  Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.  15  He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

I can start a new life with God in control, Jesus death provides the do over that many of us have longed for, we have the chance to start again. I can no longer live for myself, I must live my life with my sights set on the things of heaven, I must allow God to have control.

If I have my world view shaped by what the Bible teaches me is important then I will live a life that matters and I will live the most beautiful life possible. Striving for holiness and running from wicked worldly pleasures should be my standard operating procedure. The Bible makes it clear that if you are a child of God then your life will be a new creation that has been transformed through Christ. If your life still looks like the rest of the world then maybe you have never become a child of God.

I am so thankful that I have a new life in Christ, I am not perfect but thanks to Christ and the new life that he gives, I can never be the same again. I have a new way of thinking, a new world view and a Savior that did so much for me that I can never go back to living by the worlds philosophy.