Preparing to Offer Sacrifices to God (1/24)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Genesis 35-37.

Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.’ So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone’” (Genesis 35:1-3).

Jacob was to build an altar to worship God. But three things had to be done first by those who would approach the Lord at Bethel. They had to put away any foreign gods, purify themselves, and change their garments.
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When Disaster Strikes

Tornado Damage

Whenever a disaster occurs – whether it is a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or some tragic accident – people often wonder if God was somehow involved. If so, they wonder if the event was an execution of divine judgment against the victims or the greater nation/society as a whole.

Questions like these are nothing new. Jesus commented on this concept when He discussed a couple of tragedies with which His audience was familiar.

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish’” (Luke 13:1-5).

It is important that we know why these things happen. As Jesus made clear, we should not be quick to attribute these things to God’s direct operation. Yet even when an event occurs without direct, divine involvement, there are still lessons we can learn from these disasters.
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Someone Has His Father’s Wife

Disbelief

The church at Corinth had several problems that Paul needed to address in his first epistle. One notable problem was the case of the man who had taken his father’s wife and how the congregation had reacted to it. There are several lessons we should take from this. First, let us be reminded of the situation that existed there:

It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst” (1 Corinthians 5:1-2).

Following this, Paul went on to describe the appropriate way to handle this situation. Let us notice some lessons from the brother in sin, the congregation, and what God wants us to understand about sin and His church.
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Repent and Be Converted

After Peter healed the lame man and had the opportunity to teach the crowd that had gathered, he told them, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19, NKJV).

Most of the denominational world believes that conversion is necessary for salvation. Peter plainly affirmed this as he told the people here that the blotting out of their sins was dependent upon them being converted. But what conversion was Peter talking about here? This is where you will begin to get some disagreement. Is one converted when he prays a “sinner’s prayer” and invites Jesus into his heart? Is he converted when he makes a verbal confession that he believes that Jesus is Lord? Or is there something else that Peter has in mind?

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Crucified with Christ

Crosses

Paul told the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

These statements Paul made about himself ought to apply to every Christian.
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Restoring the Fallen

Drowning

James concluded his epistle by emphasizing the importance of turning a fallen brother away from sin and back to Christ.

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

There are a few reminders for us in these verses.
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Harvest Is Past

Countryside

In Jeremiah 8, the prophet condemned the people of Jerusalem for their sins. The condemnation was not for an occasional misstep, but for the persistent practice of sin and their stubborn refusal to repudiate it: “Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return” (Jeremiah 8:5).

The deceit to which they held fast consisted of the lies of the scribes (Jeremiah 8:8) and of the priests who would say “‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). They had become so accustomed to their sin that they were no longer “ashamed of the abomination they had done…and they did not know how to blush” (Jeremiah 8:12). They had replaced the Lord with “graven images” and “foreign idols” (Jeremiah 8:19).

After outlining this miserable state of the people, the prophet said, “Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20).
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