Deuteronomy 16:13-15 Feast of Tabernacles

 13You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. 14And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you. 15For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.

“Leviticus 23:39 says of the Feast of Tabernacles, on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath rest.The Feast of Tabernacles began and ended in rest; it was all about celebration and rest and refreshment, remembering what God had done.” (Guzik)

Camping, some people love it, some hate it and others endure it. A time in the wilderness with nature and God. We’ve gotten back into it the last two years. But timing is everything because if your timing is off it can be full of blood sucking insects. First the black flies, then mosquitoes and then the no-see-ums! These blood sucking insects can drive a normal person insane, a dog nuts and wildlife crazy.

Do you enjoy the rest and relaxation of camping in the wilderness with God?

Blessings 

Deuteronomy 16:11-12 Pentecost

 11and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.

12Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes.

“There was no ritual of sacrifice commanded at Pentecost. Instead, it was a time of joyful thanksgiving for the harvest, and heart-response to God.” (Guzik)

And remembering the bondage Israel had escaped.

Leviticus 23: 17Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering

“The church, founded on the day of Pentecost, would include the “leavened bread” of the Gentiles, waved as holy before God - made holy by the work of Jesus the Messiah.” (Guzik)

Do you see how the Lord tied this all together?

Blessings 

Closure and Comfort

 Closure and Comfort 

In 1984 an 8 year old Tucson girl was taken from her family forever. She was kidnapped and murdered by a man on probation from California. In 1987 he was convicted and sentenced to death. 

How would you react if this was your child? The family fought a legal justice system that was a failure to victims of crime. They fought for victims rights, they fought to have laws changed, they fought to have their daughter and sister’s story told. They helped create the Amber Alert System.

They wrote letters to politicians to have the punishment carried out.

Today was that day of closure as Arizona carried out the death penalty of the pedophile and murderer of their daughter and sister.

While watching the post execution news conference a tearful mother told the life story of her daughter and explained how her faith and church family helped them get through the tragedy and the 35 + years of legal hell that the excessive appeals, clemency and stay’s that delayed justice.

I am reminded by these verses:

2 Corinthians 1: 3All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. 7We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.

I am also reminded what Jesus said about the children:

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

I am assured by my faith and knowledge of the Bible that Vicki Lynne Hoskinson is in heaven.

Please keep this family in your prayers, a painful chapter ended today.

http://loveneverforgets.com/category/vicki-lynne/

Deuteronomy 16:8-10 Blessed You?

 8For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.

9You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. 10And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you, 

“The Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost) was a feast associated with the joy of harvest, during which Israelites brought a freewill offering unto the LORD, as a demonstration of the thanks in their heart.” (Guzik)

Blessed you?

Have you experienced pain at the gasoline pump? We have and altered our travel because of it. Have you experienced pain at the grocery store? We have and have altered our purchases because of it.

Since we are experiencing pain, how can we be blessed?

“Suffering is a universal part of our humanity that exists in a fallen world.” 

(https://www.gotquestions.org/suffering-death.html)

Everyone in the Bible experienced pain!

Instead of focusing on pain, focus on your blessings! 

“For me to live is Christ, to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21)

I look forward to going home (heaven), do you?

Blessings 

Deuteronomy 16:5-7 Passover Lamb

 5You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you. 6You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt. 7And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.

“The reason of this is evident the passover itself was a sacrifice; hence Christ, as our passover, is said to be sacrificed for us, and many other sacrifices, as we have just seen, were to be offered during the seven days of the feast. Now no sacrifice was accepted but from the altar that sanctified it. It was therefore necessary that they should go up to the place of the altar; for though the paschal lamb was entirely eaten by the owners in their separate apartments, yet it must be killed in the court of the tabernacle or temple, its blood sprinkled, and its inwards burned upon the altar.” (Benson Commentary)

1 Corinthians 5: 7Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

You can live by the Law and all it’s sacrifices or accept Christ as your Passover lamb.

As for me and my house, we accept Christ as our Passover lamb.

What about you?

Blessings 

Deuteronomy 16:3-4 Unleavened

 3You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

4No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.

Leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible because a little leaven affects the whole lump of dough, the same with sin, one little sin affects the whole body and makes us unclean.

Have you ever eaten unleavened bread, or gluten free bread? Gluten free is usually heavy and dense. What about grain free bread? We make a keto muffin with eggs and almond flour that’s a good substitute and a chocolate cake substituted with ground pecans for flour.

Jesus is our sin substitute! He took our punishment for sin so we could become clean in Gods eyes. 

Next time you think of substituting leaven or grains for baked goods think of the ultimate substitution, think of Jesus upon the cross taking our place for the punishment of sin.

I’ve heard it said, if only Adam and Eve didn’t sin. If it wasn’t them it would have been you or me!

Blessings 

Deuteronomy 16:1-2 Passover

 1Observe the month of Abiba and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

2You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.

Exodus 12: 12On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13The blood on the houses where you are staying will distinguish them; when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

“Prophetically, the feast of Passover clearly presents Jesus as our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7), the Lamb of God who was sacrificed, and whose blood was received and applied, so the wrath of God would pass over us.” (Guzik)

Jesus Christ is the only Passover lamb that can save you from the judgement to come. A religion can’t save you, going to church can’t save you! 

John 3:16 16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and onlye Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

You have to have a personal relationship with Jesus!

Is Jesus your Passover lamb?

Blessings