God is the one who sanctifies

Exodus 29

I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar: Aaron also and his sons I will sanctify, to minister to me in the priest’s office. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Yahweh their God.

Exodus 29:44‭-‬46

God is the one who sanctifies. Praised be the Lord!

Genuine

Romans 2

Verses 1, 21-24 point out that God rejects hypocrisy. Because of hypocrisy, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Verse 11 shows that God is against racism.

Verses 26-29 points out that inwardly following God is more important than outward signs of piety.

Father, may we worship You in Spirit and in Truth. Help us to be good witnesses and not be hypocrites. In Jesus' name, amen.

A Meaty "Dear Romans"

Romans 1

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name’s sake; among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:1‭-‬7

 What a meaty way to start a letter!

In Paul's greeting, we find out:

1. The Good News of God was promised earlier though the prophets in scripture
2. His Son Jesus Christ our Lord was born as a descendant if David
3. And declared to be the Son of God with power
4. According to the Spirit of Holiness
5. By the resurrection from the dead
6. We receive grace from Him
7. We receive apostleship though Him
8. We receive these for obedience of faith among all the nations
9. We're called to belong to Jesus Christ
10. We're beloved of God
11. We're called to be saints.

We're apostles - people who are sent!

We're ambassadors - representing another Kingdom!

We're saints - cleansed from our sins by the blood of Jesus!

So let us obey Him in faith!

Father, thank You for Your great calling on our lives. Let us obey You faithfully. In Jesus' name, amen

Our responsibility to others

Exodus 23

You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice.

Exodus 23:1‭-‬2

Christians are just as susceptible to this as other people, especially when people you respect forward that meme that resonates with your beliefs, and you forward it to everyone without checking to see if it's true or not. We are all susceptible to confirmation bias.

 If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him, you shall surely help him with it.

Exodus 23:4‭-‬5

Oh how hard this is to do! Yet Jesus tells us, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you."

You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:9

People have been blaming the foreign workers for spreading COVID19, and now the foreigners in the areas under complete lockdown are not allowed to go out to buy food, yet are not given any food. This is inhumane and if it wasn't for NGOs, they would starve.

Even in non-emergency times, we have a tendency to stigmatise foreign workers, who are made in the image of God just like us.

Father, thank You for Your provision for us in these difficult times. Help us to be your salt and light and to show Your love to the world. In Jesus' name, amen.

Disciples, not just Believers

Matthew 28

Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.  Go,  and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Matthew 28:18‭-‬20

Jesus told us to "make disciples" - not "make converts". Saying the sinner's prayer is not the end of it - we need to go beyond, and follow Jesus.

We cannot be content with receiving Jesus as Saviour - we must proceed to follow Jesus as Lord.

We have been saved by grace through faith, but faith without works is dead.

Father, thank You for Jesus' great sacrifice for us. We commit to proceeding from that to becoming like Jesus, taking up our cross daily and following Him. In Jesus' name, amen.

Even when we're faithless, God is faithful

Exodus 19

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” 

All the people answered together, and said, “All that Yahweh has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to Yahweh.

 Exodus 19:5‭-‬6‭, ‬8

Except that they didn't, and time after time they complained and  rebelled against Yahweh 😕

Yet Yahweh rescued them every time they repented. 

"If we are faithless, he remains faithful. He can't deny himself." 2 Timothy 2:13

So if we have been faithless, we need to quickly repent and come back to God. We must not keep wallowing in our sin. We must keep short accounts with God.

Father, thank you that you're still faithful even when we're faithless. Thank you that you promised us that if we confess our sins, you're faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse is from all unrighteousness. In Jesus' name, amen.

Ten Thousand Angels

Matthew 26

Behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and struck off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword.  Or do you think that I couldn’t ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?  How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?”

Matthew 26:51‭-‬54

He could have called

10,000 angels

to destroy the world

and set him free

He could have called

10,000 angels

but he died alone

for you and me!

Thank you, Jesus, that you took that cup the Father gave you for our sake. You suffered and died to save us! May we respond to your love and live for you! In Jesus' name, amen