Ezekiel 46 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The east gateway of the inner courtyard will be closed during the six workdays each week, but it will be open on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations. 2 The prince will enter the entry room of the gateway from the outside. Then he will stand by the gatepost while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. He will bow down in worship inside the gateway passage and then go back out the way he came. The gateway will not be closed until evening. 3 The common people will bow down and worship the Lord in front of this gateway on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations.
4 “Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the Lord a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no defects. 5 He will present a grain offering of a basket of choice flour to go with the ram and whatever amount of flour he chooses to go with each lamb, and he is to offer one gallon of olive oil[a] for each basket of flour. 6 At the new moon celebrations, he will bring one young bull, six lambs, and one ram, all with no defects. 7 With the young bull he must bring a basket of choice flour for a grain offering. With the ram he must bring another basket of flour. And with each lamb he is to bring whatever amount of flour he chooses to give. With each basket of flour he must offer one gallon of olive oil.
8 “The prince must enter the gateway through the entry room, and he must leave the same way. 9 But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the Lord during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in, but must always use the opposite gateway. 10 The prince will enter and leave with the people on these occasions.
11 “So at the special feasts and sacred festivals, the grain offering will be a basket of choice flour with each young bull, another basket of flour with each ram, and as much flour as the prince chooses to give with each lamb. Give one gallon of olive oil with each basket of flour. 12 When the prince offers a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the Lord, the east gateway to the inner courtyard will be opened for him, and he will offer his sacrifices as he does on Sabbath days. Then he will leave, and the gateway will be shut behind him.
13 “Each morning you must sacrifice a one-year-old lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. 14 With the lamb, a grain offering must also be given to the Lord—about three quarts of flour with a third of a gallon of olive oil[b] to moisten the choice flour. This will be a permanent law for you. 15 The lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil must be given as a daily sacrifice every morning without fail.
16 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to him and his descendants forever. 17 But if the prince gives a gift of land from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Jubilee, which comes every fiftieth year.[c] At that time the land will return to the prince. But when the prince gives gifts to his sons, those gifts will be permanent. 18 And the prince may never take anyone’s property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I do not want any of my people unjustly evicted from their property.”
The Temple Kitchens 19 In my vision, the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms. 20 He explained, “This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them.” 21 Then he brought me back to the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosure. 22 Each of these enclosures was 70 feet long and 52½ feet wide,[d] surrounded by walls. 23 Along the inside of these walls was a ledge of stone with fireplaces under the ledge all the way around. 24 The man said to me, “These are the kitchens to be used by the Temple assistants to boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”
Genesis 27:19-33 (New International Version)New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."
20 Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."
22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24 "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "I am," he replied.
25 Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
28 May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness— an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
30 After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."
32 His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" "I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau."
33 Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!"
November 23, 2007
The Pretender
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READ: Genesis 27:19-33
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. —James 5:16 About this cover When a waitress in Ohio asked to see a customer’s driver’s license, she was shocked when she saw the photo on the ID. It was her own picture! The waitress had lost her driver’s license a month earlier, and this young woman was using it so she’d have “proof” she was old enough to drink alcohol. The police were called, and the customer was arrested for identity theft. Trying to gain what she wanted, she pretended to be someone she wasn’t.
Jacob, in the Old Testament, did some pretending too. With his mother Rebekah’s help, he fooled his dying father into believing he was his brother Esau so he could gain the blessing meant for the elder son (Gen. 27). Jacob got caught after his deceitful act, but it was too late for Esau to receive the blessing.
Pretending goes on in our churches today. Some people put on a false front. They use the right “Christian” words, attend church almost every Sunday, and even pray before meals. They pretend they “have it all together” in order to gain the approval of others. But inside they’re struggling with brokenness, guilt, doubt, or an addiction or other persistent sin.
God placed us in a body of believers to support one another. Admit that you aren’t perfect. Then seek the counsel of a godly brother or sister in Christ. —Anne Cetas
Don’t hide your sin and cover up,Pretending there is nothing wrong;Instead, confess it and repent,Then God will fill your heart with song. —Sper
Be what God intends you to be—don’t pretend to be what you’re not.
November 23, 2007
The Distraction of ContemptLISTEN: READ:
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt —Psalm 123:3 About this cover What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. "Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously" ( Malachi 2:16 ). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.
Beware of "the cares of this world . . ." ( Mark 4:19 ). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by "the cares of this world."
Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, "O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself." Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, "I must explain myself," or, "I must get people to understand." Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.
When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
-- No author assigned in CUT
How Much You Matter - #5445 Friday, November 23, 2007
I got every baseball card but the one with my hero on it. When I was a kid, I'd go to the vacant lot near our apartment on the south side of Chicago and I'd collect old pop bottles. Then I'd go to the little store on the corner, trade the bottles for money and the money for as many baseball cards as I could afford. My team was the Chicago White Sox. My hero was an All-Star, Hall of Fame-bound second baseman named Nellie Fox. I got every White Sox player except one. I could never find a Nellie Fox card. Fast forward about 25 years. My nine-year-old son is now a determined baseball card collector. He has saved all his allowances for a while to go with me to a special baseball card show. At one of the first tables we visited, my son said, "Dad, look!" And there he was, under glass - Nellie. My Nellie! The card did exist after all. But being all grown up now and needing every dollar, I looked but I didn't buy. My son and I agreed to meet a few minutes later up front. He came with his hand behind his back. I said, "What did you get?" He looked up at me with those huge blue eyes, held out his hand, and handed me that Nellie Fox baseball card. Needless to say, I was a mess.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Much You Matter."
I could not have felt more loved by my boy. He had literally spent everything he had on me! That's how God feels about you. He loves you very much, and He proved it. He spent everything He had on you. He gave His one and only Son for you. His love is the love you've been looking for your whole life. His love is the only thing that will fill the hole in your heart that has never gone away.
That love is expressed in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8, beginning with verse 32. It says: "He ... did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us ... neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Do you realize what God's offering you? A love that spared nothing for you. A love you can never lose. You can lose the love of a husband or wife, of a boyfriend or girlfriend, of a good friend, of a mom or dad - and maybe you have. But God says "nothing in all creation" can separate you from His love!
He spent it all on you. That's why what you do with Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make. All eternity - your heaven or hell - hinges on whether or not you take what He bought for you with His life. He paid for your sin. He paid the price for you to have eternal life. He's the only One who can give it to you because He's the only One who paid for it.
Imagine my son coming to me with the love gift that he had spent everything on and me saying, "That's nice, son, but I don't care." It's ugly to reject a gift that's been purchased at a high price. But if you've never reached out and received from Jesus what He died to give you, you are, in reality, saying, "That's nice, Jesus, but I'm not taking it." You are rejecting the greatest love there is. Forgiveness and heaven and a life that means something - bought with the blood of the Son of God.
Today He holds out to you His gift of eternal life. And you have a clear-cut choice to make. You don't need to outright reject Him to miss what He died to give you. You can just smile politely and do nothing. You're still rejecting what He did. And that could cost you heaven.
Today, won't you reach out and receive the gift He bought with everything He had? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'll not turn my back on love like this. I don't deserve your love, but I receive your love because you died for what I've done. Here I am, Jesus. I'm yours."
If that's what you want, I want to send you a little booklet I wrote about beginning with Jesus, about belonging to Jesus. It's called Yours For Life. If you think it might help, just let me know you want it at our website, yoursforlife.net or by calling 877-741-1200.
The gift is in His hand. He spent everything He had on you. Don't just walk away. He loves you.
To find out how you can begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, please visit: yoursforlife.net or call 1-888-966-7325.
