Bible In One Year-Day 33 (Sunday, February 02, 2014)

Commentary: Exo37-40. In our last reading we learnt about the ministries of the prophets and the priests. A prophet is covered with God’s glory under the veil (Ex34:33-35) while the priest is covered with the garment of ministry (Ex39:41). This is not the garment of salvation. The priest still needed to secure his own salvation, Heb5:3. Since after Aaron made the Calf for the Israelites and called it the god that brought them out of Egypt, God did not talk with him directly again but through Moses. When your dreams become weird and fearful, consider your ways. Or you don’t remember your dreams anymore, consider your ways. Are you suffering defeats in the dream, consider your ways. This is why Isaiah 59:1-3 is true. We need to take sin seriously in our Christian race. To be wealthy and have great possession is not a sin, but how we use it may make it to become sin. They gave willingly to make the Calf; they also gave with a willing heart to build the tabernacle. One was accepted by God while the other opened the door to plagues. Thank God for Jesus who has upgraded our priesthood to carry His glory by the Holy Spirit. Though Moses received the vision and the details, he was not given the grace to knock the nails into the woods but to supervise it. When God gives the vision, He gives the provision. He selected individuals and filled them with the Spirit to carry out specific tasks in the vision. 1 Cor12 summarizes it all. Problems in the body of Christ have their roots in the spirit of unholy contests and comparisons. Problems within a ministry are due to the same reason whereas the grace to carry out different tasks is given by the same Spirit. As a believer, evaluate yourself concerning your work in God’s vineyard. The goal is JESUS which is God’s plan of salvation for mankind and not us. The plan started with Abraham but Abraham was not the plan. Isaac, Jacob and Joseph weren’t the plan also but vessels for the flow of the spirit for the plan and purpose. Another stage was Moses. Moses’ stage was to bring them out of bondage and establish a pattern for the end time; deliverance first, then He introduced holiness to them and possession of their portions. It was not possible for them to worship God appropriately in Egypt; they must come out of Egypt. Nobody could worship God in spirit and in truth without great deliverance from the spirit of death and hell, worldliness and self. It is after deliverance that you could practice holiness and then receive the power to possess your inheritance; that power is in the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The Israelites were chosen as the peculiar people for His plan unto Himself for the coming of Christ and also to bring Himself into their midst. He walked with them. Jesus also came to walk among us (John1:14), gave clear and detailed message about the Kingdom and gave the Holy Spirit to work through us for the building of the Kingdom. What a wonderful pattern. The Spirit was fully at work in Ex37-39 just as He is working now, accomplishing different tasks (ministries) for the building of the Kingdom. Bezaleel had his own ministry within a vision, by the same Spirit. What is your ministry within the vision/ blueprint? Are you led by the Spirit or by the ‘spirit’? What God wants is a church without blemish, Eph5:27 and this could only be possible by His Spirit. Ex39:42-43 should be marked in your bible. Beloved, man can mark you right, you could mark yourself also but the truth is that God will do the final marking on the last day. I will want you to read 1Cor4:4-5. So far, in the book of Exodus, we learnt about salvation, deliverance, redemption and establishment of a holy nation unto God. We also saw the ministry of a prophet and the ministry of priesthood. The book of Leviticus is the guide for the priests. It is a book that might look boring, but I must confess to you that it is the most interesting. You could see Christ in every chapter of the book. But before we go into the book we need to know who JESUS is. The bible is ALL ABOUT JESUS. In this view, we are reading the book of Luke. Today our reading is Luke1-3. Prayer: O Lord, show me Your glory (this is Moses’ prayer). Keep the fire burning and alive. Spread the gospel of JESUS!!!