A Lesson from the Locusts -Joel

A plague of locusts hits Judah with the fury of an invading army, destroying vegetation and turning the usually verdant countryside into a lifeless desert. Fields of grain disappear, grapevines are stripped bare, fruit trees and gardens are wiped clean. The prophet Joel seizes the occasion to preach God's message to Judah: The present calamity is only a warning. An even greater devastation awaits those who continue to live in sin and rebellion. The day of judgement is coming, and only those who sincerely repent and return to God will be sheltered from the terrible force of His righteous wrath.
Question: What do these three activities have in common: Skydiving without a parachute, walking blindfolded across the freeway, and disregarding God's Laws?
Answer They are all activities that, while perhaps momentarily exhilarating, lead to inescapable and deadly consequences.
Though he knew nothing about skydiving or freeways, Joel knew well the danger of disregarding God's commandments. The terrible scourge of locusts became the perfect illustration of wrathful judgement to come- and the perfect occasion for Joel to warn his countrymen. Although it was too late to escape the bite of the locusts, there was still time to escape the "bite" of God's chastening hand.
Learn a lesson from the locusts! Do your days pass without prayerful contact with God? Have your "little sins" ceased to bother you? Have you slipped away from teh daily study and regular weekly worship? (Can you hear the buzzing sound of the locusts?) The danger is real, but the shelter is as near as your Father's "everlasting arms"  (Deut. 33:27). Wouldn't that be a good place to rest... right now?

Sour Milk and Sticky Fingers

Deuteronomy 5-7
The description of the Promise Land as "the land that floweth with milk and honey" pictures it as a land of prosperity and abundance. Milk was part of the Hebrews' staple diet and honey was considered a delicacy.
The Israelites were hoping to have "instant" results when they were told about the Promised land. Instead God wanted them to savor the moments that He had with them.
Where are you hoping for instant results in your Christian life; victory over a habit... knowledge of God's word... spiritual maturity? God's way is not rush, rush , rush but little by little. Look for a small but significant step of growth you can take today: a verse to memorize, a command to obey, a promise to treasure.

Hebrews

I have always been fascinated by the book of Hebrews. When I was in college, I wrote a paper trying to defend the authorship and ascribed it to Apollos. Some believe that the book was written by Paul and others attribute it to be from one of Paul's students which is very likely. Whoever wrote this letter wanted to appeal to the new Jewish believers who were tempted to renounce their new-found faith and return to Judaism to escape persecution. The writer pleas with his brothers to pursue maturity based on Christ's superiority to their religious system. In the pastor's sermon Sunday night, John the Baptist was pointed out that he was a counter culturist. He did not stand for what man was trying to tell him what to do but rather what God told him. He recognized that the religious system that developed forsook the ways of the one true God and actually put man in God's place. 
Much of today's news is soaked with threats to our Christian faith. It is even surfaced that Evangelicals are hard-nosed and insensitive when it comes to matters of the people. We are expected to accept the lifestyles of gays and lesbians. We are expected to be sensitive to the woman that is making the choice of abortion. We are expected to be tolerant when others express statements that contradict the Word of God. When we do bring up that the Word of God says something different than what the people believe we are viewed as disinters, counter-culturists, weirdos, and narrow-minded fools much like how John was viewed. We know what God has revealed to us the truth. We should take a stand against the system that jeopardizes our religious right! We are under a type of persecution similar to that during the time of the writing of Hebrews. We should be motivated be this weeks memory verse;


     "And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement." Hebrews 9:27


The fear of death should not scare us but rather bring us to brokenness to those who do not know Christ. The writer of Hebrews wanted his Jewish brothers to take a stand and realize that Christ is better than Moses, because Moses was created by Him; He is better than Aaron, because his sacrifice never needs to be repeated; He is better than the Law, because He mediates a better covenant. More is to be gained by suffering for Christ than by reverting to a system He came to fulfill.