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1/11/12 A Month Of Worship

1/11/12  A Month Of Worship

Numbers 29:1-40

Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF                Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Key Verse: 29:7

“‘On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves[e] and do no work.”

   Dear Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that I can trust you to take control of my life and my family. Though this world is so uncertain and so many things are threatening our security, God is in control and we can trust Matthew 6:33. Lord thank you for providing for Jenn’s university degree. Please help her not to get into debt and help her to grow as a servant of God’s word. I pray for my parents to discover the joy of Jesus and the love and hope of God. May their final years in this world be filled with joy and not  sorrow. I repent of not trust in you for all things and letting worry take hold in my heart. Please grant me one word of God. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

  1. Sacred assemblies (1-11).

Verses 1-11, “‘On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. 2 As an aroma pleasing to the LORD, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.  They are food offerings presented to the LORD, a pleasing aroma. 7 “‘On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselvesand do no work. 8 Present as an aroma pleasing to the LORD a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect….

The seventh month had a number of important holidays. The first day of the seventh month was heralded by trumpets. It is celebrated today as Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year. It was a day of sacred assembly and no work. The tenth day of the seventh month was the Day of Atonement. It was the most holy day on the Jewish calendar. On that day, the high priest entered the Most Holy Placeand offered the blood of a bull for his own sin and the blood of a goat for the sin of the people (Lev 16). This was in addition to the offerings prescribed in Numbers 29. It was a time for God’s people to deny themselves, repent of their sins, and receive God’s forgiveness. The Day of Atonement looked forward to Jesus who took away our sins once for all (Heb 9:12Ro 3:23-25a).

All of the Jewish holidays had profound spiritual meaning. They all pointed the celebrants to the Jesus and the gospel and a restored relationship with God. I need to include God and spirituality in all that I do. I can find meaning in all of the holidays. The next upcoming holiday is Valentine’s day. I think about St Valentine who helped the Roman soldiers to marry, clandestinely. Easter is coming up. It is all about Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. I pray that we can celebrate the deep meaning of this holiday in the best way.

There is great joy when we can find deep  meaning in God for all our celebrations. How meaningless it is to reduce our celebrations to the Easter bunny or Santa or physical love! Thanksgiving only becomes a Black Friday and cyber Monday shopping spree, or special family meals without offering up a prayer.  If my life was reduced to this, I would feel so meaningless.

But I have Jesus. I have meaning for all that I do. I praise God for this. My life is full and rich, not because of material things or fun things that money can buy, but because of my relationship with Jesus and the gospel. Thank you Lord, for helping me to have a sense of spirituality in my life. I pray to be able to share this gift with others around me so they may gave quality inner life in Jesus.

2. Festival of Tabernacles (12-40).

Verses 12-40, “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the LORD for seven days. 13 Present as an aroma pleasing to the LORD a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. ….39 “‘In addition to what you vow and your freewill offerings, offer these to the LORD at your appointed festivals: your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings and fellowship offerings.’”…. 40 Moses told the Israelites all that  the LORD commanded him

The weeklong Festival of Tabernacles began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. It commemorated God’s grace during the 40 years in the wilderness. The holiday coincided with the fall harvest and was also a time of thanksgiving.

I am taken back by how many festivals and offerings these Israelites held. In July it was one celebration after another. There was not even time to recover. They sacrificed much time and effort to worship Jesus and come together in communal worship. They were sincere. Nowadays it is hard for people to make it to one Sunday worship service for 1.5 hours every two weeks. But these Israelites were worshipping God whole heartedly without holding back. I pray that my family may be like this and that disciples of Jesus may be raised who love to worship Jesus with other believers even if it means sacrifice and self denial. After Jesus said, ”Whoever would come after me must deny themselves daily and follow me.” Self denial to seek after Jesus and worship Jesus is meaningful and joyful.

Prayer: Lord, thank you making our lives rich with spiritual meaning.. Make our holidays Jesus-centered.

One Word: Thank God for spirituality.

 

 




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