10/28/2008 11:11 PM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Pentecost: birthday of the Church
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Leviticus 23:15-21
Message
of the verses: “15 ¶ ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the
day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave
offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16
‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then
you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. 17
‘You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a
wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour,
baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD.
18 ‘Along with the bread you
shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the
herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their
grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing
aroma to the LORD. 19 ‘You shall also offer one male goat for a sin
offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace
offerings. 20 ‘The priest shall then wave them with the
bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the LORD;
they are to be holy to the LORD for the priest.
21 ‘On this same day you shall
make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do
no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places
throughout your generations.”
This
chapter in Leviticus is one of the most interesting chapters that I studied for
a while, although I have found most of this OT study very interesting and also
helpful in my walk with the Lord. I have
looked at Passover, which is when Jesus Christ died on the cross, and then
there was the feast of unleavened bread, and the next feast that I studied was
the firstfruits, and that is the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Today’s lesson is Pentecost, and this comes
fifty days after firstfruits and it is when the Holy Spirit started the Church
as seen in Acts 2. There were two loafs
of bread that was waved by the priest and this, according to Dr. Wiersbe,
represents both Jews and Gentiles making up the Church. The bread is made with leaven and this shows
that there is sin in the Church.
There
were a total of thirteen different animal sacrifices that were offered at this
feast, which was on the first day of the week just as firstfruits were. These sacrifices were burnt offerings
(dedication), sin offerings, (atonement), peace offering (reconciliation,
fellowship). Each of these sacrifices was
fulfilled by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross. (See Hebrews 10:1-18)
The
Holy Spirit was given to the church on this day and all believers have the Holy
Spirit living in them. The Church could
not function without the Holy Spirit for He baptizes believers into the Body of
Christ, and He also teaches the believers as they read God’s Word. There is much more that the Holy Spirit does
for the believers in the church. Jesus
Christ promised the Holy Spirit and say that He could not come until Jesus was
gone back to heaven.
The
next feast comes four months after Pentecost and this long wait represents the
Church age which will end when the trumpet sounds as spoken of in 1 Thes.
4:13-18 and also in 1 Cor. 15:51-58 and this event is called the rapture of the
Church. The next feast is the feast of
Trumpets.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As troubling as it is in the times that I am
living in, and as much trouble as Sandy and I have been going through, I truly
believe that we are almost to the feast of Trumpets and that gives me hope, for
that is my hope.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Live
my life in the power of knowing that God is in control of who our next
President will be, and not fear what will happen if Husain is elected.
Memory verses for the week: Exodus 20:17
& Romans 6:1-2
17.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you
shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant
or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
- What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase?
- May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
10/28/2008 11:46 PM
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