SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/12/2011 8:19:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Separation Problem
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 13:1-3
Message
of the verses: “1 On that same day, as the Book of Moses was being read to the people,
the passage was found that said no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be permitted
to enter the assembly of God. 2 For they had not provided the Israelites with
food and water in the wilderness. Instead, they hired Balaam to curse them,
though our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 When this passage of the Law
was read, all those of foreign descent were immediately excluded from the
assembly.”
In today’s SD we begin the last
chapter in the book of Nehemiah, and the second to last chapter in Dr.
Wiersbe’s commentary on Nehemiah “Be Determined.” He entitles this chapter “Standing by Our
Promises,” and as his usual practice goes he give a brief paragraph on what the
chapter is going to be about. He
writes: “If you compare this chapter
with chapter 10, you will see that the people failed to keep several of the
promises that they had made to the Lord.”
At the beginning of this chapter Dr.
Wiersbe gives a quote from the founder of the Salvation Army, General William
Booth, “I want you young men always to bear in mind that it is the nature of a
fire to go out; you must keep it stirred and fed and the ashes removed.” This quote from William Booth has a lot to do
with what this last chapter in the book of Nehemiah has to say for in this
chapter we see that the exiles from Israel who had just made some wonderful
promises to keep have in a short time forgot those promises and were in need of
having their fires stirred up. Paul
wrote to Timothy these words, “Therefore
I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on
of my hands.” Timothy was in danger
of losing the gift that God had given to him because he was not using it and so
Paul tells him to stir up that gift as one would stir up a fire that is about
to go out.
There are three sub-points under
this first main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary that I want to address this
morning and I will try and address the other two in the next SD. This first sub-point is entitled “The mixed
multitude” and it covers the verses seen above.
The story of how the Ammonites and
the Moabites came about is in the very first chapter of the Bible, and it is a
very sad story indeed for their beginning was the result of two incestuous
relationships with Abraham’s nephew Lot and Lot’s two daughters. The results of these two unions were the
nations of the Ammonites and the Moabites, and they were great trouble for
Israel throughout their existence in the OT.
As far as Balaam is concerned his
tactics are still going on today in the church.
He was one who was being paid to curse Israel while Israel was wondering
in the desert but God turned his curses into blessings. After that Balaam encouraged the Moabites to
invite some of the Israelites to some of their pagan religious feasts, which
involved immorality and idolatry that can be seen in the book of Numbers and
chapters 22-24. The result of the
Israelites going to this religious feast was immorality and so there were
24,000 people who were in the camp of Israel who died.
Next I want to quote several people to show
that this problem that Israel experienced is still alive in today’s church and
it is written about in the NT in Jude 1:11 “Woe
to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed
headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.” “The old Youth for Christ slogan is still
true: In ministry, we must be ‘geared to
the times and anchored to the Rock.’
Oswald Chambers in his book ‘The
Servant As His Lord’ writes ‘Today the world has taken so many things out
of the church, and the church has taken so many things out of the world, that
it is difficult to know where you are.’”
“Vance Havner writes ‘Today the world has so infiltrated the church that
we are more beset by traitors within than by foes without. Satan is not fighting churches—he is joining
them.’”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: It is
good to be reminded of the sin of Balaam so that I can be on the lookout in my
life to make sure that I am not getting to close to the world. A believer is to be in the world and not of
the world and that is a difficult thing to do in this day and age that we live
in.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1.
Remember that I am to be in the world but not of the
world.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
9/12/2011
9:45:09 AM
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