Worship for Today: God has written something in our minds and on our hearts.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 27:8,

"You shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these
stones you have set up."

As Moses prepared the people of Israel to enter into the land the Lord
was giving them he encouraged them with these words, "Be silent, O
Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your
God. Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and decrees that I
give you today." Verses 9-10. It was at this time he told the people
to write all the words of the law on stones they were to set up. The
law comprised the verbally inspired communication of the Lord to
Israel, and through Israel to all mankind. God spoke it through Moses
and God wanted it memorialized.

God's insistence that Israel memorialize his revelation, his law, was
for Israel's direct benefit. It wasn't for his benefit as he knows
what he has to say. It would be to their advantage to bring to their
awareness what the Lord wanted by memorializing it. As the Lord
progressively reveals his intentions and agenda, we find this desire
of God accomplished in an even more direct manner. In Jeremiah
31:31-33 we read, "'The time is coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their
forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,'
declares the Lord. 'This is the covenant I will make with the house of
Israel after that time,' declares the Lord. 'I will put my law in
their minds and write it on their hearts.I will be their God,and they
will be my people.'"

Here we read the Lord will memorialize his law right on the very
hearts of his people! I understand this to be something the indwelling
Holy Spirit does in the church today. As we embrace Jesus Christ in
faith, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and brings to
us that inner conviction and understanding of the things of God. "We
have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from
God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what
we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught
by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." 1
Corinthians 2:12-13. Here is a part of that mystical aspect of our
relationship with the Lord manifested! He has written something in our
minds and on our hearts!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We
would love to hear from you!

Sorry for the blank email I sent out just prior to this!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in ,

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God has made us his people!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 26:18-19,

"The Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured
possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.
He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high
above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy
to the Lord your God, as he promised."

Israel was commanded to keep the laws, commands and decrees of God.
They were not just to comply with them but to observe them carefully
"with all your heart and with all your soul", verse 16. Israel
committed to such and so the Lord declared Israel to be his people,
his treasured possession, set above all other people and to be a holy
people to himself.

The Lord has offered himself to us as well. He provided us an
opportunity and gave us commands. When asked "What must we do to do
the works God requires?" Jesus responded, "The work of God is this: to
believe in the one he has sent." John 6:28-29. For those of us who
have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, we have become his people. Peter
observes, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who
called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not
a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy." 1 Peter 2:9-10.

What an opportunity!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's grace is greater than my sin!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 25:1,

"When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges
will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the
guilty."

Justice to the Lord is an important aspect of his nature. Clearly,
throughout the law we read again and again how justice is to be
carried out in the national life of Israel so that Israel would not
fall under the Lord's condemnation.

As I think of the Lord's nature, I have a tremendous appreciation for
the Lord's sense of justice. Knowing our Lord requires all wrongs to
be righted provides for the kind of world we can only wait for - a
world where honesty, justice and fairness prevail. Unfortunately
today, we live in a world dominated by the collective sin nature of us
all resulting in an environment where we discover there is no fairness
in this life, that justice is constantly thwarted and folks often take
advantage of one another. We all yearn for justice.

Yet, it is justice itself that has been my greatest threat. I have
sinned and the Lord's justice calls for my life. I deserve an eternity
in the lake of fire as I have not lived my life worthy of him. How
great the riches of God's mercy and kindness that he sent One to take
my punishment for me! Although I have not lived a life worthy of the
Lord, I have a wonderful hope of eternal life filled with God's
blessings because Jesus Christ took my punishment on himself! This is
grace!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord almighty has a kind heart!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 24:5,

"If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any
other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home
and bring happiness to the wife he has married."

Here is a law that places God's kindness on full display. Many of
these laws Moses gave to Israel manifest something of the heart of
God. In them we see that God is just. He requires a redress of wrongs
committed. In them we see God's care and concern for the helpless, as
in verses 17-22 of this chapter where provision is made for the alien,
the orphaned and the widow. In other laws we see God is jealous,
providing for judgment against idolatry.

As I think of God, I often think of those great and wonderful aspects
of his being that set him apart from us. I often think of God as being
all-powerful and all-knowing. I think of the transcendence of his
existence beyond time and space (something I find very difficult to
wrap my mind around, but I think of it from time to time
nevertheless.) I think of his holiness, he is always consistent with
himself. I attempt to conjure in my mind what his throne must be like
in heaven with hosts of angels and other beings that accompany him
there, worshipping him. I think of his tremendous love and mercy he
has displayed to me in providing his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the
penalty for my sin. So many different things come to mind at different
times as I think of my heavenly Father.

Here, in this verse, is something that, for me, is a window right into
his heart. He makes provision for the newly married man, that he be
allowed to spend his first year to be free from military duty or any
other obligation, to stay home and bring happiness to his bride. What
kind of heart does God have? This type of heart! Our God, the Lord
almighty, is the very expression of true kindness!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God provides us a righteous standing!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 23:4b-5,

"They [Ammonites and Moabites] hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in
Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. However, the Lord your God
would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for
you, because the Lord your God loves you."

The Ammonites and Moabites were not to be allowed into the assembly of
the Lord in Israel. Moses tells the Israelites it is because they did
not come to meet the Israelites with bread and water when Israel left
Egypt. Also, they hired Balaam, a seer, to pronounce a curse on the
Israelites.

Moses points out that the Lord did not listen to Balaam but turned the
curse into a blessing for Israel, "because the Lord your God loves
you." We also have one who would seek our judgment from God, the
accuser of the brethren in Revelation 12:10, "the accuser of our
brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been
hurled down." In this passage we are told it is the devil himself,
verse 12.

While I am sure that the devil has the goods on me to bring before my
heavenly Father, just as the Lord would not listen to Balaam against
the Israelites, so the Lord will not listen to him against me. As Paul
says, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare
his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along
with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge
against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he
that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised
to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Romans 8:31-35.

How wonderful to be the object of God's love and affection! While I
certainly deserve God's judgment, he has provided me a righteous
standing before himself out of his great love! Available to me through
faith! It is just astonishing to think of!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Worship for Today: God makes effort to enlighten us.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 22:9-11,

"Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only
the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be
defiled. Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. Do not
wear clothes of wool and linen woven together."

As I read these verses I see that Israel was not to attempt to join
that which is disparate. The issue (at least for planting different
things together in a vineyard) was defilement. This brings to my mind
a comment Paul had to make in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, "Do not be yoked
together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness
have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What
harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have
in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the
temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As
God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will
be their God, and they will be my people.' 'Therefore come out from
them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I
will receive you.' 'I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons
and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.'"

In his quotations of the Old Testament, Paul makes clear there are
distinctions: believers/unbelievers, righteousness/wickedness,
light/darkness, Christ/Belial, the temple of God/idols.

In our lost and fallen state we have become dull in our thinking.
Befuddled with deceitful hearts we see shades of gray. The Lord
reaches out to us with very practical educational materials in the law
- he wants us to know there are differences to things and he wants us
to be clear about it.

I find it fascinating the Lord wants us to know and has made many
attempts to enlighten us.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God makes his own choices!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 21:5,

"The priests, the sons of Levi, shall step forward, for the Lord your
God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name
of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault."

In this seemingly parenthetical verse, Moses reminds the Israelites
that it is "the priests, the sons of Levi" that the Lord has chosen
for ministry, for pronouncing blessings and deciding "cases of dispute
and assault." This is the Lord's choice. Of all the Israelites, he
elected these for this purpose.

God's choice was important for Israel to follow. Korah, Dathan and
Abiram challenged the Lord's choice of who would be priests in Israel
and in Numbers 16 we read of the ground swallowing them and their
families alive. When God chooses something we need to listen as well.
In Romans 9 Paul points out that God's choice of Jacob over Esau as
the son of Isaac who would inherit the blessing, against all
convention, displays the Lord's prerogative in making his own choices
without consulting us first. There Paul makes the point that the Lord
has chosen it will be those who embrace him in faith will be those he
credits righteousness to, not those who attempt to keep the law.

God has chosen, or elected a number of things for us. In Romans 8:29,
God has predestined that those of us who believe will be conformed to
the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. We are not to stay the same as we
were when we were saved. This is God's choice. In Ephesians 1:4 God
has chosen that those of us who believe will be holy and blameless. In
other words, once forgiven our sins God has decided that we will have
a standing of holiness and blamelessness before him, something our
lives have not been marked by. This is God's choice. In the same
chapter, verse 5 we read he has predestined us to be adopted as his
children, as opposed to say, merely subjects in his kingdom, or his
slaves or just friends. This is God's choice.

Any theology worth its salt needs to recognize that God has made his
own choices, that he does not check in with me first and that we will
all bow to those choices. As we read what he has chosen, what he has
decided, what he has predestined for us, we find cause for great joy!
How wonderful the choices our God of mercy and love has made for those
who will embrace him in faith!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Our God is just and fair!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 25:15-16,

"You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you
may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the
Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals
dishonestly.

Back in the day, before the Bureau of Weights and Measures with
inspectors who test and license the scales of businesses, the
unscrupulous would secretly have two sets of measures. One set on the
heavy side when they were buying and one set on the light side when
they would sell.

Here the Israelites are told that anyone who is not honest, just or
fair is detestable to him. This tells us something of God's own
character. This law reflects the fact that honesty and fairness is
important to God.

What if God were not honest and fair? What if God showed favoritism by
being more generous to one and less to another? In Romans 2:11 Paul
points out that God does not show favoritism. Fairness and being just
are important to him. Three proverbs highlight this aspect of God's
character. "The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are
his delight." Proverbs 11:1. "Honest scales and balances are from the
Lord; all the weights in the bag are of his making." Proverbs 16:11.
"The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not
please him." Proverbs 20:23.

Because of this, any theology that comes along that impugns the Lord's
honesty or fairness is automatically suspect to me. When questions
arise, such as, "What about babies who die, who have never had an
opportunity to respond to the gospel message, what will happen to
them?" I can be assured that God will deal fairly to them as well as
to us all. Unfortunaltely, when I am weighed on the balances, I am
found to be wanting. In this aspect of God's personality, being fair
and just, I deserve God's condemnation. How wonderful he has provided
his Son to make up the difference on the scales for me!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God himself has cleaned up the camp!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 23:14,

"The Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to
deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will
not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you."

In his instructions to the Israelites about the cleanliness of the
camp, Moses makes a stunning observation. The Lord will be moving
about in the camp to protect the Israelites and help them in the task
he has given them, so keep the camp clean!

In a figurative way, this speaks to me of the holiness of God versus
the ungodliness of man. In making a people for himself through the
gospel, God not only sent his Son to take our punishment for sin that
we receive his forgiveness, but he has also cleaned us up. In a
passage I was reminded of yesterday, we read, "Do you not know that
the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male
prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor
drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of
God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

God has cleaned us up, fit for his camp! Look at what God has done for
those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith! We have been
washed, we have been sanctified, we have been justified! In this camp,
as in Israel, the Lord our God moves among us to protect us and help
us in the task he has given us. As such he has cleaned us up, fit for
service to him!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Jesus Christ became a curse on our behalf!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 21:22-23,

"If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is
hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be
sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree
is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your
God is giving you as an inheritance."

In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul quotes this passage as
he discusses God's curse on Jesus Christ as he hung on the cross
taking our punishment upon himself. "Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is
everyone who is hung on a tree.'" Galatians 3:13. Paul goes on to say
that Jesus did this in order that the blessings that were promised to
Abraham might come to us.

As I think of it this morning, it is a moving thought. If I never
embraced Jesus Christ in faith, I would remain under God's judgment,
under his curse. All I would have to look forward to following this
life was certain banishment to the lake of fire. But I didn't have to
remain under God's curse. Jesus Christ took that curse on himself for
me, as he hung on a cross, taking the punishment that brought me peace
with God.

What an expression of love!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: No fear - the Lord is with us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 20:1,

"When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots
and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the
Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you."

Moses tells Israel there is no need for fear as they face the task the
Lord gives them. As they dispossess the inhabitants of the land, even
if the enemies arrayed before them are greater with their horses and
chariots, Israel is not to be afraid: the Lord will be with them.

The Lord has given us a task as well. "Go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20. We are to make disciples out of
people who are lost and without God in the world. We are to share our
faith by clearly bringing the gospel message to them.

What if I can't do a good job of it? What if I am ridiculed for my
faith? What if I offend someone? What if they know more about theology
than I do? What if they ask me questions I don't know anything about?
What if I come across as a fool? Fear.

Israel was not asked by God to share their faith with the inhabitants
of the land the Lord gave them - they were to destroy them. Our task
given us by the Lord is a different one. But what Moses told Israel,
the Lord told us: he will be with us! We are not to be fearful. Fear
that is reasonable is the fear that God's judgement of the lake of
fire is a looming prospect for anyone. As for the fear we may have in
sharing our faith, we need to heed the Lord's encouragement, the same
as Moses' encouragement to Israel. "Surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age." Matthew 28:20.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God condemns the shedding of innocent blood!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 19:13,

"You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so
that it may go well with you."

The only way the guilt of shedding innocent blood could be purged from
Israel was if the guilty were punished for it. As verse 21 says, "Show
no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
foot for foot." We read in Proverbs, "Whoever says to the guilty, 'You
are innocent'—peoples will curse him and nations denounce him. But it
will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will
come upon them." Proverbs 24:24-25.

The notion that if somehow, in a criminal trial, if the rules of
evidence or other requirements are not met, some technicality, the
accused goes free does not satisfy the responsibilities of Justice.
Justice, God's way, requires the avenging of wrong done to any victim.
The stern requirements for murder are pointed to in Genesis 9:5-6,
"For your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand
an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand
an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood
of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has
God made man."

I would not want to have to give an accounting before the great Judge!
I wonder what this says about abortion? Babies created in God's own
image are being destroyed! I wonder what kind of accounting that will
bring?! "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God." Hebrews 10:31. How frightful is that?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God foretells the coming of Jesus Christ through Moses!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 18:18-19,

"I [God] will raise up for them a prophet like you [Moses] from among
their [the Israelites] brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and
he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen
to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him
to account."

While Muslims wish we would recognize this prophet like Moses that the
Lord will raise up to be Muhammad, it is a clear prophecy of the
coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Just as Moses was raised up by God to lead Israel out of slavery in
Egypt, so God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, to
lead mankind out of slavery to sin and God's own judgment. Just as God
raised up Moses to lead Israel to the Promised Land, so also God
raised up Jesus Christ to lead mankind to the kingdom of God, "I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me." John 14:6. Just as God gave Moses words to say, Exodus
4:12, so also God the Father gave Jesus words to say, "These words you
hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me." John
14:24b. As God told Moses, "If anyone does not listen to my words that
the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account", if
Jesus Christ is not listened to, mankind will come under judgment,
"There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my
words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.
For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me
commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command
leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has
told me to say." John 12:48-50.

Jesus Christ, God's own Son, is the prophet whom God spoke of to Moses
when he foretold of "a prophet like you from among your brothers." How
wonderful that God provided this foretelling, that we recognize the
fulfillment in his Son!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God provided a sinless sacrifice of atonement in our behalf!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 17:1,

"Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any
defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him."

The sacrifices the Lord required from the Israelites were a type of
Jesus Christ. At a future time our heavenly Father would send his Son
as an atoninig sacrifice for our sins. We read about it in Isaiah
53:5-6, "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by
his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each
of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all."

We find that this sacrifice of atonement made by Jesus Christ pays for
our sins, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10.
In order to pay for our sins, he could not have been guilty of sin
himself. He would have a righteous standing before God, something of
incredible value to share with us who have no righteousness - his own
righteousness. "God made him [Jesus Christ] who had no sin to be sin
for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2
Corinthians 5:21.

To be a type of Jesus Christ, the offerings the Israelites were to
make to God had to be without defect or flaw to reflect the sinless
nature of Jesus Christ - God's sinless, perfect payment for our sins,
a sacrifice of atonement!

What a wonderful gift Jesus Christ has brought to us! He gave his
sinless life that we might have his righteous standing before God, so
that we could be adopted into his family!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Celebrate the Lord's blessing with joy!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 16:13-14,

"Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have
gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be
joyful at your Feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants
and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the
widows who live in your towns."

Moses tells the Israelites to be joyful when they celebrated the Feast
of Tabernacles. The Israelites were to gather where the tabernacle
would be placed in the Promised Land and celebrate this seven day
holiday. The reason for the joy they were to celebrate this feast with
was the harvest the Lord had blessed them with. It was to be a joyous
occasion as the Lord's blessing would make their joy "complete", verse
15.

While we are to worship the Lord today "with reverence and awe",
Hebrews 12:28, sometimes I am perplexed at the low level of joy
encountered amongst believers. How could this be? The Lord's blessing,
expressed in the harvest they took in at the end of the year was to be
cause for joy among the Israelites. We as Christians have been blessed
as well!

Today, in the church, we have been given a place at the Lord's table,
members of his kingdom as co-heirs with Jesus Christ. We have been
given eternal life, life abundant to be shared with one another
together with the Lord. We have been given the Holy Spirit who is a
constant companion with us, who has gifted us to serve one another and
who has sealed us with a guarantee of our place with the Lord in the
resurrection! Talk about the Lord's blessing! Talk about cause for
joy!

As Peter puts it, "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and
even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled
with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal
of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:8-9.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Woe to this country if it does not repent of its evil!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 15:4-6,

"There should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord your God
is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless
you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to
follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the Lord your God
will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations
but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none
will rule over you."

Here the Lord promises to bless Israel if she obeys him. They will
enjoy his rich blessings in the land and not have any in poverty if
they obey.

Here in America, we do not live in a land given to a chosen people by
the Lord as was Israel. As Christians we look to another country
beyond this one as we read about in Hebrews 11:13b-16. "They [the
faithful patriarchs] admitted that they were aliens and strangers on
earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a
country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they
had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they
were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
And so we, as Christians do likewise.

However, we, as Christians, live in this country and while here we
need to have an impact on it. God will certainly have his. As we read
in Jeremiah 18:7-10, "If at any time I announce that a nation or
kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation
I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it
the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a
nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil
in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I
had intended to do for it." America has her opportunity to either
enjoy the blessings of God or experience his judgement.

There is nothing in the New Covenant that appears to change what the
Lord had to say through Jeremiah about his dealing with the differing
nations. It is my belief that what the Lord said then still holds true
today. As I consider the embrace of homosexuality in our culture, the
practice of abortion and infanticide in our country today, I suspect
all the "stimulus packages" that can be advanced to improve our
economy may be to no avail. The Lord is our Lord who delights in
kindness, justice and righteousness. Woe to this country if it does
not repent of its evil!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God seeks relationship with his people.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 14:22-23,

"Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each
year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn
of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the
place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn
to revere the Lord your God always."

The tithe, or tenth, that Israel was to set aside for the Lord was to
be consumed by the same Israelites who brought it - in the Lord's
presence. It was to be shared with the Levites who worked at the
tabernacle and what was brought was used to support the Levites, the
priests and the tabernacle, but those who brought it were to eat of
it.

There has been much misinformation within the church about the tithe
law given to Israel and I suspect we understand very little, in a
practical way, of the required practice of the tithe given the
Israelites. The tithe was a part of the worship that was to take place
at the tabernacle.

What captures my thoughts this morning is that the Israelites were to
consume the tithe "in the presence of the Lord". While the direction
here is that the Israelites were to travel to where the tabernacle
(and eventually the temple) was going to be located in Jerusalem, I
see more here than just the proscribed destination. They were to
consume it in the Lord's presence. The bringing of the tithe was to be
an activity the Israelites engaged in that was one of both the worship
of their Lord and fellowship with their Lord, "in the Lord's
presence". The result of the activity was that the Israelites would
learn to revere their Lord always. The Lord wanted his people to spend
time with him and so develop an appropriate attitude toward him.

While I may be reading a little too much into this, as given, this law
speaks to me of the Lord's desire to be with his people and provide
them a way to fellowship with him as well as an opportunity to worship
him.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com