Feb.1 - Leviticus 6 - 8

In these chapters, God is beginning to share His final thoughts regarding the sacrifices that are to be made for both unintentional sin and intentional sin. In chapter 6, He opens up with some examples of intentional sins, such as:
- When you sin against a friend
- When you cheat in a money deal
- When you steal or commit some kind of fraud
- When you find something that's not yours and lie about it being yours
- And, when you lie even though you swear that it's the truth.
Here's the punishment for these types of sins:
1) Pay back what you owe...PLUS 20%.
2) And, offer a sacrifice to God for the forgiveness of that sin!

Other interesting things worthy of notice are:

1) In 6:13, God commands that "the fire on the altar must never go out!" This is God's way of showing us that forgiveness is always available! The priest was to make sure he never let the altar fire go out so that the people could come to God at any time for the forgiveness of sin, or even for the opportunitiy to offer a praise or thanksgiving offering to Him!

2) The offerings that were sacrificed by the people were to be eaten by the priests! This was God's way of meeting the physical needs of the priests. We do the same thing in our churches today! The offerings we bring to the Lord are to support the ongoing efforts of those who minister to God in our behalf - such as our church staff.

3) However, when a priest had sinned and was to offer up a sacrifice, it was to be burned completely. The priest was NOT to profit from his own sacrifice!

4) In 7:7, 37 - God shares with us some of the different types of offerings He already explained to Moses - here they are:
- The Burnt Offering
- The Grain Offering
- The Guilt Offering
- The Sin Offering
- The Ordination Offering - This was the offering the priests gave as they were ordained for God's priestly service!
- The Peace Offering - This was offered as an expression of thankfulness to God or for a promise you might want to make to the Lord.

5) In 7:19 - 21, God strictly tells the people that they were not to eat unclean food or touch an unclean thing. This became a huge discussion in the New Testament! In Acts 10, Peter had a dream that God told him to eat an unclean animal and to go into the house of a Gentile - which to an Israelite was an "unclean act." God was showing Peter that the Old Testament or Old Covenant was over! They were now under a New Testament or New Covenant since Jesus had died and rose again! In Acts 11, Peter was heavily criticized by the Jews for what he did. But, he explained the dream and the disciples in Jerusalem evidenced the Holy Spirit's presence in the life of Cornelius and those of his family! They all agreed that this was no longer an issue!

6) In Leviticus 8 we get to see the ordination of the Priests and the annointing of the Tabernacle and all of its tools and furniture. Notice that everything was annointed with the "annointing oil." This oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit! At salvation, we are annointed by Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit who comes to live within us! It is the Holy Spirit and His annointing that empowers us for God's service in the world! In order to serve God you must be annointed by His Spirit!

Are you clean before God and "set apart and fitting for the Master's use?" If you feel powerless as a believer in Christ, ask God to empty you of yourself and fill you up with His Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 tells us to "be filled with God's Spirit." It's not one of quantity, but rather one of control. Does the Holy Spirit have control - complete control - of you? It's not about having less of me and more of Christ. It's about having none of me and all of Christ ruling and reigning in my heart and mind! That's why Jesus said in Matthew 6, "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (your needs) will be added unto you."

Spend some time alone with God today, and ask Him to fill you with His Spirit and guide you in all you do today! God bless!

Also...please be in prayer as I share this Saturday at the Yellow Roadway Corporation and The Presbyterian Church of Stanley the Journey To Financial Freedom Seminar!