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Deuteronomy 13:1-5
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.
For the Lord your God is testing you,
to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.
I suppose if we witnessed a miracle today we would listen pretty closely to what the fellow who performed it had to say. After all, miracles come from God and are designed to get our attention and to validate prophets.
The miracle gets our attention but then our attention has to shift to what the prophet is telling us because God occasionally tests our knowledge and devotion to his word. He creates a dilemma. Are we going to believe the miracle or are we going to believe what he has commanded us in his written word?
The Deuteronomy text says the written word takes priority over miracles. I wonder why? Probably because Satan (and his agents) can work miracles too and humans through trickery can work pseudo-miracles.
So as Christians we can’t just expect to be spoon fed God’s word. We have to feed ourselves on a regular basis so when God sends a test we won’t fail.
This is a test we need to pass… better start studying for it.
Leviticus 25:23-24 states that the land he gave his people Israel didn’t really belong to them and they couldn’t sell it permanently. The land belonged to God and his people were just “aliens and tenants” they were renting from God.
That’s an important concept and I would suggest that it still holds true for you and I as well. Nothing we have really belongs to us. We are just renters on earth until we reach our final home that really belongs to us.
That is an important concept and until and unless we completely buy into it we’ll never really be ready to leave… forever content to live in a rent house and living like we own what is not really ours.
We find three test cases of hospitality in Genesis 18-19.
The first is when the Lord and two angels disguised as men visit Abraham. Abraham believing that they were mere men rushed from his tent, bowed down and offered to wash their feet. He had his servants slaughter a young calf to feed them and had his wife Sarah make fresh bread for them.
The second case was when the two angels, disguised as men, went to the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting at the gates when they approached. Like Abraham he approached the men and bowed down and offered to wash their feet and invited them into his home. At first the men (angels) said no we’ll just sleep out in the city square but Lot insisted and they accepted his hospitality.
The third case of hospitality was when the men of Sodom found out there were men visiting their city. They surrounded Lot’s home and wanted to greet the men by having gang rape homosexual sex with them.
Christians are supposed to be hospitable too. Will we be like Abraham and Lot who bowed down in humility and offer to feed and house our visiting guests? Will we be like Lot who didn’t accept the declination of the visitors but insisted upon serving them? Or will we be like the men of Sodom who wanted to take advantage of these strangers? Or will we be somewhere in the middle ground… nice to meet you… hope you have a nice visit. Or will we just ignore the strangers and walk right past them?
God’s people are supposed to be known for their hospitality… like Abraham and Lot. Their hospitality cost them something… time and money.
From Les Homan...
My Gary passed away November 17 at Baylor St. Lukes Methodist Hospital in Houston. Everyone worked so hard to save her and could not.
She was my wife and best friend. She made me a better person. She cared so much for her family, friends, her Church and her God.
We were married 49 years and I was so lucky she married me. We have 3 great boys who are heartbroken and 1 grandson who is trying hard to understand it all.
Seven year old grandson Ben said it best “GranGary is with the Angels”.
From Son, Chris...
My Mother was simply the greatest person I have ever known. She showered love on her entire family, her friends, colleagues, clients and total strangers. She never met someone she wouldn’t try to help. She always put the needs of others first and wouldn’t hesitate… not for a second… if she could help. One of her best traits was just listening and providing that much needed encouragement to overcome the biggest challenge that any of us might have faced.
I can’t make much sense of my Mom’s passing but I know that God must have needed her in Heaven for a task only she could accomplish. She was a better person than I could ever be but I will try to live my life based on her example and memory.
You all are here because you loved my Mom and we appreciate you all so very much for being here. I know she is so very happy right now that you all would take time to come here to remember her life and the person she was.
I will take great comfort knowing that my Mom is watching over our entire family especially her beloved Grandson, Benjamin and all of you as we live out the rest of our days.
I love you Mom
Your son,
Chris
In Genesis 18 & 19 we read of events leading to and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham had done some negotiating with God and God had agreed not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if just 10 righteous people could be found in those cities.
Unfortunately only four could be found; Lot, his wife and their two daughters. It would be a mistake however to equate their righteousness with faultlessness. Lot doubted God’s instruction to leave Sodom and wanted to stay. Lot’s wife violated the angel’s instruction not to look back and was turned into a pillar of salt. The two daughters got their father drunk and got pregnant by him so they could have children.
Lot and his family were righteous and were saved by God from destruction in spite of their weaknesses and that should be very comforting for people like you and me. God isn’t going to rain “fire and brimstone” upon us for the occasional weakness that might sprout up in our lives. Try to be righteous. All God has ever wanted from us is our best effort and the right attitude.
God did two really big things that he set aside days of the week to commemorate. He created the earth and set aside the last day of the week, the Sabbath day, to celebrate that event. He set rules for how to celebrate the Sabbath day and punishment (death) for violating those rules.
The other huge thing God did was to give up his only son as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind and set up the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, to celebrate that event. Like the Sabbath day there are rules and punishments for not believing in Jesus Christ and not celebrating his day.
The Sabbath day commemorates God’s creation of earth and all its peoples. The Lord’s Day commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let’s not forget either day.
Hebrew 7:19. (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
A concept is stated here that we have the ability to become very close to God. The question arises… why would we want to be close to God. The answer? Because he can do things for us.
That was especially true of primitive people. They had limited food storage abilities (refrigeration, food preservation, etc.) and could quickly run out of food and starve. They had limited ways of having access to water (no reservoirs, water pumps, etc.) for their crops and had to rely upon timely rains. Locusts could strip their fields. Disease could ravage them because they had no vaccines or effective medications. Other nations could attack and exterminate them.
So, not having the ability to help themselves they had a very real need for a God to intervene and worked hard to build a relationship with one. The Israelites could come closer to God than any of the other people because God gave them commands to follow to make them “acceptable”. In addition, he set up a system to repair the damage to the relationship when Israel could not keep the commands perfectly. The offering up of sacrifices, specifically, the blood of animals.
Even pagan peoples recognized the need to seek help from their Gods and offered up the most precious things they had… their children.
As a society we have advanced greatly but we still need God. We still have times of great need.
The above scripture indicates that we can come closer to God than ever before. That’s possible by accepting the free gift of the greatest sacrifice ever… Jesus Christ and by following his example and living sacrificial lives.
All people can claim God as their father and receive a superficial level of blessings, but true Christians are closer to God than anyone else and as a result live lives that are continually blessed by God until the final blessing comes… eternal life in the very presence of God. God takes care of his people.
