Pastor Gary's OYB Devotion Archive for July 16

FROM PORTABLE TO PERMANENT

From: July 16, 2024

“And so the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the things for its service” (1 Chronicles 23:26 ESV).

David made preparations for the Temple to be built in Jerusalem. He gathered the materials for the building and gave his son, Solomon specific plans for its construction. He also instructed the Levites on how to transition from their former ministry of carrying and setting up the portable Tabernacle to their new roles, serving at the permanent Temple in Jerusalem.

This was an important part of David’s preparation for the ministry of the new Temple. For what is a new and beautiful church building without the necessary ministers to serve in it? Yet, I wonder how moving from portable to permanent affected the faith of Israel? Did they become lax, thinking they had finally arrived?

Our church was portable for 19 years, meeting at homes, schools, and other church and civic buildings that we rented. We were known as the “roadie church” because we could set up sound equipment, staging, seats, and nursery and children’s equipment in any space within an hour or so. We could have “church” anywhere. And we did!

The transition from portable church to a permanent location took place thirteen years ago. Our attendance immediately doubled and we are still growing. Yet, there is a culture from our portable days that we have tried our best to retain. For we still want to be the church on the move, joining Jesus on the mission field in our city, region, and world.

We don’t want to let having a permanent home make us lazy about going out to make disciples. We want to be pioneers, not settlers. We have not arrived. Having a building is not the goal. We are a people on mission. The church is not a place it’s a people! And its mission is not to building buildings, but to make disciples of all nations.

PRAYER: Dear Father, don’t let us lose our missionary zeal for reaching our city. Let the Spirit burn bright within us, so that we have a white-hot passion for witnessing. Thank you for giving us a permanent home, but don’t let us think of a place as the church. We are the church and Your Son is the Head. Send us out with power. In Jesus’ name, amen.

ARE YOU RIGHT WITH GOD?

From: July 16, 2023

“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are” (Romans 3:22 NLT).

We are all sinners. We are not able to keep the law of God. It is holy and perfect. Yet, God made a way for us through Jesus, who fulfilled the law and paid sin’s penalty in our place. When we place our faith in Christ, we are made right with God. God counts us as righteous.

A great exchange took place at the cross. Jesus took our sin, our death and our separation from God upon Himself. He did this that we might place our faith in Him and receive His righteousness, His eternal life and His Sonship.

To “place our faith in Christ” means to fully put our trust in Him as the only One who is able to make us right with God.

PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for giving us Jesus. We have placed our faith in Him as Lord and Savior. Through Jesus we have found peace with You. Now help us to share this Good News with others that they might place their faith in Jesus too. In His name we pray, amen.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NLT).

From: July 16, 2022

SIN IS MISSING THE MARK AND ALL HAVE MISSED IT

All humanity has missed the mark of God’s righteousness. Therefore, all humanity falls short of being able to get right with God by our own effort. For even our best efforts are as “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6) before the Lord. The word “sin” seems to have originated as an archery term, meaning to “miss the mark,” or to have missed the bulls eye. So, we have all missed the bulls eye of God’s glorious standard of righteousness.

For this reason, God provided One who fulfilled His glorious standard of righteousness to pay for our sin. He took our sin, separation and death and offers His righteousness, Sonship, and eternal life. His name is Jesus and He alone has hit the mark, so that by faith in Him we might be saved from our sin and made right with the Father.

The idea of sin is not popular today. In this age of relativism, we have become like those in the time of the Judges when “all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). We have become like the people whom the prophet Isaiah warned, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isa. 5:20). For our generation has denied its sinfulness by calling it good. They have become like the people of the last days of whom the apostle Paul wrote, they “did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (1 Thess. 2:12).

Yet there is good and evil and sin is still sin. And those who admit their sin and trust in Christ as the payment for their sins, will be made right with God. As Paul wrote, “People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (Rom. 3:25).

PRAYER: Dear Father, we have confessed our sin to You and believed in Jesus for our salvation. We have been made right with You by faith in Christ. We praise You for this! And we ask that You convict the world of sin by Your Spirit that they might turn to You and believe. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“Also, the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the equipment for its service” (1 Chronicles 23:26 HCSB).

From: July 16, 2021

TRANSITIONING FROM PORTABLE TO PERMANENT

David made preparations for the Temple to be built in Jerusalem. He gathered the materials for the building and gave his son, Solomon specific plans for its construction. He also instructed the Levites on how to transition from their former ministry of carrying and setting up the portable Tabernacle, to their new roles necessary for serving at the permanent Temple in Jerusalem. This was an important part of David’s preparation for the ministry of the new Temple. For what is a new and beautiful building without the necessary ministers to serve in it?

Yet, I wonder how moving from portable to permanent affected the faith of Israel? Did they suddenly relax, thinking they had finally arrived?

Our church was portable for 19 years, meeting at homes, schools, and other church and civic buildings that we rented. We were known as the “roadie church” because we could set up sound equipment, staging, seats, and nursery and children’s equipment in any space within an hour or so. We could have “church” anywhere. And we did!

The transition from portable church to a permanent location took place ten years ago. Our attendance immediately doubled and we are still growing. Yet, there is a culture from our portable days that we have tried our best to retain. We still want to be the church on the move, joining Jesus on the mission field in our city, region, and world. We can’t let having a permanent home make us lazy about going out to make disciples. We want to be pioneers, not settlers. We have not arrived. Having a building is not the goal. We are a people on mission. The church is not a place it’s a people! And its mission is not to building buildings, but to make disciples of all nations.

PRAYER: Dear Father, don’t let us lose our missionary zeal for reaching our city. Let the Spirit burn bright within us, so that we have a white-hot passion for witnessing. Thank you for giving us a permanent home, but don’t let us think of a place as the church. We are the church and Your Son is the Head. Send us out with power. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood” (Romans 3:24-25 NKJV).

From: July 16, 2020

MEDITATION ON THE REDEMPTION AND PROPITIATION OF CHRIST

Two important words concerning salvation are named here: “Redemption” and “propitiation.” Redemption means that we have been purchased out of slavery to sin by Christ, who gave Himself as our ransom. He took our sin, so that we might receive His righteousness. Propitiation means that Christ satisfied God’s judgment and wrath towards our sin by taking it upon Himself. He took our death and offers us His eternal life.

These two great doctrines of salvation are worthy of our constant wonder and meditation. How great is the mercy and love of God that He has shown through Christ Jesus!

PRAYER: Dear Father, we are so thankful for our salvation, knowing how completely lost we were and how great the cost Christ paid to redeem us, shedding His blood as a propitiation for our sins. We worship You for Your great love. May we walk in wonder today, sharing Your message of salvation with others. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“Now the Levites will no longer need to carry the Tabernacle and its furnishings from place to place.” (1 Chronicles 23:26 NLT).

From: July 16, 2019

TRANSITIONING FROM PORTABLE TO PERMANENT

David made preparations for the Temple to be built in Jerusalem. He gathered the materials for the building and gave his son, Solomon instructions for its construction. He instructed the Levites on how to transition from their former ministry of carrying and setting up the portable Tabernacle, to the new roles necessary for serving at the permanent Temple in Jerusalem. This was an important part of David’s preparation for the ministry of the new Temple. For what is a new and beautiful building without the necessary ministers to serve in it? Yet, I wonder how moving from portable to permanent affected the faith of Israel? Did they suddenly relax, thinking they had finally arrived?

Our church was portable for 19 years, meeting at homes, schools, and other church and civic buildings that we rented. We were known as the “roadie church” because we could set up sound equipment, staging, seats, and nursery and children’s equipment in any space within an hour or so. We could have “church” anywhere.

The transition from portable church to a permanent location took place 8 years ago. Our attendance has doubled and we are still growing. Yet, there is a culture from our portable days that we have tried our best to retain. We still want to be the church on the move, joining Jesus on the mission field in our city, region, and world. We can’t let having a permanent home make us lazy about going out to make disciples. We want to be pioneers, not settlers. We have not arrived. Having a building is not the goal. We are a people on mission. The church is not a place it’s a people!

PRAYER: Dear Father, don’t let us lose our missionary zeal for reaching our city. Let the Spirit burn bright within us, so that we have a white-hot passion for witnessing. Thank you for giving us a permanent home, but don’t let us think of a place as the church. We are the church and Your Son is the Head. Send us out with power. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NLT).

From: July 16, 2018

SIN MEANS MISSING THE MARK

All humanity has missed the mark of God’s righteousness. Therefore, all humanity falls short of being able to get right with God by our own effort. For even our best efforts are as “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6) before the Lord. The word “sin” seems to have origins as an archery term, meaning to have missed the mark, or to have missed the bulls eye. So, we have all missed the bulls eye.

For this reason, God provided One who fulfilled the law, One who never missed the mark, to pay for our sin. He took our sin, separation and death and offers His righteousness, Sonship, and eternal life. His name is Jesus and He alone has hit the mark, so that by faith in Him we might be saved from our sin and made right with the Father.

‘four thousand praised the Lord with musical instruments, “which I made,” said David, “for giving praise.”’ (1 Chronicles 23:5 NKJV).

From: July 16, 2017

David not only provided the materials and plans for the building of the Temple, he also organized the Levites for its service. Among those he set apart were 4,000 he chose for praising the Lord with musical instruments which were made according to his instruction.

David was a well known musician and song writer himself. He wrote most of the 150 psalms we have in our Bible. He included inscriptions at the beginning of many of his psalms for the musicians who would perform them. For instance, today’s One Year Bible psalm reading, Psalm 12, instructs the Chief Musician to have it played “on an eight-stringed harp.”

David’s vision for worship was all-encompassing. He planned and provided for every detail, including the musicians, instruments and even the songs they would perform. Yet, he never saw his dream fulfilled. He left it all in the hands of his son, Solomon to accomplish.

Although the Lord didn’t allow David to build the Temple, He was David’s inspiration for planning it. Even the songs and musical instruments that David made were echoes of heaven’s worship that David heard from the Spirit that anointed him.

“…Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith…” (Romans 3:24-25 ESV)

From: July 16, 2016

What is “propitiation?” In the original Greek, the word is ἱλαστήριον, hilastérion. It is a sin offering put forth to satisfy and appease the wrath of God towards sin. It may also refer to the mercy seat, which was the covering of the ark, upon which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement. Propitiation involves two parts: 1) It satisfies the offended party’s need for judgment, and 2) It reconciles the offender to the offended party. Since the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 3:23), the only acceptable justice is death. Yet God, the offended party, put forth His own propitiation for us in the offering of the blood of Christ Jesus, satisfying both His holiness and His love. At the cross we see both the terrible ugliness of our sin and the awesome love of God intermingled. For God’s great love and holiness are there displayed. Those who have “received by faith” this propitiation are now completely forgiven of their sins and fully reconciled to God.

“being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood” (Romans 3:24-25 NKJV)

From: July 16, 2015

Two important words concerning salvation are named here: “Redemption” and “propitiation.” Redemption means that we been purchased out of slavery to sin by Christ offering Himself as our ransom. He took our sin and offers His righteousness to us. Propitiation means that Christ satisfied God’s judgment and wrath towards our sin by taking it upon Himself. He took our death and offers us His eternal life. These two great doctrines of salvation are worthy of our constant wonder and meditation. How great is the mercy and love of God that He has shown through Christ Jesus!