God the Father is for us; God the Son is with us; God the Spirit is in us—are we thankful yet? Have you heard of triaphilia? That’s the belief that bad things happen in threes. But what was God’s desire for His people? His good things came in threes! “Three times a year all your […]
A servant bound by love to Christ has the greatest freedom. He is free to be what he was made for. There are three passages of Scripture that deal with the release of a Hebrew slave (Ex 21:1-6; Lev 25:39-55; Deut 15:12-18). “Slavery” in this case meant indentured servitude. That is, the person agreed to […]
Before you lend money at interest to a friend or family member, decide which you want more. The seventh day, the Sabbath, was both a holiday and a holy day. Even the indentured servants were not to work on that day; it was for rest, fellowship, and communion with God. But the sabbatical year was […]
Read More… from December 30, 2022 — Of Lending And Borrowing
This ancient principle is the same today: sharing God’s blessings will also enrich your life. The last eight verses of Deuteronomy 14 again discuss the tithe. This seems to mean a second tithe, because a first tithe was to be given to the Levites, out of which they also gave a tenth of that tenth […]
Read More… from December 29, 2022 — “Whatever Your Heart Desires”
Strange as it seems, God wants us to feed on Him! “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps 34:8). After the initial warning against performing the rituals of the children of the devil when you are, in fact, “the children of the Lord your God” (v 1), Deuteronomy 14:3-21 then deals with types […]
Some things in our culture may be neutral for the believer, but others are the devil’s weaponry. It was not enough, said the Lord, to destroy the Canaanite idols, nor to remove the groves and high places where the false gods were worshipped. In Deuteronomy 14, He also warned that customs and rituals associated with […]
Read More… from December 27, 2022 — Who Is Keeping The “Keep”?
It’s good to have close family and friends, but they should never be closer than our Lord. In our previous study, we considered God’s warning against false prophets. But Deuteronomy 13 adds two other subtle dangers, where we can be influenced away from the Lord. What happens if “your brother, the son of your mother, […]
Read More… from December 26, 2022 — Dangers Inside And All Around
The saying is true: “A good gardener must not only love flowers; he must also hate weeds.” One reason the Lord Jesus qualified to be God’s ruler is stated as follows: “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness” (Heb 1:9). While the previous chapter warned against the obvious evil of worshiping false gods and maintaining […]
Read More… from December 23, 2022 — Usually A False Prophet Is In It For Profit