Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 16:1-12.  Let’s go!

In Deuteronomy 16:1-12, Moses describes to the current generation of Israelites two of the three most important feasts in the Jewish calendar: Passover (also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread) and Pentecost (also known as the Feast of Weeks).  

Deuteronomy 16:1-8 (NIV)
1  Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of Egypt by night.
2  Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name.
3  Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste–so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.
4  Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.
5  You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the LORD your God gives you
6  except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.
7  Roast it and eat it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents.
8  For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the LORD your God and do no work.
 
On verses 1-8:  Why don’t Christians celebrate Passover today in the way Deuteronomy 16:1-8 talks about?  It’s because we now have something even greater than Passover to remember and observe:  Jesus Christ, His death and His resurrection — also known as Easter.  

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 15:1-11.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 15:1-3 (NIV)
1  At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
2  This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.
3  You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you.

On verses 1-3:  Moses instituted a system where every 7 years debts between fellow Israelites were to be canceled.  It was a way to remember and demonstrate God’s grace, as well as to give people a fresh start.  For that is God’s heart for every person: to give them a fresh start.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 14:1-21.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 14:1-2 (NIV)
1  You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead,
2  for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

On verses 1-2:  In Canaanite culture, when a person died, their family would mutilate themselves out of grief and hopelessness, cutting themselves and shaving the fronts of their heads.  Moses told the Israelites that they do not need to grieve this way because “you are the children of the Lord your God” (v1), chosen to be “His treasured possession” (v2). In other words, because the Israelites could have confidence that those who trust in Him will be with Him in eternity, they could grieve with hope.  Similarly, as Christians we are God’s treasured possession.  When a Christian friend dies, we do not need to grieve hopelessly because we have assurance that our friend is now in heaven with God, happier and healthier than they’ve ever been.  Instead of mourning hopelessly, we can grieve with hope, celebrating the fact that through faith in Jesus Christ that person who died has not left home, but gone home.
 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 12:15-32.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 12:15-16 (NIV)
15  Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the LORD your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
16  But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
 
On verses 15-16:  Why were the Israelites prohibited from eating blood?  For more on this see the section below called “On verses 20-27”.
 
Deuteronomy 12:17-19 (NIV)
17  You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.
18  Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose–you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns–and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to.
19  Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 10:12-22.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (NIV)
12  And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13  and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
 
On verses 12-13:  When you love someone, naturally you want to give all of yourself to that person, and you desire for that person to give all of themselves to you.  That’s why we get pop standards like, “All of me, why not take all of me?  Can’t you see, I’m no good without you”.  That’s why John Legend sings, “Give your all to me, I’ll give my all to you.”  That’s why in Phantom of the Opera, Christine and her lover sing to each other, “Love me…That’s all I ask of you.” 
 
The same goes for God.  Because God loves us, He wants to give all of Himself to us, and in return He wants us to give all of ourselves to Him.  That’s why verse 10 says, “what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul”.  God’s call to give your all is rooted in love.