Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Leviticus 4:22-35.  Let’s go!

Leviticus 4:22-35 (NIV)
22  “‘When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the LORD his God, he is guilty.
23  When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering a male goat without defect.
24  He is to lay his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the LORD. It is a sin offering.
25  Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.
26  He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the man’s sin, and he will be forgiven…….

Why was a more expensive animal required when the high priest sinned?  That’s because the high priest’s sin either directly or indirectly impacted the entire community that he led.  Since the damage was greater, the sacrifice required for the high priest’s sin was also greater.  In fact, notice that the sacrifice required when the high priest sinned was the same as if the whole community sinned.

What’s the lesson here?  If you serve and lead others, you are still subject to the same standards as everyone else.  In fact, you are subject to even stricter standards (see James 3:1).   That’s because when a leader sins, it affects not only the leader, but the people whom the leader leads.

So as leaders and priests in God’s kingdom, let’s be careful to rely on God’s grace and avoid sinning at all costs.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Leviticus 3:1-17.  Let’s go!

Leviticus 3:1-17 (NIV)
1  “‘If someone’s offering is a fellowship offering, and he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he is to present before the LORD an animal without defect.
2  He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood against the altar on all sides.
3  From the fellowship offering he is to bring a sacrifice made to the LORD by fire: all the fat that covers the inner parts or is connected to them,……

On verses 1-17:  As you read the first few chapters of Leviticus talking about the different offerings that God commanded the Jews to give, maybe you’re thinking, “What do these offerings have anything to do with us today?”  These offerings have much to do with us. They are pictures foreshadowing what Christ would do for us in the New Testament. Each offering described in Leviticus speaks to a unique aspect of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

To review:

– Leviticus 1 speaks of the burnt offering, the killing of a male lamb without defect so that a person’s sins could be forgiven.  This points to the day Jesus would die on the cross for our sins.  Jesus is the perfect lamb whose blood was spilled like a burnt offering so that we could be forgiven.

Hi GAMErs,

Today we begin the book of Leviticus.  According to many scholars, Leviticus was mostly likely written by Moses himself in approximately the second half of 15th century B.C.  It was apparently the first book that a Jewish child studied and contained many of the sacrificial and ceremonial laws that the Jewish people were to follow.  From the book of Leviticus we can learn a lot about the character of God.

Today’s passage is Leviticus 1:1-17.  Let’s go!

Leviticus 1:1-2 (NIV)
1  The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting. He said,
2  “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any of you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.

On verses 1-2:  Where was Moses when God spoke to him and revealed His plans for him and the people he was leading?  Moses was in church, or as it was called then, the Tent of Meeting, the place where God’s people gathered to worship and meet with God.  

Likewise, if you want God to speak to you and to reveal His plans for you, make it your priority to be in church where you can meet with God and with God’s people.  God loves to speak to His people when they are gathered together.  So come to church with a hungry, expectant heart, ready to worship God, to be still in His presence and to listen to His Word.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Corinthians 12:11-21.  Let’s go!

2 Corinthians 12:11-19 (NIV)
11  I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
12  The things that mark an apostle–signs, wonders and miracles–were done among you with great perseverance.
13  How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
14  Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
15  So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?
16  Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery!
17  Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent you?
18  I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?
19  Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening.

On verses 11-19:  Paul was hurt that the Christians at the church in Corinth, which he had helped to start, had so quickly shifted their loyalty to this new, heretical group called the “super apostles”.  Under the influence of these “super apostles”, the Christians in Corinth had begun to question Paul’s authority as an apostle, his ability as a leader, his character as a man and his love for them as their pastor and spiritual father.  These were very personal attacks. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Corinthians 11:16-33.  Let’s go!

2 Corinthians 11:16-33 (NIV)
16  I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting.
17  In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.
18  Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.
19  You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!
20  In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face.
21  To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! What anyone else dares to boast about–I am speaking as a fool–I also dare to boast about. ……

On verses 16-33:  In 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, Paul imitates the “super apostles”, boasting of his sufferings – how he has sacrificed himself and risked his life so many times in so many ways for the sake of his churches and for the sake of the gospel.  Paul boasts this way even though he clearly does not want to and feels totally out of his comfort zone doing so (see verses 17 and 23).  But he does it in a desperate attempt to show his church that he truly does love God and loves them.  It’s not easy to be a shepherd.  It reminds me of what Jesus says in John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”