{"id":22179,"date":"2022-06-27T22:00:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T05:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/deuteronomy_12_1-14-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-06-21T13:13:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T20:13:34","slug":"deuteronomy_12_15-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/deuteronomy_12_15-32\/","title":{"rendered":"Food, Finances and Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deuteronomy 12:15-32 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Deuteronomy 12:15-32.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 12:15-16 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless, 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-16:\u00a0 Why were the Israelites prohibited from eating blood?\u00a0 For more on this see the section below called \u201cOn verses 20-27\u201d.<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 12:17-19 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You 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.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God at the place the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God in everything you put your hand to.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17-19: \u00a0Here Moses talks to the current generation of Israelites about tithing, that is, giving the first 10% of their income to God.\u00a0 A \u201ctithe\u201d literally means 10 percent.\u00a0 Notice that Moses tells the current generation of Israelites to bring their entire tithe \u201cto the place the LORD your God will choose\u201d (v18), that is, to the house of God where the people worship God and where the Levites serve.\u00a0 The Israelites were to use and bring their tithe there and not use or bring their tithe anywhere else.<\/p>\n

Similarly, since the New Testament affirms the importance of tithing, these verses teach us a good lesson about tithing.\u00a0 Some people say, \u201cI\u2019m going to choose where I give my tithe.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019ll give some to this charity, and some to that organization, and some more I\u2019ll give to the poor myself.\u201d\u00a0 But the lesson we learn here is that\u00a0we don\u2019t get to choose where we give our tithe.\u00a0 We are to give to the house (church) where we worship God.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Why?\u00a0 One reason is to take care of the \u201cLevites\u201d in your church, that is, those who have dedicated their full time careers and working lives to make church possible for the rest of us.\u00a0 The \u201cLevites\u201d in our lives need to be well taken care of.\u00a0 As verse 19 says, \u201cBe careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in the land.\u201d \u00a0Your tithe is not simply a spiritual exercise.\u00a0 Your tithe serves a very practical purpose\u00a0<\/strong>of keeping God\u2019s house operating and caring for the real needs of those who spend their working lives serving God\u2019s house, the church.\u00a0 That\u2019s why tithing to the church where you worship is important.<\/p>\n

Also, notice that verse 19 tells the Israelites to \u201crejoice before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God in everything you put your hand to\u201d as they worship God.\u00a0 This suggests that worshiping God was always meant to be a joyful, happy thing, a celebration of who God is and His goodness in our lives.<\/p>\n

So every time you come to worship God, don’t be afraid to shout, to clap, to dance and to rejoice in God’s presence.\u00a0 Because of Jesus, we have every reason to worship with joy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 12:20-27 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, “I would like some meat,” then you may eat as much of it as you want.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If the place where the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will choose.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, but you may eat the meat.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 20-27:\u00a0 Why were the Israelites prohibited from eating blood?\u00a0 It was to help them appreciate the sanctity of life.\u00a0 As verse 23 says, \u201cbecause the blood is the life\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 So does that mean as followers of Jesus, you and I can\u2019t eat anything with blood still in it?\u00a0 What about a medium rare steak?\u00a0 What about Filipino dinuguan (pork blood stew)?\u00a0 The fact is:\u00a0the dietary regulations we find in the first five books of the Bible (including Deuteronomy) have been replaced by a new paradigm in the New Testament, where Jesus declares all foods clean (Mark 7:19) and Christians are not bound by the dietary regulations of the Old Testament (Acts 10:9-15).\u00a0\u00a0Since Jesus the Lamb of God tells us to drink His blood (he means figuratively) in John 6:54-56 and it is our consumption of His blood that gives us life, it makes sense that consuming the blood of something far inferior to Jesus is no longer forbidden as well.<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 12:28-32 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land,
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.”
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You must not worship the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 28-32:\u00a0 Child sacrifice was a part of the religious rituals practiced by the nations who occupied the promised land prior to the Israelites (v31).\u00a0 Moses warns the Israelites not to try to adopt such practices and incorporate them into their worship of the Lord (v30).<\/p>\n

Applied to us, do these verses prohibit Christians today from learning about other religions?\u00a0 No.\u00a0\u00a0It is useful to have some understanding of the faiths that the people around us practice so that we can know how to dialogue with them and lead them to Christ.\u00a0 However, we must do so carefully, with a discerning heart, praying for God\u2019s protection and always hanging onto Jesus.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Also:<\/strong>\u00a0If you are especially vulnerable to evil spirits or you do not yet have a strong foundation in your faith as a Christian, I would not recommend trying to learn about other faiths at this time and would suggest that you wait until you have a stronger handle on the Christian faith before learning about other religions.<\/p>\n

Thank You Lord for the joy, freedom and protection we have in Your presence.\u00a0 Thank You also for reminding us to take good care of those who have dedicated their working lives to serving our church.\u00a0 May we always take great care of them.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Deuteronomy 12:15-32.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 12:15-16 (NIV)
\n15\u00a0\u00a0Nevertheless, 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 15-16:\u00a0 Why were the Israelites prohibited from eating blood?\u00a0 For more on this see the section below called \u201cOn verses 20-27\u201d.
\n\u00a0
\nDeuteronomy 12:17-19 (NIV)
\n17\u00a0\u00a0You 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.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God at the place the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God in everything you put your hand to.
\n19\u00a0\u00a0Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22182,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22179\/revisions\/22182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}