{"id":22249,"date":"2022-07-03T22:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T05:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/deuteronomy_15_1-11-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-06-28T16:49:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T23:49:49","slug":"deuteronomy_15_12-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/deuteronomy_15_12-23\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019re Blessed with the Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deuteronomy 15:12-23 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Deuteronomy 15:12-23.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 15:12-15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God has blessed you.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-15:\u00a0 Moses tells the Israelites to be gracious to a servant who leaves them after several years of service.\u00a0He tells the Israelites to “supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress.” (v14)\u00a0 Applied to us today,\u00a0when a person has served you well for a long time, instead of bitterly grieving their departure or indifferently letting them go, go out of your way to honour and bless that person.\u00a0 Celebrate the ways you are better off because of them and bless them liberally.\u00a0 Be gracious to them as God has been gracious to you. \u00a0<\/strong>When we send people off this way, we will be blessed as well (see v18).<\/p>\n

Also, just as Moses tells the Israelites to supply that departing servant liberally from their flock, threshing floor and winepress, I\u2019m reminded that\u00a0God supplied us liberally from His flock, His threshing floor and His winepress<\/strong>.\u00a0From His flock, God gave you His best and purest lamb, the only one without defect, flaw or blemish: Jesus the lamb of God.\u00a0\u00a0From His threshing floor, God gave you Jesus the bread of life, the only one who satisfies our deepest hunger.\u00a0\u00a0From His winepress, God allowed His Son to be pressed and crushed, His blood poured out for the forgiveness of your sins.\u00a0\u00a0Whereas verse 18 suggests that the servant did something to earn such goodness from his master, we did nothing to deserve the grace God showed to us.\u00a0 In His love and despite our sin, God gave His best to us anyways.<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 15:16-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you,
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God will bless you in everything you do.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-18:\u00a0 What if the servant who finished their contract loved his or her boss’ family and wanted to continue the working relationship for life?\u00a0 There was provision for that too. It included a special legal ceremony where the employer would publicly (at the door of their home)\u00a0pierce\u00a0the employee’s\u00a0ear\u00a0(v17, see also Exodus 21:1-11).\u00a0The\u00a0piercing<\/strong>\u00a0was a visual, public reminder to all in attendance that this employee loved his master.<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0piercing\u00a0showed that the servant would rather keep serving his boss and be close to his own family than to go free.<\/p>\n

When I think about this, I’m reminded of how\u00a0Jesus Christ came as a humble servant and was publicly pierced for us<\/strong>. Jesus Christ served His Heavenly Father faithfully for many years on earth. If he wanted to, Jesus could have chosen to go free and not die on the cross the way He did (Matthew 26:53; John 10:18). But Jesus loved His master (His Heavenly Father), His bride (the church) and all her children, and did not want to be apart from them.\u00a0\u00a0So Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be pierced, so that we could be with Him forever.<\/p>\n

Thus “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 15:19-23 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Set apart for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your oxen to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God at the place he will choose.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-23:\u00a0 The firstborn male of every herd and flock was set apart for a special purpose: rather than being put to work, that firstborn male would be sacrificed in God\u2019s presence (v19-20).\u00a0 That is, unless it was flawed in some way (v21).\u00a0 \u00a0In this way,\u00a0the firstborn was sacrificed so that those who came after the firstborn would be spared.\u00a0 Likewise, Jesus was a lamb without defect, the \u201cfirstborn over all creation\u201d (Colossians 1:15).\u00a0 Jesus was sacrificed so that we who come after him could be spared.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You for supplying me with the very best from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress when You sent Jesus Christ for me, even when I didn’t deserve it.\u00a0 Thank You Jesus for being the most faithful servant in Your Father\u2019s house, the firstborn male who was sacrificed so that we could be spared.\u00a0 Thank You for Your amazing grace on my life.\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 15:12-23.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 15:12-15 (NIV)
\n12\u00a0\u00a0If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free.
\n13\u00a0\u00a0And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.
\n14\u00a0\u00a0Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God has blessed you.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 12-15:\u00a0 Moses tells the Israelites to be gracious to a servant who leaves them after several years of service.\u00a0He tells the Israelites to “supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress.” (v14)\u00a0 Applied to us today,\u00a0when a person has served you well for a long time, instead of bitterly grieving their departure or indifferently letting them go, go out of your way to honour and bless that person.\u00a0 Celebrate the ways you are better off because of them and bless them liberally.\u00a0 Be gracious to them as God has been gracious to you. \u00a0When we send people off this way, we will be blessed as well (see v18).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22249","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\/22249","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=22249"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22252,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22249\/revisions\/22252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}