{"id":5285,"date":"2019-09-24T20:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T03:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=5285"},"modified":"2019-09-21T23:35:27","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T06:35:27","slug":"2chronicles_30_1-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2chronicles_30_1-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Beyond Borders"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Chronicles 30:1-27 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 30:1-27.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 30:5 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-9:\u00a0\u00a0Hezekiah is getting ready to lead his people in celebrating the Passover Feast (also known as the Feast of the Unleavened Bread) for the first time in many years.\u00a0\u00a0In doing so, Hezekiah reaches out not just to his own people of Judah but to all of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0Notwithstanding the previous tensions between the people of Judah and the Israelites living to the north of them, Hezekiah invites all the Israelites to assemble together to celebrate the Passover and to worship the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God\u2019s love has this way of causing us to love beyond our borders, to extend an olive branch to those with whom we may have had past hostility.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s how God loved us.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Despite our history of rebellion against God and hostility toward Him, God sent His Son Jesus Christ past the borders of heaven into our world.\u00a0\u00a0He invites us, His long-time enemies, to live at peace with Him and worship Him again.\u00a0\u00a0Who is someone God wants you to forgive and to extend peace toward?<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 30:10-11 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but the people scorned and ridiculed them.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-11:\u00a0\u00a0King Hezekiah sends messengers to various places, inviting them to celebrate the Passover Feast in Jerusalem.\u00a0\u00a0But some people scorned and ridiculed them. What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you\u2019re doing your best to run the race God has called you to run, there will be those who will laugh, ridicule and criticize you.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t focus on them.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t get tripped up by them.\u00a0\u00a0You just keep running your race, and God will be faithful to provide and give you everything you need.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Even while the critics talk, God continues to work.<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 30:18-19 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the\u00a0LORD, who is good, pardon everyone
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0who sets his heart on seeking God–the\u00a0LORD, the God of his fathers–even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-21:\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps because the people had not celebrated the Passover in a long time, or perhaps for some other reason, there were a number of people present at the Passover celebration who, despite wanting to celebrate the Passover, did not meet the ceremonial requirements to allow them to celebrate the Passover with the rest of the assembly.\u00a0\u00a0Hezekiah prays on behalf of those people, asking God to have mercy on them, and verse 20 says, \u201cAnd the\u00a0LORD\u00a0heard Hezekiah and healed the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When we were not just ceremonially unclean, but completely disqualified to enter God\u2019s holy presence because of our sin, Jesus our King and Great High Priest stood in the gap and prayed on our behalf<\/strong>, asking God to \u201cforgive them, for they do not know what they do.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0As a result of Jesus\u2019 sacrifice on the cross and His intercession on our behalf, God had mercy on us and allows us to joyfully enter His presence and celebrate with His people.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all because of Jesus our King and Great High Priest.<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 30:22 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding of the service of the\u00a0LORD. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised theLORD, the God of their fathers.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-27:\u00a0\u00a0The Levites were in many ways the unsung heroes of this passage, for they were ready, willing and able to serve, while the priests were not fully ready at the start to serve (v24).\u00a0\u00a0Once again it shows that\u00a0God doesn\u2019t use the ones who are the most qualified, but the ones who are the most ready.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Regardless of your background, God can and will use you if you come with a willing, humble attitude to serve Him.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You that You are not just the chosen one but You are also the One who is always ready and willing to serve.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that it is only because You courageously crossed the border between heaven and earth and humbly gave Yourself\u00a0\u00a0as a sacrifice that I can even enter God\u2019s presence.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise, may I serve You with focus and courage, not easily distracted or tripped up by critics.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 30:1-27.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 30:5 (NIV)\u00a0
\n5\u00a0\u00a0They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 1-9:\u00a0\u00a0Hezekiah is getting ready to lead his people in celebrating the Passover Feast (also known as the Feast of the Unleavened Bread) for the first time in many years.\u00a0\u00a0In doing so, Hezekiah reaches out not just to his own people of Judah but to all of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0Notwithstanding the previous tensions between the people of Judah and the Israelites living to the north of them, Hezekiah invites all the Israelites to assemble together to celebrate the Passover and to worship the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5285","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\/5285","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=5285"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5288,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5285\/revisions\/5288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}