Week 31 - August 30 - Doug Mathers

Exodus 13

God tells the Israelites to set up a national holiday (holy-day) to celebrate God's saving action and love towards them. They are to eat certain foods and have specific conversations with specific traditions so that the nation will never forget that God provided and saved them. This is the same reason I love Christmas and Easter. They are there to remind us and to help us teach our children about God's love. We have a God worthy of celebrating. It also reminds me of how important it is to guard those days as 'holy' (verses Santa and the elves).

Exodus 14

The parting of the Red Sea. You've seen the movie, but have you read the book? Notice how God set up circumstances for this moment. The terror the people experienced as they saw the Egyptians coming for them with no way out. And how God put an exclamation point on his saving actions as if to say "don't think this is about how clever or strong you were, this is my decision to save you".

Does that sound familiar? Romans 3:23-27:

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

Psalm 32

This is a Psalm of David's experience with sin and forgiveness. Read through it 2X. The first note the price tag of David's unconfessed sin. Make a list of how it affected David's life. Then read it again... this time make a list of the benefits of confession. Then reflect: what role does confession have in your life?

Ecclesiastes 1

What does the Psalmist mean "nothing is new"? Do you ever feel that way? "Every thing is meaningless" declares the author (Solomon). Why is everything meaningless to him? Why are the questions he is asking so important? Why are they so rarely asked in this world?

Acts 11

This is a pivotal moment in Christianity and has direct implications to the way we live (our freedom from keeping the laws and Jewish traditions). Read it and give thanks to God for opening the door of salvation to Gentiles (I'm one)and for speaking to Peter through what was for him a very disturbing dream.