The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

If you see your brother's ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. If the brother does not live near you or if you do not know who he is, take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. Do the same if you find your brother's donkey or his cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it.

If you see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help him get it to its feet.

A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

If you come across a bird's nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.

When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.

Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.

Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.

Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23, 22:1-12

From the last two verses in Deuteronomy, Chapter 21, through the first twelve verses of Chapter 22, we read of a collection of other laws the Israelites were to follow. Although not grouped this way, they can be broken down into a few distinct categories:

1. Desecration.

"If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance."

Hanging was one of the most humiliating forms of death because it amounted to public execution. A person who "guilty of a capital offense" fell under God's judgment or under "God's curse". The requirement was clear. Once the person was hung, they weren't to remain there but were to be buried the same day. To allow the person to continue to hang would desecrate the land by allowing the memory of the crime the man committed to linger. Justice had been done and no lingering reminder was needed.

2. Distinction.

"A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this."

"Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled."

"Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together."

"Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together."

God created everything to be unique and special in its own right. He expected Israel to respect this uniqueness. Thus, there was no need for a woman or man to wear the other's clothing. God wanted them to be who he created them to be. Plants were to be planted and harvested separate from one another. Animals were not to be mixed on the plow…and additionally, an ox and donkey aren't exactly a good match anyways because of the difference in pulling power. Finally, different types of thread were not to be woven together in a garment.

3. Preservation

"If you come across a bird's nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life."

Israel was to respect and preserve creation's ability to reproduce. If the mother was taken, no other young would be produced. Note that this command was the only one that added "so that it may go well with you and you may have long life".

4. Safety.

"When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof."

We have already seen God's word as it applied to the shedding of innocent blood. Accidental death was to be avoided and safety measures were to be taken…like making a parapet (railing) around the roof to catch someone who might fall.

5. Remembrance.

"Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear."

We have seen prior guidance on this in the Book of Numbers:

"The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.' " Numbers 15:37-41

The tassels on the cloak were to remind the wearer that they were to "remember all the commands of the Lord" and "obey them" so not to "prostitute (themselves) by going after the lusts of (their) own hearts and eyes". Note that this was to be passed onto the generations and indeed today we still see tassels on clothing but I'm afraid we have lost their intended meaning.

6. Helping others.

"If you see your brother's ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. If the brother does not live near you or if you do not know who he is, take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. Do the same if you find your brother's donkey or his cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it."

"If you see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help him get it to its feet."

God's word makes it pretty clear that when we see someone in need, we should get involved and assist. If one saw their brother's ox or sheep straying, they weren't supposed to just ignore it and pretend that they didn't see anything. No…they were required to take it back to its rightful owner. And if they didn't know who that owner was, then they were supposed to take the animal into custody and keep it until the rightful owner came looking for it. Note that the same applied for anything that was lost. Items of value to someone else were to be looked after by the finder.

A second example is given regarding a fallen animal. Often times, these animals were heavy and too much for one person to lift. If a person saw someone trying to get their animal on its feet again, they were to help them…not just ignore the matter. Scripture makes it clear. People are to look after one another and their items of value.

Question: How well do we as a society look after one another today? How well do we look after each other's things of value? If you see something lost, do you just go on about your business as if it's not your problem? If you see another person in need of assistance, do you stop to help or just carry on with what you need to do?

I have a concern about our society…the society that God created and watches over. My concern is that we have become too self-centered. It seems more and more that everyone is just out for themselves and either too busy or too unwilling to assist someone in need.

This certainly isn't what God expects from us. We see this from today's scripture. No…God expects us to help others because He helps us. We only know how to help because we were first helped by the Father…a Father who "is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble". (Psalm 46:1)

Today, let us recommit ourselves to help others like God helps us. Let us be an ever present help in times of trouble. The world will be a better place if we do. Amen.

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid. Deuteronomy 21:15-21

Today's excerpt from Deuteronomy, Chapter 21, contains two distinct passages on how the Israelites were to deal with sons.

In the first passage, we see where the rights of the very firstborn son were upheld, even if the father engaged in polygamy. The scenario given involves "a man (who) has two wives and…loves one but not the other…both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love". With these circumstances in place, there would be a danger that "when (the father) wills his property to his sons", he might give "the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love". This would be in direct violation of the Israeli customs regarding firstborn sons and be unjust. The actual firstborn son would be penalized just because his father loved his mother less than his other wife.

So clear direction was given to assure that the firstborn son was taken care of. The father was to "acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has". For scripture affirms that the firstborn son was "the first sign of his father's strength"...the first product of his procreative power…and thus "the right of the firstborn belong(ed) to him". And once again we see justice is a priority in God's word.

Speaking of justice, we also see it evident in the second portion of our scripture. Only this time it isn't so good for the son. Why? Because the son in this scenario is "stubborn and rebellious"…one "who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him"...a profligate (one who fully lacks moral restraint) and a drunkard". This was in direct violation of God's commandment to ""Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)

We see where the consequences for an obstinate disobedient child were severe. When the parents had done all they could do to get the son under control, the next step was to take the son "to the elders at the gate of his town". There, after the parents had told the elders about the son's unwillingness to comply with their guidance and the moral expectations of society, "all the men of his town (would) stone (the stubborn son) to death". The stubborn child would not get to live long in the land the lord gave Israel just as God's commandment promised. That was the message sent to all children when any child who chose to violate that guidance was stoned.

Of course, this cultural norm would not work well today. But this doesn't mean that God's expectation that children honor their father and mother has changed any. No…it is just as valid and yet how often is it violated today? I would wager to say it is violated far more than it ever was during the days of early Israel…and that is truly sad. I often wonder how God feels about that. I can't imagine he's too pleased with us.

So why do so many children have such an issue with respecting their parents? Well, often it's because parents mistreat them in some way and thus lose their respect. And yet, does God's word give us an out clause when it comes to honoring our parents. Try to find one…it doesn't exist. Why? Because we're not to be the ones who judge whether our parents deserve honor or not. That's God's job. And trust me when I say He will hold parents accountable for any wrongs they commit against His children…because that's who they are...His children entrusted to worldly parents for proper care. Worldly parents have an awesome responsibility and assume an equally awesome accountability. God will not accept failure in this area.

One final thought on honoring parents. We all have one Father when it comes down to it. We are His children and He expects us to honor Him always with everything we do. So how well do we do in this? Are we not disrespectful and dishonorable way too much of the time? If we lived in the days of Ancient Israel, how many of us should be dragged outside the gates of our towns and stoned for the way we have behaved before our Almighty Father? And yet, here we are. Not despised but loved…not condemned but forgiven. All because we have a Father who shows us grace and mercy despite our rebellious, sinful spirits. Could we not extend that same grace and mercy to our own parents…following God's example? If we did, we would live in a better world today…a world where we leave the judging to God while we ever seek to honor Him by living as His Son, Jesus, lived. Amen.

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

Deuteronomy 21:10-14

As Israel entered Canaan and took possession of the land the Lord promised, other nations outside of Canaan would try and war against Israel to take their land away. We have read earlier that any attempt to attack Israel in Canaan, at least now, would be fruitless. The Lord had promised to deliver into Israel's hand any enemy who tried to war with them and had ordered that nations within Canaan were to be laid to waste and destroyed. There were to be no remnants of the people who worshipped false gods and idols.

Today's passage addresses conflicts with nations outside of Canaan, specifically dealing with the matter of any Israelite who might notice a "beautiful woman…and (find themselves) attracted to her". In these circumstances, they were allowed to take her as their wife but under certain conditions. She was to "shave her head, trim her nails and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured", all acts that we customary to any woman who was entering the Israelite way of life. These acts were symbolic to leaving their prior life behind and entering into the holy family of Israel.

The man was also supposed to wait to see if the relationship was going to work out. Leaving their families for a completely new lifestyle and people had to be extremely difficult. Not all women would be able to adjust and make the change. So scripture tells us that the man was not to marry the woman until "after she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month". This would allow time to see if things were going to work or not. If not, note that there were protections built in for the woman. The man was not to abuse her or "sell her…as a slave". Instead, he was to "let her go wherever she wishes".

As I read through this passage, I had to read it under the cultural contexts of the day it was written. Today, we wouldn't think about requiring a woman to shave her head, trim her nails or cast off her old clothes as she enters into any relationship, regardless of what she represented before. That would seem odd in our time…but it wasn't in the times of early Old Testament Israel. That was the way their culture operated.

But we can't lose sight of the symbolic nature of the head shaving, nail trimming, clothes abandoning rites of that day. For the matter of leaving one's prior life behind for another is more than applicable in our time for as we enter into a personal relationship with Christ Jesus, we are to be changed and transformed…leaving the world's ways behind and adopting His ways instead. We are to live no longer for ourselves or anything else except Him…sacrificing all we were just as he sacrificed all He was for us. Consider these verses:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

When one comes to Jesus, truly they are becoming a new creation, adopting His ways over all others. We throw away our deceitful ways for a new attitude. We ever seek to walk toward perfection in righteousness and holiness, never reaching it but ever striving to get as close as we can by getting as close as we can to the Author of perfect righteousness, Jesus Christ. And we do this until that day when He calls us to Him where we won't have to communicate with Him through the Holy Spirit but we will see Him face to face. What an awesome day that will be! Until then, let us ever seek to be like Him in every respect and carry out His last guidance to us…to make disciples, baptize, and teach all He commanded. There's much work to be done. Amen.

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke and lead her down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer's neck. The priests, the sons of Levi, shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man." And the bloodshed will be atoned for. So you will purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 21:1-9

As Deuteronomy, Chapter 21 opens, we see where the subject is the shedding of innocent blood. Specifically, it uses the following scenario:

"If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,,,"

In this instance, there was a series of steps that involved the elders, judges, and priests carrying out certain functions…from measuring the distance from the discovered body to the neighboring towns to taking a heifer that had never been worked and or worn a yoke to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley, the heifer was to be slain and the elders from the town nearest the body (the reason why the earlier measurements happened) were to "wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley" and declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man." By doing this, Israel was to "purge from (themselves) the guilt of shedding innocent blood".

Too bad that this would not be the case years later for Israel as a man who came as their Messiah was instead brutally crucified on a cross outside of Jerusalem on a hill called Golgotha (fittingly translated as the place of the skull). There were no measurements taken, no heifer selected and slain, no hands washed with the exception of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea…who examined Jesus and found Him not guilty of any crime, yet Israel still demanded Jesus crucified. Given this, scripture tells us that Pilate "took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd" saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood,...It is your responsibility!" The people of Israel present proclaimed, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" And so it was…and remains today.

For we can't wash our hands of Jesus anymore than the people of Israel. None of us are innocent because none of us are free from sin. And it was your sin and my sin and all sin of all mankind that were nailed into the innocent, unblemished, sacrificial Lamb of God. And as His blood streamed down the cross from His thorn-pierced head and nail pierced hands and feet, we were washed clean of the very sins that He died for. What a blessed washing this was…but at such a great cost.

Friends, as we live every second of every minute of every hour of every day, let us not forget the cross where the innocent Son of God was slain…not accidentally but intentionally…and He allowed His death to happen willingly so that we might be saved and cleansed from our sins. Truly, the words of one of my favorite hymns bears true:

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Now by this I'll overcome—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this I'll reach my home—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Glory! Glory! This I sing—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
All my praise for this I bring—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

The officers shall say to the army: "Has anyone built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may dedicate it. Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her." Then the officers shall add, "Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his brothers will not become disheartened too." When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.

When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege them? However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

Deuteronomy 20

This is the rule concerning the man who kills another and flees there to save his life—one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, and gives you the whole land he promised them, because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in his ways—then you are to set aside three more cities. Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

But if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, the elders of his town shall send for him, bring him back from the city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.

Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. Deuteronomy 19:1-14

The Lord said to me: "What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death."

You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him." Deuteronomy 18:14-22

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 18:9-13

Think about your weekly routine. You wake up, get ready and on most days go to work or school or a combination of both. In between, you may be in transit between those places, driving a car or motorcycle, or taking some form of public transportation (bus, subway, plane, etc). You don't work all the time so you have leisure time and can do any of a myriad of things (i.e. go to the movies, go shopping at the mall, go dancing in the evenings, etc). On Saturday or Sunday (or maybe even other days of the week), you attend church and participate in worship or bible study. I'll stop here because this paragraph could be the largest in modern literature if I tried to capture everything that someone might do in a week. The point I want to make is that the Lord takes you a lot of places in a week's time and in going to those places, you experience a lot of people…and not all of them hold Christian values like you do (or hopefully you do).

This concerns the Lord who knows that there is always a danger of us being effected by those who carry different values than those of His Son, Jesus. For if you aren't walking with Jesus, you aren't truly living life…you aren't walking the right way…and you aren't doing anything in truth. For to do those things and do them fully, we need to immerse ourselves in…we need to follow always…the One and ONLY One who is THE Way and THE Truth and THE Life…JESUS CHRIST (John 14:6).

Did I mention that God is concerned with who we partner with? Don't just take my word for it because I won't say anything that I can't support with the scriptures. Look at today's passage as God says through Moses:

"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God."

There was no doubt. Israel was not to partner with the nations in Canaan. Why? Because they would be influenced by them…they would end up imitating their detestable ways like sacrificing their children to the gods, practicing sorcery or witchcraft or divination or acting as an interpreter of omens, a medium or spiritist. In other words, living for anything else in life except for God and His will for their lives. The people of Canaan lived for the world and thus adopted inappropriate spiritual lifestyles. Friends, the same thing can happen to us if we're not careful. Maybe you can relate. I know I can.

When I joined the Navy in 1983, I had been a regular and faithful church attendee. I was a member of my hometown Presbyterian church where I knew everyone and was in a nice spiritual comfort zone. Most of all, I was grounded in and partnered with Jesus, well on my way to becoming the kind of man He wanted me to be. But then I left home.

In the next year and a half, I would go from San Diego, California, to Great Lakes, Illinois, to Augusta, Georgia, and finally to my first duty station, Stockton, California. During that journey, my life and lifestyle changed drastically. I was no longer a small town boy from Western Pennsylvania but a United States Sailor. There was an associated identity shift because I was now partnered with the Navy and a whole different set of social norms and values…some good, some not so good. And through all of this, I had lost the one norm and value I needed the most…my spiritual life in Christ Jesus.

I lost it because I chose to partner more with the people I was serving with more than the One I was supposed to serve. I was serving country and then God when it should have been the other way around. I started to adopt a new language…one that was laced with detestable words which included taking the very Lord's name I used to follow so faithfully in vain. My words reflected my heart…a heart that was now void of the Holy Spirit…and my actions followed. I was the ruler of my own domain. I saw any success as a result of my own hard work…as something I had earned on my own. The way I treated others changed too. I was angrier and testier than before. Christ's love which used to drive me was now a distant afterthought. When I was confronted with rage, I responded in kind. There was no partnership with the Prince of Peace and so peace was not an option. Everything was a competition and I was fighting a losing battle. You always will when you try to one-up another in sinfulness.

The worst thing that happened as a result of my choice to change my partner in life was that I lost the first partner He provided for me. You see, as I partnered with everything and everybody that would pull me away from Jesus. I stopped being the spiritual leader in my family and my marriage died on the vine. I was responsible for pulling our family branch from the Living Vine of Jesus…and as the scriptures assert…cut off from Him we could be nothing and that's exactly what happened. My worldly partnership didn't have a happy ending…instead, I was left in the wake of loss and despair and darkness. This is what happens when you decide to leave the light…this is exactly what God didn't want Israel to do…why He expected them to be blameless before Him.

Why am I bearing my very soul before you? Because I want to try and help you avoid the mistake I made in the past. If you are partnering with all the wrong people and things in this world, stop now. Make Jesus your only partner…saturate yourself with Him…make Him your way and your truth and your life. He should be your one and only treasure…so that He might be the only thing that lives and abides in your heart (Matthew 6:21).

If you do this, everything you do will be an outflowing from Him. You will treat others as He did. You will teach others as he did. You will live like He did. And most importantly, you will love like He did. If I am the person Christ is using to speak to you to today, then please listen to Him. If He speaks to you through another person and gives you this message, please listen to Him. For you see, I have one final testimony in this message. Jesus spoke to me through a woman name Grace who I have now spent over 16 years with. I listened, I changed my partnership back to Jesus, and He took me back in with love just as He does any prodigal that returns (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus then took control of my heart and my life…I was lost but Jesus found me and I'm never going to leave Him again.

Sometimes we don't know what we truly have until we lose it. Thanks be to God that I rediscovered His Son. What about you? Are you partnered with Him? Amen.

2. God expected the people to care for His chosen spiritual leaders. The people were given the following guidance from God:

"This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the jowls and the inner parts. You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord's name always."

God's chosen people were to ensure that His chosen leaders were taken care of. And notice that they weren't supposed to just give the Levites their leftovers. No…the scriptures say they were to give their firstfruits…their very best. God gave and still gives His best to His people. He expects that we return our best to Him. So how well do we do that? How well do we give back to God what was first His? Do we give Him our firstfruits or do we reserve those for ourselves? Do we really give our best to the church so that God's chosen spiritual leaders are provided for properly? Only you can answer those questions in your own life.

One final point…

3. God called His leaders to go and minister wherever He chose. Back to the scriptures…

The Word says, "If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, he may minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord."

The Lord did and still does call on His spiritual leaders to move and continue their ministry work at the places He chooses. Speak with any pastor who has been doing it for awhile and they will tell you about all the places they have been and share testimonies about their ministry experiences at each place. You'll see that there are very few who have stayed in the same place for their entire time of chosen spiritual leadership. We should always carry a great appreciation for this level of dedication to service. Our pastors are much like our military in the way they will serve in a variety of places throughout their career. Only they are waging spiritual warfare through their tenure.

So I pray you will take an extra moment to tell your pastor…God's chosen spiritual leader for you and your family…how much you appreciate them and what they do in leading in the name of the Lord each and every day. Maybe a nice thank you card would be in order…with a gift card to a restaurant or Christian book store if you can swing it. Anything to let your pastor know they are appreciated. It was a priority for God. Let it be one for us as well. Amen.