King James Bible
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God bless u and yours in Jesus name, love u in Christ.
John 5:24-28
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Welcome and pleace stay to get closer to God and Jesus Christ, Amen
Stay strong in the word and God bless u and yours in Jesus name, love u in Christ. John 5:24-29
God bless u in Jesus name, love u in Christ.
I believe that we should obey the commands of Jesus Christ given to us from His mouth in His earthly life before He died and resurrected along with those commands He gave us after His resurrection. He commanded us to be baptized. So, to me, it is a small thing to chose to obey Him in this. It is how we show that we love Him.
The rest of the chapter speaks about how to build an altar, offer sacrifices, and warns against making anything manmade for worship, whether it is an idol or a graven altar. Both are not allowed ever. The last command is to not have steps to ascend to an altar because this may expose the priest's nakedness. So, altars are to be ground level, priests are to dress modestly so that they are not exposed in approaching God for their duties. I like this idea of having our worship, worship aids, and attire be "down to earth" level. I think that we are to be humble and not fancy, not showy, not immodest, not ornamented, when we worship, whether we lead worship or lift our worship up in the congregation. Our worship should be lifted up, not ourselves, our altar (our heart), our skills to create fancy things.
The last commandment is concerning covetness. This is a "thought" sin. It is desiring in our hearts to have what rightfully belongs to another. We are not to scheme ways to acquire such things or person by deceit or wrong dealings. We are to not be envious of others or jealous of what they have, thinking that they should surely be made to share their wealth with others. (It is up to the wealthy to decide what to do with their wealth, not us or the government.) It is to think snarkily about others who are prospering. It is to encroach on a property line inch by inch. There are so many ways to covet. It begins in our minds and then moves to scheming to find ways to obtain what they have and then acting on these schemes. We get to keep what we have earned and worked for and others get to do the same with their own property, wealth, family, and "stuff" (even job position, if you work with someone-even a promotion or honor given to another).
These are the 10 commandments. These are not the whole of the Law God gives to the Israelites, but it is the basic tenets that keep a society civil and moral. If God had said, "Love God and love your neighbor" without spelling it out as He did, people would redefine this in so many nefarious ways, allowing for multitudes of sinful ways to be seen as o.k.
Jesus later takes theses commandments down to even a finer detail in the Sermon on the Mount.
Well, the people saw all of the thunderings of the trumpets and lightning flashes and the mountain smoking. They trembled and drew farther back away from the base of the mountain, telling Moses to have God speak to him, not to them, fearing they will die if God speaks directly to them. Moses tells them not to fear, for God has come to them to keep them from sinning. Moses then returns and draws near to the thickening darkness where God was. Are we willing to go into such a state as Moses did to be where God is and is ready to meet with us personally?
As a spouse, we are to love our spouse even when we don't "feel" like it. In such times we should pray for God to create a deeper love for our spouse than we currently possess. We should be willing to go the distance with our spouse, never giving a foothold for the devil to tempt us away from our commitment to him/her. We should guard what we see, hear, do as well as who we spend time with. We should not keep company alone with someone who is not our spouse (of the opposite sex). This is a doorway to temptation to adultery, whether physical or emotional.
The next one: You shall not steal (they neighbors wife/husband-for one). We are to be honest in our business dealings with others. Respect the business owner by paying fairly for goods and services. Don't excuse cheating someone out of what they are owed because "they are rich and can afford to have me steal this." Do not steal other people's time by not paying them for work done that you hired them to do. Also, don't steal away someone's opportunity to learn, such as disrupting class in school regularly. We are to value the time, effort, and skill of others and be willing to pay a fair compensation for these. We are to make proper use of office or work supplies, not taking some home for private us or mismanaging equipment for private use.
We are to do the work we are hired for with diligence, not be a loafer. We are to honor the hiring contract of our boss and work the specified hours without taking short cuts or doing sloppy work. This is stealing company time.
We are to keep from lying to or giving false information about someone else. We are to tell the truth. We should not withhold truthful information and so implicate another by ommission of information that can clear them. We are not to over-embelish the truth, exaggerate, or skew the information to make us look good. This commandments is mostly about testifying for or against another in court. But it applies to all areas of life.
The seventh day is to be reserved for rest from work. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. God did not need to rest. He has no need for the Sabbath, but man needs such rest and time to focus on rejuvenating his strength and refocusing his life onto God. God refers back to the order of creation from Genesis and the establishment of the seventh day rest for the first time in history.
Honor thy father and mother. This command comes with a promise of long life in the land God brings them to. We are to obey our parents as children as unto the LORD. (as if we are obeying God). But honoring them is an additional matter. We honor them by speaking well of them to others, by being grateful to them, by taking care of them as they age, and remembering them with respect after their passing.
Then we come to the prohibition against murder. This is not referring to self-defense nor to war. But it is about the preserving of life as much as we are able to do. It means we do not do anything to do harm to another's body/health/ or life. WE do not do anything to hasten the death of another. We do not actively do anything that will end a life. We recognize that each person is made in the image of God and therefore worth preserving and upholding. This commandment is all about loving others. It is about respecting others and refusing to dehumanize anyone no matter if they are in the womb, very impaired, or very aged. It means that we recognize that all life comes from God and He alone is the one to determine when a life begins and when a life will end.
Next, we come to adultery. This command covers all sexual sins. It limits sexual expression to marriage between one man and one woman. Anything done sexually outside of marriage is sinful and harmful to those engaging in it. it defiles the marriage bed, whether this exists to the person at present or is in the future. As a married person, we are to honor our spouse all of our life.
God goes on to warn that He is a jealous God. This is saying He claims the Israelites as His own people; they need to claim Him as their only God. He has every right to claim them and to set them apart for His glory. He warns them that the iniquities of those before him will be visited upon their future generations if they come to hate Him by worshipping other gods. This is interesting. The Bible is clear that each person is guilty of their own sins, not those of others. So what does He mean by this? I think it means that breaking these first commands concerning worshipping Him alone without images will be hard to break from the practice of their families coming after them. It will have a devastating effect on their future generations. It is difficult to undo such sin in ones family line. Tradition is hard to break.
But to those who stay true to Him, He will bless them with mercy upon mercy, time and time again. Those who love Him and keep His commandments will be favored by God. Jesus is the only one who kept these commandments perfectly. He was the Beloved Son in Whom the Father is well pleased.
The next command is to not take the LORD's name in vain. Not only does this address using the LORD's name in a cursing way, but also in a flippant way, or as an expression of surprise or shock, as is common in our society today. We should always use our God's name reverently and with sincerity. If we call on Jesus to help us, we do so in faith. If we exclaim in wonder using the LORD's name, we should be sure that we are honestly praising Him. I think that being a guard over our speech is very important. It is a witness to others concerning our value of our God and our commitment to Him and His ways. Jesus never said an idle word, a wrongly applied word, an unnecessary word. May we also, keep a close watch over our conversations.
The next command concerns the keeping of the Sabbath. It is to be taken after six days of work.
This is the chapter where God gives the Israelites the 10 commandments for the first time. First of all, Verse one says that God SPOKE all of these words of the commandments. These commands did not come from the mind of men, but rom the wisdom and perfect will of God. He didn't impress onto Moses' mind to inspire Moses to write these commands. God TOLD Moses audibly. It think this is significant. God wanted to make it plain that it was Him and Him alone who determined these commandments. And since He is the originator of these commands and the true God, He alone has the right to demand obedience to them.
He clearly states that He is THE LORD (the Supreme One) who brought the Israelites out of Egypt. It was he Who performed the great miracles and deliverance for the people, not Moses. Moses was His instrument that He worked through. We should always remember that it is God Who is at work in us to do His will and works. God brought them out of bondage. They are now free, but this freedom must be used to obey God and serve Him alone. Verse 3 commands that the Israelites are to refuse to accept any other gods but Himself. They were familiar with the many gods of Egypt and will encounter the polytheism of the Canaanites soon enough. In our society today we are being pressed to "accept" the religious beliefs and practices of non-Christians as being "on par' with Christianity. We are to not compromise on this! Not tolerate, nor accept anything pagan.
Verse 4 absolutely prohibits the manufacture of any graven image to be used as an idol in worship, even if it is an "image" for Himself. They are not to carve or mold anything in the likeness of any created thing, either of heaven or of earth. So, this leaves out images of angels, animals, ancestors, idealized humans, hybrid creatures, or any image of the imagination. We are to not give any form of worship to such things, whether bowing down, setting up in a niche. NO, NO, NO! NEVER
If you would 1st please consider the way it makes you feel. As you stated "horrified" that's not of GOD. Galatians 5:22-25,
2nd please consider all around you. Is there peace, is there light, anything to be thankful for? Is searching out news also symbolic of wanting to "know" what's happening in the news" Genesis 2:17, Romans 16:19,
3rd consider why there's only bad, horrible, divisive news? Hebrews 6:8, Proverbs 22:5, Why do they report the one horrible thing or person & not the million good? Is it meant to trigger rage? Hebrews 12:1, Luke 6:43-45,
1John 2:16, Titus 1:15, 2Samuel 22:27, Psalms 18:26, 1John 3:3, 2Peter 3, James 3:17, James 1:27, Philippians 4:8, Romans 8,
1Corinthians 4:5,
The Word also says: Numbers 11:12, Jude 1,
Hopefully these are helpful & encouraging