Moses and our supposes - run from the Desert and enter the Promised Land!!

Hubs and I were discussing last night about why Moses didn't get to enter the Promise Land.

We shared our views.

I told Ian I felt that Moses not entering the Promised land is a metaphor that Legalism has no place in God's Promised land.

Ian felt that Moses did not go to the Promised land NOT because he hit the rock twice. He felt it was because Moses did not give the glory to God and he focused on his doing and not God's doing when he chided the people before he smote the rock.

We also agreed that it is clear that Moses did die. When he comes to be one of the 2 witnesses before the second coming of Jesus, during the period of tribulation, I am sure it is because he had been resurrected by Christ to do so.

I really enjoyed the discussion with Hubby and I always appreciate how we can share with each other about the bible and reflections on the readings.

Our marriage is uncommon because it is set apart and made holy and wonderful in Jesus. Amen!

Ian and I also reflected on how much we've changed since 4 years ago & he put it best at one point - our lives are testimonies to ourselves and to our friends that grace is so amazing and wonderful... the changes it brings to people's lives are always so positive and so good.

Which brings to mind what our Senior Pastor, Pastor Prince, said yesterday during the sermon. Just paraphrasing from my notes to share -

Church, honestly when you hear the perfection of God's work on the Cross, does it make you want to sin? Yet people claim that the gospel of grace makes people want to sin. There are all these lies that grace brings about licentious living - they are lies from the pits of Hell. We are transformed because we behold the glory of the LORD, by the Spirit of the LORD and not by our own striving and upholding! The Law IS HOLY but it CANNOT make you holy. The Law IS RIGHTEOUS but it cannot make you righteous. ONLY Jesus can. We can come boldly to the throne of God because He will no longer make mention of our sins again BECAUSE OF JESUS!! Grace is the person of Christ Jesus.

There are no coincidences in Christ...

I was doing quiet time last night after we got home from service and after Kae returned to Rio Vista and I came across this. - I was just wondering what bible phrase could support what Pastor Prince said. I opened the bible to see this:

"In Him (Christ) and through FAITH IN HIM (ie faith in His faithfulness and perfect work), we may approach God with FREEDOM and CONFIDENCE." - Ephesians 3:12

What is sad is that so many people are still bound by legalistic teachings and teachings that are a mix of law and grace.


2 Cor 3:12-18 puts this situation of mixing law and grace best in Holy Spirit-inspired words...

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.

Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

I do not understand why Christians still cling on to living their lives based on the Mosaic law because the bible keeps telling us that we are New Creations in Christ. We are no more under the law but under His grace.

By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. - Hebrews 8:13

( In Hebrew, the term "Palaioo" was used in the original text. It means declare obsolete, to make passively decayed, worn out. )

Obsolete means, according to the dictionary, that it has been discarded or outmoded by something newer or better (both in this case).

The Mosaic law, though Holy and righteous, has been discarded. It was discarded the day Christ's death tore the veil in the temple.

I therefore cannot understand why defenders of the Law amongst our brethren and the leaders of some churches continue to put up veil after veil between their "flock" and Christ. Why do they make it harder for these believers to come to our LORD who has said before that His yoke is easy and it is light.

Again I remind my friends something Jesus once said to the people -

If people tell you that "Christ is in the desert," don't go there. - Matt 24:26

The desert symbolizes a place devoid of SozoLife (trinity of salvation for body, soul and spirit); it is empty of the Holy Spirit (represented in the Word by Water, Fire or Air). It also commonly refers to the desert of Sinai, just around Mount Sinai - and inevitably this represents the Mosaic Law.



The Living Water, the Well that will never run dry is not in the desert of Sinai or the wilderness that the people wandered stubbornly for 40 years in.

It is found in Christ and His perfect work on the cross.

There will be false teachers dressed in Lamb's wool telling people Jesus is in the Law... Upholding the law will draw us nearer to Jesus. That cannot be further from the Truth! Jesus came to answer to the Law for us, and to satisfy the Law for us. He came so that we will be free from the Law through His death - the ultimate sacrifice.

The Law brings about guilt and condemnation that drives people away from the Father. Jesus is the lifter or our heads so we can look into our Abbba's loving eyes.

If we believe that our salvation comes through the Law, we remain bound and imprisoned by the Law because we can never be perfect on our own to satisfy it.

If we believe that by doing good deeds, we can earn our passage to His Kingdom, then Christ would have died for nought.


If we believe that by donating huge sums of money to church, it buys us a room in His Kingdom, how much can we give that can exceed the richest of His glory? We don't even have enough to equal it.

Pastor reminded us that only believers can "sow seeds" into God's kingdom the other day - in the context of Luke 6:38 where it says " Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you," - this is because the people of this world still owe a debt - so even if they give, they are still paying for the debt that was paid in Christ.

I pray that we will heed the wisdom of God in the Word - "therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the LORD's will is." - Ephesians 5:17.

Scripture confirms scripture.

God's will for us is clearly stated in Jeremiah 29:11 -

'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope.'

"Peace" in the above quote is "Shalom" in Hebrew.

From the Hebrew Lexicon -

Or shalom {shaw-lome'}; from shalam; safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. Health, prosperity, peace -- X do, familiar, X fare, favour, + friend, X great, (good) health, (X perfect, such as be at) peace(-able, -ably), prosper(-ity, -ous), rest, safe(-ty), salute, welfare, (X all is, be) well, X wholly.

So why are we still wondering if God's grace is too good to be true?

BELIEVE AND RECEIVE!

Doubt steals our joy, but believing releases it!

Praise Jesus!!

"Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to YOUR NAME be the GLORY because of Your FAITHFULNESS AND LOVE!" - Ps 115:1