The Appointed Ministers
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
“The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the Lord’s food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time. “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, where he lives—and he may come when he desires—to the place that the Lord will choose, and ministers in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord, then he may have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony. “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
Sermon
Sermon
Three Appointed Feasts
Unity of God’s People
Not using Tithes for our own benefit
Giving to God God what is his (Tithes, Honour, Praise)
Before (when planning)
When bringing in the crop
When seeing the full benefit of the fullness of God’s Blessing
God Establishes Law & Order - Secular Authority
Judges & Officers in each town
Laws are established by God, not individuals
Accountability and Responsibility
God has placed rulers, judges and officers over the people
Love Justice
Priests & Levites (v1-8)
Priests & Levites (v1-8)
“The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the Lord’s food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time. “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, where he lives—and he may come when he desires—to the place that the Lord will choose, and ministers in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord, then he may have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.
Religious/Spiritual Authority
Tribe of Levi - Levitical Priests
No inheritance from the land - they shall not toil the land
God is their inheritance - they shall be guardians of God’s Word
God details from the sacrifices, tithes & offerings, and three feasts what will be given to the Levites
Their support comes directly from the ministry in which they are engaged
Levites who were not priests lived in cities allocated to them across the land
These Levites if they believed God was calling them to the ministry were likewise to receive this support
Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
Paul applies these principals to the Gospel ministry
Practices of the Nations (v9-14)
Practices of the Nations (v9-14)
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you”
“You shall note follow the abominable practices of those nations”
“Your shall not”
burn your sons or daughters as an offering
practice
divination (signs, omens or supernatural powers)
tell fortunes (predict future based on magic)
interpret omens (reveal hidden knowledge through supernatural powers)
sorcerer (harness evil powers)
charmer (cast spells)
medium (inquire from ghosts)
necromancer (conjuring up the dead)
ask questions from the dead
God will purify his people
They shall be blameless before The Lord, your God
Brings into serious question:
Any Christianization of Pagan Rituals
“nine-night” - 9th night or night before the funeral service (West African & Caribbean traditions)
Not to be confused with “wake” or “funeral reception”
The Prophet like Moses
The Prophet like Moses
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
Moses had spoken the Word of God directly from The Lord
He had interceded for God’s People
God will raise up another Prophet like Moses - Lord Jesus Christ
Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He speaks with a human voice, but with the authority of God
Return...
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
Moses says to Him we must listen
Those who don’t listen will receive the wrath of God (“I myself will require it of him”)
Although this pointed specifically to Jesus
It also established the principal that God would speak to his people through Prophets, and not directly
Warning against False Prophets
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
If the word does not come true then he is a False Prophet
He has spoken presumptuously
Jesus fulfilled his Prophetic role...
He is the Word and all he said was given to him by his Father ...
So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
Jesus reveals to us the Father ...
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
and all the Father’s Will for us
Hymn -
Hymn -
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology
