Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Welcome. It's a wonderful turnout for such a hot, hot evening and hot week.
It's awesome. Let's open with prayer and just welcome the
Spirit of the Lord here tonight. God, we just thank You, Lord, for Your goodness
God and grace in our lives, Lord. We welcome You here tonight, Holy Spirit, to
come amongst us, Lord, and just fellowship with us, Lord, and to open our minds and
our hearts, God, to hear and receive Your word and apply Your word, God. We thank You,
Lord, that we can gather together. Lord, it's a fellowship tonight, Lord. We
pray, God, that You give us some relief from this heat, as we know You can, and Lord,
we just give You all the glory for tonight, in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, so tonight we are going to focus on a very, very short scripture.
And I was kind of, as I was, as I was preparing them there, oh, but Danny kind
of left off here and left this little bit at the end here. I'm there, should I
cover that and go into the next chapter, or should I maybe skip that and just
move on to the next chapter? And the more I started to read it and study it, I'm
there, man, this is, this little section of scripture is really, really robust, and
there's a lot there to talk about. So, so Danny covered off on verses 1 through
21, and I'm going to do 22 through 27, and he talked about the Nazarite vow.
And I've known a couple Nazarites in my day, so in my early, in my early walk
with the Lord, there was this guy who was, you know, had these, you know, awesome
dreadlocks and just like, he just, you know, there was just something about him,
and, you know, and, you know, as I, you know, got, got, got in conversation with him
over, over the weeks, I would say, you know, what's up with this? You know,
because he had, he was a very serious guy, and he had, he had just, you know, certain
habits about him. I'm there, what's, what's up? He said, well, I've taken the oath of
a Nazarite. What's the oath of a Nazarite? I had no idea. And he just like explained
to me, I'm there, that's pretty cool. And there may be, I'll be a Nazarite. I mean,
I had the long hair already, and I'm there, it's, this could work out great.
So there are still people out there today that are, that are, that are living,
you know, as, as Nazarites with that commitment. So we know that this is a,
a voluntary thing that people did back then that God was calling, and it was a
commitment, you know, of their, of their life. And there was visible things about
this, like this guy had visible things that I could see. It's like, this is,
something's different about this guy. And that's, and that's, that's part of what
it is, you know, but they were not part of the priesthood. They were just
everyday people who were consecrating themselves, you know, to God. And, and
one little thing you can miss in here that I just love, is this is applicable to
men and women, right? Which was very, very uncommon for, for, for Hebrew, Hebrew
tongue, especially ancient, ancient tongue. So that's really awesome, isn't it? It's
like neat when you see those little nuggets in there. But, you know, they
abstained from great products, not just wine, but really anything with that.
They didn't cut their hair, you know, they avoided contact with the dead, and
we, we remember as we were going through Leviticus how, how important that, but
it was for a temporary time, you know, it wasn't this permanent thing, like, like,
like the priesthood had. And then at the end of this, they would have a ceremony
where they would shave their head and, you know, return to public. So, so it's
a pretty, you know, it's a pretty interesting and cool thing to, to, to
research. And then we get into the end. It feels a little obscure how it goes
into Aaron's blessing. But it's a very familiar scripture. In fact, it's, you see
it all referenced several other times in the Bible, in Ecclesiastes, Psalm, Luke, Luke
were the prayer of Zechariah, and 2 Corinthians, and certainly other, you know,
more thematic aspects of it through, throughout the Bible. But it's, it's the
Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and to be
gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and gives you peace. And man,
there is just a lot to pack, unpack there. But this is like this, this
poetic crescendo to, to the end of this chapter where, you know, you know, God
just got done releasing this as here's, here's what it means to be, to be a
Nazareth. And then it just ends with this, this idea of this, this blessing
where, you know, he's gonna bless you, which means he's gonna provide for you.
He's gonna keep you, which means he's gonna protect you. He's gonna shine on
you, which means his presence is there. He's gonna be gracious towards us. That's
his mercy. And he's gonna give us peace. This is the shalom, that wholeness
of all of that. So, you know, it helps us to kind of recenter after all of that and
say, this is, this is the power and the promise and the blessing that God wants
to give his people. So let's start, let's start with 20, 24 with, with, with
God's desire to bless. So this is the Lord bless and keep you. This is a
declaration of God's favor, his divine favor and his protection over us, you
know, and, and this is something that, you know, we see time and time again in
Scripture and we've seen time and time again in these first few books of, of the
Bible is that God desires to protect and provide us. He doesn't want to hurt or
punish us, like so many of the stereotypical things you hear about God
or people that talk about God. It's like, oh, well, God's just this, you know,
overbearing God. And even for, for some aspects, you know, even the Israelites
had, had this perception, you know, of God and God is working towards changing
that perception of what we read about. We've read about how, you know, all
through the law, this is God's process of, I want to draw close to you. I want to be
near you and I want you to be near to me. And that's what this is all, all about is
God's desire. We read in Matthew 6, 25 to 33, where Jesus teaches us not to worry,
you know, that God wants to, to provide for us and, and God will provide for us.
It says, therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink
or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more
than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away
in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And you not much more, are you
any want, can any one of you by worrying at a single hour to your life, why do you
worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow? They do not labor or
spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed
like one of these. If that is how God closed the grass of the field, which is
here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you?
You of little faith. So do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall
we drink? What shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things and
your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom and his
righteousness and all of these things will be given to you as well. What a wonderful
passage of Scripture where Jesus says, don't worry about these things. You're
going to be provided for, which is what God is saying here. The Lord will bless you
and keep you. He's going to care for you. John 10, 28 through 29 talks about
God's protection. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one will
snatch them out of my hand. Think about that. No one, not anyone, not anything, can
snatch us from the palm of God's hand. My Father who has given them to me is
greater than all. No one can snatch them out of the Father's hand. It's a powerful,
powerful statement about God's protection over us. Verse 25, it's about the shining
face of God. I'm going to spend a lot of time. This is just an awesome thing.
Make his face shine upon us. Shine upon you and be gracious to you. His presence,
his light, his glory, his mercy. When God's face shines upon us, it's this profound,
profound expression of his favor, his presence, his blessing. It
communicates more than just, you know, God's good will towards us. It signifies
intimacy, approval, and just this delight that he has in us. His beloved,
when you think about yourself as the beloved of God, he says we are his
beloved. That is just something to just let that sink in. But, you know,
when you think about the acceptance and approval, you know, we, you know, as
people, we just, we crave acceptance and we crave approval from people. Don't we?
From others. Kids look for it. You know, it always just, you know, whenever I go
over to pick up my grandkids, the one just, you know, just immediately starts
like, you know, showing me stuff like this and that and everything. It's just
like all this stuff that I did and all these things. And it's like, you know,
looking for my approval on things and acceptance. And it's just, you know, you
give them that, that, that just, you just give them that little bit of, bit of love
and it's just like you can just see it in their eyes. And think about it, you
know, when you're having a day and we all have days, right, and someone just gives
you a passing smile. It just changes things, doesn't it? It just changes the
countenance on their face, just change something in us. And that's, you know, how
much more when God shines upon us and God's face looks upon us. Think about when
someone just, you know, you're just trying to keep to yourself. I'm not, I mean,
Tammy's the outgoing one in this partnership. So, you know, she's, she's
just, you know, she can, she's in an elevator. She's going to have friends
before she gets to the second floor. You know me, I'm just, you know, I'm just kind
of keeping to myself, you know, most of the time. And, you know, but a kind word,
you know, when someone releases a kind word to us or when we release a kind word
to someone, it changes, changes the environment of things. And this is, this
is what God is talking about here, is I'm shining on you and this is my glory. And
you need to pass that on to people. We need to pass that on because there's
such power in that to change things. I remember, you know, a good friend of mine,
I always used to harp on this idea is that, you know, when we, as followers of
Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, when we walk into a room, the environment
should change. It should change because of God's glory that's within us. And I
don't always feel like I have that. I'm not always feel like I'm exemplifying
that glory, but it's there, you know, it's there. And we need to be
intentional about that, you know, when God's face shines, it symbolizes his
gracious acceptance, just like when we, to little ones or to our spouse or to a
friend where we just say, man, you know, I just love this about you or just, you
know, just a word or just an expression or just a smile. When we, when we release
that, you know, that God-given thing, it's powerful. You know, Psalm 67, 1 through 2
says, may God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine as there's
another reflection of that God's face shining. It brings illumination both
spiritually and emotionally. When you think about emotionally how that can
change us or change someone, it's just powerful. You know, God's, you know, God's
glory and God's face and God's present, it drives away confusion. It drives away
things that are just not of his spirit. It drives away darkness and despair and
God gives us that power, that indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When we do that, when
we bring that, reflect that, think about it as a reflection, you know, God's glory
is on us, you know, like when Moses, when Moses was exposed to the glory, the glory
of God, it was like this illumination that came off him. And we may not feel like
that sometimes, but it most certainly is that, and it brings light into situations,
is what it does. Psalm 88, 89, 15 says, blessed are those who have learned to
acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord. You know, many, many
places in the Old Testament, you know, you get this idea that God's face was
to be feared and unapproachable, and even God says that himself at times,
where, you know, you can't look upon me, but here in this scripture, it's like a
welcome thing, and he's saying, I'm blessing you with my face and my
presence, you know, God's shining fleece, you know, here it says, I'm not distant,
I'm near, I'm close to you, I'm not hidden, but I'm actively engaging with you and in
your lives. Exodus 33, 14 says, my presence will go with you and I will give you
rest. And what did Moses say? I'm not going anywhere without your presence. I
don't want 14 says, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We
have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the
father full of grace. Imagine how the disciples shining from that, from that
glory of the holy. And then again in John 8 12, when Jesus spoke again to
the people, he said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And again, think about it as
this reflection or this illumination of the light of God that we're to carry,
carry with us. Second Corinthians 4 6 says, for God, for God who said, let
light shine out the darkness, let light shine out of darkness, made his light
shine in our hearts to give us light, the light of the knowledge of God's glory
displayed in the face of Christ. I was trying to find it, I had written this
song like decades ago about seeing the face of God and I couldn't find it
anywhere. But it was it was all about this idea of, you know, you know, show me
your face, show me this glory, you know, let it let it just, you know, pour onto me.
So, you know, to have God's face shine upon us, you know, that means that we live
in the glow of his love and guidance and protection and grace. And it's a, it's
what he's trying to say here is this is a relational thing, not a transactional
thing. So it's not this transaction of, hey, you know, you do this and you're gonna
earn my acceptance or you're gonna earn my favor. This is a relational thing that
that he's talking about and it's all about the delight of God towards his
children, where is beloved, right? In Jesus we don't just get a glimpse of God's
shining face, we are invited to dwell in it. So think about that concept would
have been so foreign to the Hebrews back then of God dwelling in them. They
wouldn't have understood it that way. But we know that to be truth and it was so
much symbolism back then, you know, in the temple and in sacrifices and all that
sort of thing. But God, his Spirit dwells in us. That's a wonderful little segment
within this. So verse 26, God's nearness and peace turn his face toward you and
give you peace, intimacy with God, this idea of shalom, you know, the peace, this
peace or the shalom, it's not circumstantial, it's relational. Shalom, you
know, is derived from the word, you know, shalom, which means wholeness,
completeness, or fullness. It conveys this idea of holistic, you know,
wellness. When we think of it, you know, you think of it how it's used in, you
know, in conversation, like shalom, you know, hello and goodbye and, you know,
peace and all this kind of stuff. But it's so much deeper than that in the
Hebrew language. It's such an all-incompetent holistic word and that's
what God is saying here, you know, give you the shalom. John 14, 27 says,
peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Matthew 11, 28 through 30, come to me
and I will give you rest. Verse 27, God's name on his people, so I will put my name
on them. Think about that for a second, this idea of identity, you know, identity,
ownership. He owns us, bought and paid for us, and this blessing, you know, Jesus, you
know, comes to give us a new name and to restore our identity as God's children.
And this is, this is, again, this is a very, very rich little piece of this, but
think about sonship and think about inheritance, things that we don't really,
it's not something common in our culture and in our language that we talk about,
you know, we talk about, you know, oftentimes we'll think about, you know, talk
about inheritance, you know, when it comes to wealth, you know, I'm gonna get this
great inheritance, you know, coming. It's not what this is talking about here. When
you think about the wealth of God, it's not a financial wealth, it can be a
financial blessing, you know, at times, but the, but the inheritance of God is this,
again, this all encompassing, you know, when you think back, you know, in the days
of, you know, kings and monarchs and all this kind of things, this, the name was
everything. If you didn't have the name, you were a nobody. If you weren't part of
that royal, royal family lineage, if you didn't have, have all of that, you were
nothing and God is saying so much more here that, that you are a son and a
daughter of the living God, of the creator of all things, creator of the
universe, creator of, of the world. So that's a really, really powerful thing to
think about is sonship and, you know, and so often our mentality, you know, is, as
believers, as, you know, we just get, you know, stuck in this, you know, you know,
this, this hamster wheel of, you know, when I do good, I'm accepted. When I have a
day, my father likes me so much, so much more, and it's just not how God looks at
us. It's not at all how God looks at us. Doesn't matter what kind of day you're
having, you're his beloved, no matter what. And this is, this is all about this
sonship. You can't, you can't, we can't walk away from, from the sonship thing. I
mean, we're, we're, we're, we're in it and God has called us to it. John 17, 11
through 7, 11 through 12, Jesus prays that the Father would protect them by the
power of your name. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still
in the world and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your
name, the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we
are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you
gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction, so that
scripture would be fulfilled. Revelations 3, 12. God will write his name on those who
overcome. The one who is victorious, I will make a pillar in the temple of God.
Never again, they will leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the
name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of
heaven from my God and I will also write on them my new name. Wow. I mean, that's,
that is, there, there, that is a powerful, powerful demonstration of who we are.
Right? And we need to start looking at ourselves like that. Consistently
looking at ourselves like that. Not just, hey, you know, came to church a couple
times this week, had some great worship, good prayer time, and, you know, things
are great, you know. It's, we have a new name and we are inscribed in the hand of
God. That's powerful. You know, when I read this, this, this passage, you know, it's
kind of, you know, it was entitled the blessing, blessing and belonging, but, you
know, it's not just about receiving the blessing. It's about living it. It's about,
again, letting it reflect off of us. It's about sharing, sharing that with others.
This blessing is a promise in Christ and it has to become a daily reality for, for us.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His
Word. Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.
Eastern on YouTube. Be blessed and have a great day.