Week Three: Sowing Seed Day 20: Splitting Seeds April 15, 2016

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"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of

unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground;

for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes

and showers righteousness upon you."

(Hosea 10:12)

Day Twenty Devotions:

MORNING MEDITATION

AFTERNOON DEVOTION

EVENING PRAYER

MORNING MEDITATION

Glean the Word:

Luke 6:1-11

Glimpse of Glory: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27-28)

When Jesus walked with His disciples and taught them about His kingdom, He declared to them that He was making all things new. Everything that they had been taught regarding the ancient Jewish religion was fulfilled in His coming and the old practices would no longer work in the new dispensation. "The time is coming, declares the LORD; when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah...By calling this covenant "new," He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear" (Hebrews 8:8, 13). The old wineskin would not be able to hold the new spiritual life that Jesus was pouring out (Luke 5:37-39).

One area where Jesus challenged the authority of the Pharisees and scribes was in the observance of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was given by God as a day for spiritual, mental, and physical restoration (Exodus 20:8-11), but the leaders had turned the blessing of God into a burden upon the people. Strict obedience to the Sabbath law was an important part of the Jewish faith, so when Jesus violated this law by allowing His followers to "harvest" wheat from the grainfields and then healing a man in the synagogue, the religious leaders became furious with Him. "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" (v. 9). The leaders where so shackled to their religious tradition that they missed meeting the real needs of the people. Jesus showed them that He is indeed the Lord of the Sabbath when He demonstrated His power over the Law by showing compassion to those who were in need. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). Let us take time this morning to praise God for the true spiritual rest we have experienced in Christ Jesus. Let us also pray fervently for those who are weighed down by the heavy burdens of this life that they were never meant to carry on their own. May we make the most of every opportunity to lead them to Christ where they can find rest for their weary souls. "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

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AFTERNOON DEVOTION

Glean the Word: Matthew 13:47-52

Gift of Grace: "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." (v. 52)

The teachers of the law had so separated themselves from the people and placed such heavy burdens upon them, that the people couldn't possibly live up to the expectations of the law. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to" (Matthew 22:13). They had piled onto the Mosaic Law strict and oppressive rules and regulations which had nothing to do with helping the people "...you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them" (Luke 11:46b). Jesus called them out for their hypocrisy. "So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach" (Matthew 23:3).

The scribes were supposed to preserve the law so that it could be applied to daily life, but over time religious tradition took precedence over the needs of the people. Obedience to God's commandments are meant to enable us to live abundant and productive lives, but the Pharisees and scribes had made obedience to the law of God an impossible burden to bear. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). Jesus came to fulfill the law so we could be set free from the bondage of sin and live a life of victory and freedom in Christ. Today, we have the precious Word of God at our fingertips to study, meditate, and feed upon so that we will be nourished, strengthened, equipped and empowered to walk in the fullness of the new life of liberty He has given us, and to continue His kingdom work in this world. It is important for the health and wholeness of the Body of Christ that every believer seek a balanced lifestyle of learning God's Word as well as living God's Word. May it be our priority each day to submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit to guide us to discover deep and hidden things in the Word of God, and then to share what we have learned by serving and ministering to those around us in need. May our lives speak a consistent message in what we say and what we do; and may the things that we learn from the Lord each day be a blessing in another person's life.
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EVENING PRAYER

Glean the Word: Hebrews 11:30-31

Fruit of Repentance: "You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did." (James 3:22)

Evening prayer focus: True faith shows itself in obedience and good works (click on the image below for our evening prayer).

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." (Hebrews 10:24-25)

This evening, draw close to the fire and experience the warmth, love and light of Christ as we come boldly before the Throne of Grace and join our hearts together in prayer:

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