August 8, 2008 4:29 AM
Michael wrote:
Were the people ready to meet the Lord? He told moses twice not to let the people touch foot on the mountain and to set boundaries.How many of us on that third day would really be holly enough to cross that line? GOD knew thats why I think GOD told moses to go back down and tell them again and only he and aaron to return. Reply to this
August 8, 2008 4:49 AM
Michael wrote:
Also Guys I want to ask you for a prayer request.My family has been struggling finacially for a while and I blame myself for it.I know GOD will get us through it if we do are part.Also I would ask you to pray for me.I do not talk about this alot but I have a condition called PTSD post traumatic stress disorder.Thats why you may see me writing at odd hours.I have nightmares every night and tonight was a really bad one,only slept about three hours.I have flashbacks during the day that can cause panic attacks and I get so depressed sometimes I just crawl in a hole and don't want to talk to anyone or even go outside.Sorry for dumping on you guys but I just needed to talk.I have been working on this for the past 4 years.Please pray for me and my family because it affects them too. Especialy my wife Rosa.She is so strong and I think GOD everyday for her. thanks and its great to be back discussing with all of you and Mac thank you for all your love and support. Reply to this
August 8, 2008 8:59 AM
Sam wrote:
Verrrlly interestink..... (Also goes along with Mike's comments). God was pretty adamant about anybody coming to see Him other than Moses and Aaron. Am not sure why, but He sure made it known that death would come to anyone else who even attempted to come to see Him. TODAY, we beg people to come to 'see' God. Not in the physical sense, but the Spiritual one. Jesus, acting as an intermediary, is the way we 'see' God today. By accepting Him (Jesus), we are allowed to converse with Him (Jesus). Today, we are not prevented from coming to God in this fashion, yet we probably ARE prevented from physically seeing Him, even if He were to come to the top of Stone Mountain. It must be that our bodies could not withstand the presence (physical) of God even today...hence, the appearance of Jesus 2000 years ago. Why Moses and Aaron did not get blipped into oblivion when 'seeing' God, I don't know, but for some reason He needed them to see Him, and listen to Him. We are similar to Moses and Aaron as far as being His eyes, ears and mouth....to get the Word of God to as many people as we can. We don;t get those instructions from God Himself, but from the words spoken by Jesus. (Mt 28:18-20) People we bring the Word to will not be destroyed by God, but will be Saved by Him, through Jesus. How are we all doing in that area? Pretty poorly, I imagine--I know I am. Maybe we should get together next weekend and evangelize a bit...what say you all? Reply to this
August 8, 2008 9:21 AM
Tony wrote:
Why does the Lord go from talking in the first person, prepare for my arrival , to talking in the second person,"do not let the priests or the people break through to approach the Lord, or he will break out and destroy them.”? God sets boundaries for the people of the day, does He still do it today? I think He does. We know what we should and should not do yet sometimes we do wrong anyways. God set boundaries and told the people exactly what to do or they would die, and how to kill them. We still have those boundaries today and we will still die, not physically but spiritually. How many of us, honestly, are spiritually dead? What do we do besides go to church a couple days a week at most, blog, some more than others, and try to abstain from the obvious sins? I say we should all look at ourselves and see who we are fooling, God knows. I am a worthless sinner, I know it and so does God. I am not living my life for God I am just trying to get through life. The question we must ask ourselves is what are we trying to get through to? If we don't get it right in this life I don't think there is a second chance. Just a thought. Reply to this
August 8, 2008 6:54 PM
Rich wrote:
This is a very interesting chapter. On the one hand, God is concerned about his people. He makes the Israelites his "treasured possession." That is what I want to be - God's treasured possession. That sounds so good. But the cost is very high. They must obey him fully and keep his covenant. As we all know, these are impossible. It is impossible to obey God fully. God tells us not to sin, yet we are all sinners. God tells us to love him with all of our heart, mind and soul, yet we are also told that ALL sin and fall short of the glory of God. The OT is full of story after story of man not obeying God, of man sinning, messing up, of the nation of Israel breaking their covenant again and again. Yet God remains faithful to his promise. And then God sent Jesus to be the complete and always sacrifice for us. As I understand, the blood of Jesus covers ALL of my sins, past, present and future. And God is the same today as he was during this time in Moses' life. In baptism, I entered into a covenant with God (the same covenant as mentioned here). So, all this is a very long way of saying, that I am God's treasured possession. And so are all of you!!! We are all the children of God. But not because of our righteousness, or because of what we have done. Not because we obey God fully and keep his covenant! But because of Jesus. God offers to accept us as his treasured possessions AND he assures us that we can keep his requirement (not sin) by forgiving us ALL our sins through Jesus. We should not feel so overwhelmed by God. That is not what God wants. He does not want us to be afraid of approaching him, he does not want us to fear going up the mountain to see him. In our state without Jesus, we should fear those things - just as the Israelites needed to fear going through the barriers then. But with Jesus, we have nothing to fear. Again, the purpose of these stories is to show us that we cannot live on God's terms without Jesus. They are to show us how much we need Jesus. They are also to show us how much confidence we should all have - not in ourselves, but in God who gives us confidence. It is interesting how much of what I am saying here sounds like stuff Paul said in his letters. I hope is some small way that I am "getting it" to some degree.
P.S. Great to see everyone here today. Let's keep it up. Whether it is to vent, to pour out heart, to confess, to crash, to share deep insights - it is good to have brothers to "talk" to. Reply to this
Were the people ready to meet the Lord? He told moses twice not to let the people touch foot on the mountain and to set boundaries.How many of us on that third day would really be holly enough to cross that line? GOD knew thats why I think GOD told moses to go back down and tell them again and only he and aaron to return.
Reply to this
Also Guys I want to ask you for a prayer request.My family has been struggling finacially for a while and I blame myself for it.I know GOD will get us through it if we do are part.Also I would ask you to pray for me.I do not talk about this alot but I have a condition called PTSD post traumatic stress disorder.Thats why you may see me writing at odd hours.I have nightmares every night and tonight was a really bad one,only slept about three hours.I have flashbacks during the day that can cause panic attacks and I get so depressed sometimes I just crawl in a hole and don't want to talk to anyone or even go outside.Sorry for dumping on you guys but I just needed to talk.I have been working on this for the past 4 years.Please pray for me and my family because it affects them too. Especialy my wife Rosa.She is so strong and I think GOD everyday for her. thanks and its great to be back discussing with all of you and Mac thank you for all your love and support.
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Rik, Tony, Rich.....Mike is my son-in-law.
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Verrrlly interestink.....
(Also goes along with Mike's comments). God was pretty adamant about anybody coming to see Him other than Moses and Aaron. Am not sure why, but He sure made it known that death would come to anyone else who even attempted to come to see Him. TODAY, we beg people to come to 'see' God. Not in the physical sense, but the Spiritual one. Jesus, acting as an intermediary, is the way we 'see' God today. By accepting Him (Jesus), we are allowed to converse with Him (Jesus). Today, we are not prevented from coming to God in this fashion, yet we probably ARE prevented from physically seeing Him, even if He were to come to the top of Stone Mountain. It must be that our bodies could not withstand the presence (physical) of God even today...hence, the appearance of Jesus 2000 years ago. Why Moses and Aaron did not get blipped into oblivion when 'seeing' God, I don't know, but for some reason He needed them to see Him, and listen to Him. We are similar to Moses and Aaron as far as being His eyes, ears and mouth....to get the Word of God to as many people as we can. We don;t get those instructions from God Himself, but from the words spoken by Jesus. (Mt 28:18-20) People we bring the Word to will not be destroyed by God, but will be Saved by Him, through Jesus. How are we all doing in that area? Pretty poorly, I imagine--I know I am. Maybe we should get together next weekend and evangelize a bit...what say you all?
Reply to this
Why does the Lord go from talking in the first person, prepare for my arrival , to talking in the second person,"do not let the priests or the people break through to approach the Lord, or he will break out and destroy them.”? God sets boundaries for the people of the day, does He still do it today? I think He does. We know what we should and should not do yet sometimes we do wrong anyways. God set boundaries and told the people exactly what to do or they would die, and how to kill them. We still have those boundaries today and we will still die, not physically but spiritually. How many of us, honestly, are spiritually dead? What do we do besides go to church a couple days a week at most, blog, some more than others, and try to abstain from the obvious sins? I say we should all look at ourselves and see who we are fooling, God knows. I am a worthless sinner, I know it and so does God. I am not living my life for God I am just trying to get through life. The question we must ask ourselves is what are we trying to get through to? If we don't get it right in this life I don't think there is a second chance. Just a thought.
Reply to this
This is a very interesting chapter. On the one hand, God is concerned about his people. He makes the Israelites his "treasured possession." That is what I want to be - God's treasured possession. That sounds so good. But the cost is very high. They must obey him fully and keep his covenant. As we all know, these are impossible. It is impossible to obey God fully. God tells us not to sin, yet we are all sinners. God tells us to love him with all of our heart, mind and soul, yet we are also told that ALL sin and fall short of the glory of God. The OT is full of story after story of man not obeying God, of man sinning, messing up, of the nation of Israel breaking their covenant again and again. Yet God remains faithful to his promise. And then God sent Jesus to be the complete and always sacrifice for us. As I understand, the blood of Jesus covers ALL of my sins, past, present and future. And God is the same today as he was during this time in Moses' life. In baptism, I entered into a covenant with God (the same covenant as mentioned here). So, all this is a very long way of saying, that I am God's treasured possession. And so are all of you!!! We are all the children of God. But not because of our righteousness, or because of what we have done. Not because we obey God fully and keep his covenant! But because of Jesus. God offers to accept us as his treasured possessions AND he assures us that we can keep his requirement (not sin) by forgiving us ALL our sins through Jesus. We should not feel so overwhelmed by God. That is not what God wants. He does not want us to be afraid of approaching him, he does not want us to fear going up the mountain to see him. In our state without Jesus, we should fear those things - just as the Israelites needed to fear going through the barriers then. But with Jesus, we have nothing to fear. Again, the purpose of these stories is to show us that we cannot live on God's terms without Jesus. They are to show us how much we need Jesus. They are also to show us how much confidence we should all have - not in ourselves, but in God who gives us confidence. It is interesting how much of what I am saying here sounds like stuff Paul said in his letters. I hope is some small way that I am "getting it" to some degree.
P.S. Great to see everyone here today. Let's keep it up. Whether it is to vent, to pour out heart, to confess, to crash, to share deep insights - it is good to have brothers to "talk" to.
Reply to this