Adult Mid-Week Devotion
The Picture of Forgiveness
 

Leviticus 16:6-10,15-19,20-22

     It’s been said that a “picture speaks a thousand words.”  I find that to be true in my life.  If you can show me how to do something or paint a vivid picture for me, I am far more likely to remember something than if I am just remembering facts.  Are you like that?  There is just something about a picture.

     Not only does a picture help me remember things, but a picture also brings about a plethora of emotions as memories flood in.  Maybe you take time each year on your wedding anniversary to reminisce with your spouse about your marriage.  Maybe you set aside time each year on your spiritual birthday to reflect on God’s salvation as well as His ongoing work of sanctification in your life.  Maybe you remember each year at Thanksgiving the incredible blessings of God and you thank Him.  Maybe you visit a graveside on the anniversary of a loved one’s passing just to remember.  All of these have a way of painting an indelible picture in our lives.

     Did you know – forgiveness is the same?  This week we spent time in a book of the Bible that we could easily describe as difficult, laborious, confusing and some would even say boring.  I know – we might not say it aloud, but we have felt that way when we try to read it.  We may even be guilty of skimming through it or bypassing it altogether.  It is the Book of Leviticus.

     If we have read it, we may have thought it was just a book of laws and rituals and festivals.  A lot of do’s and don’ts, but is that all it is?  Could it be that its so much more than that?  Truth is, this book is rich in picture format.  One of those pictures is the picture of forgiveness.  The entire book is painting this picture. 

     The tent of meeting or the tabernacle represented the very presence of God for the Israelite, yet because of their sin – their rejection of God and His ways – they are on the outside looking in.  They have no access to God.  Yet, Holy God desired close relationship and fellowship with them.  Their unholiness kept them from God, but a Holy God – full of love and grace – satisfies His own judgment and wrath against sin in the most unbelievable way.  What is the picture?  What does it foreshadow?

     Leviticus 16 paints the picture – The Picture of Forgiveness.  I hope this week you will take time to read it.  Read it slowly.  Consider it.  Meditate on it.  Don’t rush through it.  Read it in the context of the big picture of Scripture.

     Some questions to consider this week:

1. What are some things that stand out to you from this passage?  Write them down and meditate on them.
2. Did God provide a way for forgiveness?
3. If so, what did God require?
4. How does God forgive sin and take away the penalty?
5. Why would God do that?
6. What is atonement? Break it apart: at/one/ment.  What does at/one/ment mean to God?  What does it mean to you?  How should it affect how we live?
7. As you read this passage this week, what do you notice about God and His character?  Based on this, how should you change your view of forgiveness?

Preschool & Kids Family ​​Mid-Week Devotion
November God Speaks about His Plan for Families

Note for Parents:

       God speaks about His plan for families. Over the next month your kids will hear about families in the Bible. They will learn that God wants families to show love, respect, and kindness to one another. They will also learn that families worship God together. As a church, we believe family is the primary source for faith training and disciple making. You have the vital role of IMPRESSing on your kids to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul and strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. IMPRESS them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up.

       As you spend time intentionally having conversations with your family about loving God when you sit at home, walk along the road, lie down and get up, you are living your calling of IMPRESS. You are a missionary right in your own home passing on to the next generation to set their hope anew on God.

Consider taking time with your spouse to pray for your family:

• Read aloud together Deuteronomy 6:5-7
• Pray that your family will love God.
• Pray for everyday opportunities to talk about God with your kids – at home, in the car, going for a walk, before bed, in the morning etc.

You are making generational impact in the everyday.

 

Baby Moses

Read Exodus 1:8-2:10; Numbers 26:59

       GOD SPEAKS about His plan for families. In a time when Jewish baby boys were being killed, God had a plan for Moses and his family. Jocabed and Amrom, Moses’ mother and father, hid Moses for three months, but soon she could hide him no longer. Jocabed set Moses in the Nile, but within a protective basket. Moses was discovered by the Pharoah’s daughter, and she had compassion on him. Miriam, Moses’ sister, was there at just the right time suggesting that Pharoh’s daughter have a mother to come and feed the baby, and Miriam went and had Jocabed come to feed her own son while he was in the care of Pharoh’s daughter. Pharoah’s daughter raised Moses as her own, and God had a plan for Moses’ life. Moses would one day be called to lead God’s people out of Egypt rescuing God’s chosen people.

        All the way through Moses’ beginning of his life we see that God had a plan for his family. God is always working around us, and we are invited to join Him in what He is doing. Jocabed and Amrom probably had no idea that God was going to use Moses to one day lead the people out of slavery in Egypt. They were simply faithful in the small things. We too can be faithful in the small things. God has given each of us families. Do you talk to your family every day? Do you think the words you say to your family are important? They are! We can care for and protect our family members even by the words we choose to say.

       Our unit verse this month is Romans 12:10, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” We can use our words to honor (attach great value) to one another. As a family take time to think about the conversations we have – are the words we use encouraging or are they discouraging? As a family memorize Romans 12:10 and think about the words spoken to one another. Ask yourself: Are my words spoken in love? Do my words honor the other person?