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There will be a time when people will turn their ears away from sound doctrine and look for false doctrine. All around us today people claim to have a form of godliness yet deny Jesus Christ. If you’ve been saved then it will never leave you but, you can turn your back on it. In this reading, we see a child that left his first love. He requested from his father his inheritance as if he was dead. What a disrespect it is to look to your earthly father and demand your inheritance as if he was already dead. 

 

For the saved.

An even worse disrespectful act is to turn their back on God, the one that gave you life and can take your life. Rebelling against God never turns out good. Look around today and you quickly see that there isn’t a true God-fearing church that is full in attendance. This is because the people have left their first love. Church attendance does not declare salvation. But if you’ve been saved you’ll want to attend a church, there is a drawing. 

A saved person knows better because they know what God saved them from. Some people can take a dollar and turn it into 2, then take 2 and turn it into 4, etc. In a spiritual sense, we are given talents, through God’s blessing we can take those talents and turn them into a bunch more. If we stop God from working thinking we can do it on our own without Him, we can take those talents and waste them and lose them.

Chastisement is a proof of love. If chastisement isn’t made then the person doing wrong will never learn from right or wrong. God is in full control and He can do whatever He wants whenever he wants. Since He’s all-knowing He knows what chastisement is needed to keep us on track for the present and future.

In this reading, the famine was going on around the son who ran off. The famine was not happening at the father’s house. There is a difference between chastisement and punishment. Punishment is made for deeds done wrong. Chastisement is made out of love to turn from the wrong deeds. If you are not chastised by God then you are NOT one of God’s children. 

Once you’ve been chastised then you should repent. Repentance is a turning away from wrongdoing. How many people went to bed last night remembering they wanted to attend a church service this morning, yet didn’t attend? One can remember but if they do not turn, and repent, then they are still in sin.

Once true repentance is made, then forgiveness is made.

 

For the unsaved.

They are already on their way to Hell. 

Dwell means to settle, or to wed as in marriage. Many think that if they get married and it doesn’t work then they can just get out of it, a trial run if you will. It doesn’t work this way with God. Once you’re His then you’re His forever more.

 

The secret place. Being saved means that your relationship is in secret. No one knows the relationship between Him and you. His secret place is bountiful and full of His grace and love. The only way to get there is to go through Christ. The world is driving people mad because they think they can’t escape the chaos.

 

Abide means to stay permanently. We start by dwelling and then move into abiding. It’s like a drop of water in the ocean. The drop is part of the ocean and the ocean is part of the drop. One can’t separate the two once put together. 2 Corinthians 5, once one is Born Again then they are made a new creature.

 

The secret place is a protective place. The things of the world might come against you just as a storm blows through but His secret place is a place of protection. Under the roof of God! The perfect example of grace. God doesn’t make one come in out of the storm. We have a choice whether to stay in the storm or seek shelter under His wings.

 

A fortress, a walled area of protection. We may have to live in it or work around it, but we don’t have to be a part of it. He protects us while we go out into the world.

 

Habitation means a dwelling place. For people, our habitation is our home, where we live. For a saved person our habitation is the Lord. He bids us to come into His protection because He wants to help and keep us. 

 

There is only one way to get to God, Jesus Christ. He is the only one with the key to God’s secret place.

Leviticus 1:1-5

A Study of Leviticus.

Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:4-6

Regardless of anything that is going on in your life, God is good.

The miracles that Jesus performed are an example of His deity and compassion.

Compassion & purpose

John 4; is the story about the woman at the well that Jesus met. Jesus made it on purpose to visit the well during a time when no one else would be there except this woman. Everyone else had already visited the well early in the morning when it was cool in the day.

John 5; a pool of water that once a year it was troubled by an angel and whomever stepped in it would be made whole. Jesus met a man there who had waited for 38 years to be healed. All He asked the man was do you want to be made whole, healed? Imagine this man waiting for 38 years and each time someone cut in front of him. We get upset when someone jumps in front of us at the grocery store one time.

John 9; the people asked Jesus who sinned and if it was his parents. The problem was that it wasn’t his parents that sinned and caused the man to be blind but it was Adam and Eve, the first sin.

The woman at the well, the man at the pool, the multitude that was hungry, the blind man, all who were sinners that Jesus healed or helped. Why did He do these things? Because to prove who He was and His compassion.

Why do we need to suffer? Because we need to. Laid up in the bed with a hurt back, sick with the flu, etc. If you have no needs then you will not appreciate the compassion of God. God is not our idea of good but His idea of good.

John 11 is a perfect example of purpose and compassion. We are not hurting for no reason. We are not sick for no reason. We don’t struggle with depression, anxiety, emotions, or anything else for no reason. The purpose for us we don’t know but God’s purpose is for Him to get glory. His compassion is perfect and so is His purpose.

His purpose seems at times to be imperfect. Job is a man that we often look up to and think we can’t be like him. What is the purpose of Job’s life? Job is not a chess piece in God’s life. What is the devil's purpose in Job’s life? The devil's purpose was to trick him. The devil doesn’t care about those that are already his, he wants to turn the ones that want to work for God away from God.