Asaph, the writer of Psalm 73, confessed that his feet came close to stumbling and that his steps had almost slipped. He gave the reason why he almost slipped in verse 3, “For I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the world."

To slip here means to waver, wobble, become lame, bend, and make to shake. Envy is synonymous with jealousy.

Asaph was troubled and lame until he sought the Lord for understanding. He decided to enter the sanctuary of God and, in God’s presence, he was set free from his envy and slippery imprisonment. He also discovered that it was actually the prospering of the wicked that God would set in slippery places and destruction.

Like Asaph, have you been envious and jealous toward someone, past or present? If so, get into God’s presence through Christ Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and emancipate you from this terrible prison of sin. Avoid envy by making sure your steps hold fast to God’s paths so that your feet will not slip. See Psalm 17:5.

Finally, be mindful of this: “A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion (envy) is rottenness to the bones.” (Proverbs 14:30)

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Personal Testimonies: Prior to the morning's message, Pastor Mark opens the floor to life testimonies. It is great encouragement to hear how the Lord is working in each of our lives. Click the forward button below to play the personal testimonies of Pastor Mark and others and/or download mp3 file.)

We have been studying some of God’s “visual aids” of religious laws and rituals. But let’s not forget that God wanted them to eventually put away the physical symbols and enter into the depth of the spiritual reality they represented…just as He does for us today so that we may not inadvertently substitute ritual TO Him for relationship WITH Him.

The transition from physical to spiritual was made in the person and work of Jesus. The temporary or “imperfect” was to be put away once the permanent or “perfect” came. In studying the physical and imperfect, though, we can see how God used them to teach both the Jews (who were the “first”) and the Gentiles (who are the “last”) in knowing and understanding the New Covenant which brings us direct access to God! Studying the Jewish Feasts will continue the broadening of our understanding.

God established seven Feasts. These were not “food feasts” as we might think of the word use today, but rather, they were holy convocations of God’s people, the Jews, who were to meet in a special way in order to “meet with God”.

I personally thank God that I do not have to travel to Jerusalem for a Feast in order to meet with God, but can now meet with God through Christ right where I am.

Why we study the Feasts:

1. Provide some of the greatest word pictures of the Messiah and His chosen people
2. Teach man his relationship to God, creation and his fellow man
3. Teach us how to walk in the environment of God continuously
4. Provides seven specific lessons through the seven Feasts, which were repeated over and over again throughout the years (repetition is a key to learning!)
5. If we are ignorant of the biblical Feasts, we will miss out on some of the greatest blessings in scripture

(The other study guide materials are posted below: a chart depicting the Spiritual Lessons in the Jewish Feasts and a listing of the 12-step word picture of God’s plan for us as seen in the Jewish Wedding Feast.)

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Never has a soul who has gone astray from God’s commands benefited from his disobedience and rebellion.  In fact, “all of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6).

Going astray means to wander, to deceive oneself, to stagger around like a drunk man, caused to err, and to be seduced.

History tells us that God’s own people, Israel, often wandered from His commands and staggered into despair and calamity. Moses admonished the Hebrews in advance and declared to them that there would be a blessing for obedience and a curse for disobedience.

If they returned and obeyed, then God would restore, revive and reunite them to Himself granting them favor, blessings and benefits. However, if they chose to disobey, they would perish. Read it in Deuteronomy 30.

Today, all mankind has the opportunity to be forgiven, restored, revived and reunited to God through Jesus Christ, resulting in eternal life. Have you made your choice? Remember, choice determines destiny.  Disobey and perish!  Or, obey and live!

1.      Restore them from captivity (Psalm 23:3)

2.      Have compassion on them (Psalm 78:37-39)

3.      Gather them to Him (Psalm 50:5; Psalm 106:43-46)

4.      Give them possession of the Promised Land (Genesis 22:15-18)

5.      Prosper them and multiply them (Psalm 1:1-6)

        •  Prosper: to be at ease, have peace, give rest, raise hopes, be happy, safe
        •  3 John 2-4 Prosper: to get along with, to have a way opened, get along well, have a
            prosperous journey

6.      Circumcise their heart and the heart of their descendants, to love the Lord God with all their hearts and with all their soul, in order that they may live. (Galatians 6:15, 16)

7.      Prosper them abundantly in the work of their hands

8.      Prosper their offspring

9.      Prosper the offspring of their cattle

10.    Prosper the product of their ground

11.    God will rejoice over you for good (Matthew 18:11-14); Lost sheep (Joel 2:21-27)

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Personal Testimonies: Prior to the morning's message, Pastor Mark will open the floor to life testimonies. It is great encouragement to hear how the Lord is working in each of our lives. Listen as Shirley Parsons shows how God can use us as vessels to witness to others in places as simple as a local yard sale. (Click the forward button below to play the personal testimonies of Shirley Parsons and others and/or download mp3 file.)

The Trespass Offering was distinctly different from the Sin Offering. It was not offered for the general sin nature of man, but rather for the specific sins committed. We can see, then, that Jesus was offered not only for sin itself (as a Sin Offering), but He was also wounded for our transgressions (as a Trespass Offering).

Remember, these offerings were for the sins of man against man. But because the sin was also against God’s standard, they were also a sin against God. Man could pay back his sin to his fellow man, but there was no way he could pay back God. That is why God’s grace thought of His only Son, Jesus, as the acceptable sacrifice to Him to make the slate clean—justice served and the restitution complete! 

This offering was also different because it added another level—the offerer not only had to pay back to his fellow man for his sin, he also had to pay a fifth more in addition to that. God did that too...with Jesus’ sacrifice, sin was not only paid for but we also get to have God dwell within us. We don’t just get to “walk” with Him in fellowship as Adam did; we have the added gift of having Him actually “dwell” within us. We become the walking holy of holies with the presence of God as our guide, our wisdom, our self-discipline, our all in all for every single person, place and thing. Boy, are we without excuse!

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Personal Testimony: Occasionally, prior to the message, Pastor Linda will open the floor to life testimonies. It is great encouragement to hear how the Lord is working in each of our lives. Tonight, Carolyn and Ted Marshall give praise to God for His provision of a need in their lives. (Click the forward button below to play the personal testimony of Carolyn Marshall and/or download mp3 file.)

Study Guide:(Download file to print Study Guide for message or view embedded file below.)

In Moses' final days, he addressed Israel with a solemn message from God emphasizing the importance of reaching out to accept and obey the terms of God's covenant with them.

The covenant was crystal clear—obedience resulted in blessings; disobedience brought a curse. In Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Moses declared God's command, "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it."

Just as it was in Moses' day, God is not out of reach nor does He make it difficult to have understanding of His commands. He is not hiding to avoid us, nor is He like the elusive carrot dangling before the horse, ever out of reach.

On the contrary, whoever will call (reach out) upon the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved. (See Romans 10:13) Have you reached out to Jesus lately?

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Personal Testimonies: Occasionally, prior to the morning's message, Pastor Mark will open the floor to life testimonies. It is great encouragement to hear how the Lord is working in each of our lives. (Click the forward button below to play the personal testimonies of Pastor Mark Parsons and others and/or download mp3 file.)

This is the last of the three “sweet savor” offerings. It was an animal offered up for sacrifice, but this offering was a little different from the Burnt Offering and the Meat Offering we studied last week. With the Peace Offering, the offerer, the priest and God all received some of the sacrifice; whereas, with the other two, only God and the priest partook. What a great word picture of a “peace” offering—God, man and priest (who was the mediator between God and man, at least until Jesus came), all in communion together indicating the restoration between God and mankind.

This is a great tutorial to express that the Christ who was to come, and to be that sacrifice for us, would not be just an avenue to some vague acceptance or a relief from God’s wrath—no, no—His offering has purchased for us an inheritance, one in which we enter with Him into peace with God. One in which God takes great delight, and gives unbroken fellowship and revelation to us...oh, sweet, sweet Jesus!

The last two of the five offerings are the Sin Offering and the Trespass Offering. They are the offerings in which the offerer comes as sinner for repentance and atonement. The “sweet savor” offerings were not offered for sin, but as worship and acceptance before God, thus making these last two completely different in scope and meaning.

They specifically addressed sin and the sin nature—two different thing, thus two different offerings. In both of these offerings, atonement for sin was made. The animal offered was offered outside the camp to show the shame and rejection from sin. Even though rejected, the animal still had to be blameless and spotless...the precursor of Jesus, our spotless Lamb of sacrifice. When Jesus bore our sins, He was judged for us and, thus, justice satisfied—so we who believe have already been judged in Christ and God forgives us. This is similar to our modern day “double jeopardy” rules...you can’t be tried twice for the same crime! Nor in Christ can we be tried for our sins again—they have been tried and judged already, and I am free, adjudicated for eternity! “He has forgiven us all trespasses.” (Colossians 2:13) We have no need to continue the offerings of the Old Testament. All is now fulfilled in Jesus Christ who was foretold in all the Law and the Prophets.

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Abundance and plenty are mentioned throughout the Scriptures, so what are you crying about? Are you crying because you can’t go for two weeks of vacation but only one? Or are you crying because you have to eat out only once a week instead of four? Or maybe it’s even more serious, as you are in foreclosure and can’t sell your home or because you have just lost your job and all your bills are due still ask you...what are you crying about?

Sounds strange to the natural nature to even ask those questions because the natural nature screams out the answer—because I am scared to death of what is going to happen!  Don’t be scared. Stay close to Him before your catastrophe, in your tragedy and after the storm because we have abundance in God. Go ahead and check it out: Psalm 36:8, John 10:10, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Ephesians 3:20, Philippians 4:19, 2 Peter 1:11. God is with you.

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Personal Testimonies: Occasionally, prior to the morning's sermon, Pastor Linda will open the floor to life testimonies. It is great encouragement to hear how the Lord is working in each of our lives. This morning, Pastor Linda shared one of her "life experiences" that caused her to reflect on the message of abundance that she gave. (Click the forward button below to play the personal testimonies of Pastor Linda Pugsley and others and/or download mp3 file.)

In the personal time this morning, Pastor Linda spoke of the cardboard testimonies in the GodTube video. For your convenience, here is Oh, How He Loves Us!

Study Guide: (Download file to print Study Guide for sermon or view embedded file below.)

The Old Testament contains many promises in the Law and the Prophets looking forward to the future salvation of the Jews, but that is only half the story. The Law and Prophets were never intended to be the complete and finished communication of God to the world. The New Testament and Jesus complete the story.

In order to better understand and further confirm the New Testament, we must study the Old, for in it we see it is really Christ who is the key that unlocks the riches of those writings. In looking closely, we can see that the whole of the Old Testament has a consistent focus on Jesus, His death and His resurrection. It sets up the framework and description of Jesus, His mission, His life, and His eternal gift of salvation. The Old Testament constantly points to Him, speaks of Him and symbolizes Him. In studying its writings, we see again and again that God patiently spoke to the Jews about Christ in symbols and shadows that were appropriate to them back then and also allows us today to gain a fuller understanding of what God meant about Jesus through the Jewish offerings and feasts.

In our study of the Jewish Offerings and Feasts, we shall see how Jesus is the sum of both of them and how that fact applies to our lives today.

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God's purpose for His people has always been to trust and obey Him in any and all circumstances regardless of the difficulty.

In Matthew 14:22-33, Jesus sent His disciples out to sea to cross to the other side while He retreated from the crowd to the mountain alone to pray. He knew their boat would soon be battered with powerful waves and most likely much of His praying was on their behalf. Someone has said, "I'd rather be in the storm out at sea with Jesus than safe on the shore without Him."

In our world today, faithful followers of Jesus Christ have also embarked on a journey in obedience to His command. Jesus said to His disciples, "Go your ways: behold I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves." (Luke 10:3) Our success today relies upon our obedience to Jesus and full dependence on His strength every moment in the stormy seas of life—and there will be storms!

How about you today? Are you willing to remain obedient and stay in the boat—knowing that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for you (see Hebrews 7:25) and that He will come to you in this storm world?

Psalm 121
(New American Standard Bible - NASB)

The LORD the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of Ascents.

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

Audio: (Click forward button below to play audio of sermon and/or download mp3 file.)

Personal Testimonies: Occasionally, prior to the morning's sermon, Pastor Mark will open the floor to life testimonies. It is great encouragement to hear how the Lord is working in each of our lives. (Click the forward button below to play the personal testimonies of Pastor Mark Parsons and others.)