#38. Leviticus 20-23 | Reasons to Rest, Rejoice, and Long for Christ's Return

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Welcome to The Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Cocks, and I'm just

a mom that has been transformed

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by the word of God, but I'm

definitely a work in progress.

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That's why I'm so grateful

that as our reading today says,

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our God is the Lord who sanctifies us.

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I need him to be continually changing me.

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Today's reading is on Leviticus

Chapters 20 through 23.

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i'm gonna begin by reading Leviticus

23 regarding these holy festivals.

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Then I'll explain and finally, I'll

pray that the Lord would guide us in how

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we can honor and celebrate him today.

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Chapter 23, begins.

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The Lord spoke to Moses saying,

speak to the people of Israel and

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say to them, these are the appointed

feasts of the Lord that you shall

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proclaim as holy convocations.

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They are my appointed feasts.

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Six days shall work be done, but on

the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn.

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Rest, a holy convocation.

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You shall do no work.

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It is a Sabbath to the Lord

in all your dwelling places.

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These are the appointed feasts of

the Lord, the holy convocations,

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which you shall proclaim at the time

appointed for them in the first month.

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On the 14th day of the month at Twilight

is the Lord's Passover, and on the

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15th day of the same month is the

feast of unloved bread to the Lord.

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For seven days, you

shall eat unloved bread.

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On the first day, you shall

have a holy convocation.

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You shall not do any ordinary work,

but you shall present a food offering

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to the Lord for seven days on the

seventh day is a holy convocation.

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You shall not do any ordinary work.

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And the Lord spoke to Moses saying,

speak to the people of Israel and say

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to them, when you come into the land

that I give you and reap its harvest,

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you shall bring the sheath of the first

fruits of your harvest to the priest.

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And he shall waive the sheath before

the Lord so that you may be accepted.

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On the day after the Sabbath, the

priest shall waive it and on the day

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when you waive the sheath, you shall

offer a male lamb a year old, without

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blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord.

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And the grain offering with it shall

be two tenths of an epha of fine

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flour mixed with oil, a food offering

to the Lord with a pleasing aroma.

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And the drink offering with it shall be

of wine, a fourth of a hin, and you shall

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eat neither bread nor grain, parched

or fresh until this same day, until you

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have brought the offering of your God.

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It is a statute forever.

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Throughout your generations, in all

your dwellings, you shall count seven

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full weeks from the day after the

Sabbath, from the day that you brought

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the sheath of the wave offering.

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You shall count 50 days to the

day after the seventh Sabbath.

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Then you shall present a grain

offering of new grain to the Lord.

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You shall bring from your dwelling

places two loaves of bread to be

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waived, made of two tenths of an epha.

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They shall be a fine flour and

they shall be baked with lemon

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as first fruits to the Lord, and

you shall present with the bread.

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Seven lambs a year old without blemish

and one bull from the herd and two rams.

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They shall be a burnt offering to the

Lord with their grain offering and

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their drink offerings, a food offering

with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

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And you shall offer one male goat for a

sin offering and two male lambs a year

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old as a sacrifice of peace offerings, and

the priest shall wave them with the bread

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of the first fruits as a wave offering

before the Lord with the two lambs.

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They shall be holy to the Lord

for the priest, and you shall make

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a proclamation on the same day.

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You shall hold a holy convocation.

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You shall not do any ordinary work.

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It is a statute forever in

all your dwelling places

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throughout your generations.

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And when you reap the harvest of your

land, you shall not reap your field

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right up to its edge, nor shall you

gather the gleanings after your harvest.

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You shall leave them for the

poor and for the sojourner.

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I am the Lord your God.

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And the Lord spoke to Moses saying,

speak to the people of Israel,

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saying in the seventh month.

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On the first day of the month, you shall

observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial

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proclaimed with blast of trumpets.

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A holy convocation.

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you shall not do any ordinary work and you

shall present a food offering to the Lord.

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And the Lord spoke to Moses saying

Now on the 10th day of the seventh

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month is the day of atonement.

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It shall be for you a time of holy

convocation and you shall afflict

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yourselves and present a food

offering to the Lord and you shall

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not do any work on that very day.

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For it is a day of atonement

to make atonement for you

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before the Lord your God.

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For whoever is not afflicted on that very

day shall be cut off from his people.

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And whoever does any work on

that very day, that person I will

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destroy from among his people.

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You shall not do any work.

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It is a statute forever.

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Throughout your generations, in all

your dwelling places, it shall be

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to you a sabbath of solemn rest,

and you shall afflict yourselves

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on the seventh day of the month,

beginning at evening, from evening to

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evening, shall you keep your Sabbath.

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And the Lord spoke to Moses saying,

speak to the people of Israel saying On

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the 15th day of the seventh month, and

for seven days is the feast of booths.

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To the Lord on the first day

shall be a holy convocation.

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You shall not do any

ordinary work for seven days.

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You shall present food offerings

to the Lord on the eighth day.

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You shall hold a holy convocation and

present a food offering to the Lord.

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It is a solemn assembly.

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You shall not do any ordinary work.

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These are the appointed feasts of the

Lord, which you shall proclaim as times

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of holy convocation for presenting to

the Lord, food offerings, burnt offerings

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and grain offerings, sacrifices, and

drink offerings each on its proper day.

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Besides the Lord's Sabbaths.

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And besides your gifts and besides all

your vow offerings, and besides all

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your free will offerings which you give

to the Lord on the 15th day of the

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seventh month, when you have gathered

in the produce of the land, you shall

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celebrate The feast of the Lord is seven

days on the first day shall be a solemn

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rest, and on the eighth day shall be a

solemn rest, and you shall take on the

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first day, the fruit of splendid trees.

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Branches of palm trees and bows of leafy

trees and willows of the brook, and you

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shall rejoice before the Lord your God.

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Seven days.

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You shall celebrate it as a feast of

the Lord for seven days in the year.

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It is a statute forever.

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Throughout your generations,

you shall celebrate it.

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In the seventh month, you shall

dwell in booths for seven days.

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All native Israelites shall dwell

in booths that your generations

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may know that I made the people of

Israel dwell in booths when I brought

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them out of the land of Egypt.

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I am the Lord your . God.

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Of these feasts three occur in the spring

during March and April on our calendar.

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First the Passover happens, and

then immediately following is

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the feast of unleavened bread,

which is a week long festival.

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the Passover and the feast of

unleavened bread happened right

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before God led them out of Egypt.

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If they had the blood of the lamb on their

doorpost, the antal of the Lord passed

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over them and their firstborn was spared.

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Jesus was crucified on the Passover.

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He is our Passover lamb, and not only

was Jesus born in Bethlehem, which means

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House of Bread, he revealed himself as

the bread of life, just as Israel was to

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eat the bread without yeast, Christians

are to purge evil from their lives.

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Jesus' death does that for us.

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And then the feast of first fruits occurs.

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This is the first fruit of the

harvest, and it was to show their

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dependence on God for all things.

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One Corinthians 1520 tells us

that Jesus is the first fruits

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of those who have fallen asleep,

and this is the resurrection.

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Today.

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We celebrate this as Easter.

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Pentecost marked the summer harvest

and it occurred 50 days later.

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This was one of the three

times that Jewish men were

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required to be in Jerusalem.

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So in the Book of Acts, that's why

Jewish people of all nations and

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languages were gathered together.

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William h Marty says, regarding

the Pentecost in the New Testament,

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approximately six weeks after his

resurrection and only days after

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his ascension, the exalted Lord

Jesus fulfilled his promise to

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supernaturally empower his disciples

by pouring out the Holy Spirit on them.

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In early Judaism, it was commemorated

as the anniversary of the giving of

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the law in Mount Sinai because it

was thought that God gave the law

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to Israel 50 days after the Exodus

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It is possible that God give

the Holy Spirit on Pentecost

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to contrast with the law.

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The law was an external means of

restraining Israel from sin, but in

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the new era of the church, the Holy

Spirit would provide internal power

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for believers to live righteously and

just as the Lord descended and fire and

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smoke to give the law on Mount Sinai.

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The Holy Spirit descended on the believers

in Jerusalem with tongues of fire,

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Just to review, Jesus was

crucified on the Passover, buried

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on the feast of unloved bread.

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He was raised to life to represent

the feast of first fruits, and he

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sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

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Then there are three fall feasts.

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First is the Feast of Trumpets, and this

happens in September of our calendar.

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Many believe that this is representing

the church age and that the trumpet points

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to the coming rapture of the church.

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The high priest would often blow the

trumpet so that the workers would

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stop harvesting to come worship at

the tabernacle and someday a trumpet

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will sound the next feas is the Day of

Atonement, which we've talked about.

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This was their holiest of days.

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And it will be fulfilled when

Jesus returns at his second coming.

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And finally, the Feast of Tabernacles

was to help Israel remember that

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they used to be travelers living

in tents in the wilderness, but God

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brought them into the Promised land.

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Someday Jesus Christ

will reign on this earth.

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And eventually for all of eternity,

people from every tribe, tongue,

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Tonga Nation will dwell with him.

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With those first four feasts,

we can rejoice at what

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Christ accomplished already.

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But the last three, give us

hope to look for him again.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for

how deeply practical your word is

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as you lay out these prescriptions

for rest and celebration.

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And I'm sure every mom listening is

thinking how different that feels.

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From the celebrations we have today.

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I pray you would give us each wisdom in

how we can honor you in our homes, but

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still teach our children how to rest

because it reveals our trust in you.

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We pray that when you return Jesus.

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That every child being represented by the

moms listening, whether they're yet to be

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born, toddlers, teenagers, or grown men

and women, I pray in Jesus' name that you

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would be drawn each one of them to you,

and I pray that in all of our hearts,

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you would be the reason we celebrate.

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In Jesus' name we pray.

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Amen.