Fruit or Fire

Tuesday, May 6, 2014 Devotions: Ps 26, 28, 36, 39; Ex 19:1-16; Col 1:1-14; Mt 3:7-12 Vindicate me, Lord, as I walk in the integrity You provide. Your steadfast love is before my eyes; I walk faithfully to You. I do not side with false men or consort with dissemblers, with evildoers or the wicked. I love to live with You; don't sweep me away with sinners or bloodthirsty mortals. You have settled me on solid, level ground. But I am entirely dependent on You! Let God judge the ungodly; and let me bless YHWH, my Strength and Shield. I am helped and my heart exults; I sing His praises when I open my mouth. YHWH is the strength of His people, the saving refuge of His anointed; be Thou our Shepherd forever! Transgression appeals deeply to the wicked; there is no love or fear of God in their hearts; they plot mischief on their beds and welcome evil. But God's steadfast love extends to the heavens and covers the entire creation; His righteousness is like the mountains, mighty and eternal. YHWH, how precious is Your eternal love; You feed and care for us. Continue in Your steadfast love to us who know You; cast down evil, and lift up Your chosen and anointed ones. Repeatedly, I have resolved not to say anything sinful; not to look with lust on women; not to commit adultery in my heart. But the transgressions erupt like lava, time and again. And so I cry: Lord, let me know my end, and the measure of my days. Keep me focused on my mortality; You have given me a good, long life by human standards, but it's a shadow before You. My hope is all in Your, Lord. Deliver me from all my sins; don't let me be a fool, or the scorn of fools. Hear my prayer, YHWH, and give ear to my cry. Let me abide in Your love and keep Your precepts now and forever. Three months after the Exodus began, at the time of the new moon, the Israelites entered the wilderness of Sinai and camped before God's mountain. Moses climbed up and God spoke to him: 'Tell Israel: you have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and how I have brought you to Myself, as on eagles' wings. Now: if you obey My voice and keep My covenant, you with be My special possession, My treasure among all peoples; as you know, all the earth is Mine; and you will be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.' Moses assembled the elders of the people and shared God's word with them; and the people agreed. Moses took their assent to God, and He said, 'Lo, I Am coming to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear whenever I speak with you, and may believe you forever.' And God told Moses, 'Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments, and be prepared for the third day. On that day, YHWH will come down on Sinai before all the people. Set bounds around the base of the mountain; no human or animal may touch it, or they will die by stoning or by arrows—don't touch the body that has profaned My holy mountain. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, let the people assemble at the foot of My mountain.' On the third day, there was continual thunder and lightning and a thick cloud descended over the peak. A very loud trumpet blast was heard, and the people throughout the camp trembled. Moses led the people to the foot of Sinai, and the whole mountain quaked and smoked. The trumpet got louder and louder, and God spoke to Moses in thunder. YHWH called Moses to the mountaintop and he ascended. God told Moses: 'Go down and warn the people to stay back; if they come near, they will perish.' God had Moses fetch Aaron with him up the mountain. And He gave Moses the Ten Words. Paul wrote to the Christians in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in the Messiah Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You learned this by the word of truth preached to you in the gospel, which is spreading across the world and bearing fruit—just so among yourselves, from the day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth, as you learned from Ephaphras our beloved fellow servant, a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf. He has made known to us your love in the Spirit. So from the day we heard all this, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in knowledge of God. May you be strengthened in all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. John the Baptizer saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, and he confronted them: 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath to come? Bear fruit that befits repentance, and don't presume to tell yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these desert stones. Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water, but One is coming, mightier than I, Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will clear His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into the granary and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.'