Exodus chapter 24.
God called 74 leaders to himself at the mountain. They are leading over a million Israelites. God calls the leaders before him. Today, our Church leadership team must be connected to the Lord. If our church leadership does not have a committed relationship with the Lord, then the people they lead will not have a committed relationship with the Lord. Leadership must be committed to Christ so they can lead the people with passion and conviction. People will follow with passion and conviction and commitment if the leadership leads that way otherwise it will be sloppy! Unfortunately today our churches have more leaders who are not committed to God's word. They are not in God's word. God calls us into his presence. God was in no hurry to meet with the 74 leaders. He sat and dined with them. He calls us into his presence. Do we hurry it through? Do we sit and listen? Do we read God's word and then listen? Do we share our hearts with him praying for the needs around us and pray for our own needs and then listen?
Do we walk with the Lord all day or just in our quiet time? May we walk with him daily and throughout the whole day!
Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. They said that they would follow all of the words that the Lord spoke. I wonder if they realized what a commitment and how challenging that would be. May our words be backed up by action so that whenever we set out to do something, we are faithful to do whatever it is that we say that we will do. Moses was called to have a mountaintop experience with God and we read that he was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. Does that number sound familiar?
Jim, I left a note about the goat thing on your comments from yesterday.
Hi Jeanine. I responded to your note from yesterday. Thanks for sharing. I’m so glad that we are all able to encourage each other as we journey through God’s Word together. The only sort of glitch that I know of is that we don’t know when someone may have replied to one of our comments from an earlier day unless we happen to go back and check it or they let us know somehow.
Jim, I too was thinking about how they said they would obey whatever the Lord commanded and wanted. What a big commitment it was, and I wonder how long it took to have that commitment fade for some followers. It reminds me of times I have gone on a retreat with the church. I am fired up for God and come home full of renewed life and passion and purpose. But little by little that flame starts to die down and I allow the busyness of life pull me away from my faith. I’m sure the Israelites were still feeling that fire and burning passion for the Lord when they said they would obey Him. While every weekend we may not go on a retreat, each day we can work towards reigniting our flame for the Lord. May we all try to find that fire and help others to it as well!
Oh wow. I just noticed this is “day 74” of our bible challenge and Blair noted the “74 leaders” God called to the mountain!
So it may have been better for the children of Israel to respond with a prayer to God asking for His help in keeping this commitment because without Him we can do nothing. Amen?