DailyPlan : esv-study-bible : 2012-03-28 #Bible http://j.mp/srQMz1
In todays reading we started with a Psalm which speaks very lovingly about the city of Jerusalem. As western Christians we may easily forget that Jerusalem is God’s chosen city where He puposed to place His and it is where Jesus will once again place his feet at the second coming.
We move on to Exodus 33 where, at the end of the chapter, we see God having favor upon Moses so much that he is allowed to see the physical glory of God. This favor I believe came from Moses plea to “know Him”. It is in the intimate closeness of relationship that we can come to know God, come into favor with God, and see the glory of God.
In Nehemiah an interesting phrase is where nehemiah chose certain men to be leaders in the ministry because they were “reliable”. This is a vital key to your promotion in the kingdom of God.
Then in Corinthians, Paul advises the church to remove those who are engaging in immorality. I’m afraid that the contemporary church has mis-understood the concept of mercy and grace. We have aligned mercy with the word tolerance. This was not Pauls view. You can and must show mercy, but as Jude rightly said, mercy mixed with fear “hating even the garment defiled by the flesh”.
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