Today is an exciting day... God in His grace has given us today to know Him more, serve Him more, love others more, to demonstrate the love that has captured our hearts through Christ. The pulse is going through a slight makeover for the new year to include a new vision concerning the lessons on Wednesdays. The new series will be called "Bound", a series on commitment, declaration, and dedication to the Lord Jesus.
Recall Nehemiah, after war and devastation, the Jews had just come out of exile to once again live in the now rebuilt Jerusalem. Nehemiah assembled the city to hear Ezra the scribe read the Book of the Law of Moses (the first 5 books of the bible, the Torah in Hebrew or Pentateuch in Greek). As the people heard the words of Moses, they became sorrowful; mourning over their sin as well as the sin of their ancestors. The Law had revealed to all of the city how incredibly just and gracious God is, which in turn revealed how incredibly unjust and disobedient they were. Nehemiah told everyone to rejoice instead of mourning, for God had been faithful to re-establish his people once more. Following that, the Levites and priests began to discuss with all the people a more in-depth understanding of the scriptures. And then days later, the entire city desired to repent and seek forgiveness, spending hours upon hours in prayer to God. The most amazing thing happens afterward, one of the Levites begins to pray on behalf of everyone. This prayer went through how God had always been faithful to Abraham, Moses, and to the Jews themselves, then he spoke to God about the people's disobedience (along with their ancestors). Now, what happens next is crucial; the man then prays declaring to God that the whole city desired to bind themselves to the Law, to God, to obeying His commands and scriptures. A covenant to specifically stop doing certain things that went against His will and law, and to start worshipping God as the Holy, King of Kings, in the expressed manner written in the scriptures.
This is where the pulse finds its heartbeat for the next couple of months. Have we merely believed without demonstration? Have we considered intentionally declaring to God our desire to be like His Son, our desire to know His law and scriptures, to being holy? Young men, young women, this declaration is important but its demonstration means everything. We will discuss and learn what it means to dedicate ourselves to God both verbally and physically just as the people during Nehemiah's time had determined to do. I am bound to Christ, to be like Him, to know His decrees (hence the past year's study on the commands of Christ), and to obey them, so I hope we come together for this purpose, to know and obey, in the year '09. Consider these words carefully! Blessings to all of you, I thoroughly enjoy being your youth leader!
*YYL
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