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Has there ever been a more pleasure-mad culture than ours today? It seems that we can't be entertained enough. We have continuous media coming our way with constant imagery and sounds, all things that are supposed to bring us pleasure.
In fact, some people would say, "For me, life means living for pleasure. You know, it's all about having a good time. It's all about the weekend. It's all about the next party. It's all about the next thrill in life."
That philosophy is nothing new. The apostle Paul's contemporary, the emperor Nero, believed that the purpose of life was to live as an unbridled beast in pleasure, passion, and parties. And that is exactly how he lived.
There also was a Greek philosophical group at that time who called themselves the Epicureans. Basically, these were people who lived for pleasure. And we still have people like this today. In fact, the Bible tells us that one of the signs of the last days is that people will be "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:4). What a waste to live this way, because the Bible says that "she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives" (1 Timothy 5:6).
The apostle Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).
Joy Davidman, the wife of C. S. Lewis, said, "Living for your own pleasure is the least pleasurable thing a man can do. If his neighbors don't kill him in disgust he will die slowly of boredom and powerlessness."
What do you live for? What gets your blood pumping? What would you say is the greatest passion of your life? Only the person who can say, "To live is Christ" can also say, "To die is gain."
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What do you live for? Which part of "lovers of pleasure or lovers of God" best describes your heart?
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Today's Bible Reading:
Exodus 6:1 The Lord God told Moses:
Soon you will see what I will do to the king. Because of my mighty power, he will let my people go, and he will even chase them out of his country.
2 My name is the Lord.[a] 3 But when I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I came as God All-Powerful and did not use my name. 4 I made an agreement and promised them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreigners. 5 Now I have seen how the people of Israel are suffering because of the Egyptians, and I will keep my promise.
6 Here is my message for Israel: “I am the Lord! And with my mighty power I will punish the Egyptians and free you from slavery. 7 I will accept you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I was the one who rescued you from the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I solemnly promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it will be yours. I am the Lord!”
9 When Moses told this to the Israelites, they were too discouraged and mistreated to believe him.
10 Then the Lord told Moses 11 to demand that the king of Egypt let the Israelites leave. 12 But Moses replied, “I’m not a powerful speaker. If the Israelites won’t listen to me, why should the king of Egypt?” 13 But the Lord sent Aaron and Moses with a message for the Israelites and for the king; he also ordered Aaron and Moses to free the people from Egypt.
Family Record of Aaron and Moses
14 The following men were the heads of their ancestral clans:
The sons of Reuben, Jacob’s[b] oldest son, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.
16 Levi lived to be one hundred thirty-seven; his sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
17 Gershon’s sons were Libni and Shimei.
18 Kohath lived to be one hundred thirty-three; his sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
19 Merari’s sons were Mahli and Mushi. All of the above were from the Levi tribe.
20 Amram lived to be one hundred thirty-seven. He married his father’s sister Jochebed, and they had two sons, Aaron and Moses.
21 Izhar’s sons were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
22 Uzziel’s sons were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
23 Aaron married Elisheba. She was the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon; they had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
24 Korah’s sons were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph.
25 Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of Putiel’s daughters, and their son was Phinehas. This ends the list of those who were the heads of clans in the Levi tribe.
26 The Lord had commanded Aaron and Moses to lead every family and tribe of Israel out of Egypt, 27 and so they ordered the king of Egypt to set the people of Israel free.
The Lord Commands Moses and Aaron To Speak to the King
28 When the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 he said, “I am the Lord. Tell the king[c] of Egypt everything I say to you.”
30 But Moses answered, “You know I am a very poor speaker, and the king will never listen to me.”
7:1 The Lord said:
I am going to let your brother Aaron speak for you. He will tell your message to the king, just as a prophet speaks my message to the people. 2 Tell Aaron everything I say to you, and he will order the king to let my people leave his country. 3-4 But I will make the king so stubborn that he won’t listen to you. He won’t listen even when I do many terrible things to him and his nation. Then I will bring a final punishment on Egypt, and the king will let Israel’s families and tribes go. 5 When this happens, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.
6 Moses and Aaron obeyed the Lord 7 and spoke to the king. At the time, Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three.
A Stick Turns into a Snake
8-9 The Lord said, “Moses, when the king [d] asks you and Aaron to perform a miracle, command Aaron to throw his walking stick down in front of the king, and it will turn into a snake.”
10 Moses and Aaron went to the king and his officials and did exactly as the Lord had commanded—Aaron threw the stick down, and it turned into a snake. 11 Then the king called in the wise men and the magicians, who used their secret powers to do the same thing— 12 they threw down sticks that turned into snakes. But Aaron’s snake swallowed theirs. 13 The king behaved just as the Lord had said and stubbornly refused to listen.
The Nile River Turns into Blood
14 The Lord said to Moses:
The Egyptian king [e] stubbornly refuses to change his mind and let the people go. 15 Tomorrow morning take the stick that turned into a snake, then wait beside the Nile River for the king. 16 Tell him, “The Lord God of the Hebrews sent me to order you to release his people, so they can worship him in the desert. But until now, you have paid no attention.
17 “The Lord is going to do something to show you that he really is the Lord. I will strike the Nile with this stick, and the water will turn into blood. 18 The fish will die, the river will stink, and none of you Egyptians will be able to drink the water.”
19 Moses, then command Aaron to hold his stick over the water. And when he does, every drop of water in Egypt will turn into blood, including rivers, canals, ponds, and even the water in buckets and jars.
20 Moses and Aaron obeyed the Lord. Aaron held out his stick, then struck the Nile, as the king and his officials watched. The river turned into blood, 21 the fish died, and the water smelled so bad that none of the Egyptians could drink it. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
22 But the Egyptian magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing. The king did just as the Lord had said—he stubbornly refused to listen. 23 Then he went back to his palace and never gave it a second thought. 24 The Egyptians had to dig holes along the banks of the Nile for drinking water, because water from the river was unfit to drink.
Frogs
25 Seven days after the Lord had struck the Nile, 8:1 he said to Moses:
Go to the palace and tell the king [f] of Egypt that I order him to let my people go, so they can worship me. 2 If he refuses, I will cover his entire country with frogs. 3 Warn the king that the Nile will be full of frogs, and from there they will spread into the royal palace, including the king’s bedroom and even his bed. Frogs will enter the homes of his officials and will find their way into ovens and into the bowls of bread dough. 4 Frogs will be crawling on everyone—the king, his officials, and every citizen of Egypt.
5 Moses, now command Aaron to hold his stick over the water. Then frogs will come from all rivers, canals, and ponds in Egypt, and they will cover the land.
6 Aaron obeyed, and suddenly frogs were everywhere in Egypt. 7 But the magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing.
8 The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, “If you ask the Lord to take these frogs away from me and my people, I will let your people go and offer sacrifices to him.”
9 “All right,” Moses answered. “You choose the time when I am to pray for the frogs to stop bothering you, your officials, and your people, and for them to leave your houses and be found only in the river.”
10 “Do it tomorrow!” the king replied.
“As you wish,” Moses agreed. “Then everyone will discover that there is no god like the Lord, 11 and frogs will no longer be found anywhere, except in the Nile.”
12 After Moses and Aaron left the palace, Moses begged the Lord to do something about the frogs he had sent as punishment for the king. 13 The Lord listened to Moses, and frogs died everywhere—in houses, yards, and fields. 14 The dead frogs were placed in piles, and the whole country began to stink. 15 But when the king saw that things were now better, he again did just as the Lord had said and stubbornly refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.
Gnats
16 The Lord said to Moses, “Command Aaron to strike the ground with his walking stick, and everywhere in Egypt the dust will turn into gnats.” 17 They obeyed, and when Aaron struck the ground with the stick, gnats started swarming on people and animals. In fact, every speck of dust in Egypt turned into a gnat. 18 When the magicians tried to use their secret powers to do this,[g] they failed, and gnats stayed on people and animals.
19 The magicians told the king,[h] “God has done this.”
But, as the Lord had said, the king was too stubborn to listen.
Flies
20 The Lord said to Moses:
Early tomorrow morning, while the king [i] is on his way to the river, go and say to him, “The Lord commands you to let his people go, so they can worship him. 21 If you don’t, he will send swarms of flies to attack you, your officials, and every citizen of your country. Houses will be full of flies, and the ground will crawl with them.
22-23 “The Lord’s people in Goshen won’t be bothered by flies, but your people in the rest of the country will be tormented by them. That’s how you will know that the Lord is here in Egypt. This miracle will happen tomorrow.”
24 The Lord kept his promise—the palace and the homes of the royal officials swarmed with flies, and the rest of the country was infested with them as well. 25 Then the king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, “Go sacrifice to your God, but stay here in Egypt.”
26 “That’s impossible!” Moses replied. “Any sacrifices we offer to the Lord our God would disgust the Egyptians, and they would stone us to death. 27 No indeed! The Lord has ordered us to walk three days into the desert before offering sacrifices to him, and that’s what we have to do.”
28 Then the king told him, “I’ll let you go into the desert to offer sacrifices, if you don’t go very far. But in the meantime, pray for me.”
29 “Your Majesty,” Moses replied, “I’ll pray for you as soon as I leave, and by tomorrow the flies will stop bothering you, your officials, and the citizens of your country. Only make sure that you’re telling the truth this time and that you really intend to let our people offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
30 After leaving the palace, Moses prayed, 31 and the Lord answered his prayer. Not a fly was left to pester the king, his officials, or anyone else in Egypt. 32 But the king turned stubborn again and would not let the people go.[Footnotes:
6.2 My name is the Lord: See the note at 3.14,15.
6.14 Jacob: The Hebrew text has “Israel,” Jacob’s name after God renamed him.
6.29; 7.8,9,14; 8.1 the king: See the note at 1.11.
6.29; 7.8,9,14; 8.1 the king: See the note at 1.11.
6.29; 7.8,9,14; 8.1 the king: See the note at 1.11.
6.29; 7.8,9,14; 8.1 the king: See the note at 1.11.
8.18 to do this: Or “to get rid of the gnats.”
8.19,20; 9.1,10,13 the king: See the note at 1.11.
8.19,20; 9.1,10,13 the king: See the note at 1.11.]
Luke 23: Pilate Questions Jesus
1 Everyone in the council got up and led Jesus off to Pilate. 2 They started accusing him and said, “We caught this man trying to get our people to riot and to stop paying taxes to the Emperor. He also claims that he is the Messiah, our king.”
3 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Those are your words,” Jesus answered.
4 Pilate told the chief priests and the crowd, “I don’t find him guilty of anything.”
5 But they all kept on saying, “He has been teaching and causing trouble all over Judea. He started in Galilee and has now come all the way here.”
Jesus Is Brought before Herod
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked, “Is this man from Galilee?” 7 After Pilate learned that Jesus came from the region ruled by Herod,[a] he sent him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at that time.
8 For a long time Herod had wanted to see Jesus and was very happy because he finally had this chance. He had heard many things about Jesus and hoped to see him work a miracle.
9 Herod asked him a lot of questions, but Jesus did not answer. 10 Then the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses stood up and accused him of all kinds of bad things.
11 Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and insulted him. They put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. 12 That same day Herod and Pilate became friends, even though they had been enemies before this.
The Death Sentence
13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people. 14 He told them, “You brought Jesus to me and said he was a troublemaker. But I have questioned him here in front of you, and I have not found him guilty of anything that you say he has done. 15 Herod didn’t find him guilty either and sent him back. This man doesn’t deserve to be put to death! 16-17 I will just have him beaten with a whip and set free.”[b]
18 But the whole crowd shouted, “Kill Jesus! Give us Barabbas!” 19 Now Barabbas was in jail because he had started a riot in the city and had murdered someone.
20 Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he spoke again to the crowds. 21 But they kept shouting, “Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!”
22 Pilate spoke to them a third time, “But what crime has he done? I have not found him guilty of anything for which he should be put to death. I will have him beaten with a whip and set free.”
23 The people kept on shouting as loud as they could for Jesus to be put to death. 24 Finally, Pilate gave in. 25 He freed the man who was in jail for rioting and murder, because he was the one the crowd wanted to be set free. Then Pilate handed Jesus over for them to do what they wanted with him.
Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross
26 As Jesus was being led away, some soldiers grabbed hold of a man from Cyrene named Simon. He was coming in from the fields, but they put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
27 A large crowd was following Jesus, and in the crowd a lot of women were crying and weeping for him. 28 Jesus turned to the women and said:
Women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me! Cry for yourselves and for your children. 29 Someday people will say, “Women who never had children are really fortunate!” 30 At that time everyone will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” They will say to the hills, “Hide us!” 31 If this can happen when the wood is green, what do you think will happen when it is dry?[c]
32 Two criminals were led out to be put to death with Jesus. 33 When the soldiers came to the place called “The Skull,”[d] they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus.
34-35 Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people! They don’t know what they’re doing.”[e]
While the crowd stood there watching Jesus, the soldiers gambled for his clothes. The leaders insulted him by saying, “He saved others. Now he should save himself, if he really is God’s chosen Messiah!”
36 The soldiers made fun of Jesus and brought him some wine. 37 They said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”
38 Above him was a sign that said, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging there also insulted Jesus by saying, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and save us!”
40 But the other criminal told the first one off, “Don’t you fear God? Aren’t you getting the same punishment as this man? 41 We got what was coming to us, but he didn’t do anything wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into power!”
43 Jesus replied, “I promise that today you will be with me in paradise.”[f]
The Death of Jesus
44 Around noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until the middle of the afternoon. 45 The sun stopped shining, and the curtain in the temple[g] split down the middle. 46 Jesus shouted, “Father, I put myself in your hands!” Then he died.
47 When the Roman officer saw what had happened, he praised God and said, “Jesus must really have been a good man!”
48 A crowd had gathered to see the terrible sight. Then after they had seen it, they felt brokenhearted and went home. 49 All of Jesus' close friends and the women who had come with him from Galilee stood at a distance and watched.
Jesus Is Buried
50-51 There was a man named Joseph, who was from Arimathea in Judea. Joseph was a good and honest man, and he was eager for God’s kingdom to come. He was also a member of the council, but he did not agree with what they had decided.
52 Joseph went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. 53 He took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in fine cloth. Then he put it in a tomb that had been cut out of solid rock and had never been used. 54 It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.[h]
55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and watched how Jesus' body was placed in the tomb. 56 Then they went to prepare some sweet-smelling spices for his burial. But on the Sabbath they rested, as the Law of Moses commands.[Footnotes:
23.7 Herod: Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great.
23.16,17 set free: Some manuscripts add, “Pilate said this, because at every Passover he was supposed to set one prisoner free for the Jewish people.”
23.31 If this can happen when the wood is green, what do you think will happen when it is dry: This saying probably means, “If this can happen to an innocent person, what do you think will happen to one who is guilty?”
23.33 “The Skull” : The place was probably given this name because it was near a large rock in the shape of a human skull.
23.34,35 Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people! They don’t know what they’re doing.” : These words are not in some manuscripts.
23.43 paradise: In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word is used for the Garden of Eden. In New Testament times it was sometimes used for the place where God’s people are happy and at rest, as they wait for the final judgment.
23.45 curtain in the temple: There were two curtains in the temple. One was at the entrance, and the other separated the holy place from the most holy place that the Jewish people thought of as God’s home on earth. The second curtain is probably the one which is meant.
23.54 the Sabbath was about to begin: The Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday.]
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie
P.O. Box 4000
Riverside, California 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1(800)821-3300
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