Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living from Wordaction of The Global Church of the Nazarene Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States "The Seminary at Sinai" by Duane Brush for Tuesday, 26 July 2016 with Scripture: Exodus 23:1-13

Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living from Wordaction of The Global Church of the Nazarene Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States "The Seminary at Sinai" by Duane Brush for Tuesday, 26 July 2016 with Scripture: Exodus 23:1-13
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"The Seminary at Sinai" by Duane Brush
Scripture: Exodus 23:1 “You are not to repeat false rumors; do not join hands with the wicked by offering perjured testimony. 2 Do not follow the crowd when it does what is wrong; and don’t allow the popular view to sway you into offering testimony for any cause if the effect will be to pervert justice. 3 On the other hand, don’t favor a person’s lawsuit simply because he is poor.
4 “If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey straying, you must return it to him. 5 If you see the donkey which belongs to someone who hates you lying down helpless under its load, you are not to pass him by but to go and help him free it.
(v) 6 “Do not deny anyone justice in his lawsuit simply because he is poor. 7 Keep away from fraud, and do not cause the death of the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked. 8 You are not to receive a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clearsighted and subverts the cause of the righteous.
9 “You are not to oppress a foreigner, for you know how a foreigner feels, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
10 “For six years, you are to sow your land with seed and gather in its harvest. 11 But the seventh year, you are to let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people can eat; and what they leave, the wild animals in the countryside can eat. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.
12 “For six days, you are to work. But on the seventh day, you are to rest, so that your ox and donkey can rest, and your slave-girl’s son and the foreigner be renewed.
13 “Pay attention to everything I have said to you; do not invoke the names of other gods or even let them be heard crossing your lips.
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Hymn for Today: "Holiness Forevermore" by Haldor Lillenas
1. There’s a blessed and triumphant song:
Holiness forevermore! 
It is sung by the mighty blood-washed throng:
Holiness forevermore!
Refrain:
Holiness forevermore! Holiness forevermore!
We will sing it, shout it, preach it, and live it:

Holiness forevermore!
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What is holiness like? For us A.D. or C.E. people it is easy to point to the example of Jesus Christ, but what about believers B.C.or B.C.E.? The descendants of Abraham whom God brought out of Egypt were a pretty rough bunch. They had a shared heritage, some great stories about their notable ancestors, but little clear idea about how to become a “holy nation,” a people among whom God was honored and glorified. Exodus records the “Seminary at Sinai,” where God provided clear and practical instruction in the meaning of holiness. To be holy is to be both the defining quality of His nature and of His people.
God’s method of instruction used hundreds of specific real-life examples. Some were positive, "you shall," others negative "do not." Like brushstrokes on a great canvas, the picture of what it means to be the holy people of God in our fallen world begins to emerge. It expresses itself in literally every part of living: from telling the truth (Exodus 23:1), from how you treat your enemy's donkey (Exodus 23:4-5) to care for the earth and the poor (Exodus 23:10-11). Holiness is like that, as richly textured as daily life and as pervasive as air.
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Thought of the Day: Exodus 19:6 and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a nation set apart.’ These are the words you are to speak to the people of Isra’el.”
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Please Pray: For the development of Christian leaders in the Republic of  South Sudan\.
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