Thoughts on February 21 Bible Reading

February 21, 2018

Reading: Numbers 7-8; Mark 4

(Guest Post: Barnabas Roland)

Numbers 7-8

With legal passages like these, an easy way to pay attention as you read is to jot down the important notes about one of the topics so you can review at the end. For example, I noted these things about the Levites as I read Numbers 8:

• They are to be cleansed (8:5)
• They are to be separated to serve the Lord (8:14)
• They are to be a substitute for the firstborn at the Passover (8:16-18)
• They are to serve the people by performing sacrifices (8:19)
• They are to serve from ages 25-50 and then retire (8:24-25)

My goal here is reading rather than deep study so I’m not trying to exhaustively write down everything. This short list is enough for me to glance back over and reflect on what I read. Overall, what really sticks out to me are the words service and sacrifice. What a life the Levites must have had with sacrifice (a picture of the gospel) at the center of what they did each day as they served the Lord and the people!

Mark 4

As a church planter overseas, I love to read these parables of the kingdom. I have seen the lives of many people transformed by the Holy Spirit. My heart has broken over seeing counties of several hundred thousand people without a single church. And less than a decade later some of those same counties now have churches that have planted churches that have planted churches. 

We try to come up with the best ways to share the gospel and teaching others how to plant churches, but it all comes down to God himself moving in the hearts of people and doing this work. The British pastor John Stott defined the kingdom of God as, "his rule set up in the lives of his people by his Holy Spirit.” God’s kingdom is not something that we can control. The spiritual work in the heart of a person is out of our control. Our role is to faithfully sow the seed of the gospel.