Conduit Aug 9- Steak House Conduit

A Pastor friend of mine recently said that He didn’t really see it as very exciting to go through the Bible chapter by chapter. That’s quite a statement for a Pastor. Of course, it probably is the opinion of most people. After all it’s really long and there aren’t any pictures.

When you come to chapters like Exodus 21 it seems like that opinion could hold weight. On the surface, what could be more boring than going through the laws that were written 3500 years ago addressing cultures and traditions that have long since passed away.

I don’t own an ox. I don’t know anybody who owns an ox. To my knowledge I don’t know anybody who knows anybody who owns an ox. And yet God included pertinent information for owners of oxen in this passage.

It also forces me to ask hard questions. Did God endorse slavery? It’s easy to shoot from the hip and say of course not but then you see a law addressing treatment of slaves in Exodus 21. How does that reconcile? It definitely seems more appealing to get to the parts about being blessed and healed.

If you agree with Paul that all scripture is “God breathed” then that means every thing in this book is important on one level or another. That means that every page is important. Every page contains pictures of Christ, instructions for living, promises of God, all important enough in Gods mind to include in His book.

The writer of Hebrews differentiated some of the Word of God as milk and other as meat. (Heb 5:12) It's not so much that any of the Word is harder to swallow, it's more a question of whether you and I are mature enough. (Heb 5 again)

It’s fair to say that the next few chapters of Exodus might fall under the “meat of the word” category. They’re not the elementary teachings of Christ that Hebrews 6:1 speaks of. They're not the milk, the baby food. Have you tried baby food lately? It might be nutritious, but it is anything but delicious. It might be food, but it is absolutely not enjoyable. Who wants a jar of Gerber's when Morton's is available?

We’ve always strove to be a bible study that actually studies the bible. These next few chapters are definitely strong meat chapters. In real life I’m very pro meat. I love steak. I think we can cut it up into bite size pieces so that it’s more palatable. We might even break out some A1 and flavor it up, but it’s still meat. It's still good stuff.

What’s the practical use of diving into the meat of the word? Hebrews 5:14 tells us that “by constant use of the Word that the mature train themselves to distinguish between good and evil.”

We live in a society right now where the lines of good and evil are blurred. The Word is what helps us to distinguish between the two in the world around us and in the hearts inside of us.

I encourage you to bring your notebooks, bibles and pens this week. For some of you that means bring your iPhone or laptop and I’m good with that.

Pull up a chair, it’s dinner time.

Monday, 730pm at Journey Church in Building 8 in the Factory. Also webcasting at www.mogulus.com/conduit

See you then.

Darren

If you had 3 meals today and some snacks in between, congratulations. You just ate more in one day than most kids in Haiti will eat all week. If you went to school in your youth you have accomplished what the vast majority of Haitians will never obtain, an education. In Haiti the government doesn’t provide these things. It’s the church, it’s you and I that can make a difference in both this life and the life to come of the kids in Jacmel, Haiti. You can donate any sum large or small. $15 will feed a child for a month. You can also commit to sponsoring an individual child for $32 a month. You can do all this at www.conduitmission.org

check out the blog at www.darrentyler.com
the podcast available at www.darrentyler.podomatic.com