[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 11

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 11

WORD OF WISDOM

I love being 60. I learn something new every day and forget five other
things.

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DAILY DEVOTION

Only One Way


Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that
acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
1 John 2:23

Surveys show that religious pluralism-the idea that there are multiple,
equally-correct ways to know God and have eternal life-is becoming
increasingly widespread in our society. Many people have swallowed the lie
that it doesn't matter what people believe because as long as they are
sincere in their faith, God will accept them. That thought may be comforting
to those who do not want to acknowledge the divinity of Jesus Christ and His
exclusive offer of salvation, but it is tragically wrong. Believing this lie
means they will reject their only chance of salvation.
Jesus made it clear that there was no other way to reach Heaven than by
faith in Him. "Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves
and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any
man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture"
(John 10:7-9). Everyone who offers an alternative means of salvation is
directing people toward Hell rather than Heaven.
The doctrine that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone is not popular,
but it is true. There is no other way-no good works, no alternate belief
system, no religious affiliation, no heritage-by which sinful men can come
to a holy God. The more our society rejects this truth, the more firmly we
must hold to it. There is no compromise or accommodation that we can make so
that the message becomes more acceptable because any such change destroys
the message. And changing the gospel brings judgment on both those who hear
the false message and those who spread it. "As we said before, so say I now
again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have
received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:9).
We must hold fast to the message that Jesus Christ is the only way and hope
of salvation.

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DAILY BIBLE READING

Numbers 10-12 New King James Version
Two Silver Trumpets
10 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Make two silver trumpets for
yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for
calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. 3 When
they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the
door of the tabernacle of meeting. 4 But if they blow only one, then the
leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you. 5 When
you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin
their journey. 6 When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps
that lie on the south side shall begin their journey; they shall sound the
call for them to begin their journeys. 7 And when the assembly is to be
gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance. 8 The sons of
Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an
[a]ordinance forever throughout your generations.

9 "When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then
you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered
before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. 10 Also
in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning
of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and
over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial
for you before your God: I am the Lord your God."

Departure from Sinai
11 Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the
second year, that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the
Testimony. 12 And the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of
Sinai on their journeys; then the cloud settled down in the Wilderness of
Paran. 13 So they started out for the first time according to the command of
the Lord by the hand of Moses.

14 The [b]standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first
according to their armies; over their army was Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
15 Over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethanel the
son of Zuar. 16 And over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun
was Eliab the son of Helon.

17 Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons
of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.

18 And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their armies;
over their army was Elizur the son of Shedeur. 19 Over the army of the tribe
of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 20 And over
the army of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

21 Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. (The tabernacle
would be [c]prepared for their arrival.)

22 And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out according
to their armies; over their army was Elishama the son of Ammihud. 23 Over
the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of
Pedahzur. 24 And over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was
Abidan the son of Gideoni.

25 Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan (the rear guard of
all the camps) set out according to their armies; over their army was
Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 26 Over the army of the tribe of the
children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran. 27 And over the army of the
tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan.

28 Thus was the order of march of the children of Israel, according to their
armies, when they began their journey.

29 Now Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel[d] the Midianite, Moses'
father-in-law, "We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, 'I
will give it to you.' Come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord
has promised good things to Israel."

30 And he said to him, "I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and
to my relatives."

31 So Moses said, "Please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to
camp in the wilderness, and you can [e]be our eyes. 32 And it shall be, if
you go with us-indeed it shall be-that whatever good the Lord will do to us,
the same we will do to you."

33 So they departed from the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three
days; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them for the three
days' journey, to search out a resting place for them. 34 And the cloud of
the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp.

35 So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said:

"Rise up, O Lord!
Let Your enemies be scattered,
And let those who hate You flee before You."

36 And when it rested, he said:

"Return, O Lord,
To the many thousands of Israel."

The People Complain
11 Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord
heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among
them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people
cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was
[f]quenched. 3 So he called the name of the place [g]Taberah, because the
fire of the Lord had burned among them.

4 Now the mixed multitude who were among them [h]yielded to intense craving;
so the children of Israel also wept again and said: "Who will give us meat
to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers,
the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being
is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!"

7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of
bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones
or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its
taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. 9 And when the dew
fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

10 Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone
at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused;
Moses also was displeased. 11 So Moses said to the Lord, "Why have You
afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that
You have laid the [i]burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all
these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in
your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,' to the land which You
swore[j] to their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these
people? For they weep all over me, saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.'
14 I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too
heavy for me. 15 If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now-if I
have found favor in Your sight-and do not let me see my wretchedness!"

The Seventy Elders
16 So the Lord said to Moses: "Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of
Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them;
bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you.
17 Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit
that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the
burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. 18
Then you shall say to the people, [k]'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow,
and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord,
saying, "Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt."
Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall eat,
not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20
but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes
loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and
have wept before Him, saying, "Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?" ' "

21 And Moses said, "The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men
on foot; yet You have said, 'I will give them meat, that they may eat for a
whole month.' 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide
enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for
them, to provide enough for them?"

23 And the Lord said to Moses, "Has[l] the Lord's arm been shortened? Now
you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not."

24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he
gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around
the tabernacle. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him,
and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the
seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they
prophesied, [m]although they never did so again.

26 But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the
name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were
among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they
prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, and said,
"Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."

28 So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men,
answered and said, "Moses my lord, forbid them!"

29 Then Moses said to him, "Are you [n]zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the
Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon
them!" 30 And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

The Lord Sends Quail
31 Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and
left them fluttering near the camp, about a day's journey on this side and
about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two
cubits above the surface of the ground. 32 And the people stayed up all that
day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who
gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves
all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth,
before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people,
and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. 34 So he called the
name of that place [o]Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the
people who had yielded to craving.

35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and camped at
Hazeroth.

Dissension of Aaron and Miriam
12 Then Miriam and Aaron [p]spoke against Moses because of the [q]Ethiopian
woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. 2 So they
said, "Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken
through us also?" And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very
humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)

4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "Come out, you three,
to the tabernacle of meeting!" So the three came out. 5 Then the Lord came
down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and
called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. 6 Then He said,

"Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
7 Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
8 I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly,[r] and not in [s]dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?"

9 So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. 10 And
when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became
leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she
was, a leper. 11 So Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord! Please do not lay
[t]this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have
sinned. 12 Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half
consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb!"

13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, "Please heal her, O God, I pray!"

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face,
would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut[u] out of the camp seven
days, and afterward she may be received again." 15 So Miriam was shut out of
the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought
in again. 16 And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the
Wilderness of Paran.

Footnotes
Numbers 10:8 statute
Numbers 10:14 banner
Numbers 10:21 Prepared by the Gershonites and the Merarites
Numbers 10:29 Jethro, Ex. 3:1; LXX Raguel
Numbers 10:31 Act as our guide
Numbers 11:2 extinguished
Numbers 11:3 Lit. Burning
Numbers 11:4 Lit. lusted intensely
Numbers 11:11 responsibility
Numbers 11:12 solemnly promised
Numbers 11:18 Set yourselves apart
Numbers 11:23 Is the Lord's power limited?
Numbers 11:25 Tg., Vg. and they did not cease
Numbers 11:29 jealous
Numbers 11:34 Lit. Graves of Craving
Numbers 12:1 criticized
Numbers 12:1 Cushite
Numbers 12:8 appearing
Numbers 12:8 riddles
Numbers 12:11 the penalty for this
Numbers 12:14 exiled