Elise Meyers

Who God is and What He has done

Deuteronomy 4:7 (MSG)
Yes. What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way god, our God, is with us, always ready to listen to us? And what other great nation has rules and regulations as good and fair as this Revelation that I'm setting before you today?

Deuteronomy 4:9 (MSG)
Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don't forget anything of what you've seen. Don't let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you've seen and heard to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 4:11-12 (MSG)
You gathered. You stood in the shadow of the mountain. The mountain was ablaze with fire, blazing high into the very heart of Heaven. You stood in deep darkness and thick clouds. god spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but you saw nothing—no form, only a voice. He announced his covenant, the Ten Words, by which he commanded you to live. Then he wrote them down on two slabs of stone.

Deuteronomy 4:20 (MSG)
But you-God took you right out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to become the people of his inheritance-and that's what you are this very day.

Deuteronomy 4:29-31 (MSG)
But even there, if you seek god, your God, you'll be able to find him if you're serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul. When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to god, your God, and listen obediently to what he says. god, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you, he won't bring you to ruin, he won't forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.

Deuteronomy 4:35-36 (MSG)
You were shown all this so that you would know that god is, well, God. He's the only God there is. He's it. He made it possible for you to hear his voice out of Heaven to discipline you. Down on Earth, he showed you the big fire and again you heard his words, this time out of the fire. He loved your ancestors and chose to work with their children. He personally and powerfully brought you out of Egypt in order to displace bigger and stronger and older nations with you, bringing you out and turning their land over to you as an inheritance. And now it's happening. This very day.

Deuteronomy 4:39-40 (MSG)
Know this well, then. Take it to heart right now: god is in Heaven above; god is on Earth below. He's the only God there is. Obediently live by his rules and commands which I'm giving you today so that you'll live well and your children after you—oh, you'll live a long time in the land that god, your God, is giving you.

Rules for Murder

Numbers 35:29-34 (MSG)
"These are the procedures for making judgments from now on, wherever you live.

Vows

Numbers 30:1-2 (MSG)
Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the People of Israel: "This is what god commands: When a man makes a vow to god or binds himself by an oath to do something, he must not break his word; he must do exactly what he has said.

Numbers 30:16 (MSG)
These are the rules that god gave Moses regarding conduct between a man and his wife and between a father and his young daughter who is still living at home.

7th Month Activities

Numbers 29:1 (MSG)
"On the first day of the seventh month, gather in holy worship and do no regular work. This is your Day-of-Trumpet-Blasts. Sacrifice a Whole-Burnt-Offering: one young bull, one ram, and seven male yearling lambs—all healthy—as a pleasing fragrance to god. Prepare a Grain-Offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for the bull, four quarts for the ram, and two quarts for each lamb, plus a he-goat as an Absolution-Offering to atone for you.

Numbers 29:7 (MSG)
"On the tenth day of this seventh month, gather in holy worship, humble yourselves, and do no work.

Numbers 29:12 (MSG)
"Gather in holy worship on the fifteenth day of the seventh month; do no regular work. Celebrate a Festival to god for seven days. Bring a Whole-Burnt-Offering, a Fire-Gift of pleasing fragrance to god: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling male lambs—all healthy. Prepare a Grain-Offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for each of the bulls, four quarts for each ram, and two quarts for each of the fourteen lambs. Also bring a he-goat as an Absolution-Offering in addition to the regular Whole-Burnt-Offering with its Grain-Offering and Drink-Offering.

God Stops Us

Numbers 22:32-34 (MSG)
god's angel said to him: "Why have you beaten your poor donkey these three times? I have come here to block your way because you're getting way ahead of yourself. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she hadn't, I would have killed you by this time, but not the donkey. I would have let her off."

Power

Psalm 30:1-12 (MSG)
I give you all the credit, god— you got me out of that mess, you didn't let my foes gloat.

Psalm 90:12-17

Psalm 90:12-17 (MSG)
Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! Come back, god—how long do we have to wait?— and treat your servants with kindness for a change. Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long. Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime. Let your servants see what you're best at— the ways you rule and bless your children. And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!

Jesus' Baptism

Matthew 3:13-17 (MSG)
Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, "I'm the one who needs to be baptized, not you!"

Priestly Blessing

Numbers 6:22-26 (NIV)
The lord said to Moses,

Hebrews 12:1-3

Hebrews 12:1-3 (MSG)
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Psalm 27:1-6

Psalm 27:1-6 (NIV)
The lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

God's Gifts

Galatians 5:22 (MSG)
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Galatians 5:25 (MSG)
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Psalm 51:1-3, Psalm 51:10-13

Psalm 51:1-3 (MSG)
Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I've been; my sins are staring me down.

Psalm 51:10-13 (MSG)
God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.

"Homosexuality"

Leviticus 18:22 (MSG)
"Don't have sex with a man as one does with a woman. That is abhorrent.

Foods to Not Eat

Leviticus 11:7 (MSG)
The pig has a split hoof, divided in two, but doesn't chew the cud and so is unclean.

Leviticus 11:9 (MSG)
"Among the creatures that live in the water of the seas and streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales. But anything that doesn't have fins and scales, whether in seas or streams, whether small creatures in the shallows or huge creatures in the deeps, you are to detest. Yes, detest them. Don't eat their meat; detest their carcasses. Anything living in the water that doesn't have fins and scales is detestable to you.

Leviticus 11:21-22 (MSG)
But you can eat some of these, namely, those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground:

Leviticus 11:41-42 (MSG)
"Creatures that crawl on the ground are detestable and not to be eaten. Don't eat creatures that crawl on the ground, whether on their belly or on all fours or on many feet—they are detestable. Don't make yourselves unclean or be defiled by them, because I am your god.

Covenant/Moses

Exodus 34:6-7 (MSG)
God passed in front of him and called out, "God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient-so much love, so deeply true -

Exodus 34:14-15 (MSG)
Don't worship any other god. God-his name is The-Jealous-One-is a jealous God.

Exodus 34:28-29 (MSG)
Moses was there with god forty days and forty nights. He didn't eat any food; he didn't drink any water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.

Exodus 34:33-35 (MSG)
When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, but when he went into the presence of god to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they would see Moses' face, its skin glowing, and then he would again put the veil on his face until he went back in to speak with god.

The Alter

Exodus 24:4-7 (MSG)
Then Moses wrote it all down, everything god had said. He got up early the next morning and built an Altar at the foot of the mountain using twelve pillar-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed young Israelite men to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrifice Peace-Offerings of bulls. Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls; the other half he threw against the Altar.

Exodus 24:12 (MSG)
god said to Moses, "Climb higher up the mountain and wait there for me; I'll give you tablets of stone, the teachings and commandments that I've written to instruct them." So Moses got up, accompanied by Joshua his aide. And Moses climbed up the mountain of God.

Exodus 24:18 (MSG)
Moses entered the middle of the Cloud and climbed the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Don'ts

Exodus 23:1-2 (MSG)
"Don't pass on malicious gossip. "Don't link up with a wicked person and give corrupt testimony. Don't go along with the crowd in doing evil and don't fudge your testimony in a case just to please the crowd. And just because someone is poor, don't show favoritism in a dispute.

Exodus 23:9 (MSG)
"Don't take advantage of a stranger. You know what it's like to be a stranger; you were strangers in Egypt.

Exodus 23:31 (MSG)
I will make your borders stretch from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Wilderness to the Euphrates River. I'm turning everyone living in that land over to you; go ahead and drive them out.

List of Don'ts

Exodus 22:16 (MSG)
"If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the marriage price and marry her. If her father absolutely refuses to give her away, the man must still pay the marriage price for virgins.

Exodus 22:18-21 (MSG)
"Don't let a sorceress live.

Exodus 22:25 (MSG)
"If you lend money to my people, to any of the down-and-out among you, don't come down hard on them and gouge them with interest.

Getting Even

Exodus 21:12-13 (MSG)
"If someone hits another and death results, the penalty is death. But if there was no intent to kill—if it was an accident, an 'act of God'—I'll set aside a place to which the killer can flee for refuge. But if the murder was premeditated, cunningly plotted, then drag the killer away, even if it's from my Altar, to be put to death.

Exodus 21:15-19 (MSG)
"If someone hits father or mother, the penalty is death.

Exodus 21:23-25 (MSG)
But if there is further damage, then you must give life for life

10 Commandments

Exodus 20:5-6 (MSG)
Don't bow down to them and don't serve them because I am God, your God, and I'm a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me.

Exodus 20:9-10 (MSG)
Work six days and do everything you need to do.

Exodus 20:12-16 (MSG)
Honor your father and mother so that you'll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.

Mt Sinai

Exodus 19:11 (MSG)
so that on the third day they'll be fully prepared, because on the third day God will come down on Mount Sinai and make his presence known to all the people.

Exodus 19:17 (MSG)
Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood at attention at the base of the mountain.

Exodus 19:20 (MSG)
God descended to the peak of Mount Sinai. God called Moses up to the peak and Moses climbed up.

Hierarchy

Exodus 18:24-26 (MSG)
Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. Moses picked competent men from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people who were organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They took over the everyday work of judging among the people. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but in the routine cases they were the judges. Then Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law who went home to his own country.

Exodus 16:36

Exodus 16:36 (MSG)
According to ancient measurements, an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.

Strength

Exodus 15:2 (NIV)
"The lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.