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March 31, 2025
 
 
Written by Larry Stockstill

 

How important it is to have your own knowledge of the Word of God! What your parents or grandparents knew and taught you about the Word of God should not be your only source of revelation. Your own eyes must see God’s Word, and then you must hide it inside your heart.

If Solomon had obeyed Moses’ command to produce a handwritten copy of the law (Deuteronomy 17:14-20), he would have known for himself some important things. For example, he would have known not to acquire horses from Egypt, take multiple wives, or accumulate large amounts of silver and gold (vv. 16-17). Obedience to these three simple commands would have kept him from all his troubles. In fact, however, these were the very sins he committed (1 Kings 10:26-11:13). What a tragedy! If only Solomon had hidden God’s Word in his heart, he might not have sinned against God (Psalm 119:11).

Your own personal, diligent, daily study of the Word will undoubtedly protect you from much deception and heartache. Moses passed down suitable guidelines for a king, instructing that he read them daily throughout his life. In the same way, if you read God’s Word every day and hide its truths in your heart, you will be equipped to live it.

 
 
SCRIPTURES:

 

Deuteronomy 16-17

The Passover

16 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.2Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name.3Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.4Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.

5You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the LORD your God gives you6except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.7Roast it and eat it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents.8For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the LORD your God and do no work.

The Festival of Weeks

9Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.10Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.11And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you.12Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.

The Festival of Tabernacles

13Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.14Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.15For seven days celebrate the festival to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

16Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed:17Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.

Judges

18Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.19Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent.20Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Worshiping Other Gods

21Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the LORD your God,22and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the LORD your God hates.

17 Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.

2If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the LORD gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God in violation of his covenant,3and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky,4and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,5take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.6On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.7The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.

Law Courts

8If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the LORD your God will choose.9Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.10You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do.11Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.12Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.13All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.

The King

14When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”15be sure to appoint over you a king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.16The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”17He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

18When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.19It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees20and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

 

Luke 9:7-27

7Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead,8others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life.9But Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?” And he tried to see him.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

10When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida,11but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.

12Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”

13He replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.”14(About five thousand men were there.)

But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”15The disciples did so, and everyone sat down.16Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.17They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

18Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

19They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

20“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

Jesus Predicts His Death

21Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.22And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

23Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.24For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.25What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?26Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

27“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

 

Psalm 72

Psalm 72

72 Endow the king with your justice, O God,
    the royal son with your righteousness.
2May he judge your people in righteousness,
    your afflicted ones with justice.

3May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,
    the hills the fruit of righteousness.
4May he defend the afflicted among the people
    and save the children of the needy;
    may he crush the oppressor.
5May he endure as long as the sun,
    as long as the moon, through all generations.
6May he be like rain falling on a mown field,
    like showers watering the earth.
7In his days may the righteous flourish
    and prosperity abound till the moon is no more.

8May he rule from sea to sea
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9May the desert tribes bow before him
    and his enemies lick the dust.
10May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores
    bring tribute to him.
May the kings of Sheba and Seba
    present him gifts.
11May all kings bow down to him
    and all nations serve him.

12For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
    the afflicted who have no one to help.
13He will take pity on the weak and the needy
    and save the needy from death.
14He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
    for precious is their blood in his sight.

15Long may he live!
    May gold from Sheba be given him.
May people ever pray for him
    and bless him all day long.
16May grain abound throughout the land;
    on the tops of the hills may it sway.
May the crops flourish like Lebanon
    and thrive like the grass of the field.
17May his name endure forever;
    may it continue as long as the sun.

Then all nations will be blessed through him,
    and they will call him blessed.

18Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,
    who alone does marvelous deeds.
19Praise be to his glorious name forever;
    may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.

20This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.

 

Proverbs 12:8-9

8A person is praised according to their prudence,
    and one with a warped mind is despised.

9Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant
    than pretend to be somebody and have no food.

 
 
 
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