When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
And the LORD said to Moses, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’” -Numbers 25:7-13
I have no words to express the joy I feel right now. Every morning, we’ve started doing a family Bible Study. Our 10 year old, Phinehas, began telling us of his efforts to tell his friends the truth about Jesus, as they are trying to tell him that they believe in multiple truths and multiple gods (at 10). When I was 10, I was playing Ninja Turtles on the playground. Yet I was just so floored: my 10 year old, who my wife and I named after Eleazar’s the Priest’s son, who, in Numbers, saved the nation of Israel by confronting Sin (fulfilling the Law by piercing an apostate through the stomach), was trying to get his friends to know the truth of God’s grace, and he said he wasn’t afraid to lose his friendship, he was not wanting to lose his friends to hell. I exhorted him, and all of my boys, to keep passionately pursuing Christ, even if it costs them everything.
Loved ones, I’ve been praying lately. I can preach the Gospel on stage in front of church, I can preach on videos, I can write these daily devotionals, but I don’t have many friends, and so many of my friends are in the church. I’m a homebody, really, who hides in a house with drawn shades (mostly because it’s so hot!), who hides away from the world, mostly. I “put in my time,” I field phone calls day and night, I visit people, heck, I even pray and encourage and exhort people in public but I don’t boldly proclaim, as I ought, to those around me. I don’t have much of a relationship with my neighbors. Yes, I share my faith, people know who and what I am, but I keep to myself whenever I get the chance. I’ve been praying “God, use me. Help me to get out of this shell,” and God uses my Son to show me how to do it.
Loved ones, I wish we could all be like Phinehas, my son, and the Biblical hero who put His God and His people above the whims of a few people and their personal desires. I wish we could have a zeal for Christ, and seeing our friends, neighbors and enemies come to know Him, that they too may be saved from this crooked generation. I desire that all people may know that God loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for the crimes we committed (our Sins and Transgressions) that we might be restored to Him, that Jesus was buried and rose again, ending the consequences of our sin (death), that we may walk in new life now, and be regenerated forever when we are forever in His presence. I will pray for continued boldness for myself, but also for you, that you and your entire family may be renewed and regenerated in Christ Jesus, and boldly proclaim His goodness and mercies to all you see.
Acts 4:1-31
And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

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