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Day 43, or February the 12th. Simply keeping

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the rules is not enough. Our thoughts today are

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rooted in Numbers chapter 6, verses 1 to 4. The

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Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites and

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say to them, If a man or woman wants to make

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a special vow, a vow of dedication to the Lord

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as a Nazarite, They must abstain from wine and

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other fermented drink. As long as they remain

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under their Nazarite vow, they must not eat anything

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that comes from the grapevine, nor even the seeds

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or skins. Now the big picture that surrounds

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these verses. God wanted his people to be the

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light of the world, a people who would radiate

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their God to the rest of the world, but they

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never quite made it. They kept missing the point

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of his rules and regulations. They were not there

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to grind them down, but were given to declare

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a standard which made it clear that they needed

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God's help to achieve lives that honoured him.

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Their call was to be God's holy people in an

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unholy world. The particularly dedicated followers

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were called Nazarites, and the most famous of

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these was Samson. who, much later, was a judge

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as the Israelites settled into the promised land.

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And now our action step for today. We are to

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be salt and light in the world, Matthew chapter

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5 verses 13 to 14 remind us. Following the rules

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should be a sign that you are committed to God.

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Simply following the rules does not make you

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committed to God, it just makes you a great rule

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-keeper. In our passage today, there are lots

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and lots of detailed instructions about being

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separate from worldly living, being in the world

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but not of it. This whole concept is an enormous

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challenge and is reflected in the New Testament

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book of James, chapter 2, verse 26, where James

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tells us, Just as the body is dead without breath,

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so also faith is dead without good works. In

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other words, your faith should produce good works,

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but good works are inadequate by themselves and

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not a substitute for faith. Don't stop doing

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good, but rather check your motives to see that

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you're doing God's will rather than yours.