26B21.     Numbers 11:25-29.    The Lord gave “some of the spirit that was on Moses” to seventy elders with the result that they began to prophesy, which does not mean to make predictions but to speak out in enraptured enthusiasm or continued outburst of holy joy.  When word spread that others who were not of the seventy elders also prophesied, Joshua, Moses’ aide objected.  Moses answered, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!”  Moses wishes that God give his gifts to everyone and not just to a select group.  What is important is not what group we belong to but rather that we belong to God.

Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48.   “John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.’ Jesus replied, ‘Do not prevent him.’  ‘For whoever is not against us is for us.’”  Jesus did not require that anyone belong to a special group but, rather that they belong to Christ himself.  The people who were performing miracles or ‘mighty deeds,’ but were not a part of the immediate followers of Jesus, obviously had put their faith in Jesus. Continuing on, Jesus makes it clear that anyone who belongs to sin and not to God would end up in hell, i.e., Gehenna.  What we belong to is the source of the life we live.  Let us grow daily in living our lives more and more in Jesus.

James 5:1-6.  The rich all too often draw their life from their wealth and not from the Lord.  When we have the Lord as our most precious possession, we have what lasts forever.  When our material possessions are what is most precious to us and the center of our attention, we have something that lasts to the grave and no further.