January 12, 2014 - Sunday

Start Time: 1:30 P.M.

End Time: 2:02 P.M.

Title: Reiteration of the Call to Obedience

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 11:1 – 32

God’s Message / God’s Promises / God’s Commands:

→ Moses emphasized the call to obedience for God’s people, he said, “You must love the Lord your God and do what He requires; keep His statutes, ordinances, and commandments at all times.  Bear in mind today that I am not speaking to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments of the Lord your God, which revealed His greatness, strength, and power.  They did not see the awesome deeds He performed in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh King of Egypt and his whole land, or what He did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when He made the waters of the Red Sea overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and He annihilated them…” Moses spoke to the Israelites who experienced God’s goodness to them first hand because they saw all the great deeds of the Lord!

NOTES:

Ø God is a God who performs awesome deeds for us!  He does the impossible and allows His people to experience His awesome deeds.  We are to remember always these great and mighty works of the Lord in our lives and never forget them.  It is also a good practice to expect and anticipate His greatness and goodness in our lives for He is a God who performs awesome deeds for us!

→ Moses continued and said to them to pay attention to all the commandments he is giving them that day so that they may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where they are headed and that they may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give their ancestors and descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.  For the land where they are headed is not like the land of Egypt from which they came, a land where they planted seed and which they irrigated by hand like a vegetable garden.  Instead, the land they are crossing the Jordan to occupy is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, a land the Lord your God looks after.  He is constantly attentive to it from the beginning to the end of the year.  Now if they pay close attention to God’s commandments and love the Lord their God and serve Him with all their mind and being, then He promises that He will send rain for their land in its season, the autumn and the spriung rains, so that they may gather in their grain, new wine, and olive oil.  He will provide pasture for their livestock and they will eat their fill.

NOTES:

Ø God is a God who promises abundance!  God’s promises to us are none like other!  He personally takes care of these promises so when it’s time for us to receive it, the promises are in its peak or highest potential.

Ø God is a God whose words give us strength to enter and possess the land.  God’s powerful words help us in taking actions and receiving His promises in our lives.

→ Moses said that they should make sure they do not turn away to serve and worship other gods!  Or else the anger of the Lord will erupt against them and He will close up the sky so that it will not rain.  The land will not yield its produce and they will soon be removed from the land that the Lord gives them.  They are to fix these words of God into their mind and being, and tie them as a reminder on their hands and let them be symbols on their forehead.  They are to teach them to their children and speak of them as they sit in their house, as they walk along the road, as they lie down and as they get up.  They are to inscribe them on the doorframes of their houses and on their gates so that their days and those of their descendants may be extended in the land which the Lord promised to give to their ancestors, like the days of heaven itself.  For if they carefully observe all of these commandments and love the Lord their God, live according to His standards, and remain loyal to Him, then He will drive out all these nations ahead of them and they will dispossess the nations greater and stronger than them.  Every place they set their foot will be theirs, their border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River as far as the Mediterranean Sea.  Nobody will be able to resist you; the Lord their God will spread the fear and terror of them over the whole land on which they walk, just as He promised them.

NOTES:

Ø God wants to be remembered and He wants us to remember His goodness, His love, and His grace upon us! 

Ø God is a God who wants us to love Him and live according to His standards!  He wants us to remain loyal to Him and our faithfulness to Him reaps rewards.  He will drive out our enemies so we may dispossess the nations that are greater and stronger than us. 

Ø God is a God who wants to blessed us more than what we deserve!  He wants to give us every place we set our foot and to extend our borders.  God wants us to expand our territory for Him and conquer the Nations with Him.  With God, no one can resist us and our enemies will fear us.

→ Moses said to take note for he is setting before them a blessing and a curse – the blessing if they take to heart the commandments of the Lord their God and the curse if they pay no attention to His commandments and turn from the way he is setting before them that day to pursue other gods they have not known.  When the lord their God brings them into the land they are to possess, they must pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.  They are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord their God is giving them and they will possess and inhabit it.  They are to be certain to keep all the statutes and ordinances that he is presenting them today.

NOTES:

Ø Again moses remind them to take note of what he is saying to them and declared a blessing and a curse for the nation.

Ø God is a God who wants to bless us and not to curse us but our actions brings curses in our lives.  So let our actions be guided by God!

Application / Realization:

Ø God is a God of awesome deeds and abundance.  His blessings for us are more than what we deserve!  His promises are beyond what we are worthy of.  He wants to bless us but our actions bring curses in our lives, and we then no longer see God’s blessings in our lives!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for You are the God of the abundance and Your blessings for us are much more than what we deserve.  Father, thank You because Your words strengthens and empowers us to take actions and receive Your promises.  Holy Spirit, help me to choose Your blessings and no longer dwell in a life that is curse because of what I do.  Thank You for the blessings and I receive it!  In jesus’ name, Amen!