The Blessing of Obedience Deut. 11:26-33 • Ceremony on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal 26 Pay attention! I am setting blessing and curse before you right now: 27 the blessing if you obey the LORD your God’s commandments that I am giving you right now, 28 but the curse if you don’t obey the LORD your God’s commandments and stray from the path that I am giving you today by following other gods that you have not known. God put humanity in a position of trust. God gave us the right to choose. We can choose to follow God and His commandments or not. Life is like a road map of a journey where there is only one paved road to travel on. There are other paths that one can take, but only the road paved with the blessings of grace that only God gives leads us into His presence. Other roads lead to the curse that other gods offer. Why would humanity choose the path paved with blocks of curses? In Ezekiel there is a description of one who was created in beauty, but became a curse because of pride and arrogance against God. The city of Tyre is an example of satanic forces that grip the hearts of man and brings destruction. Ezekiel 28: 11 The LORD’s word came to me: 12 Human one, sing a lament for the king of Tyre. Say to him, The LORD God proclaims: You were full of wisdom and beauty, the image of perfection. 13 You were in Eden, God’s garden. You were covered with gold and every precious stone: carnelian, topaz, and moonstone; beryl, onyx, and jasper; lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald. On the day that you were created, finely crafted pendants and engravings were prepared. 14 You, a winged creature, were installed as a guardian. I placed you in God’s holy mountain where you walked among the stones of fire. 15 From the day you were created until injustice was found in you, your ways were assured. 16 But because of your trade, your oppressive business practices piled up, and you became impure. So I expelled you from God’s mountain. I removed you, winged creature, guardian, from among the stones of fire. 17 You exalted yourself because of your beauty and corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I will cast you down to the earth in the sight of kings, and I will make a spectacle of you. 18 Because of your corrupt trade, which surpassed your many other sins, you made your sanctuaries impure. Therefore, I will bring fire from your midst. When it has consumed you, I will turn you into dust on the earth in the sight of all who see you. 19 Everyone among the peoples who knows you will be appalled because of you. You will become a terror. From that time on, you will be nothing. *In the passage from Ezekiel there is a reference to beauty that becomes a source of pride that leads to a curse. Today in the media there are stories of the exploitation of beauty that leads to obscenity. Deut. 11 For those who choose God’s path He leads us to the land of promise. He offers us peace and blessing so that we can ‘settle down’ in His presence. We have become a society that looks to many things to help us ‘settle down’. When we ‘settle down’ in the Lord’s presence in prayer and study of His Word, we find answers that we can only become aware of through Him. Isaiah 43 records a promise from God that He is always creating something new. There is a time to put the past behind and follow the new road that God sets before us: 18 Don’t remember the prior things; don’t ponder ancient history. 19 Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it? I’m making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness. Deut. 11 When we are led into this ‘new land’ or ‘new beginning’ in our lives we have to focus on God and His plan. We must ‘carefully’ follow God’s regulations. In order to follow God’s regulations, we have to know what they are. Romans 12-Renewed Minds: • Living sacrifice and transformed lives 12 So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. 2 Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature. Transformed relationships 3 Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each one of you: don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each one of you. 4 We have many parts in one body, but the parts don’t all have the same function Deut. 11-A new beginning 29 Now when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of, put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. (30 Aren’t both of these mountains across the Jordan River, down along the western road in the region of the Canaanites who live in the desert plain, across from Gilgal, next to the Moreh Oak Grove?) 31 So then, once you cross the Jordan River to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you take possession of it, settling down in it, 32 you must carefully follow the regulations and the case laws that I am laying out before you right now. My prayer for you today is that you know that God has a plan for you. When we wake up every morning we have a new day. God has given us this day to live by His grace and guidance. No matter how impossible life seems, God leads us to a new home in Him. Love in Christ, Pat youtube/watch?v=ur6Zznc407U What Faith Can Do-Kutless
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 11:55:37 +0000
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