Transcript
Speaker: Well, good morning, everyone. Hope you guys had an incredible weekend, and I hope that the weekend continues to be incredible for you guys as we continue to celebrate this Fourth of July weekend, ah this Independence Day weekend. It is a honor and a privilege for me to be able to stand before you today and say how proud I am to be an American. don't know about you guys, and I don't say that lightly.
Speaker: I say that proudly and with a whole heart. We are blessed as a nation, and I hope you guys feel that. um But as John just alluded to, we're going to talk about this a little bit more today, but we are not blessed as a nation just because we're Americans.
Speaker: We're blessed as a nation because our this nation has been founded upon biblical Christian principles and on Jesus Christ. And we must continue to pursue those things in order for this nation to continue to be blessed.
Speaker: And so where we're going looking a little bit more at today. But if you have your Bibles, go ahead open them up for me to Deuteronomy chapter 10. Deuteronomy chapter 10.
Speaker: That's where we're spending our time this morning.
Speaker: This we're covering a little bit larger of a section of Scripture. I promise I won't make a habit of doing this, but as I was preparing this week for the message, ah when looking at 4th of July and everything that comes with it, I was reading through my quiet time, actually, this past week, in this particular section of Scripture in Deuteronomy, and I was like, man...
Speaker: If there is ever a message that we need to be reminded of today, it's this right here. And as I was reading through, i was like, I can't leave any of this out. So I was like, so we're just gonna put it all together. So y'all buckle up, strap in, we're gonna get through this, all right?
Speaker: I promise we won't go past lunch. All right. But as you guys know, just as an introduction, yesterday, we had the great honor and privilege privilege of celebrating our country's 250th Independence Day.
Speaker: It's a truly incredible milestone for our nation, milestone that no other nation has ever had the opportunity to celebrate as an independent constitutional republic. It's absolutely incredible. So again, going back to it, what an honor and a privilege it is for us to be here to celebrate this 4th of July Independence Day weekend.
Speaker: But as a military brat, some of you guys may know this, I grew up as a son to a service member. My dad was in the military. he was in the Air Force for 21 years. And so I grew up most of my life, all the way up, pretty much through high school, on a military base, traveling. course, we were that unique military Air Force family to where I was born in Florida.
Speaker: We moved to Scotland for four years. I don't i wish I could claim it, I can't. But I was like... one yeah I was like not even a year old we moved over there. so But then we moved from Scotland to Georgia and we stayed there the rest of my dad's career.
Speaker: So we were that unique military family that didn't move around a whole lot. But as military brats, moments like this within our nation's history that mean a lot. I don't know the rest of you. don't know how many you guys are in this room who are military brats or or those who have served in our and the military for our nation, but it it truly does mean a lot, especially as we stop and reflect on all the men and women who have served and fought for our freedoms, fought for our privileges, fought for the rights, fought for the establishment of this constitutional republic by which we call the United States of America.
Speaker: There's been so much sacrifice given to for us, from again, from our founding fathers to modern-day service members, and it's a daily humbling reminder. We truly do live in a great nation, it's my prayer that we all have taken time to stop and give thanks to our Heavenly Father for this nation that we live in, because we are beyond blessed.
Speaker: And I had my notes like, all right, my military brat reign is over. My wife always makes fun of me because when we get on the topic of our nation, she's like, we get it, you're a military brat, okay? Like, and we know you love our nation. but um But I do want to acknowledge this. Is our nation perfect?
Speaker: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Will it ever be perfect? Absolutely not. Right? It will never be perfect. But is it still worth fighting for?
Speaker: Absolutely. Yes. I promise this whole message going to be about how we can be proud Americans, but I'm getting to a point here. It is absolutely worth were there fighting for. There's so many things this country we're fighting for in regards to our freedoms and to our liberty.
Speaker: And the next question that I saw this this past week, I'm sure you many of you guys have saw this, whether it's on social media or in books or devotionals, whatever, is will our nation survive another 250 years?
Speaker: It's a great question, isn't it? I don't have the answer to that, obviously, but i time will tell. But I can tell you this much what we're going looking at today, that there are some keys for success with our country. If we do desire to last another 250 years, what we can do.
Speaker: And we we and in those keys are found in this section of Scripture, Deuteronomy chapter 10, not only just in 10 and 11, but really just in this section of Scripture in Deuteronomy.
Speaker: um So if we want to continue to thrive, though, we must remind ourselves of where our devotion must lie. you know, up to this point, we' we've held to our constitution. We've held to our our identity as a constitutional republic.
Speaker: But ah ultimately, though, it's not just that. We've held to our identity of who is supremely and sovereignly in control of us. And that is the God of the universe. Amen. If we continue, if we want to continue to thrive as a nation, not even just as a nation, but as God's people, I'm not saying Americans are God's people. I'm talking about the church.
Speaker: We must devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord unconditionally forevermore. We must do that as a nation. You see, as this is one of the unique privileges as Americans, we we are a beacon of light because of who we choose to cling to.
Speaker: we have an opportunity to shed light. If if y'all have been paying to thep website the World Cup at all, we are starting to see that. you know In and the news and stuff, we see so much negativity around the United States of America and the politics that are at play and yada, yada, yada. But yeah, if you look at social media and see all these foreigners coming into the country, they're like, what are y'all doing, man? Why are y'all not thankful for what you have?
Speaker: Y'all keep focusing on the negativity of these politics and all these agendas and things like that, but man, y'all have so much freedom and so much liberty. Y'all have a Buc-ee's. This is incredible.
Speaker: You see, we get so distracted by all the noise that we forget how blessed we are as a nation. And the platform that we have as a nation, as a people who have these freedoms,
Speaker: So I do pray that we, again, are grateful for these things that we have, but we also turn back to the one who has given us these freedoms and give him all the praise, give him all the glory, give him all the the stature that he deserves.
Speaker: Because you the moment we turn into our own self, the moment we rely on man's wisdom, the moment we rely on our own ability to bring about freedom is the moment that we're going to lose it. Right? Right? So, but this morning though, like I said, i want us to look at this passage of Scripture that is ultimately going to hopefully drive us back to a place of what it means for us to continue to thrive, not only just as a nation, but as God's people with wholehearted devotion to the call of following God today.
Speaker: So, um there's five things I want us to see before we read through this through this passage, but the first thing is this, five keys to success is one, that we must pursue pure devotion to the Lord.
Speaker: Pursue pure devotion to Lord. Number two, we must reflect on past faithfulness. Three, we must proclaim his mighty works. Four, we must live the better choice and the five plant seeds of truth.
Speaker: Five simple things, right? But the reality is is, I say they're simple, but can we actually fulfill but Let's go ahead and read through this section, though, as we continue our time. I would invite you to stand, but because it's a longer passage, going ask you need to just let you all stay seated. That way no one gets weak or waivers, right? Because this is a longer section. so But let's pick up here in Deuteronomy 10, verse 12. Verse 12.
Speaker: verse twelve
Speaker: This is Moses speaking. He says, and now israel what does the lord your god require of you but to fear the lord your god To walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and to to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good.
Speaker: Behold, the Lord your God or belongs or sorry to the lord behold below the to the lord your god belong to heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all of it that's in it Yet the Lord set his heart and love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, above you above all peoples, as as you are this day.
Speaker: Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
Speaker: He executes justice for the faithfulness in the widow and loves the sojourner, giving food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you are sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him. And by his name you shall swear.
Speaker: He is your praise. He is your God who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt, 70 persons, and And now the Lord your God has made you a numerous as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Speaker: Chapter 11, verse 1. You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his commands, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. And consider today, since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it, consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, his signs and his deeds and that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt and all that is in his land.
Speaker: And what he did to the army of Egypt, to the horses and to the chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day.
Speaker: And what he did to to you in the wilderness until you came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Biram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, now the earth ah opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them in the midst of all Israel.
Speaker: For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did." You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong and go in and take the possession of the land that you are going to possess, and that you may live in the long or live in the long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers and gave them into their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Speaker: For the land that you have that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come." where you sowed where you sowed your seed and irrigated it like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain of from heaven, a land that the Lord your God cares for.
Speaker: The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. And if you will indeed obey my commands that I command you today to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain of your land to its season in its season, the early rain and later rain, that you may gather your grain and your wine and your oil.
Speaker: He will give grass in your fields for your livestock. You shall eat and be full. Take care, lest your hearts be deceived and turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.
Speaker: Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and that the land yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good of the land that the Lord has given you.
Speaker: Verse 18. You shall therefore lay up the words of mine in your heart. Psalm 119. and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be us frontlets between your eyes you shall teach them to your children taking them when you are sitting or talking with them when you're sitting in your house so when you are walking by the way and when you lie down and when you rise you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the lord swore to you sort swo to your fathers to give them
Speaker: as long as the heavens are above the earth For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, holding fast to him, then the Lord will drive out the all the nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater greater and mightier than you.
Speaker: Every place on which your sole foot or sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness ah from the wilderness to the Lebanon, from the river to the river river Euphrates, to the western sea.
Speaker: No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on the land that you shall tread, as he promised. See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.
Speaker: The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today. And the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today to go after gods that you have not known.
Speaker: Let's stop right there. Let's pray. Father God, this morning we have stopped and acknowledged how blessed we are as a nation. And Lord, it's not because we are any kind of special people that Americans are better than any other nation in this world.
Speaker: But Father, it's just because of the principles and the teachings in which we establish this nation upon and that's in Christ. And Lord, we just pray that you continue, that we continue as a people to press into you and trust you in that.
Speaker: And Lord, that we will learn from passages like this in Deuteronomy where Moses is entreating and encouraging the people to remain faithful. Because Lord, what we see here is that by you, by remaining faithful to you, you remain faithful to us. And Lord, it's a beautiful picture.
Speaker: So Lord, may we learn what it means to continue to thrive this day, walking faithfully with you as people wholeheartedly devoted to you. Be with this time, Lord.
Speaker: Go before it. Open our hearts, open our minds, open our ears to what you have for us today. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Speaker: So just to kind of help... lay the lands here of what we just read in these two chapters, the Deuteronomy. I want to do a quick summary of what the nation of Israel has kind of gone through leading up to this point where Moses is giving them a message of of of command to remain faithful to the Lord they are about to walk into the promised land. So in Genesis chapter 1 through 3, God created the ah created the world and humanity, but humanity rebelled and disrupted his good creation.
Speaker: We see in Genesis 6-9 that as a result that, God brought the flood because of humanity's wickedness. God judged the earth through the flood and while preserving Noah and providing a new beginning.
Speaker: From there, God then brought about the Abrahamic covenant with a guy named Abraham, who promised to make him a great nation, to bless all the nations through him, and to give him his descendants the land of Canaan.
Speaker: From there, we see and ah that he blesses it continues to provide for Abraham and his family through Isaac and Jacob. And through Joseph, they come to the land of Egypt, and which is where in Exodus 1-12, Israel's in Egypt and Israel's multiplied as God told Abraham that he would do.
Speaker: and But yet, due to their multiplication, they are enslaved by Pharaoh because of the fear that he has for them to overpower him. But yet, through this time of enslavement, God delivers them through the work of Moses.
Speaker: He calls Moses and he brings them, or calls them to go to Egypt and to bring the nation of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness. From there, we see that while they're in the wilderness, that God establishes the Sinai Covenant, Exodus chapter 19 through 24.
Speaker: Calling them to be obedient to his calling and to be his treasured possession and kingdom of priests.
Speaker: But we also know that while they're in the wilderness, what happens? remain faithful? Do they remain faithful? No, they don't. While they're there in the wilderness, despite israel's despite God's promise to them, they remain unfaithful and they repeatedly rebel against God.
Speaker: But yet God, what we see here is that he continually remains faithful to them and sustains them on their journey as he brings them to the promised land. If you guys remember, there was a moment where God brings them to the cusp of the promised land. And as they sent spies into the land, what happens?
Speaker: The spies go in and they come back and Moses asks for a report. And they are like, man, that's this is ah there's a lot of big people there. It's a beautiful land. There's a lot of big people there. I don't think we can take it. Well, as a result of their unfaithfulness and their their questioning heart, what does God do?
Speaker: He sends them back into the wilderness for another 40 years until that generation dies off. Once that generation dies off, then he brings them back, which is where we pick up in Deuteronomy chapter 10, or really in Deuteronomy chapter 1, with Moses bringing them back to the cusp of the land wherein he is preparing them to go into the the promised land.
Speaker: And where we pick up today in chapter 10 verse 12 is Moses is summarizing Israel's covenant responsibility to the Lord, to fear him, to walk in his ways, to love him, and to serve him wholehearted with wholehearted devotion.
Speaker: Now, as I give you that summary, and we read this passage on the cusp of us just celebrating 250 years as a nation. So again, how can we survive as a nation? How can we so of continue to survive as God's people?
Speaker: I think the the the word is right here. by us remaining wholeheartedly to the Lord, to fear him, to walk faithfully with him. So the first thing I want us to see here this morning, though, in verses 10 through 16, is that in order for us to continue to thrive as God's people in this world that's full of deception, full of wickedness, full of hatred, is to, one, pursue him with pure devotion.
Speaker: Pursue him with pure devotion. As we see there in Deuteronomy chapter 10, 12, it says, And now, Israel, what does the Lord God require of you? but to fear the Lord your God and to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul.
Speaker: So we are called just as the nation of Israel was called to fear the Lord, to walk in his ways, to love him. So are we today. So my question to you this morning is, is are we as God's people, are we as a nation, are we truly pursuing God with pure devotion?
Speaker: Stop think about that for a second. What are the things in your life that you're choosing to be distracted by that is taking away your devotion to the Lord? What are the things that are in your life right now that is distracting you from from truly loving God with all that you have and trusting in his sovereignty? Are you trusting man?
Speaker: Are you trusting the system? Are you trusting social media over God? Like what are those things that you're trusting more? Because if you do see those things, we need to stop and seriously assess how we can get those things out of our out of our vision, out of our perspective to then truly come back and pursue the Lord with pure, and an unadulterated, unfiltered devotion.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: We also see in Deuteronomy 10, 16, just a few verses later, this idea where Moses tells them to circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of their heart and no longer be stubborn. You see, this idea of circumcision is to is to cleanse yourself of the dirty things.
Speaker: This is that kind of picture where you are to remove the things that are ah that are not of God, but rather pure ah to follow him purely, to devote yourself to the things that are of God.
Speaker: to to make yourself set apart from the rest of the world. So again, how what are the things in your life that are hindering you from purely devoting yourself wholeheartedly to the Lord?
Speaker: The second thing I want us to see here is this idea of ah in order to to successfully thrive is not only just to pursue the Lord with pure devotion, but rather to reflect on his past faithfulness.
Speaker: Reflect on his past past faithfulness. You see, not only the nation of Israel, we as a nation, there are so many things that we've gone through that we can stop and look back on and be thankful that God provided a way out through.
Speaker: Over and over again, the nation of Israel, as we see here, even in that summary, just that short summary of the nation of Israel, we see that God provided ways for them over and over and over again to follow him faithfully.
Speaker: But yet, what do they do? rebelled. They rebelled. They rebelled. Do you remember what happened when as soon as they crossed the Red Sea, they praised God for delivering them from the nation of of Egypt and and swallowing the people up in the Red Sea. Then they get over into the wilderness and they're at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses is up there talking with God for 40 days and 40 nights. And what are the people doing down below?
Speaker: Because Moses took too long, they turned their back on God. And they made an idol for their own self. They made their own God because God wasn't appealing to their own timeline.
Speaker: Are we doing that same thing today? What are the things that are that are um that are distracting us from truly, again, purely following the Lord, but also keeping us in step with the Lord? like We have to look back and look at how God has faithfully brought us through these different things so that when when we do face these moments like the nation of Israel in the wilderness, that we can fight through it.
Speaker: That we don't get distracted, that we don't fall into the snares and the traps in which Satan is throwing at us right now in this world. That right now, our world, our society is saying, hey, God says this, but this is actually better.
Speaker: They're doing everything, Satan is doing everything he can to try to distract us from truly faithfully walking with the Lord. that way we can turn to ourselves and turn to the rest of the world. We know what the we know what the outcome is for that.
Speaker: The moment we turn into ou ourselves is the moment we are destroyed. Over and over again.
Speaker: But yet again, through passages like this, through so through accounts like this, we can see God's faithfulness at play. throughout the not only the nation of Israel, but throughout the church and throughout even modern day.
Speaker: God is faithful. I can tell you story after story, in even in my own life, where I was walking down the path of destruction and the Lord stepped in and intervened, whether it was through different men in my life, through different peers in my life, whether it's working out at Pine Cove, whether it's even here at this own church right now in this season.
Speaker: The Lord intervenes and he brings us out of these moments of of faithlessness and to bring us back into pure devotion. So I challenge you today it' to stop and to reflect back. Think back at how God has delivered you, especially if you're a believer in Jesus.
Speaker: There's so much for us to be thankful for and how God has delivered us from the enslavement of our sin and brought us into righteousness and holiness and truth. So may we truly do that.
Speaker: May we learn from the nation of Israel. May we learn from this and how we can stop and reflect on God's faithfulness. The third thing, though, that i want us to see here is how we can, in order to successfully thrive as God's people and as a nation, that we must pro we must proclaim his mighty works.
Speaker: You see, we have a tendency of just thinking like, hey, because I'm a you know i'm a believer in Jesus, that's it. That you're good, that God's going to bless you just because you identify as a believer in Jesus. But the reality is that we are called to follow him.
Speaker: We are called to walk in his ways. We are called to acknowledge him. We are called to declare his word among the nations. We are called to proclaim his faithfulness, his mighty works.
Speaker: And the moment that we take our eyes off that, the moment we turn inward and we think like, man, look at how well I did. to get to this point in my life. Look at my wealth, look at my status, look at my position, look at my peer group, look at this, look at that. The moment you turn inward, it's the moment that you continually walk down that path of destruction.
Speaker: So again, not only are we called to pursue a pure devotion and to reflect on God's past faithfulness, but we are rather to keep us from turning away from him that we must proclaim his mighty works. You see, when we proclaim the works of God,
Speaker: It humbles us. It keeps us in a humble position because it reminds us that it's not about us and it's all about what God has done. and we see that here in Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse one. It says, you shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statuses or his statutes, his rule and his commandments always.
Speaker: Where in that verse does say anything about you
Speaker: ah does It doesn't. It talks about His way, His truth, His commandments.
Speaker: And Moses is emphasizing God's sovereign work at play. So when you go back to verses two through nine in this chapter, he he he reminds the people of how of all the mighty works God has done, right? Anything from how it says, consider today, consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm.
Speaker: Think about the deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh and the king of Egypt and all the land. How he, verse 4, and what he did to the army of Egypt, to the horses and to the chariots, and how he parted the Red Sea, he allowed them to go to the Red Sea, and then he covered them in the Red Sea.
Speaker: Think back on these things and proclaim them. Because it's when, in that moment of declaration of God's goodness, it keeps us humble and allows us to walk on the at the right next step as God's people.
Speaker: Verse 7 of chapter 11, for your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did. If we have seen it, why are we not proclaiming it? Why are we not glorifying him through it?
Speaker: Which leads to number four. In order for us to truly thrive, we must live the better choice. This is the hardest one, I feel like, of all of In a world where the pressure is coming down on us to follow the ways of our own heart and the ways of our own mind, we must choose to live the better choice. And that's exactly what Moses is bringing before the nation of Israel right now in this moment as they are about to enter into the promised land.
Speaker: Remember, Moses isn't going into the land with them. Joshua is going to take control of them and he's going to lead them. But he is charging them. Make the better choice. As you go into this land, you're going to encounter things. He's telling you're going to encounter things that are going to try to persuade you, to deceive you, to pull you away from the Lord. But he says, keep your mind focused. Remind yourself of God's faithfulness. Think about all the mighty things he's done. So that way, when you do encounter these things, you can fight the good fight. You can make the right choice.
Speaker: Verses 8 and 9, it says, You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that i command you today, that you may be strong and go in and take possession of that land that you're going to possess, that you may live long in that land that the Lord swore to your fathers and gave them to your offspring, land flowing with milk and honey. Verse 16, Take care lest your heart be deceived.
Speaker: You know what Scripture talks about when it comes to the heart in this deception? Yeah. It is the most easily deceived thing. Your heart is the most deceitful thing above all things.
Speaker: The moment we start listening to our heart as songs tell us is the moment that we fall into the snare of deception. We must trust the heart of God rather than your own heart or the heart of man.
Speaker: So again, take care lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. You see, the land that the nation of Israel is going into was full of idolatrous worship. They served many, many pagan gods.
Speaker: Gods that, whether it was serving sexual sin or whether it was even sacrificing their own children. Like the the the spectrum was very wide on what they were about to encounter.
Speaker: So Moses was preparing them. Keep your heart on guard against these things. So that way you do not fall into them and worship them. Because the reality is, is the moment that they fall into that snare and they serve other gods, what happens?
Speaker: God's hand is gonna be removed from them. again, that's a consistent theme that we've seen so far from Genesis up to this point. the The moment that the nation of Israel removes or turns their eye away from the Lord, God's hand is removed from them.
Speaker: And he removes their blessing. And then they fall into this scenario. And then ultimately, we see that later in the history of Israel, where they don't follow God, they follow idolatrous worship, and what happens? They go back into slavery.
Speaker: Right? So they go from slavery in Egypt. God delivers them through Moses, brings them in, calls them a nation, tries to walk with them, brings them into the promised land. And when they get into the promised land, they turn away from them again and they get back into slavery.
Speaker: May we learn from this. May we truly walk faithfully with him. But this particular section of scripture also reminds me of what Micah 6, 8 says. Many of you guys know this verse. He has told you, oh man, what is good.
Speaker: Right? What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to what? Walk humbly. Walk humbly but with your God.
Speaker: So again, may we truly choose the better choice here of walking faithfully and humbly before the Lord and allowing him to lead us and guide us into these days to come, just as the nation of Israel was commanded to do.
Speaker: And lastly, this is what I want us to see here. The fifth and final point is this, is that if we truly want to thrive as God's people and even as a nation, we must plant seeds of truth.
Speaker: Plant seeds of truth. You see, we have a tendency of thinking that the promises of God are for us in this generation right now. Well, let me tell you something. The reason why I'm here today is because faithful brothers and sisters who have gone before me planted seeds of truth.
Speaker: And they've taken root in my own life to where I was redeemed and restored by the blood of Christ, to where I can stand before you today as a child of God. And many of you can give that same and declare that same testimony and story today.
Speaker: That because of the the seeds that were planted of truth before us, we are now here in this place and we can truly identify with Christ because of his work, right? However, if we turn inward and we only focus on ourself, we don't plant these seeds of truth, guess what happens?
Speaker: the gospel will not spread. The truth will be silenced. I say the gospel won't spread. Let me tell you that back. God is good. he can He can spread the gospel without us.
Speaker: However, this is the beauty of God's relationship with mankind is that he desires to use us. And he commands us to go and plant seeds of truth.
Speaker: And so again, in order for us to successfully thrive moving forward, we have to continue to do these things. We have to continue to to love God, right? So going back to Micah 6, 8.
Speaker: What is required of us? To do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with your God. We must plant these seeds of truth. We see that in verses 18 through 21 where he says, You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. Thou should be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, taking of them When you are talking of them when you're sitting in your house, so when you're walking by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of the Lord's for your fathers to give them as long as the heavens are above the earth. In other words, it is a lifestyle.
Speaker: It is a lifestyle. It's not just a Sunday morning. It's not just a Wednesday night. It's not just a 15-minute devotional that you do every day. it is a 24-hour, everyday, nonstop lifestyle where we have to purely devote ourselves to the Lord, reflect on His faithfulness, declare His good works, right? Make the constant right choice every day of humbling ourselves before the Lord and following Him. And then this, planting the seeds of truth. Everything leads up to this.
Speaker: We must be faithful as God's people to go and to deliver the truth of God. We cannot be silent. We cannot sit back. Pine Coast staff, what y'all are doing out there right now is absolutely incredible. You guys are planting seeds of truth that you may not ever see the fruit of.
Speaker: But guess what? It's being planted. And you're going to be, one day there's going maybe a dude up here preaching the gospel because of a seed that you planted. That's the reality of the mission and the work that we are called to as believers in Christ.
Speaker: But again, it's all up to whether or not we truly love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we truly love him, we will do these things.
Speaker: And if we do these things, we will continue to thrive as God's people. That's the reason why the church has continued to thrive for as long as it has. It's because we have remained faithful to the gospel.
Speaker: And I pray that we will continue to do that more.
Speaker: So I just have one last question for you. what What are you going to choose? What are you going to choose? You know, in verses 26 through 28, Moses gives this de declaration. he says, see, I am setting before you today two things.
Speaker: What is he setting before him? A blessing and a curse. The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I can command you today.
Speaker: And the curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today to go after other gods that you have not known.
Speaker: So my question to you today is is, which are you going to choose? What are we going to choose as a church? What are we going to choose as a nation? What are we going to choose?
Speaker: Are we going to truly choose to walk faithfully with the Lord of our God, humbly, pursue justice, love kindness? Are we going to do these things? Or are we going to turn to our own self-righteousness in our own heart and allow Satan to have a foothold in our life to where we lose all effectiveness for the kingdom of God?
Speaker: Because the moment we choose to not follow the Lord is the moment the Lord's hand going to removed from us. It's a sobering question, isn't it? This is a daily question we must ask ourselves. What are we going to choose?
Speaker: The blessing or the curse? But there's ah here's a quote from a devotional that i was reading this week. And this is a beautiful quote regarding us as Christians currently.
Speaker: says this, the story of the Christian is the same as the story of Israel. We have been delivered from our own Egypt, the state of our sin, where everything was dependent upon our own work, but we could never produce fruit.
Speaker: Through Christ, we have been called God's children and can now rest in his provision. We too are called to fear and love the Lord our God and worship him alone.
Speaker: But we do not do this against the risk of a curse.
Speaker: beautiful thing about this, right? For those who assume Christ. We don't do this against the risk of a curse. Rather, we trust what God has said, that Christ has taken the curse in our place. So that through him, we might be blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We see that in Ephesians 1.3, Galatians 3.13.
Speaker: As such, we can rely on Christ and the power of his Holy Spirit within us as we seek to fear God, love him, and walk in his ways. You see... We have victory in Christ for those of us who proclaim to know Jesus.
Speaker: For anyone who believes in their heart, confesses with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead, we are now walking in true victory. the The death and sting of which Satan's trying to bring no longer has effect on us.
Speaker: However, if you're in this room today and you don't have a relationship with Jesus, you're experiencing that death and sting.
Speaker: This question that we just asked you, which will you choose, is a very real reality for you if you do not know Christ. It's a sobering question for us who are in Christ because it it brings a reality check.
Speaker: Are you truly surrendered? Are you truly purely following Christ? Have you truly surrendered your all to him? Because if you haven't, I pray that today you will truly do that.
Speaker: You'll make it right. but especially for those of you who've never surrendered your life to Christ, and maybe you're maybe you're just seeking out what Christianity is about. Maybe you're here because a friend made you come. Maybe you're here because this this is what you've done your whole life, and but yet you never surrender your life to the Lord.
Speaker: I pray that you'll make a choice today. Are you going to choose the blessing, the inheritance, the name of Christ, who has brought victory to sin, evil, and death through the cross?
Speaker: where you can continue to walk and follow your own stomach. As Paul later talks about where when you follow your own stomach, it leads to destruction. Your glory is in your shame. Which will you choose?
Speaker: In a moment, we're going to do an invitation. I'll be down front. And if you've never considered that question, I pray that you'll consider it during this time. And that if you need somebody to talk to, you can come down and talk to me. I'd love to talk with you.
Speaker: You can come find Pastor Victor. You can find a brother sister in this room that you know for sure has a relationship with Jesus. does It doesn't have to be me. I'm no one special.
Speaker: But I do pray that you highly consider what it means to surrender your life to Jesus and and begin that new relationship and new identity in him today. So that way we as God's people can continue to thrive.
Speaker: God has created us to have a relationship with us. And he desires to have the relationship with you today. If you've never started that relationship. So will you pray with me? Father, we come before you, Lord. And we again just thank you for your word.
Speaker: God, we thank you for the sobering reality of of how we are nothing in and of ourselves. It's only in you that we can have life. It's only new that we can have joy. It's only in you that we can have salvation and have purpose.
Speaker: and Lord, I pray that we will recognize these things as we continue to work through these days ahead. Lord, we're in the last days. Your word is very clear on that. The moment Christ ascended into heaven, we are in the last days. We are not promised tomorrow.
Speaker: So Lord, I pray that we as believers who believe and confess in our heart that you are Lord, God, that we will take advantage of every day we have to proclaim your goodness and have a pure devotion to you, a wholehearted devotion to you.
Speaker: But Lord, for anybody who has never surrendered their life to you, I pray that they will consider it today or that they will either consider the blessing or to the curse. And that they will truly surrender and that they will and see their need and desire to want to surrender their life to you for the blessing.
Speaker: um But God, again, we thank you for your love for us. We thank you for the desire to have a relationship with us. And I pray that you continue to work in us as we pursue you. We love you. We praise you. We thank you. It's in Jesus' name.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
