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A
All right. My Bible. In 365 brothers and sisters, we have arrived at the Book of Deuteronomy. And boy, is this one special. Folks, I have been waiting a long time to go over this with you, and every single time I summarize it for you, I think this is like the fifth time, maybe the sixth time, I don't know. But every single time I summarize it for you, there is something inside of me that just feels overwhelmed with immense sentiment, because that is the full expression of what we read in the book of Deuteronomy. Now, let me just explain this. This is really, really important. There is a lot of theology in the book of Deuteronomy. You can derive tons of it from this book. And of course, we do that again. We're talking about the first five books of the Old Testament. It is, in essence, the establishment of distinctives that. That bring us to the very foundation for all theological conclusions that we come to. And it's super, super, super critical. But what I have to say here is that I want this to be viewed relationally. As a matter of fact, we're going to step away from the discussion of theology for just a minute, and we're going to talk about a very important relationship. And that relationship was the one that Moses had with his people, and one that cannot be described other than a beautiful expression of the love of God towards his people. Moses did well. Now, mind you, he made some big mistakes. And one of the most consequential mistakes that he made was so significant that. That it barred him from being able to see the promised land. And that is, of course, a very, very tragic story. He misrepresented God by striking the rock when he was supposed to speak to the rock. And that very act, in essence, was the reason why God said he would never step into the promised land, that he was able to see from a distance. It's such a tragic story. Now, I want to frame this for you because this is important. This is critical for you to be able to understand how the book of Deuteronomy actually works and. And how its full expression brings the encapsulation of the words of a dying man. Okay? And I'm serious when I say this. Moses knows he's never going to step into the promised land. This is, in essence, his last chance to speak to the people he's led for over 40 years. Now, the thing that's interesting is the people that he's speaking to is the future generation, and not the generation that will die with him. Now not seeing the promised land, and that in and of itself is uniquely tragic. And I want you to grasp this because this is by no stretch of the imagination designed to be a history lesson. Moses is saying, this is a warning. This is a plea, and he's begging them. And so I want you to be able to understand the context of this. They've been in the wilderness for 40 years. There's a new generation standing at the very edge of the promised land, and. And Moses will die before entering in again. Everything, everything now depends on whether or not they choose to obey God. And this is critically important because they're about to step into blessing or disaster. And Moses knows the difference will be one thing. Obedience. As they step into claiming the promised land, if they step in obediently and follow God with the heart and the mind and the action of obedience, they get blessed. If they walk away from it, oh, my goodness, they will experience nothing but suffering. And that's why this is so critical. Now let's go over Deuteronomy, chapter six. I want to read verses four and five, because this is, in essence, one of the very hearts of. Not just the book of Deuteronomy, but it is one of the very hearts of the law of God, the first five chapters of the. Or the first five books of the Old Testament. And that is so incredibly important. Look what it says in. In Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 4 and 5. It says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. Now, I want to briefly explain this because it's important. This is the center at. Literally at the center of everything, okay? These are not just rules. This is the discussion of the expectation that is laid out in a beautiful relationship. Obedience always flows from love. Now, the devil wants you to think something different. He wants you to buy the propagandized lie concerning love. That tells you, well, love is love. And if you say love is love and you exit God from the picture, you will walk in disobedience and rebellion. And you will not get to experience what true love is. Because the full expression of God's love is. Is literally, fundamentally predicated upon obedience, okay? Obedience flows from love, and God gave us that love first. It's super, super important. But listen to this. Moses knows something here, okay? And I don't want to throw this away. I don't want to demean this. If they don't take this seriously, there will be Big consequences. How does Moses know it? Because he experienced those consequences. Look at Deuteronomy, chapter 28, if you can just take a moment to read. Starts very simply and very clearly. Moses here wants to lay out two paths for us. The one path, for his people. This is what happens if you'll obey God. And then the other path. This is what happens if you choose to disobey God. He makes it out very, very clearly. There's no guessing work done here. None. None at all. And it is heavy. Let me read the first two verses or just read a few portions from the first two verses that I want you to emphasize, to really think about. Look what he says in chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, okay? It says this. It shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God. And he goes on talking about these things. Then he says, and all these blessings shall come on thee and. And overtake thee. That's critical. That's critical. The blessing of God here is not random, okay? It's tied literally to obedience. And God says, you'll be blessed in the country, and you'll be blessed in the city, and you'll be blessed in everything that you can possibly imagine. And he literally goes on for 13 verses telling you how much you'll be blessed. But then he says this in verse 15, and it's heavy, and it's the same kind of pattern, but it shall come to pass. And if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. And then he adds, he says this, that all these curses shall come upon thee.
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And, folks, this is where it's really bad for the next 50 verses or so.
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That's an estimate. I'm just telling you off the top of my head. He basically says that all these tragic things will happen to you. He says, disease will come your way, defeat will come your way. Captivity will come your way. He even goes as far as to aptly describe what national collapse looks like. He says, it'll all happen. Moses is not being harsh here, guys. He's being honest. He's saying, this is what will happen if you rebel against the Lord your God. And he was begging them, as a man who's dying, who wants them to remember how critical it is to not forget the blessing of God and what God wants to do. And this is very personal here for me. It's personal for me. This dramatically affects me because as the leader of my home and as the leader of this ministry that God has given Me, and as a leader of my church, there's so much application.
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God still honors disobedience.
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Did I just say disobedience?
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Wow.
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God still honors obedience. I'm just going to leave it there. Look, I'm not perfect. God still honors obedience. And I said that with conviction, too. My goodness. Wow. God still honors obedience. Disobedience still very much has consequences. Putting all the funniness aside, there's one aspect of this that I don't want being funny. Okay? This is not some prosperity formula. This is a principle that is distinctly related to aligning with God. That if you will do as God says, he will bless you. But if you choose to not do what God says, you will experience the result of the full effect and consequence of sin.
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When you reject him, you walk into destruction. That's what's being said here now. Do tragic things and terrible things and
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evil things happen to good people.
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Boy, we sure saw that last year, didn't we?
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Charlie, just like me, was not good. He was made good because of the finished work of Christ on the cross. Charlie was about as godly as they got, especially in his situation. He was a righteous man that loved Jesus.
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But for whatever reason, God saw it fit to take him to the place where he deserved to be.
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So does this mean that Charlie was a disobedient man? No, absolutely not.
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But what I am saying is, if you will choose to obey God, you
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will reap the benefit of that obedience.
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And if you choose to rebel against
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God, the very rebellion that you give yourself to will open you up to
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consequences that you can't even imagine. It's tragic, but it's true.
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There's another passage I want to go
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over here that I think is important. Deuteronomy, chapter 13, verse 19. Boy, is this so beautiful.
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This is one I want you to encapsulate fully in your mind. Memorize it if you have to.
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I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you. Life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life. That's a big, big exhortation. Moses. Final words were simple. Choose life. Choose obedience. Choose God.
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Whatever you do, there is no other option. There should be no other option.
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Maybe I change it up a little bit. And I say, decide life. Decide on obedience.
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Decide that you will wholeheartedly serve God. Cut off any other options,
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because the goodness of God is from everlasting to everlasting. And God wants to reward you for your obedience.
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Give him that opportunity.
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That's the faithfulness of God. You're going to love Deuteronomy.
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Go through my teaching on Deuteronomy. It's a much older the one that I have on record. I'm about to teach through it again very, very soon. We're making our way over there.
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It's an incredible book and it's one that will blow your mind.
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You can go to james cadiz.com you can download my teachings there. Also, just want to let you know we are thrilled about the upcoming Q A that is going to be, I believe, the second Friday.
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Was it the second Friday?
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What's. Yeah, it's next Friday. I'm recording this on the third. You'll see this a few days later. But yes, Friday the 10th, we're going to be doing the Q and A. It's going to be great. I love you guys. Keep seeking Him. Keep fighting the good fight. Look to the Lord and understand this. I think it's really, really important. Do not ever forget this.
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God wants you to choose life because he wants to bless you.
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I love you guys.
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And as I said before, keep fighting the good fight. God is good and his goodness will never fail.