Passing The Torch

Good morning Church!

Announcements:

We will be having our monthly business meeting tonight.

We are planning on having a baptism next Sunday, the 16th. We have several people who need to be baptized, so we are excited for this!!! We will do our baptisms after the morning service.

Any youth going on the “Catching Fire” retreat we’re having a get-together with the other churches at the park in Watertown Sunday, October 23rd, at 1:00 PM. See Keshia or I for more details!

We will be having our Harvest Festival here at the church on 10/29 at 4:30. We will provide more details as we get closer to the date.

Praise Reports:

Prayer Requests:

Mrs. Dorothy Duggin

Unspoken

October is breast cancer awareness.

those affected by the hurricane.

Jennifer has breast cancer

Darryl Counts has bladder cancer

Tithes

Children’s Church

Doxology:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart that I might not sin against God! Amen!!!

Open Bibles To: Deuteronomy 6:1-9

I am excited for the message today! Though it is one that we all may very well be convicted over, it is one that is relevant, and necessary in our world today.

we have been discussing the importance of God’s Word in our lives, but today we are going to discuss the importance of passing the Word of God down to our children.

Some of what we will discuss today will seem common place. It will seem almost as if it is natural. Other parts of the message today are going to seem foreign, as if they are crazy and unthinkable. But I promise you, that all parts of the message today will be biblical. It is up to us to decide whether we will listen to it, apply it, and teach it to others.

The title of the message today is: Passing the Torch.

Context

Immediately preceding this chapter, Moses spells out a few things in Chapter 5.

He starts by breaking down the 10 commandments and explaining the importance of each in some detail. he starts with those commandments that deal with our relationship to God, and then turns to those that deal with our relationship to one another.

At the end of Chapter 5, he then begins to explain the importance of God’s commandments. He begins to answer the question, “Why did God give us these commandments?” The purpose of the law was:

To give man the commandments of the LORD Himself.

To reveal the majestic glory and holiness of God: Showing that a great barrier - a great gulf - exists between man and God.

To reveal that man must have a mediator to represent him before God.

To reveal the very heart of God for man.

It is from this mindset, of building up God and His commandments, that we enter into Chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6:1–9 NKJV

1 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Content

Are You Listening?

The very first thing that Moses reiterates from Ch. 5, is that these commandments are from God.

Moses did not write them.

Moses did not come up with them.

Moses did not chisel them out on stone tablets.

God’s presence was on the mountain in fire and smoke; God called Moses up the mountain; God wrote the commandments on two stone tablets; God sent Moses down the mountain with them; God commanded that we follow them.

These are God’s commandments! Moses stresses that.

He is the only God (v. 4)

There is no other God.

Yahweh is our God. Yahweh alone. / Yahweh alone is our God.

The God of your fathers (v. 3)

This God I speak of, then only real God, is the God your fathers worshipped.

It is the God who brought your ancestors out of bondage.

It is the God who done many wonderful works for your ancestors.

It is the God you hear of when old tales are told of great and wonderful things.

It is the God that Abraham built the alter at Bethel for.

He is the God that you have been raised to believe in.

He was their God.

Israel - God rules (v. 3-4)

Does God rule in your life?

Is He your God (1, 2, 4, 5)

Is He your God? Do you fear the Lord (v. 2)?

Before we can go any further, you must answer that question.

If He is not your God, the supreme ruler of all things in existence, including your heart, then you will never do what He has commanded, let alone teach them to your children.

Will you listen to God? Do you believe He is God? Have you made Him your God?

Will You Observe?

If you have settled it in your heart that God is your God, then you must also accept that His Word is your life.

Look at the verses:

observe (v. 1)

Keep (v. 2)

Observe (v. 3)

If He is your God, that means you will observe/keep His commandments.

Observe: to do.

Keep: To protect; To guard.

Keeping God’s commandments are not always easy, especially when we live in a world that does not believe in God or listen to His Word.

God’s Word is challenged head on by some, and many give way to that. Other times God’s Word is simply diluted with watered down earthly logic and reason, to which some give way to that also. Still other times, people will take the very Word of God, out of context, and even use it to justify their actions.

The result of this has been what we know as cultural Christianity.

Cultural Christianity is religion that superficially identifies itself as “Christianity” but does not truly adhere to the faith. A “cultural Christian” is a nominal believer—who wears the label “Christian,” but the label has more to do with their family background and upbringing than any personal conviction that Jesus is Lord. Cultural Christianity is more social than spiritual. A cultural Christian identifies with certain aspects of Christianity, such as the good works of Jesus, but rejects the spiritual aspects required to be a biblically defined Christian.

Cultural Christianity leads people to believe that they can dabble in this world of sin as long as they sprinkle it with a little bit of Jesus.

It leads people to believe they can love God and still be like the world at the same time.

James 4:4 ESV

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

2 Corinthians 6:17 ESV

17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,

John 15:20 ESV

20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Everyone wants to be separate without sticking out. It is not possible. To be faithful to God is to be enemies of this world and the evil it produces and promotes.

Is He your God? Will you observe His commandments?

Will You Teach?

Teach them to understand it (read it to them).

Teach them what it looks like (live it before them).

Teach them how to live it out in their own lives (To goad, prod, train).

In order to teach them, it must be everything to us. It completely envelops every aspect of our lives.

Commitment

Vv. 1-3 show the blessings of God upon those who desire to please Him.

V. 5 is NT law of Jesus. This is what it means for God to be your God. It is to love Him with every ounce of your being, and live that out in every aspect of your life.