Elder's Meeting 7-11-23

-In considering the way things are going at the present...

…it’s hard to NOT be encouraged.

The Lord has been so kind and gracious

And, in trying to think through...

…what would be a helpful, biblical exhortation for us...

…given the current state of affairs...

This one thought...

…invaded my mind...

…and really stuck.

And, it is this:

In the midst of our enjoyment and celebration...

…we need to guard our hearts against...

Pride

Complacency

Israel is an example of this:

But, before we read about them...

Remember what Paul said:

1 Corinthians 10:11–12 (ESV)

11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Deuteronomy 8:1–20 (ESV)

1 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.

Our duty is similar:

We are to affirm and implement the whole counsel of God:

Acts 20:27 (ESV)

27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

2 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV)

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus...

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Periods of difficulty are for cultivation and testing.

They teach us faith and dependence

Remember what Paul said:

2 Corinthians 1:8–9 (ESV)

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.

God provided

God Kept

God sustained

5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.

We are more beloved than them

Hebrews 12:6–7 (ESV)

6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons...

6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,

8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,

9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

It feels as though we are here.

And we ought to bless his name!

But...

11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,

12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,

13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,

14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,

15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock,

16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.

How do we do that?

1.) We get so wrapped up in “ministry” . . .

…that we don’t pursue HIM

2.) We become complacent...

…and feel entitled to his blessing...

…because of past faithfulness in testing.

3.) The worse yet:

17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’

My preaching

My diligence

My strategies

My wisdom

18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

This is where our paths diverge a little:

19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.

20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

We have what Israel did not have:

Circumcised Hearts

Regeneration

The indwelling Spirit

The WHOLE counsel of God.

Yet, we see this warning:

Revelation 2:1–7 (ESV)

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write...

2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

Robert, can we take a moment to ask for grace to persevere?