Presence & Power - RJ
Notes
Transcript
1 “You must love the Lord your God and always obey his requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands. 2 Keep in mind that I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the Lord your God or seen his greatness and his strong hand and powerful arm. 3 They didn’t see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land. 4 They didn’t see what the Lord did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots—how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you. He destroyed them, and they have not recovered to this very day! 5 “Your children didn’t see how the Lord cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here. 6 They didn’t see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened its mouth in the Israelite camp and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7 But you have seen the Lord perform all these mighty deeds with your own eyes! 8 “Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter. 9 If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey! 10 For the land you are about to enter and take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and made irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain—12 a land that the Lord your God cares for. He watches over it through each season of the year! 13 “If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, 14 then he will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil. 15 He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat. 16 “But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other gods. 17 If you do, the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the Lord is giving you. 18 “So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.
Its like We have been camped on the plains of Moab.
Moab…low rain fall tablelands, preserved by water from cisterns..some of them ancient, but many of those used in ancient times are ruined.
God is taking His Church into a season of possessing what He has promised.
Seeing the very things we have longed for for so long.
Experiencing the miracles He planned before the beginning of time.
Challenging the Church to FOCUS and open their ears to obey the voice of Holy Spirit.
Don’t be distracted- the challenge is complaceny. We are in a dispensation of time which is God’s plan outworking before our eyes.
Be aware - but do not become fruity or fearful
Deuteronomy
Starts where the book of Numbers finshes off, the Hebrew people are on the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho.
The forty year journey from Kadesh Barnea, which should have taken 11 days, was now over. Of the whole generation that refused to accept God’s promise of the land of Canaan, only three persons were left: Joshua, Caleb & Moses.
In Deuteronomy Moses prepares the the children of Israel for their entry to Canaan. A WHOLE GENERATION had passed and these people who would now claim God’s promise needed MOTIVATION to OBEY, where their Fathers had not.
Moses retells the story of Exodus and the establishement of the Covenant God made with them. He underlines God’s grace, power and awesome holiness.
It was important that the people not fprget the significance of the past years. that they were chosen through God’s redeeming love , not because of personal merit. The memory of that underserved love should motivate them to radical obedience.
Memory, love & obedience.
Keep focussed and make your testimony loud
Mathew Henry on verse 3 - Moses recounts some of the great and terrible works of God which their eyes had seen. What our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, should affect us, and make us better long afterwards.
He’d redeemed them from Egypt, cared for them, performed miracles, worked justice on their behalf.
It’s not a time for Son’s & Daughters of the King of Kings to stay silent.
Overcome fear - Know who you are - Holy Spirit bears witness to who we are (Add scripture)
“Remember today that it was not your children (who have not known or seen the discipline of the Lord your God), but it is you who must acknowledge.…” The emphasis of the passage rests on Moses’ command that the adults and leaders of the present generation live in the light of all that God has done for them
I grew up seeing the Spirit of God moving, miracles happening, demons fleeing.
The children need to hear it, those young in age, but also those new to the faith.
No more toiling
In this next season you wont have to toil anymore, no more irrigating
There will be an abundance of rain
The expression עֵינֵי יְהוָה (ʿênê yhwh, “eyes of the Lord”) occurs about one hundred times in the OT; ninety-four times it is part of a prepositional phrase, “in the eyes of the Lord,” referring to God’s presence or knowledge. In seven passages this expression (or “his eyes,” referring to Yahweh) describes God’s eyes as looking at something. “His eyes” carefully watch the whole earth (2 Ch 16:9), are on those who fear him (Ps 33:18) and are toward the righteous (Ps 34:15[16]), are in every place and watch over knowledge (Pr 15:3; 22:12), and range over the whole earth (Zec 4:10). In each case, God’s eyes are on something of great value to him.
14 Referred to in the phrase יוֹרֶה וּמַלְקוֹשׁ (yôreh ûmalqôš, “autumn and spring rains”; also called the “former and latter rains”), the autumn rain falls in October and November (thus preparing the soil for plowing and sowing), and the spring rain falls in April and early May (thus facilitating the final maturation of the grain). It is not just the provision but also the timing of these rains that was (and is) essential. The absence or presence of rain at the wrong part of the growing season could be disastrous
Be Careful, don’t be decieved
One of the threats to moving forward into the promise is distraction by the enemy.
Things that could be ok, but are slightly off. Half truths
His Promise
To your children , home