Author: Gary

Deuteronomy 17 continues Moses’ instructions to Israel about how they were to live as God’s covenant people. The chapter focuses on true worship, justice, and leadership. If someone in Israel turned away from God and worshiped other gods, it had to be carefully investigated. A person could not be condemned based on the accusation of just one witness. God required the Israelites to have at least two or three witnesses before someone could be convicted. Jesus also affirmed this principle. He says in Matthew 18:15-16, “If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.” Ironically, Jesus Himself had multiple witnesses testifying about His identity. John the Baptist testified about Him, His miracles testified about Him, Scripture testified about Him and His disciples testified about Him. Jesus did not ask people to believe blindly. His identity was supported by witnesses, prophecy, His works, His resurrection, and the testimony of Scripture. Jesus was condemned despite false testimony and an unjust trial. During His trial, witnesses were brought against Him, but their testimonies did not agree. The very Law that Israel was supposed to uphold required careful justice, yet Jesus was condemned through corrupted and inconsistent testimony. From the time the law was given to the time Jesus had his trial, humanity had done what it had done to everything else. It had corrupted the Law.

When a case was too difficult for local judges, it was brought to the priests and judges appointed to make a decision. The people were instructed to respect the judgment given according to God’s Law. The problem here is that human judges can make mistakes, Priests can become corrupt, and religious leaders can misunderstand God’s Word. Jesus, however, judges perfectly because He knows the heart. John 5:22 says, “The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son.” Jesus isn’t just another religious teacher giving advice about God. According to the New Testament, He has ultimate authority to judge humanity. There is also irony in the fact that the religious leaders who were supposed to administer God’s justice became the ones judging Jesus unjustly. The true Judge of the world stood before human judges.

Also in this chapter God instructed Israel to appoint themselves a king. He gave them instructions for what that king should and should not be. The king was not to acquire many horses, depend heavily on military power, return to Egypt, take many wives, or accumulate excessive amounts of silver and gold. Instead, the king was supposed to be appointed by God, have a copy of God’s Law, read it every day, fear the Lord, obey God’s commands, and remain humble. The king was supposed to be under God’s authority. Israel’s king was never supposed to replace God, he was supposed to reflect God.

Jesus is the perfect King that Israel’s earthly kings failed to be. Jesus was the perfect reflection of the Father because He and the Father are one. Be careful not to miss this because this is the most important part to understand about the downfall of humanity. The moment we begin to think that we are the source of anything in our lives, that is the moment we start to fall. This is what got Satan kicked out of heaven and it is what sends us to eternal separation from God. Im not going to write it out but I would definitely read Ezekiel 28:12-19. It explains how Satan was created with every beautiful stone that was meant to reflect God beautifully. Instead he chose to be his own light through sin. Sin does the same thing to us and that is why we should hit our knees every day and thank Jesus for what he did for us on the cross. He defeated sin so that we would not be separated from him. Sin and death has lost its sting because Jesus Christ is our perfect King and Judge, Our Lord and our Savior. Love y’all. Have a great day!

Deuteronomy 16 focuses on three major annual feasts, justice, worship, and leadership. The passover is also very important for us to pay attention to because of the parallel between the passover and the coming of Christ. The crucifixion of Jesus came during Passover and that was no coincidence. Shortly before Jesus was crucified he celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. During this meal he established the New Covenant and we also call this meal the Last Supper. During this meal he gave new meaning to the bread and the cup, pointing to His body and blood. Another thing that is crucial to notice about this meal is they did not bring and unblemished lamb to be sacrificed because Jesus Christ was the unblemished Lamb at this Passover meal. When we have Communion today at church it is for us to remember how Jesus ultimately delivered us from our sin through him freely giving himself to be sacrificed for us. This should show us that God had a plan to redeem us all along.

God commanded Israel to celebrate the Passover every year to remember how He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. During the first Passover, the Israelites sacrificed a lamb and put its blood on their doorposts. When God saw the blood, judgment “passed over” their homes. This points directly to Jesus. Jesus is our Passover Lamb. Just as the blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from death and judgment, Jesus’ blood saves us as believers from the judgment of sin. John the Baptist recognized this when he said “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Paul notices this when he tells the Corinthians “For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.” Jesus was crucified during the time of Passover. This was not an accident. The Passover was a picture that God had established centuries earlier to point toward the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. The Israelites were delivered from physical slavery in Egypt. Through Jesus, we are delivered from slavery to sin.

The Feast of Weeks was a celebration of the harvest and a time for the Israelites to thank God for His provision. They were commanded to give willingly according to how God had blessed them. This is another parallel pointing to Jesus. The Israelites brought their physical harvest and Jesus came to bring in a spiritual harvest. In Matthew 9:37 Jesus says, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.” Jesus came to save people from every nation and bring them into God’s kingdom. As believers, we are now called to participate in that harvest by sharing the Gospel and making disciples. There is also an important connection to Pentecost. The Feast of Weeks is connected with Pentecost, and it was during Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Acts 2. Through Jesus, God was not only gathering a physical nation together. He was beginning to gather people from every nation into His spiritual family.

This chapter also talks about The Feast of Shelters. Which was also called the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths. This feast was for Israel to remember that their ancestors lived temporarily in tents while traveling through the wilderness. It reminded the Israelites that God provided for them, God protected them, that their time in the wilderness was temporary, and that God was leading them toward their Promised Land. This is also a parallel to Jesus. Jesus came to dwell among humanity. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus also promises all of us who believe in him an eternal home with God. Just as Israel was traveling through the wilderness toward the Promised Land, believers in Jesus are living temporarily in this world while we are looking forward to our an eternal home with God.

This chapter shows us that God was teaching Israel about salvation way before Jesus physically came to earth. The sacrifices pointed to Jesus’ sacrifice, the Passover pointed to Jesus saving us from judgment, the harvest festivals pointed to Jesus gathering us into God’s kingdom, the temporary shelters pointed to the fact that this world is not our permanent home, and the command for justice points to the day when Jesus will rule as the perfect King and Judge. This chapter should build our faith. I know it builds my faith because there are just way too many coincidences and parallels for Jesus not be who he claimed to be. It should show all of us that God has had a plan all along to deliver us from sin, to bring us into His presence, and to lead us to our true home which is with him. Jesus is the fulfillment of that plan. Love y’all! Have a great day!

Deuteronomy 15 begins with God’s command for the Israelites to cancel certain debts every seven years. The principle was that God’s people were not supposed to hold one another permanently captive to debt. They were to show mercy because they themselves belonged to God. This points to something much greater in Jesus. Sin created a debt that we could never repay on our own. Jesus came to pay that debt for us. Colossians 2:13–14 says, “And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.” Jesus did not reduce our debt or give us more time to pay it. Through His death on the cross, He paid the price for our sin.

In this chapter, Moses says to the Israelites, “If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your city gates in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has.” God warned Israel not to become selfish or hardhearted toward those in need. We always must remember that Jesus is our example and Jesus demonstrated this same heart throughout His ministry. Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, cared for the outcast, showed compassion to the poor, and taught his followers to love and serve others. Jesus gave the greatest gift possible. He gave himself. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” Jesus is the ultimate example of generosity. He gave up His position in heaven, humbled Himself, and gave His life so that we could receive eternal life.

Deuteronomy 15:15 tells Israel to remember that they were once slaves in Egypt and that God redeemed them. I know all of us have heard the expression “remember where you come from.” This expression has been true all the way back to this time period. It was important for the Israelites to remember where God brought them from because they were more likely to show mercy to others. It would do us good to remember what God has brought us from and what God is presently bringing us through. We should always remember what Jesus saved us from. None of us earned salvation. None of us deserved forgiveness. Romans 5:8 says, “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It is impossible for us to truly understand how much mercy God has shown to us. The God of the universe literally sacrificed himself for us so that we could have relationship with him. He created us and he literally moved heaven and earth to bring us back to himself. This should absolutely change the way we treat other people. Who are we not to forgive someone? Who are we to look down on someone trapped in sin and think “I’m better than them.” Instead, we should think “Without Jesus, I would still be trapped too.” Understanding that we would be trapped in sin without the blood of Jesus is what gives us the power to forgive. No matter what someone has done to us we should be able to look at the cross and find the power to forgive. Jesus was beaten to an inch of death, spit on, whipped, made to carry a cross on his back over a half a mile, had a crown of thorns pierced through his skull, nailed to that same cross, and looked up to the sky begging the Father to forgive the people that were doing this to him. For us to think we are too good to forgive someone is an abomination to God. He put the weight of all of the world’s sin on his shoulders and forgave them all. This is the picture that should push us to forgive anyone and everyone that has ever wronged us. We love because Jesus first loved us and we forgive because we have been forgiven. Love y’all! Have a great day!

Deuteronomy 14 continues Moses’ instructions to Israel about living as God’s holy people. God tells them they are a people specially chosen by Him. Their identity was supposed to affect how they lived, including how they mourned and how they separated themselves from pagan practices. We must remember when we are reading the Old Testament that all of the nations surrounding Israel were Pagan and did not recognize the God of Israel as the true God. Jesus makes it possible for us to become children of God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. John 1:10-18 says, “He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John the Baptist testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ”) Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side — he has revealed him.” Through Jesus, our identity is no longer primarily based on our background, accomplishments, job, money, or the world’s opinion of us. We belong to God. As believers of God our holiness should come from who we are in Christ. Not from trying to follow rules.

A large portion of Deuteronomy 14 explains which animals Israel could and could not eat. God put these laws in place because it helped distinguish Israel from surrounding nations and reminded them that they were a people set apart for God. For example, God said they could eat animals that had divided hooves and chewed the cud and they could eat certain fish with fins and scales. Other animals were considered unclean. The dietary laws were part of the covenant God made specifically with Israel. They served a purpose in teaching holiness and separation from the other pagan nations surrounding them. However, Jesus taught us that true defilement comes from the human heart. In Mark 7:15, Jesus says, “Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” The deeper issue was never food. The deeper issue was sin in the heart. The New Testament makes it clear that after Jesus died on the cross and rose again, we as believers are not required to follow Israel’s Old Testament dietary restrictions. Peter’s vision in Acts 10 demonstrated that the gospel was no longer limited to Israel and that the separation between Jews and Gentiles was being removed through Christ. Jesus brings a greater kind of cleansing. The food laws could separate Israel externally, but Jesus cleanses people internally.

The clean and unclean laws constantly reminded Israel of the difference between holiness and impurity. The problem was that human beings could not make themselves spiritually clean simply by following external rules. Jesus came to do what the Law could not do, and that was cleanse people from sin. Jesus repeatedly touched people considered unclean, such as lepers. Instead of Jesus becoming unclean, Jesus made them clean. This is a picture of what Jesus does for us spiritually. Sin makes us unclean before God, but when we come to Jesus in faith, He cleanses us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus took our sin and gave us as believers His righteousness. There is nothing special about us other than we were created in the image of God and were made for the sole purpose to have relationship with him. It is easy for us to gain prominence, wealth, and clout in our lives and start to think of ourselves as important. One of the most important things to remember in our lives is that the only thing that makes us righteous is the blood of Jesus Christ that saved us from eternal separation from God. It is easy to get caught up in work, relationships, or our own personal goals and forget why we are here in the first place. We were placed on this earth by God for God. We were created to worship him. We also get caught up in thinking that worship is done only in a church house on Sunday’s which is the farthest thing from the truth. Our work, our relationships, and our goals that we pursue are a form of worship. What we do with our money that God has blessed us with is a form of worship When we give our lives to Christ we are saying that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. This means that he is the Lord of everything that we do and have. One of the most important questions we must ask ourselves daily is, “is Jesus the Lord of some of what we have or everything that we have. We get caught up in thinking that we know what is best when it comes to handling our money, our careers, or the direction our family needs to take. Have we truly made God the Lord of our lives? Have we truly put our faith in the one that created us, was willing to die for us, and defeated death, hell, and the grave for us? This is the question that we should as ourselves today and everyday. Love y’all! Have a great day!

Deuteronomy 13 is a chapter about remaining faithful to God and refusing to follow anyone or anything that leads you away from Him. The central message is no matter how convincing someone may seem, God must remain your highest priority. Moses warns Israel that a prophet or dreamer may perform a sign or miracle and still be false. Even if what they predict appears to happen, if they tell people to follow other gods, Israel must reject them. The thing to remember is that miracles alone do not prove someone represents God. The message must agree with God’s truth. God says this can be a test of whether His people truly love Him with all their heart and soul. Jesus gave us a similar warning about false prophets and false messiahs. Matthew 23-24 says, “If anyone tells you then, ‘See, here is the Messiah! ’ or, ‘Over here! ’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” Today for us this means if anyone tries to deny Jesus as the son of God or that he is the one and only way to the Father. For example, Islam follows the teachings of Muhammed. Muslim’s actually believe in Jesus. They believe that he was good teacher, but they do not believe that he was the son of God or that he was crucified and rose from the dead. Another example is Mormonism. They follow the teachings of Joseph Smith. They also believe in Jesus. They just believe in the Jesus that they have created. We have to be careful to make positively sure that the Jesus from the Bible is the Jesus that is the Lord of our lives. This is why reading the Bible daily and staying in his word is so important for our faith. When we memorize scripture and hide God’s word in our hearts we are allowing God to tell us who he is instead of letting the world tell us who God is.

This chapter also teaches that God must come before relationships. No relationship should become more important than our relationship with God. Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 10:37-39. He says, “The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.” Jesus was teaching us that our loyalty to God must be greater than every other loyalty. If God is calling us to do something for him do we allow people or our circumstances pull us away from Him? Do we simply follow him? Do we follow the crowd? This is the hard question that we as believers have to wrestle with every day. Will we follow God if it costs us something? Truth does not become truth simply because a large group of people believes something. An entire city could be wrong. Culture, friends, coworkers, social media, and popular opinions can all influence us away from God’s truth. Jesus often calls us to go against the crowd. In Matthew 7:13 he says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.” Following Jesus will not always mean following what is popular. Eventually, we have to decide who we are truly serving.

What is crazy to think about is that Jesus was accused of being a false prophet. When Jesus came, some religious leaders accused Him of being a false teacher and even claimed that His power came from Satan, but Jesus did not lead people away from God. Jesus revealed God, fulfilled the scriptures, called his people to repentance, and died to reconcile people to the Father. The religious leaders of that day had to answer the same question that Deuteronomy 13 required Israel to answer. Does this person truly lead people away from God, or is He actually the One God promised? The answer revealed through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and fulfillment of Scripture is that Jesus is not a false prophet. He is the Son of God and the Messiah.

The difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is that we are not commanded to punish or harm people who follow false religions. Jesus, God in the flesh, stooped down to our level to save us from our sins and to show us how to live a perfect life. When we need someone to look up to we look up to him. He was perfect in every way and the only one we should compare ourselves to. Jesus’s example teaches us to spread the truth, love people, pray for people, and call people to repentance. In Matthew 5:43-44 Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

This chapter ultimately calls us to not let anyone pull us away from Jesus. Not a preacher, not a miracle, not a friend, not our family, and not an entire culture. Jesus brings truth to its fullest meaning. He calls us to remain faithful to Him because He is the true revelation of God and the only way to the Father. We must follow Jesus no matter what happens, no matter what we gain or lose, Jesus must remain Lord of our life. Love y’all! Have a great day!

Deuteronomy 12 begins with God commanding the Israelites to destroy the pagan altars, idols, and places of worship they would find in the Promised Land. The people living in Canaan worshiped many false gods, often in ways that involved immoral and evil practices. God did not want Israel mixing the worship of the true God with the practices of the surrounding nations. The point he was making was simple. You cannot worship the true God while holding onto false gods. Jesus also calls us to completely turn away from sin and false worship. In Matthew 6:4 Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’ Following Jesus means more than just adding Him to our lives. He becomes Lord of our lives. When we use God only when he is convenient for us we are making ourselves the lord of our lives. God will not be second place to anything. The easiest thing to choose over God is ourselves. Going through this life by going with the flow or doing things because it feels right is a. dangerous way to live. We are naturally sinful people. We will talk ourselves into doing what we want every time if we don’t take the time to listen and search for God. This is why it is so important to read our Bibles and to pray constantly. Deuteronomy 12:8 says, “You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own sight.” This is a major theme throughout the Bible. Human beings have naturally always wanted to decide for themselves what is right and wrong, but God calls His people to trust His definition of truth. Jesus calls us to submit our lives to Him as Lord. Following Jesus means we don’t create our own version of Christianity based on what feels right to us. In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” This doesn’t mean we earn salvation through obedience. We are saved through faith in Jesus, but genuine faith changes how we live. Jesus transforms the heart so we can desire to obey God from love rather than religious obligation. We don’t do good works to GET saved. We do good works because we ARE saved. We should do all things with joy because of what Jesus has done for us. Some important questions for us to ask ourselves today are these:

What do I think about the most when I have nothing else distracting me?
What am I most afraid of losing?
What do I depend on for my security besides God?
Is there anything I love more than I love God?
If God asked me to give something up, would I be willing to obey Him?
Am I seeking God’s approval or people’s approval?
Before making important decisions, do I genuinely seek God’s direction?
Do I ask, “What does God want?” or simply, “What do I want?”
Am I willing to obey God even when obedience costs me something?
Do I follow God’s Word when it agrees with my desires but ignore it when it doesn’t?
Is there an area of my life where I already know what God wants me to do, but I am refusing to do it?

If we are honest with ourselves, these are very hard questions to answer. Unless we are just perfect, we aren’t going to have the right answers to all of these questions all of the time. We are going to go through seasons in life where we fall of track and we are going to go through seasons in life where we drift away from God because he isn’t where he needs to be in our lives. What we should take from this chapter is knowing that our God demands more from us than just dragging him along as we do whatever feels right to us in life. We should be praying and meditating on his word to synchronize ourselves with where God wants us to go, who God wants us to be, or what God wants us to do in life. Little choices turn into big choices. Let’s challenge ourselves today to try to do what God would want us to do today instead of what we want to do. Love y’all! Have a great day!

In Deuteronomy 11 Moses is speaking to Israel before they enter the Promised Land. This chapter starts with Moses saying,  “Therefore, love the Lord your God and always keep His mandate and His statutes, ordinances, and commands.” This is important because obedience begins with love. God wasn’t telling Israel to just follow a bunch of rules. He wanted their hearts. In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” Jesus connects love and obedience in the same way Deuteronomy does. The difference is that Jesus doesn’t just tell us what God’s commands are. He gives us the power to live for God through the Holy Spirit.

This chapter also drives home that the Israelites were to remember what God had done for them and to share with their children what God had done. Moses reminds them about the Exodus, the Red Sea, God’s judgment, His provision, and everything He had done for them. Why? He tells them to do this because remembering God’s faithfulness would strengthen their faith. The same principle applies to us following Jesus. One thing that a lot of people say about us as believers in Christ is that we’re just supposed to have blind faith. This could not be further from the truth. God has left us with more than enough evidence that he is who he says he is. He does this with more than just the evidence of Jesus dying on the cross, being resurrected 3 days later, and being seen by over 500 eye witnesses after he was supposed to be dead. He also gives us evidence by creation. Romans 1:20 says, “For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made.” We can look at creation and see that the universe exists, order exists, and life exists. Human beings possess consciousness, reason, morality, and an awareness of God. It actually takes more faith to believe that there isn’t a God.  I say all of this to say that the more we mature in our faith, the more we are supposed to share these experiences and revelations with our children so that they might see who God is and how real he is. They need to see that Jesus isn’t just something we talk about on Sunday. They need to see what following Jesus looks like when we’re tired, frustrated, working, dealing with problems, and interacting with other people.

Moses also tells the Israelites, “Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse: there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today, and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God.” Moses gives Israel a choice. Follow God and be blessed or reject God and there will be consequences. This doesn’t mean that Christians who follow Jesus will never experience suffering or hardship. Jesus actually promised that His followers would experience difficulties. The deeper point is that there are two different directions for our lives. We can either have life with God or life apart from God. Jesus describes this same choice in Matthew 7:13–14 when he says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.” This chapter shows the choice. Jesus ultimately becomes the way to life. When we say we are a believer in Christ we are also saying that we have an eternal mindset. Yes we may inherit blessings on earth, but more times than not, life on this earth following Jesus is going to be difficult. As believers we do not live for the treasures on this earth. We live for that moment when our time on this earth is done and we get to enter into eternal life with Jesus. Love y’all! Have a great day!

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions — is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.”
1 John 2:15-17

Deuteronomy 10 moves from Israel’s rebellion and failure into God’s mercy, His covenant, and His call to love and obey him. Moses is continuing to remind Israel what happened after the golden calf. God had given Moses the Ten Commandments, but Israel had broken their covenant with God by worshiping the golden calf. Moses broke the original stone tablets in anger. Yet God told Moses to make two new tablets, and He renewed His covenant with Israel. Israel failed, but God did not abandon them. God tells Moses to make two new stone tablets and bring them up the mountain. This shows God’s willingness to restore the relationship even after Israel sinned. Sound familiar? Moses explains that he interceded for Israel and that God listened to him. Moses stood between a sinful people and a holy God. The only problem was that Moses was sinful also. What Jesus does for us is on a so much greater level than what Moses does for Israel. Jesus is our perfect and infinite mediator. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind,  the man Christ Jesus.” Moses interceded for Israel, but Jesus continually intercedes for us who belong to Him.

The heart of the chapter is when Moses asks Israel, “What does the LORD your God require of you?” He answers them by saying to them fear God, walk in His ways, love Him, worship Him, serve Him, and keep His commands. We must notice that obedience isn’t presented as a way to earn God’s love. Israel had already experienced God’s love and mercy. Their obedience was supposed to be a response to what God had already done for them. Sound familiar? John 14:15 says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” We don’t obey Jesus so that He will love us. We obey because He has already loved us.

The part of this chapter that sounds off at face value is when Moses tells Israel “Circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer.” When we read this we need to understand that circumcision was the physical sign of Israel’s covenant with God. When God is saying this he is saying that He wanted something deeper than an outward religious sign. He wanted their hearts. Jesus is searching for the same thing from us today. Jesus repeatedly taught that what comes out of a person is determined by what is in the heart. We now have God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. Christ changes us from the inside out.

In this chapter Moses also says God shows no partiality, accepts no bribes, defends the widow and the fatherless, loves the resident alien, and commands Israel to love the resident alien. This reveals God’s character. God cares about people who are vulnerable and easily overlooked. The people that God went after were the people society pushed aside. Time and time again he went after the poor, the sick, the sinners, the outsiders, and the rejected. In most cases when someone receives salvation it is when they are at their lowest because it is necessary to realize that it is impossible to work our way out of our sin problem. Most of us our hard headed just like the Israelites. We look at our circumstances and think money, power, or earthly love will save us or satisfy us. We usually try that first and realize that no matter how much we have or how hard we try to make our situations better it is never enough. Jesus is the only one that is enough and He is the only one that can satisfy us. Love y’all! Have a great day!

Deuteronomy 9 is a powerful chapter about God’s grace. Moses reminds Israel that they are about to enter the Promised Land, but he makes one thing very clear. They are not receiving it because they are righteous or good enough. They are receiving it because God is faithful to His promises. This chapter is basically God telling Israel: “Don’t think you’re getting this because you’re good. You’re rebellious people, and you’ve already proven that. You’re here because I am faithful, merciful, and true to My promises.” And that’s exactly where Jesus comes in for us. We aren’t saved because we’re good enough. We aren’t forgiven because we’ve earned it. We don’t stand before God because of our own righteousness. We stand before God because Jesus took our sin, paid our debt, and gives us His righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The heart of this chapter teaches us that it’s not about how good we are. It’s about how faithful God is. We don’t get to God because of our own righteousness. We get to God because of Jesus and only because of Jesus.

Moses tells Israel: “You are not going in to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity.” Israel had a tendency to think, “God is giving us this because we deserve it.” God wanted them to understand that they didn’t deserve it. This points directly toward the gospel. We don’t receive salvation because we are good enough. We receive it because God is gracious. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of that truth.

This chapter also shows that having God’s commandments wasn’t enough. Israel knew what God wanted them to do, but they still rebelled. The problem wasn’t that they lacked instructions. Their hearts were sinful. This connects to us directly. In the United States we have the freedom to have a Bible whenever and wherever we want it. We have it accessible on our phones, on our computer, or in book form. We can even have it read to us. Their are Bibles in just about every home, hotel, or airport these days. We also have the gift of the Holy Spirit that resides in us that leads, guides, and communicates with us and we still choose to rebel against God. We are all naturally sinful. When we choose to accept Jesus into our hearts and commit to give our lives to him we must look at this chapter and always remember that we are no more special than anyone else. We have nothing to offer God other than our obedience and worship. Even our free will is God given. God could make us love him but he desires us to choose to love him. 1 John 4:19 says, “we love because He first loved us.” God has proved to us time and time again how much He loves us. The cross is the picture to prove that he was willing to die for us. We should love him enough to live for him. Love y’all! Have a great day!

Deuteronomy 8 is a powerful chapter where Moses is reminding Israel not to forget God after they enter the Promised Land. The main message of this chapter is do not forget God when life gets good. Israel had spent 40 years in the wilderness. God allowed them to experience hunger and hardship, but He also provided manna for them. God wasn’t allowing Israel to suffer for no reason. He was teaching them that they needed Him more than they needed physical things. The wilderness revealed whether Israel would truly trust God. This is the same for us today. It is easy for us to think that we had anything to do with the blessings we receive. For example, when we get a promotion at work it is easy for us to start to think that our work ethic and our drive were the reasons we got the promotion. According to this chapter, that mindset is a very dangerous mindset to have. We must never forget that God gave us that work ethic and drive that got us that promotion. It is God who gave us our health, our abilities, and the very reason we can even draw breath. When we start to forget that, it is important for us to stop and humble ourselves before God. Pride is the very downfall of man and also what got Satan kicked out of heaven.

Another thing to recognize about this chapter is that Jesus connects Himself directly to Deuteronomy 8. After Jesus was baptized, He went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days. Satan tempted Him by saying: “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. Jesus says, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness and repeatedly failed to trust God. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness and remained completely obedient to God. Where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded. Israel complained about hunger. Jesus trusted His Father while hungry. Israel tested God. Jesus refused to test God. Israel struggled with obedience. Jesus remained obedient. Moses knew that prosperity could cause Israel to become proud. He tells them in verse 18 that “the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth.” He was simply saying don’t let God’s blessings become more important than God Himself. Jesus shows us that following God was more important than satisfying His immediate hunger. Jesus showed us how following God is more important than getting what we want right now.

Israel’s wilderness experience wasn’t the destination. It was preparation. God used the wilderness to develop their faith, dependence, humility, and obedience. The wilderness can teach us things that prosperity sometimes doesn’t. When you are struggling, don’t assume God has abandoned you and when you’re blessed, don’t assume you no longer need God. We must remember what God has done for us, we must remember how He carried us through the hard times, and we must never forget Him when things get easier. Everything we have ultimately comes from Him. One of the biggest traps is to become proud and think we did it all ourselves. Keep trusting Him, obeying Him, and depending on Him. Love y’all! Have a great day!