Saturday, January 21, 2012

How to Move Forward - Deut. 4

Moses really spells it all out before the Israelites went in to take possession of the land.  I believe these are good reminders for our own lives as well.

Ch. 4 – Direction for Possession . . .
How to move forward:
1.      Listen to God’s direction
4:1 “Listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform in order that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”
2.      Hold fast to God
4:4 “But you who hold fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.”
3.      God is near whenever we call on Him
4:7 “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him?”
4.      Keep your soul diligent lest you forget what your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart
4:9 “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.”
5.      Teach these to your children
4:10 “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God . . . Assemble the people to Me, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.”
6.      The Lord speaks in the midst of fire
4:12 “Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form – only a voice.”
7.      God took you out of the iron furnace to be a people for His own possession
4:20 “But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.”
8.      Watch yourself lest you forget the covenant of God
4:23 “Watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you.”
9.      Seek the Lord and you will find Him
4:29 “Seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.”
10.  God is a compassionate God
4:31 “For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”
4:35 “To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.”
4:40 “Keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

We are commanded to leave an inheritance for our children’s children (Proverbs 13:22)
While often we think of this command in terms of material possessions; however, our inheritance can include so much more:  “A good man, by being good and doing good, by honoring the Lord with his substance and spending it in his service, secures it to his posterity; or, if he should not leave them much of this world’s goods, his prayers, his instructions, his good example, will be the best entail, and the promises of the covenant will be an inheritance to his children’s children.” 
Matthew Henry Commentary

It’s time to start your own “inheritance bank.” 

What is ONE THING your eyes have seen?  Give an account of when and where God helped you.

Share a memory of a time when you blew it – you lacked faith and did not believe God.  What did you learn from that experience?
 

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