NO MIDDLE GROUND

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Love the Lord your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws, and His commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: His majesty, His mighty hand, His outstretched arm; the signs He performed and the things He did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his whole country; what He did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how He overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what He did for you in the desert until you arrived at this place, and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents, and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.”

“Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed, and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from Heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.”

“So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today - to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul - then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”

“Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and He will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”

“If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow - to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to hold fast to him - then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea. No man will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as He promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.”

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse - the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal, the curses. As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, west of the road, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.”

Deuteronomy 11

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I believe there are three categories of people today:

1. Those who believe in the Lord and conscientiously strive daily to obey His commands, Word, and will.

2. Those who refuse to believe in the Lord and have no interest in following His commands, Word, and will.

3. Those who live in between, those who say they believe in the Lord but want to choose when they live in obedience and when they don’t.

When we look at the Old Testament and the history of the Israelites, we see where they too often fell into Category 3 and this is why so much God invested so much time and effort instructing them in the matter of being obedient to Him.

As we move to Deuteronomy, chapter 11 today, we find Moses once again discussing the matter of compliance with the people of Israel, reminding them that their success in Canaan would largely rely on how well they kept the Lord’s requirements, decrees, laws, and commands. If they conformed to the Lord’s expectations, then He would ensure they had “the strength to go in and take over the land (they were) crossing the Jordan to possess…”so that (they could) live long in the land” which God had sworn “to (their) forefathers…a land flowing with milk and honey.”

This promised land would remain bountiful for the Israelites as long as they “faithfully obey(ed) the commands” that Moses gave them which included “to love the Lord…and…serve him with all (their) heart and…soul”. Doing this would result in “rain on (the) land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that (Israel could) gather in (their) grain, new wine and oil”. Further, grass would be provided “in the fields for (the) cattle and (Israel would) eat and be satisfied”.

The bottom line here was that life would be very good for the people of God if they would just submit to everything He demanded.

But what if they chose to do otherwise?

Going back to the scriptures today, we find Moses answering that question, warning the Israelites to “be careful” as they entered a land defined by its paganism for if they let their spiritual guard down, they would be “enticed to turn away and worship other gods”, bowing down to them. This sinful choice would cause the “Lord's anger” to “burn against” them, so much so that He would “shut the heavens” so that no rain would fall, leading the ground to not yield any produce. Eventually, this would lead to the people of God perishing “from the good land” that God had provided.

Here, we see Moses making one point very clear for the Israelites.  

Being disobedient towards God would bring sure misfortune, the polar opposite of the abundant provision that would come as a reward for their full acquiescence to His will and way.

When it came right down to it, the choice was up to Israel.

And so the lines were drawn.

Obey or disobey.

Flourish or fail.

Or as Moses would sum it up, it would be blessing or curse.

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse - the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.”

We need to note here that there’s no middle ground. No in between.

If you obey, you will be blessed.

If you disobey, you will be cursed.

Choosing to obey or disobey based on one’s own desires was not an option and this is as much true today as it was well over 2,000 years ago in biblical times.

Indeed, no present believer should think for a minute that God has changed the way He feels about disobedient behavior…AKA sin for it was sin that led Him to surrender and sacrifice His only Son Jesus on Calvary’s cross, providing a way for sinners to be pardoned and saved as long as they placed their belief in His Son. When it comes right down to it, God hates sin and will not accept a cavalier approach from anyone in regard to addressing it.

Given this, we have to see that one of the primary expectations of our Lord is for us to completely eradicate sin from our lives. He has given us all we need to work towards that end and this includes His Word, which instructs us in regard to living right and righteous lives; His Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell within us the moment we believe in Christ as Savior and works from that point forward to lead us in the way of God’s will; while imparting understanding as we read the Bible; and the life of Jesus Himself, who came to earth and personally demonstrated the way God wants us to live.

Yes, our God has provided all the direction we need. Now, we need to step up spiritually and say “no” to the world and its sinful enticements, trading them in for the blessed holiness that God desires for us.

The bottom line is that blessing only comes to those who fully commit themselves to being obedient to the Lord. Curses await the rest. There’s no middle ground.

We know because God’s word tells us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

HE IS OUR PRAISE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set His affection on your forefathers and loved them, and He chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.”

“Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.”

“Fear the Lord your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name. He is your praise; He is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.”

Deuteronomy 10:14-22

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Webster-Merriam dictionary defines “praise” as expressing a favorable judgment or commending as well as glorifying something or someone especially by the attribution of perfections. This word “praise” is derived from the Middle English word “preisen” which came from the Anglo-French word “preiser/priser” meaning to appraise and esteem.

As we consider the matter of praise, we find there are many reasons to adopt it in life. We might praise a person for the great things they have done. We might praise something we see as being noteworthy, beautiful, or miraculous. Typically, we have no problem showing praise for the things of the world.

But how well do we show praise to the One through which all praiseworthy things are possible?

This is the point in our passage today as we look at the final verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 10, as Moses attempts to open the eyes of Israel to God, their God, the One who was supposed to be their praise.

We see Moses begin by reminding Israel (and us as well) that all things are from God, the Almighty Maker of Heaven and earth:

“To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.”

In other words, everyone belongs to God and as we learned from a previous message, we are His treasured possession.

Indeed, God highly values everyone He has made and shows no favoritism or partiality. He is especially concerned with the underprivileged, defending “the cause of the fatherless and the widow” and loving “the alien, giving him food and clothing.”

The scriptures make it clear that He expects His people to do the same, even going as far as reminding the Israelites that they were once aliens themselves during their oppressive captivity in Egypt. At that the beginning of that enslavement, their numbers were few, seventy in all, but now, as they were on the brink of entering Canaan, the land God had promised to their forefathers, their population had exploded. We read where God had allowed them to be fruitful and multiply as He commanded so to make them as “numerous as the stars in the sky.”

Today, we see how God’s family has grown exponentially, a rich multitude of saints who believed in His Son, and in doing so, became His children who would live with Him forever.

For through Jesus, God through open the gates of Heaven for anyone who believed in Jesus, whether Jew and Gentile (anyone not a Jew). All who placed their faith and trust in His Son, the Savior of the world, would gain the assurance of eternal life. Indeed, as Jesus made clear, no one can come to the Father except by way of His Son, the One who is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), the slain Lamb of God who was and is worthy to receive “power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (Revelation 5:12)

Truly, we are a blessed people who belong to a mighty, awesome God who saved us for His own through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  

Friends, this amazing, miraculous, all-powerful God is to be our praise. Indeed, He is worthy of all we can muster and we need to persistently lift Him up, glorifying Him with every breath we take within every day He blesses us with. We need to confess and profess that all things are by and through Him, and my hope is that we’ll all live out these words of one of my favorite classic hymns, All Creatures of Our God and King:

Verse 1:

All creatures of our God and King

Lift up your voice and with us sing,

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou burning sun with golden beam,

Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

Chorus:

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Verse 2:

Thou rushing wind that art so strong

Ye clouds that sail in Heaven along,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Thou rising moon, in praise rejoice,

Ye lights of evening, find a voice!

Chorus:

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Verse 3:

Thou flowing water, pure and clear,

Make music for thy Lord to hear,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Thou fire so masterful and bright,

That givest man both warmth and light.

Chorus:

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Verse 4:

Dear mother earth, who day by day

Unfoldest blessings on our way,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

The flowers and fruits that in thee grow,

Let them His glory also show.

Chorus:

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Verse 5:

And all ye men of tender heart,

Forgiving others, take your part,

O sing ye! Alleluia!

Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,

Praise God and on Him cast your care!

Chorus:

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Verse 6:

And thou most kind and gentle Death,

Waiting to hush our latest breath,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Thou leadest home the child of God,

And Christ our Lord the way hath trod.

Chorus:

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Verse 7:

Let all things their Creator bless,

And worship Him in humbleness,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,

And praise the Spirit, Three in One!

Chorus:

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

WHAT DOES THE LORD ASK OF YOU?

Can I pray for you in any way? 

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com. 

In Christ, Mark 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk 

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn 

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com 

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word. 
 
“Remember this and never forget how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the desert. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord. At Horeb you aroused the Lord's wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you. When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.”  

“At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord told me, ‘Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made a cast idol for themselves.’"  

“And the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under Heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’"  

“So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.” 

“Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord's sight and so provoking Him to anger. I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for He was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me. And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. Also, I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.” 

“You also made the Lord angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah.”  

“And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, He said, ‘Go up and take possession of the land I have given you.’ But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust Him or obey Him. You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.”  

“I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights because the Lord had said He would destroy you. I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Sovereign Lord, do not destroy Your people, Your own inheritance that you redeemed by Your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness, and their sin. Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, “Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to put them to death in the desert.” But they are Your people, Your inheritance that You brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’"  

“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to Me on the mountain. Also make a wooden chest. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the chest.’"  

“So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. The Lord wrote on these tablets what He had written before, the Ten Commandments He had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.”  

(The Israelites traveled from the wells of the Jaakanites to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest. From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water. At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord your God told them.) 

“Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not His will to destroy you. ‘Go,’ the Lord said to me, ‘and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.’"  

“And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”  

Deuteronomy 9:7-29, 10:1-13 
 
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God. 

Through the remainder of Deuteronomy, chapter 9 and into the start of chapter 10, we see Moses, the leader of the Israelite people, reminding them about their history of stubborn sinfulness, a stubborn sinfulness that consistently violated God’s commands, laws, and decrees. From Horeb (also known as Mount Sinai) where Israel had worshipped the golden calf, leading Moses to smash the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments…to Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah…to Kadesh Barnea, where Israel blew their first attempt at entering Canaan and ended up wandering the desert for forty more years to get to where they were in our passage today, a people who were on the brink of entering the Promised Land.  

Israel’s behavior was summed up like this as Moses told them: 

“From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord.” 

This behavior greatly angered God and had it not been for the times Moses interceded for the Israelites, they might have been completely destroyed before they even got a chance to enter Canaan.  

Well, that’s what we know about how Israel behaved but how about us?  

If we were to sit down and document all the times that we have been stubborn in our sinfulness, how long would our list be?  

On second thought, maybe we don’t want to go through that drill because if we’re honest, I believe we’ll see that we’re not much better than God’s people in Old Testament times.  

Going back to our scriptures for today, we see Moses finish up his summation with some words of wisdom for the Israelites…and for us as well. For in his discourse, he lets his brothers and sisters know all the things the Lord expected from them, things He still expects from us today. As I close, let’s look at each one separately.  

1. The Lord asks that we fear Him.  

Does this mean that we are to cower in fear to the point where we are paralyzed and unable to function?  

No, but it does mean that we are to hold our God in the greatest esteem and admiration. This part of verse 12 in The Message translation reads like this: 

“Live in His presence in holy reverence”.  

The bottom line us that He is the Lord God Almighty, the Maker and Master of all things. He is greater than anything or anyone and has no rival, a truth that should always command our complete respect for Him.  

2. The Lord asks that we walk in His ways.  

Life offers us many paths to travel and left to our own devices, we are destined to go astray and leave ourselves vulnerable to Satan’s attack. Thankfully, we can completely avoid this by following the leading of the Holy Spirit that dwells within everyone who has placed their belief in Jesus. He (the Holy Spirit) will always lead us on the narrow path to life (Matthew 7:14) that Jesus not only talked about but walked Himself so we could walk in His footsteps, and in doing so, live out His ways.   

3. The Lord asks that we love Him.  

How can we show God we love Him?  

By staying obedient to His will and way, sacrificing everything for Him as He has done for us, perhaps no more than when He willingly surrendered and sacrificed Jesus, His Son, so that we might be saved from Hell and gain the blessing of eternal life in Heaven instead.  

And when we lay our lives down for God, loving Him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength (Matthew 22:37), then we will love others as He does. For the scriptures tell us this: 

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16 

4. The Lord asks that we serve Him with all our heart and soul.  

We can’t just give God part of ourselves. We have to give Him everything.  

We can do this when we make Him the treasure of our lives.  

Go to the Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and you will find Him saying this in Matthew, chapter 6: 

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” v. 21  

If the Lord is our treasure, then He and He alone will be in our heart and when that happens, we will be able to serve Him with all that we are because all of Him will be within us.  

Finally... 

5. The Lord asks that we observe His commands and decrees.  

We don’t get to make up our own rules in life.  

God gave us His word to instruct us and impart wisdom. Then, He sent His only Son to walk the earth and model proper living to us, living that perfectly adhered to the will and Word of His Father. And as if that wasn’t already enough, He sent us the Holy Spirit to bring illumination and understanding of His Word and guidance on any and all life matters to ensure we do the right thing, the thing He wants, each and every time.  

The bottom line is that we have no excuse Christ disciples today. Our God has given us everything we need to live as He desires. We just need to use our spiritual tools and comply with His commands and decrees with obedience.   

Friends, there’s no mystery as to what the Lord expects from us. He definitely doesn’t leave us in a place where we need to sit back and wonder what He wants.  

What He wants isn’t hard but in order to meet His wishes, we must first divorce ourselves from the world and its ways, a world that would lead us to live counter to everything our Lord desires. In response to today’s message, let’s all commit anew to the Lord and His principles, denying ourselves while seeking to carry out what He wants us to do each and every day.  

Amen. 
 
In Christ, 
 
Mark 

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.