Deuteronomy 12:1

Deuteronomy 12:1 says, These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.  Moses said that there were certain things that the people of Israel should do when they possessed the land that the Lord had given them. We as followers of Christ should do the same things Moses told them to do, and if we cannot do it throughout the nation, then we should certainly do it within the church and our homes.  Verse two adds, Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:  Moses said they were to utterly destroy all the places of worship of false gods in the Promised Land once they possessed it.  We need to make certain that we do not go to places where false gods are worshipped, even if we cannot destroy them.  Verse three continues, And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.  They were also to destroy all the altars, groves, and graven images of the false gods.  Again, we may not be able to physically destroy them all today, but we can blot them out of our life.  Verse four declares, Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.  Moses said that they were not to do the same unto the LORD their God.  It is not enough to simply remove false gods from our life if we remove the one true God as well.  We must build up the places of worship to God, but we certainly do not need to make graven images of Him.  Verse five adds, But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:  Moses said that the place God chose out of all their tribes to put His name, that they should come to worship Him.  God should be in charge of where we choose to gather together to worship Him today.  It is not my church or your church, but God's church.  Verse six continues, And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:  They were to bring all their sacrifices, tithes, and offerings to the place that God designated, and so should we today.  Verse seven states, And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.  They were not only to bring their sacrifices and tithes and offerings to the place God established for them to worship Him, but they were to rejoice in their households because the Lord had blessed them.  We need to praise God not only in church, but when we are at home or wherever we are as well.  Verse eight adds, Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.  Moses told them that they could not do what was right in their own eyes, but must do what God had instructed them to do, and we cannot just decide on our own what is right or wrong.  We must do what God's word under the guidance of the Holy Spirit tells us to do.