Deuteronomy 11:1

Deuteronomy 11:1 says, Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.  Moses said first that the people of Israel were to love the LORD their God, which meant they must have a personal relationship with Him, and then they were to keep all His laws.  Unless we first have a personal relationship with God, we are not going to want to attempt to keep all His laws.  Verse two adds, And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,  Moses said that he was not speaking to those who had not seen the miraculous power of God.  Some of the people there had witnessed what God did in Egypt, and Moses said that he was speaking to them.  If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we have first hand experience with God to rely on, and not just hypothetical facts.  By faith, we know the reality of God's power.  Verse three continues, And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;  Moses reminds them of what God did to  Pharoah of Egypt in his own land.  We need to always remember what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, which was even greater than what God did to Pharaoh in Egypt.  We may not have been there physically as some of these people had been in Egypt, but by faith we know what He did for us on the cross, and we need to never forget it.  Verse four states, And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day;  Moses said that those that he was speaking to also saw what God did to Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea.  As I have stated before, some people today say that God really didn't part the Red Sea for the people of Israel to pass over through, but that they really just passed through a marshy area.  If that were to be the case, then the army of Pharaoh all drowned in what was simply a marshy area.  That in itself would be miraculous, but we don't need to attempt to explain the miracles of God.  We simply need to accept them by faith.  Verse five adds, And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;  Moses said that they also knew what God had done for them in the wilderness until they got to the edge of the Promised Land.  We need to remember all that God has done for us as Christians, because we are always on the edge of the Promised Land, Heaven.  Our next breathe could be our last and get us there.  Verse six continues, And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:  Moses said that they had seen what happened to those who rebelled against Him.  We may not see what happens to those who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, but by faith we know what God's word says will happen to them, and it is much worse than simply having the earth swallow them.  Verse seven concludes, But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.  Moses said they had seen all the great acts that God had done.  Though we as followers of Christ may not have seen the great act of redemption that He did on the cross, we must surely have seen great acts that God has done in our lives once we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. 

Deuteronomy 10:10

Deuteronomy 10:10 says, And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.  Moses said he stayed on the mountain forty days and nights interceding for the people while he was there, and God listened to him and did not destroy them.  We need to be interceding for people with God today.  Verse eleven adds, And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.  God told Moses to go and tell the people of Israel to go in and possess the land which He swore to give to their fathers.  As we today journey through life, we need to remember that we are on our way to heaven, the place that God has sworn will one day be our everlasting home.  Verse twelve continues, And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,  Just as Moses told the people of Israel, all God requires of us is that we fear, or respect God, walk in His ways, or keep His commandments, love Him, and serve Him with all out heart and soul.  In other words, give ourselves, and not just material things to Him.  Verse thirteen concludes, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good.  As just stated, Moses told them that the were to keep God's commandments and statutes as he had commanded them to do that day.  When we accept Jseus as our Savior and Lord, He commands us to keep all of His commandments and statutes.  Verse fourteen states, Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.  Moses said that all of the heavens and the earth belonged to God.  They still do, and always will.  Verse fifteen adds, Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.  Moses said that God chose the people of Israel to work through, and today He chooses to work through Christians, those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ alone.  The people of Israel were not chosen because of their superiority to other people, but because of their weakness in the eyes of the world, and we today are not chosen because of our moral superiority to other people but because we humble ourselves before God and admit our inability to save ourselves.  Verse sixteen continues, Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.  Circumcision was a sign of the people of Israel belonging to God, but now Moses told them to circumcise their hearts, and to not be a stiffnecked people.  We told are to remove everything in our heart that stands between God and us, and not to attempt to hold on to the things that do.  Verse seventeen declares, For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:  Moses said that God was the only true and all powerful God, Who didn't regard, or look to who a person was physically in order to enter into a relationship with them, nor could He be bought.  No matter who we are in the world, or where we live, none of us is any better than any other in God's eye because of that.  Verse eighteen adds, He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.  Moses said that God had mercy on the fatherless and widows and loved the stranger, those who were not a part of the nation of Israel.  Until we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are strangers to God, but He still loved us enough to send Jesus Christ to die for our sins, so that we might be restored to Him by faith in Jesus Christ.  When we do accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we should help the orphans and widows around us.  Verse nineteen continues, Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.  Moses said that God expected them to love the strangers, because God had loved them when they were strangers in Egypt and had brought them out of their bondage.  We today were strangers to God until He brought us out of the bondage of sin.  Verse twenty says, Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.  Moses said that the people of Israel were to fear, or have an awesome respect for God, cleave to Him, and swear by His name.  As Christians, so must we today.  Verse twenty-one adds, He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.  Moses said that God was their God because of the great and terrible things that He did to bring them out of Egypt, and we are His because of the great and terrible thing that Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.  Verse twenty-two continues, Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.  Moses said that the people of Israel numbered seventy people when they went into Egypt, but now they were as numerous as the stars in heaven.  After the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, the number of people who followed Him was small, but now they are as numerous as the stars in heaven, and we are to be witnessing to the lost so that the number will continue to grow. 

Deuteronomy 10:1

Deuteronomy 10:1 says, At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.  Moses said that God then directed him to hew out two tablets of stone like the first two that he broke, and to come back up the mountain and make an ark out of wood. The first tablets may have been broken, but God's law was still intact, and when He had Moses bring the tablets to be rewritten, God was showing His willingness to forgive the people of Israel.  When we break God's law, it is still intact, and we must return to Him in repentance, and He awaits ready to forgive us if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ. Verse two adds, And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.  God said that He would write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, and then Moses was to put them in tha ark.  God's law will never change no matter how many times we may break it, but we must be ready to receive it if it is to do us any good.  Verse three continues, And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.  Moses said he made the ark and hewed the two tablets and went up the mountain.  Matthew Henry says that since the Bible says that in Exodus that Bezaleel was said to have made the ark, that either Moses made the ark of wood and Bezaleel later overlaid it with gold, or that Moses had him make it at this time while he was up on the mountain.  Verse four states, And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.  Moses said God rewrote the ten commandments on the tablets as He had before and gave them to him once again.  Our breaking God's commandments will never change them, and if we are guilty of sin and repent, God will once again write them in our heart.  Verse five adds, And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.  Moses said he came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark as God had commanded him to do.  God is ready to write his law in our hearts as soon as we are ready to receive it.  He does not force us to accept it.  Verse six says, And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his stead.  Moses said that as the people journeyed in the wilderness, that Aaron died and was buried, and that his son Eleazar took his place at God's direction.  God will always have people ready to take the place of those who are doing His work today, but it will be at His direction and not by any earthly status.  Verse seven adds, From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.  After Aaron was buried, the continual on their journey toward the Promised Land.  We can never allow the death of anyone to keep us from continuing on our journey of following Jesus to heaven, our Promised Land.  Verse eight states, At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.  Moses said that the tribe of Levi was separated at that time to bear the ark of the covenant.  As Christians, we are separated from the world today to carry God's truth into the world.  Verse nine adds, Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.  The tribe of Levi had no earthly inheritance, but their inheritance was in the LORD according to what God had promised.  Out inheritance as followers of Christ will never be in the things of this world, but will always be in our heavenly home according to God's word.  Until then, we are simply called to serve and obey Him.

Deuteronomy 9:18

Deuteronomy 9:18 says, And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.  Moses said he neither ate nor drank for forty days and nights, after falling down before the LORD, because of the sins of the people.  We cannot atone for the sins of others, but we can go to God on their behalf in prayer and fasting.  Verse nineteen adds, For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.  Moses said that He did this because he was afraid of the anger that God felt toward them.  I believe God's anger was at their actions, just as it is at the actions of those who will not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord today.  Moses said God heard him at that time.  We may never know when our prayers have given someone more time to accept Jesus Christ, but we can be certain that God will hear our prayers on their behalf.  Verse twenty adds, And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.  Aaron, God's priest, had joined in the idol creation and worship, and Moses was afraid that God would destroy him as well.  We need to be in prayer for any preacher who strays away from God's word today, that they might recognize their error and return to preaching God's word correctly.   Verse twenty-nine continues, And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.  Moses said he took the calf which represented their sinful worship, reduced it to powder and threw the powder into the brook that descended out of the mount.  It may have been gold, but it was worthless to them now.  We need to utterly destroy anything that stands between God and us today, no matter how valuable the world may believe it to be.  Verse twenty-two states, And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath. Even after being spared for their rebellion in worshipping the golden calf, the people again rebelled.  The sad news is that God has already forgiven everyone's sins when Jesus died on the cross, but most people continue to rebel against God by refusing to accept Him as their personal Savior and Lord, no matter how many chances God gives them to do so.  Verse twenty-three adds, Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.  Moses said they further rebelled when God told them to go in and possess the Promised Land, because they had no faith in God.  God calls us today to come to Him by faith in Jesus Christ so that we can one day go up to live in heaven, but too many people refuse to put their faith in Him.  Verse twenty-four continues, Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.  Moses said that the people of Israel, God's chosen people, had been rebellious since the day He knew them.  Some people today, even though salvation is their's for the claiming, have always rebelled against God by not accepting it.  Verse twenty-five says, Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.  Moses said he once again fell down before the LORD for forty days and nights.  We should never be to quick to give up on people that need Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.   Verse twenty-six adds, I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.  Moses again intervened for the people of Israel, and we need to be intervening for the lost people of the world today.  Verse twenty-seven continues, Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:  Moses asked God to remember His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and not to look to the stubbornness of the people.  When we are saved today, it is not because of our goodness, but because of God's promise of everlasting life to those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse twenty-eight states, Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.  Moses said that if God destroyed His chosen people that He had delivered out of Egypt before they went into the Promised Land that other people would say that He was unable to deliver them.  Verse twenty-nine adds, Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.  Moses said that they were God's people because of Who He was and not because of who they were, and so are we today as Christians. 

Deuteronomy 9:7

Deuteronomy 9:7 says, Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.  Moses reminded the people that even though they were God's chosen people that He had delivered out of bondage in Egypt, they had remained a rebellious people.  As followers of Christ, we can be and too often are as well.  Still, they remained His chosen people because of Who He was, and so will we if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Verse eight adds, Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.  Still, there was a time when God became angry enough at their rebellious nature to destroy them, and we need to pray that we as Christians never make Him that mad.  Verse nine continues, When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:  Moses said that this occurred while he was up on the mountain receiving God's law, during which time he neither ate nor drank for forty days.  Moses represented God to them, and they hadn't seen him for forty days, so they rebelled.  If we begin to feel that God isn't with us today, we need to draw closer to Him and not rebel against Him.  Verse ten states, And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.  Moses said God delivered to him the two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments written on them by God's finger.  Today, the Ten Commandments should be written in our hearts by God.  Verse eleven adds, And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.  Moses said at the end of the forty days that God gave him the two tablets of the covenant.  I don't believe that it took God forty days to write the Ten Commandments on the stones, but it was a time for Moses and the people of Israel to prepare themselves spiritually to receive them.  Verse twelve continues, And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.  Mose said God told him to arise and quickly get down the mountain because the people which he had led out of Egypt had corrupted themselves and made a golden image to worship.  The people of Israel may not have known what God was doing, but He knew what they were doing.  We may at times wonder where God is in a particular situation, but He always knows where we are.  Verse thirteen declares, Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:  Moses said God told him that He had seen this people and they were a stiffnecked people.  We need to make sure that as followers of Christ God never sees us the same way.  Verse fourteen adds, Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.  Though God had chosen the people of Israel to be His people, He was ready to blot them out and choose a different people to work through.  We can never believe that we are special to God simply because of where we were born whether we obey God or not.  It takes a personal relationship with God to make us special to Him, and at this time the people of Israel did not have one.  Verse fifteen says, So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.  Moses said he went down the mountain with the two tablets of stone and the mountain burned with fire.  This should have gotten the attention of the people of Israel.  I believe that God will always get our attention if we turn away from Him and start to chase after false gods.  Verse sixteen adds, And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.  Moses said that he then saw that they has made a molten calf to worship, quickly turn away from God in spite of what all He had done for them.  We will never be able to find anything that will be able to replace God in our life, even if we don't understand what He is doing at the moment.  Verse seventeen continues, And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.  Moses said he threw the two tablets down and broke them.  We cannot allow the actions of others to cause us to become angry and break God's law if we are followers of Christ. 

Deuteronomy 9:1

Deuteronomy 9:1 says, Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,  Moses told the people of Israel that they were to cross over the Jordan that day to go and possess a land that was full of nations greater than them and filled with cities with walls that were very high.  We as followers of Christ need to always look to God for victory in our battle with the world today and never view the world as too powerful for us to overcome.  Verse two adds, A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!   Moses warned them that the land was full of giants, but they were not to let this dishearten them.  When we see giant obstacles in the world today as followers of Christ, we should never allow them to discourage us, but we need to simply continue to look to God for the victory,  Verse three  continues, Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.  Moses said that God would go before them to bring down all their enemies so that they could destroy them.  As Christians, Jesus Christ has gone before us to defeat all our enemies spiritually, and all we have to do is live by faith in Him.  Verse four states, Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.  Moses warned the people of Israel not to begin to think that it was because of their spiritual superiority over other nations that they were victorious.  They would be victorious because of Who their God was and not because they were inherently better than the people of other nations.  We as Christians in America can never believe that we are somehow morally superior to people in other nations simply because we were born here.  Verse five adds, Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Moses said that the people of Israel would not be successful because of their righteousness, but that they would be successful because of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  We today are not specifically successful because of our own righteousness, but are successful because of God's promise to restore mankind to Himself by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ Who paid the penalty for our sins.  Verse six continues, Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.  Moses further warned them to not think that God gave them the land because of their righteousness, because they were a stiffnecked people.  We will never have salvation because of our own righteousness, because at some point in life we were a stiffnecked person who did not put their faith in Jesus Christ.  As followers of Christ, we are simply a sinner saved by grace, no better than any other.

Merry Christmas

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

This is why we celebrate Christmas.  It is the birth day of Jesus, the Promised Messiah, Who was born to redeem all mankind.  He was born in a place where He was a stranger, not in a palace, but in a manger.  His birth was not noted by the rich and powerful, but was announced by the angel of the Lord to a group of shepherds as they went about their everyday life.  The shepherds were told to not be afraid, because the angel brought them good news.  This good news was that unto them that day in the city of David was born to them a Savior, which was Christ the Lord.  Again, this is what we celebrate today.  The shepherds were told where they could find Jesus and how they could recognize Him.  They would find Him wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  We today find Him as the Resurrected Lord, knocking on our hearts door as God calls us to Him.  Then, a multitude of angels appeared, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.  This is what we should be doing today as Christians while we celebrate Christmas, praising God and showing peace and good will toward all people.  Of course, it starts by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, and if you haven't what better day to do so than on Christmas day.  My prayer is that if you haven't, that you will do so today, then you can truly celebrate Christmas.