Deuteronomy 12:9

Deuteronomy 12:9 says, For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.  As Moses told the people of Israel then, we as followers of Christ have not yet come into the rest and inheritance that God has promised us.  Of course, Moses was referring to the earthly Promised Land to them, and we look toward our heavenly home for this promise to be fulfilled today.  Verse ten adds, But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;   Moses said when they went in, not if, that God would give them rest from all their enemies.  This will be true for us when, not if, we go home to heaven.  Verse eleven continues, Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:  Moses said when they were in the Promised Land that God would designate a place for them to worship Him, and that was where they were to bring all their sacrifices, tithes and offerings to God.  When we get to Heaven, everywhere will be a place to worship God, and we will bring to Him all that we have to offer Him, which is ourself.  Verse twelve states, And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.  All the people of the nation of Israel were to rejoice, even the Levites who had no earthly inheritance.  In this lifetime, we are all like the Levites, having no earthly inheritance, but we are to always worship God.  Verse thirteen adds, Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:  Moses told the people of Israel to take care to not offer their offerings to God anywhere except where He designated, but I believe that we today are free to worship God anywhere we are.  Verse fourteen continues, But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.  The people of Israel were to all worship in the place where God designated, and when we gather together today to worship God, it needs to be in a place where He designates, unlike individually where we should worship Him wherever we are.  Verse fifteen declares, Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.  God told them they were free to kill and eat the flesh of animals that they found in the land.  Though some people today tell us that as Christians we should not eat meat because it goes against what God would want us to do, this has never been the case.  Though they were limited in what animals were considered clean and that they could eat, in the New Testament these limitations were removed.  Verse sixteen adds, Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.  Moses said that they were not to eat the blood of the animals, but were to pour it on the ground as water.  Verse seventeen says, Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:  They were not to eat of the tithes,  offerings, and sacrifices that were given to God.  Anything that we willingly set aside for God today is no longer ours to do with as we please, as individual Christians or collectively as a body of believers.  Verse eighteen adds, But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.  The exception was when they were gathered in the place that God designated for them to worship.  There they could eat of the sacrifices as they rejoiced in the Lord.  Verse nineteen continues, Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.  The people of Israel were warned to not neglect providing for the Levites, those set aside to do God's work, and I believe that we today are to provide for those that God calls into the ministry and never neglect their needs..

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.

Deuteronomy 11:26

Deuteronomy 11:26 says, Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;  Moses said that day he set before the people of Israel a choice.  They could either choose a blessing or a curse,  One day, everyone faces that same choice. Verse Verse twenty-seven adds, A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:  Moses said that they could choose a blessing by obeying the commandments of the LORD which he set before them that day.  We today can choose the blessings of God if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord when God calls us to Him, and then we will want to obey His commandments.  Verse twenty-eight continues, And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.  Moses said they could also choose a curse by not obeying God and going after other gods, false gods, that they had not known.  If we choose not to accept Jesus Christ today and to obey God's commandments, we choose a curse of being forever separated from God by going after false gods.  The choice is ours, and not God's.  He has already chosen to provide salvation for us, but He will never force us to accept it.  Verse twenty-nine states, And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.  Moses said that they were to pronounce the blessings from Mount Gerazim and the curses from Mount Ebal, setting up a clear choice for them and I believe showing that they were separated from the rest of the nations.  We have the same clear choice today.  Verse thirty adds, Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?  Moses asked if these mountains were not on the other side of the Jordan.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are figuratively on the other side of the Jordan.  Heaven is our home, and we are just continuing to pass through this world.  Verse thirty-one continues, For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.  Moses said that they must first pass over the Jordsn by faith for God's promises to come true, and we today must first accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord for God's promises to come true.  Verse thirty-two concludes, And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.  Mose said that when they crossed over the Jordan that they were to obey all the statutes and judgments of God that he set before them that day if they expected God to continue to bless them.  After we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, God expects us to keep all His statutes and judgments under the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Just as the people of Israel were not free to do whatever they wanted once the crossed over Jordan into the Promised Land, neither are we once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. 

Deuteronomy 11:18

Deuteronomy 11:18 says, Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.  God through Moses told the people of Israel that they were to lay up His word in their heart and soul.  It was to become their innermost guiding force, just as it should be for us today.  God also said that they were to physically display His word before their eyes continually.  The Holy Spirit will keep God's laws always in front of us as Christians if we allow Him to.  Verse nineteen adds, And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  God said they were to teach His words to their children continually, all day long everyday.  This could only happen if the parents were living their lives guided by God's word.  We cannot expect our children to know God's word if we do not teach it to them daily.  Sending or even taking them to church once a week will not accomplish what God wants us to do for our children.  Verse twenty continues, And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:  God said they were to write His words on their door posts and their gates, so that they would see them going out and coming in.  As followers of Christ, we are to write God's word in our heart, so that it is always with us.  Verse twenty-one states, That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.  God told them that if they did this that their days would be multiplied as days of heaven upon the earth.  As Christians, we are already a part of God's everlasting Kingdom, even as we live here on the earth.  I believe that God expects us to live as though we know that.  Verse twenty-two adds, For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;  Verse twenty-three continues, Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.  These two verses were an if, then statement.  If the people of Israel would keep God's laws, then He would drive out all the nations before them.  If we expect God to bless us and keep us safe today, then we must live by faith in His word.  Verse twenty-four says, Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. God said that if they obeyed Him and taught their children to do so that He would give them all of the Promised Land.  We have a much greater everlasting home in heaven if we put our  faith in Jesus Christ.  Once we do, we are then to keep God's laws and teach them to our children.  Verse twenty-five adds, There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.  Though people of the world today may not fear us as Christians, God has already secured our everlasting victory over them, so we should never live our lives in fear of what they might do to us. Verse twenty-five continues, There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.  Moses said that no one would be able to stand before them because God would be able to stand before them because God would put the fear of Him in their enemies.  Today though, we are not to destroy our enemies, but are to reach out to them with God's love and the gospel of Christ. 

Deuteronomy 11;8

Deuteronomy 11:8 says, Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;  Moses said the people of Israel were to keep God's commandments, be strong, and go in and pseesss the land that God was giving them.  It all depended on putting their faith in God, just as our success as Christians in the world today does.  As Christians, we need to be strong in the Lord.  Verse nine adds, And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.  Moses said that they needed to obey God in order to prolong their days in the land that He had promised to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.  We need to obey God as followers of Christ because He has promised us a heavenly home one day.  Verse ten continues, For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:  Moses said the land they were going into was not like the land of Egypt, where they had to water things after they were planted in order for them to grow.  In the same way, our heavenly home will not be like this earthly one, where we have to sometimes work just to survive.  It will be a perfect place, maintained by God's power.  Verse eleven states, But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:  Moses said that the land they were going into was watered by the rain from heaven, or in other words by God Himself.  Since Moses had never been there, he had to be relying on God's revelation in order to know this.  Since we have never been to Heaven, we have to rely on God's revelation in order to know that our heavenly home exists and that it is a place of perfection.  Verse twelve adds, A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.  Moses said that God cared for the Promised Land and that His eyes were always on it.  This is certainly be true of Heaven, where we will walk and talk with God as Adam and Eve did before they gave in to sin.  Verse thirteen declares, And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,  Once again, the fact that the land would provide for all their needs was dependent on their keeping God's commandments and serving Him with all their heart.  Today, our going to heaven is dependent on our putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, and if we do, then we should want to keep all His commandments.  Verse fourteen adds, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.  God said that if they were obedient to Him that He would send the rain on the land in due season, both the first and latter rains.  Once more, this was dependent on their obedience to God, just as our going to Heaven is dependent on our putting our faith in Jesus Christ.  Of course, even having God meet our needs here in this world as Christians is dependent on our putting our faith in Him.  Verse fifteen continues, And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.  God said that if they were obedient to Him that He would provide enough grass to keep their cattle full.  He did not promise them big houses and a life of ease.  I am not sure what Heaven will be like, but I am sure that we will be there to serve and praise God, just as we should do here today as followers of Christ.  Verse sixteen says, Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;  God warned the people of Israel to take heed of themselves so that their hearts weren't deceived and they turned aside from Him and followed other gods.  If we have truly accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we should never be deceived and turn away from Him and serve false gods.  Verse seventeen adds, And then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.  God said if the people of Israel turned away from Him that He would no longer provide the rains and fruit to meet their needs, and they would perish off the face of the earth.  If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we are forever His, sealed to Him by God Himself, but if we are only going through the motions of professing to put our faith in Him without truly believing, when judgment dsy comes, we will be sent away into everlasting punishment. 

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.