Josh1Eight

Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:11, 16, 19-20  11 “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach...If you do this, you will live...19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses...Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life...” Observations: In His closing words to the nation of Israel, Moses summarized the entire covenant between God and His people by offering them the choice to accept or decline His offer of relationship by choosing either to obey His commands or refusing them. As an act of His grace, God weighed in as they were considering His offer and went so far as literally telling them which option to pick that would lead them to a preferred destiny rather than an empty existence. It was as if the Divine teac...

Scripture: Deuteronomy 28:9-10, 15, 68  9 “If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. 10 Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you...13 If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them...15 however, if you do not obey...68The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you." Observations: Moses here draws a line in the sand for God's people that would mark the difference between God's blessing or His curse. On one side was option 1: obedience; on the other side option 2: disobedience. Moses gave them the option to either obey God's instruuctions and be blesssed or refuse them and be cursed....

Scripture: Luke 15:1-2 "Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!" Observations: Here in this passage the disciple Luke who documented Jesus' life and ministry takes a shot at a certain group of individuals who had basically just missed it concerning the nature of God and His love for people. He pointed out that when Jesus was teaching about God that frequently the audience was filled with what society considered to be the most sinful and corrupt people who were known for their reputation for doing things that were unquestionably against God's Word. And yet, what is absent from Luke's account is even the slightest concern from Jesus about the kinds of people His ministry was attracting. In fact, the only people who even seemed bothered by it were the religious leaders who thought somehow that ...

Scripture: Deuteronomy 27:11-13, 15 "That same day Moses also gave this charge to the people: 12 “When you cross the Jordan River, the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin must stand on Mount Gerizim to proclaim a blessing over the people. 13 And the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali must stand on Mount Ebal to proclaim a curse...And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’" Observations: After laying out all of the principles and regulations of Israel's covenant relationship with God, he then called them to commit themselves to obey them. However, this was no casual response. He instructed one group of Israelites to stand on one mountainside while the other half stood on another mountain across from them while the priests stood in the valley in between them and proclaimed a series of curses to which they all had to agree to before the covenant took full effect. It would be equivolent today of someone checking the box that says ...

Scripture: Luke 14:25-27, 33 "A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, 26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple...So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own." Observations: Again, Jesus' ministry is gaining a huge following and He's got a large crowd following Him around. And You'd think Jesus wouldn't do something so stupid that would jeopardize His "ministry" and possibly cause Him to lose followers. But right in the middle of this momentum He tries again to filter out those who are truly devoted to Him from those who aren't really all that commited by explaining to them what it meant to be one of His disciples. What exactly did that require you as...