Month: April 2019

Deuteronomy 12 – Be Specific

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Have you ever noticed that when it comes to details, there are people who are more specific in nature and people who are more general in nature.

Specific people meticulously read the instructions before starting. General people just jump in, occasionally glancing over the instructions…if they look at them at all.

Specific people will sit at a red light for five minutes waiting for the light to change…even when no one else is at the intersection. General people will stop at the red light, but if no one else is there, and they’re already been waiting longer than they think they should, they will drive on.

Specific people see a rule as something to be followed. General people see a rule as something to be considered.

When it comes to worship, are you more general or specific?

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Deuteronomy 11 – The Freedom to Choose

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“Life would be so much better if I could just get people to do what I want them to do.” Much of our stress and frustration is due to wishing, expecting and trying to get people to do what we want them to do.

Deuteronomy chapter 11 reminds us that God is the only one in existence who has the power to make people to do what He wants them to do…and He doesn’t do it! He lets people choose (Deuteronomy 11:26) God spells out our options and the consequences for those options. He also urges and encourages us toward the better choice. But He won’t make that choice for us.

If God can save us difficulty and problems by making us do what we’re suppose to do, why doesn’t He?

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Deuteronomy 10 – The importance of Being Persistent and Consistent.

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When I was younger, I used to think that success was dependent upon talent, or skill, or wealth, or connectedness. I thought those who were successful merely had the right stuff and/or were in the right place at the right time.

There’s no doubt that these things are helpful, but the older I get, the more I’ve come to believe that success is much more about being persistent and consistent. Persistence and consistency are the two inseparable keys to success…both temporally and spiritually. In his book by the same name, Eugene Peterson called it “a long obedience in the same direction.”

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Deuteronomy 9 – Don’t Get A Big Head

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When things are good, it’s easy to believe we deserve it, or that our good fortune is a direct result of our efforts and importance. We may not say it out loud, but inwardly we feel the blessings are confirmation that we’re personally deserving of such good things.

But Deuteronomy chapter 9 reminds us…don’t get a big head! Here, Moses tells the children of Israel not to assume that they are somehow better than the nations they are preparing to defeat. In fact, Moses reminds them that they are just as stubborn and rebellious as these other nations. Moses even goes on to remind them of incident after incident in which they stubbornly rebelled against God.

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