July 17, 2026 - Deuteronomy 17 & Psalm 138

We read Deuteronomy 17 and Psalm 138, then connect God’s justice and mercy to how we live, lead, and worship. We also share an Ignite 2026 update and pray for the Holy Spirit to produce real humility, endurance, and sanctification in students and leaders. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. 

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Reading

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with God's word lighting the way. I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Friday, July 17th, 2026. Listen intently to God's written word. Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 17 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_00 0:28

17. You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, and transgressing his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worship them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have forbidden, and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates the man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, the one who is to die shall be put to death. A person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. If in any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right in another, or one kind of assault in another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place the Lord your God will choose. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place the Lord will choose, and you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel, and all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again. When you come to the land that the Lord your God has given you, and you possess it, and dwell in it, and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me. You may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, You shall never return that way again. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests, and it shall be with him, and he shall read it in all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law in his statutes and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel.

Psalm 138 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_01 3:30

I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. For you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called you answered me. My strength of soul you increased. All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Well,

Ignite Camp Update And Prayer

SPEAKER_00 4:26

we are kind of in the final stretch here of Ignite 2026, Tyler, and uh you're looking a little bit more rough today than you did yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Talk to me about how things are going.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

You've seen some things, you've seen some sun.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, it was uh it was a hot day yesterday, and we played we played some games. There were some tournaments, there was some spike ball, there was there was some uh some games during rec time, some free time activities were going down, and uh I I think this year's games humbly are just better than last year's. Uh the games master this year is crushing it. Shout out to Jared Campbell and uh and his team that are just faithfully serving in the heat. They're wearing black shirts, by the way, PJ. That is a crazy move. They're wearing black shirts, and they are just serving with joy and faithfulness and and really putting uh a great camp on from a rec side and game side. Uh and uh yeah, great conversations are happening, great discussion time. The the worship band is playing so well with excellence, and and the students and leaders are responding in a way they're singing with their whole heart. It's a it's a loud environment, and and I think it's pleasing to the Lord. I'm really encouraged, I'm so thankful to be a part of this.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

You say loud environment, and hopefully uh you can hear on the the podcast here your the scraggly voice of Tyler Sanborn. He has been yelling uh in a good way, uh triumphantly, and as a rally cry for the students, just trying to get them excited and energetic. Uh so a lot of just fun happening here at uh Ignite, but also, of course, we've been focusing on the theme of the Holy Spirit, as we talked about yesterday. And uh, we talked about my session focused on the spirit and the scriptures. Now, at the time of recording this, we were actually before the third session that Pastor Ben will be preaching on the spirit and sanctification. So at the time of listening to this, that that session will already have passed. But just be praying uh that that would just be a clear, compelling, even convicting session where the students have a clear idea of what it looks like to walk in the spirit. That's gonna be a big focus from Pastor Ben of trying to give them very specific things. Walking in the spirit is not this, but it's this. It's not that, but it's this. Clearly from God's word, giving them something to understand and pursue as they recognize the spirit's role in their sanctification and in their conforming to the image of Christ. So continue to pray for us, pray for just the endurance of our leaders. They're tired, they are giving it all they've got. And so uh they feel your prayers, they appreciate your prayers. Uh, keep praying for them, pray for just eternal fruit to be born as a result of our efforts today.

Justice, Witnesses, And Godly Authority

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Now, in Deuteronomy 17, we're on the heels, of course, of chapter 16, which ended talking about justice and not showing partiality and how partiality or really bribes and bribery subverts the cause of justice. And Deuteronomy 17 is kind of a whole chapter on justice about what to do. Uh, specifically, it starts there with false worship, idolatry, stoning. But in that process, uh, they weren't to do anything unless there was evidence of two or three witnesses. And so there was this legal procedure, and there was also judges and priests that would be involved in some of the trickier decisions and the verdicts that came down. It says you shall not turn aside, this is verse 11, from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. The man who acts presumptuously, that whole idea of rejecting the wisdom of the Lord that's being delivered through the priest and the judge. If you're going to act presumptuously and just ignore God's standards and his verdicts, uh then it talks about that person actually losing his life. So it says, That man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. So Deuteronomy 17 is really focusing on purging evil from the midst of the camp, making sure that they are being a holy nation that's set apart, consecrated to the Lord. And there's this very formal kind of policy and procedure. If there's going to be these legal proceedings, they're going to be done well. Justice is going to be upheld. They're not going to take bribes that subverts the cause of justice. They're going to display the perfect justice of God in this microcosm as a nation. And there's even laws here concerning uh Israel and kings. And as we keep reading the Old Testament, we recognize that kings specifically can get Israel in a lot of trouble, and they certainly do, uh, even in the book of Judges. And moving forward, there's lots of kings when the the kingdom of Israel divides into the north and to the south. There's all kinds of kings that are evil and wicked and that don't tear down the high places or the asherah that are these uh idolatrous shrines and places of worship to false deities. Uh, so lots of things going on in Deuteronomy 17, but it's all kind of upholding the justice of God, the order of God, uh, that there's a procedural operation towards even finding someone guilty and verdicts coming down and how they are to be enacted. Uh, just a great chapter, again, that highlights uh the character of God and the expectation of his people to reflect that character, uh, even in the the dealings within their society.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

As we look

Humility, Hope, And Answered Prayer

SPEAKER_01 9:35

to our psalm today, uh one verse stands out to me, and I kind of want to camp out here as we think about uh Pastor Ben's sermon that he's gonna deliver to these students this evening. Verse six says, For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. And our desire is for these students to humble themselves before a perfect and holy God, knowing that their life is sin stained, and knowing that the only way that they can become clean, the way that they can become uh new, having a new heart that sings to the Lord, not a heart of stone, but a heart of flesh, is by submitting their life to God, turning from their sin, repenting from their sin, and placing their hope and trust, their faith in God, the savior of the world in Jesus Christ. And this is something that I think is uh uh a verse especially focused here on a camp like Ignite. Um, we we need to be praying for humility, that God would bring us low, that God would show us the air of our thinking, the air of our decision making, the air of our ways, uh, and that he would reveal to us that the things that don't please him, the things that are outside of uh his direction and his guidance, his commands. And this the psalm of David is uh it begins with giving thanks, thanking the Lord with with a whole heart, not not in a way that is uh with half effort or um a regard for other things, but fully submitted, fully devoted to God. And there's only one, only one God that is worthy of praise, and this is Yahweh, the the I am. And David's heart is his heart cry is that um he would he would give God a praise. And and another encouragement here, when you're feeling down, when you're feeling like um there's there's too much going on in your life, we can go to verse three. Uh on the day I called, you answered me, and my strength of soul you increase. It's easy to lose heart, it's easy to to be caught up in our circumstances, and that at times they can be overwhelming, but our hope, our anchor is found in Christ, the anchor of our soul. Uh in him we cannot be shaken. In him, our soul has peace and hope and assurance.

A Song Inspired By Psalm 138

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Now, one interesting fact about uh Psalm 138, I just wanted maybe an interesting fact about me if you didn't know. I have been known to write a song or two in my time. In fact, here at Ignite, uh, there is a song that I wrote a few years ago called Rescued that I've been asked several times already for singing that uh this week that went along with our theme from 2024 for for Ignite that was called Rescued. It was based off of uh the Exodus event. Uh, but I wrote a song years ago on Psalm 138, and uh I'm not gonna sing it for you right now on the podcast, uh, but I it was something that I I did, and it's just a great uh psalm here. And I remember I'm just thinking off the top of my head, so I might butcher this. But the the chorus was your steadfast love and your faithfulness, you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me. My strength of soul, you have increased for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Uh, of course, there was a melody to that, but that was kind of the uh the the chorus, and maybe one of these days uh you'll hear Tyler Sanborn sing that song. Or someone else for that matter. But uh just a great psalm, uh a great psalm to focus on, a rich psalm. And um even there in verse one, I give thanks to you. I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart before the gods. I sing your praise, I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name uh for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. You have exalted above all things. There's the Course Your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me, my strength of soul, you have increased your steadfast love and your faithfulness. So hopefully that's an encouragement to you. And just a fun fact about Pastor Josiah years ago writing a song, a song on Psalm 138. And uh hopefully uh you will continue just to pray for us and think about us as we're here at Ignite trying to serve and expend ourselves for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of these students.

Closing Encouragement And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bywording Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible sv dot org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.