WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.720 This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.759 For more information in our church, please visit grandparkway.org. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:06.320 Amen. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:07.040 You can have a seat. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:10.400 If you have a Bible, I invite you to take it open to Deuteronomy chapter 6. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:11.919 Deuteronomy chapter 6. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:13.839 If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your roll. 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:15.599 I'm on page 151. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:16.960 And we're in a series right now. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:21.120 If you're visiting today or if you are new to our church, we're in a series on the church. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:26.559 We're talking about the church, not as the building or the organization or the institution. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:27.839 That's not what the church is. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.760 The church is the people, and it's an organism, and we're the body of Christ. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:37.600 And so we thought it would, since all that is true, it would benefit us to understand what the Bible says. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:44.079 And last week we started a series called The Purpose of the Church, and we're the bride of Christ, and we're using the acrostic wife. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:45.439 Last week we talked about worship. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:47.600 And this morning I want to talk to you about instruction. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:48.399 Instruction. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.079 One of the things, and tragically, uh Amos the prophet said this. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.560 He said, The days are coming, declares the sovereign Lord, when I'll send a famine on the land. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:00.560 Not a famine of food or drink, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:07.040 He says, In that day, the lovely young women and the strong young men will faint because of thirst. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:14.640 And tragically, I think we're in that day now where it's kind of like when you go to church, you get everything but instruction from the Bible. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:16.159 And so we just want to instruct you. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:23.920 And instead of me talking to you about instruction, I want to take a section of scripture and let God kind of instruct us from what the Bible says to us this morning. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:24.319 Okay? 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:25.439 You with me? 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:26.319 You good with that? 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:29.599 Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 1. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:31.120 This is what the Bible says. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:54.159 It says, now this is that Moses is talking, he says, now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God and your son and your son's sons, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:02:05.760 Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.120 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:14.159 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.840 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.159 You shall teach them diligently to your children. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:30.719 You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:35.439 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:41.439 Clearly the Bible's intention, and God's intention is it is that instruction be a part of our life. 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:44.479 He kind of incorporated in the warp and woof of everyday life. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:56.000 And it and I just want to take those nine verses and just kind of ask God to instruct us, just kind of unpack, because there's six things that in the text that I that God kind of points out, I want to bring to your attention. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:02.080 And the first one is in verse one, and basically it's this that the learning, he seems to be saying, the learning is for the living. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:03.520 The learning is for the living. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:04.080 What do you mean? 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:06.479 Verse one, he says, now this is the commandment. 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:08.560 By the way, notice that that's singular. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:16.319 He says, This is the commandment, because I'm gonna get to it in just a minute, but I want you to know that what Moses says is basically one thing. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:17.759 It's not a whole bunch of things. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:20.479 As a matter of fact, I want you to listen this morning, not for that. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:26.000 I'm gonna give you six points, and you're like, I thought preachers could only do three, and they had to all rhyme or start with the same letter. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:31.520 Uh I'm gonna give you six, and you can just jot down the one, you can jot them all down, but here's what I want you to do. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:45.120 I want you to walk out of here in a few minutes with one thing that you take into your week, just this one thought or one truth or one concept from the Bible, and you just go home today and you start praying, God, instruct me around this one thing, okay? 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.560 Because it's really just one thing that he says and kind of unpacks it. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:56.960 By the way, the book of Deuteronomy really is three sermons that Moses, three talks that Moses gives up, stands up and gives to the people of God, the children of Israel. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.360 Because Moses is not going to go into the promised land. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:00.000 He knows that. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:04.879 They're on the precipice, they're on the banks of the Jordan, they're heading over into what God promised. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:07.599 And he says, by the way, the learning is for the living. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:08.639 That's what verse 1 means. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:11.520 He says, now this is the commandment, the singular one thing. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:20.800 And then there's statutes and rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you that you may do them in the land which you are going over to possess it. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:28.000 See, it's not just teaching for the sake of teaching, it's it it's teaching so you will hear it and receive it and then do it. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:32.079 You say, Well, I don't know what you mean when you say the learning is for the living. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:34.399 You see, that's God's intention all along. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:39.439 If you you can get in a lot of discussions about the existence of God and this, that, and the other. 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:46.399 And let me just say this: one of the greatest statements about the reality of God is the obedience of God's people. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:48.319 Let me say that again. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:54.480 One of the greatest statements, don't get into arguments at work, don't go to work this week and say, well, you know, and someone says, Well, how could there be a God? 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:56.079 How could a good God let things like that? 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:56.959 Have you seen? 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:58.480 I mean, what's going on in the world? 00:04:58.639 --> 00:04:59.040 Our U.S. 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:01.439 embassies are getting overrun and blah, blah, blah. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:02.480 Where is God? 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:07.120 The greatest statement about the existence of God is the obedience of God's people. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:15.439 That's what, if you look all through the Bible, Old and New Testament, James chapter 1, James says, hey, don't be hearers of the word only, but doers. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.600 Because if you're just a hearer and not a doer, you deceive yourself. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:25.120 None of you got up this morning and you woke your wife and kids up and said, Hey, shave your legs, honey, let's go be deceived. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:26.399 All right, let's go. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:39.279 But the Bible says if you come to church and you just hear things and you don't walk out and do them, you don't incorporate them into your life, you don't receive instruction, and then hang your life on that instruction, you're just deceiving yourself. 00:05:39.839 --> 00:06:00.800 By the same token, it's why Jesus stood up in Matthew chapter 7 and he's teaching the Sermon on the Mount, and he says, after Matthew 5, 6, and 7, a big long teaching narrative, Jesus says, by the way, anyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a man who builds his house on the rock, and when the storms come and beat against that house, it stands up. 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.360 Moses says the same thing back in Deuteronomy 6. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:06.160 He says, Hey, don't just fill your heads up with information. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:10.319 Get ready to do something with what you hear today. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:15.680 You're going to enter into the land, and God's giving you this because he wants you to do these things. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:21.680 Because in doing these things, your life is going to make a statement about the reality of God. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:27.040 Second statement he makes us this morning is simply this don't confuse the consequence with the commandment. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:29.199 Don't confuse the consequence with the commandment. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:45.680 Verse 2, he says, Do them in the land of which you're going over to possess, verse 2, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:49.680 Now, if you're not careful, you can confuse the consequence with the commandment. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:52.160 There's two consequences of keeping the commandment. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:56.879 They're basically this: you fear the Lord, and secondly, your days may be long. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:58.240 You say, No, what do you mean? 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.560 Don't confuse the consequence with the commandment. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:09.759 Don't, in other words, don't try to produce in your life what God will produce if you just kind of focus on this one singular commandment that goes all the way through the Old and New Testament. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:11.600 We'll get to that in just a minute. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:12.480 But don't confuse. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:13.920 He says, hey, here's the consequence. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.920 Here's the byproduct of you doing what the Bible says. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:20.560 You coming and receiving instruction and go, you know what? 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:22.160 That's just not a great idea. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:23.839 That is a great invitation. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:25.920 That's my identity as a Christian. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:28.160 I get to live out what the Bible talks about. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:30.000 And the Bible says, here's two things that happen. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:31.519 Number one, you fear the Lord. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:37.439 Not like being afraid, like not fear, but reverence and awe and priority. 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:40.639 But also notice this what he says in verse 2. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.040 He says that you may fear the Lord your God. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:44.480 And it doesn't stop there. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:48.240 You and your son and your son's son. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:52.720 That means you and your children and your grandchildren. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:56.160 Now, if you're sitting in this room right now and you're single, you're thinking that doesn't apply to me. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:57.279 Absolutely, it does. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:00.000 Let me tell you about my crazy grandpa Janaway, okay? 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:04.560 When I was a kid, I come from a crazy family, dysfunctional, divorce is prevalent in my family. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:06.959 And so I was born in Phoenix, Arizona. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:14.079 And my my my when I was little, like five or six or seven years, oh, I was, no, I was four or five, because I came to Texas when I was five. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:15.279 I was like four or five. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:20.079 And my crazy grandpa Janaway lived in Harkehila, Arizona, which you've never heard of. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.240 It's like in the middle of Australian outback. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:23.680 It's just flat desert out there. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:26.959 And they managed a grain, a meal, like a grain elevator. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:32.399 People would come and they'd process the grain, and there was the grain elevators and the silo, and they had a trailer house. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:35.679 And in front of that trailer house was a white station wagon. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:40.320 And then there was my crazy grandpa Janoa who rocked the flat top, and a dude wore butchwax. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:41.759 Anybody remember what butchwax was? 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:42.399 Anybody? 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:45.039 Because in the morning, every morning I would hear this. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:57.679 And then he'd brush that thing up and give it a little kick up in the front, and he would say crazy things, and he rocked it like the V-neck white shirt, and I was kind of like, this crazy old man's gonna just set it off in here today. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:59.120 Here was my favorite part. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:01.919 At night, I mean I don't mean like 6:30, 7 o'clock. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:05.360 I mean 10:30, 11:30, midnight. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:10.000 He would come into my in the bedroom and me and my brother were sleeping with a flashlight. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:13.440 He would click it on and go, Who wants to go chase jackrabbits? 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:19.600 And we were like, whoom! And we we would sleep in our clothes in anticipation that the crazy man would come in there. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:24.080 I'd be laying there going, mighty power from above, come a swooping like a dove. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:26.240 Please let the crazy old man. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:28.639 And he'd come in there and he'd click, Who wants to go? 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:29.279 And that's right. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:36.879 We would get in that station wagon, we'd go out in the desert, no trees anywhere, just flat dirt, as far as you could see, just flatness and huge. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.840 I mean, like biggest German shepherds, jackrabbits. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.240 And we'd get my grandpa's station wagon and he'd go, roll the windows down, boys. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:46.480 This is before power windows. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:59.279 And we'd hand crank those windows down, and I don't mean like 10 or 15, I mean 70 miles an hour, turn that and dirt, and by the way, when you go in dirt, it doesn't go, it goes more like you're just sliding around. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:00.559 Dirt's flying everywhere. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:08.159 The inside of the thing, it was so dusty inside the station wagon, and there was no, I don't know if you know this, there was no seat belts in the back seat back then. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.639 We were like marbles in a shoebox. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.679 And it was the greatest thing we just go, you boys holding on, and we're just all over the place. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:17.279 We're on the floor, boy, we're getting up. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:24.639 I mean, it would go on for 20 minutes, and then he'd just slow roll back to the house, and I would be sitting back there laughing so hard, I'd get the hiccups. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:27.600 When's the last time you laughed so hard you had the hiccups? 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:30.159 That's your problem right there, people. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:39.039 And I'd be hiccuping, and somewhere between hiccuping and trying to breathe, I would think to myself, I want to be this way when I'm a grandpa. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:45.519 I can't wait to get my grandkids liquored up on like red dye number five and caffeine and sugar. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:48.399 Here's some cookies, eat them as you go back into your house now. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:50.799 Tell your mom Madison I said hi. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:56.480 Come to grandpa's house next weekend, too, kids. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:58.080 But the Bible, look at me. 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:06.320 Here's what the Bible says: the Bible says you are setting the spiritual trajectory of your life and your children's life and your grandchildren's life. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:12.480 That's what Moses says when he says, Hey, fear the Lord, not just you, but your son and your son's sons. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:18.159 You, all of you in this room, are setting the spiritual trajectory of your descendants, whether you know it or not. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:23.759 By the way I live my life, I'm not only affecting my children, but I'm also affecting their children. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.279 That's what he says when he says, Hey, don't miss this. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:29.200 Don't confuse the consequence with the commandment. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:33.440 The consequence of you obeying this one command is that you fear the Lord. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:35.600 And secondly, that your days may be long. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:38.080 That's what it says right there in the Bible in verse 2. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:39.039 Look at it. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:42.080 He says, hey, I'm not yanking your chain here. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:45.679 He just spells it out very simply and says, hey, it's not rocket science. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:53.440 By keeping his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, that your days and that your days may be long. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:12:02.960 You know how much money's gonna be spent this year alone on longevity, on length of life, supplements, food, all this kind of stuff. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:04.720 And God says, hey, here's the deal. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:09.759 The byproduct of you doing this one thing is that you will fear the Lord. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:13.360 You will prioritize God in a way you pri you don't prioritize anything else. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:15.519 And secondly, you'll live a long time. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:18.559 It's not it's not hard. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:25.440 Third piece of instruction Moses gives us is Moses says to us this morning from Deuteronomy 6, thirdly, do the math. 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:26.320 Do the math. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:27.440 Look at verse 3. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:39.679 Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:45.200 Now, let me draw your attention to the middle part of that sentence where he says, that you may multiply greatly. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:54.799 I want you to just, if you've got a pen or pencil, I want you to underline that or circle that in your Bible, those two words, multiply greatly, that you may multiply greatly. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:01.600 That's been, and I'm gonna tell you this, that's been the intention of God's heart from the very beginning, since he created everything. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:02.879 You say, What do you mean? 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:04.480 What's that got to do with do the math? 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:10.480 When I say do the math, what most of us do is we do addition, and and and that's kind of the way we do life. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:13.440 Like since you were here last Sunday, how many of you were here last Sunday? 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:14.559 Can I see your hand? 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:15.279 Hello? 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:17.039 Hold up real high. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:19.120 The rest of you, shame on you. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:21.600 Anyway, it's just a joke, by the way. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:27.120 Uh if you're here last Sunday, uh you have a good day, let's just say a good day, you give yourself a 10, right? 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:37.279 You kind of get to the end of the day, you kind of, oh, it was a good day, didn't do anything I wasn't supposed to do, didn't look at anything inappropriate on the internet, didn't do this, didn't do that, didn't overeat, didn't overdrink. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:41.360 I was nice to my wife, I I I bought lunch for a coworker, man. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:42.879 Today was a good day, a 10. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:48.000 If you had the best day you could possibly have since last Sunday, it's been six days. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:49.360 The best you could hope for. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:57.919 If you put 10 plus 10 plus 10 plus 10 plus 10 plus 10, you had six incredible days. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:00.320 The best you could hope for is a 60. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:01.759 Right? 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.240 See, because we do addition. 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:05.759 We that's the way we do it. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:09.360 You know, those people come to the 8 o'clock service, they're kind of like, can I get a 15? 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:10.799 I came to the 8 o'clock service. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:12.240 No, you get a 10. 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:13.200 That's it. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:14.559 We do addition. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:16.000 But here's what I'm gonna tell you. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:18.240 All along, God has done multiplication. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:19.600 You say, What's the big deal? 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:20.639 That's what he says right here. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.320 Hey, God will multiply you. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:24.799 Look, if you just change, the numbers stay the same. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:26.240 Just change what you do with them. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:27.919 10 plus 10 plus 10 plus 10. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:29.919 10 plus 6 times is 60. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:38.720 But if you made 10 times 10, times 10, times 10, times 10, times 10 equals what? 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:40.799 Somebody just said it. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:41.519 Say it again. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:43.039 One million. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:43.840 That's right. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.600 There's some smart people in here. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.320 Some of y'all are going, one, two, three. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:50.240 The engineer guy's got a million. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.159 I can just add zeros up and came in. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:53.279 That's right. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:54.639 You can have sixty. 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:56.080 You just, you, uh, well, it's addition. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:01.600 You know, God, I did this, and then, and then, and then, okay, I did this, and then, and then, oh, what about this day over here? 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:02.799 You drank two beers. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:03.759 Well, they were like beer. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:05.759 Okay, you get 10 for that, all right. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:08.399 You just think, look at me. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:10.399 That's behavior modification. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:17.039 That's all that is, is you trying to tell God, I did enough to deserve your approval today. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:20.960 And what Moses is saying to you and me is, you have God's approval. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:22.399 You're his kids. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:28.639 He's not looking down, kind of going, Well, what how are you gonna prove today that me loving you is a good idea? 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:30.480 It's not the God of the Bible. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:31.679 You say, What do you mean? 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.960 Go all the way back to Genesis. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:34.320 Don't turn that, it'll come up on the screen. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:36.240 Genesis chapter 1, verse 28. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.279 God creates everything, he's getting ready to create his utmost. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.840 So far, the order of creation is God said it, it was so, and it was good. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:45.679 And then God creates Adam and Eve. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:46.559 And look at what he says. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:48.559 He says, and God bless them. 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:53.919 I ask people all the time, hey, what would it look like for God to bless you? 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:56.080 You know what they say all the time back to me? 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:57.600 Why do you ask that? 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:00.960 It's like we don't have a frame of reference for that. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:02.399 That's nutty and crazy. 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:04.159 God doesn't want to do that. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:09.279 Hey, let you know why you say that? 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:10.720 You know why you think that way? 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.080 Because when it's really hard, you know what to do. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:17.279 But if it ever got good, most of you wouldn't know what to do. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:19.200 It'd be like you have no arms. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.080 How do I pick stuff up? 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:24.720 The Bible says, and God blessed them. 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:37.759 And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:45.519 What I'm saying to you this morning is what the Bible said, what more importantly, what God has said all along is my intention is to multiply you. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:51.279 My intention is not to do math, is not to do uh addition, but to do multiplication. 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:59.679 Not for you to try to earn my favor and think, okay, today plus this plus this equals, you gotta answer my prayer now. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:08.400 The intention of God's heart all along, if you believe the Bible, is to multiply. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:10.480 And let me ask you this simple question. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:15.039 What if this is really the heart of God and has been from the beginning? 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:18.319 What if this is really? 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:23.119 If you're here and you're like, you know, I hadn't been to church in a while, a friend of mine invited me, I don't know about this. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:24.720 You need to think about this today. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:30.480 You may have had a bad experience with Christians or with a church or with a bunch of religious, kooky people. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:32.000 I don't know, it's not my fault. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:33.359 I'm not that person. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:38.079 But don't let people obscure your view of God because this is the heart of God. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:43.440 And God says way back in Genesis, what Moses repeats here in Deuteronomy chapter 6. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:48.400 Fourth thing the Bible instructs us with this morning is this that monotheism matters. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:49.759 Put a star by this. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:51.839 You say, No, I don't know. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:55.200 Mono one, theism, God. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:58.160 That there's one God matters. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.039 Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:05.200 He says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.039 Let me read it again. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:08.240 It's real short and sweet. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:12.720 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:17.119 Now keep in mind that for these people they are fresh out of the Exodus experience. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:27.599 In other words, that they saw God take them out of a bondage in Egypt and part of the Red Sea, and they walked across, and Miriam, Moses' sister, bursts into song and said, Who among the gods? 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:30.880 Said to God, who among the gods is like you? 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:34.799 Awesome in glory, majestic in holiness, working wonders. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:37.920 It's like they just tore their clothes and were throwing confetti in the air. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:41.119 We're like, oh my gosh, who is like you? 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:43.519 They this was practical knowledge to them. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:47.279 They didn't read this in a book, they didn't see this in a movie, they didn't hear about this. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:49.359 This is not, oh, well, you know, I heard about it. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:59.519 No, they saw it, they were like, oh my gosh, we walked right out of Egypt, and the gods that were really no gods, the the false gods of Egypt, couldn't do anything about it. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:03.440 And Moses says, Hear, O Israel, don't forget this. 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:07.440 Become convinced of a thing that I'm deeply convinced about. 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:12.559 Hear, O Israel, and never forget that the Lord our God is one. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:14.640 You say, What's the big deal? 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.000 Because we live in a culture that does not believe that. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:25.519 Now, when we say we believe that, that we're monotheistic, that we believe that there's one God, that there's not this God and that God, if that works for you, great. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:31.039 Well, if you believe this one and that one doesn't stop working for you, you're not getting what you want, then pass on that one and pick this one. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:32.240 Let me tell you something. 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:35.279 It's kind of like I told you a while back about Elvis at the end of his life. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:39.279 He had a crucifix and he had the Buddha in his house, and he had some Jewish stuff. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:41.920 He just had all the world religions just kind of covering. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:42.880 Somebody said, You know what? 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:45.039 He said, I like to cover all my bases. 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:47.759 Beloved, let me let me make a really strong statement. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:51.599 To live your life, that's called polytheism, many gods. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:56.319 To live your life, to say, I want to cover all my basis, is to cease to be a Christian. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:59.599 Yeah, the terms are that dire. 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:06.559 To say, well, I just want to cover all my bases, you are insulting the very nature of God who is one. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:15.599 And what Moses is saying, and more importantly, what God is saying, is that, hey, by the way, you believing in me is a good idea because there is no one else. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:17.359 And you say, Well, how do you know that? 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:25.519 Because for there to be another God, you would have to create him as a figment of your imagination, or someone would have to come up with some system of belief. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:37.119 And by the way, I saw riding bikes in my neighborhood just yesterday, and some of my neighbors were out, and I jumped out and I stood up on the running board of my truck and said, Hey, hey, my brothers, right here, some good prospects right here. 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:39.039 Come and tell them about your gospel. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:41.039 And my neighbors were like, We hate you. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:43.279 And I'm like, Enjoy the Mormons. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:46.880 And I drove in my driveway and got out and walked in. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:50.000 And they turned their bikes around and here they came. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.960 Now today when I go home, I'll have flat tires on my van. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:59.599 My neighbors are like, awesome. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:04.400 And by the way, they believe that they're not bad people. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:08.400 Matter of fact, most of them are more committed to the wrong thing than you are to the right thing. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:16.559 But see, because I believe there's one God, I don't believe that what they believe. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:20.720 Now, by the way, monotheism doesn't make you angry or violent. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:26.079 Because this God of the Bible doesn't need force to accomplish his will. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:28.880 He doesn't need money to blow themselves up. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:31.440 He accomplishes his will. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:35.920 He doesn't have to violate his nature to accomplish his will. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:38.559 See, for there to be another God, stick with me just for a minute. 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:39.759 Let's think a little bit, okay? 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:40.960 Can you think a little bit? 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:47.039 For there to be another God, you would have to create him, which explains the first two commandments. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:49.599 You say, You lost me there. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:50.400 Let me say it again. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:57.440 For there to be another God, you would have to create him or make him, which explains the first two commandments, which let me just read them to you. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:04.880 The first two commandments says this God says, For I am The Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.920 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:09.200 That's the first commandment. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:10.000 You remember that? 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:11.039 Have you read them lately? 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:16.240 If you're looking for something to do this week, just begin your day by getting up every morning and reading the Ten Commandments. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:17.759 Pretty interesting. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:19.759 I know you used to. 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:27.359 See, back when my crazy grandpa would chase us around, would drive us around chasing jackrabbits, you'd go in the courthouse and the Ten Commandments would be on the wall. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:30.559 And they used to be in the school. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.039 But we don't need them in the school anymore. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:35.759 The school's got it all figured out. 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:42.720 Listen to this. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:45.279 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:51.039 And it's just, it's almost as if God pauses and goes, Oh yeah, second commandment. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:23:00.480 You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness or anything that is in heaven above or that's in earth beneath or is in the water under the earth. 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:04.400 See, God says, You shall have no other gods before me, because there isn't one. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:08.640 So, second commandment, resist the temptation to make one. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:12.000 See, God is radically monotheistic. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:18.400 God says, Hear, O Israel, through the mouth of Moses, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:21.279 Now we would sit here and go, that's right, boy Neil, we believe that. 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:23.200 I've got a new word to use it word. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:24.720 I'm monotheistic. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:26.960 Here today, we're all monotheistic. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:28.480 We're all there's one God. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:32.640 But we'll go out in the world and we'll bow down to whatever God pays the most. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:36.319 Whatever's God's going to get me out of this situation. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:44.240 See, Moses stands up and he says to these people, hey, don't forget this, because when you get into that land over there, there's a lot of false gods. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:46.240 There's a whole lot of things. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:55.200 Some friends of mine sent their daughter off, their oldest daughter, off to college this year, and their daughter called her mom one night and says, What does marijuana smell like? 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:57.680 Like, yeah, your mom knows. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:23:59.039 Go ahead and ask her. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.000 And she said, Why are you asking? 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:05.440 Because I think my sweetmates are smoking marijuana. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:07.279 See, she's crossed over the Jordan. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:10.000 She's no longer in the promised land of your little house. 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:13.519 She's now off at college where there's a lot of false gods. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:21.839 He called back to the next night and said, I think my sweetmate and her boyfriend, I think he's spending the night over there. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:23.279 Hello. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:37.039 See, you might want to instruct your kids because there's going to come a point, unless they invent homeschool college, you're going to have to send your kids off to that Godforsaken, forgotten territory like AM. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:40.319 Whoopsie. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:44.160 I feel some of y'all in here. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:49.839 Whoops! I feel you glaring at me right now. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:01.920 Fifth thing Moses tells us is balanced affection. 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:03.119 Look at verse 5. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:04.160 We're just about done. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:04.960 You with me? 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:06.480 Hey, look at me. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:15.599 I'm not trying to be glib, but when it comes to instruction, you don't have to come to the you don't don't, you shouldn't have to come to church and kind of go, uh, like you're coming to the principal's office. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:17.680 Let's just go get our whipping and get it over with. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:18.880 That's not instruction. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:30.319 Matter of fact, when Jesus taught, people ran, one woman ran down the street to her house and got an alabaster jar of perfume, and she came back and she just, he was in somebody's house getting ready to have dinner, and he was just talking. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:38.160 She comes up behind him and just cracks it open and starts just sliding on his feet and just crying, like, oh my God, that was awesome. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:42.880 Which is, I'm sure, what y'all are gonna do as soon as I dismiss you here in a minute. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:44.960 I'll be right down here. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:47.680 Look what the Bible says. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.160 What do you mean balanced affection, verse five? 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:58.559