Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Deuteronomy 11 is a pep talk for the people of Israel. It's a call for them to remember all that God has done.
and all that he has called them to.
so that they can move forward boldly in faith.
Now, as we look at God's message to the people of Israel, we can also be challenged. to hold tight to God's word, His self-disclosure. to see his faithfulness through the ages, Let his word be the stable place from which we launch out in confident faith. Let's listen to this message titled, Lay Up These Words in Your Heart. This is part two of a message first preached on july seventh, twenty twenty four, at Grace Bible Church in Winston, Salem.
Because God is like what God has done. And in their attempt to overthrow the authority of Moses and Aaron, God opened up the earth and it swallowed them and everything that belonged to them. That God. In verse 7, look at verse 7 with me. Your eyes have seen all the great work.
of the Lord. that he did, your eyes have seen. Why is this important? Because he tells them in verse, way back, verse 2, he says, listen. I'm giving you this charge right now because you've seen this.
Your children... are not seeing all this. But you have. Contemplate what God has done. That's why these things are recorded for us, and that's why these things, not only are we to contemplate them, but we are to pass them on.
And when he says, your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord that he did. What is he saying? Let me quote an apologist here. God is like a tank. You can kick him.
But he's not the one that's getting hurt.
Okay. God is like a tank. Here's the practical point for you and me as God's people. God is mightily false. for us.
This is what Moses is bringing out to the children of Israel as they're about to be commissioned to go into the land that God promised the forefathers, into the land where Messiah would be born. Go in and take the land. Take God at his word. Contemplate what God has done because he is mightily. for you.
And so consider regularly. Consider. what he has done. Number two, walk forward in trust and obedience. Walk forward.
What do you have to do to walk? Put one foot in front of the other. Thank you, Russ. Very simple. You take one step at a time.
Forward in trust and obedience. This is verses 8 through 12. You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers. To walk forward in trust and obedience, that's taking God as that's what it looks like to take God at his word. Walk forward in trust and obedience.
Trusting and obeying what? What God has said. Trust and obey what God has said. Pursue Listen to this. Pursue what God has.
Promised.
Now let's be very careful here. All right, this is the mosaic. Covenant, that was a specific covenant to a specific people for a specific time. God has not promised us Land?
Okay. I g even if you have a mortgage, I get it. God has not promised us land.
So we need to make sure that we pursue what God has promised for the people of Israel. The land, God promised them land and the blessing that comes with it. And he describes the bounty of that land in these verses. You look down at verse 24, and he describes the boundaries of that land. This is what I have promised to you, and the bounty of it, the blessing that comes with it.
Note this, please, as Moses is challenging the people to walk forward in trust and obedience to what God has promised, there is specific verbal promises communicated here. And God is saying, take me at my word. Walk forward in trust and obedience. Now let me make Let me make a New Testament application for us. And it kind of comes kind of in a negative sense here.
This is a warning, okay? Because we can take some of the things that happened in the Old Testament and make them promises for us when God did not promise them to us. Yeah. Here's the warning for you. Your ambition does not equal God's promise just because you're his people.
You need to walk forward and trust in obedience, trusting what God has promised, not your ambition, just because you're His people. Do you see the difference? What has God promised? And I could stand here before you, and I do stand here before you this morning. You, New Testament church under the new covenant, what has God promised you?
Do you know the promises of God? You can't stand on the promises if you don't know what they are. Challenge. Memorize Ephesians 1 to 3. Paul's confidence in that.
Let me recap just a few of them for you.
Okay, remember that coffee mug theology? Those of you who were here in those days when we did that coffee mug theology, 16 points on there, we have obtained an inheritance. Christian, listen to me. God has promised you, you have obtained an inheritance. Walk fast.
forward in trust and obedience. You have been lavished. with favor. That's grace. Walk forward in trust and obedience.
You, as a Christian, have been created in Christ Jesus for good works, for good deeds. Walk forward. in trust and obedience. You have been brought near to God. You have access.
to the Father. You have access to the Father. Think about that. Walk forward in trust and obedience. You have been brought near.
God, here's another promise in Ephesians. God, is at work in us to accomplish things beyond what we can ask. or imagine. Ephesians 3.20. That's a prom did you know that promise?
Have you graduated from the standard promises that everybody knows? It's the indicatives of Scripture. This is what God has said.
So, what did Paul's life look like? as he walked forward in trust and obedience. Paul had a mission. He had a call on his life. And he was pursuing God's mission.
Very simply put, what was that mission? It was to know God and to make him known. It's as simple as you can put it. To know God. and make him known.
specifically in Jesus Christ. That's the mission. to know him and to make him known. And Paul did so with the authority of the church. He wasn't out on his own separate from the elders and the other apostles.
He did with the authority of the church. And his movement was directed by the Holy Spirit, and you're saying, ah. That's the enigma right there. Let me share a secret with you. Let me tell you what Paul did not do.
Do. He did not sit around. waiting for for the Holy Spirit to tell them where to go. What did he do? He went.
He walked forward in trust and obedience. And if the Holy Spirit didn't want him to go somewhere, what did he do? He shut the door. Cliche, cliche, listen to this, God. God doesn't steer a parked car.
Car needs to be moving. Are you moving? Are you walking forward in trust and obedience? Or are you sitting around waiting for him to tell you what to do? Question.
You ready for this? How many of you are in ministry? Walk forward in trust and obedience. And watch The spirit. guide you.
Take the God at his word. and watch the Spirit guide you.
Some of you are wonderful examples of that in here.
Some people are just waiting for God to provide some kind of opportunity to do something, and others are. It just keeps showing up at my doorstep. Walk forward and trust in obedience. How to take God at His Word. Number one, consider what God has done.
Number two, walk forward and trust in obedience. Number three, follow. Follow him into blessing.
Now careful with this, all right? Let's not become cliché and glib about this. Follow him into blessing.
Remember, Moses is talking to the people of Israel, they have very specific promises from God. Follow him into blessing, beginning of verse 13. If you will indeed obey my commandments. That I command you today to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. He will give the rain for your land in its season, and the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
And he will give you grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat. be full. Yeah. That's blessing.
So love and serve him how? With all your heart and soul. Don't miss that last part. Haha. If loving God and serving Him to you is just servile duty, you've missed it.
missed it entirely. He doesn't call us to just mere servile duty. He calls us to love him. walk with him. to delight in him.
Because he is good. Here's a promise. I think I can guarantee you this to you. Forget the I think. Based on the word of God, I can guarantee this to you.
Walk with God and you will prosper. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission. Is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good.
and your deepest satisfaction in Him. the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
