Looking Back - Planning Ahead
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Today is the last day of 2023.
It has been quite they year
For me personally it has been a year full of wonderful experiences
Taking my Family to Israel
Graduating from JUC
Getting Married
Finding a position with Port City Faith
It also has been fraught with trials especially in the last several months
Hamas Attacking Israel October 7th
The massacre of Christians in Nigeria on Christmas Day.
Many of our family and friends have had sickness, injury,
Some of us may just wish to leave this year behind and hope the next year is better!
In the Bible, When the Israelites were getting ready to enter the promised land, Moses gathered them together and gave a speech to remind them of everything God had done for them, and everything God had commanded them, and even how God had disciplined them for unfaithfulness, before they enter into the unknown.
This speech is recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy.
We are going to glance through it today to look at the importance of remembering what God has done for us as we enter the new year.
English Standard Version (Chapter 4)
5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.
Moses is calling on the people of Israel to remember all the commandments God has given them, as they enter the promised Land, saying that by keeping and remembering these things, God will remain close to them
How does he know this?
Because God called Israel to Mount Horeb - Mount Sinai
So he’s saying, Remember what God did at Sinai, as it is proof that he will continue to be with you.
Remember the promises God made to us in the past, as He will see them through, Remember the times God called you to certain places or situations, as he has a plan for you.
I was called to Port City Faith
God brought me here, And by always remembering that I continue to do my best to serve this church.
What has God called you to? What memories do you have that can help you rely on His plan?
English Standard Version (Chapter 7)
12 “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16 And you shall consume all the peoples that the LORD your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
17 “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ 18 you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So will the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, the LORD your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. 21 You shall not be in dread of them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.
Israel is about to face great trials, entering into a land that they are called to conquer. Moses tells them to not be afraid, because if they continue to honor God he will bless them, he reminds them of what God did for them in Egypt, when he brought them out of slavery, and struck the Egyptians with plagues.
He plans to do the same to the canaanites.
God toppled empires for them in the past, he will surely bring them sucess against the kingdoms they are about to face.
Remember the times God has done great things for you, as he will surely do great things again.
When I applied to Study in Israel, Covid hit shortly after, and I was delayed a year,
Ehen I was finally able to Go it took several small miracles for me to get there
Getting my visa
Getting all the paperwork in order,
getting a negative covid test
Navigating cancled and delayed flights
But once I was there, because there were fewer tourists, i got to see things that many people just don’t get a chance to see, because the crowds are too thick.
What good things has God done for you in the past? How can those things guide you today?
English Standard Version (Chapter 8)
“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.
Israel’s time in the desert was not always easy, they had times where they went hungry, then God would provide for them. But they were being tested, so that God could see their character.
Remember the hard times, as they were a time of testing.
When I Got married, i didn’t have a job, i had to find one i could do while i continued to search for a career.
I had spent months if not years searching for job oportunities before I got married, and none of them were working out
I was working hard hours, having to wake up at 4 Am just to make it to work on time. And i was wondering if anything would change.
Church, how has God tested you this past year? Remember those times and how you got through them, and how God provided for you.
Or maybe you are still in them. Remember that God will see you through.
English Standard Version Chapter 11
18 “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
Moses Wanted the ISraelites to remember God’s word, to the point that they write them on their arms and their house and wear them on their head. and talk about it constantly.
THe Jews took this passage literally.
They actually have little boxes with scripture that they tie onto their heads when they pray.
Notice the verse: you shall teach these words to your children.
Church it is important to learn the Word of God. It is not enough for you to come and hear me talk about it. We need to study it, learn it, memorize it, because it is filled with the promises of God to us.
And we need to train our kids to do the same.
English Standard Version Chapter 31
10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses gives Israel a command to read through the Bible together once every seven years. Why?
So that future generations will remember what God has done.
Church, As you remember what God has done, tell others, tell those who are younger than you, help them learn that God has a calling for them, that God will work miracles for them, that God can bring them though difficult times. And teach them the Bible.
English Standard Version Psalm 105
Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
4 Seek the LORD and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
6 O offspring of Abraham, his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
7 He is the LORD our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
We are God’s chosen people, and he has given us his covenant, and He will remember it. So we should remember his promises too.