Lack Or Abundance?

LACK or ABUNDANCE? ( Deuteronomy.28:1-42)

Intro: Two Farmers

One time there were two farmers who were going through a period of terrible drought, they were at a place of discouragement. One farmer went ahead and plowed his fields, trusting GOD to send the rain. The other farmer thought “What’s the Use. Planting time came, Still no rain. The first farmer planted his seed, the other farmer mocked and made fun. The first farmer said” GOD WILL SEND THE RAIN”. A month went by, still no rain, But the first farmer kept his faith and trusted God for deliverance. One morning the sky grew dark and the rain began to fall, bringing fresh life the first farmer’s crop. HE DID THE RIGHT THING AND TRUSTED GOD. The other farmer lost everything because of unbelief.

Text: Deuteronomy 28: 28 1-2 Today I am giving you the laws and teachings of the LORD your God. Always obey them, and the LORD will make Israel the most famous and important nation on earth, and he will bless you in many ways.

3 The LORD will make your businesses and your farms successful.

4 You will have many children. You will harvest large crops, and your herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats will produce many young.

5 You will have plenty of bread[a] to eat.

6 The LORD will make you successful in your daily work.

7 The LORD will help you defeat your enemies and make them scatter in all directions.

8 The LORD your God is giving you the land, and he will make sure you are successful in everything you do. Your harvests will be so large that your storehouses will be full.

12 The LORD will open the storehouses of the skies where he keeps the rain, and he will send rain on your land at just the right times. He will make you successful in everything you do. You will have plenty of money to lend to other nations, but you won’t need to borrow any yourself.

13 Obey the laws and teachings that I’m giving you today, and the LORD your God will make Israel a leader among the nations, and not a follower. Israel will be wealthy and powerful, not poor and weak. 14 But you must not reject any of his laws and teachings or worship other gods.

The LORD Will Put Curses on You if You Disobey

Moses said:

15 Israel, today I am giving you the laws and teachings of the LORD your God. And if you don’t obey them all, he will put many curses on you.

16 Your businesses and farms will fail.

17 You won’t have enough bread [b] to eat.

18 You’ll have only a few children, your crops will be small, and your herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats won’t produce many young.

19 The LORD will make you fail in everything you do.

20 No matter what you try to accomplish, the LORD will confuse you, and you will feel his anger. You won’t last long, and you may even meet with disaster, all because you rejected the LORD.

21-23 The LORD will send terrible diseases to attack you, and you will never be well again. You will suffer with burning fever and swelling and pain until you die somewhere in the land that you captured.

The LORD will make the sky overhead seem like a bronze roof that keeps out the rain, and the ground under your feet will become as hard as iron. Your crops will be scorched by the hot east wind or ruined by mildew. 24 He will send dust and sandstorms instead of rain, and you will be wiped out.

33 You will work hard on your farms, but everything you harvest will be eaten by foreigners, who will mistreat you and abuse you for the rest of your life.

34 What you see will be so horrible that you will go insane, 35 and the LORD will punish you from head to toe with boils that never heal.

38 You will plant a lot of seed, but gather a small harvest, because locusts[d] will eat your crops. 39 You will plant vineyards and work hard at taking care of them, but you won’t gather any grapes, much less get any wine, and the vines themselves will be eaten by worms. 40 Even if your olive trees grow everywhere in your country, the olives will fall off before they are ready, and there won’t be enough olive oil for combing your hair.[e]

41 Even your infant sons and daughters will be taken as prisoners of war.

42 Locusts[f] will eat your crops and strip your trees of leaves and fruit.

ISAAC and the Well

1. There was a severe famine in the land