DEUT 30:11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
This is part of the promise that God gave to the children of Israel. If you are a born again christian, you have been "grafted" on to that tree, and this same inheritance belongs to you.....you are part of the seed of Abraham! If you don’t understand how the grafting works, you can read Romans 11 and see how Paul explains it. The point is, that we are subject to these same promises (and curses) that God gave the children of Israel.
Let’s look closely at this text....(by the way, there are some very specific promises earlier in this book that you might want to read for your own personal understanding and inspiration). God says "hey.....this is NOT rocket science"..ALL of us have the "smarts" to understand this.
Well. pastor, sometimes I just don’t understand all that stuff in the Bible....it’s above me....I ain’t no Bible scholar......those are EXCUSES that you are making only to yourselves. The Bible says you can understand this just fine and Gods word doesn’t lie! Now, what you hear here today, you are going to understand just fine....and you will be responsible for it! 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. I am so tired of christians constantly having the same old problems that they don’t have to have....they bring on themselves! 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. That is a promise from God! You say "I DO love the Lord!" DO you? When you love someone with all your heart, you spend time with them, don’t you? Whenever I first met Nanci, I hated to leave her (she always made me go home, though!). I just couldn’t spend enough time with her....still can’t....cause I love her (and she’s not even God!) Hmmmm.....
What I want to tell you is that some of you, your love may have "waxed cold". You may be like those that Jesus was refering to in REV 2:4 where He says "You have forsaken your first love." Not only that, but if you’ll look it up it also says that He holds that against them...WHEW!!! Let’s look at some of the things we need to do to benifit from God’s promises!
The first thing I would like to share is this....YOU CAN’T NEGLECT GOD UNTIL YOU NEED HIM URGENTLY! What does that mean? Well, it simply means you have to be living in obedience to Him ALL the time...not just when you get yourself in trouble and need God to bail you out! You NEED to be in church....every chance you get! Spend some time with your "first love". I want to show you a principal here....the 10% principal....(Oh no, he’s gonna preach on tithes)...no, I’m just gonna share some things with you. Listen, God don’t need you to tithe! That’s right, He doesn’t need your money. But YOU need you to tithe in order to recieve Gods blessing in your life that He promises to us that obey His word!
I want to show you something here...I’m not just talking about tithes....I’m talking about your TIME as well! I know that we all have many, many needs. You probaly aren’t going to get your prayers answered if you are not being obedient to God and His word. Period. You cannot be out of Gods will and expect Gods promises...Amen? Jesus said it in MAT 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. That is a proven fact, and there are stories after stories of how this is true. Ask Lonnie. Ask me! I had given up on finding the right woman...really had no specific direction in life...but I sought the things of God...and everything was added to me, just as His word said it would be! God doesn’t lie!
OK, here’s the 10% principle...you are now responsible for it! 10 camels were given for Isaac’s wife Rebekka for her redemption; 10 male donkeys and 10 female donkeys were sent by Joseph to bring his father to Egypt to redeem him from the famine in Israel. 10 Plagues were set upon the Pharoh in order to redeem the children of Israel....10 Commandments were given....and yes. 10% of your income should be given to God!
I want to add this...you may find excuses NOT to do as you know full well you should. It might scare you to actually think "wow! 10% of my income! I’d never make it!" Well, the way I read our text today, if you DON"T give God what is His, you SURE won’t make it! Let me show you something MAL 3:8Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.9Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. If you read on you’ll see He is talking about firstfruits here......not leftovers! You can’t say "well, I’ll pay all my bills and then see what’s left and see if I can pay tithes this month" Do you know how crazy and dis-obedient that is to God? And then you want to pray and ask God to help you out whenever you get in financial trouble? Give God a chance....see if He doesn’t open you the windows of heaven There is example after example of that here today.
Here is something else...you might not agree with the way the church is spending. You might think that there are better ways for you to give. Listen, you aren’t giving to anything except God. You aren’t responsible for anything except to Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. It’s not your job to decide HOW that money is spent, and if you are withholding your tithes because you don’t agree with something then you are robbing God!
Also, I have heard some people "split up" their tithes. You may want to support other causes...that’s wonderful and we encourage that. But that is "offering" and is to be over and above your tithes which you are to bring into the storehouse in order to recieve the blessing...and NOT the curse!
Here’s another thing...time. There are 24 hrs in a day. 10% of that would be 2.4 hrs a day to spend with God. Most of us can’t even find 2.4 minutes to spend with Him. We have left our first love. I don’t think I have to say anything else about that....you know how much time you spend with Him!
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them What are your Gods? You say "pastor, I don’t have any Gods, no graven images, nothing I bow down to". Really? Do you steal time away from God to do other things? Do you miss church cause you are too busy? Maybe you skip church to go to another function. Anything you put before God, you are making it a God to you! And you will NOT live in the blessing, but more than likely will be in the curse.
19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
He has set before us life and death, blessings and curses. He urges us "choose life". I urge you today "choose life". Choose to live Gods blessings by being obedient and doing as God expects you to do. Listen to His voice and hold fast to Him. He expects as much! Live in His blessings!
