This Is Our Time

THIS IS OUR TIME

1-1-12 New Liberty Christian Church, Veedersburg, IN with Minister Rich McQuinn

TEXT; DEUTERONOMY 31:9-14

Happy New Year 2012 to each of you this morning! Some of you may be sleepy from staying up late last night to welcome in this New Year! I sincerely hope and pray that this is your best year. If we do not make it to the end of this New Year and our time on earth is finished, then I pray that all of us are prepared for that special time.

If you have your Bibles this morning then I am going to invite you to turn with me to the Old Testament to the 5th book from the front of your Bibles. You may remember that Moses is the author of all five books. The time for his departure is at hand and he is about to give his Hebrew family some long lasting advice. Pay close attention:

Moses wrote down the LAW and gave it to the priest, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord and al the elders of Israel. Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel come to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this LAW before all of the people. Assemble the people, men, women and children along with the aliens living in your town. So they too can listen and fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this Law. Their children who do not know this Law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

At the time of this writing, Moses was 120 years of age. He had lived a long leadership life. At 120 he no longer had the same energy he used to have when he was in his 40’s

Moses leads off for our first sermon of 2012 with some pretty sound advice. READ THE WORD. Do not keep it from your children. Know that God knows what He is doing.

Baseball is made up of 9 players on each side. There is a rule book that every umpire has to follow and keep. The rules must be strictly adhered to. The umpire is the enforcer of the rules.

Basketball is made up of 5 players on each side on the floor at one time. The referees enforce the rules.

Football is made up of 11 players per side. They have a law enforcer of the rules as well. The games can not be played without the rules and someone to oversee the rules.

If it was important for Moses to have the entire Hebrew nation to come together to read the first 5 books of the Bible then in 2012 all of us ought to get back to some standards of Bible Reading. Perhaps you have not read your scriptures for a long time then now is the time to dust off the covers and begin to read and soak up the Word.

The Bible is divided up into two sections. Old and New, or Old Law and New Law. Each section together is made up of 66 books with the Old Testament having 39 and the New Testament having 27. Since God is our Creator and He knows what is best for us and He knows what would get us into trouble, then we ought to follow the reading of His Word to keep us in the right path.

I. READING THE WORD WILL BRING WISDOM!

Have you ever prayed for wisdom? Knowing the right decision to make! Ever wondered about the will of God for your life? What He wants you to do, what He expects of your life? Have you ever wondered what was the right way to raise a family or hold an office?

If you would make 2012 the year you read through the entire Bible I know that we would all be wiser and richer from the advice that we gleaned from it. Now I know that many if you might raise your hands and tell me that you are going to read the Bible all the way through in 2012. I know how human nature works. This week you might stay on track, then you get a little behind, then you get a little discouraged and then finally you might just quit reading.

What I am asking here is that you begin the reading of His Word for your own benefit. If you could read it out loud just to yourself that would be great. Not only your eyes would follow the Word but your ears would listen as well. The more you read, the wiser you become.