What Made Us Different?

I. EXORDIUM:

What makes you different from an unbeliever? the LORD JESUS CHRIST

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To show the two detailed differences we have from unbelievers: that GOD is near us and that GOD answers our prayers.

IV. TEXT:

Deuteronomy 4:7 (Amplified Bible)

4:7 For what great nation is there who has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is to us in all things for which we call upon Him?

V. THESIS:

Praise, worship and thank You very much LORD JESUS for You dwell in us and answers all our prayers.

John 1:14 (Amplified Bible)

1:14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.

VI. TITLE:

What made us different?

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Name derived from: 2 Greek words: "deuteros" meaning second and "nomos" meaning law.

B. Author: Moses (commonly accepted)

C. Date written: 1407 - 1406 B.C.

D. Purpose: The former generation of Israel had died in the wilderness; hence it was important that the law should be repeated and expounded to the new generation before they entered the Promised Land.—Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

E. To whom written: The children of Israel, the generation which would enter and conquer the Promised Land.—Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

F. Main Theme: A rehearsal of the laws proclaimed at Sinai, with a call to obedience, interspersed with a review of the experiences of the old generation.—Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

G. Key word: Remember

H. Key verses:

Deuteronomy 6:1-4 (Amplified Bible)

6:1 NOW THIS is the instruction, the laws, and the precepts which the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land to which you go to possess it,

6:2 That you may [reverently] fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, and keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be watchful to do them, that it may be well with you and that you may increase exceedingly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

6:4 Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord [the only Lord].

VIII. MAIN BODY:

Our 2 differences from unbelievers are:

A. The LORD is near us.

"For what great nation is there who has a god so near to them as the Lord our God"

Nation or "goy goy" in Hebrew means:

1. a foreign nation

2. Gentile

3. a troop of animals

4. a flight of locusts

5. Gentile, heathen, nation, people

Our GOD that we worship is with us and near us.

Numbers 23:21 (Amplified Bible)

23:21 [God] has not beheld iniquity in Jacob [for he is forgiven], neither has He seen mischief or perverseness in Israel [for the same reason]. The Lord their God is with Israel, and the shout of praise to their King is among the people.

2 Samuel 7:23 (Amplified Bible)

7:23 What [other] one nation on earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be a people for Himself and to make for Himself a name? You have done great and terrible things for Yourself and for Your land, before Your people, whom You redeemed and delivered for Yourself from Egypt, from the nations and their gods.

Isaiah 43:4 (Amplified Bible)

43:4 Because you are precious in My sight and honored, and because I love you, I will give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life.

JESUS is the fulfilment of GOD being with us.

Matthew 1:23 (Amplified Bible)

1:23 Behold, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel—which, when translated, means, God with us.

B. The LORD answers our prayers.

"is to us in all things for which we call upon Him?"

James 4:8 (Amplified Bible)

4:8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

Psalms 73:28 (Amplified Bible)

73:28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God and made Him my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.

Ephesians 2:12-22 (Amplified Bible)

2:12 [Remember] that you were at that time separated (living apart) from Christ [excluded from all part in Him], utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the [Messianic] promise [with no knowledge of or right in God’s agreements, His covenants]. And you had no hope (no promise); you were in the world without God.