Life's Bottom Line - Holy Living in a Hostile World

Let's go back and look at the bold choices for people who want to be light in a very dark time. Who want to be bearers of holy living in a hostile world. What's beautiful about these choices Is that they are not dependent at all on the environment, the election, uh, the uh amount of uh other people who are living that way These are bold choices that mean for you, you will be able to move straight ahead, no matter what the incoming. And the surrounding. That's why it's bold choices. So let's review them. First one is I will rest in his sovereignty. That is fundamental to all the others Because he is the Lord my God. Right, 272 times in the book of Deuteronomy So obviously, and you know, you know what, do you know what it's like to try to figure out how do you distill 34 chapters? I mean we can't begin to be comprehensive. Do you know what it what finally hit me was the things that are repeated a lot. You notice we're saying this is in there so many times, this is in there. It's like if it keeps Being said, I gotta figure out those are the themes God wanted his people then and now to remember. So that's how we came up with this, really. So he I will rest in his sovereignty That that's that is he is the deciding factor in my my life. Secondly, I will live my true identity. The people of God, the chosen ones, his treasured possession That I will not, that I will remember when I look in the mirror, I will know who that person is, because I am who God says I am I am not who my feelings say I am or my occupation says I am or my my uh surroundings say I am or my health says I am or my past says I am. I'm who God says I am Child of God, chosen of God, treasured possession. And I'm going to live like it. I'm going to live that identity. Thirdly, I will resist the drift. Well, obviously. If you don't resist the drift, you won't be living out your identity. You're not going to be acting like God's kid, right? So it makes sense that you will you have to resist the drift because we are surrounded by the kid. by attractive magnets. And then we talked uh fourthly, I will be intentional about building faith in my family. I will be intentional about that. Again, children, I'll mention next generation, all the way through there. Because obviously this can't just be one generation. And uh the intentionality of of the of the overflow of you living your true identity because you know that you are resting in the sovereignty of the Lord your God, you're resisting the drift, your kids see that, and they too can inherit that peace, stability, and righteousness. With their own choices, obviously. And uh and then I think we're ready for tonight, aren't we? Yeah, we got that. So um Doug and I were out doing yard work A long time ago. He was five years old. It's been a long time. But um he was five years old, I think, and uh we had we had uh I was I was out mowing the lawn And uh and and I had him going around and clipping around the edges and that kind of thing. So uh we were just about to start about to start the mower, smiled at him, waved, and we I said let's get going and So I started the mower about five minutes later, ten minutes later, little Doug comes over to me and he says this. I can't hear him because of the mower. So I have to turn it off. And I said, Doug, what is it? What are you trying to say? I've never forgotten his answer. You think mowing alarm? Big deal. No, no, it's not mowing a lawn, I remember. It's what he said. He said, Daddy, would you please do it again? I said, would you please do wet again? He said, would you please smile at me again? Because it's your smile that keeps me going. Hang on to that. That's true more than we know. Because tonight we're going to talk about life's bottom line. that is the deciding factor in the outcomes in every major arena of your life. One major deciding factor in those outcomes. We'll get to that in just a couple minutes But we're going to go to one of the most dramatic scenes in the Old Testament, one which you may never have thought about. It probably wasn't a Bible story in Sunday school. It's not dramatic like David and Goliath or Daniel and the Lion's Den. But when I describe it to you, I think you'll go, that must have been someday. Mm-hmm. It sure was. And it pre-wrote the history of what would happen with God's people for generations to come before the history ever happened. God's going to reveal what will determine his people's life outcomes then and now. Not your environment, not your effort. Not people, not circumstances, not your ability, not your hard work, not events. None of those. We'll get there Deuteronomy chapter 26 is where we're going to start because we're going to actually find this when we get to 27 and 28. But this is sort of the prelude. When you've entered the land the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the first fruits of all that you produce. From the soil of the land that the Lord your God has given you and put them in a basket. Go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name Rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given you and your household. These guys are right now at the point of enjoying all the fulfillment of God's great promises. They're on the fun side of God's promises. They're at a good place with God right now. They're ready for God. To do what they don't know he's gonna do. He is now about to announce the single factor that will define their life journey from this point forward. Life's bottom line. For them. For us. The outcome decider for every major arena of our lives. The results in all the things that really matter to us. But first, he gives us some things in chapter 26, what I call divine expectations for blessed people. How many of you would call us say, I am a blessed people? Or person, as the case may be. Yeah, okay, so you will bless people. All right. These are divine. He says, here's, and now I've blessed you. Now here's some things I expect from the people I blessed. And that leads up to the the big deal in 27. So let's take a look at that. First, complete God's giving circle. Now this is not in Deuteronomy, but I want to go first to 1 Chronicles 29, 14, where God is uh where David is speaking to God's people, they have just uh been giving to support uh the building of the temple. Who am I? Who are my people that we should even be able? To give as generally generously is this. Everything comes from you And we've only given you what came from your hand in the first place. That's what I mean by completing The giving circle. I gave it to you. Now you're giving it to me. Let's go to Deuteronomy now and get Deuteronomy's take on it. 26. Take some of those first fruits. And uh and put it in a basket. Go to the place the Lord your God will choose. I expect you by next next Sunday. You will go to church with a basket. So you can take this literally, right? And you'll have something in it, fruit. I don't know. Go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. And say to the priest in office at the time, I declare today to the Lord your God, that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us. The priest shall take the basket from your hands, he'll set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now I bring the first fruits of the soil that you Lord have given me. There's a circle Place the basket before the Lord your God. That's pretty dramatic. And bow down before him. Maybe his church should try this, huh? Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. Now, some things we can pick out of this about completing God's giving circle. This is about thanking him. Not just with words, but tangibly. This is bringing a tangible thank you by giving back to him. what was given to you in the first place. And did you notice the faith step here? Give it to them off the top. First fruits, you don't know what your harvest is going to be yet. And your harvest is your livelihood. You don't know if you're going to have little or much this year. God says, before you there's no faith in giving it after you got it all in. He says, I want you to give by faith to me. Give it off the top, not the bottom. So there's a real step of faith here. So he said, bring the first fruits. You know, if you had, I think this is true, I'm not sure. I'll be corrected by my Navajo friends if I'm wrong. But if you had a perfect lamb, that's a prize, man. And you have an opportunity perhaps to even breed other perfect lambs. So when you bring that perfect lamb. That's future prophets there, man. And you're bringing those to the Lord. So there's there's a lot of love in this gift. But this is a- I love this. The gift is not to any man. It's from your hands to his hands. Notice that he says he'll Now you'll you'll actually put it in the hands of the priest, but he will take it, because you can't do that, but he will take it and immediately hand it to the Lord your God, so to speak I um had the privilege of chairing the Billy Graham crusade years ago in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. And uh and the they have the local chairman the first night ask for the offering because they want the people to know all the money is going to be used locally so they want the local guy to ask. So I'm like, okay, fine, whatever I'll whatever you want me to do. So I did the first night And and Billy Graham, he said, that was really good. Would you do all the nights? Great. Okay, so I'm going to be the Grim Reaper of the Billy Graham Crusade. So every night I did I did the offering. Two weeks later was the largest meeting that Billy had ever had in the U. S. You may remember he was in Central Park. There were like 250,000 New Yorkers. Try to control that crowd. In Central Park. I mean it was not in an arena like we had been. And uh he he said, Would you do the offering appeal? I'm like, this is 250,000 New Yorkers milling around in Central Park. Hi, I'm here for the offering. What's this sacrificial lamb I am? No. I said, good, I'll serve in whatever way. So I'm trying to figure out what to do. And I get up And I just said, give me your lunch. It got pretty quiet. I said, give me your lunch. I said yeah. Little boy, I mean he brought his lunch and and and and then this big man comes up to him. I mean his mama made him a couple fish sandwiches for lunch and this big man comes up and says give me your lunch And the little boy's like, don't you have a mommy? Little lunch for you? I mean, uh, I what am I gonna eat? And then the man says it's for Jesus. So he goes, oh. So he gives it to the man to give to Jesus. And amazingly that little boy, oh, he got lunch. And so did 5,000 other people. Because when in his hands it was only enough for him, but in Jesus' hands, it could feed thousands of lives. I don't know what your lunch is today But if you will take something, you're not giving this to Billy Graham. You're giving this to Jesus. Put it in his hands today and see what he can do with it. He'll touch many lives with it. I have no idea how the offering came out. They did tell me later there was a ham sandwich in the offering. I'm not No seriously. I'm not making that up Which I did not eat. But you know that really is true when the guy comes by with the offering plate at church? Forget the usher. Just pretend Jesus is picking it up. When you give to this ministry, put it in Jesus' hands. Now I know it goes through our hands, just as that was lunch, lunch, that lunch went through the disciples' hands. But we'll put it in his hands to use and ask him what he can do with it. So it's really cool that just it'll change your attitude toward giving if it's gotten a little sour To remember you're putting it right. They they gave it, they said, give it to the Lord, and that was great. So whenever you give to God's work, just in your heart say, Jesus, this is for you This is for you. That's that's that's true forgiving right there. Okay, so uh then here's another step in the divine expectations for blessed people is to see those that others don't see. Chapter 26, verse 12. When you finish setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite. Now the Levites had no land given to them. All the other the tribes did. The Levites were dependent on the gifts of God's people. They were like the first full-time Christian workers before there were Christians. But anyway, shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. These are people who really are just outside of the resources and the blessings, so that they may eat in your towns. And be satisfied. Then say to the Lord your God, I have removed from my house the sacred portion, and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, the widow, according to all you commanded. You said to do this I have not turned aside from your commands, nor have I forgotten any of them. I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning. Nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered in other words, I've done it all your way, God, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God. I've done everything you commanded me Here's how I look at what he's saying. First of all, you're giving it directly to the Lord. Secondly, you're giving it to the people that other people walk by. And he says, I want you to see the people that others don't see. Matthew 10, 8, when Jesus sent the disciples out on their first mission, he said, freely you have received. freely give. I might need to read a little of this to you, but I I was touched by this. I was reading a Christian periodical and it told the story of Dr. Priscilla Storm, who's a former missionary doctor in Bangladesh. And uh the uh a columnist said, I asked her, what do you enjoy most about being a surgeon? She said, I love Saturday nights at Grady Hospital. When I get to repair all the awful things that happen out there, I get to help fix so much that is broken. Helping fix things that way? That's part of the gospel, isn't it? She's chief of staff at the major hospital in Gainesville, Georgia. I love that. She said helping fix things I get to help where so much is broken. That ought to be the joy of your heart as well. Because he's talking about the people that were broken back then and I love the story of Jesus and Bartimaeus, the blind man, who's annoying everybody, because they're trying to, Jesus has come to town and. You probably would like to impress him and hears his plyman going, Jesus, son of David, come to me. And they're like, shut up, Bart. Spoiling the party. He's gonna go to the Rotary Club. He's going to see the theologians. Shut up, Bartimaeus. It's in the Greek. Actually, it's shuthup. And um, and then then uh uh you know and he just yells louder. And I love, there's two words that really touch my heart. I circled them, underlined them in my Bible. Here's this whole entourage. Jesus is very popular at this point. It just says, Jesus stopped Stop the parade, boys. What is it, Jesus? Somebody who needs me over here And he goes to the guy nobody sees and everybody's trying to shut up and says, those are my people. They should be ours too. So he says, see the people. This is divine expectations for blessed people. Thirdly, he says, in my words, review your journey. Review your journey. 26, 5 through 9. Then you shall declare before the Lord your God, my father was a wandering Aramaean. And he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice, and he saw our misery and our toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm with great terror and signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land. A land flowing with milk and honey. God is saying, I want you to think back over your journey. And all that I have done for you, that's going to keep you on the right path on your dark days in this hostile place. On your dark days, focus on how far he's brought you. You say, oh, I got so far to go He's gonna point down the mountain and say, look how far you've come. Yeah, you can look at the yeah, we got a lot more to climb, but look up I know you're having a bad day. I know you're having a bad season What you need right now is to think about how far I brought you. Good device, good stuff. Divine expectations for blessed people And then making obeying an all-day thing. Not obeying God for just those big decisions This is like all day long. You say, where do you get that, Ron? 26, 16, and 17. The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws carefully, observe them With all your heart, with all your soul, you've declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience. Walk in obedience. Walk in obedience to him. That you will keep his decrees, commands, and laws, that you will listen to him. Well, I those words walk in obedience are repeated in Deuteronomy, like so many things are. That's constant motion. That's movement. That's forward motion. He says this obedience thing isn't a static thing. Because I'm gonna be giving you things to obey me on as you're walk taking that walk, as you're walking. So to me, this is like constant Obedience. Say, well, I I really need to know God's will about this big decision I have to make. Did you know that God's macro will for the big things you really want to know? are made up of a thousand micro wills. God has a thousand micro wills. He had a will for what things he wanted you to do today. That's why you gotta meet with them every day and get your light on your path. You're not gonna know the macro stuff If you're not doing the microwheels. Because you're going to be on the wrong road, having the wrong experiences. So you gotta stay on the you gotta do the microwhews. So he's saying, I want you to be walking in obedience. Not just standing still and saying, okay, I'll be him right now in this situation This isn't just about major life events. It's about all day, every day. Obedience is a life, not an event. Last of all in the divine expectations for blessed people is to seek direction constantly. 2617. You've declared this day that the Lord is your God, that you well actually this is what we've just were, that you will walk in obedience to him, and that you will what? Listen to him. Jesus said this in John 10. I think we have John 10, 27. My sheep, listen. To my voice, I know them, and they follow me. My father-in-law took care of sheep as a boy, and he had a certain sound for each one of the sheep. His parents came out and tried to call the sheep They even tried to make the same sounds. Nope. They only listened to his voice. One voice. And they knew his voice. And they didn't come till they heard their call. Jesus said I call my sheep by name. I don't know what you call sheep back then, bumpy, fuzzy, woolly, chubby, tubby. I don't know what you call them. Mutton. But you But you have, you know, you have he calls all the sheep by name. God wants you to be seeking him through the day. It's like a pilot staying in touch with the tower. You don't just check in occasionally. You want to stay in constant touch with the tower. Isaiah 3021 ought to be your lifestyle and mine. Whether you turn to the right or left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way. Walk in it. And that should not be occasional. That should be regularly. And listen to those spirit nudges. It may often change your plans. Make that call. Send that text. Stop. Don't go there. I'll make this change. It's like the dispatcher telling the cop where to go. He doesn't know where he's going to go that day until he hears from the dispatcher. The Holy Spirit is heaven's dispatcher. Tells her where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do next. Be listening all day. Don't say, well, I had my Bible time in the morning. Good. That'll what take you a little while? That's not going to take you through the day. You need to keep listening. Keep listening. And you'll recognize his voice if you're used to listening to it. I had a weird experience when I flew to Chicago uh last week because we were leaving the gate at Springfield, which is a simple flight from Springfield, Missouri to Chicago, and the plane starts to back out and then he starts to go back in. I'm like, what, the flight's already over? We didn't do anything yet. I mean It's a weird day flying, but this is crazy. Then he said something I've never heard before. He said, uh, we have to go back and plug in. We have to recharge. What is this, a cell phone with wings? I mean what what is this? This is my cell phone you're talking about, right? I still don't know what that was about, but I'm glad we did it, I guess. You know, I mean it might probably be a bad thing we didn't. Listen, but I thought I could make an illustration out of that. This'll work You shouldn't leave the gate until you've recharged. Huh? There you go. You can mix make lemon lemonade out of lemons. There you go. Alrighty. So now we are ready We are ready for the mountain manifesto of life's bottom line. Fasten your seat belt here. This is uh Pretty interesting. Deuteronomy chapter 27, verses 11 to 14. On the same day Moses commanded the people, when you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim. to bless the people. Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these tribes shall stand on Mar Ebal To pronounce curses. Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice. And then we'll go on with what they are to recite. Let me give you the picture here. These two mountains, each about 3,000 feet high, are right dead center in Israel East to west, north to south, they're right in the heart of the promised land. Mount Garism. . . Um you might recognize because when the woman of Samaria at the well was saying we worship on this mountain, that was Mount Gerizim. I've seen that one because I've been there where he they believe he talked to her And might evolve across the valley from it. Now, here's what's going to happen, and why I think this is one of the most dramatic scenes in the Bible. Mount Ebal means, the word means, pile of barrenness. Half the tribes of Israel. So let's say conservatively there were a million people. So conservatively, half a million people are on Garrison and half a million are on Ebon. And the Levites are yelling across the valley, Here are God's blessings! Here are God's curses. I mean this is a incredible scene with half a million people on each mountain yelling at each other. Back and forth. God says, I want this this this you talk about something you will never forget. He puts us in an unforgettable situation. So here we are. Gerizam Ebal. What's interesting is that just a few years ago, archaeologists discovered And I I I I thought I had it with me, but I I don't, but I can tell you what it said. They found like a um a plate type thing. I don't mean like a eating plate, but it was because it was, I believe, metal It was folded over, and spectrographically, they were able to read the Hebrew inside, which says basically this. Cursed, cursed Cursed, cursed, says the God Yahweh. They date it roughly back to this time. The scholars are saying it is the earliest archaeological evidence of the use of the name Yahweh. And it's on the Mount of Curses. No drama here. Now let's go on. Let's see why God has done this. This is where We have the blessing zone and the cursing zone. So let's go to the early verses of Deuteronomy 28. These are the zones in which God is going to pronounce What will make you blessed and what will make you cursed? You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. That is your location Okay, so he says, this is going to decide your location outcomes. Verse 4, the fruit of your womb will be blessed. This is your children. Another zone of your life, whether could be blessing or cursing. Thirdly, the second part of verse 4 says And the crops of your land and the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks, well, in an agrarian society, this is your work. This is the work you do. Your results, what your work results will be. Verse 5, another zone. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. To me, I look at that as your work at home. It's like your housework. Your work at home, the things you do at home. Verse 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. Okay, this is your travels. This is going places, coming back. Verse 7. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction, but flee from you in seven. This is your battles. So we got the outcome of your location, the outcome of your children, the outcome of your work results, the outcome of your work at home, the outcome of your travels, the outcome of your battles And 288 kinda comprehensively says The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you and not just put down your activities. That's just kind of about all the stuff you do Now, what's going to decide the outcome in all of those? This is going to look familiar. 2812. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season, and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention. to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day. Do these words look familiar? And carefully follow them See, we couldn't talk about this tonight before we talked about last night. And carefully follow them. And you will always be at the top and never at the bottom Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or the left, following other gods or serving them. So the outcome decider The deciding factor in the outcomes of our lives and our efforts is the blessing. Of the Lord your God. All the outcomes in all the areas that matter to us. Depend on his blessing. Now we can determine the effort we put into it. But the success of all our efforts in each of those areas depends on something else other than your efforts. You cannot work hard enough. You cannot fight fiercely enough You cannot care about your family intensely enough to compensate for the absence of the blessing of the Lord your God. And you know what the deciding factor is in his blessing? Verse 28. 1 If you look familiar, fully obey. Here we go again. No selective obedience. No conditional obedience, no convenient obedience. If you fully obey the Lord your God, all those blessings in all those areas Wow. And obeying the Lord your God, let's go one step back. Is your love for him in action. Deuteronomy 11. Previewing this, love the Lord your God. Keep his requirements, his decrees. See that? See, it comes out of the love. You love first. And then you keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws, his commands always. So if you faithfully obey the commands I'm giving you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul Then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain new wine and olive oil. If you carefully observe all these commands I'm giving you to follow, to love Here talk about repeating himself. It's all in one chapter. To love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him. And to hold fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. This is not legalism. Check, wait, uh what's the rules? Check, check. Remember the old song, 50s song? I don't smoke and I don't chew and I don't go with the girls who do. Woo! That was a song. Yeah. Yeah. And people actually spent money on that one. Yeah. And obviously I was one of them. So No, it's a it's not legalism. It's love. It's not compliance. It's not performing for God. So you can get his love This is what he cares about. I picture in Revelation chapter 2 an awards ceremony for the church of the year. And God's saying, we are now about to give the church of the year award. And he's reading about various churches. And he says, now there's one church that is taking care of all the false teachers They have been faithful, they have been active, they have been serving. And the church at Ephesus going, straighten your tie, check your hair, check the makeup The church in Ephesus, church of the year! God says, but they're doing everything right. I have one thing against you. You don't love me like you used to. There's a whole lot of Christians. We are seemingly doing everything right. But the love has gone cold. You did all the right things, but I wanted to do them because you loved me. Not because of the right things. This is what he wants. So the love leads to obedience, and the obedience leads to blessing. And I mean the Levites are shouting that from Mount Gerism. So what is disobedience? It's loving something more than you love him. Because whatever you're disobeying him about obviously is a greater love. Paul had an associate that he listed as one of his helpers a couple times in the epistles, a guy named Demas, until he gets to 2 Timothy. And now when he needs Demas the most, because he's in prison for the last time, he's going to be executed. He says, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. I wonder how many times Jesus says, puts the name in there and says, has forsaken me. Because they love this world more than me. And you could be at a good place one month and a couple months later love something else more. So this is constant. This is you check, you don't say, well, I'm I got that settled. You don't ever have it settled. Where it's the where where you're what you're obeying is where your love is So obedience goes like this, Jesus. I love you too much to look at this. I love you too much to listen to that. I love you too much to go there. I love you too much to make that compromise. I just love you too much. Or it could go the other way, I I uh I love you so much that I will do that. Even though I don't want to, it makes no sense, scares me to death. I love you so much that I will or I love you so much that I won't, depending on what he's asking you to do. This is Deuteronomy, I've decided is ultimately a love story. It's not advertised that way. It looks like it's a law story, but It's ultimately a love story, isn't it? So here's the flip side of his blessing. We do have to pay a visit to Mount Ebal. Uh and we'll go to 2815. Follow this. This is amazing. If you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I'm giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you. You'll be cursed in the city, cursed in the country. Look familiar? Location. Basket kneading trough will be cursed. You work at home. Fruit of your womb. Family. Children. Your work at your your work crops and so on. You'll be cursed when you come in. Here we go. The travel Go down the list. It's the same list. And Levites are yelling us from out Eloh. They're like, we've heard all this before, except one word is different. Blessing or curse. This is pretty amazing. So you got the same farmer on the same land, farming the same crops. Getting two different outcomes. One's got a great harvest. One's got not much to show for all his work. Just go down the list. Here's one arm. Later it talks about the army. And it the blessings it says, your enemy will come as one and leave as seven. It says from Mount Ebal, it says you will come as one and you will leave as seven from the battle. The battle will have a token. Same army, same enemy, same weapons. Two opposite outcomes. This is the bottom line, isn't it? That's why I call this life's maybe let's call it surprising bottom line. We won't go through all the verses. Trust me. They're all there So, let's bring this home. When things aren't working, the first question you should ask, though not the only one. The first question to ask is this, is something hindering God's blessing? Let's do it let's do a self-exam right now. Is there are we not doing something God's way? Now, that won't always be the explanation. There's other, I mean, God's got other what reasons he does things in our life, but I'm suggesting that's the place to start. Is something, is there something God's going, you're not doing that my way. Look at that first. Again, not necessarily always the answer, but it is the question to ask. Joshua chapter 7. You remember this? They have I've seen the walls of Jericho collapse. They go to Ai. They don't know that Achan has obeyed, disobeyed God's command to keep some of the treasure they found there. He says, this will look nice under my bed. Hides it under his bed, says nobody can see it. Well, God would couldn't see what you buried under your bed, right? Then Joshua tore his clothes. Because when they went against Ai, which was compared to Jericho, I mean they got guys killed, they didn't lose anybody at Jericho, but they lost people there. Joshua tore his clothes, fell face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, sprinkled dust on their heads. They're like, oh God, what's wrong? And Joshua said, Alas, sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people a c It's the wrong question. Why did you, Joshua, stop it? Why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us in the hands of the Amorites? If only we had been content, did I know we should have been content on the other side of the journey. We weren't supposed to come in here after all. And God, why did you send us here? Joshua is totally missing the point Pardon your servant, Lord, what can I say? Now that Israel's been routed by its enemies, Canaanites, the other people of the country, they'll hear about this, they'll surround us, they'll wipe out now he's got disaster, doomsday scenario. They'll wipe us out and wipe out your name from the earth. What do we Well then what will you do for your own great name? Joshua. The Lord said to Joshua, stand up. Usually he's trying to get us to get down. He's like, stand up, stop this. Well, I'm trying to repent. Stand up. What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned. You don't have a Canaanite problem. You don't have a discerning God's will problem. Joshua, you have a sin problem. They violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. And they find the guy who did it, and you know, they they take care of him and then they go back to AI and they win the victory. But this is interesting. I'd say to Joshua, first thing you'd ask is, did you lose because there's something hindering God's blessing? That's the question to ask. So here's what I wrote in my notes. If God can't bless it, I won't touch it. If God can't bless it, I won't touch it. There's a crossroads scene as we wind up here in chapter 29. Carefully follow the now he's got all the people gathered together. They're no more yelling back and forth across the valley Carefully follow the terms of this covenant so you may prosper in everything you do. All of you are standing today. The Gerizam people, the The Ebal people, the curse readers, the blessing readers, all of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God, your leaders, your chief men, your elders, officials, all the other men of Israel. Together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water, you are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God. A covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath. And so this dramatic, no doubt, somewhat upsetting day We end with a covenant to confirm you this day as his people, and he may be your God as he promised you, as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So a covenant is being established. After this dramatic manifesto from the mountains, God is saying, you won't stop belonging to me, but the blessing may stop. I'd suggest to you that maybe God brought us together to say you are standing before me. in the presence of the Lord, to renew a covenant. Maybe this is covenant time The covenant from our side is a covenant of rekindled love and full obedience. You may know the name Eric Little. If you ever saw the movie Chariots of Fire, my favorite movie. Just very simply, Eric Little was an Olympic runner for from, he was the Flying Scotsman they called him, and ran for the UK. in the 1924 Paris Olympics. His story was uncovered by a director who was doing research in a Paris library looking for something else, found this story and made the movie, Cherry It's a Fire Out of It. and a song that won everything. Eric Little found out after he got there that his event was going to be on the Lord's Day And for him, he could not break the Sabbath. Huge pressure was put upon him to put his loyalty to his country ahead of his loyalty to God. And Eric Little simply took the stand against the sovereign, the mightiest sovereign on earth at that time. He entered another event, which was a more rigorous event, was required different skills. And in the movie, the American runner Jackson Schultz hands him a little note before this event. And it simply says, the old book says, he that honors me, I will honor. And history records, Eric Little handily won that race, became a national hero. and left to become a missionary in China. Much to the shock and chagrin of many people, he was a massive national hero Before I read you his quote, when he got, he ultimately was put in a Japanese internment camp, because where he went in China, the Japanese moved in. And he suffered immense suffering, deprivation. But while he's in that camp, he organized church services. Schoolrooms, prayer meetings, he counseled strangers, gave up his food took on the hardest chores that the weakest prisoners couldn't do. He said, I'll do that for you. He died of a brain tumor after conducting a Bible study from his deathbed. Here's what Eric Little said earlier in his life. I run the first 200 meters as hard as I can. And then for the second 200 meters, with God's help, I run harder. You've been maybe running pretty well up until now. But you've used up a lot. But now we're at we're at the covenant place. And with God's help, you're going to run harder to the finish line. Because those who win the gold, that's what they do. So from God's side, he's promising a covenant of belonging and blessing. So let me end where I started. Would you please smile for me, Daddy? Because it's your smile That keeps me going. Let's pray. So Lord Life might not be quite as complicated as we thought. Because the deciding factor in every part of it is your blessing. So if we find in your word with how you want us to do things and do it, uh a lot of things are gonna fall in the right place. And we'll do it because we love you. So I pray, Lord, before we leave this place. We will renew our love. Especially if it's going a little distant, a little cold, and a little mechanical and a little official. Get back to doing what we do because we love you. Not just habitual And Lord, as those cries went forth from two mountains, we want to stand at Mount Gerizim under your blessing. Whatever the cost, whatever the price, whatever obedience requires. You promised belonging and blessing. We promise you obedience and love. And that's a covenant. In Jesus' name. Amen.