Latest / Scripture Central / From Worry to Worship | Deuteronomy 6-8, 15, 18, 29-30, 34 | Come Follow Me | John Hilton May 11-17

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From Worry to Worship | Deuteronomy 6-8, 15, 18, 29-30, 34 | Come Follow Me | John Hilton May 11-17 · Scripture Central

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If only I had that, then I could be content.
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Idols will never give us the hope, the comfort that we want.
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Christ has really set us free. He knows that whatever else we
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worship will not give us the joy that only He can.
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You'll get farther in your life if you'll do things in the
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Lord's way. If you had one month left to
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live, what would you do? What would be on your bucket
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list? Maybe for some of us, assuming
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that you're healthy and you have plenty of money, maybe your
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bucket list might look something like this.
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Go to Hawaii, drive a Ferrari, eat more tacos, meet Taylor
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Swift. I don't know.
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For me, the first three I would love to do.
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Meet Taylor Swift wouldn't be on my list, but maybe spend an hour
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with Jonathan Rumi. I don't know.
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But Moses's bucket list looked very different.
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His was all about giving speeches.
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Maybe some of you have a parent or a grandparent.
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You're like, yeah, that's kind of sounds like probably what my
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grandma or mom would want to do in her last month, just give a
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lot of speeches. Moses wants to drive it into
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everyone's heart what he's been trying to share with them this
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whole time. That's what we see in the book
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of Deuteronomy. In our timeline, we're at the
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end of the 40 years in the wilderness.
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The Israelites are about to enter into the Promised Land.
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The name Deuteronomy means second law or repetition of the
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law. Moses is going to try to write
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into the hearts of the Israelites the words of the Lord
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that have been so meaningful to him.
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Now, something interesting about the book of Deuteronomy is that
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it was very popular in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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You might remember we talked about the Dead Sea Scrolls in
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our first class and there are multiple copies of certain
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books. So amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls,
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the most frequently copied book was the Psalms, followed by
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Deuteronomy. So clearly the Qumran community
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found great strength in the book of Deuteronomy, and so did Jesus
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Christ. It's one of the three books most
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frequently quoted by him. In fact, during the temptations
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that Jesus faced from the devil, each temptation Jesus responded
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to by quoting from Deuteronomy. As you remember Satan said to
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Christ, if if you are the Son of God, command these stones to
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become loaves of bread. Jesus responded, it is written,
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1 does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
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from the mouth of God. Quoting from Deuteronomy chapter
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8. Then the devil took Jesus to the
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temple and said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw
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yourself down, for it is written he will command his angels
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concerning you. The Savior responded it is also
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written do not put the Lord your God to the test.
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Again quoting from Deuteronomy. Finally the devil took the
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Savior to a mountain, showed him all the riches and kingdoms of
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the world. He said, all these will I give
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you if you will fall down and worship me.
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The Savior said away with you Satan, for it is written,
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worship the Lord your God and serve only him.
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So if Deuteronomy was strong enough to sustain the Savior, it
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can certainly help us. We could spend months in the
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book of Deuteronomy, but today we'll focus on three areas.
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First, we'll look at the 10 commandments, which are again
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given in Deuteronomy. We'll talk about remembering and
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forgetting and a wide open hand. Now, in a previous class, we
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talked about the 10 commandments.
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We learned some hand signals for them.
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So let's just do a quick review. We have one God.
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No graven images. Don't take the name of God in
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vain. Take two and two.
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Make a little steeple. Honor the Sabbath day, 2
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parents, 3 kids. Honor your father and mother.
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Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery,
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splitting a part of marriage. Watch like a magic trick.
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Thou shalt not steal this commandment #8 #9 Thou shalt not
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bear false witness #10 thou shalt not covet.
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Gimme, Gimme, Gimme. Now you've probably remember the
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10 commandments and it's good to know what they are, But that's
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not enough. I remember Abenadi was talking
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to the priest of King Noah. They said, oh, we teach the 10
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commandments, but Abenadi said, I perceive that they are not
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written in your hearts. Back in Exodus, we talked about
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some of the commandments. Today I want to focus on three
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of the 10 commandments that we haven't talked a lot about yet.
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Let's begin by looking at the 1st 2 commandments we read.
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You shall have no other gods besides me.
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You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of
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anything that is in the heaven above or that is on the earth
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beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
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You shall not bow down to them or serve them.
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President Spencer W Kimball taught.
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As I study ancient scripture, I am more and more convinced that
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there is significance in the fact that the commandment Thou
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Shalt Have No Other Gods before me is the first of the 10
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commandments. Whatever thing a man sets his
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heart and his trust in most is his God.
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And if his God doesn't also happen to be the true and living
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God, that man is laboring in idolatry.
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So anything we set our hearts on besides God becomes an idol.
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President Kimball is asking what do we love the most?
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Is it money, success, relationships, or something
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else? Timothy Keller's book
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Counterfeit Gods is one of the most powerful resources I know
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of to help us understand modern idolatry.
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In it, he writes, A counterfeit God is anything so central and
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essential to your life that should you lose it, your life
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would hardly feel worth living. It can be family and children,
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or career and making money or achievement.
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It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval,
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competence and skill, or secure and comfortable circumstances.
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An idol is whatever you look at and say in your heart of hearts.
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If I have that, then I'll feel my life has meaning.
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Then I'll know I have value. Then I'll feel significant and
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secure. He goes on to write the gospel,
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asks what is operating in the place of Jesus Christ as your
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functional salvation and Savior? What are you looking to in order
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to justify yourself? Whatever it is, is a counterfeit
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God, and to make a change in your life, you must identify it
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and reject it as such. I remember recently talking with
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a woman who was in tears. She said that for her, her idol
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was her children and her children staying on the covenant
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path, and she was crying because some of her children had left
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the covenant path. Now, of course it's good to pray
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for your children and to hope that they make good decisions.
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Every parent should do that. But remember, when anything,
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even a really good thing, becomes the central way you get
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meaning in your life, that's an idol.
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Our true hope is in Jesus Christ alone.
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And at the end of our conversation, the woman said
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with more of a smile in her eyes.
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I'm realizing that if I can truly center my focus on Christ,
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then I'll have peace regardless of the choices my children make.
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Similarly, I was really touched when one young adult shared a
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story that she had experienced with idolatry, and with her
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permission, I share it with you. She said it started out exciting
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and innocent, and I loved what this relationship meant for me.
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He was handsome, approved by my parents, and I thought if this
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leads to marriage, I'll be set. But soon I became anxious.
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I obsessed over what he thought of me.
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I stopped speaking. My mind replaced scripture and
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temple time with Him and thought anything goes as long as He
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approves. When it ended, I crashed.
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I had made this man my foundation.
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Logically, I knew Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were
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there, but I had not made them a priority.
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A week later the topic in Relief Society was anchoring ourselves
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in Jesus Christ and it hit me. This was my greatest storm and I
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had no foundation. Months later in a moment of deep
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prayer, I said Lord, forgive me for my idolatry await released.
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I realized idol worship is a jail cell.
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I vowed to never make immortal my God again.
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False saviors will never deliver like Jesus Christ does.
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Remember, when anything, even a really good thing, becomes the
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central way you get meaning in your life, That's an idol.
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It could be popularity, or beauty or financial security or
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physical strength. All of these things are good
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things, but if they become the ultimate thing, will eventually
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be disappointed. And that's why God warns us not
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to worship idols. It's not because He needs all
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the attention because He gets jealous if we worship something
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else. He knows that whatever else we
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worship will not give us the joy that only He can.
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Think about the needs that we have that drive our idol worship
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and how Christ is the true answer to those needs.
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For example, we might have an idol of power, approval,
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comfort, or control. Let's suppose my idol is power.
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That means I fear humiliation and disrespect.
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I desire recognition and influence.
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But Christ is truly the answer because He is the source of true
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power. Or imagine that your idol is
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approval. You fear rejection and
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criticism. You desire to be accepted or
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wanted. Christ is the answer though,
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because we find our deepest approval in Him.
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We could do this with the idols of comfort or control.
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Ultimately, though, all of our desires are only filled in Jesus
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Christ. Idols will never give us the
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hope, the comfort that we want. So consider for a moment, how
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might idolatry be a danger in your life today?
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I'm not accusing anyone in this room of being an idol
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worshipper, but it's almost certain that for all of us, at
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some level, idolatry has crept into our hearts.
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We might not be worshipping a golden calf, but there could be
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other things that we worship. So consider these two questions.
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What is there in your life that if you lost, it, would feel like
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life was no longer worth living? What is something that you want
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so badly that you think, if only I had that, then I could be
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content? Could those be idols in your
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life? So let's suppose as we think, we
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reflect on, I think, you know what?
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I am seeing some idols in my life and I know that's not good,
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so I'm just going to get rid of those idols.
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That's a great idea, but our hearts don't really work that
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way. It's not just about getting rid
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of the idol. We have to replace it with
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something else, or rather with someone else.
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The only way to replace our idols is to deeply fill our
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hearts with Jesus Christ, Timothy Keller writes.
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Idolatry is a setting of the whole heart on something besides
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God. This cannot be remedied only by
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repenting that you have an idol or using willpower to try to
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live differently. Turning from idols is not less
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than those two things, but it is also far more.
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You must set your mind and heart on things above where your life
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is hidden with Christ and God. This means appreciating,
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rejoicing, and resting in what Jesus has done for you.
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It entails joyful worship, a sense of God's reality, and
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prayer. Jesus must become more beautiful
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to your imagination, more attractive to your heart than
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your idol. That is what will replace your
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counterfeit gods. So there are two questions I
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want each of us to seriously consider.
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First, what are possible idols in your life?
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And 2nd, how can Jesus Christ become so important to you that
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these idols lose their power? The first stop that came to my
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mind was the 12 step program. So I've witnessed a few people
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really close to me who were in the throes of a addiction.
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So maybe their idol was just trying to prove themselves.
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So the addiction is usually like a symptom of something else and
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rather than just avoiding it and white knuckling it, they have
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replaced it completely with Jesus Christ and it's been the
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most powerful thing to witness. That's.
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Beautiful. Thank you.
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Consumerism's always been something that's really hard for
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me and something that has been a possible idol for me.
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And I was thinking about something that I could give to
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Christ and something that I could give up.
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And, you know, I was thinking, oh, maybe next month I'll do a
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fast where I give up all online shopping and I give up anything
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that's unnecessary to purchase. I was praying one day and I was
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like, OK, Heavenly Father, I think next month I'm going to
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start this fast. And he said, why don't you start
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today instead? And I was like, Oh, that's a
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little harder, you know, and, and I think that I pushed off
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and I pushed off and I, and I push off this, this fasting from
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something that keeps me further away from the savior.
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And so he when he just gave me that little nudge, I was like,
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OK. And it's really wild to watch
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this addiction play out in my life because you don't realize
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these small little things that keep you further away from the
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savior. And when you take them out, you
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can replace them with something better.
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Thank you. Well, let's turn for a moment
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from the first two commandments to the 4th commandment to honor
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the Sabbath day. Now, it's interesting.
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Most of the commandments are written pretty much identically
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in Exodus and Deuteronomy, but there's some significant
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differences in the 4th commandment and how Exodus and
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Deuteronomy talk about it. In Exodus, for example, it says
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remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
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In Deuteronomy it says observe the Sabbath day and keep it
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holy. So which is it?
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Should we remember the Sabbath day or observe it?
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Obviously it's both, but you can see there's a small difference
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there. Remember, it's more cognitive.
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Don't forget about it. Observe is make sure you really
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live this. Then in the final part of this
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commandment, in both Exodus and Deuteronomy, there's a different
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rationale that's given for the commandment.
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In Exodus it says, for in six days the Lord made heaven and
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earth and sea and all that is in them, but rested the 7th day.
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Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
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So in Exodus it's kind of like you should honor the Sabbath day
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because God rested on the 7th day of creation, and you should
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rest as well. Deuteronomy is a little
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different. It says, remember you were a
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slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you
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out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
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Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the
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Sabbath day. So one thing that stands out to
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me is this command. It's not an option, it's not a
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good idea. God commanded you because when
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you were slave, you were working 24/7.
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There was no rest, but God delivered you, so now you can
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rest. We might see that the Sabbath
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grounds us in creation, reminding us that just like God,
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we can rest even when our plates are overflowing.
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The Sabbath also points us to redemption, reminding us that
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Christ has really set us free. Now for me, something that's
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really helped me in my life, to ground me in the Sabbath day in
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recent years has been to go to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
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You probably know that Jews observed the Sabbath beginning
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at sundown on Friday night. And so if you ever go to the
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Western Wall as the sun is setting on a Friday night, it's
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a huge celebration. Jewish youth groups will come to
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celebrate. People are there worshipping,
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they're singing, sing and dancing as people are welcoming
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in the Sabbath. Is this how it is in your home?
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Do people sing and dance because they're so excited on Sunday
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morning for the Sabbath? I know that it was definitely
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not like that for me as a kid, right?
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I'm like, oh, man, there's no cartoons.
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It's interesting, though. On a recent trip to Jerusalem, I
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was at the Western Wall talking with a Jewish young adult man
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about what his experiences were growing up.
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Like many Orthodox Jews, the Sabbath rules in his house were
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very strict, like, absolutely no watching TV, no being on your
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phone. And I asked him, So when you
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were, like, 16 or 17, did you ever, like, try to sneak
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downstairs and, you know, watch the Super Bowl or, you know, get
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on your phone or something? And he looked at me as though I
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were crazy. He was like, what the Sabbath is
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a day to connect with God and to be with my family.
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Why would I want to violate the Sabbath?
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And I was like, oh, yeah, that's that's kind of what I thought
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when I was a kid, too. It was so interesting to see his
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complete dedication to honoring the Sabbath day.
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I love what President Russell M Nelson taught.
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He quotes Isaiah who said turn away from doing thy pleasure on
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my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight.
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President Nelson continues saying not pursuing your own
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pleasure on the Sabbath requires self-discipline.
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You may have to deny yourself of something you might like.
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If you choose to delight yourself in the Lord, you will
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not permit yourself to treat it as any other day.
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Routine and recreational activities can be done some
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other time. In addition to your going to
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church, partaking of the sacrament, and being diligent in
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your specific call to serve, what other activities would help
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to make the Sabbath a delight for you?
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What sign will you give to the Lord to show your love for Him?
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If we think about the doctrine, principles, application,
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framework that we've used in this class, President Nelson is
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giving us a clear principle. Because the Sabbath is holy, I
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should turn away from doing my own pleasure on the Sabbath and
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instead delight in the Lord. There's lots of different
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applications we could draw from this principle, and I just want
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to share 2 applications that I've heard from church leaders
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that have deeply influenced the way that I think about the
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Sabbath day. First is a story shared by
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President Monson. He said a man related that years
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earlier he had a special school date on a Saturday night.
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He borrowed the family car as he obtained the car keys and was
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heading for the door. His father said the car will
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need more gasoline before tomorrow.
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Be sure sure to fill the tank before coming home.
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Well, as you can probably guess, the boy had a great time but
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forgot to fill up the car with gas, President Watson continues.
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Sunday morning dawned. The father discovered the gas
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gauge showed empty. The son saw his father walk back
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into the house and put the car keys on the table in their home.
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The Sabbath day was a day for worship and Thanksgiving, not
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for purchases, the man declared. I saw my father put on his coat,
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bid us goodbye, and then walk the long distance to the Chapel
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that he might attend. In early meeting.
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President Monson's comment on this experience, which was about
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a man named H Berlin Anderson, was duty called.
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Truth was not held slave to expedience.
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Consider a second application, this one from President Oakes,
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he said. When I was in high school, I had
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a job in a radio station that went on through college.
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I often worked on Sunday. When I left home to go to
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Graduate School. My widowed mother said something
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to me that has profoundly blessed my life.
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She said. Dallin, you have been working on
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Sunday and you have been studying on Sunday to keep up
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with your schoolwork. When your father was in medical
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school, he never studied on Sunday and he was very blessed
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because of that. I think you ought to consider
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that as you go to Graduate School.
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President Oakes reflected that council, which I determined to
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follow has changed my life. I never studied on Sunday in
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Graduate School, although there was considerable pressure to do
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so when an exam was on a Monday. But I found that I could do more
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in six days with the blessings of the Lord than I could in
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seven days, trying to balance studying and work.
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That established a pattern for my life.
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I'm glad I followed the counsel of my widowed mother.
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I'd suggest that you'll get farther in your life if you'll
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do things in the Lord's way. President Oakes concluded and
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said The owner's manual written by the one who created our
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bodies and souls, says 6 days shalt thou labor and do all they
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work, but the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
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Let's go back to the doctrine, principles, and application
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framework. As you think about your own
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life, what have you been doing to apply this principle of
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honoring God on the Sabbath day that you're happy about?
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Is there anything that you feel like you need to tweak a little
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bit in your life so that you canmore fully turn away from
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doing your own pleasure on the Sabbath and instead delight in
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the Lord? Now, all of our plans to stop
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worshipping idols and to focus more on the Sabbath day are
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completely in vain if we forget about our goals.
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If I've set a goal to not shop online for a certain period of
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time, but I forget about it, it obviously will be in vain.
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So I want to turn now to our second principle of remembering
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and forgetting. It's so important to remember.
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Recently there was a young father who was so excited to
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bless his newborn child. He was nervous.
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He never blessed a baby before. As he got up to the circle and
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someone held a microphone to him, his grandfather whispered
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to him, Hey, where's the baby? He was so he was so nervous he'd
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forgotten his baby. Hopefully he's laughing about
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that story now. But it points to a constant
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challenge we have with forgetting things.
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We forget our passwords. We might even forget a birthday.
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We're forgetful creatures. And if we're not careful, we can
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forget God. That's a key theme in the Book
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of Deuteronomy. Here Moses is gathering together
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the younger generation, and he says to them, take care and
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watch yourselves closely so as neither to forget the things
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that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all
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the days of your life. Make them known to your children
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and your children's children. Many of us have had powerful
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spiritual experiences throughout our lives, but they're not just
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for us. Are we telling them to our
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children, to our grandchildren? How do you fight forgetfulness?
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It's with reminders, Moses told the people.
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Keep these words that I'm commanding you today in your
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heart. Recite them to your children and
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talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when
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you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your
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hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on
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the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
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So notice that here God is giving three specific ways that
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the Israelites are to keep God's word at the forefront of their
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minds. First, Moses says talk about God
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whenever you're home and whenever you're away.
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Now, when are you ever not a home or away?
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In other words, always talk about God first thing in the
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morning, last thing at night. We don't take a vacation from
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talking about God. A family prays together each
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morning before everyone goes their separate ways at the
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dinner table that night, conversations include questions
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like, How did you see God's hand in your life today?
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Sometime during the busy day, there's a moment for scripture
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study. And as a parent tucks a child in
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at night, the parent will share a testimony of Jesus Christ.
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Now we might think to ourselves, isn't this too much?
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Like was every morning, every night, all the time?
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But when a child get overwhelmed with all of this gospel
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teaching, President Irene doesn't think so.
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He said we should seize every opportunity to share the
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teachings of Jesus Christ with children.
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These teaching moments are precious and far fewer compared
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to the relentless efforts of opposing forces.
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For every hour spent instilling doctrine into a child's life,
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there are countless hours of opposition filled with messages
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and images that challenge or ignore those saving truths.
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Some of you may wonder whether it might be better to draw your
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children closer to you through having fun.
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Or you may ask whether the child may start to feel overwhelmed by
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your teachings. Instead, we should consider,
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with so little time and so few opportunities, what words of
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doctrine can I share that will strengthen them against the
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inevitable challenges to their faith?
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The words you share today could be the ones they carry with
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them. And today will soon pass.
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So all the time, whether you're home or away in the morning, at
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night, we talk to our children about God.
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We remind them of His power, His wonders, commandments.
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Now, the second way that Moses told us to remember God's
25:13
commandments was to bind them as a sign on your hand.
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Fix them as an emblem on your forehead.
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And I've been humbled on many trips to Israel to see how some
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modern Jews literally observe this commandment.
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During some prayers, some Orthodox Jews will strap small
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leather boxes to their arms and foreheads.
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Inside are tiny scrolls with passages from the Torah.
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It's a powerful image, God's word guiding what you do with
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your hands and what you think about with your mind.
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Many modern Jews also literally obey the command to write the
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commandments on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
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This is done through a mezuzah, which is a small decorative case
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that's attached to the right hand doorpost in many Jewish
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homes by the cases, a rolled up parchment that contains some of
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the commandments. So anytime you enter or leave,
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you can touch it as a reminder. God's word, his commandments,
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they are in this home and they go with me wherever I go.
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These types of visual reminders were really important to the
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Jews and they are important to us today.
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Just as another example, consider in the book of Joshua,
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after Israel miraculously crossed the Jordan River, Joshua
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said stack 12 Stones so that this may be a sign among you
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when your children ask in time to come, what do these stones
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mean to you? Then you shall tell them Israel
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crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.
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What are the 12 Stones that we have in our homes?
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What are the visual reminders that we can show to our children
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to help us tell stories that keep God's deliverance in front
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of our families? Now some of us might be
26:53
thinking, is remembering really that important?
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Moses definitely thought so. Especially when things are going
27:00
well in your life, he said. When you eat your fill, take
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care that you do not forget the Lord your God.
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When things are going well, it's easy for us to say, yeah, I'm
27:10
awesome, I got myself here. But President Irene reminds us
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the challenge to remember has always been the hardest.
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For those who are blessed abundantly, it is easy to begin
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to feel the blessings we're granted, not by a loving God on
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whom we depend, but by our own powers.
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Now, most of us probably aren't going to adopt the specific
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practices that are outlined in the book of Deuteronomy,
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although maybe writing the commandments on your Airpod case
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might not be a bad idea. But take a moment and reflect on
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this question. What does God's command to have
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visual reminders of his commandments look like for you?
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I'm not. A decorator.
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I don't have those kinds of talents and abilities, but I can
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reflect in the things that are in my home, the things that are
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in my heart and my testimony of my heavenly Father, my Savior
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Jesus Christ. And when you walk into my home,
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you see the Savior, you see the temple, you see my family.
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And those are the things that are most important to me.
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And those are visual reminders to me and to anyone who comes
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into my home will know what I believe.
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Yeah, I was talking to a. Student at BYU who is studying
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interior design and she said that her professor would really
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emphasize how are you going to make Christ the central design
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figure of your home? And I've never really thought of
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that. Thank you.
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I'm pretty sure if the Israelites had had smartphones,
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Moses might have mentioned lock screens and wallpaper as another
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way to remember and not forget God.
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Let's turn to one more theme in the book of Deuteronomy and that
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has to do with a wide open hand. First, try clenching your fist
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for 15 seconds. Probably many of you have
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stronger risks than I have, so you're able to just keep going.
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But for me, my hands actually get tired out after a little
29:01
while. I think it's hard to have a
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clenched fist. Deuteronomy teaches us a
29:06
different way about having a hand that's wide open.
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We read, If there be among you a poor man within any of thy gates
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in thy land, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut
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thine hand from thy poor brother, but thou shalt open thy
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hand wide unto him. Again we read, The poor shall
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never cease out of the land. Therefore I command thee, thou
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shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother, to the poor and to
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the needy. That phrase open your hands wide
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really stands out to me as I read in Deuteronomy.
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We've got to serve those who are financially poor.
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Deuteronomy also calls us to open our eyes.
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If you see your neighbor's ox or sheep straying, you shall bring
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it back to your neighbor. You shall not see your
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neighbor's donkey or ox falling down by the road and ignore it.
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You must help to raise it up. Now, probably you haven't seen a
29:59
lot of missing donkeys recently, but you might find a missing
30:03
wallet, or you might see someone whose car isn't working very
30:06
well. Deuteronomy is inviting us to
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see and then to open our hands wide to serve.
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Deuteronomy also speaks about the importance of open
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resources, opening our resources to help others.
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When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in
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the field, you shall not go back to get it.
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It shall be left for the alien, the orphan, the widow.
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You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt.
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Therefore, I command you to do this.
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So we open our eyes, we open our hands, and we extend our
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resources to those who are in need.
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Now, this specific practice about leaving some of the grain
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behind, We'll see that when we get to the Book of Ruth.
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For many of us, we're not practicing in agriculture right
30:51
now, so we have to think hard about what does this mean for me
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in my life? How do I apply these same
30:57
principles? I wonder if sometimes a message
30:59
like this can almost feel like a guilt trip because we're not
31:02
doing more. And I don't know, maybe for some
31:04
of us, maybe for me, it's supposed to feel like a guilt
31:06
trip. But I don't think God is telling
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us to open our hands wide because he wants us to feel
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guilty. He wants us to be like him, and
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God opens his hands wide. We read God executes justice for
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the orphan and the widow and loves the stranger, providing
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them food and clothing. You shall also love the
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stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
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When we serve the poor, we're doing what God himself does.
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We want to open our hands wide because He opens his.
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I admit it can be a challenge to know how exactly should we serve
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the financially poor among us. Some of us might feel like we
31:46
are the financially poor. I love what President Jeffrey R
31:49
Holland said. I don't know exactly how each of
31:52
you should fulfil your obligation to help those who do
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not or cannot always help themselves.
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But I know that God knows and He will help you and guide you in
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compassionate acts of discipleship if you are
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conscientiously wanting and praying and looking for ways to
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keep a commandment He has given us again and again.
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If we were to look at the doctrines, principles,
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application format, we might see something like this.
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A doctrine could be every person on earth is a child of loving
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heavenly parents. A principle growing out of that
32:25
doctrine is I should care for the temporal needs of my
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spiritual siblings. There are so many ways that we
32:31
could apply this principle. I'd love to hear some of your
32:35
experiences. I have a friend who is a.
32:37
Spiritual giant in my opinion, and he taught me a great lesson.
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He's been successful as the world would view success and has
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the means to accomplish much. Only he drives us an average car
32:52
and I asked him one day why don't you get a such and such
32:55
car which is fancy or powerful or impressive?
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He said no, I buy a regular car and I use the difference to help
33:02
other people. Boy, that hit my heart.
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Great lesson for life. It's something that I think we
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can all do. As we use our resources and
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assets, we can decide how we're using them.
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I've used that in my life and I think it's very powerful.
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Thank you, I did receive. Of this doctrine and principle.
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We were in quarantine for almost 8 weeks.
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We'd run out of food we did have, but we were so sick that
33:29
we couldn't cook. And every day we receive food in
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our doorstep. Every day later we find out that
33:38
people that we didn't even know, they just send it like a
33:41
DoorDash. They just came and drop us food.
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And I think that is a great example of little things that we
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can do to make them feel love and to be grateful forever.
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Thank you. I think about one of my
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neighbors. She doesn't have a huge house or
33:58
endless resources, but when there was a refugee crisis, she
34:02
invited a young refugee to come live in her home.
34:05
It was a huge sacrifice for her family, but it made an
34:08
incredible difference in this young woman's life, who's now
34:11
gone on to be married. She has four children.
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That's part of what it means to have your hands wide open to
34:16
open up your hands, your heart, your resources, even when you
34:20
don't have a lot yourself. I think about one of my
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childhood friends who win. The humanitarian crisis in
34:26
Ukraine began. She felt like she needed to act.
34:28
She didn't have any special connections or influence, but
34:32
she just started with what she could.
34:34
She was able to gather donations, start organizing
34:36
help. And because she opened her hands
34:39
wide, many people in Ukraine received the resources and
34:42
support that they desperately needed.
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Now, probably some of you are thinking to yourself, brother
34:46
Hilton, I'm all in. My hands are wide open.
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My challenge is how do I help my children want to serve others
34:53
more deeply? I wish there was some kind of
34:55
game or activity that I could share with them.
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Wish granted. So this is a really fun game.
35:01
It's the Seagulls game. We don't have time to play it
35:03
together today, but I've linked to it on the course website, so
35:06
if you want to go check it out. It's a great activity to play
35:09
with teenagers or children to help them feel in their hearts
35:12
the importance of opening our hands wide.
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Now, as we come to the end of the book of Deuteronomy, it's
35:18
Moses's farewell, but it can be our fresh start.
35:22
At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses explains that he's laying out a
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choice for the people. He tells them that when they
35:29
enter into the Promised Land, they're going to walk through a
35:31
valley and on one of the hills on one side at Mount Gerizim,
35:35
the priest will shout out all of the blessings if the people keep
35:39
the commandments. On the other side, priests will
35:42
be shouting out all the curses. What will happen if the people
35:45
don't keep the commandments? And this actually happens in
35:49
Joshua chapter 8. It's a giant object lesson that
35:52
reminds us that you have a choice.
35:54
You can choose to be blessed or you can choose to be cursed.
35:58
And Moses summarizes this with one final invitation.
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He says, I have set before you life and death, blessing and
36:07
curse. Therefore, choose life, for the
36:12
Lord is your life. It sounds simple.
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Who wants to choose death instead of life?
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But Moses knows that it's harder than it looks.
36:20
When we choose idols or prioritize work on the Sabbath,
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when we forget God, when we close our hands to the poor,
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we're not just making less effective decisions.
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In a sense, we are choosing death.
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So how do we choose life? It's actually not that
36:36
complicated. We choose Jesus, he said.
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I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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He said. I am the resurrection and the
36:45
life. In other words, Moses's
36:48
invitation to choose life isn't just about making good
36:51
decisions, It's about choosing a person.
36:55
Jesus resisted temptation to strengthen us when we face
36:59
temptation. And ironically, Jesus chose
37:02
death so that we could choose life.
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And because Christ died for us, we are now free to choose life
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in Him.