Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / June 16 - Deuteronomy 9

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June 16 - Deuteronomy 9 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Monday, it's the start of a
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  new week. It's the 16th of June and it's
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  so good to have your company as we in the midst of this busy
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  life of ours. Stop, take a moment and continue
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  this expose on what it looks like to actually place God above
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  all other things in our life. And so that is well, today,
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  tomorrow, and the next day we will continue with the theme of
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  really unpacking, as Moses does for his people, the very first
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  commandment that God gave him on that mountaintop so that you and
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  I can can reflect and think, how does this look in my life?
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  Today we're going to be talking about the golden calves they
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  created out of gold at the base of the mountain.
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  And you and I may not make golden calves, but boy, there
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  will be parallels in our life. So, Holy Spirit, come convict us
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  of your truth in your way as we unpack your word.
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  You ready, friends? Oh yeah, let's do it.
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  Let's read together Deuteronomy Chapter 9.
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  Listen, no Israel, today you are about to cross the Jordan River
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  to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more
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  powerful than you. They live in cities with walls
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  that reach the sky. A people are strong and tall,
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  descendants of the famous Anakite giants.
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  You've heard the saying who can stand up to the Anakites, but
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  recognised today that the Lord your God is the one who will
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  cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them.
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  He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and
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  drive them out, just as the Lord has promised.
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  After the Lord your God has done this for you.
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  Don't say in your hearts the Lord has given us this land
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  because we are such good people. No, it is because of the
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  wickedness of the other nations that He is pushing them out of
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  the way. It is not because you are good
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  or have such integrity that you're about to occupy their
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  land. The Lord your God will drive
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  these nations out ahead of you only because of their
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  wickedness. And to fulfil the oath He swore
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  to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you must
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  recognise that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land
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  because you are good, for you are not.
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  You are a stubborn people, remember and never forget how
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  angry you made the Lord your God out in the wilderness.
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  From the day you left Egypt until now, you have been
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  constantly rebelling against him.
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  Even at Mount Sinai you made the Lord so angry he was ready to
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  destroy you. This happened when I was on the
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  mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the
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  words of the covenant that the Lord had made with you.
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  I was there for 40 days and 40 nights, and all that time I ate
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  no food and drank no water. The Lord gave me the 2 tablets
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  on which God had written with His own finger all the words He
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  had spoken to you from the heart of the fire when you were
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  assembled at the mountain. At the end of the 40 days and
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  nights, the Lord handed me the 2 stone tablets inscribed with the
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  words of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, Get
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  up, go down immediately, for the people you brought out of Egypt
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  have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned
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  from the way I commanded them to live.
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  They have melted gold and made an idol for themselves.
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  The Lord also said to me, I have seen how stubborn and rebellious
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  these people are, leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase
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  their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation
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  of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than
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  they are. So while the mountain was
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  blazing with fire, I turned and came down, holding in my hands
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  the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant.
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  But there below me I could see that you had sinned against the
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  Lord your God. You had melted gold and made a
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  calf idol for yourselves. How quickly you had turned away
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  from the path the Lord had commanded you to follow.
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  So I took the stone tablets and threw them to the ground,
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  smashing them before your eyes. Then, as before, I threw myself
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  down before the Lord. For 40 days and nights.
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  I ate no bread and drank no water because of the great sin
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  you had committed by doing what the Lord hated, provoking him to
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  anger. I feared that the furious anger
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  of the Lord, which turned him against you would drive him to
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  destroy you. But again he listened to me.
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  The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him
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  too. But I prayed for Aaron, and the
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  Lord spared him. I took your sin, the calf you
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  had made, and I melted it down in the fire and ground it into
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  fine dust. Then I threw the dust into the
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  stream that flows down the mountain.
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  You also made the Lord angry at Tabara Massa and Kibroth Hatava
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  and at Kadesh Barnier. The Lord sent you out with this
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  command. Go up and take over the land I
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  have given you. But you rebelled against the
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  command of the Lord your God and refuse to put your trust in Him
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  or obey Him. Yes, you have been rebelling
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  against the Lord as long as I have known you.
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  That is why I threw myself down before the Lord for 40 days and
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  nights, for the Lord said He would destroy you.
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  I prayed to the Lord and said, O sovereign Lord, do not destroy
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  them. They are your own people.
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  They are your special possession, whom you redeemed
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  from Egypt with your mighty power and your strong hand.
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  Please overlook the stubbornness and the awful sin of these
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  people and remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac and
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  Jacob. If you destroy these people, the
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  Egyptians will say the Israelites died because the Lord
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  wasn't able to bring them to the land he had promised to give
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  them. Or they might say he destroyed
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  them because he hated them. He deliberately took them into
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  the wilderness to slaughter them.
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  But they are your people and your special possession, whom
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  you brought out of Egypt by your great strength and powerful arm.
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  Ah, Lord, your voice can sometimes feel hard to hear, and
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  in the midst of a world that is all too happy to shout loudly at
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  us its own priorities and beliefs.
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  I pray that you give us patient hearts so that when Moses is on
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  that mountain for 40 days and 40 nights and it feels like you
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  have forgotten us or it feels like you are not going to answer
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  us, it's so easy for us to look elsewhere to find our peace or
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  our comfort or our provision. But Lord, I pray that we
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  continually and steadfastly look to you, our Saviour, our
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  Provider, and our loving God. Thank you for all that you are
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  for us and all that you give to us, and that we are your special
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  possession. We just claim that status and
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  commit anew to live as your people.
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  And we pray all of this in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.