Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / June 11 - Deuteronomy 7

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June 11 - Deuteronomy 7 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends, It's Sean here. It's Wednesday.
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  It's the 11th of June and we've hit the middle of the week.
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  It's hump day and I hope, I hope this week is going well for you.
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  And oh boy, I don't know about you, but this time of year, as
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  things kind of reach this dark point, we are heading toward the
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  winter solstice here and things really do slow down and people
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  tend to start to hibernate. And boy, we live in a world that
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  is so type A. So go, go, go that we feel
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  guilty when we stop and guilty when we take a bit of time just
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  to be. Let us put away that craziness
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  and actually give ourselves a little bit of permission just to
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  stop and just to be. And particularly as we read this
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  week, as the the speed of our reading slows down and we just
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  spend this time unpacking and revelling in God's intention for
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  us to focus on Him and Him alone as our God.
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  Maybe this is a good time for us in our life just to slow down
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  and take stock and focus on placing God at the number one
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  spot. Wonder what that looks like for
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  you, friend? Wonder what that looks like for
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  me? Not a bad thing to contemplate.
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  And as we do that, let's continue to hear how God wants
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  that to shape the lives of His people as they enter this land.
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  As we read together Deuteronomy Chapter 7,
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  when the Lord your God brings you into the land you're about
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  to enter and occupy, He will clear away many nations ahead of
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  you, The Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites,
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  Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
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  These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you.
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  When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and
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  you conquer them, you must completely destroy them.
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  Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy.
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  You must not intermarry with them.
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  Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and
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  daughters, for they will lead your children away from Me to
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  worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will
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  burn against you, and He will quickly destroy you.
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  This is what you must do. You must break down their Pagan
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  altars and shatter their sacred pillars.
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  Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols, for you are a
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  holy people who belong to the Lord your God.
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  Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to
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  be His own special treasure. The Lord did not set his heart
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  on you and choose you because you were more numerous than
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  other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations.
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  Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and He was
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  keeping the oath He had sworn to your ancestors.
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  That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from
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  your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king
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  of Egypt. Understand, therefore, that the
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  Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps
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  His covenant for 1000 generations and lavishes His
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  unfailing love on those who love Him and obey His commands.
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  But He does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who
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  reject Him. Therefore, you must obey all
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  these commands, decrees, and regulations I'm giving you
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  today. Have you listened to these
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  regulations and faithfully obey them?
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  The Lord your God will keep His covenant of unfailing love with
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  you, as He promised with an oath to your ancestors.
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  He will love you and bless you, and He will give you many
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  children. He will give fertility to your
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  land and your animals. When you arrive in the land He
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  swore to give you ancestors, you will have large harvests of
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  grain, new wine and olive oil, and great herds of cattle,
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  sheep, and goats. You will be blessed above all
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  the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will
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  be childless, and all your livestock will bear young, and
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  the Lord will protect you from all sickness.
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  He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew
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  in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all your enemies.
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  You must destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to
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  you. Show them no mercy, and do not
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  worship their gods, or they will trap you.
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  Perhaps you will think to yourselves, how can we even
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  conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we
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  are? But don't be afraid of them.
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  Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all
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  the land of Egypt. Remember the great terrors the
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  Lord your God sent against them. You saw it all with your own
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  eyes. And remember the miraculous
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  signs and wonders, and the strong hand and powerful arm
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  with which he brought you out of Egypt.
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  The Lord your God will use this same power against all the
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  people you fear, and then the Lord your God will send terror
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  to drive out the few survivors still hiding from you.
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  No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord your God
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  is among you, and He is a great and awesome God.
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  The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you
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  little by little. You will not clear them away all
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  at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too
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  quickly for you. But the Lord your God will hand
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  them over to you. He will throw them into complete
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  confusion until they are destroyed.
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  He will put their kings in your power, and you will erase their
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  names from the face of the earth.
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  No one will be able to stand against you, and you will
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  destroy them all. You must burn their idols in
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  fire, and you must not covet the silver or gold that covers them.
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  You must not take it, or it will become a trap for you, for it is
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  detestable to the Lord your God. Do not bring any detestable
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  objects into your home, for then you will be destroyed just like
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  them. You must utterly detest such
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  things, for they are set apart for destruction.
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  Oh Jesus, in your generosity, in your love, you have set us
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  apart. You have given us that gift of
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  faith and counted it as righteousness to us, our Lord,
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  as you set us apart. And you claim us as your own
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  special possession, just like God told his people all those
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  years ago. But I pray that we would be
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  transformed and that we would choose day by day to live as
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  your people and as Moses urges the Israelites as they enter
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  that foreign land, that they would not be seduced by worship
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  of the gods of that place. And Lord, I pray that for us
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  that we are not seduced by the gods of our world, by the gods
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  of success and wealth and fame and popularity, but Lord, that
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  we can rest in you and our identity as your beloved
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  children, and that that is so much more than enough.
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  Lord, I thank you for the good things you give us.
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  They are just such a blessing to us.
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  But I pray that they always stand below you in importance to
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  us. So we recommit ourselves to you
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  as your special people, chosen and loved by you, and will you
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  worship you, our mighty God and our wonderful Saviour.
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  And we pray all of this in your name, Jesus, Amen.