Today Duet 4- Must I obey? No...BUT You Must!

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Deuteronomy 4:1-49 -
Moses Urges Israel to Obey
1"And now, Israel, listen carefully to these laws and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you from the LORD your God. Just obey them. 3You saw what the LORD did to you at Baal-peor, where the LORD your God destroyed everyone who had worshiped the god Baal of Peor. 4But all of you who were faithful to the LORD your God are still alive today.
5"You must obey these laws and regulations when you arrive in the land you are about to enter and occupy. The LORD my God gave them to me and commanded me to pass them on to you. 6If you obey them carefully, you will display your wisdom and intelligence to the surrounding nations. When they hear about these laws, they will exclaim, 'What other nation is as wise and prudent as this!' 7For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him? 8And what great nation has laws and regulations as fair as this body of laws that I am giving you today?
9"But watch out! Be very careful never to forget what you have seen the LORD do for you. Do not let these things escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren. 10Tell them especially about the day when you stood before the LORD your God at Mount Sinai, F13 where he told me, 'Summon the people before me, and I will instruct them. That way, they will learn to fear me as long as they live, and they will be able to teach my laws to their children.' 11You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain was burning with fire. Flames shot into the sky, shrouded in black clouds and deep darkness. 12And the LORD spoke to you from the fire. You heard his words but didn't see his form; there was only a voice. 13He proclaimed his covenant, which he commanded you to keep—the Ten Commandments—and wrote them on two stone tablets. 14It was at that time that the LORD commanded me to issue the laws and regulations you must obey in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
A Warning against Idolatry
15"But be careful! You did not see the LORD's form on the day he spoke to you from the fire at Mount Sinai. 16So do not corrupt yourselves by making a physical image in any form—whether of a man or a woman, 17an animal or a bird, 18a creeping creature or a fish. 19And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don't be seduced by them and worship them. The LORD your God designated these heavenly bodies for all the peoples of the earth. 20Remember that the LORD rescued you from the burning furnace of Egypt to become his own people and special possession; that is what you are today.
21"But the LORD was very angry with me because of you. He vowed that I would never cross the Jordan River into the good land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. 22Though you will cross the Jordan to occupy the land, I will die here on this side of the river. 23So be careful not to break the covenant the LORD your God has made with you. You will break it if you make idols of any shape or form, for the LORD your God has absolutely forbidden this. 24The LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
25"In the future, when you have children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, do not corrupt yourselves by making idols of any kind. This is evil in the sight of the LORD your God and will arouse his anger.
26"Today I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you. If you disobey me, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly destroyed. 27For the LORD will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive. 28There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone, gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29From there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.
30"When those bitter days have come upon you far in the future, you will finally return to the LORD your God and listen to what he tells you. 31For the LORD your God is merciful—he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.
There Is Only One God
32"Search all of history, from the time God created people on the earth until now. Then search from one end of the heavens to the other. See if anything as great as this has ever happened before. 33Has any nation ever heard the voice of God F14 speaking from fire—as you did—and survived? 34Has any other god taken one nation for himself by rescuing it from another by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, awesome power, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, right before your very eyes.
35"He showed you these things so you would realize that the LORD is God and that there is no other god. 36He let you hear his voice from heaven so he could instruct you. He let you see his great fire here on earth so he could speak to you from it. 37Because he loved your ancestors, he chose to bless their descendants and personally brought you out of Egypt with a great display of power. 38He drove out nations far greater than you, so he could bring you in and give you their land as a special possession, as it is today. 39So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The LORD is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other god! 40If you obey all the laws and commands that I will give you today, all will be well with you and your children. Then you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time."
Eastern Cities of Refuge
41Then Moses set apart three cities of refuge east of the Jordan River, 42where anyone who had accidentally killed someone without having any previous hostility could flee for safety. 43These were the cities: Bezer on the wilderness plateau for the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad; Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh.
Introduction to the Law
44This is the law that Moses handed down to the Israelites. 45These are the stipulations, laws, and regulations that Moses gave to the people of Israel when they left Egypt, 46and as they camped in the valley near Beth-peor east of the Jordan River. (This land was formerly occupied by the Amorites under King Sihon of Heshbon. He and his people had been destroyed by Moses and the Israelites as they came up from Egypt. 47Israel conquered his land and that of King Og of Bashan—the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. 48So Israel conquered all the area from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirion, F15 also called Mount Hermon. 49And they took the eastern bank of the Jordan Valley as far south as the Dead Sea, F16 below the slopes of Pisgah.)
FOOTNOTES:F13: Hebrew Horeb, another name for Sinai; also in 4:15. F14: Or voice of a god. F15: As in Syriac version (see also 3:9); Hebrew reads Mount Sion. F16: Hebrew took the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the sea of the Arabah.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.


~ Lena’s Journalin’
Can someone else tell you what to do? I mean to where you do what they say? What if they aren’t sweet about it, or they are too sweet for you? What then? Will you listen and obey anyway, as though it is God Himself speaking?
When people sit in a congregation and there is one man preaching up front, 400 people seated, the man will say one thing and the 800 ears will hear 800 different things. Some won’t hear at all, they are distracted, some don’t care, don’t regard the man’s words enough to give them the time of day. Many do not see the words as words from God, they think a man is speaking and if he’s the kind of man we want to hear from in the way we want to hear it, he’ll have won our ears. Out of 400 people how many do you think will actually take the words of the one man to heart, as though they are God’s words and actually put feet and hands to the words, making them alive- Living words?
I believe we will all be very very surprised when we stand before God completely accountable and He quite possibly asks us why we did not make His words living words. It takes a tremendous amount of human faith to believe we are accountable to God right now and that He IS now asking us this very thing- today.
Are you accountable? To God? Through whom? I mean really accountable, to where a person, a human voice of God in your life can say- where are you and what are you doing? Would you allow someone to ask you that kind of thing? If so, would you have to go through a tremendous amount of change first to not have your feathers completely ruffled when those words are asked you through a human?
We pick and choose, what right do we have to pick and choose? All of the rights in the world, really, in the world system of things we are so free, we can choose whatever we want or do not want. The problem is we choose death and think it is life, because we feel we’re on top of things. We are living too much for the here and now. God wants us to live for the now and after now. That’s what He’s calling us to do, step outside of our mental boxes and break out of worldly thinking and acting and get on with kingdom business and rule.
Don’t ever be angry with God when circumstances rule you. You reap what you sow, You set it up to be this way, you made bad choices, temporary fix choices rather than kingdom and eternally minded choices!
God did not do that, you did….Do NOT add or subtract. Reason adds and subtracts, multiplies divides and every other equation. Get outside of your mind on matters.
I really can imagine a whole assembly of people obeying God thins way, followers who will not live for themselves, but live wholeheartedly for the Kingdom of God! That is Zion- the City on the Hill, That is where the blessing of God takes a whole city and redeems it.
Can we talk a bit about statues? Can I explain that we are not talking about marble or clay? Those are made of the elements of earth and that is the point. It, as an idol, is a model, a memorial of a thing or of a person whom one would look up to and model their life after, an image of likeness.
We are to become as He is, we are made in His image and likeness (thus my e-mail address to remind me- We–R-His-Image) The enemy makes sure we see natural models everyday, ones we can be like. He knows we can be like God, but does not want us to know that. Idolatry is trying to become anything other than being like God.
Obedience helps us to be formed into His image and likeness. Disobedience smashes to pieces His image and likeness. We may be saying….I wouldn’t smash a God image…really? How many times do we speak against those made in His image? We’ve smashed His image. How many times to we disregard His words and follow the words of the world and its ways? We neglect the maintenance of His image and it is broken down, overgrown with moss, hardly recognizable.
It takes strength of character, a guard set, a firm decision to Follow me as I follow Christ It takes a violent people who will not succumb to the world patterns, and it takes the assembly of an army of likminded to maintain that kind of faith- so, “Where are you?” and “ What are you doing?”

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.