“But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”
The children of Israel have wandered in the wilderness for forty years because of their disobedience and lack of faith. Moses is the one speaking to the tribe of Gad and Rueben as they approach the promise land for the second time in this verse of scripture. The tribes of Gad and Rueben appreciated the looks of the land before crossing the Jordan River into the battles ahead. Moses reminded them very clearly about the first go around when Israel was pushed into the wilderness for their lack of faith. Reuben and Gad were granted their request, but Moses made it apparent to them that they must still cross the river and fight the battle with the rest of their people. The tribes respond to Moses in a positive light in vs 27 “But thy servants will pass over, every man armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord saith.” In the main verse of scripture the last part of the verse is the key element to think upon when it comes to serving the Lord; “and be sure your sin will find you out.” There is no running from God, it may feel that way for a while, but sin will always catch up with you. There is a great battle in serving Jesus Christ, but the Bible tells us many times to “be not afraid.” Fear always puts us in a place of disobedience. Moses made it clear to these two tribes, you cant back out now. There was already 40 years of wandering and now that we are at our second encounter, you must cross into the battle field with the rest of your brothers or else terrible things will happen to you. The two tribes kept their word and proceeded into battle not returning to their land until all the battles were over. Don’t let fear keep you in the corner. The Bible says that sin will always find you out. If your not saved today the sin that finds you out will be of eternal torment and judgement, but to the believer, you will bring great destruction when you turn from the ways of the Lord. Are you teaching your children about Jesus Christ today? Are you faithful in soul winning, reading your Bible, church attendance, and a prayer life? If your not allowing God to guide your steps through His Word day by day there is a likelihood you are living in sin. Hebrews 11:24-25 “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;” The Bible says that though there is pleasure in sin, it only for a season. The seasons are constantly changing, and they surely don’t last very long. Can you believe deer season is gone already? Sin is not worth! Don’t let it destroy your life! The Bible tells us that your sin will always return to you with great destruction!
Memory Verse Week 2/17/18
Hebrews 11:25-26
“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;”
The word vanity could also be defined as emptiness. What is the purpose of a sower? He would be one that spreads seed with hopes of a crop after the appropriate seasons have passed. What does it take to have a corn, bean, or even a hay field! That’s an easy answer! It would require sowing at the appropriate time of the year. When a sower puts the seed in the ground it doesn’t instantly sprout, it takes days or even weeks before the first sprout may be seen. A Christian that chooses to live in sin may not see judgement right away, but it will come with time. The word iniquity means sin, unrighteousness, or wickedness. A Christian who sow’s iniquity, the Bible says will reap emptiness. Everything in their or your life will come to failure. Galatians 6:7-8 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” What type of seed are you sowing today? Do you feel emptiness in your life? Do you feel angry at others when things don’t go your way? If you are born again, you should have a desire to live righteous! You should also have a desire to tell others about Jesus Christ! It doesn’t matter what anyone sees in your life, what does matter, is what is in your heart today. You may have not experienced too much emptiness or judgement yet, but just know that God’s Word has never failed, and He always corrects his children when they live for self. Turn your eyes upon Jesus! On the day of harvest what do you want to reap; corruption or life everlasting?
There are many conversations in life that turn out to be fights, hurt feelings, and broken friendships. Why is that? The answer to every problem is always dealing with the root of the matter. In the book of Genesis we read the account of the Great Flood. After it was over God gave a covenant to Noah and mankind that He would never destroy the earth again, by placing a rainbow in the sky. Before He gave the covenant God spoke to Noah a truth that we all need to accept. Genesis 8:21 “…….for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth……” Back to Proverbs the Bible tells us that we need to have a soft answer in everything we speak about. The heart and the flesh typically drives us to a place of pride and correction when we deal with others. God gave us His Word so we can learn how to control our mouth. It must start in the heart! James 4:8 “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” Only you can control what comes out of your mouth! There are many situations that you just feel like you have to say something, but if you can keep your heart in the right place it will be easy to respond in a wise and spiritual way. Where is your heart today? Does it please yourself or does it please God? Matthew 15:18 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.”
Why do difficulties in life cause us to be so afraid? Though the flesh is weak, we have a powerful book that gives us strength to deal with every possible thing we could deal with in life. Have you ever come to the place in your life to accept the Bible as God’s perfect, preserved, and inspired Word? Inspired meaning God breathed! If you have not come to the place in your life to say the King James Bible is perfect you are going to have trouble getting through your difficulties! When we look at this passage of scripture there are some important truths that we can apply to our tough situations that we face. Salvation is the first and foundational key to have victory. If you have not accepted Christ as your Savior its no wonder why you cant find victory. Christ died to pay for all of your sins, but you must accept Jesus Christ in your heart in order to have that first victory in your life. As believers, we hit what seems like roadblocks sometimes, but the problem is always us. Do you allow God to lead you in everything you do? This passage reminds us that God is in control of everything all the time. Stop trusting in yourself and start trusting in God. Its that little word called faith. Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Don’t forget that Jesus Christ was in total control, even at death. John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” Why are you having tough times today? You might know! You might not! Jesus Christ loves you! Don’t give up! Keep moving forward! Keep having faith! Life is tough, but God is in control of all!
The word abased means to be reduced to a low state, humbled, or degraded. There was recently a social media post about a hunter that took a real nice buck, it may have scored in the 170″ range. There was a video of the kill and a little narrative on the hunters dad or grandpa teaching him how to hunt. The bad thing about social media is that there is always someone who has something negative or prideful to say. Under the comments there was a man that posted a 200″ inch deer that he supposedly killed and the post read “that is a little one, look at this one”. That is not word for word, but close to what he said. The hunter that filmed the 170″ responded kindly, but surely he thought “really?” That’s the mentality of not only the hunting crowd, but the human race in everything we do. Don’t be that guy! The Bible is very clear with us about humility. Being humble will keep us right with God if we are born again, but “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” When you kill a big buck, do you become full of yourself? Or maybe just your accomplishments in life? “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” God hates pride, or you could say those that exalt themselves. Don’t live your life that way. All you are doing is pleasing your flesh and acting against how the Bible teaches us to live! You may live that way for a while, but just know the Bible says that you will be reduced to a low state, humbled, or degraded. Its never fun learning lessons the hard way!
As king David passes off the scene he leaves a charge for his son Solomon to walk in strength as the new king. He lays out a very clear guideline concerning how he should live and how he should lead. Walking in the ways of the Lord is a must, there is no other way to live! The law of Moses is the first five books of the Bible; Genesis through Deuteronomy. Today we have even more than what David and Solomon had, we have the entire Bible: Genesis through Revelation. If we are not careful we can find ourselves living in spiritual deadness because we fail to do what verse 4 says: “to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,”. King David was telling Solomon here that, yes, its important to live by these great laws God has given us, but you must do it with all your heart and all your soul. This is the area we tend to fail in as believers sometimes, or even many times. For example: Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…” The Bible teaches us that Sunday is the day we gather with other believers and worship Jesus Christ. Do you ever find yourself in the Sunday morning service dreaming about the deer stand? You say within yourself, “I could be hunting right now!” Its good that your in church, but are you serving God with all your heart and with all your soul? If you are, your focus shouldn’t be on things outside of the church house. Another example could be tithing. Looking at the book of beginnings we find ourselves in the book of Genesis. Jacob, who’s name was later called Israel shows us that tithing was set in place from the beginning; Genesis 28:22 “And this stone , which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Now lets jump forward to II Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Malachi 3 tells us that when we don’t tithe(tithe is a tenth) that we rob from God. Jacob showed us that God first gives to us and then we return to him a tenth. Now back to the example; we can tithe out of duty, but if we aren’t doing it with a willing heart we are not serving God with all our heart and all our soul. Everything we do in righteousness should be with all of our hearts! Solomon did good for a while, but at the end of his leadership he failed God because there were areas in his life that wasn’t with heart and soul service. God pulled the kingdom from his son’s hand and Israel began to see many wicked kings reign. The word all has a simple definition: completely; entirely. Colossians 3:17 “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” How is your service today? Even though you may make right decisions; are you serving him with all your heart and all your soul?
The Apostle Paul is the one writing this passage of scripture. A very unusual thing we read about Paul is that it appears he died and saw heaven for a moment. Its possible he died from the multiple times of being stoned, but we don’t know for sure exactly how it happened. When we pick up reading in verse 7 we can see that God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh which was some type of physical problem. God didn’t want Paul to be lifted up within himself for the heaven experience(verse 1-6) he had, so He allowed a messenger of Satan(a fallen angel) to buffet him, or strike him. Its easy to think that serving God allows us to be healthy, strong, and above the rest, but when we look at the account of Paul we can quickly see that God allows hardships in our lives in order to be best used of Him. Its a hard pill to swallow, but as believers we have to realize that sometimes God gives us the answer of “no”. Paul prayed and asked God to heal him of this physical problem, but God said “no”. Do you feel like you have to have everything in order to serve God? God told Paul his grace was sufficient enough and that he will have to live with this physical problem. The word grace means unmerited favor, better yet known as salvation! Jesus Christ is all we need and everything we need to have strength in some of the most difficult times in life we could face. Are you will to serve God no matter what the circumstance? There are many who have physical problems such as being paralyzed, blindness, lost limbs, asthma, diabetic, heart problems, etc. Don’t allow hardships in your life prevent you from serving God, but just as Paul did, glory in the difficult things God allows in your life. The Bible tells us we will find the most strength in our weaknesses. The flesh drives us to a place of misery when we don’t get things the way we want them. We must read the Bible daily, its the only way to learn victory through the difficulties of life! Are you saved today? Jesus is the answer to all of our problems. If you can find joy in your struggles, God will use you in a great and mighty way! Look at Paul’s life! He wrote many books of the New Testament, but went through some of the hardest persecutions we could read about! Strength is always made perfect in weakness! That’s what the Bible says!
We live in a day where everyone thinks Christianity means live how you want today and God will forgive you for it. Does God forgive all sin? Absolutely! When you fail, what condition is your heart in? Do you truly feel sorry for the sin you committed, or do you have an attitude that says, “oh well”. God always judges sin! God hates it when his children live in disobedience. In this passage of scripture we can see that God is judging the priest Eli and Israel for the wickedness in their hearts. Galatians 6:7-8 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” When you get saved you can never lose your eternal salvation, but that doesn’t give you the free card to live how you want and expect forgiveness later. There is always a penalty! God was angry with Eli because his sons, who were also priests, lived in wickedness. Eli knew it, but never did anything about it. I Samuel 4:10 tells us that God also brought judgement into Israel and thirty thousand men were killed in an attack from the Philistines. When you accept Christ as your Saviour there should be a lot that changes in your life. You should no longer have a desire to live in sin, but a desire to please Jesus Christ. Just as God dealt with the house of Eli, He will also deal with your sin if you don’t confess it and start living according to the Bible. Proverbs 28:13 “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Don’t allow hunting to destroy your life! There are too many bankruptcies and broken homes because of men who refuse to live for the Lord! Do you really need a new gun or truck? Its a burden on your pastor to see an empty seat during deer season. What happens when you skip out on church? You begin to skip out on many other important things in your life, like reading your Bible, spending time with your family, prayer life, telling others about Jesus Christ. If hunting takes place over everything else in your life, you have a great problem, “…for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Maybe hunting is not your issue, but could you honestly stand before God and feel confident that your living like He would want you to live? Hunting is not sin, but when it effects your walk with the Lord, your marriage, and your children, you may want to give some serious consideration to changing your direction, before its too late. When we look at the life of Eli, it was too late!
Going into late season, its not unusual to see deer move later in the mornings, as subzero temperatures set in. Don’t be afraid to sit an extra hour or even start your evening hunt a bit earlier than normal. There are many factors in late season than can cause a hunter to make quick decisions and cause nothing more than a lack of success. The Bible says that God created the beast of the field on the sixth day! God created patience not just in hunting, but also in our spiritual journey! You’ll come to find that a hunter that is unwilling to be patient, many times is unsuccessful. This scripture shows us that its a necessity to wait on the Lord. Do you desire success and victory in your Christian walk? We live in a society today that says “give me patience, and give it to me now.” We read countless stories in the Bible of men and women who inherited the promises of God, but never without waiting on God’s timing. God has a plan and purpose for the life of every believer, but you must wait on Him! There is no shame in killing a big doe or nice buck during the last 20 minutes of your hunt, but if you leave the stand to early you will walk away with a lack of success and an educated deer! Don’t rush God’s will for your life. Every day we must focus on the most important thing God has told us to do: Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” The more you wait on the Lord, the better you will be! God may be testing your faith to see how serious you are about serving Him! Are you going to quit early because things are not going your way? Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Long days in the deer stand can become very weary, but it only takes a moment for everything to change!
When we look at vs 12 its important to give attention to the word mountains. There was a hunter that one time said he would have taken a shot at the doe he encountered, but he was too far from the truck, the terrain was to rugged, and the work would have been too hard to get her out of there. There was an O’l West Virginia hunter that also had this same way of thinking as deer would be driven past him! He would either shoot the smallest deer or let them all go by unless there was a visible set of antlers. The rugged terrain or even the mountains you could say, cause us to step back and ask ourselves do we really want to squeeze the trigger. The work it takes to get a deer can sometimes be more than what we are willing to do. Many Christians have this same line of thinking when it comes to serving Jesus Christ. This shepherd realizes the importance of one lost sheep(that’s a lost soul) and he sets his face to the mountains to find him or her. A mountain can look intimidating at times. The problem though is not how the mountain looks, but it reflects the condition we are in, not just physically, but also spiritually. Someone that is out of shape and over weight has no desire to hunt in rugged terrain, they want everything to be easy for them! There is nothing wrong with an easy hunt and an easy drag to the truck, but sometimes hard work is just necessary for success. Sometimes there are people in your life that you will find to be very easy to witness to, but are you willing to climb a mountain for Jesus? Are you willing to put yourself in places and situations that are not always comfortable? Are you willing to witness to your supervisor? A man at the gas pump? A stranger at the grocery store? A Catholic? A Jew? A Muslim? How do we get ourselves in shape to handle this type of rugged terrain? II Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” It takes preparation! Stay faithful in church! Stay faithful in prayer! Stay faithful in not just reading your Bible, but also studying it! As a Christian, your life is on one of two paths: either dying or growing! What path do you feel like your on? There is no middle ground! No gray area! Its either black or white! Are you telling others about Jesus? Are you getting stronger and more in shape to find that lost sheep in the mountains? Don’t let the mountains hold you back! Deuteronomy 31:8 “And the Lord, he it is that doeth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” Getting that deer to the truck is a great feeling of success as hard work has paid off, and finding a lost soul in the mountains is a joy you cant understand until you do the work yourself!