Deuteronomy 6:1-23
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God , who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD'S sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said. 20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?” 21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.
I believe Satan wants to destroy the Christian home. He wants to tear apart families and he’ll use every tool in his tool box to do it! His game plan includes plenty of fiery darts to distract and confuse. And we live in a world which wants to remove God from our government, from our schools, from our TV sets, and basically any part of the public arena.
Can I just tell ya something? I believe it’s absolutely more important than ever before that we realize our children NEED to hear that God CAN BE their shepherd and ALL they will ever want or need in their lives. They need to HEAR in their hearts that we sincerely believe that by watching us live it out. God told Israel to teach their families that very concept.
He told them to remember some things:
"The Lord your God is One God"
He won’t share with any other so-called "gods".
"God brought you out of slavery"
It was an actual physical slavery for the Israelites. It is a slavery to sin for us.
"God gave you blessings you did not deserve"
Wells they hadn’t dug, houses they hadn’t built, and fields they hadn’t planted.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength"
Obey all His commands, decrees and laws.
Hey, can I just tell ya something? God expects obedience! When we don’t expect obedience from our kids, we’re just teaching them to sin!
"Never take Him lightly"
God is a merciful God and He loved His people AND us very much. But, He expects to be put first in every area. That’s what He was telling His people. God was asking them to put Him first in every area:
In their public and private lives
In their school and at work
In their past, present, & future
AND the result would be, they were told, they would have advantages no other nation had. By the way, that promise is true for us today.
By contrast, if we don’t make God our priority, we can actually set our family up for failure.
Karl Marx, founder of the communist movement, drove this point home to the extreme. He single handledly and significantly perverted the history of the 20th century for most of our planet. He described his "religion" as the "opiate for the masses" and committed his followers to live their lives without God. His new world view, conceived and designed to change the world, was hatched in part as a result of years of disappointment, bitterness and anger with his father. His father sold out the family's Jewish heritage in order to benefit the family business leaving Marx bewildered and confused. Those feelings festered and grew into hate.
When we sell our faith to the highest bidder, we set our families up for discouragement and failure.
This entry is taken from the sermon: "Remember" Click the link to listen to the entire sermon. This is the third sermon in a series. The entire sermon series audio is available here:
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