Deuteronomy 11:21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. 22 If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow – to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him – 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. 
 
 
DEUTERONOMY 13:18-20 repeats the Shema as we read in our prior lesson. Then Moses added “so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land.” Moses relays from heaven the promise of God’s blessings found in living God’s Word. 
    This teaching, of course, is very fundamental to each Christian generation. But sadly, for the past three generations, the church in Europe and the United States has become content with the world’s directive to allow our children to find their own way. We have believed the lie that children need to continually be affirmed even when they disobey. Parents, teachers and the church have no business telling a child how to behave, right? Rules are made to be broken, aren’t they?
    Of course, we know this is the Evil One’s lies. How can anyone even consider this? Without godly instruction, discipline and affirmation, a child will not know right and wrong. In this “no rules” children believe they have no need for the Rule Maker. They have quickly become their own gods. One great darkness in our United States’ culture is the growing number of people who have no knowledge of Jesus, his church nor his commands. Our children have become citizens of Secular Humanism whose purpose is to eliminate God.
    Each of us have a lasting command from God to reverse this trend and restore God’s truth to our nations. Be purposeful to hear, speak, write and do God’s commands so that our children live in God’s grand life blessings.
    Let’s rise up and be the church.
 
Revelation 3:22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Seven times repeated in Revelation for the church to hear, speak, write and do.

Read Deuteronomy 6
 
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 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.  
 
SEVEN times in Deuteronomy, Moses writes, “Love the Lord your God.” This particular passage is known as the Shema (She ma). It means, as the first word says, “Hear to know that the next words are absolutely necessary to know. These are “must do’s” regarding the welfare of God’s people in their relationship with God and with one another. “Hear, O Israel!” is God’s way of saying, “Listen to me! Your life depends on it.”
    What must they hear? First they will hear, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” To know this essential truth means one eagerly responds to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Remember, this is the first and greatest commandment. When you love the Lord so completely, you will joyfully in love obey the Father’s will.
    It follows, then, that, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.” What do you do with God’s commands on your heart? You begin to speak, write and do them. As a parent, grandparent, adult, teacher and disciple, you love God’s Word so much you lovingly “impress them on your children.” Yes, emphasize God’s teaching and influence children. Be constant to live with integrity to, “Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” All you speak and do is to be done in the light of your love for God’s commands.
    From the hearing, speaking, writing and doing, God’s commands become more interconnected with your life. You write them on paper, so they are more real to you. You share them in a note, an email, a text or a message. You spiritually or even literally tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. You let all know God’s truth reigns in your home as you write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
    Listen, the Word of God must be written onto your heart and soul. Your children, church and strangers will know who is your God because his Word marks your public and private life. God commands you to love him so much you will joyfully tell the next generation who he is with each aspect of your life.
 
John 15:11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (Jesus said that.)
 
 

Read Deuteronomy 2-3
 
Deuteronomy 3:19-22 However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, 21 At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. 22 Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you.”
 
ISRAEL is in the final camp before entering the Promised Land. God is using Moses and Joshua to help Israel to not be afraid. Israel’s heavenly Father knows before his children could conquer the land, they had to conquer their fear of the obstacles before them. After all, for 40 years fear had kept this generation’s parents from God’s Promised Land.
    Fear does that. This stifling emotion keeps our self-focused minds from trusting in God’s benevolent assurance, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). Fear keeps us exposed to temptations as our minds wander from Truth to wonder, “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1b). A fear-filled mind expels faith.
    That’s why it is difficult to understand the Bible’s use of “fear” to point us to God.  Indeed, there are many verses such as Proverbs 1:7a The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And Luke 1:50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. If fear keeps us from God, how do we understand fear is necessary to know God?
    Essentially, it’s putting fear into proper, God-centered use. A good definition of God-revealing fear comes in the book “The Joy of Fearing God” by Jerry Bridges. He writes, “The fear of God is a worshipful awe toward God that comes from such emotions as dread, reverence, admiration and amazement.” We can illustrate this in the disciples’ experience with Jesus in a storm on Galilee. The 12 fearfully called on Jesus, “Lord, save us! We're going to drown!” The Lord’s response, “Why are you so afraid?” spoke to their lack of trust in him. His will for them was to come to him and say, “Lord, we know you will calm the storm.” In response to their fear, Jesus identified himself. Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.  
    How then did the disciples respond? The men were fearfully amazed, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
    With dread, reverence, admiration, thankfulness and amazement, the disciples realized Jesus had their lives in his hands. Through this experience, they began to more personally know Jesus as LORD. One day their knowledge would become wisdom to preach God’s power over death and life to the world.
    The faith-blocking fear in Israel and in too many of our lives is the result of looking to the world and to ourselves. The fear that enriches our minds with wisdom looks to God’s sovereign power to judge and to redeem.
 
Psalms 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
 

Read Numbers 31-33
 
Numbers 33:51-52 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 52 drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.’”
 
WHAT do you do when you move into a new house? Generally, you clean out your old house, remove what you don’t need and take only the “essentials” to the new house. You then clean the new home and take precautions to keep the dirt out. God’s people were about to move into their new house. The Promised Land was ahead. For 40 years God had been teaching Israel how to clean their house – to know God’s goodness. Now God specifically instructed them to cleanse the new land. The Promise Land is not perfect. It needs to be cleansed. The Holy God commands his people to resist and remove the evil they will find.
    It’s easy to get dirty, isn’t it? Dust gathers on our shoes everywhere we go. We walk outside in the rain, slip in a puddle, and we are dirty. Food spills on a clean shirt. Regardless of how new your house is, dirt moves in with you. That’s why we keep clean cloths ready.
    The LORD God warns Israel to be constant about cleaning away evil. They have his cleaning equipment. His law, his commands and his promises are readily available to keep a clean, soul-healthy home.  
    In a like manner, Jesus commanded the Jews to be clean. Luke 11:39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?”
    Sometimes the dirt is so small, nearly invisible, we barely see it. Other times, it is always around us, and we become blind to it. It is good, then, to have a regular time to notice the dirt and sweep it away. Trust Gods tools – his law, his commands, his promises, his grace, his forgiveness, his love and his Spirit – to keep you clean each day and forever.   
 
Good Cleaning Tools: Confession, Humility, Forgiveness, Prayer, Worship: