Published: February 11, 2024 | Speaker: D. Aaron Wells | Series: Deuteronomy - The Law Is Good, If One Uses It Lawfully 1 - Part 6 | Scripture: Deuteronomy 2:1-3:22
Transcript
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all right well um welcome back to the law is good if one uses it lawfully I have reprinted your outline from last week because I only got through about half of
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it uh but the reason I got through only half of it is because we were having a great discussion and uh I really enjoy that so I don't mind necessarily the slowing of the pace uh but I I do
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actually want to get through the other half uh this week um so uh I've reprinted it for your benefit uh but I but I do stick pretty closely to uh what's going on there um last week
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we began uh with Deuteronomy chapter 2 and looking at the sort of the meat in the middle of of Moses first discourse
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in which he expounds to Israel the meaning of their journeying in the wilderness and something I thought of this week uh was why why just a question and I do
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have a couple answers to offer but why if if Israel originally spied the land This Way rebelled in the
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wilderness and then 38 years later they're still in the same region of cadesh why did Yahweh not lead them up
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the same the same way that this was their intended the intended course they were blocked when they tried to go up presumptuously by aite people
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in a city or region called arod and we don't know exactly where that was but on your map you'll find them locating it about here but in some way those canites blocked their progress Moses doesn't say
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this but numbers tells us that when they mourned Aaron at his death those kites came out against them again uh and in sort of the new generation's refidim
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moment um they they defeated those peoples and the name of the place or of the region be had came to have a double meaning horah destruction where the
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former generation experienced their own destruction in battle uh but where the new generation devoted those same enemies to destruction and ruined their
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place and yet even though they defeated the enemy that was keeping them out polit uh polit uh politically and militarily still back
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they went around to enter the land by the Jordan I just occurred to me this week something I hadn't really bothered to put in the notes why why why did God
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lead them lead them around I think there are two answers and I think Moses is giving those things to us in in Deuteronomy 2
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through3 one is what I've made reference reference to before the S the sense of sarcasm I'm picking up when Moses says uh we Jour then we turned and journeyed
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in the wilderness in the direction of yamu as Yahweh told me the former generation in other words the former generation was told go back toward the
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sea and seems to have hung around in the region of cadesh for those 38 years so Moses first answer for us is
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that he was taking the dire ction that Yahweh had said before and told him again uh in obedience in other words perpetrating The Obedience that the
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former generation did not with the new generation but the second that we're really looking at in the second half of the lesson plan that I had is is God was
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taking them on a guided tour of related peoples whose Heritage was just as obscure as theirs because they were they were brothers Edom uh being Jacob's
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brother Moab and Amon being Kinsmen of Isaac um and Abraham and coming from a very obscure uh Heritage indeed but God
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taking the people of Israel on a guided tour of his faithfulness to related peoples who were not native to that region as of 400 years before or
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so but yet he had been faithful to settle them in their place how much more the people of Israel who were the sons of the promise who were
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the descendants of Abraham the the man of Faith how much more would God set them in the land that he had promised to Abraham vocally he had done these things in the
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course of history secretly not having given asau some sort of direct knowledge that he would have this place not giving Moab or amona revelation of himself at
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all that we can tell uh but yet he had been faithful to those people to settle them in the place that he intended for them how much more given that he had staked his own reputation on his promise
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to Abraham would he set him in the land so that's what we're going to be looking at is is Moses bringing that out in the middle of his discourse uh for us um if you want to follow along with me in your
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Bibles I'll be reading um chapter 2 verse 1 through uh chapter 3 uh verse vers uh verse 10 um you will notice that
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there are a few portions that I'm going to excise for this reading I'm not going to read them um I will get next week to why that is U but I'll just say for the
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sake of Simplicity it's so that you can see a certain flow in the text that I'm going to do do a little diagramming about so that you can see the pattern that Moses has set up and hopefully hear
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that ahead of my description so so Deuteronomy 2 then we journeyed and turned into the Wilderness in the direction of yam as Yahweh told
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me and for many days we traveled around Mount seir then Yahweh said to me you have been traveling around this Mountain Country long enough turn northward and
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command the people you are about to pass through the territory of your brothers the people of Asa who live in seir and they will be afraid of you so be very
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careful do not contend with them for I will not give you any of their land know not so much as for the soul of the foot To Tread on because I have given Mount seir to asau as a possession you shall
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purchase food from them for money that you may eat and you shall also buy water of them for money that you may drink for Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands he knows you're
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going through this Great Wilderness these 40 years Yahweh your God has been with you you have have lacked nothing so we went on away from our brothers the people of asau who lived in seir away
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from the arabah road from elot to edzon gabar and we turned and went in the direction of the Wilderness of Moab and Yahweh said to Meo not harass Moab or
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contend with them in battle for I will not give you any of their land for a possession because I have given R to the people of lot for a possession now rise up and go over the Brook zared so we
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went over the brook zared and the time from our leaving cadesh Bara until we crossed the brook zared was 38 years until the entire generation that is the men of War had perished from the camp as
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Yahweh had sworn to them for indeed the hand of Yahweh was against them to destroy them from the camp until they had perished so as soon as all the men of War had perished and were dead from
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among the people Yahweh said to me today you are to CR cross the border of Moab at R and when you approach the territory of the people of Amon do not harass or
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contend with them for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession because I have given it to the sons of lot for a possession rise up set out on your
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journey and go over the valley of the Arnon behold I have given into your hands seion the Amorite king of heshbon and his land begin to take possession
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and contend with him in battle this day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole Heaven who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in
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anguish because of you so I sent Messengers from the Wilderness of kimot to seon the king of esbon with words of Peace saying let me pass through your land I will go by only the road I will
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turn aside neither to the right nor to the left you shall sell me food for money that I shall eat and give me water for money that I may drink only let me
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pass through on foot as the sons of asau who lived in seir and the moabites who lived in AR did for me until I go over the Jordan into the land that Yahweh our
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God is giving to us but seon the king of heshbon would not let us pass by him for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate that he might
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give him into your hand as he is this day and Yahweh said to me behold I have begun to give seon and his land over to you begin to take possession that you
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may occupy his land seon came out against us he and all his people to battle at yhaz and Yahweh Our God gave him over to us and we defeated him and
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his sons and all his people I'll pause there we looked uh last week at the fact that the people peoples that they around whom they were
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traveling would be fearful of them and that their conduct among those peoples would be the testimony of yahweh's faithfulness so in the in the bit about Esau he brings out that I've prospered
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you in the wilderness you have the means buy food buy water don't take anything and don't mess with the border of his land testify this is not my land but
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Yahweh has given me a land testify this is not my food or water but Yahweh has provided us food and water in the wilderness and we are able to buy because of the means that we have even
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the 40 years in the wilderness they had prospered in their trade and that was God's doing and that we're reminded by the picture of these things how it is that we are to act toward Outsiders and
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I admit as a matter of personal privilege that this falls upon me hard in these days to live without fear to live with contentment and to say with
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confidence that our God Yahweh is Our Shepherd and we will not lack but as Moses goes on we see him outlining and interpreting the facts of
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history in his discourse so that we may see very clearly how Yahweh revealed himself in the facts of the history of the past as our God as God over all the
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nations but as our God specially so you can see a pattern then uh in the text which I'll diagram here um so looking at uh uh verse 1 uh through 8 roughly um so
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he says first uh you are about to about to pass right the Border or what have you
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um as we kind of discussed last week there's a little bit of ambiguity in the text there but uh roughly speaking pass along the border of the people of
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asau okay and then he lays a command on them uh do not contend with
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them okay for I have given Seer a possession to
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them okay there's also this little um this little bit in here that I want you to notice that is not in the following two sections where they are commanded as to their conduct to buy food and
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water and this is going to come back in the text if you haven't heard it already and then there's a brief interpretation that Moses gives to them in in order ing
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them to go around he says Yahweh has blessed you he knows you're going in the wilderness these 40 years he has been with you you have lacked nothing as the
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interpretation of these things um so is um verse seven so I'll just put to verse seven right there okay so this is our
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pattern then he tells them you are you we journeyed then uh in the direction
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Moab okay and then notice again he says oops got to remember my colors here red for red for battle do not harass
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or contend with them for I have
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given are a are a possession to the sons of lot which he'll repeat in a minute and then tells them to move
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forward go over the brook zared and in case I haven't been clear enough that's that's this right here the
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sons of Esau in the mountain range and then this being the border and there to go over into kind of on the side of Moab
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okay and then there's another interpretation uh in the text given and this one's very interesting um this is uh verses 14 and
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okay from cadesh to zared 38 years until the entire generation perished the men of War as Yahweh swore for indeed the hand of Yahweh against them to destroy them until they had perished okay
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that's something poetic in there anyway but uh I I love those points um but again there's the interpretation so
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progressively revealing what yahweh's purposes are here and then
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of and go in among the sons of Ammon okay again same phrase do not do not harass or
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harass or contend okay for I have given again are
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possession and if you're not real familiar with the heritage of these two people just in brief they are both sons of lot who was Abraham's nephew who separated him separated from him because
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of a dispute over their possessions settled among the sodomites okay and was then driven out of there by by God as a Act of Mercy into the hills and uh these
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two sons were born to him one from each daughter of his uh because he refused to go down into civilization ever again and they were quite concerned about uh the
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be not having a man for them like the way of all the earth I believe is roughly the phrase um so a great Act of Wicked nness on on their part produced these two peoples but they are related
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so hence why it says the same thing there to the sons of lot those are the sons of sons of lot and then he tells them again to go
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forward go over I think it's go over yeah the valley of are known okay and that's here there's a Gorge here through which a river runs and they were to they were to
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go over and I'm some somewhat assuming that they were on the tail end and not that they went right through the middle that stands to reason um being a people of a couple million um and then and then
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finally the the interpretation here provides the change okay and the interpretation is behold then so go over the valley of the Arn behold I have
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given into your hand evidenced by all these things I have given into your hands seone and his land begin to take possession and
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contend with him in battle so they they have his land now belongs to you
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him obviously exactly the opposite of of what he instructed them with regard to these people because you have passed by and God's faithfulness is is determined in in the in your uh Behavior
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toward these people and in and in the certainty of their place this is also a certainty you will will prevail over these amorites again just in brief these
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Amorite peoples had actually pushed apparently had pushed Moab over on the other side of the Arnon Gorge these were a people that were making inroads in
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here and I find that interesting this is called in your text The Plains of Moab but it was not possessed at that time by Moab nor thereafter they had clearly been pushed out okay and these Amorite
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people were of the same people that that God told Abraham their sin has not yet reached its completion but in the fourth generation you will come up and I will
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give you their land um Yahweh if Yahweh gave these people in their lands and prospered them as they dispossessed other nations greater than themselves
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which is the subject of the bits that I excised for this time okay how will he not set his people firmly in their land against these Mighty peoples that their fathers feared because the they didn't
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fear these they feared these peoples how will he not set them in that land um I have as a reference we just understanding the import of these things
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especially the difference between the moabites and the ammonites and and the and the amorites that they were then to contend with uh Genesis 28 1-4
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then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him you must not take a wife from the kite women arise go to panaram to the house of beel your
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mother's father and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of leban your mother's brother God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply
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you that you may become a company of peoples may he give The Blessing of Abraham to you and to your seed with you that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to
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Abraham in this way Isaac sent Jacob away in other words Isaac pointing 400 years before to the certainty of God's
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promise and also to the key difference he understood that marriage to these people was was not an option their their judgment was coming uh and Israel would
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be the means of that judgment so God shows us in this pattern in moses' discourse the his purposes in the past uh but also going forward in
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the text as we continue we see God's purposes in their present um so looking at see looking from uh verse 20 uh from uh
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we stopped at I'll go back to verse 26 so I sent Messengers from the Wilderness of ketok to seon the king of esbon oh I wanted to know note he had also given them the exact terms and we're going to
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we're going to look at that um so listen for that with words of Peace saying let me pass through your land I will go only by the road I will turn aside neither to
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the right hand nor the left you shall sell me food for money that I may eat and give me water for money that I may drink only let me pass through on foot
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as the sons of asau who live in seir and the moabites who live in AR did for me until I go over the Jordan into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us but seon the king of
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esbon excuse me would not let us pass by for Yahweh had hardened his heart and his spirit and made them obstinate that he might give him into our hand as he is
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to this day and Yahweh said to me behold I have begun to give seon and his land over to you begin to take possession that you may occupy his land then cion
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came out against us he and all his people to battle at yhaz and Yahweh Our God gave him over to us and we defeated him and his sons and all his people and we captured all his cities at that time
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and devoted to destruction every city men women and children we left no survivors only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves and the plunder of
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the cities that we captured from arare which is on the edge of the Valley of the arnone and from the city that is in in the valley as far as Gilead there was
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not a city too high for us Yahweh Our God gave all into our hands only to the land of the sons of Amon you did not we
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did excuse me you did not draw near that is to all the banks of the river yabok and the cities of that Hill Country whatever Yahweh Our God had forbidden us
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then we turned and went up the way to bosan and O the king of bosan came came out against us he and all his people to battle at edre but Yahweh said to me do
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not fear Him for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand and you shall do to him as you did to seon the king of the amorites who lived in eshon so Yahweh Our God gave
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into our hand o also the king of bosan and all his people and we struck him down until he had no Survivor left and we took all his cities at that time
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there was not a city we did not take from them 60 cities the whole region of argob the kingdom of OG and bosan all these were cities fortified
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high with walls Gates and bars besides very many unwalled villages and we devoted them to destruction as we did to seon the king of hbon devoting to
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destruction every city men women and children but all the livestock and spoil of the Cities we took as our plunder so so he took the land at that time out of
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the two kings of the amorites who were beyond the Jordan from The Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon all the cities of the table land and all Gilead and Bashan
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as far as celaka and edre cities of the kingdom of o in
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bosam the other peoples had feared Israel and they had left him alone but this was different Yahweh saw to it that the amorites had a hardened
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Spirit inviting even compelling Israel to destroy them excuse me note that Moses even asks for the same terms that he gave to
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Edom okay to pass through the on the King's Highway and buy there food and water for money but cion refused Israel expresses and and Moses's witness of this
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expressed no intention to take seon's Kingdom from him they wanted to and even saying pass through on foot is important right we're not mounted troops riding through your land we are making very
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clear we are on foot we're moving through all we want to do is go through here to the Jordan and cross over to the land that Yahweh our God is giving us
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but it was not yahweh's will that they should only have what he had promised to Abraham but rather that he should expand on that promise and they should have land that at that time now was in the hand of amorites and
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not only that but in the hands of a man uh who presented a unique fear to the people of Israel which we'll get into as
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we go so they express no intention of taking seon's Kingdom from him but it is seon that came out for war against them um I sort of have to say this based on
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our cultural assumptions it's often been alleged that the slaughter of whole towns was mere Massacre and genocide and this is one of those things that is put
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up to us and said look at what's in your Bible God ordered the genocide of an entire people I think there's two two angles to this that we have to we have to take one
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is that we can't shrink back from submitting to the justice of God in all things okay um that's the first that's the Bedrock God knew what he was doing
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and as I said he had told Abraham these are peoples whose sin is not yet complete but at this time their sin was manifestly complete but the text also makes it clear that the canites were
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determined to fight Israel rather than make peace they were offered terms of Peace okay and yet rather than make any sort of peace they were willing to fight down to the last man even when their
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armies were totally defeated in the field they resisted in their towns Jos Joshua is going to make this even more clear that's was something that jumped out to me when I was doing our regular
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reading in the assembly was that these people's when their armies were defeated in the field resisted within their cities they didn't not there's no indication that they sued for peace um I
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find that notable uh this is more than just a a one-way Army mowing through this is not a you know Viking pillage uh there's two sides to this even in the
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present so even taking out God's good intentions expressed deep in the past and fulfilled in this in this their present there's a two-way street even in their present these people were
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determined to resist them and I would also ask how great must have been the sin of the amorites in its completion that our God who is loving toward all he has made must wipe them out even down to
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the children I don't think we often consider the greatness of our sin and contrast what he said about the inites the and the ammonites don't even touch them
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don't harass them don't contend with them don't take anything from them without money right so the cont the contrast is right there um he he wasn't ordering his people just to mow down
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everybody in the territory kill everybody right and I think you're right it brings the light and focus on the amorites and kind of wicked people they
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must have been who would get in the way of God right so the again to repeat for the audio just that the these peoples were no less Pagan than these well no
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actually I would make the argument they were less Pagan than these but they were still pagans they were not God's people and yet God was very clear don't don't
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touch their touch their land this guy's land is yours that shows a judgment that is not evinced by the ACC accusation of mere genocide and
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pillage is that am I restating your point well okay yeah um so finally we we've seen Moses call attention to God's purposes in the past as evidence to
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Israel that God will set them in their land his purposes in the present where seon has a hardened Spirit o comes out with an army they are not interested in peace and finally uh God's purposes in
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the future so continuing uh from from verse 12 then we took possession of his of this land at that time and I gave to the
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reubenites and the gadites the territory beginning at arare which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon and half the Hill Country of Gilead with its cities the rest of Gilead and all boson the
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kingdom of OG which by the way labeled for you up here okay so South is and
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north um the rest of Gilead and all Bashan the kingdom of OG that is all the region of argob I gave to the half tribe of manace to makir I gave Gilead and to
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the reubenites and the gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of the arnone with the middle of the valley as a border as far over as the river yabok
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the border of the ammonites the arabah also with the Jordan as border from kinet as far as the sea of the arabah the Sal Sea Under the slopes of Pisgah
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in the East and I commanded you at that time saying Yahweh your God has given you this land to possess all your men of valor shall cross over armed before your
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brothers the people of Israel only your wives your little ones and your livestock I know that you have much livestock shall remain in the cities that I have given you until Yahweh gives
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rest to your brothers as to you and they also occupy the land that yah your God gives them beyond the Jordan then each of you may return to his possession
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which I have given you and I commanded Joshua at that time your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings so will Yahweh do to
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all the kingdoms into which you are crossing you shall not fear them for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you bringing to completion much of what
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was argued with the old generation in chapter 1 now bringing to completion you have seen the faithfulness of God now don't be afraid of them for Yahweh
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fights for you and you've got the evidence in your recent past now he also is calling attention and and this is the import we'll get into this a little more as when I when I discuss the
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portions that I excised for now but Moses is also calling attention here to the Future purposes of God God the major one being the essential Unity of the 12 tribes of Israel the 2 and a
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half tribes are to possess a land on the east side of the Jordan as their Perpetual inheritance the two and a half tribes then are to assist their brothers in
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taking possession of their Perpetual inheritance because they are one people it is improper for them to inherit while the rest of Israel has not inherited
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they are one people and I don't think it's too hard to see that this is a picture for us of our essential Unity as the people of
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God um wanted to read a somewhat lengthy quotation from second Corinthians um if you care to follow
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along because I think this illustrates the same matters that we've been seeing this is 2 Corinthians 8 and this I hope will will get us
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thinking a lot about our life as a church together as a people of God who one of our essential definitions in gathering
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together is our Union with Christ and our Unity as his people Paul says this in the middle of his second letter here we want you to know Brothers about the grace of God that has been given among
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the churches of Macedonia um and I'll pause and say in case you don't know the the geography Corinth was was in the center of the two sections of Greece on the ismos of Corinth and then Macedonia
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is north of Greece so when he talks about the church in Macedonia he is certainly not talking about a people that was well known to them naturally okay but I want you to know Brothers
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about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia for in a severe test of Affliction their Abundance of Joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in
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a wealth of generosity on their part for they gave according to their means as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord begging us earnestly
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for the favor of taking part in the relief of the Saints and this not as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God
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to us accordingly we urged Titus that as he had started so he should complete among you this act of Grace but as you excel in everything in faith in speech
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in knowledge in all earnestness and in our love for you see that you excel in this act of Grace also I say this not as a command but to
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prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty
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might become rich and in this matter I give my judgment this benefits you who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it so now
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finish doing it as well so that your Readiness in Desiring it might be matched by your completing it out of what you have for if the Readiness is
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there it is acceptable according to what a person has not according to what he does not have for I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened
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but that as as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should Supply their need so that their abundance May Supply your need that there may be fairness as it is written
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whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little Had No Lack I think this is encouraging us as we will see Israel is being urged by
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Moses to do for their own life at that time to take a permanent Long View of our lives together as God's people
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recognizing that needs and circumstances will change over time but being but expecting to be called into service for one another I don't know if it's my time
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of life or or what or maybe it's just we've been here seven years I think maybe this is the eighth and thinking okay this is this is
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for life what does that look like how how do I do more than just do what I've seen in so many among so many other Brethren
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other Brethren be sort of burdened by an immediate need to do something an immediate need to
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matter and and think about might there be a time where I don't matter all that much except as a subject for need
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and maybe at a later time I matter a lot in providing those needs I think if yall situation I mean to to be called up to use the the skill
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that you have to address a pressing need that is not going to get addressed another way another way um that's something more and and also I
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think is the kind of meeting of needs that has spiritual significance that okay guys let's think of a need and and and out there and go meet it just
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doesn't have we are first of all called to love one another and even Paul in in saying uh let's uh we should um what
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does he say um to that we should do good to all men most uh but and first of all to the household of faith and I know I'm butchering that as a as a paraphrase um
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but these are the things that I was thinking about when contemplating what their situation was is they're going to be they're they're a people moving together in the desert in the wilderness
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okay together in battle but even in inheriting something now there's a split politically and they're going to be spread out even more over this
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land that essential Unity was going to take thought and work uh for them for them to exercise it it wasn't a whole lot of work while they were gathered together in the Wilderness it's a lot of
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work when you're spread out and you have your own things to do um so one that we're to take a permanent Long View of our lives together as God's people okay
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secondly to be ready is is Paul's message in in the passage I read uh no matter what our current means are and not to worry about what we do not have but rather consider what we may
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contribute and thirdly just a question could it be that if we prove as a church to be stable internally that we may find that there are opportunities to assist other
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congregations I don't yet know what that looks like and and this is purely my own personal judgment I I find our culture to have encroached upon that Long View
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so much that congregations largely are fighting for internal stability and maturity so much that I I don't know that I've seen it yet um I think we have
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an opportunity here with what I think is a high level of maturity and a high level of stability to confirm that and to to think in
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coming Decades coming Decades of um of assistance uh to other Brethren I that's what Paul is working in his own
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time and I I don't know that we're we've yet seen that in in our lifetimes uh but could we is something i' I'd like to think about long term and how might that
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be that we would render assistance what would that look like another passage in Galatians I'll just briefly quote um one who has taught the word must share all
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good things with the one who teaches do not be deceived God is Not mocked for whatever one SWS that will he also reap for the one who SWS to his own flesh
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will reap from the flesh corruption but the one who SWS to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life but let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up
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so then as we have opportunity there it is let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith so again just some questions to throw out here more of a
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Litany of them have we thought about the value of what we receive in the teaching and the preaching of the word here and then also thought about the value of what we share accordingly with our
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teachers are we at a place as a congregation where uh where a weariness may be setting in and I Was preparing these things we were experiencing a tremendous amount of of illness uh in
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the congregation um is anyone fearful uh Is this different from a Seasonal effective disorder you know can we be tempted by a culture that puts lots of stock in the undulation of
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feelings I know that I feel as if I am um another thing I thought of we have a lot of toddlers you know how many of us have felt raw and worn out by those
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things and I know that I have experienc a tremendous amount of being upheld uh by you and I've had much opportunity to give thanks to God for what we have here
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but this is a this is a lifelong Pursuit as we because we I I had a lot of toddlers now I have one and so I have a lot a lot of teens and then I'll have
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none it's going to change there are very few people in evangelicalism who consider uh
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commitment to a church to be the same as commitment to commitment to Christ that that is an incredible hurdle because of our native
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consumerism right most people would hear what you're saying and not not equate commitment to a local a local congregation as being the same as commitment to God's people because they
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rightly view God's people are of other denominations and other congregation certainly and so they will take a much broader view and say you know my commitment is to Christ and his people
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but not necessarily here so that that's been a major that that is just a major hurdle right in modern Evangelical and what that essentially ends up meaning is
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that oddly enough in in being committed to God's people in a big way what you're really only committed to is you and yours it actually shrinks that commitment I think to be basically I
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have a duty to my own family and nothing else which is an analogy that's a little bit extreme but it's like saying that I'm I'm committed to marriage so I only have one wife at a
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time other otherwise stated I'm committed to the church so I only go to One Church at a time is that well I mean there's there's a parallel there some and I and and I don't think you're saying neither would I say that the parallel is is complete but but the
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picture that Moses shows us is of is of a people who their tribal identity will matter very much and they will need to maintain that and I think there's an
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analogy there to be drawn and that maintaining that tribal identity will not be over against maintaining their essential Unity as the people of God um
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they are not to to go freely about as they please in all things U there will be constraints laid upon them that's one of the things that this bit about how he
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how he laid out the land and to give you a little bit of a preview of things to come the comment that I believe is a parenthesis in parenthesis in there is is actually a nearly a
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quotation from judges and it deals with what I am seeing as more I study as being a persistent problem among Israel is that certain tribes tended to lose their identity and then I think You' if
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you had any time in judges you'd also know that certain tribes had a tendency to harden that identity Way Beyond what was proper in Israel think of um aaim getting upset
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that you didn't call us out for battle uh and and being ready to start a war over that and even having such differences in the way that they were toward their countrymen that you could tell the difference in their speech how
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they pronounced Hebrew was so hardened in them that they couldn't pronounce the words the other way to literally save their lives uh that there
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were problems of both kinds in in Israel but the picture we have painted is of a people who are essentially one people um and yeah I I want us to all
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because I and I this is weird almost feels like I'm I'm sitting here saying hey guys need you need to do something you need to think about something you you you you need to do this and and that
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that's the real meaning of we you know that that all I want to do is plop it down and and y'all need to hold up your
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but maybe I just I maybe I just tend to feel uh overly second guy and guilty um by saying these things but I really do see that this is this is where scripture would lead us that we together are we
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together there's no there's no real going back on that that will yield any kind of fruit uh in the spirit so it is imperative that we think
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about our about our long-term life together and consider carefully how how we may meet one
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another's needs how we may share with one another how we may uph hold one another and be you know like members joined together in a house right all working together uh in in holding up the
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structure um I know my my wife often thinks when hearing a need if she is overwhelmed with things in the house that to not jump in immediately may not
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be doing enough and one of the things that I've I've told her is yeah maybe not now okay but later and I think of the grandparents Among Us
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who I mean busy with your own children at one time but but now lending a much-needed hand not only with your own grandchildren but with other people's
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and I mean gosh I've benefited dozens of times if nothing else from looking right at Martha um from your advice uh in what
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do you do um these are we we need one another um I think that's important to to emphasize in a culture that prizes
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that rugged individualism no matter what they say they prize that rugged individualism uh and you are expected to tote your own satchel and if you don't you have
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you have failed um I think that is not us um and I I'll I'll leave it there uh for now um any other comments
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or questions to comment sure um oddly enough Jenny and I were just discussing this Friday afternoon she was remarking
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on uh and the elders probably could could lend more grievance to it than I can but our childhood and our history here the at times remarkable dysfunction of
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individuals and their individual actions disrupting the harmony of the body over and over again and the difference to where we are
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now um and it just occurs to me how much more I many need to go back to what you just read out of the scripture what what is seed will be reaped and that the
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sewing of the elders continually for biblical pattern of how you walk before the Lord is bearing
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stability and ability to dig into these things and to live this way and to begin to model that whereas in earlier years they were
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reaping the disunity that was some of those who went before them yes yeah to go back to to what Paul says then what whatever one SWS that
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will he also reap and that we will reap if we do not grow weary of doing good and we will reap in due season which we know is in the hands of
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God any other anything else let's else let's pray father we turn back to as it were
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to face you these things and ask that you would grant us wisdom and courage and resources and ability that you would grant us ultimately the
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willingness to love one another as you have loved us with abandon to give not according to what we do not have and feel pressured and
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guilty but rather to give according to what we have and to know that in doing good we will certainly reap good from you and we can know that because you
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have given our brothers in the past that same goodness and that same steadfast love and that you have given us abundantly before we ever asked that
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same goodness and that same steadfast love and that you will continue we thank you for what the scripture shows us I pray that the whole congregation would be strengthened together by it