#r12=d28

Before

When you name a series a twitter tag it can help people remember it a little better. It
can also fall into the trap of a lot of American Christianity material of being superficial
and only taking out of the Word of God the parts you like and what you want to hear.
We are about to study Deuteronomy 28, but before you do, I feel like the Holy Spirit
wanted to remind me that you need to understand what you are studying. See when I
did the #r12=d28 title, my goal was to show you that if you follow the teachings laid out
by Paul in Romans 12 that you could walk in the blessings laid out in the first part of
Deuteronomy 28. This is true, but if I just did that in my devotional, I would be giving
you an incomplete teaching, because there is a second half to Deuteronomy 28. We
need to make sure before we go any further that we understand what we are studying
and that we understand how seriously God takes covenant!
We need to remember when we read scripture that the chapters and verses were added
later to make it easier to find and reference. The first verse of chapter 29 says,
regarding the words in 28, these are the words of the covenant which the Lord
commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the
covenant which He had with them at Horeb. So keep in mind what you are reading is a
reminder of the Covenant relationship God has with his people. It is a renewed
emphasis on Covenant with the sons of Israel. And keep in mind that any good Father
will discipline His sons out of love when they are out of line.
God goes on in Deuteronomy 29 to describe a time of curses that will come that will
come to pass when the Israelites are taken into Babylonian captivity and even into
modern times when they have been spread throughout the Earth in what is known as
Diaspora. I want to specifically point your attention to Deuteronomy 29:21 where the
Lord is talking about the people who will boast about the peace they have in their
stubborn hearts while they serve other idols and destroy the land around them. Here is
what God says. Then the Lord will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of
Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of
law. Did you catch that? First I do not want to be singled out by God for adversity, but
did you catch where the curses came from? They are the curses of the covenant as
written in this book of law! God takes covenant seriously. Before you choose to walk in
Covenant relationship with God, you need to understand that God wants to be your God
period! That He is serious about you walking with Him, obeying Him, and staying true to
Him. If you are going to be His, then He expects you to be His! And great blessings

come from walking with God, but I also want to give a balanced teaching that great
cursing can come from walking away from God.
In Deuteronomy 30:15 God begins to lay it all on the line. See, I have set before you
today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love
the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes
and His judgements, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may
bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. BUT if your heart turns away
and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I
declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the
land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I will call heaven and
earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing
and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by
loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him for this is
your life and the length of your days that you may live in the land which the Lord swore
to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and the Jacob to give them.

And before you dismiss that as Old Testament teaching, let me remind you of the lyrics
to the childrens church song, Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father
Abraham, I am one of them and so are you, so lets just praise the Lord!
If you are going to walk in Covenant relationship with God and claim all the blessings,
you must understand the responsibilities and be accountable for your part of the
covenant so that you do not walk in the curses. The rest of the series, I am going to
focus on the first part of Deuteronomy 28 and the blessings of God, but I wanted to be
accountable to you and God by pointing out, there is another half of Deuteronomy 28
and it is not so pleasant.
God has set BEFORE you this day..
In Christ Love,

Humbly His by Grace with a Healthy Fear of God,

Coach Jackson