Avoiding Pitfalls & Choosing Blessing | Sunday, February 20, 2022

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I would be hopeless without Your goodness. I would be desperate without Your love, a slave to the darkness if it wasn't for the cross. You haven't won me with Your kindness; You chased me down. Where would I be if it wasn't for the cross? I thank You, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. With Your blood...

112 million people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl. I was one of the 112 million people, and maybe you were one of them as well. I found it interesting that just before the singing of the national anthem, they had a singer by the name of Jenae Aiko. I'm pretty sure I said that name right, but I hope I did. She got up and sang "America the Beautiful," and she did a great job with the song.

When she began singing, I wondered if she would sing the whole song. Of course, she didn't sing the entire song; she really only sang one stanza. I think there are three or four stanzas to the song, but she only sang one of them, repeating that stanza twice. I wondered if she would sing the part that mentions God because in "America the Beautiful," there is a line that says, "God shed His grace on thee." That is a prayer in the song, and it's not the only prayer in it. The whole song, which was written in the 19th century, is actually a prayer.

Part of the song says, "America, America, God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea." In another section, it says, "America, America, God mend thy every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law."

What's interesting is that "America the Beautiful" was actually a candidate to become the national anthem at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the final runner-up, if you will, to "The Star-Spangled Banner." I'm sure you would probably agree that those prayers in that song are good prayers—prayers that we would do well to pray today.

In 2022, we as a nation need God's grace. We would certainly be blessed if He would mend our every flaw. Our nation, like any nation, is filled with flawed people, and so we are a flawed nation. We're a great nation; I think the United States of America is a wonderful place, and I'm very glad to have it as my home. However, we have our flaws, and we would be absolutely blessed if God would mend our every flaw.

Would unite us together in brotherhood and bless us with self-control. We certainly need self-control, and that we would see true liberty for all people. That would be a wonderful thing to be able to see. So those are all good things that we need, every single one of us.

I want to encourage you today that all of those blessings are available to each of us, individually, but also to us as a nation. In fact, if we all united together in prayer today for our nation, and we prayed for the United States of America, saying, "God, would you shed your grace on us?" If we said, "Lord, would you unite us together as one in brotherhood? Would you mend our many flaws? Would you give us self-control and liberty?"

If we sang "God Bless America," we would be invoking another patriotic spiritual song in our nation. If we were to pray those prayers—"God bless America, give us your grace, give us unity, give us self-control"—I wonder if God would not respond to us as we pray for these things as a nation here in the United States.

I wonder if God would not say back to us, "Why don't you go and read Deuteronomy chapter 11, starting at verse 26?" There we read these words from Moses. God is speaking through Moses, and Moses is addressing the people as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. He says to the children of Israel, "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today to go after other gods which you have not known."

Each of us, individually, and all of us as a people, as a nation, if there is such a thing as the blessing of God, I would say that we all want that. We would want God's blessing. If there is such a thing as the blessing of God, if you say right now, "Well, I'm not really sure I want God's blessing," I don't think that’s true. I believe that we all would want God's blessing if it is something that is available to us. I believe that if we said, "God, I want you to bless me," God would respond.

Back to us. Here is the way that you can receive my blessing. You see, I believe that God desires to bless us. I believe that God wants you and me to experience His blessing in our lives. I do not believe that God takes pleasure in judgment. In fact, the Scriptures say that He does not take pleasure in the death even of the wicked. So, God does not take pleasure in judgment; He desires us to experience His blessing.

These things being true, God says, "Here is how you find my blessing. This is the way that you can have God's blessing in your life." God delights to bless His people, and therefore He tells us how to inherit that blessing. It all comes down to our choosing. He says, "This is the way that you can have my blessing in your life. If you do these things, then you're going to experience my blessing." Now, it's up to you. You get to choose whether or not you're going to take part in that, whether or not you're going to lay hold of that blessing.

Look at what Moses says at the end of this book, Deuteronomy. Someday we're going to get to this chapter. Right now, we're in Deuteronomy chapter 11. It's taken us a while to get to this point, and in Deuteronomy 30, which is a long way away, we're only a third of the way there. Someday we'll get there, but notice what Moses says as he's wrapping up his message in Deuteronomy 30, verse 11: "For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us to bring it to us that we may hear it and do it?' Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it."

Moses continues in verse 15: "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. In that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witness today."

Against you, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. This isn't a mysterious thing. God's blessing isn't so far off or too high that you can't get it. It is not beyond our grasp that we can't attain it, but blessing is only ultimately found in one place: it is only ultimately found in and from God.

In our fallen and sinful state, we don't like to hear that. Why don't we like to hear that? Because it requires something of us. We considered this briefly last week—the requirement that God has given to us. He says, "Listen, I'm setting before you life and death, blessing and cursing. You get to choose today whether you receive life and blessing or death and cursing. It's totally up to you." God desires that you would experience that blessing. He wants you to lay hold of His blessing. It's not too far off that you can't grasp it or can't get it, but it requires something of us.

So we read this last week. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12. Here is God's requirement for you and for me so that we can lay hold of this blessing that God desires for us. Deuteronomy 10:12 states, "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?"

You may not like this truth that we find in this passage, but whether you like it or not, this is the truth: the blessings of God are oftentimes conditional. The blessings of God require something of you, and they require something of me. In reality, this is one of the most basic themes of the whole book of Deuteronomy, which we've been slowly going through for a couple of years here at Cross Connection Church, with a lot of detours along the way.

As we go through this book, Deuteronomy, which is the last major message of Moses just before the children of Israel go into the Promised Land and just before Moses is no longer their leader, he gives them one final message, one final sermon.

One of the core themes of this book is the concept that the blessings of God are conditional. The children of Israel were about to inherit the blessing of the Promised Land and all that would go along with that blessing. However, the promised inheritance that God was giving to them came with conditions. Moses, in this message, this sermon, and this whole book, is outlining what those conditions are.

The largest section of this book, from Deuteronomy chapter 5 until Deuteronomy chapter 26, contains all the stipulations of God's covenant with Israel. God is saying, "Here's what I'm requiring of you, and here is what I'm going to do if you fulfill those requirements. Here's what I'm going to do if you don't fulfill those requirements." We have all the stipulations of God's covenant relationship with His people, the children of Israel. Moses is driving these points home just before the children of Israel enter the Promised Land.

The most basic, fundamental theme of this book is that God's blessings have conditions attached. If you fulfill those conditions, then you will receive those blessings. But if you do not fulfill those conditions, then you will not receive those blessings. Israel is engaged in this covenant relationship with God; He is going to be their God, and they are going to be His people. There are blessings inherent in that relationship, but only as long as that relationship is maintained and the stipulations of the covenant relationship are met.

God delights in blessing His people, but His people are only His people as long as their God is God. They must ensure that they follow God and walk in His ways. But what does that look like practically? What does it mean to be the people of God? What does it mean to have God as your God? How does that play out? It means exactly what we just read in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12.

In Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12, Moses says, "Here's the requirement of what it looks like to be the people of God and have God as your God." The first thing he says is that you need to fear the Lord your God. When we read that passage, we see that one of the requirements is to fear the Lord God. It is not that God wants you to be afraid.

You are to have the right and proper reverence, respect, and honor for God. You honor, esteem, and worship Him and Him alone. That's what the first few commandments in the Ten Commandments have to say: "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself any graven image."

To fear the Lord means that you honor, esteem, worship, respect, and revere only Him. The Scriptures tell us in places like the Book of Proverbs, the great wisdom of Solomon, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When you honor, worship, esteem, respect, and revere God and God alone, that is where you begin to experience wisdom coming into your life.

This honor and fear of the Lord not only lead to wisdom, but as you read through the Scriptures, you find that the fear of the Lord is connected to departing from evil. The person who fears the Lord will depart from evil. If you want to receive God's blessing, which is what God desires for you and for me, what does the Lord require of you? To fear the Lord.

Second, He says to walk in all His ways. What does it mean to walk in the way of the Lord? If you study the whole of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, you can even do this on your own by visiting blueletterbible.com or blb.org and conducting a word study on the way of the Lord. You will find that the way of the Lord is truth.

To walk in the way of the Lord, you need to walk in truth. I believe this is something that God not only desires for you and for me, but He enables us to do so by His Holy Spirit. God is working in me to will and to do His good pleasure. I still need to work it out with my own energy; I need to put my own efforts into this.

To walk in the way of the Lord is a requirement of God. If you are going to experience His blessing, you need to walk in truth because the way of the Lord is the way of truth. You walk in truth; you don't tell lies. You walk in what is right and true. The way of the Lord is not only the way of truth, but it is also the way of righteousness. Walk in a way that is morally right.

A way that is ethically right, a way that is walked out in honesty. The way of the Lord is not only true; it's not only right. The way of the Lord is also pure. If I am going to walk in the way of the Lord, I need to walk in truth. I need to seek, by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, to walk in righteousness. I need to walk in purity. The way of the Lord is kind; I need to walk in kindness. The way of the Lord is love; I need to walk in love.

As I am walking in righteousness, purity, truth, and kindness, I am walking in the way of the Lord, and hopefully, I am walking in love. This is exactly what Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord require of you so that you would experience God's blessing in your life?" He requires that you fear the Lord your God, that you walk in all His ways, and that you love Him.

What exactly does it look like to love Him? Well, He goes on in that passage in verse 12 to say to serve the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul, and to keep His commandments, the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes which I command you today for your good.

God's requirement for me to be a recipient of His blessing in my life, which is exactly what I desire, is probably what you would desire as well: to have God's blessing be abundant in your life. I need to walk in the fear of the Lord, walk in all His ways, love Him, serve Him, and keep His commandments.

Jesus said in the New Testament, in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 15, "If you love me, keep my commandments." He goes on in verse 21 and says, "He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

If you want to experience God's blessing in your life—and I am assuming that is something you would like to have—then you need to walk in the fear of the Lord, walk in the way of the Lord, walk in love with the Lord, serving Him, and keeping His commandments. As you are keeping His commandments and walking in these things, Jesus said in John chapter 15, verse 21, "I will manifest myself to you."

As we consider the teaching of this book, the fifth book of the Bible, the Book of Deuteronomy, we learn that God's blessings flow to those who fear the Lord, walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him, and keep His commandments.

Commandments. Let me say that again because I think it's really important. God's blessings flow to those that fear the Lord, walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him, and keep His commandments. These things are a requirement if you want to enjoy the blessing of the Lord, but it is your choice. Just as we read a few minutes ago from Deuteronomy chapter 30, He says, "Choose today: blessing or curse, life or death." It's your choice.

Now, before we go any further, I want to make very clear, I want to reiterate today that these requirements we see in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12, are not a precondition for redemption. Rather, they are a response to redemption. This is really important because any time that we Christians, and a lot of times people say that we are New Testament believers, we must remember that the Bible is split into two sections. The first two-thirds of the Bible, Genesis through Malachi, is called the Old Testament. The last third of the Bible, from Matthew to Revelation, is called the New Testament.

So, Christians often say, "Well, I'm a New Testament Christian," but we can't neglect the Old Testament, the first two-thirds of the Bible. Anytime we go back to the Old Testament, back to the Old Covenant, one of the dangers for Christians is that we can slide into thinking that we have to keep God's commandments to receive His redemption; that my salvation is based upon my good works. The Bible is very clear that this is not true. That's not true in the New Testament, and it's not true in the Old Testament.

The New Testament makes it very clear that we are saved by grace through faith, that not of ourselves, not of works, lest anyone should boast. We are saved by God's grace. The New Covenant makes it very clear that my redemption, my salvation, is not dependent upon my good works or my keeping of the law. I could not keep the law. The law of God shows me how much I need God's grace and His mercy.

So, the New Testament makes it very clear that we are saved by grace because of God's love and His mercy. But that is also true in the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament. You see Israel, the children of Israel, who are being spoken to in this passage in Deuteronomy chapter 11. They were...

Redeemed and rescued by God from Egypt, according to His grace, love, and mercy, the Israelites were freed from their bondage and slavery to Pharaoh. This act was a demonstration of God's love, grace, and mercy. If you don't think that’s true, just go back and read through Deuteronomy chapter 7. There, God explains why He chose and rescued them: "Because I love you." This truth is evident in both the New Testament and the Old Testament. Israel was redeemed and rescued from Egypt because of God's love, grace, and mercy.

Having been the recipients of God's love, grace, and mercy, and after being redeemed from Egypt, God, through Moses, states in Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 1: "Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always." Notice the word "therefore" at the beginning of this verse. It signifies that because they have been redeemed and saved, they are called to love the Lord their God and adhere to His commandments.

Why should you love the Lord your God and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always? Look at Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 7: "Your eyes have seen every great act of the Lord which He did." The great acts of the Lord in redeeming them from Egypt are numerous. God sent Moses to Egypt, as detailed in the first 15 chapters of Exodus, to tell Pharaoh to let His people go. God performed wonderful acts to liberate them, including the ten plagues. He brought them across the Red Sea on dry ground and provided for them miraculously in the wilderness with food that appeared daily and water that came from rocks. He also protected them against their enemies in the wilderness.

After witnessing all of God's redeeming power and great acts—how He saved them from Egypt, sustained them in the wilderness, and protected them—one can see the parallel to what God has done for you if you are a Christian today. He has saved you from your metaphorical Egypt, freeing you from sin and your bondage to it.

He's probably provided for you in many miraculous ways. He certainly has provided for me in miraculous ways. He's protected you. After God has done all of these wonderful things, Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 8, "Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey."

Moses's teaching in this passage is very clear: possession of the promises and blessings of God is the result of walking in His ways. Now, we're not redeemed because we keep His commandments; we're not saved because we are so perfect in following God's law. But having been redeemed, the children of Israel at this point have already been redeemed out of Egypt. They are getting ready to go into the promised land, and God wants them to take possession of this promised land of blessing.

Possession of the promises and blessings of God is the result of walking in His way. It is entirely possible to be redeemed and to be saved out of the bondage of sin, or out of the bondage of Egypt, just like the children of Israel were when they were in the wilderness, by God's loving grace and mercy. It's entirely possible to be redeemed out of sin or out of Egypt by God's loving grace and mercy and to come short of tasting God's blessing and the promises of the promised land, continuing to wander in the wilderness.

This is exactly what the New Testament book of Hebrews says: this group of people wandered in the wilderness, died in the wilderness, and did not enter into God's rest and His promised land because they did not walk in His ways. They did not follow the Lord and trust in Him. Therefore, it's possible for us to be saved from sin, saved from the bondage of sin, and spend our entire lives as Christians wandering in the wilderness. That's exactly what Israel did for that entire generation before the generation that is about to go into the promised land.

Sadly, I think that there are a lot of believers who do just that. They are those who trust in God; we would say that they've been redeemed from sin, they've been saved from sin, and yet they seem to be wandering in the wilderness. They are parched, they are dry, and they are not living in the promises of God in any significant way.

Look at what Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 22 says: "For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all of these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the western sea shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He said to you.

Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing if you obey the commandment of the Lord your God. If you're someone who takes notes in your Bible, you might want to circle that word 'if' in verse 27. The blessing is if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse if—verse 28, circle that one too—you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today to go after other gods which you have not known.

Again, as you read through the book of Deuteronomy, you're going to see that this is the repeated message and theme of this book. This long message here in Deuteronomy emphasizes that God's blessing is for God's people, and God's people are those who honor Him, who love Him, who serve Him, who keep His commandments, and who walk in His ways.

Since that is true, Moses gives us two exhortations in this passage, or gives to the children of Israel two exhortations as they are gathered to hear this message. He says to them, as they are preparing to go into the Promised Land, "I want you to choose life and blessing and to reject death and cursing."

Here are my two exhortations to you as you prepare to go into the Promised Land: take heed to yourselves—that's exhortation number one—and teach these things to yourselves and to your children. These two exhortations are really directed at or aimed at two great pitfalls for the followers of God. The two great pitfalls for the followers of God are unfaithfulness, or what we would say infidelity, and forgetfulness. Unfaithfulness and forgetfulness are certainly not the only pitfalls that we followers of God can find ourselves falling into, but they are two major snares, two major pitfalls.

The first one he says is that you need to make sure that you take heed to yourselves and that you do not fall into the pitfall of unfaithfulness. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 16: "Take heed to yourselves lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you."

One of the greatest snares that the children of Israel faced once they finally entered into the Promised Land, and one of the snares that we actually stumble at as well, is the snare of idolatry. In the post-modern Western world of the United States here in 2022, we oftentimes think that idolatry is something that uncivilized ancient people struggle with and that we don't have idols that we fall to today. That is entirely wrong.

Moses says to take heed to yourselves so that you are not turned aside and deceived in your heart or in your mind to worship and serve the gods of this world. What are some of the gods of this world? The gods of this world are things like pleasure, power, prosperity, possessions, and politics. Politics is a big one in the United States of America in 2022. Christians are continually being deceived and seduced by the gods of this world—these idols—to go after possessions, to go after pleasure, and to go after power.

Idolatry will always rob you of God's blessing and cause you to be removed from the place of His promises. This is what you see with the children of Israel, and this is what we're going to see as we continue not just through the book of Deuteronomy but on into other books of the Old Testament as well. The major snare that the children of Israel were constantly entrapped by was this whole thing of idolatry.

Though they had names, images, and temples for these gods that they would worship, we may not have names, images, and temples for these gods that we are tempted to worship. However, at the core, these things are still the same things that we are seduced into giving our devotion to—giving our time, giving our talents, giving our energy, and giving our devotion to things like pleasure, politics, possessions, and power.

So he says to take heed to yourselves lest your heart be deceived and you be turned aside to serve or follow after and worship other gods. We need to take heed to ourselves. That's exhortation number one. Exhortation number two...

We must avoid the major pitfall of forgetfulness. The first pitfall is the pitfall of infidelity or idolatry; the second one is forgetfulness.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 18: "Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them, like the days of the heavens above the earth."

Hear this and understand this: this is such an important truth for you and me as we seek to follow after God. God's people forfeit His promised blessing by their forgetfulness and their unfaithfulness. This is why Moses says to the children of Israel in this passage to hide God's word in your heart, so that you do not become forgetful about who your God is. If you forget Him, you will be deceived and turned aside toward idols.

Hide God's word in your heart; bind God's word on your mind, as between the frontlines of your eyes. Teach God's word to your children; write them down on the doorposts of your house.

I could be wrong, but it sure seems as though we, as a nation here in the United States of America in 2022, are not experiencing God's blessing, at least not in the way that we could and maybe not in the way that we once did. We sing these prayers asking for God's grace and His unity, like was sung at the beginning of the Super Bowl this last week in that song "America the Beautiful." We are asking for God's grace to be shed on us; we are asking for God to unite us together with brotherhood. We desire God’s promises and His blessing, but we are living in many ways as a people who are forgetful.

We are living in unfaithfulness to the Lord. We have been turned aside from the right path of God's ways to a path that will only end in disaster, chaos, and confusion, as I talked about in my last message. This is not a unique experience; what we are seeing in our own country is a reflection of this truth.

In 2022, it's not a unique experience; sadly, it was the somewhat normative experience in the Old Testament for the children of Israel. They constantly went through this cycle: they would be walking with the Lord, and things would be going right and good. Then, they would do what was right in their own eyes. They would drift away from God's Word, slip into idolatry, and find themselves in a place of cursing and exile, facing all kinds of horrible consequences.

This is exactly where the Old Testament prophets, the Jewish prophets, would come in. They came to call the people of Israel back to the Lord and away from their idolatry. For example, Jeremiah the prophet, in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, stood before the people of his day, 2,500 years ago, who were idolatrous and forgetful. They rejected God's Word and slipped into idolatry. In Jeremiah 6:16, the prophet says, "Thus says the Lord: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls." Sadly, the people in Jeremiah's day responded, "We will not walk in it."

As I mentioned earlier, we have these great patriotic spiritual songs that we sing here in the United States, such as "America the Beautiful" and "God Bless America." However, we certainly cannot expect God's blessing. We cannot expect for God to shed His grace on us so long as we walk after idols and refuse to walk in His way.

I want to encourage you: God is patient, like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son in the New Testament. God waits with open arms for us to turn back to Him. He is ready to be gracious and forgiving, ready to pour out His blessing. However, He will not and cannot bless those who are walking towards idols and who have forgotten Him. God waits with open arms to bless those who return to Him, but, as I said, He cannot bless those who will not return to Him.

If we want God's blessing in our lives individually and in our nation as well, it will require that we turn back to the Lord and walk in His ways. Deuteronomy 11:26 says, "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse."

The blessing comes if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way in which I command you today and go after other gods which you have not known. It really comes down to this: it's a choice for you, and it's a choice for me. That was the choice for the children of Israel.

We will see much later, when we get into the Book of Joshua, that eventually Joshua will stand before the people after they are in the Promised Land, after they have taken possession of the Promised Land and driven many of their enemies out before them. He says, "Choose this day who you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." We have that verse by our doorstep at our house: "Choose this day who you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

As we all want God's blessing in our lives individually and for our nation, it's going to require that we choose to walk in the way of the Lord, to walk in His love, to walk in the way of truth, the way of righteousness, the way of kindness, and the way of goodness. All of those things God will enable us to do by His Spirit because He works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. However, He cannot bless those who refuse to walk in His ways. He will not bless those who refuse to walk in His ways.

If we see the confusion, the chaos, and the insanity of our culture, it's an indication that we have either forgotten the ways of the Lord or we have turned to other gods to be devoted to them and to worship them. So, would to God that we would turn back to the Lord and repent.

Father God, I pray that You would move in our hearts and that You would draw us to that place of laying down our idols and putting You back in the proper place of our lives, on the throne of our lives, that You would have authority over us and that You would rule over us. Lord, I thank You that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is a gift that You give to us because of Your great love and Your mercy towards us.

But after we have been redeemed by You, for us to experience Your rest and Your blessing and all the goodness of Your Word, it requires that we walk in ways that are honoring to You. So, God, would You work in us to will and to do Your good pleasure today and help us to work out this salvation with fear and trembling. For we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

Now, your mercy is overwhelming. Oh, hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. With your blood, you bought my freedom. Hallelujah for the cross! Oh, hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! I was a prisoner, but now I am free.

Thank you! Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. With Your blood, hallelujah!

Thank you for joining us for our broadcast today. As we close, we would love to invite you to our services at Cross Connection Church campus at 8:30 and 10:30 every Sunday. If you'd like more information about Cross Connection Church, go online at lifeinconnection.com.

Hey, Cross Connection! This is Pastor Garrett here. I'm joined this morning with little Rosie, and we just want to welcome you to Cross Connection this morning. We're glad that you could join us, as we're all about living life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus Christ.

One of the announcements I have for you today is about our camp fundraiser for the youth camp. For junior high and high schoolers, we're going to be doing a fundraiser next Sunday after the second service. If you would like to join us, come hungry to buy some hot dogs and hamburgers to support our youth going to summer camp. We're going to Catalina Island from June 22nd to the 25th. So, high school and junior high parents, set that aside! We would love to have them here. We're going to be doing some camp fundraisers to help cut the cost down, so next Sunday, come hungry and bring some cash. We would love to see you there!