Proper Worship | Sunday, February 27, 2022

Welcome to Cross Connection Church online. I'm Pastor Garrett, and we at Cross Connection Church are so grateful that you are joining us for our service today. If you'd like to know more about Cross Connection Church, please check us out on our website at lifeinconnection.com, where you'll find out more about us, events coming up, and ways to get plugged in at Cross Connection Church.

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I once was dead in sin, alone and hopeless. A child of wrath, I walked condemned in darkness. Your mercy brought me life, and in Your loving kindness, You raised me up with Christ and made me righteous. Lord, You are the light that broke the darkness; You satisfy my soul.

When I am heartless, whenever I forget my true identity, show me who I am.

It has been kind of an eventful week. It appears that the chaos of our world continues to intensify, and such chaos reminds us that we are living in a broken world. During times like Jesus described in Matthew chapter 24, He said, "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these things are the beginnings of sorrows." Notice that those words at the end of Matthew chapter 24, verse 6, say, "See that you are not troubled."

In troubling times, how is that even possible? In another passage in the New Testament, the Gospel of John, Jesus told His disciples in John chapter 14, verse 1, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. Were it not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know."

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome that it is through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures that we can find hope. At the very least, this weekend, I want to encourage you with those hopeful words.

Our Lord is on the throne. He is unsurprised by the happenings of our world, and He desires to work in and through these situations to expand His kingdom and reach people with the good news of the Gospel.

In our study of Deuteronomy, Israel, 3,400 years ago, was on the verge of tumultuous times as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. As they prepared to cross over the Jordan River and into the land, Moses was giving them some final instructions. One of the encouraging words of hope that Moses emphasizes in this passage is that he repeatedly speaks of their entry into the possession of the Promised Land as a complete certainty.

We find this again in the passage we are studying today, in Deuteronomy chapter 12. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 1. It says, "These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess all the days that you live on the earth." Notice that Moses does not say in that passage, "I really hope that you guys get into the land, and I'm really hopeful that you will take possession of it." Instead, he says, "You are going into the land, and every place on which the sole of your foot treads, it is going to be yours."

He also tells them that no man shall be able to stand against them. As we saw last time in our study of Deuteronomy chapter 11, verses 31 and 32, he says, "You will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the Lord God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it. You shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today."

In a similar fashion, when Jesus, in Matthew 24, is talking about the tumultuous and troubling happenings upon the earth—wars, earthquakes, famines, pandemics, and persecution—He speaks to the people He was addressing.

In Matthew 24, verse 13, Jesus says, "He who endures to the end shall be saved." He also states that "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come." I bring this up because sometimes, when crazy and chaotic things are happening in the world—like those events that have been occurring seemingly frequently—I am asked by people, "Pastor, do you think that it is the end of the world?"

Honestly, I can say that I don't know for certain when the end of the world is going to come. In fact, Jesus didn't know when the end would arrive either. However, I will tell you this: I think that, at this moment, it's not over quite yet. I believe that God has more for us to do.

These may be challenging and troubling times that we are going through and have been experiencing for the last several years, but they are also very opportune times. These are moments of opportunity for you and for me to share the hope that God has given us with those we interact with. I am absolutely certain that you have neighbors, co-workers, family members, and friends who are troubled by all the things happening in the world. The Scriptures remind us to "see that you are not troubled" and "let not your heart be troubled." We want to encourage people with the hope that God provides us through the Scriptures.

In a similar way, when Moses speaks in Deuteronomy chapters 11 and 12, he addresses the possession of the promised land as a foregone conclusion. He speaks hopeful words, encouraging the people. They were going to face troublesome times ahead, having to battle to take possession of the promised land, but Moses speaks to them as though the promised land is already theirs. All they have to do is go in and take hold of it.

He offers them comfort, encouragement, and hope through his words, and the Scriptures provide us with the same. I want to encourage you with some of that hope today. Let not your heart be troubled; put your trust in God, even in the midst of tumultuous situations as we look at the world around us and all the chaos that is happening.

So, we are now coming again to Deuteronomy chapter 12 this morning.

As we open to Deuteronomy chapter 12, we are entering a new section of this book. From chapter 12 of Deuteronomy through the end of chapter 26, Moses will focus on three basic things in these passages. He will be addressing the ceremonial laws for the children of Israel, the civil laws for the children of Israel, and the social laws for the children of Israel.

It is important to remember that the name Israel means "governed by God." The reason the people of Israel have the Pentateuch, which consists of the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—is that they were to be governed directly by God. Israel was to be a theocracy. In a sense, the words that Moses is giving to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy, as he rehearses the law to them just before they enter the Promised Land, serve as their governing constitution. This document outlines how they were to live.

In this passage, Moses is exhorting Israel as a pastor. He is encouraging the people to be fully devoted to God. He begins in this chapter by focusing on the ceremonial laws of Israel. He will discuss several aspects of their worship, including the place of their worship, the pattern of their worship, the purity of their worship, and the purpose of their worship.

With that in mind, let us first look at Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 1 through 5. In this passage, we will consider the place of Israel's worship. Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 1 states, "These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land."

The Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess all the days that you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the high hills and under every green tree. You shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire. You shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things, but you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses out of all of the tribes to put His name for His dwelling place, and there you shall go.

When Israel took possession of the promised land, after the Book of Deuteronomy, after Moses dies, and after Joshua begins to bring them into the promised land, the land was filled with idolatry. The places of idol worship of the ancient Canaanites that lived there dominated the hilltops and the valleys of that region. The Canaanites worshiped multiple deities and engaged in all kinds of immoral and, in many ways, very vile and carnal practices.

Moses tells Israel that they were not to do as other conquerors would often do when taking possession of a new territory. The typical practice of ancient peoples was to come in and replace the deities of the conquered people with images of their own gods. For instance, if a conquering individual, such as the Assyrians, came down into Canaan, they would take over some of the Philistine cities and simply topple the false gods of the Philistines. In the temples or on their high places, they would replace the deities with images of their Assyrian gods.

However, Israel was not to do that. In this passage in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 1 through 5, Israel is told that they are to destroy all of the places where the nations were serving these false gods. The high places, where they built their temples or places to worship their false gods, were often on mountaintops, as they sought to get closer to the gods.

The heavily wooded groves were places where the people would worship their false gods. On the high places and in the groves, the Canaanite gods were worshiped. Moses says to the children of Israel that these places are to be destroyed. The altars were to be destroyed, the sacred pillars, which were images of a deity called Asherah, were to be broken down, and the wooden images were to be burned with fire. The carved images were to be cut down, and the names of these deities, such as Baal, Chemosh, Dagon, Asherah, and Molech, were to be removed from the land. Israel was essentially to purify the land and rid it of all idolatry.

After the removal of the stain of idolatry, they were told in Deuteronomy 12:5 to seek the place where the Lord God would choose for His name to dwell. They were to look for the place that God would ordain as the site for the worship of the one true God. Ultimately, as you follow the story of the Old Testament, this would end up being Jerusalem, where the temple would be established.

What God is saying in this passage is that He is not to be worshiped in the same places, ways, or patterns as the Canaanite gods. There was to be a specific place where the Lord God would be worshiped in a proper way and according to a proper pattern. The idea of the place that God would choose for worship is central in this passage.

In fact, if you look through this passage, you will see the idea of this place comes up quite a bit. In Deuteronomy 12:5, we read, "But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses out of all of the tribes to put His name for His dwelling place." Then, if you skip down to Deuteronomy 12:11, it says, "Then there will be the place where the Lord God chooses to make His name abide."

Continuing from Deuteronomy 12:13-14, it instructs, "Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, but the place which the Lord chooses is the place that you are to worship Him." Finally, in Deuteronomy 12:18, it states, "But you must eat them before the Lord your God," referring to the offerings that they give to the Lord.

The place which the Lord your God chooses is emphasized repeatedly in Deuteronomy. In chapter 12, verse 21, it states, "the place where the Lord your God chooses." Then, in verse 26, it again mentions, "go to the place which the Lord your God chooses." Over and over again in this passage, the phrase "the place" is mentioned.

You are not to worship in all of the places like the Canaanite peoples did, but you are to worship in the place that God chooses for Himself. The principle at work in this passage has to do with the place of God's choosing, and in this, we are given an important lesson. This lesson is quite simple: when God becomes Lord over our lives, He alone is to take the exalted place of honor in our lives.

This certainly requires a removal of old places and old names that we were committed to. When Christ comes into our lives and occupies the place of honor, there are high places or dark groves that need to be destroyed. They need to be burned, broken, cut down, and removed from our lives. This is where the New Testament principle of putting off the old man and putting on the new man comes in.

In the New Testament book of Ephesians, Paul states in chapter 4, verse 17, "I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness."

Just like Moses's call to the children of Israel when they were getting ready to enter the Promised Land, the Apostle Paul's call to you, if you're a follower of Jesus today, is that when Christ comes into the territory of your life, all of the old places of devotion need to be removed.

The removal process, which the Bible calls sanctification, takes time. It is a process; it is not something that happens overnight. God is not honored by our addictions, misplaced priorities, or passions. All of these things are like former idols to which we devoted ourselves. We invested our energy, assets, and time into our addictions and misplaced priorities. God cannot be worshipped with these old things, with these old idols. Therefore, our lives need to be sanctified.

If the sanctification of our lives is not a priority, we will very easily slide back into the bondage of idolatry. This is exactly what we witnessed with the children of Israel in the Old Testament, time and time again. They did not remove all of the high places and groves where the Asherah poles and images to Baal were located. These remnants became a snare, and they were dragged back into the worship of these idols. Thus, the sanctification of our lives is not something we can set aside; it must become a priority.

Moreover, this sanctification—consecrating our lives to the Lord and removing all the old idols—is not something we do on our own. We have a Helper who assists us in this process. In fact, in the New Testament, the Bible speaks of the sanctification of the Spirit. It is a process whereby God works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. God even uses His Word. In John 17:17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them by Your word; Your word is truth." God sanctifies and cleanses us by the washing of the water of His Word. He sanctifies us by His Spirit, by His Word, and through our engagement within the body of Christ, the church. God uses the church, His body, as a sanctifying tool in our lives.

His sanctification is meant to remove the places of divided devotion and idolatry in our lives. At this point, it is possible that you might object and say, "There are no places of divided devotion in my life; there is no idolatry in my life." I wish that were true. I believe God desires that we would not have divided devotion either. However, the fact is that we are easily distracted.

Distracted by idols, you can assess your own life to see if there are things that are distracting you or removing your focus from God to some sort of idol. By asking some simple questions, you can reflect on what in your life you are devoting or sacrificing your energy to. What are you giving your energy to? What in your life are you devoting or sacrificing your assets or money to? What in your life are you devoting or sacrificing your time to?

Your energy, your assets, and your time—the things that we dedicate or sacrifice—are the things that occupy the place of devotion and worship in our lives. It may not just be one place of devotion, but many places of devotion. Those things that receive the sacrifice of our might, our money, and our minutes will ultimately grow to be supreme and dominant in our lives. Whatever you give your time, your money, and your energy to will become the priority of your life. It will become the dominant, supreme thing in your life; it will become your god or your idol.

This is a continual pitfall. If you tuned in with us for my last message, you know that I talked about the danger of two different pitfalls that the children of Israel were in danger of falling into. Those two pitfalls were forgetfulness, where we forget the Lord and His way or His word, and unfaithfulness, where we turn from the Lord to idolatry—spiritual infidelity, if you will. Forgetfulness and unfaithfulness are the two major pitfalls that Israel was facing, and we face these things as well.

As a pastor, I am in constant danger of losing sight of God's way, the way that is given to us through His word, due to forgetfulness. This can happen when I do not spend time with the Lord and truly hide His word in my heart. Not only can I find myself in a place of forgetfulness, but I can also slide towards misplaced priorities and devotion. This can lead to unfaithfulness in my life, where there is spiritual idolatry or adultery. Your work can become an idol; you can give all of your energy, all of your time, and all of your engagement—your mind and your body—towards your work, and then your work becomes an idol.

You can give everything that you have to your children, and then your children become an idol. You can give it to your pets, or you can give it to all kinds of different things. Amassing wealth can be the thing that you give all of your energy, assets, and time to. Gaining things and accumulating possessions can also become an idol, as can accumulating power. As I said in my message last time, idolatry always robs us of God's blessing and causes us to be removed from the place of His promises. Therefore, we have to be really careful not to allow anything to distract us from worshiping God or having God in His rightful place.

So, what then is the response? How should we respond to these things? The passage in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 1 through 5, says that we need to utterly destroy all the places where these idols are served. We need to tear down all of the altars that have been lifted up and exalted to these things, break down the sacred pillars, burn the wooden images, cut down the carved images, and destroy their names from that place. There is a complete destruction and removal of all of the old things that distract us from worshiping God or that become our idols.

As the Apostle Peter writes in one of his New Testament letters, we need to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. You see, Israel was in danger of being distracted by idolatry—the idolatry of the former people who lived in the land of Canaan, the Canaanite peoples. When they came into the land of Canaan, they had to purge the land of all of the idolatry. When Christ comes into our lives and we become followers of Jesus, there are certain things in our lives that are high places or groves where there are idols that we have been worshiping. We have been devoted to giving our energy, assets, and time to those things. Those things need to be purged; they need to be cleaned out, and we need to sanctify God in our hearts. He becomes the one that sits on the throne, the place of our lives.

This is what we're talking about in this passage. The place of Israel's worship needed to be a priority. I mentioned that there were four things: the place of Israel's worship, the pattern of their worship, the purity of their worship, and the purpose of their worship here in this passage. We have the place of their worship in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 1 through 5. Then, second, we have the pattern of their worship. Look at what Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter 12, beginning again at verse 5: "But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses out of all of the tribes to put His name for His dwelling."

Place, and there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your free will offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

You shall not at all do as we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes. For as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about so that you dwell in the land safely, then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all of your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates since he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of the tribes. There you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I commanded you.

The ancient peoples in the land of Canaan and all of the other places in the ancient Near East worshipped on virtually every high hilltop and under every green tree. They also had places of worship within their own homes. They sacrificed to these false gods and performed rituals of devotion in many ways and in virtually every place. But God's call to His people was that they were to worship in the one place and in the proper and prescribed ways in that place.

Now, it's not my aim to go in depth describing the proper and prescribed ways of how they were to worship God with their sacrifices, their tithes, their heave offerings, their vow offerings, and so forth. You can read the Book of Leviticus to get all the details of the pattern which they were to offer these various offerings. The whole Book of Leviticus, along with Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers, goes in depth on all the ways that they were to offer these offerings to the Lord. So, I'm not going to go in depth on each.

Of these offerings that Moses mentions, they had specific patterns and specific ways in which they were to be offered, as well as ways in which they were not to be offered. God explicitly tells them in the Book of Exodus how they are to be offered and how not to offer these things. God was not to be worshipped however the people wanted. Very quickly, if it was not according to His prescribed pattern and way, their worship would devolve toward immoral idolatry, which constantly happened. All you have to do is study the Old Testament to see this.

God says to His people in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 8, "You shall not at all do as we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes." When God is your Lord, He is to be honored after the pattern that He prescribes. We are to do God's work in God's way.

What that means is that when someone tells me, and I have had people tell me these kinds of things before, "When I smoke pot, I feel close to God," I respond, "No, that's not the way it works." Or when someone says to me, "God is love; God is a God of love, and so He must be fine when I am loving my girlfriend," I again say, "No, that's not what the Scriptures prescribe. That's not the way that God says He is to be worshipped."

I do not get to do whatever is right in my own eyes. I do not get to determine what is the proper pattern for serving God. Doing God's work in God's way requires that we discover in the Scriptures what God's work in God's way looks like. What are the offerings that God desires? What are the sacrifices that He requires? What are the tithes? What are the offerings? What has God called you to do? What does God desire or require of me?

I only get to know that as I go through the Scriptures. If I just go out into the world and say, "Well, I'm going to figure out how to worship God however I want," I will always descend toward idolatry. God has given us His Word to show us the right way, to reveal what He desires and requires of us.

The only way that you can know what it is that God desires and requires of you is to get to know God through His Word. These are all things that we will consider and study together here on Sunday mornings as we go through God's Word together. I hope that you are discovering the answers to some of these questions about what God desires.

Requires and desires of you, yourself, as you are studying the Scriptures privately. The Scriptures make it very clear in this passage that there is a proper place for God to be worshipped and a proper pattern for God to be worshipped. This leads us third into the purity of Israel's worship.

We see four things in this section of Scripture: the place of God's worship, the pattern of God's worship, the purity of how Israel was to worship God, and finally, the purpose. So, third, we are going to look at the purity of God's worship.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 12, beginning at verse 15. God says here, "However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water."

Now, let me pause there for a moment because this is kind of a weird thing that's going on here in this passage. We are talking about the purity of worshipping God—how they were to worship God in a pure and right way. Here in this passage, God is telling the children of Israel that when they bring sacrifices and offerings to the Lord, they would give a portion to the Lord and then have a feast with the other portion of it. When they would sacrifice this offering, He says, "You need to have all of the blood go out of this. You are not to eat the offering with the blood because the life is in the blood."

He is explaining all this, and I will explain why this is important in just a moment. Continuing on, look at what He says in verse 23: "Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life. You may not eat the life with the meat; you shall not eat it. You shall pour it on the earth like water."

In verse 25, He adds, "That it may go well with you and your children after you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord." Only the holy things, verse 26 notes, "which you have and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. You shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the meat."

This section of Scripture, Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 15 through 27, may seem like a long list of really weird regulations about eating the right meats in the right way and not eating them with the blood. Ultimately, these things point back to the idea that your worship is to be holy and pure.

Only offered to the Lord in a way that is right before Him, in the right place, and after the right pattern, worship is to be holy and pure. In the New Testament, even though we don't necessarily have these issues outlined for us, we are called to holiness just as the children of Israel were called to holiness in their worship. This is what all the peculiar instructions in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 15 and 27, are about; it is about their worship being holy before the Lord.

We are called to holiness now. Holiness is a consecration and a separation of a thing or of ourselves to God. Repeatedly, we see the call in the Scriptures to be holy, especially in the Old Testament, particularly in books like Deuteronomy. However, we also see it in the New Testament. The Apostle Peter, in the New Testament book of First Peter, chapter 1, verse 13, says, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind and be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to your former desires or lusts, as in your ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all of your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'"

I want you to get this; this is really important. When the Lord is my God, He calls me to be set apart and holy. This doesn't necessarily mean that I need to eat the meat without the blood, as He discusses in Deuteronomy chapter 12, but maybe it does; maybe that's part of it. More than just eating meats without blood, this means that I seek, by God's grace and by His enabling power, to live in a way that honors and glorifies Him. I seek to be set apart and holy to God.

So here in this passage in Deuteronomy chapter 12, we see the place of Israel's worship, the pattern of their worship, and the purity of their worship. The place was to be chosen by God; they were not to worship Him in every place. They were to follow a prescribed pattern to offer the right offerings in the right way. They weren't just to worship God in whatever way they thought they wanted to worship Him. Finally, we see in this passage the purpose of all this. What is the point of all of this? Why?

Should Israel worship in the right place and in the pure and right way? Well, for one, they are to worship in the right place and in the right way according to the right pattern with pure worship because it fulfills the commandments of God.

The first three commandments of God, if you go back to Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 7, deal with the worship of God. They say this: "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."

So, the first three of the Ten Commandments have to do with not worshiping and serving any other god, not making any graven image, and not taking the name of the Lord in vain. We want to make sure that we have the right place of worship, the right pattern of worship, and that we worship God in a pure and undefiled way so that we fulfill His commandments.

In addition to keeping the commandments, what is the purpose of worshiping God in the right place and in this pure and right way? Well, Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 28, "Observe and obey all of these words which I command to you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God." A life dedicated to proper worship is a life that secures eternal good. Look at what he says there: that it will go well with you and your children forever. Again, a life dedicated to proper worship is a life that secures eternal good.

This isn't new; we've already seen this previously back in Deuteronomy chapter 10. We saw this last week in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and His statutes which I command you today for your good?" Israel's worship of God in the right place after the right pattern is essential.

In a pure and righteous way, fellowship with God results in the enjoyment of His blessings. These things are to be done for your good. As you walk in these ways, they will work out for your good. Therefore, Moses wraps up this section by saying, "When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow after them after they are destroyed from before you. Do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I will also do likewise.' You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abomination to the Lord, which He hates, they have done to their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it or take away from it."

God's word to His people in this passage is that when they go into the land, they are to purge the land of all idolatry and establish right worship of the one true God in the place and after the pattern that He prescribes. As they do these things, they will enjoy His blessing and His presence.

For us, though we do not live in ancient Israel and do not follow all the ceremonial laws prescribed in the Old Testament, specifically in the Torah in Deuteronomy chapter 12, we still need to have our lives sanctified by the presence of His Spirit. God removes all of the old dead things that we have bowed down to and devoted ourselves to—distractions that ultimately lead to judgment. We need to remove those things and exalt God over our lives.

We may not have a physical place to go to, but we have the person we go to: Jesus Christ. He is to be exalted in my life; He is to take the place of supremacy and primacy. He is the one to whom I give proper worship, and I offer myself and all that I have to Him. As I do these things, enabled by the Spirit of God, I experience the fullness of God's presence and the fullness of His blessing as well.

That is my prayer: that as God is doing work in us, He will be removing from us all of the old dead things that we bowed our lives down to and devoted ourselves to, and that He would become our focus.

The one who occupies the place in our lives of honor and devotion is God. As we honor Him and devote ourselves to Him, we experience His presence and His blessing. So, God, I do pray that You would do a work in our lives with every single person who is hearing these words. By Your Spirit, work in us to remove anything that is a distraction, anything that is taking the place of devotion in our lives. Help us to exalt You to that place and to worship You in the right way. As Peter said, we would sanctify You in our hearts.

God, we ask that You would do a work of total transformation, and that we would experience Your presence and Your blessing. The blessing of the fruit of the Spirit, God, would be overflowing from us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Make all these things abundant in us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

I'll never be the same. My sin has been erased; I'll never be the same. You have brought me back with the riches of Your amazing grace and relentless love. You're amazing! I'm saved by Your grace; I'm saved.

Thanks for joining us for our broadcast today. I pray that you were greatly encouraged by it, and we here at Cross...

Connection Church would love to invite you to join us in person next week on Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 services. If you can make it, again, the services are at 8:30 and 10:30 here at Cross Connection Church in Escondido, California. We'd love to see you there! Of course, if you want any more information about Cross Connection Church, check us out on our website, lifeinconnection.com. God bless you guys and have a wonderful week.

Hey, church family! Do you have a desire to reach the lost and fire up your faith? Join us Saturday, March 12th, for our Cross Connection Evangelism Training. We will have a time of worship, a message, and training from my friend Pastor Dennis Mascardo from Calvary Chapel South Bay. Then we'll go out to Kit Carson Park and share the good news with our community. Sign up today; you don't want to miss it!

Hey, Cross Connection! A couple of announcements for today. First and foremost, and near and dear to my heart, we are in a critical shortage—like a red light flashing shortage—for preschool teachers. The most you will serve is twice a month, but we really do need more people to come in and help with children's ministry in general, and preschool in particular. This will be at either the 8:30 or, more likely, where we have a bigger need at the 10:30 service. You can sign up for that at lifeinconnection.com/events and look for "Serve in Children's Ministry." You can designate in there for preschool.

Also, coming up this Sunday after the second service, we have a fundraiser for youth camp. What we're going to do is serve hot dogs and hamburgers—yummy food! That's going to be after the second service, right outside. They're going to be barbecuing it up. It's going to be fantastic, and it's for a fantastic cause to help send kids off to summer camp.