The Word that Changes Our Thoughts to Stand Before God as the Spiritual Platform, Watchmen, and Antenna (Deuteronomy 10:12-22)
We will share the grace of God today with the last part of Deuteronomy 10. The book of Deuteronomy was the message that Moses emphasized to the second generations as they were going into the land of Canaan. So, why did He have to repeat this message a second time instead of just once? Because after He told them once, most people failed. What we must see here is, why do we fail as we live our walk of faith, and how do we succeed? This is what we must confirm through the Word of God today.
God gives prosperity to the successful ones. If God doesn’t bring you prosperity, then you are not truly successful, and as we go into the land of Canaan, how can we be successful, how can we be prosperous before God? When we go into the land of Canaan, there are so many cultures and idols that humans have created, and Eph. 2 says that people follow the ways of the world. In other words, the culture of the world says we just have to follow humans. It says that we follow the ways of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. We satisfy the cravings of our sinful nature, and by nature, are objects of wrath. That is the culture of both the land of Canaan as well as the land of Ephesus in the New Testament.
Then, in the field of the world today, how can we live a life that is prosperous? This is something we cannot know unless we hear it from God. If you follow the ways of the world instead of listening to the words of God, it may seem that you have prosperity, but you will ultimately fail. We are so used to the methods and the ways of the world, and we think that we can make it like that, then we are bound to bow before the ruler of the kingdom of the air.
So, how will I live the remainder of my life with prosperity, and how will we allow our future generations to live in prosperity? God is giving us His Word yet again through Moses. In Deuteronomy 10:12, “Now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you?” In order for you to have prosperity and conquer the land of Canaan, you must know what God desires.
First, He says, “Fear the LORD.” Fearing the LORD does not mean you are scared of the LORD, it means you must know who is the One Who created life, and you must know Who is the One Who is moving the history of the world even now. You must acknowledge Who is the One Who controls life and death and all sickness in the world. If you don’t know this, then you think you can live however you want, recklessly without thought; therefore, fear the LORD. You’re using all your strategies and methods to get whatever it is you desire, but instead, fear the LORD.
It is something God must do; it is not enough for you to struggle and try to do something; fear the LORD. No matter how correct your words may be, if it doesn’t come from fear of the LORD, it is incorrect. We look and feel about present reality the same way and that person’s words are the reality as well. However, there is a true meaning they are trying to relay. They are hiding the words they truly want to say, and they only expose the words that are on the outside. It doesn’t matter how much you try to debate or communicate with the words that we say, we cannot communicate, then where do those words that they really want to communicate come from? Is that message from God or is it from the ruler of the world? You must be able to see this to overcome it.
If you’re not able to see this, then you’re going to be so twisted up by words that you’ll be enslaved to Satan. In other words, what spiritual state is this person speaking from? It doesn’t matter how correct their words are, there is something else they really want to say, and they are acting this way from their spiritual state that truly desires something else. They personally may say they are correct, but because their spiritual state is incorrect, without a doubt, they will face failure. That’s what it means to fear the LORD.
What state are you in as you act and speak and plan out your life? Is that person’s spiritual state coming from the word of God or is it coming from you? That’s what it means to fear the LORD. It doesn’t mean to be scared of God. If we want to speak humanistically, it means to know who is above you and acknowledge them. There is a being that is controlling and ruling over your life, so don’t act however you want; that’s why we fear the LORD. There is One Who is holding onto your life, and you must always acknowledge Him.
Then, we wouldn’t use humanism or easily do whatever we want. “To walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” “Walk in all His ways” means to follow all of his commands and decrees, this means, do not follow your own thoughts, but instead, make your decisions and follow after the Word God gives you.
The reason why we pray is to apply the Word He has given to us in our lives. If we can understand God’s words immediately, that would put us at the same level as God, but that’s not the case. If you’ve received God’s Word as the covenant for the week, you have to apply that so it’s applied in every aspect of your life. It’s the words and judgment that come from there.
“To love Him with all your heart and soul” means, don’t be dragged around like a robot, but instead, simply love Him. If you don’t love Him, then it seems you’re being forcefully pulled or dragged. The LORD who saved you is your owner and he is your God, therefore, love Him. He loved us first, and He has saved us. “To serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Serving the LORD means you don’t have any assertions of my own heart.
To serve means, “I’m following after the will of my Master,” but why are we acting however we want? It’s because we don’t have any fear of the LORD. We act however we want because we don’t know Who is controlling and giving us life. There are servers at restaurants, and they’re called “servers” because they serve the people there. In order for them to serve their customers, they have to do whatever the customers want. But if the server does whatever they want, they are not actually serving, but they are actually being a disturbance. And If I serve God it is because He is my Master and He is my God.
Even today, we lay everything down before Jesus Christ, Who is our King And our Master, and we serve Him and receive His Word and His judgments. It means, “Lay before the LORD now to see whether the way you have lived this week is right before Him.” Because you fear Him, you serve Him. You should receive the judgment of whether you are in the right this week through His Word. That’s what it means for us to serve the LORD, and this is how we have prosperity in the land of Canaan.
The first generation of Israelites lived in the opposite way, and that’s why their lives failed. There are some people who don’t go to church at all because they fell into a trial or test at church. Whatever they were afflicted by at the church may be true, however, behind the scenes, it is because they want their own assertions to be satisfied. They express it that way, “I fell into a trial or test at church,” but really what they mean is, “Whatever I imagined did not happen.” Out in the world, tubels don’t use the word, “Trial” or “Test,” that’s just a term we use in the church. They say, “Oh, no, it was because of that guy. It’s because I met this person.”
Unbelievers speak like that, but the church uses these religious terms like, “I fell into a trial or a test.” Those words are actually quite frightening because it means that God is not there. Have you ever received judgment from God whether you are right or they are right during worship? If I come before the King to worship Him, it means I am receiving His judgment, why? Because He is the King, but I have my own judgments, whether this person is right or wrong. In other words I’ve put myself in a position where I know what’s good and evil, just like in Genesis 3. So, inside, I am my own god and whatever I want is not taking place, so inside of the church, we use the word, “trial” or “test.”
Out in the world, everyone is blaming one another because everyone is their own god and they want their own standards to be fulfilled. Until the church knows this and faith goes into them, we shouldn’t burden them with more burdens, because this person is still in a state where they are their own God, so they make their own judgments about everything. There are some people who go to church for 40+ years but they still act the same way. All we have to do is lay it out before God, but they don’t. People say in the church, “This was a ‘trial’ or a ‘test,’” but that’s honestly a euphemism, but we have to say we were not able to help them enough.
The church must be able to see that spiritual state and be able to wait for them, to guide them, and to help their environment so they can get to that point of faith. When you meet someone like that, you must be able to tell them why that trial came to them, because they themselves don’t know. They think they’re in the right and they resent the person or the church, and the regional church is being able to give the answer through the word of God in your region. Then, in order to do that, you must be trained in the Word. This is not something you can just set your mind to do, you need to have the answer to give them.
In Deuteronomy 10:13, it says, “For your own good.” If you look at what the text says in Hebrew, “For your own good” means “Good in God’s eyes.” Simply put, it means that whatever is good in God’s eyes is for our own good, and that is our happiness, so where did our happiness come from? Whether we’re in the church or out in the world, where does our happiness come from? By observing the Lord’s commands and decrees. Whom are you doing this for? It is for your happiness. Me following the Word of God is for my good, and it is what God desires. But there is so much to the Word of God; what is the Word of God we must follow? There is the Word of the covenant God gives you, that is what you hold onto and follow. That’s why God continuously gives you His Word when you worship. That’s ultimately for your own happiness.
What is suffering? It is going outside of God’s Word. Not only do you have to know this answer from yourself, but you must enjoy it and relay it out in your field. If there’s no one in the field to whom you must relay the Word, that might be fine for a new believer, but if that’s still the case after you’ve believed for a long time, then you should think about this very carefully. You should realize that you’re in a state where you’re so wrapped up in yourself that you cannot see anyone but yourself. It means you’re not able to see anybody else; you only see yourself.
It’s possible for a new believer to be like that, but if you’ve believed in Christ for 30-40 years, then you are still like that, you need to think about this seriously. Spiritually speaking, you’re completely deceived by lies, and you’re entirely wrapped up in yourself. Or, because you’re holding onto and chasing after unnecessary things, you’re not able to see what is really there.
Simply put, it means you don’t know what happiness is. Becaus eyou don’t know what is really good for you, you’re holding onto incorrect things and you’re wrapped up in yourself. If something is bringing happiness to me, I will immediately try to find these things to share with others, but if you don’t have a target to give the word to, that’s a very serious matter. Because you have children, and immediately you have the people you meet. Even if you meet someone, if you don’t have something of yours you don’t want to give to them, it means you have to think very seriously about your walk of faith.
You have to realize you’re in a state that is irrelevant to God’s Word, and you are only living with your own plans and desires to fulfill in your life. You need to quickly escape from that state. But honestly speaking, just because you say, “I want to escape,” doesn’t mean you can. You must entrust it to God because, either way, I cannot do it with my own strength. The reason the first generation of Israelites failed in the wilderness is not because of lack of effort but it’s because we cannot control ourselves. They did have many opportunities to do well, even if they just gave true and proper worship, they wouldn’t have ended up the way they did, but in reality, they went to worship while worshiping idols, how much does this resonate with you?
These words that say, “I’m sitting here in worship, but I’m worshiping idols.” Are these empty words or do you think they might be true? Without a doubt, God was telling the Israelites that they were worshiping idols. But the Israelites said, “When have I always worshiped idols? I have always given blood sacrifices.” That’s why it says in Deuteronomy 10, to circumcise your heart. it means, don’t just follow the actions or the form, but do this in your heart.
The circumcision is the promise God made with Abraham in Genesis 17. God gave the circumcision as a promise that, “I will be Your God and the God of your descendants. God made that promise and the Isarelites did all circumcise their children. However, they needed to be participating in the circumcision with their heart as well, but their heart was actually towards an idol. An idol is something we create that we want for ourselves, we serve that as our idol. People need constant sunlight in order to have good agriculture, so they make a god of the sun and seve that idol. In Egypt, they had the god of the Nile as well, because it helped their agriculture. So ultimately, an idol is what you create for your own greed and desires in life.
So, in the New Testament, it wraps it up very simply, in Colossians 3:5, it says, “Your greed is idolatry,” so everything that happened in Israelite history, the reason they were taken captives to Babylon, the reason North and South Israel broke up was because of their idolatry. Then, what is the reason why some people keep falling again for today’s generation? It’s not that we lack the strength, God has all the power; it’s because of our idolatry. Because we’re living a life that is trying to pursue our personal greed and desires, we are getting further from God. That’s the reason we say we fell into trials and tribulations, or things didn’t work out the way we want, or that we were scarred, but we can only be restored when we quickly stand before God’s word.I believe this is the Word God gave a second time to the Israelites, but God’s Word is eternal and we are living in the same kind of field.
In Deuteronomy 10:14, “To the LORD your God belongs the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth, and everything in it.” Think about this carefully. It means the heavens and highest of heavens and the earth we stand on and everything on it including humans, creations, businesses, academics, it all belongs to the LORD God, even the people whom we meet. Therefore, follow God’s Word. But we act however we want because we don’t fear the LORD. We think that if we act the way we want, creation will follow, but that is an idol.
That’s in God’s hands. The LORD determines whether this person lives or dies today. The LORD determines whether my life will be a success or failure. The breadth of our life belongs in the LORD’s hands. Fear that Lord. That’s what it means, then rightfully I will follow God’s Word. Then, of course, I’m bound to receive God’s judgment and guidance in every incident. But because we aren’t able to do that we face every problem in life including social problems, family problems, and church problems. God already exists and all we have to do is follow his word but all we do is act according to our thoughts and that is the work of the devil.
Deuteronomy 10:15 says, “Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and He chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.” Simply put, He has chosen you. Why did He choose you above all the nations? We fall into a misconception. We keep strengthening ourselves and we keep misunderstanding that. We think “Oh it’s because I’m nice” “It’s because we have multiple generations of believers,” Israel did the same thing. They said, “God has chosen us out of all the nations, He is only our God.”
You have no qualifications to be chosen; why were you chosen? God has chosen you so that through you, gths gospel will be relayed to all nations. It is not true that it’s only for me, only my family, and only our church. God has chosen you who have no skill, so that through you, you can spread the gospel to all nations.
We have no ability to be chosen by God, but the reason He did is so that through me he can relay the gospel to all nations, that’s why we have been raised as the antenna, the 237 nations, and my business and academics must be used for that purpose. But we keep thinking these other things belong to us, we say, “mine, mine, mine,” and at the end of the day, they get destroyed. Everything belongs to the Lord but we think it belongs to us so we are not aligned with God’s plan.
To fear the LORD in heaven means that you acknowledge He is here in spirit, even now. And to become his platform is you enjoying the strength of God being with you. The One Who controls heaven and the earth is with me and all of creation is with me right now, with the 5 Powers and strength. So what does it mean to be the watchtower? It means you spread this out into your field. And you need to connect all 237 nations of the world through your studies and your job. What is the most important thing, it is important for you to become the platform by enjoying the scheduled prayer that enjoys the power of the triune God.
Then it means you need to let go of your own thoughts. All of your shallow thoughts that don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow, lay them down and receive the word of the eternal God. We think about what will be our advantage or disadvantage, but that will bring us to destruction, so instead, just enjoy the blessing of being with our eternal God, and pray that this strength is related to your fields. It will happen because we must conquer Canaan. Before we conquer Canaan, we ourselves must not be conquered. Then we must fear the Lord and hold onto His Word of covenant as our strength.
Deut. 10:16, “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. All of them were physically circumcised. If we receive the physical circumcision, it means God is our God and the God of our people, but we must be circumcised in our hearts. When you come to church you worship by laying down your heart. Just because you’re physically sitting here in the form of worship doesn’t mean that’s worship. Worship means you lay your heart down and receive God’s word as you serve hIm. Do not be stiff-necked any longer.
If you’re stiff-necked, it means you do not want to give up your life plans to God’s judgment and God’s Word. It ultimately means you do not want to follow God. These are not the words that apply to the faraway unbelievers, but these are the words God spoke to the Israelites at church. That’s the reason we fail. Many people will say many words, they say this and that based on their own standards. As you listen to those words, you must be able to see. If you’re not able to truly see, you must make your judgements based on those words.
Simply put, you must say that this person does not believe in God. Because they don’t believe in God, they have so many words to say. If you believe that God is in control of your life and the unfair things happening, you wouldn’t be saying those words. Why do you say you’ve been scarred? If you were truly scarred, God would not leave that person be. If you were treated unfairly, God is alive so He will not leave the person be. However, people say words like, “I’m scarred, I’m hurt,” and other words, and they may seem right when you look at their reality.
However, they don’t acknowledge God’s existence or God’s presence in this circumstance; they act as if this had happened to only them. It means they have not circumcised their hearts and they only lived a walks of faith that’s in appearance and form. It means they’re going back to church with a stiff neck, where they say, “I am my own standard.” You must find and help them. Just with their words, you won’t know this. In our walk of faith it’s normal to have thanksgiving. “I’m thankful to have met this pastor” try looking for things to be thankful for, instead of making enemies with everyone with every small word they say against you, look at the people who have been praying for you.
God is alive and He has guided us until now so there are things to be thankful for. It’s the same thing in our family. We take one word they say to us and say “should we live together or not, are we enemies or not?” But instead look for things to be thankful for in God’s guidance. It doesn’t matter how well educated or elevated their thinking is, people can’t find reasons to be thankful for. God must give you His grace. Without God giving us grace, it doesn’t matter how wise or intellectual we are, we cannot know anything.
Deut. 10:17, it says, “The LORD your God is the God of gods,” They say there are many gods, but God is the God of gods. “And the Lord of lords, the great God, who knows no partiality and accepts no bribes.” “This person lived such a good walk of faith, why is he going through this?” They may have looked good before you, but not before God. Spiritually speaking, they were very good in Satan’s eyes. So ultimately they were listening to the words of satan and simply fell. It may have looked nice and good from people’s perspective. That’s why God doesn’t judge from appearance. He doesn’t look at the forms of religion that you carry.
Deut. 10:18 He defends the cause of a fatherless, and the widow and loves the foreigner residing around you , and so he is the one who helps those who are weak and in difficulty. Back in those days, if you’re a widow, you would die, because without a husband, women cannot work. Nowadays women can work but back in those days, they could not. If you are fatherless, then you would die. That’s why God must be kind to them. The foreigners, those who came from other nations, you it’s the same thing spiritually, they are spiritually fatherless, widows, and spiritually foreigners. We can help them spiritually by giving them God’s Word.
Deut. 10:20, “Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.” So He says the same words He began with at the very beginning. 24 hour prayer means you only rely on him, when somebody tells you something, you shouldn’t ust believe it face-value; you must believe in the Lord. If you take everything you’ve seen and hear and say, you believe in it, you will die. These are the words that confront people who don’t have God. If that goes into your subconscious then you die.
You have to listen to it every day. You have to listen to this, listen to music and in your interactions, and if that gets hooked in your heart, what happens to your spirit? I’m not telling you to stop listening to everything, but you must turn it into prayer. Do you know why Gospel songs touch your heart? It’s because it’s the same state as you, but it doesn’t matter how much you cry and weep that it gave you grace, it doesn’t help you spiritually, Because you can only receive spiritual life as you stand before God’s Word. So, take all the culture and words of the world and turn it into relying on God.
Especially the people who are sick listening to the words of nurses or doctors or at court, if you listen to the words of the criminal, then the person who is listening to those words will die first. These patients are sick, so what happens if you’re listening to the words of sick people, every single day. What will happen to this person’s spirit? The doctors and nurses listen to the patients who are not saying normal things, all day. If that person doesn’t rely on God, that’s why people say the field is difficult. However, if you are able to pray in a way that relies on God, then you’ll conquer the field.
In Deut. 10:21, “He is the One you praise.” simply put, to “praise Him” means that you acknowledge, everything is because of God. When we use the word praise, people think incorrectly thinking it’s about singing, but it’s not about that at all. Singing songs are works of people of the world, and that’s why in church, we don’t sing songs, and we’re not doing it towards people, but we elevate God and praise God, so we must truly praise, the content of that praise is elevating God, everything is because of you.
The one who praises well on Sunday has victory in worship because their spiritual state is praising God. However, if someone is sitting in worship but their state is not able to praise? They’ll say things like, “I received Grace today,” but you don’t have to say that, because God gives you His grace every day. On Saturday, if you prepare the spiritual state to receive God’s Word, you will always receive grace because without God’s grace, our thoughts cannot change, if we try to correct our thoughts, that’s from our physical ambition. It doesn’t matter how much we try to change our thoughts of our enemy, we cannot.
If your life is in the pit of death, there’s no way you can change your thoughts. God’s grace must be upon you in order for you to escape from that, that’s worship and praise.
“He is your God who performed for you, those awesome great wonders you saw with your own eyes,” so rely on Him only. There’s no person who can ever do anything like this for you, all humans are just people who would gather together before God. There’s no person we can rely on 100%. Quickly acknowledge people’s limitations. We think that whatever we plan can take place, but that is a belief that doesn’t have God. If you think your words are always the truth, that is the reason you fight, and that’s a thought without God. That’s saying, “My words are always correct and it doesn’t matter what God says but in reality even our laws and science is changing, so you won’t know. Only God knows. So, until you receive God’s Word, you have to wait.
Deut. 10:22 “your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy on all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky” meaning God will fulfill the covenant. By God’s grace, He brought one person, Joseph, into Egypt, and He brought the reluctant 70 to Egypt and God made them as numerous as the stars in the sky, His Word fulfilled. The one who has all authority in heaven and on earth says, “Go make disciples of all nations and I will be with you until the ends of the earth.” God will fulfill that promise.
So when the One Who has authority over all heaven and earth is established in my heart, then it will be revealed as power. You have this scheduled prayer that allows you to enjoy that as a platform. As a watchtower or watchman, you must always be vigilantly looking at your field spiritually. A soldier who is on watch in the watchtower must always be vigilantly looking out, but if they get distracted by eating crackers and miss something going on, that’s the same as us getting distracted by our spiritual job or academics, and losing hold of the spiritual things.
It means 24 hours, look at the spiritual field. That’s the watchtower. If you’re a watchtower but you’re so distracted with the physical things, then the enemy will enter, and when the enemy enters, it means the darkness is working in your personal life and family. Third, stand as the antenna that relays this to the entire world. That’s the reason why God gave you your talent and your job.
Let’s take the Word God gave us today because we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. For the older people here, you don’t know if you’re going to wake up tomorrow,w you don’t know if you’re going to be breathing tomorrow or not. You don’t know if you’re going to be able to walk tomorrow or not. The reason I say that is because I want you to rely on God. It’s the same for younger people.
It’s the same thing for the young people. If you think you can keep living life the way you have, that’s foolishness. We stand before this God. You ask for God to guide your way and to fill you with the power of the Triune God so that you can do world evangelization.
Prayer
Let us pray together holding onto the Word God gave us.
Our second prayer topic, stop whatever it is you’re trying to do, and I hope you will entrust it to God. Do not think this way or that, and let God make the judgment. Allow God to carry out God’s plan. It doesn’t matter what kind of relationship you have with people, do not make any judgment about that, but allow God to intervene and for God to guide. That is the beginning of Christ becoming my King.
Let us pray together at this time for regional evangelism. The reason we have to pray is because if we don’t pray, the darkness will not flee. You may think, “Oh, but there are a lot of other churches out there,” but that’s not for you to know, what you need to worry about is praying for the church God has given you, so that Christ will reign over this church and this region. The plans of people have gotten too elevated, so that’s why the world is so loud, and that’s why there are so many excuses and so many conflicts, it’s because Christ is not their King. May Christ work as the King of Kings in this church, region, and in all fields connected to us. May all the authority and curses and disasters of the darkness break down. May the live movement and the disciple movement arise.
Our third prayer topic, please pray for the missions fields to which we are connected. I went to El Salvador, and there’s a disciple there who had to run away from her own region and had to live with the female pastor, and it’s very unfortunate to hear, but that is her present residence. Because we want to do the evangelism movement through her, Satan is really attacking her. Please pray for her. Please continue to pray for the Karen people as well as Naysay, the young adult, who is training with our church. Please pray for his enrollment into Remnant University.
There’s a reason why I’m encouraging and pushing Charles, our disciple in Nigeria, to go into remnant university, because with the seminary training in Uganda, he cannot do the evangelism movement. At least the people here are a little better off, because there are pastors and missionaries around them in America, they are slightly better off if they go to a regular seminary, but I’m even against that.
If they really want to go to a general seminary, they should finish their evangelism training and be set as an evangelist in Remnant University, and then go out into those seminaries so they’re not influenced by it. That was my case. I went to go study in that order, and if it had been swapped, the evangelism movement would be hard, that’s what theology is about.
Once that Bible has been set in you with that frame, it’s impossible to escape from that, and all the more, it is imperative for him to go to Remnant University because he is by himself, so please pray for that. We are doing this for the evangelism movement, it is not for a school diploma. You can get that later on. I could get my diploma now if I wanted, but that person doesn’t evangelize. Let us pray especially for the Mongolian field. I’ve been talking with the Utah missions fields and I am planning on going there in October. Let us pray at this time for the missions fields.
God, we thank You. We thank You for giving us Your grace so that we may have true success and be able to fulfill the true plan of Christ within us. May we be the ones who always seek and fear the Lord, and allow us to realize this is for our good and happiness. Allow us to be circumcised in the heart. Allow us to follow in faith the work You have promised of saving the 237 nations and the 5000 unreached tribes.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants, who desire to have only the triune God for world evangelization, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.