Choosing Life Not Death Part 3
Real People, Real God
Deuteronomy 30:19 (NKJV)
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
As good Stewards, when we put God first in our lives, it’s truly amazing how things just seem to come together.
Stewardship > the management of my God-given resources for His glory, and the good of others. The use of our time, talent and treasure wisely for His glory.
Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NKJV)
5 Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.
6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.
7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Here we see the man that puts his trust in man and the one who puts his trust in God.
V/ 5-6 > Trust in man: For he shall be like a shrub in the desert.
V/ 7-8> Trust in God: For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters.
As I make decision or choices each day to live the life of a wise steward, to do it God’s way 1st, it brings the Blessings and it chases the curse away. Gail said it so well Wednesday night, we need to position ourselves for the Blessing. AMEN!
I believe that that positioning is Stewardship, Putting God 1st in all we do.
Jesus taught a great lesson on stewardship in the parable of the sower.
Mark 4:13-20 (NKJV)
13 And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
14 The sower sows the word.
15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.
18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
Mark 4:19 (AMP)
19 Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.
These people all had choices to make, some choice wisely, and some didn’t. Some position themselves for Blessings and other didn’t.
Again it’s what we want to do with our time, Talent and treasure for His honor and the good of other’s.
I don’t want to get to the end of my life and say, I wish I had, I wish I did, I want to say, I gave it all I had.
I want Fred to come up now and just share, that when he made a decision to put God 1st in their Time, Talents and Treasure how things have turn around.
We also have to understand, that for us Christian’s the curse has been removed by Jesus Christ, and so I don’t have to live under it anymore. But again it takes a decision in my life. I could continue to live the low life, or I can say, AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!
Proverbs 26:2 (NKJV)
2 Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.
Proverbs 26:2 (MSG)
2 You have as little to fear from an undeserved curse as from the dart of a wren or the swoop of a swallow.
Why is that? Because we as Christian are not under the Curse anymore. Jesus removed it for us. PTL.
Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV)
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Did this happen to people in the Old Testament also.
Joshua 2:1-21 Rehab was slated to be killed in Jericho. She was under the curse, but she made a decision to believe in the one true God and because of that a Blessing came. Instead of Death Life came. Because of her faith, her choice or decision, and I believe Stewardship. She gave of her Time, Talent, and treasure, she was greatly rewarded.
James 2:25 (NKJV)
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
Hebrews 11:31 (NKJV)
31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
The amazing thing is that because of her faith, an ex- prostitute was place in the lineage of Jesus the Messiah.
Matthew 1:1 (NKJV)
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
Matthew 1:5 (NKJV)
5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
How about Ruth, I just saw her name there in genealogy of Jesus also.
Ruth 1:14-18 (NKJV)
14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, "Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law."
16 But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me."
18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
Ruth was a Moabite.
How about Joseph, He was place under a curse by his family, yet he made a decision to do it right before God, to be a good steward of his life and look at the final results with him.
1st He has a dream: A God given vision
2nd He’s Rejected by family: That hurts
3rd He’s accepted in Potiphar house: A new life
4th Betrayed: Accused falsely
5th Restoration: Get’s a new start
6th Forgiveness: He forgives his family
Don’t tell me that we can’t go from a curse to a Blessing.
How, by being a wise Steward that put’s the things of God 1st. When we give God of our Time, our Talent and our treasure, He changes things for us so that Blessings come our way.
Numbers 6:22-27 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 23 "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace." ' 27 "So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."
