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Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  – Deuteronomy 6:7-8

Did you hear Dr. Brook’s message Sunday?  If you didn’t, I encourage you to take the time to listen.  You can go to the Resources tab on the website or download it through iTunes as a podcast.

One of Dr. Brook’s statements was that if we don’t take church home, our children will have nothing to take with them when they leave home.  I believe this is true and I believe it is true for us adults as well.  If we do not take church home, we have nothing to take with us into the world.  In other words, if the only time we worship, instruct, serve and evangelize is on Sunday mornings, we will not have anything with which to engage the culture around us.

The Hebrew word shanan is translated as “teach diligently”.  The NLT translates the word as “repeat”.  The idea is that we live out our faith and teach others to live out their faith as we go about life.  It is not a one-time thing. Nor should it be limited to one day a week.  Being a devoted follower of Christ is a commitment of more than 1 hour a week.  It’s not easy, but Jesus never claimed it would be easy.

So what about you?  What do you need to repeat today?  Is there something you need to learn again?  What do you need to take home?  Is there something God’s calling you to teach someone else?  Will you listen?  Will you repeat these things?  Will you follow Him?

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. – Deuteronomy 6:5

This is one of those verses we hear often in Christian circles.  It is familiar, poetic and sounds good, and for that reason, I think it is easy to skim over with little attention.  Today, as I read it again, God stopped me in my tracks and asked me “do you?”  There is a little word in there that makes a huge difference.  It is the word “all”.  More often, the truth is that I love the Lord with some (maybe even most) of my heart, some of my soul, and very little of my strength.

I’m so grateful for God’s grace—that He loves me and continues to work in me in spite of myself.  My prayer is like the father in Mark 9 who said “I believe. Help me overcome my unbelief”.  I say to the Lord “I love you, help me to love you with all of me.”

Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
– Deuteronomy 4:6

Moses had the attention of the people with “Listen, O Israel.”  Then he reminded them “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  You’d think they’d have gotten this by now, but they, like us had short attention spans and needed to be reminded of this truth. “This was an important insight for the nation of Israel because they were about to enter a land filled with people who believed in many gods.” The same is true today.  We worship together in a community of faith, but during the week, we are spread out all over this city.  Many of the people we come in contact with believe in many different gods including the god of self.  We must remember that the Lord alone is God and stand firm in our faith.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
– Deuteronomy 4:6-9

Last month, the Education Staff at Tallowood had the opportunity to go to the D6 Conference.  D6 stands for Deuteronomy 6. D6 is a conference created around a movement among churches to bring faith back into the home using Deuteronomy 6 as the spiritual formation model for the church.  Since this is something you will be hearing about in one form or another in the coming years, I wanted to take some time and share with you some of the things I am learning and re-learning from this passage known as the Shema.

Many people take this passage as an admonition for parents to teach their children and it is certainly that.  However, the passage begins with “Hear, O Israel.”  The message was for all of Israel whether priest or leaders like Joshua and Caleb, young or old, those with children and those without children.

In this day and age, just as in Moses’ time, God’s call to obedience and holiness is for all of the people of God. His calling is on all of our lives whether the fulfillment of that calling is as a minister in the church or workplace, whether we are young or old, and whether we are single, single again or married.

“Do this in remembrance of me.”

This past Sunday, we celebrated the Lord’s Supper.  It was an opportunity to remember who we were before Christ, to remember what He did, and to remember the cross.

Throughout the book of Deuteronomy Moses says “Listen Israel” and “Remember.”  Numerous times throughout Scripture the people of God are called to remember.  Why are we called to remember so much?  Because we are selfish and forgetful people.  We are so easily distracted.  Many times, we are even distracted by things that in and of themselves are good things: playing sports, studying to do well, working hard, spending time with friends and family.  The problem is that these good things often times take precedence over growing in faith and even crowd God out of the picture.  When this happens, these good things become little more than distractions.  It’s easy to make time for what is important to you.

Today, take time to stop and remember who God is and what He has done.  Remember when you accepted Him and called Him Lord.  Is He still Lord?  Remember that he called you to Him and He continues to do so.  Check out some of the Scriptures (Here are a few to start with: Deuteronomy 4:20, Luke 24:6, Ephesians 2:12, Psalm 77:1) that talk about remembering and ask God to help you remember.

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. –Acts 17:11

I love to learn. It energizes me.  I believe learning is imperative for one’s faith.  If we are not learning, our faith becomes stagnant.  I also love listening.  However, while I might learn a few facts by listening, it is only one part of learning.  One speaker I heard recently said “the act of studying is completed when you do it.”  I thought about this today as I read the following from Henry Blackaby’s devotional “Experiencing God Day by Day.”  He writes,

“Sadly, many Christians today do not exercise their minds to be of service to God.  They allow others to do their spiritual thinking for them.  If they can find their theology from a book, they will not bother to study God’s Word themselves.  If a speaker makes an authoritative statement, they readily accept it without verifying whether it is biblical.”

I’ve been guilty of this.  I still am on occasion.  It is easier to listen and accept than to listen, question and see what God’s Word says.  Discipleship is not easy though and if we are to make disciples, we must first BE disciples.  We must be learning and growing in our faith and we must take an active part in growing our faith.  Another great quote from this past week… “We cannot outsource our faith.”

1/3 of the world doesn’t have the Bible, 1/3 of Christians don’t read theirs… http://ow.ly/2DswU

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. – II Corinthians 9:8

I had a conversation today with a friend who is going through similar circumstances in life.  I prayed with her and as I prayed, I was reminded of a couple of  things.  First, there is power in prayer. Something in me changed when I prayed.  The things that had only a few minutes prior laid heavy on my heart were put in their proper place-before the throne of God.

Secondly, I was reminded that God is able to do more in you or me or our loved ones than we can begin to think up. He is able to redeem your past, carry you in the present and give you a future.  This very idea is so heavy it’s hard to wrap our minds around, but today, I just want to sit in that very thought.  It is not oppressive in its weightiness, but rather an anchor.

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 6:18-20

Give us this day our daily bread. – Matthew 6:11

My brain is on overdrive today.  If it were a cartoon, there would be little creatures zipping around out of control pinging off the sides and blowing things up (The blowing up resulting in spaced out moments).  You’d see little labels on carts and other vehicles with various words and phrases like “to do,” “dreams,” “ideas,” “must get done,” “want to do,” “Random (he he)” and so on.

Days like today, I love the simplicity of verses like Matthew 6:11.  I think it speaks to two things.  First, the word “daily” reminds me that my relationship with God is an every moment, every day thing.  God wants me to invite Him into every part of my life, not just when I set aside time for Him.  This is what abiding in Christ is about.

Secondly, I think the word bread is more than just literal bread, but those things that we need each day.  It doesn’t mean we get everything we want, but I do believe God wants us to come to Him and ask for the resources we need to accomplish our work for the day.  Some days that seems impossible, like asking for more time to get a project done.  However, God is our creator and the creator of time.  Nothing is impossible with Him.  Get in the habit of asking God for your daily bread and you might just find yourself in daily relationship with Him.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.  -2 Kings 22:1-2

Have you ever wondered what might be said of you after you are gone?  I thought about this last week as I was reading in 2 Kings.  The lives of the Kings of Israel and Judah are summed up.  Most of the time, it seems they are summarized as evil.  Josiah was one of the few good kings. “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”

I don’t know about you, but my desire is that my life would be summarized like this. Josiah was good because he not only sought the Lord, he listened and obeyed.  He destroyed the idols and places of worship of other gods that led the people astray.  He led by example.  Listening to the Word of God is important, but the act of listening to the Word is not complete until the truth sinks into our soul and we move forward in obedience.  This is one of the ways we “grow up” in the Lord.