New Year, New You, New Season - Part 3

Good Morning, and praise the Lord.  We are continuing with our series, and for those of you who don’t know, the title is New Year, New You, New Season.  Please turn with me to Leviticus chapter 26.

Leviticus 26

Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. And I set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.  But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.  And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her Sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord. These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Here we see the promises of God to Israel, which also extend to the body of Christ.  Let’s break it down, step by step, so that we see not only how good the Lord is to us, but how this covenant stands the test of time.

In the past, idols were created and fashioned to be gods.  In the present, money, fame and possessions are what the world worships.  Young people are taught to YOLO, and if you don’t know what that means, say it to any kid, and they’ll tell you that you only live once.

While that may be true, the sad part is that if you don’t know or aren’t concerned about where you will spend eternity, we end up buying into society’s standards for success.  Having a seven digit bank account, a BMW in the garage to your mansion, and a drop dead gorgeous wife or husband with a six pack and almost no BMI will not make you happy if you haven’t had an encounter with the Savior.

I know that I’m not going to get a lot of amens on this one, but here goes.  The Lord requires that we keep the Sabbath holy.  What does that mean?  I’m glad you asked, because unlike the world we live in today, there was a time when stores weren’t open on Sundays, and most people actually went to church, and had a family dinner every week, where fellowship and fun occurred in the household.  I miss those days!

Now, people don’t see the need to enter into the house of God, because they can watch their favorite TV megachurch pastor on the Word Network and get the word every Sunday.  The mindset of those believers or even unbelievers is that folks that go to church are hypocrites, and they want nothing to do with them.  They don’t think about what the bible says about not forsaking the assembling of yourselves.

If we were to indulge ourselves with that mindset, then we’re all guilty of it.  I came to remind you that we are all sinners, saved by grace, and if you want to protest and come at me with the argument that once we’re saved, we don’t sin anymore, the devil is a liar!  We sin on a daily basis, in thought, word and deed, thus the reason why we must repent continually, so that we’re in right standing with the Lord.

Don’t you know that the key to being blessed by God is to do what His word says?  My sister put up a post on Facebook that I completely agree with.  It basically said to stop looking for financial blessings from the Lord, because there are so many others to be thankful for, like the fact that He woke us up this morning, and gave us more time.  Don’t believe me?  Just read about Hezekiah, whom God told to get his house in order, because he was about to die.

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and began to weep.  He knew that he had more to do, but he was ill.  He asked the Lord for more time, as the shadow of death began to come up the stairs of the inner chamber of the palace, directly into the king’s room.  Because God was so moved by his prayer, and the fact that unlike other previous kings, he was completely sold out for the Lord and the kingdom and people were blessed, He granted Hezekiah another 15 years.

Can we just praise God for what He’s already done, and for the things that He’s prevented?  I mean, He has stayed the enemy’s hand from destroying us, and we have food, clothing and shelter.  We may not have everything that we need, but it’s on the way.  Can we look for His presence, and not just the gifts?  I’m just saying!

The Lord has kept us from being in bondage in our minds, bodies, souls and spirits, so the least we can do is not allow the enemy to trick us into thinking that we’re anything less than a King’s kid.  Please understand that we have a choice.  God gave us free will, so we can make up our own mind as to what we want to do with our lives.

However, know that should you choose not to serve the Lord, and go your own way, there are consequences.  Try as you might, God’s way is always the best way.  Only a foolish and arrogant individual thinks that they are capable enough to be a self-made man or woman who doesn’t need anyone’s help, and they can pat themselves on the back because they did it their way, like the song says.

Sorry, but if the Lord didn’t wake us up this morning, we certainly would have fallen asleep for eternity until the trumpet’s call.  We can think all we want that we made it of our own accord, but that just isn’t true.  I promise you that we will all one day acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ and bow before Him, either in worship or in judgment.  Remember, the choice is yours.

My brothers and sisters, the last thing that we ever want to do is to live under the wrath of God.  There are too many things that can happen against us if we want to square up against the Creator of the universe.  I promise you that you won’t win.  In comparison to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we are an ant that can easily be stepped on.  Why be an enemy when we can be a friend of God?  Israel and New Breed said it best: “…who am I that You are mindful of me, that You hear me when I call?  Is it true that You are thinking of me, how You love me…its amazing!”

This passage of scripture outlines the good and the bad, for not just us, but the generations coming behind us.  Who wouldn’t serve a God like this, full of grace and mercy and loving kindness toward us?  If you don’t know about Him, then I challenge you to find a bible believing church to go to this Sunday, and find out about Him.  I promise that He will wrap His loving arms around you and give you the peace that passes all understanding.  May the Lord bless you, and we’ll see you tomorrow, God willing.