Blessings #2 – of covenant
Last Time – Knowing the truth that you are blessed based on Genesis and Galatians 3
Now - How to walk in What God has promised. – the covenant.
Deuteronomy 7:
12 “Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. 13 And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.

Deuteronomy 8:
18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
re to establish a really deep and meaningful relationship, covenant, with every one on this world and his plan is to do it through His Son and those in whom His Son lives now – that’s you – so he has blessed you.

Blessing and curses

Deuteronomy 11:
26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. 29 Now it shall be, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. If you don't stand in the place of blessing you must be in the place of curse. Your choice!

Deuteronomy 28 Blessings on Obedience –
God has done his bit – what will we do? Obey!!!

1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
9 “The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. 10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. 14 So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

58 “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, 59 then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. 60 Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed.

Deuteronomy 30
Prosperity After Turning to the LORD
1 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart
When you turn to the Lord then the blessings are confirmed
6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. 7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. 8 You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. 9 Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, 10 if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

ALL YOUR HEART - >The law needs to be written in your heart. The constraint that keeps you in obedience is not LAW alone – oughts and shoulds. But LOVE. Your heart needs to be settled, fixed, decide, established. This is a heart decision an inner heart knowing a rule of life which you cannot disobey – it’s unthinkable! A covenant decision like my marriage vows but even stronger. There are many such heart decisions in our lives – some are good some are not ( I could never forgive **** etc.) The decisions like this rule your words. Your words are evidence of heart decisions. They come out naturally.
Romans 10 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ..... 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”[e](that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Deut 30 NIV
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

When they were in the promised land then the blessings and curses were read out to them all as they stood on the mountains Gerizim and Ebal.

We have a choice where we will stand – blessings and curses? Once you know you have a choice – where will you stand ? –– the blessings are then received by faith. Faith and trust leads us to stand with obedient Abraham. Let’s decide to position ourselves. The obedience is not about works or trying harder to earn or deserve favour and blessing. It’s because we trust God doing what He says is in our nature.
That's the place to stand in life - choose a life of LIFE not DEATH

Lets choose. Let’s choose life.
I will stand on Mount Gerizim
I decide to stand in the place of blessing. This is a heart decision. I love God and I am His covenant child. I believe that Jesus died for me and took my sin and now I live for Him
I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the dead. So I believe and confess that I am saved.
I confess that my heart is fixed in my love for God.
My heart is fixed in my obedience to God’s word so I know that I God is for me and not against me, I am blessed.
18/05/2008