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Remember... Deuteronomy 8 February 26, 2006
Deut 8 - A Warning Against a Spirit of Independence -
Memory - read page Remember = “to call to mind again” - 260 X in the Bible
Biblical Reminders: Rainbow - Gen 9:15-16 Past blessings - Ez 9:5-15 Covenant - Ex 2:24 Past sins - Jos 22:12-20 Passover - Ex 13:3 God’s blessings - Neh 9:1-38 Sabbath - Ex 20:8 God’s promises - Neh 1:8-11 Book - Mal 3:16 Christian truths - 2 Pt 1:15-21 Lord’s Supper - Lk 22:19 Prophecies - Jn 2:19-22 Anniversaries – 14.5 years!
Aids to remember: - reminder - II Sam 12:1-13 - David and Nathan - conscience - Gen 41:9 - Chief cupbearer reminded of his shortcomings - HS - Jn 14:26 - Jesus promises HS to teach, remind
Deut 8...
*** Historical Timeline *** C 1-4 - review of history - wandering in the desert; come up on H the east side of the Jordan; destroy two kings - Og, Sihon P 5-11 - repetition of Decalogue; be a separate, holy people
PRAY
Exhortation to Remember the Wilderness (1-6)
1 - gifts of life and fertility in the land are not given automatically - they are the by-products of obedience
2-3 - God already knew what was in their hearts... a- their obed or disobedience had to be proven in history ...to show the people what their response would be b- God took them to the desert where they had to: + trust Him + murmur against Him c- they could not produce their own food, water ...even their food was decreed by the WORD of God d- humbled, lowest point, get ATTNTN; sick...LOOK UP e- it was ultimately not the manna that kept them alive but His word (no storing up) ...today’s society ...bread alone could not have kept them alive
Total dependence -- (This is why Jesus did not turn the stone into bread at the suggestion of Satan (Mt 4). God would provide food apart from His performing a miracle.)
4-6 - God disciplined Israel by forcing her to be dependent on Him for everything - food, water, clothing They had no choice. Logical response - keep the commandments (OBEY) (vs 6) - FOLLOW and FEAR God ** fearing to disobey the one Who is so powerful and holy …Logical, but do you? ...obeying God makes sense
Exhortation to Remember God (7-20)
7-9 - Abundance of new land - contrasted with wilderness - water -- crops, animals (nubean sandstone, basalt) - grain -- wheat, barley NOT A - fruit -- grapes (Num 13) figs, pomegranates RIGHT - oil -- olive trees - honey - minerals -- iron, copper (discovered S of the Dead Sea)
10-18 - In the desert they HAD to remember God Now, with abundance, they did not have to... - Sure antidote: “Bless (praise) the Lord your God” (10) - Failure to praise God was the first step in forgetting Him, resulting in disobed - LETTER to friend - Failure to praise í proud heart (due to abundance)
Hosea 13:6 - “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then, they forgot Me.”
** man was created to worship...something
- Failure to remember God (...idolatry) can be caused by: + not reminding yourself + not telling your children – laziness
- DT places great stress on the parents being responsible for the children’s spiritual education ...not the priests and religious leaders 4:9-10; 11:19; 31:13; 32:46
- Failure to remember God meant forgetting: + deliverance from Egypt + slavery + wilderness - serpents, scorpions + water, manna ...if one forgot this, he would be crediting his own ability, power ** vs 18
19-20 - Just as failure to praise God ] forget God ...failure to remember God ] idolatry ...idolatry ] death --- if Israel wanted an example... chaps 2, 3 -- Death of Sihon (Heshbon) and Og (Bashan)
Maybe you’re thinking God hasn’t remembered you... FOOTPRINTS If God seems so far away, who moved?
While in the... - desert - remember/obey -- live - forget/disobey -- die - prom land - choice
*** We are living abundantly
3-point sermons “T” ... 1-point sermon “R”
“Our present and future should be viewed in light of what God has done in the past.”
Am I SHOWING my thankfulness to God by the way I am living?
Bear in Mind Absent-minded Losing my mind Mindful Mastermind I’ll keep it in mind Never mind Change my mind Do you mind? What do you have in mind? Being of one mind
MEMORY... Being conscious is hard work; the brain consumes a quarter of all the energy a body uses. Gram for gram, brain tissue uses more calories than muscles when exercising. A memory seems to make a trip around the brain, leaving fragments or copies behind in different locations.
Images are more memorable than words. The brain's capacity for pictures is almost unlimited. People with exceptional memory simply have good mental filing systems.
Remembering is a learned skill that involves hard work. One study has shown that trained people with average IQs can out-remember high-IQ subjects who have not been taught the techniques.
The inability to recall names is people's most common complaint about forgetfulness. Linking a name to a ridiculous image, says memory expert Harry Lorayne, is the cure. He can meet 200 people in 15 minutes and recall all of their names. Daily practice is also essential.
People at any age can improve their memories with training and mental filing systems -- up to 80% with names, for instance.
Julius Caesar’s working memory was so disciplined that he could dictate four letters to his secretaries simultaneously.
Blind John Milton composed Paradise Lost in his mind 40 majestic lines at a time and then recited them to a scribe.
Conductor Arturo Toscanini knew every note of more than 400 scores, from Bach to Vagner.
Winston Churchill could recall so much Shakespeare that he would mouth the words from the audience, much to the distraction of the actors on-stage.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates still remembers hundreds of lines of source code for his original Basic programming language.
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