Spiritual Drift and Affluence!

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

Spiritual Drift and Affluence!

Deuteronomy 8:11–14 (ESV)

11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery …

Spiritual Drift. In a recent conversation with Drew Dyck, author of Generation Ex-Christian: Why Young Adults Are Leaving the Faith … And How to Bring them Back, he made an interesting comment. Drew said, “In recent research nearly 70% of young adults confessed that the reason they left the faith was that they simply drifted away.” (See my review of Drew’s book here. Listen to my podcast with Drew on Wednesday this week!)

How does our heart drift away from God? One of the greatest dangers to spiritual vibrancy is affluence. Some have called it affluenza. Let’s discover the 5 dangers of affluenza that Moses warned the nation of Israel about and think how they affect us today.

  • An abundance of food – imagine having no food in the home and not being sure where your next meal is coming from. That’s what its like for over 1/3 of the world’s population. With a visit to the favorite restaurant of your choice always an option and the fridge, cupboard and freezer filled, we can get complacent about asking for to “give us this day our daily bread.”
  • A comfortable home – having been homeless for a year let Melodee and I know what we had lost. We prayed daily for God’s care – which he provided – and we thanked him many times a day for the blessing of a roof over our heads. However, when we own our home and can make the payments, we often take this need for granted and forget to thank God for it.
  • A growing career or business – over the years, if we apply ourselves, we can begin to see how OUR efforts have allowed us to rise. We seldom think about God’s hand of favor and soon we start believing the lie that we are “self-made” people. This leads to more drift as we need less and believe we are able to bless our own lives.
  • A good salary and savings – a pension, a full 401k, a laptop, a web-enabled cell phone, trips away on the weekends, and most all of the comforts a person could imagine (with a wish list for the next big thing, think iPad 2), our false image of our own self-made security is about complete. Who needs God when they can provide for all their needs?
  • A growing lifestyle of prosperity – Moses uses an interesting phrase here to wrap up this thought; “and all that you have is multiplied.” In other words, God provides abundance – and we in America know it all too well. Yet, this very provision can be a curse if we fail to nurture our heart close to God every day.

It is our hope that you will avail yourself of some time alone with God every day. We have created tools for just that purpose. Avoid the drift … walk purposefully toward God and with God every day!

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Sunday when we talk about “The Book of Joshua: Israel Crosses Into the Promised Land.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

For Our Los Angeles County Friends!

Dr. Matthew Smith will be speaking this coming Sunday, March 13th in Long Beach and would like to invite you to attend. He will be speaking on the subject, “Falling in Love with Jesus!” There is no fee for this event and all are welcome. Here are the details:

March 13 – 10:45 am Worship Speaker @ University Baptist Church, 3434 Chatwin Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90808 – (562) 425-0912

Hope to see you there!

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When Fear Grips Your Viability!

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

When Fear Grips Your Viability!

Deuteronomy 7:17-26 (ESV)

17 “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ 18 you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. 21 You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. 22 The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. 23 But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.

Fear. It grips all of us at one time or another. And nothing is as debilitating as when fear paralyzes your mission. What do you do when you are afraid and it is affecting your mission and ministry? Moses shows us that there are things we must do and things God will do for us in such situations. First, let’s look at our responsibilities when fear grips our mission’s viability …

My Responsibilities

  • Don’t let fear control you! (7.18a)
  • Remember what God has done! (7.18b)
  • Victory will put an end to their fame! (7.24b)
  • Destroy their worthless idols completely! (7.25a)
  • Don’t desire any of their profits from sin and shame! (7.25b)
  • Don’t bring their possessions into your home! (7.26a)
  • Detest all that their lifestyle enjoyed! (7.26b)

While this is happening, God is working. Now get this: God works AS we advance. It’s about faith in action – God works when he sees us trust him! Note what God will do:

God’s Actions for Us

  • God will fight for you! (7.19)
  • God will antagonize your enemies! (7.20)
  • God will be in your midst! (7.21)
  • God will advance your cause! (7.22)
  • God will confuse them and make you victorious! (7.23)
  • God will defeat their leaders for you! (7.24)

When fear grips you next time, review this passage and take the steps listed above. God will work as you launch out by faith.

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Friday when we talk about “Spiritual Drift and Affluence.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

For Our Los Angeles County Friends!

Dr. Matthew Smith will be speaking this coming Sunday, March 13th in Long Beach and would like to invite you to attend. He will be speaking on the subject, “Falling in Love with Jesus!” There is no fee for this event and all are welcome. Here are the details:

March 13 – 10:45 am Worship Speaker @ University Baptist Church, 3434 Chatwin Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90808 – (562) 425-0912

Hope to see you there!

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Listening to the Promises to the Future Leader

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

Listening to the Promises to the Future Leader

(Deuteronomy 27-34)

As we open the third part of the book of Deuteronomy, we see how fresh hope was established. The old, rebellious generation is dead and gone. Now, with new blood and a new people, God is able to accomplish what He desired to do forty years before. Watch for these themes as you travel to the end of this great book of renewed hope!

  • God’s Covenant is explained to the next generation of Israel. (27-28)
  • God’s Covenant is entered into by the next generation of Israel. (29-30)
  • God’s Covenant Leader (Joshua) is enlisted for the next generation of Israel. (31-34)

And that concludes our journey through Deuteronomy and all of Route Number 1! At this point, we have traveled almost 2,400 years! We started with two people in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, and now have a multitude of nations in the greater Eastern world.

As we close this route out, we are about to embark on our second route through the Old Testament. In Route No. 2: Taking a Walk Through The History of Israel, we will explore approximately 1,000 more years. We will see a cycle in our next route between victory and defeat, and learn the lessons of a dozen lifetimes!

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Thursday when we talk about “When Fear Grips Your Mission’s Viability.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

For Our Los Angeles County Friends!

Dr. Matthew Smith will be speaking this coming Sunday, March 13th in Long Beach and would like to invite you to attend. He will be speaking on the subject, “Falling in Love with Jesus!” There is no fee for this event and all are welcome. Here are the details:

March 13 – 10:45 am Worship Speaker @ University Baptist Church, 3434 Chatwin Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90808 – (562) 425-0912

Hope to see you there!

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Vision Casting to Conquer Great Obstacles!

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

Vision Casting to Conquer Great Obstacles!

Deuteronomy 7:1-5 (ESV)

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.

When you know you are about to face some HUGE opposition to your mission, what do you say to your team? Moses, schooled for 40 years by God’s example, leads his people in preparation for the conquest of the Promised Land. It would not be easy, but God would help them win. How did he prepare the hearts of the nation? There are five telling tips to casting a great vision.

  • Start by telling them victory is inevitable! (7.1-2a) Moses not only told them that God was going to give them victory, in the ESV the word “when” is repeated. In other words, “This is going to happen and when it does, this is what we do!”
  • Be sure to explain what victory looks like! (7.2b) Defeat wasn’t enough on this mission from God. The soldiers were to “devote them to complete destruction.” The mission parameters were clear long before the first man stepped into the battle.
  • Clearly define the non-negotiables! (7.2c) God knew that if these men were to allow their enemies to live, they would undermine their effort and bring certain disaster to the mission. Therefore, everyone knew that this was an “all or nothing” scenario.
  • Warn them of the inherent dangers that lie ahead! (7.3) Surprisingly, the greatest dangers were not the battles, but from the spoils of victory. Here, the danger was in the common practice of taking the women of the conquered peoples as wives. Moses says that bringing someone into your home that has no passion for God is the same as inviting the enemy into the community to destroy it.
  • Remove the temptation to tolerate evil! (7.5) While we respect the faith of others within our nation, Moses knew the dangers of idolaters and wanted no presence or possibility of spiritual drift to happen among God’s people in Old Testament Israel. A wise leader does all he or she can to minimize the dangers to the spiritual vibrancy of their team.

Vision casting “sees” the desired outcome and then “visualizes” it (helps the other person see it) for his or her team. All great obstacles are overcome by faith in God and seeing God’s desired outcome before it happens. Eagle leaders help others see what God wants and help them get there.

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Wednesday when we talk about “Listening to the Promises of the Future Leader.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

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7 Actions to Stop Spiritual Drift

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

7 Actions to Stop Spiritual Drift

Deuteronomy 6:10-19 (ESV)

10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

Spiritual drift. These words should freeze our blood when we read them. One of the greatest enemies of our faith is not the obstacle we face, or the enemy who attacks us. No, one of the greatest enemies to our spiritual life is that we would simply ignore God. We get so busy that we forget God – he doesn’t remain an integral part of our daily relationship and routine. Moses reminds us that here are seven repeated actions that stop drift in its tracks and provide us with an anchor for our faith.

  • Fear God! (6.13a) Many have sought to lessen the impact of this word, calling this godly reverence. While this is true, even in the New Testament, the word translated “fear” is the word “phobos” – from which we get the word, “phobia.” God wants us to remember constantly who he is and who we are not. Love for him doesn’t mean we can blithely live selfish, sin-packed lives without consequence.
  • Serve God! (6.13b) Paul reinforces our need to change the center of our universe from ourselves to Christ when he says “and [Jesus] died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:15, ESV)
  • Speak Truth! (6.13c) While we are no longer to take oaths (Matthew 5.37), we are supposed to speak the truth. Why? Because God listens to every word and we will give an account for even every idle word (Matthew 12.36; Romans 14.12). Asking friends to keep us accountable here is a valuable tool against forgetting God’s presence and purpose in our lives.
  • Worship God! (6.14) God is like a spouse – no dating, no infidelity! (Ephesians 5.32) Purity is about pleasure, trust and passion. Drift ends when we throw ourselves into God alone as our life. (Colossians 3.4)
  • Respect God! (6.16) Testing God’s limits is a foolish thing to do, as the nation of Israel could attest to after doing donuts in the desert for four decades! Love, trust and respect all flow from the same heart spring of love.
  • Obey God! (6.17) Our culture likes to cut corners … this is the stuff of spiritual drift, and evidence we haven’t been in God’s presence recently. God places his “commandments, testimonies and statutes” in the Word for our benefit. Jesus was clear that He had come to give us an abundant life (John 14.6), and that life comes from obedience to God’s guidance. (Deuteronomy 4.40)
  • Live God! (6.18) Drift ends when we commit to doing what is “right and good in the sight of the Lord.” Integrity flows from a heart that is close to God and loves God. It anchors the soul and provides a sure and steady course for life.

Drift ends when we passionately pursue Christ! Living these seven repeated actions can no only transform your life, they can provide direction every day!

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Tuesday when we talk about “Vision Casting to Conquer Great Obstacles.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

For Our Los Angeles County Friends!

Dr. Matthew Smith will be speaking this coming Sunday, March 13th in Long Beach and would like to invite you to attend. He will be speaking on the subject, “Falling in Love with Jesus!” There is no fee for this event and all are welcome. Here are the details:

March 13 – 10:45 am Worship Speaker @ University Baptist Church, 3434 Chatwin Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90808 – (562) 425-0912

Hope to see you there!

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Transferring Faith to the Next Generation

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

Transferring Faith to the Next Generation

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (ESV)

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Every parent, pastor and Eagle Leader wants to know how to transfer his or her faith into the next generation. While there are many great books, seminars and tools available, God created children and knows exactly what is most essential. In Deuteronomy God gives six essentials for transferring your faith into another.

  • Love God passionately! (6.5) Let’s face it, more things are caught than taught. If your faith doesn’t register on the Richter Scale, it probably won’t register on anyone else’s either.
  • Live God’s Word daily! (6.6) If the Word of God isn’t a part of your daily routine to the point it becomes hardwired into your DNA, you won’t pass it along to another. The evidence of belief is action.
  • Leave God’s wisdom clearly! (6.7a) All too often there is a disconnect between the words on the pages of the Bible and the “how to” in real life. If you are going to transfer your faith, show them how you do it, live it, flesh it out.
  • Link God’s truths continually! (6.7b) Since God is the author of life, we should be able to see how His Word constantly applies to our every situation. Speaking up about these takes some of the mystery away from faith and elevates it to the realm of reality in others.
  • Look to God’s commands repeatedly! (6.8) Jesus told us that, “out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45, ESV) When God’s Word is highly valued, our conversations are fresh with His practical understanding.
  • Linger over God’s perspectives visually! (6.9) In my mother’s home a simple plaque is still visual in my life: “Time wounds all heals.” This awful advice is seared into my conscience because it was displayed in our kitchen. How much more profitable than to have God’s wisdom displayed for all to catch?

Raising children (physical and spiritual) is hard enough in this world. God wants to help. These essentials can make a huge difference in the life of those we want to transfer our faith into.

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Monday when we talk about “7 Actions to Stop Spiritual Drift.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

For Our Los Angeles County Friends!

Dr. Matthew Smith will be speaking this coming Sunday, March 13th in Long Beach and would like to invite you to attend. He will be speaking on the subject, “Falling in Love with Jesus!” There is no fee for this event and all are welcome. Here are the details:

March 13 – 10:45 am Worship Speaker @ University Baptist Church, 3434 Chatwin Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90808 – (562) 425-0912

Hope to see you there!

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Building a Love for God!

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

Building a Love for God!

o   When we build a heart of love for God we love Him by praising His worthy name to all who will listen.

Moses explains ones of the great exercises that develops a heart for love:

You must fear the LORD your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done mighty miracles that you yourselves have seen. When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky! “You must love the LORD your God and obey all his requirements, laws, regulations, and commands. Deuteronomy 10:20-22, 11:1 (NLT)

This is exactly what we see Paul talking about in Philippians:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 (NKJV)

Follow the process carefully …


o   Building a heart of love for God begins with obedience – whether someone is watching or not.

o   Building a heart of love for God means seeking to discern how the pieces of His will fit into the scheme of my personal life.

o   Building a heart of love for God requires an attitude of fear – knowing that we could totally and completely walk a path God never intended for our lives, thus displeasing Him and being unfruitful in His kingdom.

o   Building a heart of love for God finds us constantly listening and seeking God’s heart and will – in the Word of God (the Bible) and through the voice of God the Spirit – because we know God wants to work in us to accomplish something supernatural with us.

o   Building a heart of love for God drives us back to the motivation of a life lived with and for God – the good pleasure of His will.

God longs to grow close to you! As we move closer to God, he grows closer to us.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:8, ESV)

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Sunday when we talk about “Transferring Faith to the Next Generation.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

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Living up to Expectations for the Present Generation

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

Deuteronomy …

Living up to Expectations for the Present Generation

(Deuteronomy 5-26)

In the second section of this book of renewed hope, we see Moses deliver the laws that will govern the nation in the new land. Notice how many times he recasts the vision as he says, “When you enter the land the Lord is giving to you.”

As you explore these chapters, remember you are dealing the laws of an entire nation! It is quite possible that the nation of Israel numbers almost three million at this time, and is only supposed to grow larger! Although it is not your typical inspirational reading, this legal section does have one major difference from reading the Constitution of the United States and it’s Law Code: These laws are given with God’s voice all through them. Please remember the principle set forth by Jesus as you read them:

“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. ” (Luke 6:45, ESV)

Since God is good, these laws are good for the people of Israel. They flow from the abundance of God’s heart. Therefore, they are designed to bring life to their daily lives as much as eternal life to their souls.

Listen as you travel through these major sections of Israel’s New Law Code. We see Moses is …

  • Explaining the meaning of the Ten Commandments, which housed the core of Israel’s moral life. (5-10)
  • Explaining the meaning of the Ceremonial Laws, which housed the core of Israel’s religious life. (11-16)
  • Explaining the meaning of the Civil Laws, which housed the core of Israel’s political life. (16-20)
  • Explaining the meaning of the Social Laws, which housed the core of Israel’s daily life. (21-26)

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Friday when we talk about “Building a Love for God.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

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The Book of Deuteronomy, The Book of Renewed Hope.

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

The Book of Deuteronomy, The Book of Renewed Hope.

(About one month)

Moses takes the last month of his life and retrains the entire nation in the laws of God. Deuteronomy literally means “Second Law.” However, Deuteronomy is more than a second law, it is an expansion and an explanation of the Law, with editorial comments from Moses and his forty years of knowing God.

In this preparation book, Moses gives a series of seminars that can be divided into three sections:

Learning from the Failures and Victories of the Past Generation

(Deuteronomy 1-4)

As we begin this journal of renewed hope, the failures of the past linger about the new generation like cigar smoke on clothing. God and Moses set out to make the best of these failures and craft the lessons necessary for victory in the Promised Land. Be aware of the following as you pass through:

·       Learning from the failure at Kadesh. (1)

·       Learning from the failure of the wanderings. (2)

·       Learning from the victory over the kings on the East side of the Jordan River. (2-3)

·       Learning from the warnings given from the mouth of God. (4)

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Thursday when we talk in detail about the “The Book of Deuteronomy – Living Up to Expectations.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

Need some hope? My wife’s new book, “Hope Enabler” will refresh your soul and lift your spirits!

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

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Old Testament Route #3: Experiencing the Original Journey with the People of God

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general. Today we want to explore …

Old Testament Route #3

Following the Original Journey of the People of God

Our first two routes are written as a diary or journal of the actual travels of the people of God in the Old Testament. They are their history books.  As we travel on these two routes, we will be following the original journeys as they unfold, often as if we were participants in the actual events. We have already considered the first two routes:

  • Route No. 1: Forming the first five books of the Bible. On this route we will explore approximately 2,300 years of the formation history for the nation of Israel.
  • Route No. 2: Taking a walk through the history of Israel. On this route we will explore approximately 1,000 years of Israel’s history. It will include the glory days of David and Solomon and the disaster days of Civil War and captivity.  It will end with a broken and weak remnant that is allowed to return to their conquered home in Israel. When we complete this route, we will have read the entire history of the Old Testament.

The final three routes are written in a diary format to express the feelings of the eyewitnesses as each event occurred.  These routes help us in:

Experiencing the Original Journey with the People of God

On these routes we are no longer just a participant or a follower on the journey. Now we also experience the events.  We feel with the people of God, not just travel with them. As we experience what they go through, our emotions become involved. Consider the final three routes in our journey through the Old Testament.

  • Route No. 3: Enjoying the poetry of the Old Testament. On this route we will explore the imagination, hopes, and dreams of the major poets from Israel’s history. Taken from all along the journey of the Old Testament, these works are assembled into five books. Israel’s major poets work to express themselves, their relationships with God and man, their struggles and their triumphs. Truly this is the inspirational literature of the Bible. We will look at:
  • The book of Job, and explore the question of why good people suffer.
  • The book of Psalms, and we will sing songs about the heart of God.
  • The book of Proverbs, and discover wise words to raise children by.
  • The book of Ecclesiastes, and understand the futility of a life lived for self.
  • The book of the Song of Solomon, and be warmed by a love song of marriage.

We will look at the final two routes, which are written in a diary format to express the feelings of the eyewitnesses as each event occurred later on our journey through the Bible, cover-to-cover in 2011!

It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. We will continue this series with our next installment on Tuesday when we talk in detail about the “The Book of Deuteronomy – Renewed Hope.”

For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website.

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