So we have to walk this straight and narrow path
up the mountain. And though this path and this
journey you're on, you know, it's got rocks on
it. It might have some boulders you've got to
climb over. Yeah. Things you have to work your
way around it. But walking up the mountain of
the Lord isn't, it's not easy. No, it's not.
But it's worth it. But it's worth it. God promises
in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity.
Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend
for that promised outpouring, we equip for that
outpouring, so that we may engage in that very
outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss.
Welcome to the podcast today. Here's a question
from the Holy Spirit we're going to explore today
in this episode. Are you climbing the right mountain?
Mm, sounds interesting. Thanks for joining us
today. We're so glad that you are with us. We
want to encourage you, if you haven't already
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and see what the Holy Spirit gives us for you.
We always enjoy it when people do that. That's
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Our podcasts are all there. Our YouTube channel
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And even groups and a prayer wall. You can put
your prayer requests on our prayer wall. And
the intercessors will chime in and say, hey,
I'm praying for you for that. So it's a great
thing. We encourage you to download that and
join the community. So in my morning devotion
time, that's when I just seemed to get things.
It was like, okay, Lord, we're going to do another
episode. What's on your heart? What's on the
heart? You know, and actually the first thing
that came to me was the day of the Lord. And
we're going to do other things on that, not on
this one. We might mention a thing or two, but
out of that came this, the mountain of the Lord.
Because you read about the mountain of the Lord
in Scripture, and it's the natural mountain of
the Lord going up to Jerusalem. But we have the
spiritual mountain that we are climbing on. Yes.
Or we're supposed to be on the spiritual mountain.
Yes. But if we're on somebody else's mountain.
You know, we could be on the wrong mountain going
nowhere. That's true. That's true. If you remember
in our last episode, we were talking about, part
of it anyway, we were talking about the difference
between the Lord's mountains, you know, where
he had his house in Jerusalem and where he had
his house, his tabernacle in Shiloh, that it's
not the highest mountain, but all of the false
gods want to be on the high places. Yeah. Because
our Father is always trying to teach us the value
of humility. It's better to be a servant. It's
better to serve. It's better to go low. But climbing
the mountain of the Lord would be the place where
you climb to make sacrifice. I mean, that was
the place where David sacrificed to the Lord
when there was a... It was a plague. That was
a plague, yeah. And it's the same mountain also
where Abraham was ready to plunge the knife into
Isaac, and God said, okay, that's enough. I see
that you're going to do it. It's the same mountain.
And just as an aside, it's also the same mountain,
I believe, where Jesus was crucified, because
when Solomon was building the temple there, he
would have quarried out of the northern side
of that mountain in order to get the rock to
build the stones, to build the buildings. So
I think Jesus was crucified in that quarry area,
whether you think it's the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre location, whether you think it's the
garden tomb, it's still in that same area. It's
all in the same vicinity, yeah. Yeah. So anyway,
so in Isaiah chapter 2, I'm going to read this
out of the King James. And Isaiah, you know,
he spanned four different kings. Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah, and it was Manasseh that sought
him in half. So he was giving the word of the
Lord, things they want to hear and things they
didn't want to hear. And he would speak of the
glories of Israel, and then would go into, you're
doing things wrong, and you need to change it.
So anyway, in chapter 2 of Isaiah, verse 1, The
word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem, and it shall come to pass
in the last days. And guess what we're living
in? We're living in the last days. And you look
it up, and that's what it really means, end of
time, last days. The mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills, and all
nations shall flow unto it. Okay, can I interject
something here? Yeah. Based on what I just said
about... being lower. It's not like the temple
platform is going to go higher. If you look in
the Hebrew, where it says, shall be established
in the top of the mountains, it could also be
translated, shall be established as the chief
of the mountains. Chief of the mountains. In
other words, it's the most important. Okay. It's
the most important mountain. Not that it's the
tallest, but it's the most important. That was
like Shiloh. Yeah, Shiloh is the same. Yeah,
Shiloh is the same thing. Shiloh was also a lower
hill and there were mountains around it so that
the people could eat their sacrifices that they
took to the Lord and they brought back some meat
to eat. You know, that's part of covenant that
you eat part of the sacrifice. And that's why
Jesus said, this is my body. given for you. That's
what they did when they put the blood on the
doorpost in the land of Egypt. Right. They ate
the sacrifice in haste. Right. So the idea is
that whatever happens to make covenant, you're
participating with it and agreeing with it by
taking it into yourself, and it becomes a part
of you. Whatever you eat becomes a part of you,
right? You get energy from it. You build strong
bodies. And so that's why Jesus, when he instituted
the new covenant, he gave us something to eat
and said, this is my body. Okay, sorry. That
was a wonderful bunny trail. So in verse three,
and many people shall go up and say, come ye.
Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach
us of his ways and we will walk in his paths.
Yes. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Yes. And
he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke
many people and they shall beat their swords
into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against
nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore.
So this is part of this prophetic word that has
not been fulfilled yet. Because Isaiah, you know,
one of the greatest writers in the Old Testament,
prophesying the Messiah. Yes. And, you know,
he saw way far out. He saw thousands of years
later, which is just really amazing. So you look
at this mountain, you know, and the word of the
Lord law comes out of Jerusalem because that's
where the temple ended up. You know, the natural
temple, you know, under Samuel, it was at Shiloh.
You had the Ark of the Covenant. Yeah, from Joshua
until Samuel. Joshua until Samuel. And then the
Philistines got it for a season. And then when
David was anointed king, you know, they brought
the Ark up and eventually, through some mistakes
and things, they got it right. They brought it
up on an ox cart. They set it in place, but it
was his son Solomon that built the temple. And
that was the final resting place. for the Ark
of the Covenant. So that's the house of the Lord.
You know, the house. And so there is where you
went up three times a year to give sacrifice
unto the Lord. So you have all the scribes, you
know. So the law, everything is taking place
in Jerusalem. Right. Though it did get corrupt
after a while, you know, which is what happened
through the time of Jesus. Temples destroyed,
you know, then it's rebuilt again and, you know,
the amazing history. But the law still goes out
from Jerusalem. Yes. And when Jesus comes back,
you can read it in Zechariah chapter 13, I believe
it is. And that day his feet shall stand on the
Mount of Olives. Right, which is right opposite
of the Temple Mount. What did Dean Braxton say
they call the Lord in heaven? They call him the
Word? Yes, the Father. But the Father is called
the Word. The Father is called the Word. So the
Word is going to put its feet on the Mount of
Olives when he comes back. Yes. I thought, wow,
in Jerusalem. Yes. And actually... Jesus hung
out on the Mount of Olives during his lifetime,
during his ministry. That's where he would go
to pray. The Garden of Gethsemane is on the Mount
of Olives. It's all there. Yum. And so you see,
as Isaiah is giving, you know, giving forth this
word, and even after that, you know, he just
tells this, you know, the things that Israel
is involved in. Their land is full of silver
and gold. You know, there's no end of their treasures,
and the land is full of idols. They worship the
work of their own hands. And, you know, and they're
talking about, you know, the Philistines and
other people that are all surrounding Israel.
I mean, the land is just full of idols, and they
had to deal with that ever since they came out
of Egypt. Yeah. You know, it's just all there.
And I'm just going to throw this in. And in verse
10, Enter into the rock and hide thee in the
dust for fear of the Lord and for the glory of
his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be
humbled and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed
down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that
day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be
upon everyone that is proud and lofty and upon
everyone that is lifted up and he shall be brought
low. But didn't we just talk about this in a...
In our podcast. Yeah, in the last episode. Yeah,
those that were high and lofty and the Lord's
bringing them down. And what happened when Jesus
was on the scene, he goes into the temple, makes
a scourge, and he cleans the temple out because
he had authority to do that. He's cleaning out
the house of the Lord from all the idolatry that
was in it. Yeah, and merchandising. And merchandising.
Yeah, isn't that big, merchandising? Yeah, and
he actually came from the Mount of Olives to
go there. Interesting. Yeah, it really is interesting.
So Jesus is on the scene. The disciples are there.
And the people have kind of gotten, going to
the temple, you kind of get used to the way things
are. You've got Roman soldiers all over the place.
And temple guards, too. Temple guards and probably
cheating going on, too. There was a lot possible
with all that. The animals you buy for the sacrifice.
All this merchandising going on. And there's
a lot of spiritual merchandising going on, too.
Not in a good sense. In the church today, when
things are replaced, if you don't have the glory
of God, you've got to replace it with something
to keep people. Smoking mirrors. Smoking. Yeah,
I guess you can say that. Wow. I'd rather have
the glory cloud and just wait for it to get there.
Yeah, and even Peter, you know, when the day
of Pentecost was fully come, you know, that Peter
declared the day of the Lord from the mountain
of the Lord. That's true. And in Acts 2 chapter
20, he talks about the sun going dark, the moon
turns into blood, and the coming great day of
the Lord. Yeah. I mean, a conviction just fell
on people. You know, 3 ,000 people got saved.
You know, and this hasn't happened yet. This
day of the Lord has not happened yet. And here
we are 2 ,000 years later from when Peter gave
this word. And so the day of the Lord is coming.
Yes. There's different facets, like a diamond
to the day of the Lord. We're not going to go
into that right now because we'll save that one
for another day. Yeah. But I want to look also
in the book of Micah. Now, Micah comes along.
This is about maybe 50 years after Isaiah. And
this is chapter 4. And it's pretty much, it sounds
exactly quoted the same, but it's not. Some of
the wording is different. In the last days that
the mountain of the Lord shall be established
in the top of the mountains and be exalted under
the hills, and the nations will come and they
will flow to it. But he adds in verse 5, Now,
let's do it a verse four after that. And it talks
about a nation shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
But then he says, but they shall sit every man
under his vine and under his fig tree. None shall
make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of
hosts has spoken it. I think about Nathaniel.
Yes, I think about him too. When Jesus was getting
his disciples. And here's Nathanael. He says,
someone out of Nazareth. Is there anything good
comes out of Nazareth? Right. So introduces him
to Jesus. And he says, an Israelite whom is no
guile. And says, and I saw thee under the fig
tree. Yeah. You know, what was he doing under
the fig tree? Right. Learning, you know, meditating
on God like David did. That's what David did
when he was watching the sheep. So this is different.
Everyone shall sit under his vine and his fig
tree. None shall make them afraid, for the mouth
of the Lord of hosts has spoken it. And, you
know, when you're meditating on the Lord all
the time, what have you to fear? You know, because
in Isaiah it talks about they're going to go
into the rocks and everything like that. Judgment's
coming. So here, Micah's saying, Get under your
fig tree, you know, and just meditate on the
Lord. And what is he saying? You know, and then
he talks about Israel, you know, in that day,
saith the Lord, I will assemble her that halteth
and I will gather her that is driven out, her
that I have afflicted, you know, and I will make
her that halteth a remnant and her that was cast
far off. You know, Israel was, they were banished
to the nation a couple of times. The Lord shall
reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth
even forever. And thou, O tower of the flock,
the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto
thee shall it come, even the first dominion,
the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
Yes. You know, I thought, wow, okay. Because
even verses right after that, he's going ahead
in time now. I don't know how much longer. I
didn't have time to figure that out. But it talks
about, In verse 10, be in pain and labor to bring
forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail.
For now thou shalt go forth out of the city,
thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt
go even to Babylon. And they don't want to hear
that. Nope. And there shall they be delivered.
There the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand
of thine enemies. Now, in your journey on the
mountain of the Lord, when you're climbing, you
know, it's like a battle to get up into his presence
sometime. And so you're on this journey. How
many times did you feel like you went into Babylon?
You know, you went into a spiritual Babylon.
You know, and you're going through a trial. You're
going through testing. You know, while you're
climbing this mountain of the Lord, you're building
your own mountain is what you're doing. You know,
this is your own. Everybody has their own mountain
they have to walk up. Right. You know, you have
to walk up. And many times we choose what kind
of path we want to be on that mountain. Right.
You know, and sometimes it takes a lot longer.
Sometimes you're stuck on the plateau. Maybe
you got stuck on a plateau and you had to camp
there for a while. Yeah. You know, you got to
learn something. And I've heard it said many
times, well, if you don't pass this test the
Lord gives you, you're going to have to take
it again. You have to take it again. Have you
been around your mountain long enough? Right.
You know, let's just keep climbing up on the
mountain. Because even in Micah, he goes on in
the next chapter. And talking about all these
things happening, but it says, But thou Bethlehem
Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth
unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose
goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.
And the first time you hear of this scripture
in the New Testament is when the wise man show
up on the Herod. And he's asking the scribes,
who is this king? Being born in Bethlehem, Herod
didn't know that. And it was the scholars that
read the scriptures said, it says that he will
be born in Bethlehem. And so even back then,
building the mountain of the Lord, the natural
mountain, they're building a spiritual mountain,
they go into captivity. I mean, there's thousands
of years difference here within verses. Hundreds
anyway. Hundreds anyway. And that's what's so
fascinating about the Word of God when you study
these things out and you find out everything
that is going on. Can I interject something here?
Yeah, go right ahead. Back in chapter 4 and verse
8 is also talking about that same region around
Bethlehem where it talks about the Tower of the
Flock. Okay. The Tower of the Flock in Hebrew
is Migdal Eder. Migdal. Yeah. Magdal means tower.
Tower, yeah. Okay. And Adar, or Adair, I think
it's Adar, it's the place where Jacob camped
right after he buried his wife, Rachel, his beloved
wife, when she died in childbirth with Benjamin.
Yeah. And there is a speculation, and I think
Mary Lois has shared this, there's a teaching
that the tower of the flock here would refer
to A tower that was built like this region, this
hill country right there in that area, would
have been part of David's inheritance from, what
is it, his great -grandfather Boaz? I think it's
his great -grandfather. Anyway, he's in the line
with three or four generations. And this would
have been his inheritance, and this is part of
what he prepared for the temple. That here would
be the place where they could raise the flocks
of sheep for the sacrifices on the temple. And
that in that tower, they would bring the ewes
that were about to give birth, that they would
bring them there to watch over these baby lambs,
you know, because these could be sacrifice lambs.
We got to make sure that they don't get bruised,
that they don't get any kind of a wound because
they have to be a perfect sacrifice. And there
is a teaching that maybe this is even the place,
because it's within sight of Bethlehem, that
this would be the manger where Jesus would have
been laid when he was born. That this would have
been the place, this would have been the stable,
that this very tower of the flock would be the
place where Jesus would have been born. And it's
right here on the same page in my Bible that
the tower of the flock in Bethlehem, Ephrata.
It's right there in that same area. So the perfect
sacrifice was laid in the same manger where they
would have laid the baby lambs that would have
been born for sacrifice. It's really an interesting
thought. And it's a hilly, mountainous country
there. It's the Judean hills. So this mountain
idea, we're climbing a mountain, and the mountain...
that is in our lives that we're walking on, you
know, sometimes walking up a mountain takes it
out of you. You're trying to go up and, you know,
once in a while you're thinking, am I going to
have to climb a bare rock face or, you know,
what kind of path am I going to have? You're
climbing El Capitan. Right. So anyway, I just
wanted to add that about Bethlehem, that it's
hilly there too. It's part of the mountain of
the Lord. It's part of what David set aside for
the purposes of the temple. Well, that's tremendous.
So I want to go back into Deuteronomy chapter
27. Oh, that's good. And this is the mountains
of blessing and cursing. And part of your spiritual
mountain is based on this, these natural mountains,
what was spoken there. And Moses, and I think
it was about 10 chapters previous to this, where
the Lord Where he's speaking the word of the
Lord, you're going to go to these two mountains.
And so now in chapter 27, verse 1, And Moses
with the elders of Israel commanded the people,
saying, Keep all the commandments which I command
you this day. And it shall be on the day when
ye pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord
thy God giveth ye, that thou shalt set thee up
great stones, and plaster them with plaster.
And thou shalt write upon them all the words
of this law, when thou art passed over, that
thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord
thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with
milk and honey, as the Lord God of thy fathers
hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be, when
ye are gone over Jordan, ye shall set up these
stones, which I command you this day in Mount
Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster.
I just had an interesting thought. Okay. We're
going to take a bunny trail off this. Okay. What
we've seen in other nations, what are these standing
stones? Like Stonehenge? Yeah. Stuff like that.
And obelisks. Obelisks. What was written on those
stones? Way back when. And maybe weathered, it's
all come off. Yeah. Standing for hundreds of
years. So that's a thought. Maybe they used stones,
and that would be a copy of what happened here.
You remember, the devil doesn't have anything
original. That's true. Everything he does is
counterfeit. And it could be a lot of these standing
stones and stuff that the New Agers are flocking
to, you know, could have been a result. of something
like this, but in a demonic sense, which they
would write things or scribble on them. I never
thought of that until I read this just now. Wow.
Instant revelation. Well, anyway. And there thou
shalt build an altar unto the Lord, an altar
of stones, and shalt not lift up any iron tool
upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the
Lord thy God of whole stones, and thou shalt
offer burnt offerings thereunto unto the Lord
thy God. And thou shalt offer peace offerings,
and shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord
thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones
all the words of this law very plainly. Okay,
now when you think of that, how many laws were
given to Moses? 613, I believe. Yeah. But I think
this is talking about the Ten Commandments. Yeah,
this would be the Ten Commandments. You can't
imagine writing on stones because how do you
write on stones anyway? You'd have to scratch
that shit in there. So this probably means they
maybe have posted the Ten Commandments. I think
so. Because it says in the Hebrew, it says Hatorah.
So the Hatorah, the law, but it also means the
instruction. Here's your instructions. And it
talks about how that was given on Mount Sinai.
That was the ketubah, as they say, the wedding
covenant that was going to cause God to become
the husband of the children of Israel and the
children of Israel to be his bride. the law that
was given that they agreed to was the 10 commandments
rather than the entire writing that Moses got
on the Mount, which is in, you know, the rest
of Exodus and Leviticus and numbers and so on.
So I, I really think that it would have been
just the 10 commandments that was plastered there
that, or there was written into the plaster.
Because that's, well, you couldn't write all
the law on there. I don't think so. Yeah. So
we'll go on here and. And Moses and the priests,
the Levites, spake unto all Israel, saying, Take
heed and hearken, O Israel. This day thou art
become the people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt
therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God
and do his commandments and his statutes, which
I command ye this day. And Moses charged the
people the same day, saying, These shall stand
upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people. of the
tribes of Israel, of the leaders, went on top
of Mount Gerizim. And then the others went on
Mount Ebal to curse. And it's amazing that he
put the Ten Commandments at the base of Mount
Ebal. On top, I think. On top, rather. I think,
yeah. Sorry, not at the base. And so I'm just
going to hit a few of these real quick. What
is the Lord saying here? And they would speak
these to the mountain. You know, it's like, cursed
be any man that makes any graven or molted image.
I'm just going to paraphrase, you know, the work
of people's hands. And then, cursed is he that
setteth light by his father and mother. You know,
which I think is honor your father and mother.
Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark.
Cursed is he that maketh the blind to wander
out of the way, and all the people, they say
amen. And they say amen to all of these. And
cursed is he that perverts the judgment of the
stranger, fatherless, and widow. Cursed is he
that lies with his father's wife. And cursed
is he that lies with any beast. Cursed is he
that lies with his sister and daughter. And all
these things, these are immoral acts. That's
right. This is immorality. Cursed is he that
smiteth his neighbor secretly. Cursed is he that
takes reward to slay the innocent. You know,
thou shalt not kill. And then, do you have the
blessings? You know, and it's amazing they mentioned
the curses first, but the blessings. And, you
know, the thing today, and of course there are
Bible colleges and things too, but you don't
hear, you hear blessings. Right. You hear churches,
you know. Do you want a big congregation? You
know, it's kind of like what Beethoven did. He
wrote music that people like to hear. Yeah, there
you go. And that's why he was so successful.
He spanned the Baroque area into the Romantic
area of music. It was a big changeover in music.
He was going with the flow, doing changes, what
people like to hear. But if we have messages
that we are hearing that are just fluffy, if
you want to put it that way, but there is no
sacrifice for holiness. for hearing the word
of the Lord, but it's all about blessings. You
know, we want blessings, but there is a condition
for blessings. Blessings are conditional. And
so, you know, we just spoke some of those there,
but what the curses were, but let's look at some
of the blessings because this is what we all
like. Sure. And it shall come to pass. This is
chapter 28. It shall come to pass, if you will
hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord
thy God, to observe and do all his commandments,
I command you this day, that the Lord thy God
will set thee on high above all nations of the
earth. And all these blessings shall come on
thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken
unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed thou
shalt be in the city, blessed in the field. Blessed
is the fruit of thy body, the fruit of thy ground,
the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy
kind and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall
be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou
be when you come in and blessed thou shalt be
when you go out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies
that rise up before thee to be smitten before
thy face. They shall come out against thee one
way and flee before thee seven ways. Wow. The
Lord God shall command the blessing. I like that.
Upon thee and thy storehouses, and in all that
thou settest thine hand to do, and he shall bless
thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth
to him. That would be your property too. The
Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto
himself, as if he has sworn unto thee. And here's
the condition. If thou shalt keep the commandments
of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways, and
all people of the earth shall see that thou art
called by the name of the Lord, and they shall
be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee
plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body,
the fruit of thy cattle, fruit of the ground,
and the land which the Lord swear unto thee by
thy fathers to give thee. Remember, they're not
in the land yet. They haven't crossed over Jordan
yet. Yeah. The Lord shall open unto thee his
good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto
the land in the season, and to bless all the
work of thine hand, and thou shalt lend unto
many nations and shall not borrow. See, there's
the bankers. The bankers, that's where... God
promised that. Yeah, when the Jews were not able
to own property, you know, during and all through
Europe and all that, they invested in gold, silver,
jewels. And you look at, this is something I
found. I've mentioned this before, but it's fun
mentioning it again. You look at the word jewel.
Oh, yeah. You look at the jewels. How do you
spell it? J -E -W and then E -L. Now, what is
one of the names of God is El. Jew, El. There
you go. Jew, El, jewel. You know, isn't that
interesting? I've never heard anybody say that
before. So that was, that's kind of chalk one
up for me on that one. You know, that's just
kind of cool. You know, so the Lord has blessed
them with store, and the Lord shall make thee
the head and not the tail, and thou shalt be
above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if
that thou... If, if, if, yeah, I should underline
that real big, that thou hearken unto the commandments
of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this
day to observe and to do them. And thou shalt
not go aside from any of the words which I command
thee this day to the right hand, to the left,
to go after other gods to serve them. And, you
know, in our walk, climbing our mountain, we
have other kinds of gods to deal with, you know,
little Gs. And it could be your desires, your
car. You can make that your God, your idol. Make
your car your idol. Even your telephone. Your
telephone can be your idol. How much time do
you... Ouch. Moving right along. As your sports
could be your idol. Anything that takes you away
from the presence of God is an idol in your life.
And that will keep you on a plateau and maybe
even take you down, walking down the mountain.
Yeah. And you could fall from part of it. Yeah.
I remember in Rick Joyner's book, The Final Quest,
when he's on the mountain of the Lord, they're
fighting all these demonic hordes. And the angel
says, be careful. He was on the edge and didn't
realize it. You could fall from any level at
any time. It's true. And that's true. We've seen
many great people. They've walking up their own
mountain, the mountain of the Lord, have fallen
into sin and they've lost it all. let a lot of
people astray, and then it gives the media great
pleasure to tear them apart and anybody that
follows them. Yeah. So we have to be a clean
walk. It's true. So now, but if it comes to pass,
if you will not hearken unto the voice of the
Lord thy God. to observe and do all his commandments
and his statutes, which I command thee this day,
that all these curses shall come upon thee and
overtake thee. See, we don't like that word curse.
We don't use that. That's not a word we use in
Christian vocabulary, but people will use it
to curse somebody, you know, and they pull out
in front of them. It's kind of a curse when you're
swearing at them. It says you, da -da -da. You're
really cursing them is what you're doing. You
are. You are. But, you know, if you don't follow
the Lord, then cursed shalt thou be in the city,
cursed shalt thou be in the field, cursed shall
be thy basket and thy store, cursed shall be
the fruit of thy body. Do you remember when the
children of Israel came out of Babylon? You know,
Daniel had the vision, prayed, and Cyrus released
them, Ezra and Nehemiah, they're rebuilding,
and they had famine. Crops weren't growing because
they weren't obeying the word of the Lord, the
God. So here they are trying to rebuild the temple.
Seven years, was it, things stopped? Sixteen
years. Sixteen years because all the oppression,
because they were not following wholly after
the Lord, and things stopped. Wow, God just amen
with some thunder out there. That was pretty
cool. Wow. So, cursed shall be thy basket and
thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body,
the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kind,
the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shall you be
when you come in, and cursed you'll be when you
go out. The Lord shall send unto thee cursing,
vexation, and rebuke. And in all thou settest
thy hand to do, till you be destroyed, and until
you perish quickly, because of the wickedness
of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto
thee, until he hath consumed thee from off the
land, whether you go to possess it. And it just,
you know, the curses go on. And heaven that is
over thy head shall be brass. You know, the heavens
are brass. I've heard that saying before in somebody's
message, when the heavens are brass, it's when
you can't seem to get through. The Lord shall
make the rain of thy land powder and dust. From
heaven it shall come down upon thee and be destroyed.
The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before
thine enemies. You remember what happened at
Ai? It was the second city. They captured Jericho.
They went to Ai, and they disobeyed the word
of the Lord, and someone took some Babylonian
garments, gold and silver, had them in their
tent. They broke the commandment and could not
stand in their enemies, and they had to flee.
It's true. And this commandment, thou shalt go
out one way against them and flee seven ways
before them and shalt be removed unto all the
kingdoms of the earth. And that is just what
happened to Israel. I mean, they're not in the
promised land. And he's saying what's happened.
It happened to him two times. Yeah. First to
Babylon, you know, and then, you know, in 72
AD, the temple's destroyed. The Jews are dispersed.
135 was when they really got cast out, when Rome
renamed the place Palestina. Yeah. And so here
you are, the Jewish people, you know, they're
scattered all over the globe. Yeah. There was
always a remnant of Jews in the land, though.
Always. Was that from the first deportation?
Always, always there was somebody. God didn't
send everybody out. He always had a remnant.
And that's one of the things that people don't
understand. They think, well, they all left.
No, they didn't all leave. There were some there
always. Yeah, there were those left to till the
land. So, and all these curses go on. The Lord
shall smite thee with... Madness, blindness.
Let's just go on. We're not even going to, we're
not going to read it. You can read these in,
this is Deuteronomy chapter 28. Yeah. It's amazing
that the blessings only go for like 14 verses.
Yeah, and the curses. And the curses just go
on and on and on. But that's the point. God is
saying to his children, here's the rules. Here's
the instructions. Here's the book of, what do
you call it, the owner's manual. Here's how to
take care of your car. Do this and this and this
and this and your car will go. Your life will
be good. You will have a good walk up the mountain
if you'll just obey this lifestyle. It's a lifestyle
of loving God. and loving your neighbor. Jesus
distilled all of the laws down into two. Love
God with all your heart, which is, I mean, these
are Old Testament laws as well. I mean, they're
in the Torah. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind, with all your strength, and then love your
neighbor as yourself. If you'll do those things,
all will go well for you. You will be blessed.
You will have all these amazing blessings. But
if you don't, You know, all the laws, here's
my two cents worth, all the laws, I believe,
were written to demonstrate what it looks like
when you love the Lord your God with all your
heart and you love your neighbor as yourself.
You'll automatically do all those things if you're
loving God and loving your neighbor. All of these
things that are written here, you're not going
to do all this stuff that brings curses. Yeah,
and there's a couple scriptures here, verse 43
and 44. We're watching this happen today. In
fact, you get on YouTube and you Google what's
going on in Europe. The stranger that is within
thee shall get up above thee very high, and thou
shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee,
and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be the
head, and thou shalt be the tail. You look at
what's going on in England. You look at all the,
how Islam is taking over. It's not very long
where Europe, unless God intervenes, is going
to be turning, you know, they are losing. That's
their agenda anyway. That's the agenda. And you
look at the nation of England, which gave us
the King James Version. And we're all descendants.
A lot of, you know, we're out of this. A lot
of us are out of that, you know. And, you know,
the British, the sun never set on the British
Empire. Once upon a time. Once upon a time. But
when they start bringing all these people in
to work for them and start falling away from
God, their nation is being taken over. Right.
It's the same principle. The same principle.
Don't fuss at me that, oh, that's Old Testament.
No, it's the principles are written in. this
instruction book for us. Yeah, because this is
probably written 3 ,500 years ago. I'm looking
up here, the next chapter, it says 1451 BC. You
know, it's just estimating. Maybe you don't know
the exact date, but that's the estimated time.
So it's amazing, all these laws, they pertain
for today. Yes, they do. They all pertain for
today. The law is our schoolmaster to teach us
right from wrong. And the scriptures, what does
Paul say? The scriptures, the form of the scriptures
of the Old Testament, he doesn't use Old Testament,
but he said they're for our learning. All they
had was the Old Testament, what we call the Old
Testament. Yeah, that's right. All scripture
is given. All given for correction. By inspiration,
yes. Yeah, for correction, instruction. Right.
So, you know, don't throw out the Old Testament.
Yeah. It's current. Yeah, the New Testament completes
the Old. That's right. What's that saying? The
New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed,
and the Old Testament in the New Testament is
revealed. Oh, that's very good. You need them
both. We have to have them both. So we have to
walk this straight and narrow path up the mountain.
And though this path and this journey you're
on, you know, it's got rocks on it. It has some
boulders you've got to climb over. Yeah. Things
you have to work your way around it. But walking
up the mountain of the Lord isn't, it's not easy.
No, it's not. But it's worth it. But it's worth
it. Yeah. It is really worth it. Obey, just obey.
Just obey the Lord, you know, obey his commandments.
Press into him. Yeah. And there was, yeah, there
was one, oh, I saw one more scripture, one or
two I wanted to finish up there. Yeah, this is
a few later. This is a big key. And this is verse
46. We're still in chapter 28. And they shall
be upon thee for a sign and a wonder and upon
thy seed forever. Because thou servest not the
Lord thy God with joyfulness, with gladness of
heart for the abundance of all things. So that's
how we're supposed to be. We are supposed to
rejoice in the Lord for his goodness. You know,
be glad. And, you know, even though we go through
trials in our mountains, think of the prize that
we're going for. That's right. I mean, we're
all climbing this mountain together. you know,
even was at Mount Scopus. When they're on the
pilgrimage and they get to Mount Scopus, where
is that scripture that leads up to that? Scopus
is... The mark. Is the mark. Paul says, I press
toward the mark of the high calling in Christ
Jesus. And that mark is Mount Scopus. And when
they're traveling, pilgriming to Jerusalem to
get to Mount Scopus before nightfall. Yeah, you
want to get to the top of Mount Scopus so that
when you see the sunrise in the morning, you're
going to see it on the beautiful Temple Mount.
Lit up. Lit up. With the morning sun. Yeah, or
even, I think, you're facing the Eastern Gate.
So you're actually going to see it in the glory
of the sunset. as you get to the top of the mountain.
And it's just beautiful. So that's why you want
to get there before sundown. Yeah, you want to
get there before sundown so you can see it, and
then you'll go there the next morning. Wow, that's
amazing. Yeah, and we've stood on the Mount of
Olives. We used to stay at the hotel. We had
meetings there. We had small little conventions
there. Right, long ago. Long time ago. But the
sunset would turn the whole city gold. Yeah.
It's just magnificent. Yeah, it was amazing.
So be encouraged as you're walking up the mountain
of the Lord, treasures which we know not about.
You know, for God says that God will not withhold
anything to those that love him. That's right.
So if we make him our first priority, our mountain's
going to be a lot easier to climb. Yes, and the
glory that you get to when you get to the top.
You can have your own Sinai experience on top.
Yes. Or you can have your Scopus experience.
You can have that mark. You're pressing toward
the mark of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. It's that top -of -the -mountain experience.
It's the place where you meet God. It's worth
climbing the mountain to meet. It's worth the
climb. Meet the Father, to meet Jesus. It's a
brilliant experience. So, Father, we thank you,
Lord, for this podcast. And, Lord, those that
are struggling on the mountain, Lord, why is
this happening? Why is that happening? And that,
Father, even though obstacles come our way, but,
Lord, when we keep our eyes on you, Father, that,
Lord, and all these blessings that we have read
about, and sometimes, Lord, we have to contend
for these blessings, O God. And we have to fight
for them. But if we fight in your name, oh God,
keeping our eyes on you, that Lord, that you
will give us victory. Lord, it's like that song
we used to sing. The lion of Judah shall break
every chain and give us the victory again and
again. And that lion in Judah is in us. He lives
in us. And so we can roar his name. Hallelujah.
breaking all the oppression and things, and when
things would try to come and cloud our brain
and try to get us depressed, that, Father, that
we can press into you and, Lord, and we put oppression
and depression under our feet when we just praise
you and glorify you. in our mountain that we
are climbing. Hallelujah. So, Father, we just
let this be an encouragement to whoever hears
this, Lord, just to keep climbing this mountain
of the Lord, just praying and rejoicing and worshiping.
Because, Lord, at the other end, we have the
mark. We're pressing forward to the mark, that
Mount Scopus, where we can get up there and we
can watch sunrise over Jerusalem. Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus. So, Lord, we just give you
all the praise, honor, and glory in your name,
Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. Please subscribe, rate,
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time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philipus.
God bless you with his overwhelming loving presence.