All right, wonderful. Take your Bibles. Turn
with me to the book of Deuteronomy chapter number
33, Deuteronomy chapter number 33. Thank you
for being here today. Thank you for bringing
your Bibles, not only bringing your Bibles, but
bringing your heart and your ears and being ready
to hear from on high, hear from the word of God.
God's book, The Word of God, is an amazing book.
It's quick, it's powerful, sharper than any two
-edged sword. We've been in the book of Deuteronomy
for quite some time. And we're about to finish
up. This is the second to last message. You know,
next week we're gonna finish up the book of Deuteronomy.
And we see this, the book of Deuteronomy, the
second giving of the law. And Moses is gathering
around the children of Israel. They're about
to head into the promised land, about to cross
over that Jordan River and go into that land
flowing with milk and honey. He's giving them
some instructions. And we get to this point here
in chapter 33, and Moses, gives a blessing to
the 12 tribes of Israel. He begins to show that
God wants to bless the children of Israel. He
wants to give them favor, and he instructs them,
and it's an absolutely amazing truth. We're gonna
look into that. He eventually gets to verse 24
and 25, and he mentions the blessings to Asher.
I like Asher, there's my little buddy Asher right
there, Asher Denari. He came up to me during
handshaking and he said, Pastor, would you preach
from the book of, or not Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes
next? I don't know, we'll see Asher, but I like
you Asher, you're like my little buddy right
there. But the blessing to Asher, and you're
gonna notice that we're gonna read that it mentions
something. It says, as thy days, as thy days,
so shall thy strength be. And that's a famous,
famous saying in the Bible. As thy days, so shall
thy strength be. Now, I pictured in my study
that you would actually say that with me. As
thy days, so shall thy strength be. OK. I was
hoping that more than 100 of you said that. I
think we got about 100 here. As thy days, so
shall thy strength be. I'll give you an example
before we read it. I was tired the other day.
It was Friday night. We got home and been a long
day, sat there on my couch, and my Amos, he's
six years old now, he's full of energy, and they
had been out in the front yard playing soccer.
We have these little soccer goals, and little
Amos had been playing with his brothers, and
he's like, Dad, I scored, Dad, I did this, Dad,
I kicked the ball, Dad, and then all of a sudden,
after a while, I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, and
he says, Dad, you wanna play soccer with me?
And the inside of me said, absolutely not. but
the outside of me said he's six years old, he
would like his dad to go play with him, so he
went out in the front yard to play soccer. Now
my team was me, Nehemiah, and Amos versus Samuel,
and not only Samuel, but Anna Joy. Now we started
to play, and the first thing I do, I got in front
of Samuel, Samuel's dribbling the ball, you know,
dribbling the ball, and I'm like a do -do -do
-do, and then he went around me, and he kicked
it, went in on the goal, and my son Samuel scored
on me. Then he looks at me and he says, good
job, daddy. And it sort of irritated me. And
then we kept playing a little bit. And my aunt
Joy, I've got the ball and I'm trying to dribble
it down there. And she goes with her leg and
she goes, whoo, and kicks me. And I went flopped
right on my face. Then she's smiling at me, would
you like help up? No, girl. And so by the end
of it, my ankle hurts, my shins hurt, my pride
hurts, and I woke up the next morning. And all
of a sudden, you wake up, you sleep, and I woke
up, and I'm hobbling. I'm like, oh. And I begin
to think, I've got things to do today. How am
I going to make it? I don't have the strength.
Now, this is the tip of the iceberg here, but
there's days that God has a plan for you, but
you feel like, I don't have the strength to make
it. It can be physically, it can be spiritually.
It can be with, I can't put up with this in my
life, but as thy days, so shall thy strength
be. Let's do this, let's stand for the reading
of God's word. And we're gonna read verses 24
and 25 together. And all together in unison starting
in verse number 24. Are you ready? End of Asher
he said, let Asher be blessed with children.
Let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let
him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron
and brass, and as thy days, so shall thy strength
be. Say that phrase with me again. As thy days,
so shall thy strength be. Before we go any further,
let's bow our heads, bow our hearts, go to the
Lord in prayer. Dear Father in heaven, we love
you. And this is a great day, a great day to
be in your house among your people. And Lord,
we desperately need you today. And I have no
doubt there are many here today that have had
a difficult week, Lord, and they feel like they
have strength. They don't have any strength,
Lord, and they need help to make it. And I believe
you gave us this chapter to help us understand
how that we can have strength, how we can make
it another day. And I pray that you help us to
pay attention, open our hearts and our minds.
And then also, Lord, as we get through this,
if there is a soul here today, that's never trusted
you as their savior. I pray that this would be
the day of salvation for them. We love you. We
need you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. You may
be seated. Go back with me, chapter 33, verse
number one. We're gonna start with this, and
look at verse number one with me. Chapter 33,
verse one. And this is the what? Blessing. Okay,
I'll start that again. And this is the? Blessing.
You got that. Wherewith Moses, the man of God,
what? blessed the children of Israel before his
death. And this is the blessing, that word bless.
And we start this chapter with the word blessing
and blessed right there. And we begin to think
about the word blessing. Not long ago, I heard
the former attorney general of Virginia, Jason
Miaras. and he gave a speech, and probably some
would say he's gonna be the future governor of
Virginia. I would say probably that's gonna be
the case right there. But an amazing, amazing
man, and at the very end of his speech, he all
of a sudden quoted Numbers, chapter number six,
verses 24 through 26, and this is what he said
at the very end of his speech. He says, the Lord
bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face
to shine upon thee. and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and
give thee peace." And it was an interesting way
to close. What was he saying? The Lord bless
thee. Here's what he was saying. He said, hey,
I believe to the people that I'm speaking with,
you would like God's favor. You would like to
live a life where God blesses you. You would
like to live a life where God gives you grace.
You would like to live a life where God shines
his face upon you and helps you and guides you.
By the way, that's true. You and I, we would
like to live a life where we're blessed by God.
We have the favor of God. We have God's help
in a certain situation. Now, in that speech,
I thought about it. Wow, that's a great way to
close. But I thought probably about 95 % of the
people that were there had no idea what he was
saying. The Lord bless thee. The Lord bless thee.
This is what Moses is saying to the children
of Israel. The Lord bless you. Hey, it's important.
God desires for you. God wants to show you his
favor. God is reminding and God was reminding
his people through Moses that you can be blessed
by God. Okay. I'm gonna say it again, I'm just
gonna slow it down. You, that means me, okay,
we can have God's favor. We can be blessed by
God. Now, before we go any further, it's very,
very important, all the way from this side of
the auditorium to this side of the auditorium,
I'm assuming, and I do believe that you would
agree with me, I would like to be blessed by
God. How many of you would say I'd like to be
blessed by God? Okay, everybody but Brother Nick.
Brother Nick, thank you, brother. I need your
help right there. I don't ask your help very
often, but I need your help. Now I think we got
100 % of us we'd like to be blessed by God, and
that's what he's asking for. Now look at this.
Look at the chapter and look at this in verse
number six. Okay, verse number six. This is the
blessing. Let Reuben live and not die. And it
mentions Reuben. He's talking about being a blessing.
That's one of the children of Israel, the tribes
of Israel. Verse seven. And this is the blessing
of who? Judah. Verse number eight. And of Levi,
he said, and it gives the blessing. Verse number
12. And of Benjamin, and of who? Benjamin, he
said. Verse 12. And of who? Benjamin. Okay, we
were there. Verse 12. And of who? Okay, now here's
your job. Sometimes, I don't ask very often.
I don't ask very often. But there's some times
I need like your help because those hard names,
I chose them as far as the reading place that
you have to read those names. Otherwise the sermon
gets really long, okay? Because it just shows,
we're together here. Verse 12 again, look at
this. And of. That is perfect. Look at verse
13. And of. That's perfect. Look at verse 17
toward the end. It says the 10 ,000s of. Ephraim,
very good, and then it says, and they are the
thousands of Manasseh, and then verse 18, and
of, that's good, he said, rejoice, Sebulon, in
thy going out, and Issachar, in thy tents, verse
20, look at this, and of Gad, he said, verse
22, and of, Dan, very good, verse 23, and of,
Naphtali okay, we're listen last one verse 24.
It says and of Okay, now I'm gonna catch you
up if you read this latest great These are the
blessings and it goes over the 12 tribes of the
children of Israel Basically there and it says
most saying I want you to be blessed I want you
to have God's favor and in this specific way
This is the way I believe God wants to bless
you now a side note Not really a lot to do a
sermon, but the Bible This book is an amazing
book You know in preaching we just hit the the
tip of the iceberg sometimes It's interesting
when you begin to read the 12 tribes. It actually
leaves out one And I'll give you a hint. It's
simian. And then it begins to show you two others.
And you look at that. The two others, I think
it's Ephraim and Manasseh. And we get those mixed
up sometimes. But all of a sudden, if you study,
why did it leave off simian? Why did it put those
two in there? And I just want to say sometimes
in the Bible you begin to dig and you find gold
and there's truths all over the Bible that help
you and encourage you. And I want to encourage
you to read the Bible, to study the Bible on
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It's a glorious
book. It's a wonderful book. It's God's holy
precious word. Say amen. Okay, good, good, good.
That's your job, homework to study that. Now
go back with me and look with me. We're getting
to Asher in verse number 24. I'm gonna quote
a verse before I read verse 21. Just remember,
we wanna be blessed and there's a Bible verse
in Proverbs, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh
rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. We wanna
be blessed by God, we want God's favor. Now look
at the blessing of Asher, verse 24. End of Asher,
end of who? He said, let Asher be blessed with
children. Okay, so I'm gonna just talk about
the blessing. He's saying, here's the way God
can show his favor upon the tribe of Asher. He
says, first of all, let Asher be blessed with
children. Let Asher be blessed. Think about it.
Children are a blessing. Okay, no, that was good.
I just wanna say children are a blessing. And
we live in a society that minimizes the Christian
home. It minimizes a husband and wife. It minimizes
a husband and wife having children. And almost
look at it like if you have children, boy, you're
under bondage. You're shackled with children.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Children,
they're a blessing from the Almighty God. And
if God allows you to have children, have a Christian
home, you are blessed. And that's what it's saying
right there. Children are a blessing. Look at
this, if you will, this next portion. and of
Asher, let Asher be blessed with children. Then
it says, let him, this is verse 24, let him be
acceptable, acceptable, say that word with me,
acceptable to his, okay, let him be acceptable.
Part of the blessing is to be acceptable. What
is he saying? Let him get along with the people.
Let Asher get along with people. Getting along
with people is a blessing. You ever been around
somebody that's hard to get along with? I mean,
you can try so hard and they just like live their
life. Jaron, I don't know why you looked at your
wife and I don't know why she looked at you,
but there's something going on here, okay? There's
something going on, Brother Jaron, right here.
But sometimes people are hard to get along with,
and that's the way they live. But it's saying,
it's good. Think about a church. In a church,
somehow, we're blessed if we can learn to get
along with each other. We're a church of imperfect
people serving a perfect God, and it's important,
we're blessed to learn to get along with people.
It says in the New Testament, it says, I exhort
therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers,
intercession, and giving of thanks be made for
all men, for kings and for all that are in authority,
that we might lead a quiet. and peaceable life,
quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and
honesty, for this is good and acceptable unto
God. And when it says that, it's good to get
along, you're blessed to be able to get along
with it. And I want to encourage some of you
people, maybe you struggle at getting along with
people, you're messing up. Learn to get along
with people. Somebody say amen, learn to get
along with people. Brothers, wrong. There's hope
for you, okay? Praise the Lord. She pointed at
you that you were the problem. We understand
that. Okay, good, good, good, good. Look at this
next, in verse 24. And if Asher, he said, let
Asher be blessed with children. Let him be acceptable
to his brethren. And then it says this. And let
him dip his foot in what? Okay, let him dip his
foot in oil. Oil is a picture of prosperity.
It means you're not just getting by. You know,
there's times when you just can barely get by.
You're scraping through, you know, you're gonna
eat. We went to a store the other day and they
had a thing of beans for sale. And I showed those
to my Amos and he's like. But you understand,
beans can be a blessing. If you're hungry, food
is good to eat. But this blessing is saying you're
not just getting food to eat, you're able to
dip your foot or your toe in oil. An example
of that, an example of that, what I think of
this week, I got to take my family to McDonald's.
Thank you very much. And I'm not just getting
by. Me and my family, we got to go to McDonald's
and I got a big arch to the glory of God the
Father. In other words, we had the ability, the
prosperity enough, where God's blessed enough,
where we're able to not just get by, we were
able to eat McDonald's. Now look at this next
one, if you will. Verse number 25, look at verse
25. Thy shoes, okay, how many of you are wearing
shoes today? How many of you are wearing shoes
today? Praise the Lord, most of you, okay, that's
good. Thy shoes, having shoes is a blessing.
Thy shoes shall be iron and brass. Iron and brass,
okay, imagine this, your shoes, imagine this.
Shoes, when I was in middle school, I used to
wear ankle weights because I had a dream one
time that I was going to wear those ankle weights
and I was gonna be able to get up and dunk the
basketball right there and I remember wearing
those. But imagine shoes of iron. shoes of brass.
How is that a blessing? And really when you begin
to think about it, it's not that complicated.
Shoes of iron, shoes shall be iron of brass.
You know, you realize the road we walk on is
not always easy. Sometimes we go on a rough road
and you don't want your shoes to wear out basically
is what it's saying. You'd like shoes to last
even in difficult terrain. And this is sort of,
as you're getting to this, and this is a very
important part of the sermon, life is not always
easy. The road is not always straight. Sometimes
your road goes through the valley of the shadow
of death. Sometimes life has twists and turns,
and you need shoes that are gonna last. And God
can give you shoes that last in your days, in
your difficulties, in your struggles right there.
And this is important, shoes that don't wear
out on a rough road. What a blessing. Now, here's
where we get closer to the sermon. Closer to
the sermon. Look at verse number 25. Okay, now,
whoa. Very important. Okay before we get to this
point remember. I want to live a life that's
blessed Okay, I want to live a life though. How
many want to live a life is blessed Okay, the
blessing God's favor God's fair gaze showing
this is what God desires for you Then we get
to this one as thy days. Look at this as thy
day Say that phrase with me as thy days. Okay
as thy days our life Your life is made up of
different days Sometimes your day is ordinary
Sometimes your days are heavy. Sometimes you
live a day where you have joy. Sometimes you
get up and some of you live a life where you
live painful days, physically filled with pain.
Sometimes not just physically painful, but you
have emotional pain. Some days bring blessing.
Some days are days of battle. Some days feel
too big and sometimes we feel like we don't even
have the strength to make it for a day. Brother
Randy? I was thinking about you yesterday, you
went up and got your daughter Hannah for church,
or for church for your graduation, for your other
daughter right there, and as you're coming back,
you texted me and you said, pastor, we're on
the highway, we're coming back, and you know,
you've been there where your GPS says you're
gonna get back at like 3 .30, and then all of
a sudden you're stuck on the middle of the highway,
it's raining, and all of a sudden it goes from
3 .30 to 4 .30. And from 4 .30, your GPS all
of a sudden says 5 .30. And you're there in the
storm. All of a sudden, you said the lightning,
one of the biggest lightnings, almost hit you
right there. And boom, shook the car right there.
And next thing you know, it goes from 4 o 'clock
to 5 o 'clock to 7 o 'clock. You got home at
8 o 'clock last night. It's a long day. And being
on the highway, sometimes there's days where
things don't go your way. Thy days, thy days,
thy days. No! How can a man face days he has
never lived before? By the way, you don't know
what's in your future. Sometimes right around
the corner is something that's gonna happen that
you didn't expect. It can be death. It can be
financial trouble. It can be somebody treating
you wrong. It can be a thousand things. How did
this happen? How am I gonna handle this? Okay,
I feel like I'm yelling you. I'm not meaning
to yell at you. But I think when I yell at you,
you like pay attention a little bit more. Okay,
that's good. So how can you handle those days,
those days, those days? How can a man or a woman
face days that he's not lived before? Then it
says those words, look at this. And I like it,
it says, as thy days, so shall thy strength be,
thy strength. God, God wants you and God wants
me to live with strength. He wants us to give
us the ability to make it another day. He wants
us to be able to handle those days we're in their
valley. God wants us to handle those days we're
on the mountaintop. God wants us to be able to
handle the days when somebody treats us wrong.
God wants us to handle the days when the sermon
goes long. He wants you to be able to handle
that. God wants you to be able to handle those
days. He wants you to have strength and that's
what he's saying right there, as thy days. By
the way, to help you illustrate a while back,
it'd been busy. And I was just thinking about
it. I was like, praise God through whom all blessings
flow. I have a night at home with my family.
I don't have to go anywhere. We're gonna eat.
It's gonna be great. And I was relieved. I was
like, praise God, praise the Lord. Then all of
a sudden, my wife said, do you remember? And
she mentioned that we had to go somewhere. There
was an appointment. And all of a sudden, you
ever had that sinking feeling like, oh no. And
all of a sudden, I knew that where I had to go,
I had to minister to people, I had to encourage
people, and I felt drained like I had no strength.
Have you ever been there? And I don't mean I'm
not complaining, but sometimes it wasn't what
I expected. My heart sunk at that moment right
there. Honestly, I didn't want to go to that
appointment right there, but I had to go. That
was God's will for my life. But I felt drained,
drained physically, drained spiritually right
there. I had no strength. So think about this.
How can I have the strength? How can I have the
strength to go and minister? And that's a question
for you. How can you have the strength in those
days? Now, here's the sermon. Okay, because it
answers it. And this is awesome. Look at verse
number 26. Look at 26. There is none like unto
the God of Jeshurun. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. There
is none like unto the God of Jeshurun. Okay,
I'm gonna say it again. There is none like unto
the God of Jeshurun. It almost rhymes a little
bit. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun.
I wanna make sure I'm quoting that right. There
is none like unto the God of Jeshurun. I was
hoping somebody would say it with me. There is
none like the God of Jesh... Oh, I didn't say
it right. Okay, I'm gonna read it. There is none
like unto the God of Jeshurun. Let's sing it
with me a little bit. There is none like unto
the God of Jeshurun. That's the answer. There
is. How can I have strength? Well, if you're
not careful, you're looking to the wrong place
for the strength. You're looking inwardly at
yourself. And you're not the answer. The answer
is the God of Jeshurun. Now, Jeshurun, you don't
want to get this messed up. Jeshurun was just
a special, you might say, pet name for the nation
of Israel. It'd be very similar to my son Joseph.
A long time ago, one of the kids called him Yophis.
Yophis? You know Yophis? And so I began to call
Joseph Yophis, and just like, there is none like
unto the God of Jeshurun. There is none like
unto the God of Yophis. Yophis, how you doing
back there? And it's just saying right there,
the answer, the answer is the God of Jeshurun.
He is the God of Jeshurun. He is the King of
Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's the Alpha,
the Omega, the first and the last. He's the eternal
God. He's excellent in glory. He is mighty in
power. He is faithful in his mercy and his grace.
He loves you and he loves me. He's a refuge to
his people. He's a shelter in the time of storm.
He's a God. that cares for you will help you.
He's the great God. He is the God of Jeshurun.
He is my God and He is your God. The answer to
the problem, the answer to the weakness, the
answer to the difficulties, the answer to the
days is the great God of Jeshurun. It's an awesome
truth. Like I'm telling you, this is an awesome
truth that we need to. Remember, you know, how
can I have strength? Well, the God of Jeshurun
will give you strength. Look at verse number
26 again. Look at this. Wow. There is none like
unto the God of Jeshurun who writeth upon the
heaven in thy help. Now to summarize that very,
very soon, he's not very far away. You just need
to look up to the great God you had for help.
Very similar to Psalms chapter number 121 where
it says, I will lift up mine eyes into the hills.
from whence cometh my help, my help cometh from
the Lord which made heaven and earth. Look up
to the great God you have for help. He's close
to you. He's not very far off. He's not hidden
away someplace in a far away land where you have
to climb this huge mountain to get to. He's right
there. You can stop and you can pray to him.
You can go to the great God that you have. That's
good news for me. And by the way, it's good used
for you. Not only that, but look at this. By
the way, oh, oh, oh, I'll give you an example
of this. I don't want to pass this up because
God can help you. This morning, as my habit is,
I get up and I read a proverb of the day. For
example, today, May 24, I get up and I read Proverbs
chapter 24. Tomorrow, I'll get up. It'll be the
25th. I'll read Proverbs chapter 25. Proverbs
the book of wisdom. I need wisdom and what I
did this morning with the Proverbs before I read
I said God Give me something that will help me
today from Proverbs acid so I'm reading that
I'm reading Proverbs and I came to the verse.
It's a well -known known verse a just man falleth
seven times and rises up again Okay, just man
falls seven times and rises up again The second
part's not quoted as much. It says, but the wicked
shall fall into mischief. And I thought about,
how can a just man fall seven times? How can
he rise up? OK? Imagine a just man falls. Oh!
OK. And all of a sudden, just man, am I going
to get up in my strength and my power? Am I the
answer to get up? I don't know. It's like the
Lord is holding out his hand and the Lord picks
you up. And the answer to getting up is not you.
It's grabbing that hand of God and God pulling
you up. But here's where the problem is. It says
the wicked shall fall into mischief. It's like
the wicked, when they're down here, they've fallen.
They've fallen right there. And all of a sudden
they say, God's holding out his hand there. I
say, nah, I can't do it. I can't make it. I'm
not even going to try. So the wicked, they keep
on going down. It's not because they don't have
help. It's not because they don't have a God,
the great God of Jeshurah right there. He's right
there. He's available. He's holding out his hand,
but you got to reach hold of his hand and you
got to allow him to help you get back up. This
is a great truth because I believe without a
doubt, some here this morning, you've fallen.
You've fallen into sin. and you're wallowing.
You say, I can't make it another day. I can't
do this Christianity thing. And you're right.
You can't. But God can. I can do all things through
Christ, which strengthens me, and he'll pick
you up, and he'll help you. He's a great God.
He's an excellent God. Look at verse 26. In the
latter part, it says, and in his excellency.
See the latter part of verse 26, and in his what?
That word, excellency. God is above all, greater
than all, glorious beyond all. There is no need
too great for him. He didn't get a C plus in
school. He got beyond an A plus. In other words,
our God is an excellent God. He does things excellent.
He does things perfect. He's a God that's in
control. Look at this, verse 27 is absolutely
amazing. It says, the eternal God is thy refuge,
the eternal God. Hey, Brother Mike, my buddy,
my pal, my friend. I work with you, Brother Mike,
but our God is an eternal God. He does not wear
out. He does not change. He doesn't weaken. And
Brother Mike, he does not fail. Our God never
fails. Brother Mike and I, sometimes we come
to disagreements. And if you ever work, he works
here at the church. He's a good man, does a good
job here at the church in so many different ways.
But there's one thing that brings tension to
me and Brother Mike. It's the clocks. And Brother
Mike, you know as we walk around, it seems like
we have clocks around the church that the battery
weakens and the battery goes out. And I'm always
seeing a clock that's not running. You know what
they need? Eternal batteries. Eternal batteries.
Batteries that last. I think we buy the cheap
batteries. Here's what I want you to do, church,
to help out Brother Mike. I want you to get a
couple AA batteries, put them in your pocket
when you go to Sunday school, check the clock,
change the battery for Brother Mike, never let
him worry about it again, or number two, invent
an eternal battery to the glory of God the Father.
Here's the point, amen, he said. Thank you, Brother
Mike, I agree with you right there. But think
about the eternal God. Our God, You can go to
God at any time. Let me move on. Look at this.
Verse number 27. Not only is he the eternal God
of our refuge, underneath are the everlasting
arms. He's a God that'll pick you up. He's like
a God that'll pick you up. When you're down,
he'll pick you up. My kids, Anna, Joy, and them,
I'll be sitting on the couch, tired, and it'll
be time to get up. And I'll be like, oh, I can't
get up. And I'll pretend I can't get up. So the
kids run around. They grab me by the arm. And
they begin to pull me up. And then I begin to.
Fall over like that and they'll get underneath
me and hold me up now this last week my Nehemiah
He's nine years of age. He got under me and he
was an Anna Joy went to the other side But only
one hold me up was Nehemiah and I saw fear in
his eyes Me his big big daddy was about to squash
all of him and But you know our God has the ability
to pick you up. He's strong enough to pick you
up at your lowest estate. Our God is a good God.
He is a conquering God. And you look at that
in verse 27. He shall thrust out the enemy. He's
a saving God. Look at verse 29. Happy art thou,
O Israel, who is like unto thee? O people saved
by the Lord. O people saved by the Lord. Oh people
saved by the Lord. Wow. Wow. These blessings
are not possible if you're not a child of God.
I'm gonna say it again. These blessings are going
to somebody, the children of God, but not only
children of God, but children who accept those
blessings, who live in a certain way to get those
blessings. But the first start, oh, oh, I don't
wanna misquote it, the way it's worded there.
O people saved by the Lord. You know, the way
we're saved by the Lord is New Testament truth
is through Jesus Christ. The Bible says we're
sinners, sinners. The price for our sin is the
wage of sin is death. The price for our sin would
be hell. But Jesus came born of a virgin, lived
a perfect life, and Jesus died on the cross for
our sins, and then he rose again, proving he's
God. That's the gospel. And he offers to say
the gift of God is eternal life. He offers to
pay for all of your sins and give you the gift
of eternal life. All's we have to do is accept
that gift. Here's the problem people do. Well,
I can't be good. By the way, you can't be good
enough. Some people say, I'll work for it. You'll
never be good enough. You have no strength to
do it. The answer's never been you. For salvation,
it's God. God is the way. Jesus said, I am the
way. The only way to heaven is Jesus. It's not
being baptized. It's not being good. It's not
you keeping the commandments. It's not you being
faithful to church. Those are good things. But
the way to heaven is Jesus. It's God. And that's
the point right there. You're saved by it. And
it says the way it's worded right there. Oh,
people saved by the Lord. If you're here today
or you're watching online, you've never accepted
that gift of eternal life. Hey. The Bible says,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Accept the gift of eternal
life. Accept Jesus Christ your savior. The last
point right there, the beginning of the verse
says this. Happy art thou, O Israel. Say that
again with me. Happy art thou, O Israel. Now,
the end part right there is happy. When you're
blessed by God, you realize that you're not the
answer where God is. And you go in your days,
your days, good days, struggling days, difficult
days, somebody treating you wrong days, mountaintop
days, valley days, death days, difficult days,
painful days. All of a sudden you realize you
can have strength through God. All of a sudden
it leads you to be happy, be joyful. You find
that in Galatians talking about the fruit of
the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering.
Now here's part of what I'm asking you. If you
looked at your life, you examined your life,
you examined your last seven days, would people
look at you and say, oh happy people, oh joyful
people, oh person filled with love, joy, peace?
And we're talking about when you live a life
in God's strength, doing God's will, it leads
to something that money cannot buy. O happy people,
happy art thou O Israel. God wants you to be
blessed. God wants you to have those iron shoes.
He wants you to have that oil. He wants you to
have strength for your days. How are you gonna
face your days? And the decision is yours. Are
you gonna face those days ahead of you in your
strength? It ain't gonna work. You can't do it.
Or you can choose today and realize that's what
it's talking about. I'm gonna live with the God
of Jeshurah as my strength. I'm gonna have God
be my help. He's an eternal God, a holy God,
a powerful God. He can be my help in a time of
need. Oh, we're done, we're done. I haven't thrown
my glasses in a while, but we're done. And we're
gonna pray. But two things, if you're here and
you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior,
I'm gonna work my way down right there. I want
you to come forward and say, pastor, I wanna
know for sure that when I die, I go to heaven.
And somebody will take God's holy word, show
you the Bible way to heaven, it'll change your
life. But number two, there's gonna be people
that pray up here. There's gonna be people that
pray in their seats right there. But I want you
to, in your prayer, say, God, there are days
of difficulty. There's a day of struggle. There's
a day of pain. But whatever my days, I'm going
to look to you, God, my God, for strength. You
understand that prayer? I want everybody here
to pray that. But look, talk to God. That's what
prayer is. God, I don't know the days ahead.
There are gonna be difficult days. There's gonna
be days where there's struggle. There's valley
days. There's mountain days. But whatever day
you give me ahead, I'm gonna look to you, God,
God of Jeshurah, my God, for strength. I wanna
ask you a question. How many of you would pray
that? How many of you would do that? I pray that
we do that. Let's do this, let's stand if you
will. Stand if you will, I'm gonna bow my head
and we're gonna start in prayer. Dear Father
in heaven, we love you. And I know even right
now there are some folks who've struggled with
some difficulties, even this week, some dark
days, some days even where sin ruled their lives.
And I pray that you help them. to realize that
they have never been the answer, but you, God,
are. And I pray that even right now they begin
to pray, even confess some of their sins, but
then also go to you for help. Also, Lord, if
there's somebody here not saved, I pray that
they would come this morning and trust you as
their savior. Please bless the invitation. In
Jesus' name, amen. Come as the piano and the
organ play.