RTW March 16

Surprise!

Here is the link to the conference all, just in case you weren’t able to be on: https://fccdl.in/2SME9PZim

Also, check your email. I sent you all the links we talked about in the call.

 

How To Avoid Idolatry In One Verse

Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. Deuteronomy 13:4

 

 

My Takeaways

Something Old

How do avoid idolatry?

Compare to KJV

Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

  • NLT – Serve (KJV – walk) (yaw-lak’ )
    to go, walk, come
  • NLT – Fear reverence (yaw-ray’)
  • NLT – Obey (KJV – Obey) (shaw-mah)
    hear intelligently – often with implication of attention, obedience,
  • NLT – Listen (NJV – keep) shaw-mar’
    guard; generally, to protect, attend
  • NLT – Cling (KJV – cleave) (daw-bak’)
    to cling, cleave to, to stay with stick to, stick with, stick, to be joined together

Something New

Allowing idolatry happens subtlety and unintentionally

Avoiding idolatry happens surely and with intentionality

Something to Do

Avoid all traps with intentionality.

 

 © RTW is a membership Online Bible study. The material is copyrighted and intended for the sole use of RTW members. Materials are not available for reprinting or distribution. All video teachings are intended for the sole use of RTW members. They are not available for copy and distribution on of any kind. Thank you.  All Rights Reserved.

12 Comments

  1. Powerful teaching today! Thank you for giving us practical tools we can use to avoid idolatry.

  2. Holy Spirit guide my heart and mind to serve, fear, obey, listen and cling to you.

  3. Thanks Wendy! I love how you compare the KJV with the NLT.

    My something to do- To always serve and walk, obey, listen and to cling and cleave to God forever and ever. To avoid all the traps of idolatry and not to listen to Satan’s lies the little voice of it’s ok you can do that.

  4. What a simple truth and powerful lesson! I am reminded of a conversation I had with a friend today about walking with God and hearing his voice. I spoke about how as a little girl, through my teenage years and early adulthood, how it was evident God would be speaking to me. It would always be through some large act, so I was able to easily walk with him, cling to him, hear his voice, serve him and keep his commandments. I was telling this friend how lately God has been doing the reverse in my life. God doesn’t move in a loud way with me these days. It’s always in a still small voice. By him moving in such a way, I find myself more eager to hear from him, more eager to listen, even more eager to obey, eager to cling and eager to walk with him. I am finding the more I obey him in those small voice moments, the more I see his response and blessings to other people because of my obedience. As a result, I am trusting him more and trying to be intentional in keeping away from all other idols. Thank You Wendy for this powerful reminder.

  7. I went to the movies last night. I saw I Can Only Imagine. Very touching movie (true story) of how God can totally change a person. You might want to check it out.

    My Takeaways: God believes in Capital Punisment.

    Something Old: Warnings against the false prophets, scoundrels or anyone else who tried to get the people to worship other gods. Even if they were their family members or close friends. These people were to be killed, or the town burned. God could not allow anyone to mislead his people. He could not tolerate wicked depraved people who oppose the will and work of God. I so understand this. God was NOT being too harsh. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch! If you have one little cancer cell in your body it can corrupt and kill all your other cells very quickly. Just as one evil person can corrupt a whole community. A cancer cell must be killed – to stop it from spreading and doing more harm; so must an evil or corrupt person. Temptation today can be overcome when I continually pour out my heart to God in prayer and by diligently study his word. Holy living must be practiced daily.

    Something New: Deuteronomy 14:6 “You may eat any animal that has completely split hooves and chews the cud,” I have a new outlook on this verse. Good old Vernon McGee talked about this verse in this way. He said that this verse had a spiritual lesson for us today. He says “split hooves” refers to the walk of the believer, a separated life. In other words, a life separated UNTO the gospel or separated UNTO Christ, joined to him. He went on to say that “chews the cud” means to spend time in the word. He gave Psalms 1:2 as a reference, “but they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” So knowing and thinking about God’s word is a first step toward applying it to my everyday life. If I want to follow God more closely, I must know what he says. This sounds like a good lesson to me. But if I don’t want to take Dr. Vernon’s view on this I can always follow this diet and probably live a healthier life- physically. 😉

    Something To Do: I need to know the whole scope of God’s word. The more I know the better guide I have in my daily decisions. If I am going to “chew the cud” I have to meditate on his word spending time reading and thinking about what I have read. If I am going to have contact with unbelievers – especially if I want to witness to them – I must not join or imitate their sinful behavior. I must show them God’s way of obedience. The more I know, the more I can share. I need to show others how to fall in love with God and His word. This is the only way to lead people and stop the “cancer” from growing.

  8. Something Old
    Deuteronomy 14:21b
    I’ve always been curious about the prohibition regarding boiling a young goat in it’s mother’s milk. I found some conflicting opinions. Some felt it was simply inhumane to take the mother’s milk to flavor the young goat that had been killed. Others thought it might not have been sufficient to thoroughly cook the meat and was therefore a dietary caution. Still others linked it to a pagan practice and forbade it based on idolatry. Any other thoughts?

    Something New
    Deuteronomy 15:4 states “there should be no poor among you…..While Deuteronomy 15:11 says, “there will always be some among you who are poor.” I never noticed this before in reading this section. While I think I understand it, it does give us pause. God would that there be no one in need among us…..we should share freely and eliminate poverty, but the sinfulness of man has corrupted this and we must strive to continue to do right while recognizing that in this fallen world sin (and want) will prevail. (Until Jesus comes again).

    Something To Do
    Deuteronomy 15:16 says, “But suppose your servant says, ‘I will not leave you, ‘because he loves you and your family, and he is well off with you. In that case , take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door. After that, he will be your servant for life.”
    In this portion of scripture we see ourselves…Do we love our Lord so much that we are willing to come to our Door, (Jesus, Himself) and fully appreciate the scars He has borne for us and that become ours, as well? We are free to choose. Can we surrender and be His willing slave forever? Are we prepared to turn over all of what this life offers us, (and takes away from us), and still obey His direction? My To Do is to reflect upon and renew this decision. It is possible I may have to revisit and recommit numerous times. I think about the old hymn, Come, Thy Fount of Every Blessing,

    Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
    Prone to leave the God I love;
    Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
    Seal it for Thy courts above.

    1. Enjoyed your takeaways and as always you continue to teach me. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Comments are closed.