July 21, 2007

• The Covenant of Healing Part 1 by Pastor Don

  Wednesday’s Bible study was a good reminder about God’s Covenants, and the fact that there are consequences if you break the covenants. So many people want to blame God for what has happened in their lives, forgetting that they have chosen to disobey God. (Heather’s note, just like with our legal system, ignorance of the law is no excuse – if you break a law unknowingly, there are consequences.)

  Pastor Don brought us to the main healing scriptures, Deuteronomy 26. Pastor Don pointed out that in our country where it is easy for us to reach medical help, or take two aspirins, that we tend to do that before going to God for healing. We ascribe healing to scientific means. In other countries, where medical help is not so readily available people have to have faith for healing. We tend to not hold onto faith for healing if we can reach for medical help. The Bible gives us circumstances of great miracles. Miracles do happen. But so often we make lifestyle choices that are not healthy, we have doubt and unbelief, and we let satan take over. Pastor Don said that there is a release of the healing scriptures, and we have to release them to let them do their work.

  We did a lot of reading in the scriptures. Deuteronomy 26:7-9 ‘Then we cried out to the LORD God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey”; and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O LORD, have given me.’ Then you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.

  First fruit is important, all that we have is God’s, and we need to remember to give Him what is his and to worship Him.

  Deuteronomy 26:11-14  ”So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you. When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year–the year of tithing–and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the LORD your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me.

  We cannot be in disobedience to God and expect Him to bless us. So we need to OBEY God and do ALL (not some, not what we think we want to do, not what we think is all we have to do, not a little bit, but ALL) that God COMMANDS us.

  Deuteronomy 26: 15-16  ”Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.This day the LORD your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

  We are not to observe them by rote, or half heartedly but with ALL our HEART and SOUL. With our total mind, will, emotions, and our Spirit.

  Deuteronomy 26:17 “Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice.

  GOD IS GOD.

  Deuteronomy 26:18 ”Also today the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments,”

  God sees us as SPECIAL, and God keeps His promises to us. Pastor Don had us say out loud, “I am special. I have a covenant with a Special God.”

  Deuteronomy 26:19 ”and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken.”

  There was nothing special about those God chose, but God selected them and set them high above the other nations, to have them be a holy people to the LORD God. Because we are descendants from Abraham, this covenant applies to us also.

  Pastor Don said that Deuteronomy 27 talks about building an altar to God, writing out the law, and Moses had half the people stand on Mount Ebal (to speak the curses), and half on Mount Gerizim (to speak the blessings).

  We then read Deuteronomy 28:1-14 to learn what the blessings are. We read them out loud to impress them in our minds. And these blessings speak of healing and health not only of the body but of the mind. Deuteronomy 28:1-14 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God: Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you. The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

  These blessings speak for themselves. They rely on obedience to God, You will see that God repeats some of these blessings more than once. When God repeats Himself it is because it is important to understand what He is saying. It is emphasis.

  Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.

  KEY WORD: BUT. It is our responsibility to know God’s Word. When we don’t obey His word, then stuff comes on us. Pastor Don had everyone raise their hand if they ever experienced “stuff.” No one in the room had a perfect life, we all had stuff. And when we honestly look at our life, we see that stuff happens when we stray from God’s path for us. We then, read some of the curses – the rest of the long chapter is well worth reading, but for the sake of brevity I am going to focus on ones that Pastor Don emphasized.

   Deuteronomy 28:16-25  ”Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed. The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.

  (Heather’s comment, I used to bristle at this, for I figured that an all-powerful God could stop these from happening. But in reality, it is the person who has the choice to obey or disobey. It is we who sow the seed. If I, as a parent, do not let my kids face the consequences of their actions I am not helping them to grow into mature adults who are responsible. God can cause a crop failure, if we repent. But sometimes we have sown something and we will reap what we have sown. God would rather, as a loving parent, have us obey His commands. In fact, I know that I pray that my kids listen to my advice for I know what is in their best interests and share that with them, when they don’t listen, sometimes the consequences are tough and it opens them up to repercussions from forces outside of myself. When we disobey God, we permit satan’s input.)

  Notice that God wants us to obey ALL HIS COMMANDS, not some, not a few, not most, not just the ones we like, but all. If we do not do so then we the curses will overtake us. Pastor Don pointed out something very interesting to me. He pointed out that Israel will be troublesome to all the kingdoms around them, and that is what happened. God prophesied that this would happen, and to today it still is occurring. Israel is a cup of trembling.

  After more of the curses, Pastor Don paused at Deuteronomy 28:36-46 ”The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods–wood and stone. And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you. You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.
  You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land. The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever. 

  If you look at the history of Israel you see that they were brought to Babylon, and many of the Israelites except Daniel and his friends, were pulled into idol worship. The dispersions continued until Israel learned not to worship idols.

  We then skipped down to Deuteronomy 28:60-62 “Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed. You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

  Pastor Don pointed out that because the presence of sickness is mentioned in the curse, that means that health is implied in the blessing.

  Deuteronomy 29 talks about the covenant.

  Deuteronomy 29:1 These are the words of the Covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. God talks about the 40 years in the wilderness, how He delivered the people from Pharaoh, and how God provided food and drink for the people all the years they were in the wilderness. Even their clothes and sandals did not wear out.

  Deuteronomy 29:9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

  Deuteronomy 29:12-13 that you may enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today, that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

  Pastor Don pointed out that, although Moses wrote down the covenant, this is a covenant that has been in effect since the time of Abraham, and because it was in effect with Abraham, it is one that is in effect in our lives, for we are the spiritual seed of Abraham.

  Deuteronomy 29:14-15 I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the LORD our God as well as with him who is not here with us today.

  We are the ones who were not here with the people at Israel, it is a covenant for all the Children of Israel, but also for the gentiles as well. Don’t forget that Abraham was a gentile before He heard God’s command and obeyed. This is a covenant that predates the Jew. At the same time, it is a covenant with Moses and the people of Israel, but there is a loophole which makes it also apply to us – through Abraham. Abraham was the father of faith, the father of many nations.

  The sign that we know that God picked us is the faith that we have in Him. Yet, we have a better covenant based on righteousness by faith, which is the sole basis why God established the covenant. Abraham was the father of faith, and because we are descendants of Abraham, we too have faith. We are in covenant, a covenant which predates the Jew. We also looked to see that the covenant was there in the time of Adam, for God gave Adam dominion over the earth – and Adam gave his dominion over to satan, which brought sickness, disease and death into the world.

  In Adam and Eve’s day before the fall, there was no sickness and disease. They had plenty of food available to eat, and all was full of health. After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, their disobedience caused them to die in a day – if you consider that for God a day is as 1000 years. Before Abraham, we saw God covenanting with Enoch, Methuselah, Seth, and the bloodline from Adam to Noah. God looked on the earth and found one with whom he could establish his covenant. He selected Abraham.

  God told Abraham to go to a place God would show him. Abraham accepted the covenant by packing up him and his family and moving to the place God showed him. Remember, he was an idol worshipper as was his father and the tribes around him. So Abraham was a gentile, and God would teach him how to have a relationship with God.

  Remember when Abraham’s son, Isaac went to find a wife, one of his wives was Rachel. Rachel sat on her father’s idols to hide them from her father, for she had stolen them to bring with her to the place Isaac was bringing her. What was the fruit of that? Rachel’s womb dried up for quite some time.

  The covenant was not just for the Jews, just like the laws were not just for the Jews. The law was for all. Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive the God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

  The Pope messed up last week with his pronouncements, for his words do not agree with the Bible. But at the same time, the Protestants have to get it right. Pastor Don stated that the Pope’s comments were wagging the dog – to take people’s minds off of the sexual sins of the priests.

  The covenant is available to the gentile. Acts 10:37-38 that word (Gospel) you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

  We enter into the covenant by faith. It is a healing covenant. In those who keep the covenant in the book of the Law there is no mention of disease. There is the promise of walking in divine health. If God took care of the sandals for 40 years, how much more can he take care of our health?
  
  As Deuteronomy 29:14-15 says, it is with him who is not here with us today – we were not there.

  Problems come in when we stray from the covenant.

  Deuteronomy 29: 18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood.

  The problem comes when we turn away from God and serve other gods or idols, that leads to bitterness.

  Watch out:

  Deuteronomy 29:19 and so it may not happen when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have place even though I follow the dictates of my heart as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

  Isn’t that just what is happening today, in the Church and outside the church? People following the dictates of their heart, not obeying God.

  Deuteronomy 29:20-22 The LORD would not spare him for then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy would burn against the man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the LORD would blot out his name from under heaven. And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law, so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it.

  God is jealous for us, he wants the best for us, but if we disobey God, we bring the curse on ourselves, for we are no longer under the covering of God’s protection when we are disobedient.

  Deuteronomy 29:27-29 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that was written in this book. And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

  This happened repeatedly to Israel. We are responsible for what God has shown us through His word. We may not understand all that God knows, but what He has shared with us, we must obey.

  But, do not worry.

  Deuteronomy 31:6, 8 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you…And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.

  God has the ability and the desire to bless us. He does not want us to fall under the curse, but He leaves the choice to us. The secret things belong to the Lord, but we make decisions about what we will do about the covenant.

  We make a willful decision to keep the Covenant, but it is God who goes with us and before us to help us keep the covenant.

  I will continue this tomorrow for it is a longish study. Hoping you have a blessed night!

  Heather

   

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