Old Testament in a Year: Deuteronomy 5-20

That's awesome. That's awesome. Hey, if we have not had the chance to meet at all, my name is Prabhu Gupta, and I serve as one of the executive pastors here at the refuge, but more importantly, I serve as our kids pastor here at the refuge, and man, what an honor it is to be just, over the last nine years, to pour into our kids. It's just been, man, really, truly a crown jewel, I would say. I look back at all those memories and say, it's awesome, and looking forward to more memories as the Lord doesn't give the kids a JV Holy Spirit, it's the real Holy Spirit in the back. Can I tell you right now, our kids are having church just like we are right now, and the Lord is visiting with them, and it's amazing. Real quick, I want to give a shout out to Pastor Jay and Pastor Clay, who is with our pastors, Jan and Ju, down at our Brazil campus, O Refugio. They are celebrating 15 years of God's faithfulness. Come on, can we give it up for the Lord? So awesome. Man, God is consistent. God is so, so, so good. Well, we're gonna get, jump right into the Word. So if you have your Bibles, you guys know that we are, our reading plan for this week is Deuteronomy 5 through 20. We are going to be at Deuteronomy chapter 6. So if I can get you guys to go ahead and stand up as we honor God's Word, that would be amazing, and we'll get right into it. So Deuteronomy 6 verses 1 through 13. Here we go. These are Moses' words. These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Listen, O Israel. The Lord is our God, the Lord alone, and you must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your strength, and you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I'm giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home, and when you are on the road, when you're going to bed, and when you're getting up. Tie them to your hands and

wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, be careful not to forget the Lord who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. You must fear the Lord your God and serve him. When you take an oath, you must only use his name. Come on, can we do our declarations that we do every Sunday, and let's do this together. Ready? I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones, and I'll be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this, that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it in Jesus' name. Come on, you guys can go ahead and get a seat. It's so good to be here with y'all. A little bit, again, if we haven't met, here's a little bit about me. I was born in Los Angeles, California on September the 23rd of 1990. That is your cue to mark it down in your calendars. You know, presents are my love language. But I always wonder, because people come up to me and ask me the same question over and over again. Oh, nice to meet you. Where are you from? And I always think to myself, I'm like, what gives me away? Why do people always ask that question? Where are you from? Why do they keep asking that question? I'm born in America, you know, like, you know, something clearly precedes me, right? And so they ask that question because, yes, as American as I come, but my mom and dad are from India. And my mom and dad, they, you know, they were here for four years, and they decided to move back to India in 1994. So I'm 35 years today. 17 years of my life has been in India. 17 years of my life has been in America. And one thing I will tell you just from living in two different cultures, cultures are very different. They're different kinds of things. Anybody been to a different country before and you know what I'm talking about, right? So I will tell you a couple things that I picked up

from India, right? You always use your right hand to shake people's hands. Now I've seen that in the U.S. as well. It's considered good manners. Like, you know, use your right hand when you're, when you're, you know, a firm high handshake. Same thing. Here's another interesting one. When growing up in India, you are not allowed to cross your legs. Like, you know, when you're, oh gosh, I almost fell. You are not allowed to cross your legs when there's an adult in the room. So if my grandmother is sitting in the room or my mom or dad, you don't, you don't cross your legs. They can't. I can't, right? Because it's a respect thing. And big no-no. A couple other nuggets. When I was in school, when the teacher walked into the classroom, we would always all collectively stand up. It was just what we did. We honored our teachers. And this is my personal favorite one for Indian culture. Drive wherever you want. Yeah, it's a, you've made famous by a lot of YouTube videos, which is true. Drive wherever you want. And we have this collective rule in India. So if you're driving a motor vehicle, the rule is you yield to whatever is bigger than you. So if you're driving a motorcycle, well then you stop for the car because it's bigger than you. Stop for the bus because it's bigger than you. Stop for the train because it's bigger than you. You stop for the cow because it's bigger than you. If you are a pedestrian who's just walking around, you have no rights. You are taking your life into your own hands when you're walking around in India, right? But it is super fun to drive around there. It's like a video game. So, but I say all this to say because my overarching point is one cultural aspect that is mind-blowing, which is the concept of arranged marriage, all right? So arranged marriage is this concept in India. And I just want to tell you, 90 to 93 percent of, according to Barna statistics, marriages in India are arranged today, right? And what is arranged marriage? Essentially, it is the unifying nature of families. It's not the consent of the girl, not the consent of the boy. It is the moms and dads come together, have a, you know, United Nations meeting together and say, yes, this will do. And that is very scary. I went home for college one year and my mom said, I think we need to start the process. Oh, no, mom. I think we're good because it was very scary to think about, you know, mom and dad just making this decision for me, you know? And so while we do, this is how the process works for those of you who are wondering. If you are ready to court somebody or you're ready to get married, arranged marriages, you would first start talking to your family and extended family and friends and say, can you go find somebody for us? So that's the first layer. And then when they can't find somebody, then you go to what you call the broker. It's literally

like a company that you walk into and be like, hey, here are my stats. I am 5 foot 10. I am 190 pounds. I make $2,000 my salary. I am, and then you just give them the stats. They write everything down. They'll just give you a stack of pictures and say, okay, I think these people might work for you. And you just go, oh, cool. And then you just go, you go through the pictures. Kind of crazy. It's kind of scary, but I just want to tell you, that is the way of life. Like, that's what they know, right? That's just how they do things. And then, crazy, you could open the newspaper and they would take take ads out in the newspaper saying, hey, I'm a guy. I am looking for a girl. I make this much money. I'm a doctor, by the way. If you marry me, he comes with a car. That's kind of throw a bonus in there. And it's kind of crazy. So, you know, as soon as my mom told me about, you know, starting the process, I immediately just went, oh, I need to fix, like, thank you, Lord. I was already dating my wife at the time. And so, I kind of lucked out there. I went, Lord, he's good. He's great. So, I said, mom, I already found my girl. I'm like, you know, everything is good. But that didn't escape me from having to have an engagement party in India because, again, it's a huge party culturally when, you know, the boy and the girl are coming. The families are coming together. I mean, it's their moment. It's what they're living for. It's what they're saving for. They throw a big party. And so, I've got some pictures for you guys. So, if you ever wanted blackmail information on me, this is going on one time and these pictures will never be seen again. Okay. So, here is the picture. Here's how this works. You know, the boy's side of the family. We go take all these plates with items that represent different things, you know flowers for fertility and I think the fruits of the fertility. I actually don't know like my mom kind of knows all this stuff the Fertility one stuck in my head though There's there's jewelry There's there's jewelry for wealth and coconuts I don't know but all of it has a meaning and so you have people in your life who are close to your life My grandmother my mom is in there who's standing right now right next to me my sister in the yellow my Sunday school teachers Anybody that's in your life that was important, right? They pick up a plate and then they go and ask the other family. Hey, would you be willing to give your daughter? So we went through that process Another thing that's very interesting about arranged marriage in India is also that it's not about the girl or the guy Remember, it's about it's about the families coming together. So next picture, please

It is a picture where it's not just the two of you your mom and dad are sitting with you the whole time now because This happened in India Wendy my wife's parents They're kind of like a zoom screen on the side and it didn't make for a good picture, but they are in the picture so we kind of honor everybody because it's a Union of families is that making is that making sense to you guys, right? It is what we know and then last picture, please because I'm ready to be done with this segment Yes, we got engaged and happy like happy life. We're all good 14 years Praise God. We've been married. Yes. Thank you We can get rid of the pictures now, thank you I will say I missed this the first service. So this is exclusive for you guys I literally brought the shoes that I had to wear at this It was these these shoes are so uncomfortable, by the way literally Like Process at all these these shoes I wore it the day I got engaged and never wore it again It just kind of stayed because my mom would get offended if I threw him away But I just wanted to bring that it's a crazy thing But can I tell you if you walk up to any person in India and and ask them questions about this like everybody would say Oh, yeah, that is the way of life because that is our Culture thank you. Now you I go to people in America say this is what we do like they immediately freak out What do you mean? You don't have a choice? What? Oh my goodness because that is there Okay, culture behaves in a way right according to a set of rules Are you guys with me? Culture is set by rules that the people have all agreed to okay And so in in India the whole arranged marriage concept is all collective Everything you do in a minute in India is collective effort. It's the families everybody together. We're doing it together in America, it's different because it's all Individual you guys with me. It's it's it's all independence the American dream my promotion my Listen, I'm not trying to like it has its own charm. It has its own charm. You got one me over a little bit

It's true, right, but but it's two different Cultures. Are you guys with me? Are you tracking with me? Right? And so I just want to tell you guys that Where we find ourselves in the Bible right now is in our in our reading plan Deuteronomy 5 through 20 I've read it like 15 times and the whole time as you're reading this story, right? It's it's law like the like God is telling Moses Hey when you go into the promised land like when these people go into promising because Moses you're not going to promise land But when the people go into the promised land, this is what they do to live a successful life Okay, so so for instance, there's there's all these different laws about what do you do when you sacrifice an animal? What do you do with the blood of that animal? What do you do when you know somebody somebody steals something from you? You take a loan from the from the from the tax collect like he's setting the rules for how these people are to live now Eventually these rules will become the culture of the land. They're about to inherit. Are you guys with me so far? Yes. Okay. Now there's also some wild ones in there It's like if your brother steals your your other brother's goat now if any of that Like if you guys relate to that one that we need I need to talk to you guys outside But outside of that, there's this there's it's just 15 chapters 20 chapters of law Like when war comes inevitably when war comes, how are you going to respond? What are you going to do? So God has set a culture for his people Do you believe that God has set a culture for us? Do you think anything has changed from what God has set for his people? No, but somehow we have come so far from what he has said, it's baffling to me. Are you guys with me? Right? I have to keep asking that because I'm not sure. You guys are kind of like looking at me. I'm like, I'm not sure if I'm stepping on toes, but there's gonna be a lot of that in just a second, right? I'm just kind of bracing you for impact, but can I tell you, I know from our American culture standpoint, we look at Indian culture and we go, ooh, I don't know about the family thing, but can I tell you the stat real quick? Here's a, here's a quick statistic for you guys. Again, Barna Group 2026, the divorce rate in India, 1%. Is that not wild? It's mind blowing to me. 1%. In the US, in America, divorce rate, hyper individual, come on, American dream, independence, 53% of every marriage. That's half. You start out, you have a 50-50 shot. What happened to our culture?

What happened to our culture? Listen, God's intention for the people of Israel, he wanted to create a standard where people behave accordingly that would set them apart, that they would be a people that were holy, that were called to righteousness. There was also a lot of thought that went into this because God positioned the promised land, where the people were going to be his people, between major superpowers like, like Egypt and Mesopotamia, Canaan was an ideal spot for the Israelites to live out their unique calling and influence the surrounding nations. The land was taken from the Canaanites because of their wickedness. If you guys have been doing your Bible reading, Leviticus, it talks about how the people who are already inheriting the promised land, the people who are currently there, those people were a wicked people. Child sacrifice to Moloch, sexual revolution, like there are little chapters in Leviticus that talks about what these people do and it is gross, it is ridiculous. Bestiality, incest, it was their culture. And the Lord is like, uh-uh, not my people when they're going in. All right, not my people when they're going into that. So, but God knows this about his people. God knows, because this storyline has been going on about since the Israelites left Egypt, God knows that the people of Israel, they are a sinful people, that they are a disobedient people, that they are an impatient people. Isn't that you and I today? Just that, like he would realize that about the people of Israel. Come on, we're the same. We are sinful people. We are a disobedient people. We are an impatient people. We are at my best life now people. We are a selfish people. We are a prideful people. Come on, we are a reckless people. The crazy part is that the people of Israel that were promised the land, they didn't even have the revelation of the cross. They didn't even have the Holy Spirit. Like all they had to go on was what had happened before that. Come on, what, where does that leave us? Second Timothy 3, 16 through 17 says, all scripture is inspired by God, and it's useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. That is how God

set his culture. It's his word, not a contract to his people. It's not a contract to us. His word is a love letter to us because he loves us. We have, all of us have a copy. All of us have a phone, a device, an iPad, whatever. We have copies that we take for granted. Come on. We have come so far from his design because we started making decisions on our own. And listen, if you don't listen to anything that I say today, I'm asking you to just to tune in for the next two minutes. Why did God, why did God do it? Why is he setting a standard? What, why does it matter to him that he sets a standard for his people? Why does he call us to righteousness? Because he loves us. He loves you so much. For those of you who feel in this room right now, I just want to tell you, for those of you who feel like that nobody sees you. that you're not heard, you're just doing your routine, and you're in and out, you're clocking in and out, you're just doing your thing. Can I tell you that there's a God who loves you so, so, so much that John 3, 16, that he would give his one and his only son to die on the cross, a brutal, a sinner's death for you and for me. Come on. That whoever should believe in him would have eternal life. What does that mean? That is a life with God. Come on, the book of Romans talks about how the wages of sin, the penalty for our sin is death, not death like we know it. That is eternal separation from God. That's where we were headed. That's where our storyline was headed. Eternal separation from the King of kings

and the Lord of lords. The creator of the universe, the one who made you. You were wonderfully made. He took it all on the cross. And come on, the good news today, the tomb is empty. Come on, that is the gospel. That is why we do what we do. That is why we are here. And if there's somebody in this room who says, I don't have hope in Jesus, can I tell you, it's not some fancy message. It is the gospel that mobilizes his people. It's the gospel that mobilizes his church. That is the reason, Jesus is the reason why we do what we do. That's why he wanted to set a culture. That we would look like him. We could be like him. That he's calling you for something higher and better. Culture seems to have taken his own path and our behavior has changed depending on the tides of what is acceptable. I'll tell you, just in the last 15 years, we have redefined food, we have redefined food. One day it's paleo, one day it's carbs, one day it's the carnivore diet. Come on, it changes all the time. Am I the only one who thinks that? I can't even keep up with y'all,

that's why I look like this. Don't tell my mom that. She only does the Indian diet, which is rice and curry and is awesome, okay. But we redefine our gym routines. We redefine our successes, our significances. We redefine pro-life. Come on, is that not a modern day child sacrifice concept? Oh, we redefined it. We've made up terms like my body, my choice. We have redefined homosexuality, literally in the last 20 years. Things that would fly 20 years ago, how many of you know, does not, like, it's different today. It just feels like the walls are closing in, like, everybody's out to get you because now culture has moved the goalpost. We have redefined marriage. 53% divorce rate, hello? We, when I was going through these stats, I found this new, like, I don't know if it's new, this is the first time I'm hearing about it. Serial marriage, have you guys heard about that? It's like, you marry people depending on how old you are and what your needs are. So you could have four wives, but it'd be like, okay, I need you for my 20s, I need you for my 30s, you for my 40s, you for my 50s, you have four different,

are you guys with me? That is a rising concept, apparently. We moved the goalpost because somehow we took the rights to culture in our own hands. The air we breathe in the 21st century does not blow towards the kingdom of God. Our current culture is built on the foundation of expressive individualism, feelings about self. The idea that the highest good is to find yourself and to live your truth. Even the truth is not true anymore. We went from universal truth to objective truth, now it's my truth. It's you could walk outside and say, it's not raining today, it's a beautiful cloudy day, and it could be a thunderstorm outside. Well, no, that's not what's happening. No, that's my truth. That doesn't make any sense. What is that? What did we just allow? The kingdom of self versus the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is built on the foundation of Matthew 16, 24, which says, if anyone were to come after me, you let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That road is not wide, it's narrow. Our culture, however, preaches a gospel of self. We live in a post-truth era

where our feelings trump our revelation. While the kingdom of God is anchored in the unchanging word in Isaiah 40, 48, our culture though mirrors the days of the judges. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Scary. Scary. In his book, Atomic Habits, James Clear writes, Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. Every action we take is a vote to the culture we want to inherit. How has our culture been pitted against the kingdom? One, we're a culture that values convenience over conviction of the Holy Spirit. This is an age-old problem. The people of Israel, when Moses was up the mountain to get the law from the Lord, what did the people of Israel do? They could not wait two minutes to wait for Moses to come down. They had to have it right then. What are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do now? Moses is gone. He's with the Lord. What are we gonna do? So they go to Aaron. They ask him, hey, can we get all the gold together? We're gonna make idols and we're gonna call the idol, the gold idol, Yahweh. We are an impatient people. We decide to create our own gods too because we can't wait on the Lord. We don't know what that means. We have to have a strategy. I mean, in culture we talk about that, right? Strategic thinking. Our ability to think two steps ahead. We have defined things in our culture that grants temporary success that has moved the goalpost on things like going and finding things that are outside of God. Culture tells us that love is a feeling that serves our happiness. The kingdom tells us that love is a sacrifice that serves God's holiness. We created so many different sayings today. We say you are perfect the way you are. You are enough the way you are. But can I tell you, none of those things are true. We are only good enough if God is in it. We are perfect only with God. We are enough only with God. But all these slogans that we've come up with, moving the goalpost of culture. Next, we are a culture that values tolerance over our voice. In other words, your courage. There's a story in the Bible where Elijah deals with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, 17 through 21. And here's what the scripture says, when Ahab saw him he exclaimed, so is it really you, you

troublemaker of Israel? I have made no trouble of Israel, Elijah replied. You and your family are the troublemakers, name-calling. For you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. Now summon all of Israel to join me at Mount Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel. So Ahab did that. Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, how much longer, so this is Elijah telling the people, how much longer will you waver hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then follow him. But if Baal is your God, then follow him. Don't waffle back and forth. Guys, tough, tough line in the Bible. What follows next? But the people were completely silent. Come on, have we traded our voice, our courage, because we don't want to rock the boat? Who's supposed to be, who's supposed to bring us back to the design? There's a saying that even a dead dog can swim in the right current. Can I tell you today that your silence is a decision? Silence is a decision. We have been quiet. Can I tell you, I was looking up all these stats and man, the Barna group is like, they're like a black hole. You just get like lost in them. Like if you, like movies that were allowed in the 1980s, our censorship, the way things have evolved since the 1980s to 2026, the things that have changed that you can show on TV, that you can show in a movie, the language that you could use, it happened on our watch. Like those of us who've been in the 1980s and 1990s, you know what I'm talking about, right? There's this famous movie, Steven Spielberg, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. You guys seen that movie? They had so many gymnastics that they had to do just to clear the rating, that the shooting was an immediate R rating, that they wouldn't want to put it on primetime movies. But today, we would have Avengers movies that would probably never clear the ratings

with all the shooting and gun violence, right? Listen, I'm not here to tell you what is right and what's wrong, but we have moved the goalposts so far from what God's design was for us. I used to be a teacher before all of this, and I remember making copies one day in the break room, and there were two teachers talking about like a wedding that was happening in their life, and it was a Muslim wedding, and they're saying, oh, we did this, and we did that, and it was awesome. And immediately, they looked at me, and they just went, hey, what do you do? And I said, I'm married, I'm taken. And they're like, no, no, no, but what did you do? Normal wedding. No, no, no, what is your thing? And I was like, what do you mean, what is my thing? Like, what God do you serve? Like, what is your religion? We're Muslim, she's, I immediately understood in that moment that my silence did not rock the boat to just be a good guy. People who exist with good opinions and good intentions is not good enough. It's not good enough. That is also serving the self-attitude. I immediately knew, and I came home to my wife,

and I said, hey, I think I messed up. Because nobody even knows that I follow Jesus. I'm a good guy, sure. And I would go and serve, at the time we had our campus in Salisbury, and I would serve in their youth group every Wednesday. 85, I-85 was under construction at the time. It was a two-hour trip one way just to get there from here. Like, you're just stuck in traffic the whole time. I can count my hands a couple times where it was like literally through the night I'd have to sit on 85 and then come home, take a quick shower, go right to work. Because I just loved serving with the kids. But can I tell you, people later, later, they would start making fun of me, and they would say, oh, you know, Wednesday, that's Goop does Jesus Day, that's his Jesus Day. And listen, I actually started to get more proud because I'm like, hey, I would rather get mocked that it's my Jesus Day, and they knew where I stood and where my intentions were than for me to be silent over a God who went to the cross for me, who died a public death for me. Come on, I'm not saying that to say I'm better than you. I'm just saying I had to have my own revelation, that it's not good enough just to be a good guy anymore or a good person anymore. We have to stand up for the things of God. We're also a culture that's lost a reverence for the Lord.

This is a tough one. There's a story in the Bible between God and the prophet Samuel, and they go, and the people of Israel, they wanted a king, and so they find Saul, and Samuel comes to God and says, God, they rejected me, they rejected me. And God says, no, Samuel, they didn't reject you, they rejected me. Come on, has our actions rejected God? Have we rejected him from our household, from our workplace, from our culture? Compromise with a culture is often the result when we lose a reverence and respect for the Lord. It's the Jesus won't mind attitude that gets us into trouble. To overcome compromise, we need to remove our fear of offending the world and recapture a healthy fear of the Lord that our God expects and our God demands. In other words, let me put this in layman's terms. It's not return to the fear of the Lord, the reverence of the Lord. We are so disrespectful to the Lord in how we carry ourselves, in how we act, in how we behave, we are disrespectful. Come on, one of the mission statements of the refuge is that we revere God in all we do. Is that your MO as well? Do we revere God in everything that we do? Do we respect him in everything that we do? I can tell you this.

I'll be the first one to tell you. All of us in this room, I'm the chief of sinners. I don't do a good job respecting the Lord. I try, I don't. I know there's there's a thought that I'm that in marriage there are times where you argue, there are times where everything is good. Come on, if God could love me and die for me on my best, on my worst day, I should do the same for my bride. I fail at that all the time. It's the truth. I'm not, again, I'm not here to say I'm better than you. I'm here to say, come on, we all have to collectively come to a decision that says we have, we need to repent that we've come so far. Nobody's safe. Pastors, elders, deacons, people in the workplace, come on, we need a reverence for the Lord. I pray that our church, as our mission statement, which is we revere God in all that we do, come on, I pray that that is who we are, that this is a true refuge for people. Do we revere God in all that we do? Reverence for the Lord or respect for the Lord is simple. I've heard John Bevere say it this way, it's loving the things that he loves and hating the things that he hates. It's that simple. Loving the things that he loves and hating the things that he hates. So if we come up with a decision to say, oh, we hate those people, we hate them, that is disrespectful to the God because God loves people. Are you with me? Sometimes politics can divide us. Sometimes our opinions can divide us. But can I tell you, God loves people. Our mission is people. We love people because God loves people. Can I tell you today, but what God does not like is the sin. He hates the sin. Scripture says that he opposes the pride. That is what we hate. We hate pride. We hate the things that break his heart. We hate the things that he's not proud of. So what do we do probably? What do we need to do? Our culture is broken. Our culture is messed up. Where do we go from here? But can I tell you, the answer is in Scripture. And God, before he even lays out the law in Deuteronomy 6, laid this out to his people. He said, you need to return to the Shema of the Lord. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, with all your mind. It is a surrender of

control. It is a full commitment. It is not a passive commitment. You're not a fan of Jesus. We are disciples. We are disciples of Jesus. So here's our first responsibility. It's a discernment of influence. Deuteronomy chapter 20, verses 15 through 18, and it says, but these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will enter. God has laws for all the nations around the promised land, but this one that I'm about to read is specific to the people for the land they're about to enter. In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. You must completely destroy the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God. This is kind of a controversial subject in the Bible where people take it constantly out of context and they say, well what do you mean God killed women and children? Anything that breathes? Is that anything? Yes, that's what that meant. Anything that breathes, get rid of it. Anything that breathes, kill it. You're about to go into a land. You need to take it. The Lord your God, I will fight your battles, but you need to kill everything. Come on, can I tell you today, what does killing everything look like? What does it look like? The same thing applies for us today. It means anything that could grow, anything that could have a voice in your life, anything that could reproduce, anything that can multiply, anything that is not of God. It needs to go. It needs to go. Get rid of it. It will cause you to sin. It will cause you to go further away from me. It has to go. But God, the women and children, it has to go. As hard as that is to hear, God is a jealous God. We forget that God is a consuming fire. The kingdom of God is violent. Can I tell you today, those people, yes, they were so far from the Lord. As I mentioned earlier, child sacrifices and all the different things that they're engaged in. The Lord loves his people so much. He says, hey, I will go to the umpteenth degree to make sure that you're protected. That you are set apart. Last week, you know, our serve director Amber was helping us out in the office and she grabbed a

printer and she was moving around talking to people and then we noticed that her pants were completely covered in the ink and her shoes were destroyed, right? And can I tell you today, it was leaking the whole time. Nobody caught it until we realized her awesome white pants were soaked in ink and her brand new shoes were soaked in ink. Destroyed. Gone. It's done. Before you guys feel bad, we bought her a brand new pair of shoes. She got to pick it. It was great. But can I tell you the thing about leaks? It's similar to compromises. You make one compromise here. You can make one compromise there. All of a sudden our censorship, one f-word's okay. Two f-word's okay. Oh, now it's not a x-rating. It's a, are you guys with me? You make compromises and compromises. Oh, the beat is great. So this song should be okay for my kids. Okay, well this video game should be. We make compromise, compromise. The things about leaks is that we don't notice them until we have a mess on our hands. That's the problem with leaks. That's the problem with our culture today. We have leaked so much that we have a complete mess on our hands. That we've been leaking our watch. We need to respond to conviction. Come on, are we afraid for God to purify us? To clean us from the inside? Are we afraid? What are we not wanting to give up? I would start there. That's where I would start. We need to return to a standard. Our second responsibility. The priority of our heart. Deuteronomy 25 through 7. And it says, then the officers of the army, so this is God giving war plans. What would happen if there are wars? Then the officers, officers of the army must address the troops and say, has anyone here just built a new house but not yet dedicated it? If so, you may go home. You might be killed in the battle and someone else would dedicate your house. Don't want that. Has anyone here just planted a vineyard but not yet eaten up its fruit? If so, well you may go home. You might die in battle and someone else would just eat your first fruit. Has anyone here just become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? Well then you need to go home and get married. You might die in battle and someone else would marry her. Come on, God expects us to be intentional with our home life. God expects us. God demands this of us. He's not trying to send you on a crusade somewhere when our home life is in a complete disarray. That is our first, our first love, our first ministry. God picked and chose you for the family that you're in. Come on, can I tell you today? God's not over here interested. Let's accomplish these things in mission, in mission and ministry. He wants your heart right. It's a heart posture thing. When our priorities are aligned, our mission will align.

Has anyone here just built a new house but not yet dedicated it? If so, you may go home. In other words, if you are off doing something, you're not intentional, somebody else is going to influence what you're leaving behind. So here's my thoughts. We need to get involved, church. We need to get involved in our home. We need to be present in our home. We put way too much value on things like our cell phones and and iPads and like, listen, I am guilty of it. I can come home sometimes and I'll just sit there and do my thing. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. scroll the whole time. I can sit there and check email. We need to get rid of all of it. Our children's lives are at stake. Where they're headed is at stake. We need to model what that looks like. I tell our leaders, you know, in the back of the kids ministry, and I say, hey, if something's not important to you, it'll never be important to our kids. So if you stand in the back and worship God, why should they? Why should they come to the altar? If you're going to sit in your seat and not engage in worship, why would they do that? If something is not important to you, why should it be for them? We have a generation that's coming behind us. The goalposts is already moved so far. The goalposts are only going to keep getting moved. The enemy, he's got this, he doesn't have to convince us to not love Jesus. He has to convince us to keep moving the goalposts so we can't find him. Deuteronomy 20 verse 1 through 4, when you go out to fight your enemies and your face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt is with you. When you prepare for battle, the priests must come forward, speak to the troops. He will say to them, listen to me, all you men of Israel, do not be afraid as you go out to fight your enemies today. Do not lose heart or panic or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is going with you. He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory. Can I tell you today, you are not fighting a culture that is not changeable. You are not engaging in war with something that's unwinnable. Jesus already has the victory. When King David writes, some put their trust in chariots and horses. This is what he's talking about. He's like, hey, it doesn't matter the size of the bank

account or the amount of people that's with the cause or who is against me. It's the Lord who's going to have the final say. We get to choose whose side we're going to be on. Finally, we have a responsibility, a mandate to communicate, a mandate to communicate. Deuteronomy 6 verse 4 through 7. Listen, oh Israel, the Lord is our God and Lord alone, and you must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and all of your strength. You must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I'm giving you today. Repeat them again and again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home, when you're on the road, when you're going to bed, and when you're getting up. Culture is learned. It's not inherited genetically. Kids are not just born with knowing what to do. If I were to close my eyes for a second and think through this, I could tell you things about things about my dad. I could tell you some things about my grandpa. It gets really fuzzy after that. And then your great-grandpa, and then his grandpa. When information is not passed on, when things are not modeled, when things are not part of who you are, the essence of who you are, it just gets lost in the shuffle. It makes it easier to move the goalpost. Small things like being intentional with family devotions, praying with your wife, praying with your kids, letting them see you actually worship, to worship music in the car, in the home. These small things, they're being modeled to the generation that's to come. Meaningful conversations with our family, prioritizing the dinner table, prioritizing the weekend, prioritizing time with our spouse, prioritizing time with our kids. It's critical. I want to say this, and then we're going to be done. I started this message talking about a story about when I was four years old and I moved to India. The reason why we moved to India, my dad had a great job. He was a bank manager at Wells Fargo. My mom, however, had this burden in her heart. With all of the arranged marriage, there are things that go wrong. with that too. There's dowry involved, like back in the day. And so, so 20, like I would say 40 years ago, because India only got independence 50 years ago. Oh gosh, 70 years ago, because I've been here 20 years, great. I would tell you, when the farmer, or somebody who was poor, or somebody who was in a rural area, they had a

child, and it was a girl, he immediately freaked out, and they said, oh my goodness, I have to pay a dowry for this child. I have to put, pay education for this kid. We don't, we can't afford that. So what do we do? So the people would just offer up the just-born babies in temple steps, as a sacrifice. Hopefully somebody comes and helps them. They would literally throw babies in the trash cans. My mom said, I wanted to go home, because I hear those babies in my ear. Oh man, I don't know why I'm getting worked up. When people look at me and say, probably, why is kids ministry so important to you? Why is the next generation so important to you? Why do you, why, why is it so important that we look at the people behind me? Because it was modeled to me by my mom and dad, who went around, I literally physically sat in a car, my mom and dad would drive around, and they would pick up kids out of trash cans, babies out of trash cans, and temple steps, and connect with pastors, and find babies who didn't have a shot, and would bring these babies to our house, and we'd adopt them. I have 15 little sisters today. But when these kids came into our life, into my life, I knew I had a responsibility, and it was, it just became who I was, because it was modeled to me. So kids ministry today, it's not a passion of mine, it's in my blood. It's in my DNA. It's why I love doing what I do. The reason I tick is so I can see our kids who should be far away from God, that they have a shot with God. It'd be so easy to call it a day, and do, and just in the back, just do childcare. But no, it's in my DNA, because my mom and dad, that's how they raised me, that's the culture of my home. Modeling what you want to model to your kids is powerful. It sticks to them. It becomes who they are, where they're going. We have a responsibility at church to model that for our kids. We have a responsibility to serve. We have a responsibility to serve our local church. We have a responsibility to serve the next generation, kids, youth, college with RDS. We have a responsibility. The goalpost is gonna keep moving on our watch if we don't. We have a responsibility to spend time with your kids. You have a mandate to spend time with your kids, repeating things over and over and over again, because that becomes a culture in the

DNA of who they are. That's when the goalpost doesn't move. It is the Shema of God, that we will love our God with everything that we are. That is the DNA of our home. Our kids need to see us at the altar. Our kids need to see us worshiping Him. Our kids need to see us prioritizing Jesus. Our kids need to see it. And if you're silent on our watch, this post keeps moving.