Reflections on Baptisms and Theological Insights from Deuteronomy

In this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, the hosts reflect on the recent Sunday baptisms, praising the efforts of their team and the wonderful community atmosphere. They delve into Deuteronomy 28 and 29, discussing the blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience, and the relationship between God's delight in justice and His sorrow over the death of the wicked. The episode emphasizes the importance of genuine worship, careful obedience, and living with theological tensions. The hosts also reminisce about worship songs and appreciate their worship team's hard work.

00:00 Welcome and Sunday Recap

00:21 Baptism Highlights and Gratitude

02:56 Upcoming Events and Announcements

03:31 Deuteronomy 28: Blessings and Curses

07:31 Understanding God's Justice and Mercy

11:46 Renewal of the Covenant in Deuteronomy 29

13:14 Worship and Heartfelt Service

15:26 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey, everybody, welcome back to another

edition of the daily Bible podcast.

2

What's up?

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It's Thursday, but hey, I want

to talk about last Sunday.

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Oh.

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Were you with us last Sunday?

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Were you there?

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Were you standing outside eating

pizza, watching our baptisms,

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our first ever on site baptisms?

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No, I had a rerun to catch.

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I was trying to get Andy Griffith

show, so I had to shoot, I had

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to bounce a little bit early.

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I was wondering, I was like,

where did Pastor Rob go?

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I don't know.

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No, man, it was so good.

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It was the best.

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It was such a win.

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Just the environment, the

atmosphere, having the kids all

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around the baptismal tank there.

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None of the kids jumped in.

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We were wondering about that or any of

them going to be like, I want to get in.

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You just.

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Planted the idea and now you've

almost guaranteed that it's going to

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happen unless I don't know how many

of the kiddos are listening to This

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that would be tempted to do that.

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I can think of a few.

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Okay.

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Don't do that Okay, there

you go pastoral admonition.

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Don't do that.

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No, it was so good man we were unsure

and god was kind to us with the weather

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He was kind to us and getting the

weather the water warmed up enough there

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The testimonies were all good people

stuck around had pizza together after

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it just was one of those moments that

you're like, man I love What we get to

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do and the weather was near perfect.

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It was, you forgot to mention that part.

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The weather was just

as good as it could be.

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It was incredible.

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It was a sunny 70 degree day.

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And that made, cause that if it

was windy or if it was chilly,

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those things matter in Texas.

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They do.

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It's extreme weather usually.

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So that was a really special day.

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We celebrated hard.

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We had such a fun time, so many

smiling faces and so many great

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things that just made it feel so good.

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Yeah.

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Shout out though, to John King solver.

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And to Steven Little and Jordan Lowe,

who, because you guys did a great job in

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helping us with getting that all set up.

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This is our first run at this onsite.

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And John helped out with some heating

rods that got the temperature up there.

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And Jordan and Steven did a

great job getting it all set up.

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My, my favorite part of the weekend

though, was as we're pulling out.

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of the the parking lot after tear

down, I look over and Steven is like,

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has the, his body slammed the hot tub.

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He's got it rolled up and he's just

sprawled out on top of it, trying

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to get all the air out of it.

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But it just reminded me, man, we've

got servants that just love Jesus that

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are willing to do things like throw

their entire body weight on top of a.

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Inflatable jacuzzi to get it to collapse.

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I'll do you one better.

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I saw Steven scooping out water with

this big giant, I don't know what

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his storage box scooping out water.

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As I drove by, I was driving to a baptism

party and I saw what Steven was doing.

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I'm like, man, I thanked God for him.

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I was driving by and I said,

thank you Lord for Steven.

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What a boss.

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So thankful for him and the team that

supports all that we're doing here.

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What a great thing.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And if you were there thank

you for being there with us.

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It made it so fun.

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It was so good.

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And in our the five that got baptism,

they baptized, baptismed baptism.

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And there it is.

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They got baptized.

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They had a cheering section there and it

was y'all and it was just a good time.

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It was fun to be there.

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I wanted it to keep going.

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I was like, who else needs to be baptized?

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Let's do this as re baptizing people.

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There we go.

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Rededicate all those things.

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Dunk some babies.

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Let's see what happens here.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Anyways, no, we don't do that,

but that's another podcast.

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Hey what else do you got?

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Any, anything else on your mind?

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Tomorrow's our open house tomorrow here at

the office So if you want to come and see

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what we got going on here That would be

the day to do it We will have some treats

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for you and we'll have some smiling faces

Now we're hiring people for that part.

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So we'd love for you to come in and come

see us Cookies and bundt cakes is what

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I hear are going to be here And tamales.

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I didn't hear that.

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No.

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Okay, unless you're gonna make some

I don't know how to make him bro.

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Okay.

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I don't know how to make him either.

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So my Nana, she can

actually, she couldn't do it.

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Hey, I need a 400 by Friday

overnight and please.

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Yeah.

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Anyways.

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Yeah.

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We're excited about that.

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That should be fun.

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Let's jump in Deuteronomy 28 and 29.

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28 and 29, 28 blessings and

cursings blessings for obedience

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and curses for disobedience.

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The chapter is definitely slanted

in weight towards the curses.

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You're going to read the blessings

and be like, this is nice.

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And then less than halfway through the,

it turns and he gets to the curses and God

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makes it clear what would happen if the

people did not listen and carefully obey.

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It's a lot more ink there, a lot more.

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Yeah.

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And ultimately this is going to result

if they disobeyed and they would

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ultimately, this would result in

exile for the people and the horrific

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suffering and famine during those days.

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God is graphic about what the

suffering is going to be like, and

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it's hard to read these things.

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But this is ultimately what does

come to pass in the land and the

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seed promise notice are going to be

reversed, albeit temporarily, but they're

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going to be taken out of the land.

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And it talks in the text as you're

going to, your numbers are going to be.

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Okay.

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So he's saying the number of

Abrahamic covenant promises

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is not going to be reduced.

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Whereas before it was a promise

that they're going to be multiplied.

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Here you're saying, no, your

numbers are going to be shrunk

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rather than growing you.

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And so some of the Abrahamic

covenant promises are reversed.

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I'll again, temporarily, but

still it's it's the threat there.

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Yeah, this is a serious chapter.

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And one of the verses that jumped out

at me as I read this here is verse 47,

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because you did not serve the Lord,

your God, get this, not just that he,

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that they, he wanted them to serve him,

but the way in which he serves them,

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or the way in which they serve him.

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He says, because you do not serve

the Lord your God with joyfulness

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and gladness of heart because of the

abundance of all things, therefore

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you shall serve your enemies.

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So God cares that not only that

you do the service, not only that

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you do it, but how you do it.

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It really matters to him.

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And what he cares about is that you

don't make him look like a taskmaster.

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He's not an Egyptian Pharaoh

who's just cracking the whip and

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saying, get your act together.

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Our service should reflect

the way in which he serves us.

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Which of course is not

begrudging generosity.

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He is a God who loves to be

giving, loves to serve us.

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And so he wants us to reflect that

same response in our service to him.

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Verse 47.

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Yeah.

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I also noticed at the beginning of this

chapter, just how many times he talks

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about being careful to obey, being

careful to obey and make sure that

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you are not neglecting these things.

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It's that intentionality.

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It's that thoughtfulness of our

neutral is slanted towards the flesh.

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Our default is not to

obey the word of the Lord.

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Our default is not to obey God, even

as Christians, even with the spirit.

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If you don't feed the spirit, the

word of God, if you're not after God's

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word every single day, if you're not

seeking and setting your heart to know

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it, to live it out, to obey it, you

will gravitate more towards the flesh

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than you will towards the spirit.

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And that is just the reality of

the fact that we have to live

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with the old man's presence.

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Still, the vestiges of the old

man still here, though he's been

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crucified, he's been put to death.

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We don't have to obey him.

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He's still here.

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And if we're not careful and

intentional about obeying the Lord,

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then we're going to find a lot more

fleshliness in our life than we

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will through the spirit in our life.

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And so we have as Christians

to set ourselves every day.

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Like Paul said, I worked harder than.

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Anyone else, but it wasn't me.

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It was the grace of God at work within me.

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And yet we see that the dual relationship

there of our efforts in God's mercy,

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God's grace working at the same time.

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Yeah.

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It's one of my favorite

Pauline statements here.

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I have a question and I want to know

if you have any insight on this one.

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This is about chopping things off again.

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No, this isn't.

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Okay.

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Everybody knew about

everyone saw that one.

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They were wondering why you

didn't say anything about it.

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I just addressed the elephant in the room.

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They wanted to hear.

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Everybody said it.

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Everybody and their mom was texting

me saying, can you please make sure

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Pastor PJ, why'd you ask that question?

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Verse 63.

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So it says here as the Lord took delight

in doing you good and multiplying you.

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So the Lord will take delight in bringing

ruin upon you and destroying you.

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Okay.

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So that's the critical phrase.

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He'll take delight in doing these things.

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Ezekiel 18 specifically verse 32.

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Tracking along at home, folks says

this for, I have no pleasure in the

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death of anyone declares the Lord God.

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So turn and live.

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So it seems like on the surface that these

two things are competing with one another.

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On the one hand, you have God

saying in verse 63, he delights in

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bringing ruin and destroying you.

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On the other hand, you have Ezekiel 18

that says, I have no pleasure in the

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death of anyone declares the Lord God.

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So can you help us put

these pieces together?

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They seem to not fit, but I

know that they fit somehow.

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What do you think?

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Yeah, I think it's the complexity

of the character of God in the

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sense that he delights in justice.

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He delights in that which exalts what

is right and good and just and holy

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and the punishment of the wicked,

the judgment against the guilty, the

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destruction even of the wicked brings

him joy in that justice is upheld and

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his character of holiness is preserved.

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It could not be otherwise.

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Were he to not Delight in that were he

to do that regretfully or mournfully

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there would be a capacity in him wishing

that he didn't have to there would Be

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a part of him wishing that somehow sin

could be allowable or tolerable and

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there is no category in God's holiness in

which that is even a thought That would

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enter his mind that said As far as the

individual, his created being, his desire

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is, and Peter talks about this as well.

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His desire is that none should perish,

but that all should reach eternal life.

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He loves the world so much so that he gave

Christ so that whoever believes in Christ

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would not perish, but have eternal life.

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And those two things are equally true.

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He loves his justice and his holiness

and his goodness and his righteousness.

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And he loves his creation.

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And when his creation

rebels, it grieves him.

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It grieves him.

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And so there is sorrow over the

death of the wicked and yet not

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sorrow over the execution of justice.

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Those two things are held in

contradistinction to one another

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within the economy of God's

understanding of his creation.

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And so he loves his creation,

but he also loves his justice.

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And those two things are equal in

his understanding and his sight.

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So it sounds like you're saying

God has both of those things.

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That they're not in contradiction.

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They are in contrast and they both

express true things about God, right?

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So for us we would struggle with this.

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We don't typically have these kinds

of conflicting feelings, but in

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And God's experience, if I could

use those words, he can experience

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two things that seem to contradict.

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Although they contrast, they do not

contradict their, they're happening

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within God at the same time.

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Is it, can you see, is there any way

in which someone might say, okay, if

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God is simple and sometimes theologians

use this not to say that God is.

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I don't know that he's like easy

to understand per se, but that

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he doesn't have parts, right?

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Are we saying that God has parts

when we say that he has these two?

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contrasting experiences

in his divinity No.

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Some have said he is holy as

his underlying attributes.

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So he is holy in his love.

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He is holy in his justice.

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He is holy in his wrath.

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He is holy in his compassion.

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He is holy in his mercy

is holy in his patience.

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So in that sense, holiness

is the simplicity element.

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It is who he is at the root.

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He is holy.

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He is without blemish or

flaw or any imperfection.

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And so everything that he

expresses that out of that core

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identity of holiness there.

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And so therefore it's not

a compartmentalization.

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It's not that he's a different part

over here than he is over here.

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It's just different expressions of

the core reality of his holiness.

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That's really interesting to think about.

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It reminds me of the second Peter

passage, second Peter three, he

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doesn't wish that any should perish.

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But that all should reach repentance.

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The reality is, even though God desires

this, that's not going to be fulfilled.

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True.

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There's going to be people

that do perish and do suffer.

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So there, there's precedence for

understanding God in that way.

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It's just hard for our human brains

to wrap ourselves around that.

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But I think it points out

something important for us.

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And it's that if there's an emotional

complexity, I don't know if I could.

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Call it that.

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If there's complexity in God without

rejecting divine simplicity, I think

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there's room in the Christian heart

to say, man, understanding some of

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these theological positions doesn't

always in our minds settle nicely.

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It just means that we have to

sometimes live with the tension,

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like what you talked about on Sunday.

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I think you're talking about, Oh,

actually maybe it was two Sundays ago.

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Understanding God's sovereignty

and man's responsibility, right?

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We live with that tension saying we

don't exactly know how that works.

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We know what the scriptures say, and we

can confirm that and affirm that, but

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how the pieces ultimately fit together.

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We don't know.

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Sure.

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We just know that's what God does.

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That's what he teaches.

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And a similar sense here, as you look

at verses like this and you're tempted

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to say God is contradicting himself.

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He's not, again, it's not

contradiction is contrast.

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And we're seeing different

aspects of how God relates to us.

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And that's a good thing.

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There should be room in your heart to say,

look, there's complexities that, that.

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And we should be okay with that

as even part of being divine,

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and we should be okay with that.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, that's good.

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That's great.

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That's helpful.

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Yeah.

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Close reading of Scripture and connecting

the dots there is a good thing.

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Chapter 29 then once we get in,

after the blessings and the cursings,

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chapter 29, God renews his covenant

relationship here with Israel again,

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And reminds them to be faithful to

him, not turning away after false gods.

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And so again, new generation he's

reengaging them reengaging them

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with this covenant language here

saying, don't pursue the false gods.

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Don't pursue the gods and the nations

also warns them against the person who

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thinks that nothing will happen to him,

even though he walks in the stubbornness

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of heart, this jumped out to me as

something that's noteworthy, even for.

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The church today that there are some in

the church today that may be giving lip

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service to God, which is the danger here

that God is confronting saying, Hey,

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maybe you're going to be the one that's

going to show up at the Sabbath and in

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the feasts and bring your sacrifices and

offerings when your heart is far from me.

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And you're thinking nobody knows because

these are all the secret sins of my life.

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He says, basically the person

that walks in that stubbornness of

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heart is not I'm not fooling God.

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God is not going to be mocked.

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You're going to reap what you sow and

God is going to deal with that person.

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And that's a, he says that in

verse 19, he talks about the one

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that blesses himself in his heart

saying, I shall be safe though.

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I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.

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He says, this will lead away, lead the

way to the sweeping away of moist and dry

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like the Lord will not be willing for.

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You do willing to forgive you.

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And so that's a terrifying concept, right?

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The person that, that goes through

the motions, meanwhile, harboring

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sin, thinking that they're okay

with God, because after all, if God

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knew he would do something about it.

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Yeah, beware of that attitude.

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In fact, that's what

you read so many times.

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Beware.

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Beware.

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Now, lest there be in any of

you an evil, unbelieving heart.

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It sounds a lot like Hebrews.

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And the idea here is that Christians

can so often get, not Christians here,

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but the Israelites, but Christians

too, can get so often just lulled into

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this normal behavior, this normative

behavior without recognizing and

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feeling the underlying emotions.

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I was praying about this on Sunday

for the worship team that we would

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not just lead the worship in our

songs, but that we would actually.

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feel the worship that we would

express the worship because we would

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hate to have these exalted majestic

words falling on a face that looks

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disinterested and morose, right?

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It's it doesn't fit.

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It's one of those things where

it's like, how can we sing blessed

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be your name and at the same time

look like we're sad and mournful.

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The song is celebratory.

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And so we want to match the tone

because that's what it's warranting.

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That's what makes sense.

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We're giving God the whole heart

and not just a part of us, which

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includes in many respects, our whole

bodies, our minds, our thoughts, our

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feelings, our actions, everything else.

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So be careful that you don't get lulled

into some kind of normative routine that

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divorces your mind from your heart or

any other part of your body, because

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that's the tendency for most of us.

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We go on autopilot, we get

disconnected when we just stop really.

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feeling and thinking

the way that we should.

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This is a danger and a

warning against that here.

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Are we singing that song on Sunday,

bless and be your name, no or

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no, we haven't done that one.

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I don't know if we have we?

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I can't remember if we have bless it.

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You know what I recall, I think

we did do it maybe once, but

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certainly not once, not twice.

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Are you not a fan?

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No, I love it.

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It's one of my favorite old school

songs, but it's one of those old school

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songs and it's I don't want to buy.

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It's my preference is one of those things.

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I'm like, I think that, I think

the church would benefit from

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some of these other songs.

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All right, fair enough.

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Fair enough.

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Worship was good on Sunday too.

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That was another win on Sunday.

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Thank you.

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The team works hard.

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I can attribute that they

were disciplinedly and

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diligently and they come ready.

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I don't know.

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Let me just shout them

out real quick here.

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These guys work behind it.

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We have a Thursday rehearsal

so they come prepared for that.

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And then we have a Sunday

rehearsal after we set up.

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So they're setting up,

they're tearing down, they're

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rehearsing throughout the week.

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This is a hardworking part of it.

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There's, let me just clarify.

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Every part of the church is

hardworking in their own way.

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These guys are working throughout the

week in a lot of significant ways.

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And I just appreciate them so much.

399

They work hard to bring great music

to you guys and hope you see them.

400

Yeah.

401

If you see them and you recognize them.

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Give them a high five.

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Let them know.

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High five.

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Oh, that could be confusing.

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That could be.

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Yes.

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Cause not the high five for five.

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Give them a knucks.

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There you go.

411

Pound them up.

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Yep.

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Tap them up.

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All right.

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Let's let's pray.

416

And then we'll be done with this episode.

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God, we are wanting to be a church.

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That's carefully, holy

and intentional about it.

419

And we don't want to be a church that

is full of anyone that is self deceived

420

and we want to be a church that.

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That gives due attention to your

word and obeys your word carefully.

422

And so help us to do that, not to

treat things flippantly or to be

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over overly casual or think that

concealed sin is no big deal.

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Lord, we want to root sin out

wherever we find it as a church and

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we want to be godly as a result.

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So we pray that you'd help us

in that pursuit in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Keep her in your Bibles.

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Tune in again tomorrow for another

edition of the daily Bible podcast.

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See you folks.

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Bye.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

434

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

435

You can find out more information

about ourChurch@compassntx.org.

436

We would love for you to leave a

review to rate to share this podcast

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on whatever platform you happen to

be listening on, and we will catch

438

you against tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.