Are You Cursed?

Some some seasons it it it feels like everything everything you touch breaks It does some seasons it's it's sometimes it just seems like man I can't do anything I don't understand it then and then some seasons of life just everything goes wrong The layoff then the car then you go to the doctor for this pesky thing that's annoying you and the doctor sits you down and has a conversation after all the tests come back and then the extra tests and the tests after that the diagnosis is not remotely what you expected Well then the divorce papers come and you finally get you finally get it's like the game of whack-a-mole you finally get one thing fixed and three more three more things fall apart and somewhere in the back of your mind a quiet sequence starts to form one you'd never say out loud in church, of course. Maybe I'm cursed. Maybe I'm cursed. Maybe maybe God's against me. Maybe it's just the the the bill is come due, the toll is the bell is tolling. Maybe maybe God's against me. Maybe I maybe I don't know. I probably I by probably definitely I did something years ago then and and this huge bill is coming due. All of them at one time, and you lay awake with it, and in the morning you catch yourself, you catch yourself wishing it was nighttime. So the day would be over, just get it over. You just try to close your eyes and go to sleep, but maybe you won't think about it. There's a chapter in the Bible that describes that exact feeling. Almost word for word. And three thousand years ago. Three thousand years ago, long time. Tough to have context. Tough to have a tether, right? You think, man, uh, the old testament can't possibly. Three thousand years after all that stuff happened. I don't know. It's the longest list of curses in scripture. But before God ever read that list out loud, he did something on the mountain and well, he did something on the mountain where the curses were spoken. Something that changes how you hear them. How you hear every one of them. This is true word, faith for life. With Dr. Sean YouTube channel. I'm glad you're here. I'm Sean. Welcome to day 130. 130. Can you imagine? We have had over 2,000 people listen to last night's video. Sunday nights are typically not our best. And uh we had 1.4,000 listening live. So thank you to you all. Those of you in chat and those of you not. By the way, congratulations to be continued 25 on uh, I think it's your nephew's or grandson. Your grandson scored a goal. I watched that from his knees. He plays hockey, ice hockey. What a sport. I I still say that's the hardest one going. Inexpensive, my lands. So much money. Fun to watch. I don't completely understand it, but and uh hello to you all. Hello to Sean Spell correctly, hello to Jack Davidson, um Robbie, and Jack. Uh, your question is I'm not I'm not putting it together. Is this a real person? Please get help from Tim Henderson or Brandon Holthouse. I have no idea what you're talking about. Um, but good morning, Miss Susan. Good morning, Miss Tammy, good morning, Mr. Joe, and Miss Linda. I don't see you yet, but good morning. God bless you all, and all the ones that I can't see. Well, day 130, good lands. Who would have thunk it? Right? Through the Bible in a year, walking the story of God. We're in Deuteronomy 27 and 28. Things are fixing to change for us, by the way. Um we're getting ever closer to a whole different type of book in the Bible. Whole different message. Good morning, Miss Linda. I figured you were there. Good to see you. God bless you. So Deuteronomy 27 and 28 today, two mountains, one choice. And an altar in a place you'd never expect it. You'd never expect an altar to be there. By the way, my book, True Word, Faith for Life. True Word, Faith for Life, I know, super hard to remember. Is available at this is even going to be harder. True Word, FaithforLife.com. Speaking of which, I hope that you've had time to go there. Click on blog at the top. Blog contains both the blog and the study guide. This past study guide, the study guide I did for this past week, is the most comprehensive I've ever done. Took me three weeks just to do the study guide. It's all of my resources, annotated bibliography. I mean, it's it's the whole deal. And it's all free. Free. I mean, can't beat that price. Not free for me, but it's free for you. There's no trick, there's no hidden thing. Um, you can download it uh or copy and paste it. I made it copy and pastable. The only thing I ask is that you copy the copyright. You can use it for your small group. It's actually written for all the way up to Bible college. So um I would use that as a as a a uh a class outline, and you could use that teach. I mean, you would you would teach over the course of several lectures, several sessions, and it has study questions and and just moments where it kind of stops you and says, Hey, think about this. Anyway, true word, faithforlife.com. The book is in the store, and the blog is there, the study guide, and it's there's a ton of resources throughout that thing. And then there's audio-only uh copies of my of every episode. And and uh there's some of my music is there that I've composed and and uh poems and episodes. We've about we have over 5,000 videos now on True Word, Faith for Life with Dr. Sean SHAW My YouTube channel. We'd love for you to click on subscribe. Click on subscribe, click on the little bell for all notifications, and click on the thumbs up. That's the like button. You have no idea what all that does. It shows it to more people, makes it available. Otherwise, it's hidden. I don't have the money for big ad campaigns or anything like that. I don't, I just don't know. Don't have any of it. Look, today, two mountains, one choice, and an altar. My lands. That sucker will creep up on you. By the way, my book is written for people ready for God's word to make sense in real life. I put some stuff in that book. It's a textbook quality book, um, really well made. And uh I put things in the book that I can't say on this. So, not for nothing. Well, one word in the chat before we start one word in the comments below if you're listening in the your own playback, perhaps. One word. I'm not looking for you know, a diatribe or a dissertation. Not looking for any of that. Oh! Look. Found it. Miss Colleen searched the house all over. It was in the one place I said it might not. I didn't even mention it. Didn't even think of it. Ah. Those of you who are listening last night, the pen saga. Ay, ay, ay. It's a really good Well, yeah, look, you it I mean, you could type one word, whichever one applies. Blessed or cursed. Well, at this season of your life that you're in like right now, do you feel more blessed or more cursed? It's being honest. One word. For me, it's blessed, and I'm not saying that's because it's the Christian-y thing to say. I'm saying that because even though I'm in so much pain and so much dysfunction, and that's gonna get a lot worse. And the specialists all say, you know, you're living on the razor's edge of life and death. And uh, I get that. I get that. It could be any moment, could be, could be in a second. Um, that's just the situation that I'm in, and it isn't gonna change until one day that razor's edge is crossed, and I'm in the presence of the king, healed and made whole. In the meantime, I'm gonna try to love everybody that I love as best I can, and I'm gonna try to preach and teach God's word the best I can, and we'll give it all we got. I hope today blesses you. I hope you will consider that subscribing and hitting the little bell and all that. Sean spelled correctly, says blessed for the curse, because I know there is a greater plan. Robbie says blessed, even though he's facing surgery October 14th. Some of you um are kind of like me in that regard. You know, other people would look at our lives and go, my gosh, how are you still standing? I have this little thing I say. I picked it up somewhere. Um, I was oh I know where I was picked it up. I picked it up, I was preaching at this black church. The church is white, but the people in it are black, except for me. And I was the only white dude. And uh man, I love preaching there. I haven't preached there in a million years, but um there's this there's a kitchen right directly, which is a problem, right directly underneath the sanctuary. And uh, so they those ladies get to making some of the best smelling, best tasting food you ever ate in your whole life. And it you can smell it. So, but you can preach as long as you want. They're they're ready. Anyway, I I picked up from that, I asked somebody, how you doing? And uh, they were in a wheelchair with um not really great prosthetic legs, and I'm uh assuming diabetes, but who knows what it could be. And um so no legs, I mean the prosthetic legs and a wheelchair and and uh real thick glasses, and they smiled and I said, How are you doing? And they said, I'm blessed for the I'm blessed by the best and ready for the test. I sold lands, I'm stealing that, and I did. Blessed by the best and ready for the test. Tammy says, I'm totally blessed. God is good even in the valley. Amen. We have people listening from all over the world right now. We have people listening from sunny and beautiful Sweden, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. We need more love in this world every day. Amen, Tommy. Good to have you. Hello, Kion Senzu. I am blessed. Good to have you. If y'all are new, we'd love for you to click on subscribe. Anyway, here's where we are. Moshe or Moses has finished laying out the covenant, and now he tells Israel what to do the day they cross the Jordan. Now I want you to picture the land. Right? We want to go back to where it happened. The ancient Near Eastern language, culture, and context, we have to understand that. Once you do, it starts reading like a movie. So I want you to picture the land in the middle of the country near the ancient city of Shechem. Two mountains face each other across a narrow valley. Mount Gerizim is to the south. It's green and it's fertile. Mount Ebal to the north, rockier, it's more barren. And the valley between them acts like a natural amphitheater, and a voice carries from one side to the other. Now, in Deuteronomy 27, verses 12 and 13, God tells Israel to split in two. Wow. Six tribes stand on Gerizim for the for the blessing, and six stand on Ebal for the curse. And the Levites stand in the valley between and call out the terms of the covenant loud enough for a whole nation to hear. Can you imagine? You see, if you're having trouble imagining, you have to understand how the ancient world did covenants. When a great king made a treaty with a smaller people, the treaty ended with blessings for loyalty and curses for betrayal. Now, let me give you an example. One Assyrian treaty from about 672. 672 BC curses a disloyal vassal like this. May the gods make your ground like iron and your sky like bronze. Oh good things. Things are tough when your ground is like iron and your sky is like bronze. Now I want you to listen to Deuteronomy 28, verse 23. The heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. Same imagery. Israel knew exactly what kind of document this was. It was a covenant with a king. But look at what God tells them to build first. Deuteronomy 27, verses 2 through 4. Set up large stones and plaster them and write on them all the words of this law on Mount Ebal. Well, writing on plaster was an uh it was a real it was a real ancient practice. At a site called Dir Arah, east of the Jordan archaeologists found a text written in ink on a plastered wall, and it's about Belaams, son of Behor. The very prophet we met in Numbers, the same technique in the same region. How about that? Then verses five through seven, and there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings in it, and sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God. Don't miss where it goes. Not on Gerazim, the mountain of blessing. On Iba, the mountain of the curse. Before a single curse was spoken, God put the sacrifice right where the curse would land. He told them to eat there and rejoice. Then come twelve curses, good lands, twelve curses. Holy moly. Good morning, Miss Coming. Then come twelve curses in verses 15 through 26. And after every one, verse 15 says, All the people shall answer and say Amen. Remember Amon. That's where we get amen. We learned about that two episodes ago. Listen to what several of them target. Verse 15. Cursed is the one who makes an idol and sets it up in secret. Verse 24, cursed is the one who strikes down his neighbor in secret. God's aiming at the sins nobody sees, the ones you'd never confess. And the last one, verse 26. Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. Wow. Here's where the translation parts weighs. The ESV follows the Hebrew. And you know it's interesting, sometimes, sometimes they follow the Hebrew, and sometimes they wander away. It's as though, well, we don't know what to put here. So let's figure something out, what seems to make sense. The ESV or English Standard Version, no shade, follows the Hebrew. Whoever does not confirm the words of this law, but the ancient Greek translation added a word. All the words. And when Shaol or the Apostle Paul quotes this verse in Galatians 3, verse 10 in the New Testament, he uses that sharper form. Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things, all things written in the book of the law. Man, all, not most, all. Not your best effort, all. Well, then chapter 28. The blessings run 14 curses. I'm sorry, 14 verses. Blessed in the city and blessed in the field. Blessed coming in and going out. The curses run 54. Why so lopsided? Why so lopsided? Because God is being honest about the cost of walking away. From it. Man, does that ever make a difference? You know, a doctor who only told you the good news wouldn't be a very good doctor. Let's say you end up, you have a car crash, and you end up in the hospital. And you're all busted up. And they they take you in and put you through the MRI or the CAT scan or all of it. X-ray and whatever. And they say, doctor, sit you down and says, Oh man. We have good news. You know, the scans are very clear. They're very definitive. Beautiful scans, best scans I've ever seen. As far as their clarity, and X, you know, the technicians did great work. And it really gives us a great view of what your situation is. So that's great. I mean, on the upside, that's very, very good. And then they walk out. Wouldn't you want to know what the scan of what's inside your body, what it says, what it means, how it pertains to you. I mean, you're real happy the scans came out clear and definitive, but you'd sure like to know what they mean. A doctor only told you the good news wouldn't be a very good doctor. And near the end of that long list, verses 65 through 67 is the sentence I told you about. Among the nations you shall find no rest. The Lord will give you a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you. In the morning you shall say, if only it were evening, and at evening you shall say, if only it were morning. Some of us live in that place right now. The postmodern Western world, we live in that place. Anxiety. I don't think I've ever heard a word more than the word anxiety. So-and-so has anxiety. Most often they're treated, and in many cases, I would say probably a fact. Anxiety. Described this is three thousand years before anybody had a word for it. Anxiety. Now, here's where we have to be careful because, well, it matters. Deuteronomy 28 is the covenant terms for a nation spoken to Israel as they entered the land. It isn't a key for decoding every hard thing in your life. Job was in fact righteous, and he lost everything. In John 9, verses 2 and 3, the disciples asked Yeshua, who sinned so that a man was born blind? And he said, Neither, this man nor his parents. Your diagnosis isn't proof that God has cursed you. Your layoff isn't a lightning bolt from heaven. Listen, it's very easy to draw that conclusion. I was on my deathbed. Miss Colleen perhaps will remember that. One of these Bibles here is a gift from the guy who did this. And well, he, you know, a bunch of people were showing up. I was in a hospital bed. Yeah, still I'm in that same bed. And uh this guy comes and he was my air quotes friend, and everybody clears the room and he remains and he takes this real serious look on his face. And he says, Is there any unconfessed sin in your life? Because it's been my experience. That well, this kind of thing is most often the result of unconfessed sin. Well, first of all, it's bad theology. It's not accurate. Second of all, you know, I was in this place because of a bunch of things, all converging at once. And it was not a good situation. But God was not far from me. He was very, very near. In fact, I don't think I've ever felt closer to God than then. Listen, your diagnosis isn't proof that God cursed you. Your layoff, your divorce, your kid going astray. That's not what this is. And I know it's easy. It's very, very easy to draw those conclusions. But I want you, I want you to see what Deuteronomy 27 and 28 do tell us. And it's true for all of us. There's a real curse in the world. And it came in at the beginning and it runs through everything, and none of us can say amen to all 12 lines and walk away clean. Not one of us. So the question isn't whether you deserve the curse or I deserve the curse, we all do. The question is, is what did God what God did about it? And the answer was standing on Mount Abal before the first curse was ever read. And it was an altar. An altar. In the most strange of places, the most unexpected of places. So here's your step today. Catch the sentence. The next time you hear yourself think, maybe I'm cursed. Maybe God is against me. Don't even let that, don't even let that sentence finish. Stop right there. Don't let it finish. Then answer it out loud with Galatians 3, verse 13. Remember last night I I uh I talked about Yeshua. In the testing, he answered three times from Deuteronomy. He answered the enemy. He was trying to tempt him and twist scripture. He answered him with scripture accurately. All right. Galatians 3 also, verse 13. Messiah redeemed me from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for me. Then do what Israel did on Abal. Eat something today slowly, on purpose, and thank God for one specific good thing in front of you. Rejoice in the place where you thought the curse lived. Now, here's what I would say. Here's what I would say. By the way, Robag 323, what does Daniel 244 mean for us today? I'd love to have a discussion with you about that. That's not pertaining to this. Go to true wordfaithforlife.com, contact button up at the top, and I'll be glad to discuss that with you. Absolutely. You can search the whole category of 5,000 videos that we have, literally, 5,000 videos we have, and I'm sure you're going to find a teaching on that. Yeah, so this is what I want you to do. This is what Israel did. They intentionally had a meal. They ate something slow, very purposeful. I want you to thank God for one, not a thousand things, one specific good thing in front of you. And I want you to rejoice in the place of your suffering. I want you to rejoice in the place where you thought the curse against you lived. Now, watch where the altar on Ebal leads. The curse didn't start at Mount Abal. It started in a garden. In Genesis 3, verses 17 and 18. God said, Cursed is the ground because of you. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. Thorns. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. The first sign of the curse. Now, I want you to fast forward. I want you to fast forward to a Roman barracks. It's a powerful place. I want you to put yourself, put your mind right there. This is a Roman barracks in occupied Yerusalim, Jerusalem. Metatyahu 27 or Matthew 27, verse 29. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on Yeshua's head. And when we say a crown of thorns, the thorns, you could nail into wood. They were about two, two and a half inches long. It was more like a cap. He wore the first curse on his head. Last Friday we heard Galatians 3, verse 13. Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Listen to it again, right after verse 10. Cursed is everyone who doesn't do all of it, and then he became the curse, the one who kept all of it, stood on Ebal in our place, the altar and the sacrifice in one person. And the anxiety of chapter 28, no rest, a trembling heart, wishing the morning were night? Well, in Matthew 11, verse 28, Yeshua says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And the story ends where it began. Revelation 22, verse 3 No longer will there be anything. No longer will there be anything accursed. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city. No longer anything accursed. That's good news. Not the ground, not the city, not you. Let that be the headline. You are not cursed. The cursed was carried. Listen, the cursed was carried all the way to the altar. And then I was hung on a cross. He, Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the innocent one, the perfect Lamb, hung on a cross. And he died, and he was buried, and he rose again. Look, I have for you today a challenge and a choice. So here's the choice. You can keep living on Ibn, hearing only the curses. Sure, God's against you, wishing every morning you were, wishing every morning was nighttime, and vice versa. Or you can walk to the altar God built on that mountain and let the sacrifice speak louder than the list. Oh, for sure, the curse is real. Oh, absolutely the curse is real. So is the altar. Your struggle is real, it's a real thing. And it's really happening. People ask me all the time, how can you be so happy? You can't button shirts, you can't tie your shoes. You have to have help to do the weirdest, simplest, stupidest things. How can you still be so happy? How can you be even happier? Oh sure. Some days are harder than others. Some days I'm a little crabby, uncharacteristically crabby. And some days I just shake my head and go, God, I'm just amazed how good you are to me in the midst of this struggle. Thank you for being present. You'll never, ever experience that unless you're in this, His Word, every day, intentionally. Unless you're in prayer and in conversation with God every day, you'll never experience that. Sounds crazy. People look at me like I'm crazy. How in the world? You went from this to this. How in the world can you be so happy? You must be delusional.

No.

No, not delusional. I am blessed by the best, and I'm ready for the test. Listen, prayer isn't asking for an easy journey. It's asking for a strong back. Let's pray. Father, some of us, oh, good Lord, good God, Father God. Some of us, we've been living under a sentence we never say out loud. Maybe I'm cursed. Maybe you're against me. And we we've been wishing the mornings were over before they began. Thank you that you never left the curse without an answer. Thank you for the altar on Ebal built before the first curse was spoken. Thank you that you told your people to eat there and rejoice. We can't say, we can't say amen to all of it. We failed in secret. And we failed in out in the open, the wide world for people to see, everybody to see. But Yeshua wore the thorns. He became the curse so we could stand under the blessing. Quiet and trembling hearts. Almighty God, I'm asking to give us rest and teach us to rejoice in that same place. We thought the curse lived. I pray it in your son, in our Savior's name, Yeshua Hamashiach. Amen. Look, maybe you've never come to the altar. You've only ever heard the curses. That's the only thing that ever resonated with you, the curses. And you've been sure they were all about you. Today you can come. Today, right now, whatever time it is where you are, you can come. Just as you are. The sacrifice has already been made. If you'd like to handle it right now, pray this with me. Pray it and believe it. Yeshua, I need you. I believe you died for me. And you rose from the grave. I surrender my life to you today. Forgive me. Fill me. Lead me. My life is yours. In your matchless name. I mean. Well, you prayed that prayer today and you meant it. The curse has no claim on you anymore. Nothing can possess you, nothing can. Nothing can rule you but God. Oh, sure. You can give yourself over to things. Day by day. You let God help you. You let me help you if you want. I'm happy to do it. True Word, FaithforLife.com. Contact. I will help you. I'll help you find a good church wherever you live. I help you pick out a great Bible for you. But if you prayed that prayer today, you're not under the curse anymore. Just type Amen in the chat or the comments below. If you've prayed that prayer with me today, I'd love to help you. Type Amen in the chat and let it be the amen that you say to the blessing. Then everybody knows one believer. Tell one you trust this week, out loud, that you walked off the ball and onto the altar. Tell them that you placed your faith in Christ. Mariana Findakali 5421. Contact me through trueword, faithforlife.com. Contact. I'd love to chat with you about that. She says, please pray for me. I really need a divine miracle and intervention. Amen. Amen. Thank you to you all for responding. Listen, you're not cursed. You're not cursed. The curse is real, absolutely. But it was carried. The one who wore the thorn stood on the mountain of curse in your place. He calls you to eat and rest and rejoice. Oh. Sometimes we can do the first two, but we the first two we can do, but that last one rejoice. Oh, or we can go to a baseball game or a basketball game or lacrosse or hockey, and we can scream our heads off, but we just can't picture ourselves rejoicing. Big deal. When the old sentence starts forming, you know, maybe I'm cursed. Answer it, just like Yeshua did. He became a curse for me. Tomorrow in Deuteronomy 29 and 30, Moses asks the question every one of us eventually asks, Is it too late for me? Is it too late for me? And God answers. I want you to send this episode today, send the link today to somebody who's they're absolutely sure God is against them. They're sure God has cursed them. They're a glass half empty, half empty, half empty, and half empty. They're a glass with dust in it. But they've got more hope than they realize. Just send them this episode. I'll tell them about the altar on Ebal. I'd love for you to subscribe and tap the bell for all notifications so tomorrow finds you. Now, I want you to receive this blessing in the heavenly name. In his heavenly name and in Lashon Hakadesh, the language of God. Are you ready? May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Until tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, as the Lord wills, 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, I'll be here unless he calls me home. Until then, shalom Bashem Yeshua Vishalom. I like him. Shalom, shalom.