Community Baptist Church
January 18, 2026

      • John 3HCSB

      • Genesis 41–43HCSB

      • Genesis 44–46HCSB

      • Genesis 47–50HCSB

      • Job 1–5HCSB

      • Job 6–9HCSB

      • Job 10–13HCSB

      • John 4HCSB

      • Psalm 40:1–3HCSB

  • Sing To The King
  • How Deep The Father's Love For Us

      • 1 Corinthians 1:2–9HCSB

      • 1 Corinthians 1:2–9HCSB

  • His Mercy Is More
  • My Savior My God
  • Blessed Assurance

      • John 1:29–41HCSB

  • PREPARING FOR SOMETHING NEW

    Deuteronomy 4:32–34 HCSB
    “Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created man on the earth and from one end of the heavens to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of? Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived? Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
    As Moses stands before a generation of people raised in the ‘great and terrible wilderness’ (Deut 1:19). They have recently passed through several people’s territories - several which God had specifically given to the descendants of Esau, Moab, and Ammon, and a couple of which needed to experience God’s judgement on their rejection of God (the Amorites and the Bashanites). The tribes of Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of the tribe of Manasseh were beginning to settle in the land of Promise east of the Jordan river. As Moses prepares to declare the law of God as spoken by God at Mt Sinai, he reminds them of the character and nature of God.

    Great Works Reveal a Great God

    When success is ours we often have a way of claiming the victory for ourselves. God’s people have been delivered from a powerful nation - Egypt. This generation had survived nearly 40 years in a wilderness, trusting God as He provided food, water, shoes, clothing, literally everything they needed.
    Now, fresh off two decisive battles in which two people groups were exterminated at God’s specific command, these men and women must have felt unconquerable! Nothing could stand in their way! Their strength was unmatched. No one would dare oppose them.
    Before crossing the Jordan, even before Moses can remind them of the laws of the Lord (Deut 5-26), he asks them to remember that a great work such as they have experienced reveals not their own greatness, but the greatness of God!
    Deuteronomy 4:9 HCSB
    “Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

    Don’t Forget

    One of the reasons God’s people gather weekly is to remember. We gather on the first day of the week to remember Jesus’ resurrection - which was discovered on the first day of the week, We gather together and sing hymns and spiritual songs that others share out of their experiences. For example, one of the songs we sang today reminds us of God’s continual work -regardless of the circumstances of our lives:
    Fanny Crosby , blind since just after her birth, was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp as the Knapp home was having a large pipe organ installed. The organ was incomplete, so Mrs. Knapp, using the piano, played a new melody she had just composed. When Knapp asked Crosby, "What do you think the tune says?", Crosby replied, "Blessed assurance; Jesus is mine."[1] (Wikipedia)
    We read from God’s Word as a reminder that God has spoken, and that God continues to speak.

    Know that God is the One and Only God

    In their wanderings one king sought to call down curses on the people of God. The king hired a prophet named Balaam to speak a curse on God’s people. Balaam couldn’t do it. God didn’t let him. But, Balaam had an idea.
    Numbers 25:1–3 HCSB
    While Israel was staying in the Acacia Grove, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab. The women invited them to the sacrifices for their gods, and the people ate and bowed in worship to their gods. So Israel aligned itself with Baal of Peor, and the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.
    This severe test cost several thousand lives. One commentary makes this observation:
    [This incident] serves as a reminder to the new generation and its successive descendants concerning the grave consequences of rejecting God’s sovereign rule over their lives through the worship of other deities….1
    1 R. Dennis Cole, Numbers, vol. 3B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 433.

    Hearing a Great God Calls for a Great Obedience

    As the people of God gathered at Mt Sinai/Horeb they didn’t see a form. What they saw was a cloud, a mountain blazing with fire. God’s people did not see a ‘form’ all they heard was a voice.
    This voice, though, had a power and majesty beyond description. The psalmists tried to imagine God’s voice. Listen to some of their word pictures:
    Psalm 29:3–9 HCSB
    The voice of the Lord is above the waters. The God of glory thunders— the Lord, above vast waters, the voice of the Lord in power, the voice of the Lord in splendor. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion, like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord flashes flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the woodlands bare. In His temple all cry, “Glory!”
    Moses went into that black cloud, the place where fire blazed. He came out with God’s Word - not just ringing in his ear, but with tablets inscribed by the very finger of God (Deut 4:13).
    These words we know as the Ten Commandments were more than just simple sayings for organizing a life. These words, as Moses will later declare, are literally life itself (see Deut 30).

    It is a unique voice

    Moses warned these people that they would be tempted to create some sort of physical representation of the God who speaks (vs 15-20). He calls them to keep the words excalty as God gave them: Deuteronomy 4:2 “You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you.”
    No one else’s words carried the promise of life. No other voice can match the quality and power of the voice of God.
    Centuries later Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, would speak a similar truth:
    John 10:1–5 HCSB
    “I assure you: Anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t recognize the voice of strangers.”

    His voice gives wisdom and understanding

    Deuteronomy 4:5–6 HCSB
    Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess. Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’
    By keeping these words, diligently watching over their lives to conform to His words, the world will see and recognize the truth of God’s presence and purpose.
    {Joseph - Genesis 38-40]

    Experiencing God’s Power reveals God above the gods

    The last question (Deut 4:34) is Moses’ way of underlining one simple truth: There is No God but Our God.
    The experiences of God’s people in Egypt demonstrated a power beyond anything any Egyptian had ever seen or known. Even God’s people must have marvelled at the wonderful works of God as they lived through those fear-filled and tension-filled days.
    All God did through those mighty acts was two fold:
    a). He demonstrated His Unique and Superior Nature over the idols of Egypt
    b). He took a demoralized and enslaved people for His own possession as a result of a promise to their forefather Abraham.
    Deuteronomy 4:35–36 HCSB
    You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides Him. He let you hear His voice from heaven to instruct you. He showed you His great fire on earth, and you heard His words from the fire.
    There is a song we sing from time to time that may capture for us the essence of all I’ve said:
    As told by hymnal editor George Sanville, the following incident provided the spark for Ackley's inspiration: a young Jewish man asked evangelist/musician Ackley, "Why should I worship a dead Jew?" To which Ackley replied,
    But Jesus lives! He lives! I tell you. He is not dead, but lives here and now. Jesus Christ is more alive today than ever before. I can prove it by my own experience, as well as by the testimony of countless thousands.
    The song prompted by this exchange goes like this:
    I serve a risen Savior He's in the world today I know that He is living whatever men may say I see His hand of mercy I hear His voice of cheer And just the time I need Him He's always near
    He lives He lives Christ Jesus lives today He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way He lives He lives salvation to impart You ask me how I know He lives He lives within my heart

    REFLECT AND RESPOND

    We are just over two weeks into a new year. A year that will bring change into all our lives. As we look ahead to all that God has in store, like that generation on the banks of the Jordan River, listen to the words of Moses:
    Deuteronomy 4:39–40 HCSB
    Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other. Keep His statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

    Recognize and keep in mind…

    Jesus promises us a new birth - and as one of His earliest followers tells us - new life equals new way of thinking:
    Colossians 3:1–4 HCSB
    So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
    Have you experienced this ‘new birth?’ Why not today - simply acknowledge your need of a Savior, believe that Jesus is God’s Son who died to pay the penalty for your sin, and confess your faith in Him here today in this place…

    Keep His statutes and commands

    Organize your life around the Word of God. Look back at the wonderful works of God in your life. How has God brought you to this place, this hour, this time?
    Choose today to obey.
    Follow in believers baptism
    Become part of who we are as CBC by joining with us as we seek to hear and experience all God has for us.

      • Deuteronomy 4:32–34HCSB

      • Deuteronomy 4:9HCSB

      • Numbers 25:1–3HCSB

      • Psalm 29:3–9HCSB

      • John 10:1–5HCSB

      • Deuteronomy 4:5–6HCSB

      • Deuteronomy 4:35–36HCSB

      • Deuteronomy 4:39–40HCSB

      • Colossians 3:1–4HCSB

      • Romans 8:11HCSB

Community Baptist Church
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http://www.winstoncommunitybaptist.com
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