http://www.unlockingthebible.org/beware-the-subtle-test-of-success/ #6/12: Take Two: The Power of a Fresh Start Deuteronomy 8:6-18 October 9th / 10th 2010 by Pastor Colin S. Smith Pastor Colin Smith preached this sermon on wealth and materialism from Deuteronomy 8 at The Orchard Evangelical Free Church, in Arlington Heights, IL. http://theorchardefc.org/ To download the series or order these sermons on CD, see the link at the top of the description. "When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you... then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." Deuteronomy 6:10-12 This is a warning. Be careful! Watch out! There is a particular danger that you are going to encounter as God's blessings flow into your life. A Great Change is Going to Happen in Your Life You are going to enjoy the blessing of God in ways that your parents never knew. It will come to you in three ways. Opportunity "A land with large, flourishing cities you did not build..." (6:10) Cities are places of opportunity. Cities have infrastructure. They have large populations. Business thrives in the city. Cities are built over decades and generations, but these people will have all the opportunity of life in cities they did not even build. Enemies are going to be cleared from these cities. God took these people from the desert, where there is no opportunity, and put them in a place of extraordinary opportunity. Property "Houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide..." (6:11) God was going to give this land to his people, and each tribe and clan would be given their own property as an inheritance. They had lived in tents in the desert, but now they will live in homes—with no mortgages! This is what is going to happen. And the land and the houses that God will give to each tribe and family is to be passed down from generation to generation. God is giving these people homes. Property! Their parents left Egypt with nothing. Now there would be a family home, property and an inheritance that would be passed from one generation to the next. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. "Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:6-18 ESV)
