By Rev. Gilbert Burgess
Deuteronomy 5:32-33, So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the LORD your God, following his instructions in every detail. 33 Stay on the path “Travel In The Way,” that the LORD your God has commanded you to follow.
The theme of the text is that God through Moses exhorts the new generation of Israelites to live in the promised land as His obedient people.
Moses and the Israelites, are in the territory of Moab, and the kingdom of Moab’s people was a land, across from Jericho located east of the Dead Sea in what is now the kingdom of Jordan, the region was a green, valley of rich vegetation, and the Moabite people were historically regarded as the perpetual enemy of the Israelites.
Here where the Jordan river flows into the dead sea. Is where the transferring of leadership from Moses, ministry as God’s spokesman and official representative, is now past to Joshua who now takes Moses, place, we find Moses here now delivering his farewell address, as he emphasized the laws of God that were essential or needed to prepare the people of God for their entry into the promised land, of Canaan
Moses says to Israel, you must carefully obey The Lord’s commands. 33 Follow them, because they make a path that will lead to a long successful life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
The Hebrew word for “Way”, in the Old Testament is Derek, Derek referred to a physical road or pathway,” in the text “Way”, refers to the course of your life’s journey.
In the New Testament Jesus applied the word “Way,” to himself in John 14:6 were you hear him say “I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the father except through me”. and followers of Jesus were subsequently identified as (Those Of The Way), by either themselves or others.
Paul identified Christians during that time as the way he said, in Acts 22:4 from The Message Bible; I went after anyone connected with this ‘Way,’ he says I went at them with all my might, ready to kill for God. I rounded up men and women right and left and had them thrown in prison.
Throughout the book of Acts people who were followers of Jesus weren’t called Christians we were called followers of The Way or people of The Way”, which in the early church was more widely known than the term Christian. Believers of Christ weren’t called “Christians” until Acts 11:26 in Antioch.
And the people “Of The Way,” were not simply committed to a cultural practice or obligation, but lived in complete devotion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We, the people of the Way were committed in ministry.
I submit to you on this day in the year 2025 July 22, that far too many Christian have fallen from The Way, there are those who have become complacent and a vast majority of our society, feel that church has become irrelevant, ineffective, mainly in the area of spiritual maturity, and that our worship centers and houses of worship have become more concerned about quantity of membership and less about the quality of stewardship, and that opposing threats to the kingdom of darkness isn’t a priority, allowing themselves to be deceived by lies, yielding to fleshly desires, therefore being ill equipped and unprepared for spiritual warfare.
It’s become evident there is an increasing level of denying the truth, and less resistance to being persuaded to pursue falsehood, just take a listen to our nations leaders and across the globe, struggling with right and wrong. However, we shouldn’t be surprised because the Bible is very clear, we’ve been forewarned.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 You can be certain that in the last days there will be some very hard times. 2 People will love only themselves and money. They will be proud, stuck-up, rude, and disobedient to their parents. They will also be ungrateful, godless, 3 heartless, and hateful. Their words will be cruel, and they will have no self-control or pity. These people will hate everything good. 4 They will be sneaky, reckless, and puffed up with pride. Instead of loving God, they will love pleasure. 5 Even though they will make a show of being religious, their religion won’t be real. Don’t have anything to do with such people.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 describes a future time when people will not endure sound teaching, but will gather teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. They will turn away from truth and be captivated by fables. A fictitious improbable lie.
And so Moses said to the people of God then and to all of us now, you must carefully obey the Lord’s commands, you must be careful to follow his instructions in every detail. 33 Stay on the path “Travel In The Way,” that the LORD your God has commanded you to follow.
Every one of us should want to make wise decisions, in order to receive the blessings God has in stored flows who will trust him and follow his will.
This new generation of Israelites were entering into the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey,
a brighter future awaiting all who would live before God as his righteous people.
I submit to you on today that if we’re going to make it as a nation, we’re going to have to put our trust in God, for future generations to thrive, we must live righteous before God.
We must continue to let our light shine that everyone who comes into our presence, will see the goodness of the Lord breaking through, with the prayer that they will come to the saving knowledge of God‘s grace and mercies for their life journey.
So let me encourage you to encourage others, be compassionate be trustworthy, be a good neighbor be patient, be kind, be under standing, always being careful to follow Gods instructions., because there are two ways of approaching any objective, a right and a wrong, so keep in mind that the course of action you take, can you lead you down the road to destruction, your behavior can disrupt both you and your neighbor.
Be wise, don’t veer to the left or the right off the path of righteousness, keep in the way of the Lord, straight, leaning not unto your understanding, but always seeking Gods divine counsel.
Proverbs 14:12-16 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death. 13 Whoever scorns instruction will pay for it, but whoever respects a command is rewarded.
The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good rewarded for theirs. 15 The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps. 16 The wise fear the Lord and shun evil, but a fool is hotheaded and yet feels secure. But it will end in death.
So then, let us strive to stay in the way of Lord, and let us start today by seeking justice and equality for all, creating peace to make a positive impact on those around us, loving especially those who consider themselves your enemies, start by praying for those who miss treat you.
And remember Jesus says to all of us, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God, when we are in the way of The Lord, we are taking a stand demonstrating that we are assisting in the process of God’s way to be realized in the Earth.
Closing, I leave you with this. Jesus is a mighty good leader. Let him lead you on your journey, and if you have been struggling or falling and are uncertain which way to go remember this word from King David when he said in Psalm 25:4 “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths”.
