(278) “Are You Climbing the Right Mountain?”

0:00 So we have to walk this straight and narrow path up the mountain. And though this path and this journey you're on, you know, it's got rocks on it. It might have some boulders you've got to climb over. Yeah. Things you have to work your way around it. But walking up the mountain of the Lord isn't, it's not easy. No, it's not. But it's worth it. But it's worth it. God promises in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend for that promised outpouring, we equip for that outpouring, so that we may engage in that very outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss.

0:48 Welcome to the podcast today. Here's a question from the Holy Spirit we're going to explore today in this episode. Are you climbing the right mountain? Mm, sounds interesting. Thanks for joining us today. We're so glad that you are with us. We want to encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to go out to our website, globaloutpouring .net, and make sure that you have subscribed to our email lists and that you've had a chance to look around at all the things that are on our website. And we'd love to hear some feedback from you if you'd love to give us some. And we'd love to hear from you if you have an idea for a podcast. We would be happy to pray into that and see what the Holy Spirit gives us for you.

1:36 We always enjoy it when people do that. That's so much fun. Also want to encourage you that we now have the Global Outpouring app. And it's available both in the Apple App Store and in the Google Play Store. And it's a wonderful, simple way to get into all of our materials. Our podcasts are all there. Our YouTube channel is there. Our blogs are there. Our daily devotional is there. Our bookstore is there. Giving is there. And even groups and a prayer wall. You can put your prayer requests on our prayer wall. And the intercessors will chime in and say, hey, I'm praying for you for that. So it's a great thing. We encourage you to download that and join the community. So in my morning devotion time, that's when I just seemed to get things.

2:26 It was like, okay, Lord, we're going to do another episode. What's on your heart? What's on the heart? You know, and actually the first thing that came to me was the day of the Lord. And we're going to do other things on that, not on this one. We might mention a thing or two, but out of that came this, the mountain of the Lord. Because you read about the mountain of the Lord in Scripture, and it's the natural mountain of the Lord going up to Jerusalem. But we have the spiritual mountain that we are climbing on. Yes. Or we're supposed to be on the spiritual mountain. Yes. But if we're on somebody else's mountain. You know, we could be on the wrong mountain going nowhere. That's true. That's true. If you remember in our last episode, we were talking about, part of it anyway, we were talking about the difference between the Lord's mountains, you know, where he had his house in Jerusalem and where he had his house, his tabernacle in Shiloh, that it's not the highest mountain, but all of the false gods want to be on the high places. Yeah. Because our Father is always trying to teach us the value of humility. It's better to be a servant. It's better to serve. It's better to go low. But climbing the mountain of the Lord would be the place where you climb to make sacrifice. I mean, that was the place where David sacrificed to the Lord when there was a... It was a plague. That was

3:58 a plague, yeah. And it's the same mountain also where Abraham was ready to plunge the knife into Isaac, and God said, okay, that's enough. I see that you're going to do it. It's the same mountain. And just as an aside, it's also the same mountain, I believe, where Jesus was crucified, because when Solomon was building the temple there, he would have quarried out of the northern side of that mountain in order to get the rock to build the stones, to build the buildings. So I think Jesus was crucified in that quarry area, whether you think it's the Church of the Holy Sepulchre location, whether you think it's the garden tomb, it's still in that same area. It's all in the same vicinity, yeah. Yeah. So anyway, so in Isaiah chapter 2, I'm going to read this out of the King James. And Isaiah, you know, he spanned four different kings. Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, and it was Manasseh that sought him in half. So he was giving the word of the Lord, things they want to hear and things they didn't want to hear. And he would speak of the glories of Israel, and then would go into, you're doing things wrong, and you need to change it.

5:17 So anyway, in chapter 2 of Isaiah, verse 1, The word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and it shall come to pass in the last days. And guess what we're living in? We're living in the last days. And you look it up, and that's what it really means, end of time, last days. The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. Okay, can I interject something here? Yeah. Based on what I just said about... being lower. It's not like the temple platform is going to go higher. If you look in the Hebrew, where it says, shall be established in the top of the mountains, it could also be translated, shall be established as the chief of the mountains. Chief of the mountains. In other words, it's the most important. Okay. It's the most important mountain. Not that it's the tallest, but it's the most important. That was like Shiloh. Yeah, Shiloh is the same. Yeah, Shiloh is the same thing. Shiloh was also a lower hill and there were mountains around it so that the people could eat their sacrifices that they took to the Lord and they brought back some meat to eat. You know, that's part of covenant that you eat part of the sacrifice. And that's why Jesus said, this is my body. given for you. That's what they did when they put the blood on the doorpost in the land of Egypt. Right. They ate the sacrifice in haste. Right. So the idea is

6:50 that whatever happens to make covenant, you're participating with it and agreeing with it by taking it into yourself, and it becomes a part of you. Whatever you eat becomes a part of you, right? You get energy from it. You build strong bodies. And so that's why Jesus, when he instituted the new covenant, he gave us something to eat and said, this is my body. Okay, sorry. That was a wonderful bunny trail. So in verse three, and many people shall go up and say, come ye. Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths.

7:31 Yes. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Yes. And he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. So this is part of this prophetic word that has not been fulfilled yet. Because Isaiah, you know, one of the greatest writers in the Old Testament, prophesying the Messiah. Yes. And, you know, he saw way far out. He saw thousands of years later, which is just really amazing. So you look at this mountain, you know, and the word of the Lord law comes out of Jerusalem because that's where the temple ended up. You know, the natural temple, you know, under Samuel, it was at Shiloh.

8:24 You had the Ark of the Covenant. Yeah, from Joshua until Samuel. Joshua until Samuel. And then the Philistines got it for a season. And then when David was anointed king, you know, they brought the Ark up and eventually, through some mistakes and things, they got it right. They brought it up on an ox cart. They set it in place, but it was his son Solomon that built the temple. And that was the final resting place. for the Ark of the Covenant. So that's the house of the Lord. You know, the house. And so there is where you went up three times a year to give sacrifice unto the Lord. So you have all the scribes, you know. So the law, everything is taking place in Jerusalem. Right. Though it did get corrupt after a while, you know, which is what happened through the time of Jesus. Temples destroyed, you know, then it's rebuilt again and, you know, the amazing history. But the law still goes out from Jerusalem. Yes. And when Jesus comes back, you can read it in Zechariah chapter 13, I believe it is. And that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. Right, which is right opposite of the Temple Mount. What did Dean Braxton say they call the Lord in heaven? They call him the Word? Yes, the Father. But the Father is called the Word. The Father is called the Word. So the Word is going to put its feet on the Mount of Olives when he comes back. Yes. I thought, wow, in Jerusalem. Yes. And actually... Jesus hung

9:55 out on the Mount of Olives during his lifetime, during his ministry. That's where he would go to pray. The Garden of Gethsemane is on the Mount of Olives. It's all there. Yum. And so you see, as Isaiah is giving, you know, giving forth this word, and even after that, you know, he just tells this, you know, the things that Israel is involved in. Their land is full of silver and gold. You know, there's no end of their treasures, and the land is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands. And, you know, and they're talking about, you know, the Philistines and other people that are all surrounding Israel. I mean, the land is just full of idols, and they had to deal with that ever since they came out of Egypt. Yeah. You know, it's just all there.

10:40 And I'm just going to throw this in. And in verse 10, Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty and upon everyone that is lifted up and he shall be brought low. But didn't we just talk about this in a... In our podcast. Yeah, in the last episode. Yeah, those that were high and lofty and the Lord's bringing them down. And what happened when Jesus was on the scene, he goes into the temple, makes a scourge, and he cleans the temple out because he had authority to do that. He's cleaning out the house of the Lord from all the idolatry that was in it. Yeah, and merchandising. And merchandising.

11:36 Yeah, isn't that big, merchandising? Yeah, and he actually came from the Mount of Olives to go there. Interesting. Yeah, it really is interesting. So Jesus is on the scene. The disciples are there. And the people have kind of gotten, going to the temple, you kind of get used to the way things are. You've got Roman soldiers all over the place. And temple guards, too. Temple guards and probably cheating going on, too. There was a lot possible with all that. The animals you buy for the sacrifice. All this merchandising going on. And there's a lot of spiritual merchandising going on, too.

12:17 Not in a good sense. In the church today, when things are replaced, if you don't have the glory of God, you've got to replace it with something to keep people. Smoking mirrors. Smoking. Yeah, I guess you can say that. Wow. I'd rather have the glory cloud and just wait for it to get there. Yeah, and even Peter, you know, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, you know, that Peter declared the day of the Lord from the mountain of the Lord. That's true. And in Acts 2 chapter 20, he talks about the sun going dark, the moon turns into blood, and the coming great day of the Lord. Yeah. I mean, a conviction just fell on people. You know, 3 ,000 people got saved.

13:00 You know, and this hasn't happened yet. This day of the Lord has not happened yet. And here we are 2 ,000 years later from when Peter gave this word. And so the day of the Lord is coming. Yes. There's different facets, like a diamond to the day of the Lord. We're not going to go into that right now because we'll save that one for another day. Yeah. But I want to look also in the book of Micah. Now, Micah comes along. This is about maybe 50 years after Isaiah. And this is chapter 4. And it's pretty much, it sounds exactly quoted the same, but it's not. Some of the wording is different. In the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and be exalted under the hills, and the nations will come and they will flow to it. But he adds in verse 5, Now, let's do it a verse four after that. And it talks about a nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

14:01 But then he says, but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree. None shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it. I think about Nathaniel. Yes, I think about him too. When Jesus was getting his disciples. And here's Nathanael. He says, someone out of Nazareth. Is there anything good comes out of Nazareth? Right. So introduces him to Jesus. And he says, an Israelite whom is no guile. And says, and I saw thee under the fig tree. Yeah. You know, what was he doing under the fig tree? Right. Learning, you know, meditating on God like David did. That's what David did when he was watching the sheep. So this is different. Everyone shall sit under his vine and his fig tree. None shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it. And, you know, when you're meditating on the Lord all the time, what have you to fear? You know, because in Isaiah it talks about they're going to go into the rocks and everything like that. Judgment's coming. So here, Micah's saying, Get under your fig tree, you know, and just meditate on the Lord. And what is he saying? You know, and then he talks about Israel, you know, in that day, saith the Lord, I will assemble her that halteth and I will gather her that is driven out, her that I have afflicted, you know, and I will make her that halteth a remnant and her that was cast far off. You know, Israel was, they were banished to the nation a couple of times. The Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth

15:32 even forever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Yes. You know, I thought, wow, okay. Because even verses right after that, he's going ahead in time now. I don't know how much longer. I didn't have time to figure that out. But it talks about, In verse 10, be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now thou shalt go forth out of the city, thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon. And they don't want to hear that. Nope. And there shall they be delivered.

16:15 There the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. Now, in your journey on the mountain of the Lord, when you're climbing, you know, it's like a battle to get up into his presence sometime. And so you're on this journey. How many times did you feel like you went into Babylon? You know, you went into a spiritual Babylon. You know, and you're going through a trial. You're going through testing. You know, while you're climbing this mountain of the Lord, you're building your own mountain is what you're doing. You know, this is your own. Everybody has their own mountain they have to walk up. Right. You know, you have to walk up. And many times we choose what kind of path we want to be on that mountain. Right. You know, and sometimes it takes a lot longer.

16:57 Sometimes you're stuck on the plateau. Maybe you got stuck on a plateau and you had to camp there for a while. Yeah. You know, you got to learn something. And I've heard it said many times, well, if you don't pass this test the Lord gives you, you're going to have to take it again. You have to take it again. Have you been around your mountain long enough? Right. You know, let's just keep climbing up on the mountain. Because even in Micah, he goes on in the next chapter. And talking about all these things happening, but it says, But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.

17:42 And the first time you hear of this scripture in the New Testament is when the wise man show up on the Herod. And he's asking the scribes, who is this king? Being born in Bethlehem, Herod didn't know that. And it was the scholars that read the scriptures said, it says that he will be born in Bethlehem. And so even back then, building the mountain of the Lord, the natural mountain, they're building a spiritual mountain, they go into captivity. I mean, there's thousands of years difference here within verses. Hundreds anyway. Hundreds anyway. And that's what's so fascinating about the Word of God when you study these things out and you find out everything that is going on. Can I interject something here?

18:29 Yeah, go right ahead. Back in chapter 4 and verse 8 is also talking about that same region around Bethlehem where it talks about the Tower of the Flock. Okay. The Tower of the Flock in Hebrew is Migdal Eder. Migdal. Yeah. Magdal means tower. Tower, yeah. Okay. And Adar, or Adair, I think it's Adar, it's the place where Jacob camped right after he buried his wife, Rachel, his beloved wife, when she died in childbirth with Benjamin. Yeah. And there is a speculation, and I think Mary Lois has shared this, there's a teaching that the tower of the flock here would refer to A tower that was built like this region, this hill country right there in that area, would have been part of David's inheritance from, what is it, his great -grandfather Boaz? I think it's his great -grandfather. Anyway, he's in the line with three or four generations. And this would have been his inheritance, and this is part of what he prepared for the temple. That here would be the place where they could raise the flocks of sheep for the sacrifices on the temple. And that in that tower, they would bring the ewes that were about to give birth, that they would bring them there to watch over these baby lambs,

20:00 you know, because these could be sacrifice lambs. We got to make sure that they don't get bruised, that they don't get any kind of a wound because they have to be a perfect sacrifice. And there is a teaching that maybe this is even the place, because it's within sight of Bethlehem, that this would be the manger where Jesus would have been laid when he was born. That this would have been the place, this would have been the stable, that this very tower of the flock would be the place where Jesus would have been born. And it's right here on the same page in my Bible that the tower of the flock in Bethlehem, Ephrata. It's right there in that same area. So the perfect sacrifice was laid in the same manger where they would have laid the baby lambs that would have been born for sacrifice. It's really an interesting thought. And it's a hilly, mountainous country there. It's the Judean hills. So this mountain idea, we're climbing a mountain, and the mountain...

21:05 that is in our lives that we're walking on, you know, sometimes walking up a mountain takes it out of you. You're trying to go up and, you know, once in a while you're thinking, am I going to have to climb a bare rock face or, you know, what kind of path am I going to have? You're climbing El Capitan. Right. So anyway, I just wanted to add that about Bethlehem, that it's hilly there too. It's part of the mountain of the Lord. It's part of what David set aside for the purposes of the temple. Well, that's tremendous. So I want to go back into Deuteronomy chapter 27. Oh, that's good. And this is the mountains of blessing and cursing. And part of your spiritual mountain is based on this, these natural mountains, what was spoken there. And Moses, and I think it was about 10 chapters previous to this, where the Lord Where he's speaking the word of the Lord, you're going to go to these two mountains.

22:05 And so now in chapter 27, verse 1, And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth ye, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster. And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be, when ye are gone over Jordan, ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day in Mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster.

22:54 I just had an interesting thought. Okay. We're going to take a bunny trail off this. Okay. What we've seen in other nations, what are these standing stones? Like Stonehenge? Yeah. Stuff like that. And obelisks. Obelisks. What was written on those stones? Way back when. And maybe weathered, it's all come off. Yeah. Standing for hundreds of years. So that's a thought. Maybe they used stones, and that would be a copy of what happened here. You remember, the devil doesn't have anything original. That's true. Everything he does is counterfeit. And it could be a lot of these standing stones and stuff that the New Agers are flocking to, you know, could have been a result. of something like this, but in a demonic sense, which they would write things or scribble on them. I never thought of that until I read this just now. Wow.

23:46 Instant revelation. Well, anyway. And there thou shalt build an altar unto the Lord, an altar of stones, and shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones, and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereunto unto the Lord thy God. And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. Okay, now when you think of that, how many laws were given to Moses? 613, I believe. Yeah. But I think this is talking about the Ten Commandments. Yeah, this would be the Ten Commandments. You can't imagine writing on stones because how do you write on stones anyway? You'd have to scratch that shit in there. So this probably means they maybe have posted the Ten Commandments. I think so. Because it says in the Hebrew, it says Hatorah.

24:46 So the Hatorah, the law, but it also means the instruction. Here's your instructions. And it talks about how that was given on Mount Sinai. That was the ketubah, as they say, the wedding covenant that was going to cause God to become the husband of the children of Israel and the children of Israel to be his bride. the law that was given that they agreed to was the 10 commandments rather than the entire writing that Moses got on the Mount, which is in, you know, the rest of Exodus and Leviticus and numbers and so on.

25:27 So I, I really think that it would have been just the 10 commandments that was plastered there that, or there was written into the plaster. Because that's, well, you couldn't write all the law on there. I don't think so. Yeah. So we'll go on here and. And Moses and the priests, the Levites, spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed and hearken, O Israel. This day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command ye this day. And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people. of the tribes of Israel, of the leaders, went on top of Mount Gerizim. And then the others went on Mount Ebal to curse. And it's amazing that he put the Ten Commandments at the base of Mount Ebal. On top, I think. On top, rather. I think, yeah. Sorry, not at the base. And so I'm just going to hit a few of these real quick. What is the Lord saying here? And they would speak these to the mountain. You know, it's like, cursed be any man that makes any graven or molted image.

26:42 I'm just going to paraphrase, you know, the work of people's hands. And then, cursed is he that setteth light by his father and mother. You know, which I think is honor your father and mother. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark. Cursed is he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way, and all the people, they say amen. And they say amen to all of these. And cursed is he that perverts the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. Cursed is he that lies with his father's wife. And cursed is he that lies with any beast. Cursed is he that lies with his sister and daughter. And all these things, these are immoral acts. That's right. This is immorality. Cursed is he that smiteth his neighbor secretly. Cursed is he that takes reward to slay the innocent. You know, thou shalt not kill. And then, do you have the blessings? You know, and it's amazing they mentioned the curses first, but the blessings. And, you know, the thing today, and of course there are Bible colleges and things too, but you don't hear, you hear blessings. Right. You hear churches, you know. Do you want a big congregation? You know, it's kind of like what Beethoven did. He wrote music that people like to hear. Yeah, there you go. And that's why he was so successful.

28:06 He spanned the Baroque area into the Romantic area of music. It was a big changeover in music. He was going with the flow, doing changes, what people like to hear. But if we have messages that we are hearing that are just fluffy, if you want to put it that way, but there is no sacrifice for holiness. for hearing the word of the Lord, but it's all about blessings. You know, we want blessings, but there is a condition for blessings. Blessings are conditional. And so, you know, we just spoke some of those there, but what the curses were, but let's look at some of the blessings because this is what we all like. Sure. And it shall come to pass. This is chapter 28. It shall come to pass, if you will hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all his commandments, I command you this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed thou shalt be in the city, blessed in the field. Blessed is the fruit of thy body, the fruit of thy ground, the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kind and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when you come in and blessed thou shalt be when you go out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies

29:37 that rise up before thee to be smitten before thy face. They shall come out against thee one way and flee before thee seven ways. Wow. The Lord God shall command the blessing. I like that. Upon thee and thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand to do, and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth to him. That would be your property too. The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself, as if he has sworn unto thee. And here's the condition. If thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways, and all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, the fruit of thy cattle, fruit of the ground, and the land which the Lord swear unto thee by thy fathers to give thee. Remember, they're not in the land yet. They haven't crossed over Jordan yet. Yeah. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto the land in the season, and to bless all the work of thine hand, and thou shalt lend unto many nations and shall not borrow. See, there's the bankers. The bankers, that's where... God promised that. Yeah, when the Jews were not able to own property, you know, during and all through Europe and all that, they invested in gold, silver, jewels. And you look at, this is something I

31:08 found. I've mentioned this before, but it's fun mentioning it again. You look at the word jewel. Oh, yeah. You look at the jewels. How do you spell it? J -E -W and then E -L. Now, what is one of the names of God is El. Jew, El. There you go. Jew, El, jewel. You know, isn't that interesting? I've never heard anybody say that before. So that was, that's kind of chalk one up for me on that one. You know, that's just kind of cool. You know, so the Lord has blessed them with store, and the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail, and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if that thou... If, if, if, yeah, I should underline that real big, that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day to observe and to do them. And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand, to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. And, you know, in our walk, climbing our mountain, we have other kinds of gods to deal with, you know, little Gs. And it could be your desires, your car. You can make that your God, your idol. Make your car your idol. Even your telephone. Your telephone can be your idol. How much time do you... Ouch. Moving right along. As your sports could be your idol. Anything that takes you away from the presence of God is an idol in your life.

32:36 And that will keep you on a plateau and maybe even take you down, walking down the mountain. Yeah. And you could fall from part of it. Yeah. I remember in Rick Joyner's book, The Final Quest, when he's on the mountain of the Lord, they're fighting all these demonic hordes. And the angel says, be careful. He was on the edge and didn't realize it. You could fall from any level at any time. It's true. And that's true. We've seen many great people. They've walking up their own mountain, the mountain of the Lord, have fallen into sin and they've lost it all. let a lot of people astray, and then it gives the media great pleasure to tear them apart and anybody that follows them. Yeah. So we have to be a clean walk. It's true. So now, but if it comes to pass, if you will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. to observe and do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. See, we don't like that word curse.

33:37 We don't use that. That's not a word we use in Christian vocabulary, but people will use it to curse somebody, you know, and they pull out in front of them. It's kind of a curse when you're swearing at them. It says you, da -da -da. You're really cursing them is what you're doing. You are. You are. But, you know, if you don't follow the Lord, then cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed shalt thou be in the field, cursed shall be thy basket and thy store, cursed shall be the fruit of thy body. Do you remember when the children of Israel came out of Babylon? You know, Daniel had the vision, prayed, and Cyrus released them, Ezra and Nehemiah, they're rebuilding, and they had famine. Crops weren't growing because they weren't obeying the word of the Lord, the God. So here they are trying to rebuild the temple.

34:27 Seven years, was it, things stopped? Sixteen years. Sixteen years because all the oppression, because they were not following wholly after the Lord, and things stopped. Wow, God just amen with some thunder out there. That was pretty cool. Wow. So, cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kind, the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed you'll be when you go out. The Lord shall send unto thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke. And in all thou settest thy hand to do, till you be destroyed, and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

35:13 The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he hath consumed thee from off the land, whether you go to possess it. And it just, you know, the curses go on. And heaven that is over thy head shall be brass. You know, the heavens are brass. I've heard that saying before in somebody's message, when the heavens are brass, it's when you can't seem to get through. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust. From heaven it shall come down upon thee and be destroyed. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies. You remember what happened at Ai? It was the second city. They captured Jericho. They went to Ai, and they disobeyed the word of the Lord, and someone took some Babylonian garments, gold and silver, had them in their tent. They broke the commandment and could not stand in their enemies, and they had to flee.

36:05 It's true. And this commandment, thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them and shalt be removed unto all the kingdoms of the earth. And that is just what happened to Israel. I mean, they're not in the promised land. And he's saying what's happened. It happened to him two times. Yeah. First to Babylon, you know, and then, you know, in 72 AD, the temple's destroyed. The Jews are dispersed. 135 was when they really got cast out, when Rome renamed the place Palestina. Yeah. And so here you are, the Jewish people, you know, they're scattered all over the globe. Yeah. There was always a remnant of Jews in the land, though. Always. Was that from the first deportation?

36:47 Always, always there was somebody. God didn't send everybody out. He always had a remnant. And that's one of the things that people don't understand. They think, well, they all left. No, they didn't all leave. There were some there always. Yeah, there were those left to till the land. So, and all these curses go on. The Lord shall smite thee with... Madness, blindness. Let's just go on. We're not even going to, we're not going to read it. You can read these in, this is Deuteronomy chapter 28. Yeah. It's amazing that the blessings only go for like 14 verses. Yeah, and the curses. And the curses just go on and on and on. But that's the point. God is saying to his children, here's the rules. Here's the instructions. Here's the book of, what do you call it, the owner's manual. Here's how to take care of your car. Do this and this and this and this and your car will go. Your life will be good. You will have a good walk up the mountain if you'll just obey this lifestyle. It's a lifestyle of loving God. and loving your neighbor. Jesus distilled all of the laws down into two. Love God with all your heart, which is, I mean, these are Old Testament laws as well. I mean, they're in the Torah. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your

38:18 mind, with all your strength, and then love your neighbor as yourself. If you'll do those things, all will go well for you. You will be blessed. You will have all these amazing blessings. But if you don't, You know, all the laws, here's my two cents worth, all the laws, I believe, were written to demonstrate what it looks like when you love the Lord your God with all your heart and you love your neighbor as yourself. You'll automatically do all those things if you're loving God and loving your neighbor. All of these things that are written here, you're not going to do all this stuff that brings curses. Yeah, and there's a couple scriptures here, verse 43 and 44. We're watching this happen today. In fact, you get on YouTube and you Google what's going on in Europe. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high, and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. You look at what's going on in England. You look at all the, how Islam is taking over. It's not very long where Europe, unless God intervenes, is going to be turning, you know, they are losing. That's their agenda anyway. That's the agenda. And you look at the nation of England, which gave us the King James Version. And we're all descendants.

39:48 A lot of, you know, we're out of this. A lot of us are out of that, you know. And, you know, the British, the sun never set on the British Empire. Once upon a time. Once upon a time. But when they start bringing all these people in to work for them and start falling away from God, their nation is being taken over. Right. It's the same principle. The same principle. Don't fuss at me that, oh, that's Old Testament. No, it's the principles are written in. this instruction book for us. Yeah, because this is probably written 3 ,500 years ago. I'm looking up here, the next chapter, it says 1451 BC. You know, it's just estimating. Maybe you don't know the exact date, but that's the estimated time.

40:38 So it's amazing, all these laws, they pertain for today. Yes, they do. They all pertain for today. The law is our schoolmaster to teach us right from wrong. And the scriptures, what does Paul say? The scriptures, the form of the scriptures of the Old Testament, he doesn't use Old Testament, but he said they're for our learning. All they had was the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament. Yeah, that's right. All scripture is given. All given for correction. By inspiration, yes. Yeah, for correction, instruction. Right. So, you know, don't throw out the Old Testament. Yeah. It's current. Yeah, the New Testament completes the Old. That's right. What's that saying? The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed, and the Old Testament in the New Testament is revealed. Oh, that's very good. You need them both. We have to have them both. So we have to walk this straight and narrow path up the mountain.

41:34 And though this path and this journey you're on, you know, it's got rocks on it. It has some boulders you've got to climb over. Yeah. Things you have to work your way around it. But walking up the mountain of the Lord isn't, it's not easy. No, it's not. But it's worth it. But it's worth it. Yeah. It is really worth it. Obey, just obey. Just obey the Lord, you know, obey his commandments. Press into him. Yeah. And there was, yeah, there was one, oh, I saw one more scripture, one or two I wanted to finish up there. Yeah, this is a few later. This is a big key. And this is verse 46. We're still in chapter 28. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and a wonder and upon thy seed forever. Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. So that's how we're supposed to be. We are supposed to rejoice in the Lord for his goodness. You know, be glad. And, you know, even though we go through trials in our mountains, think of the prize that we're going for. That's right. I mean, we're all climbing this mountain together. you know, even was at Mount Scopus. When they're on the pilgrimage and they get to Mount Scopus, where is that scripture that leads up to that? Scopus is... The mark. Is the mark. Paul says, I press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. And that mark is Mount Scopus. And when

43:06 they're traveling, pilgriming to Jerusalem to get to Mount Scopus before nightfall. Yeah, you want to get to the top of Mount Scopus so that when you see the sunrise in the morning, you're going to see it on the beautiful Temple Mount. Lit up. Lit up. With the morning sun. Yeah, or even, I think, you're facing the Eastern Gate. So you're actually going to see it in the glory of the sunset. as you get to the top of the mountain. And it's just beautiful. So that's why you want to get there before sundown. Yeah, you want to get there before sundown so you can see it, and then you'll go there the next morning. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, and we've stood on the Mount of Olives. We used to stay at the hotel. We had meetings there. We had small little conventions there. Right, long ago. Long time ago. But the sunset would turn the whole city gold. Yeah.

43:59 It's just magnificent. Yeah, it was amazing. So be encouraged as you're walking up the mountain of the Lord, treasures which we know not about. You know, for God says that God will not withhold anything to those that love him. That's right. So if we make him our first priority, our mountain's going to be a lot easier to climb. Yes, and the glory that you get to when you get to the top. You can have your own Sinai experience on top. Yes. Or you can have your Scopus experience. You can have that mark. You're pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's that top -of -the -mountain experience.

44:40 It's the place where you meet God. It's worth climbing the mountain to meet. It's worth the climb. Meet the Father, to meet Jesus. It's a brilliant experience. So, Father, we thank you, Lord, for this podcast. And, Lord, those that are struggling on the mountain, Lord, why is this happening? Why is that happening? And that, Father, even though obstacles come our way, but, Lord, when we keep our eyes on you, Father, that, Lord, and all these blessings that we have read about, and sometimes, Lord, we have to contend for these blessings, O God. And we have to fight for them. But if we fight in your name, oh God, keeping our eyes on you, that Lord, that you will give us victory. Lord, it's like that song we used to sing. The lion of Judah shall break every chain and give us the victory again and again. And that lion in Judah is in us. He lives in us. And so we can roar his name. Hallelujah.

45:40 breaking all the oppression and things, and when things would try to come and cloud our brain and try to get us depressed, that, Father, that we can press into you and, Lord, and we put oppression and depression under our feet when we just praise you and glorify you. in our mountain that we are climbing. Hallelujah. So, Father, we just let this be an encouragement to whoever hears this, Lord, just to keep climbing this mountain of the Lord, just praying and rejoicing and worshiping. Because, Lord, at the other end, we have the mark. We're pressing forward to the mark, that Mount Scopus, where we can get up there and we can watch sunrise over Jerusalem. Hallelujah.

46:22 Thank you, Jesus. So, Lord, we just give you all the praise, honor, and glory in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. Please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your review helps the podcasting platform suggest this podcast to other listeners who are also looking for a great move of the Holy Spirit. Check out our website at globaloutpouring .org to find out more information, read our blogs, connect with us, and donate. You can also browse our web store for life -changing anointed books. Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philipus.

47:07 God bless you with his overwhelming loving presence.