Bible Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 | “A Wandering Aramean” Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Introduction:  Jeremiah 6:16 and standing at the crossroads.

(v1) “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance”

I.        A Basket of First Fruit

A.     Interrupting the harvest to bring the first fruit

1.      What does it mean to have come into the land?

2.      1 Timothy 6:6-7

3.      At what point do you rest content?  At what point do you say, “I have all I need”?

B.     (v3) “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore”

1.      The power of remembering and declaring

2.      Joshua 24:15, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD>”

3.      Daniel 3:17-18, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us.”

C.     (v5) “You shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father…”

1.      “He went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number”

2.      There he became a great and mighty nation (v6) “and the Egyptians treated us harshly”

3.      (v7) “We cried to the LORD…and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction.”

II.       Where We’ve Traveled

A.     (v8) “The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand…, with signs and wonders.”

1.      (v9) “He brought us into this place and gave us this land.”

2.      Counting the Lord’s blessings upon our country—natural resources, climate, governance

B.     (v10) “Now I bring the first fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.”

1.      Jeremiah 9:23 “Let the wise not boast in their wisdom…But let the one who boasts boast in this…”

2.      They carried their basket of blessings from their homes to Jerusalem.

3.      What tales get told along the way?  [Canterbury Tales, The Odyssey, A Walk Across America}

C.     (v11) “You shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD has given to you and to your house.”

1.      What is in your basket of first fruit?

2.      Psalm 124:1, “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side…”

Conclusion:   Standing at the crossroads, ask for the ancient paths