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The Hillsdale Free Methodist Church is located at 150 Union Street in Hillsdale, Michigan. We are a church dedicated to sharing the good news of what Jesus has done.

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Service Orientation: God loves you far too much to allow you to wallow in mediocrity (to stay where you are). Many times His desired changes for our best involves pain.



Bible Memory Verse for the Week: My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. — Proverbs 3:11-12



Background Information:

(v. 35) this evil generation. Omitted in the LXX (cf. The curse in Nm 14:22) and perhaps a later addition. The disbelieving generation is taken to be evil (cf. Nm 32:13). (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 181)
(v. 35) the good land. This expression, with reference to Canaan, occurs often in Deuteronomy (1:34; 3:25; 4:21, 22; 6:18; 8:7 [“a good land”], 10; 9:6; 11:17; Driver 1895, [xxxi no. 42; Weinfeld 1972, 343 no. 10). Nm 14:23 simply has “the land.” Deuteronomy consistently praises the good land of Canaan (see 8:7-10). (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 181)
(v. 36a) Caleb son of Jephunneh. Caleb was a leader in the tribe of Judah (Mn 13:6). He is called “the Kenizzite” elsewhere in the OT (Nm 32:12; Josh 14:6), i.e., one belonging to a foreign clan living in the Hebron region, which over time was absorbed into the tribe of Judah (Weinfeld). Caleb was said to have conquered the giants of Hebron (Josh 14:12; 15:14). (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 181)
(v. 36b) the land on which he has trod. This phrase focuses the physical act of Caleb’s walking through the land–evidently, only as far as Wadi Eschol in the future tribal territory of Judah and not, as in Numbers, to the far north–on the espionage mission. Walking through territory was also an act of taking legal possession of it in a sale. (Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses, 884)
(v. 36c) the land on which he has set foot. I.e., Hebron (Josh 14:6-14). A Deuteronomic expression (1:36; 2:5; 11:24-25; Josh 1:3 [“every place”]; 14:9; cf. Nm 14:24). (Jack R. Lundbom, Deuteronomy, A Commentary, 181)


The question to be answered is . . . Why does God’s discipline sometimes seem over the top?



Answer: Because God’s love is over the top. His concern that we enjoy His best is over the top. His most severe discipline is against that which will ultimately destroy us: NOT TRUSTING HIM!



University of Wisconsin historian Thomas Reeves indicts popular religious belief and service. “Christianity in modern America is, in large part, innocuous,” he writes. “It tends to be easy, upbeat, convenient, and compatible. It does not require self-sacrifice, discipline, humility, an otherworldly outlook, a zeal for souls, a fear as well as love of God. There is little guilt and no punishment, and the payoff in heaven is virtually certain.” Former Secretary of Education William Bennett concludes that “We have become the kind of society that civilized countries used to send missionaries to.” (David Yountd, Beggaring Belief, © 2000 Scripps Howard News Service. September 04, 2000)



The Word for the Day is . . . Discipline