In his sermon 'Living Differently,' Scott Brown emphasizes the biblical call for Christians to live distinctively from the world by adhering to God's commandments. Drawing from Deuteronomy 28, he highlights the concept of obedience and the promised blessings that come from living according to God's standards rather than cultural norms. Brown underscores the importance of walking in God's ways as a path to divine prosperity and happiness, citing various scriptures to illustrate the tangible and spiritual benefits of obedience. He reflects on the transformative power of living differently, as demonstrated by the positive outcomes in families that have embraced this lifestyle. The sermon challenges believers to reject the ways of the Gentiles and embrace a lifestyle that reflects holiness to the Lord in all aspects of life, from family and church life to personal conduct and societal engagement.

Please open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 28. Hold your finger there. I'd like to make a few comments before we finally get there. It was about a decade and a half ago that I opened up a file and I titled it Living differently. And I itemized various things that I thought would go into a book of some kind called Living Differently.

And it was occurring to me in various ways just how different Christians are commanded to live. They're divine orders that call for Christians to live differently. Christians are an obedient people to a standard not their own, to a standard not of the culture, but to God's standard. The Bible makes the people of God a holy nation, a separate people for God's own possession, and they think differently and they act differently and they raise their children differently, they operate their marriages differently, they conduct their families differently, they spend their money differently, They think about manhood and womanhood differently. They use their time differently.

They spend their money differently. They engage the church differently. They dress differently. They're different. And there has been, when I was writing this book, I was particularly moved by the fact that as far as I could tell, Christians didn't want to live differently.

They wanted to live just like the world. And so it was very striking time. And I didn't do much about that file. I think it's possible that whenever you preach the word of God, you're calling people to live differently. Deuteronomy 28 verse 9 says, the Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself, just as he has sworn to you if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways." I started looking at the word walk in his ways in the Bible.

It appears many, many times and I started looking at every reference to that term walk in his ways. Moses was very concerned about this in the last month of his life when he wrote Deuteronomy, because the children of Israel were getting ready to walk into a pagan land and see things they'd never seen before. Moses says to them in Deuteronomy 18, seven, When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations." This was Moses' order at the beginning of the children of Israel going into the promised land, he says this kind of thing over and over and over again in Deuteronomy using much of the same language. And here's the biblical truth. It matters how you live.

It matters if you obey the Lord. It matters if you walk in his ways or if you walk in the ways of the Gentiles. You know, Jeremiah said, do not learn the ways of the Gentiles. At the same time, there are so many promises for those who obey. It's really astounding, And I want to talk about some of those promises today.

I'm going to sound like a prosperity gospel preacher today because there's a biblical prosperity that God has ordained for those who love him and who obey his commandments. It's very clear. And it really matters how you live. So Psalm 81 13, Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways. I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries.

Well there's a promise of those who walk in his ways, God will deal with their enemies. In Psalm 128, the song of a sin, one of the songs of a sense, blessed or happy is everyone who fears the Lord who walks in his ways. God promises a particular kind of happiness as a fruit of walking in his ways. Now walking of course implies everyday life, it's reality, it's not just head knowledge, it's foot traffic. And then in that Psalm he goes on and talks about your family and your work when you labor with your hands, you'll be happy, it'll be well with you, your wife will be happy, your children will be happy little olive plants around your table.

When you walk in his ways it's it's a promise. Then in Psalm 37 34, wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt you. Psalm 119 verses 2 & 3, blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with the whole heart, they also do no iniquity, they walk in his ways. This is a promise again of happiness Genesis 18 19 this is God's speaking about Abraham and his orders to Abraham to walk in his ways. For I have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him and the idea that the Lord reveals about Abraham is that if he walks in his ways and obeys the commands then God will fulfill the promises to Abraham that all the nations and all the families of the earth would be blessed.

He's talking about the power of the gospel. So these verses, and there are so many that I could read, really speak of blessings, promised blessings, for those who obey. That's probably what was behind God's command to the apostles in the Great Commission. He told them that to fulfill the Great Commission, they should teach those to keep his commandments, to obey. That's what churches are supposed to be all about is to teach their people how to obey.

This church exists so that people would learn how to obey. So we're not afraid of calling people to obedience. There are many actually around us who think it's wrong to call to obedience. This is false doctrine. This is a heretical idea.

This is something that destroys the church. Jesus says that he commanded that they teach to obey in Matthew 28. So obedience is falling on hard times And so I wanted us to go to Deuteronomy 28, the first 14 verses. Now Deuteronomy 28 is one of the simplest passages in the Bible. It's so easy to interpret.

It's straightforwardness is a blessing. The first 14 verses speak of the blessings of obedience and then the whole rest, and it is long. It's one of the longest chapters in the Bible. The whole rest of it is about what happens to you when you don't obey. What will happen in your life?

And it is so tragic. In many ways, it's a picture of some of the trumpet judgments in Revelation, the troubles that come upon the souls of those who don't obey the Lord. And so I want to begin today talking about the blessings of obedience, the blessings of living differently. There are so many blessings. Now I've been thinking about this a lot lately because I've been watching many blessings from obedience of many of the parents here who did their best to walk with the Lord and they did their best to train their children and they really did live differently.

And now their children are getting married and the blessings are just off the charts. And I look back over the years and these families, they made decisions you know, a long time ago. And now there's a crop, There's fruit coming up. And you know, no one who ever attempted to walk in God's ways did it perfectly. And my family included, the families in our church included as well.

But there was a fundamental principle and that is that we want we want to obey the Lord and operate our families differently. We want to live differently and they did and now 15 years later there's a lot of sweetness from it. So I want to spend some time talking about it and thinking about it and I want to talk about living differently. Now this isn't the last message you'll hear from me about living differently. I'd like to keep talking about it and identify particular matters of living differently in this wicked and corrupt generation that we live in.

I pray that the younger generation will live differently than the rest of the world. And I think they've, with their own eyes, seen some of the blessings. So there you have it, Deuteronomy 28. Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth, and these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country.

Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground, and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand and he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself just as he has sworn to you. If you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, then all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord and that they shall be and they shall be afraid of you and the Lord will grant you plenty of goods in the fruit of your body in the increase of your livestock and in the produce of your ground in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you his good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations and you shall not borrow, and the Lord will make you the head and not the tail.

You shall be above only and not beneath if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today to the right or the left to go after other gods to serve them. So God is telling his people that he plans to bless them if they obey, if they obey carefully, not carelessly, obeying in a detailed way, not taking it lightly, but taking it carefully. In other words, examining carefully matters of obedience to God. And This passage of scripture is a very important passage of scripture for all families.

And it's an encouragement to live differently, to live carefully. And he speaks of these blessings that fall upon these people. And the word blessed is prominent here. This has to do with happiness and well-being. In the same way that we've seen how God protects his children in the book of Revelation, this goes way back.

This goes way back to the way that God has always treated his people. He treats his people well. And I don't want us to dismiss these things. These words are so compelling. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country." I mean God has his people living in different places.

Some are in the city, some are in the country. You know often people think, well if I could just find this perfect, if I could just find 20 acres in the middle of nowhere near the city, near a Walmart, but you know, still they think that they might be happy. If we just find this kind of house, you know, then I would be happy. Well, God says you can be happy anywhere. Blessed shall you be in the city, blessed shall you be in the country.

In some ways it does and I don't want to qualify this to death but in some ways it doesn't really matter where you live when you obey the Lord. He gives you as Isaiah said length of he calls it length of days and long life. He blessed, they're blessings of productivity when you obey the Lord, that's in verse four. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, he's talking about the stuff that comes out of the energy that you exert. You're not distracted by unprofitable things.

When you're obedient to the Lord, you don't spend your life on silly things. You don't spend your life in games. You actually have something to show for it. Blessings in your provisions. Blessed be your basket and your kneading bowl.

I think this is a picture of domestic life, family life. God's blessings even overtake the kitchen utensils. They're used wisely he's sovereign over the smallest area there blessings of safety and travel blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out I think that this has to do with really every aspect of your life. You're filled with the joy of the Lord, whether you go in or whether you go out. You're not groaning and moaning about everything.

You are blessed. You are happy. In verse seven, blessings in conflicts of war, the Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face. You know, you don't know what kind of enemies have come against you that the Lord has already zapped. He zaps them before they get to you.

That happens all the time. I do believe that. The church is a well-protected people. Remember, there's a mighty angel protecting the people of God. There are multitudes of angels that are often deployed to protect the people of God and you can't see them.

Their blessings on your storehouses, that's in verse 8, the Lord will command the blessing on you. I won't belabor this idea of the blessing, but that's actually a significant phrase, the blessing on your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand. And then blessings of the favor of God, verses 9 and 10. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself, just as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you." It's not the worst thing in the world that people are afraid of the church.

People should be afraid of the church Because the people in the church, they don't care quite as much about their life. They care about the truth. And when you just care about the truth, people fear you. And then there are blessings of plenty in verse 11. The Lord will grant you plenty of goods.

And then there are blessings of plenty in verse 11. The Lord will grant you plenty of goods. And then there are blessings of weather and work, verse 12. The Lord will open to you as good treasure the heavens and give, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And then there's the blessings of capital, even for lending in verse 12.

You shall lend to many nations and you shall not borrow. Of course, you know, there are various ways to explain all these things. These are blessings. And then there's blessings of leadership in verse 13. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail and you shall be above only and not be beneath.

In other words, you have a freedom to lead that other people don't. You go in directions that no one else is going. And then the summary in verse 14, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them, so you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right or the left to go after other gods." So here's the net of it. God blesses the obedient. He makes distinctive promises, really compelling promises.

God treats his people differently than he treats the rest of the world. He really does. There's a very, very strong case for this in the Word of God. So, blessed are those who live differently. And I pray that all of us would continue to learn how to live differently, to walk in the ways of God, to trust him with all of our hearts, not to learn the ways of the Gentiles, not to walk in the ways of the nations, not to spend our time the way that they do, not govern our families like they do, not educate our children like they do, not spend our money like they do, not dress like they do, not think like they do, not eat like they do, not drink like they do, but to the Lord.

Everything as Moses said in Leviticus would be holiness to the Lord. Everything, nothing unholy, not everything, everything that contradicts put aside, everything pushed away that contradicts the wisdom and the love of God. Everything holy from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, everywhere you walk, everything you think, all of your work, all of your church life, all of your family life, all of your life. And the promise is, doesn't matter where you live, blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country. Would you pray with me?

Father, I pray that you would give us such clarity about how to walk in the ways of your kingdom. Lord, we found ourselves living in a world that is, The movements and the trajectories are so contrary to yours. Keep us, Lord. Bind us together as a family to walk in your ways. Amen.