Sunday Worship Service December 28, 2025

Prelude
Call to Worship John 14:15
Hymn JBC # 69 Softly now the light of day
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC #263 Hover o’er me, Holy Spirit
The Lord’s Suffer
Offering
Scripture Deuteronomy 11:8~12
Prayer
Sermon “From the beginning of the year to its end”
Prayer
Hymn JBC# 81 God, our Father, we adore Thee!
Doxology JBC # 679
Benediction
Postlude

Today is the final Sunday worship of 2025. I am thankful for the blessing of having been able to listen through to the word of God together this year.
Today let us listen to God’s message from Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.
Deuteronomy explains about the period of time right before the Israelites enter the promised land in Canaan. Before that they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years after escaping slavery in Egypt, where they had been for 400 years.
Actually, most of the first generation of Israelites that had escaped from Egypt died in the wilderness. Those who arrived at the promised land were mostly of the second generation and after.

Moses was the one who led the people of Israel out of Egypt and through their time in the wilderness.
Moses was also unable to enter the land of Canaan, dying right before. Moses’ death is described at the end of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy consists largely of the words that Moses continually conveyed to the people of Israel as commandments they should keep and as God's teachings, having received them from God.
Moses, the leader of the people, died before entering the land of Canaan. However, the Israelites journey into the land of Canaan continued with a new leader, Joshua.
Moses taught the people God’s word and commandments. This was because God’s word was the most important thing for them to continue in faith in their journey.

Leaders like Moses and Joshua do not lead the people. They merely assist the people in living in obedience to the Lord God.
No matter how spiritually superior a person may be, human leaders are still human, and they will certainly make mistakes. People cannot be the target of our obedience.
What we should be constantly listening to and obeying is the word of the Lord God.
We humans, even if our positions, vocations, or roles are different, are all the same believers before God. We all also need to remember that we are all sinners who were forgiven by Jesus Christ. Therefore, let us cherish constantly listening to and obeying the word of God.

The first verse in today’s passage, verse 8 says “Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today”
Here the “I” refers to Moses who is saying this word, but Moses is conveying the word he was given by God, so it should be understood that “I” is God.
Observe therefore all the commands I (God) am giving you today. This command for you to observe the commands of God appears here in Deuteronomy as well as in several other passages in the Bible.
Observing God’s word (commands) is of utmost importance to us, and the Bible repeatedly tells us this.
In our church worship, church school, and prayer meetings, we listen to God’s word together and share. We also read our Bibles on our own and receive from God’s word.

We listen to the same passages from God’s word over and over. It is the same word, but the Bible (God’s word) is new and holds pertinent meaning to each situation we are placed in.
We spend our whole life listening to God’s word continually. This is because God’s word is eternal, constantly giving us life, and giving us strength to live.
The second half of verse 8 says the following:
so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
We each have different paths that we need to walk. As individuals, as families, we all walk different paths. We also have a path we need to walk as a church.
s the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, we may also have our own Jordan river to cross in order to get to our promised land.
The path we need to walk may seem rough. We may sometimes feel anxious, wondering what kind of life awaits us in that land ahead, and whether we will actually be able to get there.

However, in times like that, what should we do? God has clearly given us the answer. We should “observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today.”
We should listen to the Lord’s word. Not just listen, but we should observe all of the commandments that God tells us.
In doing so, we can receive courage and strength from the Word in order to walk our paths in faith.

Verse 9 says the following:

9 and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Through obeying the Lord’s Word (commands), we will be able to live long in the land ahead.
The word of God gives us life. The word of God sustains us.
God’s commands are not those of a tyrant or dictator who rules over people as they please and uses people for their own benefit.
God's commandments are truly a gift given to us by God so that we may receive them, obey them, and live true life on this earth.
God’s word became flesh in a form that people can see as Jesus Christ. This is what happened on the Christmas.
　　We desire to walk together on the path of faith, receiving the words of the Bible, God's commandments, illuminated by the light of Jesus Christ and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, and living according to that Word.
The Israelites lived 400 years enslaved in Egypt. And now they were about to enter into the land that God promised them.
Verses 10-11 tell about what type of place Egypt was to them, and what type of place the land they were about to enter was.

10 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.

In verse 10 where it says, “The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden,” refers to the fact that they were forced to labor there.
At the same time, “where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot” may also carry this meaning:
In order to live, people had to rely on their own strength and abilities, relying on themselves (or at least thought they could live by their own strength).
People cannot live without God’s help and grace. Without knowing this, people (mistakenly) believed that they were able to live by their own strength in their life in Egypt.
This can also be said about ourselves before we understood the grace of the true God.

However, to believers, the place where we live is like what is described in verse 11 where it says it “is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.”
The path of believers, where believers live, is where God gives us what we need. However, that does not mean that it is ok for us to just do nothing.
If we believe in God, it does not mean that we will live richly with no suffering without any work or effort.
Rather, as believers live on this earth, even though life is full of trials and difficulties, we can believe God is with us and will give us what we need.

Even when we cannot see what is ahead and are anxious, God gives us the strength to continue walking the path, and we can receive wisdom and courage from the Word.
To believers, “a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven,” means that our Heavenly Father is always thinking of us, gives us what we need without fail, and protects us.
It is not some fantastical dream that we are just believing. The fact that God provides for us and protects us is guaranteed in the word of the Bible and Jesus himself.
The last part of today’s passage, verse 12, says the following:
12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

God’s eyes are constantly on the path that we walk, and He is protecting us and guiding us.
In the land where we obey the Word of the Lord, God is always watching over us from the beginning of the year to its end. God is always with us in that land.
Through Moses God gave the people of Israel his Word (commands) and guided them repeatedly to obey and live according to His commands.
Now as we are in a new day and approaching a new year, let us renew our resolution to listen to and obey God’s Word and commandments.
The Lord God is always watching over us in the paths we walk and the places we are going to. From the beginning of the year to the end He is always watching over us.
Let us remember and take comfort in the fact that we are given the Lord’s protection and guidance, and His loving gaze is always upon us as we walk together.