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[1943.06 --> 1944.18] It was so that the nations
[1944.18 --> 1945.98] would come into this community
[1945.98 --> 1947.10] and experience blessing.
[1948.48 --> 1949.64] Now I wanna talk about
[1949.64 --> 1950.84] this word that is curse.
[1952.02 --> 1953.12] Now, first of all,
[1953.22 --> 1954.18] when you hear the word curse,
[1954.18 --> 1954.88] what do you think?
[1954.96 --> 1955.98] What's in your brain right now?
[1957.22 --> 1958.26] Is it Harry Potter?
[1959.44 --> 1959.72] Ah.
[1960.54 --> 1961.56] So I just wanna say,
[1961.64 --> 1962.54] when we hear the word curse,
[1962.62 --> 1963.64] we're hearing something different
[1963.64 --> 1964.82] than the Bible talks about
[1964.82 --> 1965.94] when it says curse.
[1966.64 --> 1967.46] Curse in the scriptures
[1967.46 --> 1969.48] is perhaps best explained this way.
[1970.00 --> 1971.14] If blessing means
[1971.14 --> 1972.94] the favor and protection of God,
[1973.30 --> 1975.00] curse is the absence of that.
[1975.52 --> 1977.02] If blessing is the fullness
[1977.02 --> 1979.48] of human life in relationship,
[1980.26 --> 1981.48] curse is the absence
[1981.48 --> 1983.16] and the emptiness of life
[1983.16 --> 1983.84] in relationship
[1983.84 --> 1985.62] when we live at a distance from God.
[1986.14 --> 1987.90] It is sort of the removal of shalom,
[1988.02 --> 1989.56] the removal of flourishing.
[1989.72 --> 1990.88] That's what curse is.
[1991.52 --> 1993.04] And in Deuteronomy 27 to 30,
[1993.14 --> 1994.64] which actually are very important
[1994.64 --> 1995.56] background passages
[1995.56 --> 1996.56] for Galatians 3,
[1997.38 --> 1998.62] it spells out very clearly
[1998.62 --> 2000.30] if you follow the ways of God,
[2000.54 --> 2001.70] the instructions of God,
[2001.76 --> 2003.06] if you listen to him
[2003.06 --> 2003.84] with a whole heart,
[2003.92 --> 2005.42] you will be flourishing and blessed.
[2005.62 --> 2006.52] And if you don't,
[2007.06 --> 2008.32] you will experience curse.
[2009.10 --> 2009.54] In fact,
[2009.60 --> 2010.88] one of the very specific curses
[2010.88 --> 2011.70] that's spelled out
[2011.70 --> 2012.98] is exile.
[2013.66 --> 2014.78] That the Israelites
[2014.78 --> 2015.84] will lose their land.
[2017.50 --> 2018.52] So if you know where the story
[2018.52 --> 2019.10] goes from there,
[2019.22 --> 2020.18] the Israel gets the law,
[2020.30 --> 2021.26] they get put on the land,
[2021.32 --> 2022.54] and then they chose
[2022.54 --> 2024.06] the hard way.
[2024.54 --> 2025.94] They rejected God's goodness,
[2026.12 --> 2026.84] they didn't want to follow
[2026.84 --> 2027.54] after his ways,
[2027.66 --> 2028.62] they kept chasing
[2028.62 --> 2029.74] the gods of the nations,
[2030.16 --> 2031.00] rejecting the law,
[2031.00 --> 2031.78] and what happened?
[2032.70 --> 2033.30] The curse.
[2034.30 --> 2034.64] In fact,
[2034.70 --> 2035.64] the very exact thing
[2035.64 --> 2036.18] that was predicted
[2036.18 --> 2037.16] in Deuteronomy 27,
[2037.38 --> 2038.78] they lost their land.
[2039.38 --> 2040.12] And foreign nations
[2040.12 --> 2041.26] came in and defeated them,
[2041.58 --> 2042.28] subjected them,
[2042.34 --> 2043.18] and made them slaves
[2043.18 --> 2044.70] to those nations' interests
[2044.70 --> 2046.00] and those nations' priorities.
[2047.10 --> 2048.56] And if you're a first-time
[2048.56 --> 2049.34] reader of the Bible,
[2049.80 --> 2050.64] and you work your way
[2050.64 --> 2051.20] through Genesis
[2051.20 --> 2052.38] all the way to Malachi,
[2052.92 --> 2054.60] it is actually quite a strange
[2054.60 --> 2055.62] and confusing ending.
[2056.14 --> 2056.86] We don't talk enough
[2056.86 --> 2057.38] about this.
[2057.80 --> 2058.96] The goal from the beginning
[2058.96 --> 2060.32] was God to bring Abraham
[2060.32 --> 2060.98] to himself,
[2061.18 --> 2062.58] to form this people of Israel
[2062.58 --> 2063.72] so that the nations
[2063.72 --> 2064.72] experience blessing.
[2065.24 --> 2065.88] And the Old Testament
[2065.88 --> 2068.10] finishes with that nation
[2068.10 --> 2069.28] experiencing curse,
[2069.56 --> 2070.58] and the very nations
[2070.58 --> 2071.80] they're supposed to bless
[2071.80 --> 2073.22] oppressing them.
[2073.94 --> 2074.50] And you have to think,
[2074.58 --> 2074.98] okay, well,
[2075.04 --> 2076.26] what's the plan here?
[2077.18 --> 2078.64] And maybe the easiest way
[2078.64 --> 2079.32] to summarize
[2079.32 --> 2080.48] the Old Testament story,