Which Mountain Are You On?

These are my notes from my message that I preached in our Children’s Church yesterday. I used two ladders for my mountains and hung signs that were opposite of each other on the mountains for my illustration. I did this to show the children that there is a choice that you have to make everyday between good and bad, and that you have to make a choice between the two. As simple as I tried to make it for these kids, it is still a simple truth that we as adults need to learn, what mountain are you living on?

“Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.” Deuteronomy 11:26-29

“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;” Deuteronomy 30:15

• God has given us the freedom of choice.
• He gave it to us from birth.
• I watch my 3 year old make choices and sometimes they are good choices and sometimes they are bad choices.
• You start making choices at a young age.
• The choices you make today will affect the rest of your life.
• Everyday is full of choices.

The children of Israel were about ready to head into the Promised Land when God told them that He had set before them life and death, good and evil, blessing and curse.

He illustrated that with land that was called Shecem in the Bible times. On one side there was a mountain called Mt. Ebal and on the other side a mountain called Mt. Gerizim.

Now these two mountains were close together but they differed in what was on them.

• Mt. Ebal – barren, dry, no growth
• Mt. Gerizim – fruitful, green, pleasant

The mountains were in the same climate and got the same rain and the same sun. They had the same opportunities to be fruitful. But one was and the other wasn’t.

These two mountains are perfect illustrations of God giving us a choice between being blessed or cursed.

If we obey God, we will be blessed. If we disobey God, we will be cursed.

We all are either living on Mt. Ebal or Mt. Gerizim.

What separates the two?

• Mt. Ebal is a life of selfishness
• Mt. Gerizim is a life of living for others

• Mt. Ebal is a life of disobedience.
• Mt. Gerizim is a life of obedience.

• Mt. Ebal is a life skipping church
• Mt. Gerizim is a life of attending church

• Mt. Ebal is a life of talking bad
• Mt. Gerizim is a life of edifying others and praising God

• Mt. Ebal is a life of laziness
• Mt. Gerizim is a life hard work

We could go on and on about the differences of the two mountains but when it comes down to it, one is good and the other is bad.

What should we know about these two mountains?

1. It is each person’s choice which mountain we live on.
2. It is a daily choice to choose between each mountain.
3. The mountains are close together which means we can easily go from Mt. Gerizim to Mt. Ebal.
4. You have to realize that no one decides which mountain you live on, but you can affect your future by which mountain you live on.

Decide now which mountain you are going to live on. Make it a daily decision to live on Mt. Gerizim.

Support us by getting your Counted Faithful T-shirt! Or by making a donation