Sermon Central
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Getting To Know God - Part 3 - The God Who Provides Series
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Oct 1, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: We see God's provision in our lives. As a rule, we Americans do not understand our wealth if we have never been to an underdeveloped country. Even those at the poverty level would be rich in many lands. Has God given us these riches so we can provide for them?
Getting To Know God - Part 3 - Jehovah-Jireh - The God Who Provides
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
“Jesus said, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.
“He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Please open your Bibles to Matthew 23:23
Two weeks ago we started taking a look into WHO God is.
It is difficult to love someone you know nothing about.
How much do we REALLY know about the One we call God?
The first week we saw that the name that is so often seen in the Old Testament as “the LORD” is really a mask for the name Jehovah or more recently translated as Yahweh. This masking comes from Jewish tradition and not from the will of Yahweh that we can see in the Bible.
That week we also saw that YHWH describes Himself with the title, “I AM WHO I AM” and we saw that this reveals one of the characteristics of God which is immutability; He is immutable; He is unchanging.
Last week we took a look at Jehovah-Rapha or YHWH-Rapha, the God Who Heals. The God Who Heals has the power to heal physically and physiologically, although He does not always us physically or psychologically and when He doesn’t, we yield our will to His will.
He also has the power to heal us emotionally and He wants to heal us emotionally as one of the fruits of the Spirit is peace and emotional pain is the opposite of peace.
And, finally, He wants to heal everyone spiritually for now and eternity.
Today, we will be taking a look at Jehovah-Jireh or YHWH-Yireh; The God Who Provides.
We know the account of Abraham taking Isaac up to Mount Moriah where he was to sacrifice Isaac, the son of God’s promise, as a burnt offering. But, when Abraham was about to offer Isaac up YHWH stopped him and provides a sacrificial ram in his place.
This was a pre-shadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Son of God on the cross of Calvary for our salvation. That is the specific application of the name YHWH-Yireh.
However, in addition to that we also see that YHWH provides for
1) His church,
2) His people and
3) those in need.
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read … Matthew 23:23
(Prayer for help …)
How does this apply to YHWH-Yireh, the God Who Provides …
First of all, let’s take a look at YHWH-Yireh, the God Who Provides for His church …
But before we even get started I want you to know that this is NOT a normal “you all need to be tithing” type of message; it has a much different and much more urgent point than that.
This isn’t just about tithing and why we should do it, but it is also about what should be done with the tithes and offerings that are given to the Kingdom of God
We see in Matthew 23:23
“YOU GIVE A TENTH OF YOUR (SPICES) … but you have neglected the more important matters of … justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced (justice, mercy and faithfulness), WITHOUT NEGLECTING (GIVING A TITHE).
In other words you should give a tenth (tithe) without neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Here is a fact from the Bible and if you can find something different please let me know.
The LORD God has only one plan for supporting His church and that is with tithes and offerings from those who belong to Him.
In the Old Testament God NEVER intended for anyone outside of Israel to support the Tabernacle/Temple or the priesthood.
In the New Testament God NEVER intended for anyone outside the church, the Body of Christ, the church or church ministries.
God has provided for us personally so that we can provide for the needs of the church. That is why we do not have church dinners open to the community to raise money. That is why we do not have bake sales, and rummage sales and raffles and bingo nights, etc. to raise money.
God intended for the people of Israel to provide for the temple and the priesthood. Likewise, God intends for His people, Christians, to provide for the church and her associated ministries.
Years ago onetime Pastor Karenlee asked one of our teens why we receive tithes and offering each week and the reply was, “To pay for you.”
