Fasting | This Present Kingdom | Week 8 | Donna Gaines

welcome ladies to week eight of our spring bible study this present kingdom we hope you had a wonderful easter weekend celebrating our risen savior what joy and hope we have because jesus is alive you know here at bellevue we had an awesome weekend of services and today we're going to continue in that same spirit of celebration as we seek to live in the victory and in the freedom that his resurrection affords us and we are so glad to have you here with us right now whether you are watching online in your small group room or right here in the fellowship hall hi ladies hi ladies good morning we are so excited to be back with y'all this week and for those of you watching with us online do not forget to share this feed on your own social media pages so your friends can join in with us i don't know if y'all realize but we actually do have ladies who join in with us each week for the first time simply because you shared your feed or you invited a friend to come in with you yeah absolutely and if you're watching online from here in the memphis area and you would like to join us on campus it's not too late we still have a few weeks left in our study and we would love to see your smiling faces so you can reach out to us in the bellevue women's office either by email or by phone and we'd be happy to get you switched over to in person yes or maybe you've been watching with us online but you've never actually registered for the study it is never too late you can go to bellevue.org women and register there and when you do you'll get the lecture notes for today and everything that we've covered so far our links to the podcast everything so be sure to register ladies if you haven't already you need to check out the podcast the afterward if you're registered you'll find a link to it in your thursday email each week or you can also find it wherever you listen to podcasts just search for bellevue women and you'll find us there yes if you were able to listen to last week's episode you would have heard miss donna share some examples of our ladies who implemented our kingdom exercise for the discipline of giving and i may or may not have some examples of those two with me today so last week we asked some of the ladies who were here in person to anonymously and discreetly give us um some ideas of how they were able to practice that discipline of giving um and ladies it was really awesome to read those responses it gave us some great ideas so do you want to share a few of those with us paige i would love to please um so obviously i can't share all of them because we don't have time for that but ladies just know it has been so encouraging but i did pull a few to share with y'all this morning and one of them this sweet lady she took a young girl she was able to accompany a young single girl to a doctor's appointment and be there with her and praise the lord she got a good report at her appointment so they were able to praise lord together in that then we had one who shared some books of our bible study with some friends shout out to you and then we had uh one who just cleaned up the coffee area at her office and i just thought that was so sweet just a way to kind of give and serve within her office simple yes and then this one really blessed my heart um this sweet friend she was able to give forgiveness in a situation that she kind of been holding on to and through that it just brought such peace to her and yeah it was yeah i could i could just read these all day great examples so sweet the lord can lead you to give in so many ways you know small or large simple or extravagant the important part is just opening yourself up to be used by him to meet the needs of others and to be the hands and feet of jesus and i love that so many of you said that that exercise reminded you it's truly more blessed to give than to receive it was it was so encouraging to us and ladies you are such a blessing to us and i love sharing these and i hope that that encouraged some of you and maybe encourage some of you who the lord has kind of put on your heart a way that you can give and then maybe through that it will just encourage you to take that step yeah and obedience to him through that i think i could speak for both of us paige that this semester has been full of so many amazing testimonies and encouragement from each one of you so it's just awesome to hear how you're working out your faith and that's encouraged us as we strive to do the same yes and given us some uh inspirational quotes parenting with a purpose yes for t-shirts and movies t-shirts raw's just saying we'll just say we're gonna keep hinting until it happens but ladies lauren is right as much as we want to bless you you have been such a blessing to us and we just hope that you continue to um just share with us as the lord is working in you and through you throughout the semester speaking of sharing those of you watching online right now welcome back and why don't you go ahead and click the share button on this stream so that your friends can watch with you and while you're at it why don't you go ahead and follow us on bellevue women so you can stay up to date yes please do because there you'll get to see all of our latest information and you'll notice if you're following us on saturdays i actually make a post about our kingdom exercises this week so there you can let us know how it's going or just say hi because we love to hear from you but ladies why don't we just go ahead and stand up this morning as we get ready to worship our lord and those of you at home don't forget to sing along with us because trust me i am singing backstage with you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] what a great time celebrating easter and eternal life this weekend we're not only celebrating eternal life but we're celebrating abundant life so lord with every selling of our being we worship you i searched the world but it couldn't fill me a man's empty praise and treasures that faith are never enough then you came along you put me back together and every desire is now satisfied here in your love oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is better than you [Music] i'm not afraid to show you my weakness [Music] my failures and flaws lord you've seen them all you still call me fred cause the god of the mountain is the god of the valley there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again [Music] nothing is better than you [Music] know there's nothing better than you there's nothing [Applause] nothing is better than you [Music] you turn beauty for ashes [Applause] [Music] dancing [Music] glory you're the only [Music] [Music] there's nothing oh nothing is there's nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is better than you [Music] you you're the only one who paid [Music] you're the only one you're the only one [Music] amen lord jesus we do declare they nothing nothing is better than you you are our very life you give us the breath that is coursing through our bodies right now you've taken the ashes of our lives and you've made something beautiful out of them oh father as we open your holy word this morning i pray that you would do your work in each one of our hearts [Music] giving us an undivided heart and a single pursuit of your kingdom there truly is nothing better than the name in which we pray the name of jesus amen well good morning ladies and welcome to the bellevue women bible study this present kingdom the disruptive message of the sermon on the mount thank you so much for joining us for today's lesson kingdom seekers i love to read and at any given time i'm probably working my way through three or four books one of my favorite parts of a book to read is the preface because the preface gives insight that lays the foundation for the message of the book and as i was studying this week i realized that this week's lesson needed a preface and i can say that because i wrote the lesson so here is the preface i wish that i had written before you really begin to apply the biblical truth in this week's lesson you have to know who you are in christ first that means that without a doubt you have committed your life to him you've confessed your sin and you have professed faith in him second that means that you believe you are who god said you are nothing less nothing else you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in christ you are chosen before the beginning of time you are blameless in the eyes of god you are redeemed by the blood of christ you are adopted by the heavenly father the image in the new testament that portrays becoming a christian is adoption romans 8 15 says that as a child of god you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out abba father to be a christian is to be adopted by god as his heir permanently secure in his love [Music] interestingly the backdrop for the new testament image is the opposite of what we normally think of we hear adoption and we think about infants or young children the new testament image actually refers to the roman practice of adopting young adults to become heirs in the early roman empire an affluent man who had no son could adopt a young man to become his heir often he would adopt a slave and once that adoption became legal three transactions took place let these sink in first every debt owed by the adoptee was terminated upon the adoption every debt was canceled second the adoptee no longer had any legal standing with his old family and third although roman law allowed a father to disown a biological son it was illegal to ever disown an adopted son did you catch that an adopted child could never be discerned ladies once god adopts you it cannot be reversed you are wanted you are accepted forever through the wonder working powerful precious blood of christ you are an heir to everything that belongs to the king it's all yours [Music] as a blood-bought child of god don't waste your time seeking other things lesser things don't waste your time on futile fretting or needless worry instead as the message paraphrases matthew 6 33 steep your life in god reality god initiative god provisions you'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met because through the blood of jesus you are a daughter of the king thank you jesus for the blood that makes us daughters of the king [Music] i was a rich i remember who i was i was lost i was blind i was running out of time sin separated the breach was far too wide but from the far side of the cars you held me in your side so you made a way across the great divide left behind heaven's throat to build it here inside [Music] and there at the cross you paid the dead broke my chains freed my soul for the first time i had hope thank you jesus for thank you jesus it has washed me white thank you jesus you have saved my life brought me from the darkness into glorious [Music] you took my place laid inside my tomb of sin you were buried for three days but then you walked right out again and now death has no sting and life has no end [Music] thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus brought me from the darkness into glorious [Music] [Applause] [Music] through there's nothing stronger [Music] the [Music] jesus thank you jesus [Applause] [Music] brought me from the darkness into glorious [Music] glory to his name there to my [Music] glory to [Music] his amen let's give him glory [Applause] amen and thank you all so much thank you jesus for the blood applied well we have a study today in matthew chapter 6 and you notice that this study and the sermon on the mount keeps building right he lays the groundwork with the beatitudes by telling us these are the attitudes of the heart that you were to have this is the internal transformation that needs to take place so that you then can live out the christian life to which we've been called because he ended chapter five by calling us to perfection right he said you're to be perfect as i am perfect so he's calling us to holiness to righteousness and he says this is what it looks like so in chapter five he's comparing the beatitudes to the law and he's saying it goes so far beyond that it's much deeper than that as we said it goes all the way into the heart now he's looking at how we actually live out the spirit-filled life and he talks about when you give when you pray when you fast well today we're picking up on when you fast and then it follows with a focus on what we treasure what do we seek first and as we begin i want you to look at the quote from dr martin lloyd jones and he said we may as well realize at the outset that this chapter 6 is again a very searching one indeed we can go further and say that it's a very painful one i sometimes think that it's one of the most uncomfortable chapters to read in the entire scriptures it probes and examines and holds a mirror up before us and it will not allow us to escape now as we get into this and look at it you're going to see why but it may make us uncomfortable but the truths are so incredibly freeing if we will grasp them and internalize them we will be set free from the things that everybody else worry about because our heavenly father has it all taken care of all right let's pick up in chapter 6 verse 16 and he says whenever you fast so he takes it for granted that that will be a part of our life in the spirit that we will give we will pray we will fast and when we do don't put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do for they neglect their appearance so they will be noticed by men when they're fasting truly i say to you they have their reward in full but you when you fast anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men but by your father there it is again who is in secret he's in that secret place and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you and then he goes in there from there talking about not laying up treasure so what do we see about fasting and have we ever incorporated it into our lives and i hope that many of you have um fasting can be fasting from a single meal it can be fasting from food it can be fasting from a certain kind of food some people do the daniel fast which is just vegetables and water there are various ways that you can fast but the issue is to deprive your physical body of something so that you spend that time instead focusing on the lord paul talked about buffeting his body disciplining his body and that's one of the ways that we can do that so that we're not constantly giving in to the flesh i've given you a couple of excellent resources there's actually a definition fasting is a spiritual discipline that's taught in the bible jesus expected his followers to fast and he said that god rewards fasting fasting according to the bible means to voluntarily reduce or eliminate your intake of food for a specific time and purpose now it may be just that you're wanting to be more in tune with the holy spirit you're wanting to be able to hear the voice of our savior and so you're fasting because you're saying lord i want to block out everything that's distracting me it maybe you have a big decision to make and you're going to set aside some time to fast it maybe the lord just prompts you to fast for a day there was a period of time when i fasted one day a week when our children were teenagers that explains it all doesn't it and i fasted that day every day and i had an extended time of prayer for them i had scriptures i was claiming for them there have been other seasons when god has called me for a period of time to fast a day a week back when we were preparing for she loves out loud many of us fasted every monday until 5 pm so we missed breakfast and lunch and we broke the fast for dinner because we were really just consecrating that time to the lord and asking the lord to do what only he could do and meet with us and call women to prayer across the nation there can be various reasons that you fast but it should be a part of what you do so ask the lord how you can incorporate that into your walk with him and you do have a couple of resources and of course bellevue has set aside the third of every month as a day of prayer and fasting so if you would join with us you can fast a meal you can fast the entire day but you can also go to bellevue.org prayer and you can sign up to get the monthly prayer request sheet and they will give you things to pray for on that day of prayer and fasting and they're excellent things that are going on in our church staff people to pray for things across the city to pray for how to pray for our nation various times we've prayed like for supreme court justices various other things it's a tremendous tool so i hope you'll take advantage of that now let's pick up in the rest of the time we're going to be talking about what we treasure and how we can know what we treasure verse 19 do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal so he's telling us that we need to really focus on those things that are eternal now we've talked about this before what does the bible say is eternal the bible says the word of god the grass withers the flower fades but the word of our god shall stand forever so we know that his word is eternal we know jesus christ is eternal jesus christ is the word the word who became flesh and thus god's word is eternal so as we invest in bible study you're investing in something eternal when you read the word of god systematically when you memorize it when you meditate upon it you are being transformed by the living breathing word of god and it is eternal so you're investing in heaven when you invest in god's word we also know that the souls of men and women boys and girls are eternal we are created in the image of god living spirits god breathed into adam and he became a living spirit god is spirit and when a person dies literally their spirit and soul goes to be with the lord the body the shell is buried but that body will also be raised one day and glorified just as christ's resurrected body just what we celebrated this weekend with easter we too will be resurrected because jesus christ is the first fruits of the resurrection but prayer is also eternal because it is gathered before the lord and it is held in golden bowls revelation 5 8 tells us before the throne of god and your prayers continually rise before him like incense so the prayers that you send ahead that continually rise before the lord could still be bringing answers on earth after you're in heaven so the word of god the souls of men women boys and girls and prayer are eternal so if we're going to seek first the kingdom of god if we're going to seek him first and if we're going to lay up treasure in heaven then we have to focus on those things that actually send treasure ahead right and as you share the gospel with people as you take people with you we want people going with us to heaven so we want to be all about advancing the kingdom of god in the time that we have on earth because we don't belong here we're citizens of heaven now we're simply pilgrims passing through so he's encouraging us not to get tied down with the cares and the worries of this world but instead to focus on the kingdom of god that is eternal now the temporal things are all the things that are passing away it's the things that everybody else is all worried about and we're going to get into that a little bit more in detail as as we move on ephesians 2 says we are god's workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them so god has specific works prepared for us he has specific works prepared for you are you seeking him do you know what it is he's called you to do for you to accomplish for the kingdom of god that i won't accomplish that dana won't accomplish that gene won't accomplish that your small group leader won't but he has a specific plan for you he has people for you to impact to pray for to minister to to share the gospel with he has a plan for your life are you about it are you doing the good works that he has prepared for you then in second corinthians 9 6-8 it says now this i say he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart not grudgingly or under compulsion for god loves a cheerful giver and god is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed now did you hear all the superlatives in that verse what is he telling us you will never run out if you're giving because he will give back to you so that you can give more you simply because they become a conduit for blessings that god pours out upon you and you pour them out upon others and as you pour out he fills you back up and it doesn't necessarily have to be monetary it can be an act of service it can be sharing the gospel but as you give and as you go as you pour yourself out god pours back into you and he will do it in such a way that you will have an abundance how did he feed the 5 000 with the little boy's lunch right but what was left over 12 baskets of food there was an abundance there will be some left over when we become givers like our father in fact in john mcarthur's study bible he said god gives back lavishly to generous cheerful givers not so they may satisfy selfish non-essential desires but so that they may meet the variety of needs that others have this is not health wealth and prosperity gospel unless you get uncomfortable that's what i'm talking about the old testament did value prosperity and saw it as god's blessing and god did bless he blessed abraham he blessed his descendants but when you get into the new testament remember old testament shows us a lot of pictures of spiritual realities in the new testament in christ who came to a peasant couple was born in a stable and didn't even have a home a place to lay his head we are to follow the one who was not tied or bound to this world because jesus came to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth he came to establish for us how we are to live for the eternal so now we see with spirit eyes and we live for the kingdom of heaven not the kingdom of this world so it is not about accumulating wealth it is about utilizing what god blesses us with to bless others so that the gospel goes forth in fact in first timothy 6 9-10 if you've got your bibles you can turn there i kind of cheated because i marked it listen to 9-10 but those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction for the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs so we're not too long for money or wealth or to focus on that and then he goes on in verse 17 and says instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on god who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy instruct them to do good to be rich in good works to be generous and ready to share storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so they may take hold of that which is life indeed the things of this earth not only don't satisfy but they certainly don't provide life it is only in giving our life a way for the gospel for the good news that we actually find our life that we experience satisfaction and fulfillment and life as it was designed to be lived now as we move back in our passage in matthew 6 to verse 22 we pick up on a couple of verses that seem a little strange right in the midst of talking about treasure and and how we're spending our money and what we're supposed to do verse 22 says the eye is the lamp of the body so then if your eye is clear your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness if then the light that is in you is darkness how great is the darkness and i just ask us how's your eye how is your eye do you see clearly spiritually or is your eye darkened because you've fastened it on the things of this world i listened to an excellent sermon by tim keller and it's entitled treasure versus money and it's on your handout but he says several things in there that i've included under this point one was once your soul treasures something you'll pay any price to get it so what we focus on what we're willing to spend our money our time our energy on that's what we really treasure remember the parables that jesus told in matthew chapter 13 he told about the man who found the treasure in the field and he re-hid the treasure went sold everything he had and came back and bought that field and then he told about the merchant who was seeking fine pearls and he found the pearl of great value and what does he do he sells everything he has so that he can purchase that pearl and he's talking to us about himself about the kingdom of heaven we are to treasure jesus christ and when we treasure him and the kingdom he satisfies and he opens our eyes to see one of the things tim keller said was you think about someone who's blind there could be someone sitting here beside me blind and even in the midst of spotlights and a very well-lit room you know what their entire being would be dark to them because they're unable to see that's what happens many times when our eyes are blinded by the things of this world when we get distracted by things that don't really matter in fact in romans 1 we know that paul is talking about what happens when god begins to remove his hand from people who refuse to worship him instead they get their eyes fixed on creation instead of the creator and their eye becomes darkened in romans chapter 1 verse 21 he says for even though they knew god they did not honor him as god or give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened they became foolish because they fixed their eye on creation on the things that they thought they want and they wanted to build a life apart from god and his truth and his design and it darkened their minds that's what he's talking about is your eye full of light who is the light of the world jesus is and it's by fixing our eyes on jesus that our eyes will be filled with light and one of the things i thought about as i was just reflecting back over this this morning was faith literally not only lightens our load because when we trust the father we trust him with all the cares of our life he literally has called us to a care-free life not stress-free not problem-free but carefree because we are to roll our cares over onto him and he will carry them for us he said all of you who are weary and heavy laden come to me i will give you rest my load is what it's light his load is light and he will take your load off of you he will carry your load and as he does the faith allows your load to be lightened and your path to be illumined he told us i will light your path his word lights our path it's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path so he is light but in contrast what do we know about the enemy satan's domain is the domain of darkness so if we're dark if we're discouraged depressed who are we being influenced by not the lord of light we are allowing the enemy to darken our eyes to darken our minds and our hearts and it can happen so subtly because we can so easily get sucked into the greed of the world in which we live and the culture that we're a part of in fact one of the things that i got tickled about that tim keller said was he said you know as a pastor i have had so many people come to me through the years and as a pastor's wife i've prayed with a lot of women through the years and i thought this is so true i've never experienced this either he said people have come to me and they've confessed sins of anger or they've embezzled money in through their company or they've been unfaithful to their spouse they'll come and share these things with you and are a pers another personal struggle maybe with women i've dealt with women who struggled with eating disorders and various things like that he said but i've never once had somebody come to me and say pastor i'm struggling with greed i have a stronghold of greed in my life it's like one of those things we just think well it couldn't possibly be me right because you're talking to the really rich people and he said but you know what's really funny is even the really rich people don't think they're rich because they hang around with people that are 10 times richer than they are just like you hang around with people and some of your friends are much wealthier than you are and you just think well if i had that kind of money i'd be generous you can be generous regardless of how much money you have you can be generous if you've got a dollar you can give a dime to the church and a dime to somebody else you can be generous with whatever god gives you because everything we have we're simply stewards of we hold it like this and we offer it back to him because it all belongs to him anyway and if you don't want to be tied down weighed down by the things of this world hold them like this and when the lord says give it away if you struggle with it it may be that you're having a little struggle with greed that you're you're focused too much on self but if you can willingly give that thing away you will find incredible joy in giving and you know what it lightens your load as well as you give these things away tim keller went on to say the gospel says that we are all more sinful than we ever believed but more loved than we ever dared hope and one of the things he challenged people to do and i thought this was this was good he says practice sexual integrity and financial promiscuity isn't that great so let's practice sexual integrity in a world that's completely lost its mind in that area and financial promiscuity let's be generous and freely giving and the cross is our standard so how can we not give it all when christ has given his all for us and it really is only when we treasure jesus when he becomes the treasure of our heart then we'll be free from the love of money so he goes from lay up treasure in heaven to is your eye light or dark into don't worry so let's pick back up in chapter seven or practice six verse 25. for this reason okay because of this that you're not too well i miss verse 24 no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to one despise the other you cannot serve god and wealth so he's showing us they compete for our affections wealth and the lord if we're going to choose the lord then we can't love the things of this world and he says for this reason because you cannot love or serve god and money for this reason i say to you do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink nor for your body as to what you'll put on it's not life more than food and the body more than clothing look at the birds of the air that they do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not worth much more than they and who of you by being worried can add a single hour to this life and why are you worried about clothing observe how the lilies of the field grow they do not toil nor do they spin yet i say to you that not even solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these but if god so closed the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace will he not much more clothe you of little faith do not worry then saying what will we eat or what will we drink or what will we wear for clothing for the gentiles eagerly seek all these things for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you so do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will care for itself each day has enough trouble of its own did you notice how many times he said do not worry do not worry look at verse 25 do not worry then he says you know who have you been worried can add a single hour in verse 27 why are you worried about clothing in verse 28 then in 31 he says do not worry and in 34 do not worry so i'd say we're not to worry what would you say we're not to worry about the basics of life and what is what is he talking about the food that we're going to eat having something to drink and clothes to wear and he said look at the birds of the air look at the birds they don't toil or spin and yet the father feeds them now they go out to hunt for the food he's not saying sit at home and expect everything to come to you no you have to work but god will provide you don't focus on those things you don't worry about having your next meal because we have a heavenly father who's perfect and if we as parents who are evil long to do good for our children how much more will the heavenly father give the holy spirit and do good to those who ask he said i am your father trust me what does he what does it rebuke them for their little faith you of little faith what does faith do faith enables us to please him and not only that it enables him to entrust us with the true riches which are spiritual it's insight into his word it's getting in on what he's doing him being willing to trust us to reach out and love someone minister to someone share the gospel with someone open our homes to someone that's what he's calling on us to do that's what isaiah 58 is all about the people are fasting they're doing all the religious outward exercises and god's saying i'm not accepting any of that what is the fast that i have chosen that you open your home to the poor that you feed the hungry he said notice the people around you do what it is that christ did christ reached out and touched the lepers that no one else would even get near christ had meals with people that the pharisees would not have sat down at a table with christ invited everyone to come in and that's what we are to do as followers of jesus christ and when our hearts have been changed we'll be humbled one of the tests that tim keller said you can take to know whether or not money has a hold on you is how do you feel about the rich how do you feel about someone who has more money than you do you resent it if you do money has a hold on you do you envy them if you do money has a hold on you what about those who are poor how do you feel about them do you look down on them if so money has a hold on you because the gospel has a way of humbling us and making us realize we really are all the same we are sinners in need of a savior broken beyond healing apart from jesus christ and there's great hope for everyone and when you look at another person especially someone who may be lower educationally so economically whatever it may be however your caste system works because our culture certainly has one anyone you can look down upon if you knew their story you might be exactly where they are or worse off than they are what does he challenge us to do take your focus off of those things that you think you need to survive fix your focus on me trust me and don't worry instead take those cares roll them over onto the lord turn them into prayer requests with thanksgiving like philippians 4 6 and 7 tells us to do and then he gives us his peace that passes all comprehension and he allows us to get in on what he's doing and there's incredible joy incredible fulfillment and being in on what god is doing in fact giving things away several years ago these scripture braces bracelets were very popular it's when i wore only silver and i remember somebody gave me one as a gift and i felt strongly led to give it to someone one day because the verse seemed to perfectly match a situation they were dealing with and it would be a good encouragement and reminder and i gave it away literally just a few days later i got another one somebody gave me one for a gift and every time i got one i would give it away and it almost became comical because then i thought i just want to see who's going to give me another bracelet it's like every time i would give it away i remember dr junior hill talking about carrying a 100 bill in his wallet all the time and he said i can't tell you how many times i've given away that 100 bill it just keeps coming back he'll give it away somebody'll give him another one he puts it in his wallet when god prompts him to give it away he gives it away i have practiced doing that same thing for years it is amazing to see how god will just give it right back to you or if you're in a restaurant and you see a young family of course i guess because we're in the empty nest stage steve and i just have a heart for young families we know what it was like back when we were struggling to feed everybody clothe everybody get everybody everything they needed for school and extracurricular activities and all that so a lot of times he will say hey i'm gonna buy that little family's meal or i'm gonna i'm gonna buy that person's meal it's like that's awesome well it's it's funny now because we'll go someplace and we'll be paying for somebody else's meal and they'll come say somebody's paid for your meal it's just amazing how that happens you literally cannot out give god it's so much fun and i was talking to a young couple not long ago and they had been tithing since i got married and faithfully tithing giving to the church and giving above that and when god would prompt them they had a little money they set aside so they could help somebody out or just whatever the lord prompted them to do and they were getting ready to sell their home and they were wanting to buy another home and they were thinking um you know i mean wow and about that time they got their statement i guess like from the church telling how much they'd given for the last year and the wife was saying you know i looked at that and thought wow that'd be a great down payment on the house you just had that fleeting thought that went through well the lord sold their home almost overnight gave them more than they had tithed to the church and gave them an incredible deal on the house they bought two days later and they got into it there's no way they should have gotten the house and she sat there and said you just cannot out-give god you just cannot out-give god what does that show if we're willing to trust him with our finances then we're showing him our treasure is with you i treasure you more than i treasure this why do people try to hang onto money why is it that money so competes with our devotion to the lord i think for some it's either it's security or it's status and position whatever it may be that shows us we're trusting money instead of trusting the lord i listened to a message by francis chan yesterday it was actually on prayer i was cleaning house and so i always like to listen to message while i'm cleaning house i really encourage you to do that it really makes you look more forward to your house if you know you're going to get to listen to a really great message so i was listening to him talk about prayer and he was just sharing about how i mean you really cannot out give god and how god was speaking to him and and allowing him to get in on things with people you know he would focu have him call somebody or have him share the gospel with somebody he said you know it's just so amazing how the lord speaks to us if we will learn to listen to his voice and be able to get in on what he's doing and he said it's just so much fun well it is it is fun and what is he talking about here when you give when you pray when you fast that's part of laying up treasure in heaven that's part of what he's called us to do to invest in giving and praying and fasting so that we can see the kingdom of god advance on earth that's why he's given us breath that we might bring praise to him and share the good news with others you literally cannot out give him so i want to encourage you buy someone's meal give a grocery gift card to someone struggling pay a month's rent for a single mom mow your neighbor's yard by the mill the person behind you at the fast food restaurant or starbucks write a note to a widow or a widower invite someone over for a meal that will not be able to reciprocate that will not be able to invite you back and when you do that you're laying up treasure in heaven you're becoming a giver just like our father remember the verse from 2 corinthians 9 6 6-8 now this i say he who so sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who says bountifully will also reap bountifully each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart what does it go back to our heart that's what we looked at in chapter five we're looking at the heart give just as it's in your heart to do not grudgingly you're under compulsion for god loves a cheerful giver and god's able to make all grace amount to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed get in on god's economy it is so much better than anything the world has to offer the return is amazing and in fact it's eternal so i encourage you to get in on his economy and what's the solution what does he tell us to do because he wrap it up seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness remember we're called to holiness seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you food clothing shelter everything that you need because he's the perfect heavenly father and we've talked about this before how my children my grandchildren never had to worry about their next meal or having the things they needed for school or for an extracurricular activity their dad and i would have done whatever we had to do to make sure they didn't have to worry because that's not their job as a five six seven year old to have to worry about those things that's my job now i did have one child bethany the fourth one who was an old soul at the age of three and she was always following me around and saying did you get your keys did you lock the door did you it was it was helpful by the fourth child to have somebody following you around saying those kind of things but most children don't worry about those kinds of things right um and and they shouldn't but that's exactly what he's saying to us i am your father don't worry about those things instead lay up treasure in heaven hold everything with an open palm be ready to give it all away if he calls on you to because he'll give it right back so that you can give it away again so that he can give it back so that you can give it away again mary of bethany chose the one thing she chose to seek first the kingdom and jesus commended her for it he said she's chosen the one thing that will not be taken away from her she's chosen me she chose to treasure jesus and because she did jesus gave her insight that even most of his disciples didn't get about his death on the cross which is why she did that extravagant act of worship in breaking that alabaster vial of perfume and anointing his head and his feet in preparation for burial the psalmist said it like this one thing i have asked from the lord that i shall seek that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the lord and to meditate in his temple one thing i have asked from the lord what's the one thing you've been asking the lord for over and over and over what if you lay that thing before the throne this morning and say father from this day forward i want to seek first your kingdom and one thing i'm going to long for and that is you that is you because we seek first what we treasure most may we choose today to treasure jesus and get in on god's economy and advancing his kingdom you'll be sending treasure on ahead that you'll be able to enjoy for all of eternity let's pray heavenly father we love you and we thank you father this is a bit painful as we hold up the mirror of your word lord we do see ourselves we see where we've been holding too tightly in some areas to the things of this world or maybe worrying about things you never intended for us to worry about and consequently missing the things you're wanting us to get in on so father we're asking today that you would enable us through the power of your holy spirit to as we bow before you just come before you with upraised palms offering ourselves to you as a living sacrifice [Music] all on the altar and father through your spirit would you enable us to seek you first to treasure you most father that's the desire of our hearts lord as we do you will allow the light to shine you will grant us spiritual sight and we will see all around us the fields that are white unto harvest and we will hear your call to go out as your laborer into the fields father may we do it while there's still time lord thank you for these precious women bless them today encourage them let them see what it is you have for them to join you in and may we be about our father's business it's in the name of jesus christ our lord and savior we pray and to him we give all the glory and to him we commit our lives [Music] amen ladies let's sing this is our prayer today as we end show me your ways [Music] show me your ways [Music] that i may walk [Music] with you show me your ways i put my hope in you the cry of my heart is to love you more to live with the touch of your hand stronger each day show me your ways show me your ways that i may walk [Music] with you show me your ways [Music] i put my all in you [Music] the cry of my heart is [Music] show me [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the is of your hair stronger each day [Applause] with you show me your way show me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is each day [Music] show me your ways [Applause] [Music] stronger each day [Music] [Music] show me show me your ways kingdom seekers it has been a great day to be in the house of the lord to worship him to bask in his presence to be fed from his word and now it's our time to go out and to be a light to the world [Music] a time for us to make sure that we are keeping our focus on him remember what donna said we seek first what we treasure the most is he your highest treasure let's live that way this week father we ask you to keep our eyes turned on you this week [Music] and father to [Music] allow the things of this world to grow strangely again in the light of your glory [Music] father thank you so much for your word lord i pray that your word would continue to do its work in each one of our hearts as we go forth from this place and father would you use us your daughters to touch our city [Music] with the love and life of your son and whose name we pray amen you

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 509

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Fasting, This Present Kingdom, Donna Gaines, Women's Bible Study, Sermons for Women, BellevueChurch, Bellevue Church, Bellevue Church Memphis, BellevueMemphis, Bellevue Memphis, Bellevue Church sermons, Steve Gaines, Steve Gains, PastorSteveGaines, Pastor Steve Gaines, Pastor Steve Gains, Steve Gaines Bellevue Church

Id: TTTRcGptqQE

Length: 67min 58sec (4078 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 08 2021