The Doctrine of Provision | Debleaire Snell

so today we're going to get ready to go right into the word of god uh this is the third week and a series that we started a few weeks ago entitled doctrine is not a dirty word and our goal is to be able to make sure we get to a place where we merge jesus with the doctrines of the church there are times when we hear people say we need to preach more jesus and less doctrine or we need to preach more doctrine and less jesus i need you to know if you have a doctrine that don't have jesus in it is false doctrine and so we want to make sure that over the course of these next several weeks perhaps months we just want to make sure that we try to build up the body of christ uh through the study of the word so do me a favor if you don't mind just be an electronic evangelist be an apple or an android apostle just do me a favor just share this message with somebody click uh on the link copy it and share it with somebody so that they would be able to be blessed through the word of god as well so do me a favor go with me in your bibles to the book of exodus chapter 16. exodus chapter 16 and we're going to begin together verse number one exodus chapter 16 and we're going to look together at verse number one and i want you to know that i'm going to spend this week and next week right here in exodus 16 because i intended to begin preaching on one doctrine but actually god paused and kind of kept me to deal with another one but we'll deal with that other doctrine next week exodus chapter 16 and verse number one when you get there just uh just just say amen exodus 16 and verse number one the bible says that the whole israelite community set out from ellen and came to the desert of sin which is between ellen and sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they had come out of egypt in the desert the whole community grumbled against moses and aaron the israelites said unto them if only we had died by the lord's hand in egypt there we sat around the pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted but you have brought us out into this desert to starve the entire assembly to death then the lord said to moses i will rain down bread from heaven for you and the people are to go out each day and gather enough for the day in this way i will test them i will what test them and see whether they will follow my instructions and on the sixth day they were to prepare what they bring in and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days so moses and aaron said to all the israelites in the evening you will know that it was the lord who brought you out of egypt and in the morning you will see the glory of the lord because he has heard your grumbling against him who are we that we should grumble that you should grumble against us moses also said you will know that it was the lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evenings and bread you shall want in the morning because he has heard your grumbling against him who are we you are not grumbling against us but against the lord then moses told aaron say to the entire israelite community come before the lord before he because he has heard your grumbling and while aaron was speaking to the whole israelite community they looked toward the desert and there was the glory of the lord appearing in the cloud and the lord said unto moses i have heard the grumbling of the israelites tell them at twilight you will eat meat and in the morning you will be filled with bread then you will know that i am the lord your god that evening quail came and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp and when the dew was gone thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor and when the israelites saw it they said to each other what is it for they did not know what it was and moses said unto them it is the bread that the lord has given you to eat this is what the lord has commanded everyone is to gather as much as they need take an omer for each person you have in your tent and the israelites did as they were told now some gathered much and some little and when they measured it by the omer the one who had gathered much did not have much and the wonder who gathered little did not have too little and everyone gathered as much as they needed then the lord said unto them no one is to keep any of it until morning however some of them paid no attention to moses they kept part of it until the morning but it was full of maggots and it began to smell so moses was angry with them and each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed and when the sun grew hot the word says that it melted away and then look down with me at verse 35 the bible says that the israelites ate manna for 40 years until they came to a land that was settled they ate manna until they reached the border of canaan today saints i want to talk to you for a little while under the subject the doctrine of provision the doctrine of provision let us pray together today father my prayer today is that you would make your word really clear so father i pray that in the hearing of the word that our faith will be multiplied exponentially so lord once again would you please hide me in the shadows of the cross that jesus alone might be seen that christ alone would be heard and at the end of our time together may jesus alone be praised lord draw us closer to heaven we pray in the wonderful name of jesus who is the christ let god's people say together amen and amen now again saints i want to talk to you today about the doctrine of provision now when i first began studying exodus chapter 16 my goal was to preach on the doctrine of the sabbath but there are some things that god put before my face because what became clear is that if you don't understand the doctrine of provision you'll never be able to appreciate the doctrine of the sabbath because if you haven't learned how to trust god on tuesday wednesday or thursday then you'll never be able to have true rest when the sabbath comes and it is critical that we develop some strong beliefs about how god provides in fact our primary tension of faith has to do with how we're going to make it from one month to the next in fact it is the tension around provision that taxes the newest member of the church and it goes over even unto the most seasoned believer in the body of christ and the fact is that there are some of us that can't even pray with focus because we're worried about the bills that might come there are some that can't practice stewardship because we can't see how god is going to make up the difference there are some that cannot celebrate provision for today because our minds have wondered to the future and attached itself to worries that are yet to come and this is why romans 15 and verse 4 says that everything written in the past was for our learning so that through endurance of the scriptures we might find encouragement and therefore have hope in other words saints the things that happen to abraham and noah and moses those things happened for a reason in other words the things that happened to test them were actually done for us so that we might know how to have faith when we encounter moments of trial and adversity and it's imperative that we do this because some of us are trying to figure out whether or not god can be trusted in real time you see too many of us are trying to figure out the experience of faith through trial and error and i believe that's an errant way of trying to develop faith because it suggests that the faith journey begins with me and this is why we've got to change the way that we read the scriptures you see the problem with some of us is that we think the scripture is about great men and great women that did great things for god but you realize that the bible is not about great men or great women that did great things the bible is about a great god that does great things even for undeserving people let me say it again the bible is not about great men or great women that do great things for god the bible is about a great god that does great things even for undeserving people and see the scriptures teach us or reveal to us a god who is faithful the bible teaches me about a god that always comes through and this is why the bible teaches that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god in other words saints your faith will never be stabilized by experience your faith is going to be stabilized by what you study in other words saints the scripture is god's divine resume the bible is simply a search engine that tells me all of the mighty acts and miracles of god in other words if i want to know how faithful god is i don't look at my circumstance i just gotta google him in the word y'all not with me yet you know how it is i'll say how in pop culture or in sports whenever there is an athlete or a celebrity who feels like he is being undervalued or underappreciated when somebody comes for them on social media they'll just drop one line they'll say son you need to google me and when they say google me what they're saying is that you need to look at my track record and in other words you need to look at what i've done in other words when they say google me it means that you don't really know who i am and can i suggest to somebody today who is worried about money or finance or how you're going to make it god is saying to somebody today you better google me because it's clear that you don't know who i am if you're worried about the bills you need to google ezekiel 12 and verse 25 where god says that if i say it it's going to come to pass if i speak it it'll be performed without delay there is somebody that needs to google jeremiah 37 and 25 where god says i am the god of all flesh and he asks is there anything too hard for me there is somebody that better google isaiah 55 when he says when my word comes out of my mouth it won't return unto me void but it'll accomplish what i please and prosper in the thing i sent it to you there is somebody that's suffering lack that needs to google joel 225 because even if you're bankrupt my god says he is able to restore the years that the locusts have taken away so even if your last couple years of harvest have been bad my god is able to make up the difference there is somebody that better google philippians 4 where paul says my god shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory there is somebody that better jugo google job one for he says the lord gives and the lord takes away but blessed be the name of the lord somebody better google matthew chapter seven and verse seven where he says ask in this hell be given seek and it shall be found knock and the cell be open unto you and to somebody you need to if you're stressed stop looking at the stock market stop looking at your bank account start looking to the word of god so you can have your faith built up can the church say amen today and so go back with me if you don't mind uh into the word let's go back to exodus chapter 16 and let's look together at verses two and three exodus chapter 16 and verse number two and three there's some man there's some good news in this word for y'all today exodus 16 and verse number two the bible says that in the desert the whole community grumbled against moses and aaron the israelite said unto them if only we had died by the lord's hand in egypt there we sat around pots of meat and we ate all of the food we wanted but you have brought us out into this desert to starve the entire assembly to death now saints i need you to know that as we talk about the subject of provision there are about four principles that i want to teach today and the first thing i want to teach you to understand is that we can't worry about problems before they get here let me say it again the first thing you've got to understand about provision is that you can't worry about problems before they arrive now it's funny saints because as a younger person when i used to read this text i used to think at first that their grumbling was actually justified you see at the surface it actually looks like their complaint is a result of their current hunger but it is not until i look at it in its larger context that i see israel's sinfulness when you look at this in its context what becomes clear is that there are there are about a little over 30 days outside of the land of egypt now i need you to know that even though they're gone for about 30 days scholars teach us that when they left israel they took about 40 days of provision and so i need you to know that they begin their complaining before their food runs out in other words there is food all ready to eat while they're forecasting about a lot that has not even showed up now i need you to know the thing that has heightened uh this level of panic is the journey they're about to take you read there in verse number one that they've left the valley of elam and have traveled into the desert now when you go back to chapter 15 elam is described as having 12 springs of water and there elum has 70 palm trees there the vegetation is plenteous so between the water and the vegetation along with what they have in storage elim is a place of some security but now they have moved out of elam and the scenery has radically shifted in desert terrain in other words the sources of water are scarce the vegetation is hard to come by and their storage is about to be depleted and so with this combination of many mirages and lack of water and declining supply they get to a place where it's hard for them to hold on to their faith but the thing that you've got to get is that they're not complaining about hunger in other words the murmuring does not emerge from a deficit their complaint is not because they already have a lack their complaint is because they're addressing problems that have not even arisen yet are y'all with me today look at this uh quote here and patriarchs and prophets uh here patriarchs and prophets uh page 293 put that up on the screen for me listen to what the prophet says she says they had not yet suffered from hunger are y'all with me saints their present wants were supplied but they feared for the future they could not understand how these vast multitudes were to subsist in their travels through the wilderness and in their imagination they saw their children famishing they were unwilling to trust the lord any further than they could witness continual evidences of his power watch this now before you judge them she gets on us she calls many of us she says look back on the israelites and marvel at their unbelief and murmuring feeling that they themselves would not have been so ungrateful but when their faith is tested even by little trials they manifest no more faith or patience than did ancient israel when brought into straight places they murmur at the process chosen by god to purify them she says through their though though their present needs are supplied many are unwilling to trust god for the future and they are in constant anxiety lest poverty shall come upon them and their children be left to suffer watch this some are always anticipating evil or magnifying difficulties that really exist so that their eyes are blinded to the many blessings that demand their gratitude are y'all hearing me today saints and see this beloved is why we have to learn how to cast down imaginations and everything that worketh against a knowledge of god you see saints that if you don't control your fears your fears will always push you to the worst possible scenario in other words i need y'all to get the absurdity of what's happening here in exodus 16. in other words they are eating dinner around the campfire while worrying that dinner is gonna run out in other words their kids are alive and healthy while they're daydreaming about their demise they have plenty of supply while they're anticipating a lack that they've never had since they begin their sojourn with god and can i suggest saints that if you're going to survive the journey of faith you can't worry about problems before they arrive because if you're not careful anticipated agony will drive you out of your faith and y'all preaching to anybody today see i need you to understand what i'm saying see this is not a call to irresponsibility this is not a call to indifference this is not to say i don't have a vision for the future but what i want to do is i want to give somebody permission to have peace about the present you see some of us are so mentored by worry that we think to have peace means to be irresponsible but i need you to know having peace doesn't make me irresponsible i just believe that god is so able that at some point i can cut off the phone i can stop checking the email i ain't got to be up all night long because i ain't going to worry about problems before they arrive in other words since this is a call away from obsessing and ruminating over things that you cannot control in other words saints i need you to understand that you can't worry about problems in the future why because god hadn't given you no authority over the future in other words not only did he not give you authority over the future god hasn't even given you authority over the present right now and i guess what i'm saying beloved is that instead of ruining yourself with anticipated concerns maybe you ought to just learn how to thank god for the provision that has already been made instead of obsessing over what may be tomorrow maybe you ought to just learn to thank god for what he's doing today in other words there is somebody at home whose praise is paralyzed because you're worried about what's coming down the pike and what i want to just charge somebody to do is instead of worrying about tomorrow you ought to stand up and say this is the day that the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it there's somebody that needs to say from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same that the name of the lord is to be praised instead of worrying about what you're going to eat a week from now maybe you ought to thank god that there's food cooking i meant warming up on the stove right now instead of worrying about the fact you may get fired just thank god that you got a job right now instead of worrying that the lights might be turned off on a week you want to just do a lap if they're still on right now instead of worrying about what is going to happen maybe you ought to praise god for what is happening because if you want to grow your faith the way you do it is by praising god for what's happening today are y'all hearing the word today saints and see i need y'all to hear me on this and and i need you to know i'm not trying to come down when i say this but our faith is so tattered that all some of us can anticipate our curses in other words our faith beloved is not even the size of a mustard seed so that when you listen to some of us talk the only thing we claim by faith are the negatives of life when you listen to even some believers talk oh all they call see see they call things that are not as if they already are but they won't call blessings that way the only thing they'll call is curses that way and it's amazing friends of mine that sometimes will do that in the name of being realistic we'll do that in the name of keeping it real sometimes i'm always anticipating the bad as a form of a protective measure because disappointment from the past has left its dna on me but can i suggest today's saints that there is something wrong with your faith if you can in anticipate curses but you can't anticipate blessings although let me say it again that there is something wrong with your faith if you can see getting sick but you can't see getting well that there is something wrong if you can anticipate getting fired but you can anticipate getting hired there's something wrong if you can anticipate divorce but you can no longer anticipate reconciliation there is something wrong if you can see your kids going to jail but you can't see them going to college there is something wrong if you can see yourself getting sick but you can't see yourself getting well there is something wrong if you can anticipate problems but you can't anticipate blessings and what i'm saying today saints is what we've got to learn how to do is repurpose our imagination now again saints when i say repurpose your imagination i'm not talking about man just just just just daydreaming or wishful thinking when i say repurposing your imagination what that literally means is i'm going to commit to memory the promises of the word of god so that what i anticipate is not based on what i sense is based upon what god said are y'all hearing the word today saints in other words beloved i'm not going to anticipate that if i give to god i'm going to be broke why because the word has promised that if i give he will open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessing that there won't be room enough to receive it i'm not going to anticipate that if i'm generous i'll suffer lack because god says if you give it'll be given back to you good measure press down running together press down shaken together and running over i need you to know i don't spend my life anticipating enemies that come because guess what they may come in one way but they're gonna go out in seven different ways i'm not gonna spend my life anticipating storms because even if they come jesus says if i put his word into practice i'll be like a wise man that builds this house on the rock and when the rain falls and the winds blow i'll stand because my house is founded on the rock i'm not going to spend my days anticipating the collapse of my house because i believe if god has put it together then no one is able to pull it asunder and what i'm saying to somebody is that if you're going to use your imagination if you're going to claim something by faith maybe you ought to claim the blessings of god more than reclaim the curses of this life can the church say amen today second thing that this this this this story teaches us this is important the second thing this teaches a saints number two is that you gotta make god your contingency plan number two you got to make god your contingency plan now now saints you you got to go you got to get this that this story goes against the principles or or the axioms of conventional thinking and so even as you look at it i want you to get this that that we're not called to do everything that they did but we are called to extrapolate the principle of faith because it's interesting that god gave some some of some pretty curious directions about how the miracle of the manna was supposed to be handled you notice one of the things that god said about the manna is that when i give you the portion for the day that you're not supposed to try to keep any for the next day now i need to get this that that that manna that the bible lets us know that that that manna that it was it was it was literally about one-tenth of an epho now an ifa is about three uh or so leaders and so uh your cup of mana would be about a third of a liter and and it's curious that god says listen don't you take anything for the next day in other words god says watch this i'm not going to let you put nothing in storage in other words god is saying it is your declining storage that caused you to panic in the first place so god is saying i'm gonna let you keep no extra i'm gonna let you save nothing for a rainy day you can't put none in aluminum foil and put it in the deep freezer i ain't gonna let you have no leftovers you gonna have to come to my hand every day of your life in order to be fed by me are you hearing me saints now i need you to know that god is so specific in this instruction that they reached a point that by the time the sun came out guess what the manner that was left over would be melted away and even with those who were in disobedience that tried to keep a portion for the next day when they woke up it was filled with maggots and it began to rot and i need you to know saints that there was a reason god cursed the leftovers the reason god cursed the leftovers was because of what the leftovers represented you know why it is that some tried to keep a little extra for the next day you see the reason some in israel tried to keep some extra was so that they could secure themselves if god didn't come through in other words the reason i want to keep some in storage is if just in case god forget or just in case god gets mad just in case god changes his mind i'll still be straight in other words their attempt to bring some excess was an open demonstration that we don't really believe that god will do what he said he is going to do now saints i need you to get this because i'm trying to put my mind myself in in their situation now i need you to get like how anxious and how much faith this requires because you realize that when they go to bed every night they ain't got no snacks in the pantry [Music] they ain't got nothing if they get hungry and want a midnight snack they can't keep nothing in the closet so that for 40 years for 40 years guess what god never misses a day except when he gave double on the sixth day so they wouldn't have to rest on the seventh day and the reason god set up this situation is so that all of israel would know that as long as you walk with me you will never need a backup plan and see how many of us understand saints that if you're in the will of god you'll never need a plan b oh god that's the sermon right there if you're in god's will you'll never need a backup you'll never need a contingency plan and see the reason that god wants to curse all of the contingency plans is this it's because if your backup plan is in reach your backup plan will back god up okay because your backup plan is in reach your plan b will become plan a because your fleshly plan is in reach your contingency plan will become your primary plan and see the reason that some of us can experience god's plan is because we're so dependent on our backup plan in other words there were some of us that a while back said we're going to step out in faith and we're going to go back to school or we're going to start our new business but guess what we kept our old job as a contingency plan and 20 years later our contingency plan is still our primary plan see there's some young people that have said i'm going to step out in faith i want to wait for the husband or wife that god has for me but because i'm scared i'm gonna keep a jump off or a friend with benefits over here to the side but because i don't step all the way out eventually your plan b is gonna become your plan a there are some of us that are trying to move in the area of sobriety but you keep a little stash of weed or a little bottle of this on for those days where it gets hard but guess what when hard days come if you got that stash in the house guess what your contingency plan is going to be your primary plan see how many of us know there's some who say pastor i'm going to give this month but i'm not going to give it to the end of the month when all the bills have been paid but how many of us know you got to step out in faith and give it at the beginning because if you don't your plan b is going to become your plan a or y'all hear any saints and say i need y'all to understand that in god there can be no contingency in the world of faith if i'm going to take the journey of faith guess what i got to put the entire weight of my house and my life and every vision our dream i got to put it all in the hands of god and see what you've got to get saints is that god is not anti-savings god is not anti-extra but god is going to curse anything that you try to use as an unbelief cushion see the problem is all of us try to have these unbelief cushions these disobedience cushions these things that we put in place so that we can disobey the will of god and still be safe and god is trying to help you to understand that if you're gonna abide on miracle territory that you can't have a contingency plan but what you told my past do you realize that in the miracles god did you couldn't have no backup plan so that if you were walking through the red sea with moses you couldn't carry no boat behind you because the walls were going to only be open so long and so you just had to trust that god was going to be able to see you through until you got on the other side do you realize that when abraham went up to the mountain to sacrifice isaac he literally had to think according to hebrews resurrection because he didn't have another son he didn't have a back-up plan in case that god didn't do what he said so he was already anticipating a resurrection you realize that when peter walked on water he'd have time to put on no life vest he simply had to trust that the word of god was going to be able to sustain him and what i'm saying to you beloved is that if you're gonna walk on miracle territory you simply gotta move at the command of god and try to lay aside all of your contingencies and the reason god watch this temporarily suspends their ability to store is that for 40 years he doesn't want them to have any access to any storage he wants them to have the experience of knowing that every day you come to me every day i'm going to come through for you see i need to know that that god help me holy spirit god is doing something for them because see i understand it happened to them but guess what it happened for us in other words he was trying to teach us something about faith so that every day when they woke up and the manna was there what god was doing was building up their reservoir of faith god was building up their history with him and on the front end it looked like a bad deal but after 40 years of seeing god come through every morning and every evening they've come to the conclusion that in god i don't need a backup plan and i just need to know is there anybody that has been walking with god long enough to testify that every time there was a need every time there was a lack my god came through right on time and i've had enough of an experience to know that god will show up now now this is tripped him because i'm kind of like all right so so i'm trying to like look at this i'm looking at what ellen white says like would i have had more faith than them but you got to see how this thing takes place because i can see like when god first tells them this there had to be some rough nights of sleep at first in other words like i mean you know you like to be able to like sometimes at night i ain't even hungry i'm not going to get anything to eat but sometimes i'll just go open the fridge sometimes i just want to look and see what's going to be there in the morning like sometimes i just go check to see if the leftovers are are still there but like now they have moved to this amazing place of dependence where every night they go to bed ain't nothing left there ain't nothing to depend on like there ain't nothing to satisfy their fears and to suggest that everything is going to be all right in the morning so i can see on that that first night of sleep they wake up at like five to see if the man is gonna be there and guess what when they wake up at five it's still there and then and then the next day they wake up early in the morning and guess what it's there and then after a month they still wake up early and guess what it's still there after two months they wake up early and guess what it's still there now after about three months they sleep in about seven but when they go it's still there after about five months they're waking up at 10 and guess what it's still there after a year and a half they ain't even waking up no more because they know it's going to be there and what god has trained them to do is to be able to rest with nothing [Music] because they know when they wake up it's still going to be there in other words god has trained them to know that all of their source that all of their supply is going to be founded in him are y'all hearing the word saints and see i need somebody to know that god has perhaps had somebody in a tense situation maybe not as bad as this well at first man you couldn't sleep because you were down to your last and after a while you struggled with sleep because you weren't used to having very little but some of us have been broke so long do i have a witness that like the israelites you can go to sleep on next to nothing because you know when you wake up in the morning that the lord is gonna provide everything that you stand in need of all y'all hearing me today saints and see i want us to understand beloved that god is trying to get us to a place where you understand this that if you can go to sleep when you ain't got nothing guess what you won't forget god when you have something in other words if you can get used to having god when you ain't got nothing guess what you realize that your something is not greater than the god who kept you when you didn't have anything y'all hear me today saints and it's crazy man because like man one of the things you know the word of god says and lamentations he says it is because of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed his compassions fail not they are new every morning so it doesn't matter how it looks when you went to bed no god is going to give it to you brand new in the morning it's just kind of like this sometimes my wife uh uh we'll we'll go uh in order to avoid the crowd she'll she'll go to walmart late at night in order to get the groceries or she'll rise up early in the morning in order to get the groceries and it's crazy because like the kids they'll wake up sometimes with an attitude they're like man we ought to cereal and we ain't got no waffles and it's crazy because they go and open up the pantry and then it's already there because while they were sleeping one of the parents was still working oh i wish y'all heard me today see i need you to know that even when you're sleeping your heavenly father is still working to make sure that by the time you wake up that you're going to have what you stand in need of are y'all hearing me today saints third thing that this story teaches us is that even in provision i need you to get this that even though we get divine provision it still requires human effort are y'all hearing me today saints now again this is twofold because god provide god what's this god god provided the manna but guess what they still had to go and gather the manna see i need you to know that the gathering process was still considered work so much so that god says i don't want you gathering on the seventh day so i'm going to give you a double portion on the sixth day so that you don't even have to do this work on the seventh day in other words even though god provided the manna from heaven god did not send angels to spoon feed it to them they still had to sweat to gather it and they still had to work to prepare the evening quail or y'all hear me saints and so i need you to understand that gathering and preparation are still part of divine provision are y'all with me today saints now the reason this is important is there are two tensions i want to address number one some of us have this mythical faith we have this mythical faith that says if god is gonna provide it doesn't require any effort on my behalf in other words we we have this faulty idea that if god is gonna do it i ain't gonna have to labor i ain't gonna have to sweat i'm not gonna have to persevere but how many of us know that just as the body without breath is dead so faith without any works is gonna be dead also are y'all hear me today saints now because i need us to understand that work is not a curse work was one of the institutions that god put in place before sin even entered into the equation so you realize that before sin before adam and eve ate the fruit you had three institutions you had marriage you had work and you had the sabbath the only thing that sin did was it made work cumbersome and toilsome and adam's descendants would have to do it in the sweat of their brow are y'all hearing me today saints i see there there's some that are that that are kind of lamenting and saying man god is not providing and my question to some did god not provide or have you chosen not to gather did did god come short on his word or are you coming short on activity uh is god not providing or are you refusing to prepare what it is that god has made available are y'all hear me today saints because see there are some of us men that live in areas where jobs may be hard to come by but i need y'all to know in huntsville it's one of the few places where if you want to work there is work to be found now it may not be your ideal job but sometimes you gotta walk through the door that's open before god opens the door that he ultimately has for you there's some young person that god has provided a way of education but guess what you're not preparing for the opportunity that is being granted you think that if the holy spirit is with you that he's just gonna download the answers to your test know what the holy spirit does is he brings back to your memory the things you've already studied are you hearing me say this i need you again like god has provided a marriage but guess what you still gotta work at the marriage in other words successful couples are not the ones that are meant to be successful couples make it work are y'all hearing me today saints now the other issue that we confuse is our roles so that sometimes we think that because i work we think i provide do you realize that even though the men of israel would go out and gather it it was god who was the one that provided it so so even though they had to sweat while picking it up and even though they had to work their fingers hard while preparing the quail you realize that their effort would have been of non-effect if god didn't provide what they needed now the reason that is important especially for husbands or head of households is that there's sometimes where we weigh ourselves down and we say yo listen i gotta provide you realize that even as a husband my job is not to provide my job is simply to gather what god has already provided does that make sense in other words we got to get out of this habit of talking about what we did we've got to stop talking about being a self-made man we got to stop talking about how we pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps and realize that if god did not provide you would even have the opportunity to go and gather are y'all hearing me today saints go with me to acts chapter 17 and verse 28. acts up can we get in the good book for a minute acts 17 and verse number 28 look at the word the bible says for in him we live and move and have are being do you realize that if god didn't put breath in your body if god didn't put strength in your limbs that you wouldn't even have the capacity to be able to go to work each and every day so even though you work hard it is god that provides the strength for you to work go to psalm 76 and verse number six psalm 76 and verse number six the bible says uh 76 and verse 6 at your rebuke the god of jacob uh both of horse and chariot lie still but he goes on to say that permission promotion does not come from the east or the west but promotion comes from the lord deuteronomy 8 and verse 18. deuteronomy verse 8 and verse 18 look at there with me but remember the lord your god for it is he that gives you the ability to produce worth and so convert wealth and so confirms his covenant which he swore to you by your ancestors as it is today i need you to know beloved that even if you've made it and you've done well for yourself and god has allowed you to experience some affluence i need us to realize that it is not our job to pat ourselves on the back or say look at what we have done but to acknowledge that it was god that supplied he just put us in a position to go and gather are you hearing the word today says so so go with me real real quick i'm almost done verse number 18. uh exodus 16 and verse number 18. look at this real quick exodus 16 and verse 18. watch this the bible says this exodus 16 verse 18 the bible says and when they measured it by omer watch this the one who gathered much did not have much and the one who gathered little did not have too little and everyone gathered just as much as they needed the last thing this story teaches us beloved is that you'll never be fed by somebody else's portion you'll never be fed by somebody else's portion now watch this so so so god does something miraculous in in in the distribution process now i don't know exactly how god does this jay i'm not clear on how god brings it to pass but he sets it up in such a way that if somebody goes out with a greedy spirit and tries to take more than the designated owner by the time they get it to the house it's been whittled down so they have just what they need and even if somebody comes out late and they only get the leftovers or the little guess what god multiplies their little so that they wind up suffering no kind of lack are y'all hearing me today saints and so i need you to see what god is doing see what god is restricting from happening is he's not going to allow the strong to go out and have dominance over the week in other words god refuses to allow the strong to have a manna empire because they had more strength and more resources to gather in other words he is not going to allow a an israel like caste community where a few have a whole lot and the many have a whole little which means god is not republican where one percent have 70 percent and everybody else has got to fight over the 30 that's left oh y'all hear me today saints in other words i need to know god sets it up where everybody y'all not with me yet god sets it up where everybody has the same amount god sets it up where everybody is going to be satisfied by what they have god sets it up that once i get my portion i'm not going to be hungry once i get my portion i'm not going to be starving once i get my portion i'm not going to be lacking in other words god sets it up in such a way that i ain't going to never spend no time looking at somebody else's plate god sets it up in such a way that i'm never gonna be looking at somebody else's portion you see embedded within this process is the principle of learning how to be grateful for what god has provided for you in other words god set it up the word if i tried to store more it rotted if i tried to get more it melted away you realize that in the miracle of manna god actually introduces two of the ten commandments in the miracle of the matter he introduces after by giving them a double portion on the sixth day and having them rest on the seventh day he reintroduces them to the commandment of sabbath and by only allowing them to get what they need he introduces them to the principle of refusing to covet their neighbors in other words he's saying i want to train you over these next 40 years to stop looking at theirs through the process of distribution what god teaches them how to do is focus on their own plate in other words like it don't do me no good to look at your plate it don't do me no good to look at your plate because my satisfaction is going to be found in what god portioned off for me oh yo y'all didn't catch this in other words your satisfaction like in other words once you got your portion you weren't gonna be hungry once you got your abortion you weren't gonna be lacking and god is saying your satisfaction is gonna always be found and what has already been meted out for you in other words your portion is going to be what satisfies in other words you ain't got to look at what nobody else has you don't have to look at what they got your portion is going to be more than sufficient it's crazy because like even in my house you guys know uh i got my tenure soon a year old to be 11 year old i got my seven year old daughter and my my six-year-old son and it's crazy because one of the tensions at the dinner table is this it always revolves around how much food somebody gets on their plate so it's crazy like because i can fix a plate for one person and when they get their plate they're good with what they have but as soon as they see what's on somebody else's plate all of a sudden what they were just satisfied with all of a sudden becomes not enough because they had enough that was going to satisfy them but sometimes we get mad when we see what somebody else has and what i'm saying to us today beloved that you will never be able to enjoy your house as long as you're looking at what somebody's got in their house you'll never be able to enjoy your car as long as you're studying the kind of car they are driving you'll never be able to enjoy your work as long as you're assessing their promotion you'll never be able to enjoy what you have as long as you're focusing on what they have and god through the miracle of manna is calling us away from covaceous living by teaching us how to just focus on what's on our plate it's crazy like like i talked about the kids but you know i just literally did the same thing last this past monday um you know for my birthday my wife went up to nashville and we went to one of my favorite restaurants i am don't judge me but i just love to go to the cheesecake factory and cheesecake factory is one of those places where if you're not careful you you'll suffer from what they call food envy in other words like you'll order what you want but you'll be messed up the whole time because every time the waiter brings somebody else's plate by you'll be tripping because you'll be like man dang i should have got that or darn i should have got that or now i'm unsatisfied because i should have got that and the craziest thing about it all uh brother kelsey is i looked through the whole menu before i ordered in other words i made a decision to say i didn't want this or i didn't want that in other words the food they brought me is the food that i ordered not a crazy thing is even if i got every meal in the restaurant i couldn't eat it all and guess what i decided i didn't want what they wanted i ordered what i wanted and i realized that if i'm gonna enjoy this time out i gotta stop looking at what's coming by and i just gotta learn how to enjoy what i ordered oh y'all didn't catch that today in other words saints what i'm saying to you beloved is you didn't order what they had you ordered what you wanted and what i'm saying is that where you had a choice you better learn to enjoy what you ordered you didn't marry him you ordered him enjoy what you ordered you didn't buy that house you bought this one so enjoy what you ordered you didn't buy that car you bought this one so enjoy what you ordered you didn't go shopping where she did you went over it belt so enjoy what you ordered are you hearing me today saints and god is saying to us today love that we got to get to a place where we just learn how to be thankful for what we have because see the key to being content is not when i have everything i want it's when i want everything that i have and that's crazy because i think to a certain extent when we read this story i actually think we rejoice shea over the wrong thing i think we rejoice over the wrong provision what what what do you mean when you say that pastor so so go back with me look at in your bible exodus chapter 16. now this trips me out but not not just because of what happened you you know you know what i'm shouting about i'm actually shouting over what didn't happen so verse 9 bible says then moses told aaron say to the israelite community come before the lord for he has heard your gum grumbling and aaron was speaking to the whole israelite community and they looked toward the desert and there was the glory of the lord appearing in the cloud and the lord said to moses i have heard the grumbling of the israelites so tell them at twilight you will eat meat and in the morning you'll be filled with bread oh lord y'all realize that that if god was how we say he is in the old testament you realize that that should read radically different than it does see see the bible says that they complain against god but do you notice that before he provides manna before he provides quail he provides the best and most important thing he provides his amazing grace that buffers them from the punishment that they deserve you know how that should have read is they complained against god the lord has heard your complaining therefore you're gonna be wiped from the face of the earth but can anybody just join with me in celebration that god did not deal with them according to their sin but god dealt with them according to the multitude of his tender mercies is there anybody that is wise enough to say i'm gonna stop complaining because i didn't get what i deserve and maybe you ought to shout today because god didn't give you what you deserve when you did not believe when you grumbled and complained when you sinned against god guess what he didn't stop blessing you but he kept on feeding you and he kept on supplying and he kept doing taking care of us is there anybody that can celebrate the fact that even when i'm undeserving god still shows up you see the bible is not about great men that does great things for god it's about a great god that does great things even for people that don't deserve it let the undeserving say hallelujah let the undeserving say thank you jesus let those who know they don't deserve give god a praise because before he supplies bread or meat you know what he always supplies his amazing grace and it is because of those mercies that we are not consumed i'm still here saints because i'm fed by the amazing grace of god somebody else shout out hallelujah today and listen as i close as i get ready to take my seat i wanted somebody to understand these principles of divine provision because god is trying to say to somebody man you you worry about too many things you are allowing too many things to rob you of your peace you're letting too many things rob you of your rest like you you will never get settled as long as you're worrying about problems before they come god is saying to somebody man you got to put away your belief cushion your unbelief cushion you got to let me be your contingency plan god is saying to somebody listen i've provided but the problem is you have not gathered you have not allowed your effort to coincide with my divine provision and god is saying to somebody listen listen i've i've given you what you ordered but but i gave out a specific amount a specific portion because i was trying to teach my people just focus on what's on your plate who somebody would have so much joy if you just focus on your plate if you just if you just put your affections and you attach your joy to what god has given you and you literally just took the time to count the blessings for what you would have and you look at the ways god has made for you you would actually come to the conclusion that god has been good to me you you will come to the conclusion that man it's rough and it's imperfect and it's hard sometimes but but man through it all god has been faithful but the reason we can't see the faithfulness of god is because we anticipating problems that haven't arrived we too busy looking at somebody else's plate instead of just learning how to thank god for how he is providing for us right here in the present and in the right now are you all hearing me today saints and there's somebody that's on this journey of faith and god's word to you today is this is that you gotta trust him you you gotta put all of your weight in him and i need you to know beloved that if you're in the will of god you'll never ever need a contingency plan you'll never need a backup you'll you'll never need to put something inside like you know again god is not anti-savings but god is against you putting things in place to secure yourself if he doesn't come through god is not a man that he should lie or like the son of man that he shall change his mind god comes through a hundred times out of a hundred and there's somebody today who is waiting for things to change before you believe no you ain't gotta wait for things to change before you believe your faith is not going to be steadied by your experience your faith is going to be steadied by what you study you need to begin committing yourself to repurposing your imagination by committing the promises of god to your memory committing the promises of god to your heart so that what you anticipate is based on what god says and not based on what you sense or what your past experience might be god is calling you to radical trust to radical faith to radical obedience to learning how to radically step out there and put all your weight on the promises of his word so there's somebody today that's that's either never believed or there's somebody that has cast away their belief and you need to start today with relationship you need to begin today in a committed relationship with the savior saying i want to go all the way with christ you saw a young lady being baptized earlier today symbolizing that she is beginning the journey of faith and maybe you need to begin that same journey today and maybe you need to begin it by saying listen i'm going to go all the way by being baptized i want to be one of the next baptisms at this church if that's your desire just email us at prayer first sdachurch.com prayer first sdachurch.com or right there in the comments on youtube or on facebook there's a link coming up in the comments called typeform you can click on that you can make that calling and election sure you can email us or whether you're out of town or out of state in another country we'll get you connected with a believing bible-based believing community where you are but there's somebody that just needs to know that before you can even appreciate the doctrine of sabbath you got to embrace this doctrine of provision because god is saying listen i'm not calling you to be irresponsible but god is saying to somebody today i do want to have give you permission to have peace about the present god is saying to somebody no matter how little you have in your pantry tonight i want you to go to sleep and sleep good and know that what you need is going to be there for you in the morning god god is saying to somebody no matter how much life has depleted and weary you financially i'm the god that's able to restore the years that the locusts have taken i can help you rebuild i can get you back on the right track but god is saying listen i don't want you to live in a constant space of tension and unrest and unbelief i want you to live a life of hope and joy and fulfillment and and rest because you know i'm in control of all things so instead of looking constantly and anxiously for the stimulus now just look constantly and anxiously for jesus christ who's going to supply all your needs according to his riches and glory do you believe god's word today father in heaven we thank you so much for your worry your word will be a lamp unto our feet and enlightened to our path and we're thankful lord for these stories which were written in the past for our learning for us to be edified so that we would learn to know how to handle our present adversity so lord i'm praying that that you would release somebody from worrying about the challenges that have not even come yet may they just learn how to have joy in the present to have peace in this moment i'm praying that somebody would put away any disobedience or unbelief cushion anything that they've set up so that they don't have to abide in faith and trust you with everything help them to know that the same way israel was able to sleep with nothing in the pantry they could sleep even if they're down to their last i pray that there was somebody that would learn how to put their works in combination with their faith and lastly may somebody just learn how to have joy in the portion you have given them help them to stop looking at somebody else's plate and to just find joy in what you've given and i close this prayer lord just thanking you that even before you supply bread or meat you gave us grace and i thank you that our stories don't read like they should that we got the result of our sin but thank you that instead of giving us permanent punishment you gave us permanent grace so lord would you bless us would you keep us would you continues to sustain us we pray this in the mighty name of jesus let god's people say together amen

Channel: First Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 66min 3sec (3963 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 20 2021