Weekly
message: Theological principles of God’s provision 4/10/2019
By
Rev. Katherine Liu Bruce Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical Precepts & Gospel
Music
God’s
provision to those who fear of the Lord is superabundant. For those who fear of
Lord lacking for nothing. In O.T. and
N.T. provided the evident that the Lord is same yesterday, today, forever more.
Call upon the name of Jesus and trust in Him, we will experience
superabundantly blessings according to His glorious rich. For He said, “My
grace is sufficient to you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2
Cor12:9). And the plans of Lord, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans
to give us hope and a future. (Jer.29:11). In Christ, all things are possible. Jesus
helped, provided and healed the people who trusted in Him, believed in Him,
loved Him and had faith in Him.
My friends, do you
have faith in Christ? Do you believe Jesus is same yesterday, today and forever
more? His provision to those who love Him is unlimited; it’s matter of His timing
and in His way. In socialism world, some says, “God helps those who help
themselves”? But in Biblical precepts, Christians shall anchor on the Lord Jesus,
that great I AM who is the true provider and creator. He provides and helps those
people who delight in Him, believe in Him, trust in Him, follow Him, love Him
whole heartily and obey His commands.
In Old Testament and New Testament, there are many
narratives, historical events approved that God helped and provided those who delighted
in Him, trusted in Him, believe in Him, follow Him, love Him and obey His
commands. Those events as follows,
First,
God helped and provided Abraham when his heart didn’t withhold of his son from the
Lord. Abraham’s faith
in God enabled him to obey His commands, sacrificed Isaac, his only son on the
altar. Abraham didn’t withhold his son from God. Yahweh yireh in Hebrew means
“the Lord will see to it.” God approved his faith, and provided a ram as a
burnt offering instead of his son on the altar, so the place Abraham called, “the
Lord will provide” and to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it
will be provided.” (Gen.21:10-14).
Second, God blessed
Isaac with rich and wealthy, for he followed his father Abraham to obey the Lord’s
commands, decrees and laws. (Gen26:5) when the Lord blessed Isaac with rich and wealth, Philistines
envied him, all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his
father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. And
Abimelech said to Isaac “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for
us.” Isaac faced obstacles, yet, Lord provided
him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham, Do not be afraid, for I am with
you, I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the
sake of my servant Abraham.” (Gen.26:24) Isaac built an altar there and called on the
name of the Lord. Even Abimelech acknowledged that the Lord was with Isaac and
prospered him. So Abimelech went to have peace agreement between Isaac.
(Gen.26:28). With the abundant provision of the Lord, Isaac, convicted, and
convinced his enemy to fear of the Lord.
Third, Joseph
is a faithful servant, fear of the Lord, his trust and belief had not only saved
his life, but also his father Jacob and brothers. God provided him
abundantly prosperity; even Pharaoh acknowledged his God and made Joseph a
leader in charge of the whole land of Egypt. (Gen41:41-43).
Fourth, Ruth’s
obedience and committed to serve the Lord, God provided her a new future, a new
home with a great man, Boaz, and the Lord enabled her to conceive with a son
Obed, the father of Jesse, and Jesse was
the father of David. Ruth was
blessed by the Lord same as Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of
Israel. (Ruth4:11-17). When Ruth’s mother in-law Naomi’s husband died, and her
two sons Mahlon and Kilion also died. Naomi, three
times, asked Ruth her daughter in-law to leave, return home, and go back to her
mother’s house. But Ruth responded,
“Don’t urge me to leave
you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, where you stay I will stay. Your people will
be my people and your God my God. Where you die
I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deals with me, be it ever
so severely, if anything but death
separates you and me.” (Ruth1:16-17).
Naomi
realized that Ruth was determined to go with her; she stopped urging her to
leave. (Ruth1:18). Ruth’s love and commitment, gained the Lord’s blessings. She
gained the favor in front of a kinsman-redeemer Boaz, who took Ruth as wife and
Ruth gave birth to a son named Obed. Obed is the father of Jesse, and Jesse is
the father of David. “This genealogy traces the line of Judah from Perez, son
of Tamar, through Boaz to David.”[1]
Fifth, King Solomon showed his love to the
Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father David. David was
faithful, righteous and upright in heart, so the Lord has shown great kindness
to David, and has given him a son, Solomon, to sit on his throne. King Solomon
acted humble and meekness before God, he asked God give him a discerning heart
to govern his people and to distinguish between right and wrong. So God granted
him not only wisdom with discerning heart, but also riches and honor. This is
what the Lord said to him, “Since
you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies
but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I
will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have
been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have
not asked for –both riches and honor so that in your life time you will have no
equal among kings. And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did.”
(1Kings3:11-15).
Sixth, In the New Testament unveils many
events while Jesus lived on the earth thirty three and half years. He helped,
healed, and provided superabundantly to those who loved Him, believed in Him
and followed Him. When fishermen had worked hard all night and haven’t caught
anything, Jesus directed Simon, “put out
into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke5:5). Simon
responded, “Because you say so, I will let down the nets.” They caught a
large number of fish that their nets began to break; the fishes filled both
boats so full they began to sink. All his companions were astonished at the catch
of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
Simon’s partners. Simon fell to Jesus; knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man”. Then Jesus said to
Simon, “Don’t be afraid, from now on you will catch men.” Simon became the disciple and gained a new
name Peter. The bounty blessings poured out to Simon, when he listened,
followed and believed in Jesus.
Sins block the God’s blessings
What mistake occurred that resulted humiliation and blocked
the grace of God? Abram and Isaac had done the same mistake; both of them lied
about their wife in order to spare their life. Abram lied to Pharaoh about
Sarai is his sister, not wife. Because Sarai is beautiful, Pharaoh wanted her,
it put Pharaoh in sin and inflicted by the Lord with serious diseases because
of Abram’s lies (Genesis12:11-20)
Isaac did the same mistake, he lied about his wife, “she is my sister”, he was afraid to say,
“she is my wife”, for he thought the
men of Gerar might kill him on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.
Isaac, a man lied and acted selfish in order to save his life, he put his wife
Rebekah in dangerous, awkward, embarrassed position to deal with quilt and temptation
alone. Abimelech summoned Isaac, “she is really your wife! Why did you say, “She is your sister?” Isaac answered, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.” (Gen.26:9)
In this point, Abimelech king of the Philistines acted was more righteous than
Isaac, so he corrected him, “what is this
you have done to us, one of the men might well have slept with your wife, and
you would have brought quilt upon us.” Then, Abimelech gave orders to all
the people, “anyone who molests this man
or his wife shall surely be put to death.” (Gen.26:10-11).
Simon Peter denied Jesus, dishonored the lordship three times
before Jesus’ crucifixion, it caused him lived in the sense of quilt, and
self-condemnation rest of his life.
Man’s sins, lies,
selfishness, dishonest and unfaithfulness can result shame, humiliation, curses
and block God’s blessings. When God’s chosen people acted in wrong, God used
other nations and Gentiles to correct and discipline them in order to draw them
back to God. God’s intention and plans, plan to prosper His people, and not to
shame them, nor harm them, God plans to give His people hope and a future.
(Jeremiah29:11). To gain God’s blessing, it requires faithfulness,
righteousness and an upright heart before God. A man’s falsehood and acts
dishonest in moral and ethical can be sins and block the God’s blessings.
Theological principles and application
1) Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and
enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourselves in the Lord, and He will give you the
desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will do
this. (Psalm 37: 3-5)
2) It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust
in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. (Psalm118:
8-9)
3) Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk
according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and
seek him with all their heart. (Psalm 119:1-2)
Bibliography,
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Neil. The Bondage Breaker: Overcoming negative
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Publishers, 2006.
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Christian Literature. 3rd Chicago: The University of Chicago
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Bruce,
Katherine L. Book review: the bondage
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Countryman,
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__________. Glory Days. Nashville, TN. Thomas Nelson, 2015
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[1] Charles C. Ryrie, the Ryrie study
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