Miracles Of Provision – Part 1

2:54 We'll say more later in the program, but right now, let's turn our attention to God's Word. I titled today's message, Miracles of Provision. My seminary professor, the late Howard Hendricks, used to tell the story about a family here in Dallas that was involved in full-time Christian service. The finances were tight, and they had four children to provide for. And one day, their youngest son, Timmy, asked his dad, Dad, do you think it would be okay with Jesus if I ask him for a new shirt? And the dad said,

3:34 in what we need. So every night at dinner, Timmy would pray for a new shirt. About two weeks later, a friend of the family's, a local merchant here in town, called the mother and said, hey, I've got an overstock of some boys' shirts. Would you have any use for them? She said, how many? He said, 12. She said, bring them right over. So that night at dinner, you know, most parents would have said, oh, guess what, Timmy? The merchant called. We've got some new shirts. No, they wanted to teach him a lesson he would always remember. So that night at dinner, Timmy began to pray for the new shirt. The father stopped him and said, Timmy, you don't need to pray for that any longer. Well, why not? And on cue, the older brother, Tommy, went into the closet, took one of those shirts, brought it out, and plopped it right in front of Timmy.

4:29 His eyes were bigger than saucers. He couldn't believe it. And then Tom went in and got another shirt and another shirt and another shirt until the table was piled high with shirts. Timmy was convinced that God had gone into the shirt business. But today, many years later, there's a man named Tim who believes in a God who has the power to abundantly provide for our every need. believe in a God like that? You know, rooted in God's name is the phrase Jehovah Jireh. It's one of the most popular names in Hebrew for God. Jehovah Jireh. It means literally the God who provides. That name is rooted in the story in Genesis 22 when Abraham was offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice at God's command. And just as Abraham raised his knife, God said, stop, stop Abraham, now I know that you love me. And in the thicket appeared a ram who would be the substitute offering in place of Isaac. And when Abraham experienced that divine provision of God, he named the place Jehovah-Jireh, a reminder that we serve the God who provides. And that's what we're going to talk about today, the miracles of God's provision. Now, of course, the greatest need any of us has is the need for salvation. That is our greatest need. But we have other needs as well.

6:08 And today, we're going to talk about how God miraculously provides for those other needs. You know, we've said there are really four types of miracles in the Bible. Last time, we looked at miracles of power. These are dramatic displays of God's power that remind the whole world of his sovereignty. Think of the parting of the Red Sea, for example. Miracles of power. Next time, we're going to talk about miracles of protection, how God supernaturally protects us. We're going to talk about miracles of healing. But today, we're going to talk about the miracles of God's provision. And specifically, we're talking about other provisions other than spiritual provisions. We know he provided that through Jesus Christ. But let's look at other provisions God meets in our life. First of all, the need for physical provisions. You know, it was the Democrat presidential nominee Adelaide Stevenson years ago who said, understanding people's needs is half the job of meeting those needs. Well, God understands your needs and my needs because he made us.

7:18 He made us the way we are. And he understands that we need physical provisions. For example, the need for food. That's kind of basic, isn't it? Every three hours, we hear our stomach growl, and we're reminded of our need for food. Jesus addressed that need in Matthew 6, 25 and 26.

7:44 He said,

8:06 seeds. They don't grow crops. They don't reap them. They don't store them. They just eat what God provides. Now, God's not condemning work, but what he is condemning is worrying about provisions. God promises to provide our need for food, also our need for clothes. Jesus addressed that in verses 28 through 30. Why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. No, they don't toil, neither do they spin. Yet I say to you, not even Solomon in all of his glory clothed himself like one of these. And if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will not God much more do for you, O you of little faith? And then the Bible talks about our need for shelter. We need food, clothes, and shelter. Now, Jesus didn't address this directly,

9:02 Timothy 6 verses 6 to 8. He said, for godliness actually is the means of great gain when accompanied by contentment, for we have brought nothing into this world so we cannot take anything out of it. If we have food and what? Covering, shelter. With these things, we shall be content. We have physical needs. Closely related to physical needs are financial needs. I mean, how do you get the food, the clothes, the medicine, the shelter? It comes through money. And that means that money can be a great temptation to people. It's very easy to worship money because it seems to be the means by which all of our needs are provided. You know, in Matthew 6, 24, Jesus made an interesting observation. He said, you cannot serve God and what? Money.

9:58 Jesus never said you cannot serve God in sex. He never said you can't serve God in work. You cannot serve God in sports. I mean, all of those things could be idols in your life, right? They could take first place in your life. I mean, we fixate on some things more than we should. It's easy to let those things, but why didn't God mention that? because there's something unique about money that captures our attention and our affection. And here's what it is. Money seems to be able to provide what God promises. Money provides our food. Money provides our shelter. Money provides our clothing. But Jesus said, don't make the mistake. You can't worship both. In Hebrews 13, 5, the writer says, make sure your character is free from the love of money. In that 1 Timothy 6 passage, on to verses 9 and 10, Paul says, 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. Not money, but the love, the preoccupation 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.

11:20 We need physical provisions. We have a need for financial provision, but we have also a need for relational provision. God made us in such a way that we need other people. Specifically, we all need someone to love. We need someone to love. Now, for most of us, that someone to love is the mate that God has given us. It's not God's will for everybody to marry, but it's his will and plan for most people to marry. And God created marriage to fill that void. We need someone to love. In Genesis 2.18, God looked at Adam and said, it is not good for a man to be alone. Now, Adam was hardly alone. He had a relationship with God that was perfect, that was untainted by sin. Perfect fellowship with God.

12:14 But that wasn't enough. God said, it's not enough for you to just have a relationship with me. God created the animals, the hippopotami, the giraffe, cats and dogs, everything was created, but that wasn't enough. Some people try to satisfy their need for others with their pets. It's not enough. God said, I will make a helper suitable for you, and he created the woman. God says we We need someone to love. But that need for human companionship also means we need a place to belong. We just don't need one other person. We need a community. We need a community. You know, community is a big word today. But in this day of isolation, we need community. Remember that old television show that came out in 1982? NBC premiered it.

13:08 It was called Cheers. It was said in a Boston bar. And everybody remembers the theme song of it. It's catchy. Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. We need a place like that. It's not a Boston bar. God has created another place for us to get that kind of fellowship. You know, one of the most ironic things right now is that we never in history have been as connected to other people through electronics, social media, smartphones. We've never been more connected than we are right now. And we have never felt more isolated and separated from people than we do right now. Loneliness, isolation, and the anxiety it produces is at epic proportions in our country. God understands our need for other people, He created the church. The church is not just a place that we receive encouragement from God.

14:11 It's a place we receive encouragement from other people and give that encouragement to other people. That's why the writer of Hebrews 10 verses 24 and 25 says, and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. But isn't it interesting? As much as we need other people in the church, church attendance is at an all-time low. In the book, The Great Dechurching, authors Jim Davis and Michael Graham write that we are in the midst of the greatest single religious shift in American history. In the last 25 years, they say, 40 million adults have quit attending church. Don't let anybody tell you there's a revival in America. There's no revival. Maybe spots of interest, but consider this. In the last 25 years, more than 40 million adults have quit going to church. To put that number in perspective, more people than were saved in the great first awakening in American history, the second great awakening, and all of the Billy Graham crusades that have ever been conducted. 40 million people have just given up on church. You know the number one reason people quit going to church, this survey says? It's not because the pastor falls into moral corruption. It's not because of political division in the church, the main reason people quit going to church is they move.

15:56 They move. They change locations. They might have been plugged into a church. They moved to a new city. They never find a church that satisfies them, so they stay unconnected. Now, isn't that ironic? I mean, people don't move and quit going to the supermarket because they moved. They don't quit going to the gas station, but because they can't find a perfect church, they just quit going Do you think it's just a coincidence that while anxiety, isolation, loneliness are at an all-time high, church attendance is at an all-time low? God has given us a provision to meet that loneliness, that need for other people, and it's the church that Christ loved and gave himself for. We need somebody to love. We need a place to belong. We've seen what our needs are. God understands what our needs are.

16:49 the promise of God's provision. God promises to meet the needs that we have. Listen to Psalm 145 verses 14 to 16. For the Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in due time. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. I like what Warren Wiersbe says about that verse. He says, our great God is not an absentee landlord who collects rent but never repairs the roof. He knows our every need, and he is there to help those who call on him, those who fall, those who carry back-breaking burdens, those who hunger, and certainly those who want to be saved. God has promised to meet our needs. And that leads me to what I really want to drill down on for the next few minutes, and that is the principles of God's provision. We need God's provision. He's promised to meet those provisions, but how does He do it? I want you to write down these four principles that will help you experience God's divine invasions, His miraculous provision for the needs you have in your life today. First of all, the principle of ask, A-S-K. It's an acrostic that stands for ask, seek, and knock. Listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 7, verses 7 to 8, very familiar words. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And him who knocks, it will be opened. Now those words, ask, seek, and knock, are important because they are in the present imperative. You say, why do I need to know that? I could have gone my whole life without knowing that. Why do I need to know that? Because what it really says is, keep on asking.

18:58 I-N-G. Keep on asking. Keep on knocking. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. What he's talking about is, first of all, pray with persistence. If there is a need you have in your life, don't just make it a one and done prayer. Keep at it. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. 1 Thessalonians 5.17 says, pray without ceasing. Why does God say that we need to be persistent in our praying? Well, one reason is God wants to know how important this object is to us, or this answer is that we're seeking from him. Is it really important? I mean, you know this if you're a parent or grandparent. You can be walking around the mall with a child or going through Target, and they say, oh, mom, dad, grandpa, can I have this?

19:52 Ten seconds later, oh, I want this. No, I want this. I want this. You don't really take it that seriously. You'd go bankrupt if you did. But if your grandchild or child comes to you and says, I really want this more than anything in the world, and they keep coming to you asking for the same thing, you know in your heart this is something that's important to them. If it's that way with us, is it not more that way with our heavenly Father? It is a way of letting him know what is important to us.

20:24 reminds us of the importance of persistence in prayer. Remember the story Jesus told about the widow who was being persecuted by the Sadducees who were trying to foreclose on her house? And she came to this no good judge and asked him for protection from the Sadducees. And Jesus said the judge was one who did not fear God, nor did he respect other people. So the widow every day would go and make her plea to the judge, and he would say no. And then one day, he said this, I'm going to give you what you want. I'm going to give you what you want. Even though I don't fear God, and neither do I respect man, I'm going to give this to you, lest your continued haranguing of me wears me out. That's what he said. And then Jesus said, if the unrighteous judge will do this for much more will your heavenly father do for you? Now, this wasn't a parable of comparison. Jesus wasn't saying God is like that unrighteous judge. No, he's just the opposite of the judge. It's a parable of contrast. Jesus is saying if an unrighteous sinful judge will give you what you want, how much more will a heavenly father who loves you and knows what you need give you what you need. Pray with persistence. The ask principle also means pray with boldness. Ephesians 3.12 says, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. When we come before God, we're not to hem and haw or, you know, kick our feet in the dirt and say, oh God, I'm so sorry I'm coming to you, but I really need this. No, we approach His throne boldly, not in our strength, but in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases that verse.

22:18 He said, don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat and mouse hide and seek game we're in. Tell God what you need. The other night I was having dinner with my grandchildren and I asked my granddaughter in the first grade, I said, what are you learning in school right now. She said, well, I'm learning the difference between needs and wants. I said, well, that's interesting. What's the difference between needs and wants? She said, well, needs are the things you really have to have, like air and food. Wants are the things you wish you had, like toys. God promises to give you your needs, but he doesn't promise to give you all of your wants. I said, but that is fantastic You know, I'm going to preach a sermon about that this Sunday She said, Pawpaw, you always say that

23:15 You know, my granddaughter is on to something. God does promise to meet your needs, every one of them. And the wonderful truth we've begun to see today is that He invites you to come and ask, to pray with persistence, to pray with boldness, to bring Him what's really on your heart and trust Him to provide. But so often we stop short. We give up too soon or we never learn to see the quiet ways God is already providing. That's exactly why I wrote my book, Divine Invasions. This hardcover book offers hope for anyone longing for God to act. It's for those who feel forgotten, discouraged, or disappointed. It's for those who can't yet see the miracles happening all around them. It's for every believer who needs reassurance that God still invades the lives of His people.

24:20 And let me help you discover the God who still provides for His children. Look, you know that I'm never shy to ask for your support. And for good reason. I can preach these messages, but I can't get them into the world alone. That takes friends like you. Every gift you give to Pathway to Victory puts biblical hope on another station, another screen, in front of one more person searching for truth. You become part of every life this ministry touches, a true partner in the work. As we enter this critical fall season of broadcasting, me? Your generous gift today keeps God's unchanging Word going out to a world in desperate need of His intervention. Here's David with all the details.