THE SOURCE OF PROVISION
TO SHOW THAT THE LORD IS OUR SOURCE OF PROVISION.
LUKE 16:13
INTRODUCTION:
• Money is a highly spiritual matter.
• It is mentioned 2,084 times, while faith only 215, and salvation only 218 in the entire New Testament. Of the 28 parables of Jesus, 16 are about money and finances.
• Jesus was not interested in people’s money but in their hearts.
• Why you are not prospering. You work, study, get professional qualifications, but don’t move forward. Either you have only maintained what you inherited from your parents, or just exchanged old things for new ones, but haven’t accumulated much…
I. IMPROVE THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUR INCOME
01. ELIMINATE UNNECESSARY EXPENSES (LOSSES) – John 6:12, 13
a- Why do you need more than one personal checking account? To generate fees?
b- Why have more than one landline phone at home?
c- The wasted food could feed another family.
d- Be cautious with socializing expenses paid by you.
e- Give gifts only to close family and friends.
f- Avoid long-term installment payments. A property financed for 25 years, with a value of…
02. SAVE, BECAUSE WHEN YOU SAVE, GOD ADDS MORE – Luke 19:24-26
a- Have a piggy bank for coins (like the Americans/church in Água Boa/birthday parties for the boys…).
b- Bargain (we have 3 supermarkets on the way to the church building, we compare prices!). When buying 50 items, two of each, with an average difference of $0.25, you save $25.00 with each purchase, totaling $300.00 per year.
c- Ask for discounts (my example when buying the crib was $700.00, but I ended up paying $460.00, saving $240.00).
d- Ask for the change of cents (in each purchase, large or small, we lose two to three cents, which amounts to $0.06 per day, $1.80 per month, and $21.60 per year).
e- Take advantage of opportunities to buy directly from the factory (my sister who works in the photo laboratory gives me a 40% discount. I buy medicines at cost price).
f- Define what is necessary, what Craig Hill calls the “closed circle.”
• Use a notebook for daily expense records;
• Illustrate with the obesity program (using a red plate and only eating at the table).
g- Have a tight budget, set a quota for each expense; when the quota is used up, there’s no more, or reallocate from a surplus expense.
HAVE PLANNING – Luke 14:28-33
a- Have an agenda and mark all your commitments.
b- Don’t go to the supermarket without a shopping list.
c- Opt for automatic debit and internet services. d- Check the expiration date of products before buying. e- Keep track of post-dated checks.
f- Be cautious with your overdraft limit and credit card; these are only for emergencies, not for everyday use. The interest rates can go up to 10% per month.
g- Don’t lend your checks.
h- Don’t be a guarantor or cosigner (example: Professor Beatriz and Evilson from Caldas Novas).
II. FAITHFULNESS – THE BIG TEST
01. Be faithful with what belongs to others – Luke 16:12.
Be faithful with little, as it’s your great test – Matthew 25:21, 23.
Be faithful in giving offerings – Luke 6:38 / 2 Corinthians 9:6-10.
Be faithful in tithing – Malachi 3:10.
III. MONEY IS YOUR SERVANT, NOT YOUR MASTER
• Mamon, in Greek, means riches – Luke 16:13.
• If mamon meant only money itself, then we couldn’t serve God and have money, bank accounts, etc.
• Jesus did not forbid us from having money.
• During the conquest of Canaan, the Canaanites had their own gods.
• The Philistines, who were one of the Canaanite tribes, also existed during Jesus’ time.
• The Moabites worshiped Moloch, others worshiped Dagon, Baal, Astarte, Diana, Jupiter, etc.
• The Philistines worshiped Mamon, the god of prosperity.
Behind each of these gods and their similarities, there is a demon acting with/through legality.
These evil spirits work to divert people’s loyalty from the Eternal God.
If Mamon came as he should be (a demon) demanding worship, he would never deceive us. The devil is subtle.
He works through deception and lies; let’s see examples:
a- IN THE WORLD
Prostitution.
Young girls and boys marrying 70 or 80-year-olds, is it for love?
Murders, kidnappings, robberies, massacres, etc.
Why do people always do things they don’t want to do in their jobs?
b- IN THE CHURCH
If God tells you to go to Italy as a missionary, you immediately ask: How? With what money?
The Lord says: Leave your job, leave everything, and serve me full-time! And who will support me financially?
There’s an all-night prayer vigil from Saturday to Sunday, ah! I’ll lose my weekend.
You leave at 5:00 am on a rainy Saturday for work, but if it was for a prayer meeting at the church building, would you go?
Money itself is not evil, but the love of it, because that’s where the heart is involved – 1 Timothy 6:10.
Jesus said that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also – Matthew 6:21.
The New Testament church understood this:
a- Acts 4:34, 35, and 37 – they laid their offerings at the apostles’ feet.
b- Acts 5:1, 2, 3 – Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit.
The great proof that Mamon is not our lord, nor the lord of the church, is liberality, voluntariness, generosity, and joy in giving.
a- 2 Corinthians 8:1-10.
b- 2 Corinthians 9:7-14.
Human sources (work, profession, business, etc.) dry up, but God doesn’t. All these are merely channels, but God is the source, and the source never runs dry! Hallelujah!
The faith of the sparrow.
• They don’t sow.
- They don’t reap.
- They don’t gather into barns.
• Yet the Heavenly Father sustains them.
• You are worth more than the birds.
CONCLUSION:
Challenge the brothers and sisters to give what represents their possessions.
Declare that Mamon is surrendered, defeated, liquidated.
No attachment in the heart to riches.
A heart free for the Lord.
