MY GOD DOES PROVIDE
STORY LEAD - IN
Old man trapped on roof top during flood conditions:
A helicopter flies over and a crew member drops a ladder and yells - " grab the ladder"
The old man refuses and proclaims : " My God will rescue me. God will provide."
The old man is not wrong. The Bible tells that GOD does Provide.
a. the word provide appears 102 times in the Bible
b. ( get dictionary definition of provide )
In the following passages GOD says He will PROVIDE:
Deuteronomy 11:15
I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied
2 Samuel 7:9-11
And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the
.1 Chronicles 17:9
And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the
1 Chronicles 29:16
O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.
( This passage acknowledges everything comes from GOD! )
Meanwhile back on the roof top: The flood waters have risen and a rescue team in a row boat paddles up to the roof line and yells at the old man " hop in. We`ll take you to safety."
The old man replies, " ...my God will rescue me. God will provide. "
The old man is still not wrong.
Job 10: 12
You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit
Job 36:31
This is the way he governs the nations and provides food in abundance. ( Do you get the hint that GOD is in absolute control yet?!!!)
Job 38:41 -42
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
Psalm 65:8-10
You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.
Meanwhile back on the roof top: A power boat cruises up to the roof top. A police officer yells at the old man, " Get in or else you’re going to drown."
The old man replies, " ...my God will rescue me. God will provide. "
The old man is still not wrong.
God does PROVIDE
Genesis 22
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of `his son.
14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."
15The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time
16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
v14.hi-lighted area JEHOVAH-JIREH compound name of GOD that means " God the provider " or "my God will provide" in the original Hebrew text.
What God provided here in this chapter :
Background:
Abraham and Sarah were promised a son. Sarah didn`t conceive until she was in her 90`s and Abraham 100. God promised that Abraham would be a great nation and all of his offspring would be numbered as the stars ( find references )
V 2. GOD is commanding Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son promised by GOD...making him a living sacrifice and a burnt offering to the Lord God! When God commanded, Abraham didn`t even hesitate
V 3 Abraham saddled up his donkey with two servants, Isaac and a load of wood and set out on the journey! On a more personal note, I wonder if Abraham had a difficult night thinking about GOD`s command and trying to sleep at the same time?
V 4 Says that the journey took three days. I wonder what were Abraham`s thoughts during this time?
V 5 Why did Abraham order the servants to " stay here " while he and Isaac go worship! Did Abraham believe that they would interfere or were they not of the nation of Israel?
V 6 Abraham made Isaac carry the wood for the burnt offering.
V 8 Abraham says, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."
V9 & 10 Abraham built an altar, bound Isaac and laid him on the altar. Then the scripture says that he actually reached the knife out to slay his son which means that the knife was already on the down stroke.
V 11 & 12 An Angel of the LORD ( GOD Himself) stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac because Abraham did not hold anything back.
V 13 Because Abraham followed the word of GOD a substitutional sacrifice was provided by GOD himself
Significance of the Substitutional Sacrifice
GOD had commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and since Abraham didn`t hold back God provided a ram that was acceptable for sacrifice in Isaac`s place ( does this sound familiar yet?) Sacrifices have to be without spot or blemish the best of the flock so-to-speak! GOD was entitled to a sacrifice and provided it for himself !
QUESTION: WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME / US?
A Closer Look at a Perfect Sacrifice
Isaiah 53
1 W ho has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied ; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Genesis Chapter 3 As the result of the sins of Adam mankind is doomed to eternal damnation and separation from God. We were originally created by God to fellowship with God. God walked in the cool of the day with Adam in the garden. Then sin came into the picture.
Isaiah 53:6 puts it this way We ( that`s you and me by the way ) like sheep have gone astray ( we`ve chosen our own path God`s way isn`t good enough any more.
Proverbs 16:25 Proverbs 16 Proverbs 16:24-26 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Ephesians 2
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
This really paints a bleak picture for mankind we`ve all earned the right to die in our transgressions and sins if we want to and are hell bound. Every single one of us.
Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;
Isaiah 64:5-7 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Back to Isaiah 53
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The LORD JESUS CHRIST BECAME THE SUBSTITUTIONAL SACRIFICE FOR US ALL
Romans 3
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--
Ephesians 5
2 ... and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God
Meanwhile ... Back on the roof top
The old man is still on the roof top and the flood waters are getting higher. A dog that looks like Lassie swims by with a life jacket. the old man just says, " my GOD will rescue me . He will provide." Just then the levy breaks and a wall of water sweeps across the old man`s roof and knocks him off his perch, and he drowns. Now since the man had previously received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord , after arriving in heaven he asks the Lord, " Why didn`t you rescue me? I had such great faith!"
The Lord replied," I sent you a helicopter, A row boat, a power boat and last but not least Lassie. Why didn`t you allow them to rescue you?"
Invitation:
Tonight the Lord is extending to you through this mission a life line that is connected to Jesus Christ Himself. No one can make you grab hold of the life line.This is a decision you have to make for yourself. Receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord.
