God’s Provision: Trusting the Giver

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Opening Prayer

Opening Song

Come People of the Risen King

Kids Time

Oliver, Charlotte, and Elliot.

Hey kids!

Have you wanted something new just because it is new? Like even when you have something, maybe it’s gotten a bit old or worn, and so you wanted a new one?

Series Intro:

Faith Over Finances

This isn’t a Dave Ramsey course or a budgeting seminar—it’s about the heart. It’s about how we respond to the finances God’s entrusted to us, and what our attitude toward money says about our faith in Him.

Have you ever feared, or experienced, not having enough money to pay your rent, or car payment, or had to go without food?

Do you feel as though you want to be more generous with what God has given you, but are afraid you can’t because you’re barely getting by as it is?

Are you weighed down with debt and feel as though there is no way out?

If your broke down today, and it costs $500 to repair, could you do it? What if your home HVAC went out and it’s $15,000 to replace it?

How do we respond to what God has given us?

Where’s your heart when it comes to money? What is God’s heart for us in His provision for us?

Today, we’re beginning with the idea and understanding of God’s provision and looking at trusting the Giver.

Sermon

God’s Provision: Trusting the Giver

I can’t think of anyone who trusted the Giver more than Abram.

Abram

Abram was called out from God to simply leave his home and all that he knew to go on a journey to only here God knew.

Leave his kin folks.

Leave his father’s home.

Just go.

Abram didn’t have a budget plan or a map—just a promise. ‘Go,’ God said, ‘and I will bless you.’ Abram believed, and his belief moved him to action. That’s trust. He didn’t just say he trusted God; he lived it.

Could you trust God like this? Do you trust God like this?

For me, I’d be filled with lots of anxious feelings, and I’d want to know how things are going to work out.

Anxiety

Matthew 6:31–33 “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Jesus reminds us that anxiety over money is really a trust issue. When we fixate on what we lack, we lose sight of the Giver. But when we seek His kingdom first, He promises that everything else will follow in its proper place.

So, when the bank account’s low, where’s your focus - on the need, or the Giver?

God’s promise is that He knows our needs, and He cares for us enough to take care of us.

When you look at how you’ve faced financial hardship or needs in that past, ask yourself, “Do I live like God is my source, or like I’m my own provider?”

I often warn against riches and the pursuit of them because for many, we want the riches so we can live “comfortably,” when the real truth behind that desire is, “I want to know I’m good and don’t have rely on God.”

The Promise of Provision – God Supplies What We Need

God wants us to have faith and trust in Him, not in ourselves.

Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Needs vs Wants

Rustlers vs Levi’s

Where was my concern? What was provided?

I haven’t always had what I wanted, but I’ve always had what I needed.

Exodus 16 - God had freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, done many wonders for them, divided the sea for them to safely pass through, and now it’d been two months of travel and the food was running out. Fear and anxiety was setting in and the people started to complain to Moses. They even thought they had it better off in slavery than they now had in freedom.

So God, rained down on them manna, bread from heaven, and told them to only collect on 6 days of the week and to take enough on the sixth day to have enough for the 7th day.

The text tells us that whoever gathered much had none left over, and he that gathered little had no lack.

And they were warned not leave any over for the next day.

What’d some of them do? They kept some over.

Why?

They didn’t trust God for tomorrow, even after He’d just delivered them yesterday. Sound familiar? We’ve seen God come through before, but when the next hardship hits, we start wondering if He still will.

Maybe we’ve even been like them in thinking, “How much easier I had it when I lived for the world and for myself than I do now that I’m trying to live faithfully. I had all the things I could wish for, or was able to do this or that,” or we get jealous because we see our sinful friends living it up while we are feeling left behind trying to live faithfully.

God’s provision may not always be plenty, or always be just what we desired. But it is often enough, and it is often what we truly need.

Sometimes He may make us wait a little longer than we are comfortable with, or let us struggle a little longer. Maybe this is because He isn’t only about giving just for our survival but for trust formation.

Maybe He knows how we are. Like me, many of you may think, “I’ll work it out, I’ll take care of the problem,” when all the while the Lord is sitting back and asking us to trust Him to supply the need. Instead, we’re thinking, “I don’t want to bother God with my problems.”

We want to work harder, when in truth Jesus says, “come to me you weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

It’s an offer to rest in our trusting of the Savior.

The Peace of Contentment – Resting in the Giver

Before Paul’s words in Philippians 4:19, he says that he had learned how to be content, saying he’d learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

What does he say the secret is? He says…

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

We often think of this statement as a statement of endurance. Like he can endure hardship because the Lord makes him strong enough to. But I think it is a statement of faith.

Paul said he had learned the secret of being content—whether in plenty or in want. That secret wasn’t strength; it was trust. He could do all things through Christ because his heart was anchored in God’s provision.

You see, true contentment isn’t found in having more, it’s found in trusting more.

Trusting that the Lord will give us exactly what we need when we need it.

It may not always be what you wanted, but I promise it will be what you need because God’s giving is infinitely greater than that of any human giving. God’s promise is to supply all that He sees we need.

When our hearts are anchored in God’s provision, we find contentment, we find peace.

Closing

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

The next time you’re feeling anxious about your finances or needs, Seek the Kingdom. Watch the Great Provider add to you what you need.

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Philippians 4:19–20

Application

When you face financial difficulties, where’s your focus—on the need or the Giver?

Don’t pray for more money; pray for more trust.

Let God reorder your heart before He increases your hands.

Download this week's Personal Study Guide:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J6-VcFiujk4RLdAtvl-U8sj5yF_Hm8h0FsWD5Ogad0o/edit?usp=sharing

Create your free account, and start browsing more than 20,000 inspiring videos.https://app.rightnowmedia.org/join/innovateccc or text the code: INNOVATE to 49775