-Transcript-
00:35 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the program.
00:39 Welcome to the cafe. Great to have you here today. I’m so excited to be here as we dive into God’s Word.
00:46 Pastor Clark Covington, I’m just, man, I’m thrilled here today because we’re getting in God’s Word and honestly I’ve been itching to get back into preaching His Word after a weekend, well of course preached on Sunday a couple times but yesterday and Tuesday had not. Here we are today. I’m so excited to be here because today, hey, we’re talking about something everybody loves to talk about and that’s wealth.
01:13 Deuteronomy 8:18 but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is He that giveth thee the power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant which He swear unto thy fathers as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8:18 but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant which He swear unto thy fathers as it is this day. And so we have a lot of modern application to this verse but of course I never want to take a verse out of context so let’s look at this.
01:48 Deuteronomy, where is that in the Bible? That’s towards the beginning. Amen. It’s part of the books that Moses wrote and Moses in Deuteronomy 5 is giving the God through Moses is giving the Ten Commandments.
02:00 Amen. And then in Deuteronomy 6 we have many more important commandments like the Lord is one God loving the Lord with all your heart soul and might and how about teaching your children all these commandments as they wake up and as they go about their day and at night.
02:20 All of these are commandments we are to live by you know and the best Bible believing Christian preaching I’ve ever been under are people that live this stuff you know they’re not saying well I’m saved and I’m good so I don’t need to focus on this they’re they’re living this they’re not you know they’re understanding that that God doesn’t change the Bible says there’s no variableness or turning with God there’s a shadow of turning He doesn’t change
02:45 He’s the same God then that he is now and if it’s important to him then then it’s important to him now again we are not the Israelites we’re not under the law we can’t keep the law
02:57 even if we were I’m not trying to put anyone under the law but I am trying to teach a very important principle that God commanded the Israelites to live like this for their benefit remember our text verse remember God it’s him that gives the power to get wealth
03:13 and where was he sending the Israelites in Deuteronomy as Moses was about to come off the scene and Joshua was gonna take over where is he gonna send him he’s gonna send him into Canaan land the promised land the land of milk and honey and the Lord is is warning them say look you know when you get there don’t forget about me you know think about this again
03:34 I mentioned this in the last episode what do we do often when we’re in comfort and ease we forget about God and guess what when you forget about God or you’re not focused on God you don’t fear him
03:43 and when you don’t fear him you don’t serve him and so God’s telling reiterating this through Deuteronomy like chapter 6 and 7 and 8 saying fear him serve him keep his commands he’s telling the Israelites you need to cast out all the enemies all of these people get them out Amen
04:00 don’t keep a one of them in there don’t be unequally yoked don’t have you being the light don’t have fellowship with darkness this was taught for their preservation and so one lesson we learned from Deuteronomy 8:18 is we need to remember God for our own good
04:18 and I think I could preach on this for a whole year and not run out of preaching on this because the Lord has laid it on my heart for a long long time many years ago I was living in South Carolina a politician got in big trouble he got on TV and he said you know the Bible is really there to help us to protect us
04:35 and he’s crying and yada yada yada and I won’t get into all the details he had done something very bad he had violated one of the commandments but what he spoke was very true and he spoke it in a way that I thought was very sincere it’s like you know the Bible’s here to protect you duh like this is here for your you’re good Amen
04:55 you know people think they’re doing God a wild favor if they read a page in the Bible and God’s saying how much more do I want to give you if you would just keep reading how much more do I want to give you if you would study this like your textbook at school or your work guide at work or your river rafting guide on the weekend whatever it is if you would just study this like you care if you in fact care enough to understand who I am
05:23 then you would realize I’m the provider of wealth I do it all the time at church or we have our little Bible study at home for our kids which we call Proverbs and I’ll hold up the Bible all the time
05:34 and I’ll say look if you look at this Bible as just a book that you don’t want to deal with that’s that’s gonna hurt you and if you realize that it is purer than gold that is treasure unspeakable that it is the greatest book ever to be written is that’s even just that’s not even giving enough credit that it is the actual Word of God Amen
05:57 I’m talking about the King James Bible no you know no no translation is perfect I understand that translators and so forth but I’ve seen more fruit from the King James than any of these other ones amen and I’m just saying that that the King James
06:14 were away we’re KJV cafe so I guess you know where I stand on it but there’s fruit from this word and the kids can understand it I’ve seen them understand it and as they realize it who’s blessed I mean think about it God’s perfect we are blessed now he desires for us to praise Him
06:33 the Bible says he inhabits our praise so it is good to get close to him for him I guess it could make Him happy like a father sees his son doing good you’re proud but the end of the day I mean God doesn’t need us we need Him and He’s given us His word
06:49 and how many people won’t ever dive in it he’s saying look there’s all of this in here I have the power to give you wealth amen but that is one of the great poetic truths of the Bible is that you won’t be motivated in that regard you have to have an earnest God-fearing desire to understand him
07:10 and who He is and then a byproduct of that is the great wealth you receive from God and that and you said oh here’s a prosperity preacher I’m talking about wealth isn’t peace I’m not about a peace the world doesn’t even know Amen I’m talking about peace and joy
07:23 and satisfaction that has nothing to do with the material riches that will rot and fade away the richest person on this earth what are they gonna do when they die they can’t take any of it with them oh they’re gonna leave it for their kids to mess their kids up so that kids can fight over it and have all kinds of problems Amen
07:40 I met a man once that really didn’t make much at all and he was so joyful in God and he didn’t have much of an income or anything like that but he was so joyful in God and reminded me that God Amen is sovereign
07:54 and He provides wealth and his wealth can go way beyond what we could even imagine and I could go on a tangent on there to chase a rabbit but I won’t for time’s sake so we’re taught this for our preservation the Lord had a plan for the Israelites they’re about to go into the promised land he wants to keep them there
08:13 he’s gonna give them victory over seven different people groups that occupy the land and they were the minority remember this is Deuteronomy 7 and he’s telling them don’t be afraid remember what I did in Egypt I’ll do it again Amen
08:23 don’t be discouraged because again you can remember who I am and we can do that here today we can remember what God’s done yesterday and we can see that today he will be here and that tomorrow he’ll be here we can go to the word and know that He’ll never forsake us Amen
08:37 if we’ve been saved we’ve been bought by the blood of Christ we will never leave his sight we will never leave his sight and I know the God sees everything’s omnipresent but the Bible specifically tells me that God hears the prayers of the righteous
08:53 that God’s eyes are on the righteous if the Israelites would just keep his commandments and believe and fear in him God would bless there’d be no sickness no barrenness no hunger no enemies to conquer or take them away doesn’t that sound good and Deuteronomy 8 goes into how they’ve been hungry and humbled in the wilderness they’ve proved by what God had done over those 40 years they’ve been proved by God I should say
09:18 and they’re they’re ready now and what’s gonna happen you know God speaks of disciplining them as a father that loves his children you know I am difficult and hard on all the kids because I love them
09:34 and I fear for them and if I’m not hard on them they’ll get hurt you know if you have a little child and you don’t make them understand that if they were visiting a friend’s house
09:46 and there was a pool there and that deep end it’s something they don’t want to fall in there they could drown amen it’s my job to scare them enough to understand that that is dangerous for them for them
09:56 and where God was taking the Israelites is to a good land full the best things figs olives pomegranates honey no scarcity and yet where God wants to take us is even better amen and we’re the Israelites are dealing with these earthly things and we’re dealing with heavenly things right God’s thing
10:16 I’m gonna give you the give the Israelites this promised land on earth and God is telling us that we believe on Jesus Christ we have heavenly place we have a heavenly place we are saved Amen we are saved by the blood of Christ and we have we will spend an eternity with Him
10:33 it’s God that tests it’s God that rewards or punishes and it’s God that you must stay near to experience his greatest blessings in life and this all goes back to our text verse understand that we have to keep Him in memory we have to be close to God we have to fear Him
10:48 and realize he has the power Amen he has the power you know you’re at work and you may not love your boss but if your boss is the one signing that check Amen if your boss is the one that has the power to hire or fire you you show that boss respect you try to abide by the boss’s rules on and on
11:06 it’s just common sense as it’s like preservation you know it’s the same idea God our Father is over all things and sovereign over all things so why would we be like disobedient children and turn from him especially since he wants to give us something so good
11:25 but God will test us to build character in low times when was the Israelites test in this context it was in the wilderness what happened there many turned away from God did they not what did they do they’re being fed from heaven and they complained they didn’t have a type of food they wanted right and God was furious because he just delivered them from bondage and they wanted to go back to that bondage
11:52 and here we have Christians saved by the blood of Christ delivered from sin and then you go back and live in sin I mean how must that grieve the father he wants so much more for you but you decide to go back that wouldn’t be good and that’s not a good witness for him
12:08 what’s happening in our lives today that God could be testing us through maybe we’re going through a difficult time maybe we’re being tested in something that we thought was God’s will oftentimes that’s where he’ll test us Amen and what we need to do is hold fast
12:25 and pray and seek God what is the godly response to testing what did the desire of the Israelites in the wilderness to repent repent earnestly seek understanding of how you sinned against God
12:39 and then turn from that sin if they had done that instead of asking for food and you know you read the passage about quail and some people will sing songs but God giving them quail read that passage he wipes out many of these ungrateful Israelites he literally stuffs them till it’s coming out of their nostrils because he’s so disgusted with their ungratefulness
12:59 and with their lack of trust in Him when we are tested we need to realize that God is trying to teach us something we need to seek understanding the idea of repentance isn’t saying God I’m sorry than going and doing it again I’m sorry
13:15 because I’m now inconvenienced the idea of repentance is I identify with that sin I asked God to help point it out in my life I repent of it and then I don’t go back to it I share God’s opinion on it that it is awful in a reproach
13:27 and I want nothing to do with it that’s repentance and maybe we’re just being tested we haven’t done anything wrong you know Job hadn’t done anything wrong and he was tested Amen
13:35 but we need to hold fast to God and have faith and fear God and I wish for time’s sake I could go on but I can’t and so I want you to think here today who is the true provider of wealth
13:47 and what does he desire of you today do that turn to him get into his word I understand he has a great plan for you and he will bless you as you seek him because he has the power to do so he has all power Amen
14:05 and that will truly change your life if you listen to these words I thank you for listening tune in next time as we get deeper into this message
14:13 take care God bless and Amen