Why are free giveaways so popular? Maybe it's because our human nature tells us that we must give in order to receive. But God's economy is different. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah illustrates how God abundantly provides for those who choose to be stewards in His kingdom.
to help us be more devoted to faithful giving. Here's David with his message: five pictures of God's provisions. And thank you so much for joining us as we continue our discussion of investing for eternity. During the next two days, we're going to discover God's cycle of sufficiency. The windows of heaven.
the bank in heaven full barns and overflowing vats, and God's incredible harvest law. All of these are Metaphoric pictures of what happens when we get involved with God financially. And the Bible teaches these things and presents them to us to encourage us to understand how much God wants to use us in His plan and how much He will care for us when we Walk by faith and not by sight. We'll get to our discussion of this in just a moment, but first I want to keep reminding you that we are going to Be visiting Alaska again this coming July, the 12th through the 19th. We'll be visiting some of the great.
ports of call in in Alaska, aboard a beautiful ship, With a wonderful group of people who love Jesus and want to study His Word together and fellowship together. We always have huge responses to our Alaska crew, so don't wait until the last minute. Last year, I had to explain to people why we didn't have any more room. The rooms were gone, and we don't want that to happen to you.
So be sure and get your information, get your registration in. The best way to do that is to go to davidjeremiah.org, find the cruise button there, and get all the information you need to join us this coming July. in the wonderful wonderful place called Alaska. Right now, let's begin our discussion of the five pictures of God's provision from the New Testament and from the series Investing for Eternity. I think that more than likely the reason that most people share with me about their difficulty with the process of stewardship is that they're just not really sure that they can trust God.
They believe what I say, they believe what the Word of God says, but it's just so hard. When it's already hard with the administration of what they have to believe that by giving God a tithe of their income, He can make it work for them at home.
So I want to talk with you today about the promises of God's provision. I know that in a lot of places people are into rewards. I mean, if you do this, this will happen. I don't know that that should be our emphasis, but I know that that's where many people's mind is, where their heart is. What will I get out of it?
Well in a very interesting and wonderful way. God has told us in His Word that when we trust Him and believe Him, He will provide for us. I know that's true in my heart. I have watched him do that in my life. I have seen him do that throughout the years that I've been in public ministry.
You can trust God. In fact, I was reminded of the kinds of percentages that God works with. I won't ask you to turn to this passage, but I want you to listen to it. It's Matthew 19, verse 29. And this is our Lord speaking, and listen to his words.
He says, And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife. Or children or lands for my name's sake. shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. That is an incredible verse. God says that when we give ourselves to Him and we become stewards of His.
He promises a 100-fold return, and on top of that, the icing on the cake. is we also have eternal life. and fellowship with Him forever and forever. Yeah. As I review the Word of God and what it says to us about this.
Very important subject. I am reminded that in almost every passage where instruction is given concerning our stewardship, there is a promise associated with it. In fact, I went back through all of the biblical literature that I could put together. And I realized that in the Bible there are some wonderful pictures of God's provision. That's a matter.
And I decided that what I would like to talk with you about are the five pictures of God's provision for us.
Now, something happens to us when we move past words and we get a picture in our mind. And I hope that one or perhaps all of these pictures will be stored in the computer of your mind as you struggle from time to time with trusting God to remember what He has promised to do.
So, I want you to join me in reading these scriptures, and we're going to start with 2 Corinthians 9 and verses 7 and 8. Let's look at it together and read it out loud.
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart. Not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you. that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Now, it's not hard to see the promise God has given to us when we give. In fact, on my Bible I have underlined these words. And I will emphasize them as I read them. Always Having All sufficiency in All things may have an abundance for every. Good work.
Always, all, all, and every. It's an inclusive promise from God. And I like to think of this as the picture of God's cycle of sufficiency. In my mind's eye is a little drawing that I used in a manuscript I wrote some years ago of a cycle. That goes around in a circle.
And it's based upon this verse, and it goes like this: look at the verse and listen to what I say. God is able to make. That's the might of it. All grace That's the measure of it. Abound That's the manner of it.
Toward you, that's the motion of it.
So that you always having all sufficiency in all things, that's the means of it. may abound to every good work. That's the ministry of it. What God does is, He takes what we give and He starts a cycle when we do it. That cycle goes like this.
We give to God. He in turn gives back to us. We invest what he gives us in ministry. It affects others. We continue to give, and the process just keeps going.
And God has said in His word, men and women, that He will always do for us what He has promised to do. We will always have an efficiency and a sufficiency, and it will be in all things, and we will have an abundance on the basis of that for every good work. I dare say to you, if God's people believed that, there would never be a need in the Church of Jesus Christ. Because we would always be doing What God has called us to do. He in turn would be providing the needs and we would continue the cycle of sufficiency.
Someone put it this way: if you lend your boat for a whole afternoon to Christ, it might be his floating pulpit. and he might send it back to you filled up with fish. If you take the upper room that you have and put it at his disposal for a single meal, he may fill the whole house up with the Holy Spirit of Pentecost. If you put in his hands the barley loaves and the fishes that you have, he will not only satisfy your hunger, but at the end of the process, after he's multiplied them, he'll give you 12 baskets full left over. God will always meet the need of his people.
if they will trust him. the picture is the cycle of sufficiency. Let's look at the second verse, Malachi 3.10. Let's read it out loud. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
That there may be food in my house, and try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts: if I will not open for you the windows of heaven. And pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. Malachi 3:10. Here's the picture. Get this picture in your mind.
The windows in heaven. God put that in the Old Testament in that graphic language so we would never forget. In our mind's eye, we see heaven. And God standing at an open window, ready to pour out through that window upon us His wonderful blessing. But it is not an unconditional promise, it is conditional.
It is based upon our giving through our little small window up toward heaven our tithes and offerings, and then watching God out of that huge, gigantic window in heaven pour out upon us. His blessing. How he loves to do that. how he does it over and over again. Are you standing under the window of God?
Are you living under God's window? I remember hearing when I first started to give that when we give to God, we give with our shovel. When He gives back to us, He gives with His shovel, but His shovel is a lot bigger than ours. God's window is a wonderful picture of His provision. I want you to understand, men and women, who are maybe teetering on the threshold of this decision.
You can trust God. When you do what He says, you place yourself under the spout of His blessing, and the window of heaven becomes the source of His provision for you. There are hundreds of stories of how God. has opened up his window. to bless those who have trusted him.
I want you to look with me at the third passage of Scripture, which is Philippians chapter 4 and verse 19, and let's read it together. And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19. This is a powerful verse that tells us. That God's promise is personal.
My God. It is positive, he shall supply. It is pointed all of your need. It is plentiful according to his riches in glory, and it's powerful because it's in Christ Jesus. But the real key in this verse is not that alliterated outline.
The real key in the verse is the little words according to. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory. And the picture is the bank in heaven. God Himself is the President and Chief Financial Officer of God's bank in heaven. And he says that when we invest in that bank, He will supply all of our needs according to his riches.
Now, let me tell you why that's so important. If I have $1,000 in my piggy bank. And you come to me and you say, Pastor Jeremiah, I have a need and I need for you to help me meet that need. And I say to you, I will be happy to do that. And I reach into the top of that piggy bank and I pull out a dollar.
and give it to you. I have given to you out of My riches. But look at the text. It does not say that he has promised to supply our need. out of his riches.
He has promised to supply our need. What is it? According to his riches.
So that means that his supply has some connection with his. Ability to supply. And what that means is that when you get involved with God through the giving that is a part of our stewardship in the kingdom's work, what God has promised is that He will not be miserly in His response to you, that He is going to supply, and the basis of His supply is His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. And you can count on it, you can trust it. He has promised to do it.
I was graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary back in 1967. Every year that I'm out of the seminary, I become more and more aware of the great privilege I had in going to such a God-honoring and A word of God honoring school. I never really took much interest in the history of Dallas Seminary until someone gave me a little bit of its history and how God had supplied its needs through the years. Shortly after Dallas Seminary was founded back in 1924, it almost folded. It came to a point of bankruptcy, believe it or not.
All the creditors were ready to foreclose at 12 noon on a particular day. That morning, the founders of the school met in the President's office to pray that God would provide. In that prayer meeting was a man by the name of Harry Ironside, a well-known Bible teacher and writer of commentaries. When it was his turn to pray, he said in his refreshingly wonderful way, Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money.
That's what he prayed in his prayer.
Well, just about that time, this is a true story: a tall Texan in boots and open-collar shirt strolled into the business office of Dallas Seminary. and said howdy I just sold two carloads of cattle over in Fort Worth. I've been trying to make a business deal go through, and it won't work. I think God wants me to give the money to the seminary. Yeah.
I don't know if you need it or not, but here's the check, and he handed it over. The Secretary took the check, knowing that the founders were in a very intense prayer meeting, knocked on the door. And timidly gave Dr. Lewis Perry Schaefer, the founder and president of the school, the check that she had been given by the cowboy.
Okay. When he looked at the amount, it was for the exact sum of their debt. And then he recognized the name on the check as that of a very well-known cattleman in their community. Turning to Dr. Ironside, he said, Harry, God sold the cattle.
Yeah. Okay. I love it. Do you think God can do that? What does it say?
My God. shall supply all your need. according to his riches in glory. By Christ Jesus. Over and over again.
Individuals and ministries and people who have come with their stories of the provision of God. have told me their version. of that particular truth. I told you about Donna and I as we headed off to seminary. At Dallas, and how the Lord provided for us.
We were so young, and green, and naive. Committed to giving to God, but not very much into financial planning at that moment in time. We were getting ready to leave Cedarville, Ohio, where we went to school, and I went down to the bank in Cedarville to close out my account. They were very glad to see me because they told me I was $80 overdrawn. I could not believe that.
I did not remember that happening, but I was in a hurry. They said I owed them 80 bucks. I found 80 bucks and got it, closed out the account, and off we went to Dallas.
Well, we were so far-sighted in going there as a young couple to study that we had enough money to last for two weeks. I mean, that seemed like a lot of money for us. We didn't know that after we got a job, it would be two weeks before we got our first paycheck.
So, about three and a half weeks into our Dallas experience. We ran out of money. We lived on 21 cent craft TV. Macaroni and cheese dinners. To this day I hate them.
I can't stand it. You could go to the store and for 21 cents you could buy a box that had a macaroni and cheese dinner in it, take it home, and that was, and we lived on that. But we were down to nothing. I was too proud to call my parents. I didn't want to do that.
We didn't know anybody in the city. On the day when we were empty. We got a letter, and this is what it said. Dear David, In our monthly audit at the Miami Deposit Bank in Cedarville, we discovered that we had deposited one of your deposits to your father's account. Here is a check for $230 reflecting what you gave us and also your deposit.
And I thought to myself, God knew. We would need that money when we needed it and he banked it for us. And sent it to him. He had to use a mistake in the part of somebody else, but he provided over and over again.
Okay. God has demonstrated to us. his care for us as he has for you. And the reason why some of you don't know that is because you've never trusted him. You've never put him out there in that position of faith where he can do.
What he's promised to do, and you're missing out on an adventure, an adventure that is incredible. You can trust the Lord. And if you're unwilling to trust Him, you will never know the excitement. of his provision. My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory.
by Christ Jesus, the heavenly bank.
Now, notice number four, Proverbs 3, 9, and 10. Let's read it out loud together. Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase.
So, your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. Here's the picture in your mind. Full barns and overflowing vats. The barns and the vats were the economy of the day of Proverbs. It reflected that God's provision was not just minimal or average, but that it was abundant.
Do you remember driving through the countryside back in the Midwest during the time of the harvesting of hay? And seeing a barn with hay that had been piled up in it, and it's sticking out of the windows and it's hanging off the edge of the loft and out of the end of the barn. And you look at it and you say, well, that barn is absolutely packed with hay. That's the picture. God doesn't want to just and give you enough to squeak by.
He wants to give you what you need in abundance, and that's what he has promised to do. the full barns and the overflowing vats. Finally, the last one is to me the most wonderful of all. Let's read the Luke 638 passage out loud together. Give, and it shall be given to you.
Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. I like to call this God's incredible harvest law. The picture is of a harvest. And of the reaping of it.
What God is saying is: if you will trust Him by sowing the seed, He will make it work for you in the harvest. And that is not a law that we have to debate, for it works in every area of life, does it not? Isn't it true that you get what you sell? You sow love, you get love, you sow hate, you get hate back in your face. We get back what we invest.
Garbage in, garbage out, they say in the computer realm. We're always complaining about life as it is, but if we go back far enough, we'll discover that in most cases we are reaping what we have sown. We are getting back an investment. that we have made whether we know it or not. And so it is that God says in His word.
If we will reap a harvest from God, We must understand the picture of God's great harvest law.
Now, let me tell you how that law works. Number one, we only reap. If We sell. Number two. We only reap What?
We saw. Number three. We always reap. More. Then we sell.
Because when you put a seed in the ground, it does not come back one for one, it comes back multiplied over the amount that was invested. We only get if we sow, we only get what we sow. We always get more than we sow, and this is a hard one for many of us. We always get after or later than we sow. You don't reap on the same day you sow.
So you have to be patient. And God's word says that we can trust Him. When we invest, that he will give back. And it won't be again. a miserly return.
It is pressed down shaken together. and then running over. Do you see it? Yeah, yeah, I see it. You know, we don't live in an agricultural environment and w we don't see things like that every day, but we can see that picture in our mind and it produces an effect when we do see that and understand what the Scripture says.
God doesn't want to just bless us. He wants to bless us in an overflowing way. And he promises to do just that. We'll have more of these pictures tomorrow here on Turning Point as we continue our discussion of investing for eternity. We are very excited to Be involved every week and every month with our magazine.
Because our magazine is written and produced, for those of you who listen and watch, it is set up so that there are five devotional readings for every week and one for each weekend. The magazine is also filled with helpful articles about faith and how to walk with them, coordinating the material in the magazine with what's being taught on the air. On the radio.
So, if you're not getting it, be sure and ask for it when you get in touch with us next time. And then we'll see you tomorrow on the next edition of Turning Point. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, Investing for Eternity, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected: our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org/slash radio.
That's davidjeremiah.org/slash radio. Or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's new book, What God Promises You: Seven Truths That Will Change the Way You Live. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and New King James Versions, available in your choice of attractive and durable cover options.
Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org/slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Investing for Eternity on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
