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Hello, my name is Gavin Rayla, and I'd like to welcome you to the first episode of my podcast, Bread and Rivers.
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Bread and Rivers is a Bible study podcast dedicated to digging deeper into the topics, principles, and truths found throughout Scripture.
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Each episode takes a closer look at God's Word, exploring biblical passages and context, and seeking a clearer understanding of how they apply to our faith in everyday lives.
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So I'd like to start off by sharing a few verses that kind of led me to choose this name, bread and rivers.
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So obviously, John 6 and 35, and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
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He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
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And Matthew 4 and 4 says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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So John tells us that Jesus is the bread of life.
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Matthew tells us that we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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And so I kind of want to use this podcast as an outlet to dig deeper into God's word, different topics, and that's the bread.
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And so John 7 and 38, he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
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Bread and rivers.
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So let's kick this thing off.
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Today, I want to talk about a topic called provision.
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And so what that looks like is provision will not always look like what we think it looks like, but it will always look like what God's word says it will look like.
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So I want to start with a verse that most of us have heard quoted many times.
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Philippians 4 19 says, But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
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So a lot of times when we hear that verse preached or quoted, the emphasis gets put put gets put on the phrase, according to his riches and glory.
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And certainly God is rich.
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God lacks nothing, and his resources are unlimited.
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But I think sometimes we miss the word that really defines the promise.
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And that word is need.
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My God shall supply all your needs.
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It doesn't say that God will supply everything that I want, all of our wants.
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It does not say that he will maintain every standard of living that I have become accustomed to.
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And it does not say that following Christ guarantees financial abundance, a bigger house, a newer vehicle, or a life without discomfort.
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It says that he will supply our need.
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And I think one of the difficulties we have, especially living where we live today, is that sometimes our definition of need has become very different from the biblical definition of need.
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And I can't help but think about something Jesus said in Luke chapter 7.
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Jesus was speaking about John the Baptist, and he asked the people what they had gone into the wilderness to see.
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Luke 7 and 25, but what went ye out for to see?
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A man clothed in soft raiment?
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Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled and live delicately are in king's courts.
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So he wasn't necessarily saying this in a negative connotation, but Jesus was contrasting John the Baptist who wore camel's hair with the kind of people who lived in royal courts.
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John wasn't living delicately, John wasn't dressed in soft clothing.
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Matthew tells us that John wore camel's hair and a leather girdle.
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He lived in the wilderness.
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His food was locusts and wild honey.
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And yet there were people living at the exact same time who lived in conditions that would have been considered luxurious.
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And so this is where I want to wanna dig in and focus on.
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Think about what somebody associated with a royal court like Herod's might have had access to 2,000 years ago.
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They could have lived in large stone residences or palace complexes.
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They could have had decorated rooms, courtyards, plastered walls and mosaics.
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Some Herodian palaces had sophisticated water systems, cisterns, pools, and Roman style bathing facilities.
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They had better sanitation.
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They had greater access to meat, wine, olive oil, fruits, spices, and elaborate meals.
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They wore finer clothing.
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They had better furniture and bedding, and they could have servants doing the cooking, cleaning, carrying water, and maintaining the property.
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They had entertainment, banquets, musicians, gardens, and pools, and they had something that was incredibly valuable in that world, and that's security.
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Fortified residences, guards, stored food, stored wealth, protection from many of the economic uncertainties that ordinary people lived with every day.
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Now, let's think about that list again.
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Let's run it back.
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Running water, indoor bathing, sanitation, a wide variety of food.
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I have a wide variety of food in my pantry right now, and I am guilty of looking at a pantry slap full of 400 pounds of food and complaining that we have nothing to eat in the house.
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Lord forgive me.
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Comfortable clothing, beds, furniture, entertainment, security.
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Many things that only kings and the extremely wealthy possessed in the first century are considered normal amenities today.
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Some of them are things that even lower income households in America have access to.
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That would be missing the point.
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So the question isn't simply, what do I own?
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The deeper question is, what owns me?
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Where is my security?
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Where is my comfort?
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Where is my heart?
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Where is my attention?
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Jesus encountered a young man in Matthew chapter 19 who had great possessions.
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And the man asked him what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.
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Jesus reminded him, his response was, he reminded him of the commandments.
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Jesus listed off a handful of the Ten Commandments.
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But then the conversation went deeper.
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Jesus said to this young man, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.
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That's Matthew 19 and 21.
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And the Bible tells us that the young man went away sorrowful because he had great possessions.
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Now notice something the problem wasn't simply that he possessed wealth.
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The problem was revealed when Jesus asked him to let it go.
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As long as he could keep his possessions and follow Jesus, he was interested.
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But when following Jesus required the possessions to lose their place in his life, the condition of his heart became visible.
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He had possessions.
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But in another sense, his possessions had him.
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Where your treasure is, there your heart is, scripture says.
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And that raises a difficult question for us.
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What if God asked us to give up some of our amenities?
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Now, again, I'm not saying that he necessarily will.
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I'm not saying that those amenities are sinful.
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I'm not teaching against houses, vehicles, televisions, air conditioning, or comfortable furniture.
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I'm asking something much more personal.
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Could we live without them and still believe that God was providing for us?
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I'm gonna ask that one again.
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Could we live without those things and still believe that God was providing for us?
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And this is where the question of provision gets uncomfortable.
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Because it is easy to say, God is my provider.
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God is my provider when provision looks exactly like the life I already want.
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But what happens when God's provision looks different from my expectations?
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What happens when there is enough food, but not the food I wanted?
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What happens when there is transportation, but not the vehicle I wanted?
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What happens when there is shelter but not the house I pictured?
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What happens when my needs are met, but my lifestyle has to change?
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Would I still say, My God shall supply all my needs?
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Or have I quietly changed this verse in my mind to my God shall supply the lifestyle I have become accustomed to?
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That is something worth examining.
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Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, verse 21, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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Notice the order.
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He didn't say where your heart is, your treasure will eventually follow.
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He said, Where your treasure is, your heart will be there also.
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What we value has a way of pulling our heart toward it.
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What we constantly protect, what we constantly pursue, what we constantly think about, what is taking residence in our mind, what we cannot imagine living without, those things tell us something about where our treasure may be.
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And treasure does not have to mean money sitting in a bank account.
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A person can have very little money and still have the heart of a rich man.
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There it is.
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Because it all boils down to a hard issue, because the danger Jesus warned about was deeper than a dollar amount.
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After the rich young ruler walked away, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
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And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
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Why?
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Because wealth can create an illusion of independence.
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Money can solve a lot of problems.
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Genuinely.
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Possessions can provide comfort.
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Insurance provides security.
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Savings provide security.
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A house provides security.
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A vehicle gives us independence.
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Technology gives us convenience.
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And none of those things are inherently wrong.
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That they can slowly begin doing something in our hearts that only God was supposed to do.
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And this brings me to one of the questions I have been thinking about.
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Is Jesus truly my comforter, or do I simply live a comfortable life?
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Those are not necessarily the same thing.
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We call him our peace.
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But what happens when everything around us becomes uncertain?
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We call him our provider.
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But what happens when provision becomes basic?
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We call him our security, but what happens when the things that normally make us feel secure disappear?
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Sometimes you don't know where your trust is until the thing you trusted begins to move.
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And you don't know how attached you are to comfort until comfort is threatened.
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You don't know how attached you are to possessions until you are asked to release them.
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And you don't always know how much faith you have placed in money until money stops solving that problem.
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And it is inevitable that each and every one of us are going to run into a problem that money cannot solve.
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And that is why I think we have to be careful about confusing biblical provision with modern modern prosperity.
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God absolutely provides and God absolutely blesses.
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Of course he does.
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God absolutely takes care of his people, but scripture never promises that his people will always live delicately.
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John the Baptist didn't, the apostles didn't, and Paul certainly did not.
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Paul is the same man who wrote Philippians 4 and 19.
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And earlier in the very same chapter, Paul said, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
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Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
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That's Philippians 4 12.
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Think about that.
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The man who wrote, My God shall supply all your needs, also said, I know how to be hungry.
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So Philippians 4 19 cannot mean a Christian will never experience lack.
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Paul himself experienced lack.
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The promise is not that we will never experience uncomfortable circumstances.
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The promise is that God will remain faithful through them.
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And that is the testimony of my life is that he has remained faithful through them.
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And Paul had learned something that I think all of us need to learn.
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He could abound without becoming dependent on abundance.
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And he could be abased without believing God had abandoned him.
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And man, that just thinks makes me think about something my pastor says all the time.
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He says, I'm gonna trust him when I can't trace him.
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Sorry, that was a that was a sidebar.
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So so that is maturity.
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When you have plenty, God is enough.
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When you have little, God is still enough.
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When the refrigerator is full, God is good.
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When money gets tight, God is still good.
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When life is comfortable, God is faithful.
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When life becomes uncomfortable, God has not changed.
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Provision will not always look like what we think it looks like, but it will always look like what God's word says it will look like.
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Maybe sometimes the greatest blessing God can give us is not another possession.
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Maybe it is freedom from needing possessions to feel blessed.
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Maybe prosperity is not always God putting more things in our hands.
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Sometimes it might be God removing the power those things have over our hearts.
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Because ultimately, Jesus told the rich young ruler, Come and follow me.
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That was the real treasure being offered to him.
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Jesus was standing in front of him.
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He was being offered the opportunity to follow Christ, but he could not see the value of what was in front of him because of the value he had placed on what was behind him.
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And I think that is the question I want to leave with all of us.
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Not do you own nice things?
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Not do you have money?
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Not do you enjoy comforts?
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Question is, if every comfort disappeared tomorrow, would Jesus still be enough?
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If God supplied your needs, but not all of your wants, would you still call Him your provider?
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If Christianity cost you comfort instead of bringing you comfort, would you still follow Christ?
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If obedience required releasing something you treasure, could you release it?
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And maybe most importantly, what has your attention?
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Because whatever continually has your attention has access to your heart.
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And Jesus said, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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There is nothing wrong with enjoying the blessings God allows us to have.
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But we should never become so attached to the blessing that we cannot follow the one who gave it.
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Our confidence cannot ultimately be in our bank account.
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Our confidence cannot be in our house.
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Our confidence cannot be in our career.
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Our confidence cannot be in our possessions.
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Our confidence cannot even be in the standard of standard of living we have become accustomed to.
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Our confidence has to be in Christ because houses can disappear, money can disappear, jobs can disappear, comfort can disappear.
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But Jesus Christ remains.
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And if Christ is truly our treasure, then even when everything else changes, the most valuable thing we possess has never moved.
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Provision may not always look like what we pictured, but God will remain faithful.
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And maybe learning the difference between having everything we want and having everything we need is one of the greatest lessons of faith we can ever learn.
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I hope that this podcast has blessed you today.
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And if you listen this far, I truly appreciate it, and I hope it helped you.
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Until next time.
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Hello, my name is Gavin Rayla, and I'd like to welcome you to the first episode of my podcast, Bread and Rivers.
00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:41.840
Bread and Rivers is a Bible study podcast dedicated to digging deeper into the topics, principles, and truths found throughout Scripture.
00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:53.439
Each episode takes a closer look at God's Word, exploring biblical passages and context, and seeking a clearer understanding of how they apply to our faith in everyday lives.
00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:02.399
So I'd like to start off by sharing a few verses that kind of led me to choose this name, bread and rivers.
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So obviously, John 6 and 35, and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
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He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
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And Matthew 4 and 4 says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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So John tells us that Jesus is the bread of life.
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Matthew tells us that we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
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And so I kind of want to use this podcast as an outlet to dig deeper into God's word, different topics, and that's the bread.
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And so John 7 and 38, he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
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Bread and rivers.
00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:02.079
So let's kick this thing off.
00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:08.319
Today, I want to talk about a topic called provision.
00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:21.759
And so what that looks like is provision will not always look like what we think it looks like, but it will always look like what God's word says it will look like.
00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:27.280
So I want to start with a verse that most of us have heard quoted many times.
00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:37.120
Philippians 4 19 says, But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:48.719
So a lot of times when we hear that verse preached or quoted, the emphasis gets put put gets put on the phrase, according to his riches and glory.
00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:50.879
And certainly God is rich.
00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:55.199
God lacks nothing, and his resources are unlimited.
00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:59.599
But I think sometimes we miss the word that really defines the promise.
00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:01.199
And that word is need.
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My God shall supply all your needs.
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It doesn't say that God will supply everything that I want, all of our wants.
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It does not say that he will maintain every standard of living that I have become accustomed to.
00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:26.960
And it does not say that following Christ guarantees financial abundance, a bigger house, a newer vehicle, or a life without discomfort.
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:30.000
It says that he will supply our need.
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And I think one of the difficulties we have, especially living where we live today, is that sometimes our definition of need has become very different from the biblical definition of need.
00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:47.120
And I can't help but think about something Jesus said in Luke chapter 7.
00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:55.120
Jesus was speaking about John the Baptist, and he asked the people what they had gone into the wilderness to see.
00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:00.000
Luke 7 and 25, but what went ye out for to see?
00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.560
A man clothed in soft raiment?
00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:08.879
Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled and live delicately are in king's courts.
00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:27.360
So he wasn't necessarily saying this in a negative connotation, but Jesus was contrasting John the Baptist who wore camel's hair with the kind of people who lived in royal courts.
00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:33.439
John wasn't living delicately, John wasn't dressed in soft clothing.
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Matthew tells us that John wore camel's hair and a leather girdle.
00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:39.680
He lived in the wilderness.
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His food was locusts and wild honey.
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And yet there were people living at the exact same time who lived in conditions that would have been considered luxurious.
00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:55.360
And so this is where I want to wanna dig in and focus on.
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Think about what somebody associated with a royal court like Herod's might have had access to 2,000 years ago.
00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:08.959
They could have lived in large stone residences or palace complexes.
00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:14.560
They could have had decorated rooms, courtyards, plastered walls and mosaics.
00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:22.480
Some Herodian palaces had sophisticated water systems, cisterns, pools, and Roman style bathing facilities.
00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:24.160
They had better sanitation.
00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:31.439
They had greater access to meat, wine, olive oil, fruits, spices, and elaborate meals.
00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:33.519
They wore finer clothing.
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They had better furniture and bedding, and they could have servants doing the cooking, cleaning, carrying water, and maintaining the property.
00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:53.839
They had entertainment, banquets, musicians, gardens, and pools, and they had something that was incredibly valuable in that world, and that's security.
00:05:54.160 --> 00:06:06.240
Fortified residences, guards, stored food, stored wealth, protection from many of the economic uncertainties that ordinary people lived with every day.
00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.120
Now, let's think about that list again.
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Let's run it back.
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Running water, indoor bathing, sanitation, a wide variety of food.
00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:30.079
I have a wide variety of food in my pantry right now, and I am guilty of looking at a pantry slap full of 400 pounds of food and complaining that we have nothing to eat in the house.
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Lord forgive me.
00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:37.279
Comfortable clothing, beds, furniture, entertainment, security.
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Many things that only kings and the extremely wealthy possessed in the first century are considered normal amenities today.
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Some of them are things that even lower income households in America have access to.
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That would be missing the point.
00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:26.879
So the question isn't simply, what do I own?
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The deeper question is, what owns me?
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Where is my security?
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Where is my comfort?
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Where is my heart?
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Where is my attention?
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Jesus encountered a young man in Matthew chapter 19 who had great possessions.
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And the man asked him what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.
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Jesus reminded him, his response was, he reminded him of the commandments.
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Jesus listed off a handful of the Ten Commandments.
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But then the conversation went deeper.
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Jesus said to this young man, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.
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That's Matthew 19 and 21.
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And the Bible tells us that the young man went away sorrowful because he had great possessions.
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Now notice something the problem wasn't simply that he possessed wealth.
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The problem was revealed when Jesus asked him to let it go.
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As long as he could keep his possessions and follow Jesus, he was interested.
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But when following Jesus required the possessions to lose their place in his life, the condition of his heart became visible.
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He had possessions.
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But in another sense, his possessions had him.
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Where your treasure is, there your heart is, scripture says.
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And that raises a difficult question for us.
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What if God asked us to give up some of our amenities?
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Now, again, I'm not saying that he necessarily will.
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I'm not saying that those amenities are sinful.
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I'm not teaching against houses, vehicles, televisions, air conditioning, or comfortable furniture.
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I'm asking something much more personal.
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Could we live without them and still believe that God was providing for us?
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I'm gonna ask that one again.
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Could we live without those things and still believe that God was providing for us?
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And this is where the question of provision gets uncomfortable.
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Because it is easy to say, God is my provider.
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God is my provider when provision looks exactly like the life I already want.
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But what happens when God's provision looks different from my expectations?
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What happens when there is enough food, but not the food I wanted?
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What happens when there is transportation, but not the vehicle I wanted?
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What happens when there is shelter but not the house I pictured?
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What happens when my needs are met, but my lifestyle has to change?
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Would I still say, My God shall supply all my needs?
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Or have I quietly changed this verse in my mind to my God shall supply the lifestyle I have become accustomed to?
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That is something worth examining.
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Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, verse 21, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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Notice the order.
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He didn't say where your heart is, your treasure will eventually follow.
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He said, Where your treasure is, your heart will be there also.
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What we value has a way of pulling our heart toward it.
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What we constantly protect, what we constantly pursue, what we constantly think about, what is taking residence in our mind, what we cannot imagine living without, those things tell us something about where our treasure may be.
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And treasure does not have to mean money sitting in a bank account.
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A person can have very little money and still have the heart of a rich man.
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There it is.
00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:06.879
Because it all boils down to a hard issue, because the danger Jesus warned about was deeper than a dollar amount.
00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:16.000
After the rich young ruler walked away, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
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And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:25.919
Why?
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Because wealth can create an illusion of independence.
00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:34.240
Money can solve a lot of problems.
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Genuinely.
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Possessions can provide comfort.
00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:41.039
Insurance provides security.
00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.279
Savings provide security.
00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:45.519
A house provides security.
00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:48.080
A vehicle gives us independence.
00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.039
Technology gives us convenience.
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And none of those things are inherently wrong.
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That they can slowly begin doing something in our hearts that only God was supposed to do.
00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:06.320
And this brings me to one of the questions I have been thinking about.
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Is Jesus truly my comforter, or do I simply live a comfortable life?
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Those are not necessarily the same thing.
00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:19.679
We call him our peace.
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But what happens when everything around us becomes uncertain?
00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:27.279
We call him our provider.
00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:30.960
But what happens when provision becomes basic?
00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:38.960
We call him our security, but what happens when the things that normally make us feel secure disappear?
00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:45.679
Sometimes you don't know where your trust is until the thing you trusted begins to move.
00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:51.360
And you don't know how attached you are to comfort until comfort is threatened.
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You don't know how attached you are to possessions until you are asked to release them.
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:05.279
And you don't always know how much faith you have placed in money until money stops solving that problem.
00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:17.679
And it is inevitable that each and every one of us are going to run into a problem that money cannot solve.
00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:27.519
And that is why I think we have to be careful about confusing biblical provision with modern modern prosperity.
00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:33.759
God absolutely provides and God absolutely blesses.
00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:35.759
Of course he does.
00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:44.799
God absolutely takes care of his people, but scripture never promises that his people will always live delicately.
00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:51.360
John the Baptist didn't, the apostles didn't, and Paul certainly did not.
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Paul is the same man who wrote Philippians 4 and 19.
00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:05.120
And earlier in the very same chapter, Paul said, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
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Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
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That's Philippians 4 12.
00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:17.519
Think about that.
00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:25.600
The man who wrote, My God shall supply all your needs, also said, I know how to be hungry.
00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:32.720
So Philippians 4 19 cannot mean a Christian will never experience lack.
00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.080
Paul himself experienced lack.
00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:42.320
The promise is not that we will never experience uncomfortable circumstances.
00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:46.399
The promise is that God will remain faithful through them.
00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:53.679
And that is the testimony of my life is that he has remained faithful through them.
00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:58.000
And Paul had learned something that I think all of us need to learn.
00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:03.600
He could abound without becoming dependent on abundance.
00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:09.840
And he could be abased without believing God had abandoned him.
00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.919
And man, that just thinks makes me think about something my pastor says all the time.
00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:19.679
He says, I'm gonna trust him when I can't trace him.
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Sorry, that was a that was a sidebar.
00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:25.200
So so that is maturity.
00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:28.080
When you have plenty, God is enough.
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:31.120
When you have little, God is still enough.
00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:33.840
When the refrigerator is full, God is good.
00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.559
When money gets tight, God is still good.
00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.600
When life is comfortable, God is faithful.
00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.679
When life becomes uncomfortable, God has not changed.
00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:52.879
Provision will not always look like what we think it looks like, but it will always look like what God's word says it will look like.
00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:58.000
Maybe sometimes the greatest blessing God can give us is not another possession.
00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:03.519
Maybe it is freedom from needing possessions to feel blessed.
00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:09.759
Maybe prosperity is not always God putting more things in our hands.
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:15.680
Sometimes it might be God removing the power those things have over our hearts.
00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:21.920
Because ultimately, Jesus told the rich young ruler, Come and follow me.
00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:26.559
That was the real treasure being offered to him.
00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:29.680
Jesus was standing in front of him.
00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:40.960
He was being offered the opportunity to follow Christ, but he could not see the value of what was in front of him because of the value he had placed on what was behind him.
00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:45.359
And I think that is the question I want to leave with all of us.
00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:48.400
Not do you own nice things?
00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:51.200
Not do you have money?
00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:54.240
Not do you enjoy comforts?
00:17:54.720 --> 00:18:01.759
Question is, if every comfort disappeared tomorrow, would Jesus still be enough?
00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:08.160
If God supplied your needs, but not all of your wants, would you still call Him your provider?
00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:16.240
If Christianity cost you comfort instead of bringing you comfort, would you still follow Christ?
00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:22.079
If obedience required releasing something you treasure, could you release it?
00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:26.559
And maybe most importantly, what has your attention?
00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:31.759
Because whatever continually has your attention has access to your heart.
00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.880
And Jesus said, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:41.759
There is nothing wrong with enjoying the blessings God allows us to have.
00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:48.799
But we should never become so attached to the blessing that we cannot follow the one who gave it.
00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.640
Our confidence cannot ultimately be in our bank account.
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:55.119
Our confidence cannot be in our house.
00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.640
Our confidence cannot be in our career.
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.680
Our confidence cannot be in our possessions.
00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:08.000
Our confidence cannot even be in the standard of standard of living we have become accustomed to.
00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:18.799
Our confidence has to be in Christ because houses can disappear, money can disappear, jobs can disappear, comfort can disappear.
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:21.599
But Jesus Christ remains.
00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:31.519
And if Christ is truly our treasure, then even when everything else changes, the most valuable thing we possess has never moved.
00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:38.160
Provision may not always look like what we pictured, but God will remain faithful.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:46.880
And maybe learning the difference between having everything we want and having everything we need is one of the greatest lessons of faith we can ever learn.
00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:50.400
I hope that this podcast has blessed you today.
00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:56.079
And if you listen this far, I truly appreciate it, and I hope it helped you.
00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:57.759
Until next time.
