Cdc Sept 10 2018 God Make Provision According to Our Services

[Intro Voiceover] Church Jesus fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for [unclear]. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tales Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Today as we gather again together in the study, even though time is a little fasted, I want us to look at something that sounds ordinary, it’s simple. But I was just reading through it and it was giving very serious inspiration. It is something in Numbers. Let’s go to the book of Numbers. Numbers. The book of Numbers. Numbers. The book of Numbers. [background noise] I want us to see what happened when certain offerings were brought to God and what God said about those offerings that were brought before the Lord. In Numbers chapter 6 and 7. Towards the end of Numbers 6:24-26, it is about the blessing that the priest should bless the people. God told Moses in Numbers 6:23, He said, “Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, 'On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."' And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” Now, I'm trying to save us time. What led to this was that the tabernacle had been set up. The tabernacle was built in the wilderness. So they set up the tabernacle. The people to serve in that tabernacle are the priests and the Levites. Their various duties have been apportioned to them. In apportioning the duties to the sons of Aaron—because the priesthood is from among the sons of Aaron—two died, so there remained about three: the Merari, the Gershon, and the Kohath. No, they are three. Now they want to divide the duty of the priesthood across these children of Aaron. So their duty has been decided. God told Moses, “This one, this is what they are to do. This one, this is what they are to do. This one, this is what they are to do.” The duties have been divided. So then the Levites, how they are to serve. The Levites minister to the priests. The priests minister on the altar while the Levites minister in the temple to the priests. You get the point I'm making? All that have been said. So when all that have been said, God was now telling Moses he should tell Aaron that when they want to bless these people, this is how they should bless the people. So it's like everybody is set now to start their service. Do you get it? Then we now enter chapter 7. Numbers chapter 7. Look at what the Bible says. It says, “And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle”—I hope you get it now, so they've set up the tabernacle for everybody to start their work—“and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified them; that the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, who were over them that were numbered, offered: and they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered wagons, twelve oxen; a wagon for two of the princes, and for each one an ox: and they brought them before the tabernacle.” And the Lord said—I hope you follow what happened? Wagons and oxen were brought, offered to the Lord. They want to offer these things so that the priests, they will be able to use these things for the work of God. But look at what God said. “And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying, 'Receive their gift and use these oxen and wagons for transporting the tabernacle, or for the service of the congregation. Distribute them among the Levites according to the work they have to do.'” So Moses took the wagons and the oxen and presented them to the Levites. Look at the distribution. He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonite division for their work. And he gave four wagons and eight oxen to the Merari division for their work. And all their work was done under the leadership of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest. Look at what the Bible now says. “But he gave none of the wagons or oxen to the Kohathite division, since they were required to carry the sacred objects of the tabernacle on their shoulders” (Numbers 7:9). Are you following something? Are you following something that we are looking at here? What was the basis? Things were offered to God. And when God wanted to give it to men, God said, “Give it to them according to their work, their service.” There were three tribes, three lineages. Twelve oxen, six wagons. Ordinarily, let’s just imagine that one, two, three are the three lineages that want to give something and we want to distribute. Today, today, and I gave this tribe eight and four oxen. I give this one four and two oxen. And I say, “You, you don't need these things.” What do you think is going to happen? If there are ministers of God—I don't think you understand yet—if this one is a minister of God, that other is a minister of God, if they bring 12 G—12 G! And then they also brought along with the 12 G the keys for six buildings. Are you following me? They gave one person eight of the G and four buildings. And another minister, they gave him the remaining four of the G and the remaining two houses. “See, man of God, the purpose of God for your life does not require any of the G or building.” What is going to happen in that church? What will the congregation say? You see, but you know that God raised an issue. He said distribute according to their service, the work that they are to do. And my eyes were just open to how God distributes things to men. I began to see that indeed, look, there was a time I was saying these things but I did not really understand it in context of the Scripture until I encountered the Scripture and I said, “Wow! You mean this matter is as serious?” [Speaker 2] [foreign language]. [Speaker 1] Exactly. Because they are provided wagons. You don't need wagons. You are to put them on the shoulder. When you carry the ark of God and put it inside a wagon, you will be dead! [Speaker 3] Exactly! [Speaker 1] That's the reason why many of us, some of the things that we are running after, God says, “Because you don't need it.” So if you look at it therefore, the material things that God apportions to you in life, it's not because—now, if you look at that distribution, will you say this person is more blessed because he has eight G and four oxen? Will you say this person is less blessed by God? And when this one wants to preach, he wants to preach to many of us and say that, “The reason why you are not materially prosperous is because you are not yet—if you don't have eight G before you are 40...” Do you understand what I'm trying to bring out today? We began to look at life in relation to God based on some material things some were able to gather and some were not able to gather. What I'm trying to say is that—something happened, I don't know whether it was my friend or myself. And the person said that we should buy and then we should use, we should have. I then said, “But we are not a regular church. We don't run service during every...” I said, “I don't think we need to bother ourselves.” I can't remember what that person said again. I said, “Okay, it is true. It is true. It is true.” All I'm saying is that based on the purpose of God for your life, based on the services that your life is to perform, based on where God is taking you to, based on what God needs you for, that will determine certain material things that God allows you to have. So that for instance, you know sometimes you may begin to feel that the person that God allowed to go to the US and do some things there and prosper there, and you, all your life till you die, did not leave Akure, [foreign language]. You are not blessed. By the time he comes, he says, “I was in the US. In fact, from there I move to South Africa.” You say, “Ah, Lord. [foreign language].” You begin to define—I don't know whether you understand what I'm trying to bring out. You see, I am not saying that we don't need material things. But I am saying that the way God allows certain provision—because they gave it to God. It was God's own. God wanted to distribute it to the people that He has consecrated to His service. [foreign language]. God said, “You don't need it.” Even though that person was ministering at the altar, God called him. And yet God did not give him. It’s because we are looking at a typical something here. What I am saying is that it is possible for God to give certain things to some of His children and not give some of His children, and it’s not because one is more blessed than the other. It’s not! It has to do with—but my fear today is that the only way we see material things is in the light of “Somebody is more blessed than somebody.” We don't see material things in relation to the purpose of God, the plans of God, the intentions of God for our life. We don't see it that way. We see it more that if, for example, this person, the person that has eight G, the person that has four G, when he wants to talk, when he wants to relate to this person, how will this person be relating? He'll be relating from a point of superiority complex. [foreign language]. But he’s not understanding that it’s just because of God's distribution of His material blessings. The second thing I’m drawing from it is that—what particularly did the other two sets of priests, what particular things did they do to get eight and four, four and two? And the other one got nothing. What particular things did they do? What did they do? They did nothing. Have you get the point I'm making? They did nothing. What made that thing to come to them was because of the purpose of God and the plans of God. You see, it is very important for us to understand that certain things that God allows us into, it’s not because you are better. It's not because we are more intelligent or more diligent. [foreign language]. You may be surprised that someone who doesn't have Masters or first degree is richer than the person who has the first degree, may have better and more faster—do you understand what I'm trying to say? Better intelligence than yours. So what I'm trying to say is that we should be careful about what God allows in our life. You be careful about what God opportunity us to get into. It was just that when they were dividing duty, “You take this one, you take this one, you take this one.” He took that opportunity so that he had 12, this one has 12. So that because God wants you for a particular purpose, He now opens some opportunity for you. Instead of you to see it as a privilege from God, you begin to see it as a thing to be proud—as a thing to begin to pride yourself over your brethren. But you don't understand that the reason why God has so arranged things—it was God that so arranged that you have those things and some did not—because as far as heaven is concerned, they don't need it. But you will need it. So these are things we need to see in life, we need to understand, we need to have a clear picture in terms of things that God opportunity us to have. In terms of our relationship with other brethren. You know sometimes, let me give you an example. Do you know sometimes we see missionaries as people begging for bread? But you forgot that he chose to be a missionary. And when you see them, you want to relate [unclear] to them. You say, “[foreign language].” I’m telling you, the attitude that we put on in relation to the purpose of God and the call of God on some of our brethren. We just forgot that it could be the other way round. He has money, he had everything, he had rain. [foreign language]. I’m talking about the church today, the relationship in church today, the way we relate today, the kind of attitude we have today to some of our brethren. I’m not talking of people who don't want to be brethren. People who know that in different calls, and because of their call in different things. Then apart from that, even in the same call, some of us that serve similar calls that we need. God still gave one eight, he gave another one four. He said again, “According to their service.” So even among those who are privileged, some will be again more privileged again than others. But we need to begin to understand that, look, “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Romans 9:16). And that is why the Lord warned in Jeremiah 9:23. Let your translation. Jeremiah 9:23. “Thus saith the Lord, 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me'” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Another translation. NLT says, “Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all things we need for our enjoyment.” Amplified. “As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous and contemptuous of others.” You know what that means? You look down on people. “Who is this riff-raff that is talking?” If you follow [foreign language], as somebody was saying something, you know when I hear it, it sounds like a joke. But I felt it because as Christians we may not be looking at some things very critically. Some things we may take for a joke. He said two people were praying, and then one of them heard the other one asking God that God should give him another 2,000 naira or something. I can't remember, it was a joke, 2,000 or something. The other person now went to meet that one. “Hello, stop this your prayer. Take 2,000 so that God can answer my own prayer.” While that looks like a joke, but I felt that an important thing is being undermined. An important thing is looking as jesting which are not convenient. Whether rich or poor, dependence on God is a matter that prayer calls for. What makes us to pray is not because we are rich or we are poor. Even if we need one kobo, God still expects prayer. God still expects dependence on Him. I give a good example of—I hope we remember Asa’s story? King Asa that led to his death. A disease in his feet and then dead. At one point, many nations they gathered against him to come and fight him. You remember that story? Because they were so many, he ran to God in prayer for God's own deliverance. God gave him the spirit of a prophet, he should not be afraid. We just arranged to go and God gave them victory. Later, you know you have the Northern kingdom and the Southern kingdom in Israel. Asa is for the Southern kingdom. So the Northern kingdom, Israel, was now to fight against Asa. You know what Asa now did? Instead of going again to call on God to help him, he just sent gifts to the King of Syria to break his union with Israel so that Israel will not come and fight him. As he did that, God now sent a prophet to him. God said, “When those crowds came against you, you called Me to come and deliver you. Now when Israel was to fight you, did you call Me? You went to call Syria to come and fight for you.” He said, “In this matter you have done foolishly. From now on you will have war.” “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart are loyal to Him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). So God don’t expect him to commoditize the work. God expected him to still call Him to come and fight for him. And so what we’ll bring out is that, even if you have billions and you need 200 naira, God still wants you to know that you don’t need to be confident on the fact that, “Since I am a billionaire, I will always get 200.” They should not trust in such uncertain things, but their confidence should still be in God. So you see what brought out is that how it is important for us to know that the material things that accumulate to us, accumulate to us because of God's purpose for our life. And based on those purposes, as things accumulate to us, it is important to know that since it is not a matter of our effort, our labor, and certain things that bring those things, but because of God's purpose, then it becomes so crucial to know that it is not also our labor and effort that can sustain those things. Their sustainer is still in God who make them available. Have you get the point I’m making? The sustainability of those things, since they came because of God's plan and purpose for our life, the sustainability is also in God. So our trust should be in God and not in those things. And how do we show that our trust is not in those things? What God expected was now drawn out in verses 18 and 19. He said, “Tell them to use their wealth” or “that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:18-19). So it becomes important that for those of us, when God allows you to accumulate wealth, it becomes important for us as believers, as Christians, to be careful not to trust in those things. I should not begin to think that the only way this thing can be sustained is for me to remain in that service of God, for me to remain in that my walk with God. What compromised the riches is if they fall out of that service. Because what brought it is your walk with God. So nothing can sustain those things except you continue with God. In other words, we should not try in any way to want to sustain those things by anything outside God. That was the mistake of Jeroboam. It was God that gave him those tribes. They came to him. But at a point, he forgot that it was not by help that he got the tribe. Instead of continuing to please God, he said, “Let me quickly arrange so that they don't go.” He now went and he created certain altar. And said, “You don't need to go, just be here.” Unfortunately, that became a snare to him. So the point I'm making is that as we walk with God, and God allows things into our life—opportunities, privileges, material wealth, or whatever—it must be clear to us that what God allow for some, He may deny others. That should be clear to us. And that which God allows to us does not make us better than those that were denied. And we should understand that sustainability of those things remains as we remain in our walk with the Lord. I don't know whether you get that. Sustainability is also still in the Lord. Nothing should make us think that any other thing can sustain it. Nothing should make us fear. Nothing should make us make the mistake of—[foreign language]. And then we hold back. You may be surprised that it is that holding back that will be the poverty. The sustainability is also still in the Lord. These were the things that came to me as I read this Scripture. And I began to see that indeed God apportioned things to men severally and diversely based on the services, the purpose for which He has raised them. And so we should be careful not to begin to need what does not agree with God's purposes for our life. [foreign language]. May we grow more and more to understand the purposes and plans, so that our needs will emanate out of that purpose and plans that God has for our life. Praise the Lord! Let's go ahead to pray this evening. I want us to stop at this point. Let’s just pray. Let’s just talk to the Lord. I don’t know how you have been feeling, how you have been looking at them, but it’s very important to see these things. Particularly that, “God, help me to understand my service, my purpose, Your purpose, Your purpose. More and more open my eyes, Lord, understanding and walking in it.” You know, as we pick that purpose, as we follow after that plan, I now understand the word of our Lord Jesus better. He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). These things will be added. They will be added. They will be added. These things will be added. They will be added. When you just pursue the service, pursue the purpose, pursue the plan, these things will be added. Thank You, blessed God. Thank You for Your word. Blessed be Your name. Thank You, Lord. [unclear].