This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to hope alive, applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today, in Jesus name.
Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible student. I am in Leviticus, chapter 25. Leviticus 25. And we are in verse 18 through 22. And this is one of those passages that makes me really so excited. I enjoy digging into and explaining maybe some of the theological ideas or the christian ideas that are out there and explaining how God, he understands the universe that he made, and he teaches us things. And I want to teach. I want to teach those things. I want you to understand those things. And when God has given me knowledge or insight into those things, especially wisdom from his word, but also I can tie it off to things that I've learned in maybe being an attorney, or maybe it's something that comes from further back in my background, maybe some of my military experts, which is very limited, and then maybe it could be something that it has to do with maybe one of my other degrees, my economics degree from Princeton. I do have one of those. It was a lifetime ago that that happened, but I do have that, and I do a lot of business and economics and things like that, and I enjoy studying and thinking through them. And so when I run across something in scripture that I think maybe believers don't quite understand, they hear different, different messages on different things, and it seems. And then it seems like it doesn't fit together. And so they just kind of throw it away and reject it. They just say, I'm just not going to do this. When that happens. Well, it hurts my heart, because I don't want you to reject hearing from God in his word and missing out on understand. And one of the things that people get really touchy about is money. And, well, God said that that would be the case. In fact, he says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, which means you know where your money is. You have your feelings on your shoulders about it. Your heart is attached to it. It. It matters to you. And obviously so, because our finances are where we derive our ability to eat and sleep in a warm place and live and enjoy some of the things that are in life. And by the way, God wants us to enjoy the life we have. He wants us to experience him in his creation and have joy in that. So when we talk about money, people get upset. And then you have the different movements, the ideas of having no money. And asceticism is what it's called. It's the idea of the monks growing up and living, barely living, livable existence and just living off the fruit of the land. And then you have the health and wealth theology that's out there. And I want you to understand that God understands markets and economies too. In fact, I'm quite sure he created them. And when he tells them that all the property is going to reside in a family, he sets up an economic system. That's what's going on literally, in Leviticus 25. A very unique economic system, one that has not existed in the world since then and does not exist and did not exist before then. And so it's a unique economic system. But I want you to understand that you can trust in the power of God to do two things in your life that dealing with your money, but you've got to trust him. You've got to place your, your faith in him. You've got to make him really, what you've got to do is make him lord of your finances, like he wants to be lord of everything. It's not something new to say. God wants to be lured of something in your life. He wants to be learned of everything in your life. But understanding that God understands how to take care of you financially and he wants to do that and bless you financially, which I believe that scriptural too. Now, I'm not saying that he wants to make us all Uber billionaires. It's not. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, is to give you what I would say in the Old Testament would be years of plenty. He wants to do that and he understands that there's two ways he can bless you financially, and I want to give you those understanding. I'll give you two passages of scripture, the one that we're adding in Leviticus and then one in Malachi, and allow you to understand that God can sustain you financially and he can more than sustain you. He can bless you financially, but you've got to have to learn how to trust him with your finances. You're going to have to learn how to walk with God and allow him to be in control of what you're doing. Now, that's not a pastor who's telling you, send so much money and God will send you a blessing. That's me telling you to go to God and allow God to be lord of your money and telling you from experience, from someone who has experienced this, that God will sustain you at times and he will give you great increase at times. And those are scriptural understandings. It says in verse 18, remember we told him, you've got to, you've got to allow the land not to produce. Well, it's going to produce, but don't eat anything that the land produces on the 7th year. You got to go in the land, a seven year rest. And that's for a lot of people. So we got a staff on the 7th year. Well, that doesn't seem like a great plan. God, no, God's going to explain how he's going to work. He's going, he says, so you shall observe my statute and keep my judgments and perform them, and you will. Now listen, he says you will dwell in the land safely. He's going to say you're going to be in safety when you're in my land. I'm not telling you, that's what I'm saying. Then the land will yield its fruits and you will eat your fill and dwell better in safety. Now he's saying, I'm going to give you an abundance. I'm going to give you enough to eat your field. I'm going to make you, I'm going to make you where you don't have to worry about what you have. And if you sin, what shall we eat on the 7th year? Remember that 7th year rest when we're not supposed to eat anything in the land. Since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce, then I will command my blessing on you. In the 6th year, and they were going for produce enough for two years, not three years. Now that's a abundance. That is a, that's God saying, look, six years you're going to gather and work the land and then on the 7th year we're not going to gather at all. And I know you're worried about what you're going to do in the 7th year to eat. And he says, don't worry about it. I am going to give you enough food in the 6th year to hand over 7th and even the 8th so that you, you have an abundance. Now notice that's an abundance. That's not, that's not just sustaining me that's giving me abundance. Now he says, and you shall sow in the 8th year and eat old produce until the 9th year, until its produce comes in, you shall eat a beloved harvest. What he's saying is, I'm taking care of you all the way through the harvest of the 8th year. I am giving you enough food for wanderer than you will need. I'm giving you, I'm giving you enough that you don't have to worry. You will not worry about how this process is working. Now notice, what do they have to do? They have to not get the food out of the fields on the 7th year. They got to trust God. Now, he's going to give him enough in the 6th year, but they got to really trust him and say, okay, we know we've got an abundance this year, but we're not going to do it next year. Even though it would. It's going to be worth tempting to, it's going to be tempting not to do what God says. And if you don't think that that's the way you live your life and in your flesh, your flesh is always tempted not to do what God says, it adds this. And so God saying, I want you to. I want you to trust me in this. Now, in Malachi, God's telling them, and this is Malachi, chapter three. He's telling them to bring in. Bring in what they're supposed to. Don't rob me of an opportunity to bless you. Don't rob me from an opportunity to give you the blessing that you, you have no idea I'm willing to give. He says in verse eleven, he says, if you'll bring in the, if you're bringing the offerings that I say bring in, if you'll, if you'll not rob me of an opportunity to bless you because you've been faithful in doing what I said. If you, if you'll do that, he says, I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall divine fail to bear fruit for you in the field. And all the nations will call you blessed. And for, for you will be a delightful land, says the lord of hosts. He says that twice, by the way, in verse eleven, too, says the lord of hosts. What he's saying was, I'm going to take care of, well, I'm going to take care of how things are produced in your land. See, when you're thinking about your finances, oftentimes people, when they think about their finances, they, and they say, I don't have enough. I'm not making enough. My family doesn't have enough. They don't consider that there's two sides of it. There's supply and demand, and that goes back to my economics degree. And God says, I'm going to, I'm able to increase your supply to take care of you. And he says that in Leviticus and a few other places in scripture, I am unable to handle the supply. But he also says that I'm able to handle the consumption because in Leviticus he says, I'm going to make sure that nothing happens to what produces for you. I'm going to make sure that your air conditioner doesn't go out and your refrigerator continues to work and that the fire doesn't come and destroy your ability to make money. He says, I am willing to protect you. And even if you think a calamity has happened, it won't be a calamity because I will show you how. I'm moving you into a new area so I can produce for you. God's saying, I can handle the production side and I can handle the consumption side, I can handle the supply side, I can handle the demand side. He's saying, look, I have my hands all over the levers of your personal economic situation, but in order for me to be fully in control of it, you got to take your hands off of it. You got to let me be in charge of. Now I'm going to still have you working in it, but I'm going to be the leader and not you. I'm going to be in charge, not you. And when I say do this or do that, then you do it. And if I say go this or go back, ready? You go. And the reason is, is because I'm going to produce for you and I'm going to reduce consumption for you. I'm going to give you and I'm going to keep you. And if you realize that God throughout scripture is saying that, then sure. Is that a heft or death message? Well, I mean, I don't know what you motivate, but you think so? Think God's given me health and wrath? I'm thinking he says he's going to give me his best. Now, is it a health and wealth theology? No, what it is is it's a lordship theology. It's an understanding that God is lord of my finance and not having that be so emotional for me, but I don't want to heal it, I don't want to reject it. So sure. It's not that I can name it and claim it. It's just going to be mine no matter what. I'm not teaching that. What I'm teaching you is that I want you to understand that God has a definite for sure, sustaining, empowering and bless them plan for you. He has, he has all those things sustain empire and to bless abundantly. He has those plans for you. But in order for you to have those plans you're going to have to trust him. You don't have to allow him to show you those things and allow you. And you're going to have to allow him to show you how to give that over to you and, and prove to you that he can do greater and greater things. In fact, that's what he says. He says, he says, try me in this, give me a chance. Verse ten. He says in Malachi, 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, notice God rarely says try him. But with your finances he does say try him. He says, he said, give him a chance to prove it. Why? Because we're emotionally invested in it. He says, I will. He says, try me, says the lord of host. If I am not open up for you the windows of heaven and pull out such a blessing that there will not be room enough for you to receive it. Notice he says, I'm going to make the supply abundant. If you try me in this lordship over your finances thing, I will make supply abundant. If you'll try me, I will reduce your natural demand that you have. I'll make sure that you don't have to worry about things breaking down. The field's not producing, your property being destroyed. I will not let them to buy or take from you. You will get the fullness of everything that I have provided for you. Now let me say this. You can call that whatever you want to call it. And sure can people preach and teach and go in a radically way past what God is teaching here? Direction. Yeah. I mean, yeah. But I believe one of the keys of living now a really abundant christian life is to learn how to trust God with this, is to make him lured of your finances too. Why? Because your finances are really personal to you. And when you make God Lord of things that are really personal to you, well, you get really unbelievably evident movements of God in your life. You get to see God at work for you and God wants you to see him at work for you. He does. So you have to hand things over to him. You got to turn your life over to him and place those things in his hand. And if you don't do that, if you're not willing to do that, you're going to miss out. Yeah. Any area of your life that you don't make Jesus lord of. Well, you're going to miss out on him being God in that area of your life. And you want God to be God for you. I mean, he's been really good at it. I mean, he gave his only begotten son for you, and he's heavily invested in you making it in you being prosperous and proof that he can take that which is just totally messed up and dead and make it alive and work. So if you're letting do it, he'll do it. He'll do it really in abundance. And so trust God for it. Allow him to be God for you. You won't regret it.
As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today. In Jesus name.
