http://bible.com/events/13303839
We began this series “Enough is Enough” with a question:Is God enough?
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Matthew 6:24-34 NIV
24“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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-For the person who believes God only provides for our spiritual needs, these words are especially critical
-Multiple times Jesus commanded not to worry, specifically about material needs
-When Jesus said “pagans run after these things,” the original Greek speaks ofcravingordemanding
-Jesus is saying that your Father knows what you need for eternal life and what you need for this life
-When we seek God‘s kingdom first, and seek His righteousness first, we not only will receive the things of God, but also the things we need
-How can you be sure you will have what you need? Biblically it’s a one-step process
Step 1: Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. There are no more steps.
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Genesis 22:1-14NIV
1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.2Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”3Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.5He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,7Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”8Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.9When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.10Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.11But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”“Here I am,” he replied.12“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.14So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
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-God tests Abraham to see if he was willing to place his son, his most precious blessing, on the altar
-Abraham discovers that God is Provider (Jehovah Jireh – verse 14)
-To know God’s name is to know Him as Provider…it is who He is
-Often we may be asking God to meet a need, when God Himself is what we need
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Bottom Line:
“Our needs aren’t met because God DOES, but because He IS”
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2 Peter 1:3-4NIV
3His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.