HopeUC Secunderabad
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HopeUC Secunderabad
How to Prosper with a Clear Conscience
What does it really mean not to steal? The eighth commandment goes far beyond taking possessions, it calls us to live with integrity in every area of life. In this message from our Just Ten series, we explore how God gave this command to shape a new identity for His people, contrasting the deceitful culture of Egypt with His standard of justice. Stealing includes not just theft, but wage injustice, office politics, and taking credit for others’ work. Instead of shortcuts, Scripture calls us to prosper through hard work, wise saving, and faithful prayer. This command isn’t just a restriction, it’s an invitation to freedom and a life that honors God.
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so let's look into the word of the lord today and all of our hope unlimited churches. There are three churches here in hyderabad and all of us we are going through something called as the Just Ten. The Just Ten, and Just Ten refers to the Ten Commandments that we find in the Bible. We started it, let's say, two weeks ago, and it's also going to go for the next seven weeks. Why? Because I mean we are in commandment number eight or week three right now and we are going to study the Ten Commandments together and where all we are studying. So if you've been to a live group, if you're part of a live group, in the live group, primarily that's what we are doing. We are studying the 10 commandments in the bible, but not just the live group. Here on a sunday also, we are preaching from the bio the 10 commandments that we find in the bible. Why? Because I think it's time for us to dig a little more deeper into the word of the Lord. Right Hope, unlimited churches. We like the way we worship the Lord, we are known for the way we worship the Lord and all, but to that we are also adding in the sense we are also valuing the word of the Lord. So we will dig more deeper. After this it will come some other series, but then we are intentional about prioritizing the word of the Lord, right? So no matter how much we jump on a Sunday, the what really matters is how straight we walk on a Monday, right, nobody cares how much we jump on a Sunday, because all that they care is how carefully or how nicely we walk on a walk on a Monday. You know? I mean, actually you know 10 o' service. I kind of struggled a little bit because of time and all. But then what I understand is with the 12 o'clock service we are a little more flexible. Amen, yeah, I think Pastor Comfort agrees with me.
Speaker 1:All right, so today we're going to look at commandment number eight. We are kind of going in the reverse order. So we started with the 10th commandment and the 10th commandment is Some people said something, most of us are silent Okay, the 10th commandment of the 10 commandments is Thou shall not covet, in the sense, what belongs to you is yours, what does not belong to is yours. What does not belong to you just does not belong to you. Don't look at your neighbors, whatever, and say you know, I also need that, no, no, no, be content with whatever you have. If you have little, try to live a just, you know, be happy with whatever god has provided for you.
Speaker 1:Last week I think it was pastor rufus who was preaching here, and pastor rufus preached from the ninth commandment. And the ninth commandment is yeah, you should not talk falsely about your neighbor, do not bear false witness. Sometimes we simplify it and we say don't lie, thou shall not lie, don't speak anything false against anybody. And we looked at three points right, gossiping, slander and flattery. Don't do any of these, any of these things. And today we will be looking at commandment number eight and you will find it in Exodus, chapter 20, verse 15.
Speaker 1:Very simple Don't steal. So I looked at this commandment. It says do not steal. And I was like what, what can I preach from this thing? You know it's self-explanatory don't steal me, don't steal. Why stop stealing, don't do anything like that, okay, I mean, then I looked at the hebrew. It could mean any of these things.
Speaker 1:You should not steal secretly, because most of the stealing happens secretly. I mean, a professional robber will steal when it is dark, right, that's how we understand stealing. But then there are also people who loot openly, who steal in the open. And there are people who also steal what you call fraudulently, in the sense you look at the scams and all that are going around. Give me, like you know, two lakhs for one year and after that you will get so much. You invest that money, it just disappears. That fellow also will disappear. He'll be nowhere in the. Or else, give me 40 000, I'll give you a job. He takes the 40 000 and the whole company itself is shut. Yeah, I mean, open the newspaper. You will find all these kind of frauds that are taking place or through carelessness. We will talk about a little bit of that also, because sometimes we are so careless and we do things carelessly. It amounts to stealing. It amounts to stealing. It amounts to stealing. So we will look at them.
Speaker 1:And you know before that for 400 years the Israelites were in the land of Egypt. They were slaves in the land of Egypt. You know, the thing with the land of Egypt is it's a polytheistic nation, poly, many theistic God, many God nation. They worshipped many gods and I looked at some of the Egyptian gods. They had weird gods, man. They are mostly humanoid forms. Like you know, it will be part animal and part human. Those are the kind of gods and they have God for almost everything under the sun. There is a God for the buffalo, there is a guard for the buffalo, there is a guard for the agriculture, there is a guard for the wine, there is a guard for, like you know, then I came across this one weird looking guard called a Sobek. Now I mean, you can Google it, you can Google it and you will find out.
Speaker 1:There is this one guard with a crocodile head. That guard is a humanoid, part crocodile, part human, sobek, and he is the crocodile headed humanoid associated with nile, because I think nile was infested with crocodiles. He became the god of the river nile. He's known for god of fertility, god of military power, and one of the title that he has is he's the god of the robbers. I'm like they have a god who robs also. All the robbers would pray to this, pray to this god. Other than that, I also came across this, another egyptian god called a seth, and then I found out set Seth is a trickster or a prankster, a God who plays pranks, a God who tricks. You know, in the Norse God, if you looked at Thor, it is who, loki, who plays pranks with everybody, who just makes fun. You have gods like that.
Speaker 1:So the Israelites for 400 years lived in a culture like that. Somebody would loot the Israelites. And they say I am inspired by God's obeck. God's obeck told me to go and steal. That's why, if the God himself is stealing people who follow that God will automatically steal. Right, that's the kind you know.
Speaker 1:If you look at the polytheistic culture, the gods are lusting after each other. They are having affairs. I mean, they are fighting among themselves. They are lying to one another. They have ego issues with one god has an ego issue with another god. Most of them are short tempered. They get angered very easily. They love praises. Those are the kinds of god and like people who followed them. Why will they not live a bad lifestyle? Because the God himself is bad. On many occasions they say that the people who worship these gods. They lived a far cleaner, far purer life than the gods whom they worshiped.
Speaker 1:So for 400 years Israelites lived in a culture like this. You know, the only thing they knew about Yahweh was he is the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob. That's what they knew about him. Did they know anything other than that? Very minimal. They never really fully understood. Because, you know, when Moses also has an encounter with God, he asked who are you? What is your name? What should I go and tell if they ask me? Who sent you? Very little knowledge, but either way, they cried unto the Lord.
Speaker 1:10 plagues fall on Egypt and the Lord rescues, delivers them. But there is a problem with the Israelites. The Israelites, you know they celebrated when they came out of Egypt. You know the Red Sea event and all they come out of it. Moses sings a song. Soon after Moses sang a song, miriam also sings a song. They are praising, they are rejoicing.
Speaker 1:Three days after they come from Egypt, they go to the desert offshore and then they are complaining. They get thirsty. They taste some water, the water is bitter and they go around telling oh bitter waters. What kind of a God, why did he rescue us? Why did he get us out of Egypt? Hey, three days ago you were praising the same God man. Three days ago you were rejoicing. Three days later you're complaining. You know it's like most of at least like me. I can see a great miracle and soon after the miracle, if I have like a stomach, I'll say God, where are you? Some of us do that, right, yeah, I mean, I think these are. I mean, I'm like more like the Israelites. I do that.
Speaker 1:Then the Lord says Moses, you know, moses, take a stick, throw it in the water, man, then the water becomes all right, they drink. And the Lord tells them I'm testing you, I'm testing you through all these things. I have bought you out of Egypt, but I'm testing you now whether you will put your trust in me or whether you will just go around doubting me like that, whether you will put your trust in me or whether you will just go around doubting me like that. You know, when the Lord rescued the Israelites from Egypt, he did not just rescue them and say you are a free people, go ahead and do. I mean, that's what the world says. God gave them freedom, freedom to do whatever they do. No, no, no, no, no, no. God did not even save us so that we can go around doing whatever we want to do. Let us, so that we can go around doing whatever we want to do.
Speaker 1:Let's look at this. It talks in Leviticus, chapter 11, verse 45 says I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt. I got you from Egypt to be your God. I did not rescue you so that you will do whatever you want to do in your life. I want to be your God. That's why I got you from Egypt. Then he says Therefore, you shall be holy, for I am holy. He spoke to the Israelites and it's a clear cut definition, clear cut purpose that the Lord gives them, telling I got you from slavery. Man, if I don't rescue you, you will die a miserable death in Egypt as a slave, but I rescued you. I destroyed Egypt so that I can be a God to you. I will lead you, I will take care of you and you will have a new identity. Think about this.
Speaker 1:Three days later, they start complaining. 45 days later, they start complaining again. They go to Moses and say why did you get us into the desert? Do you want us to die? At least in Egypt? I had onions, I had garlic and I had really literally that's what they say we had food over there. You got us into the desert to kill us. God gets offended with that also. Nevertheless, from that day, manna starts falling down from heaven.
Speaker 1:15 days after that, two weeks after that, exactly three months after they leave Egypt, god decides no, no, no. These people should have a revelation of who I am. I mean these people. I need to make an agreement with these people. Rather, I need to make a covenant with these people. Based on that covenant, they will have a new identity.
Speaker 1:So what is God telling? What is God doing? God is redefining the Israelites. They will not have an identity as slaves from Egypt. They will have an identity as the children of God. They will have a new identity. They will not have the value system of Egypt, those weird gods of Egypt. They will not serve as an example, but God, who brought them out of Egypt, will be their God. They will be defined by who their God is. So God summons all of them. He says come to Mount Sinai. They stand, they camp near Mount Sinai.
Speaker 1:The Bible says, literally the presence, exodus, chapter 19,. The presence of the Lord descends on Sinai, comes like a fire, comes like a smoke, comes like a thick cloud, settles on Mount Sinai. And from Mount Sinai he gives the covenant, or let's say the words of the covenant, which we call the Ten Commandments, and he says this will be your defining moment. You accept this covenant, you live by this covenant. I will be your God, you will be my people. You violate this covenant, you will have consequences, and part of the covenant is what we are going to discuss today Thou shall not steal.
Speaker 1:So if you've been part of a life group, by the way, we really encourage you, get into a life group. Maybe, if you're new to the church, figure out, talk to one of our pastors, one of the church people. We will help you get into a life group. But you know, one of the best way that you can grow in your spiritual life is by being part of a life group. You know, because in a church something sometimes I feel the tragedy of the sunday service is that the pastor speaks and everybody listens, that's it. But in a live group you can have a discussion. Yeah, in fact, you know. I mean almost every live group that we do. They have discussion questions just to initiate a good, healthy discussion around the word of the word of the Lord. Because I think you know, I think you know the way Jesus discipled is by discussion. Because whenever Jesus spoke a parable, soon after that people came and asked questions the disciples. In many cases they would consider what did you mean when you said like this? I think that's a great way of despite discipleship. It happens very powerfully in a live group, a small bible study. So get into one.
Speaker 1:So if you have been through a live group you must have come across these two words telling the way you steal. You know, jay john very, very powerfully. I like this way, the way he simplifies this. You should watch those videos. And he says sometimes the way we steal is by being dishonest and by defrauding. These are the two things that we have seen. And then he gives three solutions how to live an honest life, how to live a life without any, with a pure conscience.
Speaker 1:Rather, let's look at dishonesty first. Dishonesty basically it is understood within the biblical context. It refers to an act of deceiving, lying, engaging in a fraudulent behavior. It is sin which is consistently condemned in the Bible. Bible very consistently says do not be dishonest. Within the Pentateuch itself or within this book itself, you will find laws like when you have a shop or when you are doing business, have honest or perfect scales, perfect weights. When you have a 10 kilo bar, make sure it is 10 kilos. Just weights, just salaries, just working hours, just righteous way of treating, treating one another. Not all times it happens in our world. In fact, our culture is so bad that the guy who cheats more is rewarded more Really. But the Lord says you will not follow the values of this world. You will follow the values that the Lord, god, gives us. You know two scriptures that you will find in the textbook Very quickly I'll go through them. Proverbs 16, it says the Lord demands fairness in every business deal. He sets the standard Fairness in whatever you deal with. Don't do unfair business business deals. Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 1, it says the Lord hates cheating and all the students said amen, all right, the Lord hates cheating, but he delights in honesty.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy, chapter 24. It talks about some of us who have people working under us and he says this ought to be your value system, or this is the way you need to behave with those who work under you. And just in case you know, I mean, if you don't have any, anybody working under you, someday the lord will lift you up, right? I mean, have a bigger dream man. Someday the lord will lift you up and someday you will have people working under you, or at least you know. If you're a housewife or like managing a home homemaker, you will have people working under you, or at least you know. If you're a housewife or like managing a home homemaker, you will have at least two, three maids working for you. Na, in most of us you know, one maid comes to cook, another maid comes to clean, and you will have some way, or the other people who work under you.
Speaker 1:It says you should not take advantage of a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your own countrymen or a foreigner who dwells among you. You will give him his wages on the day that he earns them, before the sun sets, for he is poor and is counting on it. Some of you will also testify telling that you know I was not given my salary at the right time. They with, they took services from me, but they did not give salary. They did not do the payment at the right time.
Speaker 1:The Bible says Don't do like that. The world might do like that, but we, as the children of God, we are not doing anything like that. He says you know, if you do something like that, the guy, if that person cries out to the Lord against you, it will become a sin for you. The Lord will say you have sinned and he will deal with you accordingly. Wow, this is dangerous. This is something common that happens all around us. But the Bible says this is how you have to behave If you promise something, live up to that promise. If you say you will pay this much, pay that much. If you're not able to pay, don't hire. Don't hire, don't even think about taking care of that project.
Speaker 1:Another way Jeremiah, chapter 22, verse 13. This thing talks about people who make a career by conning people. You know, I have seen people who give this quick, get rich very quickly kind of things. Invest this much money in three months it will double. Three months, it will triple. April fool Doesn't happen that way.
Speaker 1:Jeremiah 22, 13 says woe or judgment is coming to him who builds his house by acts of unrighteousness. I've seen good number of people who will go to one person. I have seen it happen in the house of the Lord also. He will go to one person and he says can you in the house of the Lord also? He will go to one person and he says can you give me some money? I'm in need. He will go here and there. Can you give me some money? Can you give me some money? And they will live a lavish lifestyle. They really live a lavish lifestyle and when that person comes and says, okay, I need that money because it is my money, they'll be like what are you asking? I don't have anything. Go. They build their lives and careers by looting or conning or taking hard-earned money from innocent Dubai people. Nah, bible says against it. Woe unto you.
Speaker 1:If you build your house, if you build your business, if you build your career by acts of unrighteousness, if you build your upper chambers by injustice, if you use your neighbors or anybody's services without paying him the wages. That is due to him. Judgment will come upon you. Due to him, judgment will come upon you. In other words, what is God asking? Be just. Be fair in the way you deal with others. Be fair how you manage your money, how you treat people. Do not con people. Malachi really kind of scared me.
Speaker 1:It talks about especially the category of people who are dishonest, who take services but you don't give money properly. Then I will come near you for judgment. I will be swift. Witness against sorcerers or magicians, against adulterers, against perjurers and against those who oppress the laborers in his wages, the widows, the fatherless, against those who turn the alien away, denying is right and those who do not fear me. Look at the sins that are mentioned over here Magicians, sorcerers, adulterers. God hates these things. And in that same category he says that if you are somebody who is messing up with your employees, I will count you as one of them. I'll count you as one of them and I will also deal with you as one of them. This is one of those. We think it is not a great sin. But then the Lord says be careful. Be careful in how you, how you live your life, how you deal with people who are under under us.
Speaker 1:The second one is defrauding. Defrauding to defraud is to deprive someone of something by deception or to cheat. In the biblical context, defrauding is considered a sin as it violates the principles of honesty, integrity and love for one's neighbor. In other words, how does God want us to deal with our neighbors, any other person around us? Love them, be honest and maintain some level of integrity Honest, be honest with the way you deal with them and have some integrity. The last two commandments kind of cover it.
Speaker 1:If you don't covet, if you do not bear false witness, that's integrity. If you're not coveting and all it's like, you're living honestly. What is yours is ours. You don't desire what doesn't really belongs to your belongs to your neighbor. If he has a car, I also should have a car. Some people have that idea. Right, that comes from hell, man. Yeah, people have. Like you know, if one brother buys a color television next week, we will take a loan or whatever it is, we should also have a. Yeah, look at your families, we'll find out, you know. I mean typical, typical way we say don't do anything like, don't do anything like that. Look at this. Exodus chapter one was eight to 14.
Speaker 1:This is how the Egyptians dealt with the Israelites and God hated the Egyptians. Because you know I mean you know they have this. When the Israelites have the Passover ceremony, they have the communion tray. They also have the wine and the bread and before they take the wine, they will take a few drops they actually take 10 drops and put it on the plate. They will take a few drops, they actually take 10 drops and put it on the plate. And why do they follow this custom? The custom is just to say that God for us to have this meal.
Speaker 1:The Egyptians were destroyed. Remember the 10 plagues that came upon Egypt, the Israelites? Even till now, they follow this ritual just to remind themselves that we are rejoicing that the Lord has delivered us, but we are not rejoicing that the Egyptians died. Understood, because who created the Egyptians? God. Who created the Israelites? God. They are grateful. The Israelites are grateful that the Lord has delivered them from Egypt. But we are not making fun. Or we are not rejoicing that an innocent Egyptian died, because the day when the Egyptian army drowned in the Red Sea, I think God cried Because even though they were bad, they are still the children of God. We don't understand the heart of God, but God is like that. Even those people who do bad, god still weeps for them and longs that they will repent and come to God. Let's just come to here.
Speaker 1:Egyptians never treated the Israelites properly. Look at this a new king who never really knew Joseph. He came into power, he spoke to all the others and he says come. We must deal shrewdly with the Israelites or they will become more in number, they will take side of our enemies and they will destroy us. Verse 11, 11,. So the Pharaoh put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor. He made them build cities. Israelites were oppressed and they made their lives bitter. Harsh labor, harsh labor, and they made them ruthlessly work. The words that are used is shrewdly oppressed, forced labor, bitter labor, harsh labor and ruthlessly treated. That's how Egypt treated Israel. Israel had a future, a bright future. Who stole that future? Egypt stole that future.
Speaker 1:You know the way we also treat others. We steal their future. Sometimes we steal the future of small children by the way we speak into their life. You are good for nothing and the child grows up thinking he is good for nothing. In a way, you stole his future. Man, the child has a bright future, great potential. You spoke some nasty words into their life. Or let's say, somebody who abuses a young child and the child lives with the trauma for the rest of the life. You stole the future of that child.
Speaker 1:The Lord says no, don't do that. It amounts to stealing, it amounts to injustice. Lord does not like it someday, like you know, when somebody is working very hard in your office and you want to really become big in your office. So the way you steal from him is defame that person, play that politics, spread some rumors here and there that person is kicked out and you take his position. If you do that, you stole somebody's future. You did injustice to somebody who was working hard. You know these are common things in our offices, right? These are common things in our places and they say that's the only way you can come up in your life. Really, that's not what the Bible says Honesty, integrity.
Speaker 1:Again, if you're working, if you're going through the life group textbook that you have, it gives three solutions how to have a clear conscience, how to prosper with a clear conscience Instead of stealing, how can you come up in your life? Three things, we will very quickly look into them. Number one is working. Number two is saving. Number three is praying. Let's look at them briefly. Number one is working.
Speaker 1:If you really want to come up in your life, really want to prosper in your life, really want to have a clear conscience in your life, the only way you can make it big in your life is by working hard. Be quiet, good, yeah, working hard, slog it out, come up to a position, position. You will earn the respect, you will have some satisfaction and the lord will bless you. I don't think you know. Personally, I don't feel people who use something like nepotism or bribery or some other means to come to a big position. I don't think there is any integrity in them, or even if they come and achieve something in their life, their hearts will condemn them. In their hearts they know they are crooks, right, but if you work hard and come up in your life, even if the world says something bad about you, your heart will say you worked. Your heart will say that you are genuine. And I don't think you know, anyone of us should even think about, like.
Speaker 1:You know, when some people come to me and say that you know they will start working only when they get the job of a manager, when they get the job of a CEO. Only then they will start working. They're not doing anything. They say, brother, I'm looking for a job. I say, okay, there's so many openings, man, for your qualification You'll get it. No, no, no, but I want to become the CEO. Then I will start working. You will never work in your life, man. If you have anything like that. You will never get a job in your life. Because I think the only way to succeed is start small, prove yourself, get a promotion, start small, prove yourself, come, come, rise up the ladder. Your family will respect you for that, your office will respect you for that, and not just that, and when you come to the top, you will also understand the struggle everybody goes through, whoever is under you. Because you came through that path, you will understand them and your co-workers also will respect you.
Speaker 1:Slog it out in your or become responsible in your life. Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 15. It says See that you walk carefully, living life with honor, purpose and courage, shunning those who tolerate or enable evil. Don't live like unwise people, but live sensibly, intelligent and discerning people. Walk among people like that Wise, intelligent, hardworking people. Or the same thing. In the Phillips version it reads something like this it says live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as people who do not know the meaning of life, but as those who do know the meaning of life.
Speaker 1:So, live a responsible life, believe me. Like you know when I was an inter, or like you know know when I passed out. I mean, there were few people, uh, few people. I asked, like what are you doing in your life? And everybody who failed in their examination, so everybody who didn't get their job. We always used to say we are in the air force. What does air force mean? Wherever the air is taking you, we are going that way we we don't have any jobs. We are sitting at home and eating food. No, no, no, no. Live a responsible life. That's what the Bible says Earn.
Speaker 1:I have known people I mean I have known brothers who took care of their sisters when their parents died. They got them married and they have respect. I have seen parents who sacrifice for their children. I have seen children who, like you know, took tuitions, who worked extra here and there and earned their own money because they don't want to be a burden to their parents. They have respect, man. They know what struggle is. You will not see these kind of people arrogant and proud in their lives. They will be humble. Somebody who prays a bribe and comes up in life, somebody who sweet talks, takes recommendations here and there or uses family connections or, I mean, comes up in a weird way, they will walk around arrogantly. They will never be really respected anywhere. Work hard and then come up in your come up in your life.
Speaker 1:The second one is saving. Oh, I like this one because I think, you know, in a culture like this, it talks about spending all the time and it talks about spending it immediately. You know you might disagree with me and it is okay, even if you disagree, that's perfectly all right. You know I don't believe in credit cards Because I think you know I mean they just take money out of you, and recently I got an Instagram whatever post telling that credit cards create more debt than anywhere. It's like a temptation to spend. You go walk into a showroom and it's like, wow, I want to buy everything. I believe in, like what you call debit cards. In the sense, spend from whatever you, whatever you have, you spend from there. And not just that if you are wise, you will save a little bit.
Speaker 1:Look at this Proverbs 6, verse 6 to 8, it says Go to the ant. Or other words, it says look at the ant man, look at the ant or sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief office or ruler. She prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. So what is it telling? The ant works during the summers, gathers a lot of food, stores it so that when the ice falls, the snow falls and all in the winter, it hibernates and eats its food. Nicely, right.
Speaker 1:So I believe that good times will not last for a long time. Bad times also will not last for a long time. Bad times also will not last for a long time. Why? Because seasons keep changing. So if you're in a good season, if you're doing well financially, career wise and all, don't just go around wasting money, spending money, flaunting all that you have. Save something, because when you go through a bad time, when you suddenly lose a job, when you suddenly go through a health crisis, you will have some money. You don't have to go stretching your hands telling, please give. You can have some self-respect, self-value and take care of yourself during your bad times right. Also, when you are in a nice, good position right now, don't think that position will be there forever. I have seen it in life Positions, power, authority is always fluid.
Speaker 1:Today it will be with you, tomorrow, without your knowledge, it will go to someone else. Today you can be on the top, tomorrow you might be nothing, or today you might be nothing. Tomorrow the Lord will lift you up and put you in a high position. So when you are in that high position of influence and power, don't act arrogant, don't just go bossing around, messing up the lives of people and all. No, no, no, no, no. When you are in power, make friends, help people. So when you do not have that power. You will have a great support system. People will respect you. People will be with you. People will come to lift you up again. The third and the final one, praying Mark, chapter 11. People will come to lift you up again. The third and the final one. Praying Mark, chapter 11, I like this one, mark, chapter 11, verse 24.
Speaker 1:There are times when I really struggle and provide everything for ourselves, but there are also times when we do not have those means. If you looked at the life group video you will talk about, you will see J John talking about how we gota house, did not have enough money, but when they prayed, suddenly the Lord provided from sources which they never really expected. I believe in that. I believe that the God whom we serve is Jehovah Jireh. He's a God who provides our needs. He asks us to work hard, but then there's things which are beyond us. He takes care of that. He gives us that grace, he gives us that provision. He makes sure that we are taken care of us in our.
Speaker 1:You know, look at the Israelites. Israelites 45 days in the desert they did not have food, but not one day they went hungry. 40 years they roamed around in the wilderness. Not one day they slept, hungry or thirsty. God took care of them, right? Look at Elijah, look at all the great prophets, either the crows or here or there, god took care of his people, all those people who sat in front of Jesus Christ, that 5,000 plus crowd. Jesus took care of them, right? You know the same Jesus says I know how to take care of the sparrow, I know how to take care of all these birds. They don't really worry. Are you not more important to me? Then Then them.
Speaker 1:Okay, mark, chapter 11, verse 24, reads like this. It's it says whatever things you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received them and they will be given to, given to you. I like this verse. Why? Because this verse has all the three tenses of english. It says whatever you have asked for in prayer, that's in the past tense. Maybe you prayed yesterday night, maybe you prayed today or like during the prayer time. Whatever you asked for, believe in the present that you have received it, and then it will be yours in the future. Powerful. That's faith. God will provide Three things. We have seen Three things by which we can live or prosper with a clear conscience. Number one work man. Work hard, then save from whatever you work. Be wise in the way you invest. Be wise in the way you use your finances and your money. And the third one pray For those areas where you lack in your life. Pray, and the Lord will provide you.