Sunday’s message was on God’s provision.  There are at least a couple of ways to go with thinking about being provided for…you could say that God is going to give us what He will give us…or you could say God will direct us, empower us, and so on until we get what we need.  On one hand, we expect God to materialize what we need, and on the other hand, we expect that we need to get up and go get what we need.  Both ideas are valid, but I think the most common experience of God’s provision is usually a combination of both divine and human activity.

Take for instance that we want God to provide for us at Team Church in specific ways.  We want to reach people where they are and lead them to full devotion in Christ.  In order for that to be provided, it’s going to take divine intervention.  No way around this one!  God is the only one with transformitive power to get someone out of bed and on the way to a worship service when it’s not part of their nature or routine.  On the other hand, it’s going to take Team Church folks doing something too.  People get up and go setup the gym starting at 8 am.  The band has rehearsed, the messages are prepared, greeters have on their smiles.  All this and more is done in faith and obedience prior to that newcomer walking through the door.

Now think about that man, woman, or child who was lying in their bed.  They haven’t been close to God, but something is going on in their lives that made them lie awake and pray…“God if you’re real, if you’re there, show me.” In essence they need God to provide for them.  God has provided a warm inviting and inspirational meeting place at Team Church, but they need to go!

Do you see how all this divine intervention and human activity leads to awesome provision?  Out of Genesis 22 I saw that God was pleased to provide for Abraham when he

• Acted in Faith
• Withheld Nothing
• Obeyed right away.

For God to be Jehovah Jireh…which means the God who provides, are you acting in faith today?  Are you withholding some area that needs to be released completely to God?  Sometimes we can’t move on, until we let go.  And are you obeying God right away, or do you trust Him only as a last ditch option?

This Sunday I’m wrapping up the Once Series.  Over the last weeks, I’ve learned about what happened that caused people to experience God as…

• Jehovah Shammah…God who is there for me
  
• Jehovah Shalom… God who is my peace
• Jehovah Nissi…God who is my banner, or my encouragement

and now this Sunday ends with…

• Jehovah Jireh…God who is my provider
  (by the way you can hear Sunday’s message below)

The cool thing about it all is that we’re all experiencing the same God, and yet he can respond to us in many ways.  Of course it’s not that God has a multi-personality disorder or anything like that.  Rather God is everything we need at the exact time we need Him!

I’ve personally experienced God as my discipliner, my comforter, my teacher, my encourager and so on.  He’s made me laugh and cry, He’s mended my brokeness, and broken me too.

I’m looking forward to this Sunday because I want to tell you how God is our provider.  The only time in the Bible that God is called Jehovah Jireh, which means God, our Provider, is when Abraham took his special son up a mountain to sacrifice the young man.

God had promised Abraham that the world would be blessed through this special son.  But then God tested Abraham by telling him that he needed to kill his child.  I know that sounds really rough, but remember that God knew what He was going to do in the end.

Still Abraham had a hard choice to make…trust God to provide even though it didn’t make complete sense to him, or defy God and make it on his own.

Each of us have choices to make in life.  Some even come down to life and death for us.  If we trust and obey God we will experience Him as Jehovah Jireh.

See you Sunday!