Demonstrations of Christian Love - Part 4

I'll call your attention to that old hymn we were singing, the Carl Ferma Foundation. Notice we were singing about deep waters. Deep waters. He calls us to go through deep waters, which are trials, difficulties, hard times. There are two kinds of Christians now, those who are coming out of deep waters and those who are going into deep waters. You may say, Pastor, I don't think I've gone into any deep waters yet. Well, you better be ready. You better be ready, because that's part of the Christian journey. I tell you, that hymn is loaded with truth. We're going to come back to that in the message.

Well, if you would, please take your Bible, turn back to Hebrews chapter 13. We will be in verses 1 to 6, but we will only cover verse 5 and verse 6. Now, about halfway through the message, I will get you to turn to 1 Timothy 6, verses 17 to 19. 1 Timothy 6, verses 17 to 19. Now, we have been starting off our study of these verses by asking two questions. What is the most important possession and pursuit in the Christian life? Another way of asking it. What should be our greatest pursuit and possession in the Christian life? Well, we know the answer. Jesus has told us.

Jesus says that our greatest possession and pursuit in life should be a supreme love for God, a love that is greater than any love that we could possess in life. And then a love for our neighbor as ourself should come right after. In Matthew 22, 37 to 39, Jesus says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, in Mark's account, he adds strength. He says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

And the second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And he goes on to say there is no other commandment greater than these. And remember how these two commands are connected, and they reveal one another. They tell off on one another. If we truly seek to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will desire and seek to love our neighbor as ourselves. That is because loving our neighbor is a natural result of loving our God supremely. And if we do not seek to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will not desire and we will not effort to love our neighbor as ourself.

And a faulty or a lacking, a defective love for our neighbor reveals a love for God that is faulty, defective, insufficient. But if we do seek to love God wholeheartedly, supremely, we will want to. We will desire to put forth the effort to love our neighbor. And that love for others is a demonstration of our love for God. That love for others will prove that we do wholeheartedly, supremely love our God. Of course, we are not perfect in these things. No, we are sinners. But this is who we are. This is our nature. This is truly who we are, who we want to be. I thought about it like this. Why do birds fly? Why do fish swim?

Well, it's because that is their nature. Think about it. Why do birds fly? Why do fish swim? Well, it's because that is their nature. And it is similar with the Christian now, the born-again variety. They want and seek to love God supremely and love their neighbor as themselves because that is a part of their nature. But this is because they have a new nature. This is because the new nature has come with the new birth. Romans 5.5 says, God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Of course, this takes place when we're born again.

Galatians 5.12 tells us that this love is a part of the fruit of the Spirit in the believer's life. That verse says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fruitfulness. So a part of the fruit of the Spirit of God in the believer's life is this love for God and love for their neighbor. This is their nature. And it is possible because the Spirit of God is within the heart, in the mind, in the life. And remember that we saw Jesus took things to another level by saying on these two commandments depend all of the law and the prophets.

This means that this supreme love for God and a love for our neighbor as ourselves encompasses all of Christianity. These two commandments comprise all of the Old Testament law, all of the old prophets, all of the teaching of Jesus, all of the teachings of the apostles, all of the New Testament. That is why these commandments, these exhortations in verses 1 to 13 are bound up to and come out of the first and second commandments.

So loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, I called it loving the brethren, loving the stranger among us or showing hospitality and loving the suffering in the church, even if there are brothers and sisters in prison, those loves and the service and sacrifice that comes out of those expectations all find their source and ability in loving God supremely and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

And loving and honoring marriage, especially our own marriage, and loving sexual purity, that love and the service and sacrifices that come out of those commandments and expectations all find their source, their ability in loving God supremely and loving our neighbors as ourselves. But we have a little more to go. And whereas the call to love sexual purity and to keep marriage pure is and was very personal and notice very private, this next command is very, very personal too, and it gets into something that can really make some people mad. If you think about it, there are things that I can preach about that can really make people the maddest.

Politics and money. Politics and money. Now before we get started I have a question, really two. Are you right with God in how you relate to money and possessions? Are you where you should be spiritually now in how you think about and how you relate to money and possessions? You may say, Pastor, hold on a minute. I tithe and I give. You've taught us well there. I pay my bills. I provide for my family. You may say, Pastor, we have a few hobbies. We have some extra, but I think we relate to money and possessions as we should. You may say, Pastor, I'm trying to walk with God there. Well, we will see. And I think we will all be tested here.

I think we will see that we'll all be proven here some, maybe more than we know, to see if we really do view and relate to money and possessions as God says we should. Now I have one more thing to say before we read the verses. I challenge you to receive what's taught this morning. This is a message that could be a little long, so sit up straight. But receive this now, even if it does make you a little mad. If it made you mad, remember, it's been making me mad all week. So, verses 1 to 6, let's read them again. Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.

Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and the adulterous. Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? Now this morning we will finish up our outline out of verses 1 to 6 by looking at Number 6, the call to love God's provision.

Number 6, the call to love God's provision. And of course we know this is all about demonstrations of Christian love. That's the title of the message. It's a part 4. If you hadn't gotten part 1, 2, and 3, you need to do so, because it all goes together. Demonstrations of Christian love.

First, getting into the attitude of the believer and then the behavior. And we will see that the attitude of the believer is reflective of their character, their very moral being, and then that all comes out in behavior. This reminds me of my dad. When I was a teenager, 13, 14, 15, right around there, there were times he would discipline me for my attitude. I can hear his words right now. He would say, son, your attitude stinks. Sometimes he'd grab me by the shirt sleeve, sometimes he'd grab me by the arm and yank me a little, but he would always look me right in the eye and he would grit his teeth and he would say, son, your attitude stinks.

And thinking back, many times that would happen when I hadn't done anything wrong yet. This is what was happening. My dad knew that my bad attitude reflected bad thinking. He knew my bad attitude reflected some bad thinking and he knew if it was all unchecked that would turn into bad behavior. Folks attitude reflects a way of thinking which is reflective of one's character, even their very moral being, and attitude and character always determines behavior. And that is what the author is dealing with here. Our attitude, our character, and behavior with money and possessions, but actually that which God has provided for us.

Now out of these verses I see two commands. One's negative and one's positive. They go together. And then I see two exhortations, which to me are very, very great encouragements for knowing how we should relate to money and possessions. And really these encouragements bleed over into all of life. So this call to love God's provision. So first notice the call to keep life free from the love of money. First notice the call to keep life free from the love of money. Now listen to how the different translations translate the beginning of verse five. The English Standard Version says keep your life free from the love of money.

The New American says let your character be free from the love of money. The Legacy Standard Bible says make sure your way of life is free from the love of money. So keep your life free. Let your character be free. Make sure your way of life is free from the love of money. Well what translation is right? Actually all of them. Your life, your character, your way of life come from a word in the original that means the manner of living. And it speaks of one's character, it speaks of their inner being, but this also speaks of one's way of thinking and also one's way and manner of living.

Vincent in his word study says this speaks of one's moral disposition, one's character. So we see that we are to keep one's character, one's disposition, one's way of thinking, one's way and direction and manner of living free from the love of money. This is a good example. Help me, it will help you I think. I don't gamble. Gambling of any kind, betting on football, playing the lottery, the slots at the casino, none of those things are a part of my thinking, none of those things are a part of who I am or my manner and way of living. Now sometimes my wife has a conference that's held at one of the casinos and sometimes I'll go with her.

Well when we walk by that part of the casino that has all of the gambling, we never consider gambling, because gambling is not a part of our thinking, it's not a part of who we are, it's not a part of our way of living, that's not even a temptation, although we may watch them and see them and comment on what we see, it is not who we are in any way, shape, form or fashion. Well here the author was calling these believers to keep their character, disposition, their way of living free from the love of money. Now the King James uses the word covetousness, which means not loving money, not loving silver actually.

And the only other time this word is used in the New Testament is 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 3, in the qualifications for the elder or the pastor, Paul says the elder must be not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. So being a drunkard, being violent, being quarrelsome, loving money should not be in his thinking, in his disposition, his direction and manner of living. And when we break down this word that's used in the original for covetousness, we really see the command, it's comprised of three parts. The prefix at the beginning is negative, so it means without or not.

And then next there in the middle is the Greek word phileos, which means loving or fond of. And then there's this word for silver or money. So the command is against covetousness in the form of loving money. He was calling them not to be fond of money in a sinful way. He was calling them to keep their character, their manner of living free from the love of money. And get this, this covetousness is not exclusive to money. Covetousness can be in the form of loving all sorts of wealth and possessions. John MacArthur sums it up by saying loving money is lusting after material riches, whatever the form is. So think about it.

We can love sinfully money, cars, houses, businesses, investments. We can love sinfully gold, silver, precious stones. We can just love money and more things in a sinful manner. We can covet sinfully all kinds of material riches and all kinds of forms. Think about the famous people in the Bible who were famous for their sinful love of money and material possessions. In Genesis 13, Lot loved prosperity and the potential for prosperity and gaining more and more above and beyond the plan of God. He did this when he chose to live near Sodom, which led him to living in Sodom. In Joshua 7, Achan loved and coveted those forbidden treasures.

He saw the beautiful garment, the silver and the gold, and he sinfully loved those things and he took them and he paid for it with his life. So did his family. In the New Testament, the greatest example of the lover of money is Judas. According to Matthew and John, he was trusted with the money bag that funded Jesus' earthly ministry. He stole money out of the money bag because he had a sinful love of money, and then he sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver. Why? Because he had a sinful love for money. While we have to get into Acts 5, we can't forget Ananias and Sapphira.

They loved sinfully money and prestige and position and how they lied about what they gave and they paid with their lives for their covetousness. So here we have this forceful call, because in the original it's forceful, not to sinfully love money, wealth and possessions. This is the call to keep one's inner being, one's thinking, one's manner and way of living free from the love of money. The Amplified says it well, let your character, your moral essence, your inner nature. I like that. Let your character, your moral essence, your inner nature be free from the love of money. Second, the call to be content with what one has.

This is the positive command, the call to be content with what one has. Now all the translations basically say the same thing. The English Standard says be content with what you have. But what does this word content mean? I started off by looking at what Webster says, Webster's Dictionary. He says, pleased and satisfied with what one has, not disposed to complain. And look church, we are going to see that complaining has a lot to say about our contentment. Or complaining and grumbling has a lot to say about our discontentment. But biblically, this speaks to quite a lot we need to see here.

In the original here, this word content, it means to be possessed of an unfailing strength, to be strong. It means to be enough. It means to be satisfied. It means to be satisfied with what one has. It means to be satisfied with the things that are content. One scholar I read said this has an imperative force. This means the author was calling these believers with boldness and with force to be satisfied with things.

with the way they are, to be content and to be strong in their contentment. And we see this same word, content, in the original it's pronounced archaio. We see this same word, content, archaio, in 2 Corinthians 12, when Paul was wrestling with and praying over the thorn in the flesh. In verse 9, Jesus says to Paul now, my grace is sufficient, archaio, my grace is sufficient, content, for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Now this is the point here. Jesus was calling Paul to see that he was to be satisfied, content, and even strong in his contentment, in his grace, in the circumstances he was given.

He was to be strong in his satisfaction and contentment in all things that were according to God's plan associated with the thorn in the flesh. Now back to Hebrews. In this contentment for us, I like how the Bible scholar Kenneth Woost explains it. He says, this refers to the believer's dependence on the Holy Spirit and is to be independent of outward circumstances. He goes on to say that the translation of with what you have is literally the things which are at present around you. And here in verse 5, this pertains to money, riches, material possessions. So notice what the author is commanding here.

He was not suggesting but forcefully commanding these believers to be satisfied and content but more. They were to be strong in their contentment and strongly satisfied in the things which were at present around them, which was the money and the possessions that God had provided. Now I want to pause right here before we get into the encouragements. And I want to look at these commands in a contrast we see here. Kind of stepping back. This negative command was strong. It still is. Keep your character, your nature, your inner being free from the love of money and a sinful manner. Keep your attitude, your thinking free from the love of money.

Keep your way and manner and direction of living free from the sinful love and money. But the positive command is strong. Be satisfied. Be content. Be strong in your satisfaction and contentment with the money and the possessions you do have that God has provided. Now notice the glaring contrast. This strong contentment and satisfaction in what one has is in stark contrast to loving sinfully money and possessions. Do you see the contrast? The strong contentment, the very strong satisfaction in what one has is in stark contrast to loving sinfully money and possessions.

Now at this point I really believe we need to go a little deeper to see if we are really strong in our contentment or strong in our discontentment. To me if we are discontent in what we have we're always complaining and grumbling about what we have. Our jobs, our income, our money, our homes, our cars, our possessions. We're always complaining about what we do have and we are complaining that we do not have enough. Our job, our income, our money is not enough. Our homes, our cars, our possessions, it's not enough. You may say, pastor you don't understand my job is terrible. You don't understand my car is a beater.

You might be thinking or saying, pastor we never seem to have enough money. You just don't understand my circumstances. Well I say, did God give you that job? Did God give you that car? Did God give you that house? Did God give you that income, that money? Did God give you the money and the possessions that you do have? But to me if we are content and strong in our contentment and what we do have, we are thankful for what we have. And we tell God we are thankful. We thank God for our job, our income, our money. We thank God for our house, our cars, and our possessions. In our very being we are thankful and that comes out.

It comes out, not in complaining, but thoughts of thankfulness, words of thankfulness, prayers of thankfulness. And you do this not just at the blessing at the table. I'm going to give you a personal exercise. This may make you mad, but not at me. Ask your spouse if you're a grumbler or a complainer. Ask them if you're thankful. You're either thankful or grumbling. Ask your spouse. Find a brother in the church, a sister in the church, brothers with brothers, sisters with sisters. Find one you are close to and ask them honestly, am I a grumbler, am I a complainer, or am I thankful? But brace yourself.

And if someone asks you, brother or sister, don't lie. Don't lie. You just may not have that better job. You just may not have that better car. You may not have a little more money because God knows you're not content and strong in your satisfaction with what you do have. Some of you need this sermon just for God to show you that you are strong in your discommitment. You're strong in your grumbling and complaining. Now before we get into the encouragements to me, we must look at a few bullet points of teaching that will keep us in the middle of the road. We can't get off in the ditch here. First, is money sinful? No.

The sinful love of money is a sin. Money is not a sin in and of itself. And there's some other verses I'm going to read. It'll help us here. Second, is money the root of all evil? You've heard that phrase. Money is the root of all evil. Well, that's not the case. 1 Timothy 6, verse 10. I'm reading the Amplified. It says, for the love of money, not money, for the love of money, that is the greedy desire for it and the willingness to gain it unethically is a root of all sorts of evil. So money is not sinful and money is not the roots of all kinds of evil and sin. The love of money is. Third, is being rich a sin? No.

That'll surprise some of you. Being rich is not a sin. Now this is where I want to read those 1 Timothy 6 verses. Verse 17 to 19. I've used these for years in counseling folks. 1 Timothy 6, 17 to 19. Paul's writing to Timothy at the church of Ephesus as he's a pastor and he says, As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

They are to do good, to be rich in good works or good deeds, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Here we see several very important commands. First of all, the command not to be prideful because of wealth. Second, the command not to put one's trust in wealth and riches. Next, the command to put one's hope in God and not riches. Fourth, the command to be rich in good deeds with one's wealth and money. Fifth, the command to be generous and ready to share with one's money and possessions.

Sixth, to make sure we store up heavenly riches. So money is not sinful, nor is it the cause of all sorts of evil. It is the love of money that is sinful and the root of all kinds of evil. And money can be a source of good. And it can be God's will that some be rich. Obviously there were rich people in the church in Ephesus. You know what one of my prayers is around here? That God will bring folks in the life of the church who love the Lord, they're mature believers and they're rich, and they'll use their riches for God's work. I know millionaires, millionaires, multi-millionaires, who are very very rich in good deeds.

I had a man tell me one time, say Pastor, our business is doing good. I hope I make a lot of money so I can give more away to missions. But let me turn it around. Fourth, does this mean we are to seek poverty? No. In Genesis 1.1, before sin came into the world, God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful. That meant have a lot

babies fill up the earth and he commanded them to subdue the earth to take dominion over the earth and to rule it does that sound like poverty and look at the book of Proverbs it's full of teaching about working hard saving money managing possessions and even accumulating wealth for the right purposes so having money and possessions is not sinful it is when it has you now these encouragements the author gives two wonderful reasons why we should keep our lives free from the love of money and why we should be content and very satisfied with what God has provided us so the first encouragement God will never leave or forsake us God will never

leave or forsake us look back at verse five keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have for he has said I will never leave you nor forsake you now here we can see that the author is quoting God saying for he has said but scholars point out that the quote that follows is not a direct quote from the Old Testament and this begs the question what is the author quoting here in verse 5 if it's not a direct quotation from the Old Testament now there's some discussion here with some different opinions you may run across that but I ran across what I think is the best way to view this it is best not to see this as a

direct quote from one particular place but a quote that references many different quotations from the Old Testament in Genesis 28 15 God told Jacob I am with you I will not leave you in Deuteronomy 31 6 and 8 near the end of his life Moses encouraged the Israelites saying for the Lord God goes with you he will never leave or forsake you in first Chronicles 28 20 David instructed Solomon in building the temple saying for the Lord my God is with you he will not fail you or forsake you so look at what we have here the author of Hebrews is loosely quoting the Old Testament but quoting God the author is showing these believers that God says to his

people I will never leave you nor forsake you but we need to see more here we need to see the intensity of this encouragement and this involves lots of repetition even lots of redundancy and it almost seems like the author would fail English in the original this he has said is in the intensive this means God has said not the writer of Hebrews said not even the writer of Hebrews said that God said the emphasis is on God the emphasis is on God God has said God has said but there's more God is fairly redundant here he says I will never leave you nor forsake you and we see the repetition here is for a purpose this word leave here in the English

standard the legacy standard the New American uses the word desert this is an interesting word in the original and it does not simply mean leave this means to send back to loosen to give up not to uphold and in the language scholars tell us it is preceded by two negatives which they say is meant to strengthen the statement so what this means here is this and you need to get this church in the original language it can truly and actually read I will not I will not cease to sustain you and uphold you if you write something down write that I will not I will not cease to sustain and uphold you but there's more this word forsaken the English

standard the legacy standard the New American says the same in the original this is one word comprised of three words and the meaning is that of forsaking someone when down and defeat the meaning is that of leaving or forsaking someone when they are helpless and in the middle of hostile circumstances one scholar unpacks it all saying like this the word in its totality means to abandon to desert leave in dire straits leave helpless leave destitute leave an alert let down and scholars tell us that this is preceded by three negatives which they say is meant to strengthen the statement so what we have here is this scholars tell us this can

actually mean I will not I will not I will not let you down leave you in the lurch leave you destitute leave you in dire straits leave you helpless and abandon you now that's a lot but step back and notice the greatness of this encouragement God has said the emphasis is on God now God has said God has said God has said I will not I will not cease to sustain and uphold you I will not I will not I will not let you down leave you in the lurch leave you destitute leave you helpless and abandon you and I bring all of this back around to the context of the teaching by asking why would we love money and possessions and not be content and very

satisfied with what God has given us why why would we why would we be discontent why would we worry when our God has said and is saying I will not I will not cease to sustain you and uphold you I will not I will not I will not let you down leave you in the lurch leave you destitute leave you helpless and abandon you folks when I got to this point in the message praying and studying I thought about it like this and some of you need this for some of you God is standing there near near to you saying I'll never leave you I'll never forsake you I will always provide your needs but you're off loving money and possessions you're running wild loving

money and possessions and for some God is standing there he's near he's saying I'll never leave you nor forsake you I have provided for you all your needs but you're grumbling and you're complaining against what I've already given you but I want to say one thing outside of the context of money and contentment and Luke church this 45 48 minute sermon may be worth this one truth so listen to your pastor you may be going through the trial and the difficulty of a lifetime and you feel like you just can't make it you may feel like God is a million miles away he's on the backside of the dark side of the moon God says God says God says I will not I

will not cease to sustain you and uphold you I will not I will not I will not let you down leave you in a lurch leave you destitute and abandon you and when you have those feelings that God has abandoned you take them to the cross crucify them and embrace the teaching of what we see here even if you don't feel like it it might not be good English but it works it ain't about what we feel the hymn we were singing earlier how firm a foundation listen to the words we were singing the soul though all hell should endeavor to shake I never no never no never forsake you know where the hymn writer got that repetition he got it right out of the

original text he was leaning on the teaching of verse 5 and look folks if you were here and you're grappling with feelings and thoughts and even conversation of God's not near he's abandoned me I don't feel like he's with me die to that divorce yourself from those feelings get into what we see here and realize I will not I will not cease to sustain you and uphold you I will not I will not I will not let you down leave you in a lurch leave you destitute and abandon you that's what God says and again the whole message may be just for that the second encouragement God is our helper verse 6 God is our helper so we can confidently say the Lord is

my helper I will not fear what can man do to me now to me it's almost as if the author is saying now because of all of this we can confidently say the Lord is my helper well that is what the original language is saying it says so that are because of all of this we can have courage we can have confidence in our God and he goes on to say why and notice he's quoting

118 verse 6 which says the Lord is on my side I will not fear what can man do to me now church look at how this relates to our approach to money and possessions why should we love money and possessions our Lord is our helper why should we complain and grumble about what we do have or what we do not have our Lord is our helper don't you see if we are complaining and grumbling about what we do have and what we don't have we are treating God as if he is a miser and not our helper and you know what you're grumbling and complaining is revealing that you have a sinful love of money if you did not you would not complain you would be content and very

satisfied in what God has provided Leon Mars says where the love of money is people can never have enough but notice how there is encouragement upon encouragement he says we can confidently say the Lord is my helper I will not fear and why should God's people fear God has said I will never leave or forsake you so why should his people fear and there is more he says what can man do to me and why would God's people concern themselves with the threats of man God has said I will never forsake his people so why should his people concern themselves with sinful men so church we can tentatively say the Lord is my helper I won't fear too bad you know

that's what some of you say by what you live you tentatively say the Lord is my helper so I won't fear too bad look I hope you realize that some of you some of us because I've fallen into this trap too sometimes we act like God is a paper tiger instead of the lion of the tribe of Judah so these encouragements and our contentment and trust in God he has said he will never leave us or forsake us and we could confidently say the Lord our Lord is our helper I will not fear man can do nothing to me now I want to quickly close by coming all the way back around to how we've introduced these verses each week in Matthew 22 37 to 39 Jesus says you

shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind this is the great and first commandment and a second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself now church listen to your pastor notice that this call to love the provision of God has nothing to do with our neighbor but this has everything to do with God you see that this call to love the provision of God has nothing to do with our neighbor but has everything to do with God and I close by showing how one tails off on the other and the depth of the possibility of sin here if we love God supremely if we love God wholeheartedly as we should we

will be content and satisfied with God's provision in life we won't chase after money and possessions sinfully we won't worry about money and possessions we won't complain about what we don't have and what we do have if we love God supremely like we should we will be content and very satisfied in his provision because we are very confident and satisfied in him you see loving God supremely loving God wholeheartedly is tied to being very content and satisfied with the provision of God in life and God himself how are you doing here how are you doing here remember now this is personal might make you mad and look at the depth of the sin here I've

already alluded to it I touched on it if we do not love God wholeheartedly therefore being content and satisfied with this provision we sin against that which God has provided and we sin against him we sin against him and I think all of us have quite a lot to pray over and maybe repent of so the call to love God's provision this is all about demonstrations Christian but let's pray