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Kalamazoo SDA Church

Systematic Benevolence

Daniel Ferraz

Systematic Benevolence- Part 1

Kind and loving Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for all your goodness this morning.

Father, we sense that fall is on its way, but we're asking just keep it back a bit longer.

And Lord, help Michigan to still get some more sunlight.

But Father, more than the sun's rays and the warmth that that brings, we need the sun of righteousness.

We need those rays of hope of Jesus and His love and His righteousness to break our hardened, sinful hearts and to turn us to God and to our Savior Jesus as never before.

Help us to understand that you are the giver of all good gifts.

And in our problems, and in our trials, speak to us this morning, I pray.

I read a story recently about a raven, and this raven came across a big container, and it had water in it.

Now the raven is thirsty, he's dying of thirst, and he doesn't know what to do.

He tries to get into the container, but it's too big.

I'm sorry, he's too big, and the container's too small, so he can't fit inside it to just go and drink some of the water that's lying at the bottom of the container.

And so the little raven thinks to himself, and so he goes and picks up a little stone, and he takes it with his beak, and he drops it in the container.

And he looks down and he sees the water and he still can't fetch any.

So he decides to get Another little stone.

And would you know that this raven kept on getting a stone, filling up that container until guess what?

And as the water level was rising, he could see that his plan was succeeding, and so he filled it up to the brim and the water was right there and he could drink and satisfy his thirst.

You know friends whatever problem you are facing I want to tell you today that there are many little steps that God wants to guide you in to help you to receive what God wants to bless you with.

It could be a job, it could be peace, it could be healing.

There are little steps that we can take And so often we don't want to take those little steps and trust in God.

We want to see things happen really fast and come our way.

We are in such a mentality of give it to me, give it to me now.

But you know, friends, 1 of the biggest problems that society is facing today is a prevalence or pervading of dissatisfaction.

They try to be happy chasing all kinds of things, but they're not happy.

And the title of the sermon is, Systematic benevolence equals systematic blessing.

There has to be a system in our life that we have to be broad in our reach.

And we need to understand that the things that we need the most, God wants to bless us with.

For happiness, for good, fulfilling relationships, for loving, For caring, for forgiveness.

God wants to bless us with all of these things.

But you know that stewardship does 1 thing.

When we talk about stewardship, we're understanding that we are small and God is great.

That we are His children, He is our Father.

And so everything that we need, guess what?

And people are searching for these things, but God just wants to give them to us.

You know, so often we deprive God of the blessings that he wants to give us.

And I wonder, is it because we're not faithful in the small things?

You know, we say that we don't have enough time.

You know, people are racing around, chasing their tails, picking up their kids, taking them to extracurricular activities, going here, going there.

Yes, you're planting, you're harvesting, you're canning, you're being a wife, you're being a teacher, you're being a husband, you're being a bread earner, and we don't have enough time.

But my question to you this morning is, are you resting enough on God's holy Sabbath?

You see, God wants to give us time, But it works in a way that doesn't seem to make much logic, humanly speaking.

And so we should give Him a portion of our time, amen?

And that portion is the seventh day Sabbath.

And we should understand and we should give it willingly, knowing that our Heavenly Father wants to bless us with more success in the time that remains.

And people are running around and they say they don't have any time.

And some would even say, is the Sabbath over yet so that I can do my own thing?

Friends, we're missing out on the amazing blessings that God has for us.

You know, I hear some people say they can't even afford gas in their car to come to church.

Where have you been driving around the rest of the week?

My point is that we seem to think that we can do a whole lot better without doing what God asks us to do.

We seem to think that we can get along just fine without following the guidance that God has given us.

We seem, and I see people, and I've done it myself.

We work without having a break, without having a rest, without having a vacation.

I know somebody who says he never rests, he can't.

Somebody is not receiving what the heavenly Father wants to give, and so often we hit our heads against a brick wall and we lose our health, we lose our wealth, and we think we can gain what we need in our own strength Without God's help.

You know, there are many areas of our life that God says, give them to me.

If our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, how will we treat our bodies?

I don't have time to go into the health message, but we need the health message today, amen?

Basically, a sermon on the health message is eat everything, whole grain, plant-based.

And do some exercise, fresh air and sunlight.

But we seem to think that we can do it, you know, our own way.

And we keep the sunlight out of our rooms.

But it's just to illustrate that the things that we want the most and need the most, God wants to give us.

If we would just give the portion that He requires.

Did you know that in our time He requires your time early in the morning?

He requires your time early in the morning.

Systematic Benevolence- Part 2

Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer as we begin.

Dear Father in heaven, we want to thank you for all your blessings to us.

Lord, we cannot begin to count or enumerate your great kindness and mercy towards us.

Father, you've given us the miracle of life.

Father, help us to enjoy that miracle day by day, moment by moment, and give you all the honor and glory.

Father, we're looking at part 2 of our sermons on stewardship.

And Father, stewardship is such a wonderful thing.

It's not just about money that we seem to have such a hard time letting go of.

But Lord, it's a realization that everything that we have comes from you, and we have the joy and the privilege of being grateful and thanking you for all of these blessings.

Father, I pray that you may inspire us today.

I pray that you may encourage anybody that may need encouraging.

I pray that your spirit may speak to us and speak through me, Lord, though I am sinful and unworthy.

I pray these things in Jesus' precious name.

We had a powerful look last time that we were here into the book of Malachi.

Malachi means messenger of God, and was probably written around 432 before Christ, the last book of the Old Testament.

And it is not a happy story about how God is feeling with regard to his people.

It was quite an amazing thing because typically as a pastor I would use, you know, these texts to show that, you know, we need to give tithes and offerings.

But the book of Malachi is really, if you see how it begins, you'll see that it begins with the burden of the word of the Lord.

And we saw, and I'd just like to summarize a little here, what we looked at last time, and we'll carry on.

And 8 times, no less, God brings His complaint to His people.

And 8 times His people retort back insolently, rudely, and in a manner that conveys a kind of an arrogant attitude in saying, what are you talking about, God?

They had no respect for God as their father.

They disrespected the holiness of the services, and their worship was empty and formal.

They didn't make a difference between what was holy and unholy.

They denied the fact that they were in apostasy and they denied that they were robbing God.

Does this seem to have a parallel in another book in the New Testament somewhere?

Did I hear or see somebody mouth the book of Revelation?

Last book of the Old Testament, last book of the New Testament.

There is a people, people of God, that are complaining, think they are rich, but are blind, naked, wretched, and poor.

But God being such a gracious God and a merciful God, in actual fact, what they had done as a people was they had broken the covenant.

They had broken their side of the bargain that would guarantee the blessings of God towards them.

Despite the fact that they had been negligent in all of these areas, God was saying, well, I'm still faithful, and it is because of my mercies that you are not consumed.

And he would still praise some of the Levites that were being faithful and that were presenting the law of God in the correct manner.

And I noticed, and we noticed that together, that God had many areas that he was displeased with his people on, but to bring them back, and as he calls to them, he says, repent and turn to me, he says, start your journey back towards me by returning tithes and offerings.

And so God in the face of his people's faithlessness says, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house, or food or provision.

Says the Lord of hosts, and there we get an idea of who he is, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough for you to receive it." God is a mighty God.

And we just heard in our map offering appeal that God owns everything and we are just stewards.

Friends we need to remind ourselves, I need to remind myself of that.

We are His stewards and He wants to bless us with more so that we can be more of a blessing to other people.

But he goes on then in Malachi 3, 10 to 12, and he says, a vine cast of fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts, and all nations shall call you blessed, for you shall be a delightsome land, says the Lord of hosts.

So here we see what God wants to do, or wanted to do for His people, and I believe still wants to do for His people.

At the bottom of the pile or at the top of the pile?

What does He want other nations to be doing?

Looking to God's people and saying, wow, what a poor bunch of, you know, Losers.

He wants to see people that are victorious and that are enjoying the blessings of God.

You know that the devil is always trying to get at us.

And many ways that He can get at us is through our health or through our wealth.

And you know it's an amazing thing isn't it?

It's an amazing thing that we can be afflicted by the devil.

And when we're doing God's will, and when we're coming to church, and when we're returning tithes faithfully, do you find that sometimes things seem to go wrong?

You know, I remember the time that I did, do you ever do a silly thing like put your cell phone on the roof of your car?

And I mean, that's not quite so bad as actually driving off with it still on top of the roof.

And you know, 1 time I received a call from my cell phone to the house phone.

And the person on the other side was saying, excuse me, is this your cell phone that I'm using?

Because I found it on the road just along Riverview.

And I said, yes, oh wow, And then I suddenly remembered, I remembered putting the cell phone on top of the car, I think it was on the trunk, and I drove off.

But anyway, this is just something that I'll never forget because he said, I have your cell phone.

There's just a little scratch on it, but it's okay.

And so I retrieved the cell phone, and when I realized how far away it had obviously traveled before it fell off the trunk of the car, it was 2 and a half miles.

It stayed there, and it fell on the road.

So, you know, cars going by could have smashed it, and then somebody finds it and has the intelligence to press home and call me and let me know.

And, you know, we could say that's a little simple thing, you know, coincidence, and yeah, you were lucky, but I say, praise the Lord.

And you see, that's an example, a very tiny example of how God can reprove the devourer, and how God can guard and watch over us, and even our possessions, so that we can be fruitful and that we can prosper.

So, you know, I really love the story of the Exodus.

I've been looking at the story of the Exodus, and this story, These words here, I will open for you the windows of heaven, reminds me of the children of Israel wandering in the desert of the wilderness of the Red Sea, as the Bible calls it, and God is raining down food for them.

This seems to be similar kind of language, wouldn't you agree?

And in fact, in fact, if you go to Malachi, the end of, I think it's chapter 4 there, you will see that God actually makes a reference to Mount Horeb.

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Systematic Benevolence

Systematic Benevolence- Part 1

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Systematic Benevolence- Part 1

52m

Systematic Benevolence- Part 2

52m

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