June 23, 2025 • 32 mins
Today we look at Proverbs 10:22 and the profound truth about the nature of God's provision that many believers overlook.
When Israel crossed the Jordan River, God didn't just part the waters—He completely dried the ground beneath their feet. This wasn't merely practical; it revealed God's character. He doesn't give partial blessings or halfway solutions. From creation to salvation, from feeding thousands to healing the sick, God's work is always complete.
Yet many of us approach prayer with a scarcity mindset, afraid to ask boldly or expecting God's gifts to come with hidden troubles attached. We've forgotten who we're praying to—the eternal, limitless God who exists outside creation's framework while intimately working within it. The God who made you in His image, who calls you beloved, who gave His only Son for your salvation.
The way we pray reveals what we believe about God. Do we trust Him as the giver of good gifts? Do we believe His blessings truly come without sorrow? When Jesus healed, He didn't leave people needing further treatment. When He fed crowds, everyone ate until satisfied with baskets left over. When He saved us, He didn't just rescue us from hell but gave us abundant life and seated us with Him in heavenly places.
God delights in your bold requests that bring glory to His name. Whatever situation you're facing, He wants to walk through it with you, providing in ways that exceed your imagination and create opportunities for testimony. Your prayers don't need to be timid—approach Him confidently as a child who knows their Father gives perfectly good gifts.
Contact us at redeemingthelost@icloud.com or visit gbtministries.com to share how this message has impacted you.
NEW BOOK! I'm pleased to say that we have completed a new book that has been years in the making. The Ten Shirot: Songs of Redemption looks at ten songs that were sung through pivotal times in Scripture. It's an examination of the redemption of Jesus, of worship, and of Scripture in a way that we believe you probably haven't seen before. Check it out at https://a.co/d/0a4KIooL .
The Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast is a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're located at 121 Arborside Lane in King, NC and we can be reached at welcome@gracebaptisttabernacle.org. Please continue to share these episodes, and please consider coming to visit our church. We are excited and expectant for you to come!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome to the Redeeming Love Bible broadcast.
My name is Phil Duddy,evangelist with Grace Baptist
Tabernacle of King, northCarolina, excited to have you
with me on the program today aswe unfold Proverbs, chapter 10,
verse 22.
Please do reach out to us atredeemingthelostedicloudcom.
We would love to hear from you.
So let's go over to the book ofProverbs and chapter 10, verse
(00:40):
22.
The blessing of the Lord.
It maketh rich and he addeth nosorrow with it.
And so today we're going to beunfolding this one sentence from
the Word of God and we're goingto be in both the Old Testament
and the New Testament.
But this is going to kind of bean anchor verse and there's
going to be a lot that gets saidin this message.
(01:03):
It's a big message and the Lordwants you to hear this because
this is going to impact yourrelationship with Him and your
circumstances and yourrelationships with other people
as well.
And so very, very personalmessage today.
But we're starting with theblessing of the Lord and need to
(01:26):
look at whose blessing this is,whose goodwill this is, whose
favor this is.
This is the favor of the Lord,and you'll notice that Lord is
in all capital letters.
This is the favor of I Am.
This is the favor of I am, thisis the favor of the only real,
(01:49):
true living God.
And this is the favor and theblessing of the God who created
time, the God who createdcreation, the God who created
nature, the God who created theheavens and the earth, the God
who formed your body out of thedust of the earth, the God who
(02:13):
made you in his image.
He made you with a soul and hemade you with a mind and he made
you with a body.
He made you in his image.
He made you particularly.
He made you the way he wantedyou to be.
He made you exactly.
You know exactly how he madeyou, because that's what he
(02:37):
wanted to do, because he is theLord, he is God, he is King.
This is the God who is love.
This is the God who is holiness.
This is the God who is truth.
This is the God who is justice.
This is the God who you look atit in the Old Testament, he only
(02:58):
really ever describes who he is.
He gives descriptions,descriptions of who he is, and
he gives descriptions of who heis because he wants you to know
who he is, because this God hasno limits, every physical limit
that we experience, everylimitation of our body, every
(03:22):
limitation of time, everylimitation of space, every you
know limitation of physics andyou know physics and science
describes it.
But everything you know, theentire framework of how you and
I go about our lives in thisworld.
God's the one who made thatabout our lives in this world.
(03:49):
God's the one who made that andGod's the one who exists
outside of that.
And God is the one whointeracts with us as we are
living in that.
So God made the entireframework of creation.
God exists outside the entireframework of creation.
He's not limited or bound by itand yet, at the same time, he
(04:10):
interacts with us as we are init, and he describes who he is.
Even the Lord came when he wasborn.
And Jesus, the only begottenSon of God.
You notice how he startsdescribing himself.
He's Jesus.
His name translates to Savior.
He's the only begotten Son ofGod.
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He is the way and the truth andthe life.
He is the resurrection and thelife.
This is how God introduceshimself.
He introduces himself by simplydescribing who he is in ways
that we can tangibly know andunderstand.
And so the blessing of the Lord.
This is the one who's givingthe blessing, and we cannot take
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any of this message outside ofthat context.
We can't take the Lord'sblessing, we can't take prayer,
we can't take prosperity.
We cannot take those things outof the context of the Lord who
is giving them, out of thecontext of the God who is giving
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them, out of the context of aGod who, if you're saved and
born again today, a God who isin the most intimate and
personal of relationships withyou right now, we can't take
anything that the Lord says ordoes outside of the context of
(05:37):
that relationship, who he is andwho he has made you and I to be
as born-again men, women andchildren, who he has made us to
be as the church, who he hasmade us to be as his adopted
sons and daughters, as kings andpriests in his kingdom, as
(06:00):
beloved, as brethren, as saints,as the church.
And that's all from the NewTestament, my friend.
But the reality is we can't takeprayer outside of that context
and we can't take the gifts ofGod outside of that context.
(06:20):
We can't take the blessings andwho are we praying to and who
has he made us to be in him?
And so the blessing of the Lord, and the proverb starts to
unfold what that is and what itdoes.
It makes rich and he addeth nosorrow with it.
(06:45):
So God gives good things andthose things that God gives us,
he gives us, he's a giving God,he's a loving God, he's Abba,
he's Father, he gives and hegives good gifts.
He gives the Holy Spirit and hegives good gifts.
He gives the Holy Spirit.
You know, scripture tells usthat Jesus, god, gave his only
(07:19):
begotten Son, and then Jesusgave the Holy Spirit.
He's a giving God, he gives andhe gives and he gives and he
gives good things, and it makethrich, it profits us and,
furthermore, he doesn't add anysorrow with it.
And so, with that in mind, I'mgoing to come back to Joshua,
joshua, chapter 3, in verse 17.
(07:41):
And this is a momentousoccasion in the history of
Israel.
The Lord is getting ready andhe's leading them.
He's leading Israel underJoshua.
And so Moses has gone to bewith the Lord at this point, and
Joshua has been raised up tolead Israel.
And the Lord is leading all ofthem across the Jordan, and
(08:06):
they're going to.
They're going to be going toJericho very, very shortly, but
first he's leading them over theJordan, and I want to draw your
attention to one detail here,chapter 3, verse 17.
And the priests that bear theark of the covenant of the Lord
stood firm on dry ground in themidst of Jordan and all the
(08:30):
Israelites passed over on dryground until all the people were
passed clean over Jordan.
And so Jordan is a river andthe scripture tells us it was at
a flood tide at that point andGod brought them over the river.
God stopped up the river andthis was reminiscent of how God
(08:55):
had brought the people throughthe Red Sea out of Egypt.
And in both occasions I want todraw your attention to
something they came over on dryground.
Now, jordan is a river, and ifGod had just stopped off the
(09:16):
water, you know, my friend, youknow if the water had just
stopped naturally and this is alittle detail, but it's a huge
detail Notice that there was nomud when God brought these
people over.
He brought these people over.
(09:37):
When God stopped up the Jordan,he didn't just stop the water,
but the ground was dry.
The people did not have to walkover the mud.
And if you've ever tried to doanything in mud, if you've tried
to walk in it, if you've triedto run in it, if you've tried to
build things in it, if you'vetried to work in it, if you've
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tried to drive through it,you've got to deal with the mud.
You get stuck, you slip and youslide.
And we're talking about a fewmillion people walking over a
river in roughly the same place,and yet they walked over.
And this is how deep God wentwith this action that he took.
(10:21):
This is how deep God went.
He considered the fact that hewas going to bring them over on
dry ground and so, god being God, he didn't just stop the water,
but he dried the ground to makeit easy for the people to pass
over.
They could just walk right overand, what's more, they could go
(10:44):
back in and they could get 12stones and they could bring the
12 stones up out of the riverand they could make and leave
those stones there as stones ofremembrance for what God did
that day.
But, my friend, god broughtthem over and there was no mud
for them to slip, there was nomud for them to trip.
(11:06):
There was no mud for them totrip, there was no mud for them
to get stuck, there was no mudto hinder the progress, to slow
them down.
But no, God didn't.
He dried up that river,temporarily dried it up so that
these people could walk throughand, in doing so, know that he
(11:29):
is God.
So he expresses who he is andwhat he does.
He didn't just sort of dry itup and stop the river and say,
okay, now struggle on over andtrip and fall and have this
whole mess.
No, he brought them over on dryground.
This is the kind of God, who heis.
(11:51):
And if you look at all the,there's so many examples of this
.
Go all the way back to creation.
God didn't just make a goodcreation, he made a creation
that was very good when heparted the Red Sea and the
people walked over on dry landthrough the Red Sea.
(12:14):
They walked over on dry land.
He didn't just do that, but Godhad a personal interest in
defeating Egypt.
You look at, you know, in thedays of Elisha there was a widow
who needed to pay a debt andGod didn't just give them enough
(12:36):
to pay the debt.
He gave them enough to pay thedebt.
I believe it's in 2 Kings 4.
He gave them enough to handlethe debt, to pay off the debt,
and told them to live on therest.
If you look at the life of Jesus, there were two separate
occasions in which Jesus fedcrowds, and there was one crowd
(12:59):
of 5,000, there was anothercrowd of 4,000.
But he took a few loaves ofbread and a few fish and he fed
those crowds On both occasions.
He didn't just give the peoplea few bites of food.
They ate as much as they couldand on both occasions there were
leftovers.
(13:20):
There were entire baskets fullof leftovers.
There was an abundance.
And whenever the Lord wouldrestore someone's sight at the
end of the healing, thatperson's sight was completely
restored.
Whenever the Lord healedleprosy at the end of the
healing, the leprosy was fullyhealed.
Whenever the Lord healed palsy,at the end of the healing, that
(13:44):
person got up and walked andgot up and ran and got up and
jumped and got up and leaped andgot up and worshipped Fever.
Whenever fever was healed,fever was fully healed.
And whenever leprosy was healed, leprosy was all the way healed
.
Whenever devils were driven out, devils were fully and
completely driven out.
(14:05):
Whenever the dead were raisedto life, they were fully and
completely raised to life.
Now, friend, what I'm getting athere is that God doesn't do
anything halfway.
God doesn't give you a halfwayblessing.
He doesn't give you a blessing.
(14:27):
That's only kind of a blessing.
He doesn't give you a blessingthat's only sort of a blessing.
He doesn't give you a blessingthat is going to give you a
blessing.
That's only kind of a blessing.
He doesn't give you a blessing.
That's only sort of a blessing.
He doesn't give you a blessingthat is going to give you a
whole lot of sorrow and a wholelot of trouble and a whole lot
of anxiety along with it.
No, god gives you simply goodthings.
They are good and they'recompletely good and they're
(14:48):
totally and they're completelygood and they're totally good
and they're utterly good andthey're wholly good and they're
entirely good.
They are perfectly good becausethat is the heart and that is
the nature of our God.
He doesn't give you junk.
He doesn't give you trash.
He doesn't give you thisgarbage.
(15:11):
He doesn't give you anythinglike that.
No, he gives you good things.
He gives you things that aregoing to benefit you.
He gives you things that aregoing to enrich you.
He gives you things that aregoing to bless you.
He gives you things that arenot going to weigh you down
later.
He gives you things that aregoing to grow.
He gives you things that aregoing to be.
He gives you things that aregoing to be fruitful and
(15:32):
prosperous.
This is the kind of God that heis.
And so, my friend, when we pray,we need to pray in light of who
God is.
We need to pray in light of hisnature, his authority, his love
.
We need to ask because, youknow, the Lord tells us to ask.
(15:53):
The Lord tells us ask, seek andknock.
The Lord tells us ask and itwill be given to you.
The Lord says that you know.
Whatsoever you ask in his name,you're going to receive it, so
that he will receive glory, hisname will be glorified on the
earth.
We've got a God who has athrone of grace and he tells us
(16:19):
come before the throne of grace.
You're going to find mercy,you're going to find grace to
help in your time of need.
We've got a God who not onlyknows what we need before we
need it, but at the same time,he wants us to ask.
And, my friend, there's areason for that Because nothing
(16:43):
is given and nothing is doneoutside of the context of your
relationship with God when itcomes to prayer.
You have Christian brother,sister around the world.
You have a relationship withGod that God initiated, god
started and God forged, godcreated, god took you and God
(17:15):
saved you and God gave you hisHoly Spirit.
God applied his blood to you.
God forgave your sin was all ofa sudden forgiven.
Your sin was under Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ died your death.
Jesus Christ rose again from thedead.
You're alive in him.
You have eternal life.
You've got the Comforter with acapital C.
You've got the Holy Spirit.
You're in relationship with God.
God talks with you, god leadsyou, god walks with you, god
(17:41):
delights in you, god loves you.
God cannot and will not everforget you.
God knows you and he isfaithful to you.
He's your husband, he's yourheir, he's your husband, he's
your heir.
He's your king, he's your Lord,he's your God, he's your
provider, he's your protector,he's your great high priest.
He has brought you into aprecious, precious, precious
(18:05):
relationship with him, and whenwe pray, our prayer occurs
within that relationship, withinthat love relationship.
And so let us ask, knowing andtrusting the nature of the God
(18:26):
who we're asking.
You know and we have it inJames that you know, you ask and
you have not because you'reasking to consume it on your
lust.
That's not what I'm talkingabout.
That's a separate thing,because God will not honor
anybody who's asking him forsomething so we can go and
consume it on our lust.
That's not who God is.
But what I'm telling you, myfriend, is that God is an
(18:49):
abundant God, god is a givingGod, and we ask in faith, we ask
knowing him, we ask knowingthat God delights in blessing,
that God gives good things andthat what God gives is perfect
and good.
What God gives is perfect andgood.
(19:10):
It's perfect and good.
And so, you know, when we ask,you know, just go back through
those examples again to show youthis Take the loaves and the
fishes.
Jesus didn't just give them acouple bites, jesus gave them as
much as they could eat andleftovers.
(19:32):
Take, you know.
You know devils driven out.
They weren't only driven outfor an hour, they were driven
out completely.
The restoration of sight to theblind, you know.
You know Jesus did that onmultiple occasions with multiple
people, and those people didn'tneed glasses afterwards.
(19:52):
My friends, you know this is aGod and he's our God and he
loves us and this is the type ofthing that he gives.
And so let's ask in boldness,let's ask fully, let's ask not
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just for enough to get by, butask knowing that God gives
abundance, knowing that Godgives abundance.
Because, my friend, to ask foryou know a halfway answer, to
ask, you know, just forsomething that'll, you know,
(20:36):
just kind of get you by and getyou through the day, my friend,
that brings no glory to the nameof God, because that's not who
God is and that's not what Godwants you to have.
God wants you to be filled.
And look at your salvation.
(20:58):
God didn't just save you fromhell and leave you to struggle
through this life.
Absolutely not.
And so let's not pray that waywhen it comes to our needs.
Let's not pray that way when itcomes to the needs of other
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people.
Let's not pray that way when itcomes to the desires of our
heart before the Lord.
Let's not pray that way when itcomes to anything, because your
salvation and the salvationthat God has so richly provided
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for, whosoever will believe onthe name of the Lord, jesus
Christ, he didn't just save youfrom hell, he did, but he didn't
stop there.
The gift of God is eternal lifethrough Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And Jesus himself would say youknow John, chapter 10, I'm not
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come, you know, to steal, hecomes to steal and to kill and
destroy.
But Jesus has come so that youmight have life and have it
abundantly.
Jesus would say you know inother places, you know, if you
believe on him, his yoke is easyand his burden is light.
(22:30):
Out of your belly shall comerivers, not just a little
trickle, not just a littlestream, but rivers, rivers of
living water.
And so, my friend, you have thefullness of the Holy Spirit.
(22:52):
You have the Lord is giving andgiving, and giving and giving
and giving.
My friend, you have everyspiritual blessing.
In heavenly places.
You are seated with JesusChrist, right now, this moment,
in heavenly places, your life ishid with Jesus Christ.
(23:15):
You've got promise afterpromise after promise in the
future, and you've got abundanteternal life right now, with a
standing command.
God tells us ask.
God tells us ask and you'llreceive.
God tells us ask and seek andknock, god tells us.
(23:38):
He tells us this is who I amand this is the one you're
asking.
And you've got a standing withme.
You are beloved in my sight.
I love you, I love you, I loveyou, I love you and I love to
give you good things.
(24:00):
And so, my friend, let us notfall short and treat God as if
he doesn't, because he's not ahalfway sort of a God.
And so, my friend, you know,ask him, knowing who he is.
And so, my friend, you know,ask him, knowing who he is, ask
(24:23):
him knowing who he has made youto be.
Ask him, pour out the desiresof your heart.
My friend, ask him knowing thatwhatsoever you ask in his name,
you will receive.
You will receive, so that theFather may be glorified.
(24:48):
God desires you to ask and Goddesires to you know, the phrase
in America is answer to prayer.
You know, answer to prayer.
He desires to answer prayers insuch a way that he is glorified
, in such a way that he isglorified on this earth.
And so, no, he's not going togive you some junky answer to
(25:09):
your prayer.
So, no, he's not going torebuke you for asking something
in his name.
This is the God, you know, hisHoly Spirit he gave.
He's the one who gave usProverbs, chapter 10, verse 22.
And he's the one who said youknow, the blessing of the Lord,
my blessing, makes rich and Idon't add any sorrow with it.
(25:31):
This is the God who said that.
And so, my friend, when we pray, pray knowing who he is Pray,
trusting who he is Pray,trusting that God is not going
to give you anything that hedoesn't want you to have.
God gives you good things, myfriend, and so let's approach
(25:59):
him that way, let's pray thatway, knowing that he gives good
things.
And if you want to know, youknow what's the number one
example of a gift that God hasgiven.
His name is Jesus Christ.
God gave his only begotten son,his only begotten son, his only
(26:21):
begotten son.
God gave everything that Godcould possibly give.
God didn't hold anything back.
Fully God and fully man at thesame time.
(26:43):
Fully God and fully man.
And when Jesus was ministeringwe've heard about some of the
things that he did he fullyrestored sight to the blind.
He fully healed leprosy.
He fed people, he raised peoplefrom the dead on several
occasions, my friend, he caredfor people, he ministered to
(27:08):
people.
There are times, you know,multitudes came and Jesus healed
the diseases.
Jesus drove out the devils.
He took our infirmities onhimself and he drove them out.
He drove them out, he drovethem out.
He ministered to them,ministered to them, ministered
to them.
And we look at the cross, myfriend.
He took all of our sin.
(27:30):
He didn't just take some of it,he didn't just take the really
gross sin, he didn't just takethe really little sin, really
gross sin.
He didn't just take the reallylittle sin, no, he didn't take
some of it, he took all of it.
He didn't just almost die, hedid die.
He didn't somewhat raise fromthe dead, no, he fully raised
(27:53):
from the dead and he's alivetoday, my friend.
So if you haven't heard anythingtoday, hear this that God gives
a fullness whenever God gives,god gives good gifts, and so
take him the desires of yourheart, my friend.
This is the God who we'retalking about and Christian
(28:17):
brother and sister in Christ.
This is the God who saved us,this is the God who gave us his
Holy Spirit, this is the God wholoves us and this is the God
who delights in us asking anddelights in us trusting and
delights in us seeking, and thisis the God who delights in
(28:39):
giving us good things.
And so thank you so much forbeing with me today.
I pray that this has been areal blessing to you, my friend,
a real encouragement to you.
You know, again, I've tried tokeep it sort of intentionally
vague because there are so manylisteners in so many different
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situations around the world, inso many different nations.
As I record this, we're inapproximately 60 separate
nations outside of the UnitedStates and I'd love to hear
about you.
I'd love to hear from you.
I'd love to pray with you.
So let me know, you can contactus here at the program.
(29:23):
You can contact, you know,we're a ministry of Grace
Baptist Tabernacle in King,north Carolina.
You can contact us atredeemingthelostedicloudcom.
You can also reach us inseveral ways through our website
, gbtministriescom.
You'll find.
That's where our service timesare.
(29:44):
That's where our location is.
You can find a phone numberthere.
You can call us on the phone.
We would love to hear from you,my friend.
I'd love to hear how we can praywith you, how the Lord is
moving in your life, and so,whatever situation is going on
in your life, my born againbrother and sister in Christ,
(30:06):
whatever situation's going on,god knows it, god loves you in
it and God ministers to you init.
God will minister to you and heseeks, he's looking for you to
walk together through yoursituation with Him.
He's looking to lead youthrough your situation and, as
(30:31):
he does, you're going to grow inrelationship with Him.
You're going to grow deeperwith Him.
You're going to grow deeperwith him.
You're going to grow closerwith him.
You're going to have atestimony to share with other
people.
God's name and God's nature isgoing to be glorified through
you and it's going to beglorified through you and other
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people are going to see it.
Other people right around youare going to see it and you're
going to get an opportunity totestify.
You're going to get anopportunity to introduce people
to Jesus and, my friend, it's aglorious thing because the way
God will bring you through yoursituation is better than
(31:14):
anything the world could offer,better than anything you know
you can come up with in yourimagination.
But God's way and God's wisdomand God's love and God's
holiness is so much sweeter andso much better than anything
(31:35):
this world could ever offer, andI pray that this has been an
encouragement to you.
So go before the Lord, myfriend, ask, seek and knock.
Ask in the name of Jesus, andthis is something that Jesus
said.
You know whatsoever, you ask inmy name, you're going to
receive it, so that the Fatherwill be glorified on this earth.
(31:59):
And so, friend, thank you somuch for being here with me
today, and may the Lord continueto richly, richly bless us.
Amen, thank you.
Welcome to the Redeeming Love Bible broadcast.
My name is Phil Duddy,evangelist with Grace Baptist
Tabernacle of King, northCarolina, excited to have you
with me on the program today aswe unfold Proverbs, chapter 10,
verse 22.
Please do reach out to us atredeemingthelostedicloudcom.
We would love to hear from you.
So let's go over to the book ofProverbs and chapter 10, verse
(00:40):
22.
The blessing of the Lord.
It maketh rich and he addeth nosorrow with it.
And so today we're going to beunfolding this one sentence from
the Word of God and we're goingto be in both the Old Testament
and the New Testament.
But this is going to kind of bean anchor verse and there's
going to be a lot that gets saidin this message.
(01:03):
It's a big message and the Lordwants you to hear this because
this is going to impact yourrelationship with Him and your
circumstances and yourrelationships with other people
as well.
And so very, very personalmessage today.
But we're starting with theblessing of the Lord and need to
(01:26):
look at whose blessing this is,whose goodwill this is, whose
favor this is.
This is the favor of the Lord,and you'll notice that Lord is
in all capital letters.
This is the favor of I Am.
This is the favor of I am, thisis the favor of the only real,
(01:49):
true living God.
And this is the favor and theblessing of the God who created
time, the God who createdcreation, the God who created
nature, the God who created theheavens and the earth, the God
who formed your body out of thedust of the earth, the God who
(02:13):
made you in his image.
He made you with a soul and hemade you with a mind and he made
you with a body.
He made you in his image.
He made you particularly.
He made you the way he wantedyou to be.
He made you exactly.
You know exactly how he madeyou, because that's what he
(02:37):
wanted to do, because he is theLord, he is God, he is King.
This is the God who is love.
This is the God who is holiness.
This is the God who is truth.
This is the God who is justice.
This is the God who you look atit in the Old Testament, he only
(02:58):
really ever describes who he is.
He gives descriptions,descriptions of who he is, and
he gives descriptions of who heis because he wants you to know
who he is, because this God hasno limits, every physical limit
that we experience, everylimitation of our body, every
(03:22):
limitation of time, everylimitation of space, every you
know limitation of physics andyou know physics and science
describes it.
But everything you know, theentire framework of how you and
I go about our lives in thisworld.
God's the one who made thatabout our lives in this world.
(03:49):
God's the one who made that andGod's the one who exists
outside of that.
And God is the one whointeracts with us as we are
living in that.
So God made the entireframework of creation.
God exists outside the entireframework of creation.
He's not limited or bound by itand yet, at the same time, he
(04:10):
interacts with us as we are init, and he describes who he is.
Even the Lord came when he wasborn.
And Jesus, the only begottenSon of God.
You notice how he startsdescribing himself.
He's Jesus.
His name translates to Savior.
He's the only begotten Son ofGod.
(04:32):
He is the way and the truth andthe life.
He is the resurrection and thelife.
This is how God introduceshimself.
He introduces himself by simplydescribing who he is in ways
that we can tangibly know andunderstand.
And so the blessing of the Lord.
This is the one who's givingthe blessing, and we cannot take
(04:54):
any of this message outside ofthat context.
We can't take the Lord'sblessing, we can't take prayer,
we can't take prosperity.
We cannot take those things outof the context of the Lord who
is giving them, out of thecontext of the God who is giving
(05:16):
them, out of the context of aGod who, if you're saved and
born again today, a God who isin the most intimate and
personal of relationships withyou right now, we can't take
anything that the Lord says ordoes outside of the context of
(05:37):
that relationship, who he is andwho he has made you and I to be
as born-again men, women andchildren, who he has made us to
be as the church, who he hasmade us to be as his adopted
sons and daughters, as kings andpriests in his kingdom, as
(06:00):
beloved, as brethren, as saints,as the church.
And that's all from the NewTestament, my friend.
But the reality is we can't takeprayer outside of that context
and we can't take the gifts ofGod outside of that context.
(06:20):
We can't take the blessings andwho are we praying to and who
has he made us to be in him?
And so the blessing of the Lord, and the proverb starts to
unfold what that is and what itdoes.
It makes rich and he addeth nosorrow with it.
(06:45):
So God gives good things andthose things that God gives us,
he gives us, he's a giving God,he's a loving God, he's Abba,
he's Father, he gives and hegives good gifts.
He gives the Holy Spirit and hegives good gifts.
He gives the Holy Spirit.
You know, scripture tells usthat Jesus, god, gave his only
(07:19):
begotten Son, and then Jesusgave the Holy Spirit.
He's a giving God, he gives andhe gives and he gives and he
gives good things, and it makethrich, it profits us and,
furthermore, he doesn't add anysorrow with it.
And so, with that in mind, I'mgoing to come back to Joshua,
joshua, chapter 3, in verse 17.
(07:41):
And this is a momentousoccasion in the history of
Israel.
The Lord is getting ready andhe's leading them.
He's leading Israel underJoshua.
And so Moses has gone to bewith the Lord at this point, and
Joshua has been raised up tolead Israel.
And the Lord is leading all ofthem across the Jordan, and
(08:06):
they're going to.
They're going to be going toJericho very, very shortly, but
first he's leading them over theJordan, and I want to draw your
attention to one detail here,chapter 3, verse 17.
And the priests that bear theark of the covenant of the Lord
stood firm on dry ground in themidst of Jordan and all the
(08:30):
Israelites passed over on dryground until all the people were
passed clean over Jordan.
And so Jordan is a river andthe scripture tells us it was at
a flood tide at that point andGod brought them over the river.
God stopped up the river andthis was reminiscent of how God
(08:55):
had brought the people throughthe Red Sea out of Egypt.
And in both occasions I want todraw your attention to
something they came over on dryground.
Now, jordan is a river, and ifGod had just stopped off the
(09:16):
water, you know, my friend, youknow if the water had just
stopped naturally and this is alittle detail, but it's a huge
detail Notice that there was nomud when God brought these
people over.
He brought these people over.
(09:37):
When God stopped up the Jordan,he didn't just stop the water,
but the ground was dry.
The people did not have to walkover the mud.
And if you've ever tried to doanything in mud, if you've tried
to walk in it, if you've triedto run in it, if you've tried to
build things in it, if you'vetried to work in it, if you've
(09:57):
tried to drive through it,you've got to deal with the mud.
You get stuck, you slip and youslide.
And we're talking about a fewmillion people walking over a
river in roughly the same place,and yet they walked over.
And this is how deep God wentwith this action that he took.
(10:21):
This is how deep God went.
He considered the fact that hewas going to bring them over on
dry ground and so, god being God, he didn't just stop the water,
but he dried the ground to makeit easy for the people to pass
over.
They could just walk right overand, what's more, they could go
(10:44):
back in and they could get 12stones and they could bring the
12 stones up out of the riverand they could make and leave
those stones there as stones ofremembrance for what God did
that day.
But, my friend, god broughtthem over and there was no mud
for them to slip, there was nomud for them to trip.
(11:06):
There was no mud for them totrip, there was no mud for them
to get stuck, there was no mudto hinder the progress, to slow
them down.
But no, God didn't.
He dried up that river,temporarily dried it up so that
these people could walk throughand, in doing so, know that he
(11:29):
is God.
So he expresses who he is andwhat he does.
He didn't just sort of dry itup and stop the river and say,
okay, now struggle on over andtrip and fall and have this
whole mess.
No, he brought them over on dryground.
This is the kind of God, who heis.
(11:51):
And if you look at all the,there's so many examples of this
.
Go all the way back to creation.
God didn't just make a goodcreation, he made a creation
that was very good when heparted the Red Sea and the
people walked over on dry landthrough the Red Sea.
(12:14):
They walked over on dry land.
He didn't just do that, but Godhad a personal interest in
defeating Egypt.
You look at, you know, in thedays of Elisha there was a widow
who needed to pay a debt andGod didn't just give them enough
(12:36):
to pay the debt.
He gave them enough to pay thedebt.
I believe it's in 2 Kings 4.
He gave them enough to handlethe debt, to pay off the debt,
and told them to live on therest.
If you look at the life of Jesus, there were two separate
occasions in which Jesus fedcrowds, and there was one crowd
(12:59):
of 5,000, there was anothercrowd of 4,000.
But he took a few loaves ofbread and a few fish and he fed
those crowds On both occasions.
He didn't just give the peoplea few bites of food.
They ate as much as they couldand on both occasions there were
leftovers.
(13:20):
There were entire baskets fullof leftovers.
There was an abundance.
And whenever the Lord wouldrestore someone's sight at the
end of the healing, thatperson's sight was completely
restored.
Whenever the Lord healedleprosy at the end of the
healing, the leprosy was fullyhealed.
Whenever the Lord healed palsy,at the end of the healing, that
(13:44):
person got up and walked andgot up and ran and got up and
jumped and got up and leaped andgot up and worshipped Fever.
Whenever fever was healed,fever was fully healed.
And whenever leprosy was healed, leprosy was all the way healed
.
Whenever devils were driven out, devils were fully and
completely driven out.
(14:05):
Whenever the dead were raisedto life, they were fully and
completely raised to life.
Now, friend, what I'm getting athere is that God doesn't do
anything halfway.
God doesn't give you a halfwayblessing.
He doesn't give you a blessing.
(14:27):
That's only kind of a blessing.
He doesn't give you a blessingthat's only sort of a blessing.
He doesn't give you a blessingthat is going to give you a
blessing.
That's only kind of a blessing.
He doesn't give you a blessing.
That's only sort of a blessing.
He doesn't give you a blessingthat is going to give you a
whole lot of sorrow and a wholelot of trouble and a whole lot
of anxiety along with it.
No, god gives you simply goodthings.
They are good and they'recompletely good and they're
(14:48):
totally and they're completelygood and they're totally good
and they're utterly good andthey're wholly good and they're
entirely good.
They are perfectly good becausethat is the heart and that is
the nature of our God.
He doesn't give you junk.
He doesn't give you trash.
He doesn't give you thisgarbage.
(15:11):
He doesn't give you anythinglike that.
No, he gives you good things.
He gives you things that aregoing to benefit you.
He gives you things that aregoing to enrich you.
He gives you things that aregoing to bless you.
He gives you things that arenot going to weigh you down
later.
He gives you things that aregoing to grow.
He gives you things that aregoing to be.
He gives you things that aregoing to be fruitful and
(15:32):
prosperous.
This is the kind of God that heis.
And so, my friend, when we pray,we need to pray in light of who
God is.
We need to pray in light of hisnature, his authority, his love
.
We need to ask because, youknow, the Lord tells us to ask.
(15:53):
The Lord tells us ask, seek andknock.
The Lord tells us ask and itwill be given to you.
The Lord says that you know.
Whatsoever you ask in his name,you're going to receive it, so
that he will receive glory, hisname will be glorified on the
earth.
We've got a God who has athrone of grace and he tells us
(16:19):
come before the throne of grace.
You're going to find mercy,you're going to find grace to
help in your time of need.
We've got a God who not onlyknows what we need before we
need it, but at the same time,he wants us to ask.
And, my friend, there's areason for that Because nothing
(16:43):
is given and nothing is doneoutside of the context of your
relationship with God when itcomes to prayer.
You have Christian brother,sister around the world.
You have a relationship withGod that God initiated, god
started and God forged, godcreated, god took you and God
(17:15):
saved you and God gave you hisHoly Spirit.
God applied his blood to you.
God forgave your sin was all ofa sudden forgiven.
Your sin was under Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ died your death.
Jesus Christ rose again from thedead.
You're alive in him.
You have eternal life.
You've got the Comforter with acapital C.
You've got the Holy Spirit.
You're in relationship with God.
God talks with you, god leadsyou, god walks with you, god
(17:41):
delights in you, god loves you.
God cannot and will not everforget you.
God knows you and he isfaithful to you.
He's your husband, he's yourheir, he's your husband, he's
your heir.
He's your king, he's your Lord,he's your God, he's your
provider, he's your protector,he's your great high priest.
He has brought you into aprecious, precious, precious
(18:05):
relationship with him, and whenwe pray, our prayer occurs
within that relationship, withinthat love relationship.
And so let us ask, knowing andtrusting the nature of the God
(18:26):
who we're asking.
You know and we have it inJames that you know, you ask and
you have not because you'reasking to consume it on your
lust.
That's not what I'm talkingabout.
That's a separate thing,because God will not honor
anybody who's asking him forsomething so we can go and
consume it on our lust.
That's not who God is.
But what I'm telling you, myfriend, is that God is an
(18:49):
abundant God, god is a givingGod, and we ask in faith, we ask
knowing him, we ask knowingthat God delights in blessing,
that God gives good things andthat what God gives is perfect
and good.
What God gives is perfect andgood.
(19:10):
It's perfect and good.
And so, you know, when we ask,you know, just go back through
those examples again to show youthis Take the loaves and the
fishes.
Jesus didn't just give them acouple bites, jesus gave them as
much as they could eat andleftovers.
(19:32):
Take, you know.
You know devils driven out.
They weren't only driven outfor an hour, they were driven
out completely.
The restoration of sight to theblind, you know.
You know Jesus did that onmultiple occasions with multiple
people, and those people didn'tneed glasses afterwards.
(19:52):
My friends, you know this is aGod and he's our God and he
loves us and this is the type ofthing that he gives.
And so let's ask in boldness,let's ask fully, let's ask not
(20:14):
just for enough to get by, butask knowing that God gives
abundance, knowing that Godgives abundance.
Because, my friend, to ask foryou know a halfway answer, to
ask, you know, just forsomething that'll, you know,
(20:36):
just kind of get you by and getyou through the day, my friend,
that brings no glory to the nameof God, because that's not who
God is and that's not what Godwants you to have.
God wants you to be filled.
And look at your salvation.
(20:58):
God didn't just save you fromhell and leave you to struggle
through this life.
Absolutely not.
And so let's not pray that waywhen it comes to our needs.
Let's not pray that way when itcomes to the needs of other
(21:20):
people.
Let's not pray that way when itcomes to the desires of our
heart before the Lord.
Let's not pray that way when itcomes to anything, because your
salvation and the salvationthat God has so richly provided
(21:43):
for, whosoever will believe onthe name of the Lord, jesus
Christ, he didn't just save youfrom hell, he did, but he didn't
stop there.
The gift of God is eternal lifethrough Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And Jesus himself would say youknow John, chapter 10, I'm not
(22:08):
come, you know, to steal, hecomes to steal and to kill and
destroy.
But Jesus has come so that youmight have life and have it
abundantly.
Jesus would say you know inother places, you know, if you
believe on him, his yoke is easyand his burden is light.
(22:30):
Out of your belly shall comerivers, not just a little
trickle, not just a littlestream, but rivers, rivers of
living water.
And so, my friend, you have thefullness of the Holy Spirit.
(22:52):
You have the Lord is giving andgiving, and giving and giving
and giving.
My friend, you have everyspiritual blessing.
In heavenly places.
You are seated with JesusChrist, right now, this moment,
in heavenly places, your life ishid with Jesus Christ.
(23:15):
You've got promise afterpromise after promise in the
future, and you've got abundanteternal life right now, with a
standing command.
God tells us ask.
God tells us ask and you'llreceive.
God tells us ask and seek andknock, god tells us.
(23:38):
He tells us this is who I amand this is the one you're
asking.
And you've got a standing withme.
You are beloved in my sight.
I love you, I love you, I loveyou, I love you and I love to
give you good things.
(24:00):
And so, my friend, let us notfall short and treat God as if
he doesn't, because he's not ahalfway sort of a God.
And so, my friend, you know,ask him, knowing who he is.
And so, my friend, you know,ask him, knowing who he is, ask
(24:23):
him knowing who he has made youto be.
Ask him, pour out the desiresof your heart.
My friend, ask him knowing thatwhatsoever you ask in his name,
you will receive.
You will receive, so that theFather may be glorified.
(24:48):
God desires you to ask and Goddesires to you know, the phrase
in America is answer to prayer.
You know, answer to prayer.
He desires to answer prayers insuch a way that he is glorified
, in such a way that he isglorified on this earth.
And so, no, he's not going togive you some junky answer to
(25:09):
your prayer.
So, no, he's not going torebuke you for asking something
in his name.
This is the God, you know, hisHoly Spirit he gave.
He's the one who gave usProverbs, chapter 10, verse 22.
And he's the one who said youknow, the blessing of the Lord,
my blessing, makes rich and Idon't add any sorrow with it.
(25:31):
This is the God who said that.
And so, my friend, when we pray, pray knowing who he is Pray,
trusting who he is Pray,trusting that God is not going
to give you anything that hedoesn't want you to have.
God gives you good things, myfriend, and so let's approach
(25:59):
him that way, let's pray thatway, knowing that he gives good
things.
And if you want to know, youknow what's the number one
example of a gift that God hasgiven.
His name is Jesus Christ.
God gave his only begotten son,his only begotten son, his only
(26:21):
begotten son.
God gave everything that Godcould possibly give.
God didn't hold anything back.
Fully God and fully man at thesame time.
(26:43):
Fully God and fully man.
And when Jesus was ministeringwe've heard about some of the
things that he did he fullyrestored sight to the blind.
He fully healed leprosy.
He fed people, he raised peoplefrom the dead on several
occasions, my friend, he caredfor people, he ministered to
(27:08):
people.
There are times, you know,multitudes came and Jesus healed
the diseases.
Jesus drove out the devils.
He took our infirmities onhimself and he drove them out.
He drove them out, he drovethem out.
He ministered to them,ministered to them, ministered
to them.
And we look at the cross, myfriend.
He took all of our sin.
(27:30):
He didn't just take some of it,he didn't just take the really
gross sin, he didn't just takethe really little sin, really
gross sin.
He didn't just take the reallylittle sin, no, he didn't take
some of it, he took all of it.
He didn't just almost die, hedid die.
He didn't somewhat raise fromthe dead, no, he fully raised
(27:53):
from the dead and he's alivetoday, my friend.
So if you haven't heard anythingtoday, hear this that God gives
a fullness whenever God gives,god gives good gifts, and so
take him the desires of yourheart, my friend.
This is the God who we'retalking about and Christian
(28:17):
brother and sister in Christ.
This is the God who saved us,this is the God who gave us his
Holy Spirit, this is the God wholoves us and this is the God
who delights in us asking anddelights in us trusting and
delights in us seeking, and thisis the God who delights in
(28:39):
giving us good things.
And so thank you so much forbeing with me today.
I pray that this has been areal blessing to you, my friend,
a real encouragement to you.
You know, again, I've tried tokeep it sort of intentionally
vague because there are so manylisteners in so many different
(29:01):
situations around the world, inso many different nations.
As I record this, we're inapproximately 60 separate
nations outside of the UnitedStates and I'd love to hear
about you.
I'd love to hear from you.
I'd love to pray with you.
So let me know, you can contactus here at the program.
(29:23):
You can contact, you know,we're a ministry of Grace
Baptist Tabernacle in King,north Carolina.
You can contact us atredeemingthelostedicloudcom.
You can also reach us inseveral ways through our website
, gbtministriescom.
You'll find.
That's where our service timesare.
(29:44):
That's where our location is.
You can find a phone numberthere.
You can call us on the phone.
We would love to hear from you,my friend.
I'd love to hear how we can praywith you, how the Lord is
moving in your life, and so,whatever situation is going on
in your life, my born againbrother and sister in Christ,
(30:06):
whatever situation's going on,god knows it, god loves you in
it and God ministers to you init.
God will minister to you and heseeks, he's looking for you to
walk together through yoursituation with Him.
He's looking to lead youthrough your situation and, as
(30:31):
he does, you're going to grow inrelationship with Him.
You're going to grow deeperwith Him.
You're going to grow deeperwith him.
You're going to grow closerwith him.
You're going to have atestimony to share with other
people.
God's name and God's nature isgoing to be glorified through
you and it's going to beglorified through you and other
(30:52):
people are going to see it.
Other people right around youare going to see it and you're
going to get an opportunity totestify.
You're going to get anopportunity to introduce people
to Jesus and, my friend, it's aglorious thing because the way
God will bring you through yoursituation is better than
(31:14):
anything the world could offer,better than anything you know
you can come up with in yourimagination.
But God's way and God's wisdomand God's love and God's
holiness is so much sweeter andso much better than anything
(31:35):
this world could ever offer, andI pray that this has been an
encouragement to you.
So go before the Lord, myfriend, ask, seek and knock.
Ask in the name of Jesus, andthis is something that Jesus
said.
You know whatsoever, you ask inmy name, you're going to
receive it, so that the Fatherwill be glorified on this earth.
(31:59):
And so, friend, thank you somuch for being here with me
today, and may the Lord continueto richly, richly bless us.
Amen, thank you.
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