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Deuteronomy 8:10-18 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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I'm going to take a bit of a departure this morning from the book of Colossians.
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Let me ask you to take out your copy of God's Word and turn to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 8.
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At the rate we're going, I fear that we're never going to get through Colossians 3.
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Although at some point here will happen, I've made so many adjustments to the original schedule.
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But we'll get there.
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There are two reasons today. We're going to take a bit of a break, a little step away from Colossians 3.
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The first has been mentioned now a few times.
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This is the minor reason, and that is that I'm not feeling well.
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I think I have quite a cold. I really probably shouldn't be here right now.
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I'm always and ever sustained by God's grace, and part of His grace to me this morning is cold medicine.
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I'm having a bit of an out-of-body experience right now.
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So, the late missionary Jim Elliott once said,
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wherever you are, be all there.
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And I try to do that wherever I am.
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I would like to add to that, though, unless you're on cold medicine, then go home and go to sleep.
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But nonetheless, I'm here.
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The second reason, and the major reason that I am here not feeling well,
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is that this Sunday is likely this Wimke family's last Sunday with us.
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They have been preparing for a bit over a year now,
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believing that the Lord is leading them to go to Germany,
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the south of Germany to a rather whimsical part of Germany called the Black Forest,
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through an organization called Teach Beyond to serve with Black Forest Academy.
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And Black Forest Academy is a boarding school for missionary kids,
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for parents who are on the field in places that are particularly dangerous,
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or in places that don't offer the education necessary for their children.
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And it's a great organization.
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We had some misgiving about it at the beginning,
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but as we've grown to know it more,
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and as the Zwimpies particularly have invested themselves there,
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we have grown to love what they're doing.
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And so the Zwimpies are going to be going.
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Ryan is going to be teaching chorus.
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Kathleen's going to get to be, at least for some time,
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a stay-at-home, which will be really wonderful,
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both to minister to those kids that are there at Black Forest Academy,
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as well as the people in the region.
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We have been joining with them in this effort in a number of ways.
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Wes mentioned during our time of offering ministry partners,
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and the Zwimpies are one of those for us,
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a portion of our church budget.
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So if you give here, a portion of that goes to help the support of the Zwimpies.
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They were asked to raise their own support.
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This is the way Black Forest Academy functions.
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So they had to raise their living expenses for the time that they'll be there.
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And I know that many of you individually, personally,
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have encouraged and supported them as well.
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We as a church have been praying for this.
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We've been eagerly looking for this,
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and they've done such a great job of including in this effort,
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of keeping us updated about where they were,
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and percentage, and posting consistently.
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Kathleen shared with me that she was concerned she was doing it too much.
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And I said, no, it's been great.
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We've wanted to know exactly where you were.
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And coming into this week, they were at 76%.
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24% is a long way to go,
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but trusting that the Lord would provide.
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They've sold their house.
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They've been waiting.
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We've got tons of their stuff boxed and ready to be shipped downstairs
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here at the building.
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Faithfully believing that God intended for them to go and be in this place.
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And Sam and I had the pleasure this weekend,
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Friday evening and into Saturday,
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of going to a wedding.
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Some precious young people in our church.
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And the Zwimkies went as well.
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And so we decided to make a bit of a weekend of it.
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And we went away together.
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And we're just joyful to be renting a house together,
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to wake up on Saturday morning and have Kathleen share
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that they're now 100% funded to be able to go to Black Forest Academy.
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And Amen is right.
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And it's incredible to see the way they have devoted themselves to this effort,
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the way that this church has come around them in devoting to the effort.
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Even though it was my great task at the beginning to convince them not to leave,
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to have my heart turned and be desirous for them to get to go and to serve in this way,
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to even have my joy complete in seeing them go and to serve.
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And my mind just very quickly as they were sharing
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all of the individuals in our church that have been giving,
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just the way that they've been blown away by it,
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my mind was just moved to how very good God is to us
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and how consistent He is in His promises.
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And so I just want to, in brief, keep my comments short this morning,
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but in brief, talk a bit about that.
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So in Deuteronomy 8, God commands Israel, His people,
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to remember what He has done for them.
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And I'll begin reading in verse 10.
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Verse 11.
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Verse 12.
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So post-Exodus and the Israelites being established in the land,
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God is saying to them,
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be careful, be warned,
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because as things go well with you,
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you may forget who has caused things to go well with you.
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And as we have endeavored,
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particularly as Ryan and Kathleen have been throwing their energy into the fundraising effort,
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and as we have joined around them,
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it would be easy to think that this was a thing that they or we accomplished.
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And it was not.
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It was a thing that the Lord accomplished.
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Be careful lest you forget, lest you say,
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my power and the might of my power and the might of my hand have done this or that.
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And the Israelites were faithful to this, to the recording and to the reminding one another of the good things that God has done.
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And the Psalms are full of Psalms that are a recounting of what God had done for the people of Israel.
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Listen to Psalm 63 as David talks about the effect that the remembering has for him.
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Beginning in verse 5,
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My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
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and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed
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and meditate you on the watches of the night.
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For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
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My soul clings to you.
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Your right hand upholds me.
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And this is when David was in a time of great trouble.
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He was in the wilderness of Judah escaping for his life.
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And he says,
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When I remember the things that the Lord has done for me,
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a number of things happen.
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He sings for joy.
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His soul clings to the Lord because he knows that the Lord's good right hand or His mighty hand
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is what upholds and supports him.
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You see the effect that remembering has.
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And the Lord throughout the Old Testament commanded Israel to do this physically.
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To set up altars that would remind them as they traveled in the land of the things that God had done.
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So let's look at an example of that, if you will.
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Turn to Joshua chapter 4.
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And here we see an example of this.
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It's God commanding, after accomplishing something for Israel,
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commanding that they do a particular thing.
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Beginning in verse 1,
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When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan.
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So the people of God, Israel,
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being brought out of the wilderness and into the land that God had promised them,
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through the Jordan River,
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the Lord said to Joshua,
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Verse 2,
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Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,
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and command them, saying,
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Take twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan,
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from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly,
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and bring them over with you,
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and lay them down in the place where you lodged tonight.
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Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel,
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whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.
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And Joshua said to them,
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Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan,
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and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder,
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according to the number of tribes of the people of Israel,
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that this may be a sign among you.
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When your children ask in time to come,
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what do these stones mean to you?
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Then you will tell them that the waters of the Jordan
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were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
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When it passed over the Jordan,
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the waters of the Jordan were cut off,
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so these stones shall be to the people of Israel
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a memorial forever.
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To remember what God had done for them,
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so that when the children would ask,
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they could pass on and they could impart that truth.
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Beloved, now as the people of God,
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we have the record of it.
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While we don't physically see the stones,
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and ask what does this pile of twelve stones mean,
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we see the story and the record of what happened,
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and what God had done for His people,
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and the way He has commanded them to remember.
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Another example is found in 1 Samuel.
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If you will turn there with me.
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This will be the last text for this morning.
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1 Samuel 7.
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If you only have a New Testament with you today,
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you only have a third of the Bible with you.
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Samuel was a prophet of God.
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Samuel was the one who anointed Saul,
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and then David.
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I'll frame this for you.
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This is pre-Saul and David.
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So that Saul is chosen in chapter 9.
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This is chapter 7, verse 3.
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And Samuel said to all the house of Israel,
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If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart,
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then put away the foreign gods and the Ashteroth,
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which was a Canaanite god.
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This would have been an idol of Ashteroth.
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From among you,
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and direct your heart to the Lord,
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and serve Him only.
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And He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
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So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashteroth,
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and they served the Lord only.
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Then Samuel said,
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Gather all Israel at Mizpah,
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and I will pray to the Lord for you.
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So they gathered at Mizpah,
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and drew water,
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and poured it out before the Lord,
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and fasted on that day,
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and said there,
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We have sinned against the Lord.
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And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.
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Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel
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had gathered at Mizpah,
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the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel,
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and when the people of Israel heard of it,
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they were afraid of the Philistines.
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And the people of Israel said to Samuel,
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Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us,
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that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.
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So Samuel took a nursing lamb,
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and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord.
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And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel,
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and the Lord answered him.
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As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering,
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the Philistines drew near to attack Israel.
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But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day
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against the Philistines,
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and threw them into confusion,
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and they were routed before Israel,
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destroyed before Israel.
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And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah,
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and pursued the Philistines,
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and struck them as far as below Bethcot.
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Then Samuel took a stone,
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and set it up between Mizpah and Shin,
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and called its name Ebenezer.
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For he said,
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Till now the Lord has helped us.
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So he did this thing,
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not commanded by the Lord this time,
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but rather in praise of God.
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He set up a stone,
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and I think that would probably mean
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he took a stone maybe that was a long stone,
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and set it up on its end.
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He did something with it
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to make people take note of this stone,
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and he called it Ebenezer.
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It's actually a phrase in Hebrew.
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Eben Ha-Ezer.
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A stone of help.
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That's what it means literally.
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We sing a song here quite often
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that talks about an Ebenezer.
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Are your minds going to it?
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It's called Come Thou Fount.
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The second verse says,
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Here I raise my Ebenezer.
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Here by Thy great help I've come,
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and I hope by Thy good pleasure
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safely to arrive at home.
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Jesus sought me when a stranger
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wandering from the fold of God,
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He to rescue me from danger,
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interposed His precious blood.
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And that verse is about
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establishing in our minds and our hearts,
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not a physical stone raising,
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but rather raising an Ebenezer
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in our mind and heart
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to the redemptive work of Christ.
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That's what this song is about,
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and that's where this comes from.
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This Eben Ha-Ezer,
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our God,
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our stone of help.
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And so my exhortation to you today,
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setting the stage for you,
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beginning with what's been going on
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with the Zwimpies,
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and the way that we've been
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participating with them,
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is that we use this
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as a great reminder
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of God's faithfulness to us
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in a couple of ways.
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Firstly, God,
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in the life of our church,
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has always been faithful
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to provide to us
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the people we needed
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for our church.
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At the most particular of times,
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and in the most special of ways,
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God has brought each and every one of you here.
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I'm thankful today,
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particularly for the Zwimpies.
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They have told me
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that they came at a time
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that they were hurting,
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that they needed close fellowship,
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that they needed to be served,
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but the opposite is absolutely true.
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At a time where we were incredibly hungry
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for families to come along
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and to invest and to serve young people.
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What a blessing they have been.
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And I know,
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at least for me,
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maybe not for you,
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but for me,
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when a family leaves our congregation
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that is so single people full,
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it hurts a little bit.
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Oh, but we need families.
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We need families so much
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as if the Lord doesn't know what we need.
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But He certainly does.
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And just as He's taking
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the Zwimpies from us,
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I am confident
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that He will continue to provide
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exactly what we need.
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And we ought to remember this.
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This.
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The financial provision
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for the Zwimpies
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is a thing we should remember.
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I am amazed.
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I believe Ryan's going to share in a bit
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the degree to which our church
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is sending them.
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It is wonderful as a church
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with a tiny, tiny budget,
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able collectively out of our budget
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to just take 2% of our giving,
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with the way in which you guys
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have sacrificially gone
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above and beyond that
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to continue to give
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and to support and to go.
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We as a collective body
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are the major senders
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of the Zwimpies.
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That is a great encouragement
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to me.
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We run on a tight budget around here.
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Praise God,
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we have a building and property
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that's paid for.
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It doesn't take a lot
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to take care of this,
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the physical things
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that we see.
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He has always, always, always
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provided just what we've needed
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over the past
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six and a half plus years.
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We've never been
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without those things necessary
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for the work being done here.
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I'll give you one quick
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physical example.
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Those of you who were here
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months ago heard the story
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that the pullout on the street
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was struck by lightning.
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I got here one morning
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and the internet was down.
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Couldn't figure out
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what was going on.
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Called AT&T up.
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Everything that was electronic
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downstairs fried.
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So all of the modems
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and the wireless broadcasters
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and the really expensive
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copy machine that we lease,
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everything in that line got hit.
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And yes, it was all
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service protected properly.
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Just sometimes things
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don't go as expected.
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We had to fix the copier.
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We had to replace
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the things downstairs.
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And the very day
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that I realized this,
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that it happened,
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and I was calling
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the insurance company
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and figuring out
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what we were going to have to do.
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We have a thousand dollar
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deductible on the insurance.
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We got a check in the mail
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from a dad, I think,
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I'm just connecting
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the last name,
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I believe the dad
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of a young man
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who came here for a while
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and I hadn't seen
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in months and months
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and months and months.
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No clue why
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this father was compelled
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to sit down
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and write a check
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to our church.
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Maybe he thinks
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his son is still in church
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and this is where he's at.
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I'm not really sure.
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But he was compelled
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to write a check
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for a thousand dollars,
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which was the amount
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of that deductible payment.
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So here on the very day
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that my mind goes,
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oh, geez,
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how in the world?
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God goes,
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like this.
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And it shows right up.
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The Zwingke's last bit
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that they needed
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was given
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through a kind of a stranger,
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a person that they met
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in recent times
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who anonymously
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didn't want his name
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to be known,
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filled the gap
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for them
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in this last week.
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Their original goal
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was to leave
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on August 1st
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and that money came in
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on August 1st.
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Just incredible
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to see the way
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in which God provided.
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As I said,
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we were with the Zwingke's
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and rejoicing with them.
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They fairly quickly
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put up on Facebook
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that they were 100% funded
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and the responses
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began to just pour in.
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We were at Alex
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and Lizzie's wedding
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yesterday
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and we had to get going
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so we went up
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to say hi to them
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and bye to them as well.
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And the first thing
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that Alex and Lizzie said
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was,
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it's their wedding day
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and they said,
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we're so excited
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that you got 100% funded.
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Just the rejoicing
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around that thing happened
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was incredibly special
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and what they shared
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with us
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is that their prayer
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has been through
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this entire process
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that their faith
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would be increased,
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that their children's faith
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would be increased
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and that the church's faith
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would be increased.
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And I don't know,
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I can't speak for everybody here,
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but I can certainly say
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that that has been true
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for me.
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Hebrews 11.1,
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the writer of Hebrews says,
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the faith is the assurance
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of things hoped for,
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the conviction
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of things not seen.
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So he says that faith
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is an assurance
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and it is a conviction.
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It's not a vague hope
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grounded in wishful thinking,
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but rather it's a settled confidence
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that God will do
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what God said He will do.
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And He has promised
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to provide for our need.
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And so we can trust Him in that.
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And certainly,
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we can raise a stone of remembrance
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for this moment to remember.
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Remember the way
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that the Lord provided
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for the Zwingke's.
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Remember the way
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that He used us,
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that He gave to us
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to meet our living needs
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and that we had an abundance
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that we could give to them.
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God is faithful
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to the things He had said
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He will do.
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In front of your bulletin,
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I've got a quote
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from John Calvin.
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And I'm going to close with that.
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He wrote,
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we should ask God
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to increase our faith
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when it is small.
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Awaken it
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when it is dormant.
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Confirm it
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when it is wavering.
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Strengthen it
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when it is weak.
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And raise it up
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when it is overthrown.
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Let's pray together.