Sermon

LRH: Order in Our Giving - 10

Harvest Chapel International - Kumasi

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  1. Do you want to build your faith? Do you desire

  2. to have a true encounter with God through His Word?

  3. Then listen to Logos Rima R with Rev.

  4. Dr.

  5. Joseph Balbin, Head Pastor of Harvest Chapel International Kumasi. He

  6. is a seasoned man of God, and a teacher of

  7. the Word in its truth and simplicity. Make time with

  8. us each and every Monday to Friday at 2 p.m.

  9. on Spirit 88.3 FM as we encounter the Word of Truth.

  10. God richly bless you.

  11. And you say....

  12. Welcome to Logos Rima R with God's servant, Rev.

  13. Dr.

  14. Joseph Baalbein, Head Pastor of Harvest Chapel International Kumasi. And now,

  15. to today's message.

  16. Let's take our confession from Joshua 1 verse 8. This

    Joshua 1:8

  17. book of the Lord shall not depart out of my mouth.

  18. that I shall meditate in it day and night, that

  19. I may observe to do according to all that is

  20. written in it. For then I will make my way prosperous,

  21. and then I will have good success. Amen. Why don't

  22. you take your seats in this presence as we look

  23. into the Word of God. And so we are journeying

  24. on how best we can bring all that into our

  25. life of giving. Hallelujah. Amen. And our text, our anchor

  26. scripture for the month is taken from Matthew 6, verse 24.

    Matthew 6:24

  27. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate

  28. the one and love the other, or you will be

  29. devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot

  30. serve both God and money. Hallelujah. And remember, we have

  31. already made that point that this was one of the

  32. truths that Jesus spoke or taught his disciples during the

  33. Sermon on the Mount. And as we keep on saying,

  34. the Sermon on the Mount has been touted by theologians,

  35. as Bible scholars, as, if you like, a time where

  36. Jesus sets out clearly the ethics, the values, the expected

  37. behaviors of God for kingdom citizens. Amen. And this comes

  38. from our master, our founder, hallelujah, our creator and our God.

  39. And so there are words or teachings that we ought

  40. to place a lot of premium on it. Amen. And

  41. sometimes we say, why can't we do the two together?

  42. Why can't we serve God and mammon? I mean, on

  43. our own, we can argue that it is possible. And

  44. most often that has been a very, very subtle trap

  45. by the devil. If God says it cannot be done,

  46. then you and I have no business saying it can't

  47. be done. No matter how ingenious we plan to be,

  48. it's not going to be possible. El Jesus wouldn't have

  49. given a very emphatic statement that you cannot serve both

  50. God and mammon. And so sometimes in our eagerness to

  51. prove him wrong, that I can do both. We pierce

  52. ourselves with a lot of other things. And before we realize,

  53. we have abandoned the faith. It's sad, you know. I mean,

  54. maybe from where God has positioned me over the years,

  55. I've seen a lot of young men come to faith

  56. in Christ. I've seen them graduate from school. I've seen them,

  57. you know, giving places of honor, prominence in industry and

  58. all that. And sad to say too, I've seen a

  59. lot of them so soon after they have been put

  60. in these positions of honor, trust, and then wealth, they

  61. abandon the faith and now fixate and put all their

  62. energy and effort on the pursuit of money for each food.

  63. It would have been comforting and exciting to see that

  64. it's not just that they are pursuing money, but they

  65. are also pursuing God. But sooner than later, you find

  66. out that they abandon the pursuit of God and then,

  67. you know, fixate their minds on the pursuit of money.

  68. And I believe that Jesus' warning is telling because he knows,

  69. you know, immediately we fixate our mind on the pursuit

  70. of money. The siblings of the pursuit of money, they

  71. come in. And so before we realize, we begin to

  72. pursue fame. We begin to pursue power, influence. We go

  73. in for the girls, for the boys. We go in

  74. for all the other things that literally chokes out the

  75. life of God in us. So I know, I believe

  76. that Jesus as God, he knows what he's saying. And

  77. if I were you, I would just take him on

  78. the faith value of the word. And as we know,

  79. he has said that, seek first the kingdom of God

  80. and its righteousness and all these other things, including the wealth,

  81. they will be added to you. So once again, he

  82. tells us that God is not anti-money or anti-wealth. It's

  83. just a matter of the priorities, what we give our time,

  84. energies to pursue. And that is the warning that God

  85. I believe he's trying to tell us throughout the month.

  86. As we said, we bring in order to our giving. Hallelujah. Amen.

  87. He says when we seek him, we would be able

  88. to ultimately find him and the world. Because we look

  89. at it from the story of the Bible in Genesis.

  90. We saw it. Moses goes out to tell us clearly

  91. and vertically who created the world. Hallelujah. And it was God.

  92. And when God created the world, guess what? He entrusted

  93. it into the hands of man, our fair spirit. Hallelujah. Amen.

  94. So God is not anti-money or anti-wealth creation, but he

  95. has a more superior agenda for us. Hallelujah. Amen. Money

  96. has done a lot of good things. Hallelujah. Amen. We always...

  97. That's sometimes that when you embark on the pursuit of

  98. money to the exclusion of God, then we begin to

  99. make the very, very sound logical arguments. We know what

  100. the money can do. It's giving us all these sleek

  101. mobile phones and gadgets and luxury homes. How many of

  102. us would want to have our homes in the rich

  103. quarters of this country? I see a lot of hands up. Hallelujah.

  104. And not go to You know what I mean? So

  105. money can do a lot of things. We all admire

  106. the big, clean cities with all the skyscrapers, the big roads,

  107. the fast cars, the fast trains, the holiday resorts, and

  108. all those places that people go for their vacations. And

  109. sometimes we are tickled by it. We yearn to be

  110. a part of all those places. You know, fun times

  111. and excitements. Hallelujah. But we know that God doesn't want

  112. us to give money, the credit for these things. Hallelujah. Amen.

  113. And he doesn't want us to pursue these interests to

  114. excluding him. Hallelujah. All the people, as I said, the

  115. people who have given their vote for the spirit of

  116. Mammon and continue to root and cheer for him. And

  117. sometimes we look at them and we think that they

  118. are cool. And they are contented. But it's a lie. Hallelujah. Amen.

  119. We see them, you know, consulting with presidents and the

  120. movers and shakers of industry. And sometimes we think that

  121. that is their life. And we are tempted to side

  122. with them until we come to the word. Hallelujah. And

  123. that is why the word of God is so, so,

  124. so key and so important. Hallelujah. But as we have said,

  125. after we get born again, because these are all the

  126. mindsets that we grew up with. Soon as we get

  127. born again, there's a need for a mind shift, a

  128. transformation of our minds, the values. Hallelujah. The principles, the

  129. things that we cherish and hold dear to our hearts

  130. as worthy of being pursued. And you can't do that

  131. without reading the word. Hallelujah. You can't do that. You

  132. can't have that necessary Mind change and shift in focus

  133. and value systems and principles if you are just there. Hallelujah.

  134. And that's also another tragedy in the kingdom of God.

  135. When you get born again, God will put you to school.

  136. You have to go to school. And you have to

  137. make premium effort or maximum effort to read your word. Hallelujah.

  138. So we said, let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 8. We

    Deuteronomy 8 chapter mention

  139. said that that is what, maybe we'll just talk about that.

  140. Verse 1 today, Deuteronomy chapter 8. We said that on

    Deuteronomy 8 chapter mention

  141. the path we towards divine wealth, on the pathway towards

  142. divine wealth. Hallelujah. And then in verse 1, let's listen.

  143. It says that the whole, I'm using the ESV, it

  144. says the whole commandment that I command you today, you

  145. shall be careful to do that you may live and

  146. multiply and go in and possess the land that the

  147. Lord swore to give to your fathers. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Five

  148. important points there that I just want us to look at.

  149. Number one, the whole commandment. Moses says the whole commandment,

  150. not some of it. Number two, be careful to do it.

  151. Be careful to do it. The stress is on the

  152. carefulness to do it. Number three, now he's talking about

  153. the rewards. The profit that will come, that you may

  154. live and multiply.

  155. Live.

  156. And multiply. And you are asking yourself as a believer,

  157. are you living and are you multiplying? Or you are

  158. dead and decreasing to live and to multiply. And then

  159. number five talks about going in and possess the land.

  160. Possess means that you go occupy and take by force.

  161. The blessings that God has here marked for us as

  162. we look at the life of Israel. When Moses was saying,

  163. You go in and possess the land. It was always

  164. about going in and taking the land of Canaan by

  165. military might and force. Hallelujah. By military might and force.

  166. And it is the same thing in the Christian life.

  167. You see, immediately you begin to chase after the spirit

  168. of Mammon when God has not set you on that pathway.

  169. Then all of a sudden you begin to find yourself

  170. that you are disarmed. of all the spiritual, if you like,

  171. arsenals that you need to be able to wage successful

  172. spiritual warfare. So immediately you turn your attention to the

  173. exclusion of God. And when you are losing God, we

  174. always see it. Theologians have said it over the ages.

  175. And sometimes in casual conversations with people as a pastor,

  176. it always comes down to it. How is your quiet time?

  177. These days I can't do it all. Then immediately you

  178. know that you're on slippery pathways because you'll be disarmed

  179. and you'll be captured as a prisoner of war. And

  180. you will not be able to fight the way you

  181. should fight. Hallelujah. The blessings of God, we have to

  182. contend for it.

  183. Why?

  184. Because of the exchange that took place in the Garden

  185. of Eden. Now it's in the hands of Satan. That

  186. is what he did. He looked Jesus in the eyes

  187. and told him. He said the Bible says that in

  188. Matthew 4, After the 40-day fast, he took him to

  189. a mountaintop and he said, look at all the wealth,

  190. the riches of this. Just come, bow down, and I'm

  191. going to give it to you. Hallelujah. Amen. So in

  192. a sense, like Bible scholars will tell us, even though

  193. when God created Adam, he entrusted the stewardship of the

  194. wealth of this world in Adam's hand, there was an

  195. exchange in the Garden of Eden. And now it is

  196. in Satan's hand. And he says, you want the wealth?

  197. You come and do my bidding. And number one at

  198. the top of his list to his bidding, forget about God. Amen.

  199. The last thing Satan wants us to see us doing

  200. is worshiping God, bringing time, talent, and treasure, and laying

  201. it down at the altars of God. Instead of pursuing other,

  202. like you say, other things that will bring fun into

  203. our lives, we are pursuing God. We are fasting. We

  204. are praying. We are going to church. We are clapping.

  205. We are singing. We are praising him. Satan doesn't like

  206. any of that. Hallelujah. Amen. So that would be, go

  207. in and possess the land. And the last one that

  208. I like so much, he says that, The Lord has

  209. sworn to give to your father. The Lord swore to

  210. give to your father. There is an oath. Oh, my God.

  211. And when God swears, even his word alone, he cannot. Hallelujah.

  212. The word alone, he won't go back on it. How

  213. much more adding an oath to it? Hallelujah. So let's

  214. look at it briefly, these five points. So the whole commandment,

  215. and once again, like we always say, the logos. and

  216. the reamer of God's word. Hallelujah. First things first, order first,

  217. the logos first. And in the logos, we are talking

  218. about the comprehension of the word of God. Whatever language

  219. it is in, whether in Chi, in Dagbani, in Hausa,

  220. in Ga, in English, in Latin, all that you need

  221. to do is that look for a language that suits

  222. you best and get yourself familiar with the word of God. Hallelujah. Amen.

  223. When you kickstart off your journey with God, you don't

  224. need to worry your head so much about, I need

  225. a concordance first. They say concordance. They say Bible, dictionary,

  226. and all that. Read the Word. Read the text. Hallelujah.

  227. But make sure you are born again because you are

  228. not going to go to school on your own. It

  229. is the school of the Spirit. And the headmaster, like

  230. we say, the class teacher, And everything is the Holy

  231. Spirit of God. He will give you understanding. Hallelujah. Amen.

  232. It's all the plain text. God says, do it. That's all. Amen.

  233. You don't need to go and look for another understanding anywhere.

  234. If there's any other understanding than the plain text, the

  235. Holy Spirit will help you. Hallelujah. I'm not by so

  236. saying that now when you get it, because the school

  237. that you are going, that the Holy Spirit plants you in,

  238. it's a congregation. So where we don't understand, the congregation

  239. is going to come in so that we don't, if

  240. you like, walk off into heresy and applying wrong interpretation. Hallelujah.

  241. That's why we say God will plant you in a

  242. Bible-believing church. The text, the plain text. Hallelujah. That's the Logos.

  243. Then the reamer comes in, and the reamer comes from

  244. the whispering of the Holy Spirit of God. That's why

  245. it's essential to do your quiet time, because that is

  246. where you get to discern the voice of God. Amen.

  247. And then the Holy Spirit is the one who is

  248. going to give you the understanding, particularly in the area

  249. of application of the word of God. When you come

  250. to the crossroads in life, should I turn to the

  251. left or to the right? Should I even marry this person?

  252. I've been waiting for marriage. Nobody is coming. But this

  253. brother has come. He doesn't go to church, but he's

  254. a nice person. What should I do? I'm not going

  255. to go to my... You don't need to come to

  256. your pastor. You know already what I'll say. Hallelujah. Amen.

  257. So that's why you don't come. Me, I don't have

  258. a problem. Don't come to me. You know what I'll

  259. say already. But the Holy Ghost... The Holy Ghost. I

  260. won't be there. But the Holy Ghost will be there.

  261. You come and make all the arguments like the arguments

  262. they make. Oh, my mother loves him. You should see

  263. the way my mother smiles when he comes home. And

  264. I'm listening. I'm shaking my head. Praise the Lord. I

  265. am glad you are going to get married. But I'll

  266. be glad. I'll be more joyful if the marriage is

  267. going to succeed. And it's going to bring joy to you.

  268. And you are not just going to go through the

  269. face and the motion. But it will be an enjoyable experience.

  270. I don't know the man. I may not know him.

  271. Nobody may know him. But the Holy Ghost, he knows

  272. all men. So the rumor will start ringing in your heart,

  273. in your heart. Immediately, the person comes and leaves, and

  274. then deposits the pizza, and then the biscuits, and then,

  275. you know, the wine and leaves, and then you are

  276. about to sit down to eat. Oh, what an amazing

  277. man God is bringing to me. Then your heart starts beating.

  278. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

  279. Then you sense the Holy Spirit of God stifling and

  280. holding on your jaw. Then you hear the screaming within

  281. your soul, the incestuous voice of God. No! That's the rumor.

  282. The pastor will not be there. Nobody will be there.

  283. And then in your bed alone, and then he will

  284. wake you up. And you can't sleep. You are listless.

  285. And then what is it? And you are here. Hey,

  286. this guy. Sometimes he won't even give you a dream.

  287. He will speak to you in a dream. A sister

  288. was telling me her story. It says in the dream,

  289. when she was going, she was marching. Everybody was saying, no, no, no, no.

  290. She said, no, no, no. I like him. I like him.

  291. I'll marry him. He's a nice guy. He will change.

  292. He will change. I'll be able to change him. The

  293. way he loves me and he listens to me, I'll

  294. change him. And then she says something. She says that

  295. you know something. She says that in the dream, on

  296. the wedding day, the cake, the cake was beautifully raised there.

  297. And the rings. And then something in the dream, somebody,

  298. a hand just... He kicked the cake away, and the

  299. cake just splattered on the floor. Rinsed in all the things.

  300. He said, that is when I knew that I should have.

  301. I didn't have any more energy and courage to say no.

  302. That's the voice of the Spirit. Hallelujah. So God has

  303. already said it. In the Logos, He has said it.

  304. Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, period. Then all the

  305. other arguments will come. The voice of the Spirit. I

  306. don't know. I wish that it would work well for you. Hallelujah.

  307. Because we want, just like, we want everybody to get married.

  308. But if you get married and have a very happy

  309. and joyful or joyous marriage, But the Lord who knows

  310. all hearts. Hallelujah. Every commandment. Every commandment. Every commandment. So

  311. you want to marry, you go and consult the commandment.

  312. What does God say about people who have not yielded

  313. the throne of their lives to Jesus Christ? No matter

  314. how nice they are. Can I go ahead? The logos

  315. is there. But you ignore it. But the rhema, you

  316. can't run away from the rhema. Because it's the voice

  317. of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. He says the whole commandment.

  318. And as we are seeing, the logos and the remarks.

  319. From Genesis to Revelation is the entire law. Hallelujah. From

  320. Genesis to Revelation, the truths that spells out the principles

  321. of the word of God. But remember, we are in

  322. a new dispensation. But we can learn a lot of

  323. the truths, particularly when it comes to the identity of God.

  324. Because in the Old Testament, even though in the New Testament,

  325. Because in the New Testament, he says that in Jesus Christ,

  326. God gave a fuller revelation of himself. That's why the

  327. New Testament is exciting. As we read through the word

  328. of God, through the gospels, and behold Jesus living amongst men.

  329. And like theologians will say, in the New Testament, the

  330. Old Testament is what is revealed. Hallelujah. Whilst in the

  331. Old Testament, the New Testament is concealed. So we see God.

  332. That's why you must read. You'll be able to come,

  333. if you like, be confronted with the identity of God,

  334. his purpose for creation, and the destiny of our creation.

  335. And more particularly, his covenant relationship with his creation, especially

  336. man is our creature. Amen. Let me take that again.

  337. As we come and begin to read and study the

  338. word of God, the whole commandment, the commandment spells out

  339. The identity of God, his purpose for creation, the destiny

  340. of our creation, and more particularly, his covenant relationship with

  341. his creation, especially man, his star creature. Hallelujah. Amen. God

  342. has a purpose. And in the word, you and I

  343. are going to see that we are stewards. God, and

  344. those are the foundational stones that Moses seeks to to

  345. lay when he says, in the beginning, God. God, he

  346. was the one who created the heavens and the earth

  347. and everything that is in it. The Psalmist says, Psalm 24,

    Psalms 24:1

  348. verse 1 is all, the earth is the lost, the

  349. fullness thereof, and all, all them that dwell therein. So

  350. when Jesus is saying that, no, don't go and pursue

  351. Mammon at the exclusion of God, in a way, he's

  352. saying that if you, like I keep on saying, Keep

  353. on teaching. If you come to me, you have the wealth.

  354. You will have the wealth. Besides that, he has said it.

  355. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

  356. All these things shall be added unto it. And later on,

  357. as we go down, as we said, God had an

  358. oath to it to make it doubly sure and assurance

  359. to us that God will not go back on his word. Hallelujah.

  360. He has blessed us. Why? Because he's a blessed God

  361. and he can bless us. Hallelujah. Amen. But then as

  362. we are saying, knowing the word is critical to having

  363. a healthy relationship with God. That's why you must go

  364. to school. That's why you must do your quiet time

  365. at the expense of whatever. 30 minutes every morning, you

  366. will get it. You shave it off. Amen. Shave it off.

  367. Cut off your sleep. Do everything to be able to

  368. maintain it. Hallelujah. Amen. Because it's going to help you

  369. develop a very healthy relationship with God. There are too

  370. many of us who have unhealthy relationships with God. Too

  371. many people in church. Hallelujah. And too many, because you see,

  372. when you have a healthy relationship with God, you can't

  373. approach him. So you find out that you are standing

  374. too far. But the word says what? Draw nigh to God.

  375. And he will draw nigh to us. Hallelujah. Amen. God

  376. wants us to draw close to him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So

  377. that he can also draw close to us. So that

  378. all the rich promises in the word, he can do

  379. it to us. He created this world. And the first

  380. thing that he did, and the Bible will say that,

  381. like David sings about in Psalm 8, what is man

  382. that you are so mindful of him? Even though you

  383. created him a little older than the angels, you have

  384. special affection and attention on man. God didn't entrust this

  385. world into the hands of angels, but to man, telling

  386. us about the mindset when it comes to man. Hallelujah. Amen.

  387. And we're going to be able to, we need to

  388. be familiar with these truths so that when the spirit

  389. of Mammon is beckoning and calling, you know how to

  390. resist him. It is God's to bestow. He's the benefactor.

  391. We are beneficiaries. So you read the first and last one.

  392. I say every one of us, you must at least,

  393. the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, you

  394. should know it. What happened? How did we start off

  395. with God? And what happened? And what has God promised

  396. to do to help us in our struggles? Hallelujah. Amen.

  397. Through the word of God, the whole commandment, as we

  398. are saying and arguing, It's very, very important. Hallelujah. Amen.

  399. And the good thing for us now is that if

  400. you are just thinking about the whole commandment and your

  401. mind just goes back to Genesis all the way to Revelations.

  402. How many books? 66 books. How am I going to

  403. be able to read them and wrap my mind around

  404. all of them? Hallelujah. Jesus, that's what. He summarizes it

  405. for us. He said they hang on two precepts or principles.

  406. Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all

  407. your mind, all your strength, and love man. That's it.

  408. That's it. Pastor, if I begin to love God and

  409. love man, I'm not saying it's Jesus who said it.

  410. And you know something? The good thing is that that

  411. is also the reason why he seals us with his

  412. Holy Spirit. Amen. Like I said, the Holy Spirit is

  413. going to help us. in our understanding, appreciation of the logos.

  414. And he will be there around to help us, to

  415. encourage us, and to cheer us up, to apply the

  416. rima in our lives. When it comes to practical application

  417. of the word, God doesn't leave us to do it alone.

  418. The Holy Spirit will help us. He will give us

  419. the boldness and the courage to resist evil, to say no. Hallelujah. Amen.

  420. So as I say, how are we going to be

  421. able to do that He will teach us. He will

  422. guide us. He will love us enough to help us

  423. love him back and have enough left over to love

  424. our fellow man. Say amen to that. You say you

  425. can't love. God will teach you how to love. We

  426. don't know how to love, but he will teach us

  427. how to love him. Amen. There are simple things, though.

  428. Just come to church. Just find yourself useful in the

  429. house of God. And then before you realize, the joy

  430. of the Lord, it begins to stir up in your

  431. heart and in your spirit. And then it gives you

  432. energy and strength. But if the foundational stones, you are

  433. not laying it. And every time, you are standing far

  434. away from God. And God has given the principles, the steps.

  435. And you say, you won't do it. You are not

  436. going to enjoy it. And then before we realize, oh, okay, then...

  437. In place of the pursuit of God, let me go

  438. and pursue money. And then before you realize, God has

  439. become so distant away from you. Hallelujah. Amen. Tell someone

  440. and say, God created it all. Hallelujah. Amen.

  441. This broadcast was proudly sponsored by the Friends and Partners

  442. of Harvest Japan International Komatsu. Thank you for listening to

  443. Logoshrima Hour with Rev.

  444. Dr.

  445. Joseph Maldon. We believe that as we act on this word,

  446. God's power will transform your life. Join or visit us

  447. for our in-person family service at Harvest Chapel International in Nyamikumase,

  448. close to McLean Hotel, and on the Sunset Road, this

  449. and every Sunday at 7 a.m. for our key service, 8.30 a.m.

  450. for our Bible study, and 9 a.m. for our English service.

  451. You can also join us this and every Wednesday for

  452. our amazing midweek teaching service at 6 p.m. and on

  453. Fridays for our prayer solution service also at 6 p.m.

  454. Remember that all our services are streamed online at Harvest

  455. Chapel International Pumasi on our Facebook and YouTube pages. You

  456. can also listen to us at any time on our

  457. online radio station, Radio HCI Today, accessible via the Radio

  458. 10 and Zeno apps. You can download these apps on

  459. the Google Play Store and Apple Store. You are free

  460. to access all life-transforming demos by Rev.

  461. Dr.

  462. Joseph Valdez by podcast by searching for Harvest Chapel International

  463. Promotion on all podcast platforms. For prayer requests or any

  464. other inquiries, please contact us via SMS, voice call or

  465. WhatsApp on 055-124-5252.

  466. 055-124-5252.

  467. We look forward to seeing you at our next service.

  468. Until then, keep living for Jesus. God richly bless you.