GOD’S PROVISION
DR. JIM DIXON
GENESIS 22
OCTOBER 23, 1994
Twelve and a half years ago, Bob and I sat in a little office down on Orchard Road wondering if anyone was going to come to our new church. Granted, it was not our church; it was Christ’s church. On March 7, 1982, Cherry Hills Community Church was born. Some of you were there and part of this church’s birth. Nine years ago, we moved to Colorado Boulevard, to this facility. In September 1985, we had our first worship service here. Some of you came for the first time that Sunday. You did not come because of us. You came because of Christ. It was Christ who led you here. Through the years, through thick and thin, it is Christ who has kept you here. Now, approximately nine months from now, we are moving to Grace Boulevard in Highlands Ranch, and others will join us there. They will not come because of us. They will come because of Christ. Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church, and the powers of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
We have seen Christ’s provision through the years in this church, and we have seen His provision during this process of relocation. We paid $2.6 million for the land in Highlands Ranch—thirty-nine acres with rolling options on twenty-six more acres. We did not know it at the time, but the price we paid for that land was relatively low. That land is much more valuable today. It is much more expensive today, so much so that we probably could not afford to move to Highlands Ranch today. But it was God’s timing. God knew the time, and that land in Highlands Ranch is from Him. He has called us there. We have seen, even in the soil, God’s hand. We have seen God’s provision. You saw in the video how Colorado soil is usually laden with bentonite. Yet there was only a very small amount of absorbent soil there, and it was easily removed by excavation and structural fill. One hundred ninety caissons were drilled to bedrock with no problem of water or clay. All of this was the hand of God. Everything has gone smoothly, and by the grace of God we have saved more than $100,000. That should not surprise us because God has called us there. When you drive on the land, drive up the hill, and see the front range, know this is the place God has called us to be His light set on a hill.
This property here, this facility here, we thought we were going to sell to the Hebrew Congregation Educational Alliance, but they could not come up with the money. But God is faithful. God provides. He is Jehovah Jireh, and He has raised up Colorado Community Church. This could only be the hand of God. When we first tried to sell this facility, Colorado Community Church did not even exist. But God is sovereign, and it was His timing. Now Christ will continue to be served here even as He will be served in Highlands Ranch. We have a great God.
Abraham, the patriarch, was the first to call God Jehovah Jireh, more perfectly in Hebrew, Yahweh Jireh, the Lord who provides, the Lord shall provide. Through God’s provision, Abraham’s son Isaac was spared. Through the centuries and through the millennia, the people of God have witnessed the provision of God.
Moses stood before Pharaoh 3,300 years ago and said, “Let my people go” (Exodus 9:1), and he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. It was God’s provision. It was not Moses who had the power. It was God. It was God who brought plagues on Egypt. It was God who parted the Red Sea. It was God who allowed the children of Israel to pass through the Red Sea as if on dry land. It was God who brought manna from heaven. It was God who brought water from the supernatural rock that the children of Israel might eat and drink in the wilderness. God is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.
Three thousand years ago, it was God who made a shepherd boy a king in Israel. That small stone, that single stone found its mark on the forehead of a Philistine giant by the hand of God. David was preserved from the armies of King Saul by the power of God, and it was God who made David king in Israel.
Two thousand eight hundred years ago, Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and called down fire from heaven, defeating the 450 prophets of Baal. He stood against the evil King Ahab and his Phoenician wife Queen Jezebel. It was God who provided food for Elijah from the mouths of ravens as he hid by the brook Cherith. God provided food for Elijah in the town of Zarephath from a jar of flour that was never emptied and oil from a flask that never went dry. This was all by the hand of God because God is Jehovah Jireh.
It was God who kept Daniel safe in the lion’s den and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Abednego in the fiery furnace. God provides. God is Jehovah Jireh.
In this world lost in sin, in bondage to sin and death, God provided a Savior, sending His Son into the world that we might have life through Him. It was Jesus Christ who said, “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). And indeed, His church has grown from twelve people to 1.7 billion people today who call Jesus Christ Lord. This is all by the provision of God. This church, Cherry Hills Community Church, is a very small segment of the church of Jesus Christ universal. Every segment of the church of Jesus Christ is precious to Him. This church is precious to Him. He has provided for us these twelve and a half years, and He will provide for us in the years to come if we will be faithful.
This morning, I would like us to focus briefly on three qualities that God wants to see in this church if we would continue to have His full provision.
First of all, He wants us to be a church that seeks holiness. He wants us to be a people who seek holiness. God’s charge to this church is for us to be holy because He is holy. Many Christians do not understand the meaning of the word holy. First of all, the word holy, from the word “hagios,” means “set apart.” I can illustrate this through a rock that many people consider to be holy. If you were asked, “What is the most famous rock in this world?” what would you say? Some of you might say Plymouth Rock, where the pilgrims stepped foot off the Mayflower. Some of you might say the rock of Gibraltar, that massive stone two miles square and one of the pillars of Hercules.
Some of you might say the Blarney stone. Barb and I were there years ago. We saw that chunk of limestone in Blarney Castle near Cork, Ireland. Some of you might say the Blackstone, the stone that is in the Kaaba in Mecca, the stone that allegedly fell from heaven to which millions of Muslims pilgrimage every year. Some of you might think of diamonds. You might think of the Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever found in this world, found in South Africa in 1905 from which the star of Africa was cut. You might think of the Hope Diamond, that beautiful blue stone found in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. today.
But all of these rocks are simply rocks to God. None of those rocks are precious to God. But there is a rock in this world that is precious to God, and that rock is found on Mount Moriah. It is found in Israel. It is found in Jerusalem. It is the rock over which the Dome of the Rock now stands today. It is the rock upon which Abraham sought to offer his son Isaac. It is the rock upon which the temple of David was once built. According to Orthodox Jews, it is the rock upon which the Holy of Holies once stood. For Jews and Christians and Muslims alike, that rock is called holy. Why is it called holy? Certainly we cannot think of a rock as being without sin as though a rock could sin. That rock is called holy because it has been set apart for God. It has been set apart for God’s use time and again in Earth’s history.
God is not into rocks. It is not rocks that He wants to make holy. God is into people. God wants to set people apart for His use. God wants people to be holy. In the Bible, in this generation, in this era, the people of God are called the church. They are called the church, and there is a sense in which the church is holy. It is holy because the church has been set apart, set apart for God’s use.
Paul says to the church at Corinth, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). The church is God’s temple. The church is holy. This church, Cherry Hills Community Church, is holy. It has been set apart for God. No one should destroy the church. No one can come against the church. No one can come against this church without giving account to God, because God’s church is holy. It is set apart for Him.
Biblically there is another meaning for the word holy. It not only means set apart, but also the word holy means separate. If we are to be holy, we must be separated from the world. If we are to be holy, we must be separated from the ways of the world. If we are to be holy, we must seek to separate ourselves from the sin of the world. If we are to be holy, we must hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is in this sense that God is saying to us today that we are to seek holiness, to separate ourselves from the ways of the world that we might have the full measure of His provision.
This, of course, is very serious. That is why Jesus Christ, when addressing the seven churches of Asia, warned them to avoid the ways of the Nicolaitans, the Balaamites, and the children of Jezebel (Revelation. 2:6, 14, 20) if they were to have His full provision. He warned them to avoid sin, the stain of sin. There is a kind of scary passage in Ezekiel 9 where the prophet of God has a great vision. He sees the throne of heaven and seven angels appearing before God. God tells one angel to go down to the city of Jerusalem and place a mark on every man and woman. Place a mark on every person who grieves at the sin of the city. Place a mark on every person who weeps at the iniquity that surrounds them. Then God tells the other six angels to go down to the city of Jerusalem and slay everyone who does not have the mark, everyone who does not weep at sin, everyone who does not grieve at iniquity. God said to begin with His house. Begin with the household of God.
God wants His people to seek holiness. He wants us to weep at sin, our sin and the sin that surrounds us. You might think that this church is in a whole lot of trouble. How are we ever going to have the full measure of God’s provision? How many of us really seek holiness? There are 7,000 or 8,000 people who come to this church with some regularity. Many who come to this church are not Christians, and some who come to this church are baby Christians. Many are not walking the walk. Many are not seeking holiness. God understands that. God wants people who are not Christians to come to this church so that they might hear the gospel. God understands that there are going to be baby Christians here, and God wants them to grow. What God is looking for is a faithful core in this church, a faithful core who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for holiness, who seek to be separated from the sin of the world.
I believe we have that faithful core. There are about a thousand people in this church, a thousand women and men, who love Jesus Christ. It is these thousand who give most of the money to this church. It is these thousand who volunteer their time and perform most of the lay ministry in this church. It is these thousand who hunger and thirst after righteousness. God is saying to us as a staff and as a core, “Continue to seek My righteousness, and you will have My provision.”
God also wants us to understand that holiness is not simply avoiding sin. It is seeking God’s character. How many of us really seek His character? This past week I had breakfast with Dan Stavely. Most people call Dan, the coach. He has been a coaching legend here in Colorado. Dan and I meet once a month, and I view him as a hero of the faith. I look forward to our time together. He is 83 years old and is discipling young men and women on college campuses in this state. He does this every day of the week. He is sold out for Christ. He has coached football at CU, Colorado University, for 22 years. Prior to that he was at Washington State University.
As a young Christian while at Washington State University, he was sitting in his office one day. By his own admission, he did not have the character of Christ at that time. He was known as being a mean guy. He had just come from a Bible study. He was sitting in his office. He had his Bible on the desk, and a woman at Washington State University came into his office for some business. She saw the Bible on the table and asked, “Coach, are you a Christian?” He said, “Yes, I am.” She shook her head and said, “I never would’ve known it.” When she walked out of his office, Coach Stavely said he was cut to the bone. An incredible thing happened right then and there. He got down on his knees, right in his office, and said, “God, You know that nobody sees You in me. Nobody. It is obvious that I have not placed You on the throne of my life. Lord, I do now. Come, Lord Jesus, sit on the throne of my life. Mold me like clay. I want to be like You.”
A few months passed, and Coach Stavely was home with his wife. They were having what they called talk time. Every day they spend at least a half hour in what they call talk time. They were just talking. This was two or three months after he knelt in his office. His wife said, “Dan, what’s happened to you?” He said, “What do you mean?” She said, “You’re becoming nice.” That was the power of God. He was beginning to have the character of Christ. Nine months later he sought out that woman who had come into his office and told her, “Thank you. God used you to change my life.” God wants to change all of our lives. If we will hunger and thirst for his character, we will have the full measure of His provision.
If we are to have His provision, we must not only seek holiness, but also we must express gratefulness. If you are to have God’s provision, you need to be grateful. You need to be thankful. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 9-10, Paul writes, “I want you to know that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did…. We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents; nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”
That word grumble is the Greek word “gongysmos.” This is Paul’s warning to the church at Corinth, and he uses the children of Israel in the wilderness as his example. They lost the provision of God because of “gongysmos”—murmuring, complaining, bickering. God does not want us to be murmurers. He does not want us to be complainers. He does not want us to bicker. He wants us to be grateful. There are some complainers in every church, and you may have heard the story of the Tator family. The Tator family consists of Dictator. He runs everything in the church. Then there is his wife Hesitator. She does not get involved in anything. She is never sure, so she just never gets involved. The bigger problem is the Tator tots. There is Agitator and Irritator. They complain. They are like a cancer in the body. They never see the cup as half full. They always see it as half empty. They are never thankful for the great things that God is doing. They are only looking for what is wrong. There is also Spectator. He is a problem, too. He is in every church.
I really thank God for our church, and I believe we are unusual in this way. Through the years we have had very little complaining, very little bickering, and this has been by the grace of God. Hopefully, as the years go by, we will be a grateful, thankful people that we might have the full measure of God’s provision.
My wife Barb grew up in a church called Hope Union Church. It was a great church in Southern California. Dr. William Moore was the pastor. He was a tremendous preacher, a tremendous proclaimer of God’s word. He was one of the best. They had Lowell Brown on their staff, and he was one of the greatest Christian educators in the country. He founded the International Center for Learning Division of Gospel Light. They also had Charlie Smith, one of the great youth ministers in Southern California. He went on to Hollywood Presbyterian. Hope Union had an unbelievable staff.
Yet it all went badly because Hope Union lacked unity. A spirit of criticism in that church developed. It grew and became like a cancer. People began leaving the church. The church began to shrink because of a spirit of criticism. Today, Hope Union does not exist. It is dead. It is gone. It serves only as a reminder to churches in Southern California, churches in America, churches all over the world, to avoid the spirit of criticism. In every church there needs to be constructive criticism, but it needs to be expressed by grateful people who acknowledge the wonderful things that God is doing.
You know the story of the ten people who had leprosy (Luke 17:10-19). They stood on a hill and called Jesus. They said, “Lord Jesus, son of David, have mercy on us.” The Bible says that Jesus was moved with compassion and healed them in a moment in time by the mere proclamation of His word. Those ten individuals with leprosy were healed. Jesus told them to go for ritualistic cleansing to the priests. One of the individuals came back and said, “Thank you.” Only one. Jesus said, ” Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” All of you who believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior have been healed from a disease called sin. We were like those ten people with leprosy. Jesus has washed us whiter than snow, and we should live every day with thanksgiving and gratefulness. We are bound for heaven. We have been brought into a community of the saints, a community of believers. We have been called to be His people. He has called us to express gratefulness.
Finally, as our remaining time is short, if we are to have God’s full provision, we not only need to seek holiness and express gratefulness, but also we need to produce fruitfulness. God wants this church to be fruitful. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a Scotsman, an author. He created the character of Sherlock Holmes, legendary in the world of fiction. He not only authored books, but also he wrote plays. Sometimes he helped produce those plays.
On one occasion, in one of his plays, there was a $10 a week actor—a $10 a week actor who was not very good. He came to Sir Arthur and said, “I want to make a deal with you.” He said, “I’m a brilliant talent. Someday I’m going to be great. I don’t have much money. Now here’s what I’d like you to do. I’d like to take your salary and have you split it with me for the rest of your life. Take half of everything you make and give it to me from now to the day you die.” And he said, “I’ll do the same for you. It’ll be a great deal for you because I need your money now, but you’re going to need my money later. I promise you, someday I’m going to be famous.” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle laughed. He could not believe this guy, a $10 a week actor. He told him to leave. That actor was Charlie Chaplin, who became one of the most marketable talents in the world. An opportunity for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was lost forever.
We all have opportunities that come and go. We all blow it. But as a church, we do not want to blow it. Jesus Christ said to the church at Philadelphia, “I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut” (Rev. 3:8a). It was an open door for ministry and mission. Jesus Christ has set this same opportunity before this church. It is an opportunity for ministry and mission. We do not want to blow it through these years. We have seen hundreds of people except Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Here we have seen thousands of people grow in Christ. We want to be faithful in the time to come. We want to manifest the fruit of compassion. We want to hear Christ say, “Well done, good and faithful servants… I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matt. 25: 21, 23, 35-36).
Geographically we have moved away from the inner city. But in our hearts, we want to move closer. We might continue to reach out and minister there and bear the fruit of compassion. We want to bear the fruit of evangelism. We are excited about Highlands Ranch. We believe it is a great door open to us. We want to see men and women come to Jesus Christ. They want them to have eternal life.
This story is told through the Gospels. We see it in Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 13 that Jesus was walking from Jerusalem to Bethany with his disciples. He saw a fig tree that was barren. Jesus went up to that fig tree, saw its barrenness, and cursed it. The disciples saw that fig tree wither to the ground. It is a strange miracle by our Lord and Savior, a strange miracle cursing a fig tree. But in Judaism and in the biblical world, the fig tree was a symbol of Israel. Jesus Christ had just come out of the temple in Jerusalem. He saw that Israel was spiritually bankrupt. He saw the barrenness, the fruitlessness of Israel, and He was giving a clear message. Israel is cursed. It has lost God’s provision for a time.
In the Bible, the church of Jesus Christ is called the New Israel. We have been called to bear fruit. God said to the old Israel, “Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 22:18a). Israel was blessed to be a blessing. “All nations will be blessed through you” (Galatians 3:8b). But Israel did not care about the nations. Do we?
Christ has called His church to bear fruit—to bear fruit in every tribe and tongue and people and nation, to bear fruit here in Denver. The call is upon us. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16a). This is the call upon us.
I had so much I wanted to say, and now my time is up. I think you know what God wants us to understand today is that He is faithful. He is Jehovah Jireh, Yahweh Jireh. He is the Lord who provides. His faithfulness is not in question, only ours. He has called us to seek holiness, to seek His character. He has called us to express gratefulness, to be a thankful people, that we might continue to do this for His kingdom’s sake. He has called us to produce the fruit of ministry. Let us close with a word of prayer.