#5 - - Pr. Oswell Dzvairo | Bible Study

May I request you to pause for a moment of prayer. Our kind and loving father in heaven, we are thankful this morning for the privilege of prayer that you have given us. And we thank you for the peaceful night that we have had. We thank you for another day, another chance that you have given us to learn from your word. May you prepare our hearts to accept and to understand your word as you desire us to. Our desire is to see you when you come to take us home. Our desire is to be transformed into your likeness. And therefore, Lord, we commit ourselves before you. For a season of learning experience, this is our prayer in Jesus' name, our Lord. Amen. The theme, obey and live, is a call to worship. It is a call to worship God. It is not a suggestion of worship, but it is a call to worship. It is an appeal to worship God as he is our creator. And therefore, as we are pursuing this theme, whatever we are sharing has to do or answers the question of worship. How do we worship God? We obey him. Okay? First day, we had to unpack this theme by way of uh appealing for obedience that we may have more life. The issue or the reason is not about life, it's about worshiping God. And the abundance of life or prolonged lifespan or lengthy life experience or longevity is just but a natural a natural result of true worship. So, it is in the interest and in the spirit of worship that we are unpacking these lessons one after another. And it is our interest and it was our joy to walk through the passage of wisdom literature in the book of Proverbs chapter 3. We were just anchoring our messages from Proverbs chapter 3. Of course, there's a lot to be learned from the entirety of scripture. But this time it was our joy just to approach the theme of obey and live in the interest of wisdom literature. And such is still our task this morning. Today we are looking at Proverbs chapter 3 verse 7 and 8, which says, "Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruit of all your increase. Outcome: So, your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine." This appeal or this promise or this invitation to honor the Lord with all your possessions and all your festive fruit is rooted or it was transmitted in the context of agro-economy. Agro-economy. People of the ancient Near Eastern culture, they subsisted on agribusiness. Their life was more understood and their wealth was defined in terms of agricultural produce. Or in the likes of crops which they harvest or in the likes of animals which they have because they were cattle herders. So, it is in the interest or in the understanding or in the spirit of that agro culture or agro economy that God is appealing to them to say, you worship God with your possessions. With your wealth you must worship your God. Honor God it means worship God with your substance. With your wealth you cannot afford to separate your worship or yourself from your wealth in the matters of worship. In the matters of worship your wealth and yourself and all your substance, just as with all your family, with all your relatives, with everything, God expects you to worship him like that. So, a condition is set. What is the condition? You honor God. What is honoring God? Worshiping him. Acknowledging him as the creator. What is the outcome? And then your vats or your barns or wherever your treasure your treasures where you keep your your wealth will continue to be replenished over and over again. In other words, you will not lack anything. You will not lack anything. He who is faithful in the matters of worship through his possession or her wealth or whatever the one has in terms of resources, that person will never lack anything. This is what God is promising. Now, the whole text and the whole passage and the whole week we've been looking at this subject matter, which involves around worshipping God. We looked at chapter 3 verse 1 and 2, which appealed to us to say obey the Lord. That was the submission and appeal. The result of obeying God we we learned and we saw that it is a prolonged lifespan. Then number two, we challenge each other to reflect the character of God by being merciful and truthful. God wants to see his image, his original image, that he entrusted in us at creation. How? By being merciful. If we are merciful and truthful, we are reflecting the character of God, because God is merciful. God is long-suffering. God is loving. God is kind. God is truth. So, he desires us to reflect his character in the how we relate with each other as human beings, in how we relate with him, how we relate with our spouses, how we relate with ourselves, and how we relate with everything that is surrounding us. He desires us to be faithful, to be merciful, to be loving kind, and also to care and to be truthful in how we relate and how we transact business in our day-to-day living. Simple. The third day, we looked at this idea of trusting the Lord. That was verse five and verse six. Trust the Lord. At the heart of worship, if you are a true worshiper of God, you must trust trust God. You can't worship God without trusting trusting him. And you cannot trust God if you don't worship if you are not a true worshiper of God. And then the fourth day, we challenged challenged each other to fear the Lord. And the center of all these things is God. God. God. Or the Lord. The Lord. The Lord. Fear the Lord. And then the issue of benefits just comes as a natural experience. Natural outcome. We are not moved by the outcome in order for us to to undertake and to align our lives with these conditions, but we are more interested in worshipping God. Everything else follow follows naturally. If you are moved or motivated by the benefits, your sense of worship is is a lot to be desired and is much questionable. And today, we are looking at this subject matter, honor the Lord with all your substance, with all your possessions. In the matters of wealth, honor the Lord your God. And then, as a natural benefit, you will not lack anything. Let's get into the nitty-gritties and into the names and capitalities of our message this morning. This text is presenting a universal and a timeless principle of success. In the matters of business, many people have been to so many business forums, business schools of business where they learn business principles for them to succeed in life. The Bible presents a simple principle of business that is timeless, that is universal. In other words, it appeals to all people of all time, people of all ages. It cuts across generations. According to Solomon, the wisest man ever lived here on earth and the most richest person ever lived here on earth, this is his business principle which he is subscribing and also prescribing for us who are growing in our time. In the matters of wealth and business and in the matters of wisdom, Solomon was a man of his own class. And this is his prescription for us. Honor the Lord with all your substance and you will never let anything. Such is the counsel of the wisest man ever lived here on earth. What does it mean to honor God with our possessions and with all our substance? What does it mean? Number one, it means to acknowledge him as our creator. God is the creator of gold and silver. God is the creator of all animal wealth that we may claim. God the creator of the universe in its entirety. And if we acknowledge that he is the uh he's the creator of all these things, we need to prove how we relate with him in the view of our wealth. How do we relate with the God in the view of our wealth? Do we put God first before we look at the before we look at the wealth or we put the wealth first in order for us to see God? God desires us to put the God the first in order to look at wealth. Point number two, what does it mean to honor God with our possessions? It means to acknowledge him as our as the owner of everything that we may gain in this world. He is the owner. According to Psalm chapter 24 verse 1, God declares ownership of everything that exists in this world including us. He claims ownership. Psalm 24 verse 1 and then Psalm 50 verse 9 to 15. God claims ownership. What does he say? In in Psalm 24 verse 1, this is what God says. The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and the those who dwell therein. In other words, God is claiming ownership of both wealth and the wealth owners on earth. The wealth and its fullness belongs to God. What God is claiming 15 to 15 >> God is the owner. It is in that understanding or in the sense of ownership that we should acknowledge that God, since he is the owner, we need to worship him by our substance and by our possessions and by our wealth. We cannot separate ourselves, our wealth from us and from our sense of duty as far as worshipping God is concerned. We acknowledge that God is the owner. We need to do so and prove by bringing our wealth to him. Not that we are bringing our wealth to him and our possession to him for him to exist because God is a self-existent. He does not need our contribution for him to be God because he is God without me, without you, without your contribution, without my contribution, God remains God. What does it mean to honor God with our possession? It means to acknowledge his lordship. He is the lord of the universe. He is our God. He is our lord. We need to acknowledge his lordship. To deny him of his this this uh lordship, it it means you claim it to say, "I'm now the lord of myself." You acknowledge that God is the lord of your life, is the lord in your life, is the lord of your wealth in in your wealth. You do so by uh doing what it's what is supposed to be done. That is acknowledging him. To say he is the lord and you return to him faithfully what belongs to God. What does it mean to honor God with our substance? It means to acknowledge his providence. It is not so much in our wisdom that we gain wealth. But it is so much about God and what he is able to do in our lives that we gain wealth. In Deuteronomy, counsel is given to say, "You remember, Israel, that it is God who teaches you to gain wealth or to make money." Unless God helps you or guides you or enables you, no one is capable to gain any substance in the midst of wealth. So, in this or in all this acknowledgement, what is our duty and what is our responsibility? In other words, how do we acknowledge that God is our creator, he is our he is our sustainer, he is the provider, he is the Lord, he is the one who owns us all these things? How do we do so? We declare non-ownership of what you get. How do you declare non-ownership of what you get? You become faithful in returning tithe. You become faithful in returning offerings. You leave no space to rob God of what it is or what belongs to him. You leave no space or no room in your transactions. No space robbing God. Leviticus chapter 27 verse 30. Someone may be asking, "How can you talk of tithe? What is tithe?" Leviticus chapter 27 verse 30. And all the tithe, this is God speaking, and all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, it is the Lord's. It is a holy to the Lord. Not a holy to the pastor. Not a holy to the church. Not a holy to the stewardship director, but it is a holy to the Lord. What does this mean? It implies by returning 10% of what you get in terms of gain, and 10% reflects that returning it, you are acknowledging God's lordship of his creation and what he has done in this world. And what he has done in your life. You acknowledge that that God is the Lord. By returning 10% of your gains to him. In other words, if you withhold that 10%, you are declaring that I'm also the Lord of my life. I'm also the Lord of this world. Such is a serious matter or it's a treasonous treason against God. And that you will never remain silent. You will not. Because it's treasonous. Any treasonous behavior must be followed by justice. And if justice needs to be done, it will never leave you the same. Leviticus chapter 27 verse 32 also says, "And concerning the tithe of the herd or animals or the flock of whatever passes under the rod, the 10th the 10th one shall be holy to the Lord. To those of you or to those of us who are cattle headers, the 10th out of every 10 animals that you have in your flock, the 10th one belongs to God or 10% of your animals belongs to God. Whether of your chickens or goats or sheep or cattle or whatever, it belongs to God. This is what God is claiming. What does it imply? It implies you are declaring declaring or acknowledging God's creatorship, God's ownership, God's prov- uh providence, God's authority. You worship God in the matters of your possessions by declaring that I am not the owner, I am not the creator, I am not the one who provides for myself, I am not the one who make things happen in my life, but it is only God. So, being faithful in the matters of tithe and offerings is an act of worship. Verse 33, Leviticus 27, it says, "He shall not inquire whether it is good or a bad, nor shall he exchange it. And if he exchange it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed." The 10th one. So, how do you administer this? You call the pastor. He is the one who is responsible in the process of counting and identifying the 10th one. It's not you who count it by yourself and identify the 10th one by yourself and then you bring what you think. Uh-uh. The man of God is set apart for that special sacred duty. In this case, in the experience of God's children in the context of Leviticus 27, the Levites or the priests had the that obligation of identifying or counting in order to identify the 10th one and it dedicated to the worship of God. To honor God, to honor the Lord with your possessions means to glorify God with your wealth. To be a faithful steward or manager of God's creation. The greatest temptation that the people have is when they get money or wealth to separate themselves from it. That is a serious temptation that humanity has. And God is only saying that you just have to acknowledge that you are not the owner of that wealth by the separating or dedicating the 10% of what you get back to God as a way of acknowledging God's creatorship, God's lordship, God's ownership. He is the owner. He is the He is the creator. He is He is the provider. He is the one in charge. To acknowledge that he he is the one in charge. You do so by returning a faithful tithe to him. Being faithful in treasure management means that you do not compete with the God. Here is a caution that is given by Jesus Christ himself. Mat- According to Matthew chapter 6 verse 24, Jesus gave gave a question in how we relate with the wealth, how we relate with the money, how we relate with the possessions. This is his question. No one can serve two masters at a time. For either he will hate the one and love the other. Or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. This is a question that Jesus gave. What does this question mean? It's impossible. It's impossible to be loyal to two masters. In this case, there are two masters that compete with each other. God and the mammon. The question is, who is mammon? God, we know him. But who is this mammon that may that is that may claim the role of a master in our life besides God? The term mammon is an Aramaic word which means wealth or which can be translated wealth. Wealth by its nature or by its tendency has a mastery role or effect, not and never does it take a servant role. In our lives as human beings, how we relate with the wealth, at the any given point, wealth is not prepared to assume the role of a servant in your life. But in fact, it actually demands or expects its role to be of that a master. That of a master. Which means or which implies you and me in many cases we become servants or slaves to mammon or to wealth. In other words, it it dictates the pace of how you move or how you relate with it. It wants to dictate the pace. This is why you see when someone has some money in his pocket or a pocket or a purse, that person when you know that you your account at the bank is effect, you become restless. You become restless. It becomes very difficult to contain you. Sometimes people can even tell that something is happening. Something is not in order here. Why? Because you are restless. Mammon is telling you how to behave. And mammon wants you to wants to be wants you to be known that you you are his servant. Or it's servant. So, you behave in a certain way that even those around you you wanted them to come and to worship what you have in your pocket. So, Christ cautions, be careful of mammon. Don't worship wealth. Just worship the God and the God alone. Just that. It's enough. Malachi chapter 3 verse 8, another caution is given. Another caution is given. Will a man rob God? Yet, you have robbed me. This is God speaking. But, you say, "In what way have we robbed you?" In tithes and offerings. If you withhold tithes and withhold offerings, you are robbing God. And that is treasonous. For that reason, God will not remain silent. How does he respond when you become treasonous or when you rob him of what that which belongs to him? When you rob him of his lordship, when you rob him of his creatorship, when you rob him of his ownership, FAILURE TO DECLARE that the God is the owner, God is the creator, God is the Lord. If you fail to declare that, that's treasonous. How did the God How does God respond? This is how he responds. He will curse you. You will be cursed. You will curse me. And when you are cursed, no one has power to redeem that curse or to redeem you from that that curse that is executed by God himself because God is the supreme supreme power. He's omnipotent. So, you are cursed with a curse. For you have robbed me, even this whole nation. He's talking to the nation of Israel. They were cursed. Why? Because they robbed the God. Why? Because they were treasonous. How? Because they they claimed God's creatorship, God's ownership, God's lordship. Chapter 3 verse 10. Here is a condition and an outcome that can only redeem you from such a predicament of divine curses. Bring all tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. And then try me in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. This is the condition and also the outcome. If you bring tithes and offerings, naturally the outcome is God will open the windows of heaven and I would pour his blessings upon you that there will be room no room enough to contain his blessings in your life. This is the appeal with the condition and in outcome. And the outcome comes automatically or naturally as a result of your faithfulness. This condition outcome kind of a thing attendance is consistent from the Pentateuch or from the first five books of the Bible, which are the Torah, and to to the end of the Bible. God is consistent. Doesn't change. The condition is met, the outcome comes as a natural result of what has happened, naturally. Sometimes we mistaken these things by way of being so much obsessed and interested in the outcome without regarding the condition and therefore because we are interested in the outcome and therefore we seek to bribe God by way of trying to become trying trying to be faithful because we want to bribe God. No, you don't need to bribe God. Faithfulness is an act of worshipping and you must be consistent and be faithful. Throughout the whole week, Pastor Victor has been laboring every afternoon to try by all means to unpack this issue of worshipping God. We need to worship the God by being faithful in returning tithes and offerings. Throughout the week, Pastor Victor has been laboring and he doing he did everything and he was trying to come from all different corners and angles to present this message to us. I'm simply trying to summarize what he has been presenting to us throughout the week. Thank you so much Pastor Victor for the great work that you did. Uh may God bless you. In the same spirit and in the same sense of condition and outcome. Malachi chapter 3 verse 11 says, "And I will rebuke the devourer." This is what the God will do if you are faithful in bringing tithes and offerings. This is what God will do in your life by way of removing curses. He will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the shall divine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord. All your potential threats that is threatening the integrity of your wealth, God will remove them. He will remove all the obstacles that prohibit or that prevent you from becoming prosperous or wealthier than you have been all this time. Sometimes you wonder and you question, but how come it appears other people are becoming more and more becoming more pronounced in their life in the matters of wealth, but it I'm remaining poor and becoming poorer and poorer each now and again. May you reflect and revise how you relate with with the God in the matters of wealth management. Condition and outcome. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 24. Here is what God says or what the wisdom teacher says. There is one person who scatters all the time, yet increases more and more. I'm trying to amplify and to unpack and to paraphrase this thought we understand better. And there is someone who withholds more than is right. But it always leads to poverty. The more you try to withhold that which belongs to God, you become poorer and poorer. The more you scatter and release that which belongs to God, you become richer and richer and richer. What a paradox of life. What a paradox in the journey of faith. Those that are faithful to retain, that release, that have no problem to let go that which belongs to God, they become richer and richer and richer. Those that withhold and withhold and withhold, they become poorer and poorer and poorer, yet they are withholding. What a paradox. This is heaven's doings, not human doings. Verse 25. The generous soul will be made rich. And he who waters will also be watered himself. It's a principle of life. A principle of business. It's a prin- It is a natural principle of life. Timeless, universal. It does not apply to a particular group of people and doesn't apply elsewhere. Uh-uh. It applies It cuts across generations, races, tribes, color, age groups. Honoring the Lord means worshiping God and this worshiping God through returning tithe. It goes beyond a transaction. It's not a just a transaction. Of okay, out of the money that I have, okay, which one? The 10th one? The 10% is this one? Okay, I have retained. That's a transaction. It goes far beyond that transaction. Actually, it has nothing to do that with that transaction. That transaction is a result of true worship. God desires us to be faithful. In Mark chapter 14 verse 3 to 9, there is a story of a woman who came and poured the expensive oil on the feet of Jesus. And someone was affected and disturbed and offended by it. That transaction did not augur well with Peter. Or with the Judas, as it were. He saw a transaction. And for this woman, this was worship, an act of worshipping God. She did not count the cost because Jesus is far above everything that can be transacted as far as life here on earth is concerned. So, faithfulness is trust in action. It is a an issue of worship. Faithfulness. It is a result of trust in God. Faithfulness is a result or it is an expression of true worship of God. It is an acknowledgement that God is the creator. Faithfulness is an acknowledgement that God is the owner of wealth. Faithfulness is an acknowledgement that God is the provider. It is an an acknowledgement that God is the sustainer of my life and the universe at large. It's possible that to some extent someone was not a faithful in returning what belongs to God. Yes, it's possible. To our online uh congregants who are following and who are worshipping with us in this service. And to those who are physically present here, it's possible that among all of us some may were not faithful and are not faithful in returning tithes and offerings to God. The text today in the Bible has taught us that we are robbing God. And that is treasonous before God. It will not just go and be noticed and unattended to because it is treasonous, God has the prerogative to kiss. Not because he's cruel but because he wants you to come back to your senses and worship God faithfully as he is the creator, the owner and the provider and the lord of the universe. Everything that we have and that we get as far as our effort of getting wealth is concerned comes from God and belongs to God. How do we acknowledge that? By returning 10% of our gains to him because he's the owner. I want to give you a chance to repent and to ask for forgiveness from God. That the lord will reverse the kiss that he may have pronounced on your efforts. You know yourself. I know myself. You are saying this morning, "Lord, help me. I want to be faithful to honor you in sub in all my substance by returning a faithful tithe to you and offering. Lord, may you help me." Because humanly speaking, according to the nature of the controversy between us and the enemy, between the God and the enemy, Satan doesn't want you to be faithful to God because he wants you to worship him. So, that's why he gives you the temptation of mammon. There are two powers that are contending for allegiance from you. God on one side and the mammon on the other side. What is your take this morning? It's a a question of choice. I appeal to you that you choose to worship your God of faith, to worship him faithfully. If that is your desire that you are declaring and you are interested to worship your God faithfully in returning a faithful tithe to him. From this point onwards, I request that you rise on your feet wherever you are. We need to have a time of prayer. Pastor Opanda, may I request you to come up front. Men of God, throughout the week we have been dealing with the issues and the questions of true worship here. On the second day, we talked about worshipping God by being obedient to his commandments. By being obedient to his commandments and to his laws. Naturally, if that is done, God will grant us a prolonged life. Second day, we spoke about reflecting the character of God. True worshipping of God means and implies reflecting the character of God. God wants to see his character in us as it were on the day he created us in in in the first place. We were created in the image of God. In his likeness. HE'S MERCIFUL. HE'S LOVING. HE'S KIND. HE'S LONG-SUFFERING. He stands for the truth and the truth alone. He wants to see his image in us. That is true worshipping. HE WANTS US TO TRUST HIM. The third day we talked about it, trusting the Lord as an act of worship. We must trust God. Not out of impulse of gains, favor from God and the favor FROM MEN. UH-UH. BUT BECAUSE THIS IS OUR solitary duty to trust God. We spoke about the fear OF GOD. NOT BECAUSE WE need good health. UH-UH. BUT BECAUSE THIS IS OUR DUTY TO FEAR GOD. Healthy and whatever, those are just benefits that comes naturally. In the spirit and in the sense of true worship. Here are God's children who are declaring interest to say, "No. Yes, we've been messing up. Well, this time we want to trust God again, to fear God again, AND TO HONOR HIM, TO WORSHIP HIM EVEN IN our substances and in our wealth, having faith equal to retain that which belongs to God. That is our desire. This such is my appeal. And as you pray for the saints here present and those worshipping God online, wherever they are, if I appeal to you, there are people who are also standing with me and with us to SAY FROM THIS POINT ONWARD, we want to be faithful in returning that which belongs TO GOD AND SUPPORTING GOD'S WORK. SUCH IS MY PRAYER, TOO. As you pray for the saints, may you also remember to pray for me. >> Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, the whole of this week your man servant has been belaboring the matter of obey and leave. We have listened to him. He has given a lot of illustrations. We thank you for this ministry and pray, oh God, that you bless him abundantly and use him mightily as we have as you have used him here. And may all those who have listened, oh God, not go away empty-handed, but that your Holy Spirit will translate all these lessons of obey and live into our practical experience to the honor and glory of your name. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. >> Thank you. May God bless us.