Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Welcome to Awakened to Grace. I'm Chad Roberts, and I'm so glad you're joining us today. I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. Today, you're going to hear a powerful sermon. But before we get to the sermon, I want to encourage you to check out my new book. It's called Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness. It's published by our partners at Lifeway.

And the reason I wrote this book is because I am 100% blind. And as I've walked this path of blindness, this path of suffering, well, I want to teach you how Christians can suffer well. I say that today my job as a blind pastor is to help people trust a God they cannot see. You can order the book right now anywhere that books are sold in any format.

Even if you're not much of a book reader, you can even get it in audio where you can listen to it. Well, I hope you'll go right now to the official website which is blindfaith.life. Again, that's blindfaith.life. And I hope you'll not only get a copy for you, I hope you'll pick one up for someone who needs encouragement in their faith today.

We got on Google Earth and we were looking around where he lives on Google Earth. And how many of you know you can throw a rock and hit a church where we live? He would show me where churches were located, and it would be miles and miles and miles with no Gospel church. And Amal is doing one of the greatest works of anybody I have ever personally met for the Kingdom of God.

A month or two ago, Amal got COVID and had to go in ICU. He's doing better now; he's overcome it to the glory of God. But you're hearing in the news how bad India's getting hit right now, right? Well, Amal has seven of the native missionaries—he's got a good-sized organization—but seven of his missionaries died two weeks ago of COVID. All seven in one week.

Could you imagine suffering a loss like that in your ministry? And now there are seven widows and many children to care for. Amal reached out to us and said, "Could Preaching Christ Church do anything on emergency? Could you help these widows at all?" Okay, what do we need? Listen, I don't have to tell you what we spend in food. You know what you spend in food, right? You know what you spend at the grocery store. You know what you spend eating out.

And he came back and he said, "Seven families, $125 per family will feed the entire family for the whole month and lift the burden off of them." See, I think this is exactly what Jesus is saying. I think this is exactly what he means. Right now, listen, widows right now are praying, "Give us this day our daily bread." And if you're like me, God has given me my daily bread and much, much more. So what are we to do? We're to share that daily bread with the Kingdom of God. Can we say amen to that?

So I think the word "our" shifts our focus off of our needs onto the needs of fellow believers. What a great way to live. What a joyful way to live. Let me share this, and then I'll move on to my last point. This is very important. You know, I've been blind for about two and a half years now, and for a good two years, I'd say Saturdays have always been my hardest day. Saturdays are always very difficult for me. Very difficult.

And if depression hits me, if discouragement hits, it always seems to be on Saturdays. But let me tell you, 12 weeks ago, all that changed. You know why? Because we began going to Hunger First to feed the poor. And let me tell you, I haven't had depression one Saturday since. Not one. You know why? Because you know what the Bible says in Isaiah 58?

It says if you'll pour yourself out for the needy, if you'll pour yourself out for the poor, if you'll spend yourself for the poor, you know what the Bible says? Then God will turn your gloom into the noonday. And let me tell you, God's done that for me. The Bible says then your healing will spring up quickly. The Bible says Isaiah 58 you'll be a well-watered garden whose waters will not fail. Glory to God. Amen.

And let me tell you, are you suffering today? You're suffering depression today? You're suffering discouragement, isolation? Let me tell you what to do. Pour yourself out. Serve. Pour yourself out. Serve somebody. And you know what? God will pour back into you. Amen. Give us this day our...

Now, what's he mean by daily bread? Let me spend a little bit more time on this, and then we'll let all these mothers get to their lunches. All right. Our daily bread. Now, this is interesting. All right. Give me a few more minutes here. This is my favorite part of the sermon. All right. We're coming to the steak part of the buffet. All right. We've had the salad and the potato; now comes the steak.

You know, scholars believe that Jesus coined the word "daily." Did you know that? Because in the Greek writings, this is where it first appears: the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6, Luke 11. It's where the word "daily" first appears. And people believe Jesus coined the word. Well, what's the point? You know what I think the point is? Jesus knows your daily physical needs. He knows your daily essentials of life.

But let me tell you what God wants to create in you. He wants to create a daily faith. A daily walk. You know what happens when you depend on the Lord daily? You build a daily faith. See, some of you, I love you, but let me be honest with you, okay? I'm not throwing stones at you. I'm your pastor. I love you. I'd lay down my life for you. I love you.

But some of you got a Sunday morning faith. Some of you got an every once in a while faith. God wants you to have a daily faith. That's why he meets your needs daily. That's why he wants you to depend on him daily. That's why he wants you to pray to him daily. Because he wants to create a daily walk, a daily faith. Now, what I believe the Lord is saying to us today to our church is that God wants to use us in the meeting of needs.

If you've never heard of the man George Müller, I want you to Google him. I want you to look him up. He operated an orphanage in Bristol, England, back in the late 1800s. He'd walk around saying, "It's Bristol, baby!" No, he didn't actually say that. But he would, I don't think. He wore a big number three shirt everywhere he went. No, he didn't, he didn't at all. But anyway, there's some of them going, "Amen, rest in peace, amen."

But he operated an orphanage in Bristol, England, back before orphanages were ever a thing. Can I just tell you the minute story here? Can I tell you the background? So he married a lovely lady named Mary. George and Mary Müller. What giants of the faith they were. And so he was a young pastor and he had this church. Well, back then in England, people—you didn't pass the plate and people gave because they wanted to give to the Lord like it wasn't a generosity thing.

Do you know how they gave back then? They rented their pew. They rented their seat. They gave their money to the church for that to be their seat. And this is where it got real ugly. So the bigger you were in society, the more important of a family you were, the closer to the front you sat. That way, the whole town could see what a bigwig you were. Excuse me while I vomit.

So George Müller, God put—there's all kinds of street children in Bristol—and God put in George and Mary's heart to start an orphanage for them. Well, guess what happened? The high and the mighty, the self-righteous, the bigwigs didn't want to associate themselves with the poor and the lowly. So they withheld their money from the church.

I've never gotten along well with bigwig people. I had a family one time when we very first started, years ago. We've always reached out to the poor, always. This family who was very well-to-do, they came, and I was very excited because I knew them. They said, "Chad, we don't think we're going to come anymore." Okay, well, I'm thinking, what did I say?

They said, "We sat down last Sunday beside some people that we didn't know if they were drug addicts or what." Well, you know what? You can go on down the road to another church because you don't belong here. That's the spirit of religion. It's not the spirit of Jesus. So go on. That's right. Had a family one time. We had just started the church, and I'm telling you, we didn't have anything.

And we started the church. And this family, listen, this family's tithe alone paid the entire month's rent where we were. The whole building. Paid the whole lease, just their check alone. And the Lord spoke to me and said, "Okay, it's time to change." We started off Saturday nights, and the Lord said, "No, you're going to turn into a real church; you're going to meet on Sunday mornings."

Because we met on Saturday nights, lots of people who knew me and friends, they would come and support us. So you know, we'd have a little church plant; we'd have 50, 60 there on a Saturday night. We moved to Sunday mornings and had 11 people. Because everybody else was at their home church. And this family came up to me and they said, "Chad, we came to this church because we like the convenience of Saturday night."

Listen to what they told me. They said, "If you change to Sunday morning, we won't be back." I was 21. And they said, "We're here for the convenience." And right then, I had a choice to make in my ministry. Am I going to follow God or am I going to follow the money? And you know what choice I made? God. And you know what? And you know what? They weren't bluffing. I've never seen them since.

I've had so many people tell me they're behind me they're so far now you can't even see them. But you don't build on people; you build on the Lord. Amen. If the Lord don't build the house, they who labor, labor in vain. Amen. Anyways, what I tell you, when we title this sermon, I'm going to call it "Rabbit Trails" is what I'm going to call it. I'm on rabbit trails today. Hallelujah.

So George Müller and his wife. So God puts in their heart to start this orphanage. And the bigwigs and the high-and-mighties won't support it because they didn't want their name associated with it. So they quit giving. And I'm telling you, you Google his life, you read his biography. He and Mary with no backing and no money and no support and no government assistance—you know what they did?

In their lifetime, they fed, they clothed, they housed, they educated over 10,000 orphans in their lifetime. Well, one day, they had no money whatsoever, no food. They had all these children and a staff. They had a boys' dorm and a girls' dorm, and they had nothing. There's nothing in the kitchen, nothing, nothing to eat, nothing to serve. And God always came through, always.

There would be an envelope show up, there'd be English pounds in there, and there'd be enough to go and get all the kids food for the week or whatever. But there was nothing this day. George had a decision to make. What's he going to do? And do you know what that great man of God did? He had his staff put out all of the children's plates, all of the children's cups.

He had them set the table like it was going to be a feast, and he had every kid go to their place. And there's nothing. And you know what George Müller did? He prayed with the kids that day. And he said, "Children, God is going to provide." And you know, you can't make this stuff up. While that man of faith was praying, you know what happened? A knock on the main door.

And you know who it was? It was the local baker. And he told George Müller, he said, "The Lord woke me up at 3:00 AM and told me to bake fresh bread for the kids." There you go. Amen. You know what happened? You know who came right behind him? The local milkman. And guess what? His cart broke down in front of the orphanage. And he said, "Could the children use some milk today?"

And George Müller told the kids, he said, "God not only met our need, he gave us fresh bread and fresh milk." Amen. And you know what? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And what God did then, God does today. But see, here's my question. Does God want to use you as that baker? Does God want to use you as the milkman? Has God given you such abundance, not so you can hoard it for down the road, but so you can share it?

Because there's someone who's crying out to God, "Give me this day my daily bread." And here God has you right in the path. God increases our standard of living so that we can increase our standard of giving. That's why. That's why God's blessed you. That's why he's provided for you. That's why he helps you. So that you can cast your eyes upon the Kingdom and fulfill the will of God. Has God given you your daily bread? Then share it.

Last thing I'll say. When the children of Israel were led by God into the wilderness, you can read it: Exodus chapter 16, verses 4 through 7. Remember what God did daily for them? He gave them manna from heaven. Literally, manna fell from heaven. And the Bible says for 40 years, every Israelite ate to their fill. Every one of them. Some had a little appetite; some had a great appetite.

And scripture says whether they gathered little or whether they gathered much, they ate till they were filled. For 40 years every day. But do you know what happened in Joshua chapter 5, verse 16? The day that Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Canaan land, the manna ceased. Do you know what the point is? One day you and I are going to enter heaven. One day you and I are going to go to Canaan.

One day we're going to cross the Jordan River. And on that day, there'll be no more need. Never again. There'll be no need for medications, no need for pharmacies. There'll be no need for daily bread. There'll be no need for clothing or for groceries. There'll be no more needs. But you know what? Like Israel, we'll look back over our shoulder and you'll see that every day God met your needs. Every day.

Are you trusting him today? Some of you have some needs today that only God can do. Lean into him. Let's bow our heads. Some of you, you know, we all go through different seasons; we all go through different stages. And I don't know what season you're in; I don't know what stage you're in. But I know God can help you. If you need to come to this altar today, I want to invite you.

Come and lay your needs before your Father. Come ask the Lord to meet your daily needs. If you need to come pray, I want you to come pray right now. You're most welcome. Just slip out of your seat and bring your burdens to the Lord today. But see, some of you are in different seasons, you know. I realize that there's some people who, when I said my pantries are stocked, my freezers are full, I realize some of you, your heart dropped, and some of you said, "Mine's not. And I don't know what to do."

And some of you don't know how you're going to put gas in your car this week. Some of you don't know if there's going to be a job in the next little bit. And today, if you say, "Chad, I feel like I'm drowning," let me remind you, your Heavenly Father knows what you have need of. Bring it to the Lord. There's a woman I'm praying for right now who's getting ready to be off of work for an extended time because of some surgery.

She's going to be with no income whatsoever. God's putting it in our heart to meet her need. For those of you who you have the means, you have the ability, you're able—oh, let me tell you, friend, share what God's given you. Share what God's given you. Share. Some of you, God's going to put India on your heart. God's going to put those missionaries' wives and children in your heart.

And rather than going to Cheddar's, instead of going to Chili's and dropping $70 or $80, you're going to say, "No, we're going to feed that family for an entire month to the glory of God." Lord Jesus, you're so generous to us. How can we not be generous to others? Thank you for meeting our daily needs. Thank you, God, for giving us our daily bread. Thank you, Lord God.

And for every need that's in this building, every need that's watching online, every need that's represented among your people, God, whether it's physical, whether it's financial, whether it's emotional, relational, spiritual... you're a need, God. You're a God who sees, you're a God who knows, you're a God who understands, you're a God who is able to meet our need.

So God, I pray today that every single need will be met by you, the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread of life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. Sustain us with your bread. Oh God, strengthen us with the bread of life. Give us the nutritions that we need spiritually, God. Give us the strength and sustenance, Lord, that we need spiritually and physically from you, the bread of life, from the word of God.

Teach us the difference between need and greed, and let us truly trust you with our need and let us walk away from greed in Jesus' name. Help us in our ministry to the poor, Lord God. Teach us, Lord, it's hard. It's difficult to share the Gospel with a man with an empty stomach. So have us right there, God. Right there, meeting the need. Meeting the need. Meeting the need.