Weekly Messages
Aril 11-17, 2004
True Riches! Naboth or Araunah's Fields?
by Dr. 'Tayo
Brown
"And Araunah said, wherefore is my lord the king come
to his servant? And David said to buy the threshing floor of
thee, to build an altar unto the Lord...And the king said
unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a
price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my
God of that which doth cost me nothing” 11 Sam. 24: 20-24
“And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying Give me thy vineyard,
that I may have if for a garden of herbs...And Naboth said
to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the
inheritance of my fathers unto thee” 1 Kg 21: 2-3
Friends, the enemy has come to kill, steal and to destroy
and one of his ways is by using the deceitfulness of riches
supposing that gain is godliness. David was instructed by
the Lord to rear up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing
floor of Araunah the Jebsites. He was doing this in order to
stop the pestilence that was destroying the people of God as
commanded by the Lord. We have also been commanded of God to
build Him an altar of intercession and prayers as we offer
unto Him our bodies as a living sacrifice and the Lord has
promised to supernaturally meet our needs and use us in
meeting the needs of others.
David would not just possess Araunah’s threshing floor
because he is the King or because he has been sent by the
Lord , he still have to trust the Lord to make provision for
this altar. Before he had finished making his request,
Araunah willingly asked the king to build the altar freely
on his threshing floor and even offered king David oxens and
other threshing instruments for this task however David
would not want to give unto the Lord what would not cost
him. This is contrast to Ahab who killed Naboth through the
help of his wicked wife Jezebel in order to get this
vineyard.
The scripture says, the blessing of the Lord makes rich and
it add no sorrow with it. The only way to make it during
this end time is to trust the Lord fully with our finances
as we sow on a good fertile God ordained and directed
ground. There is no other way. We must learn to give
sacrificially to the things of God , sometimes it will cost
us. David sowed sacrificially to buy a ground to build an
altar in order to stand in the gap to stop the plagued .
This was a real fertile ground. Ahab wanted Naboth’s field
to consume it upon his lust. He wanted to use it to grow
herbs because the field is close to his house.
The scripture says my people ask amiss so they could consume
it upon their own lust. Why do we ask God to bless us
mightily? why do we need the field or the threshing floor?
is it to consume it upon our lust or for it to be a means of
helping the poor and needy, to reach the unreached people of
the world. Have we compromised God’s word in order to get
what we need? Every root of evil ( love of money) must be
uprooted.
GRA
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We've Died
Once and Never to Die Again
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me” Gal 2: 20
Death is a defeated enemy and we ought to know that we
will never see death again. But this won’t stop Satan from
harassing us. He will do his best to hold you in bondage to
the fear of death as long as you allow him. To a
natural-minded person, dying means losing one’s life. But
from the Bible, you know that’s what happened when you were
born again. Your old man died, and you were born again into
a new life. You passed from death into the life of God. God
looks at the death of His people as a departure. It’s
leaving one place and arriving in His presence which is far
better.
As a believer, you are a spirit being, you are eternal
because you have been born of God and the eternal life of
God flows on the inside of you.
GRA
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Parting Thoughts...
Revivals are dangerous! They are fatal to the
kingdom of darkness. They are like a temporary transfer of
humanity to heaven; a transient glimpse of what it is like
living in the manifest glory of God. But few realize the
cost such a divine visitation exacts from humanity. Mortal
bodies were never designed for a continuous revival. Enoch,
Elijah and Moses, who spent inordinate amounts of time with
God, were each taken home by Him! By definition revival
cannot be other than occasional. Revival is Divine military
strategy: first to counteract spiritual decline and then to
create spiritual momentum. In revival, God’s work may be
sudden and unexpected; often even believers are caught
unaware, while fear and astonishment grip the unbeliever's
hearts. Revival is the result of divine, not human impulse.
GRA
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