1 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,400 This morning, especially if you are a visitor here, it is. 2 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:14,300 Good to have you with us. I have really been enjoying our 3 00:00:14,300 --> 00:00:19,400 series on, who are we and getting a lot out of that and 4 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,200 God has a priest. A lot of things on me and 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:24,900 convicted me of lot of things. It's been really good, really 6 00:00:24,900 --> 00:00:27,200 enjoyed that. We're going to take a little bit 7 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:29,600 of a break from it this week. We'll be back into it next week. 8 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,600 Kind of go go off on a little bit of a tangent this morning. 9 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:35,000 We're going to talk about what's in your hand. 10 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,000 That's the the title of this morning's message. 11 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:43,600 I think we all kind of have a desired only to want our lives 12 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:49,600 to count for something, right to to think that we can make a 13 00:00:49,608 --> 00:00:50,400 difference. Right? 14 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:54,900 That when we there when we leave this earth, the world is a 15 00:00:54,900 --> 00:00:58,500 better place than when we came into it, because we had some 16 00:00:58,500 --> 00:01:00,300 impact in some way there. True. 17 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,200 Yep, and it's Christians in particular that we have 18 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,400 connected some people with their savior, right? 19 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,400 So who gives a hope and a purpose that you can't really 20 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:16,100 get anywhere else, right? But I think when we think about 21 00:01:16,100 --> 00:01:20,400 that stuff, I think we kind of think that I like, on a big 22 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,300 scale. Like, you know, we wanted to 23 00:01:22,500 --> 00:01:25,300 come in and impact this sort of, you know, have the sort of major 24 00:01:25,300 --> 00:01:29,500 change and, and do incredible things, right? 25 00:01:29,500 --> 00:01:30,700 But it's True. Right? 26 00:01:30,700 --> 00:01:34,600 That you can, you can make or break a shop assistants day, 27 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:36,000 right? By the things you do. 28 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,900 Write a lot of times this impact stuff that's influence stuff 29 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000 happens on Earth on a very small level, right in the little 30 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,700 things that we do each day. You can, you know, how you treat 31 00:01:47,700 --> 00:01:52,800 that shop assistant, or what you say to your boss or, you know, 32 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,300 you can, you can impact attendance or your lawyer, or 33 00:01:56,300 --> 00:01:59,500 your Barber or, you know, all you. 34 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,600 Didn't see teachers, you know, all the people that you come 35 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,600 into contact with you have influence on them, every time 36 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,400 you write an email, right? You're influencing somebody or 37 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,000 impacting somebody every time I take a photo, right? 38 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,600 Every time you give me time. I gossip to someone, right? 39 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,000 I'm influencing them. And so the question is, not 40 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,100 really. Am I having an impact? 41 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,900 The issue is, what kind of impact am I having? 42 00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:31,400 I am I have an impact for good, or for bad for writer, for 43 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:35,700 wrong, for Christ or not for Christ, right? 44 00:02:35,700 --> 00:02:39,900 What kind of impact am I having? And the Bible says that, you 45 00:02:39,908 --> 00:02:41,500 know, we should, we should think about this. 46 00:02:41,500 --> 00:02:44,600 And we should be more intentional about our impact. 47 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:50,200 God wants us to recognize where we could be an influence for 48 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,600 good. And for God, you know, I think 49 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,700 about your interests. What kind of person am I? 50 00:02:55,700 --> 00:02:59,900 And how could I use? That to impact people in a 51 00:02:59,900 --> 00:03:02,600 positive way. And if you think about you, your 52 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:07,100 job or your career, right? What I do is work, you know, how 53 00:03:07,100 --> 00:03:12,300 can I use that for influence and then I should use the best of my 54 00:03:12,300 --> 00:03:15,600 abilities for God, right? So the question sort of becomes 55 00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:17,400 how, right? How do we do that? 56 00:03:17,900 --> 00:03:21,600 How do we, how do we use? What we have two impacts people 57 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,900 towards the cause of Christ to influence some of that in their 58 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:28,700 Direction. 22. Possibly change things. 59 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:30,600 And so I'm going to try and answer that question this 60 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:35,100 morning with a question and it's a question that was asked of 61 00:03:35,100 --> 00:03:39,800 Moses that God, God asked, Moses Moses, if you remember was a 62 00:03:39,900 --> 00:03:44,300 murderer On The Run, he was a criminal and then God comes to 63 00:03:44,308 --> 00:03:45,400 him. He's a fugitive. 64 00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:49,800 And God says, to him, I want you to go back to Egypt and leave my 65 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:51,700 people out of slavery there right now. 66 00:03:51,700 --> 00:03:54,200 If you remember the first time he tried that, it didn't go 67 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:55,800 well, right? They went about as bad as it 68 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,400 could go. He ends up getting a guy and 69 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,400 then fleeing and they didn't follow him. 70 00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:02,900 Right? And so for lots of reasons, 71 00:04:02,900 --> 00:04:04,800 Moses doesn't want to go back, right? 72 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,400 But then, 40 years later, right? He's out in the desert and he 73 00:04:08,408 --> 00:04:11,100 sees this Burning Bush. And God says, Moses I want you 74 00:04:11,100 --> 00:04:14,700 to go back to to Egypt and leave my people out. 75 00:04:14,700 --> 00:04:17,700 This is a story where God gets his attention, right? 76 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,300 But you know, you imagine he's thinking what, how am I gonna do 77 00:04:21,300 --> 00:04:22,500 this? They didn't. 78 00:04:22,500 --> 00:04:26,800 It didn't go so well for me last time and God makes a statement. 79 00:04:27,500 --> 00:04:29,900 Right. And in Exodus chapter 4 verse 80 00:04:29,900 --> 00:04:32,800 number 2. The Lord said to him, what is in 81 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,600 your hand? And he said a rod, right? 82 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:41,700 A Shepherd stuff and he said, God said, cast it on the ground. 83 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,300 So he cast It On The Ground. Why did God asked Moses? 84 00:04:46,300 --> 00:04:49,200 What was in his hand, right? Didn't he didn't even know, 85 00:04:49,700 --> 00:04:52,000 right? Cause he knows he's God, right? 86 00:04:52,100 --> 00:04:53,300 Because he knew what was in the same. 87 00:04:53,300 --> 00:04:56,100 When God asked a question like that, it's for the benefit of 88 00:04:56,100 --> 00:04:58,000 the person. He's He's asking, you know, not 89 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,100 for his own benefit, what's in your hand and he says a Shepherd 90 00:05:02,100 --> 00:05:04,300 stuff. Now, if you are if you remember 91 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,200 depending on you know if you're of a certain age you want might 92 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,300 remember the Ten Commandments movie, right? 93 00:05:10,300 --> 00:05:14,300 Charlton Heston and he's got the staff there and he throws it on 94 00:05:14,300 --> 00:05:19,900 the ground and and it turns into a snake and and scares you know 95 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,000 Moses runs from it becomes alive it's kind of filled with power 96 00:05:24,700 --> 00:05:26,800 and then he and then he says I want you to pick up the snake. 97 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,800 And he picks up the snake in. It becomes a staff. 98 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,500 Again, quite a cool Miracle, you know, that that kind of went on 99 00:05:32,500 --> 00:05:34,400 the air. Why in the world did God do 100 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:36,800 that? Was it just to show off? 101 00:05:37,300 --> 00:05:39,900 No God doesn't do miracles to show off, right? 102 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,200 Miracles. Are they were always done to 103 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,600 confirm to people that somebody had the authority to speak on 104 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:46,700 God's behalf, right? Because Moses, it was going to 105 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:51,300 be saying thus, says the Lord fried and and this miracle 106 00:05:51,300 --> 00:05:54,500 confirmed that he had God's authority to say those things. 107 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,000 But there's also often a lesson or a Churchill truth, there's a 108 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,700 principle behind it. And here's what he was saying to 109 00:06:00,700 --> 00:06:03,300 Moses. He says, Moses, what's in your 110 00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:06,500 hand, right? And so Moses is a shepherd and 111 00:06:06,500 --> 00:06:10,300 he has a Shepherd stuff. It's just a stick, but that's 112 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:15,200 staff kind of represented everything that that Moses was. 113 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:20,000 He's a Shepherd, right? So it represented his income, 114 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,600 that's how he made his living. Right? 115 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,700 It was kind of symbolic as of him as a as a ship. 116 00:06:26,700 --> 00:06:31,100 That's that's where his money came from, you know, he tended 117 00:06:31,300 --> 00:06:34,600 sheep not an easy job either for Moses because it says that he 118 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:37,600 was out. The Bible says, he was shipping 119 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:39,600 out on the backside of the desert, it calls. 120 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,300 It calls it. So you know, tough place to be 121 00:06:42,300 --> 00:06:46,200 farming but that stuff represented as income it also 122 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:50,200 got a represented his identity when you saw someone carrying a 123 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:52,600 stuff like that you in our Shepherd kind of like, you know, 124 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,400 you see it. Men in uniform or nurse or 125 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,100 Soldier or something. You think it was kind of 126 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,000 represented, kind of his, his identity as a person. 127 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,700 And in a couple of weeks Peterson is going to take us 128 00:07:03,700 --> 00:07:05,900 through. Who are we as individuals? 129 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:08,000 What does the Bible say about that? 130 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,800 It's a lot about our identity and it, but it also represented 131 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,800 his influence, that's those Shepherd stops. 132 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,200 That's what they're for, right? Get along little sheepy, right? 133 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,000 That's it. Kind of represented the 134 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:23,500 influence that he had. And so when he says, What's in 135 00:07:23,500 --> 00:07:26,300 your hand? And Moses said, I've got the 136 00:07:26,300 --> 00:07:29,300 stuff, you know, it's a Shepherd stuff, it represents his 137 00:07:29,300 --> 00:07:31,300 identity, his income and has influenced. 138 00:07:31,500 --> 00:07:34,500 And so God's kind of saying look Moses if you'll give me your 139 00:07:34,500 --> 00:07:38,500 influence your identity in your income, I'll make it, come 140 00:07:38,500 --> 00:07:41,000 alive. All Empower it. 141 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:42,700 I'll do miraculous things from it. 142 00:07:43,100 --> 00:07:46,200 And so Moses when he presents that, right, when he puts it 143 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:50,200 down, when he when he throws it down, he's essentially saying 144 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:54,600 God, I'm giving you my identity, my income, my influence, and he 145 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:56,300 lays it down and become something of power. 146 00:07:56,500 --> 00:08:01,000 Now, from that point on the staff was the staff that Moses 147 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:02,700 used for all those different Miracles, right? 148 00:08:02,700 --> 00:08:05,100 And if you've seen all those different movies, you know, this 149 00:08:05,100 --> 00:08:06,900 one's from the The Prince of Egypt, right? 150 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:08,200 It's an astonishing. Off that he used. 151 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,000 If you if you read through the scriptures to stop that, he used 152 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,200 to split the Red Sea. It's the same stuff that he used 153 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,700 to hold the water in the Nile and turn it into blunt. 154 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,400 And it's the same stuff that he used to strike the Rock and 155 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,200 water came out. It's the staff to do all the 156 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,000 Miracles. And in fact, from that point on, 157 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,000 it was never again, Called Moses staff. 158 00:08:29,700 --> 00:08:32,100 But the Bible refers to it as the rod of God. 159 00:08:32,900 --> 00:08:36,700 The rod of God, all of a sudden what had been a simple and plain 160 00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:38,500 kind of crazy. Little stick thing. 161 00:08:38,900 --> 00:08:41,500 God is using as a tool to do incredible things. 162 00:08:42,100 --> 00:08:43,400 Alright so here's the point here, right? 163 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,500 Because Moses gave God, what was in his hand? 164 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:51,600 His identity is income as influence because God Moses gave 165 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,000 that to God. God used it as a tool to impact 166 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,300 history. All right, everybody knows, you 167 00:08:57,300 --> 00:09:01,300 Moses fight exterior view, you don't go to church, right? 168 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:03,200 You didn't grow up in church, you're probably We heard of him. 169 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,600 You probably seen one of the movies, you know, he completely 170 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,800 changed history because he gave God what was in his hand. 171 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,800 He used those things that he had to influence for good and for 172 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,700 God and it was never the same again, right? 173 00:09:16,700 --> 00:09:19,500 So this morning God is asking us the same question. 174 00:09:19,500 --> 00:09:22,200 What is in your hand? What is in your hand? 175 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:24,200 Let's say, two weeks time. We're going to, we're going to 176 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:25,700 have a look at Peter's going to take us through. 177 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:27,900 Who are we as individuals? We're going to kind of look at 178 00:09:27,900 --> 00:09:31,700 identity this morning, I'm going to talk about the income part of 179 00:09:31,700 --> 00:09:34,300 this. The income part of what is in 180 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:37,900 your hand. Now, preaches, hate talking 181 00:09:37,900 --> 00:09:40,600 about this, right? Pastors and teachers. 182 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,200 And, you know, we hate it, because it sounds like, give me 183 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,700 money right. Send money now and we're 184 00:09:47,700 --> 00:09:49,800 probably all heard those sermons, you know, we're 185 00:09:49,900 --> 00:09:53,300 somebody says, I give God some money and he'll multiply it back 186 00:09:53,300 --> 00:09:56,500 to you, many times, right? In other words tie, then God 187 00:09:56,500 --> 00:09:58,800 will make you rich, but they kind of twist things. 188 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:00,300 Little bit. You ever heard that? 189 00:10:00,500 --> 00:10:02,500 See, ya, the few people nodding there, right? 190 00:10:02,700 --> 00:10:04,700 We've probably all seen these kind of, you know, 191 00:10:04,700 --> 00:10:08,200 televangelists, you know, and they just going to dripping with 192 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:12,500 jewelry saying, send money now. Yeah, yeah, I remember a friend 193 00:10:12,500 --> 00:10:16,100 of mine went back in the early 20s and he had a satellite dish 194 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,900 and we've got the Satellite Dish hooked up and we were looking to 195 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:20,600 think it now will see, will be let it watch all this 196 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,100 International TV and there's all these Christian channels on 197 00:10:23,100 --> 00:10:24,100 there. I thought this is going to be so 198 00:10:24,100 --> 00:10:26,800 cool and I flicked through. And there was that and then that 199 00:10:26,900 --> 00:10:29,600 and then they like, it was just people could send money now, 200 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,800 right? This kind of stuff. 201 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:34,700 Now, there is a Huge scope for abuse here, isn't it? 202 00:10:35,900 --> 00:10:37,900 And that's part of a problem with this, right? 203 00:10:37,900 --> 00:10:41,300 People can say what you don't love the Lord, if you don't do 204 00:10:41,300 --> 00:10:44,600 this, right? I'm so this guy, Jimmy Baker. 205 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,100 You might remember him? That's his house there in the 206 00:10:47,100 --> 00:10:50,700 background parts of his dog kennel with gold-plated. 207 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,700 Yeah, no joke. All right, send money now. 208 00:10:53,900 --> 00:10:56,500 Right? This guy here are Roberts, are 209 00:10:56,500 --> 00:10:58,500 all gotten up in front of his congregation. 210 00:10:58,500 --> 00:11:01,100 He said, God's given me a revelation. 211 00:11:01,300 --> 00:11:02,600 He's going to kill me on a certain. 212 00:11:02,700 --> 00:11:07,300 Date, unless you donate eight million dollars and everyone 213 00:11:07,300 --> 00:11:09,700 went on, I don't kill oral. We love viral right now. 214 00:11:09,700 --> 00:11:11,900 They gave all their money and sold all this stuff and 215 00:11:11,900 --> 00:11:13,300 whatever. Now they never got to the 8 216 00:11:13,300 --> 00:11:16,300 million but you didn't die. Yeah. 217 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:18,300 But there's all this this kind of abuse, right? 218 00:11:18,300 --> 00:11:22,100 So there is scope for abuse here and so we want to kind of look 219 00:11:22,100 --> 00:11:24,000 at is that this idea of what is tithing? 220 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,400 What is that? Who does it? 221 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:28,800 Why would you do it, right? And so what we want to do is go 222 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,600 to the Bible and as much as we can forget, everything. 223 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,700 Thing else that we think we know about this stuff and see what 224 00:11:36,700 --> 00:11:39,200 the Bible actually. Says, the first mention of it's 225 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:43,400 in the book of Genesis in chapter 14 and in verse number 226 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,200 18 and you can, you can go there, if you'd like, Genesis 227 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,000 14, 18, we will have a versus up on the up, on the screens, but 228 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:51,600 it is always good. If you can follow in your own 229 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,900 Bible in sort of see the context in the place of it. 230 00:11:55,100 --> 00:12:00,400 So the bit of background here or long time ago, like 1700 BC, 231 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:02,200 right? There's this kind of Alliance of 232 00:12:02,700 --> 00:12:05,700 Teams from over. And what we know is now is 233 00:12:05,700 --> 00:12:08,800 Southern Iraq over here. So, in something like, there's a 234 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:11,900 sort of Alliance of Kingdoms and that's where Abraham was 235 00:12:11,900 --> 00:12:16,300 originally from, from this area. And so right over the far side 236 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:19,800 there, we Babylon an error and all that down in that area and 237 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,000 this Alliance of Kings. They took an army and they made 238 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,200 the way around the federal, president came over into what. 239 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,400 We now know is Jordan and they conquered a bunch of cities in 240 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:31,900 their whole bunch of these cities in Jordan, right? 241 00:12:31,900 --> 00:12:34,500 So they made their way. Right across the here anyway. 242 00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:36,900 So they make their way into Jordan and they conquer a bunch 243 00:12:36,900 --> 00:12:40,100 of cities in there. They took all this stuff and 244 00:12:40,100 --> 00:12:43,600 then for 13 years, they made them pay taxes back to Iraq. 245 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:45,700 All right. So these Jordanian little 246 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,900 city-states if you like sort of Kingdoms had to pay taxes back 247 00:12:49,900 --> 00:12:53,300 to Iraq and after 13 years they went, you know what, we want to 248 00:12:53,300 --> 00:12:57,100 do that anymore, so they just stopped paying the tax and the 249 00:12:57,100 --> 00:12:59,300 Iraqis went, let's see about that, shall we? 250 00:12:59,300 --> 00:13:02,000 And so they sent the Army back again and the Army came back 251 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,400 into into. To Jordan there and reconquered. 252 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:08,000 These cities took all of their stuff and a whole bunch of 253 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,100 hostages and people as kind of, you know, sending a message. 254 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,200 Don't mess with us right now. Well over there they thought 255 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:17,800 let's a kind of expand this a little bit. 256 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:19,800 They cross the border over into Israel, towards the 257 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,500 Mediterranean Sea, their into Southern Israel. 258 00:13:22,700 --> 00:13:24,800 And they took a couple of cities there as well, Sodom and 259 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,100 Gomorrah particular, which was quite big powerful cities in 260 00:13:28,100 --> 00:13:32,400 those days and took all the stuff out of there as well as 261 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,400 well. Is took a lot of hostages and so 262 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,400 they are hitting hoo. They're heading back to Iraq 263 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:41,900 with all the stuff they've taken from all these cities plus a 264 00:13:41,908 --> 00:13:43,900 whole bunch of hostages, and they're on their way back. 265 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,400 Now, Abraham lives a little Way north of where Sodom and 266 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:52,200 Gomorrah were in a different area but his nephew lot lived in 267 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,900 Sodom and and so lot, and his family are among the captives 268 00:13:55,900 --> 00:13:59,300 that have been taken by these Iraqi Kings. 269 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:03,400 And so Abraham, by this stage, has this Massive, farming 270 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:08,000 operation going on and he has 318 employees who worked for him 271 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,400 as Farm hands. And so he prays hard about this 272 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,100 and then Abraham and his 318, farmhands go and take on the 273 00:14:15,100 --> 00:14:19,600 Iraqi Army and in one of those amazing miraculous God, things 274 00:14:19,900 --> 00:14:23,200 they win, right? And so not only do they win, 275 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,900 they get all of the loot that the, the Iraqi Army Iraqi kings 276 00:14:27,900 --> 00:14:30,500 are taken from Jordan and the stuff they taken from Saddam 277 00:14:30,500 --> 00:14:32,600 Sodom Gomorrah and they get all the people back. 278 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,600 Well, right? And so after winning this big 279 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:39,700 battle, Abraham and his and his, he's got a farming operation 280 00:14:39,700 --> 00:14:44,900 staff hitting back home and then this happens, this is a in verse 281 00:14:44,900 --> 00:14:49,000 number 18 here. It's Genesis would like to thank 282 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,600 you. That's on the screening Genesis 283 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,600 14. It says this then Melchizedek 284 00:14:54,700 --> 00:14:57,500 king of Salem brought out Bread and Wine. 285 00:14:57,900 --> 00:14:59,900 He was a priest of the god most high, right. 286 00:14:59,900 --> 00:15:01,900 So we got this guy Melchizedek don't know a whole lot about 287 00:15:01,900 --> 00:15:06,700 them but he He's a, he's a king who's also a priest of God most 288 00:15:06,700 --> 00:15:08,700 high and he blessed him blessed Abraham. 289 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:10,800 And he said this blessed be Abraham of God. 290 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,800 Most high possessor of Heaven, and Earth, and blessed. 291 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,700 Be God, most high, who has delivered your enemies into your 292 00:15:18,700 --> 00:15:24,500 hand and it says, and he Abram, gave him a tithe of all. 293 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:29,400 So the word tithe comes from a Hebrew word that just means 294 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:34,900 1/10. 1/10. Abraham voluntarily gave one 295 00:15:34,900 --> 00:15:37,800 tenth of all the all the treasure that had that had got 296 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,500 back, you know, off the rocky Kings and he gave it to this 297 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:43,000 priest king. Okay? 298 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,900 So that's the first time we see it in the scripture the first 299 00:15:45,900 --> 00:15:47,700 time. We kind of see this this ties 300 00:15:47,700 --> 00:15:50,700 thing going. Okay, so next event is Genesis 301 00:15:50,700 --> 00:15:54,800 chapter 28. So this is several Generations 302 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:59,200 later and Jacob is on the run after committing fraud against 303 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,800 his brother and his brother. Is an excellent expert Hunter 304 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,500 tracker and so Jacobs just running thinking he's coming 305 00:16:06,500 --> 00:16:08,800 after me, right? Any minute now is just going to 306 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,800 come over the rise and bow and arrow and and it's all over is 307 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:16,100 expecting death at any moment. Thinking, it's all over thing 308 00:16:16,100 --> 00:16:19,900 is, he's totally ruined everything by his bad decision 309 00:16:19,900 --> 00:16:23,800 making and that there's no hope. And then at that God wouldn't 310 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:25,600 want anything to do with somebody like him. 311 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,100 He just kind of collapses in a heap exhausted and he falls 312 00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:32,500 asleep. And he has a vision, right? 313 00:16:32,500 --> 00:16:36,000 Of this ladder going up to heaven from where he is with 314 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,200 angels going up and down, right? God is at work in this place, 315 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:40,900 right? Things? 316 00:16:40,900 --> 00:16:44,400 Things are happening, and God promises that he will be with 317 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,400 Jacob. And so Jacob wakes up from this 318 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,100 and he realizes that that God is still at work. 319 00:16:50,100 --> 00:16:54,300 And he says this Genesis 28, 16 says Jacob awoke from his sleep 320 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:57,900 and he said, surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know 321 00:16:57,900 --> 00:17:02,500 it and he was afraid and he said how awesome This place awesome. 322 00:17:02,500 --> 00:17:04,500 There could also be translated as terrifying. 323 00:17:07,099 --> 00:17:08,800 Terrifying. How awesome is this place? 324 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,900 This is none other than the house of God, and this is the 325 00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:13,700 Gate of Heaven. Then. 326 00:17:13,700 --> 00:17:16,599 Jacob Rose early in the morning and he took the stone that he 327 00:17:16,608 --> 00:17:21,599 had put in his head and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil 328 00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:25,500 on top of it and he called the name of that place Bethel, but 329 00:17:25,500 --> 00:17:28,300 the name of that City had been low has previously. 330 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,700 Then Jacob made a vow say Saying if God will be with me cause 331 00:17:32,700 --> 00:17:36,600 that's what God had told him and keep me in this way that I'm 332 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,400 going and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on because 333 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,400 again that's what God had promised them in the dream. 334 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,700 So that I come back to my father's house and peace, then 335 00:17:44,700 --> 00:17:48,300 the Lord shall be my God. And this Stone, which I have 336 00:17:48,300 --> 00:17:52,200 said as a pillar, shall be God's house and of all that you give 337 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:54,900 me. I'll surely give a test you. 338 00:17:55,900 --> 00:17:57,200 Yep. So there is again. 339 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,500 Second time we kind of see that. So again, voluntary offering 340 00:18:00,500 --> 00:18:04,900 10%, Abraham offered 10% of The Spoils of autumn to Melchizedek. 341 00:18:05,500 --> 00:18:08,000 Jacob offers 10% of everything. Okay? 342 00:18:08,500 --> 00:18:12,800 So, originally the examples, all that we have there, right? 343 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:17,200 Are of voluntary offerings around 10% and then came Moses, 344 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:18,300 right? And and the law. 345 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,400 And so, the law was given to Israel as a nation as a country, 346 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:24,800 right? It was to be their National 347 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,200 laws. For running their country once 348 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:29,500 they took position of it. Now it's very important to know 349 00:18:29,500 --> 00:18:31,700 that we are not under that law, right? 350 00:18:31,700 --> 00:18:36,100 There was a law given to Israel and Paul says the whole point of 351 00:18:36,100 --> 00:18:38,600 the law was to show us that we're all lawbreakers. 352 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:39,700 Right? And we're in need of some 353 00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:41,900 serious help. We need a savior, but in terms 354 00:18:41,900 --> 00:18:45,100 of tithing, the law was kind of complicated for the Israelites. 355 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:49,100 They pretty much ran things on a seven-year cycle and depending 356 00:18:49,100 --> 00:18:53,100 where on the on the, in that cycle, you were dependent on how 357 00:18:53,100 --> 00:18:56,700 the tithing have the ties were, you know, And, and depending on 358 00:18:56,700 --> 00:18:59,400 what ceremonies they had going on, depending on how the ties 359 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,300 were collected in and when they were given and that kind of 360 00:19:03,300 --> 00:19:04,900 stuff. But let's just have a quick look 361 00:19:04,900 --> 00:19:06,400 real quick. Look at one of those passages 362 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,200 from Deuteronomy 26 generally, 26 verse number 12. 363 00:19:10,300 --> 00:19:13,000 This deals with year, three of the cycle. 364 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,200 And it says this when you have finished the side laying aside, 365 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,700 all the tithes of your increase in the third year, the Year of 366 00:19:20,700 --> 00:19:24,800 tithing and they've given it to the levite, the stranger, the 367 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,200 fatherless and the No, so that they may eat within your Gates 368 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,800 and be filled. Then you shall say before the 369 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,900 Lord, I have removed the holy tithe from my house. 370 00:19:34,300 --> 00:19:36,500 And I've also given them to the levite, the stranger, the 371 00:19:36,500 --> 00:19:38,600 fatherless and the Widow, according to all your 372 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:40,400 Commandments. Would you have Commander me? 373 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:42,700 I've not transgress your Commandments, nor have I 374 00:19:42,700 --> 00:19:47,000 forgotten them as 14. I have not eaten any of it. 375 00:19:47,100 --> 00:19:49,900 When in mourning nor have I removed any of it for unclean 376 00:19:49,900 --> 00:19:53,600 use nor given any of it for the dead over bade, the voice of the 377 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:57,100 Lord, my God, and I've done. According to all that you have 378 00:19:57,100 --> 00:20:01,300 commanded me. Essentially tithing was a sort 379 00:20:01,300 --> 00:20:08,400 of a legislated 10% tax on all food in Israel and because most 380 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,100 of their income came from, you know, farming crops and 381 00:20:11,100 --> 00:20:15,400 livestock essentially it was a ten percent income tax is what 382 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,600 it amounted to. But what's important here in 383 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,600 this passage here is what it was to be used for right now. 384 00:20:21,608 --> 00:20:23,800 It takes a bit of time to go through all that and for time 385 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,800 sake, we won't do that. But Um but basically it's kind 386 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,800 of a two things right to help the poor and those who are 387 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:35,100 unable to help themselves. Yeah and to provide for the 388 00:20:35,100 --> 00:20:39,100 Levites and so God had set things up so that the tribe of 389 00:20:39,100 --> 00:20:44,600 Levi was to be responsible for organizing worship. 390 00:20:45,900 --> 00:20:48,900 A small subset of the tribe of Levi, were to be priests, right? 391 00:20:48,900 --> 00:20:52,500 And a big part of their role was to teach the Bible and answer 392 00:20:52,500 --> 00:20:55,800 questions about it, but the rest of them were responsible, kind 393 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,700 of for the grunt work, maintain the building's preparing, the 394 00:20:58,700 --> 00:21:02,300 sacrifices organizing singers or all of that kind of stuff. 395 00:21:02,700 --> 00:21:05,600 Now, when you remember that twice a year, every man in 396 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:11,600 Israel was required to go to a to his celebration, as well as 397 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:12,900 all the other things that they had going on. 398 00:21:12,900 --> 00:21:16,700 This was a massive job, right, there was a lot of Evolved in 399 00:21:16,700 --> 00:21:20,400 doing this. So Old Testament law, right? 400 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,800 Tithing was a mandatory 10% tax on all food. 401 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:27,800 It was used to feed the Levites and the poor who are unable to 402 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,200 feed themselves. And then we give voluntary 403 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:34,100 offerings on top of that. You see, when they, for example, 404 00:21:34,100 --> 00:21:36,400 when they were building the Temple, they gave offerings for 405 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:40,500 the building materials and gave up their time to help build it. 406 00:21:40,900 --> 00:21:42,800 Okay? So the sort of the question 407 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,300 becomes, why did God want them to do it? 408 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,700 Why did he, what did he want them to do that? 409 00:21:48,700 --> 00:21:51,100 Because we, you know, might put it out this morning, right? 410 00:21:51,300 --> 00:21:53,700 God doesn't need anything sound 50 here, you know? 411 00:21:54,700 --> 00:21:57,000 God has a reason. So why did he want them to do 412 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,000 it? Well, it's the same Principle as 413 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:04,600 with their sacrifices, right? And Isaiah 66, is this as I said 414 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:09,300 this, God speaking for I desire Mercy, right? 415 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,300 Let me see means compassion and loving kindness and not 416 00:22:13,300 --> 00:22:16,900 sacrifice and the knowledge of God, right? 417 00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:19,200 That's, that's about understanding God, wrote about 418 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,100 relationship, more than burnt offerings, and you'll find that 419 00:22:23,100 --> 00:22:26,200 lots of other places as well. So I'm chapter 40, another 420 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,500 place. Other places from there, right? 421 00:22:28,700 --> 00:22:33,000 So if God doesn't need it, why did he ask them for it? 422 00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:36,400 And now we didn't read it. But after, you know, Abraham 423 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,800 after he gave that 10% to Melchizedek, he gets back to the 424 00:22:39,808 --> 00:22:42,500 king of Sodom and the king of Sodom says, don't worry about 425 00:22:42,500 --> 00:22:44,400 the money Abraham. Keep the money. 426 00:22:44,900 --> 00:22:47,700 Just give me the people back. And I remember him guys. 427 00:22:47,700 --> 00:22:52,300 No, no, no, his, the money. He said, I don't want you to 428 00:22:52,300 --> 00:22:54,100 say. Yeah, Abraham does a right 429 00:22:54,100 --> 00:22:55,500 because I gave him a truckload of money. 430 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,100 He said, I want you to understand that, my God takes 431 00:22:58,100 --> 00:23:00,200 care of me. I don't have to worry about this 432 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,600 stuff, right? Very different attitude to money 433 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,400 that Abraham had now, remember Abraham left his home back at 434 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,300 over in southern Iraq, there he had nothing. 435 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,000 God said, I want you to leave your home, he left when it had 436 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,400 nothing and it wasn't all plain sailing. 437 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,800 But years later now he's got This pig farming operation, 438 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:19,500 right? So he kind of understands this 439 00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:21,600 concept, they look, God takes care of me. 440 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,100 God takes care of me. And so Abraham said to the king 441 00:23:26,100 --> 00:23:28,900 of Sodom note, take the money is yours. 442 00:23:28,900 --> 00:23:31,000 I don't want it. So God wanted Israel to 443 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,600 understand that. Everything they had came from 444 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:39,100 him and by giving the first 10% of the gross income even when 445 00:23:39,100 --> 00:23:43,000 times were tough, they were acknowledging, I trust God for 446 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:47,900 everything even though I feel like this is Lot and this is, 447 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,900 you know, I'm gonna do this as an acknowledgement of my trust 448 00:23:51,900 --> 00:23:53,600 in God to take care of me, right? 449 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:58,800 So that was kind of the plan that he set up now because the 450 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,600 Israelites were giving their tithes on certain days according 451 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,200 to the law, they ran into some logistical problems, right? 452 00:24:06,300 --> 00:24:08,900 Because what would happen is there, everybody put their grain 453 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,500 out on the street and try the live stock up on the street and 454 00:24:11,500 --> 00:24:13,900 all this sort of stuff waiting for the for the Levites to come 455 00:24:13,900 --> 00:24:16,400 and collect it and it caused all these traffic jam. 456 00:24:16,500 --> 00:24:18,400 He's and all kinds of issues, right? 457 00:24:18,500 --> 00:24:20,900 So Hezekiah says, okay. We're going to fix this and so 458 00:24:20,900 --> 00:24:23,300 he built. So these massive big storehouses 459 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,800 up by the temple and he said, take your time is up there and 460 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,400 store them up there, right? And so everybody would do that. 461 00:24:30,700 --> 00:24:32,900 But then what happened was then it's kind of out of sight, a 462 00:24:32,908 --> 00:24:36,300 little bit, people got a little bit slack right in the 10% just 463 00:24:36,300 --> 00:24:38,900 kind of dropped off and when they gave animals that give the 464 00:24:38,900 --> 00:24:42,000 one with a you know the sick ones or one with a bum leg or 465 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,800 whatever, you know and everything kind of just kind of 466 00:24:44,808 --> 00:24:49,900 dwindle away to almost Nothing. They very seldom gave offerings 467 00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:52,100 on top of their tires and when they did, they did it 468 00:24:52,100 --> 00:24:56,000 begrudgingly and so, the prophet Malachi, pulls them up on this, 469 00:24:56,100 --> 00:24:58,000 right? He quotes God and he says this 470 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:03,200 Malachi 3:8. He says, will a man rob? 471 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:07,400 God, I can somebody Rob God. This is yet, you have robbed me. 472 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,400 But you say in what way of we robbed you in tithes and 473 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,800 offerings Malachi tells them, this is your curse with a curse 474 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:15,800 for you. Have robbed me. 475 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,700 Wait. God tells them through Malachi, 476 00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:20,300 you're cursed with a curse for you have robbed me. 477 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,400 Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the 478 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,000 storehouse that there may be food in my house. 479 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:29,700 Try me on. This is like test me on this, 480 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,100 not very many times. You see, God, say that right, 481 00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:35,000 says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you, the 482 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,500 windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing. 483 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,200 There will not be room enough to receive it. 484 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:42,900 So God says, look, trust me on this test me. 485 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,400 If you'll trust me, it will have an impact on your whole. 486 00:25:46,500 --> 00:25:49,500 Action. Our money is a very strong 487 00:25:49,500 --> 00:25:53,100 indicator of our trust in God. There are roughly five hundred 488 00:25:53,100 --> 00:25:55,800 verses in the Bible about salvation kind of direct ones 489 00:25:56,100 --> 00:25:58,000 about 500 vs. About faith. 490 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:01,000 There are about 2000 verses about money. 491 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,800 Why is that? Because how we use our money 492 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,400 indicates that level of trust Matthew 25. 493 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,700 Jesus tells a parable about the master leaving some money with 494 00:26:11,700 --> 00:26:13,500 three of his servants, remember that? 495 00:26:13,900 --> 00:26:16,100 And then it goes away on business overseas. 496 00:26:16,100 --> 00:26:18,100 He comes back and said, right, how'd you go with the money and 497 00:26:18,100 --> 00:26:21,400 the first one says, why I invested, I made a lot and so 498 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:22,700 that's good. And the next one says why I 499 00:26:22,708 --> 00:26:23,900 invested it? I made a little bit. 500 00:26:23,900 --> 00:26:25,900 This is that's good. And the third one says why 501 00:26:25,900 --> 00:26:27,100 buried it. Here it is. 502 00:26:28,100 --> 00:26:31,500 And the muscle is really upset. He said it. 503 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:32,600 Could have at least put it in the bank. 504 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,400 Got some interest, you know, on it. 505 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,000 Let me tell you a true story. Let's fit a lot of too much time 506 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,800 on this, but this is hilarious. This guy's name is Timothy 507 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:42,400 Dexter. He's worth looking up. 508 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,000 If you look them up on Wikipedia or Timothy decks to live in a 509 00:26:45,008 --> 00:26:50,100 Massachusetts in around 1750 and when he was 20 years old, he 510 00:26:50,100 --> 00:26:54,400 married a widow. She was 31 and she was very 511 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,800 wealthy. And so he just all of a sudden, 512 00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,600 has all this money and he's 20 years old and he thinks I should 513 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:01,400 invest this money. They didn't really know what to 514 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,100 do. So we just started asking some 515 00:27:03,100 --> 00:27:06,000 wealthy people around town. Well, I started playing games 516 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,500 with him and they said, well, you want to do, is you want to 517 00:27:09,500 --> 00:27:12,300 send some Bibles Down To Jamaica, right? 518 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,600 Knowing that, you know, the wind, many Christians in Jamaica 519 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:16,500 and those days. So he did that. 520 00:27:17,300 --> 00:27:20,800 There was this huge big evangelism, kind of explosion 521 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,400 down there, all the Bible sold for profit. 522 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:25,900 So then the guy said, well what you want to do is you want to 523 00:27:25,908 --> 00:27:28,300 send some mittens to Jamaica because, you know, people might 524 00:27:28,300 --> 00:27:30,100 get cold down there now Jamaica's in that, you know, in 525 00:27:30,100 --> 00:27:31,000 the tropics. It's pretty. 526 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,600 Hot place. He bought as many mittens as he 527 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:36,100 could, and he shipping to Jamaica. 528 00:27:36,500 --> 00:27:38,000 Right? When they got there, these 529 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,800 Russian trawlers came through and they bought up all of the 530 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,300 mittens. He made a fortune. 531 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,700 So then people have that they were getting more and more 532 00:27:45,700 --> 00:27:47,600 frustrated, they said, know what you want to do is send some 533 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,300 warming pans. You know, that like there's 534 00:27:49,300 --> 00:27:51,800 little bronze pans. You put a fire in because they 535 00:27:51,900 --> 00:27:54,000 they might need those. So you bought up all the bronze 536 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,700 pansy. Could he send them to Jamaica 537 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,400 and they sent for quite a long time and then after a while, 538 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,800 somebody realized that these pans will ideal for Like 539 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:06,200 molasses, which so making and all of all the pain sold at a 540 00:28:06,208 --> 00:28:09,000 huge profit and it goes on and on and on and we won't go into 541 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,800 it, but it ends with them convincing him to send coals to 542 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,300 Newcastle. Send coal to Newcastle right 543 00:28:15,300 --> 00:28:17,600 here of Massachusetts, you Castle was the coal mining 544 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,300 capital of the world, but he didn't know that, right? 545 00:28:20,500 --> 00:28:23,800 He rented like, dozens of ships, filled them up with all the 546 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,600 coal, he could buy and sent them to Newcastle, en route to 547 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,800 Newcastle a minor strike broke out and you castle. 548 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,900 And there was no Nicole in all of England and we have, when his 549 00:28:33,900 --> 00:28:36,700 ships arrived, he made a fortune, right? 550 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:38,900 It's an amazing story. He's worth looking up, Timothy 551 00:28:38,900 --> 00:28:42,200 Dexter, is his name, right? What did I tell you all that, 552 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:47,200 right? The application here is Timothy, 553 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:50,800 Dexter wasn't particularly Savvy in what he invested in, but he 554 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:57,400 made money because he invested. Yeah, and Matthew 25 tells us 555 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,200 that God wants his people to invest what he's given them, 556 00:29:01,900 --> 00:29:03,000 that's what they're Parables about. 557 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,600 But but God's idea of investing has different different from 558 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,900 your typical, you know, like Wall Street Wall Street 559 00:29:08,900 --> 00:29:10,600 stockbroker or, you know, that kind of thing. 560 00:29:11,300 --> 00:29:13,800 God isn't concerned about whether or not we make a killing 561 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,900 on the stock market. God isn't concerned about 562 00:29:16,900 --> 00:29:19,600 whether we make a shrewd, business deals, and make 563 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,200 enormous amounts of money. And all that God simply wants us 564 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,300 to invest in the things that are important to him. 565 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,100 Yeah, he wants us to invest in the things that are important to 566 00:29:30,100 --> 00:29:33,200 him. God statement to Israel was that 567 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,400 their attitude was to giving was a key indicator that they didn't 568 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,200 trust them. He said, change your attitude 569 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,300 with regards to how much you trust me and watch it. 570 00:29:44,300 --> 00:29:46,300 Have a positive effect on this whole nation. 571 00:29:47,700 --> 00:29:50,400 Okay, what about us? New Testament. 572 00:29:51,300 --> 00:29:53,800 Tithing is not commanded in the New Testament. 573 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,400 It's not commanded in Matthew 23. 574 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,000 Jesus says, these are the Pharisees were very particular 575 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,700 about making sure. They tithe correctly and Jesus 576 00:30:03,700 --> 00:30:05,900 said, you know, it was great that they were tithing and they 577 00:30:05,900 --> 00:30:07,600 should be doing that, but it's a shame that they went. 578 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:11,100 So can so concerned about the other important things, like, 579 00:30:11,100 --> 00:30:14,600 justice, and mercy and faith. Those kind of things. 580 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:19,100 So the New Testament pattern, is that it Moats voluntary giving 581 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:23,400 rather than compulsory tithing. But it seems to use that ten 582 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,600 percent of gross as a kind of a guideline minimum as it goes 583 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,700 through it. Hebrews 7 RI tells that story 584 00:30:29,700 --> 00:30:32,700 about Abraham and Melchizedek and brings up that 10% several 585 00:30:32,700 --> 00:30:35,500 times. Second Corinthians 9 verse 586 00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:38,900 number 5, right? And so, a little bit of 587 00:30:38,908 --> 00:30:42,900 background on this one, Titus had come in and Titus had told 588 00:30:42,900 --> 00:30:47,600 the church family at Corinth, which is in Greece about Some 589 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,600 hard times that were affecting Christians in Unix, newly. 590 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,200 Planted churches in Macedonia. Is to look, these guys are going 591 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,500 through some tough times. And so the Corinthian Church had 592 00:30:57,500 --> 00:31:00,100 promised that they would give some money to help with that 593 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:02,600 said yet we're will help them out. 594 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,100 The macedonians in the past had been very good at helping out 595 00:31:05,100 --> 00:31:07,700 others when others were struggling and so that. 596 00:31:07,700 --> 00:31:09,200 Yeah, they said, well how about that? 597 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,400 And Paul says, don't he says to the Corinthians he's writing to 598 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,000 me says, don't forget that you promised that right? 599 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:16,800 Because I'm going to turn up with some guys. 600 00:31:17,500 --> 00:31:19,800 At some point, I'm going to turn up with a couple guys from 601 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,100 Macedonia to coming. Take the offering off you and 602 00:31:23,100 --> 00:31:26,400 take it back to Macedonia and he says I've been bragging about 603 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:28,700 you all through Macedonia. And I've been saying a kaya 604 00:31:28,700 --> 00:31:30,100 province is really the act on this. 605 00:31:30,100 --> 00:31:32,900 They've been ready to go since last year, they're going to send 606 00:31:32,900 --> 00:31:37,300 some some money to help and he says, I don't want to turn up 607 00:31:37,300 --> 00:31:39,900 with some macedonians and say, hey we're here to pick up your 608 00:31:39,900 --> 00:31:44,800 offering and you go and you know, you don't have it, you 609 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,100 know, he said, you know, that would leave kind of both us and 610 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:49,700 And you a little bit red-faced if there happened so he's 611 00:31:49,700 --> 00:31:50,300 telling them that. Right? 612 00:31:50,300 --> 00:31:53,100 So verse 5 Second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 5. 613 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,300 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort or to encourage the 614 00:31:57,300 --> 00:32:00,900 Brethren, to go to you ahead of time and prepare your generous 615 00:32:00,900 --> 00:32:05,000 gift beforehand, which you had previously promised that it may 616 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,700 be really as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging 617 00:32:08,700 --> 00:32:13,000 obligation because they turn these men, these pollutants up 618 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,200 these, macedonians they go hey we're here to get the offering 619 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:20,800 and Corinthian Church goes. Oh yeah that's right we must we 620 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,700 promised them some money for that I suppose we better give 621 00:32:23,700 --> 00:32:28,900 them Look what he says verse number 6 is but this I say he 622 00:32:28,900 --> 00:32:33,000 who sow sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows 623 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,900 bountifully will also reap bountifully, right? 624 00:32:36,100 --> 00:32:38,300 You get what you get right? What comes around goes around. 625 00:32:39,900 --> 00:32:43,700 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, right? 626 00:32:43,700 --> 00:32:47,100 No, set amount there, right? Let each one give as he purposes 627 00:32:47,100 --> 00:32:53,800 in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity for God, loves a 628 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:55,000 cheerful. Cheerful Giver. 629 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,100 Right. This is about attitude. 630 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:02,200 It's not about the money, it's about the attitude. 631 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,800 So if you begin, if you give because you feel like you have 632 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:10,700 to don't bother Remember what Hosea said? 633 00:33:11,100 --> 00:33:14,700 It's not the physical act of sacrificing that God wants, it's 634 00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:17,900 the attitude behind it for the sake of time, we won't go and 635 00:33:17,908 --> 00:33:19,200 look at it. But in the previous chapter and 636 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,700 verse 8 in chapter 8, Second Corinthians 8, Paul's telling 637 00:33:22,700 --> 00:33:24,900 the Corinthians about met the macedonians and he said, you 638 00:33:24,908 --> 00:33:27,200 know, these These are, these were fairly poor people 639 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:28,900 Macedonia. And he said they heard about a 640 00:33:28,900 --> 00:33:30,900 need somewhere. They begged us to help. 641 00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:34,600 They, you you wouldn't believe how much how much money they 642 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,400 gave to help with this issue, and these not wealthy people and 643 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,300 he said it was because they were With God and they understood 644 00:33:40,300 --> 00:33:44,600 that Jesus was rich and he gave up everything for them and that 645 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,400 attitude just kind of affected the way they behaved. 646 00:33:47,500 --> 00:33:50,300 And he says the Corinthians I'm telling you this to inspire you 647 00:33:50,700 --> 00:33:54,800 right to inspire you guys. There's another time in First 648 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,200 Corinthians 16 did been a famine in Jerusalem and the churches 649 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,400 that are in galatia, which is sort of Northern turkey, and at 650 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,700 Corinth, down in Greece, were collecting money to send to 651 00:34:03,700 --> 00:34:06,600 Jerusalem to help, and they collected the money every week, 652 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:08,900 and eventually they send it off, right? 653 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:16,300 To help write some other things that they to do with money in 654 00:34:16,308 --> 00:34:17,800 tithing, the, in the New Testament. 655 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:22,500 First, Timothy 5:17 says this, let the elders who rule well, be 656 00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:26,000 counted worthy of double honor. Especially those who labor in 657 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,199 the word and Doctrine for the scripture says you shall not 658 00:34:29,199 --> 00:34:33,199 muzzle an ox, while it Treads out the grain, right? 659 00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:36,500 So he says, look it's up foot to the church family to pay their 660 00:34:36,500 --> 00:34:38,699 pastors. Whatever, you're paying them 661 00:34:38,699 --> 00:34:40,500 that way. With double you don't starve an 662 00:34:40,500 --> 00:34:42,600 animal while it's doing the work for you, that was an Old 663 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,900 Testament law, right? X 11:29. 664 00:34:46,900 --> 00:34:48,500 This is where to feed the hungry. 665 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:54,000 James 1:27 wits, his way to help widows and orphans, right? 666 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:58,000 In other words, help those who for whatever reason are unable 667 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,900 to help themselves, okay? Summary? 668 00:35:00,900 --> 00:35:06,000 Let me structure all that we can't go to all the business 669 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:07,700 because it because it's time constraints. 670 00:35:07,700 --> 00:35:09,800 And I didn't want to spend another week on this, but but 671 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:13,500 here's how it goes right. God expects us to give. 672 00:35:17,300 --> 00:35:24,200 Happily willingly generously. You'll see the stuff over and 673 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:29,800 over and also very important corporately as a church family, 674 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:33,800 I'll Testament law. Was 10 percent of gross income 675 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,400 compulsory giving to take care of worship and the things 676 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:40,100 associated associated with it as well as helping the poor and the 677 00:35:40,107 --> 00:35:44,000 knee right then they gave other offerings on top of that right 678 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:47,200 now we are not under that law in the New Testament. 679 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,600 All all or giving us to be voluntary. 680 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,200 You know, this idea of churches sending bills to Well, that's 681 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:57,700 just garbage. It's all offering is to be 682 00:35:57,700 --> 00:36:00,600 voluntary, but the pattern of giving 10 percent of gross plus 683 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,500 other offerings from time to time was followed by the, by the 684 00:36:03,500 --> 00:36:07,300 early church, right? Money was collected weekly. 685 00:36:07,300 --> 00:36:09,500 And then the church family decided how does how to spend 686 00:36:09,500 --> 00:36:11,300 it? The choose found any is 687 00:36:11,300 --> 00:36:12,900 responsible to fund its operation. 688 00:36:13,100 --> 00:36:18,800 Pay pay its pastors plus give money to help the poor and the 689 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,400 needy, let's finish with this thought, right? 690 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:25,300 So, Imagine, if you you just inherit some money, right? 691 00:36:25,300 --> 00:36:27,600 So you get a phone call from a lawyer, a letter from a lawyer 692 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:28,900 or whatever. And they say, hey, you just 693 00:36:28,900 --> 00:36:30,900 inherited some money. It's a lot of money, this isn't 694 00:36:30,900 --> 00:36:33,300 decent chunk of money. And so you think Mel, I need to 695 00:36:33,300 --> 00:36:36,700 find myself a financial advisor, the figure out, you know, how to 696 00:36:36,700 --> 00:36:39,200 invest this, right? And so you go down, there's one, 697 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,200 maybe a couple of doors down here on the street and you go in 698 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,700 there, fairly modest offices. But you talk to the people 699 00:36:45,700 --> 00:36:48,800 there, they seem seem to know what they're talking about. 700 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,500 They seem very friendly and so you decide. 701 00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:53,700 Yes. Can you It's my money for me. 702 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:58,400 So a year goes by you get a letter from them and it says, 703 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,900 I'm sorry, but your Investments didn't make any money this year 704 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,400 and you think they can't be right? 705 00:37:06,100 --> 00:37:08,400 So you think, right? I'm going to go down and have a 706 00:37:08,408 --> 00:37:11,500 talk to them about this, right? And when you go down there, 707 00:37:11,700 --> 00:37:13,700 they're not there anymore, right? 708 00:37:13,700 --> 00:37:17,300 They got new officers in this is amazing, kind of old mansion, 709 00:37:17,300 --> 00:37:20,300 that's overlooking Hamilton Lake, you know? 710 00:37:20,700 --> 00:37:22,500 And the guy comes out and he's in his Armani suit. 711 00:37:22,700 --> 00:37:25,800 Shoot right. And he's got his Ferrari, is 712 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:30,400 parked out the front and it's very impressive set of sweets in 713 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,300 there, you know, we're the officers are all the equipment's 714 00:37:33,500 --> 00:37:36,400 top-of-the-line and and the guy comes out to meet you. 715 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,300 What are you going to think? What are you going to think? 716 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,500 I know what I'd think. I'd be thinking this guy's been 717 00:37:43,500 --> 00:37:46,800 using my money to make himself Rich at my expense. 718 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,500 And more than likely, he's not going to be my financial advisor 719 00:37:51,500 --> 00:37:54,200 anymore. Alright, I'm going to take that 720 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:56,900 money away from him and I'm going to give it to somebody 721 00:37:56,900 --> 00:38:00,400 that I can trust. Yeah, see the picture there. 722 00:38:00,900 --> 00:38:04,000 Yeah. What's in your hand? 723 00:38:04,700 --> 00:38:07,400 What's in your hand? God gives us resources to 724 00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,500 invest, right? How are we investing them? 725 00:38:10,500 --> 00:38:14,100 How am I using my income? How am I using my identity? 726 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:16,800 How am I using my influence to impact? 727 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,800 The world around me? The way that Jesus did. 728 00:38:21,500 --> 00:38:23,200 We want our lives to count, right? 729 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,100 We want to make a difference. That's our challenge. 730 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:31,700 That is our challenge. Let's pray, father, we thank you 731 00:38:31,700 --> 00:38:35,300 for what you gave up and giving up your only son. 732 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:41,800 Lord is awesome in community just to focus on that this 733 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:44,500 morning. There was a huge sacrifice there 734 00:38:44,900 --> 00:38:48,600 and Jesus, who was rich became poor on our behalf. 735 00:38:49,700 --> 00:38:52,000 Lord. Um this is a challenging message 736 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,500 Lord, then. But Lord, we just pray that we 737 00:38:54,500 --> 00:38:57,500 would be people who want to invest in the things that are 738 00:38:57,500 --> 00:39:04,000 important to you that. And that's the lives of people 739 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,300 and the different ways that we can do that. 740 00:39:07,500 --> 00:39:12,700 Lord, we just, yeah, burden us for the things that that burden 741 00:39:12,700 --> 00:39:14,800 you. The things that that you want 742 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,800 changed. Put those on our hearts. 743 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:19,800 Lord, as a church family Lord, we want to do what you Let's to 744 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,900 do. We thank you for the huge 745 00:39:22,900 --> 00:39:26,300 generosity that we see in the in the in the things that we're 746 00:39:26,300 --> 00:39:29,000 able to do every week and the Ministries that are happening 747 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,200 that are changing lives changing, eternities, bringing 748 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,100 people closer to you is incredible to watch that. 749 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,100 Lord, thank you for the opportunity to be a part of it. 750 00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:43,300 Lord, thank you for your word and the truths are in it. 751 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,700 Lord, we just want to people people who draw close to you and 752 00:39:48,100 --> 00:39:50,300 thank you for a chance to win. Worship you today is. 753 00:39:50,300 --> 00:39:51,400 Thank you. In Jesus name.