SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend, especially this one, 250 years celebrating.
SPEAKER_00: Pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, amen.
SPEAKER_00: God is good.
SPEAKER_00: Shannon and I had fun.
SPEAKER_00: We went to Batavia Village for their 250 celebration.
SPEAKER_00: It was a lot of fun seeing all the food trucks, all the kids playing around, small town America celebrating the blessings that God has bestowed upon us as a nation.
SPEAKER_00: It was fun.
SPEAKER_00: Then actually, I think the heart of it on yesterday, get to get together with family on Saturday, you know, as we meet and swim.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's the big, right?
SPEAKER_00: But the power of it is celebrating in the small as we gather a family, friends, and just uh enjoy simple things that uh we have here of the ability to eat together food that we like and enjoy setting off fireworks and having conversations and just taking a moment, a holy day, a day to set aside to remember just the blessings we have as families.
SPEAKER_00: Good time.
SPEAKER_00: Now I've got to tell you, my dog though, his name's Zeke, he doesn't like Fourth of July because of the fireworks.
SPEAKER_00: Uh as soon as they start going, I know uh sometimes they'll go, they'll they'll be going into the night channel, we go into bed, and I'll know he's hiding because I'll hear kunk, kunk, kunk under our bed as he hits his head.
SPEAKER_00: He just doesn't know like it.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't like he doesn't like fireworks, uh, he doesn't like thunderstorms.
SPEAKER_00: I I don't need a a weather report at all to know inclement weather's coming, because Zeke will wander off and I'll find him in the closet hiding underneath everything because he's afraid of that.
SPEAKER_00: He's a scaredy dog.
SPEAKER_00: If there's a flying thing around, whether it be a fly or a bee, even a mosquito, he likes freaks out and goes and slinks and hides.
SPEAKER_00: I've never seen anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: Shannon will turn on the oven.
SPEAKER_00: The oven will be put on.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what's about the oven, the smell or something or not.
SPEAKER_00: He smells the oven, and we'll find him somewhere in a corner hiding because he's afraid.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Zeke kind of reminds us, his phobias, I think, are a great example, a reminder to me and hopefully to you, that what you fear affects how you live.
SPEAKER_00: What you fear affects how you live.
SPEAKER_00: Fears inform your actions.
SPEAKER_00: Fears inform how you think, shape how you think.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we like to say, we say this, faith over fear.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I've got to realize that that actually fear is a large part of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Fear is a large part of faith.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, in the Bible, time and time again, what we're told uh the person of faith is someone who does what?
SPEAKER_00: Fears the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs says.
SPEAKER_00: Fear of the Lord your God will is is a common refrain throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, well, wait a minute, faith over fear, how can you have fear involved?
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're going to fear God, what you're talking about is you're talking about reverence.
SPEAKER_00: You're talking about valuing God so much that the thought of disappointing him sends waves of fear through your body.
SPEAKER_00: We're guided by what we fear.
SPEAKER_00: So, what are you afraid of?
SPEAKER_00: What are you afraid of?
SPEAKER_00: And what does your fear say about your faith?
SPEAKER_00: About who or what you worship?
SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the more common fears, particularly today, but I think it's been a fear throughout history, is fear that relates to finances, financial fears.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone relate to that?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone connect with that?
SPEAKER_00: Do you struggle with anxiety about money?
SPEAKER_00: Do you worry about higher food and gas bills?
SPEAKER_00: Do you fight with your spouse regularly about spending splurges or about how the money was spent or how the money wasn't spent?
SPEAKER_00: Do you fear that you're going to outlive your savings?
SPEAKER_00: What are you afraid of?
SPEAKER_00: A survey recently taken says something that I think we already know.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us, many of you, many of the Americans are worried about personal finances.
SPEAKER_00: 20, 52% of Americans in a recent poll from Bankrate.com said money negatively affected their mental health in 2023.
SPEAKER_00: That was up 10 percentage points from 2022.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it's it's it's easing up at all.
SPEAKER_00: We're worried about money.
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
SPEAKER_00: You're putting your hope for security, you put your hope for a better future, you have a hope for a sense of satisfaction and contentment.
SPEAKER_00: Are you putting it on money?
SPEAKER_00: How much you have in your bank account, how much stuff you have acquired?
SPEAKER_00: Now, while money in of itself is not a bad thing, the scripture says that that it says it's it doesn't say money is the root of all evil.
SPEAKER_00: There in Timothy it says the love of money is the root of all evil.
SPEAKER_00: Money in of itself isn't bad, but it is the greatest indicator, according to Jesus, of where your heart is, what you believe.
SPEAKER_00: Really.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_00: What you treasure, what you value, money, what you held is most important, what you are afraid to lose and live without is like the location pin on the map to show you where your heart is, where the center of your life is, what you're most afraid of losing.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus goes on to say, no one can serve two masters.
SPEAKER_00: Interesting that he he sets this up this way.
SPEAKER_00: Two masters.
SPEAKER_00: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to one and despise the other.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot serve both God and money.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because we make money our God.
SPEAKER_00: What you do with your money reflects what you believe in.
SPEAKER_00: What you think about your money in terms of your greatest financial, your greatest fears reflects who you believe and who is your God.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's why God gives his people and introduces them and asks for them if they're going to be uh his people, the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm gonna introduce you to a habit, a holy habit, that will work to put money in its right place when it comes to your following of me.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we're gonna jump into the book of Deuteronomy Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: It's number five.
SPEAKER_00: If you're into a Bible scholar, it's called the Pentateuch.
SPEAKER_00: Penta means five five books, the first five books of our Bibles, the front end of our Bibles right there.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: And Deuteronomy is a really a farewell address from Moses, the leader of the Israelites, to the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: If you're familiar with the history, you'll know that Moses was God's man to lead the people of Israel, his people, out of slavery in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And he led them out with miracles and wonders, and God did amazing things, and he gave to Moses the law, which was basically instructions on, hey, when you get into the promised land that I'm leading you to, from slavery to living with me in the promised land, here are the ways you need to live.
SPEAKER_00: Here are the habits you need to live by.
SPEAKER_00: That's the law of God, the instructions on what it means to be the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so the so Moses leads the people to the edge of the promised land, and what happened?
SPEAKER_00: They were about to go from one place to another, they're about to become a people established in the land when they had been people who were nomadic herders, now they're going to become farmers, living in cities and towns in a land God was giving them.
SPEAKER_00: They're about to get into the promised land, and what happens?
SPEAKER_00: What happens is they are afraid.
SPEAKER_00: What happens is they balk.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because of fear.
SPEAKER_00: They were more afraid of the giants in the land of Canaan than they were in disobeying God.
SPEAKER_00: They were more afraid of the challenge of taking the promised land than they were trusting in God's promises to take the land for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so they disobeyed God, and God turned them away and made them wander in the desert for four years until that entire adult generation passed away, and now they've returned, and there are only three leaders, three people left from that generation.
SPEAKER_00: Moses is there, Caleb and Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Moses is on the edge of the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: He's about to go in, and God says, No, you're not going in.
SPEAKER_00: Based upon some of the behaviors, based upon the disobedience, you're gonna just gonna get to the edge.
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm gonna take you to me.
SPEAKER_00: And so on that, on that border, just before they're going to the promised land, Moses, knowing all of this, he gives his farewell speech, which is really a reiteration.
SPEAKER_00: He repeats everything that God told him back on back in history 40 plus years ago on Mount Sinai.
SPEAKER_00: He repeats the law of God to the people.
SPEAKER_00: He tells them once again, this is what it means to be the people of God, this is what it means to live for God, this is how you need to operate when you are living in the midst, God's living in your midst.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: And here are the holy habits.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, what we find is that there are holy habits, there are practices regarding money that God shares with the people, that he wants them to live out so that they might have money in its right place, that money will not be the master, money will not be their God, but instead money will be the servant to God, their master.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to just say this.
SPEAKER_00: We're into the Old Testament, we're into Deuteronomy, we're talking about the law of God.
SPEAKER_00: How does that relate to us if you're a Jesus follower and we're told, eh, we're under a new agreement with God, we're not called to follow the laws of God like the Israelites did because they're not specifically for us.
SPEAKER_00: How does that relate to us?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me just say it this Jesus was the final step in God's uh work to bring a way by which all people, not just one nation, not just the Israelites, the Jews, to provide a way all people to be his people.
SPEAKER_00: All people can be right with God through faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So, what's the purpose of us looking in the law of God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it's it's helpful for us to look into the Old Testament law and see what was the basic requirement, what was the what was the shadow, the template of what it means to live of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: We we recognize what the law of God communicated in Deuteronomy is.
SPEAKER_00: It's the basics.
SPEAKER_00: It's the basics, it's the starting point, it's the foundation for what?
SPEAKER_00: For you to understand the principles by which God wants you to live when you are his people.
SPEAKER_00: And for us who are Jesus followers, he says the Holy Spirit is God's law within us.
SPEAKER_00: We have the word of God, and the Holy Spirit helps us to live out what God wants us, how to live, and the way we operate in life, and that includes money.
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's turn to Deuteronomy 14, verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: We'll start with this verse.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Be sure, Moses is talking to the people of Israel, he says, Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna just go straight with that.
SPEAKER_00: So he's talking to a people who lived by an agricultural-based economy.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you made a living by farming.
SPEAKER_00: By and large, you made a living by, you know, growing crops and having livestock that was what ran the economy.
SPEAKER_00: So wealth was determined by the size of your of the herds of your sheep or goats or cows, the harvest of your wheat fields, olives, dates, grapes, whatever that is.
SPEAKER_00: And this instruction is okay, once a year, you need to set aside the first 10% of what you produce on your farms, what your economy produces, you're gonna say your first paycheck, you've got to set aside that first, which also implies the best, because it's the first, and you've got to set aside for God for a special purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Now, tithe means the tenth.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we talk about tithing, we're referring to this practice of setting aside 10% of your gross income, whatever you produce, for the purposes of God.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a holy habit here.
SPEAKER_00: Set aside a tithe to give to God.
SPEAKER_00: The first ten belongs to God, the first 10% belongs to God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, setting aside your 10% of your income, you you make it like the first bill you pay for for after you you receive uh your paycheck, and that was what you got to do.
SPEAKER_00: Once a year, he says, set aside a tenth of all you produce.
SPEAKER_00: And there was a holy habit that was really designed to foster generosity.
SPEAKER_00: The tithe, the 10%, and we get into all the percentages, and I know you know it's talking about a tenth, but really the 10% is just a is just a guide.
SPEAKER_00: The goal was generosity.
SPEAKER_00: The goal was entering into a habit, a practice, where you set aside what you what you were blessed by God with to give it to God's purposes.
SPEAKER_00: Move on to verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as his dwelling for his name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.
SPEAKER_00: So God says, Hey, set aside a tenth of everything that you produce, and then bring it to a place that I will designate.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're familiar with the story, familiar with the history, that what he's referring to, he's referring to first it was a tent, it was the tabernacle, a place where you could go to worship God, and that place was in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And then it became the temple, where it was a permanent structure where people would go to worship God.
SPEAKER_00: God was in their midst, he lived amongst them in a house in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says, Look, take the tenth, and then you go to the presence of the Lord, that wherever I've designated, and what do you do with that?
SPEAKER_00: What do you do with that tenth?
SPEAKER_00: Do you did you do you catch what it says?
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: You eat it in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: You take your tenth and you give it to God, and then what he wants you to do is he wants you to eat it in his presence.
SPEAKER_00: He he wants you to understand that this giving is an act of worship.
SPEAKER_00: This giving is an opportunity to have a feast with God, to have a celebration, if you'd like.
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk more about this in a minute, in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: God asked for the tithe, then he gives it back to them so they can worship him.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted people to celebrate with him, he wanted them to enjoy the blessings he's provided in their presence.
SPEAKER_00: So we talk about motives.
SPEAKER_00: Why does God want a tenth?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need the money, he doesn't want the resource.
SPEAKER_00: No, God wants your heart, he wants you to be able to come in his presence and recognize and acknowledge that he is the giver, he is the one that blesses you.
SPEAKER_00: And this is an opportunity for you to celebrate, to be in his presence.
SPEAKER_00: What's the lesson learned?
SPEAKER_00: You may learn to serve, revere the Lord your God always.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: You may learn to revere your God always.
SPEAKER_00: What does this holy habit deal with?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it deals with this issue that we have as seeing money as a source of security.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if money is a source of security for you, if it means that you that means that you have a struggle with God when things get a little crazy.
SPEAKER_00: When the stock market's down, you start to worry.
SPEAKER_00: When you start seeing a certain number on your your savings account go to a point, you're like, ugh, you start to worry.
SPEAKER_00: You you fret about every nickel and dime you're spending.
SPEAKER_00: You you think about money all the time.
SPEAKER_00: If you if money is a source of security for you, it means you struggle to trust God.
SPEAKER_00: It means that you struggle to revere God.
SPEAKER_00: It means that you have a difficulty to take him as his word, to be able to provide for you and to and to take you into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: You have a struggle relying on him.
SPEAKER_00: And so giving your first 10%, what does that do?
SPEAKER_00: It says, Look, God, I know that you are the giver of all things.
SPEAKER_00: That is, you're the owner.
SPEAKER_00: This whole creation belongs to you.
SPEAKER_00: You're the owner.
SPEAKER_00: And I acknowledge that by giving 10%.
SPEAKER_00: I acknowledge that in being obedient with this money, my first act of distributing.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you like me saying that word, distributing, paying my bills, my money, that that you're the owner, and that I am just being blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Even if this is the money that I think that I've worked hard at getting, that I've followed, you know, great business plans, I've I've just been blessed to have, that I think is my money.
SPEAKER_00: No, I I recognize that that God, you're the owner.
SPEAKER_00: And in that relationship, I'm the manager.
SPEAKER_00: I am the manager.
SPEAKER_00: I'm one who has been entrusted by you to use these resources for your purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to acknowledge that with this habit of giving, of tithing.
SPEAKER_00: God wants you to give him first.
SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, it's an act of worship.
SPEAKER_00: It's an act of worship, it's it's a source of connection and fellowship with God.
SPEAKER_00: Money, you know, money is usually the last surrender to the Lordship of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When someone comes to Christ, when they say, Jesus is my Lord and Savior, there's certain aspects of their life that they they have to learn to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: And it's typical that money is the last.
SPEAKER_00: Money is the last thing to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to tell you, when you let go control of money, when you acknowledge that God is the owner and that you are his manager, and he's inviting you to use the resources he's blessed you with for worship, it deepens your faith.
SPEAKER_00: It releases the love of the Spirit, it brings you to new levels of closeness.
SPEAKER_00: You become more aware of God at work and God's blessings in ways that you were never imagined.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: It says, But if that place, the place to meet God, if that place is too distant and that you and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's too many cows and too many, you know, too much grain and too much stuff to lug over to Jerusal down to Jerusalem, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you cannot carry your tithe, because the place where the Lord will choose to put his name is so far away, verse 25, then exchange your tithe for silver and take the silver with you, and go to the place the Lord your God will choose.
SPEAKER_00: Use the silver to buy whatever you like, cattle, sheep, wine, other fermented drink, or anything you wish, then you and your household, you and your whole family and and cousins and everybody shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: You see the kindness of God?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, hey, look, I recognize what I'm asking you, maybe a major burden because some of you live really far away from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal: sell your first fruits, sell your tithe, bring the money, which is easier to transport, come to my presence and then buy whatever beef, mutton, wine, whatever, there, give that and and and and and eat that in my presence.
SPEAKER_00: Eat that in my presence.
SPEAKER_00: And and what do you do when you eat that in my presence?
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's let's call it as it is.
SPEAKER_00: When when the preacher at church starts talking about money, there's a little squirrel squirreliness going on.
SPEAKER_00: People get uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Oh boy, he's just here we go, money.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the church, all they want is your money, all they talk about.
SPEAKER_00: No, we don't.
SPEAKER_00: Usually rejoicing is not connected to this conversation about tithing and money, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, usually it's like uh conviction, uh, I'm feeling awkward.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the preacher that he just wants to get rich uh on me, uh, there's all these questions and doubts, and how do I know they're spending my money right?
SPEAKER_00: Blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a rejoicing in any way, shape, or form.
SPEAKER_00: Yet, what God says here, look, he says, when you give, when You come and you come in my presence giving the tithe, it's an opportunity of rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: It's an opportunity to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not natural for us to give without strings attached, without, you know, oh, I'm gonna give, I better get back, I'm just gonna make this transactional.
SPEAKER_00: It's very hard for us just to let go and say, Lord, this is yours.
SPEAKER_00: What has to happen in order to be a source of rejoicing?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there has to be a perspective change.
SPEAKER_00: It has to be a perspective change.
SPEAKER_00: And one perspective change I suggest is this.
SPEAKER_00: If God owns it all, if that's the starting point, Jesus is Lord of my life, God owns it all, then he's just asking me to give 10%.
SPEAKER_00: That means he's entrusted me with 90.
SPEAKER_00: I get the the load, the most of what he gives to use for his purposes.
SPEAKER_00: I can give thanks for God's goodness, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, perspective-wise, he's giving me everything.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna understand, these holy habits are for our benefit.
SPEAKER_00: It's not for God's benefit.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need your money.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's his money, he doesn't need you to give back his money to him.
SPEAKER_00: But what he does is he wants transformation in your life and fellowship in your life in your day-to-day.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a habit that connects you with God.
SPEAKER_00: Giving is an antidote to the sickness of our culture.
SPEAKER_00: You know what our sickness of our culture is?
SPEAKER_00: Consumerism.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about us.
SPEAKER_00: How many remember that?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's like an old film now.
SPEAKER_00: How many remember finding Nemo, the first version of Finding Nemo about the fish?
SPEAKER_00: So there's a scene where Nemo's dad, who's looking for Nemo and Dory, who he meets, they're together and there's a pelican that scooped them up and he's flying, and he lands on this deck by the pier, and he, you know, Nemo's dad and Dory plop out.
SPEAKER_00: They're laying there on the deck and they're kind of flipping over because they want to continue to find Nemo.
SPEAKER_00: And they they're flipping over and having this conversation with the pelican, and all of a sudden the pelican says, Stop!
unknown: Don't move.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason is out there are just a whole flock of seagulls are sitting there looking at them.
SPEAKER_00: And you can tell these seagulls are just dumb, mindless birds.
SPEAKER_00: And what is it that the seagulls say when they start chasing?
unknown: Mine.
SPEAKER_00: Mine?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And that's what they do.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's this whole scene, and they're chasing the pelican scoops up uh Nemo's dad and Dory, and they're flying around and the pelican and the these seagulls are chasing, and what are they saying?
SPEAKER_00: Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, until you know, mindlessly saying mine.
SPEAKER_00: All they can see, all they can do is get something for them.
SPEAKER_00: Mine, mine, mine.
SPEAKER_00: And I think about it, wow, isn't that a picture of us sometimes?
SPEAKER_00: Mine?
SPEAKER_00: The whole system is programmed to invoke this desire to consume, to have more, more, more.
SPEAKER_00: Mine, mind, mind.
SPEAKER_00: Life is about money, money, money.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a practical example of how this works.
SPEAKER_00: Recently read an article.
SPEAKER_00: It was talking about how young people, young Americans, have elevated levels of stress.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the ways in which they are coping with this is something called doom spending.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you ever heard of doom spending?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so what doom spending is?
SPEAKER_00: Well, doom spending, according to Intuit Credit Karma's uh recent survey, 60% of Americans are feeling anxious about the state of the world, particularly over the cost of living and inflation.
SPEAKER_00: With these concerns taking a toll on mental health, 27% of Americans admit they're doom spending.
SPEAKER_00: What they're doing is they're spending more money despite financial worries.
SPEAKER_00: The trend is particularly popular with the younger generations, Gen Z and the millennials.
SPEAKER_00: One in four sharing that spending helps them cope with anxiety and uncertainty.
SPEAKER_00: You see that?
SPEAKER_00: What's the result of financial pressure?
SPEAKER_00: Mine?
SPEAKER_00: Get more and more and more for myself.
SPEAKER_00: Spend, spend, spend.
SPEAKER_00: It's the crazy thing, but it's it's it's a thing.
SPEAKER_00: But the holy habit of tithing, where you where you take a pause and you recognize, wait, I'm learning to revere God, the giver of all gifts, and he's asked me to be his manager, which means he's entrusted me with these goods, with this money for use for his purposes.
SPEAKER_00: It causes me to pause and to think, and and according to this practice, gives me opportunity to say, I'm grateful.
SPEAKER_00: I'm grateful.
SPEAKER_00: Because God is the giver and he's entrusted me as the manager.
SPEAKER_00: And it sets you free to rejoice in the good things that God has provided you.
SPEAKER_00: Then you and all your households shall eat in the presence of the that's thunder.
SPEAKER_00: You like that?
SPEAKER_00: Thundering.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Then you and all your households shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
SPEAKER_00: As at the end of every three years, bring all the tithes that the years produce and store of that year's produce and store it in your town.
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, every year you gather your tithe, but every three years you what you do, instead of going to eat it in the presence of the Lord, it looks like you take all of that and they're going to put it in a storehouse for special use.
SPEAKER_00: What's that use?
SPEAKER_00: So that the Levites who have no allotment or inheritance of their own, and the foreigners, the fatherless, and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
SPEAKER_00: Who are the Levites?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Levites were the individuals who were members of the tribe of Levi, one of the twelve tribes.
SPEAKER_00: The Levites were given a special assignment.
SPEAKER_00: They were the tribe that were called to serve God by serving the people.
SPEAKER_00: And part of that was that the tribe of Levi were not given any land in the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: They were not allotted areas for them to have farms to make a living.
SPEAKER_00: They had to rely then on God, specifically through the generosity and faithfulness of the people who would give their tithes to support the Levites so they could support do the work of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Levites, the family of Aaron, the brother of Moses, was a Levite.
SPEAKER_00: His family was specifically given the task of being priests.
SPEAKER_00: So they were the ones that facilitated worship in the temple of the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_00: So all priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests.
SPEAKER_00: You get that?
SPEAKER_00: But these guys, in order to do the work, was supported through the faithful generosity, through the tithing of everyone else of the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: But not only that, not only were the Levites supported with these tithes and offerings, but so were those who were in trouble, widows, orphans, aliens living amongst the people.
SPEAKER_00: This was a form of providing social service and help to those who are on the margins of society that needed it.
SPEAKER_00: The people gave in worship, and their generosity was a mechanism to join the work of God.
SPEAKER_00: And notice the purpose of this instruction.
SPEAKER_00: He says, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
SPEAKER_00: If you give to bless others, you join the God in his work and you will be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: You don't give so that you for that blessing, you give in order to align your life with the holy habits that God has called you, and you are a blessing to others in your giving on behalf of God.
SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, not only do you bless others, you're blessed as well.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's a great great illustration, I think.
SPEAKER_00: I've come to recognize that that in living systems, open systems are alive, dead systems are closed systems are dead.
SPEAKER_00: So not too long ago, I think it was 2018, Shannon and I got to visit the Holy Land.
SPEAKER_00: We visited the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: It's my favorite place in all of that trip.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, all the Nazareth, all the places we went.
SPEAKER_00: The Sea of Galilee was to me the most significant.
SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's this huge body of water in that area, and it's teeming with life.
SPEAKER_00: Sea of Galilee is fed by the Jordan River in the north, comes in, big Sea of Galilee, and then it flows out the south, and it goes down, Jordan River goes down, and it dead ends in the Dead Sea.
SPEAKER_00: The dead ends in the Dead Sea.
SPEAKER_00: You catch that?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the Dead Sea takes, but it doesn't give.
SPEAKER_00: It dead ends.
SPEAKER_00: And what you find is that the Sea of Galilee takes and gives, but the Dead Sea only takes.
SPEAKER_00: And the Dead Sea is what?
SPEAKER_00: It's dead.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's called the Dead Sea.
SPEAKER_00: There's no life in there.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I went to visit there.
SPEAKER_00: It's not very, I didn't think it was that impressive.
SPEAKER_00: It happened to be like a headwind.
SPEAKER_00: There were little waves.
SPEAKER_00: I went out into to stand on the waves because you know the whole thing, the Dead Sea is so full of salt, you're supposed to sit on it, you float.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't calm.
SPEAKER_00: As I'm walking out there, I got splashed.
SPEAKER_00: I got the water in my eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Woo! That burned.
SPEAKER_00: It's like someone was shoving little thousand little bits of needles in my eyes.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like the Dead Sea.
SPEAKER_00: It's dead.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of us are dying in our life in terms of blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we take, take, take, but we never give.
SPEAKER_00: Like the Dead Sea.
SPEAKER_00: When you take on the holy habit of regular, faithful giving, God blesses you.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that it's a matter of faith.
SPEAKER_00: When Shannon and I first were married, we were, well, let me just say this.
SPEAKER_00: When we were first married, we didn't have much money.
SPEAKER_00: We were living on, you know, regular dinners of nuked potatoes and ramen noodles.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you can make some delicious meals out of nuked potatoes and ramen noodles, right?
SPEAKER_00: We were working a number of jobs, every penny was needed, but we made this commitment.
SPEAKER_00: We agreed.
SPEAKER_00: We determined ahead of time, and I'll be honest with you, Shannon was a lot more uh stronger in this than I was.
SPEAKER_00: She was a lot more faithful and faith-filled than I was at that time.
SPEAKER_00: We decided our first payment, our first outgo from whatever money we earned was given to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It was given as a tithe to the church.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we never went without.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we never went hungry, and God always provided needs.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Lord provided us opportunity to have more than we we needed so that we had opportunity to give.
SPEAKER_00: Opportunity to give.
SPEAKER_00: So I I have a challenge for you.
SPEAKER_00: If this is not a practice of your life, if this is not something you've done, make the commitment to give to God.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna say, look, 10% may be like, whoa, so 10% is the starting.
SPEAKER_00: The goal is generosity, and for some of you, generosity may be 2%.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, generosity may be 1%.
SPEAKER_00: I don't start somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: And just here's the challenge.
SPEAKER_00: Do it for a month.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one place where God says, hey, give it a try.
SPEAKER_00: Test me in this, he says, Amalachi.
SPEAKER_00: Start giving, make a commitment for a month, once a week, or if you however you get paid, your big paycheck, give that small percentage to God and and and make it as a pledge to Him of faith.
SPEAKER_00: And then as things go, I've got if you're not blessed, if that does not radically change things, then you know, well, we can talk about it, but maybe then you can say, well, this is working, then you can maybe consider adding another or two percent or wherever.
SPEAKER_00: The goal being generosity, the goal being seeking to put into practice this holy habit that puts money in the right place for you when it comes to following God.
SPEAKER_00: Decide in your heart what to give, trust it to God by giving.
SPEAKER_00: Pattern that's set for us in 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes 2 Corinthians, obviously this 1 Corinthians and there's 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: He's writing to a church in the city of Corinth in 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: A large part of that instruction has to do with the collection that Paul's pulling together.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, look, I'm about to go back to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I want all these church, all you churches that I've started that are non-Jewish churches, I want you to help me out here.
SPEAKER_00: Give me, uh we'll just make this collection.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna pull it together, and I'm gonna travel to Jerusalem to give it to the church in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the people in Jerusalem are suffering.
SPEAKER_00: There's a there's a major famine.
SPEAKER_00: And a famine means there's economic hardships.
SPEAKER_00: People are suffering and on trouble throughout that region.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to take this gift from the churches that are non-Jewish, Gentile churches, and I want to take it to the to the mothership, as it were, to the Jewish church, and I want it to be a blessing to them, an act of generosity and kindness of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says, look, each of you should give what you've decided in your heart to give.
SPEAKER_00: There it is.
SPEAKER_00: Make a decision, think it through, pray about it.
SPEAKER_00: Seek to incorporate it as a holy habit.
SPEAKER_00: Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly.
SPEAKER_00: Not not reluctantly.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's got to be a source of joy, a means of a holy habit that teaches you how to revere and fear God.
SPEAKER_00: Not reluctantly.
SPEAKER_00: Well, under compulsion.
SPEAKER_00: Under compulsion means you're you're you're you're feeling pressured.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Do it freely.
SPEAKER_00: See, he says, for God loves a cheerful giver.
SPEAKER_00: God loves a cheerful giver.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know this?
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's there in Deuteronomy, right?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Bring the first fruit, the temper, first 10% to me.
SPEAKER_00: Eat it in my presence.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: So you may learn to revere me, so that you may learn, you may be able to rejoice, so that you may participate in my work that I'm doing to bless those in need.
SPEAKER_00: Do it as a holy habit that brings joy and cheerfulness.
SPEAKER_00: And so I guess there's a question.
SPEAKER_00: If we're talking holy habits, we have to lean into this conversation.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to do it through this month.
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, just be warned when we talk about this because it's it's talked about significantly in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Will you make the commitment to give, to decide in your heart and give cheerfully?
SPEAKER_00: Will you learn the holy habit of generosity, honoring God, so that you might be set free from consumerism and that you might join God in His work while blessing others?
SPEAKER_00: Let's take our communion trade.
SPEAKER_00: Communion packets.
SPEAKER_00: If you would open up and get the piece of bread out, that would be great.
SPEAKER_00: Open up the cup, get ready to drink over the cup.
SPEAKER_00: So, what kind of God do we have?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of God is the God of Jesus who gives us a life?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of God is he?
SPEAKER_00: He's a generous God.
SPEAKER_00: What we're about to remember in this simple thing of eating the bread and drinking of the cup.
SPEAKER_00: What we're remembering is God's great act of generosity.
SPEAKER_00: How does John say it?
SPEAKER_00: For God so what loved the world that he what?
SPEAKER_00: Gave.
SPEAKER_00: Love, give.
SPEAKER_00: His one and only Son.
SPEAKER_00: That whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_00: God did not send his son, did not assign his son, did not give his son to condemn the world, to condemn you, but to give you life through faith.
SPEAKER_00: God gave.
SPEAKER_00: God is a generous God, and those who follow him, those who walk with him, he calls to be generous as well.
SPEAKER_00: Let's remember that as we take the bread.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gave his life for us.
SPEAKER_00: Please pray with me.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I just thank you so much for your generosity, and I ask that you would help us learn this holy habit of giving.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we think of giving as spontaneous and something that that, you know, is done by our heart, but and that's true.
SPEAKER_00: But what you show us is that giving generosity is a holy habit.
SPEAKER_00: It's a holy habit that allows us to learn, to trust in you, counteract our tendency to be selfish and consumed by consuming, to put our hope in our stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It's a holy habit that provides opportunity for us to rejoice, to to be transformed by thanksgiving as we have a perspective that's based on the truth that you are the God who gives us all things.
SPEAKER_00: You provide for us, even the strength of our arms and the ability to work and produce and and and our intelligence and our talents that that we're rewarded with in the things that we do in life that that that help us to get paychecks, these are all from you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Lord, that that we can give thanks and and tithings as a means by which giving generosity means that we can be able to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00: We see throughout scriptures that that what we do with uh with our resources today have consequences in eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Help us, Lord, to remake remember that.
SPEAKER_00: The holy habit of generosity is a means by which we invest in that.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this day.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your blessings, thank you for this time in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to have uh pray with somebody regarding any issue you might be struggling with, we got folks up here.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to talk to them about next steps of faith, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: God bless, have a great Sunday.