Participants:
Series Code: AFNB
Program Code: AFNB002233S
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00:02 - [Narrator] This presentation is brought to you by
00:04 the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. 00:07 (ethereal music) 00:08 - While there's no lack of greed 00:10 across the annals of human history, 00:12 according to ancient records, Marcus Licinius Crassus, 00:15 a Roman governor in the first century B.C. 00:18 may have been the greediest man who ever lived. 00:21 For example, after establishing a fire brigade in Rome, 00:25 he would accompany the firefighters to the scene of a 00:27 blaze and then offer to buy the burning property 00:30 from the panicked owner at an insultingly low price. 00:34 If refused, his fireman would do nothing to help, 00:37 but if the sale was agreed upon, 00:39 the fire was quickly extinguished and 00:41 Crassus would rebuild and rent out the property. 00:45 Through this and other grasping schemes, 00:47 Crassus built his fortune equivalent to billions today. 00:51 Yet his greed appears to have contributed to his downfall, 00:55 one legend has it that his enemies executed him 00:58 by pouring molten gold down his throat 01:00 in judgment for his notorious greed. 01:03 Although a common human tendency today, 01:06 greed isn't part of God's ideal for His people. 01:09 Thankfully, He has a plan to cultivate in us generosity, 01:13 the opposite of greed, 01:15 while at the same time filling our lives to overflowing 01:18 with His true blessings. 01:19 So join me now as we take a closer look 01:22 at this life-changing topic. 01:24 (ethereal music) 01:27 Tonight's presentation, 01:29 dealing with the Windows in Heaven 01:31 is going to be a little bit different. 01:34 Now I might surprise you, but tonight we're going to talk 01:37 about something called stewardship. 01:40 And you might think, 01:41 "Pastor Doug, what does stewardship 01:43 have to do with prophecy." 01:45 Let me show you something here. 01:47 What chapter in Matthew does Jesus give signs of His coming? 01:51 Matthew 24. 01:53 That's one of the best chapters. 01:56 And what's in Matthew Chapter 25? 02:00 A continuation of Matthew 24. 02:01 If you've got your Bibles, 02:03 like I've got a Red Letter Bible here. 02:05 It's all one sermon. 02:07 Matthew 24 drifts right into Matthew 25, no interruption, 02:11 no black letters. 02:12 Jesus is continuing after He talks about His coming 02:16 and who will be ready for His coming, 02:17 He tells a parable of the 10 virgins 02:20 and the bride groom is coming, some were asleep. 02:22 And those who were sleeping they did not have the oil 02:26 in their vessels, they couldn't go into the wedding feast. 02:29 Then He tells a parable of the 10 talents 02:35 and He says that all of His followers, 02:37 His servants were given resources 02:40 and they were to properly use their resources 02:44 and that they would be judged 02:45 when He comes on how they utilize those resources. 02:49 Luke 16 verse 10, 02:53 "Who is faithful in what is least, 02:55 is faithful also in much. 02:57 And he who is unjust in that which is least 02:59 is unjust also in much. 03:01 Therefore, if you've not been faithful 03:04 in unrighteous mammon," 03:05 meaning that just the money of this world, 03:07 "who will commit to you the true riches?" 03:10 One of the most basic things 03:12 that Christians should be faithful in 03:14 is the resources and the influence for good 03:17 that we have in our lives. 03:19 Another one, Luke 14:27, 03:22 "Whoever does not bear his cross and come after me 03:24 cannot be my disciple. 03:26 For which of you intending to build a tower 03:28 does not sit down first and count the cost, 03:31 whether he has enough to finish it. 03:33 Lest after he's laid the foundation 03:34 and is not able to finish it, 03:36 all who see it begin to mock him, 03:38 saying this man began to build and was not able to finish. 03:42 So likewise, whoever of you 03:45 does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple." 03:51 Jesus is very clear that following Him is a 100% deal. 03:55 You find me a verse that says, "Give me 50% of your heart." 03:59 Whoever doesn't forsake all that he has 04:02 and take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 04:06 And when you're all in with the Lord, then He blesses you. 04:10 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. 04:14 So with this little background, 04:15 I'm going to study the subject with you 04:17 of Christian stewardship 04:18 and you will appreciate as we go on, I think, 04:20 that it does relate to the themes of being in heaven 04:25 and being faithful in witnessing in these last days. 04:29 So question number one in our lesson, 04:32 what portion of our income belongs to God? 04:36 Answer, all of the tithe is the Lord's. 04:40 First of all, what percentage? 100%. 04:42 But He asked us to remember it by dedicating a 10th to Him 04:47 and to His course and to His service. 04:49 All of the tithe is the Lords, it is holy to the Lord. 04:52 You don't want to touch that which is holy. 04:55 The Bible should be treated in a special way 04:57 'cause it's the Holy Bible. 04:58 And marriage is called holy matrimony. 05:01 That means there's a sacred relationship. 05:03 You don't interfere with that relationship. 05:05 And so when God says that a tenth of all of your increase 05:08 is holy to God, 05:10 that means you're saying you treat it sacred and separate 05:13 and it is used to spread the message of Jesus 05:16 around the world. 05:17 What does God do with our tithe? 05:21 Is the Lord short on funds? 05:23 Does God need our money? No. 05:26 The Bible tells us the cattle on 1,000 hills are His, 05:30 He doesn't need it. 05:31 But why does He ask for it? 05:34 You can tell that when the children of Israel 05:35 came out of Egypt, the Lord says there in Numbers 18:21, 05:39 He says, "I've given the children of Levi, 05:42 all of the tithes in Israel as an inheritance 05:46 in return for their work." 05:47 Now the children of Levi were the priests 05:50 that went and they diffused among all 12 tribes. 05:54 They were to teach them and their families, 05:56 they were to teach the law, 05:57 they were to administer the sacred rights. 05:59 The Levites were also the doctors in the country. 06:03 You notice there were a lot of sanitation laws 06:04 and a lot of health laws that were given. 06:06 And the Levites were the ones who were supposed to, 06:07 and the priest were supposed to help 06:09 administer these things. 06:11 They needed judges. 06:12 The Levites often served that way. 06:14 In America, some of the early pastors 06:17 were called the Parson. 06:19 You know where the word parson comes from? 06:21 Small towns across early America, The Parson, 06:24 that was the parson 06:26 and it was usually a pastor in the community 06:28 and he would settle disputes. 06:29 They didn't have a sheriff and a Marshall in every town. 06:32 He would officiate for weddings, for funerals, for baptisms. 06:37 He was called the Parson. 06:39 If there was a dispute, 06:40 they take it to him and sometimes the elders, 06:42 well the Levites used to do that. 06:44 But notice it says for all of their work, 06:47 it wasn't one of these things where they 06:49 got up and preached the sermon once a week. 06:51 It was a full-time job. 06:53 And so God had designated that the tithe was to support them 06:56 to make sure the ministry of the nation was taken care of. 07:00 Goes on to say the tithes of the children of Israel, 07:03 I've given to the Levites as an inheritance. 07:06 Now they were an agricultural community. 07:09 And so when it talks about tithe, 07:11 that wasn't usually paid in money, 07:13 it was paid in might be grain or oil 07:17 or the fruits of the field so to speak. 07:20 Do you not know... 07:22 And this is Paul speaking in the New Testament, 07:23 1 Corinthians nine, verse 13 and 14. 07:26 Do you not know that they 07:27 which minister about the holy things 07:29 live of the things of the temple, 07:32 and they that wait at the altar are partakers 07:34 with the altar. 07:35 Sometimes people would bring a sacrifice to the altar 07:38 and a portion of it was burnt, 07:39 but a portion would go to the Levites in their family 07:42 to help feed their family. 07:44 Someone might bring a grain offering 07:46 and some of that would go to the Levites 07:47 to help feed their families as they did 07:49 the ministry of the Lord throughout the land of Israel. 07:52 This plan has never really been altered except that 07:55 it's no longer the Levites, 07:57 it's just anybody who is called into a sacred ministry. 08:01 That's the plan. 08:03 1 Corinthians 9:13 and 14. 08:05 "Even so the Lord has commanded 08:07 that those who preach the gospel 08:09 should live from the gospel." 08:11 And when people hear a message like this, 08:13 sometimes you talk about theology folks, they're fine. 08:20 You talk about people's money and they get real quiet. 08:26 It's like this man gave his daughter two silver dollars 08:30 and he said, now one of these is for the Lord. 08:33 You make sure and give it to church 08:35 and one you can do whatever you want with it. 08:37 So she was real excited about that 08:39 and she was skipping over to the store to get some candy. 08:41 She dropped both of the silver dollars 08:43 and one of them rolled off into the gutter, 08:45 down the drain and she said, 08:47 Lord, there goes your dollar. 08:53 Even so those who preached the gospel 08:55 should live from the gospel. 08:57 Is the tithing system part of Moses' old law 09:00 that ended at the cross? 09:02 Some people say, "Oh that's part of the old covenant law." 09:05 What does the Bible say? 09:06 Genesis 28, verse 20 and 22. 09:09 "Then Jacob made a vow saying, 09:11 of all that you give me, 09:13 I will surely give a tenth to You." 09:15 Where do you find the 10 commandments in the Bible? 09:19 Exodus chapter 20 is the first place, 09:22 19, he gathers them to declare the 10 commandments. 09:25 And where do you find Jacob? 09:30 Genesis. 09:31 And so this goes all the way back to the beginning. 09:33 This was part of God's original plan. 09:35 He said, I will surely give a tenth to you. 09:37 Did he keep his vow? He did, when he came back. 09:40 It tells about how he took a large percentage 09:43 of everything that he had when he came back 09:45 and he gave it to his brother Esau, 09:46 who was then the really the priests of the country, 09:49 'cause his father was old and blind. 09:52 It was often the patriarchs that served as the priest 09:55 Abraham offered sacrifice for his family. 09:57 As did Isaac as did Esau, 10:00 as did Jacob. 10:01 They were really the priest back then 10:02 until you get to the time of Moses and the Levites. 10:06 But didn't Jesus condemn the tithing plan? 10:10 Some people say, well tithing, that's an Old Testament law. 10:13 Jesus said in Matthew 23:23, 10:15 that's easy to remember, 10:17 "Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! 10:21 For you pay tithes of mint and anis and cummin." 10:25 Those are little herbs in their garden. 10:27 And so the Pharisees and the scribes 10:29 often had herbs in their garden 10:31 and they'd say, okay, we got one, 10:32 two, three sprigs of parley 10:34 and they are 10 of them. 10:36 And then they'd say one is for the Lord, 10:39 they'd count out they got 10 tomatoes 10:41 and one's for the Lord. 10:42 And they were really precise and fastidious 10:45 about giving their little tithes out of everything they had. 10:48 And Jesus said, you omit the weightier matters of the law, 10:52 judgment, mercy and faith, these you ought to have done 10:56 and not leave the other undone. 10:58 Well wait a second. 11:00 He was condemning their legalism 11:03 but he didn't condemn tithing. 11:04 He said, make sure and keep the priority of justice, 11:08 judgment, mercy and faith these you ought to do. 11:11 And notice what Jesus said, 11:12 not leave the other, paying of tithe, undone. 11:17 If that's clear say amen. 11:18 - [Congregation] Amen. 11:19 - He said don't forget that part. 11:22 There's no other plan 11:23 that's introduced in the New Testament. 11:26 In fact, if you really are interested 11:28 in what the Bible says, 11:29 the New Testament plan is actually more demanding 11:33 and rigorous. 11:35 It tells us, if you read in Acts chapter four, 11:37 Barnabas had a piece of property, 11:39 he sold it and he gave it to the church. 11:41 Acts chapter five, no man said 11:43 that all that he had was his own, 11:45 but they sold their houses and lands 11:47 and they gave them for the spreading of the gospel. 11:50 The folks in the early days of the church 11:51 when the Holy Spirit was poured out 11:53 were incredibly generous because they had just seen 11:57 Jesus die on the cross for their sins. 11:59 They knew He wanted to take this message of salvation 12:01 to the world. 12:03 They realized that people hearing 12:04 and believing the message 12:05 is the difference between life and death. 12:08 Sometimes it's frustrating for me involved in ministry 12:10 because I literally see firsthand all the time 12:13 people going from death to life because of the gospel. 12:16 I see marriages restored, 12:18 I see people who are dried up 12:19 and saved from drugs and alcohol 12:21 and their lives are transformed by the power of the gospel. 12:24 But we're limited sometimes in what we can do 12:27 because you're limited in resources. 12:29 In our particular ministries, we do radio 12:32 and television broadcast and publishing. 12:34 You can only do so much. You have to budget that. 12:36 And I thought if the people of God got serious 12:40 about giving for the work of God, 12:41 if they valued eternal life the way we really should, 12:45 there'd be a lot more generosity and there'd be no shortage. 12:49 - [Member] Amen. 12:50 - We are without a doubt the most materialistic generation 12:54 in the history of humanity. 12:56 And I'm not saying that to be critical, 12:58 I'm saying that 'cause it's not your fault. 13:00 We're all kind of victims in this. 13:01 Everywhere you turn, what are the messages you get? 13:04 Buy, buy, buy. 13:05 You can't be happy unless you own one or two 13:06 or three of these. 13:08 And someone's got the new model. 13:09 Even though your old model works, 13:11 you're going to get rid of it and get the upgrade, right? 13:14 And has there ever been a time in history 13:16 when there were more things to buy 13:19 and now you don't even have to go shopping, 13:21 you just click at home 13:23 and they'll deliver it to your door the next day. 13:25 It's amazing. 13:27 But you know what happens 13:28 is the devil almost drowns us in distractions. 13:31 Jesus said beware, 13:32 here's where it comes into prophecy, 13:34 beware unless you heart be overcharged with suffering, 13:38 drunkenness and the cares of this life. 13:42 Don't go anywhere friends, in just a moment 13:44 we'll return for the rest of today's presentation. 13:47 Do you trust in God? Really? 13:50 The truth is a lot of people might say yes, 13:53 but they don't act like it, 13:54 especially when you consider how they manage their finances. 13:58 In fact, the Bible says some people are robbing God 14:01 while they curse themselves, 14:03 but you're thinking how is that even possible? 14:05 Well we've got a fascinating free resource 14:07 we'd like to share with you 14:08 and it's called "In God We Trust", 14:11 and it shows you how to avoid 14:12 the most common financial blunders 14:14 that many experience today. 14:16 And it explains how to apply 14:18 biblical money management principles 14:20 that link your faith and your finances. 14:23 So to get your free copy, 14:24 call the phone number on your screen 14:26 and ask for offer number 135 14:29 or visit the web address on the screen. 14:31 And after you read this incredible resource, 14:33 make sure and share it with a friend. 14:36 Well, let's get back to today's presentation 14:38 and learn some more amazing facts from the Word of God. 14:42 Some people can't work for God 14:43 'cause they have to stay home and take care of their stuff. 14:46 We have to spend more money on alarms to protect our stuff. 14:51 And then we go to garage sales 14:53 and we buy other people's stuff that they don't want 14:54 and we put it in our garage. 14:58 And it is funny but it's also sad 'cause it's true. 15:04 And then the Lord says, 15:05 are you willing to support my message in the world? 15:08 We say, we love you Lord, but now that's pretty serious, 15:10 I got to pay off my credit cards. 15:13 And you wonder where the priority of God is in His work. 15:17 What amazing promise does God make about tithing? 15:21 He says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse 15:24 that there might be food in my house 15:26 and try me prove me now, 15:28 says the Lord in this. 15:30 If I will not open for you the windows of heaven 15:32 and pour you out such a blessing 15:34 that you will not have room enough to receive it, 15:38 God will bless you so you don't even have room. 15:40 Now when He talks about opening the windows of heaven, 15:42 again they were an agricultural society. 15:45 If they had a drought and the crops did not grow, 15:48 then they really struggle. 15:50 God says, if we are faithful in returning a tithe to Him 15:53 and offerings to Him, He said, 15:56 I will open the windows of heaven. 15:58 Furthermore, He says, 16:00 and I will rebuke the devourer for your sake. 16:03 This is in the same passage in Malachi chapter three. 16:06 I'll rebuke the devourer for your sake. 16:08 They'll not eat up the produce of your land. 16:11 God tells His people to bring all of the tithe 16:13 into the storehouse. 16:14 What does He mean by that? 16:16 What's the storehouse? 16:18 Well you want to bring the tithe together 16:20 so it can be distributed. 16:21 He doesn't want every person sort of deciding for themself. 16:24 In our church, right? 16:25 Some of you know I'm a Seventh Day Adventist 16:27 and other church like Methodist Churches 16:29 and many others we're arranged with conferences 16:31 where people give their offerings 16:33 and tithe at the local congregation, 16:35 the tithe is then sent on to a conference 16:37 where it's used to spread around the world 16:40 to support ministers and missionaries 16:42 and teachers that spread the gospel around the world. 16:45 And this system in our church has been very successful 16:48 'cause we're now in like 170 countries of the world 16:51 doing school work, health work, missionary work. 16:55 It would never happen if it wasn't for the tithing system. 16:58 And I think a lot of people understand that when we tithe, 17:01 who really receives our money. 17:04 Bible says in Hebrews chapter seven, verse eight, 17:07 "Here mortal men receive the tithes, 17:10 but there He, Jesus, receives them." 17:14 And so really when you give, you're giving to the Lord. 17:18 Now someone is thinking, well pastor 17:19 I think I would support the church 17:20 but I got hypocrites in the church. 17:24 Or there's some people in our church that 17:27 I heard that they were in jail 17:29 or they made some decisions on that decorating committee 17:31 I can never support. 17:33 Does the Bible say you should only support the work of God 17:35 if they do everything right? 17:37 How many of you say I would've supported Jesus 17:39 if I lived 2000 years ago, 17:41 I would want to be part of Jesus church 17:43 and I would freely support Jesus, anyone? 17:46 Would you support Jesus if you live back then? 17:48 I mean you would, hope you would, right? 17:50 Would it be the right thing to do, 17:52 to support the ministry of Jesus? 17:54 Do you realize He had a Judas in His group 17:56 and the apostles were arguing among themselves 17:59 and a woman came to the temple one day, a poor widow, 18:02 and she put in her last two mites 18:03 about the smallest coin you can possibly imagine. 18:06 I've got one in my drawer at home and Jesus commended her. 18:12 And you would think that He would've said, 18:13 don't give any money to the temple lady. 18:15 These folks are getting ready to kill me, right? 18:19 But in spite of the fact that the scribes 18:21 and the Pharisees and the priests were after Jesus, 18:23 not all of 'em, but most of them, 18:26 when she gave money to God's course, 18:28 He said, God is going to bless her. 18:30 When Hannah gave her son to the temple, 18:34 she dedicated her son to serve in the house of God. 18:36 It was at a time where the sons of Eli 18:38 were doing things we don't even want to talk about. 18:41 And God said, 18:42 I'm going to bless you because of your faithfulness. 18:43 He's going to grow up and he's going to bring revival to the 18:46 land and I'm going to give you five more children. 18:49 Whatever you do, do it heartily to the Lord and not to men. 18:53 Remember, we're giving to God. 18:55 In addition to my tithe, which belongs to God, 18:58 what else does He ask of His people? 19:01 He says, bring offerings and come into His courts. 19:05 This is Psalms 96, verse eight. 19:07 So you've got tithes, which is a specific amount, 19:10 and then you have offerings 19:11 and God will impress different courses 19:13 and categories on your heart regarding that. 19:16 What's happening when that happens? 19:19 Malachi 3:8, He says, 19:20 "Will a man rob God? Yet you've robbed me! 19:23 But you say, in what way have we robbed you?" 19:25 He says, "In tithes and offerings." 19:28 Now do you see that God mentions two categories there, 19:31 Tithe is a specific amount. 19:34 Offering is not a specific amount, 19:36 which is a segue into our next question. 19:38 How much should we give as offerings? Answer? 19:43 Paul says in 2 Corinthians nine verse seven. 19:45 "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, 19:50 not grudgingly or of necessity; 19:52 for God loves a cheerful giver." 19:56 Someone said, God loves a cheerful giver, 19:58 but He'll accept it from a grump. 20:00 God wants us to be cheerful about supporting His work. 20:04 And how do you determine what the offerings are? 20:07 It says, as you purpose in your heart, 20:10 God will put different things on your heart 20:12 and He'll impress you with different courses. 20:14 Holy Spirit will speak to you. 20:17 Tithe is what percent? 10%. 20:20 Someone says, Pastor Doug, 20:21 how can I get by with 10%? 20:24 I mean, I'm barely making it now. 20:26 The Bible says, prove me now here with 20:28 if I will not open for you the windows of heaven. 20:30 Are you aware that 90% that is blessed 20:34 will go farther than 100% that is cursed? 20:37 - [Congregation] Amen. 20:38 - It's a fact of life. Don't ask me. 20:40 But I've seen several times in the Bible, 20:42 when you get to the bottom of the barrel of flour, 20:45 seems like you keep pulling out one more handful, 20:47 one more handful. 20:48 That's what happened in the days of Elijah. 20:50 You know what that's called? 20:51 F-A-I-T-H. 20:54 Faith, the just will live by faith. 20:57 What commandment are we breaking 20:59 when we refuse to return tithes and offerings to God? 21:04 Is there a commandment? 21:05 Malachi 3:8, "Will a man rob God?" 21:08 That's kind of a horrendous thought, 21:11 "Yet you have robbed me! 21:13 But you say, in what way have we robbed you? 21:15 In tithes and offerings." 21:17 And what does the commandment say? 21:19 Exodus 20 verse 15, 21:21 "You shall not steal." 21:24 What other Bible principles does God share 21:27 in regard to giving? 21:28 There's several things we're going to look at here. 21:29 This is just a spectrum of Bible principles. 21:32 One, it says they first gave themselves to the Lord 21:37 and then to us by the will of God. 21:39 So before you give anything, what is God wanting? 21:43 If you give 'em your hearts, right? 21:46 Proverbs three verse nine, 21:48 Honor the Lord with your possessions 21:50 and with the first fruits of your increase. 21:54 Now do we wait and see at the end of the month say, 21:57 look, if I've got anything left, I'll pay tithe. 21:59 No, no, no. Where's God on your scale? 22:02 In the bachelor home, when we get the cheque out, 22:04 we don't even get the cheque now, it's direct deposit. 22:06 And Karen is one who takes care of all the books, 22:08 she's good with numbers. 22:10 And right off the top, first thing is, 22:13 what are our obligations? 22:14 What are our commitments to God's work, 22:16 to the church, to other charities? 22:18 We do our giving 22:19 and then we find that God is going to continue 22:21 to bless what we have left. 22:24 Honor Him with the first fruits. 22:25 Answer C, 22:27 there's one who scatters and yet it increases more. 22:30 And then there's one who withholds more than is right 22:32 and it leads to poverty. 22:34 This is talking about sowing seeds. 22:38 If you want a big harvest, it's a very simple principle. 22:40 You can't just put one seed in the ground 22:41 and expect a big harvest. 22:43 But the thing is you can't eat that seed, 22:46 if you cast it away. 22:48 If you retain it, nothing else will grow. 22:51 So the principle is you want to cast your bread 22:54 upon the water, so to speak, and it will return to you. 22:57 Scatter the seed and it grows. 22:59 God has designed people 23:01 where He wants us to be channels of blessing. 23:04 So it flows through you. 23:06 And as you've got one hand open in receiving from God, 23:09 we should have the other hand open in giving. 23:12 And if we're faithful in giving with this hand, 23:15 God can put more in this hand. 23:17 And I've just seen it, 23:18 that the more faithful we are in being a channel of blessing 23:21 to others in the world, 23:23 the more God wants to put in our hands 23:24 that His goodness and His blessings might flow through us. 23:27 We're not just talking about things and resources, 23:30 we're talking about the truth and the spirit. 23:32 The more you share your faith, 23:34 the more faith God will give you. 23:36 The more you share the word of God, 23:38 the more you'll understand as you study, it's a principle. 23:42 "The generous soul will be made rich, 23:44 and he who waters will himself be watered." 23:47 Now, who's saying this? 23:48 Pastor Doug? Or is this the Bible? 23:51 If it's the generous soul, He's going to be watered. 23:55 God will take care of you. Do you believe that? 23:57 - [Member] Amen. 23:59 - Answer D Jesus said, 24:01 "It is more blessed to give than receive." 24:05 And you know what happens first is 24:06 as you give your heart to the Lord, 24:09 God is going to bless you 24:11 and He'll open the windows of heaven for you. 24:13 That's His promise. 24:15 Answer E, 24:16 "He who lays up treasure for himself 24:19 is not rich towards God." 24:21 I've been to the great pyramid in Egypt 24:24 and I went and looked at King Touch's treasures 24:26 and it was amazing to me 24:27 how they buried all of this treasure, somehow 24:29 thinking they were going to use it in the next life. 24:32 But you realize you can't take it with you. 24:36 We will all give an account to God someday 24:38 for what we do with the time we have 24:40 and what we do with the means we have. 24:42 I saw this RV going down the road 24:46 and a great big, really nice expensive RV 24:49 and it was pulling a Jeep. 24:52 They had the bicycles and the scooter on it, 24:54 the canoes on the roof. 24:56 And there was a bumper sticker on the back of the Jeep 24:58 and it said he that dies with the most toys wins. 25:03 That's the attitude of many in the world. 25:05 But in reality, life is kinda like a game of uno. 25:09 You win if you've got nothing left. 25:13 I mean, do you think Noah was glad when the flood came, 25:16 that he had invested in building that boat. 25:19 When the waters rose up 25:22 and he saw that he had spent everything in years 25:24 building that boat. 25:25 But he looked and he saw his family was in the boat. 25:27 Did he have any regrets? 25:30 No. 25:32 He who lays up treasure for himself 25:33 and is not rich towards God, he loses out. 25:35 "Give, and it will be given to you, 25:38 good measure, pressed down, shaken together, 25:41 running over will be put into your bosom." 25:44 I used to sell firewood. 25:45 You sell firewood by the cord, 25:46 128 cubic feet to the the cord of firewood, 25:51 four feet high, eight feet, four feet wide. 25:54 And whenever I had ads for my firewood, 25:57 I put this verse in there, I said, 25:59 we're not going to give you a short chord, 26:02 we're going to give you a full chord. 26:04 And we would round it at the top. 26:05 And you know what happened? Everybody called us. 26:07 We could not keep up with all the orders, my partner and I 26:10 because God blessed. 26:13 And if you're faithful with people, 26:15 if you don't try and short people, 26:16 if you're generous with people, God is going to bless you. 26:21 "Let each one of you lay something aside, 26:23 storing up as you may prosper." 26:25 You know the Methodist principle, 26:27 John Wesley used to say for Christians 26:29 is you want to earn all that you can, 26:32 you want to save all you can 26:34 and you want to give all you can. 26:35 Now you'll have to decide exactly how that works, 26:37 but you want to be faithful in your tithes and your offerings. 26:40 We all need to save, there's nothing wrong with that, 26:42 but you want to be able to give. 26:44 (gentle music) 26:48 - [Narrator] Don't forget to request 26:50 today's life-changing free resource. 26:52 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 26:54 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 26:57 or mobile device. 26:58 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 27:01 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544 27:05 or visit the web address shown on your screen 27:08 and be sure to select the digital download option 27:10 on the request page. 27:12 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's word 27:15 with Amazing Facts, wherever and whenever you want. 27:18 And most important to share it with others. 27:22 - [Instructor] Have you ever skipped a meal? 27:23 Not a bad idea, if you need to watch your waistline, 27:26 but there's a heavenly food, 27:27 you should never skip, God's word. 27:30 Yet how can you dive in daily when you're so busy? 27:33 Amazing Facts has you covered 27:34 and it's as easy as signing up 27:36 for our daily devotional and verse of the day, 27:38 both sent directly to your inbox, 27:40 ready to bless, inspire, and inform you. 27:43 To start receiving the Amazing Facts daily devotional 27:46 and verse of the day, 27:47 visit amazingfacts.org 27:49 and click on Bible Study in the main menu. 27:51 You'll be glad you did. 27:53 (gentle music) 27:58 - [Narrator] Don't forget to request today's free offer. 28:00 It's sure to be a blessing. 28:02 And thank you for your continued support 28:04 as we take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. 28:08 We hope you'll join us next week as we delve deep 28:10 into the word of God to explore more amazing facts. 28:14 (gentle music) 28:24 This presentation was brought to you by 28:25 the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. |
Revised 2024-05-06