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Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS023002S
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00:15 >>Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:17 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:19 We're delighted to have you with us again this week 00:21 as we continue our journey through the subject 00:23 of "Managing for the Master Till He Comes." 00:26 We are looking this week at lesson number two, 00:29 "God's Covenants With Us." 00:31 We're looking at faith. We're looking at finances. 00:33 We're looking at stewardship, 00:35 and we are grateful this week once again 00:37 to have the author of this quarter's 00:39 Sabbath school lesson with us, Ed Reid. 00:42 He is a licensed attorney, and he is an ordained minister 00:45 and has been involved with stewardship for over 30 years. 00:49 Before we delve into this week's lesson, let's have prayer. 00:52 Father, we thank You for guiding us along this journey, 00:56 helping us to be able to see how our management, 00:59 our stewardship of the funds that You entrust to us 01:02 has an incredible impact on not just our lives, 01:05 but on the work of spreading the gospel around the world. 01:08 We ask that You'll bless us as we study again this week, 01:11 and we thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. 01:14 Ed, thanks for joining us again this week. 01:16 >>Well, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. 01:18 >>As I mentioned a moment ago, 01:19 we're looking at "God's Covenants With Us," 01:22 and I wanna take a look at the memory text 01:24 for just a moment. 01:25 It's Deuteronomy, chapter 28, verses 1 and 2. 01:29 Here's what it says: "Now it shall come to pass, 01:31 "if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, 01:34 "to observe carefully all His commandments 01:36 "which I command you today, 01:38 "that the Lord your God will set you high above 01:41 "all nations of the earth. And all these blessings 01:44 "shall come upon you and overtake you 01:46 because you obey the voice of the Lord your God." 01:50 So this week's study is called "God's Covenants With Us." 01:54 What do you mean by "God's covenants with us"? 01:57 >>Well, it's very interesting because, 02:00 even though God is the Creator and the Sustainer 02:01 of the whole universe, everything we know about, 02:03 He gets real personal with us in making business decisions. 02:08 The interesting thing to me is that God has made 02:11 contracts with us. Most of the promises are contracts. 02:16 Contracts are interesting because our day-to-day life 02:18 actually handles, deals with contracts all the time. 02:22 For example, if you wanna buy a car 02:23 that you see alongside the road that's got a for-sale sign, 02:25 you go to the guy and say, 02:26 "How much do you want for the car?" 02:28 He'll say, "Well, I want 5,000." 02:29 "Well, I like your car, but I'm only gonna give you 4,500. 02:32 If you'll take that, I'll buy it." 02:33 And, "Well, I can't take that. I'll take 4,750." 02:37 So you'll make a, strike a deal. 02:38 Well, that's a contract you just decided. 02:40 Another contract is you do wanna buy gas for your car, 02:42 so you pull into a station and it says $4 a gallon. 02:45 If you pump the gas, 02:47 you just signed the contract that you're gonna pay for it. 02:48 So there's contracts all the time in life, 02:51 but God does that with us individually. 02:53 And it's interesting that most of the contracts 02:55 that God makes are bilateral, 02:56 which means that He has a part to play, 02:58 and we have a part to play as well. 03:00 For example, He says, "If you do this, I'll do that," 03:03 or, "If you'll do this, I'll do that." 03:04 The interesting part about it is that 03:06 there are occasionally unilateral contracts in the Bible, 03:09 and I'll just share that unilateral contract means 03:11 only one party makes the difference. 03:13 So I'll give you an idea. 03:15 Unilateral contract says whether you do anything or not, 03:17 I'm not, I'm gonna do this. 03:18 For example, "He makes [the] sun to [shine] on the evil 03:21 "and on the good, and sends [the] rain 03:22 on the just and...the unjust." 03:24 The bottom line is 03:25 whatever we do doesn't make any difference. 03:27 God's still gonna send the sunshine and the rain. 03:29 Another interesting thing is that... 03:32 He promised in Genesis, the eighth chapter, 03:35 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, 03:36 "cold and heat, winter and summer, 03:38 ...day and night shall not cease." 03:40 The season will come and go regardless of what we do. 03:43 So those are God's promises. 03:44 It's real interesting that examples 03:47 of God's bilateral contracts are in the Bible. 03:50 That one, Eric, that you just read in Deuteronomy 28, 03:53 I like this. 03:54 The way you can see these contracts is, "If you do this, 03:57 then I'll do that." That's what He says. 04:00 So, "If you diligently obey, 04:02 "then I'm gonna send all these blessings 04:03 "that'll come upon you, and I mentioned earlier, 04:05 that will overtake you." Wouldn't that be something 04:07 to have God's blessings overtake you? 04:09 Then, Proverbs, the third chapter, 04:12 is one of my favorite verses. 04:13 I've told people many times that there's many verses, 04:15 over 2,000 verses, in the Bible 04:17 that deal with money and possessions 04:18 and our attitude toward them. 04:20 But the interesting part is that, for me, at least, 04:24 Proverbs, the third chapter is probably one of the best. 04:26 And it says if you'll "honour the Lord 04:27 with [your] substance"--this is Proverbs 3, verse 9-- 04:30 "and with the firstfruits of all [your] increase," 04:32 then "[your] barns [will] be filled with plenty, 04:35 and [your] press [will over] burst out with new wine." 04:37 Now, you have to understand from the Bible perspective, 04:39 God dealt with people who were agrarian 04:41 and people that were farmers. And so, 04:43 most of us don't have barns or presses, but God says, 04:46 "I'll work, I'll bless the work of your hands." 04:47 That's what He's talking about here. 04:49 The covenants are, "If you do this, I'll do that." 04:51 So these are God actually dealing with us 04:53 on a very practical and simple basis. 04:56 >>You know, in speaking of these, 04:57 the bilateral contracts, reminds me of the book of Malachi, 05:01 Malachi, chapter three. Let me read just a few verses here. 05:06 Starting in verse number 10, it says, 05:09 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, 05:12 "that there may be meat in mine house, 05:14 "and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, 05:17 "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, 05:19 "and pour you out a blessing, 05:21 "that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 05:23 "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, 05:26 "and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; 05:29 "neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time 05:32 in the field, saith the Lord of hosts." 05:35 There's another, I guess, 05:37 what you'd consider a bilateral contract there, yes? 05:40 >>Yes, and in addition to that, 05:41 the verse right before it says, 05:43 "If you return to me, then I'll return to you." 05:45 So there's many bilateral contracts in that one. 05:47 And finally God says, 05:50 "If you'll return your tithes and offerings, 05:52 then there'll be provision in my house." 05:53 And then He challenges us to prove Him, 05:56 to see if He won't do this, 05:58 "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven 06:00 and pour out such blessing there is not room enough 06:02 to receive it." 06:03 I tell people if you don't have room enough 06:04 to receive it, what do you have? 06:06 You have surplus. You have more than you need. 06:07 So God's giving you a blessing 06:08 so you can be a blessing to others. 06:10 We can be answers to people's prayers, 06:11 and that's a good thing to me, it seems like. 06:14 "I'll rebuke the devourer for your sake." 06:15 I love that one. We frequently don't bring in verse 11, 06:19 but that's part of the, God's contract with us. 06:22 "If you'll be faithful, I'll bless you, 06:24 and I'm gonna rebuke the devourer for your sake." 06:26 So, if you're like me 06:27 and try to keep your cars a long time-- 06:29 I've got a car that's got almost 300,000 miles on it; 06:31 it's still running fine. So God's gonna rebuke the devourer. 06:34 A lot of people trade their cars 06:35 when they're, like, 100,000 miles, but this is amazing. 06:38 God's done something great for me, 06:39 and I can tell that He's done that. 06:41 So this is kind of what we're looking at here. 06:44 Matthew 6:33 is another interesting one. 06:47 To me this is amazing where it says, 06:49 God says, "I know that you have need for food and clothing 06:52 and shelter," and, but He said, 06:55 "If you'll seek me first, then I'll"--then what will He do? 06:59 "All these things will be added unto you.'" 07:01 So that's a contract there. 07:02 God says if you put Him first, He'll take care of you. 07:04 >>That's an incredible contract. 07:06 It's a verse that I think many of us are familiar with, 07:08 we've certainly heard, 07:09 and putting it in its context where God says, 07:12 "I'll take care of all the needs that you have," 07:14 if you put Him first, is encouraging. 07:16 Now, probably one of the most important needs that we have 07:20 is referenced here on Sunday's lesson, 07:22 which is "The Salvation Covenant." 07:24 What is meant by a salvation covenant or contract, 07:27 and how does that fit into this picture? 07:30 >>Well, this is very interesting because, of course, 07:31 Jesus died for everybody who's ever lived 07:33 and ever will live, but not everybody will be saved. 07:35 In fact, the Bible is very clear 07:37 in Matthew, the seventh chapter, 07:38 that the broad way leads to the destruction. 07:40 Most people go in that way. 07:41 But the interesting part is, for those who accept, 07:44 He promises to save and to bring salvation to them. 07:50 Now, some people say, "Well, no matter what people do, 07:53 God's gonna save everybody." 07:54 That's what we call universalism, 07:55 and that's certainly not true. 07:57 The Bible is very clear that Jesus taught 07:59 that He died for all humanity, 08:00 and many people traveled the wrong way, of course. 08:02 Paul understood this, that he was, 08:04 when he was about to be executed, Apostle Paul-- 08:07 real interesting character, in my opinion-- 08:11 he was all-in for God once he was converted, 08:13 and from then on nothing could deter him. 08:16 He was stoned, he was shipwrecked, he was beaten, 08:18 he was left for dead, put in prison, all kind of things. 08:21 But he said, "I'm pressing on to the mark." 08:26 I've accepted the contract. 08:28 He "fought a good fight" and "finished the course" 08:29 and so on. So, it's very clear that salvation 08:32 is always available to everybody, 08:34 but they have to believe and accept it, 08:35 and we know the little book "Steps to Christ," for example, 08:38 has the confession, repentance, 08:40 and change of your life and obedience to God and so on. 08:43 It's not complex, but it's pretty simple. 08:45 But it has to be, both parties have work to do. 08:49 >>So there is choice here. 08:51 There is the opportunity, the necessity, I guess, 08:54 maybe that's even even a better word, 08:56 to make a decision which way we want to go. 08:57 Do we want to fulfill our end of the contract, 09:00 or do we want to just abandon that? 09:03 And if we choose to abandon it, God permits us to do that. 09:06 He's not going to handcuff us to heaven, as it were, 09:10 but He gives us the opportunity, 09:11 for those who want to be saved, 09:12 to make that decision and to be saved, 09:15 which kind of leads us into Monday's lesson. 09:18 Monday's lesson is about hearkening diligently. 09:23 It's one thing to listen, or, I guess, 09:26 maybe it's better to say it's one thing to hear, 09:29 it's another thing to listen, 09:31 and it's a whole 'nother thing to obey. 09:34 What's our responsibility in our contracts with God? 09:38 What does God expect of us, for us to uphold 09:42 our end of these contracts? 09:44 >>That's a very interesting question. 09:46 So I can use it in legal terms 09:47 that would help you a little bit. 09:49 If we say we're one of the followers of God, 09:50 but we don't do the obedience, we have what we call 09:52 "breached the contract." So it doesn't apply to us anymore. 09:56 You said it. It's our own choice, and of course it is. 10:00 But the bottom line is we have the opportunity 10:03 to be faithful or to be disobedient 10:05 and unfaithful and breach the contract. 10:07 So He said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." 10:10 And the commandments "are not grievous," of course. 10:12 It's not difficult. 10:13 So I think it's important for us to understand clearly 10:16 that God has made a way of escape, 10:18 and He's also given us the help to, 10:20 the power to be victorious in our lives. 10:22 So, if we use our own choice and we choose the wrong way, 10:25 that's our own fault, really. 10:27 >>So, are there any examples that you can think of 10:29 in the Bible that you might mention 10:31 where people made a decision to either break a contract 10:34 or to keep a contract that we can use 10:38 as maybe guidance in our own lives? 10:41 >>Well, it's kind of interesting that you asked the question 10:43 because, throughout the Old Testament, 10:45 the children of Israel were God's people, 10:47 and He would always tell them, 10:48 in these verses you just read, about being diligent to obey, 10:51 and He would bless them. 10:52 In spite of all the blessings, in spite of all the miracles, 10:54 they were frequently distracted by things around them, 10:57 the things of the world and so on. 10:58 So, they would breach the contract, 11:00 and He would always come back and forgive them 11:02 if they were obedient to do it. 11:05 Frequently, it's amazing to me that in the Bible, 11:09 when there were wars or conquests, 11:10 people tried to conquer Israel. 11:12 One time they were facing a million men, the Bible says, 11:16 and they prayed, and God delivered them from those people. 11:18 And then, in other times they were not delivered 11:21 because they had been disobedient. 11:22 So God's protection that He's promised in other verses 11:25 depended on their faithfulness. 11:28 >>So, God makes covenants with us. 11:30 He desires to make covenants with us, 11:32 and He hopes and expects that we're going to uphold 11:35 our ends of the covenants. 11:37 But as you mentioned, that's up to us. 11:39 We have to decide whether we want to or not. 11:42 And sometimes, somebody might say, "Well, it's, you know, 11:44 the things that God requires of us are difficult." 11:47 I suppose that largely depends 11:49 on what your definition of difficult is. 11:51 You know, if we're trying to do things under our own power, 11:53 yeah, that's likely going to be very difficult. 11:56 But if we instead choose to lean on Christ 11:59 and allow Him to help us keep our end of the covenants, 12:03 it's probably gonna go a whole lot better. 12:05 Any thoughts on that, Ed? 12:07 >>Yes, it's interesting you just read something 12:08 from Malachi, the third chapter, 12:09 and this, to me, is an amazing one, 12:11 because you say it's difficult. 12:14 It's only difficult if you don't trust God, 12:16 because if you say God--if you obey God, 12:19 and He doesn't follow up with His part, that never happens. 12:25 So, you can just say if there's a breach in the contract, 12:27 I did it. 12:28 So you understand that next week we're gonna talk about 12:31 the tithing contract, and the bottom line is 12:33 tithing is not difficult. 12:34 It's very easy to sit down and write a check, 12:36 but it's difficult. The difficult part is believing 12:39 that God will take care of you if you give this money away. 12:42 >>And that's fascinating, because some people do consider it 12:45 to be very, very difficult. 12:46 But like everything else, it's a choice. 12:48 We're gonna come back and continue looking 12:50 at "God's Covenants With Us." 12:51 But I wanna encourage you, if you wanna get more 12:53 out of this quarter's Sabbath school lesson, 12:55 make sure that you pick up the companion book for it. 12:58 It is authored by Ed Reid, our guest this week 13:00 and every week here on the "Sabbath School" program 13:03 here on It Is Written. 13:04 The name of the companion book is "Managing for the Master." 13:08 You can find this book at itiswritten.shop. 13:11 Again, that's at itiswritten.shop. 13:13 Just look for the book "Managing for the Master" by Ed Reid, 13:17 and you will get a lot more out of this quarter's 13:19 Sabbath school lesson. 13:20 Additional insights, incredible stories, you'll be blessed. 13:23 We're gonna come back in just a moment 13:24 as we continue our study of "God's Covenants With Us." 13:28 We'll be right back. 13:29 (upbeat theme music swells and ends) 13:33 >>[John Bradshaw] Thank you for remembering 13:33 that It Is Written exists 13:35 because of the kindness of people just like you. 13:38 To support this international life-changing ministry, 13:41 please call us now at 800-253-3000. 13:45 You can send your tax-deductible gift to the address 13:47 on your screen, or you can visit us online 13:50 at itiswritten.com. 13:52 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support. 13:55 Our number again is 800-253-3000, 13:59 or you could visit us online at itiswritten.com. 14:04 More and more people are watching It Is Written TV. 14:07 They're watching their favorite It Is Written programs, 14:10 listening to inspiring sermon series and much more. 14:15 They're watching them here, here, and even here. 14:19 See for yourself why people are turning to It Is Written TV 14:23 to watch their favorite Christian programs 14:25 live and on demand. 14:27 Watch It Is Written TV for free anytime on Roku, 14:30 Apple TV, and at itiswritten.tv. 14:34 (upbeat theme music) 14:38 >>Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 14:39 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:42 We're looking this week at lesson number two, 14:43 "God's Covenants With Us," and let's hone in 14:47 on Tuesday's lesson here for just a moment. 14:49 It's called "Honor the Lord." 14:51 I'm gonna read to you from Proverbs, chapter three. 14:55 I'll start in verse number five. 14:56 Here it says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; 14:59 "and lean not unto thine own understanding. 15:02 "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, 15:04 "and He shall direct thy paths. 15:06 "Be not wise in thine own eyes: 15:09 fear the Lord, and depart from evil." 15:13 So here again is God's direction to us. 15:15 He says, "Fear the Lord"-- 15:17 respect the Lord--"and depart from evil." 15:20 There are some promises here about what God is going to do 15:25 with what we have, what He entrusts us. 15:30 He talks a little bit about the firstfruits. 15:32 Can you talk a little bit about the firstfruits as well? 15:34 >>Yes. 15:36 It's interesting to me that Proverbs talks about 15:38 several contractual things here. 15:40 For example, in verse six, 15:41 "In all your ways acknowledge Him," 15:43 and what will He do then? 15:44 He'll do something. 15:46 He says, if you do that, He'll "direct your paths." 15:49 A lot of people have come to me in the past and said, 15:51 "Well, we have several options that we can, 15:53 need to think about here. Which one should we do?" 15:56 Well, God's providential leading will open the way 15:57 if we pray for it and ask for His protection and leading. 16:00 It's interesting also that we understand that 16:03 the book of Proverbs is not so much about right and wrong 16:06 as it is wisdom and foolishness. 16:08 So, if you've got smarts, if you're wise, 16:10 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: 16:11 and knowledge...holy is understanding." 16:13 This is important that we understand this. 16:15 The Bible is very clear that God's got the answers, 16:17 and we can get them from Him 16:18 if we're willing to listen and talk with Him. 16:20 >>So God puts us in management of, well, 16:24 they're really His possessions. 16:26 >>[Ed] Correct. 16:27 >>And He wants us to manage those. 16:28 What are some, what's involved in the management 16:32 of those possessions? 16:34 >>Well, we've kind of touched on this in some other lessons, 16:37 but I'll just mention the first thing is to recognize 16:39 that God's the owner of everything, 16:40 that it's His stuff we're dealing with. 16:41 So, He's the one that makes the boundaries. 16:44 I remember going to a meeting one time 16:45 when there was a person that was talking about stewardship, 16:47 and he had said that he was a tither; he was a 3% tither. 16:51 And I said--well, I thought to myself, 16:52 where did they ever get that? 16:54 Because the Bible talks about 10%, 16:56 which we'll talk about when we talk about next lesson, 16:59 I believe, coming up. 17:00 The point that I'm trying to make is, you, 17:02 to be faithful with God, we must accept His terms 17:05 and His part of the bargain. 17:07 It's kind of like credit card companies. 17:08 If you get a credit card, they get, 17:11 you get a letter from 'em sometimes, and they'll say, 17:13 "We've changed the contract terms. 17:14 "Now you're gonna get this or this, 17:16 and we're gonna do this and this." 17:18 And you say, "We have, I thought I had input into it." 17:20 Well, you do. You can quit the card if you want to. 17:22 But they're just saying, "We're gonna change the terms." 17:24 There's a lot of things that you need to think about 17:26 when you're talking to people about their money management 17:29 and especially when we talk about God's contracts with us. 17:32 We wanna be faithful to Him. The big bottom line, Eric, 17:35 and we've talked about this already, 17:37 is that if you trust God 17:38 and you have a relationship with God, 17:39 what He says, you'll do, and you'll be blessed as a result. 17:42 We just have to take that by faith and see. 17:45 That's one of the reasons why you have old folks 17:47 like myself that can talk to people. 17:49 I've trusted God, and He's taken care of me, 17:50 and I can recommend it to you. 17:53 >>So, you've seen it. You've experienced it yourself. 17:55 God has promised it in His Word. 17:58 There are a lot of people who like the Bible, 18:01 who appreciate the Bible, 18:03 who believe, at least, large chunks of the Bible, 18:06 but when it gets down to, well, 18:09 when it gets down to to finances, sometimes people, 18:12 they're a little more hesitant to believe 18:14 some of the things that God says. 18:16 He says that our barns will be filled with plenty. 18:19 He tells us that we're not going to lack. 18:21 He tells us that He's gonna take care of all of our needs 18:24 and maybe even some of our wants. 18:26 And you mentioned a moment ago about the tithe 18:29 and... (laughs) somebody who tithes 3%, 18:33 which is a bit of a challenge, 18:35 seeing as how the word "tithe" doesn't mean "three," 18:38 but Wednesday's lesson actually talks about 18:42 the tithe contract. 18:44 What's the significance of that tithe contract? 18:47 What does it entail? 18:49 What does it look like, and why is it so important 18:51 in our faith walk with God? 18:54 >>Let me just answer one other thing first, Eric, 18:56 and that is you asked me about the firstfruits 18:58 from Proverbs and also "put God first" in Matthew 6:33. 19:04 Why does God ask us to put Him first? 19:05 It's not because we--this is legal terms-- 19:07 not because He's arbitrary and capricious 19:09 and just saying, "Because I said so." 19:11 The reason is God says, "If you put me first, 19:13 I'll bless the rest." 19:16 Very few accountants can come up with the fact 19:18 that God can bless 90% as much as 100%, 19:20 but we know from experience, 19:21 those of us who tithe, that He does that. 19:24 He blesses it beyond our imaginations, 19:26 including rebuking the devourer and all of those things. 19:29 So let me tell you about the tithe contract. 19:32 The average person doesn't recognize this, 19:34 but the tithe is not a burden; it's a blessing. 19:36 Think about being in touch, 19:37 in business arrangement with the Almighty God. 19:41 To me, this is incredible 19:42 to understand that the Creator of the universe 19:45 is saying to me, "If you'll be faithful with me, 19:48 I'll take care of you." 19:49 It's kind of like when Abraham tithed-- 19:51 we'll talk about that in the tithing contract later-- 19:53 but when Abraham tithed, God told him the next day that 19:57 "I'll provide protection for you, 20:01 "and you don't need to worry 'cause I'll be your reward 20:03 and your great Guide." 20:04 That's in Genesis, chapter 15, 20:05 right after rescuing Lot in chapter 14 of Genesis. 20:09 Let's go back to the tithe contract now, just quickly. 20:12 The tithing legislation, actually, is given in Leviticus 27. 20:16 But this is a time when they had these cycles, Eric, 20:20 as you well know, 20:21 that there were times in the Bible when they obeyed God 20:23 and followed Him, and they were blessed and very prosperous. 20:24 And when they disobeyed and worshiped idols, 20:26 things happened bad to them. 20:28 This is one of the times when they were disobeying, 20:30 and God said, "Return to me"-- 20:33 this is the third chapter of Malachi now-- 20:34 "Return to me, and I'll return to you." 20:36 So, He's saying, "You've gotta do something 20:38 if you want me to bless you, and that's return to me." 20:41 And then they said, 20:42 "Well, what do you mean 'return to you'?" 20:43 And He said, "But you've been robbing me 20:44 in tithes and offerings." 20:46 Now, it's interesting that if you live next door 20:47 to a Christian person, 20:49 you wouldn't expect him to break in your house 20:50 and rob from you. 20:51 But the bottom line is we're robbing from God 20:53 if we take His part. This is another thing. 20:55 He's got all the resources in the world, 20:58 and everything's at His command 20:59 and all the miracles He's able to do. 21:01 And we think that it's a big deal 21:02 that we have to return a tenth of our increase to Him. 21:05 The bottom line is God's told us what to do, and we do it; 21:08 He blesses us, no question. 21:11 >>So if we do what He's asked, He blesses us. 21:13 And if we choose not to, if we're robbing from Him, 21:18 breaking a contract, if you will, 21:19 then we can expect that we're not going to receive 21:22 the same blessings that we would have 21:25 if we had upheld our end of the contract. 21:27 You know, there are many people that we could rob. 21:31 The world is full of people that we could rob, 21:33 which we shouldn't. 21:35 But if there's one person, if I can use that word, 21:38 one person above all that we shouldn't rob, 21:40 it would be God, right? 21:41 >>That's exactly right. 21:43 And the interesting part about that, to me, is that 21:44 what you're saying is the one who's got the resources 21:48 and the one who's got the ability and the interest 21:50 and to bless us is the one that we should be holding up 21:53 as a favorite, of course. 21:54 The, what I'll just tell you is there's another one: 21:57 "You've been cursed with a curse." 21:59 A lot of people don't realize this, 22:01 but in Deuteronomy 28, that we've read several times-- 22:03 the first two verses, you know, 22:04 "Diligently obey, and I'll bless you, 22:06 and these blessings will overtake you," and so on-- 22:09 verses 15-68, I believe, in that chapter, 22:14 about 53 verses of curses. 22:16 Those, you'd never wanna encounter any of those. 22:18 God says, "I'm not cursing you, 22:20 "but I'm withholding my blessing, 22:22 "so the devil's cursing you with all these things 22:23 "that come upon you. Your prayers won't be heard; 22:26 your wife won't be faithful to you; your crops will fail." 22:28 There's all kinds of problems. 22:29 "You'll have to borrow and not lend to people." 22:31 All these things are the curses of God. 22:34 So, do you want a blessing or a curse? 22:36 We mentioned earlier some of the reasons 22:38 that people get involved in debt, 22:39 and we'll be talking about debt in the future as well. 22:43 The interesting part about that is that God says to us 22:47 that if you are faithful, 22:49 you'll lend to people, and you won't have to borrow. 22:51 And we wanna be in that position 22:53 and not be...in bondage to debt, 22:57 is what I'm wanting to say. 23:00 >>Now, talking about tithe here for just a moment, 23:03 I get a lot of questions about tithe. 23:04 Tithe, of course, means 10%, 23:06 returning 10% of your, as the Bible says, your increase. 23:09 The question that I get a lot--and maybe you can shed 23:11 some insight and light on this--people will ask me, 23:15 "Should I return a tenth 23:18 before I pay my other bills or after I pay my other bills?" 23:23 That's the first question. And second question: 23:25 "Should I return a tenth from the gross or from the net?" 23:29 What kind of wisdom can you give us on those? 23:31 When do you pay that tithe? With everything, 23:34 from everything, or from what you have left, 23:36 and gross or net? What do you think? 23:38 >>Well, that's a good question. 23:39 We'll actually discuss that in more detail next week. 23:40 But what, I'll just go give you a short answer now. 23:43 Many years ago, I was over in Gainesville, Georgia, 23:45 at the offices of Christian Financial Concepts, 23:47 where Larry Burkett, the late Larry Burkett, 23:49 was holding forth, and he was on the air when I went there, 23:52 and a lady had called in and said, 23:53 "Should we tithe on the gross or the net?" 23:55 And Larry's answer was, 23:56 "Do you want a gross blessing or a net blessing?" 23:59 >>I think that's a great answer. That's a fantastic answer. 24:02 And if you want more and deeper insight into that, 24:04 make sure you're here next week 24:06 as we delve more deeply into it. 24:08 Thursday. Thursday's lesson says, "Seek Ye First." 24:13 Why do we seek God first? 24:15 What does that have to do with this promise? 24:19 In Mark 12, verse 37, it was said of Jesus that 24:22 "the common people heard Him gladly." 24:25 Why did they hear Him gladly? 24:26 Why is it important for us to seek Him first? 24:29 >>Well, that's a good question. 24:30 I'll tell you one of the reasons is that 24:32 if you have a $100,000 or $10, which is easier to tithe? 24:38 >>It's easier to tithe the larger amount 24:40 'cause you got a lot left. 24:42 >>Well, that's the problem, though. 24:44 You have to give a lot away to keep the left, what's left. 24:46 >>Yep. 24:48 >>The common people were the ones that heard Jesus. 24:49 They're the ones that He fed, the 5,000 and so on. 24:53 They're the ones that heard the Sermon on the Mount. 24:54 The other people were busy making money. 24:56 Like the rich young ruler, when he came to Jesus, 24:57 he was running, you know, he was really in a hurry, 25:00 and Jesus, what He told him to do, he left sorrowful 25:02 'cause "he had great possessions," 25:03 so he let the things take control of him 25:04 rather than him being in control of himself. 25:08 >>So, seeking Him first is the most important thing. 25:11 And everything else kind of follows in its train. 25:14 What are some other promises that we can receive 25:17 if we seek Him first? 25:19 >>Well, first of all, we recognize that we, 25:22 in life there's always a lot of distractions, 25:24 a lot of temptations, and sometimes we call them 25:27 "chasing the devil's rabbits," you know, down bunny trails. 25:30 If we put God first, He will direct our paths. 25:32 That's one of the things we've learned from Proverbs 3. 25:34 You don't know what way to go. Well, seek God's counsel, 25:37 and then you'll know what way to go. 25:39 There's a interesting reference to contracts for tithing 25:43 that's from "Counsels on Stewardship," page 57. 25:46 If you could read that one for us, 25:47 that would be wonderful, I think. 25:50 >>Yep, "Counsels on Stewardship," page number 57. 25:52 >>75--I read that backwards--75. 25:54 >>Okay, "Counsels on Stewardship," page 75. 25:57 It says, "He who gave His only-begotten Son to die for you, 26:01 "has made a covenant with you. 26:02 "He gives you His blessing, and in return He requires you 26:05 "to bring Him your tithes and offerings. 26:08 "No one will ever dare to say that there was no way 26:11 "in which he could understand in regard to this matter. 26:14 "God's plan regarding tithes and offerings 26:17 "is definitely stated in the third chapter of Malachi. 26:20 "God calls upon His human agents to be true 26:23 to the contract He has made with them." 26:26 So, here He, God even calls it a contract. 26:28 >>Yes. Isn't that amazing? 26:30 >>We can expect to see some blessings from that, yes? 26:32 >>Yes, indeed. 26:33 >>So, this is encouraging. God makes contracts with us. 26:37 He makes covenants with us, and He does that 26:40 not for His own benefit, but for our benefit, 26:44 for the benefit of, really, honestly, everyone. 26:47 >>He wants us to learn to trust Him, actually, Eric. 26:49 That's the big deal, because He doesn't need the money, 26:51 does He? 26:52 >>He doesn't. The Bible says 26:53 He owns "the cattle on a thousand hills." 26:55 The silver and the gold is His. 26:57 He said, "I wouldn't tell you if I was poor. 27:01 I've got everything," right? 27:03 He's not in any need, 27:05 but He blesses us with these things. 27:07 He entrusts us with these things, and we are, 27:11 we are the beneficiaries of those blessings 27:14 and those promises and those covenants that He makes. 27:17 We're going to continue looking at the many blessings 27:19 that God does indeed give us, or at least offers to us, 27:23 if we are interested in receiving them, 27:25 as we continue our study on this subject of stewardship, 27:29 of faith and finances, as we are looking at 27:32 "Managing for the Master Till He Comes." 27:36 I wish you God's richest blessings in the week ahead, 27:39 and when we come back next week, 27:40 we're going to be looking at lesson number three 27:43 as we continue on this journey together. 27:46 God bless you until then. We'll see you next time. 27:48 (upbeat theme music) 28:26 (music ends) |
Revised 2023-01-10