Doing Well is Doing Good | Rabbi Daniel Lapin

[Applause] good morning everybody thank you very much indeed but it's more important that we dive into the word right absolutely and I hate correcting Pastor Steven I don't think I've ever ever had to do that before I have such esteem for him I I recognize his courage and one of the reasons I like hanging out with him is because courage is contagious we all pick up from that and it's very very valuable but it's not a case of brilliant if I actually sat down and figure out everything I'm gonna share with you everything that is at my table outside with a product of my brain I'll have to say well I'll pass this even you said it just the way it is but unfortunately that is not the case so maybe it's fortunate because whatever I'm sharing with you is the condensation of thousands of years of ancient Jewish wisdom and it's been a great longitudinal study and I've studied it diligently I'm a very good repeater and that's really all I'm doing is I'm telling you the things that I've been blessed to have been taught I'm telling you the things that have made the people of Israel endure longer than any other demographic group on the face of the planet in all its history there is something there and it's something that can benefit all of us as a matter of fact my entire mission is making ancient Jewish wisdom accessible to everybody because it's your legacy too and I want to say thanks and welcome to everybody at the other campuses over at Colleyville pastor Ricky and pastor said great to be with you love you guys crossroads McKinney thanks for being with us in all you folks who are part of the Congress of God at home terrific to have the opportunity to share with you and that is achieved through the miracle of technology why is it a miracle and why is it so extraordinary because no animals on the planet build technology one of the the most exciting prayer days I ever had was when I realized I'd made a mistake in my prayer I was praying in a beautiful forest on a waterway running in towards the mountains of British Columbia and I was just so irresistible compelled to pray and I took half an hour to talk to God and at the end of it I felt strangely unsatisfied and I remember talking to my father who's a great rabbi and I said what's what's going on and he said well it's very simple where did King Solomon build the temple did he build it in the beautiful forests of the Galilee no did he build it overlooking the sea of gallic no did he look build it overlooking the cobalt blue waters of the Mediterranean no he built it in the very heart of downtown Jerusalem the busiest city in the world there's so many beautiful places where we can pray to God why not there why in the middle of a city and what's more when you went into the temple to pray you know what you saw you saw the Ark of the Covenant wouldn't it be nice if we looked at it in was beautiful would with all the grain still from the tree from which it grew no it's covered with gold always here's the gold and when we look around we see walls with silver and we see walls with fabric coverings and we see cut and sculpted stone but where's nature in all of this and my father explained to me the mistake you see one of the big conflicts in the world today is the answer to the question of how we all got here how is it that you and I and all our friends and all the people we don't know everybody shows up on a tiny little planet in an obscure solar system on the edge of an unknown galaxy in a far corner of the universe it's weird if there were people on every planet in the universe well then I guess it was just part of the universe it just happened but so far we've not found intelligent life on any other planet anywhere else it's why and the answer is that you have to take your pick you either have to decide that we are here because of a lengthy process of an aided materialistic evolution that turned primitive protoplasm into plumbers and beer brewers oh no I'm sorry I'm sorry I just said I have to mention this it's very rude to laugh at other people's religious beliefs but that's one view that people believe implicit ly because the alternative is intolerable the only other alternative to answering that question is that the good Lord created us in His image and placed us here [Applause] there are no other ways to answer that question you have to make your pick you have to choose and I'm helped in making the right choice because of Technology the tower the trees and the towering forests and the mountains all of that maybe that did just happen maybe if you go to Mars you'll see beautiful mountains as well I don't know but what I do know is that you don't see a creature called the human being and one of the things that distinguishes the strange unique creature touched by the finger of the Almighty is that he can create technology you see to worship in the forest you can be the only person on earth you can be the self or yes person you can be the most egotistical person on earth and you go to a forest and that's fine because you can relate to the forest but if you want to build a temple in the middle of the city you need to work with other people you can't do that by yourself you need to connect you want some gold I got used for you you can't do that without a whole lot of people helping some people have to be willing to go deep underground and bring up the all other people have to crush the all other people have to extract the gold and refine it and then other people have to turn it into beautiful jewelry there's a lot of people working together for that to happen don't need a lot of people there was a man of photography in California called Ansel Adams he used to take pictures of nature and eventually realized something about I never ever saw a single human being in any of these pictures and I just lost interest at that point because it's human beings and the work we do that linked us to our boss because god clearly wants us to be connected to one another he does not value isolation and there's a proof for that solitary confinement while I know that those of you with busy families and busy work and tight schedules I bet many of you think solitary confinement is a reward you get but it isn't it's a torture and let me tell you something else I know life is busy and it's an enormous blessing to be here with thousands of other people that's a blessing because nobody ever lost his mind because he had too many people in his life but when you're disconnected from other people god help us you lose your mind and if that's not a clear enough message from our Creator that he wants us connected with one another and that's why he creates the world and everything was wonderful in God since this was good and there was good and the eighth time he says it was good was the gold by the way the monetization metal gold that gold of that land is good and then for the first time we find God saying it's not good that God's getting grumpy all of a sudden what's not good it's not good for man to be alone you're gonna have to work with me just a little bit if you want to get out on time so not good for man to be alone now a lot of people think that this applies only to Adam's matrimonial prospects but it isn't it's a general principle in exactly the same way as we're told that God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to work it that is a message to every single Adam and Eve in this room we are put here to work and build our own gardens of Eden the Bible is not a history book it's not a narrative of events long gone it is a living document of instruction it is the manufacturers operating manual is what it really is and so we have to connect you want a temple you wanna worship then build a house of God like this look at this stone concrete plastic steel all of these things are the work of man we're not praying in a forest we're not praying at a beach we're not playing on the shores of a lake all of those are beautiful I love hiking and going out and visiting these places but when I want to connect with my Creator I want to do that in a place where connection with other human beings is absolutely essential in again there's so much want to tell you but we don't have enough time to go into everything but I some audio programs one of them is about the Gathering Storm what went wrong in the generation of Noah what do we see happening in the world around us today that parallels exactly what went wrong that made God bring the flood and one of the things that we identify from verses in the text and is that what was God mad that people stopped praying to him nope doesn't say that it was God mad that people stopped tithing to the temple no he was mad that they started being horrible to every to one another God wants us to love and help and support and connect with one another and when we failed in that thing the roof fell in and it just rained and rained and rained and Noah started all over again that's what's going on here God wants connection not good for man to be alone and a good and loving God wants to make sure that he rewards us for doing his wishes that he incentivizes us for fulfilling his wishes and so he provides us with incredible benefits for building togetherness one way of building togetherness is through family through marriage and family the original not good to marry for man to be alone and sure enough we have our families we get together on joyous occasions with all our cousins you know why you have cousins because a long time ago grandpa and grandma connected on the deepest level that's why we've got cousins and they were ecstatic with one another that's part of God's blessing for human connectedness he wants us to live in marriage structured families why would it surprise us that a good and loving God should provide a sensual tangible reward for fulfilling his wishes we get all the joy of family life I would expect no less but how about other relationships where there is not family involved well there god gave us another way to expand our connectedness and to build relationships with lots of new people do you know what it's called money now the tragedy is that a secular godless culture beans a relentless message to all of us that money is evil and I have to point out that every single society that has banished judeo-christian biblical principles has gone down in 1491 Spain throughout the Jews and with it their Christianity declined and Spain became an economic basket case from which it has not yet recovered England 12:19 Edward the first decided to throw out all the Jews well when you throw out all the Jews oddly enough Christianity went down as well and the economic decline of Britain began in the 13th century and it went like that for 350 years until in the middle of the seven century Oliver Cromwell a passionate and deeply committed Bible believing Christian said this is madness we need the Jews back and he went and brought Jews over from Holland and a Jewish community reestablished in England guess what happened banks open Barclays Bank opened many other banks opened and the financial backing for the Industrial Revolution was in place and that is why the steam engine was invented in Great Britain and that's why electricity was employed there and and that is why the the very first jet engine was invented in Great Britain all of that flowing from the restoration of economic vitality every country that has abandoned judeo-christian biblical faith has suffered economically Cuba China until recently and today as everyone knows there are more Christians in China than there are Chinese members of the Communist Party there is a reason why China is thriving and it's not communism communism goes hand-in-hand with economic deprivation parts of Africa Nigeria and Ghana I just spoke in Ghana in June and I had an opportunity to see what Christianity has built in Ghana when you bring the Bible back economic vitality returns South Korea's another good example you cannot separate Christianity in South Korea from its scenic economic resurgence that is what biblical principles do for countries and that's what biblical principles have done for the Jewish people and many many get uncomfortable when I point out that Jews are disproportionately good with money and that's nothing to be embarrassed about something to be proud about why because money is the result of what when one human being serves another human being that's how many is created it isn't created when governments turn the printing press and and create money that's called inflation but money is really created when humans serve one another and that is a fundamentally important something that everybody really needs to understand because everybody receives a message from the culture that money is bad oh if you want money you greedy how many times have you heard that how many times have you heard politicians say the rich must pay their fair share they don't define who the rich on they don't define what fair is but the message is oh those horrible rich people never want to give away any money and so little by little we all get conditioned to believing that making money as a part of evil and even worse tragically many of us start buying into the lying equation that reads poverty equals virtue it doesn't where does money come from money comes from when we do things for other people and the proof of it is that every time you purchase something if you go into a store and you buy a tool or a pair of shoes or whatever you want to buy you hand over money was anyone pointing a gun at you making you do that no in fact when you read in the air only 20 of them left you ran to the store make sure you got yours and you get it and you hand over the money and right now if somebody would beat you in the street and offer to give you your money back and take the object what would you say no I've been waiting for this thing that thing whatever it is is working what you than the money you paid the store was good to you they gave you what you wanted and in return they asked for something you valued less than the thing otherwise you wouldn't have done it you see like all of us any of us that have more than one child aren't you happy when your children care for one another aren't you happy when your children do things for one another aren't you happy when your children look out for each other makes us happy we feel fulfilled as parents well guess what our Father in heaven is exactly the same when he sees us taking care of one another he is happy too and my friends I want you to unlearn everything you learned in economics 101 about the definition of money yeah yeah yeah I know it's a medium etc etc it said let me just tell you what money really is money is a certificate of performance money is proof that you served another one of God's children that's all it is and so when I ask people would you like to have more money sort of people start getting comfortable looking down hoping I won't pick on them you do want more money and the correct answer is yes and then I might say well why and you might say well because that way I can give more money to my church I can take better care of my family and all of that may be true but that's not why you want to make more money I want to make more money because I want more opportunity to serve other human beings the money is the result it's not I don't work for the money I work to serve God's other children the money comes by itself that's crucial you see there's a general principle in finance and that is that nobody can succeed at anything that deep in their hearts they believe to be morally reprehensible and that's why anyone who's the Sales Professional which is one of the greatest professions in the world you cannot be effective if you don't if you think you're selling rubbish you've got to believe in what you do and if you don't you're not going to do well at it and because the culture indoctrinates us all into believing that making money is somehow lacking in virtue what working in the public sector is better when a young person tells me oh I want to go into public service I put my hands on my wallet because public service means they want to go into politics which means they're gonna be another ten fingers grabbing for my money now I don't want to hear somebody saying I want to go into public service I want to hear somebody saying I want to open a company that builds things that people need and I want to become a millionaire before I'm 30 that's what I want to hear because the government takes my money with coercion but the only way you get my money is by supplying me with something I value even more it's wonderful it's a good thing and so Jews have always prospered by employing these principles of ancient Jewish wisdom I'll give you a really important example we all know as I mentioned earlier Adam was put in the Garden of Eden to work it right so just remember that verse if you would Adam was put in the Garden of Eden to work it as Genesis chapter 2 verse 15 I'll give you another work verse how about six days shalt thou do all thy work that's ten commandments right Exodus chapter 20 verse 9 you've got a sixth Asian as to all your work seventh you must rest this is very interesting isn't it because what we are being told is that anybody who makes the mistake of saying well God said we should rest one day a week how about me wrists seven days a week they'll be even better no you're not fulfilling the request the request is you must work six days a week and on the seventh you rest you got those two verses locked in the vault six days you must do your work that's what God wants us to do you know doing your work means taking care of other people take care of your customers taking care of your boss taking care of your clients that's what work is now we'll look at another word worship this one we can look at Exodus chapter 9 verse 1 God says let my people go so that they may worship me in the desert all right I'll give you one more worship verse so then we have to work verses to worship verses here's a nice worship verse Joshua in chapter in chapter 24 verse 15 says whatever you guys want to do is fine but as for me and my family we will worship the Lord so you're okay we will worship the Lord let my people go so that they may worship me in the desert and over here we've got in the Garden of Eden to work it and six days you must work now here's a really important principle in ancient Jewish wisdom in the Hebrew Scripture any word that seems to have two meanings can only yield its ultimate meaning if we merge the two meanings into one then we get the picture it's not true in English right soul is a kind of fish you have with with fries and soul is the bottom of your foot no connection it would be silly to pretend there is one but in the Lord's language doesn't work that way every Hebrew word that seems to have two meanings you've got to put the words to you well here's something that might support my humble contention that everybody needs a rabbi and I'd like that rabbi to be me by the way that here is what you probably didn't know and that is that in Hebrew there's only one word for work and one word for worship the word is evade God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to evade six days you must evade and on the seventh you rest let my people go so that they may evade me in the desert and as you can do what you like but as for me and my family says Joshua we will evade the Lord this is an amazing thing and it's something I heard Pastor Steven explained very beautifully and I'm if you'll permit me to to plagiarize him to borrow his words in the spirit of collegial research he said he said it very correctly which is that this day the day of the Lord we're only worshiping in terms of worship but the other six days when people think oh I do religion on Sunday I'm Jewish I do it on Saturday the rest of the week I'm just taking care of grinding up everybody and making my money no that's not correct at all you can never succeed without attitude you are actually worshiping God by taking care of his other children doing your work that taking care of business is taking care of worshiping God you can imagine can you not what an enormous boost this is to Jews who believe us tackle they work in a totally different spirit from people who don't believe that for other people going to work on Monday morning is a drag for me going to work on Monday morning is like going to synagogue it's another opportunity to worship my Creator it's wonderful and you know what there's a jerk in my office it's fine III can manage I'm not gonna change jobs cuz he'll just follow me it'll be at the new job also you're not gonna make any difference I don't care because he's letting me even though he doesn't realize that he's letting me serve God because I am taking care of everybody when I help a colleague do a job when I listen to my boss and I build up something that the company needs I am worshipping the Lord he is smiling at me and this is why the Hebrew word for a store is also the idea of a place where God smiles what because two strangers meet in a store and they shake hands and they transfer an object and they transfer spiritual discs of metal or spiritual pieces of paper and then at the end of their transaction here are two human beings who are happier than they were before both have what they want it's the miracle of money that's why God put money in the world to incentivize us to do what he wants us to do all the time which is take care of his other children and if we are obsessively preoccupied with the needs and desires of our fellow human beings we shouldn't be surprised that a good and loving God rewards us with the incredible blessing of financial abundance this is completely different from the message you get from a secular godless culture because money is spiritual it's part of God's plan for human interaction and not surprisingly the desire is in the secular world that only the government should have everyone else should be dependent on the government God wants us to be independent human beings answerable only to him and you cannot do that if you are suffering in poverty [Applause] I wish I had turn two to tell you a whole lot more but again through the miracle of god-given technology that no beaver no camel no kangaroo no cow and no cat has ever done human beings these glorious creatures touched by the finger of God we create a technology that allows me to continue teaching you for many many many hours and you can read and listen to the Tower of Babel nine verses at the beginning of chapter 11 of Genesis the struggle between Nimrod and Abraham Nimrod once a world of centralized control their tower with its roof with its top in the heavens that makes sure that everybody relates only through the centralized tower think of it as a hub and spokes and that's why it is that in godless regimes like the old Soviet Union there was no encouragement of people forming their own voluntary associations you couldn't have a Model Railroad Club you couldn't have anything they don't want people connecting to each other they want people only connecting to the centralized tower any private association of people is suspect that the founders of this blessed country put down in the Constitution the rightful free association and assembly we can connect with whoever we want because that is what God wants and his reward is affluence and financial results when we connect that's how it works and Abraham had a vision which was quite different and that is we should all be connected to one another through God but God encourages us to connect with each other not only to him that's the big difference whether you worship the big G of God or the little G of government one of them encourages human beings doing things and I've always wondered I mean a community center always has to be government structured done by the state is that the only way for people to get together what's wrong with this this is where we're getting together in a meaningful kind of a way in a way that transcends our day-to-day concerns we are here and we are able to carry with us through each and every day of this following week this idea that we are still connected to God we are worshipping Him in every single thing we do I continue teaching for those of you who are at a point where you realize that you can improve your lives and the lives of those around you by increasing your revenue and that's what I'm talking about I don't know how to be more plain about it than that because you're not supposed to speak about these things in today's culture right you're supposed to pretend that everything is provided for you don't have to worry about anything no we do God wants us to create wealth because the only way to do it is by serving his other children and that's why it is that in in Jewish thinking nobody says please God give me a Ferrari nobody says that it's not that we don't think God hears the pray he does he just said no but but you know what we do pray please God show me a whole bunch of your children who need my services [Applause] and so I wish I could continue for 10 hours now going into the specific principles the specific tips tools and techniques that God wants us to use and that are provided for us in the scripture that we can employ in order to increase our revenue why because increasing our revenue is evidence that we are serving his other children and so you will find at my table outside now I'm happy to sign anything you will find a program a beautiful little USB card you plug it in and you've got 10 hours of video teaching you've got everything I would do if I had another 10 hours with you right now and I want you to know about that because either you or somebody in your orbit a friend or if somebody is at a point where they need to totally reshape their relationship with money and that is something that is an essential part of ancient Jewish wisdom and it belongs to everybody it is everyone's legacy and I should just mention by the way for the folks listening in in Colleyville and and McKinney and crossroads all the folks listening at home if you go to my website you will be able to get that program of ten hours of video teaching for the same price as all the folks here it's a discounted price just use the promo code Texas te x KS and you will get it for exactly the same price friends I want to say God bless you and thank you for having me there I'm going to also say god bless you with prosperity because as each of you grows your financial revenue you are making my world better and you are making the world of everybody around you a better place go forward in happiness in success and with huge blessing from our Father in heaven amen [Applause]

Channel: Covenant Church

Views: 18,695

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Length: 35min 31sec (2131 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 18 2019