Doug Batchelor - Stewards After Eden (Sabbath School Study Hour)

[Music] good morning friends and welcome again to Sabbath school study hour here at the Granite Bay seventh-day Adventist Church very warm welcome to those of you who are joining us across the country and around the world on the various television networks and also those who are watching on Facebook we have a special announcement for you here in just a few moments I'd also like to welcome those of you who are here in person our regular church members and our visitors very warm welcome to all of you as we continue our lesson series on stewardship if you've been coming for a few weeks you know we've started a new lesson entitled stewardship motors of the heart and today we find ourselves on lesson number five which is entitled stewards after Eden so that'll be our subject that we'll be looking at today for those of you are joining us live on Facebook you want to let you know about a special feature that we gonna include in our study time today we're gonna try and take some bible questions related to the subject of stewardship during the the time of our lesson today so if you go to the face book and you can make a note on there just ask your question we'll try and answer as many of those questions as we can during the program this morning for those of you who don't have a listen courtly and uh those of you here in person we do have a few extra ones you can get yours following the church service they're over there in the foyer for our friends who are joining us via the various media outlets you can go to the amazing facts website just amazing facts Awaji and you can download lesson number five and you can study along with us today we have a free offer that goes along with our study it's entitled is obedience legalism this is one of the amazing facts study guides to receive the study guide give us a call the resource phone line is eight six six seven eight eight three nine six six and you can ask for offer number seven zero six well before we get to our study time this morning invite you to join us as we gonna lift our voices in song [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you so much for singing along with us and at this time cast Ross is going to have our opening prayer let's bow our heads for prayer dear father in heaven again we thank you for the opportunity to be able to gather together and open up your word and study this important subject of stewardship everything we are everything we have is yours father we pray that you give us wisdom to know how we can use the things that you have given us to your glory bless our time today for we ask this in Jesus name Amen how listen this morning is going to be brought to us by pastor duck good morning how is everybody when a welcome our friends that are watching on television or online as pastor Ross said if you hear something you have a question about those who are listening on Facebook that has to do with a lesson on stewardship we're doing today then you can actually text those in on the Facebook page and we have some people that will try and retrieve those for us and get them to us for the lesson today we're going through lesson number five today in our quarterly on stewardship and a lot of very important lessons here I think for us to learn and to glean today we're going to be dealing with stewards after Eden stewards after the Garden of Eden and our memory verse is 1st Thessalonians 2 verse 4 if you want to read it there out of your quarterly first Thessalonians 2 verse 4 are you ready on the contrary we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel we are not trying to please people but God could tests our hearts alright maybe just as a broad introduction to this lesson on stewardship let's remember some important basics you're here your breathing your heart's beating you're live it's temporary they say there's like you know a hundred percent death rate among those who live long enough with a couple of very rare exceptions you do have anak and you've got Elijah then there'll be some who live and remain until the Lord comes but otherwise you get old you're gonna die you here temporarily in the judgment you will give an account to God for two principal things what you do with the time you are given and what you do with the things that you have some influence over and we are stewards temporarily of a certain amount of time and influence over a certain amount of things or means that God gives us and so you know they say you don't take it with you you're here managing a gift that's been given a gift of life and a gift of a variety of things and so we are stewards of our time and stewards of the means that God has given us control over now we're gonna look today in particular and what the Bible has to say about stewardship and some of the principles of stewardship in the Bible the term steward that you find in the Old Testament comes from not one word but a phrase and it's a sure wash al al baat which means one who is on or over a house a person who is placed to be on or over the house ostensibly of another a biblical worldview of stewardship can be conscientiously defined as utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of his creation the central essence of biblical worldview stewardship is managing everything God brings in to the believers sphere of influence in a manner that honors God and impacts eternity I like that definition it says here the central essence of biblical world stewardship is managing everything God brings in to the believers sphere of influence in a manner that honors God and impacts eternity stewardship begins and ends with an understanding that God is the ultimate owner of everything how do we have some verses on that well you got revelation 22:13 or he says I am the Alpha and Omega the first and the last the beginning in the end so God is everything and he's in charge of everything you have Psalm 24:1 the earth is the Lord's and everything in it we were just singing before we went on the air this is my father's world the earth is the Lord and everything in it and all who live in it the things and the beans all belong to God Deuteronomy 10:14 to the Lord your God belongs to heaven even the highest heavens and everything and the earth and everything in it Moses said because the land is mine and you were but aliens and tenants as Leviticus 25 verse 23 and you read job 41 11 who has a claim against me that I must pay everything under heaven belongs to me God is speaking there in chapter 41 it says everything belongs to me and so just stewardship really begins by understanding that God owns it all that we are temporarily we have some impact or influence on the things that are in our life and on our time so looking at stewardship in the Old Testament just to give you an idea it says someone who is on or over another person's house there's an individual you'll read about in the life of Abraham and Abraham have a steward his name was Eliezer and he was so close to Abraham he Abraham chose a person with such important criterion qualifications that he at one point thought of making him the heir of all that he has before Abraham had a son and he's fabulously wealthy who does he leave it to so if you look in Genesis chapter 15 verse 2 but Abram said to the Lord as Genesis 15 to Lord God what will you give me seeing I go childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus so there it gives you his name later in the book it just tells you that he was a steward over everything Abraham had but do you think that Bill Gates goes to the post office himself does he ever mail anything probably does Bill Gates go get his groceries or Warren Buffett or Jeff Bezos or pick your favorite billionaire they may at times but for the most part I think that these folks probably have administrators that help them these have to be people I mean if you managed Bill Gates checkbook you'd have to be pretty trustworthy you'd have to be a person that he had an awful lot of confidence and but I can almost guarantee you that he has other people that helped him with his accounts and a lot of trivial matters those would need to be people and someone said who said that Karen his wife you know Melinda Gates is really busy with a foundation I'll bet you she has people that help these folks have personal secretaries and attendants that are there booking their flights they're planning their travel they say I want to do this I want to do that I want to buy one of these one and they take care of it for them there's sort of like a modern equivalent of what we would call a Stewart they are a person that they have a great deal of confidence in and those people usually have incredible authority to do things to order things to say things to buy things in their name and so in Bible times Abraham I mean how wealthy was he just to give you context when Abraham went to war it says he had 300 trained soldiers in his camp so and Abraham had hundreds of any came out of Egypt he had even more after that he had gold and silver it says he had male and female servants he had so many flocks and herds he and a lot could not even a bind together so have this incredible substance he couldn't manage it all he had to find someone he could really trust and maybe it was when he was coming from Eartha Kali's and he was going through Damascus if found her bought this serve that was extremely faithful that he really trusted must have been very bright his name was Ali azer so much so that when you look in the Bible and you go to and someone in a minute is gonna read for me am Genesis 39 verse 4 you'll do that in just a moment I want you to notice Genesis 24 verse 2 so Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house who rule over all that he had said please put your hand under my thigh and I'll make you swear by the Lord God of heaven and the Lord God of Earth that you will not take a wife from my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell but you will go to my country and my family and take a wife for my son Isaac just think about that he not only has the key to a safety-deposit box he's not only got signatory authority on his checkbook he's saying I want you to pick the wife for my son you gotta trust that steward amen and he made him swear to measly look I'm trusting you now if you read the rest of that chapter where Eliezer picks Rebekah he has the picker and he prays he's a man of God he believes in the God of Abraham you read the prayer of Eliezer a matter of fact I wish I could stop here and just launch into the sermon on that chapter because in that passage where Abraham sends his steward to find a wife for his son the language first of all Eliezer name never appears he never refers to himself by name he's just I am the servant of Abraham so he's very content to be a servant he is entrusted with camels loaded with gold and silver and gifts to pay a dowry for a wife so he could have taken those camels and said I'm off to Damascus I'm going back to somewhere else I mean he could have just run for it he had his bags of money but his principal love was to do the will of Abraham and he could be trusted that he was going to leave with all that money and come back again with a wife for his for a son so to me that is just you know if we stop right here that just gives you a mind-boggling concept of how important the role was of an Old Testament steward it really needed to be somebody that you had a great deal of confidence in someone or I go ahead read for me please Genesis 39 verse 4 Genesis 39 4 so Joseph found favor in his sight and served him then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had he put under his authority well that's a Stewart isn't it doesn't call him a Stewart it calls him a what an overseer but he's responsible for everything Potiphar has I didn't happen the first day Potiphar watched Joseph in here he was 17 when he bought him as a slave we don't know how long after that but he noticed that this young man was a quick learner he was faithful everything he asked got done you know what amazing facts you know including our evangelist out in the field we have about a hundred employees and there are a handful of people that are very busy but anything you give them they get it done they don't say yeah when I get around to it they get it done and I'll call them back and I'll say well when you get a chance to so I already did it I mean don't you love people like that and you want to put them in charge of everything because it's like everything they touch they take care of it they're always busy but they're always the you've heard the expression you ever want to get anything done get a busy person and he saw that Joseph was that kind of person this anything little he started faith he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful and much Joseph was not sweeping the dirt under the carpet in Potiphar's house it's not or whatever he did he did it well and Joseph often came back and he said you know I would you mind master if I made a suggestion I think there's a more efficient way to do this and it was always improving all the way things were happening he said boy you know when you you just got natural aptitude anything that you do you do better and he just kept promoting them and promoting them and he said boy everything I've given to him is excelling anything that he's in charge of is running and he just can't be any more until pretty soon everything is under joseph's control except Potiphar's wife and that's a whole nother story but you can read here in Genesis 43 verse 19 that now Joseph you know the rest of the story Joseph eventually it's because he was a faithful servant he could become a faithful master now where did Joseph learn to be a faithful servant in the house of Potiphar in the house of Jacob he working in his own home with his father you remember where his father said I want you to go find your brothers and he went out to find his brothers he was keeping his father's sheep he was faithful in the little things and so he could learn you know the best leaders in history have often had very difficult histories very difficult beginnings sometimes they had poverty and a lot of hard work and they learned principles through the poverty and the hard work that helped them be very successful presidents and leaders you me you know when you look at the faces of the presidents on Mount Rushmore all of them went through great adversity and Lincoln father and mother died when he was young just living out there in the woods he'd had to learn how to work you learn how to be frugal you'll learn faithfulness roosevelt was actually born rich but you may not know his wife died giving birth and his mother died in the same day and it so broke his heart that he left everything and went to the Dakotas and lived for two years like a cowboy and that's where a lot of his character was shaped during those years and then Roosevelt's struggling against polio talking about his cousin who later became president and to Washington and the others there and so it's through these things that we learn faithfulness Joseph's learned that so now Joseph is the ruler of all Egypt he's got stewards under him and it says here in Genesis 43 19 when they drew near to the steward of Joseph's health house they talked with him at the door of the house and so to sir indeed we sir indeed came down first to buy food and you know he's in charge of distributing everything now Joseph was really a steward for Pharaoh when he was ruling Egypt Pharaoh said everything in Egypt is in your control only in the throne will I be greater than you so even Joseph was a steward but he had a steward under him and you can read here it says he commanded the steward this is Genesis 40 41 he commanded the steward of his house saying fill them in sacks with food as much as they can carry and put each man's money in the mouth of the sack now if you have a faithful steward it's got to be someone discreet Joseph is up to something and he is he's testing his brothers he needs his steward to be discreet he needs to have her steward he can trust imade he's saying look you got to find a clever way to put their money back in their bags Joseph knew anything he asked his steward to do he was going to do it assuming it wasn't done to be a hit man and then again you read in the same story Genesis 44 verse 4 when they'd gone out of the city the brothers left the city and then weren't far off Joseph said to his steward get up follow the man and when you overtake them say why have you repaid me evil for good the steward of Joseph actually had a police force under his power and so he had authority so being a steward for God doesn't mean that you're poor is it only poor people that will give an answer to what they do with their resources or is it the middle class and is it also the rich it doesn't matter whether you learn math with $100 or with pennies the principles of math are the same and he that is faithful in that which is least is also faithful and much now you were still looking at some of the Old Testament examples if you go to Isaiah chapter 22 there's a prophecy here about a steward that was in the palace of King Hezekiah and Isaiah says in chapter 22 verse 15 thus says the Lord of Hosts go proceed to the steward to Shabnam who is over the house and say what have you here and whom have you here that you have a Sepulcher here and he who Hughes himself a Sepulcher on high who carves a tomb for himself in Iraq indeed the Lord will throw you away violently o mighty man and will surely sees you he will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball in a large country and there you will die and there your glorious chariots shall be the shame of your master's house so I will drive you out of your office and from your position and will pull you down now this is before the Babylonian captivity Isaiah's foretelling this will happen in the house of Hezekiah was a steward who is being unfaithful and so here Isaiah is prophesying you're spending the Kings money on yourself you're making a elaborate Secaucus a tomb for yourself you're having it engraved and and you're spending money on chariots you notice that he talks about the chariots and you're gonna be taken away out of your office and you'll be cast out and you're gonna be carried off and die in a foreign country now we don't know exactly how all of this played out we know that he was later replaced by a faithful steward he may have been among those who are captured by the Assyrians when they came against Hezekiah but this was a prophesy against the steward that had control of the Kings resources that was using the Kings resources selfishly now that sort of describes a big challenge that we all have as stewards we sometimes forget that everything you have belongs to God and we tend to think it belongs to me and if all of a sudden we get a windfall all some reason you end up with a little extra money something comes in the bank where you found out they made more on a sale than you expected often our first thought is what shall I buy what shall I do for me do we think this is the Lord's the Lord has blessed me but everything I have belongs the Lord Lord what do you want me to do with this this is your money so in the judgment are we thinking of all the blessings that God gives on how we can use them selfishly and it's not wrong to ever buy something nice but if you've got the mind of a steward your first thought is gonna be how can I use these resources for God instead of you know just being as extravagant as we can for our own lives amen all right you're still out there stewards in the New Testament and you look in Luke chapter 12 verse 47 it says now that's steward who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself to do according to his will he will be beaten with many stripes but he that did not know yet committed things deserving stripes he will be beaten with few for to whom much is given of him much will be required and to whom much has been committed of him they will ask them more so which stewards are the more accountable to things that it says here the one who knew more and the one who had more is more accountable if you have additional knowledge that's a blessing but it's also a responsibility if you have additional resources that's a blessing but it's also a responsibility to be faithful God wants us to be faithful with what we have with the knowledge we have and with the the blessings we have some of you remember there in Hosea it says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you've rejected knowledge I'll also reject V and so we're accountable for the knowledge that we have and even the knowledge we can have because if we reject it we're responsible for that so to whom much is given him they will ask the more you read in Titus chapter 1 verse 6 and 7 if a man is blameless one of the criteria for being a bishop in the church if a man is blameless the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God and not self-willed not quick-tempered not given to wine not violent not greedy for money so qualifications to be a steward for God are for one thing you need to realize everything you have your time your family everything belongs to God and we all will answer to God someday for those things he must be blameless as a steward of God everything we believe especially as Christians belongs to God here's a quote from the book Christian education page 301 so I opened my heart to the Holy Spirit so that every faculty and energy may be aroused which God has given me in trust I am Christ property and I employed in his service I am a steward of His grace so a steward was responsible for the riches of another person what are the riches that a Christian is the steward of the riches of His grace so you're not only as a Christian want to be faithful in what's in the bank as a Christian you want to be faithful about what's in your heart you want to be faithful about what's in your head God wants us to faithfully dispense the gospel are you a steward of the grace of Christ let me put that plainly do you share the gospel with others jesus said in Matthew 24 talking about the second coming whoso then is a faithful servant that gives every man his meat in due season he'll declare unto them well done good and faithful servant but if that servant says my Lord delays his coming and begins to eat and drink with the drunken and beat his fellow servants the master of that servant will come in a day when he's not looking for him and an hour he's not aware now the first part of that he said if he's a faithful servant he's giving his brethren meat in Deus even seasoned part of us servants a steward job was to distribute the food for the master what did Jesus have the Apostles do a couple of miracles you remember he multiplied bread the Jesus and hand out the bread or did Jesus give the bread that he multiplied to the disciples and they distributed it and the miracle also happened as they distributed it what does that bread man doesn't live by bread alone but by are we faithful stewards of the grace of God are we sharing the truth that we have do you think from day to day what can I do and it doesn't mean you're gonna go through the day like an evangelist and just you know be converting one person after another but we should be thinking every day how can I be a steward of that grace how can I be sharing it with others how can I be dispensing the bread of life and giving the tract to somebody or a card telling them where to go to a website or saying a word about God and asking them a question about their faith you know every believer ought to be stewards of His grace not just pastors not just evangelists or Christian teachers is that right so stewards are people who are responsible for the riches of another what is the greatest riches or the greatest treasure that we have as believers if you lose all your money but you still have the gospel you're rich but if you lose the gospel and you have your money you're bankrupt so what is the most important thing we're to be stewards of the grace of Christ amen are we being faithful stewards of His grace are we sharing it with others it's a very important point I wanted to kind of tap on a little bit someone's gonna read for us Matthew 25:21 this Lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you were faithful over a few things I will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your Lord Jesus shares a couple of parables one I found thought of my notes but it's still in the Bible believe it or not Matthew I'm sorry Luke nine verse 12 it's called the parable of the talents and he tells it a little different and by the way let me just pause and address that have you ever wondered why when you read in mark and Luke and John and and Matthew that sometimes the parables seem to have a whole different twist the way one was recorded as opposed to another simple answer Jesus went from town to town they did not print his sermons he would preach the same parables and sermons and different towns and he would change it a little bit based on his audience I do that all the time as I go from church to church I preach some of the same sermons for Karen has heard the same sermon so many times but they're always a little different because some of its extemporaneous and I look at that audience and I emphasize certain things and Jesus did that with a parable of a talents you'll know it's different in the different Gospels because they recorded it based on what they heard in different towns all right Luke chapter 19 verse 12 a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive her himself a kingdom and to return so he called ten of his servants and delivered to them ten minutes and he said to them do business till I come now what does that mean he's given them his resources you're stewards of my money you're to invest you're to buy and sell and trade and grow this while I'm gone what does the Lord want us to do with the resources he gives us there's two kinds of people in life I always used to tell my kids this you got consumers and you have producers now all of us produce a little I mean it's all always consumed but not everyone produces some people spend their lives consuming what others have produced but God wants us to go through lives our lives leaving more than we take we want to make things better than when we found them right we don't want to just be consuming we want to be producing and so this is what the Lord is saying to them I've given you gifts multiply those gifts but the citizens hated him and they sent a delegation after him we will not have this man to reign over us and so it was that when he returned having received the kingdom that he commanded the servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know how every man had gained by trading and then came the first saying master your Menna your mana has earned ten minutes and he said to him well done good servant because you are faithful in a very little have authority over ten cities this is different from Matthews version and the second came and saying your Menna has earned five minutes they all started with the same amount likewise he said you are be you'll be over five cities so just park right here and think about this all of the investing and trading that they're doing they're doing for the master but do they get rewarded so do they get something also for their faithfulness as stewards he rewards them yeah the Lord rewards his stewards and then the the other one comes and he says master here is your minute which I have kept I put it away in a handkerchief before I feared you because you're an austere man you collect what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow and he said to him out of your own mouth I will judge you you wicked servant you knew that I was an austere man collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow why did you not at least put my money in the bank that at my coming I might have collected it with some interest and he said to those that stood by take the minnow from him and give it to him who has ten minutes but they said master he already has ten for I say to you that everyone who has more will be given remember what I said about you give more to the busy successful person everyone who has more will be given but bring here those enemies of mine that did not want me to reign over them and slay them before me so this is an interesting parable it says that these servants he's got three servants they're all given one minute one turns it into ten one turns it into five and one doesn't do anything it doesn't even put it in the bank is all it's not mine I'm just a steward of his I don't care he loses everything he's in outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth the ones who were faithfully trading they get rewarded in a big way he says I've gone to receive a kingdom and in this kingdom they'll be many cities and I'm gonna give you a leadership over the cities now if you're the governor of a city even if you're a governor for someone else don't you live in a better house if you're governor don't you maybe drive a better car at something those people are gonna be personally blessed even though there's still servants Joseph was a servant a pharaoh is that right but did he live in a palace he did and so you want to be faithful and he makes you ruler over much okay I spent too much time on that but it was fun all right someone's gonna read for me first Corinthians 4 verse 1 just a moment and I'm gonna read Colossians now we're talking about stewards of the mysteries of God I'm gonna read Colossians two two and three that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God both of the Father and of Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom of knowledge now you notice it talks here about understanding wisdom knowledge in this one verse you're not only the steward you're a steward of a mystery most people do not understand what the purpose of life is what's going on what the gospel is all about and to us through study and through spending time with Lord we understand these things and God has given us the gift of helping unpack these mysteries for other others go ahead please read for me 1st Corinthians 4 verses 1 & 2 let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful he talks about stewards of the mysteries of God and what kind of steward one be found faithful now we do have some examples in the I love people that were not faithful you can go with me to Luke chapter 16 verse 1 and there was a certain rich man who had a steward and an accusation was brought against him and this man was wasting his goods now what does that mean he's spending it selfishly so he called him and he said to him what is this I hear about you give an account of your stewardship for you could no longer be steward in other words he's saying look I'm gonna be finally in someone else but I need an accounting so he's got a little time left in office why he supposedly is giving an account he's doing an inventory so the steward said within himself what shall I do probably my Master's taking away the stewardship from me I can't dig so poor people he could almost always find a job just digging ditches or whatever I'm ashamed to beg I know what to do that when I put our out of the stewardship they might receive me into their houses so he called every one of his master's debtors to him and he said to him how much do you owe my master he said a hundred measures of oil said take your bill sit down quickly write fifty Oh I'll sign it off I'll endorse it then you're all paid in full so really what a bargain so he implicates his master's debtors with him so now I'm gonna make you an accessory to my crime you're gonna have to take care of me afterward and he says to another one how much you owe my master one hundred measures of wheat to take your bill write down fifty to another how much you owe hundred measures of wheat take your bill right eighty so the master he finds out about this the master commends the unjust steward because he dealt shrewdly now people read this parable and I had to preach a whole sermon on this parable because I met a lot of folks that were really worried why would Jesus commend this steward for being a scoundrel are we supposed to be sneaky are we supposed to be conniving and dishonest why would he commend him I'll ask you why do you think that the master commends the steward it says it should be Stewart should be found faithful he's not faithful why is he being commended I read the rest of it for you Jesus said for the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light and he said take heed make friends for yourselves of the unrighteous mammon that when you fail they might receive you into their everlasting homes then he says he that is faithful in that which is Lisa is also faithful and much Christ is commending the steward because he said the children in this world they're thinking well what will I do what's my future gonna be I need to plan for my future and so I'm gonna take my masters money and I'm gonna make some accomplices in this crime with me so that they then will have to take me into their houses and you know if you stick together and they'll watch over me because I've got the goods on them they were in with me on stealing from my master and so they're gonna receive me into their habitations he only commended him because he thought about the future and prepared for it the Lord is saying the children in the world are wiser than many Christians because we don't even think about the future we don't think about the eternal future this man it was at least he stopped and he thought about it and he made a provision for it God wants us to make a provision for the future - amen all right maybe we'll park there real quick and we have some questions that came in pastor Ross you might have some questions there we do we want to thank those of you who sent in your questions during the program we're gonna answer a few of them here pastor day the first question that we have materialism may be wrong but what about ambition and the desire to achieve things in your life well I think the Lord wants us to be and ambition for personal glory is not good but the Lord does want us to have I think goals I think the Lord wants us to have dreams I think it's important that we vision if I were to ask you do you want to hire in your company somebody that has no ambition or has ambition now if their ambition is personal it's all about their own glory that person can end up being a problem but if their person who is eager to succeed and that's a good thing and so you want to be an achiever if I had to struggle with having a lot of friends around me that were under achievers or over achievers there are problems with overachievers but I'd rather have people that want to achieve something all right I think we have another question it says what does the Bible say about gambling even in moderation just a little bit should Christians stay away from even the lottery gambling now there's no verse that says I shall not gamble but there are plenty of principles in the Bible that tell us make haste not to be rich and the whole idea of gambling is the idea to win off the misfortune of others who weren't as lucky that kind of speculation and you'll know them by their fruits what's the fruit of a casino people go on there who is the one making the money it's the house the people go in often poor people desperate people and they they take their money and they speculate and they generally lose and we shouldn't be gambling with God's resources those who will not work shall not eat God wants us to work and a lot of proverbs talk about being diligent being faithful saving and the lottery this is a government sanctified gambling that's all that is and so I have never bought a lottery ticket I saw that just this last week but they had a lottery that was going 500 million dollars in the news and in my quiet moment I thought boy what we could do with that and then I pictured I'm telling the truth I'm confessing I fantasize for just a moment that boy if you could go out and just happen to buy the winning ticket of course sir you're the odds of that are like you know getting hit by an asteroid it's pretty pretty small odds that you're gonna win and then I thought then I'd win five hundred million dollars if they'd want to put me in the paper and they'd say pastor Doug bought this lottery ticket I thought I'd be really hard to explain to people that God told me to buy this lottery ticket I went through this whole fantasy in my head but I got over it pretty quick I want you to rest assure I just thought it'd be nice to have five hundred million dollars what we could do with that but you know what it would it would set a principle gambling destroys people I remember we had one man came to churches had been years ago so I can tell you this story had a good job work for the state and when we met him he came to church he said pastor Doug I'd never been gambling before just some friends invited me there was some convention we went to Las Vegas actually went to Reno and and I started gambling and I kept I won a little man I lost a little as I got so upset I came back the next week and tried to win it back then I came back the next weekend to try to win it back and he said it got worse and worse it became a habit every weekend I was going to Reno said I had a wife I had a home that was paid for I had a retirement he says I've lost my family I've lost my retirement I've got $60,000 in debt my health is destroyed and as I was addicted to gambling he came to an evangelistic meeting he got the victory and and we ended up baptizing him but it just destroyed him Christians should not be involved in anything that a person gets addicted to and they have announcements public announcements every now and then for people who are struggling with gambling addictions so know don't think why would the government pay for ads to help people recover for gambling and then pay for ads to encourage you to buy a lotto ticket didn't that kind of conflict it okay no you shouldn't gamble sorry long answer all right we have another question it is what about tithing when you have or when you are on Social Security if you're on a limited income and just all you've got you're just living on Social Security a person might say well what do I do about tithe and someone actually wrote us a note this week and they made a good observation Social Security if if you're on social security at some point typically you or your spouse have paid something into that and at some point when you retire you will begin to recover some of what you have paid into it at some point you may end up getting Social Security that you didn't pay into it's above and beyond that depends on how long you live and I'm a number of factors and it might be hard to calculate you know how much did I already pay tithe on when I was paying into it if you paid tithe on your Social Security income when you first put it into this mystical account that they hold somewhere you might be thinking what I've already paid to hide on that once and you could probably justify saying well some of that anyway I've already paid tithe on I think the safest thing to do is just prove the Lord test the Lord you cannot outgive God and I just see too many examples in the Bible where people say I'm going to take a step of faith and God does not forsake the righteous their seed do not beg bread you be faithful and see I believe God will come through for you next question that we have Genesis chapter 14 verse 20 says that Abram gave Melchizedek could tire the wall why did now kids attic need tithe and how did he use it well tithe in the Old Testament you know before the time of the Levitical priesthood Macca's edek was a priest of the Most High God it was not uncommon then to show a thank you offering and you would give it to the leader of a clan and so Melchizedek was called the king priests of Salem and it was used for the maintenance of probably the personal maintenance and his family in his household as he was a representative of God in that country and I believe Melchizedek was a real person some thought that he was just a spiritual type of Christ he is a type of Christ but he's a real person and you give tithes to the priests you notice it also says regarding Melchizedek that he brought forth to Abraham bread and wine for he and his soldiers that came out and so it was also thankful there was a sign of Thanksgiving for the ministry Melchizedek did for Abraham and his house coming back from this battle and so all the kids a tech also gave and so he was doing at Christ at the Last Supper bread and wine he's a type of Christ there Cathy we have time for another question it says if your house needs repairs and your car is old is it wrong to want more well if you have fewer cars and houses you don't have take care of them but I'm being sarcastic I'm sorry it's not just wanting more do you need more houses or do you need better or do you need the resources to want things to be fixed I have driven that car that was falling apart and I have lived in that house before that was falling apart I could tell you a lot of stories I had a car that does really strengthen my faith every time I turn the key I'd pray then it would start and sometimes God didn't answer my prayer and I used to park it on a hill so that if I couldn't get it started it was sold the engine was so worn out that I had to roll a long ways and pop start it anyone ever have that car before and you know what the Lord taught me through that but you eventually you pray for better things I'm so thankful I mean my car now is you know one hundred and five thousand miles on it but I'm thankful that it's dependable and so no it's not wrong to want things that are better more dependable and to want a house that is not you know fall apart or rotting away and so I think that that's this human nature that we want to always improve our lot in our environment and there's nothing wrong with that I got a couple minutes left to just sort of wrap off the lesson stewards of spiritual truth you know the gospel is something that we want to communicate it's a gift that has given us it's a gift that we want to protect during the Constitutional Convention in 1787 it's reported that when Benjamin Franklin came out of Independence Hall someone said what kind of government do we have a republic or a monarchy and Franklin respond replied a republic if you can keep it a republic is a delicate government that depends on being constantly nourished and nurtured or you can lose the gift the gospel is a gift but it's a gift that must be guarded and we must every day be Guardian stewards were also guards you might say how many of you have remembered you remember the passage there in Ezekiel where I have set you it says in ezekiel chapter 33 I've set you as Watchmen on the house of Israel Ezekiel 33 verse 1 the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man speak to the children of your people and say to them when i bring the sword upon a land and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make them their Watchmen when he sees a sword coming upon the land if he blows the trumpet and warns the people whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and doesn't take warning if the sword comes and takes him away his blood is on his own head he heard the sound of the trumpet but he didn't take warning his blood shall be upon himself but if he takes warning he'll save his life but if the watchman sees the sword is coming and armies coming and he doesn't blow the trumpet and the people are not warned and the sword comes and takes any person away among them he's taken away in his iniquity but his blood I'll require the watchman's hand we as believers are stewards of the gospel we have a responsibility to guard the gift and also to protect people by giving them a faithful warning we have a message that we're guardians of and this is a principle that you find throughout the New Testament I'll give you one last quote here and this is from the book testimonies volume 7 page 176 God desires to bring men into direct relation with himself in all his dealings with human beings he recognizes the principle of personal responsibility he seeks to encourage a sense of personal dependence and to impress the need a personal guidance his gifts are committed to men as individuals every man has been made a steward of the sacred trusts each is to discharge his trust according to the direction of the giver and by each account of his stewardship must be rendered to God we will all give an account to God for being faithful stewards well thank you for participating thank you for those who sent in questions want to remind you about the free offer and it's called obedience is it legalism this is actually a great study if you want a free copy of this just call the number eight six six seven eight eight three nine six six that basically is eight six six study more and we'll send you this ask for offer number 706 when you call his obedience legalism and when you do please read it and then share it with someone else that you could be a steward of His grace thank you very much god bless you and we'll look forward to studying his word together again next week [Music] friends have you ever heard of the bowhead whale this enormous Leviathan is the second largest creature in the world dark and stocky it roams the fertile Arctic northern waters these massive creatures can be more than 65 feet long and weigh more than 75 tons that's heavier than the Space Shuttle yet in spite of their Titanic size they're able to leap entirely out of the water can you say belly flop the bowhead whale gets its name from its bow shaped skull and they've got one ginormous noggin matter of fact their heads are about 40% of their body size which comes in handy when you find out how they use their heads they've got very thick skulls sometimes they get trapped under the surface and they use their heads to ram the ice they can break a breathing hole in the ice that is a foot and a half bit friends you have to just imagine what it would be like to be walking around on the Arctic ice and all of a sudden have the ground beneath you crack and split and rise as one of these sea monsters pushes its head up to breathe for the first time in 90 minutes because bow heads make their home in the coldest part of our world they have the thickest blubber of any whale but this plus they're friendly and curious nature made them prime targets when the European whalers discovered the bow heads they hunted them nearly to extinction fortunately because of conservation efforts we've slowly seen their numbers begin to increase since the 60s one of the most amazing facts about the bowhead whale is its longevity scientists have discovered by evaluating harpoon tips found in their skull and examining their eye tissue there are bowhead whales out there that are probably over 200 years old you realize that means there are bowhead whales swimming the oceans right now that were alive before Abraham Lincoln was elected president can you imagine that among the other amazing mega facts about the bowhead whale is its mega mouth they have the largest mouth of in the animal kingdom and when they open their piehole full extended its large enough to park a medium sized SUV inside yet in spite of the fact they've got such big mouths they survive by eating the very smallest creatures in the ocean plankton krill and other microscopic animals friends I'm always amazed by the creatures God has made this bowhead whale is able to dive to the deepest oceans they can break through the ice and move mountains with their head and completely leave the water and fly through the air and yet they do all that by gaining strength from almost microscopic organisms helps us remember that we survive through the little promises in God's Word Jesus when tempted by the devil he quoted just a few little verses and he sent the enemy running you can also have that same durability in long life as the bowhead whale by trusting in God's Word and his promises [Music] let's face it it's not always easy to understand everything you read in the Bible with over 700,000 words contained in 66 books the Bible can generate a lot of questions to get biblical straightforward answers call into Bible answers live a life nationwide calling radio program where you can talk to pastor Doug Batchelor and ask in your most difficult Bible questions four times and stations in your area or to listen to answers online visit ba l dot amazing facts 0 RG [Music] you [Music]

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Keywords: doug, batchelor, stewards, after, eden, sabbath, school, study, hour, sda, burgas, seventh, day, adventist, amazing, facts

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Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 24 2018