Doug Batchelor - The Impact of Tithing (Sabbath School Study Hour)

[Music] [Music] good morning we'd like to welcome all of our online members and those that are joining us from around the world to another Sabbath school study hour we'd also like to welcome our visitors and our members right here at the Granite Bay seventh-day Adventist Church now this quarter we've been studying the biblical topic of stewardship and today's lesson is lesson number eight entitled the impact of tithing the impact of tithing and with that we also have our free offer that goes right along with this lesson entitled thieves in the church now to receive this free offer all you need to do is call our resource line at one eight six six seven eight eight three nine six six ask for offer number 136 entitled thieves in the church now for those of you that are outside the United States you can actually go to amazing facts org and you can download this free offer right at amazing facts dot org for those of you that don't have the lesson you can also go to amazing facts org and download lesson number eight and join in our study [Music] [Applause] [Music] everything we [Music] the big story why Wow [Music] [Applause] [Music] see the victory trust [Music] sing and shout the big turn Oh [Music] see [Music] [Music] well and shall baby father in heaven we thank you so much that we can sing praises to you as it warms our hearts as they begin to open as we prepare them to receive your word bless Prester dug in a special way as he brings the word to us as we study truly may you be glorified in all things we thank you and we praise you in the precious and holy name of Jesus we pray amen our lesson today is brought to us by faster done today we are lesson number 8 in the study on stewardship and in particular we're talking about the impact of tithing now we started doing something a few weeks ago we're gonna continue that tradition and that is that right now at the beginning of the lesson some of you who are watching online if you say you know I've got questions about that subject and we're gonna do our best to answer as many as we can they'll be coming in to the third quarter so to speak of the lesson give us a chance for our people in the studio read your questions online I'll write them down to put them up on the screen for me and so send in your questions about the subject of the impact of tithing and this is lesson eight in our quarterly stewardship is a very important study because really in life so much has to do with what you do with the time you have and what would the you do with the means you have and the influence and so this is going to be dealing with that subject in a very direct way and we have a memory verse memory verse is from 1st Corinthians 9 13 and 14 2 versus err if you'd say it with me that'd be great 1st Corinthians 9 13 and 14 and are you ready do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel now it's interesting when pastor Ross and I do Bible Shinzon Sunday night one of the most common questions we get is regarding timing they say is the tightening principle are are the teachings about tithing do they apply to New Testament Christians and this is not a question of you know what the seventh-day adventist believe what do other christians believe other christians are divided all across the board on this you've probably heard it before if you ever scan through other religious programming you've probably heard some preachers talking about the importance of paying tithes and then you've heard others say we're not under the law anymore we don't need to do that anymore and i always think that's a very interesting discussion but the practicality of it is that if you want people to be fully dedicated to the work of ministry and to preaching the gospel it is not a part-time job my father used to tease me and he'd say uh dad well you only have to work once a week I've got to work six days a week and say you're a pastor you just get up and preach a sermon then you get to goof off all week long but if you know in there you know I got to say there are probably some pastors that do that I don't know one of them but I have met pastors that Friday night or Saturday night they'd get online and look at sermons central and download a sermon they preach it and the rest of the week you can find them they'd be on the golf course or they'd be taking care of the kids so the wife could work or whatever they're doing but I couldn't I couldn't do that my conscience would bother me too much and there's just so much to do ministry is a whole lot more than pastoring people need counseling there's a hospital visits Theory there is time that goes into study and sermon preparation all kinds of church functions is usually board meetings and and that there's just lots of activity and I remember when you know I became a lay pastor before I was a regular pastor so I was a self-supporting pastor and I remember what it's like to you know work all week long you're in a logging company and you're working I was pretty in particular in the working on the trucks and/or mechanic work are you doing carpentry work and then you're trying to also have your prayer meetings and get your studies ready for your church and sending out the Flyers and doing the bullet you know one man pastor kind of does everything and it could be exhausting and I've got friends that were pastors of very hard-working pastor of a Baptist Church worked as a welder all week long and then during the week as soon as you get home you know he eats some food and then you go off to prayer meeting and he go after board meetings and and be have to study and be wake up real early so he could not only get ready for work but then he'd have to be able to teach the study that teaches Sunday School classes and a preacher's servant and it's working themselves to death what happens if something starts to suffer the family starts to suffer the job you're trying to maintain starts to suffer or your ministry starts to suffer this happened in the days of Israel God designed remember I've told you this earlier there there's a trick question how many tribes are there take about twelve sons one daughter are the technically they're 13 tribes because Jacob told Joseph because your brother sold you and your young sons were separated for me I'm going to give each of them an inheritance their names were ephraim and manasseh just as though they were a tribe well doesn't that after 13 yes but it sort of went back to 12 because God said I will give an inheritance to the 12 tribes but the sons of Levi they don't get any one corner of the land they are going to be dispersed through the land that they are the ministers and everybody was to bring tithe into the storehouse and it would be distributed to the Levites so that they could be the ministers of the people and there's a lot of ministry they are teaching the Word of God and they were the the Levites were the doctors that's right you know where the word parson comes from what he sometimes called a pastor Parsons called Bishop he's called pastor but the word parson comes from that in the year early English days the pastor was the person of the community because not only did they look to him to help mitigate civil issues they look to him as the the doctor in the community and then they look to him for as the spiritual leader it's the call of the parson he was sort of everything but that Levite was like that where did they go for judgment they take things to the priests they weren't sort of the Supreme Court and those things were delegated down remember during the time of Moses what tribe was he from Levi and Aaron and so they became and when you had something if you were unclean and you needed to be declared cleansed you'd go to the priests the priests were like the medical office and they didn't just declare people clean and unclean they also would help administer medical care and then there was the they were the religious leaders there was a very important position and it was meant to be a full-time position and so they did not get the benefit of the inheritance that everybody else got but everybody was to be paying a tithe now the Levites also paid a tithe and their tithes went to the sons of Aaron to the high priests and saying that comes out later in our study today all right second Corinthians 13:5 examine yourselves as to whether you are on the faith in the faith test yourselves do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you're disqualified and if in King James is reprobate so it's a good idea sometimes to just evaluate take inventory and say are we being faithful the idea that God doesn't care anymore if we pay a specific tithe my question would be is giving in New Testament times would it be better more or less than Old Testament times if you're gonna make a comparison when you read Hebrews does it say that Jesus had an equal sacrifice as Moses or a better is that an equal covenant or a better covenant and so for New Testament Christians should it be the same as tie their if anything more so for those who are saying oh we don't need to pay ties because we're an New Testament usually they don't want to pay 10% but really if you're gonna be a New Testament Christian you're getting yourself into a bigger problem but the idea that now we're New Testament Christians and so we just get from love we get from the heart and my question be okay well how much is heart giving is there a percentage to heart giving or is it is whatever you feel that's sort of a cop-out when they snow it so I just give from my heart when I say do you know what your paycheck is I just I go with my heart I don't look at it I don't care just whatever God gives me it's okay no you do you know what it is and if there's ten dollars missing you know why it's missing and so all of a sudden we become very spiritual when God mentions a percentage because we don't want to be locked in but this if you want to go with a percentage let's look at the New Testament giving turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 432 God pours out the Holy Spirit you're obviously now living in New Testament times New Covenant times listen to how they gave now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul neither did anyone say that the things he possessed was his own but they had all things in common why that almost sounds like communism and by the way you know one of the first socialistic countries was the United States the pilgrims tried to have this kind of government when they landed and they nearly starved to death because nobody wants to work in everybody's garden people want to work in their own garden it's true a lot of them died the first winter and so they didn't do that for very long but when the Holy Spirit was poured out it's is basically saying then everybody was freely giving it wasn't required it was offered that's the difference when the government tells you we own everything it's different than when you willingly choose to no man said that off the had roses own but they had all things in common and with great power the Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was on them all nor was there any among the who lacked wouldn't that be nice if all the missionaries and all the pastors and all the evangelists and all the teachers had all they needed to do all the ministry wouldn't that be wonderful but you know the fact is today in some countries including North America some schools are closing churches are closing I see it just in the conference where I happen to work where I've been for nearly 35 years now I know there are pastors that you stay at one Church used to have you know two or three pastors and now there's one pastor and some churches have their own past and now they got a share a pastor it's like there's a downsizing that's happening and you wonder is it because people got poor in the last 40 years well some of its financial some of it are other issues but that's a concerning trend listen it says nor was there any one among them who lacked I'm still in Acts chapter 4 for those who are possessors of houses in a land sold them and they brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and they laid them at the Apostles feet and then they distributed to each one as they had meanwhile right here's a principle they brought it to a common place where it was distributed according to the need so we're gonna get into a study later about what's the storehouse and and that's one of the tips right there that's gonna help us understand that then it goes on and it says here I'm still in chapter 4 of Acts verse 35 lated of the Apostles feet it was distributed to anyone who had need and Josephus whose name was Barse Barnabas by the Apostles translated son of encouragement a Levite of the country of Cyprus having land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the Apostles feet and so it introduces Barnabas in the act of his great benevolence that you see here alright well we're gonna talk now in the first section here about the idea of tithe is to fund the mission we got a mission we're gonna say what is that mission someone's going to read for me in just a moment acts 1:8 now if you look at the Great Commission in Matthew most of us know that Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 go ye therefore how many of you have this memorized go you therefore teach the gospel and all nations baptizing them a name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you lo I'm with you even to the end of the world so Matthew says we're supposed to go into all the world we got an international ministry it's got to be funded this is a the gospel is a global enterprise bigger than apple mark 16 here's Mark's Great Commission he said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature almost makes it sound like he's supposed to be preaching to the dogs and the cats and the monkeys pretty to every creature but he wants us that was Jesus using that term to basically say not just Jews to see the GCC's to think and they were somehow more superior to the Gentiles Jesus preached to every creature so they would never misunderstand you mean the Gentiles too now the gospel you find you know at the end of Mark and Luke it's easy to find their Great Commission you don't find the Great Commission at the end of Luke because Luke wrote two books that really all go together to someone named Theophilus he wrote his gospel and he wrote acts you find the great commission of Luke so to speak in the first chapter of Acts so you're gonna read that for us but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth okay of course that was Acts chapter 1 verse 8 there's your Great Commission go in to notice the ends of the earth now do you find the Great Commission in the Gospel of John John says God so loved the world and so you know he tells us John's just so profound I think he ends his gospel by saying the world itself can't contain all the books that are written about Jesus he said this is just to give you the picture but you see the Gospel of John is really a the great commissioners all the way through but in John he's often talking to the individual he's talking to the woman at the well he's talking to the blind man he's talking to the Nicodemus you'll find that John emphasizes the one-on-one ministry of Jesus which I thought was very interesting so we have a mission can everybody quit their job and go out preaching what we probably could for about a month but then we probably start running into troubles getting the unbelievers to fund us because if they believe and they quit their job can you see where you'd run into a problem and are there various gifts is pastoring sometimes called a gift yeah by the way our pastoring and evangelism different gifts the Bible mentions pastors and evangelists as distinct you can have pastors that are good evangelist and evangelist that are good pastors but they're not always necessarily the same person evangelists were often more a tenant they would travel around for instance in Bible time Paul would appoint elders when he would establish churches they would stay there and they often had jobs but they would also pass through the church some who had the larger churches Paul said that they should be given there they're worthy do but the Apostles in the evangelists like Apollo's and like Philip they often were going out on forays and and at interent and traveling Jesus was an evangelist he went from city to city he's of course also a pastor well that needs to be subsidized so what is God's plan to do that turn with me to Malachi chapter 3 now this is the last book in the Old Testament but you first find tithe also in the first book of the Old Testament Genesis and in previous lessons I don't even know if today's lesson gets into it so let me just repeat because I know there's first-time listeners all the time we discovered in a previous study that Genesis it says Abraham brought tithe and gave it to the high priest Melchizedek Jacob when he left home and he had that dream of the latter reaching to heaven he says Lord if you'll watch over me all that you give me surely I will give a tenth and that's what a tithe is it means a tenth to thee and so you find the principle of tithe goes all the way back but some people think that you know because ceremonial laws some things may have been nailed to the cross you don't really see the Passover until the Exodus you don't see the Feast the annual feasts until the Exodus do you see a difference between clean and unclean food before the Exodus go back to Noah do you see tithe before the Exodus he goes to Abraham it's back in Genesis and so these are principles that carry on all right and so then you go to the last book in the Old Testament Malachi chapter 3 and I'm going to start with verse 6 people often go to verse 8 but I think you need the context for I am the Lord Malachi 3:6 I do not change well there's a little tip about tithe people say well you know tithe is not specifically commanded in the New Testament so it shouldn't be observed it's not true we learned in Matthew 23:23 tithe is repeated in the New Testament Jesus sort of does it in a roundabout way he says you pay tithe of your mint and your Anacin your cumin and you've neglected the weightier matters of the law justice mercy and faith these you ought to have done and not leave the other the pain of tithe undone that's pretty clear he says don't forget to pay your tithe two men went to the temple to pray one of publicly a publican the other a Pharisee and the Pharisee stood and he prayed thus with himself lord I thank thee that I'm not like other man I pay tithes of all that I have and I fast there anything wrong with fasting anything wrong with going to church is there anything wrong with tithing the Lord was condemning him because of his hypocrisy not because of what he did there's nothing wrong with tithing the things he did were good right and so there's nothing in the Bible that says there's something wrong with timing in whenever you're in doubt do the safe thing is anyone going to be in trouble in the Judgment Day and God gonna say can't let you in why not Lord because you gave 10% and you weren't supposed to give that much once the New Testament began you're supposed to get less so what would be wrong with it so what if you're in doubt about what's the best system I don't see a second system mentioned tithe is certainly a very equitable system I think it was dr. ben Carson when he was running for president they were talking about what would your tax plan be he talked about something based on the Bible he said it would be a flat tax just like the Bible where everybody doesn't matter if you're rich or poor you play pay the same percentage and even remember that I like that idea so that's fair for everybody instead of saying well you're rich you got to pay a bigger percentage and if you're poor you don't pay anything I think everybody's got skin in the game it's just fair anyway but oh well that's a long way before that's gonna happen okay so back to Malachi I'm the Lord I do not change notice he introduces it with that therefore you're not consumed o sons of Jacob now don't change in a merciful that's why you're still alive yet from the days of your father's you've gone away from my ordinances and you've not kept them returned to me and I'll return to you while he's saying look you've drifted from what I've commanded you and I want you to return and they're saying well how do we return and what way do we return then he gets real specific well a man Rob God get you from me but you say in what way have we robbed you in tithes and offerings you are cursed for the curse you have robbed me even this whole nation well that'd be pretty serious I mean no one would want to be cursed and no one would want to be found guilty of robbing God and can you imagine you wake up and you're surrounded by police and they got flashlights in your face and said what's the problem as robbery who did I rob God they're hauling you off to G I mean well I'm really in trouble i from God and so you know this is the language the Lord Jesus as they get their attention and he says in tithes and offerings robbed me even the whole nation here's a solution then he wants to bless them to stop doing it stop robbing me bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house this is food for God to eat or does it mean that there's resources to feed the ministry so that the spiritual needs of the nation are not neglected that there may be food in my house and try me now in this he says test me says the Lord if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you will not have room enough to receive it he wants to bless us and he says and I will rebuke the Devourer for your sake so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field says the Lord of hosts and all nations will call you blessed for you will be a delightful land says the Lord so there's a wonderful promise it's one of the most powerful and clear promises it's given in the Bible so let's talk for a moment you want to talk about blessings that's always fun alright so a couple of things he mentions here he says try me now in this says the Lord you know when I was looking at some of the questions that were on Facebook last night related to the study it's always heart breaking people say I am on a fixed income and I at the end of the month I don't have enough for the basics how can I give 10% I won't be able to pay the bill and then though that you don't get kicked out of my house or they'll repossess my car and what and you know my heart goes out because I know there are some people that they just really are struggling but I can't explain it but God somehow works miracles and they said what I've got fixed income warehouse where's the miracle gonna come from I don't know about you have you had unexpected windfall because you've been faithful in your tithe I remember one time when I first started testing the Lord on paying tithe I was selling firewood in and back then you know you'd $65 a cord is very hard to cut a cord of firewood and then you deliver it and you'd a cord is 128 square feet of wood and and yeah by the time you buy your gas for your truck and the gas and the oil and things for the saw and then groceries there's like nothing left and at that point I had a family with three kids and I thought well $6.50 there's a lot out of $65 I said I'm gonna pay tithe and I remember I was at cutting wood with a friend Dave Boatwright and all of a sudden I got this unexpected in the general delivery they did not deliver up in the Hills Becht and don't general delivery got like you know $1500 I said praise the Lord aye aye sir where in the world did this come from turned out my father when I was younger thought I was gonna kill myself he took out a life-insurance policy made himself the beneficiary yeah I was living so crazy I can get a life insurance policy and Doug maybe I'll make some money he's always trying to make money and finally when he realized I'd settle down a little bit he cashed it and he sent me the money thought I'd expect that phrase the Lord and so I mean I didn't even know it was out there and so I've had so many strange things happen Karen did a search online someone called Karen up one time she says they got this website you go to where there's money that is in your name that is waiting to be collected at ah that can't be real and she looked it up it says well they said they found money here and it's in your name and we looked up sure enough there was money in our name in LA that we just contacted him and they sent it to us and so I don't know how God is gonna supply your miracle sometimes it's not always money you might say oh you know if I pay my tie that won't have enough for groceries I've got a friend that there was a great building boom during the pipeline in Alaska and they went up there and they were doing very well also and that it stopped and the work stopped there was a great economic bus and eventually they got so destitute they had three kids they had no food for the kids and they decided to pay their tithes be faithful their tithes and some people would say you're crazy and say God will feed us we're gonna trust him he said he'd opened the windows of heaven we're gonna trust him and that evening before dinner and they did had drive me and they just had you know ketchup and rice a and have much someone knocked on the door and it was a neighbor that was a flight attendant and she had her arm full of airline meals and she said the plane was canceled due to the weather because there here in the last of it and nothing else to do with it and they said these meals went over the due period for freshness and they said they're really nothing wrong with them said you guys want some meals and the kids couldn't believe it because they know they just prayed for food now you wouldn't expect it the airline to do it but I mean God has ways that we don't know about and so I guess he trusts him and see if he doesn't surprise you are we're gonna take a couple of questions that are coming in and I'm still gonna get further in the lesson please explain firstfruits and should we do that now well you'll find firstfruits mentioned in Leviticus 23 the ideas and this was one of the feasts that was connected with the package Passover Feast that to dedicate to demonstrate that would they believe that all of the produce of the land belong to God they would offer the first and the best to God and so they had a special service where they would take some of the first of the grain and the first of the oil and they would bring it to the Lord as an offering to show that we believe in all belongs to him and they take it off the top also do you know even the firstborn children technically were consecrated to the Lord they weren't supposed to sacrifice them but matter of fact if for your firstborn you would make an offering as a substitute but that was saying that the firstborn were in a special way consecrated to the Lord so whether it was of the field or of your flocks or even your own children we were supposed to give everything of the first to God showing we recognize it comes from him so when it comes to tithe after you pay all your bills and you see if there's anything left then you pay your tithe do you want God to bless the remainder of what you have then paid tithe first and you'll see how he blesses the remainder if you wait until there is a remainder before you pay you're tied you may find that you really get tested there on the tail-end matter of fact I've got a quote I told you some churches do and some don't practice tithe Billy Graham said we have found in our home as have thousands of others that God's blessing upon nine-tenths when we tithe helps it go farther than ten hence without his blessing what did God do for the children of Israel when they were going through the wilderness did he make their sandals and everything last longer he says your clothes who blasted on your back your shoes have not worn out he said I've blessed you and you know Karen I've just discovered that he made things that we've had whether it's you know an air conditioner or a refrigerator and we had stuff that just lasted for years and years and and I think God just was blessing it alright another question came in does the Bible teach the giving of a second tithe yeah there was a second tie that was often reserved for the times of feasts and has some interesting quotes in here in Deuteronomy 14 22 talks about the tide the land it talks about but it could be given to the poor it says it could be used for strong drink and the word strong drink there means concentrated drink that means that they would condense the grape juice they'd reconstitute and so you used the words strong drink there and he said they could turn that into money as I went up to the feast they could also gives them to the poor that wasn't the original tithe that went to the Levites it was a second time for the feast I want to get back into the lesson I will take more questions here but I want to keep going talking more about the blessings of God 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 8 in 9 finally all of you be of mind having compassion for one another love his brothers be tender-hearted courteous not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary blessing we're to bless others knowing that you are called to this that you might inherit a blessing it is more blessed to give than receive because when you do bless others you will be blessed amen it says we've been called to inherit a blessing eternal life is a blessing someone's going to read for me in a moment second Corinthians 8:9 and I'm going to read first Timothy 6:18 through 19 let them do good that they be rich in good works ready to give willing to share storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life so Paul was saying that believers ought to be willing to give and to share and then he said but you've got a promise of eternal life go ahead read for us please 2nd Corinthians 8 for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that through he that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might become rich so have we been blessed by the Lord I mean he said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven when we acknowledge our spiritual poverty God blesses us with great riches and you read in mark 10 21 as rich young ruler comes to Jesus everyone remembers the rich young ruler because Christ said take what you have sell it give it to the poor and they forget the other part it said one thing you lack this is mark 10 21 go your way sell what you have give to the poor you will have treasure in heaven now this wasn't talking about time wasn't he was talking about liquidating giving to the poor says you'll have treasure in heaven you will have treasure in heaven but the Lord says do not lay up for yourself treasure on earth because the treasure on earth doesn't last you love a treasure in the heavens that lasts and again Luke 6:38 given it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together running over while men put into your bosom for with the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you so God says trust me prove me be faithful in your tithe and see if God takes care of you all right another question should we pay tithe to our conference even if pastors are being downsized and those remaining have three our four churches well not paying it to the conference is going to make it even harder it would seem like that if you want to see better distribution then you want to continue to support the work of the church and you know I should say something to your peers some people say we get letters and you've probably heard it before well if you only knew that there's this person in our conference or if you only knew some of the ways that they're spending the money or some of the things they're doing and if there is a bad person or if there's someone that is unconverted in leadership do you stop paying your tithes did Jesus have a Judas in his group would you have still supported Christ yeah but you would have given it to Thomas and not Judas right so you know and in the in the days of a Christ when that Widow gave her two cents to the her two mites to the temple what was going on in the temple where all the priests converted and Jesus when she was about to drop her money and he didn't say don't do that give it to Judas he did he didn't say that he commended her because she was going to get her blessing even if there may have been some mismanagement in leadership right and so you know you you want to be able to continue supporting the work don't always judge individuals for that all right back to the lesson here Deuteronomy 28 talking about blessings again now what will come to pass it if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God and observe carefully all his Commandments that I command you today that the Lord your God will set you above all nations of the earth and all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country blessed will be the fruit of your body the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds and the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks blessed you will be in your basket in your kneading bulb blessed shall you be when you come in and bless will you be when you go out once you all like to have that problem just blessed in every way by the Lord did God want to bless Simar did he want to curse them do you want how many of you spoil your kids because you like to see them happy now you don't do it deliberately but I know sometimes it's hard to say no because you want to make them happy you want to surprise them you want to have them have joy God loves you he wants to bless you but he says if your gonna be blessed you need to do certain things you need to trust him and you need to be faithful all right now someone is gonna read for me in a moment acts 20 verse 35 and I'm gonna read jeremiah 17:7 it says blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord and in whose hope is the Lord in the book testimonies volume 3 page 404 there you read the special system of tithing was founded upon a principle which is as enduring as the law of God this system of tithing was a blessing to the Jews else God would not have given it to them so also will it be a blessing to those who carry it out to the end of time our Heavenly Father did not originate the plan of systematic benevolence to enrich himself but to be a blessing to man he saw that this system of the NIF innocence was just what man needed we sometimes need a system we need a structure we need a way to say am I giving faithfully you know we've discovered an amazing facts we we live on entirely on donations and I'm not doing I'm not trying to create confusion by even mentioning that we're this but the reason I say it is because we have people on a mailing list and we'll send them a note we will say we thank you for your your gift last year and we'll they'll write us back and let's say I thought I was giving every month I will say no we haven't had anything in a year and they said oh really had no idea they said I thought I thought it we were doing it every month and you'd be surprised how often people write its back and say we had no idea do you know if it wasn't for a system people lose track we have a tendency to oil squeaky wheels and if if the wheels aren't squeaking no oil is applied and so unless you've got discipline you say oh yeah I pay tithe yeah one does last time you paid that well let me get my check register out ooh some of you don't realize till the end of the year and so that's why you want to you don't wait till the end of year the needs of God's work are ongoing you know at least monthly or when you get your check it should be right there off the top amen all right we had a verse you're gonna read I've showed you all things how that's so levering you ought to support the week and remember the words of our Lord Jesus how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive thank you very much acts 20 I got a little I got a little quiz for you a little trick question acts 20 verse 35 Paul is speaking in acts 20 verse 35 Paul said you remember the words of Jesus it's more blessed to give and receive where is that verse where Jesus said it's more blessed to give than receive not in the Bible it is in the Bible where Paul clothes Jesus but that goes to show and you'll even see it's in red-letter but that'll go to show you that not everything Jesus said was written down by the four Gospels here Christ taught for years so Paul remembered you know that the disciples thought of Jesus often said it's more blessed to give and receive now you read the Beatitudes and he said blessed are the poor in spirit blessed there's lots of blessings of Jesus pronounced but that exact phrase actually we get it about Christ Paul okay the purpose of tithe let's talk about that for a moment then I see some more questions or on the screen first Timothy 5:18 for the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain and the laborer is worthy of his wages so the purpose of tithe was to disperse the the resources of people for the ministry when God's people fail to pay tithe the Levites would end up having to go work in the fields the teaching of the young people and the teaching of the word of God and the judgment and the medical things and everything that was needed by the Levites in the priest was neglected and have you also noted how many times in the Bible it says the house of God fell into disrepair wasn't just the people but the actual place of worship and other nations that would come and visit say oh that's what they think of their God look at that it's just as stones are all crumbling weeds are growing out of the cracks they don't care for the house of God it was really a bad reflection on what they thought about they're gone Deuteronomy 25 verse 4 you shall not muzzle and Ops while it is treading out the grain who knows what that means you remember when when Samson was captured by the Philistines they plucked out his eyes and put him in the grinding house and what happened is that they would have a long stick that went through a wheel the wheel rolled on top of grain that was on a pedestal and as they went around it was very grueling you'd push this wheel let's pretend this is the grinding stones here you push this stick around and you're turning a wheel that's hooked on a central axis and that wheel big stone wheel is grinding out grain and they would shovel new grain in it what would it do is it grind the flour they'd shovel it out and you kept if you had an oxen that was grinding the grain that was a long stick because you don't want the oxen too close to the food you do do I need to go into detail and so they had that like that but inevitably as they were shoveling the grain in shoveling the grain out some of it would fall in the auxins path and the oxen he'd he'd nibble it as he walked by he be pea eating the grain and ox and light grain even more than grass any of you have arses they love it when you give him a bucket of oats and so he said look if a pasture is spending all this time ministering to people don't muzzle him if God is blessing you share the things that he gots blessed you with and so that was one of the principles the purpose of the tithe was to keep the people in ministry whether they're evangelists they could be Christian teachers or pastors who else was funded by tithe was it just pastors people in the temple did they have security in the temple if I have time I'll get to that verse it shows you even the security deal music ministers the sons of Asaph were paid of the tithe because music was part of the worship alright carrying on here told you you got confused when I turned it upside down Luke 7:10 I'm sorry Luke 10 verse 7 and Jesus said when you go out preaching and go from town to town but when you get to town remain in the same house eating and drinking the things that they give you for the laborer is worthy of his wages now here's from Christ he's saying you know if you're staying with a family and they're offering to host you while you preach in that town accept it and be thankful for it because you're working for the Lord you're worthy of that this is your work and then one more 1st Corinthians 9 14 even so and this is a plain is about as a plain as it could be even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel you know when I got my first official full-time ministry call I was so excited because I was a self-supporting minister but I'm teaching our Africa class I love to tell them I said I started out as a lay evangelist they hired me and I was so excited I thought you mean they're gonna pay me to do what I was doing for free this is the greatest job in the world I said I think it was Will Rogers you said figure out what you like to do and they get someone to pay you to do it so this is great I'm getting paid to preach what a wonderful it's not all great I mean I preach in part but some of the stuff pastor I was telling someone just yesterday said you know I wouldn't mind pastoring if it wasn't for people I don't mind the preaching part that's great and some of it you know leading people to Christ that's wonderful don't like marriage counseling I'm not great at hospital visits you know we you know every jobs get its stuff you got to deal with right all right again another question when we make a sale and a package I have them be shipped off and we ship it we don't take out the business costs and then do we tithe on what the profit is or tithe on the whole amount in other words if you're in business and you're doing things and you're selling well you tithe on the increase I think I used an illustration let's just suppose hypothetically you're going to use the t-shirt illustration again you're in a business and you sell t-shirts and you print them and you put Christian slogans on them in you sell t-shirts and you buy the t-shirts and the t-shirts cost $5 and then you print them and that cost you two dollars and and you know you got shipping and everything and so you end up selling these t-shirts and it costs you $9 but you only get one dollar profit all right t-shirts started out you sell it for $10 it cost you $9 to sell that you get one dollar profit now if you pay tithe how much on $10 what do you have left nothing so you're paying tight on what the profit was after the basic business expenses now it's different if you're in farming or something like that well or if you're working and you get a paycheck you pay it pay on the gross that's your increase the expenses for the business are from the employer that's paying you but you're being paid on your increase and so doing it as a business is maybe a little different science than the average person who works and gets a paycheck and then someone says should we pay tithe on a gift well if it's a gift of money sure what do you do if someone gives you a piano yeah you do you take 10% of the keys and give it to the pastor no you know you might give a thank-you gift and figure out yeah just you know I wanted to say thank you to the Lord and so you just calculated in your mind and do a thank offering in that respect but you know God will be gracious to you whenever you're in doubt just go a little too far and you know what you'll discover you cannot outgive God anyone here tell me that oh you know I out gave God I gave so much had nothing left he always blesses doesn't he all right again another question ah what if you make a promise like Ananias and Sapphira and you broke it evidently you're still alive so it wasn't exactly like now and there's no way you can pay it back well there aren't cases you know I've talked to people who come to the Lord in the south you know I was thrown in jail for extortion I've talked to people they say I embezzled fifty million dollars and it's all gone and I'm never going to pay about wasn't a Christian and now I'm making up the number and but now I just I'm never gonna pay it back and I just say well you be a little more than faithful with your tithe to show the Lord that you're trying to go the Second Mile now you may never do that because you're not trying to earn your salvation by paying it back your salvation is based on a gift of grace to you but then if you love the Lord if you realize that you took advantage of others you do what you can to pay that back even if it's a little by little because at least you're showing your intentions who knows what God might do for you let me see I want to get to tithe in the storehouse how am I going to cover that in 30 seconds Nehemiah 10 39 for the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain and the new wine in the oil to the storerooms where are the articles of the sanctuary are where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singer say it was for the gatekeeper security singers music ministers and we will not neglect the house of our God meaning the work of God's house and the people that were employed through that work so it was sent to a common spot and it was then distributed from there what a quote closed with them this quote tithe and salvation by faith and this is from testimonies volume 6 page 386 so it is with God's claims upon us he places his treasures in the hands of men but he requires at 1/10 shall be faithfully laid aside for his work he requires this portion to be placed in his Treasury it has be rendered to him as his own it is sacred and is to be used for a sacred purpose and for the purpose of those who carry the message of salvation to all parts of the world he reserves his portion and portion and that means may ever be flowing into his treasure house that the light of truth might be carried to those who are near and afar off by faithfully obeying this requirement we acknowledge that all that we have belongs to God all right friends want to remind you just in closing we do have a special offer it's it's kind of a scary title it's a good book called thieves in the church you'll really enjoy it ask for offer 1 3 6 when you call and the number is 866 seven eight eight three nine six six that's eight six six seven eight eight three nine six six and we'll send it to you I think you can even read it for free at amazing facts dot o-r-g god bless do we study his word together again [Music] friends if you're scared of snakes this may not be for you I'm here at a reptile park outside of Durban South Africa and I'm holding my friend here who's a red tail boa snakes are found all over the world and they come in all sizes snakes can be found through the trees they crawl on the ground they live under the ground and they swim in the water very interesting creatures some snakes are venomous not my friend here but the black mamba very poisonous matter of fact their bite is often referred to as the kiss of death they can grow 15 feet long and could travel up to seven miles an hour they don't call them black mambas because of the color of their skin but the interior of their mouth is black snakes also come in all sizes like this boa or a Python they can grow to great sizes matter of fact in South America they found some fossils of a snake that they call titanoboa they believe it was as big as 50 feet long and weighed as much as a car say geez a lot of people are scared of snakes I used to live in a mountain in a cave and I ran into snakes frequently they never bothered me unless I was bothering them in the Bible the snake is often a symbol of the devil in reality it's just a symbol there are animals like other animals but it says they were cursed to go upon their belly because they were the first medium that the devil used to tempt Adam and Eve in the book of numbers chapter 21 it tells the story of how when the children of Israel were going through the wilderness they began to complain about God's manna and it says the Lord allowed these fiery serpents to go among the people and many were bitten and the venom is deadly I should probably mention at this point that bread they were complaining about it's a symbol for the Word of God as many of the people were dying from this plague of serpents they went unto Moses and they said what shall we do God told Moses to make a bronze Serpent and put it on a pole and lift it up that whoever looked upon the serpent they would be healed of their this is why it's so important because Jesus says in the Gospel of John chapter 3 verse 14 and 15 as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so the Son of Man must be lifted up that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life they needed to look into live you see those ancient Shepherds when they would kill a venomous snake they would carry it off on their staff and bury it so a serpent on a pole represented a defeated snake it's talking about defeating the devil friends have you been bitten by the serpent we all have the only cure for the venom of Satan is to look in faith at Jesus he then defeated the devil he took the venom of sin in his body to provide the antidote in his blood so friends I encourage you to look today and live [Music]

Channel: SDA Burgas

Views: 17,431

Rating: 4.5999999 out of 5

Keywords: doug, batchelor, the, impact, of, tithing, sabbath, school, study, hour, sda, burgas, seventh, day, adventist, amazing, facts

Id: -Ro8NE0JBBU

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 13 2018