"The Influence of Materialism" - Study Hour Lesson 1 by Pastor Doug Batchelor

[Music] [Applause] AJ [Music] cease from distressing sing praises to his name he forgets no [Music] we [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] right [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] you know this world is a mess and as we were seeing that arts also thinking what assurance that we have no matter what we're going through no matter how dim and how dark life seems we have a defender in our corner that is about to come and rescue us and I'm so grateful for that this morning let all the world in every corner sing and I know that all around the world we are singing together ham number nine right the next page let all the world in every corner sing so let's sing [Music] never see my [Music] [Applause] [Music] - no he's crazy [Music] my [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] very soon we are going to look up and say Lord Lord there is my king I've been waiting for amen I pray that that's what is in your heart every moment of every day at this time Pastor Ross will have opening prayer let's bow heads for prayer dear father in heaven thank you once again for the opportunity to gather together and open up your word and study this important lesson for where our treasure is that's where our heart will be also and we want to make sure our hearts are in heaven so bless our time together as we look at these important principles we pray father that as we study we will sense your presence and your leading in our lives in Jesus name we pray amen our lesson today it's going to be brought to us by pastor duck just as he was inviting me up I said Oh microphone turned it on sometimes I get up here I forget my battery morning happy Sabbath welcome everybody this is one of those times in the year where we that we live in a paradox we're living in the future because at the time this is broadcasting for most of the people watching us some are watching live online right now but for most people that are watching this this is broadcasting in 2018 and we're beginning the new quarterly I'm very excited about but people see we still have our winter decorations behind us and so we're kind of living in the future a little bit right now because of the way that it takes time for us to edit these programs for the satellites and the program the stations that curate not only do they edit it we type in closed captioning we send it off it takes like two three weeks so we always are studying a less than about three weeks in advance of the rest of the country and so that's the reason for that but we are beginning in a brand-new lesson dealing with stewardship and so I'm very excited about that some of you heard pastor Ross announced that we're going to start being a little more interactable take some scriptures from the audience here but we're also going to be taking some questions that people may send in and you can do that well you can go to the Doug Batchelor Facebook page and just type in questions you have about the lesson not just general across-the-board Bible questions and you can find the lessons online today's lesson is lesson number one in our new quarterly dealing with stewardship I'm actually very excited about this because it's gonna be talking about you know there's two things you really give an account of in the judgement one is what do you do with the time that God gave you your life and the other is what do you do with this stuff God gave you and so we're gonna be talking about stuff for the next 13 weeks and our faithfulness and what we do with the things that God has given us stewardship motives of the heart and today we're on lesson number one the influence of materialism and we have a memory verse memory verses Romans chapter 12 verse 2 and if you'd like to say that with me that'd be great are you ready Romans 12 verse 2 and this is from the New King James Version in your lesson do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God the Lord is calling on us all to be transformed now how much stuff is too much I remember I was driving up highway 101 years ago and I saw a man hitchhiking and I periodically pick up hitchhikers and the man was wearing a kind of a faded white robe had long hair and a beard and he was barefoot and I knew right away so this is gonna be interesting so I pulled over and I picked him up and he climbed in and we drove along a little bit and I don't remember how but somehow he found out I was a Christian maybe he asked what I did or had sometimes of a Bible but it's your Christian I said yeah and then he said well why are you wearing that dead cow on your feet he's talking about my leather shoes and I said well I don't know I guess I bought him and I put him on I don't know what I said and he said I knew your Christian I said I'm a Christian yeah I said you're Christian I'm a Christian yeah he says but I don't touch anything did we don't wear any leather I don't even wear leather belt this is we want to kill any thing well he reaped of marijuana and don't ask me how I know that but III know what it smells like and I said well you're a Christian he said yeah I said am I mistaken or you've been smoking he said yeah it's the herbs all these herbs that God gave us and it was just really interesting to me but he you know I said oh we forsaken everything and then he asked me for a donation because he said I live by faith and I didn't feel impressed to give him a donation because he was gonna use my donation to go buy pot so he could have dreams and visions and but you know I had to admire him he's just kind of living with nothing you know Jesus sent out any quoted that verse in the Bible where Jesus said to the disciples don't take a staff in your hand don't take a purse with you but just go into faith and go out and preach and you know whatever house you enter they'll they'll eat what things are set before you and they really live by faith on those missionary endeavors now you read later in the Bible that the Apostles did take some resources with them when they went it wasn't a universal statement he was helping them develop faith when he first sent out the twelve and he later sent out the seventy said watch how God provides for you don't take anything with you you trust me but later you see when the Apostles went out on their missionary endeavors that you know some of them worked along the road and probably Peter did some fishing along the way and Paul I did some tent making but how much stuff is too much are we living in a very materialistic world today and so our first lesson is talking about the god of this world and according to the book affluenza this is a book written about the effluents in America Americans spend more annually on shoes jewelry and watches than we do on higher education even the phrase the American Dream alludes to owning a house a car vacation retirement it doesn't talk so much about freedom anymore so what is the god of this world who is the god of this world how did he get to be the god of this world remember the devil said to Jesus fall down and worship me all this is mine you died to save the world you don't have to die to save it I'll give it to you it's mine and Jesus said the prince of this world comes and he has nothing in me and so even Jesus recognized that the devil sort of kidnapped or hijacked this world God made the world he gave it to Adam Adam was to be the god of this world the steward of this planet the Bible says whoever you obey that's whose servant you are when Adam and Eve chose to obey the word of the devil when he said eat the forbidden fruit instead of the Word of God they surrendered the Dominion of this world to an enemy and the planet from that time until the Cross was hijacked by the devil people know that this life is short if you don't have Christ you don't have eternal life that means this is the only life and so the attitude of people who think they're living a temporary life is get all the gusto you can now have as much pleasure as very hedonistic have as much pleasure as you can now because this is it acquire as many things as you can have it's not about how many people you serve it's how many people serve you it's not about stirring your treasure in heaven and storing your treasure here and this is a philosophy of the god of this world and but how does a Christian balance that is God asking us to do like that fella I pick picked up hitchhiking just get a white robe you didn't even have sandals he was barefoot and just you know go around depending on the generosity of everybody else don't own anything or you know what prosperity preaching is it's a it's a theme of theology that a number of pastors and ministries have claimed it's basically you know you speak God's blessing and that you're supposed to God shows that you have faith by you know you are blessed and you have lots of possessions and they point to job and they point to Abraham Isaac and Jacob who are wealthy and Solomon and they say they had faith and God blessed them and if you have more faith you'll have more blessing and it's all about it's really very selfish form of theology you know how much stuff can you you've heard of name it and claim it or they call it blab it and grab it you just say it and it's yours you just have faith and that's the other extreme so you get Christians that go around the white robes that have nothing I met a Christian family and he really did live from faith he he was a little more normal he had a bus him and his family homeschooling the children he drove around he preached need meet people that would just give him offerings to keep preaching it was a little more stable theology and I studied with him for days he actually hung around with us for a few days and and there's some things we couldn't agree on but how far does it go how much did you have how much stuff is too much what's the attitude of this world should we love money I'm asking a lot of rhetorical questions just to get you to think and by the way if you think of any questions connected with this lesson send them to my facebook page we got people on the back that are looking at him live last 10 minutes we'll take some of those questions Cleese II asked these five verse 10 he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver nor he who loves abundance with increase this is also vanity have you ever heard people say I've got just enough money now not too many a lot of people when they get someone asked Nelson Rockefeller he was very very wealthy you've heard of the Rockefellers and they said down how much money does it take for a person to be happy and the answer was a little more it's always a little more do you ever find billionaires say ok I've got enough has Bill Gates stopped working as what is it Jeff Bezos who owns Amazon I heard he passed up Bill Gates has he stopped working to something do you think after 50 billion you'd say you know I think I'll do something else now I'll become a philanthropist and just give it all away I know it's just there's a drive there to get more and more then you got that verse first John 2:16 and 17 for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes is talking about and the pride of life it's not of the Father but it's of the world and the world is gonna pass away in the lusts thereof and all the things in it but he that does the will of God will abide forever what happens to our stuff jesus said thieves break through and steal moth and rust does corrupt moths used to be a bigger problem than they are today but I was very sad to find I looked in my closet and I opened the closet and I was very suspicious when I saw some little bitty malls flying out and you know if you have wool suits malls don't like polyester and I had my favorite suit in there and and I pulled it out and there was a hole in the bank there doesn't look like little cigarette burn does eat a little hole out of it and I thought AHA I went to that tailor and he tried to patch it and it probably hid it from most people but I always knew it was now a holy suit malls do corrupt so though you got the pride of life the lust of the eyes is not just talking about you know physical lust it's talking about craving things coveting things I got a coupon some of you know there's a new sporting goods store that's opened up where Sports Authority used to be it's called Dick's Sporting Goods and they said I'm in the neighborhood so they sent me a coupon so I went and I was walking through the store and a gal who works there stopped me and she said can I help you find something I said I don't know what I'm looking for I said but I know if I spend $50 I get 10 off and I'm sure you have something here that is gonna bring me lasting happiness I started laughing I said where's your racquetball Department there must be something that's gonna bring me true happiness here cuz I got a coupon so I did ended up I had to spend 40 to save 10 but it do you think that's gonna bring us lasting happiness is it stuff materialism someone's gonna read for me in a moment mark 8:36 ok we'll start at this end I'm gonna read Luke parable Luke 14:26 Texel not appear well Jesus said if anyone comes to me and he does not hate his father and his mother his wife and his children his brothers and his sisters yes his own life he cannot be my disciple now the word hate there doesn't mean to you you get it all right the Lord I'm gonna start heating everybody in my family that I can follow you what he meant was I'm gonna value less than him and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me he cannot be my disciple for which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost whether he has enough to finish it you know we were involved in a pretty significant building program here at Granite Bay partnering with amazing facts this word Center and we spent a couple of years doing a camp campaign and looking at the financing and everything before we launched because this verse haunted me that we might take off and build and not be able to finish and you have to have a mixture of faith and also you need to be prudent to otherwise people mock saying this man began to build and was not able to finish or what kind of king going to make war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he with ten thousand is able to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand or else while he's still a great way off he sends a delegation and asked for conditions of peace ISA look we can't win this war he doesn't accounting first so you need to do some accounting in life right so you better make peace because we're not gonna win so likewise whoever of you does not forsake all he cannot be my disciple whoever doesn't forsake all cannot be my disciple go ahead and mandate I can have you read your verse and then I'll comment on that for what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and loses his own soul yes and what will a man give in exchange for his soul at least one of the Apostles was an accountant some people like working with numbers and some don't I'm one of those I don't you've heard me say before I rely don't tease I really am dyslexic I mean it was a struggle through school and if i dial a phone number i have to look at a seven digit number three times when i dial it i can get the first two numbers i dial and i'll get three more numbers and then i'll do the like the last three numbers and it's just numbers or struggle for me an address it's just remembering numbers if you start a bible verse you start telling me the words in a bible verse i can often finish it so I know my Bible but the chapter in verse I sometimes struggle with and so numbers are struggle Karen she loves numbers she does a counting and she she likes it did she come any other she is yeah she likes numbers she plays at sudo so do cool game when you know you're all these numbers and they add up and I just think that to me would be torture and she like games like dominoes where they add up you know the numbers have to add up but Jesus had one accountant Matthew at least he may have had others do just like to count to one for you two for me that's how Judas counted but a good shepherd counselor sheep and it is appropriate for Christians to take account and if you're going to launch off on an expedition of being a Christian Jesus is count the cost you need to be willing to let go of everything when you begin the journey you really need to let go of everything and put it in God's hands now he may give it back to you as you need it and you just realize you're a steward remember man said Lord what must I do to have eternal life said good master what must I do he said why do you call me good nun is good but one and that is God but if you would enter into life keep his Commandments he said which ones I shall not commit adultery thou shalt not kill on your father mother don't covet he didn't mention that one but that was his problem said oh all these have kept from my youth up Jesus said one thing you lack go sell everything you have give it to the poor you'll have treasure in heaven take up your cross and follow me now is the Lord asking every believer to liquidate probably not because why would Paul later say those of you who are rich don't forget to minister to the needs of the church well if you do it all at once you can never minister anymore right and so the Bible talks about using wisdom but every believer really puts everything on the altar when you first come to the Lord it's a hundred percent commitment to be a Christian is what Jesus is saying it's your time it's your life all belongs to him so you got to be careful in guard against materialism now a lot of people fall into that Philippians three verse seven and eight Paul said what things were gain to me these I have counted loss for Christ yes indeed I've counted all things lost everything is a waste for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and counted them as a rubbish that I might gain what Christ for Paul things were not where it's at it was Christ it was a good quote in your lesson from the book education when Christ came to the earth humanity seemed to be fast reaching its lowest point the very foundations of society were undermined life had become false and artificial sounds like today throughout the world all the systems of religion were losing their hold on the mind and the soul disgusted with fable and falsehood seeking to drown thought men turned to infidelity and materialism leaving eternity out of their reckoning they live for the present and the Romans and their hedonism and their orgies and it all had to do with just try to grab all of the pleasure you can now and all the material with Lisbon the love of money so do you own some stuff does your stuff own you are you afraid to go anywhere because someone might break in and steal some people can't go on a mission trip because of their stuff and in America many people can't go on a mission trip because of their pets it's true as I can't go anywhere I gotta stay home take care of my little schnauzer I will get dogs we got cats I mean now you know I'm not against that but you gotta really say is the god's kingdom first for you filling your barns that's the next section when it comes to materialism is there any nation that has surpassed what we are seeing in the United States right now we define our lives by how much stuff we have social status by how much money we make what we own what we wear where we live it says happiness come from the abundance of things a man possesses what does Jesus say a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses it's really what possesses you does the Lord possess your heart that's where happiness comes from so I preached the Sermon it and I didn't even get into the points on that study Luke 12:15 here's the point in this section take heed Jesus said beware of covetousness for the man's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses and he shares a parable the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully and he thought within himself saying what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops he said this is what I'll do I'll pull down my barns and I'll build bigger barns and they're all store all of my crops and my goods and I'll say to my soul soul you have many goods laid up for many years take your ease eat drink be merry be happy do it all right now but God said to him fool he addresses him with one word fool this night your soul will be required of you then whose will those things be for which you have provided so as he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God now whether the Lord tells you that very day you make that decision or a week later what profit is that if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul and instead the Lord blessed him with abundance and instead of thinking God has given me this windfall that I might bless others he said I'll keep it all for myself but I don't have room for it all I'll build bigger boring barns to keep it all for me and God said look I'd bless you with an abundance that you might be a channel of blessing to others see when God blesses you with material things God wants us to be a blessing and allow those things to flow out to others hey men do we need to guard even Christians against the the danger of becoming possessed by things God told the children of Israel when he brought them into the promised land Deuteronomy 8:10 when you enter in and you get these houses you didn't build and when you get vineyards you didn't plant and when you get to eat from drink from wells you did not dig when you have eaten and are full and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he's given you beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by keeping his Commandments and his judgments and his statutes that I command you today lest when you have eaten and you are full and you built beautiful houses and you dwell in them and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are multiplied and all that you have is multiplied when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage we forget that we've been saved I read once where in the spirit of prophecy it says that sometimes the devil will cast abundance in a person's path to destroy them and Benjamin Franklin said more people are destroyed by abundance than want for people know their need of God but more people Franklin said are destroyed by abundance than one and so here we are living in the most abundant country in the world isn't that a troubling thought that we might get to the place where we think we don't need God we've got the American dream we've got you know even those on welfare in our country they got cell phones right they most of them have cars I mean we figure what used to be luxuries we figure those are the necessities now and so just the the standard of living is it's really changed Luke 16:19 there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and feasted sumptuously every day you know that parable of the rich man and Lazarus I don't have to read it all to you you've got this paradox you've got this rich man you've got everything in the world lives in a palace best clothes best food poor beggar lays at his gate doesn't have anything he wants two crumbs a fall from the rich man's table they both die where does the rich man end up Hades the Greek place of torment where does the poor man and uh he's in Abraham's bosom the Jewish place of reward and if Jesus is saying there's a big reversal of fortune here so being blessed when the abundance and materialism in this life is not a sure sign that you will be blessed in the next life matter of fact isn't it James he says whoa rich man howl and weep for your riches that will stand in judgment against you because you were surrounded with so many poor you didn't care about paraphrasing here so we need to be we need to be sensitive to that all right the allure of materialism now it's not your fault we are victims right I mean aren't we bombarded with advertising we can't help it how much money is spent by Madison Avenue to advertise stuff billions and billions so it's not our fault we're victims the advertising world is powerful companies I'm saying that tongue-in-cheek sorry companies spend billions of dollars putting their images of their products before us telling us you're never gonna be happy unless you really have this product and real satisfaction is gonna come from this thing or this cream or whatever it is that they're selling and we feel dissatisfied see the advertising is designed to make you feel dissatisfied unless you have this dissatisfied with the way you look dissatisfied with the food you eat dissatisfied with the clothes you wear until you have their clothes so that's what the ad routine advertising is all about what it does is it it breeds a culture of materi people than to think that happened what does materialism maybe we should look at definition a preoccupation with possessions and believing that owning products brings happiness and success is that true it doesn't bring happiness jesus said if your eye is single matthew 6:24 your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness what are you focusing on and that's why it goes on to say you cannot serve God and money what is your focus is it on things is it down here or is it up there someone's gonna read for me then we're gonna take some questions from our listeners someone's gonna read Daniel 4 verse 30 in just a moment remember what king nebuchadnezzar did he he who was on top of the world and he thought he had everything that would bring lasting happiness go ahead read that for us Daniel 4:30 the King spoke scene is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty he had everything palaces and treasures and possessions and land and clothes and food he had it all and as the Sun went down he looked from his balcony on this glittering Empire said haha that's mine I'm king of the world and what happened God spoke to him in a moment and he became a raving beast and they had to send him out in the muddy fields where he ate grass like an ox he lost it all like that the rich man with the Barnes you can lose it like that did Joe lose it all at once yeah so we got a guard against materialism some people will lose it all through death Nebuchadnezzar got a second chance job got a second chance we don't want to wait to say Oh Lord are my things possessing me or do I possess them we want to know so pastor Ross there is no we had some questions that came in maybe some from those who are viewing this live stream program or from our Facebook page we did pass it out this kind of fun we get to interact with those who are viewing and I think later on not at this program but maybe in some future studies we can take some questions right here from those of you in our church sanctuary you'll pass it I think we've got the questions typed up so we're gonna try and put them on the screen so we can read through those questions if they're not quite really with the questions I have then here in my hands so we can still go ahead there we go that's our first question Christian is should we buy things we don't need when there is so much need in the world good question let's face it we buy some things we don't they're not needs they're really once so many people have needs that are not met should you feel guilty every time you buy something that it's just really a desire of your heart my answer would be that a Christian needs a balance I think it was Wesley who said you should earn all you can save all you can and give all you can this week I got a check I did not expect my first reaction is oh good I can go out and buy that guitar I want it wasn't enough for the guitar but it would go towards it then the Holy Spirit said Doug that's pretty selfish as soon as you get some extra money instead of thinking about people that don't have any you think about you well you're that way too we're all naturally kind of selfish but the Holy Spirit got ahold of me and I said maybe you should pray and say God how can I at least give half of this to someone else and so no I'm not I'm not the Holy Spirit the Lord may impress you differently but when I get a windfall like that I think you know I shouldn't keep it all for myself and just another example sometimes this time of year people send nice gifts to amazing packs businesses we work with you know sometimes they send a little Christmas basket or something like that and typically you know sometimes I'll they'll give it to me they say to pastor Doug I take it to the office and I say here ximena cinnamon rolls whatever it was that they sent us you know and and other times we take it home Karen this week weary gifted things that I didn't feel it was right that I should keep it and so we went around to our neighbors we said here and we gave them some of the treats and things that people had sent the office because you know I think that you ought to always be thinking how can I give it away when God blesses so there's a balance but I'm still hoping to get a guitar all right let me give you a scripture psalm 37 he'll give you the desires of your heart it's not wrong to have a desire and get something nice okay the next question that we have is why do we call offering for mission a work a sacrificial gift when we don't see many people actually sacrificing to give good question most of the giving not all most of the giving that's done in churches in North America does not require a sacrifice how would you define a sacrificial gift when you give and because of your gift you have to be the knight of something yourself that's the sacrifice most people when they give they will drive the same car eat the same food sleep in the same bed don't wear the same quote they don't really experience any loss there might be a different digit in their bank account might be a little lower but there's really no sacrifice so a sacrificial gift means you give so that it hurts you a little bit in some way there's some self-denial involved that's a real sacrifice most people don't give that way you know poor people statistically give a greater percentage of what they have than rich people to the next wish that we have is what is living sacrifice what is a living sacrifice and what does that look like practically okay we're to present ourselves a living sacrifice and this is in the lesson Romans chapter 12 well first of all it's like when Paul said it's not either live but Christ that lives in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who gave himself for me I'm crucified with Christ it means that every day you say I die daily I'm not going to live for myself Lord what would you have me to do and how you spend your time and how you spend your means in the words that you speak you say I want my life to be a sweet-smelling savour to God sacrifice they would actually burn it on the altar and God called it a sweet-smelling savour never smell a barbeque still smells good to me I don't eat it so so you know it means our lives are to buy the lives we live the obedience the the decisions we make are gonna bring glory to God the next question that we have is a practical wanna I think a lot of people ask this question it says I'm on a limited budget should I pay tithes and offerings before I pay my other bills good question you know Christians are criticized by secular people they say you tell these poor people they've got to give a tenth and they barely have enough for themselves you greedy religious people you know Jesus saw a woman come into the temple rich people made a big spectacle they blow the trumpet and put a gift in and everyone would applaud and this one Widow came up and she put in two mites and then she tried to sneak away and Jesus said to the disciples you see that Widow she just put in more than everybody else because she put in everything she had now did Jesus run up to her and say don't do that that's the dumbest thing in the world you could do you should at least keep 50% put in one bite or did he bless her and commend her for her sacrifice so the question is asking should we still pay our tide one-tenth when we are struggling God's has proved me and see if I don't open for you the windows of heaven he doesn't say prove me if you've got everything else covered prove me when it really is a sacrifice and I remember years ago when I was in the firewood business and I would work all day and get $60 for a cord of wood then I had to buy gas for my truck and my saw and groceries and there wasn't a lot left and I'd say six dollars is tithe but I would pay it and you know what he kept blessing and now I got the problem where we don't have enough storage for all the stuff that we've got some of you have that problem okay the next question that we have does wanting to be successful financially conflict with the idea of not loving the world well what's the opposite of wanting to be successful financially wanting to be a fine failure is their virtue in a Christian saying I'm a Christian I must fail financially so if you're going to decide how you want your finances to be do you want to be a success or a failure now they're being loving money is a different thing but Christians should doesn't the Bible talk about investing doesn't Jesus commend the stewards that invested wisely doesn't he condemn the steward that did not at least put it in the bank and get interest so Christians ought to be prosperous I think you know the the Lord really blessed America because the Americans started out with a Protestant work ethic of being frugal saving and making wise investments in the country under that ethic was booming the Lord bless the Jewish people in many ways in many countries whether they go some of these biblical principles of being industrious and being frugal they prosper and so there's nothing wrong with wanting to make good investments just don't be stingy and hoard it all you should be willing to share not only tithes and offerings but with the poor be generous the mixed wish that we have how do I calculate my tithe is it on my gross or on my net income do you pay tithe on the net or on the gross it depends now when you get your paycheck depending on where you work there are deductions that are made before you ever get it and they may deduct Social Security you can choose for yourself if you're going to live long enough to get your Social Security if you pay tithe on your gross when you first get your check then you don't have to pay tithe on the Social Security later because they aren't just paying you back what you've already paid tithe on do you understand but when they take out your taxes are you supposed to say well I'm only supposed to be tithe on what I netted after they took away my taxes taxes are a bill of life if you said I only pay tithe after I buy my groceries what groceries are a bill if you say I only pay tithe after I buy everything I want well there's no time left and so you should pay tithe on you increase your taxes are a bill that every citizen pays for the roads and all the wonderful politicians you get and things like that so I think taxes is part of your increase and we it's a bill we all pay alright we've got two more questions so if you're at wondering during net gross net do as much as you can and you'll find you can't outgive God is it don't say how little can I do do as much as you can you see if God blesses you okay next question I've second-to-last how does a hotel owner keep the Sabbath that's a good question amazing facts actually had to grapple with that somebody in there will left us a third ownership in a hotel and we sat down we thought or there open Sabbath they're making money on Sabbath what do we do about that and we ponder that we talked to some theologians and they said do you own controlling interest we said no they said well then you're not responsible the Sabbath command says the stranger within your gates in other words if you own the gates then you control what happens on Sabbath for instance if you own if you have money in a bank do you know the banks may invest in hotels that are open on Sabbath but you don't have control and interest in that you can't control that and so I don't recommend that Sabbath keepers go into the hotel business if you're wanting to keep the Sabbath that doesn't mean there aren't Sabbath keepers in that business but you know you might struggle with that obviously there are people that need hotels on Sabbath if they're traveling and so that is kind of an interesting question I didn't give a very good answer did I well I would try to stay away from a business that you have everybody working on Sabbath if you don't have to be in that business if you own part interest a fragment of a hotel company it doesn't mean it's a sin if you don't control what's there doing nothing unethical about a hotel right how many of you stayed in hotels okay how many of you are stayed in a hotel on a Sabbath okay our final question then with so many needs in the world does my gift really make a difference yes think about that Widow we just talked about who gave her two mites how much money has come into the Treasury of God because of her example over the last two thousand years billions I'll bet you easily billions of people have been inspired by the faithfulness of that unnamed Widow we don't even know her name who said you know I love God and I want to give everything and because of what she did someone somebody a river of funds have flown into the Treasury so he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much you be faithful with the little you have and God will bless the rest amen alright pastor Russ I think do I have time to finish a couple points I want to see if I can cover a couple more points in our lesson here that we were just talking about so we talked about love herself and where the selfishness of self-love originated the devil he said I will be like the Most High your heart was lifted up because of your beauty you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor it says every precious stone was your covering he was really into the Christian jewelry back then Lucifer the ultimate futility of materialism Joshua 721 you remember when akin he coveted he saw among the spoils of Jericho a Babylonian garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels says I coveted them and I took them and they're hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with a silver what happened to akin did he benefit from that covetousness or did it end up being it destroyed him he had to have it never feel I've got to have it and even though he was commanded not to touch it people who say I'm getting ahead by keeping the tithe do they get a hit or does God say in Malachi if we Rob God God withdraws his blessing and the locusts devour what you have and thieves break through and steal and there's all kinds of plagues when the children of Israel were faithful did their shoes last longer did their clothes last longer I was just talking to a brother this week and they said you know I've just found over time that the Lord seems to bless Karen I had a refrigerator that we we bought with our house and it lasted we don't know it may have been in the house 20 years before he bought it and it lasted the 20 years we had the house and you know God sometimes just makes your things last matter of fact our fridge up in that Colville it's 30 years old and so you know God sometimes just blesses your stuff he says I'll rebuke the Devourer for your sakes making things last longer have we learned you can lose everything all at once did that happen to Joe what was job's response go to job 1 verse 20 job arose and tore his robe and he shaved his head after he lost everything he fell to the ground and he worshiped he said naked I came from my mother's womb naked out return there the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord he could lose everything and so blessed God Solomon says the same thing the Solomon knew about stuff he said in Ecclesiastes 5:14 but those riches perished through misfortune when he begets a son there is nothing in his hand as he came from his mother's womb naked he will return to go as he came and he'll take nothing from his labor you never see a hearse pulling the u-haul do you not very often he cannot take it with you Joe 31 verse 24 he also says there that someone's gonna read for me in a moment 1st Peter 2:9 and job 31 24 he says if I have made gold my hope or if I've said to find gold you are my confidence if I have rejoiced because of my wealth because it was great and because my hand gained much this also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment for I would have denied God who is a the job was very rich but he said gold is not my hope I've not rejoiced because my wealth was great his happiness did not come because of the abundance of things go ahead read for us 1st Peter 2:9 please but you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light amen you know the the priests back in Bible times they were to live of the offerings of the people they did not get a possession in the promised land did you know that the other 12 tribes the priests were really a thirteenth tribe you might say the Levites the other twelve tribes they all got a certain territory two priests they were given some suburbs to live in but they did not get an inheritance because they were to consider themselves pilgrims among the tribes to go in to minister to scatter like salt among the other tribes and serve them Peter quoting Moses in the Old Testament let me tell you what Peters quoting Deuteronomy 7 verse 6 for you are a holy people to the Lord your God Lord has chosen you to be a people for himself above all peoples a treasure it says we're to be a nation of kings and priests and so the idea is that we are Pilgrims and strangers we do need things and the priest did get gifts and sacrifices from the temple for the purpose of ministry and whenever the people stopped paying tithe the priest would go back to their fields and the ministry stopped happening during times of great prosperity among God's people the Kings would make sure that the priests were out serving as they were the doctors they were the judges they were the teachers the priests would teach the children to read and they were the ministers of the gospel and so real happiness is going to come from of course a connection with Christ I want to read a book a quote rather from the book desire of Ages page six six eight all true obedience comes from the heart it was the heart work with Christ and if we consent he will identify himself with our thoughts our aims and so blend our hearts and our minds into conformity to his will that when obeying him will be but carrying out our own impulses why don't you like to be so converted that when you obey Christ you're really carrying up B impulses in your heart because he's changed your heart so our hearts are not filled with selfishness they're filled with God and his work well friends we are out of time for today's lesson I enjoy kind of interacting with the people who are watching you know we have thousands watching each week and we like to involve them have a free offer want to remind you it's called culture in the Christian and if you simply call the number on your screen ask for offer number 143 now number eight six six seven eight eight three nine six six we'll send this to you for free and pray that you read it and then share it with a friend god bless you we look forward to studying his word together with you next week [Music]

Channel: Aaron

Views: 6,339

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Id: jUTShu9Gx6o

Length: 51min 17sec (3077 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 29 2017