Aug 27, 2019
Transcription (was completed by automated process. Please ignore any speech-to-text errors)
[00:00:00] Well, hi, everybody. This is an example. And I'm really excited to be on the phone with Beatty Carmichael today for our next session, I guess I was calling you Beatty. Is this a massive grabber and the creator of Agent Dominator, one of the top marketing expert in the real estate field. I'm super excited today, Beatty, because I believe we're going to be discussing the topic of financial stewardship.
[00:00:26] Yes. So this is gonna be part of our radical faith series, which means as if you're a real estate agent listening to this, we're not going to talk anything about real estate. We're gonna talk about stepping out by faith on the lord, on his word. So if that offends you, you don't like that. Just go turn off. Otherwise, you will get a lot out of today's call. I'm real excited about today. This is actually the session, Penny, and the next one. So today we're going to talk about tides and the next one we'll talk about offerings, because how people treat their money is a huge indicator of how much trust they place in God and in his word.
[00:01:06] So it's going to be a real, real fun time today. Paulson.
[00:01:11] All right. So I guess I called the meeting, so I'll get it started. Does that work?
[00:01:15] Oh, great.
[00:01:17] Okay. And so let me just do a quick review on faith and kind of where we've come from. Our come to this point so that we can then usher in what we're gonna talk about today. So Hebrews Eleven One says that faith is the assurance of things that are hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Now, just a brief reminder, the things that are hoped for. That's a biblical hope for not a natural hope for. Naturally, we say I hope it doesn't rain, but it may rain or not in the biblical sense. What you hope for is when God has given you a promise and you hope for the fulfillment of the promise as a confident assurance. So that's why faith is the confident assurance of those things hoped for. But the most important part about this first. For what we're going to talk about moving forward is it's the conviction of things not seen. If we look over at Romans 10, 17, then it tells us where this faith comes from. How do we have this confident assurance? ROMANS 10 17 says faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ or the rama of Christ, the Greek word ream of which means in our very loose definition in the series. It's kind of it's God's message specifically for you. OK. Then we look at Hebrew, ze love and sex.
[00:02:38] And this tells us that without faith as it is, it is impossible to please him. So what we start to see is that faith, you can have this confident assurance because the Lord Jesus tells you you can't. The Lord Jesus gives you a truth or a promise. We don't see it, but we act by it. Because if we don't act by it, if we without faith, is it impossible to please the Lord? Ultimately, we're going to kind of build into on a later session that faith is really seeing things from God's perspective. So then we have no passage we talked about in the series. James 217. And it says that even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, been by itself. So what we find is kind of this this conundrum that a lot of people struggle with. I thought faith is believing, but you say it has to have works. James says, I'll show I'll show you my faith by my works. And so what this shows us is that when we see from God's perspective, we do the things that God does. If we say we see from his perspective and we don't do the things he does, then we really don't see from his perspective. We think we do. But really, we're seeing from our perspective, because this is kind of makes sense spending.
[00:04:02] Ok, so then we find that faith can not exist by itself. This is the key. Faith is always accompanied by works. And so one of the things we're going to talk about is how we handle our money, because that's part of our works. And it exhibits what our faith really is. And just a little simple definition that we've developed along the way is faith is acting under clearly defined will of God as revealed to his word. That's in the form of a promise or a direction. And one other part of that faith, that faith is usually stepping out in such a way that failure is certain unless God intervenes according to his word. If failure is not certain, if there is no personal risk, it's not faith. Does that make sense into the room to do that?
[00:04:59] Wah, wah, wah, wah. Okay. Challenge.
[00:05:05] Yeah, it is. It's a huge challenge, but it is exciting. You know, I want to do a whole whole session on on healings, okay? Because that's kind of stepping out in faith and you're nervous and you hope guy's gonna others first thing go down about to ask him to. Okay. But, you know, that's just a little painful thing.
[00:05:28] Let's shift into financial stewardship. And one last conclusion. I want an interest for this quick review. One last conclusion is faith is actually nothing but a choice if we really look at it in terms of what it is. It's a choice to act on what God's word says and therefore it's an act of the will. Okay. Now, I don't want to. I'm not making a one to one connection. Faith is not. You can't will yourself to have faith. But ultimately, our works are done, are exhibited by the choice we make based on the faith we have. Okay. We can choose to act on what God has told us or we can choose not to act. And the choice is usually based on where we look. If we keep our eyes focused on the Lord, we choose to act in that direction. If we take our eyes off the Lord and put him on the natural circumstances, then it changes our actions. And just like Peter walking on the water in one way, you get a miracle, in the other way you get consequence. So with that said, the Bible talks a lot about money and it talks about ties and offerings. And and there's kind of a misnomer that comes out a lot of times. You've heard, I'm sure, Penny, that we're we live under grace and not under law.
[00:06:58] Right. Okay.
[00:07:00] The question is. Is tithing part of the law? What do you think?
[00:07:08] I do believe it was part of the original law. Yes.
[00:07:12] Ok. All right. So now we have where the conundrum is, should we ties? Do we have two ties or is that part of the law that we're no longer under? OK. Do you remember when the law came?
[00:07:28] Oh, man, I wonder why the first or Bamberg, huh?
[00:07:33] And let's talk about the person through whom it came. Do you remember the person through whom the law was given?
[00:07:42] Oh, I know.
[00:07:44] Yeah. So Moses was the one who received the law. OK. Now, when we use the word law, there's actually several laws are going on.
[00:07:54] Romans Seven says that God's laws are spiritual and therefore flesh cannot fulfill them. And so we have Paul talking about spiritual laws that still apply today. Those are different from the law that we're no longer under. The law that we're no longer under is what is commonly termed as the Mosaic Law, because they came from Moses and the put the Mosaic Law was designed to do as we find out in Romans. Is this designed to expose us to sin? So it it does two things it exposes us to sin. It tells us from physical actions what we must do to be fully righteous and therefore we can never fully, fully be righteous and fulfill all the elements of the law. And therefore, that shows us that we need a savior. Does that kind of make sense? Those little connections.
[00:08:53] And so this is different than the law in Romans 7, where Paul talks about the spiritual that God's laws are spiritual. And then right after seven in eight, he says. Therefore, now we're no longer, you know, under condemnation. And he says to live by the spirit, not by the flesh of mine. On the spirit is life and peace of mind on the flesh of sin and death. So he's making a separation not on the Mosaic Law, but on God's spiritual laws that continue to operate and continue to need to be followed spiritually. So with that said, when we talk about tithing, I think I'm going to show you that tithing is not part of the Mosaic Law. But it is part of God's spiritual laws that we still operate under. So the question really comes up is this if Christ is your all. If you say that your surrender to the Lord, you're following him, the question is, does he really have your all? I remember someone once said, you can tell what a man believes. By looking at his checkbook and looking at his calendar, where he spends his time and where he spends his money, we'll show you what he ultimately believes in. And so does he ultimately have all that you got? And here's the big thing I find. If the Lord doesn't have your money, he doesn't have your heart. Do you remember? I forget exactly where I think it's in, Matthew. But Jesus says where your treasure is there. Will your heart be also.
[00:10:27] Okay. So we have to look and say, where's our heart? And we can look at our heart by looking at our treasure. How do we handle our money? Do we handle it the way Jesus would have handled it? Or do we handle it the way that. The natural man would handle it. So let's look at a couple of things. Do you have your Bible handy?
[00:10:49] I do. Great. Let's go to Genesis 14. Genesis 14. We're going to read three or four verses versus 17 through 20, let me give you the background on this. This is about Abraham.
[00:11:07] Abraham has just gone out and conquered a bunch of kings who stole, who came through and stole Abraham's wives and the wives of his family and his servants and all of his belongings and those of the town in which he was living. So Abraham takes his his male servants. They go and conquer all these kings and bring it back here. So. So let's read this right now. So Genesis 14 versus 17 through 20. Can you read that for us?
[00:11:39] I think after Abraham returned from his victory over Cal Doran and all his allies, the king bottom went out to meet him in the valley. And there. That is the King Valley. And now isn't that the king of Salem and the prince and gardener's pie brought Auburn and bread and wine. Now President Blessed Abraham with this blessing, blessed the Abraham. My God, most high creator of heaven and earth, and blessed the gardener's tie. Who has defeated your enemies for a year when Abraham gave no president. Appoint them all the good that he had recovered.
[00:12:20] Wow. So let's put this in chronological perspective. Did Abraham come before Moses or after Moses?
[00:12:32] Therefore, I believe.
[00:12:34] And do you have an idea? Any idea about how long before or time frame?
[00:12:40] No, honestly, I would be guessing.
[00:12:43] All right. Four hundred and thirty years, roughly. Remember, it was Abraham's grandson. Jacob, who became Israel that then moved to Egypt during the famine. And then they lived there 400 years before God brought them out through Moses and the Exodus. Okay. So what we have is. Abraham this is before he became Abraham. Abraham. Four hundred and thirty years before the Mosaic Law. Gives a tenth of all that he has to the priest of God most high. In other words, if we were to use today's terms, he gives a tenth to the Lord.
[00:13:33] All right, so let me see if this makes sense. Malcolm is a deck king of Salem. He's a priest of God most high. They come and have a worship ceremony with food and wine and a broom takes a tenth of all that the Lord has given him and gives it to milk Hassidic. So do you see this ties concert going on right now? OK.
[00:13:57] So this ties. Is long before the Mosaic Law. Let's look at another passage, Genesis 28, verse 22. And as you turn there and and almost read it. So this now is talking about Jacob. OK, so you have just to put this in perspective, you have Abraham who becomes Abraham, his son. The promise is Isaac and Isaac, son of the promise is Jacob. Okay, so this is now Abrams grandson and Jacob. God changes Jacob's name to Israel. Israel has 12 sons and this is now the 12 tribes of Israel. OK, so this is kind of chronology of what's going on. So read Genesis 28, verse 22.
[00:14:53] Jacob thinking on this memorial pillar former will become a prophet worshipping God. And I will present a bomb or oracle.
[00:15:04] Wow. Here we have a tenth again. Did God ever tell them? Here's my law you had to give a tenth or do you think God may have somehow implanted it in his soul or somehow communicate? I mean, DDC. They're both giving a tenth. The question is why? Okay, so now let's turn to Leviticus. Leviticus is more of the Mosaic Law.
[00:15:34] So now what we have is we have a we have a convergence of laws, a convergence of spiritual laws that have not been fulfilled in Christ. And we have that converging with the Mosaic Law that has been fulfilled in Christ. And it's hard to separate unless you start to look at it in layers and kind of understand it. So, for example, let me see, the Ten Commandments is not a law given by Moses.
[00:16:05] Given that given by God to Moses, by God through Moses.
[00:16:09] Okay, perfect. So is that part of the Mosaic Law?
[00:16:16] Ok, so you shall only have one got no other gods before me. We no longer have to follow that because we're no longer under law, but under grace, right?
[00:16:27] Correct. Are you sure you're not at all three do not commit adultery. We no longer have to follow that because we're no longer under law, but under grace.
[00:16:36] Right. Is that what we're saying? Do not murder you. Not still. Do not lie. Honor your mother and father. Keep the Sabbath. Holy. Honor the Lord. Your God. Serve him only. Have these been done away with that? We're no longer under because we're under grace. Or are these still valid laws that are spiritual laws that still operate today?
[00:16:59] Well, I absolutely think they are valid spiritual laws and we still operate in a different way.
[00:17:06] Ok, so. They're still valid today, is doing a sacrifice. Every Passover or having a feast of booze during that timeframe. Are those part of the Mosaic Law that Moses gave us?
[00:17:27] Well, are we still to do those two day now?
[00:17:32] Ok, what's the difference then? OK. You say this is rumbling. The difference is the Mosaic Law, our actions we were to do that pointed us to God, but they were not. The spiritual laws that are still active today of which do not commit adultery, I would say is still a spiritual law that God still says that's still valid today. In other words, it's not the law we've been released from or that's been fulfilled from. It's still part of the law. Do not fornicate. Do not commit adultery. Paul's been talking about that all through his epistles.
[00:18:08] And yet Paul's not under law, but under grace. So we can start to see that not everything that are the laws given by Moses are the law that we're no longer under. And that's what we're going to see here in Leviticus. So let's read Leviticus 27 30.
[00:18:28] They were thoroughly. One of the parties on the land, whether grain from the field or fruit from the tree, belongs to the Lord and nothing fell apart. Holy.
[00:18:43] Perfect. Okay. My translation says, does all the time of the land. Your says one tenth of the land. OK, so here we have now the definition of what a tie is. So that one tent is. So we have Abraham and Jacob. Four hundred plus years before the law was given the Mosaic Law giving a tenth. Now we have Moses defining what this is. The same way he defined the other spiritual law as you shall only have one God. You shall keep the Sabbath. Holy shall honor your mother and father. You shall not murder shall not commit. Adultery is not still all these things. Okay, so we have now this definition of a law, the love, the tenth the type. And we find three things about the tide. Number one is it's a tenth part. This is why Abraham gave a tenth to male CASA deck. And while Jacob says to the Lord, I will give a tenth to you because ties as a tenth part, that's 10. That's the actual definition. Hebrew word translate tight. The second thing we find out about this.
[00:19:59] Is if the Lord's. That's what they said. That's all the tie to the land of the sea, to the land or the fruit of the tree is the Lords. So we find that a ties belongs to the Lord.
[00:20:17] And the other thing we find out, it is his sacred instead of apart, in other word, it is wholly.
[00:20:26] When God calls something holy, does that carry of special significance with it? Or is that just a. Just a simple designation?
[00:20:37] I think it has. I think those are pretty weighty significance. If the Lord himself is calling something holy.
[00:20:44] That's right. It is a very weighty, special significance. And when? When the Lord through Moses says the tide is mine, it's holy to me. There is a huge weight of significance on this that we got to understand because most people live in financial bondage because they are violating a spiritual law, the law that Paul talks about in Romans 7, that God's laws are spiritual, not fleshly. All the Mosaic Law was fleshly, but the spiritual laws are still going and this is one of them. So we find that the ties is a tenth part. It belongs to God and it is holy. Just as God is holding. What does that mean? Okay, so now let's talk about tides versus offerings, because on this next session, we'll actually talk about offerings and that's when it gets really exciting. But this is just laying the groundwork. So tide versus offering a tide is what you give to the Lord. By his command.
[00:21:57] Okay, not by Mosaic Law, but by spiritual law. It is what you give to the Lord. By his command. And it is a tenth percent. If you say I'm tithing five percent, you're not. Because the definition of a tide is a tenth part. Okay. So it's a tent that you give back to the Lord by his command. An offering is what you give to the Lord. Over and above what already is designated as holy to the Lord. Okay, so while we can we say, you know, God owns it all.
[00:22:34] Which is true. All that I have is the Lord's, which is true. But there is a difference between that versus. The first tenet belongs to me, says the Lord Almighty. There's something about him claiming that first tenth is his versus the general understanding that all belongs to him. Are you following this so far? And so that which he claims is his is more significant his than that which just generally belongs to him. So when we give an offering is when we give from that part that's been entrusted to us.
[00:23:13] But as. Over and above that part, debt already is claimed by the Lord. So that's the difference between the tide and an offering. And that's where we'll talk next time. So then the question comes up. It's OK if I'm to give a shit of all that I have, do I give net or gross? What do you think?
[00:23:38] We have always personally given on the ground because we feel like it. Like you just said, Beatty, it's all the Lord's anyway. We actually have a saying in our family that, you know, some people will get hung up on. Giving a tenth because they're like, oh, gosh, that's 10 percent. That's a lot. We've always looked at it as we get to keep 90 and he's only asking for 10 percent. I mean, you know, it's kind of those percentages that help keep things in perspective, but we've always tied on the growth.
[00:24:11] Good. And I have to. But let's now back it up scripturally. Okay. Okay. Spaniards don't count. Let's see what God's word says. Right. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Let's turn to Proverbs 3.
[00:24:26] And we're going to read versus nine and ten Proverbs 3 versus 9 and 10.
[00:24:32] Okay. Honor the Lord with your well and with the best part of everything that you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain and your that will overflow with good wine.
[00:24:47] And my translation says, Honor the Lord from your wealth in front. The first of all, your produce. The first is the best. Okay. But the first is the best of all your produce. So here's a simple question.
[00:25:03] Let's say you get a paycheck is net all or partial once you are sole? That's right. So.
[00:25:13] So now we have the biblical mandate that we're to give from all that the Lord has given us. So that means that when we tithe, we ties off of gross and not off of net. Okay. Makes sense.
[00:25:28] All right. So. So now let's ask another question. Let's say you own a business, because now it gets kind of complicated. You got all kinds of sources of revenues, all kinds of expenses, all kinds of very thing. How do you manage this when you have a business? I struggle with this for years because I've been in business for myself for many years. And here's what I've concluded. Now, this is my opinion. OK, as opposed to God's word. My opinion is. God blesses us with what's leftover. That makes sense.
[00:26:04] Okay, so after I get all the revenues in, I pay all my expenses of cost of goods, sold my rent and taxes, business taxes and not personal taxes.
[00:26:15] I pay all my employees. Okay. I pay all my lease payments, whatever's left leftover. That now hits my you know, it hits my benefit.
[00:26:28] That is mine and that is from is the portion from which I pay and do my giving in my tithing. So that's just an easy way. Okay.
[00:26:42] And so does this apply to personal expenses? No, because personal expenses are not part of what it took to generate the business revenue. So. So that's a simple designation. So like if you're a realtor, you're listening to this. Okay. You have your MLS fees. You have your broker fees. Okay. You have expenses you spend in marketing and helping fix up clients homes and stuff if you do that. All of those are business expenses in my perspective. They help you generate what the Lord blesses you with. What's leftover and what's what's leftover is what you end up taking off. So that's kind of a real simple opinion of that. So now here comes a good questions. Do you tie during bad times? Have you have you and Brian ever had bad times financially?
[00:27:37] Absolutely. All right.
[00:27:41] So the question is, when you can't pay all your bills, do you still tight?
[00:27:48] Well, this OK, so we're going to I'm going to repeat what you just said. This is personal opinion. I can't necessarily say that I have found this to be backed up in scripture anywhere. But Brian and I personally, when we know. Okay, Lord, we can't afford to pay this and this and this and still tied. Something's gotta give. Clearly, we don't want to default on our mortgage and things like that that need to be paid. So in those moments when we know we cannot give a tenth, we give what we can give because we know that the Lord. And that's just our personal opinion. We know that the Lord is still going to honor that, even though it's not 10 percent, because he's looking at our heart. He obviously doesn't want us to lose our house either.
[00:28:37] So. All right.
[00:28:39] So now I'm going to challenge your perspective. I don't want to ask you that same question again in about 10 minutes. I'll walk you through a few things and then I'd like an honest answer. If you still believe that or if you believe now something different.
[00:28:57] Ok. All right. Good. So this is gonna be fine.
[00:29:02] All right. So I can't pay all my bills.
[00:29:05] I can't pay my mortgage and do the tie and all that stuff. How do I handle the tide? Let's go back to. The first. Of the issues turn back, if you would. Leviticus, 27 30. Okay.
[00:29:21] Ok.
[00:29:23] And read that one more time.
[00:29:28] One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the field or fruit from the tree, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy.
[00:29:40] What does it say? Must be set apart is not optional. If you're in tough times.
[00:29:46] Must is a pretty direct word, I wouldn't say that's an optional.
[00:29:51] All right. It must be set apart as holy. It's Holy See, it's strictly optional, you can use it for personal needs if you have a need for it.
[00:30:00] No holy is the Lord.
[00:30:03] Ok. So we have one scripture that says. It must be set aside because it is holy to the Lord, because it belongs to the Lord already. My starting to persuade, you know.
[00:30:17] Ok, so here's the question. Should you take that which is sacred and holy and must be satisfied to God to pay your bills and give it to man?
[00:30:30] According to that picture. No.
[00:30:32] Ok, so now let's look at another answer coming at the same question. What part of what you earn should you give?
[00:30:43] Ok, so let's go back to Proverbs 3 9 and tell me what Proverbs 3 9 says.
[00:30:54] Okay. Three. By noon. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the very best part of everything we produce.
[00:31:03] All right. So let me ask you, is the very best the first of all, you have or what's left over after you've given man what he wants?
[00:31:13] The very best and the first. Yeah. OK. Off the top. The glass.
[00:31:19] Ok, not the net. What you just said earlier that you gave off a gross, but then you said you actually gave off of that if things got tough.
[00:31:27] That's right.
[00:31:29] All right. So should you give benefits to leftover or from the first before anything else is given?
[00:31:38] Before the first, absolutely, yeah.
[00:31:42] So this is kind of where I was going, and I'm not badgering you. I'm not trying to spank you on this boat. But this is this. This is where a lot of people are. And this is why I said you can look at someone's checkbook and see the priority in the faith they place in the Lord and his promises. Do they act by faith or act by sight? Let me ask you a question. If you give based on what's in your checkbook, but based on other expenses that you have.
[00:32:13] Is that giving by faith or giving by sight?
[00:32:18] If I'm looking at what's in the textbook, I'm giving up on that, that's giving off a fight.
[00:32:24] Okay. So if you make your decision based off of go to pay all these bills and I still want to tithe and so you choose tithing or not based on your bills that state or face.
[00:32:38] That's by say.
[00:32:40] Yeah. All right. And if we go back up to I won't turn there. But Hebrews eleven six, it says without faith it is impossible to please him. You see, so this this this problem that we're running into when we say we, I don't have enough money, so I'm not going to take on this.
[00:32:58] This time that I have no faith.
[00:33:02] It means that ultimately that you're not trusting the Lord. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
[00:33:09] And it also means that you're not pleasing the Lord because you're not trusting him. It also means you're not pleasing him because you're taking holy offering and giving it to Martin. It's all these. We have these spiritual laws that are all playing a part here. OK. Not the Mosaic Law, but the spiritual laws that came long before the Mosaic Law and we don't really understand them. And because of that, we don't really understand the consequences that it brings us. We think what we go through in life financially is just the way it is. But yet we don't realize a lot of times we bring it on ourselves. Peter, walking on the border, I'll keep using this over and over again until I'm blue in the face because it's a perfect example. Same situation, two completely different outcomes simultaneously, based entirely on whether he acted by faith or acted by sight. So let's look at a third answer. OK, so the first answer do you tie during bad times? The first answer is it's wholly. It must be set apart. Second answer is what part of what you earn? Do you tithe from this third answer is whose is it? Okay, so we go back to Leviticus 27 30 again.
[00:34:31] It says that all the tie to the land is the Lord. It belongs to the Lord. Right. So let me ask you a question. I'm going to loan you my car. OK, it's your car. You're using it, but it's mine. Who owns that car? Either. OK, I say I need it back on Monday. And Monday comes around and you have a trip that you want to take. And you now make a choice, do I return the card, Ebadi? That was my agreement. Or do I take the car on a weeklong trip? If you take the car. Did you just steal it from me? Well, OK, so now ownership plays into how do we handle this type? So if you have something of the Lords and you don't return it to him. Isn't that still stealing? OK, so now let's bring this into a natural illustration. So you have a bunch of bills coming due and you're struggling because you don't have enough money to pay all the bills. So you go down to the local convenience store and you rob it and you get four or five hundred dollars out of the cash register and now you have money to pay your bills. Does that honor the Lord?
[00:36:07] No. Okay.
[00:36:09] Well, the Lord bless you and say, well, I understand your heart in the matter that you really want to honor me, but you just tight financially, so I overlook you're stealing from an okay.
[00:36:22] Which they think is worth stealing from man or stealing from God.
[00:36:28] Oh, well, if you still for man, I think you're probably stealing from God as well.
[00:36:34] Ok. But in this light, in this context, what do you think is a worst action to to sin against Manderson, against God? I do.
[00:36:47] Yeah. Okay. So now let's look at Malachi 3. This is the last book in the Bible. He's actually an Italian prophet called Malarkey. That's a joke.
[00:37:01] Malachi. Malachi 3.
[00:37:06] We're going to start. We're going to be versus eight or nine. But let me give you the background. Malachi is written to the Levi's and the priest. Do you know whether it's the role of the Levi? It's in the priest's.
[00:37:20] I don't recall, excellent.
[00:37:22] Ok. So out of the 12 tribes, one tribe are the live vertical tribe. Believe it's their whole role is to serve the Lord. They are the staff of the church. They are the pastors. They are the associate pastors. They're the the people who are employed by the church. Their whole function, their whole livelihood is serving the Lord. Everyone else, they out there, they're out there. And they have business. They have farms. They earn money. And they bring all their ties and their offerings into the Lord Storehouse, which we would call today into the church. OK. They give to the church. They give to ministry and they leave lights. Are the people like the missionaries, the parishes and those people that go out and then use that? Use those funds. And that's how they're supported. You follow me so far.
[00:38:15] Ok. So the leave lights were also under the spiritual law of tithing. And they were supposed to give a tenth of all that they received into the storehouse as well during this period of time. They aren't doing it. So now pick up Malachi 3 versus 8 and 9.
[00:38:40] Just eight and nine. Yes. OK.
[00:38:43] Should people cheat God yet you have cheated me. But you ask, what do you mean? When did we ever cheat you? You have cheated me of the tides and offerings due to me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating on me.
[00:39:02] While you are under a blessing, is that what you said? It does to say, I understand your heart and I know you're trying to do good, but you just don't have enough. And so I'll continue to bless you as that's what he says. No.
[00:39:18] So what do you think it means with the curse? Is that good or bad? Not bad.
[00:39:24] So does that mean if we put it in financial terms? Does that mean financial blessings in abundance or probably financial lack of funding to lack?
[00:39:37] So when we're in lack and we use gods ties to pay, man. We don't get ahead.
[00:39:47] Because God said, I curse you.
[00:39:51] Because you have taken my ties, are you following what Malachi says? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:39:57] Okay. We're going to talk about the next pass. Next part of that, probably next time. So here we have. The third answer. Whose is it and what's the consequence? If we use it wrongly.
[00:40:15] Do you remember? Let's go back. I want to talk really quickly. Holy. Remember when the Lord directed Moses to build the ark, the Ark of the Covenant? Was it holy or was it just normal?
[00:40:33] Holy.
[00:40:34] It was holy. Holy. Right. And placement of the ark is in the holy of holies. And how many people got to go in there?
[00:40:45] The only one. Only one. The priest, right?
[00:40:48] That's right. Yeah. OK.
[00:40:50] So now you remember when David is bringing the ark back and it's on an ox cart and a two tons of the priests are walking beside it and a cart stumbles put at risk the ark falling off the cart. So one of those priests I was walking beside stuck his hand out to protect the ark, to keep it from falling on the ground.
[00:41:13] And then what happened to him? Put it God to. He was killed, right? He was killed instantly. Fly. It's a big question. Why did God kill him?
[00:41:24] That is a good question. You know the answer. I really don't. Because I've struggled with that because it was like he said, he's reaching out for help.
[00:41:35] Yeah, I said he had a good heart. Danny surely God will show grace. But here's what happened. As soon as he struck that guy, dead guy's next word was to David. You treated my holy ark as profane. I told you always, you only carry with poles on the shoulders of the priest and you put it on a cart and you had a man touched my ark never to happen because it is holy. This is what God thinks about when he says holy. It is serious business, as you said earlier. It's very weighty. And so unbeknownst to Dave and unbeknownst to the man who had a good heart, he violated a spiritual law on something God considers holy. That's what's going on here in Malachi. The Levi's were violating the spiritual of what God says is holy. The spiritual law that far predates the Mosaic Law. And because they violate it, they're being coerced. They don't even realize that so much of the current challenges that they're going through right now is because of one thing, they're not tithing. And I want to give you a real interesting story. So my pastor who started our church. He's now pastor emeritus. But when he was pastoring, he had a business man come up to him and say, here's my pastor's name is Frank Parker. And the businessman said, Frank, I need prayer. Would you pray for me? He said, What's up? Said, almost about to lose my business. I'm almost about to go into bankruptcy. He said, All these things are happening. I'm losing accounts, I'm losing money. Nothing's you know, I need prayer. You know, the first thing that Frank asked him.
[00:43:36] What is it? Are you tithing?
[00:43:41] And he says, no, I can't afford a child. Frank said, you can't afford not to tide. And he starts to point out this stuff. And he prays for him and said, Lord, help. Call this guy's bill, this name Bill. Just to put some names to, you know, Lord, as a you bless Bill's business, that you would encourage him to honor you with his ties first and that he would just take care of, you know, something like that. But he instructed Bill that the tide is the first of all, you have not what's leftover. That is holy. It must be set apart for the Lord. And without setting apart for Lord, a lot of his financial problems could be caused by God cursing his business because it's a violation of God's holy spiritual law. So then Frank sees him about a year later.
[00:44:37] I think I have the time frame right and says, Bill, how's business? Oh, it is booming. We are doing more business than we've ever done. We're just making more money and all this stuff. And Frank says, that's fantastic. How, you know. And he says, pray for me some more. I say, I will. Frank said, I will. How's your tithing? You know what Bill said?
[00:45:04] He said he's doing it.
[00:45:06] He said tithing. Do you know how much money that would be, how much money we're making? I can't afford a tie. There'd be too much. So here's Frank's prayer. Lord, please bring his business back down to the level where he can afford to ties. And those are no, no, no, no, I'll tell Ty. I'll drive. Okay. But it kind of gets the point back. A crisis. Sometimes we think we can't afford to ties because we don't have enough. But we don't realize what we're actually doing. Sometimes we have so much we think we can't afford to take because it'd be so much and we don't realize what we're doing. The curse that God will bring upon a nation is the same type of curse God brings upon it. But an individual just the same way that the blessing he'll bring upon a nation is similar to the blessing he'll bring upon an individual. When we follow the Lord and step out by faith and follow his word and honor him, first of all that he gives us.
[00:46:03] He blesses us, whether it's an individual, a family or a nation, would you agree with that?
[00:46:09] Well, we do.
[00:46:11] Ok, so that same thing happens when we withhold those things that belong to him.
[00:46:18] When we act by sight and not by faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. So when we start to pull back from our tithing because we can't afford to. That doesn't please the Lord. It's violating his word and there will be consequences. Those consequences may be financial. They may be in other areas, but there will be a withholding of blessings and therefore the introduction of curses because he will discipline his people to correct them to go the right way. Would you agree with that?
[00:46:58] Well, I do.
[00:47:00] Ok, so now let me ask you the question again. I tell you I was going to ask is, did you try during bad times? I know you gave me your opinion originally. Has your opinion changed or how?
[00:47:10] Oh, well, I absolutely will.
[00:47:14] Ok. So. So here's this kind of wrapping up. You know, this whole thing of financial stewardship, it's really a it's not so much about money. It's about faith. It's about how we see God, how we believe his word and how we choose to obey him, because tithing is a choice. You can either. Obey, which is acting by faith or disobey, which is acting by sight. And this is kind of where I'm saying that living by faith more than anything else is simply a choice, is choosing which one we believe and therefore of which one we act on. Any thoughts on this? Any insights that hit you? Before we wrap up the call.
[00:48:05] Just change of change of perspective and just sort of seeing it all come together from beginning to end. And the promise of blessing. That's the biggest thing, is focusing on the promise of blessing if you're doing it the way the Lord designed. And not living in fear of there not being enough. Because if God says there would be. Then I have to try that faith part.
[00:48:35] Well, the next session, we're going to talk about offerings and I'm share some really cool stories on that, just as testimony to how good the Lord is and how much he can bless when you honor him faithfully by his word. So on. So we'll get there on the next session.
[00:48:56] Sounds great. I look forward to it.
[00:48:58] All right, well, we'll wrap up this call and look forward to the next one.
[00:49:05] I did, too. Thanks so much, Beatty.
[00:49:07] All right.