What we give 7-7-24

Episode Transcript

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Welcome the Blessings in Christ. I'mScott Roberts. We are a radio ministry
striving to bring glory to the preciousname of Jesus Christ and to bring joy
into your life. We are alsothe Church of Christ. The Church of
Christ is scriptural in name, scripturaland origin, scriptural and doctrine, and
scriptural in practice. We also wantedto invite you to visit our website.

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We would love for you to contactus and you would truly be our
honored guest, Please enjoy the lessontoday and have a wonderful weekend. You
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some beside the Christ So here's thecome on Fred going the rest class when
saying the watch sings the song singrecy thanks say saying the latch ain't saying

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the lost saying no less so playJohn shot so to say let's say God,
so please. We have a massadown in the same sin and one

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man urey at the prow sweet likesans le sa same let's sake do so
please pron to so same. Let'ssee that son man friend Prince Henry when

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that same say and cry signs Henry. When we say I say say thank

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God, so brown to say sopleas not grown say it's saying yeahgle or

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I crown about san say same lesee sol ron for in song is sa

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say go so like pleaver this morning, what I would like to talk I'll
take a I'll say, I'll takea little bit of your time. But
we'll see how that actually works out. But a few weeks ago, I

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had a chance to talk to threeof my three of these guys that work
for me, and sometimes we'll getstarted talking about the Bible. But then
I catch myself that these guys arenot dumb. They know that they're not
having to work. If James istalking to us about the Bible, then

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we're getting paid to stand here andlisten to me. So I got to
catch myself. Sometimes we'll get startedand I'll think, well, and it's
been an hour and these gauts he'sgot I'm losing money here with these guys
and it's not very productive. Butin a way, I guess it's good.
You know, anytime that we havean opportunity to talk about God's word

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and the Gospel to people that maynot know or may not understand, then
we need to take advantage of that. So but I called myself asking there
was a job that we needed toget done, and this was on a
Friday, and I saw that weweren't going to get this job done and
I was going to have some upsetpeople come Monday morning. So I asked

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these three guys. I said,can you guys come in tomorrow and finish
this up? You know, andusually these are three guys that I can
count on if I need something doneon a Saturday, then they do it.
Well, two of them jumped inand said, oh, yeah,
yeah, we'll be here, butthere was one that said I can't.

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And I kind of looked at himfunny, because you know, I'm thinking,
well, what's so important you knowthat you can't come in and help
out, and he said, Ihave to go to church. So I
kind of looked at him. Andhe's probably one of the last people that
I would think that he would goto church, let alone any denomination or

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anything. So I kind of lookedat him, like, here, you
sure you're telling me the truth?You know. You know sometimes people tell
you I can't go over there,I can't be there because I'm going to
church, And in your mind,you're looking at this person like, I
don't think you I don't think you'veever been into a church building a day
of your life, you know.But I look at this guy and I

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kind of smile at him, andI said, you got to go to
church tomorrow and he says, yeah, he said, and the other two
kind of laugh or whatever, andI look at them, I say,
is he telling the truth? Doeshe have to go to church? And
they're like, yeah, he goeson Saturday. And so I look at

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him and I said, well,why Saturday and not Sunday, the first
day of the week, you know, And he said, well, we
have six hundred people, he said, so we have church on Saturday and
church on Sunday. So immediately whenhe said we have six hundred people,
I know that he must be Catholic, you know, it must be a

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Catholic organization. So I said,there's six hundred people and he said yeah.
So he said, I can onlygo on Saturday. I don't have
a choice of when I can go, so, you know, so we
get to talking a little bit aboutGod's commandment to come together on the first

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day of the week, you know, And I told him that I don't
understand why they make you go onSaturday, you know. And he didn't
know either. So basically he wasjust a follower of what he was being
taught. He hadn't even studied God'sHe had no clue as to why he
had to go, but he knewthat his only day could go to churches

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on that Saturday. So I askedhim, well, with six hundred people,
then that's a lot of money comingin, right, a lot of
money coming in. And he saysyeah. He says, the father makes
three hundred thousand a year. Thefather. So I think Brother Bobby is
due for a raise, you know, maybe we could even get close to

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three dollars. But the father makesthree hundred thousand a year, he said.
So I said, do you tithe? Then? Now this is what
led to our discussion. He says, oh yeah, oh yeah, everybody
has to tithe. So I'm doingthe math. I'm thinking, well,

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with six hundred people, you know, then this guy can easily make that
three hundred thousand, three hundred thousanda year. And I say ask him,
why do you tithe? He saidbecause I have to, Because I
have to. And I said,do they show you in the Bible that
you have to? He said,no, I'm just told to do it.

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And so I know how much thisguy makes, and I'm thinking,
there's no way this guy gives tenpercent of what I pay him to anybody.
So I said, well, doyou give your tithe ten percent?
And he kind of looks at meand smiles. He says, I give
three dollars. I give three dollars, he said, And so I start

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laughing. I was like, sodo they have any way of checking out
if you guys are really giving thatten percent? You know? Do they
come around Do you have to fillout a form how much you make and
then they do the math for you? Do they get out the calculator you
know, and say, hey,how do they keep checks and balances to

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make sure everybody's given that ten percent? And he said, well they don't.
I said, well, then whydo they command it if they're not
going to make sure you do it? He said, well, look,
the ten percent can be on helpingpeople throughout the week. So he said,
I give three dollars because I helpa lot of people out through the

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week. He said, so yourten percent, he said, can be
anything that you do throughout that weekto help somebody, to help somebody.
So he said, I feel thatwhat I do to help people, he
said, is worth every bit ofthat ten percent. But I give three
dollars, he said anyway. Sothat led me to start a discussion that

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took an hour of my time,as I mentioned, and we started talking
about tithing, and we started talkingabout giving to God, you know,
and a lot of times we asthe Church of Christ, we forget about
just how important our giving is.We forget about it. I know,

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when we do the Lord's Supper andwe partake of the bread and the fruit
of the vine, and then wealways mentioned separate, but a part of
you know, we're quick to saythat separate, but a part of you
know it's separate from the Lord's Supper. But our giving is just as important

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as any other act of worship toGod. As a matter of fact,
if you open up God's word andyou study it, our giving is actually
a part of our worship to God. Now I've went to a couple places.
The first thing they do is theypass around the collection plate, you
know, and you're immediately sitting therethinking, oh, well, they're going

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to make sure they get all themoney first, or they're not going to
serve you communion. But the moreI thought about it when this happened.
There's been twice that this happened.It's kind of a clear your mind,
you know, because the giving isan important part of our worship. But

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after that giving is done, afterthat is done away within your mind can
focus on what you're there for,to remember our Lord and savory Jesus Christ.
So after I thought about it andI studied on they would why they
do that, then I realized thatit doesn't matter when we take up the

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collection. It's just a matter thatwe do it because it is part of
our worship. This morning, ifyou would turn over to First Corinthians,
chapter sixteen, I'd like to readthe verses one and two First Corinthians sixteen,
beginning there with verse one now concerningthe collection for the saints. As

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I have given order to the churchesof Galatia. Even so do ye upon
the first day of the week,that every one of you lay by him
in store, as God has prosperedhim that there be no gatherings when I
come. So when we read this, I want to get my marker here.

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Make sure I don't get a permanentmarker this time. I don't bring
those to services with me anymore aboutwhat we want to notice. We can
find several things when we read thesetwo verses. The first thing we noticed
is what for the what saints?For the saints? Now, if we

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have people and we have this comeknocking on our door and they need gas
money, you know, they needfood to pay for their kids, do
we have authority through God's word toget into the collection and give God's money
to these people to help them out. Verse one says, what de Paul

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say, this collection is for theSaints. Now, each and every individual
here, you can reach in yourpocket and you can reach that person a
twenty dollars bill if you would liketo. You can take that person down
here and buy I'm gonna take agas. You can give those person,
that person food, groceries. Butwe do not have authority to get out

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of our collection. This is God'smoney and give it to anybody other than
what the saints. The Saints,He says, first of all, the
collection for the Saints. Now.Notice the second thing that we learn from
this is what upon the first dayof the week. Now, how many

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times do you hear about denominations passingaround a place throughout the week? Because
we need that money. We needthat money, need that money. What
did Paul say? Paul said,the collection for the saints? And upon
what the first day of the week? First day of the week? Why

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the first day of the week?Turnover to Acts chapter twenty, verse seven.
Notice that, And upon the firstday of the week, when the
disciples came together to break bread,Paul priested unto them ready to depart on
tomorrow and continued his speech until midnight. What was the first day of the

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week when the disciples came together?What to break bread? So this goes
right along with what we were talkingabout early that the givening is an active
worship. It's an active worship.It's commanded the first day of the week,
just as we're commanded to come togetherwhat to break bread, as the

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early disciples did. So, firstof all, we realized that the collection
is for the saints, and thenwe realize that it's to be done upon
the first day of the week.Now, the third thing, Paul said,
what as we've been, what prospered? As we've been prospered? Does

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that mean ten percent? Does thatmean fifteen percent? Does that mean we
need to get out a calculator andfigure out what we need to put into
the collection. No, it's aswe've been prospered. Some may be prospered
more than others. So as wego through the list and today we'll see

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how we decide how much we areto give, how much we are to
give? If you notice in versetwo there Paul said to lay by him
in store. So what does hetell us? There's going to have to

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be some thought, some thought,And he said, this has to be
what laid by in store? Sodoes that mean on Sunday morning when we
come together on the first day ofthe week and we pass around the collection,
we look in or walk and wesay, well, home, I've

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got two ones and a five anda ten. And we say, well,
we'll give up the ones. Youknow, is that laid by in
store? Does that mean on ourway here in the services on Sunday morning
we realize, oh my goodness,I don't have any money. No,

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what did Paul say. Paul saidto lay by in store. So what
as he said, there's going tohave to be some thought, Right,
we gotta have some thought about ourgiving. It's just as important to us
as the preaching, as the saying, as the taking of the communion.

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It's not just reaching our wallet,pull out whatever's in there, make sure
we save enough to buy lunch.Go through McDonald's. But no, he
said, to lay by in store. Lay by in store. There's going
to have to be some thought.If you remember the children of Israel turnover

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to Malachi, which would be thelast book of the Old Testament. In
Malachi, let's go to chapter one. There, verse eight, the children
of Israel were to offer the bestof the best as a sacrifice into God.

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What were they to give? Theirgiving was to be the best that
they had. But what had happened? They began to offer whatever was left
over right Verse eight Malachi, chapterone. And if you offer the blind
for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and

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sick, is it not evil?Offer it now? And to thy governor,
will he be pleased with thee oraccept thy person? Saith the Lord
of Host, going over to versethirteen or fourteen, ye said, also
behold what a weariness is it?And ye have snuffed at it? Set

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the Lord of Host, And yebraught noticed that which was torn, and
the lame and the sick. Thusshe brought an offering. Should I accept
this of your handset the Lord.But cursed be the deceiver which hath in
his flock email and valleth and sacrificedunto the Lord a corrupt thing. For

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I am a great king, saidthe Lord of Host, and my name
is dreadful. What among the heathens? So what happened? The children of
Israel were bringing the lame, theywere bringing the sick, they were giving
the scraps, And this was theiroffering to what the great King. The

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great King, God deserves more thanyour leftovers. God deserves more than your
scraps. Our giving will not beacceptable if it's not what thought over,
thought over, and the best thatwe can give to God, the best
that we can give to God.If we're just reaching in or wallet or

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a purse and we're scraping up adollar or two to throw into the collection,
God's not going to be pleased withus. He's not pleased with that.
Your giving has to be want thought, laid by, in store,
laid by in store. So thattells me that the first thing I need

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to do whenever I have my money, and throughout that week, I need
to realize that comes the first day. The first day I need to give
as I've been prospered, Give asI've been prospered. And if that means
I have to do without something thatI want, not something that I need,

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But there's something else that I wanted, and I spend my money on
that, and then I throw inthe least that I could the collection.
God's not going to be happy withtheir offering. God's not happy with their
offering. Not a tithe, butwhat as we've been prospered, as we've

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been prospered, turn over to SecondCorinthians, please, Second Corinthians, Chapter
nine, verse five. Beginning therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the
brethren that they would go before untoyou and make up beforehand your bounty,

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whereof ye had noticed before that thesame might be ready as a matter of
bounty, and not want as ofcovetousness. So what did he say?
He said, I send the brotherrenahead of time as they were taking up
collection for the churches. I'm goingto send the brothers ahead of time,

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and they're going to make sure you'reready, he said. They're going to
make sure you're ready. So whenI get there, he said, you're
not scrambling around throwing me your scrapsand your leftovers. Right, he said,
it's going to be ready, Sowhen you do give, it's not
going to be out of covetouness.Basically, you're giving it, but you

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don't want to give it. Youdon't want to give it, but you're
giving it because you feel you haveto. But he said, I'm going
to come ahead of time. I'mgoing to prepare as we're commanded to prepare
what we're going to give to God. Prepare what we're going to give to
God. And Acts Chapter twenty,verse thirty five. God tells us what

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it is better. I have showedyou all things. How that's so laboring.
You ought to support the whak andto remember the words of the Lord
Jesus. How he said, itis more blessed to give what than to
receive, more blessed to give thanto receive. Now, as we ran

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in first corinstance, chapter sixteen,let's go to verse two. There he
said, to give as we havebeen prospered, Give as we have been
prospered. Now, all of usdon't prosper the same, right, so
it's not going to be the samefor each person. It's going to be

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as we all prosper. If youprosper great, you need to give great.
If you just prosper a little,you give a little. But it's
going to be what as you purposein your heart. As you purpose in
your heart. Notice over in Actschapter eleven, turn over with me and

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read the disciples gave to their ability. God's not asking you to give more
than you've been prospered, and he'snot asking you to give less than you've
been prospered. In Acts, chaptereleven, verse twenty nine, the disciples,

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every man according to his ability,determined to send relief, and to
the brethren which dwell and Judea accordingto his ability, not anymore, not
any less. But give what youhave, Give what you have, Give

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as you have been prospered. EachChristian is to give according to their ability.