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🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 Amen. Brother Jeremiah, would you open the service in a word of prayer, please? Your Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for gathering every way to your faith, please, together. I pray that you will bless the service, and bless the singing, and bless the preaching. I pray that you will still have to go and get the Holy Spirit as you come to speak your message. Amen. Now if you would, go backward in your songbooks to 216. 216? Surely goodness and mercy? 🎶 Music 🎶 Surely goodness and mercy, God the first, sing it out. 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 🎶 Music 🎶 Sing it out. 🎶 Music 🎶 All right, well good evening and happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. If you don't have a bulletin, just raise your hand and we'll get you one. Other than that, I'm going to go through these announcements here as quickly as I can. Weekly church service time, Sunday mornings at 10.30, Sunday evenings at 6, and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Underneath there is a list of our soul ending times. We've got Saturday mornings at 10.30, meeting right here. Sunday afternoons at 2 with Brother David. Mondays at 6.30 with Brother Mauser. And Wednesdays at 11 with Brother Riley. Thursdays about 6.30 except for tomorrow. Okay, we're not going to go tomorrow. It'll be pretty interesting. I wonder how we do. Well, let's go to a rich neighborhood tomorrow. Why not? Let's see what happens. Anyways, if you do want to go, typical Thursday is just give us a call. 208-391-5323. Praise report, so we're at five salvations I believe, right? Is it five? Yeah, five for November. I'll have a true number for you next week. Let's see here, back page. So we will be finishing up 2 Samuel this Sunday evening, so I'm looking forward to that. It's been a great time. Tonight, Pi Social, all right, after the service, so try to focus. I'll try to make this quick. I don't know how it's going to go. You're going to need some discipline tonight. So look ahead. December 18th at 5 p.m. is the ladies' Christmas potluck slash gift exchange. Bring a dish to share and a gift of $20 or less. If you need help with any of that, just let us know. We'll take care of it. Birthdays and anniversaries for November. So today, is it today? Yeah, today is the 24th. Today is Brother Skulk's birthday. Where is he? Yeah, where is he? That's all right, Skulk. You're going to sing. I threatened him the other day, and that's why he's not here. Don't worry, I'll get you Sunday. There's no way he's not singing for us, but anyways. This week's memory verse is Luke 17, 17. Which says in Jesus' answering said, were there not ten clans, but where are the nine? We are a family integrated church, and what that means is children and infants are always welcome in the service. If you need privacy, there's a daddy baby room right over here. The mother baby room is right across the hallway over there. Up ready to go. Don't forget to turn your phone off when placed on silent so it's not a distraction. And the bottom line says you can't keep it real if you're looking at everyone else's highlight reel. That was from now two Sundays ago, so we're going to have one more song before we receive the offering. And if you didn't get it, just raise your hand and I will get you one. All right, at this time we'll be singing our chorus of the month. Thank you, Lord. Starting at the top. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me Thy great salvation so rich and free. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me Thy great salvation so rich and free. All right, well, let's go ahead and bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us to be able to meet here tonight. Just pray that you would bless the service, Lord, bless our tithes and offerings, and bless the fellowship after the service, Lord. And we thank you again for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. All right, at this time we'll be going over our prayer sheet. I don't think there's any new ones printed out, so we'll just bow our heads and have a word of prayer together. Dear Father God, we come before you this evening to lift our prayer request and praises to your holy name, Lord. We just want to start off by lifting up our prayer requests, Lord, and we just pray for the opportunity to preach to unsafe family, friends, and co-workers. We pray for all of our church families to stay healthy and safe and always keep their sights on the things of God. We pray for more spiritual growth and maturity as a church throughout the rest of this year and the year to come. And we pray that our church will be able to afford new expansion. We pray for more people in the community that want to become disciples and pray for our converts to visit church. We pray for the safety of our children and for them to continue to grow strong in the Lord. We pray for the expecting mothers in our church to stay in good health and that they can have healthy babies and safe deliveries. We pray for like-minded churches to continue to grow and for our friends' churches to be protected from wicked people and evildoers. We pray for commies and reprobates to be removed from local offices in the Treasure Valley. We pray for continued medical freedom with vaccines and COVID mandates. And we pray for Brother Skolk's safe travels to South Africa. We just pray that they see a good harvest there in South Africa, Lord. And we pray for Melissa's father to be fully healed. And we pray for my family back in California and my grandmother. And we have an unspoken prayer for Miss Don. We also have an unspoken prayer for Miss Melissa and also an unspoken prayer for Brother Canyon. And we also pray for Miss Rachel that she'd have a smooth and safe delivery, Lord. We know it could happen at any moment now. We just pray for her. And we also have praises to lift up to your holy name, Lord. We just want to thank you, Father God, for healing the Maples family and blessing them with good health. We want to thank you, Father, for Pastor's new job situation. And we just thank you that there's a better work culture there. And we want to praise you, Father God, for Melissa's father, that he's feeling better from his health issues, Lord. And we just thank you for bringing the safe delivery of baby Aiden into the world, Lord. We just thank you for him. We thank you for the true family. And we want to praise you, Father God, for our church members being in good health. Praise you, Lord, for all of our new church members and family members. We've been able to get saved and we just pray for their continued growth in the Lord. And we praise you, Father God, for the freedom to continuously preach the gospel every week and for you keeping us safe during the battles that we all fight each and every day, week in and week out. And we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, let's turn our Bibles to Nehemiah, chapter number 10. Nehemiah, chapter 10. When you get there, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads, Now those that sealed were Nehemiah the Tarshathah, the son of Hacaliah, and Zechariah, Sariah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashur, Amoriah, Malchiah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malak, Harom, Merrimath, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethan, Barak, Meshulam, Abijah, Mejiman, Meaziah, Bilgei, Shemaiah. These were the priests. And the Levites, both Jeshua, the son of Azaniah, Benuiah, of the sons of Hanadah, Cadmeil, and their brethren, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Keletah, Paliah, Hanan, Micah, Rehob, Hashabiah, Zechar, Cherubiah, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Bani, Beninun, the chief of the people, Perush, Payath, Moab, Elam, Zatu, Beni, Bunai, Azgad, Bibei, Adonijah, Bigbei, Aden, Atar, Hizkaijah, Azar, Hodijah, Hashem, Bezei, Harith, Anathoth, Nebai, Magpiesh, Meshulam, Hezir, Meheshabil, Zadok, Jaduah, Peletiah, Hanan, Anahiah, Hoshea, Hananiah, Hashab, Halohesh, Peleah, Shobeck, Rehom, Hayashna, Meaziah, Anahijah, Hanan, Annan, Malak, Harom, Beanna, and the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God. Their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone having knowledge and having understanding, they clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and into an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God and His judgments and His statutes, and that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land nor take their daughters for our sons. And if the people of the land bring where or any victuals on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the Sabbath or on the holy day, and that we would leave the seventh year in the exaction of every debt. Also, we made ordinances for us to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God, for the showbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering of the new moons, for the set feast, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel and for all the work of the house of our God. And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people for the wood offering to bring it into the house of our God after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the law, and to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees year by year unto the house of our Lord, and the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks to bring to the house of our God into the priests that minister in the house of our God, and that we would bring the firstfruits of our dough and our offerings and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil unto the priests to the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. And the priests, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites take tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God to the chambers into the treasure house. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine and the oil unto the chambers where are the vessels of the sanctuary and the priests that minister and the porters and the singers, and we will not forsake the house of our God. Brother Bradley, would you pray for us, please? All right, amen. So, Nehemiah chapter number 10. Nehemiah the great cupbearer to Artaxerxes, a very trustworthy, reliable individual. This takes place during the rebuilding process in Jerusalem while the children of Judah were in captivity. To start this thing off here, I want you to look at verse number 37. Look at Nehemiah chapter 10 verse 37. It says this. It says, and that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine, and of oil unto the priests to the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. The title of the sermon this evening is Firstfruits of Your Dough. If anybody ever says to you, where does it talk about tithing actual physical money in the Bible? Well, it's right here. Look at the beginning of the verse. And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough. Now that that's out of the way, I'm just teasing. That's actually talking about real dough, okay? But we are going to talk about tithing today and what that means. Now, I'm using this to piggyback off of what I preached about on Sunday, which was gratitude. And if you remember, the main point of that sermon was gratitude is an emotion that we all have, okay? When someone does something nice for you, you have that emotion of gratitude. And it does no one any good if you don't give that away, okay? And so when we give our tithes, we give our offerings, the whole purpose of that is to show our gratitude. I'm going to prove that to you from the Bible. Now, I'm preaching this sermon today for several reasons, okay? Number one, let me back up for a second. Who was here in the house when the church first started? There's two, three, four people, right? There's a few of you. How long has it been since I preached a tithing sermon? Never. That's right. We're about to approach three years. Now, I did that on purpose. Some people may not agree with that, but I've done that on purpose. And it's funny because I've received a few death threats, believe it or not, to stop preaching about tithing. Now, a couple of them I haven't been able to print out. I printed out the nice one which has commanded me to stop preaching about money and to stop preaching about offerings and to stop collecting offerings or else, okay? This is the nice one or else. And since I just love people telling me what to do, I figure what better day than to preach about money than today, okay? So I'm not doing this to milk you. No one in this church will ever be able to say that that's why I'm preaching this sermon because it's been almost three years since we started and I have never preached about it, which is kind of bad because we do need to know it. I've mentioned it in different sermons in the past, but today there are a lot of fascinating things that we're going to learn about the doctrine of tithing and I will get you out of here at a good time so we can get to that pie. But I do want to read some of these individual statements here, right? So he says this. This guy says, I want to make sure that you stop the practice of condemning people in your church for preaching or for not bringing in their money that they have worked so hard for. Does anybody in here ever, ever, ever heard me say something like that? No. So where is this coming from? Does he just randomly send this to people? It's kind of funny because I use my magic tricks to find out this guy's from Washington. I don't know exactly what street he lives on or what city, but he's from Washington State. And I don't know. Washington State. I'm from Washington State. We've got a lot of enemies, a lot of people that don't like me. So I figure this guy's got a personal beef with me. And he says this. When people feel condemned, you're adding to the word of God. He says, now there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Well, I believe that. OK, I believe that. I don't know what his problem is. But he's accusing me of condemning everyone in here. And he even I don't know if it's the same guy, but the last one I got, which was a threat, said that somebody in the church had basically told him to email me. And I know all of you and I know no one in here would ever do that because I've never tried to do anything like that. Look, I don't even know who tithes half the time. And even if I did, even if you were the type of person, I'm not giving anything. I would still treat you just like the person that gave a million bucks because that is how we are supposed to do business. So he goes on, you know, more threats, you know, mild threats, if you will. And he says, so you better ensure that you're not adding to the word of God. And in this case, by empowering condemnation as it relates to paying tithes and offerings, because you know what happens when you add to the word of God. OK, this guy is pretty bold. He goes on to talk about Malachi, and he goes on to say that Jesus said in Matthew 23 that we're not to tithe money. And he said, so I bet you're wondering, how is a pastor supposed to be paid? And he said, well, I bet that you would like to collect a sin offering from your congregation. Now let's stop for a second. If I were to collect a sin offer, first of all, I'd go broke. OK? Anybody, let's just say most of us would go broke. Some of you probably not. But I definitely would, because I know what sin is. It's a transgression of the law and sin goes deep. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. OK, the thought of foolishness is sin. I can't tell you how many foolish thoughts I've had today because that would be inappropriate. And again, I would have no money left. It's ridiculous. So I don't know where he's getting this stuff, but he goes on to say, when Paul said in 1 Corinthians that apostles, pastors, and missionaries should be paid, his point wasn't that they should be paid by money. His point was that as workers in the ministry, they just deserve to be paid for their work. OK, so that's what this is all boiling down to. And then he goes on and says, do you plan on attending any festivals this year? And he starts to list off the different festivals that took place in the Old Testament and how the people of the land tithed their money and their animals and said, if I'm not planning on attending any feast today in Israel, or I'm sorry, this year in Israel, we can't collect tithes and offerings. And then the last thing he says, he says this, from Abram's war spoils, see Genesis 14.21. And he's saying this arrogantly. Melchizedek asked for only the persons. And then he goes to the Greek, which really pissed me off. So I figured, you know what, why not? Obviously, somebody out there is watching. Somebody out there is angry about money, whatever. So we're going to talk about it today. And then I'm going to leave the subject for a long time. And my message to you, pal, if you're watching, why don't you just come down here and say it to my face? Why do you have to send these stupid emails? And to you that are threatening me out there, just come down here, we'll have a talk. Have a nice little chat. We've got plenty of space. There's nothing to be afraid of. Just come down here and let's reason together, okay? Hopefully you can read between the lines on that. But anyways, let's go back to the text. Look at verse number 38. So it says this. It says, and the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites take tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God to the chambers into the treasure house. Go to Leviticus chapter number 27. So from those two verses there in the book of Nehemiah, what can we conclude that the purpose of tithes are for? And that is for support, okay? It is to support, or in this case and at this time, it was to support the priest, right? He's basically saying that I'm a hireling. He's basically saying that I'm going out and abusing the church money, which is why I work a full-time job, why I have a small business, you know, but whatever. He knows more about me than I do, I guess. Look at verse number 10. More about me than I do, I guess. Look at verse number 10. It says, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And so God is telling the nation of Israel. He's telling his church during this time. Look, this is something you can actually test in your life. This is something you can actually prove, and I will demonstrate my love and my reward for your obedience. Look at verse 11. He says, and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord. Go to Luke chapter number 6. Luke chapter number 6. And so he's just describing the whole purpose there, right? It's not just like, okay, God said to do it, so just give me your money. No, you're supposed to be a cheerful giver, okay? And God is saying, hey, I have this system set up so that you will learn to trust me. So that you will learn to be thankful for what I've given you. And here's what I've always learned, you know, because I'll be honest. You know, when I first started going to church, I was like, I can't afford to be given no money. In fact, when this church first started, a young gizzard came up to me, and he's like, I'm thinking about getting a second job. I was like, why? I was like, I didn't even know you had a first job, first of all, but why? And he's like, so that way I can pay my tithes. It's like, how about you just get your life in order real quick? And then do that, okay? Don't, like, you're going to get a second job. If you're so messed up that you're just going to be late on all these different things, and you're just going to tank, it's like, why add to the problem and get a second job? It's just not going to work. That logic makes no sense. But he's simply saying, hey, look, you know, not only does this help you to realize your appreciation, you know, not only does this support the ministry, but what this does is it sends a message to people around that you guys mean business, okay? That's what he's telling the nation here. Now, before I read Luke chapter 6, verse 38, I'm going to read Proverbs 3, 9, which says this. Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase, okay? And so what we teach and what we believe here is that we ought to give God of our increase, right? Like the first thing, when you get your paycheck, that should be your first thought, like, you know, what can I do to support the ministry? What can I do to help out here? The first verse, right? The last few verses of Nehemiah chapter 10, what was the main word that kept popping up there? First fruits, right? First fruits, first fruits, right? He's not like, okay, we'll just go down your budget list there, and if you've got a few bucks left over, then give that. God doesn't respect that, okay? And that's all throughout the Bible, and we'll look at that, but you're there in Luke chapter 6, look at verse 38. This is what Jesus says. He says, give, and it shall be given unto you. Good measure pressed down and shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye meet, with all it shall be measured to you again. And so that's the principle that we're talking about. Now, go to Genesis chapter number 14, Genesis chapter number 14. So why tithe? Well, obviously it's out of obedience, but two, it's to support, it's to think, it's to show your appreciation, and it's to help the ministry. It's to demonstrate God's love to all of us. It's not to pay my bills, it's not to pay my car payment, it's not to do all the things that these people are accusing me of, okay? You know, and these stupid rumors that are going around, like about Pastor Thompson, oh, he spends $600 a day on food. That's ridiculous. There's no human alive that can spend that much money on themselves, as far as pizza and, you know, food goes. So that's ridiculous. That's one of the most generous guys that I know, that I've ever met. You know what I'm thankful for? I'm thankful that people in here, out of all the stuff that's going on this year on the internet and the internet world, that no one in here has been discouraged or fallen prey to the rumors, and I just want to definitely thank you for that. It makes my job so much easier. So, okay, now what we're going to do is we're going to answer this question, did people only tithe their increase, and was there a tithe before the law of Moses, okay? And I think you already know the answers to these, but Genesis chapter 14, very, very interesting story here in Genesis. We use this a lot. So the setup is Sodom and Gomorrah, because their you-know-who, got taken captive, okay? Well, the problem with that is that Lot, Abram's, what's the word I'm looking for? Yeah, nephew. Too much caffeine today. I'm still trying to get my schedule figured out, because I've been getting up early. But anyways, sermon for another day. And so Lot's like, okay, or Abram's like, look, I've got to go get him back. I've got to go get all the spoil back, so I'm going to go rescue him. So he does that, and look what it says that he does with the spoils, what he recovers. In verse 16 it says this, and he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot. Okay, it's not saying like his immediate brother, but his brother in the Lord, okay? And look what it says next, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. So the situation is here. The Lot, Sodom, Gomorrah, they got taken captive, and their stuff got taken as well, all their goods, all their money, all the stuff that they had. Abram makes a full recovery. God helps him to get all of that stuff back, okay? Very interesting. Here, look at verse 17. It says, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Cheddar Boy, or Keteleomer, depending on how you like to talk about him. We'll talk about him, but it says this, and of the kings that were with him at the Valley of Sheva, which is the king's dale, verse 18, and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God. Now, look at this here in verse number 19. And he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. The reason why I wanted you to pay attention to that is because a lot of times people say, well, Abram didn't get saved until he became Abraham. Well, obviously by reading this you can tell that's false doctrine. Look at verse 20. It says, and blessed the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and gave him tithes of all. All. All. So he gave tithes of stuff that he didn't even increase on. Now, obviously he got spoils. You know, they brought back more than what they originally lost, but he gave tithes of all. Well, do you think there was money involved there? Yeah. Now, let me ask you a question here. You're 14 chapters into the Bible. Where is the commandment to tithe up until this point? It's not there. So why is Abram giving these tithes? To show his gratitude. To show his appreciation for what God did for him. And he was more blessed after this deed, after this rescue mission, than he was before. You know, and like I said, I believe this, and I think everybody in here believes this. You know, you can live better off of God's 90% than the world's 100%. It's always, always worked out. Now, look, that's not to say you aren't going to have trials and tribulations and struggles. We will. We all do. Right? But we need to learn to trust God because that's exactly what Abram does here. So you're going to see the tithe pre-law, during the law, and obviously in the New Testament. And God says, I change not. The whole point is to support. It's to show appreciation. So these people that just want to make these stupid threats are absolutely ridiculous. You know, it's just funny. You know, I remember when we first started the church, it was just the sodomites that were threatened. And every once in a while, somebody sent me an 18-page, you know, email, why I'm wrong, why I messed up, or whatever. It's like, okay. Now it's like any time someone disagrees with something or they don't like what you say, it's I'm going to kill you. I'm going to cut your head off. I hope you die. It's like, really? Over a message I haven't preached yet? You want me to die? And I better do X, Y, and Z? Are you going to come kill me? It's absolutely ridiculous. But that's the culture we're living in today. Go to the book of Ezra. Ezra chapter number three. Ezra chapter number three. And kind of interesting, too, I'll just explain this. Now, immediately after the Bible talks about Abram giving tithes of all, guess who shows up? Old King Sodomite himself. He shows up. And what does he want? He wants the people. Okay. Now, what did our friend here say in his email? He said, from Abram's war spoils, hopefully you can read, you know, see Genesis 14, Melchizedek asked only for the persons. Nope. Abram. Actually, it doesn't say Melchizedek asked for anything. He brought a blessing. He brought bread and wine. Kind of funny because who's the first person mentioned in the lineage of Christ? Abram, right? Abraham. What did he bring? Or what did Melchizedek bring to Abram? Bread and wine. Bread and wine. What did Jesus have with the disciples at the last supper? Bread and wine. Kind of interesting. You put that together and you can see that there's nothing unbiblical, nothing evil, nothing worthy of me getting killed about preaching for it. It's ridiculous. But anyways, back to the Sodomite king. So he shows up and he's like, look, you can keep all the goods, you can keep all the spoils, just give me the people. Because that's what they want. Right? They want the people. They're implacable. That's what the Bible says. They just want the people. And isn't that the philosophy of the world today? Just keep your stuff, but just give yourself. Just give a little bit of time to the church. You know, and this guy in here, you know, people should just tie their time. Oh, really? Does everybody in here devote, what, 17 hours a week to the things of God? Because if you tie 10% of your time, that's how many hours you would be reading, studying, meditating, going around to people's homes, visiting. Hey, is there something I can help you out with? Yeah, I didn't think so. So let's move on from that. So, okay, what about this money thing? What about this cash money and this dough? Now, the guy said in his email, and people bring this up all the time. Well, they never use gold. They never used, you know, any kind of money. No, true. They use gold. They don't even read Exodus chapter 25. They use that to build the ark, to build the temple, to build all these different things, the tabernacle. You know, we know that. We've gone over this. But look at verse number 7. You're in Ezra chapter 3. Look at verse number 7. It says this. It says, So during the rebuilding process, not only were they instructed to begin giving tithes to the Levites, but they gave above and beyond that for what? For the building, for the construction of their temple. But yet people say, oh, they never gave any kind of money whatsoever in the Old Testament. Really? That's pretty bold of you to say. You must be reading an NIV. But here's the funny thing. Even liberals preach about tithing. Now, you want to talk about people preaching too much about tithing. You go see them. Ezra chapter 7. Look at verse 17. It says this. It says that thou mayest buy speedily with this money, bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God, which is in Jerusalem. So there you have, again, just another quick reference about money in the Bible. Now, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, or money in the Old Testament. So they did use money to build things. But here's the deal. When Solomon was building the temple, how did he pay Hyrum, king of Tyre? Baths of oil, food. I should have wrote down the list, but it was goods and services. He sent men over there. He talked about costly stones. So we can see that in building the temple, there was a cost involved. There was money involved. But you didn't just go to the bank back then, did you? Did they have a lot of paper cash back then? Did they have the Illuminati fiat currency and stuff going on back then? No, they didn't. They paid with real livestock, which is valuable. They paid with goods, services, like we've talked about. To build the temple of the Lord. Now, we're not trying to build a temple. We're just trying to get this space back here. That's all, and apparently I'm a criminal because of it. So let's talk about the New Testament. How do these things connect? How do we bridge this gap here and make sense of all this? 1 Corinthians 16, look at verse number 2. It says this. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. So, what is this answer here? Well, this answers the question because this gets brought up from time to time. Why do you pass a plate? You should just have a box at the beginning of the door. Whatever. People aren't really concerned with passing the plate. They're concerned with why do we have money at all? And it's like, look, no money. This doesn't happen. Everyone knows that. Everyone should know that. I mean, that's just basic math. No money. No church. No money. No Levitical priesthood. Okay? That's just how it is. But the reason why we pass the plate, the reason why we do these things is because of this verse here. It says, upon the first day of the week, which is, oh, Sunday? Yeah, that's right. That's Sunday. But every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered. Now, if I was just a cherry picker, we could just pick that up and be like, okay, well, that's, hey, that could, some days that could be more than what God's prospered you. I mean, more than the 10%, you know? But we don't say stuff like that. Look, we're not trying to milk you. You guys all know this. I'm preaching to the choir here. But I have to get this off my chest because apparently people watch this for the sole purpose, to see how rich I am. Like, look, you just come to my house, man. You know? You'll figure out pretty quick I'm not rich. You want to come to work with me? I started work at 6 o'clock in the morning on Monday and I got done at 730 Monday night. I'm not complaining. I love it. I like to work hard. I think it's fun. I think it's great. Especially with my new job. But go to Matthew chapter 23. We're getting close to being done here, I promise. Matthew chapter number 23. So this is another one of those verses. He said, hey, you can't use that to justify anything that you say about tithing. Let's see if that's true. Matthew chapter number 23. Look at verse 23. It says this. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of men and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. I mean, man, I'm getting a headache just going over this stuff, you know, for real. Verse 24, ye blind guides would strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Look, this guy, the guy with that email, look, he's got a huge camel in his belly is what he's got. He's just straining at a gnat. Go to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter number 12. So obviously he's not saying, hey, don't tithe anything at all. And this guy says, do your people bring in anise? Do you even know what that is? Do they bring in spices? Yeah, sometimes. I'm sure some of those pies back there have spices. But he probably don't want to hear that. Stupid. Jesus is not condemning the practice of giving money. All right. Further proof. Mark chapter 12, look at verse 41. It says this, Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. And many that were rich cast in much, and Jesus went over and grabbed them and stopped them. Oh, I'm sorry. I was reading the guy's email. Look at verse 42. It says this, and there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples and saith unto them, verily I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast in to the treasury. Stop there for a second. What is a treasury? What does that mean? Why is that in the Bible? How does that apply to today? Well, a treasury is kind of like a bank, right? Funds that are stored up and then distributed. Used to make repairs, used to buy things. Look at verse 44. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. I'm just reading to you what the Bible says. I'm not saying that you should do that. She gave out of the abundance of her heart. She gave all that she had. And if you're wondering, well, what is a mite? Well, Brother Bill from Sure Foundation gave this mite to me. This here is an actual mite. It's one of the ones that she threw in to the treasury. No, I'm just kidding, but it is a real mite from that time, and I'm going to leave this back there by the camera after the service. So if you've never seen a real example of what a mite looked like, go back there and look at this because it really puts into perspective what's going on here. I mean, this isn't much, right? I mean, this case costs more than the mite, but we'll put that back there for you. What is the principle here? Is Jesus like, hey, there shouldn't be any money involved here. They already pay their tithes, right? They already pay their tithes and their animals and all of that stuff. Why are they putting money into a box? Why are they putting money into a treasury? Does he say that? No, not at all. In fact, were these people here even preaching Jesus? No. Did they preach with power? Did they preach with authority? No. He just says, hey, I want you guys to notice this woman here and what's inside of her heart. God loveth a cheerful giver. That's all we're saying. Are you thankful for the ministry? You know, that's the whole point. It's not the browbeat people. Now, are there people out there that abuse them? Of course there are. I find it funny. I wonder how many death threats Creflo Dollar gets. How many death threats does Kenneth Copeland get? I probably get a few. You know, I shouldn't say that, but why me? We've got like 40 people. It hasn't even been quite three years yet. And you want to kill me over a message I haven't yet preached? Hopefully now you'll actually just, never mind. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. I'm going to get myself into trouble. Again, I promise we're getting close to being done here. Last chapter we're going to turn to. We're done after this, okay? You get this off my chest here and we will move on to fun stuff again next week. That's okay. 1 Corinthians 9. Look at verse number 3. Look at what Paul says. My answer to them that do examine me is this. And you know what? My answer to the people that examine us and our church is the exact same thing that is here in this chapter. Look at verse number 4. Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? What is he saying here? You know, don't we have the right to live? Don't I have the right to eat and to maybe enjoy my life a little bit just like Solomon said? Look at verse 6. Or I, only in Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working? Look at verse 7. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Kind of funny because he was being accused of the same exact thing that we all get accused of. You shouldn't be living off the gospel. Look at verse number 8. Say I these things as a man, or sayeth not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn, doth God take care for oxen? And so that is the bridge. So what he's saying is just like it was in the Old Testament, that's how it is in the New Testament. That is how a church should be ran. We should support ourselves. Now I'm not up here saying rescue me from my job and please give more so I don't have to go to work. Look, I enjoy my job. I just told you that. I think it's great. And when the day comes where I can be full-time, then praise God for that. But until then, let's just keep the lights on, get that thing over there, and go soul-winning, right? Let's support Brother Skolk. Let's make sure that we're praying. Let's do the things that we've been doing and reach more people, right? That's what we're about here. Look at verse 10. Or sayeth he it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written. Oh, but hermeneutically speaking, that doesn't mean you should get paid and live off the gospel. It just means you deserve that. You should just pat yourself on the back. That he that ploweth should plow in hope, and that he that threshest in hope should be partaker of his hope. Verse 11. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? Brother Jeff talked about this a few months ago. You know, it's like, hey, is it really a bad thing? Am I a horrible guy? Am I a devil because I live off the gospel after I've labored in spiritual matters and cooked up these spiritual meals and led charges out into the community to go preach the gospel to the lost? You know, money's a carnal thing. It's a worldly thing. It's temporary. It's here and it's gone. It's not, in fact, what does it say? Federal Reserve Note. Your money's not even, it doesn't even belong to this nation anymore. It belongs to China. Look at verse 12. If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. So I say, look, because there's some snowflakes around there, say, I'm going to prove to you my love for you. I'm going to prove how hard we can work. Verse 13. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Last verse, verse 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And so, with that being said, there's nothing wrong in the world with preaching about tithes. There's nothing wrong, and this really bugs me when people say, I hope you're not going to do that vision offering thing your pastor does. What is that to you? Why don't you go do something? Obviously, you've got too much time on your hands. Don't worry about what he does. If we decide to do that later on, then so be it. It's totally biblical. They did it in the Old Testament. Paul's saying we can do that now. So the point is, they were tithing before the law. They were tithing during the physical nation of Israel. And we're supposed to tithe now. And we do. And everything's cool. But yet, somehow, people want to threaten. You better not do that. You better not preach that. So that's why I'm preaching this. Because, again, I just love that people want to tell me what I can and cannot do. And plus, it is time. It's been three years just about. It's time to go over this. We need to make sure that we know all doctrine and that we can explain why we do the things that we do. And so, a couple of last thoughts. What did we learn today? Well, we learned that tithing is not an option. It's how the church runs. But it's not to be meant as a burden. It's out of your love. It's out of your gratitude that we give to the Lord. And what does he say? He says, I promise to bless you. I promise to take care of you. You need to learn to trust me. Better is his 90% program. You can live better off of his 90% program. We can live better off of that than off of the world's 100% program. And the tithe is obviously the first fruits. First fruits of your dough. So with that being said, we're going to partake of the first fruits of these pies. And hopefully have some great fellowship like we always do. And again, this isn't to browbeat people. This isn't to be in attack. It's doctrine. It's biblical. It's what we believe. It's what our church believes. And we wouldn't be in this building today if it wasn't for you guys, you know. We went from Brother Mike's house to my house to here, you know. And again, that wouldn't have happened. And Rick Melfi would have got his wish. That this church would have just got away. Too bad. Didn't happen. We're still growing. So hope you like that, pal. But anyways, I need to get better sleep. Let's bow our heads. Have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for these truths in the Bible. And I just pray that we would always be a people that displays our gratitude for everything that you've done for us, Lord. And we just pray that you would bless the fellowship, the food, and everything we have going on, Lord. And I pray that you take care of us this weekend. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. All right. Grab your songbooks one more time and turn to song 441. 441, Great Is Thy Faithfulness. On the first. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not thy compassions, they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest. Sun, moon, and the stars in the courses above. Join with all nature in manifold witness. To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. On the last. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. Thy own presence to cheer and to guide. Look for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Amen. Brother Jeff, would you close the service and a word of prayer, please? Dear Lord, thank you so much for this church, Lord. Thank you for just being able to look back and I miss you, Lord. It's hard to leave the house and the way you've come today, Lord. I pray that you help us to be thankful for these things and remember where you've come from and where you've grown to and all the souls that have been saved. Thank you for the grief you've made for this church, Lord. Because the people that are in it, because our pastor and his family, Lord, just help us continue to support one another, Lord. I pray you bless the food and the pie and the fellowship and keep us safe as we go. I pray that all souls may be saved. We love you and be thankful. Amen. Amen. Amen.