A Sharper Focus

Complete Stewardship Part2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: ASHF

Program Code: ASHF000190A


00:21 Good evening everyone
00:22 and welcome to our Wednesday Night Bible Study here
00:24 at the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:26 We thank you for taking the time
00:28 to tune in and join us,
00:29 and we're gonna be continuing our study tonight
00:31 on "Stewardship,
00:33 the Complete Truth about Stewardship."
00:36 And so all you need is a pen.
00:39 We'll tell you in just a moment
00:40 where to get a copy of the lesson to follow along,
00:43 you need a Bible and you need an open heart
00:45 as you invite the Spirit of God to speak to you tonight.
00:50 Before we do anything though,
00:51 we always like to begin with prayer
00:52 and I'll invite you to bow your heads with me
00:54 as we open the Word of the Lord.
00:57 Father in heaven, we thank You tonight
00:59 for the beauty of Your Word,
01:01 for the strength and clarity of Your Word,
01:04 we do pray that as we invite Your Spirit
01:07 to come tonight
01:08 that we will be taught,
01:10 our minds will be not only furnished
01:12 with information
01:14 but we will experience transformation.
01:17 Be our teacher and what we learn,
01:20 Lord, help us to apply it to our Christian walk,
01:24 we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
01:27 Good evening, everyone, can I say that?
01:30 Good evening, everyone, okay.
01:32 And if you'd like to get a copy of the lesson,
01:34 lesson number 43,
01:36 go to this following website
01:38 ASF.3ABN.org
01:41 and download lesson number 43,
01:44 ASF.3ABN.org.
01:46 And at website there are many other lessons
01:48 and also lot of other videos that you can follow along,
01:51 and learn and share with your friends
01:53 and your family.
01:54 But we also, before we go to the lesson,
01:57 we sing our theme song,
01:59 and what is our theme song?
02:00 What's the title there? Victory in...?
02:01 Jesus. Let's sing the song together.
02:12 I heard an old, old story
02:16 How the Savior came from glory
02:19 How He gave His life on Calvary
02:23 To save a wretch like me
02:27 I heard about His groaning
02:31 Of His precious blood's atoning
02:35 Then I repented of my sin
02:39 And won the victory
02:42 O victory in Jesus
02:46 My Savior, forever
02:50 He sought me and bought me
02:53 With His redeeming blood
02:57 He loved me ere I knew Him
03:01 And all my love is due Him
03:05 He plunged me to victory
03:08 Beneath the cleansing flood
03:12 I heard about a mansion
03:16 He has built for me in glory
03:20 And I heard about the streets of gold
03:24 Beyond the crystal sea
03:27 About the angels singing
03:31 And the old redemption story
03:35 And some sweet day I'll sing up there
03:39 The song of victory
03:41 Key change.
03:43 O victory in Jesus
03:46 My Savior, forever
03:50 He sought me and bought me
03:54 With His redeeming blood
03:58 He loved me ere I knew Him
04:01 And all my love is due Him
04:05 He plunged me to victory
04:09 Beneath the cleansing flood
04:13 He plunged me to victory
04:17 Beneath the cleansing flood
04:23 Amen? Amen.
04:25 The topic is "The Truth about Complete Stewardship,"
04:29 say that with me, what is it?
04:31 The Truth about Complete Stewardship.
04:35 Now last week we learned a number of things
04:37 about Stewardship and I wanna...
04:39 When you think about Stewardship,
04:41 normally our wheels begin to turn
04:44 and in many cases when churches talk
04:46 about Stewardship, they talk about money.
04:49 They say well tithe and offering,
04:51 how to support certain ministries financially,
04:55 but when the Bible talks about Stewardship,
04:57 it addresses it in at least five areas.
05:00 Those five areas we wrote them down last week
05:03 and just to...
05:05 If you download question number 43,
05:07 I'll just go ahead
05:09 at the very beginning of lesson number 43, thank you.
05:12 At the very beginning,
05:15 we have Stewardship is
05:16 and there's one, two, three, four, five,
05:18 and I wanna give you a chance
05:19 if you miss the last one to write those down.
05:22 So Stewardship is, here it is,
05:24 look at this, together,
05:26 Time, Temple, Testimony, Talent, and Treasure.
05:31 What are those again?
05:32 Time, Temple, Testimony, Talent, and Treasure.
05:37 And you can find other T's if you'd like
05:39 but the five general areas of Stewardship
05:42 is Time, Temple, Testimony, Talent, and Treasure
05:46 and you'll discover something very important
05:48 because there's a phrase
05:50 and we'll get into this a little more tonight
05:53 but there's a phrase that's loosely used.
05:56 Some people have said time is money.
06:01 Have you heard that before?
06:03 Well, you know, that's not true.
06:05 Time is not money except if you have a job,
06:08 but if you're laying on your hospital bed
06:10 and you're a millionaire,
06:11 you can't buy time with money.
06:14 Time is the most important commodity
06:17 we were ever given, time.
06:20 And also I've discovered something else,
06:22 time is the greatest test.
06:25 Now we often think it's money, but it's easier to give money
06:29 than it is to give time.
06:31 Think about that for a moment.
06:34 When you have projects,
06:35 when you're raising funds for projects,
06:37 let's look at the comparison.
06:38 If there are missionaries
06:40 and those missionaries need to be sponsored or supported,
06:43 some people would rather write a check for missions
06:47 than become a missionary themselves.
06:50 Some people would say,
06:51 "I'll be glad to buy materials."
06:52 They'll give money to purchase the materials
06:55 rather than go out
06:56 into the highways and hedges, door to door,
06:58 and give out the materials.
07:00 So time is not money.
07:02 Money can buy anything, but money can't buy time.
07:06 So we're gonna find out tonight as we go forward
07:09 how time is the most important commodity
07:13 we've been given
07:15 because when you,
07:16 when we visit people in the hospital
07:18 or when people are sick,
07:20 I've never heard people say,
07:21 "I wish I had more money,
07:23 or more materialistic, or possessions,
07:25 or wish I had a bigger house
07:27 or better car, or better job."
07:29 They say, "I wish I had more time."
07:32 And so Stewardship is widely important
07:34 and it's connected very much to time.
07:36 Go with me to the Book of Deuteronomy.
07:39 We're gonna spend a little time
07:40 and we ended on question 12 last week,
07:43 we're gonna begin on question 12 this week.
07:46 Talking about some very important lessons
07:50 that we could learn
07:52 from the children of Israel,
07:55 the children of Israel, that's right,
07:57 that's a very good point,
07:58 we're gonna see that in the lesson.
08:00 Okay, we're gonna talk about that,
08:02 right?
08:04 Deuteronomy Chapter 8,
08:06 this is a...
08:11 There are three remembers in the Bible,
08:14 but I'm gonna introduce a fourth.
08:16 There are three prominent remembers in the Bible,
08:19 but I'm gonna introduce a fourth
08:21 because there are many remembers,
08:23 but this fourth one I'm going to introduce
08:25 is more important than all the other three
08:27 because if you remember this one,
08:29 then the other three are no issue.
08:31 Now one of the first ones is,
08:33 it's talked about by man
08:35 by the name of Dr. Luke or Luke,
08:37 the writer of the Book of Acts and the Book of Luke.
08:39 He says, "Remember Lot's wife."
08:41 So what that means is, if you remember Lot's wife,
08:44 what did she do when the Lord told her
08:46 to leave Sodom and Gomorrah.
08:48 He said to her, "Don't look back."
08:51 So when the Lord calls a person to follow Him,
08:54 in truth, and in light, in obedience,
08:57 He says to that person,
08:58 "Remember Lot's wife."
09:00 She became the first human salt shaker,
09:03 a pillar of salt.
09:07 Not to intend, not to belittle that at all,
09:10 but disobedience will make you
09:12 what you never thought you could become.
09:15 Did you hear that?
09:16 A person that becomes disobedient will...
09:20 If she could have responded in her new condition,
09:24 she would've said, "I would never think
09:26 that I would become a pillar of salt."
09:28 Disobedience also sometimes put you
09:30 in an irreversible circumstance.
09:33 So remember Lot's wife, that's the first one.
09:35 Second one is in Ecclesiastes 12,
09:37 "Remember the Creator in the days of your youth."
09:40 How many of us think it's important
09:42 for young people to remember the Lord?
09:44 Can we say amen? Amen.
09:46 This is what we know.
09:47 So we say to young people today,
09:49 remember the Creator in the days of your youth,
09:53 but Ecclesiastes
09:56 takes that to another level,
09:57 it's in essence saying, "Remember the Creator
09:59 before you get any older."
10:00 That's really the inference of that
10:02 because as we get older,
10:03 and that's where the fourth one is gonna come in.
10:05 And the third one is, "Remember the Sabbath day
10:07 to keep it holy."
10:09 We're gonna see how that fits
10:10 into the Stewardship of time.
10:11 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
10:13 Is it important to remember the Sabbath?
10:15 Yes, it is.
10:16 It's a sign between God and His people
10:18 to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.
10:20 The fourth one is found here in Deuteronomy Chapter 8.
10:24 Now this, this leans in on,
10:27 this leans in on the second one I remembered,
10:31 the second one that I mentioned a moment ago
10:33 and that is, "Remember the Creator
10:35 in the days of your youth."
10:37 Young people ought to remember the Creator.
10:39 But the children of Israel,
10:41 literally the sons of Jacob,
10:45 as they were let out of Egypt,
10:47 the Lord was trying to retrain them
10:49 in preparation to go into the Promised Land,
10:52 and as they got out of Egypt
10:54 and they began to surmount wealth
10:56 and begin to get their own,
10:58 something happened, something happened.
11:01 Okay, let's look at verse 2, and I'm gonna work my way down
11:05 to the question that is question number 12.
11:07 All right.
11:12 Well, I'm gonna start with verse 1,
11:13 and I'm gonna very quickly.
11:14 "Every commandment which I command you today,
11:18 you must be careful to do," what?
11:20 "To observe, that you may live and multiply,
11:24 and go in and possess the land
11:26 of which the Lord swore to your fathers."
11:28 He says, "If you do what I ask you to do,
11:31 you're gonna possess that land.
11:32 Be careful to do it."
11:34 And verse 2, "And you shall remember
11:37 that the Lord, your God led you" how far?
11:40 "All the way these forty years in the wilderness."
11:43 It's important to see that where we are today,
11:45 we cannot get there except the Lord let us.
11:48 He goes on,
11:49 "To humble you
11:52 and test you."
11:54 You ever see that test?
11:56 You've experienced the test?
11:57 Humble your intension, notice what else He says.
12:00 To humble you and test you,
12:01 to know," and here's the key,
12:04 "what was in your heart,
12:07 whether you would keep His commandments or not?"
12:11 Now what a lot of Christians don't understand
12:14 is the Lord is leading then and His leading is a test
12:18 to see what, what did the verse say?
12:19 What does it say?
12:21 To see whether we keep what, Yannick?
12:23 His commandments or not.
12:25 So as the Lord is leading us
12:26 from where He found us to where we're gonna head,
12:29 Christians of every denomination,
12:32 if you don't keep the commandments of God,
12:34 you fail the test.
12:37 Because He said, "I wanna see whether or not,
12:39 I'm gonna test you to see whether or not
12:41 you're gonna keep My commandments."
12:42 He goes on further.
12:44 Verse 3, "So he humbled you, allowed you to" what?
12:49 "Hunger and fed you with mannar
12:52 which you did not know nor did your fathers know,
12:55 that he might make you know
12:56 that man shall not live by," what?
12:59 See that's where it comes from.
13:01 We thought it was Matthew 4:4, it starts right there,
13:03 "Man shall not live by bread alone,
13:06 but man lives by every word
13:09 that proceeds from the mouth of God."
13:11 That's where Matthew got it from.
13:13 And by the way Matthew didn't have the New Testament,
13:15 Matthew became a part of the New Testament.
13:17 Look at all the blessings I wanna get this,
13:19 look at all the blessings.
13:20 "Your garments did not wear out on you,
13:23 nor did your foot swell these 40 years,"
13:26 'cause they didn't have cars, they did what?
13:28 Walked.
13:29 They walked everywhere.
13:30 He took care of them, they didn't need doctors.
13:33 Go on to verse 5,
13:34 "So you should know in your heart
13:36 that as a man chastens his own, his son,
13:40 so the Lord your God chastens you.
13:43 Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord,
13:45 your God, to walk in His ways and to do," what?
13:48 "Fear Him," that is to honor Him.
13:50 "For the Lord your God is bringing you
13:52 into a," what kind of land?
13:54 "Good land.
13:56 A land of brooks of water,
13:58 of fountains and springs
14:00 that flow out of the valleys and hills,
14:02 a land of wheat and barley, of vines
14:05 and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive,
14:08 olive oil and honey,
14:10 a land in which you'll eat bread
14:11 without scarcity,
14:13 in which you'll lack nothing.
14:15 A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills
14:19 you can dig copper."
14:20 A rich, a mineral rich land.
14:23 Good food but look at this,
14:26 "When you have eaten and are full,
14:29 then you shall bless the Lord, your God
14:31 for the good land
14:33 which He has given you."
14:36 Look at verse 11,
14:37 "Beware that you do not," what?
14:40 "Forget the Lord your God
14:43 by not keeping His commandments,
14:45 His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today."
14:49 Look at question 12.
14:50 This is the lead right into question 12.
14:52 Here it is, question 12.
14:55 What have many successful people forgotten?
15:00 Look at verse 18.
15:02 Actually I'm gonna go to verse 18 in the moment.
15:04 But I'm gonna go all the way down, okay.
15:06 So we're understanding what the problem was here.
15:10 I want to go to verse 18 right now,
15:11 and then we're gonna come back to verse 12.
15:13 Let's go to verse 18.
15:16 Here it is.
15:17 What have many successful people forgotten?
15:20 Here it is,
15:22 "And you shall remember the Lord your God,"
15:26 read the yellow part with me on the screen,
15:28 "for it is He who gives you power
15:31 to get wealth,
15:33 that He may establish His covenant
15:36 which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day."
15:39 What does the Lord give us?
15:40 Power.
15:42 What does the word power mean?
15:43 Strength.
15:45 Say it. Strength and what else?
15:47 Health.
15:48 Health, vigor, He said your feet didn't swell,
15:52 your clothes didn't rot,
15:54 everything you had I provided for you
15:56 but He says don't forget,
15:58 "I am the power."
16:00 So think about it.
16:01 You ever had a power outage?
16:03 Do we have power outages out here? Come on,
16:05 we're in Southern Illinois, we get power outages.
16:08 And when we get power outages, what do we wait?
16:11 What do we say?
16:12 When will the power come back on?
16:15 So many Christians have had power outages
16:18 and only when the power goes off,
16:20 do they realize how badly they need it.
16:23 What that means is,
16:24 only when we lack
16:26 and we realize, wait a minute,
16:28 you know why, I know I don't have anything
16:30 because I don't even thank the Lord.
16:32 I don't remember Him,
16:33 and this remember is gonna get
16:35 into another area of Stewardship
16:37 because remembering the Lord,
16:38 when you return tithes and offerings
16:40 because you're saying,
16:41 "Thank you Lord
16:42 for giving me ten oranges
16:44 and only asking for me to give you back one."
16:47 That's Stewardship.
16:48 He's testing the heart.
16:49 Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.
16:52 So let's put the answer down to question 12.
16:54 What have many successful people forgotten?
16:57 The Lord.
16:59 No, what have they forgotten?
17:00 They did remember the Lord,
17:02 but they forgot what?
17:03 He's the one
17:04 who gives you the health which is the Lord,
17:07 remember the Lord.
17:08 He's the one that gives you the health
17:10 to get the wealth.
17:12 Gives you the power
17:14 and power there is not the same word
17:17 like in the New Testament dunamis
17:19 which talks about the Holy Spirit's power.
17:21 What that is in essence
17:23 best described as "He gives you the vigor,
17:25 the energy, the vitality
17:27 so that you could go out and work
17:28 because they didn't have,
17:29 you know, they didn't have computers back then.
17:31 They had to literally cut stuff down,
17:33 and chop down trees, and do all that stuff that...
17:38 I think they were a lot stronger
17:39 than we are today.
17:40 Let's go to number 13,
17:42 but I wanna go back to Deuteronomy 8
17:45 before we go to question 13
17:47 because I want you to see the trajectory,
17:49 I want you to see how they forgot the Lord.
17:52 They forgot Him.
17:53 Now we're gonna go to verse what?
17:54 Verse 12
17:56 and it says, "Lest when you have eaten
17:58 and are full," that's Deuteronomy 8:12 "
18:02 and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them,
18:06 and when your herds and your flocks multiply,"
18:08 that means you have a lot of animals,
18:10 lot of livestock,"
18:11 and your silver and your gold are multiplied,"
18:13 meaning you got lot of cars, "
18:15 and all you have is multiplied,
18:19 when your heart is lifted up,
18:20 if you're good and you forget the Lord..."
18:22 Notice how many times he says forget.
18:24 "You forget the Lord who brought you out
18:26 of the land of Egypt
18:28 from the house of bondage."
18:29 He said, "You don't remember,
18:30 you used to be a slave,
18:32 you had nothing and I am blessing you."
18:34 Look at verse 15,
18:35 "Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness"
18:38 that means He protects us,
18:40 "in which were fiery serpents and scorpions
18:43 and thirsty land
18:44 where there was no water,
18:46 who brought water for you out of the rock of flint."
18:49 That's not just a regular rock, that's a hard rock.
18:52 "Who fed you in the wilderness with manna,
18:54 which your fathers did not know,
18:56 that He might humble you
18:57 and that He might test you,
18:59 to do you good in the end.
19:02 Then you say in your heart,
19:06 'My power and the might of my hand
19:09 have gained me this wealth.' "
19:12 Now let's go to question 13,
19:15 arrogance, arrogance, terrible thing.
19:19 Question 13.
19:21 What does the Bible contribute to our needs not being met?
19:32 This is really important, Deuteronomy 8:19.
19:36 Here it is, here it is,
19:40 "Then it shall be," and this is so,
19:44 if you could, then it shall be, I'll say this,
19:46 "If you by any means," together,
19:49 "forget the Lord your God,
19:52 and follow other gods,
19:54 and serve them, and worship them,
19:57 I testify against you this day
20:00 that you shall," what?
20:02 "Surely perish."
20:04 Meaning your livestock is gonna dry up,
20:07 your cattle is not gonna produce,
20:09 your land is not gonna produce,
20:11 all your gold and silver is gonna rot,
20:13 it's gonna canker up against you.
20:14 You're not gonna be in good health.
20:19 You're not gonna have the strength you need
20:21 and you wonder, where did that come from.
20:23 Remember I got you healthy.
20:26 You didn't get me healthy,
20:27 I have a great health plan.
20:29 Now, let me just make a point right here.
20:31 As conscious as we are about health,
20:33 it's important, isn't it?
20:34 Yes.
20:36 The Lord gives you a health plan.
20:37 If you follow that health plan,
20:38 that health plan will keep you healthy.
20:40 But you can be healthy and still forget the Lord.
20:44 There are some people that are healthy,
20:46 they are healthy financially, physically,
20:48 but they are not healthy spiritually.
20:51 He's talking about a spiritual health
20:52 which gives God the glory for all the provision
20:55 He provides for us.
20:56 Okay, so look at...
20:58 So the answer to question number 13.
21:00 What does the Bible contribute to our needs not being met?
21:03 What happened?
21:05 Once again, forget the Lord
21:07 and the things we do begin to show it.
21:09 We start serving other gods,
21:11 we worship other gods,
21:12 our worship is affected,
21:14 the way we serve is affected.
21:16 He says, "Worship other gods
21:17 and you serve them
21:18 and you worship them," He said.
21:20 All of a sudden,
21:21 here you are in the groves worshipping
21:23 Ashtaroth and Baal all these gods
21:27 that has nothing to do with your freedom in Egypt
21:30 and you forget Me.
21:32 So vitally important to remember the Lord.
21:34 Can I get an amen? Amen!
21:36 Now we're gonna go back to the verses
21:37 we read just a moment ago.
21:39 We're gonna go to question number 14.
21:42 Question number 14.
21:44 Here it is.
21:48 How did God...?
21:50 We're gonna go to Deuteronomy 28 on this one.
21:52 How did God honor Israel
21:55 when they were faithful to Him?
21:58 This is beautiful.
21:59 And this by the way applies to every one of us.
22:03 You all know today
22:05 that there are certain principles
22:06 in the Bible today
22:07 about how to plant,
22:10 how to do gardening,
22:11 how to do agriculture
22:13 that the Lord established among the Israelites.
22:16 And anybody from any nation, if you follow those principles,
22:19 you'll have the very same success.
22:21 How to allow the land to rest once every seven years
22:24 for to replenish itself?
22:26 You'll have a lot of success.
22:27 But notice what?
22:29 The answer is, how did God honor Israel
22:31 when they were faithful?
22:33 Deuteronomy 28, and here it is,
22:36 "The Lord will open," the Lord will do what?
22:40 "Open to you His good treasure,"
22:43 which is what?
22:44 "The heavens."
22:46 Doesn't that sound like Malachi Chapter 3?
22:47 Yes.
22:49 I will not open for you the windows of heaven,
22:51 "To give the rain to your land
22:54 and its season, and to bless,
22:58 in its season," sorry,
22:59 "and to bless all the work of your hand."
23:02 I love this,
23:04 "You shall lend to many nations,
23:06 but you shall not," what?"
23:08 "You shall not borrow." You're gonna have money,
23:10 I'm not gonna, you don't have to worry about finances,
23:12 I'll take care of you.
23:13 The Lord will make sure that you have.
23:15 And by the way, let me add this to this.
23:18 Some people are blessed financially,
23:20 but how you handled your money
23:21 will determine whether or not
23:23 that money can serve you for a long periods of time
23:25 because some people have a lot of finances,
23:27 they're blessed financially,
23:28 but they don't lay anything aside for those seasons
23:31 that we call the what day?
23:33 The rainy days.
23:35 Lord is saying, "Be mindful, be business minded."
23:38 David the Psalmist says,
23:39 "Don't be slothful in business."
23:41 Be a person that's wise
23:43 and learn how to use what God has given to you.
23:46 Put it here so that when this pot is empty,
23:49 you ever heard the phrase,
23:50 the left and right pocket, what do we call them?
23:52 They have two names.
23:54 We took from...
23:56 Okay, we rob Peter to pay Paul.
24:00 We shouldn't have to do that.
24:01 I was reading something earlier this week
24:03 from an old motivational speaker.
24:06 He was a very well-known in his day.
24:09 You young people won't know who he is,
24:11 but a man by the name of Zig Ziglar.
24:13 Anybody heard about Him?
24:14 Oh, you heard about Zig Ziglar, man we've got a teenager
24:16 heard about Zig Ziglar.
24:18 And Zig Ziglar said,
24:19 "One of the greatest challenges in life
24:21 is people steal from themselves."
24:25 He addresses the chapter, he says, "Stop being a thief."
24:28 And he addresses people that steal from themselves.
24:32 He says, "When we don't follow through on our commitments,
24:35 we steal our blessings.
24:37 When we don't follow through, and he was a Christian,
24:39 he was a Baptist,
24:41 "When you don't follow through
24:42 on what you know is right in God's Word,
24:44 you steal your blessings."
24:46 And he says, "Would you be upset
24:47 if somebody stole something from you?"
24:49 Would you? Yeah.
24:50 He says, "Stop stealing from yourself."
24:52 Your blessings,
24:54 all the things that the Lord wants to do
24:55 in your life,
24:57 when we are not faithful,
24:58 we steal from ourselves.
25:00 Because the Lord says, "I will open,"
25:03 open to you His good, what?
25:05 "Treasure, His good treasure."
25:07 And that's that window that Malachi talks about,
25:10 "The Lord will pour into us."
25:11 And here's the principle,
25:13 He will not pour into you
25:14 if you waste what He pours into you.
25:17 Do you think so?
25:19 Would you give him a lot of money
25:20 if you know he wastes it, Miss Frasier?
25:22 No.
25:23 But if you see him using wisely,
25:24 you say, "Okay, now he'd be trusted with more.
25:27 Even Olive Garden is doing that.
25:28 I notice we went to Olive Garden.
25:30 We like Olive Garden.
25:31 My wife and I,
25:33 when we were coming back from the airport,
25:34 we say, "Where we're gonna eat?
25:36 Well, we like to get out of Missouri
25:37 and go into Illinois
25:38 and we say, "Let's go to Olive Garden."
25:40 And there was a time that they used to give you
25:41 more salad in the very beginning.
25:45 They used to give you like a full bowl of salad,
25:47 but now they are doing something,
25:49 they give you a little bit.
25:50 Yeah.
25:52 You notice that?
25:53 And if you eat it,
25:54 they fill it up the second time.
25:56 They give you only three breadsticks,
25:57 I like breadsticks.
25:59 But they only give you three
26:01 and sometimes they are not the best breadsticks.
26:03 But if you get past
26:04 those first three meager breadsticks
26:06 and that little bit of salad,
26:07 they'll say, "Do you wanna eat more breadsticks?"
26:09 And then the second time they give you the hot ones.
26:12 So they wanna give you the better one
26:14 the second time around if you endure the first set.
26:17 So I thought,
26:19 "Why are they giving us such little bit of salad."
26:20 You know why?
26:21 Because many people get salad and don't eat it.
26:24 And economically, do you think that's an impact?
26:26 Think about your restaurant.
26:27 You got 300 people came in here today
26:29 and 300 of them wasted two ounces of salad, add it up.
26:33 That's a lot of salad.
26:35 American Airlines years ago,
26:38 I forgot how many millions they saved.
26:40 It was talked about, it was on that,
26:42 you know and this is just for people in first class,
26:45 they saved millions by eliminating
26:47 one olive from their meals.
26:52 How many? One.
26:53 Now you think about how many flights,
26:56 how many meals they serve,
26:58 they eliminated just one olive
27:01 and they saved millions.
27:03 Because that one olive,
27:04 all those passengers, all those flights,
27:05 thousands of flights a day, thousands of meals,
27:09 starts adding up really quickly.
27:11 So what I am talking about here
27:13 Stewardship, and company executives,
27:15 they always try to find ways to cut off the...
27:18 increase the bottom line,
27:20 and cut off the expenses.
27:22 How can we trim the fat?
27:23 How can we be more efficient?
27:25 Stewardship
27:26 is how can Christians be more efficient?
27:29 And one of the greatest problems
27:31 in the church today
27:33 is we have the greatest product
27:38 we have the greatest product
27:42 and we treasure it so lightly.
27:46 Let me give you an example,
27:48 and I am teaching, I am not preaching.
27:50 If you have...
27:52 If somebody says, you know what?
27:53 I have something that I'd like to give you,
27:56 it's a retirement plan
27:58 and the benefits are out of this world.
28:02 Did you get that?
28:05 And it's already paid for
28:08 and the second benefit is you never die.
28:13 All your needs will be met,
28:15 you will never get sick,
28:18 but all you have to do is sign the dotted line.
28:21 Where do I sign?
28:25 But you know what people ask instead.
28:27 Oh, if they only going to...
28:29 They ask the...
28:30 I don't wanna use the word dumb.
28:32 Okay, I'll use the word dumb.
28:33 They ask the dumbest question,
28:36 "What do I have to give up?
28:38 It's like a little boy,
28:39 I saw a picture of a little boy,
28:41 sorry, it's little girl,
28:43 and...
28:47 the mother came to the little kid
28:49 and was offering them a...
28:52 They said, "If you, could I have your teddy bear?
28:55 That little teddy bear."
28:58 No, no.
29:01 If you give me your teddy bear, I'll give you something better.
29:03 Well, that kid loved that teddy bear.
29:05 They didn't wanna let it go.
29:09 Do you trust your mom?
29:10 Yes, mommy, but I'm not giving you
29:12 my teddy bear.
29:13 And that kid had it all.
29:15 So finally after coaxing and talking and convincing
29:19 and going through history,
29:21 finally says, "Okay, here's the teddy bear."
29:25 And the mom said, "Okay, now here's a teddy,
29:27 and gave her a huge teddy bear."
29:29 And she, her eye's like
29:33 and you know what kids often say?
29:35 You know what they think,
29:36 If I knew that's what you were gonna give me,
29:38 I'd have given you this a long time ago.
29:39 Yeah.
29:41 We forget that God wants to give us,
29:44 He wants to give us reign on the land,
29:46 bless all the works of our hands.
29:49 You won't lend, you'll give money out,
29:52 you want to borrow any.
29:53 I'll make sure your crops are taken care of,
29:55 I'll make sure your clothes don't rot,
29:56 your feet wont swell,
29:58 you'll never have to worry about your knees
30:00 and we say,
30:02 "But what do I have to give up?"
30:03 Your teddy bear.
30:05 And we have to settle teddy bear called selfishness.
30:08 That robs us as Zig Ziglar said,
30:12 "Robs us of the blessings that are just ahead of us."
30:16 Sad, but it's true, it's true.
30:18 So look at this.
30:19 How did God honor Israel when they were faithful?
30:22 Man, He poured into the allies.
30:23 Write anything you like,
30:25 but the answer is according to the way
30:26 you can best describe it.
30:28 Let's go to number 15.
30:30 The Lord wants to bless us and as I go further,
30:34 you'll see that God
30:36 and I'll reiterate this later on
30:37 in the scripture on the screen,
30:39 but He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly
30:44 above all that you can ask or think
30:47 according to the power that is at work in us.
30:50 But if there is no power working in you,
30:52 then that will never be a reality in your life.
30:55 Okay number 15, here it is.
30:57 In recognition of God's total Ownership,
31:01 how should we approach Him?
31:03 How should we approach Him?
31:07 Psalm 116:12, here's the answer.
31:12 How should we approach Him?
31:16 And that question is not a loaded question,
31:18 it's a fact.
31:19 How much do we own? How much do we own?
31:24 Nothing. Nothing.
31:26 Last week we discovered in our last study,
31:28 we discovered,
31:30 we brought nothing into the world
31:32 and it's for certain we take how much out?
31:34 Nothing.
31:36 We can't take anything with us.
31:38 So in honor of Gods,
31:40 in recognition of God's total ownership,
31:42 look at Psalm 116:12.
31:44 Okay, here's the question that David asked, look at it.
31:47 "What shall I render to the Lord for,"
31:50 what?
31:52 "All His benefits toward me?"
31:55 One of the questions people ask when they get a job, they ask,
31:58 "What are the benefits?"
32:02 Oh, you have medical, you have dental,
32:04 you have six weeks vacation in the first year?
32:06 Not in America, that's in Australia.
32:10 In America, they work you like a horse.
32:13 Please, Congress, do something.
32:15 You go to Australia,
32:17 they get six weeks vacation the first year.
32:20 They don't take vacation days,
32:22 they take a sabbatical.
32:24 They travel around the world,
32:25 six weeks vacation.
32:28 But here's the key,
32:29 so when you have a company like that,
32:30 would you wanna work?
32:32 Would you wanna work for them?
32:34 What shall I render to the Lord for how much?
32:36 All His benefits towards me.
32:39 I play basketball
32:41 and I played basketball last night.
32:44 My wife told me to stop telling my age.
32:46 Okay, I won't tell you my age,
32:47 but I am one year past 59
32:50 Okay, okay.
32:53 And you know what?
32:55 I don't take medications
32:56 for rickets, crickets, hydrophobia, claustrophobia,
33:00 my knees work very well
33:02 and the guys in the gym still fear me.
33:07 Not honor me but they say,
33:10 "You better check Him up
33:12 'cause his shot is deadly, he doesn't miss."
33:15 And I can't help but when I leave the gym,
33:17 I say, "Guys, that's 60 years old."
33:22 If you treat what God has given you right,
33:24 it will treat you well.
33:26 Remember that, young man,
33:27 if you take care of yourself,
33:29 the Lord will show you that your days will be long,
33:32 but you got to be a steward of what God gives you.
33:34 Some people...
33:36 Would you treat your car?
33:38 Wow,
33:41 forget about the car.
33:43 If you had a million dollar horse,
33:45 Angie knows where I am going,
33:48 and you expected him to win the race tomorrow
33:50 at The Kentucky Derby.
33:53 I know, for you it's Indiana, but Kentucky Derby.
33:55 We don't gamble by the way just to make that clear.
33:58 And would you keep him up late at night,
34:02 give him coca-cola, give him a cigarette,
34:05 a box of donuts
34:07 and have him watch TV for six hours.
34:10 Would you do that?
34:12 Why do we do that to ourselves?
34:15 We treat our bodies worse
34:17 than we will on million dollar horse,
34:19 and there is not a second person
34:20 on earth like us.
34:22 We can't trade it in to the Pontiac dealer
34:25 and get another us.
34:27 We gotta take care of ourselves.
34:29 So what shall I render to the Lord
34:30 for all His benefits toward me?
34:32 Did you write that down?
34:33 Now, look at another one.
34:35 In other words, Lord, I'll be willing to do anything,
34:38 tell me what?
34:39 What shall I render to you for all Your benefits?
34:43 If somebody saves you
34:44 and blesses you and provides for you,
34:47 you shouldn't have any hesitation about.
34:49 That's why I've said, this topic
34:50 we're gonna get into a moment here,
34:52 you shouldn't have any issue
34:54 about spending time
34:57 or working for Him
35:01 or laboring in His vineyard,
35:03 when you realize His benefits.
35:05 Let's look at number 16.
35:06 How does David the psalmist describe our obligation to God?
35:13 How does he describe our obligation to God?
35:16 Psalm 92:12,
35:19 sorry verse 2, Psalm 92,
35:22 Psalm 29,
35:23 I just all of a sudden got dyslexic.
35:26 Psalm 29:2, and I am not dyslexic
35:30 just to make the record clear
35:32 'cause somebody will send me a letter,
35:33 here's what medication you need to take.
35:35 No, I am okay.
35:37 Okay, look at Psalm 29:2, here's what the Bible says.
35:42 Could we read this together from the screen?
35:44 Let's put some strength behind that.
35:45 Together, "Give unto the Lord the glory
35:49 due His name,
35:51 Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."
35:56 Is He worth it? Yes.
35:59 Wow,
36:01 give unto the Lord the glory,
36:04 the next word, due.
36:06 You know what happens when you build this past due.
36:09 Now just picture this, picture this,
36:11 are you ready?
36:13 What would happen
36:14 if you got a letter from the Lord says,
36:17 "My glory is due and it's, you've overlooked it."
36:23 What would you do?
36:25 My glory is past due,
36:27 you haven't given me glory for anything for six months.
36:32 I am sending, this is a final notice
36:37 and after this, I am cutting off your lights,
36:40 I am cutting off your water,
36:43 your car is not gonna work.
36:45 My wife and I, when we were dating,
36:47 she had an old Toyota,
36:49 what would we call it?
36:51 Struggle buggy. A struggle buggy.
36:53 It only had a forward, it didn't have a reverse gear.
36:56 Don't laugh,
36:58 it only went forward,
36:59 but then again the Bible says go forward.
37:03 It was a small Toyota Corona,
37:05 that's when Toyotas were little,
37:07 well, you know, they were little.
37:09 You got in it, you close the door
37:10 and that was most of it.
37:14 Whenever we use that car for prison ministry,
37:17 it worked all the time.
37:19 One Sunday we decided, just before we got married,
37:22 we were living in New York,
37:24 we decided, this Sunday we're gonna go to I think...
37:27 Great America.
37:28 Great America in New Jersey,
37:31 amusement park.
37:33 We got all the way there,
37:36 on the way back,
37:38 on the George Washington Bridge, Larry,
37:40 when we got to the toll-booth,
37:41 we paid the toll and we pressed the gas pedal...
37:46 And we heard...
37:51 The transmission fell apart right at the tollbooth
37:57 and the toll person is looking at me like,
38:00 "Are you gonna go?"
38:02 The car couldn't move. "Are you gonna leave?"
38:06 So I went...
38:08 Just to get some kind of,
38:10 so you could hear the gears crunching
38:11 and it just started moving slowly
38:15 and thank God at that time,
38:17 the toll booth, the bridge went up
38:19 and, the toll booth was at the apex
38:21 the fulcrum point of the bridge,
38:23 so it's downhill from here,
38:25 Sister Frasier.
38:27 Cars were flying by us,
38:29 we were coasting about 15 to 20 miles downhill
38:33 praying that no one will stop in front of us.
38:36 We coasted all the way off the bridge,
38:38 all the way down, all the way
38:39 till we got to the side street and called somebody,
38:42 "We're broken down on the West Side Highway
38:44 in Manhattan."
38:45 And, you know, we traced it too.
38:47 We said, you know what?
38:48 We had dedicated this car to ministry,
38:50 we decided to use it for pleasure
38:53 and it stopped working.
38:57 When you dedicate
38:58 what God has given to you
39:01 for the glory due His name,
39:05 He will bless you.
39:06 Can I get an amen? Amen.
39:08 You got to make sure that what God blesses you with,
39:10 you use it to bless others.
39:11 That car always worked, always,
39:15 every prison, every jail we went to,
39:17 it always worked.
39:19 The moment we used it for pleasure,
39:20 it broke down.
39:22 But praise the Lord.
39:25 That was our Christian car, we went forward all the time.
39:27 Let's go to the next one.
39:29 So what is the answer to number 16?
39:32 I mean to number 16 here,
39:34 how does David describe our obligation?
39:37 What's the word?
39:38 Due His name.
39:41 Due, it's due.
39:42 He deserves it, He deserves it.
39:46 Now number 17, question 17.
39:49 Okay, very important.
39:52 In what way does the Bible emphasize
39:55 the Stewardship of time?
40:00 Psalm 90:10, we already in Psalm,
40:03 let's go to Psalm 90.
40:05 We're gonna spend a little time there,
40:08 Psalm 90:10.
40:13 Look at it, Psalm 90:10.
40:18 Wow, what a humble passage.
40:21 What a humbling passage.
40:23 Man.
40:26 Okay, here it is.
40:31 Here it is, the day years ago,
40:35 "The days of our lives..."
40:37 That used to be soap opera years ago.
40:40 "The days of our lives are," how many years?
40:43 "Seventy years
40:46 and if by reason of strength,"
40:47 that word there means health,
40:50 "they are," what?"
40:51 Eighty years, yet their boast is only," what?
40:55 "Labor and sorrow,
40:57 for it is soon cut off,"
40:59 and what happens?
41:00 We fly away.
41:02 "Fly away."
41:03 That's it.
41:05 What happened to them?
41:07 What have happened to them?
41:09 They are gone.
41:11 Don't know.
41:15 So when you hit 70, that's a...
41:18 Everybody should have huge birthday party at 70.
41:22 When you hit 80,
41:23 you should have a banquet at 80.
41:27 If you go past that,
41:29 it's like you check your time bank
41:34 and you don't say Lord,
41:36 next year you say,
41:37 "Father, just give me one more day,
41:38 one more day, one more day."
41:41 Because you don't realize how fragile life is,
41:43 and when I think about this,
41:45 70 years is not a long time when you measure eternity.
41:49 Can I use an example here?
41:50 I expect to see that behind me.
41:52 Okay, behind me on the wall, you could see it on television.
41:55 Now there's a little green dot behind me,
41:57 I have done this intentionally so on television you can see.
41:59 See a little green dot?
42:01 That little green dot is very tiny
42:03 compared to the size of this room.
42:05 That little green dot is our life.
42:08 This room is eternity.
42:11 That little green dot is all we have in our life.
42:16 This room is eternity.
42:19 I didn't mean to misrepresent eternity,
42:22 the rest of this planet is eternity.
42:26 Come back in, zoom that again right on me,
42:28 tight shot, there you go.
42:29 Just bring it in.
42:31 I want them to see that green dot behind me.
42:32 That little green dot behind me represents our lives.
42:36 Every other space on this planet
42:38 where this green dot is not touching
42:40 represents eternity.
42:43 That's what we have.
42:45 If you cover the rest of this planet
42:46 with a green dot,
42:48 and the rest of the other planets
42:49 with a green dot,
42:50 and rest of those other worlds with the green dot,
42:52 that's eternity.
42:53 Some people fight and waste that
42:55 when God is saying,"
42:57 I wanna give you green dots that cover everything
42:58 I've ever touched, eternity."
43:00 How many green dots are there in eternity?
43:04 We don't have enough laser pointers
43:05 to cover eternity,
43:08 but people waste that
43:09 and they don't use that to prepare for eternity.
43:13 I didn't have that written down on paper,
43:14 it just came to me.
43:15 It's good. Wow!
43:17 That's humbling, the days of our lives.
43:22 In what way does the Bible emphasize
43:24 the Stewardship of time?
43:25 Let's summarize it, we don't have a lot of time,
43:29 and we are given that time to prepare for eternity.
43:35 Thank the Lord.
43:36 When we go to bed at night,
43:38 my dear pastor Elder C.D Brooks who is resting in the Lord now.
43:42 He would always say, "When the day ends,
43:45 I confess my sins,
43:48 I make sure that before I close my eyes,
43:51 I settle my count with God
43:54 just in case I don't wake up.
43:56 My sins are confessed,
43:58 I thank the Lord, Father, cover me."
44:00 And we do the same thing,
44:01 Lord, if we've said or done anything today,
44:04 please forgive us, cover us with, say it again.
44:08 That's not pleasing in Your sight.
44:09 Whatever we've done that's not acceptable to You,
44:11 that's not pleasing to You, Lord,
44:13 please forgive us of it,
44:14 cover us with Your righteousness.
44:16 If we don't wake up in the morning,
44:18 please help us to wake up when You return.
44:22 'Cause you never know,
44:23 people have fallen asleep all day long,
44:25 being buried all day long,
44:27 and the saddest reality of all is to close your record
44:31 and have made no provision
44:33 for eternal life.
44:35 Let's go to the next one, number 18.
44:38 Number 18, wow!
44:42 Now, we're gonna get into time now.
44:44 Number 18.
44:47 What should we not forget to do
44:50 in the time that the Lord gives us?
44:53 What should we not forget to do
44:56 in the time that the Lord gives us?
44:59 Psalm 34:1.
45:03 Psalm 34:1...
45:09 as we read this,
45:10 there is a phrase that's called delayed gratification.
45:15 The Christians should learn about delayed gratification
45:18 because the world is enjoying,
45:19 the people of the world are enjoying it now,
45:21 they call, does not delay, they want it now,
45:24 you know, everything is fast, they want it now, fast, fast,
45:27 they want everything, they want joy now, peace.
45:29 They want joy, they want pleasure,
45:30 they want worldliness, they want alcohols,
45:32 smoke in the back or the gambling,
45:35 they want everything now.
45:37 And delayed gratification says,
45:41 "I'm waiting for my blessing,
45:43 I'm waiting for mine, it's coming,
45:45 and I'm making all the preparations."
45:48 That's why the Bible,
45:49 that's why Matthew the apostle said,
45:50 I mean the disciple says,
45:52 "Which of you decided to build the house
45:55 and not count the cost
45:57 and you were not able to finish it?"
45:58 And so many people,
45:59 they don't understand the Stewardship
46:01 of understanding the great cost of Christianity.
46:04 It's really not a cost, it's a benefit.
46:06 You have to prepare for this long team benefit
46:08 which is eternity but look at this.
46:11 Let's answer the question to number 18.
46:13 What should we not forget to do
46:14 in the time that the Lord has given to us?
46:16 Look at the answer, look at the answer,
46:18 "I will bless the Lord," how frequently?
46:22 "At all times,
46:23 His praise shall continually," be where?
46:27 "In my mouth."
46:29 Now that's a test, does anybody know that?
46:35 That's a test.
46:36 Because when difficulty comes,
46:40 hardship comes...
46:45 no, we kind of,
46:48 in those tight moments
46:50 we clam up about when it comes to praise.
46:54 But the reason why the Lord said,
46:55 do this all the times
46:56 because praise
46:58 is the precursor to deliverance.
47:02 Okay, praise Him in the storm.
47:04 I think the group casting comes up,
47:07 praise you in the storm.
47:09 When you praise Him in the difficulty,
47:11 the difficulty doesn't seem as difficult.
47:13 It's difficult,
47:15 fiery trial which is to try you.
47:17 We get fiery trials,
47:18 do we not get fiery trials, everybody?
47:20 But when you praise Him in it,
47:22 like Paul and Silas,
47:24 they sang in prison at midnight.
47:27 Who is that?
47:29 Blessed assurance,
47:32 prisoners sing blessed assurance at midnight?
47:34 Are they okay?
47:36 Do they not know they are in prison?
47:38 Praise Him, praise Him at all times.
47:40 The Hebrews,
47:42 guys, it's gonna be hot today,
47:44 but the Lord will be with us.
47:46 Daniel in the lions' den.
47:48 Boy, it's really warm on this lion's coat.
47:52 If you praise God, He will sustain you.
47:56 If you praise Him at all times,
47:58 He will sustain you at all times.
48:00 One of my favorite writers is Oswald Chambers.
48:02 Boy, I tell you,
48:05 his writings have revolutionized the way I think
48:08 in a beautiful way.
48:09 Now let's look at
48:11 one of these Stewardship aspects of time.
48:13 Number 19, look at number 19.
48:16 Learn what it means to praise the Lord at all time,
48:18 bless Lord at all time.
48:20 Let me, as you go into question number 19,
48:24 I wanna emphasize this.
48:26 Praising God and blessing the Lord
48:28 is not something that is natural.
48:30 It's not a natural thing.
48:33 Ellen White says,
48:34 "We must educate our lips to praise the Lord,"
48:38 educate our lips.
48:41 You know, in church we say amen, right?
48:44 But do we say praise the Lord?
48:48 Praise the Lord, can we say that?
48:51 Praise the Lord.
48:53 And I just want you all to know
48:54 the board approve that phrase.
48:58 Right, Iris?
48:59 No, the board didn't approve it,
49:00 God approved it.
49:02 Praise the Lord,
49:03 bless the Lord.
49:05 His praise shall be continually in my mouth
49:08 and sometimes we hear people that do that and we say,
49:10 are they all right?
49:12 Every minute they're praising Lord.
49:13 It's kind of revolutionizing the way I think
49:15 about that individual.
49:17 Praise the Lord, look at question number 19.
49:20 How has God established a time temple for us
49:25 to recognize Him as Creator?
49:28 How has God established a time temple for us
49:31 to recognize Him as Creator?
49:33 We're gonna go to Exodus 20:11,
49:39 we'll get to verse 11 eventually
49:40 but we will start at verse 8.
49:42 All right,
49:45 Exodus Chapter 20,
49:47 I'll start with verse 8 and when I get to 11
49:49 you bring the text up.
49:51 Exodus 20:8, what's the first word?
49:53 Remember.
49:54 Remember, "Remember the Sabbath day,
49:55 to keep it holy.
49:58 Six days you shall labor and do all your work."
50:01 That's Stewardship of time,
50:03 that's Stewardship of recognizing
50:05 who owns everything.
50:06 "But the seventh day is the Sabbath
50:09 of the Lord your God."
50:12 If the Lord of creation is your God,
50:14 then the Sabbath is already been selected.
50:15 You can't pick a day,
50:17 because you don't have that authority.
50:19 We can't pick a day because we're not the creator
50:21 and then He says what we shall do."
50:23 In it you shall do no work."
50:26 So if somebody says you're keeping the Sabbath
50:28 and you're working your way to salvation,
50:30 let me add a bulletin here.
50:31 When you read the Ten Commandments,
50:33 the only place you find the word work
50:35 is you shall not do any works.
50:37 It's not about works,
50:38 it's about recognizing God's creatorship."
50:41 You, nor your son, nor your daughter,
50:46 nor your manservant, nor your maidservant,
50:48 nor your cattle,
50:50 nor your stranger who is within your gates."
50:52 So when people come to visit us,
50:54 if they are not a Sabbath keeper,
50:55 they don't, they are not turning the TV on
50:57 in my house on the Sabbath.
50:59 They're not doing
51:00 what they want to do on the Sabbath
51:01 because it's within our gates.
51:03 Because we honor the Lord and as Joshua said,
51:06 "As for me and my house,
51:07 we will serve the Lord."
51:10 Right, well, unless it's 3ABN bulletin.
51:13 Now verse 11,
51:16 how has God established a time temple for us?
51:19 Here it is.
51:21 "For in six days the Lord made the," what?
51:24 "Heavens and the earth, the sea,
51:26 and all that is in them,
51:29 and rested the seventh day.
51:31 Therefore the Lord," did what?
51:33 "Blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
51:37 I am amazed that in our world today,
51:41 there's so much effort being put forth
51:43 by religious people to get rid of this blessing.
51:46 So much effort, the Lord said,"
51:48 I created the world in six days."
51:50 If the Jews are the only ones He created,
51:52 then the Jews are the only ones that should keep the Sabbath.
51:55 Was Adam and Eve a Jew?
51:56 Somebody tell me.
51:57 No, they were not Jews.
52:00 This is about His creatorship, His lordship.
52:03 "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
52:08 the sea, and all that is in them."
52:10 He owns it all, that great plan of Stewardship
52:12 and He says to acknowledge My Stewardship,
52:15 just honor My Sabbath.
52:17 Look at Ezekiel very quickly,
52:20 Ezekiel Chapter 20,
52:22 wanna add a few dots on it,
52:25 Ezekiel, that's right,
52:26 before the Book of Daniel,
52:28 all right.
52:30 Ezekiel Chapter 20,
52:32 he says,
52:35 I am amazed, I just am amazed,
52:37 I have run into so many leaders,
52:38 so many pastors, teachers, religious people
52:41 that say no, I'm not keeping the Sabbath,
52:43 I have a different day.
52:45 I got Sunday, I'm gonna keep that one instead.
52:48 And he says, wait, what, the Lord blessed the Sabbath,
52:50 there is only one blessed day.
52:52 Now let me make a point so that people can say
52:54 because I have heard people try to modify this
52:56 with this phrase.
52:57 They say, I worship the Lord how often?
52:59 Every day. Every day.
53:00 How often should we worship the Lord?
53:02 Come on, every day.
53:04 Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,
53:06 our lives should be constant worship
53:08 by the way we live, every day.
53:10 But how many days did He bless?
53:12 He only blessed one, He only blessed one.
53:14 So you can't,
53:16 if you believe now this is amazing,
53:17 if you believe that you can pick any day,
53:20 if you believe that He blessed every day,
53:22 then you should never work, and let me have a bulletin,
53:25 if you never work, you'll never eat.
53:27 He only blessed one
53:29 and look what He says for us to do.
53:30 Ezekiel 20:12,
53:32 and you're gonna see a phrase here,
53:35 you'll see a phrase here that's vitally important
53:37 because whenever I referred to these ceremonies,
53:41 you know, the Feast of Tabernacles,
53:44 all the things that Israel observed
53:45 a part of the Book of the Law,
53:47 but when He referred to the Ten Commandments,
53:49 notice what the Lord said,
53:50 verse 12,
53:52 Ezekiel 20:12,
53:55 "Moreover I also gave them," what?
53:58 "My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them,
54:04 that they might know that I am the Lord,"
54:06 who does what?
54:07 "Sanctifies them."
54:08 He makes us holy.
54:10 When we honor His commandments,
54:11 when we honor the Sabbath,
54:12 it's an act of He's sanctifying us,
54:16 He's making us holy
54:17 because the day is holy and the Lord is holy.
54:20 Look at verse 20,
54:22 look at verse 20,
54:25 "Hallow My Sabbaths,
54:28 and they will be a," what?
54:30 "Sign between Me and you,
54:31 that you may know that I am the Lord," what?
54:34 "Your God."
54:35 I go right back to that,
54:37 the Lord, the Lord.
54:39 I am the Lord, you're God,
54:41 you honor my day that means I am your, Lord.
54:44 May 22nd,
54:46 it's our day, right, honey?
54:47 Yeah.
54:48 So it may mean nothing to anybody else,
54:50 but what does it mean to us?
54:51 Our wedding anniversary.
54:53 It's a sign of sanctity between us.
54:55 All right.
54:57 When you honor that,
54:58 we honor each other.
54:59 Praise God for that.
55:01 Look at number, can we get another one in here?
55:03 Let's go to number 20. Let's go to number 20.
55:07 Oh, yes,
55:09 this is really about time.
55:11 Wow.
55:13 Since the lesson is not totally on the Sabbath,
55:16 we're not spending a ton of time,
55:17 we're talking about time here.
55:19 Question number 20,
55:20 here it is.
55:22 In what way does the Bible express
55:25 the urgency of time?
55:29 Romans Chapter 13, Romans Chapter 13,
55:34 okay, here I am.
55:36 Romans 13:11,
55:39 here it is.
55:43 I love to hear those pages turning in spite of the fact
55:45 that it's on the screen.
55:46 All right, Romans 13:11
55:48 and here's what the Bible says to us,
55:50 "And do this,"
55:53 I always put this on my CD'S when I sign,
55:55 "knowing the," what?
55:57 "Time, that now it is," what?
56:00 "High time to awake out of sleep,
56:03 for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."
56:07 So when you know the time,
56:09 you know that something's happening.
56:11 Every night,
56:12 now on Sabbath mornings I do something on Friday night
56:15 that I don't do any other day of the week
56:18 and that is I set my own phone,
56:21 cell phone to wake me up at a certain time
56:24 and because I know
56:26 that loud alarm's frighten my wife,
56:29 some people have those...
56:31 Don't wake up with that
56:33 because it will give you a headache.
56:34 So mine with a little nice chimes...
56:37 And it increases in volume
56:38 and I hear it before it gets too loud
56:40 and sometimes the phone says,
56:41 "It's 7:15."
56:44 But I am amazed that when we go to bed late
56:46 during the week,
56:48 my wife has a clock by her side,
56:50 it starts really soft...
56:54 And I could tell when she's in a deep sleep
56:56 because it takes a while before she turns it off.
56:59 She turns it off because she knows
57:01 it's high time to wake
57:04 and every night she says,
57:06 "Can we go to bed," and she said to me once,
57:08 "If you were not home,
57:09 I would be in bed at 8 o'clock.
57:13 Isn't it sweet to sleep?
57:14 Come on, isn't it lovely to sleep?
57:19 And I said to her number of occasions,
57:23 it seems like the morning comes so fast.
57:27 Can we get testament to that?
57:28 It comes so fast but I said that for a reason
57:32 because we don't know it,
57:33 the Lord is gonna come faster than we think
57:38 and what is our responsibility?
57:40 To be awake out of sleep,
57:44 for now our salvation is what?
57:46 Nearer than when we first believe.
57:50 We're gonna leave that thought with you tonight,
57:51 the coming of the Lord is nearer
57:53 than when we first believe.
57:54 If you've been a Christian for a long time,
57:57 it's time to wake up and I consider this,
58:00 keep studying because one day
58:02 it will come into A Sharper Focus.


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Revised 2019-05-30