This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to hope alive, applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today, in Jesus name.
Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are on the last day of Leviticus. Leviticus is over. We'll be starting deuteronomy up here soon. But I mean numbers, not deuteronomy, numbers. We'll be starting that up soon. And then. And then, of course, we will do deuteronomy eventually. But numbers is a fairly long book, a little bit longer than Leviticus. And then deuteronomy be the last one of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. They are very large books. They're not the largest books of the Bible. We went through the largest book when we first started this during the very first weeks of the pandemic. And so this is somewhat of a time of celebration, because we're well over halfway through what is known as the Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Old Testament written by Moses. And they are powerful books, and they're difficult to kind of preach through, maybe on a Sunday morning or teach through on a Wednesday night. And you say, well, why would that be? Well, just because of the time period it takes to go through them and the number of people that like to study through a book from start to finish. If you start one book on Wednesday night, it takes four years, where you limit the number of people that are going to come and join you for Bible study just because that's just the way it is. I don't know why that is, but it is. And so this has become a great platform, especially for me, to be able to teach through some of the larger books of the Old Testament and some of the larger books of the New Testament, and to be able to deal with those you go, well, when you teach through during the. During the week. Well, on Wednesday nights, we try to teach through, like I said, some of the smaller books of the Bible. On Sunday morning, we will teach through a book of the Bible that is not the gospel, but we ping pong back and forth. We do a gospel and then a book of the Bible and then a gospel, and then another book of the Bible, and you go, well, why are you doing that? Well, I'm doing that because I want to Sunday morning, primarily because I want to focus on Christ on Sunday morning, focus on his life, make sure that the people that I pastor are very well educated about their liwor. I want them to know who he is. And then, obviously, I use all the wealth of information and knowledge that I've gained from studying through the rest of the Bible to really focus the Bible on Christ, because really, the rest of scripture is focused on Christ. And even rather than the book of Leviticus, you can see, as we've gone through this book, that. That the book itself points us to Jesus. You can see Jesus all through the scripture. You can see Jesus in the sacrificial system. He's the fulfillment, ultimately, of that whole sacrificial system. And the only aspect of it that would not be Jesus would be the aspect that is us when we make ourselves a sacrifice for him, a living sacrifice. His sacrifice was a. A once and final, a once and final blood sacrifice for sin. But our sacrifice is a living sacrifice. It's a glorification sacrifice. It's the eternal life that he's given us, glorifying God, that something that would be so broken and so messed up as we are so irreparable, could actually be repaired. God could actually do some wonderful stuff in our lives, wonderful life giving, hope giving activity that only could happen because God stepped in and touched us. And so when we study through the book of Leviticus, I've been excited to kind of talk about the sacrificial system and how God has, well, he's just given us so many pictures of what Jesus has done for us and what he wants us to do for him. And really, that's what chapter 27 is about. It's about learning how to make your life a sacrifice. And the end of the book, the last few verses deal with giving, dedicating things to God, then devoting things to God, and then what is ultimately giving him. A portion of your life, your life works or your efforts, which is what we call the tithe. And so he says, verse 26. But the firstborn of the animals, which should be the Lord's firstborn, no man shall dedicate, whether it is an ox or a sheep, it is the Lord's. What he's saying is, there are certain things that are gods that are from you. And you go, well, what do you mean by that? Well, you just need to understand that you were bought at a price. As the apostle Paul says, you're not your own, you're his. You were given all the well, you were given access to the kingdom. In fact, not only are you given access to the kingdom, you are the kingdom, and you're co edge with Christ in his, in his lordship. I mean, he's the, he's king of kings and lord of lords, and you get to be co ed with him. So everything is that is yours is from God. And so everything that is yours is God's. And God requires that you recognize that in your life. And that that's really what tithe is about. That's really what the first fruits is about, is a recognition that God is in control of my life. Now you go, well, I don't know if I can afford that or, you know, when we get into the afford and all that. I understand life circumstances cause people that struggle with trying to figure out how to do this, and you and I, and I don't want to diminish that. I don't want to diminish the struggle, and I don't want to take, I want you hit me. I don't want to take away the struggle. I don't want to take away the struggle. Why don't I want to take away the struggle? Well, the reason I don't want to take away the struggle, the struggle is, is because when you struggle with God, you tend to find who's best. And this is definitely a struggle with God to give him, to give him what is due him, which is his lordship. And his lordship means that he owns all of you. He owns all that is you. And you recognize that with a portion of what he gives you by saying, I'm handing this back to you in recognition that you are God and that you're my God. And if you do not do that, if you do not do that, you're not going to struggle through some of the things that are required for you to be in a position for God to truly use you and bless you. He can't because you're still focused on your life rather than focused on the life he has for you. And so one of the first things he says is, give me the firstborn. Give me the, give me the firstborn of your flock, the firstborn of your, of all your animals. Why? Recognition that he's got, he says, and if it's an unclean animal, then he or she'll redeem it. According to your evaluation notice, there's going to be even. God requires getting the unclean animals. He wants the ox and the sheep and all that, but he also wants the unclean animals. But he doesn't want the animals. He wants the valuation of them. Why? Because you need to recognize in every aspect of your life, not just, we don't, you can't. We don't do a buffet life with God where there's certain aspects of the buffet, there's God's and certain aspects that are ours. It's all God's and he needs. You need to recognize that he's learned of everything. If he's load of anything, he's learned of everything. I'll say that again. If he's lord of your fellows, Lord of everything. He's got to be learned of everything. And so he says, even the outlook animals, you better pay me for them. You're going to pay me for the first fruit. Why? Recognition. I'm the one that gave them to you. I'm the one that made that possible. He says, then he shall redeem it according to valuation and you shall add one fifth to it. Or if it's not redeemed, then it shall be settled according to your evaluation. What he's saying is, I'm not. God doesn't really want the unclean animals, but he is going to get what is his from it. And I want you to hear me today. God is going to get what is his from you. He is. I mean, it's, it's, it's the way it works. It's the way the world works. It's. It's one of the immutable qualities of the universe. God's going to get what is his and you can't get around that. He said, nevertheless, no devoted offering that a man may devote to the Lord of all that he has, both man and beast or field of, of his possession, shall be solely redeemed. Every development offering is most holy to the Lord. What he's saying is if you take something that's yours, that's not a tithe, that's not a first fruits, that's not a sin offerings, not any of that kind of stuff. If you take something, you say, I'm giving this to God. Them devoting this to God, then you can't undevote it. And boy, how many times do we do that? How many times do we say, God, I'm going to give you this and then we take it back and we think that we need it. I want you to hear me today. All you need is God. And I say that. I say that from years and years of experience dealing with God in. In my finances. All you need is him. If he touches it, it'll explode. It'll become more than you can imagine. If he doesn't touch it, then it's dead already. I can't overemphasize that. When this comes to your finances, when it comes to the product of your labor and the product of your will. Meaning? Meaning when I get paid for my work and what I attain from that work, meaning the things I purchase from that work, if you treat your work and the product that you buy from that work as if it's God's and you treat it wholly like that, meaning I'm going. Today is the day the Lord has made. I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. I'm going. The fruit of my labor is going to be God's. And it's. And it's. His is his to do. And I can promise you, you're going to be. You may not be successful in the job you're in, but you are going to find success in the labor that you give. You're willing to because God touches it and it. But you become good at it. You become. You become good at what God is. Is using you in the world to do. You're going to do that. And I mean, I mean about any job that you have, if you treat it as devoted to God, it's going to be blessed. God's going to begin to open. If it's not blessed, what that means is he's leaving you somewhere else to bless. Bless it. He might not bless it there because he doesn't want you there. He's moving you somewhere else, but he's going to bless the product of your labor. He is going to. 100%. He's going to. And then if it's been God that way. And then you say, God, I'm going to spend the money in a way that's holy and pleasing to you because this is the medium of exchange from my labor and my will to my possessions. And the reason I can possess it is because, God, you have given me the right to possess my property. You've given me the right to possess the product of my will and my labor. It comes from you. And so I'm asking you to bless this, and I'm telling you may not bless right now, but he's going to get to blessing it. He's going to get you in a position where it's the thing that he always wanted you to have and he's going to bless it, but you got, but you got to do it. And listen, it's not about trying to figure out the mass, okay? Don't do the 10% and try to figure that out. It ain't about the math, okay? It's about the lordship. And if, if it's about the lordship, then the math won't really matter. You can't out give God anyway. I'm gonna tell you, I try to figure out, you know, am I giving God a 10th of everything? Am I, am I giving him this and that? And I just figured out I just better just start giving because he just, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. Now, is it gonna happen when you're young and you got children and you got to go to the doctor all the time and you got to miss work? No, that's going to be a little bit of a struggle. It is. It's going to be a little bit of struggle. Why? Because you got to learn to trust God. You got to learn to trust God with your family, you got to learn to trust God with your job, you got to learn trust you trust God with your possessions, you got to learn trust him with him. And though that time period, I'm going to tell you, the twenties and thirties are kind of rough. They're beautiful. You should never, ever try to get past them in your own mind because that's the time your children are the youngest. It's a beautiful time in your life. It's wonderful time in your life, but it's a tough time in your life. It really is. You got to try to deal with your own flesh and all that kind of stuff. I know that, I know that. But that's also the time, that's the best time to learn how to make God Lord of everything. Because I can promise you this, when you do it over a period of time, the anointing and the blessing comes, it really does. I can't tell you any other way then it is going to come. It's going to be there. And I am in the midst of experiencing myself the blessing of God, having devoted and given and given to, not just given to the church, but given to ministries, given to people in need, allowing God to be Lord of the things that are mine so that the things of mine might, might be pleasing to him. He says, if you devote something to me, let me. It's mine. Let me have it. And just take your hands off of it. Let God be God of it, and before you know it, there's just no telling what God's liable to do. There's a story, if you want to really learn about devoting something to God. There was a. It was a store. I guess it was one of those stores that you could buy a lot of clothes and all kinds of items. It was forerunner of Walmart and Target and those places. It's called JC Penney's. And it's a great story. Somebody devoted his business to God. By the end, he was given 99% of everything made to God, and he was still fabulously wealthy. It's a great story of that. He says, verse 30, and all the tithe of the land, whether seed of the land or its fruit, fruit of the tree, it's the Lord. It's holy to the Lord. What he's saying is, the things that you produce, a 10th of, it's holy to God. You ought to treat it that way. Now, listen, we're not under the law again. I'm not going through your books and trying to figure out whether it's ten on the net or the robes, okay? If you're trying to do that, you're under the law. Give him what he's due. And I can promise you this. You'll figure out what he's due. Okay? Give him what he's due. If a man wants at all to redeem only his tithes, then he shall add 1ft to it. What he's saying is, give it to God. And if you want to buy it back, you buy it back. You can buy the seed back, but you gotta add 20%. And. And you go, well, 20%, does that work? I mean, why 20%? Well, God's telling you, I've already. I've already accounted 20% gain to that. And if he's counted 20% gain to his, has he not accounted 20% gain to yours? I want you to hear me from someone who has an economics background from. From Princeton. I want you to tell me 20% gain is pretty good. And if you devote to God what is God's, and he's putting a 20% gain on it all, then you're going to have. You're going to have good. Good days to come, good days with your finances. But, you know, the truth is, is that once you've done this long enough, you realize it's all is anyway. And so it don't really matter whether you've got plenty or you're in want. It's all his. That's what Apostle Paul said. And he was a. He was a fairly wealthy businessman. He was good at what he did. He was a great attorney. He owned businesses. I mean, he was. He. And he said, it's all Christ. And figuring out how to live that mindset can really give God an opportunity to do big things for you. And it's not about the money. Anyway, he said he shall not inquire whether it's good or bad, nor shall he exchange it. If he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed. What he said. He's talking about verse 32 where they allow the animals to pass through and they separate out one out of every ten. I didn't read that. But that's what it's about. He says, these are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. What he's saying is that this sacrificial system is important and God gave it as his word. And the reason it's important is because it gives you many, many pictures about how we should live our lives, not under the law, but the principles by which God has created the universe and created his relationship with us. And if we live by him, we shall have his will above our own. And that's where we need to be.
