Motivate To Serve (Part 2)

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Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrock.

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Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

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And ministry's hard. Remember when Paul said, if we have hope in this life only, we're of all people most to be pitied, in chapter 15, verse 19?

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Why did he say that? Because it's burdensome sometimes in ministry. It's persecution in ministry, and if ministry's not worth it, then we're to be pitied.

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But it is worth it. And look at the promise that God gives for all those serving as Christians.

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Verse 58 goes on to say, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the

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Lord. Hard, hard work that Paul does, labor, kapia 'o, to the point of sweat and strain.

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If you were helping Dave Jeffries move in yesterday and you were sweating, that's kapia 'o. He says it's going to be worth it.

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By the way, that's why I like to tell married couples, let alone young married couples, if you love one another and you get married and then you build your marriage on the marriage itself, it's going to crumble.

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And this is God's kind way of saying the train's off the track, frustration, anxiety, anger.

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When the train's off the track, it's a good thing. When you take your finger and you touch the hot stove and you go, ow, you don't say,

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God, I can't believe you gave me nerves. No, it's God's good way to say, listen, you do that, ouch.

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And when your marriage goes off the track, you have to realize the marriage built upon its own self is going to crumble because marriages can't be built on themselves, they have to be built on the service and ministry of Christ Jesus the

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Lord. And where a couple wants to minister together and serve the Lord together, then that train is on the track again.

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So you say, well, we've got all kinds of marriage problems, I think a good way to start is to say, let's start building our life on the ministry of Christ Jesus the

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Lord. This actually here, I'm turning this into a family seminar, but you have to always throw something in the second service that the first service people didn't get because some of you come to sermons, you have to give them something.

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This is a figure of speech. You've heard of metaphors before, similes before. This is called a leitotes,

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L -I -T -O -T -E -S. See I don't care what a leitotes is, oh yes you do.

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Because if you like the Bible, you like figures of speech. I'm convicted again because I pretty much think poetry is dumb.

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And then I realize I better repent of that because Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, it's all poetry.

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If somebody ever asks you, do you like poetry? You better say, yes I do. I like poetry and I like figures of speech.

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A leitotes means an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed with negative results.

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Like what? To say our labor isn't in vain, a leitotes means it's going to be rewarded.

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Your labor is going to be rewarded. That's the point. And one of my favorite all -time stories of ministry is of a man named

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Thomas Platter. And he followed Zwingli, the Zurichian reformer.

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That's a word. He worked all day, blue collar guy, and wants to study the

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Bible at night. Wants to study languages at night. How do you study languages at night? Especially when you work all day long, calluses on your hands, you fall asleep.

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So you know what he did? This just makes me think of the resurrection, how it motivates. He just put sand in his mouth at night.

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Because if you're going to fall asleep with sand in your mouth, that means you're going to chew too hard. So you have to chew just the right amount to kind of swirl it around in your mouth.

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You should see your faces right now. And it's in your mouth, and you're just kind of slowly biting, slowly kind of just flossing your teeth with sand.

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And that's how he stayed awake. Who would do that, knowing your toil is not in vain?

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Thomas Platter believed in the resurrection. I think we've got a new ministry coming up at the church.

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Dentists of the congregation rejoice. The resurrection really matters.

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Sometimes we just go on a walk and think, you know what, one day I'm going to stand before God, and there's going to be an accounting. And what I did before him, for him, behind the scenes for him, it's all going to pay off.

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My other favorite story is about an African missionary who was asked if he really liked his work.

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He said in great shock, by the way, do I like this work? No, my wife and I do not like dirt.

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We have reasonably refined sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse.

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But is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him. Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it.

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We have orders to go, and we go. Love constrains us. And might

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I add, the resurrection constrains us. Paul says, you have assurance you're going to be raised from the dead, so serve.

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Jameliot said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose, the resurrection.

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Say, well, Mike, that's all fine and dandy and everything, but I really need something practical.

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There are some people that always are hankering for the practical. I just need a to -do list. I know there's all this doctrine here and everything.

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You know, doctrine divides, and the letter kills, and the spirit gives life, and I just I want practical.

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Come on. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.

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Over the last three years, I want practical. Please tell me what to do. Sometimes I think to myself, did

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I just really do that? I kind of like see myself up here. This is weird. So friends, for those of you that love practical, in light of what

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Jesus has done in your place, in light of the resurrection, in light of all this, let me just tell you the most practical thing you could do.

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At the top of the list, the most practical thing, Paul says, you know what, let's talk about practical.

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Practical lovers of the church unite. And Paul said, here's practical.

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Here's practical. What about your giving? Sure got quiet in here all of a sudden.

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Now give me the other practical. Let's take a look at it. Chapter 16, verse 1. In my good moments,

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I realize that Jesus talked more about money than he did about heaven and hell combined.

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In my good moments, I realize at least a third of the parables are about money. In my bad moments, I hate to talk about money from the pulpit because I don't like unbelievers to come in and say there's just one more guy trying to talk about money.

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He's got some vested interest. He wants more money himself. But we go verse by verse and the topic is money and therefore we'll talk about money.

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I like you, I'm under the text. Chapter 16, verse 1. Now concerning the collection,

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I hope you draw an arrow from the end of 58 to the beginning of 16. Chapter 16, verse 1. He's answering the question of the

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Corinthians but it's tied together here at least by the last verse to this verse. Now concerning the collection for the saints, so I directed the churches of Galatia.

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So you also are to do. I'm not telling you anything different,

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Corinthians. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside, store it up as he may prosper.

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On Sunday, he didn't call it Sunday because that's like sun day, moon day.

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So he calls it the first day of the week. He's not giving it a pagan term there. It's fine if you want to call it

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Sunday but that's just what Paul's doing. Each of you is to put something aside, store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when

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I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

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See, the church was suffering in Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

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Martin Luther said there are three conversions in this life. Conversion one, your mind. Conversion two, your heart.

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Conversion three, your purse. Okay for you men, your merce, your wallet.

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What do we do with our money? It's a big issue. It's an important issue.

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It's a very practical issue. Now, here in chapter 16, we're going to get into this more next week, but Paul just is going to give some greetings, talk about travel things.

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He mentions a lot of people and a lot of places and actually a lot of commands, 12 imperatives and 24 verses.

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It's like James, every other verse is an imperative. But these first few verses, he wants the church at Jerusalem to be taken care of.

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Why? Well, famines were popular, well, they weren't popular.

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Famines were regularly occurring, Acts 11. The people in Jerusalem, true or false, were persecuted for their faith.

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We see that even back with Stephen and Acts in the early chapter. And so, if you're a Jew and all of a sudden you say to yourself,

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I'm now kicked out of the synagogue, I'm kicked out of the market, I'm kicked out of my family. You can imagine the

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Jewish Christians who were persecuted needed money and so Paul knows about that and I think he, for that reason, wants to have the money sent.

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By the way, Romans chapter 15 verses 26 and 27 talk about, wouldn't this be a good thing that the

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Jews and the Gentiles could come together in solidarity and unity through something like this?

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Right? You have the Gentile -based Corinthians and the Jewish -based Jerusalem church and here is a gospel ministry that brings them together, both

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Jew and Gentile. Plus, I think Paul doesn't want pagans to out -give the

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Christians. And so, Paul says, I want you to have a collection and I want you to do this in a very specific way.

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Do you notice what the text here says? The collection. They knew about it. They asked Paul.

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They wrote him a letter. Now concerning, Paul answers this question. We don't know the question but we get the answer.

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Paul says, now concerning the collection. So they knew what it was. This is not any A collection. This isn't a normal weekly giving.

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This is the collection. And then he says, put something aside, store it up.

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Really cool word here. Thesaurus it up. What's a thesaurus? It's a treasury of words.

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Store up some treasure for these people as he may prosper. Richer people giving more than poor people.

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Nothing on, you know, not a certain percentage that you have to give. When you come to worship on the first day, remember

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Christians now don't worship on the seventh day. They worship on the first day. Jesus was raised on the first day.

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Jesus ascended on the first day. The Apostles Acts chapter 20 verse 7, get together on the first day.

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When you get together on that day for the weekly remembering of Jesus, the commemoration of Jesus, give some money.

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Special gift for the Jerusalem saints. Well that was for them.

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What about for us? In the time that I've got left, let me give you some principles for giving in light of this passage directly and indirectly.

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Directly this is a one -time offering for the Corinthians to give to Paul so he makes sure it gets to Jerusalem.

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But what about just giving in general? I want to say that it's important that we talk about the topic because this is related to your spirituality.

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Show me someone who doesn't give sacrificially and I'll show you a immature, spiritually stilted

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Christian. I wonder when the offering plate goes by if you could pray this prayer,

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I found this from an unknown author, probably he's an unknown author, he didn't want to get kicked out of the church, he pastors, so he said this,

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Lord, this is what you say when you put the money in the offering. I wonder if anybody said this just moments ago. Lord, what we say or do doesn't really matter.

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Here is what we really think of you, amen. This is what I really think of you, boom.

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And see giving, before I give you some principles, it has everything to do with faith, doesn't it? It's not giving and faith or divorce, giving and faith go together because if you say to yourself after I pay off my 401k, after I pay off the bills, after I save up for retirement, after I save up for Disneyland, after I save up for all these other things and pay my own bills, if there's any left over,

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I give to God. That's not New Testament giving at all, New Testament giving is more, you know what, from the top,

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I give money and I'm just going to have to trust God by faith that he's going to get me through because I need this money, this is sacrificial giving.

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So you say, well, money doesn't have anything to do with faith, it has everything to do with faith. Show me a weak giver and I'll show you someone who has little faith.

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So let me give you some principles. Number one, we're going to have to go faster, that's not the first principle. Principle one, there's nothing wrong with Sunday offerings and everywhere

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I turn, people say you shouldn't give the plate passing part of the service, well to me that's just worship.

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Charlie gets up and says what, now let's worship as if songs are worship, no, songs alone aren't worship, songs are worship, that's why he says let's continue to worship and when we pass the plate we are worshiping.

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Look back at 1 Corinthians 16, 2, on the first day of every week, they didn't have a problem passing the plate and neither should we.

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Some churches here just a few years ago, New England Chapel and Franklin Mass, they don't pass the plate because they think it would produce less revenue.

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Sagemont Baptist Church in Houston, they put a central collection basket in the church building, they don't pass the plate, by the way you can either go put money in it or take money out, that's an interesting concept.

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Bethany Congregational Church in Foxborough, Mass, is going to ask their board of directors for permission to stop taking the offering at the contemporary service.

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So we give here, when the plate goes past you, you say I give this to the

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Lord's work as worship. Number two, notice how the leaders talk about money, at least

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Paul the leader here, openly, honestly, above board, that's how

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Christian leaders should talk about money, matter of fact. Number three, in light of that, there should be no coercion, pressure, or manipulation from Christian leaders to get

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Christians to give. See how Paul did it there in verse two, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

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Hey, Paul's here, he's going to see what we give, let's give a lot more. I'll never forget the time

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I went to Los Angeles for a baptism, a lady in our Bible said he got saved, she wanted to get baptized, and she wanted to, she was in Hollywood, so she wanted a

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Hollywood kind of church, a typical Baptist church. We went there, she was baptized in the name of the Father, and the

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Son, and the Spirit. So far, so good, they had an offering, okay, pass the plate. And then the pastor said

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I've got a special need, I think it was a car he needed, his car broke down, and so he stood right down there with a big bucket, and every row had to go out to walk up to give money in the bucket.

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And it wasn't one of those secret kind of buckets with a little slit in the top, it was a big open -faced, like a trick -or -treat bucket or something,

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I don't know, it should have been a pumpkin as far as I was concerned, a big yellow -orange bucket. So walking up to put that money in in front of the pastor,

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I thought I've got to get out of here, I've got to try that, no, I didn't think that at all.

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By the way, you've given me so much food, Kim and I food this week, one after another, after another, after another, where there's no place to put the food, so after the service we're going to have a special offering for that new refrigerator for Pastor Mike and Kim, it'd be perfect.

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Can't have your pastor with a small refrigerator, can you, aren't you embarrassed by that, embarrassing to have your pastor go through that.

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No gimmicks, no emotion, plan giving, that's so you don't get sucked into the whole thing, because I don't want your money to be given to the church and to the

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Lord's work if it's not out of faith, if it's not out of love, if it's not out of appreciation, if it's not out of a sacrifice, keep your money.

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That's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians, God wants what kind of giver, a cheerful giver.

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Next number, I think it's number four, oh this is a fun one, we might have to end with this one, I don't know. Fourth principle, indirectly derived from 1

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Corinthians 16. The percentage for your giving in New Testament times is, right, everybody wants to know what percent do you give, tithe is 10%, is that gross or is that net?

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The New Testament percentage for giving, and the good news is it's just a round number, easily divisible,

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I think you'll remember it. The New Testament, you're like, oh enough already, tell me the number, I know, I'm building up, this is the art for you to remember.

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The percentage for New Testament giving is 100%, and I'm not kidding.

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Turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. My friends, you see, the shocking answer to New Testament giving is not 10%, it's 100 % because when you give yourself completely to the

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Lord, all the money follows. So the question is not how, what percentage do

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I give out of my paycheck, the question is have I given myself completely devoted to God, Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

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And if you give yourself, then the numbers will all work out. I'm not saying for sake of clarity, you must give 100 % of your paycheck to the church, that's not what

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I'm saying. Don't even give it to the church anyway, you give it through the church to God. But the number for giving that you should be thinking about is not 10%.

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You're not Israel, not under some tithe, no Levitical tax, no priestly tax, no

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Old Testament Malachi gun to your head, you're robbing God if you don't give 10%.

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2 Corinthians chapter 8, verses 1 to 5 says, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, we're talking about the same thing that was happening in chapter 16, 1

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Corinthians, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

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For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

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And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first.

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That's where I get the number, 100%, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

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See that number? The churches of Macedonia were begging Paul to let them give generously, giving yourself first to the

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Lord. The puzzle for sacrificial giving is solved by that very statement. If Jesus possesses you and all you own, including your money, and you're sold out to serve,

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I never look at what you give, but if you're a sold out minister for the gospel, lay minister,

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I know your giving is excellent. You're not under Old Testament tithe. If you want to give 10 % as a good place to start, great.

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But the percentage of New Testament giving is 100 % because you're to give yourselves to God.

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And lastly, I just can only make a few minutes comments on this, Paul expected the collection to be substantial and God expects your giving to be sacrificial and substantial.

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Philippians chapter four says, but I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent me, a fragrant aroma and acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.

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I'm going to give it to God and it's a sacrifice. Sacrifices are supposed to hurt, a fragrant aroma.

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That'd be a good question, by the way, if I was going to try to guilt you, when you put the money in earlier today in the offering plate, did you say to yourself, boy, this is

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God has given me the ability to work and to cash a check and to do all this, the mind and everything else, he's given me riches and work and God, here's a fragrant aroma.

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And wonderfully, second Corinthians chapter eight says, as you grow, you'll give more. As you consider Christ, you'll give more.

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Let's just finally leave here in first, second Corinthians chapter eight. Let's look at verse eight and following and we've got to wrap it up.

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I could tell you that money doesn't last, God owns it all. I could tell you that if you sow sparingly, you're going to, what, reap sparingly.

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I could tell you that if you give bountifully, second Corinthians nine, God is going to be able to meet your needs.

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But I think the best, you want to know about sacrificial giving, just think of who Jesus is and that will be helpful.

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Second Corinthians chapter eight, verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, not talking about money on earth, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere, what, to lay his head.

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Jesus said to that man, you want to follow me? Go ahead, I'm homeless. And the guy didn't want to, who wants to follow a homeless man?

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This isn't talking about riches on earth, this is talking about the eternal son and the riches of the

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Godhead. And then he cloaks himself with frail humanity. He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, right?

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He humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a, what, cross. Philippians chapter two, for your sake he became poor so that you, all in the context of giving, chapter eight, chapter nine, giving to Jerusalem, that you by his poverty might become rich.

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How do you motivate Christians to give? I have friends who have told me that their employers who have been

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Christian schools have called them in to say, we know how much money we pay you because we're our, your employer, and we look to see how much money you've given because we have those receipts, and you are not giving 10 % off gross, and you better do it or you're fired from teaching at the

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Christian school. Is that how you motivate people to give? You know what that would motivate me to do? I'm gone.

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So how do you motivate Christians to give? It's simple. The resurrection's true.

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You are going to be raised from the dead. So lay up treasures in heaven.

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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

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We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org

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or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.