FBC Daily Devotional – July 7, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Wednesday to you. Here we are in the middle of the week already. I trust your week is going well. Short week, isn't it?

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Maybe it feels that way for you if your first day back at work was yesterday and you're already already at Wednesday.

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So, anyway, on this Wednesday we read in Deuteronomy 26 and 7 and also a couple verses in the book of Proverbs if you're following the reading plan.

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And something struck me in reading in Deuteronomy 26. Now, I'm not a farmer.

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Having a little garden in the backyard doesn't do great, but nevertheless, that's the extent of my crop raising.

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So, I'm not a farmer. I don't have this yearly crop that yields some great harvest from which

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I tithe and give a portion of that harvest to the

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Lord. In the Old Testament agrarian economy in the nation of Israel when the law was given it was an agrarian economy and most people farmed in some way.

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They had some kind of land that they tilled and they raised crops and they were to give a tithe on that crop every year.

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And those tithes would go to providing for the the priests and the

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Levites, those that were involved in serving in the temple, the tabernacle. And it was just a crucial part of the of the economy.

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So, you know, obviously I don't tithe in that way, but I still tithe on my income at least.

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I give at least 10 % of my income. I don't say that to brag, and I don't say that as a legal matter.

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I think it's a good starting point for our giving. But nevertheless, here's where I'm going with that.

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I wonder, I think it would probably be a good profitable exercise to do when

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I, you know, write out that check or actually I set up my giving online and I know every week when my offering is being given to the church,

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I get an email about it. And I wonder if, I think it would be profitable if when

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I get that email, or in your case if you sit down and you write a check to the to the church and you're giving or whatever, if we pause to do something similar to what the

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Israelites did when they gave their yearly tithe, the tithes on their crops. Did you catch this in Deuteronomy 26?

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They start off by rehearsing their past and they say in verse 5,

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My father was a Syrian. Here they are. They're bringing their tithe and they're saying my father was a Syrian who was about to perish and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there.

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And my ancestors were few in number and there, there my ancestors, they became a great nation.

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And the Egyptians mistreated us. We were horribly treated. So what they're doing is they're reflecting back on their history, on where where they were when

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God found them. They're rehearsing the the promises that God made to them.

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They're rehearsing what God did in redeeming them and bringing them out, delivering them from Egypt.

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And they said we cried to the Lord God of our fathers and the Lord heard our voice. He looked on our affliction, our labor and oppression.

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So the Lord brought us out and he delivered us. So how many times when we when we give our offering do we stop and think about you know, why?

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You know, what what does this mean? Why am I doing this? Am I doing this because, you know,

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I feel like I ought to? Am I doing it because the the church needs the resources and the

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Lord's work, you know to to to accomplish anything. It's got to have the wherewithal to do it.

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Well, all those are fine and they're good reasons. But really when you get down to it, we ought to be giving as a response of gratitude and joy for what the

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Lord has done for us. He took us from bondage. He delivered us from bondage and he gave us our freedom.

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Freedom in Christ Jesus. He redeemed us. Oh what is this gift?

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It is just a it's just an offering of thanks a gift of expressing gratitude for what the

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Lord has done for us. And then they go on to say the Lord has brought us into this place and he's given us this land a land flowing with milk and honey.

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The Lord has blessed me in abundant ways Shall I not give back to him?

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And so they go on to say and now behold because of all that the Lord has done for me I'm bringing the firstfruits of the land which you

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O Lord have given me and then they set that offering before the Lord So, you know, obviously we're not all farmers and we all have

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I don't tithe in that way And even farmers don't tithe in that way They don't bring a truckload of grain to the church and dump it in the parking lot say here you go they give in a financial way and Yet how profitable it would be for us as we give when we give

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Whatever form we give in whether writing a check putting a putting cash in an offering envelope or an offering box or whatever

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To stop and think Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this and Then realize why you're doing it because of all that God has done for us

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And this this is a gift of thanks gratitude for God's grace

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Our Father in our God, I pray that you would teach us to give Teach us to give to be generous

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With that what you've given to us, but to do so for the right reasons another sense of obligation not out of a sense of fulfilling a duty or some legal requirement, but no

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Because we're so grateful to you for all that you've done for us May we give in that way we pray in Jesus name and for his sake.

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Amen All right, well have a good rest of your Wednesday if you can get to the

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Lord's house tonight I encourage you to come to come to Faith Baptist. We're doing a series of video videos on Characters from church history and tonight we're going to be seeing the by a little biographical sketch of Gladys Alward and I didn't really know much about her till I saw this video and it was really a challenge

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So if you can make it courage you to do so seven o 'clock This evening so have a good rest of your day.