Genesis 13 & 14 (Abram & Lot Separate, Tithe Paid to Melchizedek)

All right, so we're gonna be looking at Genesis 13 and 14 tonight. So this starts out with Abraham and Lot going their separate ways, but a lot of things are happening here. Abraham, he's just fresh off his disaster in Egypt and he worships God.

I think he might even be sort of recommitting his faith to God. God reaffirms the covenant with Abraham. So now after that, his faith is growing. So we no longer see him afraid for his life because Lot is gonna get captured and then Abraham goes into battle and he rescues Lot.

So a lot is happening. His faith is growing. Like I said, he worships God and then he's going to encounter this man named Melchizedek, who is a type of Christ. Abraham pays to him a tithe. So a lot to talk about, especially this figure Melchizedek.

So we'll start out, we'll listen to chapter 13 and then we'll come back, hit the highlights and then get into chapter 14.

Then Abraham went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had and Lot with him to the south. Abraham was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. And he went on his journey from the south as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai to the place of the altar which he had made there at first.

And there Abraham called on the name of the Lord. Lot also who went with Abraham had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abraham's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. So Abraham said to Lot.

Please let there be no strife between you and me and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right.

Or if you go to the right.

And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go towards Zohar.

Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.

But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him,.

Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are northward, southward, eastward and westward. For all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.

Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width for I give it to you.

Then Abram moved his tent and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre which are in Hebron and built an altar there to the Lord.

All right, so Genesis 13, one, it starts, then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had and Lot with him to the south. So again, if you remember from last week, this is fresh on the heels of that disaster in Egypt.

I think most people agree, most commentators agree. Abraham's reputation took a hit after that. He's not looking too good probably to his servants, probably doesn't look too good to Lot and not that Sarah would say anything, but I mean, she can't be real pleased with Abraham after what happened.

So you remember he lied or misled Pharaoh. He allowed Sarai to be taken into Pharaoh's house in all an attempt to do what? Save his own skin, right? So again, Abram really isn't looking too good at this point.

And if God were to determine things based on his deeds and his actions, God might've just wrote him out of the picture and started over with somebody else. But remember God made a covenant with Abram and we believe it was a unconditional covenant.

It was a covenant based on grace. So it's not determining based on Abraham's deeds. God is gonna be faithful to him no matter what. And once Abraham realizes that, because God reaffirms the covenant in verses 14 and 17, I think once he realizes that God is still with him, that increases his faith a great deal.

That is the same for us knowing our own, maybe lack of faith sometimes. We can be troubled about our performance, our doubts, but when we can focus on God's faithfulness to us, that's how our faith grows.

Looking to God, not ourselves and our own failures. So if you remember grace, the way you define the word grace, it's unmerited favor. And Abraham has that without question. So God is blessing him. Look at verse two, God is also blessing Lot.

Verse two says, "'Abram was very rich in livestock and silver and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai.'".

So why is this place significant? Has Abraham been there before? Yes, that was the place where he had first built an altar. So an altar, this is, you know, there were no churches back then, but this was a special place where he, you know, probably just piled up stones.

That's what an altar was at this point. A raised platform with a flat surface, pile of stones to offer sacrifices. So this is where he worships God. He calls upon the name of the Lord. And the way I view this, he's rededicating himself to Christ.

Who's seen, maybe probably been in church services where they have altar calls, where people can come up and, you know, receive Christ. But then there are also church services where people can rededicate their lives to Christ.

And I think that can be a very important thing for some people, especially if you just had a great failure. Rededicating yourself can be very important. So that's what I see him doing here. And it probably signals personal repentance.

I think he realizes what he did in Egypt was wrong. So God's blessing him despite that. And God is blessing Lot. However, verse six says that the land, because now they have all these, you know, all this livestock, all these servants.

So there's not enough room for both of them, right? So it says the land was not able to support them both, that they may dwell together for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. So notice there's not strife between Abraham and Lot, but between their people. So Abraham looks around, he sees how there's plenty of land in every direction.

And again, he's not putting himself first here like he did last time. Who does he put first? He gives what? He gives Lot the option. Okay, Lot, you choose. Whichever way you go, I'll go in the other direction, you can have first pick of the land.

So what does Lot do? Does he make a good choice? You know, from an earthly perspective, he might've taken the best land, but spiritually this doesn't work out so well. Verse 11 says, then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated from each other.

Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, which is what he was supposed to do. And Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent, even as far as Sodom. And then we get this word in verse 13 about the men of Sodom.

They were bad people. Is that what it says? Well, even worse than that, they were exceedingly bad, exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. I like how they throw that in. Exceedingly wicked and sinful.

So what does that tell you? Like really, really, really bad, right? So this is gonna set up the story, which, you know, occurs later, the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. So like I said, from a worldly point of view, maybe this was a good decision.

The land says it was very lush, I guess you could say. It implies in verse 10, it was like the Garden of Eden there, just untouched, the perfect land to have livestock. But again, from a spiritual point of view, I don't know if Lot knew the people in that region were wicked, but this does not turn out well for him.

So there are gonna be consequences later on. And now we see that Abraham once again hears from God. Look at verse 14. It says, and the Lord, and it's all capital letters.

So what does that mean?

When Lord is in all caps?

Jehovah God.

Yeah, that's God's sacred name, Jehovah, the Tetragrammaton, the Lord, Jehovah God. Said to Abraham, after Lot had separated from him, God says, lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward, south, east, west, for all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants, for how long?

Forever.

Okay, forever. And I wanna highlight that word, forever. Okay, now what does forever mean to you?

Forever.

Yeah.

I mean, we talk about taking the Bible literally, and this would be one case where you do take it literally. Not everyone does though. So put it this way. How long ago is this? Roughly 4 ,000 years ago, right?

Okay, so if God gave the land to him and to his descendants 4 ,000 years ago, but he gave it to him forever, what does that mean right now? I mean, yeah, it's still their land, right? Am I, is my logic off?

No.

This is important.

As much as it is when God offers eternal life.

Yeah, when you believe on Christ, you receive eternal life.

Not till you do wrong again.

Right, yeah, that's a good point. So this is important concerning our eschatology. So I believe that the land was given to them for, yes, for all time, even in the new heaven and new earth, maybe. There's gonna be some connection in the millennium going forward.

Now, I only stress that point because many of our Reformed friends, we have some Reformed friends, some Reformed churches in the area, they sort of disagree on this point because they believe that the church has replaced Israel.

So they would say that the Jews really have no claim on the land. So Morse Corner Church would disagree with that. I would disagree with that. I think when it says forever, it really does mean forever.

It was 4 ,000 years ago right now. And when Jesus comes back, during the 1 ,000 year kingdom, which I also take literally, it's gonna be their land then, which technically would be the premillennial dispensational viewpoint.

I know that's fallen out of favor today, but that's how I see it. So for those of you who know that terminology, but look at verse 16, because all of this is part of the Abrahamic covenant. This is all part of the promise.

The Lord says, and I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width for I give it to you.

So this is the covenant promise. God will make of him a great nation. Have way too many descendants even to count and the land will be theirs forever.

Okay.

So it's gonna be Christmas soon. Sunday, I don't have the text figured out what I'm gonna read on Sunday, but I might read this verse. Tell me if this sounds familiar from Luke chapter one. The angel Gabriel tells Mary, the Lord, speaking about her child that she's gonna have, Jesus, the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob or Israel for how long?

Forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end. So Jesus is going to rule over the church forever. Well, that too, but it says over the house of Jacob or Israel forever. So again, I think this is just more evidence that there's still a future for the nation of Israel.

So Abraham probably doesn't understand half of what God is really offering him here. He's just trusting in God day to day. Look at verse 18. So after this, it says, Abraham moved his tent and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.

So I really see this as him. His faith is growing. He hears this reaffirmation from God. Things are okay again. Probably wasn't feeling too good for a while, but now things are good. So his faith is growing.

He's not walking in fear, and we're definitely gonna see that in the next chapter. So let's go to chapter 14. So remember him and Lot have separated. Lot is now off in this region where a war is gonna break out, and Lot is gonna get captured, and it's gonna be up to Abraham to launch a military assault basically or a rescue operation to save his nephew.

And we see that in chapter 14, Abraham, who was once fearful, is now fearless. And isn't that true when your faith is weak, or you're in sin, and you're walking in patterns of sin, you do become fearful.

But the righteous, is it Proverbs? The righteous are as bold as a lion. So Abraham, all that fear is gone. So starting in verse one of chapter 14, it says, and it came to pass in the days. Now we have a whole bunch of names that are hard to pronounce.

Amraphel, the king of Shinar. Ariok, king of Eleazar. Kedileomer, king of Elam. Tidal, king of nations, that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and Bersha, king of Gomorrah. Shinab, king of Admah, and Shamiba, king of Zeboiim.

And the king of Bila, that is Zor, all these joined together in the valley of Sidum, that is the Salt Sea. 12 years they served Kedileomer, and in the 13th year, they rebelled. So long story short, verse nine tells us this war that breaks out, it's four kings versus five kings.

So back then, they had, well, we would call them city-states. So today, if you have a city, who rules over a city? A mayor, right? Back then, the city was like a nation all its own. So they had kings ruling over individual cities.

So four cities, four kings versus five kings. And Lot is living where? Near Sodom. So Sodom has its own king. Look at verse 10. Now, the valley of Sidum was full of asphalt pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled.

So they're under assault, they run. Some fell there, some died, and the remainder fled to the mountains. Then they took, the military took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and went their way.

And they also took who?

Lot.

Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom and his goods, and departed. Okay, and then verse 13. Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. By the way, this is the first time in the Bible that you see this term, Hebrew.

Now, sometimes we'll say, well, Abraham was a Jew. You know, technically, I mean, we know what people mean by that. I don't wanna get too technical, but Abraham, the term Jew comes along way, way later.

So technically, Abram is a Hebrew. So Lot is taken captive, and who do they tell? They tell Abram, who we learn in verse 13, he has some friends. So he has all these servants. He has some allies. So he is the perfect guy to get together the SEAL Team Six or whatever they had back then.

You know, they're elite fighters, and they got together. But the point is, Abraham is not afraid. If you read the story, it looks like Abraham probably got a weapon and he went along with them. So this is, they're going into battle to rescue Lot.

Verse 14 says, now, when Abram heard that, who?

His brother.

His brother was taken captive. Now, who, wait, it just says up in verse 12, Abram's brother's son. So Lot was his, what?

Nephew.

But here, Lot is called his brother. We'll come back to that. So Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, and he armed his 318 trained servants who were born in his own house and went in pursuit as far as Dam.

He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Horba, which is north of Damascus. So he brought back all the goods and also brought back his brother, Lot, and all his goods, as well as the women and the people.

So again, no more fear. He's not putting his own safety first. He's willing to risk his life to save Lot, who is called here his brother. What do you make of that? Now, technically, was Lot his brother?

No.

Why do you think he's called his brother? Now, in other, I looked at a variety of translations. Some, I think the NIV says his relative. Okay, so Lot is his relative, according to the NIV. The ESV says kinsman, but, and you could translate it that way, but the King James and the New King James say brother.

Is that a error? Or what do you think's happening there?

Brother in Christ?

I mean, we would say that, but like, is Larry my brother?

Yeah, he is.

Well, he's not, but he is, right?

Not really.

Yeah.

So in Christ, of course, that concept isn't really here yet, but I think that's sort of what it's saying. They have this spiritual connection, but I think they're close, just speaking of their relationship.

But yes, it's not an error because they are brothers, you know, in a figurative sense. Obviously, the translators know he's his nephew, but Abraham clearly loves Lot. I mean, that's just my takeaway. He really cares about him like a brother.

So Abraham cares about Lot. You could say he's interceding on his behalf to rescue Lot. And I'm just telling you, if the chapter ended right here, I would be making some sort of, you know, spiritual application of Abraham as the Christ figure.

And, you know, Lot is the sinner in this story, and he maybe goes in the wrong direction. And Abraham is like a type of Christ, you know, being willing to lay down his life to save Lot, the sinner. Of course, he's not really the Christ figure in this chapter because the chapter continues.

Who's the Christ figure in this chapter? Because we haven't talked about this in a while, but going through the Old Testament, I try to stress that you should look for, when appropriate, we should look for types and foreshadows and pictures of Christ.

So who's the Christ figure in this chapter? Melchizedek. So we're gonna see Melchizedek right now. So now we're getting into this mysterious figure who some people believe that Melchizedek isn't just a picture of Christ.

Some people believe Melchizedek actually is Christ. Who's aware of this position?

Okay.

So look at verse 17. So after this battle and after this rescue mission, it says, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him, Abram, at the valley of Sheba, that is the king's valley, after his return from the defeat of Keteleomer and the kings who were with him.

Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out, what? Bread and wine. I mean, this is kind of the first thing that makes him appear as though he's like a Christ figure, because immediately my mind makes the association of bread and wine that makes me think of Christ and the communion elements, the bread representing his body, the wine or the cup representing his blood.

So that's maybe the first signal. Melchizedek is the king of Salem. He brings out bread and wine. And it says that he was the priest of the most high God. Now, do we call Jesus priest or is Jesus called the priest in the New Testament?

Yes.

And now verse 19, Melchizedek is going to bless Abram. And here's what he says. He says, blessed be Abram of God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God most high who has delivered your enemies into your hand.

And then he, that is Abram, gave to Melchizedek a tithe of all. Okay, so when you go into battle, not only when you rescue people, what happens? You take the plunder, right? So, you know, you could, if you go to war, you could end up with a lot of silver, gold, possessions, everything else.

So this is a really important part of chapter 14, probably the most significant part of the chapter. So let's talk about who, you know, who is this mysterious figure known as Melchizedek? And then why is Abram giving him a tithe?

It's like this guy just shows up seemingly out of nowhere. And here's this great man, one of the greatest men who ever lived, Abram. And it's like Abram is immediately, as soon as Melchizedek shows up, Abram is immediately like, it doesn't say he bowed, I guess, but he's immediately giving him a tithe as though this man is definitely my superior.

Doesn't it seem a little odd? Like if you've never heard the story, why is Abraham giving him a tithe? Well, there's a few theories. So the first theory, well, let's start out with what we know for sure.

Melchizedek, we know for certain he is what? The first thing we're told is he is a king, okay? So Melchizedek, king of Salem, which means king of righteousness, and then, and or king of peace. So we know he's a king, and we also know he is a, what's his other occupation?

Priest. And again, this should make connections because Christ holds all three great offices of prophet, priest, and king. In the Old Testament, you couldn't be a king and a priest, but Melchizedek is.

So that's another indication that he's a Christ figure. We also see a new name for God, El Elyon. If you have the Hebrew. So this is the name of God, God Most High. And then there is this relationship where Abram is clearly the one in submission to Melchizedek.

And that's why some people think, all of these things put together, they think that, some think he is a pre-incarnate Christ, which another word for that would be what? When Jesus appears in the Old Testament, which we believe he does, he's gonna appear to Abram.

We know he appears to Abram in, I think it's chapter 18 or 19, where the three visitors, two are angels, one is the pre-incarnate Christ. So the term for that would be a? Close Christophany. So a theophany is a manifestation, visible manifestation of God, the Father.

A Christophany would be a Old Testament manifestation of Christ. So that's one view, that he is, Melchizedek is the pre-incarnate Christ. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter seven, because Hebrews seven talks about Melchizedek.

We learn a little bit more about him there. The other theory is that Melchizedek is Shem, who's heard this theory. Now I was reading one commentary, and this was proposed, and they said, well, Shem would have still been alive.

And then I looked at this genealogy, this chart here that Charlene gave us, and it's like, I don't know if Shem was still alive at this point. Why would somebody think that he was Shem? Apparently, I think there's some Jewish writings where Melchizedek is said to be Shem, or there's some speculate, but there's nothing in the Bible, okay?

There's really no biblical evidence that I could find that Melchizedek is Shem. So I, that's interesting, but I just don't think there's any real case for that. So that leaves two possibilities, Christ, or he's just a great king, who is a picture of Christ, but just a man.

But why do people really think that he is Christ? Well, it's because of Hebrews seven, this statement, let's look at it. Hebrews seven, one. So the author of Hebrews says, "'For this Melchizedek, King of Salem, "'priest of the Most High God, "'who met Abram returning from the slaughter of the kings "'and blessed him, to whom also Abram gave "'a tenth part of all, "'first being translated King of Righteousness, "'then also King of Salem, meaning King of Peace.'".

It's this verse right here, verse three, that Melchizedek, "'Without father, without mother, without genealogy, "'having neither beginning of days nor end of life, "'but made like the Son of God, "'remains a priest continually.'".

So if you take that at face value, it makes it sound like Melchizedek doesn't have parents and he has no beginning and he never died. Well, if that's what the author of Hebrews is saying, then there's really no other option.

He would have to be Christ. You understand why?

Okay.

But there's another way to interpret that. So what's the purpose of bringing up Melchizedek in the book of Hebrews? The author of Hebrews is trying to make the case that Jesus is our great high priest.

Now, there's a little problem with Jesus being a priest.

And what is it?

To be a priest, you had to be from the tribe of Levi and Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. So he can be a King being from the tribe of Judah, but he would have been disqualified from being a priest under the old covenant.

Well, here's the thing. Melchizedek is before the old covenant was established and this is a different line or different order of priesthood, right? So was Christ able to be a Levitical priest? No, but the author of Hebrews is saying that Christ holds a greater priesthood, that he's a priest according to the order of who?

Melchizedek.

Melchizedek, which is a quotation. That's verse 17. That's a quotation of Psalm 110, verse four. So now this statement about Melchizedek not having father or mother, again, either it's saying he has no parents, no beginning, no end, and he is Christ, or it says something about a genealogy there, right?

No genealogy. So the other possibility is, it's not that he didn't have parents, it's just that they're not recorded, okay? And there's nothing recorded about his birth and there's nothing recorded about his death.

That's what the author of Hebrews is saying, which could make sense because to be a priest, genealogy was vital. You had to know who they were a descendant of. If they weren't a descendant of Levi and then Aaron, they couldn't be a priest.

So that's the other way of understanding it, that he's not saying he had no beginning or end. It's just, there's no genealogy. None of that stuff is mentioned, okay? That's the other possibility. So who says, after all that, who says that Melchizedek is the pre-incarnate Christ?

Who says he's not the pre-incarnate Christ?

Who isn't sure?

Okay, I'm not sure. I used to think he was Christ, that was my position. Then I started seeing things the other way. Well, I don't really know. So I don't know that it matters. At the very least, he is a type of Christ, okay?

Now, we wanna try to figure out why this is being said. Well, we know why Hebrews is being written, but let's go back to Genesis 14 and we'll try to get some application here. The tithe part is interesting because the author of Hebrews makes another point about tithing.

So before we get into that though, just to kind of wrap up the story, the final verses in chapter 14 deal with the King of Sodom. Verse 21 says, he says, the King of Sodom to Abraham, give me the persons and take the goods for yourself.

But Abram said to the King of Sodom, I have raised my hand to the Lord, God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing from a thread to a sandal strap. Like, I don't want anything from you, pal.

He won't, Abram won't take anything from the King of Sodom. Why is that?

What?

Yeah, he doesn't want any association with that place or this man. So he says, I won't take anything, lest you say, I have made Abraham rich. Okay, so he does not want the King of Sodom to be able to brag to people, hey, you know, Abraham's so blessed and you know, that's partly because of me, because I gave him all this stuff.

What's he doing? Well, again, God, God is blessing Abram. Anyone who knows Abraham at this point sees that God is with him, God is blessing him. He has a good testimony. By having this connection, taking something, being associated with the King of Sodom, to me, that would almost like ruin his testimony.

You know, it would kind of cloud things. Okay, is the blessing really from God or is it from God and this wicked king? So Abram wants nothing to do with it so that God can receive all the glory and he can be separate and pure.

And by the way, that's what we need to be. If anyone ever offers you a lot of money, you know, if no one's ever done this to me, but if somebody came along, some stranger, and they offered to give me all this stuff, my first thought would be, yeah, why?

And who is this person? And do I want to be associated with them? And what's the catch? I mean, that would be my thinking. So Abraham is doing a wise thing here. And I think this is sort of in line or is in line with the biblical teaching of separation.

But let's get into the tithe. We'll end on this point. So Abraham pays to him a tithe. What is a tithe? What does the word tithe mean? Okay, 10 or 10%. So Melchizedek, why does Abraham give money to Melchizedek?

Why would he give him 10 See, now we're shifting to get into the application of the story. Why did he give Melchizedek 10

Yeah.

It's not because he was a king. It's because he was a priest. In the Old Testament, and you could still make a similar argument, when the people of God were giving money to God, when they were giving to the Lord, who did they give to?

They gave to support the priests. They gave to the temple. They gave to the work of God. So it's significant that Melchizedek blesses Abram and then Abram blesses him or blesses God in return and gives him 10%.

So today, we talk about tithes and offerings. So tithes and offerings are not the same. A tithe, like I said, 10%. An offering would be something other than 10%. And the point I wanna make is when we give, whether we're giving 10 or less or more, when we give to the work of God, who are we giving the money to?

You're giving unto the Lord. So, especially in the Old Testament, I realize this, people do take advantage of this today. You know, especially the TV preachers, you know, give money to God and what they're saying is give money to me.

That can be abused. It is abused. But you know what? As much as I hate to admit it, they do have a valid point, not when they're buying private jets and all the rest of the stuff. But that is how you give to God because Jesus isn't here.

God isn't here. So you give to God by giving to the work of God or to the man. We don't have priests today, but this is sort of the same principle I talked about on Sunday with Matthew 25. You know, what you do for the least of these, my brethren, you do it unto me.

So when you help a brother in Christ, who are you helping? It's like you're helping the Lord. So when you give, you're giving unto the Lord. I rarely, if ever, preach on the subject of money, tithing, giving.

I just, I only do it when I think the text supports it. I think this is one of those times. So we'll kind of sidestep the whole argument about whether or not tithing is for today. Although I would say one argument people will make against tithing, they'll say, well, that's just part of the old covenant.

You know, that was the law for the children of Israel. And that's true. But this is someone giving a tithe before the law. So if you wanted to make the argument that tithing was an established practice outside of the law, this is how you might do that.

But just a few reasons why, okay, we understand that giving to God is giving, you know, to the church, it's giving to the Lord. Just a few thoughts on that. You know, without people donating, without God's people sacrificing and giving money to the Lord, if people didn't do that, there would be no churches.

There would be no, or there'd be very little churches. There'd be very few churches, very few ministries. And I just think about 125 years ago, the people that sacrificed to give, and there's some documents that talk about this.

People that donated the land, people that donated money. Back then, people didn't have much money. I mean, we're doing well compared to people under 25 years ago. But they donated and this church was built.

What if this church was never built? I just thought about that. You know, my grandparents went here. So what, would they have gone to church if there was no church around?

You know?

We would've all made it in there.

You know, would my parents have gone to church as kids if those people didn't donate and have this place built? Would I be, you know, ordained? Would I be in the ministry today without those people who donated years ago and built this church?

And all the people since then who have given and have kept the doors open and kept it going. So I only say that because any given church where the gospel is preached, that ministry is run because of people paying tithes.

And I'm not getting on anyone's case because some people don't, they don't feel like they can tithe. That's between them and God as far as I'm concerned. But if it wasn't for people who tithed, churches would be in big trouble without faithful tithers.

And if it wasn't for the churches, well, where would I be? Where would you be? Because countless people have been touched by this church and other churches. And then those people in turn affect others' lives and it just keeps spreading and spreading.

So all of that to say this, giving is a blessing. So if God has blessed you, just consider this story of Abraham giving to Melchizedek. If God has blessed you, consider blessing him in return and giving to the Lord's work.