0:00:00 - 0:00:25 Way past my bedtime here, but I have not had any time this week to answer this question. If I don't take a slice now, it's not gonna happen. So I got a question about tithing and um sorry, the lighting is really bad in here at night. Uh So, um here's the bottom line. There's a time for everything. And 0:00:24 - 0:00:51 we have as a human race, we've gone through many, many years since uh the resurrection of Christ where the best we could do maybe uh in a sense where these prescribed commandments and a lot of people coming out of or coming from faith traditions that, that prescribe some version of tithing as soon as 0:00:51 - 0:01:15 they uh get hold to something that's, they feel is better than what they came from. They try to bring with them. Everything that came, that sort of caused the problems before. It's like people that move. I live in Montana. People moved to Montana from California or Washington or Oregon. They're not really 0:01:14 - 0:01:36 popular here because they bring with them all the ideologies that they're moving away from. And if people do the same thing with churches, I call it trading chains you get out of a faith tradition that didn't provide the blessings that you have read about in scripture. You go into a new tradition, hopefully 0:01:36 - 0:00:00 , no tradition. You're trying to establish a uh a closer connection with the Lord directly. Maybe. And, or whatever it is is new and better. But you bring all your garbage with you and uh you're trying to put new wine into old, old uh bottles and it old skins and it doesn't work. The thing blows up. 0:00:00 - 0:02:20 So if you're um it's good, it's good to have an open heart and to care about people. And that's the point of tithing is to take care of people and to show your devotion to God by doing that. But I'm going to tell you the time has passed for prescribed commandments. And what I mean by that, I don't mean 0:02:20 - 0:02:43 that, you know, you can't do good by going by a rule. What I mean is, it's not good enough anymore to cut a check for 10% of whatever or whatever your idea of tithing is and say you're good, you're not good, you're not good. The Lord expects more of us today. He doesn't want 10% of your money. He wants 0:02:42 - 0:03:07 100% of your heart. If you're giving him less than 100% of your heart, it really doesn't matter folks. Uh We, in the end times there will be some people who encounter salvation through um the old way of doing things, but they're not gonna encounter eternal life where we did not come to earth at this 0:03:07 - 0:03:33 time. We weren't born in the end times to do things the way everyone else always did them. If you do things, the way everyone else did them, you'll get the same result they did. And that's not worth what you're going to go through in this time. So what's a, what's a better way? Well, um in very brief 0:03:32 - 0:03:53 terms, open your eyes to all the good that you can do and be a wise steward over the things the the means the Lord has blessed you with or could bless you with. So if you're a younger person, you still have a lot of life ahead of you. There aren't too many younger people that watch this channel. Um But 0:03:53 - 0:04:20 if you have uh a nice span of life ahead of you, at least going by the average law of age, um then you should actively think about ways that you can uh acquire skills and resources in order to help other people. And don't just take the, the uh path of least resistance as most young people do. Uh That 0:04:19 - 0:04:41 that's been true. Uh At least so I was born in 1983 in my generation. Uh for sure, the majority of people in my peer group took the path of least resistance and they're, they're struggling right now even now, I'm 38 and uh, there are a lot of people my age that, uh, they're still relying on other people 0:04:41 - 0:05:05 to get by. So, um, if you start young you can get ahead. Well, what if you're older, if you're older, um, maybe you're in a position where you have, uh, more resources and more ability to help other people either financially which tends to be the case. Uh, most wealthy people are old, um, or, uh, in 0:05:05 - 0:05:31 other ways because you have tons of life experience, you can go out and uh help people with that. Um But think outside the box and think bigger. So, um giving money is great, but there are much better ways of helping people. Most of the time poverty is not a financial problem. And I'm not saying that 0:05:30 - 0:05:54 that there aren't people who aren't hurting, that would be much better off if they had some money. Some people um go through downturns or whatever. Um And it's, it's, uh it happens, right? And they don't, they don't need anything but money. But compared to like as a ratio of everyone in need, uh only 0:05:54 - 0:06:17 a very small portion of those people are lacking money. Most people are lacking opportunity, mentorship. Um So I'll give you an example here in a minute. So the, the question also asked, what, what do I do or what, what, you know, what organizations am I working with and whatever. Yeah. Some of, you 0:06:17 - 0:06:41 know, I, I've worked with charities before I've promoted charities uh through the blog. Um, but again, you, you really have to think, you have to think about what's the actual problem and how can I help people improve? How can I help people improve? There's a lot that could be said about this and I'm 0:06:41 - 0:07:06 tired, so I wanna go to bed. But, um, the old way is not the new way. I'll give you another example of that with baptism. The old way is, here's this list of stuff. If you do this stuff and you don't do this list of other stuff, you qualify to be baptized. Not anymore. The rule now is, are you keeping 0:07:05 - 0:07:26 all of God's commandments as far as you understand them all the time? Even better way of asking this question is everything you do. What you imagine God would do in your place. And do you do anything that you imagine God would not do in your place? If you can't answer those questions sincerely and correctly 0:07:25 - 0:07:48 , you've got no business being baptized because your baptism doesn't count for Jack Diddley squat. So tithing is the same thing that we could go through a lot of stuff this way. But I don't wanna get into too much of the ordinance stuff yet. Um, because it's, it's easy to destroy something. But until 0:07:48 - 0:08:08 you have something better to replace it with, you should probably just keep your mouth shut and there is something better, but it's not time so back to tithing. Uh, so what do, what do I do now? Well, not just now. Like, what have I been doing my whole life? I've been working my butt off so that I'm 0:08:07 - 0:08:32 in a place where I can provide opportunity for people that they wouldn't otherwise have. I think, uh, in the last, the last eight years I've probably hired over 100 people. I think exactly two of those people were qualified for the job that I gave them. So, uh I intentionally exerted enormous effort 0:08:31 - 0:08:59 to uh have the resources to give people jobs and also to sort of scour the earth for uh the kinds of people that I thought would experience the greatest Delta is a very intentional process. And um the reason I started a business, for example, was uh so that uh I could have a vehicle for helping people 0:08:59 - 0:09:20 rocket ahead in their lives with opportunities and uh resources that they wouldn't get anywhere else. And it worked. So tons of people that came to work for me left making twice what they were, at least when they came and started and they are established in life now and they would not have had an opportunity 0:09:19 - 0:09:47 to do that otherwise. So, um you, you gotta think outside the box and uh and think about what, what good can be done in the world that's not being done that you have the puzzle pieces to solve that puzzle or at least help it along. So um money is definitely something that's important, but um it's not 0:09:47 - 0:10:15 the biggest thing. Most of the time, money is most important for time, time and face to face interactions. That is the biggest return. Uh As far as what you can do for other people, what people lack the most is interaction with people who um who are further along than they are in whatever facet of life 0:10:15 - 0:10:36 and that interaction you can help them. So uh you can give them opportunities, you can open your home. We've had people living at my house. Uh Ever since we've lived here, just one person or another and sometimes they're family and sometimes they're not. So um those are all really uncomfortable things 0:10:36 - 0:11:02 . It is not fun to start a business. It's not fun to um uh open your home to, to people. It's, it's, there are a lot of risks and a lot of drawbacks and it could be really uncomfortable. It can cause a lot of problems, but that's the kind of, that's the kind of mindset. God wants us to have with people 0:11:01 - 0:11:23 . Um I was gonna say a bunch more but uh maybe we'll leave it at that. Think of the greatest good you can do and go do that and use your money and use your time and use your resources to that end. There's no such thing as a normal day. There's no such thing as the old way of doing things, it doesn't 0:11:23 - 0:11:40 work anymore. So if you're just looking for and the person that asked this question, like I'm not coming down on you or anything, I'm not saying you're, you are thinking the way that, that I'm sort of describing here. This is a general thing. I just want to get right to the nugget, which is, there's 0:11:40 - 0:11:56 no cut a check for 10% and you're good that doesn't exist anymore. Everyone should get that out of their heads. So you really have to think about what's the greatest good I can do in the world and you need to go do that and use your money as a vehicle for that. There will be plenty of opportunities to 0:00:00 - 0:00:25 Way past my bedtime here, but I have not had any time this week to answer this question. If I don't take a slice now, it's not gonna happen. So I got a question about tithing and um sorry, the lighting is really bad in here at night. Uh So, um here's the bottom line. There's a time for everything. And 0:00:24 - 0:00:51 we have as a human race, we've gone through many, many years since uh the resurrection of Christ where the best we could do maybe uh in a sense where these prescribed commandments and a lot of people coming out of or coming from faith traditions that, that prescribe some version of tithing as soon as 0:00:51 - 0:01:15 they uh get hold to something that's, they feel is better than what they came from. They try to bring with them. Everything that came, that sort of caused the problems before. It's like people that move. I live in Montana. People moved to Montana from California or Washington or Oregon. They're not really 0:01:14 - 0:01:36 popular here because they bring with them all the ideologies that they're moving away from. And if people do the same thing with churches, I call it trading chains you get out of a faith tradition that didn't provide the blessings that you have read about in scripture. You go into a new tradition, hopefully 0:01:36 - 0:00:00 , no tradition. You're trying to establish a uh a closer connection with the Lord directly. Maybe. And, or whatever it is is new and better. But you bring all your garbage with you and uh you're trying to put new wine into old, old uh bottles and it old skins and it doesn't work. The thing blows up. 0:00:00 - 0:02:20 So if you're um it's good, it's good to have an open heart and to care about people. And that's the point of tithing is to take care of people and to show your devotion to God by doing that. But I'm going to tell you the time has passed for prescribed commandments. And what I mean by that, I don't mean 0:02:20 - 0:02:43 that, you know, you can't do good by going by a rule. What I mean is, it's not good enough anymore to cut a check for 10% of whatever or whatever your idea of tithing is and say you're good, you're not good, you're not good. The Lord expects more of us today. He doesn't want 10% of your money. He wants 0:02:42 - 0:03:07 100% of your heart. If you're giving him less than 100% of your heart, it really doesn't matter folks. Uh We, in the end times there will be some people who encounter salvation through um the old way of doing things, but they're not gonna encounter eternal life where we did not come to earth at this 0:03:07 - 0:03:33 time. We weren't born in the end times to do things the way everyone else always did them. If you do things, the way everyone else did them, you'll get the same result they did. And that's not worth what you're going to go through in this time. So what's a, what's a better way? Well, um in very brief 0:03:32 - 0:03:53 terms, open your eyes to all the good that you can do and be a wise steward over the things the the means the Lord has blessed you with or could bless you with. So if you're a younger person, you still have a lot of life ahead of you. There aren't too many younger people that watch this channel. Um But 0:03:53 - 0:04:20 if you have uh a nice span of life ahead of you, at least going by the average law of age, um then you should actively think about ways that you can uh acquire skills and resources in order to help other people. And don't just take the, the uh path of least resistance as most young people do. Uh That 0:04:19 - 0:04:41 that's been true. Uh At least so I was born in 1983 in my generation. Uh for sure, the majority of people in my peer group took the path of least resistance and they're, they're struggling right now even now, I'm 38 and uh, there are a lot of people my age that, uh, they're still relying on other people 0:04:41 - 0:05:05 to get by. So, um, if you start young you can get ahead. Well, what if you're older, if you're older, um, maybe you're in a position where you have, uh, more resources and more ability to help other people either financially which tends to be the case. Uh, most wealthy people are old, um, or, uh, in 0:05:05 - 0:05:31 other ways because you have tons of life experience, you can go out and uh help people with that. Um But think outside the box and think bigger. So, um giving money is great, but there are much better ways of helping people. Most of the time poverty is not a financial problem. And I'm not saying that 0:05:30 - 0:05:54 that there aren't people who aren't hurting, that would be much better off if they had some money. Some people um go through downturns or whatever. Um And it's, it's, uh it happens, right? And they don't, they don't need anything but money. But compared to like as a ratio of everyone in need, uh only 0:05:54 - 0:06:17 a very small portion of those people are lacking money. Most people are lacking opportunity, mentorship. Um So I'll give you an example here in a minute. So the, the question also asked, what, what do I do or what, what, you know, what organizations am I working with and whatever. Yeah. Some of, you 0:06:17 - 0:06:41 know, I, I've worked with charities before I've promoted charities uh through the blog. Um, but again, you, you really have to think, you have to think about what's the actual problem and how can I help people improve? How can I help people improve? There's a lot that could be said about this and I'm 0:06:41 - 0:07:06 tired, so I wanna go to bed. But, um, the old way is not the new way. I'll give you another example of that with baptism. The old way is, here's this list of stuff. If you do this stuff and you don't do this list of other stuff, you qualify to be baptized. Not anymore. The rule now is, are you keeping 0:07:05 - 0:07:26 all of God's commandments as far as you understand them all the time? Even better way of asking this question is everything you do. What you imagine God would do in your place. And do you do anything that you imagine God would not do in your place? If you can't answer those questions sincerely and correctly 0:07:25 - 0:07:48 , you've got no business being baptized because your baptism doesn't count for Jack Diddley squat. So tithing is the same thing that we could go through a lot of stuff this way. But I don't wanna get into too much of the ordinance stuff yet. Um, because it's, it's easy to destroy something. But until 0:07:48 - 0:08:08 you have something better to replace it with, you should probably just keep your mouth shut and there is something better, but it's not time so back to tithing. Uh, so what do, what do I do now? Well, not just now. Like, what have I been doing my whole life? I've been working my butt off so that I'm 0:08:07 - 0:08:32 in a place where I can provide opportunity for people that they wouldn't otherwise have. I think, uh, in the last, the last eight years I've probably hired over 100 people. I think exactly two of those people were qualified for the job that I gave them. So, uh I intentionally exerted enormous effort 0:08:31 - 0:08:59 to uh have the resources to give people jobs and also to sort of scour the earth for uh the kinds of people that I thought would experience the greatest Delta is a very intentional process. And um the reason I started a business, for example, was uh so that uh I could have a vehicle for helping people 0:08:59 - 0:09:20 rocket ahead in their lives with opportunities and uh resources that they wouldn't get anywhere else. And it worked. So tons of people that came to work for me left making twice what they were, at least when they came and started and they are established in life now and they would not have had an opportunity 0:09:19 - 0:09:47 to do that otherwise. So, um you, you gotta think outside the box and uh and think about what, what good can be done in the world that's not being done that you have the puzzle pieces to solve that puzzle or at least help it along. So um money is definitely something that's important, but um it's not 0:09:47 - 0:10:15 the biggest thing. Most of the time, money is most important for time, time and face to face interactions. That is the biggest return. Uh As far as what you can do for other people, what people lack the most is interaction with people who um who are further along than they are in whatever facet of life 0:10:15 - 0:10:36 and that interaction you can help them. So uh you can give them opportunities, you can open your home. We've had people living at my house. Uh Ever since we've lived here, just one person or another and sometimes they're family and sometimes they're not. So um those are all really uncomfortable things 0:10:36 - 0:11:02 . It is not fun to start a business. It's not fun to um uh open your home to, to people. It's, it's, there are a lot of risks and a lot of drawbacks and it could be really uncomfortable. It can cause a lot of problems, but that's the kind of, that's the kind of mindset. God wants us to have with people 0:11:01 - 0:11:23 . Um I was gonna say a bunch more but uh maybe we'll leave it at that. Think of the greatest good you can do and go do that and use your money and use your time and use your resources to that end. There's no such thing as a normal day. There's no such thing as the old way of doing things, it doesn't 0:11:23 - 0:11:40 work anymore. So if you're just looking for and the person that asked this question, like I'm not coming down on you or anything, I'm not saying you're, you are thinking the way that, that I'm sort of describing here. This is a general thing. I just want to get right to the nugget, which is, there's 0:11:40 - 0:11:56 no cut a check for 10% and you're good that doesn't exist anymore. Everyone should get that out of their heads. So you really have to think about what's the greatest good I can do in the world and you need to go do that and use your money as a vehicle for that. There will be plenty of opportunities to 0:11:56 - 0:12:13 give financially along the way we do that. Um, and I'm sure you'll find ways to do that too, or I should say, uh, opportunities where that's the right thing to do but think bigger, think bigger. So we'll leave is that?