Knowing the Difference Three Times Deuteronomy 23:19-25

It's a guitar chord.

I'm not sure I wish you would have said something over for my ears.

I don't know, I didn't think about it.

I hope you're okay.

I got mine too.

I got that.

I love it.

It's a little chord right here.

It's a little chord.

I can't get it until I felt it under my foot.

I love it because I do know better.

It sounds so good.

We stuff on chords a lot.

Oh my God.

These four girls are the best.

I hope you're gonna help.

We're gonna fall over.

We can't yell at him.

Alright, good morning.

Good morning.

Well, the music team's here.

Good morning.

Alright, the end of the delayed.

We're gonna sing some music.

Praise the God.

Here we go.

Take me to space, your water.

I'm not thinking of you so hard.

So remember to wake up.

Remember your children.

Remember your friends.

You remember me.

You remember me too.

Okay, just stay right there where you are.

It's going to be very quick, just real quick.

And one, there is a membership meeting scheduled after service today.

Not much on the agenda.

Two old business points from last month that we need to address.

And we will do that. Also, I guess this starts DBS week.

So later if the inspiration is all the time, so our normal time, we're going to have a

little bit of DBS stuff.

We kick off our first day.

The kids are having their first lesson in Sunday school today.

And it's an exciting time.

I'm super excited about this DBS.

And as you can see, we've got color everywhere.

And it's a big, big, big time.

So let's pray together.

And then we're going to work.

Father in heaven, we thank you so much for this opportunity.

You've blessed us beyond measure.

You've created so much, sustained so much, been so real, been powerful to save souls.

That anyone who called on the name of Jesus will be saved.

We know that it's a very sad thing that there are those who refuse, those who will not.

At the same time, Lord, we know that there are those who are teetering on the edge.

We pray that you will move those who are teetering close to yourself and save their souls.

And pray that you will move those who are refusing to teetering on the edge.

It will be a constant upward climb, Lord, as we come closer and closer to you.

I know that it may not be all that long before Jesus comes.

We want to be ready.

We want to be found with our labs burning brightly with our work in process or faithfully serving you.

We pray for our needs.

We have amongst our number of those who have been sick, those who have been hurting, those who are struggling.

We pray for joy when facing trials and tribulations.

Because we have a lot of trials and tribulations.

It seems like we think the trials and tribulations are a lot more than they are.

And they're gone.

You just care of it.

And we forgot to have joy in the middle of it.

Your work says to consider a pure joy when facing all man and child.

I pray you'll be able to do that.

I pray for those who are still working hard to prepare themselves for the vacation Bible schools.

For the kids that are here, the kids that will tune in this later,

and the kids that we will promote to, that we will call, that we will invite,

that we will transport, or pray that you will come out and number this week in the next four days

to learn your word.

And to know more about you and your amazing creation.

I pray you'll be with us now.

Help us look up our voices and stand strong for you.

We pray you can do this name.

Amen.

Alright, so you can stand back up now.

I warned you.

Alright, so this song requires some participation.

So all you gotta do is clap.

You gotta keep your hands.

We wanna sing, we wanna sing, we wanna sing Jesus lifted high.

We wanna sing, we wanna sing, we wanna sing Jesus lifted high.

We wanna sing Jesus lifted high.

The better the Christ is proud of this land.

Still, all in my scene, the truth and all,

means the way to heaven.

We wanna sing Jesus lifted high.

The better the Christ is proud of this land.

Still, all in my scene, the truth and all,

means the way to heaven.

We wanna sing, we wanna sing, we wanna sing Jesus lifted high.

We wanna sing, we wanna sing, we wanna sing Jesus lifted high.

Christ alone, my hope is found.

He is the light, my strength, my soul.

His cornerstone, His silent ground.

For you the cross is crowned and torn.

One heart of love will die, stop being.

When things are still and shining see,

my confidence, my all in all,

here in the love of Christ, I'll sing.

You seated at this time?

Alright, children, here we go.

We're gonna learn the theme song.

Come on, to the front.

I took out a whole row of chairs for you.

Let's go.

Come on.

You don't know it, that's fine.

The only people that actually know it are these three.

I don't even know it.

I don't even know it.

I don't even know it.

I don't know it.

It's gonna be on the screen.

Switch to the video.

We're gonna try it.

Okay, well, sorry.

You're working hard for it, you got to switch to the YouTube video.

YouTube, is that?

It's queued up already.

No, it's not.

No, it's not.

It's not.

It's not.

What?

Oh, it's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

It's not.

No.

But it's just my congresswoman.

It's not really the only party.

It's just a Windows app.

It's legit.

It's legit.

And thatㅇ

s come Carter.

Live reefa

And that..

Okay.

live reefa

which kind of

Let's get the juices flowing Imagination's going, there's so much in store

It's time to be creative Incredibly innovative, so much to make sure

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.

Good works which not from there to heaven's time, for us to do.

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.

Good works which not from there to heaven's time, for us to do.

I had it done for us to do.

Sparks to the earth, sparks to the earth, created in Christ Jesus.

We got through it!

Yes!

We got that.

I'm the first one on the playlist.

I can't get that.

You're the first one on the playlist.

Sit down.

Good morning!

Good morning!

The first question by the school will be visiting, as you might have guessed from the theme song,

Sparks Studios.

I'll be playing the part of Professor Sparks.

This morning we're going to be talking about God's creation.

God's amazing creation and there is much of it.

Isn't there?

Man, when I think about all the amazing things that God has created, big and small,

and how He sustains them even to this day,

my mind is boggling.

I can't begin to battle.

Well, maybe let's try this.

Let's toss around some ideas.

Get it? Toss around some ideas about God's creation.

I want to let two people got my joke.

Maybe you'll catch my science.

But I'll do it.

Here's what's going to happen.

I'm going to throw the ball out there.

Everybody's a kid for this experiment.

I'm going to throw the ball out there.

All you have to do is keep it going.

When it comes to you, just concentrate on someone else.

When I play the kazoo, you're going to catch the ball.

Whoever is closest, catch it and just hold it for a second.

I'll give the rep the game's luck.

Are you ready? Here we go.

Go! Keep it going.

Keep it up.

Oh my God.

Oh my God, Joe!

Okay, so look at your right hand.

Hold the ball steady.

Look at your right hand and the thumb of your right hand.

What color is the touch?

White. Tell us something white that God has made.

Just pick one thing.

First thing sometimes.

Smell. Okay? Go again. Ready?

Go! Go! Go!

Here's the note.

Go! Go!

You know what to keep it.

I'll never leave without it.

Oh my God.

Oh, yes!

He hit it.

Get it, he does.

Okay, look at where your right thumb is.

Blue.

Tell us something blue that God has made.

The sky.

Here we go. One last time.

Ready, go.

Jump!

Woo!

Jump!

Jump!

Woo!

Ready, me?

This is what I'm trying to do.

Here we go.

Okay, check your right thumb.

What color is that?

Yellow.

Tell us something yellow that God has made.

A side.

There you go. You can let Zoe hold that.

You can hold that.

Okay, that'll go great.

God has made so many things big and small.

In the Bible, a man called King David wrote many of the Psalms.

And in the Psalms, David called the creations of God and the works of God.

Okay, what about this now?

Thank you.

Countless.

Countless means you can't count them.

Like trying to count the stars. Anybody ever try to count the stars?

Yeah.

So many. Or the grains of sand on a beach.

What's the need for that?

Only are there so many grains of sand on the beach.

But on top of that, they're so small.

They'll slip right through your hands.

Did you know that there are countless things that God has created that are so small,

you can't even see them?

Meaning there are so many of them that exist, you can't even see them,

and you couldn't possibly count them.

An example of that is here in my canoes.

This is called a merlin tin.

Ever heard of that word before?

A merlin tin is a type of musical instrument that magnifies the sound of your humming, like this.

It does it by a membrane that's inside there.

I wish you could see inside there.

I have an idea. I think I have something.

Here is one. Right back here.

This is a membrane, not unlike what's inside my kazoo.

And watch this.

Hoooooooo!

So much louder!

Hoooooooo!

Jason, come on here and try this.

Try this. That's cool, man.

Try it first.

Calm into it.

Calm.

Hoooooooo!

Okay.

That's probably so hard.

I can hold that.

Okay.

Got it.

Ehh!

Where's better, we don't care so hard about it.

Okay, I'll get it back, thank you.

All right, so the difference between these membranes

and the membrane indicator, so, is the size.

But they're not different in how they work.

The way they work is they vibrate

and they move the sound waves,

again, something you can't see,

from the membrane spread out and moves it

through the air to my ear.

This is an amazing creation that God has given us.

There's not only that, but a lot of you can hear the music

that you can call this music that I made,

but on top of that, it allows you to hear me teaching

about God and about a Merlin and about music, right?

And so God gave us this gift of communication

through sound waves so that we can relate to one another

and even teach each other about God's word,

about Him, about things that are going on in our lives,

whatever it might be.

Our amazing God, this week in Spark Studios,

we will look at creation, design, and innovation.

We're going to learn a lot about what God has done.

So then, I'll catch you on the next wave,

by the sweeping wave, or by the sound wave.

All right.

All right.

Now we're gonna learn the day one song together.

Come on, come on.

Yeah, let's do it.

Come here.

Come here.

Okay, yes.

None of this one.

You can apparently charlie by this one.

Okay, let's go.

Let's go.

Come on.

Let's go.

All kids, you can go.

We can do this here and you will.

Kayla, let's go.

Let's go.

We were gonna do this.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Oh, he's a little girl.

He's a little girl.

He's a little girl.

He's a little girl.

He's a little girl.

How come this high?

You're a water storm.

In wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of your riches.

How countless are your works.

I got the great creator.

How marvelous you are.

I got the great creator.

How marvelous you are.

How marvelous you are.

How marvelous you are.

How marvelous you are.

How marvelous you are.

You lead our fellow.

You're a handful my tomorrow.

You're a great, great seed.

You're a great happy family.

You lead our fellow.

You lead me on and on.

You're a child under your voice.

There's a flower in my eyes.

There's no other way for me.

I'm gonna see you.

You're a great, great happy day.

You're the one that's been all the way.

Your love turns me away.

That's just a little no.

This is why I make my shape.

You're a perfect family.

You lead our fellow.

You're a handful my tomorrow.

You're a great, great seed.

You're a great happy family.

You lead our fellow.

You're a child under your voice.

There's no other way for me.

You're more than I can see.

You're a great happy family.

You lead my friend.

You're a great happy family.

You lead me on and on.

You're a great happy family.

Are you ready or not ready to do anything?

Are you ready or not ready?

I'm gonna talk to my best friend.

I keep fighting voices in my life, setting out nights in love.

Every single light that tells me I will never measure crime.

And I'm more than just a song of every height and every low.

Bring one thing in this joy of because I need to know.

Oh, you say I'm alone, but I can't feel pain. You say I'm strong, but nothing I need. You say I'm low, but nothing I'm sure.

When I don't belong, I'll just say I know. And I'll believe, but you'll say I believe.

You say that matters now, and tell me do you think I'll be fine?

You say you'll be fine, but I'll believe.

You say you'll be fine, but I'll believe.

I am glad to be here. I will tell you that sometimes I don't know if I'm going to make it. I just have to trust the Lord and he brings me through.

Jason, object lesson for you. If I had in my hand a pile of pennies and a pile of nickels all mixed together here.

And I say I need two cups and I say I want you to sort them into the two cups. How would you sort them?

What primary factor did you use then? You put the pennies in one cup and the nickels in the other. How would you sort them?

I want you to know that that is a very intuitive answer.

By the time we're done, you're going to see why. Can anybody think of how somebody else might sort pennies and nickels?

Ron, value. Most people probably would just go, well this is worth a penny, this is worth a nickel.

Which I want to submit to you is not all that intuitive. When you think about it, it's kind of what we do all day long.

17 cents change. One dime, one nickel, two pennies. Or three nickels and two pennies. It's really the only way to make it.

There's almost nothing else you can do.

But the truth is some pennies are worth a lot more than the nickel.

If you look in your pennies, for example, and you see a penny that looks like it's shiny and silver, that could be a steel wheat penny that was made a long, long time ago.

And it could be worth as much as 20 bucks.

You always think that steel pennies can go for like tens of thousands of dollars.

Well, if they're in mint condition. But if you find it in your chain, you might find 20, 40 dollars in one penny.

And as RJ pointed out, if they're in mint condition, they might go 10, 20 thousand dollars for one penny. So value is not exactly the same.

Also, if you have a dollar and you worked hard for that dollar, you worked half an hour, slaving away, sweating, whatever.

And you got that dollar and a half an hour.

And then another time you got a $20 bill and you found it laying on the ground.

As far as purchasing power goes, or the value marked on the bills, the $20 bill is worth a lot more than a dollar.

You can buy a lot more, it's worth a lot more to it.

But I can tell you having been a young man, having worked by very, I remember walking home from Kroger's in the grocery store behind my house where I started working.

I was 16 years old, bringing my first paycheck home after working 40 hours, one week and about 20 the other.

And the paycheck was about $150.

So it's pretty far back, minimum wage was about $2.90, $1.82, something like that.

And I had worked a full week, 40 hours, another full week, 20 hours, bring home like $150 paycheck.

And I was on cloud nine, that was my $150 paycheck because I earned it.

That meant a lot to me.

In the past, I had had $150 at other times, even that I had saved up out of my allowance.

I got $5 a week and at times I managed to save $150.

And that too was worth a lot to me, but not as much as that $150 that I worked for.

So how you got it marks the value of something when you're talking about money or time or anything.

How you got it also marks the value.

There's a story of a young lad who got off the school bus and was walking home to his house.

And one of the kids in the neighborhood jokingly called over another kid as a teenager and this young boy was like in first grade.

And he said, watch this, watch this.

And he went up to him and he says, look, take the one that's worth for you.

He showed him a diamond and a nickel.

And the first grader looked at it and said, I'll take the bigger one, put the nickel and you walked on home.

And you walk home to his friend and they didn't talk about everything.

We took the nickel and went home.

And the next day, the kid goes, grabs another kid and says, watch this, watch this, this is funny.

He takes the one that's worth for him.

He showed him the diamond and the nickel and the kid took the nickel and he walked home.

And his friend started thinking, it's kind of goofy, you know, like that's, you're wrong.

A diamond's worth more than a nickel.

That's even what a teacher says in school.

So he asked him, why do you take the nickel?

He said, which one's worth more?

A diamond or a nickel?

I know you know a diamond's worth more.

And the first grader said, yeah, well, here's the thing.

As soon as I let them know I know a diamond's worth more, they won't play the game anymore.

So he had gotten two nickels so far and there was the opportunity to get plenty more because he was acting as if he thought the nickel was worth more than the dime.

It's about availability sometimes.

Grab your Bibles, if you would, we're going to have a relatively short passage of Scripture today and it begins in Deuteronomy 23.

Amen.

This is God's word.

We are 23.

Oh, by today we will be fully 23 chapters through the book of Deuteronomy.

And we have seen some amazing things that God was telling the Israelites as he was talking to them about how to be his people in the promised land after Moses was gone.

We're beginning in chapter 23 verse 19.

23 19.

And this is what it says, you shall not charge interest to your countrymen, interest on money, food or anything that may be loaned at interest.

So we know what interest is.

Interest is you borrow 20 bucks from me, but I want to be paid back 20 bucks plus a little bit.

If you go to the bank and you borrow money for buy your house, nowadays it's going to be back up around six, seven, eight, nine, 10% interest even in some cases.

It depends on your credit rating, your income, how much the house is worth, all these kinds of things.

But bottom line is for a while you could borrow money to buy a house down around 4%.

So it's typically based off the prime interest rate.

The government determines if the bank borrows money from the government how much that money is going to cost them when they pay it back.

So if they borrow $100,000 from the government, government charges them 3%.

So in order for them to make a profit, if they loan you $100,000, they have to loan it to you for more than 3%.

That's interest.

And God was now saying through Moses to the Israelites that when they were in the Promised Land, they would not be allowed to charge interest to a countryman.

So another man who was entering into the Promised Land as an Israelite chosen by God, you could call that by God's grace, would not be allowed to charge interest on money or food or anything else that could be loaned at interest.

Verse 20 says, you may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countryman you shall not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.

That's a little bit lengthy. Let's break it down for a second.

We already heard in 19 they were not allowed to charge interest to their countryman.

And now we hear that they are allowed to charge interest to a foreigner.

So right away I'm going to say to you, if I'm an Israelite and I got some money and I got two guys who want to borrow from me and I want my money to make money for me,

I'm going to be tempted, aren't I, to loan that money to a foreigner before I loan it to an Israelite because I can't charge interest to an Israelite, but I can charge interest to a foreigner.

But you may remember, you may not, but you may remember back in Deuteronomy 15, what did Moses tell them about loaning to one another when they were in need?

Does anybody remember?

Simply, they must.

It's required.

If somebody is in need who is an Israelite in the Promised Land and they need money, medicine, food, whatever, and they come to you for a loan and you have it, if you can, you must.

And now you must and you must not charge interest.

Notice that there would be those who come into the land to do business, there would be those who visit, there would even be peoples amongst them who were mixed in.

Those who are proselyted over Judaism become an honorary Israelite of a sort, whatever, would not be considered a foreigner.

These are people with outside heritage that came into the land and they could be charged interest.

Notice that not charging interest to your countrymen, but charging interest possibly to someone who was not your countrymen or a foreigner, these actions were undertaken so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.

So they had to distinguish between a foreigner and a countryman, not charging interest to their countrymen and if they chose to charge interest to the foreigner in order for God to be able to bless them.

That's pretty significant.

There were already a people of grace already being given a land with crops growing, that they didn't plant, with houses built, that they didn't build, etc., a people of grace given so much and now God's saying how you handle what I have been giving to you over these years and will be giving to you in the future years,

how you handle that determines whether or not I can bless you in the land in which I have given you to possess.

You may be here today as a Christian and going, I know I'm saved. We'll talk about that a little bit later, but let's say you're here and you say, I know I'm saved and I know I'm serving the living God.

According to this passage by extrapolating the simple truth, how you use that which God has now blessed you with will determine whether or not God can bless you more.

Well, God bless you in the way that you go, in the way that you walk, in the way that you serve, in the way that you do, in the way that you spend, in the way that you save, in the way that you maintain.

Well, God bless you in those things as you live inside the kingdom of God.

Well, based on that, if you want God to be able to bless you, then there is a proper handling of that which God has already blessed you with.

Verse 21, when you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it.

Now, don't be too literal with pay there. It's not just I'm promising God I'll give 100 bucks, right?

It's any vow or promise you make to the Lord your God.

Notice that because the word vow here is used, it's not simply a private vow or a private promise to God, but also a public one.

In fact, there would be many times, and you can read about some of them in the Bible where people would come together. We see this in our own fellowship, in our own worship, at the invitation time, where people will come forward.

I'm repenting of this sin, and I am committing myself to walk forward in the strength of Christ to leave that behind.

I'm not going to do that anymore. That is a vow to God, not salvation.

When you beg God and say, God, I want you to be Lord of my life, I will follow you. That's not a vow to God. That's coming into relationship with God.

Then once in a relationship with God, you're now a member of the people of God, same as they were, and you're required to keep your vows.

You make promises or vows to God, say, I'm going to do something, you need to do it. No matter what it takes.

Simply put, there would be times, public and private, in which an Israelite would be moved, and I submit to you.

We can even see it in the Scripture, moved by the presence of God's Holy Spirit.

In Judges 11, there's a man named Jeb the who comes home, and it says he was in the Holy Spirit.

He was a judge, and he came home, and he said, whatever comes out of my house, I'll sacrifice it to God.

He was expecting animals, money, whatever. The first thing that came out of his house was his daughter.

You can imagine how the story goes. Ultimately, she did give her life.

She was sacrificed because that was the promise that was made.

I submit to you that Jeb the was moved, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, swayed to want to do more, be more, give more.

Because God had already done amazing things in his life, and that happens to us.

Yes, God, I owe you so much. I'll never be able to repay you. I want to give you Insert X.

God, I owe you so much what you've done to me. I want to do for you Insert X.

And we think, I want to do this. I want to give this. We are motivated to do so.

When you do that, check your motivations and make sure that you're making a vow to God that is Godly.

Because according to this verse, when you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sinning you.

And it goes a little further and says, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you.

So let's say, for example, you have a sinful thing that's going on in your life.

I am vowing to God. I will never do that again.

You have essentially added that yourself in your own mind, your own heart, and your relationship with God as a condition by which God will bless or not bless you.

In the book of Romans, it says that the Gentiles have a standard of code that they submit themselves to, and then they break it.

And because of that, they are lost. They are without excuse because they have known since the beginning, and then they make a code for themselves,

and then they break the very same code that they make, even though they have no familiarity with the law.

You can do the same thing. You can make rules for yourself.

And then you can begin to say to yourself, I have broken my rules. I debate my own salvation.

Am I even saved because of these rules that God, I believe that God revealed to me, and I submit to you that if you broke the rules that God revealed to you, you probably aren't saved.

And no one was, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

But then having come to Christ, don't add anything to salvation that God says you, that you're saying God says you have to do this in order to be saved,

because that's the thing you can actually do. You can start to say to yourself, if I don't go to church, I can't be saved.

If I don't read my Bible, I can't be saved. If I don't give, I can't be saved.

In fact, and I'm not trying to be harsh or mean, and I'll probably get backlash on this comment, because as public as our podcast and Facebook stuff is, a lot of times this gets out.

That is exactly what's going on in the Catholic Church.

You may or may not know, but the sacraments of the Catholic Church are sacraments because they are the means by which, according to the Catholic Church, people receive the grace of God.

So if you don't take what the Lord suffer, what they call communion, you don't get grace. Your sins are not forgiven by Jesus.

If you don't confess to your priest, who then pronounce you forgiven and you do certain things, you don't get grace, confession, communion, marriage, confirmation, last rights.

These are all sacraments by which the priest who is the only one who has an open channel to God, according to that, I'm just going to say it, false religion.

Who's the only one who has that open channel to God, he can forgive your sins and by so doing, you receive the grace of Jesus.

But you and I know what the word says. That's not right. There are no steps. You don't get saved because you got baptized.

You don't get saved because you prayed a prayer. You get saved because you trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ with the salvation that he provided.

He is the way to the Father.

So adding things as conditions to your salvation, be careful because you actually can do it.

You can say, well, I will always attend confession until I die. God, I will be saved on the virtue of Jesus Christ as Lord.

My priest is my priest and I will always attend confession.

And then a year from then, 10 years from then, 15 years from then, you stop attending confession.

But you made that a condition of your salvation. So this is my agreement with you, God.

I will be saved if Jesus blood, paid for my sins. Oh, and also if I gave confession.

Now I'm failing to give confession. So at the very least, you will begin to question whether or not you're saved, having added conditions to your own salvation.

But worse than that, the word says God will require it of you.

And so you will be found in sin, it says, if you do not. And if you would willfully sin after being saved, that's a contradiction.

So what I'm saying to you is they were being warned, consider carefully vows and promises in private and in public that you make before God.

You know, understand that people like to make public vows before God because frankly, you sway the audience.

If you'd stand up and you'd say, I vow never to lie again in front of the church.

God, I know, has given me the power and the authority over the evil spirit that leads me to lie in an eye vow.

I will never lie again.

You're spouse, your friends, people in the church, they're going to expect that of you.

They may even hold you accountable to it.

But those that don't really know you all that well, if they believe your confession, if they believe your vow, are going to say, OK, that's somebody I can trust.

Politicians stand up in public and they vow for no new taxes.

I will balance the budget.

And somebody goes to the polls and votes for them because they believe the budget should be balanced.

Because they believe there shouldn't be new taxes.

I'm pro-abortion.

I'm pro-life, right?

I'm pro-life or I'm pro-choice.

And people vote for them specifically because of that one big issue.

And when you make a vow before God, public, people start thinking you come down on this side of the issue.

Even if you know you have lied and they know you have lied before, they're going to say, well, at least he's somebody who recognizing lying is a problem and he's trying to cut it out.

Everybody else I know doesn't even care about it.

They just do whatever the heck they want.

So I'm going to side with the person who made the vow rather than the person who didn't.

God is saying be careful because if you make these worthless vows to either motivate people or even to feel better about yourself done in private, people do it a lot, right?

If you make those, God will require them of you.

And if you don't carry them out, God will see sin in you.

That was verse 21.

Verse 22 says, and we're almost done with the text.

However, if you refrain from bowing, it would not be sin in you.

In other words, you don't have to make God worthless promises or even valuable promises.

You don't have to do that.

It's not required.

Why?

Because he's God.

And if he chooses you, he chooses you by his grace, not by virtue of your vow, your promise kept or unkept.

23, you shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips just as you have voluntarily vowed.

In other words, see, it was not required that you vow and they voluntarily bowing.

Let's say that five times fast, voluntary, voluntarily, bowing.

And because you voluntarily vowed, you must voluntarily do what you voluntarily vowed to do.

God didn't require it of you, but he does now because you bowed it to the Lord, your God.

What you have promised 24 says, when you enter your neighbor's vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied.

But you shall not put any in your basket.

One of my grandsons was over to my house recently and I was talking with him and he had touched something that belonged to one of my sons and he broke it.

And I said, you need to learn not to touch things that don't belong to you.

And he got a really sad face and his tears started to well.

But Grandpa, I can't do that because if I never touched anything that belongs to me, there won't be anything I can touch.

And I came out of that, I clawed him. I have to know there are things that belong to other people.

I said, if you want to touch something that belongs to somebody else, just ask them first. It's no big deal.

Shall we read the text again?

Let's read the text again, shall we?

When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied.

Look at verse 25, when you enter your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand.

Both of those verses say the exact opposite of what I said.

I said, it doesn't belong to you, don't touch it.

I'm standing before you today to tell you that in the kingdom of God, I was wrong.

Is it okay?

It's okay to be because you were probably wrong yesterday or the day before also.

By the grace of God, I am saved, but when I taught my grandson, if it doesn't belong to you, don't touch it, as most people do,

as most Christian people would do, as most godly people would do, if it doesn't belong to you, don't touch it.

The Bible says otherwise.

It says when you're walking in somebody else's vineyard, mind you, you're in the kingdom there in the kingdom.

You're walking in their vineyard, you get a taste for grapes, just pick some of them, what the heck?

You're walking in their grain field and the grain is ready for harvest, you can just pick some out, go like this in your hand and just eat it.

It's fine.

The don't touch what doesn't belong to you does not hold true in the kingdom of God.

But both of those verses of course have a second part to them.

It says when you enter your neighbor's vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied.

You can eat all the grapes until your tummy is full or until you just don't have a taste for grapes anymore.

But you shall not put any in your basket.

So it doesn't change the ownership of the grapes.

You can meet your need or your desire, but you can't transfer the ownership of the grapes.

There's still that other person's grapes given to them by God, but they ought to realize they were given to them by God.

So it's okay for you to take a few handfuls and eat them.

Mind you, this is inside the kingdom.

Second one said, when you enter your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand,

but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor's standing grain.

Get this, this isn't even limited to just taking and eating what you can eat right then.

You can take it and you can even put it in a basket and carry it home, grind it up, and make bread out of it.

Right, because grain is really that tasty to eat in the field.

You can, it'll keep you from being hungry, but it's not horrible or disgusting, but you don't have much taste.

But you can walk to the field, pick as much as you pick, by hand, put it in your basket, take it home, crush it,

get rid of the bad parts, grind it down to flour, put a little yeast in there,

a little leftover sourdough mix from the old bread that you made last week, bake up some bread, and eat that bad boy.

Even though that was not your grain field, God does not say if it doesn't belong to you, don't touch it, not in the kingdom of God.

What he says is, we're in the kingdom of God, where we all realize that everything we have came from God.

And if it came from God, why do we behave as if it didn't come from God?

Well, I'll tell you why, though that's not the sermon for today.

It's because we are brainwashed Americans.

We are brainwashed capitalists.

We are brainwashed businessmen and workers.

We've come to believe that if God gives it to us, it's ours to do with whatever we want.

And if anyone should do anything else with it other than what we think should be done with it, they ought to go to jail, be whipped,

or at the very least be raided, something.

And that is not what God says.

The three things in this passage of scripture that you have to know the difference three times.

This text is telling us about three times in which you have to know the difference.

The first time you have to know the difference between peoples.

You have to know the difference between people.

Now this is tough because it's almost impossible.

And it is commanded that we should not judge whether a person is saved or not.

Salvation is by a person's free response to the invitation of God for his sins to be covered by the grace paid for by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are people who are willingly excluded.

They will tell you flat out they are not a child of God.

They are not a follower of God.

They do not believe in Jesus.

And if they do, you can take them at face value.

Now the fact is, it might not even be true.

How would that come about?

Well just real quick, let's backtrack for a second.

Let's assume the person got saved at 12.

Somewhere along the lines they added conditions to their salvation.

I'll be saved as long as I believe.

I'll be saved as long as I do this or do that.

I'll be saved as long as I respond to swear that way.

Then they apply those conditions to their salvation and say,

You know what, I'm not saved.

I didn't do what I was supposed to do, so I'm not saved.

And now they're telling you they're not saved.

But by whose standards are they not saved?

They're not saved by the standards that they set for themselves.

By whose standards are we saved?

By the standards that God set.

That's why some folks will say once saved always saved.

Because even if a person tells you that they're not saved, you can't really know that they're right.

You do understand that there are people in this world, it's a very small percentage,

one in a million maybe, who believe that they are Napoleon Bonaparte resurrected.

Not just one person, dozens that believe that.

There are people in this world that believe that they are John Lennon resurrected.

But it doesn't make them Napoleon Bonaparte or John Lennon, either one,

so they can just as rightly be wrong about whether they're saved or not.

However, you got to work with what you got.

So if they're willingly, openly saying they're not saved, that they're denying Christ,

that's not a thing they should be willing to do if they are saved.

And therefore, you can treat them as if they're unsaved.

I submit to you better than that.

Treat them as if they are a tax collector or a Gentile.

Someone who just doesn't know.

Know the difference between peoples.

Well, it's tough for a Christian.

Because if somebody comes and they profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior,

and say, I am a follower of Jesus, I believe Jesus lived, I believe he died,

I believe he wrote again, I believe he paid for my sin,

I believe he has the right to be in charge of my life.

But then as you're walking that out with them, you find them doing all kinds of things

that they should not be doing, it doesn't line up with what the Word says,

it doesn't line up with what they say they believe about God.

So you just dismiss them.

Like, I'm just going to handle them.

I'm going to handle them.

That's just too much trouble.

Right?

Wrong.

The Bible says, Jesus says, Matthew 18, you're going to tell them what's going on.

You say, well, listen, I hear you saying you're a Christian,

but I see you acting this way.

And then they continue to do it anyway.

Or maybe they repent.

That would be even better.

Wouldn't it turn back to God and do it God's way?

Second step, you and one or two others.

Third step, bring them in front of the church.

If they're outside the church, not even in your church, you can't do anything about it.

At which point in time, if you're dealing with somebody that's outside the church,

you still can do step one.

You can do step two.

But you get the great blessing is you get to skip step three.

Because they won't come in front of the church.

We've had that a number of times in our fellowship in the years past where folks were living like that.

And step one was conducted, step two was conducted.

And so, okay, well, we need to go in front of the church and make sure that what you're doing,

whether or not what you're doing is, I believe it's sin.

You believe it's not.

So we're going to go in front of the church and let them decide.

And they said, no, I just resigned my church membership and I won't be back.

Okay, so be it.

Then it's decided, right?

And we treat them like a tax collector or a Gentile.

Not unloving, not unkind.

But different from people inside the kingdom.

The least of all then people inside the kingdom.

Must know the difference between sustenance and profits between possession and ownership.

You've probably heard the old adage possession is nine tenths of the law.

When I was back at a wall bridge as an apartment complex maintenance man,

we're going to be there about 25 hours a week.

We would occasionally have the task of letting the police in.

And if they came with a warrant or some kind of a notice from a judge,

whatever you would have to do that.

And one time I was working on the back of the property there and the police came

and they had proper paperwork and it was a woman and she had been staying with this man.

Well, he had charges against him now for domestic violence and she had filed a restraining order.

So she was coming while he was at work.

And she was coming to get all of her personal belongings that were left in her apartment.

And she was being escorted by a sheriff to do so.

And I said, well, I'll unlock the door because the paper says unlock the door.

But beyond that, this is you. This is not me.

I got nothing to do with this. It just says I got to unlock the door so she can get her belongings.

So I did that, unlock the door.

Now I come by about 15 minutes and she's hauling stuff out.

She's hauling out her CDs, she's hauling out her clothes, hauling stuff out.

And the sheriffs, there are two of them, the sheriff and deputy, I guess there's two deputies technically, right?

Two deputies helping haul the stuff out.

So some neighbor calls the guy at work.

He gets off work early, he comes squealing up in the parking lot right next to the police car,

skids up next to the police car, jumps out and he starts looking at all the stuff that she's taking.

And he's telling the sheriffs, he says, no, that's mine. No, that's mine.

She can't take that. That's mine. That wasn't hers.

And the writ said she could take the things that belong to her.

It's with the sheriff in the position. So you know what he said?

He looked at her and he said, everything that you have that's in the car that you say is yours, you can take,

whether it's his or yours, it doesn't matter because it's in your car now, you can take it.

You said it was yours, it's been moved out of the apartment.

But if you go in the apartment and there's something there and you say it's yours and he says it's his, you can't take it.

That was his decision because it was in her car. It was hers.

His apartment, it was his. It's crazy. This world that we live in.

Somebody's got stolen goods on him and can't track the serial number or whatever with the police finding with it on him.

If they've got it on him, it's probably theirs. They're going to assume it's theirs.

The Bible handles it completely differently.

It's almost irrelevant to whom it belongs.

That's correct. It's almost irrelevant to whom it belongs.

It says, know the difference between sustenance and profit.

If a man walks through your grain fields and he plucks some grain, a basket full or whatever, a whole bunch full.

He takes a whole bunch of it and he's going home to make bread and he's going to eat it.

He is a family member of the kingdom of God. Fine.

Fine. That's okay.

You have a responsibility as a member of the kingdom of God to provide for your countrymen.

He's not taking advantage of you.

Now, if he goes and gets a sickle or he brings some extra workers, right, or any kind of a tour is clearly well prepared like he brings a few extra wheelbarrows.

He takes a whole bunch.

Now he's moved from the area of sustenance to the area of profits.

Because clearly he's not getting it for himself now or for his family.

He's getting it to sell or whatever.

At the life station, we host a clothing pantry.

We have a chief volunteer and she sorts all the clothes and hangs them up by gender and by size.

And then she switches them out for seasons.

So in the summer, the summer clothes as much as possible and the winter, their winter clothes as much as possible.

And anybody is able to take pretty much anything that they want.

But a few years back, we had a family that was coming through and they were pretty belligerent.

They would cuss some people out as they were taking something that they wanted to take.

They threatened violence against one of our workers when a worker told them that they couldn't take something, that kind of thing.

Pretty belligerent.

And we were on the verge of kicking them out.

And then one of our workers drove by their house and found that they were having a yard sale.

And in the yard sale was stuff they had just gotten from the clothing pantry earlier that day.

At that point in time, there was no longer a question.

They were immediately sanctioned for six months.

They were not allowed to come because they were caught abusing the system.

And anyone caught abusing the system should be cut off.

So if someone is coming to you repeatedly for resources and they're using their resources, even if it's by a transference, right?

Because you've got folks who've got stuff.

This happens to me on occasion and I struggle with it and now I know how to handle it.

I've got folks who've got stuff.

They've got an 80 inch TV, got some toys, maybe some firearms in the house and a fancy car.

And they're coming because they've got no food or they need help with Christmas with their kids, right?

And then they get the help and they continue to spend the money that they get on the things that they want to have and do well.

That's abusing the system.

That's bringing a sickle to the grain, right?

That's taking more in your basket than you can or putting any in your basket in the case of grapes.

You're not allowed to put any in your basket, right?

You can get only that what you need, but that what you need is essentially yours for the taking.

As Christians, somehow, and I submit to you that it's in the wisdom of the Lord, we have to learn to discern the difference between sustenance and profit.

If someone is profiting off of the generosity of another believer, then no more.

But if they are surviving off of the profit or off of the sustenance of another believer, then that's perfectly acceptable.

In the book of Isaiah in chapter one, beginning in verse 15, it says as follows,

God's talking through Isaiah to the Israelites.

He says, so when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you.

Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.

Your hands are covered with blood.

16 says, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from my sight.

Cease to do evil.

Learn to do justice.

Seek justice.

Reprove the ruthless.

Defend the orphan.

Plead for the widow.

In this passage of Scripture that we just read, the orphan, the widow, those in need, those hungry, right?

These folks are in need.

And if we have plenty, it is our responsibility to get them what they need.

If it turns out that they are, as best we can understand, not a member of the kingdom of God,

we don't have such a responsibility.

Now we still take care of widows and orphans, we still provide for hunger, we still conquer hunger.

And the reason the life station fights against hunger, for example, is not because we are trying to make everybody not hungry,

but because hungry is an evil.

Hunger is an evil.

It is a doorway to much evil.

People who are hungry do all kinds of desperate things.

Like they go and take food that belongs to somebody else.

Wait a minute.

You can't go in a carryout and take what is called shoplifting.

But that's what they'll do. They'll go steal whatever they need to not be hungry because they're desperate.

Because it's a doorway to evil.

And so we are conquering evil in the form of hunger and other things,

not because we are serving those who are in the kingdom or treating any different those who are in or out of the kingdom,

but anybody that's hungry should be fed.

And if there's somebody that's inside the kingdom who needs something for their sustenance, you or I should provide it.

That's justice.

That's God's standard of justice.

We've had people come in here and say, look, I can't pay my rent.

And people will take up an offering.

People will give to it whatever.

We had a woman call and said, well, I can't buy medications.

We'll put the word out.

We had a woman call and said, I can't pay my electric bill.

Now we don't have money or funds in the church budget to pay for that stuff,

but we'll put the word out and people will give to it.

I submit to you that 99% of the time in my experience,

if this was a believer and you were aware,

this is a professing Christian and they say, yes, I'm a Christian,

and you can't see anything obvious in their lives that says that they are not a Christian.

Be aware of that.

I'm not talking about judging their salvation,

but if you can see something in life that says they are not a Christian,

then you should have already confronted them.

You should have already talked to them and said this way that you're living.

So you know somebody who professes to be a Christian but doesn't go to church.

By now, you should have already talked to them,

and then you and one or two others should have already talked to them.

And then you say, okay, well, I'm going to treat you as a tax collector.

You say you're a sinner.

You say you're a sinner saved by grace.

I say your actions don't line up with your words.

So you come look into me for $100 to pay your electric bill.

We've already had two conversations, me one on one with you, me and one other,

or two others with you.

We've already had a conversation.

You come ask me for $100.

I'm sorry, I can willingly say no.

Because I've already explained to you that if you are a member of the kingdom of God,

your sustenance is found in Christ.

There was a study done in 2003.

I read it last night and again this morning because I almost couldn't believe it.

There was a study done in 2003 that followed 5,000 families,

randomly selected in the United States of America families.

4,900, like 95 or 4,900 something.

It was almost 5,000 families.

Followed them for 14 years.

You know what it found?

It found that regular church attendance and professing to be a Christian

resulted in almost 90% of the cases of that family being having more established wealth.

Now for those of you who are going like,

I don't feel like I have enough money.

What you understand maybe it's because you're not using your money

the way God would intend to use your money.

And I'm not saying if you start using your money the way God would intend to use your money,

that God's going to suddenly give you money.

That's not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is that through observation completely impartial

conducted by a sociologist at a university,

they just randomly took 5,000 families and almost 90% of the families

that were actively participating in church every Sunday

had more income and more wealth than those.

And it goes a little further than that because it wasn't only Christians.

They also said that of Jews.

Hold on a second.

Because actually what they found was that the Jewish people

who were faithfully involved in their synagogue

and behaving as a Jewish person in almost every case

and all but like 5% of the cases,

they were wealthier and more sustained than the Christian people.

And everybody went, why?

Well, I'll tell you why.

Because a devout Jewish man would never turn away

another Jewish man who is in need.

But a Christian is in a tough spot already.

We talked about it because you got to figure out who isn't, who isn't.

And then we're like, well, they're outside my church,

so they're living like a prostitute

or they're wrapped up in drugs and violence all the time.

But I can't do anything about that because they don't go to my church.

That's not true.

If they profess to be a Christian, you go to my set in the living room

of a woman over on Mott Street, just off of Main Street over here.

And there was a woman, she was like 58, 60, something like that years old.

I talked with her, she was Hispanic.

And I'm talking to her about, okay, you say you're a Christian.

So you need to get your butt in church.

You do the things you're supposed to do.

You said you'd follow God, right?

Yeah, following God, worshipping God, yes it is, publicly with the group.

Yes it is, confessing in publicly, yes it is.

She agreed with all those things and said, all right, and you need to get there.

So, well, I just struggled because I got things on Sundays

and it seemed like every Sunday I'm going to go and something crops up.

So, I went to the church after having that conversation with her

and she publicly repented to me and made a vow that she would be in church.

She never did come.

The amazing thing was while I was standing there, while I was witnessing

and I was sitting there in her living room,

her daughter who was 19 years old and pregnant by a guy that she was living with

who neither one of them had a job and they were about to get evicted,

her daughter was standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

She heard me share the gospel and preaching essentially to her mother.

And she came out and just as her mother was saying about my daughter,

she doesn't believe, blah, blah, blah, blah, she came out and she stopped her mother.

She said, I heard what you said right there and I believe everything that you said.

I need to just make sure I understood it and I'm ready to accept Jesus Christ right now.

She prayed to accept Christ.

Her mother broke down in tears, dropping tears in her lap.

She prayed to accept Christ.

But before I let her pray to accept Christ, I said, I want you to hear me say something right now.

You've already confessed that you're living together with your boyfriend,

that you're pregnant.

She was obviously pregnant, like seven months pregnant.

And I said, your boyfriend is going to want sex.

Maybe you're going to want sex.

You've clearly already been active sexually.

It makes it harder to say no the next time.

So if you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

understand that Jesus is going to want to deal with that area of your life

just the same as any other area.

He's not going to want to say, yes, I'll be Lord of your life, but leave your love life alone.

And she said, okay, I'm ready for that.

Whatever he tells me to do, whatever, whatever, whatever.

She counted the cost.

I said, so right before she prayed, I said, I'm asking you, I'm telling you right now.

If you go home and tell your boyfriend that you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

you intend to live for the Lord for the rest of your life,

what do you think he's going to do?

And she said, well, he may kick me out.

I may have to come back and live here.

I don't know what's going to happen.

I said, are you ready for that?

We're counting the cost.

She said, yes, she prayed to accept after all of that after pushing.

Listen, when you accept Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, it's your whole life.

And anybody that's out there saying it's just a thing I believe.

That's not Christianity.

That's enlightenment theology where we can believe something but not act on it.

Basically, if that's true, you're just believing a lie or you're lying to yourself that you believe it.

One or the other.

So we as Christians then need to begin to learn the difference between sustenance and profit.

And anybody that says they're living for Jesus, but it's clearly living in sin,

is only claiming Jesus for profit.

Or maybe they're a follower of Jesus who's only claiming the way of the world for profit.

But either way, they're in the same boat.

They brought their sickle to the grain field.

They brought their basket to the vineyard.

At which point in time, God will deal with them and we don't have to.

And if you do have to deal with them, you can charge them interest.

My suggestion would be don't loan to them.

Because you probably won't ever get it back.

But if the Lord should so lead you to do, then do that.

But if you're talking about a Christian man or woman, back to Deuteronomy 15,

and they come to you and they need 20 bucks.

You better be awful careful before you say no.

You've been 100% sure that that's part of your sustenance,

not part of your entertainment, your recreation,

or you're getting ahead of your wealth or your retirement.

Before you say no that you can't give it, you better be careful.

Is it your sustenance or is it your profit?

If you're saying no to a believer that you can't meet their needs based on their profit,

God will require it of you.

In fact, it said that based on that standard,

God cannot bless you in the land that he's going to give you.

So the first one was we need to know the difference between peoples.

We need to understand the process by which we decide,

do we treat a person like they're saved?

That's upon their profession and fruit thereof.

Do we treat a person like they're lost?

And they need the gospel.

By the way, you'll never ever ever bless a person

by giving them all the money that they possibly need

to solve all their problems like you would getting them saved.

Because there's no dollar amount that can buy salvation.

So you could go liquidate every single thing you own,

take it to your neighbor and say,

I sold all I have in my house, my car,

I'm going to live like a pauper, a charity street mission,

you're going to start over.

Here it is, all of it equals X thousand dollars or whatever.

I'm giving you all of it, my retirement, I can't handle any of it,

I've been a poor steward, take it all and you give it all to them.

I will not bless them in the least compared to if you just tell about Jesus

and ask them to be saved and they say yes.

Then we must know the difference between sustenance and profit.

Is the thing for you?

Listen, anybody in here that's got a $200 a month cell phone bill,

doesn't have a right to say any no to anybody come seeking 10 bucks.

You don't like it?

I don't care.

I didn't like it.

I was chastised over telling my own grandson,

if it doesn't belong, you don't touch it and God chastised me.

You're not protected.

If you got a $200 cell phone bill,

you don't have a right to say no to somebody comes asking you for 10 bucks.

Unless you know that they are outside the kingdom of God,

in which case you do have a right to say no.

But if there's somebody in your church,

somebody serving the Lord and if they're in your church

and you're not correcting them and removing them,

then that's another problem altogether.

I submit this much to you.

If you are here today and you have not heard from me

that I think you're doing something that disqualifies you

as being a member of our church, a godly person in the kingdom of God,

and you come to me with a need,

and I'm extending my family,

my wife and I are going to bend over backwards to meet that need.

Because I stand corrected.

And we ought all to stand corrected.

Because we are too busy being blessed by the blessings of God

to sustain others that God wants to sustain.

The final thing you need to know the difference then

is between a vow and faithfulness.

You may be sitting here going today, you know what, he's right.

I feel in myself a need to take care of other believers.

I feel in myself a need to treat my brothers in Christ like brothers

and my sisters in Christ like sisters,

which we are called to.

I feel in myself a need to get out of my box,

stop hiding in my house, stop not answering the phone,

stop not calling, stop not giving, stop not serving,

stop not showing up to pay.

I feel in my need in myself a need to follow God like Jesus did

that we would have this mind in us which would increase Jesus

that he even submitted unto death on a cross.

I feel in myself to have a need like that.

And you could release that need.

You could feel better if you just make a promise today.

If you just promise to take seriously the needs of other believers.

If you just promise to take seriously the sustenance of other believers

over your own prophet.

If you just promise to stop thinking about this is mine

and this is his and this is hers and realize it all belongs to God.

Now before you make that vow,

before you try to add that on and make it a condition of your own salvation

or what it means to be a Christian,

consider what you're about to do.

Not only will you be putting yourself in a line

for a need that you yourself cannot pay,

you can't.

You're not going to be able to go around and provide out of your own finances

all the sustenance that is needed for every other believer

every time they need something.

It's not going to happen.

You're not going to be able to do it.

The only way that would be possible would be if God magnified, multiplied

your providence, what he provides for you

so many times that you have more than you ever expected to have.

Then maybe.

Because the more you give the people who are in need,

the more you're going to find people who are in need.

Before you make that vow, I want you to consider the cost.

Before you make that vow, consider the cost.

However, whether or not you make the vow is voluntary.

Whether or not you behave the way God has ordered you to behave,

that's not voluntary.

So you don't want to vow, don't vow.

You don't want to promise, don't promise.

Let's not be stupid about it.

If you don't think you're going to do it or you think you may do it some of the time,

don't make a vow because God will hold you to it.

On the other hand, if you want to be a faithful follower of the Lord,

then start caring about what's going on in the lives of other believers.

Start sustaining those who need sustenance.

Start caring so much about your prophet and sustain those who need sustained.

Through the prophet Amos, God spoke these words.

Amos 8 starts in 7 and then we're into the conclusion.

It says, The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob.

Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds.

Because of this will not the land quake and everyone who dwells in it mourn.

Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile and it will be tossed out.

And subside like the Nile of Egypt.

And it will come about in that day declares the Lord that I shall make the sun go down at noon.

And make the earth dark and broad daylight.

And God did that.

And he did that because there could be no Israelite found truly who was living the way he was supposed to.

I submit to you Jesus said similarly when I come again, will I find faithfulness on the earth?

Are you a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ or not?

That is determined by our confession and that is our conclusion today.

Know the difference between people who are and who are not.

Know the difference between sustenance and profit.

Know the difference between a vow and faithfulness.

I send you out like sheep amongst wolves.

You better be armored and ready to make the necessary decisions.

But all throughout the New Testament,

the confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Lord is the single standard by which a person gets saved.

Matthew 10 32.

If you don't confess me before man, I will not confess before my father.

Romans 10 9.

He who confesses me.

Philippians 2 11 confess first Timothy 3 16 and 6 12 confess Hebrews 4 14.

The good confession Hebrews 10 25 confess first John 2 23 1 John 4 15.

He who confesses abides in me and I abide in him.

And it was he who confesses me, meaning God confess him through Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior.

You will abide in him and he will abide in you.

The confession is key.

So I'm submit to you today.

I need to know if you need me, not Pastor Dan, but Daniel Stevenson to help to sustain you in some way.

I need to know that.

But I also need to know whether you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I know how far I need to go.

If Kishan is a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and he has a need.

He's following Jesus and he has a need.

And anything that you have in your life, anything that you're buying.

Everything that's under your Christmas tree.

Any embellishments to your vehicle.

Any new vehicles to replace old vehicles.

That are still running because it does different sustenance and profit.

Your entertainment time.

Any movies that you've watched.

Any streaming that you've done.

All of it.

All of it is on the line to help that believer.

And we've got it all.

We went around the room and asked how much streaming or TV we've watched in the last week.

Just in this small group of people, we could add up a couple hundred hours.

What could we do in a couple hundred hours?

If we added up our cell phone bills.

Including our little streaming services or add-ons or whatever memberships you've got.

We added all that up.

We would come up in the thousands of dollars.

Probably a ten thousand dollar number.

Easily five thousand dollars.

What could we do with five or ten thousand dollars a month?

We could take one believer who's poor and barely has anything.

And take them richer than 95% of the people in the city of Toledo.

But we're busy.

Managing the blessings.

So busy managing the blessings of God.

That we forget that they were given to us to bless each other.

Now here's a funny thing.

I'm not preaching communism.

I'm not preaching socialism.

I'm not preaching everything belongs to everybody.

I'm preaching everything belongs to God.

So God did set parameters.

And the parameters are you need to know the difference between peoples.

Who are your people?

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and other followers of Jesus Christ.

Those are your people.

You need to know the difference between sustenance and profit.

When are you taken care of?

And when are you exalted?

Lift it up.

Blessed beyond measure.

And when does somebody else need your sustenance?

Or when are they just trying to use you for profit?

You need to be able to sort that out.

Do you know the difference between a vow and faithfulness?

A vow is I say I'm going to do something and maybe I do it or maybe I don't.

And faithfulness is I do what the Lord would have me to do.

So if you're hungry, all the food in my refrigerator is available.

Can you say the same?

You look across the room and you barely know their name.

It's time we changed from American Christians to just Christians.

Caring more about others who are saved in the name of Jesus Christ.

And I get it.

We care about the loss. We have lost family members.

You have a friend or a brother or a sister or niece or nephew or a parent that doesn't know Jesus.

And they come calling.

This is why Jesus said I came to divide families.

Because we jump when a believer asks us to jump.

And if a believer asks us at the same time as a non-believer,

and we tell the non-believer, I'm sorry.

I have to be there for my brother or sister in Christ.

I'm not available to you right now.

We reschedule our lives, re-budget our budgets,

and live not just for ourselves, but for each other.

And when we do that, it will spiral up out of control,

but not out of our control, but not really out of control under God's control.

As He multiplies the fruit of your life, you give it out and you'll go,

oh, I gave, but now I gave so much that I have more than I started with.

When Sherry and I moved to Mason, Michigan, it was my final illustration.

There was a man there who owned a cabinet company.

I've heard this story in a variety of different ways, different places,

but this is an individual that lived in the town that we lived in.

The cabinet company started to do well,

and they were praying and thinking about how they would really commit their cabinet company to God.

And they were given in the community doing things like that,

and they were hiding at their local church and more.

One night, supposedly, this is how the story goes,

he was sitting in their kitchen, standing in their kitchen, whatever they were talking,

and he looked at his wife and he said,

what if we lived on the 10% and gave the 90%?

As I said, this story has played itself out.

There's a major department store, I think it was J.C. Penney, one of those.

So J.C. Penney told me, he said, yeah, where they did the same thing.

So what if we lived on the 10% and gave the 90%?

Well, that cabinet company for them and for the founders of J.C. Penney

and for others who decided to do so, it worked out real well.

It became a world over company.

J.C. Penney was in 50 states, or 40, 45 states.

That's, math doesn't make sense.

And by the way, that was the end of the study that I read in 2003.

You know what she said?

She said, people who go to church, that's commitment of time.

They give to the church, that's commitment of money.

And yet, they wind up with more wealth and money than the people that don't.

That doesn't make sense.

That's what she said, it does not make sense.

Even looking at it, examine the 100 other factors,

all the other factors, the one that stands out the most is participation in faith services.

It just doesn't make sense.

Except to God, it does make sense.

Because God can bless you in the land that he has given you,

if you will discern these three things.

Know the people, know the difference between a bio and faithfulness,

know the difference between something and a prophet.

And you can live for people and Jesus can live in you.

That's praise to you to come forward this time.

And video is in the final hymn, final song.

And as we do that, I'm asking you today to examine your life,

think about what God might be saying to you.

I understand that this came across with me for a lot of conviction.

It's really affected me.

And I already have, I'll be honest, I have trouble with money.

Not spending money, I have trouble spending money.

I can't, I don't want to let it go.

And this is telling me that that is just as much a problem as spending too much money.

We have to learn the difference between sustenance and prophet.

Learn the difference between one people and another.

Learn the difference between making a vow and being a faithful.

I'm asking you today to repent and turn to the Lord to make these things real and new.

And then you feel that it should make a vow, make one.

But be very careful, because whatever it is, it's got a little fire inside it.

Would you stand with me and sing this song?

And we'll let the Lord speak through our hearts.

OK.

Thank you for blessing me, my...

I know I wasn't.

You used the flowers.

Look so light and weary,

there's trouble.

No light in the darkness

you see.

There's light for a look

at the Savior,

a life more abundant

and free.

Turn your eyes

upon Jesus

look full in His wonderful face.

And the fings of earth

will grow strange,

in the light of His glory

and grace.