Sunday Service - 2025-09-07

Sunday Service - 2025-09-07

Episode description

Blessed By The Best
Hebrews 7:1-10

Pastor Chris Bonner

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0:14

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

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If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

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Thank you for joining us today.

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All right, so you guys ready to open up the word?

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We're going to be looking at Hebrews chapter seven, just a few verses,

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and then we're going to have communion. So it's going to be a great morning, continue to be so.

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And today, as we look at that title, I know I must have used it at least two or three previous times.

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It's just so simple and to the point, but blessed by the best. We're singing songs about

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being blessed as well. And I believe that, well, let's pray. I believe that we should pray.

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Father God, we ask you Lord, to use your word, to do a mighty work in each one of our hearts.

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And to Lord, we want to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we can prove the good,

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acceptable and perfect will of you. And so we thank you Lord, speak to us through your word

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in Jesus name. Amen. So blessed by the best, we truly are, you know, we're all blessed. And many

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times, I think sometimes we, unless we realize we're blessed, okay, we could become people who

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aren't a blessing to others. In other words, if you ever notice, if you feel like you're owed

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and you're a victim and God's holding out on you, where you just don't get your right

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miserly, you can become stingy, okay, with your time, with your love towards others,

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because you're owed so much, you don't want to give anything to anybody else. You know,

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if you've ever even been there, I think I've been there at least a couple of times where I just

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felt like I was wronged so I can't extend grace to someone else. And yet if we realize how blessed

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we are, I think it would just free up our generosity towards others in all of the capacities we can be

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generous. And also, it doesn't keep us like shackled with insecurity, with victimhood, with

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fear. There's so many things that when we feel that we aren't blessed, we hold back from others,

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we hold back our lives from God. Did you ever notice? And so today's message really speaks to this

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because we're going to see a time that Abraham was blessed and we don't even know if he even knew

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who this guy Melchizedek was. So I'm going to tell you the brief story and then we'll dive in.

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So if you can recall, Abraham was sent to Canaan by God and he brought with him others as well

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as his nephew Lot. And over time, they both became extremely wealthy. I mean so wealthy that

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the land couldn't support both of their herds. The herdsmen were getting in arguments and so forth

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and there started to become a division between Lot's camp and Abraham's camp. And so finally,

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Abraham wisely said, look, we're family, we can't have this division. We need to just

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give ourselves some space apart. Why don't you choose the land you want and I'll choose the other.

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I mean, that's how generous Abraham was because he realized he was blessed. He said, you choose the

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land for yourself. And so Lot looked upon the valley of what's known as the Dead Sea now.

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And as he looked down, it was lush. It was a land that looked like the Garden of Eden.

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You know, it was just lush with greenery and everything. Now you go there today and you

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like, it was what? Because it's actually the lowest part on earth below sea level.

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And it continues to cave in. It's amazing. It's a salty, dry, dead zone just between Israel and

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Jordan. And it's like, it's just, there's nothing that grows there. And it's just barren. It's

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beautiful. It's surreal. If you've ever been there, it's so cool. Should have had a picture

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to show you, but, but still there's nothing living there, right? Well, back then it was lush.

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It was a, it was just a forest and it was fields and, and Lot's like, I want to go there.

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So he went there and then over time Lot got drawn more and more into Sodom and Gomorrah.

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You've heard that word. Even if you never read the Bible, you know what Sodom and Gomorrah is.

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It was a very sinful city and area and they were sinning against God, the word says. So in

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the Lord knew who they were. And yet Lot found his himself making a life there. And as you see,

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his life gets more and more drawn into the town and he became part of the culture of Sodom

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and Gomorrah. And so over time, Sodom and Gomorrah at the time, they were allies with

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three other Kings. So those five Kings and they, you, and they were required to pay tribute

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to this man named Keterlomer, Keterliomer, which was another King. And they were paying tribute

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because they were afraid of him. And finally, after 12 years, okay, they finally rebelled and

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said, we're not going to pay him anything else. That's it. There's five of us. There's four of

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them, no more, right? And so with that Keterliomer came down and attacked them and he took all their

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stuff and many of their people away. Okay. So meanwhile, Abraham is back at the trees of Terribith

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hanging out in his land, which isn't, which isn't filled with sin and he's there. And someone

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comes to him and says, you know, the land was attacked. And by the way, your nephew was taken.

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So with that, Abraham mustered up a lot of courage and he took 318 of his trained men,

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these soldiers that were trained for battle. And they went down and they chased after these

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four Kings and they, and they won the battle. It doesn't say about how much happened,

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but they slaughtered many people of these four Kings armies. And with that, he rescued

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Lot and his wife and also all of their stuff. And he brought it all back. And this is where we're

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picking up right here, because as lot with 318 men, and maybe there was a few others of

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some of his allies, but there wasn't many. And he just defeated four Kings who were wreaking havoc

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over all these other areas over the Amorites and those five Kings. I mean, they were powerful.

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And here with just a little army, Abraham destroys them and returns all the stuff. He probably took

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extra plunder, right? And so here he is coming back from this battle. And as he's approaching

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Sodom and Gomorrah, the King of Sodom is coming out to meet him, okay? Now, in the meantime,

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this guy just drops in on the scene named Melchizedek, okay? And he comes in and it says

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that he's a priest and a king. And he shows up and this is just before Adam comes upon

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the King of Sodom. Adam, I said, Abraham. And suddenly Melchizedek comes and we're gonna read

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in Genesis chapter 14, then Melchizedek, King of Salem brought out bread and wine. Yeah,

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if you could keep that one, bread and wine. He was the priest of God, Mosiah. And he blessed him.

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He blessed him, meaning he blessed Abraham and said, blessed be Abram, which his name was then,

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of God, Mosiah, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God, Mosiah, who has delivered

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your enemies into your hand. And he, meaning Abraham, gave him, meaning Melchizedek, a tithe

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of all, a tenth of all. So Melchizedek blessed him and Abraham was so overwhelmed with gratitude

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that he gave him a tenth. You know what the interesting part of that right there,

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those couple of verses, this is the first time you actually see bread and wine together, okay?

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It's the first communion, in a sense. And we're about to learn how Melchizedek really is a picture

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of Christ, maybe even a pre-incarnate, you know, a Christophany of Christ. But here is the first,

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in a sense, communion, pre-Jesus Christ. But it's also the first tithe, the first tenth.

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And this became a thing throughout Israel's history, is the tenth, the tithe. But notice that first,

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Melchizedek blesses Abraham. That's when suddenly something was released in Abraham

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to give him a tenth, to let go, right? And also, he was reminded that you didn't just win that

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battle, God won it for you. You know, I think sometimes in life, we just think it's me,

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you know, I'm so good at my job, that's why I keep getting promoted. That's why I keep on

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getting raises. That's why everyone just loves me, because it's me, right? When we don't realize,

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no, that's God's favor, you know? We're praying for God's favor on Ezra, not for him to have

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to work for favor, but to God to pour his favor and grace upon him, that everywhere he goes,

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the doors just swing open, okay? And everywhere he goes, the laying gives him the ground beneath

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the soles of his feet. That's what we want. We don't want to have to be good, we want to be

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graced by God, right? And so he told him and he warned him, you didn't win that battle,

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the Lord won your battle, right? So it's interesting, because as he leaves Melchizedek

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and he comes to King of Sodom, we're going to see the next couple of verses.

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Now the King of Sodom said to Abram, give me the persons and take the goods for yourself.

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But Abram said to the King of Sodom, I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High,

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the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing from a thread to a sandal strap,

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and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich.

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So you see this? Melchizedek had to tell Abram, you didn't win those battles.

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That isn't your stuff. I'm the one who provided all that. And with that, Abraham was able to be

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released from the seduction, the evil ways of King of Sodom, because who knows what

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might've happened, you never know. He might've gone to King of Sodom and King of Sodom said,

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man, you're warriors, I'm giving you a position, something a lot always wanted,

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but I'm giving you, you don't know, he could have been so celebrated and become like a king

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within a kingdom, right? But the Lord intervened to protect Abraham, thinking that it was him

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who did it, him who won. And I think that's a reminder to all of us when we get so filled

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with ourselves and our own accomplishments and the things that we've done, we have to realize,

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no, no, it's the Lord who's done it in my life. It's the Lord who has blessed me with it.

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Because if I have that attitude, I can let go of it just as easy, right?

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I can give it to others. I can give it back to the Lord. I can let go,

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because possessions don't possess me, right? And it's also interesting how Sodom,

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it's almost like Satan himself, give me the people, you take the stuff, you know?

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I mean, the devil is still wreaking havoc on humanity. Like you can have so much stuff if

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you just release your children to me, you know? So many parents have their priorities off track

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on getting wealthy or on other things, having no offense against two incomes or anything else,

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but it becomes a rat race of having more and more and more at the expense of those living

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in your household. It's just something to consider. So we have to realize that, hey,

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the Lord wants us to be aware of the enemy's tactics. And so now Abraham was fully aware,

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no, no, no, no, no. You aren't giving me anything. The Lord gives me everything that I need,

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according to his riches and glory, right? So let's dive into Hebrews

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chapter seven. And we'll just read right through those 10 verses.

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For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God,

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who met Abram returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him to whom also Abraham gave

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a 10th part of all, first being translated king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem,

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this is Melchizedek, being king of peace, without father, without mother, without genealogy,

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having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the son of God,

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remains a priest continually. You know, we should just stop there for a second.

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So, you know, some believe that this is a Christophany. Did you ever hear what that is?

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It's like a pre-incarnate Christ. And the Lord did show up to people in that way that it would

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be difficult not to say, yeah, that was pre-incarnate Christ. One is Hagar, when he met with Hagar,

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who was running from Sarai because she was mistreating her because she was pregnant with

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Ishmael. And she was by the well and the Lord actually met her and spoke this angel of the

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Lord spoke not on behalf of God, but as God, and said things to her and promises that encourage

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her to go back to her master and endure for several more years, right? And another time was

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Jacob. Remember when he was on his way back to Canaan from living with his four wives and 12

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children and 12 sons and one daughter actually, and he was leaving Laban and he was about to meet

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Esau and remember he wrestled with God and God renamed him right there, Israel, right?

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And he even said, well, I just wrestled with God and didn't prevail, survived. Okay.

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And so the Lord gave him a new name there. That was God. And, you know, Jesus is the image of

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the invisible God. So it would not be God, the father coming down in flesh form or even in

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angelic form. It would be Jesus Christ, the word of God. And then Joshua, when he was just before

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they fought with Jericho and this man came forward and Joshua said, are you with us or

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against us? And he said, neither I'm the commander of the Lord's army. Are you with me? He didn't

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say this, but it's in other words, I don't serve you. You serve me, right? And so that was another

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example. And then Gideon, when he was threshing wheat in the wine press and the Lord came to him

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and said, you mighty man of valor. And Gideon spoke to him as if he was speaking to God.

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And so you see these different aspects. There's all the theographies, which are where God speaks

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to people from heaven and so forth. But these are the times and you usually see that it would be

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Christ because first of all, this person or image or character claims divinity, divine authority.

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The next thing is they allow worship. In other words, Joshua fell down on his face before the

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commander and worshiped him. Now, if that was a normal angel, he would have said, no, no, no,

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get up, get up, get up. You know, you don't bow before me. I'm just a messenger, right?

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But he did accept worship. And then again, finally speaks as God as opposed to on behalf of God.

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You know, so anyway, so this Melchizedek, no beginning and no end. And you know, it's weird.

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Someday we're going to get up there and say, so, so was that you Jesus or wasn't it, you know,

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or was it just a type? Well, we don't know, but no beginning, no end. Now, there's many

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who did not many. There's two that did not have an end. Remember Enoch walked with God and then

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he was no more cause God took him and Elijah was taken up in the chariot of fire. Okay.

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Some say those are the two witnesses that show up in revelation 11 someday breathing out fire.

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That must, that would be cool to watch. But anyway, against all the bad people, right?

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They're like fire breathing dragons, but only two men. But anyway, so these are,

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they didn't have an end, but they had a beginning. They have parents, but Melchizedek

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had neither. So we'll talk more about him in the coming weeks,

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because Jesus is a high priest in the order of, of Melchizedek. And so let's read on.

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We'll finish up verse four. Now consider how great this man was to whom even the

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patriarch Abraham gave a 10th of his spoils. And indeed, those who are of the sons of Levi,

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who received the priesthood have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the

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law. That is from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham,

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but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him

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who had the promises. Now, verse seven, now beyond all contradiction, the lesser is blessed by the

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better. So when we say we bless you, Lord, we're merely saying we acknowledge that you have blessed

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us. And we want to express our thankfulness and our blessing because we are so blessed,

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but we can't give anything to God that he hasn't already given to us, right?

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And verse eight here, mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them of whom it is

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a witness that he lives. Even Levi who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak,

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for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. And actually, this

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history really of tithing continued again to the Levites. All the Israelites would pay a 10th

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to the Levites, but then the Levites would actually turn around and give a 10th of what

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was given to them to the Lord as well. So it's just passing it on. Now, we are according to

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grace. So do we have to live according to the 10% rule? No, we have to live according to the

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100% rule. That hurts, doesn't it? Right, Jim? You love that. Your bank account must be empty.

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You ever notice the less we have, yeah, they should be given at all. Uh-oh, I got some.

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But we could be, again, sometimes the more we have, the less we're willing to,

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here, Lord, take it. You can have it. Well, you can have some all, Lord. We don't necessarily want

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to give it all, right? But sometimes we realize that we're under grace. That means we can just

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give more and more of everything. It's not just money in those little blue boxes.

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Oh, by the way, it was funny. I was talking to someone the other day, and they said,

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you know, so listen, I want to start tithing. How do you tithe? Like, where do you give it,

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right? And I'm like, well, now we do a very poor job, I'll just say, in this church,

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promoting tithing. And it's kind of a thing, because Calvary chapels aren't about asking for

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money. I don't know if you ever noticed that. You know, because we believe it's the Lord who

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brings the increase, the Lord provides. When you start guilting people, manipulating them for money,

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it's not how the Lord works, you know? He really doesn't want to, like, squeeze you.

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In fact, I don't know about you, but I've been at, in situations, conferences, this and that.

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And I'm sitting there, and all of a sudden I go, oh no, here we go, the plug. And they come up,

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and it's like a sermonette before the sermon. And they start off like, no, no, I paid a lot of money

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to be here. I'm not going to give it. I mean, I paid to be here. No, I'm not going to, like,

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you know, I give it my church. You know, I'm good. I'm good. By the 30th minute, I'm like,

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writing out a check, getting out a checkbook, or I'm getting my credit card, because they just

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wear you down. Okay? And I don't know about you, or that's your experience, but like,

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you know, that's not what we want to do here at Calvary Chapel, that's for sure, because we believe

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that the Lord provides. So Calvary Chapel, and especially us, we're very poor at telling people

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even how to give. And we're not going to tell you right now either. You'll have to figure out where

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those blue boxes are, or how to pay on PayPal and so forth, because this is not what this

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message is about. It's really about having a soul that's ready to just release. You know,

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in fact, the word says, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth does not eat,

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rust does not decay, right? And thieves don't break in and steal. You know, that's the kind

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of treasures you want, residual treasure that goes on and on and on. And you can't buy that kind of

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joy with anything anyway, right? In fact, Jesus said to his disciples, anything you give up,

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okay, I will repay you a hundredfold, okay? And you know what he means, you know, maybe he will

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give you more in this earth, but what he means is more treasure in heaven that you could ever have

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purchased down here on earth, because you can't, right? So that's the idea. And so,

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so here's this Melchizedek, and you know, he's a priest, and he's a king. Now,

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that was not permitted by God. So Melchizedek is definitely a picture of Christ,

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because as we've been learning, who's our high priest, right? Jesus Christ, who's the King of

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Kings and Lord of Lords? He is King and he is the priest, right? Those pictures of Aaron and all the

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Levites, they're all picture of Christ, and so was the King. But in a human, they cannot be brought

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together, because there's dangers is in having religious authority, as well as governance

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authority, because eventually a king can become prideful, and all of them to one degree did,

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all of them, you know, you know, to some level, maybe you could make an exception to Josiah and

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a couple others, but most of them caved into the weight of pride, ego, rulership, power,

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you know? So this was not permitted by God, because of those things, right? And yet,

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in fact, there was one King Josiah, we don't have any slides or anything for it, but King Josiah

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was a very good king, and the Lord gave him so much victory over their enemies, and he was just like

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so grateful in the early beginning, just like Solomon was. But over time, Josiah became more

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and more about, look what I've done, look at this, look at my kingdom, right? And he became

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so overwhelmed by his own arrogance that he went into the temple one time to actually offer up

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sacrifices to the Lord as the priests would, thinking that, look, if I could be king, I can

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do whatever I want, I can also be a priest, right? And so there he was about to offer sacrifices,

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and all the priests poured into the temple to stop him for his own good, and they're like,

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no, no, no, King, do not do this awful thing. And as he was about to do this, he got so mad at them,

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and he started to swear at them, and as he pointed to them, and told them to stop and to cast them

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out of the temple, leprosy just started breaking out on his forehead. You can read this in

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Second Chronicles, and eventually he died of leprosy, he just stayed a leper the rest of his

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life. And so this is how strongly the Lord says, no, no, you can't be king, and you can't be a priest,

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and yet Melchizedek was. But you know what's so cool is we are called in Revelation,

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kings and priests. In fact, Revelation 1, 6, and 5, 10, and he has made us kings and priests

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to his God and father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. The Lord

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can do that with us, and in a sense, now are you gonna be a ruler over some nation? No,

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but you have dominion in this world. Do you realize that? In the spiritual realm,

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and thereby very often in the material realm, you have Lordship and kingship over the spiritual

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demonic realm, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

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Where you go, the enemy cannot have you. You have a repellent spirit around you,

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and he protects you, and he empowers you to go and do all the things he wants you to go and do.

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He empowers you to do it. So in that sense, we have kingship in this world,

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but we're merely tetrarchs. We're only mini-kings of the king. We're only stewarding his kingdom.

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That's all we're doing. He is the emperor. We are the mini-kings stewarding his empire, right? That's

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our role, but we're also priests in that we intercede on behalf of God to others. So we're

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that intercessor. We're mediators on behalf of the Lord. He, again, is the high priest,

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the chief mediator. Does that make sense? And so as the worship team comes forward,

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we're going to have communion together. And, you know, as I was thinking about this, how

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Abraham had a had a generous heart towards God, right? Because he was reminded how blessed he was,

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right? If you know how blessed you are, you're so much more generous to others because there's

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plenty more where that came from, you know? You know, that's what the Lord does when he

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blesses you. You always have more than enough. And I have experienced that. I've experienced that.

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I've gone through drought times, times where it was getting a bit scary financially. And I realize,

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you know, I can make do, I can get through this. Like you always think you need more than you

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than you have. Or you always think you need what you do have. And then you realize when you go

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through times of less, lesser, you know, just like Paul said, you know, I've been, I've abounded

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and I've been abated. In other words, I've had a lot and I've had a little, I can do all things

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through Christ who strengthens me, right? When you realize how I blessed, you really are,

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it's so much easier to be releasing. And so the Lord spoke to Israel through Malachi one time,

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and as he spoke to them, you know, the Israelites realized that they were

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they were not, they weren't sensing God's blessing in their lives. They're noticing that

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they're in turmoil, they're in conflict with one another. And the things that could take for

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granted before from God all of a sudden seem in jeopardy. And this is also, of course,

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when other nations are always ominously approaching their border. And so they were pretty fearful.

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And so the Lord spoke to them through Malachi. And we read Malachi three, eight and nine.

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And these aren't usually the verses that we read when it's time to tithe.

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Okay. And he says, will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me.

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But you say, in what way have I robbed you? And the Lord says to Malachi, in tithes and offerings.

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Oh no, can you keep that one verse before that, Tammy? You are cursed with a curse,

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for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. So this is our serious rebuke.

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Now, again, this is not a rebuke to anyone here like you haven't been giving to the church,

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but really do an accounting of your life and your lifestyle. Because I promise you,

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if some things are preoccupying your finances that are not necessary for the kingdom of God,

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it's time to just release them. You know, there's so many things that like,

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when you release things that are possessing you, in a sense, how more restful you can be

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in what the Lord is providing, you'll find that you don't have to buy many things

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because the Lord's given them to you. I'll never forget we were in youth pastors, you know,

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and we had youth group always at our house and was tons of kids. And it was through a tough

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time financially for us. And I started saying, you know, we should buy a pool table for the

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kids down there, you know, and I was looking on Facebook marketplace and this and that,

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and I'll never forget Jesse said, dad, like, aren't you tight with money? I'm like, yeah,

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he was, well, why are you going to buy a pool table? And I'm like, nothing like being

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rebuked by your son, right? And I said, you're right. That's pretty stupid, right? And so next

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time in youth group, we're in the small groups and the kids are like, so when you get in the

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pool table? And I'm like, well, let's pray for a free pool table. Okay, because it's not in

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the budget right now. So we did pray. And wouldn't you know, it was within a week,

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within a week, and you're like, you're kidding me. A realtor called me and said, do you know anyone

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that would hold on to a pool table? Like, are you kidding me? Like, yes, right here, right?

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And we went down and we got it was down in South Philly. It wasn't easy to get it was in this

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basement of a row house. And, but it was brand new. They were moving, they just had to get rid

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of it, you know? And so cost a couple hundred to move, you know, if you don't want to break

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the pool table, if you know anything, but, but it was brand spanking new. It was beautiful.

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The ones I was looking at were two, three times as much. They were used also much more beat up.

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And I'd still have to spend a couple hundred bucks to get that moved. If it's going to be

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right when it gets where it's going, right? So the Lord just, but he's done that so

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many, I would bore you with the rest of the morning. How many times

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when I just gave it up to the Lord, I don't need that. Suddenly there it is like, well,

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like free, you know, that's what happens. You know, even this building, we just,

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we're searching for buildings all over the place. All right, here's what we're going to do.

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We're going to, we're going to find a house that we could do ministry. Okay.

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Probably to spend four or 500,000 for that thing in this town, right? This was about

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eight years ago, seven years ago, six years ago, somewhere in there when we were really

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talking seriously, but we'll keep renting the catering hall or wherever Christopher dock.

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And, you know, because at least we have a big venue, but we can't afford like a church, right?

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And we don't want to go into debt, you know? And so as we're praying and praying and praying and

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praying, suddenly we get a phone call. Like, you know, yeah, this church is closing down.

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You know, we purchased this whole, I call it a compound for the price of a house.

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The whole thing well under, well, under 500 grand and we've rehab it. No debt debt free.

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You know, praise the Lord, right? Because once you just say, Lord, I'm not going to go into debt.

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I'm not going to, we're not going to like burden ourselves just to have what we think we deserve.

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Lord, we're giving that to you. You're going to find it for us. We're just releasing that

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that what we think is a need and a desire. And he will provide it for us. He will do it.

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And we're evident to this. But you know, one, one warning is a lot of times we can say,

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because I've heard this, somebody says, well, yeah, I was going to give it to the church.

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But somebody told me, oh, they don't even have a debt on the building. They don't need it.

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Well, how did we get this building for cash? It's, it's, you know, we have to give. We all,

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I tithe more than mine, you know, would be required, you know, because that's how we bought it.

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Like, so if we're going to continue to go where God's bringing us to, we need to just still be

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generous to the Lord. Then we can make clear minded decisions and not have to be encumbered

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by the world's debt system, you know? And so this is something that the Lord just has shown me

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personally, us congregationally. We don't have to stress the things in this world. He already owns

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it. He owns a cattle on a thousand hills, right? Thousand hills with cattle on it, one of them,

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right? But, and then he makes this promise. Thank you, Tammy, you're way ahead of me.

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By the way, let's give Tammy a little round of applause. First day doing PowerPoint.

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He did an amazing job. Thank you. But anyway, nice distraction. But, but he promises this,

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you know, when we start to stress it, stress it, and the Lord just says, will you just stop,

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stop. And he says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house

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and try me now on this, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

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and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be enough room to receive it. Don't

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you want a bank account like that? Don't you want a life of relationships? We're not just talking

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about money. Don't you want joy like that? Don't you want health like that? And the Lord is saying,

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look, just give what is meant to be mine, which is our entire lives. And I will give you my life

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in you. Amen. So we're gonna have communion now. And if there's anyone here who has never received

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the Lord, it just, it's time. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart like you did

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in all of the days up to this point of rebellion, but surrender your life to the Lord. It's time

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to surrender to the Lord. And you can do that. You can experience these abundant blessings that

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he gives you. And all you have to do is say, Lord, I want to be part of your kingdom. I want

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to belong to you. I want to surrender my life to you. Today, I give you my life to receive yours.

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Today, I recognize you as the son of God who died on the cross for my sins

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so that my sins could be forgiven. And Lord, I realize that you shed your blood

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and without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. Thank you, Lord, God.

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Today, take my life so I can have yours. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and forgive me of

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all my sins, past, present, and future. In Jesus' name, amen. If you've prayed something like that,

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the word says that you are saved, Romans 10, 9, and 10. And so let's have communion together.

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Father God, we thank you that your body was nailed to the cross as our sins.

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You became our sin on the cross, Lord God. And as we eat this bread, you are the manna from on high,

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Lord God. You provide our nourishment. You are our life. And as we eat this bread,

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we remember that you willingly died on the cross for each one of us, knowing each one of us by

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name before the foundations of the world. We thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's eat.

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And Lord, as we remember, Abraham meeting Melchizedek for the first time,

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the first communion representing even what we're doing here today.

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Lord, we thank you that we have victory only because of you. We haven't won any battles on our own.

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You've won them all, Lord. And it's because of your precious blood that our sins are forgiven.

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So we can move forward and face any opposition in front of us, knowing that you have blessed us.

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We thank you for the shed blood in Jesus' name. Amen.

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And let's all stand. And as I was thinking, I think a great thing to end this morning would be

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the blessing of Aaron. I met a young man. He's not here. I don't see him here today. And

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I was hoping he would be, but I was sharing Jesus at the first Friday with him.

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And I blessed him with the blessing of Aaron. And he's like, wow, that's so cool. I'm like, yeah,

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that's your name. His name's Aaron. And I said, someone in your family knew the Lord when they

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named you. And he said, yeah, my grandmom and mom did. And I'm like, how about you? So,

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you know, we'll see. We'll see. I mean, he said he did, but hopefully we'll see him in here

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someday with the blessing of Aaron. So let's lift up our hands and receive from the Lord.

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May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he shine his face upon you and be gracious to you.

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And may he lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

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Father God, we thank you that those are the promises. Your face shines down upon us.

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And you're a proud father, looking at your children, reaching up right now to you, Lord.

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And we ask you to just pick us up and give us a big hug, Lord God. And we thank you, Lord,

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that we have nothing to worry about, Lord, because you are a good, good father, a perfect father,

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a father, a giver of every good and perfect gift.

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Lord, we thank you for all of your blessings in Jesus name. Amen. Let's give the Lord a round

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of applause. Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word.

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Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

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Be blessed and have a great day!