Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 1 Timothy 5:1-16 - Rules for Widows (Pt.2)
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio. Good morning, friends and faithful listeners, and welcome
- 0:06Speaker 1: to the Bible Explained podcast. On this lovely Christmas week,
- 0:10Speaker 1: we're gonna be finishing up part two of One Timothy
- 0:13Speaker 1: five one through sixteen. We talked about part one on Thursday,
- 0:16Speaker 1: and so I highly recommend actually going back to Thursday's
- 0:18Speaker 1: episode and listening to part one if you haven't yet.
- 0:21Speaker 1: But basically, this is the rules for widows receiving financial
- 0:24Speaker 1: compensation from the church itself. We'll finish up this topic today. Well,
- 0:35Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I don't know if you can tell, but
- 0:37Speaker 1: I got a cold. It's not the worst cold I've
- 0:40Speaker 1: ever had. I've had actually like really really bad colds
- 0:43Speaker 1: where I'm just like miserable for a whole week. No,
- 0:46Speaker 1: this isn't that bad. It started on Friday, I think
- 0:49Speaker 1: it was like Friday evening, and I was able to
- 0:51Speaker 1: get through Monday's episode because I could still breathe by
- 0:54Speaker 1: that point, Like I had a sore throat, but I
- 0:56Speaker 1: could still breathe. Now I'm at the point where like
- 0:59Speaker 1: I'm just fully clogged up, you know what I mean,
- 1:01Speaker 1: And I can't breathe out of my nose really well,
- 1:04Speaker 1: so my voice sounds really weird. I hate I hate colds,
- 1:09Speaker 1: but not sick enough that I can take time off
- 1:13Speaker 1: of work. And also I don't want to take time
- 1:14Speaker 1: off of work. I like you, guys, I like talking
- 1:16Speaker 1: about the Bible. And we're gonna talk about First Timothy
- 1:19Speaker 1: five today right after this quick word from one of
- 1:21Speaker 1: our sponsors, and now let's get into First Timothy five
- 1:28Speaker 1: one through sixteen. We talked about the first portion on Thursday,
- 1:33Speaker 1: and now we're gonna finish up the rest today. I'll
- 1:36Speaker 1: be reading, as always from the web version, but go
- 1:38Speaker 1: ahead and grab it your favorite version of the Bible,
- 1:40Speaker 1: whatever that may be. And also your cup of coffee
- 1:44Speaker 1: or a cup of tea or a cup of water,
- 1:45Speaker 1: which is what I'm drinking right now. I'm drinking lots
- 1:48Speaker 1: of water, trying to stay hydrated so I can hopefully
- 1:51Speaker 1: sing that song for you guys tomorrow night for the
- 1:54Speaker 1: Christmas Eve special. I don't know if I'm gonna be
- 1:57Speaker 1: able to sing it. I'm not gonna lie. It might
- 2:00Speaker 1: sound a little bit weird, but we're going to try
- 2:02Speaker 1: to get through it all, right, favor listeners, let's read
- 2:05Speaker 1: First Timothy five one through sixteen. Don't rebuke an older man,
- 2:10Speaker 1: but exhort him as a father, the younger men as brothers,
- 2:13Speaker 1: the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters. In
- 2:16Speaker 1: all purity, honor widows who are widows indeed, But if
- 2:19Speaker 1: any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first
- 2:22Speaker 1: to show piety toward their own family, and to repay
- 2:25Speaker 1: their parents, For this is acceptable in the sight of God. Now,
- 2:29Speaker 1: she who is a widow indeed and desolate, has her
- 2:32Speaker 1: hopes set on God, and continues in petitions and prayers
- 2:35Speaker 1: night and day. But she who gives herself to pleasure
- 2:38Speaker 1: is dead while she lives. Also command these things that
- 2:41Speaker 1: they may be without reproach. But if anyone doesn't provide
- 2:44Speaker 1: for his own and especially his own household, he has
- 2:47Speaker 1: denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Let
- 2:50Speaker 1: no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old,
- 2:53Speaker 1: having been the wife of one man. Being approved by
- 2:56Speaker 1: good works, if she has brought up the children, if
- 2:58Speaker 1: she has been hospitable to strains, if she has washed
- 3:01Speaker 1: the saint's feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, and
- 3:04Speaker 1: if she has diligently followed every good work. But refuse
- 3:08Speaker 1: younger widows, For when they have grown wanton against Christ,
- 3:11Speaker 1: they desire to marry, having condemnation because they have rejected
- 3:14Speaker 1: their first pledge. Besides, they also learned to be idle,
- 3:17Speaker 1: going about from house to house, not only idle, but
- 3:20Speaker 1: also gossips and busy bodies, saying things which they ought not.
- 3:24Speaker 1: I desire therefore, that the younger widows marry, bear children,
- 3:28Speaker 1: rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary
- 3:31Speaker 1: for insulting, for already some have turned away after Satan.
- 3:35Speaker 1: If any man or woman who believes has widows, let
- 3:38Speaker 1: them relieve them, and don't let the assembly be burdened
- 3:41Speaker 1: that I might relieve those who are widows. Indeed, so
- 3:46Speaker 1: last week we did part one of financial giving to widows,
- 3:50Speaker 1: and we discussed some pretty controversial things. We talked about
- 3:53Speaker 1: how you know, children are the ones who should first
- 3:56Speaker 1: support their Christian parents, their elderly parents. It's actually something
- 4:01Speaker 1: God wants these Christian children to do. And remember, you know,
- 4:05Speaker 1: when Paul is talking to Timothy, he's talking specifically to
- 4:10Speaker 1: a pastor and how he is supposed to run the church.
- 4:13Speaker 1: So when we look at things like this, it's important
- 4:15Speaker 1: to remember that Paul is not talking about unbelieving households.
- 4:18Speaker 1: He's talking specifically to the church. Those children going to
- 4:23Speaker 1: that church should be supporting their parents financially at the
- 4:27Speaker 1: end of their lives when those elderly parents can't support
- 4:30Speaker 1: themselves any longer. You know, this was especially true in
- 4:34Speaker 1: Paul's day and age, when government assistants did not exist.
- 4:38Speaker 1: You know, there was nothing in the Roman government that
- 4:40Speaker 1: helped widows or elderly people. You know, that came back
- 4:44Speaker 1: down to the individual families would have to help each other.
- 4:47Speaker 1: So Paul's like, you know, these believing children who attend
- 4:50Speaker 1: your church, Timothy, if they refuse to provide for their
- 4:54Speaker 1: elderly parents, then they are actually worse than an unbeliever.
- 4:58Speaker 1: And why because unbeliev is even know that the elderly
- 5:01Speaker 1: need to be taken care of. You know, even a
- 5:04Speaker 1: person who does not go to church probably agrees, yes,
- 5:07Speaker 1: we need to take care of elderly people and not
- 5:10Speaker 1: let them starve to death or let them be homeless,
- 5:13Speaker 1: or let them die of disease or something like that.
- 5:16Speaker 1: You know, most people agree we take care of the elderly.
- 5:18Speaker 1: So if a Christian person can't agree on that and
- 5:21Speaker 1: they're like, no, you know, my mom hurt me too bad,
- 5:23Speaker 1: and I refuse to help her in her old age,
- 5:26Speaker 1: in her widowhood. Paul's like, that person is worse than
- 5:30Speaker 1: an unbeliever because he is not taking care of his
- 5:33Speaker 1: own family members, even when unbelievers know that that is
- 5:36Speaker 1: something important to do. And then we also talked about
- 5:39Speaker 1: how whenever we see giving in the New Testament, almost
- 5:43Speaker 1: always not across the board, but more often than not,
- 5:46Speaker 1: when we see giving being commanded specifically in the New Testament,
- 5:52Speaker 1: it's almost always commanded that Christians give to other Christians.
- 5:57Speaker 1: And one of the points I made on Thursdays upisode
- 6:00Speaker 1: was that the church is not commanded to give financially
- 6:03Speaker 1: to every single person on the planet. It's not commanded
- 6:05Speaker 1: to financially support every single person. And a lot of times,
- 6:09Speaker 1: you know, that's what people think the Church is supposed
- 6:11Speaker 1: to do. The Church is just supposed to give and
- 6:14Speaker 1: give and give and not have any finances for itself.
- 6:17Speaker 1: But as we're going to see from this passage today
- 6:20Speaker 1: that we finish up on, that is not a biblical idea. Yes,
- 6:25Speaker 1: the Church is supposed to give, but it's supposed to
- 6:28Speaker 1: be very careful with what and who they give their
- 6:31Speaker 1: finances toward. But also the church is not to create
- 6:34Speaker 1: a burden for itself by giving so much that it
- 6:38Speaker 1: doesn't have any finances to properly run. So let's talk
- 6:42Speaker 1: about that. Starting in verse nine, let no one be
- 6:46Speaker 1: enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been
- 6:49Speaker 1: the wife of one man being approved by good works,
- 6:52Speaker 1: if she has brought up children, if she has been
- 6:54Speaker 1: hospitable to strangers, if she has washed the saint's feet,
- 6:57Speaker 1: if she has relieved the afflicted, and if she she
- 7:00Speaker 1: has diligently followed every good work. So this right here
- 7:04Speaker 1: is talking specifically about the church financially supporting a widow
- 7:10Speaker 1: for the rest of her life, like literally giving this
- 7:13Speaker 1: widow a paycheck until the day she dies. There are
- 7:15Speaker 1: stipulations for that. First and foremost, as we talked about
- 7:18Speaker 1: on Thursday, the children first have the responsibility to take
- 7:24Speaker 1: care of their parents before the church has that responsibility.
- 7:27Speaker 1: But let's say this widow doesn't have any children, then
- 7:30Speaker 1: she is a candidate for being financially supported by the church.
- 7:35Speaker 1: But she can't be under sixty years old, is what
- 7:38Speaker 1: Paul says. So she has to be, so she has
- 7:41Speaker 1: to be retirement age. She can't be too young, because
- 7:45Speaker 1: if she's too young, she wouldn't need financial support from
- 7:49Speaker 1: the church in the first place, because she's healthy enough
- 7:52Speaker 1: to actually go and get a job for herself or
- 7:54Speaker 1: provide for herself, or even to get remarried and have
- 7:58Speaker 1: her husband provide for her then. So that's Paul's idea.
- 8:02Speaker 1: This woman has to be above the age of sixty
- 8:05Speaker 1: years old, somebody who no longer is able to work
- 8:10Speaker 1: for themselves, mainly because the things that they were able
- 8:13Speaker 1: to do are just getting harder and harder for them.
- 8:16Speaker 1: So that's why Paul says they have to be sixty
- 8:18Speaker 1: years old or above. And also they have to have
- 8:22Speaker 1: conducted themselves properly in the church. Also, they have to
- 8:27Speaker 1: have been the wife of one man. So this is
- 8:30Speaker 1: not talking about a woman who was previously a widow
- 8:35Speaker 1: who ended up getting remarried and is now a widow. Again,
- 8:38Speaker 1: that's not what Paul's talking about here. He would be
- 8:40Speaker 1: talking about divorce in this situation, and most likely a
- 8:44Speaker 1: divorce where this woman willfully divorced her husband and was remarried,
- 8:51Speaker 1: or a woman who cheated on her husband and was
- 8:54Speaker 1: divorced because of that willful divorce or wilful infidelity within
- 8:59Speaker 1: the marriage. That's what I believe he is discussing. So
- 9:03Speaker 1: it says she has to have been the wife of
- 9:05Speaker 1: one man being approved by good works if she has
- 9:08Speaker 1: brought up children. So as we know, if a widow
- 9:11Speaker 1: had her own child and that child was an adult,
- 9:14Speaker 1: that child actually should be the one supporting the mother,
- 9:17Speaker 1: as we already discussed, but in that case that would
- 9:21Speaker 1: disqualify the widow from being financially supported by the church.
- 9:25Speaker 1: So what Paul is likely talking about here is this
- 9:28Speaker 1: woman raising children who those children have died and she
- 9:33Speaker 1: is all alone, or raising somebody else's children like an
- 9:37Speaker 1: adopted child and that child was still very young, or
- 9:40Speaker 1: possibly being a mentor to other people's children as well.
- 9:46Speaker 1: The disciple teacher thing was very popular, not just for boys,
- 9:49Speaker 1: but also for girls as well, so girls would find
- 9:52Speaker 1: mentors to teach them all sorts of different things as well.
- 9:56Speaker 1: And it could be that Paul's talking about this widow
- 9:58Speaker 1: being a good minis enter to these children that she
- 10:02Speaker 1: is brought up. So yes, it could be talking about
- 10:04Speaker 1: her own children, somebody else's children, or even little disciples
- 10:10Speaker 1: we don't know, but regardless, this woman would have to
- 10:13Speaker 1: be someone who did not lead little children astray, but
- 10:16Speaker 1: actually brought them closer to Christ, is what Paul's talking about.
- 10:20Speaker 1: If she has been hospitable to strangers, so inviting people
- 10:24Speaker 1: in cooking food, not minding having people in her house,
- 10:29Speaker 1: or maybe just bringing food to share at potlucks or
- 10:32Speaker 1: whatever people would do. Back in Paul's day, there was
- 10:34Speaker 1: a potluck. Actually, I think, if I'm remembering correctly, it
- 10:38Speaker 1: was called communion. So when people would gather for communion,
- 10:42Speaker 1: they would actually bring food to eat at the communion.
- 10:45Speaker 1: So maybe this woman consistently brought food to these communions
- 10:50Speaker 1: and was just hospitable in that way. So she has
- 10:52Speaker 1: to be hospitable. She has to be a good mentor
- 10:54Speaker 1: or a good mother. She also has to have been
- 10:57Speaker 1: not divorced due to infidelity or due to WillFull dislike
- 11:02Speaker 1: of her husband. And on top of this, she also
- 11:04Speaker 1: has to have washed the saint's feet and relieved the afflicted.
- 11:09Speaker 1: Now that could be literally talking about getting down on
- 11:12Speaker 1: her hands and knees and actually washing feet. As we know,
- 11:16Speaker 1: that was a humble position to take and a very
- 11:19Speaker 1: dirty position to take because you know, back in these days,
- 11:23Speaker 1: people primarily got around on foot, and they wore sandals
- 11:29Speaker 1: for the most part, So washing somebody's feet, you'd be
- 11:32Speaker 1: washing all the dust and grime and crap and whatever
- 11:35Speaker 1: else was stuck between your toes. And people would do
- 11:38Speaker 1: this to show honor to the guests that they were receiving.
- 11:41Speaker 1: It was a very humble position to take, and that's
- 11:43Speaker 1: why we see Jesus doing this very thing to his disciples.
- 11:47Speaker 1: He washed the disciples feet. And that's also why Peter
- 11:51Speaker 1: was offended by it when he saw Jesus coming to him.
- 11:54Speaker 1: He's like, Jesus, you're not gonna wash my feet. Don't
- 11:56Speaker 1: wash my feet, because it was such an embey harassing
- 12:00Speaker 1: position to take, and yet it was a humble position
- 12:03Speaker 1: because you're showing care for the person you are receiving.
- 12:06Speaker 1: So this very well could be Paul talking about this
- 12:09Speaker 1: woman actually washing the saint's feet, but it also could
- 12:13Speaker 1: be just an analogy of this woman serving other people,
- 12:18Speaker 1: humbling herself and thinking of other people and what they
- 12:21Speaker 1: would need, and also relieving the afflicted. So that would
- 12:25Speaker 1: be talking about giving to them, comforting them in some way,
- 12:29Speaker 1: visiting them if they're sick, making them soup if they're sick,
- 12:34Speaker 1: bringing them food. I don't know anybody who is afflicted
- 12:37Speaker 1: with something, whether it is an ailment or a trial,
- 12:41Speaker 1: or even financial distress. This woman gave of herself to
- 12:46Speaker 1: actually help these people. So these would be the qualified
- 12:50Speaker 1: candidates to live off of the church for the rest
- 12:53Speaker 1: of their lives. They have to have nobody else able
- 12:56Speaker 1: to take care of them. They have to have lived
- 12:59Speaker 1: a life of servitude and kindness towards other people. And
- 13:04Speaker 1: now her reward for doing all of that hard work
- 13:07Speaker 1: before is that the church is now going to serve
- 13:10Speaker 1: her until the day that she dies. So it all
- 13:13Speaker 1: kind of comes back around. But in the case of
- 13:16Speaker 1: younger widows is what it says right here in verse eleven,
- 13:19Speaker 1: refuse them for when they have grown wanton against Christ,
- 13:23Speaker 1: they desire to marry, having condemnation because they have rejected
- 13:27Speaker 1: their first pledge. So you may initially read that and
- 13:30Speaker 1: be like, oh, it's a sin for widows to get remarried. Well,
- 13:34Speaker 1: absolutely not, because if you actually keep reading through this,
- 13:37Speaker 1: Paul does say these widows should get married. It's good
- 13:40Speaker 1: for them to get married. What Paul is saying here
- 13:43Speaker 1: is that these young widows have recently lost a husband.
- 13:47Speaker 1: They are grieving, they are sad, they are discouraged, and
- 13:52Speaker 1: because of that, some of them end up making very
- 13:55Speaker 1: poor decisions when it comes to relationships because they're feeling lonely.
- 14:01Speaker 1: But in that case, you know, if this younger widow
- 14:03Speaker 1: does end up going and getting remarried, maybe rashly, and
- 14:08Speaker 1: she's being supported by the church, perhaps her new husband,
- 14:13Speaker 1: who sees that this young woman is being handed a
- 14:16Speaker 1: paycheck consistently every single week or month or whatever it is,
- 14:20Speaker 1: he might try to benefit off of that as well.
- 14:23Speaker 1: And so Paul is actually protecting church finances by saying
- 14:27Speaker 1: no to the younger widows, because most likely the majority
- 14:31Speaker 1: of them will go and get remarried. So that's why
- 14:34Speaker 1: Paul says refuse the younger widows, not because he doesn't
- 14:37Speaker 1: have a heart for them or because he doesn't feel
- 14:40Speaker 1: sorry for them. Obviously he does, because this entire chapter
- 14:43Speaker 1: is talking about how we're supposed to treat widows with
- 14:45Speaker 1: honor and respect. But if a young woman becomes a
- 14:49Speaker 1: widow and starts financially benefiting from the church, she may
- 14:54Speaker 1: get remarried and her new husband take advantage of the church,
- 14:57Speaker 1: and also she herself will start to take advantage of
- 15:01Speaker 1: the church as well. Paul says, she will learn to
- 15:03Speaker 1: be idle, going about from house to house. So this
- 15:07Speaker 1: young woman suddenly no longer has a husband, so she's lonely.
- 15:11Speaker 1: And she also is now getting financial support from the
- 15:15Speaker 1: church so much so that she doesn't even have to
- 15:17Speaker 1: work anymore. So she suddenly has all this time on
- 15:21Speaker 1: her hands, and she is lonely, so she starts bothering
- 15:24Speaker 1: other people, is what Paul says. She goes about from
- 15:27Speaker 1: house to house, not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies,
- 15:31Speaker 1: saying things which they ought not to say. Women can
- 15:35Speaker 1: be real mean to each other, and if you've ever
- 15:37Speaker 1: worked in a salon, you will know that to be
- 15:40Speaker 1: the case. I don't know what it is, but women
- 15:44Speaker 1: are much more verbal. And so if this young lady
- 15:47Speaker 1: has nothing better to do because she doesn't have a
- 15:50Speaker 1: husband to talk to anymore, she doesn't have to go
- 15:53Speaker 1: out and get a job, she'll end up becoming a
- 15:56Speaker 1: busybody more likely than not, and start god gossiping and
- 16:00Speaker 1: saying things that she should not say to other church members.
- 16:05Speaker 1: And so that's why Paul says, refuse the younger widows. Now,
- 16:08Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that these younger widows can't get support
- 16:11Speaker 1: from the church in other ways. Absolutely not. Paul's talking
- 16:14Speaker 1: about a lifelong paycheck here that widows could receive if
- 16:18Speaker 1: they were qualified. So obviously all of these widows were
- 16:22Speaker 1: getting support from the church in other ways, maybe by
- 16:26Speaker 1: helping them find jobs, maybe by introducing them to people,
- 16:30Speaker 1: maybe by providing care for their children, or even financial
- 16:36Speaker 1: assistance here and there if that was what was needed.
- 16:39Speaker 1: So don't think here that Paul's saying, oh, younger widows
- 16:42Speaker 1: don't deserve any kind of compensation whatsoever. No, he is
- 16:45Speaker 1: not talking about that. Context is very important when reading scripture.
- 16:49Speaker 1: So instead of receiving this lifelong paycheck, Paul desires that
- 16:54Speaker 1: these widows, the younger widows, marry, bear children, rule the household,
- 16:59Speaker 1: and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting. That
- 17:03Speaker 1: is how these younger widows are going to get out
- 17:06Speaker 1: of this slump that they find themselves in, not through
- 17:09Speaker 1: lifelong financial compensation, but actually by finding purpose in life, marrying,
- 17:15Speaker 1: having more children, ruling their households, and not giving an
- 17:20Speaker 1: occasion for the adversary for insulting purpose is far more
- 17:24Speaker 1: important than finances. With the older widows, they've already fulfilled
- 17:29Speaker 1: their purpose. Paul talked about how they fulfilled their purpose.
- 17:32Speaker 1: They washed the saints' feet, they were hospitable, they brought
- 17:35Speaker 1: up children, they relieved the afflicted. They've served their purpose,
- 17:39Speaker 1: and now it's time for the church to serve them.
- 17:41Speaker 1: But for the younger widows, who still have so much
- 17:44Speaker 1: life left, they need to find their purpose once again,
- 17:47Speaker 1: and that's why Paul encourages them to find that purpose
- 17:51Speaker 1: through the family verse fifteen. For some have already turned
- 17:55Speaker 1: away after Satan. Some widows, some young widows, have turned
- 17:58Speaker 1: away from the faith, maybe because they are angry at God,
- 18:02Speaker 1: maybe because now that their husband is gone, they feel
- 18:05Speaker 1: like they're free and can do whatever they want to
- 18:08Speaker 1: do now that they don't have their husbands stopping them.
- 18:11Speaker 1: Paul says, be wary of those types of widows, the
- 18:15Speaker 1: ones that have turned away from God and are following
- 18:17Speaker 1: after Satan. So those women would not be included in
- 18:21Speaker 1: this list of widows that we are to honor. We
- 18:24Speaker 1: are to pray for them, but they aren't to receive
- 18:27Speaker 1: the same benefits that Christian widows are actually receiving because
- 18:32Speaker 1: they have fallen away from the faith. Yes, they have
- 18:35Speaker 1: gone through hard things, and that's very difficult. That is
- 18:37Speaker 1: so so hard to lose a husband like that. I
- 18:41Speaker 1: can't even imagine it. I can't imagine losing my husband.
- 18:45Speaker 1: You know, he's like my favorite person on the planet.
- 18:48Speaker 1: If I didn't have him, I'd be devastated, you know.
- 18:52Speaker 1: But regardless, if these widows have so much bitterness inside
- 18:55Speaker 1: their hearts that they choose to turn away from their
- 18:59Speaker 1: Christian faith because of their anger, Paul says here in
- 19:03Speaker 1: verse six that she who gives herself to pleasure is
- 19:06Speaker 1: dead while she lives. And so those are the widows
- 19:09Speaker 1: that we definitely need to be praying for and encouraging
- 19:13Speaker 1: to come back to the church. But until they do,
- 19:16Speaker 1: they shouldn't be receiving financial compensation from the church if
- 19:21Speaker 1: they are not doing what they should be doing as Christians.
- 19:24Speaker 1: That would just be taking advantage of the people who
- 19:27Speaker 1: give to the church, you know. Don't forget, all of
- 19:30Speaker 1: the church finances come from the individual people, and those
- 19:34Speaker 1: finances are redistributed. So we need to be very careful
- 19:37Speaker 1: with church finances because it's not any one person's individual money,
- 19:42Speaker 1: and if the church is not spending that money, well,
- 19:44Speaker 1: then it actually becomes a burden on the individual members.
- 19:48Speaker 1: Is what Paul says right here in verse sixteen to conclude,
- 19:52Speaker 1: if any man or woman who believes has widows, let
- 19:56Speaker 1: them relieve them and don't let the assembly be burdened,
- 20:00Speaker 1: that it might relieve those who are widows. Indeed, so
- 20:03Speaker 1: there you go. The church itself is actually the last
- 20:06Speaker 1: line of defense. That's why Paul says here, if any
- 20:10Speaker 1: man or a woman who believes has a widow in
- 20:13Speaker 1: their family in their life, those individuals need to be
- 20:17Speaker 1: taking care of those widows so that the church is
- 20:19Speaker 1: not burdened. Don't let the church become burdened. Do what
- 20:23Speaker 1: you can so that the church doesn't become burdened. You know,
- 20:26Speaker 1: I often get a lot of pushback, specifically with giving.
- 20:29Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, but people don't like
- 20:31Speaker 1: the topic of financial giving, and I kind of understand it.
- 20:34Speaker 1: You know, you feel like you've earned the money, you
- 20:36Speaker 1: feel like it's yours, and you don't want people telling
- 20:39Speaker 1: you how you can spend your money. Like I completely
- 20:41Speaker 1: get that. But giving is commanded for Christians in the
- 20:44Speaker 1: New Testament tithing is not commanded in the New Testament,
- 20:48Speaker 1: but giving is in fact commanded in the New Testament.
- 20:52Speaker 1: So as Christians, we need to be supporting other Christians
- 20:56Speaker 1: and also the church, and not expecting the Church to
- 21:00Speaker 1: financially support everything and everybody for us well, faithful listeners.
- 21:05Speaker 1: There's a few more things I'd like to say to
- 21:07Speaker 1: close out this episode, but before I do, please take
- 21:10Speaker 1: a quick listen from one of our sponsors. I definitely
- 21:15Speaker 1: knew this was going to be a more controversial couple episodes,
- 21:18Speaker 1: mainly because it is talking about giving. But if you
- 21:21Speaker 1: have a hard time with giving, which once again I
- 21:24Speaker 1: do understand that, maybe you know, pray to God and
- 21:27Speaker 1: ask him to help you with that. And I'm not
- 21:30Speaker 1: specifically saying that you have to go and give your
- 21:33Speaker 1: church like a ton of money right now. You don't
- 21:36Speaker 1: have to do that at all. You should be giving
- 21:38Speaker 1: with a cheerful heart and not out of obligation. But
- 21:41Speaker 1: if this is something you feel convicted by, maybe pray
- 21:43Speaker 1: to God and ask him to help you see how
- 21:48Speaker 1: you're going to be okay, even if you do give
- 21:51Speaker 1: some of your income to the church. You know, that's
- 21:53Speaker 1: something that I had to do I am not a
- 21:55Speaker 1: natural giver. I don't want to give anything. Usually. My
- 22:00Speaker 1: husband has helped me with that because he's much more
- 22:02Speaker 1: of a giver than I am. And the one thing
- 22:05Speaker 1: that God showed me is that when we give, it
- 22:09Speaker 1: always comes back to us, like God always ends up
- 22:12Speaker 1: supporting us. Even when I feel like, oh man, you know,
- 22:14Speaker 1: we're giving a lot of money. It always just ends
- 22:16Speaker 1: up coming back in some way or another. And that's
- 22:19Speaker 1: the one thing God has shown me through giving. But
- 22:21Speaker 1: faithful listeners, do not forget. Tomorrow will not be a
- 22:24Speaker 1: normal scheduled episode. Instead, the episode will be coming out
- 22:27Speaker 1: midnight tomorrow, and I'm very much looking forward to the
- 22:31Speaker 1: annual candlelit Christmas episode that I do every single year,
- 22:35Speaker 1: which is what it's going to be now. Of course,
- 22:36Speaker 1: on Thursday, there's not going to be a regular scheduled
- 22:39Speaker 1: episode because it is Christmas Day. Well, faithful listeners, have
- 22:43Speaker 1: a fantastic and wonderful day. I will see you guys
- 22:45Speaker 1: tomorrow Christmas Eve for the Christmas Eve special. Happy listening,
- 22:50Speaker 1: and God bless. I just want to take a second
- 22:57Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
- 22:59Speaker 1: with me on the Bible explain podcast. In fact, if
- 23:02Speaker 1: you go to lifeudio dot com you will find dozens
- 23:04Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
- 23:07Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.