Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / January 18, 2017 | Men's Fraternity - Spring 2017, Session 2

Transcript

January 18, 2017 | Men's Fraternity - Spring 2017, Session 2 · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right, men.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to see.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think we got a few more here.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was told that maybe some men didn't realize we started last week and uh church calendar may have had the wrong day.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, good to see uh everybody uh back.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I believe there is still time to sign up for the men's retreat this weekend.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have not signed up and we're planning to go, just go online and uh get signed up and go to the retreat.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so second week of uh Matthew.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I it it's been really interesting to me as we've as I've read through that because I've learned a lot about uh the disciples, but uh I guess I had never really kind of thought about and put together the connection that uh you know Levi the chief tax collector became Matthew the disciple became Matthew who wrote the gospel.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, oh, okay.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So as Gene pointed out, it would make sense that uh that gospel contains more uh uh ideas from the Lord and uh and and thoughts, whatever, regarding money and uh possessions and things like that.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's obviously that uh Matthew was um uh was struck and uh was I'm sure he was changed and uh as he made changes in his life, he uh wrote them down in the gospel, a lot of things regarding money and possessions.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So um I'm gonna uh turn it over to Jason and Derek this morning, and uh hopefully there will be something that we read or study that will uh maybe convict or apply to you all regarding uh money and possession.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: So all right, take it away, guys.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks a lot, Paul.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: How's everyone doing today?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: All right, you survived the ice storm.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: No one's still I was kind of we almost called it today, you know.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh said, hey, we had ice a couple days ago, maybe we shouldn't get out this morning.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I wish did we have a picture?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, we don't have a picture of that.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Did you see the picture?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Did you see the picture?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, there is no picture of the ice storm.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, there is.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was real.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: There's the picture, it was floating around, I think, on Facebook.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it said like three ice cubes.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Icepocalypse at the top, and it had like three ice cubes on the ground.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, if you got Facebook, look it up.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it'll be one of the first search items as you look at it.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: It was funny though.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's pretty funny.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: I saw that.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, so we did a survive the ice storm.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um barely.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Barely.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now we came here to get some good breakfast.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: And as Paul said, hopefully one thing we that is said here today um will be motivational.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, we're going for one, so that's good.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but uh thank you for to Keith and who else was back there today cooking?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Who was back there?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Keith and Ed and Wes.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you guys.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think Keith said he got here at like four o'clock this morning, like four fifteen or something.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Just phenomenal.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for breakfast.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, it's one of the highlights of every Wednesday morning while we're here.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think probably everybody else would agree with that.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it's one of the most important parts.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: And we'd like to say if you miss a session, go on in a couple weeks after the session, and it'll be up on the TBC website.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh a couple people tried to look at the one from last week.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's not quite there yet, but it'll be working there.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: We got a little technical glitch with our tech team, but other than that, it'll be up there.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: So if you miss a session, go to go to tbc.com and you can actually now search our website.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: We have a search bar now.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: So also true, yeah.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so big, big things.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: New thing.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's at it's at the bottom of the page.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so you can go on there and search whatever.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: You can search Jason, Brent, surviving the ice storm, and I'm sure it'll come up with a whole bunch of stuff.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Right, exactly.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly what everyone's gonna search.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: All right, very good.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't want to show that.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we'll jump right into it.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: A little sad today, still.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Not a second time.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Are you?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was it uh yeah, it like hit you right in the heart.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's ridiculous how much I get into it.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't even watch every game the Chiefs played this year.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, in the middle of the year, we went and bought a antenna though, so I could pick up some of the channels.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, yeah, I I thought for sure, I just I don't know why I do this to myself every single year, but I thought this year was the year.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's never ever been the year, but for the Chiefs.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I really did think so.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so Enoch, my youngest son, and I were watching the game and jumping around, and yeah, I thought I thought for sure they were coming back.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: I thought they were at least gonna tie it, and they did, but then had a yeah, so anyway, it's but there's there's one good thing.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: The Chiefs did not allow any touchdowns in the whole game.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: They kept Pittsburgh out of the end zone.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: That is true, which was one of the goals for the game by Andy Reid.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Keeps for the game.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Don't let them in the end zone.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they didn't, they did a really good job in that goal.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Should have been not score any touchdowns and not set a record for field goals.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, but poor guys.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: They had a good season, undefeated in their division.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, doesn't really help, but next year.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Next year.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: You can get Hank's old license plate and you can just change it to a Chiefs logo next year.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Put it on your car.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: That could happen.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: But also, it's not getting for K-State fans.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: If you're a Chiefs fan and a K-State fan, it's been a real rough week.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: But they lost to Baylor.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Baylor's pretty good this year, except for the spanking they got to West Virginia.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: I guess that was two games ago.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: But um K-State's a pretty good team, though, this year.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna win some.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: They'll win some, they'll lose some.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: If I mean you had the if you're a K-State fan, you had the the holding call for the Chiefs that kind of went your way, and the non-traveling call that still haunts people.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then Jim put this on here, and it's not true, but uh KU's number one.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: Did you guys know that?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: We're ranked number one.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that I think that he thought we were going to be ranked number one because, well, we were number two in the number one team lost, and traditionally that happens.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: But so I think he put this together before he left for his ship.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: So we are number one in the coach's poll.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: In the coaches poll.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: All right, very good.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: Not the AP poll, though.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: So which one which one matters more?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, the coaches pull.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, there we go.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we've got we've got I love these pictures.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: These are so funny.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um I was uh Derek opted to keep these in.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna take them out, but he thought they're funny, so we should keep them in.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: So And there might be people here who haven't seen them before.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: So it's possible.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: This one is kind of funny for multiple reasons.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: It says, I will do the best of my ability, which is terrific ability, by the way.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody agrees I have fantastic ability, and there's no problem with my ability, believe me.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: But I think this one is also funny because from the back, it kind of looks like Hillary Clinton, too.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: So um that's why I think it's funny, but uh anyway.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um they do have the same hair.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: And the same pantsuit.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, okay.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, so we're talking about the apostles of Jesus, and uh it's too early to make jokes like that.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: So we this is the second week for Matthew.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we talked about their the disciples.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: This is for the we've been on near last semester and now the second semester.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: So a diverse group of people, the disciples were.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and we're talking about Matthew the businessman.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I you know, last week uh it was just a good review uh for uh to remind me about who Matthew was, tax collector, uh possibly um his name was Levi or Matthew, got changed to Matthew.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about that from this chapter.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh possibly a Levite, you know, from the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, that wouldn't have had, Jim made this point, and I thought it was a really good point, it wouldn't have had any land, you know, the priest or the only uh clan, the only um that didn't have a land apportioned to them, and they would have been the priestly tribe, and now you got the priest collecting money for the Romans and and actually stealing money from them as well.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I don't know.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: It says businessman, but is also tax collectors was a businessman slash cheat you out of your taxes, and uh a hated person for the the Jews would have hated him or would have disliked him strongly, and then he was a Jew collecting for the Romans, so it would have made him even more um disliked.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: But uh in Matthew 9 9, Jesus came up to Matthew and said, or to Levi at the time and said, Follow me, and so we got up and followed him.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: And this uh the first uh section that we read this week uh was mixed motives uh on page 121.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And what Getz has done a lot in this book uh is made me think he's he's kind of we kind of joked at times about him uh taking some liberties or uh finding things that I've never thought about or finding there within the disciples.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: But uh this one was really kind of telling to me as I read through it.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: Mixed motives.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: We're talking about our motivation behind decision making, motivation behind what we're doing.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: And um it was just really interesting because uh throughout the book he's kind of carried in their personalities, uh, so he's kind of taking into account what Matthew's personality, his background would have been, and then what his motivations could have been for following Jesus, uh, you know, that he he and he felt like in the section that Matthew would have felt like this was a bet a better deal.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh I'm a tax collector, but here is Jesus, he's gonna be the future king of Israel.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: This is a better deal.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I started thinking about that, and I thought, man, I really always just kind of thought that Matthew was convicted, you know, of his sin and convicted of everything, and it's following on to follow Jesus.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: And uh he kind of talks about gets talks about that as well.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but I really started thinking about this, and I like maybe it's a little naive of me to think that every single one of these guys would have followed, just of hey, I want I I want to be close to Jesus because I've been taught my whole life that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, right?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: He's the savior, he's the messiah.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: But they wouldn't have really got that the very first time they met him.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it started making me think about Matthew, uh, when he started following Jesus, maybe he did think, man, this is a better deal, this is a great rabbi to follow, you know, maybe he will be the future king, maybe that, you know, maybe that maybe I'll have a prominent place.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: But it started making me think that when you come to Jesus, when you start having a relationship with Jesus, uh you do bring your personality there.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: You bring uh everything that you your past and uh and who you are to Jesus.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: And uh part of the the section was Philippians 2 4 that Gets talked about, let each of us uh not only uh look to his own interests, but to the interest of others.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: And he makes the point in there that it's possible uh to have to to want to live a life uh wholeheartedly for God, but also have other interests, and he felt like that's what Paul was telling us to think about um through this.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: And we talked about Bob Buford was an example in the book, and then Jim talked about halftime, and I have not read this book.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think it would be a good book to read.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and but uh closer to halftime.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: When I get closer to halftime, that's how I told Jim last week.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: He said, when you're getting close to 40, it's good to read it.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, I still got four years, so I'm gonna wait a couple years so I get closer to 40.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to think about that exactly.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but Getz said that, you know, he talked about Bob's decision.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Bob Buford uh made a decision to make 75% of his time for ministry and 25% of his time to business.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't really know exactly what his decision making was with exact percentages, 75-25, but I think that it that's pretty amazing, really, uh, for somebody that was a businessman and successful in business to say, you know what, if I'm gonna say following Jesus is the most important thing, if that's my motivation in life, if what's in the, you know, as we said last last week, what's in the box, if a Jesus in the box or his money in the box, if I'm saying Jesus in the box, then my time better reflect what I'm saying, my my commitment is and what my motivation is.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I felt like that was a pretty, pretty important thing uh to discuss.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: Probably within our groups we could discuss that as well.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then uh, you know, he there we talk about the great feast in Luke uh chapter five.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: And uh in the in the book it even talks about how big some of these houses would have been, but it says Levi may made Jesus a great feast in his house.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so even though he might not have known exactly um, even though he might not have known exactly who Jesus was or exactly why he was following him, he was really excited to follow Jesus.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: He had this huge feast, he invited tax collectors and sinners, as the Bible says, and uh one of in in one of the biggest houses, homes in Capernaum, uh in the in the book it said, and it's kind of interesting to me, that they said archaeologists had found homes that could hold 500 people in just the garden area of these homes.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: So some of these homes were huge and meant for parties and meant for getting together for social events.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: And uh another good point I thought felt like that was made in the book was that uh Matthew definitely wasn't um he wasn't ashamed of following Jesus.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: He wanted everyone in his profession, everyone that he knew to know that he was following Jesus and who Jesus was or to meet Jesus.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: And uh even though a lot of people that had had the motivation of Matthew of tax collecting and and and raising money and stealing money and becoming rich, uh may have felt like that was kind of a uh not a very wise decision for him to make to follow Jesus and leave everything that he had had.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, kind of the next main section um behind the sacred robes.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And the question that that kicks this off is you know, why are some religious leaders just as guilty of sin as men who have questionable business practices?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the the obvious or most clear answer to that question would be because none of us are perfect, because we're all fallen people and we all need a savior.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: And what he really goes into, um kind of in this section, is that there are people and some of these guys who it would seem, even though we may not know them personally, but it would seem that their interest is more for themselves than it is for the gospel, and maybe than it is for the souls of other people.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um a lot of these guys you know just give us money, give us money, give us money, and a lot of it is based off of something called the prosperity gospel, which basically just says that if you give God or you give the church so much money, then God's going to give back to you way more money.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so the more you give to the church, the more that you receive monetarily because that's how God wants everybody to be, and that's how God's economy operates, which we know is not true.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's not necessarily true.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, does he bless people with money?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Does he give people lots and lots of money and some people a little money?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: He does both of those things.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And as we we look, we're gonna see the Pharisees, and we're gonna what we're gonna notice.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you can flip it.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: And kind of we're gonna we're gonna look at two main stories.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: The first of which is Matthew uh 9, 10-13, which says Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other uh disreputable sinners.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with such gum?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's the message Bible, yeah.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's the Greek right there.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so interesting when you kind of pull away for a second just knowing the story or hearing about the story, and you think about it, you've got this guy, Matthew, who was one of the top c tax collectors, crooked guy.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: He invites Jesus, who people are starting to follow now, he invites Jesus to this feast with all of his with all of Matthew's tax collector buddies and sinful buddies.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: It'd be like if you knew somebody who was really crooked and ran with crooked people, and they invited Pastor Jim over to eat with them and have this big party with them.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so Jim's at this party with like all these crooked people, and us, we're we're looking on the outside, like, so is he is he friends with them?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Is is is Jesus endorsing them?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Is Jim endorsing this group?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Is he like, is he their buddy, or what's what in the world is going on with this?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so the Pharisees are like, what?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you hanging out with these people?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: This this is not a good thing.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And Jesus' responses, look, I haven't come here for the people who don't need help.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: I came here for the people who need help.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I came here for the people who are sick.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: I came here for the people who are messed up in their business practices who need help.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: I came for those who need me.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: I came for the sick.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: And this, the the Pharisees is really, they they couldn't wrap their minds around this because they were not, their hearts were not in a position to necessarily be compassionate towards others.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Their hearts were not necessarily in a position of showing grace to others.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was very much their desire to abide by the law and hold to the law and the letter of the law no matter what, except if they wanted to twist it.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: That was kind of their thing.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna see an example of that, and I want to read that to you guys.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's in Matthew 15, and this is this is one of the I love this passage of scripture because we see Jesus throw the hammer down.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's not up here, um, but we see Jesus throw the hammer down on the Pharisees, and it's kind of interesting.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll read it to us.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Matthew 15, um, starting in verse 1, it's about seven verses.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: It says, Then Pharisees and scribes came to came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked, Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: For they don't wash their hands when they eat.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: He answered them, And why do you break God's commandment because of your tradition?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: For God said, Honor your father and your mother, and the one who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: This is still Jesus talking.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: But you say, Whoever tells his father or mother, whatever benefit you might have received from me as a gift committed to the temple, he does not have to honor his father.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: In this way you have revoked God's word because of your tradition.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's so interesting.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because the the Pharisees, they knew the commandment was to honor father and mother.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: But they also had another commandment which said that they needed to stick to their commitment to giving to the temple.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so in this instance, the Pharisees are basically saying, Hey, I know we've got this this sick mom or or this sick dad, and I realize that we're supposed to take care of them, but we're all supposed to be given to the temple, giving our money there.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it shows maybe even a little bit of greed on the Pharisees' part.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: But what the Pharisees were saying was basically look, if you don't want to take care of your parents like you're supposed to, you don't really have to.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Just keep giving it to the temple.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Keep giving us this money so we can keep this operation running.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because you don't really have to honor your father.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so they just kind of pick and choose, and it's really it's interesting.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: We definitely had all the head knowledge in the world, but we're missing the heart of what Jesus was teaching, what the even the what the Old Testament in some places was teaching, and tried to communicate to them for sure.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it comes down to our hearts.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And when our hearts are in a line with Jesus, we will want to be graceful, we will want to be compassionate with others and to take care of others.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Necessarily be greedy and in it for ourselves.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: And uh along those lines, I think it is very interesting if you look through the disciples that we've been talking about so far, and you get to Matthew, and he was tax collector, someone that was known for for being a crook, basically, amongst the Jewish circles at least.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: And uh Jesus said, Hey, I can use you, you know, especially if your heart is changed, I can I can use you.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what the last section that we're going to talk about in the book is, is it takes one to know one that Jesus saw someone in Matthew that if his motivation is changed could lead a lot of people to the right way or to who Jesus was.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's interesting to me that Matthew talked uh more about uh money and seeking God first over money than the other gospels.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like that he must have gone through a huge heart change to write that way and to live that way uh from where he came from.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: And and one of them, uh Matthew 6, 24, is no one can serve two masters, either you'll love uh the one and hate the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: You cannot serve both God and money.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of like what we were saying, like what's in the box, like what do you is Jesus in the box, or is money in the box, or is you know, what we want to do in the box, or what Jesus wants you to do in the box.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: But it kind of gives me new insight when I realize who Matthew was, and he's writing this in the direction of the Holy Spirit, but he wrote this, you know, after he came out of a life of living a life to to serve for himself, to to get as much money as he could as he could.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the other one that is very uh we hear a lot is Matthew 6, 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: But again, like thinking about who Matthew was, and he says, but we need to seek first the kingdom of God, and then the other things can be added unto us as as righteousness.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I think that Jesus obviously was quite wise in picking Matthew because when Matthew started getting it and started understanding that he was supposed to seek God first and not live the way that he was, he probably had a big influential pull on people that were like him and he understood their mindset.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so there's a question posed in 125 is says, Why why can God use transformed businessmen in unique ways to minister to other businessmen?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I I just think that the the easy answer there is because well Matthew was able to, because he understood their mindset, he had lived it, he knew that he understood their heart motivation, but he also understood a better way to follow Jesus.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so um think about that uh in your own life.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um what are what are some unique things about you?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what are some things that possibly, like Matthew was really into getting as much money no matter what?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he had a pretty corrupt motivation before he followed Jesus.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, think about things in your life, your interests, the things that without Jesus, what you would be like.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: And those things, in some ways, uniquely gift you, your personality, uniquely gift you to witness and to reach people that are like you or have had motiv you that you understand their motivation, maybe the motivation you've had in the past before you understood we're supposed to see God's kingdom first.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: And those are the type of people that we can really relate to.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: And every single person is different, and so every single person can reach different people for Jesus if we're just willing to do that and take a chance and allow God to work through us.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um another kind of interesting uh thing is that you know a lot of people in the Bible had name changes, and uh Levi uh got his name changed to Matthew, which means gift of Yahweh.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: But it's kind of interesting that if you read, and it was pointed out in the book, if you read Mark, Luke, and John, it talks about Levi until he followed Jesus and then he was Matthew.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: But in his gospel that he wrote, he just says Matthew.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if it's because, as Getz says, he's maybe didn't want to be associated with all the corruption that Levi had, the name of Levi, or that kind of thing.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: But also I kind of think that it has to be because he saw himself as Matthew.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: He didn't see himself as Levi, the tax collector, the cheater.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he saw himself as a follower of Jesus, gift to Yahweh.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's kind of an interesting thing to think about.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Acts 20, 35 says, the Lord Jesus himself said, is more blessed to give than to receive.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that Matthew learned that.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's I think we see from from his gospel, he's one of the he's probably one of the most changed disciples that that we can see and that we know and we have a lot of information about.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, just seeing him as that tax collector, and then coming through his name changes to Matthew, and then he's writing things like, seek first the kingdom of God.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a huge transformation from a cheating person who would have said originally, give me all the money that you can possibly muster in your pocket to seek God first, and then God will take care of all those needs and give you those other things.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: So three principles.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: This one's from last week.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ wants all Christians to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: And this is also the section where Ged starts to talk about tithing a little bit, and we think of tithe, which literally it means 10%.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: And what we see in the New Testament is that God even takes it a step further and says, Look, I want you to give with a cheerful heart.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to give in proportion with what you take in.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so a lot of us will start at 10%.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because when we when we give, it should be somewhat of a sacrifice.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: It should be something that we notice, it should be something that we're we're conscious of.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, think if you guys remember Tim Collins preached about it, oh, maybe a year ago or something.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was talking about giving, and uh he said, you know, pick a pick a percent for you.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Talk about that with God.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: God, I I make X amount of dollars.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: How much do you want me to give?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: How can I give cheerfully?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's 10%, maybe it's 15%, maybe it's 20%.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it it really depends on your specific situation.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: But but the heart of the issue, as we can see with a lot of other issues, um Jesus will talk about a commandment from the Old Testament and say, but I say this.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, so where he says, hey, don't, you know, the law says don't murder.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm telling you, if you have these hateful thoughts and these hateful attitudes towards your brother, like that that's murder.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so he's really bringing it back to a heart issue, and it's the same thing with giving.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not necessarily about the amount of money, because God doesn't need our money.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: He can he can do whatever he wants, he's gonna accomplish his purposes, but he wants us to be faithful, he wants us to give cheerfully.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's something that all of us can continually evaluate, and maybe that even changes at different times in our lives, just depending on our situation, depending on what God wants us to do.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we give more for a certain season that He that He so desires.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um the second principle, Jesus Christ is still looking for men of means who will faith faithfully use their resources to build the kingdom of God.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is so this is so true because we all know that money, just as it was in the apostles' time, in Jesus' time, is one of the things that's constant throughout society, and we need it to function.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: We have to have this thing called money that we use to trade for different things, to use for different things, for food, for gas, for buildings, for whatever.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: And some people have a lot more, some people have a lot less.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: But God wants all of us to use our resources for God's kingdom.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, I've growing up, I heard some teachers, you know, Christian teachers teach that if you have a lot of money, like that's a bad thing.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: If you have anything nice, that's a bad thing.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you make too much money, that's a bad thing.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: God doesn't want you to have that.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: And God's saying, look, I'm gonna give each person as I desire to give them, as um I know that they can be trusted with, and I want to you I want them to use it for my glory, however much it is.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's you know, twenty thousand dollars a year, a million dollars a year, a billion dollars per year, he wants us to use our money for him to build to build his kingdom.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then the third principle is Jesus Christ wants generous Christian businessmen to become models and examples to other businessmen who in turn will become generous Christians.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, for me, this is one of the one of the things that I I love and one of the things that I'm passionate about and I really enjoy when we have Christian, like like many of you are, we have Christian leaders who are in the business sector of our society.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because we all know that that's where 99% of the people work on a daily basis is in some kind of business that's not necessarily in the church.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that's who you're interacting with, you know, for at least probably 40, 50 hours of the week.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: And for those of you who who do have that opportunity are are in that business sector, you have an opportunity to influence those people who are not Christians on a daily basis.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And even if there are Christians working with you, you have a chance to encourage them in an everyday life thing on a regular basis.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just encourage you guys to take advantage of that opportunity that God's given you to be in that world on a daily basis and to use that for God's glory.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I will say that um, as we put a put a close to this lesson, is that something that a lot of people don't like to talk about is money.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: The Bible talks quite a bit about money.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: And the the simple fact is Derek said that God doesn't need our money.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, everything belongs to God anyway, is whether or not we want to omit that or not.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, but if uh a lot of the that's the number one cause of of fights and marriages and problems is is financial stress and money problems.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we are coming up on uh starting a study at Topeka Bible Church.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: If you've heard of the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, but you don't understand what it is, or you just thought, man, I I don't know if I really want to do a money study.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Jerry is uh helping to lead that study is on Monday nights.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: Is that right, Jerry?
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: And he was talking to me before and he said there's several kits left.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's a small investment, uh$85 to learn the principles of the Bible for f to hopefully that you will achieve financial peace, but also be able to give, like we're talking about uh here.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just something to think about uh if you've never gone through that.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: So personalizing these principles, are you putting Christ's work first when it comes to the way you use material possessions?
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good question for you guys to talk about in your group.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_02: And uh this is an interesting question.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: How much of your money uh could you give to God's work each year beyond 10% and still live comfortably and securely, uh, including an adequate money amount for retirement?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: What about your time?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh would you ask uh God to help you reorder your priorities to build God's kingdom and to lay up treasures in heaven?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: Some pr pretty convicting uh thought thinking there.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then what kind of uh model are you uh to your children and to other Christians when it comes to the way you use your money, possessions, and time?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: How could you become a better model?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: And our memory verse, Matthew 6 33.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's say this together.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Would you like to pray for us?
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: I would.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_02: And next week, Thomas or doubting.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, no, just Thomas.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day, and thank you for this time uh to gather and and learn about one of your followers, Matthew, Father.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: I I thank you for everything we've learned about him the last two weeks.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: I thank you for his example of somebody that uh had motivation for material wealth, uh, but uh decided to follow you and wrote some great passages and understanding about how we should seek you first.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: I pray that would be our desire, and I pray that you would help us to be bold enough to walk in that in that way and seek after you first, Father.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: And just uh thank you for your love and thank you for caring for us.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's in Jesus' name I pray.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: Next week, Thomas.