Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 31 - Bring the Tithe to God's House

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2 Chronicles 31 - Bring the Tithe to God's House · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Howdy and good morning friends and faithful listeners,
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Speaker 1: and welcome to the Bible Explain podcast on this absolutely
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Speaker 1: lovely Monday morning. I hope you guys are enjoying it
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Speaker 1: so far. We're going to be in second chronicles thirty
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Speaker 1: one today talking about this reform that Hezekiah does in
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Speaker 1: Judah and specifically how he reinstitutes the positions for the
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Speaker 1: levitical priests and the tithes and the offerings that were
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Speaker 1: to go to the priests, and we'll talk about all
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Speaker 1: of that and how it relates to today in just
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Speaker 1: a second. So the weather today is absolutely beautiful. I
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Speaker 1: can see the little buds coming out on the trees.
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Speaker 1: The wind is blowing. The house smells really nice. In fact,
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Speaker 1: it is warmer outside than it is inside, and I'm
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Speaker 1: really really excited about that because warm weather is long
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Speaker 1: overdue in my opinion, We've had a very long and
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Speaker 1: very cold winter this year. Except it is supposed to
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Speaker 1: know again tomorrow. You know, that is my great state
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Speaker 1: of Ohio. You never quite know what you're gonna get
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Speaker 1: when it comes to the weather. But I love to
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Speaker 1: hear about you guys and where you all live and
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Speaker 1: what the weather is like, and I especially love to
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Speaker 1: live vicariously through all of you guys that are down south,
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Speaker 1: So contact me and tell me how the weather is
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Speaker 1: where you guys are. I'd love to hear of the
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Speaker 1: nice warm weather you're already having. All right, favor listeners,
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Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and read Second Chronicles thirty one. And
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Speaker 1: while you're grabbing your delicious hot cup of coffee or
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Speaker 1: your cup of tea for you crazy tea drinkers, I'll
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Speaker 1: move to an ad break, So grab your hot beverage
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Speaker 1: and also your Bible out of the version that you prefer,
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Speaker 1: while you listen to the sponsored message. All right, so
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Speaker 1: today we're going to be reading the entire chapter of
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Speaker 1: Second Chronicles thirty one and discussing all of this reform
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Speaker 1: that is going on in Judah at this time. So
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Speaker 1: let's read this from the web or whatever version you
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Speaker 1: guys prefer. And as we read this, make sure to
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Speaker 1: bear with me because this is a chapter where there's
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Speaker 1: a lot of really unique names, and I always struggle
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Speaker 1: through chapters like this, and I know anybody who can
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Speaker 1: understand Hebrew knows that I am not pronouncing these names correctly,
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Speaker 1: but I do the best that I can so bear
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Speaker 1: with me on that again. This is the second Chronicles
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Speaker 1: thirty one one through twenty one. Now, when all this
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Speaker 1: was finished, all Israel who were present went out to
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Speaker 1: the cities of Judah and broke the pillars in pieces,
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Speaker 1: cut down the ashre poles, and broke down the high
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Speaker 1: places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin,
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Speaker 1: also in Ephrium and Manassa, until they had destroyed them all.
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Speaker 1: Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to
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Speaker 1: his possession, into their own cities. Hezekiah appointed the divisions
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Speaker 1: of the priests and the levites. After their divisions, every
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Speaker 1: man according to his service, both the priests and the levites,
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Speaker 1: for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister to
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Speaker 1: give thanks and to praise in the gates of Yahwei's camp.
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Speaker 1: He also appointed the king's portion of his possessions for
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Speaker 1: the burnt offerings for the morning and evening burnt offerings
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Speaker 1: and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, for the new moons,
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Speaker 1: and for the set feasts, as it is written in
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Speaker 1: Yahwai's law. Moreover, he commanded the people who lived in
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites,
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Speaker 1: that they might give themselves to Yahwai's law. As soon
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Speaker 1: as the commandment went out, the children of Israel gave
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Speaker 1: an abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey,
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Speaker 1: and of all the increase of the field. And they
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Speaker 1: brought in the tithe of all things abundantly. The children
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Speaker 1: of Israel and Judah, who lived in the cities of Judah,
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Speaker 1: also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and
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Speaker 1: the tithe of dedicated things, which were consecrated to Yahweh,
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Speaker 1: their god, and laid them in heaps. In the third month,
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Speaker 1: they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and
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Speaker 1: finished them in the seventh month. When Hezekiah and the
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Speaker 1: princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed Yahweh and
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Speaker 1: his people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the
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Speaker 1: Levites about the heaps. As Ariah, the chief priest of
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Speaker 1: the House of Zadik, answered him and said, since people
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Speaker 1: began to bring the offerings into Yahwai's house, we have
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Speaker 1: e and had enough, and have plenty left over. For
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Speaker 1: Yahweh has blessed his people, and that which is left
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Speaker 1: is this great store. Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare
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Speaker 1: rooms in Yahwai's house, and they prepared them. They brought
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Speaker 1: in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things faithfully.
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Speaker 1: Knanayah the Levite was ruler over them, and Shame his
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Speaker 1: brother was second. Jahel, Azaziah, Neyhath, Asael, Jeremath, josephad Eliel, Ismakia,
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Speaker 1: may Hath and Benea were overseers under the hand of
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Speaker 1: Cononia and Shame his brother by the appointment of Hezekiah
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Speaker 1: the King and Azariah the ruler of God's house. Cora,
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Speaker 1: the son of Imnah the Levite, the gate keeper at
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Speaker 1: the east gate, was over the free will offerings of
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Speaker 1: God to distribute to Yawai's offerings and the most holy
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Speaker 1: things under him were Eden Menayamine, Yeshua, Shamayah, Amarah, and Shaikania.
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Speaker 1: In the cities of the priests in their office of
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Speaker 1: trust to give to their brothers by divisions to the
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Speaker 1: great as well as to the in addition to those
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Speaker 1: who are listed by genealogy of males from three years
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Speaker 1: old and upward, even everyone who entered into Yawai's house
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Speaker 1: as the duty of every day required for their service
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Speaker 1: in their offices according to their divisions, and those who
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Speaker 1: are listed by genealogy of the priests by their father's houses,
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Speaker 1: and the Levites from twenty years old and upward in
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Speaker 1: their offices by their divisions, and those who are listed
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Speaker 1: by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, their sons,
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Speaker 1: and their daughters, through all the congregation. For in their
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Speaker 1: office of trust they sanctified themselves in holiness. Also for
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Speaker 1: the sons of er and the priests who were in
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Speaker 1: the fields of the pasture lands of their cities. In
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Speaker 1: every city there were men who were mentioned by name
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Speaker 1: to give portions to all males among the priests, and
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Speaker 1: to all who are listed by genealogy among the Levites.
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Speaker 1: Hezekiah did so throughout all Judah. And he did that
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Speaker 1: which was good, right and faithful before Yahweh, his God,
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Speaker 1: in every work that he began in the service of
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Speaker 1: God's house, in the law and in the commandments to
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Speaker 1: seek his God. And he did it with all his
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Speaker 1: heart and prospered. You remember, in the last chapter we
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Speaker 1: talked about how Hezekiah the King ended up doing a
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Speaker 1: Passover celebration basically for the first time in several hundred
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Speaker 1: years of Israel's history, they never truly followed the passover
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Speaker 1: the way God commanded it back in the Old Testament.
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Speaker 1: So finally, now that Hezekiah is the king, and he's
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Speaker 1: very on fire for Yahweh by the way, he decides
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Speaker 1: he's going to do a passover not just for the
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Speaker 1: people of Judah, but for the people of Israel as well.
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Speaker 1: So he invited everybody to this Passover celebration, and a
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Speaker 1: lot of people did, in fact come, even from Israel.
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Speaker 1: So this big Passover celebration happened, and everybody was super
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Speaker 1: on fire, super excited. There was a revival happening in
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Speaker 1: Judah that they ended up extending it for a whole
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Speaker 1: other week, and that was talked about in the last chapter.
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Speaker 1: So now that those two weeks of Passover are over,
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Speaker 1: that's where we leave off in Second Chronicles thirty one,
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Speaker 1: verse one, which says, now, when all of this was finished,
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Speaker 1: all Israel who are present went out to the cities
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Speaker 1: of Judah and broke the pillars in pieces, cut down
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Speaker 1: the asher poles, and broke down the high places and
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Speaker 1: the altars out of Judah. And Benjamin also in Ephriam
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Speaker 1: and Manassa until they had destroyed them all. Then all
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Speaker 1: the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession
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Speaker 1: into their own cities. So that shows that not just Judah,
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Speaker 1: but the people of Israel as well were very, very
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Speaker 1: excited about this revival that was taking place, that they
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Speaker 1: ended up going into the various cities of both Judah
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Speaker 1: and Israel. Because it says they went into the tribe
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Speaker 1: of Ephriam and Manassa, which both of those tribes were
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Speaker 1: in Israel up north, and they broke down all of
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Speaker 1: the altars and the pillars that were for the foreign gods.
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Speaker 1: All of this was done in unity. Everybody was excited
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Speaker 1: about worshiping Yahweh once again, at least for a short
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Speaker 1: little while, because none of this ever lasted for very long,
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Speaker 1: but at least it happened. At least the people at
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Speaker 1: this point in time had a revival and decided they
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Speaker 1: no longer wanted to worship all of these foreign gods.
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Speaker 1: They knew that these gods did not help them, especially
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Speaker 1: the people of Israel, where the Assyrians were currently coming
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Speaker 1: into Israel and basically displacing all of the people, pretty
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Speaker 1: much destroying the entire country. Actually, so a lot of
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Speaker 1: the Israelites knew that getting back to God was an
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Speaker 1: important thing to do. But now it says in verse
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Speaker 1: two that Hezekiah was not just going to end his
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Speaker 1: reform after the Passover was done. He was going to
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Speaker 1: continue with it. It says in verse two Hezekiah pointed
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Speaker 1: the divisions of the priests and the Levites. After their divisions,
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Speaker 1: every man according to his service, both the priests and
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Speaker 1: the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister,
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Speaker 1: to give thanks and to praise in the gates of
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Speaker 1: Yahweh's camp. So, I don't know if you guys remember
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Speaker 1: us talking about this in the previous season, season nine,
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Speaker 1: we discussed all of the different divisions of the Levites
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Speaker 1: in First Chronicles twenty five, which I'm not going to
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Speaker 1: read that chapter because it is very long and there's
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Speaker 1: a lot of names in it that I do not
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Speaker 1: know how to pronounce. So instead I'll just read First
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Speaker 1: Chronicles twenty five, verse eight, which says young and old alike,
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Speaker 1: teachers as well as students cast lots for their duties.
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Speaker 1: And that was something that David put in place so
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Speaker 1: that priests and Levites would know what their specific duties
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Speaker 1: were now it mentions in our passage for today second
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Speaker 1: Chronicles thirty one that some of the duties were burnt
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Speaker 1: offerings and peace offerings, to minister to people, which means
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Speaker 1: basically to serve people that need served, to give thanks
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Speaker 1: to God, I would guess through music or prayer, and
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Speaker 1: then also to offer praise in the gates of Yahweh's camp.
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Speaker 1: So those would be the musical levites that we've talked
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Speaker 1: about at length before, the ones that specifically played instruments
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Speaker 1: or sang or wrote music for the congregational worship of Yahweh.
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Speaker 1: So that's just a few of the duties that the
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Speaker 1: levites and the priests have, which, by the way, levites
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Speaker 1: and priests were different. A priest was always a levite,
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Speaker 1: but a levite was not always a priest, if that
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Speaker 1: makes any sense. But levites, even though they weren't priests,
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Speaker 1: still had roles and responsibilities that they had to do.
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Speaker 1: They could do things like administration in the temple. They
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Speaker 1: could do things like service, you know, cleaning, making things
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Speaker 1: beautiful in the temple, building things upkeep and maintenance that
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Speaker 1: kind of stuff, and also just making sure the priests
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Speaker 1: had everything that they needed, and also that everything in
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Speaker 1: the temple was running smoothly. That was the job of
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Speaker 1: the levites. But the priests had a more public job.
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Speaker 1: They were the ones that would bless the people and
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Speaker 1: make atonement for the people. They would offer the sacrifices
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Speaker 1: and burn the incense, and they were the only ones
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Speaker 1: that were allowed to go inside God's temple at least
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Speaker 1: that was the rules that God put in place. Even
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Speaker 1: though the people broke that myriads of time, God was like, no,
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Speaker 1: only the Levites are supposed to go inside the temple.
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Speaker 1: So that was the difference between the priests and the levites.
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Speaker 1: But both the priests and the levites had very important
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Speaker 1: roles for the functionality of the temple to make sure
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Speaker 1: everything was going smoothly, kind of the same way that
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Speaker 1: church is run today. You know, there's the pastor who
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Speaker 1: oversees things and writes and preaches the sermons and counsels
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Speaker 1: people and everything else that the pastor does, and then
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Speaker 1: there's other people that make sure the church services are
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Speaker 1: running smoothly. You know, people behind the scenes, the finance team,
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Speaker 1: the security team, the worship team, the youth group leaders,
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Speaker 1: the children's ministers, the you know, coffee bar, the greeters.
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Speaker 1: There's so many things that go into the running of
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Speaker 1: the church because the pastor can't do everything. So the
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Speaker 1: levites were kind of like the ministers, the servants inside
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Speaker 1: the temple, and the priests did a lot of the
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Speaker 1: public work, specifically for the people who would bring the
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Speaker 1: offerings and things like that. But getting back to the passage, basically,
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Speaker 1: Hezekiah appointed all of these different positions in the temple
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Speaker 1: once again, because don't forget that during the reign of
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Speaker 1: the previous kings, Yahwism was not as prevalent. The people
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Speaker 1: were worshiping all of these other gods, especially under the
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Speaker 1: rule of a Has who was Hezekiah's father. A Has
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Speaker 1: actually shuddered the doors to the temple and erected all
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Speaker 1: of these different altars all around Jerusalem and Judah to
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Speaker 1: these foreign idols. So Hezekiah got rid of all that,
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Speaker 1: opened the temple back up, and once again reinstituted the
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Speaker 1: positions for the levites and for the priests. It says
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Speaker 1: in verse three that he also appointed the king's portion
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Speaker 1: of his possessions for the burnt offerings for the morning
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Speaker 1: and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths,
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Speaker 1: for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as
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Speaker 1: it is written in Yahweh's law. So that's important right there.
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Speaker 1: It says that he did this according to Yahwei's law
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Speaker 1: as it is written. That's really good. You know, a
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Speaker 1: lot of kings did not follow Yahwei's law. So Hezekiah
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Speaker 1: was going back to the law. He was doing his
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Speaker 1: best to bring everything back the way God initially wanted it.
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Speaker 1: And one of the things God told the people to
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Speaker 1: do was a daily sacrifice, a morning and an evening sacrifice,
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Speaker 1: and then there are supposed to be special sacrifices on
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Speaker 1: like Passover and Yam Kapor and all the other ones
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Speaker 1: that the Israelites had. The king actually gave of his
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Speaker 1: own possession of his animals as a tithe essentially to
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Speaker 1: the temple, and that was him showing his dedication to
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Speaker 1: God and also to the Temple. So this was a
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Speaker 1: really good thing that Hezekiah was doing, bringing people back
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Speaker 1: to Yahwei's law, and not just commanding the people to
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Speaker 1: do it, but also doing it himself. First, he gave
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Speaker 1: of his own possessions, his own flocks to I guess
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Speaker 1: kind of lead the people in this kind of service
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Speaker 1: of giving and tithing to the temple. Moreover, verse four,
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Speaker 1: he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give
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Speaker 1: the portion of the priests and the Levites that they
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Speaker 1: might give themselves to Yahwei's law. So there you go.
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Speaker 1: Hezekiah did it first before he commanded the people to
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Speaker 1: do it. But he did command the people. He said, yeah,
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Speaker 1: you guys are going to tithe. And you know, all
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Speaker 1: of us nowadays probably cringe thinking about that because we're like,
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Speaker 1: how could you command somebody to tithe? But actually it
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Speaker 1: was God that initially commanded this. That's talked about in
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Speaker 1: Numbers chapter eighteen, and this goes into all of the
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Speaker 1: tithes and the offerings. But God had a very good
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Speaker 1: reason for commanding his people to tithe. It was so
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Speaker 1: that the Levites and the priests would actually be supported
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Speaker 1: because don't forget that the Levites and the priests had
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Speaker 1: no real way to support themselves. They were the only
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Speaker 1: tribe out of the twelve tribes that did not get
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Speaker 1: any inheritance of the land. So the other tribes had
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Speaker 1: to support the Levites in their work of ministry, which
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Speaker 1: is why the Levites completely relied on the tithes and
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Speaker 1: the offerings that came in. This is Numbers chapter eighteen,
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Speaker 1: starting in verse eight, you always spoke to Aaron. Behold,
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Speaker 1: I myself have given you the command of my wave offerings,
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Speaker 1: even all the holy things of the children of Israel.
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Speaker 1: I have given them to you by reason of the anointing,
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Speaker 1: and to your sons as a portion forever, This shall
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Speaker 1: be yours of the most holy things from the fire.
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Speaker 1: Every offering of theirs, every meal offering of theirs, and
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Speaker 1: every sin offering of theirs, every trespass offering of theirs,
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Speaker 1: which they shall render to me, shall be most holy
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Speaker 1: for you and for your sons. You shall eat of
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Speaker 1: it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat
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Speaker 1: of it. It shall be holy to you. Okay. So
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Speaker 1: the first time that the levitical priests would get was
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Speaker 1: a portion of meat from all of the different offerings
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Speaker 1: that came in, specifically the sin offerings, the meal offerings,
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Speaker 1: and the trespass offerings. All of those offerings only the
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Speaker 1: priests could eat. But then God continues because he understands
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Speaker 1: that the priests also need to feed their families as well. Right,
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Speaker 1: Because yes, it's important for the priests to eat, but
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Speaker 1: they need to feed their families. It says in verse eleven,
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Speaker 1: this is yours too, the wave offering of their gift,
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Speaker 1: even all the wave offerings of the children of Israel.
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Speaker 1: I have given them to you and to your sons
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Speaker 1: and to your daughters with you as a portion forever.
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Speaker 1: Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.
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Speaker 1: So now the priests get to take some home to
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Speaker 1: their families. And that was the wave offerings. And a
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Speaker 1: wave offering was like a really bizarre kind of offering
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Speaker 1: where you'd like wave it in front of God, like
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Speaker 1: up in the air. You'd like wave it around and
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Speaker 1: be like, hey, God, here's your offering, like you're waving
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Speaker 1: a God. So the wave offerings would go to the priests,
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Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure it was usually a grain of
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Speaker 1: some sort. And then it says in verse twelve. God
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Speaker 1: also gives them the best of the oil, all the
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Speaker 1: best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first
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Speaker 1: fruits of them which they have given to Yahweh, the
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Speaker 1: first ripe fruits of all that is in their land,
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Speaker 1: which they bring to you, Yahweh, shall be yours. Everyone
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Speaker 1: who is clean in your house shall eat of it.
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Speaker 1: So now not only do they get the wave offerings,
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Speaker 1: but they also get the best of the oil, the
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Speaker 1: best of the wine, the best of the grain. Every
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Speaker 1: first fruits that comes in goes to the priest, and
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Speaker 1: every single person in the priest family could eat of
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Speaker 1: these tithes that they receive. And then in verse fourteen,
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Speaker 1: it also mentions that everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.
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Speaker 1: A devoted animal was one that somebody would devote specifically
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Speaker 1: to God. They'd be like, oh, you know, my goat
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Speaker 1: is pregnant. When that goat has the baby, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to give that to Yahweh as a free will offering,
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Speaker 1: as a devoted thing, because I love God and I
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Speaker 1: just want to do this. It says in verse eighteen
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Speaker 1: that their meat shall be yours as the wave offering
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Speaker 1: breast and as the right thigh. It shall be Okay,
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Speaker 1: I was wrong about the wave offering. It says right
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Speaker 1: here what it was a wave offering was a breast
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Speaker 1: or a right thigh. Anyway, the meat of the wave
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Speaker 1: offering and also the meat of the devoted things would
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Speaker 1: go straight to the priests and their families as well.
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Speaker 1: Now continuing in numbers eighteen, verse twenty, it says, you
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Speaker 1: always said to Aarin, you shall have no inheritance in
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Speaker 1: their land, neither shall you have any portion among them.
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Speaker 1: I am your portion and your inheritance among the children
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Speaker 1: of Israel. So that was another thing God gave to
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Speaker 1: the Levites. He said, I am yours, I am your inheritance.
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Speaker 1: You don't get a piece of land, but you get me,
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Speaker 1: and that, of course is the best inheritance anybody could get.
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Speaker 1: And continuing in verse twenty one, it says to the
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Speaker 1: children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe
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Speaker 1: in Israel for an inheritance. So now the priest got
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Speaker 1: all the meat and everything, But now the tithes, which
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Speaker 1: God is commanding his people to do. He says, I
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Speaker 1: have given all the tithes in Israel to the Levites
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Speaker 1: for an inheritance in return for their service which they
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Speaker 1: are to serve. And God was pretty serious about this.
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Speaker 1: He wanted him people to give these tithes and offerings
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Speaker 1: because this supported like literally supported the Levites. But unfortunately
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Speaker 1: the people did not want to give, which is why
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Speaker 1: God says in Malachia chapter three, starting in verse eight,
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Speaker 1: will a man rob God? Yet you rob me? But
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Speaker 1: you say, how have we robbed you in tithes and offerings?
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Speaker 1: You are cursed with the curse for you rob me
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Speaker 1: even this whole nation. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
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Speaker 1: that there may be food in my house. So God
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Speaker 1: right there he is upset over the fact that the
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Speaker 1: people refused to give tithes and offerings. And God actually
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Speaker 1: said that the people were robbing him of what they
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Speaker 1: owed to him. If the people didn't bring the tithes
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Speaker 1: and the offerings to the temple, that meant the levites
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Speaker 1: could not eat, could not be supported. So basically from
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Speaker 1: the beginning of time, we've had the exact same problems.
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Speaker 1: People don't want to pay their pastors. Tithing is a
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Speaker 1: very good thing, but that being said, there is no
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Speaker 1: command in the New Testament that you should tithe, which
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Speaker 1: tithing is just giving ten percent of your income. But
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Speaker 1: you can't ignore the myriad of verses in all of
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Speaker 1: Paul's letters that say you need to give. In fact,
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Speaker 1: multiple times Paul said this verse you shall not muzzle
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Speaker 1: the ox while he treads out the grain, And that
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Speaker 1: was a analogy to say that you're overworking the ox
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Speaker 1: and not giving him any payment. That's how Paul felt
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Speaker 1: about the ministers of his day, that they were overworked
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Speaker 1: and underpaid. And like I said, that's been a problem
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Speaker 1: since the very beginning. People have not wanted to pay
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Speaker 1: their pastors, or their ministers, or their teachers. They don't
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Speaker 1: want to pay these people because they don't really think
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Speaker 1: that that's a job worthy of payment. And I would argue,
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Speaker 1: if you believe that, you have no clue how much
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Speaker 1: time goes into being a past master or a ministry leader,
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Speaker 1: it is a full time job. And because God is
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Speaker 1: the same yesterday, today, and forever, and because there's both
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Speaker 1: evidence in the Old Testament and the New Testament where
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Speaker 1: God says you need to pay the overseers of your church,
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Speaker 1: that we absolutely should be supporting the pastors, the overseers,
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Speaker 1: and the teachers in our churches. But going back to
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Speaker 1: Second Chronicles thirty one, Hezekiah commanded the people to finally
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Speaker 1: give the tithes again to the Levites, and the people listened.
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Speaker 1: It says as soon as the commandment went out, the
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Speaker 1: children of Israel gave an abundance the first fruits of grain,
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Speaker 1: new wine, oil, honey, and the increase of the field.
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Speaker 1: And they brought in the ties of all things abundantly.
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Speaker 1: The children of Israel and Judah, who lived in the
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Speaker 1: cities of Judah, also brought in the tithe of the
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Speaker 1: cattle and the sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated
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Speaker 1: things which were consecrated to Yahweh, their God, and laid
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Speaker 1: them in heaps. So suddenly all of this food is
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Speaker 1: coming in for the Levites and for the priests. The
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Speaker 1: people gave abundantly, because don't forget, this spiritual revival is
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Speaker 1: happening in Judah. And it also says in Israel as well,
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Speaker 1: in verse six, the children of Israel and Judah, who
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Speaker 1: lived in the cities of Judah, brought the tithe of
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Speaker 1: the cattle in the sheep. It says, in the third
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Speaker 1: month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps
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Speaker 1: and finished them in the seventh month. So essentially, these
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Speaker 1: gifts of food and offerings are coming in so much
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Speaker 1: that they're being laid in these big heaps. And it
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Speaker 1: took seven months to collect all of this beautiful food.
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Speaker 1: The people were just giving that much, it says. When
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Speaker 1: Hezekiah and the priest came and saw the heaps, they
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Speaker 1: blessed Yahweh and his people Israel. So that's how much
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Speaker 1: food there was. They were overjoyed of how much had
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Speaker 1: come in of all of these tithes. Then Hezekiah questioned
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Speaker 1: the priests and the levites about the heaps. As Ariah,
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Speaker 1: the chief priest of the House of Zadig, answered him
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Speaker 1: and said, since people began to bring the offerings into
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Speaker 1: yawa house, we have eaten and had enough and have
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Speaker 1: plenty left over for Yahweh has blessed his people, and
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Speaker 1: that which is left is this great store. So essentially,
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Speaker 1: the high priest is like, yeah, the people are giving
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Speaker 1: so much that all of the priests are full of food,
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Speaker 1: all of the levites are full of food. We're still
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Speaker 1: paying them, and there's this much leftover. So Hezekiah immediately
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Speaker 1: tells the high priest to prepare rooms in Yahweh's house
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Speaker 1: specifically so that this food does not go bad. So
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Speaker 1: Hezekia didn't want any of this to go to waste.
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Speaker 1: You know, these were charitable givings, These were tithes from
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Speaker 1: the people. These things were considered holy once they entered
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Speaker 1: the temple. They were considered holy things, things of God
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Speaker 1: which God was giving to the priests, So Hezekiah had
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Speaker 1: the priest prepare rooms in the temple for them, so
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Speaker 1: that would be potentially fixing up the rooms that were
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Speaker 1: already connected to the temple, or possibly building additions or
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Speaker 1: building new rooms to store all of this food. And
24:05
Speaker 1: then in verses twelve through eighteen, it mentions the organization
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Speaker 1: of all of these tithes that the people brought. It
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Speaker 1: says they brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the
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Speaker 1: dedicated things faithfully, which, by the way, that verse right
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Speaker 1: there shows that people were bringing more than just tithes,
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Speaker 1: like they weren't just doing the command of Hezekiah. They
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Speaker 1: were going above and beyond. They were bringing offerings and
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Speaker 1: dedicated things as well. It says Konania the Levites, was
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Speaker 1: ruler over these gifts, and Shemi, his brother, was second.
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Speaker 1: Then in verse thirteen, it mentions a whole bunch of
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Speaker 1: other names that were overseers under these two men. And
24:43
Speaker 1: then in verse fourteen it mentions this one guy named Corey,
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Speaker 1: who was a gatekeeper, was over all the free will
24:51
Speaker 1: offerings to God, so even more offerings, and he distributed
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Speaker 1: all of God's offerings to the Levites, not to mention
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Speaker 1: all the people that were under him. It says in
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Speaker 1: verse fifteen that they gave to their brothers by divisions,
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Speaker 1: to the great as well as to the small, and
25:07
Speaker 1: then in verses sixteen through nineteen, it mentions all of
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Speaker 1: these different divisions of Levites that received the offerings and
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Speaker 1: the tithes that the people brought in. So now finally
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Speaker 1: the Levites are back at the temple, they are doing
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Speaker 1: their jobs, and they're finally getting paid for the service
25:25
Speaker 1: that they do. So this is a good time in
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Speaker 1: Israel's history. And we actually find out later on that
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Speaker 1: Hezekiah did this for fifteen years before he really had
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Speaker 1: any serious problems really hit Judah. So God truly blessed
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Speaker 1: Judah with a ton of abundance during this time because
25:44
Speaker 1: the people were really on fire for Yahweh at this point.
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Speaker 1: It mentions in verse twenty and twenty one that Hezekiah
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Speaker 1: did this with all his heart and he prospered. So
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Speaker 1: that takes me back to Malachi chapter three, verses eight
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Speaker 1: through twelve, where God says to bring in the tithes,
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Speaker 1: to stop robbing him of these things, and to also
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Speaker 1: watch how God is going to bless if you actually
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Speaker 1: do tithe with a joyful heart. God says in verse ten,
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Speaker 1: bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there might
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Speaker 1: be food in my house. Test me now in this
26:26
Speaker 1: if I will not open you the windows of heaven
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Speaker 1: and pour out on you a blessing that there will
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Speaker 1: not be enough room for This is one of the
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Speaker 1: few times in scripture where we actually see God asking
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Speaker 1: us to test him. Of course, God does want these
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Speaker 1: things to be done with a cheerful heart, But when
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Speaker 1: we actually do give of our finances with a cheerful heart,
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Speaker 1: God sees that, and he says he is going to
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Speaker 1: pour out a blessing on you, faithful listeners. Before we go,
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Speaker 1: here's a quick word from a sponsor or two. You know,
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Speaker 1: I've heard people actually tell me personal stories of how
27:06
Speaker 1: they decided they wanted to start giving, even though they
27:09
Speaker 1: weren't quite sure where to get the money from, but
27:12
Speaker 1: they started giving and God just blessed them. That actually
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Speaker 1: happened to my husband and I when we were first
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Speaker 1: going to the church. My husband really hated tithing. You know,
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Speaker 1: a lot of people don't like it because they think
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Speaker 1: it's like the church being you know, greedy for money,
27:29
Speaker 1: which sometimes it is not gonna lie. There are greedy
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Speaker 1: churches out there, obviously, but my husband felt that way
27:35
Speaker 1: for a long time and so he didn't want to tithe.
27:37
Speaker 1: But then once he started tithing, he started selling equipment
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Speaker 1: at work, and that was after we were married. I do
27:44
Speaker 1: remember that, and my husband associated his tithing with the
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Speaker 1: blessing of being able to actually make money and sell
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Speaker 1: things at his job, which is kind of interesting. But
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Speaker 1: like I said, I do think that tithing has to
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Speaker 1: be done with a cheerful heart. You know that's pretty
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Speaker 1: clear in the New Testament. Well, faithful listeners, I hope
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Speaker 1: you enjoyed this episode and that it may be convicted
28:05
Speaker 1: you and if it did, share it on their social
28:07
Speaker 1: media platforms and tell people that the Bible Explained Podcast exists.
28:11
Speaker 1: I will see you guys all tomorrow on the podcast
28:14
Speaker 1: six am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen.
28:17
Speaker 1: Until then, happy listening, and God bless. I just want
28:26
Speaker 1: to take a second to thank the team at Life
28:28
Speaker 1: Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible Explain Podcast.
28:31
Speaker 1: In fact, if you go to lifeaudio dot com you'll
28:34
Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
28:37
Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.