Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Karma Chaj podcast.
[00:00:05] Great. Take a seat. Thank you.
[00:00:10] We've been this term going through the Ten Commandments.
[00:00:16] I think we could equally call them the Ten Blessings, because the commandments are a road to blessing. God says, obey my commands and I will bless you.
[00:00:28] So walk in my ways, and I'll bless you. And we've seen many come to faith the last few years, and one of the jobs of the Levites or the priests is to teach the ways of God. So one of the reasons we come to church is we come and gather in his presence to worship. That's the most important. And part of our journey has been gathering around and enjoying his presence. But one of the other things we do is we teach the ways of God because people wouldn't naturally know them. And it takes a long while to read through this book and understand the ways of God. So when we gather like this, part of my job and the others is to teach.
[00:01:14] So here we go. So we've been going through the Ten Commandments, and we're on. Do not steal today. Okay, so anyone who's stolen, stand. No, I'm joking.
[00:01:25] Jesus says, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. For it is more profitable that you.
[00:01:36] For you, that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
[00:01:45] Gulp.
[00:01:46] What's Jesus saying?
[00:01:48] The hand that takes the right hand.
[00:01:52] Okay. If it causes you to sin, cut it off. Now, obviously, he's using exaggeration for effect because he wants you to listen. He wants to get your attention.
[00:02:05] Why? He says it is more profitable for you if you were to lose a hand, if it's causing you to sin and gain the kingdom to walk in God's ways than to continue in your sin and. And go to hell. And we don't like talking about hell these days, but no one talks about hell more than Jesus. Jesus talks about again and again. And one of the reasons he came was to die on the cross for our sin so that we would not go to hell.
[00:02:37] Now, he came primarily that our sin would be forgiven and we would know God and we would walk with Him. But Jesus says, find the kingdom.
[00:02:47] It's way more profitable for you to walk with me.
[00:02:52] So Jesus wants our hands to bless, not take, and to receive, not steal.
[00:03:01] And I think, for, you know, I sometimes chat with Christians, and I think some of us are going to get a surprise when we do get to heaven, because in heaven, you're probably going to work.
[00:03:18] There's going to be a job. Okay, Heaven or the life to come, it's probably not going to involve you sitting on a cloud, playing a harp, saying, peel me another grape.
[00:03:32] That's not heaven. That's not what the Bible says. Before the fall of mankind, God places man in the garden. When everything was great, he places it in the garden of Eden to tend it and keep it. These words mean to work and to have charge of.
[00:03:53] Okay, so you were made to see the fruit of the labor of these your hands. It was a glorious call. It still is.
[00:04:05] Walking and working with the Lord.
[00:04:08] But at the fall, the Lord says this.
[00:04:12] In toil, you shall eat of it. Talking about the ground. In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread.
[00:04:20] Work became hard, so for some it was easier to steal.
[00:04:28] But the good news is, Jesus says, I am the bread of life.
[00:04:34] So the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread. Jesus comes and says, I and the bread of life.
[00:04:42] He comes, proclaiming the year of jubilee, when debts are cancelled, slaves are released, land is restored, and there's Sabbath rest where we walk with the Lord. Once again, with the coming of Jesus, the curse of work is broken.
[00:05:02] Let me say that again. With the coming of Jesus, the curse of work is broken. But that doesn't mean we don't work.
[00:05:09] Bad luck.
[00:05:11] We now work with his anointing. We now work for him and with him.
[00:05:19] Jesus says that the thief does not come except to steal, to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and they may have it more abundantly.
[00:05:32] Okay, so the devil steals, kills and destroys. Jesus says, I've come that your life would become abundant.
[00:05:40] You would enjoy your life. There would be an abundance about what you do.
[00:05:46] So why would we not steal? Because stealing is the nature of the devil.
[00:05:51] But the will of Jesus is finding abundant life.
[00:05:55] If you're in abundance, you don't need to steal, do you? If you've got everything, you don't need to take something that's not yours. Because we start to learn to live in more than enough.
[00:06:08] Only the devil wants poverty, and stealing is poverty.
[00:06:15] How are we?
[00:06:17] Yep, good.
[00:06:19] Five of you.
[00:06:22] Okay, I got three things I want to say. First, one, do not steal.
[00:06:27] So that's that. You want to walk in the blessings of the Lord. Don't steal. Who should you not steal from? Firstly, the Lord.
[00:06:33] And you go, we'd never steal from God. Well, Malachi 3 says, you're stealing from me, my not bringing in your tithes and offerings. And God in his mercy says, test me and see if I won't open up the floodgates of heaven.
[00:06:51] So the first fruits of our labor, we bring to God. Now, in those days, it would have been goats, cattle, sheep, you know, all that have brought it in. And if you're keeping goats, cattle and sheep, feel free to bring them in, okay? But today we pass the bucket round and we bring the offerings of our. Of our finance. Actually, somebody, I know somebody's going to call my bluff. Do not bring a sheep in next week, all right?
[00:07:17] But it all belongs to the Lord, and we bring it with thanksgiving.
[00:07:22] And I just want to say to you yet, if you haven't learnt, this is one of the most basic principles in the Bible.
[00:07:30] Start to tithe, Start to give of your first fruits to the Lord and see what he does. Test him, he says, and see what happens. Okay? The second place you shouldn't steal is government pay your taxes. Romans 13.
[00:07:50] But I don't want to pay my taxes. Have you seen how they waste my money?
[00:07:55] You know, I don't want to pay into that. God says, I don't care.
[00:08:03] It's really interesting.
[00:08:06] The Lord isn't that worried about waste.
[00:08:09] Have you seen how extravagant he is?
[00:08:13] Have you seen what happens when God puts a show on?
[00:08:17] Have you seen the seas teeming with.
[00:08:20] With life?
[00:08:22] Have you seen when the northern lights come?
[00:08:25] God is extravagant. And when they come to Peter and they're trying to trick him and says, does Jesus pay tax? And people, I don't know Jesus, do we pay tax? And Jesus said, pete, go and get a line, throw it in the water, pull out the first fish you get, open its mouth, and there'll be a coin in there.
[00:08:47] And then go and pay the taxes for you and me. That's a good way of paying tax.
[00:08:52] But you have to throw the line in.
[00:08:55] Peter had to go and do something. You see, Juliet was talking about faith isn't just sitting believing, oh, it's going to happen one day. Faith has some works involved. There is an action. Juliet was making declarations. Peter has to go and throw his line in the water and pull out a fish.
[00:09:17] Pay your taxes, your employer.
[00:09:22] And you're, oh, no, but Steve, you don't understand my job. You don't understand how hard it is. My boss is just so unreasonable.
[00:09:33] And that's just our stuff.
[00:09:35] You see the hours you work, the effort you put into your job? Why? Because Jesus is now your employer.
[00:09:45] When you gave your life to him, he became your boss. Your boss is no longer your boss. He is. So whatever you do, you work for Him. This is what Paul says in Colossians. Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.
[00:10:06] You see, I really believe that Christians should be the first heir and the last to go.
[00:10:14] I think bosses, there should be a line on CVs Christian. And every boss goes, I want them. Why? Because they know if they get you, they get God because you work for him. And that there's such a reputation that Christians work so hard and serve and bring the blessing of God that there's a line that says, I want to hire Christians because you are the first there. Why? Because you serve Jesus. You were designed for this.
[00:10:49] But you said my workplace is just so, so stressful. Steve, Jesus talks about us being yoked with him.
[00:10:59] And, you know, so as we go through life, there are troubles, but we used to do it on our own. That's what would cause the stress bit. But now we are tied to Jesus and he's a big ox. You know, if you're going to get tied to anyone, make sure they're big.
[00:11:17] All right, so he. And the analogy that Jesus uses is pulling a plow. So this big ox is pulling the plow through the ground. It is no effort. And I'm just yoked to him. My feet are hardly touching the ground. You know, they're running as fast as they will. But because I am yoked with Jesus, it isn't as stressful as if I just had to do it on my own.
[00:11:41] And so in the workplace, what we're learning to do is to work being yoked with Jesus. Now, sometimes you'll be in a bad situation. You just want to get out. And I understand that. But what I want to encourage you to do is get out on the high, not the low.
[00:11:58] Because otherwise you're going to go from low to low to low. But Jesus wants you to go from victory to victory to victory.
[00:12:04] So learn to get the victory where you are. Learn to get yoked with Jesus to see what he can do and go on a high deal.
[00:12:16] Okay, great. That's 10 of you. We're doing better. And then don't steal from your brother. Make sure all your financial dealings are honest.
[00:12:24] The Bible talks about honest scales.
[00:12:27] Leviticus 19.
[00:12:28] I'm going to just, just don't deceive people.
[00:12:34] You know, if you make a loan, supposing you take a loan out, pay it off, especially if you take it from a brother. If you make a loan, assume you're not going to get it back.
[00:12:46] Assume you're being generous.
[00:12:48] That's the counsel of the Scriptures. But if you do treat your brother and sister with absolute integrity, because the Lord does and they belong to the Lord, so you do unto the Lord.
[00:13:08] Okay, don't steal.
[00:13:10] Number two.
[00:13:11] God is good and his name is Jehovah. Jireh.
[00:13:18] We do not steal because the favor of God is upon our lives. God notices all you do, and when he notices you, his favor comes upon you. And there is reward both in this life and the life to come.
[00:13:37] That's the inheritance bit.
[00:13:40] The Proverbs says this, Proverbs 30. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food allotted to me, lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal I and profane the name of my God. Okay? The Lord is our provider. That's what Jireh means.
[00:14:02] Why do we not steal? Because we don't need to.
[00:14:06] Because we walk with the Lord. He provides abundantly. All I have to do is ask.
[00:14:15] And then as he provides, I am grateful all the time, remaining dependent upon the Lord. That's what that proverb is about. Do you remember?
[00:14:26] I honestly don't know if they still have them in playgrounds. The first service, it was divided seesaws.
[00:14:32] Do they still have seesaws in playgrounds? You know, you sit either end and you bounce the other person off. Or what was even more fun was to stand in the middle and bounce both people off. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're like this, okay, so imagine so you're in the middle and just balancing out and you give.
[00:14:51] So you go a bit more over here.
[00:14:54] So you just walk over a bit because you need. Because you've given. You need to be more dependent on the Lord. So it brings it over, but then he gives to you. Okay, so the seesaw goes over here. So we've got to take another step. We've got to say the step of dependence on the Lord. And so our life and our ways is way more like this seesaw. Going like this and that, staying dependent. No matter how little we have or how much we have, we stand in this dependence because it comes from the Lord and it's all His. Does that make sense?
[00:15:31] So when you give, you're going to have less. So that means you need stand here. But when you've got lots, you've got to keep depending on the Lord. Because what the proverb says is, I might forget God because I've got so much because he's so generous.
[00:15:49] So we keep on that dependence. Okay, Number three.
[00:15:52] We have his wisdom to invest sown in famine. Right. Find your Bibles.
[00:15:57] Find Genesis, chapter 26.
[00:16:02] Why don't you stand? We always stand when we read. When we read the Scriptures.
[00:16:09] We're going to start at verse one. Then we're going to go verse 12.
[00:16:13] Because I want to set the scene in verse one. This is Isaac and Abimelech.
[00:16:19] And there was famine in the land besides the first famine. That was in the days of Abraham.
[00:16:26] And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Okay, jump to verse 12. You can read the rest of the story at home. We don't have time this morning. Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him.
[00:16:43] The man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.
[00:16:50] For he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him. Now, the Philistines had stopped up the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham, his father, and they had filled them with earth. And Abimelech said to Isaac, go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.
[00:17:15] But then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham, his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. We'll stop there. Take a seat.
[00:17:41] Okay.
[00:17:43] Whenever there's famine, you need to sow.
[00:17:47] The fear is, when famine comes, if I sow, what if I don't have enough?
[00:17:55] That's the spirit of lack.
[00:18:00] We're not standing in the dependence of God. You know, I can't afford my tithe. I'm going to cut paying my taxes.
[00:18:08] Who will know?
[00:18:09] You know, I'll make money out of my brother.
[00:18:12] That's what famine does to people, the temptation to steal.
[00:18:18] But we are to put our faith in the Lord. I think we're in a famine in the UK at the moment.
[00:18:25] Everywhere we look, there's not enough.
[00:18:28] And it feels like tax, tax, tax. It's been in the news this week. Bills are going up, wages are not keeping up.
[00:18:34] You know, I try not to crash my car too often, but when I do, and it's happened a few times, you have an interesting chat with the insurance company, you know, and, you know, the first police are all okay. I said, yeah, I'm all good. And then they ask, so, do you think you might have whiplash?
[00:18:56] And I go, no.
[00:18:58] Are you sure now? I'm really sure. Honestly. My car's like a tank.
[00:19:04] I'm perfectly okay. They just, you know, I just had an argument with the bus and Drew, and you might have whiplash. Do you want to wait and see? No, I'm not going to have. Why? I'm not making money out of people now. If you have a whiplash, great. Get some money. If it's going to take you off work for. Nothing's going to take me off work because I was designed to do it.
[00:19:31] It's a glorious call.
[00:19:36] You see, famine causes us to want to steal and to defraud. And the Lord says, don't do it. Why?
[00:19:45] Because he wants to bless.
[00:19:50] So how do you sow? Will you sow from what you you have?
[00:19:57] The counter of stealing is sowing. Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold.
[00:20:05] How did he sow? Verse 18. Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham.
[00:20:18] This took time and effort. He's not just walking with the Lord. He was working with the Lord. We walk and we work with the Lord. And the Lord blessed him.
[00:20:33] He goes back to the ways of God to sow, understanding that he is a good God and there will be a harvest, because no farmer sows not expecting a harvest.
[00:20:45] I was chatting one of our guys. I think he's here this week. And I may get some of the details wrong, but if I understand right, he's been traveling around buying collectibles, you know, things. And he thinks, do you know what? I think people are going to like them. I'm going to get a few of those. And he goes and buys these and buys them, and he stores them and waits for a little while, and then he puts them up for sale when they've run out.
[00:21:08] What a brilliant idea.
[00:21:11] He's soaked.
[00:21:13] He said, I'm going to buy this. I'm going to get that. I'm going to get that, and I'm going to get that. And I'm just going to wait.
[00:21:19] And then when they're worth a little bit more, I'm going to sell them to people and I'm going to reap a harvest. There's an Illustration of sowing. The Lord gave an idea and he went, I can do that.
[00:21:33] And he went and did it.
[00:21:35] Look, sowing isn't just giving to the church or me. I mean, I'm very grateful for anything you give, but that's not what the Bible's talking about.
[00:21:45] It's sowing so that God can bless the whole of your life. You know, there was a. I remember the season about seven years ago when we just. We couldn't get.
[00:21:54] The church wasn't paying us, so we just went back and did a house up.
[00:21:59] We've always done houses. We just get. Buy an old dump and knock it to bits and put it back together and paint it and sell it. We've just always done it.
[00:22:08] That's what we've done. And God has blessed us. One of our teenagers, I think it was just before he went to university. We started dabbling with shares and he started learning about how to trade shares. He started making some money to the point where parents went, what are you doing?
[00:22:26] And then carried on doing it all through university. Sowing and reaping.
[00:22:33] Single mom. I've told this story before. I knew she was in our last church and she had an idea of a dog bowl that doesn't spill in the back of the car.
[00:22:45] So she took it on Dragon's Den and they laughed her out. I said, who's going to buy that? So she went and did it anyway.
[00:22:53] And she sold a million units at 10 pounds a unit. You see, the English weren't going to buy it, but she did it in America. The Americans said, I'll have one.
[00:23:03] You see, we sow and we reap.
[00:23:09] Remember the widow and Elijah? She sowed her last meal with Elijah, and the jugs start flowing with oil.
[00:23:18] That's what God wants to do in our lives.
[00:23:22] What is the Holy Spirit talking to you about?
[00:23:26] And you go, oh, that's just a crazy idea. It can't be God.
[00:23:30] Why not? You are created for this.
[00:23:35] His spirit is now inside of you. He wants to lead you into a life of abundance.
[00:23:41] And these creative ideas come. I was with somebody in the week, and I was talking about church income. We were just talking. And a lot of you are young, right at the start of your earning curve. You know, as you get older, you tend to earn more money.
[00:23:59] And I said, you know, in a few years it'll be much better. And he stopped me and he said, one of your new converts is about to make a lot of money and they're going to sow into the church more than you could believe possible.
[00:24:12] I went, cool. I love those prophecies.
[00:24:16] Who are you?
[00:24:18] Where are you? No, but why not?
[00:24:23] Why wouldn't God do that?
[00:24:25] In fact, every move of God, that's exactly what he's done. When George Whitfield was preaching, and also Wesley, it was Countess of Huntingdon, she financed it all.
[00:24:35] Why wouldn't he? Why couldn't you?
[00:24:41] Over the last few weeks, the Church we've been sowing, we have given away more money than some of you have ever had, because we need more money than most of you can imagine to do what we need to do to develop this building or to move somewhere else.
[00:25:01] There is nothing that causes more offence in the UK than money.
[00:25:07] We live in a poverty spirit in this country and so does much of the Church.
[00:25:12] When the Holy Spirit told us, he's told us to do three things. Pursue my presence, get your thinking about money right and go after salvation. And we're going to do that in a minute. He said the money will be the hardest.
[00:25:26] Why?
[00:25:27] Because our heart is where our treasure is. And keeping our heart close to the Lord is difficult. Remember the seesaw? It's really difficult. We're over here. I don't know. Or we're here. Thank you, Lord. I'm just going to go and do my own thing. But it's keeping dependent upon the Lord.
[00:25:50] It's the scales, it's the knowing that he is the provider.
[00:25:56] But, Steve, we gave money for a building for us, and you're giving it to someone else.
[00:26:02] Why are you doing that?
[00:26:04] Because I want to teach you the ways of the kingdom. And this is the only way I know how. Jesus says more blessed to give than receive.
[00:26:14] But you're just waving around the check the last few weeks. Surely it should be done in secret.
[00:26:20] Well, when you give, Jesus says give in secret. Yeah, you're absolutely right. But he's talking about your personal giving. And the reason he's saying that is so that you, when you give in secrets, you don't put strings attached.
[00:26:33] Some people want to give money. I'm giving you some money. But only if you do this, only if you do that.
[00:26:39] Just don't even let your left hand know what your right hand's doing. Just give, give freely and the Lord will give of himself to you. But when the Church gives, we do it together and we pray over the blessing. Otherwise it would be just my giving and not yours, and you wouldn't learn the ways of the kingdom.
[00:27:00] You know, Jesus could have secretly died on the cross, but he didn't he died for the whole world to see, so the whole world could benefit. And when we give, we give in generosity from all of us because we are thankful for what the Lord has done and we want people to benefit and be blessed.
[00:27:21] See, I'm not waving my check. I'm waving your check.
[00:27:25] Because we are blessing the church in this country.
[00:27:30] And then really quick, it's so important to sow on good ground if you want a good return. It's really interesting, the parable of the talents.
[00:27:39] The servant with one talent who sits on it, that talent is taken from him and given to the servant who has 10. And anybody that's English is going, well, that's not fair.
[00:27:52] Well, that's stupid, isn't it? Let's just, you know, Guy probably really needed it. No, you don't understand the kingdom principle. So in good ground. That wasn't good ground. Why? Because he was in poverty.
[00:28:05] He was sitting on it. He didn't want to do anything with it. He was fearful and scared. The one with 10 had invested and risked everything.
[00:28:16] You know, there's something in this country we hate successful people.
[00:28:21] Well, they must have done it dishonestly. Let's shoot them.
[00:28:26] You know, it'll be much better if we were all poor and miserable.
[00:28:32] No, it wouldn't. And it isn't. And it hasn't worked. And the kingdom of God is one of goodness, of God and abundance. I will lead you into land flowing with milk and honey. The Lord is with us and he wants to turn our lives around.
[00:28:49] You know, we've, we and you know, we've been given each week. And we didn't do it this morning, you know, we had Bedford Soul Church tent revival, really good soil. The reason I didn't this morning is the Lord just said, where? I know there's another one to do, but he just didn't say where. And the temptation was, oh, let's just pick a name out of the sky. No good ground. Where's it meant to go?
[00:29:14] So we'll wait and we'll probably do it next week. He'll speak, he'll tell us. But again, it's dependence.
[00:29:21] It's waiting on him. Do it when he says to do it.
[00:29:28] He's winning his church back.
[00:29:32] What am I trying to say? The gospel is good news to everyone, but especially the poor. Because Jesus lifts us from the poverty of our sin, forgives everything, giving us a new life to follow Him.
[00:29:42] The devil kills, steals and destroys. But Jesus leads us to abundant life. But this abundant life requires us to walk with him and to work with him to learn and understand his ways.
[00:29:58] Do not steal from God, government, employer, or your brother. The Lord is clear. Be honest in all of your dealings.
[00:30:09] Rather, understand that God is good.
[00:30:11] He is our provider. You can trust in him for everything you need. And three the wisdom of God says, Sow and you will reap a harvest.
[00:30:23] And it's time to open up the old wells and experience the hundredfold blessing of the Lord.
[00:30:32] Amen. Stand up. I'm done.
[00:30:37] Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship, and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
