TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Did You Know That the World’s First Murder Was Over a Religious Offering?

Episode Date: November 15, 2022

People have different reactions when religious offerings to God are mentioned.  Some people smile and others frown. Jealousy over a religious offering was the motivation for mankind’s first homicide. Cain killed his brother Abel because he resented God’s acceptance of Abel’s gift. What was the difference between the two brothers’ offerings to God? Does your attitude about giving to God resemble Cain’s or Abel’s attitude? Rick and Doc offering excellent biblical teaching on this subject. In Part 2, they discuss the eight things God said would remain for as long as the Earth exists. Can you name them? Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 11/15/22.A hilarious gift idea for Christmas 2022! Order your Fauci Elf! https://tru.news/faucielfIt’s the Final Day! The day when Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. You can order the second edition of Rick’s book, Final Day. https://www.rickwiles.com/final-dayYou can partner with us by visiting TruNews.com/donate or by calling 1-800-576-2116 or by mail at PO Box 690069 Vero Beach, FL 32969.

For this is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Hello everybody, I'm Rick Wiles. This weekday television program is devoted to making ready a people prepared for the Lord. King Jesus will return to earth to gather his elect, and you and I must be remnant ready. Jesus Christ has a remnant church that will triumphantly endure to the end. And we must have Abraham's faith. He was not weak in faith. Unbelief did not make him stagger at the promise of God. He remained strong in faith and gave glory to God. Abraham was the father of the remnant-ready church.

If he were here today, Abraham would tell us to shine brightly, taste salty, and love everybody. My question today is, did you know that the world's first murder was over a religious offering? There was a time in mankind's history when there were no murders of human beings. However, something sparked the first homicide. A man killed his brother. The first murder set off an endless wave of humans killing humans. Last year, in the USA, almost 20,000 Americans were murdered. Glo Nearly a half million people were murdered last year. Yet it all started thousands of years ago with one murder. Thus God gave mankind a commandment, thou shall not kill. It comes as no surprise to many church pastors and Bible teachers that some of the ugliest, nastiest reactions from some members of their congregations arise when the subject of offerings to God

is taught. The opposition stems from the same murderous spirit that arose in a man named Cain to kill his brother Abel. Cain's murder of his brother Abel was over their offerings to God. At the core of the first sin of murder, the worship of God was the primary factor and the offering itself was the secondary factor. Like Cain, church members today still do not want to be told that some or all of their religious offerings are not accepted by God. Let's study the Holy Bible scriptures about the world's first murder and seek to understand how an offering to God could erupt into a violent burst of hatred against God and a fellow human being. Dr. Raymond Burkhart is here and he will read verses 1 through 12 from the fourth chapter of the book of Genesis. And reading from Genesis

chapter 4, Rick, and Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground

an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wrought, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wrought? And why is that thou countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.

And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up with Abel his brother. And it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done?

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond thou shalt be in the earth. Genesis chapter 4, verses 1 through 12. Hey, Doc. So, you know, some Bible scholars think that this event took place somewhere

maybe, there could have been up to 130 years time because it says in the process of time it came to pass. We have two brothers, sons of Adam and Eve, and both are farmers. One is a farmer of livestock. The other one is a farmer of produce. Right. Right. Right? And from their farms, they bring an offering to Almighty God. Now, that tells me that an offering to God was not an unusual thing in that day. I agree with you.

This is pre-Levitical. This is pre-law. Yes. There was no law ordering them to bring an offering. That's true. But they were still bringing offerings to the Lord. So something had been established beforehand. Yeah. So that, I mean, obviously Adam and Eve taught their family that they needed to bring an offering to God. So this is outside of the Garden of Eden. This is after the fall.

And this is before the law. And yet there was an offering. That's true. So does that not say that there is an innate awareness in humans that they should worship God with an offering that part of their worship is bringing offerings of thanksgiving from the blessings that they receive. That makes sense because in nearly every culture around the world, there's that tendency to bring offerings to a deity of some kind.

We might actually be pre-wired to give offerings to the Lord, Rick. But there is something unusual about these two offerings though, isn't there? That's interesting what you just said, that human beings may be pre-wired. It may be part of our DNA. We know that we're supposed to bring offerings to God. And you're right, many religions bring offerings to their deities. Right. You see it in Hinduism.

Right. And even the most primitive tribes, you know, in the jungles of South America or in Africa, they still have the idea of bringing offerings to a deity as well. But in this particular case, these two offerings, there was something that distinguished these two offerings. One was respected and the other wasn't respected. Yes. So Cain came first with the fruit of the ground. He came with crops that he had grown, vegetables, fruit. He brought from his farm the produce that he had grown. And then his brother Abel came with, with, with a sheep. Right. All right. And, uh, as you said, one is accepted, one is rejected. So what we find here is that, um, the Bible says that the Lord had respect unto Abel. It uses the word respect.

Yes. It's a key word here, isn't it? It is. And he did not respect Cain's offering. Now, some would say that it was the difference between the offerings, that Cain had brought an offering of the fruits of the field, but Abel brought an offering of blood. But we know in the law later on, there were offerings from the field there but Abel brought an offering of blood. But we know in the law later on there

were offerings from the field there too. So it's not, it wasn't necessarily the content of the offerings, was it? No, it was the condition of the hearts. Yes. The two brothers had different hearts, yet they both brought offerings. They brought, they both did. They were both being obedient to the law or whatever, you know, was in place at that time that they understood. That had been commanded to them. And you could surmise that one brought an offering because he was told he had to. Yes. That was his obligation to do so.

He was obligated. He was expected to. The other one brought an offering because he desired to. Right. One was a cheerful giver and one was not a happy camper. Right. He didn't enjoy giving, but he obeyed because it was expected of him. And so what's the key between the two, Rick?

What was the difference between Cain giving and Abel giving at this point? Again, it's the attitude of the heart. And as we're going to see in a few minutes, the word faith is the key. The key factor in this. But to have

faith requires a proper condition of a heart. So these two brothers, and think about it, they're brothers, right? They come from the same parents. And yet they have different spirit. So they were raised in the same environment, same culture, same family upbringing and everything. And yet there was a difference between the two. Yes. And they both knew about the fall. Right. They heard mama and papa talk about the fall, how they, how their parents were living in the garden of Eden and how they fell into sin and were evicted from the garden. Now they knew it firsthand, Doc. One commentary I read Rick suggested

that they brought the offerings to the edge of the Garden of Eden where the cherubim were still guarding. But they could still see the cherubim that kept Adam and Eve and their descendants out of the garden. Boy that's interesting. I never heard that before. Yes. And so that got me intrigued that they could actually go and lay the offering there at the edge of the door of the Garden of Eden where the cherubim were guarding the entrance so they couldn't go back in. So, you know, the cherubim were guarding the tree of life. So I wonder how long the cherubim stayed there. I don't know. Maybe they're still there to this day.

And so who knows so well that's a good point god put the cherubim there to guard the entrance to the garden which means that there were people who were trying to get in the garden right because they still wanted to go back to where they came from right so they so wherever they presented their offerings to god god accepted. He rejected the other one. And it was an act of worship to both of the men. I mean, at the heart of the first murder of a human being, the first murder took place over a religious act of worship. Right. Worship came first. Let's say the financial component of it was second. But the motivation for the offering was to worship God. So for people who do not understand why churches receive offerings why ministers evangelists anybody doing the work of

the lord they don't understand why they receive offerings offerings are part of your worship of god they have always been from heart from the beginning from the very beginning. From the very beginning. Worshiping God included. It wasn't the only act. But worshiping God included an offering of thanksgiving. And so people today can make all kinds of excuses about why they don't give or why it upsets them if anybody talks about it. But the truth is they have the spirit of Cain. Right.

And that's just plain talk. members who get angry about offerings, who get upset and agitated when a sermon is about offerings, about giving. If they're watching a Christian television show and there is mention of an offering and they get agitated, let me tell you something, you have the spirit of Cain. Right. And that spirit is murderous. Alexander McLaurin was one of my favorite great preachers of the past. He pastored a church in Great Britain back in the 19th century, was a Baptist preacher. And he has influenced me greatly as I read his books and study his sermons. But I found a quote from one of his sermons today about Cain and Abel. And let's read it, Doc.

Character then, or more truly faith, which is the foundation of a righteous character, determines the acceptableness of worship. Cain's offering had no sense of dependence, no outgoing of love and trust, no adoration, though it may have had fear and no moral element. So it had no sweet odor for God. Abel's was sprinkled with some drops of the incense of lowly trust and came from a heart which fain would be pure. Therefore, it was a joy to God.

So we are taught at the very beginning that as is the man, so is his sacrifice, that the prayer of the wicked is an abomination. Plenty of worship nowadays is Cain worship. Many reputable professing Christians bring just such sacrifices. That's Alexander McLaren. You know, I go back to the scriptures and the way that God spoke to him with fatherly tenderness. Yes. There was not condemnation in God's words to Cain. He already knew his heart.

He already knew what he was going to do. But he spoke to him in a kind way. And it shows that from the beginning of time time God was always speaking to men and women as a father, as a kind, loving father. And he said to Cain, he goes, what's wrong? Your countenance has fallen. What's troubling you? Why do you look so down? He's asking a sincere question. He wanted Cain to tell him. What's wrong?

Well, what was bothering Cain was that he knew that God had rejected his offering. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us how the two brothers knew that God rejected Cain's offering and accepted Abel's. We don't know. We don't know. People have speculated that fire fall from the sky and consume Abel's and bypass Cain's. We don't know. But they knew. They knew.

And it made Cain very depressed. But God spoke to him with kindness and with gentleness and and he was still trying to reach him and he said you know be careful be careful Cain sin's at the door yes sin is crouching at the door it wants to take you it wants to take you. It wants to dominate you. And that's precisely what happened. Sin, Cain's anger about giving, about an offering. Think about this. This man became so angry and resentful over an offering that sin took control of him and he murdered his brother. Right.

So sin doesn't just crouch at the door. If you leave the door open, it's going to come in and make itself at home. Not only it, it took control of him. God said it will dominate you. And 1 John 3, 12 says it really comes from Satan too. It says, not as Cain who was of that wicked one, of that wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brothers were righteous. And that was a difference between the two. Satan had, you know,

imbued the spirit of Cain to murder. Yes. And he obeyed Satan rather than God. So we'll go back to the offerings, Doc. The both brothers, they brought their offerings to God in this act of worship came from the work of their hands. Right. Now, this is another important principle. What do you produce from the work of your hands? Each one of us, God has given us skills to make a living

to pay our bills we not everybody is a farmer these days not everybody is a rancher we have skills we work with our hands we have a way to make a living

and your living is generated by the work of your hands by the gifting that God has given you. And you're obligated to worship God with an offering from the produce of the work of your hands. So these two brothers both were working the farms, one raising livestock, one raising produce. They both brought produce or say from the harvest of their farms to worship the Lord. Why was one different? You know, was it, Abel brought the first, the best of his sheep. He brought, and he brought the fat, the fat portions. In Scripture, for whatever reason brought that out, that Abel brought his firstlings, that he brought the fat, seeming to imply that there was more effort into the giving into the offering on Abel's part than on Cain's.

He gave his very best. Right. That's the principle. He brought his best. Whereas Cain just brought the offering. He just gathered up a box of turnips and potatoes and cucumbers. That's what I envision. He just gathered up vegetables

and whatever condition that they were in. Right. He didn't go out and look for the best rutabaga or the best. No, he kept it for himself. Yeah. See, he kept the best for himself and gave God the leftovers.

Whereas his brother brought the best, the best of the best. He gave him the filet, but his brother brought the inferior. Well, this is the day which the Lord hath made and we will rejoice and we will be glad in it. Hello, everybody. My name is Rick Wiles, and this weekday television program is devoted to making ready a people prepared for the Lord. That's because King Jesus will return to earth to gather his elect, and you and I must be remnant ready.

Jesus Christ has a remnant church that will triumphantly endure to the end. And we must have Abraham's faith. He was not weak in faith. Unbelief did not make him stagger at the promise of God. He remained strong in faith and gave glory to God. Abraham was the father of the remnant ready church. And if he were here today, Abraham would tell us to shine brightly, taste salty, love everybody. Now my question today is, what were the eight things God promised Noah would remain for as long as the earth exists? After the great flood in the days of Noah,

God established four cycles that would remain until the earth no longer exists. Those four cycles have a combined number of eight things that will always happen, no matter what else is happening in the planet. Those eight things are, number one, seed time. Number two, harvest. Number three, cold. Number four, heat. Number five, summer.

Number six, winter. Number seven, day. And number eight, night. You can find the divine guarantee in the 22nd verse of the 8th chapter of the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible. It says, while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease. Well, the next time you hear an environmental alarmist make outrageous warnings about global warming and climate change, just remember that God set into motion the earth's cycles. There will always be cold and heat, summer and winter. In fact, there are long

cycles of approximately 200 years of global warming followed by global cooling. The last global warming cycle has just ended and the planet is now in transition to the next global cooling cycle that will last at least 200 years. There's nothing unusual about it. Global warming and global cooling cycles have been happening on planet Earth since Noah's great flood permanently disrupted the Earth's pre-flood climate. Climate change is not my topic today. My topic is two of those eight things that the Creator said will always be in effect until the end of the world. Those two things are seed time and harvest. Many people refer to Mother Nature. Now, there's no such thing as Mother Nature. That is a pagan term that Christians should never use. However, nature is the physical world of plants, animals, birds, fish, springs, creeks, rivers, lakes, oceans, sea life, the elements, geology, the atmosphere, and such things created by

God in Genesis. The great flood was God's first great reset of the world. After the flood, He decreed that seed time and harvest shall last for as long as the planet is in existence. Our Creator thinks in terms of seed time and harvest. He spoke the earth into existence. He established the laws of nature to govern the planet until the end of the world.

He said there are eight things you can count on to always be there, always, always operational, dependable to the end of time. There will be day and night, summer and winter, cold and hot temperatures, and there will always be a time to plant seeds and a time to gather the harvest from those seeds. Now, you would not go for a walk after midnight in an unlit area because it's dark. Therefore, you naturally make decisions based on the rhythm of day and night. You would not wear swimwear and sit in a lawn chair in January in most places of the world, unless you lived here in Florida. Therefore, you make decisions based on the natural rhythm of summer and winter seasons.

Likewise, you would not go swimming in February because you respect the natural rhythm of hot and cold temperatures. Then let me ask you a question. Why don't you respect the natural rhythm of seed time and harvest? Seed time and harvest is biblical. It was established by Almighty God. It has been in operation since the end of the great flood, and it will remain in force until the end of the world. Therefore, it would be wise to employ this great natural rhythm into your daily life. Understanding this great biblical cycle established by God after the great flood is important in our walk of faith to deepen our trust in our Heavenly Father to meet all our needs in this life. God's institution of the seed time and harvest cycle occurred after Noah built an altar to God and offered animal sacrifices to God.

Dr. Raymond Burkhardt is here to discuss the biblical principle of seed time and harvest. And I want him to read Genesis 8, verses 20 to 22. Thanks, Rick. And this is Genesis chapter 8. Noah built an altar unto the Lord and took of every every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor. And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite any more everything living as I've done.

While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis chapter 8, verses 20 through 22. All right, so, Doc, there's a lot in these verses that we can unpack today. And we'll continue this teaching probably tomorrow, maybe another day. We'll start here. Until the flood, I believe that the Garden of Eden continued to exist, that it was there. You mentioned this on a previous episode that perhaps Abel made his offering to God at the gate of the Garden of Eden. Right. A number of commentators actually made that suggestion that the offerings that Cain and Abel brought to the Lord that we talked about previously were brought to the gate where the cherubim were guarding the entry to the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life.

Mankind could not be allowed access to the Tree of Life or else they would live forever in their sin. And so that's why it was guarded. But then there was worship that was taking place after the Garden of Eden because we see that example with Cain and Abel. Yes. So we don't know when the Garden of Eden disappeared, but I'm going to make the case that it was swept away by the flood. Men and women did not have access to the Garden of Eden, but they knew where it existed. Right. There were cherubim there guarding the door.

You couldn't get in. The Garden of Eden was God's palace on earth. It was the king's palace. Right. Now think about this. He's the king, and he created the earth, and he established, he made the garden for Adam and Eve. Adam was not made in the garden, he was made outside the garden.

That's true, placed in the garden. He was placed in the garden. A lot of people don't know that. That's right. And then when he sinned, he was removed from the garden and put back out where he came from. Because Adam was of the earth and the paradise wasn't of earth. It was of heaven. That's right.

And so the Garden of Eden, in my opinion, it was the palace for God on earth. It's where God met with men and women. It's where he communicated with humanity. He fellowshiped with Adam and Eve in his palace that he permitted them to live in. By the way, the whole story of the Bible to me is a love story of God desiring to meet with humans in the Garden of Eden. He started with the Garden of Eden and then the sin, the fall of man.

Then later we see God leave. He led the Hebrew people. He created a kind of a Garden of Eden junior. The promised land scaled down, didn't have all of the perks that the Garden of Eden had. But it was God trying to get people back into a blessed place where he could communicate with them. And then the Jews failed in the promised land. And they were expelled from the promised land. And so where is God taking man? He's taking us back to the garden, a new earth, a new garden, new Jerusalem, and God himself will dwell there and the tree of life will be there. Yes. That's what Revelation says. The tree of life, the same tree of life that was in the garden of Eden will be in new Jerusalem.

But that's another lesson. So we have the garden as a place where God met with man, to fellowship with man. But now the great flood came because the wickedness of the human race. And it just occurred to me that that wickedness there, Rick, they knew where the Garden of Eden was, and yet they remained wicked. They knew it before the flood. Yes. And so that just, you know, really makes the impact of their wickedness even more. EDEN WAS AND YET THEY REMAINED WICKED. THEY KNEW IT BEFORE THE FLOOD. AND SO THAT JUST REALLY MAKES THE IMPACT OF THEIR WICKEDNESS EVEN MORE. THEY KNEW WHERE GOD DWELLED. IT WAS A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO SIN AGAINST GOD. BUT AFTER THE FLOOD, NO TRACE OF THE GARDEN, NO WAY TO KNOW WHERE IT WAS.

IN FACT, THE FLOOD WATERS PROBABLY TRANSPORTED NOAH FAR AWAY FROM WHERE HE WAS BEFORE. no way to know where it was. In fact, the floodwaters probably transported Noah far away from where he was before. We don't know where he dwelt before. God's presence was no longer in the garden. Right. God was on high. Right. And so, as you said, the flood moved Noah and his family far from their home.

But the first thing that Noah did, and this is what we see in Genesis 8. As soon as Noah got out of the boat, he didn't build himself a house. He didn't say to his family, all right, roll up your sleeves. We got to get to work. We need to build a house. We need a barn. We got to start working. The very first thing he did was he built an altar to worship the Lord Jehovah. That's right. And it was an act of appreciation that he and his family had survived the flood. He was worshiping the Lord for being the great God that brought about the destruction of humanity and yet in mercy spared one family.

So there was a great idea of respect and appreciation in Noah's heart. Gratitude. Right. This is, you have saved us out of the waters. You determined that we were righteous and that we were able to come through the waters. And he consecrated the land. He was consecrating the land that he was on at that point to the Lord. And just worshiping God in that very first act.

And so this is interesting that we see this. You know, an altar means a high place. Some people believe it was on the peak of one of the mountains of Ararat. My son Jeremy years ago was in Armenia, and there's a great Armenian church there, ancient church, and they allowed him, the priest took him down below the church, inside the church tower. They were excavating deep below the church,

and they were finding, they actually found several altars. They believe that the church in Armenia was built on top of the altar of Noah. That's their claim. I can't prove that. And finding other altars underneath there surmises that there were other altars that were built on top of it later on and the church was eventually built on it. ALTARS UNDERNEATH THERE, IT SURMISES THAT THERE WERE OTHER ALTARS THAT WERE BUILT ON TOP OF IT LATER ON, AND THEN THE CHURCH WAS EVENTUALLY BUILT ON IT.

YES, YES. AND THAT'D BE A FANTASTIC TRIP TO GO ON. YES. AND SO, BUT IT ESTABLISHES THAT EVEN IN LOCAL TRADITION THAT THERE WAS AN ALTAR THAT NOAH HAD ESTABLISHED,

THAT THE PEOPLE OF NOAH'S DAY AND HIS GENERATIONS THAT FOLLOWED RECOGNIZED THAT NOAH HAD MADE THAT SACRIFICE UP ON HIGH, IN THE HIGH PLACE ON THE ALTAR. that the people of Noah's day and his generations that followed recognized that Noah had made that sacrifice up on high, in the high place on the altar. So it was the first altar in the post-flood new world. Right. So we don't see an altar before the flood.

Right. We saw a sacrifice. But didn't see an altar. Not an altar. And I think, and I'm just, look, I'm just a layman here. I'm just, you know, I'm just speculating. I think probably because the reason that there's an altar is an altar meaning a high place. And now God is on high.

He's not in the garden. Right. The garden is gone. And that makes sense, too, because when later generations, when they tried to build a tower to heaven, they were trying to reach heaven. God was no longer dwelling on earth. He had moved. And to do what? Nimrod wanted to overthrow the God.

That had moved to heaven. And had drowned the world. Right. And he wanted that pre-flood civilization. He wanted that wicked, evil civilization brought back. But you're right, Doc. He built a tower to reach God because he knew he was on high. Yes.

So what we have here is the first thing Noah did when he got out of the boat was build an altar. And worship the Lord. And worship the Lord. Okay. And it was immediately after Noah's worshiping of God that God established these biblical principles that he said would remain until the end of the world. Right. And by the way, I think we should point out, um, God's clearly points, he points, he makes a promise here. I'll never flood the world again.

Right. The world. He didn't say he wouldn't flood a nation. Right. A city. But not the whole world. Not the whole world. There would not be judgment on the whole world by water.

But he didn't say that the world would last forever. That's right. In fact, it implies here that there would be an end. It's got an expiration date. And so that's important to see. So God, at this point, he's telling us there is a day coming that the world will not exist. But I give you my promise. I'm not going to flood the entire world at one time. And these four cycles are going to remain. The cycle of hot and cold temperatures, of winter and summer. Day and night. Day and night.

And seed time and harvest. Seed time and harvest. What I see as significant in this, Doc, is that the principle of seed time and harvest was instituted by God immediately after the judgment on sin. Right. And the first act of worship. You can't separate it. No, you can't. Seed time and harvest when it involves finances, they need to recognize that this originated at the very moment God was being worshipped for being merciful. Yes.

So your act of worship and giving, your giving is connected to your acts of worship. And your act of worship is connected to your gratitude for God's mercy for forgiving your sins. You see the connection? Absolutely. And this principle is reinforced in the New Testament, Galatians chapter 6, verse 7, where it says, Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

In other words, God is even saying here in Galatians chapter 6 that there is a connection there between our submission to Him, our worship of Him, if you will, and our understanding that God is a connection there between our submission to Him, our worship of Him, if you will, and our understanding that God is a rewarder. He provides a harvest. And so those are things that remain in place all the way to the end of the world. Why to the end of the world?

We won't need them after that. We won't need day and night after that because the Lord will be the sun we won't need hot and cold there won't be seasons there won't be anything like that and it won't be necessary to have seed time and harvest after that point either because he's our perpetual he is our harvest yes so yes so that so all those things in but there was a beginning for them um and it was at right after the landing of Noah and his family after the flood. But this whole idea of these cycles being in place, these are, if we're wise, we consider these cycles and we consider our life. You know, we know that there are seasons. We accept that. We know that it's going to get cold some days and hot some days.

We also know that, you know, that there's you see day and night, you know, it guides you. You know, we mark our calendars by by all these things. That same principle holds to seed time and harvest. That's right. That's why I said in my introduction. Christians have no problem respecting these other cycles. You're not going to go swimming in the lake in February because you know there's hot and cold temperatures. There are things that you're going to do based on these cycles. You're not going to take a walk in an unlit, very dark area after midnight

because there is day and night. But when it comes to seed time and harvest, church people get all worked up and they get angry and they get frustrated and they're like, I don't believe that stuff. It's a Bible and it's connected Bible. And it's connected to worship. And it's connected to appreciation for being spared from the judgment of sin. And that verse out of Galatians 6-7 says that if you refuse to understand this principle, you're a mocker.

You're mocking God. You're mocking God in that. It's essential for believers to understand this principle of seed, time, and harvest, not in just the idea of planting tomato seeds in your yard and seeing tomatoes, but in every aspect of your life. Planting a seed is faith. That's what it is. That's a really good point.

I never saw it that way because whenever I read Galatians 6-7, you know, I always interpreted it as, you know, somebody that was sowing bad things in life, you know, hatred, bitterness, whatever, you know. And the Bible, you know, Paul saying, hey, don't be fooled. Don't be deceived. God's not going to be mocked. These bad things that you're sowing, you know, you're going to reap it. But what you just said is to reject the principle of seed time and harvest, of saying, no, God doesn't, there's no such thing as giving and receiving. Then you're deceived.

You're deceived and you're mocking God. Yes. Oh, man, I've're deceived and you're mocking God. Yes. Oh, man, I've never seen it that way, Doc. That's why the understanding of this principle, and this is a principle of faith, of seed time and harvest is so essential to a believer's life because it really gives us an understanding of where we are in our relationship with the Father,

that we understand that He is and that He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Don't be fooled, Paul says. Don't be deceived. God's not mocked. that we understand that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Don't be fooled, Paul says. Don't be deceived. God's not mocked. For whatever you sow, that shall you also reap. This is a principle that he is reinforcing. Well, Doc, we've been teaching here three very important faith principles. And number one is that your heavenly father is your source for everything you need.

Faith principle number two is give that it may be given unto you. What is the it? Whatever you give. Right. Give that it. Give that it may be given unto you. What is it that you need? That's what you give. Do you need money? Give money. Do you need love?

Give love. Yes. Do you need friendship? Give friendship. Once again, it's that principle of seed, time, and harvest that's active in that second principle. Do you need mercy? Give mercy. Yes.

And faith principle number three, expect a miracle. and harvest that's active in that second principle. Do you need mercy? Give mercy. Yes. And faith principle number three, expect a miracle. Expect a harvest. Yes. Expect the harvest. Seed time and harvest. I mean, this isn't difficult at all. It isn't. It's very simple. Very simple. But we forget these basic principles of life and we don't apply it and really now doc I'm seeing this for the first time God's saying when you ignore these things you're mocking me yes and you're deceiving yourself even though you don't intend to be a mocker you don't intend to to be deceived you're doing it by by ignoring these basic principles.