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Hey friends, Greg Cocoel here and man the last shows before Christmas and I have not even started. Oh goodness gracious me.

This is Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 75 days before Christmas for me. You'll be four days when you're listening to this.

And I just got back from out of town last Saturday. I was.

It's on to been filming for the videos for street smarts that did 10 of them and they're 25 to 35 even 40 minutes each.

It's a lot of work over two days and I came back on Saturday spent got in a new niche and then met my wife went to Anaheim Convention Center which is in the wrong direction from my house.

It's an hour and a way halfway from where I live and spent eight hours watching volleyball.

My now 15 year old they did pretty good.

And so and then Sunday was Sunday and Monday was Monday and now Tuesday's the shows and I mean I'm just catching up and we still have a lot to do.

Maybe you do as well. I'll have some things to say about all of that this towards the end of the second hour be my last hour before Christmas.

But I do want to talk about something else want to talk about giving here and I'm just going to in a certain sense answer a question that's

occasionally asked and but it's relates to giving and this is my predicate to an appeal for standard reason so full disclosure here.

Sometimes I do get people asking me why is it or how is it how do I distribute my funds.

In terms of my donations are giving to Christian enterprises and whatever and then sometimes people say well I heard from my pastor you're not supposed to give outside of the local church because the local church is where it's all happening and when you give to other organizations that's not the local church.

And so it's not appropriate what about tithing and and simply put tithing is in is a mosaic law requirement for Jews which mosaic law is never applicable as such to Gentiles and that would be us many of us.

Nor to Jews now the New Testament principle is not tithing it's giving as the Lord is prospered and as you have determined in your own heart and to give cheerfully.

Okay so those are the things that God is after but the question is where do we do this and this is where when I answer this question I go to Galatians chapter six because there's a very important principle there and when you survey the New Testament they're actually two different

aspects of giving okay and here's the first one chapter six and verse six of Galatians now the one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him a simple concept.

And of course back then you didn't have 501c3 is religious nonprofits you have a lot of variety of expression about how the body of Christ at large is involved in serving each other and the local church is certainly a premier example.

And that's why in response to this verse the one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him there's taught Paul was talking there in Galatians about money so if you are taught or fed by your church which you are then that should be a principle place of giving your church renders a service to you.

Now it's not just a mechanical or fiduciary kind of arrangements financial it's a community relationship but the community relationship entails financial support if you are taught by the church they church survives financially because of the gifts and the free will offerings if you want to use those terms from the people who

they teach and that's as it should be and you can get 5% or 10% or 30% that's up to you in my view the scripture does not lay down a requirement okay in that regard it does require though that you give where you have received that's the pattern.

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