TREASURES OF THE BIBLE, Week of May 22 to 28, 2023, "Jehovah can give you much more than that", Prepared Speech.

TREASURES OF THE BIBLE, 22-28-May-2023, "Jehovah can give you much more than that", Prepared Speech. 

“Jehovah Can Give You Much More Than That” (10 min.)

Many years ago, retiring in the same workplace was very common. 25 or 30 years of work in that place. But today, what many workers do is suffer in order not to lose their job. It is very, very rare that someone retires in the same place of work, because the person easily loses it by being replaced by another human being or by some machine.

That is the reason why now people study so much in one type of degree, then in another, in a master's degree and everything that comes on top to try to prepare themselves better and not lose their job. But still they are easily replaceable.

It is interesting that on jw.org the topic has just come up: “Artificial Intelligence. A blessing or a curse? What does the Bible say? A comment came from a famous newspaper in the United States and on May 1, 2023, it says: "It is already possible to use artificial intelligence to spread false information, it could soon end many jobs."

So if you felt insecure thinking that another human being could replace you in your job, here is a potential danger. It has already been said of many professions that they are going to disappear because of artificial intelligence, which is being used more and more. And here comes the question: What do we do to continue supporting ourselves? It is seen that the future is getting darker and more tense.

It is here that we will briefly review our section on Bible treasures with the theme: "Jehovah can give you much more than that." But here comes a situation that worries many parents. The organization has always suggested that young people prepare for a technical career with a short investment in studies, so that in addition to supporting themselves financially, they can also dedicate their lives to serving Jehovah and others.

But some say, "That's not going to be enough to survive." Well, why are they doing it? Is it not to serve Jehovah? and therefore he could reward or reward not little, but much more than he could give a career in this world, since no one is guaranteed his job. 

And we are not saying that Jehovah will miraculously support a family or a person. You have to work, but Jehovah also sees why we are doing it. What is our main interest in life? For this we are going to use the example of King Amaziah. When he began to rule the kingdom of Judah and Benjamin. He was quite young, he was 25 years old, and at that time there were many wars. And Amaziah in trying to face a war, he hired people to help him.

They were Israelites, but they were not part of this southern Kingdom. Let us remember that after Solomon the northern kingdom was divided into two, what was called Israel and Judah. If we look at 2 Chronicles 25:5,6, how did this situation develop?

WE ARE GOING TO READ 2 CHRONICLES 25:5,6.

And Amaziah gathered the men of Judah and arranged them according to their fathers' houses, according to the heads of a thousand and the heads of a hundred throughout all Judah and Benjamin. in the army, who knew how to use the spear and the large shield. 6 Furthermore, he hired 100,000 mighty warriors from Israel for 100 talents of silver.

Good. there was a war to face. They had 300,000 warriors in two tribes How Judah and Benjamin, which were the ones that made up the kingdom of Judah. But he saw that he needed it. He hired 100,000 powerful warriors, but they were not from Judah, but from Israel, from the other kingdom. That was dangerous. He was hiring enemies, people who were not properly worshiping Jehovah. And of course, for a fee.

Seeing this, Jehovah decided to send a visionary man to talk to the king and clarify some points and tell him what to do. If we continue reading now verses 7 and 8 of the same 2 Chronicles Chapter 25, he says like this: 

WE ARE GOING TO READ 2 CHRONICLES 25:7,8.

But a man of the true God came and said to him: “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for Jehovah is not with Israel,He is not with any of the Ephraimites. 8 Go alone, he acts and be brave in battle. Because if you don't, the true God can make you fall before the enemy, for God has power to help and to make you fall.

The king accepted the advice and dismissed these 100,000 men. Regarding this issue, the insight book indicates that what he was paid was 100 talents of silver, which according to what the insight said is that at that time, it was equivalent to $660,600. What he was paying for protection was enormous.

However, this man told him, Jehovah can help you, and if you do not obey, Jehovah can also make you fall. Happily Amaziah accepted the advice and dismissed all of them. Of course, they did not leave happy. They really felt very upset, to the point that when they were returning, they began to destroy everything in their path. And it is that these men were not interested in the peace of Judah. What interested them was money. 

This makes us think a little about the type of employment we can have. It's true. We have prepared ourselves in some way to be in the job we are in, but does that give us the security that with our preparation, it is enough to stay in it for the rest of our lives and support our family or ourselves, without any complications? ? Or perhaps the companies or the boss are only interested in money and we are simply an object to get it and that when it does not fulfill its purpose, it simply goes to dismissal and another will replace it. It is very possible that this will happen.

That is the reason why many of the young Christians today think so highly of it. What are you preparing for in life? To serve Jehovah or to serve a person who will fire you at some point? Going back to Amaziah's point, he was worried that if he obeyed God's law, he would lose a lot of money. In 2 Chronicles 25:9,10 he says: 

WE ARE GOING TO READ 2 CHRONICLES 25:9,10.

At that, Amaziah said to the man of the true God: “But what about the 100 talents that I have given to the soldiers of Israel?” The man of the true God replied: “Jehovah can give you much more than that.” 10 So Amaziah dismissed the soldiers who had come from Ephraim and sent them to his house. However, they became very angry with Judah and returned home very angry.

It was logical. Amazías worried about his investment and what he was going to lose. But what words did this man say to him: "Jehovah can give you much more than that." These words are related today to what Malachi 3:10 mentions, in a portion it says in the text. Please put me to the test in this, says Jehovah of hosts, and you will see that I open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out blessings on you until you lack nothing. 

In the drawing that we have in our activity guide, we can see how this is fulfilled in a young Christian or in any Christian of any age who sacrifices part of his apparently normal life to serve Jehovah. At the top, a young man can decide whether to associate with experienced brothers, if he can serve on construction sites or teach from house to house in places where such help is needed, doing so will mean that Jehovah will open the gate of heaven and bless in everything that person needs, because he puts the Kingdom first. And in the other option is to study for many years, use his life to learn things that, in the long run, when he finishes learning them, they will no longer have served because they will have been outdated,

Each of us knows what corresponds to him according to our actions. but let it be very clear, if we make sacrifices for Jehovah, he will be able to reward us, because Jehovah can give you much more than what you leave.