Life Community Church
Life Community Church
Day 12 | Dream Big Devotional | Shelly Williamson
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Good morning, church family. It is such a privilege to be on this spiritual journey with you. You know, we are a couple of weeks into this now. We actually only have a few days left of the three weeks of the spiritual journey commitment part that we're doing right now. But many of us have been praying together every day at 256. Um we have some of us have been able to come and join on Wednesdays and pray corporately together. You're watching this video, so a lot of us, you know, have been following the daily, the daily devotional videos. We have been participating in fasting and sacrificing something, you know, of our lives, of our schedule to set this time aside to focus on the Lord and what he would say to us. Um, many of us just participated in a community prayer walk this past Sunday, which was incredible. And then we're all really looking forward to the 24 hours of prayer that's coming up on Saturday. That's gonna be incredible. We really hope that you are able to join us at some point during that 24 hours and pray with us together. Um, but for today's devotional, we want to, we're going to be in Exodus chapter 25. And while you find your spot and go there, let me just give us a little frame of reference for where we're at in the storyline. You know, um the Bible, it's this beautiful narrative of God using imperfect people to fulfill his perfect plan. And at this point in Exodus 25, some of the things that have recently happened, you have a man named Moses that God has raised up to be a leader and to be a prophet, because that was how God spoke to the people back then, is that he spoke through a prophet. And so God was using this man, Moses, um, to speak to the people, and God had a special job for him. But so you have the Israelites, they've been enslaved in Egypt for a long time. God uses Moses to help free them from that slavery, lead them on a journey, on a quest toward the promised land. But in the middle, you have these years that they are wandering in the wilderness. And during that time, God is continually providing for them. He is protecting them, he's doing many miraculous signs and things that we see, and all of this is happening in this wilderness period. That's where we find ourselves in Exodus. In Exodus 19, actually, they arrive at the base of the mount of Mount Sinai. And at this point, Moses goes up on the mountain and he meets with God, he hears the word of the Lord. That's where God actually gives him the Ten Commandments as well as a lot of other instructions to come down and to share with the people. And then in Exodus 25, this is where the Lord begins the conversation about wanting them to construct a tabernacle where his presence can come and dwell among them. So far at this point, he has been showing them his presence through this pillar of cloud in the daytime and a pillar of fire at night. But God wants more. So he's wanting a place where he can dwell among them. That's where we find ourselves in Exodus 25. So let's start reading in verse one. Scripture says, The Lord said to Moses, Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, goat hair, ramskins dyed red, and another type of durable leather, acacia wood, olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breast piece. Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. So as we just read, God instructs Moses to tell the people to bring this offering, to bring him, to bring God an offering. Now, it's important for us to note this is not a tithe offering. That's not what God is communicating to Moses. We have already been presented the concept of a tithe, the idea of giving 10% of what God has provided. That has already been presented in scripture in the book of Genesis, and we see Abraham practice that, we see Jacob practice that. This is a different type of offering. This is a different situation that's going on here. Notice at the end of verse 2, God says through Moses, from everyone whose heart prompts them to give, or another translation says, from all whose hearts are moved to offer them or to offer this offering. So this offering, it's different. And although God does instruct Moses to tell the people to give it, what we find there at the end of verse 2, it tells us that it's not mandatory from everyone, because of that phrase to those whose hearts are moved to give it. So the way that I see this is that they, the Israelites, are being presented with an opportunity to give toward the construction of the tabernacle. And notice that God is very specific about what he wants the people to offer him. He gives this list, this list that we just read. It's a list of supplies. It's a list of tangible resources that are going to be used in the tabernacle. So he is giving the people a chance to be involved, to participate in the building of this structure, of investing their resources into the place where he wants to come and meet with them. Now we understand that we live on the after side of the cross and of the resurrection, the after side of Jesus coming to earth. And we know that on this side of the cross, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who comes and dwells in us. So we know that we're not in this situation where God needs us to give of our resources to build a literal building where his presence can come and dwell. But what we do find is that we are presented with a similar opportunity to invest of our resources in a great work that God is doing in our community. None of us can deny the reality that God is doing something incredibly special through in and through Life Community Church. You know, we continue to have people who are recognizing their need for a personal savior. We continue to have people who want to go public with their faith through water baptism. We continue to hear stories of people being filled with the Holy Spirit, of being healed, of words of prophecy being fulfilled, of people feeling compelled to share their faith story with others. The work that God is doing in your lives, in our lives, is part of what is drawing people to this place, obviously, along with the Holy Spirit. And so people are being drawn here because we have a hope. And there are people looking for hope, and they see that there is a hope in us and they want to find that hope. They're literally being drawn here to a place where we don't have space for them in our service. We don't have room in our kids' ministry for their children. We don't have literal parking spaces in our parking lot for their vehicles. We are being presented an opportunity. It is set before us to participate in something incredible that God is doing, to bring an offering, to invest in the future of what God desires to do. You know, the phrasing of verse two that we just read, from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. It reminds me of something that Paul said to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. He said to the Corinthians in verses 6 and 7, a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. Listen to this part. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And that is our prayer for each of you. That you would recognize the opportunity that is set before you to participate in what God is doing at Life Community Church. That we could take the words from Moses, you know, to whoever is prompted in their heart to give, that we could take these instructions from Paul, you know, to determine in your heart how much to give and to do it, to do it with a willing heart, not reluctantly and not in response to pressure. This is our prayer that if in fact you choose to give toward this guild this building campaign, that you would you would determine how much you would decide that, and that you would give with a heart that is willing and expecting that you would do so cheerfully. We believe that God is in this and that he is going to be glorified. We have a chance to partner with him to participate. But that choice is up to us. Let me pray with you. Father, thank you so much for the opportunity that you have given us to be a part of what you're doing through Life Community Church. God, I pray for each person that is listening to this video. God, that our hearts would be challenged by your word, that your spirit would speak to us about what it is that you would have us do. I pray that we would be able to hear what you're saying and that we would make a decision if we're going to participate in this, in this way, in giving toward this building campaign. I pray that if we choose to do that, we would do so cheerfully and we would do so expectantly, waiting to watch and participate and see what it is that you desire to do in our community. We can't wait to be part of it in Jesus' name. Amen.