Grace Place Givers - Hearts Stirred By God: A Mortgage Pre-Retirement Message (Part 1) - 07/25/2021

July 25, 2021 Grace Place Givers - Hearts Stirred by God Exodus 25: 35: 4-9; 1-22; Exodus 25: 1-9; Nehemiah 4:6 25: 1, 2 & 8 25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Exodus 35: 4-9; 20-22 4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying: 5 'Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats' hair; 7 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; 8 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 9 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the Lord. Nehemiah 4:6 So, we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. GM GP This morning, I want to pause our current series on the Lord's Prayer where we have been focusing on the topic of "Forgiveness" and take a timeout to do a preliminary acknowledgement of the GP Family and Friends of GP for your obedience and consistency in giving of your tithes, offerings and special contributions. You have given to the extent that as of Friday afternoon, July 23rd our final payment was submitted to the bank to the tune of retiring our church mortgage. GP is now mortgage free and free of all financial debt. Today is a time of celebration and rejoicing! We pause to give God the Glory . . . for the things He had done. But what does this mean for GP? In short, it means we are now positioned to do greater works of ministry within GP and outside and around the wider GP community. Given all of this, I want to [briefly] draw your attention to a few passages of Scripture I first read 30 or 40 years ago and wondered if the same amazing experience cited in Exodus could occur with churches today. Well, even as we speak, such a passage has become a REALITY for GP! I've entitle today's message: Grace Place Givers - Hearts Stirred by God Turn with me to Exodus Chapter 25. Here, we see Moses being told by God to receive from the people an offering of the materials that would be an "offering of materials that would be needed in creating the tabernacle or sanctuary". Listen to Exodus 25: 1, 2 & 8, it says: 25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Moses' obedience to God is the start of something great and miraculous. He speaks to the people to bring an offering. The operative phrase in the request is "everyone who gives it willingly with his heart". The giving was all about God's sanctuary, nothing else. The sanctuary or tabernacle was a tentlike structure which was to be God's dwelling place among His people. Each part of the tabernacle teaches us spiritual lessons concerning the person and work of Christ and the way of approach to God. Just before the onslaught of covid, the members of GP were challenged to give toward accelerating the payoff of our mortgage. And the operative phrase was "give willingly and consistently". In spite of the Pandemic, thank you GP for obediently responding to the voice of God. Now, turn to Exodus 35: 4-9; 20-22 Here, we see Moses giving instructions directly to the people for a freewill offering to the Lord that was to consist of materials for the building of the tabernacle (vv. 4-9). Listen to the specifics of Moses' instructions: Exodus 35: beginning at verse 4 . . . 4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying: 5 'Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats' hair; 7 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; 8 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 9 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. Moses was told to receive an offering from the people, but only those who were of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord. 2 Corinthians 8:12 says: For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. Grace Place members and friends first of all heard and accepted the appeal. I believe we saw the willingness of hearts on the very Sunday the appeal was pitched. In verses 20 - 22 . . . We witness the response of willing givers. 20 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord's offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the Lord. After hearing the appeal, everyone dispersed. Then, the test of the matter came to surface. A divine stirring erupted in the hearts of the people - those whose spirit were willing to give. Those who were willingly responded generously. Now, where did they get all material for the offering? It came from the treasures they had brought from Egypt (vv. 21-29). The precious metals, fine fabrics, skins, oil, spices, and precious stones were no doubt the payment the Israelites received from the Egyptians when they left Egypt. They had worked for these things as slaves, now as a free people they were giving it back to God sacrificially. Those who had given gold for the calf lost it all. Those who invested in the tabernacle had the joy of seeing their wealth used for the glory of God. GP members and friends gave consistently and generously. Where did ours come from: The Lord and the design of pandemic? Today, GP, you are appreciated and thanked to high heaven for your obedient response to very noble charge. Thanks for accepting the challenge. So, what's next: • Want to finish this month, and the balance of Summer months off strong financially. • Breathe and rejoice • Anticipate a Post Pandemic Celebration: Mortgage burning, food, festivities, and fellowship • Prepare to do ministry in areas that mortgage-free money will now allow: o Modernization Campaign - Improving GP Campus o Technology and Audio-Visual Enhancements o Paid Youth Director o Wooded Property Development o Friends of GP Non-Profit- Outreach - Afterschool Care, Summer Programming and other community programming o And more. THANK You GP . . . . More to come 1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 Then everyone came whose heart [b]was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord's offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 1 1