An OT Template for a NT Church Before I relate my comments on this post you must link over to Patrick Meads blog, www.patrickmead.blogspot.com and read his latest on "Shall We Plant." The church in Rochester is embracing culture and have determined to reach up, reach in, and reach out to their neighbors in some radical ways. Its an awsome read. Have your church leaders read it as well and challenge them to try some of these methods of reaching the lost and un-churched of your communities.
At DT where I attend, the focus for the month has been on giving. We are studying a book series entitled "Expect a Harvest" by Dr. Kregg Hood that encourages us to stretch in relation to our giving and allow God to prove that he can bless you beyond your wildest dreams. This theme brings me to the thoughts for this particular post. I was reading in Exodus about Moses and his communication with God and the instructions God gave him to implement for the Israelites as they began to construct the tabernacle.
"They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. (and we always tighten up when a baptist brother mentions that word) And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing work on the sanctuary left their work and said to Moses, "The people are bringing MORE THAN ENOUGH for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done."
Read on, it gets better.....
Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp; "No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary." And so the people were RESTRAINED from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work." Exodus 36:3-7
When was the last time an elder got up in your fellowship and said,"OK folks, this constant giving is gonna have to stop! There is nowhere else to store all that you have so freely given, and the craftsment can't even turn around without stepping on your gifts. This is your official Restraining Order on giving. What will it take for our churches to have an attitude of giving like these good Israelites did when the challenge was given them? What will motivate us to "sell our possessions and goods and give to anyone as he had need," as the first century christians did in Acts chapter 2? I would love for a brother to get up in the next few weeks and write these 4 words on a dry erase board..."No More Giving Necessary."
I believe that the key to a group giving in this manner is found in several verses in Exodus 35..."and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the Lord." Its a heart issue. Something tells me these people became a community of believers and giving then became second nature. It was a natural outpouring of the bond that was developing among them. It was a snowball effect in the Israelites case; so much that Moses had to put out a proclaimation for them to quit before someone gets hurt. I want to be a part of a community, so involved in outreach and sharing that one day my Lord may say to me,"You've done more than enough to do the work that I commanded."  ¶ 9:32 PM