10 Weeks of prayer and giving for the new educational building
May 28 - July 30, 2023
Week of
Sunday, June 4
Theme:
From Every Man…
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the con-tribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it... and [the craftsmen] said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more. (Exodus 25:1-9; 36:5-7)
The people of Israel were in need of a place to worship, and God desired for them to have such a place—ordained and blessed by him. God instructed Moses to call upon his people for contributions with which to construct and furnish a tabernacle. God's call was not for the cheap and easy materials. He called upon his people to contribute from their very finest possessions: the most costly, beautiful, and enduring of materials. And God himself gave instructions for the construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings.
The people responded with overwhelming generosity. In fact, they gave so much material—valuable material—that Moses had to command everyone to stop giving!
May God give us such a spirit.
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Prayer
Our Heavenly Father, you made the world and everything in it. You are Lord of heaven and earth, and you do not live in temples made by man. And yet we see and thank you that from the earliest times, you have led your people to build places for worship and for teaching. We praise you for those who have gone before us who have given sacrificially from their treasures that we might worship you and be taught about you in places of beauty and effective functioning. We thank you that you have now called upon us to contribute to a new place that will be dedicated to you and to your purposes for present and future generations. We pray that our contributions and the spirit in which we make them will be pleasing to you.
We pray especially for exterior of the new building. We pray that its design and construction will be guided and blessed by you. And we pray that you would use the beauty of the exterior to point people to yourself and to attract them into your house.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
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