Sermon Tone Analysis

July 23, 2021

Grace Place Givers - Hearts Stirred by God

The Punchline

Exodus 25: 1-9; 35: 4-9; 20-22; Exodus 36: 2-6; Nehemiah 4:6

Exodus 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.

20 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 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

How many of you ever told a great joke and forgot the punch line or a great story and forgot the moral or the main point of the story.

Go ahead and raise your hand and admit it.

Well, this lesson is about recovering from a time you've missed a punchline or a senior moment when you couldn't recall the point you were making when you told a story.

Before I get to the punchline of this message, I want to tell a joke and a story that on at least one occasion, I had a memory lapse and could not remember the punchline.

I totally missed it.

Here goes . . .

#1 - The young minister asking the seasoned pastor for pointer on conducting his first wedding.

When you can't remember something, just quote a verse of Scripture: Father forgive them for they know not what they do!

#2 - You've heard me tell this one before: Good bedside manner is important for pastors to exercise when making home visits to the sick and shut-in.

Well, one pastor was making an evening visit to one of the mother's homes whom he knew well.

As he sat near the bed in his visit and they were enjoying one another's company, the pastor got hungry and noticed some peanuts on her nightstand.

Being tempted, he reached over and grabbed a few; before you know it, he had eaten all of Mother Tate's peanuts.

He apologized profusely.

But Mother Tate calmed his anxiety quickly when she said: Son, no harm done.

I can't eat those peanuts anyway - I've got no teeth.

I just suck the chocolate of them and lay'em over there.

The morale: Don't touch what doesn't belong to you without asking for permission.

This morning, I must return to last week's message about our mortgage retirement because I for to share with you the very punchline that compelled me to minister on such a lesson from such a powerful passage of Scripture.

So, I'm returning to last week's message to add the punchline.

Allow me to highlight the main points we talked about last week.

The message focused on acknowledging the GP Family and Friends of GP for your obedience and consistency in generously 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.

This morning, our staff accountant confirmed that GP final mortgage payment has been signed, sealed and delivered and 4700 Mitchell Street is OURs - free and clear of all debt.

To God be the Glory . . .

for the things He had done.

Given all of this, I cited two passages in Exodus Chapters 25 & 35 that I always dreamed of seeing God's people experience in modern times.

Well, such a passage has become a REALITY for GP!

Our message was and remains entitled:

Grace Place Givers - Hearts Stirred by God

Follow along with me in Exodus Chapter 25.

Here, we see God sharing His plan with Moses for how He wanted the people to have an integral role in contributing to the building of His temple.

God tells Moses to receive from the people an offering that would be an "offering of materials 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 in enlisting the help of the people 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.

Not a church van, or a new gym, or a car for the pastor, or to jump start a new ministry.

Only God's House, the construction of God's Sanctuary.

The sanctuary or tabernacle was a tentlike structure which was to be God's dwelling place among His people.

Just before the onslaught of covid, GP members were challenged to give toward accelerating the payoff of our mortgage.

And the operative phrase was "give willingly and consistently".

Despite 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 free-will offering to the Lord that was to consist of materials for the building of the tabernacle (vv.

4-9).

Listen to some of the specifics of Moses' instructions as Moses speaks directly to the people; keep in mind that God first spoke to Moses in Chapter 25, and now Moses in chapter 35 is instructed by God to speak to the people:

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 "members" 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, you first heard and accepted the appeal.

Then, you acted.

In fact, I believe at the very outset of the appeal being made, our finance team saw evidence of your willingness to obey and contribute to God's work.

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?

Rather than decide, "Well, we're not in church, I'll just use my earnings for other things".

Not so!

You stepped up and made God's business a priority.

Despite the pandemic, God continued to bless His people, and the people of GP returned a generous portion of God's blessings and resources back to the business of God's House.

Next, we witness the Moment of TRUTH.

The Punchline.

In Chapter 36 we see the manifestation of what happens when the Lord stirs hearts and touches every willing spirit.