Category: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 35:4-9, 20-29

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“Then Moses said to the entire Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: Take up an offering among you for the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring this as the Lord’s offering. . .Then the entire Israelite community left Moses’s presence. Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments. . .So the Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts prompted them to bring something for all the work that the Lord, through Moses, had commanded to be done.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How is God’s work accomplished? The answer is in all kinds of ways, but there are two basic categories into which all of these different ways can be sorted. The first category is when God does His own work by Himself. Creation would be an example of this kind of work. No one helped Him with that. It was all God from start to finish. Salvation also falls into this category. The second category is when God does His work through us. This is a much larger category because it’s how God usually works. We see this kind of work happening as Moses finally calls the people to begin the actual construction of the tabernacle. Let’s explore what’s going on here.

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Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 29:18

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“Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s been a little while since I’ve gotten to do something like this. Part of the blame for that lies with my own schedule of late. The other part of the blame doesn’t fall on me, though. There just hasn’t been a whole lot from the other side that has furnished me the opportunity. The opportunity for what? Another media review! It’s fun Friday, and Marvel has finally released more content onto Disney+ for us to talk about. This time, appropriately enough given the season, it was all about witches. There were broomsticks and cauldrons and cats and spooky locations and more than a little of the occult. Let’s talk about Agatha All Along, Marvel’s first attempt to take a page out of Sony’s playbook and make a series in which the hero is a villain. And, fair warning, if you haven’t seen the series yet and plan to, don’t read on. I’m going to spoil all the big reveals as we go.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 35:1-3

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“Moses assembled the entire Israelite community and said to them, ‘These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do: For six days work is to be done, but on the seventh day you are to have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. Anyone who does work on it must be executed. Do not light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

If you listen to certain preachers long enough, you’ll start to hear the same points raised over and over again. There are a handful of ideas I have talked about with my own congregation in a certain way so many times that when I start talking about them, some of the folks in the room can finish my sentence for me. Everybody has something about which they are especially passionate. This passion will show itself through their words and actions. It will become the theme of their life. Everything they do, it seems, is filtered through the lens of whatever it is. Hopefully the passion is a good one, but whether it is or not, it is going to be definitional for them because that’s the nature of passion. As we get started on the home stretch of Exodus today, we are reminded yet again about one of God’s passions. Let’s talk yet again about the Sabbath.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 34:27-28

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“The Lord also said to Moses, ‘Write down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.’ Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Words matter. This is something we understand fairly well today. If something isn’t written down, there’s no sure record beyond our memory that it happened. When you make a big purchase like a home or a car, you have to sign a contract that likely runs into the thousands of words to guarantee you’ll pay for them or they’ll take them away from you. God’s covenant with Israel was recorded in words so that the people would remember it for sure. Let’s talk about why His word matters and what we see going on here.

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Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk 3:17-18

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“Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls, yet I will celebrate in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When you are the pastor of a church in a small town, you wind up getting to take part in a whole lot of the normal rhythms of the community. It’s really one of the things I enjoy most about serving in the kind of community where God has planted us. As an example of this delightful part of the job, this afternoon I get the privilege of giving a short devotion to a great group of students before they go to their activities for the evening. When doing this kind of thing, there are all kinds of approaches you can take. I decided on a little different approach than most guys will take. These kids live in a world that is beset by anxiety. Most of the fault of this lies at the feet of social media and a rapidly declining engagement with a genuine faith community. I’m not going to tell them to go to church. But I do aim to give them a little bit of hope in the midst of a world that is often dark and discouraging. As something a little different than our usual Friday fare, here’s what I’m going to say to them.

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