173. Wala ka sa Lolo ko. For him, offering to the Lord is from the heart.
27 June 2021
Offerings for the Tabernacle
Exodus 25
1 The Lord said to Moses,
2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.
3 These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze;
4 blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair;
5 ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood;
6 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;
7 and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.
Psalm 51
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Offering from everyone whose heart prompts to give.
Offering from the man after God's own heart.
After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do. Acts 13:22
Gifts for Building the Temple
1 Chronicles 29
1 Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God.
3 Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple.
6 Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly.
9 The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.
King David and the people of Israel gave offering or gifts to the Lord freely and wholeheartedly.
It is said, we can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.
We cannot love the Lord without giving from the heart, offering from whose heart prompts to give.
It's not the offering or the gift, it's the prompting of the heart that matters.
Giving to the Needy
Matthew 6
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
The heart of the problem is that the problem is the heart.
Jeremiah 17
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
David, after the Lord referred to him as the man after God's own heart, committed adultery and murder, he repented and the Lord's mercy was upon him.
Let's go back to Psalm 51:17 above. Psalm 51 is a psalm of David he uttered when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
David's offering for the Temple of the Lord is a consequence of the mercy the Lord had bestowed on him. God's mercy is God's goodness.
The human heart is deceitful and beyond cure (Jeremiah 9:17).
Yet nothing is impossible with God, the cure for our deceitful heart is God's mercy, that is God's goodness.
A contrite heart is the way to God's mercy, an offering or sacrifice the Lord will not despise (Psalm 51:17).
Mercy begets mercy. Mercy begets gratitude.
Material giving comes from a merciful heart, a heart of mercy is a heart of love. We cannot love without giving.
Our Dear Pastor Clem Guillermo put it, our giving is the barometer of God's blessing; our giving comes back with God's blessing.
My giving is between me and the Lord. Matthew 6:4
“Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35
""What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me? I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD. For you, LORD, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the LORD: "LORD, save me!" The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion" Psalm 116:12, 17, 8, 9, 3-5). Lord, the gratitude of heart is my offering, I praise You, in Jesus' name. Amen.
2 January 2018"
May you be blessed with God's Word.
Maraming salamat.
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