Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 35:20-35.  Let’s go!

Exodus 35:20-35 (NIV)
20  Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence,
21  and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.
22  All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD…..

On verses 1-35:  As we saw yesterday at THRIVE Church online looking at these verses, God’s house is built on the willingness of God’s people to give what they have.  God doesn’t always use the most talented, the most experienced, or the most qualified, but the most willing.  It all starts with the heart.

But willingness is not the only thing God looks for.  We see from Exodus 35 that God looks for people with skill to do the jobs necessary to build His house (v10), whether it’s the skilled women who spun the linen (v25), or the women skilled in spinning goat hair (v26), or Bezalel the chief artistic designer of the tabernacle (v31) or the craftsmen at his side (v35).  God uses excellent materials and the work of “master craftsmen and designers” (v35) to build His house.  May this encourage us to give our best to the Lord every time we serve Him, not giving Him the scraps, but giving Him our utmost.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 34:21-35.  Let’s go!

Exodus 34:21-24 (NIV)
21  “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
22  “Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
23  Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel.
24  I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God.

On verses 21-24:  Once again God reiterates His command to the Israelites to work 6 days and to rest on the 7th day, even during plowing season and harvest (v21).  He also reiterates His command that they celebrate the Feast of Weeks, giving God the firstfruits of their wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering (v22).  These two feasts, together with the Feast of the Passover, would mark three times when the Israelites were to appear before the LORD (v23).  There must have been some Israelites who thought “we don’t have time to rest or time to appear before God because we are too busy, especially during plowing season and harvest”, but nonetheless the LORD tells the Israelites to rest on the 7th day and to gather together 3 times before Him.  God wanted the Israelites to trust in Him rather than in themselves, to remember that the LORD is more important than their business of plowing and harvesting, and that the LORD in fact is the ultimate source of their success and prosperity.  God promised that as the Israelites gathered three times before the LORD, He would not just protect their land but enlarge it and drive out the nations before them (v24).

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 34:1-9.  Let’s go!

Exodus 34:1-4 (NIV)
1  The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
2  Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain.
3  No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”
4  So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.

On verses 1-4:  Moses had broken the first tablets containing the LORD’s writing, and so the LORD take the initiative to instruct Moses to bring to Him new tablets of stone for the LORD to write on again.  What can we learn from this?  First, God is in the business of taking what we have broken and making it new again.  He is a restorer.

Second, just as the LORD told Moses to appear privately before Him with two blank stone tablets for the LORD to write on, every day may we privately appear before the LORD with a blank slate, ready and waiting to hear from God and open to letting Him speak in whatever way He wants. While we have the privilege of coming to God with our cares and our burdens, just as often if not more often, we need to come to God without any agenda, except to simply be with God and to let Him speak into our lives and write into our hearts whatever He thinks we need.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 33:1-11.  Let’s go!

Exodus 33:1-6 (NIV)
1  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’
2  I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
3  Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
4  When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.
5  For the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.'”
6  So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.

On verses 1-6: In His mercy the LORD allowed the Israelites to proceed to the promised land even after they had broken His law by committing idolatry. In His anger the LORD proposed that He not join them on the rest of their journey lest the Israelites in their stubbornness sin again and compel Him to strike them down in His anger. Instead, the LORD would send His angel to go before them.  Yet the prospect of going forward without the LORD’s personal presence was a depressing and sad one for Moses and the Israelites. Even if they were to reach the promised land, what good would it be if they didn’t have the personal presence of God?

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 32:25-35.  Let’s go!

Exodus 32:25 (NIV)
25  Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.

On verse 25:   The great news of the gospel is that although our sins separated us from God’s presence (see Exodus 32:33), although God could easily have edited us out of His book, instead in love God sent Jesus Christ to receive all the punishment for our sins. By dying on the cross, Jesus paid for all our sins (past, present and future) and restored us to God’s presence.  That indeed is the best news ever.  But remember this: when we sin, especially in public ways, we still affect two types of people.

First, when we sin in public, we become a stumbling block to other believers.  Verse 25 says that because of Aaron and the Israelites’ sin, God’s people were “running wild” and “out of control” (v25).  Whenever we sin in public ways, we confuse other Christians, discourage their faith, and tempt them to sin in the same ways.   So let’s be careful.  Like Paul said to Timothy, let’s “set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).