According To Your Deeds

Title: According to your deeds

Scripture portion Numbers 7

Key verse: verse Numbers 7:5 " to every man according to his service.”

January 7, 2023, Saturday, being my fasting day, I opened my Bible to read the portion that was marked for me to read in my journal, as I am meticulously reading the New Testament and Old Testament simultaneously every day. The portion marked was Numbers 7 - my spirits plummeted, (tough Book - I am smartly, stealthily avoiding the word boring), should I skip it, no...No...I could feel someone watching me....

Holy Spirit!

I obediently started reading it, (planning to read it fast and be done);however, I was arrested and captivated by the chapter that by the end of the chapter, I was tearing up.

If it is a pastor, missionary or servant of God, going through rough terrains, what I am about to write would directly speak to your heart. I write this sermon with wet eyes ...all choked up.

We as a family are ministering in India as missionaries, among the very downtrodden people of Telangana, where toddy and alcohol run like water. We run a free school for the poor, besides Church and other ministries. Everyday I have to deal with alcoholic fathers, children from broken homes etc. Yesterday, a drunk father came and created ruckus in my office. Now coming back to Numbers 7, I gave this information to let you know how exhausted and depleted I was while I opened this chapter.

I. (verses 1)” And it came to pass on the day that Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified them..” As you scroll down, verse 4 says:

1) Verse 4 Then the LORD spoke to Moses….

?When Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, the Lord spoke to Moses, you get to hear God only after completion of work. Are you listening? The closing scripture of this chapter is awesome, read with me: verse 89 Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him.”

The details that we read right from Leviticus to Numbers, requires patience and endurance to read it quietly and wait for God to speak to you. I certainly did not expect God to speak to me in this chapter; however, I am grateful to have heard from Him at a time I needed most.

The date which Moses accomplished this is recorded in Exodus –

“And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up.” Exodus 40:17

2) Amazing dedication!

The chiefs and princes brought their offering:

Verse 2 ‘Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their fathers' households, made an offering (they were the leaders of the tribes; they were the ones who were over the numbered men).’

? Leaders got to be an example.

3 they brought it before the Lord, at the end of verse 3 it says, “before the tabernacle.” They had taken lot of efforts to come to the tabernacle, for the presentation of their offering. Amazing dedication!

These words amazed me because we now live in an era, where believers think million times to even attend online, zoom services. Some prefer zoom so that they can skip offering. I have preached in zoom meetings where all the participants have their video closed, people join and leave as they like. I was preaching to black boxes, I wonder even if they're in the zoom. Utter chaos! I felt like logging out, I just had to calm down and preach. The heights of this comedy was that , the pastor who invited me also had his video closed. Ah, This chapter spoke of the past dedication of the people of God.

Look what they brought: “they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered carts and twelve oxen, a cart for every two of the leaders and an ox for each one, then they presented them before the tabernacle.”

Wow, this is huge , heavy stuff, you cannot put 12 oxen into a bag and carry it to Church, they had to be brought carefully, divinely in order to the tabernacle. I don’t know about you, but every word made huge impact on me because today people think 1000 times to do an online transfer of funds, because that requires registration of the name of the organization then they need to wait and do the transfer. The entire process may take ten to fifteen minutes which believers are not ready to spend. Google pay may be easy but for audit purpose, transferring of funds to the name of the ministry would be the right way. But many hesitate to do laborious work for the Lord, tell me the easy way is what they feel.