COULD A MINISTRY GET MORE THAN ENOUGH RESOURCES?
1 “And Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding, to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, shall do according to all that the Lord has commanded.”
2 THEN MOSES CALLED BEZALEL AND AHOLIAB, AND EVERY GIFTED ARTISAN IN WHOSE HEART THE LORD HAD PUT WISDOM, EVERYONE WHOSE HEART WAS STIRRED, TO COME AND DO THE WORK.
3 And they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of making the sanctuary. SO THEY CONTINUED BRINGING TO HIM FREEWILL OFFERINGS EVERY MORNING.
4 Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing,
5 AND they spoke to Moses, saying, “THE PEOPLE BRING MUCH MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR THE SERVICE OF THE WORK WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED US TO DO.”
6 So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.” And the people were restrained from bringing,
7 FOR THE MATERIAL THEY HAD WAS SUFFICIENT FOR ALL THE WORK TO BE DONE—INDEED TOO MUCH."
Exodus 36:1-7 (NKJV)
Could a church or ministry get to the point of having more than enough resources for their works and projects? That is having more than enough of whatever is needed for the work being done.
We see a lot of churches or ministries struggling to get the needs of the ministry met, not to talk or mention having more than enough. Now, some ministries or churches that could not meet the basic needs of the ministry or church, How would they have more than enough?
It is lack of enough resources or what is needed that has made churches or ministries go into all manners of gimmicks in order to get money from the people—most say they are doing it in order to get their needs met. Some sell different articles and do all manners of things in order to get money for the work of ministry. But in the case of the tabernacle built in the wilderness they had more than enough.
In having more than enough in the ministry work, a number of things could be deduced from Moses' pattern of leadership:
I. Whatever project to be embarked upon should be commanded by God. Whatever is not commanded by God should not be embarked upon. God will not finance what He has not commanded. The tabernacle built in the wilderness was commanded by God:
8 AND LET THEM MAKE ME A SANCTUARY, THAT I MAY DWELL AMONG THEM. 9 ACCORDING TO ALL THAT I SHOW YOU, THAT IS, THE PATTERN OF THE TABERNACLE AND THE PATTERN OF ALL ITS FURNISHINGS, JUST SO YOU SHALL MAKE IT" (Exodus 25:8,9 NKJV).
II. The reason for the project should be God. One would notice that the conception to build the tabernacle was done in the presence of God—when Moses was with God in a communion or fellowship.
a. It was not a personal idea of Moses, It was God's idea.
b. It was neither what he copied from someone else as well.
c. He was not building the tabernacle to compete with another person or minister who had built one. You know, many build or embark on projects today for various funny reasons.
III. It also could be seen in the passage that everything to be done as regards the project was specified by God Himself, It was not fabricated by man, Moses (Exodus 25:9). The pattern and everything was given or specified by God Himself.
The above mentioned reasons and a number of others made the people, the congregation of the Israelites, buy into the vision and gave enthusiastically towards the project (Exodus 36:3,5).
A minister who embarked on a project because he or she wanted to outdo another minister would not receive God's backing on such a project—because It was done in the flesh. It was not commanded by God!
A number of ministers are doing that today. We see ministers building in order to compete with one another minister. They compare the bigness of their ministries with one another; I have a bigger auditorium than yours; I have more congregants than yours; and a number of things that should be unheard of. And the Scripture says those who do that are not wise: "FOR WE DARE NOT CLASS OURSELVES OR COMPARE OURSELVES WITH THOSE WHO COMMEND THEMSELVES. BUT THEY, MEASURING THEMSELVES BY THEMSELVES, AND COMPARING THEMSELVES AMONG THEMSELVES, ARE NOT WISE" (2 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV).
That is one of the reasons why such ministers use gimmicks to collect money from the people under their leadership. Some of the things, projects, embarked upon by such ministers are not commanded by God. They are being done to boost their egos.
Any minister doing that should know that they would one day stand before God to give account of their stewardship (1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10). People's lives are not meant to feed your ego or boost your ego. They are the people of God, sheep of His pasture (Psalm 95:7; 100:3), given or entrusted to you in order to care and nurture for Him, God (1 Peter 5:3). They are not for manipulations and exploitations.
In the construction of the tabernacle in the wilderness, the people brought their gifts or offerings willingly. They were not coerced or pressured into it. In fact, God said those whose hearts are willing and stirred are the people whom the offerings should be collected from: “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" (Exodus 25:2 NKJV).
"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."
Exodus 35:21 (NKJV)
We could see in the above passages of the Bible, no one was coerced into giving at all. Everyone who brought a gift or another did willingly, as they were stirred by God in their hearts.
All was done without any gimmick.
Peace.
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