Devotional Guide For the week of May 23, 2004

ETHICS WITHOUT MORALS

Generosity is witness

To Read: Judges 16-18

To Know:

“And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every able man in whose mind

the Lord had put ability, every one whose heart stirred him up to come

to do the work; and they received from Moses all the freewill offering

which the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning,.” (Exodus 36:2,3)

The Israelites loaded down Moses with wealth because they wanted to. In the previous chapter (Ex.35: 21) we learn that, “every one whose heart stirred him, and every one whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments.” Generosity is a witness to the fact that God has touched a person’s life.

Our witness to the world as a congregation of Christ is giving. We have sought to insure that giving to the work of the Lord in this place comes from a willing heart. We are a congregational church. As a

congregation we vote the approval of the budget. To enable us to vote intelligently we report periodically on what we have given compared to

what we need to give. At root, our aim is to insure that our giving comes from a willing heart. Free will giving is a testimony to the presence and power of our Lord.

To Answer:

Do I believe that one of the ways that the Lord has provided to defeat

doubt is the faithful reading of his word?

What has the Lord put on your heart to do in order to further his kingdom?