1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children
of Israel, that they bring me an offering:of every man that giveth it
willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
Acts 5 ... 1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles 'feet. 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
(Ananias wanted to appear to other men to give all to God ... but in his heart Ananias didn't want to give all to God. So he devised a plan where he thought he could look to be giving while holding back for himself also.)
5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost:and great fear came on all them that heard these things. 6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost:and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
(Comments by Joan Boney ... After I was born again, I was so grateful to God. Being born again was, and still is, the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. My gratitude caused me to want to give. I didn't feel I had to give. I wanted to give. And usually I ended up giving far more than I had planned to give. Gratitude to God overwhelmed me.)
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Exodus 25
3
And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver,
and brass, 4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and
goats 'hair, 5 And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers 'skins, and shittim
wood, 6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet
incense, 7 Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the
breastplate.
8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
(Today
... NT church ... we who are of God are the temple of the Holy Spirit
and God dwells in us.)
I Cor. 6 ... 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price:therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
... Jesus spoke of this NT church when
Jesus said the following to the Samaritan woman at the well.
Jn. 4
... 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water:Jesus saith unto
her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city
to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it
that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered
and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that
saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he
would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep:from whence then
hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob,
which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and
his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of
this water shall thirst again:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall
give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I
thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go,
call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I
have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no
husband:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is
not thy husband:in that saidst thou truly.
19 The woman saith unto him,
Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in
this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men
ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her,
Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye
know not what:we know what we worship:for salvation is of the Jews.
23
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth:for the Father seeketh such to
worship him. 24 God is a Spirit:and they that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman saith
unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ:when he is
come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak
unto thee am he.
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Exodus 25
9
According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle,
and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make
it.
10 And they shall make an ark of shittim
wood:two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a
half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 11
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou
overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. 12 And
thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four
corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two
rings in the other side of it.
13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim
wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 And thou shalt put the staves into
the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark:they shall not be taken
from it.
16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall
give thee.
17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold:two cubits
and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the
breadth thereof. 18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten
work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 And
make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other
end:even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends
thereof. 20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high,
covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one
to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark
thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
22 And there I will
meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat,
from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony,
of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children
of Israel.
Comments by Joan Boney ...We see from this how
specific God was in HIS directions and how HE expected what HE said to
be obeyed. In the NT church, we cannot lightly take the word of God.
There are many instructions to us in the New Testament for the NT
church. As we read these chapters, we must do such properly, heeding
what the apostles say for all these words in the New Testament were
given to the apostles by God and are the inspired word of God.
23
Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood:two cubits shall be the
length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half
the height thereof. 24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and
make thereto a crown of gold round about. 25 And thou shalt make unto it
a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden
crown to the border thereof round about. 26 And thou shalt make for it
four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on
the four feet thereof. 27 Over against the border shall the rings be for
places of the staves to bear the table.
28 And thou shalt make the
staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may
be borne with them. 29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and
spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover
withal:of pure gold shalt thou make them. 30 And thou shalt set upon the
table shewbread before me alway.
(For NT church ... everything should be done "with pure gold", with the Word of God, the Word given us by God is over everything we do.)
31
And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold:of beaten work shall the
candlestick be made:his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops,
and his flowers, shall be of the same. 32 And six branches shall come
out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one
side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:
33
Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one
branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a
knop and a flower:so in the six branches that come out of the
candlestick. 34 And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like
unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. 35 And there shall be a
knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of
the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the
six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. 36 Their knops and
their branches shall be of the same:all it shall be one beaten work of
pure gold.
37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof:and they shall
light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. 38
And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure
gold. 39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these
vessels. 40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was
shewed thee in the mount.