This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to week 8 of our study of the book of Exodus. That means
our last week of studying the book of Exodus together, day 1, chapter 36 to 40
we'll be doing this week, ending this study of this awesome book about how God
sets us free. In fact, this week in the five days as we walk through what's in
these chapters, I also want to walk through each day what's in the book, walk
through these principles of freedom that we've learned for a couple of reasons.

One, to remind us again of them, to solidify them in our hearts and in our
minds, just to in a strong way give a new assurance to what God's been doing in
your life as we've been studying this book together. But also, we want to take a
look at what these principles are so that you and I can continue to live them
out in our lives, thinking through continually. Jesus said, "You shall know the
truth.

The truth shall set you free. " What does that mean in my life? How does that
work in my life?

How can I live that out in my life? Now as we walk through looking at these
principles, we look all the way back to the first principle today that we
learned about freedom, all the way back in Exodus chapter 1 and 2. And that is,
in order for freedom to happen, someone has to trust God.

And in Moses' case, it began with his parents trusting God, taking the risk to
trust God. In my life, in your life, if we're going to be set free, someone has
to trust God. And for all of us, there's someone else in our lives, whether we
knew it or not, who has been praying for us, who prayed for us, who trusted God
on our behalf.

And we trust God in our own lives on our own behalf, but then there's another
step to it. And as God's been setting you free, as we walk through the book of
Exodus, maybe this is the step you need to take, especially this last week. And
that is beginning to think about, now how can I pass this on?

Who is there in my life that I can trust God to be at work in their life, trust
God to set them free? Even though they're struggling and they look like they
never feel like they'll be set free, they'll never come to faith in Christ, or
if they're a believer, they'll never get past that barrier in their life that
keeps them from growing, whether it be a habit or something in their past, you
trust God for them. Because one of the principles of freedom is someone has to
trust God.

So who can you trust that God would be working in their lives, that God would be
making a difference in their lives? Now, with that in mind, that principle of
freedom we've learned throughout the book of Exodus, we're going to jump into
Exodus chapter 36. These chapters are about what they made and also what God did
in their lives.

And in this chapter, we see that they made curtains and clasps and a tent and a
frame, all the things that were a part of the tabernacle, the building or the
structure part of it, they made in this chapter. And towards the end of the
chapter, we see what they made. It's at the beginning of the chapter we see
where the offering came from, out of which they made all of these things.

They couldn't have made it, except that the offering had been made. And it's
very interesting the way this offering is expressed in chapters 36 verses 1 to
7. Listen to how they gave.

Last week we talked about an offering that they gave. This week we learned that
as they gave, they not only gave enough, they gave more than enough. Listen to
what happens, verses 1 to 7.

"So Bezalel, Oliab, and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given skill
and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary
are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded. And then Moses summoned
Bezalel and Oliab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability
and who was willing to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the
offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the
sanctuary.

And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So
all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left
their work and said to Moses, 'The people are bringing more than enough for
doing the work the Lord has commanded to be done. ' Then Moses gave an order and
they sent this word throughout the camp, 'No man or woman is to make anything
else as an offering for the sanctuary.

' And so the people were restrained from bringing more because what they had was
already more than enough to do all of the work. What a great story of an
offering, how an offering was given. They had to be restrained from giving
because they were bringing the gold and the silver and all that was needed and
it was so much that the workers couldn't handle it all.

It was becoming too much work to handle the offering. They didn't have time to
do the work of building the sanctuary. And so they were prevented from giving an
offering.

Why? Because they'd already given more than enough. Now I think all of us in our
hearts, that's what we want for God's church.

That's what we want for God's people, for more than enough to come in so that
the work of God can go forth in this world in a way that transforms people's
lives. It's not that we brag that there's more than enough. It's that whatever
God brings in is used to bring glory to him as we serve in his name.

Now as I read these verses, the question I have is what does it take? What does
it take to give more than enough? What does it take for a church to give more
than enough?

Yes, but we're talking about ourselves today. What does it take for me? What
does it take for you to give more than enough?

Well as you read these verses, it's very simple in seeing what they gave for us
to bring out of that how you and I can be these more than enough, sacrificial,
abundant kind of givers. As you read in the scripture, the Bible says that they
gave a free will offering and they brought it morning by morning. Those are the
two things it takes to give more than enough.

A free will offering given morning by morning. A free will offering you give
willingly. And given morning by morning, you give daily.

You give habitually. That's how you give more than enough. First it has to be a
free will offering.

You have to give willingly. Giving is a matter of the will. It is a decision.

If it's forced upon you, it's not really giving, it's fulfilling what somebody
else has told you to do. And you may even do that willingly, but it's not a free
will offering unless it comes out of your heart. The only way to give more than
enough is if you're giving out of your heart.

It's got to be your decision. It's got to be your choice because the kind of
giving that's more than enough is an expression of love. That's the only way to
give more than enough is for it to be an expression of your love.

That's why you see so many parents who give more than enough to their kids who
are willing to give anything and everything because they're expressing their
love for their children. It's an expression of love. God gave to us as an
expression of his love and we give to others as an expression of love.

If it's an expression of I should or I ought to, I'm never going to give more
than enough. I might give, but I'm never going to give more than enough. If it's
an expression of guilt because somebody gave to me so I should give back or what
are people going to think of me if I don't give?

I might give, but I'm never going to give more than enough. The only way for it
to be more than enough is to give willingly as an expression of love. You give
willingly, but there's more to it than that.

They also brought the offerings morning by morning. I don't believe in my own
life, and as I looked at hundreds, thousands of other people who are learning
what it means to give, that we do this more than enough kind of giving just once
in our lifetime. You can't give more than enough in just one offering.

It has to be a habit of your life. They gave morning by morning. If you want to
give more than enough, if you want to give more than you thought you ever could,
the way to do it is by giving habitually, by making it a part of your life.

That's the habit of tithing. When God says give 10% to me and do it when you
come to the church on a weekend, when you come on the first day of the week, you
give together, that's the habit of giving. In that habit, you find yourself
giving more than you possibly thought you could otherwise.

Those who think that my giving is going to be just one great moment of giving to
God, they're never going to give more than enough. It's the people who decide,
I'm going to make it a habit of my life. I'm going to make it a habit of my day.

That's how you give more than enough. So what does this mean for you? How are
you giving to the Lord right now?

And how can you be this more than enough kind of giver so that God's work can go
on in a amazing way? So that the same kind of thing that happened here could
happen to God's church today. That we would have this sense of, oh, it's almost
too much.

Lord, as we pray together today, speak to our hearts. Help us to be the kind of
people who give out of a willingness. Not because someone else has told us to or
we feel some guilt.

Lord, we want to give. We want to give motivated by love. So let the motivation
be right.

And Lord, let also the habit be right. Help us to build giving into our lives.
Help us to see how that can happen, whether it means beginning to tithe, whether
it means figuring out how I can begin to give an offering to something that's
happening in my church and my community.

Lord, help me to see how I can do that. Lord, giving more than enough doesn't
mean giving more than someone else. So help me never to compare my giving to
someone else's giving.

But instead of that, help me to see that out of whatever you've given me, I have
the opportunity to give back to you. And as I do that, you transform not only
the lives of those who are touched by my giving, but you transform my heart. You
make me less selfish.

And that's what I want to be. You make me more focused on the world around me.
That's what I want to be, Jesus.

So I ask for this in your name, amen. Tomorrow we get to focus together on the
Ark of the Covenant.