Ten years ago I was honored to be part of the team at New Hope Oahu, in Honolulu. My heroes were and are the Levites. This clip captures the heart of these awesome volunteers who bring the Old Testament to life every weekend at New Hope.

Scripture

They brought as their gifts before the LORD six covered carts and twelve oxen—an ox from each leader and a cart from every two. These they presented before the tabernacle. The LORD said to Moses, “Accept these from them, that they may be used in the work at the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the Levites as each man’s work requires.”

But Moses did not give any to the Kohathites, because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible. Numbers 7:2-5 & 9

Observation

It is beautiful to see how God can make ordinary work, extraordinary. In our society, furniture moving and cleaning are minimum wage stuff, but not with the Lord. He elevated luggage handling and chores to the sacredness of the priesthood.

In this passage, the Levites were provided with six moving vans. The account is back page news story. But in this simple story much is told.

1. The Levites were provided with the right equipment to do the job. When they used their expensive tools they then knew their work was valuable. Volunteers are valued not through rewards and incentives, but by giving them the best to get the job done well. If they know the job matters, they will know that they and their service matters to the Lord.

2. Some moving jobs had to be done by hand and not by machines because they were holy tasks and required heart as well as hands. The ark of the covenant was heavier than a piano. It took 12 men to lift it and carry it on their shoulders. It could never be carried on the back of a truck. It was too precious for wheels, it had to be hand-carried. Any practical task done for God’s glory is more than just a job, it is a holy work. The Levites mixed furniture moving with worship and prayer. For those with the gift of helps, working up a sweat it their way of worship.

3. The people who did not carry the load, nonetheless raised the money to buy the trucks to carry it so they would value what the Levites did for God. There must be a respect in the body of Christ for those who do practical tasks. It starts by being appreciative for a job well done, but it takes even more. There needs to be a respect for the heart of love that is poured into the job well done. It is not just grass mowed, but the love all over the lawn; it is not just chairs set up, but the prayer that covers them, etc. The people need to see the worship in the work.

Observation
The work of Levites is all but forgotten in contemporary church life. It is time to rediscover how the mundane can become supernatural when the chores of God’s house become mixed with love and devotion to God. Some, in the body of Christ, are designed by God to be as passionate in worship of him by mowing the lawn as are those who sing on a stage. I want to be one of those men.

Prayer
Father, restore to your church love in the labors of your people. Amen.

Note
For the past 4 months I have meditated, memorized and prayed Isaiah 35 for my coming ministry at Evergreen Community Church in Bothell, Washington on Seattle’s north side. Today Leslie and I will drive into Bothell to begin our lives there. Here is my meditation of the past 4 months.

Deserts are ugly and hurtful places that are rarely called “home”. The word “home” is used to describe places of verdant green and rushing blue streams. But it is God’s speciality to make the desert feel like home. How does he do it?

Step 1: Bring hope to life. There is nothing more important in changing a desert into a garden than hope. When looking for hope, don’t look for much. Remember that hope is always a little thing at first, like a crocus blossoming in a hostile place. That is hope. As Victor Frankl discovered in the concentration camp, those who survived had hope. Hope is small but powerful. Treasure crocuses or, more practically, celebrate any beautiful thing that survives an arid environment around it. That is God’s gift of hope.

Step 2: Refill strength by draining out fear. Feeble hands and knocking knees are always the result of fearful hearts. Humans have more strength to use than they know, but rarely use it because they are afraid. It is courage in one that can release strength from many. It does no good for God to restore a desert unless those who live in it are ready to make something of it. Those who have hope need to share it generously with those who do not. The result will be strength to work.

Step 3: Make the choice to be strong. Blind see, deaf hear, crippled dance, mute sing once they have made the choice to stop being afraid. The choice to be strong and to stop fear brings a miracle in every department. The world looks beautiful because suddenly we can see. The world sounds better because immediately we can hear. Even those with two left feet can dance and the tone deaf can sing because music is released inside of them. Vision is a powerful thing and it comes to those who are strong enough to receive it. With God beside us, strength is a choice as much as fear is a choice.

Step 4: Get ready for supernatural “suddenlies.” A flash flood gushing through the desert can do in a minute what a month of rain will never do. When people are prepared, God preforms suddenlies. In the Upper Room suddenly the sound of a mighty rushing wind came to those prepared. The Bible is full of sudden moments, like Joseph from prison to Pharoah’s palace, the Red Sea parted, Goliath dead and 5,000 fed. There is no limit to the surprises God has in store for those who are ready for suddenlies. Just remember that he won’t waste them on those who are not prepared for them.

Step 5: Make a safe road home. Winding in the middle of a desert turned into a showcase garden, is a homecoming road. This is the highway built by those who were once afraid but now are strong both because of their choice as well as God’s enabling. The road crew is made up of those who were blind, crippled, deaf and mute but who now can do amazing things in beautiful places. They must build a highway that leads to heaven. The local church must offer not just a way to find God, but a way for church to be done God’s way with God’s kind of people. Too many have been hurt in church life with rutted roads of selfishness. The church needs a High Way of holiness where there are no unclean leaders parading as whole or wicked fools strutting about as wise. There must be a safe way without wild animals. Instead, let there be a highway where lost people can come singing on their way home to heaven. This High Way makes the difference between heaven or hell for thousands. Let there be Main Street through the center of the local church choked with crowds of joyful and glad people on their way home.

Prayer,
Father, this is your story; at Evergreen Community Church, let this become our song. Today, we will, only by your grace, arrive in Bothell, Washington to begin our work. I ask that today, you would pour the blessings of Isaiah 35 into our church. Amen.

Scripture

The Lord confides with those who fear him and makes his covenant known to them. Psalm 25:14

Observation
God does not call me to get a job done. He gives me work to do with him so that we might come to know each other better and develop friendship. The relationship God is after is one where a whisper to a friend, a smirk or a flick of a finger is enough to bring a smile of understanding, a nod, a laugh.

Friends do not require many words to share secrets. There is so much shared history that less says more. I have a shared history with Jesus over the past 33 years of following him. One word is enough to flood my mind with memories. He need not say much to me to mean a lot.

A secret wants to be told. When a secret is mixed with friendship it wants to be told because it bonds the friendship closer. It gives some new experience of trust. This is not my desire of God first; this is his hope with me. The Lord shares secrets because he wants the warmth of a deepening friend.

The word “confide” is a word only used in trusted places. I checked up the Hebrew. It means the familiar conversation of intimacy. It is all quite staggering to consider that he whom the universe cannot contain seeks out a clay, clod like me just bursting to tell what he knows. The Lord is my best friend; we like to meet at Starbucks.

Application and Prayer
Father, how could I refuse a friend like you? Today I choose to listen. Let the works you have called me to do with you not get in the way of knowing you. In this season ahead, let our relationship together grow deeper and deeper. Amen.

Scripture
Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Acts 20:26-27

Observation
A preacher does not speak to entertain, though he should be entertaining. He should not be there to inform, though he is interesting. A preacher preaches to transform, so that the heart itself changes in the heart.

That is a very hard thing to do.

Partly because preaches have favorite topics to preach on. There is theology of a denomination, popular themes and favorite verses. A few square sf the matrix are covered, but not the whole grid.

But preaching does not change the heart because preacher do not always preach for change. They may get lost in the research of the background, or of the beautification of stories and illustrations. But a good preacher keeps his wool focus on one thing: changing all of the heart with all of the truth. Application is everything.

Application
As I go to not just speak at a new church, but to begin a decade and longer of steady preaching, I vow this day to preach the whole truth to the whole person. I will look beyond my notes, or the props or the powerpoint and look at the lives who absorb it. May their lives look differently. And may I be able at age 65 to walk away from Evergreen Community church and know that I spoke it all.

Prayer
Father, prepare me as a preacher so that my words can transform a congregation. Amen.