[00:00:00] Nas, what this book is about, if you didn't know, this is the Bible Bowl.
[00:00:27] What is this book about?
[00:00:30] Salvation, redemption, God, man, heaven, death.
[00:00:38] I mean, it's an endless list, really, of things because you can make it about just about anything you want. And many people have done that to the detriment of the text and its message.
[00:00:52] But I want to talk to you today about what I see here in really two main important things.
[00:01:02] Number one is the concept of building.
[00:01:08] It is a story of building. Now, just consider this in the beginning, literally, bereshit. In the beginning, God created. The book opens. The story begins with God building a world when that world has gone to pot. By chapter six, he says to Noah, Noah, construct for yourself an ark of Gopher Wood. Noah, build a boat.
[00:01:37] And then this guy comes along. Not long after, the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your land, and I will make you into a great nation.
[00:01:48] Build you into. We're in Genesis. We're in Genesis twelve. God's already built a world. Noah's already built a boat. And now Abraham is building a people that people unfortunately find themselves in Egypt, where they're doing what?
[00:02:05] Building bricks and pyramids. But thank God, out of that, God redeems them. And in Exodus, in 13 chapters, actually, the story is told twice. What is the major construction project in the Bible? The tabernacle is built in Exodus, right? The tent, the altar, the priestly garments. It's a comprehensive guide to building the sacred space.
[00:02:35] And we're not done yet. We're just getting started. Leviticus comes along and we build a system of worship. We build a calendar. God builds a calendar of celebratory events and gatherings in Bamidbar, in the wilderness. And numbers. You might not right away see the building, but God is building the people in the wilderness. He's building up their faith through Nisayon testing, building their faith that he is the God that they will rely on. Deuteronomy. Finally, we come into. Here are the instructions to go into the land. And do what? Build it up. This is how you take care of the land. And we're still not done. David comes along and builds the kingdom of Israel. He has to fight some battles. He has to rule, but he builds a kingdom. Then his son comes along and builds the tabernacle. And then who comes along? The prophets. They come and say, guess what? You messed that up. Here's what you need to do. You need to go back to Jerusalem, back to Israel, and rebuild.
[00:03:41] You need to rebuild, return and build the land. Yeshua comes along. We're still building the kingdom. Tekun Alam. We are repairing this world. We're building a better one. And we're looking forward with expectation to the ultimate Building project, which is how the book ends, with what is figuratively known as the New Jerusalem, told in all of revelation's apocalyptic language and glory. But we have this perfect project of a perfected world that God built. That's how the story starts. That's how the story ends, building.
[00:04:28] But why?
[00:04:31] What's the purpose behind the building? I mean, you need to have an aim, right? You need to have a vision, an end goal. Is there some connected theme in this story of building? Well, of course there is. There's the building, the physical thing, the structure, the system, the framework, the plan, all of it is built with one singular aim. And it is the second main component of what we read in this book. It is relationship, it is people.
[00:05:03] God was not bored and like a 13 year old who went and bought a model airplane kit, decided he'd make the world one day because he wanted something to do. God built the world, to a large degree, for us, for people. We are co creators. It's a Jewish idea. Contrary to many, many worship songs that you may have heard in your life, we were not created solely to worship God.
[00:05:33] That is a part of what the biblical narrative explains to us. But we were created by God to take what he started and build it into something beautiful and perfect.
[00:05:47] It was a relationship that we would have.
[00:05:52] Buildings are about people and God, he likes people. It's about people. It was not about the fruit trees or even the glorious stars in the heavens. Noah's boat was not about how many animals he could fit in or how he could say, look at the size of this gopher wood.
[00:06:11] I mean, even the tabernacle itself was not really about the beauty of the structure. What was it? It was about the people and the meeting place of God that would be constructed.
[00:06:25] It's about the people.
[00:06:28] Building is about people, and people are about relationship.
[00:06:32] So what we know is that the book is about building and relationships. But there's one other sort of word that you have to attach to that mission, purpose, calling whatever choice you'd like to use. But when God asks you to build something, it's for a purpose. That purpose normally has to do with the betterment of the world or the people in the world. And I hope that all of us have been a part of that at some point in our lives where God tasked you with something, or you felt a calling to do something, and you went and did it. And because of that thing, someone, some place, some thing was made better, and you got to see the reward of your effort and building.
[00:07:12] But without a doubt, to build something of worth for the world and the people, it takes a lot of work.
[00:07:20] It does. It takes work, sacrifice, discipline, generosity. It requires, among many things, willingness.
[00:07:30] Willingness to take on the calling or the mission and to put yourself second and do things that are for the betterment of others. Each of those biblical characters that I showed you in the first part, they had to be willing to take on that task, and they had to be willing to expend resources to do this thing that needed to be done.
[00:07:52] Willingness and resources. And hence, there for much of the world, we're going to run into a problem with this idea with both of these things, willingness and resources. Because for many, maybe most people, they're not wired to build.
[00:08:12] They're not wired for creating or contributing. And I, believe me, have thought so much about this in a career of ministry that's now spanning decades, God calls us to create, to contribute to all kinds of things. But what I find is that in our world, more than ever before, we move to a mindset of takers, not givers, consumers, not creators, bystanders, not builders.
[00:08:46] And that's not what this book is about.
[00:08:52] And I want to give you an example of consumer versus creator.
[00:08:58] That's not a new sociological occurrence. Many people, contrary to the clear, explicit instruction in Acts 20 that it's better to give than receive, many people just. That's not a part of their lives.
[00:09:13] But I want to switch gears to sort of a modern example to illustrate something to you. Many of you in this room will remember these words. You've got mail, and I'm not talking about the Tom Hanks movie. I'm talking about America online. The Internet was birthed in the late 80s, came into popularity and widestream usage in the early 90s. Prodigy. And then you had America online, sort of the first mainstream. Everybody's using this thing called the Internet. That's sort of where it all started. I'm not a computer guy. There are many of them in here. Steve Blake, don't diss me on my Internet computer knowledge. I'm saying it was generally starting there. What started there? What started there? That's the question. Well, a whole new level of consumer versus creator started right there with the Internet.
[00:10:13] And I want to explain that to you very, very briefly.
[00:10:18] Anything you want to know is right there, and a lot of things you don't want to know. Amen who remembers this sound?
[00:10:35] Shalup modem.
[00:10:47] Which took us then into something called eCommerce. Because anything that you build that's good, you got to sell it, right? Ecommerce led to high speed modems, and now we have fiber optic modems, high speed Internet, buy more, no more, faster. Then we went to social media, then we went to smartphones, then cloud computing, and now we have this thing called the Internet of Things, where you actually wear the Internet as a watch and all kinds of Things. And now, of course, AI, the evolution of the Internet is astounding.
[00:11:31] What has happened?
[00:11:34] But here's something that you haven't thought about that happened. Knowledge, in essence, became free.
[00:11:43] Not only knowledge, the work of people's lives became a commodity requiring no contribution from anyone who wanted to use it.
[00:11:57] Does anyone remember a site called Napster?
[00:12:02] Napster in the late 90s, you remember it? It was a. It was a file sharing site. You could do this thing, you could, in essence, steal every piece of music ever recorded.
[00:12:15] Now think about this for a second.
[00:12:18] Someone invested their lives in learning to play an instrument, to write music, to play or sing, to rehearse, to record, to tour for that music, to distribute that music, to learn, to get signed, to go through all the rigmarole of that. What they created, they built it.
[00:12:42] And then if someone would just upload it, you could steal it for free with no acknowledgement of their work. Now listen, that was eventually shut down. Napster was sued and shut down, but it actually led to what we have now, which is called Apple Music and spotify. I'm a fan. Listen, I love it. Apple Music is the greatest thing in the world.
[00:13:04] But we used to, if you wanted to hear a song, you know what you had to do. You either listened to it on the radio or you got in your car, drove to the store, rifled through the CDs, hoping they had your CD, bought it, or cassette tape, album records, eight tracks. I was alive for those, too, trying to make it more relevant, CDs.
[00:13:26] Then you finally went up and you paid somebody to buy the CD, you unwrapped it, you put it in your car player, maybe you had a CD player that plugged into the lighter and then you finally listened to it. But my goodness, we could never do that. That requires way too much effort, right? So now you take it on your phone and you play it anywhere, right? Now, I could, from here, put this into that Bluetooth speaker and we could listen to anything we want.
[00:13:58] But I want you to just think about our world. How much do we consume without giving anything for it.
[00:14:09] Seriously. It's not a slam, it's an awareness fact. We have become, more than ever before, a culture of consumption without compensation. Google Chat, GPT YouTube Podcast.
[00:14:25] You can consume unlimited amounts of knowledge and never acknowledge one atom of the person who made it possible for you to do that.
[00:14:35] How many of you listen to podcasts?
[00:14:39] How many of you watch videos on YouTube? How many of you use Google to search for things that will make your life better or teach you how to plan your trip or buy an airplane ticket? Everybody does it.
[00:14:55] Now let me ask you this.
[00:14:57] Of your favorite podcasts, the ones that you love, that you share, and you love them. How many of those podcasts do you support financially?
[00:15:13] YouTube.
[00:15:14] When you watch a YouTube video on how to replace the fuse in your freezer or put your brakes in because someone took the time to film that and they say, hey, do me a favor, click the like button. It helps us get more content out and help other people. How many of you do that?
[00:15:35] A millisecond? Literally.
[00:15:39] Most people don't do that. And believe me, most people do not support financially. Podcasts. Let me tell you something.
[00:15:49] I use this as an example because it's so easy having been a part of recording podcasts for first Fruits of Zion, what we do at Shalom Macon, writing, teaching, presenting, all of it. You have absolutely no idea what goes into it.
[00:16:04] It's not just, hey, you know what? I'm doing a podcast today. There's a whole team of people that are writing and putting all this stuff together and producing it and making it available and marketing it and doing all of this stuff that make it possible. And I'm not suggesting that you should be financially supporting every podcast you ever listen to.
[00:16:25] But I would say where you ascribe value to things, you should consider what's behind it. That's reasonable, right? Yes, but are we even aware of that? Probably not.
[00:16:43] I want to give a real example, and I say this a lot, but I'd like permission to talk to you for just a little while today. I want to give this real example in 2015. I've told this story before. I'll tell it again because it's a fantastic real life application. 2015, before Shalom Makin was Shalom Makin, it was Nahamu Ami, messianic synagogue. We had a Shabbat newsletter. We did every week, bulletin, the Bulletin. I found a piece of artwork online, some beautiful Shabbat candles. I said, I'm going to use that. How many of you find a picture or image you like? Online, copy, paste, download, without ever thinking about the fact that someone used their talents and skills and designed that and uploaded it and is using it. And we go in screen pit. Here's my image. How many do it? Everybody does it. And I was about to do it, and for some reason, God said, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. He didn't literally say that, but I felt it. So I said, gosh, you know what? I'll reach out. I'm going to reach out to this guy and ask why. I don't know. I just. Did you know who that guy was?
[00:17:57] His name was Darren Huckey.
[00:18:01] And he was sort of surprised that I actually took the time. And so was I. I don't think we ever actually paid Darren Huckey for that artwork. Oh, no, we did. We paid him $25.
[00:18:16] But that's not the story.
[00:18:18] The story is because in that particular case, when, for whatever random reason, I decided to reach out and think about someone's work that went into it, he and his family came down, visited, taught, moved here.
[00:18:34] And I bet you almost every person in this room and many, many of you online have been touched by their lives and the work that they do here.
[00:18:45] It's a simple little thing of acknowledging something like that, right?
[00:18:52] So the Bible is a book about building, and it's about investing in people, and it's about giving value in some ways.
[00:19:03] I'll remind you, I've shown that we've wandered far from that in the Internet and knowledge as one example. But I started you off saying the Bible is this building and building book.
[00:19:17] And now we know. People consume with a voracious appetite with little acknowledgment. In real ways, a consumer versus contributor culture is the dominant model. All right, now hold that thought. Stay with me. Hold that thought of what I just told you.
[00:19:36] In July of this year, I took a sabbatical from Shalom Macon. And you know what that means, right, Kelly? And mean, as soon as I went on sabbatical, we jumped on an airplane and we gallivanted all around the world, drinking wine, fine dining. I mean, it was absolutely unbelievable. Beach bumming, doing absolutely nothing for a month while you people sat here in your miserable lives and worked.
[00:20:16] It was like beer and bon bonds, man.
[00:20:20] We were not in period O, period T, period not. That's not what we did.
[00:20:32] I'll tell you what we did. What I did. I took a sabbatical to prepare, to visioner, to talk, to plan, to pray about this place and our place in the world, our mission. What has God asked us to do? What are we to build? What are we building? So I worked every day to seek the Lord on that. Counsel from others, reading, prayer, study. And at that time, in July, a big part of that was it centered on this property. A building campaign. We had already hired and had architectural drawings, elevations, the most beautiful plans you have seen, you saw a little bit, some of them in the Shabuot program.
[00:21:19] I studied fundraising campaigns, building drives. I developed the dream and the mission. I talked with a bunch of people for a bunch of minutes about a bunch of things, and I was ready to present, waited for the time that God would have that ready me, ready to prepare and launch, and, of course, ask you to help build it. And that came obvious that that would be the week after the holidays were over. Simchat Torah. That would be the perfect time. We're opening the Bible again. We're beginning. We're going to read the next phase of our growth and future. And then on Simhat Torah, which was October 7, 2023, the world changed.
[00:22:08] It didn't really exactly affect us directly what happened in Israel, not directly. On Simchat Torah, the day we were reading about God building the world, something was destroyed that day. And even the things that have happened after that. I mean, we have a police officer now who has to be on guard. We have more people on our security, our safety team that carry guns. There are things that we have to do, but directly, like, we haven't so much been a part of it, but things change. This community, as a matter of fact, responded to that by raising almost $30,000. Okay, we were serious. We are serious. But it changed for me inside. It changed my priorities, really, the timing.
[00:23:06] I had waited on God to reveal the perfect time, and he instead revealed the exact opposite.
[00:23:13] This is in no way the time to undertake a project of that magnitude. And so when I saw the world shifting, and I saw your hearts toward Israel, I talked to people about the project and all that had been invested in what we were doing. And I could feel it inside. The momentum had shifted so dramatically away from that.
[00:23:44] Bigger, much bigger, more important things emerged than to ask people to commit to a three year building plan. It almost seemed, in the face and complexion of the new world, it almost seemed cheap.
[00:23:58] It almost is like not good stewardship, less important.
[00:24:06] But it doesn't change the fact that as the leader of the community who is tasked with growing it and providing that we still have a need here, we still have a space need, we still have kitchen and other things like that. And it was very hard for me. But I sensed that God had spoken in this and thankfully he spoke again.
[00:24:30] And I want to share that with you.
[00:24:33] I want to talk to you about what we're building. I owe you an update, but hint, two things. Two things. First, hint, it's no longer about building a two and a half million dollar or $3 million fellowship hall and extra classrooms and all that other stuff. That's not what it's about.
[00:24:57] But I want to also have you listen. If right now when I just said that I want to talk to you about building or anything that I said about this building, if you are in this room or if you are online, if you tuned out or thinking about turning it off, then I want you to listen and remember what I just said about being a consumer and not a contributor.
[00:25:23] So I want to tell you this and why.
[00:25:32] There are some who things. There are some numbers you need to know. We have a community of roughly 50 families that meet here in person. Probably 150 others online that meet with us. Roughly 1000 interactions on YouTube content about 3700 subscribers on YouTube. I'd love to have that be 4000 before the end of the year because every year we add another thousand. It's nice.
[00:25:56] And we have over 600 members on a private social media network that we created thanks to Kristen Lekbird called Shalom at home. It's a community of people.
[00:26:07] Now listen, that community stretches around the world. You heard Dave talk about it. India. England stretches around the world. Now that's not mega, but in Messianic it's mucho.
[00:26:24] That's with God's help. Those are the numbers about what's being built here. But that's not what we're building.
[00:26:33] I read this on Shalom at home. It's from Garlena Jones. She lives in Kansas City. That's a long way from Macon, Georgia. She wrote these words. I think all the services and classes are very supportive for our learning and growth in the ways Hashem wants us to grow in. This forum is also excellent. I have gotten more support here than from any other local congregation that I've been a part of. Even though we are miles apart and scattered all over the world, the support is phenomenal. Leadership matters. Thanks to Rabbi Damien, Kelly, Darren and all of the people at Shalom Macon who make this possible. Thank you. Blessings to all. That's what we're building.
[00:27:13] This week I met with friends from England that's over there, England, who met with me to schedule a week long trip to Macon, Georgia next year to come and get an Airbnb Doug, I need to talk to you and be a part of this community for a week from England. Do you know why? Because it is their community, and they feel supported and nourished, and they love it. That's what we're building.
[00:27:50] Shavuot, Sukot. The holidays. Our beautiful local community welcomes pilgrims, for lack of a better word, from all over the country and, God willing, from all over the world one day to come and celebrate the holidays, the feasts of God together. Everyone's invited. That's what we're building.
[00:28:09] I'll soon be preparing two young Jewish kids, one in Florida, one in Texas, for their bar and bat mitzvahs, which they will celebrate right there in Macon, Georgia. That's what we're building.
[00:28:26] The Leckbergs moved to Macon. Darren led the charge. Darren and Sabrina, Lance and Emery did that. Cody and Kristen Leckberg moved here with their four children, and they jumped right into building another new family. Jeremy and Holly Shonwald and their kids are moving here.
[00:28:44] There's an area in South Macon, I think there are like four or five Shalom Macon families that are moving there and buying a house. Lance affectionately refers to it as the cul de sac.
[00:28:58] I don't think that's very good.
[00:29:02] I have a different name for it, and I'm dead serious about this.
[00:29:09] Making the move.
[00:29:11] I'm not even kidding. If you are needing a community, Kelly has already volunteered to serve as the liaison for making the move at info at Shalom Macon. If you have questions, we'll help you with the reality, feasibility, logistics of such an idea.
[email protected] Kelly can help you making the move. That's what we're building.
[00:29:39] One of the most powerful emails I have ever received came to me after Yom Kippur this year. Rabbi, I honestly think that this Yom Kippur has saved my life. I'm so very grateful to you. To Shalom maken. I have connected and learned from many people here, and most importantly, Hashem.
[00:29:58] Being at Shalom Meiken has allowed me to strengthen my faith in ways I never thought possible. Shalom Makin has become my identity. In a world where I can identify as whatever I choose, I identify as messianic. Listen to this. Please let me know if I can contribute and participate in the growth and success of our synagogue.
[00:30:20] That's what we're building.
[00:30:23] That is music to God's ears and to mine. Thank you to the author of that email. You know who you are.
[00:30:30] I once referred to Shalom Macon as a home for the homeless.
[00:30:35] That's not what we're building.
[00:30:38] We're building a home for the hopeful.
[00:30:44] I agree with Hebrews ten that people cannot fully experience God without a community. We are building a community that is unique for our world. And listen, there are thousands of thriving churches.
[00:30:57] Thousands of thriving churches. Side note, Pastor Benny Tate, you know them? Rock Springs Church. Benny Tate is a patient of my dad's, a friend of my dad's, and an incredible supporter of Israel and the Jewish people.
[00:31:14] Rock Springs Church. First time it's ever happened outside of this church. Who blessed us so immeasurably? Benny Tate. Pastor Benny came into the Eisner Laser center and said, richard, I want to bless the community and bless Damien and the work that's being done there. And Benny Tate from Rock Springs Church randomly because he loves God, the Jewish people and cares about this place, wrote us a nice check, a big, huge check.
[00:31:43] It's worth acknowledging Pastor Benny and his community for being sensitive and caring to the Jewish people.
[00:31:50] But there are a lot of churches, tons of thriving churches, and we bless them and we want to see them succeed. And we thank God for that. But it doesn't help us at all because we have a unique task to build something we're building on. I've identified it pretty clearly as five pillars, which is a good number in Judaism to fulfill the mission and calling of a synagogue. It is a place for all of you local people to gather and learn and celebrate. One, it is to provide, two, a home for the hopeful. That is a place for travelers. Pilgrims. Luanne. I met Luann, seen her name online for a long time. Walking into 09:00 she says, hi, I'm a Shalomi. Hi. Who are you? Luanne from Michigan.
[00:32:43] It's a place for people to come who may not have that. Where travelers, pilgrims come and learn fellowship. They love and are loved in community. It is literally a place, I'm telling you, making the move. I'm serious about that. You can come and grow here to have more opportunity. And now listen, after October 7, number four, more than ever before, we have the strongest calling to establish a community that battles the ignorance and anti Israel, anti Jewish, antisemitic hatred and spew that is running around the world. That is a part of our calling.
[00:33:26] Number five, we must engage and serve broader communities, locally, globally, acts of kindness, our faith, our tradition of Judaism, calls us to do Gimilu Hasidim, charitable deeds, to live and act with justice and compassion.
[00:33:42] That's what we're building.
[00:33:49] And it requires a lot. Physical, intellectual, emotional, financial.
[00:33:55] We're not the church.
[00:33:57] We're just not. But we have to be builders, not bystanders, contributors, not consumers. So here it is.
[00:34:04] Just stay with me. Here's the building update. You ready? I'm closing as we go here, but listen to me very carefully.
[00:34:14] I hope at least you're feeling a little bit of inspiration and being excited about where you sit. Some of you have or are contributing still to the building that we announced last year at this time. And I owe you a building update with a vision like I've laid out here with those five pillars. I want to say there will be a time, with God's help, when we expand the community and build and do all those things. There will be a time for that. I believe that completely.
[00:34:50] It's not now, it's not at this moment when we build a $3 million expansion into this community.
[00:35:02] That's not the biggest priority.
[00:35:05] We're focused on every aspect of building that I shared with you and the others that God will reveal.
[00:35:12] We are, with God's help, though, as I said, the need remains. We are, with God's help, going to use what God has already given us, and it's still building.
[00:35:26] But I just briefly want to explain that what we're going to do is knock down some walls. We're going to build for ourselves a commercial kitchen, where that one is, and expand it and be able to invite more people to come here for fellowship, for meals, for holidays. We're going to take that area that is currently the gathering space, and we're going to move that out there, and we're going to extend that foyer out so that when you arrive here, there's a front entrance where you come in, have your coffee, say hello, and at 11:00 you walk into this beautiful sanctuary that is also going to serve as the multipurpose area where we can host bigger dinners, Shabbat dinners, festival meals, all of that stuff. I will create and have talked to some kind of beautiful sort of invisible curtain or barrier that we can put right here when we're having parties and drinking wine and laughing so that we can separate the sanctity of our sanctuary and still be able to use this as a fellowship hall. This is using the resources that we have.
[00:36:40] It doesn't mean it's free, but I want to give you good news about that as well.
[00:36:48] It's building with what we have at a fraction of the cost, and strategically and financially, logically, logistically, it makes sense, and it contributes to what we're really building, which is the big picture that I've just already shared with you, a home for the hopeful.
[00:37:08] I want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to every one of you who supports the work that happens at Shalom Macon.
[00:37:18] It is amazing to me, the generosity and the gifts that we receive from around the world. Every one of them makes a statement that says, I am a builder, I am a contributor. I am not just a consumer. Thank you for that. We have set aside every gift that we have received for the building over the last year into an interest bearing account.
[00:37:41] We have also taken our offerings over and above what we need and over time, gradually put that money into a building fund. We're currently also, thanks to Rock Springs Church, we now have $340,000 there.
[00:37:57] Okay. In cash, it's Baruch Hashem. It's not enough. It will take a little bit more, like to the tune of probably another 200, $250,000 to do that. What we're talking about doing. And here's the good news. You ready? I know these messages. Sometimes people are like, this is uncomfortable. Here's the good news.
[00:38:22] We have the money.
[00:38:25] The bad newS, though, is it's in your pockets.
[00:38:36] I love that line. I love that line.
[00:38:40] People don't give to things for a lot of reasons. They don't see value. One, if you're here with any regularity, I hope that is not the case. They don't see the need. Well, I hope that I've explained that there is a need, and we've talked about that in building our bigger vision. And speaking of that, when they don't see a vision, they're not interested.
[00:39:05] We have a vision and it's been made a reality, particularly over the last few years.
[00:39:11] So quite boldly, because I believe in what we're doing, I am going to ask you to give to that generously, either as a year end one time gift or become a regular giver.
[00:39:28] If you derive value in any way from being here, if you receive good from your partnership with us, to be a contributor, a creator, a builder, not a bystander.
[00:39:45] Giving Tuesday, another made up thing in America where people ask for money, it's still a pretty good day to think about, you know, giving. Tuesday comes up the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and on into December.
[00:39:59] You have time to plan and pray about what you can do. And don't worry, I'm going to remind you there is a link that Darren is going to put up on this slide right here.
[00:40:10] It's very easy. Shalommaken.org forward SlAsH Give. It tells you everything you need to know about how to do that online. You can text to give, you can mail a gift. And if you've never given here before, it's very easy to do. Go right there and do it and set it up.
[00:40:28] And I'm asking you to do that to support what we're building with all of the associated meetings that I've laid out for you. And I know this raises this question. If you're listening online or if you're a traveler or whatever, if you're listening from Texas or California, as we heard today, England or India, the question becomes, I just listened to your podcast. I live 3000 miles away. Why would I ever support a building project?
[00:40:58] Well, if that's what it really was, that would be a good question.
[00:41:03] But I told you what we're really building, and I want to tell you what you build. First off, the door is always open. I'm serious. Making the move come and be a part of things. I know that's not a realistic option for most people, so it's still a good question. I know that many of you may never make it to Macon. I want you to understand that your support in building a strong, authentic, not weird and fruity, messianic Jewish community in Macon is good for the kingdom of God.
[00:41:38] And every service, every family that participates here, whether it's in person, whether it's online, every event, conference, Passover, Seder, holiday, celebration, is connecting people to God. You have benefited from that, I hope, but there are others who have not.
[00:41:56] And you are a part of making sure that that happens for others. You could say paying it forward, but you make that possible. That strengthens the message and the movement and all that. But it affects lives. A strong local community brings new life and investment into the work. There are lives that are affected by what we do.
[00:42:19] I hope that yours has been, and that you can see a reason why we're investing. I told you at the beginning of all of those biblical builders, even God has not yet seen the reality of what he built. It has not come to completion yet. Even God. We're not in the great and glorious end building.
[00:42:47] It's a process, but all of them built not just to build, but for the people. And that's what we're building, both in the physical and the spiritual. And I hope that our work is valuable to you. But let me say this.
[00:43:03] If this is the first time you're here and you're hearing a message about money or building projects, I'm sorry, I don't do that very often. You know why I don't? Because I don't have to.
[00:43:19] I don't have to do that. But I do need to say this.
[00:43:26] If you live here and you don't give, and I don't just mean putting a little $18 in the box every month to say hi, it's time to start doing that.
[00:43:45] Seriously, no one has a more vested interest than the people who sit in the seats.
[00:43:53] So you may not like that strong word, but I hope my good Attributes will allow you to forgive me one day for it.
[00:44:05] But I'm not kidding. It's incumbent upon you to be a builder, a contributor, not a consumer.
[00:44:13] I'll leave that right there.
[00:44:16] And then here we go.
[00:44:21] How could you ever end a message like this without talking to you about sacrificial giving?
[00:44:30] I hate that word.
[00:44:32] It's true. I'm not going to give you this sacrificial giving talk because this is it.
[00:44:40] I don't think it's reasonable to say, hey, we'd like you to give, and you need to suffer while you do it. Sacrifice.
[00:44:48] But there are things in life, every good thing, everything that requires effort. It does require effort. And sometimes in order to get more than you have, you have to give a little more. But when the goal is in view and you have a purpose and a desire to see something because you're connected to it, most people don't feel like they're suffering to make that happen. So I'm going to ask you this question. Let's change that. And we'll just say, reevaluation giving. Okay, seriously, you can probably look and say, you know what? I heard what he said.
[00:45:29] We could do without this or that. I'm not in your finances, and that's not my job. I'm just asking you to be serious about it. Don't just discount my words. Be serious about it. Think about it. Reevaluate. So you'll be a builder, not a bystander. And you will acknowledge that the work that's being done is for the advance of the kingdom with the people that matter.
[00:45:56] The email I read you ended with these words. Please let me know if I can contribute and participate in the growth and success of our synagogue. Well, guess what?
[00:46:06] I'm letting everyone know.
[00:46:09] That's how you can contribute and participate in the growth of our synagogue. You can help as we close out this year and move into the next year. A year of building. Man, these religious people always after my money. I'm not after your money.
[00:46:26] Because here's the thing. First of all, it's God's money, not yours. God gave you. Even if you don't like the holier than thou approach, God gives you breath and the ability you have every day to get up and make money. So it's technically God's money, but we won't go down that road. Secondly, with or without your money, we will continue to give and to create and to build. That's what we will do. And whether you participate or not, you're still invited to see what Hashem is doing. But you see, Shalom Macon is a community of builders, not bystanders. And I'm inviting you to participate in your community. And here's what matters. I'm gonna die.
[00:47:11] And so are you and your direct influence in the world. And your impact will pass. But what we leave behind will not.
[00:47:23] What we leave for the children and the families. And I'm not going to get cheesy on you, but all the people, all the people online, pilgrims to make and will remain. This is building. And I'm asking you to help do that. To pass this message along to anyone who can help. Shalomma.org give. All three ways are there to contribute. Giving. Tuesday would be a great day to make that decision. But guess what? Any day is a good day to decide to build.
[00:47:54] That's what the book says.
[00:47:58] So let's do that and be builders, not bystanders.
[00:48:05] Shabbat Shalom.
