CrossWinds Covenant Renewal -- Nehemiah 10:28-39 -- Fall 2015
1. We commit to only dating and marrying someone that loves Jesus.
We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. Nehemiah 10:30 (ESV)
2. We commit to faithfully keeping the day of worship and rest.
And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. Nehemiah 10:31 (ESV)
3. We commit to everybody doing a little something so my campus can operate.
We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. Nehemiah 10:32–33 (ESV)
4. We commit to giving God what is first and best in our lives.
We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God;… Nehemiah 10:35–37 (ESV)
- Money — My offering check is written first.
- Serving — I plan on serving others at church first in my schedule and my vacations second, not the other way around.
- Worship — I will go to bed early on Saturday so I am not falling asleep on Sunday. I want to give my best to worship and study of God’s word.
- Bible Study - I will read my Bible as one of the first things in my day, not the last thing when I am exhausted.
5. We commit to financial faithfulness in our tithes and offering.
…and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.” Nehemiah 10:37–39 (ESV)
