• He promises the heir when Abraham and Sarah are too old to have children.
• He splits the Red Sea when Israel is hopelessly trapped by Pharaoh’s army.
• He gives manna when there is no food in the wilderness.
• He stops the Jordan River when it’s time to take the land.
• When a city stands in the way, he makes the walls fall down.
• When the Midianites were as many as the sand of the sea, God whittled Gideon’s army down to 300 so God would get the glory for the victory.
• When Goliath defies the armies of the Lord, God sends a boy with a sling and five stones.
• When the Son of God is to come into the world, God calls a virgin to conceive.
• And when the mighty devil himself is to be defeated, a Lamb goes to the slaughter.

And here in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2, when God wants to raise money for the poor in Jerusalem, he uses afflicted, poverty-stricken Macedonians and fills them with joy because of his grace.

So that’s the context for Finish the Million by March. In only four weeks, in the hardest financial times in decades, on top of a 9.2 million-dollar church budget, with thousands of givers who never attend the North Campus, all of Bethlehem (on every campus) will give $235,000 to meet the million-dollar goal to pull the trigger on finishing the North Campus.

But vastly more important than that is where your treasure is—where your heart is. Are you like the Macedonians whose joy—in times of “recession”—was invincible because it was rooted in the grace of God? May God open our eyes to glory of his grace. When he does, the last purpose for the recession that I will mention will come true.

5. To Bring His Church to Care for Her Hurting Members and Grow in Love

Buildings exist for people, not the other way around. May no effort to build ever keep us from caring for Christ’s followers. Acts 4:34 describes the early church: “There was not a needy person among them.” This is what the church does. Every member will have his needs met. God will test us to see if we are a church or a club.

May the Lord grant us “Macedonian grace” to “finish the million” and care for each other.

© Desiring God 2009. See original transcript here.

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