Bible Text: Deuteronomy 16:1-17 | “Mazel Tov and L’Chaim” Deuteronomy 16:1-17

Introduction:  Mother’s Day, Pentecost, Memorial Day, Graduate Recognition.  Pentecost?

I.        The Big Three Jewish Feasts declare, “Look what God has done.”

A.     Passover

1.      Commemorates that “God brought you out of Egypt by night.”

2.      Key elements include the sacrificial lamb, unleavened bread, recounting God’s deliverance

B.     Pentecost (The Feast of Weeks)

1.      A one-day celebration that begins seven weeks (fifty days) after the start of barley harvest

2.      Contemporary Jews link it with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai

C.     Feast of Tabernacles (Booths)

1.      Seven-day fall festival enjoyed after the grain is threshed and the grapes harvested.

2.      Primary feature is living in tents for a week in remembrance of God’s provision in desert.

II.       “The same yesterday, today and forever.”

A.     Delivered from Slavery

1.      John 8:34-36, “Whoever sins is a slave to sin.  If the Son sets you free, you will be free.”

2.      John 6:35-38, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

B.     Blessed with Abundance through God’s Presence

1.      Angie’s mom, Louise prayed, “Lord, meet all my needs and take away all my wants.”

2.      Psalm 81:10, “I am the LORD your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.  Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”

3.      Leviticus 23:22, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge…You shall leave it for the poor and sojourner.”

C.     [2 Corinthians 4] Life in Temporary Structures

1.      (v16) “We do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

2.      (v17) “This light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.”

3.      5:1, “We know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Conclusion:   Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.  He who is, who was and who is to come.”

L’Chaim and communion.  “Do this in remembrance of me.”