I remember one of my sons coming down from Atlanta while Honey Lake Plantation was still under construction, and we rode around checking on our various projects together. I was most interested to see the look on his face when we walked inside Honey Lake Chapel. We had just installed the last of our stained-glass windows, (the oldest in the state of Florida), and they were gorgeous. The guys had also completed about 90% of the tongue and groove pine that adorned the walls and coffered ceilings.
If that were not beautiful enough in its own right, up towards the front of the church were three huge windows overlooking pristine Honey Lake. The windows had three large crosses incorporated within them separating the windowpanes. The cross in the center was the largest and all of them were adorned with pecky Cypress to add to their “old rugged cross” appearance.
We could already feel the presence of God in this very special place.
My son was taken aback by its beauty and was smiling ear to ear and nodding approvingly as we walked around admiring it. It’s not difficult to envision a congregation full of people worshipping the Lord and he mentioned that he couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting to attend church in this peaceful place. Ditto for me.
God who sees everything has no doubt been walking the grounds inspecting this place of worship too. He has the advantage of already knowing what will ultimately become of Honey Lake Chapel and I wish I could see what He sees. Inside the chapel walls His children will worship Him and introduce His saving grace to those who do not know Him and then they will go outside to baptize these happy people in Honey Lake as a public profession of faith (just as Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan River).
There will be weddings, singing, prayer and joyful worship services in this place, all in honor of a Creator who graciously gave His only Son’s very life in order that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
A buddy told me the other day that the best thing about attending Honey Lake Chapel will be that he heard that we will not be taking up an offering. Yikes! What is up with that?
Attending church is not about being asked to give up our hard-earned cash. When we consider that God already owns everything seen and unseen, why do you suppose He would tell us that we should give a portion of what we have back to Him? Because He loves us and desires to teach us to be grateful as well as obedient! The Bible plainly tells us that we cannot out-give God. The more we give, (whether it is money or our personal time), the more we will receive from Him. I’ve seen it work in my own life hundreds of times. This command is the only one in all the Bible that contains a promise whereby God tells us that if we do something we that what we will receive back is of more value; (we)cannot outgive God.)This is not the reason we should give mind you, but should be done willingly and in obedience to God’s commands.
We didn’t need an offering of money at Honey Lake Chapel, (at least while I was there), but many churches do. There are light bills, staff, and other expenses that need to be paid. We should give cheerfully, knowing that our Father in heaven who sees all that we do is watching us and yearning for us to put our complete trust in Him.
You see it is not about our “money”, but our faith. Giving of our money or our time to the Lord is about meeting OUR needs not God’s.
By the way that little church is still going strong. Praise God!
Phil 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.