Hello, thanks for joining me today for Give Him 15. The title of today's post is,

Help Us Write History in Washington, D.C. Exodus 23, 14 through 17, I've given you all of it.

Let me read a portion of it. Three times a year, God told Israel, you shall celebrate a

feast to me. You shall observe the feast of unliven bread. Also, you shall observe the feast of the

harvest, which is Pentecost of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field,

and also the feast of the end gathering,

which is tabernacles at the end of the year, when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the

field. Three times a year, all your mails shall appear before the Lord.

This was repeated in Deuteronomy 16, verse 16, which I give you in the post.

God understands that we must relate to others on different levels. In Israel, they identified

with one another as families, cities, tribes, and as a nation.

God realized that the closeness and commitment to one another would decrease as the number

of people increased. One of the ways he ensured that Israel would maintain its national identity, while immersed in

living life with family, community, and tribe, was this requirement for all of the men,

13 years old, and upward, to go to Jerusalem three times a year for major feasts.

This practice helped keep them all connected both spiritually and nationally.

These journeys were time-consuming and required sacrifice,

but they were necessary to remind all of Israel

that they were part of something bigger than themselves.

Who doesn't realize how easy it is to get caught up in our own world of family,

friends, challenges, and activities? The principle behind this requirement in Israel is appropriate

for the body of Christ today, though we are members of different congregations,

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