WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.639 Well, I'd like to invite Patty to join me here. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:09.519 Patty's a very longtime friend of our parish, as I said before. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:16.079 If you don't know Patty, I think there's a line from her website, pattykingsley.com, that sums her up quite well. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:24.079 Patty sees herself as a creative servant who shares irrepressible joy through creative art making. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:31.519 She believes that art has the power to intuitively connect individuals to hope amidst hopeless circumstances. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:32.640 I love that. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:41.200 Patty is a local and vibrant Durham artist whose exhibit Divine Expression Global Connection we've enjoyed in our sanctuary these past couple weeks. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.159 You can probably be seated too, now that I think about it. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.399 Patty's joining us this weekend as a part of New Songs Art Fest. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:58.079 She's uh led ten participants yesterday in our youth session, yesterday afternoon, and will lead our adult session this afternoon. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:03.600 And this morning she'll share a biblical reflection on God's heart for art and artists. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:05.040 Can I pray for you, Patty? 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:05.840 Would you join me? 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:10.879 So, Heavenly Father, I give you thanks for this gift you've given us in art. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:17.519 You are the great creator, and so, Father, we marvel at your creation and this invitation you give us to create. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:31.280 Father, would you speak through Patty and draw our hearts deeper into this sacred mystery of what it means to be your creatures, what it is to participate in your creation, to see art and artists rightly through your eyes. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:34.319 So we invite you, come Holy Spirit, and fill Patty once again. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:35.680 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:36.640 Amen. 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:37.760 Amen. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:38.719 I'll give it to you. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:41.439 Thank you ever so much. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.560 I'm going to grab my clicker. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:47.519 Good thing I remembered. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:52.719 And for those of you who've ever heard me chat, you know I need a timer. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:55.200 Um, so I have one. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:01.280 If you hear a duck quacking at the end, it's when I'm supposed to stop. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.480 No, I'm teasing, I put a different one on. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:09.439 Okay, so this morning we're good, we are going to talk about art and artists and what the Bible has to say. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:10.879 We're going to move quickly. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.680 And again, if you're used to me, you know I move fast. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:19.759 I try to illustrate things as best I can, and they are available for you as a PDF, these uh these slides. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:22.159 In fact, if you if you want to look at them. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:28.080 Okay, so we are talking about God's heart for art and for artists as it relates to scripture. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:33.280 And I am trying to start the slides for you, but I'm going to keep talking even if I can't find them. 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:36.000 Maybe you guys can override me. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:38.000 Oh. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:40.240 Oh, oh, okay. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:41.759 I was looking for them out here. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:42.960 My apologies, everyone. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:44.639 Let me go backwards for you then. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:45.520 There we are. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:46.000 Okay. 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:47.919 We're going to start a Genesis. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:03:00.800 We won't go all the way through to Revelation, but the reason this is important for me is that if we can get an overall taste, just to taste and see, that there is a place for art and artists throughout scripture that's very close to God's heart. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:08.639 I hope to whet your appetite or tickle your palate so it will induce swallowing, which means you will have to go hunt down these scriptures yourself. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:11.759 And again, you can have the references for a later time. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.680 So in the beginning, the first baseball game in no, sorry. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:18.159 In the beginning, God created. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:19.759 What was the first thing he did? 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:20.960 He created. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:23.599 Sorry, what was the first thing he did? 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:24.879 He created. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.319 So as a creator, and I am happy to call myself that, not just a creative. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:31.599 I'm actually a creator. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:42.400 My passion and my pursuit is to mimic what God has done, to follow after, to use him, to be like him, to reflect him, which is what I believe scripture gives us the authority to do. 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:45.199 So in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:46.479 What was his substrate? 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:48.479 The substrate was the earth. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:51.919 Just like I have a canvas, he had the earth. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.560 Okay, so and God said, Let there be light. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:58.080 The scripture says the earth was without form and void. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:00.960 And again, I'm sorry, I apologize to you. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:02.800 There was nothing on it. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:07.680 But the Spirit of God, Holy Spirit, alive and present in the Old Testament. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:11.280 The Spirit of God was moved upon the face of the waters. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.080 And God said, Let there be. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:18.959 If you remember nothing else this morning, if you could remember, let there be. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:20.800 Let there be light. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:23.040 He names what he creates. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:25.920 His creative acts separated light from darkness. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:29.360 He called the darkness darkness, and the light was called light. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:36.000 God reveals his authority when he creates, he has the power to actually transform the culture and the environment we're in. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:45.920 If we reflect him, we have the power and authority, according to Christ, to transform culture as well by infusing culture with his voice and his word and his life. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:47.600 We are made in his image. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.639 In our physical image and resemblance, we resemble him. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:52.480 We are the similitude of him. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.000 And it is not just God singular, it is God plural. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:57.120 It was a they moment. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:58.560 They appeared in Scripture. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.600 This is where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit first show up together. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:05.120 There's only a couple times when you need all three of them together to do one act. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:07.920 And the act was creating you and creating the earth. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:18.000 So pretty powerful emphasis, law of first mention, first occurrence in scripture, and it took the triple value of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to accomplish his intentions. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:28.560 If we zoom through to Exodus, we're going to look at how God uses creativity to honor, to create beauty, and to create sanctification. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:35.920 But first, let's touch on that first scripture we often trip over in Exodus, which happens to be the Ten Commandments. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:47.759 And the Ten Commandments are very clear that it says that there shall you shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or the waters beneath. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.519 Now, often people read this and they say, Oh, that means there can be no art. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:58.800 There can be no art in a sanctuary, there can be no art, there can't be a sculpture here, clearly, even of a cross, because that would be creating artwork. 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:03.600 But the scripture doesn't say we can't create artwork or reflections with our hands. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:06.319 The scripture says that we're not to have it as an idol. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:12.000 Okay, so for some of you who are new to scriptural texts around the arts, I hope this frees you up a little bit. 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:14.639 It's that we don't lift our hearts up to something. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:18.240 It's not that we don't create something, it's that we don't rear up our hearts. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:25.120 The scripture, when you look at it in the Berean Study Bible, it will talk about the fact that of a rearing up of our heart towards something. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:27.120 That's what it means to have idolatry. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:29.759 Now that's in any image, not just physical ones. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:38.399 We can have idolatrous images or images that distract us or take attention away from glorifying God in our mind, in our hearts, in our experiences. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:43.519 Exodus 20 continues, so chronology matters in Scripture. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:56.720 And when we find out that we see that Exodus 20 is followed by Exodus 28, the focus is on not having created engravings, but then we have a call for the tent of meeting. 00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:58.160 The scripture was shared this morning. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:10.480 So I'm not going to reread it for you, but I want you to just see in verse 2 that the intention of creativity as it was applied to sacred garments, and again it took artists to make sacred things. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:16.720 It wasn't just priests, ministers, and people who went to school for this and are called and appointed and anointed for this. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:26.240 In fact, it was artists who were called, appointed, and anointed to work alongside and in the house of God or the tent of meeting in this case to create those sacred things for his purpose. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:35.279 And not only were they for honor and beauty, which is awesome what often what gets assigned to artists, in fact, they were for sanctification. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:41.600 So there was a holy purpose and an attention attached to the creative things that were made. 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:44.240 Okay, it's also tell all. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:00.639 So God endows many people, not just one. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.040 His work is inclusive. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:04.720 Tell all, right? 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:05.920 Not just one. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:07.759 And see that it's purposeful. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:12.480 His work is purposeful, that they shall make Aaron's garments to sanctify him. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:15.600 Who made the garments to sanctify Aaron? 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:19.040 Artists made the garments to sanctify Aaron. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:20.720 Okay, so there we go. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:27.519 So now again, we read, you can read through these scriptural pieces in detail, but what I want you to see is that Scripture is very clear. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:31.519 It's very commanding, and there was a commission given by God Himself. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.879 Okay, the commission is make it. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.120 It is to have, so it can be. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:45.120 It's skillfully woven, it's of one piece, it's made with, it takes two, engrave the names, then mount, fasten, make, attach. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:46.879 I mean, I'm tired already. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:49.440 I don't, I'm an artist and I don't want this commission. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:50.639 Do you understand? 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:52.240 Why would I want that commission? 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:54.480 It's descriptive, it's prescriptive. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:56.240 There's little wiggle room. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:56.960 All right. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:01.519 So understand when we get these commissions, they're not just freewheeling. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:12.399 There's a time in the house, and if you're a jazz musician, you know you get to play off the charts, so to speak, but there's also a time when God is very prescriptive and descriptive, and we need to be aware of what those things are. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:17.279 And also that in fact he wants to be able to speak to us in this way. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:20.399 Okay, so we now, oops, hold the phone. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:27.919 We I I I did let you see for a pomegranate, it's just for a moment, but Exodus 20 is followed by Exodus 28, which is what we were just referencing. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:36.480 So in fact, we do have a God that, even though he said, don't worship things that are made, I actually want you to make a bunch of stuff. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:38.960 And I'm going to commission it for you. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:41.360 Chronology matters. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.840 And now let's see how we um reconcile these things. 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:50.159 We create it, we don't worship it. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:55.519 His commissions are purposeful, naming matters, details matter. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:59.600 Abstract image was carried into the Holy of Holies. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:05.600 So when I asked you what color were the pomegranates, what color are pomegranates? 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:07.200 They're red. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:09.279 What color did he ask for them to be? 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.879 I believe it was scarlet and blue and purple. 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:13.679 I'm sorry. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:15.120 Did I miss something? 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:21.600 For all of those of us who would say our it has to be realistic, it has to be, you know, representational. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:25.519 We cannot just reproduce something that God didn't actually create that way. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:26.480 Uh, hello. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:40.399 No, God himself actually requested abstract coloring, not just to be displayed in the community at large or in the church, but in fact in the Holy of Holies, in the tent of meeting, in the first modular structure that was not built by IKEA. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:47.600 For those of you who are ministers, you know how hard it is to do portable church. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:48.879 Okay? 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:54.159 So when we're applying these principles today, again, I reiterate, his commissions are purposeful. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:03.360 Naming matters, details matter, abstract image was carried into the Holy of Holies, color was worn into the Holy of Holies. 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:06.480 The Holy of Holies was not absent of color. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:08.639 We didn't strip everything down to white. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:11.600 Now, if you want to do a white worship room, go right ahead. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:18.240 Okay, but God did not request a white worship space or all natural, you know, no color at all. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:21.919 In fact, he created things with a lot of beads, a lot of woven stuff. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:27.360 It required gemologists, it required millinery skills, it required engineers and architects. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:35.120 For those of you who were putting up the tent outside on Friday for the artist to create under, you know how hard it was to put up a tent. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:38.879 And you probably had destructions too. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:46.559 So color is significant to God, it can be abstracted, and God calls artists and skills by name. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.720 So scripture we read earlier talked about Bezalel and Aholiab. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:55.039 Now understand, please, that Bezalel means in the shadow of God. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.960 Bezalel El means in the shadow of God. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:02.320 So Bezalel was created to work in the shadow of God. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:05.840 So where do we position ourselves if we want to work on his behalf? 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:08.639 Well, Bezalel kind of gives a clue because it's his name. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:13.519 So if you want to create like Bezalel, I would just, you're not channeling anything, okay? 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:15.600 We're only working with Holy Spirit here. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:35.200 But if you want to mimic the positioning of Bezalel in relationship to the creativity of God as it was expressed in the old and ancient scriptures, in Old Testament, in the law, in the Hebrew Talmud, I believe it would be, then you would be positioning yourself under the shadow of God right here. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:41.679 So if you ever are finding that you're out of position, I would just run back, hide for refuge back there. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:46.480 And you will find that God will be able to speak to you and give you inspiration. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:50.320 Understand also, please, that Bezalel, it's a first time in Scripture. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:52.399 Again, first time, first time. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:54.320 Something is mentioned in Scripture. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:00.000 Bezalel did not just have the Spirit of God on him for anointing, he had the Spirit of God in him. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:04.960 It's the first time in Scripture where the Holy Spirit is described as being inside of a person. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:06.399 And who is that person? 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:08.240 An artist. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:11.679 Hey, so I'm working, it's working for me. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.879 I have filled him with, filled him. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:17.759 That would be inside with the Spirit of God. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:19.600 Now we touched on this a little bit. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:23.279 Artifacts are made by artifice, I can't say the word properly. 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:24.960 Artificers. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:26.639 I'm not sure how we say that properly. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:28.639 I've never been able to say it properly. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:31.919 But they they make things, they make cool stuff. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:36.720 These are journeymen, these are electricians, these are technicians, they are all skilled. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:38.399 They're artisanal people. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.320 And there is a craft and a skill. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:42.639 And the Spirit of God moves on people. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:48.559 Whether you're painting pictures or you're doing the art of surgery, I might say, God will work and move on us. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:53.440 We're shapers, we're writers, we're gemologists, as I mentioned, millenary people. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:00.399 All of these people details are covered by creativity in Scripture, all from this one passage. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:00.960 Right? 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:06.080 So I believe, yeah, there's 12 different kinds of jewels that were carved and put in place. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:15.440 And for those of us, I was talking with a friend of mine on the way here this morning, and Trace was saying, yeah, I mean, people get really bent out of shape sometimes about how minerals are used today. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.080 And we need to know how minerals are used today. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:19.120 But hello. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:27.519 There were 12 different gems and jewels cut for the purpose of the tent of meeting, for the priest's robes. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:35.759 So there is something to be said for how God wants to use creation to draw us into relationship with him. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:39.200 And I just submit that to you for your consideration. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:40.720 Chronicles. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.879 We're just going to look very briefly at Chronicles because, and I'll give you the scripture here. 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:47.360 It's 2 Chronicles 2, 5 to 7. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:49.919 I want you to see Solomon's heart here. 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:54.320 He says to him, or the scripture says, I've sent you Hiram Abbey. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:01.120 So Moses had Bezalel, Solomon needed to build something, and he had Hiram Abbey. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:04.240 Now he are he's already on his way, the message Bible says. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:06.559 He knows the construction business inside and out. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:10.559 Any of those here, you know the construction business inside and out, right? 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:18.000 So you're positioned for the provision of God, just so you know, so he could tap you on the shoulder and use you for his purposes. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:24.240 He knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, in purple, violet, linen, and crimson textiles. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:31.440 He's an expert engraver and competent to work out designs with you artists and architects, those who my master David, your father, had in mind. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:41.279 So, I mean, here we are yet again, where Solomon's heart is saying, My only thing, I'm burning incense to him is about all I'm good for. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:44.320 That's what Solomon says in the message translation. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.639 But he's good for more than that. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.559 And he needed more than just himself to be able to build the temple. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.080 All right, we're going to zoom over to Ezekiel next. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.639 And much of Ezekiel was done in silence, acted out by a prophet. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:02.879 Now, this may just rattle you a tiny bit. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:13.840 Um, but Ezekiel in Scripture, unless the scripture says, Thus says the Lord, the scripture also says that Ezekiel's tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:21.120 So if you read your Bible, unless it says, Thus says the Lord, how was Ezekiel communicating? 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.120 Let me go back just so you can see. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.679 I think I've touched, uh no, I didn't give you the reference. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:26.159 Okay. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:50.480 So if I give you the reference, Ezekiel 3, 25 to 27, but thou, O Son of Man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and they shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them, and I will make thy tongue to cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover, for they are rebellious house. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:57.200 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus says the Lord God. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:04.160 Now there's a lot of times when Ezekiel was communicating where it does not say, Thus says the Lord God. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:07.279 So how did he communicate? 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:13.039 Well, there's a lot of really interesting things, including dung, um, that Ezekiel used to communicate. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:29.039 So I would submit to you, just as Hosea 12, 10 pointed out here on the slide, I have also spoken to you by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions for you, and I have appealed to you through parables acted out by the prophets. 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:31.920 So are all prophets actors? 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:32.559 No. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:34.400 Are all actors prophets? 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:38.720 No, I'm not trying to set up a theology that says that hands down. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:44.720 What I'm saying to you is there are activations that the Lord uses to communicate to us. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:52.319 And he can use acting, he can use parables, similitudes, mime. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:57.599 He can work in silence, he can work in spoken word, acting, acting, spoken word. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:02.559 He can use a combination of spoken word and acting at the same time, which again he did with Ezekiel. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.440 I just leave those for you to ponder. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:17.599 And if we zoom over to Acts, we will see that you've already heard the voice of Agabas in the scripture this morning. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:25.440 Before that particular passage was read, there was another passage in Acts 11.28. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:30.960 And I and I bring this up just to introduce to you the fact that Agabas was not new to the church. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:32.400 Okay, so he was known. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:34.079 He was a known character. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:35.119 There we are. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:41.039 There's a prophet in the New Testament that is named in Acts 11.28, and his voice was heated by the disciples. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:42.160 He was credible. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:47.680 The reason he did so is because he had told them about a famine that was coming, and in fact, it had come true. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:53.599 So when you do say things, we need to know what we are saying, and it has to be accurate, it has to be tested. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:19:05.519 But that set them up then for when Agabus came back to Paul and said, you know, I'm the one whose belt, who's he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet in the middle of that scripture there. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:10.960 He said, This is going to happen to the one who will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:12.240 It was going to happen to him. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:15.279 Now, did that confirm to Paul what was going to happen? 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:16.160 Yes. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:19.440 Did that deter Paul from his mission? 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:20.160 No. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:27.920 Was it maybe good to know ahead of time that he was on his last opportunity, you know, he was going to be bound? 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:28.960 I don't know. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:32.000 But for some reason, God put it in Scripture. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:44.079 And God put it into the hands not just of a prophet who spoke words in the New Testament, very alive and well, but in fact had him animate something or activate something so everyone knew. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:45.920 Now Paul already knew. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:47.759 I would submit to you. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:49.519 Paul already knew. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:51.440 I would think. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:54.799 But did everyone else know? 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:57.920 And did what did they see out of that? 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:00.960 Okay, so we're now at about three minutes left here. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:04.160 So Paul does, you know, this is really an illustrated sermon. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:06.000 Oh, sorry, we use those today. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:07.200 Illustrated sermons. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:08.319 Imagine that. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:14.880 If we look at Numbers, 2 Kings and John, and I'm going to try to whiz through this pretty fast. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:18.240 This is very important, and we heard this scripture this morning as well. 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:24.480 The bronze serpent is mentioned in Numbers 21, verses 6, 7, 8, and 9. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:26.640 There's serpents that are released into the camp. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:27.920 They're fiery serpents. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:34.079 It's a result of actions that the Israelites were taking, and the serpents came and they were biting people, and people were dying. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:39.359 And so God went to the people to pray for mercy, and I'm paraphrasing liberally. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.880 And so in the end, what happened was Moses set up a bronze serpent. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:47.200 That's what the Lord told him to do, set up a bronze serpent so if they look on it, they would live. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:21:02.079 If we raise our countenance from ourselves, and we will use an artifact to actually not rear up to worship the artifact, but in fact to rear ourselves up in recognition of who God is and who we are not, healing came. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:05.599 Now, so God uses art to heal. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:06.640 Now what happens? 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:10.000 Oh, well, let's go forward a little bit further into numbers. 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:14.160 And then we see that all of a sudden the people are worshiping that. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:16.160 They thought the healing was in the object. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:22.640 Now I'm not going to argue whether or not a prayer cloth can be prayed for and go somewhere and bring healing with it to a person. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:36.640 What I am going to say, according to this scripture, is that when you start worshiping that idol or that object or that inanimate something, it is devoid of power when you render it as something that is an idol. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:38.160 Okay? 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:40.319 The bronze serpent was not an idol. 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:49.599 The bronze serpent was a tool used to raise people's gaze, to look to God, to recognize where their salvation and hope comes from, and to be healed. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:56.319 When we turn it into something that we worship and bow down to, expecting the same result, it is condemned. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.759 And in fact, the scripture indicates here that it's called Nahushtan. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.559 Which means a piece of brass. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:05.519 And it was they absolutely shattered it. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:09.680 So in the Old Testament, we're saying, okay, this piece of brass existed, it brought healing. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:12.640 They worshiped the piece of brass, it got demolished. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.720 It was shattered to smithereens. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:18.079 So is does the story end there? 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:18.640 No. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:36.079 The most powerful tool to recognize the purpose and use of art when used appropriately in worship and a reflection of humanity as God created the earth and he created us to be creators and to be creative to bring his glory to earth. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:36.960 What happens? 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:51.039 Jesus Himself says, as the bronze serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, and people look to that and raise their hearts to God to be healed, so the Son of Man will be lifted up. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:58.640 It is the most powerful understanding of the use of redeeming the arts for its divine purpose. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:07.200 And I'll tell you, in all those 66 books of the Bible, the fact that Jesus made a point of speaking that is freedom. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:08.160 Freedom. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:11.599 So we can redeem something or we can condemn it. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:14.960 We can kick the darkness or we can turn the light on. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:16.960 Which is it we want to do? 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:22.960 Do we want to abolish things that don't meet with the measure of stuff, life, and as we know it to be or should be? 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:24.400 I would say not. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.960 Let's seek that it be redeemed. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:30.319 So for us today, I just want to finish with this scripture. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:34.880 1 Corinthians 6 20 says, For you've been bought with a price. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:40.559 Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:47.039 If we are bought with a price, it's not just my spirit that worships. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:49.279 He's animated my hands. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:56.480 If these are devoted to the Lord, then what I type on my keystrokes on the computer, it matters. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:11.279 How I greet someone, whether I push or shove or embrace, this is my physical body, a living sacrifice rendered to him for his glory, because I want to live like Bezalel did. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:17.039 I want to live in the shadow of God and understand, even, and I want to live under authority as an artist. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:19.519 Artists, sometimes we like to kick. 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:21.839 We don't like, well, I'm an artist. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:23.200 I'm the artist. 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:25.920 Yeah, that and a bag of chips isn't going to get you anywhere. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:30.640 You can be outstanding in your field, or you can be outstanding in a field because no one can work with you. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:39.279 Okay, so understand that God gave all these divine inspirations to Moses, to Solomon, to others through the word, and not any of those individuals. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:42.000 Doesn't say who built the bronze serpent, as I recall. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:44.160 But Moses was not known as an artist. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:48.480 Solomon was not known as an artist, but they all needed artists. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:58.960 And when they asked for what they were going to do with these designs, imagine all of that happened under someone who was not artistically inclined for the best knowledge we have. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:01.279 And yet they worked together as a team. 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:04.160 And Bezalel had a holyab from the tribe of Dan. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:05.920 And Dan means father's house. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:08.160 He had a heart after the father. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:13.200 Okay, so let's um let's be artists. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:14.880 Let's be free to create. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:17.119 Let's be free to reflect God. 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:18.640 Let's see that reflection. 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:25.039 If we want the glory of God or the love of God or the peace of God, the life of God, how do we impact culture? 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:26.400 We create more of it. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:30.720 Do we kick the darkness or do we turn the light on? 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:33.599 Is there a place for art in the church? 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:35.759 Yes, there sure is. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:37.759 Thanks very much, everyone.