April 10, 2026 - Exodus 36 & Psalm 78:56-72

We read Exodus 36 and Psalm 78:56-72 and then connect the tabernacle’s construction to the teamwork and service it takes to see a church thrive. We talk about willing hearts, cheerful generosity, and how God refines His people. Lastly, we are challenged to evaluate our hearts in light of the reality that God takes pleasure in using humble servants to lead with integrity. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. 

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Readings

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Vibrating Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word lighting the way. I'm Josiah Smith joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Friday, April 10th, 2026. Listen intently to God's written word. Exodus 36. Bezalel in Aholiab, and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded. And Moses called Bezalel in Aholiab, and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him free will offerings every morning, so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, and said to Moses, The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do. So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary, so the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work and more. And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twine linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with the cherubim skillfully worked. The length of each curtain was twenty eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size. He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another, and he made fifty clasps of gold and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps, so the tabernacle was a single hole. He also made curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains. The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size. He coupled five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain. And he made fifty clafts of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single hole. And he made for the tent a covering of tanned ramskin and goatskins. Then he made the upright frames for the tabernacles of acacia wood. Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. Each frame had two tenons for fitting together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle. The frames for the tabernacle he made thus, twenty frames for the south side, and he made forty bases of silver under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. For the second side of the tabernacle on the north side, he made twenty frames, and there forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame. For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six frames. He made two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear, and they were separate beneath but joined at the top. At the first ring, he made two of them this way for the two corners. There were eight frames with their bases of silver, sixteen bases under every frame, two bases. He made bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the tabernacle at the rear westward, and he made the middle bar to run from end to end halfway up the frames, and he overlaid the frames with gold, and made the rings of gold for holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. With cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it, and for it he made four pillars of acacia and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four bases of silver. He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen, embroidered with needlework, and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals, and their fillets were of gold, but their five bases were of bronze.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Psalm seventy-eight, verses fifty six through seventy-two. Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not keep his testimonies, but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers. They twisted like a deceitful bow, for they provoked him to anger in their high places, they moved him to jealousy with their idols. When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel. He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind, and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the land, to the hand of the foe. He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage. Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. When the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine, and he put his adversaries to rout. He put them to everlasting shame. He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds. From following the nursing ewes, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his inheritance. With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

In Exodus thirty-six, we see the actual construction begin in the tabernacle. Now, if you want to make it an analogy, up until this point, there's been plans submitted, there's been architect renderings, there's been all kinds of things, a site plan, a footprint, a how we're gonna lay the foundation, whatever. And now they're actually putting a shovel in the dirt. That might be a bad analogy. But the whole point is they're beginning construction. And so we see that here in Exodus 36. And who uh is the the two foremen in this project? Well, it's Bezalel and Aholiab. And they are these master craftsmen that have been filled with the spirit with every skill and intelligence to know how to do the work of the construction of the sanctuary. And those who are also skilled are going to work underneath these two gentlemen in the construction. Now, one thing that I want to just focus on, Tyler, is I think about the construction of the tabernacle. Of course, it was unique in Israel's history. It served a unique, both redemptive purpose but historical purpose as well. But it reminds me of where we are as a church at Compass Bible Church South Valley. And no, not just because we set up and tear down like they did with the tabernacle. And no, not just because we're mobile and we might move from one building to the next. Uh, but it reminds me of the type of sort of camaraderie that is needed to see the task completed. So we have all of these people in chapter 35 that begin giving their contributions for the tabernacle, their gold, uh, their silver. We have skilled craftsmen coming together who are uh, you know, Bezalel and Aholiab, and those other men that are underneath them working. We've got women doing uh work as well, sewing and putting things together and the rings, and and of course, in chapter 36, it's specific to the tent itself and the curtains and and all of those things. And we're gonna talk about the Ark of the Covenant in the next chapter and uh the bronze basin and things like that, and that we'll start constructing each element. Uh, but there's a lot of different people doing a lot of different things coming together uh to see the construction of the tabernacle in submission and obedience to the Lord. Now, how does that connect to Compass Babylon Church South Valley? Well, at this point, hopefully it's obvious that there's a lot of different people doing a lot of different things coming together for the you could say construction of the church of Compass Bible Church South Valley. Now, we're not building the church, Jesus builds his church, but nevertheless, we have a role. We all have a purpose, we have a mission that we've been given to contribute meaningfully. And so I was just encouraged looking at the nation of Israel being sort of coordinated together with different men, having different roles. We have even a structure of leaders, and they're coming together to obey the commands of God. And in our church, Compass Bible Church South Valley, it's so, so important that we are all sort of bought in, that we are all willing to expend of ourselves, that we're all willing uh to roll up our sleeves and do the work to see something beautiful constructed, uh, as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2: a holy temple, a dwelling place for the Lord. So that's what I'm thinking about in Exodus 36.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

You know, as you describe the many hands, the many different skills, the different contributions. I see that, PJ. I see that at Compass Bible Church South Valley. And it stirs me up. It's encouraging. I get fired up when I see um people showing up early, staying late, um, setting up signs, setting up pipe and drape, rolling out the carpet, move rolling carts around, boxing and unboxing and boxing again, all the tech equipment and all the chairs that need to be moved, and all the uh the tables, the connect table, the hospitality, all the all the things that go into making a church service happen. Yeah, that parallel is totally there. And I I'm really encouraged. Uh, and there's gonna be some hotter months that are coming up. It it might get a little sweaty, and that's okay. Yeah, and that's okay. It's good to work hard for the Lord and and be a little uncomfortable. Um, that's a great place to be.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yeah, and even if we look at Exodus 36 and see the contributions, not only physically speaking, of things actually being created, but uh the materials that were necessary, the precious metals, the fine linen, all of those things, the people of Israel responded. And again, this wasn't this wasn't a every single person was commanded and demanded of. This was those who had a willing heart, those who removed in their heart a heart of generosity, as we read about in Exodus 35. And it says that so many people of Israel that had this heart of generosity, uh, it says they still kept bringing him free will offerings every morning so that all the craftsmen were like, okay, we're good. Stop. Where we put all this, stop. We have enough to do what God has commanded. And I think about that just in parallel to our church. Uh, we have needs, we have both material needs of literally physical items, uh, like the things that we set up and tear down every Sunday, but we also have uh monetary needs where we have a budget and we have a staff and we have programming things, like it costs money to do extravaganza, and it costs money to do adventure club and winter weekend that you were able to put on, Tyler, for our students. And it's gonna cost money to do Camp Compass, and it costs money to do all of these different things. And so this isn't just like uh an infomercial for Give, but I do think there is something to be said about the generosity of Israel coming together to see God's uh tabernacle built, to see his instructions obeyed. And so I would just uh encourage you, if you are listening, to hopefully be challenged by that, that they they responded uh so greatly to the need in the moment uh that people were having to turn them away and say, hey, we've got what we need. We're able to obey the Lord. And just uh realize that everything that we're seeking to do, we're in the early stages of our church. Yeah, I mean, we have a budget and there are monetary needs, there are physical needs, and uh, there should be this sense of being challenged of a willing heart. We're not trying to compel, we're not trying to force or career coerce. We want willing hearts just like the Lord uh wants from Israel, those who uh have a generous heart, those who uh just a free will offering, so to speak. Uh, but we need generous people giving generously to see something great for the Lord constructed, if we're using that sort of analogy, here at Compass Bible Church, South Valley. And yeah, you're right, Tyler. We have seen that play out already in the early days, five, six weeks into our church. We've seen people be generous, we've seen them come early, we've seen them stay late, and the Lord is blessing it. And it's a beautiful thing uh to see the body come together. It's a beautiful thing to see new families join our ranks and be encouraged. It's a beautiful thing to see new people starting partners, new people joining our life groups. Uh, there's reports of people professing faith in Christ already, people wanting to get baptized. I mean, there is much to be thankful for. But let Exodus 36, if we kind of use it as an analogy, so to speak, for our church and the early stages that we are in and the things that we are constructing, and the setting up and the tearing down and the materials needed and the generosity that's required, and just take that as an encouragement uh to keep going, that to be generous, uh, to seek to worship the Lord through all of those things and just trust that as we come together as a body and are just faithful, that just do what God has commanded, that build uh what God has said he will build through Christ, his his church, uh, that all we have to do is be faithful. We have to be generous. God loves a cheerful giver, and uh just watch as the Lord responds and as he is faithful uh to build his church.

Refining Discipline And David’s Example

SPEAKER_00 14:21

As I'm thinking about the difficulties of setting up and tearing down in the cold months and also in the heat in the middle of summer, uh I think about the discomfort of my own life and the ways that God has um has used uh his ways, his means to refine me. And as I look around, I see the ways that God is refining his people, and and sometimes that looks like correction. Sometimes that looks like um identifying people that are um that that need to be disciplined. And as we look at our text today, uh we see a people that are testing and rebelling against God and and what does he do? Um he's not he's not happy with it, he's upset by it, he's angered by it, and the ways that God is uh disciplining his people, um, judging his people, there's there's captivity involved, there's sword involved, there's um there's the fire devouring young men. There's some intense imagery in this section of uh of Psalm 78, and I'm reminded that um through through the refining process, God is not giving up, God is not quitting uh the original plan, and he is um delivering a people that he will um present as holy and blameless in the end, and as a result, uh he is glorified and he is uh he is worship. And as we look at the the ways that David is selected, David is uh known as the man after God's own heart, he's always looking at interior worship and not necessarily just the exterior, but we do have this opportunity to visibly see um obedient lovers of Christ from from an external standpoint, but God goes beyond human eyes and and sees the heart. So we see David being raised up from the sheepfolds and from the nursing ewes and to the the throne in uh in Israel, and and he is labeled here in verse 72 uh with upright heart, he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

Closing And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yeah, and I love verse 70 that uh these are the kinds of people that God delights to use: those who are unassuming, uh those who are last in line, those who come from the sheepfolds and uh you know the lowly jobs. And uh, if we're thinking about you know the construction of the tabernacle and the work of planting compass biochurch South Valley and sort of pushing forward and seeing growth and continuing to serve and being generous, I just know that God historically has used people of no renown to do great things, uh, just like David. He took him from the sheepfold, from following the nursing ewes, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, Israel, his people, Israel, his inheritance, with an upright heart. He did just that. He shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. So the requirements uh to do great things for the Lord are are simply obedience, it's simply uh a submission to God's word, it's relying on God's spirits and obeying God's commands. And if we do that together, if we're committed to doing that as a church, if we're committed to being generous as a church, giving to the point where maybe even Tyler and I go, Hey, we've got what we need. We've got what we need in terms of our budget or or anything else like that. Uh, we're we're looking to push forward, to exalt the name of Christ here in Cuna and beyond, to see something built that outlasts, outlives all of us, Lord willing. And that's going to require an all-hands-on-deck approach. It's going to require those who come from the sheepfolds, who are unassuming, who take on positions perhaps that they would never have dreamed that they would take on for just advancing the name of Christ here in the valley and beyond. So we hope that you are encouraged by this and even looking at the construction of the tabernacle, how Israel banded together. Of course, Israel would continue to rebel and they'll forget the covenant and this, that, and the other. But we see just a great shining example here of generosity, uh, willing hearts, generous hearts, people coming together, uh, being obedient to what God commanded, building something that ultimately was the dwelling place of the Lord, and of course, was redemptively pointing forward to what Christ would ultimately fulfill in the new covenant through his blood. So I hope that's an encouragement for you today. Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible sv.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.