SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we're not the first of your people to say to you that we need you.
SPEAKER_02: Long before us, your people declared that they need you.
SPEAKER_02: They cried out in the Bible from a place of authenticity and said, How long, O Lord?
SPEAKER_02: So we want to add our voice to theirs and confess that we need you.
SPEAKER_02: But yet you want to respond back to us by saying, I'm here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the God that's here.
SPEAKER_02: That's what the tabernacle is all about.
SPEAKER_02: You we looked last week in Exodus and you said, Build for me a sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: Not because you need a building, but your people need to be reminded that you're not the God who's far away.
SPEAKER_02: You're the God that tabernacled among them.
SPEAKER_02: So when in the New Testament, when it says in John 1 that the word became flesh and dwelt, literally tabernacled among us, what you did back then got us ready to understand Jesus right now.
SPEAKER_02: And so we we confess, God, that we lost our job and we've gone to interviews and we hadn't got a nibble that you're the God that says, I'm still here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm still here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm in charge of the universe and I'm good.
SPEAKER_02: So if you need me, I'm available.
SPEAKER_02: So it's a great collision that could happen today in this room.
SPEAKER_02: So, Holy Spirit, that's our desire, that's our need.
SPEAKER_02: We said back to you, we said to you that we need you.
SPEAKER_02: We want to meet with you.
SPEAKER_02: You're the God that tabernacles with his people.
SPEAKER_02: We don't make sacrifices and offerings up to you.
SPEAKER_02: You came down and was the offering that ended all the offerings, all the sacrifices, because Jesus, your perfect life, was sufficient.
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna love you with our heart, soul, mind, and strength today.
SPEAKER_02: So, Holy Spirit, turn the light on and cause the Bible to make sense.
SPEAKER_02: We ask all this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_02: If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Exodus chapter 25.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a guest, we're going through the book of Exodus.
SPEAKER_02: Uh we started in chapter 1, verse 1.
SPEAKER_02: We're kind of going episodically.
SPEAKER_02: We're up to the part in the Bible where they build the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_02: Last week, God said, Build for me a sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: We talked about that.
SPEAKER_02: And so, just to kind of, now by the way, I said I alluded to this in an email I sent you yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's going to be parts in the Bible that when you get to them, they seem kind of hard to understand and kind of like, what is this all about?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and let me just say it to you: it's in those parts of the Bible, if you'll seek to understand what God is saying, God kind of hides some revelation and stuff in there.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a man and you watch Sports Center, when they give hockey highlights and the guy shoots the, he shoots the puck and he goes top shelf.
SPEAKER_02: If he shoots something high in the goal, the announcer always says, Oh, he put it up top shelf where grandma hides the thin mints.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all don't watch Sports Center?
SPEAKER_02: What's wrong with you men?
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, basically, this is what God does.
SPEAKER_02: God kind of, he, they're not hidden, they're kind of there.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and you say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Let me say this: the tabernacle is the most tangible explanation uh and demonstration of Jesus Christ, his life and his ministry and everything.
SPEAKER_02: And it happened a long time ago.
SPEAKER_02: You say, What is a tabernacle?
SPEAKER_02: I brought you a couple visual aids.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, anybody that has a red centra of that license plate, they want you to come to the lobby.
SPEAKER_02: Everything's fine.
SPEAKER_02: You have a flat tire.
SPEAKER_02: And we have men in our church that want to change, get your keys and change your tire, and you come back in the air-conditioned building and just enjoy church.
SPEAKER_02: Especially if you're a woman.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a dude, you're on your own.
SPEAKER_02: But if you're a woman, you have a red Nissan Sintra, we have men that will change your tire and take care of it.
SPEAKER_02: We don't want you to get off sweaty.
SPEAKER_02: That's why God put us here.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: Yes, there you go.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I brought you a picture.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to talk about uh the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we got said, built me a sanctuary/slash tabernacle.
SPEAKER_02: That's what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it looked like.
SPEAKER_02: I stayed up all night last night.
SPEAKER_02: It's a map color, so I hope you can read my writing.
SPEAKER_02: Uh now, basically, this is what it looked like.
SPEAKER_02: It was a the the that little brown roof on the inside.
SPEAKER_02: God's very detailed.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, everything God does, God does for a reason.
SPEAKER_02: We're a microwave society.
SPEAKER_02: We're a microwave people.
SPEAKER_02: And so we come against, we bump up against a text like this, and we just skip and go to John 3.16, for God so loved the world.
SPEAKER_02: I get that part.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you want to, if you want to understand the big picture of the Bible, you need to understand parts like we're gonna read today.
SPEAKER_02: Because basically, this is uh a mobile church, a portable church.
SPEAKER_02: Before people start meeting in schools and setting up and tearing down, God said, Hey, I'm gonna get, I'm I'm gonna pitch my tent among you.
SPEAKER_02: That's what a tabernacle is.
SPEAKER_02: And so that outside part, it's made out of sea cow hides.
SPEAKER_02: It's not like a fence that you would get at Home Depot.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's a group of people in Numbers chapter 4 talks about the Gershonites.
SPEAKER_02: Their job was just to set up the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_02: They never went in themselves, but they facilitated people meeting with God.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's a you for scale at the very top up there, that rectangle, that's an American football field.
SPEAKER_02: So you get a kind of a scope of how big it was.
SPEAKER_02: It was probably a little over 10,000 feet.
SPEAKER_02: And so God says, build for me a sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: And then he starts where we're gonna start today, and he he he he says and starts talking about the Ark of the Covenant.
SPEAKER_02: You see the numbers there.
SPEAKER_02: This is the Ark of the Covenant.
SPEAKER_02: Go back to the other slide for a second, guys.
SPEAKER_02: You see the numbers 1 through 12.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, that on that end of the tabernacle, that's the Holy of Holies.
SPEAKER_02: That's a there was a curtain.
SPEAKER_02: All that was in there was the Ark of the Covenant and an altar of incense.
SPEAKER_02: The high priest went in there once a year, and he had to burn incense and basically fill the room with smoke so that he wouldn't look directly upon God.
SPEAKER_02: But you couldn't look directly upon God and live.
SPEAKER_02: So there's a sense of separation.
SPEAKER_02: God said, check yourself before you wreck yourself.
SPEAKER_02: Long before the rapper said it.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: And so we're gonna read about this, and you want a deeper, fuller understanding of Jesus, just listen this morning, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And so uh that's the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_02: Now the next slide is what we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_02: It's called the Ark of the Covenant.
SPEAKER_02: Uh basically, God, when you build a house nowadays, like there's a house being built right around the corner from me, first thing you do is lay the foundation.
SPEAKER_02: The reason God says, build for me a sanctuary, and then he starts talking about the Ark of the Covenant, is because for God, this is the foundation.
SPEAKER_02: This is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_02: This is the thing you start here and then build out because God says do this, and he talks about these other elements, and then in about three or four weeks we'll get to the actual tabernacle, or God gives them instructions how to do that.
SPEAKER_02: Why does God say build a sanctuary?
SPEAKER_02: Then he starts with this, because this is what God deems most important.
SPEAKER_02: You say, I don't know why.
SPEAKER_02: You will this morning, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Let me read from the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Exodus chapter 25, verse, starting in verse 9.
SPEAKER_02: Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furniture, so you shall make it.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 10, they shall make an ark of Achaea wood, two cubits and a half to be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you say, What is a cubit?
SPEAKER_02: The cubit was a uh uh a form of measurement.
SPEAKER_02: It was from a man's elbow to the tip of his middle finger.
SPEAKER_02: They didn't have Home Depot back then.
SPEAKER_02: And so they would just measure stuff.
SPEAKER_02: It was kind of a general accepted thing.
SPEAKER_02: And so the Ark of the Covenant wasn't this huge thing like you see in Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom or whatever.
SPEAKER_02: Uh it was basically a little under four feet by a little under two feet, a little under about 18 inches tall.
SPEAKER_02: But he says, Hey, you shall overlay it, verse 11, with pure gold inside and outside, shall you overlay it?
SPEAKER_02: You shall make on it a molding of gold around it.
SPEAKER_02: You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side of it, two rings on the other side of it.
SPEAKER_02: You shall make poles of a cave of wood and overlay them with gold.
SPEAKER_02: You shall put the poles in the rings on the side of the ark to carry the ark by them.
SPEAKER_02: The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark.
SPEAKER_02: They shall not be taken from it.
SPEAKER_02: You shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.
SPEAKER_02: You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold.
SPEAKER_02: Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and you shall take two cherubim of gold, of hammered work, shall you make them, and on the two ends of the mercy seat.
SPEAKER_02: Make one cherub on the one end, and the one cherub on the other end.
SPEAKER_02: Of one piece with uh with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.
SPEAKER_02: The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another, toward the mercy seat, and the faces of the cherubim be.
SPEAKER_02: You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark.
SPEAKER_02: In the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 22, there I will meet with you.
SPEAKER_02: Not there there aren't more powerful words spoken in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: God says, There, this is the place that I will meet you.
SPEAKER_02: And from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, and that are on the ark of the testimony, I shall speak with you about all that I give you and the commandment for the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Now you say, Now I why I want to talk this morning about because God seems to be saying, start here.
SPEAKER_02: I want to talk to you about start here.
SPEAKER_02: God says, I'm gonna build, I want you to build for me a sanctuary, a tabernacle, and but I want you to start here.
SPEAKER_02: Why why does God say start here?
SPEAKER_02: There's basically four reasons.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, the ark symbolizes the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: The ark symbolizes the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: Now you say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: That gold, that that that that picture we have, then that's an artist rendering, obviously.
SPEAKER_02: But it's not like this is like a don't think like a genie in a lamp or a genie in a bottle, okay?
SPEAKER_02: That's a bad Christine Aguilera song, all right?
SPEAKER_02: It's not that God could fit in this box.
SPEAKER_02: That's not what it was about.
SPEAKER_02: God accommodates himself.
SPEAKER_02: This vessel couldn't contain God, it served as a reminder to the people that this is where God was going to accommodate himself because God said, Hey, build me a sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: Not because God needs a building, because the Bible clearly says God doesn't live in temples built by human hands.
SPEAKER_02: He cannot be contained like that.
SPEAKER_02: But stop me if you know anybody that's this way.
SPEAKER_02: Every once in a while, life got so stressful.
SPEAKER_02: Bills got piled up, kids got off the reservation, your husband got on your last nerve, and every once in a while, women back then stood at the kitchen sink and just thought, is this gonna be my life for the rest of my life?
SPEAKER_02: Because I don't know if I can take this, God.
SPEAKER_02: Where are you?
SPEAKER_02: Not that any of y'all have ever thought that.
SPEAKER_02: Not that any of y'all have been woken up by your snoring husband and propped yourself up in bed and just stared at him for five minutes and thought to yourself, would the insurance pay off if long before you got here, women back in the Bible thought that.
SPEAKER_02: And so they would just say, Man, where is God?
SPEAKER_02: And God came down and tabernacled, so they could kind of look and go, hey, God's among us.
SPEAKER_02: God hadn't forgotten about us, God's here, okay, we're gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_02: Well, it it's it's hard right now because the ark symbolizes the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: See, God says, Hey, I'm gonna accommodate myself, and this is where above these angels we notice that the two cherubim, let me do this is free, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh we talk about cherubim, it says it's a certain kind of angel.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a messenger.
SPEAKER_02: Like some angels were messenger.
SPEAKER_02: We talk about cherubim.
SPEAKER_02: If you go to the Hallmark store, it's this fat little angels with little wings on clouds.
SPEAKER_02: No, look, it's a cherubim.
SPEAKER_02: That's not what they were in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: It's really not what they are.
SPEAKER_02: They were protectors of God's presence.
SPEAKER_02: They kept anything unholy out of God's presence.
SPEAKER_02: God was so holy, they didn't even look up at God.
SPEAKER_02: They looked down at the ark and they put their wings out to say, check yourself before you wreck yourself.
SPEAKER_02: This could get bad, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: First reference of a cherubim in the Bible is in the book of Genesis, chapter three.
SPEAKER_02: God expels Adam and Eve out of the garden because they sinned, and he puts a cherubim, an angel with a flaming sword to guard the entrance back to the garden.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because their sole responsibility was to not let anything unholy into the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: And it's the same thing here.
SPEAKER_02: And so there's an ornate detail and clear, clear, obvious reason for everything that God does.
SPEAKER_02: And so God says, this is where I will meet with you.
SPEAKER_02: This is where I'm gonna accommodate my presence.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna come down to remind you that I'm here.
SPEAKER_02: So the ark symbolizes uh the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: And God believes that he has the right to tell us how he's to be worshipped, thought about, and approached.
SPEAKER_02: So we have to think soberly about the presence of God because he thinks soberly about himself.
SPEAKER_02: This is not, there's not, let me say this: there's not a more important reality in the life of the church and the life of a Christian than the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: Because the moment you lose track of the fact that God is here, and so I referenced it, I think, in my prayer.
SPEAKER_02: In John chapter 1, the Bible's talking about Jesus says the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_02: That word in the Greek dwelt as tabernacle.
SPEAKER_02: He pitched his tent.
SPEAKER_02: As Eugene Peterson says in the message, God put on flesh and moved into the neighborhood and invited me over for dinner on Tuesday.
SPEAKER_02: God is that personal, he's that real, and he's that available, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And so the ark was a symbol that reminded people of the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a question and think about while you're driving to work tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: How often in the warp and woof of your day do you think about the presence of God?
SPEAKER_02: How often do you are you just kind of stop and think, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not alone in this world.
SPEAKER_02: God's here.
SPEAKER_02: He lives inside of me by his spirit.
SPEAKER_02: He's not left me to just figure it out.
SPEAKER_02: Second thing the ark tells us is the ark reminds us of God's holiness.
SPEAKER_02: It reminds us of God's holiness.
SPEAKER_02: If you look in the Bible, if you've got one, Exodus chapter 25, I'll start reading about verse 12, where God put the picture of the ark back up there, guys.
SPEAKER_02: He says, You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on his four feet, two rings on the one side of it and two rings on the other side of it.
SPEAKER_02: You shall make poles of a K of wood and overlay them with gold, and you shall put the poles into the rings on the side of the ark to carry them.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you're a thinking person, especially if you're an engineer, you're thinking, is that the most efficient way to do that?
SPEAKER_02: Because I mean, you think if you're God, I mean, you can make that thing float, couldn't you?
SPEAKER_02: That would be awesome.
SPEAKER_02: That thing, just big golden hope chest, comes coming out of the back room.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, woo! But God said this, hey, I want to put these rings on here.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to put you these poles in here.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, I told you a few minutes ago, everything God does, sometimes it's gonna sound crazy.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes God's gonna tell you to do things and you're like, say what?
SPEAKER_02: Like, for example, I was standing in a Dillard's in Pensacola, Florida one time buying a tie.
SPEAKER_02: And on the other side of the tie case, they got the ties in this glass case, like they're diamonds or something.
SPEAKER_02: And there's a lady standing there, she's in her mid-50s, and clear Isabel, the Holy Spirit said, I want you to go over there and tell that woman she's worth loving.
SPEAKER_02: That's creepy.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know her.
SPEAKER_02: And then it dawned on me, because I let me be clear.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't hear God laughing, but I just kind of figure God like, who you think you're talking to?
SPEAKER_02: Get yourself over and do what I said.
SPEAKER_02: And so I just like getting a poll, like, okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_02: So I walk around there and say, excuse me, ma'am, I just want to tell you you're worth loving.
SPEAKER_02: She explodes into tears.
SPEAKER_02: Goes right to the ugly cry.
SPEAKER_02: I mean sucking women.
SPEAKER_02: Oh my God, oh my God.
SPEAKER_02: The lady behind the counter, thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Word of knowledge.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, oh Lord, no.
SPEAKER_02: Just security comes over and she's like, Why do you think that?
SPEAKER_02: Long story short, her husband had divorced her eight years earlier.
SPEAKER_02: She didn't have she didn't have anything, had two kids in college.
SPEAKER_02: She went back to school, became a paralegal, kind of finally started.
SPEAKER_02: Her husband used to tell her, You're so fat and ugly.
SPEAKER_02: You gotta be you gotta be glad I married you.
SPEAKER_02: No man's gonna ever want you.
SPEAKER_02: And she's telling me all this, and snots coming out, and I'm like, get some Kleenex.
SPEAKER_02: And she's there, she'll talk a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you say that.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, I don't even live here, ma'am.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know you or anybody.
SPEAKER_02: I I why'd you say that?
SPEAKER_02: I said, because God told me to.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, then the lady behind the counter, thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, stop.
SPEAKER_02: The whole time I'm doing, what is going on, God?
SPEAKER_02: Clue me in.
SPEAKER_02: And the woman says, starts telling me my husband divorced me.
SPEAKER_02: He used to tell me I was fat and ugly, and I'd be glad that he put up with me this long and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: And she says, I met a man and we're kind of getting serious, and I'm flying to New York tomorrow to see him for the holidays, and I couldn't get him a tie.
SPEAKER_02: And I was walking into the store, I got in my car, and I was walking in, I heard my husband's voice going, You're so fat and ugly, you gotta be glad I even put up with you this long.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, I thought, what am I doing?
SPEAKER_02: Let me just break my plans and tell the guy I'm not coming.
SPEAKER_02: And then you come up and say I'm worth loving.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes, beloved, God's gonna tell you to do things that you're just kind of like, God told them, Hey, you take poles.
SPEAKER_02: Poles are a tangible reminder of the sense of separation.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the ark reminds us of God's holiness.
SPEAKER_02: There's a sense of separation between God and man.
SPEAKER_02: You don't touch me, you don't come in, put your hands on my presence, basically.
SPEAKER_02: God's holy.
SPEAKER_02: And at its core, beloved, that means other than.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: There are things about God that are not me, never will be me, cannot be fully comprehended by me or approached by me.
SPEAKER_02: And so I need to grasp that at the expense of my life.
SPEAKER_02: Otherwise, I'm gonna have thoughts about God that are gonna influence my posture towards God and my and the way I relate to God that are far from biblical.
SPEAKER_02: Let me give you a great example.
SPEAKER_02: I think modern worship has lost its sense of God, of the holiness of God, because we sing about wanting to see God, touch God, be with God, be wrapped in his embrace.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like anything Taylor Swift can write about, we've come to believe we can do with God.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to say, be careful, because whenever I hear that, I hear an insufficient theology of the holiness of God.
SPEAKER_02: What's happened, beloved, is we've disconnected the grace of God from the nature of God, and in so doing, we've made God approachable in the worst of ways.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: We've disconnected the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: Is God a God of grace?
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't be standing here if he wasn't.
SPEAKER_02: But God, there's a fullness to God's nature that cannot just be summed up by grace or love.
SPEAKER_02: Well, my God's a God of love.
SPEAKER_02: That's a descriptive statement, not a summary statement.
SPEAKER_02: And what we've done is we've separated the grace of God from the nature of God, and we've started approaching God in ways that I don't know that God would approve of.
SPEAKER_02: It's this chummy familiarity.
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like God's rad, he's my dad.
SPEAKER_02: Go, God, go.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, well, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: Let me give you an example from the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Don't turn there, but in 2 Samuel chapter 6, the ark, that God said, Hey, I'm holy other than you.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna handle my presence, you're gonna approach me a certain way, and you're gonna take these poles uh made out of wood, covered in gold, you're gonna slide them in these rings, and you're and the priests are only gonna bear my presence.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want those rascals just running in here because they want to be around me.
SPEAKER_02: And so the 2 Samuel, they were transferring the ark of God.
SPEAKER_02: David was trying to get it to Jerusalem and they put it on an ox cart.
SPEAKER_02: He's like they went down to the U-Haul store down here, got a U-Haul, slammed it in the back of it, and said, This will be efficient, we'll get there a lot quicker.
SPEAKER_02: God said, Hey, you put these poles in here, and the Bible's so subtle, and you never take them out.
SPEAKER_02: Because there's never a day I want you to stop thinking with sobriety about the way you approach me.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, You the priests are to bear my presence.
SPEAKER_02: So they put on an ox cart, and it's going along there, and one of the oxen stumbles, and a man named Uzzah.
SPEAKER_02: Did you go to school with anybody named Uzzah?
SPEAKER_02: No, because your mama was smart.
SPEAKER_02: The Ark of the Covenant kind of it kind of rocked a little bit like it was gonna fall off, and Uzzah reached out to catch it, and God struck him dead and killed him.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the ark reminds us of the presence of God, the holiness, the presence of God number one, the holiness of God number two.
SPEAKER_02: God is saying to man, I don't need your help.
SPEAKER_02: Don't put your hands on me.
SPEAKER_02: Even if you think it's going bad, don't put your hands on me.
SPEAKER_02: When you begin to start trying to manipulate the presence of God, which the children of Israel tried to do, you're not in a good way.
SPEAKER_02: And so God kills this man dead right there, and King David goes up to the, he sees a house, walks up there, and knocks on the door.
SPEAKER_02: A man named Obed Edom, the Get out, answers the door.
SPEAKER_02: And King David, this is in the Bible, 2 Samuel 6, says to the man, hey, we got the presence of God out here in the ark, and he just killed the man at the end of your driveway.
SPEAKER_02: Sorry about that.
SPEAKER_02: You got a power washer?
SPEAKER_02: I think it'll come right up.
SPEAKER_02: Uh we're all kind of freaked out.
SPEAKER_02: You got an extra bedroom we can store this in till we get our act together?
SPEAKER_02: We'll come back.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy said, Yes.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible says that the ark was at the house of Obed Edom the Gittite, and God blessed him and his entire household.
SPEAKER_02: For three months, the presence of God was in the spare bedroom of a man named Obed Edom the Gittite.
SPEAKER_02: And then they heard, David heard, and he went and got it, and he went and got poles.
SPEAKER_02: They went and read back in the Bible, and God said, Dad, don't put your hands on me.
SPEAKER_02: Don't touch me.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because there's a sense of separateness between me and you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm available to you, I love you, I'm a God of grace to you, but I will bring the thunder.
SPEAKER_02: I will lay the wood to you if you don't follow what I say.
SPEAKER_02: That's just who God is.
SPEAKER_02: He's not harsh, he's God.
SPEAKER_02: And as God, who gets to define God but God?
SPEAKER_02: God is a self.
SPEAKER_02: Any attempt to define God that doesn't come from God is idolatry.
SPEAKER_02: It's us making uh some graven image that we find tolerable.
SPEAKER_02: The ark is a reminder of the holiness of God.
SPEAKER_02: Thirdly, the ark reminds us of God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_02: The ark reminds us of God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_02: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: God said, put three things in there.
SPEAKER_02: Now you should have noticed, or maybe you didn't, it's okay, that a couple times God used this phrase, like in verse 16, and you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.
SPEAKER_02: You shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.
SPEAKER_02: See, what's in the ark, the three things that are in the ark, God is gonna like call as evidence later in life to kind of say, Hey, I'm gonna testify.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a here you're gonna put this in here.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm on record as this.
SPEAKER_02: So these three things, let me just tell you what they are and what they say to us today.
SPEAKER_02: The first thing is called an omer of manna.
SPEAKER_02: Basically, it's a jar of manna.
SPEAKER_02: Manna.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, manna was that sweet, kind of tasted like honeybread-like substance from there in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, we don't have any food.
SPEAKER_02: Would you bring us out here in the wilderness just to let us starve to death?
SPEAKER_02: We'd rather go back to Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: And God, the next morning they woke up and there's like frost on the ground.
SPEAKER_02: It's like bread.
SPEAKER_02: It's called manna.
SPEAKER_02: Manna means what is it?
SPEAKER_02: And that's what they ate the whole time they're in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_02: See, the omer of manna basically tells us that reminds us that God will provide.
SPEAKER_02: God will provide.
SPEAKER_02: You need, mom, if you want to do a craft with your kids, get a mason jar and write on the lid the omer of manna and put a bunch of little strips of paper beside and just write down different ways God's provided for your kids.
SPEAKER_02: When our kids were little, their favorite stories weren't things we'd read out of a book.
SPEAKER_02: They would say, Dad, tell us about the time that God, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: Or tell me that story about blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: And we go, oh yeah, yeah, this is what God did.
SPEAKER_02: And so that was our omer of manna.
SPEAKER_02: We could just pull strips of paper out of there and kind of go, oh yeah, this is what happened.
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, and this is what happened when it happened to our air conditioner.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and this is what happened when it came to a car.
SPEAKER_02: And oh, this is what happened, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: Now my women have conspired against me.
SPEAKER_02: We've had the same refrigerator since 1999.
SPEAKER_02: They're conspiring against me because they need a new one.
SPEAKER_02: The water doesn't work on the door anymore.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, the faucet right there works.
SPEAKER_02: You and your first world problems.
SPEAKER_02: But dad, but dad, we've had this refrigerator since 1999.
SPEAKER_02: And I open it up and go, ooh, it's still cold.
SPEAKER_02: Close it back.
SPEAKER_02: Now, my kids are smart.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, hey, dad, hadn't God provided in the past?
SPEAKER_02: So you gotta watch them little rascals.
SPEAKER_02: They'll work, they'll they'll they'll run it on you, okay?
SPEAKER_02: But but the omer of manna reminds us, hey, God will provide.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says it like this, Exodus 16, verse 32.
SPEAKER_02: Moses says, This is what the Lord has commanded, let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: Moses said to Aaron, Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.
SPEAKER_02: Now, why does God twice say, This is gonna be kept throughout your generations?
SPEAKER_02: Does that go bad?
SPEAKER_02: Is that thing refrigerated?
SPEAKER_02: Not at all.
SPEAKER_02: It is a testimony.
SPEAKER_02: It's God saying, when you start doubting, when you start wondering, when you get to the end of the month and you got more bills and you got money, God says, I'm gonna provide.
SPEAKER_02: Remember how I've related to you in the past?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not changing my posture going into the future.
SPEAKER_02: So the first thing that reminds us is that God will provide.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, second thing in there was it's Aaron's staff.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody call it Aaron's rod, but his staff tells us that God says, Hey, I have a plan for how this should go.
SPEAKER_02: Or as I like to say, only God decides who is called.
SPEAKER_02: But I have a plan for how this should go because here's what happens: it happens with any enterprise, it happens all the time.
SPEAKER_02: The children of Israel are on the move into the promised land.
SPEAKER_02: They've seen all this stuff, and then among the ranks, people start kind of thinking, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: What's so special about Moses and Aaron?
SPEAKER_02: Why do they get to be in charge?
SPEAKER_02: I want to be in charge.
SPEAKER_02: And God said, Hey, leadership is a priestly function among my people.
SPEAKER_02: It's not for entrepreneurs.
SPEAKER_02: And so there was a man among the congregation, and his name was Korah.
SPEAKER_02: Korah was a guy that he was a he was a servant leader and he had some responsibilities, but he wanted like, hey, I want to I want to call the shots.
SPEAKER_02: And so the Bible talks about him in Numbers chapter 16 and verse 7 and 17.
SPEAKER_02: This is Numbers chapter 16, verse 8.
SPEAKER_02: Now keep in mind, he basically wants Moses' job.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, what's so special about you?
SPEAKER_02: And Moses understands the weight of calling.
SPEAKER_02: And Moses pleads with this man to say, Hey, I don't think you know what you're doing.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says it like this.
SPEAKER_02: And Moses said to Korah, Hear now, uh, you sons of Levi, is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him and all your brothers, the sons of Levi with you.
SPEAKER_02: And would you seek the priesthood also?
SPEAKER_02: And Moses is saying, Hey, be careful.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're a leader among the congregation.
SPEAKER_02: You you're you're you're a very key layperson, we would say, these days, but you want the priesthood also?
SPEAKER_02: The answer to the question is, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02: And so, kind of look forward.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just say this.
SPEAKER_02: One of the tragedies of our generation is that we've lost the doctrine of calling.
SPEAKER_02: We have lost the doctrine of calling.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean by calling?
SPEAKER_02: About someone being called to ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, I can't do anything else.
SPEAKER_02: If I would do anything else, it would be disobedience.
SPEAKER_02: But God's called me to this.
SPEAKER_02: And see, here's my concern that we're a generation, because not only did Korah get on this, but he had two other guys with him, and then 250 people in the congregation among the people of Israel said, Yeah, we're with them.
SPEAKER_02: We think they should be up there leading with Moses and Aaron.
SPEAKER_02: Now keep in mind, Aaron's ride reminds us that God says, I got a plan for how this is gonna go.
SPEAKER_02: I decide who's called into the priesthood.
SPEAKER_02: Your grandma can't just say to you, Oh, you graduating college, you can't find a job, why don't you go to seminary?
SPEAKER_02: God needs help.
SPEAKER_02: No, God needs called men and women.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't need help.
SPEAKER_02: See, here's my concern that we got a couple generations that are so addicted to affirmation.
SPEAKER_02: We have people being affirmed in the ministry by man who were never called into ministry by God.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: We love affirmation.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not against affirmation.
SPEAKER_02: I'm from the old school.
SPEAKER_02: My women, the three women I live with, my wife and two daughters, they all turned on me the other day and had an intervention at dinner.
SPEAKER_02: I thought we were eating and they were conspiring.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, Well, Dad, we think you should be more affirming.
SPEAKER_02: I'm eating my food, just kind of thinking, where is this going, you crazy females?
SPEAKER_02: Because here's how unself aware I am.
SPEAKER_02: I think I'm very affirming.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm from the old school.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I affirm do something, and then I'll affirm you.
SPEAKER_02: I don't affirm you as the motivation to do something.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm probably not gonna change.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying uh because I just, hey, because I don't get a call from the elders every Monday morning at 7:30.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, buckaroo, can you come to work today?
SPEAKER_02: You're awesome.
SPEAKER_02: We've got a trophy waiting for you on your desk, and there's a Starbucks gift card in case this job interferes with your personal life.
SPEAKER_02: Go meet some friends at Starbucks on company time.
SPEAKER_02: No, I just get up and go to work.
SPEAKER_02: That's what I'm supposed to do.
SPEAKER_02: My kids come home.
SPEAKER_02: Hey dad, I made the honor of it.
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome, babe.
SPEAKER_02: I'm proud of you.
SPEAKER_02: You God gave you an intellect.
SPEAKER_02: I expect you to do well.
SPEAKER_02: Now our friends are like, ah, aren't you gonna have a party?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: This is gonna get me kicked out of y'all's club.
SPEAKER_02: I think we celebrate our kids too much.
SPEAKER_02: You been to a birthday party lately?
SPEAKER_02: It's like a competition.
SPEAKER_02: Women are taking notes.
SPEAKER_02: Bouncy house.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, she had a live pony.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna get a giraffe.
SPEAKER_02: I I said this right out of my pie hole when my kid was four.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody came to her party, which I only let her have like six or seven kids.
SPEAKER_02: One lady, she's typical Fort Bend County.
SPEAKER_02: I love them, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02: She's walked in, she's like, Well, this is kind of an old-fashioned party.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, it's just cake and and there's a few games, but there's no really, you know, we're not face painting and there's no bouncy house or anything like that.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Yeah, it's enough.
SPEAKER_02: I had to buy your kid a party bag for coming to my party.
SPEAKER_02: Why do I gotta give your kid a gift?
SPEAKER_02: It's my kid's birthday.
SPEAKER_02: Don't get me going.
SPEAKER_02: My wife is mortified.
SPEAKER_02: She's like, shut up.
SPEAKER_02: And so, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_02: If you mess with the bull, you're gonna get the horns.
SPEAKER_02: So the woman just kept on.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, So, six six kids.
SPEAKER_02: I guess you didn't get your invitations out on time.
SPEAKER_02: I said, No, we invited six people.
SPEAKER_02: And now I'd been to their party a month earlier where they had 35 at their four-year-old's party.
SPEAKER_02: Now, hey, if you had 35 kids at your party, I'm not mad at you.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think you're unspiritual.
SPEAKER_02: I think you love Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I said to the woman what I meant.
SPEAKER_02: My kid ain't that important.
SPEAKER_02: She doesn't need 35 gifts on one day.
SPEAKER_02: Because she's gonna get an exalted view of herself.
SPEAKER_02: And I can't have that because then I'm gonna send in the world some prima donna that thinks she needs to be Beyonce.
SPEAKER_02: One queen bee is enough.
SPEAKER_02: Women were spitting coffee on the couch.
SPEAKER_02: And that kid of mine, I feel some of you, by the way, I feel some of you pulling back like we're visiting First Baptist next week.
SPEAKER_02: It's right off the road.
SPEAKER_02: Again, I just what what what am I saying?
SPEAKER_02: Let me get back to this.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the danger.
SPEAKER_02: Men cannot affirm you into everything.
SPEAKER_02: God's got to call you to some things.
SPEAKER_02: And we are so addicted, our ears are so tuned to affirmation, we can't hear the voice of God anymore.
SPEAKER_02: And when's the last time you heard somebody say, I've heard from the Lord?
SPEAKER_02: Well, my friends, I put it out on Facebook, and all my friends gave me a thumbs up.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, help.
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think I'm getting invited to any parties after this.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, just to solve a dilemma of Numbers 16 and 17, those two chapters of Korah's Rebellion, where, by the way, it's written down in Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: It references it.
SPEAKER_02: And it says, hey, this was written down for our instruction so we wouldn't repeat their mistake.
SPEAKER_02: After God dealt with that, how did God deal with it?
SPEAKER_02: He caused the earth to open up and swallow Kor and his whole family.
SPEAKER_02: He told people, get away from them.
SPEAKER_02: Get away from them.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna see what happens when you try to plague God.
SPEAKER_02: Only God says, I got a plan for how this is gonna go.
SPEAKER_02: The earth opened up, swallowed all of them, and then the 250 people are like, Yeah, we think Jesus is important.
SPEAKER_02: He should have a say in this.
SPEAKER_02: God made fire come out and consume every one of them.
SPEAKER_02: And they all had incense in their hands, these little incense holders.
SPEAKER_02: And God said, Go in among the ashes, get those things, hammer them into a flat sheet of metal and cover the altar, so you all will be reminded who's in charge of this deal.
SPEAKER_02: See, there's a sternness to God that the American church can't even preach about.
SPEAKER_02: We won't even talk about these parts of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: We tell you, man, God's awesome, and God's for your marriage, and God's for your kids, and all that stuff's true.
SPEAKER_02: But undergirding all of that is the nature of a God who takes himself deadly seriously.
SPEAKER_02: Numbers 17, 10.
SPEAKER_02: And the Lord said to Moses, by the way, to solve the dilemma after he made the earth open up and then he killed all those people, he said, Hey, you guys, you guys want to vote?
SPEAKER_02: Get 12 staffs uh from 12 different men from these different tribes and let Aaron be among them.
SPEAKER_02: Put them before my presence overnight.
SPEAKER_02: And the one that buds is the man that I want to be in charge.
SPEAKER_02: I want him to have the priestly office.
SPEAKER_02: And they came in the next day, and Aaron's his staff had budded leaves and had ripe almonds on it.
SPEAKER_02: And God said this in Numbers 17, 10.
SPEAKER_02: He said, The Lord said to Moses, put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign for the rebels.
SPEAKER_02: That sounds like something out of Star Wars right there.
SPEAKER_02: Put that back, put that, put that in the ark, in other words, as a reminder for the rebels that you may make an end of their grumblings against me lest they die.
SPEAKER_02: Let me be clear, beloved.
SPEAKER_02: This episode is a reminder not to reject God's authority.
SPEAKER_02: God says, I got a plan.
SPEAKER_02: That's in the Ark of the Covenant.
SPEAKER_02: Third thing, it's in the Ark of the Covenant.
SPEAKER_02: Last thing is a two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments that tell us God must be obeyed.
SPEAKER_02: God must be obeyed.
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm almost done.
SPEAKER_02: Are you still with me?
SPEAKER_02: Now get this, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You got put let's put the ark back up there, guys.
SPEAKER_02: What's in the Ark of the Covenant, these three things there's this omer of man that God said, God will provide.
SPEAKER_02: There's Aaron's rod that is butted, and it's like, hey, God said, I got a plan for this.
SPEAKER_02: I got provision, I got a plan.
SPEAKER_02: And then thirdly, you got the Ten Commandments in there.
SPEAKER_02: It says, Hey, God must be obeyed.
SPEAKER_02: Now, last chapter, chapter 24, this is why you should go to a church that teaches the whole counsel of the word of God, because you can see the big picture of the way God does things.
SPEAKER_02: The last chapter, they ratified the covenant and said, Yeah, God will do everything that you say.
SPEAKER_02: That's Exodus 24.
SPEAKER_02: And Moses came to the people, laid all out, they said, Hey, all the words of the Lord have spoken, we will do.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you in this room have done everything God's told you to do exactly the way He's told you to do it?
SPEAKER_02: But you meant it when you said it, right?
SPEAKER_02: Sure you did.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not giving you an owl for disobedience.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying, these people are all like, oh, yes, God.
SPEAKER_02: And God's like, mm, silly rabbits, tricks are for kids.
SPEAKER_02: Now, here's why I said to you earlier, put the ark back up there.
SPEAKER_02: Said to you earlier that everything God does, He does for a purpose.
SPEAKER_02: We're done in about three minutes.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_02: See, God said, right above those angels' wings, that's the mercy seat.
SPEAKER_02: God said, I will meet with you there.
SPEAKER_02: That I told you in the beginning, that that Ark of the Covenant was in this, like in this rug I'm standing on.
SPEAKER_02: It was in this end of the tabernacle, and there's a curtain here.
SPEAKER_02: And in there was the Holy of Holies.
SPEAKER_02: It's called the Holy of Holies.
SPEAKER_02: There was the Ark of the Covenant and an altar for incense.
SPEAKER_02: And only once a year, the high priest, I mean the godly, priestly representative of God's people, only once a year he would go into that room.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine having a room in your house you only went into once a year?
SPEAKER_02: You women were like, Yeah, my husband's got that.
SPEAKER_02: It's the garage.
SPEAKER_02: It's full of stuff he doesn't use.
SPEAKER_02: But once a year he would go in there.
SPEAKER_02: Now the priest would go in, he would sacrifice a bull, take the blood of that bull, and put it on the altar seven times.
SPEAKER_02: Or excuse me, put it on the altar.
SPEAKER_02: That was to cover his sin.
SPEAKER_02: Then he would come back out and he'd sacrifice a goat.
SPEAKER_02: Take the blood of that goat, put it on the altar.
SPEAKER_02: Now, over that beautiful gold, now, by the way, the lid, the mercy seat, solid gold.
SPEAKER_02: No wood whatsoever.
SPEAKER_02: It's hammered out gold.
SPEAKER_02: And he would pour blood on that.
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, that's gory.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, man.
SPEAKER_02: I got my kid in here.
SPEAKER_02: Why would they take that and put blood on this beautiful golden, I mean, this symbol of God's presence.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
SPEAKER_02: The last thing the ark does, the ark reminds us of God's mercy.
SPEAKER_02: It reminds us of God's mercy because God dwells above the mercy seat, he says.
SPEAKER_02: God looks down and he sees, he says, This is the ark of the testimony.
SPEAKER_02: I provided for these people.
SPEAKER_02: I've got a plan for these people.
SPEAKER_02: And in there is the the third thing in there is the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_02: And yet these people break my law.
SPEAKER_02: And so, what appeases the wrath of God with people who break his law?
SPEAKER_02: Why doesn't God treat us the way our sins deserve that we be treated?
SPEAKER_02: Well, the ark reminds us of God's mercy.
SPEAKER_02: See, when God looks down, he's got to see blood on the mercy seat because that's where the priest would put the blood of the bull for his sin, of the goat for the sins of the people, and to cover the sins.
SPEAKER_02: And so when God looks down, he sees not just the broken law that, hey, I got provision and a plan, and they broke my law anyway, but he sees the blood on the mercy seat.
SPEAKER_02: And so apply it to yourself today.
SPEAKER_02: And when God looks down, does he see the blood of Christ that's been applied to the mercy seat of your life?
SPEAKER_02: The Bible in the New Testament talks about it like this: Romans chapter 3, verse 21.
SPEAKER_02: It says, But now the righteousness of God has been made manifest apart from the law.
SPEAKER_02: Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
SPEAKER_02: There's no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: Translation, I heard what you said, but I saw what you did.
SPEAKER_02: We've all sinned, fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
SPEAKER_02: Now, look at that word propitiation for a minute.
SPEAKER_02: And what God put forward as a propitiation.
SPEAKER_02: That's a big word.
SPEAKER_02: You hear that, you check out and go, uh see, the church has dummed down the beauty of God's story to such a degree that people don't get the bigness of what God has done.
SPEAKER_02: That word propitiation is a it's a Greek word Helestadion, and it means this place of atonement.
SPEAKER_02: Another translation of it is this mercy seat.
SPEAKER_02: It's the place of atonement.
SPEAKER_02: What are you saying?
SPEAKER_02: See, when the priest would go in there once a year and offer that blood on the mercy seat to cover the sins of the people, when Jesus shows up, John the Baptist first sees him, he said, sees him, he says, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus died on the cross, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross, his blood was applied to that mercy seat.
SPEAKER_02: So when God looks down, he sees provision, he sees he had a plan, and he sees people who broke his law, but he also sees the blood.
SPEAKER_02: When God looks at me, he doesn't see a preacher, he sees a man who, deep in my heart, wants to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes doesn't always do the right thing.
SPEAKER_02: Why doesn't God kill me?
SPEAKER_02: I deserve to die.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says the wages of sin is death because he looks down.
SPEAKER_02: And because I place my faith in what Jesus has done on the cross, he looks down and sees the blood applied to my life.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't see, oh, somebody's broke my law, so he's got to suffer death.
SPEAKER_02: He sees, hey, the blood has been applied to his life.
SPEAKER_02: So the question you got to ask yourself today is what does God see when he looks down upon you?
SPEAKER_02: Are you a person who's repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross?
SPEAKER_02: Or is it Paul says in the first part of that Romans passage, he says, but now the righteousness of God has been made manifest or manifested apart from the law.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, a way of being right with God is now available because of Jesus, apart from trying to keep the law.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean we don't do the right thing.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I do the right thing because God's tabernacled with me.
SPEAKER_02: He lives inside of me.
SPEAKER_02: But I don't live in fear that, oh well, I hope that, you know, one day I hope to no.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's a done deal.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the blood of Jesus has been applied to my life, to the mercy seat.
SPEAKER_02: And so Jesus has become the mercy seat.
SPEAKER_02: And so the question you got to walk out of here today and think about is when God looks at me, does he see me as a person who's had the blood of Christ applied to their life?
SPEAKER_02: Or am I still trying to make myself right?
SPEAKER_02: You maybe think I'm an engineer, I'm scientific, I'm this, I'm atheist, I'm agnostic, or I've sinned too much.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you this.
SPEAKER_02: There's not a one of you in this room that has outsended the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: Not at all.
SPEAKER_02: That's why God says, Hey, build for me a sanctuary, a tabernacle, and start here.
SPEAKER_02: Because I don't want you to ever think you've done so much that you can't come to me.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Just take a moment and think about what the Bible has said.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_02: If God has forgiven you, then what right do you have to not forgive yourself?
SPEAKER_02: If God has forgiven you, what right do you have to not forgive the people that sin against you?
SPEAKER_02: See, mercy is a two-way street.
SPEAKER_02: You can't just give it, you gotta give it.
SPEAKER_02: You can't just receive it, you gotta say to people who sinned against you, you know what, I I forgive you.
SPEAKER_02: It would be the height of hypocrisy for me to be forgiven.
SPEAKER_02: God is a God that's provided for me, He's had a plan for my life.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a person that broke his law and he forgave me.
SPEAKER_02: My faith is in Jesus, and so because I can be forgiven, I have the power to forgive you.
SPEAKER_02: That's why God says, start here.
SPEAKER_02: Let's build this whole thing.
SPEAKER_02: And again, ask yourself is is this personal for me?
SPEAKER_02: Has this been applied to my life?
SPEAKER_02: When God looks down, what does he see?
SPEAKER_02: Father, thank you.
SPEAKER_02: That your the death of your son on the cross was enough.
SPEAKER_02: We can't we don't have to live in fear anymore.
SPEAKER_02: You're the God that tabernacles that pitches your tent among us and says, I'm here.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever you're going through, I'm here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a God of mercy, I'm holy and I'm merciful.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna change my mind about anything I've said ever.
SPEAKER_02: In 2016, 2036, I still feel the same way.
SPEAKER_02: God, thanks that you're a God of mercy.
SPEAKER_02: Pray that we will, because you're merciful, we can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_02: I pray that we'd learn to respond to our sin like we respond when our cell phone goes off in church.
SPEAKER_02: That sense of urgency, like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02: It's just a tangible reminder.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for that gift today, God.
SPEAKER_02: We're grateful in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: At the end of our service, I always speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, man, how often do we have a brother from India?
SPEAKER_02: So I asked Beek, I said, Would you speak a blessing over our people?
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Absolutely so.
SPEAKER_02: Stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_02: Come here, brother.
SPEAKER_02: I'd like you to speak a blessing over my people.
SPEAKER_01: Let's close our eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, thank you and precious Jesus for this very most important people, precious people.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, for your grace and mercy towards all of us, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Father, for this your wonderful message.
SPEAKER_01: Today you lead us a very wonderful way.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I bless all the peoples of Grand Park Way.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: You right now you send your spirit and touch them from the top to bottom.
SPEAKER_01: Announ them, Lord, and let your presence go along with them, O Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Master, you be with them, O Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: As your presence go with the Israelites, as your presence go in the Moses, Lord, you bless them greatly, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Give them peace.
SPEAKER_01: Bless them, O Jesus, in their family, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you know them, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Prosperity them, O Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Help them to see the great and mighty things in their life, O Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Bless them all greatly, O Father.
SPEAKER_01: Protect them from all kinds of calamities, problems, and difficulty.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, you are going to bless them.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Get you some of that.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, brother.