Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Good morning, Westgate Chapel. Won't you please stand and worship with us?
I'll praise in the valley Praise on the mountain I'll praise when I shout Praise when I'm doubting I praise without number Praise when surrounded cause Praise is the water my enemy's drowning as long as I'm breathing I've got a reason to Praise the Lord oh my soul.
Praise the Lord oh my soul.
I praise when I feel it and I praise when I don't I praise cause I know you're still in control My praise is a weapon it's more than a sound My praise is the shout that breaks Jericho down As long as I'm free Reason I've got a reason to Praise the Lord oh my soul.
Praise the Lord oh my soul.
I won't be quiet My God is alive how could I keep it inside?
Praise the Lord O my soul oh.
I praise cuz you sovereign Praise cuz you reign Praise cuz you rose and defeated the grave I praise cuz you're faithful Praise cuz you're true Praise cuz there's nobody greater than you I'll praise cuz you sovereign Praise cause you reign Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave I praise cause you're faithful Praise cause you're true Praise cause there's nobody greater than you Praise the Lord of my soul.
Praise the Lord on my side Ra Praise the Lord oh my soul.
Praise the Lord of my soul.
I won't be quiet. My God is alive how could I keep it inside?
I won't be quiet. My God is alive how could I keep in it? I won't be quiet. I won't be quiet. My God is alive how could I keep it inside? I'm gonna praise the Lord oh my soul.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Oh let everything.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: Let everything that has breath that has breath.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Come on.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Praise the lor.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Let everything.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Let everything that has bread. That has bread.
[00:04:20] Speaker C: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:22] Speaker C: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:31] Speaker D: Good morning, Westcott. How's everybody doing?
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Good.
[00:04:35] Speaker D: It is great to praise the Lord together. Amen.
Amen. You can go and have a seat for just a second. My name is Adam Burrow. I'm the worship arts pastor here and I'm excited to welcome you today. If you are a first guest, please check out the visitor center out there in the main entrance. We've got just a small gift for you. Way to welcome you and for everyone. Please take the time to fill out the connection cards in the pew in front of you and if you're watching online. Hi, welcome.
We are excited to have everyone get to worship today. And it's just awesome being here, right?
I love it. I love this church and I love worshiping with you guys each and every Sunday. It's truly the best job in the world.
And just a couple things I want to bring to your attention here.
We have got make sure I get this right. Can you show me that slide there, please?
Thank you. Life group sign up event. Yes. Life group sign UP event on September 20th after services. How many of you are part of a life group?
Okay. How many of you love your life group?
[00:05:36] Speaker C: I saw less hands that.
[00:05:37] Speaker D: No, I'm just. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I have. We've been a part of a life group now for almost. Well since we've been here almost 10 years. And when I say being a part of a life group is such an awesome thing, we encourage everyone in our church to be a part of one. It is such a blessing and you can't really know unless you're a part of one. It's really hard explaining it, but it's just a way for you to connect with a smaller group of people to really do life together. That's really what it's about.
And then we have one other thing here. We have the annual meeting that is coming up on September 13th. That's something we do every year. And we are doing a little different this year. We are not doing a big meal. It is going to be part of the services. It will be brief, it won't be be extremely long. It'll be part of the services. So really encourage you to be here for that. And yeah. And now I'm gonna bring up a couple friends of mine that I am really excited for you to hear a story. Will you give it up for Paul and Chris?
Yes.
If you don't know Paul, he is part of Kairos Prison Ministries. And Paul, could you. Thank you guys for being here today. Thank you. Could you briefly share like what Kairos is?
[00:06:48] Speaker E: How briefly? So how about cookies?
Brief enough?
[00:06:54] Speaker D: Shorter than a Pastor Rob Sermon.
[00:06:56] Speaker E: 30 minutes is good.
So in any event, for those of you that don't know, Kairos is an international ministry whose focus is to build Christian community inside men's and women's prisons. There are other aspects, but we're involved at Toledo Correctional, which is a Kairos Inside.
The experience begins with a three and a half day. We call it a short course in Christianity. A three and a half Day, weekend that the men go through once in their lifetime. And then every Thursday afternoon, there's a group of us that goes in for prayer and share. And that really begins to build the relationship between those men, because a lot of them don't see each other otherwise and that they're able to hold each other accountable and to support each other.
[00:07:41] Speaker D: So that's basically what Cairo says, administering to prison inmates.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: Is that how to do it?
[00:07:46] Speaker D: Yeah. So Chris here. Chris, you have.
I got to meet you this morning and just briefly heard your testimony. You have been impacted by Kairos in a pretty big way. Why don't you just.
The floor is yours. I'll open it up to you. Tell us your story, please.
[00:08:03] Speaker F: Well, there's a lot of people here now.
I was a bad man. I was incarcerated down in Lyme, Ohio for nine years.
I was one of the people that knew of God but didn't know God.
And Kairos came along.
I think it was 2014 in Lima, 2016. I was impacted by, hey, you want to go? The food's pretty good.
Somebody likes food. Not going to say who it is, but yeah, it was just a showing of love. The minute we walked in the door on Thursday evening, I mean, me being who I am and what I did to society, and somebody coming in like Paul or Adam, been just giving me a hug and saying, hey, it's okay. You know, you're loved.
And that was impactful on me. I mean, I.
We cried and cried and cried. I mean, I was 58 years old in prison, crying my eyes. I was like a little kid, you know, it was. It was strange, but at the same time, it was amazing.
I'm not big on speeches and being in front of crowds, but at the time, we also got to be one of the first prisons to have 13 inmates that were nationally certified by the Red Cross to teach CPR classes.
I also taught reentry classes to the guys that were going home.
So they knew what to expect before they got out and when they got out.
And that was all faith based, but it was a beautiful thing. But Kairos, man, I can't say enough about it. I told everybody when I get out, I'm going back and I'm going to be part of Cairo's. I've been home since 2019.
And in 2020, I was contacted, gonna be in Cairos again.
Okay, well, here it is, 2026, and I'm still going strong.
[00:10:13] Speaker D: So you, you gave your life to Jesus because people poured into you in prison.
That's. That's amazing.
[00:10:22] Speaker F: It was a really scary thing at first. You know, like I said, I was 58 years old and some guy coming up hugging me and. And I'm like, okay.
But at the same time he was in there crying just as much as I was.
[00:10:36] Speaker D: Amen, Mel. Thank you, Chris. Thank you for sharing, man.
Just a huge thing. And Paul, you yourself got to experience and hear about some stories that just recently happened. Baptisms and salvations within Toledo Correctional.
[00:10:51] Speaker E: Absolutely. Certainly was not part of Kairos, to be clear, but the Kairos volunteers have a very close relationship with the chaplain in the prison. And we were invited back baptism a couple of weeks ago and we saw 2% of the prison population get baptized and come to Christ.
So this was about 19 men and about half of these guys had gone on a recent Kairos weekend. And without an exception, there wasn't one of these guys that you could look at on the street and say, oh yeah, he's a follower of Jesus. These guys did not look the part. The people that you would least expect, they were the ones down in the tank. Of course, chaplain had to hold a couple of them down a little longer than the others.
But it was a powerful thing to see these men come back up out of the water with the smiles on
[00:11:40] Speaker D: their face that they had and yeah, amen. Amen.
I myself got to go be part of Kairos on a Thursday here a few months back or maybe. Yeah, it's been a while. But just the impact that that had on my life and the fact they let me out was incredible. But the.
[00:11:57] Speaker E: I was surprised too.
[00:12:01] Speaker D: Y' all aren't supposed to act that surprised, man.
Hey, well, Paul, how can we help? What are the areas, what are the ways we can help as a church continue this awesome ministry that God's using you with?
[00:12:14] Speaker E: Well, as a lot of, you know, it's cookie season.
So we'll go into the prison at the end of September with 20 to 30,000 homemade cookies.
So we need bakers.
There are instructions. We have a table set up out in the atrium or in the cafe area. But basically we need people to bake cookies.
We also need people to pray during the entire weekend from Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. We try to have someone praying 24 hours a day, not one person, but broken up in 30 minute time slots. We need people to pray.
The ministry is not an inexpensive thing. It takes about 7 to $10,000, as Chris would know. He's our, our bag man now, and the team is required to come up with the funding. We're self Funded. So we need financial assistance. We also need volunteers. It is a volunteer ministry that takes a lot of commitment.
And over the years people have come and gone and we sometimes struggle with volunteers. We came close for this coming weekend to not having enough volunteers to do the weekend. So please give some thought to serving. It is a commitment but you won't do anything ever that is more rewarding. The last thing is the closing service for the weekend on Sunday evening is open to the public.
If you've not been, I would encourage you to think about it. It is a safe place. We're inside the prison and surrounded by security people. There's no contact with our inside brothers. But you'll have a chance to hear these men explain what the weekend has meant to them.
And if you can walk out with dry eyes, you're stronger than I am. I cry every time because I spend the weekend with these guys. I know what they're going to say. But when they get up there and really say is amazing what the love of Christ can do in a very dark place. But that's what we need for kairos.
[00:14:09] Speaker D: Amen. So cookies and volunteers, that's top of the list. There you go. Can you give it up for Paul and Chris?
[00:14:15] Speaker E: Thank you very much.
[00:14:16] Speaker F: Of course.
[00:14:18] Speaker D: Amen.
Highly encourage you to check out their table out there in the W Cafe. They'll both be there. Stop by, encourage them, just greet them. And now it is your favorite time. Everybody stand up and greet one another and maybe say the thing you're most excited about this fall.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: Look at the flower and all of them beauty.
I don't have to wonder
[00:15:13] Speaker A: you know what you're doing.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: So why would I worry at all.
You're faithful to supply Everything I need Everything I need My father has it My father has Every single time the Lord will provide My father has My father has it yeah.
Yes he does.
Look at the sparrow lacking for nothing no fear of tomorrow what it will breath.
If I have you I have enough Cause your love will set his fine
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Everything I need Everything I need I
[00:16:39] Speaker B: know my father has it My father has it Every single time Lord will go I know my father has My father has it yeah My father has to see first the king and it's treasure Everything else it will be added hope all that I needed I know the Lord will provide Amen.
Cause I know my God's not empty handed he gives us blessings upon blessings I'm still believing I know the Lord will provide Seek first, seek first the
[00:17:49] Speaker A: kingdom hands treasures Everything else will be
[00:17:57] Speaker B: adding all That I need.
I know the Lord will provide.
Cause I know my God's not
[00:18:14] Speaker A: He gives us mercy.
I still believe it.
I know the Lord will provide.
Everything I need.
Everything I need. I know my father has it. My my father has it.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: Every single time.
The Lord will provide.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: I know my father has it. My father has it. Everything I need.
Everything I need. You know my father has it. My father has it.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: Every single time.
The Lord will provide.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: My father has it.
See treasures Everything else will be added.
All that I needed.
I know the Lord will provide.
I know my God's not empty. Empty.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: He gives us mercy.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: I still believe it.
I know the Lord will provide.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: I know the Lord will provide.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: I know the Lord will.
Rise
[00:20:11] Speaker B: man
[00:20:13] Speaker D: we know we can fully depend on God. Amen.
Continue worshiping in that. Worshiping him this morning in that same spirit.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: For my waking breath.
For my daily breath.
I depend on you.
Yes, I depend on you.
For the sun to rise.
For my sleep at night.
I depend on you.
Yes, I depend on you.
You're the way, the truth and the life.
You're the well that never runs dry.
I'm the precious, you are the vine.
Draw me close and teach me to abide.
Where the spirit leads.
As I follow
[00:21:44] Speaker A: me.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: I depend on you.
Yes, I depend on you.
For the victories still is part of me.
I depend on you.
Yes, I depend on you.
You're the way, the truth and the lie.
You're the well that never runs dry.
I'm the branch and you are the vine.
Draw me close and teach me to light be my strength, my song in the night.
Be my own, my treasure, my prize.
I. I am yours forever. You're mine.
Draw me close and teach me to b.
Won't you teach us, Lord, When I pass through death as I enter.
[00:23:12] Speaker E: As
[00:23:14] Speaker B: I depend on every voice.
To be raised with Christ.
I depend on you.
This I depend on you.
You're.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: You're the way, the truth and the life.
You're the well that never runs dry.
I'm the br.
And you are the vine.
Draw me close and teach me to my. Be my strength, my song in the night.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Be my own, my treasure, my Christ.
[00:24:13] Speaker A: I am your, My
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Jesus.
I'm yours.
I'm yours forever.
Yours forever.
I depend on you.
Yes, I depend on you.
I depend on you. Only you. Forever. I depend on you.
Yes, I depend on you. You are mine forever. I depend on you. Every hour, every day. I depend on you. Thank you, Jesus. O I depend on you.
Cry out to you, Father, I depend on you.
Yes, I depend on you.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
With my soul it is well, it is well with my soul.
Come on, try it again.
It is well, it is well with
[00:26:28] Speaker A: my soul with my soul.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: It is well, it is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul Whatever comes my way.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
[00:27:13] Speaker D: Give God glory.
[00:27:14] Speaker A: Give him glory.
[00:27:22] Speaker C: Go ahead and have a seat.
Continue to worship this morning through offering opportunity to give back through tithes and offerings. This morning I'm going to pray for us where God is well with our soul because of you, Jesus.
God, we abide.
Teach us to abide.
Depend upon you, Lord. Everything that we have is from you.
We give this back to you.
Use these gifts, these offerings for your kingdom, for others to come, for others to hear of your good news. For others to abide and know of the peace that comes only through you, Jesus,
[00:28:18] Speaker F: your glory.
[00:28:22] Speaker C: Go ahead and receive our tithes and offerings this morning. We have buckets here on the first floor up in the balcony. They're up at the ends and they get passed to the center.
[00:28:33] Speaker F: Please,
[00:28:45] Speaker A: Sam.
[00:29:15] Speaker C: Well, good morning church family. My name is Adam. Just if we haven't had a chance or opportunity to meet yet, I'd love to maybe after church today I serve here as executive pastor of ministry. I get involved in a lot of things and get to share the word with you today as we continue talking about Moses and his life.
Wanted to share that. I've had the blessings of being an opportunity to go to the Holy Land twice in the last like five years, I think four years.
And got a couple shots here to show you the first. That like in the center is Jerusalem. It's. It's crowded, it's kind of loud. There's a lot of sights to see there. Obviously there's a lot of history out. If you go west, you hit the Mediterranean and the coast there. One of the cities, this is Caesarea. This is where Herod built one of his large palaces.
It's also where Paul was then imprisoned for a short time. It's beautiful out there up in the north of Israel. This is the Galilee region.
It's in this place, it feels so much more calmer, peaceful.
And as you go through and walk through the scriptures that you get to, you can imagine and sit with Jesus and his disciples in that time in that place, in those synagogues and other places in that area.
This is kind of a little 10 second commercial of if you ever have an interest in going Westgate. We're putting together a trip in March of 2028, which feels like, whoa, 2028. That's a year and a half from now.
And if you're interested, please just send me an email or give me a text or call or have a conversation.
But one of my favorite places is down south in southern Israel. When you hit this area called the wilderness, it's in this wilderness area that's actually 60% of Israel is like wilderness.
And God teaches people lessons in the wilderness. And what we'll talk about today is just lessons that are in the wilderness with the people that God is walking them through.
In our series. It's in this wilderness area. It's not desert. There are two different things. Desert is like wasteland. When you read wasteland in your bible, that's like zero water. You can't live. There's nothing livable within 25 miles. When you see, like, barren wasteland, when you see desert, it kind of depend. But when you see wilderness, wilderness gets about 5 to 8 inches of rain. This is wilderness. You do have some wadis. You have some, like, acacia trees there on the left. You have some other small plants. You can have flocks as well that go through and find little pieces that God just provides just enough.
But it's in this wilderness that we'll spend our scripture study and time together this morning. And when we say wilderness, we picture this, but internally, we also in our lives, when we say, I'm going through a time or season of wilderness, it's usually not a good one.
It usually means things are hard, challenging. Maybe that's work, maybe that's relationships, maybe that's physically. Maybe it's illness. Maybe it's a loss of something in your life or someone in your life, or there's a challenge. Something is happening. But wilderness is usually not described as an encouraging place to be, but is a place where we meet God quite often.
And hopefully at the end, I'll share a little part of a story in my own life of in that wilderness there.
So we'll be in the wilderness. This is. We're getting close to the end of the life of Moses. All right, so we have this Sunday and then next Sunday.
Spoiler alert. Moses dies next week.
So maybe you've enjoyed this series.
[00:33:42] Speaker F: Like, oh, no.
[00:33:43] Speaker C: But he does. It comes to an end.
Oh, no, can't be true.
It is.
But come back next week. We'll finish it up at the end of Deuteronomy as well.
So, life of Moses, where have we been? We started. I don't know. Probably seven weeks ago or eight weeks ago perhaps. And we started with here. This is how we got to this point. I have the telestrator going today.
We start up in the top right, where God brings Abraham Abram into this land of Canaan. And then Abraham has these interactions with God. He has, there's generations. He has Isaac, Isaac has Jacob, Jacob has Joseph along with other sons.
Joseph has relationship issues, he has fights with his brothers, they sell him into slavery and then he gets taken to Egypt. All right, this begins. And Joseph does some great things. I mean, again, we did Joseph back in the January, maybe February, went through the life of Joseph.
Joseph then is there and does a lot of great things for Pharaoh. And in, in Egypt in general gets to a point where there's a Pharaoh that forgets all about Joseph. And you know, 400 years pass when Joseph is forgotten and Pharaoh is threatened. And so he captures and puts in captivity basically and makes them slaves, all the Hebrews, all the Israelites there. So they're in slavery for about 400 years.
God's going to provide a way through Moses to deliver his people. Moses is born.
And I think on our timeline, that's what I put 486 maybe. No, 1526. 1526, that's it, 1526.
And Moses is born. He's in the basket, right, we know. Then he's brought into Pharaoh's house and he grows up.
So about 40 years pass and Moses is in the house of Pharaoh. He sees one day an Egyptian like worker beating a Hebrew slave. And he gets upset and so he kills the Egyptian and then he flees. And he flees to where? He flees all the way over there to the east, to Midian. Once he gets to Midian, he meets Zipporah, they get married, they have kids, and he begins this whole new life for the second 40 year period of his life. And in that time period he's basically taking care, he's a shepherd, he's taking care of the flocks. And it's in that space that he travels. And one day down by Mount Sinai, he sees this burning bush. And God calls him out of this burning bush that wasn't actually burning, wasn't being consumed. And God says, you need to go. I've heard the cries of my people.
I've heard the cries of my people. I'm going to send you and you're going to go and help deliver the people out.
So Moses reluctantly, but goes and he goes back to Egypt and through like 10 plagues that we have heard about with the 10th being the death of the firstborn. And lambs need to be sacrificed and blood needed to be put on the doorpost. And after that death Passover, they need to remember every year. And then they get led and released out from Egypt. And as they went, Egyptians like, go, go, go. We're gonna give you all this stuff too.
So once they leave, they head up to the Red Sea and they're at the Red Sea and they're stuck.
God does another miracle, parts the waters and they walk through it.
And then over the next three months they get down back to the Sinai where they meet with God on the mountain. And Moses is given the ten commandments and a lot of other other laws and a lot of conversations that happen.
Then after about nine months, they set out again, what we heard last week. And they're supposed to go up and investigate the promised land. They finally get to go, but some of them 10 came back, the surveyors, and they're like, no, no, this is a great place, but it's super scary. Don't go, we're not going to do it. We're not going to obey. And then as a consequence to that, then God says, okay, you're not going to go.
Instead this whole generation is going to live and then die. And then the next generation will be able to go and enter the promised land. So in that is another 40 year period where it's often described as like wandering, but in reality it's God leading.
God is leading them through this wilderness time period for 40 years with this main center point of a tent and use the word sanctuary or tabernacle.
And that's where God is dwelling with the people for the next 40 years in the wilderness.
And so this morning we're going to take a look at the tabernacle. Why is that significant? Why is that important in our lives, in the lives today and also see what we can learn about our God. And what does God have to say for us out of this passage? The main thing is that God does not leave them the main point.
If you don't hear anything else, God is with his people.
Even in the wilderness, even in the hardship, God is with his people. So we're going to take a Look at Exodus 25, Verses 1 through 9.
And the Lord said to Moses, Exodus 25, verse 1. The Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites to bring me an offering.
You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.
These are the offerings you are to receive from them, gold, silver and bronze.
First Olympic medals.
Verse four, Blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather, acacia wood, olive oil for the light spices, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and the breastpiece.
Then verse eight, have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern.
I will show you.
We're going to get to some tabernacle specifics in a minute, but first, I think just a few pieces in this initial instruction to Moses, to the people, about build a tabernacle, build a place.
Number one, the people, God says they need to give.
People give of themselves to make and furnish the tabernacle. So they are to give of their possessions all the things that they just received from Egypt. It might be like, I'm gonna hold, you know, hold onto all this stuff.
But God says, guess what? I want it.
I need this to build this place for me to dwell.
And so the people not only give of the gold, the, you know, the silver, the bronze, the wood, the oil, the fabrics, all that stuff, but then they also give of themselves because God's going to equip and empower them to actually build it, to give them the skills to build this elaborate place.
So they give of themselves to make and furnish the tabernacle. Number two, the heart of God is to dwell with his people.
The heart of God is to dwell with his people.
And the thing is, God knows that they're ornery.
He knows that they are rebellious.
He knows that they're grumblers and they complain.
He knows that they're going to make a golden calf and try to worship something else.
He knows they're going to try and rebel.
And yet I want to dwell with you is what he tells them.
This actually reflects the nature and the character and the faithfulness and the. And the love of God to them and to us. Today we worship a God that desires to dwell with us.
Not far away, not far off, but with us. I think this great gospel verse from Romans 5, verse 8, that just speaks to, like, even while we're still sinners, Christ died for us. Oftentimes we feel like we have to get all cleaned up, up first.
It's more about God and who God is and his faithfulness to us.
His nature and his character is to dwell with the people, to live with.
Number three, that dwelling with his people is the pattern of God that's not a new thing.
Dwelling with his people is the pattern of God. Verse nine talks about, you know, make this in the pattern.
A pattern is something that gets repeated. And we can look at the Scriptures and we see from Genesis with Adam and Eve, God wants to walk. And he walks and he dwells with them. And then here in Exodus, God wants, I want to dwell with you. Then when you enter this promised land, I so want to dwell with you. And then when you make this temple, I'm gonna dwell with you there. And then Jesus, the Son of God, comes, first thing that he says, I am here to dwell with you. John 1:14.
And then Acts, I dwell with you. I'm going to leave, so I'm going to send the Holy Spirit so the Holy Spirit can then dwell with you. And then at the end in Revelation 21, when John has this vision of the end, he sees, I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people.
And he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death in this final day. There is no more sin that taints and destroys and corrupts or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. So this, this, in this brief moment in time with Israel in the wilderness, God wants to dwell. But it is a part of the great narrative of God, the consistency and the faithfulness and the character of who God is. Right?
You follow?
Okay, one person.
[00:45:25] Speaker F: All right.
[00:45:27] Speaker C: So what is this tabernacle that he's telling them? Okay, build a tabernacle.
And just because this makes the best sermon notes ever.
[00:45:37] Speaker F: Right.
[00:45:37] Speaker C: Is tabernacle trivia.
So here's some details. If you're like a detailed person. I need to help picture this. Here's a picture up on the screen.
They have, like, a remake of this in southern Israel, out in the wilderness.
So we have this tabernacle. It's made from these 14 components and materials that were listed in Exodus 25. It took them about six months to complete.
So six months.
The tabernacle was used about between 480 and maybe 500 years.
So it's not just the 40 years that they're wandering. And once they go into the Promised Land, that is the main place where God continues to. They meet God, and God is dwelling with them in that land is through the tabernacle, which is actually longer than they were worshiping in the temple. So we all get excited about the temple, but it's really about the tabernacle.
There are about 50 chapters written about the tabernacle and the construction. So if you take the whole Gospel of Matthew and combine with the whole Gospel of John, all that material, that's as much as we have about the tabernacle.
There's only two chapters about the temple.
So there's a lot of material. And the size is about 150ft by 50ft. So 150 by 50. So let's see Abby back in the corner.
Everyone see Abby back in the corner. All right, and then, Sorry, I don't know your name in the back, back row. Wave your hand. There we go. All right, from Abby back to this corner, 150ft, this size. And then Brandon, there we go. And up here, this is about 50ft.
So when they made this Westgate, they're like, let's make it like a tabernacle. They probably didn't think about that at all.
But roughly, like this is the size of the tabernacle. Cool, huh? And then you enter into the east. So how many of you came in the east entrance this morning?
That's the holiest entrance apparently.
And so the east entrance. And that's where as you would enter and move this way through the tabernacle. So I got this Kano tabernacle right here.
And we are going to recreate our tabernacle here. All right, so let's start.
So you go through the entrance and yeah, we'll have pictures up there. They'll be up there too. All right, we get to the first thing you come into. When you enter the east gate, you come to this altar.
All right, Jane, I see you and Vera, you guys are the eternal flames of the altar.
All right, hold those up. And you are the lamb. You're the sacrifice right here. So every hold up the lamb there. Here we go. Okay. They're instructed that every, like in the morning and the evening, you sacrifice the lamb.
Roughly 9am, 3pm It'll all come together. But Jesus is hung on the cross at 9 o' clock and he gives up his spirit at 3 o'. Clock.
So full, complete. It's all one story. Okay, all one. So here we have. We come to this altar and the altar because there needs to be bloodshed for atonement of sins to make us right with God.
There's a consequence death of sin. Right?
But God Makes the way. Okay, so we start with the altar. And once you move past this altar and they take the blood and pour it. I need to give you something.
We get to the bronze laver, which is water.
All right.
All right. I just met you this morning. Your name again?
Becca. All right, Becca. And the Lees, you guys are the bronze basin of water here. Okay, perfect. So because once your hands are bloody, you have to go and wash the blood off your hands, right?
And then this is for purification. Now, the funny thing is then they also. They wash their hands, and then they also have to wash their feet.
Then for the priest to be able to go further, the feet need to be washed. And there's a whole other thing about why they're called why Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. Because then he called us. We're all a kingdom of priests.
[00:50:11] Speaker F: Okay.
[00:50:13] Speaker C: So we have this bronze basin. It's made out of the mirrors of the women.
So the women give up their mirrors and they can see your reflection. So it's also a piece of self examination.
Ah, God, thank you for taking sacrifice for me. And thank you. You are the one that cleanses me.
You are doing this for me. Thank you for providing that. You can kind of hold it down. You want to keep.
Good workout.
All right here in the middle. I'll just bring this closer.
All right, next you're gonna turn, and we're gonna face the holy place.
So you have the tabernacle. Then you have this holy place. This. A smaller room within the tabernacle at large.
If you're a Levite, you can be anywhere in the courtyard. Only priests who are from the line of Aaron can go into the holy place and serve there. So once you go in, there are. First is a table of what's called table of Showbreads, unleavened bread, 212 pieces of PETA.
So you're faithfully. Yeah, that's an offering to God. And then at the end of the week, the priest would be able to eat that. But it's a reminder of God providing the unleveled.
[00:51:33] Speaker F: Right.
[00:51:35] Speaker C: And how God provides daily bread.
[00:51:38] Speaker F: Right.
[00:51:38] Speaker C: You see the connections happening? Okay, do we.
All right, then. Oh, there's a big group of people here because what's next? We have the candelabra on the other side.
All right, we have.
Oh, you got some. There we go.
We need to have seven. Do we have seven lights?
Here we go. Here we go. And one more. Here we go. Seven. Hold up your lights. Seven. Yes.
And hold up the bread. That's what we're doing.
Great.
This was the only light in the temple. Sorry. The only light in the tabernacle was these candles, which is made out of gold. Purity light.
And then we get to.
Looks like Mike. We get to this altar of incense.
I put some frankincense in there. But the altar of incense is where the last thing they would take coals from the eternal fire.
Back over there. Wave. Where'd it go? Vera, was that you? There we go.
[00:52:45] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:52:45] Speaker C: Thank you.
And then we're burning this incense, which is the prayers of the people, the prayers up to the Lord, and this pleasant, pleasing aroma to the Lord and also create, like, a smoky haze in the place. So remember, because you can't lay eyes upon the Lord. Lord, because he's holy. And it's also an area, like, it's a protection piece also for the priest that's in there. And there's a priest in there. Cue the selfie. There we go.
[00:53:16] Speaker F: All right.
[00:53:17] Speaker C: Finally we get to the holy of holies.
Okay. Holy of holies. And what's in the holy of holies?
The ark.
Cue Indiana Jones music.
Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Richard, no, you don't hold it. Okay. Can't hold it. Jenna and Garrett's friend. Garrett's friend. There we go. Okay. It's always light. It's not real gold.
So there we have the tabernacle. Everyone, hold up your pieces. This is our tabernacle, everyone. And then once this is all done, Chris, go ahead and put up Exodus 40 for us.
Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.
Then what happens? Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord
[00:54:22] Speaker E: filled
[00:54:25] Speaker C: the tabernacle. Okay, this is the tabernacle. You can all put that down. That's great.
If you have those things, feel free. Put them back at the end of the service.
All right.
So this is the process of what they had to go through for God to be present and dwell in their midst.
Okay. It's a lot.
Everything has a specific.
There's a reason, a specific piece that, again, all fits into the whole piece of who God is, who we are, and what's needed and what gets provided.
Okay. But the key piece at the very end is when God comes and dwells amongst the people.
Okay, so there are some tabernacle pieces. I call them tabernacle truths.
We like alliteration.
And we're going to walk through, and I think as it applies to us wasn't written for us, but it's written to us. The Holy Spirit speaking to us, how does this apply for our lives today as well? So number one, God says, make a space for me and I will fill it.
Make a space for God.
And over and over again, we see that he fills it.
So a question is, do you have space in your life for God?
You have purposeful and intentional space in your life.
We live in a complex and very full world with things that are screaming at us for our attention, that are fighting for our attention.
God's not going to force us, but it's an invitation. Do we have this space? What we see? If we have give God space, He.
We have distractions that take us away, that lure us away. Do we have habits, patterns in our life?
We keep saying, no, I'll do that later in life.
But when we have God, we make the space.
God is going to fill it. Number two.
The Lord is the center of all life.
We can read in numbers. And again we have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all these five books. The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Pentateuch. They're written, put together by Moses. God gave them all these words to write and record.
Numbers is the fourth book. And it's really about numbers and counting people. But it tells how the people, as they are out in the wilderness during this time. So they gave it a creative name of numbers.
So in Numbers, chapter two, the setting up of the. It says the tabernacle was in the center of the camp.
So there are three tribes that camped and resided out in the east. There are three tribes set up that lived in that every time. The Tamar, they camped out in the south. There are three tribes, because there's 12 tribes in all three tribes that were out in the west and then three tribes in the north.
And the tabernacle was always in the middle, right in the center, the center of their life.
And I'm sure it was always in the way, but it needed to be in the center. God wanted to be in the center.
So for us and in our lives, is the Lord the center of our life?
Or do we allow God just to be further on the outskirts? Do we want God only on the outskirts and we'll come to you when we need, or do we have God in the center of our lives now?
We'll keep going.
The Lord is the center of our lives. We have to make space so he will come and fill it and dwell with us.
And so with the centeredness, is God your priority?
Is a walk with God a priority in your daily life?
And we know one of the harvest laws that Paul writes about in Galatians 6 is you reap what you sow. It's probably, we know this, but if God isn't at the center of our lives, then when trouble comes or when we are in a wilderness time, we want God to be the center. Then we get angry at God because God's not answering all of our prayers. It's almost like, what? What this is what we have sown.
Is God on the perimeter?
Is God in the center?
Or is he an afterthought?
Is he just a bonus or an addition?
The third thing, God's timeline is often different than our own.
God's timeline is often different than our own. Numbers. Chapter nine. I'm going to read some more from Numbers.
It's about the cloud and movement whenever the cloud lifted, because that's what would happen. Remember, we had the cloud descend.
Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out. Wherever the cloud settled, then the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command, the Israelites set out, and at his command, they encamped. As long as the clouds stayed over the tabernacle, they remained.
When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time. The Israelites obeyed the Lord's order and did not set out.
Sometimes the cloud was over a tabernacle for only a few days. At the Lord's command they would encamp, and then at the command they would set out. Sometimes the clouds stayed only from evening until morning. And those guys were like, oh, we just did this. Pick it back up. The tear down team and the setup team, they get exhausted.
Whether by day or by night. Whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Verse 22. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days, one month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out. But when it lifted, they would set out.
At the Lord's command, they encamped, and at the Lord's command, they set out. They obeyed the Lord's order in accordance with his own command through Moses.
Do you want God to work in your timeline or his timeline?
Sometimes it's a day, sometimes it's a month, sometimes it's a year.
In this case it's 40 years.
Or do you want your own timeline?
Do we trust God with the time and the days?
And we trust that these moments in the wilderness are not lost to God.
That these periods of time when we give God, yes, are never lost or never unseen by the Lord.
Because we follow his leading and his movements, which leads to number four. We want to be obedient to the movements of God.
So obedience will lead us to move. Obedience will lead to movement in life as we participate in God's kingdom.
Obedience to God's word, obedience to his truth, obedience to the Holy Spirit. As we are prompted and led into the participation of the gospel.
Sometimes we ask the question, I don't know what God's will for my life is. Then read the Bible, because very clearly he tells us what to do.
Who are we to take care of widows, orphans, visit those in prison, care for those who are sick?
That's not like God. What do you want me to do today? Read the Word and obey it.
If you don't know what God wants you to do in life, we have plenty of instruction.
Pray at all times, right?
The Word is there and gives us instruction to participate in God's kingdom.
But it's through obedience.
Number five. Probably a hard one.
Just because God is with you does not mean you will avoid hardship.
Just because God is with us does not promise any kind of carefree life.
In fact, when we're trying to obey and make God the center, life is actually going to be getting harder because our world is going to be pressing in and try to conform us to that image versus God's numbers. Chapter 20.
I'm just going to summarize the whole chapter. We have Moses, who is in with the tabernacle, hearing from the Lord. And if we think that, like, well, Moses should be exempt from any hardship, right?
Because he's being very faithful with the Lord.
We can just read just one chapter.
Numbers 20.
In this chapter, the cloud, it's right here, lifts up and then goes north towards the edge of the wilderness to a place called Kadesh. It's in Kadesh that then there's not much water. And so the people start grumbling and complaining, and it's not a shock.
And so Moses goes to the Lord and says, lord, like, what am I supposed to do with these grumbling and complaining people? They need water. And God says, speak to the rock.
Moses was so frustrated and just smacked that rock with his staff, and water still came forth because of God's faithfulness.
But then, Moses, I'm sorry, you will also now not be able to go to the promised land.
Okay, but let's keep going towards it.
So we're gonna head east. We're gonna encounter Edom, generations of Esau from That line pass through. And then they approach Edom. And Edom says, forget about it. You're not allowed to go. We will kill you. And they come out with their armies. And so the Israelites are like, like, no. And they, you know, go the other way. And God leads them the other way. That's part two.
This confrontation, this battle they're trying to avoid. And then they'll go back to the tabernacle. And Moses and Aaron are there. And Lord speaks to them and says, okay, I need you to go further south to another mountain.
It'll be at that spot that Aaron, you have done very well, but you are going to die.
That is the end for you there.
And so they travel to this mountain.
Aaron, brother of Moses, dies. So here in this one chapter, this faithful man of Moses has to encounter grumbling, whiny people. And then this nation that wants to destroy and kill them as they're just trying to get to the promised land. And then he leaves and says this like his brother that's been with him all this time.
He's going to die. You're going to be alone.
Loss.
And so back to that point again. Just because God is with you does not mean you will avoid hardships.
Even Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble.
Fear not, for I have overcome. I will be.
He is with us again. The point is, God is with us in everything and all these things that are happening.
So we've already hit upon it a couple times. If you got the sermon notes this morning, there was this insert called Praying through the Tabernacle. If we go back through the tabernacle and look at it again through the eyes of Jesus again, this is one continuous thread.
We go back to the tabernacle.
What's the first thing you come to the gate.
What does Jesus say about him?
He's the gate.
We get to the altar.
Where's our lamb?
There it is.
First thing. John the Baptist, when he sees him, behold, there is the Lamb of God. Takes away the sin of the world. We know Jesus will have his blood shed for us.
We get to the water, this basin of purification, this opportunity for us, as we would pray through the tabernacle, to have time of confession, reflection, thankfulness for what Jesus has done and also confess. These are things that I.
And please purify me from these things. Forgive me for this.
We turn, we move inward. We realize we have the bread for daily bread.
Everything today. I just need today.
Give us this day our daily bread. Jesus in John also says that he is the Bread to the candle, the lampstand.
Jesus says he is the light of the world, right? He is the light. He will light, and His Word shines and puts everything available for us to see, right?
This altar of incense, he is the mediator. He is this beautiful, fragrant offering of praise and thanksgiving to the Father.
And then this ultimate peace. When Jesus dies, the curtain between the ark and everything else gets torn and ripped on one hand. It's for us to be able to finally approach, which we can with boldness. But it also allows the glory of God to come out.
So we understand and read that. You know, Jesus said, then when I leave, Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit will dwell. Read John 14 will dwell with you. Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes first. Corinthians 3:16, which will be on the screen. Don't you know that you yourselves are the temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? So we still have a temple. There still is a tabernacle, but it's us now, and the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us.
So when we walk in the wilderness, when we are going through struggles and trials and hurt and pain and loss and conflict and frustrations and questions and doubts and all that stuff, praise the Lord, Holy Spirit, that you dwell within me and that you reside here now.
We don't have to go through this whole elaborate process anymore.
Jesus, be the center, and I can live life. I can keep going, because Christ is in me.
Final piece.
[01:11:22] Speaker F: So
[01:11:24] Speaker C: I mentioned if we had time to share our story. We don't have time, but it's just always late.
This is a recent. Fairly recent, A big chunk of, like, a forming process for me in a wilderness time period probably started about six years ago. And I went through about two years of really wrestling with God in this wilderness and asking, okay, God, I think you want me. Like, I felt the cloud moving and, okay, you need me to go. I need to go someplace.
And so I took this step of faith, left the current position I was in, and then waited for God to provide. And. And he's like, no, I don't want to provide for you quite yet, because you have some growth and stuff happening.
And in the midst of this, I'm trying to find other things. I subbed as a teacher. I worked as a hospital chaplain. I drove a FedEx truck and delivered packages, which is a fun and exhausting job at the same time.
But I remember in a very raw moment with God, just writing in my journal, and probably through a lot of tears and a lot of other words, I Won't share. But the key piece was God, don't you even see me in this period of, like, doubt and question. I'm like, God, don't you even see me?
About six months later, I was hired here, and I basically almost forgot about that question.
Later on that first year, Dave Johnson, one of the former pastor here, and myself, we went on this trip to Israel for, like, my first time.
And it's a trip. I was waiting on this list, like, seven years to go on this trip.
And again, we're on it. The first day was fabulous. It was great seeing a bunch of stuff land in there. Ending the day with a sunset in the Valley of Elah, where David killed Goliath. Oh, this is great. Day number two, I wake up and then we get on the bus and they just drop us off in the middle of the wilderness on a highway. They just, like, get out.
And we got out and it's just, okay, we're walking through.
We're probably a half hour into this hike up this wadi. It's 95 degrees. I just start, like, sweating and getting dizzy and nauseous and faint and like, I've never in my. Almost blacked out, but I almost blacked out then. And it just. It got bad after that.
I was sick. And then the remainder, like, where do I go? I need to finish persevere in this wilderness.
So for the next, like, five hours, we're hiking up this wadi, trying to have as much liquid as I can.
Finally get to the end of it. And thankfully there was an EMT on our trip that kept checking in with me.
And we got to this next site. I'm still not doing well at all. Can't keep anything in.
And, like, we're going to go to this next site. You're just going to stay here under this tree.
And I was broken.
Like, I had waited for so long.
Seven years might not be more or less right, but I was so frustrated, so angry at God. It's like I felt like I had to write.
And as I sat there, God spoke to me and said, adam, just like I saw Nathaniel under the fig tree, I see you here.
And that wasn't a recent scripture I had to flip through. I read all of Matt, flipped through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and finally the first chapter of John. It wasn't fresh.
[01:15:34] Speaker F: No.
[01:15:37] Speaker C: God's like peace.
It's like a river just flooded over me.
And his joy just flooded over me.
Being aware and being aware of his dwelling presence, he sees me.
And it was probably three months after that, I Was at the end of the year reviewing my journal and I saw that prayer.
Be careful when you ask for a prayer and, and how God answers it sometimes.
Oh, this is almost two years ago.
I asked this God, do you even see me? And he very affirmatively said, adam, I
[01:16:25] Speaker B: see you,
[01:16:28] Speaker C: each and every one of us here this morning.
I don't know what season you are going in or what you are experiencing, what maybe brokenness or hurt or frustration or joy or whatever you are experiencing. I do know one thing, that we have a God who is extremely faithful and he sees us.
He sees you.
It may not be on your timeline or without hardship.
He has promised that he dwells with us in it throughout the 40 years in the wilderness. God was with them every day.
And then through Christ has made a way, if we make the space and invite him in, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us.
We're going to close in prayer and I'm going to give a few invitations here.
So if you bow your head, close your eyes, God, we thank you that you are a God who is present, that you are a God throughout generations, throughout millennia. You are a God who sees, you are the God who dwells, you are the God who loves and cares and is faithful.
I just want to invite this morning, if you are here and maybe there is some confessing that you need to do, that God is not really at the center of your life right now. God is not a priority.
Maybe you're involved in something that needs to be repented of or confessed of. God, I just ask that you just raise your hand and we confess this together.
Jesus, for my brothers and sisters with their hands raised, that desire, I know the desire is for you to be their center.
God, that you would meet them, God, that you would remind them that they are loved, that they are forgiven and new life is right around the corner, that you continue to dwell with them.
In the same way. If you are here this morning and you feel that your life is out in the wilderness in the heat of the day and it is tired and you are tired and you feel broken, I just want to pray for you specifically. So if that's you, if you're in the wilderness, can you raise your hand?
And Father, we have many here have risen their hand raised their hand that they're experiencing brokenness and they are in the wilderness, God may would you in a tangible way be present that you would remind them that you see them? God, that whatever situations that they are in, may you bring restoration, that you would bring healing and that God, just as we look at the daily bread that you would just give them a daily manna, a daily bread for them just to take a journey for that
[01:19:51] Speaker E: day
[01:19:53] Speaker C: it would be know that yout are dwelling with them and God for the others that are here and didn't raise hands either with one way or the other. God, whatever season we're in, we thank you for your faithfulness, your provision for our lives in your dwelling truth and may we experience the fruit of your spirit, your love and your joy and your peace and your patience and all the things. Because Holy Spirit, you dwell in us. May you be centered in our lives and we do this through you. Jesus Christ, thank you for for dying on the cross for us and giving this new life and never giving up on us.
We praise you, Jesus.
Amen.
[01:21:15] Speaker A: What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer?
There is no no more for heaven now to give.
He is my joy, My righteousness and freedom, My steadfast love, My deep and boundless peace.
To this I hold My hope is only Jesus for my life is wholly bound to his oh, how strange and divine I can sing all his might yet not I But through Christ in me.
The night is dark But I am not forsaken for by my side the Savior he will stay I labor on in weakness and rejoicing for in my I need his power is display to this I hold My shepherd will defend me through the deepest valley he will lead all the night has been won and I shall overcome but through Christ in me.
No fate I dread I know I am forgiven the future sure the price it has been paid For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon and he was raised to overthrow the grave to this I hold My sin has been defeated Jesus just now whenever is my all the chains are released I can sing I am free and not I But through Christ in me.
With every breath I long to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day I know he will renew me Until I stand with joy before the throne to this I hold My hope is only Jesus all the glory ever more to him when the race is complete still my lips shall reign Not I But through Christ in me to this I hold My hope is only Jesus all the glory ever more to him when the race is complete still my lips shall repeat he and not I But through Christ in me
[01:25:45] Speaker E: when
[01:25:45] Speaker A: the race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not I But through Christ in me yet not I But through Christ he'll be yet not I But through Christ in me.
[01:26:22] Speaker C: Church, family, thank you for choosing to worship together this morning.
Being reminded not through ourselves, but through Christ.
Christ is a center. As you go out this week, be reminded that he is your center.
Let him dwell and spend time dwelling with him through the love of the Father, through the grace of the Son, through the power of his Holy Spirit.
Amen.
We do have time for prayer up here on the sides.
[01:26:54] Speaker F: And.
[01:26:55] Speaker C: And then also this morning we have a women's luncheon. So if you're a woman, you didn't. If you didn't register, you can still go.
It's in the gym that way out east. Have a great week.
