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00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] good morning church today scripture reading is taken from the book of exodus chapter 26 verse 3 until 37 join five of the curtains together and do the same with the other five make loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set and do the same with the end curtain in the other set make 50 loops on one curtain and 50 loops on the end curtain of the other set with the loops opposite each other then make 50 gold casps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the
00:00:48 tabernacle is a unit make curtains of goat hair for the tent over tabernacle 11 altogether all eleven curtains are to be the same size thirty cubits long and four cubits wide join five of the curtains together into one set and the other 6 into another set fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tent make 50 loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set then make 50 bronze clasps and put them in the loops to fasten the 10 together as a
00:01:39 unit as for the additional length of the tent curtains the half curtain that is left over is to hang down at the rear of the tabernacle the tent curtains will be a cubit longer on both sides what is left will hang over the sides of the tabernacle so as to cover it make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red and over that a covering of the other durable leather make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle each frame is to be 10 cubits long and a cubit and a half wide with two projections set parallel to
00:02:30 each other make all the frames of the tabernacle in this way make 20 frames for the south side of the tabernacle and make 40 silver bases to go under them two bases for each frame one under each projection for the other side the north side of the tabernacle make 20 frames and 40 silver bases two under each frame make six frames for the far end that is the west end of the tabernacle and make two frames for the corners at the far end at these two corners they must be double from the bottom all the way to the top
00:03:21 and fit it into a single ring both shall be like that so there will be eight frames and sixteen silver bases two under each frame also make cross bars of acacia wood five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle five for those on the other side and 5 for the frames on the west at the far end of the tabernacle the center crossbar is to extend from end to end at the middle of the frames overlay the frames with gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars also overlay the crossbars with gold
00:04:11 set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain make a curtain of blue purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain the curtain will separate the holy place from the most holy place put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the most holy place
00:04:58 place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side for the entrance to the tent make a curtain of blue purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen the work of an embroiderer make gold hooks for this curtain and five posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and cast five bronze bases for them the book of matthew chapter 27 verse 15 until 53 and when jesus had cried out again in a loud voice he gave up his spirit at that moment
00:05:49 the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom the earth shook the rocks split and the tombs broke open the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life they came out of the tombs after jesus resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people this is god's word can you say hi johnny say hi johnny can johnny say hi oh johnny said hi okay so we have a few people all right so we're coming live to you today from fbc and so we're just going to continue on from uh last week's
00:07:12 sermon and last week's summon we are brother ulam gave us some very clear three points uh at the end of the parable the server and he said do you desire to know god's word do you desire to be in god's presence do you desire to be with god's people and today we're going to pick up really the middle one do you desire to be in god's presence and this morning we sang some songs one song we sang earlier was god is here god is here you know i see jesus face to face and so i want to ask you this morning
00:07:46 right now as we start off on the word of god do you really believe do you really believe the presence of god is here right now in our midst not an intellectual presence but a presence which is really something you feel so why don't we just come before the lord in prayer and we're going to look at how the tabernacle and particularly this morning we're going to look at one element to help us what is that element you look at the back of it here right now this beautiful sculpture was done by malcolm but those of you remember before
00:08:25 this it was something else what was it let's see whether i can get my clicker walking guys sorry we're going live it looks like my clicker's not working can you uh sorry yeah troll no need troll pass to you okay shall we wait a little while like we say we're going a bit live and we got a little bit of tech ah there we are all right now we're working again so sorry live has that issue a little bit let's go again there we are and if you look at it what do we have you have at the back of you you see the what it was
00:09:00 before it is actually the curtain and this was also malcolm's work and you notice in the middle the curtain is torn so today we're going to look at the presence of god and we are continuing on in the series on the tabernacle and we've and perhaps you know we'll see where the lord leads us but i'm thinking of wrapping up this is a four-part sermon on the tabernacle and we're gonna look at the church within the veil or what we call the curtain and see what the curtain and the tabernacle teaches us so why don't we just quieten
00:09:34 ourselves right now and let the lord just really speak to us lord we come in humility we quieten our hearts and our minds we slow ourselves down and be still and we ask for your presence in humility and so many of us long to really experience your presence in our life we we sang the words god is here god is here i see jesus face to face a part of us says really so lord help us help us as we struggle through this and may scripture come alive this morning and we say this in jesus name amen okay and we just read a very long
00:10:23 section just now about the the tabernacle just to refresh us and in particular we read quite a bit about the curtain or the veil and there's such explicit instruction on where to place the curtain uh what it should be made out of and then suddenly we went to the matthew text and the curtain is torn so how do we reconcile both the facts so let me take you a little back big a bit back into what we call sacred spaces i'm going to take you back to exodus chapter three and this is what access to chapter
00:10:57 three say this is a story of the burning bush i won't read all of it the verses are there for you but verse 2 the angel of the lord appeared to moses in flames of fire within a bush so that's an interesting thing right god doesn't appear and show himself he shows himself in a flame of fire all right so and then what happens is that in verse five it says do not come any closer so one god appears his glory seen filled in a fire in a bush number two moses can't come very close he has to go from a distance and here's
00:11:36 the first expression really of sacred space outside of eden always remember eden or sorry the garden of eden where heaven and earth met was the real first sacred space of scripture and look at what god tells moses take off your sandals the place where you are standing is holy ground that's sacred space and of course we have the sending out of moses and it ends with this really famous text and the story of them the adventure begins they say this is what you want to say to the israelites i am has sent me to you and before that those
00:12:14 very famous words i am who i am and yahweh declares himself and then the story goes moses delivers his people from israel and then arrives at mount sinai and sets up the tabernacle so let me give you these few images you can you can see it at the back here okay am i carrying it right you can see at the back yeah and what's the common denominator among the three the first is the burning bush the other image is the image at mount sinai and then of course what we call the shekinah glory or god's glory
00:12:47 appearing on the tabernacle one they all have the same thing god's glory is veiled you can't see god god doesn't show his face he appears in a glory whether it's a burning bush whether it's thunder lightning on top of of a mountain a pillar of fire that's how he appears himself number two you don't just simply get to approach god you have to be at a distance it's sacred moses has to take off his sandals and we find in mount sinai a certain kind of three-tiered kind of approach the israelites at the base
00:13:24 70 elders coming to the middle to have a covenant with god and only moses at the top and the tabernacle has the same thing isn't it the israelites encampment on the outside you have them the outer court you have the holy place and the holy holy s you do remember the series this takes us back to eden sorry to creation you have the dry lands and then you have eden and then you have the garden of eden and in the middle two trees the tree of knowledge the good and evil and the tree of life so this kind
00:13:59 of concentric circles is a pattern coming out of eden the garden of eden which is the first secret space so let's take that mind and we're going to show you again the tabernacle just to refresh you you read it just now first thing remember is very precise in the way it is mentioned i want to pick you a little bit in the most holy space today and you look at it as a square it's a perfect rectangle and there are three layers to it you have an entrance right at the outer burnt offering you look at it
00:14:31 that's the first curtain and then you go to the holy place that's the second curtain or the whale and then the third curtain which is the most important separates the holy place for what is called the holy of holies and today we're just really going to spend a bit of time on the curtains so we have what we call the dividing bill all right and you have it in three layers okay and all go at entrances so we're gonna ask three questions why the wheel or the curtain what it means to have the wheels torn
00:15:02 from top to bottom some translations have it the wheel ran from top to bottom and what it means to worship within the veil and we're going to look at the idea of god is here seeing jesus face to face the presence of god these are the things we always like to look at and always remember we're going to go back to how the old testament ties to the new testament and how god met moses at the burning bush and he said i am who i am i am will send you so pick this up as your backdrop as you go through the text and so uh
00:15:39 do i have again some problems sorry guys we're always having a bit of this kind of uh does do excuse us a little bit while we work a little bit on the technical issues okay let's see whether we can try that again uh all right and so why the veil okay and so we just mentioned it just now the wheel has three parts okay the first again is the most important shields the arc of the covenant that's one the uh or the holy the holy the second the holy place and the third at the entrance and you know something sunday school kids get it
00:16:15 right and this is something a sunday school kid did on the net which i picked up and look at the colors there and look at what malcolm who did our curtain malcolm he's a bible scholar he got it right you know the colors why these colors and josephus was a very famous jewish scholar in his book antiquity says that it basically means the firmament or basically it talks about the expanse of the universe god is a god of creation and so these are royal colors these are colors of the skies it talks about the
00:16:46 majesty of god and so you see these colors are quite particular and one of those things stuck on there those those angelic looking things they are shadow brim and again if you know your your scripture what happens at when men sin when men sin they will cast off the garden on eden the garden of eden closed or you can see a curtain the veil was put in it and what happened there were shadow brims guarding it and one no no not only sherrod wins what we had we had a flaming sword and it is both literal
00:17:18 symbolic what that means always look at the imagery is god's presence but now to keep you out flaming sword fire burning bush fire fire coming down from mount sinai and fire coming from the tabernacle always remember this imagery because god's picture of salvation is always one story so let us try to see whether we can appreciate the tabernacle and the curtain and what i'm going to do i'm going to take you through the entire journey all right so imagine you're a priest all right a levite priest why do
00:17:50 we say that because we are supposed to be royal priests let's go there and you come to the tabernacle only one entrance first curtain all right first curtain right and do those days they don't have like automatic doors you have to slide you have to go around the curtain and smack right middle you can see that what do we see we see two items in the right axis the first is called the outer burn offering and after that we have what we call the basin so let's just go through it we won't read it the first thing you
00:18:17 see the altar burnt offering and this is where the israelites bring their sacrifices they'll bring a lamb you sacrifice the lamb for their sins again remember your genesis story after adam and eve are kicked out of the garden eden the veil is closed sherryman blocked it we are introduced to the story of cain and abel and what did they do they offer sacrifices and the narrative begins in genesis 4 about appropriate sacrifices for sins one brother does it well another brother does not so the first thing we know
00:18:50 entrance to the tabernacle requires a sacrifice entrance to the stable neck is only one and the sacrifice must be worthy unblemished unblemished after that we then go through the next one it's called the bronze basin made out of actually all the mirrors from the women who melted it together and it basically symbolizes cleansing you know before the priest can start their duties they are supposed to wash themselves entirely in the basin after the duties they wash so we are talking about sanctification they
00:19:23 are sanctifying themselves they are washing themselves and then you face the second curtain second curtain and you have to go around the curtain and remember before this you're now the outdoors right there's a sun this is sad there's all of that and then you enter the holy place is dark and the first thing you see on the right side the table show break we did in our last sermon 12 loaves the bread curve uh tribes of israel god provides that's the first thing you see in this dark place you see tough and you smell the bread
00:19:59 remember the senses you smell the bread and only the priest can eat the bread in the place and then on the other side of it you have light so from smelling you now have sight you always have it you have cider okay and you have side and what we have we won't read it they have the golden lampstand frame like a tree like the tree of life and that provides illumination god is light and directly in front of you right in front of you we have the altar of incense and this is where the priest makes commune with god that's
00:20:32 commune and again smell why because the fragrance of the incest let my prayer be like incense rising up and so you notice there's a lot of senses involved here there is taste because you eat the bread there is smell because of the incense and their sight very obviously so you very obviously are engaging all your senses or basically worship you can say involves your total being and so by this point it says wow that looks great you know you feel everything and then after that what happens you face this curtain
00:21:06 and that's it that's it every time you face a curtain to say you're blocked to share a room there to remind you your great ancestors did wrong and you couldn't get back into the garden of eden and for the whole year that's what happens and on one day of the year what we call is yom kippur or a day of atonement a high priest gets in so you can't get in and say one day and he goes in there and he goes in and basically same thing again you have the glory of god and that smoke has to bring in a portable incense and he offers
00:21:44 sacrifices we go go today it's a very elaborate thing and there we have the final piece we have the ark of the covenant and then draw it to verse 22 and there above the cover again to cerebrum god meets the israelites this is the real presence of god it was the presence of god the presence of god comes in obedience i'll give you my commands and you are to follow so why the veil uh later on in the story of exodus jesus uh moses tells god say show me your presence and you find in exodus 33 and and god tells moses you cannot see my
00:22:23 face but hang on didn't we just saying we didn't we just think that we see jesus face to face why is there a difference the old testament the new testament so we're going to get to that story you cannot see my face now so far if you look back what do you see you see that worship the old testament is very controlled you don't simply get to see god there are layers and layers and layers why and they're very elabor elaborate sacrificial systems and there's a lot of it's got to do with clean and unclean and only one person the high
00:22:58 priest on one day of the year gets in to see god and even then he can't really see god he has to have smoke around him why is that so why does god institute such an elaborate system when inside the garden of eden adam eve could meet god face to face and so we look a little bit you know during donald trump's time he wanted to build a wall now don't don't get me wrong i'm not here to do some uh donald trump bashing but in his view usa was the land of milk and honey usa was like the garden of eden and he
00:23:35 was going to keep everybody out those who he felt were not worthy to enter into usa guess what you know what the curtain is telling us all of us in a sense we are in mexico the wall the wall here is a divider and so the curtain reminds us there's a barrier between us and god that's what he's saying and the shadow brim reinforces it the patenting of the shadow brim on it reinforces it and that's the purpose of the veil and isaiah said this but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your god
00:24:19 and your sins have hidden his face from you remember again what god tells moses you cannot see my face because of sin and so on this side of the fence so to say doesn't matter whether you're rich or you're poor very successful had a great life struggling with depression all sorts of issues at the foot of the cross you're awesomeness uh you know in in korea they have this bridge you know it's very famous bridge or infamous bridge you know what is famous for or in famous for is famous for suicides
00:25:03 it's so famous for suicides they have to put words there to tell people not to jump and they even put a sculpture there to say you know what seek help and and and and courier has won the highest suicide rates you know it's quite funny right you you imagine a suicide and a difficult life would be correlated if that's the case then you would imagine that people who are the rohingyas the afghans you know those who are really poor countries will be right up there but you find korea a country which is rich
00:25:37 having the highest suicide rates we live in a time right now where you have you're probably at the point of history where you are have abundance you know during doing you ask your grandfather's time you want to watch tv all black and white now netflix you can get anything it's an instant gratification society and yet people are even more unhappy you have to ask yourself that why some you know yesterday i had some really sad news one of my old uh friends that i grew up with you know committed suicide not something i wanted
00:26:11 to bring to the sermon today so devastated family members we never saw it coming so what's scripture telling us in god's economy we're all sinners and one thing we need to do in church is that we cannot put up barriers between those who are struggling with emotional or mental struggles with those of us who appear normal the will is not there we are putting up barriers ourselves with other people so i want to just say there's one word the church must really remove is called stigma at the foot of the cross
00:26:49 all of us are on one side of the wall we are all in mexico we are all sinners and people don't come forward for help especially men because they feel stigmatized and so i want to reach out to you if you're there right now and you're struggling because kovit has been difficult and you're having issues with family or work or struggle don't struggle in silence my friend you know who committed suicide he was very successful career he had a family he had he had three kids i never saw it coming and people can hide these things so well
00:27:22 and you know why they hide it because of a stigma because those who don't have these issues put a barrier with us and guess what in god's economy all of us are in mexico so let's remember that what's the purpose of the will the purpose of the veil is to remind us we're all sinners and you are struggling out there reach out and talk to somebody reach out to family life call one of us okay now what does it mean to have the wheel torn from top to bottom and you've got to ask yourself who tore it okay and so let's go a bit to the
00:27:57 matthew text we're going to concentrate a bit more on that if you find if exodus you know it's such a long chapter so much detail is done so much is given and we find that the veil is so central to the tabernacle at the entrance and at the courtyard entrance the holy place entrance to the holy holies it's basically the glue that holds the table necker together and now suddenly it's torn who tore it god taught it why would god told it didn't he institute in exodus so let's look at the verse carefully look at verse 50
00:28:29 when jesus cried out again a loud voice he gave up his spirit at the moment where christ died for my sins at that same moment verse 51 the curtain the temple was torn into from top to bottom so one the two are tight then there's another part of the verse we a lot of us don't like to read because it looks like it's coming from lord of the rings so one of those sci-fi movies or one of those you know zombie movies the earth joke the rock split the toms broke open and the bodies of many holy people had died were raised
00:29:00 to life very few people preaching these verses because so strange what happened did people come like that they came out of tombs and noticed this uh after just jesus resurrection matthew is very clear about it that means matthew is going from good friday to what easter sunday that means now from when we go to verse 53 jesus had risen and so the dead did not rise until after jesus rose and then the date came out when did the holy city appeared to many people and we don't know what happened to them did they really were they were
00:29:34 really there what happened they died they disappeared was it just the illusion matthew doesn't even bother to explain it to you he just wants to tell you the dead were resurrected and they were resurrected after jesus was resurrected so let's pick up a few of these points okay number one it tells us the old order sacrificial worship has passed away and the hebrew tells us the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves for this reason it can never by the same
00:30:05 sacrifices repeatedly endlessly year of the year make perfect those who draw near to worship hebrews 9 10 11 really talk about tabernacle so the moment you remove the veil the entire system all the festivities the entire clean and clean all disappears you don't go to church on a ritual you are now supposed to enter the holy of holies that's what he's saying it's very clear so let me pick a first few points and bear with me today right uh you look at this image right and you you imagine that this looks like it's a jewish
00:30:46 service it's not it's actually from a group who says this is how a christian service should look like i'm trying to be very polite here and i want to stress i'm not here to insult anybody and so some of you practice this please don't take it like i'm trying to judge but there are some who are christians i want to be generous here who believe church services will be like that and they will go forth to tell you not only like this you have to implement all of the sacrificial systems the food laws the festivities of the old testament
00:31:21 and so they would abstain from pork they will observe the festivities so here is my struggle if the will has been removed god is declaring a new covenant why are you going back to the o worship the second point is the problem with this kind of things right is that you tend to judge people on the externals and that was what isaiah is saying they come with sacrifices but their hearts are far away that's why the law is a shadow to show the fulfillment of jesus now you don't need to talk about them
00:31:54 look look at the church some people say they don't want to eat pork some people when they worship they like to jump up and down some people like it very conservative some people when they want they want the lord's supper to be very it has to be the presence of god and we judge people on these externals so if you don't like a service whereas people are really loud you say what they're in performance you don't like services where very quiet you say what they're boring they're dry bones so it's very easy to judge people on
00:32:23 externals you don't want to eat pork go ahead but don't judge those who do not hold to death one man considers one day more holy one man does another the problem with this is that we tend to push it so people say oh you're not charismatic you're missing the power of the holy spirit oh you you eat pork you're unclean oh your your church communion is not the real presence of god you're not really good you know oh you don't have a 45 minute sermon no you're not really bible based and all of this divide us and today we
00:32:57 will talk about what god wants when the veil is removed god is calling us to a new kind of worship and why is that worship and we find in the story of the samaritan woman and jesus worship is in what spirit and small ass meaning your attitude the heart not whether you eat pork don't eat pork whether you speak in town so don't speak in tongues whether you have a 45 minute sermon whether your your lord suffers done is your heart and in truth and what kind of truth remember this is gospel john because jesus says i'm the way the
00:33:29 truth and the life let's pick that up second point we now have direct access to god and hebrews continues therefore brothers and sisters since we have confidence to enter the most holy place that's the tabernacle by the blood of jesus and lord what he says in verse 20 by a new and living way open for us through the curtain that is his body and the hebrew writer identifies the will to be the body of jesus in the same way the body of jesus was broken on the cross and that's why the curtain was broken
00:34:06 that's what it is ren from top to bottom meaning is completely broken and now the third one this is where it's quite interesting we miss this one god calls us to resurrection living and we're going to look at a very strange verse about that look that's coming out for a movie with cgi and date people coming up and we always bypass these verses now you must understand matthew and john both pull a lot back from the old testament and matthew is pulling in part from a very famous prophecy from easy kill is
00:34:39 found in ezekiel 37 and it's called the valley of dry bones and there we have a story of the valley of dry bones and they are meant to be like israelites and what happens god calls forward and brings them to life and then a wind comes and they are brought up and this is the nation in israel and let me just give you the chapter you don't need to turn to it you can read it and we know in a new covenant we are called to live resurrected lies because the wind that comes is the wind of the holy spirit you're not supposed to lead
00:35:15 defeated life you're not supposed to live a life of bitterness you're supposed to be resurrected with christ because christ lives in you pick that up resurrected living is victorious living what do we mean by victorious living we're gonna pick it up as we go on okay i'm not gonna go through the entire journey of the tabernacle again but i'm gonna do it now with jesus because jesus is the tabernacle jesus is the curtain in fact jesus is many things let's pick it up all right we remember the tabernacle has only one entrance
00:35:51 so what does the gospel john tells us i am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved one entrance only jesus and then we come again to the outer burn offering and john the baptist says look the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world finally there is a sacrifice that can take away the sins of the world why because with this sacrifice we just read just now it brings us to resurrection living because he not only died he was resurrected again and in his resurrection there is life so the outer
00:36:31 burnt offering now brings about not just the sacrifice but the resurrection and jesus says i am the resurrection and the life and you are called to resurrection life and we move one step further you are now a high priest we're all royal priests we reclaim that and paul tells us you were washed you were sanctified you were justified god's righteousness was credited to you and this is what the basin is and paul is clearly pulling from tabernacle language and why is that so because not because of what i did we learned again
00:37:09 from the story of the woman at the well because jesus is the truth and for the for the woman it's not only the truth it was life to her and so what jesus says i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me you guys will see where i'm going with this right so now there's no more curtain we enter the holy place and when we come here what does jesus say you guys should get it by now right i am what i am the bread of life and we did this in the last sermon i don't need to go through this and then
00:37:46 we go to the golden lantern and what did jesus say i am the light of the world you see how the old testament new testament just pulls together and then we face the author of incense where the prayers go up and this is where the priests make commune with god and they say this is where you are my god and i am your people and this is the most intimate part when they offer up the prayers and the revelation book of revelation talks about the prayers of the saints going out and so we have ephesians telling us this
00:38:24 okay and paul telling us you know what prayer is no point unless you have fruit and ulam picked that up last week about the perilous soul walk in the way of love bear fruit just as christ loved us and here again tabernacle language gave himself up as what a fragrant offering christ is the altar of incense and i am what if you know the john's gospel i am do you know what the last of the seven i am and is very fitting of all the i am in the gospel of john the last one is the most appropriate if the author insight
00:39:02 is about commune with god he said this i am the true vine and you are the branches abide in me and i will abide in you and you will bear much fruit and what fruit will you bear you walk in a way of love hallelujah church and now the curtain is rent and we face god we face the ark of the covenant and we are told that the ark has the glory and john thousands in verse 14 the world became flesh and heaven acted among us we have seen his glory and now the glory isn't fire isn't a burning bush it isn't
00:39:39 a pillar of fight there's no lightning the glory jesus and john tells us he was there from the beginning he was there before moses he was there before abraham he was there in genesis 1. and what did jesus say i tell you the truth before abraham was born i am what is the presence of god it is seeing jesus face to face and brothers and sisters doesn't matter whether you're catholic orthodox charismatic hebrew rules torah observer whatever labels the church is so sadly broken let's not argue and throw stones
00:40:22 your job my job in first baptist church is to go into sanctuary and to be in the presence of god so let me give you one last one right one last one okay and and and i left this for the last we have this tree you can see it up there and there's one more god reveals himself to those who seek him i laugh at one last verse you know after the story of the curtain tearing and the dead people resurrecting there was a witness he was called a centurion he was a gentile and this is what the verse says when the
00:40:57 centurion and those with him they were guarding jesus saw the earthquake all that happened they were terrified and exclaimed surely he was the son of god now you must be very careful on the wording when he says all that's happened you know what is happening it wasn't that he was standing at the cross the earth and darkness says well he's the son of god he didn't do that because all that's happened means that is the verse following verse 53 it means is after easter sunday that means he went to town from gogota
00:41:30 he heard the stories on the mount of olives and he heard the stories in jerusalem and he saw himself and he was terrified he then realized the man they crucified was a son of god a gentile unclean centurion was realizing god was where he was in the presence of god and what is the last i am that i didn't bring up i am the good shepherd and this verse really picks it up because you know what he says he says in verse 16 i have other sheep that are not of this cheap pen and jesus is referring to the gentiles because now
00:42:19 to the gentiles can enter the holy of holies and see jesus face to face and here's one verse i want to tell you as we close in the short walk they will listen to my voice you want to know what's the presence of god when you listen to the voice and what is the one voice a shepherd tells the sheep there's only one thing come follow me that's the motive for matthew and what did god tell moses when he says you know you'll meet you at the at at the ark of the covenant top i will give you my commands and you will
00:43:03 obey me you want to know what is the presence of god and july picked it up you better know his word because if you don't want to know his word you are not in his presence it's just emotions so the tabernacle no more curtain and what is this shadow telling us for our christian journey we are to go into intimate presence with god so i'm going to end with one illustration so that is all not hate knowledge and all and i hope all these missing pieces bind us together and and we've been talking about wills and
00:43:43 barriers and i want to ask you why is it there's so many people in church nowadays not just nbc who don't live resurrected lives they live lives as victims they are always and i'm not trying to be judgmental they feel that their life is bad the church are full of hypocrites arnold's hypocrite peter's a hypocrite all the elders are hypocrites know there's just so much pain because the will or the barrier i like to humbly suggest is because you have put it in front of you you have built a wall and you don't want to break through that
00:44:24 wall it is no longer the barrier in a tabernacle it is your own barrier and god is calling you today to listen to his voice and come to his presence so let me just end with one illustration just one today you know i mean i'm not i'm not suicidal right i don't have but we all have bad days right so i wanna you know the church is supposed to be a sacred space because we are the sacred space and we're supposed to be safe so let me bear my soul a bit the mco has been quite difficult for me they've been good times bad times and
00:44:57 then the roller coaster ride i'd like to thank my wife she's been very supportive i'd like to thank the council elders for being very supportive but it's been difficult for me especially when it comes to work a lot of people go through that my problems are probably not as bad as other people but like koreans right you have everything but you struggle and there were days where it was so bad i used to sit in my office alone after all the stuff left and i just i felt like i couldn't breathe you ever
00:45:23 had that feeling like you can't breathe you feel like the world just so overwhelms you you you want to scream but nothing comes out you ever felt that i i understand that if you do and i felt so lousy about myself and i compared myself to other people i said why can't i like that and i told god i'm just so tired i i don't like to live month or month worrying like that being anxious and and it just too i had a wall and so i woke up one morning feeling lousy and i was telling myself you know what i
00:45:56 preaching can't i practice what i preach and and i i put on a song by a by kim walker jesus culture it was quite interesting song because she said this in that song it's called he loves me so he says that you know what if you come to church and you're not in god's presence this is all just noise these are words these are instruments and this morning i plead to you if you are out there and you're not really listening to the voice all of this is just noise what i'm saying just noise you just going through the ritual like
00:46:25 like the jews did and hitting a wall and so i put on one song i'm going to show you the lyrics afterwards it's from a church which some of you won't even agree with but like say i have a generous grace this morning and you know what when i when though when when i put on that song on my headphones something happened to me which never rarely happens the word soul touched me i broke down in tears i broke down in tears so much i had to get on my knees and it so affected me i can't even remember the exact spot
00:47:01 where i broke down in my apartment and i can't even tell you the time and and i remember when that words came to me the first thing that came out i remember like i remember like the beatitudes you know i said lord i'm broken i mourn over my sin and i say lord save me and i felt so much weakness and suddenly i understood this verse blessed are the pure in heart for they were what they would see god and there then i saw jesus not physically but i felt him and i got up i went to my job site and the rest of the day
00:47:44 i felt stronger i felt stronger to fight sin i felt stronger to find my struggles i felt stronger to listen to the voice of the shepherd and to follow i want to close with those words of this song and if you know the the the song let me know privately i don't quite agree with the church and some of the teachings of the church but i think not everybody is right let's not be so arrogant so let me just close with these words right and and i hope it speaks to you as much as you spoke to me in the beauty of your holiness
00:48:21 that's tabernacle language your face is all i see i see jesus not literally but i see him through the spirit in my in my heart in the glory of your majesty i bow my knee i bow my knee to worship you i am at the altar of incense and i worship you in the presence of your perfect love at the altar of the burnt offering jesus offered himself the lamb of god and my fears are swept away washed away like the basin i'm cleansed in the tenderness of your embrace i lift my hands to worship you your grace has opened my eyes because
00:49:16 jesus is the light of my life he is the menorah in the tabernacle to see the beauty the price of your love sacrifice your blood redeemed me from shame your body broken for me you are the bread of life you are the bread of life your power has broken the chains the curtain is open i stand before the throne and i say and i asked all of you this morning to say god is here do i get it amen god is here jesus is real so let me close with this this is what ulam shared and you know what so interestingly the
00:50:10 book of hebrews as he ends as he ends the issue of tabernacle he says this let us draw near to god with a sincere heart because the curtains torn the full assurance that faith brings having a heart sprinkler to cleanse us from guilty conscience haven't you felt that you felt so lousy by yourself feel so guilty having a body wash with pure water let us hold unswiveling to the hope we profess he who promises us is faithful and we can't do it together we do it as a body this morning brothers and sisters let us
00:50:40 consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds and that's why ulam says do you desire to be with god's people and not giving up meeting together i'm going to close with this and now i see all of you here i'm going to challenge you i'm not going to force it would you raise your hands right now i'm not going to force it right now i can see can you rest yes hallelujah i'll talk early raise your hand you're not comfortable doing yes i saw linden raising your hands i saw dinah raise
00:51:09 your hand i saw patricia raise your hand raise your hands to the lord i saw josh raising his hands i see cindy raising i see edward raises his hand we're going to offer ourselves right now to the lord as a praise offering raise your hands right now those of you who don't have a video on put it on let's show your hands but i'm not going to force it if you're not comfortable and we're going to come into the presence of the lord hallelujah lord lord we ask these are just words oh lord if it's not for your presence
00:51:37 this is just noise but we asked right now you speak to us and we say god is here jesus is in our midst we need to hear your voice because life oh lord can be very very hard and there are some right now here who suffers so much because they feel stigmatized they feel a wall is brought up with them we ask as a committee we remove it let us enter the sanctuary the will has been torn let us see you face to face and let us know you are real let us hear your voice because you are the good shepherd and we will follow
00:52:19 you and we say this in jesus name hallelujah and i hope this morning you had an encounter with god if you don't don't worry if your heart is right and you are pure in the heart you would see god as a promise of scripture during the week sometime god is faithful so god bless you all anything please call us you know what send pray to fbc right send pray to abc right now reach out there send prayer and let one of us reach out to you and then for the rest of you you know if you have made a commitment
00:52:54 let us know you have a prayer request let us know attend alpha let us go you are called to resurrected living you're not supposed to be caught as a victim may this morning fill you with power break free breathe live because god is here amen god bless you all blessed sunday and now we're going to go to a time of worship god loves you everybody god loves you i am is here i am is here god bless you all you
