Transcription
WELL, HOWDY, HOWDY, HOWDY, and welcome to the Real Faith Live Show. While the world is getting darker, Real Faith is getting a little hotter and a little brighter. Well, howdy and welcome to the Real Fate Live Show. I'm Pastor Landon and this is my amazing wife, Ashley Chase. We have the same last name. Nice to see you. Not hyphenated. And uh we are so excited, guys. Easter last week was epic. If you missed it, it's not too late. If you text Eastern 99383, we'll send you last week's service as well as the Good Friday documentary. It is epic and you want to check it out. Uh, I have a wild, as my dad would say, statistic to share with you today. Can you guess how what percentage of people in the United States believe that AI gives as good of spiritual counsel as a pastor would?
5%.
33%.
Oh my gosh. One in three people.
We are doomed. That is insane. We are doomed. That's insane.
Yeah. So, just to tell you, AI is not trustworthy. It is not um they actually it's very biased because men program AI also women I'd imagine. Um men
probably mostly men.
Is it a feminist comment? It is a feminist comment. Um women aren't allowed to use computers. Um it's kind of my hot take. Just kidding. Um but uh AI is not safe. It is
It's not the Holy Spirit, that's for sure.
Yeah, it has a spirit. Um, anyways, in a world that's looking for truth like AI, uh, we want to get you some real biblical truth. And we have one of the biggest men's ministries in North America happening every single week that is chocked full of truth. So, if you text men to 99383, that's men to 999383, you'll get notified every time we go live with a sermon from real men.
Yep. And many of the men we reach already have a church that they love. We're just here to strengthen them, to take them even further in their faith and help them lead their families and stand strong as a man. We're not trying to replace church, but we're hoping to add to it. And we got a message from a guy named Derek this week that actually is super encouraging testimony. He says, "I live in Florida and attend the Bible believing church. However, I listen to the podcast and the Wednesday men's services all the time, either while I'm out at the gym, riding my bike, or as a law enforcement officer. I find it's hard sometimes to be a man in today's world. And I just love the encouragement and thought that I should not only give not only to my church, but also to people who feed me spiritually. So, thanks, Mark."
That's awesome, Derek. Uh, and we really appreciate that. Um, and, uh, we love that you're plugged into your local church and, uh, what we ask for from our audience is, um, that you would participate 100%. Whatever that looks like for you, um, did you know that only 2 and 12% of Christians tithe? Wow, that's really sad. So 97.5% of you are not tithing. Uh so I would encourage you guys to tithe whether it's to real faith or your local church. Support the Bible teaching ministry that you're being fed at. Uh and if you do have a local church, we want you to tithe there first. And then uh above your tithes and tithes are your offerings and you could support this ministry. Again, whether that's tithe or additional offerings, we would ask you to do that so we can get Bible teaching out to the nations. There's a lot of people that need Jesus right now. It's wild. Um, and uh, so we're asking you to join something uh, we just launched. It's called the remnant. There's a lot of awesome things that are going to be rolled out with the remnant, but it's really a community of believers coming together to support this ministry so that real faith doesn't need to keep being a fundraising ministry, but we can be a Bible teaching ministry solely focused on running through the tape, reaching every person we possibly can for Jesus. So, if you text stand to 999383, that's stand to 999383, you'll join the remnant. There's some really cool things like some dinners coming up and all kinds of great perks, but that's not why we want you to join. We want you to join to get the gospel out. So, uh, join the remnant community of believers making the gospel happen.
Yes. And speaking of the gospel, today we are back in our Exodus series, Freedom is for Worship, and it's going to be a good one. So, buckle up. It's sermon time. Heat. Heat.
WELL, HOWDY. WELCOME TO CHURCH. GOOD TO SEE ALL OF YOU. WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME. Excited as always to preach God's word. If you've got a Bible, go to the book of Exodus. we're taking uh this year and we're going through the book of Exodus and the last 15 chapters of the book pretty much everybody skips and it's a big construction project and we're going to get into it and you're going to have this amazing opportunity to see that over 3,000 years ago even in the middle of a construction project God had everything pointing to his son coming as our savior Jesus Christ. And so the the story line of Exodus is this. God's people were enslaved in a nation called Egypt. And God decided it was time to set his people free. So he crushed the government in Egypt. He drowned the army in Egypt. He liberated his people. And at the point we pick up the story today, they're no longer in Egypt, but they're not yet in the nation of Israel. They were headed into the promised land so that they could establish the nation of Israel that shockingly more than 3,000 years later still exists by God's providence. And so we're going back to ancient history. And so they're in the wilderness between where they were and where they would be. And so God is preparing them to found a nation and to be his people. Well, what they need to learn is how to worship. You can be a believer, you can meet Jesus as savior, but you need to learn how to have your whole life be devoted in worship to him. So that's what he is going to instruct them regarding. And he says it begins with a creation of something called a tabernacle. It's a tent 675 square ft. And it is a place that God gives them very specific instructions. Okay. How many of you you're a little OCD and you like the details and you're a little bit picky? Your God is like that. He He He knows how he wants it done and he tells them specifically, "Use all of these materials. Build it this way. The house for my presence to meet with my people needs to be done exactly as I want." The big idea is this. When we worship God, we worship God in ways that he wants, not ways that we like. And it's not about us getting what we want. It's about us obeying God and then God being glorified. And so God gives them specific instructions. Here's how you're going to build the tabernacle. And the tabernacle was for them. It was a portable worship center. So think of a church that does set up and tear down every week. This is a bit like that. As they're wandering through the wilderness, they need to set up the tabernacle. God's presence would be manifest with them. They would worship and they're learning now how to have God literally as the center of their life, literally the center of their family, literally the center of their nation. And so the center for everyone and everything was the presence of God and the worship of God. Our lives should be the same. And so this is what the uh tabernacle looked like. outer court. It had uh some screens, basically fabric. And then there is the inner court. And then there was the tabernacle, which is actually the tent itself. And so there's various pieces of furniture that God wants included in his worship. And we're going to deal with six of those today. And you're going to learn six ways uh to worship God. So if you've got a Bible, go to Exodus chapter 30. And what happens there? God gives specific instructions. And then in chapters 35 and 36 it says they did exactly to the detail what God says. The point of this ultimately when God says something full complete total obedience is the way to go. It's best for you and it's honoring to God and they obey him. So we're going to look at the pieces of furniture. You ready to go? And and I'll admit this is a little weird. We're going to look at IKEA in the woods for the Jews a long time ago. That's what we're going to do. Okay. And so, here we go. We'll jump right in. First piece of furniture uh is the altar for incense. And it's about sending your prayers and songs up. So, here's the altar. And God says, "Build this altar. You shall make an altar on which to burn incense. It shall be square. Its horn shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with pure gold." God likes gold. A lot of gold in this construction project. Make two gold rings for it. Holders for poles with which to carry it. It's portable. They're not allowed to touch it or they'll die. So they carry it on poles, put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat. Goes on to say, "I will meet with you." Here's the big idea. We build sacred places so that we can meet with our God and he is willing to visit us. And Aaron, he's the brother of Moses and he is the priest and the leader shall burn fragrant incense on it. You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it or a burnt offering or a grain offering. Don't pour a drink offering on it. Aaron shall make atonement. We'll talk about the day of atonement on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin. He shall make atonement once in the air. It is most holy to the Lord. So God says, "First thing I want, I want this piece of furniture. We're going to call it an altar." And only one person can come into this place and to offer a sacrifice. And that will only be one day a year. And so it's talking here about atonement. And the word literally means at one minute. And so atonement is God's holy. We're sinful. How do we reconcile this relationship with God? How do be we we be one with God again? And so the way that the sin is paid for and the relationship with God is restored is a sacrifice is made. Death happens and blood is shed because the wage for sin is death. So what he says is on this altar once a year I'm going to have Aaron put blood from a sacrifice. So the Jews would have called this the day of atonement. Your Jewish friends may call it Yam Kapor. It literally in the Jewish calendar was the day. It was their biggest day of the year. Everybody took time off of work and school and everybody went to be present for the worship of God and the sacrifice that was offered. So Aaron is the high priest. He's now a bit like Jesus. He's mediating between God and the people. He would go into this holy place that was solely designated for God's presence and he would offer a sacrifice. And so on the day of atonement, there were actually two goats. There was the sacrificial goat and the scapegoat. You ever heard the language of the scapegoat? It comes from this book of the Bible. It comes from this sacrifice. So what Aaron would do, he would intercede and represent the people and he would confess their sins over the first goat and then slaughter the goat. Slit its throat and it would bleed out and it was a substitute sacrifice. And then the second goat, probably the more joyful goat, the scapegoat didn't get slaughtered and sent. He he was sent away and the people would cheer because it showed that God would forgive their sin and take it away. So the sacrificial goat was for forgiveness. The scapegoat was for cleansing and removing of sin. And so what happens then is over 1300 years later Jesus Christ comes and Jesus comes to fulfill everything that is in the Old Testament but particularly in this scripture everything that was occurring on Yam Kapor. So here's what it says about Jesus. And uh and here's what it looked like. This is a rendering of what the furniture would have looked like. And so the horns, blood would be put on those horns one day a year and this would be in the presence of God showing that the wrath of God was temporarily satisfied by a sacrifice but it needed to be offered year after year. Then Jesus comes and we read this in Hebrews 21:17. For this reason, he Jesus Christ had to be made like them, a human being, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make what's the word? Atonement. This is the word from Exodus over 1300 years later applied to Jesus Christ for the sins of the people. And so what he is saying is this that Jesus is the greater Aaron. Aaron was the high priest. Jesus is our great high priest. Aaron would mediate between sinners and their holy God. Jesus comes as God become a man perfectly mediating between us and God. Furthermore, what would happen on the day of atonement is a sacrifice was offered. But here Jesus on the cross offers himself as the greater sacrifice. See, they had to sacrifice a goat every year. Jesus died once for all sin and everything that prefigured and foreshadowed the coming of Jesus was just to prepare us. That blood needed to be shed that death needed to be repaid for our relationship with God to be reconciled. In addition, what it means is not only is Jesus the greater priest than Aaron, his body a greater sacrifice than any Old Testament sacrifice, it also means that spiritually speaking, his cross, it is the altar. When Jesus bled and died on the cross in our place for our sins, he was the high priest. He was the sacrifice. And his cross was the spiritual altar where the once-for-all sacrifice was made for sinners. See, and this is why, dear friends, and I know we've got a lot of Jewish people that have been attending Trinity. We love you. We're glad to have you. This is why once Jesus died, Judaism as we know it came to an end. Today, there's no temple. There's no priesthood. There's no sacrifice. Uh our Jewish friends can't actually follow the instructions and commands of the Bible for holidays like Yam Kapoor because there's no priest, there's no temple, there's no sacrifice. We don't need it because we have Jesus Christ. Everything was satisfied in Jesus Christ. All of the Old Testament was to get us to the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. And once he says on the cross, it is finished, it's all taken care of. And so today, just be glad. We don't need to walk around in the woods for 40 years. We don't need to carry a tent. You don't need to find a goat. You just need Jesus Christ. Amen.
Just need Jesus Christ. And so then the altar is also for offering something called incense. Right? How many of you pop in your house? Right? You like the candles that smell. My wife loves the smelly candles. Pray for me. We're dealing with a lot in our house. Um, if you're a single guy, don't raise your hand. But if you're if you're a woman, your house probably smells like a woman lives there. Well, you'll be happy to know that in God's house, he likes it to smell nice. So men, just buy your wife more poperri, and candles. That's the application of the sermon. So what God tells him is he says, "Here's what I want the house to smell like." God's really into the details. And you'll see that God is creative and God is very sensory and God is very committed to having things be done in a particular way. So here's the altar of incense. The Lord said to Moses, "Take sweet spices." Exodus 30. And here are the various uh portions of the prescription uh stack tea on galbinum. Some of you ask, is he saying it right? He doesn't know. He went to public school. He's doing his best with pure frankincense. Now, they did offer that to Jesus when he was a baby. The magi did in Matthew 2. Make an incense blended by the perfumer seasoned with salt, pure and holy. Put part of it before uh the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it, even a knockoff, used as a perfume, shall be cut off from his people. So God says, "Here's what I want. I want my house where my presence dwell and my people gather. I want it filled with incense. I want it to smell a certain way. I want it to create a certain environment." And worship environments do in fact matter greatly. What's interesting about this, God gives us the recipe, which is kind of interesting. God's into the details all the way down to the incense. I I I did a little study on it. The cost of this today would be about $20,000. This is $20,000 of poperri. Okay? And what God says is you're not allowed to make it for yourself or even a knockoff that's like it. Otherwise, you'll be punished. Why? because it's holy. The point is this. There are certain things that just belong to our God. They don't belong to us.
And and and God is honored when we treat those things as sacred. One of the big problems that we have, we have so many problems today. One of them is nothing is sacred. Your privacy, your intimacy, all the details of our life, they're just profane. Profane means common. There's no sacredness. There's no sanctity to it. There's no reverence for it. There's no holiness regarding it. Nothing. It is set apart in private. God says there are certain things that are holy. They're set apart. They're not profane and common. They're just for me. They're just for worship. They're just for our relationship and time together. And God here is teaching his people that when it comes to the worship of God, this is a sacred and a holy and a special thing. And it's not like everything else. So God says you're not allowed to use this and no one is allowed to make it for themselves. The point is this. Ultimately some things are only for our God. I'll give you an example. We only worship our God. We only pray to our God. There are certain things that are only for our God. Amen.
That's it. And so what happens then is Jesus comes over 1300 years later. And then here's what we read about Jesus in Matthew 5:2. Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a what? A fragrant offering or an incense and sacrifice to God. So what happens is um Jesus dies and then he rises and then he ascends. He's fulfilling what is foreshadowed in the incense. In the incense, something ascends, right? You burn the incense, it ascends. Jesus rises and he ascends. And what it's showing us here is that the ascension of Jesus after the resurrection of Jesus, that was the the proverbial sweet scent in the nostrils of God the Father. Like here comes my son. He's back home. And this was sweet to him and it was aromatic and it was affectionate and it was personal and it was holy. And so what it says is that Jesus Christ ultimately with his ascension is the fulfillment of the rising of the incense. We're living in the days of Elijah and the question is what would Elijah do? A sea of floats flags. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. And now entire cities are dominated by demonic mayors worshiping a counterfeit god. Socialistic mayors are now governing some of the largest cities in the United States of America. It's just communism repackaged. It's failed everywhere. YOU FEEL ALONE, BUT YOU'RE NOT. THERE'S ALWAYS PEOPLE WHO DO LOVE JESUS, who do believe the Bible, who do hate sin, WHO DO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND UNHOLY SPIRITS. THEY DO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MALE AND A FEMALE AND TRUTH AND LIES AND LIGHT AND DARKNESS AND HEAVEN AND HELL AND REPENTANCE AND TOLERANCE. THERE IS A GOD. THOSE ARE THE TWO OPTIONS, MY FRIEND. FIRE OF JUDGMENT OR FIRE OF REVIVAL. Our hope prayer goal, our plans here at Real Faith are to be equipping ministry leaders, pastors, nonprofits, pro-life causes, political organizations. We want to help good Bible-based, courageous leadership in ministries do more and have a bigger impact. We want to take all the lessons that we've learned and we want to help others to do the same so they can outpunch their weight class. For that to happen, we're asking you to join a brand new group that we've got and to stand with us. This country, it's going to hurt very shortly. We have years left, not decades, to fix this problem, to get upstream. I'm looking at a future for my son that I don't know if he's going to be able to have a wife, kids, and a ministry if we let this continue. It's going to be a ward round here in America and we need to get involved. And the best way you guys can get involved from wherever you're watching because so many of you do not have a church, do not have a place of ministry is give to Real Faith sacrificially. Actually get involved with us. And we're creating a group called the Remnant. There's going to be dinners. You're invited out to Arizona. Um we're going to have special events for your pastors if you do have a pastor where we'll train them. Uh there's all kinds of great details about this group, but the big thing we're asking is you to support Real Faith because the time is short, guys. The opportunity is massive because we have the internet, we have social media, we have all these ways to reach people. And last year, Real Faith reached 500 million individual people, 1.7 billion impressions. We can't be the only gun in the fight. We have to help other ministries do this. We have to equip the next generation of leaders, and that's our heart. And we need your guys' help to do that, to grow the team, to expand and take ground for the kingdom. So if you want to stand with us, text stand to 999383. That's stand to 99383. And so his life in being offered is the greater offering and his ascension is the greater fragrance in the presence of God. And then I'll share something with you and I've been actually really excited to share this with you. You and I, we get to do something quite similar. What I'm about to share with you is it's not complicated, but it's it's a bit of a confusing reality. See, we live in this physical world. All we see is the physical world. We don't usually see the spiritual. Before sin entered the world, the physical and the spiritual, they were one realm and two realities. There was the physical and the spiritual. There was the seen and the unseen, but they were together. When we sinned against God, there was this breach between the spiritual realm and the physical realm. And so, we live in the physical realm and rarely do we peer into the spiritual realm. But you need to know that the spiritual realm is just as real as the world that we live in. And when we do certain things in the physical realm, they pass over into the spiritual realm. Did you know that? For example, when we pray and when we sing together, because singing together is a form of prayer. Here's what it says in Revelation. Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden sensor. He was given much incense. We're back to incense to offer with the prayers of the saints on the golden altar. Back to an altar before the throne. and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. So what it says in I think it's Hebrews 8:5 it says that the things that God commanded to be constructed in the tabernacle there are shadows of things in the spiritual realm that Jesus is God and God exists in the spirit realm surrounded by spiritual beings called angels and they are they are worshiping him and what God says is well if we're going to build a house for worship on the earth it needs to look like the house that I have in heaven. And so everything in the tabernacle is a shadow of heavenly things in the unseen realm. But what's shocking here in Revelation that's almost 1500 years after the text that we're examining in Exodus, it says when the church gets together and we pray, it's like incense. Incense is sweet and it goes up into God's presence. And prayer is sweet and it goes up into God's presence. It means that our prayers go from the physical realm to the spiritual realm. They go from the natural to the supernatural that our prayers go from the world we live in to the world God lives in. You need to know that prayer is so powerful because it it connects us to God in the unseen realm. This is why when we pray or when we sing together which is a form of prayer as I said I like to call that or the old Kelts did a thin place heaven and earth come together because as we as we send our prayers and our praises up God likes to send his spirit down and then suddenly heaven and earth come together and all of a sudden God is being worshiped there and God is being worshiped here and something very sacred something very holy something very set apart heart is happening. You need to know that when we pray and when we sing, we're doing spiritual things and we're connecting to a spiritual reality and that our prayers actually go into the presence of our God and it's like a sweet fragrance in his nostrils to hear from his kids. Isn't that wonderful? How about this one? The bronze basin. Um repent to remain clean. Exodus 30:17-21. The Lord said to Moses, "You shall make a basin of bronze." This is like this is a big washing tub for washing. Put it between the tent of meeting and the altar. Put water in it with which uh Aaron and his son shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting to minister to the Lord, they shall wash with water so that they may not die. If you're unclean and you come before God, you're dead. It shall be a statute forever to him and his offspring through their generations. So here, um Aaron is the first priest. He's the first clergy. And then his sons are priests. It's a family ministry. And God says, "Well, before you come into my presence, you better get clean." Now, they would get clean spiritually by repenting of their sin. And they would get clean physically by washing in this basin. The point is this. Sinful people have no right to come into the presence of God unless they've been cleansed. That's the big idea. And here's a picture of what it probably looked like. So this is for this is for washing. Let me ask you this. That looks a little bit like a baptismal, doesn't it? This is a prefiguring a foreshadowing of baptism. And it is passing through water. And so what God is saying is that for us to be present with him and him to be present with us, we need both parts of our being to be clean. We need our soul to be clean through repentance and forgiveness. We need our body to be clean. And that's what he is decreeing. And what's really wild, over 1300 years later, again, Jesus arrives. Everything in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament and the book of Exodus, it is all pointing to Jesus Christ. If you don't understand this and you're new to the Bible, and I love you, everything in the Bible is about Jesus. It all points to Jesus. It's all fulfilled in Jesus. It only makes sense with Jesus. And here's what we read in 1 John 1:9. If we confess our sins, he that is Jesus Christ who died and rose for our sins is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to what? Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What's really wonderful is that Jesus provides a greater cleansing. And what's really wonderful as well only Aaron the high priest and his sons the priest only they got to be cleansed. Now, all of God's children can be forgiven of their sins and can be washed or cleansed from their unrighteousness. And again, we show this in baptism. Baptism is showing that spiritually we're clean because of the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. But also by passing through the waters, we're showing the same fulfillment that happened with Aaron and his sons, the priests, when they would wash in the ceremonial basin. This is why this is a precursor and a prefiguring of baptism. It's why when baptisms happen, quite frankly, I don't know if you guys have seen it, we throw a party. We celebrate. We're like, "Our God forgives and he cleanses us from unrighteousness." This isn't in my notes, but I feel like I'm just supposed to tell you this. You're not just forgiven and dirty. If you belong to Jesus, you're forgiven and clean.
You're forgiven and clean. And sometimes what I what I see happen with dear people, they don't they don't know that. And so because of sin they've committed or sin that's been committed against them, particularly sexual sin, they have this sense of defilement, of dirtiness, of filthiness. And it says, "No, no, no, no, no. You're not just forgiven, you're also clean that he cleanses you from all unrighteousness." And this cleansing is all the way down to the soul. And it means that when God sees you, he sees you not by what you have done, but rather by what Jesus Christ has done for you. He sees you not as dirty, but as clean, not as you were, but as you will be when he is done with you. It's just wonderful, friends. There's nobody like our God. There's no religion that teaches anything like this. a God that forgives and cleanses and pursues and loves and saves and heals and sacrifices in humility because he is so wonderful and altogether good. In addition, number three, um it's going to talk about the anointing oil, which is about living in the spirit. Exodus 30:22 through33, the Lord said to Moses, "Take the finest spices." God tells you exactly what he wants. Liquid myrrh, sweet smelling cinnamon, aromatic cane, cassia, and a hint of olive oil. Make of these a sacred anointing oil. It shall be a holy anointing oil. Anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of testimony and the table, the lampstand, the altar, the incense, the altar, burnt offering, all the furniture. Consecrate them. That means dedicate them as holy set apart unto the Lord that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. Let me just stop right there. Let me just say this. One of the things that religious people don't get is that Jesus came to be with us and he still likes to hang out with us because we don't make him dirty. He makes us clean.
Amen.
This is where when Jesus came, I just thought of this. When Jesus came, he hung out with people who were pretty dirty. Like some some nasty people like some of us. And so um and so what happens is the religious people are like, "How could a holy man hang out with unholy people? The unholy people will make him unholy." No, he's so holy that he makes them holy. See, that's our Jesus. He's so clean that we don't make him dirty. He makes us clean. That's what it says here. When there's anointing, everything it touches becomes clean and holy. Continue. um goes on to say, "I shall it shall not be uh poured on the body of an ordinary person, only the clergy, Aaron and his sons. Make no other like it. It is holy. It shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it. Whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people." What God is show here showing is like, I'm going to do things and then there's going to be religious huers who come along and try to turn it into a product. Let me tell you this. Worship is not a product.
Worship is a presence and it's the presence of God. And God says, "You do what I say and you don't turn this into a business opportunity. This is holy and unto me." And so the anointing oil in the Bible, it always denotes the uh the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. So when you would anoint someone or something with oil, you would literally pour it out just like the Holy Spirit is poured out from heaven. And then that oil would be anointing. And it means that ultimately you belong to God and you were dedicated and you were consecrated and you were set apart. This is kind of like at a wedding when we pronounce a husband and wife to be a couple. At that moment their reality shifts and changes. Their identity alters. And so what happens when you're anointed in the Holy Spirit? Suddenly your whole life changes and who you are shifts and the future is now lived to the glory of God by the power of God by and it's a brand new life. And so when we see the oil, it's always pointing us to the presence of the Holy Spirit. I'll give you a couple examples. Uh Jesus comes again more than 1300 years later. The Hebrew word Messiah and the Greek word Christ, they both mean the anointed one. Jesus' name literally means the anointed one. We're all the way back in Exodus. God says, "Anoint the high priest." Jesus comes as the greater high priest with the Holy Spirit and a greater anointing. In addition, it says in Acts 10:38 that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the the Holy Spirit and power. And this is what God says of us who are believers in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22. It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us who also put his seal on us and given us his what? Spirit. What's friends? This is such good news. See, in the days of Moses, okay, Aaron the high priest, his sons the priest, they get anointed. Nobody else. Today, if you believe in Jesus Christ, the Bible says that you're a royal priesthood. That we all get to be priests to our God in service of him. And that when the Holy Spirit is poured out, the Holy Spirit is poured out on all of God's children. And all of us can live under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This means that God's powerful presence is at work on us and in us and through us. This means that God doesn't just tell you what to do. He gives you the Holy Spirit so you have the power to do it. This is not God just giving you a job description. He's also giving you his presence so that then you can live out your obedience. I'll tell you this, the most important thing is not the money that you have. It is not even your health, though I want you to be healthy. It's not your accomplishments or achievements. It's his anointing. You can lose everything, but if you still have God's anointing, you're going to be okay. You can have everything, and if you do not have God's anointing, you are in grave danger. I I I experienced this years ago. It was the low point of my life. I'd lost um I'm just verbal processing a lot today. Um I didn't know I was going to share this story, but I feel like I'm supposed to. It was the lowest point of my life, and I had lost a lot. And I was in a season of um honestly brokenness and anxiety, must be honest with you. And I remember talking to the Lord and I was like, "Lord, I don't know what to do and I don't know how to lead my family and I I don't know how to put this broken life together." And I said, "Father, I feel like I've lost everything." And he spoke to me. He said, "Son, you didn't lose your anointing. And I'm telling you, if you start there, the rest will figure itself out. And and I didn't know I was going to share this with you. Maybe it's a prophetic word for some of you. When you're in life and there's temptations and there's struggles and there's resistance and there's trials and there's anxiety, the worst thing you can think is, "How can I get what I want?" The best thing you can ask is, "How can I do what he wants?" And if you live in a place of surrender and obedience, say, "God, I just want to do your will. I want to obey you. I I'm not sure it's going to work out. I may not get the results or outcome that I was aspiring for. This may end badly, but I want to be obedient." When you live in a surrendered place of obedience, you're guaranteed to have his anointing. Amen. And what happens too often when we're tempted or we're under hardship or we're under pressure or we have stress and anxiety or we're worried about the outcome or what may come for us in the future. We start thinking strategically rather than spiritually. We start thinking about how we can make a decision to control the outcome rather than being the person who trusts our God to give us the outcome. Does that make sense? I feel like that's a word for some of you. You're asking God, "What do I need to do?" Live in obedience and ask for a greater anointing that he would help you to be and do what he has called you to be and do. And this is what's wonderful about our God. His anointing can be fresh. And sometimes his anointing is new because you're in a new season. You never been married. Pray, "God, give me an anointing to be a husband or wife." I never done this. Don't have that anointing. You have a kid. I'll tell you, first time you hold your kid, pray for an anointing. God, first anoint this child and then anoint me. Like, give us power to be parents. We don't, we've never done this. You're suffering. You get a cancer diagnosis. Life craters. You lose your job. You're like, I've never been here before. You're going to need a fresh anointing. You're gonna need the Holy Spirit to guide you because you're in a place you've never been. You're going to need a power that you've never had. And here's what I'll just tell you about our God. If you humbly ask for his anointing and seek to live in obedience, the Holy Spirit comes in power and God says yes to his child every single time. Every single time. The result of the anointing leads to point four. You can serve God. The Lord said to Moses, "See, I've called Bezel and I filled him with the spirit of God. He's anointed. He has the Holy Spirit with ability, intelligence, knowledge, and craftsmanship to devise artistic designs to work in gold, silver, bronze, cutting stones, carving wood, every craft. He's a master craftsman. I have appointed with him a holap. So, these two guys are working together. And I have given to all able men ability that they may make all that I have commanded you, the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the mercy seat, the furnishings of the temple, the table, the lampstand, the altar of incense, all the furniture, the altar of burnt offering, the basin, the holy garments for Aaron, that's his uniform, the priest and his sons, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do. So now they've got this major project. God says, "Build the tabernacle, furnish it all the way down to the anointing oil and the incense." And the question is, who's the general contractor? That's the issue. Any of you ever done a building project? Like who's the general contractor? The general contractor is the person who is in charge of all the other workers and make sure to get the job done. God says, "I have chosen Bezel." as his assistant general contractor Ohaleam. And what it shows us here is that God anoints them. But here's what's really beautiful, and I hope this is an encouragement to you. God anoints them with the Holy Spirit to do very significant ministry, but they're not clergy. They're craftsmen. See, often times when we think of somebody being called into ministry, you think of a guy like me or maybe a guy better than me, but you know, like that. But then some of you, you you're like, "Well, I'm not I don't have a call to ministry." Like, I just work a job. Let me say this. Your job is your call to ministry. Amen. See, they're going to work with gold and silver. They're going to make a tent and an outer court and furniture and incense and oil. And you would look at that and say, "That doesn't look like a pastor." No, it's a servant. And if you're serving God, your service is ministry. Here's what I want you to know. Some of you have an anointing to be a plumber. And we appreciate you. Some of you have an anointing to be a mechanic. We need good, honest mechanics. Thank you. Some of you are anointed to be firefighters or police officers or military to to help people and to preserve life. And God has anointed you for that. We say thank you. We appreciate you for that. Some of you, God has anointed you to be a caregiving parent, to love your child and nurture them. And your service of them is a service to God. That's your ministry. Some of you are accountants. God has anointed you with numbers. There's actually a whole book in the Bible for you. It's the book of Numbers. And we say thank you because when you do good work, it glorifies God and it's good for others. See that if you are a priest and the Bible again says that we're a royal priesthood and you have the anointing of the Holy Spirit, then your job if it's what God has anointed and called you to, that's your ministry. That's your ministry. And again, you look at Bezel and Aolab, they're not preachers. They're not worship leaders. They're carpenters and craftsmen. And these are the first two people in the Bible, this may shock you, that we are told are spiritfilled. The first two people that we are told are spiritfilled, that exact language. Other people like Joseph and such did have the Holy Spirit, but the first time that that language is used is a bezel and a Holia. So let me say this. Whatever, let me quote the Apostle Paul. So whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. And if you do, it's your ministry. And if you do, the Holy Spirit will anoint you to do it well. Amen. Okay? And let me say this, too. For some of you, this is your witness. Doing a good job and serving God at your job is your witness to your co-workers and it's a witness to your clients. You did a great job. You were honest. you're integrous. Thank you very much. I love God and I try to do my best for my God. That's that's your witness. And so here they're going to serve God. In addition to serving God, God also wants to have sovereign dominion over your schedule and mine. You're going to see here that God is exercising his sovereign dominion over everyone and everything. And the point is this. There's nothing in your life. There's nothing in my life. There's nothing in our world. There's nothing in your schedule that isn't under the rule of our God. God says all the way down to the oil and the incense. It's all under my sovereign authority. So, it's bringing everything under the lordship of God, dominion, subjection, surrender to him, including our schedule. So, it talks about Sabbath work and rest. Exodus 31:12-17. The Lord said to Moses, "You are to speak to all the people and say, "Above all, you shall keep my Sabbath. For this is a sign between me and you throughout generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you," that's setting apart as holy. "You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profains it, treats it as just another day, it's profanity, shall be put to death." Capital offense. Whoever does any work on it, that sh soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days work, seventh day solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath shall be put to death. In the six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth. And on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed. So here's what
He's saying is you need to learn how to worship me. And one of the ways you worship me is by having certain sacred rhythms in your life. Six days of work, one day of rest.
When we studied the ten commandments, we looked at the Sabbath commandment. And what I told you was this is based upon God's example. In the opening chapters of the Bible, it says that God worked for six days and on the seventh day he rested. In the original Hebrew, it literally says, "For six days, God breathed out, and on the seventh day, God breathed in."
If you ever heard somebody say, "Man, I've been working too much. I need to catch my breath." They're actually quoting Genesis. They're actually quoting the Hebrew in Genesis. So, so what God wants us to do is six days, work hard under the Lord, under his anointing. One day, rest, go to church, worship God, enjoy your family and friends, enjoy his creation. That you and I were not slaves were sons and daughters. These people had been slaves. They had never known rest. We're not slaves. We're sons and daughters. And so sons and daughters are to work six days unto the Lord and then rest wholeheartedly one day with the Lord.
What God is showing them here is this. This is how life of worship is to be lived. Pray, sing, repent of your sin, and get clean. Live by the power of the Holy Spirit. Serve God at your work. Serve God in worship on your Sabbath day of rest. And God here is then going to move toward finances. And he's going to talk about now bringing wealth and possessions and finances and money under his dominion and authority. And again, what we're talking about here is worship. And it's everything being done in obedience to our God.
So, um, I'm always late. Uh, I always go too long. It feels like we need a bigger building where I can preach longer sermons. And we'll get to that in a minute. So, uh, number six, here's the tabernacle tax, and this is about worshiping God with your money. Exodus 30 11-16. The Lord said to Moses, "When you take the census of the people, each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord so that there'll be no plague." They just had plagues in Egypt. And God said, "Unless you obey me, there'll be plagues for you, too. Each one shall give half a shekele as an offering to the Lord. Everyone 20 years old and upward shall give to the Lord's offering. The rich shall not give more. the poor shall not give less."
Okay, so he's he's not a Democrat. Um, so when you probably shouldn't have said that, but it is true. Um, and I do tell the truth. Okay. When you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives, you shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting. This is to fund the local ministry that it may bring the people to remembrance before the Lord so as to make atonement for your lives.
So God here is saying okay next your money is part of your worship and what God is saying here is that this particular tax it is going solely to fund local ministry. So in addition um in addition to other things that they may give to first was to the local church. This is the beginning of local church ministry. The tabernacle is the first local church building. Aaron is the first clergy who is vocational with his sons. And so what we see here is the beginning of building campaigns, church buildings, clergy, and people giving to fund local ministry. It all starts right here.
Now, we're we're we're well over 3,000 years later. But the reason that churches have buildings and pastors and people give and we get together for worship is because this is the pattern that God has established. And it all begins here. And what it's saying here is this that financial giving is twofold. And in the Bible, it talks about tithes and offerings. Tithes is 10% of your gross, your first fruits, not your net. And then offerings are above and beyond. The temple tax here would be not out of the first pocket, the tithe. It would be out of the second pocket, the offering.
God's also going to then ask them to give generously to the building campaign, the capital campaign, to fund all that he has commanded to be constructed. And so, they're giving out of both pockets. Um, and this is financial giving. And let me just uh let me skip the next slide, but let me just jump into the current statistics. I hit this a few weeks ago and let me just hit it again. And I'll start with um God's first building fund capital campaign.
So here's what God is asking for in Exodus 25 for this whole project. About 220 million in gold, about 20 million in silver, 30,000 in bronze. Um and then in addition about 60 million in various um purple, scarlet yarn, fine linen, goat hair, ramkins, acacia wood, anointing oil, incense, spices that we just looked at, 60 million. The total project for the tabernacle was about 300 million in today's dollars and it was for a 675 foot tent. Isn't that wild? That's wild. And that's $444,000 a square foot. Okay, if some of you are looking for a house, you're not looking for that one. That is a very expensive construction project. And so God is asking them to give generously to fund the building of a local home for the worship and gathering of his people.
Let me hit this quickly, but let me compare and contrast that with the present. Poor people today outgive rich people. Households making $20,000 or less are the most generous by percentage of income. They give 1.2%. Only 1% of households making $75,000 a year tied 10%. Households making 100 to $500,000 a year are the least generous by giving percentage. And the highest earners give just 6% of their income. And 19% of rich households making a million dollars or more a year give zero to anything. Not just church, anything.
In addition, younger Christians outgive older Christians. Millennials born 81 to 96, their giving has surpassed Gen X 65 to 1980. That's me. That means that people that are the age of my children are giving more than their parents, which is shocking. In addition, um, women outgive men. 75% of all Christian givers are female. Means men are not leading financially in their household. In addition, fewer Christians tithe today than during the Great Depression. Christians give 2.5% of income, lower than the 3.3% during the Great Depression. Um, and 25% of Christians give as much to God as atheists. One in four Christians give zero dollars a year toward anything connected to God.
In addition, Mormons and Muslims, I'll give Christians. 90% of Mormons tithe 10% of gross income. 5% of Christians tithe 10% of gross income. The average Muslim in America gives $3,240 a year. And they are very poor religious community. The average evangelical Christian gives $2,53 a year and makes considerably more. Um, let me release the live stream at this.