Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10236 - You Must Worship God Correctly - Exodus 28

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#10236 - You Must Worship God Correctly - Exodus 28 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles to Exodus
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chapter 28. We covered it last time, but I
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want to do go back and add a few things that time did not allow
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us. Exodus chapter 28 a kind of real
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big overview, but I've entitled our Bible study.
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You must worship God correctly. You must worship God correctly.
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And we see this as God is establishing the priesthood in
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Exodus 28. Studying through the book of
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Exodus, you know, it's a foundational book to the
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underlying faith of the Old Testament believers.
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Often they would go back all throughout the Old Testament.
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You'll find them looking back to this time in the history of
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Israel, the deliverance of the Red Sea, the God's powerful
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rescue out of Egypt, His faithfulness, His ability to not
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only promise but also keep His promises.
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This moment of being set free completely impacted the nations
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and the believers going forward. And you find it being referenced
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many times. God gave them freedom.
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He met them personally. He showed them miracles, He
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hears their prayers, He helps them, He delivers them, He leads
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them, He loves them. And if God could do that then,
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then God could do that. Now, in each of the references,
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they're looking back and you know, I know what God has done
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in the past and I know that God can do it now in the New
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Testament. When the writers in the New
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Testament look back, there are references to the deliverance
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out of Egypt for sure. But when the New Testament
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writers look back, they look back to the cross, to the empty
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tomb, to that moment when the fulfillment of the promises of
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God came to pass and there was a true freedom given to each one
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that placed their faith in Jesus.
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When the New Testament writers wanted to give an example of the
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power of God, they went to the empty tomb because true freedom
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from sin and death comes through Jesus.
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And Exodus is such a powerful book going back to our studies
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far back in the past. You remember Amram and Jochebed.
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Maybe you've forgotten them, but this is that Hebrew couple that
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God used. And God chose to bring forth a
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son, and after a miraculous rescue in the river, he becomes
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the deliverer of the children of Israel.
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Of course, he becomes the deliverer of the children of
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Israel. After years and years and years
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and years of what we would call today discipleship, you could
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step back and say, OK, discipleship may not have been
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the word used in the Old Testament.
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Then you could use the word training.
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He needed to be trained. He started with this great
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desire to deliver. He felt it incensed in, but
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there was still yet preparation that was needed in his life.
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And the big portion, 1/3 of his life was spent in obscurity in
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the backside of the desert as he embraced this time of just him
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and God and faithfulness. And that may be exactly where
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God has you, just you and God and faithfulness.
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God is going to be faithful in those seasons.
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The question is says how much faithfulness is God going to
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draw out of you in the circumstance, in the difficulty
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in the trial, in the situation you don't like or you don't
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want. And after that miraculous rescue
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from the river, God uses Moses and standing before Pharaoh,
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even though they began, he didn't want to do that.
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He would rather do anything but go stand before Pharaoh.
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But after wrestling with God, God wins and he stands and he
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declares the word of God to Pharaoh, watching the plagues
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come upon Egypt. Finally, he is not only asked to
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leave, he's told to leave. He gets up to the Red Sea.
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God parts the Red Sea. They walk as if on dry ground.
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We learn about the cloud by day, the pillar of fire, fire by
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night. God's going to lead them and
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guide them into a new life of faith.
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Same people, different life. It's so representative of the
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life of faith in Christ. Same person, different life.
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I mean, same upbringing, same family, same body, same hair,
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same name, all of the things, so many that are same.
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But then in Christ you're a new creation and old things have
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passed away. Behold, all things have become
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new and that sometimes that stumbles you because you still
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dealing with things in the same physical body.
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You have the same habits, the same thought patterns that God
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is renewing our minds and taking us from glory to glory and
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strength to strength, but we're learning the same thing.
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The children of Israel are learning.
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Look, observe, obey and follow. God wants to be the center.
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Jesus would put it this way. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
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God. He must be the center.
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If Jesus says if you want to follow me, then deny yourself.
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Some of you are still stuck there.
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You don't need to hear anything else.
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You simply have chosen not to deny yourself.
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You've taken the name of Christian you.
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You may even be born again, but to follow Christ or what we
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might describe as there's a lot of born again believers today
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that live as unbelievers and they don't have a real walk with
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the Lord, a real ongoing relationship.
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And in order to step into that ongoing relationship, you must
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deny yourself. It is not your way anymore.
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It's not your deal. It is, it's not.
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You know, I was thinking recently, I was just praying.
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I was praying for some situations where I'm just like,
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why? Why can't people just follow the
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Lord? That was my thought to the Lord.
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That was my prayer. Why can't they just obey?
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Why does it have to be so much drama?
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I don't understand it. Why do they have to just if
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they're going to end up going anyway, why do they go the hard
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way? Why are they resisting?
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Why? Well, I know why.
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It's the flesh, and there's a little bit of it in all of us.
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And Exodus is reminding us of the delivering power of God.
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You don't need a deliverance ministry.
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You have a deliverer, Jesus Christ, that that phrase keeps
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coming up over and over. Got a call on the radio today.
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Deliverance. No, you don't need a deliverance
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minister. You don't need some special
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prayer. You read in the book.
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You have Jesus deny yourself. No, no, no, it's got to be easy.
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No, I need somebody to pray a special prayer.
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I need to go to a special meeting.
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I got no deny yourself. Take up your your cross and
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follow him. You're delivered live that way.
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You're delivered from sin and death.
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It's amazing God has sent his Son Jesus Christ to shed his
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blood for you, but you think you don't have power over that sin?
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You really believe the blood of Jesus Christ stopped short of
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the family you were born into, of the past that you lived, of
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the habits you've developed? Do you think the blood of Jesus
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Christ covers all, but that it's your belief?
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You need to change your thinking.
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Not only do you need to change your beliefs, but you also need
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to behave. Begin to behave like you
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believe. And you have a deliverer.
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We've been in this section of Exodus now where God is defining
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for the last few studies his relationship with the nation.
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They are no longer slaves under taskmasters.
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They have now become voluntary bond slaves of a good and
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gracious God. And he wants to define the
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relationship and he is how they'll relate to him, how
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they're to worship him. You remember, he says I'm going
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to come and dwell with you. I'm going to meet you.
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And he gave instructions for this tent structure, the
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Tabernacle. This is where I'm going to meet
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with you, he says on the mercy seat on top of the Ark of the
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Testimony, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacles
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construction. This temporary tent was given to
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Moses and then to the people. I believe it was downloaded into
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Moses mine up on Mount Sinai. You could see it all.
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And then it was given to him detail piece by piece, how what
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he was shown is going to be built by men.
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It's very similar to the visions that God will give leaders and
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pastors and and dads and moms for their homes and their
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families. God downloads this vision, but
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you don't know how it's going to come to pass.
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You don't know how it's going to happen.
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It's beyond your ability to comprehend.
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But you see it and you're excited and you come up.
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And this is what I think the Lord's doing.
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And the first question from some is, well, how?
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You know, like, I don't know, but we're going to discover it
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together. And God gave it to him detail,
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piece by piece. Why?
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Because we've learned this is all by way of review.
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We've learned that God is in the details.
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God loves things in the New Testament, we learned he loves
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things done decently and in order.
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He loves and very much into details.
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And a worshipping people must have a place to meet with God.
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And that place is this 10th of meaning or the Tabernacle.
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And what's most inside that lid, what's most important inside
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that little section behind the veil, that little spot where the
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arc of the testimony sits with the golden mercy seat lid where
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the priest would go in and offer the blood.
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Now, last time we briefly covered the priest, we overview,
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more of an overview of the priest.
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And if you're taking notes, I want to back up a little bit.
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I want to give you some insight not only of the priest, but also
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of your own life. And I want to remind us today as
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a church that we need to worship God the correct way.
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And you might ask, well, what's the correct way God prescribes
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how he's to be worshipped? And we've already seen some of
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the prescriptions in Exodus 20 and the 10 commandments.
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He goes, here's the guard rails. These are the things I want you
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to watch in your life in the new covenant.
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I'm going to empower you so that when you abide in me, you,
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you'll pass those tests freely because your eyes are on me.
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And I want you to see five important truths about the
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priests. And then we're going to end our
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time today in a section of the Bible where we have a couple of
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priests that worship God incorrectly.
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And it'll emphasize how important it is #1 if you're
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taking notes, when we look at the priesthood or these men that
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were used and appointed to lead the children of Israel in
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worship #1 the priests were appointed by God.
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Remember in verse 1 of chapter 28 it says, now take Aaron, your
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brother and his sons with him from among the children of
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Israel, that he may minister to me as priest.
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Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer, and Ifamar,
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these are appointed by God. This is not something you could
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take upon yourself. God names them and He dictates
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what family they're to come from, appointed by God.
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This role of priest, nobody could take it upon themselves.
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You couldn't wake up 1 morning and say, I think I want to be a
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priest. This is something that God did
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and that God prescribed. He's the one that appoints them.
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Later, Jesus would emphasize this calling when he contrasted
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the true shepherd with a hireling.
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Hold your places here. Turn over to John chapter 10
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with me. John chapter 10.
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This leadership in in the God, in God's church.
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Just like the priest of the Old Testament leadership in God's
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church, You can't take it upon yourself.
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Now I have met a lot of men and women that have tried to take it
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upon themselves, but that's not a true leader.
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Like the priests of old, God will appoint and ordain the men
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that He wants to lead His church.
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Even today, men and women, as women have a variety of
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different roles of leadership within the church.
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Notice what Jesus says here. There's a great contrast between
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the men that God has appointed and the men that have appointed
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themselves. Notice with me, verse 11, it's
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the contrast between the shepherd and the hireling.
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Verse 11 Jesus says I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good
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Shepherd gives his life for the sheep, but he who is a hireling
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and not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the
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wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf catches
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the sheep and scatters them. The hireling verse 13 flees
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because he's a hireling and does not care about the sheep there.
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There's an insight here about those men that take ministry
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upon themselves, and that is they don't care about the sheep,
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they care about themselves. And unfortunately now over many,
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many years, I've seen this time and time again a greater care
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for self than for the flock of God, so that the first time
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difficulty comes or the first time challenges come, there is
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that test upon a man's heart, that test upon a woman's heart.
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And you can tell whether they have a true shepherd or shepherd
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his heart by whether they stick around or not.
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That's what he says. Soon as the wolf comes, the
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hirelings out of here. What about the sheep?
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I don't know about the sheep. I just know about myself and I'm
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out of here. But the shepherd steadies on
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Jesus gives us the greatest example of the shepherd, the
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Good Shepherd that gives, not takes, gives his life, not
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exposes the life of the flock. And this is a reason why so many
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men strive and complain about the ministry.
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They complain about how hard it is and complain about how
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difficult it is and and they have forgotten the Good Shepherd
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because the Good Shepherd gives. The Good Shepherd doesn't
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complain. The Good Shepherd gives and dies
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for the sake of the flock and doesn't run away.
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I've seen too many take ministry on without a clear calling from
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the Lord. Maybe it's the prestige.
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I mean, I could go through a list that might be a little
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pamphlet book I can write one day of all the things I've seen
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over the years through this little church and my years in
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our home church, much larger than this.
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Maybe it's the prestige, maybe it's the position, maybe it's
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the power that draws them. It's certainly pride and taking
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upon them, wanting to take advantage of the flock for their
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own purposes. But when they find that the
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ministry's too much for them, often they quit, walk away, find
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something else to do. And a hireling, soon a hireling
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soon finds out that there's no prestige.
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And being a shepherd, it's a stinky business.
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It's a challenging business where sometimes a shepherd's
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prayer is Why so much drama, Lord?
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Well, that's what a shepherd's for, to help dissipate the drama
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and get people's eyes back on the Lord.
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A hireling, they soon find out there's not a lot to the
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position because to whom much is given, according to God, much is
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required. It's not the other way around.
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It's not leadership in in the church is not like the world.
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I'm sure that you have worked in environments before where
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everyone's trying to climb the corporate ladder.
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More money, less responsibility. That's not the way of the
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church. The way of the church is the way
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up is down. And the greater the servant, the
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greater the leader, and the greater the leadership, the
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greater the servanthood. It's not really prestigious and
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it's not really the position or as powerful as some might think,
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but rather we've taken the position of the doulos, the bond
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slave, the bond servant willingly, not against our will,
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not like Egypt, but willingly chosen to take the place of a
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servant before the war. And the ministry has a tendency
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for a man in the flesh to wear them down and wear them out if
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they're not called. But to the called comes this
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encouragement. You can jot it down to those
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that just know you're supposed to be like, you're just called
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to teach the kiddos the Sunday school.
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But then you're there that week where there's 110 kids in a room
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that fits 5:00 and you're like, what is going on?
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Here's the word of the Lord you ready because it happens.
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There are seasons where it's just harder than the other times
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and more challenging and this is what Bible we'll get to this
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later in our weekend study. But in Galatians chapter 6,
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verse 9, it says, and let us not grow weary in well doing, but in
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due season we shall reap if we don't lose harp.
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And then we often quote that part of the verse, but don't
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quote the next one. In verse 10.
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It says, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to
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all, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
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And there's that beautiful that that beautiful opportunity and
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gift from God that when things get tough, he says, do good.
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When things get hard, do good. Look for the opportunities.
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That's how you don't grow weary, you just you don't get buried
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under the weight of difficulty, only buried on the way to no,
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you look for opportunities, do good, be good.
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Let the Spirit of God use you. You always have those problems.
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The problems will be with us always, but the opportunities to
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do good are always with us as well.
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And as you step in to these opportunities by faith, the Lord
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will bless you and encourage you and revive you.
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I want to spend a little bit of time on there because that's how
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chapter 28 opens. Your ministry is to the Lord.
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It's not to take advantage of the flock.
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It's not to be buried under the way.
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God did not call you to be buried under the weight of
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ministry. Can I get an Amen for that?
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He did not call you to be buried under the weight of ministry.
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But if you're not called, you will be buried, but rather God
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will give you the strength to accomplish everything that He
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wants to do through your life. Everything.
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You will have enough time, you'll have enough resources,
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you will have enough strength. You'll have enough wisdom, and I
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wanted to spend a few moments on that.
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Very important #1 priests were appointed by God #2 the priests
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were given special clothing. There was a uniqueness about
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them. Now, I don't believe this one
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translates today where pastors have to wear special clothing.
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They should just be clothed. That's very important.
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Just put some clothes on. There's not like we're not
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judging on the outward in terms of what a person wears or
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doesn't wear, but but you know, you don't want to be in a place
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where you're stumbling, drawing attention to yourself, men or
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women. We want to be in a place where
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where we're transparent to others, not drawing out, not
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stumbling, not not drawing out things in people's minds or such
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that would get their eyes off the Lord for sure.
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But for these priests, there was a distinction, and the
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distinction was in their clothing or their priestly
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garments. They would visibly be set apart
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from any other activity. Today.
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I think one of the ways that true leaders are visibly set
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apart in the church is by their servanthood.
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By their servanthood would you would expect a person in a
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position of authority to no longer serve anymore.
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That's the way of the world. But in God's church, it's the
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exact opposite than the way of the world, because in God's
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church, those that are responsible serve more, not
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less. And that's a visible
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representation. But we looked at these unique
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clothing that was given to the Jewish priests.
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These are the men that would lead worship.
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These are the men that would have very precise clothing that
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all of the pieces and threads would point to the coming of
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Messiah. You see that really in verse 2
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of 28. You shall make holy garments for
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Aaron your brother, for glory and beauty.
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So important #3 about the priests.
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The priest represented men before God.
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The priest represented men before God.
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If you want to jump to verse 29, it says so.
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Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the
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breastplate of judgment over his heart when he goes into the holy
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place as a memorial before the Lord.
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Continually so as Aaron would come before God, he would bring
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the names of the tribes on his chest.
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He would remember He's not there for himself, but he's
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representative of all the nation.
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The priest would represent man before God.
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Later on, a new office was created, a new office.
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And by the way, both of these two offices, Jesus held them
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both. There was the priest and the
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prophets. Later on you will see prophecy
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in the prophets take a very large role in the ministry of
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God. The prophet would represent God
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to the people. The priest would bring the
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people and represent the people to God.
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But the prophet would speak on behalf of God and represent God
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to the people. And so the priest, he would take
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care of the cares of the people and encourage them and help them
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along the way, always remembering on his chest, next
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to his heart, he carried the names of the tribes, remembering
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what his role, why he was set apart, why he was ordained, what
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his purpose on earth really was #4 We see something else with
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the priests in verse 30. It says you shall put in the
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breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall
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go over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord.
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And Aaron will bear the judgment of the children of Israel over
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his heart before the Lord. Continually #4 The priest would
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help discover the will of God. The priest would help discover
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the will of God. The Urim and the Thummim were
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often used to lay before God seeking His will.
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Some believe they were Blackstone and a whitestone even
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with inscriptions on them. But either way, they would, they
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would use them as a way to discern the will of God for the
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people. And the priest would be that
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help and that service to help people know God's will.
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And then the fifth thing is what I want to spend our remaining
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time on today. The fifth thing, super important
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is almost as important. It's like the bookends and so
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applicable to us today, number one, that ordination of God,
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that calling of God that that not only is that ordination of
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God, you know, when someone is ordained here in this church,
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the church doesn't ordain them. The church just recognizes them.
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By the time someone comes up to the stage and we pray over them
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or we say, I want you guys, you everyone's like, what's taking
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you so long like that? Brother has been faithful here
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for years and years and years and years.
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And it is that ratification. No church or group of men, not
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even the man himself can take that upon himself.
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No church, no pastor has the power to ordain a man.
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What the church has and the leadership and the elders have
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is the power to approve of God's choice, to say we recognize it,
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we've experienced it, we've received it.
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God has used this brother and all we can say is yes and Amen
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and present him to you and say here he is the man that God
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desires to use and has been using.
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So the first one's so important, but this last one equally
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important. Listen, the priest had to take
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their calling very seriously. It was a life and death matter.
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Let me just say today I'm grateful that by the blood of
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Jesus and the grace of God, it is not so much a life and death
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matter as we see in a moment. For the pastor or the leader of
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the church, if they choose not to take things so seriously,
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there's great grace and forgiveness.
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But I will say this, when a pastor or a leader doesn't take
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their calling seriously, it's really spiritual life and death
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for so many. It's spiritual life and death.
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I think of everyone in our own little church family here.
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I think of the worship team, the men, the women up here, anyone
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that's leading prayer, anyone that's looking you in the eye.
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That's a pretty important position, you know, looking you
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in the eye and standing here with the authority of God in
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this pulpit. Let's pray together, let's sing.
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If those men and women don't take that seriously, it could be
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life or death spiritually for you.
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It could lead you in the wrong direction.
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It could stumble you now I'm not removing your personal
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responsibility at all. You're ultimately and I'm
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ultimately we can't be standing before God and go, you know, I
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wouldn't have ever done that if it wasn't for that guy up on
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this. No, no, you can't.
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That's that's an excuse. There's no man will have an
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excuse before God. There is personal
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responsibility, but I want to remind you, there's personal
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responsibility for both, both the person that is looking you
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in the eye and you looking me in the eye.
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It's very important not only as a pastor, as a leader, as a
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singer, as a worship leader, as a prayer, as a someone that is
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giving a testimony of the power of God.
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Not only is that important, not only is that vital, but listen,
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the significance of our response is just as vital.
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How important it is for us to know in our own walks with the
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Lord and when we're just looking at one person in the face at
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work, you know, the person that you saw crying and when they
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came in to the office on Tuesday and what happened, you went
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right over to them and check on them.
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Are you doing OK? How was your week?
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You started praying with them. You represented Jesus to them.
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And then the next thing you know, they hear you got fired
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because you're a thief. They're like what?
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Well, yeah, you know, I just needed that pencil.
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It's like, whatever. No, I have.
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We had people steal all kinds. I just needed.
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I had somebody I had to fire once.
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I stole a computer. Like, how would we not find that
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out? I just needed that computer.
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Yeah, well, now you need a new job, bro.
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That's how that works. But how much more?
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How much more in the corporate world, in the office, and when
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you look someone in the eye and you represent Jesus to them,
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that they're going to hold you to that because they're going to
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they're going to get through that difficulty.
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And they may get back to their old wayward ways.
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They may get back to their old Pagan ways and you're still
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following the Lord, and it's important that you realize how
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significant it is that God would give you that one person.
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That's God's gift to you. You can't be a hireling to them,
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someone that doesn't care about the sheep.
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You got to learn how to be like the Good Shepherd who gives your
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life. So now God has taken you to
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another level of responsibility so that you follow him.
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The priest higher than anyone had to take this calling there.
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You couldn't just go into the presence of God unprepared.
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You couldn't go into the holy of holies unprepared.
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Notice in chapter 29 verse one, it says, and this is what you
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shall do to hallow them. And we'll get into this in our
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study next time. But this is what you shall do to
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them to hallow them for ministering to me as priests.
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You, you need there. There is a whole process to set
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them apart sacrificially, to prepare them to go into the holy
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of holies. If you abuse the role of a
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priest, you could die, be wiped out.
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You dare not go into the God's presence lightly.
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Which leads us to our text that we're going to end with today in
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Leviticus. Would you turn over now to
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Leviticus? If you skip Leviticus this, look
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at what you missed, Leviticus chapter 10.
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There's some real key Nuggets in Leviticus, all as there are
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throughout the scriptures. And notice Genesis, Exodus,
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Leviticus chapter 10. And this is where you can create
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your own little cross references.
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You can write in your Bible, you can write a little reference
30:36
going backwards, because you'll recall in Exodus chapter 28
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years earlier, it says take Aaron your brother, verse one,
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his son's with him among the children, Aaron's and Aaron's
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sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithemar.
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Well, notice Leviticus 10 verse one, then Nadab and Abihu.
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Who are they? Aaron's sons, Priests Nedab and
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Abihu, By the way, looking for baby names.
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I'm always up for suggestions, but here Ned, little Nedab, or
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Abihu don't use these names. They're not going to bring back
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any good memories. Look, the sons of Aaron each
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took a sensor and put fire in it and put incense on it and
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offered profane fire. Or in some of your Bibles it
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might say strange fire. I think that's an old King James
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phrase before the Lord which he had not commanded them.
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So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them and they died
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before the Lord. They Dab and ABI who are gone.
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Why? Well, not because they weren't
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appointed by God. They were not because they
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didn't have special clothes. They did not because they
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represented man before God. They did well, not because they
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helped the people discover the will of God.
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They did, but because they didn't take their calling very
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seriously. We don't have the full, complete
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story of what happened in their lives or what was going on in
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their hearts, but we do have an insight They took profane fire.
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God never commanded them to do that, so they're in
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disobedience. They're doing their own thing,
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their own way, and the God sent fire out and they died before
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the Lord. Notice verse 3, Moses said to
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Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, saying by those who come
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near me, I must be regarded as holy and before all the people I
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must be glorified. So Aaron held his peace, and
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Moses called Michiel and Elsa Fan, the sons of Uzio the uncle
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of Aaron, and said to them, Come near, carry your brethren from
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before the sanctuary out of the camp.
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So they went near, and carried them by their tunics out of the
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camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron and the
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Eliezer and Ithimar as sons, do not uncover your heads, nor tear
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your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people.
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But let your brethren, the whole House of Israel bewail the
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burning which the Lord has kindled.
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Verse 7. You shall go out from the door
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of the Tabernacle of meaning, lest you die, for the anointing
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oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did, according to the
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word of Moses. Then the Lord spoke to Aaron,
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saying, Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink you, nor your
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son's with you. When you go into the Tabernacle
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of meaning, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever
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throughout all your generations, that you may distinguish between
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holy and unholy, between clean and unclean, and that you may
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teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has
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spoken to them by the hand of Moses, Nedab, and Abihu.
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Strange fire which was not commanded in this exciting time
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of ministry. In the life of the children of
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Israel, there's false worship, worship that wasn't commanded,
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and it's really sad to see such rebellion and disobedience so
34:20
quickly. The day could have ended in a
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glorious worship, but in God. Instead, God had it end with the
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funeral and a strong rebuke and warning.
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The scene is people are in awe, God's glory is there.
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They begin to shout, they fall on their faces, and Aaron's two
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sons, I'm sure caught up in the emotion of it all, grabbed their
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golden censors and they put strange fire in them.
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At first glance, it seems as if they took things into their own
34:52
hands, prescribing their own worship service.
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We do know this, as God explains in verse three, if you're going
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to come near him, he has to be regarded as holy.
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So whatever this episode was, Nedab and Abihu did not regard
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God as holy or set apart taking things upon their own selves,
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prescribing their own worship service.
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And might I just add, it's not the topic of our Bible study
35:20
today, but I have done studies on it and I also have written on
35:24
my blog about this. But there's also a strong hint
35:27
that they were drunk. And that's the warning down in
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verse 9 telling Aaron, don't you drink any intoxicating drink nor
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your sons don't do it lest you die.
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It's going to be a statue forever.
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And if that's the case, it would make sense under the influence.
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They would do many things that don't please the Lord.
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Anyone that's ever had a problem with alcohol or drugs can
35:52
testify to that same testimony. I look back on my own life and I
35:57
think almost every bad thing I did that was grand and even the
36:02
small things was under the influence of some substance.
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That's a Bible study for another time.
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Or you can go on my website at edtaylor.org.
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And I wrote a very thorough article on this to beg you to
36:19
set that liberty aside for your own personal walk.
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It's not. The question isn't can a
36:25
believer drink? The Bible never prohibits in the
36:28
New Covenant a believer from drinking alcohol.
36:31
That's not prohibited. That's but that's the wrong
36:33
question to ask. Can the better question to ask,
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is it wise? We'll ask, Nay, dab in a bahu
36:41
and you go, I can't, they're dead.
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I know, I know. Perhaps they were attempting to
36:49
take glory from God. They lack the real fear of God
36:56
as the people are worshipping. Suddenly these two men jump in,
37:01
rushing with their golden censors.
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Now instead of worshipping God, they're now focused on these two
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men. And we're reminded in Isaiah 42
37:10
verse 8 that God says I am the Lord.
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That is my name and my glory. I will not give to another nor
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praise the carving images. And that's why in an environment
37:20
like this, the emphasis in an environment right now in this
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sanctuary is on the teaching of God's Word.
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That's why the emphasis within worship is be expressive and
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give yourself wholly to the Lord, but don't do it in such a
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way where everyone's looking at you and there are churches that
37:39
run their services like that. Everyone's looking at you now,
37:42
but we didn't come to look at you.
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We came to worship God and how important it is.
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His glory is not to be shared. His glory is not to be taken.
37:56
Whenever God's working through you in a supernatural way, the
37:59
warning is be careful because people will always try to look
38:04
to you and you can't accept it. It happened all that we studied
38:08
through the book of Acts. It happened all throughout the
38:10
book of Acts. But I was no, no, no, don't look
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to me, Paul says. I'm not God.
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You have to be careful as God begins to use you.
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That's why taking things seriously, taking your calling
38:23
seriously, so important. And if not taking attention from
38:29
people, the danger and temptation becomes taking God's
38:32
glory from him. Now, of course that's impossible
38:35
to do, but taking people's eyes off the Lord is a very dangerous
38:40
thing. Be careful that God gets all the
38:42
glory, all the praise, all the honor for all the great things
38:47
He has done. Very important.
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So what was a strange fire? That remains the question in
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Nadab and Abihu. We don't know for sure, but I do
38:57
have some thoughts. And just to surround the scene
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here, number one, they were the wrong people to handle the
39:04
incense. This was the task of their dad,
39:07
the high priest. Exodus 30s, we'll study in the
39:10
future. Number 2, they used the wrong
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instruments. The censor of the high priest.
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The censor of the high priest was sanctified by oil.
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Exodus chapter 40. Again, we'll get there later.
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They acted at the wrong time. Verse 3 or #3 this wasn't the
39:26
Day of Atonement. Leviticus chapter 16 #4 They
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presumptively acted with the wrong authority.
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Nowhere do we read of them consulting with Moses, Aaron, or
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even with God. And we see that they did
39:40
something that they were never commanded to do, and #5 they
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acted with the wrong motives. We don't know their hearts
39:47
exactly, but we see their judgment and we see the
39:50
declaration surrounding their judgment, and we can come to
39:54
educated guesses and conclusions based on the text.
39:58
We can look at the text, study the text, and come to a logical
40:02
biblical conclusion. They had the wrong motives.
40:05
It appears they didn't seek to glorify only God, and instead of
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inquiring, inquiring, and waiting, they presumed and
40:12
hacked it, acted hastily. So wrong people, wrong
40:16
instruments, wrong time, wrong authority, wrong motives.
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What they did was wrong any way you cut it.
40:25
Whatever direction you want to take, they were wrong, but they
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were wrong in the worst of ways. It cost them their lives.
40:33
And there is that danger for us to offer strange fire to the
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Lord doing something even with good intentions the wrong way
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and suffer as a consequence, many of good even great
40:46
intentions, but end up making up their own religion and their own
40:50
worship and their own thing. I think of Jesus and his
40:55
teaching about the wide gate. Remember that the wide gate,
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Matthew Chapter 7 verse 13, it says enter by the narrow gate.
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Who defines the narrow gate? God.
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We need to worship God the right way.
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We need to follow God the right way.
41:12
We need to live life the right way.
41:14
Jesus said you need to enter in through that narrow gate because
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why? It is the gate, He said and
41:20
broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many
41:24
who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the
41:29
way which leads to life and there are few who find it.
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So when you think of the priesthood and you think of and
41:38
you meditate upon some of the applications to modern day
41:41
service and modern day leadership, just leave with
41:44
this. Take it seriously, especially in
41:47
our church. I'm only responsible for the
41:49
leadership of this church. And I'm asking you, I'm telling
41:52
you, I'm exhorting you, I'm begging you, take it seriously
41:56
because people's lives are at stake, perhaps even your own.
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But people's lives, their families, it matters.
42:04
They don't come to church. They really don't come to
42:07
church. You want to use modern day
42:08
language, They don't come to church for you.
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If they do, you need to rebuke them.
42:14
They need to come to church for the Lord to worship him, to
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yield to him, to engage with him with other believers, to
42:24
continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and in prayer
42:29
and in fellowship and in the breaking of bread.
42:32
That's why not for you, not that you can Lord over them, take
42:38
advantage of them. You see someone coming in and
42:42
go. What the first thing you think
42:43
of is what can you get from them?
42:45
That's a hireling mentality. The shepherd's mentality is what
42:50
can I do for you? How can I serve you?
42:53
How can I give? How can I help you grow?
42:58
How can I get your eyes on the Lord?
43:00
How can I help you solve that problem after you leave your
43:04
prayer closet? How can I help you get through
43:06
your drama? Let's just get through it to the
43:10
Lord. Let's see your new identity.
43:13
Let's see you grow in grace. Let's see you walk in victory.
43:18
Let's watch you thrive. See true generational change.
43:23
You know, a lot of emphasis today is on that false teaching
43:26
of generational curses. Generational curses.
43:29
Enough of it. It's not true.
43:32
It's not true at all. But I'll tell you what is true.
43:36
That's throughout the Scriptures.
43:38
Not generational curses, but generational change through the
43:43
blood of Jesus Christ. Ministering to your parents and
43:46
your grandparents. Raising godly kids.
43:49
Correcting any mistakes you made before.
43:52
Learning how to be a man yourself.
43:54
Learning how to be a woman. Learning how to be a dad.
43:57
Learning how to be a friend. Do you know how much wisdom God
44:00
has for you? The generations change with you.
44:04
That's all throughout the scriptures.
44:06
But you have to deny yourself, take up your cross, get back to
44:14
that narrow way. But you know God is deposited in
44:18
every believer, the heart of a shepherd.
44:19
You know why? Because he gave you his heart.
44:23
It's God that lives in you. He's the Good Shepherd.
44:29
And Jesus, we get to see it in his life.
44:33
He lived and he ate and he ministered among the people.
44:42
He gave himself, not above them. He didn't elevate himself.
44:47
I really do believe that if we came up on the crowd, Jesus and
44:51
his guys and the women all around him, we would have to
44:54
look a couple times to find Jesus.
44:58
He may have been, they could have been, you know, standing
45:01
behind him and such, and it would be easier.
45:03
But there was nothing about him in his humanity that drew more
45:09
attention from him on purpose. He was caring for the sheep with
45:17
the sheep. And he didn't run away in our
45:22
greatest need, and he didn't run away in his darkest hour.
45:28
We go to Israel. We go into this private garden
45:32
in Gethsemane and all the buses are honking and life is
45:38
happening outside the walls of this little private garden.
45:41
But when you're in it, it's very quiet and serene.
45:46
We give time for those on the tour to have some private prayer
45:49
time all throughout the garden and they spread out and some sit
45:52
under a tree, some sit against the rocks, some, and it's always
45:56
an emotional moment just being able to pray in Garden of
46:00
Gethsemane. It's beautiful, it's wonderful.
46:02
I can't wait to take you back, but one thing you remember in
46:08
the Garden of the Gethsemane is that Jesus didn't quit on you.
46:15
He pressed through all the way. The victory for your sin was not
46:21
one in Gethsemane, it was one upon the cross, but the
46:26
demonstration of the endurance and the death to self, Jesus
46:33
denying himself to obey the Father.
46:36
Will you get a glimpse of it and Gethsemane?
46:39
Not my will, Jesus says, but your will be done if we leave
46:46
here today with that, if we remember the priests here, we
46:50
just remembered the Jesus being the prophet and the priest.
46:54
It's a beautiful thing of God using US in these 21st century.
46:59
Amen. So, good Lord, thank you for
47:01
your word. And may we be the men and women
47:04
you've called us to be. And just these little reminders
47:07
of the priests, how they were set apart, unique.
47:12
They weren't like the everyone else.
47:16
And today, that priesthood of all believers, we're not like
47:20
everyone else. There's a calling upon our
47:23
lives, a purpose, a direction, but when we find ourselves on
47:31
the narrow path, the narrow gate, following you closely in
47:38
Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
47:42
encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
47:44
sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
47:50
Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
47:57
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
48:02
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
48:07
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
48:09
this week.