On The Move (Week 2)

I am Forrest Coleman, lead pastor here at Multiply.

If I haven't met you, great to meet you.

My family, along with a bunch of other people, a year and now four months ago, uh set out to launch Multiply Church and God's done a amazing work.

And uh we're meeting here in this movie theater portable on Sundays and uh portable stuff happens when you're in portable church.

Um and uh it's a kind of what we're talking about today, really.

Um I was uh this this last week I got to go visit a friend of mine uh in Shelbyville that's uh uh on Giss Creek Lake, and uh on Giss Creek Lake, they are close to the banks, they uh have uh some little places that people can you can you can buy a little plot of land and uh this has been going on for like years and years and years now.

And actually the way it started was is that you could buy a little uh plot of land on the banks of Giss Creek, and you it started out by you you could put a an RV or a camper on that your plot of land.

And um now, decades later, people have had their plot of land and uh the campers that they have there, 1960s and 70s campers, somebody got the great idea that uh they wanted to expand their camper.

And so they've added uh these big screened-in for uh front porches onto their campers.

Some of them had even added new roofs, cut off the top of their camper to the point now that it just it just looks like all these little cabins that are on the the bank of Giss Creek Lake.

And so my buddy has one of these, and I got to go inside.

You didn't even realize that there's a camper in there until you go inside of this cabin, and then you see this 1970s, uh 60s uh camper that's inside there, this RV that's old.

But you know, it's it's kind of a cool thing, but you know, that's not exactly what RVs are supposed to do, right?

That's not exactly the application that they're made for.

Uh a camper in RV is for what?

It's for you to be mobile, to go get out there, to get on the road, and go on uh travels and campsites and have your family and have a good time and celebrate and break down on the side of the road and have flat tires and all the things that you're supposed to do when you take trips with RVs and have that time with family and with friends.

And now, you know, what you're not supposed to do is just supposed to just stay in one place.

It's supposed to be on the move.

And in the same way, for us in our spiritual life, we're supposed to be on the move with God.

The title of my message today is Church on Wheels.

And we're supposed to be doing this together, just like you take a trip with the family and the RV, you're together, you're having a good time, you're you're you're you're learning things, you're laughing, you're having an experience together, you're sharing with one another, and it's not supposed this thing that's supposed to be this thing that's stuck in the mud and isolated and alone.

But there are times in our spiritual lives where we get to a place where we are feeling like we're alone.

You know, one thing that entered into the Christian vernacular decades ago was uh the statement that we should have a personal relationship with Jesus, which is powerful and which is true.

We should be in relationship with Jesus.

We've now been uh the door has been opened for us to be in right relationship with Jesus and for us to know him and for him to know, uh for him to know us and for us to know him.

But it's also not the truth that your personal relationship with Jesus should only be personal and in isolation.

That you should just be trying to go it alone.

But instead that that the church should be this moving, living, breathing body together that is walking with one another when life's tough moments come.

Maybe you felt the feelings of abandonment or being alone at times.

At some point you may have heard the words, I'm leaving, I don't love you anymore.

Or you heard someone say to you, uh, you've been let go from this company.

Or you've gotten the news, your loved one's been killed in a car accident.

Or the tragic words, your sister has experienced an overdose.

Maybe you've had somebody look at you and say, we can't be friends anymore.

There are times where we can feel so alone and abandoned.

And the enemy, more than anything, in those portions and times and and and seasons of life, wants you to feel completely alone, that no one loves you, no one is for you, no one is behind you, no one cares for you when you're tempted to feel like you're abandoned.

But what we know is God never abandons us.

We're never left alone.

The passage that we're gonna look at today of the people of God, as they're moving from Mount Sinai and into the promised land.

Today we're gonna look at the fact that in Exodus chapter 40, God has given a plan and a pattern for the people of God to make what's called the tabernacle.

Exodus 40 · chapter mention

This church on wheels, so to speak, as they're making their trek in the desert and through the desert that they would uh from the from enslavement and in captivity in Egypt for 400 years.

God rescued out of the them out of slavery in Egypt and is taking them to this place that He's prepared for them, this promised land.

But there's a journey in between.

And God gives instructions to Moses for them to build this portable church called the Tabernacle.

He gives very specific instructions to Moses on what it should look like, how it should be set up, how it should be utilized.

And Moses follows these instructions to a T.

He takes this pattern, he takes this plan that's really, it's a it's a it's a picture of a heavenly place come to earth, and he takes the pattern, he takes the plans, and he gives it and delegates to the people of God and different fabrics and different woods and different materials.

They come together and they build this thing that's called the tabernacle.

This mobile church.

And the way that it is kind of set up is that it uses drapes, it is obviously a tent because they're mobile.

But what you'll see is the way that the Lord designed this was that the tabernacle, this meeting place of them and the Lord, that wherever the people of God were led by him by a cloud of his presence, so where they should go, that whenever they were to stop, that God's glory would descend, this cloud would descend, and they would set up this tent, the tabernacle, and all around the tent would be the people of God encircled around it as they would camp all around the tent in the middle.

And the presence and the glory of God would rest on the center part of their camp in the tabernacle.

And specifically within the tabernacle, it was made of these outer walls that were fabric that created this outer courtyard.

And this outer courtyard was a place where they sacrificed on this brazen altar day and night to the Lord.

And then there was a couple of other places that were that were uh in this tabernacle that uh the the the second part, this entry room was this place called the holy place.

And there the Lord gave them instructions for them to make an incense altar that would burn to him day and night, that there would be a golden table with fresh bread that would be placed as a sacrifice and an offering to him.

There would be uh a golden lampstand that was there.

And then there was this purple veil curtain that enclosed this inner place called the Holy of Holies.

And inside of the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant that included the Ten Commandments that God had given to Moses on Mount Sinai and given him the instructions, and they had built this golden box of the Ark of the Covenant to God's specifications and had placed the Ten Commandments along with some other relics in the Ark of the Covenant, and it was kept and housed in the inmost place in the Holy of Holies.

And once a year, only one time a year, the priest would consecrate, would purify themselves to take in a sacrifice to the Lord, into the Holy of Holies, for the forgiveness of sins of the whole people of God one time per year.

It was a process that they had to go through, that they had to purify themselves in order to even enter into the presence of God, lest they enter into the Holy of Holies and the presence of God that was so strong and so powerful that it would kill them if they walked in without being cleansed.

And so we pick up the story in Exodus chapter 40 is Moses has gotten the tabernacle almost to completion.

Exodus 40 · chapter mention

And they're completing it, and the Lord's glory will fill it.

Exodus chapter 40, verse 30.

Exodus 40:30

Then Moses placed the wash basin between the tabernacle and the altar.

He filled it with water so the priests could wash themselves.

Moses and Aaron and Aaron's sons used the water from it to wash their hands and feet.

Whenever they approached the altar and entered the tabernacle, they washed themselves just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then they hung the curtains forming the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar, and he set up the curtain at the entrance of the courtyard.

So at last Moses finished the work.

Then the cloud covered the tabernacle.

The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Moses could no longer enter the tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Now, whenever the cloud lifted from the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey following it.

But if the cloud did not rise, they remained where they were until it lifted.

The cloud of the Lord hovered over the tabernacle during the day and the night.

Fire glowed inside the cloud, so the whole family of Israel could see it.

This continued throughout all of their journeys.

This place.

Imagine being a portable church for 400, 500 years.

And only those that were the closest to the Lord could enter into his presence.

Could be close with him.

Could you sacrifice to him?

You know, I kind of think about it and compare it to like maybe your house or where you stay.

You probably have a front door and some type of a porch or steps, or maybe even you have a have a have a deck or something on the front of the house.

And the people who can come up and can come onto your porch.

Maybe it's a neighbor that you barely know that drops stuff off, or maybe it's a mailman that comes by, or maybe it's somebody who's coming to sell something, but they stay on the porch, they don't make it inside of the house.

But then the people that you know, that you're friends with, and that you're in relationship with, they get to go past the porch, obviously, and get into maybe your living room, maybe even the kitchen.

But there's places and there's areas of your house that I guess probably don't go.

Maybe it's this room that's filled with junk that you don't want anybody to see.

The bedroom, maybe it's the bathroom, the bathroom, it's one of the one of those places that it's it's the most intimate place, and it's not for people that are not in close relationship with you.

In the same way, God sets up this tabernacle, this place that it's set up so that those who are closest to him can enter into his presence and the people that are there that they can have access to him, but not full access to him yet.

Even I had some friends a few years ago that uh really wonderful couple, and uh just a great, great couple, had this beautiful home, and they invited us for dinner one night.

So we went to their house for dinner, this beautiful big house, and uh we had a wonderful time meeting a meal, and we were getting a tour of the house.

And again, they have this beautiful home.

We got the screened-in porch and the big living room, had you know a room where they watch movies.

This isn't a nice place.

And we get to this upstairs to through the tour to this one door, and the husband says, Now, this room we don't let just anybody into.

We don't show this room to everybody who comes, but since we know you all so well, uh you know, I we'll we'll we'll show it to you.

I'm like, what is behind this door?

I do not know what is about to happen.

And he opens the door and flips on the light, and it is floor-to-ceiling completed Lego sets all around the room with a table in the middle that is filled with Lego pieces.

Now, this couple didn't have kids.

And I was like, well, that's not that bad, you know.

It's like, okay, you know, it could be worse.

Uh they're like, you know, this is our Lego room where we come in the evenings and we build these Lego sets together.

I'm like, okay, like that's a little strange, but uh, you know, it's all good.

Everybody has hobbies.

You know, if you're a Lego person, good for you.

Like, it's all good.

But not everybody got to see it.

Not everybody got to come to that part of their house.

The the part that they only wanted those who were most intimate or that they chose to see were able to be let in.

You know what's interesting about the tabernacle is that God set up this system that the people of God would sacrifice and the tabernacle, his church on wheels.

And one day they would build a giant temple where God would receive sacrifices and that there would be offerings given for the forgiveness of sins.

But God, when we when we thought that there was gonna be no hope for us to be fully forgiven, God had a plan.

And his plan was the spotless Lamb, Jesus.

In John chapter 1, in the Gospels, verse 14.

John 1 · chapter mention

The scripture will be familiar to some of you.

Speaking of Jesus.

John said the word became human, became flesh, and made his home among us.

He was uh he was full of unfailing love and faithfulness, and he had, and we have seen his glory, and the glory of the fathers, one and only Son.

You know what's interesting about that passage?

The the passage there that it says that the word uh the word that it became flesh, it became human and it made his home or dwelt among us, is what some translations say.

That word, that word dwelt among us or made his home among us.

It's it's the Greek verbal equivalent of the noun used to describe the tabernacle of God.

That Jesus put on flesh and he tabernacled with us.

Jesus put on flesh and he dwelt among us.

Jesus put on flesh and he wanted to be close to us so that we could be close to his presence and to his glory.

You know, think about this mobile church.

This church on the move, the tabernacle.

It was something where it was a whole laundry list of things that needed to be completed and tasks that needed to be done in the tabernacle, this tenth of meeting that the people of God facilitated and had the honor of doing.

And some of these jobs, you know, the setup and tear down, the moving back and forth, the sacrifices that were being made.

Some of these were dirty jobs.

Some of these may even felt like menial, mundane tasks that had to be completed.

But all of it served a purpose.

All of it served a purpose to create a place where God's presence could rest among his people.

They could have access to him.

You know, I think about here at our movie theater that we meet in.

Sometimes there's some dirty jobs around this place.

A couple weeks ago, Donnie mopped the whole foyer because when we came in, it needed to be mopped.

Now, a few weeks ago, now we came in, one day it was raining.

The drain that was outside there in the front where you walk in, there's a drain there.

It stopped up the rain.

It was like a lake, a pond outside a few weeks ago.

And and Shannon Lee, he he actually got inside of the dumpster outside to find a piece of wood to go over and to break up the pond that was out in front and let it all go down so that everybody could walk in to the movie theater.

Sometimes sometimes on Sunday mornings, of the folks who are volunteering around here gotta have to clean bathrooms and pick up whoppers and uh and and and throw away pop.

There are things that are going on, and we want to cleanse this place.

Want to cleanse this place so it can be a place where people can meet the presence of God.

And some of those, some of the times it can feel like that it's mundane or there's a bunch of dirty jobs to be done.

We think about the fact that there are people who are gonna come into our church week after week that don't yet have the presence of God in their life and are able to receive it through the power of his word, through worship, through receiving of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross.

We're creating a space, we're creating a place where people don't feel alone, that people don't feel forsaken.

I know at times the enemy wants to tempt you.

He wants to tempt you to make you believe that God isn't there.

He doesn't see what's going on, that he doesn't care about the details of your life, that you're praying and just feels like that your prayers are just hitting the ceiling and bouncing off.

But can I tell you this?

God wants nothing more than for you to walk with his spirit and know that he is not given up on you, he's not angry with you, he loves you and has never forsaken you.

And you are in a long line of people who have not been abandoned or forsaken by God.

That we know all the way from the Old Testament that David told his son Saul.

Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28, he said, David told him, Be strong and courageous.

He will not fail you or forsake you.

God said to Jacob in Genesis 28, He said, I will protect you wherever you go.

I will not leave you until I have finished everything that I have promised you.

In Deuteronomy 31, God told Joshua and said through Moses, do not be afraid or discouraged.

Go ahead, because the Lord will personally go ahead of you.

He will neither fail you or abandon you.

Joshua 1.5, he told Joshua, I will not fail you or abandon you.

He told Joshua that God is with you wherever you will go to be strong and courageous.

In Isaiah, God told the poor.

He said, When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, their tongues are parts with thirst, that the Lord will answer them, that the God of Israel will never abandon them.

And in Hebrews of the high priest Jesus, God says to all of us that God said, I will never fail you, I will never abandon you.

So we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper.

So I will have no fear.

What can your people do to me?

God is with me.

God is with me.

He's not given up on me.

He's not abandoned me.

He's not walked away from me.

For millennia, God has walked and had his presence with his people, and through the power of Jesus, he's allowing the presence of God to walk inside of you.

To see what happened at the at the cross, when we just sang about a few minutes ago, where Jesus' blood was shed on the cross for you, when Jesus died in your place, that when we were we were crushed, that he was crushed for our iniquities, and that by his wounds we are healed, is what the Bible tells us.

That on the cross of Christ, when Jesus says, it is finished inside the temple, there's a curtain between the holy of holies and the people of God, and it rips in two from top to bottom.

And God says, Welcome into my presence, my holy presence and power by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins.

That we get to practice and walk in the internal holy presence of God and that he wants to take up residence inside of our hearts.

That God has left the building, that he's given access for his presence anywhere, everywhere, that we would participate in God's affordable presence.

God is asking you to do the same.

With your life, with your heart, with all of you, with your finances, that you're participating in the presence of God.

But it doesn't just stop there.

It doesn't just stop there.

That we would be his representatives.

And that we would present his presence to others.

Are you experiencing God's presence in your life right now?

Are you delivering his presence to other people?

Because here's what I know the scripture tells us this.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And we're about to we're about to celebrate freedom over this weekend, July 4th, and let freedom ring.

And when you're in the Spirit of God, there's freedom that follows along with it.

See, we have a choice.

We have a choice to walk in our flesh and our sinfulness, or we have a choice, what the Bible says, to walk in the Spirit of God, in His presence, in His glory, in His power.

And we have the opportunity, we have the choice day in and day out for us to choose to sin and choose to walk in what the enemy has dragged us into and caught us, enslaved us, or we have the opportunity, just like the people of God, to leave slavery behind in Egypt and walk into God's presence into the promised land.

Because the people of Israel, they thought that God abandoned them all along the way.

When they got to the Red Sea, they stopped and thought God's abandoned us, but then he parted the city.

When they had no bread in the desert, they thought that God had abandoned them, but God brought them his presence through food that was brought to them day after day.

When they were standing at the base of Mount Sinai that we talked about last Sunday, when Moses went up to meet with God and was there getting instructions, they thought, God's abandoned us.

Let's just make a golden calf, let's just make some other God because we didn't our God has abandoned us, but he hadn't abandoned us.

Instead, he had met with Moses, and Moses came down from the mountain, and his face shone radiant with glory because he had been with God and he was bringing the presence down to the people, and God had not forsaken them.

And then he told them to build the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, so that his glory could rest in their midst.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom.

Do you believe God is going before us?

The enemy wants to trick you.

The enemy wants to lie to you and deceive you.

God's not brought us this far to abandon us now.

He's brought us to this place so that we could bring his presence to other people.

And kick it off on Sunday by way of bringing a can of food or a non-perishable item.

We're gonna start a process of the week of bringing God's presence to people who may or may not even know him yet.

Day after day, here in our community, to share the love and light of God.

And it can start with something so simple as a can of food and then to swing a hammer or to plant a flower or to pack a hygiene kit for somebody who's in the throes of addiction and recovery, that they would just receive just a portion of God's presence through the work that you've done and let poured out through your heart, through your mind, through your hands.

You may be here today and you're in the place that you've been walking in the flesh way more than you've been walking in the spirit recently.

You may be a believer, a Christian in the room.

But the enemy has been eating your lunch and holding you down, keeping you trapped, and things that you know aren't glorifying to God that are in your mind separating you from the Lord and breaking your relationship and bond with him.

But let me tell you this: God has gone nowhere, he is not moved, he is there waiting for you to put sin to death by the power of the Holy Spirit and walk in his presence with him.

You may be in the room today, and you're you're not even you're not even yet a follower of Jesus.

You're hearing about this right now, and you you you you've you've heard about the fact that Jesus died in your place on the cross to forgive you of your sins.

And that is true.

And I want to say to you today that God wants nothing more than to enter into your life and give you the freedom of his presence today.

He wants to save you, he wants to forgive you of your sins so that you can walk with him in intimacy and in love and feel his presence.

And right now, if you're not a follower of Jesus, the Bible says that you're dead in your sins.

But when you come to Christ, you will be reborn, you will be made a new creation, the Bible says, with God taking up residence inside of you.

Today could be your day to follow Jesus, to receive his salvation, to be forgiven, and be on a pathway, to meet with him here on this side of earth and into heaven.

If that's you today, I want to I want to encourage you today.

I want to invite you today.

Don't let another day go by.

Don't let another day go by without trusting in Jesus and receiving the forgiveness that He's given to you, that He's offering to you.

Would you bow your heads and pray with me, Father, all across this room, God?

Lord, there's so many different circumstances and places and different people and families that are in different places in their walk with you.

God, I pray today, Lord, that you would help them by the power of your word.

Help them to see that, God, you have not forsaken them or abandoned them.

You've not given up on them.

But instead, God, you want nothing more than to tabernacle, to dwell with them.

So, Father, I pray, Lord, today for everybody in this room, God, that where they would be walking in your spirit and freedom.

God, you would help them each and every single day, God, to invite your presence into their life, into their heart, into their home, to their mind, to their parenting, to their workplace, to their loved ones, to their spouse, to their friends.

God, even now, Lord, that they would feel your presence in their heart, in their mind.

God, I pray today, Lord, anybody in this room who's not trusted you as their savior and given you their life and received the free gift of salvation that you died for them on the cross and made a pathway for them today.

God, I pray, Lord, that today that they wouldn't wait another day, but God, that they would receive an invitation into your glory and into your power to be made alive.

And so, God, I pray all across the room, if there's anybody in this place that needs to be saved today, God, that they would pray, Jesus, save me, in their heart and mind that they would pray, Jesus, save me.

I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross in my place for my sins.

Forgive me, cleanse me, wash me clean, so I can be in heaven with you one day.

I give you my life, you gave your life for mine.

Thank you for saving me.

Heads bowed and eyes closed.

If you're in the room today and you prayed that prayer to receive Christ as your Savior for the first time, I don't want to embarrass you.

I want to pray for you.

If you would just very quickly just raise your hand up and hand so I can see you and pray for you.

Anybody in the place who prayed that today, Father, I pray, Lord, right now over this room.

God, I pray, Lord, for anybody in this place taking a step to follow you, Father, that Lord, you would receive it, that you would seal it.

That God, that you would work powerfully through your people.

Thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in our lives, the life of our church, in our families, in our city.

God, help us to walk closely and powerfully with you.

In Jesus' name.

And everybody said, Amen.

Church, we celebrate as we stand and get into worship.