The Holy Spirit: Dwelling (John 14) | 1/18/2026

All right, welcome back again. Notes are available on the back

table. I do see that there's still some

available back there. You can either grab them now or

on your way out. All right, if you're watching

online, hey, welcome to you. Welcome to North Life.

We want to take a moment to invite you to come and be with

us in person. We're at 115 E Main Street,

right in the heart of the old historic part of Gaylord, and

our services are at 9:00 and 10:30.

Watching online is great, but if you're nearby, certainly come

and worship with us in person. All right, if you have your

Bibles, please take and turn them to John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

John chapter 14 is in the New Testament.

John 14 · chapter mention

It's if you're new to the Bible, it's grouped with the first

books of the New Testament, which are Matthew, Mark, Luke

and John. And then axis after that.

It's easy way to find it. So it's about maybe 80 percent,

85% through your Bible. So the book of John is a story,

the story of Jesus when he was here with us, walking, dwelling

among us with his disciples, his teachings and the events of his

life. And so this is John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

So John 14 is kind of in the middle of the story of Jesus.

It's before the crucifixion, before his resurrection.

And here he's going to talk about the Holy Spirit and we're

talking about the Holy Spirit in these weeks.

So this is John chapter 14, and I'm going to read to you from

John 14 · chapter mention

verse 16, verse 17. John writes the words of Jesus,

who says, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you

another helper to be with you forever.

Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because

it neither sees him nor knows Him.

You know him, for watch this. This is very important in the

context of this message. You know Him, for He dwells with

you and will be in you. He dwells with you and will be

in you. This morning.

I want to talk to you about the Holy Spirit, and I want to talk

to you particularly about the Holy Spirit dwelling and

manifesting. The Holy Spirit dwelling and

manifesting. Let me pray for us, God.

We've come to honor you with our worship, and our worship is

singing to you. Our worship is just being

together and Kona NIA and fellowship and our worship is

giving to you and now our worship is paying attention to

your word and leaning into your word because it's how we grow.

And so Holy Spirit, we say speak to us, grow us, stretch us in

our understanding of who you are and how to relate and have a

relationship with you. We pray this in Jesus name and

everyone loudly said Amen. I love the language that John

purposefully uses when he's quoting Jesus speaking about the

Holy Spirit. Now last week we started what is

going to be several weeks to come teaching on the Holy

Spirit. And I don't want to go and re

preach last week's message, but we went into great detail about

the fact that Jesus ascends to heaven.

Jesus was prophesied, the Messiah was prophesied.

Isaiah spoke of Jesus coming. He said therefore the Lord

himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin shall

conceive and bear a son, and he shall be called.

His name will be called Emmanuel, and Emmanuel means God

with us. And we focus on that and speak

of that every Christmas time. But this year, more than even

regular years, we went into great depth, really leading into

the idea that Jesus is God with us, Emmanuel.

And last week I spoke on the fact that that Jesus is God with

us. But he talks about who is going

to come and that will be the Holy Spirit who will not just be

with us, but in US. And, and Jesus, you know, it

would have been confusing to them because they're like,

you're God with us. And when Jesus is like, I'm

going to go away, but I'm going to send the helper, the Holy

Spirit, the comforter, he's going to come.

It would have been confusing them because they're like Jesus,

we like you being with us. But the way that Jesus came to

us, he came as a, you know, God put on human skin.

So He's in one place at one time.

And so Jesus is going to ascend back to be with the Father.

This is the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit now is going to come and He's going to be in

all of us that receive Christ as our Savior.

So this is the plan. Jesus is God with us, but only

with those that He is in the proximity of being with.

The Holy Spirit is going to come and dwell in all of us that

follow Jesus. So Jesus ascends to the heaven.

And last week we talked about now the Holy Spirit dwells in us

and we talked about the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son

and the Trinity last week. If you missed that, please go

back and pick up that message this week.

I must let you know, and this is a big like this is a buffet

message, man, I got a lot. This is like a 7.

Is there such a thing as A7 course meal?

There's a 5 course meal. If there's a 5 course meal, this

is a 7 course meal, right? I've got a lot to tell you and

I'm going to race through it. I'm guilty of listening to books

and podcasts at double speed. So sometimes if I talk fast,

it's because I listen to a lot of things double speed, right?

So I'm going to try not to talk double speed, but I'm going to

fit everything. I did it in the first service.

I'm going to fit everything in, but I've got a lot to connect.

And what I want you to see is that throughout Scripture, there

are there are these, there are these connects that maybe you've

missed when you've read the New Testament.

The the beauty to me of the Old Testament is that God's story

has all of these intersections. And this morning's message

certainly has, has a lot of dots that I'm going to connect.

OK, now I want to explain first to you to make sense of this

message. I want to explain God's

omnipresence and God's manifest presence.

And they're two different revelations, or, you know,

they're the way that God reveals, reveals his presence,

OK, the presence of Holy Spirit. So first you must understand

that God's presence is omnipresent, right?

And what does omnipresent mean? It means that God is present

everywhere at all times. The furthest places in the

galaxies in the universe is wherever you go, God's presence

is there. God is omnipresent everywhere,

and the psalmist in Psalm 139 references this truth. 139 verse

7, the psalmist writes, Where shall I go from your spirit, or

where shall I flee from your presence?

And this occasion he's making the Spirit of God and the

presence of God synonymous. They're the same thing.

He's saying from your presence, from your spirit, they're the

same. And he says, if I ascend to the

heaven, you're there. And by the heavens he would have

meant like the stars and the galaxies in the ancient world,

the heavens are that. And he says, if I make my bed

and say old, you were there, and say, old was like the place of

the dead, If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the

uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

The psalmist in this occasion is saying that God is omnipresent.

He is everywhere you can go, as far, far, far away, the depths

of the sea. Wherever you go, God's presence

is there. So God is omnipresent, but not

only is God omnipresent, but he has manifest presence.

And watch this AW Tozer, one of my favorite authors.

You know, the greatest authors have like like initials, right?

So I think so AW Tozer, who passed away in the 60s, I highly

recommended his book called the Pursuit of God.

It's not a hard read. You can listen to it on Audible

or probably YouTube, but it's a, it's a classic written in like

the 50s or 60s. And Tozer says this God is

omnipresent. He's everywhere, but he does not

manifest himself everywhere. God is omnipresent, but he

doesn't manifest his presence. And by God's manifest presence,

what do we mean? What we mean that his presence

is in specific places and moments and people.

It's when God is especially present.

He's omnipresent. He's everywhere.

But you'll see in Scripture and in our lives today, God chooses

to manifest his presence to show up in a unique, special way in

certain places and times and people.

And I'm going to show you that this is a biblical truth, OK?

And then I'm going to give you application for what it looks

like in our lives now. So this guy, CS Caulfield,

that's me, he says this. He says the Spirit of God.

This is what I say. The Spirit of God is not

confined to a moment or place, but the Spirit of God does

divinely manifest Himself in certain moments and places.

I might get CS because my name is Curtis Steven Caulfield, so I

get to adopt CS Lewis's initials as CS Caulfield.

The older I get, I'm just going to grow into CS Caulfield.

We'll see how that goes. OK, so watch this.

So there's the omnipresence of God, and then there is the

manifest presence of God when God shows up in unique ways and

places and times and people. Now I want to show you this

progression that we see and I was recommending again this big

Bible story book by Auntie Wright.

I think it's really wonderful to get the grandness of the story

of Scripture, OK, and how how God reveals himself to people

and how God is redeeming us. That's all in the Bible.

And know that again, the Bible is a story.

It's the story of God saving and redeeming us, OK?

So watch the progression of how God manifests his presence, OK?

We even see it in the Garden of Eden and I mentioned, but I'll

re mention in this context in Genesis 38, it's telling the

story of Adam and Eve after they have sinned, they've eaten from

the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

They've disobeyed God and they are hiding from God because now

they're full of shame and that watch this first aid of chapter

3. And they being Adam and Eve,

heard the sounds of the Lord God walking in the garden in the

cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid

themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of

the garden. Now, the way that Genesis is

written, you get the picture that they were familiar with the

sound of God walking in the garden.

So in the garden at creation, the dawn of time, God is

omnipresent. He's everywhere at one time, and

yet he specifically reveals himself in the garden walking

with Adam and Eve. And they'll they are familiar

with the sound after they've sent and they're hiding, They're

familiar with the sound of God walking in the garden.

So God starts the beginning of the Bible, starts with the idea

that God is omnipresent, but he manifests himself, his presence,

the Holy Spirit manifest and reveals himself in unique places

and times and people from the very beginning.

Now there is a progression of God manifesting himself,

dwelling with his people. And I'm going to kind of cover

the, you know, the big blocks of it.

There are many, many, many, many more stories where I can lead

you to go, Oh yeah, look, that's the the presence, the Spirit of

God manifesting. But I'm going to give you the

big blocks in the Old Testament that are connected to some

passages in the New Testament. OK, So one of the other places,

as the story progresses, God's here in the garden manifesting

his Spirit, His presence, and then another big time, and there

are times in between, but another big block is when God

manifests, reveals his Spirit in the context of the tent.

And what do I mean by this? This is the story in Exodus

Exodus 25 · chapter mention

chapter 25, one through 9. So the story of the Bible, you

have Adam and Eve, and then you have Noah, and you have Abraham

and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes of Israel and Joseph and

Moses in Egypt. And then Moses leads the

children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

At that point in the Bible, in Exodus, you're going to see now

the children of Israel, they're free from slavery, and they're

wandering in the wilderness like the desert, OK.

And out in the desert in Exodus 25, the Lord speaks to Moses,

and what does he say? X is 25 one, it says, the Lord

said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel, that they take

for me a contribution, an offering from every man whose

heart moves him. You shall receive the

contribution for me. This is a wonderful time to see

in the Bible where God is saying, OK, I'm asking for an

offering. And it's if your heart moves

you, your heart moves you, then you should give.

And this is still a picture of giving today to the Lord.

It's like our hearts should be moved to contribute, right?

To give offerings and ties to God's work, right?

So this is what God's saying for those whose hearts are moved to

give, I want you to give to this.

Now watch how specific God gets about what he wants them to

contribute. Verse 3.

And this is the contribution that you shall receive from

them. Gold, silver and bronze.

And watch out specific blue and purple and scarlet yarns and

fine twined linen, goat's hair, tanned Rams skins, goat skins,

Acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and

for the fragrant incense. Onyx stones and stones for

setting for the ephod and for the breast.

Peace in verse 8. And let them make me, this is

God speaking, a sanctuary. Watch that I may dwell in their

midst exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the

Tabernacle and all of its furniture, so you shall make it.

Watch. I'm talking this morning about

the Holy Spirit dwelling and manifesting.

And God says to Moses, get this. Get these contributions.

This is the list of things that I'm asking the people to give.

And then he says that I have a plan.

I'm going to dwell in their midst.

OK? So the Holy Spirit is going to

manifest himself in their midst. Remember, Jesus is God with us.

And then I read you at the beginning.

Jesus says that I'm going to pray to the Father, and He's

going to send you the Helper, and you know him because he's

with you and He will be in you. Watch the progression.

God manifests himself in the garden.

He's near. He's walking with Adam and Eve.

But now at this point in the story, God says build me the

sanctuary. And my plan is I'm I'm going to

dwell in your midst. You're going to be near my

presence. I'm going to make my presence

accessible near you and watch this.

I mean this in no way irreverent.

You'll, you'll allow me. This is that when God gives

Moses this list of things that he wants, it's like God's going

to build his living room. He's going to build like his man

cave, right? Guys, you have a man cave.

Some of you like in your man cave, you might have guns or

whatever. In my man cave at home, I have

books and guitars, right? The room that I want to sit in

the home, I've got shelves and shelves and shelves of books and

I love to just sit there and be among my books and study and

read. And then I've got guitars and,

and we have a piano in our, we have a baby grand piano in our

living room. That's what my man cave looks

like, right? And my wife has decorated our

home lovely and beautiful, right?

So God is saying to Moses, here's what I want you to put in

the room that I'm going to manifest or dwell in.

And he gives a very specific list.

Now watch what happens so that the contributions come and they

build this tent that God is going to manifest himself in.

He's going to dwell there. Now, is this the totality of God

in this tent? Of course not.

God is omnipresent. He's everywhere.

But God is going to manifest himself in that unique place at

that unique time, and he's going to allow the people to be near

his presence, the Holy Spirit. Watch Exodus 40 continues the

story. So verse 32, when they went into

the tent of meeting and when they approached the altar, they

washed as the Lord commanded Moses.

I'm not going in the detail, but God gives Moses these rules on

how to now go into this place where God is going to dwell.

And it's only going to be once a year.

It's going to be the high priest after he's gone through all of

these cleaning and cleansing routines, and he's going to go

into this place and he's going to be in the presence of God, if

you will. OK, And eventually I'll get to

it, but Jesus is going to be now the high priest and I'll connect

the dots for you. And so verse 33.

And he erected the court around the Tabernacle and the altar,

and he set up this, watch this. He set up the screen or a veil

or curtain, you might call it, of the gate of the court.

OK, so Moses finished the work that God gave him, very

specific. You can go read more of it.

God gave him very specific ways to build this tent where he was

going to manifest His spirit, His presence.

OK, now watch what happened verse 34.

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the

Lord filled the Tabernacle or the tent.

And by glory, we, the Greek word here is Kabat and it means like

weight, the weight of God properly, like in a, in a good

way, the weight of God descended, manifested itself

into this tent, this Tabernacle that is mobile.

Remember, they are, they are nomadic people.

They're wandering in the wilderness.

And so this tent, this Tabernacle is going to be

movable. OK, So the, the what we start

seeing here is that you're going to see that is a synonym to say

the glory of God is also the spirit of God, like the weight

of God and the spirit, Spirit of God, the presence of God, they

all mean the same thing. The presence, the glory, the

spirit, they're interchangeable. OK, so the glory of God

manifests itself in this place that Moses has built according

to the instructions given by God.

Now first Peter is going to reference this in first Peter

414 watch this this idea of of the of the weight of God coming

and resting or coming upon manifesting.

First Peter later says this I read it during our worship time.

If you were insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed

because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

This is why we sang this song this morning.

Come rest on us. It's from that tradition.

God, come rest, rest, rest on us as you did the tent in the Old

Testament, the Tabernacle. God, we're crying out and, and

Peter is referencing this occasion that the spirit, the

glory of God came and rested upon the tent of the Tabernacle

in this Old Testament story. Now Exodus 40 continues how God

reveals himself and, and the way that his dwelling place is set

up. OK, and it's all going to

connect to you and me. It's all going to connect to the

New Testament. So Exodus 40 verse 35 and Moses

Exodus 40:35

was not able to enter the tent of meeting.

Why? Because the clouds settled and

rested on it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.

The glory, the presence, the Spirit of God filled this

Tabernacle that they'd built. And throughout all their

journeys, wherever the cloud, whenever, whenever the cloud was

taken up from over the Tabernacle, the people of Israel

would set out. But if the cloud was taken, was

not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was

taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on

the Tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night in the sight

of all the House of Israel throughout all their journeys.

So watch this. The presence of God, the glory

of God, the Spirit of God manifests itself among them.

They can be near the presence of God, and they follow the cloud.

When the cloud moves, they pick up their tents and their

Tabernacle and they move it to wherever the cloud was, and they

rest there. They're following the glory, the

presence, the Spirit of God. And that's the way that God

leads him and leading Moses and the people of Israel.

Now the Spirit of God is dwelling with them and near

them. But watch them getting close to

the presence of God is restricted because if they get

too close to the presence of God, they literally will die.

Because God is holy and powerful.

He puts his presence there. He manifests His presence there.

It's not the totality of His presence.

God is omnipresent. He manifests himself in the tent

and this meeting place and there are rules.

Now what's what? More details about what's inside

of it. You're going to love this.

Exodus 2517. God's instructing Moses and he

says you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. 2 cubits and half

and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its

breath. Now what is a mercy seat?

Well, the mercy seat was a solid gold cover of the Ark of the

Covenant and once you're the high priest would sprinkle blood

to symbolize that sin had been paid for and judgment had been

covered by God's mercy. So let me break this down for

you even the more if you saw ratings of the Lost Ark, you

might remember the Nazis in the story.

You're trying to find the Ark of the Covenant, right?

And what is the Ark of the Covenant?

Well, the Ark of the Covenant is this box.

It's in the box contains the 10 commandments, the law that God

had given to them. And God is going to give them

instructions more. I'll read it here in a second,

but I just want you to see that it's a gold covering of the,

the, the, the mercy seat is a solid gold covering and it's

over the ark, OK. And the ark contains the 10

commandments and on the gold covering the mercy seat is the

place where God is going to visualize.

He's going to give a picture of his forgiveness.

When the high priest goes in according to God's law, he's

going to go in and he's going to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat

and the blood is sacrificed to pay for our sin.

It's a picture of Jesus coming eventually to give his blood for

our sin. OK, but they go into the mercy

seat. And again, it's not a seat you'd

sit on. It's something that sits on top

of the ark of the covenant. Now watch on chapter 25, there's

more details about what the mercy seat should have.

And watch this. It's so fascinating to me.

Verse 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold of hammered

works, shall you make them on the 2 ends of the mercy seat.

Now what a cherubim. Some some of you might think,

oh, a cherubim. You've heard of it.

It's, it's a vague term. Is it an Angel?

Well, no, a cherubim is not quite an Angel.

A cherubim is a heavenly creature that is mentioned often

in the Bible. OK, but angels were angels that

take on human form and they're God's messengers and God's

warriors. They do battle and they show up.

Gideon shows up, Michael show up.

And again when they show up, they have somewhat human form.

And so Gideon goes to Mary and says, Mary, you're going to have

the Christ. You're going to have Jesus.

The angels show up in that way. And we believe that there are

angels right now that are serving us and protecting us.

OK, the angels are that. But the cherubim, on the other

hand, the Bible explains them as this heavenly creature that has

four legs. It has like the legs of a, has

like the body of a lion and it has like a human face, but I

think it has like 4 faces. This is a really strange

creature. And then it has wings.

OK, so the cherubim are gods like servants.

They're heavenly creatures and they protect the altar of God.

They surround the altar of God and they protect the presence of

God. OK, so watch this.

So then the instructions that God is giving to Moses, he's

saying, OK, I want you to make these cherubim on top of the

mercy seat, right? They're going to have their

wings and everything. Make one cherub on the one end

of the mercy seat and one cherub on the other other end.

Have one piece with the Mercy seat.

Shall you make the cherubim on its 2 ends?

The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing

the mercy seat with their wings, their faces, their faces, one to

another towards the Mercy Seat shall the face of the cherubim

be. And you shall put the Mercy seat

on the top of the Ark of Covenant, and in the Ark you

shall put the testimony that I shall give you the 10

Commandments. Then I will watch this.

I will meet with you, I'll manifest my presence from above

the mercy seat from between the two cherubim that are on the arc

of the testimony. I will speak with you about all

that I will give you in commandment for the people of

Israel. Watch, we're talking about God's

presence, that's he's omnipresent.

He's everywhere, but he manifests his presence at

certain moments and places and then people and so hear God

saying, listen, you build the mercy seat.

It's a picture of my forgiveness and it's there to protect the my

commandments. And then God saying there I will

meet with you. He will dwell with he's dwelling

among they're dwelling among them.

But now there's a special place where they get even closer to

the presence, the manifest presence of God.

Now, well, there's a connection with the cherubim that goes all

the way back to the garden. And I've mentioned this, I think

even last week, but I'm going to mention again in this context.

So you get this and Genesis 323. This is after Adam and Eve have

sinned and God is going to cast them out of the garden, not as

punishment. God is putting them out of the

garden because if they stay in Eden, they don't have

relationship with God. They're disconnected from God

because of their sin. So God comes up with a plan to

redeem mankind and that's going to take taking Adam and Eve out

of the garden, out of the presence of God.

And God puts, watch this cherubim to guard the Garden of

Eden. You can see here Genesis 3.

Therefore the Lord God sent him, meaning Adam, out from the

Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

And he drove out the man. And at the East End of the

Garden of Eden, he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword

that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

So watch this Garden of Eden. God protects Adam and Eve from

his presence, right? Because they're not holy

anymore. They've sinned.

And so God puts them out of the garden and he puts cherubim to

guard the presence of God in the garden.

And then when he gives Moses instruction on how now to build

the mercy seat, what's on it? Cherubim And the cherubim, we're

not just going to be on the Ark of the Covenant.

They're going to show up in another place.

Watch this the cherubim by the way, or again, they're there to

protect the presence of God, to protect us from the presence of

God. The presence of God doesn't need

to be protected from us. We need to be protected from the

presence of God that is so powerful that if we get near to

it, it could lead to our death. So watch what happens.

I love this. Exodus 2631 three 33.

Watch this connection. And this is more instruction.

God, says Moses, then you shall erect the Tabernacle, OK,

according to the plan for it that you were shown on the

mountain, and you shall make a veil, a curtain of blue and

purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.

What did God ask for in the offering?

The contributions? He asked for these things.

Right now they have them. And what is Moses going to do

with them? Well, he is going to build them

and do this veil and watch it says it shall be made with

cherubim skillfully worked into it.

So the chairman were there at the garden to protect the

garden. Then the cherubim are there on

the the images of them are on the top of the ark of the

covenant to protect us from the presence of God.

And then in this vast curtain, this veil that they're going to

build, they're going to build this curtain, not to protect God

from us, but to protect us from the presence and power of the

Holy Spirit that manifest itself in this holy place.

There are cherubim, images of the cherubim sewn into this veil

or this curtain. And verse 32 And you shall hang

it on 4 pillars of Acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks

of gold on 4 bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from

the clasp and bring the ark of the testimony in there within

the veil. And the veil shall watch this,

and the veil shall separate for you the holy pray holy place

from the Most Holy in this occasion.

You see, OK, there are depths to God's holiness, right?

God's near them there. He's the tent is there.

He's manifesting himself there, the Holy Spirit manifesting

himself in this holy place. There's the Ark of the Covenant,

the mercy seat on top of it. And then there's this curtain

that protects them from God's presence that manifests itself.

He's there. He's dwelling with them.

But they need protection, right? And so there is the curtain.

Now there's an evolution that I want to tell you about of God's

manifested presence. And people get confused about

this sometimes, right? I, this might shock you, but I

believe in evolution. Now, I don't believe in

evolution in the context of creation.

I believe in creation. God created the heavens and the

earth. But there are some things that

evolve for me. Music evolves.

People on the, on the worship team know that, man, we don't do

the same song the same way every time.

It evolves. Even songs that I wrote years

ago, they evolved, they change. Don't you love it when you go to

a concert and somebody does the music just a little bit

different than it was on the record?

Why? Because it evolved, right?

And you like that, you're like, oh, that was different than the

record. That's so cool, right?

So music evolved, something's evolved.

Watch the way that God interacts with us, the way that God

manifests his presence. It evolves and people get

confused about this. They get stuck in a certain era

and they get stuck maybe because they've heard this passage in

the Hebrews that where he, Hebrews 13 says Jesus Christ is

the same yesterday, today and forever.

So some people read this like God's the same yesterday, today

and forever. Well, the character of God, the

character of Jesus is the same. But watch this, We are no longer

we're no longer seeing the presence of God manifested in a

tent that has a cloud on top of it that moves right.

It got us evolved from that type of meeting with us.

And I'm going to get to how he meets with us now, how he dwells

and how he manifests his presence.

But that you've got the garden, the way he manifests himself

there, you've got the tent of meeting and now you are going to

see evolution there. But watch what happens in

Hebrews goes on and says, do not be LED away by diverse and

strange teachings. Some people are going to teach

well. They get in like I love.

If you've been part of our church, you know, probably more

than a lot of teachers of the Bible.

I love connecting the Old Testament to the New Testament.

I just love doing it right because it is.

They're all these connections. But I'm not encouraging us to

get stuck in these old traditions.

God is not manifesting himself in a tent anymore.

And this is true in Hebrew. So watch what Hebrew says and

says, do not be LED astray by these diverse and strange

teachings. For it is good for the heart to

be strengthened by grace. We're in a season of grace now,

not by foods which have not benefited those devoted them.

We have an altar from whom? From which those who served the

tent have no right to eat. Now what does he mean here?

Maybe you've read Hebrews many times and never got this

connection. So the writer of Hebrews is

saying, don't get stuck in old ways, these old teachings.

God has moved on. He's not in the tent anymore.

He's not in the cloud hovering that way.

That's the old way that God interacted and manifested

himself. And so the right of Hebrews says

we have an altar like for us that altars like communion,

right where the blood is, right where we recognize the blood.

And for those who serve the tent, the old ways, they have no

right to eat of communion. They're stuck in the old ways.

God's the same Jesus, same yesterday, today, and forever.

His character, yes, but the way we interact with his manifest

presence has evolved. Now the Holy Spirit has moved on

and no longer is going to manifest in the tent.

So even in the Old Testament, what's the next evolution of the

way that God is going to interact?

Well, this is the story of Solomon's temple.

God is going to give David instructions on how to build

this temple. And what is God?

What is God going to do in the temple?

He's going to manifest His presence, right?

And this is all going to go to what how you and I interact with

the Holy Spirit now, but stick with me.

So this is Solomon. Now, David didn't get to build

the temple. Solomon, his son builds it.

And the story of its dedication is in First Kings 810 through

13. And when the priest came out of

the holy place, a cloud filled the House of the Lord so that

the priest could not stand a minister because of the cloud.

For the glory, remember glory, present spirit or

interchangeable, the glory of the Lord filled the House of the

Lord. And then Solomon said the Lord

has said he will dwell in thick darkness.

The language of God dwelling. Here it is again, God's

dwelling. He's, he's with us.

This is why when Isaiah prophesied Emmanuel, God with

us, He's going to come and he's going to come and dwell with us.

It's all the same language throughout the story.

And then Solomon said, I have indeed built you an exalted

house. Watch.

Solomon's limited in his understanding because watch, he

says, a place for you to dwell in forever.

Is the Holy Spirit going to manifest himself in Solomon's

temple forever? No.

For a while, yes, but God's going to move on even from that.

So the temple's going to be destroyed because of their

disobedience. God's people go awry and the

Babylonians come in and take over in the Syrians.

That's the part of the Old Testament and we're going to

great depths about. But Solomon thought, God, you're

going to dwell here forever. That wasn't God's plan.

Watch what happens. Solomon had good intentions, but

he didn't have the fourth sight to know what's going to happen

in John 114. Now John is writing about Jesus

coming and he says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

See how the idea of dwelt? When John says that they would

have perked up, it's like, Oh yeah, dwelling.

We saw that all throughout the Old Testament.

God dwelt with his people in the garden and God dwelt in the

tent, and then God dwelt in Solomon's temple.

God manifests his presence. He dwelt.

And now John says, watch Jesus, the Word came and he dwelt among

us. Dwelt means more when you have

that understanding. The word became flesh and dwelt

among us, and we've seen his glory, the glory of God, the

presence of God, the Spirit of God.

They're all interchangeable glory as one of the only Son

from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Now God is dwelling among us as Jesus.

And last week again I said, well, Jesus ascends to heaven

and now he sends the Holy Spirit.

As we said from the start, Jesus says the Holy Spirit, you know

him because he dwells with you, but he's going to dwell in you.

That's the evolution tent, Tabernacle, garden, way back

here. Then Jesus comes and he's

dwelling with us. But now Jesus ascends to heaven

and he says, I pray to the Father and the Father is going

to send the Helper, the Comforter, and he's going to,

you know him because he dwells with you, but he's going to come

and dwell in you. And that's the language.

Now I have a great question for you.

What happens to this curtain, this veil that protected us from

the presence of God? Maybe you've seen this before.

What? Remember, in the Old Testament,

the temple is destroyed and God's children are carted off to

Babylon, right? And that's Daniel and Shadrach

and Meshach and Abednego, those stories.

So in the New Testament, what happens is King Herod recreates

Solomon's temple. OK?

And it's Herod's temple, and he recreates the curtain by the

instructions that are in the law.

OK, so he recreates and history says that this curtain was as

thick as a man's hand. It's woven.

It's 60 feet tall, 60 feet tall. Now watch what happens.

See, now when you read the story of Jesus, what happens here at

the crucifixion, it means so much more knowing about the

curtain in the Old Testament. So verse 51 and behold, the

curtain of the temple was torn in two from the top to the

bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

Matthew points out that the curtain, this veil that was in

Herod's temple because they still had this like this holy

place where God would manifest his presence.

What happens when Jesus's body is torn?

The veil, the curtain is torn from top to bottom.

Matthew says from top to bottom because top to bottom would mean

a man could not have torn it. It is a godly miraculous

miracle. This curtain now is torn and the

holy place where God manifested himself is no longer enclosed by

the curtain and it happens at the tearing of Jesus body.

Now why is the curtain torn? It was not so that the Spirit of

God could get out. It never was about that.

The curtain is torn to signify now that Jesus has taken his

blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat to pay for our sin.

Now the presence of God, we are permitted to get near it, and

not only that now the presence of God is going to dwell in us.

The curtain is torn and watch. Hebrew speaks of this but when

Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have

come the evolution of God's plan then through the greater and

more perfect tent right. The Old Testament God manifests

himself in this tent. Now he's saying Jesus is the new

high priest. He now has taken his blood and

sprinkled on the mercy seat and now there's a new way and it's

it's a greater and more perfect tent.

What is the greater, more perfect tent I'm going to tell

you not made with hands that is not this not a disgrace.

He entered once for all into the holy place, not by means of the

blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood,

thus securing an eternal redemption.

And watch this when Jesus says, you know the Holy Spirit, He

dwells with you, but he's going to dwell into you.

What the writer of Hebrews is saying now you're the tent.

You're the tent now. It's a greater way.

You're now the tent where the Holy Spirit is going to manifest

his presence, his glory, his Spirit.

Hebrews talks more about this and know that when the writer of

Hebrews writes, he's writing to those from a Jewish tradition.

So they understand all this language of the tent, the

Tabernacle, the mercy seat. They get it.

All right, We'll get to Ephesians in a second.

Paul writes to the Church of Ephesus.

They're, they're Gentiles. They don't understand the Jewish

tradition, right? But Hebrews is writing to those

who understand the Old Testament.

So watch verse 19. They're four brothers and

sister, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the

blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for

us, through the curtain, that is, through His flesh.

Here's talking about the curtain.

Now we get to enter through the curtain.

Before the curtain kept you out, if you went through the curtain

and you weren't cleansed, then you could die next to the

presence of God. But now it's like, no, now we

get to enter the curtains torn. We get to enter through the

flesh of Jesus that was torn. And since we have a great priest

over the House of God, that's Jesus, let us draw near with a

true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled

clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure

water. The curtain, the veil

symbolically protected us from the glory of the Spirit, the

presence of God. But when the body of Jesus was

torn, the curtain was torn. And now we get the boldly go

towards the presence of God again.

The curtain didn't let the Spirit of God out, it just made

the Spirit of God now accessible to us.

He was talking more about it verse 14 and chapter 4.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through

the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.

Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest

who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in

every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Watch. Let us then, with confidence

draw near to the throne of grace, the mercy seat, that we

may receive the mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We now get to draw near to the presence of God, the Spirit of

God, the glory of God, and even the more now we are the temple

that the Holy Spirit dwells in. And the New Testament speaks of

this. So now the presence of God, it's

not kept from us. And now, as Jesus said, the Holy

Spirit is going to dwell in US. And what dwell in US?

And what is going to be the language that Paul is going to

use in First Corinthians 316? Again, knowing what you know

about the garden and the tent and the Tabernacle and the

temple and God manifesting there at the cloud, the fire.

Watch what Corinthians says. Do you not know that you are

God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

Right, It's the language of dwell from the Old Testament.

In First Corinthians 6, it says, Or do you not know that your

body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have

from God? You are not your own.

We are now the temple where the Tabernacle we were.

God manifests his power, his glory, his presence, his Spirit.

And this is the point in which Jesus says the Holy Spirit, you

know him, He dwells with you, but He's going to dwell, going

to dwell in you. And then First Corinthians, our

2nd Corinthians 6 says this. It says what agreement has the

temple? Who is the temple?

You are the temple of God with idols, for we are the temple of

the living God, as God said, I will make my dwelling among them

and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be

my people. Paul to the Church of Corinth is

referencing again the idea of the tent and the Tabernacle,

God's presence manifesting there.

And here Paul is quoting, and you can see in the ESV and other

translations that this is indented in your scriptures to

show you that this is a quote. And Paul is quoting from Exodus

29 that says I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be

their God. It's the language of dwell.

And Leviticus, God says I will make my dwelling among you, and

my soul shall not abhor you, and I will walk among you.

Picture of the garden, God walking with them.

It's the same picture, right? God dwelling.

It's all through Scripture and it's showing up here.

Now the evolution of the way that God manifests himself is

that He manifests himself in US. Then to the Church of Ephesus.

These are Gentiles that Paul's writing to.

And he says in him, you were also being built together into a

dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Now why is this important? Because I want to show you the

Holy Spirit has been dwelling and manifesting throughout

Scripture. And maybe you thought that, oh,

wow, at the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit

Acts 2 · chapter mention

comes in like a mighty rushing wind.

Jesus told his disciples to go and wait for the Spirit of God,

for the Holy Spirit. And so they do.

And maybe you just thought, well, the Holy Spirit was

dormant until Acts chapter 2. No, the Holy Spirit's been there

Acts 2 · chapter mention

the whole time, dwelling, manifesting, doing miracles in a

tent and a Tabernacle in a temple.

And now in this new era where we serve God, you are now the tent,

you're the Tabernacle, you're the temple.

And God is being like we're being built together into a

dwelling place for God. So God is omnipresent.

He's everywhere, but he has historically manifested his

presence again in these places and people and times.

And now God wants to dwell in US.

Second Corinthians 3 says now the Lord is Spirit is the spirit

and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom and we all

with watch this unveiled face. We don't there's no veil no

more. There's no curtain anymore.

Now we have unveiled face beholding the glory, the spirit

of the presence of the Lord and being transformed into the same

image from 1° of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit.

Now I said from the start of this message that that this is

like a big meal. This is a lot.

This is like like a lot, right? And I'm guilty.

Did I say this already? Maybe sometimes I get confused

when I said in the first service and 2nd, but I listen to things

that double speed. Did I tell you that yet?

I did OK, right. So this is a lot man.

This is like, I hope I didn't talk too fast, but I hope that

you just got that God manifests himself in these beautiful,

unique ways. And we're going to talk about

the Holy Spirit for weeks to come.

And, and I want to give you like this just grand truth about the

Holy Spirit, how he manifests, how God dwells in US and the

language of dwelling that's there throughout the, the, the

biblical narrative, the language of dwell, the language of God

manifesting, showing up in certain ways.

And then the expectation is this is that because now we're the

temple and the Tabernacle, the Holy Spirit.

So God wants to manifest himself in us.

We're the temple. Now God is building us together.

And maybe you didn't know that before, like maybe you thought I

got saved. I surrounded my life to Jesus,

and now I have the Holy Spirit. But what does that mean, right?

So it means this, that God wants the Holy Spirit, wants to

manifest, wants to be in you. And that comes with power and

presence. And it should shape our lives.

When we live in light of the fact that we are now the temple,

the Tabernacle, the tent where God's Spirit dwells, it changes

the way we live. And again, maybe you're like,

oh, I'm all about Jesus. Yeah, we are Jesus.

But Jesus, like who? Who is in US?

The language of the theology, the doctrine is that the Holy

Spirit, that part of the Trinity, is in us now.

And when we learn to flow and live out, like, live out that

truth, it shapes the way that we follow God, our expectations.

What do we expect in the Christian life?

Well, when we know that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit,

it changes us. I want to pray with you.

Let's pray God, we have come to open our hearts to your truth.

This is a lot. And so I pray that you will help

us to absorb Holy Spirit. You can do that.

You can help us absorb all this truth and in the days to come,

let this really settle in. And in the weeks to come, as we

keep coming back to truth about you, grow us and understand what

it means to live life in the Spirit, aware of your presence

in US, God. So grow us.

We pray in Jesus name and everyone said, Amen, Let's all

stand together. Before you go, I do want to say

a blessing over you. Hey, we're going to change.

Move the tables in and we're going to move the chairs around

the table. So if you're available to stay

and help, that would be great. And don't forget 5:00 PM tonight

is our volunteer appreciation and celebration.

Let me say a blessing over you, and now may the Lord bless you

and keep you, and may he make his face to shine upon you.

And may the joy of the Lord that is unspeakable and full of glory

made bound to you. And may the peace of God that

passes all understanding, may it surprise you in the midst of all

of the challenges that life brings.

And then may the mercies of the Lord, in other words, the

forgiveness of God, that's new every morning.

May it be especially new to you now in your mornings to come.

And now may the Lord Jesus Christ guard your heart and your

mind. You are salt and you were light.

Go now and be salt and light into the world.

You are blessed. We'll see you again soon.