The Tabernacle

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Praise the Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

The song said, Take me to the king.

And we're talking about Jesus Christ.

We're not talking about Alabama.

We're not talking about the offering.

We're talking about take me to the king.

We're not talking about your spouse.

We're not talking about your girlfriend, a boyfriend.

We talking about take me to the king.

I enjoyed that, honey.

Good job.

Good job.

Good job.

Praise the Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

Hallelujah.

Okay, I was looking out in the audience.

I see a couple of my friends done made it.

I thank God for the prophet uh James and Johnny Edwards.

Thank you for coming out here and share the word with us.

Alright, praise God.

They're very dear friends of our very close to Kelly and I.

We thank God for them.

Well, I guess it's time for me to preach.

I had water damage this morning.

My mom, she's been good.

I gotta say now.

She's been living with us probably last week.

My wife and uh two boys have been helping, taking care of her.

Thank God for them helping out with mom.

So we're blessed to have my mom here.

She's young, 88 years old.

So I come from a good seed.

So I'm gonna live a long time.

Long time.

The Bible said we're long life, have I promised thee.

I speak that in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

I'm also thankful.

Um, probably last month, I got a chance to go to North Carolina, and I saw my youngest daughter.

She graduated from high school, and uh actually, she graduated from high school like June the 8th, and I think June the 22nd, she was in college.

She started this uh honors summers program, so she's doing extremely well.

Her name is Summer Bracing.

So I thank God for her, and Alder, my oldest one, they actually gonna attend school together this year in North Carolina AT.

And their mother been little in the weather, so we're definitely praying for her.

And I just thank God for all of you guys.

And I love my wife, she did an outstanding job today.

A outstanding job.

And that's one gift I don't have.

I mean, you know, if we could pick our gifts, that was one I would have chosen, but I just can't do it.

Me too.

I just can't do it.

So this morning we're gonna dive into the word.

I think it's a short summer, but it couldn't be long.

And where's my sister over here?

She uh, what's my buddy's name?

She had told me Carolyn.

She had got on me all the time by outlines.

I said, Well, I'm gonna try to get an outline for you.

I still didn't quite get the outline, Carolyn.

I tried.

I tried now, but I tell you what I did.

I I have some visual aids for you.

Amen.

And I have a handout that you can take home.

You can kind of go back and kind of it based on a synopsis of everything I'm gonna talk about today.

Is that all right with you, Carolyn?

I love it.

Okay, okay.

Good.

Okay, let's dive into the word today.

And I'm gonna start talking about this uh from the standpoint when I was young.

I remember I grew up in church, so I had to go to Sunday school.

Uh we went to Sunday school every week, and I hear these stories.

One of the first stories I heard about was Adam.

Adam and Eve.

And so, you know the story about Adam was the first man that God made.

And God made him first.

But then he did something.

Let's go to Genesis the second chapter, 15th through the 17th verse.

It's important that we know that God made Adam first.

Everybody tells the story how Eve ate the apple and then put everything on Eve, but that's the way Adam fought.

And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, I'm gonna have to say it again, commanded the man.

Saying, Of every tree of the garden, thou may eatest freely.

But of the tree of knowledge, of good and evil, thou should not eat it, for in the day thou eatest, thou shalt surely die.

Now it wasn't till the 22nd verse the evil made.

So it's not your fault, woman.

So what I'm giving to talk about is the fall of man.

And actually, the serpent, which is Satan, did talk to the lady, but God gave the instruction to the man.

Now, the story I'm telling you about is called the great fall.

Now, let me tell you what was going on before the great fall.

God is a spirit.

Let's talk about man.

Man consists of three parts.

We're a spirit, and that's the part of us gonna live in eternity, either in heaven or hell.

We have a soul, that's why our emotions are and our will and everything like that.

But then you had a body, the outer shell.

Now, prior to the fall, man had the ability to communicate with God, just the spirit of spirit.

He walked around, in fact, they said they even was naked.

That's how close and intimate the relationship was.

But after Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit, sin came in the midst of the world.

That was not God's intention.

But one thing about God, remember the verse I just read, he gave them a choice.

They had to have a choice.

If not, they'd have been clones.

So God wants us to choose.

It's just like today, God desired for every person sent here to be a believer.

He desired for everyone to go to heaven.

But it's a choice, it's a choice.

So that's why he gave him a choice.

And once after that happened, man died spiritually.

We travel on down to Genesis.

The sixth and seventh chapters talked about Noah.

Y'all know the Noah.

They just had this movie.

I didn't I didn't support that movie.

I really wasn't impressed with that movie.

I read the person that uh, actually, the person that wrote that movie was an atheist, but he didn't get into my money.

But anyway, God had got so upset about the sixth chapter of Genesis, he was ready to destroy me, and he did.

So you you know the story about the flood that happened in Genesis.

Had the flood.

Actually, some theologians call that the first baptism when God had the flood.

We'll keep on traveling through.

I'm just gonna highlight some points in Genesis.

We'll keep on traveling through.

So uh the ark landed, and years later, God finally found favor in another man, brother Abraham.

People call him the father of faith.

So let's pick it up.

What God said to Abraham in Genesis the 12th chapter in the second verse.

And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.

So basically, at the time when uh he got had this vision, he was barren, didn't have any children.

So basically he's telling him he's gonna make him a great nation, he's gonna bless him.

Now, what came out of this prophecy, he and his wife Sarah end up having a son by the name of Isaac.

And then you it rolled on down the all the Isaac descendants end up being the children of Israel.

And they will end up being in bondage, the children of Israel.

It was put in bondage, and then they had to have a deliverer.

Now everybody know about Moses.

Moses was the deliverer.

Now I just, you know, I have pictures in my head, but every time I said Moses, I still think about Charleston.

When he cool, walking, when he comes down the mountain and throw down the stone, I think about Charleston.

But but anyway, Moses ended up having to be delivered for the people, delivered from Pharaoh.

Now, they went through the plagues and all that, so God finds deliverance.

Now, Moses have delivered the people.

The people of children of Israel, they got a chance to see him spread the Red Sea.

That's when uh Pharaoh troops was in hot pursuit.

They was in hot pursuit.

So from there they end up going to Mount Sinai, and that's where we're gonna start our text, really, in Mount Sinai.

Moses got a chance to go up to the top of the mountain, and he actually was uh getting the Ten Commandments, and God was just giving some instructions.

Now, the thing about the children of Israel now, they came from Egypt.

So they was accustomed to serving gods, but they believed in polytheism, which is many gods.

So in Egypt, there were many gods.

They had all these big buildings up, erectifying, they served many gods.

Now, what God desired for us to believe in, we call monotheism, which is one God.

So actually, Moses was on top of the mountain talking to God about this.

And God said, Well, I desire to dwell with my people.

That was his desire.

He wanted to dwell with the children of Israel.

Now, Moses talked to God, as you know, even at the top of the mountain.

I mean, the mountain used to get so hot, it was just like fire, and the people was afraid of that.

But that was God's desire.

So let's go to our main text this morning.

It'll be in Exodus 25th chapter, the 8th to 9th verse.

And God said, Let them make me a sanctuary.

This is God talking to Moses, that I may dwell among them according to all thy show.

After the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of the instruments thereof.

So, what God told them that he wanted to dwell with them.

He wanted to place a tabernacle in the midst of them.

And when you said dwell, the word came to mind, I was looking up in the dictionary, it means shekanah, that means to dwell on the inside.

Now, let's talk about the definition of tabernacle.

Tabernacle is a movable tent.

Tabernacle is a movable tent that God commanded Moses to build.

One Bible dictionary state, the tabernacle is a booth or a dwelling place.

So the tabernacle is very important.

It's a booth or a dwelling place.

And so what God wanted for the people to have a place where he could call his sanctuary, his tabernacle where he could dwell.

That is what he wanted.

We have a little technical difference, but that's okay.

He wanted a place that he could dwell in.

Now, with this tabernacle, one thing I want you to be constant of, what we're gonna do, we're gonna go through this tabernacle piece by piece.

The tabernacle had seven pieces of furniture in it.

The first piece of furniture was the tabernacle, the second was the brazen altar, the brazen lever, the table of showbread, the golden lampstand, the altar of the incense, the mercy seat, and the ark of the covenant.

Now let's go back to that number seven.

Now, seven is very important in the kingdom of God.

In fact, seven is mentioned over seven hundred times in the Bible.

In our head, it's some holes in your head.

There's seven bones in your neck, there's seven bones in your ankle.

The children of Israel marked around Jericho seven times.

You go to Revelation, you don't want to start talking about seven.

Everything is seven.

It's seven spirits, seven churches.

When Jesus was on the cross, he had seven last words.

So throughout this sermon, I'm gonna talk to you about the number seven because it means completion.

And God, perfection, that's what it means, the number seven.

So the first thing we gotta look at here is going into the gate.

We okay back there, Jeremy?

Okay, the tabernacle.

Okay, praise the Lord.

Okay.

Now, anytime you have a tabernacle, it's a perfect square, as you can see.

And when you had a tabernacle, you gotta have a door, just like you came in through this door here, the entrance of the door.

But before you go to the door though, you had a formation.

Everything about God is very strategic.

Very strategic.

Very strategic.

So the way it works, if you go to Numbers, the second chapter, you'll see the formation.

To the north, he had three tribes.

To the south, he had three tribes.

To the west, he had three tribes.

And I say the east for last.

I think the last time I preached, I was talking about Judah.

Judah is what you call the point tribe, was out front.

So Judah was one of the tribes out front.

It was on that third side, on the east side, that was the way you you were in, it was Ishakar, Judah, and Zebalon.

But Judah was out front, then you came to Moses and Aaron and his son, and then you walked straight into the entrance.

So this door is very important.

So when you think about a door, you got to think about Jesus.

Because everything about this tabernacle, let me tell you the thing about this tab, everything about this tabernacle is foreshadowing Jesus.

Even though we in the Old Testament, this whole tabernacle is talking about Jesus, the coming Messiah.

So I like I said, when you think about the door, you gotta go to John 10, 7 and 9.

We'll pick it up just the night, the 8th and 9th verse.

I am the door.

By me, if any man enter, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pastors.

Now, the key I want you to remember here is, I mean, we we encounter this all the time.

It's only one entrance to go to heaven.

You gotta go through Jesus.

Now, yes, God bless me, go to Bible school, and I don't know everything, and yes, we study about different religions.

But yesterday, my wife and I was at home eating breakfast, and somebody knocked on the door.

They was out, I'm not gonna call out the religion, they was out passing out pamphlets.

And she said, Well, you should keep it for the information, just so you'll know about the religion.

And I respect her for that.

There's nothing wrong with that, because you need to be able to understand other religion.

But I told her one thing: any religion that does not say Jesus is the only entrance in, you're not my brother or sister.

That's all I need to know.

Now, once you got in, there was hanging curtains.

And it was four of the hanging curtains.

And each of the curtains had different colors.

It was combined of four different colors: blue, purple, scarlet, and white.

Now the blue was a heavenly color.

It represented Jesus Christ and the Son of John in the book of John.

Purple means royalty.

We see him as a king in Matthew.

Scarlet, which is red, means sacrifice.

We see him as our Savior in Luke.

And white is service.

Jesus is a servant in Mark.

And that's what God has called all us to be, is servant.

That's one thing God has called us to be, is servant.

It's one thing I really love about Pastor Dana.

I was riding with someone, actually, one of my old colleagues who asked me, what have Pastor Dana taught you?

Yeah, I've been in church all my life, but this is my first time being on a shepherd and studying in ministry.

One of the things that our man of God of this house has taught me, serve the people.

Serve the people.

Go out, knock on their doors, pray for them, visit them, love the people.

Love the people of God.

It's all about serving.

That is one principle my shepherd, well, our shepherd has taught me.

Serve.

It's all about serving.

Not somebody serving you.

And Jesus was modeled that same example.

It's all about service.

Now let's go to the first piece of furniture, which is the brazen altar.

Now, the brazen altar, I'm gonna talk a little more about it probably than any other thing.

The brazen altar represented the cross.

Now, if you want information on the brazen altar, where it's found in the Bible, it's in Exodus the 27th chapter.

It was the largest piece of furniture in the courtyard.

It was seven by five and seven by five.

And it's four and four feet and five inches high.

Now, when I said seven feet, now I'm right at six feet.

So, for those of you who like basketball, Shaquille O'Neal is a good example.

I think Shaq is seven three.

So just imagine that Shaq two times.

So it was big.

So what and what God had, what God required for the people to do is make sacrifices.

So the way it worked, because of what Adam and Eve had done, like I told you, we were spiritually dead.

So God had mercy on mankind and provided us with a temporary, temporary way to escape for a sin is concerned.

So what he would do is he would have them to come and sacrifice animals, put on this big altar, and they actually had to lay hands on the animal.

And when they laid hands, what that would do is that would account for their sins.

So they took this animal that had nothing to do with sin, was an innocent animal, and laid hands on them, and that transferred the sin on to them, and then they would burn that offering.

Now, you got to remember this animal was an undeserving recipient.

I think Jesus Christ was an undeserving recipient.

When he died on that cross, he was undeserving, but he did it for somebody like me, for a sinner like me and you before we got saved.

And I thank God for it.

Now you had different types of offering.

You had the sin offering, which is atoning for God's sin.

You had guilt offerings, which, like that's if you offended somebody else.

You had burnt offerings.

So you had all different types of offerings.

But but the animal, now the thing about this animal though, it had to be perfect.

God just didn't want any animal.

You gotta think about the time you you're in.

He didn't want you to get like the least, he wanted the best.

It had to be perfect.

But guess what?

The perfect animal foreshadowed Jesus that atoned for our sins.

And he did it one time and atoned for our sin.

So when I think about that, I'm reminded of what John said.

And John said, the next day John see Jesus coming up unto him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God that take away all sin.

See, in the Old Testament, on that altar, they was putting lambs and goat.

But John already operated in the gift of prophecy, already knew.

He said, Behold, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away all these sacrifices.

Now, also on that altar, you gotta think about justification.

Because we're on the altar, but the altar, like I told you, is equate to the cross.

It means to do something, it means to set something right or declare righteous.

To do something right or declare righteous.

Now you go to 2 Corinthians, the fifth chapter, 21st verse, it says, For he had made him sin for us who knew no sin, that we may be made righteous of God in him.

So what that basically says, I am the righteousness of God.

Not because I live so good or because I'm so holy, but it's because what he did on the altar, which equates what is done on the cross.

That's why I am the righteousness of God.

One of my lone distant mentors, he always walks around.

At first I didn't understand what he was saying.

So basically, Jesus Christ's righteousness was imputed on to us as believers.

So the people basically had a standard operating procedure.

They would bring the offering and they put that, they would bring the offering all the time, daily, daily.

And it was it's a full-time thing.

The next thing I'm thinking about the justification is salvation when you're on that altar.

And salvation is nothing more than redemption bought for and paid for.

You gotta think about Romans 6 23.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

Now we're going to move to the next piece, the brazen labor.

That's found in Exodus 27 chapter, third through the fourth verse.

And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes and his shovels, a basin, and his flesh hooks, and his fire panes, and all the vessels shall make of brass.

Now you think of this brazen labor, and you're talking about washing in the water.

First word comes to mind is baptism.

Baptism.

I told you earlier, the first baptism actually occurred when God baptized the world.

That was in Genesis.

But baptism is no more a person that's a born-again believer doing as a representation, making a covenant with God.

You go down, you get baptized.

And we pray that you go down the old creature, but you come up a new creature when he immerse you totally in water.

Now the thing about this water is there's seven types of water baptisms, and we'll talk about it.

But the first part we'll talk about baptism is sanctification.

And that's done by washing.

And as Christians, we are constantly being sanctified because it's a process.

I remember growing up, I grew up in a Baptist church, and so all the Pentecostal people, we call them the sanctified people.

We call them the sanctified people.

But in Ephesians 5.26, it says that he may sanctify us, sanctify, and cleanse it with the washing of the word.

And then the next thing is consecration.

It's putting that which is cleansed for the work of the Lord.

Now you go back and look, the first priest was Moses' brother Aaron and his sons.

They had to be consecrated.

Remember I told you seven, here it is again.

They had to be consecrated for seven days.

They had to be set apart.

Just like we as Christians, we are of the world, but we're not supposed to be a part of the world.

We'll call, like the church, we'll call, we call out.

Mean to be called out.

The same principle applies.

And then with the water baptism, you got three different dimensions.

One of the dimensions is a natural dimension.

And that is baptism in the water.

And that's more or less like when Pastor Danny baptized you, or myself can baptize you.

That's the natural dimension.

Then you got the spiritual dimension.

Now the only one qualified to take you to the spiritual, see, it's first natural, then spiritual is Jesus.

That's the spiritual dimension.

Matthew picked it up like this.

Matthew says, indeed, this is John Baptist preaching uh teaching again.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.

But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear.

He should baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

So that's the spiritual side of it.

And then in order to get the fullness, the baptizer is the Holy Ghost.

The fullness of the baptism.

For by one spirit, I think Benjamin I was talking about it this morning.

For by one spirit are we baptized in one body, whether we be Jew or Greek type, that's black, white, poor, rich, middle class, no class, I don't care what country you come from.

That is one of the main reasons my family and I are part of this church.

Because the church council and the leaders of this church understand that when we baptized into the body of Christ, it is for all believers.

It don't make no difference.

You from Africa, just like I love my brother Reuben, it doesn't make a difference.

We are all the same.

And that's what it's saying, being baptized into the body of Christ.

Amen.

Now, that's everything on the outer court.

Let's move to three more pieces of furniture.

And before you go to the outer court, everything about the outer court is about death.

Because before death occurs, there's no life.

Like in order for me to go to heaven, I have to die unless I'm fortunate enough to be alive when God comes back.

So everything in the outer court is about death.

Now we get ready to move into the holy place.

It's two more places.

They call it the holy place and the most holy place.

The most holy place, also known as the holies of holies.

Now there's three pieces of furniture in the holy place.

The table of showbread, the lampstand, and the altar of incense.

The table of showbread.

So that's pretty showbread.

Automatically think about eating.

You can look at me, I like to eat.

The table of showbread.

It represents, but not me like to eat, but what it represents is feasting on the body of Christ.

Now let's talk about what happened what happened in the table, on the table show.

First of all, there was 12 loaves of bread.

12 loaves of bread, 12 trials of Israel.

That's what it represented.

Okay.

Now, when you start talking about the bread, everything about God is about eating his word.

And in John 6, 48 through 51, it says, I am the bread of life.

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.

This is the bread which cometh down from heaven.

That a man eat there are and die and not die.

I am the living bread.

See, we're talking about the living bread.

That's why you're here this morning.

You're eating living bread.

Now, your spirit is being fed.

If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.

And the bread that I give is my flesh, which I give to the life of the world.

You'll never die, yeah, this bread.

I'm never gonna die because I've been eating this bread.

Those of you that have been eating this bread never gonna die.

Amen.

The next piece we talk about will be the golden lamp stand.

I love this piece.

The golden lamp stand.

It represents oneness.

Oneness with the Holy Spirit, though.

Now we talk about seven.

Look at that.

We see si.

Do y'all see seven?

Sticking up.

I gotta talk to you.

I told you that number seven, something else.

That seven in the middle.

You see, you got three on the side, and then that one's that one in the middle, that's Jesus.

On the left is three, and on the right is three.

But the one in the middle, so what that what that means when the one is in the spirit.

See, first you were just a man, and then when God imparted his spirit in you, now you're a whole.

That's why he's in the middle.

Seven again.

Told you you're gonna hear seven a lot.

Now, that lamp also brings forth glory.

You look at his gold, and it has oil.

The gold is pure, that's the nature of God.

And it represents the Holy Ghost.

And it also, you see, hopefully on this diagram, yes, you can see the little flowers, okay, that's fruits of the spirit that's deal that identify with growth.

I was talking to uh to uh David the other day, he and I haven't a conversation, and one thing serpent believe in, I have no problem.

It's about growth.

You're dead if you're not growing.

Well, this way we used to do it, that's right.

That's the way we used to do it.

But with God and you have the Holy Spirit on the inside, you should be growing.

And that's what the fruits of the Spirit you should be growing.

And then it talks about in that they had to have oil.

Olive oil.

Now, this oil is not manufactured, but it was obtained by beating the olive berries from the palm tree of the olive.

So it had to be beat.

And all that is a symbol of the way the Holy Ghost is, and it's also representing his soul.

Now I'd like to go to Exodus, the 25th chapter and the 23rd verse.

And I'm gonna just read about what I just talked about, being beat.

And thou shall make a candlestick of pure gold, of beaten work shall thy candlestick be made.

His shaft and his branches, his bows, his knobs, and the flower shelf shall be the same.

So with God, as a Christian with the Holy Ghost, you go through the cycle.

You go through the cycle.

Now, this incense was a matter of life and death.

Let me tell you, this is a very important part of the tabernacle here.

I know I've been going through a lot, but now God is a God of order.

And you gotta think about now.

I've been out in the desert before, one of the desert I wanted to go to in the desert storm out in Iraq.

He has this tent.

Everything is really organized in this tent.

But he wanted this incense burned too, a sweet smelling aroma.

And he was specific with instructions.

And when I said life or death, you remember I told you the first priests were Aaron and his sons.

They were disobedient.

God gave them a recipe on how to come up with this incense.

Not you take any shortcuts, because if you take a shortcut, you'll come up short.

And that's what they did.

They took a shortcut, and they really God killed them on the spot.

He killed, that's in Leviticus 10, 1 through 2.

He killed them on the spot.

That wasn't the recipe that he prescribed.

Just like today, God has given us a recipe for success.

It's in that Bible, it's in the book.

If we want to be successful and have life and have it more abundantly, you follow that recipe.

If you want to do it your way, you don't follow that recipe, death.

It's not good.

It's not good at all.

So those are the two pieces.

Now, before you get to the last two pieces, you gotta get to the veil.

Let me tell you what the veil did.

The veil was the divider between the holy place and the most holy place.

It was also known as the holies of holies.

The only thing I'm gonna say about the veil, I'm gonna move on because we're gonna come back to the veil at the end.

To really understand a lot of this stuff, you gotta understand Jewish history.

So they have a book called A Talamoved.

Let me tell you about the veil.

Now I'm talking, we're gonna kind of fast forward.

Now, the veil that I'm showing you up here is actually with the tabernacle that Moses built.

But all of you do know about Solomon Temple, too.

This is what they said about Solomon's temple, how heavy this veil was.

It took 300 priests to hang it.

And that's a big veil.

And then they also say it was 30 by 60 feet.

And four inches, probably about the size of a fist.

That's how thick it was.

And I'm telling you that for a point, but we're gonna come back to it.

And again, the veil was the same color, too.

And that's it.

I will tell you the colors of this veil.

It was blue, purple, scarlet, the same colors.

He kept the same color scheme.

And see, you know, sometimes, you know, our military people say, sometimes, you know, I get on my laugh, my wife, last nerve.

But God was very detailed.

Look how he kept that color scheme running through the whole color scheme through the whole tabernacle had a pattern.

In fact, that red, purple, and blue, and scarlet, that was the thing.

But in this veil, they also had cherubines, which is actually like a picture of angels.

So they was gardening.

So they was on posts, just like in the military.

So that was the symbolic of that.

They posted.

So before you go in the holy place, you know you got the angels posted.

But guess what?

This also showed the way it's set up in heaven.

The angels are posted around the throne.

They posted.

Very serious about their mission.

As we get in the holy place, you walk in, you see the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant.

And that's the one that's the most important piece.

It's the center point of the tabernacle.

It's where God dwell.

It was what God dwell.

At the Ark of the Covenant.

So you had to go through all those different steps to get to the Ark of the Covenant.

And at the Ark of the Covenant, say, Ain't the high priest will sprinkle blood on the mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people.

And that time friendship will be restored with God.

And God will actually speak to the man of God.

Remember, okay, you got the Ark of the Covenant, but then you also have the mercy seat.

They go hand in hand.

In a lot of pictures, they have a display.

The mercy seat sits on top of the ark.

Now remember I told you seven?

Let's go seven.

That high priest, once a year to atone for the blood, had to sprinkle seven times.

That's perfection, completion, seven times.

Now let's talk about what was in the ark.

The ark had the Ten Commandments.

That was the law given to remind the people that God would protect them if they were obedient.

Then they had a jar of manor that reminded the people that he was constantly providing for them.

Constantly providing.

And last you had Aaron's rod, which budded and bore fruit.

Aaron was chosen by God.

The rod also reminded the people that God had the power to bring life and death.

God had that power.

And it reads, No man cometh to me except the Father which he has sent me, draw him.

And I will raise him up in the last day.

Ephesians said like this For by grace are ye saved.

Come on.

Through faith, and not that of yourself.

It is the gift of God, not of works, least any man should boast.

So basically the ark is all about salvation.

You walking in, and it's telling us, none of us to boast.

That's why, you know, I just laugh and look at people.

They say, you know, they're working to get into heaven.

It's not based on our works.

It's based on what God has done, the finished works at the at the cross.

Going back to the mercy seat, the mercy seat is symbolic of God's throne.

The same throne is set up in heaven.

The same throne.

And it's made of pure gold, too.

And it had two angels.

When you see it on here, they point towards each other.

And the Bible shares several times when only Moses was authorized to go in there and the high priest.

His shekunna glory would be in that place.

His shekana glory, that means dwelling on the inside, would actually dwell on the inside of that place.

In Exodus 25 and 22, it said, and there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims, which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I give thee in the commandment of Israel.

So what are you saying?

God's spirit dwelled there.

And he would meet with them.

That had to be awesome.

I just could think about being Moses or Aaron and just sensing God's presence like that.

But you know today you and I still had we had that same ability.

We have that same ability.

Now let's go back to that veil.

We talked about the mercy seat, we talked about the Ark of the Covenant.

When Jesus died, something special happened.

Before I get that, I want to back up at one point I want you to realize.

So what I'm telling you, God dwell with his people.

But the only people was authorized to go in that tabernacle, to go to that four in the Ark of the Covenant was Moses and the other priest, Aaron, and his sons.

So a person like you and I, we weren't authorized.

Even some of the other Israelites, they were not authorized.

But let's go to Matthew the 20th, let's fast forward Matthew the 27th chapter and the 50th verse.

Everybody know the story about the cross.

2750.

Okay.

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yield up the ghost, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent, twained from top to bottom.

And the earth did quake and rocks rent.

Now I told you a little earlier how big that veil was.

This is the one in Solomon Temple now, when Jesus died.

It tore from the top to the bottom.

An earthquake occurred.

And we have some small people in the house.

That was no accident.

That was ordained by God.

That was ordained by God.

Now this is the time you ought to get excited.

I know the rest of stuff of you like, what is he talking about?

I'm let's end and I'll give you some points.

But now you can get excited.

Because I'm going to tell you some real, some real good points I'm getting ready to share with you now.

That's why I'm up here when I'm getting ready to share with you now.

When that bag came down, see Benji, he sang about it this morning.

When that bag came down, I'm from Groveville, Alabama, which is a small town.

Three red lights and two stop signs.

I'll never forget.

We had classes and we had the poor people over here.

We had rich people over here, we had middle class over here.

But when that bag came down, when that veil came down, it authorized, you can look around.

I don't care what background you come from, it authorized all of us to be able to go in the holes of holies.

I don't care if you're black, white, African, Jew, Gentile, it doesn't matter.

You are authorized to go in that holy place.

Now that shouldn't excite you.

That shouldn't excite you.

You are authorized now.

I'm authorized.

We're authorized to do it.

Let's talk a little more about let's look at where the tabernacle is now.

Jesus is a New Testament tabernacle.

That was in the old I was talking about.

But now Jesus is the New Testament.

Listen when it says in John 1 and 14.

And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

I still don't think you're, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

And behold his glory.

And the glory of the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth.

So he was made flesh and he was dwelt among us.

So now what happened when you get saved?

God's spirit is on the side of you.

Now Hebrews 8 and 13, I like the way they said here.

Now the things which we have spoken, this is some.

We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and a true tabernacle, which Lord, which the Lord pitched and not man.

See, Moses and the children of Israel made the other tabernacle.

But the tabernacle we're talking about now, there need no help from man.

The Lord pitched.

For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices.

Wherefore it is necessary that this man somewhat also ought to offer.

So we have a tabernacle that was not made by some other hands, but was made by God.

And for that I'd like to tell God thank you.

In Hebrews 9 11, it says, But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come by a greater and a more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.

That is to say, not of this building.

So like I was saying earlier, as born again believers.

The tabernacle is on the inside of you.

That's why I don't care when you look at me.

I might run, I might shout, because I know what's on the inside of me.

I heard this one song say, You don't know my story.

You don't know.

Everybody got a different story.

So I get excited.

So people can sit back and relax.

I hear I got a niece.

I love her.

She's an Auburn alum, too.

Highly intelligent.

She challenged me on the way I praise God.

She said, Well, you know, Uncle, it doesn't take all that.

People have different personalities.

And, you know, she got on this serious conversation.

I said, Well, that's wonderful.

That's what you choose to do it.

But I know what God done for me, and I'm gonna be excited for the Lord.

I'm gonna be excited for the Lord.

I'm like with the ass with me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord.

Instead of serve him with gladness.

Thanksgiving.

Like I told you earlier, that's some people can't move now.

They will love to the Bible said, lift up holy hands.

See, people talk about things they don't understand.

That's what the Bible said.

Brace ain't said, lift up holy hands.

The Bible even tells you jump for joy.

Read the word.

Read the word.

Anytime people don't understand this, oh, he's crazy.

No, read your book.

It's in the book.

It's in the book.

And the sanctuary is on the inside of me.

In 1 Corinthians 6, chapter 19, verse 6, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Is that what the book says?

Is that what the book says?

It's the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Your body, that's for believers.

It is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

So he said he wanted to dwell with his people in the Old Testament.

Jesus is in me.

Jesus in you.

Jesus in you.

So he's on the inside.

So you gotta write the praise.

Forget about your neighbor.

Did they get on the altar for you?

Did they die on the cross?

Now back then they had to do the sacrifice.

Every year that the high priest had to go round and round in circle, the seventh time and the sprinkler.

Jesus got on the cross one time and died for somebody like me.

One time.

That's all it took was one time.

And because of that, he gave us life and he gave it more abundantly.

And for that, I'm gonna tell him thank you.

I don't care who don't like it, I'm gonna sound the trumpet.

The day when I went back home and I saw that water, I said, okay, devil, I got you.

I see where you're at.

Now I've been going to water damage, but I've all mornings.

I come up early every morning.

I go back home, water coming down.

I said, okay, Sunny, I got you.

Yes, it's spiritual warfare.

Yes, it's spiritual warfare.

It's like that.

So I'm gonna sound the trumpet today.

I said, You better close my mouth.

Because your close my mouth gonna up.

I'm gonna praise his name.

I'm gonna lift them up.

He said, If I draw, if I be lifted, I'll draw all men.

All men.

That's why I thank God for the vision.

The Pastor Daniel got here.

We mix.

We love people.

I tell people about the church all the time.

Wonderful congregation.

God is doing great things.

Now let's talk about this.

Now that the bale is down, I hear people pray all the time.

I gotta tell you how to pray too.

You can sound biased.

But I'm gonna tell you what Hebrews say.

Some people say, Lord, in the name of Jesus, will you please don't beg?

Don't beg.

Let's go to Hebrews the fourth chapter in the 16th verse.

Don't beg, God, but nothing.

If you're a child of God, do not beg.

That's an insult to God.

And I'm gonna tell you why.

Let's see what Hebrews said by begging.

Hebrews said, let us therefore come boldly upon the throne of grace that ye may attain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need.

Now, does that send the body?

I got to please like my mom is in the back now.

Mama, will you please give me some water?

Please, mama.

That's not bowling.

God wants you to come to him boldly with assurance.

He wants you to come to her with an assurance.

So when you pray, you gotta pray with boldness.

Now, one thing I didn't tell you about when Moses was on that mountain, Moses on the mountain, getting instructions from God about the tabernacle.

Guess what the children of Israel is doing?

And big head Aaron.

I'm gonna call him big head Aaron.

Aaron lost, and it's a reason I'm saying this.

Now Moses up on the top of Mount Sinai getting instructions from God with the Ten Commandments.

He's telling about the sanctuary.

Now Aaron has seen all the miracles.

The children of Israel have seen all the garden spread the Red Sea.

Got manna come from heaven.

They down there.

Remember I told you, they polytheists, they believe in all these gods.

They say, Well, I got to do my own thing.

Let's let's build us a calf.

And Aaron, he big dummy, he was right with him.

He was a leader.

He was a leader.

So God saw it.

You know, God can see everything.

God saw waves on the mountain.

He wanted to kill them on the spot.

But brother Moses, that's why I say you gotta be bold with it.

Brother Moses said, God, didn't you say in your word?

Didn't you tell Abraham that you was gonna bless your seed?

If you kill them now, you can't bless them.

That's what he said.

If you kill them, you can't bless them.

They won't exist anymore.

Because God was gonna wipe them out.

He was getting ready to wipe them out.

They down there serving all these phony gods, but we still serve them today.

Some people serve their wives, some serve their husbands, some serve money.

We still serve phony gods today.

God wants to be first, the only God.

The first commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me.

None.

None.

He's the only one.

The only one.

So when you pray, pray boldly.

Because that's the kind of father we have.

He's sitting on the right hand of the throne of God.

So y'all pray like this, you're dealing with some word or something.

Pray like this, 1 John 4 and 4.

It said, Yeah, God little children, you have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he is in the world.

Then sometimes y'all say, Yea, do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death?

I will feel no evil.

Why?

Because thou art with me.

And then you really find some enemies.

You had to launch an Isaiah 54 and 17.

You said, No weapon, no weapon, no weapon form against me shall prosper.

No weapon, no weapon.

God is here today, people.

God is here, he wants you to praise.

Like I told you last, every time you come in this place, you ought to lift up holy hands.

You ought to be excited.

I don't care how bad your week was.

You ought to thank God for just being able to enter.

Again.

I read in the word where two or three are gathering his name.

He'll be in the presence.

I went to desert storm.

We used to pray outside.

We was in the desert.

It was about five or six of us, but God was in the midst.

God was in the midst.

Every time we get together, we can have God should kind of glory in this place, but it's based on us.

We're spirit.

We have to get in touch with the spirit.

We have the building.

We can walk into his anytime.

Ain't nobody stopping but you.

It's all in your hand.

And anytime we can walk in.

Those of us that are believers.

Anytime we can walk into his presence because of that veil that came down.

Amen.

Praise the Lord.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at TheChurch at CW.

Any prayer or more information?

Send us an email at thechurch at CW.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day.